Rossini - William Tell Overture Part 2

Happy birthday to Gioachino Rossini, born February 29, 1792, which means today is either his 220th birthday or his 53rd, depending on how you count. This performance is by the Hallé Orchestra, conducted by Mark Elder at the Royal Albert Hall in 2004.

RIP Jan Berenstain

Cultural icons come in many forms. If you've ever read a book or watched a TV show about the Berenstain Bears, you've seen the work that she (and her husband Stan, who died in 2005) did. The NY Times obit is here.

Little Walter - My Babe

Just so good. Little Walter was better known as a harmonica player than a singer, but proves he's no slouch with his pipes in this hit from 1955.

Tito Puente - El Cumbanchero

From 1965, so he doesn't have the white hair that was such a part of his persona in later years.

Paul McCartney - All Things Must Pass (Concert For George)

Manfred Mann - Do Wah Diddy

Funny to watch this, since it looks like a stage performance but it's clearly lip-synced to the original studio recording. FWIW, Mann is using stacked keyboards before Ray Manzarek did by a year or two, since this is from 1964. Looks like it's a Hohner Pianet on top of the Vox Continental.

Linda Greenhouse on a "Citizens United" Challenge...Maybe

Interesting notes from Greenhouse, a longtime US Supreme Court watcher.

Is there really a chance that the Supreme Court might reconsider Citizens United?

A week ago, I wouldn’t have thought so, and I still think it’s an extreme long shot. But a provocative statement last Friday by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer makes this crazy idea worth pondering – which is undoubtedly what the two justices intended.