Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

I don't get the chance to watch much television (which makes my home-built tivo a bit of a paradox -- but someone has to chronicle the discovery channel 24/7). I can get into dramadies as well as anyone -- but have always had a hard time justifying the downtime to myself. Hopefully there will be better things to put on my headstone than:


Here lies Ed,
Every episode of Seinfeld
Was in his head


I will admit that sometimes there are television moments that stick with you: The season finale of Six Feet under, the epsiode of Dallas where our parents found out who shot J.R., and the death of Dr. Greene from ER.

The thing I most strongly remember about that episode -- the reason why it has stuck in the ol' noggin for so long -- is the rendition of "somewhere over the rainbow" that accomanied the episode. A few years ago I decided to track the song down.

That terrific, simple version is by one Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. Apparently, this was Israel's "big hit" and ended such movies as "You've Got Mail", "Finding Forrester", "Meet Joe Black", and "50 First Dates". But, I'll always associate this late Hawaiian singer with Dr. Mark Greene:






You should check out some of his stuff. It's good chill music, and God knows, we all need a little chill music sometimes.




_Ed