@pakalanapikake,
I am sneaking in to wish you a Happy New Year! Best wishes for you and your family in 2021.
I hope you are well and in a good place now all things considered. I don’t need to say that you have been sorely missed here.
My news is that in 2021 I will be moving from NYC.
Where do folks from NY move to? Florida of course. I will not be reinventing the wheel.
I have enjoyed NYC and did not begin 2020 with the idea of relocating but the pandemic and politicians have brought the city to its knees. I am too old to wait for the rebound and tired of the cold winters.
I am telling family and friends that I want to replace the current view out my apartment window of fire escapes with one of palm trees and pink flamingos. (I am kidding about the flamingos but not the palm trees!) I will be searching for a place somewhere on the Gulf between Clearwater and Sarasota.
In Korean, with dramatization and on-site visits to the locations that figured in the Donghak Peasant Revolution. I surely wish there were English subtitles, but can sort of follow what’s being discussed.
녹두꽃 혁명 전봉준! 사람이 하늘이다 nogdukkoch hyeogmyeong jeonbongjun! salam-i haneul-ida [Bong-jun Jeon of the Mung Bean Flower Revolution! Man is the sky]
Mahalo to Google Translate for rendering the transliteration and translation.
I still haven’t gotten over NOKDU FLOWER and its OST.
Aloha, @wishfultoki… I’ve missed you and the Sageuk Geek music discussions, too. I’m not quite back yet, but I’m on my way. I’m feeling much better than I have in years, and am playing a lot of catch-up on the domestic front. My Dad is doing much better, too. He celebrated his 94th birthday in late August after fracturing his hip on Mother’s Day. But my poor namsaeng is run ragged taking care of him at home now.
As for Kdramaland, I haven’t had time to watch more than one episode of ADOLESCENCE MEDLEY since the end of July even though I’ve been going bonkers wondering about the English lyrics to one of the vintage ballads in it.
At this rate, DO YOU LIKE BRAHMS? will be over before I get around to seeing it. Sorry for the bait and switch. I wish I could watch in real time, but I can’t quite pull it off yet. Here’s hoping I can get it together in time for QUEEN CHEORIN.
@pakalanapikake,
I am so glad you are back!! I have been meaning to go back and check in. Well, if you will be following BRAHMS this will be great. Lol. I think our ML answered the question in the negative.
So I will quickly go off thread.
You are a radio person. I remember years ago listening to a classical music program on radio that always began with the intro from Brahms Symphony No.1 (Op. 68). I love the tipini. (Btw , does that ring a bell for a radio show?)
A blast from the past with Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic. check out the first few minutes: https://youtu.be/EGRqIGOAPcE
Aw shucks, @marcusnyc20. I’ve missed yakking with you, and hope that all’s well with you in Queens. BTW, I recently made the acquaintance of a lady of Bohemian descent whose kin used to live in Queens, home of Bohemian Hall and its beer garden in Astoria — the oldest beer garden in the city. https://bohemianhall.com/
My Dad the armchair historian and linguist of dead languages (who graduated from Boys’ Latin School) and I were talking the other night, and he mentioned that the Bohemian tribe who faced off against the Romans were Celts. I was stunned. So that explains my lifelong fascination with that part of the world. My proclivity for Russian history likewise makes sense when I consider that the Rus who gave their name to Russia were actually early Scandinavian traders and explorers (i.e., Vikings) who sailed up the rivers into Ukraine, where they built Kiev, and then proceeded through the Black Sea and into the Mediterranean… Apparently it wasn’t just a matter of watching Sergei Eisenstein films such as IVAN THE TERRIBLE and ALEXANDER NEVSKY that got me hooked on Russia and its fascinating history. LOL! I can partly blame it on my World History teacher in high school, but it’s mostly my Irish genes talking. I’ve long suspected that there must be a few Vikings in the family tree. 😉
As for the classical radio show you mentioned, I believe that WQXR in NY presented a syndicated program that aired for many years. When I arrived in Hawaii, I got my foot in the door at the UH station by hosting a classical program that included airing said show that was recorded live at Carnegie Hall in NYC. I think the scholarly host’s first name was Martin… but for the nonce I cannot quite dredge it up from the back of my mind. I may even be confusing two syndicated classical concert programs. Wikipedia may have some clues. I’m pretty sure that Leonard Bernstein had a classical concert broadcast series, just as Maestro Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops did. I got to hear the Pops live at the Hatch Shell — complete with the “1812 Overture” and the associated fireworks — methinks for the 4th of July. What a treat. 😉
@pakalanapikake,
It is so nice hearing from you and thanks for taking a shot at my radio question. I think I have shaken the cobwebs in the noggin and may have come up with an answer. First let me reply to your post in paragraph order:
1. Speaking of beer I am drinking a bottle of Birra Moretti so blame that if this doesn’t make sense. The Bohemian Garden has been on my list to visit but I guess it won’t be for awhile: https://nypost.com/2020/08/11/health-cops-close-bohemian-beer-garden-for-violating-covid-rules/
Don’t get me going!;
2. I may have mentioned that I am a Southie guy. I did not attend BLS (Boston Latin School) but my 3 youngest sisters did (grades7-12). After arriving in NYC in 2013 I became a bit of an opera buff thanks to the Metropolitan Opera. In 2014 I was able to see the Met’s production of Borodin’s Prince Igor. It was a terrific production. Here is a short clip of a scene that takes place is a field of red poppies. This took up the entire stage of the Met. It was incredible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfUtmKeYv-E
3. Of course I grew up with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. You beat me to it since I never attended a July 4th concert at the Hatch Shell on the Charles.
My memory may have been jogged concerning the classical music radio program I remember listening to. I spent my working career in DC and on Sunday nights I used to listen to WAMU’s The Big Broadcast which rebroadcast vintage radio shows like Dragnet and Gunsmoke etc. From what I remember now after The Big Broadcast WAMU would replay broadcast performances of the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Arturo Toscanini. The show always began with the NBC Symphony playing the intro to Brahms Symphony No. 1 just like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYGzRzSKVpM
While on the subject of Brahms and Astoria I am enjoying DO YOU LIKE BRAHMS?
On the episode one recap here is part of my comment (I took the opportunity to correct a typo, lol):
Has anyone noticed that the first two episodes are like a PPl for Steinway and Sons pianos. Steinway pianos are still made in the US in Astoria, Queens NY across the East River from Manhattan. Here is some history. It is a short piece. https://www.steinway.com/news/features/steinway-an-american-story
You hadn’t mentioned you’re from Southie before now, as far as I recall. Now I’ve gotta ask which neighborhood you’re from. By any chance did you attend English High School? Gramps taught there until he was forced to retire at the age of 70 [and then lived to be 102!] — but that was back in 1965. Gramps was born on Bowen Street, but the entire block was demolished to make way for public housing. I think his family’s parish was Sts. Peter and Paul. Grandma’s family belonged to Gate of Heaven parish — which was on the other side of the park at Dorchester Heights.
Auwe! Bohemian Hall beer garden was busted. The Governor had better watch out. He may end up being defenestrated by irate Czechs. 😉
That Met production of PRINCE IGOR is wild. The dance among the red poppies reminds me of an early STAR TREK episode. LOL! It also reminds me of the floral displays at Filene’s(?) every Easter. I was mightily impressed as a kid with the giant tiger made out of a gazillion tiger lily blooms.
Now that I think of it, it may not have been a July 4th Pops performance I’m remembering. My family attended the festivities for Dad’s 25th MIT reunion in 1976, IIRC. The Pops concert may have been part of that.
Thank you for the link to Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony. I couldn’t listen to the whole thing tonight because I’m turning into a pumpkin at the moment. I’ll give it a listen tomorrow.
LOL at the Steinway PPL in DO YOU LIKE BRAHMS? — I thought the same thing about I WANNA HEAR YOUR SONG with Yeon Woo-jin and Song Jae-rim. 😉 I’m glad to hear that you are enjoying the show. I’d read that Kim Min-jae had been practicing for months for it.
I’m looking forward to getting back to DramaBeans, too. Aloha until then. 😉
Overall, from the first two episodes, coming from someone with no knowledge of the form, I feel this show has done much more justice to western classical music than the other recent “classical music” drama, When the Weather is Fine.
Related: TEDx talk for adults like me who never got the hang of reading music as kids, but would like to take another stab at learning to play the piano:
Aw, thanks for the warm welcome. I’m feeling better than I have in quite a spell. (Nothing to do with Covid-19.) My Dad had a fall, but has recovered well from surgery for a partial hip replacement. Life got kind of nuts, but overall in a good way. I’m hoping to get back to DramaBeans on a more regular basis soon. And maybe I’ll finally get to see the subtitles for the final 2 episodes of KING MAKER: THE CHANGE OF DESTINY, and watch the rest of TRAIN and IT’S OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY…
I hope that you’re doing well, too. What have you been watching? Any recommendations for worthy dramas or films? 😉
Oh sorry to hear about your Dad’s fall, but glad to know he’s better, and happy to know you and Mr. P and your extended family are all well! Things are good in my neck of the woods too!
I’m excited to know you’re back in dramaland and will be following “Do You Like Brahms?” I’ve enjoyed the selection so far, and have been scouring youtube for Ravel’s Tzigane for violin and piano for a bit now! Is there a definitive version you’d recommend? Do post on your wall if you have anything in mind. (I came across this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FzYge-uUCk)
For a new delightful drama with a great OST (I liked the background music more than OST, actually), I’d highly recommend “Into The Ring” aka “Memorials”. From the OST, I have been tripping on this piece lately: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efW4bHrAer4&t=31s
The BGM has a ton of leitmotifs and I thought it had a lovely “comic” sound, which is rare and difficult to do well, IMO.
In cahoots with the Backstreet Boys, the People’s Liberation Army takes on Hallyu circa 1999. What a great editing job! Their pirouettes in combat boots are way more dainty than Take That’s moves in sodden overcoats in the “Back For Good” MV (1995), but one TT guy does terrific snake arms that looked like they were straight out of my belly dancing class. LOL!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2ICtCO8TCw
However, PLA can’t hold a candle to Shinhwa’s take on SWAN LAKE:
The subtitles I’ve been reading didn’t translate janghyeong. Thanks to Evangeline See’s handy-dandy glossary, I now know that nanjanghyeong means flogging, which Sageuk Geeks know can be fatal.
I recall from NOKDU FLOWER that Queen Min’s brother, Min Young-joon (played by Choi Dae-hoon), appeared in a few later scenes. Thus I suspect that KING MAKER’S Min Seung-ho did not survive the flogging meted out to him and his Andong Kim buddies. I’ll chalk up the disparity in the generational name to poetic license.
@pakalanapikake,
I hope you are well. Sorry I am a little late to this post. Thanks for the link. Perhaps because of your language background you find some great language/linguistics sites.
I found the writer’s choice of sageuk terms interesting. I wouldn’t have thought ‘flogging’ would make the top 12 to discuss but there you go. I liked that YSY’s image was used in the Grand Prince definition. Lol. Good taste.
I really enjoyed KING MAKER. What a performance from Jun Kwang-ryul! Maybe not pc nowadays to say this but I thought Park Si-Yoo gave a fine performance and held his own with JKR which is saying something considering the way JKR dominated his scenes.
Aloha, @marcusnyc20 bong-soo!
Thank you so much for touching base. I hope you’ve been okay over in Queens during the excitement Tropical Storm Isaias brought us. All the surrounding municipalities — and even most of the rest of our own little dorf — lost electrical power. By an odd quirk, our neighborhood, which is situated in a sheltered saddle between hills and has buried utility lines, only lost power 3-4 times for very brief periods throughout the day on Tues., 8/04. My folks’ house (about a 20-min. drive to the east) lost electricity and the landline at about noon that day and was dead in the water for 32 hours (power was restored last evening), but otherwise my namdongsaeng was safe. Yeodongsaeng up in Woostah was also okay. Our Dad had been released from the hospital on Monday afternoon and sent back to the subacute rehab where he has been getting physical therapy following a partial hip replacement about 2 weeks ago after falling on Mother’s Day when taking flowers to Mom’s grave. He didn’t know he’d broken it for about 7 weeks, but was deathly afraid of going to a hospital because of Covid-19, so went home and put up with it until namdongsaeng was at the end of his own rope. I didn’t blame Dad after the carnage in nursing homes in NY and Florida. God has been good, and he is recovering well and making excellent progress. He’s nearly 94 and highly motivated to regain his ambulation and condition after being bedridden for 7 weeks. Last week he had a spell that was apparently brought on by low sodium levels, and that sent him off to the hospital for a few days.
I was relieved that he was not at home when the storm hit. There have been several other power outages in recent years. One of them during the winter lasted for a week or more. Luckily, one of my buddies invited me and Mr. P to crash at her place when we lost power, but I asked if Dad and bro, who was still working in retail, could take refuge instead. She ended up thanking me for lending her my kinfolk. Her own dad had died when she was a young teen, and it was a treat for her to have a pseudo-Dad and pseudo-bro around. They all had a lovely time, and Mr. P and I were relieved that they were in good hands. I was afraid Dad would get pneumonia if he stayed at home.
I’m way behind on Kdrama watching, and still haven’t seen the subtitles for the final two episodes of KING MAKER: THE CHANGE OF DESTINY. I’ve been a little under the weather (not with that virus, AFAIK), but have not had the mental energy to watch any Kdramas since July 29. — I’ve also been kind of emerging from hibernation and returning to real life after about 4 years of hiding out in Kdramaland. It was a necessary hiatus, but now I feel my ch’i shifting. I’ve been on a long-overdue cleaning spree. I swear, I feel as if aliens abducted me, and I’m really a changeling. (But if I were truly a changeling, how would I ever know?!) I’ve also been cooking up a storm, something I quit doing years ago.
I’ve knocked myself out with the cleaning and cooking more than once over the past week or two. Our dishwasher conked out a month or so ago, so I’ve been handwashing the dishes, and have found it to be oddly relaxing and meditative, even as my feet and joints kill me. I used to enjoy cooking, and just this week whomped up my second big batch of pasta sauce loaded with fresh zucchini and summer squash, carrots, celery, and onions, with Aussie grassfed ground beef in a base of tomato basil sauce (all organic to minimize pesticide exposure). I’ve also been enjoying live lactofermented sauerkraut with various wurst, and am about to cook pork with apples and bosc pears in ye olde south German manner. Mr. P found me a bottle of Belgian Trappist brown ale (Chimay Premiere Red Dubbel brewed at Scourmont Abbey), and I think I’ll be enjoying a bit of it with dinner later tonight. One of my faves. 😉
Back to Kdrama: I’m so glad you enjoyed the linguistics post. I literally saw only the first 15-18 minutes of ep. 20 because the lack of a translation for janghyeong stopped me in my tracks and sent me off on a quest for terminology. I was so frustrated! Then I got distracted with real life, and too tired to focus.
I did manage to see the end of MY UNFAMILIAR FAMILY, which was one of the most interesting family dramas I’ve seen in a long time. It repeatedly dodged my expectations, and had a fine ensemble cast. I consider it a pretty realistic cautionary tale. I felt cheated that there was not more of Shin Dong-wook in it, but I enjoyed his portrayal of Mr. Player — who was certainly not what he appeared to be at first blush. I was able to keep up with IT’S OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY for a week or two after KING MAKER ended, and then got distracted. Ditto for TRAIN, whose finale I may have missed by now since it’s only 12 episodes. I’ve lost track of MEN ARE MEN with Yoon Hyun-min, Seo Ji-hoon, and Hwang Jung-eum, which I had been enjoying. I want to catch up on all of my shows. I haven’t even seen the premiere episode of FLOWER OF EVIL, so will probably be booted out of the Lee Joon-gi fan club.
I had already finished KKONDAE INTERN (and was recently inspired by it to conduct my own taste test of Nong Shim’s Shin Ramyun Black and Paldo’s fiery garlic NAMJA RAMYUN — for Science!), which I enjoyed very much. Kim Eung-soo is one of my fave ajusshis and sageuk actors. SWEET MUNCHIES frustrated me in certain ways with the missed opportunities and doofy characters. I felt as if Jung Il-woo’s character was assassinated, and was pissed at leading lady Kang Ji-young’s character, but not her performance. I got such a kick out of seeing Kim Seung-su as the senior director — what a contrast with his cutthroat Kim Byeong-woon of the Andong Kim clan in KING MAKER! It was such a treat to see him facing off against his erstwhile Dad, Prince Kumhwa of JUMONG).
@bong-soo,
I’ll be back with Part 3 but have to get cracking on making dinner. It’ll be a while — perhaps not until tomorrow or so. Stay tuned for further pontificating. 😉
Again, hope that all’s well with you in the wake of Isaias. Take care! 😉
@bbstl,
“All I Know” is so apropos after the end of ep. 14 that I had to mention it. Miss Sook probably knows it well. I could imagine Sang-shik playing it for her — if only he knew that she liked it.
Did Miss Sook dig “The Sound Of Silence”? According to Artie G., the song is about the inability to communicate emotionally — which would make it the theme song of the Kim family. “I Am A Rock” would give it a run for the money.
Garfunkel once summed up the song’s meaning as “the inability of people to communicate with each other, not particularly internationally but especially emotionally, so what you see around you are people unable to love each other.”[6]
I could imagine Sang-shik playing this next one for Miss Sook if she’d ever told him she liked S&G’s music. It hit #5 on the Billboard and Cash Box charts in the US.
Fun fact: Paul Simon co-wrote The Cyrkle’s 1966 hit “Red Rubber Ball.” Still an earworm 54 years later. And I’m still crazy after all these years. 😉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9aHrgtf2zY
Thanks for the share, paka! I have a near obsession with S&G and was so delighted when the reference was made in what is my current favourite drama, I was jumping up and down like a crazy fangirl.
I also really really love Paul Simon’s solo work. IMO, he is one of the greatest American songwriter-musicians of the 20th century. I don’t know what went through the heads of the Nobel Committee folks when they decided to award Bob Dylan the prize for literature/songwriting, when Paul Simon was there too.
You’re most welcome, @pickleddragon. S&G were among my faves as a kid with her first transistor radio. I still recall the shock of their parting company. Talk about going out with a bang at the height of their game. At the time of their reunion concert in Central Park, I was living in Hawaii, and probably only read about it after the fact in Rolling Stone. I’m feeling groovy to be able to watch that concert footage on YT nowadays.
I don’t know what the deal is with the Nobel Prize selections. I suspect that Bob Dylan’s close early association with the folk revival in the US in the 1950s may have put him in a more influential/pivotal position than Paul Simon, but I really don’t know how the committee makes its decisions. Consider the meltdown he caused among folk aficionados when he performed an electric set at the Newport Folk Festival 55 years ago on July 25, 1965. In doing so, he helped birth a new hybrid American folk music that was essentially a “shot heard round the world.” In the process, he wrested it from the grasp of those who would immure it in academic amber. Crossing the parent streams from the British Isles, Ireland, Scotland, and francophone Acadia with the musical and storytelling traditions brought from Africa and transformed into the many flavors of jazz, blues, gospel, swing, and rock and roll gave American folk music a bigger pallet, and more grist for the mill. And it set off a chain reaction overseas. Fairport Convention became acclaimed purveyors of electrified British Folk, but didn’t stop there.
Paul Simon has made an enormous contribution to the ethical cross-pollination of American music with such diverse ethnic traditions as reggae, Andean music, and the dynamic South African choral music epitomized by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. And lest we forget: the peerless black gospel harmonies of the Dixie Hummingbirds. Admittedly, I haven’t kept up with his output in recent decades. So much music (and too many Kdramas), and so little time. 😉
I’d like to nominate American songwriter Jimmy Webb, who since his teens has penned some of the most moving music and lyrics to grace the airwaves.
Country music is not a form I have particularly warmed up to, and as a result, not heard much by Jimmy Webb, but ‘Wichita Lineman’ is one of those numbers that stays in your head forever.
@pickleddragon,
You may have heard more music by singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb than you realize. “Up, Up And Away” by the Fifth Dimension and “MacArthur Park” by Richard Harris aren’t even remotely country. Frank Sinatra called “By The Time I GEtr To Phoenix” the “greatest torch song ever written.” Other pieces have been covered by country artists. He has also composed film scores.
You’re right – I googled some of his music, and realized I have heard more of Jimmy Webb than I thought I had! It’s strange how you don’t think of the songwriters much unless they have performed the pieces themselves.
Jimmy Webb has been recording and performing his own music in concert for many years. About 10-15 years ago, I had the great pleasure of hearing him sing his own lyrics while accompanying himself on solo piano, and he was great. He has such a way with words, and a decent singing voice. Hearing the songwriter perform his own songs was exquisite, because of the way he caressed the lyrics. Like Jackson Browne, Jimmy Webb started his songwriting career in his teens.
“Pianoman” Billy Joel is well known for his compositions. Ditto for Carole King and Jerry Goffin, who I believe started out working in the Brill Building. Any number of other songwriters started out there writing jingles for commercials, and a few of them successfully made the transition to pop music.
I’m so glad you got to hear more of his music. It should be used in Kdrama soundtracks. Enjoy your explorations. 😉
What an amazing and accomplished person! I am particularly excited to see that Susan Ahn Cuddy served in the US Navy’s WAVES [Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service] during WWII, as did my Mom. SAC’s list of achievements and contributions is really something. It’s sobering to reflect that she and her Irish-American husband had to contend with the anti-miscegenation laws that were still on the books in 1947.
@bbstl,
Maestro’s music is epic indeed. I cannot imagine the spaghetti Western genre without it. and I recall when Hugo Montenegro’s version of this was a big hit on AM radio when I was a kid. 😉
I interviewed him for the campus paper when he played my college a few years earlier. The Jersey redneck audience had booed the opening act right off the stage, the only time I’ve ever seen something like that happen. Mr. Daniels was appalled by the crowd’s rudeness. Truth to tell, the promoter must have been on drugs to open with a comedian. It would have made way more sense to open with a popular local country rock band such as Kinderhook Creek or Blackfoot. Those were the polarized days of “Disco Sucks” t-shirts. 😉
CD was a soft-spoken, down-to-earth gentleman, and a terrific musician and songwriter. I was utterly agog when he said that he was from Mt. Juliet, Tenn. One of my high school buddies had married a guy from there. Small world. 😉
The first CDB song I can recall is “Uneasy Rider.” I hadn’t heard it in a dog’s age until I looked for it on YT just now. Talk about a blast from the past. Another fave is “Billy The Kid.” Love the guitars on that one. Segue it into The Outlaws or Marshall Tucker and crank it up to 11.
For those unfamiliar with the wit and satire of mathematics professor and troubador Tom Lehrer, you haven’t lived until you’ve heard the following pieces:
Tom Lehrer: “The Element Song” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2cfju6GTNs
Sung to the tune of “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” from the light opera The Pirates Of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan.
I have no idea why, but “My Darling Clementine”, along with “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound Of Music, is actually one of the first songs I *ever* learnt from my mother! I always thought it was such a strange choice of song to introduce a child to in faraway India! (I was singing along when it came on the screen, even though it was meant to be creepy!)
@pickleddragon,
Wow, “Clementine” is a pretty wild introduction to antique American popular music for a young child in India. On the other hand, many Mother Goose nursery rhymes from England also have gruesome roots, such as “Ring Around the Rosie,” which refers to the “posies” (patches of subcutaneous bleeding) of the Black Death, IIRC.
Did you catch the nice instrumental version transposed into a minor key? I don’t recall which episode it was in, but it caught my ear. I think it may have been played on piano.
You might be interested in this classic Hindi film song from a classic Bollywood movie which lifted its chorus line from ‘Clementine’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlAOZrst6fQ
The song also has excellent lyrics (an insightful, dark commentary on urban life), which someone has generously provided a rough translation of about 15 comments in on the YT page.
Nice down-home rendition from Chenango County, central New York State [due east of the Finger Lakes viniculture region]. LOL at the mention of artificial respiration!
As Mr. Vollmer points out, the lyrics are morbid — every bit as morbid as fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm (how apropos!) and Hans Christian Andersen (anyone for macabre, possessed red shoes?!), and certain Mother Goose nursery rhymes.
I suspect that it was unusual for women to have size 9 tootsies back then, which is why Clementine wore sandals made out of recycled wooden boxes in which dried salt herring had been packaged. I recall seeing one (or was it from salt cod?!) at my grandparents’ home in Boston when I was a kid. It was probably on Grandpa’s workbench in the basement. The box had a sliding lid — which was why Clementine’s footwear was “without topses.”
What a great rendition of the song by The Weavers. Since it was issued as a 78RPM disc, it doesn’t have as many verses as some of the more recent video versions.
Before karaoke and noraebang, there was SING ALONG WITH MITCH on the TV. Along with THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW, it was a popular family program that featured old American popular music, including the old standards of Baby Boomers’ grandparents’ youth (roughly the 1890s through the Roaring Twenties).
PakalanaPikake
September 17, 2020 at 7:43 PM
Rejoice, Trick-Or-Treaters!
https://i95rock.com/danbury-mayor-on-halloween-i-dont-think-canceling-is-going-to-be-an-option/
Candy chute
https://twitter.com/FOX61News/status/1306217540666961920
bong-soo
January 1, 2021 at 9:43 AM
@pakalanapikake,
I am sneaking in to wish you a Happy New Year! Best wishes for you and your family in 2021.
I hope you are well and in a good place now all things considered. I don’t need to say that you have been sorely missed here.
My news is that in 2021 I will be moving from NYC.
Where do folks from NY move to? Florida of course. I will not be reinventing the wheel.
I have enjoyed NYC and did not begin 2020 with the idea of relocating but the pandemic and politicians have brought the city to its knees. I am too old to wait for the rebound and tired of the cold winters.
I am telling family and friends that I want to replace the current view out my apartment window of fire escapes with one of palm trees and pink flamingos. (I am kidding about the flamingos but not the palm trees!) I will be searching for a place somewhere on the Gulf between Clearwater and Sarasota.
Ally
June 1, 2021 at 9:20 PM
It’s been a bit since we’ve heard from you, and I hope that wherever you are, you’re having a good day!
Gopi
March 11, 2022 at 6:04 AM
You are still sorely missed.
mmmmm
June 5, 2022 at 10:24 AM
Hello. I miss you. Others have missed you, too.
PakalanaPikake
September 15, 2020 at 8:23 AM
NOKDU FLOWER – Background
S. Korea celebrates 125th anniversary of Donghak Peasant Revolution in 1894 (ARIRANG NEWS, 05/11/2019)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jp-8_BdL-M
PakalanaPikake
September 15, 2020 at 7:10 AM
NOKDU FLOWER
녹두꽃 혁명 전봉준! 사람이 하늘이다 [Bong-jun Jeon of the Mung Bean Flower Revolution! Man is the sky] — MBC, JEONJU IN KOREA, 5/12/2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCYSe805DMo
In Korean. (MORE)
PakalanaPikake
September 15, 2020 at 7:11 AM
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In Korean, with dramatization and on-site visits to the locations that figured in the Donghak Peasant Revolution. I surely wish there were English subtitles, but can sort of follow what’s being discussed.
녹두꽃 혁명 전봉준! 사람이 하늘이다 nogdukkoch hyeogmyeong jeonbongjun! salam-i haneul-ida [Bong-jun Jeon of the Mung Bean Flower Revolution! Man is the sky]
Mahalo to Google Translate for rendering the transliteration and translation.
I still haven’t gotten over NOKDU FLOWER and its OST.
PakalanaPikake
September 4, 2020 at 6:55 AM
DO YOU LIKE BRAHMS?
Johannes Brahms: “Wiegenlied,” Opus 49, No. 4 [Lullaby”], strings
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t894eGoymio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiegenlied_(Brahms)#Lyrics
WishfulToki
September 4, 2020 at 7:49 AM
@pakalanapikake!!! I’ve missed you. I’m so glad you’re watching this too. We’ll have a ball with all the music references. 😀
pickleddragon
September 4, 2020 at 7:50 AM
Looking forward to both your notes on the Tzigane piece!
WishfulToki
September 4, 2020 at 8:01 AM
I almost forgot oops! Check my fanwall in a bit. 😀
PakalanaPikake
September 15, 2020 at 7:32 AM
Aloha, @pickleddragon…
I haven’t had the time or energy to tune in, so I’m afraid I’ll have to post retroactively. Better late than never, eh? 😉
PakalanaPikake
September 15, 2020 at 7:30 AM
Aloha, @wishfultoki… I’ve missed you and the Sageuk Geek music discussions, too. I’m not quite back yet, but I’m on my way. I’m feeling much better than I have in years, and am playing a lot of catch-up on the domestic front. My Dad is doing much better, too. He celebrated his 94th birthday in late August after fracturing his hip on Mother’s Day. But my poor namsaeng is run ragged taking care of him at home now.
As for Kdramaland, I haven’t had time to watch more than one episode of ADOLESCENCE MEDLEY since the end of July even though I’ve been going bonkers wondering about the English lyrics to one of the vintage ballads in it.
At this rate, DO YOU LIKE BRAHMS? will be over before I get around to seeing it. Sorry for the bait and switch. I wish I could watch in real time, but I can’t quite pull it off yet. Here’s hoping I can get it together in time for QUEEN CHEORIN.
bong-soo
September 4, 2020 at 5:40 PM
@pakalanapikake,
I am so glad you are back!! I have been meaning to go back and check in. Well, if you will be following BRAHMS this will be great. Lol. I think our ML answered the question in the negative.
So I will quickly go off thread.
You are a radio person. I remember years ago listening to a classical music program on radio that always began with the intro from Brahms Symphony No.1 (Op. 68). I love the tipini. (Btw , does that ring a bell for a radio show?)
A blast from the past with Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic. check out the first few minutes:
https://youtu.be/EGRqIGOAPcE
I will be in touch.
PakalanaPikake
September 15, 2020 at 8:09 AM
Aw shucks, @marcusnyc20. I’ve missed yakking with you, and hope that all’s well with you in Queens. BTW, I recently made the acquaintance of a lady of Bohemian descent whose kin used to live in Queens, home of Bohemian Hall and its beer garden in Astoria — the oldest beer garden in the city.
https://bohemianhall.com/
My Dad the armchair historian and linguist of dead languages (who graduated from Boys’ Latin School) and I were talking the other night, and he mentioned that the Bohemian tribe who faced off against the Romans were Celts. I was stunned. So that explains my lifelong fascination with that part of the world. My proclivity for Russian history likewise makes sense when I consider that the Rus who gave their name to Russia were actually early Scandinavian traders and explorers (i.e., Vikings) who sailed up the rivers into Ukraine, where they built Kiev, and then proceeded through the Black Sea and into the Mediterranean… Apparently it wasn’t just a matter of watching Sergei Eisenstein films such as IVAN THE TERRIBLE and ALEXANDER NEVSKY that got me hooked on Russia and its fascinating history. LOL! I can partly blame it on my World History teacher in high school, but it’s mostly my Irish genes talking. I’ve long suspected that there must be a few Vikings in the family tree. 😉
As for the classical radio show you mentioned, I believe that WQXR in NY presented a syndicated program that aired for many years. When I arrived in Hawaii, I got my foot in the door at the UH station by hosting a classical program that included airing said show that was recorded live at Carnegie Hall in NYC. I think the scholarly host’s first name was Martin… but for the nonce I cannot quite dredge it up from the back of my mind. I may even be confusing two syndicated classical concert programs. Wikipedia may have some clues. I’m pretty sure that Leonard Bernstein had a classical concert broadcast series, just as Maestro Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops did. I got to hear the Pops live at the Hatch Shell — complete with the “1812 Overture” and the associated fireworks — methinks for the 4th of July. What a treat. 😉
bong-soo
September 16, 2020 at 5:39 PM
@pakalanapikake,
It is so nice hearing from you and thanks for taking a shot at my radio question. I think I have shaken the cobwebs in the noggin and may have come up with an answer. First let me reply to your post in paragraph order:
1. Speaking of beer I am drinking a bottle of Birra Moretti so blame that if this doesn’t make sense. The Bohemian Garden has been on my list to visit but I guess it won’t be for awhile:
https://nypost.com/2020/08/11/health-cops-close-bohemian-beer-garden-for-violating-covid-rules/
Don’t get me going!;
2. I may have mentioned that I am a Southie guy. I did not attend BLS (Boston Latin School) but my 3 youngest sisters did (grades7-12). After arriving in NYC in 2013 I became a bit of an opera buff thanks to the Metropolitan Opera. In 2014 I was able to see the Met’s production of Borodin’s Prince Igor. It was a terrific production. Here is a short clip of a scene that takes place is a field of red poppies. This took up the entire stage of the Met. It was incredible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfUtmKeYv-E
3. Of course I grew up with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. You beat me to it since I never attended a July 4th concert at the Hatch Shell on the Charles.
My memory may have been jogged concerning the classical music radio program I remember listening to. I spent my working career in DC and on Sunday nights I used to listen to WAMU’s The Big Broadcast which rebroadcast vintage radio shows like Dragnet and Gunsmoke etc. From what I remember now after The Big Broadcast WAMU would replay broadcast performances of the NBC Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Arturo Toscanini. The show always began with the NBC Symphony playing the intro to Brahms Symphony No. 1 just like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYGzRzSKVpM
While on the subject of Brahms and Astoria I am enjoying DO YOU LIKE BRAHMS?
On the episode one recap here is part of my comment (I took the opportunity to correct a typo, lol):
I hope to see you back on DramaBeans soon.
PakalanaPikake
September 17, 2020 at 9:47 PM
Holy Moly, @marcusnyc20 bong-soo!
You hadn’t mentioned you’re from Southie before now, as far as I recall. Now I’ve gotta ask which neighborhood you’re from. By any chance did you attend English High School? Gramps taught there until he was forced to retire at the age of 70 [and then lived to be 102!] — but that was back in 1965. Gramps was born on Bowen Street, but the entire block was demolished to make way for public housing. I think his family’s parish was Sts. Peter and Paul. Grandma’s family belonged to Gate of Heaven parish — which was on the other side of the park at Dorchester Heights.
Auwe! Bohemian Hall beer garden was busted. The Governor had better watch out. He may end up being defenestrated by irate Czechs. 😉
That Met production of PRINCE IGOR is wild. The dance among the red poppies reminds me of an early STAR TREK episode. LOL! It also reminds me of the floral displays at Filene’s(?) every Easter. I was mightily impressed as a kid with the giant tiger made out of a gazillion tiger lily blooms.
Now that I think of it, it may not have been a July 4th Pops performance I’m remembering. My family attended the festivities for Dad’s 25th MIT reunion in 1976, IIRC. The Pops concert may have been part of that.
Thank you for the link to Toscanini conducting the NBC Symphony. I couldn’t listen to the whole thing tonight because I’m turning into a pumpkin at the moment. I’ll give it a listen tomorrow.
LOL at the Steinway PPL in DO YOU LIKE BRAHMS? — I thought the same thing about I WANNA HEAR YOUR SONG with Yeon Woo-jin and Song Jae-rim. 😉 I’m glad to hear that you are enjoying the show. I’d read that Kim Min-jae had been practicing for months for it.
I’m looking forward to getting back to DramaBeans, too. Aloha until then. 😉
PakalanaPikake
September 4, 2020 at 6:20 AM
DO YOU LIKE BRAHMS?
Hungarian Symphony Orchestra: “Hungarian Dance No. 5, ” by Johannes Brahms
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzo3atXtm54
Yes, I do!
WishfulToki
September 4, 2020 at 7:50 AM
One of my faves.
pickleddragon
September 4, 2020 at 9:13 AM
Oh this is so pretty! Thank you for sharing!
Overall, from the first two episodes, coming from someone with no knowledge of the form, I feel this show has done much more justice to western classical music than the other recent “classical music” drama, When the Weather is Fine.
PakalanaPikake
September 4, 2020 at 5:35 AM
HOTEL RWANDA (2004)
https://www.prlog.org/12836343-paul-rusesabagina-whose-humanitarian-efforts-were-depicted-in-the-film-hotel-rwanda-kidnapped-and-detained-by-rwandan-government.html
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PakalanaPikake
September 4, 2020 at 5:36 AM
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Rwanda
No good deed goes unpunished.
FlyingTool
September 4, 2020 at 5:54 AM
Saw this in my news feed. Evil never rests.
PakalanaPikake
September 4, 2020 at 7:01 AM
@hebang FlyingTool,
So true… All I could think of was THE KILLING FIELDS. Deja vu…
PakalanaPikake
September 4, 2020 at 5:27 AM
Jdorama in 3:30
Pachelbel’s “Canon” piano transcription – a moving Japanese commercial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnOWGVCUJw8
Dang! How touching. Gave me flashbacks to THE CLASSIC. (MORE)
PakalanaPikake
September 4, 2020 at 5:29 AM
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Related: TEDx talk for adults like me who never got the hang of reading music as kids, but would like to take another stab at learning to play the piano:
Learn Hao To Play the Piano in 10 Minutes | Jeff Hao | TEDxYouth@HKIS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REBAIF327b4
pickleddragon
September 4, 2020 at 5:34 AM
Paka!! Good to have you back!! Many of us have missed you 🙂 Hope you have been well.
PakalanaPikake
September 4, 2020 at 5:49 AM
Aloha, @pickleddragon!
Aw, thanks for the warm welcome. I’m feeling better than I have in quite a spell. (Nothing to do with Covid-19.) My Dad had a fall, but has recovered well from surgery for a partial hip replacement. Life got kind of nuts, but overall in a good way. I’m hoping to get back to DramaBeans on a more regular basis soon. And maybe I’ll finally get to see the subtitles for the final 2 episodes of KING MAKER: THE CHANGE OF DESTINY, and watch the rest of TRAIN and IT’S OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY…
I hope that you’re doing well, too. What have you been watching? Any recommendations for worthy dramas or films? 😉
pickleddragon
September 4, 2020 at 7:49 AM
Oh sorry to hear about your Dad’s fall, but glad to know he’s better, and happy to know you and Mr. P and your extended family are all well! Things are good in my neck of the woods too!
I’m excited to know you’re back in dramaland and will be following “Do You Like Brahms?” I’ve enjoyed the selection so far, and have been scouring youtube for Ravel’s Tzigane for violin and piano for a bit now! Is there a definitive version you’d recommend? Do post on your wall if you have anything in mind. (I came across this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FzYge-uUCk)
For a new delightful drama with a great OST (I liked the background music more than OST, actually), I’d highly recommend “Into The Ring” aka “Memorials”. From the OST, I have been tripping on this piece lately: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efW4bHrAer4&t=31s
The BGM has a ton of leitmotifs and I thought it had a lovely “comic” sound, which is rare and difficult to do well, IMO.
I’d LOVE to hear your thoughts on this!
mugyuljoie is preciousss
September 4, 2020 at 8:21 AM
I’m watching Memorials right now and it’s hitting some great comedy notes.
PakalanaPikake
August 6, 2020 at 2:14 PM
PRC vs. ROK: Battle of the Boy Bands
Watch Maga: “CCP Goes K-Pop”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZNt0kbRiio
In cahoots with the Backstreet Boys, the People’s Liberation Army takes on Hallyu (MORE)
PakalanaPikake
August 6, 2020 at 2:15 PM
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In cahoots with the Backstreet Boys, the People’s Liberation Army takes on Hallyu circa 1999. What a great editing job! Their pirouettes in combat boots are way more dainty than Take That’s moves in sodden overcoats in the “Back For Good” MV (1995), but one TT guy does terrific snake arms that looked like they were straight out of my belly dancing class. LOL!:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2ICtCO8TCw
However, PLA can’t hold a candle to Shinhwa’s take on SWAN LAKE:
SHINHWA: “T.O.P. (Twinkle Of Paradise)” – MUSIC CAMP 19990619
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tosQj7d58SU
or
Shinhwa: “Sniper” – M COUNTDOWN, Ep. 413, 2015.02.26
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw8A40j26xc
Before that, there are the guys who made their mark in the days of Disco Madness:
The Village People: “In The Navy” (1979) Official MV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmGuy0jievs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Reasoner
PakalanaPikake
July 29, 2020 at 7:08 AM
KING MAKER: THE CHANGE OF DESTINY / WIND, CLOUDS, AND RAIN, Ep. 20
Queen Min’s oppa sentenced to janghyeong?!
https://ubitto.com/blog/korean-words-in-historical-dramas-you-should-know/
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PakalanaPikake
July 29, 2020 at 2:23 PM
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BEWARE OF SPOILERS!
The subtitles I’ve been reading didn’t translate janghyeong. Thanks to Evangeline See’s handy-dandy glossary, I now know that nanjanghyeong means flogging, which Sageuk Geeks know can be fatal.
PakalanaPikake
July 29, 2020 at 2:43 PM
I recall from NOKDU FLOWER that Queen Min’s brother, Min Young-joon (played by Choi Dae-hoon), appeared in a few later scenes. Thus I suspect that KING MAKER’S Min Seung-ho did not survive the flogging meted out to him and his Andong Kim buddies. I’ll chalk up the disparity in the generational name to poetic license.
bong-soo
August 3, 2020 at 6:18 AM
@pakalanapikake,
I hope you are well. Sorry I am a little late to this post. Thanks for the link. Perhaps because of your language background you find some great language/linguistics sites.
I found the writer’s choice of sageuk terms interesting. I wouldn’t have thought ‘flogging’ would make the top 12 to discuss but there you go. I liked that YSY’s image was used in the Grand Prince definition. Lol. Good taste.
I really enjoyed KING MAKER. What a performance from Jun Kwang-ryul! Maybe not pc nowadays to say this but I thought Park Si-Yoo gave a fine performance and held his own with JKR which is saying something considering the way JKR dominated his scenes.
PakalanaPikake
August 6, 2020 at 3:14 PM
Aloha, @marcusnyc20 bong-soo!
Thank you so much for touching base. I hope you’ve been okay over in Queens during the excitement Tropical Storm Isaias brought us. All the surrounding municipalities — and even most of the rest of our own little dorf — lost electrical power. By an odd quirk, our neighborhood, which is situated in a sheltered saddle between hills and has buried utility lines, only lost power 3-4 times for very brief periods throughout the day on Tues., 8/04. My folks’ house (about a 20-min. drive to the east) lost electricity and the landline at about noon that day and was dead in the water for 32 hours (power was restored last evening), but otherwise my namdongsaeng was safe. Yeodongsaeng up in Woostah was also okay. Our Dad had been released from the hospital on Monday afternoon and sent back to the subacute rehab where he has been getting physical therapy following a partial hip replacement about 2 weeks ago after falling on Mother’s Day when taking flowers to Mom’s grave. He didn’t know he’d broken it for about 7 weeks, but was deathly afraid of going to a hospital because of Covid-19, so went home and put up with it until namdongsaeng was at the end of his own rope. I didn’t blame Dad after the carnage in nursing homes in NY and Florida. God has been good, and he is recovering well and making excellent progress. He’s nearly 94 and highly motivated to regain his ambulation and condition after being bedridden for 7 weeks. Last week he had a spell that was apparently brought on by low sodium levels, and that sent him off to the hospital for a few days.
I was relieved that he was not at home when the storm hit. There have been several other power outages in recent years. One of them during the winter lasted for a week or more. Luckily, one of my buddies invited me and Mr. P to crash at her place when we lost power, but I asked if Dad and bro, who was still working in retail, could take refuge instead. She ended up thanking me for lending her my kinfolk. Her own dad had died when she was a young teen, and it was a treat for her to have a pseudo-Dad and pseudo-bro around. They all had a lovely time, and Mr. P and I were relieved that they were in good hands. I was afraid Dad would get pneumonia if he stayed at home.
I’m way behind on Kdrama watching, and still haven’t seen the subtitles for the final two episodes of KING MAKER: THE CHANGE OF DESTINY. I’ve been a little under the weather (not with that virus, AFAIK), but have not had the mental energy to watch any Kdramas since July 29. — I’ve also been kind of emerging from hibernation and returning to real life after about 4 years of hiding out in Kdramaland. It was a necessary hiatus, but now I feel my ch’i shifting. I’ve been on a long-overdue cleaning spree. I swear, I feel as if aliens abducted me, and I’m really a changeling. (But if I were truly a changeling, how would I ever know?!) I’ve also been cooking up a storm, something I quit doing years ago.
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PakalanaPikake
August 6, 2020 at 4:35 PM
Continued, Part 2
I’ve knocked myself out with the cleaning and cooking more than once over the past week or two. Our dishwasher conked out a month or so ago, so I’ve been handwashing the dishes, and have found it to be oddly relaxing and meditative, even as my feet and joints kill me. I used to enjoy cooking, and just this week whomped up my second big batch of pasta sauce loaded with fresh zucchini and summer squash, carrots, celery, and onions, with Aussie grassfed ground beef in a base of tomato basil sauce (all organic to minimize pesticide exposure). I’ve also been enjoying live lactofermented sauerkraut with various wurst, and am about to cook pork with apples and bosc pears in ye olde south German manner. Mr. P found me a bottle of Belgian Trappist brown ale (Chimay Premiere Red Dubbel brewed at Scourmont Abbey), and I think I’ll be enjoying a bit of it with dinner later tonight. One of my faves. 😉
Back to Kdrama: I’m so glad you enjoyed the linguistics post. I literally saw only the first 15-18 minutes of ep. 20 because the lack of a translation for janghyeong stopped me in my tracks and sent me off on a quest for terminology. I was so frustrated! Then I got distracted with real life, and too tired to focus.
I did manage to see the end of MY UNFAMILIAR FAMILY, which was one of the most interesting family dramas I’ve seen in a long time. It repeatedly dodged my expectations, and had a fine ensemble cast. I consider it a pretty realistic cautionary tale. I felt cheated that there was not more of Shin Dong-wook in it, but I enjoyed his portrayal of Mr. Player — who was certainly not what he appeared to be at first blush. I was able to keep up with IT’S OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY for a week or two after KING MAKER ended, and then got distracted. Ditto for TRAIN, whose finale I may have missed by now since it’s only 12 episodes. I’ve lost track of MEN ARE MEN with Yoon Hyun-min, Seo Ji-hoon, and Hwang Jung-eum, which I had been enjoying. I want to catch up on all of my shows. I haven’t even seen the premiere episode of FLOWER OF EVIL, so will probably be booted out of the Lee Joon-gi fan club.
I had already finished KKONDAE INTERN (and was recently inspired by it to conduct my own taste test of Nong Shim’s Shin Ramyun Black and Paldo’s fiery garlic NAMJA RAMYUN — for Science!), which I enjoyed very much. Kim Eung-soo is one of my fave ajusshis and sageuk actors. SWEET MUNCHIES frustrated me in certain ways with the missed opportunities and doofy characters. I felt as if Jung Il-woo’s character was assassinated, and was pissed at leading lady Kang Ji-young’s character, but not her performance. I got such a kick out of seeing Kim Seung-su as the senior director — what a contrast with his cutthroat Kim Byeong-woon of the Andong Kim clan in KING MAKER! It was such a treat to see him facing off against his erstwhile Dad, Prince Kumhwa of JUMONG).
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PakalanaPikake
August 6, 2020 at 4:50 PM
@bong-soo,
I’ll be back with Part 3 but have to get cracking on making dinner. It’ll be a while — perhaps not until tomorrow or so. Stay tuned for further pontificating. 😉
Again, hope that all’s well with you in the wake of Isaias. Take care! 😉
PakalanaPikake
July 17, 2020 at 3:28 AM
MY UNFAMILIAR FAMILY, Ep. 14
Art Garfunkel: “All I Know” (monaural radio mix, 1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZZMxuj
For Sang-shik, Miss Sook, & their kids.
bbstl 🧹
July 17, 2020 at 7:59 AM
Omg, I love this song. I must have sung it along with him a million times when I was young.
PakalanaPikake
July 17, 2020 at 10:43 AM
@bbstl,
“All I Know” is so apropos after the end of ep. 14 that I had to mention it. Miss Sook probably knows it well. I could imagine Sang-shik playing it for her — if only he knew that she liked it.
PakalanaPikake
July 16, 2020 at 3:58 AM
MY UNFAMILIAR FAMILY, Ep. 13
Simon & Garfunkel: “El Condor Pasa (If I Could)” (Bridge Over Troubled Water LP, 1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PKzDvqxAiE
Andean folk group Los Incas (MORE)
PakalanaPikake
July 16, 2020 at 4:18 AM
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Andean folk group Los Incas accompanied them on traditional instruments. They later toured with Simon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Incas
Did Miss Sook dig “The Sound Of Silence”? According to Artie G., the song is about the inability to communicate emotionally — which would make it the theme song of the Kim family. “I Am A Rock” would give it a run for the money.
S&G: “The Sound Of Silence” (Sounds Of Silence LP, 1966; single 1965)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjkPQYWNTlg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_of_Silence#In_popular_culture
I could imagine Sang-shik playing this next one for Miss Sook if she’d ever told him she liked S&G’s music. It hit #5 on the Billboard and Cash Box charts in the US.
S&G: “Homeward Bound” (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme LP, 1966)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4EnErMCKrI
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeward_Bound_(Simon_%26_Garfunkel_song)
S&G: The Concert in Central Park (recorded 09/19/1981)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcEOcG701ypJURKeCo9FFLuMEAyUS9eKk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Concert_in_Central_Park
Fun fact: Paul Simon co-wrote The Cyrkle’s 1966 hit “Red Rubber Ball.” Still an earworm 54 years later. And I’m still crazy after all these years. 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9aHrgtf2zY
pickleddragon
July 16, 2020 at 8:53 AM
Oh, and my school friends and I have a closed messaging group, where we call ourselves still crazy after all these years…
pickleddragon
July 16, 2020 at 8:52 AM
Thanks for the share, paka! I have a near obsession with S&G and was so delighted when the reference was made in what is my current favourite drama, I was jumping up and down like a crazy fangirl.
I also really really love Paul Simon’s solo work. IMO, he is one of the greatest American songwriter-musicians of the 20th century. I don’t know what went through the heads of the Nobel Committee folks when they decided to award Bob Dylan the prize for literature/songwriting, when Paul Simon was there too.
PakalanaPikake
July 17, 2020 at 3:15 AM
You’re most welcome, @pickleddragon. S&G were among my faves as a kid with her first transistor radio. I still recall the shock of their parting company. Talk about going out with a bang at the height of their game. At the time of their reunion concert in Central Park, I was living in Hawaii, and probably only read about it after the fact in Rolling Stone. I’m feeling groovy to be able to watch that concert footage on YT nowadays.
I don’t know what the deal is with the Nobel Prize selections. I suspect that Bob Dylan’s close early association with the folk revival in the US in the 1950s may have put him in a more influential/pivotal position than Paul Simon, but I really don’t know how the committee makes its decisions. Consider the meltdown he caused among folk aficionados when he performed an electric set at the Newport Folk Festival 55 years ago on July 25, 1965. In doing so, he helped birth a new hybrid American folk music that was essentially a “shot heard round the world.” In the process, he wrested it from the grasp of those who would immure it in academic amber. Crossing the parent streams from the British Isles, Ireland, Scotland, and francophone Acadia with the musical and storytelling traditions brought from Africa and transformed into the many flavors of jazz, blues, gospel, swing, and rock and roll gave American folk music a bigger pallet, and more grist for the mill. And it set off a chain reaction overseas. Fairport Convention became acclaimed purveyors of electrified British Folk, but didn’t stop there.
Paul Simon has made an enormous contribution to the ethical cross-pollination of American music with such diverse ethnic traditions as reggae, Andean music, and the dynamic South African choral music epitomized by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. And lest we forget: the peerless black gospel harmonies of the Dixie Hummingbirds. Admittedly, I haven’t kept up with his output in recent decades. So much music (and too many Kdramas), and so little time. 😉
I’d like to nominate American songwriter Jimmy Webb, who since his teens has penned some of the most moving music and lyrics to grace the airwaves.
pickleddragon
July 17, 2020 at 5:29 AM
Yes, of course, Electric Dylan is legendary!
Country music is not a form I have particularly warmed up to, and as a result, not heard much by Jimmy Webb, but ‘Wichita Lineman’ is one of those numbers that stays in your head forever.
PakalanaPikake
July 17, 2020 at 12:59 PM
@pickleddragon,
You may have heard more music by singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb than you realize. “Up, Up And Away” by the Fifth Dimension and “MacArthur Park” by Richard Harris aren’t even remotely country. Frank Sinatra called “By The Time I GEtr To Phoenix” the “greatest torch song ever written.” Other pieces have been covered by country artists. He has also composed film scores.
pickleddragon
July 17, 2020 at 9:49 PM
You’re right – I googled some of his music, and realized I have heard more of Jimmy Webb than I thought I had! It’s strange how you don’t think of the songwriters much unless they have performed the pieces themselves.
PakalanaPikake
July 18, 2020 at 5:26 AM
@pickleddragon,
Jimmy Webb has been recording and performing his own music in concert for many years. About 10-15 years ago, I had the great pleasure of hearing him sing his own lyrics while accompanying himself on solo piano, and he was great. He has such a way with words, and a decent singing voice. Hearing the songwriter perform his own songs was exquisite, because of the way he caressed the lyrics. Like Jackson Browne, Jimmy Webb started his songwriting career in his teens.
“Pianoman” Billy Joel is well known for his compositions. Ditto for Carole King and Jerry Goffin, who I believe started out working in the Brill Building. Any number of other songwriters started out there writing jingles for commercials, and a few of them successfully made the transition to pop music.
I’m so glad you got to hear more of his music. It should be used in Kdrama soundtracks. Enjoy your explorations. 😉
pickleddragon
July 18, 2020 at 5:53 AM
Thank you for the recommendations, @pakalanapikake I always learn so much from my conversations with you 🙂 I will now wander off to explore…
PakalanaPikake
July 10, 2020 at 11:18 PM
Lt. Susan Ahn Cuddy, USN (1915-2015)
Korean Independence Fighter’s Daughter Named America’s Hero
by Yu Yong-weon
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2020/07/10/2020071001911.html
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PakalanaPikake
July 11, 2020 at 12:23 AM
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Here’s the brief video clip dated 07/02/20 that is mentioned in the article:
https://share.america.gov/susan-ahn-cuddy-asian-american-trailblazer-video/
What an amazing and accomplished person! I am particularly excited to see that Susan Ahn Cuddy served in the US Navy’s WAVES [Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service] during WWII, as did my Mom. SAC’s list of achievements and contributions is really something. It’s sobering to reflect that she and her Irish-American husband had to contend with the anti-miscegenation laws that were still on the books in 1947.
http://www.susanahncuddy.com/susansbiography.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Ahn_Cuddy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahn_Changho
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAVES
PakalanaPikake
July 11, 2020 at 12:45 AM
But wait, there’s more! Susan Ahn Cuddy’s two brothers were movie actors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Ahn
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6337
– – –
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Ahn
PakalanaPikake
July 6, 2020 at 9:59 PM
RIP, Maestro
Ennio Morricone: Oscar-winning Italian film composer dies aged 91
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-53305397
Main Title, TG,TB&TU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1PfrmCGFnk
bbstl 🧹
July 7, 2020 at 7:43 AM
I love his music so much ❤️❤️❤️
PakalanaPikake
July 8, 2020 at 4:09 AM
@bbstl,
Maestro’s music is epic indeed. I cannot imagine the spaghetti Western genre without it. and I recall when Hugo Montenegro’s version of this was a big hit on AM radio when I was a kid. 😉
bbstl 🧹
July 8, 2020 at 8:27 AM
I remember that too, that whistling in the wind and the wah-wah-wah 😁
PakalanaPikake
July 6, 2020 at 9:29 PM
RIP, Charlie Daniels
Charlie Daniels Band: Full Concert,10/20/79, Capitol Theatre, Passaic, NJ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG2Tn4YPbZ0
I interviewed him for the campus paper when he (MORE)
PakalanaPikake
July 6, 2020 at 9:30 PM
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I interviewed him for the campus paper when he played my college a few years earlier. The Jersey redneck audience had booed the opening act right off the stage, the only time I’ve ever seen something like that happen. Mr. Daniels was appalled by the crowd’s rudeness. Truth to tell, the promoter must have been on drugs to open with a comedian. It would have made way more sense to open with a popular local country rock band such as Kinderhook Creek or Blackfoot. Those were the polarized days of “Disco Sucks” t-shirts. 😉
Kinderhook Creek – Full Concert – 05/07/77 – Capitol Theatre (OFFICIAL)
Opened for Commander Cody with Poco headlining
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTI23RsUIjM
https://www.moyssi.com/capitolshows.htm
https://ronkowitz.blogspot.com/2019/11/kinderhook-creek-is-rocking-and.html
CD was a soft-spoken, down-to-earth gentleman, and a terrific musician and songwriter. I was utterly agog when he said that he was from Mt. Juliet, Tenn. One of my high school buddies had married a guy from there. Small world. 😉
The first CDB song I can recall is “Uneasy Rider.” I hadn’t heard it in a dog’s age until I looked for it on YT just now. Talk about a blast from the past. Another fave is “Billy The Kid.” Love the guitars on that one. Segue it into The Outlaws or Marshall Tucker and crank it up to 11.
Charlie Daniels: “Uneasy Rider” (Honey In The Rock LP, 1973)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPvN7RgJPLM
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/charliedanielsband/uneasyrider.html
Charlie Daniels Band: “Billy The Kid” (High Lonesome LP, 1976)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_VeYWHMenI
Charlie Daniels, ‘Devil Went Down to Georgia’ singer, famed fiddler and outspoken star, dies at 83
https://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/07/06/charlie-daniels-country-music-dies/5384087002/
pickleddragon
July 6, 2020 at 9:46 PM
Your line “I interviewed him for the campus paper” reminded me of “Almost Famous”! 😀
PakalanaPikake
July 6, 2020 at 10:09 PM
@pickleddragon,
LOL! Seriously though, he was very kind to a young journalist, and that made a big impression on me.
PakalanaPikake
July 4, 2020 at 11:22 PM
IT’S OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY, Ep. 5
Tom Lehrer: “Clementine” (live concert, 1959)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5u4n64g2G0
Variations in the styles of Cole Porter, Mozart, (MORE)
PakalanaPikake
July 4, 2020 at 11:23 PM
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With variations in the styles of Cole Porter, Mozart, Thelonious Monk, and Gilbert & Sullivan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_My_Darling%2C_Clementine#Tom_Lehrer_version
For those unfamiliar with the wit and satire of mathematics professor and troubador Tom Lehrer, you haven’t lived until you’ve heard the following pieces:
Tom Lehrer: “The Masochism Tango”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TytGOeiW0aE
Why to I get the feeling this could be Ko Moon-young’s theme song?!
Tom Lehrer: “Poisoning Pigeons In The Park” (live, 1998)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf-eIgFJg4w
Shhhh! Don’t give Ko Moon-young any ideas!
Tom Lehrer: “The Element Song”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2cfju6GTNs
Sung to the tune of “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” from the light opera The Pirates Of Penzance by Gilbert & Sullivan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lehrer
pickleddragon
July 4, 2020 at 11:29 PM
I have no idea why, but “My Darling Clementine”, along with “Do-Re-Mi” from The Sound Of Music, is actually one of the first songs I *ever* learnt from my mother! I always thought it was such a strange choice of song to introduce a child to in faraway India! (I was singing along when it came on the screen, even though it was meant to be creepy!)
PakalanaPikake
August 7, 2020 at 1:53 AM
@pickleddragon,
Wow, “Clementine” is a pretty wild introduction to antique American popular music for a young child in India. On the other hand, many Mother Goose nursery rhymes from England also have gruesome roots, such as “Ring Around the Rosie,” which refers to the “posies” (patches of subcutaneous bleeding) of the Black Death, IIRC.
Did you catch the nice instrumental version transposed into a minor key? I don’t recall which episode it was in, but it caught my ear. I think it may have been played on piano.
pickleddragon
August 7, 2020 at 6:08 AM
@pakalanapikake long time!
You might be interested in this classic Hindi film song from a classic Bollywood movie which lifted its chorus line from ‘Clementine’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlAOZrst6fQ
The song also has excellent lyrics (an insightful, dark commentary on urban life), which someone has generously provided a rough translation of about 15 comments in on the YT page.
PakalanaPikake
July 4, 2020 at 9:59 PM
IT’S OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY, Ep. 5
Ed Vollmer & Haley Muth: “Oh My Darling, Clementine”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn7duj6GNRg
Nice down-home rendition from Chenango County, central (MORE)
PakalanaPikake
July 4, 2020 at 10:01 PM
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Nice down-home rendition from Chenango County, central New York State [due east of the Finger Lakes viniculture region]. LOL at the mention of artificial respiration!
As Mr. Vollmer points out, the lyrics are morbid — every bit as morbid as fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm (how apropos!) and Hans Christian Andersen (anyone for macabre, possessed red shoes?!), and certain Mother Goose nursery rhymes.
Lyrics
https://www.songfacts.com/lyrics/traditional/oh-my-darling-clementine
PakalanaPikake
July 4, 2020 at 9:07 PM
IT’S OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY, Ep. 5
The Weavers: “Clementine” (1952)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vvsjU9thDE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weavers
As for “Oh My Darling Clementine,” (MORE)
PakalanaPikake
July 4, 2020 at 9:19 PM
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As for “Oh My Darling Clementine,” it is set in the days of the California Gold Rush of 1849.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush
I suspect that it was unusual for women to have size 9 tootsies back then, which is why Clementine wore sandals made out of recycled wooden boxes in which dried salt herring had been packaged. I recall seeing one (or was it from salt cod?!) at my grandparents’ home in Boston when I was a kid. It was probably on Grandpa’s workbench in the basement. The box had a sliding lid — which was why Clementine’s footwear was “without topses.”
What a great rendition of the song by The Weavers. Since it was issued as a 78RPM disc, it doesn’t have as many verses as some of the more recent video versions.
PakalanaPikake
July 4, 2020 at 9:38 PM
Dang!
Forgot to include the entry for the song itself:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh_My_Darling%2C_Clementine
PakalanaPikake
July 4, 2020 at 8:29 PM
IT’S OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY, Ep. 5
Mitch Miller: “My Darling Clementine”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y28SkgtI8I
The classic version I grew up with. Music producer was born 109 years ago today. MORE
kiara
July 4, 2020 at 8:38 PM
I don’t even remember where I heard “Clementine” at/from but it stuck with me.
I think it was probably at a girls camp lol.
PakalanaPikake
July 4, 2020 at 8:42 PM
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Mitch Miller, Maestro of the Singalong, Dies at 99
By Richard Severo, 08/02/2010
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/arts/music/03miller.html
Before karaoke and noraebang, there was SING ALONG WITH MITCH on the TV. Along with THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW, it was a popular family program that featured old American popular music, including the old standards of Baby Boomers’ grandparents’ youth (roughly the 1890s through the Roaring Twenties).
Here’s a taste:
Sing Along With Mitch (1 of 4)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dY9gtYeHhk
Happy Birthday, Mitch!
PakalanaPikake
July 4, 2020 at 8:25 PM
Mitch Miller, Born on the 4th of July
Remembering Singing Along With Mitch Miller
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128957153
Before karaoke & noraebang, we sang along with Mitch
kiara
July 4, 2020 at 8:33 PM
You know, it felt like a 4th of July episode with all this American references.
PakalanaPikake
July 4, 2020 at 8:21 PM
RIP, Milton ‘I ♥ NY’ Glaser
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/27/884195779/milton-glaser-designer-behind-the-i-ny-logo-dies-on-91st-birthday