I found a couple of rare Randy Travis clips on YouTube featuring his audition on You Can Be A Star…
Hi everyone. Today’s post is going to be short because I just got back from Texas and have had a lot to do today. This morning, one of my friends at Pop Rock Nation sent me an email asking about pictures of Randy Travis on Star Search. Though I was a big fan of Star Search back in the day, I wasn’t aware that he was ever on the 80s era talent show Star Search. Nevertheless, I went searching for pictures or a video clip… and I came up mostly empty except for one thing. Back in 1983, young Randy Travis auditioned for You Can Be A Star, a talent show for would be country stars. The show aired on the now defunct cable channel, The Nashville Network. I saw a couple of episodes, but back in those days, I wasn’t a fan of country music.
Here’s a very young Randy being interviewed by Florence Henderson and singing on his audition tape. This was obviously done after he was discovered, since the audition tape is from when he was just a regular guy hoping to launch a music career.
TNN featured Randy Travis a couple of times. Here’s a very early interview and performance from when he was a rising star.
Sadly, it’s been reported that Randy Travis is very ill right now with viral cardiomyopathy, a serious illness that has affected his heart. I know I’m not alone in hoping that Randy Travis makes a complete and speedy recovery.
Incidentally, I also found a video starring a very young Alan Jackson on You Can Be A Star. He looks different today, but that voice is still the same.
One of my favorite things about travel is discovering street musicians…
My husband Bill and I just got home from Italy and Greece. We’ve been fortunate enough to have traveled quite extensively in Europe. I’ve probably seen more of Europe than I have of the United States. One thing I’ve noticed both in Europe and abroad is that there’s no shortage of talented street musicians to keep the masses entertained. I often enjoy listening to the folks who play music on the streets of whatever city I happen to be visiting. If they’re especially good, I might even whip out my iPhone or a digital camera and film them. If they’re selling a CD, I’m now more than ever inclined to purchase a copy. Bill and I once heard a hilarious band playing near the port in Barcelona and didn’t think to buy a CD. I’ve regretted that decision ever since.
Most recently, I made a great discovery in Florence, Italy. It was our second and last night in Florence and we’d spent the day walking around that fascinating city, looking at art, eating great food, and people watching. As we made our way to the taxi stand to get a cab back to our hotel, we ran across a man playing Latin guitar. He was playing so beautifully that it stopped me dead in my tracks. Within a couple of minutes, I had tears streaming down my cheeks. Bill bought both of the guitar player’s CDs and we learned that his name is Piotr Tomaszewski. He’s from Poland and, according to the bios I’ve found on him, is quite a decorated musician. More telling are the YouTube videos I’ve found posted by people who, like me, ran into him in Florence and were moved by his playing.
Piotr Tomaszewski is caught on video by a German speaking tourist…
I made videos of Florence and Venice set to music on Tomaszewski’s CDs
In Greece, we ran across a few more street musicians who were also quite skilled, though their music didn’t move me in quite the same way. Nevertheless, I took a couple of videos and made a short film to help preserve the memories of our trip.
Last year, we visited Salzburg, Austria, where there was a small group of Russian men standing around singing so beautifully that I started crying. Their music was classical and very skillfully performed. They had a CD, which we bought. I don’t listen to it often because I have to be in a certain mood to listen to classical choral music. I’m glad to have the disc, though, because running into members of the Don Kosaken Choir is now a precious memory.
It’s not just street musicians we like to support. We also like to buy stuff from street artists if they have a style that speaks to us. A few years ago, Bill and I were in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. It was a bitterly cold February day and there was a man selling original paintings in the main square. I was struck by a painting he had done of dragons. It was a bit childlike, but very colorful and whimsical. We went over to talk to him and he said he was originally from Russia and was now living in Prague. He had spent a couple of years in Los Angeles, working for Virgin Records designing album covers. His name was Nikolaj Korelov. We bought one of his paintings; he had talked me out of buying the dragon one, because he said it was expensive. When we got back to our home, which was then in Germany, I decided I had to have it anyway. We wrote to him and he agreed to sell it to us. Click through his gallery and you’ll find it pictured on the last page.
I can honestly say that street musicians have also helped me make travel decisions. For instance, in June 2011, Bill and I were in Portland, Maine, celebrating my birthday. I had it in my mind that I wanted to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary in Scotland. Our tenth anniversary was in November 2012, so in June 2011, we still had plenty of time to plan and save. Bill was kind of on the fence about it. We went out to dinner in Portland and when we came out, a lone street musician was standing on a corner blowing bagpipes. He was playing “Highland Cathedral”, which was the piece I used to walk down the aisle on our wedding day. I turned to Bill and said, “I think that’s a sign.” He agreed and sure enough, we went to Scotland in November 2012 to celebrate our anniversary.
The one thing we’ve learned from all our travels is that it’s worth it to support street musicians. If you run into a street musician whose music you love and they offer a CD, buy it. You’re supporting the arts and may just end up coming home with a favorite souvenir. And, as I’ve found out by looking up Piotr Tomaszewski on Amazon.com, you will find that buying from the source can be a lot less expensive than trying to find a copy of the CD online.
We found a wonderful street musician in Florence, Italy.
I first found Christy Moore in 1996, when a friend sent me a mix tape…
Remember mix tapes? I grew up with them. Okay, actually I grew up taping songs off the radio, but sometime in college, I was introduced to the mix tape phenomenon when I worked at a summer camp. A British friend of mine made me my very first mix tape with some excellent songs on it by artists I had never heard of prior to listening. A few years later, I was in Armenia as a Peace Corps Volunteer and another friend from Belfast, Northern Ireland, sent me a mix tape. The tape he made had all British or Irish artists on it, some of whom with which I was already familiar. But there was one song on that tape that ended up turning me into a Christy Moore fan.
Who is Christy Moore?
Christopher Andrew “Christy” Moore was born on May 7, 1945 in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. He is an Irish folk singer, song writer, and guitarist who has been playing music for a living since the mid 1960s. Originally, Moore worked at a bank and played music for fun, but when there was a strike in 1966, he went to England and had a great time. He realized he liked playing music better than working in a bank with a manager standing over him all the time. Trading in his bank job for a job as a laborer, Moore began frequenting pubs and clubs in Ireland, where he met and began playing music with other musicians. In 1972, Moore released his first major album, Prosperous, which he named after the village Prosperous in County Kildare. He formed a band which was originally known as CLAD, but was eventually renamed Planxty. Moore played with the band until 1975, then embarked on a solo career.
The first Christy Moore song I ever heard…
In 1996, I was hungry for good music. In Armenia, there were a lot of vendors selling bootleg albums on cassette. I had a good time blowing some of my monthly allowance on music, though I was somewhat limited in what I could find. I mean, there was no shortage of mainstream American pop– especially Michael Jackson, because the Armenians were nuts about him– and it was easy to find Russian and Armenian pop, as well as “rabiz” music. But I would have never in a million years found Christy Moore in Armenia had my Irish friend not sent me a tape.
I remember listening to that tape on my Walkman as I walked the long way back to my apartment after picking up my mail at the Peace Corps office. Christy Moore’s gentle baritone sang a cover of a song originally recorded by The Pogues, “Fairytale of New York”…
I enjoyed the way Christy Moore sang this song, introducing it with his lilting Irish accent. Every time I hear his version of “Fairytale of New York”, I’m reminded of that day in Armenia and how hopeful and exciting it was to be in my mid 20s and living abroad. Of course, I had many tough years ahead of me, but I didn’t know that at the time. This song still makes me smile.
Years after I returned to the United States, I sought out Christy Moore’s music. I specifically wanted the album that had his live version of “Fairytale of New York” on it. I found an imported album on Amazon.com, Live At The Point. It was expensive when I bought it, but I see now that it’s dropped in price to less than half of what I paid for it. I loved the disc and later purchased another live album by Moore, Live At Vicar Street. That album had a fun Moore original, “Lisdoonvarna”.
I liked it so much that I started wishing I could see this man play live. Maybe someday we’ll make it to Ireland. For now, I have to settle for the other albums I’ve purchased by him, to include 2009’s Listen and 2011’s Folk Tale. I recently reviewed both of those albums and realized what a great storyteller Moore is with his songs, some of which he covers and some of which he writes himself. Listening to Moore’s music forces me to learn some Irish, too… or at least some Irish slang, since his lyrics sometimes include words I’ve not been exposed to here in America. His songs are also often about Irish affairs, which again I have to familiarize myself with since, not being from Ireland, I wouldn’t necessarily know about them.
My husband, Bill, is of Irish ancestry and is very interested in world events. One time I was listening to Christy Moore and he sang a song written by Bobby Sands, an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of British Parliament. Sands was just 27 years old when he died of a hunger strike in 1981 while incarcerated in an Irish prison hospital. I was nine years old in 1981 and had never been exposed to Sands’ story, so I didn’t know anything about him. Bill gave me the scoop as we listened to Sands’ song, “McIlhatton” as interpreted by Christy Moore…
I love it when I learn new things through music, especially when I can share it with people I love. Other songs by Christy Moore led to more learning about Ireland and Irish people and further fueled my desire to make it to Ireland someday. I want to see the origin of my husband’s people.
And to think my devotion to Christy Moore’s music started with a humble mix tape. Maybe it’s time we revisited that particular fad… with updated technology, of course!
