Word breaking right now that Adam Yauch of the groundbreaking rap group Beastie Boys has passed away.
That was the first rap group that I actually found myself “liking” quite a bit.
In his memory, here is what I’ve always thought was one of the best music videos ever. From their album Ill Communication and directed by Spike Jonze, here in Yauch’s memory is “Sabotage”:
The Knight Shift and its eclectic proprietor wishes a VERY Happy Birthday today to composer/conductor John Williams!
This dude is 80 years young… and still composing some of the freshest-sounding movie scoring around!...
The past several weeks have seen an exploding amount of interest in the life and art of Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton: the legendary brewer of moonshine. It will be three years next month that he left us… but Popcorn Sutton has gotta be smiling and laughing his butt off in Heaven at how his myth has grown down here on Earth! Ever since his family began legally selling Popcorn Sutton’s Tennessee White Whiskey I’ve seen it going for $150 a jar on eBay. And then a few days ago Kellie Pickler introduced it to Ellen DeGeneres on national television, in a clip that simply must be seen.
Meanwhile, there are things going on behind the scenes that I’ve been sworn to secrecy on that… well, y’all will just have to wait and see how uberawesome this is all gonna be! I can tell you that the third annual Popcorn ...
This is a “teaser” for Volkswagen’s commercial during this year’s Super Bowl. Yes, Super Bowl commercials now have teasers for them. And even so this is already the greatest Super Bowl commercial in the history of anything…
Maybe the greatest music video ever made. Filmed shortly before June’s passing and Johnny’s a few months later. Trent Reznor wrote the song, but Cash made it all his own.
And also the song most on my mind this night.
Here is Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt”…
Since the Muppets have roared back in style, here’s this immortal rendition of them singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” with John Denver!
I think that’s like thirty years old, but timeless as ever. I figured it would be good to depart from blogging for the time being with something we could all smile about.
Longtime readers know that there is a tradition on The Knight Shift but last year there was a break from it, for reasons which were beyond my control. I had been looking forward to continuing that tradition again this holiday season but with each passing hour, well…
I am going to take a break from blogging for the next several days, as has been my usual custom at this time of year. There might be a review of this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special (which if I get to watch it, will be in far ...
First things first: I have yet to hear any news about a CD release of the score from Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which was once again masterfully composed and orchestrated by Steve Jablonsky. A bunch of readers have been asking me about this for the past several months (and quite often more than once!). No word either on the rumored box set that would have Jablonsky’s complete score from all three Transformers movies, which I would gladly plunk down serious coin for and based on the enthusiasm I’ve been observing, so would many others out there.
Until we have something more substantial to go on (and I tend to believe that it will be coming sooner than later) here’s something ya might wanna check out: Music from the Transformers Trilogy!
Performed by London Music Works, this CD includes 16 tracks from the three movies: six ...
I am actually genuinely surprised that my good friend Brian (aka Darth Larry) had nothing to do with this, since he’s a bigger Star Wars geek than even I am and also an accomplished cello player!
Here’s the video that has musicians and saga fans alike everywhere talking today…
So it’s December 1st and I’m finally allowing myself to enjoy the music of the holiday season! Not that I’m a grinch or anything. It’s just… I’ve never liked how the Christmas stuff now seems to start coming out the day after Halloween (and lately even before then). It only “feels” like Seasons Greetings when it’s after Thanksgiving, and maybe several days after that just for good measure. I mean, doesn’t the year go by fast enough without it needing any “help”?
Well anyhoo, it being the time properly leading up to Christmas at last, I’ll kick things off with a post I’ve been considering for some time now. It’s a neat lil’ bit of historical lore that I’ve always enjoyed and I like to think that others will appreciate it as well.
So here we go with the strange but true tale of how The Salvation Army from its ...