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 Malena Ernman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Malena Ernman. Show all posts

Sunday, December 22, 2013

These are a few of my favorite things... favorite Christmas songs from some of my favorite singers: Amy Grant, Jill Johnson, Malena Ernman, Yohanna and Point of Grace





Amazing, amazing Amy Grant!
She sounded utterly fantastic and angelic at her Christmas concert at the then-MCI Center
in downtown Washington, D.C. in December of 1999, when she was in town as part of her national tour promoting her CD and third Christmas album, A Christmas to Remember, which featured the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, who was also there in Washington. 

 That's only one of my two favorite Christmas albums, and one I took with me on my trip to snowy Stockholm in mid-January, which I played frequently in my room at the 4trappor B&B in Södermalm and then the next week in my hotel room at the wonderfully-convenient Omena Hotel Stockholm in Norrmalm, just a block or so and around the corner from the August Strindberg Intima Theatre, http://www.strindbergsintimateater.se/ -which unfortunately did not have shows while I was there.
I think I played Amy's CD everyday I was there.




Also part of the action at the concert was the sweet and powerful sounds of Points of Grace -and super-talented Michael W. Smith- my first time ever seeing them live, after hearing them for so many years on CDs.
It was heavenly!

 The members of POG had gone to the same college in Arkansas as my best friend, 
Shannon, Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, and one of my favorite all-time photos of her was actually a shot of them at a table signing CDs down in Woodbridge, VA, with Shannon flashing that mega-watt smile of hers that always wowed people.

 Anyway, that's how it sounded to me.

Judge for yourself...




Point of Grace - When Love Came Down, from their 1999 CD, A Christmas Story, one of my two favorite Christmas albums, the other being Amy's.

When I finally Saw POG in 1999 in D.C. with Amy Grant's Christmas tour, with that orchestra sound behind them, it was BEYOND magical :) !

 This is when the group was composed of four very talented women: Shelley Breen, Denise Jones, Terry Jones and Heather Payne.



















Something to inspire you:

 HGTV Video: Amy Grant's Motor Home: The country music star's tour bus features a private lounge, two TVs and 10 bunks.
http://www.frontdoor.com/celebrity/amy-grants-motor-home-video

 and something to remind you that Once Upon A Time, the American TV networks weren't afraid of allowing a religious subtext in a Christmas TV show, like they are now:
The Andy Griffith Show, S1E11, The Christmas Story, Originally aired on CBS-TV on December 19, 1960. Uploaded December 1, 2013. http://youtu.be/TpKn5ceZaQ4

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Saturday, October 9, 2010

A marriage made in heaven -in my head, at least: marrying opera singer Malena Ernman's performance of "La Voix" to a Pairs Ice Dancing routine; @Malena_Ernman



Eurovision Song Contest YouTube Channel:

Malena Ernman - La Voix, Sweden 2009; new version. 

Uploaded April 24, 2009

Written by Fredrik Kempe.


I wrote about the ridiculously-talented Malena and the song here on the blog last year: http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Malena%20Ernman

 Honestly, why hasn't SAS figured out a savvy way to incorprate this catchy song and Malena into a new TV campaign for the airline, showing sophisticated places in Europe where talented and sophisticated Malena is both flying and performing in? 
I mean the video is practically an invitation AND how-to-guide served up on a silver platter? #frustrating.

 Here's the version Malena performed at last year's Melodifestivalen. 
Still gives me #goosebumps! 

 https://youtu.be/5WH2OwJeMBE

 The craziest, brilliant idea I've had in quite some time came to its logical conclusion in next-door Aventura late Saturday afternoon, after I'd watched the latest in a long line of dreary, punchless Indiana University football losses to Big Ten teams since that seminal Bill Lynch victory over Purdue two years ago, losing to Ohio State 38-10 over in Columbus. 
(More on the ballgame later today.)

Yes, it involves another trip by yours truly to the "Venezuelan" Target, which was in rare form late Saturday, completely living up to its well-earned reputation as being the #1 casual hangout hereabouts for all the many beautiful Venezuelan women living in Aventura and SE Broward County, plus, their very good-looking Argentine friends. Claro!
Style-wise, it's the closest thing to being back in Washington, D.C. or Stockholm.

Over the past week, I'd been going thru some songs I'd favorite-ed on my YouTube Channel since I first signed-up and created it, which included some songs that I know that 99.9% of you have never heard of. Like REALLY, REALLY never heard of.
http://www.youtube.com/user/HallandaleBeachBlog

So as a result of that, I've had some songs in my head recently that I haven't thought of in quite some time, and been humming many of them as I wait in a long line in the many left-hand turning lanes on Hallandale Beach Blvd. that you MUST endure to get anywhere in this traffic-gridlocked city next to the ocean.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kghCqyMLPFA

Catchy songs, pop songs, songs with hooks...
No, not just the delightful Kristina Pelakova singing "Horehronie" in Oslo, above, which I mentioned here recently, but also some terrific catchy French songs as well, which I'll share here soon so you can "hear" what I've been thinking about lately.
You know how I love the EuroPop!

 So, with the items I needed I inside the snazzy, new streamlined Target plastic shopping carts I was piloting -SO MUCH lighter and quieter than the old metal ones- I ambled over to the back of the store to where they keep 'seasonal' products, where I spied the hysterically funny and clever Halloween costumes for kids. Sorry the photos aren't clearer!

Below, October 9, 2010 photos by me, South Beach Hoosier at the Aventura Target.


Eventually, after wandering the three aisles they have for Halloween costumes, I came across a thirty-something year old father with his kid in tow, waiting patiently for the wife/mother member of the triangle to make up her mind about whatever it was she was choosing between as the head consumer of the family.

And then, out of the blue, inspiration hit me like a bolt of lightning. 
I heard this kid humming something that I couldn't quite make out.
And the next four words that came to mind were, strangely enough, "Malena Ernman" and "Ice Dancing."

Frankly, I'm writing this now knowing in advance that I won't be nearly able to adequately describe this enough to satisfy myself, much less you, despite how clear it is in my head.
But I have just got to get this out of my head before I go crazy.

It's frustrating, like trying to describe how intensely beautiful Bloomington and nearby Brown County are, esp. in the Fall when the leaves are changing colors, http://www.browncounty.com/ 
to someone who has not only NEVER been there, and can't conceive of how magical it is.
To say nothing of only vaguely sure where, precisely, Indiana is located in the Midwest, which, shockingly, is the case with lots and lots of people I've met in South Florida since returning from the Washington, D.C. area seven years ago.
http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?m=pool&s=rec&w=576934%40N24&q=Brown+County%2C+Fall

Reminder: west to east -Iowa, Illinois, Indiana: the Three I's.
Michigan is north, Ohio is east and Kentucky is south. Got it?

I won't even try to mention the technical descriptions of the particular dancing skills and requirements that I can so easily visualize in my head, since 99.9% of you won't understand them even if I did, but...

If anyone out there reading this knows of at least two very talented skaters who are looking for some music to accompany their choreography in Ice Dancing, especially for an exhibition, I think you could really strike gold with La Voix, as performed by fabulous opera singer Malena Ernman, which was the song she sang representing Sweden at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, where Alexander Rybak of Norway won for Fairytale. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4D_hguWPQE

More info on Malena and the ridiculously catchy song that WILL stay in your head.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_voix
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malena_Ernman

Twitter @Malena_Ernman  http://en.twitter.com/Malena_Ernman


IF anyone knows of any figure skater(s) anywhere, more likely in Europe, whether singles or pairs, who has already used this intensely catchy song in competition or an exhibition, please let me know how it turned out. 
And if there's a video of it somewhere on the Internet, all the better.

In the right hands, this song could/would/should be a dynamite crowd-pleaser for a very talented Ice Dancing couple.

Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean -STILL the GOLD  standard!

Torvill & Dean performing to Bolero at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo- HQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2zbbN4OL98


Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir at 2010 Vancouver Olympics



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE4TbwxMsCA

Official website for 2010 Olympic Gold Medalists Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir of Canada: http://virtuemoir.com/
Official website for Malena Ernman, chock-full of interesting photos, videos and anecdotes about her career and life. An opera singer with a great sense of humor, moxie and humanity!: www.malenaernman.com
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A marriage made in heaven -in my head, at least: marrying opera singer Malena Ernman's performance of "La Voix" to a Pairs Ice Dancing routine; @Malena_Ernman



Eurovision Song Contest YouTube Channel:

Malena Ernman - La Voix, Sweden 2009; new version. 

Uploaded April 24, 2009

Written by Fredrik Kempe.


I wrote about the ridiculously-talented Malena and the song here on the blog last year:http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Malena%20Ernman

 Honestly, why hasn't SAS figured out a clever way to incorporate this catchy song and Malena into a new TV campaign for the airline, showing sophisticated places in Europe where talented and sophisticated Malena is both flying and working/performing in?
You know, like Scandinavian travelers? 
I mean the video at the top is practically an invitation AND how-to-guide served up on a silver platter to SAS? #frustrating.

 Here's the version Malena performed at last year's Melodifestivalen. 
Still gives me #goosebumps! 
https://youtu.be/5WH2OwJeMBE

 The craziest, brilliant idea I've had in quite some time came to its logical conclusion in next-door Aventura late Saturday afternoon, after I'd watched the latest in a long line of dreary, punchless Indiana University football losses to Big Ten teams since that seminal Bill Lynch victory over Purdue two years ago, losing to Ohio State 38-10 over in Columbus. 
(More on the ballgame later today.)

Yes, it involves another trip by yours truly to the "Venezuelan" Target, which was in rare form late Saturday, completely living up to its well-earned reputation as being the #1 casual hangout hereabouts for all the many beautiful Venezuelan women living in Aventura and SE Broward County, plus, their very good-looking Argentine friends. Claro!
Style-wise, it's the closest thing to being back in Washington, D.C. or Stockholm.

Over the past week, I'd been going thru some songs I'd favorite-ed on my YouTube Channel since I first signed-up and created it, which included some songs that I know that 99.9% of you have never heard of. Like REALLY, REALLY never heard of.
http://www.youtube.com/user/HallandaleBeachBlog

So as a result of that, I've had some songs in my head recently that I haven't thought of in quite some time, and been humming many of them as I wait in a long line in the many left-hand turning lanes on Hallandale Beach Blvd. that you MUST endure to get anywhere in this traffic-gridlocked city next to the ocean.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kghCqyMLPFA

Catchy songs, pop songs, songs with hooks...
No, not just the delightful Kristina Pelakova singing "Horehronie" in Oslo, above, which I mentioned here recently, but also some terrific catchy French songs as well, which I'll share here soon so you can "hear" what I've been thinking about lately.
You know how I love the EuroPop!

 So, with the items I needed I inside the snazzy, new streamlined Target plastic shopping carts I was piloting -SO MUCH lighter and quieter than the old metal ones- I ambled over to the back of the store to where they keep 'seasonal' products, where I spied the hysterically funny and clever Halloween costumes for kids. Sorry the photos aren't clearer!

Below, October 9, 2010 photos by me, South Beach Hoosier at the Aventura Target.


Eventually, after wandering the three aisles they have for Halloween costumes, I came across a thirty-something year old father with his kid in tow, waiting patiently for the wife/mother member of the triangle to make up her mind about whatever it was she was choosing between as the head consumer of the family.

And then, out of the blue, inspiration hit me like a bolt of lightning. 
I heard this kid humming something that I couldn't quite make out.
And the next four words that came to mind were, strangely enough, "Malena Ernman" and "Ice Dancing."

Frankly, I'm writing this now knowing in advance that I won't be nearly able to adequately describe this enough to satisfy myself, much less you, despite how clear it is in my head.
But I have just got to get this out of my head before I go crazy.

It's frustrating, like trying to describe how intensely beautiful Bloomington and nearby Brown County are, esp. in the Fall when the leaves are changing colors, http://www.browncounty.com/ 
to someone who has not only NEVER been there, and can't conceive of how magical it is.
To say nothing of only vaguely sure where, precisely, Indiana is located in the Midwest, which, shockingly, is the case with lots and lots of people I've met in South Florida since returning from the Washington, D.C. area seven years ago.
http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?m=pool&s=rec&w=576934%40N24&q=Brown+County%2C+Fall

Reminder: west to east -Iowa, Illinois, Indiana: the Three I's.
Michigan is north, Ohio is east and Kentucky is south. Got it?

I won't even try to mention the technical descriptions of the particular dancing skills and requirements that I can so easily visualize in my head, since 99.9% of you won't understand them even if I did, but...

If anyone out there reading this knows of at least two very talented skaters who are looking for some music to accompany their choreography in Ice Dancing, especially for an exhibition, I think you could really strike gold with La Voix, as performed by fabulous opera singer Malena Ernman, which was the song she sang representing Sweden at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, where Alexander Rybak of Norway won for Fairytale. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4D_hguWPQE

More info on Malena and the ridiculously catchy song that WILL stay in your head.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_voix
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malena_Ernman

Twitter @Malena_Ernman  http://en.twitter.com/Malena_Ernman


IF anyone knows of any figure skater(s) anywhere, more likely in Europe, whether singles or pairs, who has already used this intensely catchy song in competition or an exhibition, please let me know how it turned out. 
And if there's a video of it somewhere on the Internet, all the better.

In the right hands, this song could/would/should be a dynamite crowd-pleaser for a very talented Ice Dancing couple.

Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean -STILL the GOLD  standard!

Torvill & Dean performing to Bolero at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo- HQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2zbbN4OL98

Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir at 2010 Vancouver Olympics



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE4TbwxMsCA

Official website for 2010 Olympic Gold Medalists Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir of Canada: http://virtuemoir.com/


Official website for Malena Ernman, chock-full of interesting photos, videos and anecdotes about her career and life. An opera singer with a great sense of humor, moxie and humanity!: www.malenaernman.com
Dave
Twitter: @hbbtruth, https://twitter.com/hbbtruth
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Sunday, May 17, 2009

Fairytale for Norge: Alexander Rybak wins 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow

Above, Norway's Alexander Rybak and his team,
the Frikar dance company, arrive on stage before they
get ready to steal the show with judges and TV viewers
alike across Europe.
Photographer: Indrek Galetin (EBU)

Still working on my blog post regarding this weekend's
activities at the always hard to figure Eurovision Song
Contest in Moscow, and the crazier-than-usual circus
atmosphere there, which, depending upon which European
newspaper you read or which country's TV news you watched,
often alternated casting it as a battle pitting nationalism vs. kitsch,
and we all know how kitsch hates to lose.

Kitsch, like rust, never sleeps, and always gives 110%
This year, kitsch lives in Norway.

See full size image



MALENA ERNMAN.jpg
Malena Ernman

Tack så mycket, Malena, som tack får du en puss!

Rock på!



Won't be posting that blog entry for a few days yet,
but thus far, this is by far the best combination quality
audio and video I've yet found of 22-year old Alexander
Rybak's performance for Fairytale, which earned
Norway the title and the right to host the next Eurovision
competition.

Be forewarned, though, that this version is the one that the
EBU team producing the show throughout Europe ran to
conclude the show, so unfortunately, despite having great
crowd shots, it also has production credits rolling thru
portions of as it concludes.

Click twice to get to full page view and sense of the crowd.



Another video of this song, without the rolling credits, is this
one from March's national competeition, which earned Rybak
the right to perform in Moscow.



Below, Sunday morning, Rybak and company returned to a hero's
welcome in Oslo as his arrival at the airport created a scene of
pandemonium.



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Saturday, April 25, 2009

Sweden's Malena Ernman sings La Voix in new version of 2009 Eurovision entry

"And now for something completely different..."
which may even slightly remind you, as it did me
when I first saw it, of the concept of using well-known
opera excerpts to tie together something old and
something new, as continues to be done to this day
by British Airways using Sous le Dome epais
from Lakme by Léo Delibes in their hugely popular
TV ads around the world, to, in effect, tie something
old and something new -the Old World and the New
World.

Here, the hugely popular and super-talented
Swedish opera star Malena Ernman sings
a new version of La Voix, which she'll be singing
as Sweden's entry in the 2009 Eurovision
Song Contest in Moscow in a few weeks.


The video follows the dynamic mezzo-soprano
from Stockholm to the Opera House in Frankfurt,
-where she's performing this year- as well as
to her favorite nearby Starbucks.


Please click on the video and then hit HQ
and Full Screen right away to get the best
overall effect.



---------------
Below, the nightclub-style version of the song
that Malena sang and performed LIVE on
SVT's Melodifestivalen on March 14th, that
really wowed the judges and TV viewers.

----------
Anxiously waiting for the votes to be tallied
with the rest of the performers, and then giving
an encore performance after coming in number
one.

----------

Malena to Moscow for Sverige!

Nicely edited clips of Malena being interviewed and
joking around after celebrating the big win, and if you
pay close attention, you'll see that the first person to
give her a congratulatory hug is the wonderful
Molly Sandén, one of our new favorite talents.

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

You can watch the upcoming Eurovision Song
Contest LIVE online, through Eurovision.tv!

Rock på, Malena!
Lycka till!
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