My son and I just finished up the entire Beatles Rock Band while BOTH in Expert mode the entire time, so I’m in a musical mood. Here, I’m just sharing another fantastic bass line from a favorite song:
Slope of Hope Blog Posts
This is the heart and soul of the web site. Here we have literally tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. You can also click on any category icon to see posts tagged with that particular category.
Glory Glory Calley-Yoo-Ya
In my Tesla, I can play any song in the world just by saying “Play {whatever}“. After it plays the song, it’ll continue on with similar songs. So if I ask for a certain Broadway hit, then it’ll keep playing Broadway stuff forever.
For some reason, when I was listening to whatever songs it was picking, it started playing this totally bizarre piece called the Battle Hymn for Lt. Calley. I don’t know a tremendous amount about the Vietnam War, but I certainly hope you’ve heard of Lt. William Calley who was court martialed for murdering 22 Vietnam civilians (mostly women and children). His name became synonymous with evil, and years after the incident he finally expressed deep remorse.
Anyway, for some reason, someone thought very highly of the Lieutenant and made this song praising him. It would like me writing “Hats Off to John Wayne Gacy”. Anyway, believe it or not, here it is:
Hey Bulldog
Maybe I’ve been playing way too much Beatles Rock Band with my kids, but I’ve developed a much deeper appreciation for all the elements that go into a single song (I’m partial to playing the bass myself). Here, as an example, is the bass line for Hey Bulldog, which is a lifelong favorite of mine.
Harvey’s Song
Over the past year and a half, so many famous men have fallen from grace. They have lost fortunes, careers, and their freedom by being exposed for what formerly they were able to hide. The song below is about the mighty being humbled, and you could make it a theme song, virtually word for word, for Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Kevin Spacey, or just about any of the other dozens of men who are now suddenly social pariahs. And, if nothing else, it’s nice to listen…….
Happy Hour
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For Now
Given how much I love this song, I’ve probably posted it before. All the same, I feel like sharing it here now. It’s light, it’s fun, and it beautifully illustrates the lesson of impermanence. Enjoy.
Musical Comment Cleaner
Hello, one and all. I’ll be doing my chart thing later, but for now, let me toss a comment cleaner out there, which is the extremely cool opening to the JCS Live show I talked about from last Sunday. This is the overture, and it’s fantastically exciting. Fun fact: the first person to play (and remember, this is a huge production) is fourteen years old!
Highlight from Last Night
I hope some of you got to see the live NBC presentation of Jesus Christ Superstar last night. I had been looking forward to it for months. It was sensational – – Judas Iscariot (played by Brandon Victor Dixon) was especially good – but my main praise is for the SET DESIGN. Just ingenious. The real crowd pleaser was Alice Cooper, of all people, who played King Herod:
Girl U Want
Let’s celebrate the reversal! Time for some Devo, the coolest group of all time. This video is from decades ago (since the boys were pretty much the most innovative out there and led the way on music videos) but has probably my favorite moment of any music video, which is the fat guy trying to drink a milkshake while on an “exercise” machine. Also take note of the cameo appearance by Laraine Newman (spraying from the tree), who was Mark’s girlfriend at the time.
A Shepherd Resting With His Flock
I have written from time to time about the ill-fated musical Capeman (written by Paul Simon). Here is a rare live performance of one of my favorite songs from it: