Robert Earl Keen‘s upcoming album Happy Prisoner: The Bluegrass Sessions (2015) heads into bluegrass territory on tracks like the classic nineteenth century ballad “Wayfaring Stranger.” As Rolling Stone reports, Keen grew up listening to bluegrass music and that music has continued as a “hidden influence” throughout his career. So, it is exciting to see him bringing this music to the forefront with the new album.
The song “Wayfaring Stranger” has been recorded by many artists including Johnny Cash, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, and Burl Ives, who used the song’s name for the title of his autobiography. On Keen’s new version of “Wayfaring Stranger,” Natalie Maines provides harmonies. Check it out.
“Wayfaring Stranger” is not Natalie Maines’s only connection to Keen’s Happy Prisoner album. Her father Lloyd Maines produced the album. Happy Prisoner: The Bluegrass Sessions will be released on February 10, 2015.
What is your favorite version of “Wayfaring Stranger”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Slate movie critic Kevin B. Lee recently conducted an informal poll of the best movies of the decade so far. More than 260 people responded with their top ten best films, and Lee compiled the results that was made into a video of the top 25 films from the time period. While the poll is not scientific, it gives a good idea of many of the recent films most likely to be remembered after the decade’s end.
So, below is a video of the top 25 films from 2010-2014. Check it out. [Update: Unfortunately the video is no longer available.]
There are some surprises. It was good to see Margaret (2011), a lesser known excellent movie, up at number 5. But there is plenty to argue about. For example, although I enjoyed The Master (2012), I would not put it anywhere near number 3. I understand why Tree of Life (2011) is number 1, but it was not the movie I enjoyed the most during this time period. If you prefer to read the list instead of watching the video, head over to Fandor.
While some may argue that the decade should start with 2011, it makes a better list that it covers five years. What is your favorite movie the decade so far? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On January 9 in 1768, the first modern circus was staged in London. Philip Astley, a former cavalry sergeant major, made a ring and invited the public to watch him do tricks on horseback as he rode around the ring.
The Growth of the Circus
Because the public enjoyed the act, Astley then added other riders, a clown, and musicians, eventually putting a roof over his ring in 1770. In 1782, Astley’s Amphitheatre faced competition from a similar act down the road, with the competitor using the name “Royal Circus.” The competitor took the word “circus” from the Roman name for where chariot races were held.
Eventually, the word “circus” would become the generic name for such events. And Astley himself eventually established eighteen more such venues across Europe.
Circuses spread around the world. John Bill Ricketts created the first U.S. circus in 1792 in Philadelphia. In the late 1800s, P.S. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey went into the circus business, as did five Ringling brothers.
The Greatest Show on Earth
Since the invention of the circus, fictional stories have used the circus setting to tell stories too. In 1952, director Cecil B. DeMille and Paramount Pictures released The Greatest Show on Earth, set in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
The cast included Betty Hutton, Holly Cornel Wilde, Charlton Heston, James Stewart (as Buttons the Clown), Dorothy Lamour, and Gloria Grahame. Check out the trailer below, where it is funny to hear the narrator’s voice from The Ten Commandments (DeMille) narrating this trailer about a circus.
Springsteen’s “Wild Billy’s Circus Story”
One of my favorite stories about a circus is found in Bruce Springsteen’s song, “Wild Billy’s Circus Story,” from The Wild, The Innocent & The E-Street Shuffle (1973). The song is really an excuse to string together a number of wonderful circus images. Springsteen’s tale features the barker, the man-beast, the flying Zambinis, the stong man, and others.
Finally, “Wild Billy’s Circus Story” concludes with an enticing question that many children have dreamed of being asked. “And the circus boss leans over, whispers in the little boy’s ear, ‘Hey son, you wanna try the big top?'”
Apparently, I am not the only fan of the somewhat unusual and obscure song. In this video below from July 2013 in Kilkenny in Ireland, Springsteen explains how a fan has been following him around trying to get him to play “Wild Billy’s Circus Story.”
And then the Boss leans over and whisper’s in his ear that the wish will be granted. Or something like that.
What is your favorite circus story? Leave your two cents in the comments.Photo of Astley’s Amphitheatre via public domain.
On January 6, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed the U.S. Congress in a State of the Union address, asking for support to help European nations struggling against Adolf Hitler’s government in Germany. At the time, the U.S. was still about a year away from declaring war. As part of his speech, Roosevelt stated that the U.S. had an obligation to protect universal freedoms, and he listed “four freedoms” that United States citizens shared with people of the world.
The four freedoms he listed were: the freedom of speech and expression, a person’s freedom to worship God in the way of one’s choice, the freedom from want, and freedom from fear. In the recording below, Roosevelt gives the speech that references these four freedoms.
Roosevelt’s speech inspired painter Norman Rockwell to do a series of paintings depicting the four freedoms. And, after World War II and after Roosevelt died, his widow Eleanor Roosevelt invoked these four freedoms as she pushed for the passage of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. United Nations “Four Freedoms” flag via public domain. Leave your two cents in the comments.
I recently finished listening to the hit podcast series Serial. Like many I was entertained by the examination of the case involving the murder of Hae Min Lee and the prosecution of her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed. Even while Serial host Sarah Koenig did an excellent job entertaining me, I eventually felt that without any big reveal that the case was not that unique and probably similar to many other cases that depend on the testimony of one prosecution witness. Still, I will be looking forward to season two.
Koenig’s presentation was gripping, as the listener went along on her journey struggling with the case. But her style also made the show ripe for parody. Funny or Die addressed the pressure on Koenig to come up with a resolution for her final episode. Check out the video starring Michaela Watkins as Koenig.
But my favorite parody of Serial, and one of the funniest bits from this season’s Saturday Night Live, was the SNL version of Serial starring Cecily Strong as Koenig. The segment captures what is both engrossing about Serial and somewhat annoying, as she investigates the case of a man who reportedly visits every house in the world in one night.
What did you think of “Serial”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(1973). The song is really an excuse to string together a number of wonderful circus images. Springsteen’s tale features the barker, the man-beast, the flying Zambinis, the stong man, and others.
