MA-73 - American Favorites

Music I love to hear because it reminds me of the great country I love and am proud to have been born in.

 

01. The Star-Spangled Banner - Jerry Goldsmith (1:22)

02. This Land Is Your Land - Peter, Paul & Mary (2:27)
03. Let’s All Be Americans Now - Arthur Hall (3:05)
04. People Like You and Me - Glenn Miller & His Orchestra (3:46)
05. The Stars and Stripes Forever - The US Army Ceremonial Band (3:33)
06. Home on the Range - The Sons of the Pioneers (2:41)
07. God Bless America - Kate Smith (2:04)
08. Variations on “America” - Charles Ives (7:10)
09. The House I Live In - Frank Sinatra (3:39)
10. The Magnificent Seven Main Title - Elmer Bernstein (1:59)
11. Pleasant Moments - Scott Joplin (3:02)
12. Ragged Old Flag - Johnny Cash (3:08)
13. No Restricted Signs (Up in Heaven) - Golden Gate Quartet (2:59)
14. You're a Grand Old Flag - James Cagney (5:39)
15. High Noon - Tex Ritter (2:47)
16. Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else But Me) - Glenn Miller & His Orchestra (3:11)
17. Battle Hymn of the Republic - John Williams & The Boston Pops (5:01)
18. A Lincoln Portrait - Aaron Copland (15:44)
19. The Stars and Stripes Forever - Vladimir Horowitz (4:00)

 

Track 1 is Jerry Goldsmith's wonderful arrangement of our national anthem.  He produced this for Poltergeist.  It's the TV station's sign-off!  But this is one of the best instrumental arrangements EVER.

Track 9 may be cheesy to some, but I am un-ironic and I love it.

Track 13 is about "No Restricted Signs" in Heaven.  And that's how it should be here in the USA, too.

Track 14 is, of course, from Yankee Doodle Dandy.

The crowning jewel is Track 18.  Although there are some hiss issues here and there, let me tell you the story.  I recorded this from a live radio performance some time in (I believe) the 1980s.  Aaron Copland himself, the composer, is also the narrator of President Lincoln's stirring, healing words.

And the final track is a wonderful, swaggering piano performance.

God bless America, and Happy Fourth of July!  Thank God for your freedoms, and live your life to spread those liberties (and responsibilities) to everybody.

See you Monday!

SoonerCon Is Over, Let Me Catch My Breath ...

 SoonerCon 22  was an amazing feat here in Oklahoma City.  We had between 1500-2000 people all having SF/Fantasy fun.  Plus we raised money for a great charity,  Anna's House.

Our annual Saturday Night Dance was themed "Superhero Prom."  (FUN FACT:  Did you know that the phrase "superhero" and all its hyphenated/capitalized variations is a jointly held copyright by DC Comics and Marvel Comics?)

There were quite a few Superman capes.  One great Abby from NCIS, and others.  Check TwitterFace for others.

Also was some guy as "The Flush," a sewage worker who was hit by the backsplash from a nuclear power plant's toilet water and gained superpowers to clean up crime.

Note the toothbrushes on the helmet and the chest emblem which is a toilet over which are a plunger and a toilet scrub-brush.

I think The Flush used to be more slender once, because the front of his long johns is held together by industrial safety pins.

The doubtful girl happens to be my daughter Julie.

SoonerCon 23  will be June 27-29, 2014 with Glen Cook as our Writer Guest of Honor, many more to be added.

See you next week with something more substantial!  -- as if The Flush weren't substantial enough! I thought super-speed made you burn calories ...

  

See you next week!