Italians React In Beautiful Way To Coronavirus Quarantine

This Italian neighborhood is deserted due to a government-imposed
coronoviris quarantine, but residents insisted on making things
beautiful anyway

Italy, as you have probably heard in the news, is pretty much locked down because of the corona virus.

That means 60 million or so Italians have been told to stay in their houses. Italians have a reputation of being very social animals, so this has to be painful for all of them. No matter how physically  healthy they feel.  

To boost each other's spirits, residents in city neighborhoods have been singing to each other from windows and balconies, even as the streets below are deserted. A viral video of this, which you can see at the bottom of this post actually made me cry a little.

When there's big calamities hit, there are sometimes awful moments of cruelty. Or moments of absurdity - witness the great Toilet Paper rushes of this week.  But also great beauty emerges from humanity in times of crisis.  This is video is just one manifestation of that.

Let this being an example of how we should behave, moving forward:

Song From "A Star Is Born" Creates A New Star Being Born

Charlotte Awbery might be a case of a star is born
because she sang "Shallow" from "A Star is Born"
in a viral video 

One of my favorite songs in recent years is "Shallow" by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. As most of you know, it's from the most recent remake of the movie "A Star Is Born."

Lady Gaga has one of the best voices in the music business, and of course I'm a huge fanboy of hers. She can do no wrong.  And the song "Shallow" is absolutely gorgeous.

The reason I bring this up is that viral video, perhaps the most viral video of the year, of a woman who was accosted by a man in the London Tube who sang the first lyrics of "Shallow" and demanded the woman sing the subsequent lyrics.

The man in the London Tube, Kevin Freshwater, is a video blogger who did this as part of his shtick. He was clearly not prepared for what the woman, named Charlotte Awbery did. Hesitant at first, Awbery built up and belted it out with Freshwater's encouragement.

In that moment, well, a star was born.  The video of Awbery in the London tube went extremely viral.   It's had something like 60 million hits on social media. Her Instagram following went from 4,000 to 400,000.

This moment changed her life.  Awbery was already a professional singer, but she hadn't hit it big until now.  She is a singer and songwriter by profession.  There are previous clips of Awbery floating around out there of her singing classics like "Purple Rain" by Prince and hits by Celine Dion and Sia.

She's also had a steady string of gigs at clubs, bars, weddings, parties and such, but nothing big time.

The viral video of Awbery in the Subway singing "Shallow" pushed the original Lady Gaga/Bradley Cooper back on the iTunes Top 40.  Last week, Ellen Degeneres had her on her daytime show to sing the entire song.  I'm sure a record deal is in the works.

You never know what will come of this, of course. Will Awbery be another flash in the pan, or does this establish her as a star.  It's yet another case of how big breaks, or at least potential ones, can come out of nowhere.

This is the second time in about a year that music in a subway causes a sensation.







In any event, here's Awbery's performance on "Ellen"

Woman Bursts Into Song At Lincoln Memorial, And The Result Is Heavenly

On a dare, this woman from Florida started singing
the National Anthem while on a visit to the Lincoln
Memorial in Washington DC. Watch the video
at the bottom of this post to hear the magic that resulted.  

A singer named Star Genleah Swain was at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC on June 16 when her crew issued a dare for her.

Just start randomly singing the National Anthem amid all the tourists swarming around her.

The resulting viral video is a show stopper: Between the acoustics at the memorial and her amazing voice, this really was a special moment.

When she isn't wowing us with singing, Swain is an assistant principal at the Jefferson County Middle/High School in Monticello, Florida, says her Facebook page.

In case you haven't seen it yet, here's the viral video. Totally worth the watch:

My Vote For Best Performance Ever On "The Voice"

Kimberly Nicole blew me away with her
performance of the song "Creep" on "The Voice"  

Regular readers of this blog know I'm a big fan of the televised singing competition show "The Voice," so of course I watched it last night.

There's a paricularly strong group of eight finalists currently, but one named Kimberly Nichole just blew me away Monday evening.

She sang one of my favorite songs, the Radiohead classic "Creep."

I know, I know. Too many people have covered that song. It's turning into a cliche.

But Nichole turned the song on its head, and turned it into one of the best performances I've seen on the show. She kind of turned the song into an epic play.

Watch what she does toward the end. The move downward is so brilliant. She made the song so complex, and totally renewed "Creep"

I'm gushing, but I'm hoping to hear a lot more from Kimberly Nichole in the future based on this video:

Update: "Singing Nun" Sister Cristina Scuccia Wins Italy's "The Voice"!

Some weeks ago I told you in this blog thing here about Sister Cristina Scuccia, the unlikely contestant on Italy's version of "The Voice."   

Sister Cristina Scuccia sings her way to victory
on Italy's version of "The Voice"  

That's the show that begins the season when judges listen to singers with their backs to the performer, so they can't make assumptions based on their looks.

If the judges like what they hear, they press a button, their chairs turn and they face the singer.

The season progresses from there until one singer is crowned the champion

In this case, we have good news from Italy this morning: Sister Cristina Scuccia was the big winner!

And good for her!

She got a recording contract with Universal.

According to Variety, this was Scuccia's reaction to the win:

"My presence here is not up to me, it's thanks ot the man upstairs," she said before reciting the Lord's Prayer onstage."

Variety said Scuccia is a member of the Ursuline Sisters of the Holy Family, and was inspired to audition for The Voice by Pope Francis, who wants people to "get out onto the streets" in his call for the Catholic Church to come closer to the common people and their everyday lives.

At the same time, she's helping us understand that many Catholic priests and nuns really do want to make the world a better place. And they can have fun.

As proof, here's this great video of a "battle round" in the voice in which Scuccia sings with another contestant to see who can do a better job with Cindi Lauper's classic, awesome song "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

The video is wonderful. Love the contrast between Scuccia and the other contestant. Watch:

Loving Beyonce Because She Does the Diva Thing the Right Way

Beyonce yesterday answered the critics who complained that she sort of lip synced the National Anthem at the Obama Inaugural a couple weeks back.

She's going to perform in the Super Bowl, and she was at one of those dog and pony show press conferences that lead up to the Big Game.

There she was, looking splendid and glowing like a good diva does, in a stunning white mini dress and flowing brown hair.

She explained, as many professionals already have, that performers typically sing along with a recorded track of themselves during live shows under iffy conditions, like during the cold, outdoor inaugural.

Of course, that she sang along to a track essentially lip syncing last time, does she have the chops to really sing, with no help.

She decided to answer that question at the press conference by singing the Star Spangled Banner a capella for the assembled scribes at the presser.

Well, she nailed it, doing a better job than at the inaugural. And like the best divas anywhere, she finished her command performance, looked at the reporters with a confident smile and said, "Any questions?"

Perfect. See for yourself with this clip from YouTube.

Another Super Music Reality Show Star is Born

I'm a sucker for those moments on music reality shows when somebody makes a grand entrance and just blows us all away. The most famous example was Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent back in 2009. She was the dowdy, awkward woman who shocked everyone with her amazing voice.  As most people know, she's a big star now. (That famous first YouTube video now has 90 million hits!)

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Rachael Leahcar, 17, wows 'em on Australia's Got Talent

Last year, we had Landau Eugene Murphy on "America's Got Talent" an underemployed, scruffy car wash worker who belted out Sinatra like, well, Sinatra.

And then we had Sung Bong Choi on "Korea's Got Talent," a teenager who has been homeless since he was a little boy, blowing away the audience

Today, hat tip to Cat Fraser via Facebook, I found one Rachael Leahcar, 17, who blew them away on Australia's version of "The Voice." That's the show where four singers who are the judges on the show sit with their backs to prospective singers, and then swing the chairs around to face the singers if they like them and want them on their teams.

Leahcar had to be led up onto the stage because she is blind. The judges, Delta Goodrem, Seal, Joel Madden and Keith Urban, seemed a bit impatient at that. Then Leahcar started singing Edith Piaff's "La Vie En Rose" The rest,  as they say, is history.

Watch the video below, which today has gone uber viral, 'natch:

He's America's Got Talent's Hero

Landau Eugene Murphy, 36, a car wash attendant from West Virginia, is surely a hero in the minds of the folks over at America's Got Talent.

The other night, he provided just the kind of television that producers of AGT surely want. I was among millions who ate up his appearance. I loved it.

You can watch the seven minute clip in the video in this blog post. It is worth watching. It's great TV, especially once they get out of the preliminary stuff he Murphy goes on stage.




As you can see in the video, Murphy ambled out onto the stage with his unruly dreadlocks and his kind of shabby clothes. He was chewing gum. He seemed like a nice guy, but also a little awkward. He didn't seem ready for prime time, really.

Judge Piers Morgan ordered Murphy to put the gum away. Murphy did so by stuffing it into his jeans pocket.

Sharon Osborne asked what he was going to do. He said he was going to follow his dream. She looked doubtful. So did Morgan and fellow judge Howie Mandel.

Then Murphy opened his mouth to sing, and out came this gorgeous Frank Sinatra voice.  He brought the house down.

The three surprised celebrity judges heaped praise on Murphy. "Your life is never going to be the same," Mandel told Murphy, a prediction I have no doubt will come true.  Mandel's remarks, and the enthusiasm coming from the audience so overwhelmed Murphy that he burst into tears.

Will America's Got Talent greatly help, or hurt
Landau Eugene Murphy?

I so want Murphy to succeed, but I worry a bit that his appearance this week on AGT will be the best part of his radically changed life.  I worry about people who are plucked from obscurity and made into instant stars.

There's money to be made from talented people like Landau Eugene Murphy. And why not? He can make a living singing, and the record companies, the promoters and all those other people in the industry can share in some of the wealth.

But a lot of big industries, including the talent industry, are full of sharks. People will take advantage of Murphy, take more than their share of his money, overwork him, make him do things he has misgivings about, chew him up and spit him out.

Yes, I'm cynical. And I don't mean to be patronizing toward Murphy. From what little I know about him, he seems smart enough. Even so, this has hit him like an avalanche. Nobody can be fully prepared for it, especially since he has no experience here. AGT was the first audition and his first public performance as a singer. He can't know all the tricks of the behind the scenes trade yet.

Plus, no human is perfect. I'm not. You're not. Murphy is not.

The Landau Eugene Murphy story arc will be familiar. Somebody gets a big notice and they're celebrated. Then the entertainment reports dig, and find the skeletons in the closet. And you know everybody has them. They'll dig up a prior arrest, something he did or said that was stupid, a failed job, a failed relationship or any other failure and play it up.  Build him up, tear him down.

They do that to everybody. Everybody hungers for such an arc, and there's money to be made constructing the story arc.

Now that AGT has got me and many others firmly in Laudau Eugene Murphy's camp, I really hope he has the wherewithal to withstand the greedy people circling him. Unexpected success like Murphy's is like blood in the water. Right now, Murphy is the last person I want to see become shark food.