RenoVous

  Yesterday we had some red carpet from the event, and then I came across many posts about a particular performance. Incredible choreography. Yung Lean is a Swedish rapper, and GENER8ION is an electronic project of French producer, Surkin, and the video director, Romain Gavras. "Storm" is actually a two-part musical short film. His breakout was back in 2013. Followed by his debut album in 2014. Per the topic, it was Cardi B who won for Best Hip Hop Video. Madonna won for Best Choreography, but that included Damien Jalet, who had also been nominated for the "Storm" video.

 Maria Callas Born in 1923, she died on this day in 1977. When she was 13, she left her home in New York City to study in Athens, with the noted soprano Elvira de Hidalgo.  She was 24 when she landed her first major operatic role. Her talent was so strong that it allowed for the revival of 19th century bel canto works by Bellini and others that had not been performed for decades. "Bel canto" simply means "beautiful singing," but it is an operatic style and technique that focuses on smooth phrasing, pure tone, and vocal agility over dramatic expression. In 1954, she made her American debut in Norma. Vicenzo Bellini was born in 1801.  He composed his first opera in 1825.  In the following ten years of his life, he wrote 10 more.  While in Paris, he frequented a political salon, where he met Italian revolutionaries, and one Austrian exile who opposed domination of Italy. The latter would be his final librettist, Count Carlo Pepoli.  For his eight previous work...

  On this day in 1995, one of my favorite songs came out. It dominated the "9 at 9" on local radio, the most requested song for the rest of the year, it seemed. To this day, it's the first song I'll pick for karaoke. Shout-out to my Woman Crush, Michelle Pfeiffer, who starred in the movie this was attached to, Dangerous Minds. Coolio sampled from Stevie Wonder's 1976 song. I spent a few weeks back in 1996 visiting family in Middlebury, Indiana - it is part of an Amish community.  So I had the Weird Al version in my head the whole time. The videos were hot on MTV too, of course.

  The Erie Canal Soda Pop Festival in 1972, also known as the Bull Island Rock Festival, was a chaotic three day event that ended in fire and a few deaths. The promoters expected a crowd of 50,000 but they got 200,000.  Many bands pulled out of performing as the festival drifted into anarchy.  There was a total lack of sanitation and infrastructure.  Food, water, and security were in short supply from day one. The festival was originally planned to be held in Chandler, as the ticket states, but at the last minute local health officials blocked the event.  Crews had almost no time to relocate. And then there were heavy rains, which turned the entire campground into a disease-ridden mud pit.  The weather caused dangerous currents in the Wabash River, and three people drowned. On the final day, the remaining crowd rioted and burned the main stage to the ground. Due to these conditions, quality video of any performance is extremely rare.  Acts who stuck ar...

  First and foremost, today is the anniversary of her first solo album, 1981. As a kid I had a single on vinyl, and I still love this song. The B side. "Kind of woman that'll haunt you," I think speaks to her own enigmatic presence. She's mystical, witchy, bohemian, ethereal.... This was the third single from the album, and is considered her "signature solo anthem." Now let's go back to 1973, when she and her then boyfriend, Lindsey Buckingham released their first album as a duo, to little success.  In 1975, they joined Fleetwood Mac - which had started in 1967, with drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, as a British blues band. The self-titled 10th album was a global pop-rock hit. Her look, her sound, and her songwriting helped transform the band. Their next record, Rumours, would become one of the best-selling albums of all time.

  But a busy day for me. Back in 2016, Jack White's Third Man Records launched a "space-proof" turntable 94,000 feet up using a high-altitude balloon. The first vinyl to play in space was Symphony of Science composer John Boswell's song from Carl Sagan's Cosmos.

  Back in high school, my bestie took me along to see this at our local theater. Bob Fosse is considered the most influential figure in the field of jazz dance in the twentieth century.  The play is a showcase of his choreography, but we'll pull from the originals. "Big Spender" from Sweet Charity "Nowadays" and "Hot Honey Rag" from Chicago "Steam Heat" from The Pajama Game "Manson Trio" and "Glory" from Pippin "Mein Herr" , of course. And here he is performing "From This Moment On" from Kiss Me, Kate

 A Finnish symphonic metal band, currently composed of three classically trained cellists. Their first album, Apocalyptica Plays Metallica,  was released in 1996.  Just a couple years ago they released Volume 2. I bought one of their albums that includes other band covers (like Pantera) as well as a few originals. But this is the song I wanted. I hadn't looked into the newer covers though, so I was super stoked when they opened with this. From the first volume, this was the first Metallica song they played together. You can hear how much fuller their sound has gotten over the years, as they fully embraced neoclassical metal. It was a full Metallica set, and I had a great time. 🤘

 Eight years ago I played along with a Facebook share: "In no particular order - 10 albums that really made an impact and are still on your rotation list, even if only now and then." Here's a random selection. And of course.

 Born on this day in 1947, Sir Elton John (Reginald Dwight). His debut album was released in 1969.  The most popular song is "the first song Bernie and I ever got excited about that we wrote." His first hit in the UK came from his second album, in 1970. His first number one song in the US came in 1973. His most successful album was his seventh, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, which included what would later become his best-selling single in 1997. In 2021, he recorded a song with Dua Lipa, leading to him becoming the first artist to secure a top 10 single in six different decades.

 For all the conversation around Bad Bunny singing in Spanish, you'd think Americans have never accepted another language on the radio or screen. But obviously that's not true.  Notably, there have been Spanish hits, such as La Bamba, Macarena, and Despacito.  But there was also an Italian song in 1958, and Sergio Mendes in 1966. The first time a song sung entirely in Portuguese achieved success in the US. Sergio was born on this day in 1941, and died at the age of 83. He was a pioneering pianist and composer who revolutionized bossa nova - a genre of Brazilian music that blends traditional samba rhythms with cool jazz harmonies.  This was infused into his music even when English lyrics were used. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 2012 for Best Original Song. It should be noted, it is Carnival in Brazil.

From the movie Sinners  comes this Oscar-nominated song, written by Ludwig Goransson and Raphael Saadiq, performed by Miles Caton. Here they performed all together. Hailee Steinfeld played Mary, but she also wrote and sang a song for the soundtrack. Ludwig co-wrote a song with Brittany Howard. As well as Jerry Cantrell. This is an old Scottish/Irish folk song, dating back to the 1700's.  It was first recorded as "Wild Mountain Thyme" in 1957.

  Revolver and SPIN Magazine agreed in naming The Deftones as Artist of the Year. Kerrang! gave Album of the Year to Turnstile. On the pop side of things, Sabrina Carpenter was a top artist. Bad Bunny was top streamed, and he'll be the Super Bowl Halftime Show. The biggest song of the year. It's been used all over TikTok and other internet reels, and it's been stuck in my head most of the year, but another song was popular as well, and it's a throwback.

  Save Ferris!! They opened the show with a Kinks cover, but they have a couple seasonal songs of their own as well. But it wasn't all Christmas! Good times.

 10 years, Pa. A fan of Peanuts - and music, of course. I'm off today with Seester, to hit the record store and pick what we think he might have added to his own collection. I need to go through the vinyls though.  I know some of what he has, and things I expect that he has, but they're not in alphabetical order like the CDs are. The shelves may be static, but we keep his hobby alive. ❤️ I'll be back tomorrow before the Thanksgiving holiday. Share a song or two.

 Have you ever been? Released October 16, 1968, it was the third and final studio album for The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Hendrix received sole credit for production, and it is considered one of the greatest albums of all time. On this day, a particular record store refused to display the album due to the sleeve. Originally a double album, it was then released as two albums with changed artwork. Jimi had initially requested a specific photo be taken by Linda Eastman (later McCartney) which was only used for later releases. By mid-November the album had reached number 1 in the US. "All Along the Watchtower" was the band's best-selling single. But what's your favorite song?

  First, because Miss Universe has also been in the news, let's distinguish the two. Miss World was founded in 1951, emphasizing humanitarian efforts and the motto, "Beauty with a Purpose." Miss Universe was founded in 1952, focusing on global ambassadorship and the motto, "Confidently Beautiful." Each country holds its own national pageants in order to select the representative on the global stage. In Chile, contestant Ignacia Fernandez recently shared her talent. She is the lead singer of progressive death metal band, DECESSUS. Here's hoping she gets to represent Chile next year! The current Miss World was crowned in May, Suchata Chuangsri of Thailand. Recently, the Miss USA pageant was held here in Reno.  Miss Nebraska will compete for Miss Universe later this month.

  Prague, the capital of Czechia, which is celebrating an independence day today. Czechoslovakia was established in 1918 following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It had been the Kingdom of Bohemia since 1198, becoming crown land in 1867. The Czech Republic and Slovakia split in 1993. *** It was 1787, the night before the premiere of Don Giovanni  in Prague, and Mozart was still working on the overture.  With no time to rehearse, the orchestra had to sight-read in the concert hall.

  Facebook memories from a favorite local place that we miss dearly. They had the best shows. But my photos weren't all that great back in those days, action shots on stage, for example.... You can tell this guy from Larry and His Flask is wild with his bass though. I've mentioned the  Newsted  show before. For a bit there was a local band we really enjoyed seeing, Courtesy Call. Audio is rough on these, this one's best. We were supposed to see Fu Manchu one night, but a storm stopped them on the pass, so we enjoyed their opener, Electric Citizen. Good times, good memories.

  With many thanks to Eolone for introducing me to this to artist, I wanted to share my dive into his channel. Welsh singer/rapper-songwriter-musician, Ren. He has an ongoing saga of dark London tales, domestic violence and street crime. It started with Violet, to which he added Jenny and Screech. More recently he shared Vincent's Tale, with Richard's coming soon. From his album, Sick Boi .  The end made me cry. As you can tell, he's an amazing storyteller - a slam poet, a gifted guitarist.  He really makes you feel what he's delivering.  I am glad to have found him.