Garrison Keillor: Wave your arms, kick your feet, do the 2020
I am hopeful about 2020, no need to brood over the past. I'm old and have more regrets than Amazon has fulfillment centers. So what? It's a New Year, one named for clear vision, and after all the hogwash and chicanery, America is ready to embrace common sense. When the LFW (Leader of the Free World) takes TV shills as top advisors, you know it's time for new furniture. No need to wear a button on the lapel, but in November, we will vote for someone who doesn't insult us ten times before breakfast and then we'll grab each other and dance. Sha la la la la la la la la la lah de dah. You read it here first.
The best movies of 2019 that you haven't seen (The Guardian)
While the premise of Penny Lane's brilliant documentary Hail Satan? initially appears to be pure sensationalism - the use of black masses to counter white supremacy - as the film unfolds, the story becomes both stranger and more uplifting. Lane introduces the devilishly good work of the Satanic Temple, a growing group of activists who are challenging the encroaching overlap between church and state through the use of satanic imagery. So, if a government building in Arkansas erects a Christian monument on its grounds, the Temple campaigns for its own religious symbol to be built nearby: a 10ft statue of Baphomet. [ ] Not all heroes wear capes; some of them wear horns as well.
Every episode of this 1960s TV series ended with "We now return control of your television set to you. Until next week at the same time, when the control voice will take you to _______( 3 Words )_______"
"Nel blu, dipinto di blu" was Billboard's number-one single for 1958, and subsequently became the first Grammy winner for Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 1st Annual Grammy Awards in May, 1959. By what title is this song more popularly known?
"Nel blu, dipinto di blu" ("In the blue [sky] [as I was] painted blue" or "In the blue-painted blue [sky]"), popularly known as "Volare"; "To fly"), is a song recorded by Italian singer-songwriter Domenico Modugno. Written by Franco Migliacci and Domenico Modugno, it was released as a single on 1 February 1958.
Winning the eighth Sanremo Music Festival, the song was chosen as the Italian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1958, where it won third place out of ten songs in total. The combined sales of all the versions of the song exceed 22 million copies worldwide, making it one of the most popular Eurovision songs of all time and the most successful Sanremo Music Festival song ever.
It spent five non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in August and September 1958 and was Billboard's number-one single for the year. Modugno's recording subsequently became the first Grammy winner for Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 1st Annual Grammy Awards in 1959.
Source
Cal in Vermont responded:
Vo-o-o-lare oh oh followed by Sukiyaki I think.
Micki replied:
Volare.
Dave wrote:
Volare. Written by Domenico Modugno and Franco Migliacci, it was recorded with Modugno on vocals and entered as the Italian entry in something called the 1958 Eurovision Song Contest. "Volare" didn't win the contest, but later topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts for 5 weeks in 1958. Dozens of covers have been recorded, and Dean Martin's partially English translated cover version charted, also in '58.
Photo: Domenico Modugno about 1958, he turned 30 that year, when his singing career peaked.
Deborah responded:
That line comes from "Volare." My mom sang it around the house.
Mild and misty; high clouds keep the sun from burning off the light fog. It's a new day, a new year, and anything's possible. Happy New Year!
Barbara, of Peppy Tech fame wrote:
The answer is "Volare."
Happy New Year!
John I from Hawai`i says,
Volare
Kevin K. in Washington, DC, answered:
"Volare"
Joe S said:
Volare, oh oh. I loved that song, still do. One of my all time favorites.
mj took the day off.
Kenn B took the day off.
Dave in Tucson took the day off.
Michelle in AZ took the day off.
DJ Useo took the day off.
Daniel in The City took the day off.
Stephen F took the day off.
Roy, the Libtard in Tyler, TX took the day off.
Ed K took the day off.
Rosemary in Columbus took the day off.
Billy in Cypress U$A took the day off.
Jon L took the day off.
Harry M. took the day off.
George M. took the day off.
David of Moon Valley took the day off.
Gateway Mike took the day off.
Leo in Boise took the day off.
- pgw @ nor cal. took the day off.
Paul of Seattle took the day off.
Saskplanner took the day off.
Gary took the day off.
Doug in Albuquerque took the day off.
Peter W took the day off.
MarilynofTC took the day off.
Brian S. took the day off.
Steve in Wonderful Sacramento, CA, took the day off.
Gene took the day off.
Tony K. took the day off.
Noel S. took the day off.
James of Alhambra took the day off.
BttbBob has returned to semi-retired status.
~~~~~
" the five tracks on offer here really do pound on the listener's psyche as they demand entry into your brain" -- The Fragmented Flaneur.
"Pioneers for the new wave of modern krautrock" - Rotation 11
"Psychic Lemon return with their third studio album, Freak Mammal. This is the band's second release in the space of six months, after their live album Live at the Smokehouse sold out on vinyl within 48 hours in April. Freak Mammal is being released on Drone Rock Records, alongside a repress of their sought-after self-titled first album. "
Price: Name Your Price (Includes FREE) for track; £5 (GBP) for five-track album.
Peter Martins was a protege of choreographer George Balanchine. One day, Mr. Martins was making a new work on Suzanne Farrell and a male partner, and he kept saying to the male partner, "I don't want to see you," which meant that he wanted the male partner to contribute to a unified performance and not be a distraction. Ms. Farrell burst out laughing, then explained that Mr. Martins was saying exactly the same thing that Mr. Balanchine used to say. "I know, I know, I can hear him now," Mr. Martins said. "He was so right."
In Coppιlia, Franz sleeps for much of the second half of the ballet before waking up and performing some strenuous leaping over furniture while being chased. This sudden action after a long rest can lead to strained muscles, so dancer Erik Bruhn used to cover himself with an electric blanket on stage to keep his muscles warm and ready for action. By the way, ballerinas lead an exhausting life. Karen Kain once fell asleep in front of 3,000 people at the Metropolitan Opera House while lying on the stage in the role of Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty.
After ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov defected from the Soviet Union in 1974, he looked around the West for a dance partner, finally settling on Gelsey Kirkland because she was the right size to make a good partner for him. When Ms. Kirkland received a telephone call asking if she would dance with him, she screamed at the top of her voice, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, WOULD I DANCE WITH HIM? OF COURSE I WILL!"
In the party scene of the Nutcracker ballet, the performers on stage appear to be talking together. Sometimes this is not acting - the music by Tchaikovsky is so loud that often the performers feel free to talk. During one series of performances in which ballerina Alice Patelson danced, the production manager had to warn the performers to be quiet during the party scene because their conversations were becoming too loud.
While Alexandra Danilova was dancing with the Ballet Russe, she was practicing pirouettes with the support of Freddie Franklin when someone startled her. Her arm flew back, hit Mr. Franklin in the mouth, and knocked out one of his teeth. His dentist didn't believe it when Mr. Franklin told him what had happened: "But she's so lovely, so romantic, so ethereal. How could she do such a thing?"
Dance teacher Nicolas Legat drew well - especially caricatures. Once he learned that Doris Sonne, one of his dance pupils, would be unable to attend his class, so he sent her a caricature of himself crying huge tears into a cup. By the way, Mr. Legat was very strong. His dance studio had a pine floor, and he used to throw pennies so forcefully that they would become embedded in the floor.
Black ballet dancer Arthur Mitchell danced for the New York City Ballet, then started the Dance Theatre of Harlem. He proved that blacks can dance classical ballet, then stated that he didn't want a dance company of blacks only. He once said, "Now I want a company with two of every race in the world and put them on stage and have them all dancing - a kind of Noah's ark!"
American ballet master George Balanchine occasionally left talented and gifted dancers on their own. Once, Karin von Aroldingen told him, "You never cared about me." Mr. Balanchine replied, "No, dear - I knew you could do it on your own."
Death
During World War I, many Americans opposed the playing of German music on patriotic grounds. However, many musicians, including Spanish cellist Pablo Casals, regarded this attitude as nonsense, so Mr. Casals started the Beethoven Association in New York with other musicians who supported the playing of works by Ludwig van Beethoven and other great German composers. By the way, when Mr. Casals was 96 years old, he suffered a second serious heart attack. This made him angry, and he vowed, "D*mn it! I will not die!" However, on 22 October 1973, despite the fierceness of his anger, he did die.
Love the Hamish books; not a fan of Agatha Raisin. Another reason to hate 2019:
Prolific writer M C Beaton, creator of the much-loved Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth crime series, has died.
Beaton passed away on 30th December aged 83, after a short illness, her publisher Little, Brown said.
"Success came to her later in life but she made up for lost time - since 2011 she had been the most borrowed UK adult author in British libraries and her M C Beaton titles have sold in excess of 21 million copies worldwide," L, B said in a statement. "However, she hated being referred to as a 'cosy' writer, saying that if anyone called her books cosy she'd give them a Glasgow Kiss. She always saw herself more as an entertainer than author."
M C Beaton's editor Krystyna Green commented: "I'm going to miss her dreadfully as after 23 years I'd grown from being in awe of her, to thinking she was absolutely wonderful - and very kind under her rather fierce exterior. She was forthright and uncompromising and never afraid to express a view, no matter how unfashionable. She was funny, wise, and truly an inspiring, utterly unique individual. This is just such a sad end to the year."
CBS opens the night with a RERUN'Young Sheldon', followed by another RERUN'Young Sheldon', then a RERUN'Mom', followed by a RERUN'Carol's Second Act', then a RERUN'Evil'.
On a RERUNStephen Colbert (from 11/21/19) are Sen. Kamala Harris, Lady Antebellum, and Peter Jackson.
On a RERUNJames Corden, OBE, (from 10/7/19) are Ben Platt and Zoey Deutch.
NBC begins the night with a RERUN'Superstore', followed by another RERUN'Superstone', then the FRESH'The Paley Center Salutes Law & Order SVU', followed by a RERUN'L&O: SVU'.
On a RERUNJimmy Fallon (from 11/26/19) are Sen. Bernie Sanders, Katherine Langford, and Gary Vaynerchuk.
On a RERUNSeth Meyers (from 11/14/19) are Sean Hayes, Jean Smart, and Anna Baryshnikov.
On a RERUNLilly Singh (from 10/1/19) are Tegan & Sara, and Alexandra Shipp.
ABC starts the night with the FRESH'What Is Jeopardy? Alex Trebek & America's Most Popular Quiz Show', followed by the FRESH'The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 12/17/19) are Adam Sandler, Kevin Garnett, and Karen Gillan.
The CW offers a RERUN'Supernatural', followed by a RERUN'Legacies'.
Faux has a FRESH'Last Man Standing', followed by a FRESH'Deputy'.
MY recycles an old 'L&O: Ci', followed by another old 'L&O: CI'.
A&E has 'The First 48', followed by a FRESH'The First 48', then another FRESH'The First 48', followed by a FRESH'60 Days In'.
AMC offers the movie 'Home Alone 2: Lost In NY', followed by the movie 'Ghostbusters', then the movie 'Ghostbusters II'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - The Arsenal of Freedom
[7:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Pen Pals
[8:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Q Who
[9:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Yesterday's Enterprise
[10:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - The Best of Both Worlds (Part 1)
[11:00AM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - The Best of Both Worlds (Part 2)
[12:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Redemption (Part 1)
[1:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Redemption (Part 2)
[2:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Cause and Effect
[3:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - Genesis
[4:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - All Good Things... (Part 1)
[5:00PM] STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION - All Good Things... (Part 2) (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of OC', 'Project Runway', followed by a FRESH'Project Runway'.
FX has the movie 'The Martians', followed by the movie 'Pitch Perfect 2', then the movie 'Baywatch'.
History has 'American Pickers', another 'Americn Pickers', followed by a FRESH'American Pickers', and 'American Pickers'.
IFC -
[6:00A] Pee-wee's Playhouse - Playhouse for Sale
[6:30A] The Details
[8:45A] The Skeleton Twins
[10:45A] The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
[1:00P] Here Comes the Boom
[3:30P] K-9
[6:00P] Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
[8:00P] The Wedding Singer
[10:00P] The Wedding Singer
[12:00A] Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
[2:00A] Here Comes the Boom
[4:30A] The Three Stooges - Gents Without Cents
[5:00A] The Three Stooges - Grips, Grunts and Groans
[5:30A] The Three Stooges - A Pain in the Pullman (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:30am] The Andy Griffith Show
[7:05am] The Andy Griffith Show
[7:40am] The Andy Griffith Show
[8:15am] The Andy Griffith Show
[8:50am] The Andy Griffith Show
[9:25am] The Andy Griffith Show
[10:00am] The Andy Griffith Show
[10:30am] The Andy Griffith Show
[11:00am] Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders
[1:00pm] Law & Order
[2:00pm] Law & Order
[3:00pm] Law & Order
[4:00pm] Law & Order
[5:00pm] Law & Order
[6:00pm] Law & Order
[7:00pm] Law & Order
[8:00pm] Law & Order
[9:00pm] Law & Order
[10:00pm] Law & Order
[11:00pm] Law & Order
[12:00am] Law & Order
[1:00am] Law & Order
[2:00am] Law & Order
[3:00am] The Mary Tyler Moore Show
[3:35am] The Mary Tyler Moore Show
[4:10am] The Mary Tyler Moore Show
[4:45am] The Mary Tyler Moore Show
[5:20am] The Mary Tyler Moore Show
[5:55am] The Mary Tyler Moore Show (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Planet Of The Apes', followed by the movie 'Star Trek', then hours of 'Futurama'.
TBS:
On a RERUNConan (from 10/29/19) is Aaron Paul.
Kathy Griffin is making sure that 2020 starts off with a bang.
The 59-year-old comedian took to Twitter on Tuesday evening to share a brief video in which she revealed some big news -- she and longtime boyfriend Randy Bick are engaged!
However, the surprise doesn't end there. As Griffin and Bick announced in the cute clip while talking in sync with one another, not only are they engaged, but they are getting married immediately. As in a matter of hours.
Griffin teased that the unexpected nuptials will be "very atypical, very fun, and you're going to die when you see the officiant!"
Just hours before 2019 ended on Tuesday, at least 75 Rolling Stones studio and live outtakes dating from 1969 suddenly appeared on YouTube in an apparent move to officially release the recordings before they passed into public domain - and thus out of the ownership of the group and Abkco Music & Records, which administers its 1960s catalog.
Such releases have become common as the rock era has reached a succession of half-century anniversaries, and Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Motown Records and others have stealthily issued similar copyright-extending outtake collections for a brief time period (or on ridiculously limited-edition CDs with minimal packaging) before quickly yanking them off the market. Owing to the intricacies of and updates to music copyright laws and contracts across the globe, term durations vary considerably, but 50 to 70 years is common for recent popular recordings - hence the release of albums like the Beatles' "Bootleg Recordings 1963" and Dylan's even more literally titled "Copyright Collections." The recordings are usually sub-par and of interest only to deeply committed fans, and while the artist may not want them to be part of their official catalog, they also don't want to lose the copyright and thus allow others to reap the profits from their work.
Yet these Stones recordings - which appear under the title "69RSTRAX" - are apparently the first such collection released by the band. Reps for the group and Abkco did not immediately respond to Variety's request for comment, but if it's a hoax, it's an elaborate one: The YouTube recordings all bear official copyright language and are available on the Stones' and Abkco's official channels, although the presentation and many of the recordings are bootleg quality or worse. They had not been posted on Spotify or other major streaming services at the time of this article's publication; it is unclear how long they will be available (or why the group apparently didn't release similar recordings in previous years).
The 75 tracks include several near-complete 1969 concerts and multiple alternate studio versions of songs from the classic "Let It Bleed" and "Sticky Fingers" albums, many of which have been available for decades on bootlegs - along with many that have not.
UPDATE: The Rolling Stones recordings described above were removed from YouTube early on the afternoon of Jan. 1, approximately 24 hours after they were posted. The brief release apparently extends their copyright, which otherwise would have expired at the end of 2019.
Two days before Messiah is to debut on Netflix around the world, The Royal Film Commission of Jordan has requested that the provocative drama is not shown in the predominantly Muslim country. The Jordanian government organization's Managing Director, Mohannad al-Bakr, held a press conference with local media Monday in Amman to make the announcement, which also was posted on the RFC's Web site.
"Having been made aware of its content, the RFC has asked officially the management of Netflix to refrain from streaming it in Jordan," the commission's statement read.
A spokesperson for Netflix indicated that they have not received a formal legal request to remove the series from the streamer's Jordanian service.
Created by Michael Petroni and produced by The Bible's Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, Messiah explores the lines among religion, faith and politics. When a CIA officer investigates a man - referred to by some as Al-Masih (Mehdi Dehbi) - attracting international attention and followers through acts of public disruption, she embarks on a global, high-stakes mission to uncover whether he is a divine entity or a deceptive con artist.
The Messiah trailer, released earlier this month, sparked controversy over the name al-Masih, prompting a change.org petition urging a boycott of the series. It has not received a wide support, garnering just over 4,000 signatures so far. Also raising eyebrows in the Middle East is a scene in the series involving shooting on Jerusalem's sacred Temple Mount.
West Virginia plans to begin training its corrections department staff about the Holocaust after a photograph of correction officer cadets giving Nazi salutes led to dozens of firings and widespread outrage, officials said Tuesday.
A spokesman for the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety said the leader of the regional Anti-Defamation League chapter has agreed to draft the training materials and coursework. He said the agency is "committed to taking all steps necessary to accomplish this."
The move comes a day after Gov. Jim Justice announced that more than 30 trainees seen in the photo were being fired, along with their instructor. He made the announcement after a report was released detailing how the instructor "reveled" in the salute and encouraged the class to perform the gesture. Four other instructors are being suspended without pay.
On Monday, the state released a a summary of its internal investigation, which found that an unspecified number of trainees in Academy Class 18 began using the gesture early on in their training "as a sign of respect" for Byrd. Soon after, other class members also began flashing the salute.
Byrd, who taught the course on "Cultural Diversity," told investigators that she was "completely unaware of the historical or racial implications of the gesture and reported it was simply a greeting," according to the summary.
Some people spent part of their New Year's Eve trapped on a Washington state highway after tumbleweeds blocked their route, authorities said.
YakTriNews reported that the Washington State Patrol announced via Twitter at about 6:30 p.m. that State Route 240 was closed in both directions near West Richland.
Trooper Sarah Clasen told KAPP-KVEW that vehicles were trapped in a pile of tumbleweeds that stood up to 15 feet tall.
The state Department of Transportation used snow plows to clear the scene. Trooper Chris Thorson said it took about 10 hours to clear the road, which opened again around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Thorson says five cars and one 18-wheel semi truck where trapped in the tumbleweeds. No injuries were reported.
Back in 1990, children playing near a gravel pit in Griswold, Connecticut, stumbled across a pair of skulls that had broken free of their graves in a 19th century unmarked cemetery. Subsequent excavation revealed 27 graves-including that of a middle-aged man identified only by the initials "JB55," spelled out in brass tacks on his coffin. Unlike the other burials, his skull and femurs were neatly arranged in the shape of a skull and crossbones, leading archaeologists to conclude that the man had been a suspected "vampire" by his community. Scientists finally found a likely identification for JB55, describing their findings in a paper published this summer in the journal Genes.
Analysis of JB55's bones back in the 1990s indicated the man had been a middle-aged laborer, around 55 when he died (hence, JB55, the man's initials and age at death). The remains also showed signs of lesions on the ribs, so JB55 suffered from a chronic lung condition-most likely tuberculosis, known at the time as consumption. It was frequently lethal in the 1800s, due to the lack of antibiotics, and symptoms included a bloody cough, jaundice (pale, yellowed skin), red and swollen eyes, and a general appearance of "wasting away." The infection frequently spread to family members. So perhaps it's not surprising that local folklore suspected some victims of being vampires, rising from the grave to sicken the community they left behind.
Hence the outbreak of the so-called Great New England Vampire Panic in the 19th century across Rhode Island, Vermont, and eastern Connecticut. It was common for families to dig up the bodies of those who had died from consumption to look for signs of vampirism, a practice known as "therapeutic exhumation." If there was liquid blood in the organs (especially the heart), a bloated abdomen, or if the corpse seemed relatively fresh, this was viewed as evidence of vampirism. In such cases, the organs would be removed and burned, the head sometimes decapitated, and the body reburied. Given JB55's lung condition and the fact that there were signs of decapitation, he was likely a suspected vampire.
"This was being done out of fear and out of love," co-author Nicholas F. Bellantoni, a retired Connecticut state archaeologist who worked on the case in the early 1990s, told the Washington Post. "People were dying in their families, and they had no way of stopping it, and just maybe this was what could stop the deaths. They didn't want to do this, but they wanted to protect those that were still living."
Golden eagles are back from Canada, spending the winter in the eastern U.S.
Researcher Trish Miller said there are probably around 5,000 east of the Mississippi River, compared to estimates of 1,000 to 2,500 when she and her husband, Michael Lanzone, began studying them in 2005. Other scientists have come up with similar figures.
Golden eagles are among North America's largest birds of prey, some with wingspans broader than 7 feet (2.1 meters). They're mostly brown, but are named for the golden feathers at the back of the head and neck. An estimated 100,000 to 200,000 live worldwide, including Europe, Asia and North Africa. In North America they're far more numerous in the West, where an estimated 40,000 live or winter, but some can be found for at least part of the year in most of Canada and the United States, and parts of Mexico.
Miller, of Conservation Science Global in West Cape May, New Jersey, said the greatest numbers wintering in the eastern U.S. are probably along the Virginia-West Virginia state line, though she and Lanzone, of Cellular Tracking Technologies in Rio Grande, New Jersey, haven't analyzed likely densities.
Hundreds of camera traps, with bait set in front of motion-sensitive game cameras, have documented them in every state east of the Mississippi River and cellular tracking tags have shown them venturing into others, she said.
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better, amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican hypocrites?
said:
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
