Serious music from some funny men.

After you’ve made your mark in comedy, what do you do for an encore? Apparently make serious music. That’s the case with Christopher Guest who best known for his roles in This Is Spinal Tap, Best In Show and A Mighty Wind. NPR has a story about his serious musician chops as a member of The Beyman Bros, where he plays guitar and mandolin, mandolin cello, and even the clarinet. It’s kinda new age-y free form instrumentals that I would expect to hear at a spa or yoga class. But it’s first class stuff.

Not to be outdone is the serious musical expertise of Steve Martin. He is considered the foremost expert in bluegrass banjo playing. The NY Times article mentions “Mr. Martin is regarded as a master of a difficult five-fingered playing style known as clawhammer or frailing, in which the instrument’s strings are pushed down by fingernails, rather than pulled up with picks.” Amazon is selling his banjo music album “The Crow” and on Youtube there are plenty of examples of his skills, but I love this early example of his banjo playing.

Patrick McGoohan finally escaped

The Prisoner, created by Patrick McGoohan and George Markstein, follows a former British Secret agent who is held captive in “the Village” by mysterious authorities who want to know why he has resigned his position. The series ran for seventeen episodes, from 1967 to 1968, first on the BBC. Star of the cult show, Patrick McGoohan passed away on January 13th. The popularity of the show rivaled that other British fictional character, James Bond. You can watch the entire “Prisoner” series on AMCTV here

Listen to The Times “I helped Patrick McGoohan Escape”

Peppermint Trolley Company "The Brady Bunch Theme"

In 2007, I found this cool video of The Peppermint Trolley Company, an obscure pop band that modeled itself after The Association. They never kept this original “Brady Bunch” theme, because they wanted to have girls sing “It’s the story of a lovely lady…” part. After a single album in 1968, they faded from memory. It’s a shame because they showed potential as a great sunshine pop band, if they emerged a year earlier it might have made a difference.

Dave Dee passed away.

Sixties British pop star Dave Dee has died aged 67 after a long battle with cancer. The former policeman was the lead singer with Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich and enjoyed a string of chart hits including “The Legend of Xanadu,” “Bend It, and “Save Me.” Here is the video of “Bend it” – he was a cult fave of mine. The other hit here is Hold Tight which I posted two years ago. What an underrated band at the time, RIP Dave.

Randy Newman "In Defense of Our Country"

With a new president ready to take office, this video looks back on the Bush years. This song is like a sequel to “Political Science” shown below. Earlier this year I had to show the funniest Newman clip of all time from Family Guy (since removed) and Short People, so Newman’s latest “Harps and Angels” came out in August. The old man still got it.