35 years ago today, THE definitive visual look of ABBA's Dancing Queen

2Shaymcn YouTube Channel: ABBA - Dancing Queen (HQ) - LIVE at the Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm, June 18, 1976. http://youtu.be/qk_Vu6AcbWg

Above, in my humble opinion, the single best version of this song ever recorded on film.

Thirty-five ago today, one of the most popular songs of the late 20th-Century got the definitive visual look it needed to go supernova, and there it stays, frozen in our collective memories.

Well, at least among those of us with a yen for genius lyrics and power-pop harmonies.

The day before the 1976 Royal Wedding in Stockholm of King Carl XVI Gustaf and his fiancee, commoner Silvia Sommerlath, the present Queen Silvia, during a variety program celebrating the nuptials, ABBA performed a never-to-be forgotten costumed version of Dancing Queen at the Royal Swedish Opera for them and their invited guests.

As you watch the video, you can see the almost bewildered look of many of the officials and other musicians seated behind them on the stage, who, the story goes, because of their unfamiliarity with the song, had no genuine idea whether or not the song was supposed to be about the future queen -or not.

And yes, it does remind all of us again of the group's marketing genius, since two years prior, at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton that made them famous, they wore early 19th-Century costumes when they performed Waterloo, which earned them first place.

ABBAVevo: ABBA -Dancing Queen (1976)

http://youtu.be/xFrGuyw1V8s

As of today this video has received 9,355,415 views.

The current population estimate of Sweden by the CIA is 9,088,728.

Benny sliding his fingers across the piano keys at the beginning -so very, very simple and yet so genius!

Fox-TV's multi-national hit Glee featured a performance of Dancing Queen in their May 10th episode titled Prom Queen, with Amber Riley and Naya Rivera doing the duet.

You can watch the entire episode on Fox's website until this coming Thursday at

http://www.fox.com/glee/full-episodes/937193545001/prom-queen

The song begins at 0:40:46 and goes to 0:42:39.

-----

Swedish Royal Court website: http://www.kungahuset.se/

Official Glee website: http://www.fox.com/glee/

Newest incarnation of 'When Fashion Meets Finance' now offers patina of high-mindedness -former wannabe-philanderers are now do-gooder philanthropists

New York Times Dealbook video: When Fashion Meets Finance.
Reported by Mac William Bishop, May 6, 2011.
http://youtu.be/un8PHTmlfyI

Groovy! Newest incarnation of Fashion meets Finance now offers patina of high-mindedness -former wannabe-philanderers are now do-gooder philanthropists.

Conspicuous consumption has now morphed into charity work.
Now THAT'S how you successfully re-boot!
http://www.fashionmeetsfinance.com/

NOT that this would ever work in Miami!

This video reminds me a lot of the low-seat bar area at the W Hotel in San Francisco, circa 2000. There were, literally, SO many attractive women crammed into the place that it was actually disconcerting, but not for me and my former housemate from Arlington County, who was now living out there, but for the new women arriving into the area, as they took one look around at how crowded it was with over-the-top beauty and just fled, perhaps in terror.
Jamie and I just watched in disbelieving amazement!

In these new photos from the W website, it doesn't look the same as it did, which is a real pity:
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1153&language=en_US

In actuality, this event took place at the Bar Basque at 29th Street & 6th Avenue in Chelsea
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/dining/reviews/16rest.html

Gawker's treatment of the NYT's original story from 2009:
NYT Infiltrates Fashion Meets Finance, Possibly Leaves Scarred For Life http://gawker.com/#!5333486/nyt-infiltrates-fashion-meets-finance-possibly-leaves-scarred-for-life

http://gawker.com/#!395246/can-i-call-you-uncle-bill-a-harrowing-account-of-fashion-meets-finance

This story made me think of... ABBA's "If It Wasn't For The Nights"



2Shaymcn video: ABBA - If It Wasn't For The Nights- HQ (Japan 1978 - Version 2 - Original Sound Mix )
http://youtu.be/Ev8COPj2teQ


Album version of the song from Voulez-Vous:

ABBA - If It Wasn't For The Nights
http://youtu.be/cygAFdzCcdU

More great high-quality ABBA videos are at Shay's second YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/2Shaymcn

If the blog is rockin', don't come knockin' - Yngwie Malmsteen: Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (HQ); original version by ABBA (LIVE at Wembley Arena, 1979)

2Shaymcn video: Yngwie Malmsteen: Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (ABBA) HQ
http://youtu.be/tfmg_wV-QeU
If the blog is rockin', don't come knockin'...


Agnetha, Benny, Anni-Frid & Björn

Below, the one and only original version of Gimme!, as seen during the 1979 World & U.S. Tour promoting the Voulez-Vous album, whose first stop was Göteborg.
Thirty-two years later, I still largely recall the tour stops in chron order.
Trettiotvå år senare...



ABBA - Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (LIVE at Wembley Arena, November 1979)
http://youtu.be/RLtU7aOnp2U
Another previous post of mine on ABBA and that 1979 World Tour, that included the United States -though the best info will stay in my head- is from July 2, 2009, titled, ABBA Geniuses At It Again: Story Of A Heart, featuring Helen Sjöholm, Words & Music by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus
If you are a new reader to this blog, I urge you to read it to get a better sense of me and my musical back-story and tastes, and why, perhaps, certain things will appeal to me and appear here on the blog that don't appear on other blogs or websites you regularly visit.
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/abba-geniuses-at-it-again-story-of.html

As I note there, my music teacher in high school, at North Miami Beach Senior High, was one of the top studio musicians in the country, and regularly performed at Criteria Studios in nearby North Miami for all the top groups of the time when they came to South Florida to lay down some tracks, or, record an entire album, and that even included ABBA.

In fact, he was part of the album title song recorded at Criteria the month of my 18th birthday, for which this video was later recorded, and if I recall correctly, was to be part of the touring band as well.



ABBA - Voulez-Vous (1979)
http://youtu.be/OUx4tLPMo50

-----
http://www.yngwiemalmsteen.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/2Shaymcn
http://www.youtube.com/user/SHAYMCN1

SOS for PBS: My favorite TV critic, Aaron Barnhart of K.C. Star, does a postmortem of PBS's past & future in his review of new 'Upstairs, Downstairs'

ABBA - SOS (1975)
http://youtu.be/cvChjHcABPA


SOS for PBS!
My favorite TV critic, Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star does a skillful postmortem on PBS' recent past and bleak drama programming future in his Sunday review of the new incarnation of 'Upstairs, Downstairs'; he's 100% right!

Aaron uses the scalpel adroitly and knows how to get to the heart of the matter in a way that's both amusing and logical for readers, while also sharing lots of useful historical context to better illustrate his prescient comments.

That, of course, explains why he's so popular and why his blog, TV Barn, has been one of the leading entertainment blogs for years, as I've mentioned here in the past.
http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/television/
http://www.tvbarn.com/newsletter/

It's why TV Barn has been on my blog roll ever since I started this blog over four years ago. That's not by accident.


The Kansas City Star
PBS is going nowhere with ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’
By Aaron Barnhart
Posted on Sat, Apr. 09, 2011 10:15 PM

After a 34-year hiatus, “Upstairs, Downstairs” is returning to PBS and, perhaps unintentionally, serving as a reminder of what public television used to be and the kind of trouble it’s in today.

If you are past a certain age, you will likely remember the original “Upstairs, Downstairs.” It was dreamed up by Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins, two actresses in their 40s who were inspired by “The Forsyte Saga,” the popular adaptation of John Galsworthy’s novels of upper-crust life that aired on the BBC in 1967.

Read the rest of the article at: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/04/09/2784536/pbs-is-going-nowhere-with-upstairs.html

His killer ending:

In a few months, when NPR steers out of these troubled waters — as it surely will, under new leadership — it will be the little tugboat with an aging cruise ship in tow, a vessel too weak to power itself anymore, the good ship PBS.

The backstory on Aaron Barnhart is here, if you're curious:
http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Aaron%20Barnhart

http://www.pbs.org/


SOS for PBS? Bad news!
SOS by ABBA? Great news!



ABBA - SOS (As seen on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert; taped in Los Angeles, November 1975)
http://youtu.be/_JzXhC2yV9c

Shay is one of the world's greatest ABBA fans and nobody-but-nobody sweats the details on the history and music of ABBA and Agnetha Fältskog like he does.

Shay's YouTube Channel for ABBA, with an emphasis on HQ picture and sound quality: http://www.youtube.com/user/2Shaymcn

His non-ABBA music YouTubeChannel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/SHAYMCN1

Meanwhile, over at the official ABBA Vevo Channel, they've got lots of the hits.
En español? Si, claro!
http://www.youtube.com/user/AbbaVEVO

See also:
Sara Russell's ABBA ON TV website: http://www.abbaontv.com/index.html

Helen Sjöholm singing Inte jag (with Tommy Körberg) from 2002 Swedish production of "Chess" in Stockholm; Barbra Streisand - I Know Him So Well

Helen Sjöholm - Inte jag (CHESS på svenska)
Someone Else's Story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOda9k1sbLs


You'll recall that back on July 20th, to commemorate a posting that day by ABBA super-fan and expert Shay in Dublin of the video of the biggest-selling U.K. single in history by a Female Duo, Elaine Paige (as Florence) and Barbara Dickson (as Svetlana) of I Know Him So Well from 1985, written by ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson along with Tim Rice for the Musical "Chess" I included that video here.

Nothing is so good it lasts eternally
Perfect situations must go wrong
But this has never yet prevented me
Wanting far too much for far too long.

My post was titled, sensibly: Biggest-selling U.K. single by Female (Duo) - Elaine Paige & Barbara Dickson: I Know Him So Well (1985); Marie Serneholt http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/biggest-selling-uk-single-
by-female-duo.html

Well, yesterday, Shay posted an excellent audio version -with English subtitles- of the rewritten 2002 LIVE version of Chess that was performed in Stockholm, with the always fantastic Helen Sjöholm interacting on "Inte jag" with Tommy Körberg.
Wow, I would like to have been there for that!

I've seen videos of her singing this song before, obviously, most notably, at the Berwald Concert Hall in Stockholm, a.k.a. Berwaldhallen http://sverigesradio.se/berwaldhallen/index_e.stm, which is the home of the Sveriges Radio Symphony Orchestra, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzyTM2zhpMc but I really think this may be my new favorite.

And because I neglected to think of it in July, I'm also posting here today the Barbra Streisand rendition of I Know Him So Well
It packs a real wallop, too!

Barbra Streisand - I Know Him So Well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsq36ndiEmQ

Yohanna's trip to Finland in May: Thank You for the Music; Into Your Arms; Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir

I'd been meaning to post this video of Yohanna rehearsing in Kuopio, Finland two months ago, capturing her singing both an ABBA favorite, Thank You for the Music, as well as Nick Cave's Into My Arms.

Though I've spoken of Yohanna more than a few times here in the past, I think even more than the previous videos of hers that I've shared here -the last new one being from a Christmas show in Stockholm that aired on TV3's "En Sång För Hemlösa 2009" (A Song For The Homeless 2009), where she sang a few songs, including a tremendous version of Don't Save It All For Christmas Day, see my January 1st post, http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/wow-yohanna-sings-dont-save-it-all-for.html - you can really see her tremendous earnestness and sense of purpose.
Of, quite literally, wanting to get every note and chord just right

Over the weekend, while I was watching a Marlins-Padres ballgame on TV, a friend from overseas with a good memory emailed to remind me about a couple of posts I'd talked about in the abstract that had yet to materialize in this space yet.

You may well recall some of these as well, from prior posts of mine or thru emails, but as it happens, one concerned Yohanna's trip to Finland -Suomi.
I'd told her previously that my plan was to put this video and some comments up over the Memorial Day weekend, sometime between watching the Indy 500 and the anti-climatic NCAA Lacrosse Mens Championship game between Duke and Notre Dame, but that, well, she hadn't seen it yet.
Oops!!!

Having received that gentle reminder, I'm now sharing the video that Tiia Santavirta first uploaded for Chaos Tube at http://www.youtube.com/user/TiiaSantavirta

More photos of the trip are available at http://teamyohanna.blogspot.com/ and more Yohanna videos can be seen at the TeamYohanna YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/TEAMYOHANNA

Biggest-selling U.K. single by Female (Duo) - Elaine Paige & Barbara Dickson: I Know Him So Well (1985); Marie Serneholt

Completely coincidental to David Cameron's first visit to the U.S. as British Prime Minister is the posting today by ABBA super-expert Shay in Dublin of the video of the biggest-selling U.K. single in history by a Female Duo, Elaine Paige & Barbara Dickson performance of I Know Him So Well from 1985, written by ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson along with Tim Rice for the Musical "Chess."

Nothing is so good it lasts eternally
Perfect situations must go wrong
But this has never yet prevented me
Wanting far too much for far too long...

Be sure to click the additional info below the video that Shay has written, which includes lyrics. Shay's YouTube Channel of ABBA group, individual and ABBA-related songs and memories is among the most amazing you'll ever find. http://www.youtube.com/user/2Shaymcn
(But sorry, no A*Teens. See bottom.)

But then Shay lists his occupation as "Feeding The Fältskog Fever!!" so you know his heart is really in it.
And the audio quality of his videos is simply awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hqnfbkxLlo





See also: Elaine Paige On Sunday which airs on BBC Radio 2.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wqwz

-----The following post was updated with new blog info re Marie and a posting of her SVT appearance from YouTube on November 21, 2011-----

A*Teens performing "Mama Mia" LIVE on Top of the Pops, May 1999.



Speaking of A*Teens, is it true that I've always been a sucker for the smiling face of Marie Serneholt?
Guilty as charged!

Marie's new blog, chock full of photos and her latest adventures: http://marie.elle.se/

Here's Marie back on January 28th appearing on SVT's Gomorron Sverige (Good Morning Sweden) talking about the new production of Grease in Stockholm along with cast mate Sebastian Karlsson.

http://youtu.be/ZL9cM6rQQPk

Love her!

Heavenly! Yohanna sings "Butterflies & Elvis" Live in Reykjavik (HD); "The Winner Takes It All" at 2010 Icelandic Eurovision Finals

Yohanna a.k.a. Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir

Just received this HD version of Yohanna
performing "Butterflies and Elvis" with the
Icelandic Symphony Orchestra in a sell-out
concert in Reykjavik in 2008.

I posted a regular version of this song she
co-wrote back in January on what would've
been Elvis' 75th birthday, for obvious reasons.
TCB, baby!


And here with one of the most popular of all
the ABBA songs, "The Winner Takes It All"
-a real vocal showpiece for Agnetha Fältskog
back in the day- performing Feb, 6th at
Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2010, where she
won last year with "Is It True," Jóhanna
Guðrún Jónsdóttir is PERFECTION!





For more on Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir, see:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TEAMYOHANNA
http://www.youtube.com/yohannamusic
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=J%C3%B3hanna+Gu%C3%B0r%C3%BAn+J%C3%B3nsd%C3%B3ttir

If you haven't already heard the news,
Barry and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees
will induct ABBA at the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame's 25th annual induction ceremony
on Monday, March 15th, at New York City's
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

ABBA's Benny Andersson on BBC One's "Friday Night with Jonathan Ross"; clips of interview & song; Telegraph interview

To better set the stage for the following post and associated

videos, the Telegraph had the following story last Wednesday:

Benny Andersson interview for the Benny Andersson band on Hampstead Heath

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/5711429/Benny-Andersson-interview-for-the-Benny-Andersson-band-on-Hampstead-Heath.html

Reading the article above reminded me of all the

B/W film that I and most other serious ABBA fans

have seen over the years that featured the guys

playing in Skiffle bands, at venues not unlike the

ones described here by Benny in the mid-late

1960's.

"Every town in Sweden used to a have a Volkpark with a stage and a dance floor where in the summer bands would play and people would bring their own booze and dance," says Andersson when we meet in the hotel he owns in Stockholm. "In the Eighties that started to decline, so in 2000 we started to play in Skansen to try and recreate the feeling of those big bands from the forties and the fifties."

This is perhaps the best single example I can think of,

when the music sounds like it was done just right, and

with Helen Sjöholm, you know the problem will never

be with the singer,

From 0:40 to 0:56 of this Rick Steves video of Skansen,

you can get a sense of the sort of folk dancing I suspect

Benny's talking about.

By the time the interview below with Jonathan Ross

concludes, and you combine it with his insightful

earlier comments in The Telegraph, you really can't

help but come away even more impressed, because

it's clear that Benny's positive attitude is undoubtedly

one of the keys to his continued success and health,

because he seems to keep things in their proper

perspective.

He really enjoys the life he has now, believes the other

three do as well, he has the freedom to write whatever

he wants and has the good sense not to want to turn

his life -and his family's- upside-down:

"To have talent is just luck. But you have to take care of your talent by working.

I try to write music every day. I am not an artist. I don't have that drive or ego to

perform. I just want to write music that other people want to listen to. I want to

have a conversation through the music and for it to be as good and meaningful

as it can be."

Benny's so calm and reassuring that I almost think he could play

a shrink in a Woody Allen comedy.

----------

From BBC One, July 3rd, 2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhu5AEhcpEk

--------------------

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc8VsBaNox4

For more info on other clips of BBC One programs see:

http://www.youtube.com/user/BBC

For more info and prior Jonathan Ross interviews,see

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006m99d and

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=72144E4796241B73

His program started airing on BBC America in mid-June,

and based on the schedules of guests so far -I'm watching

it right now with Dustin Hoffman- it would appear that

they're on in the U.S. roughly 2-3 weeks after they first

appear LIVE on his show in London, since for the first week,

the BBC iPlayer has exclusivity with the video throughout world.

His BBC America webpage is at:

http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/377/index.jsp

Closing out this post with Molly Sandén singing the

same song from above, Thank You for the Music

from just over three-and-a-half years ago at Skansen

on New Year's Eve.