George Lives On

Last night Ivi and I stayed up for Saturday Night Live. They reprised a show from the mid-seventies, featuring some great old music from Billy Preston and Janis Ian ... and several George Carlin pieces, including this (rare) family-rated example:

James Nachtwey

Tonight, while browsing on TED, I came upon something I hadn't known before -- that James Nachtwey was one of three 2007 TED Prize winners. Nachtwey, for those who might not know, is perhaps one of the most respected photojournalists -- particularly as a documentarian of war -- of our time, and is one of the photographers I have most admired. He has done a lot of work for Time magazine, and was himself the subject of a documentary, "War Photographer" a few years ago. Sort of this era's Robert Capa. His TEDtalk:

Examples of his work can be seen at his Witness website as well.

I have had "War Photographer" languishing on my Netflix queue for quite a while, but I think I will move it up to the head of the line now, as I have never seen it in its entirety -- only YouTube clips.

Another Toby Promo!

Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle (!)

6 Car Pile-Up (At the mall with Sweet Child O' Mine)

On A Roll

Gabrielle passes this on, from the Cape Cod Times newpaper:

Overboard Drummer on a Roll

Submitted by: Marcia Duggan | May 22, 2008 04:22 PM

Out of 4,500 applicants, local drummer, Toby Ellis received a full scholarship to attend Grammy Camp in LA, CA this summer. Only 45 applicants across the country were accepted into the 2 week summer program.

Toby is currently a Freshman at NRHS, and drummer for the Overboard Band.

For more information about about Grammy Camp, click here and here.

Bo Diddley, R.I.P.

If you got lucky, you could get an intermittent patch of good reception from late night Oklahoma City radio and hear snatches of the likes of Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Fats Domino. This was on the Iowa farm, circa 1955, with ear pressed to the speaker grille on the living room console radio, after everyone else was in bed. Best of all, there was Bo Diddley. It was almost impossible to sleep after hearing him. Nearby Omaha radio didn't even begin to catch up until later on, and even then it was mostly (ho-hum) Elvis. Yesterday, Bo Diddley passed on, and all I want to do today is revisit as much of his music as I can. Here is something, fairly early, but well after 1955, probably mid-60s. I am going to keep looking ...

I didn't know for several years that Bo Diddley wore glasses; for quite a while Buddy Holly was my only spectacles-wearing musical hero (remember, that back in the 50s, wearing glasses carried some negative social weight for a kid like me).

A little like going back to the farm ... well, not really ...

Tonight, on public radio's Studio 360, one of my favorite ways to spend an hour on Sunday evenings while catching up on reading the Sunday newspaper, was a reprise of a program I first heard about a year ago about the art scene in Omaha, Nebraska. (btw, did you know that Bright Eyes is out of Omaha?)  When I was a kid, Omaha was the nearest sizable city, and it was always an adventure to make a foray there perhaps once a month.  Later on, when visiting the homestead in the 80s, Cousin Jeannie took me around to the downtown lofts, galleries and other aspects of the now-gentrified cultural oasis.

Then about an hour later, while listening to OPBMusic.org's live stream, I heard the newest from Joshua James, an indie neo-folk-type guy from nearby Lincoln, Nebraska. (Should I also mention that one of my favorite indie groups is Cloud Cult from not-so-distant -- from the Iowa farm locale -- rural Minnesota?  Give a look/listen below.)