Off Topic The Arts Thread (Paintings, Music etc)

One of my favourite actors, Bill Nighy, has been nominated for an Oscar for his role in the film "Living". Have not seen it yet, but I will be very happy indeed if he gets an Oscar. A good man and a truly fine actor, a credit to his profession.
Good luck, Bill!

 

Sad to hear of the death of a giant of a musician David Lindley. A self-effacing genius who did not take himself too seriously He made a series of LPs in the early '80s with his band El Rayo X, that were the kind of LPs you put on and just smiled. He was a multi-instrumentalist who could play anything you cared to mention. He excelled as a slide guitar player, but was an equally fine violinist. Often his songs were good fun stuff but here's a serious one from the '80s with Lindley playing acoustic guitar and singing his own song Talkin' to the Winos too.

David Lindley & El Rayo X - Talkin'to the wino too - YouTube

He is most famous for playing with a number of huge names and being on their recordings. I first heard him on Jackson Browne's LP For Everyman (1973) where he handled all the lead guitar and some violin. He played on just about all his LPs up to 2010. He also played with CSandN, Ry Cooder, Rod Stewart and countless others including The Parton, Ronstadt and Harris LPs of the '80s.
I was lucky to see him 3 times. Twice with Jacskon Browne and once with just him and Ry Cooder. Always phenomenal.

Here's the first of his playing I ever heard on record.

Jackson Browne - Take It Easy - YouTube

A sad day

 

Just watched 'Finding my Voice', a documentary about Linda Ronstadt on BBC iPlayer. While I was fully aware of her her Country Rock work and her Trio LPs made with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris I was totally surprised at the whole gamut of music she had grasped and obviously succeeded in. Of course the title is ironic, as sadly Ronstadt has Parkinson's Disease and can no longer sing. Well worth some of your time and I walked away totally impressed by her voice and her achievements.

 

I was very sad to read of Linda's illness. Every time I listen to her No.1 Hit. 'Blue Bayou', it brings tears to my eyes. When I was abroad working in West Africa (Lomé, Togo, I think it was), sitting in a small bar close to the beach, my two old buddies, long since passed away, used to love playing Linda's 'Blue Bayou'. Got to love the song myself. Here's a recording, wonderful back-up by the accompanying musicians too.

Linda Ronstadt - Blue Bayou (Official Music Video) - YouTube

 

It was a brilliant watch, I didn’t know much about Linda but it opened my eyes and ears.

 

Unfortunately, can't get BBC i-Player where I am, even if one offers to pay for it, but no way. It is the BBC's 'Crown Jewel'. Maybe I can watch it later somehow?

 

It was called Linda Ronstadt- The sound of my voice

It looks like you can watch it on youtube -

 

Thank you, Nass, will give it a go.

 

Wow! A marvellous documentary about a truly wonderful singer and person. I had no idea Linda was so utterlly brilliant. What really got to me was her incredible performances in the Spanish language, that was just unbelievable, so impressive.Thank you, Bustino, for your original clip on this, and to you, Nass, for your tip on how to watch it without the i-Player. It worked fine.

 

Stanley Myers "Cavatina" from the "Deer Hunter". Guitar Soloist: Olavur Jakobsen, with excellent backing from the Faroe Islands Symphony Orchestra. Conductor Bernhard Wilkinson

Comment from the official webpage on this superb rendereing by Faroe Islands-born guitarist, Olavur Jakobsen:

"Olavur Jakobsen, guitarist, Faroe, Icelands. ... I love the album for Jakobsen's clean and inspired playing, but also for its conceptual integrity."

The more I listen to this, the more impressed I am. So, many other guitar renderings of Cavatina by better-known guitarists lack real feeling, and often sound quite harsh in comparison.Young Olavur Jakobsen has it absolutely right in his playing of this Stanley Myers classic.

 

Sad to hear of the death of the wonderful Barry Humphries. Though primarily famous for his creation of Dame Edna Everage, his greatest cultural influence was the Private Eye cartoon character Barry Mackenzie. As a young teenager, like many others who read the cartoon strip, I garnered a new vocabulary. from Humphries' fertile mind. Chunder was mild, pointing percy was fun and dining at the Y or yodelling up the canyon unimaginable.
Old fella' aka beef bayonet, mutton dagger and nasty; a bugle duster for gollies, to come the raw prawn or uncooked crustacean, while drain the dragon, strain the potatoes, water the horses or shaking hands with the wife's best friend (or unemployed) were so much more fun than to micturate. Girls suddenly had the flags out or the painters in, or if you were thirsty you were as dry as a nun's nasty, norks were fun bags, rod walloping became polishing your rocket or jerkin' the gherkin or gong beating, having eaten well became being as full as a bear's bum.
Humphries was a man of great refinement, a bastard (=good person) if there ever was one and a great friend of the poet John Betjeman. His greatest contempt was felt for Fosters. In the mid-60s this small Melbourne brewery was unknown until Humphries introduced them to the British Public as a foaming tube (of Fosters) in his cartoon and it became the drink of choice: yet they never acknowledged his promotion.

Clive James interview 1987 3/4 Peter Cook, Barry Humphries - Bing video

He will be greatly missed, I will miss him (he was brilliant on Saturday Kitchen just a few months ago) but his words will live long after people forget where they came from.

 

Thanks, Resurgam. To be honest can't say I know much about James Morrison at all, but he is a jazz musician of extraordinary talent, for sure. Thanks again for the video clip.

 

The last time i heard the term 'Mutton Dagger' used was from the Macc Lads, from the one and only legendary song, 'Sweaty Betty'... Not the faint hearted...

Totally agree with your comments on Humphries, a clever man who knew a good ole yarn with a twist...

 

Super guy and fine actor. Nominated for an Oscar this year, but really didn't have much of a chance (some of the winners were really weird IMHO, certainly not everyone's cup-of-tea?) Haven't seen 'Living' yet, but looking forward to seeing it.

 

Very talented jazz musician indeed. First piece I played was 'Errolesque', brilliant! His colleagues in this quintet were excellent too. Thank you for the clip, Resurgam, some really fine jazz piano by Joe Webb and Co.