February 9, 2015

When Paul McCartney, standing alone, enacted the old-time rock-concert spirit, and none of the rest of the music business bigwigs caught it.

At the Grammys, as Jeff Lynne and "what’s left of Electric Light Orchestra" played "Evil Woman” and “Mr. Blue Sky":



"Bigwigs" seemed like the best word for the job at hand. I didn't pick it in order to give Sia more prominence than she already has, but she did come to the Grammys looking like this. I guess that might look cool to people who don't remember Carol Channing:

36 comments:

Ron said...

"Sit down, Macca, you ponce! Brian will be mad at us, and make us read more fan mail!" -- Ghost of John

Robert Cook said...

I remember Carol Channing, and I've never heard of Sia. I guess that makes me...not as young as I once was.

Fandor said...

Hello, Dolly!

Fandor said...

Oh, yeah...the broads with the Carol Channing styled "fright wigs" look stupidly "edgy".

As Diogenes would exclaim, loudly, as they passed by,
"AFFECTATION".

Laslo Spatula said...

ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" was the best Beatles song the Beatles didn't write.

McC was enjoying it like a proud father.


I am Laslo.

jr565 said...

They maybe overdid the production, but ELO had fantastic pop sensibilities. Jeff Lynne was a genius.

jr565 said...

Was there anything else worth dancing to at the grammy's?

Jim said...

That thing on her head would stop an IED.

sane_voter said...

ELO along with Queen are my favorite bands from the 70's.

chickelit said...

Paul McCartney looks more and more like a woman as he "ages."

Why is that?

Ann Althouse said...

"Paul McCartney looks more and more like a woman as he "ages.""

Men and women start looking the same as they age, so if you care, and you are a man, you need to keep your hair short and your body lean and toned and wear a jacket and non-baggy pants. If you're a woman and you care, do something with your hair that a man would not do, wear makeup, get to a normal weight, strap on a bra, and wear skirts, not pants.

Ann Althouse said...

This is one of my pet peeves: Men who could easily get a haircut, yet choose to look like unattractive women.

Known Unknown said...

Jeff Lynne is a genius.

Sadly, he'll never get much credit for it.

Laslo Spatula said...

Jeff Lynne was a Travellin' Wilbury: of COURSE he was a genius.

I am Laslo.

Robert Cook said...

Jeff Lynne was in The Move...who transmogrified into ELO, (with the departure of Roy Wood).

Known Unknown said...

(with the departure of Roy Wood).

Who went on to form the awesome and nearly incomprehensible Wizzard.

Known Unknown said...

French horn FTW

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Known Unknown said...

Men and women start looking the same as they age, so if you care, and you are a man, you need to keep your hair short and your body lean and toned and wear a jacket and non-baggy pants. If you're a woman and you care, do something with your hair that a man would not do, wear makeup, get to a normal weight, strap on a bra, and wear skirts, not pants.

I count 37.5 microaggressions in that single paragraph.

Bill said...

Paul McCartney is starting to look like Angela Lansbury.

George M. Spencer said...

The surviving Beatles had Lynne produce "Real Love" and "Free as a Bird."

The guy must have some heavy chops.

Mr. D said...

Jeff Lynne has always been a late period Beatlemaniac and ELO was one of the best singles acts of the 70s. The problem they had was that they didn't see themselves as a singles act and they had a lot of filler on their albums.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I had the same thought about Sir Paul! How's he getting so damn pretty?!?

I have to wonder if it's so weird for him to be up there on stage performing with these kids who were born long after the Beatles broke up. Wonder if he imagined such a thing in 1964.

SeanF said...

Sia's an interesting woman. She makes pretty good music (my daughter is a big fan), and also some strange videos. The young girl with her in the picture Althouse linked is a dancer who's appeared in a few of her videos.

Sia's got this thing about hiding her face, though. Just watch her live performance of the song "Chandelier" on Ellen Degeneres' show (the dancer is the same girl as in the picture).

MountainMan said...

The Grammy's were on last night? I had no idea. I watch none of the award shows - Oscars, Grammys, Tonys, ACM, - anymore and haven't seen even one in the last 15 years or so. With the mid-season premier of "The Walking Dead", the premier of "Better Call Saul", and thellatest eipsode of "Downton Abby" there was much better fare to watch.

Crunchy Frog said...

Wood and Lynne formed ELO as something of an experiment in using non-traditional ( in the rock and roll sense) instruments to make rock music. Wood was infatuated with the cello at the time, and put it to use - there are something like 150 cello overdubs (all by Wood) on the 10538 Overture. It wasn't until the second album that Lynne and Bev Bevan found their signature sound on Roll Over Beethoven.

Interesting bit of trivia: ELO holds the record for the most Billboard Top 40 hits without ever having a #1 record.

David said...

"Men and women start looking the same as they age, so if you care, and you are a man, you need to keep your hair short and your body lean and toned and wear a jacket and non-baggy pants. If you're a woman and you care, do something with your hair that a man would not do, wear makeup, get to a normal weight, strap on a bra, and wear skirts, not pants."

Or wear shorts. Male and female legs are usually distinguishable at any age.

kjbe said...

"Men and women start looking the same as they age, so if you care, and you are a man, you need to keep your hair short and your body lean and toned and wear a jacket and non-baggy pants. If you're a woman and you care, do something with your hair that a man would not do, wear makeup, get to a normal weight, strap on a bra, and wear skirts, not pants. "

The perfect couple, just like you two. Go figure.

Birches said...

Ahhh crap. I might have DVRed the thing if I knew ELO was going to be playing.

"Sweet Talkin Woman" is one of my most favorite songs.

Mary Beth said...

I see two other men standing. Both are behind McCartney.

I started listening to ELO again last year. I might have watched if I knew they were going to be on, but I doubt it, I don't like reality shows.

I was watching some of their videos on Google Play yesterday. They had used a lens filter to fill the screen with multiple images of the instruments. The videos felt more dated than the music. YouTube has better ones.

jr565 said...

What songs DIDN"T Paul McCartney get up and dance to. All the ones that are being nominated for awards this year. Because they suck.

jr565 said...

If Sam Smith had sang I won't back down that would have made the Grammy's. Instead he sang his crappy ass,boring, derivative song.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

He looks like Bruce Jenner, pre-op.

Ctmom4 said...

@jr565 - Wow, they are the same song! I hadn't read about that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tki-gzX_9k

Ctmom4 said...

I see that Kanye made an ass of himself again.

Doug said...

McCartney is a nitwit.