This blog's traditional way of celebrating Edith Piaf's birthday Dec. 19 - LA VIE EN ROSE parody

 This blog's traditional way of celebrating Edith Piaf's birthday Dec. 19 -

LA VIE EN ROSE parody by Fred Landau

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5Z6iz4jPsw  

Thank you to the wonderful Jan Horvath for the vocal here. 

The U.S. Post Office Piaf Forever stamp was 2012, and even then we were worried about how snail-like "snail mail" was.  (The snail makes a guest appearance at 0:30 and this is believed to be the post office snail's only appearance in a La Môme parody video.)   

For start of Hannukah, our song "Put Your Pain In the Hands of a Jew" - video with Hannukah images

In the spirit of the old line about what many Jewish holidays have in common, "They tried to destroy us, they didn't destroy us, let's eat!" - 

"Put Your Pain In the Hands of a Jew (or a Few)" - with Hannukah images

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53wvYwGE9Z8

Music by Skip Kennon, lyric by Fred Landau - sung here by Neal Mayer

(The expression "oy and vey" is thanks to Bruce Kimmel)

We wrote this song about the soothing aspects of Jewish humor in the face of thousand of years of tsouris, and it turned out not to be right for project we auditioned for.  (When we wrote the song, the show's script that we got had been about humor as essentially Jewish novocaine, and that changed a great deal by the time that show opened.)

But the song survives on YouTube! :) And we get nice reaction to the audition song. even separate from the show for which it had been written, and I wanted to share it here, on this video with Hannukah images.

Remembering my late Aunt Sarah Friedler on her birthday, including a favorite theater-related story about her

 

Remembering my dear late aunt Sarah Friedler on her birthday, here in this photo with my dad, my brother and me at what seems to be my nephew David Landau's bris in 1988. My aunt and my dad were both Holocaust survivors. We all called her Aunt Sunia (pronounced "Shoon-ya"). The camera caught her while she was talking, probably making a joke, but it's such a happy photo of a happy occasion. 

We have so many happy memories of her, including a good amount of theatergoing and theater-watching and listening with her and my Uncle Jonah. One of my favorite theater-related memories of her was after Kathie Lee Gifford performed Sondheim's "Getting Married Today" on TV, my Aunt Sunia did an impromptu impression, with hand motions, of Kathie Lee singing at the wedding "Go! Can't you go? Why is nobody listening?" (This was while Kathie Lee was the alternate for Carol Burnett in "Putting It Together.")

My tribute to the New York shopping & tree lighting time of year

If you're in the mood for holiday music you've never heard before, this is my tribute to New York in the shopping and tree lighting time of year. Hope you like it, whatever you celebrate!

"In the Season We Love"- music and lyric by Fred Landau, sung in this video by Jan Horvath 

(first section is a happy shopper, then a grumpy shopper, then harmony between the two)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oyosuNj1jE 

New draft of description of the value of parody as preface for upcoming volume of 21st CENTURY OLDIES

Facebook calls it starting a "new job," but maybe it's more like a new venture, or even a new adventure!  What it is is that I have a full draft of this new volume of my "21st Century Oldies" series of books. 

Here's a new draft of the description about the value of parody for the upcoming volume 6  of 21ST CENTURY OLDIES: The First Quarter Century, 2001-2025.

More about Volume 6 is here https://music-and-comedy.blogspot.com/2023/11/starting-to-promote-volume-6-of-my-21st.html 

If you have any thoughts, please feel free to email me at my AOL address FJL1960, or leave a comment if that works for you.

There are three small words to one simple truth: Parody is popular. 

It’s so popular in contemporary society that you don’t even have to go to a comedy club or find a Broadway stage to enjoy this unique type of humor. Just flick on your TV or click, toggle, and swipe away at your laptop, tablet, or other digital must-have device. 

Parody is everywhere…because it has to be. 

We need it. In itself, parody is one of the most comforting forms of humor out there. It takes an event, topic, or medium to which the common, everyday person already has a strong emotional response and then reshapes it in a way that stirs an entirely different emotion. 

Parody, along with satire,  help us make sense of the absurd, bring fun to the mundane, and allow us to laugh when we might otherwise want to cry or throw our hands up in the air in defeat. They lift us up when we are down and give a new spin to things that frustrate us, offend our beliefs, or leave us wondering what could possibly come next. In other words, parody can help us digest what is going on in the world around us. 

To the memorable music of tried and true artists such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Stephen Sondheim, Richard Rodgers, Stephen Schwartz, Gloria Estefan, Whitney Houston, Katy Perry, Adele, and Barbra Streisand, topics parodied in this book include American Idol meltdowns, Mark Sanford’s Argentina saga and his later political rebound, skyrocketing Broadway theater prices, the AIG bailout mess, the Covid crisis and, of course, Donald Trump, 

Turn on whatever you use to play music these days—and start reading this book. In no time, you’ll be singing along, laughing, and feeling a whole lot better about life.

Reviving our pitch for DOWNTOWN ABBY/UPTOWN ANN LANDERS, with Dear Abby's grandson officially running for President

 With Rep. Dean Phillips (who is Dear Abby's grandson - really!) officially running for President, 

I figured why not revive this proposed (not really!) pitch 

"DOWNTOWN ABBY / UPTOWN ANN LANDERS" - 

a fictitious mis-step in creating a Downton Abbey follow-up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7n2P2CIFBM
music and lyrics by Fred Landau

If you've started looking for musical material for the holiday season's performances

 If you've started looking for musical material for the holiday season's performances:

"In the Season We Love" - music and lyrics by Fred Landau 

A happy shopper and grumpy shopper come to terms over NYC at Christmas time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oyosuNj1jE

A sincere power ballad ANOTHER CHRISTMAS for after Christmas, wishing Christmas would be back again

Music and lyrics by Fred Landau - This video got to 40,000+ views; it looks like it had gotten linked on some holiday sites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfenKQ7sj1E

-- (This one is pretty G-rated, despite the title, about the full-body scanners at airports)

Because travel is so topical for holiday traveling, here's FLY ME IN THE NUDE 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn3AcCmPL00

Parody lyric by Fred Landau

Remembering Marie Curie's birthday (Nov. 7) with a musical comedy salute

Remembering Marie Curie's birthday (Nov. 7) with a musical comedy salute:

 In 2019, Kate Mulgrew was back onstage, at the Minetta Lane, as a rival for Mme. Curie's heart in off-Broadway's "The Half-Life of Marie Curie"

Reprising "Elements" to tune of "Elegance" - Mme. Curie’s future husband confronts her ambivalence https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yqJ4Fjxvd8

Parody lyric by Fred Landau

Starting to promote volume 6 of my 21st CENTURY OLDIES parody-lyric series The First Quarter Century 2001-2025 (and a planned theater project)

 

FREE GIVEAWAY IN THE U.S. (EVEN POSTAGE IS FREE IN THE U.S.)

I've been writing parody lyrics almost every day usually based on Times news stories or politics, 

and putting them in the New York Times comments, for many years now.  

They've gotten attention over the years, 

like Lin-Manuel Miranda very generously tweeting 

"Freddie the NYTimes commenter is a local treasure" in Nov. 2015 - 

https://twitter.com/lin_manuel/status/669222699361771520

which the New York Times quoted in an ArtsBeat article June 1 2016 by Daniel McDermon.

It's at this link, towards the end of the article; you just have to scroll down a bit:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/06/01/service-advisory-artsbeat-is-finished/

and linked in the Times' New York Today column when Noah Remnick interviewed me 

Feb. 3 2016
 (at the end of the column "And Finally" section)
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/03/nyregion/new-york-today-landmarklimbo.html

"During my time here, no one has brightened my early mornings quite like a man named Fred Landau.

You may know him as Freddie, our lyrically gifted commenter who pens a daily ditty for us lucky fans."

I've been publishing collections of the parody lyrics as 21ST CENTURY OLDIES, so far 5 volumes, 

and I'm preparing and trying to push

Volume 6: "21st Century Oldies, the First Quarter Century, 2001 to 2025."  

(To give you the idea of what it is, it's kind of like a Sing Along with MAD type 

collection, without the pictures.)

As a "branding gimmick" towards trying to get the 21ST CENTURY OLDIES name out there, 

I'm trying offering a free giveaway: If anyone in the U.S. wants a copy of one of the old volumes totally free (I'll even pay the postage),

just email me your name and U.S. mailing address to my AOL address FJL1960 and I'll send one of those books to you.  

Info about the 5 volumes can be found by googling "21st Century Oldies" "Fred Landau" or searching the name on Amazon.

Thanks,

Fred Landau

For Valentine’s Day: this blog's tradition, original non-parody theater love songs

For Valentine’s Day: original non-parody theater love songs 

"Brooklyn Boy"

https://youtu.be/XiQRDVKvf5Q

Music and lyrics by Fred Landau

"I Look Into Those Eyes"

https://youtu.be/5HcENPH12UU

Music and lyrics by Fred Landau

“Is It Mushy to Say I Love You” which somehow passed 70,000 views

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZZfjTLHl1s

Music: Fred Landau, Lyrics: Hunter Prillaman