To what are you listening?

The dvd of Michael Jackson rehearsals for the " This is it" tour in the UK. I think it shows he was in pretty good shape and demanding, too. I think he was too eager to make it 50 shows in a row.

 

the other day I listened to Schubert's symphonies - all of them.

 

Schubert and Chopin used to chuckle and laugh,
Whilst composing a long symphony,
But one hundred and fifty years later,
There's very little of them left to see.

Sung to the tune of Pachelbel Cannon - Beautiful



Decomposing Composers...

Righto darlin, yeah be home about eight firty...Nah go'in on the bike...

Beethoven's gone, but his music lives on,
And Mozart don't go shopping no more.
You'll never meet Liszt or Brahms again,
And Elgar doesn't answer the door.
Schubert and Chopin used to chuckle and laugh,
Whilst composing a long symphony,
But one hundred and fifty years later,
There's very little of them left to see.
They're decomposing composers.
There's nothing much anyone can do.
You can still hear Beethoven,
But Beethoven cannot hear you.
Handel and Haydn and Rachmaninov
Enjoyed a nice drink with their meal,
But nowadays, no one will serve them,
And their gravy is left to congeal.
Verdi and Wagner delighted the crowds
With their highly original sound.
The pianos they played are still working,
But they're both six feet underground.
They're decomposing composers.
There's less of them every year.
You can say what you like to Debussy,
But there's not much of him left to hear.
Claude Achille Debussy, Died, 1918.
Christophe Willebald Gluck, Died, 1787.
Carl Maria von Weber, Not at all well, 1825. Died, 1826.
Giacomo Meyerbeer, Still alive, 1863. Not still alive, 1864.
Modeste Mussorgsky, 1880, going to parties. No fun anymore, 1881.
Johan Nepomuk Hummel, Chatting away nineteen to the dozen with his mates down the pub every evening, 1836. 1837, nothing.

 

When I was not into rock/pop/synths I was into Vivaldi. My mother told I once asked her to put the record on when I went to bed one evening...



Also Carmen or as I like to call it car men...



And naturally Sibelius...what a genius!

 

From movie soundtracks I like:









The techno version 1991 of Das Boot which was a hit in Europe:

 

Bolero is a long time favourite (even before Bo Derek)
I spotted this a couple of months ago Biak…A youth orchestra tackling this piece with gusto and youthful enthusiasm…I really enjoyed it.



Of course my first introduction was Allegro Non Troppo…The animated evolution of man and species with a dark message…

 

At least in Europe it is still very popular. Every spring European nations bring their own song to the competition and after the songs have been sung, there will be a live counting of points, 12-10-9-8- etc until 1. The country getting most points wins. Only European countries can take part, not sure about Israel on that. Incredibly Australians have been so infatuated that they have been taking part since ca 2015!

 

We have won once with this song from 2006. We have had our share of 0 points.Ouch. We did not have much expectations but this one gave us victory. We laughed " Hell has frozen when Finland wins!"...



This year our song is by Rasmus, a band that is very popular in central Europe. Perhaps not winning but at least a decent number of points.The song is co-written and produced by DESMOND CHILD.



What I hate about the competition is that the Eastern European countries give points to each other, not fair at all.

I´d like to see Sunrise Avenue there. This is a great song and their massive hit in Germany.

 

I love this Ukraine Eurovision song from 2007....



The chorus verse in one part sounds like "Russia Good bye".....

 

Can it get better than this?

 

https://youtu.be/x1U1Ue_5kq8

 

Kalush Orchestra - Stefania - LIVE - Ukraine - First Semi-Final - Eurovision 2022

 

Jezebel is the Finnish Eurovision song contest song this year....

 

Have a couple coming up this month. The wife and I have tickets to see Brit Floyd on Wednesday the 25th.



Then we're going to run down to Walhalla, South Carolina (near Clemson University) on the 29th to catch Black Jacket Symphony doing Led Zepplin's "Houses of the Holy" album. This one was a last minute thing, found out my nephew Heath, my brothers son has been selected as their drummer for this album/concert. Plus, it was a great album.



Heath's really talented, been drumming since he was eight years old. He used to play in a band with my two sons and his brother Nick, then my boys went off to the wars. Nick and Heath have played in several other bands since, playing a lot of music festivals. Heath doesn't just drum he plays guitar, bass and keyboards as well.

Heat covering Deep Purple:



Here he covers a Yes intro playing all four of the parts/instruments:



This is really old, when they were "Killer Junior", guess that makes me Killer Senior since two of them are mine

The singer and the guitar player to the far left are my sons, the blonde guitarist is my brothers older son and of course Heath is on the drums. The bass player was a friend of theirs. Chris (singer) is as good of a guitarist as his brother and cousin but nobody wanted to sing. The dude that starts messing around behind the stage around the one minute mark is my brother, we were both in the Marine Corps at the same time (he joined when I had 4 years in).

 

What a kick arse family...You should be proud (of yourself and the Mum too) I didn't recognise the first song but there is plenty of Eddie Vedder in this singer...Then they play Even Flow and it all clicks...


The band sounded genuinely good...I hope they can write some originals too..."Heres a song that Pearl Jam never did"...