Author: Joey deVilla

Music

Accordion Guy Advent Calendar, Day Twelve: "Feliz Navidad" by El Vez, the Mexican Elvis!

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date December 12, 2005
1 Comment on Accordion Guy Advent Calendar, Day Twelve: "Feliz Navidad" by El Vez, the Mexican Elvis!

Photo: Figurine of Santa playing the accordion. In Tagalog, “Merry Christmas” is “Maligayang Pasko”,

and I’m going to try and dig up some MP3s of Filipino Christmas songs

for this Advent calendar. A combination of the warm weather and Spanish influence makes Filipino carols

a little bouncier than your typical North American or European ones,

many of which are a bit too solemn for this party animal’s liking.

Filipino traditions have considerable overlap with Mexican traditions

thanks to the fact that the distances involved made it necessary to

administer the Philippines not from Original Recipe Spain, but Extra

Crispy New Spain, a.k.a. Mexico. I can’t think of better way to

celebrate this overlap and Christmas at the same time — other than

throwing a tequila-fueled bacchanal at my apartment — than to share this cover of Feliz Navidad (that’s “Merry Christmas” in Spanish) by El Vez [4.0MB, MP3] the Mexican Elvis. Enjoy!

It Happened to Me

I Won!

I’ve been making such headway in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas that

I’ve got it on the brain. Hence, I’ll start off the post with this

slight altered screen capture:

It was a close race, with only a handful of votes between me and my primary rival in the competition, Calgary Grit.

In the end, ten votes made the difference. I salute the esteemed

competition for being a worthy competitor, an excellent blog and having

the chutzpah required to be a Liberal party blog in Alberta.

I’d like to thank Postmodern Sass for nominating me (if there were others who also nominated me, step forward!) and to all of you who voted for Accordion Guy. You’re the best!

In the News

Accordion Guy Advent Calendar, Day Eleven: Richard Pryor and Chevy Chase’s "Word Association" Skit from Saturday Night Live

If you were a friend of mine in the 1980s, there would come a time when

I’d tell this joke: I’d strike a match and then use it to mimic a man

screaming in unbearable pain. I’d go: “Who’s this? Richard Pryor.”

While he

shouldn’t be a role model for one’s life, anyone who wants crack wise

about society should make it a point to study his work. At the age of

16, after having been floored by a Betamax dub of Eddie Murphy’s

stand-up routine in Delirious

— yes, kids, he was funny once — I decided to go to the source and

check out recordings by Pryor, who was one of his biggest influences.

I remember once reading that black comedians’ two classic role models:

Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor. I would like to add to that observation

by saying that too much Cosby and too little Pryor makes you pretty

lame: just look at Sinbad.

(In Eddie Murphy’s stand-up film Raw,

Murphy would recall a story about how Cosby phoned him, complaining

about the profinity in his act. Murphy said that Pryor called him

later, advising Murphy to tell Cosby to “have a coke and a smile, and shut the fuck up!“).

Considering the pretty stupid outfits that a lot of stand-up comedians wear onstage, Pryor’s a pretty sharp dresser.

Thirty years ago tomorrow, Richard Pryor and Chevy Chase performed what is now known as the “Word Association Skit” on Saturday Night Live.

The setting for the skit was a job interview with Pryor as the

interviewee and Chase as the interviewer. The scene opens with Chase

announcing that the final step of the test would be a word asssociation

test: Chase would say a word and Pryor was to respond with the first

word that came to mind. As the test progresses, Chase’s test words get

increasingly racist, and Pryor responds in kind. I loved this routine

to death — so much that I used to perform it with some friends, in

which we substituted black slurs for Asian ones — and here it is, for your amusement [2.2MB, MP3, Not safe for work — racial epithets galore].

So long, Richard, and thanks for all the laughs.

Music

Accordion Guy Advent Calendar, Day Ten: Ska Cover of "Enter the Dragon"

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date December 10, 2005
1 Comment on Accordion Guy Advent Calendar, Day Ten: Ska Cover of "Enter the Dragon"

Photo: Figurine of Santa playing the accordion.

Enter the Dragon was the movie that introduced Bruce Lee (Lee Jun Fan) to North

American audiences. Lalo Schifrin composed the original Theme to Enter the Dragon [2.9 MB, MP3], a 70’s

action-flick approach to kung fu movie music. A couple of decades

later, the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra would update this number with a

rollicking ska rhythm. Here you go: Enter the Dragon (Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra version) [3.7MB, MP3].

Uncategorized

Get Well Soon, Ross!

It’s been a bit quiet around the office lately, and that’s because Boss Ross has had some downtime due to some skull-crushing migraines. Get well soon, dude!

Toronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)