So, this elderly couple from Iowa, married 62 years, walks into a Mayo clinic, and they see this piano just sitting there…
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Don’t be downhearted, with your eyes on the ground, gloomy all of the way. You can be a dynamo full of pep and go, suggests singing Welshman Donald Peers, by simply Humming Your Glum Times Away. It’s worth a shot.
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To ease you gently into tonight’s Tips, Harry Breuer, aka the “boy wonder of the xylophone“, takes his mallets out for a spin in an onscreen performance of Xylophonia.
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After a long absence during which all his videos were pulled due to copyright claims, the recordings of Hank Williams are once again widely available on YouTube and other sites. I don’t know how long this state of affairs will last, so I’m going to get while the getting is good: from 1949, (not 1947 as stated under the video) here’s his timeless classic I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.
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A lot of online classical poetry readings sound like they’ve been undertaken in the interest of propping up the literary bona fides of some tremulous orator or other who delivers the goods in a dry, excessively reverential, and relentlessly weary tone; others are simply metrically inept, and/or accompanied by inappropriate new-age synth music. Tonight’s selected reading, from New Zealand-born filmmaker Jane Campion’s 2009 film Bright Star, is quite lovely, and well serves the meaning and beauty of the original work: here’s English actor Ben Whishaw reading John Keats’s 1819 poem Ode To A Nightingale.
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A Quebec separatist has filed a human rights complaint against a new staff member of Stephen Harper. Why? Because the fellow doesn’t speak French. OMG that’s so despicable, surely ranking up there with the mass-murders orchestrated by Mao, Stalin, Hitler, and Pol Pot!
Fire them all.
h/t Wally J.

In tonight’s Tips music the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the conductorship of Zubin Mehta plays Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 in A major in front of a rapt audience in Japan: parts I, II, III, and IV.
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In tonight’s Tippity amusement Leonhard Paul and his fellow members of Mnozil Brass take the concept of ensemble playing to new heights with their live instrumental performance of Paul Anka’s Lonely Boy. Who says “Austrian comedy” is an oxymoron?
h/t Dave S.
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In tonight’s Tips music, from the 1934 British musical film Sing As We Go, Gracie Fields maintains that life can be fine if we Sing As We Go. (Lyrics here.)
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For your amusement en route to the Tips, here’s a little Fishing Camp Music from the shores of Metionga Lake in Northwestern Ontario. Guy plays a mean antler.
h/t Joyce D.
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Sitting in a stationary position for excessive periods of time, such as when one spends too much time online, is known to significantly increase the risk of blood clots, strokes, and heart attacks. Tonight, in the interest of public health, we present a simple exercise routine that will get the blood flowing in your limbs and help obviate the risk of these serious health problems. So, grab yourself an inflatable ball, clear some space in front of your computer, and follow along at home. (h/t David Thompson)
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In the interest of continuing to bring you stunning achievements in music and dance from around the globe, here is the 1960s Québécois trio Les Baronets (Celine Dion’s manager/husband René Angélil is the guy on the left) in a live televised performance of C’est le Freddy. Now that’s choreography.
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In tonight’s Tippity amusement Muammar Gaddafi – rumoured to currently be on tour in Zimbabwe — performs his monster hit Zenga Zenga People.
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Time for a little Friday night Texas Swing music: from a 1946 recording, here are Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys performing a tune about a big kid with a healthy appetite called Roly Poly. Gnaws through a biscuit in no time flat, he does.
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Q: What do you get when you cross six folks from Herefordshire, an old weather ballon, £750, and a dream?
A: 2,000 photos and a hi-def video showing the curvature of the earth from Near Space.
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Terrorize your bylaw-disobeying neighbours with a turbine-powered remote-controlled jet. Careful with the joystick, Billy.
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Prompted by a lyrical snippet posted last night by SDA commenter Eskimo, here’s Stompin’ Tom Connors’s 1973 classic The Consumer.
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See over traffic – and small houses – in the naugahyde-interiored behemoth known as the Futurliner.
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“The only difference between the rich doctors and us, is that they have fancy chairs, fans, servants, x-ray and other fancy gadgets.” Indeed.
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Pronunciation Manual is a helpful online resource that uses short audio clips to demonstrate the correct pronunciation of commonly mispronounced words. While visiting the site I was surprised to learn that for years now I have been mispronouncing such common words as Escargot, L’Occitane, and Glenfiddich.
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