Hello all you Ray Stevens fans!! I rarely write a blog entry this late in the day but during commercial break from a television show I was watching I decided to check the various social media for anything being written about Ray and I came across a link to an article on People magazine's website. The article was written by Cindy Watts and the time stamp shows it was posted on the internet at 6:20pm. The headline reads: Ray Stevens Declares 'There Ain't Nothing Political About Vaccines'. The article features snippets of a conversation had with Ray about COVID and the vaccines. He relates how much the virus has impacted the entertainment industry and how numerous people within country music have either come down with COVID or have passed away from it or had it in their system at the time they passed away (Charley Pride, Charlie Daniels, John Prine, and Joe Diffie). Ray also mentioned that the virus wasn't taken as seriously in the early months of the pandemic by most. I'd add that a lot of this had to do with the lack of information either being unavailable or being deliberately withheld. I agree with the sentiments expressed in the Ray Stevens article. I myself don't feel that the vaccines themselves are political...if you feel you need a vaccine then get a vaccine...but you should make this decision independent of your political leanings and after consulting with your family doctor or some other healthcare worker.
Ray comes across as not being in favor of the forced vaccinations...and due to the shaming and mandatory vaccination rules going on in select parts of the country it's caused division, anger, and it's invited the inevitability of politics to completely take over the subject of vaccinations. When you have people in public office, such as those in Government, forcing the issue of vaccinations then it's only a matter of time before the politicization of vaccines comes along. You can read the article HERE. Vaccines aren't political, that's true...but they've become politicized thanks to politicians and data skewing public health officials.
I've gotten the COVID vaccine. I got my vaccination a couple of months ago. I voluntarily made the choice to get the vaccination...I wasn't forced, bullied, shamed, or mandated to get it.
When you read that article you'll see publicity for Ray's CabaRay showroom and the impact COVID had in 2020 and much of 2021. There's also mention of the upcoming comedy album, Ain't Nothin' Funny Anymore, which includes "The Quarantine Song" (previously released as a music video in May 2020 and as an audio track the following December). Ray further discusses the comedy album in this write-up and I love what he says about the content of his upcoming album. He's apparently anticipating there will be some people out there who'll frown upon the subject matter of some of the comedy songs. Click the link I provided to see the entire People article. It's great!
Hello all the fans of Ray Stevens!! Exactly one year ago today YouTube gained a brand new music video upload from Ray Stevens titled "Quarantined". The video had been recorded inside Ray's recording studio during his guest appearance on the television series, Larry's Country Diner. The song, if you couldn't tell by it's title, is centered around COVID and the very early stages of the pandemic. A lot of information has surfaced which contradicts a lot of the accepted information at the time...but that's the risk of topical novelty songs...but regardless, like so many Ray Stevens songs the cleverness of the lyrics and the superior feel of the music elevate it above your typical run-of-the-mill, quickly assembled novelty offering. In the case of "Quarantined" we're given a humorous breakdown of a day in the life of someone coping with the rigid stay-at-home orders and consumer rationing of hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and other items. When you listen to the song all these months later it'll have you recalling those oh so fun restrictions and the experience of walking into a shopping store and seeing ration signs on the shelves with 'two to a customer' or 'one item per customer', etc. Remember those long lines to get inside any number of local Wal-Mart stores? In my area you had to wait in line as only a few dozen were allowed inside at a time. In this song, released on May 25th 2020, Ray sings of the COVID misery and how it's upended things in America but is optimistic things will return to normal 'after two more weeks of Quarantine'...wow, the lyric sounds so refreshingly quaint one year later.
In October of 2020 Ray Stevens revealed that he had signed a recording contract with Curb Records. This is a record label he'd recorded for during the first half of the 1990s and then returned a couple of other times in the early 2000s for several releases. The reunion with Curb Records in 2020 stemmed from his duet with Jeannie Seely, "Dance Tonight". Jeannie is an artist signed with Curb Records and a member of the Grand Ole Opry since the early 1960s. It was reported that when Ray and Jeannie recorded their duet together for her album of duets that the powers that be decided to sign Ray to their label once again. Once he returned to the label their first project on him was a 50th anniversary salute of "Everything is Beautiful". He recorded it originally in 1970 and so, for Curb Records, he re-recorded it and a performance music video was released. In addition to this there was a medley, "Everything is Beautiful / United We Stand", which was also turned into a performance music video. These two Mp3 audio releases arrived in October 2020 on the same day the two music videos made their debut online. After the activity of those two releases began to peak on video hosting sites Curb Records issued a digital download of "Quarantined" with a new title, "The Quarantine Song". Ray re-recorded the song and added some more instrumentation and re-phrasing of several lyrics. It's just my opinion but I assume Curb Records wanted their own recording of the song rather than simply using the audio from the music video. The music video had been uploaded on May 25, 2020 and the Mp3 of "The Quarantine Song" became available on December 11, 2020. At the time of the Mp3's release the music video was nearing 3,000,000 unique views on YouTube. It's gotten 3.2 million as of this writing. I've posted the music video numerous times throughout the summer and fall of 2020 and I also shared the performance Ray gave on Mike Huckabee's television show. Here's the music video...uploaded exactly one year ago today...
Hello all you Ray Stevens fans and those that drop by out of curiosity. Earlier this month I did a somewhat brief look ahead into the next year when I found out that brand new music will be forthcoming from Ray in the first half of next year. This blog entry, however, is my annual lookback on the year that's coming to an end and a look ahead into the next year. Now, as many of you can probably already guess, I'm going to start things off by making one of the most predictable announcements...and that announcement is: I can't wait for 2020 to come to and end!! I don't typically say things like that but with the kind of year we've experienced and had to endure who out there isn't longing for 2020 to come to an end?? 2020 will forever be remembered as the year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yes, for those out there who want to get cute, it's not technically a full year yet (that will happen this coming March) but the bottom line is the year of 2020 will be no more this coming Friday morning at the stroke of Midnight!! I don't drink alcohol but I'm sure there will be hundreds of thousands and in some cases millions of people who will celebrate rather heartily among their friends/family on New Year's Eve as everyone is looking forward to putting 2020 in the rear view mirror.
One of the things that I'm hoping will be put to an end in 2021 is the psychologically destructive mind games that the pandemic has afforded a handful of power hungry State Governors and legislatures across the country to engage in. There have been approvals of several COVID-19 vaccines over the last couple of weeks and there have been a lot of vaccinations already. As mentioned, this coming March, it will mark 1 year since the country was upended economically and psychologically by the presence of this COVID virus. In the past 9 months phrases that had never been uttered before have become over-used in 2020: COVID-19, social distance, flatten the curve, stop the spread, and then there's the word, pandemic, which has been used in historical context but in 2020 it become part of everyday language. Oh, and facemasks became an over-used word in 2020. Retail stores and some restaurants shown off the sign: No Shoes, No Shirt, No Facemask, No Service. I have a nagging suspicion that another phrase will be added to that list in the coming weeks where it'll read: No Shoes, No Shirt, No Proof of Vaccination, No Service. I'm hoping it won't become like that but with the fearmongering that's been going on for almost a year it's likely going to push stores, restaurants, and public entertainment venues to discriminate on the basis of whether or not you've been vaccinated. The science shows that the most vulnerable are those over 65 and those with some sort of underlying medical condition...in a country with more than 300,000,000 people the fatality count is below half a million...but statistics like that don't enter into the minds of the power hungry State Governors of which there are many.
In the hopes that COVID-19 will be a thing of the past in the not too distant future, let's also hope that when entertainment venues are given the clearance to begin to allow large gatherings of people inside again, that the psychological damage that's been inflicted on some pockets of the population won't have impacted them so much that they've become afraid to go out in public or be among a crowd of people. There will come a day when life will be back to normal, human nature will dictate that, and businesses both large and small will need the public to feel safe and be convinced "they won't get COVID" if they're seated close to other people inside a sports arena, inside a restaurant, or if they're attending a concert. I know it's not possible to wave a magic wand in 2021 and pretend as if 2020 never existed...although such a thing is probably the single biggest fantasy of many people...but then again there's no reason why 2021 should be a carbon copy of 2020 (believe it or not that's what some medical 'experts' are wishing for!). Ray's COVID-19 hit music video, "The Quarantine Song", has gotten 2.6 million unique views. I hadn't written a blog entry highlighting this jump in unique views because of my recent postings surrounding Christmas. The video was definitely a huge success for Ray Stevens in 2020...and recently Curb Records issued an Mp3 of the song.
So, then, what's in store for the legendary Ray Stevens in 2021?? We know that he'll be releasing new music in the early part of 2021...correspondence told me several weeks ago that some new music videos will also be on the horizon in the first half of 2021. He is also expected to release a massive box set collection on Curb Records in 2021. If you watched the video I embedded several blogs ago where Ray is interviewed at the Musicians Hall of Fame he spoke about this upcoming box set collection. The interview was conducted by the Musicians Hall of Fame director, Joe Chambers. In the meantime, though, there hasn't been any kind of announcement made of when his CabaRay showroom will re-open. He attempted a re-open this past October when Nashville, specifically, lifted some of their lockdown orders but the strict protocols being enforced by local health departments negatively impacted the people from having a great experience and so after one concert he closed down the showroom for a second time. I'm sure he'll re-open the CabaRay at some point early in 2021 and it'll feature a lengthier run of concerts (as it did in 2018 and 2019). I feel almost certain that he isn't going to re-open it until the limited capacity mandates are lifted, the piano bar can be re-opened, and the tables don't have to be spread apart by 6 feet. I'll be on the look-out, as usual, for all things Ray Stevens on the internet and let's hope 2021 will be way better than 2020!! Unless there's any kind of breaking news such as Ray putting out brand new video content I more than likely will compose my next fan created Ray Stevens blog entry on New Year's Eve or on New Year's Day.
Well, hello all...I'm not in the raging panic that I happened to be in when I wrote my previous blog entry. If you go back and read the previous blog entry you'll see me in panic mode...freaking out over not being able to purchase the Mp3 of "The Quarantine Song" just as soon as it hit Midnight. In that blog I made the argument that it's December 11th so why isn't the Mp3 available for purchase, etc. All kinds of things were going through my mind. You want to know something else? I was awake until a little bit past 3am and Amazon was still showing the Mp3 not yet available for purchase. I gave up and fell asleep sometime after that. I woke up later in the day and checked Amazon and, finally, the product page shown that it was available for purchase. So, after a few updates with my Account, I purchased "The Quarantine Song" and listened to it. I then wrote a review on Amazon that isn't published yet. I should've copied and pasted it here on my blog but I didn't think of doing that. I was still in a euphoria that I finally was able to purchase the Mp3 that I completely forgot to copy/paste my review. I'll probably copy it when it's published and paste it here in a future blog entry. The thing that consumers/fans should know is that this is a brand new recording exclusively for Curb Records. It's not an audio copy of the music video performance from Larry's Country Diner. The music video originated in May and it's gotten more than 2,000,000 unique views on YouTube...but this Mp3 is a new audio recording of the song with a slightly different music accompaniment.
If you have the vocal performance from the music video burned into your memory as I do you'll notice the difference in this Mp3 recording right away. The most obvious difference is in the vocal phrasing. In the performance in the music video he phrases some of the lyrics differently than in the Curb Records recording. You can purchase the Mp3 of "The Quarantine Song" by clicking HERE.
Hello all once again!! I was looking at the YouTube statistics for "The Quarantine Song" from Ray Stevens and it's gotten an increase of 42,574 unique views since my previous post back on December 1st. This addition enables the video to move into the 2.2 million plateau. The unique views the other day for the video were 2,169,872. As of this writing the video now sits at 2,212,446 unique views. I live in a State that has a somewhat reasonable Governor...like so many people I'm annoyed with COVID and fed up with the constant drumbeating from the media about COVID "cases" and how everyone should simply sit down and be quiet and not speak out or show anger towards the ridiculous over-reach of city and State Government...collectively on a power grab and using COVID-19 as cover.
In a State on the other side of the country, California, the Los Angeles mayor wants to cancel everything and several Governors are discussing lock downs. I'm certain the L.A. mayor is not familiar with the classic 1966 cartoon, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The Grinch tried to steal Christmas but it came anyway. Pay attention to those that use the phrase "we need to prevent congregate settings"...they're basically advocating the closure of churches and in my opinion you can't get anymore twisted and sadistic than to suggest that sort of thing during Christmas season.
As Governor's all over the country continue their power grab and hypocrisy there is always a place for laughter...and it comes in the form of "The Quarantine Song" from Ray Stevens...
In this, my third blog entry of the day, I'm providing an update on the YouTube numbers for "The Quarantine Song" that Ray released back in May of this year during the first wave of COVID and the hysteria that followed with rationing of products and limited supplies of hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and mandatory face mask wearing inside all retail stores. The song's title was slightly changed midway through it's appearance on the social media platforms...originally the song's title was "Quarantined" but then it was changed to "The Quarantine Song". Ray performed this song on an episode of Larry's Country Diner...and the cast of the show is who you hear laughing near the end of the clip. The video clip has moved past the 2.1 million plateau. As of this writing it's sitting at 2,169,872...as you can see I'm a bit late in reporting just exactly when the video crossed over into the 2.1 level given 69,872 unique views have already been accumulated by the time I started writing this blog entry! The unique views obtained on YouTube are separate from the views the video is getting on other social media sites. I know Facebook video views are counted differently than the method used on YouTube. As a result of this I stick with reporting the YouTube unique views.
Hello one and all!! Ray Stevens guest starred on Huckabee yesterday night. Ray wasn't interviewed but he performed two songs while the show's host, Mike Huckabee, played the bass guitar. I don't know if there was an interview segment that was recorded for the studio audience for a later release or if Ray was only there as a performer instead of as an interview subject. The series airs on religious station, TBN, and it's been in production for a number of years. It originated on the Fox News Channel but then moved over to the TBN. The acronym stands for Trinity Broadcasting Network. Ray's appeared on the show before but this, I think, may have been the first time there wasn't an interview segment. Ray performed "The Quarantine Song" midway through the hour long program. There was a studio audience...it wasn't packed with people because of the COVID virus...but there was an audience. Ray closed the show singing the "Everything is Beautiful" / "United We Stand" medley. This was the first time Ray had performed this on any television show. The performances from Ray were their usual stellar productions but be sure to take in all of the intense emotion of Ray's performance of "United We Stand"! The first video embed is of the medley...even though the video title states that it's only "Everything is Beautiful", it's actually the medley performance with "United We Stand".
Three blog entries in a row!! I decided to look up the activity on another Ray Stevens music video...the highly active "Quarantined". The music video has officially been re-titled "The Quarantine Song"...I don't know the reason why...I guess using the word, quarantined, as a song title may have caused it to get lost in the search results or something because since the pandemic began in early 2020 'quarantine' has become a much used word. In a blog entry from September 1st I wrote about the music video topping 1,000,000 unique views. I was on YouTube several minutes ago and checked the video's unique view totals and as of this writing the video is in the ball park of hitting 2,000,000 unique views. The specific unique view count for the music video is: 1,831,008. The fact that the video amassed over 800,000 unique views in a little over 2 months time (since topping the 1,000,000 mark on September 1st) shows that it might be on pace to break into the 2,000,000 range by year's end. COVID-19 "cases" tend to be on the rise as well as hospitalizations. I don't like the idea of more lockdowns or rationing of hand sanitizer and other hygiene products...but we all witnessed how the nation reacted in the early spring and half the summer...you couldn't find hand sanitizer anywhere and shopping stores were limiting the amount of items you could purchase. Let's hope the future doesn't include the possibility of national lockdowns!!
In a previous blog entry I had provided the most recent unique views for the Ray Stevens video, "Quarantined". The numbers for that video were sitting at 816,307 on August 1st. I checked the numbers on August 3rd and they were 828,968 for a pickup of 12,661. I looked at the numbers a couple of minutes ago and "Quarantined" now sits with 853,331 which is a pickup of 24,363 unique views in the last five days. The COVID-19 pandemic, long since politicized, remains a topic of discussion each and every day. The intense focus on COVID-19 "cases" rather than hospitalizations or deaths has single handedly panicked a large swath of the country. A true disservice to the public and causing fear...businesses can't even get their workers to come back for fear of COVID-19. The panic and fear generated by anti-Trump politicians are to blame, in my opinion. Companies/businesses whose CEO's have completely overhauled their job sites to make them safe and COVID ready, based on local and State health mandates, face the burden of getting their workers back. As mentioned they're not returning to work because of the fearmongering of COVID-19 but also, not to forget, they're making more money on unemployment...so good luck getting them back if the checks keep going out with no cut-off in sight.
This intense focus on cases is politically designed to sabotage those in public office who hold differing opinions of the virus and choose to go about dealing with COVID-19 in their own way rather than falling in line with a one size fits all solution. Anyone who dares say that the virus can be dealt with on a local level without State or Federal Government intrusion is shamed and ridiculed. Anyone who dares say facemask wearing should be voluntary is also vilified. The concept of social distancing, I thought, was created to keep people separated 6 feet in case someone wasn't wearing a facemask. This inhumane practice of social distancing, strangely enough, is still being enforced inside retail stores and pretty much everywhere else even though everyone who enters stores and fast food restaurants are required to wear a facemask. I'd love for someone to explain why, even with facemasks on, they still want everyone separated 6 feet.
The video clip below will be three months old on August 25th. If the song/video is new to you Ray takes a humorous look at all of the frustrations and annoyances the pandemic has brought to daily life. The song picks at the disruption of normalcy that the pandemic unleashed on society...as you could guess it's a novelty song. There are those who think the serious nature of a pandemic means that there is nothing to laugh at or there's no humor to be had but that's why the humorless prudes are proven wrong each and every time. You can take a virus seriously but still balk at the Government over-reach. You can usually find the absurdity in the most serious of issues...and Ray has proven this time and time again whenever he decides to sing a topical piece and "Quarantined" is no exception...
