I couldn’t find the right cover–this is the right year, wrong issue.
SOUNDTRACK: FOSTER THE PEOPLE-“Houdini” (2011).
My friend Anna was way ahead of the curve on these guys. She liked them before “Pimped Up Kicks” went huge. So I listened to the album and liked it but never would have guessed it would have been such a hit!
This song reminds me of a bunch of other bands, and I actually have no idea what the song is about (his vocals are really hard to understand). But it’s catchy and has a great melody.
And it has a great video. Whereas I used to look for cool new videos, I really don’t watch videos anymore, unless someone tells me about one. I felt like bands didn’t make great concept videos anymore. Well, this one is very cool, indeed. I just can’t decide if the hidden people are actually how they did it or if it was a lot more high-tech than that.
[READ: July 5, 2012] “The Bonds He Did Not Break”
Everyone knows Houdini, but I didn’t know much about him. This JSTOR article gives a really good profile of the man.
Harry Houdini was born Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary. After immigrating to the U.S. with his family, his name was changed to Erich Weiss (and for some reason, his birthday was changed from March 24 to April 6) and they settled in Wisconsin. Wisconsin seems to have been home to many circuses, or at least the circuses always made a point of stopping there, so young Erich was always around fantastic people. He even joined a circus as a contortionists (and called himself The Prince of the Air) when he was young.
At the age of 12 he left home look for work in the circus. After a few months, when he heard that his family had moved to New York, he rejoined them there. He started doing magic as “Eric the Great” and then, with Jacob Hyman, began performing as the Brothers Houdini–named after French magician Jean Eugene Robert-Houdini. By 1891 the Brothers Houdini were a success. They even performed the 1893 Worlds’ Fair. The Brothers parted ways when Erich met Bess, his soon-to-be wife (he was 20 she was 18). Erich was now calling himself Harry. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 