24 Hours from David: 18. Close To You

Eighteen hours in, and it's only now The Muppets are turning up? Hard to believe, isn't it? Connie Stevens teams up with Kermit and Fozzie.

(Surely if birds suddenly appear when Kermit is near, it's because Gonzo has lost control of his chickens?)

[Part of 24 Hours from David]

The illustrated Friends: Michael Caine

Michael Caine is a lovely man. Not withstanding the way he released two books of trivia called Not A Lot Of People Know That before going on to complain that people associate him with the phrase Not A Lot Of People Know That. And his support for Thatcher. And George W Bush. And his constant whining about having to pay tax. And... you know what? Let's just say he's a man.

James would be disappointed if we didn't kick off with this:



But you know what? I don't just want to hear someone singing about Michael Caine. I want to hear him sing. Sort-of sing. Quick! To the Muppets Christmas Carol:



[Buy: Complete Madness
Muppet Christmas Carol]

[Part of the illustrated Friends]

Songwriterobit: Hugh Martin

Hugh Martin, writer of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, has died.

Martin was born in Birmingham, Alabama; he wrote extensively for musicals and movies. If Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas was his commercial hit, his critical hit was this:



The Trolley Song, from Meet Me In St Louis, was nominated for best original song at the Oscars; he also got a nomination for Pass The Peace Pipe from Good News. That song has been recorded a fair few times, too; not often as fairly as this version:



Hugh Martin was 96; he died from natural causes at home in Encinitas, California.

The most sensational... inspirational... muppetnational... this us what we call a joke, you Weezer fans

This is possibly the best thing we've come across on Blogcritics so far - a survey of the response of Weezer fans when someone posted a spoof article about the ramifications of Miss Piggy-Weezer drummer sex. It's scary mainly because we've always had Weezer pegged as one of the brighter acts in the pop firmament, and so have always asumed that their fanbase would be drawn more from the bookcase end of the classroom rather than down in the sandtray. Shows what we know, doesn't it?