Category: Music

K1 Christmas

Kathleen Aerts, formerly of K3, turns “Somethin’ Stupid” into a Christmas song, of sorts.

K3 fan Theo Hendriks, pictured here, wrote and said that Kathleen is his favorite. Kathleen’s replacement, Josje, is on the left. It’s good to see Kristel Verbeke and Karen Damen looking bright and happy again, because they were so miserable at Kathleen’s farewell performance.

For myself, I’m miffed that Kathleen left the group, but I feel that Kristel and Karen are so strong together they could have carried on just fine as K2. That doesn’t mean Kathleen was any less essential to the success of K3, but it seemed to me that she got tired of the ride. So when she quit the group I was disappointed, but not surprised.

Follow-up: Theo sent another picture of himself, with Kristel. It’s at this link.

A Little about Annie

Maybe you’ve seen this charming TV commercial. It’s the one that seems it should be from Apple, but it’s from Amazon…

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/DEC/KindleCommercial.flv 512 288]

…and maybe you’ve wondered, “wow, who is that?” She’s Annie Little, and not only is that her singing, she wrote the song, too. Annie is an actress with real star quality — beauty, talent, versatility, personality — yet she’s still looking for her big break. Besides the commercial, Annie’s in the first episode of the third season of “Mad Men.”

Another actress who is best known for her TV commercials had a recurring role on “Mad Men.” Know who she is? Roll over the picture to see.

Retro Rock-it Xmas

Lia Pamina recommends this great retro Christmas song, harkening back to 1964, the year “Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer” first appeared on American TV. Although miniskirts and go-go boots didn’t really make the scene until ’65.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2010/DEC/MariahCareyChristmas.flv 480 360]

I’ve heard this recording quite a few times on the radio, but not once did I ever happen to hear an announcer say who sings it. Sincerely! Everybody else will immediately recognize Mariah Carey, who I’ve never knowingly listened to, before now.

Monkees do Beatles

Today, former Monkee Peter Tork is at the BEATexpo Beatles show in Connecticut. Last weekend, along with Mickey Dolenz, Peter was at the SuperMegafest show in Framingham, MA, west of Boston. Peter took the stage Saturday night, first solo and then backed by a local Monkees tribute band called Loose Salute, named after a Mike Nesmith album. Mickey joined Peter during the concert to do a set, and here is Mickey’s entrance…

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/NOV/MickeyPeter.flv 512 384]

Denro was quick to point out to me that Mickey was stretching the truth about hearing “Oh, Darling!” at Abbey Road studios. Mickey hung out with the Beatles at EMI in ’67, but there’s no way he was there two years later. I’d neglected to swap the nearly-full SDHC card in my camera, so I missed the rest of the song, but somebody else who was there has posted the whole thing.

Tech note: That thin column in the middle of the stage is probably a Bose L1 speaker. The Bose corporate headquarters is right behind the Sheraton hotel where the convention was held.