New Beatles ‘A Day in the Life’ Video

Day in a Life Video

The 2000 release of number one songs by the Beatles, The Beatles’ 1, is getting a new updated release in a couple of different forms with music videos and the group’s short films. Among the video content, the new Beatles 1+ package includes the Beatles’ original video for “A Day in the Life” from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967).

The video for “A Day in the Life” shows the playful side of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. The video footage of them hanging out with friends like the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards also includes shots of an orchestra during the 1967 recording sessions. Check out the video for “A Day in the Life.”

The 1+ package hits stores on November 6.

Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Fred Astaire As . . . Alfred E. Neuman?

    In 1959, Fred Astaire danced on television with the odd choice of wearing a mask of Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman.

    Fred Astaire Mad Magazine
    Toward the end of Fred Astaire’s successful film dancing career, he made several television specials in the 1950s and 1960s. In the second of the four specials, Another Evening with Fred Astaire, Astaire donned a mask of an unusual choice. In a dance sequence for the 1959 show, he performed as Mad Magazine‘s Alfred E. Neuman.

    The dance creeps me out a bit, perhaps because the Neuman mask is such high quality. Astaire had the mask created by movie make-up man John Chambers, who did such great work on the Planet of the Apes films.

    In the segment, Astaire dances to Duke Ellington’s “Sophisticated Lady.”  The performance also features dancer and actress Barrie Chase with Astaire.

    2021 Update:  Unfortunately, the video of the dance is not currently available on YouTube.  But the video below intercuts some of the Alfred E. Neuman dance scenes, putting it to a polka tune. So if you wish to get an idea of the dance, you can check out the video.

    Apparently, folks do not really know why Astaire wanted to be a dancing Alfred E. Neuman, but the Mad Magazine fan in me likes it.

    What do you think of Fred Astaire as Alfred E. Neuman? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Caitlin Cary After Whiskeytown

    Caitlin Cary

    Singer and musician Caitlin Cary was born on October 28, 1968, growing up in Ohio but eventually ending up in Raleigh, North Carolina. Most folks have probably heard her voice through her association with Ryan Adams, which began in 1993 while she was in graduate school at North Carolina State. The two formed the legendary alt-country group Whiskeytown.

    In the performance below of Whiskeytown’s “Houses on the Hill” on Austin City Limits in 1998, Cary plays the fiddle and backs up Ryan Adams on vocals. The song about a woman whose lover goes off to war first appeared on Whiskeytown’s album 1997 Strangers Almanac. Check it out.

    Although Cary has not had quite the career that Ryan Adams has had after Whiskeytown, she has continued to make great music. I am a big fan of her debut full-length album as a solo artist, While You Weren’t Looking (2002). Below is Cary’s song “Pony” from the album.

    Since While You Weren’t Looking, Cary has continued to make music as both a solo artist and in collaboration with other artists. Following her 2003 solo album I’m Staying Out, she recorded a 2004 album Sweetwater and a 2006 album Bloom, Red & the Ordinary Girl with Tonya Lamm and Lynn Blakey as the group Tres Chicas.

    In between the Tres Chicas albums, she recorded Begonias (2005) with Thad Cockrell. Below is the Cary-Cockrell collaboration on “Two Different Things.”

    More recently, she has recorded as part of the group she created with Matt Douglas, The Small Ponds. In 2010, the group released Caitlin Cary & Matt Douglas Are The Small Ponds.

    Even more recently, she co-founded NC Music Love Army, a music group focusing on promoting progressive politics in North Carolina, as discussed earlier on Chimesfreedom. NC Music Love Army released We Are Not For Sale: Songs Of Protest in 2013.

    Every year or two, there has been talk of Cary and Ryan Adams getting back together for a Whiskeytown reunion.  But for now, I am satisfied that Cary continues to make interesting music. Happy birthday Caitlin Cary!

    What is your favorite song with Caitlin Cary? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    Movies That Make Us Mad: “Merchants of Doubt”

    Merchants of Doubt Review One of the recent movies that has made me angrier than I have been in a long time is Merchants of Doubt, a 2014 documentary directed by Robert Kenner. The film delves into how for decades people have been peddling doubt to citizens to protect corporate interests on topics ranging from tobacco to climate change.

    The movie is based on a 2010 book by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway with the full title Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. In some ways, many of the revelations may not be surprising. By now, we know that tobacco corporations lied to us, but the movie gives us fresh perspective on how much they lied and how many of the same people are still lying to us today about other things.

    For example, I was surprised to learn of the connection between tobacco interests and the use of dangerous chemicals added to furniture to allegedly make the furniture resistant to fire. But the chemicals did very little besides put our lives at risk.

    A theme running through the film is the way hired experts use “doubt” as a method of undermining science. When legitimate scientists make conclusions contrary to corporate interests, these “merchants of doubt” appear to convince the public that there is still some doubt about the scientific findings. While doubt and questions are generally good things, these experts are raising questions not for the purpose of finding truth but for the purpose of undermining truth and promoting corporate interests.

    Merchants of Doubt illustrates how these techniques have been used for decades, used in the past by those who wanted to attack scientific findings about tobacco and used today by those who wish to undermine the science of global warming. The movie may not change your mind about what you believe, but it will make you question the “experts” you often see on TV. And maybe, like me, it will make you mad.

    Conclusion: If you are looking for a fascinating documentary that may change the way you look at the information you receive, check out Merchants of Doubt. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an 85% critics rating and a 75% audience rating.


    “Mad Movies” (or “Movies that Make Us Mad”) is a Chimesfreedom series about movies that expose information that we might not otherwise know about, revealing misinformation, lies, and hidden stories that make us angry.

    What movies make you mad? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • 3 Movies That Make Us Mad
  • Daniel Ellsberg: The Most Dangerous Man
  • Hot Coffee (Mad Movies)
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  • An Industry Attempts to Prevent Gasland from Winning an Oscar (Mad Movies)
  • The Tillman Story (Mad Movies)

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    Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog

    Cory Wells

    One of the highlights of my childhood was when my family would get to go shopping at the hometown G.C. Murphy variety store in Ohio. It was there that I bought my first records, 45-rpm singles that I would play on a small portable record player over and over again. One of the early records I bought was “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night. So, I was saddened to learn when Cory Wells passed away in October 2015 at the age of 74 in Dunkirk, New York.

    I would later discover and love other Three Dog Night songs, but I suppose it is not surprising that a kid would first be attracted to a song with the opening line, “Jeremiah was a bullfrog.”

    According to Wikipedia, some band members felt that the song written by Hoyt Axton was a silly kid’s song.  But either way the song topped the charts when it was released in 1971. Although Wells sang backing vocals on “Joy to the World” while Chuck Negron sang lead, the voices of the whole band rose to make the song memorable.

    Cory Wells did sing lead on other songs for the band, like another song written by Hoyt Axton, “Never Been to Spain.” When Wells hits the high notes, it sends shivers down your spine.

    Cory Wells also hits the big notes in Three Dog Night’s version of “Try a Little Tenderness,” which was made famous by Otis Redding. This performance is from a local Philadelphia show in the band’s earlier years.

    Finally, in the video below, Cory Wells answers questions from audience members.  One question leads to an explanation about how Three Dog Night got its name. The video is taken from a Continuing Education program entitled “Woodstock: The Music of the First Amendment” hosted by the Robert H. Jackson Center on April 26, 2011.

    Cory Wells and Three Dog Night will long be remembered for great songs like Randy Newman’s “Mama Told Me (Not to Come),” “Shambala,” “Eli’s Coming,” and “Never Been to Spain.” But for me, it all began with a 45 rpm on a portable record player, listening to a song about a bullfrog who had some mighty fine wine.

    What is your favorite Three Dog Night song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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