Manolo says, speaking of oddballs with talent…Lin Yu Chun..
Everyone is going on about the Whitney imitation, but for the Manolo, the following video is the much better performance…
And now, the question is, what to do with the pudgy, funny-looking, teenaged man-child with the girlish-beautiful voice who likes singing in the foreign language?
Well, the Manolo can think of one very prominent role model for Lin Yu Chun…
Manolo says, and now to make up for the Manolo’s absence, he gives you the incomparable Wilbur Sargunaraj, destined to be perhaps the greatest superstar ever produced by the internets.
Manolo says, about the Who and that “CSI Medley”
Manolo says, literally everything about this video makes the Manolo inexplicably, wonderfully happy.
P.S. From the Manolo’s internet friends at Boing Boing.
Manolo says, why does Manolo love Buenos Aires?
Because only in Buenos Aires do people consider it normal to go dancing at age 100!
P.S. Many thanks to the Manolo’s internet friend Fausta who found this video for the Manolo.
Manolo says, the Manolo, at the behest of his middle-aged, dance-loving friend Herr Professor Dr. von Korncrake, has been looking at the videos of older male dancers, over the age of 50 (such as the good Professor) who are still capable of cutting the rug in vibrant style.
Here is Fred Astaire at age 52.
Gene Kelly at age 53.
Jimmy Cagney at 56 and Bob Hope at 52…
And most amazingly, the great tap dancer Jimmy Slyde at age 71 (trust the Manolo, your really must see this one, especially the section from about 2:10 until about 2:30).
Manolo says, apropo of the Manolo’s recent post about Del Shannon’s Runaway, Manolo’s internet friend Litchee, of the French blog, L’Antre du Fruit Changeant , has alerted the Manolo to the French version of Runaway.
Released in 1974 by the Dutch entertainer Dave, under the title Vanina, this version sold over one million singles in France .
The flashing-crazy, runaway-bride eyes suggest that Dave does not feel Del Shannon’s existential pain.
And here is the 2007 version sung by Julien Doré, for the semi-final round of Nouvelle Star, the French version of American Idol.
(more…)
Manolo says, for the past several days, the Manolo has been obsessed with Del Shannon and his 1961 super smash hit, Runaway, the song the Manolo considers one of the three or four greatest rock and roll songs of all time.
The opening guitar chords and electronic “musitron” interlude of Runaway are still utterly compelling at the distance of nearly fifty years, however, for the Manolo, it the intense and defiant vulnerability in Del Shannon’s voice as he sings his own plaintive lyrics that make this song more than the sum of its parts.
But judge for yourself. Here is the relatively early video of Del Shannon singing Runaway.
And here is the best of the later versions, from 1982 (it begins about one minute in).
