Billy Eichner of the truTV show Billy on the Street recently hosted his first-ever Thanksgiving Day parade. And what would be a Thanksgiving day parade without giant balloons, floats, and Katie Couric?
The segment does a nice job of parodying the cultural icons often selected for such parades. And every parade needs a giant Sean Penn balloon. Check out the funny video.
Happy Thanksgiving! What is your favorite part of Billy’s parade? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Nerd Fest UK recently created a mashup pairing scenes from the Golden Age of Hollywood with the song “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson (featuring Bruno Mars). The old-time dance moves fit pretty well with the groove of the hit song.
The clips from various films include folks like Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly, and Judy Garland. Check it out.
What is your favorite scene in the video? Leave your two cents in the comments.
One of the wonderful songs on the classic 1973 album Band on the Runby Paul McCartney and Wings is “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me).” Having heard the song many times, I was not too surprised to learn that the song was based on Picasso’s actual last words. But I was amazed to discover that Dustin Hoffman gave McCartney the topic of the song and encouraged the songwriter to write a song about the painter’s last words.
In the video below, both McCartney explain how “Picasso’s Last Words” arose out of Hoffman’s curiosity about the song-writing process. During a dinner party held by Paul and Linda McCartney in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Hoffman asked McCartney how he wrote songs. Then, Hoffman asked McCartney to write a song.
As the two men discussed topics, Hoffman remembered reading about painter Pablo Picasso’s last words in a recent Time magazine. The April 23, 1973 issue featured an article entitled “Pablo Picasso’s Last Days and Final Journey,” wherein it was reported that Picasso had said to his friends, “Drink to me, drink to my health, you know I can’t drink anymore.” Then, Picasso went to bed and died in his sleep.
Hoffman, remembering the story, asked McCartney to base a song on those words. And McCartney came up with an excellent song. Below, both Hoffman and McCartney explain how “Picasso’s Last Words” was created.
Below is a video of McCartney and Wings performing “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me),” with lead vocals from both McCartney and Denny Laine, before the group follows up with the song “Richard Cory.”
The David Rawlings Machine recently released its second album, Nashville Obsolete (2015). In the video for the lead track on the album, “The Weekend,” David Rawlings and Gillian Welch take us on a fast road trip from Nashville to California.
Before The David Rawlings Machine released its first album A Friend of a Friend in 2009, David Rawlings already had an established music career doing things like producing Old Crow Medicine Show and co-writing songs with Ryan Adams such as “To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High).”
Now Rawlings is making great music with Gillian Welch with harmonies that remind me of the Jayhawks. Check out the video for “The Weekend.”
Loretta Lynn is releasing her first new studio album since her 2004 collaboration with Jack White, Van Lear Rose. The upcoming album, Full Circle, sounds like it will have been worth waiting for.
The new album, produced by Patsy Lynn Russell and John Carter Cash, delves into Lynn’s roots and influences. According to her website, Full Circle “takes listeners on a journey through Loretta’s musical story, from the Appalachian folk songs and gospel music she learned as a child, to new interpretations of her classic hits and country standards, to songs newly-written for the project.”
A few guests pop up on the new album too. Willie Nelson joins Lynn on “Lay Me Down,” while Elvis Costello provides guest vocals on “Everything It Takes.”
The 83-year-old singer-songwriter also includes a new version of the first song she ever wrote, “Whispering Sea.” In the song about heartbreak, the singer recounts how she learned from the whispering sea that her lover had been untrue. In the chorus, she sings: “Whispering sea rolling by, why don’t you listen to me cry? / I cry because my love has proved untrue.”
The tracks are not available for listening yet, but below you check out a performance of “Whispering Sea” where Lynn was joined onstage by Jack White.
Loretta Lynn’s Full Circle is available for pre-order and will hit stores and the Internet on March 4, 2016.
One of the wonderful songs on the classic 1973 album 
by Paul McCartney and Wings is “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me).” Having heard the song many times, I was not too surprised to learn that the song was based on Picasso’s actual last words. But I was amazed to discover that Dustin Hoffman gave McCartney the topic of the song and encouraged the songwriter to write a song about the painter’s last words.
, sounds like it will have been worth waiting for.
and will hit stores and the Internet on March 4, 2016.
