Author: chimesfreedom

Editor-in-chief, New York.

The Honored Dead and the Gettysburg Survivors

On July 1-3, 1863, Union and Confederate soldiers fought on the fields near the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. During that time, between 46,000 and 51,000 men on both sides were injured or killed.

Abraham Lincoln at the Gettysburg Address by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris

The battle was a significant victory for the Union, having repelled General Lee’s entry into the North, but the Civil War was far from finished. The battle’s significance, and the war’s meaning, was further solidified several months later on November 19 when the Soldier’s National Cemetery at Gettysburg was dedicated, featuring President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

Of course, there are no survivors of Gettysburg on this anniversary. But on the fiftieth anniversary of the battle in 1913, some of the survivors of the war from both sides did attend a reunion. Ken Burns’s wonderful documentary The Civil War recounts that reunion as well as the seventy-fifth anniversary in 1938.



Have you been to Gettysburg? Leave your two cents in the comments.  Painting of Abraham Lincoln at the Gettysburg Address by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris.

  • Gettysburg in Four Minutes
  • The Civil War and Conan O’Brien
  • Anniv. of Civil War’s Start: Elvis’s American Trilogy
  • The Better Angels of Our Nature: Lincoln’s 1st Inaugural
  • Happy Birthday Mr. Lincoln
  • A Lincoln Portrait

    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    Behind the Scenes With the Beatles on the Set of “Help!”

    Beatles Help Blu ray

    Although Help! (1965) never gets the same attention as A Hard Day’s Night (1964), the 1965 film from the Beatles is getting a special restored Blu-ray release. To celebrate, the company is giving viewers some outtakes and behind-the-scenes video on the making of the Beatles’ second film.

    Help! was directed by Richard Lester, and of course it starred John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. The plot involves a cult seeking a ring stuck on Ringo’s finger, and, well, there is a lot of Beatles music.

    What is your favorite Beatles movie? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • The Latest and Last Beatles Song: “Now and Then”
  • Ringo Starr Records a John Lennon Song (with a little help from Paul McCartney)
  • The Beatles: “Blackpool Night Out” Live Performance
  • New Beatles ‘A Day in the Life’ Video
  • The Beatles’ “Black Album” from “Boyhood”
  • All I’ve Got Is a Photograph

    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    Gee Wasn’t Gilda Radner Great (Really Great)

    Gilda Rander Touch Me With My Clothes On The actress and comedienne Gilda Radner was born on June 28, 1946 in Detroit, Michigan, meaning on this birthday she would be in her late 60s if she were still around. It is hard to picture the ever-youthful Radner in her old age. But it is not difficult to imagine what Radner, who passed away from ovarian cancer in May 1989, would be doing now. She would be making us smile.

    I was a kid when Saturday Night Live premiered in 1975, and I remember staying up late to watch it with my older sister and her boyfriend (both who wished I would go to bed). Live television was something new for my generation, and there was something strange and wonderful about the new show. Although I had no idea how the Not Ready for Prime Time Players would ultimately be a constant presence in my life, I did sense that those folks would be around awhile. It was just too bad that some of them like Radner and John Belushi did not stick around longer.

    In 1979, during one of her final seasons on Saturday Night Live, Radner appeared on Broadway in Gilda Radner – Live From New York, and one of the performances was later taped for television. In this segment she captures some of that childhood innocence in the song “Honey (Touch Me With My Clothes On).” If you watch closely, you’ll catch Paul Shaffer on piano, and the saxophone player is Howard Shore, who went on to win three Academy Awards for writing the themes to the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies. [2016 Update: Unfortunately, the video of the performance is no longer available, but you may hear it below.]

    More recently, Radner’s performance of “Honey (Touch Me With My Clothes On)” was sampled in Kid Koala’s “Vacation Island.”

    We miss you Gilda.

    What is your favorite Gilda Radner performance? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Are You Ready for 18 More Hobbit Movies?
  • George Harrison and Paul Simon Performing on “Saturday Night Live” (Duet of the Day)
  • Paul McCartney Joins Springsteen for “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town”
  • “I Am Chris Farley” Trailer
  • 100 Cartoon and Film Impressions in Under Four Minutes
  • “Serial” Parodies from Funny or Die and SNL

    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    Whose “Hallelujah” Closed “America’s Got Talent”?

    Il Divo Hallelujah

    A lot of readers have been curious about the version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” played over the ending of America’s Got Talent this week. Because we always want to give our readers information about pop culture, it was Il Divo from their 2008 album The Promise. Il Divo is an operatic “pop” group that was created by Simon Cowell and features the international voices of Sébastien Izambard, Carlos Marín, David Miller, and Urs Bühler. [For more recent uses of the song on America’s Got Talent, see below.]

    We initially thought the version may be by Mark Vincent, the winner of 2009’s Australia’s Got Talent, which would make sense. He was 15 when he appeared on the show and has recorded several albums like My Dream – Mio Visione(2009), which includes his version of “Hallelujah.” But if you listen closely to the end of America’s Got Talent, you will notice there is more than one singer in that version. And if you listen to Il Divo, you should recognize it.

    September 11, 2013 Update: Of course, it would not be a competition with singers unless at some point one of the competitors sings the overplayed and misunderstood “Hallelujah.” So, last night on America’s Got Talent Branden James did a nice job performing the Leonard Cohen classic (see video in comments).

    June 10, 2014 Update: Once again, the song “Hallelujah” made a prominent appearance on America’s Got Talent when this week the 20-year-old Anna Clendening, who explained to the judges her struggles with anxiety and depression disorder, gave an emotional performance of “Hallelujah.” Check it out:

    What is your favorite version of “Hallelujah”? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • The Head and the Heart: Sounds Like Hallelujah
  • Matthew Ryan Finds Beauty Within Our National Affliction: “On Our Death Day”
  • Marty Brown: “King of Music Row”
  • The Regurgitator and the Firecracker-Mouth-Guy on “America’s Got Talent”
  • Willie Nelson and Engelbert Humperdinck: “Make You Feel My Love”
  • And Then There Was One (Magician on AGT)

    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)

    Is That a Munchkin? — Top 10 Most Paused Movie Moments

    There are various legends about things going on in movies that go by too fast at normal speed to verify, like the legend that there is a hanging munchkin in the background of a scene of The Wizard of Oz (1939). And what about that Stormtrooper banging his head in Star Wars (1977)? The advent of VCRs and DVDs helped add to the myths, as people paused the scenes to see them in more detail. Sometimes the pausing confirms the legends, sometimes it rebuts the legends, and sometimes the pausing just gives us more to argue about. WatchMojo recently compiled some of the most famous paused movie moments and put them together in this interesting video. Check it out.

    What is your favorite paused movie moment? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Patton Oswalt’s Star Wars VII
  • The Wizard of Oz Opens: August 25, 1939
  • The Star Wars Holiday Special 1978
  • Weird Al Summarizes “The Phantom Menace”
  • “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Comic-Con Reel
  • The Terminator Pranks Fans

    • (Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)