What are you listening to now ?

Katherine Cordova piano cover of "Myth" by Beach House...




If this doesn't move you emotionally, you're dead inside.
 
Back in 1990, I was working at a store in LA with a couple of guys who knew the manager of then very trendy night club on the Strip called Black & Blue. It was owned by Frank Stallone and Dolph Lungren and frequented by the "in" crowd. Once, in midweek, my friends worked out a deal where, as long as we could bring in a dozen people or so, we'd be able to get free for a band night (on weekends, it was mostly a dance club/restaurant) that was promoted by Wendy Dio. The music was all right and I was introduced to Wendy herself. The day after, I was asked if if had met Ronnie too. I didn't. Somehow, I managed to miss him. I did meet Scott Baio and Pamela Anderson that night, so the evening wasn't a total loss.

Nonetheless -

With Richie Blackmore and Rainbow.


Here with Black Sabbath.


With Viv Campbell, Rudy Sarzo and Vinnie Appice.



With the same lineup as in 1980 - Iommi, Butler, Appice

 
I'll See You On The Dark Side of the Moon...

Back in 1975, when "Wish you were here" came out, I was living far behind the Iron Curtain. Our fearless leaders banned most foreign music, horrified of the "corrupting influences of the Western culture", but the neighboring Poles openly played whatever was popular. The problem for me was that the AM signal only carried on a clear, cloud free night. I remember, one Wednesday, Radio Warszawa played the first half of the album (the above tune and "Welcome to the Machine") and I recorded it onto my reel-to-reel off the air. The next Wednesday, the weather didn't cooperate and I didn't record a darn thing. But the side I did manage to keep was played numerous time and everyone wondered where the heck I got such a clean copy. Even though it was in the AM Mono.
 
I bet you cherished that tape- played the oxide right off of it?

The downside being that you didn't have side B and Wish You Were Here, which might have made you wish you were... here?
 
I bet you cherished that tape- played the oxide right off of it?

The downside being that you didn't have side B and Wish You Were Here, which might have made you wish you were... here?

I had a decent selection of rock tapes for my age (elementary/jr/high school) and the general setting of the era. Most were 2nd-3rd generation copies off the smuggled records. T-Rex, Deep Purple, Sweet. Some I recorded off the air (VoA). None of that was available in a legitimate record/music store but there was an occasional Beatles, Stones, CCR, ABBA 7" (a 45 RPM size vinyl that was actually recorded at 33 and contained two songs per side) that could be found in selected stores.

And there were plenty of reasons - aside of the daft music selection ... or selection of daft music - to wish to be somewhere else. To wish otherwise would imply "Brain Damage" because that society made it hard to "Breathe". Just as importantly, my "Mother'" wanted to "Run like Hell" too because we were all tired of being treated like "Sheep". We needed to bide some "Time" though until I was out of high school or we might have been on "Thin Ice". The authorities, naturally, wanted to make it "Us and Them" but I said, "Hey, you", I want that "Great Gig in the Sky" and I am "Learning to Fly". When we left and it was a "Goodbye to the Cruel World" and there remained only "Empty Spaces". The regime warned us about "Burning Bridges" but, to us, they were still "Comfortably Numb".
 
So, I stumbled onto a few songs performed by Elizabeth Schwarzkopf ... and it kind of dawned on me that she may have been the greatest opera singer ever. At least, the German speaking one.

Here in Italian.


Franz Lehar's "Vilja" song.


More Lehar -


Puccini -


Verdi -


And, just in time for an early Christmas - (Silent Night" in German)

 
To wish otherwise would imply "Brain Damage" because that society made it hard to "Breathe". Just as importantly, my "Mother'" wanted to "Run like Hell" too because we were all tired of being treated like "Sheep". We needed to bide some "Time" though until I was out of high school or we might have been on "Thin Ice". The authorities, naturally, wanted to make it "Us and Them" but I said, "Hey, you", I want that "Great Gig in the Sky" and I am "Learning to Fly". When we left and it was a "Goodbye to the Cruel World" and there remained only "Empty Spaces". The regime warned us about "Burning Bridges" but, to us, they were still "Comfortably Numb".

Well played, sir!!! (at 33 or 45) At least you're no longer just another brick in the wall...
 
"Slowfox mit Mary" (Foxtrot with Mary) was written by Kalman for "Die Herzogin von Chicago" (The Duchess of Chicago) but is often added to other Kalman operettas. This is from the 1987 staging of "Gräfin Mariza", with Sandor Nemeth and Noëmi Nadelmann.

 
This was from a 2011 Russian show, where well known singers step out of their comfort zone and try an opera/operetta or a dance number.

 
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