12/23/15 O&A NYC Wildin Out Wednesday: Dance of the Snowflakes

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Dance of the Snowflakes takes place at a community playhouse holiday pageant. The inner monologue of our dancing snowflakes becomes progressively weird and anxious (“On the way here, I hit a man with my car. I didn’t stop because I thought this was more important.”). A total existential crisis ensues.   Continue reading

12/21/15 O&A NYC Song Of The Day: Grace Jone- Little Drummer Boy

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Grace Jones gets into the Christmas cheer with Pee-wee Herman. The club diva performs uncharacteristically ebullient Little Drummer Boy to Pee-wee, Chairy, Terry and the rest of the “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” gang. Continue reading

12/20/15 O&A NYC Sunday Afternoon Jazz Concert: Thelonious Monk- Live in Norway and Denmark 1966

JAZZ

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Thelonious Monk Quartet featuring Charlie Rouse (tenor sax), Larry Gales (double bass) and Ben Riley (drums) play two sets running about half an hour each, filmed in black-and-white in TV studios without an audience. The first set was done in Norway in 1966, the other in Denmark the same year. 

Thelonious Monk- Live in Norway & Denmark ’66

Because of the double sessions we get two versions of Lulu’s Back In Town (but they are equally interesting). Featured also are Blue Monk, Don’t Blame Me (piano only on this one), Epistrophy and Round Midnight

12/19/15 O&A NYC Song Of The Day: Aretha Franklin Joy To The World

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Aretha Franklin sings Joy To The World on the live NBC television special Christmas In Rockefeller Center. The annual televised tree lighting ceremony took place on December 2, 2009.  Continue reading

12/18/15 O&A Shall We Dance: Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland- Nutcracker Grand Pas de Deux

Shall We Dance

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During the 1977 Christmas season, CBS brought Mikhail Baryshnikov’s highly acclaimed American Ballet Theatre production of Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet The Nutcracker to television. The production has remains the most popular and most often shown television production of the work in the U.S.  Mikhail Baryshnikov performed the title role, with Gelsey Kirkland as Clara.
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12/16/15 O&A NYC Song Of The Day: Diana Ross Christmas Medley Plus Bonus Tracks

 

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Christmas in Washington is an annual Christmas television special that currently airs on the U.S. TNT network. The 2102 show was hosted by Conan O’Brien and starred Diana Ross, Demi Lovato, Megan Hilty, Scotty McCreery, and Chris Mann.  Continue reading

12/16/15 O&A NYC Wildin Out Wednesday: Jingle Ballerz Special Hip- Hop Nativity – Saturday Night Live

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MTV presents Hip-Hop Nativity, starring Rihanna (Sasheer Zamata), Eminem (Taran Killam), Riff Raff (James Franco), Rick Ross (Kenan Thompson), Justin Bieber (Kate McKinnon), Beyonce (Nicki Minaj) and Kanye West (Jay Pharoah).  Continue reading

12/9/15 O&A NYC Wildin Out Wednesday: The Niggar Family- Chappelle Show

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The Niggar Family, one of comedian Dave Chappelle’s most controversial skits, explores the question of what effect “the n-word” would have if it were just another name. The skit is filmed in black and white, with sets and costumes right out of Father Knows Best or Leave It to Beaver or, for a more recent reference, Pleasantville. We see a squeaky-clean family of aw-shucks pleasantness and golly-jeepers naïveté, a “typical American” (i.e., white) family named Niggar. Continue reading