Here is a 30-second TV news spot some Canadian friends are testing out on CHEK TV in BC. The ad airs 44 times over 3 months during the 5pm, 6pm and 11pm News. The voiceover is by a longtime TM teacher, Bob Chelmick, who was the CBC news anchor in Alberta for decades. It broadcasts throughout Vancouver Island and also in the Lower Mainland including Vancouver, and spills over into Washington State. It was first posted on Garry Foster’s Facebook page and is now on their Transcendental Meditation Canada website as The Antidote to Stress.
Six seconds into the video we see a photo of a helicopter carrying a large specialized water bucket to help put out forest fires. Don Arney, inventor of the Bambi Bucket® for Aerial Firefighting, was inducted into the 2017 National Inventors Hall of Fame for his invention. It is manufactured in Vancouver, Canada and shipped to clients in more than 110 countries.
Listen to this neurodivergent blind 13-year-old child prodigy play the piano. It is moving and unbelievable. She makes the instrument sing. The music she feels and expresses through her fingertips goes right to the listener’s heart. It felt like I was hearing these well-known classical pieces for the first time. This is how Lucy communicates with the world. It is profound and incomprehensible! These videos tell the story.
BBC – The One Show – Talking about Channel 4’s ‘The Piano’
BBC’s The One Show invited the host and a judge of a new television show, The Piano, on England’s Channel 4. Host Claudia Winkleman and pop star Mika, one of two judges with pianist Lang Lang, discussed the concept for their series and how they were secretly judging amateur musicians playing on street pianos located outside train stations in selected cities. That portion of the interview starts at 1:26 and concludes at 7:25. They don’t give too much away, but we later find out in future episodes that the series will conclude with a final concert performance at England’s premier Royal Festival Hall.
Lucy performs Chopin’s Nocturne in B flat minor
One of those musicians is Lucy, a 13-year-old blind girl who stuns the crowd with her piano performance of Chopin’s Nocturne in B flat minor, Opus 9 number 1. We first see Claudia speak with Lucy’s mom outside the Leeds train station as they wait for Lucy’s teacher, Daniel, to lead her to the piano on an elevated platform. What happens next is breathtaking! It leaves Lang Lang speechless wondering how Lucy can learn how to play the piece. That question is answered below in The Amber Trust video – Lucy’s Story, showing us how Daniel instructs her using The Amber Sound Touch method.
Here is the FULL BROADCAST of that episode. It serves as a backgrounder leading up to the final performance. At 10:24 Claudia reveals to all of the musicians gathered together for the first time that they not only played for people at the train station locations, but also for the world’s greatest classical pianist and a well-known pop star who were secretly watching them. Lang Lang and Mika are introduced, surprising everyone. The explanation of what their intent was, and the power of music, is worth listening to. They invite everyone to attend the upcoming Festival Hall performance as their VIP guests and, after hours of deliberation, announce who and why 1 of the 4 finalists was selected to perform at the finale—Lucy. Actually, as it turned out, all 4 finalists—Jay, Sean, Danny, and Lucy—played, and Lucy was selected as the performance of the night.
Lucy performs Debussy’s Arabesque No. 1
Lucy performed Debussy’s Arabesque No. 1 on Channel 4’s Finale of “The Piano’ at Royal Festival Hall. You could hear a pin drop in the hall, the audience was that intently focused on her, many moved to tears. After her performance, Lang Lang and Mika rose to their feet applauding, shouting “Bravo.” Everyone joined them giving Lucy a standing ovation.
Complete version of Lucy playing Debussy’s Arabesque No. 1
Enjoy this complete version of Lucy playing Debussy’s Arabesque No. 1. It starts at 1:48. An earlier well-edited short section of the video introduces us to Lucy’s mom explaining her daughter’s medical condition, then segues to Daniel walking Lucy to the piano where she plays Chopin’s Nocturne in B flat minor. It’s where Lang Lang, speechless, not knowing what to say, calls her a genius. At the end of this final performance, everyone is on their feet applauding wildly. The applause continues as Daniel and Lucy leave the stage. Claudia returns and proudly says, “Ladies and gentlemen, THAT is Lucy!”
The Amber Trust – Lucy’s story
The Amber Trust – Lucy’s story is a film made 3 years earlier about Lucy when she was 10 years old, blind, with autism and severe learning difficulties, but exceptional musical potential. Her teacher, Daniel, explains and demonstrates how he guides Lucy to play classical pieces on the piano. Adam Ockelford, founder of The Amber Trust, speaks at the end of the film. Lucy’s story is a part of ‘Amber Sound Touch’, The Amber Trust’s online resource for teaching music to blind and partially sighted children and young people, including those with additional disabilities. For more details, visit The Amber Trust website.
The Amber Trust has now worked with Lucy for over 10 years through their Music Awards program, funding the piano lessons she receives with her wonderful teacher, Daniel. Lucy achieved ‘performance of the night’ on the finale of Channel 4’s The Piano, receiving a standing ovation for her performance of Debussy’s Arabesque No. 1 at the Royal Festival Hall. They are very proud of everything she has accomplished on the show!
Tens of thousands of spectators at King Charles’ Coronation Concert were left speechless Sunday evening as 13-year-old blind and autistic pianist Lucy Illingworth gave a jaw-dropping performance. The pianist, who is part of Queen Camilla’s patronage, The Amber Trust, was one of the talents chosen to perform at a concert taking place on the grounds of Windsor Castle. Playing a rendition of Bach’s Prelude in C Major, the teenager prompted smiles and applause from the Princess of Wales and Princess Charlotte, leaving the newly crowned King and Queen speechless. Her mother Candice Illingworth was beaming as she proudly sat next to her talented daughter as she wowed the crowd.
Historically, Clair de Lune, was a French poem written by Paul Verlaine in 1869, and became the inspiration for the third and most famous movement of Debussy’s 1890 Suite Bergamasque of the same name.
Also enjoy listening to Kristan Toczko, one of Canada’s premier harpists, perform Debussy’s romantic composition, Clair de Lune. That post contains links to performances by famous pianists and other musicians, some on unusual instruments, recorded for the celebration of Debussy’s life and music in 2018, the centennial of his passing.
See Canadian pioneer filmmaker Norman McLaren’s 1968 NFB film ‘Pas de deux’ for a truly spellbinding aesthetic experience. Predating digital effects, this masterpiece won many national and international awards.
‘Pas de deux’ was nominated as ‘Duo’ for Best Live Action Short Subject at the 41st Academy Awards (April 14, 1969) to honor the films of 1968. It was the NFB’s 24th Oscar®-nominated film at the time.
Some other amazing artists I’ve been inspired by and written about are available in the Archive of the ‘Music’ Category on The Uncarved Blog.
This is real cool! Using simple, illuminative paper-cut puppetry, this enchanting video imagines the moment of witness that inspired Gwendolyn Brooks to write her landmark poem, “We Real Cool.” It was created by Manual Cinema in association with Crescendo Literary, with story by Eve L. Ewing and Nate Marshall, and music by Jamila Woods and Ayanna Woods. Poetry Foundation posted We Real Cool on June 6, 2017 as part of the upcoming centennial celebration of her birth that year.
Everything about this video is excellent—the background story, Brooks’ dialogue, the poem read by her and sung by the chorus, the lifelike facial expressions, outlines and movements of the paper-cut puppetry, the jazzy driving music—all make for a lively and enjoyable realization.
The 6-minute video is a companion to a live staged production of No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks. It premiered November 2017 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Brooks’s birth. See the trailer for that show when it played in Vancouver at the Chan Centre. “We Real Cool” starts at 26 minutes into the 68-minute performance.
Gwendolyn Brooks (June 7, 1917-December 3, 2000) won the Pulitzer Prize at 32, and at 68, was the first black woman to become a consultant in poetry for the Library of Congress, aka the 29th Poet Laureate, 1985–86. A prolific poet, author, and teacher, she received a lifetime achievement award in 1989 from the National Endowment for the Arts.
It’s interesting how some poets are only remembered for one special poem. In this 1986 HoCoPoLitSo interview with Gwendolyn Brooks for The Writing Life series (remastered in 2005), she was asked how she felt about being remembered for only this one poem (18:38). She said that the poem was published in many anthologies and that children always ask her to read “We Real Cool” and respond enthusiastically.
But instead of asking myself, “Why aren’t they in school?” I asked myself, “I wonder how they feel about themselves?”
Gwendolyn Brooks’ thoughts on seeing The Pool Players, Seven at the Golden Shovel, which became her poem, “We Real Cool.”
Instead of judging the students, her curiosity and compassion cause her to look deeper. She shares her thoughts about the boys’ situation, and is then asked to recite the poem, which she does at 21:05.
The only person I was familiar with was the brilliant guitarist Orianthi. I had not heard of Vanessa Amorosi before. She can really sing the blues! What a perfect pairing!!
After hearing their awesome performance I searched for the original and discovered Gary Moore, another amazing musician! Impressed with both, I had to create this post.
Still Got the Blues (For You) by Northern Irish guitarist Gary Moore was originally released in 1990 as the title track for what would become his multi-million-selling eponymous album. It was a return to the Blues music of his youth. He died at 58. (April 04, 1952 – February 06, 2011)
Speaking of getting the blues from unrequited love, one song I remember from my youth was Since I Fell for You sung by Lenny Welch. He really expressed that kind of emotional pain, something most teenagers could identify with at the time.
The biggest hit version, arranged and conducted by Archie Bleyer, was the Lenny Welch recording of it in 1963, reaching No 4 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and No 3 on the Easy Listening chart.
Gary Moore’s friendship with George Harrison
While doing research for this post I discovered two interesting videos that revealed Gary Moore’s friendship with George Harrison. George said they were neighbors, and that he was impressed with Gary’s playing.
In this 1990 Countedown interview, George mentioned when he and Jeff Lynn were producing a recording in his home studio it needed a particular style guitar solo. It would take them a while to do it. So George called up Gary who came over and nailed it in 5 minutes. It turned out to be the lead guitar riff for The Traveling Wilburys playing She’s My Baby!
Guitarist Jeff Beck’s unexpected passing earlier this year took the rock world by surprise. He died suddenly of bacterial meningitis. He was 78. R.I.P. (June 24, 1944–January 11, 2023)
A guitar player’s guitar player, Jeff Beck was considered one of the top five of all time. An eight-time Grammy winner, he was inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—as a member of the Yardbirds, and for his own Jeff Beck Group.
Once news of his sudden passing came out, many searched his music online. I was impressed by his amazing virtuosity and versatility. Equally at home in different musical genres, he had his own unique style of playing that defied categorization. Jeff never sang; his guitar did for him.
Part of Gene’s comment (5th from top) explains: “He is a fusion of blues, soul & progressive rock. He could manipulate the strings, whammy bar, volume & tone knobs simultaneously, with technical mastery, to seamless & absolutely dazzling effect. He had voice on the guitar that was exceedingly rare and distinct.”
Enjoy Jeff Beck – Performing This Week… Live at Ronnie Scott’s. Accompanying Jeff Beck are Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, Tal Wilkenfeld on bass guitar, and Jason Rebello on keyboards. Amazing musicians in their own right, together they produce an exciting cohesive sound. The show’s twenty-one performances include a few surprise star guest appearances. And the camera catches a few famous musicians smiling in the audience. Jeff concludes the evening with the hauntingly beautiful Where Were You.
Jeff Beck also beautifully played all of Women of Ireland, Live in Moscow at Crocus City 2010, and with violinist Lizzie Ball Live at Madison Square Garden 2013. “Mná na hÉireann” (Women of Ireland), a poem written by Ulster poet Peadar Ó Doirnín (1704–1796), became famous as a song.
I love this sweet and rare interaction between this girl and a bird. It’s as if Snow White and The Sound of Music collaborated to create “a golden hour miracle.” The description below explained what had happened. A bird had crashed into their window and was dazed. We see their delighted daughter holding the bird and singing Edelweiss to it while compassionately caressing it. You can hear the bird chirp feebly. This must have helped to get it back on its feet, or in this case, off, since “she flew away fit as a fiddle.” What a magical moment!
Gable Swanlund’s mother posted this video of her and the bird on her Instagram account. The video has hundreds of thousands of likes and over ten thousand comments! It’s bound to put a smile on your face.
In it, Spielberg mentions how he and his wife had learned TM, Transcendental Meditation, 3 years ago through the David Lynch Foundation. He also revealed how the idea came up to ask David Lynch to play the role of John Ford in the film, how he pulled it off, and how David Lynch prepared for his cameo role. Apparently, David was unrecognizable as he took on the persona of the late, great filmmaker.
Entertainment writer Tomris Laffly was at the Q&A and posted several video clips of that conversation on Twitter, for which we are grateful.
I am watching Steven Spielberg & Martin Scorsese discuss THE FABELMANS. DGA today is a house of worship, ♥️ pic.twitter.com/uLAkT8W1px
And here is a part of that movie clip they talked about, especially the cigar-lighting scene, which Amanda Dugan just tweeted of David Lynch as John Ford in The Fabelmans. She later sent me the full YouTube clip of David Lynch as John Ford, which I’ve embedded here.
David Lynch playing John Ford being directed by Steven Spielberg in a semi-autobiographical film about his life.
Later added: On Jan 5, 2023, Jimmy Kimmel asked Laura Dern to share the story of how Steven Spielberg asked her to get David Lynch to play the role of John Ford in his film. She was the catalyst in bringing both of these master film directors together to “pay homage” to the master filmmaker they both admired. It’s from 4:36-6:40 and is cued up below.
At the bottom of The Film Stage article, they embed a video from 11 years ago — Spielberg/Grazer/Howard – “John Ford” — of Spielberg recounting in detail the real-life story, when he was 15, of meeting John Ford, which, decades later, would became the ending for The Fabelmans.
The Rock world has been reeling from the news of the unexpected death of Christine McVie, the longtime co-lead vocalist, keyboardist, and songwriter for Fleetwood Mac. She died Wednesday, November 30, 2022, after a short illness. She was 79. Christine was surrounded by family members at a London hospital when she passed.
Many condolences and remembrances have been pouring in this past week, especially from members of the band attesting to how much she was loved and appreciated as a person and, of course, as one of their foundational musicians. This E News! video contains several quotes from both band and family members alike. Good Morning America aired Celebrating the life and legacy of Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie.
One of the things that came up in my Instagram feed was this post from Far Out Magazine: Christine McVie on Writing Songbird. They included the audio portion from a Dec 17, 2017 BBC Desert Island Discs interview with Christine McVie that dealt with how she came to write her famous song. They also transcribed that part of the conversation in the Instagram post. Raised on Radio also posted the interview on YouTube. The Songbird section starts at 3:18. You can click CC to see their words.
In a recent post, I quoted Brendan Graham, who said, “the truly special songs write us; we don’t write them. We don’t find them; they find us.” Christine McVie described exactly that kind of magical experience.
She couldn’t sleep, and an unknown song was in her head. “I had to play this song. It was as if I’d been channeled or something!” It came to her at 3 in the morning. “The whole song, complete, chords, words, everything within half an hour,” she explained. Fortunately, she had a piano in her room, but no tape recorder. So she kept playing it without sleeping for fear of forgetting it, until she went into the studio at 9 o’clock the next day to record it on a two-track tape. “I just felt as if it was a universal kind of prayer or something. I just don’t know where it came from. This never happened to me since or before.”
‘Songbird’ would arguably become McVie’s signature song. Originally released as the B-side to ‘Dreams’ in 1977, it ended up on Fleetwood Mac’s world-conquering Rumours album. It wasn’t her biggest hit for the group, but the ballad was a frequent closer at Fleetwood Mac concerts, especially after McVie rejoined in 2014.
At 2:03 there’s a photo of Christine wearing a top with the words, Nobody’s Perfekt. This is doubly funny, not only because of the misspelling of the word, perfect, but also because it’s her family name! She was born Christine Anne Perfect. She told Peter Robinson of The Guardian: “I used to joke that I was perfect until I married John.”
Christine’s Family, Early Background, and Later Recognition
Christine Anne Perfect was born on July 12, 1943 to Cyril Percy Absell Perfect and Beatrice Edith Maud Perfect. They also have a son named John. Christine’s family contributed considerably to her development. Her grandfather was the organist at Westminster Abbey. Her father was a concert violinist and music lecturer at St. Peters College of Education at Saltley in Birmingham. Her mother was a medium, psychic, and faith healer. After her brother brought home a Fats Domino songbook, she switched from playing classical piano to blues-based rock and roll.
She studied sculpture at school with the intention of becoming an art teacher and met blues musicians who invited her to join a band. She later left a window-dressing job in London to become a full-time musician. She would soon be invited to join an early version of Fleetwood Mac who would go on, through various iterations, to become one of the top-selling bands of all time.
An introvert by nature, McVie’s creative and spiritual influences informed her musical career and kind personality. She impacted her bandmates in positive ways, at times, the quieter center holding them together as they spun out of control due to the excessive drug-fueled lifestyles and rocky romantic relationships of that era. But they turned their melodramas into musical hits. McVie would be honored with many awards, and in 1998, was inducted with Fleetwood Mac into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
MOJO’s Tribute to Fleetwood Mac singer-songwriter Christine McVie
Christine McVie: Her 20 Greatest Songs. In tribute to Fleetwood Mac singer-songwriter Christine McVie, who passed away this week, MOJO selects the best tracks from across her career. They also included Christine McVie Remembered. In memory of Christine McVie, who has sadly passed away aged 79, MOJO revisits our 2017 interview with Fleetwood Mac’s singer-songwriter.
I discovered this amazing musician—Serbian harpist and pianist Nadja Dornik. She transcribed and performed a stunningly beautiful version of Frédéric Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu (C♯minor, Op. posth. 66, WN 46) on the harp. Check out her impressive bio, and see more videos on her YouTube channel and those featured at onepoint.fm.
For another beautiful classic piece of music, listen to Kristan Toczko, one of Canada’s premier harpists, perform Claude Debussy’s Clair de Lune.
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