songbird's crazy world

 A new year, new music prompts. Today's theme? Mewsic Trivia – tells us a piece of mewsic trivia about a song(s) and share it Let's talk about "Hey Jude". The first Beatles single released on the Apple label, it is credited to Lennon-McCartney but was actually written by Paul; originally titled "Hey Jules", it was written to comfort John's son Julian when John left his wife Cynthia for Yoko Ono. It was originally released in 1968.  Paul sang it at the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. Can you believe a guy who wrote #1 songs in the 1960's just released a new #1 album? So let's watch a very young Paul sing the song:

So I decided to make my apartment a "smart home".  I have Amazon Alexa devices in the living room and the bedroom; I can play music in any room, control the lights and the TV with my voice, set alarms, etc.  I am installing a Ring doorbell... But when I came cross this item I had to laugh... voice controlled oven There's nothing particularly humorous about a voice controlled oven... unless you're a Disneyphile who has spent too much time in the Magic Kingdom. Let me explain. General Electric and Walt Disney put together an exhibit for the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair, an animatronic show they called "The Carousel of Progress". The show took viewers from the turn of the century to the 1920's to the 1940's, showing the audience the progress in labor-saving devices.  The show ended in the 1960's, and was a showcase for all of the best  GE could offer in the way of refrigerators, washing machines and other modern conveniences.   The theme song...

  I have never been so glad to put a year behind me, and I know I am not alone. 2020 tested us, our endurance, our resilience, our humanity. But we survived.   So let's put the old year behind us, and look ahead to a brighter and better new year.

 With so many things postponed or canceled.... The Bronx Zoo is open, mostly outdoors and mask compliant.  Covid restrictions meant we had to obtain timed tickets for entry to the holiday  lights show.   We arrived early enough to see the World of Birds exhibit. (Yeah, a girl named "Robin" loves birds.  Go figure...) These guys tried to follow us out! He's just being mellow: Next, we walked over to the zoo's center, where the sea lions were having fun. We admired the architecture of the zoo... And posed with a rhino.   Yes, that really is us under all that fabric... But the real deal is the holiday light show.  The whole park is decked out in lights, with numerous trails representing different parts of the world  - Africa, Asia, the ocean, etc. I hadn't realized I caught the moon through the trees. Drew thought the baboon looked "possessed" because of the way its eyes glow. Flamingos?  In the Bronx? The centerpiece, of course, is th...

 Hail the conquering hero!

Loving my new apartment, but....  I'm still going through the boxes and crates my sisters packed when they emptied my room.

 And Marie wants songs about the New Year. Well, as it turns out, I have a great playlist for New Year's Eve. Shall we start with Johnny Mathis?  I believe he has a question to ask us. Some romantic thoughts from Bing Crosby: Some cheer from Abba: After the year we've had, Barry Manilow puts it all into perspective. And we close it out with a classic from Rod Stewart.