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Politics is getting to me, so sometimes I watch this sort of thing — 51 Comments

  1. I watch a lot of these things also. There is a woman named Beth Roars on YouTube that analyzes singers that is pretty interesting and there is also Rick Beato and his What Makes This Song Great? series which is very good. As a non musician music lover I get a lot out of these and have learned why songs and singers are as great or unique as they are.

    Another fun YouTube thing is the transplant in America genre. There is a fun good natured fellow from Britain who lives in Chicago and has a channel called Lost In The Pond which points out differences between the two countries and he loves America which is so refreshing. Another one is called German Girl In America that is a young woman from Munich that now lives in Cincinnati.

    No politics and that is a great thing in these times.

  2. I really like “Fil of Pegasus” too.
    He often discusses fine points of musicianship which (for me) is fun though unintelligible.
    And he is VERY appreciative of his/our musical forebears. He often chooses US country and western music to talk about though he himself is a Brit rocker.

    neo, glad to hear you are taking time to decompress!

  3. I’ve watched a lot of Fil’s videos. One of the best is his analysis of The Righteous Brothers “Unchained Melody”. The only cover that is even close is Elvis’ version.

    Watch it, the music and singing is outstanding and Fil’s narration gives you a real understanding of how good the singing is and the difficulty.

    https://youtu.be/boXkA9G5PL4

  4. We have reached the old days politics like when jefferson and adams went at each other with insults… of course, most will not know that history…

    but it was victor david hanson in his speech on patton who really nailed it
    that people like Trump, Churchill, Patton, Ajax, Sherman… are all people that come out from time to time to serve a purpose… we like their ability and effectiveness, but the “therapeutic” democratic society doesn’t like them. We like how patton would save lives by winning, but didnt like him slapping soldiers or going off… we didnt mind Shermans deciciveness in bringing the end to things, but would rather he had not attacked elite life and burned their property (with the idea that elite normally do not experience their own policies)… its quite the same… they come out, we like low black unemployment and other effective things, but wish it could be done by someone who didnt act that way not realizing that it cant, and the minute its over and the need goes, these people do not fare well as they are put back in the box..

    but they are needed.. especially in war and other such endeavors… as they allow for our society to be soft and the way it is, and not be lost because of it. they appear over and over in history, and fade, often ridiculed misunderstood, and unappreciated..

    they are mostly hated as they appear as throwbacks to a time we like to feel or believe we are or have grown past… but they are willing to do whats necessary and so, free us from having to be that way to achieve whats necessary.

    how much we ask would trump be loved if he could achieve and not act the way people dislike? he woulds till be hated as envy is the strongest emotion and we hate people with ability and more so if they can do so under adversity..

    so now… we have devolved to “your fat” and “your old” and your mother dresses you funny and principals not only be damned but forgotten… tis turned into a 12 ring circus without the elephants… no wonder many feel the need to turn away to more genteeel ways and pursuits.. even if its just to preserve the feeling of being superiority civilized… and forget that they are the reason its this way!!! after all, what makes things go so bad that such has to happen is the lack of spines and action and endless discussion that lets the weeds grow to the point someone has to appear to cut them down. else what will happen?

    funny to watch this and watch people struggle to understand it..
    but how can they? they are too high on their horses to get that their being too high on their horses and have the luxury to feel the way they do is the cause of what they think shouldn’t happen…

    clown world meets infinite goof..

    something else to distract?
    Conservatism and the Therapeutic Society
    https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2012/10/conservatism-and-therapeutic-society.html

  5. Griffin: No politics and that is a great thing in these times.

    as i pointed out… what do you think makes “these times”?
    strong politics, holding people accountable, opposition to crazy social disorder?
    or no politics and let the thing rot till it goes nuts? Crazy happens in the vacume of created by the lack of order and strength that would subdue it… we have been absentee in our politics, and letting things go on and on till men are women, women are men, we no longer recognize reality and on and on..

    your sentence sums up why its this way
    and why its going to get a lot worse
    Till a war snaps us out of it…

    given that such behavior invites the outside to dare to commit to it as an opportunty

  6. Artfldgr,

    One of my big bugaboos is the politicization of everything. I hate it. Music, sports, movies you name it is all tainted.

  7. Griffin, I’m w/ you. It’s such a stain. It just eliminates the joy.

    I had to back away after reading Martin Tolchin’s letter to NYT advising against doing anything (including investigating accusations of harassment) that would work against Sleepy Joe’s election. It was so disheartening.

    I too enjoy Rick Beato. I don’t speak the language but it’s fun all the same.

  8. That was a fascinating video that touched on many things in popular music that I’ve noticed in performance but never (being bereft of all musical education — except for the climactic musical scene in Close Encounters) had the words to express. I can’t say I understand all his commentary but I understand enough to know I can learn something useful from his channel. That’s enough for me.

  9. Griffin,

    IIRC Alistair Cooke was born in the UK and fell in love with America too. Eventually he became a naturalized American citizen.

    And thanks for the list of things to check out on the internets.

  10. Due to another member taking ill my band asked me to fill in and sing a few numbers. Like most musicians I can carry a tune, but I never thought my voice had an exceptional tone (Fil explains that concept well in this video), but I wanted to help out so I gave it a go.

    It’s not that I didn’t already have tremendous respect for singers, but I discovered the things Fil discusses in this video, singing more from the chest or throat or nose, volume, breath control. How to cover when a note is missed (like he points out Valli doing about 1:50 in). I can now see how a singer could spend years at it and still be learning new things. I try to pay a lot of attention to words, and their meaning and syllables and stress. It’s very challenging. It was recently pointed out to me that we can sing vowels much more easily than consonants. I hadn’t even noticed yet, but it’s true. Now I’m thinking about that too.

    So much to remember. Then you have to make it all seem relaxed and natural.

    I’ve sung about thirty numbers at about twelve shows now. Porter, Cahn, Brecht…. Biggest crowd was probably 250 people. I hate it! Scary as heck! I’m always so nervous I’ll come in on the wrong note or botch a lyric and I’m so glad when it’s over.

    And I still don’t think my voice has a pleasing tone, but nobody has thrown cabbages, or tomatoes yet.

  11. Neo,

    You must have faith that, eventually, the good in human nature will win out over evil. I do not speak of religious faith, but of a faith based on logic. If evil were to prevail, then human kind could never have made our ascent from fear and ignorance to civilization.

    The rise of human civilization has never been constant. It has always seen rises and falls, not unlike the stock market. But the trend has always been towards greater human freedom, prosperity, and dignity.

    The the particular problem that you dispair over is a problem created by the demand for instantaneous news and the technology that allowed it. This demand has been exploited by unscrupulous actors in both the public and private sectors.

    But, as a society, we will solve this problem, just as we have solved every other problem that new technologies created.

    This too shall pass…

  12. I remember hearing the Four Seasons when I was about of an age to look straight into the dial of a radio sitting on the top tier of a maple end table, called I think, a step table.

    His voice gave me a headache that I can still remember. The radio stations played the same songs over and over again. Girl groups, screechy boy groups … geez Louise.

    I’m not sure I knew what a juvenile delinquent or a punk was at that age, but as soon as I did, those songs were associated with that concept in my mind.

    Of course I knew, and still know nothing about Frankie Valli and what kind of human being he is in real life. Probably a genius and a saint. Still can’t listen to those finger snapping harmonizing boys who apparently resonate so deeply with so many, though. Like nails on a chalk board.

    Who knew it was art? I guess I do now.

  13. The “Jersey Boys ” were a great pop group, but not as great as Buudy Holly or the early Beatles. I want to Hold Your Hand is IMO the pinnacle of great pop riffs.

  14. “Crazy happens in the vacuum created by the lack of order and strength that would subdue it” – Artfldgr (slight edit)

    Indeed.

    Rufus – stage fright never completely goes away, it just fades with practice & experience.
    I always consoled myself after flubs by remembering that the audience often never notices; and even if they do, as I told my choirs, “there are no mistakes; there are only different arrangements.”

  15. neo,

    Early in the lockdown phase I had a lot of nights like what you describe. And, like you, I often despair that the bad guys are winning.

    Then I try to think about what Ray Nathanson wrote about. This is a transitional time regarding information and we humans are learning to navigate through a new way of communicating. Maybe we will come out the other side better?

  16. DNW,

    From what I understand from those who have seen “Jersey Boys” the Four Seasons were delinquents, in a “Bowery Boys,” “Jets” and “Sharks” way. The mob controlled pop music. They owned the jukebox industry, which held a lot of sway over which singles became hits. They also controlled many nightclubs and many disc jockeys were on the take. “Payola” determined what aired. It wasn’t an accident so many male crooners were Italians from the northeast.

  17. AesopFan,

    Regarding singing as a soloist, fronting a group, there are two types; narcissists/exhibitionists who want to be front and center and have all eyes on them or people with tremendous talent and a love of singing who want to share their passion with an audience. I would put a guy like Mick Jagger in the first group, Madonna… Mel Torme could be in the second, Anita Baker, Marvin Gaye. Then there are folks who are both; Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darrin, Peggy Lee.

    Unfortunately I’m neither. I am super curious, however, so I enjoy the learning and improving process, and I like that it is helping my band. As I wrote, and as Fil’s video details, having been drafted into service it is fascinating how much there is to it. It’s every bit as complex as learning to play an instrument and learning to play for an audience. I now understand why singers refer to their voice as “their instrument.” As Fil states, head shape and other physical characteristics like sinus cavities really matter. Even how and where you hold the microphone and if and when you move it closer or further… No end of stuff to master (or mess up!)!

  18. Yes Rufus it is like another instrument. I’ve done a lot of singing in bands both lead and backup. People tend to think singing is something you just do, either you have it or you don’t but it is like other musical instruments in that you have to put a lot of work and practice into it to be good, at least for most people. At the same time the real point of music is not the technique but to communicate emotionally to the listener. The technique just enables you to do so better, with more pleasing sounds and a broader range. That is true of every instrument but especially of vocalists. And that is something that certain people have a special gift for doing. I’ve gotten better as a singer after doing it for so long but I don’t think I ever could have reached that highest level.

  19. Griffin:
    JimNorCal:
    Paul in Boston:

    There’s lots of good, reflective stuff on YouTube focusing on popular music. For example, “Todd In the Shadows” has a very nice series called “One Hit Wonderland”, which focuses on, well, you can probably work out from the title what it focuses on.

    (My favourite “Wonderland” episode? Quite unexpectedly, it turned out to be the one on the ubiquitous “Oh Yeah”, by the obscurely influential Swiss duo Yello. I barely even cared about that song until I watched that video — it’s full of surprises.)

    If you prefer a more sophisticated (and British) take on the pops, then for my money, the top of the line provider is the “Trashed Theory” channel, whose narrator has an absolutely smashing accent, with writing to match. I was lured in by his superb disquisition on The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now”, but almost all of Trashed’s videos are worth seeing (or just hearing), even if you don’t put Kate Bush on quite as high a pedestal as he does.

  20. FOAF,

    Impressive! I much prefer having an actual instrument to hide behind on stage.

    Freitag, I will seek that out. “Oh Yeah” by Yello got a lot of play in my apartment in the ’80’s. That, and “Rotating Head” both featured in, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

  21. I too love these music analysis videos and have watched hours and hours of Rick Beato. He has such a warm and inviting voice and presence, is a great musician himself, and knows the production and sound engineering side too.

    His video on Larry Carlton’s amazing solos on Steely Dan’s “Kid Charlemagne” is a must watch. https://youtu.be/xKIC9zbSJoE

    As for this video, Frankie Valli is one of my all-time favorite singers and the quality of material the Four Seasons did was just outstanding. Songwriter and bass player Bob Gaudio gets most of the credit there. I think he did most of the arrangements too.

    I’m all for more of this Neo — especially since we all need a massive break from the real world right now!

  22. After watching this video this morning and thinking more about the great Four Seasons and Frankie Valli … first song on car radio this morning: “You’re Just Too Good to be True”. What are the odds?

  23. Freitag,

    I watched the Yello feature.Thanks! The original video they did for the song was awesome. I had never seen it before. Have you heard, Propeller Heads’, “History Repeating” with Shirley Bassey?

    Jeff Brokaw, thank you for the link to that “Kid Charlemagne” breakdown. Steely Dan is my favorite rock band and I like to see individual tracks broken down like that. Very cool! Since Fagen doesn’t even claim to know what half his lyrics are about I was quite pleased with myself that I guessed it was based on the exploits of LSD chemist Owsley. But I still haven’t figured out what most their other songs are about!

  24. What memories. I was 9, 1965, and bought 3 albums:
    Herman’s Hermits,
    Gary Lewis and the Playboys, and
    Four Seasons Greatest Hits.

    I recall Dawn (go away I’m no good for you) especially, tho this was before their big Dec. 1963 (Oh what a night!).

    It’s great that YouTube allows me to find versions of just about every song I think of.

    But I’d rather quite a bit less talking in the analysis by Fil, tho I agree it’s clear he loves the subjects. (I’ll check his Doors analysis next)


    On politics, I often feel so sad hopeless about humans and America. So many “spoiled rich kids”, who know little of history, nor of trade-offs. Does the success of Freedom, Christianity, and Capitalism lead to a narcissism & close mindedness that destroys the success? I fear that it might, and hope & usually expect that it won’t.

    Unlike cars, food, or houses, where more production requires more resources, the socialist sharing of all Intellectual Property is at least economically feasible, and plausible. I can imagine the US gov’t providing a YouTube like channel (USview?) where all copy-righted digitized content is “available” at a very low price for personal consumption.

    Not something worth fighting much for, tho. Health care requires resources – so they have to be allocated in some way.

  25. Tom Grey,

    Regarding your question on politics, like most (all?) of us here, I’ve thought a great deal about that also. I think the two largest contributing factors to so many Americans not grasping the tenets of freedom and responsibility (and the immense benefits of a political system founded on both) are; a shift from rural to urban living and a large influx of people (mainly Catholics) from western Europe in the late 1800s – 1900s (and add Catholics from Mexico into the mix the past 40 years).

    Regarding the first point, I could write a lot about it, but if you look at county by county voting across the U.S. for the past 10, or so Presidential elections it is rather self evident. Civic control, rules, regulations, safety, protection… tend to be more important concerns of folks living in crowded, urban areas. Individual responsibility, community involvement, voluntarily assisting one’s neighbors are common traits in rural areas. I think the stat is, that prior to 1950 a majority of Americans grew up on single family farms and that number has been going down precipitously ever since.

    Regarding the second point, as a Catholic I must admit my faith has a bad track record of encouraging socialism. For some reason the meaning of, “render unto Caesar” gets missed in the sermons. I think this goes back to Catholicism hitting its stride in a time when most all world governments were monarchies/theocracies. As Catholicism took hold in Europe there was no separation of church and state. Church and State were one and the same. Protestant thinkers brought that concept to the marketplace of ideas, and England and the Netherlands were Protestant nations when they formed the American colonies. Our Founders were Protestants who followed those precepts. Then, in the Industrial Revolution the demand for labor and dire situations in Ireland, Italy and other Catholic countries resulted in a huge demographic shift, especially in the big cities. Many of those immigrants and their children learned the brilliance of the Constitution and American philosophy and adjusted, but a majority never got rid of their old world, Catholic training of looking to the Church/State for help.

  26. Am I the only one who noticed that he speaks with a British accent but sings with an American one ?

  27. Rufus T. Firefly: I think the two largest contributing factors to so many Americans not grasping the tenets of freedom and responsibility (and the immense benefits of a political system founded on both) are; a shift from rural to urban living and a large influx of people (mainly Catholics) from western Europe in the late 1800s – 1900s (and add Catholics from Mexico into the mix the past 40 years).

    I disagree… but everyone knows what i will say… Feminisms goals required allowing authoritarians to change the rules, and change how we think, and accept certain inequalities as equalities… given its the communist version that dominates, yet does not show it off, what we are experiencing are the results of that unchecked remolding, because if you try to slow it down or balance it, your done for… their desires became all our desires whether we wanted them, or not, or else. there are 400% more scholarships for women, and thats not enough, as that is how they define equal… there are over 2000 shelters for women, but only one for men, as that is how they define equal. They get the children over 90% of the time, making divorce an exercise in futility and that is how they define equal parenting. even women trying to commit suicide is more important than the over 80% of men who succeed… as that is how they define equal… our schools are shambles of stupidity, because they dumbed everything down for equal (not lifted up)… they drugged the boys, to make equal… affirmative action, to make equal. even when its what they want its more harmful to them than everyone else, as they are the same and can compete…

    They can only compete if there is an authoritarian protective political power forcing the outcome, nothing else would work, and even that doesn’t give them enough slanted benefit to be seen as working… their children be damned, the future be damned, the society be damned…

    Each of the things that are discussed as moving the items you mention are accomplished by that one movement and long ago was established that this movement was beholden to communism not capitalism, despite capitalism being much more equitable in reality over communism false imagery…

    Teen VogueSocialist Feminism: What Is It and How Can It Replace Corporate ‘Girl Boss’ Feminism?
    https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-is-socialist-feminism

    women are very unhappy, the most unhappy they have ever been… but they plod on… without mates, partners, fulfillment, children… they are even fighting to import their own replacements.

    the propaganda that is normal in the regular press started in the ladies magazines that went into bed with tobacco and big liquor to be funded, and pipe this into the ears of the old and young…

    Teen Vogue: Anal Sex: Safety, How tos, Tips, and More // How to do it the right way.
    https://www.teenvogue.com/story/anal-sex-what-you-need-to-know

    They debase themselves and do things others tell them to do without thought
    even if it makes them unhappy… even if it costs them their desires and dreams
    you only have to couch it a certain way and they are more objectified than ever before… more used… more discarded… and woe be the person or persons that try to make them aware…

    in the old days, these ladies were inaccessible to all but their mates
    now they are accessible to all and have no mates, few children, high desease, and unpromising elder years.. was that really what they were promised and signed on for?

    More women are being elected in autocratic regimes, but this is part of a democratic facade. The definition of democracy needs to change.

    The gendered nature of authoritarian influence is strategic, helping to present an illusion of democracy, along with the use of menus of electoral manipulation, checklists for rigging elections, and tools of sharp power that pierce the political environments of the targeted countries.

    Since the end of the Cold War, many authoritarians have survived by generating pseudo-democratic institutions. Indeed, from Turkey to Thailand, to Zimbabwe and Guatemala, hybrid regimes are the most common political system in the world today; they are durable and their number has been steadily increasing for over a decade. In many of these states, autocrats appear to acquiesce to liberal democracies’ push for women’s political equality, yet they do it without loosening their grip on power. We see this from the pro-feminist rhetoric of illiberal leaders to introducing quotas, in which a ruling party dominates the legislature. Many, including those in Algeria and Mozambique, have been successful at ostensibly advancing women’s political rights while effectively undermining them.

    How has this been happening in plain sight?

    as a country we are weak, we are unprotected with open borders, we no longer have children, our sons will not fight nor care to defend a land that hates them, we panic like rabbits at deseases barely worse than the flu (as the death numbers are inflated… )

    In 2017, the number of people who died of malaria was 620,000. That is almost all in Africa. We totally ignore it. That’s three times the number of people who’ve died of Covid-19 so far worldwide. But it’s just ordinary. They live with it. In 2018, 1.5million people died of tuberculosis. And TB is especially dangerous because it’s developing a resistance to our treatment to it. So it’s actually more terrifying than Covid-19. Again, we forget about it. Typhoid, which we think of as a disease of the past, still kills up to 160,000 people a year. Cholera is the same – it kills about 140,000 people a year. Influenza, which Covid resembles in many ways, kills up to 650,000 people every year. It took me five minutes to find those statistics. Why don’t I ever see them reported?

    Women are easier to terrorize, even more so when alone

    there is no way to stop it, not now… they are programmed almost from birth to hate themselves, to hate what life made them into, to destroy that life in revenge
    [and when equality is really applied they hate it even more than the past!]

    Do note as in the article above, they dont even know which way they are facing… the more you say they are being used the more easy it is to use them… the more you show autocracy using them, the more they become autocratic and stronger it gets under the idea they are making it less..

    like turning a sign around the wrong way.. they run into the fire when exits are turned around. and they will not stop till things are so changed, you no longer can confuse and there is no way to repair it, then the hammer can fall…

    but such was always the plan, its why from the beginning of the last century its been the focus and one directional march… the whole thing abuses their blind trust for each other, their blind loyalty and what is mostly their goodness..

  28. Artfldgr,

    I think all you outline became prominent in the U.S. due to my first cause; shift from rural to urban. Look at Governors Kristi Noem and Gretchen Whitmer as examples, or Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton. Women like Noem and Palin, raised in the ’70s and ’80s are still fiercely independent and have confidence in local folks to take care of themselves, locally. Women like Whitmer and Clinton, raised in large, metropolitan areas look to centralized government to solve their ills.

  29. psychological counseling, which, he says, “encourages people to validate their relationships and values in relation to how they feel internally”—is an example of what sociologist Philip Rieff has termed “the triumph of the therapeutic.” Order becomes self-created; instead of adjusting himself toward an objective moral order of good and evil, he “validates” his feelings. The rise of the therapeutic mentality is co-extensive with the secularization of the West, according to Rieff. In characterizing the therapeutic society, he writes: “Where family and nation once stood, or Church and Party, there will be hospital and theater too, the normative institutions of the next culture. . . . Religious man was born to be saved; psychological man is born to be pleased.” Glaucon’s psychological imperative is not the Socratic “Know Thyself,” which involved an ordering of the self toward transcendent being, but “I’m OK, You’re OK.”

  30. Rufus: I think all you outline became prominent in the U.S. due to my first cause; shift from rural to urban.

    nope… been a lot of urbanity in history of man… they did not naturally lead to communism and state slavery…

    Will Herberg concludes in “What is the Moral Crisis of Our Time?”: “Real standards come in and through tradition.” Of course, truth has to be ascertained independently of tradition, but so long as we suffer from collective amnesia, so long as we act as if we can create order out of our heads, we will be condemned to be as the flower of the fields, which passes away. It is no coincidence that Glaucon emphasizes the need to communicate to youth: they are subjective because they have not undergone the process of enculturation. Indeed, the condition of radical subjectivity is a prolonging of adolescence. Richard Weaver, in Visions of Order, noted the relation between the “attack on memory” and the elevation of youth to an exalted position in society.

    The virtues of youth are freshness and vitality, but these are not the virtues that fit one to be the custodian of the culture that society has produced. Deferring to youth is another way of weakening continuity. Mark almost any young person, and you notice that he does not see very much, in the sense of understanding what is present to his vision. He perceives, but he does not interpret, and this is because he is too lacking in those memory traces which lead to ideas and concepts. The memoryless part of mankind cannot be the teachers of culture. They are, however, ready learners of it if the real teachers show faith in the value of what they have.

  31. Rufus, I also “hide” behind my instrument which is bass. Usually electric, sometimes upright.

  32. His enthusiasm, knowledge, skill, and unpretentious presentation is intoxicating. Oh, and smiley eyes. Thank you, Professor. Thank you for sharing, Neo-Neo. That was fun.

  33. FOAF,

    I really want to build an electric upright and start messing around with playing. Bass is such a crucial instrument and I think the visual of an upright bass player adds a lot to a band’s stage presence. And it’s great fun to watch players who add some showmanship to their playing. I’d like to mess around with it a bit, but not enough to invest in an acoustic upright. Also, I think building an electric would be a fun project. But, alas, I’ll probably never get around to it.

    For what it’s worth, I always advocate that bass and drums are the heart and soul of every band. A good bass player and drummer force everyone else to play better.

  34. Artfldgr,

    “nope… been a lot of urbanity in history of man… they did not naturally lead to communism and state slavery…”

    I’m not sure what lead to what, but 99.9% of human governments have been a dictatorship inherited through male lines “Monarchy,” dictatorship by one or more male religious figures “Theocracy,” or dictatorship by a military leader “Stratocracy.” And Stratocracies typically become Monarchies/Theocracies as Caesar or Pharoah or the Chinese Emperor and their heirs conveniently become gods sent to Earth.

    There seems to be a direct correlation to urban living and men’s desires for a king to rule them. I think maybe the Vikings or some Norse group had some type of democratic leadership council and the Romans and Greeks had some brief periods of triumvirates and democratic control until things swung back to a military leader who then declared himself and his heirs gods and hereditary monarchs.

    Is there some vast catalog of civilized, urbanized people not employing slavery and communist practices (a centralized governor doling out largess) that I missed learning about in history class?

  35. I need to ignore my stated intention so as to make a sort of correction here.

    Tom Grey’s remarks about his precocious interest in, and purchase of certain albums as a boy in 1965, left me puzzled over some dates that did not seem to jibe. Valli had 1962 hits? Surely Frankie Valli was filling the airwaves with his falsetto a couple years before that?

    Yeah, I said to myself, and then he went away and did Abraham, Martin, and John, whenever that was.

    Ok. So I obviously got them confused, or conflated, and his persumed dates in particular off by 18 months at least. I would have been taller than a step table and a table top radio by then.

    Dion, Frankie, I guess they are not the same person …

    But man, the headaches those falsetto voices caused; that , was not mistaken.

  36. Forward the you tuber to music lovers. Very nice analysis.

    This is a nice site too;

    https://youtu.be/tac5Mtz3CP0

    The creator of the YouTube site is a New Zealander, who is so enthusiastic and the homes are amazing.

  37. There seems to be a direct correlation to urban living and men’s desires for a king to rule them. I think maybe the Vikings or some Norse group had some type of democratic leadership council and the Romans and Greeks had some brief periods of triumvirates and democratic control until things swung back to a military leader who then declared himself and his heirs gods and hereditary monarchs.

    Is there some vast catalog of civilized, urbanized people not employing slavery and communist practices (a centralized governor doling out largess) that I missed learning about in history class?

    -=-=-=-=-=-=-

    to the first… yes… your right… mostly… the urban living was often under the protection of another, and or came from being serfs… the people were owned.. which is much the same as communism is… ie. a modernized return to rule by lords and ladies if not kings or czars under a different image or pretext…

    as to the 2nd part.. well yeah… there were… but they tended to be small… and not last long in the face of the others…

    but my comment was more towards the modern era… i probably wasnt clear enough given that it was focused on the american experiment and how that is destined to end because it was so open and trusting and generally good… and that it would fall by trickery and confusing the natural power base… the man is the head but the woman is the neck… which is why lysistrada pointed it out, Hitler spoke about it, Stalin included it, and Marx wanted to tax it and use it… and so on.. throughout history, if one takes a careful look one can see this is quite a ruinous thing, and like communism itself, never lead to success… the ladies tended to exercise capricious power through others, and were quite happy not to suffer for their actions when things didnt go well (and unhappy when such things did reach them).

  38. Artfldgr,

    I think I understand your thesis, but I still disagree. Maybe you’d agree with this? Urban living provides an environment that allows some women to lose focus on family and community?

    I’m not sure I agree with that, but I’m trying to find common ground. You don’t seem to be refuting my premise that women raised on family farms, in small, close knit communities, in difficult circumstances battling nature… don’t tend to attend Bernie Sanders’ rallies. Nor do men raised in the same environments.

    Maybe it has more to do with one’s upbringing and immediate environment than one’s gender?

  39. Artfldgr,

    How do you rationalize your premise when county voting patterns today mostly reflect what they were 100 years ago (regardless of mix and percentages of males and females), when population density is taken into account? In other words, counties that are still rural tend to vote against big, centralized government and counties that are urban vote for big government.

    Herkimer County, New York (only 215 miles from Manhattan) went for Trump by 79%. Do the women there not know they won sufferage?

  40. The piano was my instrument for many years until the demands of practicing difficult pieces interfered more than I cared for with my real life. I had no pretensions of a professional musical career and decided to give up lessons and the hours I needed to practice. I think I broke my teacher’s heart but I can play piano with peace for my own enjoyment. I remember sweating bullets before each recital, feeling a need to find the restroom, but once I was on stage, the automatic responses took over and I played with no (serious) mistakes. Relief.

  41. That video sent me down the YouTube hole for much of the day. I saw lots of Wings Pegasus vids, but also some “Opera Singer looks at Freddy Mercury” offerings, well worth watching.

  42. I’ve been a huge fan of Rick Beato for years. Although I’m not a musician by any serious definition of the word, I did take a year of Music Theory in college and have done a bit of composition in the distant past.

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