Though its sonic palette doesn’t strike me as particularly æstival, The Hollies’ “Bus Stop” is, in fact, a summer song, and one I have loved for as long as I can remember. If music is, as I believe, about conflict and resolution, then two things make the song special: first, the Picardy third coming out of the instrumental break; and, second, the vocal harmonies in the section that follows:
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And we can be glad to learn that, somewhat atypically, the speaker’s love lasts even when summer doesn’t.
My Beloved Rays are once again alone at the top of the American League – the first time since 12 June. It helps that the Hated Yankees have lost two games in a row to Toronto. But more than anything the Rays are just playing great baseball, including against New York, winning last weekend’s series in St. Petersburg.
B.J. Upton, a player I’ve been known to badmouth, has really stepped up lately, and his performance tonight shut me up. His three-run home run won the game, and Sean Rodriguez’s long ball gave the game good momentum early. I had until recently been dismayed by the way the Rays had been leaving so many runners on base, and how their bats had been quiet, but these recent games show them improving in that regard. Good ball tonight!
I normally do not care one bit about “the latest internet sensation”, or which videos have “gone viral”. But Miriam knows what I like, and yesterday she showed me a video that has me amazed and is totally worth watching, whatever limited free time you may have.
Actually, it’s two videos. The first is simply a local news report about an attempted rape in the projects. That’s not very funny in and of itself. But the victim’s brother has a lot to say, and his expressiveness and odd word choice is mildly entertaining. Still, this isn’t what is so great, but you must watch this video first in order to appreciate the second one.
In the second video, someone has seen the entertainment value in this gentleman’s manner of speaking, and, using computer magic, turned it into a great R&B song. I don’t know how they did it, but it is amazing. (The good stuff ends at 1:15.)
HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA – This summer I have watched nearly every Tampa Bay Rays game, missing only those that took place while I was away in Virginia, and a few on evenings when Miriam and I were enjoying a night on the town. I have spent upwards of twelve hours per week all summer watching Rays baseball.
I am visiting friends in south Florida for a couple days this week, and while we enjoyed a relaxing dip in the pool last night, Matt Garza pitched the first no hitter in Tampa Bay Rays history against Detroit, and I missed it. Judging from history, they’ll have several no hitters and two perfect games thrown against them before a Rays pitcher has another such performance.
When I was a kid we had something called MTV. It was great – like our favorite radio station, but with pictures. Every big hit song was likely to have a corresponding music video, and these videos became popular in their own right. “Take on Me”, “Sledgehammer”, and “Money for Nothing” were good songs on the radio, but their videos were amazing, and people really paid attention to them. I recall that a “world premiere” video was a big deal, and kids would wait around all afternoon to see it. Many of these videos still stick in my mind, even after most people forgot the songs they went to. Do you remember “Yankee Rose”?
MTV connected with kids because it was on when kids wanted it. Every afternoon after school, on weekends, all summer, MTV was there with videos, and almost everyone I know watched it every day.
MTV doesn’t exist anymore. Sure, I understand that there is a channel called “MTV”, but it isn’t “Music Television”. There may even be “MTV2″ or “MTV [Whatever]“, but videos don’t seem to matter to anybody anymore – at least not like they used to. MTV cannot be blamed for that, I suppose, since cable television in those days consisted of maybe thirty channels, and, as the only station of its kind, it had a captive audience it cannot take for granted today.
Still, if you were a kid in the 1980s, and you had MTV, you almost certainly remember the video for The Cars’ “Magic”. This is the MTV I miss.