Discovering the Joys of Youtube
I admit I am a bit late when it comes to catching up with fads. I still do not own an mp3 player, let alone an ipod. The other night I was humming "I'm a little bit country, I'm a little bit rock 'n roll." I think I was thinking about the upcoming concerts we are planning on a boat in the Danube with The Last Drops and The Random Chocolates. Anyway, I got to thinking how much I enjoyed The Donny and Marie Show, and that it must be available on Youtube. I have known about Youtube for years, but this was the first time I had looked at it. Sure enough, there they were! I met Donny about 25 years ago in Boston once backstage at some musical he was doing at the Met. My girlfriend's <!-- pagebreak -->uncle was the "dresser for the stars" and got us backstage, but all I really remember is his wife's mickey mouse sweatshirt, and Heidi almost fainting, and me walking into a badly placed cannon in the sidewalk. Boston re-used Revolutionary and Civil War cannon by placing them upside down in the sidewalks, always right in your path and always at crotch height. Anyway, lately I have been spending a lot of time on Youtube. It is much like the quickly disappearing library card catalogs. I love card catalogs because you will be looking for one thing, and make all sorts of connections with interesting other subjects or books during the process. Sadly, I have not seen electronic card catalogs with that allows for this. I viewed some live Alanis Morrisette concerts, and then clicked on some Irish stand-up comedian named Ed Byrne dissing Alanis' "Ironic." He is brilliant by the way, so check him out. Much better than Eddie Izzard. One of my customers, Liam Crow suggested I check out Black Books, an English tv show starring Dylan Moran. A summary from IMB: "Bernard Black. Bernard is an anti-social, heavy drinking chain-smoker who owns a small London bookshop - an unusual vocation, given that he detests customers and delights in physically and verbally abusing them at every opportunity." According to Liam, I am already at this stage, or aspiring to it. If so, it is definietly time to take a holiday. When I looked up Strevie Nicks doing "Landslide" (I cry every time), I found a bunch of great live duets of her with Sheryl Crow (the sexiest mouth in music). And at 2am this morning after a late drinking session with Irish poet Neal McCarthy (coming again to Treehugger Dan's June 3), I was inspired to look up Goldberg, my favorite WWF wrestler, and who was probably the only Jew on the top of any professional sport. I know people heap criticism on professional wrestling, but looked upon as entertainment and for the athleticism involved, it is great fun. The story lines in pro wrestling often reflect what is happening in our wider society. And hey, who doesn't love a circus, especially one where they are not abusing the animals?