Alva Review-Courier -

YouTube is a video storage site on the internet. It has become the greatest library of modern content in the world. Amazingly, anyone with some form of a video camera (cell phone, point-and-shoot camera with video, regular video camera, etc.) can place content on YouTube free of charge.

It has tons of instructional videos. When we get a new piece of equipment and need a quick lesson in how to operate it, it is probable you'll find video clips by the equipment's manufacturer, or you will find user video clips.

If you are about to undergo a medical procedure, you probably can view the entire procedure on YouTube before you go under the knife.

Want to get a refresher course on how to fly an airplane? Lessons are there on YouTube.

Because we videotape almost every event in our community, I have posted over 1,400 titles on YouTube. At the newspaper, we utilize YouTube to host all the news events or concerts we cover. We place a link back to our newspaper website, but it is hosted on YouTube servers because their massive storage is free to us, and also they have incredible bandwidth to feed our videos to viewers smoothly and without hangup.

I love listening to music, and YouTube is my jukebox. I can't stand most of the modern stuff that makes up the Top 100 anymore.

I'm going to list a half-dozen of my favorite musical pieces and their YouTube addresses:

1. The first is an Elvis impersonator. I normally don't like Elvis clones because most come up short. Not Ben Portsmouth. He may be better than Elvis. At the very least, I would be hard pressed to select who was who if I couldn't see a picture. In this selection, Portsmouth appears on the David Letterman show performing American Trilogy, a collection of American patriotic songs. The address is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLPpFv8aS6E.

2. Another song I visit frequently is performed by Oklahoman Kristin Chenoweth at the Hollywood Bowl. She invited an audience member she had never met to come to the stage to participate in performing “For Good” from a Broadway play. The unknown audience member, Sara Horn, is a small college vocal teacher in California. She blew Kristin and the audience away with her excellent performance with Kristin. That event was the first time I had ever heard of Kristen Chenoweth, but am now a big fan. At the end of the duet and after Horn had left the stage, Kristen muttered, “Note to self: don't get anyone better than you up here.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxKjiJ2qwtU

3. The only really modern song on this list is “Girl Crush” by Little Big Town. It is so simply done. The instrumental accompanists do not play any unnecessary notes and are almost quiet, not overwhelming the vocalist, Karen Fairchild, whatsoever. Several people misunderstood the meaning of the song, thinking it was about two girls in love. No, the topic is one girl who wants to be like the girl who stole her man. Great recording. Here's the address: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYZMT8otKdI.

4. Next is Josh Grobran in “You Raise Me Up.” There are dozens of versions of this popular song by performed by Josh on YouTube. I love this one, not only because of his amazing vocal performance, but because of the video editing. It is shot backstage and you can see all the performers go through the rituals of getting ready to perform onstage. Simply mesmerizing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJxrX42WcjQ.

5. The organization Playing for Change produced the old favorite “Stand by Me” in an amazing way. They traveled the world with portable recording equipment and combined dozens of performers in perfect sync and then edited them all together. I love the song and I stand in awe of the video production job. An incredible achievement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiPzU75P9FA.

6. Back when I was a young radio DJ, I loved the selection of “House of the Rising Sun” as performed by a Beatles-era rock group, The Animals. Again, I love the economy of the instruments backing up Eric Burden as he performed this hit. This has to be the simplest music video ever made, but it so effective. It looks almost as if a single camera was used and was rolled around on a dolly for some of the views, and the musicians sort of walked around in a circle to complete the performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sB3Fjw3Uvc.

It was hard to restrict this list to six. I might give you my next six in the future.