Isn't it always the luck...just when we thought the warmer, summer weather would be something of an antidote for COVID-19's impact, at least that's what all medical professionals were predicting, here we go with several spikes of COVID-19 in multiple states in various parts of the country. As I've often remarked on here and elsewhere there's something to be said about spikes in cases and if those led to hospitalization and or death within a quarantine time frame (usually 2 weeks). If, at the end of an individual's quarantine, they weren't admitted into an ICU or they didn't pass away then it shows even more data that the virus can cure itself on it's own.
"Quarantined" is nearing 700,000 unique views. As of this writing it's obtained 694,382 unique views. This is a pickup of 8,017 from a previous blog entry. It's been on YouTube for a month and two days (having debuted on May 25th). When it comes to social media that's a lengthy amount of time but it's still bringing in unique views by the thousands and I predict it'll push beyond the 700,000 unique view plateau as we head into Monday...maybe sooner. Oh, by the way, the episode of Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville airing locally here on PBS in three minutes (8pm) is the episode guest starring John Michael Montgomery.
June 27, 2020
Ray Stevens sings "You Are So Beautiful"...
It's me once more!! The late '70s time period in the career of Ray Stevens, for me, is truly fascinating but yet I think the same way about any period of his career. However, that late '70s period takes a lot of priority for me because of how scarce and limited his music from that time period has become. It's a period of time where he was on Warner Brothers.
"You Are So Beautiful" was Ray's debut single for Warner Brothers in 1976. He joined the label after a five year stay at Barnaby Records. This is the label upon which he began publishing his songs under the name, Ray Stevens Music, rather than Ahab Music Productions. This is also a period of time where Ray decided to remain bearded rather than clean shaven. He's not appeared without a beard since the early part of 1978. The last studio album featuring clean shaven Ray Stevens on the cover is 1978's There is Something On Your Mind. "You Are So Beautiful" is performed in a country/bluegrass style...a concept used a year earlier for "Misty" which won Ray a Grammy at the 1976 Grammy Awards for 'Best Arrangement'. The performance above is from an early 1980 appearance on Pop! Goes the Country. Ralph Emery would retire as host of this syndicated television show following the 1979-1980 season...bringing to close a 6 and a half year hosting tenure that began in 1974. Tom T. Hall would become the new host at the start of the 1980-1981 season. Ray appeared on several episodes that Tom T. hosted. The show went out of production at the end of the 1982-1983 season.
"You Are So Beautiful" was Ray's debut single for Warner Brothers in 1976. He joined the label after a five year stay at Barnaby Records. This is the label upon which he began publishing his songs under the name, Ray Stevens Music, rather than Ahab Music Productions. This is also a period of time where Ray decided to remain bearded rather than clean shaven. He's not appeared without a beard since the early part of 1978. The last studio album featuring clean shaven Ray Stevens on the cover is 1978's There is Something On Your Mind. "You Are So Beautiful" is performed in a country/bluegrass style...a concept used a year earlier for "Misty" which won Ray a Grammy at the 1976 Grammy Awards for 'Best Arrangement'. The performance above is from an early 1980 appearance on Pop! Goes the Country. Ralph Emery would retire as host of this syndicated television show following the 1979-1980 season...bringing to close a 6 and a half year hosting tenure that began in 1974. Tom T. Hall would become the new host at the start of the 1980-1981 season. Ray appeared on several episodes that Tom T. hosted. The show went out of production at the end of the 1982-1983 season.
Ray Stevens sings "All The Way"...
Hello all...a steamy Saturday afternoon here...several downpours are on the way. As a lot of you long time fans of Ray Stevens may happen to know he recorded a CD titled Ray Stevens Sings Sinatra...Say What?!? in 2008. The CD was released through his own label, Clyde, and originally was only sold through his website. A year later it was released to on-line stores.
The CD is available at Amazon and on Ray's website inside the store. The Amazon site offers the CD and the Mp3...both issued by Curb Records in 2011. Ray's web store offers the original 2008/2009 Clyde Records pressing, which is what I own. There is nothing different between the 2008 pressing and the 2011 pressing other than the recording label credit showing either Clyde Records or Curb Records. You can purchase the Ray Stevens sings Sinatra...Say What?!? CD by clicking HERE. Everything is 20 percent off through the end of this month at Ray's store...so if you're reading this and we're still in the month of June take advantage of the sale. I don't know if the sale is going to be extended through the month of July or not. "All The Way" is one of the songs found on this CD. It's track four of the ten track collection. Ray has performed several songs from this CD on his locally syndicated PBS series, CabaRay Nashville. He performed "That's Life", "Witchcraft", and "Strangers in the Night". When Ray released this 2008 CD there really wasn't any outlet outside of his website to promote his music. Ray hadn't discovered the potential of YouTube, yet, and so this was among a series of CD releases from Ray in the mid to late 2000s that were only familiar to the Ray Stevens fan base. Once he hit YouTube and made a presence for himself on the video hosting site he began promoting older releases. Since then he's balanced his presence on social media with a mixture of all new content and older works that originally slipped by without much publicity/hype...and as a result a lot of people discovered a whole lot of Ray Stevens content they otherwise wouldn't have known existed if not for YouTube. His official YouTube channel went on-line on July 13, 2009...and as of this writing all of his video uploads have received a combined unique view total of 119,514,841!! Yeah, yeah...someone out there will probably not be impressed and go "so what?" but that kind of attitude isn't welcome on this fan created Ray Stevens blog page.
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| Me and Ray Stevens Sings Sinatra CD.. |
June 26, 2020
Ray Stevens: Obamacare makes Headlines again...
Hello all!! Some topical news broke at some point yesterday evening that there's going to be another effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. This blog entry is being written in a manner upon which I have limited information, so far, about the latest attempt from Congressional GOP members to remove it. I caught a headline on-line from a news service but didn't read the details of the article yet. The last time Obamacare was in the national headlines, in a big way, happened to be when the Supreme Court, in a most bizarre word parsing decision, upheld Obamacare as Constitutional by way of the Commerce Clause...even though the premise of the bill that became law had nothing to do with interstate commerce. Obama's lawyers framed the law as a "tax" and therefore it was Constitutional even though nowhere in the law does it say it's a tax increase.
In case you're new to this blog entry I encourage you to read the information located off to the right hand side underneath my photo. Although this is a blog page centered around the music, life, and career of Ray Stevens it's written from this fan's point of view and the information and opinions expressed shouldn't be interpreted as official representation of Ray, his family, friends, or his business associates.
Ray sang about Obamacare...he sang a lot about Obamacare and the Obama Administration between the years of 2009 and 2014. Now that we have Obama's Vice President running for President in 2020 I think it only fair to remind people why Biden will be wrong for the United States and how it would be an Obama third term. Front and center is Obamacare! If Biden gets in Obamacare will continue to get interwoven into the fabric of the medical community that it'll become even more complex to simply erase it's existence. If Biden gets in you can also say goodbye to America as we know it and I'm not exaggerating...I'm looking at what I see going on now.
"If You Like Your Plan" is one of several Obamacare songs from Ray Stevens. This particular song debuted in September 2014 on YouTube. The actual date was September 22, 2014 and as of this writing it's gotten 466,264 unique views. The song's title is based on a catchphrase attached to the Obama Administration when Obamacare was being drafted in the Congress. The song features vocal snippets and images of Obama at the beginning of the video touting that people had the choice of keeping their current healthcare plan and their family doctor and that Obamacare wouldn't play any role in shaping existing healthcare plans or premiums in the private sector...which were lies then and are lies still today.
Recalling the Obama/Biden-era of corruption is important because Joe Biden was involved every step of the way. Think long and hard if you're seriously thinking of voting for Biden in November...his vision for America is just as destructive as both Obama and the radical Marxists who've been taking to the streets for over a month. Let it sink in. Biden hasn't spoken out against anything that's been taking place...he speaks out against Trump, which he's obligated to do as an opponent, but he hasn't given any long form discussion about what his Administration would look like nor has he been asked any questions that require decisive answers. Biden can't say certain things, publicly, for fear of losing a segment of society that the Democrats are pandering to this election cycle and so if pressed to answer tough questions (about police reform; racial issues; COVID-19; healthcare; the military) he'll more than likely not give a concise answer and will likely dance around the question with a vague answer. Trump's opinions are perfectly clear and he defends his positions on a wide variety of issues...and he says how he feels. Contrast that to Biden...whose opinions and feelings aren't necessarily clear and he often doesn't state how he truly feels about anything except on rare moments when he reveals pieces of his true personality (which are quickly explained away by his staffers). His opinions are poll tested and so he says what a research consultant group thinks people want to hear. Trump is honest and speaks from the heart...you can visibly see it...while Biden is a charade and speaks words...and you can visibly see that, too.
In case you're new to this blog entry I encourage you to read the information located off to the right hand side underneath my photo. Although this is a blog page centered around the music, life, and career of Ray Stevens it's written from this fan's point of view and the information and opinions expressed shouldn't be interpreted as official representation of Ray, his family, friends, or his business associates.
Ray sang about Obamacare...he sang a lot about Obamacare and the Obama Administration between the years of 2009 and 2014. Now that we have Obama's Vice President running for President in 2020 I think it only fair to remind people why Biden will be wrong for the United States and how it would be an Obama third term. Front and center is Obamacare! If Biden gets in Obamacare will continue to get interwoven into the fabric of the medical community that it'll become even more complex to simply erase it's existence. If Biden gets in you can also say goodbye to America as we know it and I'm not exaggerating...I'm looking at what I see going on now.
"If You Like Your Plan" is one of several Obamacare songs from Ray Stevens. This particular song debuted in September 2014 on YouTube. The actual date was September 22, 2014 and as of this writing it's gotten 466,264 unique views. The song's title is based on a catchphrase attached to the Obama Administration when Obamacare was being drafted in the Congress. The song features vocal snippets and images of Obama at the beginning of the video touting that people had the choice of keeping their current healthcare plan and their family doctor and that Obamacare wouldn't play any role in shaping existing healthcare plans or premiums in the private sector...which were lies then and are lies still today.
Recalling the Obama/Biden-era of corruption is important because Joe Biden was involved every step of the way. Think long and hard if you're seriously thinking of voting for Biden in November...his vision for America is just as destructive as both Obama and the radical Marxists who've been taking to the streets for over a month. Let it sink in. Biden hasn't spoken out against anything that's been taking place...he speaks out against Trump, which he's obligated to do as an opponent, but he hasn't given any long form discussion about what his Administration would look like nor has he been asked any questions that require decisive answers. Biden can't say certain things, publicly, for fear of losing a segment of society that the Democrats are pandering to this election cycle and so if pressed to answer tough questions (about police reform; racial issues; COVID-19; healthcare; the military) he'll more than likely not give a concise answer and will likely dance around the question with a vague answer. Trump's opinions are perfectly clear and he defends his positions on a wide variety of issues...and he says how he feels. Contrast that to Biden...whose opinions and feelings aren't necessarily clear and he often doesn't state how he truly feels about anything except on rare moments when he reveals pieces of his true personality (which are quickly explained away by his staffers). His opinions are poll tested and so he says what a research consultant group thinks people want to hear. Trump is honest and speaks from the heart...you can visibly see it...while Biden is a charade and speaks words...and you can visibly see that, too.
June 25, 2020
Ray Stevens: "Quarantined"...a month later...
It's me once again!! Today marks the anniversary of "Quarantined" making it's debut on social media. It was one month ago, on May 25th, that Ray Stevens debuted his COVID-19 novelty song, "Quarantined", in video format. I'd been keeping up to date on it's performance and as of this writing the video has 686,365 unique views. This is an increase of 11,087 since my previous blog entry.
The video's debut coincided with the horrific murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis...yes, it's been exactly one month since his murder was captured on camera and one month since anarchy, chaos, and a tidal wave of Marxist anti-American sentiment has taken center stage in our country. I address these political/topical issues from time to time...and in my way of thinking I feel you all share similar thoughts as I do and so that's why I don't hesitate to sometimes vent when I see things happening in the country. "Quarantined" is a comical song...but it's also social commentary...and with that in mind hopefully you'll interpret this as my way of venting my frustration with some social commentary of my own:
The anti-American socialist groups have been simmering under the radar for decades here in America but the murder of George Floyd enabled those radical anti-American socialist groups to latch onto the genuine outrage of the murder and use it to their Marxist advantage and become way more vocal and have much more of a presence than previously obtainable. Early on the rioters focused on destroying and burning businesses because the very word, 'business', represents capitalism, a naughty word in the minds of socialists and communists. Then, in the guise of their combating perceived racial injustice, Confederate statues and flags were removed from public display...mostly all of them violently toppled by angry Marxists...and once the rioters got the ball rolling on destroying business and Confederate statues they shifted to destroying iconic images of America's founding and heritage and toppling statues of Union soldiers (the Union fought against the Confederacy over slavery in the Civil War). These rioters are interested in the complete destruction of America's past...and they want to be in charge of America's future...and with the help of liberal politicians and a Joe Biden presidency (I shudder at the thought) well, if he becomes President, the Marxists will be praised and welcomed with open arms at the White House.
June 22, 2020
Ray Stevens: COVID-19 and "Quarantined"...
Hello all the Ray Stevens fans! Just when you think COVID-19 was pushed from the headlines here we go again...more panic and fear being spread due to rises in cases...ensuring more and more total control over our social lives by local and State Government.
The COVID-19 pandemic isn't something to take lightly, of course, but as I've mentioned time and time again the local and State Government across the country do not want to ease up on their power. Although the State Government has this kind of power granted to them during times of a pandemic you can tell which State Government relishes that power rather than seek for ways to return the power to the people. Every time we get to the end of one of these Phases in the re-opening process it never fails that a Governor will wait to the last possible second to declare the next month remain under lock-down...Tennessee, which I don't live in, but it's an important state given Ray Stevens resides there, they're even thinking about reverting back to Phase One. Indoor gatherings have long been a target of the medical community.
The uncertainty of indoor gatherings in a COVID-19 plagued country played a big part in the President's Tulsa rally this past Saturday. While the venue itself was 2/3 full a lot of supporters chose to stay home and watch the rally on-line or on television. The rally was carried in it's entirety on Fox News where it drew over 7 million viewers while social media streaming seen the rally pickup viewers in the multi-millions as well. I point this out because too much of the focus was on the less than full venue. The reason so much media focus is on the turnout is, quite frankly, to embarrass the President for saying the rally would attract millions of people to the venue...those kinds of numbers were gained through television and on-line viewing...rather than in-person. So, then, with the left leaning media having a field day embarrassing the President for the in-person turnout but failing to report on the rally's television and internet performance, which were in the millions, it once again shows the media bias on full display. The digital numbers also sent a powerful statement that the President hasn't lost his support or hasn't lost any enthusiasm among the people for his re-election...even though COVID-19 fears and concerns impacted in-person attendance. The next rally should definitely be held outside and like this past Saturday's rally it should be televised and streamed, too. I wonder if the protesters are contracting COVID-19?? Why aren't the Governor's throwing a fit about that? It's a rhetorical question I asked in previous blog entries. The liberals feel that protests are altruistic regardless of COVID-19 whereas they feel a rally is selfish and a super spreader of COVID-19. Can a virus distinguish between a crowd of anti-police, anti-Trump protesters and a crowd of pro-police, pro-Trump supporters?
When I posted about the Ray Stevens "Quarantined" music video several days ago it was sitting at 651,025 unique views. The most recent unique views show the video with 675,278...a pickup of 24,253!!
Since COVID-19 is getting all kinds of headlines again it's hard to tell when or if the CabaRay will re-open this calendar year. It opened for the 2020 season in March (it's third season) but after it's opening weekend (in which concert proceeds went to Tennessee tornado victims), the CabaRay permanently shut down due to COVID-19 mandates from the Tennessee Government and the State Health Department and it hasn't been open since.
The COVID-19 pandemic isn't something to take lightly, of course, but as I've mentioned time and time again the local and State Government across the country do not want to ease up on their power. Although the State Government has this kind of power granted to them during times of a pandemic you can tell which State Government relishes that power rather than seek for ways to return the power to the people. Every time we get to the end of one of these Phases in the re-opening process it never fails that a Governor will wait to the last possible second to declare the next month remain under lock-down...Tennessee, which I don't live in, but it's an important state given Ray Stevens resides there, they're even thinking about reverting back to Phase One. Indoor gatherings have long been a target of the medical community.
The uncertainty of indoor gatherings in a COVID-19 plagued country played a big part in the President's Tulsa rally this past Saturday. While the venue itself was 2/3 full a lot of supporters chose to stay home and watch the rally on-line or on television. The rally was carried in it's entirety on Fox News where it drew over 7 million viewers while social media streaming seen the rally pickup viewers in the multi-millions as well. I point this out because too much of the focus was on the less than full venue. The reason so much media focus is on the turnout is, quite frankly, to embarrass the President for saying the rally would attract millions of people to the venue...those kinds of numbers were gained through television and on-line viewing...rather than in-person. So, then, with the left leaning media having a field day embarrassing the President for the in-person turnout but failing to report on the rally's television and internet performance, which were in the millions, it once again shows the media bias on full display. The digital numbers also sent a powerful statement that the President hasn't lost his support or hasn't lost any enthusiasm among the people for his re-election...even though COVID-19 fears and concerns impacted in-person attendance. The next rally should definitely be held outside and like this past Saturday's rally it should be televised and streamed, too. I wonder if the protesters are contracting COVID-19?? Why aren't the Governor's throwing a fit about that? It's a rhetorical question I asked in previous blog entries. The liberals feel that protests are altruistic regardless of COVID-19 whereas they feel a rally is selfish and a super spreader of COVID-19. Can a virus distinguish between a crowd of anti-police, anti-Trump protesters and a crowd of pro-police, pro-Trump supporters?
When I posted about the Ray Stevens "Quarantined" music video several days ago it was sitting at 651,025 unique views. The most recent unique views show the video with 675,278...a pickup of 24,253!!
Since COVID-19 is getting all kinds of headlines again it's hard to tell when or if the CabaRay will re-open this calendar year. It opened for the 2020 season in March (it's third season) but after it's opening weekend (in which concert proceeds went to Tennessee tornado victims), the CabaRay permanently shut down due to COVID-19 mandates from the Tennessee Government and the State Health Department and it hasn't been open since.
June 20, 2020
Ray Stevens: June 20, 1970...
Hello all fans of Ray Stevens!! Today is a milestone anniversary...it was on June 20, 1970 that the summer replacement television show for Andy Williams made it's debut on NBC-TV. The night of June 20, 1970...50 years ago...along came Andy Williams Presents...The Ray Stevens Show???. Ray had been a national recording artist for more than 10 years when he was selected to host the 1970 summer show but his presence on television was limited to local appearances as well as occasional guest appearances on Andy's television program beginning in 1969.
Ray's guest appearances, according to Andy and the producers, were the most popular and so Ray was given the opportunity to host the nationally televised summer show in 1970. Some of the cast members on Ray's summer show were British entertainer Lulu, Mama Cass Elliot, Dick Curtis, Carol Robinson, and Steve Martin. The summer show's theme song was "Everything is Beautiful" which had recently hit number one for Ray on the Hot 100 pop chart and the Easy-Listening chart and it happened to be a million seller.
Earlier today a video clip surfaced on YouTube of the first six minutes of the debut episode of Ray's summer 1970 show. Ray has uploaded other clips from the 1970 series on YouTube throughout the last couple of years but given today marks a special anniversary it makes sense to upload a clip from the debut episode and so that's what they did. Ray performs "Everything is Beautiful" and appears in a brief comical sketch afterward.
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| 1970 summer show title card |
Earlier today a video clip surfaced on YouTube of the first six minutes of the debut episode of Ray's summer 1970 show. Ray has uploaded other clips from the 1970 series on YouTube throughout the last couple of years but given today marks a special anniversary it makes sense to upload a clip from the debut episode and so that's what they did. Ray performs "Everything is Beautiful" and appears in a brief comical sketch afterward.
June 17, 2020
Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" remains Steady...
Can you believe the hypocrisy at play when Blue State Governors praise protesting and violence which includes hundreds and thousands of people close together and marching throughout neighborhoods...but in the same breath continue to be so overbearing when it comes to their mandates on COVID-19 crowd restrictions? It's blatant hypocrisy...for all to see...and yet they stand there at their podiums or sit there behind a table and dictate their mandates concerning crowd control and mass gathering rules. A rise in "cases" of COVID-19 is currently being discussed and used for political purposes. There are many who think a rise in cases means the virus remains uncontrollable and is something to fear. However, there are even more who think a rise in cases is a result of increased testing availability...but if you remove the amount of cases from the data and look at total hospitalizations or deaths from COVID-19 it's well under the staggering amount of infections the medical experts were predicting back in late February and early March. No, there isn't a vaccine or a proven therapeutic for COVID-19, but medical data continues to show that it's not the deadly contagious virus it was predicted to be. I haven't come across any information to explain how the virus wasn't as deadly here in the U.S. as it happened to be in other parts of the world. The panic and fear surrounding COVID-19 could be justified when cases began to dramatically show up in early Spring...but that mindset should've evolved over the course of the last several months as more medical data has accumulated. Nobody on June 17th should feel about COVID-19 the same way they did on March 17th. The panic and fear should have subsided significantly by now.
The on-going medical and political debate surrounding COVID-19 continues to rage here in mid June. State Governors, State Government, local mayors, local Government, and Federal Government continually seem at odds over how to re-open. When you factor in all kinds of opinion from the medical community...who largely influence those in public office...it's a recipe for disaster. There's also a disconnect between the medical community and those who run large and small businesses.
You will no doubt see examples of professors and scientists on television supporting or opposing whatever a State Government is doing when it comes to COVID-19. A cable news channel who pushes a liberal ideology will obviously have on 'experts' that oppose the idea of re-opening "too soon" whereas a cable news channels that pushes a conservative ideology will have on 'experts' who are usually in favor of re-opening, but, gradually...with the understanding that those in the medical profession aren't economic professionals...and a country needs a thriving economy.
This is why medical experts shouldn't be influencing Government policies. They should give advice but shouldn't actively participate in the legislative process...and by that I mean the medical community shouldn't be giving public speeches for or against policy decisions. Their only role is to advise...it's not to publicly disclose their personal opinions and react to the actions of a Governor or the President. When the medical community does this they're, in effect, being a political medical organization rather than a neutral medical organization. The maddening thing for so many of us is the fact that medical doctors who advise State and Federal Government are not elected to those positions and therefore can't be held accountable to voters.
The "Quarantined" music video from Ray Stevens remains steady...it continues to rack up unique views. A previous blog entry shown that the video had obtained 631,837 unique views. The number this morning is 651,025...a pickup of 19,188.
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| "Two more weeks of Quarantine..."; 2020 |
You will no doubt see examples of professors and scientists on television supporting or opposing whatever a State Government is doing when it comes to COVID-19. A cable news channel who pushes a liberal ideology will obviously have on 'experts' that oppose the idea of re-opening "too soon" whereas a cable news channels that pushes a conservative ideology will have on 'experts' who are usually in favor of re-opening, but, gradually...with the understanding that those in the medical profession aren't economic professionals...and a country needs a thriving economy.
This is why medical experts shouldn't be influencing Government policies. They should give advice but shouldn't actively participate in the legislative process...and by that I mean the medical community shouldn't be giving public speeches for or against policy decisions. Their only role is to advise...it's not to publicly disclose their personal opinions and react to the actions of a Governor or the President. When the medical community does this they're, in effect, being a political medical organization rather than a neutral medical organization. The maddening thing for so many of us is the fact that medical doctors who advise State and Federal Government are not elected to those positions and therefore can't be held accountable to voters.
The "Quarantined" music video from Ray Stevens remains steady...it continues to rack up unique views. A previous blog entry shown that the video had obtained 631,837 unique views. The number this morning is 651,025...a pickup of 19,188.
June 16, 2020
Ray Stevens: Mid 1980s television commercials...
It's me once again! Earlier today Ray Stevens uploaded one of his mid 1980s television commercials for a local Toyota dealer in Nashville, TN. I don't know if the commercial is from 1985 or 1986...could be 1984 or 1987. One thing is certain: it's the mid 1980s. He uploaded another mid 1980s commercial he did for Nashville's Toyota not too long ago...but this one is officially referred to on YouTube as Toyota Commercial 2. Note the special guests that appear in the commercial playing the bouncers. They look like Wrestlers but I can't think of their names.
The one he uploaded back on May 1st is below...
The two commercials had originally appeared on YouTube 6 years ago in a single upload. As you can tell the previously uploaded commercials were re-uploaded, but this time, separately. Ray also uploaded a Flav-O-Rich television commercial from the early 1980s. It features another boy, this one with dark hair, acting as his son. In a previous upload a boy with lighter hair was acting as his son. The message in both of those commercials are largely the same...there's an abundance of saccharine in the presentation of the commercial as is typically the case when children take center stage in commercials. In a previous commercial Ray and the kid spoke of frozen cows...this time they discuss a busy cow...
The one he uploaded back on May 1st is below...
The two commercials had originally appeared on YouTube 6 years ago in a single upload. As you can tell the previously uploaded commercials were re-uploaded, but this time, separately. Ray also uploaded a Flav-O-Rich television commercial from the early 1980s. It features another boy, this one with dark hair, acting as his son. In a previous upload a boy with lighter hair was acting as his son. The message in both of those commercials are largely the same...there's an abundance of saccharine in the presentation of the commercial as is typically the case when children take center stage in commercials. In a previous commercial Ray and the kid spoke of frozen cows...this time they discuss a busy cow...
Ray Stevens: Feathered Fanfare...
It's been a scorching hot couple of days here!! I'd been awaiting my roof repair for a couple of days and today the workers shown up and replaced the shingles. The shingles had been on the roof since we bought the house 20 years ago. Well, enough of the personal discussion...it's time to discuss the reason you're reading this and the reason why I'm writing this fan created blog...time to discuss Country Music Hall of Fame member, Ray Stevens!!
Several days ago Ray's social media sites put up an audio of his 1985 recording, "Thus Cacked Henrietta". The title of this blog entry is in reference to the music often referred to as a fanfare in a longer piece of music from Richard Strauss in the late 1800s. If you've ever seen the movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, then you'll immediately recognize the music. It's closely associated with Elvis, too.
The music was released as "Also sprach Zarathustra" and while Ray keeps the arrangement of the fanfare intact he comically performs as a choir of chickens...much in the same way he did "In the Mood" and it's B-side, "Classical Cluck", late in 1976. On that vinyl single the performance was credited as the Henhouse Five Plus Too. "Sunrise" is the official title of the fanfare in "Thus sprach Zarathustra". Ray's "Thus Cacked Henrietta" was his final recording from the choir of chickens and additional farm animals. He would go on to incorporate chickens in later recordings but this was his third and, to date, final chicken clucking performance.
Several days ago Ray's social media sites put up an audio of his 1985 recording, "Thus Cacked Henrietta". The title of this blog entry is in reference to the music often referred to as a fanfare in a longer piece of music from Richard Strauss in the late 1800s. If you've ever seen the movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, then you'll immediately recognize the music. It's closely associated with Elvis, too.
The music was released as "Also sprach Zarathustra" and while Ray keeps the arrangement of the fanfare intact he comically performs as a choir of chickens...much in the same way he did "In the Mood" and it's B-side, "Classical Cluck", late in 1976. On that vinyl single the performance was credited as the Henhouse Five Plus Too. "Sunrise" is the official title of the fanfare in "Thus sprach Zarathustra". Ray's "Thus Cacked Henrietta" was his final recording from the choir of chickens and additional farm animals. He would go on to incorporate chickens in later recordings but this was his third and, to date, final chicken clucking performance.
June 14, 2020
Ray Stevens sings "I'm My Own Grandpaw"...
Hello all...I was going to write a blog entry about something else that appeared on social media from Ray Stevens within the last several days but while I was writing the blog entry prior to this one Ray uploaded a video performance from CabaRay Nashville of "I'm My Own Grandpaw". Ray had recorded this song for his 1987 novelty album, Crackin' Up. I was not aware, back then, of the song's lengthy history and so I assumed it was a new song Ray had recorded for that album. I was 10 years old going on 11 when the 1987 album was released. "I'm My Own Grandpaw" dates back to 1947 and the novelty duo, Lonzo and Oscar. The two of them, along with Homer and Jethro, were massively popular novelty acts in country music. In fact Homer and Jethro, as well as an assorted list of recording acts in both country and pop, did versions of "I'm My Own Grandpaw". I'm using the spelling as 'grandpaw' because that is how it's spelled on Crackin' Up and it's the spelling used on a lot of releases of the song by other recording acts in an attempt at visual humor. Ray mentions that the story of the song was inspired by anecdotes attributed to Mark Twain that one of the song's writers came across. The song's writers are Moe Jaffe and Dwight Latham.
Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" video Re-Cap...
It's me once again!! It's hard to believe this is my first fan-created Ray Stevens blog entry in four days!! In my last blog entry back on June 10th I reported that the unique views for "Quarantined" had gotten more than 600,000. I haven't been off-line or anything but I decided to pace out the blog entries given how many I'd written within a two to three week period...nearly all of it centering around Ray's "Quarantined" video. I'll be writing another blog entry later today...more than likely I'll probably start writing it after I publish this one...
"Quarantined", in the last four days, has racked up 30,487 additional unique views. This brings the overall total of unique views to 631,837! The video's fourth week on social media begins tomorrow. It debuted May 25th on YouTube. I'm still anxiously awaiting any kind of information surrounding his next music project. It's my opinion that perhaps Ray is waiting until he's able to re-open the CabaRay before he'll release his latest project. I say that because he might be waiting until he's able to perform his newly recorded songs for the audience at the CabaRay before they become widely available to the general public. That's just my guess as to why the new music hasn't seen a release yet. I don't know if "Quarantined" is going to be part of this upcoming release or if it'll be part of some other project he might simultaneously be working on.
"Quarantined", in the last four days, has racked up 30,487 additional unique views. This brings the overall total of unique views to 631,837! The video's fourth week on social media begins tomorrow. It debuted May 25th on YouTube. I'm still anxiously awaiting any kind of information surrounding his next music project. It's my opinion that perhaps Ray is waiting until he's able to re-open the CabaRay before he'll release his latest project. I say that because he might be waiting until he's able to perform his newly recorded songs for the audience at the CabaRay before they become widely available to the general public. That's just my guess as to why the new music hasn't seen a release yet. I don't know if "Quarantined" is going to be part of this upcoming release or if it'll be part of some other project he might simultaneously be working on.
June 10, 2020
Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" pushes beyond 600,000 unique views...
Hello all and as promised in one of my previous blog entries I'm here with an entry centering around the Ray Stevens video, "Quarantined", having now reached the 600,000 unique view plateau on YouTube. The total number of unique views as of this writing is 601,350 and that's a pickup of 2,235 since the last time I looked at the numbers which were 599,115.
If you happened to have read my blog entry about Ray's CabaRay showroom forced to remain closed for the remainder of the month you'll no doubt also recall my commentary surrounding the continued COVID-19 partial lock downs and how I feel a lot of Governor's and mayors are unwilling to ease up on their power in the face of statistics that show the high number of recovery of people who come down with the virus. In that blog entry I posted Davidson County's COVID-19 statistics as of June 9th. In another previous blog entry I wondered how long the lock down, social distance madness would continue...we now know that in Tennessee it'll last throughout the month of June.
If you happened to have read my blog entry about Ray's CabaRay showroom forced to remain closed for the remainder of the month you'll no doubt also recall my commentary surrounding the continued COVID-19 partial lock downs and how I feel a lot of Governor's and mayors are unwilling to ease up on their power in the face of statistics that show the high number of recovery of people who come down with the virus. In that blog entry I posted Davidson County's COVID-19 statistics as of June 9th. In another previous blog entry I wondered how long the lock down, social distance madness would continue...we now know that in Tennessee it'll last throughout the month of June.
Ray Stevens: An Update on the Voter Fraud music video...
It's me once again!! I wasn't intending on composing a blog entry about the Ray Stevens music video, "Grandpa Voted Democrat", until later in the year as we get closer to the national election in November. However, news surfaced throughout yesterday regarding the Georgia primary and what's being described as the voter chaos that ensued as a result of new voting machines. The story isn't necessarily about voter fraud in the basic sense of the definition but it nevertheless plays into a lot of anxiety surrounding the voting process during a pandemic, the concept of mail-in ballots, and the reliability of accuracy heading into a Presidential election this coming November.
If you recall, back in November 2000, Al Gore held the country hostage with constant re-counts of the Florida vote due to chaos at polling places and voters not filling out their ballot correctly in a couple of notable counties. That particular State, in that particular year, stood between him and the White House...and so a re-count was understandable and I believe a re-count was required by Florida law due to the race being so razor thin close...but what become intolerable were the repeated calls for re-counts. It caused the Gore Campaign to appear as if they didn't trust the results because each subsequent re-count always shown George W. Bush the victor. Eventually the Secretary of the State of Florida ended the prolonged series of re-counts in early December by certifying that George W. Bush won the State (by as little as 537 votes) and by doing so it gave him enough Electoral votes to become President in 2000.
The Georgia voter chaos is reported on in this LINK.
In the meantime "Grandpa Voted Democrat" has continued to receive some unique view action on YouTube. In a blog entry I wrote last month (back on May 22nd) I reported that the video had 2,330,401 unique views. When I last visited YouTube the unique views for that video had risen to 2,396,531...a pickup of 66,130 in little less than a month.
If you recall, back in November 2000, Al Gore held the country hostage with constant re-counts of the Florida vote due to chaos at polling places and voters not filling out their ballot correctly in a couple of notable counties. That particular State, in that particular year, stood between him and the White House...and so a re-count was understandable and I believe a re-count was required by Florida law due to the race being so razor thin close...but what become intolerable were the repeated calls for re-counts. It caused the Gore Campaign to appear as if they didn't trust the results because each subsequent re-count always shown George W. Bush the victor. Eventually the Secretary of the State of Florida ended the prolonged series of re-counts in early December by certifying that George W. Bush won the State (by as little as 537 votes) and by doing so it gave him enough Electoral votes to become President in 2000.
The Georgia voter chaos is reported on in this LINK.
In the meantime "Grandpa Voted Democrat" has continued to receive some unique view action on YouTube. In a blog entry I wrote last month (back on May 22nd) I reported that the video had 2,330,401 unique views. When I last visited YouTube the unique views for that video had risen to 2,396,531...a pickup of 66,130 in little less than a month.
Ray Stevens: CabaRay remains Closed...
Hello all...I was hoping for optimism this month regarding COVID-19 and the lock downs as it pertains to Tennessee. I don't live in that State but, obviously, since Ray Stevens lives there that's why I write about their COVID-19 news from time to time. In a Facebook post on Ray's CabaRay page yesterday afternoon there was an update on future concerts. As in the past three months or so it's been announced that the showroom will remain closed for another month. The Facebook post cited the Davidson County Metro Health Department and how there had been an increase in cases during a 14 day period in Phase 2 of re-opening.
I visited the site and looked over their current COVID-19 numbers. The local health department, like most others, are fixated on the number of cases rather than the number of hospitalizations and recoveries. This is the breakdown of numbers and if you're like me you'll wonder why in the world the county continues to remain in partial lock down mode when the numbers don't warrant it:
Total Cases: 67,421
Positive: 6,412
Negative: 61,009
Recovery: 4,897
Death: 73
This scenario is playing out the same way in most every State across the country except in a few exceptions (New York, New Jersey, California). State and local Government remain in panic mode, in fear mode, preferring to remain in total or partial lock down rather than base their guidelines on the real data. In a county that, as of this writing, has had a total of 67,421 cases of COVID-19 in which 61,009 tested negative it means 6,412 tested positive. Of those positive cases 4,897 have recovered. The death total in Davidson County is 73. Their health department reports that there are 1,442 active cases which I'm not too sure what that means. Is it meaning that there are tests awaiting confirmation of whether a person's positive or negative? Anyway, what I'm getting at is the numbers continually show there's a greater chance of recovery once a person contracts the virus and those numbers prove that. A county remaining in partial lock down with a 4,897 recovery out of 6,412 positive cases is insane. In a different perspective look at it like this: The county has 67,421 cases of COVID-19 as of June 9th in which 61,009 tested negative and 6,412 tested positive. 4,897 positive cases have seen a recovery while 73 have died. However way you present the numbers it doesn't, in my opinion, justify keeping the county in partial lock down. You can see those numbers for yourselves when you click the Davidson County Health Department LINK.
It's aggravating. I'm sure it's aggravating to everyone who has to patiently await each daily press conference or read about some health department edict and listen to a local mayor, or the Governor, or some medical representative in hushed tones tell about some tragic COVID-19 story in an effort to keep the public in favor of lock downs. How frustrating it is to enter a new month with optimism only to have to remain in lock down for the rest of the month. A phrase that's gotten lost in the news cycle but it continues to remain relevant: The cure can not be worse than the disease. In the meantime the Ray Stevens video, "Quarantined", continues to get closer to breaking into the 600,000 unique view plateau. As of this writing the unique views sit at 599,115. This is a pickup of 19,018 from my previous blog entry when the video had 580,097 unique views. It's my guess that the video will crack the 600,000 mark later today sometime. Yes, I'll be composing another blog entry once that happens, just in case you're wondering.
I visited the site and looked over their current COVID-19 numbers. The local health department, like most others, are fixated on the number of cases rather than the number of hospitalizations and recoveries. This is the breakdown of numbers and if you're like me you'll wonder why in the world the county continues to remain in partial lock down mode when the numbers don't warrant it:
Total Cases: 67,421
Positive: 6,412
Negative: 61,009
Recovery: 4,897
Death: 73
This scenario is playing out the same way in most every State across the country except in a few exceptions (New York, New Jersey, California). State and local Government remain in panic mode, in fear mode, preferring to remain in total or partial lock down rather than base their guidelines on the real data. In a county that, as of this writing, has had a total of 67,421 cases of COVID-19 in which 61,009 tested negative it means 6,412 tested positive. Of those positive cases 4,897 have recovered. The death total in Davidson County is 73. Their health department reports that there are 1,442 active cases which I'm not too sure what that means. Is it meaning that there are tests awaiting confirmation of whether a person's positive or negative? Anyway, what I'm getting at is the numbers continually show there's a greater chance of recovery once a person contracts the virus and those numbers prove that. A county remaining in partial lock down with a 4,897 recovery out of 6,412 positive cases is insane. In a different perspective look at it like this: The county has 67,421 cases of COVID-19 as of June 9th in which 61,009 tested negative and 6,412 tested positive. 4,897 positive cases have seen a recovery while 73 have died. However way you present the numbers it doesn't, in my opinion, justify keeping the county in partial lock down. You can see those numbers for yourselves when you click the Davidson County Health Department LINK.
It's aggravating. I'm sure it's aggravating to everyone who has to patiently await each daily press conference or read about some health department edict and listen to a local mayor, or the Governor, or some medical representative in hushed tones tell about some tragic COVID-19 story in an effort to keep the public in favor of lock downs. How frustrating it is to enter a new month with optimism only to have to remain in lock down for the rest of the month. A phrase that's gotten lost in the news cycle but it continues to remain relevant: The cure can not be worse than the disease. In the meantime the Ray Stevens video, "Quarantined", continues to get closer to breaking into the 600,000 unique view plateau. As of this writing the unique views sit at 599,115. This is a pickup of 19,018 from my previous blog entry when the video had 580,097 unique views. It's my guess that the video will crack the 600,000 mark later today sometime. Yes, I'll be composing another blog entry once that happens, just in case you're wondering.
June 8, 2020
Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" is nearing 600,000 unique views...
Hello all once more!! In my tracking of the Ray Stevens music video, "Quarantined", we see that it's nearing 600,000 unique views. In my previous blog entry I mentioned that the video had gotten 559,156 unique views. When I stopped by YouTube to check the video stats I discovered that it's now sitting with 580,097. This is a pick-up of 20,941 unique views!
The video continues to rack up unique views at a brisk pace. It's my guess that should this video amass more than 1,000,000 unique views there will be more publicity surrounding it which, in turn, should continue to help increase the unique view total of "Quarantined". I'm still awaiting information surrounding his CabaRay showroom and if local and state COVID-19 restrictions are going to be fully lifted. I was under the impression that dine-in restaurants were allowed to re-open as well as entertainment venues in the State of Tennessee starting sometime late last month or early this month...but so far Nashville activity continues to mirror a COVID-19 restrictive state. I'm also hoping that some more information surfaces surrounding new music...a couple of weeks ago he announced the release of an upcoming box set of newly recorded songs...but there wasn't a time table set on when it would be released.
The video continues to rack up unique views at a brisk pace. It's my guess that should this video amass more than 1,000,000 unique views there will be more publicity surrounding it which, in turn, should continue to help increase the unique view total of "Quarantined". I'm still awaiting information surrounding his CabaRay showroom and if local and state COVID-19 restrictions are going to be fully lifted. I was under the impression that dine-in restaurants were allowed to re-open as well as entertainment venues in the State of Tennessee starting sometime late last month or early this month...but so far Nashville activity continues to mirror a COVID-19 restrictive state. I'm also hoping that some more information surfaces surrounding new music...a couple of weeks ago he announced the release of an upcoming box set of newly recorded songs...but there wasn't a time table set on when it would be released.
June 7, 2020
Ray Stevens: A Dose of laughter in these Maddening Times...
Hello all!! The numbers for the Ray Stevens "Quarantined" video continue to rise on YouTube. In my previous blog entry the unique views were 531,127 and when I checked the numbers a couple of minutes ago it shown 559,156...a pickup of 28,029.
I came across a message earlier this morning that was posted on one of the home page of one of my Facebook friends. The friend had shared a screen cap of a message that appeared on television from healthcare officials concerning COVID-19 and the massive amount of humanity filling these anti-police protests. The health official's position is maddening and I'm posting it here...
You may need to re-read that several times to try and find any shred of common sense. Here you have health officials supporting anti-police protests where people are marching and running around, often arm in arm, and some wearing masks and some not wearing masks, but you have all of these people in small and large cities across the country protesting the police and calling for their de-funding. There's no social distancing...there's absolutely no regard for any of the authoritarian mandates that have been pushed onto the people and hammered into everyone's collective psyche for over three months...and yet here we have health officials/experts releasing a statement stating that the protests aren't going to be condemned and that they're not risky for COVID-19 transmission. Now, let that sink in. Health experts say this mass of humanity marching the streets side by side is perfectly fine but if you happen to be at an amusement park, if there's one that happens to have been given the go ahead to open, health experts say if you're at an amusement park then you must continue to follow all of the COVID-19 protocols and procedures!?! How's that for warped logic?? If you've clicked the video and have listened to "Quarantined" go ahead and replay it...a dose of laughter is needed in these maddening times!
I came across a message earlier this morning that was posted on one of the home page of one of my Facebook friends. The friend had shared a screen cap of a message that appeared on television from healthcare officials concerning COVID-19 and the massive amount of humanity filling these anti-police protests. The health official's position is maddening and I'm posting it here...
 |
| This is Madness! |
You may need to re-read that several times to try and find any shred of common sense. Here you have health officials supporting anti-police protests where people are marching and running around, often arm in arm, and some wearing masks and some not wearing masks, but you have all of these people in small and large cities across the country protesting the police and calling for their de-funding. There's no social distancing...there's absolutely no regard for any of the authoritarian mandates that have been pushed onto the people and hammered into everyone's collective psyche for over three months...and yet here we have health officials/experts releasing a statement stating that the protests aren't going to be condemned and that they're not risky for COVID-19 transmission. Now, let that sink in. Health experts say this mass of humanity marching the streets side by side is perfectly fine but if you happen to be at an amusement park, if there's one that happens to have been given the go ahead to open, health experts say if you're at an amusement park then you must continue to follow all of the COVID-19 protocols and procedures!?! How's that for warped logic?? If you've clicked the video and have listened to "Quarantined" go ahead and replay it...a dose of laughter is needed in these maddening times!
June 5, 2020
Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" re-cap...
Hello once again!! As we embark on another weekend I thought it a perfect time to re-cap "Quarantined", the hit video from Ray Stevens.
The music video hit YouTube on May 25th and since that time it's obtained 531,127 unique views. In a previous blog entry where I included a unique view total it was 505,933. I reported those numbers in the blog entry spotlighting that the video had gotten more than half a million unique views. It's a pick-up of 25,194. In the days following the debut of "Quarantined" Ray has uploaded several other performance clips onto his YouTube channel so as to not entirely focus on the COVID-19 song.
The jobs report was released this morning and it shown an increase in jobs for the month of May (monthly figures reflect the prior month). Now, with several States deciding to re-open nearly everything throughout the month, the jobs report for the month of June (released in early July) should show an even higher improvement. Is COVID-19 going to be something of the past? Could the way of life everyone's been living since mid March finally vanish? It's only a matter of time...and it seems like it's fast approaching!!
The music video hit YouTube on May 25th and since that time it's obtained 531,127 unique views. In a previous blog entry where I included a unique view total it was 505,933. I reported those numbers in the blog entry spotlighting that the video had gotten more than half a million unique views. It's a pick-up of 25,194. In the days following the debut of "Quarantined" Ray has uploaded several other performance clips onto his YouTube channel so as to not entirely focus on the COVID-19 song.
The jobs report was released this morning and it shown an increase in jobs for the month of May (monthly figures reflect the prior month). Now, with several States deciding to re-open nearly everything throughout the month, the jobs report for the month of June (released in early July) should show an even higher improvement. Is COVID-19 going to be something of the past? Could the way of life everyone's been living since mid March finally vanish? It's only a matter of time...and it seems like it's fast approaching!!
June 4, 2020
Ray Stevens: Ray and company sing quarantined "On the Road Again"...
In all things COVID-19 and quarantine there have been all sorts of video and television productions getting around the mandated social distancing and everything else that's come along with the pandemic. Quarantine versions of television programs is something that's come along within the last several weeks. Recording artists that previously never thought to be on-line as much as they are now are finding unique ways of entertaining audiences on live, streaming audio platforms where everyone's participating from remote locations. I had previously mentioned Ray appearing briefly from his recording studio in a video from Charlie Daniels group, Beau Weevils, titled "Geechi Geechi Ya Ya Blues". That video was produced in quarantine fashion.
The Gatlin Brothers (Larry, Steve, and Rudy) have also put out a music video with quarantine overtones. Their video is a cover of "On the Road Again". A sentiment that a lot of traveling recording artists hope to do once State and local governments re-open entertainment venues again. In the video you'll see a whole lot of performers take their turn singing verses and the chorus of Willie Nelson's massive hit. In addition to Ray Stevens there's also, of course, The Gatlins...then there are pop-up appearances from the likes of Aaron Tippin, T.G. Sheppard, Pam Tillis, Charlie Daniels, Terry Bradshaw, and Johnny Bench just to name several. Some of them appear in Willie Nelson attire: bandana and long braided hair. You can watch the Gatlin Brothers video when you click HERE.
The Gatlin Brothers (Larry, Steve, and Rudy) have also put out a music video with quarantine overtones. Their video is a cover of "On the Road Again". A sentiment that a lot of traveling recording artists hope to do once State and local governments re-open entertainment venues again. In the video you'll see a whole lot of performers take their turn singing verses and the chorus of Willie Nelson's massive hit. In addition to Ray Stevens there's also, of course, The Gatlins...then there are pop-up appearances from the likes of Aaron Tippin, T.G. Sheppard, Pam Tillis, Charlie Daniels, Terry Bradshaw, and Johnny Bench just to name several. Some of them appear in Willie Nelson attire: bandana and long braided hair. You can watch the Gatlin Brothers video when you click HERE.
Ray Stevens: A trio performance of Yakety Yak...
Ray Stevens on social media continues to be active...yesterday there arrived a couple of video uploads. In this blog entry I'm highlighting one of those uploads. It's a 1993 performance of "Yakety Yak" on Nashville Now. The performance includes Ray (piano), Chet Atkins (guitar), and Boot Randolph (saxophone). The clip begins with an introduction by show's host, Ralph Emery.
It's my guess that the three of them were scheduled on the same episode, on purpose, given their lengthy history together on recording sessions and the fact that the three of them were involved in recent projects. A year earlier, in 1992, Chet appeared in a very funny sketch titled Chet's Hands which was part of a Ray Stevens VHS release called Amazing Rolling Revue. Boots Randolph had also worked with Ray on an album titled, Boots, released through Ray's Clyde Records label in the early '90s.
The performance, "Yakety Yak", was made famous by one of Ray's favorite groups, The Coasters. Ray recorded the song in 1969 for his Gitarzan album and later on recorded it a second time in 2012 for his Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. Chet Atkins recorded an instrumental and re-titled it "Yakety Axe" (the axe being a reference to the acoustic guitar). Boots Randolph recorded an instrumental and re-titled it "Yakety Sax" (the sax, of course, being a reference to the saxophone). The Boots Randolph version became internationally famous as chase music during the closing credits on the syndicated half hour episodes of The Benny Hill Show.
On a side note: The discount sale at the Ray Stevens on-line store is extended through the end of this month. It was originally going to be good through the month of May but it's been extended. There's a 20 percent discount through the end of June. Here's a LINK.
It's my guess that the three of them were scheduled on the same episode, on purpose, given their lengthy history together on recording sessions and the fact that the three of them were involved in recent projects. A year earlier, in 1992, Chet appeared in a very funny sketch titled Chet's Hands which was part of a Ray Stevens VHS release called Amazing Rolling Revue. Boots Randolph had also worked with Ray on an album titled, Boots, released through Ray's Clyde Records label in the early '90s.
The performance, "Yakety Yak", was made famous by one of Ray's favorite groups, The Coasters. Ray recorded the song in 1969 for his Gitarzan album and later on recorded it a second time in 2012 for his Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. Chet Atkins recorded an instrumental and re-titled it "Yakety Axe" (the axe being a reference to the acoustic guitar). Boots Randolph recorded an instrumental and re-titled it "Yakety Sax" (the sax, of course, being a reference to the saxophone). The Boots Randolph version became internationally famous as chase music during the closing credits on the syndicated half hour episodes of The Benny Hill Show.
On a side note: The discount sale at the Ray Stevens on-line store is extended through the end of this month. It was originally going to be good through the month of May but it's been extended. There's a 20 percent discount through the end of June. Here's a LINK.
Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" has 500,000 unique views...
Hello all!! As the title of this blog entry shows, Ray Stevens "Quarantined" YouTube video has gotten over half a million unique views in a little over a week's time. The video debuted on May 25th and as of this writing the video sits with 505,933. This is an increase of 18,996 unique views since my previous blog entry! The COVID-19 pandemic, as noted in my previous blog entry, had become wiped off the national news landscape for a number of days due to riots and looting in several major U.S. cities as well as protest marches all over the country.
Yesterday and today's newscasts featured some renewed coverage of COVID-19 and the other issues that were pushed to the background. The medical and political figures are at a crossroads...in my opinion something of a turning point with regards to COVID-19. We're either going to have a monumental spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths due to all the protesting and rioting...with so many people abandoning 'social distancing'...or we're not going to have a spike in cases. Either way the medical and political officials will have a lot of explaining to do for what looks like to be an unnecessary, self-imposed near collapse of the economy.
In light of the rioting and protests I don't see how any State Governor, no matter the political party, can honestly hold press conferences and seriously talk about the dangers of people being in a group and how people should remain 6 feet apart if there is no sufficient spike in COVID-19 cases. Also, with so many mayor's and Governors cheering on the protesting, in which many protesters were in total disregard of social distancing and COVID-19, how could those particular public officials cheering it all on possibly continue to enforce social distancing? None of them ever brought up COVID-19 throughout this week of protests, riots, and stand-offs with the police. It's a no-win situation for these mayor's and Governors unless they simply ignore the protests and riots altogether and return to dictating the movement of the nation's people. Here now is the Ray Stevens hit video, "Quarantined"...
Yesterday and today's newscasts featured some renewed coverage of COVID-19 and the other issues that were pushed to the background. The medical and political figures are at a crossroads...in my opinion something of a turning point with regards to COVID-19. We're either going to have a monumental spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths due to all the protesting and rioting...with so many people abandoning 'social distancing'...or we're not going to have a spike in cases. Either way the medical and political officials will have a lot of explaining to do for what looks like to be an unnecessary, self-imposed near collapse of the economy.
In light of the rioting and protests I don't see how any State Governor, no matter the political party, can honestly hold press conferences and seriously talk about the dangers of people being in a group and how people should remain 6 feet apart if there is no sufficient spike in COVID-19 cases. Also, with so many mayor's and Governors cheering on the protesting, in which many protesters were in total disregard of social distancing and COVID-19, how could those particular public officials cheering it all on possibly continue to enforce social distancing? None of them ever brought up COVID-19 throughout this week of protests, riots, and stand-offs with the police. It's a no-win situation for these mayor's and Governors unless they simply ignore the protests and riots altogether and return to dictating the movement of the nation's people. Here now is the Ray Stevens hit video, "Quarantined"...
June 3, 2020
Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" is nearing 500,000 unique views...
It's me once more and in this blog entry, as the title shows, "Quarantined" is nearing half a million unique views in a little more than a week's time. The hit music video debuted on YouTube back on May 25th and in a previous blog entry I mentioned the unique views had reached 427,315...well, an updated look at the unique view number shows "Quarantined" sitting at 486,937! This is a pick-up of 59,622.
It's a remarkable accomplishment considering that the unrest in some of the largest cities across the country have completely pushed COVID-19 and the pandemic from the headlines. A little more than a week ago (May 24th) the dominating news stories were COVID-19 and the illegal leaking and corruption going on within the Obama Administration...but coverage of those important stories were obliterated by another important story...the senseless death of an unarmed man by a police officer...something that sparked outrage all across the country with some form of protest or stand-off with the police taking place. The daily protests which often have turned violent and anarchist in the night hours is on-going...but with a heavy presence of the police and curfews put in place there seems to be something of a calming of the storm.
There are some who are suggesting there might be spikes in cases of COVID-19 by the middle of the month where the protests and rioting took place...because, of course, people were walking, running, and fighting within close proximity to one another with hundreds not even masked...some were masked but some weren't. The confirmed cases of COVID-19, nationally, are 1.7 million. The fatality total, nationally, is over 108,000 and the recovery total, nationally, is more than 421,000 as of June 3rd.
It's a remarkable accomplishment considering that the unrest in some of the largest cities across the country have completely pushed COVID-19 and the pandemic from the headlines. A little more than a week ago (May 24th) the dominating news stories were COVID-19 and the illegal leaking and corruption going on within the Obama Administration...but coverage of those important stories were obliterated by another important story...the senseless death of an unarmed man by a police officer...something that sparked outrage all across the country with some form of protest or stand-off with the police taking place. The daily protests which often have turned violent and anarchist in the night hours is on-going...but with a heavy presence of the police and curfews put in place there seems to be something of a calming of the storm.
There are some who are suggesting there might be spikes in cases of COVID-19 by the middle of the month where the protests and rioting took place...because, of course, people were walking, running, and fighting within close proximity to one another with hundreds not even masked...some were masked but some weren't. The confirmed cases of COVID-19, nationally, are 1.7 million. The fatality total, nationally, is over 108,000 and the recovery total, nationally, is more than 421,000 as of June 3rd.
June 1, 2020
Ray Stevens: "Wichita Lineman" performance at the CabaRay...
Hello all...here's a performance of Ray Stevens on stage at the CabaRay showroom performing "Wichita Lineman". The performance comes from an episode of his locally syndicated PBS series, CabaRay Nashville. The song had been a huge hit for Glen Campbell and as Ray explains in the video clip it was written by Jimmy Webb. Glen recorded a number of songs written by Jimmy Webb and in this clip Ray also makes mention of the session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew, a West Coast version of Nashville's celebrated A-Team of session musicians.
Ray Stevens: "Quarantined" pushes beyond 400,000 unique views...
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