Video Time!

Well, we haven't posted for a little while; things have been pretty busy and I picked up some extra shifts so I've kind of lived at the hospital for the past week and a half. We have some pictures to put up from the past week, but we haven't had a chance to upload them to the web just yet, so in the mean time, I decided to post another favorite video in the wildly successful "Video Time!" post series. I'm sure you've all been DYING for the next installment :)

First, a quick story: I was at my friend Dan's house the other night when I casually mentioned that I saw the movie version of "Mamma Mia" with Stacie on our anniversary. Dan proceeded to rip me up one side and down the other, threatening to revoke my man card among other physical threats after hearing such disturbing news. I tried to explain that I let Stacie choose the movie (it was even the sing-along version) because she took me to Skybox for dinner and tried to talk to me while I sat in front of 500 televisions showing sports, but he was truly disgusted with my news. Dan's dislike of musicals is legendary, and we had just finished watching a very poor football game, so I took his vitriol with a grain of salt. I also confessed that watching that movie made any James Bond movie starring Pierce Brosnan entirely unwatchable. Watching him belt out "S.O.S." with Meryl Streep was absolutely jarring. You can watch it here if you dare. The distorted view and German subtitles will only add more flavor to your nightmares. Fast forward to the 3:31 mark for the most heinous part. Yikes. But you have been warned; there are some things that you can't un-see.

That said, I enjoy ABBA's music. We grew up listening to ABBA; I remember being jealous when my cousin Missy's family got "Super Trooper" on 8-track, and we had a collection of ABBA videos on a videotape that got repeated watching. Music videos were in their infancy, so these were pretty cutting edge. I could never remember which girl was which, but I always remembered that Benny was the dude with full beard and fluffy hair, and Bjorn was the guy who looked like Vizzini in "The Princess Bride" (not the hair). They were the musical geniuses of the group, but in today's image-conscious market, they might have been left behind the scenes. Maybe not; it WAS the 70's after all. Today's video, then, comes from their enormous video vault. I didn't go with "Mamma Mia" or "Dancing Queen" or one of the songs that you hear on the radio frequently. I did, however, choose ABBA's best song HANDS DOWN. Please enjoy:



I understand that what little manhood I had left after admitting to being an ABBA fan is completely gone after proclaiming "Gimme Gimme Gimme A Man After Midnight" their best work, but it truly is. And as way of disclaimer, I never demand a man, either before or after midnight. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

What a great song! It's certainly straight from the disco era, with the synthesizer beat, and keyboard rise and fall. I love how it builds and builds up to the chorus, thumping faster and faster...then POW! "Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight...won't somebody help me chase these shadows away?". The chorus and the beat are awesome. Can't say that I really understand the lyrics...maybe it's a Swedish thing. My brother Nate served his mission in Sweden, so he may have a little insight. The girl in the song might need a late night man to help her dig up some rotting fish to eat or something. The video itself is just alright; it's one of those "let's pretend we're recording the song and film it" videos that seems like a cop out. It has the requisite faux shots of the band sitting behind the mixing board, turning dials and debating production of the song. In reality, I'm guessing that Benny and Bjorn sent the girls out for cigarettes and more blue eyeliner while they tweaked the recordings. You can see them mailing it in; at the 2:41 mark Bjorn is singing/lipsnyching something...just not the music that is playing. It's like they ran out of video so they just shoe horned a shot of him in there to fill space. And at the very end, Anni (the brunette) keeps looking at someone to the right with her hands on her headphones, like she's saying "Did you get it? Now? Are we done? Did you get enough footage?" until she pulls off the headphones with relief. Hey, that lipsynching is a tough gig.

The worst part about the video is that this is the shorter version of the song. I found a longer version, but it is a fan video that is basically the song with still pictures spliced together. it kills me that the last 15 seconds or so is just blank, while the music plays out. I guess whomever put the video together couldn't find a couple more pictures of the gang, or they didn't know how to extend each picture to stretch it out to cover the length of the song.



The best part about the longer version comes at the 2:34mark when they sing the chorus one step higher then the synthesizer comes in and goes "AH AH AH AH AH AH AH". I usually sing that part as loud as possible (including the AHs), especially if I'm alone. I can tell you that my performance is positively Brosnon-esque, so I tend to keep that one to myself. Great tune, though.

Video Time!

Back in the good old '80s, I loved all of the music videos that were on the TV. I recorded hours and hours of videos onto videotapes and carefully catalogued them so that I could find a video for anyone who "requested" it. Of course, this involved several minutes of fast forwarding or rewinding the tape in order to queue up the required video.

But now, thanks to blogs and sites like YouTube, I can play veejay with much less trouble. So, I will post music videos or funny clips from time to time. By the way, for those of you who are blog beginners, the music is from the widget on the side that looks like an iPod. You can skip tracks, and more importantly, pause the music if you want to watch a video. With that said, I present "Stomp" by the Brothers Johnson:



I watch this video all the time. It's just a silly song that makes me smile, and when I get to work at 3:00 in the morning, it's often just what the doctor ordered. And the video is a classic. Some thoughts:

1. I wondered what Jackie Chiles did in the early '80s before he started defending Kramer.
And now I know: frontman for a funky dance band.








2. I wish that I could dance like the bass player does at the 2:11 mark of the video and look as cool as he does. Trust me: I've tried it. NOT GOOD TIMES.

3. Speaking of dancing, I am amazed that a band full of smooth singing brothers stuck two white guys at the critical rhythm sections in the band. First the drummer is white, and second, the token "guy who plays background instrument but really just dances" is a white guy as well (see 0:19, 3:03 and 3:23). That's an upset of USA v. USSR 1980 proportions.

4. My favorite part of the video comes at the 3:00 mark when the lead singer says "Well...well...WELL...WELLLLLLL!!!!" Just awesome. No wonder that white guy is grooving.

5. Lastly, (and this comes from many, many viewings) the video cuts off at the end and the last second shows the video picture sliding to the left, accompanied by a sound that makes me think I'm at a hockey game and someone has scored a goal. What is that all about? It literally drives me crazy.

Great stuff..."The beat is on, and the funk just won't leave us alone". Indeed.