AUTUMN LEAVES

Nat King Cole sings "Autumn Leaves." This classic was originally a French song called "Les feuilles mortes" (literally "Dead Leaves"), with music by Joseph Kosma and lyrics by poet Jacques Prévert, but we're more familiar with the English lyrics written by American songwriter Johnny Mercer in 1947. "Autumn Leaves" has become a standard in pop and jazz music and has been recorded all over the world. I know it still feels like summertime (we expect 91 degrees today!) but soon summer will fade and the leaves will change, the days will grow shorter and there will be a nip in the air, and you will be humming this unforgettable tune while raking les feuilles mortes.

"Les feuilles mortes," introduced by Yves Montand in the film Les Portes de la Nuit (1946).

RUNNING WITH DIONYSUS

Sigur Rós can be excused for joyous nudity because they're Icelandic. Their music is ambient, ethereal, post-rock, dream pop, and not for everyone, and neither is this video which is either from the pagan past when Dionysus ruled, or from some distant utopian future where hang-ups have been discarded like, well, clothes.

Perhaps the point is made too easily that we watch hundreds of murders a day but rarely see someone's bum on TV. Sure, it's trite. Sex is ever present, of course, grabbing our attention and diverting it toward beer and pretzels and deodorant, and flirting meretriciously in so-called "reality TV" shows and all those cheesy double entendres in adult soaps like "Sex and the City." Wink, wink, nudge. Sex is everywhere. Still, you don't see this sort of prancing about. Why not? Sex is as prevalent as plastic, but maybe we haven't come all that far from the Victorian Era when people put pants on piano legs. We're still a bunch of prudes. Maybe if we'd grown up like these Icelanders we'd drop our guns and charge cards once in a while and not be so damn neurotic. Just a thought.

Until then, I give you Sigur Rós.

The life of the party: Dionysus, god of wine and ecstasy, dancing with friends in Ancient Greece

The band: Sigur Rós is jón þor (jónsi) birgisson (vocals, guitars), kjartan (kjarri) sveinsson (keyboards), orri páll dýrason (drums) and georg (goggi) holm (bass). The band were formed by jónsi, georg and original drummer ágúst in 1994.

RUTLEMANIA

A Rutles reunion? Amazing but true! It's hard to convey the thrill of the first Rutles performance on the Ed Sullivan Show back in 1964. They tore the roof off the place. If you were a kid in that era, you know what I mean. Now, it's very possible these four lovable moptops are getting back together again. You heard it here first.


Click here for an interview with Eric Idle.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20184381,00.html