Closing Ceremonies Were What Brits Feared Opening Ceremonies Would Be
I’ll admit – the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremonies were pretty good, especially considering they had to follow up Beijing’s insane opener. Danny Boyle did a good job of mixing the humour, music, and history of Great Britain, with a few cool surprises. Who knew Mr. Bean was still alive? I feared the worst for the Opening Ceremonies, but these fears came to life in last night’s pretty average Closing Ceremonies.
For those who missed it, there were no big surprises, few stand out moments, and WAY too much of mediocre pop act Jessie J. We had recordings of Kate Bush, Blur, John Lennon (and a creepy wall built that resembled Lennon), as well as a loop of already played songs by Pet Shop Boys and Madness. Also performing were Emeli Sandé (twice), George Michael (who did Freedom, and an an awful new song that lost the crowd), Elbow, the Kaiser Chiefs, that Ron Weasley twin Ed Sheeran playing a cover of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here (with Nick Mason on drums), Ray Davies from the Kinks, Queen with that awful Jessie J singing, Fatboy Slim DJ’ing in an octopus, a Spice Girls reunion, Beady Eye covering the Noel Gallagher penned Oasis tune Wonderwall, Muse doing Olympic anthem Survival, and everything closed out with The Who. They couldn’t get David Bowie to play during the musical tribute to British fashion (ya, I didn’t get it either) which featured David Bowie’s Fashion. We did get boy (now man) band Take That, minus Robbie Williams. If we could’ve minused the other 4 members, we would’ve been alright.
I lied – there was one stand out moment. Monty Python alumni Eric Idle sung Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, complete with the “life’s a piece of shit” line. He didn’t get the laughs that Mr. Bean did, and I would’ve preferred a Monty Python reunion over a Spice Girls one, but I’ll take it. Now – withdrawal time. I want to watch random sports that I can only watch every 4 years. There just instead enough dressage with moonwalking horses on daytime television to satisfy my cravings.
The Flaming Lips Are Doing a Musical – Of Course They Are!
One of my favourite albums, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, is being turned into a musical by its creators, The Flaming Lips (via NME). The musical will play at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California from November 6 to December 16, and if it’s anything like a Flaming Lips concert, it will be fuckin’ WEIRD great. Producers have said, “Yoshimi is a young Japanese artist facing the battle of her life: the battle for her life. Adrift from her family and lover, Yoshimi journeys alone into a fantastical robot-world where she wages a war with fate. Will her will to survive be powerful enough to master the evil forces that threaten to destroy her?”
So basically, a thrown together plot, ala American Idiot by Green Day, using the band’s appeal to attempt to milk another audience for some more money, amiright? The musical will have music from the Yoshimi album, as well as Soft Bulletin and At War With The Mystics.
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Tag Archives: Monty Python
Morning Music Notes – The Jessie J Olympics
Closing Ceremonies Were What Brits Feared Opening Ceremonies Would Be
I’ll admit – the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremonies were pretty good, especially considering they had to follow up Beijing’s insane opener. Danny Boyle did a good job of mixing the humour, music, and history of Great Britain, with a few cool surprises. Who knew Mr. Bean was still alive? I feared the worst for the Opening Ceremonies, but these fears came to life in last night’s pretty average Closing Ceremonies.
For those who missed it, there were no big surprises, few stand out moments, and WAY too much of mediocre pop act Jessie J. We had recordings of Kate Bush, Blur, John Lennon (and a creepy wall built that resembled Lennon), as well as a loop of already played songs by Pet Shop Boys and Madness. Also performing were Emeli Sandé (twice), George Michael (who did Freedom, and an an awful new song that lost the crowd), Elbow, the Kaiser Chiefs, that Ron Weasley twin Ed Sheeran playing a cover of Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here (with Nick Mason on drums), Ray Davies from the Kinks, Queen with that awful Jessie J singing, Fatboy Slim DJ’ing in an octopus, a Spice Girls reunion, Beady Eye covering the Noel Gallagher penned Oasis tune Wonderwall, Muse doing Olympic anthem Survival, and everything closed out with The Who. They couldn’t get David Bowie to play during the musical tribute to British fashion (ya, I didn’t get it either) which featured David Bowie’s Fashion. We did get boy (now man) band Take That, minus Robbie Williams. If we could’ve minused the other 4 members, we would’ve been alright.
I lied – there was one stand out moment. Monty Python alumni Eric Idle sung Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, complete with the “life’s a piece of shit” line. He didn’t get the laughs that Mr. Bean did, and I would’ve preferred a Monty Python reunion over a Spice Girls one, but I’ll take it. Now – withdrawal time. I want to watch random sports that I can only watch every 4 years. There just instead enough dressage with moonwalking horses on daytime television to satisfy my cravings.
The Flaming Lips Are Doing a Musical – Of Course They Are!
One of my favourite albums, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, is being turned into a musical by its creators, The Flaming Lips (via NME). The musical will play at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California from November 6 to December 16, and if it’s anything like a Flaming Lips concert, it will be fuckin’
WEIRDgreat. Producers have said, “Yoshimi is a young Japanese artist facing the battle of her life: the battle for her life. Adrift from her family and lover, Yoshimi journeys alone into a fantastical robot-world where she wages a war with fate. Will her will to survive be powerful enough to master the evil forces that threaten to destroy her?”So basically, a thrown together plot, ala American Idiot by Green Day, using the band’s appeal to attempt to milk another audience for some more money, amiright? The musical will have music from the Yoshimi album, as well as Soft Bulletin and At War With The Mystics.
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Morning Music Notes – And Now For Something Completely Different
Apparently, the President of the United States Has Some Sway
People can be such sheep. If someone cool or powerful does something or listens to something, we want the same. The latest example? US President Barack Obama sings couple of lines from Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together, and then the sales go up almost 500% (via NME). The track is from 1971, back when they didn’t have electricity or cars.
16,000 downloads occurred for the week ending January 22, which was a 490% increase from the previous week, when apparently people were still randomly buying the track. You can watch a video of the president singing the song, and then be convinced to buy the track yourself.
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