Sesame Street on The Huffington Post

Daoud Kuttab: Palestinian Children Suffer From a Lack of Appropriate TV Programming

2009-12-28T15:44:45Z

RAMALLAH - Television penetration in Palestine is nearly 100 percent. Almost every home--no matter how poor the family--has a tube in its sitting room. Television viewership is higher than average amongst Palestinians for two main reasons: Because of the continuing conflict, people feel the need to watch television to keep up with the events in the news that directly affect their lives. Also, with high levels of insecurity and troubles outside the home, the television is often the only source of entertainment.

But although Palestinian families spend many hours a day glued to their TV sets, original Palestinian children's programming is almost non-existent. Instead, hours of dubbed Japanese and other types of cartoons fill the airwaves, especially in key children's viewing hours. Such dubbed programming usually falls into one of three potentially disadvantageous categories; it is dubbed into classical Arabic (in order to ensure sales in all 23 Arab countries), it consists of imported programming with violent content, or it revolves around religious themes.

Programs broadcast in classical Arabic are just as difficult for pre-school Palestinian children to understand as, for example, a children's program spoken in Shakespearean English is to children in the United Kingdom.

Spacetoons and MBC 3, which are 24-hour children's stations, are broadcast throughout the Arab world and feature highly violent imported cartoons or entertainment programs in classical Arabic. Al Jazeera Children, while much more cognizant of its programming content, is rather serious and it too uses classical Arabic in order to appeal to the entire Arab world.

The trouble is that the cost of producing children's programming for the local market tends to be high. And without a strong political will or an advertising base to support it, broadcasters prefer to stick to dubbed imports.

Palestinian children badly need programming that can address their own issues. This need is all the more pressing considering the fact that over 65 percent of all Palestinian children have no access to pre-school education. In this context, television producers have the power, if they so choose, to make a big difference. They can create educational programs that speak to the specific lives of Palestinian children. They can also offer children a respite from the tensions that surround them and an alternative to the high level of violence found in imported programs.

The closed nature of Palestinian society under occupation has its effect on an entire generation growing-up intolerant of the other, whether the other is from a different region, religion, political persuasion, or from different national or ethnic backgrounds.

In the Palestinian Territories the vast quantity of television programming that is neither geared to Palestinian children's dialect nor to their social, cultural and political environment, does little to help raise well-rounded and well-adjusted individuals.

But there are some signs that the lack of attention to the education of young children is being reversed. Recently the Ministry of Education has begun to pay greater attention to pre-school children and this group features highly in the current five-year plan. Non-governmental organizations have also shown interest in addressing children in these formative years.

While this attention focuses primarily on the deficiencies within the formal pre-school education system, more attention should be paid to the media. To this end, the government, private sector media companies, as well as local and international NGOs, must come together and create strategic partnerships that would produce politically and culturally relevant programming tailored especially for Palestinian children.

###

* Daoud Kuttab is the founder and director of PenMedia, a Palestinian media NGO that is producing "Shara'a Simsim," the Palestinian version of Sesame Street. He can be reached at: info@daoudkuttab.com. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and is part of a special series on informal education in the Israeli-Palestinian context.

Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 24 December 2009, www.commongroundnews.org
Copyright permission is granted for publication.

Randall Amster: Schlock Doctrine: Where, and by Whom, Was Your Christmas Made?

2009-12-27T20:40:08Z

Nothing against our friends and neighbors in the Far East, but it seems as if just about everything that came down the chimney for Christmas this year bore a "made in China" label on its underbelly. Even the items that appear to be iconically American in their logos and characters have been shipped here from across the planet. This is the stark reality of globalization.

Children's toys in particular present a unique ethical conundrum. On the one hand, we want our kids to have stimulating new things to play with and expand their repertoires of dexterity and cognizance. On the other hand, we cannot escape the fact that another kid on the other side of the planet might be toiling in a factory somewhere to make the stuff that potentially enhances our kids' lives. This is especially the case when nearly every toy -- even supposedly "green" ones -- seemingly comes from the Middle Kingdom.

Sweatshop labor, of course, is no secret, but it remains something of an abstraction through the insulation of our lives in the West. That fell apart around here this year, when I noticed that some of the boxes in which our purchases arrived had actual names of people next to the "Made by" category inscribed on them. They also listed factory numbers and product designations in many cases as well, such as "Item #2572 of 32525." If it's indeed the case (as Vegan Peace observes) that "the average North American toy maker earns $11 an hour [while] in China, toy workers earn an average of 30 cents an hour," then someone is obviously making a pretty penny on this system just in the rate of labor exchange alone.

These realities have been thoroughly understood for some time now, as evidenced by this 2005 article in which the complexities of the problem are well documented:

"The International Labor Organization (ILO) has estimated that of the 250 million children between the ages of five and fourteen work in developing countries, 61 percent are in Asia. Although we live in an extremely modern age, there is, in fact, child slave labor present in China . Some of these children work in sweatshops. A sweatshop is a workplace where workers are subjected to extreme exploitation, including the lack of a living wages or benefits, poor and dangerous working conditions, and harsh and unnecessary discipline, such as verbal and physical abuse. Sweatshop workers are paid less than their daily expenses, thus they are never able to save any money to invest in their futures. They are trapped in a never-ending cycle."

Disney products specifically have been singled out in the past for their imbrication in this oppressive system. Wal-Mart, which the United Food and Commercial Workers Union notes is "the largest importer of Chinese goods," has repeatedly asserted its innocence in such matters, yet speculation continues. Even some Sesame Street products, which discerning parents will often embrace due to the items' perceived educational qualities and general familiarity, have been implicated in recent years. The full ramifications of this global trade in exploitative toys have not been lost on analysts and activists, including this introduction to a 2008 report from the National Labor Committee:

"In China , the busy toy season is already in full swing as thousands of factories work around the clock churning out millions of holiday toys, which will start arriving in the United States and Europe by September. Like last year and the years before, the American people will spend over $21 billion on 3.6 billion toys this holiday season. At least 85 percent of these toys are made in China by three million mostly young women workers toiling long hours in 8000 factories. And these are only the factories that have export licensees, leaving aside the many smaller subcontract toy plants."

There are certainly many alternatives for purchasing products with greater ethical standards (the website Vegan Peace, among other sources, provides links to a number of them). But let's face it -- parents are busy, disposable incomes are tight, children need stimulation, time is money, and this is America. In other words, even with the best of intentions, it's a great challenge to be purists in our parenting. Furthermore, most folks out there don't give these issues a second thought at all, leaving the few making more deliberate choices merely a small drop in a high-volume bucket. Finally, there really isn't a foolproof, diplomatic way to fully screen out gifts from well-meaning others.

And then, inevitably, the stuff will soon break. I estimate about a one-month shelf life for any new toy given to a child under five. Some items retain functionality with missing buttons and lost pieces, whereas many others wind up in landfills -- or, in a feat of wonderful irony, recycled and shipped back to China to be turned into more short-term consumer goods. Thus, in many cases, the things we buy are almost literally garbage.

The most apropos description of this cycle of inherent decrepitude is perhaps the Yiddish word schlock, meaning something "cheap, shoddy, or inferior." While I would love to claim sole authorship of the ironic phrasing in the title of this piece, it has actually appeared previously in a few places, including in an amusingly caustic critique of Naomi Klein's persuasive book The Shock Doctrine in which she argues that capitalism foments and (of course) capitalizes upon crises, thus cleverly making a buck both coming (i.e., problem) and going (i.e., solution). Referring to Klein as "the Ann Coulter of Canada -- a demagogic sycophant who has parlayed her political shtick into a lucrative business," this sophomoric article with its sarcastic mien actually almost got it right in the end:

"We Americans and our evil multinationals, it seems, champion a brand of heartless free-market piracy, which robs the good people of the developing world of the fruits of their labor, and forces them to toil in hot, miserable working conditions, just to make our garments and sneakers. Our big multinationals assimilate or obliterate anything in their path towards global domination."

The author of this 2008 missive likely didn't intend to validate Klein's logic. But to critique a thesis one must be able to articulate it cogently, hence arguing for its utility as a point of critical reference. In a similar sense, the lesson of this holiday season may well be that the ethical implications of our choices are so woven into the fabric of ordinary commerce that we almost can't help but be pulled into orbit around a set of values that most would deem both schlocky and shocking at the same time. And so, in explicating the aesthetic of schlock and its uncritical acceptance among many consumers, perhaps we have uncovered something uniquely "made in America " after all.

Ricky Gervais Sings Elmo A Terrifying Lullaby (VIDEO)

2009-12-26T10:59:37Z

We wish Ricky Gervais could be a regular on "Sesame Street." This lullaby to Elmo, as well as his previous appearance, is reason enough to cast the British comedian full time.

With his celebrity status is called in question, Gervais rocks out the to the letter 'N,' scaring the hell out of Elmo in the process. Seriously, is there anyone else on television with a better rapport than these two?

WATCH:

Get HuffPost Comedy On Facebook and Twitter!

Gabrielle Lyon: Can You Tell Me How to Get To Science Street?

2009-12-22T11:26:25Z

When President Obama announced a major initiative to increase participation and achievement in science on November 23, 2009, Elmo was there with Sesame Street to support it. Time Warner, the MacArthur Foundation, Intel, and Xerox also had representatives on hand.

Carla wasn't there. Carla, a Guatemalan-American 10th-grader, represents hundreds of urban minority boys and girls I've worked with over the years. Though Carla struggled with reading and writing, she showed talent in science. Carla sought a summer program to learn more chemistry. Her chemistry teacher suggested the idea but didn't know of any summer programs; her guidance counselor had little to offer in the way of advice. Carla's two-hour Internet quest at the public library turned up only a handful of opportunities. Most were expensive, located out-of-state, or required a B+ average, which Carla, a novice English speaker, didn't have. Carla decided science wasn't for her.

Obama's "Educate to Innovate" campaign aims to "harness the power of media, interactive games, hands-on learning, and community volunteers to reach millions of students over the next four years." Sounds ambitious, but underneath the 21st-century shine, programming being lined up has a familiar 20th-century substance. One-day activities, demonstrations and short-term programs targeting highly-engaged students are not going to change who gets involved with science. "Educate to Innovate" does little to remove basic barriers: lack of information about opportunities, fees, transportation to and from programs, and academic eligibility requirements. Equally significantly, students like Carla rarely see themselves, their interests, or their lives reflected in programs or the adults running them.

Since Sputnik's launch, the national science education agenda has focused largely on school curriculum and out-of-school programs designed to recruit the "best and brightest" into the science workforce. This model has failed to reach most students of color, girls and students who are poor, despite decades of singular interventions aimed at leveling the playing field. Unless we complement existing strategies with systemic approaches that reach traditionally overlooked kids, we won't achieve equity of access, participation, or achievement in science in the United States.

In 1999, University of Chicago Paleontologist Paul Sereno and I co-founded Project Exploration to expand access to science for girls and young people of color. Project Exploration puts students at the center through engaging after-school and summer programs like Sisters4Science and Junior Paleontologists. We create personalized experiences with science and scientists and foster and support long-term relationships that ensure students do meaningful work alongside scientists. We get students interested in science, keep students interested, and equip them to stay involved with science as long as they want.

In the past 10 years we've involved nearly 1000 Chicago Public School middle and high school students of color and girls in science. Although we target students who may not be academically successful, our alumni are significantly more likely to graduate high school, go to college and major in science than their peers. They attribute their persistence in school and science to participating in our programs. We are, literally, changing the face of science, one student at a time.

I applaud the Obama administration's ambitious goal of helping young people experience the wonder and discovery of science first hand. Elmo should help inspire our youngest children to have fun with science in their everyday lives. But we need more than media efforts, special days and competitions to transform science as usual. For young people like Carla to have a chance to contribute to the knowledge economy we need an inclusive, expansive and collaborative approach to science education that puts kids least likely to get involved with science at the center of comprehensive strategies.

Before we educate to innovate, we need to innovate how we educate to reach students like Carla. We need to connect classrooms and science teachers with the nation's burgeoning out-of-school science field; we need to give Carla a chance to experience first-hand the real work scientists do and hear from them about the questions they are asking. Most ideally we need to network efforts locally, regionally and nationally so Carla can easily find - and stay on - a path that includes science know-how, economic opportunity and passion for the future.

Mike Ragogna: Never Been Gone : A Conversation With Carly Simon

2009-12-04T06:40:44Z

Carly Simon is one of the great singer-songwriters in a class that includes Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Van Morrison, Carole King, and of course, James Taylor. Some of the songs that have kept her a cultural icon include "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be," "Anticipation," "Coming Around Again," and her monster hit, "You're So Vain," that includes a to-this-day, uncredited vocal assist by Mick Jagger, plus a mystery surrounding the identity of its conceited protagonist.

In this interview, Carly talks candidly about her new "unplugged" album Never Been Gone, recent projects, her family, an Elton John non-adventure, Boston rats, a bad review, holiday plans, children's albums, crazy time signatures, her creative process, and so much more...

photo credits: Amanda Borland

Mike Ragogna: You know, if I'd lived with your album for just another week, I would have absorbed it more thoroughly and reviewed it for HuffPost a bit differently. There are a couple of points I made that should have been phrased better.

Carly Simon: This is so reminiscent, in a much kinder way, of what happened to me in 1973 when No Secrets came out and Robert Christgau, a reviewer who was then working for The Village Voice, wrote a scathing review of it. He said, "She whinnies like a horse, she shouldn't be a role model for women growing up in this country," and really some of the worst things I've ever heard about anybody--but they were about me! So I wrote him a letter saying, "I don't know if you know that people often read the reviews of their works, whether they're books or records or plays or whatever, and that this hit me absolutely so deeply and so painfully that I just had to tell you how much this really got me in a very bad place in a very painful way." I don't know whether that meant I thought it was true...I didn't get ultra-psychological. But I wrote it and sent it, and he then put on the record and listened to it carefully and wrote a totally different review.

MR: You and James Taylor were considered rock 'n' roll royalty, and The Village Voice always has been about counter-culture.

CS: That's right. But he was being too elaborate. (laughs) And to say that I was like a horse whinnying when, in summer camp, I was compared to a horse all the time, that my face looked like a horse, it really just brought me right back there! (laughs)

MR: Yeah, reviewers are the worst.

CS: I've sworn never to read any reviews ever again except those that are pointed out to me as nice ones. I would say that most of us who are considered in the artist realm just take it so terribly, and, you know, it can kill ya! (laughs)

MR: Being an artist can be rough because in order to create, you have to be sensitive, your heart has to be wide open. So it's understandable how bad reviews and negativity can really sting.

CS: It's so true.

MR: Okay. We got through that one. So, how did you and your son Ben Taylor decide to record stripped-down versions of some of your classic songs for Never Been Gone?

CS: It started in the summer of 2008, when I had been promoting This Kind Of Love which was the Starbucks album, and they had withdrawn Hear Music five days before my record was released. So I didn't have the marketing, I was riding on a horse and there was no horse under me. I was so unhappy, and it was embarrassing, and it was like, "Oh my god, what have I been doing for the last two years but writing this record, making this record, and being so proud of this record." But I was the horseless rider. So I was quite self-involved and indulgently so, and really depressed.

It was the summertime and there were lots of people around my house--Ben and his friends and a lot of musicians were up there working on a project with him. I couldn't be consoled I was so upset. Ben said to me, "Come on, let's turn this into productivity. We have all these musicians here, just sit down in the living room and play the songs the way you wrote them. Let's do an unplugged version," which you picked-up on in your review. There are no drums except for "You Belong To Me" and "No Freedom," we just didn't allow drums on the record, even on "You're So Vain" which was daunting to redo after it was my most popular song. But we did it and I really love the energy that was put into the song, and that really carries all the way through. It's got new vocal ideas, and I just think it's an inventive version.

MR: Right, the new "You're So Vain" has different build-ups and new breaks, and it has even more energy than the original version.

CS: I don't know how we came to do it, but I guess we innately knew that there had to be power coming from something other than the drums. We didn't have Mick Jagger, we didn't have a screaming guitar solo, we didn't have that piano intro that's a signature by now. We didn't sit down and think about what to do, there were just a bunch of us sitting around playing, and we knew what we had to do, you know? Once Ben and David (Saw) had that little sly intro which comes back in the middle section as the solo, it was obviously so different from anything that has a musical, raunchy power. It's got that mysterious, kind of weird, "Huh? How did they think of that?"

MR: Your approach on Never Been Gone is a big departure from your last couple of albums.

CS: In neither case did they want me to do new material. The first record, which I loved doing with Richard Perry, was called Moonlight Serenade. I was almost like a fly on the wall--he made the tracks, he did just about everything, and I came in and sang which I'd never done before. I truly was the "girl singer" on that. I loved the way it came out, it was great, and wow, it was so much easier than most of the albums I'd ever made. Usually, records are agonizing because even if you're not the producer, you're the producer if you're a singer-songwriter, and you have a real feeling about how you wrote the song and how you want it to turn out.

Then Sony wanted another record. It started out by being a record of lullabies, and then it turned into one of classic songs that can be enjoyed in a lullabylic sense--if there's such a word, I'm sure there's not--by either babies or their mothers or people who knew those songs from the seventies or who knew them from when Harry Belafonte used to sing them. I thought it was a wonderful record, but I don't think we really knew how to promote it because we were going to call it Lullabies For All Ages, you know, that kind of way of doing it. Then Jay Landers at Columbia thought no, that's really reducing it to something less than what it is. It really is an album that should have a name with some heft to it rather than something that tries to gather everybody in as a big folk song by a fireside.

MR: In my review of your latest album, I made it a point to bring up the James Taylor song you recorded with your children Ben and Sally because I felt it had a texture much like the material on Never Been Gone.

CS: It's interesting you picked-up on "You Can Close Your Eyes." I thought that was an ingenious arrangement. Teese Gohl turned it around and put it in 6/8 or some very weird time signature that I'd never heard of, and Sally and Ben and I sang it in three-part harmony. It was so poignant, and it was so, like, where was James?

MR: Actually, as much as it's one of my personal favorites, Into White saddened me because I thought it was your goodbye album.

CS: No, I was really just on my way to Scarborough Fair. (laughs) I loved doing that record, and it's one of the easiest records I've ever made in terms of not having to argue with too many people. It was a very gentle, easy album, and there were only three of us in the studio at any given point. I got almost all the vocals on the first take, and we put beautiful harmonies on with Ben and Sally who are just such angels and wonderful voices to sing with and such creative souls, both of them brilliant in their own individual ways. I love David Saw's song "Quiet Evening" which was the only new song that wasn't by me, and I got to do a new version of "Love Of My Life" which used "Mia Farrow" instead of "Woody Allen." (laughs) People really love that song because for whatever your age is, it happens to be a very soothing song and it doesn't "dark" anywhere. My records do "dark"--at one moment, they're in one place, then all of a sudden, there's "No Freedom."

MR: Hey, isn't that the one song I picked-on in my review of Never Been Gone?

CS: Let's talk about "No Freedom" for a minute because it has a very interesting history, I think. It was a song I wrote on a vacation I was taking with my wonderful, adorable ex-husband who I was having a miserable time with. We should not have been married by that point, we both knew it, and we were both trying to keep a stiff upper lip and it was not going well.

MR: Who was your husband then?

CS: Jim Hart who is a poet and just a magnificent man. It turned out that we just didn't have the same lifestyle. I wrote the lyric, "There ain't no freedom when you've got a worrying mind," and originally it was a reggae beat that I put it to, but by the time I got back to New York, it was just one of those many lyrics that I have that I didn't do anything with. And then Fall of last year, I found the lyrics. God, I've got so many books where I have like four pages filled, you know, and then I'd say, "Eh, let me get another book, maybe I'll have better luck," so I'd get another little composition book. (laughs) I found "No Freedom," and I wondered if David would have any ideas about these lyrics.

David, who was living with us, was in the kitchen, and I went down one morning and said, "See if you like this, see if you can do anything with this." Right away, David came up with something really, really good. We sang it, and it was really a folk song, a wasn't-trying-at-all folk song which had a real charm to it. David, Ben and I ended up singing it with just guitar and we didn't add any harmony to it, and it just seemed like a straight-forward, totally honest song that I'm sure you probably would have really loved. (laughs) But I never got my arms around it, I couldn't quite sing it.

So one morning, I woke up and thought, "I know...it should be in 2/4 time!" It had to be in that beat, like "Bennie And The Jets." I said that to Ben and he ran to his house with it--one of the studios is in his house, we have a compound here that has houses. He put a sample of "Bennie And The Jets" into "No Freedom," and it changed the melody in one case where it had to be in a different key. It really changed the feeling of it, but I loved it, and Ben sang the lead on it. When I tried to sing with him, I was only, at best, a second violinist, and I was an octave above him or I sang harmony, so it really didn't sound like a Carly Simon song, which it still almost doesn't. But I happen to love the way Ben's and my voices sound together.

Then we heard that somebody who works for Elton was a big fan of mine. So I called him up, told him the story of it, and said, "If I send it to you, would you play it for Elton and maybe he would sing with us on it? It would be so great if he sang on it with us."

It turned out that Elton never called me back which made me groan because I had been friends with him and I thought, "Oh dear, where do friendships go?" It's not only that I wanted Elton to do something especially with me, I was sad that the friendship that I thought we had was not worth a return call. Then finally I spoke with his publishing company, and they said that I could use the sample, but they wanted 40% of the song and all of its derivatives.

MR: Publishing companies can become vultures when it comes to samples and usages.

CS: That's right, it became totally mercenary. And without a personal call from Elton, it was really too bad. So what we did was take the sample out and we filled it in.

Now Ben was very much under the influence of a colleague of his named Benjamin Thomas who's this brilliant producer, player, you know, everything, and he's as cool as they come. So Ben Taylor, when doing this--I pretty much left this up to him to mix and produce--was keen on putting a filter on the verses so it would get very big and explosive in the chorus. Then he compressed the verses that had the filters, and when I suggested to him that the filter was a little bit too strong and there was a little bit too much compression on it, he was absolutely adamant. He said, "No, this is how I hear it, this is my respect for myself as a producer, and I really want to do it. I know it's experimental and I know it's something not everybody might like, but I really, really love it," and it was an instance where I gave in to him 100%. And I really love it too. I think it's the most modern, forward-looking record as to what I might do in the future. This is a very tempting arrow.

After I tried many different sequences, I wanted to program it as if it was a symphony, and therefore have the first four songs give elements of what this record was going to be about. I would put "The Right Thing To Do" into "It Happens Everyday," that went into "Never Been Gone," into "Boys In The Trees," into "Let The River Run," into "You're So Vain,"...it's got a feeling that goes up and up and up and crests with "No Freedom." Then the beginning of the third movement would start out with "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" and ends with "Songbird" that brings me from the past into the future, not just into the present. It's sort of like, "I don't know where it's gonna lead, but where it leads, I'm willing to follow." And the way it ends with "Hallelujah" is also the way "The Right Thing To Do," the first song on the album, ends with those beautiful, low "Hallelujahs" that Ben sang.

MR: And these songs sequentially seem to progress the story of each preceding song.

CS: Very specifically, how I could analyze it myself, going from "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" into "Coming Around Again" was a flip-flop way of seeing marriage. You know, initially, everybody wanted me to sing "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" at their wedding because they thought it was such a pro-marriage song. But this one is more like a dirge, there's nothing hopeful about it.

MR: It's kind of nuts that anyone would view that as a pro-marriage song when it's got lines like "the couples cling and claw and drown in love's debris" and "but soon you'll cage me on your shelf, I'll never learn to be just me first by myself."

CS: You know what, people didn't bother to listen to specifics. They just thought, "You say it's time we move in together? Okay, well marry...oh boy, oh boy!" But then, that song, coming into this version of "Coming Around Again," is much more philosophical, and it does give you a sense of awe. That ending that I just put on there was very spontaneous, I didn't know what I was going to say. It was just one of those, "Let the tape go, and I'll just see what I sing." That became that whole segment of "...if you can just remember to breathe, it will be coming around again," and the final line "...it's got to break you before it makes you."

MR: Then you emphasize "I DO believe in love" after all that.

CS: Yeah, and I love the tone of that, it's very different from the original tone. And "Anticipation" is very different in tone too because the first version I did was very "rah-rah," you'd sing it around the campus after the college football team had won the game. Especially on "these are the good old days...wow, we won!" When I sing "these are the good old days" on this version of "Anticipation," all the instruments stop except for my lone guitar that's just very slowly strumming "these are the good old days."

The first couple of times I sang it live, I just cried. It made me think that not only was the hourglass tipped over on its other side, but there was more sand at the bottom of the hour glass than the top; that there aren't many more chances to make mistakes in love. When you find love, it's just so much more precious now at this age. It feels like you don't flirt around with it. It's not that it's heavy and serious, it should never be that, but every second that I'm in love--and I happen to be in love as we speak now--really fills me with all the things that this life was intended to do. Just as I look out at every new Spring, it's almost too much for me to take. It's those darling buds of May, it just fills me to the brim.

MR: Beautiful. And "Anticipation" saddles up nicely with "Songbird" since it's also about being open to what comes next. What's the story behind "Songbird"?

CS: I was cleaning out my cassette bins and I played this song that I had completely forgotten. That's the part of the song that's kind of like the introduction that I'd obviously written on the fourth of July: "Everyone I know leaves New York on holidays, the fourth of July is a little lonely here, and a little holy. Fireworks out on the river and the boys drinkin' beer sing hallelujah for the year..." That was just an ad-lib, and I'm sure it was something where I was trying to get a chord sequence on the piano and words didn't matter because they could be changed later. So I stopped the tape at the end of that and started it again. Then I wrote something else that was in the same key, basically using the same chords, but I was trying to get a new start on it. That was, "There's a songbird in my tree, I don't know where it leads."

About that whole second part, at that point, I lived on thirty-fifth street between Lex and Third, and I had a large ledge outside my window. A songbird landed on my ledge, I don't know if it had heard me playing, and I thought, "I think it stopped because of me!" (laughs) Then it began singing and I remember thinking that it might be leading me somewhere, and I was believing that it was singing it's song for me. So that's where that verse came from, again, an unstudied lyric. It was one that I had intended to change.

When I listened to the cassette, I realized that the songs worked perfectly together. It was like a second verse of the same song with a slightly different melody and slightly different key changes. I really wanted to use it on the album but I thought it had to sound better. So I let the first verse stay in its first interpretation with the piano stool creaking that was recorded onto a Walkman. And then for the second verse, I just recorded my current day voice over the first voice so that you couldn't hear the piano stool quite as much, and recorded a second piano part that was exactly like the first part over it. So it's me then and it's me now singing exactly the same thing. I don't quite have the range now that I had then, so it was a strain to do some of it, but I think it works.

The third verse is a brand new one with new lyrics which were the only truly "written" lyrics because I was trying to make sense of the first two verses and how they pulled me into the present, and thus, into the future. So "Hide away the freezing days and when the sun returns, I will have learned to sing your haunting melody, you'll take the notes that harmonize me and bring me back to Hallelujah for the rest of my life, Hallelujah..." was the circle of life, that's how I thought of it, you know, without sounding obnoxious.

MR: To be able to sync all of that up must have been a challenge. But it seems that when you oversee your records, you push the envelope on everything from song structure to the sonics, and that goes back to The Bedroom Tapes.

CS: Well, The Bedroom Tapes I did completely by myself for the first eight or nine months. I had moved lock, stock, and barrel to Martha's Vineyard after a series of bad collisions like breast cancer, chemotherapy, and being kicked out of my apartment in New York. I tried to move into a place in Boston, and it had rats and neighbors who didn't want to hear my music. My marriage was breaking up, and it was clear he wasn't going to live in Boston with me, rat or no rat, and my children had made other plans, so I would have to live in Rat City all by myself. I decided no matter what loss I was going to take on that house, just move it all to the Vineyard.

I was alone all that Winter working on The Bedroom Tapes, writing and recording it, and I got closer to my soul than I ever had in my life. There was nothing to hide. You know, it just depends on how much you want to indulge in screaming. I felt as if I needed some control in order to sing the songs. I actually did leave some songs off the record because they didn't fit or I didn't have enough money to put them on.

MR: So it was released, but it vanished from stores pretty quickly.

CS: I had made The Bedroom Tapes for Arista, but Clive Davis was fired just as I was handing the record over to them. So I had L.A. Reid, who was not at all interested in it. It was only out for a couple of months, and then I pulled it and bought it back from them in exchange for not having to do a second record. So I own The Bedroom Tapes, and it will be coming out at some point.

MR: What about doing a Deluxe Edition that includes all of the unreleased songs to tell a more complete story of your experiences and that time period?

CS: That's a good idea.

MR: What did you work on after The Bedroom Tapes?

CS: I scored two Winnie The Pooh movies, one called Piglet's Big Adventure and the other called Heffalump. Those took me three years, so it was no small amount of effort and time that I put into that, and very lovingly. I had those creatures around me all the time. I had drawings from the original animators hanging up all over my walls, and I was inspired. I was still pretty much living by myself on Martha's Vineyard except when Ben and Sally would come home from their various tours.

MR: You've been making children's records since the days you recorded with your sister Lucy, and you also were a force behind Sesame Street's In Harmony albums.

CS: It's such a natural for me, and I've written children's stories. I'm in the middle of doing one now. I had that kind of imagination that is born of telling your children stories in bed after the lights were out.

MR: It must be such a high making records with your family.

CS: It is, it's such a blessing, more so on Into White because of Sally's availability. We have a very natural ability to harmonize with each other, even though Ben has just decided he likes the Hi-Lo's. You know, he likes those strange sixths and major seconds and sevenths that I already got tired of along time ago. But Ben is into them in a very modernistic way.

MR: Like mother, like son. You were the queen of that style of harmony singing on your early records.

CS: I certainly was accused of having a crooked ear. So Ben has gotten that from me, I don't think that's much of what his father is all about.

MR: I spent a good half hour with James on a rope line at the Songwriters Hall Of Fame awards this year. He was very generous with his time, very thoughtful with his answers, and extremely kind to everyone he dealt with. When he left, many of the younger reporters commented how they admired him, so it seems that the Simons and Taylors really are good role models.

CS: How wrong Christgau was! (laughs) James is a charming, charming man, and so incredibly interesting, verbally fluent and funny and delightful and so many things I can say about him.

MR: On your album This Kind Of Love, there's a touching song you wrote to Ben and Sally called "Hold Out Your Heart" that displays a mother's love more honestly than most parent/child songs one can think of. And when you sing together, you can really hear the closeness. Do you have any cute, embarrassing stories you want to share about your kids?

CS: At first, it was shocking, because when I first heard Ben sing, he was just about four, and I had just recorded the album Hello Big Man on which appeared a song called "You Don't Feel The Same." Ben just came into my room one day and I was playing the first chord of it and sang, 'Honey, I don't want to see you this way," and he just took over and started singing in this huge voice, a voice he has never employed since because he's much more controlled. And I realized, "Oh God, what have I got to contend with here, this is so great!" I've got that on tape, I'm so glad I do. Sally's been singing ever since she was a little girl. She didn't really talk until she was four, and so she had this wonderful foreign language she was speaking, and I was convinced it was from some former life of hers. But she was singing notes to it. It was somewhere between Swedish and German and American Indian, it was a wonderful combination.

MR: Any family plans for the holidays?

CS: Because we're having so many people up here for Christmas--my godson is coming up, David Saw, and a bunch of musicians--what we're going to do is put up an open mic in just about every room and sing Christmas carols all the time and just put it out as a record right away.

Carly Simon - Never Been Gone

Tracks:
1. The Right Thing To Do
2. It Happens Every Day
3. Never Been Gone
4. Boys In The Trees
5. Let The River Run
6. You're So Vain
7. You Belong To Me
8. No Freedom
9. That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be
10. Coming Around Again
11. Anticipation
12. Songbird

...and here is the revised review:

It's awesome.

...and check out Carly's streaming audio of Never Been Gone and videos on these courtesy widgets:

Spill O'Reilly: Bill O'Reilly Meets Sesame Street Counterpart (VIDEO)

2009-11-25T12:14:03Z

Sesame Workshop Executive Vice President Sherrie Westin appeared Tuesday on "The O'Reilly Factor" to discuss the recent controversy surrounding "Sesame Street's" Fox News joke and to unveil the newest anchor on Grouch News Network: Spill O'Reilly.

Westin — who is married to ABC News President David Westin — said that Oscar the Grouch joking about "trashy" Pox News was a parody — and even a compliment.

"If you looked at that whole parody," Westin said, "Oscar, the highest praise is being trashy."

"So he was actually praising Fox News!" O'Reilly said.

Westin also introduced Grouch News Network Spill O'Reilly, who follows in the footsteps of anchors like Walter Cranky and Dan Rathernot.

Spill shouted into the camera, welcomed viewers to "the No-Spew Zone," and even plugged his book, A Stinky Rotten Pile of Grouchiness.

O'Reilly told Spill he reminded him of Barney Frank.

Watch:

Spill O'Reilly! Sesame Street Talking Head Meets Fox News Host (VIDEO)

2009-11-25T02:11:16Z

Fox News host Bill O'Reilly has been parodied on shows like Saturday Night Live and the Colbert Report. Now add Sesame Street to the list.

Earlier this month, O'Reilly aired a clip from a two-year-old episode of the popular PBS children's show featuring a character switching allegiances from the "Grouch News Network" to "Pox News," declaring, "Now there's a trashy news show!"

O'Reilly signed off, "We may have to ambush Oscar."

On Tuesday, O'Reilly was joined on his program by a new character, Spill O'Reilly, who has been added to the ranks of Sesame Street's Walter Cranky, Dan Rather-Not, Meredith Beware-a and Diane Spoiler.

WATCH:

Azam Nizamuddin: Why The Right Is Wrong On Ft. Hood

2009-11-12T16:34:11Z

This week marks the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street, a cultural icon of public television. The significance of this milestone is evident with the appearance of our first lady, Michelle Obama, on the legendary show. As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street, I am reminded of the nostalgic time of my youth when this type of television programming contributed to the lives of Americans. I grew up in the neighborhoods of Chicago, attended public schools with African-Americans, and those of European, Asian, and Hispanic descent. I remember my parents attending neighborhood potlucks where we met Koreans and Puerto Ricans for the first time. To us, the America of those days was a true cultural melting pot.

To me and many others, Sesame Street made total sense; it reminded us of the diversity of our social environment. But it also brought home the importance of a multicultural society in America. It showed how people with names like Morgan, Maria, Jose, Felix, Ernie, Oscar, and even Big Bird can live on the same street and love one another, despite their racial and cultural differences. Sesame Street also introduced me to some legendary musicians such as Stevie Wonder, who even performed his enduring classic "Superstition" on the show. No doubt the virtues of diversity, multiculturalism, tolerance, the arts, and brotherly love mark the highlights of Sesame Street.

Unfortunately, these same virtues are once again coming under attack by an untamed radicalism disguised as conservative patriotism. The tragic murders of military personnel at Ft. Hood by an American Muslim have given fodder to the most pathetic elements of xenophobic and provincial nationalism not seen in years. Most surprisingly, the restraint and reasonable response of military leaders such as General Casey, President Obama, other political leaders, as well as most mainstream media, is being rejected in the deep caverns of conservative talk radio, radical Christian commentary, and of course unhinged Fox News, as a cover-up, and liberal "political correctness" gone mad. Even mainstream pundits are joining the mobbing of a religion and its faithful. Their main charge: the liberal establishment is failing to recognize and admit that Islam is to blame for what occurred at Ft. Hood last week.

I will not insult the readers of this post by dignifying the ridiculous claim that a religion can cause murder or even save a life. The last time I checked, the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, the Quran, and the Vedas have never committed homicide or suicide. To the contrary, only adherents of a particular faith engage in acts of violence or benevolence. So, let us dispense with the childish game of which religion or scripture is better or worse, and prone to more violence.

Moreover, it is willful amnesia and a contradiction of recent history to chronically refer to Muslim violence despite the recent invasions of Muslim nations including Bush's misguided and immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq with the official Iraqi civilian death toll now at 85,000 and with other credible estimates as high as 655,000. Let us not forget the genocide of 800,000 people in Rwanda where over 90% of the population is Christian, the attempted genocide against Bosnian Muslims at the hands of Orthodox Serbs, and the massacre of over 2,000 Muslims by Hindu militants in India in 2002. Therefore, the assertion that Muslims are more predisposed to violence than other people of faith is logically absurd, and historically fallacious.

Indeed, it is far too juvenile to paint the events at Ft. Hood into a framework of "us versus them", "good and evil", "You're either with us or against us." As noted Christian author James Allison writes:

"cheap meaning is always derived by positioning oneself over against some "other" considered to be wicked. Cheap meaning makes life apparently exciting in the short term; it seems to give a purpose, but in fact it is a mirage, an illusion. There is nothing that can ultimately substitute for the long, slow, patient task of being brought into being as a human."

An addiction to cheap meanings such as the Manichean explanations of human behavior for violence is illusory and fails to account for the complexity of human conduct. In other words, the inherent right-wing tendency to look for simple and bigoted explanations for human behavior extraneous to European and Christian civilization is fatal to the search for truth and knowledge.

Recall that within weeks of the terrible events of 9/11, right-wing and conservative organizations and websites were infesting the American landscape with an effort to scapegoat those they deemed responsible. Their targets were not only Islam, but also liberal ideology, which they sought to eradicate from the academy, politics, and the media. Their apparent strategy was to uncover the liberal biases in "left wing" colleges and universities, and to take Hollywood and the liberal media to task for its weak moral foundation, and their perceived tolerance of terrorists.

Back then, I found it strange that this rabid ideology was attacking the civic virtues of multiculturalism, tolerance, patience, and critical higher education in the context of terrorism. Despite the well-established fact that al-Qaida attacked the United States because of its grievances against the U.S. for its intervention in the Middle East and support for Israel, and not due to jealousy or hate of freedom, or tolerance, patience, multiculturalism, civil rights, or political correctness, right-wing ideologues speciously pinned the blame on liberalism and Islam. After the national shock of Sept. 11, it was manifestly obvious that these ideological militants were exploiting the outrage and grief suffered by this nation by making incongruous links which were largely imaginative, but politically motivated.

After the historical debacle of the US invasion of Iraq, the Democratic victories of 2006 and 2008, and the historic election of Barack Obama, many neo-conservatives and right wing lunatics had gone dormant. But now, they have once again been swiftly unleashed by the criminal events at Ft. Hood, Texas last week.

The present day right wingers, aided and abetted by the conservative media and Republican politicians, are using the tragic deaths of our soldiers and the suffering of their families to further poison their political base with a toxic brew of religious bigotry, cultural fears, anger, and revenge, cultivating a false sense of patriotism, and taking aim at the liberal world for being too soft on the real culprits. These are the same folks who have questioned President Obama's citizenship, used bullying and thuggish tactics at political rallies against Healthcare Reform this summer, accused this country of becoming socialist, and continuously pressed for adventurous militarism with tax- payer dollars at a time of economic distress.

One would hope that the Sesame Street themes of tolerance, withholding judgment, brotherhood and neighborliness would be welcomed by patriotic Americans of all backgrounds. Yet, these are the very same virtues that are now being attacked and threatened by the increasing right-wing militancy in the United States. Liberals, progressives, moderates and sane conservatives must not allow these fanatical folks to set the political agenda and to further misguide well-intentioned Americans back into the shameful experiences of Jim Crow segregation, Japanese internment camps, or of the 2002 pogroms in India, and genocide in the Balkans in the 1990s.

Prudence, patience, moderation should be maintained while the investigation of the Ft. Hood murders is completed by law enforcement officials, not Sean Hannity or Michelle Malkin. The investigation may lead to the suspect's ideological views, religious influences, or his lack of mental capacity. But no matter the outcome, we should not permit right-wing hooliganism, whether it stems from the media, the halls of Congress, or from extremist pulpits, to dictate how we view tragedies and interpret human beings with cultures and religions separate from our own. We all need to be reminded periodically of the civic virtues from Sesame Street.

Colbert Demolishes "Sesame Street"'s Conservative Critics (VIDEO)

2009-11-12T09:22:14Z

"Sesame Street" has come under fire recently for some segments conservative critics say promote leftist views. The main target? Oscar the Grouch. It seems the surly, trash-can-living muppet is busting out his reporter chops these days and much to the dismay of his audience he's being all lovey-dovey with his interviewees. At the end of the segment his girlfriend calls to tell him she's changing the channel, "From now on I am watching 'Pox' News. Now there is a trashy news show." (WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.)

Andrew Breitbart's Big Hollywood site was not amused. The blogger Stage Right wrote:

"If Mom and Dad watch cable news, it's better than 50/50 they watch 'POX News.' So what gives? PBS -- a network partially funded with my tax dollars -- has the right to tell my kids that their parents watch 'trashy' news? The message is clear, I can't even sit my kids in front of 'Sesame Street' without having to worry about the Left attempting to undermine my authority. And don't tell me, 'If you don't like it change the channel.' There are no channels left! It's everywhere. Just last week I had Obama's service and volunteerism promoted on every single major network, including Disney and Nickelodeon."

Well last night Stephen Colbert got in on the action, calling the kids show, "America's most insidious socialist brainwashing program." He used recent tea party protest memes (calling everybody Hitler and Stalin, comparing reform to the Holocaust) and applied them to the "Sesame Street" debate.

WATCH:

Get HuffPost Comedy On Facebook and Twitter!

Michelle Obama On Sesame Street: Planting Gardens, Loving Vegetables (VIDEO)

2009-11-10T15:50:07Z

Michelle Obama took her public policy message about food, growing gardens and eating vegetables to the (littlest) masses when she appeared Tuesday on the 40th anniversary episode of the beloved children's show, Sesame Street. After the segment taped, The First Lady described being on Sesame Street as "It's probably the best thing I've done so far in the White House."

In this segment, Michelle talks about how great veggies taste, her love of cucumbers, and what a great salad the lettuce is going to make. Then Big Bird asks Michelle if they are from the same family, because she's so tall.

In this segment, Elmo goes crazy for practicing healthy habits with Michelle.

Get HuffPost Green On Facebook and Twitter!

Matt Rodigheri: New York Renames Street For "Sesame Street" (Photos)

2009-11-10T14:38:48Z

On the 40th anniversary, to the day, of the Sesame Street program, New York City declared November 10 "Sesame Street Day" with a temporary street naming near Lincoln Center.

The world's largest informal children's educator, Sesame Street can be seen in over 140 countries. "Sesame Street reaches children around the world, but without a doubt, New York City is its home," added Ms. Cooney. "It's wonderful for the city to recognize where it all began." Although the show has changed over the decades, it has remained true to it's New York City setting, having broken ground in 1969 for choosing an urban environment for a children's program. "The vibrancy of NYC served as inspiration for the creation and content of Sesame Street, it is only fitting to celebrate the program's 40th anniversary with a street-naming tribute" said George Fertitta, CEO of NYC & Co.

A variety of changes have taken place in the program over the years as it has modernized to remain current and practical. In addition to the computer generated imagery which can be seen in "Elmo's World," Cookie Monster now sings a song entitled "Cookie is a Sometimes Food" and Sesame street itself has been cleaned of it's original graffitti and peeling paint, more representative of New York then than it is now. There are differences internationally as well, South Africa's version has an HIV Positive character while Israel's cast has specific Arab-Israeli and Jewish-Israeli puppets learning lessons on sharing. The particulars of the show and contemporary messages are due to an emphasis on research, which has been a key to the show's relevancy and success since its inception.

A constant which has remained throughout the years and different versions of the show has been the promotion of diversity. Guests of Sesame Street have ranged from famous musicians, actors and political figures, most often involved in situations where Jim Henson's muppets and humans interact naturally. The show's anniversary episode on November 10th will star Michelle Obama.

Danny Groner: Top 5 Big Bird Adjusts to Life Outside of Sesame Street Moments

2009-11-08T09:52:27Z

Sesame Street celebrates its 40th anniversary this week with much fanfare and Muppet mania. People are reminiscing about and putting together their favorite moments from the show's longtime run on PBS. The show's icon, Big Bird, has shared many memories on Sesame Street with his friends, old and new. But Big Bid's fled his coop at times. Here are some clips of experiences Big Bird has had when he's left his natural habitat and interacted with the outside world.

Hollywood Squares

In this 1976 clip, Big Bird fields an ornithological question but shows how little time he spends on a different street, Broadway.

Jim Henson's Memorial

After the Muppetmaster passed away in 1990, Big Bird and others sang songs like "Bein Green" at Henson's service at Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

PBS World Travel promotion

Big Bird escorts a girl around the world (mostly Asia) and to the moon before dropping her off at home after a long day of traveling.

NYCGo.com "Ask The Locals" ad

Elmo and Big Bird educate New York City kids about the sights of the city, including how much you can learn from taxi drivers and where you can buy fresh fruit.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! appearance

Big Bird's publicist landed him a seat on the late-night show where the bird explained, among other things, how he's been squatting behind Gordon and Susan's house for 40 years.

Snuffleupagus Google Doodle Next In Sesame Street Anniversary Celebration? (PHOTOS)

2009-11-06T14:28:20Z

Google's Doodle has been on a Sesame Street spree!

First Big Bird's yellow legs were pictured in place of the Google "L". Next, Cookie Monster came along and devoured the Google "O's". Then, Bert and Ernie, two more classic characters from the children's show Sesame Street, were front and center on the Google site. (see screenshots below)

Google is featuring these Sesame Street characters in honor of Sesame Street's 40th anniversary, which will be celebrated on November 10.

Which character do you think will be next? Could it be Snuffleupagus, the wide-eyed woolly mammoth? Tell us below!

See the screenshot below of Google's Big Bird doodle:

Here's Google's other Sesame Street Doodle of Cookie Monster:

And here's Google's Bert and Ernie doodle:

Follow HuffPostTech On Facebook And Twitter!

Oscar The Grouch Google Doodle Celebrates Sesame Street Anniversary (PHOTOS)

2009-11-06T14:26:48Z

Google's Doodle has been on a Sesame Street spree!

First Big Bird's yellow legs were pictured in place of the Google "L". Next, Cookie Monster came along and devoured the Google "O's". Then, Bert and Ernie, two more classic characters from the children's show Sesame Street, were front and center on the Google site. (see screenshots below)

Google is featuring these Sesame Street characters in honor of Sesame Street's 40th anniversary, which will be celebrated on November 10.

Oscar The Grouch is the latest character to grace the Google page. (see screenshot below)

See the screenshot of Google's Big Bird doodle:

Here's Google's other Sesame Street Doodle of Cookie Monster:

And here's Google's Bert and Ernie doodle:

Which character do you hope to see next?

Follow HuffPostTech On Facebook And Twitter!

Grover Google Doodle Next In Sesame Street Celebration? (PHOTOS)

2009-11-06T14:15:46Z

Google's Doodle has been on a Sesame Street spree!

First Big Bird's yellow legs were pictured in place of the Google "L". Next, Cookie Monster came along and devoured the Google "O's". Then, Bert and Ernie, two more classic characters from the children's show Sesame Street, were front and center on the Google site. (see screenshots below)

Google is featuring these Sesame Street characters in honor of Sesame Street's 40th anniversary, which will be celebrated on November 10.

Which character do you think will be next? Could it be Grover, the valiant blue monster? Tell us below!

See the screenshot below of Google's Big Bird doodle:

Here's Google's other Sesame Street Doodle of Cookie Monster:

And here's Google's Bert and Ernie doodle:

Follow HuffPostTech On Facebook And Twitter!

Bert And Ernie Google Doodle Celebrates Sesame Street Anniversary (PHOTOS)

2009-11-06T07:24:50Z

Why are Bert and Ernie on Google's Doodle?

Google's Doodle has looked a bit different the past few days: First Big Bird's yellow legs were pictured in place of the Google "L". Then Cookie Monster came along and devoured the Google "O's".

Now Bert and Bernie, two more classic characters from the children's show Sesame Street, are front and center on the Google site. (see screenshot below)

Google is featuring these Sesame Street characters in honor of Sesame Street's 40th anniversary.

See the screenshot below of Google's Big Bird doodle:

Here's Google's other Sesame Street Doodle of Cookie Monster:

Which character would you like to see next? Tell us below!

SESAME STREET LYRICS: The Theme Song We All Love But Can't Remember The Words To

2009-11-05T13:38:20Z

Sunny Day
Sweepin' the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get,
How to get to Sesame Street

Come and play
Everything's A-OK
Friendly neighbors there
That's where we meet

Can you tell me how to get
How to get to Sesame Street

It's a magic carpet ride
Every door will open wide
To happy people like you--
Happy people like
What a beautiful

Sunny Day
Sweepin' the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get,
How to get to Sesame Street...

How to get to Sesame Street

How to get to...

Cookie Monster Google Doodle Celebrates Sesame Street's 40th Anniversary (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

2009-11-05T08:41:48Z

The Cookie Monster, from the children's television show Sesame Street, has taken over Google's Doodle!

Yesterday, Google's Doodle featured Big Bird, another Sesame Street character, on the search engine's page.

Today, Cookie Monster is up on the site, pictured devouring the cookie letters spelling out "Google," his eyes in the place of Google's two "O's".

See a screenshot below:

Here's the Big Bird Google Doodle that was up yesterday:

Watch the Cookie Monster sing about words that rhyme with "oogle" in the video below!

WATCH:

Big Bird Does 'Kimmel' To Promote 'Sesame Street"s 40th Anniversary (VIDEO)

2009-11-05T07:45:44Z

Big Bird appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" last night to promote "Sesame Street"'s impending 40th season and was adorable as always. He talked to Jimmy about the Street and revealed that Snuffaluffagus isn't a sad guy he just sounds that way, that Michelle Obama was not his favorite first lady, and that he lives in a vacant lot. The most surprising part of the interview? Big Bird was kind of snarky about Google's 40th anniversary tribute.

WATCH:

Get HuffPost Comedy On Facebook and Twitter!

Sesame Street Mocks "Pox News," Conservative Blogger Not Amused (VIDEO)

2009-11-04T13:22:52Z

It's Sesame Street's 40th anniversary and while Google is celebrating with Big Bird's feet, we are more interested in Oscar the Grouch's latest antics. Yes, it seems the surly, trash-can-living muppet is busting out his reporter chops these days and much to the dismay of his audience he's being all lovey-dovey with his interviewees. At the end of the segment one of his viewers calls to tell him she's changing the channel, "From now on I am watching 'Pox' News. Now there is a trashy news show."

Andrew Breitbart's Big Hollywood site is not amused. The blogger Stage Right writes:

"If Mom and Dad watch cable news, it's better than 50/50 they watch 'POX News.' So what gives? PBS -- a network partially funded with my tax dollars -- has the right to tell my kids that their parents watch 'trashy' news? The message is clear, I can't even sit my kids in front of 'Sesame Street' without having to worry about the Left attempting to undermine my authority. And don't tell me, 'If you don't like it change the channel.' There are no channels left! It's everywhere. Just last week I had Obama's service and volunteerism promoted on every single major network, including Disney and Nickelodeon."

Of course Sesame Street spoofs just about everything and Oscar was reporting for "GNN" the "Grouchy News Network," but that didn't sate Stage Right.

WATCH:

Get HuffPost Comedy On Facebook and Twitter!

Sesame Street On Google: Wallace And Gromit Star In UK Doodle (PHOTOS)

2009-11-04T12:48:01Z

As we wrote here, Google featured a new Doodle celebrating Sesame Street's 40th birthday: instead of Google's normal lettering, the site featured Sesame Street's Big Bird character front and center, with Big Bird's legs in place of Google's "L."

It turns out that the British Google featured a different Doodle altogether (see screenshot below).

The UK Google Doodle celebrates the 20th anniversary of the cartoon Wallace and Gromit.

Wallace, an absent-minded, cheese-loving inventor, is shown in the Google Doodle sharing tea with his intelligent and capable dog Gromit. The characters were created by Nick Park of Aardman Animations.

See the screenshot below of Google's Big Bird, Sesame-Street-themed doodle:

Follow HuffPostTech On Facebook And Twitter!

Big Bird Google Doodle Celebrates Sesame Street's 40th Anniversary (UPDATED, PHOTO, VIDEO)

2009-11-04T07:30:46Z

Google's doodle looks a bit different: instead of the regular primary-colored G-O-O-G-L-E, Big Bird, the giant yellow bird character from the children's television show Sesame Street, is featured front and center.

See the screenshot below of Google's Big Bird doodle:

Why the switch? Sesame Street, brought to you by Sesame Workshop, is celebrating its 40th anniversary!

UPDATED: It turns out that the British Google featured a different Doodle altogether (see screenshot below).

Big Bird's Google Doodle was followed by a Cookie Monster Doodle, and a Bert and Ernie Doodle. See screenshots below and read more about these Sesame Street Doodles here and here.

The UK Google Doodle celebrates the 20th anniversary of the cartoon Wallace and Gromit. Read more about it here.

Celebrate Big Bird's birthday by watching some of the Sesame Street classics below:
WATCH:

WATCH:

Mike Ragogna: HuffPost Reviews : Jack Johnson, R.E.M., Train, Dolly, Carly, and More, Plus U2 Plays The Rose Bowl, and This Week's New Albums

2009-10-26T04:50:06Z

Jack Johnson - En Concert

In 2008, Jack Johnson toured the world with his Sleep Through The Static concerts, the best of these shows assembled for his new CD/DVD En Concert that captures quite a bit more than your average live album. Jack brings his beach-troubadour style to some of the great cities of Europe--Berlin, The Hague, Munich, Paris, Newquay, and London--with the help of an entourage of kindred souls featuring Adam Topol, Merlot Podlewski, Zach Gill, plus star appearances by G Love, Ben Harper, Mason Jennings, Neal Halstead, and Matt Costa. Eddie Vedder also makes the cut, his having taken the stage with Johnson at Bonnaroo, and Paul Fuga jumps in for a performance of "Country Road."

Filmmaker Emmett Malloy seriously documents all the fun of their trip across the continent (and beyond), from performances to backstage rehearsals and banter, and from surfing to scenic Euro-exploration. The audiences go as bananas over Johnson and Co.'s shows as if they were U2 concerts, the band's music as rhythmic and natural as if it were being played back home in Hawaii. The emphasis isn't on jitter-camera captures, but instead, everything's as smooth as Mr. Zog's Sex Wax, the lens especially kind to Johnson's various shades of five o'clock shadow.

There are commentaries sprinkled about, off-stage antics, you know, your standard fare. But it's all kept very low key with no rock-star nonsense by surf-celebrator Malloy, whose stylish documentary elevates all of the tour's nuances Endless Summer-style, with human moments outweighing grandeur and without the bro-chatter of the latter. Those personal moments--such as when the artist explains, "The songs we play are about love, and that makes people feel good...that's how I explain it to my son...is that the theme of love is what attracts people"--sweetly counter grand Europic visuals with Johnson's Seagull Soup For The Soul.

With performances sequenced together from various shows, there are moments when it crosses over into Jackson Browne's multi-venue Running On Empty territory, an audio document that also gave us many angles on what it was like for a lyrical artist to be on tour. But especially on the CD portion, you don't even notice as the venues fly by; instead, you just savor the loosey-goosey creative licenses taken that never give us jam band excesses, just occasional segues-for-the-hell-of-it like when Paul Simon's "Mother And Child Reunion" is slipped onto "The Horizon Has Been Defeated." With all its personality--like Johnson's lone surfdog Red Rocks performance and overall slowed down groove-a-billy--this no-miss concert now becomes a don't miss release with the vibe of an Hawaiian vacation spent in the old country. (Profits will go to Jack Johnson's Kokua Hawaii Foundation and the Johnson Ohana Family Trust that endow various environmental projects.) Start Here: "If I Had Eyes"

Tracks:

CD
1. Belle / Banana Pancakes
2. If I Had Eyes
3. Do You Remember / Remember
4. Sleep Through The Static
5. Flake
6. Bubble Toes / Express Yourself
7. Wasting Time
8. What You Thought You Need
9. Country Road With Paula Fuga
10. Staple It Together
11. Sitting, Waiting, Wishing
12. Constellations With Eddie Vedder
13. The Horizon Has Been Defeated / Mother And Child Reunion
14. Good People
15. All At Once
16. Gone
17. Home
18. Times Like These
19. Angel / Better Together

DVD
1. Intro (If I Had Eyes - 11 Seconds - Palais Omnisports, Bercy, Paris)
2. Sleep Through The Static (Palais Omnisports, Bercy, Paris)
3. Belle (Palais Omnisports, Bercy, Paris)
4. Banana Pancakes (Palais Omnisports, Bercy, Paris)
5. No Other Way (Olympia Reitanlage, Munich)
6. Good People (Olympia Reitanlage, Munich)
7. Staple It Together (Olympia Reitanlage, Munich)
8. Flake (The Hague, Amsterdam)
9. Bubbletoes (The Hague, Amsterdam)
10. Go On (Kindl-Buhne Wuhlheide, Berlin)
11. Constellations (Watergate Bay, Newquay, UK)
12. Hope (Hyde Park, London)
13. Wasting Time (Hyde Park, London)
14. Hi Tide, Low Tide (Hyde Park, London)
15. If I Had Eyes (Hyde Park for 3:00 Min then Paris for 1:23)
16. All At Once (Palais Omnisports, Bercy, Paris)
17. Angel / Better Together (Palais Omnisports, Bercy, Paris)
18. Monsoon (Palais Omnisports, Bercy, Paris)
19. Rainbow / Buddha (Palais Omnisports, Bercy, Paris)

R.E.M. - Live At The Olympia

Here's an interesting approach: record an album and shoot a film centered around rehearsing songs that will be recorded for an album. Being a little Being John Malkovich? Overseen by Accelerate's co-producer Jacknife Lee, this release is the result of R.E.M. being holed-up in Dublin's Olympia Theater for five days in 2007, and these CDs--with the DVD doc This Is Not A Show--do show a band's creative process at work when it weighs audience feedback as its criteria for success.

Of course, the sold-out, capacity crowds go nuts after virtually every performance, and the 39 songs of this "Experiment in Terror" (as Michael Stipe called it on and off-camera) are energized; for example, there's "Cuyahoga," whose new aggressiveness adds a bit of fight to the anthem. A great moment of Vincent Moon and Jeremiah's This Is Not A Show keenly touches on a unique, modern day dilemma for songwriters when Stipe reads alleged "West Of The Fields" lyrics to the crowd, a translation he found on the internet: "The animals, how strange, try, try to stick it in." After the room giggles, the singer insists, "I guarantee you, in all my drug-addled twenties, I never wrote that line...never!"

Whether it's concert, rehearsal, commentary, or atmospheric footage, Moon and Jeremiah link everything together with the common theme of "Will this work or not?" that the band seems to be genuinely questioning; and, obviously, if it didn't work, we wouldn't be talking about it now. But the band smartly chose what works best, in this case, deeper album material over hits. This is the band raw--or as close as we're getting to the one we grew up on--and from R.E.M.'s perspective, Live At The Olympia goes out to the songs they love. Start Here: "Carnival Of Sorts"

Tracks:

CD 1
1. Living Well Is The Best Revenge
2. Second Guessing
3. Letter Never Sent
4. Staring Down The Barrel Of The
5. Disturbance At The Heron House
6. Mr. Richards
7. Houston
8. New Test Leper
9. Cuyahoga
10. Electrolite
11. Man-Sized Wreath
12. So. Central Rain
13. On The Fly
14. Maps And Legends
15. Sitting Still
16. Driver 8
17. Horse To Water
18. I'm Gonna DJ
19. Circus Envy
20. These Days

CD 2
1. Drive
2. Feeling Gravity's Pull
3. Until The Day Is Done
4. Accelerate
5. Auctioneer
6. Little America
7. 1,000,000
8. Disguised
9. The Worst Joke Ever
10. Welcome To The Occupation
11. Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcar)
12. Harborcoat
13. Wolves, Lower
14. I've Been High
15. Kohoutek
16. West Of The Fields
17. Pretty Persuasion
18. Romance
19. Gardening At Night

DVD
1. This Is Not A Show - A Film By Vincent Moon and Jeremiah

Train - Save Me, San Francisco

It's back to the basics for "Drops Of Jupiter"'s Pat Monahan, Jimmy Stafford, and Scott Underwood who have returned with a rejuvenated core band sound, and their best album since their self-titled release. Sporting a full-on celebration of its roots and all that is San Francisco, their latest is not any kind of concept album, though its stories and relationships are all San Fran-focused, with the best geo-shout-out going to The Doobie Brothers in "I Got You." Within this Train original, the guys cannibalize then regurgitate that group's "Black Water" with so much glee that Patrick Simmons might as well be in the studio's control room, ready with a slop bucket. Yet it's all so tastefully done.

All this fun starts with the title track during which we hear about the misadventures and that-of-which-we-dare-not-speak from being on the road, including certain "blisters" from not-so-virginal sources. The single "Hey, Soul Sister"--climbing atop a pop chart near you--has the best and only Mr. Mister reference one can recall, and the checklist of things Pat Monahan will be giving his girl on "If It's Love" will NOT be including cologne since, as he cheekily indicates, it's poison (by the way, it is, check it out).

For the retro fan in all of us, Train offers "You Always Know" whose Hollies-meets-Motown amalgam is amazing with Pat sounding like Allan Clarke's more in-tune little brother. In fact, Pat's vocals only have gotten stronger with time, no pitch-correcting devices allowed. Jimmy Stafford's guitars are tighter than ever, and Scott Underwood's pounding, especially on the rockier tracks, also show the drummer in fine form. The lyrics are snappy and feisty, and the ballads don't insult your intelligence. The trio's recent dissolution and reformation has made them personally and musically closer, and these eleven non-Disney, non-American Idol-pop recordings are the very pleasing fruits of their non-labored reunion. Start Here: "Save Me, San Francisco," "Hey, Soul Sister," "Marry Me," and "If It's Love"

NOTE: Please read this Wednesday's HuffPost interview with Train in which we learn if the group will be performing "Spiders And Snakes" on its new tour.

Tracks:
1. Save Me, San Francisco
2. Hey, Soul Sister
3. I Got You
4. Parachute
5. This Ain't Goodbye
6. If It's Love
7. You Already Know
8. Words
9. Brick By Brick
10. Breakfast In Bed
11. Marry Me

Dolly Parton - Dolly

What an excellent overview of Dolly Parton's career this four disc set is, featuring every important hit (as well as some that should have been) plus seven previously unreleased tracks. It reaches back to when the singer was just eleven years old on Louisiana's Goldband Records, and marches forward through her Mercury and Monument releases, her two decades of RCA recordings, and her Columbia period. Dolly then wraps it up with the event record that was "Romeo," her 1993 group effort with Billy Ray Cyrus, Tanya Tucker, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kathy Mattea, and Pam Tillis.

Through its repertoire, Dolly's producer Rob Santos--along with liner note writers Holly George-Warren and Laura Cantrell--trace the musical history almost seamlessly, treating this singer-songwriter-entertainer with a dignity that has long-eluded the country music legend. Beyond the historical information contained within this collection's 60-page booklet, each period, sequenced chronologically, speaks musical volumes on the Parton story, a couple of the more interesting chapters being her duets with Porter Wagoner and her early RCA days that introduced us to "Jolene" and a mighty song titled "I Will Always Love You." (The box even features "Put It Off Until Tomorrow," the only track among the 99 presented here not sung by Dolly.)

It's kind of unfortunate that many only know Dolly Parton's pop hits "9 To 5," "Here You Come Again," and her Kenny Rogers duet, "Islands In The Stream," since there are so many other important recordings, many of which she composed, that are better representations of the artist. But however one gets there, Dolly Parton's music deserves all our attention, from its pure country roots to its more sophisticated musings for the masses. Start Here: "Jolene," "Dumb Blond," "Together Always" with Porter Wagoner, and "My Tennessee Mountain Home"

Tracks:

Disc 1
1. Puppy Love
2. Girl Left Alone
3. Gonna Hurry (As Slow As I Can) (demo)
4. It's Sure Gonna Hurt - with Merry Melody Singers
5. Love You Gave - with Merry Melody Singers
6. Nobody But You
7. Busy Signal
8. Don't Drop Out
9. I've Known You All My Life
10. Put It Off Until Tomorrow - with Bill Phillips
11. Dumb Blonde
12. Something Fishy
13. I Couldn't Wait Forever
14. I'm Not Worth The Tears
15. Last Thing on My Mind - with Porter Wagoner
16. False Eyelashes
17. Bridge
18. Just Because I'm A Woman
19. Holding On To Nothin' - with Porter Wagoner
20. We'll Get Ahead Someday - with Porter Wagoner
21. Jeannie's Afraid Of The Dark - with Porter Wagoner
22. In The Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)
23. Daddy
24. Evening Shade
25. Gypsy, Joe And Me
26. My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy

Disc 2
1. Just The Way I Am
2. Down From Dover
3. Everything Is Beautiful (In Its Own Way)
4. Daddy Come And Get Me
5. Just Someone That I Used To Know - with Porter Wagoner
6. Tomorrow Is Forever - with Porter Wagoner
7. Daddy Was An Old Time Preacher Man - with Porter Wagoner
8. Comin' For To Carry Me Home
9. Golden Streets Of Glory
10. Mule Skinner Blues (Blue Yodel No. 8)
11. Joshua
12. Daddy's Moonshine Still
13. Last One To Touch Me - with Porter Wagoner
14. Better Move It On Home - with Porter Wagoner
15. Coat Of Many Colors
16. Traveling Man
17. My Blue Tears
18. Here I Am
19. God's Coloring Book
20. Will He Be Waiting
21. Touch Your Woman
22. Together Always - with Porter Wagoner
23. Lost Forever In Your Kiss - with Porter Wagoner
24. My Tennessee Mountain Home
25. Eugene Oregon
26. What Will Baby Be

Disc 3
1. Jolene
2. Early Morning Breeze
3. I Will Always Love You
4. Please Don't Stop Loving Me - with Porter Wagoner
5. Love Is Like A Butterfly
6. Sacred Memories
7. Bargain Store
8. On My Mind Again
9. Kentucky Gambler
10. Seeker [New Edit]
11. We Used To
12. All I Can Do
13. Light Of A Clear Blue Morning
14. You Are
15. Applejack
16. It's All Wrong, But It's All Right
17. Here You Come Again
18. Two Doors Down
19. Me And Little Andy
20. Heartbreaker
21. I Really Got The Feeling
22. Baby I'm Burnin'
23. You're The Only One
24. Sweet Summer Lovin'
25. Starting Over Again

Disc 4
1. Old Flames Can't Hold A Candle to You
2. 9 To 5
3. But You Know I Love You
4. Single Women
5. Heartbreak Express
6. Do I Ever Cross Your Mind
7. Potential New Boyfriend
8. Islands In the Stream - Dolly Parton with Kenny Rogers
9. Save the Last Dance for Me
10. Tennessee Homesick Blues
11. God Won't Get You
12. What a Heartache
13. Don't Call It Love
14. Think About Love
15. Why'd You Come In Here Lookin' Like That
16. Yellow Roses
17. Time for Me To Fly
18. He's Alive
19. Rockin' Years - with Ricky Van Shelton
20. Eagle When She Flies
21. Silver and Gold
22. Romeo - with Billy Ray Cyrus, Tanya Tucker, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kathy Mattea, and Pam Tillis

Carly Simon - Never Been Gone

With a super-nudge from her son Ben Taylor, Carly Simon re-recorded some of her classics in stripped-down versions, reducing them to an almost unplugged state. Her holding that magnifying glass on the album cover is an accurate depiction of what's going on track-to-track as the singer-songwriter gets to the heart of what was great about these compositions. She reworks the details as well as her vocals, such as in her new read of "You Belong To Me" that now seems less about re-seduction than an indictment of the temptress that might as well have been from James Taylor's "You Make It Easy." All of the songs offer at least one or two similar curve balls, and Carly's rich, mature voice now offers a smokiness reminiscent of the late Mary Travers'.

It's satisfying to hear Carly Simon approaching some of her popular material through this method as opposed to releasing yet another greatest hits. And it's nice to have a couple of new songs, although "No Freedom" tries a bit too hard to be special. On the other hand, the chordal movements and reflective mood of "Songbird" places it somewhere near "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" and stalwarts such as "Embrace Me You Child," two chestnuts that showcase the artist at her emotive best. Of the avian, Carly sings, "...I don't where it leads, but I believe it sings its song for me...sees the things I see," but it seems there's a little personification going on here since the song sounds less about the concept of the "muse" and more about how she's taken flight in her own life, making her own inspired choices.

After all her challenges--personal and musical--Carly's a fighter (we always heard that strength in her voice) and a winner. Scaring us a couple years back with the somber, haunting album Into White that came off like some sort of graceful goodbye (especially on James Taylor's "You Can Close Your Eyes," sung with their children Ben and Sally), she re-emerges with solid offerings every couple of years. Never Been Gone is no exception. Start Here: "Songbird," "Boys In The Trees," and "You Belong To Me"

Tracks:
1. The Right Thing To Do
2. It Happens Every Day
3. Never Been Gone
4. Boys In The Trees
5. Let The River Run
6. You're So Vain
7. You Belong To Me
8. No Freedom
9. That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be
10. Coming Around Again
11. Anticipation
12. Songbird

needtobreathe - The Outsiders

This alt folk-pop Christian group always seemed like it was gunning for Counting Crows or at least a southern band or two. Their new album The Outsiders rocks lightly with catchy tunes featuring occasional banjoes or a finger-picked/strummy instrument of your choice. It also whips out a big gospel-y chorus for a couple of tracks, and it's all pretty even. This band has a big following, and for them, The Outsiders most likely will do the trick. Newcomers will have to come to the party with a lot of open-mindedness in order to wade through heavy-handed anthems and a little religiousness. Perhaps they should try the country track "Stones Under Rushing Water," featuring the always wonderful Sara Watkins on vocals, since it touches the heart in a way the rest of the album should. Suggestion? Next time out, be a little more outsider-y. Start Here: "Stones Under Rushing Water" with Sara Watkins

Tracks:
1. The Outsiders
2. Valley Of Tomorrow
3. Through Smoke
4. Lay 'Em Down
5. What You've Done To Me
6. Hurricane
7. These Hard Times
8. Stones Under Rushing Water - with Sara Watkins
9. Prisoner
10. Won't Turn Back
11. Girl Named Tennessee
12. Something Beautiful
13. Garden
14. Let Us Love

Pink Martini - Splendor In The Grass

Ooh-la-la, you had us at "Ninna, nanna." Thomas Lauderdale's brand of alt-jazz-world music splashes through France, London, Brazil, with a stop or two in Old Harlem, and elsewhere. The Mama Cass-lite vocals are sprite-like, especially while dancing along French, Italian, Spanish, and Neapolitan cobblestones. For those in the New York know, Moondog's "New Amsterdam" gets beautifully resurected here, and Sesame Street's "Sing," with guest Emilio Delgato (aka the show's "Luis") is adorable. Accompanied by The Harvey Rosencrantz Orchestra and with additional guests Chavela Vargas, Ari Shapiro, and Courtney Taylor-Taylor, Pink Martini's Splendour In The Grass might be a tad poorly titled; it's barely as pastel as the cover and moniker suggest. Instead, it's like a dimly lit foyer in the forties, the one G.I.s waited breathlessly in for Mathilde to appear from her boudoir. Or not. Start Here: "Ou est ma tete?" and "Tuca tuca"

Tracks:
1. Ninna nanna
2. Ohayoo Ohio
3. Splendor In The Grass
4. Ou est ma tete?
5. And Then You're Gone
6. But Now I'm Back
7. Sunday Table
8. Over the Valley
9. Tuca tuca
10. Bitty Boppy Betty
11. Sing
12. Piensa en mi
13. New Amsterdam
14. Ninna nanna - reprise

GUILTY PLEASURE:

"Weird Al" Yankovic - The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic

This is all ultra-gooey stuff that any cheese connoisseur worth his or her weight in chedduh would gladly pig-out on. Start Here: "The Saga Begins"

Tracks:

Disc One
1. Another One Rides The Bus
2. Polkas On 45
3. Eat It
4. I Lost On Jeopardy
5. Yoda
6. One More Minute
7. Like A Surgeon
8. Dare To Be Stupid
9. Dog Eat Dog
10. Lasagna
11. Melanie
12. Fat
13. UHF
14. The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota
15. Trigger Happy
16. Smells Like Nirvana
17. You Don't Love Me Anymore
18. Bedrock Anthem
19. Frank's 2000" TV
20. Jurassic Park

Disc Two
1. Since You've Been Gone
2. Amish Paradise (Parody of "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio)
3. Gump (Parody of "Lump" by The Presidents Of The United States)
4. Everything You Know Is Wrong
5. The Night Santa Went Crazy
6. Your Horoscope For Today
7. It's All About The Pentiums (An adaptation of "It's All About The Benjamins" by Puff Daddy)
8. The Saga Begins (Lyrical Adaption of "American Pie")
9. Albuquerque
10. Ebay (Parody of "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys)
11. Bob
12. Hardware Store
13. I'll Sue Ya (Main Version)
14. Canadian Idiot (Parody of "American Idiot" by Green Day) (Main Version)
15. Pancreas (Main Version)
16. Don't Download This Song (Main Version)
17. White & Nerdy (Parody of "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire featuring Krayzie Bone)
18. Trapped In The Drive-Thru (Parody of "Trapped In The Closet" by R. Kelly)

U2 PLAYS PASADENA'S ROSE BOWL

The best word to describe this event is the overused colloquial term "awesome." To turn your head around and witness 95-100,000 fellow U2 devotees packed into the Rose Bowl couldn't help but elicit an emotional response; but to have shared a musically historic event with seven continents being broadcast from your home turf almost made it spiritual. Reportedly the largest assembly since the nineties that the Pasadena venue had ever hosted, the technologically über-advanced concert carried a message of community and interconnectedness, the themes flowing relentlessly through the set list.

Always at the forefront of technology, U2 and its 360 Tour--in association with YouTube--took the stage following a loudspeaker cranking Bowie's "Space Oddity," the stage harnessing what Bono nicknamed "The Space Station." It was an interactive circular screen that was attached to a giant "claw" structure that folded around the platform, then intermittently opened as a bridge to the audience for Bono's coming walkabouts. When Bono, The Edge, Adam, and Larry finally launched the event with No Line On The Horizon's "Breathe," about 1.3 million viewers from all places around the world witnessed as the 24-song set unfolded. "Get On Your Boots" with its Elvis Costello wordplay rip from "Pump It Up" came next, and the music and dazzling special effects relentlessly continued for about 90 minutes of fan bliss.

The set list borrowed much from No Line On The Horizon, but most of the hits surfaced as well as appendages such as "Stand By Me" that was attached to "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." Throughout the night, Bono-isms--some from song lyrics--were tossed about, including funky phrases like "The future needs a big kiss," "We've got old songs, we've got new songs, we've got songs we can barely play, we've got a spaceship," "Enough with the folk mass," "What time is it in the world, and where are we going?" and "Get up off your big fat ass now." Band introductions included a reference to a time-traveling Larry Mullen, an Adam "Clark Gable" Clayton toss-off, and the singer added, "Every sci-fi movie needs a visitor from outer space...he's Mr. Spock to us, he's The Edge to you" before referring to himself as being an Arnold Schwarzenegger with a little Danny DeVito. There were even pre-taped guest appearances from an international politician and an astronaut from the International Space Station, emphasizing the night's messages of global community and cosmic connection.

One touching moment found Bono calling out to Iran for that "connection" while embracing an American flag prior to revving up "Sunday Bloody Sunday," its symbolism hardly escaping the assembly. Another beautiful scene came in the form of sending love and music to a Burmese dissident. By the time the concert entered its encore phase, "One" bled into five or so songs, the circular screen's "spaceship" and "alien" completing the band's mission with the simple message, "Turn on your radio." Bono and his gang faux-left then returned, the singer crooning "Ultra Violet" into a dangling color-morphing, mini-UFO-looking microphone. With the words "We're going to turn the Rose Bowl over to the Milky Way," the band concluded the spectacle with "Moment Of Surrender" at 11:18 pm, after which 95-100,000 dazed participants exited to Elton John's "Rocket Man," preparing themselves for the very grounding and messy traffic experience that was to come.

Set List:
1. Breathe
2. Get On Your Boots
3. Magnificent
4. Mysterious Ways
5. Medley: Beautiful Day / In God's Country / God Only Knows / The Maker
6. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For / Stand By Me
7. Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
8. No Line On The Horizon
9. Elevation
10. In A Little While
11. Unknown Caller
12. Until The End Of The World
13. The Unforgettable Fire
14. City Of Blinding Lights
15. Vertigo / It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)
16. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight / Two Tribes
17. Sunday Bloody Sunday
18. MLK
19. Walk On / You'll Never Walk Alone
20. One / Amazing Grace
21. Where The Streets Have No Name
22. Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
23. With Or Without You
24. Moment Of Surrender

THIS WEEK'S NEW ALBUMS:

AC/DC - Black Ice (expanded reissue)
John Anderson - Greatest Hits
John Anderson - Greatest Hits Volume II
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Fruit
Atreyu - Congregation Of The Damned
Emilie Autumn - Opheliac: The Deluxe Edition (CD/DVD expanded reissue)
Awesome New Republic - Hearts
Devendra Banhart - What Will We Be
Cecilia Bartoli - Sacrificium - (double disc)
Bassnectar - Cozza Frenzy
Between The Buried And Me - The Great Misdirect
The Blind Boys of Alabama - Duets
Blondie - Blondie Singles Collection: 1977-1982 (double disc)
The Breakaways - Walking Out On Love: The Lost Sessions
The Canadian Tenors - The Canadian Tenors
Chipmunk - I Am Chipmunk
The Cowsills - The Cowsills (reissue)
Creed - Full Circle
Deep Purple - Who Do We Think We Are (vinyl)
Dragonette - Fixin To Thrill
Duran Duran - The Singles 81-85 (3 CD box set reissue)
Editors - In This Light And On This Evening
Melissa Etheridge - A New Thought For Christmas (CD/DVD)
Mike Epps - Funny Bidness ... Da Album
Rosie Flores - Girl Of The Country
The Four Tops - Something To Remember: The Casablanca Sessions
Glass Ghost - Idol Omen
Gov't Mule - By A Thread
Grin - Gone Crazy (reissue)
Euge Groove - Sunday Morning
Sarah Lee Guthrie & Family - Go Waggaloo
Halford - Halford III: Winter Songs
Heavy Trash - Midnight Soul Serenade
Hot Chelle Rae - Lovesick Electric
Michael Jackson - The Music That Inspired The Movie Michael Jackson's "This Is It" (double disc)
Tommy James - Tommy James
Katherine Jenkins - Believe
Jack Johnson - En Concert
Jesse Johnson - Verbal Penetration (double disc)
Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Anthology Volumes 1 & 2 (double disc)
Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights
Nils Lofgren - Cry Tough (reissue)
Marillion - The Singles 82-88 (3 CD box set)
Brian McKnight - Evolution Of A Man
Lorrie Morgan - A Moment In Time
Morningwood - Diamonds & Studs
The Motels - Atomic Cafe: Greatest Songs Live
The Mother Hips - Pacific Dust
Mr. Big - Back To Budokan: Next Time Around 2009 Tour (CD/DVD)
Joe Nichols - Old Things New
Orba Squara - Sunshyness
Orianthi - Believe
Painkiller Hotel - Black Roses
Dolly Parton - Dolly (4 CD box set)
Pink Martini - Splendor In The Grass
Chuck Prophet - Let Freedom Ring
Putumayo - Putumayo Presents A Family Christmas
R.E.M. - R.E.M. Live At The Olympia (double disc)
Kenny Rogers - Kenny Rogers: The First 50 Years (box set)
Kenny Rogers - The Greatest Duets
Matthew Ryan - Dear Lover
Carly Simon - Never Been Gone
Phil Spector - A Christmas Gift For You (reissue)
Spirit - Fresh From The Time Coast: The Best Of 1968-1977
The Squirrel Nut Zippers - Lost At Sea
Rod Stewart - Soulbook
Stephen Stills - Live At Shepherds Bush Empire (CD/DVD)
Sting - If On A Winter's Night ... (CD/DVD deluxe edition)
String Cheese Incident - Trick Or Treat: Best Of The String Cheese Incident
Swell Season - Strict Joy
Taylor Swift - Fearless Platinum Edition (CD/DVD expanded reissue)
Tainstick - 6 Pounds Of Sound
Tegan and Sara - Sainthood
Train - Save Me, San Francisco
Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Night Castle
U2 - The Unforgettable Fire
Velvet Acid Christ - The Art Of Breaking Apart
"Weird Al" Yankovic - The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic
Barry White - Unlimited (4 CD box set)
Winger - Karma
Wolfmother - Cosmic Egg
Yo-Yo Ma - Yo-Yo Ma: 30 Years Outside The Box (box set)

The Muppets Try To Make Friends In Ramallah

2009-10-02T16:01:15Z

This season's episodes of "Shara'a Simsim," the Palestinian version of the global "Sesame Street" franchise, were filmed in a satellite campus of Al-Quds University, a ramshackle four-story concrete structure that houses the school's media department and a small local television station. The building sits in an upscale neighborhood on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Ramallah, not far from the edge of the Israeli settlement Psagot. Like many structures on the West Bank, the Al-Quds building seems to be simultaneously under construction and decaying into a ruin. Some walls are pocked with bullet holes, from when the Israeli Army occupied the building for 19 days in 2001, during the second intifada. In another life, the building was a hotel, and the balconies out front where TV crews and students take smoking breaks overlook the crumbling shell of its swimming pool.

Sesame Street Takes On The iPod, Big Bird Gets Funky (VIDEO)

2009-10-01T14:54:00Z

SEE VIDEO BELOW

We've always known Sesame Street was cool -- but we didn't see this coming.

Big Bird, Elmo, and Snuffleupagus get funky with an iPod-ad-inspired spelling lesson.

Moral of the story: D is for Dance and Big Bird is still one hip cat.

WATCH:

WATCH (an actual iPod ad):