There’s a reason why Electric Light Orchestra was so popular, and it wasn’t because they made standard music like all the other groups were making in the 70’s, Jeff Lynne and the group knew how to rock, and rock hard! The fact they could go from classical music to classic rockabilly in one go, and bring undiluted energy to both, that is what made them one of the biggest rock bands ever!
Here is a video of them performing Grieg’s “Hall of the Mountain King” and Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire.”
The guy rocking out on the bass or cello or whatever is manic! Oh, and this is before Jeff Lynne started wearing the shades, it’s strange to actually see his eyes!
So, I found a great spot to see the DC fireworks, that isn’t crowded and is fairly close. At the north end of the spit of land that Reagan National Airport is on is a small park and boat slip called “Gravelly Point.” It’s off the beaten path, and parking is limited so not many drivers can access it, so it gets overlooked by most fireworks watchers. However, the Mount Vernon bike trail goes right to it, and it’s easily accessible on foot from Crystal City, which has loads of parking for free after 4 PM. I scoped out this path on Wednesday night the 3rd, so I could see just how much work it would take, and what kind of view there would be.
[one_half]Gravelly Point, DC, an hour and a half before showtime![/one_half]
[one_half_last]Really not crowded, Gravelly Point has room for lots of people![/one_half_last]
[one_third]Great view of the monuments downtown (where all the crowds are)[/one_third]
[one_third]Families that kayak together, stay together[/one_third]
[one_third_last]Almost sunset, a few bikers headed further towards town[/one_third_last]
It’s just over a mile from the Crystal City path that intersects with the Mount Vernon trail, and there’s a huge grassy clearing with room for plenty of people! On the Fourth, I went there again (after persuading my buddy John that it wouldn’t be that bad) and sure enough, there were a lot of people, but nowhere near the crowding that you get on the Mall or other prime viewing spots in Virginia. The spot is right on the Potomac, so there was a nice breeze off the water to keep mosquitos away, and took the edge off the notorious DC heat and humidity. Once the fireworks started, there was a mad dash from the water’s edge (where most people were sitting in the partial shade) to the center of the field, where the best viewing was. I would say there wasn’t more than 1 or 2 thousand people total, in a space the size of 3 football fields, so no one blocked anyone elses’ view, and we definitely were not crowding each other!
I got some pretty good shots, and some good video, and really got to practice taking fireworks pictures, which is kind of tricky. Having a tripod was invaluable, but also learning what settings to make was vital.
Surfing through some Japanese videos on Youtube, I found some videos by a J-pop singer from back in the 80’s who’s still performing (and still looks very nice, even if she doesn’t look like a high-school girl anymore) named Hitomi Ishikawa (石å·ã²ã¨ã¿). She started out (looks like) when she was in high school in 1976, winning a Fuji TV singing contest. She had one big hit in 1978, she was a voice actress on an anime, but her career came to a halt when she contracted Hepatitis B in 1987. She recovered and started performing again in 1988, got married in 1993 (dang it!) and still performs on TV. She has a fantastic voice, even when she was just starting out.
Anyway, here’s a compilation video of some of her songs, and video clips of her performing them through the years.
From the Youtube page, here’s the playlist of songs:
Man, you go away for a week and the website gets all manner of cobwebs on it!
Back from vacation, but didn’t have a lot of Internet ‘splorin’ time, but I did come across this nice little music video by a prominent YouTuber named Joe Penna, who goes by the handle “Mystery Guitar Man“. I first saw Penna some years ago, before his YouTube “fame”, he did a fun stop-motion/video song where he “played” a song by glomming together short clips of himself playing one note at a time. It was a lot of fun, and he’s done a whole lot of other songs like that, as well as other types of music videos using creative digital video effects.
This one song isn’t so much that kind of music, but it is interesting in the type of instrument he uses. He tied together a keyboard with various lengths of sticks at the end, which hit glasses with a certain amount of water in each in order to make a note. Kind of like the people who play glasses by rubbing the rim, except this is more staccato. It works really well, for the song “Brazilian Cups.” The music only lasts for the first half of the video, though.
Here’s a neat demonstration of vibration, frequency, standing waves and a whole lot of cool images, using nothing but salt, sound, a board, and an audio generator! I prefer this version with the music, but there’s a link on the page to the version with just the tones at the frequencies used.
Two years ago, Lady Gaga helped out the people of Japan after the Great East Japan Earthquake, and in recognition a pair of musicians, part of a Japanese group “Team Kozan,” created this music video, a cover of Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” using the traditional musical instruments of shakuhachi (flute) and koto (strings). They also got a pair of dancers to perform some of her dance moves in kimono, eventually joined by the shakuhachi player. Of course there’s other modern instruments accompanying them, but the combination is pretty good, and very catchy. I doubt that I’ll bother with the original, but this one is definitely worth the watch and listen.
I won’t make any jokes about “the flying burrito, brother” (too late!) but this was a pretty interesting video by the “Mythbusters” guys, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, and Canada’s coolest astronaut, Chris Hadfield, with help from chef Traci Des Jardin. The plan was to come up with something good to eat made with the ingredients available on the ISS. Chef Des Jardin figures out a way of making a beef burrito using the steak, tortillas, and beans that Commander Hadfield had access to. It’s neat to see how things work on Earth and how different the same things work without gravity, and how cruel it can be to watch people eat fresh fruit that you only get once every few months if you’re lucky!
On this Memorial Day, remember the fallen, the ones who gave everything for us, and remember the ones who have served and who are serving now, at home and far away.
