Snoop Dogg Archives - chimesfreedom

In case you were too busy getting ready for the holidays or trying to avoid a fiscal cliff the last few weeks, here are some of the pop culture stories you might have missed.

— Movies —

The Atlantic featured production storyboards from 15 beloved films.

What if there were an animated series called “Clockwork Orange Babies“? Here’s what the promo posters would look like.

The “Honest Trailer” for The Dark Knight Rises was released. Even though I liked the movie, the “Honest Trailer” is funny and captures a number of plot issues. (Thanks @PopcornJunkies.)

Dan Aykroyd on Ghostbusters 3 in Esquire. (Thanks @ravenval.)

Clerks III will be Kevin Smith’s last movie.

— Music —

The 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees are Albert King, Donna Summer, Heart, Public Enemy, Randy Newman, and Rush.

E Online wrote about the 5 Biggest Snubs and Surprises of the 2013 Grammy Nominations.

Eddie Van Halen remembered how he came to work on Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It.’

Q&A: Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham Revealed Lingering Tensions in Fleetwood Mac.

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke will release his new album February 25.

A new book tells the story of the band the Smiths.

Popdose chose its Best Pop And Rock Albums of 2012

Read about the Monkee Magic of Micky Dolenz at Popdose.

Actor James Franco has released a music video.

Watch a video of Moses vs. Santa, Featuring Snoop Dogg.

A couple broke up and then decided to sing about it.

Kinky Friedman on Folk Music, Politics, Mass Murder, and His Bipolar Tour. (from No Depression)

Beck is trying to revive the days of singing ‘round the piano.

The A.V. Club wrote about how Townes Van Zandt’s song “Lungs” veers from platonic epistemology to magical realism. I can’t explain what that means. You’ll have to read the article.

And then there is the strange new John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John holiday song video.

Here is a list of the best (and best-worst) of new Christmas music.

— Television —

Check out an interview with Martin Short about his upcoming return to Saturday Night Live as host.

The original 1966 Batmobile is going up for auction.

The Walking Dead took top honors at the Spike VGAs.

David Chase talked about The Sopranos and that maddening finale.

By chance, Newt Gingrich happened into a guest appearance on Parks and Recreation.

Vanity Fair features an oral history of the awesome one-season series Freaks & Geeks.

— Other Pop Culture News —

Stephen Colbert is not going to be appointed to the Senate. But actress Ashley Judd may run for the U.S. Senate.

Star Trek‘s George Takei is coming to Riverdale in Archie Comics’ Kevin Keller books.

The Pope (@pontifex) is joining Twitter.

Finally, the “IKEA Monkey” — a little monkey in a coat found outside an IKEA — became in Internet sensation and started a meme.

What is your favorite recent pop culture story? Leave your two cents in the comments.

This Week in Pop Culture Roundup (Nov. 5, 2011)

Seven Spanish Angels: Happy Birthday Willie

Pop Culture Roundup (for Early February 2012)

Groundhog Day (and Ghostbusters?) 2012

Pop Culture Roundup (Mid-January 2012)

One Degree of Separation Between Bob Dylan & Twilight Zone: Bonnie Beecher & “Come Wander With Me”

(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

Willie Nelson was born in Abbott, Texas on April 29, 1933. In 2012 a statute of Willie was unveiled in Austin, but instead of choosing his birthday, organizers chose the appropriate date of April 20 at 4:20 p.m. for the man who released an album that features a song with Snoop Dogg called, “Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die.” Anyway, today we celebrate with one of his great collaborations, this one with Ray Charles singing “Seven Spanish Angels.”

The song was released as a single in November 1984 and originally appeared on Nelson’s album, Half Nelson (1985) and on Charles’s album, Friendship (1984). Although Charles had several successful country recordings, this one was his most successful. I was surprised to hear that this song was so successful for Charles, as it is not the first country recording I think of when I think of Charles. But it is an excellent one. In the video below, Nelson explains that Charles brought the song to him and that “it is going to be a phonograph record pretty soon.”

Like Willie Nelson’s great recording of Townes Van Zandt’s “Pancho & Lefty” with Merle Haggard, “Seven Spanish Angels,” written by Troy Seals and Eddie Setser, recounts the story of an outlaw in Mexico. Instead of being about two men, though “Seven Spanish Angels” tells the story of an outlaw and his girlfriend. After the outlaw is killed in a gunfight with a posse, the woman exclaims, “Father, please forgive me; I can’t make it without my man.” Then she picked up his rifle, knowing it is empty, and points it at the men who then shoot and kill her.
The Seven Spanish Angels in the song “pray for the lovers in the valley of the guns.” When the smoke cleared, “seven Spanish angels took another angel home.” The line about “another angel” always made me wonder, does that mean they left the woman’s boyfriend behind?

What do you think happened at the end of “Seven Spanish Angels”? Leave your two cents in the comments.