YouTube Stars!

OK, so as you already know, I like all kinds of music. Most of what I have on my playlist is fairly obscure and a little strange. That's the way I like it! Remember when I told you about my love for Ladytron and The Dandy Warhols, here? Well I found something new that's pretty cool, very trippy, psychedelic and similar to the Warhols.

Earlier this week I was watching David Letterman, and saw he had a band coming up with an interesting name - Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger! OL, that's sounds cool, right? So I wait until the end of the show and out comes these hippy trippy looking people. There's this attractive girl on Bass, and two dudes with long hair and black hats on guitar. Two drummers, one guy banging on something which I don't even know what it is! They look all Goth Hippy Shoe Gazers, and the song is too; cool! Soon three dancers come out, with Large animal masks covering their faces! Turns out, the song is named Animals. Luckily, Letterman uploaded the performance to YouTube, and here it is!

I wondered if there was an "Official Video" from the band for this song. I'm totally digging the guitars and the oooo-oooo aaah-aaah vocals, and that guy in the middle looks quite a lot like.... Time to research more. WOW, no wonder why the guy in the middle looks like..... And then I found the official video for Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, singing Animals. Far Out, MAN!!! Made to look like one of those cult films from the 60s where people gather in the woods and have crazy ceremonies, this video rocks if you're into that kind of thing, or weirdness in general! Now don't be watching this if full frontal nudity of the female body, in an artistic form, bothers you. Because nudity is in here. No sex, just nudity. Each of you can make up your mind as to whether this is ok or not. Check it out and decide!

Labels: 60s movie, 60s music, Beatles, cult, John Lennon, music video, naked girls, nudity, psychedelic, Sean Lennon, sex, Yoko

posted by KennyCrane at 5/30/2014 11:53:00 PM 0 Comments

It might be a crime to be Happy in Iran.  Six people made a video of themselves dancing to the hit song Happy by Pharrell Williams, uploaded to YouTube two days ago.  Yesterday they were arrested.  Today they are out on bail.  This happened in Tehran, Iran.  Here is their video:



Here is a video supposedly showing the people in the video being questioned by Police:



Here is the description from this second video:
Clarification: In this video, the Iranian State broadcasters refer to the individuals being interviewed as "actors". The individuals who participated in the "Happy" video are ordinary young people and not necessarily actors.

A few weeks after the release of the video, Happy (We are from Tehran), a remake of Pharrell William's song, "Happy", these young Iranians were arrested by police. A few hours after their arrest, they appeared on Iran's National TV, even before charges were made against them. Posted by Poletik, hosted by Kambiz Hosseini.

Parrell Williams had this reaction on Twitter:

It's beyond sad these kids were arrested for trying to spread happiness http://t.co/XV1VAAJeYI

— Pharrell Williams (@Pharrell) May 21, 2014

The President of Iran tweeted this on Twitter:

"#Happiness is our people's right. We shouldn't be too hard on behaviors caused by joy." 29/6/2013

— Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) May 21, 2014

Read more, at ABC News.

Labels: dance, Freedom, Happy, Iran, Pharrell, Pharrell Williams, Tehran

posted by KennyCrane at 5/21/2014 05:47:00 PM 0 Comments

Guest blogger Lyn Price is back with her second YouTubeStars post! Lyn is a talented singer who is here to review a Garage Rock Music Video from the 1960s, a movie about the 60s and a TV show from the 50s! Read what Lyn says about the Garage Rock song Stop And Listen, the Dirty Dancing movie and the Honeymooners TV show.


Classic Sights and Sounds!

THE SHAG - Stop And Listen - 60s Garage Rock song!



This is a powerhouse of a garage track written and performed by a band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin called at first Shags, then Shag.

The band consisted of 4 musicians. They began performing folk and blues music. However, they became eager to move on when they heard the music of the Rolling Stones and other rock bands of that era. Shag performed their own material and were known for wearing outlandish costumes. They also used special effects After playing parties, schools and small clubs, they moved on and in 1967 they were signed by Capitol Records. They recorded "Stop and Listen" on Capitol.

This track is one of the fist anti-drug rock songs to be recorded. In 1969 they appeared at the Midwest Rock Festival in Milwaukee which featured a number of known musicians.

Shag split up in 1971. But in the 1990's and later, "Stop and Listen" was included on several CD compilations of 60's Garage Band Recordings. On "Boulders" they are featured in Volume I and "Highs in the Mid-Sixties volume 10.

Becoming more current, in 2005, the bands 1969 recordings were released on Gear Fab Records. It's no surprise that the track called "Stop and Listen" has made many rock music lovers do just that.


1960's inspired movie DIRTY DANCING achieves spectacular success



The soundtrack to this film gave a 1960's flair since it is supposed to take place in the Summer of 1963, where the summer wind, the carefree days of ice pops and rock n roll bring people to the hotel for family and friends and activities. One such activity offered is dancing lessons (like Mambo). One of the guests (Jennifer Grey) falls for the dancing instructor (Patrick Swayze) and they begin a relationship.

The film was made in 1987 with a limited 5 million dollar budget. So here was this low budget film with no major stars except Broadway legend/TV star Jerry Orbach in a supportive role. It's the Summer of 1963 and the scene is a Catskill Mountain hotel. Actually it was filmed in Lake Lure, North Carolina and Mountain Lake. The weather turned out to be very hot and sticky and a portion of the cast passed out after 20 minutes of filming. Then the weather became very cold. Conditions were not that great and to complicate matters, the film was on a tight schedule - two weeks for rehearsals and 44 days for filming.

Dirty Dancing was based on the childhood/teen years of one of the screenwriters. The next step was finding backing, financial and promotion. They did their rounds and after hearing "no" finally found the company that liked the idea.

The soundtrack really moves this film - "Be My BAby" by the Ronettes, "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, "Do You Love Me" by the Contours, "In the Still of the Night" by the Five Satins, "Hey Baby by Bruce Channel, "Hungry Eyes" by Eric Carmen and more. In the "final dance" scene, the song (I've had) The Time of My Life, a great dance number that became very popular and won both the Golden Globe and an Academy Award for best original song. Also, a Grammy was won for best duet. The "Dirty Dancing" soundtrack generated two multi platinum albums and multiple singles. This was the first film to sell more than a million copies on home video.

On YouTube, "Dirty Dancing" has well over 250 million hits. The music carries the story with the drama that takes place at the mountain hotel. The two stars of the movie, Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swazye, had worked together on other films and had trouble relating to each other. The screenwriter had a brilliant idea. She suggested "parties" that go on after the daily filming, this way the actors began to "feel their roles". Everything fell into place. After the movie was released, a stage version was popular in Australia, Europe and North America.

I think the dancing AND the music brought this film it's great everlasting success. Many who watch the film once, will watch it again and again.


Mama Loves Mambo - The Honeymooners



The show that has a lot of nostalgia is called "The Honeymooners". It can be watched on YouTube, and it's worry free as far as paying for the viewing of the "Classic 39", well - it can be bought in a video store. There is a lot of fascinating merchandise - cookie jars, salt & pepper shakers, posters, calendars and more. The 39 episodes are on YouTube and the average YouTube rating is according to episode. A total of all episodes shows how appreciated the American sitcom is. The Honeymooners was built on The Jackie Gleason Show. Jackie Gleason was a well known comedian and creator of the show and it's sketches from start to finish.The first show aired October 31, 1955. The story is one of the first U.S. TV shows to portray working class married couples living in a rundown Brooklyn apartment house. The final episode was on September 22, 1956. The show was very popular, in it's first season it became the #2 show in the USA. With the Perry Como show, there was competition that pushed The Honeymooners to the 19th spot. Production ended after only 39 episodes. The Honeymooners were filmed before a live audience in New York City, in the Park Sheraton Hotel.

I always loved this show. It opens with a theme song and a beautiful picture of Brooklyn nights, complete with nostalgic brownstones, stars and a full moon. The show is meant to be funny - Jackie Gleason plays a NYC bus driver. He & his wife Alice Kramden live in a run down Brooklyn apartment house but have many friends, a few live in the same building. Alice occasionally works but basically is a stay at home wife. Despite the financially squeezed characters, there is glamour and artistic beauty in the basic story, the episodes and the background. There is jazz music, a new tenant gives the neighbors Mombo lessons in the Kramden apartment, and there is mention of the "Hong Kong Gardens" where Alice likes to go dancing and have Chinese food. The Kramden's apartment faces the back of a Chinese restaurant. The comedy was and still is loved by many. People who weren't born when the show was airing have found it to be interesting in a lot of different ways.

To keep the show going, Jackie Gleason sometimes did hour long specials or sketches until 1978. At one point, CBS network worked with the Honeymooners & Jackie Gleason. Though there were some changes, the show remains strong in the USA. Viewers find it refreshingly humorous and nostalgic.

Labels: "Lyn Price", 1950s, 1960s, 50s, 60s, classic rock, dance, dirty dancing, Garage Rock, honeymooners, Lyn, oldies, sexy, shag

posted by KennyCrane at 5/20/2014 02:20:00 AM 0 Comments