Tag Archives: videos

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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Saturday video break: I Knew The Bride

From the prolific and often covered Nick Lowe: That song will either elicit a conspiratory laugh by people enjoying a private joke, or it’s an exercise in passive aggression by someone who needs to get over an ex-girlfriend. All depends … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: I Idolize You

Back to the Ike and Tina songbook: It’s always interesting listening to these songs and thinking about what their relationship was like. It doesn’t detract from the music because you can’t do that when Tina Turner is singing, but it … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: The State of New York concedes the existence of Santa Claus

A climactic scene from one of my favorite movies of all time: That is of course the one true version of Miracle on 34th Street, the original 1947 version. I do not speak of the 1994 remake, but I will … Continue reading

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Thursday video break: And all through the house

I’ve posted this video before, and here it is again: I’m nowhere close to being tired of this, so look for it again next year. Happy Christmas Eve!

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Saturday video break: I Heard It Through The Grapevine

Here’s an awesome live version of Marvin Gaye doing one of his signature tunes: What an amazing voice. What a tragedy his death was. Here’s Creedence Clearwater Revival with their almost-as-iconic version: Once again I can say, what a voice. … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: I Can’t Turn You Loose

Ladies and gentlemen, let’s welcome Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues: I couldn’t find the clip from the movie for that, but we can all picture it, I’m sure. That was an Otis Redding song. Have you ever heard his original … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: I Can’t Stop Loving You

Ready for a standard? Here’s the Chairman of the Board himself: I feel like that would have been an appropriately ironic background song for a whacking on The Sopranos. Ah well, hindsight is 20/20. Now here’s Ray Charles: Like all … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: I Can’t Give You Anything But Love

Reaching back to the 1920s and the legendary Duke Ellington: I love me some Glenn Miller, but of all the big band leaders of that era, I think Ellington had the best overall body of work. The movie The Cotton … Continue reading

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Thanksgiving video break: It was like the turkeys mounted a counterattack

The greatest holiday TV episode ever. If you haven’t seen this before, you are in for a treat. And if you have seen it before, you know what I’m talking about: I hope your Thanksgiving is better and less chaotic … Continue reading

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Paxton fires back at prosecutors

Incoming! Lawyers in Attorney General Ken Paxton’s ongoing securities fraud case have fired back against special prosecutors in the latest in a series of back-and-forth court filings. In their Thursday filing, Paxton’s attorneys called the prosecutors’ reply to their motions … Continue reading

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Saturday video break: How High The Moon

Didn’t get my act together in time to post a video last week – sorry about that. This Saturday we get a little jazzy with the great Charlie Parker: If you’re a sax player, then Charlie Parker is one of … Continue reading

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