Tag Archives: videos

Montgomery County officials indicted over road bond shenanigans

I know I’m a bad person, but this continues to amuse me greatly. A grand jury has indicted Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal and two commissioners, charging them with violating Texas’ open meetings law last year while developing a bond … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: Life Is Hard

I’m cheating a bit with the song titles this week, but I think you’ll forgive me. First, an 80s classic from Timbuk 3: I’m not even sure where I got the three Timbuk 3 songs that I have that aren’t … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: Let’s Get Married

I give you the great Rev. Al Green: Makes you want to rush out and buy a ring, doesn’t it? Now for a Scottish twist on that, here’s The Proclaimers: If someone in that audience didn’t take advantage of the … Continue reading

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Misdemeanor charge dropped against video fraudster Daleiden

Just the misdemeanor charge, not the felony. A Harris County judge has dropped one of the criminal charges against an anti-abortion activist who was indicted after making undercover recordings of a Houston Planned Parenthood facility. David Daleiden, one of the … Continue reading

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Hotze and Woodfill take their hate statewide

These guys, I swear. The conservative organizers who helped topple Houston’s equal rights ordinance are pledging a $2 million advertising campaign against Target over the big box store’s transgender bathroom policy. Jared Woodfill and Steven Hotze of Conservative Republicans of … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: Lady Luck

A couple of newer songs from my collection. The first one called “Lady Luck” is by Pickwick, featuring Sharon van Etten: That’s from a South by Southwest sampler I got via Paste magazine. Don’t ask me how I came to … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: La La Land

Here come the Go-Gos: That’s from their 2000 reunion album “God Bless The Go-Go’s”, which I bought on a whim while perusing at a record store, as one did back then. The video is from a 2001 concert at Central … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: Just A Little Lovin’

How about a little throwback country/pop from Dusty Springfield? Such a great voice. I need to find more of her stuff. For a more modern take on that song, here’s Adrian Lynne: Very nice, though I kind of like the … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: Jump

It was the year 1984, the year Van Halen gave us this: Albums like 1984 hghlight a problem with our streaming-and-downloads music market these days. Back then, when men with hair like David Lee Roth strutted on the earth, bands … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: I’ve Seen All Good People/Your Move

Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs take on a typically tricky Yes staple: I love Susanna Hoffs’ voice, and I love her interpretation of this song. You should definitely check out her various collections of covers with Sweet, called “Under The … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: It’s The End Of The World As We Know It

It’s one of my favorite Celtic bands doing their thing with this REM classic: The was Great Big Sea, the finest band from Newfoundland. Hard to believe you could take that song up-tempo, but there you have it. For comparison … Continue reading

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Hauling Glass

In times of change, there are always opportunities to do well. Where some saw rubbish, 8-year-old Pan Berlanga saw opportunity. He launched his first business after the city of Houston and Waste Management in March negotiated a new recycling contract … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: It’s A Sin To Tell A Lie

Combining two of my favorite things in this post, beginning with the Asylum Street Spankers: Man, I miss these guys. I caught every show they did in Houston for several years running, including some in the most smoke-filled room in … Continue reading

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If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, you must acquit

I knew there was a lawsuit going on over the provenance of Stairway to Heaven, but I hadn’t realized there were Texas connections to it. In a few weeks, jurors will decide if Led Zeppelin lifted the guitar intro to … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: Istanbul (Not Constantinople) revisited

I posted three videos of the classic “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” a few years back, including a video of the original, by The Four Lads. Now here’s a video of the They Might Be Giants version, done over a montage of … Continue reading

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Being Sid Miller

It’s complicated, especially when your stories keep changing. The Texas Rangers are currently investigating whether Miller broke the law when he took those out-of-state, taxpayer-funded trips in February 2015. The first was to Oklahoma, where internal emails from the Department of … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: Inside Out

From their second album, which was of course called “Volume 3”, the Traveling Wilburys: Not bad, and a treat to see George Harrison again. They just weren’t quite as good without Roy Orbison, though. And for a completely different song … Continue reading

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More on Paxton’s SEC troubles

The short answer is, he’s gonna lose. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton may have some history on his side, but as of this week the numbers appear to be against him. Paxton, who is trying to become the latest in … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: In The Mood

Still one of my favorite songs, from one of my favorite bands: As a sax player who was in jazz band in high school, Glenn Miller was my first musical love. And let me tell you, the sax part for … Continue reading

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30 years of “Don’t Mess With Texas”

Happy birthday to one of the greatest public service campaigns of all time. It seems it’s every Texan’s duty to at least once invoke the slogan “Don’t Mess With Texas.” You’ll see it on bumper stickers, in the movies, on … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: In The Air Tonight

A classic of the 80s, from a pre-bald Phil Collins: Collins gets a lot of guff for hist stylized, very-80s albums, but I thought “Face Value” and “Hello, I Must Be Going!” were great. I loved his re-take on Genesis’ … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry

The Cowboy Junkies take on Hank Williams: I love the ethereal quality of Margo Timmins’ voice. Her singing just floats over the music. Not everyone can make that work, but she does. And for the opposite end of the vocal … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: I’m Beginning To See The Light

A classic and a standard, performed by Bobby Darin: The version I have is from the soundtrack to the movie Swingers, and I feel like Darin enunciates differently in that one. I can’t find a video for that, however, so … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: If I Had A Hammer

Here’s national treasure Pete Seeger, with an introduction by John Mellencamp: The recording I have of this comes from a Smithsonian collection, with Seeger leading and being backed up by a church choir, with him doing it singalong style, as … Continue reading

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Those damn dams

In case you didn’t have enough to worry about. Here’s the deal with what could be a terrible threat to Houston: most of the time, it isn’t. In fact, it’s a 26,000 acre recreational greenspace on Houston’s west side. It … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: If I Had A Boat

Lyle Lovett sings one of his best songs in a stunningly beautiful concert hall while sitting next to John Hiatt and Joe Ely swoon. Gorgeous, and the verse about Tonto telling the Lone Ranger to kiss his ass gets me … Continue reading

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Friday random ten – H-Town represent

Houston’s own The Suffers released their first album recently. They’ve been playing a relentless schedule of live gigs, and finally polished off the debut disc in the studio, thanks in part to a Kickstarter campaign? Who are The Suffers? I’m … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: Ice Cream Man

Another example of Two Really Different Songs With The Same Title. First up, local artists Leah White, from one of her albums of music for kids: Clearly, that’s a Good Humor ice cream man, and as someone who grew up … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: I Wonder

Two very different songs, from very different artists today. First is a cover of a song from Sleeping Beauty, by Yma Sumac: That of course is from the amazingly eclectic Stay Awake Disney music tribute album. Yma Sumac was known … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: I Will Survive

The all-time disco and karaoke classic, by Gloria Gaynor: How do I know this is a classic? It came up on the car player, and Olivia made me repeat it because she liked it. That’s how I know. Such a … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: I Wanna Be With You

Feel the 70s goodness with the Raspberries: Somewhat forgotten 70s goodness, I suppose. I got that song from a collection CD, and I can’t say I’d ever heard it before. Not even from a K-Tel commercial. I may not have … Continue reading

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Friday random ten: Speak to me

Some songs are more spoken-word pieces set to music, sometimes but not always with a sung refrain, than actual singing. Here are ten examples from my collection: 1. Lisdoovarna – SixMileBridge (video, though not by SixMileBridge) 2. Everything Is Borrowed … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: I Wanna Be Like You

A Disney classic, sung by “King Louie” Prima in The Jungle Book, here’s Los Lobos: That’s from a live morning-show TV appearance; skip ahead to about 1:30 to get past the talk. This is a different rendition than what they … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: I Put A Spell On You

A song made for the voice of John Fogerty, with Creedence Clearwater Revival: Easily one of the most iconic voices in rock and roll. How can we make this any more enjoyable? By hearing Pete Townshend sing it at the … Continue reading

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