Category: Music & Concert Specials
-
On Music: But…But…I LIKE Oldies!
When I was in my early teens – way back in the late 1970s – I knew that in a world where Funk, Soul, R&B, Pop, Hard Rock, Soft Rock and Disco were the dominant music genres, I was an odd duck. Even as a child growing up on two continents – I was born in…
-
Musings & Thoughts for Monday, June 7, 2021, or: Another Sleep-Deprived Night in Florida & Closely-Watched Packages
Hi, there, Dear Reader. It’s late morning here in New Hometown, Florida on Monday, June 7, 2021. Presently, the temperature is 80˚F (26˚C) under partly sunny skies. With humidity at 45% and the wind blowing from the southeast at 5 MPH (10 KM/H), the feels-like temperature is 78˚F (26˚C). Today we can expect partly sunny…
-
Musings & Thoughts for Saturday, June 5, 2021, or: Broken Traditions, Lost Songbooks and the Persistence of Memory (and Grudges)
Hi, there, Dear Reader. It’s early afternoon here in New Hometown, Florida on Saturday, June 5, 2021. It is a hot summery day; the current temperature is 87˚F (30˚C) under sunny skies. With humidity at 55% and the wind blowing from the south-southeast at 9 MPH (14 KM/H), the heat index is 94˚F (34˚C). Today’s…
-
On Music: My Top 10 John Williams ‘Star Wars’ Themes
I have been a fan of John Williams’ symphonic scores ever since I saw the original Star Wars – aka Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope – in the autumn of 1977[1] For me, Williams’ swashbuckling, neo-Romantic themes and action cues sold the rest of George Lucas’s out-of-this-world space-fantasy about “a boy, a girl,…
-
Musings & Thoughts for Sunday, February 14, 2021, or: A Little Bit of This, a Little Bit of That
A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That Greetings, Dear Reader. It’s close to midafternoon here in New Hometown, Florida on Sunday, February 14, 2021. Currently, the temperature is 82˚F (28˚C) under sunny skies; with humidity at 62% and the wind blowing from the southwest at 19 MPH (31 KM/H) the feels-like temperature…
-
On Music: Happy 89th Birthday, John Williams!
John Williams “So much of what we do is ephemeral and quickly forgotten, even by ourselves, so it’s gratifying to have something you have done linger in people’s memories.” Hi, there, Dear Reader! It’s early afternoon here in New Hometown, Florida on Monday, February 8, 2021. Currently, the temperature is 75˚F (24˚C) under cloudy skies;…
-
Music Album Review: ‘Saving Private Ryan: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack’
On July 21, 1998, Dreamworks Records – the now defunct label founded by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen in 1996 as a subsidiary to their film studio Dreamworks SKG – released Saving Private Ryan: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, a one-hour-long soundtrack album with music composed and conducted by John Williams.…
-
On Music: My Top 10 Favorite Billy Joel Songs
Hello, Dear Reader, and welcome to another edition of On Music, the part of A Certain Point of View, Too where I share my favorite songs and other musical compositions across the various genres that I enjoy. Today I’ll be featuring my Top 10 Favorite Songs by Billy Joel, who happens to be (a) my…
-
On Music: My 10 Favorite Non-Star Wars Themes by John Williams
I have been a fan of composer/conductor John Williams since I first watched Star Wars in a crowded theater in October of 1977 at the Concord Mall in South Florida. I didn’t know it at the time – I was a 14-year-old at the time and rarely paid attention to the “Music by” credits in…
-
On Music: My Top 10 Favorite John Denver Songs
I was born in the early 1960s; growing up in South Florida in the 1970s and ’80s, the music of singer/songwriter/environmental activist John Denver was (until 1982 or so) part of the soundtrack of my life. Like all great music superstars, Denver’s popularity had an arc, and he peaked around the time I was in…
A Certain Point of View, Too 