He died yesterday of a heart attack at his home. He was 72. Who can forget his performance at the 1969 Woodstock festival?
Category Archive: Music
Feb 17 2013
Ron Moody reviews the situation
Growing up in the pre-internet (and indeed pre-VCR) age, one could only see films when they were still in the theaters and so had only one or two chances. So a great performance would have to be savored in one’s memories. The arrival of the VCR and videocassettes changed all that, giving new life and …
Feb 16 2013
Ode to Joy with broken crockery
This is fun to watch. It is possible that the video is faked and that the music notes were produced separately and spliced in. But I think it is entirely possible that he had to kick a lot of broken crockery to get the full set of notes he needed and then picked those clips …
Nov 08 2012
Dancing in the streets
Given the ebullient mood of so many people after Tuesday’s election, this seems like an appropriate video.
Sep 27 2012
Ode to the people of Gaza
Roger Waters of Pink Floyd has a new arrangement of We Shall Overcome composed as a tribute to the people of Gaza and calling for an end to the blockade imposed on them by Israel. It and the accompanying video, produced as part of the documentary Roadmap to Apartheid, are very moving.
Jul 15 2012
Flash mob plays Beethoven’s Ode to Joy
Megan Garber of The Atlantic recounts the history of flash mobs (it started out as an experiment to demonstrate the connectivity of the internet), how they have evolved over time to serve different purposes, and how this particular manifestation came about.
Jun 10 2012
Mr. Rogers sings The Garden of Your Mind
When they were young, my children were big fans of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood and I would watch along with them. The show did not have the same entertainment value to adults as Sesame Street but you could not but help like his gentle character and his simple wholesome messages of tolerance and acceptance of diversity. …
May 28 2012
Porgy and Bess
Audra McDonald, starring in a revival of Porgy and Bess, was interviewed on The Colbert Report. I usually do not enjoy interviews with performers that much but this was a really good one, with her giving some great background to the musical.
May 08 2012
Sesame Street’s My Name Is You
I watched a lot of Sesame Street with my children when they were young. It was not purely out of a sense of fatherly duty but also because I thoroughly enjoyed the program and thought that it was one of the best things on TV. In fact, I remember a lot of more of the …
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