What would life be if we could not indulge our senses, especially in these times of economic challenge. This page provides YouTube videos and links to sites that allow us to take pause from the daily stresses we experience and enrich our collective souls. Enjoy and share if you are so inclined. This page will be updated periodically, so keep watching for new content.
The inimitable Miss Peggy Lee rendered Fever beautifully with her perfect timing. This version features Max Bennett (bass) and Jack Sperling (drums). Check below for Little Willie John's original version, which though perhaps lesser known then Peggy's, is an absolute must listen, especially if you are a blues lover.
Little Willie John came to his fame as a 50s R&B singer with his original version of Fever in March 1956. It took a full forty years to pass before his posthumous induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acknowledged his great contributions to this genre and too late for him to enjoy the glory of recognition. After a knifing incident resulted in a manslaughter conviction and his appeal failed, he was jailed in 1960 and died at the too young age of 30 in 1968.
Tune in to JAZZ.FM91 Saturday nights and listen to Danny Marks' program from 8 PM to midnight for BLUZ-FM. It covers all the blues standards and so much more. Danny has his own site here.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Born Jan 27 1756; died Dec 5 1791
Freddie Mercury: Born Sept 5 1946; died Nov 24 1991 Jorge Donn: Born Feb 25 1947; died Nov 30 1992
It has been said a day without Mozart, is like a day without sunshine. For me, that holds true for Freddie Mercury. The comparison between these two great artists, is most interesting. They both were extremely gifted, ahead of their time, died young from a disease that totally consumed them and had no effective treatment; influenced artists during and after their lifetime and were both hailed and criticised for their flamboyancy and innovative music which will live on in the senses and hearts of their many fans and admirers. The results of their special gifts were left to us as their legacy.
For another view on this, click on this link. It opens up a site created by another great artist, Maurice Béjart, and showcases his tribute to Freddie and Jorge Donn. Jorge Donn arrived in Brussels in 1963, to work in the Maurice Béjart company and soon became its principal dancer. The ballet Béjart created called Ballet for Life (1997), is a dance tapestry celebrating the lives of Jorge Donn (Béjart's longterm companion and the inspiration for his most impassioned choreography) and Freddie Mercury, and attracted the most diverse and enthusiastic of audiences. Music by Queen and by Mozart provided the musical magic carpet for a journey through death into life. Hospital trolleys rubbed shoulders with angels, and beach antics with desolation as the company, in costumes designed by Gianni Versace, danced their way through 20 episodes to conclude with I Want to Be Free and The Show Must Go On. The final choreographed and ecstatic curtain call was an extended work in its own right.
The parallels between Freddie & Jorge are quite stunning. They were born and died a year apart and both succumbed to Aids related disease at the age of 45. Their physicality was a big part of who they were and the pictures on the page reveal almost a mirror image of each other.
This video from YouTube is a clip of the ballet Maurice Bejart created as his tribute to Freddie & Jorge. It is beautiful and creative, just as they were and he was correct when he stated " it will not be a ballet about AIDS, but about those who died young."
Interesting parallels with Mozart and Freddie
They were both raised in families that placed a high value on their religions - Mozart was Roman Catholic and Freddie was Zoroastrian, a religion named for Zoroaster, an Iranian prophet and reformer in the 6th century BC. This religion had a major influence on the Western religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Mozart's Magic Flute, he names a character Sarastro and it is presumed this was based on Zoroaster. The Queen of the Night represents a dangerous form of obscurantism, whereas her antagonist Sarastro symbolises the reasonable sovereign who rules with paternalistic wisdom and enlightened insight. Both Mozart and Mercury skillfully used the range of voices available to them to interpret their music and operas. As well, they both employed complex usage of instrumentation, four part harmony, and rarely-used techniques in their genres to express meaning in context with the stories they each were telling in The Magic Flute and Bohemian Rhapsody. Although Mozart was the last of seven children, he had only one surviving sibling, a sister named Maria Anna, referred to affectionately as Nannerl. During Mozart's formative years, his family made several European journeys in which he and Nannerl were shown as child prodigies. As children, they had their own secret language. As adults and after a cool treatment of his wife by his father and sister, their relationship changed and the closeness diminished.
Freddie and his sister Kashmira were both shy and private. As children, Kashmira had only one year with him before he was sent to live with his grandmother and an aunt. At the age of 17, the family moved to England and Kashmira was reunited with her older and protective brother. They spent family time together, but Freddie's lifestyle was very different then was hers, as a married woman with children. Despite her acute sense of loss, Kashmira still feels, somehow, that he is around her."I feel he's still here in some ways because his music is still here. He was my brother, but a megastar too. Simply speaking, I don't know what it was like to have an ordinary brother because my own brother was so extraordinary."
When Mozart died, he was buried in a common grave, in accordance with contemporary Viennese custom, at the St. Marx Cemetery outside the city on December 7, 1791. If, as later reports say, no mourners attended, that too is consistent with Viennese burial customs at the time; later Jahn (1856) wrote that Salieri, Süssmayr, van Swieten and two other musicians were present. Although he had not attended religious services in years, Freddie's funeral was conducted by a Zorastorian priest. Elton John, David Bowie, his family, and the remaining members of Queen attended the funeral on November 27, 1991. He was cremated at Kensal Green Cemetery. The phenomenon of celebrity death increasing popularity of both Mozart and Queen came into play. Mozart's musical reputation rose quickly following his death; Solomon describes an "unprecedented wave of enthusiasm" for his work, and multiple publishers issued editions of his compositions. The extent to which Mercury's death may have enhanced Queen's popularity is not clear. In the United States, where Queen's popularity had lagged in the 1980s, sales of Queen albums went up dramatically in 1992, the year following his death. In 1992 one American critic noted, "what cynics call the 'dead star' factor had come into play — Queen is in the middle of a major resurgence." The movie Wayne's World, which featured "Bohemian Rhapsody," also came out in 1992. This also seemed to come into play with the Barcelona single as referenced in this Wikipedia page
This video was created by a YouTuber as a tribute to Freddie and Pavarotti. They never actually performed together. It is interspersed with shots of all the members of Queen, past and present and is a well done homage to all these great artists.
Freddie looking handsome and singing his heart out. This was taken from a performance he did with the opera star Montserrat Caballé , on the album Barcelona.
The great Luciano Pavarotti is featured in this video singing this song in Italian with all the power in his voice and meaning in his heart and facial expressions.Video taken from Pavarotti & Friends 2003 Check out Pavarotti's page on Wikipedia
Teo Torriatte became somewhat of a touchstone for me, as it helped me through a difficult time in life and the loss of a loved one. Music should be Food for The Soul and lift our spirits and help us remember all the good things we experience in our lifetime.
As Freddy sings, The Show Must Go On and we have to accept he has left this mortal plane, and us, with the music that will always go on.
If you want to read about how good music can be realistically reproduced, check out this site: http://www.innerearmag.com/index.shtml It is authored by Ernie Fisher and crew who review high end audio equipment. It is well written and provides the reader with the means to measure equipment tested by many 'ears' attuned to discern the extraordinary amidst the ordinary.Page last modified on 2010-03-04 17:02