Past and Current Events

That's right woodchuck-chuckers, it's Groundhog Day! Unfortunately, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today, which means six more weeks of winter. As opposed to if he didn't see his shadow, which means...probably six more weeks of winter anyway.

Tomorrow also marks the 50th anniversary of one of the darkest days in music history: The Day The Music Died. Fifty years ago tomorrow, The Big Bopper, Buddy Holly, and Richie Valens were all killed along with their pilot in a wintry airplane crash. The tragedy has given birth to many legends, as well as the song 'American Pie' written by Don McClean. You can read more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Music_Died

This past week celebrated the birthday of American artist Jackson Pollock. He was a painter famous for his 'drip' painting technique. I encourage everyone to watch the movie Pollock with Ed Harris. I was not familiar with Pollock's work before the movie, but became a fan of his art, his personality, and his story, which is at the same time both tragic and beautiful. Below is a picture of one of his paintings at the National Museum of Art in DC called Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist). Pollock stopped naming his paintings and gave them numbers instead so that people would just look at the painting for what it was.



This past week also saw the passing of Lynyrd Skynyrd's original keyboard player, Billy Powell. The story I always heard was that he started out as a roadie for the band and was asked to join when the band overheard him playing one day. The rest was history. He was classically trained, but played some of my favorite rock piano solos of all time. His talent will be sorely missed, but will on through the music he created. Here's the article:

http://www.reuters.com/article/peopleNews/idUSTRE50R7ME20090128

Lastly, I wanted to comment on Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's performance at the Super Bowl last night. I actually missed it live, but watched it on YouTube shortly after the game. Although I thought there were a few sound problems (which I'll take over having everything pre-tracked anyday), I felt Bruce put on a great show and looked like he was having the time of his life. From all of us who were Born To Run, well done, Boss. If you missed it like me, you can watch it here below.

PART 1



PART 2