No, your eyes do not deceive you, and, no, we will not see the likes of it again: That’s Luciano Pavarotti and James Brown, together, performing “This Is A Man’s World.” (Brown died in December 2006, Pavarotti in September 2007.)
Entries Tagged 'Music Video' ↓
The Hardest-Working Man in Show Business Showdown?
April 21st, 2008 — Africa, Black Music, Entertainment, Music Video, Pop Culture, TV
Flashdance: That “Steel-Town Girl on a Saturday Night” Turns 25 Today
April 15th, 2008 — Advertising, Black Music, Dance, DVD, Entertainment, Fashion, Film, Hip-Hop, Media, Music Video, Pop Culture
What a feeling: Carlton Draught’s “Kevin Kavendish” gets footloose
Here’s the safest bet you can possibly make in your life: When director Adrian Lyne released Flashdance, on April 15, 1983, dollars-to-donuts that neither he nor the movie’s distributor, Paramount, was counting on anyone talking about it a quarter of a century later.
This Is One Bugged-Out Talk Show.
April 11th, 2008 — Advertising, Automotive, Design, Entertainment, Humor, Media, Music, Music Video, Pop Culture, TV
“How can I bittorrent this sweet ride?”: Shawn Fanning ponders a VW
I was watching TV yesterday when, out of nowhere, a commercial popped on, featuring, of all people, Shawn Fanning, above, creator of the contraband late ’90s file-sharing service, Napster.
Now Everybody Can Bargle Nawdle Zouss
March 26th, 2008 — Art, Design, Entertainment, Music, Music Video, Pop Culture, Toys
Though almost nothing is cooler than the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” video that Samuel Bayer directed for Nirvana, if you can believe it, nearly two decades ago, in 1991—not Weird Al” Yankovic’s parody or Paul Anka’s big band-styled tribute—this $44.99, 18-inch figure of Kurt Cobain from the classic vid comes close. (Thanks to super-blogger and fellow New Zealand-phile Hanan Levin at Grow-A-Brain for the tip.)
It not only talks, nor solely comes in a 7-inch, $16.99 version but, revelation!, also makes obvious that Cobain’s competition model 1969 Fender Mustang was finished in “Lake Placid Blue.” Somehow, I’d never noticed this. Perhaps I was distracted by all the marbles in his mouth.
Brand Loyalty
March 25th, 2008 — Design, Music Video, Pop Culture, TV
Totally wicked video for “DVNO” by the French dance duo, Justice, from their 2007 album †, usually referred to as Cross. (Plus, to accompany your inevitable sense of deja vu, an attempt to identify the logotypes.) Thanks to Bobby Sattler’s wonderful Whole Lot of BS blog for hipping me to this.
No, Seriously: I’d Much Rather Listen to Obama Girl
March 3rd, 2008 — Hip-Hop, History, Media, Music Video, Politics, Pop Culture
“Yes We Can” is the Barack Obama-affirming musical short by Black Eyed Peas front man and producer “Will.i.am” Adams Jr. It’s peopled by minor celebrities, and Scarlett Johansson, sing-songing an insignificant melody to text and footage from Obama’s January 8, 2008 New Hampshire primary victory speech. As I post this, it’s been viewed 5,460,140 times at its main YouTube location.
Make that 5,460,140.5 times: I only got halfway through it before I just couldn’t take any more.
Pourquoi? I think it’s more than the film’s bloated, black & white solemnity and manufactured earnestness, both, perhaps, best signified by an otherwise throwaway gesture at the 0:06 mark: Will.I.Am “offhandedly” “fixing” a lapel pin that appears to be just fine. (These despicable qualities are also on display in the newer, “We Are The Ones” video, as is another starlet, Jessica Alba.) Indeed, to really put one’s hand on what the problem is, one has to briefly go back to the recorded origins of the Black Eyed Peas in the 1990s.
