FOLLOW me on my popular Twitter feed. Just click this photo! @hbbtruth - David - Common sense on #Politics #PublicPolicy #Sports #PopCulture in USA, Great Britain, Sweden and France, via my life in #Texas #Memphis #Miami #IU #Chicago #DC #FL 🛫🌍📺📽️🏈. Photo is of Elvis and Joan Blackman in 'Blue Hawaii'
Beautiful Stockholm at night, looking west towards Gamla Stan
Showing posts with label Calle Kristiansson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Calle Kristiansson. Show all posts
IF only we could get rid of corrupt South Florida pols by tossing 'em off a plane -just thinking out loud per this new season premiere trailer for 2011's Körslaget. Or, how a snippet of a Swedish TV trailer reminded me that for about two years, I have wanted to say something here on the blog about American TV music shows and why I find them so unappealing compared to other countries', so here's my chance to say a thing or two. Körslaget, the popular Swedish TV singing competition show onTV4 features choruses led by a well-known singer battling one another, and has its 2011 premiere on Saturday night the 19th. It has a great homepage on TV4'swebsite, with new videos, photos, and old trailers from past seasons. And just a reminder, it's considered a Premium to see the entire show repeated at TV4 Play. http://www.tv4.se/korslaget but you can see clips of the songs performed for free. http://www.tv4play.se/noje/korslaget?videoId=1.1621208 Here's the Körslaget trailer from two years ago:
Here's an article from two weeks about the 500 people who lined-up for hours in Umeå to be part of one team that would be led by hometown girl and popular singerLisa Miskovsky, whom I've previously mentioned here. Of the 500 who showed-up, 20 were selected for further consideration. http://www.folkbladet.nu/242725/2011/03/01/korslaget-rena-koslaget
Lisa Miskovsky -Still Alive (Theme from Mirror's Edge) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE9gMFR1yFY I believe this sort of show would do extremely well in the U.S. if you made sure that none of the well-known singers competing were under the age of 40, so you could directly eliminate the Teen and Tween media frenzy factor that drives so many American music shows, and which cause me to ignore them, except for Glee.
The thing that's so noticeable to me as someone who watches a lot of music shows from other countries is not only the sheer talent and resolve of participants to be professional in handling the ups and downs, but the fact that the shows do NOT go out of their way to feature obviously bad singers, drama queens or oddballs to fill out the programming the way that American Idol's producers do to fill out the dozens of hours it occupies on the Fox-TV schedule. Instead, it's largely just singing. That more than anything else is why I NEVER watch amerikanska Idol -I don't want to watch someone on TV just because the show's producers think he or she is attractive, interesting or amusing. I want to hear good singing -first and foremost.
That's why I watch the Swedish version of Idol, http://www.tv4.se/idol of whom the 2009 season's Calle Kristiansson is the best example of someone whose self-evident talent is apparent to everyone who hears him, which is why I've posted his Walking in Memphis video here a few times.
That no-nonsense attitude of mine for music shows makes me a member of the minority hereabouts. Plus, I want to hear rockers, not trilling divas, and see talent rewarded, not attitude.
Calle Kristiansson - Walking in Memphis, Sweden Idol 2009, Malmö auditions. The music part starts at 01:18 of the video and the judges are so wowed by Calle that he doesn't even need to finish the song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEly4QZaf30 As to the genius idea behind Körslaget, IF you could put together a first-class competition featuring choruses fronted by some well-known power pop singers from the '80's and '90's, like Simon LeBon for instance,it would be EXCELLENT and people would tune-in! Below, the complete acoustic version of CalleKristianssonsinging Walking in Memphis
1993 Elvis Presley postal stamp -Watercolor of Elvis by Mark Stutzmamn This is the song and performance that my friend Shannon and I always loved best, and loved most to sing along to together when she lived in D.C., because, for me at least, it's the secular song of his that's closest to the power of his great gospel performances.
Elvis Presley - An American Trilogy, LIVE, 1973
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xcZCigY3gE
Another fabulous story by author David Comfort, today, on the relationship between Elvis and his doting mother, Gladys.
TheWrap Elvis, Gladys & Their Double Doomdate, Aug. 16 By David Comfort Published: August 15, 2010
In 1934, Vernon Presley, age 18, recalled blacking out at the instant of his son’s conception; then, regaining consciousness, he had seen the night sky thronged with brilliant blue stars. Elvis Aron’s twin brother, Jesse Garon, was stillborn.
The future King’s God-fearing mother, Gladys -- who herself almost died in the delivery -- believed he had inherited Jesse’s soul, and was “the One.”
Years later, Gladys would suffer a miscarriage, making her all the more protective of her only surviving child.
Read the rest of the story at: http://www.thewrap.com/movies/blog-post/there-goes-my-everything-elvis-gladys-rip-20137 See also: http://rockandrollbookofthedead.com/ http://www.thewrap.com/
This article has some really great photos, some of which you may never have seen. Memphis Commercial Appeal Sweltering heat can't keep Elvis fans from annual vigil By Christopher Blank Posted August 16, 2010 at midnight http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/aug/16/always-faithful/
Elvis Presley: Ten of Our Favorite Performances This Week Marks 33rd Anniversary of the King's Death August 16, 2010 http://www.cmt.com/news/country-music/1645830/elvis-presley-ten-of-our-favorite-performances.jhtml
If you never saw my previous post mentioning singer Calle Kristiansson, prepare to be amazed.This gets me every time I see it, because this guy, whom nobody had ever heard of, just casually walks up to the microphone and belts a home run on the first pitch like it's nothing -perfect.
Calle KristianssonWalking in Memphis - XL Live Expressen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQtKe9qQYH8
See also: http://www.expressen.se/ and http://www.youtube.com/ExpressenTV
Yohanna -Butterflies and Elvis from her Butterflies and ElvisCD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8XlKt0eSYc
See also: http://www.youtube.com/TEAMYOHANNA and http://teamyohanna.blogspot.com/ The guys at TY have got some brand new photos of this super-talent up on their blog, so check 'em out!
My previous posts on Elvis contain lots of helpful hints on discerning why I am the way that I am, how my personal world-view was shaped and why I write about the topics I do here, many of which I never see anywhere else, even though there are, as we're constantly being reminded, tens of millions of blogs and websites. January 8, 2010: Walking in Memphis on Elvis' 75th birthday: some Swedish and Icelandic treats to celebrate with http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/walking-in-memphis-on-elvis-75th.html and August 15, 2009 Sunday morning at 2 a.m. - Elvis In Memphis on QVC http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/sunday-morning-at-2-am-elvis-in-memphis.html
1993 Elvis Presley Stamp -Watercolor of Elvis by Mark Stutzmamn
As some of you who've been coming to this blog
for awhile know by now, after my family moved
from San Antonio, where my sister and I were
born and my mother grew-up, my family moved
to Memphis in 1965, where we lived for three
years, and where my youngest sister was born.
We moved to South Florida in July of 1968
just a few weeks after Dr. King was assassinated,
following the horrific aftermath in the city.
It was in Memphis specifically, and the Mid-South in general, on our weekend family drives around Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi -not always so great in an un-air conditioned car with two younger sisters!- where I first developed my
deep and enduring love and preference for many
things that still remain with me to this day: the Mississippi River; rhythm 'n' blues; Al Green; The Andy Griffith Show; Dusty Springfield; Petula Clark; St. Louis Cardinals baseball on the radio in the summertime during their mid-60's
glory era; smoky sweet Memphis-style barbecue ribs;
cornbread, and, of course, The King - Elvis.
To a devout Elvis fan like me, who knows just about everything there is to know about him, the good and the bad, the best books ever written on Elvis -by far- are Peter Guralnick's masterful "Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis
Presley" and the great follow-up, "Careless
Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley."
Each is written with honesty and empathy, free of the judgmental cant and analysis that doomed other books that purport to tell the
tale.
It was also while living in The Mid-South, that I first became greatly interested in the American Civil War, following a summer day-trip to Shiloh, the site of the bloody April 1862 battle.
It was on that summer day-trip that I had
achance encounter with a VERY old man on the battlefield itself. A man whose own father had actually
foughtin the battle -and lived to tell
the tale!
Spending a day there is an awesome and eye-opening experience and really puts things into their proper perspective,
just as my later trips to Gettysburg, Harper's Ferry, Winchester, Fredericksburgand Spotsylvania
did as well, after I moved to the
D.C. area. You'll recall that a few days ago I shared
video with you of Yohanna singing
Don't Save It All For Christmas Day at En Sång För Hemlösa 2009 in
Stockholm and encouraged you all
to watch the entire TV program if
you could, because it was so well done.
Well, on what would be Elvis' 75th
birthday I return to our talented friend
from Iceland and share a song that she
recorded last year called Butterflies
and Elvis.
I'm choosing today to also write for the first
time here -though some of you know from emails- about another young singer whom
I know you all have never heard of before,
but whose talent is so obvious that...
well, the first time I heard him, let's just say
that I was just thunderstruck.
Just like I was the first time I heard
Molly Sandén or Yohanna.
Obvious transcendent talent!
A friend in Europe has seen him on the
Idol Sweden program and she sent me
a video of his audition in Malmö in an
email last year that had the simple words, "Must see!!!" in the subject header.
Wow!Was she ever right!
I'm talking about Calle Kristiansson,
a name you will be hearing a lot more
of in the future, because seeing and hearing
IS certainly believing.
-----
First, the original version of Mark Cohn's song
that you probably first heard sung by Cher.
When the song was incorporated into the
1997 X-Files episode calledThe Post-Modern
Prometheus, it instantly became my favorite
episode. See video of it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CKs8NjusTQ
----
Prepare yourself to be wowed and remember
in the future who first told you about a Swedish
singer named Calle Kristiansson.
Me!
TV4.se Calle Kristiansson - Walking in Memphis -
IDOL Sweden 2009,
auditions in Malmö
See also: http://www.expressen.se/ and http://www.youtube.com/ExpressenTV
-----
Yohanna -Butterflies and Elvis from her Butterflies and ElvisCD
See also:http://www.youtube.com/TEAMYOHANNA and http://teamyohanna.blogspot.com/ plus http://www.myspace.com/yohannamusic
Memphis Commercial Appeal Bitter cold can’t keep these Elvis fans from his birthday party By Michael Lollar
January 8, 2010
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/jan/08/bitter-cold-cant-keep-these-elvis-fans-his-birthda/
