July 2, 2021

"No one around Lewis seems surprised at her ability to make whistling a career, but sometimes even she can’t quite believe it."

"'It’s been working for some crazy reason,' she said, still taking it all in. 'I’m going to try to ride it. See how it goes.'" 

From "Whistling as an Art Almost Died Off. Can Molly Lewis Keep It Alive?/The 31-year-old has whistled at tournaments, in the studio for Dr. Dre and at her Los Angeles lounge show, Café Molly. Now she’s releasing her debut EP" (NYT)

7 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

Bill writes:

"The Great Ron McCroby was the best whistler there ever was: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baEoyXoDVc4

"I saw him live once. He could actually whistle two notes simultaneously."

Ann Althouse said...

David writes:

"I thought she looked familiar. She's the woman from that screaming cowboy music video ("Big Enough") that was the source of so many memes back in 2017. Until today I would have dismissed the musical power of whistling, but the fact that that I can remember her - that she is not completely overshadowed by a Godzilla sized man screaming his heart out over the mountaintops - shows her talent is impactful and memorable."

Ann Althouse said...

Dave Begley writes:

"The College World Series just ended in Omaha. (Althouse and Meade did not attend notwithstanding my open invitation to visit.)

"Vanderbilt played for the national championship. They have a fan known as The Vanderbilt Whistler. He is universally hated by everyone but the Vandy fans."

Ann Althouse said...

Bob Boyd writes:

"She used to have a dog. It went mad."

Ann Althouse said...

Scott writes:

"Working my way through Mythbusters on Discovery+ (S5E8). They had a myth about a guy that could extinguish a candle with a whistle. Charles Kellogg. Amazing bird whistler. He toured the US in a hollowed out redwood tree in the early 1900's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1x4WNSz-8w"

Ann Althouse said...

Capitalist Reader writes:

Jean-Baptiste Frédéric Isidor, Baron Thielemans (29 April 1922 – 22 August 2016), known professionally as Toots Thielemans, was a Belgian jazz musician. He was mostly known for his harmonica playing, as well as his guitar, whistling skills, and composing.

Toots Thielemans wrote "Bluesette," a jazz standard, which he performed on harmonica or while playing the guitar and whistling in unison. He said, "If there's a piece of music that describes me, it's that song." First recorded by him in 1962, with lyrics added by Norman Gimbel, the song became a major worldwide hit. It has since been covered by over one hundred artists. "
— Wikipedia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi4G6UmYK9U

Ann Althouse said...

Irving writes:

Back in the very early 1980s, I was in a road band that toured the US in support of national acts like Steppenwolf and Pure Prairie League. During breaks, our sound guy would play music through the system to keep the crowd up. Right before we went back on stage he would play an interesting tune at full band volume to signal to the crowd that the next set was about to begin -- akin to the houselights being flashed on and off to signal the end of intermission at a play.

Songs he included were Kate Smith’s “There’s No Business like Show Business” Monte Python’s “the Money Song” and this version of “Whistler and His Dog”. Whistler always put the crowd in a great mood if they weren’t there already:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwrX-Skl4Bg