I’m recirculating this one. I have added an extra treat below, complete with the live and red hot Salvador Dali. 😉
I absolutely adore this guy. To me, he is the greatest guitarist who ever lived. Born in a Gypsy Gitano caravan in southern France, Manitas de Plata became famous for his guitar work at a young age. Upon hearing him play in 1964, Pablo Picasso is said to have exclaimed “that man is of greater worth than I am!” and proceeded to draw on the guitar. An American manager obtained a booking for him to play a concert in Carnegie Hall in New York in December 1965.
In New York, Manitas de Plata, who was illiterate, represented Europe at the yearly gala of the United Nations.
He still tours and he is one of the fathers of the Gipsy Kings, a fabulous group of musicians enjoyed the world over. This is a bit long, but it does not take long to get a feel for his tremendous gift. Enjoy!
(rolls eyes)Â Here goes Steve with the weird music again……………
It’s about sound. Sound is a sense.
I always loved this guy’s music! Joe Zawinul died at 76 – two years ago now. The live performance included here was done in 2007, I believe, with members who are somewhat different to me. I know most of the guys, just not all. The bassist, Linley Marthe is my version of maybe the ‘best ever’.
Anyway, Zawinul was experimental and a virtuoso. Here he plays with sound like few others. Innovative, different, somewhat jazzy, give it some time and let it grow on you while you listen. The best players in the world played with Joe Zawinul. Please give a listen. You might like it.
I’m going to slip this weirdness into my Landscaping Blog, simply because I can, I guess. Like everyone else in the wide wide world, I like sharing. This has as much relation to landscaping as the Man in The Moon, but…………… I have always thought comedy and those who make it deserve a special place in our lives.
This blogger has decided to take yet more advantage of pure selfishness and display not only his wanton lust for the comic geniuses who have walked the stage and screen, but to date myself as well. Cursed with an excellent memory, I can remember watching such persons as Sid Ceasar, Steve Allen and this guy – Ernie Kovacs – as they first began appearing on television. Yes, we’re talking the mid 50’s, before color TV, even. I remember making an absolute ass out of myself amid my family, laughing pretty much out of control at Don Knotts and Louie Nye on the Steve Allen Show – or Imogene Coca and Howie Morris on Sid Ceasar. But this guy – Kovacs – honestly sent me like no other.
I watched the recent Kennedy Center Honors Show with my Mother where they featured Mel Brooks, among others. He wrote for Sid Ceasar back in the day and, especially with the interviews of the famous “2,000 Year Old Man”, it shows. 😉
It made me investigate the older realms of TV comedy, back when everything was new. You can see the experimental attitude even in this clip. The guys on the set laugh, lol. Live TV was a trip. Sometimes, the regulars at places like Steve Allen or Ceasar wouldn’t be able to finish their lines becasue they couldn’t control their giggles – wonderfully unprofessional and just about a riot.
Anyway, next to Robin Williams, Richard Pryor and Jonathon Winters, Kovacs always represented the height of comedy to me. Subtle, incomplete, almost Lenny Bruce-like in his ability to change skin, here he gives us the famous fop – Percy Dovetails – live from his fabulous Poetry Palace. He’s a Laureate!!!!
OK. How many readers know of this artist? I’m thinking not many, which is almost too bad.
Me likey Laurie.
Besides, this is my blog. I’m issuing orders in here. No gardening today. Take a few and relax with this odd bird.
She’s still performing, actually. It turns out she was in Tel Aviv this past Summer, touring with Lou Reed. Laurie Anderson was the Underground’s Underground Queen during the 80’s and 90’s. Sometimes obscure, always challenging, she was a performance artist in New York City, operating very much in the background of popular music – a place she essentially stayed for, well, pretty much ever. But she has attracted a wide range of co-performers, from William Burroughs to David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush and Brian Eno.
I always saw a love of music and beauty in her work, intermixed with challenging modern images. She is lyrical as she can be, melodic to the max, with just a few bumps along the road. Unconventional, gorgeous to look at as a young artist with no cares and extremely talented, Laurie Anderson will delight and make you think at the same time.
When music all seems to be boxed up in prepared ways, it’s refreshing to see naked talent, playing around on the edges of propriety and convention. We need people like Laurie Anderson, whether we like it – or know it – or not. Here’s “Gravity’s Angel”:
