Before he decided to “Dance, Dance, Dance, (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)” like “Le Freak” that he is, before he confided that he wanted our love and that we were his forbidden lover and before he suggested that “Everybody Dance” did you know what Nile Rodgers the Chicmeister did? well he was a part of soul group New York City whose biggest hit was “I’m Doing Fine Now”. well the job he had that fascinates me the most is that he was having his own “Good Times” as a member of the Sesame Street house band! I wonder if he worked on the show at the same time as Luther Vandross was singing there?
It’s December 5th folks, that’s now less than three weeks until the bearded weirdo in red arrives. That also means that it is now Day 5 of my ABC of Motown Advent Calendar and we’re up to the letter E. I have chosen a very popular song that actually is not really one of my own favourites. It’s “Endless Love” which was written by Lionel Richie who recorded it as a duet with Diana Ross. It was used as the theme tune to the Brooke Shields film of the same name.
It has been covered by many people, most notably, again as a duet, by Mariah Carey and Luther Vandross. The original was an US and Australian number one and reached number 7 in the UK. The Vandross Carey version only reached the chart summit in New Zealand. It reached numbers 2 and 3 respectively in the US and UK charts. Billboard once named the song as the greatest duet ever, I certainly don’t agree with that. What about Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” or Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure”? (OK technically the latter isn’t really a duet unless you count it just as a Bowie Mercury duet)
So tell me dear readers what do you think is the greatest duet of all time?
Is it just me or does this little piece of news seem a little weird to you as well? Lady GaGa has become the first living person to have more than 10 million FaceBook fans. But even stranger for me is that she is only in sixth place overall. The top 5 are Texas Hold ’em Poker, Michael Jackson, Mafia Wars, Facebook and the US TV show Family Guy. She recently overtook Barack Obama who languishes on a measly 9.8 million. I’m really pleased that Farmville doesn’t get a mention though. You can click here to read the story on the BBC’s Newsbeat.
Actual proof that Elmo is in fact a skinned Ewok
Whilst we’re talking strange here is another great story from Newsbeat; Elmo off of Sesame Street sings Beyonce and Alicia Keys whilst being interviewed by the delightful Natalie Jamieson. Click here to read it. I think I prefer his Beyonce to his Alicia. Does anyone really say Hubba Hubba anymore? Apart from Elmo obviously. Did you know that before he got his big break providing vocal arrangements and backing vocals for David Bowie on the ‘Young Americans’ album a certain Mr Luther Vandross wrote and sang for Sesame Street?
'Nuff Said!
And finally on this tour of some slightly odd stories we move on to Justin Bieber. The young Canadian’s Twitter page has been the subject of what I think is an excellent prank. With no restriction on the eligible countries his ‘fans’ were asked to vote for a country he should visit. Imageboard (wtf?) website 4Chan nominated North Korea and in the past couple of days the land of Kim Jong Il has moved from 24th place to 1st. Voting closes on July 7th, so come on, you know what to do, get on over and vote for North Korea!
There have also been some altogether more nasty hacks on his videos and such. These caused his YouTube videos to link to porn sites and spurred completely unfounded rumours that he was dead and that his Mum would be posing for Playboy. Click here for the story on the Beeb
Kim Jong Il (will he ever be known as Kim Jong Well?) contemplates the visit of Mr Bieber
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 