2000s – Page 7 – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Paul McCartney – Nashville July 26, 2010

Paul McCartney came to Nashville in 1974 to record some and promised he would be back to actually play live…well he did although it was 36 years later. 2010 was his first Nashville concert ever. The closest the Beatles got to Nashville was in Memphis in 1966.

A year after he came to Nashville in 1974 I became a very young Beatles fan. Read everything, listened to everything that I could get my hands on, and saw what limited things I could. In the 80s I got to see some of the rooftop Let It Be concert on MTV. It was like the pictures I’d seen coming to life…it made it real…or as real as it got to me.

When the Paul McCartney concert was announced in spring of 2010… I bought tickets right away. I just knew something would happen. The concert would be postponed or something awful would happen…there was no way I was going to see him. My wife, my son Bailey, and I had tickets. Sure enough…on the night of the concert…just a couple of hours before it started… a tornado did damage in Nashville (no injuries) and a warning was out for downtown. While we were there and I just knew…so this is how it’s all going to end…me with a McCartney ticket in my hand.

Waiting at the venue…McCartney came on an hour late to wait for all the warnings to die down. When he came on I was pretty much in shock…all the years reading, watching, and listening to the guy…he wasn’t yet real until he broke into “Venus and Mars” an old Wings song. I was 43 and I felt like a 12 year old kid and I was full of emotion. When he started his first Beatles song of the night…All My Loving…it was even more emotion. This is the man who played with Lennon, Harrison, and Starr at the Cavern Club, Hamburg, and all over the world.

I always was jealous of my friends who liked modern bands…who could just go and see them in concert when we were younger and buy their new records. Most of the bands I grew up liking had broken up or changed years ago.

The concert was worth the wait.

This was Bailey’s first concert…his second was Ringo, third was Paul McCartney again, and fourth was The Who…I told him he was lucky…my first concert was REO Speedwagon…no offense to them but there is no comparison. Jennifer actually got to see Elvis for her first concert…when she was a small child in 1976 in West Virginia…

Paul played around three hours of solo, Wings, Fireman, and of course Beatles songs. With as many songs as Paul has…he could have played most of the night without repeating a song. I saw him again in 2014 and again he was great and added a few more songs… but nothing will beat that first time.

Setlist for July 26, 2010

Venus and Mars
Rock Show
Jet
All My Loving
Letting Go
Got to Get You Into My Life
Highway (The Fireman Song)
Let Me Roll It
The Long and Winding Road
Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five
Let ‘Em In
My Love
I’m Looking Through You
Tequila (The Champs cover)
Two of Us
Blackbird
Here Today
Dance Tonight
Mrs. Vanderbilt
Eleanor Rigby
Ram On
Something
Sing the Changes (The Fireman song)
Band on the Run
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Back in the U.S.S.R.
I’ve Got a Feeling
Paperback Writer
A Day in the Life / (With Give Peace A Chance Snippet)
Let It Be
Live and Let Die
Hey Jude

Encore:
Day Tripper
Lady Madonna
Get Back

Encore 2:
Yesterday
Helter Skelter
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
The End

Amy Winehouse – Rehab…Drug Reference Week

I really liked Winehouse when I first heard her. She combined a retro-soul sound with the 2000s.

Her previous management company wanted her to go into rehab but she said she didn’t need to. Her father agreed, adding that she wasn’t an alcoholic but had been drinking too much because she was lovesick.

The song is heartbreaking in a lot of ways. Winehouse did a few stints in rehab to treat her drug and alcohol addiction, but it was ultimately unsuccessful. She was found dead in her London home on July 23, 2011, of alcohol poisoning. She was one of the most influential singers of the 2000s.

The song peaked at #9 in the Billboard 100, #8 in the UK, #10 in Canada in 2007.

This won a Grammy for Song Of The Year, Female Pop Vocal Performance and Record Of The Year. Winehouse also won for Best New Artist, and performed a medley of songs that were televised from London. Mark Ronson won for producer of the year.

Amy Winehouse: “With ‘Rehab’ I was walking down the street with Mark Ronson, who produced my last album. I just sang the hook out loud. It was quite silly really.”

“Yeah, I sang the whole line exactly as it turned out on the record! Mark laughed and asked me who wrote it because he liked it. I told him that I’d just made it up but that it was true and he encouraged me to turn it into a song, which took me five minutes. It wasn’t hard. It was about what my old management company wanted me to do.”

At only 27 years old, she joined the “27 Club,” which I hope ends it’s membership…it has too many members as it is.

From Songfacts

This song is autobiographical. Many successful musicians are haunted by their own personal demons of drink and drugs, and Winehouse is no exception. In February 2007 her father gave a candid interview to the Sun newspaper in which he denied that his daughter was an alcoholic, although he admitted that like many single women of her age she sometimes overdid the drink. On one occasion, after splitting up with her boyfriend, she fell over and hit her head.

On August 14, 2007, Winehouse entered The Causeway Retreat, a rehab center in Essex, England, with her new husband (and fellow addict), Blake Fielder. Addiction specialists know that admitting a couple to rehab together is a bad idea, but The Causeway was not an ethical institution: it was shut down amid a host of violations in 2010.

In the documentary Amy, Fielder is shown at the facility badgering Winehouse, putting a video camera to her face and asking her to sing “the new, updated version of ‘Rehab,'” presumably making a joke out of it. She refuses.

This won the 2007 Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song.

Backstage at the Grammy ceremony Mark Ronson recalled to Billboard magazine what it was like playing “Rehab” for Winehouse’s A&R for the first time. “About the first 15 seconds in, he said ‘Rewind, rewind!’ I didn’t think there would be dollar signs lighting up.”

The lines, “I’d rather be at home with Ray” and “There’s nothing you can teach me that I can’t learn from Mr. Hathaway” are references to two of Winehouse’s soul music inspirations: Ray Charles and Donny Hathaway. Hathaway is best known for his duets with Roberta Flack: “Where Is The Love?” and “The Closer I Get To You.”

Winehouse’s label Island Records originally didn’t foresee this song’s success. Island Records president Darcus Beese explained in a Genius annotation:

“When ‘Rehab’ dropped it was just like a newspaper being lit. I wasn’t expecting this song to be the one that did it. We wanted to come in with a cool angle. We thought putting Ghostface Killa on ‘You Know I’m No Good’ would be the big hit. It wasn’t until people heard ‘Rehab’ that they really got it.”

Winehouse was backed by they Brooklyn band The Dap-Kings on this track – longtime fan Mark Ronson hired them. The group, who typically recorded with vocalist Sharon Jones, ended up joining Winehouse on her 2007 US tour. Jones seemed to be left in the lurch, but the wave of interest in Winehouse drew attention to Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, earning them many new fans.

Rehab

They tried to make me go to rehab
I said, “no, no, no”
Yes, I been black
But when I come back, you’ll know, know, know
I ain’t got the time
And if my daddy thinks I’m fine
He’s tried to make me go to rehab
I won’t go, go, go

I’d rather be at home with a Ray
I ain’t got seventy days
‘Cause there’s nothing, there’s nothing you can teach me
That I can’t learn from Mr. Hathaway

I didn’t get a lot in class
But I know we don’t come in a shot glass

[Chorus]

The man said, “why do you think you here?”
I said, “I got no idea.”
I’m gonna, I’m gonna lose my baby
So I always keep a bottle near
He said, “I just think you’re depressed.”
This, me, yeah, baby, and the rest

They tried to make me go to rehab
But I said, “no, no, no”
Yes, I been black
But when I come back, you’ll know, know, know

I don’t ever want to drink again
I just, oh, I just need a friend
I’m not gonna spend ten weeks
Have everyone think I’m on the mend

And it’s not just my pride
It’s just till these tears have dried

[Chorus]

U2 – Vertigo

Uno, dos, tres, catorce

I remember seeing this in commercials before I heard the song…I knew times were changing. It had been a little while at that time since I really liked a new U2 song…this one I really did.

The song peaked at #31 in the Billboard 100, #2 in Canada, #1 in the UK, and #5 in New Zealand in 2004. It was on the album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and it peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, Canada, The UK, and New Zealand.

This won three Grammy Awards: Best Rock Song, Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal and Best Short Form Music Video.

Adam Clayton: “Bono and Edge rewrote it when we started work with Steve Lillywhite. The bass and drums have a little bit of Echo & the Bunnymen in there – a nice wink to where we came from.”

From Songfacts

Vertigo is a sensation of dizziness or a feeling of disorientation. It can be a serious medical condition, but in the context of this song, it seems to be about opening your mind and looking at things in a different way.

This was used in commercials as part of a big promotional deal with Apple. The commercials, where many people first heard the song, promoted Apple’s iPod. Apple also released a special-edition iPod with the signatures of the band members engraved on the back, and made the entire U2 catalog along with special bonus tracks available for download at iTunes for $150.

U2 made many high-profile appearances to promote the album, including performances on Saturday Night Live and the Grammy Awards. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, U2 often stayed away from these kind of appearances to avoid the feeling of commercialism, but by the 2000s, it became clear that these appearances were crucial if U2 was going to continue selling millions of albums and fill arenas.

This song is notorious for its intro, in which Bono says “Uno, dos, tres, catorce,” which is “1, 2, 3, 14” in Spanish. One theory is that Bono was directing listeners to The Bible: 1st Testament, 2nd Book, 3rd Chapter, 14th verse – “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Another theory is that he did it because How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb was U2’s 14th album.

Vertigo is the name of a popular 1958 movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

U2 played this when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.

This song was ruthlessly parodied on the South Park episode “More Crap.” The plot of the episode revolved around the character Randy Marsh breaking the world record for largest piece of crap, which was previously held by Bono. Bono is featured throughout the episode trying to beat, and then preserve this record. Almost everywhere he goes (including poor nations in Africa) he sings run around pointing and singing his “yeah, yeah, yeah” outro of “Vertigo.” He also answers his cell phone with the “Hello, hello” part of the chorus. >>

This was originally called “Native Son” and had a very different feel. Adam Clayton explained to Q Magazine November 2004:

Adam Clayton said of this album: “It’s very much a guitar record, ‘Vertigo,’ ‘Love and Peace,’ ‘City of Blinding Lights,’ ‘All Because of You’ – all pretty up, rocky tunes. A lot of them are a kick-back to our very early days, so it’s like with each year we have gathered a little bit more and this is what we are now.”

Vertigo

Unos, dos, tres, catorce
Turn it up loud, captain

Lights go down, it’s dark
The jungle is your head, can’t rule your heart
A feeling’s so much stronger than a thought
Your eyes are wide and though your soul, it can’t be bought
Your mind can wander

Hello, hello (hola)
I’m at a place called Vertigo (¿dónde está?)
It’s everything I wish I didn’t know
Except you give me something
I can feel, feel

The night is full of holes
‘Cause bullets rip the sky of ink with gold
They twinkle as the boys play rock and roll
They know that they can’t dance, at least they know
I can’t stand the beat, I’m asking for the check
Girl with crimson nails has Jesus around her neck
Swinging to the music, swinging to the music (whoa, whoa)
(Whoa, whoa, whoa)

Hello, hello (hola)
I’m at a place called Vertigo (¿dónde está?)
It’s everything I wish I didn’t know
But you give me something
I can feel, feel

Checkmate
Jazz funk
Show made it in, yeah

All of this, all of this can be yours
All of this, all of this can be yours
All of this, all of this can be yours
Just give me what I want and no one gets hurt

Hello, hello (hola)
We’re at a place called Vertigo (¿dónde está?)
Lights go down, and all I know
Is that you give me something
I can feel your love teaching me how
Your love is teaching me how
How to kneel
Kneel

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Peter Green (1946-2020)

Peter Green has passed away at age 73. I’ve been listening to that version of Fleetwood Mac a lot lately and he was a great guitar player and songwriter.

https://www.nme.com/news/music/fleetwood-mac-co-founder-peter-green-died-2715066

Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green has died at the age of 73.

His family have confirmed his death in a statement released by solicitors Swan Turton, who are acting on their behalf.

“It is with great sadness that the family of Peter Green announce his death this weekend, peacefully in his sleep,” the statement read. “A further statement will be provided in the coming days.”

The guitarist was born in London on October 29, 1946. He played in several bands after beginning to play professionally at the age of 15, including Bobby Dennis And The Dominoes, and The Muskrats.

In 1965, he met drummer Mick Fleetwood while a member of Peter B’s Looners, with whom he would go on to form Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac alongside guitarist Jeremy Spencer. John McVie later replaced Bob Brunning on bass and the band released their self-titled debut album in February 1968.

Mad and Cracked Magazine…a quick look

To those that it applies…Happy Independence Day! I’ll have a couple of songs coming up related to Independence Day.

I never got into comic books like Marvel or DC…I would save up my allowance for Cracked and Mad magazine…and records of course. Mad Magazine was by far the most popular out of all of the satire comic magazines. William Gaines was the publisher of Mad magazine and was brilliant.

1952 – Present…now you an only get Mad from Comic Book Shops or order it. The new editions consist of mostly material from their archive.

Cracked was known as the poor man’s Mad but I still liked it and the magazines shared some writers and artists through the years. I bought my first Cracked Magazine when Mad was sold out but I never missed an issue after that.

1958-2007 Now the name is alive on a website but no longer a comic.

Alfred E Newman and Sylvester P. Smythe

Don Martin was my favorite artist. He was one of Mad’s most famous artists. He was there from 1956 to 1988. He was known as “Mads Maddest Artist” and then moved to Cracked and was jokingly known as “Cracked’s Crackedest Artist.”

Fellow Cracked artist Dan Clowes: “As far as I could tell, he was happy, don’t think he ever seemed to notice that Mad was respected, whereas Cracked was loathed.”

The Like – I Can See It In Your Eyes —-Powerpop Friday

I featured this band a few months ago. Elizabeth Anne “Z” Berg the singer and guitarist wrote this song. It’s on the album Release Me which was released in 2010.

The band has some cool power pop songs. They were formed in Los Angeles in 2001 and unfortunately have been on an indefinite hiatus since 2013.

The Like’s lineup consisted of Z Berg (vocals and guitar), Tennessee Thomas (drums), Laena Geronimo (bass), and Annie Monroe (organ). The band released three extended plays (EPs) and two studio albums.

Their influences were The Kinks, Beatles, Dylan, Motown, and The Who. Also the Motown sound of the 60s.

Now the lead singer “Z Berg” is fronting a band called the Phases.

Z Berg interview in 2005: We timed this band perfectly so we’d never have to get a job. We started the band when we were all 15, and once we started, we were in school for the next three years and worked on the band during the summer and weekends. There was no real way to argue with it because we were playing shows, touring, and working a lot. So the worse day job I’ve ever had is being in a band, which is pretty lucky so far.

I Can See It In Your Eyes

Knock knock knock, you’re knocking
On my window last night
This fire’s been out for some time
You told me it was over with her
That’s not quite right
You said I was your life
So be min, so be mineThings are rough enough
Won’t you toughen up
Please just make up your mind
How could I be so blindI can see it in your eyes
I can see it in your eyes
When you lie
I see it in your eyesYou’ll never leave her will you, baby? I understand
You’ll never grow up, or be a man
And I’d wait a thousand years for you
But this I demand
Just tell me where I stand
Take my hand, I know you canShe keeps calling me
I can’t take it
She thinks I’m really her friend
I think we’re near in the endI can see it in your eyes
I can see it in your eyes
When you lie
I see it in your eyes

So crooked mouths speak crooked words
That ruin you for other girls
I don’t know how to conjugate a lie
My crooked eyes have crooked tears,
You turned the tables on me, dear
I was so shocked I couldn’t even cry

I can see it in your eyes
Yes, I see it in your eyes
When you lie
I see it in your eyes
Yeah, I see it in your eyes
I can see it in your eyes

Ken Osmond (Eddie Haskell) 1943-2020

Ken Osmond who portrayed Eddie Haskell on “Leave It To Beaver” has passed away at age 76. I grew up watching this show after school in syndication in the late 70s.

After watching it again as an adult…I see that it was a well-written show from a child’s point of view. Ken Osmond played Eddie Haskell…who was the pot-stirrer on the show and he was needed. He kept it from becoming too sweet…plus we all know an Eddie Haskell or two.

RIP Ken Osmond.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ken-osmond-dead-mischievous-eddie-haskell-leave-it-beaver-was-76-1246683

Columbo

I remember Columbo well when I was a kid but I never watched it much…until the lockdown that we all are going through. Now I know why this show was popular. A detective show that shows you “who done it” before you are into it for 10 minutes. You get enjoyment out of seeing how Columbo can find the killer. Back in the early seventies…Columbo was one of the most popular characters on television.

Peter Falk played Columbo for 35 years and in five different decades (1968-2003) counting the pilots. He looked like a walking unmade bed but was brilliant at solving cases. He would pester his suspect to death…very polite with “I’m sorry” and the main phrase as he was walking away…”There’s just one more thing.” that is followed by “There’s something that bothers me” and so on.

The killer would end up confessing or probably wanting to beg for jail simply to escape him.

The show lasted for 69 episodes. Each episode was over an hour long. It was part of The NBC Mystery Movie program that worked on a rotating basis – one per month from each of its shows. The shows were McMillian and Wife, McCloud, Hec Ramsey, and Columbo. Columbo was taken off the air in the late seventies but came back on the air in the eighties.

Falk had to wear a glass eye because his eye was taken out because of a tumor when he was 3 years old. That made Columbo’s trademark squint. He wore his raincoat and later on had a basset hound. Stories of his wife were always at hand all the while studying his suspect to see if they would slip.

Falk really made that role. If you get a chance to see it…try it. The stories are interesting and you will see some stars you might have forgotten about.

Falk died on June 23, 2011, aged 83.

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Janglin’

Alex Ebert and Jade Castrinos starting this hippie type band in 2007. The consisted of 10-12 members at once. They tried to have a so-called campfire feel. If a musician messed up that was alright. Musicians would drop and reappear on a tour. They had one song that got a ton of airplay called Home in 2010.

This song resembles Instant Karma by John Lennon.

Janglin’ was used in commercials and it spiked its popularity in 2010.

In 2014, the band parted ways with Jade Castrinos, changing the dynamic of the band considerably…she and Ebert had broken up.

The band is named after a character from a novel Ebert was writing – Edward Sharpe is an otherworldly figure who comes to Earth to offer enlightenment to the masses, but finds himself getting distracted by the beautiful women.

Most listeners who weren’t buying this hippie vibe agreed that it was convincing, and even after they found an audience with this song, Ebert stayed steady to his creed, often blurring the lines between Edward Sharpe and his true self.

Janglin’

Well our mama’s they left us
And our daddy’s took a ride
And we walked out of the castle
And we held our head up high
Well we once were the Jesters
In your Kingdom by the sea
And now we’re out to be the masters
For to set our spirits free – set free

[Chorus]
We Want to feel ya!
We don’t mean to kill ya!
We come back to Heal ya – Janglin soul
Edward and the Magnetic Zeros

Well your wartime is Funny
Your guns don’t bother me
I said we’re out to prove the truth of
The man from Galilei
Well your laws are for Dummies, yes
Your institutions dead
I say we’re out to blow the trumpet
To wake you all from bed – from bed

[Chorus]

We carry the mail
We carry it home
We carry the Mail now
We carry it home
Scare up your Letters
Give us your Tails
Blowing like Whale now to
Magnetic Ears
WOW!

Quick Martha Update part 2

We got her October the 4th and she was 7 months old March 18, 2020. She is like a teenager right now….a big body with a toddler’s mind. She loves grabbing a shoe…not both but one…taking off with it. Many mornings I’ve had to search for my other shoe because of her shenanigans. She is getting much better about chewing…she doesn’t do it much if any now.

She wants to play 24 hours a day though. Our other Saints were much calmer when they were her age but she is starting to slowly calm down just a little bit. Sometimes though when she is full of energy you brace yourself and get ready for the adventure. She still has a lot of growing to do and so far so good.

I will update again when she is a year old.

Martha at 2 months old…Oct 4

Martha at 3 Months old

Martha at 4 Months old

Martha at 7 months and 8 days in our driveway…March 26, 2020

World Upside Down

Well, this post isn’t about pop culture…but come to think of it… in time, this will be part of it. In years to come, anniversary articles of the coronavirus of 2020 will be posted. We are living in a time that will be in history books one day.

You sure learn a lot about human nature in times like this. Go into a grocery store and if someone coughs… it’s like the old EF Hutton commercials…everyone stops and looks. In the south where I live…I can see people wanting to be nice and expressive…but they stop themselves and move on. It’s like we are living in a TV Movie of the Week right now.

Who would think that going shopping would take a tactical military movement? I guess at this time we do have future pop-culture items like Lysol, wipes, and toilet paper (if you’re lucky) that will remind us of the spring of 2020…hopefully the memory will stop there.

We have learned… Don’t touch your face (that can be hard), be sure to cough in the bend of your arm… not your hand (really hard), and you need to wash your hands before you…do anything…we are learning all sorts of new things.

How long will this go on? Will we learn to appreciate things? Like going to a movie, baseball game, concert, or even a…I don’t know…a simple trip to a store without avoiding everyone.

This is allergy season for some people like me. Itchy eyes, runny nose, sore throat equals instant paranoia…hmmm is this a symptom? Is that a symptom? This makes you long for the old days… uh…about 3 weeks ago. Traveling without a worry. When this ends…what is the first thing you will do?

Right now…I’m breaking out my 1970s tv shows, movies, books, music, and…washing my hands.

I’ll leave you with the Steelers – Cowboys Superbowl from 1979… Why? Because it was one of the great Superbowls and just to see people gathered together again without that other phrase we have learned… social distancing.

Tornadoes in Nashville

I was driving to work this morning oblivious to the world around me listening to an audiobook. I got a call from the Mother In Law asking if I was ok. I was confused but she then told me about tornadoes on the ground in Nashville last night.

I live around 20 miles outside of Nashville in a small county. We had bad weather last night but nothing like that. I started to run into traffic and I saw huge tree branches on the interstate.

I got to work this morning and found out they touched down around 2-3 miles from where I work. I’ve seen a few buildings destroyed and it is heartbreaking to witness this. Over 40,000 are out of power and right now the death toll is 22 on the last report that I heard. In 1998 a tornado went through downtown Nashville.

This is the worst damage Nashville has had since the 2010 flood.

Where is…The original Death Star model from Star Wars now?

It’s unbelievable how close this famous movie prop came to being lost.

The model used in the film along with some other props were thought to be garbage after the movie finished filming.

Many of the props were kept in a facility called Dollar Moving and Storage. The storage unit was rented by the studio and upon completion of postproduction, the studio decided they no longer wanted to pay rent and ordered everything in storage to be discarded. An employee named Doug W. rescued many of the props from the garbage including the Death Star. In a world before ebay…who knows what was lost.

Doug displayed the Death Star in his home in California for about a decade. Around 1988, Doug moved to Missouri and stored the Death Star at his mother’s antique shop (Sutter’s Mill Antiques, later renamed The Mexican Hillbilly) in Missouri.

Todd Franklin, a Star Wars collector living in the area, drove by the antique shop and was immediately convinced it had to be the original Death Star model. Todd wondered how and why the original Death Star was in Missouri. He made some calls and was convinced it was the one. He was going to buy it but before he got back it was sold to another person named Mark who was the owner of a country and western music show called Star World. Mark displayed the Death Star in the lobby.

In 1994 Todd, his brother Pat, and friend Tim Williams traveled to Star World who was going out of business. The Death Star was being used as a trash can in the corner! Todd made an offer and bought it on the spot. All three owned it and contacted Lucasfilm but they did not want to buy it back.

In 1999 Gus Lopez contacted Todd, Pat, and Tim and negotiated a price. Now, Gus owns the famous Death Star.

Since then, Lopez has had the original Death Star on display in a custom-made case in his home, and he even loaned it to the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle (though Lopez refers to it by its former name: the EMP (Experience Music Project) Museum) for a five-year stint.

Gus Lopez: “The EMP gave it top billing in the museum with a prominent spot at the center of one of the main rooms. I got a kick out of reading about the Death Star in local tourist literature and walking by the Death Star on display at the museum to hear conversations from people telling their stories about what Star Wars meant to them. And now the Death Star is back home, where I see it every day. And when I look at it, I am still amazed it survived its long journey and is sitting right in front of me.”

New Beatles Let It Be Movie attempts to “bust the myth”

Peter Jackson combed through 55 hours of video footage to give a broader picture of the Let It Be sessions. A short preview was shown and it showed the Beatles in good spirits…against what we have read about. There was drama, but from what is being said…there was more good than not.

It will be interesting to get more of a broader picture of that time in the Beatles career…right before they made Abbey Road.

I will be there when it’s released. Here are a couple of articles.

https://variety.com/2020/music/news/beatles-peter-jackson-film-let-it-be-sessions-jolly-1203486729/

https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/1235056/The-Beatles-movie-Peter-Jackson-Let-It-Be-documentary-John-Lennon-Paul-McCartney

Elvis Presley – A Little Less Conversation

Mac Davis and Billy Strange wrote this for the 1968 Elvis movie Live A Little, Love A Little.

A remix of this song drove it up the UK charts in 2002

This was a fairly obscure Elvis song until it was remixed and released as a single in 2002. The new version went to #1 in the UK, giving Elvis 18 #1 hits there, the most of any artist. Previously, he was tied with The Beatles at 17. Because of rereleases he now has 21 number ones in the UK. The original release went to #69 in the Billboard 100 in 1968. In 2002 the remix version peaked higher at #50 in the Billboard 100.

I usually don’t like remixes like this but I do like this one somewhat.

The distinctive drum part on this song was played by Hal Blaine, who along with Earl Palmer was the top session drummer on the West Coast at the time.

The remix was released shortly before the 25th anniversary of Elvis’ death. It was added as a bonus track to Hits, an album of 30 #1 hits released on the 25th anniversary of his death. The record company was hoping to attract a new generation of Elvis fans the same way The Beatles did when they released their album of #1 hits in 2000.

From Songfacts
Davis wrote the original version for Aretha Franklin, but when Billy Strange, who was handling music for the film, approached Davis about contributing a song, he realized that “A Little Less Conversation” fit the scene perfectly, so he reworked it with strange and Elvis sang it for the film.

The remix gained popularity in England when it was used in a Nike World Cup commercial featuring British soccer player Eric Cantona. The remix was done by Dutch DJ Tom Holkenburg, a member of the group Junkie XL. For the remix, the name of the group was changed to JXL because Presley’s estate did not welcome the drug reference. This was the first time an Elvis song was allowed to be remixed.

The official title of the remix is “Elvis vs. JXL – A Little Less Conversation.” Presley’s vocals were left intact.

The original version was used in the 2001 remake of the movie Ocean’s Eleven, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts.

Elvis’ daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, was born the year this was released.

The remix helped introduce Elvis to a younger generation. The memory of Elvis also got a boost when 8 of his songs were used in the Disney movie Lilo And Stitch around the same time.

Former Vermont governor Howard Dean used this as his campaign song when he ran for the Democratic nomination in 2003. His message was that he was a man of action, not words. Another candidate considered the song, but decided it had too much sexual innuendo.

This is used as the theme song to the television show Las Vegas.

Mitt Romney used this as his campaign song when he ran for president of the United States in 2008. According to Romney staffer Alex Burgos, this song “Underscores Governor Romney’s promise to bring change to a broken Washington. He believes there needs to be more action to address our nation’s challenges, with less talk and partisan bickering.”

A Little Less Conversation

A little less conversation, a little more action, please
All this aggravation ain’t satisfactioning me
A little more bite and a little less bark
A little less fight and a little more spark
Close your mouth and open up your heart and, baby, satisfy me
Satisfy me, baby

Baby, close your eyes and listen to the music
Drifting through a summer breeze
It’s a groovy night and I can show you how to use it
Come along with me and put your mind at ease
A little less conversation, a little more action, please
All this aggravation ain’t satisfactioning me
A little more bite and a little less bark
A little less fight and a little more spark

Close your mouth and open up your heart and, baby, satisfy me
(Satisfy me) Satisfy me baby (satisfy me)
Come on, baby, I’m tired of talking
Grab your coat and let’s start walking
Come on, come on (come on, come on)
Come on, come on (come on, come on)
Come on, come on (come on, come on)

Don’t procrastinate, don’t articulate
Girl, it’s getting late, gettin’ upset waitin’ around
A little less conversation, a little more action, please
All this aggravation ain’t satisfactioning me
A little more bite and a little less bark
A little less fight and a little more spark
Close your mouth and open up your heart and, baby, satisfy me
(Satisfy me) Satisfy me baby (satisfy me)

Come on, baby, I’m tired of talking
Grab your coat and let’s start walking
Come on, come on (come on, come on)
Come on, come on (come on, come on)
Come on, come on (come on, come on)