OK Go, known for their amazing music videos that mess with your mind, this week released their latest video for “The Writing’s On the Wall.” The song is from their upcoming album Hungry Ghosts (2014). The new video features numerous optical illusions that will have you watching the video over and over again.
The song’s pretty good too. Check out the video below.
Hungry Ghosts will be available October 14, 2014.
What is your favorite OK Go video? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On June 19, 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed in the electric chair for conspiracy to commit espionage, for allegedly passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Many argued that the two were innocent and not given a fair trial in the face of anti-Soviet paranoia at the time.
The Bob Dylan song “Julius & Ethel” is an outtake that was recorded during Dylan’s Infidels (1983) sessions with Dire Straits’s Mark Knopfler. The song recounts the story of the Rosenbergs, capturing the persecution atmosphere of the times. For example, the line “Senator Joe was king” refers to Sen. Joe McCarthy, who led a witch hunt for communists.
Dylan, not surprisingly, takes the position that a societal injustice occurred, putting the case in the context of its time period: “Someone says the fifties was the age of great romance / I say that’s just a lie, it was when fear had you in a trance.” Thus, he concludes that the Rosenbergs were not given a fair trial.
Now that they are gone, you know, the truth it can be told; They were sacrificial lambs in the market place sold — Julius and Ethel, Julius and Ethel
Today, most conclude that Julius had some involvement in the passing of information to the Soviets, although many also debate whether the information was significant. Still, a large number of people continue to maintain that Ethel was innocent. Either way, the prejudices of the times affected the fairness of the trial. And the arguments about the use of the death penalty against innocent defendants continues in the U.S. to this day.
As for Dylan’s song, around the Internet many fans of the song argue that Dylan should have included it on the album. What do you think?
While thinking about the great singer who passed away in January of this year, I have been listening to Seeger’s last major recording. Seeger recorded “Forever Young” for the 4-CD set Chimes Of Freedom: The Songs Of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years Of Amnesty International (2012). When the recording was made near the end of Seeger’s life, he no longer had his singing voice. So, the song was arranged around his speaking voice, aided by local children. Especially in light of Seeger’s passing, the video of Seeger giving his joy to a new generation is quite moving.
In this short video documentary about the making of “Forever Young,” the album’s contributing producer Martin Lewis and othes explain how they brought together everyone for the recording of the song. The scene near the end of the kids looking at pocket-sized booklets of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as Pete Seeger sings is pretty cool.
One of the musicians who helped out on the song and who appears in the video is Mark Hudson. If you watched television in the mid-1970s, you might recall him from his variety show with The Hudson Brothers.
As for Seeger, he was surrounded by song up until he passed away. And even with his singing voice weakened for this last major recording, he made “Forever Young” a powerful performance the way he always made his songs powerful — by getting others to join in his song.
As part of the annual Key West Songwriter’s Festival, singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen was challenged to write a song off the top of his head. During this visit to the famous Chart Room in Key West with GAC’s Headline Country show host Storme Warren, Keen found inspiration from learning that the bar contained the ashes of former bar patrons who had passed away.
So, in this video, Keen takes a tour of the Florida bar and performs a bit of “Buried in the Bar.” Check it out.
The new impromptu song led Keen to record a complete version of “Buried in the Bar.” You may hear the entire song below, and if you like it like I do, you may download it for free at Keen’s website.
The 1976 documentary Heartworn Highways provided insight into some of the legends of alternative country like Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, and Guy Clark. Director Jim Szalapski filled the film with vignettes of the singer-songwriters in their daily lives, providing a fly-on-the wall portrait of them. It is a film for music lovers, without a narrative story, that I found engaging.
Now, to celebrate the thirty-fifth anniversary of Heartworn Highways, director Wayne Price will be releasing Heartworn Highways Revisited.
The new film takes a look at some current outlaw country singers like Shelly Colvin, Matraca Berg, Bobby Bare Jr., Johnny Fritz, Robert Ellis, Shovels and Rope, Joshua Hedley, John McCauley, and Langhorne Slim. Some old-timers make appearances too, like Guy Clark and David Allan Coe. I am happy to see that rising star singer-songwriter Andrew Combs is in the film too.
Check out the promotional video below.
On the film’s website, Price writes, “With electronic laptop musicians commanding the airwaves, I am excited to bring us back to the ‘old school, with songwriters who only need their instrument and their experience to create music.”
Years ago, I loaned my copy of Heartworn Highways to a friend and never got it back. But I enjoyed the movie, which has some great moments like Van Zandt playing “Waitin’ Round To Die.” I still listen to the soundtrack.
Reportedly, there is no release date yet for the new film, but I am looking forward to the release of Heartworn Highways Revisited.
(2012). When the recording was made near the end of Seeger’s life, he no longer had his singing voice. So, the song was arranged around his speaking voice, aided by local children. Especially in light of Seeger’s passing, the video of Seeger giving his joy to a new generation is quite moving.
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