Celebrating the birthday of Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords by including a bunch of the duo’s songs on today’s playlist.
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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 10-8-22
Today’s playlist celebrates the October 8 birthdays of Ramones’ Johnny Ramone and C.J. Ramone, Kool & the Gang’s Robert “Kool” Bell, The Stylistics’ Airrion Love, Average White Band’s Hamish Stuart, BLACKstreet’s Teddy Riley, C.L. Smooth, Bruno Mars, Pigbag’s James Johnstone, and Saturday Night Live‘s Chevy Chase; and the October 9 birthdays of The Beatles’ John Lennon, The Who’s John Entwistle, PJ Harvey, Jackson Browne, Labelle’s Nona Hendryx, Men Without Hats’s Ivan Doroschuk, Heatwave’s Rod Temperton, Ini Kamoze, and Phantom Planet’s Alex Greenwald.
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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (7-1-20)
Inspired by the July 1 birthdays of Debbie Harry, Missy Elliott, The B-52’s Fred Schneider, Village People’s Victor Willis, Evelyn King, Sufjan Stevens, Bobby Day, David Geddes, Imperial Teen’s Roddy Bottum, Elwood Blues (aka Dan Aykroyd), The Rembrandts’ Phil Solem, and Plies.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (6-28-20)
Inspired by Black Music Month, LGBTQ Pride Month, and the June 28 birthdays of Mel Brooks, Gilda Radner and 2 Unlimited’s Ray Slijngaard.
Monty Python to Reunite – Life Gets a Little Brighter
This week, the surviving members of Monty Python announced they are reuniting for a show that will take place at London’s O2 Arena on July 1, 2014. The last time they performed together was at the Aspen Comedy Festival in 1998. In addition to their best-known skits, the troupe promises new material. At a press conference announcing the show, Eric Idle said the audience can expect “comedy, pathos, music and a tiny piece of ancient sex.”
When I was a kid I would watch Monty Python’s Flying Circus on PBS. The program provided absurd premises (a ministry of silly walks, an eatery frequented by Vikings that includes Spam as an ingredient in all their dishes, a clinic where one can drop in and pay to have an argument, though if you go into the wrong room you’ll get hit-on-the-head lessons), bizarre animation and, on the best episodes, images of ladybreasts.
July 1 falls smack dab in the middle of London’s rainy season (rainy season in London goes from Jan. 1 thru Dec. 31), so I probably won’t attend the show. However, I have my Python DVDs and recordings to get me through. Today’s playlist, a tribute to the group, kicks off with “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” the song that plays at the end of the film Monty Python’s Life of Brian. In the film, Brian, played by Graham Chapman, is despondent, seeing as he is nailed to a cross and certain to die. On a nearby cross is Idle, who attempts to cheer up Chapman with this ditty.
A survey conducted in England in 2005 revealed this to be the third most popular tune Britons would like played at their funeral. Indeed, the remaining members of Monty Python sang it at the 1989 funeral of Chapman.