Flashmob at London's Heathrow Airport

Another great Flashmob video.  A group of singers and dancers in disguise surprise arriving passengers at Heathrow's Terminal 5 in London.  Love the dude singing Passenger.

Music Videos - They're Baaaaack...

I reckon that I'm a child of the video generation. And by this I don't mean the television generation - although I'm a member of that too.

What I refer to is music videos. I remember the launch of MTV and Canada's MuchMusic. I remember seeing Erica Ehm in person and swooning. I remember channels that played music videos 24/7. Today? Not so much. Although I'm sure I'd still swoon if I saw Erica Ehm in person.

Lately I've noticed a resurgence of music videos. They didn't disappear. They went online. And there's some pretty cool stuff being made. Sure, the main purpose of these videos is to move product. But that doesn't mean there aren't some forward thinking directors creating some awfully unique videos. I speak of bands like OK Go and Cee Lo Green.

Haven't seen their work? Today's your lucky day! View away...

OK GO: This Too Shall Pass:

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass. Watch more top selected videos about: This Too Shall Pass, OK Go

Hollerado - Americanarama:




OK GO: Here It Goes Again:


OK Go - Here It Goes Again Clip
Cargado por Galaxiestarwars. - Mira más vídeos divertidos.


Cheers!

May 2, 2010

May 2, 2010
Originally uploaded by borderfilms (Doug).

Hugh Masekela blows his horn in Cape Coast, Ghana.

from the "true north strong and free" dept.

A hip-hop take on Oh Canada by Classified. Don those colours. The games are comin'!

from the "request denied" dept.

Facebook, oh how I love to hate thee. Replica of other social media, you force me to check mail in two places, post photos and goofy stuff in two places, and generally eat up my free time.

But I'm not the only one. Here's Kate Miller-Heidke singing a song about old flames on Facebook. The lyrics are subtitled.

This is somewhat questionable for work and not recommended for mothers with sons in Guatemala (you know who you are).



Cheers!

from the "les paul is a god" dept.

If you ever had any doubt about how talented and gifted Les Paul was, just watch this.



Wow, simply wow.

More on Les Paul's life and more amazing videos HERE (courtesy Newsweek).

from the "electric twanger" dept.

The music and recording world has lost one of its pioneers. Les Paul died today at the age of 94.

From the BBC:

Les Paul, whose pioneering electric guitars were used by a legion of rock stars, has died at the age of 94.

Mr Paul died from complications of pneumonia in New York, according to Gibson, the firm that sold his guitars.

He is credited with developing one of the first solid-body electric guitars, which went on sale in 1952 and contributed to the birth of rock.

He also developed other influential recording innovations such as multi-track recording and overdubbing.

And he was credited with inventing the eight-track tape recorder.

U2 guitarist The Edge, Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, Guns N' Roses star Slash and the Sex Pistols' Steve Jones are among those closely associated with the Les Paul sound.

Henry Juszkiewicz, chairman of Gibson Guitar, said: "His influence extends around the globe and across every boundary."

Gibson president Dave Berryman said: "As the 'father of the electric guitar', he was not only one of the world's greatest innovators but a legend who created, inspired and contributed to the success of musicians around the world."

Les Paul began as a country and jazz musician and unhappy with acoustic guitars, he designed his solid-body electric guitar in 1941.

It did not go on sale for another 11 years, by which time Leo Fender's rival model was already on sale.

If you'd like to see how Paul contributed to recording, check out the film: "Tom Dowd and the Language of Music."

from the "bird dance" dept.

The BBC has a cute little story today about birds and rhythm:

"Some birds have a remarkable talent for dancing, two studies published in Current Biology suggest.

Previously, it was thought that only humans had the ability to dance, but footage has revealed that some parrots have a near-perfect sense of rhythm." [MORE]

Click HERE to see video of Snowball, a sulphur-crested cockatoo getting down with the Backstreet Boys!

Science, schmience... the video is great entertainment.

Cheers!

from the "infectious music" dept.

La la la

Stephan Zielinski, an amateur music composer based in San Francisco, has created a song based on the swine flu (H1N1) virus.

"Using computer programs he created himself, as well as a commercial product, Zielinski composed his song by assigning instruments and musical notes to various properties of the protein." [MORE]

CNN has the story here. And you can listen to the infectious song here. No video, unfortunately -- just close your eyes and imagine a virus and your body attacking it.

Cheers!

from the "we're all the same" dept.

What happens when the world comes together though music? Magic.

From PlayingForChange.com

"As we made our way around the world we encountered love, hate, rich and poor, black and white, and many different religious groups and ideologies. It became very clear that as a human race we need to transcend from the darkness to the light and music is our weapon of the future. This song around the world features musicians who have seen and overcome conflict and hatred with love and perseverance. We dont need more trouble, what we need is love. The spirit of Bob Marley always lives on.

This is the fourth Song Around The World video released from the CD/DVD Playing For Change: Songs Around The World and the follow up to the classics "Stand By Me," "One Love" and "Don't Worry." This unforgetable track was performed by musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it traveled the globe."

Buy the CD/DVD here:

Oh, and here are the first three releases:

Stand By Me

Don't Worry

One Love

And just for fun, because it so captures the spirit of travel:

Cheers!