Good evening, Kibitzer! He's here in Side Pocket today, but he's scheduled to be here on Tuesday, and I'm sure he'll tell you more about his trip this weekend to attend jakedog42's memorial service then.
It's chilly and rainy here, but that's what I like so I'm never complaining. Meanwhile, next week is expected to be mostly sunny with temperatures in the 80s by the end of the week. It's not my cup of tea, but it still gets me through hurricane-force winds, tornadoes, huge hailstones, and heavy rain. I hope Houston, and everyone else, has better weather.
Just last Tuesday, I wrote about my postmodern jukebox work with singer Sara Niemietz. I said I still have videos with other artists, but I wasn't thinking of doing that diary anytime soon. Then a side pocket dropped a cosmail asking me to exchange the KTK day and I didn't have it until Tuesday anymore. I have a copy of the PMJ diary on hand, so I'll post it here.
This diary is pretty packed with videos, and while there are vocalists I've seen in previous diaries, I doubt I'll ever see the same vocalist twice. As before, lThe ink on the entire song title is from the original version we are all familiar with.And as always, PMJ video list all Notes on the video page list the performing musicians and provide links if available.
Let's start with Soundgarden black hole sunsung by Haley Reinhart. [4:51]
romantics What's good about you, a 1960s soul-style version featuring Tia Simone, which changes to a more fringe movement tempo midway through. Backup vocals by Dani Rocca and Amber Woodhouse (Woodhouse also has a baritone saxophone solo!) [4:00]
police every time you breathe, a gospel style featuring Vonzel Solomon. Backup vocals by Trevon Davis, Eric B. Anthony, and Steve Epting. [3:38]
phil collins in the air tonightJazz Style, featuring Kayla. [3:35]
aerosmith keep dreamingfeaturing Morgan James. [5:22]
fleetwood mac Don't stop, New Orleans blues style featuring Mya Sykes. (Sykes is one of her two PMJ singers featured in this diary.) [4:19]
Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankees Despacitoa Broadway-style duet featuring Mandy Gonzalez and Tony DeSalle (one of the few times Scott Bradley himself is not a pianist, but here DeSalle plays the piano). [4:05]
michael jackson's thriller, a 1930s jazz style owed to Cab Calloway. (I recommend that link.) It features Wayne Brady on vocals and Anissa Lee and Sarah Reich as zombie tap dancers. [4:26]
Pharrell Williams Happy. It's difficult to characterize the jazz style of Gunhild Carling, a notable vocalist we've seen before in this diary. Here, she taps her dance and accents her performance by playing her 10 different instruments (sometimes multiple instruments at once). (Mike Cottonen is a legitimate Julliard-trained trumpeter, but since PMJ is all about ensemble, he is credited here as “instrumentalist and trumpeter.”) [3:36]
Buggles The video killed the radio star It's given the Queen/Freddie Mercury treatment by Michael Kunio. He deserves to get it done. [5:20]
tap wakes up This is a little outside of our mainstream. It's not exactly a song.Sarah Reich performs a tap routine to a John Williams medley Star Wars Score. [2:46]
Lil Nas X old town road In blues style. Because this is the queen of the blues, Mish Braden (who was the other woman in the diary with Mya Sykes). [4:08]
U2's I can't find what I'm looking for yet, a gospel/soul version featuring vocalist Rogelio Douglas Jr., but don't fall asleep over Grammy-winning saxophonist Jacob Sesney's tambourine/harmonica solo work. Backup vocals by Cheki Sarai and Belinda Skinner. [3:37]
nick lowe's What is so interesting about love and understanding of peace?, featuring Sara Potenza. It wasn't until she got to the second verse that she was surprised to see that they characterized this style as “Motown.” Backup vocals by Lindsay Kaye and Amber Woodhouse. [4:07]
celine dion's my heart continuesin the 1950s Jackie Wilson style, featuring Mychal Kilgore, with background singing by Brandon Rodgers and Matt Bloyd. [3:46]
journey's don't stop believing. This is a very big production, with a very large cast, and the credits roll at the end. Unlike other performances we've seen so far, this one is presented in the form of a music video directed by Abraham Rufe. Unusually for PMJ, the audio was pre-recorded. They did this in order to film the video with one long, moving take of him. To see notes from them about what happened, see the “pop-up” version where comments appear periodically on the screen. [4:22]
Mr. Toto Africa. You might have looked at the last selection and thought that must be the finale, and I thought so too. Then I watched another video directed by Abraham Rufe. There's more to this than just a loose, implied story, this is a whole drama. Starring (there's no other word for it) Casey Abrams is the bassist and Snuffy Walden is the guitarist. Above all, Tim Kubert reprises his role from Tuesday as “the feisty tambourine man,” and Scott Bradley plays the janitor. (I'm worried that the kids listening to that noise today might be playing a little joke.) [5:56]
