While doing a little research for my recent Marc Cohn post I ran across the Harvard Radcliffe Veritones and was flat out impressed. I love acoustic singing troupes, and these guys are fantastic. If you keep in mind that these are some of wickedly smart people on top of being fantastic singers it makes it all the more impressive.

Enjoy.
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Folks, everyone knows Steve Martin, and most of us love him (screw you buddy, if you don’t!). But I bet you had no idea how wide ranging his talents are. Luckily, I’m going to show you right now!

Martin’s comedy career began when he started writing material for other people. Initially he landed a job writing for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and ended up winning an Emmy Award in 1969. After writing for John Denver, Glen Campbell and Sonny and Cher, he later earned another Emmy nomination for VanDyke and Company.

Martin has also written two novellas, Shopgirl and The Pleasure of My Company. When asked in an interview about his novella, Steve said:

I wrote a novel this year called ‘Shop Girl,’ and several producers came to me and wanted to turn it into a movie. And I said, “If you think you’re going to take this book and change it around, and Hollywoodize it and change the ending… that’s going to cost you.

Oh, and as we all know he was also a star on Saturday Night Live, and he’s been in about 2,000 movies. However, keep reading and we’ll go over a whole list of stuff you did NOT know about Steve Martin.
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Wierd Al Yankovic kicks ass! Yeah, I said it. What?

So, I decided to put together my Top 10 list of Wierd Al Yankovic Videos. That was before I figured out that Scott Robbin had done this like a year ago!

Well, that’s OK because he and I have different opinions on the matter, and this being America he is clearly allowed to be wrong (just kidding Scott).
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This guy is awesome! Personally I don’t know anyone that plays the violin. But I’m pretty sure that even if I did they wouldn’t be able to do this! The musician in the video plays amazing renditions of Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal and Owner of a Lonely Heart by Yes.

I wish I knew who this guy is and if there is any more of his music on the net, so if anyone comes across that info please let me know.

EDIT: I found out this guy’s name is Alex Depue and he is the 2007 California State Fiddle Champion! He’s got a MySpace page here, and a Web page here, and there is some AMAZING stuff on both!

His father is a professor of music; his mother was a concert pianist. Following in his older brother’s footsteps, he began taking violin lessons at age five. He has studied classical violin with Dr. Bernard Linden, Dr. Paul Makara, and Camilla Wicks. Alex won his first major competition at age 10 and has continued to win competitions and appear as a guest soloist with orchestras and at festivals nationwide.

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