July 30, 2010

Catch a Glimpse of Ray Stevens...

Catch a glimpse of Ray Stevens this weekend as he participates in two distinctly different programs. One of the programs, Marvin Hamlisch Presents the 1970's: The Way We Were, airs on PBS starting Saturday July 31st. The special will air at various times throughout August as well. The program will air as part of the fund raising campaigns which PBS stations have long presented on a semi-regular basis. The concept of PBS has to do with public funding...Public Broadcasting System. I'm sure everyone knows all about PBS fund raisers, or, pledge breaks as they're called. This time around the Hamlisch special will be featured during a pledge break. Ray will perform "Everything Is Beautiful", his #1 hit from 1970. There will be a DVD which will feature an additional performance from Ray, his #1 from 1974, "The Streak". As I mentioned in a previous blog entry I have no idea if Ray will talk or give retrospective thoughts of the 1970's or if he's just there to sing. There will be a lot of other artists and acts from that decade, of course, featured on the special but since this is my Ray Stevens fan created blog page I focus on Ray Stevens...obviously! This special was taped back on March 17th of this year.

The second program that'll feature Ray this weekend is the Grand Ole Opry. Ray will make a guest appearance this Saturday during the 8:15pm-8:45pm time slot, Central time. In the east the segment will air between 9:15pm and 9:45pm. The host of the segment is Jeannie Seely and the other artists performing that half hour will be the Opry Square Dancers. Chances are that Ray will get to sing a couple of songs...maybe 3. We'll hear it this Saturday via WSM radio's audio link and find out for ourselves what all Ray will perform. The station streams it's programming on-line. Will this live Opry appearance compete with his taped appearance on the Hamlisch PBS special? It's difficult to tell. The way I see it Ray's portion of the Hamlish special won't air until mid-way through...and with pledge breaks on PBS it's possible that one can listen to Ray's Opry appearance on Saturday night and then switch to a PBS station in their viewing area and track down the Hamlisch special and catch Ray on television. I'll be keeping track of both programs during that 8:15pm-8:45pm time frame this Saturday. A lot of you may not have the opportunity to see the PBS special this Saturday...it all depends on where you live. Some PBS stations won't air it until August...so for those Ray Stevens fans who've checked their local PBS web-sites and discovered that the Hamlisch special doesn't air this Saturday don't fret because there should be a lot of other airings in August so check your local PBS web-site's list of programming frequently. Although as I mentioned I'm way more interested in Ray Stevens' participation in the special...those who are nostalgic for the '70s will also enjoy the show.

July 23, 2010

Ray Stevens: Let's Rewind and Fast Forward...

Good Friday mid-morning to all Ray Stevens fans out there. Today I felt like playing rewind and fast-forward. As a child of the '80s I'm all too familiar with cassette tape...although CD's also have a rewind and fast-forward feature, no two words, specifically "rewind" and "fast-forward", had ever caused so much annoyance...that is, if it pertained to a cassette tape. I remember many times rewinding and fast-forwarding various cassette tapes, pausing ever so often, and writing down the words. Way back in the old days for me that was how I could remember song lyrics...I'd write them out on a piece of paper. As time went by I learned to remember lyrics through repetitious playing of the songs. Even though I don't memorize songs anymore I still remember the lyrics to all of the Ray Stevens songs that I learned...but nowadays it isn't something that I do. Admittedly, though, as an adult I simply don't have the time or desire to consume myself with songs over and over...it's something most kids and teenagers participate in still...but I've passed that stage. When it comes to Ray Stevens, though, I find myself remembering lyrics here and there of his modern material but as far as knowing lyrics word for word it doesn't come as easy.

Let's rewind now...I know all of the lyrics to the songs on the above Collectors Series release. I happened to obtain this collection while I was a teenager in the early '90s. The songs on this collection all come from RCA Records...the label Ray recorded for during the early '80s. This is still the only compilation release featuring exclusively RCA material. His RCA albums have yet to be re-issued in CD or Mp3 format and if you come across a CD version of this grab it! The collection was originally released in 1985 and then it was re-issued in 1987 which is what you see here. As I mentioned in previous blog entries the only difference between the 1985 and 1987 versions is "One More Last Chance" is featured in the 1985 release while "Put It In Your Ear" takes it's place in the 1987 re-issue.

Let's fast-forward now...over 20 years later...2010 marks the year that Ray returns to Branson, Missouri. This time around, as I mentioned in a previous blog, he's the headliner at The Welk Theater for a month of concerts starting on September 15th and running almost non-stop through October 23rd. He'll have some breathers, of course...there's a couple of times where he isn't in concert there for 4 days and then there's another stretch where he takes almost a week off...so there will be plenty of days off...but for the most part he'll be busy as ever as he gets back into the routine of stage shows once again. Also, 12 of the concert dates will feature two shows...there will be a 2pm concert and an 8pm concert. The other 12 concerts will start up at 8pm. Below is a You Tube commercial promoting the concert series...



A few months ago there was another video commercial promoting Ray's upcoming concerts but in that commercial it used audio clips and other related material. In this commercial, as you can see, Ray participated in it. For those who don't know...the name of Welk carries a certain, distinct image for a lot of the older age bracket and so in the commercial Ray plays up that upper-crest/affluent image. A lot of the younger people may not know of Lawrence Welk and so it helps to know that bit of information when you watch the commercial. I shouldn't know who Lawrence Welk was...given my age...but I'm a nostalgia nut and that explains that.

July 4, 2010

Ray Stevens freezes Global Warming...

Hello all Ray Stevens fans! A few days ago, specific date being June 29, Ray uploaded a new music video on You Tube. This time around Ray tackles climate change in "The Global Warming Song". The story is about a couple of brothers who buy into the climate change hype and decide to move to the South Pole anticipating the metamorphosis from a frozen tundra to a tropical paradise. I've mentioned this song in a few other blog entries but for those who don't have the time to sift through the archives I'll reveal that the two brothers have the last name of Gullible. As you watch the video you'll see a lot of sight gag references to Al Gore and there's a banner that runs along the bottom of the video delivering "breaking news". The news items are all based on current events...with the last "news item" being the most hilarious. If you can't read the news items that run along the bottom of the screen you can always go to You Tube's site and watch the bigger sized video. I shrink the videos that I paste in my blogs for one obvious reason: I don't want the video to spill over onto my sidebar notes.