Year 5, Day 277

Hi. Today's song is Thriller/Heads Will Roll from Glee.

There were lots I thought about choosing, but I'm in a mashup mood. We've Got Thriller by Michael Jackson (obviously) and Heads Will Roll by Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It's a good choice, Glee did a solid song with this one when some of their stuff is hit or miss. I always wondered why they were still considered losers after this because if our choir had done something like this we would earn the respect of at least some people. I don't know. They also chose great soloists for this so even if you don't care for Glee you might like this one. I was talking to my grandma about it and she misheard me an thought I said Grease not Glee. Now all I can see is Danny Zuko in zombie paint. I thought I'd let you share in that horror.

Today is a song that’s covered by another artist. The fun game is that you guys get to figure out who the original artist was. Anna went with Hurt done by Johnny Cash, and Will chose Since U Been Gone done by A Day To Remember, which is actually the ringtone I have for him. Sammy went with Liability done by Tove Styrke, my mom chose Die A Happy Man done by Nelly, and my grandma chose Teddybear done by Razzy Bailey.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 276

Afternoon. Today I give you Apex Predator from Mean Girls.

You guys know that I am a musical buff and have a stack of sings from them waiting to be played, but I decided today to go with a relatively new one. We've all seen Mean Girls. The movie is iconic, but now Tina Fey has gifted us with a Broadway show. I know some people get all antsy about that because what else could they show us, but I have seen this one. It has some of the funny lines from the movie in it so it's connected, but characters that were flat in the film get rounded out when you have two hours of expositional songs to get through. Barrett Wilbert Weed plays Janice (I've shown her before from Heathers) and I love it, it's a perfect casting, but honestly Grey Henson steals the show with his portrayal of Damian. Every actor in it is a superstar and it's hard to play favorites when they all are the best in different ways so just take my word for it when I say this would be worth seeing.

Now we need a song from a musical. I pride myself on my musical knowledge, but my grandma surprised me with one I’ve never heard of choosing After The Ball from Showboat. My mom picked one I showed her, it being Alexander Hamilton from Hamilton, and Will chose Greased Lightning from Grease. Then Anna went with the Cell Block Tango from Chicago.  Sammy chose Mamma Mia by ABBA which isn’t technically from a musical, but there was one built around their music so it counts as far as I’m concerned.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 275

Hey. Today I give you Found Tonight by Ben Platt and Lin Manuel Miranda.

So this is a mashup of two Broadway songs from different musicals. First Ben with You Will Be Found from Dear Evan Hansen which he stars in and then Lin with The Story Of Tonight from Hamilton which he wrote and starred in. It was created and released because of the march against gun violence from the shooting where the kids all took a political stand saying enough is enough, but I like this song without tacking on a specific event. The mashup speaks to me in a way the original songs never did. It's sad as hell, but also great and comes from two incredible shows. If you don't know about them you need to look it up.

This time we need a song we each think everybody should listen to. We’ve got some pretty well known artists here with my grandma going with Peace In The Valley by Johnny Cash, my mom choosing Goodbye Stranger by Supertramp, and Sammy picking Don’t Stop by S Club 7. Anna went for I'd Rather Go Blind by Etta James, and Will took a while, then settled on Do You Feel It by Chaos Chaos.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 274

Hey. Today's song is Rhapsody In Blue by George Gershwin.

Jacob Bruskin Gershowitz was born in 1898 and died 1937. He changed his name before embarking on a career in music, which his family followed him on. He started his career at 15 as a song plugger, which is how they used to sell sheet music. Basically a musician would be hired to perform pieces as a sort of preview to decide if you want it. Think iTunes 15 second sneak peek, but in real time. He also recorded a lot of compositions for a company, often switching to a pseudonym (he has so many). Afterwards he went on to composing for Broadway musicals and operas alongside his brother. It's doing that where he wrote An American In Paris which is his other most famous work, and the opera Porgy and Bess which while technically a failure at the time is considered one of the most important operas of the century. After that flopped, he move to LA and worked in Hollywood on film scores until he died because of a brain tumor. They had a surgeon in and managed to remove it, but he still met his end. He created this song is 1924, and it was his first major classical work. It's his most well known creation, and set the stage for building his sound. Even with his death, his legacy has lived on, and I'm glad for it.

This one wanted our favorite classical songs. Which was easy for Sammy and I, but not so much for everyone else. Sammy chose Hounds of Spring by Alfred Reed. My mom went with Sorcerer’s Apprentice from Fantasia, and my grandma went with the William Tell Overture by Rossini. Will said he didn’t know any classical songs, so after showing him a couple he went with Fur Elise by Beethoven. Anna was last and settled on Cello Suite #1 by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 273

Hi guys. So today's song is Nearer My God To Thee by BYU Vocal Point and the BYU Men's Choir.

Like with sports teams, music people can sometimes be dicks about other groups. This school and all the groups that come from it are exempt from my bias because they're so much better than we were. Plus I have man envy. Look at all the dudes in this. Those are all men! You know how hard it is to find male singers for choir? My teacher pulled a Glee before that was a thing and essentially bribed normal students into joining. Legit we gave her a hit list at the beginning of each semester. It's different for these guys. One: it's a university. Two: It's a religious university. Which doesn't really mean anything except most religions have a place for choral music. So it's got a huge music program that is well respected and evolved. Another difference is it's not an automatic in. You have to audition and be excepted which ensures everyone is there because they want to be and are committed. These guys make me miss choir and miss being part of a unit, and I am in awe of their talent. I hope you are too.

Today is for a song with no percussion. Which everyone thought was super easy until I pointed out that percussion includes more than just drums. My grandma used the one my mom didn't want with Don't Worry Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin. My mom went with Friends O' Mine by Bowling For Soup, and Will settled on Walk On The Wild Side by Blue Reed. Anna said White Keys by Chilly Gonzales, Sammy took the longest but said Two Lips (Acoustic) by Hoodie Allen.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 272

Hiya. Today's song is The Cat Came Back by Fred Penner.

I don't think this is the original with Fred Penner, but it has the animation which was a staple of my childhood that I couldn't pass up. Fred though is an actually really inspiring dude that I was to talk about. He taught himself guitar in elementary school and learned how healing music can be by playing for his sister with downs. He then went to school and got a Bachelors in psychology (and economics) and started working with mentally and physically challenged kids with a type of music therapy to entertain and heal them. He then started a children's theatre company, and was invited to create an album which is how this song came about. Since then he's appeared on a lot of kids shows all over Canada sharing his music with them, and he still does it at the age of 71. He's an inspiring Canadian and his music definitely touched me as a kid. Fond memories all around.

Today's songs are about pets. And horses totally count as pets, so my grandma chose Wild Horses by Garth Brooks. My mom went with a song about a dog, choosing Feed Jake by Pirates of the Mississippi. My sister followed me in a cat song with What's New Pussycat by Tom Jones, and Anna picked Plea From A Cat Named Virtute by The Weakerthans. Will chose last and went with Surfin' Bird by The Trashmen.

Peace.

Year 5, Day 271

Hello. Today's song is The Doggie In The Window by Patti Page.

So Patti Page is a stage name for Clara Ann Fowler who was one of the best-selling female artists of the 50's. She got her start on radio, doing a 15 minute segment sponsored by a company called the Page Milk Company and that's where her stage name came from. After hearing her voice on the radio, she was invited to join the Jimmy Joy band, and stayed with them until they broke up in 1946. That ended up with her in Illinois where she sang for a bit before getting noticed and signed to Mercury records. Fun Fact: She was actually the first artist to ever harmonize with herself on her record due to a strike happening at the time and new equipment making it possible. Her doing this on her recordings did a lot to push her career up because it was different and cool. (Still is.) If you're from the same generation as me, this is probably the only song of hers you've heard of and I will admit I didn't think much of her as an artist with this as my reference point. But this song was created as a novelty tune, much the way songs popular from meme culture are. Think of Yvis, there's is all novelty stuff. So give some of her other music a try before you write her off, because she pushed music just a bit farther during her time to make her worth it.

This one is a song that's 40 years older than each of us. It brought up some interesting choices. Will went with Move It On Over by Hank Williams, Anna said You Belong To Me by Jo Stafford, and my grandma chose My Gal Sal by Byron Harlan. My mom went with Makin' Whoopee by Eddie Cantor because she thought it was funny and Sammy chose On Top Of Old Smokey by The Weavers because we grew up with the parody spaghetti version.

Peace.