Earlier this summer, NPR featured Glen Hansard in its Tiny Desk Concert series, where you get Hansard alone with his guitar up close. Hansard, who recently released his first solo CD after recording with The Frames and with Markéta Irglová, has a great voice that comes through in this acoustic set. Of course, you may know him from his role in the charming film Once (2006) with Irglová.
So check out this set of Hansard and his guitar, where he plays the songs: “Love Don’t Leave Me Waiting,” “Bird Of Sorrow,” “Come Away To The Water,” “Lucia,” and “The Song Of Good Hope.”
Hansard’s new CD — Rhythm and Repose (2012) — features four of the songs he plays above.
What do you think of Hansard’s tiny desk concert? Leave your two cents in the comments.
For our funny video of the week, check out this send up of foreign films about an existential crisis. If you like foreign films, ennui, or cats — or even if you hate those things — you will enjoy Will Braden’s short film, Henri 2 Paw de Deux:
If you like that one, there is the original Henri film, as well as Henri 3, Le Vet. Henri, Le Chat Noir has his own Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as his own store. Next thing you know, he will be coming out with a book. Oh, he already has his own book. What is your favorite line in the film? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On September 19, 1973, singer-songwriter Gram Parsons died from too much morphine and tequila in Room 8 of a motel room in California. It was not the end for Parsons, or at least his body, which then went on an odd journey.
Parsons’ Body
Before Parsons’s death, Parsons and his road manager Phil Kaufman made a pact. They agreed that for whichever one of them died first, the other would take the friend’s body to Joshua Tree National Park, where they would cremate the body.
So, after Parsons’s death, Kaufman and Michael Martin, a roadie, then stole the body and coffin. They took the coffin while it had been en route to a burial in Louisiana.
Kaufman and Martin then drove the body to Joshua Tree National Park. There, they poured gasoline on the coffin and set it on fire with a match.
But Gasoline is not enough to cremate a body, so some of Parsons’s body survived the burning. After Kaufman and Martin were arrested, the charred remains of Parsons were buried in New Orleans.
Because at the time stealing a body was not a crime in California, Kaufman and Martin were fined for stealing property: the coffin. Today, though, one may still pay respect to Parsons at Joshua Tree.
Grand Theft Parsons
The story of the body theft was told in the movie Grand Theft Parsons (2003), starring Johnny Knoxville. It has been awhile since I saw the film, but I remember being a bit disappointed by it.
The story’s focus on the few days seemed stretched out for a movie. And maybe I was disappointed that the movie did not tell us more about the most interesting person related to the story: Gram Parsons.
Rotten Tomatoes has a 44% critics rating and 53% audience rating for Grand Theft Parsons. But I suspect other fans, like me, will still want to see the film.
“Streets of Baltimore”
I do not know whether or not Parsons would be unhappy that his remains are in New Orleans. But one of his classic songs, “Streets of Baltimore,” is about a another journey and going some place you do not want to be.
In “Streets of Baltimore,” the singer recounts leaving Tennessee on the train for Baltimore because his love wants to live in the city. He gets a factory job and walks the streets with her. But he soon realizes she loves the city lights more than she loves him.
So in the end, the singer takes the train back to Tennessee alone: “Now I’m a going back on that same train that brought me here before / While my baby walks the streets of Baltimore.”
There is little video footage of Parsons, but check out this rare grainy recording of him singing with Emmylou Harris.
It is sad that there is so little video footage of Gram Parsons. Not only did he predate the music video era, but much of his fame came after his short life ended. So, he was never a regular on television.
Even in this grainy black and white video of “Streets of Baltimore,” you can still tell he is a superstar, though. And wherever his ashes and remains are, his music resides in our souls.
What is your favorite Gram Parsons song? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Arrr, matey, September 19 is “International Talk Like a Pirate Day.” Now I am not one to jump on a trend, but the holiday gives one a good excuse to watch George Harrison talk like a pirate. And to get a free doughnut at Krispy Kreme stores, which are giving a free doughnut to anyone talking like a pirate on September 19, 2012.
I wish George Harrison were still around to get himself one of those doughnuts. As the former Beatle shows in this 1975 Rutland Weekend Television sketch with Eric Idle, the man knows how to talk pirate.
My favorite part is how Harrison works the famous Monty Python “The Pirate Song” into “My Sweet Lord,” starting at around the 30-second mark. Check it out.
May all you landlubbers and sea dogs have a safe and happy Talk Like a Pirate day. What are you doing for Talk Like a Pirate Day? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Finally, the folks at Google have solved a worldwide problem by making it easy to find the “Bacon Number” for any actor, past or present. Google apparently was concerned that people were spending too much time thinking when they played “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” so they added a function where you can find the number easily on Google.
Here is how: (1) In the Google search box, type “Bacon Number,” followed by an actor’s name; (2) Then hit “search.” That’s it. That actor’s “Bacon Number” will come up on the screen, along with an explanation of the steps.
Considering actor’s mentioned in recent Chimesfreedom posts, it is easy to find that Daniel Day-Lewis’s Bacon Number is two. Casey Affleck’s Bacon Number is one because he appeared with Kevin Bacon in Lemon Sky (1988). Bob Dylan’s Bacon Number is two. . .
“Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” was inspired by the play and film, Six Degrees of Separation (1993), which popularized a theory by author Frigyes Karinthy that everyone is on average only six introductions away from any other person on earth. The theory eventually developed into the theory that Kevin Bacon has been in so many films that one may connect him to any actor through six films or less. Up to now, one had to think to figure out the steps, but no longer.
New York Magazine found some flaws with the program. And, since “bacon” made me think of Miss Piggy, I discovered that Google has no Bacon Number for her. But it does have a lot of actors.
So, fire up Google and go at it. The world’s biggest problem is solved. Oh wait, you mean The Oracle of Bacon had already solved the problem (as well as knowing that Miss Piggy’s Bacon Number is two)?
2024 UPDATE: Unfortunately, Google no longer offers the Bacon Number function. Whose Bacon Number did you check? Leave your two cents in the comments.
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