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18 new of 42 responses total.
lumen
response 25 of 42: Mark Unseen   Aug 15 03:52 UTC 1997

It would seem there's a fine line between opera and musicals-- that being when
opera died and musicals began.  (Name me ONE contemporary opera.)

Speaking of music vids again, I bought Depeche Mode's "Some Great Videos"
today.  I got a really big laugh out of seeing the band (and this is probably
the only one with Vince Clarke in it) in their motorcycle gear, looking sooo
young, with punkpop dressed vixens cavorting around them as they sang and
played their keyboards for the first vid, "Just Can't Get Enough."
krj
response 26 of 42: Mark Unseen   Aug 15 03:59 UTC 1997

Contemporary operas:  Glass, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and lots of others
Argento, THE ASPERN PAPERS  (actually a very riveting drama)
Adams, NIXON IN CHINA and DEATH OF KLINGHOFFER, neither of which I 
          have any direct knowledge of
Ann Arbor's own William Bolcom, McTEAGUE
orinoco
response 27 of 42: Mark Unseen   Aug 15 15:43 UTC 1997

Re#25:  And, of course, the line is blurred further by things like Les
Miserables or Phantom of the Opera, which I wouldn't call opera but which are
heavier than your standard fluffy perky musical.
lumen
response 28 of 42: Mark Unseen   Aug 17 04:02 UTC 1997

I forgot to mention that the vid I commented on wasn't at all what I expected.
It was done in 1981, and I was expecting crappy film and mostly whitescreen.
They did use a whitescreen backdrop in some scenes, but the qualty of the film
used was good enough that they didn't look washed out.
lumen
response 29 of 42: Mark Unseen   Oct 8 00:15 UTC 1997

I'm surprised no one mentioned VH1's "pop-up" videos.  My suspicion is that
it's heavily World Wide Web influenced.  Oh well-- it gives you some quick
trivia on the vid, and then some :P

I was watching it the other day-- interesting to note "Bohemian Rhapsody" was
the first vid to have a BIG influence-- not just on propelling a song to
popularity, but on music videos themselves.
orinoco
response 30 of 42: Mark Unseen   Oct 8 00:15 UTC 1997

I don't belive I've ever seen that one - what's it like?
bruin
response 31 of 42: Mark Unseen   Oct 8 00:46 UTC 1997

I've even seen both versions of the "Bohemian Rhapsody" video by Queen.  When
the song was featured in the movie "Wayne's World," a revised video was
produced, which mixed in scenes from "Wayne's World" into the original 1976
issue.
snowth
response 32 of 42: Mark Unseen   Oct 8 19:49 UTC 1997

I think I saw the Wayne's World one a while a ago. (A real *long* while ago,
like when it was new.) I wan't real impressed, but then, I didn't like Wayne's
World.
orinoco
response 33 of 42: Mark Unseen   Oct 8 23:04 UTC 1997

I have actually never seen that movie, except for a brief chunk that they had
playing in Grooveyard a while back.
lumen
response 34 of 42: Mark Unseen   Oct 9 00:15 UTC 1997

I don't think anyone answered Dan's question (#30).  Some of the pop-up notes
will be my references, actually ;P  The vid was cheap-- it cost under $7000
to produce.  Most "videos" were just taped performances, actually, yet this
song was too complicated to perform live (as per se the studio version).  So
the video has the look and feel of a small performance, almost, but they used
some techniques that were later refined and became known as "MTV effects."
I'm referring to the 3-D like effects that move and wave-- I don't think
anyone else did the face shots in various sequences and multiplications that
are hallmarks of the video.  The end of the video goes back to the four of
their faces transforming from their old look to their new one.  Freddy Mercury
seemed to have the biggest change in his look-- he had long hair, and then
cut it very short; he was clean-shaved, and then grew a handle-bar moustache;
he had Egyptian eyeliner, and then got rid of that; and then he traded his
bell-bottomed, bell-cuffed catsuit for a yellow tank top, jeans, and a brown
leather jacket.

The video was rather wasted on a poor movie-- I wasn't too impressed with
"Wayne's World," either.  The sequel was much better-- better plot, and better
comedy.  The part I found the funniest was when the crew was disguised spying
on Wayne's girlfriend.  Wayne was dressed as a telephone pole repairman, Garth
as a cop, and one of their friends as a biker, I believe.  When they were
spotted and they went running into a back alley, the gag was obvious-- they
looked like the Village People!  It was even more obvious when they escaped
through a backstage door into a club called "The Tool"-- evidently a gay dance
club.  It turned out they were right on stage, so the DJ hit the lights on
them, put on "Y.M.C.A."-- and what do you know, the naked Indian that showed
them to Jim Morrison in a dream was there dancing with them.

Speaking of movies, that was part of another new trend-- showing clips from
the movie, or editing clips into, in a music video.  If a song is part of a
movie soundtrack these days, you're more than likely to see parts of the movie
in the video.

From that point, they are beginning to include audio clips from movies in
studio tracks, as well, so movie songs have dialogue in them, too. *sigh* 
As if the song couldn't stand on its own..i.e., why couldn't Bruce Springsteen
force those producers to leave those obnoxious lines from _Jerry MacGuire_
out of his song?
krj
response 35 of 42: Mark Unseen   Oct 24 20:16 UTC 1997

This week I am being slightly weirded out by the fact that my new PC
comes with five pre-installed music videos, ready to use as screen
savers.  The only song I recognized was "I Can See Clearly Now".

I'm going to have to browse around and look for some more clips I can
download, just for fun.
bruin
response 36 of 42: Mark Unseen   Oct 24 22:20 UTC 1997

That's funny, ken, for I was listening to the song a few minutes ago.
mcnally
response 37 of 42: Mark Unseen   Oct 25 01:30 UTC 1997

  Is the version they included the original hit version by Johnny Nash?

  That song will forever more be associated in my mind with traipsing
  around the island of Hawaii ("the big island..") with my brother.
  We heard the song so often during our short stay on the island that it
  soon got to be a running joke..  To this day I have no idea why it
  was being played so much, but hey, it gives me an extra memory trigger
  on recollections of a pretty happy trip..
bruin
response 38 of 42: Mark Unseen   Oct 25 14:09 UTC 1997

BTW, more recently, Jimmy Cliff did a cover version of "I Can See Clearly Now"
in the movie soundtrack of "Cool Runnings."
diznave
response 39 of 42: Mark Unseen   Oct 25 20:31 UTC 1997

This is even funnier, bruin! I was just listening to Jimmy Cliff! Hee hee!!
Curiouser and curiouser!
krj
response 40 of 42: Mark Unseen   Oct 27 06:10 UTC 1997

I think the laptop comes with the Jimmy Cliff version.
krj
response 41 of 42: Mark Unseen   Nov 23 08:06 UTC 1997

Channel surfing tonight brought me to the PBS series "Sessions at West 54th
Street."  Tonight's program featured David Byrne, who I used to adore,
so it was interesting to see what he's been up to lately.  Three of the 
songs he played were early Talking Heads classics -- "Psycho Killer,"
"Take Me To The River," and "I Zimbra."  Byrne had a band which included
a cute black woman singer -- is she on the new Byrne album? -- and a 
middle-aged keyboard player who looked like Phil Collins.
I tuned in late, and there were no band credits at the end.
 
Little of the new Byrne material held my interest, but there was one 
track Leslie liked.
 
I never manage to see the schedule for the West 54th show.  They usually 
have performers who I am at least a little interested in.  Next week is 
Fiona Apple.  The style of the show intercuts live performances in front 
of a small audience, and filmed interviews.
 
There's a web page:  http://www.sessionsatwest54th.com, if I wrote it down 
correctly.
lumen
response 42 of 42: Mark Unseen   Mar 17 23:25 UTC 1998

Watching VH1's 80's marathon dubbed "Eight Days of 80's" has me wondering why
the UK was so proficient in producing good music videos, and why it took the
U.S. so long to catch on to what that was.  I mean, quite a few early American
80's videos were crappy, while English acts had such eye-popping vids.
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