Results tagged “song”

Surely this Halloween will bring every era of Michael Jackson back to life in costume form, but this Long Island City local has put up a scarecrow tribute to the late performer. Apparently he wears two gloves in the afterlife!

You'll recall that the city recently agreed to pay $22,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the NYCLU on behalf of a man who says cops ejected him from Yankee Stadium last summer when he tried to use the bathroom during "God Bless America" in the seventh inning stretch. And the Yankees, as part of the settlement, affirmed that there was no policy restricting fans’ movements. So the Times checked in on Friday night's Yankee game and found that although most fans stayed in their seats during the song, one Rich Popaduke defiantly proceeded to the men's room, declaring, "Freedom is what makes us American!" Why do sports fans with full bladders hate America? A security guard, Nicole Farrell from East New York, opined, "Everybody has free choice. You cannot interfere with that." But at least one fan is here to remind us the freedom to pee freely isn't free; Sue Coster, whose brother is a Gulf war veteran, vowed retribution against anyone exiting during God Bless America: "If they tried to do that in my aisle, I would have stuck out my leg."

Before you lay down some hard earned cash on that Bob Dylan poem, you should probably know a little bit more about it. Like, for instance, that those are actually the words of Canadian country singer Hank Snow. Reuters reports that earlier this week Christie's announced the sale of a Bob Dylan poem believed to have been written in 1957 when he was away at Jewish camp, but they "failed to detect that the words, with a few minor variations, matched those of a song previously recorded by Snow." A reader alerted Reuters of the fact, who then informed the auction house, who announced, "Additional information has come to our attention about the handwritten poem submitted by Bob Dylan to his camp newspaper, written when he was 16, entitled 'Little Buddy.' The words are in fact a revised version of lyrics of a Hank Snow song. This still remains among the earliest known handwritten lyrics of Bob Dylan." The big question here is: did Dylan cop to copying the lyrics back in '57? It certainly wouldn't be the fist time he's lifted some lines.

The McCain/Palin campaign is having zero luck with their song choices. Following Heart, Survivor, the Foo Fighters, John Mellencamp and Jackson Browne speaking out against the two-some using their songs, Bon Jovi has now spoken up after their tune "Home" was used at a rally or two. They released the following statement today: "We wrote this song as a thank you to those who have supported us over the past twenty-five years. The song has since become a banner for our home state of New Jersey and the defacto theme song for our partnerships around the country to build homes and rebuild communities. Although we were not asked, we do not approve of their use of 'Home.'" Still, probably didn't sting as badly as when Van Halen protested the use of one of their songs being used by the campaign (Palin's son's middle name is Van, as an homage to the band).

Some big news on the off-shore population in NYC: scientists have discovered an impressive amount of whales "only a couple of miles from the Statue of Liberty," the NY Post reports.

"This isn't exactly great real estate for whales," said Dr. Christopher Clark, director of bioacoustics research at Cornell's ornithology lab. "It would be like trying to make a home in the middle of the Long Island Expressway."

Continue reading "Whale Population in NYC Proves to Be "Extraordinary""

Reader Sacha sent us this photo of a cupcake-carrying "cadet corps" spotted on Sunday near Magnolia Bakery. The public display of cupcake affection is part of a site-specific dance performance called Unison Fetish, created by choreographer Sue Hogan as an exploration of the crazy lines outside Magnolia, and what they suggest about the changing neighborhood. According to our tipster, the piece involves several women and one man dancing along Bleecker Street "singing 'god bless magnolia' (to the tune of God bless America). The song also heralded the shopping in the area...ugh."

Last year the Complaint Choir voiced their grievances in Chicago, and yesterday it was New York's turn. Complaints Choir, an internationally acclaimed community art project, was organized by The New Wilderness Foundation in collaboration with the P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center and the New York-based Finnish Cultural Institute. Meeting at 4 p.m. yesterday afternoon at Mehanata Bulgarian Bar, those in attendance had the project explained to them, as videos were shown, and lyrics were created. From the press release:

Participants write down their gripes ­ whether they reflect life's tiny inconveniences, personal angst or cosmic conundrums and together edit their list into a set of lyrics, usually breaking into expert groups focusing on particular subjects. The composer (Alan Licht, whose work combines elements of pop, free jazz and minimalism) then turns those lyrics into a song, with the instruction that it be upbeat, if not downright anthemic. After sufficient rehearsal, the choir performs publicly.

The NY Sun reports back that the 45 in attendance (women outnumbering men) griped about "Why are elections determined by morons?" "Summers are getting hotter and hotter," "Smokers who blow their smoke in my face," and "Long Islanders who think they're New Yorkers, but they're not."