I’m going to Hollywood!!!

Been waiting for this….

I have been waiting for more footage of him singing Ain’t No Sunshine for 3 years now. So awesome…oh, and if you want to listen to it over and over, watch this…

I’m feeling alright…

Awesome. Just awesome…

That’s what I miss. And Brian Less? He is fantastic!!

P is for performer…

O is for Over Reaching…

Oh Taylor…you’ve done it this time. Sometimes you just really crack me up.

Would that have been 2006?

N is for National Anthem

Taylor has sung the National Anthem so many times that he’s gotten really good at it.

and finally….

Here’s a little history lesson for you….

Francis Scott Key was a gifted amateur poet. Inspired by the sight of the American flag flying over Fort McHenry the morning after the bombardment, he scribbled the initial verse of his song on the back of a letter. Back in Baltimore, he completed the four verses (PDF) and copied them onto a sheet of paper, probably making more than one copy. A local printer issued the new song as a broadside. Shortly afterward, two Baltimore newspapers published it, and by mid-October it had appeared in at least seventeen other papers in cities up and down the East Coast.

This 19th century version (MP3) of the Star-Spangled Banner was performed on original instruments from the National Museum of American History’s collection. Arranged by G. W. E. Friederich, the music is played as it would have been heard in 1854.
The Star-Spangled Banner

O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
’Tis the star-spangled banner – O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

American Idol Rewind

War

Oh, let’s count the cliches…

Just do me a favor. Just read this. Let’s have a contest. The winner will be the one who finds the most cliches…and who wants to place a bet on whether a Soul Patroller wrote this or not?

And sometimes a song is worth a thousand words:

or this:

Random thoughts…

My ADD is in high gear today, so I’m just going to throw some thoughts out there.

1. What is the big hubbub over Idletard? It’s gone. Good riddance. I got over people like that a long time ago.

2. Is the balloon boy hoax more harmful to the American public than Taylor Hicks’ hoax that he’s going to bring “real music back to fucking pop music”?

3. Don’t hate my brilliance.

4. I have decided that Taylor Hicks fans need a sense of humor. Somewhere, somehow, their collective sense of humor got lost. He’s a reality TV winner. I mean, let’s not go choosing our lottery numbers by his birthday or anything. That being said, it’s not blasphemy when I post about other musicians. Expanding horizons are a good thing. Expanding waistlines, not so much.

5. When did grownups start thinking Halloween was for them? Martha Stewart and Southern Living Magazine did not invent Halloween.

6. I’ll close here by saying I have never forced any staff members of this blog to sleep with me to keep their job. Granted, it’s just me…but I’m not pulling a Letterman.

Atchafalaya by Spoonful James

Every once in a while, Quinn Borland throws me a bone, so to speak, sending me video and links of Spoonful James’ new work. Yesterday, I got an email from Quinn with the link to this video. As the first notes drifted out of the speakers, I immediately fell in love with this song.

On a summer’s night, when we first met
In a little town near Lafayette
Your black eyes I can’t forget
Lookin’ straight through me I was soakin’ wet

You asked my name could you get my number
About that time I heard him thunder
Your father spoke as if to threat
He said keep away from that Juliet

Chorus:
I used to meet you down in Atchafalaya
Down on the levee overlookin’ the bayou
There’s Spanish moss in a cypress tree
I felt close to God when it was you and me (2x)

We’d steal away dance all night
To Evangeline in three quarters moonlight
Only mine I wanted you to be
But your daddy wouldn’t stand for a poor boy like me

But you came to me through the fog of the water
You knew much more than just a poor man’s daughter
We took our chances on rendezvous
You came to me I came to you

(repeat chorus)

On a rainy night cold winter’s weather
You just gave up on us ever bein’ together
You took your life like lovers do
Think I’ll do the same so I can be with you

And I can meet you down in Atchafalaya
Down on the levee overlookin’ the bayou
There’s Spanish moss in a cypress tree
We’ll be close to God you and me (3x)

This song is haunting, and the lyrics, written by Tony Brook, are captivating. A song about lovers unable to be together in life, they decide that death is the only answer.

Quinn said, “We’ve never done a song like this and when we started rehearsing it we all knew it was definitely the right song for us to do.” I have to completely agree. Even though this is just a video of the band rehearsing the song, there is something about it that makes me want to watch and listen to it over and over. Taylor Hicks, take note. This is good music.

Also, check out Tony Brook. Spoonful James are big fans of his, so he’s got to be good.