Things certainly could have been WORSE!
...at least that's the way I felt about 2 recent public-TV specials...

Just a bunch of "aging queens" dept.: That's a line the late Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, told the audience in one of their 1986 concerts, which I have on DVD. Kinda humorous. Say what you want about his lifestyle, he was a great front man and an even better singer. When Freddie died of AIDS in 1991, that was pretty-much "it" for the group. Until fairly recently, that is, when 2 original members of Queen got a new singer, and initially, I thot, "this is gonna be a DISASTER!" The singer the new Queen chose? None other than macho-rock vocalist Paul Rodgers, who sang for Bad Company, and before that "Free" (All right now, baby, its-a all right now.....) There's a DVD out featuring Paul Rodgers and Queen, and public-TV showed it over the last weekend, and you know, it's not bad at all! Paul Rodgers is in surprisingly strong voice, tho he doesn't quite have the vocal range Freddie had. That's okay, because Queen's drummer, Roger Taylor, has a really good high voice, and Brian May, the group's original guitarist, has a sweet tenor voice of his own. And the concert included material originally done by both Queen and Bad Company, so it was a pretty cool show, and not the disaster I thought it would be.

It had been a long time since Queen had any hits in the U.S.A., but it seems that all along, they were insanely popular in England and Europe. I have a few of their later CD's that didn't sell well over here, "A Kind Of Magic", and the really great "Innuendo", which has some immortal Freddie Mercury performances; by the time that CD was being recorded, Freddie was so sick with AIDS he could barely stand up, but yet he delivers powerful vocals. Two songs on that CD that'll bring tears to your eyes are "These Are The Days Of Our Lives" and "The Show Must Go On". This is material which went largely ignored in the U.S., but this 1991 CD is required "tough" listening for anyone who likes rock music. I think these "later, relatively unheard" Queen CD's rank right up there with "Bohemian Rhapsody" or any of their other popular tunes.

Another Queen CD came out in 1993, 2 years after Freddie passed away. It consisted of tracks the group didn't finish before Freddie's death. At the end, Freddie wanted to record as much stuff as possible while he was still alive. Then, after he died, the group couldn't face hearing that material again. But in honor of Freddie, the group did get together and finish the album, and titled it "Made In Heaven". And it's got some good stuff on it, too, including one of the most haunting songs I've ever heard, "Mother Love". The song is about seeking safety, warmth and security while under great duress, as Freddie was. There were times when Freddie was so weak, he could only come down to the studio for 20 minutes, sing a bit, then head back to bed. What a story; it's tragic, really. What an incredible talent he was. I only found out about Queen's later material last year, almost 15 years after Freddie's death. The last I'd heard anything by Queen was in the early '80's. I researched all of this extensively on the internet; what a fascinating and compelling story the Queen saga really was.

Irish Tenors can actually rock and roll? dept.: I also saw a "rock and roll" show, performed in front of a live audience, featuring Irish Tenor and PBS-TV darling Daniel O'Donnell, he of the Irish Brogue accent and sweet heavenly high tenor voice. And he was singing rock and roll, of the type of "I Don't Know Why I Love You, But I Do"...he even attempted the old Monkees' tune, "Daydream Believer" and several other '50s and '60s songs, and I sat there speechless! And you know what, I had to toss my preconceived notions about Irish Tenors out the window, because he was doing an absolutely great job on all of those old songs. It must be nice to be brimming with so much raw talent that everything you touch just turns to gold. I try to sing, and it's all I can do not to go flat. Flat as a pancake! So what did I do after watching that old show? I got out my old Monkees' Albums and found the one with "Daydream Believer" on it...and it sounded good. Maybe I'm old and corny, but it sounded goooood.

How about that, I actually had something to write about dept.: I read the newspaper today, but nothing stuck. Oh, there was a bank robbery downtown today, while I was at the nearby coffee shop. Police parked all over the place in the downtown of our humble little town. I guess that meant the donut shops had a slow business day, ha ha. Anyway, I have another in my little perverse series of Coeur d'Alene Diamond Cup Hydroplane Race brochures:



Welcome to the year 1958. Elvis was the king, and Jerry Lewis was poundin' that "pumpin' piano" of his. Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Richie Valens were all having big hits; at this time, they all had just over half a year left in their lives. Dwight D. Eisenhower was President, and Richard Nixon was Vice President. I was all of 4 years old, but by this time, our family had been in CDA for just over a year and a half. Long, long ago! More such brochures will be featured in future posts, so y'all come back and put yer feet up, y'hear?