COMMERCIAL ~ "La-Z-boy Furniture Gallery - Lloydminster" Starring Homeschoolers

Portions of this commercial were filmed in May, when Alisdair and I toured the New Cap News Television studio and radio station.  Tim Krenz, the President of the Lloydminster Homeschool Association, owns the La-Z-boy Furniture Gallery and he thought it would be fun for the children to star in a commercial for his business.

At the close of the tour, the children sat in one of two black recliners and had a few seconds of footage shot.  Can you find Alisdair?  I watched it twice and still didn't see him.  But my eagle-eyed son knew he was wearing a red t-shirt and found himself!  He is near the beginning (0:07 seconds) in the middle of the bottom row with his hands behind his head and his elbows sticking out!  It's a little blurry but Alisdair thinks it is because the commercial had to be compressed so much smaller to be emailed to us.

In any event, it is exciting to be part of a commerical.  We'll have to watch the local television station to see if we can see the advertisement actually broadcast.

But we'd better not watch the commerical too many times, or we'll be jumping into the minivan and driving to Lloydminster to purchase our very own La-Z-boy recliner.  You've got to admit, it does look very comfortable!

VIDEOS ~ Duke Ellington - "It Don't Mean a Thing" (1943)

Here is a little music to go with the "poetic" post about Duke Ellington.  It's definitely inspiring stuff!

VIDEOS/BOOK REVIEWS ~ "Silverlicious" ~ By: Victoria Kann

Victoria Kann has a new book hot off the press called "Silverlicious."  It follows in the footsteps of "Pinkalicious" and several other "colourful" books this author has penned.  (See previous blog post ~  "Pink? Purple? Gold? They Are All Delicious ~ February 10, 2011"). We were lucky to get ahold of a copy as it is very much in demand ~ even at the library, with several patrons placing "holds" on the material.  The dustjacket of the copy we received had a blue and white sticker on it, indicating the "Girl Guides of Canada" endorsed the book.

At the beginning of this story, Pinkalicious Pinkerton realizes she has a serious problem.  When she loses a tooth, Pinkalicious is suddenly unable to taste anything sweet.  Candy, cookies, cakes ... they all taste disgusting!  Poor Pinkalicious ... even visits from Edgar Easter Bunny, Carlos Cupid and Elf #351 do not help. Finally Tootheetina (the young girl's own personal tooth fairy) is able to solve the dilemma.  Tootheetina leaves Pinkalicious a note.  It says: "Sweetness comes from the inside.  When you are sweet, the world and all the delicious things in it will be sweet too!"  When Pinkalicious takes this wise advice to heart, she realizes that she has not been very grateful or polite.  On the last page she vows, "From now on I am always going to be as sweet as my sweet tooth." 

This video is a "trailer" for "Silverlicious":



There is also a website devoted to all things Pinkalicious.  Check it out at Think Pinkalicious!  There are e-cards to send, games to play, activity pages to print and colour, and you can even put your own photo into a graphic of Pinkalicious to "pinkafy" yourself (or your little one!)  Isobel loved it!

***

After reading this book, last week Alisdair lost one of his own teeth.  Luckily the molar was NOT his sweet tooth (although I'm not sure he actually has one!)  We did have fun joking about it, though!

VIDEOS ~ Edward Reid Singing on "Britain's Got Talent"



This entertaining fellow is a drama teacher from Coatbridge, Scotland.  His performance on "Britain's Got Talent" was shown on the Canada AM morning newscast recently.  Alisdair and I loved it!

HEALTH ~ HEPATITIS 'B' Vaccination Series Completed

The telephone rang.  When I answered, it was the local Public Health Nurse on the other end of the line.  Could Alisdair come over to the clinic for the last of his series of immunizations Saskatchewan students receive in Grade 6?  Reluctantly I made the appointment, as I knew he would be upset.


This was the third time we'd had to meet with her for a Hepatitis 'B' immunization as it is given in three doses.  On one of the first occasions, Alisdair tried to tell the Nurse that he wasn't going to be a drug user and he wasn't going to "sleep with a lot of partners" so therefore he didn't need the shot.

Alisdair was also very concerned about the possibility the vaccines contained "high levels of mercury."  Although she appreciated his knowledge about the reasons for having the shots, the Public Health Nurse didn't "buy" his excuses and neither of us let him off the hook!  She tried to reassure him that she wouldn't have immunized her own daughters, if it wasn't safe to do so.  Regardless, it was a relief to get the procedure over with!

Notice of Immunization

The Public Health Nurse said the next set of booster shots are not until Grade 8 ~ so it's good to know we don't have to go through this again for a while!

In his search to find evidence against getting children vaccinated, Alisdair found this amusing video by Sid the Science Kid called, "It's Gonna Help A Whole Lot," which was made by PBS.  Enjoy!

VIDEOS ~ Could This Be the Royal Wedding Entrance Dance???

Alisdair and I enjoyed this video from T-Mobile.  Some of the Royal impersonators are so lifelike that you can almost mistake them for the real thing!  We hope to get up in the middle of the night to watch the Royal Wedding . . . of course there will be reruns, throughout the day, but it's always fun to see the action as it takes place.

VIDEOS ~ Annie Oakley ~ Shooting Demonstration ~ November 1, 1894

We recently borrowed a biography of Annie Oakley, (part of the Step-into-Reading Series), from the library, which sparked our interest in this "Woman of the West."  It's amazing that Thomas Edison managed to capture a shooting demonstration on film.

Isobel was trying to decide who was better with a gun ~ her Stepdad John, or Annie Oakley.  Finally she decided that John was a better sharpshooter, as he was alive, and Annie had died long ago.  While discussing this with her Grandma (over the telephone), Isobel said, "Skeletons can't do very much."

You've got to admit, she does have a point!

CHARITY/VIDEOS ~ Update ~ "Build a Bano" Mexican Wheelchair & Bathroom Renovation Project

Here is an update on Uncle Vance's "Mexican Missions Project."

Before they left for Mexico, on April 8th, the Skate Life group managed to raise the necessary $2,500 to provide a wheelchair for Vance's friend and to begin remodelling the family's home so it could be made wheelchair accessible.  The bathroom isn't finished, but the work has begun.

It's exciting to see the volunteers working ~ chipping out the old concrete and pouring fresh ramps and floors for the family.  Near the end of the video, the young man's mother speaks (through an interpreter) thanking the Lord, and the Canadian donors, for their kindness to her family.  What a blessing this project has been to them!

It's amazing what a difference the "Build a Bano" donations have made to the quality of life of this family.  I'm glad to see actual footage of the project, documenting the positive results.

VIDEOS ~ "Mood Indigo" ~ Duke Ellington 1969

EDWARD KENNEDY "DUKE" ELLINGTON (b. April 29, 1899; d. May 24, 1974).  Composer.  Bandleader.  Pianist.  Regarded as the greatest composer in jazz history.  "Duke" Ellington (called "Duke" because of the manner in which he dressed and conducted himself) composed approximately two thousand songs, covering a huge array of genres including ballet, nightclub, motion pictures, live theater, and concert halls.  In 1930 he formed the Duke Ellington orchestra, which became prominent through radio broadcasts and film performances.  During the 1940s he toured with his band both in the United States and in Europe.  Among his most well-known songs are:  "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" (1932), which came alive during the swing era, and "Take the 'A' Train" (1941).  Throughout his career, Ellington won eleven Grammys, was honored with nineteen doctorate degrees, and was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969 and the French Legion of Honor in 1973.  He was truly the duke of jazz.
               ~ Biographical Notes taken from "Ellington was not a Street"  By:  Ntozake Shange

VIDEOS ~ Prime Minister Stephen Harper Sings "IMAGINE" & Causes Controversy

While Alisdair was delivering the Saskatoon Star Phoenix this morning, an article by their columnist, Les Macpherson caught my eye. He writes:

"If nothing else, this lacklustre federal election campaign has convinced me who I absolutely do not want as our prime minister:

Yoko Ono.  Yoko Ono."

"The malicious old harpy set a new standard for campaign meanness by forcing YouTube to pull a video of Conservative Leader Stephen Harper singing Imagine. This she had every legal right to do, having inherited the song's publishing rights from her late husband, John Lennon. That doesn't make it any less mean."

"Harper was touring a Winnipeg school when he performed Imagine, obviously unrehearsed, with fifth-grade student Maria Aragon. It is fine for Ono to stick it in Harper's ear by yanking the video from YouTube, but what about the little girl? How must she have felt when she learned her once-in-a-lifetime experience of performing with Canada's prime minister was expunged from the most popular video-sharing site."

"Yoko Ono doesn't care. If she has to step on a 10-year-old schoolgirl to take a cheap shot at a foreign politician, so be it."

"Protecting copyright was the means here, not the end. This was a deliberate shot from Ono at Harper. Numerous other renditions of Imagine, amateur and professional, are up on YouTube, including one by Bill Clinton, but only this one was removed for copyright reasons. It figures that Ono, a well-known lefty boohoo, would adore Clinton and despise Harper, although their differences are not as great as she might like to, uh, imagine. Clinton is more charming, certainly, but Harper is more respectful of women. You would think a self-proclaimed champion of feminism would appreciate the distinction."

"Ono's selective churlishness over copyright violates the very spirit of Imagine. The song invites us to imagine, among other things, a world of no possessions. Copyright is a kind of possession. By forbidding others from performing the song, Ono not only endorses the notion of personal property, she uses it as a stick to beat on Canada's prime minister."

"And if a 10-year-old girl from Winnipeg gets clipped by the follow through, too bad.
Too bad, as well, that Harper performed Imagine in the first place. It's a terrible song. The melody is fine and the piano riff catchy enough, but these are overwhelmed by the most nauseating lyrics in any pop song ever."

"The aforementioned line about imagining no possessions is especially hard to swallow without provoking the gag reflex. We don't have to imagine no possessions. We've seen it tried in the old Soviet Union. The record shows that it didn't work out very well. But you have to admire Lennon's chutzpah in charging $12 for a record album that urged us to reject capitalism."

"What I don't understand is how Harper, a Conservative prime minister and a tireless proponent of free markets, can bring himself to sing "imagine no possessions." It's as if he's campaigning for the NDP."

"The song also urges us to imagine nothing to kill or die for. But what about freedom?"

"This is something for which many have killed and died, to our great and enduring benefit. Lennon's very freedom to dump on the status quo that treated him so generously was paid for in blood. Imagination manifestly did not get it done."

"Lennon sounds here like one of those silly juvenile idealists who likes to pronounce that violence never solves anything. This is not only wrong, it's stupid. Violence solved Hitler and the Holocaust. Violence solved the institutionalized cruelty of Imperial Japan."

"The violence of the American civil war solved slavery. The threat of violence solved Soviet repression of Eastern Europe. It was not imagined away. To acknowledge this is perhaps too much to expect from a guy who, in the name of peace, stayed in bed for weeks."

"Somewhat easier to imagine is a world with no religion. I'm not very religious myself, so, for me, this is no problem."

"The problem would come about five minutes after religion was eliminated, when someone started a new religion. He'd have a monopoly, too, until someone else launched a competing religion. Then they'd be at it again, hammer and tongs, just as before."

"Lennon wrote and performed so many great songs, it pains me that Imagine, one of his worst efforts, is the one that endures. What I like to imagine is never hearing it again."

lmacpherson@thestarphoenix.com
© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix

***

When our deliveries were finished, we came home and checked online and found the video, was actually still available. (It's posted above.)

In the words of Lennon's "Imagine" ... "You may say that I'm a dreamer ... but I'm not the only one..." as Alisdair wants to become the Prime Minister of Canada someday. He's already started learning how to make speeches, but obviously we should be finding a music teacher so that he can also learn how to play piano for impromptu photo opportunities while out on the hustings prior to elections!

Just imagine... my son as Prime Minister Ramsay-Mackenzie! Now that WOULD be something to sing about!!

VIDEOS ~ Jesse Owens ~ "This is Your Life" ~ Parts 1 and 2

While searching for information about Jesse Owens, we came across this interesting two-part program.  "This is Your Life" featured Jesse Owens as their special guest on a show in 1960.  Alisdair and I enjoyed watching this old program as neither of us were born when it originally aired.  Jesse Owens seemed very surprised and taken off-guard by the whole experience.  After reading about Owens coaches, (Ridley and Snyder), it was nice to be able to see them! Alisdair was especially intrigued with the now long outmoded technology that Owens was given as prizes ~ it's hard to imagine a time when the antique electronic equipment on the video was actually "state of the art!"

VIDEOS ~ Jesse Owens ~ Berlin Olympics ~ 1936

Alisdair and I recently read the book "Jesse Owens" by Mervyn Kaufman.  It's another "Crowell Biography" like the ones we have studied about Paul Robeson and Ray Charles.

Here is a brief clip of footage of Jesse Owen's 100 metre race at the Olympics in Berlin, Germany in 1936.  He was obviously a very determined young man and well deserving of his Olympic medals.  It's amazing ~ in a personal context, my father was just two years old when Jesse Owens competed in the Olympics and my mother would not be born for another two years. And yet, thanks to early technology, we can witness this historic event!

Owens was the first American Track and Field athlete to win four gold medals at a single Olympiad.  His record stood for forty-eight years, until Carl Lewis matched Owens' feat at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California.

***

We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.                                                                                                          ~ Jesse Owens

VIDEOS ~ Paul Robeson ~ Song #3 ~ "Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho"

We were at the "Battlefords Kiwanis Music Festival" today.  Two of the items on the afternoon program were elementary school choirs.  As I watched the children sing, with such energy and excitement, I thought back to my own experience with a school choir ~ we were living in British Columbia so it was some time between Grade 4 and Grade 7.  We sang the song ~ "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" for a school concert.  I had a strong voice, but no one was ever sure (not even myself) whether I was going to be singing soprano or alto or maybe even an octave lower than the rest!  So, the simple solution, was to stand me in the middle of the bleacher, smack dab in the middle of the two sections!

I'm sure you'll agree, Paul Robeson, does a fine rendition of this traditional Spiritual song.

VIDEOS ~ Paul Robeson ~ Song #2 ~ "Loch Lomond"

How could anyone with a Scottish heritage resist Paul Robeson's version of "Loch Lomond?"  He certainly had a bonny bass voice!

VIDEOS ~ Paul Robeson ~ Song #1 ~ "Old Man River" from "Showboat" ~ 1936

Here is Paul Robeson's rendition of "Old Man River" from "Showboat."  It was filmed in 1936.  



Ol' Man River (Jerome Kern - Oscar Hammerstein II)
Lyrics from the Original Libretto

Dare's an ol' man cal'd de Mississipi
Dat's de ol' man dat I'd lek to be
Whot does he care
iv de world gets trauble
Whot does he care iv de land lev's free.

Ol' man river,
Dat ol' man river
He mus'know sumpin'
But don't say nuthin',
He jes'keeps rollin'
He keeps on rollin' along.

He don' plant taters,
He don't plant cotton,
An' dem dat plants'em
is soon forgotten,
But ol'man river,
He jes keeps rollin'along.

You an'me, we sweat an' strain,
Body all achin' an' racket wid pain,
Tote dat barge!
Lif' dat bale!
You gits a little drunk
An' you lands in jail.

Ah gits weary
An' sick of tryin'
Ah'm tired of livin'
An' skeered of dyin',
But ol' man river,
He jes'keeps rolling' along.

[Colored folks work on de Mississippi,
Colored folks work while de white folks play,
Pullin' dose boats from de dawn to sunset,
Gittin' no rest till de judgement day.

Don't look up
An' don't look down,
You don' dast make
De white boss frown.
Bend your knees
An'bow your head,
An' pull date rope
Until you' dead.)

Let me go 'way from the Mississippi,
Let me go 'way from de white man boss;
Show me dat stream called de river Jordan,
Dat's de ol' stream dat I long to cross.

O' man river,
Dat ol' man river,
He mus'know sumpin'
But don't say nuthin'
He jes' keeps rollin'
He keeps on rollin' along.

(Long ol' river forever keeps rollin' on...)

He don' plant tater,
He don' plant cotton,
An' dem dat plants 'em
Is soon forgotten,
but ol' man river,
He jes' keeps rollin' along.

(Long ol' river keeps hearing dat song).

You an' me, we sweat an' strain,
Body all achin an' racked wid pain.
Tote dat barge!
Lif' dat bale!
Git a little drunk
An' you land in jail.

Ah, gits weary
An' sick of tryin'
Ah'm tired of livin'
An' skeered of dyin',
But ol' man river,
He jes' keeps rollin' along!

VIDEOS ~ "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around" ~ Sweet Honey In The Rock

This song was featured in the book "Coretta Scott" by Ntozake Shange.  Since I'd never heard this "Civil Rights Anthem," I thought I would look it up and share it as a companion post to the book review, which was posted earlier today, in case others were also unfamiliar with it.

VIDEOS ~ "Go Down Moses" ~ "The Harlem Gospel Singers"

In one of the library books that we've read recently, it talked about slaves singing, "Go Down Moses."  I wasn't familiar with the song and so decided to look it up.  We found a rousing version of this Spiritual, sung by the "Harlem Gospel Singers," and felt it was worth sharing:

VIDEOS ~ Ray Charles ~ Song #3 ~ "In The Evening (When The Sun Goes Down)"

This is  LIVE performance from 1963 of the Blues/Jazz tune, "In the Evening (When the Sun Goes Down)."  It is mostly instrumental but there are some lyrics, which don't begin until approximately mid-way through the video.

In the evening ... In the evening

I said baby, in the evening

It's lonesome... when your lover is not around...

VIDEOS ~ Ray Charles ~ "Georgia On My Mind" ~ Song #2

The history of this song, according to Wikipedia: 

"Georgia on My Mind" is a song written in 1930 by Hoagy Carmichael (music) and Stuart Gorrell (lyrics). It is the official state song of the U. S. state of Georgia. Gorrell wrote the lyrics for Hoagy's sister, Georgia Carmichael.^[1] However, the lyrics of the song are ambiguous enough to refer either to the state or to a woman named "Georgia".

Carmichael's 1965 autobiography, Sometimes I Wonder, records the origin: a friend, saxophonist and bandleader Frankie Trumbauer, suggested: "Why don't you write a song called 'Georgia?' Nobody lost much writing about the South." Thus, the song is universally believed to have been written about the state.

The song was first recorded on September 15, 1930 in New York by Hoagy Carmichael and His Orchestra with Bix Beiderbecke on muted cornet and Hoagy Carmichael on vocals. The recording was part of Bix Beiderbecke's last recording session. The recording was released as Victor 23013 with "One Night in Havana".

Frankie Trumbauer had the first major hit recording in 1931 when his recording made the top ten on the charts. Trumbauer had suggested that Carmichael compose the song.

Ray Charles, a native of Georgia, recorded it in 1960 on the album The Genius Hits the Road. It became Georgia's state song in 1979.

Inspired by this blues version, Willie Nelson formally introduced the song to country audiences in 1978 as a #1 Country/Western hit.

Album cover

VIDEOS ~ Ray Charles ~ Song #1 ~ "What'd I Say?"

After we read the book "Ray Charles" by Sharon Bell Mathis, Alisdair searched various websites to find a sampling of Ray's musical work.  He picked out three to share on our blog (which we will post separately).

The first of these is What'd I Say? (Note - There is an advertisement at the beginning of this clip that pops up before Ray Charles, and his band mates, start to play the piano and sing.  We aren't endorsing any products!)