Sara Watkins, who celebrates a birthday on June 8, has established herself as a great fiddle player, singer, and cornerstone of the roots music scene. She was one of the founders of bluegrass group Nickel Creek in 1989, and she has gone on to a solo career as well as her recent projects as part of Watkins Family Hour.
Below is Watkins’s video for “You and Me,” a highlight from her 2012 solo album Sun Midnight Sun. In the song, the singer recalls a past relationship, looking back on her memories: “I remember you/ I remember me / Wish I knew you now / Like I knew you then.” Check it out.
Below is some of her more recent work with Watkins Family Hour. Out of some regular jam sessions, Sara Watkins formed the group along with friends that included her brother Sean Watkins, who is also a Nickel Creek alum.
In the video below, Watkins Family Hour performs at an NPR Tiny Desk Concert. The songs in the video are: “Steal Your Heart Away,” “In The Pines,” and “Hop High.”
Watkins Family Hour released its first CD, called Watkins Family Hour, in July 2015.
Finally, look for Watkins’s upcoming solo album Young In All The Wrong Ways, which will be released July 1, 2016. Below is the video for “Move Me” from the album.
What is your favorite song featuring Sara Watkins? Leave your two cents in the comments.
HBO’s movie adaptation of Robert Schenkkan’s play about the early presidency of Lyndon Baines Johnson is worthwhile viewing for largely one reason, Bryan Cranston in the lead role. With some help from make-up designer Bill Corso, Cranston gives the viewer what it might have felt like to have been around Johnson while he struggled with the major issues of those years.
The movie begins with Johnson’s rise to the presidency when John F. Kennedy is killed, focusing on Johnson’s advocacy for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the escalating war in Vietnam amidst his worries about the next election. As Johnson, Cranston captures the brilliance, vulnerability, insecurities, compassion, and vulgarity of Johnson, one of the most complex people to have ever lived in the White House.
All the Way features a number of outstanding performances, such as Frank Langella as Senator Richard Russell, Antony Mackie as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Stephen Root as J. Edgar Hoover, Melissa Leo as Lady Bird Johnson, and Bradley Whitford as Hubert Humphrey. One criticism, which others have noted too, is that there is too much material and too many interesting characters for one 132-minute movie. Other important people come and go in the story, but director Jay Roach remains focused on LBJ while viewers may also want more.
Ultimately, it is not Roach’s fault that this era was rich in important events and people. As in the case of Daniel Day-Lewis’s portrayal in Lincoln (2012), Cranston’s portrayal of Johnson is so compelling that it made me wish for a much-longer mini-series that revealed more details of events and more layers to the former president.
Yet, for a one-shot movie that tries to convey the essence of the time and LBJ’s years between Kennedy’s assassination and Johnson’s election as president in his own right, All the Way is worth your time, even if sometimes it deviates from the historical record for dramatic effect. Cranston’s portrayal of Johnson will be remembered as one of the great presidential roles, and the movie does an excellent job at making Johnson a three-dimensional character with the mix of both majestic strengths and deep flaws.
What did you think of “All the Way”? Leave your two cents in the comments.
On Sunday, May 29, 2016, U2’s Bono joined Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for a rousing rendition of “Because the Night.” The duet occurred while Springsteen and the E Street Band were in Dublin for part of The River Tour at the city’s Croke Park.
“Because the Night,” which was written by Springsteen and Patti Smith, first appeared on the Patti Smith Group album Easterand was released as a single in 1978. Springsteen earlier began working on the song for his album Darkness on the Edge of Town, although his recordings of the song would not appear on official albums until the 1986 box set Live/1975–85 and the compilation CD The Promise (2010).
The recent Dublin performance by Springsteen and Bono is not the first time the two men have performed the song in public together. In 2003, they sang “Because the Night” at a Springsteen show in Miami, and then they teamed up again on the song during U2’s portion at the 25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 2009. What song would you like to hear Bono and Springsteen sing together? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Paul Newman gave one of his greatest performances in the wonderful movie Cool Hand Luke (1967). In one scene, after hearing about the death of his mother, he sits on his bunk with a banjo and sings a song about a plastic Jesus statue in a car. When I first saw the film, I wondered if the song were an old folk song or if it might have been written for the film. Well, I don’t care if it rains or freezes, Long as I have my plastic Jesus, Riding on the dashboard of my car; Through all trials and tribulations, We will travel every nation, With my plastic Jesus I’ll go far.
The Creation of “Plastic Jesus”
The song, “Plastic Jesus,” was a real song that had been around for about a decade before Cool Hand Luke was made. Ed Rush and George Cromarty wrote the song in 1957 while they were high school students in Fresno, California.
As kids in Del Rio, Texas, Rush and Cromarty listened to the radio and heard a Mexican border station playing a religious program that sold a wide variety of religious items to make money. One of the items was a glow-in-the-dark plastic Jesus with a suction cup the driver could stick on a car’s dashboard. The teenagers saw the humor in the selling pitch, and they giggled at a song about “the bosom of the Lord.” From there, they created the song “Plastic Jesus.”
You can buy a Sweet Madonna, Dressed in rhinestones sitting on a Pedestal of abalone shell; Goin’ ninety, I’m not wary, ‘Cause I’ve got my Virgin Mary, Guaranteeing I won’t go to Hell.
Rush and Cromarty began performing the song in college and then traveled around performing as The Goldcoast Singers. As Rush later explained, when they were playing the song around 1962, sometimes the audience reacted with hostility to the song, finding it sacrilegious.
The Goldcoast Singers recorded the song, but their band eventually ended. Rush and Cromarty had their last performance together in 1963 when Cromarty went off to Vietnam.
Below is the original version of “Plastic Jesus” recorded by Rush and Cromarty with a humorous introduction capturing the origins of the song.
If you look around the Internet for the lyrics, you probably will find a long list of verses. Most of them have been added by various people, as the song has taken on a life of its own as a real folk song. Rush and Cromarty only wrote the chorus and the verse about Madonna (both above). The Paul Newman version only uses the original chorus and verse too.
Other Versions of “Plastic Jesus”
In addition to Paul Newman, a number of artists have performed “Plastic Jesus.” In 1971, Tia Blake included the song on the album Folksongs & Ballads with a bouncing country sound.
The Flaming Lips included the song as a hidden track on the album Transmissions From the Satellite Heart (1993). The band mostly maintained Paul Newman’s sparse arrangement.
“Plastic Jesus” also appears in a rock version with extra verses on Billy Idol’s Devil’s Playground (2005). Idol explained in an interview with Juice magazine that his version of the song that is about “an alcoholic who keeps his booze in his plastic Jesus on his dashboard. It’s a symphony song.”
In addition to using additional verses, Idol changed the music from the Cool Hand Luke version, making the song more upbeat: “I just followed the meter of the words and made it less like a hillbilly song. I made it sound more religiouso.”
Idol even made an official video for the song, featuring a plastic Billy Idol jamming with the plastic Jesus, who is pretty good at air guitar. Seriously, you have to watch Idol’s video.
After I posted the initial version of this story actor Lucas Hare pointed out to me that Bob Dylan’s song “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” from Blood on the Tracks (1975) has music very similar to “Plastic Jesus,” and at least in one live version from 1976, the guitar solo actually plays the “Plastic Jesus” melody.
Finally, Jack Johnson often performs the song, which appeared on Live at Boulder (2001).
Impact of “Plastic Jesus”
My favorite version remains Paul Newman’s version in Cool Hand Luke, where Newman adds a layer of meaning to the humorous song. The lyrics remain funny, but as Newman sings the song in his pain at losing his mother, the viewer learns a lot about the relationship between the son and the mother. Additionally, the song about Jesus underlies a movie that is full of Christ imagery.
I’ll bet those two teenagers laughing at the radio had no idea their song would go so far. But “Plastic Jesus” was not the only time that Ed Rush and George Cromarty had a brush with movie fame. In 2013, the Coen Brothers used an altered version of The Goldcoast Singers’ 1961 song “Please Mr. Kennedy” in the film Inside Llewyn Davis (2013).
In the latest version of “Online Time Killers,” we present you with one that tests your color perception and another one with simple black and white graphics to challenge your cycling skills.
First up is a website where you can test how well you detect colors. According to the website, “1 out of 255 women and 1 out of 12 men have some form of color vision deficiency.” See if you fall into one of those categories by heading over to the Online Color Challenge. The test is based on the Farnsworth Munsell 100 Hue Test, where the lower the score you get, the better you are at distinguishing colors. Unfortunately, I found out I’m not perfect.
Free Rider 3 features a challenging biking video with simple graphics. See if you can navigate the bicyclist through varied terrain, using your cursor buttons. The up button accelerates and the down button brakes, while the right and left buttons help you navigate your angle. There are various tracks designed by players, or you may design your own. On the ones I tried, I made it through some of the hurdles but have yet to make it all the way through. I just need to spend some more time on it. How did you do? Leave your two cents in the comments.
HBO’s movie adaptation of Robert Schenkkan’s play about the early presidency of 
and was released as a single in 1978. Springsteen earlier began working on the song for his album Darkness on the Edge of Town, although his recordings of the song would not appear on official albums until the 1986 box set Live/1975–85 and the compilation CD 
(2010).
(1993). The band mostly maintained Paul Newman’s sparse arrangement.
(2005). Idol explained in an interview with 
