Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Getting legally high with George Takei



John Lennon Auditioning on The Voice




Bee Gees - Massachusetts


It was their first Number 1 hit in Australia and the UK and eventually became one of the best-selling singles of all time, selling over 5 million copies worldwide. When the Bee Gees wrote the song, they had never been to Massachusetts.

The song was intended as an antithesis to flower power anthems of the time such as Let's Go to San Francisco and San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) in that the protagonist had been to San Francisco to join the hippies but was now homesick. The idea of the lights having gone out in Massachusetts was to suggest that everyone had gone to San Francisco.

Robin Gibb recalled "This was a bittersweet victory. The day it went to number one it was Bonfire Night and I was in the Hither Green rail crash in Lewisham. Forty-nine people died and it was one of Britain's worst rail disasters. Luckily I didn't get injured. I remember sitting at the side of the carriage, watching the rain pour down, fireworks go off and blue lights of the ambulances whirring. It was like something out of a Spielberg film. I thought, at least there is one consolation, we have our first UK number one." -wiki


Monday, June 24, 2013

What are you doing with that plunger, Kanye?

Justice Alito's Inexcusable Rudeness

Krugman Activate! 

Only the Left Can Save Greece

As the World Turns for Mad Men and Women
Berlusconi Sentenced to 7 Years in Sex Case

They Didn’t Pack Sunscreen, or Anything Else

Obama’s Options in Syria

Affirmative Action Survives, for Now

Sunday shows: What you missed

Don’t give up on the jobs crisis yet!

A Toilet Plunger Is The Next Hot Subway Accessory

Kanye West - Rank The Albums

Virtual therapy for social anxiety
The 'Time Capsule' Of Mob Lingo At The Whitey Bulger Trial

Gloomy Thinking Can Be Contagious

Boost for cars or bust? Ethanol debate heats up


Today’s Video: Bee Gees "To Love Somebody"


At the request of Robert Stigwood, the band's manager, Barry and Robin Gibb wrote "To Love Somebody", a soulful ballad in the style of Sam & Dave or The Rascals, for Otis Redding. The Bee Gees recorded "To Love Somebody" at IBC Studios, London in March 1967 and released it as a single in mid-July 1967 in the U.S. Redding died in an aeroplane crash later that year, before having a chance to record the song.

Barry Gibb explained in a June 2001 interview with Mojo magazine:

    It was for Robert. I say that unabashedly. He asked me to write a song for him, personally. It was written in New York and played to Otis but, personally, it was for Robert. He meant a great deal to me. I don't think it was a homosexual affection but a tremendous admiration for this man's abilities and gifts. -wiki


Friday, June 21, 2013

Weekend Edition

Nothing matters but the weekend.

Plants that do quantum physics and plants that eat sheep

James Turrell lights up the Guggenheim

Abercrombie learns not to mess with Taylor Swift fans

UFO: Britain releases documents explaining closure of military UFO desk

Plants 'seen doing quantum physics'

White House Offers Stealth Campaign to Support Immigration Bill

Negotiations With Taliban Could Hinge on Detainees

These Dead Don’t Walk. They Run.

'Sheep-eating' plant about to bloom


Today’s Video: Bee Gees -"New York Mining Disaster 1941"  


"New York Mining Disaster 1941" is a 1967 song by the Bee Gees, written by Barry and Robin Gibb. Barring a moderately successful reissue of their Australian single "Spicks and Specks", it was the first single release of the group's international career and their first song to hit the charts in the US or UK.

Barry and Robin Gibb wrote the song when they were sitting on a darkened staircase at Polydor Records following a power cut. The echo of the passing lift inspired them to imagine that they were trapped in a mine. The song recounts the story of a miner trapped in a cave-in. He is sharing a photo of his wife with a colleague ("Mr. Jones") while they hopelessly wait to be rescued. According to the liner notes for their box-set Tales from the Brothers Gibb (1990), this song was inspired by the 1966 Aberfan mining disaster in Wales.