Larry Hagman

J.R. Ewing was a business cheat, faithless husband and bottomless well of corruption. Yet with his sparkling grin, Larry Hagman masterfully created the charmingly loathsome oil baron — and coaxed forth a Texas-size gusher of ratings — on television's long-running and hugely successful nighttime soap, "Dallas."

Although he first gained fame as nice guy Major Tony Nelson on the fluffy 1965-70 NBC comedy "I Dream of Jeannie," Hagman earned his greatest stardom with J.R. The CBS serial drama about the Ewing family and those in their orbit aired from April 1978 to May 1991, and broke viewing records with its "Who shot J.R.?" 1980 cliffhanger that left unclear if Hagman's character was dead.

The actor, who returned as J.R. in a new edition of "Dallas" this year, had a long history of health problems and died Friday due to complications from his battle with cancer, his family said.

borrowadvd

I was thinking that it would be neat if friends had a pool of DVDs from which they could borrow.  Friends would list their DVDs into the pool and other friends could see what's available to borrow.

Apparently there was a site called lendaround which did just that, but then apparently it went away due to lack of interest (or funding).

Further searching brought up borrowadvd.  It's currently in development but allows you to put in your inventory of DVDs for now.

Searching for borrowadvd failed to bring up the site, but led to MoviesatWork.co.uk which seems to be operational.

Talk about limited functionaly at borrowadvd.  I can't even figure out how to add a movie..

is health insurance a bad bet?

In general, any insurance is a bad bet (because the insurance company is taking their cut).

And in the case of health insurance, it's even more of a bad bet if you're healthy.

Of course, the risk is that you'll lose all your money.

The best bet in either case: try to stay healthy!

Hawaiian music

Hey youtube is the new thatsitethateverybodyusedtopiratemusicfrom (napster)

Here's the start of the Hawaiian music playlist

Brown Eyed Girl (Ka'au Crater Boys)

I'm Yours (Ten Feet, Sungha Jung, Jason Mraz)
Islands in the Stream (Ten Feet)

Honey Baby (Three Plus) [grooveshark]
Cool Operator (Three Plus)
Two Person Party (Three Plus)

Undercover Lover (Three Plus)

Stuck on You (Ekolu)
Honestly (Ekolu)

Fish and Poi (Sean Na'auao Trio, solo, studio) / [Hungry Guy, Hungry Girl]

Inspiration: Take 1

Inspiration was William Hung's debut album.  But believe it or not, other people sang those songs too.  Here's some that I found (in progress)

She Bangs (Dario, Sindikatos, Patrick J Reyes, Ricky Martin, William Hung)

Hotel California (Loy, Bim, Joe, Eagles, William Hung)

Can You Feel Love Tonight (The Four Quarters, MA'capella, Vocal Folds 4, Biola King's Men, Landry Cantrell and Brianne Brieno, KiKeCeRv, OfficialRoflcopterz, sebi2205, Helene Fischer, Elton John, William Hung)

***

[2/11/16] William Hung got married

The Eagles: the alternate Common Thread

And while on the music subject, one of my favorite albums is Common Thread which are Eagles covers by noted country artists

Some of the tracks are youtube

Take It Easy (Travis Tritt)
Peaceful Easy Feeling (Little Texas)
Desperado (Clint Black)
Heartache Tonight
Tequila Sunrise (Alan Jackson)
Take It to the Limit (Suzy Boguss)
I Can't Tell You Why (Vince Gill)
Lyin' Eyes
New Kid in Town (Trisha Yearwood)
Saturday Night
Already Gone (Tanya Tucker)
Best of My Love
The Sad Cafe (Lorrie Morgan)

And here's an alternate Common Thread from youtube (in progess):

Take It Easy (Big River Band, Bluegrasspicker32, Tequila Sunrise, mosnick)
Peaceful Easy Feeling (roccoscirocco, DejaVuAcoustic, Jackson Browne)
Desperado (sjkcmusic, demenche, Steve Jackson, Lisa Mei, Carrie Underwood, Guitar Sensation)
Heartache Tonight (Tofta Sisters, 69SouthBand, Desert Highway)
Tequila Sunrise (TMSampson, HomePicking, beppemignemi, glimmertwins4, Music Family)
Take It to the Limit (asdisciple18, BRONZE8020, LeLive)
I Can't Tell You Why (Maxi, ropor, Ana Free)
Lyin' Eyes (rickytic3, tjgaghan, SteveYeager65, Moyse, f7jaybird, Scott Seiter, GennaAcoustic)
New Kid in Town (spettacolare, SeldomL8, Loy, Bim, Joe, tonybpr31, JD Souther)
Saturday Night (sof2jack, eciovdriht)
Already Gone (jamala22, boozelele)
Best of My Love (mocchicone, JD Souther, John Hall, Guitar Sensation)
The Sad Cafe (TheStevensCat, ilcvthesniper1989, JD Souther)

And here it is: the Common Thread alternate universe edition) playlist (take 1)

And the originals

Take It Easy
Peaceful Easy Feeling
Desperado (Clint Black)
Heartache Tonight
Tequila Sunrise
Take It to the Limit
I Can't Tell You Why
Lyin' Eyes
New Kid in Town
Saturday Night
Already Gone
Best of My Love
The Sad Cafe

Surprisingly, these hits were not on the album:

One of these Nights
Hotel California (Loy, Bim, Joe, David Wayne, Naudo, Reggae Remake, Calliman, William Hung, Eagles)

Seven Bridges Road (this one didn't make the cut, but I like the little white dog)

do not disturb

One of the most exciting features of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference last week was Do Not Disturb, the new iPhone feature designed to get you off your iPhone altogether.


Do Not Disturb is just one among a growing crop of like-minded apps that are tapping into the benefits of unplugging and recharging -- a source of wisdom that many of our most creative minds have long recognized. Bill Gates, who realized that good ideas come when we shut out distractions, used to take "Think Weeks" -- a week off once or twice a year in a secluded cabin, in order to read and think. Steve Jobs told Walter Isaacson that Zen meditation was important for him so he could still his restless mind and listen, as he put it, to more subtle things, and "that's when your intuition starts to blossom." John Steinbeck put it this way: "a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it."

Going back through history, we know that many of the great discoveries were made in moments of relaxation. Archimedes famously had his eureka moment in the bath, and was so excited he dashed out naked -- which of course today would have instantly been captured on Twitter.

- read in Midweek, June 27, 2012

Raul Malo / Roy Orbison

I wasn't familiar with Raul Malo, but when I searching for the Johnny Cash TNT special, I came to his site which had information and links to videos (see Johnny Cash in the blog).

It turnes out Raul Malo was the lead singer of The Mavericks, I listened to this video (Born to Be Blue) and it kind of reminded me of Roy Orbison.  (I'm trying to figure out what song they're ripping off -- it's L-O-V-E.)

It turns out they're a fan of Orbison having released a Covers album.

And I see on youtube Malo singing a few Orbison classics

Crying
In Dreams
Dream Baby

Raul as Roy doing Puff The Magic Dragon

***

And here's Roy Oribson himself

Crying
In Dreams
Dream Baby

***

Raul does Elvis too

Can't Help Falling In Love With You 
Love Me
A Fool Such As I

***

You're Only Lonely was by J.D. Souther but would have fit Orbison too.  Raul Malo's version (a bit slower than Souther's version).  Digging through youtube's results: also done by Schuyler Fisk, Giovy Jiminez, Caitlin Strnadica.

Hey, J.D. Souther does covers too.

Best of My Love (Eagles)
New Kid in Town

Live at the Troubadour

Carole King and James Taylor (concert)

I wouldn't think this would last this long, but it's been up since 2/27/11.

oldies collections

I bit on the Dick Clark's Rock and Roll Era informercial.

But another one was/is Malt Shop Memories (partially available on grooveshark)

The current one is Teen Years.

But actually I think I probably enjoy the informercial better than the actual music

Couldn't find the full informercial of other two but here's Teen Years (starring Neil Sedaka)

Bossa music

[11/1/12] I've written about Bossa music on previous posts (for example, Bossa Beatles in the previous post - for more search this blog for Bossa).  But I figure I'll make a new post devoted just to it.  It seems the singer on these albums (or at least some of them) is Rita Lee.

Well I'll just cut and paste here..

Fly Me to the Moon (saxophone)
Fly Me to the Moon (Olivia Ong)
Fly Me to the Moon (Astrud Gilberto)
The Girl From Ipanema (Astrud Gilberto)

My favorite Bossa album is Bossa N' Chicago.  Anyway, here's some tracks from youtube.  I guess I should one day make a playlist.

If You Leave Me Now
Will You Still Me Love Me?
Happy Man

shucks, I thought I could find more.  [I might have downloaded it on my other computer.]

Hey, I see the tracks available for streaming on grooveshark.  I'll write them down before they disappear (since they're being sued for copyright violations by all the major music companies).

Just You N' Me
Will You Still Love Me? (youtube)
If You Leave Me Now (takko27)
Colour My World
You're the Inspiration
Hard Habit To Break
Glory Of Love
Here in my Heart
Hard to say I'm Sorry
After The Love Has Gone
I Don't Wanna Live Without Your Love
Happy Man (nestormena3000)
The Next Time I Fall
Take Me Back To Chicago

[12/8/16]  Found this note in the divider, they're the Bossa N' Chicago Tracks, but in a different order.  Maybe this was the order on my custom playlist?  I dunno.  But here it is..

If you leave me now (bal27rck)
you're the inspiration (bal27rck)
will you still love me (bal27rck)
glory of love (bal27rck)
happy man (bal27rck)
hard habit to break (bal27rck)
hard to say I'm sorry (bal27rck)
I don't want to live without your love (bal27rck)
just you n' me (bal27rck)
after the love is gone (bal27rck)
colour my world (bal27rck)
next time I fall (bal27rck)
here in my heart (bal27rck)
take me back to chicago (bal27rck)

Looking at the youtube links, I see the first one (Will You Still Love Me) no longer works, but I found a couple more attributed to Sitti [actually got 'em all!].  I'll link them above.  And before they're gone, I'll download them too (using keepvid).  Tried downloading the mp3 with keepvid and I couldn't get it working, so I used listentoyoutube.com.  Funny the mp3 is bigger than the mp4 file.

Hmm.  Now I see the scribbled list was (the bulk of) my playlist labelled Bossa's and that I looked at those videos almost four years ago - see 3/17/13 post below.  One video is missing from the playist (which is will you still love me).  I'll add it back.  I also notice some deleted videos from the playlist: top of the world and you got a ....

OK, here's a replacement for Top of the World (by Taryn Szpilman).  Actually I like this one (uploaded by Harris Syach) better.  As for You got a friend, I like this one by Susan Wong.  And this one by Lisa Ono.  OK, I'll add the second and third to the list to replace the deleted ones.

So here's the current playlist (the first 14 are from Bossa N' Chicago)
If You Leave Me Now (takko27)
Happy man (nestormena3000)
You're the inspiration (bal27rck)
Will you still love me
Glory of love
Hard habit to break
Hard to say I'm sorry
I don't wanna live without your love
Just you n' me
After the love has gone
Colour my world
The next time I fall
Here in my heart
Take me back to Chicago
Fly to me the moon (Sinval Fonseca)
Can't buy me love (mony0728)
Hey Jude (TATIMELMONO)
Let It Be (mitodrumR)
Here Comes the Sun (mitodrumR)
Beat It (TATIMELMONO)
Top of the World (Harris Syach)
I won't last a day without you (alcatraz0700915)
You've got a friend (evosound)
Killing Me Softly (rizos5224)
More than words (Breeze BossaNova)
Just the way you are (Breeze BossaNova)
Can't Help Falling in Love (BRUTALTECHNOCORE)

[3/17/13 - I see that bal27rck has uploaded the tracks to youtube between 12/1/12 and 12/3/12 and attributes the singer as sitti.  Looking up sitti, I see she is Sitti Navarro and is credited with the Cafe Bossa and My Bossa Nova albums (on which she sings If You Leave Me Now).  They're pretty good, but to me sounds different from the singer on the Bossa N' Chicago which I still believe to Rita Lee.]

I like Bossa n' Marley too.

Is This Love?
Waiting in Vain
I Shot The Sheriff
Redemption Song
No Woman No Cry
Buffalo Soldier

[Hey, I see this album on megazip.]

I guess I'll just listen on grooveshark while I can.

[1/23/14] Hey rdio is streaming free.  Lisa Ono - Soul & Bossa caught my ear (while trying to listen to songs from Slim Whitman Country Classics).  And here's a reggae version of Send Me The Pillow.

[12/5/15] Listening to Bossa n' Essentials on spotify.  Love it.

[5/14/22] The Boss N Chicago songs from bal27rck have gone private.  But I see a new playlist "provided to YouTube by Warner Music Phillipines".  So this kind of looks official.  The songs are dated 9/26/14, but the playlist was last updated 4/11/22.

Beatles covers

I love Beatles music, but since I've heard it played over and over by the Beatles, I've kind of collected a bunch of Beatles cover music (over the like the last 20 years or so).

But now I see I can get some on youtube.  Here's some I found.

I'm Looking Through You (ukelele)
Blackbird (Cameron Mitchell)
Blackbird (Kenny Rankin)
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Jake Shimabukuro)
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Sungha Jung)
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Eric Clapton, Concert for George)
My Sweet Lord (Billy Preston, Concert for George)
Here Comes The Sun (Paul Simon, David Crosby, Graham Nash)
Here Comes The Sun (James Taylor with John Williams)
Here Comes the Sun (Yuna - via roy)
Here Comes the Sun (Landon Austin)

Something (reggae cover)
Imagine (Bruddah Waltah)

Don't Let Me Down (Bruddah Waltah)

[11/5/12] Here's my play list (so far).

Fool on the Hill (Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66)

Daytripper (Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66)

Can't Buy Me Love (in Bossa)

A Hard Day's Night (Rita Lee)

She Loves You (Rita Lee)

All My Loving (Bossa N' Beatles)

With A Little Help From My Friends (Rita Lee)

In My Life (Rita Lee)

Here, There, Everywhere (Rita Lee)

If I Fell (Rita Lee)

Michelle (Rita Lee)

Hey Jude (Cool Songs in Bossa)

Let It Be (Bossa 'n Beatles)
Til There Was You (Barbara Williams)

Top 10 best Beatles covers

***

Top Tracks for the Beatles (100)

[11/4/12] the covers project shows just how many people have covered Beatles music

The Complete Beatles 1 album