Comments on: Happy birthday Farrokh Bulsara

By: Rose

Rose — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:33:06 +0000

thank you for sharing and remembering The Most remarkable man who ever lived , there truly will never be anyone like Farrohk Bulsara /Freddie Mercury I;ll never forget him ever Freddie If you can hear me ” I still Love you “” My Bijou Keepin yor memorie alive

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:49:09 +0000

Freddie Mercury was immensely talented. What made Queen stand out was their rather unique sounding vocal harmonies. This, coupled with Brian May’s rich guitar tone, made them rock legends. Their musical contribution to the 1980’s Flash Gordon, made the movie. It wouldn’t have been the same without them. Unfortunately, Mercury chose to live a sexually degenerate lifestyle that resulted in his untimely death. He could have given us many more years of great music.

By: Mary Titus, Orange California

Mary Titus, Orange California — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:34:29 +0000

I am so glad you posted this. I am a music teacher and I am trying to get my students to become as appreciative of the rockers of yore, as they are of Beethoven and Debussy. I never really listened to much of Queen, but I can tell you that their music was theatrical to say the least ( I loved the bow that Freddie took in the “We Will Rock You” video ). I always valued Freddie Mercury’s voice. The elementary band that i teach played ” We Will Rock You” for their Spring concert last year. When I began reading your post I thought to myself ” Hmmm, he looks just like Freddie Mercury .

I’m glad you enjoyed the post.

By: Dana Carpender

Dana Carpender — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:15:39 +0000

Count me among those who enjoyed your digression. Freddie Mercury was, without even a near-rival, the greatest rock-and-roll front man in history. The voice was peerless, and he commanded a stage like nobody else.

By: ItsTheWooo

ItsTheWooo — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 04:09:08 +0000

RIP Freddy
Not a huge queen fan but this guy was definitely special.

By: Cheerwino

Cheerwino — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:17:35 +0000

Hi Dr. Mike,

If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your hi-fi system? I’m guessing not an iPod and earbuds. I can see you as an audio aficionado.

Guy

You missed the boat on this one. I love good music, and I love to listen to a great sound system. But, I don’t think we own one. And the one we have, I don’t even know how to turn on. I’m serious. I have to get MD to turn the thing on, put the CDs in, etc. I’m clueless. Same with the TV (we have a complicated system). If there happens to be something I want to watch, she has to set it up. If I want to watch something that comes on while she’s gone, I have to get her to turn the TV on before she leaves and set it to the correct channel. When it’s time to watch whatever I want to watch, I drag out of my study and go down and watch it. It’s pitiful.

By: Gary D

Gary D — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:38:37 +0000

Ignore the schtick?! That is as great as the songs themselves, imo! Man, I often forget how much I love Freddy Mercury… I have a big-time man crush, what a man he was indeed. I sent this post to a bunch of people who care little to none about how much carbage they eat, and I am sure they’ll all love it. Great post, moochas gracious!

Glad you enjoyed it.

Cheers–

MRE

By: David LaCivita

David LaCivita — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:51:20 +0000

After Freddy passed guitarist Brian May put out a solo album called “Back to the Light.” The Brian May Band toured a bunch of small clubs here in the US and I was lucky to see him in Providence, RI. They played a few songs from “Back to the Light” but most of the concert was Queen hard rock songs. I expected Brian May’s vocals to be weak but I was VERY impressed as he belted them out. As far as I am concerned that is the closest I am ever going to get to seeing Queen and I will die happy for it. They were, hands down, the best live band anyone has ever seen. Live Aid proves it but try to find footage of Queen Live in Rio. They were the headline act closing the one of Rio’s famous festivals/carnivals. I don’t know if they still hold the “biggest ever” record for that show but I believe there was 350,000 people there. Freddy was in Heaven.

By: simontly Fellows

simontly Fellows — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:03:05 +0000

i think R Taylor hit many of the high notes attributed to the Pursing Parsi

By: Steve G

Steve G — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 04:56:11 +0000

Mike,

I really agree with your point about the difference between performers and singer-songwriters. My favorites are the singer songwriters. It’s just such a rare talent to do both, as Freddy had. Some that come to mind are Paul Simon, Shawn Colvin, Neil Young and Gordon Lightfoot.

But I have to say that my all time favorite musician, who is a singer-songwriter, is Joni Mitchell. She is just so talented, almost to a freaky point like Freddy. She is known for inventing her own guitar tunings to the point that others couldn’t follow. I remember a few years back when Scientific American had an article about the various forms of genius, they had a picture of Joni as the example of musical genius.

Just a quick story about Joni. I was so taken by her music when I was in college in the late ’70s ( I think it was ‘78) that I organized my friends to drive up with me from Seattle to Vancouver BC to see her live in concert. This was the show where she appeared with Pat Metheny and Jaco Pastorius, who would become great men of jazz.

So here we are, my friends and I, packed into my junker station wagon, driving to Vancouver from Seattle. We get to Vancouver proper, pull up to a red light next to a big limousine, and lo and behold Joni Mitchell is in the limo! We all start waving at her and she was very nice and waved back with enthusiasm! My brush with greatness! I’ll never forget that.

One of my all time favorite Joni Mitchell songs is “River”. So melancholy and so sweet and pure and heartfelt and great vocal range. Here’s a youtube of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVwo9IQMWM0

Thanks for the link. I watched it and roamed through a few other Joni Mitchell videos. Pretty remarkable.