Paul Levinson virtual concert (video) at HELIOsphere 4 April 2020

And here's the video of my complete 1-hour virtual concert at HELIOsphere, April 4, 2020.

I sing songs from Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time (Old Bear Records, Light In the Attic Records) and from Twice Upon A Rhyme (HappySad Records, Beatball Records, Vivid Records, Whiplash Records), and several new songs not yet on any album.

Set list:

"Cloudy Sunday" from Welcome Up (words by Paul Levinson, music by Linda Kaplan Thaler)

"I Knew You By Heart" from Welcome Up (words by Paul Levinson, music by Peter Rosenthal)

"The Lama Will Be Late This Year" from Twice Upon A Rhyme (words by Paul Levinson, music by Ed Fox)

"Tau Ceti" from Welcome Up (words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio)

"Picture Postcard World" from Welcome Up (words & music by Paul Levinson)

"Samantha" (from Welcome Up) (words & music by Paul Levinson)

"If I Traveled to the Past" (from Welcome Up) (words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio)

"Lime Streets" (words & music by Paul Levinson)

"Looking for Sunsets (In the Early Morning)" from Twice Upon A Rhyme (words by Paul Levinson, music by Ed Fox)

"Alpha Centauri" from Welcome Up (words by Paul Levinson, music by Peter Rosenthal)

"Welcome Up" from Welcome Up (words & music by Paul Levinson)

"The Soft of Your Eyes" from Twice Upon A Rhyme (words & music by Paul Levinson)

"Pictures on the Phone" (words & music by Paul Levinson)

====

Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time tracks produced by Chris Hoisington

all lead vocals by Paul Levinson

backing tracks: Chris Hoisington (harmonies), Jeremy Thompson (guitars, stand-up bass, mellotron, etc), Steve Padin (keyboard, drums), Anthony Hoisington (piano on Tau Ceti), Don Frankel (accordion on If I Traveled to the Past & Tau Ceti), Peter Rosenthal (guitar on Cloudy Sunday and Twice Upon a Rhyme tracks), Barbara Krupnick (piano on Cloudy Sunday), Paul Levinson (piano on Pictures on the Phone)

Welcome Up recording engineer: Ronnie Shrock

Welcome Up mixed and mastered: Evan Sieling

for HELIOsphere: Marc Grossman and thanks Liz Crefin

listen to complete album, free, on Bandcamp https://oldbearpaullevinson.bandcamp.com/album/welcome-up-songs-of-space-and-time

and on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/4S1oaV75qF6tRFfdDwDczE?si=WYXs2mRITdqQMEgMF3gxFw

CDs here: http://paullev.com/product/welcome-up-songs-of-space-and-time-cd/

->  lyrics to all of the songs on the album on the CD page  <- span="">

Light In the Attic vinyl Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time https://lightintheattic.net/releases/6371-welcome-up-songs-of-space-and-time

Twice Upon A Rhyme on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/5wWMm7Q8SSRTvvIJ1GLiRY

and on Bandcamp https://paullevinson.bandcamp.com/album/twice-upon-a-rhyme

Twice Upon A Rhyme original sealed 1972 vinyl HappySad Records http://paullev.com/product/twice-upon-a-rhyme-vinyl-original-1972-album/

Podcast: Paul Levinson virtual concert (audio) at HELIOsphere 4 April 2020

audio of the entire 1-hour virtual concert I did via Zoom at HELIOsphere: Beyond the Corona on the afternoon of April 4, 2004.  (You can get the video + audio of my concert here.)

I sing songs from Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time (Old Bear Records, Light In the Attic Records) and from Twice Upon A Rhyme (HappySad Records, Beatball Records, Vivid Records, Whiplash Records), and several new songs not yet on any album.

Set list:

"Cloudy Sunday" from Welcome Up (words by Paul Levinson, music by Linda Kaplan Thaler)

"I Knew You By Heart" from Welcome Up (words by Paul Levinson, music by Peter Rosenthal)

"The Lama Will Be Late This Year" from Twice Upon A Rhyme (words by Paul Levinson, music by Ed Fox)

"Tau Ceti" from Welcome Up (words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio)

"Picture Postcard World" from Welcome Up (words & music by Paul Levinson)

"Samantha" (from Welcome Up) (words & music by Paul Levinson)

"If I Traveled to the Past" (from Welcome Up) (words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio)

"Lime Streets" (words & music by Paul Levinson)

"Looking for Sunsets (In the Early Morning)" from Twice Upon A Rhyme (words by Paul Levinson, music by Ed Fox)

"Alpha Centauri" from Welcome Up (words by Paul Levinson, music by Peter Rosenthal)

"Welcome Up" from Welcome Up (words & music by Paul Levinson)

"The Soft of Your Eyes" from Twice Upon A Rhyme (words & music by Paul Levinson)

"Pictures on the Phone" (words & music by Paul Levinson)

====

Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time tracks produced by Chris Hoisington

all lead vocals by Paul Levinson

backing tracks: Chris Hoisington (harmonies), Jeremy Thompson (guitars, stand-up bass, mellotron, etc), Steve Padin (keyboard, drums), Anthony Hoisington (piano on Tau Ceti), Don Frankel (accordion on If I Traveled to the Past & Tau Ceti), Peter Rosenthal (guitar on Cloudy Sunday and Twice Upon a Rhyme tracks), Barbara Krupnick (piano on Cloudy Sunday), Paul Levinson (piano on Pictures on the Phone)

Welcome Up recording engineer: Ronnie Shrock

Welcome Up mixed and mastered: Evan Sieling

for HELIOsphere: Marc Grossman and thanks Liz Crefin

listen to complete album, free, on Bandcamp https://oldbearpaullevinson.bandcamp.com/album/welcome-up-songs-of-space-and-time

and on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/4S1oaV75qF6tRFfdDwDczE?si=WYXs2mRITdqQMEgMF3gxFw

CDs here: http://paullev.com/product/welcome-up-songs-of-space-and-time-cd/

->  lyrics to all of the songs on the album on the CD page  <- span="">

Light In the Attic vinyl Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time https://lightintheattic.net/releases/6371-welcome-up-songs-of-space-and-time

Twice Upon A Rhyme on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/5wWMm7Q8SSRTvvIJ1GLiRY

and on Bandcamp https://paullevinson.bandcamp.com/album/twice-upon-a-rhyme

Twice Upon A Rhyme original sealed 1972 vinyl HappySad Records http://paullev.com/product/twice-upon-a-rhyme-vinyl-original-1972-album/

John G. McDaid: Found in Translation

Let me introduce you to John G. McDaid.  He was my student in the MA in Media Studies Program at the New School for Social Research in New York City in the early 1980s.  I was delighted when his first professionally published science fiction story "Jigoku No Mokushiroku" (in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine) won the Sturgeon Award in 1995, right around the time one of my first published stories, "The Chronology Protection Case,"  in Asimov's older sister magazine, Analog, was nominated for the Nebula Award.   I was pleased when I began to see John start showing in Media Ecology Association conferences about a decade later, singing a variety of catchy songs.

But I had no idea, until John's Internet concert at HELIOsphere Beyond the Corona yesterday, about five hours before mine, what a superb songwriter and captivating singer John is.   What do I mean by superb songwriter?  Think Dylan, Phil Ochs, and a little Tom Lehrer humorous topicality thrown in.  His first song, "Lost in Translation" is one of my favorites, filled with Dylanesque rhymes, acerbity, and lines like "Mango Mussolini" (guess who that is).  Same for "Buy the Ticket".

But his next song, "Aaron Swartz," was really something.  Much in the tradition of Phil Ochs' "Joe Hill," McDaid tells the story of the Internet visionary and activist who was persecuted by Federal prosecutors to the point that he took his own life.   McDaid brings to this ballad a memorable mix of savvy, sensitivity, and anger.   His Tom Lehrer came out a song or two later, in "Check Out Time At The Owl Creek Hotel," in some of the lyric juxtapositions, and the song come to think of it also resonates with a combination of the Eagles' "Hotel California" and Netflix's Altered Carbon and its memorable character Poe.

I'm not going to say something about every song, because I want to leave you some surprises for the concert, which you can see and hear in its entirety below.  But I will say that "Love on the Moon" is some kind of masterpiece of angst and imagery, and itself worth the price of admission, which on Bandcamp is as much as you want it be.

Enjoy ...

The Orville 2.12: Hello Dolly!

Another powerful episode of The Orville tonight - 2.11 - which follows the two-part "Identity" episodes (rebroadcast the past two weeks) even better than did the episode that followed the first showing of "Identity," though that episode was excellent, too.

Let me begin this little review by mentioning that I was at a great panel at HELIOsphere this past weekend (in addition to panelists listed on that link, Hildy Silverman was the panel, too), where we discussed our favorite science fiction television series.  I and several panelists mentioned The Orville as outstanding.  In fact, everyone agreed, but someone also indicated that a weakness of the series is that all the nostalgia is from the late 20th century.  Since The Orville takes place a few centuries from now, shouldn't some of the nostalgia be from our future?

A fair point, logically.   But the 20th-century nostalgia is part of the conceit of the show, part of the irresistible way that humor is smuggled in with the serious stuff, or maybe the other way around, but the result is the remarkable quality, the uniqueness, of this series.

So, with that in mind, let me say that the part I enjoyed most in this episode is the way Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" became a theme song for the Moclan female surge for independence - or, actually, life.  This was a good development of what Bortes earlier went through, when he had to see his female baby undergo "correction" to become male.  There is nothing the least bit funny about that.  And it of course relates to the oppression women receive on our own planet, in off-screen reality.

The other memorable part of this episode was seeing the Union Council on Earth in its full glory, chaired by a character well played by F. Murray Abraham, and assisted by the characters well played by Ted Danson and Victor Garber.   I bet the woman who played the female Moclan leader was a top-notch actor, too, but I couldn't tell through the make-up.*   (Speaking of women: fabulous to see Marina Sirtis on board The Orville as a teacher!)

Anyhow - I'll be sorry to see this season end in two episodes from now, but I'll be watching every episode and reviewing when it returns.

*My wife just researched this online, and found it's Rena Owen!

See also The Orville 2.1: Relief and Romance ... The Orville 2.2: Porn Addiction and Planetary Disintegration ... The Orville 2.3: Alara ... The Orville 2.4: Billy Joel ... The Orville 2.5: Escape at Regor 2 ... The Orville 2.6: "Singin' in the Rain" ... The Orville 2.7: Love and Death ...  The Orville 2.8: Recalling Čapek, Part 1  ... The Orville 2.9: Recalling Čapek, Part 2 ... The Orville: 2.10: Exploding Blood ... The Orville 2.11: Time Capsule, Space Station, and Harmony

And see also The Orville 1.1-1.5: Star Trek's Back ... The Orville 1.6-9: Masterful ... The Orville 1.10: Bring in the Clowns ... The Orville 1.11: Eating Yaphit ... The Orville 1.12: Faith in Reason and the Prime Directive

1st starship to Alpha Centauri ... had only enough fuel to get there

Science Fiction in Person in New York in March

March is shaping up to be a break-out month for science fiction in the flesh - or at in-person events - in the New York area.   Here are three where I'll be talking about all sorts of wild and profound things:

• March 1, 6-9pm, "Science Fiction, Language, and General Semantics," panel with Paul Levinson, Ed Tywoniak, Marleen Barr, and Lance Strate - for the New York Society of General Semantics, at The Players Club, 16 Gramercy Park S., New York City - admission FREE - details here ... [added March 3, 2017: video of my talk here]
• March 4, 12noon-2pm, "Why the Impossibility of Time Travel Makes Such Good Fiction," I'll be talking for at least an hour, to the Garden State Speculative Fiction Writers, and then we'll go to questions and answers - Old Bridge Public Library, One Old Bridge Plaza, Municipal Center, Old Bridge, NJ -admission FREE - details here
• March 10-12, HELIOsphere, DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Tarrytown, 455 South Broadway, Tarrytown, New York - my events: FRIDAY (March 10) 5:30pm - 7:00pm - "Religion in Sci Fi and Fantasy" (panel); SATURDAY (March 11) 2:30pm - 4:00pm - "Robots 201: After the Three Laws" (panel) ; SUNDAY (March 12) 12noon - 1:30pm - Westworld and the Civil Rights of Robots" (solo talk); reading & autographing (times to be announced) - details here

And, just to whet your appetite for some of what I'll be discussing re: time travel, The Chronology Protection Case movie just became free on Amazon Prime.  It's a 40-minute short, adapted by Jay Kensinger from my 1995 Nebula-nominated novelette published in Analog, and reprinted six times. The movie was made in 2002 but has been recut with a new, extended ending.   (The original novelette is available here.)