52nd City

I've learned to love that particular MB concert over the years :-)
That tambourine guy is brutal...

My guess is that the PBS member stations get the rights to these pledge drive shows for a limited time, but there's no contractual limit on how many plays they can give the program within that time window. So, they end up acquiring a limited handful of "specials" for each drive, and then beat them to death.

The past couple of weeks' all-Moodies, all-the-time schedule has plenty of precedent - I bet they've played that Roy Orbison special "Black and White Night" at least a dozen times each in several pledge drives of the years, and they've done it a lot with the various "My Music" oldies specials, too.

As for Ray Thomas (the Moodies' flautist), he was originally billed as the band's lead singer on their first couple of albums. My theory is that, having found a limited use for flute solos and Thomas' vocals after the first couple of records, they've simply been stuck with him all these years because no one had the heart to sack him. He sure works that tambourine like a guy determined, against all odds, to prove he belongs there.

The other odd thing about this concert is the use of a second drummer doubling all the parts played by the original Moodies percussionist. Presumably, this is because the original guy can't keep time very well any more, or maybe he just gets too tired over a long show. Either way, it looks sort of strange and superfluous to have two drummers, since the music is pretty much all straightahead 4/4 or 3/4 with no polyrhythmic content worth noting.

Me, I miss "This Old House" when they have pledge drives.

Their strategy must work, I mean, I just want to throw money at this: http://sam-and-leila.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/moodyblues_large.jpg

Interesting that you mention Celtic Woman. When did the Celtic music craze hit? It seems very popular with the 40+ crowd. I once overheard a man in a coffee shop telling a woman, "That pennywhistle solo blew me away." No joke.

Presumably the same folks watch MB concert reruns.

Forgive my spelling of Moodies. Moody Blues. Moodies. I was so worked up, it's a wonder any words hit the page.

I wanted to note that after posting this last night, I watched a few minutes of the between-show pitching, which centered on 15-minutes of promotion for the Moody Blues show at the Scottrade this summer; pledgers had a chance to win "gold circle" tickets for that gig. After the pledge break, they went to a showing of... the same concert, from the beginning!

Speaking of 9, has anyone seen the kid show "Big, Big World." I think it's the modern equivalent of Scooby Doo, a program that's secretly watched by more tokers than youths. Very weird stuff.

>After the pledge break, they went to a showing >of... the same concert, from the beginning!

Yes, they do that sometimes - it can be very disorienting if you fall asleep on the couch and wake up a couple of hours later to the exact same program. :)

I'm not sure if the thinking is that people will like the show so much that they'll want to see it twice; if they're giving viewers who tuned in "in progress" a chance to see the whole thing; or if they're just too cheap to buy more programs.

It seems to me like airing the same program twice in a row would pretty much be guaranteed to drive most of the audience away, but then I'm not a highly-paid television executive, so what do I know?

Maybe there's a conspiracy here with Netflix. I know that I have been watching & sending back movies at a regular clip, just so I won't have to watch Carly Simon playing orchestral versions of her songs on AARP pleasure cruises.

She brought down the boat when she did "You're So Vain"!

I just got this from a recent 52nd City contributor, who I've not actually talked to in person for some time. Apparently, the posting above is tapping into some deep feelings for people. Dare I say, it's bringing us together:

Hi, Thomas. I was looking at the 52nd City blog today and and read about your painful experiences with the Moody Blues on Channel 9. Since about 8th grade every time I hear the mention of the Moody Blues I start to twitch and become sad that I am alive, having to share a planet with those overblown twits. I haven't actually seen the Channel 9 thing. I'm not sure my central nervous system could take it, plus I've been really busy out searching for the lost chord and thinking about Days of Future Passed or (insert ridiculously pretentious Moody Blues title here.) Oh, My God. The fucking Moody Blues...

Be strong, my brother. You are not alone.

Sadly the Moody Blues could never be as pretentious as say any group from the Elephant 6 collective or the current Broken Social Of Montreal Animal Arcade Collective Fire Scenes. Jeez...talk about blowhards.