Fun Stuff

01
Jan
2023

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

“

Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, ‘It will be happier.’

-Alfred Lord Tennyson

It’s a good day for positive thoughts and a new beginning…and some appropriate music.

Of course we can’t beat Beethoven, but this nice performance of Mozart’s Rondo ala Turca led by a 15-year-old Azerbaijani refugee and extremely talented musician from Karabach, Atabek Ismailov and the young musicians of Prague Film Orchestra helps lift the spirit.

Ravel composed some nice, upbeat music that we should include in the New Year…

There will be singing in the New Year!

People will break into song!

and there will be dance!

and more…

Enjoy the new year!!!


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Posted by Tom in Fun Stuff, Music
04
Dec
2021

Cab Calloway

I ran across this great video of Cab Calloway, his Cotton Club Band and the Nicholas Brothers this morning. It reminded me what great performers they all were. Calloway grew up in Baltimore, briefly played professional basketball but was more interested in entertainment. He was a master of scat singing and one of the most popular band leaders of the 30s and 40s. His band at one time included Dizzy Gillespie and many other famous musicians of the time. He introduced Lena Horne to film and was the first African-American to have a single record with over a million sales. Anyway, just watch the video…amazing dance…

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Posted by Tom in Fun Stuff
26
Nov
2020

Astronomy Minute!

Surprisingly reminiscent of The Great Nebula in Orion, The Great Turkey Nebula spans this creative field of view. Of course if it were the Orion Nebula it would be our closest large stellar nursery, found at the edge of a large molecular cloud a mere 1,500 light-years away. Also known as M42, the Orion Nebula is visible to the eye as the middle “star” in the sword of Orion the Hunter, a constellation now rising in planet Earth’s evening skies. Stellar winds from clusters of newborn stars scattered throughout the Orion Nebula sculpt its ridges and cavities seen in familiar in telescopic images. Similar in size to the Orion Nebula, this Great Turkey Nebula was imagined to be about 13 light-years across. Stay safe and well.

See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Posted by Tom in Fun Stuff
05
Sep
2020

Grease!

I see Grease is back on Netflix this month…for about the 40th time, I think. It seems like a long time since it came out and I must have seen it one too many times but the music is addictive. Who can forget this?

Posted by Tom in Fun Stuff, Music, sixties and seventies