I’m not ready to say goodbye to Paul’s terrible movie, in fact watching this makes me want to see the whole thing.  I might have seen the whole thing laid out on youtube, and if it is, expect the entire film posted on my website soon with humorous remarks dashed about.  Anyway, despite the movie being supposedly being godawful, this is a gorgeous piece of film and music making.  It’s Paul, Ringo, and George Martin hanging out in the studio as Paul beautifully weaves through Yesterday, Here There and Everywhere, and Wanderlust.  The first two songs are classics of Zeus-like stature, but Wanderlust isn’t as great.  It’s a very nice song and from one of my personal favorite solo McCartney albums, Tug of War.  The problem is that it doesn’t hold a candle to the two songs he sings previously.  Perhaps in Paul’s mind it does, but he does sing it beautifully.  Speaking of which, I’d like to state also that this is one video where you will probably never hear Paul sing more perfectly, so enjoy the sonic loveliness while you can.  Until tomorrow…

I’ve never seen Give My Regards to Broad Street, but from what I’ve read, its pretty awful.  Apparently, it was Paul McCartney’s ego run amok, thinking he could replicate the success of “A Hard Day’s Night” with another movie about a “day in the life” of…Paul McCartney.  The movie was a huge waste of money, and critics hated it, however its soundtrack, which contained many redone Beatle songs, and Ringo, was #1 in the UK.  Anyway, the musical clips are pretty interesting, and today I’m gonna post his in studio performance of Eleanor Rigby.  Originally from Revolver, Eleanor Rigby was one of Paul’s undisputed masterpieces.  I personally think its one of the greatest pop songs ever written in E minor.  The work though, doesn’t entirely belong to Paul.  George wrote the “all the lonely people, where do they all come from” part, and John claims to have come up with half the lyrics which Paul insists isn’t true.  Ringo wrote the line “writing the words of a sermon that no one will here,” and old John Lennon pal Pete Shotton had Paul change Father McCartney to Father McKenzie.  It’s a great Beatle song, and its great to see it performed in any format, so its presence in Paul’s stupid movie is still incredibly interesting and worth seeing. Give it a spin.

Some of the best running gags on Seinfeld were the fake movies the gang was always seeing.  Rochelle, Rochelle, Death Blow, Checkmate, and Sack Lunch all come to mind, but it all begs a larger question, what would a Seinfeld movie look like?  Well, luckily some genius on the internet has no shortage of ideas.  These really must be seen to believed, but I’m gonna present you my three favorite Seinfeld movies coming soon to a theater near you.  The first is “Kramerica,” a tale of a country boy and cockeyed optimist, who gets caught up in a dirty game of worldwide diplomacy.  The second is “The Real Peterman,” the tale of a rich playboy whose perfect life is about to come crashing down when the world learns his crushing secret, that he’s a fraud.  The last flick is “Jerry the Great,” a story about an arrogant man’s rise to dark power, and the backstabbing betrayal he commits against his best friend.  There are more trailers beyond these three, and they are surely worth seeking out as they will entertain Seinfeld fans to no end.  Enjoy.

The trailer for “Bored to Death” season 3 just came out, and of course, its awesome.  I have an incredibly soft spot for this show.  For starters, I live in Park Slope, Brooklyn, the predominant location of the show’s adventures.  Next, I love detective comedies, long story there.  Lastly, the cast is brilliant and the show high brow and hilarious.  That’s two or three things, but whose counting?  Anyway, the season 3 trailer is just Ted, Jason, and Zach gallivanting around Coney Island to the Beastie Boys “Triple Trouble.”  If this doesn’t make you happy, I want you to stop reading my site.  Well…read my site less, or just read it the same amount, but respectfully disagree with me on the subject of liking this show.  BORED TO DEATH!!!!

I should have reversed these posts, but after I was surfing “Hey Jude” yesterday on youtube, I found some more choice clips of the legendary song, so consider this an unofficial part 2.  These are rehearsal videos of the lads in the studio learning the song.  You get John doing some funny antics, Ringo singing, Paul trying out some funny voices, and George philosophizing about pop music with George Martin.  It’s a treasure trove of sight and sound for Beatle fans and I had to find room for it on my site.  I present two versions however of relatively similar material.  The first video is a glorious HD version of the rehearsal sessions, tragically missing a chunk of the full performance though.  It’s a crime that this crystal clear color video and audio are shortened, but despair not for I have the full video, in lesser (but not bad) quality running right behind it.  So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the song meant to comfort Julian Lennon over his parents getting a divorce written by the Beatle who wasn’t his father.

I woke up this morning knowing I wanted to post something by the Beatles.  For whatever reason I put on “Hey Jude,” their 1968 9 week #1 smash hit.  By this point, “Hey Jude” is rather rote and overplayed, but this morning, to me at least, the song sounded fresh.  It’s kind of strange how people acknowledge that this might be the Beatles best song, but not necessarily Paul McCartney’s.  Lets get the record strait then, this is Paul McCartney’s best song, and thus, his best with the Beatles.  It’s the song where Paul threw in all the best elements of his songwriting magic into one special brew.  It’s sentimental without being corny.  The sweet romantic voice he uses in the beginning somehow gets revved up into his patented high register rock growl.  The song begins as a slow thoughtful ballad that transforms into an absolutely epic rocking gospel by its end.  Most importantly, it’s a song all the Beatles could get behind.  It was made during the “White Album,” the time when Ringo briefly quit, John quit in his head for Yoko, and where they all hated Paul.  The song was awkwardly about John’s divorce from his ex-wife Cynthia, and the son John was abandoning, and John had NOTHING to do with its creation.  Still, despite all this, the song was so good, the Beatles all rallied around it, giving the world something truly wonderful, their longest single, and their best.  The idea that this group could put out a song as powerful and legendary as sort of an extra cupcake to their double album release, while they could barely stand each other, is something impossible to complicate.  It’s the kind of thing that makes me believe what miracles all Beatles songs are, and I hope you enjoy it.

Most of us have seen Ron Howard’s incredible 1995 movie, Apollo 13.  I remember that my father took me to see it in the theaters, and it was one of the most incredible movies I’d ever witnessed.  Every time the film is on television, I find myself glued to the screen in rapt awe and tension.  The film’s power is rooted in the almost unimaginable reality of the harrowing situation that gripped the world on April 14th, 1970.  This reality was relayed in riveting real time television by legendary CBS newsman Walter Cronkite.  Regular readers of my blog, and general users of the internet, know how horrible youtube can be, but its worth noting its brilliance as well.  The fact that I can present you the 19 part blow by blow account of Cronkite’s coverage of Apollo 13 is just incredible.  You will simply be totally blown away by this presentation.  The story of Apollo 13 is a mesmerizing event in human history, and everyone involved in ensuring it’s “successful failure” are heroes beyond the telling of it.  Enjoy.  PS, be sure to click the “READ MORE” button (or this sentence) below the 3rd video to see all 19 parts.

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I only know two songs by They Might Be Giants (not counting the Daily Show theme).  I posted the “Istanbul” song yesterday, so today I’m posting “Particle Man.”  This song was also famously featured on Tiny Tunes, but due to the dreadfully horrible and arbitrary copywrite laws enforced by youtube, I can’t post that original video.  (Well, I could, but the audio would be removed, thus taking away all the fun.)  Luckily, I can post something just as good.  The two Johns were on techtv at some point playing their classic, and showing off the amazing stylophone.  What is a stylophone?  Well, its some kind of futuristic computerized music instrument played with a stylus pen.  It’s best seen and heard to fully understand. The looks on John Linnell’s face are priceless, and the song is an amazing piece of catchy insano-rock.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

I had no idea that They Might Be Giants didn’t write this song!  It turns out that the Four Lads, in 1953, came up with this incredibly catchy and insane song.  It was a top ten hit and a certified gold record.  Imagine that!  I learned all this from hearing a tape of Bob Dylan’s satellite radio show “Theme Time Radio Hour,” where he spun the original record.  Thanks for the heads up Bob because like most kids who grew up in the 90s, I first learned about the song from Tiny Tunes.  I remember being absolutely mesmerized by the song, and relished every time a repeat of that episode would come on.  The song, “Istanbul (Not Constantinople),” speaks for itself.  It’s one of those rare tunes where the lyrics communicate 100% of the songs idea without a trace of ambiguity.  I love songs like that.  The more modern incarnation comes from They Might Be Giants’ 1990 record Flood which I thoroughly recommend picking up.  As a bonus I’m also including a live performance of the song TMBG did in 1990 for MTV Europe. It’s equally spellbinding and hilarious, especially when the host asks them if the Four Lads had any other good songs, and John Linnell replies in a complete deadpan that “No, that was their only good song.” Too funny.

We’re back in the 1974 Catch a Fire sessions as Bob Marley and the Wailers cut a fifth version of “Duppy Conqueror.”  What is a “duppy,” and why is Bob conquering them?  Interesting question.  Well, in Jamaica, duppy is slang for ghost, and Bob was thinking about opening up a Jamaican branch of the Ghostbusters.  Actually, according to legend, i.e. Wikipedia, Bob’s success was bringing a lot of leeches and hangers on, draining his spirit like vampires (duppys.)  Bob was determined to rise above the situation and conqueror them, and presto, a song was born.  The song itself is a beautiful slow harmonized jam about overcoming prisons both mental and physical.  It’s a great abstract metaphor and a great song.  Bob sings it so soulfully, yet again bringing his unique perspective to a universal pop context.  Genius at work here folks.  Enjoy.