After I saw the Hamlet in which I thought Claudius was modeled on Vladimir Putin I saw a You Tube clip that seems to be making the rounds. Vladimir Putin did the karaoke bit -- which seems to have been planned with the live band, at an expensive charity dinner. He played the piano one-handedly, and then took the mike and sang "Blueberry Hill" in English, with some Russian "r" trillings on "thrill". He was stiff as one would expect [as Al Gore would be one imagines] but seemed to want to be doing it. Just a regular guy, like, say Bill Clinton playing the sax, Harry Truman playing the piano? Not only was I amazed to see robotic VP trying to be human, I was astonished that the song is still known. I opted out of all pop music back about the time I was a teen ager and my farmer father especially enjoyed listening to me play "Blueberry Hill" on the piano. That was over 50 years ago. How could that inane little ditty still be known and sung at a Moscow social function? I guess it's been repopularized by someone in the meantime. Can't imagine why. I would expect "Mule Train" would be more popular. But what do I know? Obviously next to nothing.
At times I get the impression You Tube is a treasure trove second only to Google. I've been hearing people speak of hearing poets read and opera singers sing on You Tube, as well as on Google. Having become a moderate user of the Internet, I am now often surprised when I find others of my contemporaries who don't think of it as resource. I may not see a need for a cell phone, but I'm not a total Luddite.
