Lost ‘Two Ronnies’ sketch
Well, by “lost” I mean “not on Youtube” which, I realise, is a different thing altogether, but I’d love to see it again. It’s one of their wonderful songs: they are street sweepers and that’s about all I can remember, other than it was hilarious. Every now and then I check to see if someone […]
You’ve GOT to see this (honest!)
A ragtime version of Fur Elise? Bring it on! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCfGXwx1mJs It got me thinking: is Fur Elise the best-known “classical” piano piece? Or is it just a staple of British piano lessons? Anyway, this is great, and gets better. Just when you think, “Oh yeah, I get it, very clever…” he turns it up […]
Whistling: top 5 songs
I learnt to whistle over the summer, and accomplishment of which I’m much prouder than it really merits. I don’t mean whistling a tune. I’ve been able to do that since I was very little. (My Gran would say, “Oh, it’s Whistling Rufus again!” which I assumed to be some performer but I’ve just looked […]
Back to CDs…I think
The builders are in, and so a load of junk is out. (How do we accumulate this stuff? Where does it come from? Why did I ever think that there was any point in hanging on to a broken hand-mixer?) Anyway, stuck at the back of a cupboard, Mrs W and I came across our […]
Happy ending for “Happy Birthday”
After years of avoiding it, film-makers and performers can now include “Happy Birthday To You” in their work without paying a huge music corporation for the privilege. God knows why, but I follow stories about music copyright sort of keenly. It’s not like I have any personal interest, it’s just a curiosity. Today’s news that a US judge has ruled […]
Victoria Wood: my unfunny encounter
“She won’t be funny, you know,” said our executive producer. I had booked Victoria Wood, who died yesterday, as a guest on a chat show I was producing for ITV, starring Jimmy Tarbuck (about which I have written before). She was a late booking, the first guest on the first show in 1996. Two days […]
Lang Lang and Liberace
Went to see Lang Lang last night, the renowned Chinese pianist who, it seems, divides opinion. A rather sniffy review in The Telegraph was typical of Lang Lang detractors: style over substance, too much of a showman, etc. One comment online amused me: “Lang Lang needs to remind himself that he is a Pianist (sic) and […]
Give this a few seconds…
…and when the penny drops, you’ll LOL. Proper LOL as well, not what LOL usually means which is “I smiled inside a bit”. It’s funny all the way through as well. PS I have been practising “Bohemian Rhapsody” as a piano solo for, ooh, twenty years now. I can do it with the music in […]
