Coffee Klatch

I’ve often said that you know something/someone (especially comedy) has really arrived when they do Bohemian Rhapsody. That was true for Weird Al (“Bohemian Polka“), Gerry Phillips the Manualist, Dictionaroke, LEGO, The Ten Tenors, and even All Your Base Are Belong To Us. And Wayne’s World, of course.

Today thanks to a friend on Facebook, I found out THE MUPPETS did Bohemian Rhapsody also! What a riot! And they changed most of the words, so that took care of any questionable issues that would have arisen from the combination of Queen and Muppets. Here you go:

I’ve been a fan of Mannheim Steamroller since their first Christmas album came out in 1984. (Yes, even though their first FIVE Fresh Aire albums preceded their Christmas ones.) But it’s been a long time since I’ve bought a new Mannheim Steamroller CD. I think Fresh Aire 8 was my last purchase, and that came out in 2000.

One reason I haven’t bought more is that so many of the new CDs seem to only be compilations or outside the normal Mannheim Steamroller traditions. You can listen to excerpts on Amazon and also read reviews.

I finally broke down and bought Christmas Song, which came out in 2007. I am VERY pleased with this CD! Chip Davis describes it as his most “personal” recording project so far. Several of the songs are dedicated to his wife and children (individually), which is very cool. Be sure to read those (I especially liked “Elyse Navidad”).

Some of the tracks on this CD are strongly reminiscent of their very first Christmas CD, which is what made so many people fall in love with Mannheim Steamroller. Others are a bit more contemporary. Chip Davis also managed to get Johnny Mathis to sing Davis’ arrangement of “The Christmas Song” and Olivia Newton-John to sing the very personal and touching “Christmas Lullaby,” which now has words. Davis wrote that he’d intended to include words all along.

My favorite tunes out of the 12 on this CD: It Came upon the Midnight Clear, Catching Snowflakes on Your Tongue, Masters in this Hall, and Frosty the Snowman.

The best part: You can get this for A PENNY at Amazon.com (plus shipping). I paid a total of $3.01 for the CD! Check it out on Amazon!

If you’re a fan of Talk Like a Pirate Day, you’ll love this song. It’s by Tom Smith and it’s called “Talk Like a Pirate Day.” (Go figure!) It’s a well-written song all about celebrating this greatest of holidays and is full of piratey humor. You can download it from Amazon for 99 cents and you really NEED this song!! Here’s a link: Amazon.com

Celebrated choral and handbell conductor, loving family member, and loyal friend to many David R. Davidson lost his courageous battle with cancer in the early morning of Saturday, September 5, 2009.  I personally know many people who have worked with David as clinician and conductor and have only heard ever the best of him.

A wonderful tribute site has been hosted by the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers.

Erich Kunzel, a world-famous conductor and founder of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra has passed away from cancer at the age of 74. Here are some links to more information and memoriae about him.

Cincinnati Enquirer Obituary

ErichKunzel.com

Tribute from the Cincinnati Pops

Wikipedia Article & Bio

Today I got my Final Exam (it’s a take home) for the “History of Film Music” class that I’m taking this summer. It’s quite fun to have a professor with a sense of humor. One section of the exam is called “Really Long Essay Answers.” We have been told to answer two of the three following questions:

1. Discuss cartoon music /cartoon composers since the 1930′s/ also include more recent cartoons, animated films / problems, etc. associated, etc. etc.
2. Discuss three important European (not British, not Japanese) film composers:
   give film examples, stylistic characteristics, directors, etc. etc.
3. The hyper-collective unconscious parallel reunites an adverse universal fusion and re-generative archetype incursion into the subconscious urban nightmare paradigm. Address the multiple egocentric manifestations and secular dilemmas of this offset denouement occupation (ODO) theory as Akira Ifukube and Cher might have discussed it with Sigmund Freud, Salvador Dali, James Wong Howe, Edith Head and Mechagodzilla.

Isn’t that a riot?! Which two would you pick?

Today I came across several open-source programs for doing music notation and printing out music. These and many other free, open-source programs are described and linked at FossForUs. (That’s FOSS (Free Open-Source Software) for us.) Thanks for pointing me there, Topher!

Anyway, here are the links to the music notation programs:

http://musescore.org/
http://canorus.berlios.de/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
http://lilypond.org/web/
http://www.denemo.org/index.php/Main_Page

Aspiring super-villain Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris) wants to join the Evil League of Evil and win the girl of his dreams, but his nemesis, Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion), stops him at every turn in this three-part musical. The whole thing is actually 42 minutes long and is full of original music and unique humor.

I saw Andy Narell play a Steel Drum Concerto with the Columbus (IN) Symphony Orchestra back in the early 1990′s. He was very impressive because no matter how hard or complicated the music got, he just kept grooving, all relaxed and loose, with that little march-like step to keep his whole body in the beat.

Here are a couple videos of him playing in different venues, followed by a short video clip from a master class he taught. He seems at his best when he’s playing solo. Watching his effortless arpeggios and musicality is a real treat.