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When Gwyneth Paltrow Sings, Ears Ache

It’s always an immensely sad moment in entertainment history when a movie actor steps forward to pretend, and then claim in an unfortunate public, on-the-record, performance, that they can sing when they cannot.  We last saw that sort of faux singing in Joaquin Phoenix’s Johnny Cash movie and now, today, we have the same inglorious example in Gwyneth “The Goop” Paltrow’s incredibly bad turn in her new movie, “Country Strong.”  Here is a screenshot of Paltrow recently “singing live” at the Country Music Awards.  She closes her eyes throughout most of the song as she tries to land the right notes in a simple melody.  Gwyneth sings.  We cringe.

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How the 92nd Street Y Betrayed Steve Martin

Comedian Steve Martin tells jokes.  He acts funny in movies.  He also writes books.  He plays the banjo.  He’s an art collector.  All of those facets make up the diamond of the man — but not in the stern glare from the 92nd Street Y in New York City.  The 92nd Street Y wanted Steve Martin to be one thing, and one thing only:  Funny.

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The SKB 56 Deluxe Les Paul Case Review

Protecting your gear while out in the wilds is important — especially if you have a nice guitar like a Les Paul.  For around $120.00USD, you can buy the SKB 56 Deluxe Guitar case with TSA locks and protect your vital investment while you travel the road.

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The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society as Performance Piece

I’ve been listening to the magnificent album The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society a lot recently, sometimes as much as a few times a week. I have come to regard it as sort of a performance piece — like a short play for the ears that I can enjoy wherever I am whether through the magnificent cigarette pack sized iPod or, more properly, spinning thirty three and a third revolutions per minute. It is a brilliant thirty-nine minutes performance although it usually feels longer than that, particularly when you think about the words being sung.

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Sammy Davis, Jr. and Tom Jones in Performance

Sammy Davis, Jr. and Tom Jones were good friends and great performers together.  Their chemistry on stage made them shine in the light of each other.

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Gregor Hilden Plays the YouTube Blues

Gregor Hilden is one of those Bluesman who — once you hear a single chord he plays — forever owns your sense of what’s good and your definition of what makes The Blues intrinsically real and beautifully human.  I’ve never met Greg proper, but I feel as if I’ve known him forever — merely because I drink in his daily GregsGuitars videos on YouTube.  Four days ago, I couldn’t bear my secret delight in his talent any longer, and I posted my very first comment on a video in my long history of using YouTube:

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The Birth of The Birth of the Blues in Performance

In my article — American Folklore and the Blues Black Cat Bone — we discussed the song “The Birth of the Blues” in the comments stream.  Today, as an important follow-up to that conversation, I want to take you a little deeper into the birth of “The Birth of the Blues” in performance because it is an interesting watershed song.

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