Highs, middles and lows of Olympics Closing Ceremony.

In no particular order:
1. Loved Brazil's portion of the ceremony.  Pele still looks great.
2. British pop star Jessie J (who did a credible Alannah Myles-esque rock voice while fronting for Queen's Brian May and RogerTaylor) reminded me of Rachel Weisz' kid sister rocking Katy Perry's wardrobe.
3. As irony would have it, Kaiser Chiefs doing a not-bad cover of The Who's "Pinball Wizard" made it onto NBC's edited-for-America broadcast.  The Who themselves were punted until after the airing of the ANIMAL PRACTICE pilot and Sunday newscast.
4. Russell Brand covers Gene Wilder singing "Pure Imagination" better than "I Am The Walrus."
5. NBC decided America didn't need to see Ray Davies singing his classic Kinks song "Waterloo Sunset."  Also dropkicked: Muse (a band which does have an American following) and a tribute to Kate Bush.
6. UK popstar Ed Sheeran (imagine a Yorkshire-bred answer to Jack Johnson) sang a skim-milk cover of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here"--likely prompting much madcap laughter from Syd Barrett's ghost.
7.  Speaking of deceased rock stars, Freddie Mercury (gone for over twenty years but resurrected via video screens) can still work a capacity stadium crowd like few others.
8. Nice to see Eric Idle doing a moderately irreverent version of LIFE OF BRIAN's closing song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".  But like his surviving fellow Python members, age hasn't been kind to Eric--however, he'd have a Tony Award-winning role if someone decides to stage a Broadway musical about Richard Nixon.
9. Always good to see the gifted Timothy Spall--even if it's just him reprising his Winston Churchill performance from THE KING'S SPEECH for three minutes.
10 (tie) Liked seeing the John Lennon tribute set to "Imagine"; perhaps Lennon would have found dance/techno legend Fatboy Slim and his octopusmobile rather amusing as well; Annie Lennox doing a pirate-ship themed version of the non-US hit song "Little Bird" from 1992's album DIVA was a welcome return to her visual provocateuring of yore.

Allen Klein, RIP--including clip of John Belushi as "Ron Decline."

Here's a brief clip of John Belushi parodying the fearsome reputation of music managerial legend Allen Klein from 1978's THE RUTLES aka ALL YOU NEED IS CASH:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdjZSb0S7ZU&feature=channel_page
(Thanks to Steve Marinucci of www.abbeyrd.net for posting this originally to his Beatle Examiner page--where I discovered it.)

Look carefully for the new U.S. Senator from Minnesota as one of Decline's entourage.