Translate

Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

The problem With the WNBA

 


I want to address a few things going on in the WNBA. It seems they have created quite a quagmire trying to make true things that aren’t. Not wanting to admit what a women is has led them down a path where they have a bunch of men signing up for the draft. This will literally make the WNBA irrelevant. It will be the NBA II. This can easily be corrected by simply embracing the truth of Male and Female, and that they are different by design.


It also seems their good players are white, and that pisses them off, and violence has ensued. Plain ole bad behavior. This can easily be corrected by removing poor sportsmanship from the game. Throw them out.


But it seems, the over arching complaint is, they have no audience. Without an audience, the is no money. It’s the audience that provides the income. Without an audience, they can’t really exist.


So the real problem is, they don’t have an audience. Nobody wants to watch them play basketball. This is a much bigger problem, and one which I don’t think can be resolved.


The men can fill up a football stadium, they can fill up a baseball stadium, they can even fill up a golf course where everyone is standing. Why?


Let’s take a look at the audience, and who they are. To fill a stadium, you have to appeal to middle, that’s were most people are. Therefore they are among the norm. So you have to appeal to the norm. The norm being, they have a job, they are most likely good at it, and enjoy doing it, and consider themselves experts in what they do. They enjoy beauty and excellence, most likely have a wife or husband, girlfriend or boyfriend, and consider them a ‘girl or ‘boy.’


They have money in their pocket, and they are seeking to be entertained. What do these discriminating people enjoy, ‘Excellence.’ They want to watch someone who is good at what they do. Football is rough and tumble, but there is a strategy to it, there are talents involved, honed to perfection. You are going to see these games played, and play right. Every play, every move, every mistake is recorded. Win or lose, the game is exciting and played well.


So, the audience is from the norm, with money in their pocket, seeking entertainment through excellence.

A many a rock & roll band, country band, single performers and comedians has pulled this off, why? Because they are good at what they do. They are ‘Excellence.’ One I can point to is Jeff Dunham and his dummies. Jeff Dunham has raise being a Ventriloquist to a level of excellence that fills the stadium.


If one can maintain excellence over time, a certain amount of loyalty will be generated, and this will go a long way to maintaining an audience. But the loyalty only carry’s as for as your last performance.


Okay, we are in search of excellence. Where are we going to fine it?


Let’s look at men, for they do draw an audience. What do men want, who are they? The norm?


“Little boys are made of,

of Snipe & Snails

and puppy dawg tails.

That’s what little boys are made of.”


Okay, this has been known a long time, boys are rough and tumble. They are warriors, they are builders, they are strategist. They want to conquer (compete,) they want to be part of something bigger than themselves, they want to be seen as strong and unafraid. They want to be the best at what they do, and to be admired for what they do. The want the glory of winning.


The NBA, MLB, NFL & the PGA offer all of this in a game. It allows men, to be men, and to hone their skills to a level of Excellence. Making the game interesting as well as exciting. It also offers up the agony of defeat, which men handle well, for men tend to look forward, ‘we’ll get them next time.’


I most cases, win or lose, the audience had a pretty good time. For they saw, what they came to see… Excellence.


I don’t want to gloss over what goes on in the background, for this also is important because it takes a hell of a lot of cooperation to put one of these games on. There is the training of the players, the uniforms, the lighting, the scoreboard, bla bla bla… a lot goes into bringing this to the level of excellence that doesn’t even involve the players.


Now you pull the men out of these games and put in women, you’re not going to get the same level of excellence, you’re going to get a lot of cringe, and missed opportunity. You’re going to get fights and sore losers, because women are not warriors, they are vicious. There is a difference.


So….. Can a team of women do anything that will fill a stadium..? Humm…. Let’s not forget who the audience is, the middle, the norm in search of excellence.


“What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice

and everything nice.

That’s what little girls are made of.”


Hummm…. Seems girls are different. Girls are not warriors, they don’t really like to compete, they don’t like to lose.


Women live two different lives. There is the life before marriage, and life after marriage. And the things they want change. So we are trying to draw an audience, so let us focus on the young, single, vile girl. What do they want..?


They want to be seen, they want to be heard, they want to dress up like a flower, the want to be admired. They are filled with joy and want to jump around and sing and dance. Hummm…. What do you do with that.?


Well, let’s see. What worked for the men was creating a game where men could be men, and be at their best.


So what if we did the same with girls. Create a situation where a girl can be a girl, at her best.


Now just like baseball or football, we are going to have to spend a lot of money. Ya don’t make money if you don’t spend money. You don’t achieve excellence without an investment.


So we get us a gaggle of girls, and we pour money into pose training, into dance classes and singing classes. You teach these girls how to refine their skills of presentation, public speaking, flirting. You dress them up like a field of flowers, and yet make each one a little different, because they are.


Okay, now let us get a band, and some music, some songs, teach it to them with a little choreography until they have it down… and then stick them out there and see what happens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQtz0BY3rbg is what happens. Did you see the audience? Seems the place was full and they were having a good time.


Just take a look at the audience you can draw with excellence… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unau6nthttg There is nothing more beautiful than a field of flower waving in the breeze, with the sound of joy rising to the heavens.


Are you seeing the stadium? Notice it’s full, many in the audience are on their feet. The flashlights? Each girl is assigned a color, everybody has their favorite girl (just like a favorite player in football,) and knows her color, and carry’s a flashlight with her color.


Notice there are no stars… They are all idols (their title), but there are no stars. They are part of something bigger than themselves, and yet are humble, because they are one of many. Bonus→ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JELg3Ljmv0g There are about sixty girls on that stage. It’s kind of mind blowing when you thing about everything that went into this. Are you seeing the crowd.? The girls are known as AKB48 if you want to look them up.

So my verdict is…. Yes, girls can fill up a stadium, but you can’t buck the truth. If you want to fill up a stadium, be girls and be good at it.


August 2026

George Henry Nichols


PS-> The world loves a girl.... Don't throw that away. 








Sunday, August 10, 2025

My Odd Music Odyssey


 Somewhere around 2005 I was at a music convention back east.... I ran into, or you might say meet an old 60's rock & roll star, who part of the British invasion. I'm not going to say who he is, but he had a couple of albums over here. Just for fun, we'll call him Glen. Well he had his granddaughter with him, she was 10 years old little blonde girl.

Well we're listening to the music and talking, and as it turned out, the little girl was quite the talker. Her English wasn't very good, turned out her first language was Welsh Gaelic, her second language was Ukrainian, and she was working on her English. I must say I understood everything she was trying to say.

As the conversation progressed, it turns out the little girl, (we'll call her Jeannie), was a genius. That's right, a genius, a ten year old genius.

Before it was over, Jeannie had ask me to be her pen pal on the e-mail. I explained I was an old man, and she would find me boring, and it wouldn't be appropriate. But she persisted, and Glen chimed in and said, be her pen pal, the two of you hit it off, and nobody will talk to her now that she's a genius.  So I agreed.

I figured it would go on for a few letters, and that would be the end of it. Well as it turned out, we wrote for better than ten years, right up until she passed away at 21 from leukemia.

My heart goes out to anyone who reared a teenage girl, what a ride. It turned in to quite an odyssey, most of which I won't go into. She was a jet setter, and flew all over the world going to various schools, including dance and music schools, for she came from entertainment people. Which brings me to part of the odyssey I want to share here, the world of little girl music.... I was blown away.

Let me mention just for fun, (each letter, the first paragraph was always in the language of the country she was in, and I had to decipher it.)

Right after the music convention, I got the first letter from Spain, she was attending a dance school, she said, they showed them (the dance class) videos of El Club de los Tigrtos, as their standard.


https://youtu.be/vUIOzwZJk4U?si=8RlX_jeEsZts9UFR


Just in case you didn't catch just how many kids they had on that floor, → https://youtu.be/U6_1jEsx7-4?si=8hr214FE3DGpOYDn


She was in a dance class with this girl, Maria Isabel → https://youtu.be/rY5B5BX5A1g?si=r0pSb0gE59db09gn


Again-> https://youtu.be/0Uax6TiZPXo?si=M3wqjCIQliv0KGQ2


Then off to Ukraine, Jeannie had grandparents in Ukraine. This is Assol → https://youtu.be/7tZzrljZ9Oo?si=yCqdMBOB8pZ-k2mg


Next stop was France, seems she new this girl, seems, entertainment people tend to know each other, I learned that as time went on...This girl, Prisso Bette is11 here, https://youtu.be/_Pe9lfAOds4?si=KnqY2Gw32dLfZ04z

Another → https://youtu.be/KxJyjf1zFAc?si=WsiJXnG9Nyz3fK8R 

 Just about this time, I get a video of this girl, Hagawara Mai, from Japan (this isn't the video, but it shows who she is.) Jeannie said, this is a friend of mine in Japan, keep an eye on her, she just went on into the Hello Project, an old geisha school. She's going to have a career. https://youtu.be/-ZajBGe-RkE?si=ILfTTE9Rig-nh3wp So keep her in mind as we go along.


This girl is from Belious. https://youtu.be/4HgFcW2LDVQ?si=UZ4E_gg6BtHntWWu


Another → https://youtu.be/7tZzrljZ9Oo?si=7gF64UONdaGrzCDD


Then along came Christmas and I got this → https://youtu.be/bgXa3lft14I?si=pPDkWIFx7bYTg63H


and this → Peaches → https://youtu.be/a-79sbicwTQ?si=TEqBmjLUTIz0VgOX Sweden I believe.


Then come the spring I get this, I don't know a thing about it, except Jeannie knew who she was, https://youtu.be/LRZ09jkuakM?si=cenh3ZTUc38cFkME 

Same bunch, apparently a family ordeal. → https://youtu.be/CEeeL_0fC3M?si=FCRNgKgAJos1u3P2


Now much of this is related to the Junior Euro Song Contest, because they were all competing. I bring that up because that's where she meet these girls, the Five Angels → https://youtu.be/_NBsZIdpeTE?si=-rqO5cM98rWYXkEs

Who went on to do this → https://youtu.be/NgEI5T98qoA?si=BzD1fkvEnQoqiSiV 

and this → https://youtu.be/4Pc5YQWaYd8?si=PicVu7Zwh07R9Vp- it starts slow, but it's pretty good.


Have you noticed the quality of the music, the production value, a lot of money went into these little girls.... I must say I was surprized.


She told me this girl was her cousin 268 times removed, Katya Ryabova → https://youtu.be/nEGOlNtC5vw?si=CObMGh0ci2Rl2S0C 

this is her in the Euro Song Contest... https://youtu.be/F9wSgC4DhXQ?si=h_-oRjoa7gnO6fjt


Again from Russia, The Tolmachevy Sisters... https://youtu.be/F9wSgC4DhXQ?si=h_-oRjoa7gnO6fjt I think they are twins. 

Again the Tolmachevy sisters → https://youtu.be/ivASIwtHALM?si=fEnN0-JxJav5EucZ I even translated this one.... It's a love song...!!


Now we come back to the girl from Belarus → https://youtu.be/7tZzrljZ9Oo?si=yCqdMBOB8pZ-k2mg


Then off to Sweden, this is Peaches → https://youtu.be/XLz11zLDWfk?si=J_TWYrSFMOLhqR_k 

and this → https://youtu.be/FWTkfGNf_7k?si=YN1kCJ9bIjWHdgaV

This was slipped in to the mix somewhere... Alexandrina Palca → https://youtu.be/ayhnn8IEY9c?si=QkG-a4yfAs0OIgIy


This is Mylene and Rosanne from the Netherlands → https://youtu.be/iCnENq9Nv9g?si=-pcSTD1C9kcCpyMd of course they're twins.


This was one of Jeannie's favorites at the Euro Song contest → https://youtu.be/jzmXhe5Ssrk?si=4vWJCxvyhNZFV2lO Mad Show Boys..


Then Jeannie tells me Mai Hagawara has been put into a sub-group, C-ute, and now has her own camera, every girl in a group has her own camera... https://youtu.be/x051byIonH8?si=EwLMGsM0OrbH6GVT


Keep in mind, this was twenty years, ago so it's not really chronological, but I'm trying. This next fellow taught her piano in Sweden... https://youtu.be/rFllwby6hcs?si=trDkRh5tcpHvi4Qj


Meanwhile, as time goes on, back in France, → https://youtu.be/rFllwby6hcs?si=trDkRh5tcpHvi4Qj


and → https://youtu.be/d3zsEyBoUKw?si=YN5j2bDXdHLtCSC9 I think she went on to be 'Kim Possible' which I think is Disney. https://youtu.be/9zru1EMVLKI?si=r-DYZHQm_b-USblr


So back in Moscow with our cousin, Katya → https://youtu.be/AkHCAN0EOh8?si=PKRRHIUAXsBaU07P


and here she is again at the Euro Song Contest. → https://youtu.be/BehpKIqw-xQ?si=aIb2k2_WdbrEQ89R


I know this is long, feel free to come and go, this carried on for ten years, and I'm hitting the highlights. I find the world of little girl music quite impressive.


Back to the Five Angels → https://youtu.be/xPNIw2yaM0A?si=61fPFSz5EwuGND7_


and a stop in Armenia, 'Welcome to Armenia.' → https://youtu.be/o9w5thMk7J4?si=H7m6LP_yul13CBkj Dalita



Along in here, when Jeannie was 15, everything changed. She found out she had Leukemia, and she was granted a scholarship to the University of Osaka, Japan, to study Quantum Physic and Japanese. By this time she is speaking fluent English, Spanish,French, Swedish, Gaelic, (Welsh strain), Ukrainian and is now going to study Japanese... She informed me she was now Jeannie San... She liked Japan, because she was blonde with green eyes...She was exotic. She said she loved the school (the university) too, because there was no messing around.


She was going to stay with her family friend, Mai Hagawara. As you know, was now part of the Hello Project, which is a boarding School, so she stayed with the family. 

The sub-group C-ute, has now made a video → 'New Blue Jeans' https://youtu.be/L9gDX4mfWtY?si=q6B8ulEzqLpufCJ3 Mai is the one in glasses... 

and then this → https://youtu.be/tFMfTDcr03Q?si=gaLhLo1VoxdS1CmI


Now Mai is part of the Hello Project, an old geisha school updated, well I was told this is 'Sakura Gakuin' a rival school... Seems to me, this number is 'Turkey in the Straw,' which reflects on us, and they love of us. → https://youtu.be/FbId5Fkq-eI?si=Yxcj0oILBhqhR-Xk


Okay, back to the Hello Project, This first number is C-ute, the second number is Berryz Koubou another of the sub-groups. Apparently they draw quite an crowd. Seems each girl has her own camera, ( a little exploring and you will find them), and is assigned a color. When they are in their colors, you'll know it, but the audience knows who's who, and waves a flashlight with their favorite girls color on it.

https://youtu.be/h8Li5TXKzOY?si=eidZPMTLI6C-VYa5

I know I keep speaking of sub-groups, this is Morning Musume, the are the core, the group, so-to-speak. This is 'The Legend of Noisy Girls' → https://youtu.be/q9zybLvi_Ug?si=Nv4qq2Cs2ya7jbAI 

This also the core group, this is Morning Musume. https://youtu.be/JcsHjnLnNyQ?si=5kRTFZWXcRg59ndv


Back to C-ute, they are growing up.... Something happen while I was observing this, These geisha schools grew more and more popular with the public as time went on and the Japanese Idol came about because of the music, that's why I'm still around, I am amazed at how good the music is. (not to mention the production value) Yet..? Where is the band..? Anyway, in this next number, if you pause it right when they line up, from left to right they are, Chisto, Suki, Airies,Maimi and Mai. Notice the cherry blossoms. → https://youtu.be/dLPO7nl6uZw?si=qduWGi2tpH5AC1tb


Down the road a ways (remember we are in Osaka,) there is another rival school Jeannie said were a little racy, but...were really good. AKB48. AKB48 claims to be the most sophisticated show in Japan. And they just might be.. → https://youtu.be/WdhMjzfg6-k?si=SOloPOyKynRMjgYO Look at the faces here. 

Remembered I wondered about the band... Who's making the music..? Well, look at this next number, and look at the faces → https://youtu.be/SuhiIItERLo?si=t024O628cypuq6Sm Keep in mind, these are schools, and schools have a bands. 

They (AKB48) claims they can put 48 girls on the stage at once... we'll see → https://youtu.be/JELg3Ljmv0g?si=u5NlFqEajOvEL-Ys I don't know if you were counting, but there were 5 groups of 12, hummm... That's 60. Actually, that number was rather mind blowing.


This next number just popped up one day, Kusumi Kohura, 'Balalaika' https://youtu.be/BF7J78C3aRo?si=v1C96LTdRb6FQhH9 She does a great trick in this.


Back to C-ute.. https://youtu.be/orxN4z4Yny0?si=1lXUA7tIdYUoU4ld as you can see, they continue to grow up.


And so does the other sub-group, Berryz Koubou. Both groups are no longer considered sub-groups, they have become popular to the point they are idols. They are core. https://youtu.be/PrUPFCF7OTs?si=IApVRsUt8v5Uk4Qj


Both groups were so popular, that at times, they did numbers together... Berryz Koubou & C-ute, 'Happy Song' → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhKWrv4G-mo&list=PLFD332793F0E46FB2&index=95


Well... How many girls can Hello Project put on the stage... Well lets see, Morning Musume is in the orange, C-ute is in the violet and Berryz Koubou is in the blue and the Eggs (younger girls in training) are in white. → https://youtu.be/8MBgv9EbxyM?si=rSs9yqxhLcXwMOkb



This is Berryz Koubou, I don't the name of the number, I call it the 'Burger King Song' → https://youtu.be/gDf2C6K1alI?si=2wHYyvTlPasTDnT_

Along about this time I get a letter from Jeannie, “Have you seen this, a half a billion people have seen this and that pisses me off, cause I'm usually one of the first. I've never heard of him, PSY.” → https://youtu.be/9bZkp7q19f0?si=dlCZy5qpMNiHnhz-


Remember I said, every girl had her own camera, well here's a number with Mai's personal camera. → https://youtu.be/kCYn9wA7Vqs?si=w2qiZWBy1W0VHcrE


Anybody still here...? I was raised on music, my parents came up in the big band era. My Aunt Henrietta sang opera. So I heard all the great operas, my grandfather was in vaudeville, so I know all the music from the teen's and twenties. I grew up on rock and roll. In my opinion, the big band era was the finest music. It took so much cooperation, and the dancing, Just excellent. So I found the world of little girl music surpizingly good.


I was told by Jeannie, there was a custom in Japan called gravure... It's where the older men, the safe men, admires the little girls, to help sharpen their feminine skills (to help catch a man later). Again this is Sakura Gakuin, sub-group, Twinklestars doing 'Mr. Socrates,' → https://youtu.be/OPFDHW4RFI0?si=IpOP56Kwj6LwI_l1


This next one is the Hello Project doing the broom tap dance... https://youtu.be/EpAG4FeXzHs?si=JtPSsT1lj4bzkmbz


This Morning Musume doing 'Sexy Boy' → https://youtu.be/ebShKgjBGKk?si=B0tyfDlj3LMA29nK


This is AKB48 doing the 'River,” which I think is one of their best videos. https://youtu.be/bQqLKCg-UgA?si=yflrsR3uCZw1NGJn


and the girls at C-ute continue to grow up-> This is 'Kiss Me' https://youtu.be/4l_jiJu4Lfg?si=nZb1-zziffDgf46q Notice here, the money is coming in, the production value is on the rise.


AKB48 doing 'Lucky 7' → https://youtu.be/GRFwFjgDmus?si=F-6JdQV48izxd9NJ


Berryz Koubou doing the 'Mongolian Dance.' → https://youtu.be/uYEKnKopViI?si=8TL95OoInU4YXnc6


This is Maimi from C-ute being the girl on the jewelry box, called 'Foggy Doll.' → https://youtu.be/ZieveaVq4L8?si=T2jWjXb5DyABlYzq


This is another sub-group made up of members of C-ute and Berryz Koubou. Bouno https://youtu.be/zXPs4ZW3tSM?si=N6i8dxSo1zbB2HfC


As you can see, C-ute grows right on up, this is 'Love is like Static Electricity.' → https://youtu.be/_BYPwsocxk0?si=hpov5iHTwaN5gHsv


This AKB48 doing 'Baby, Baby, Baby,' on someone's television show. → https://youtu.be/Ba800i0K2_4?si=E1fveGdjRvhQwLyX


This my favorite number by C-ute, 'Step' → https://youtu.be/4RjYDNPwdvo?si=NVkh_qbOGe2-gOtd


and this, 'Dreamlike,' → https://youtu.be/UBmBGKjFuRQ?si=ellAJoHTIEIxlslI


Jeannie was right, Mai Hagawara had a career...and I saw pretty much the whole thing. Jeannie passes away about this time from Leukemia. And so the video's stopped... But she had opened a whole new world of music to me, that was up beat and well thought out...


Jeannie would want to mention, 'Notice the audience, how quiet and well behaved they are, and each boy has a light shinning for his favorite girl. In most numbers, when done live, the audience has a part, and they know it and sing it...' → https://youtu.be/kzrMqHiv3Cw?si=w_hPlq3E86pTVV9b 

She would also point out, 'Notice there are no stars... The schools don't allow stars, there are lead singers, but they are all idols, no stars. Idol is like a rank, they will be idols from now on.'


If you notice that the number of girls changed, keep in mind, it's a school, and they graduate.


Indeed, they graduate... these idols → https://youtu.be/9aFOJpYmPfE?si=eP7a2rKFkV9y1Ghe not sure how many of these schools there are, but every year, they turn loose a mob of these girls, ready to take on the world,


I did a little crying putting this together, it brought back many memories. To give you an idea of who Jeannie was, here's one of her letters http://thebiggalootfrom.blogspot.com/2014/02/another-letter-by-teenage-girl-from.html 

Good night Jeannie.


PS I most likely have messed up of a lot of this, it was a long time ago. But that doesn't change the music.  

George Henry Nichols

Monday, January 20, 2025

With a little Cooperation


 

I have a video here, a music video, and I want to talk about it a little. So go give it a watch, and then come back.-> https://youtu.be/unau6nthttg?si=qkeUhcyfsRbwvJQB


Marvelous wasn't it..? I want to talk about some of the things that made this possible. For instanced, did you notice in the beginning when all the lights in the stadium came on at once... (!!!) That is not easy to do, there would be a huge power surge, that they of course were ready for. But somebody there had to know how to pull that off, at the moment the artist appointed.


The artist... Have no idea who it is, but he's(she) there somewhere, directing his (her) vision. Because of the vision, and the faith the people around the artist have in him, the work began to bring it about.


Someone designed the stage, for it was a vision to itself, someone had to place and operate all the cameras, someone had to make sure the audio was ready, each mic set up, all fed into a central control panel. Just how many people you figure are involved, and have to cooperate.


Someone had to write all the software to control the backgrounds on the stage and all the various flashing lights, no to mention the lasers, think of all the wiring, all the wi-fi signals that have to be kept straight...


How do you get that many girls together, in one place to preform as one. From looking at them, I believe they are high school age. There appears to be five separate teams. A rainbow, I believe they are the core, then the light blue, a dark blue, a red and a violet.


Somebody, took the artist's vision and put clothes on those girls. Look at those outfits, they are marvelous. You can tell they are well made, and if you look closely, no two are alike, yet overall, they have a uniform look. I promise you, that is not easy to do. There are about twelve girls in each team, think about that. Those clothes had to be cut from whole cloth and sewn together to fit each girl. Give a thought to how many people had to be involved, and cooperating to put clothes on those girls.


Somebody had to write the music, and the lyrics, and the harmony, and somebody (ies) had to perform it. Make it real. Some where there is a band. Wonder how many people involved there...? Actually, the music is quite good.


Somebody had to come up with the choreograph, and teach it to how many girls...? And if you notice, as it goes on, each girl has her own choreograph, just like the members of the band, each one has his own sheet of music, giving you, once again, the artist vision.


Now, we got these girls on stage, preforming, and we have all these cameras running..... Now somebody had to sit down, maybe working from a story board, and go through all that data and edit together the video you just watched.

Anybody notice the audience...? The place was packed, and it was packed because every one involved did what they where suppose to do to fulfill the artist's vision. They cooperated....


Now I believe (not going to swear to it), but I believe AKB48 is a school. Now just think, if we as a nation, were to get behind Donald Trump, our New President, and his vision, and cooperate with one another in an honest and earnest way, well... just imagine.


George Henry Nichols

January 20th 2025