Remembering Two Awesome Blondes: Vera-Ellen And June Christy

Today, this blog pays tribute to two particularly creative, stellar, wonderful and underrated artists who stand out among the numerous awesome blondes in 20th Century show biz: dancer Vera-Ellen and jazz singer June Christy.

Their careers parallel each other; both absolutely blazed in the 40's and 50's, leaving prolific artistic legacies behind, before health issues led to early retirement - and neither came close to living long enough to enjoy the fresh rounds of accolades, respect and admiration that accompany "master/elder stateswoman" status. Too bad.

Here's Vera, doing the physically impossible in her first film, Wonder Man.




Last Christmas Eve, several friends and I were simultaneously (and very unfortunately, not together) watching the ritual TV broadcast of the 1954 Michael Curtiz-directed musical White Christmas. The e-mails and Facebook postings we subsequently exchanged tended to echo each other, along these lines:

• Vera-Ellen is AWESOME!
• That's not a stunt double, that's freakin' Danny Kaye - he's actually dancing with Vera-Ellen and keeping up!
• Oh dear, Vera's waist is disturbingly small. Make that frighteningly tiny. Yikes, my ankle is bigger!
• Vera-Ellen is AWESOME!

Indeed, Vera is awesome in all the clips I've seen of her.

Unfortunately, a bonafide starring vehicle, helmed by the best directors in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's "Arthur Freed unit" (IMO, Vincente Minnelli and the team of Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen), eluded Vera. . . this excellent dance number from On The Town notwithstanding.



As it turned out, a subsequent career as a character actress was not in the cards for Vera, and her last appearances on movies and TV were in the late 1950's.


No doubt, Vera also found herself on the lethal horns of the dilemma for athletes and dancers (and faced by such silver screen stars as Doug Fairbanks, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd): where to go and how to segue to the next phase once those stressed-to-the-max bodies can no longer do impossible feats all day long.

June Christy may be the most underrated jazz singer of her era.



One could compare her to a superb outfielder who just happened to be playing major league baseball when Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Roberto Clemente, Frank Robinson and Henry Aaron were tearing it up.

It was obvious from her stint as vocalist with Stan Kenton's big band that June, like Ella Fitzgerald with the Chick Webb Orchestra and Frank Sinatra with Tommy Dorsey and Harry James, was light years beyond the standard band singer of the era and possessed chops beyond her years.



June's solo career hit the ground running in the 40's with such recordings as "Supper Time" and "Prelude To A Kiss" (which revealed startling depth for a vocalist in her twenties), and kicked off a series of great albums, matching and raising the bar line set by The Chairman Of The Board, as well as fellow Capitol stars Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Bobby Darin.



Add to that list such inspired and original vocal talents active at that time as Ella, Mel Tormé, Tony Bennett, the Lambert-Hendricks-Ross group, Anita O'Day, Sarah Vaughan and singer-trumpeters Louis Armstrong, Chet Baker and Roy Eldridge - and the extent to which that era was indeed a "golden age" of jazz singing becomes clear.

Here's June, personifying relaxed yet uptempo swing on The Nat King Cole Show.

And on Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's classic TV show, "Not Only But Also", in 1965.

It was just one of those things that June Christy would be merely one brilliant, incandescent and memorable shining light among many in those days, and arguably under-appreciated. We can be thankful that she at least got the opportunity to record albums and tour prolifically.

Art Tatum, 1954

How does one follow a posting featuring the great Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown and Nils Henning Orsted Pederson? With the equally incomparable Art Tatum.

Two Upright Basses, One Piano

Have yet to find another clip of blazing jazz guitarists that compares to T.J. Kirk, so I will shift from the guitar to that big brother of the cello, the venerable bass violin (A.K.A. standup bass). Obviously, pianist Oscar Peterson wanted to hire the best, so he got two ridiculously skilled bassists, Ray Brown and Nils-Henning Orsted Pederson, to join him on this gig. Big fat bass notes? Check. Driving swing? Yessir. Harmonic nimbleness? To the nth degree. Fabulous intonation? Yep. Enjoy!

Burt Bacharach Day

I would have liked to have found a clip of a bunch of gifted jazz guitarists tearing into some Burt Bacharach chord changes, thus deftly continuing the thread from my last blog entry. . .but couldn't. And not only did I miss Burt Bacharach Day last month due to the untimely passing of favorite indie rocker and Box Tops/Big Star mainstay Alex Chilton, it was just a few days ago that I finally did stumble upon an Alex cover of "The Look Of Love"; alas, that performance was not preserved on video, and not on YouTube or Daily Motion.

That said, we'll double up on Burt-related clips this month. Here's singer Mike Patton, who I had heard many years ago doing remarkable vocal pyrotechnics with the wry avant-hard rock ensemble Mr. Bungle (and who turned out to be the guy sitting next to me at San Francisco Yoshi's when I heard John Zorn's Electric Masada there last year). Enjoy Mike and Faith No More performing one of the better covers I've heard of this BB tune.



Next up, the tried-and-true Burt and Dionne Warwick combo, fabulous way back when. . . and sounding great now.

Jazz Rock Guitar Geek Rapture #1: T.J. Kirk Live At The Up And Down Club, 1994

Once upon a time in the early and mid-1990's, some amazing music was being played in San Francisco clubs on a regular basis. It was the closest thing to the heady days when giants from several musical eras and genres, the majority lacking U.S. recording contracts, were performing in Bay Area venues from Keystone Korner to the Mabuhay Gardens to Kimball's (San Francisco) and, later, Yoshi's and Koncepts Cultural Gallery, proving that both jazz and rock were alive and blazing if you knew exactly where to find it.

Here are a couple of excerpts from a set at The Up And Down Club by a remarkable group that was tearing it up in those San Francisco clubs, at times more than twice a week. Their original name was James T. Kirk, as they performed cross-pollinations of music by James Brown, Thelonious Monk and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, three of the aforementioned music giants. I don't remember specifically whether the lawyers of Paramount Pictures ("Star Trek" owners) complained, but the band subsequently (and soon) changed their name to "T.J. Kirk" - thus also recalling William Shatner's uber-cheesy 1980's cop show.







The band members - guitarists Charlie Hunter, Will Bernard, and John Schott, plus the equally creative and propulsive drummer Scott Amendola - all headed other stellar ensembles and still do, but truly wonderful things happened when the four hit that happy zone together onstage. I consider myself fortunate to have caught some of that magic in person.

For more, check out the liner notes for the last T.J. Kirk recording.

The spirits of Rahsaan Roland Kirk, James Brown, Thelonious Monk - and Jimi Hendrix - are smiling.

The San Francisco Symphony Proclaims "Happy Birthday, Charlie Chaplin"

Today is the 121st anniversary of Charlie Chaplin's birth. While not the first Hollywood film star, he arguably remains the movies' top comic in terms of enduring worldwide fame - and was pretty much king of the world through much of the silent era. Chaplin followed the lead of the first silver screen comedy star, Paris' own Max Linder, by combining physical slapstick comedy and sight gags with greater nuance, sophistication, and ultimately - in his creative development from the best of the 1915 Essanay series and most entries from his 1916-1917 Mutual comedies to his 1920 feature The Kid - drama and pathos.

To celebrate, there will be screenings at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall of the 1925 comedy classic The Gold Rush , accompanied by a performance of Charlie's own musical score by the San Francisco Symphony.



Assistant Conductor Donato Cabrera will lead the orchestra's performance of Chaplin's original score. An hour before each concert, Stephen Salmons, the co-founder and former director of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will give a presentation and talk about the film.

There will be shows tonight at 8:00 p.m. and at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow. Here's where to buy tickets on the San Francisco Symphony website.

Still More Amazing Stuff To Download

Musician and writer Greg Forest has done us (the music-obsessed sonic omnivore public) an immense favor byposting a slew of outstanding downloads, under From The Vaults, Live Recordings From Austin and Liberty Lunch's Post Punk Heyday 1987-1989. He also got permission from the artists and various recording companies (no small feat, although I note Little Feat isn't among the the bands represented).

Here's hopin' a 5 buck Pay Pal donation from many of us who have downloaded these great mp3s will enable Greg to post further gems from the vaults. Nice work, Austin Archives!

More Amazing Stuff To Download

Just in case there isn't more than enough fabulous material available for download via The Internet Archive and Concert Vault, Phil Milstein's Probe! Is Turning - On The People website offers yet another invaluable source for fun music, comedy, novelty and spoken word mp3s of dizzying variety.

Happy downloading, Ladies and Gentlemen!

Happy Easter

There are at least four moments in this Bugs Bunny cartoon directed by Bob McKimson - at 1:35, 2:35, 6:20 and 6:50 - that never fail to get huge belly laughs out of me, no matter how many times I see it. Happy Easter!

Blogger And Spam Spam Spam Spam

A shout-out to anyone else who reads this blog who is using Blogger: are your comments dominated by spam spam spam spam (99.82% of it wholly unrelated to not only the specific blog topic, but all blog subject matter)? For that matter, are friends and colleagues on Typepad having a similar experience? I know of bloggers who migrated to Typepad after getting hacked on Blogger.

Just curious.

The San Francisco Bay Area Kicks Off April WIth More Cool Film Events

While we are sad to see the Stanford Theatre's splendid Akira Kurosawa Festival come to a close with the end of March, some excellent and unorthodox movies will ring in the new month of April in several Bay Area venues.

Thursday, April 1: The gala day of San Francisco's St. Stupid's Day parade and April Fools' Day will include cool film shows.

At the Balboa Theatre, 3630 Balboa Street (between 37th and 38th Avenue), San Francisco: 7:00 P.M. screening of the documentary Gumby Dharma

At Kingman’s Ivy Room, 860 San Pablo Avenue, Albany, starting at 8:00 p.m., Thrillville presents James Bond Nite: featuring classic 60s spy cinema on the bar TVs, classic cocktail specials (including the original Bond martini, “The Vesper”), prizes and live theremin lounge music by Project Pimento: no cover.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, April 2-4
At the Victoria Theatre, 2961 Street, San Francisco
Author Peter S. Beagle will appear in person for three showings of the animated adaptation of his fantasy novel, The Last Unicorn. This will be the first time since 1982 that a 35mm print of this film has been shown in the Bay Area.

Friday and Saturday: doors open at 7 PM, audience Q&A with Peter starts at 8 PM, screening starts approximately 8:30. On Sunday, doors open at 6 PM, audience Q&A with Peter starts at 7 PM, screening starts approximately 7:30 PM. There will be special prizes, and a post-screening author-signing.

Friday, April 2: At Stephen Parr's Oddball Film Archive, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco. Guest curator Pete Gowdy presents Lost Animation IV.

Saturday, April 3: Also at Oddball Film Archive in San Francisco's Mission District, yours truly will be guest curator for two shows, starting with my cinematic contribution to his third Surreal Body Shop program at 8:00 p.m. and Attack Of The Killer Commercials at 10:00 p.m.

This Week: Creature Features and KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival

Tomorrow night, Thursday March 25 at 7:00 p.m.: Creature Features At The Balboa with John Stanley, horror host of KTVU-TV's popular late-night show (and who very capably succeeded the equally wonderful Bob Wilkins) IN PERSON! Watch the trailer for this extravaganza, which holds forth at one of my favorite theatres in San Francisco.



Saturday night, March 27: the KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival returns, jam-packed with trailers from bad films, martians, robots, campy musical shorts, incredibly strange cartoons, classic television clips, indescribable celluloid oddities and commercials for products like this one:


The amazing 1955 Kelvinator Foodarama Refrigerator-Freezer


When: Saturday March 27, 2010 - from 7:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Where: Room 5015, Foothill College campus

Next week, after recovering from Psychotronix, I will pick myself up, dust myself off and prepare an evening of celluloid oddities and wonderment for Stephen Parr of San Francisco's Oddball Film. I will be guest curator there for two shows at Stephen's excellent film archive on the evening of Saturday April 3.

Something I Didn't Want To Read Anytime Soon: Alex Chilton's Obit

I generally prefer to avoid posting something about a death, since wonderful, beautiful, inventive amazing people die every day - and, bluntly, I am "Way Too Damn Lazy" to write blog postings about even a fraction of 1% of them. Sadly, here's an untimely passing I'm compelled to call attention to.

One of the most inspired, original songwriters and impassioned performers in rock n' roll, Alex Chilton, succumbed to a heart attack on March 17 at the age of 59. He was a rare talent who could seamlessly jump from rock to psychedelia to folk to jazz to blues to Beatle-esque pop to Memphis r&b (at times in the same set) and sound great in every genre. And Alex' best known work, with The Box Tops and Big Star, is strictly the tip of the iceberg.





Alex was slated to appear with Big Star on Saturday night at the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas.


Big Star, 1971: Jody Stephens, Chris Bell, Alex Chilton and Andy Hummel




Although most of us (myself included) didn't hear Big Star, which Alex co-led with the very talented singer-songwriter-guitarist Chris Bell, when their albums were first released, barely distributed and never, ever played even on FM radio back in the early 1970's, the band would be hugely influential on the music that followed: without Big Star, there's no R.E.M., no Replacements, no Marshall Crenshaw, no Beck, no Wilco, etc.





Keith Spera in the New Orleans Music News has done an excellent job delving into who Alex Chilton was and how he loved New Orleans, where he lived for the last 28 years of his life. There is also a good tribute written by Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney for NPR Music, the official obit from NPR, which also includes links to various interviews and other pieces, as well as a good article in the San Francisco Chronicle by Aidin Viziri.

I add to this the following excerpts from Chris Talbott's article for the Associated Press."It was Chilton's work with a second Memphis band, Big Star that cemented his legacy as a pioneering voice for a generation of kids looking for something real in the glossy world of pop music. The band was never a commercial success, but R.E.M. counted Chilton as an influence, the Replacements name-checked him with their 1987 song "Alex Chilton," and his band still provides a template for musicians today. "In my opinion, Alex was the most talented triple threat musician out of Memphis — and that's saying a ton," Paul Westerberg, the former Replacements frontman, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "His versatility at soulful singing, pop rock songwriting, master of the folk idiom, and his delving into the avant garde, goes without equal. He was also a hell of a guitar player and a great guy."

Original Big Star member Jody Stephens and Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer of The Posies, who joined Chilton in the reformed group (a.k.a. Big Star 2.0), all plan to play Saturday's show as scheduled. Stringfellow said the band will likely invite special guests to join in, but that details were just starting to be worked out.

"That Alex died two days before we were going to play, it has dropped the bomb on South by Southwest in a lot of ways," Stringfellow said in a phone interview from Paris. "We have a lot of fans there. I hope this show will be a good release and a kind of way to memorialize Alex. He deserves that and a lot more."



Paul Westerberg, author of the aforementioned fabulous song about Alex, has posted links to a host of tributes here on his website. No doubt many more are forthcoming, especially at SXSW over this weekend.

Here are three songs from the August 2008 concert by Big Star 2.0 (Alex, Ken Stringfellow, Jon Auer and Jody Stephens) at the Rhythm Festival in Clapham, Bedfordshire. There is no band that synthesized protean elements of American folk-rock and pop - Gram Parson's songwriting and Roger McGuinn's jangly guitar sound from The Byrds, plus Arthur Lee's cryptic lyricism and the vocal harmonies of Brian Wilson/ Beach Boys - with British Invasion soundscapes (from The Beatles to The Move to The Kinks to The Small Faces to The Who to early Pink Floyd) quite like Big Star. It is also noteworthy that Big Star, devoted to succinct pop songcraft, existed completely apart from the pronounced early 1970's bent towards flashy, highly theatrical "stadium rock".







Also posted on youtube were the following home movie clips of the 1971-1972 Big Star lineup, shot by Andy Hummel and the late Chris Bell, with "Thank You, Friends", one of Alex' best tunes as the soundtrack. It is just one of many Chilton songs that has grown on me over the years.



Always musically curious, he loved all kinds of genres and incorporated all of it into his unique approach. Thus, like Elvis Costello, he remains close to Mr. Blogmeister's musical heart. Only Alex Chilton could pull off rocked-out versions of both "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and "April In Paris" in the same set as covers of "There Will Never Be Another You", Michael Jackson's "Rock With You" and "Can't Seem To Make You Mine" by Sky Saxon And The Seeds in its full psychedelic era rave-up splendor - or even attempt to.

The most interesting pieces I have seen thus far about Alex have been Robert Cass' Bootleg City article and Michael Baker's The Glory and Grandeur That Is Defeat: The Music of Alex Chilton, a fascinating 2004 study (in two parts) from the enjoyable Perfect Sound Forever online magazine. Baker is a highly opinionated, entertaining, wonderfully florid and very good writer, as well as one deeply knowledgeable music geek.

I'll simply close with both the painfully obvious understatement that Alex Chilton, still underrated after all these years (only in his earliest incarnation with The Box Tops was he ever a pop "flavor of the month"), left a highly original, often inspired legacy - and three great recordings of his. First, a cover version of an irresistible Byrds-Beatles style song by Scottish rockers (and frequent collaborators of Alex) Teenage Fanclub, then a caustic lil' number which ventures successfully into Jimi Hendrix "The Cry Of Love" territory. The third song is a well-known jazz standard and Nina Simone signature tune.







R.I.P. Alex - you are much missed!

Harold Lloyd Interview

One of those responsible for a million laughs, the great Harold Lloyd was born on April 20, 1893. There are so many hilarious Lloyd films it is difficult to know where to start! Why Worry and Safety Last! never fail to crack me up.

The thread involving interviews with the great comedians of silent movies will be another brief one; while Chaplin and Keaton wrote memoirs, Harry Langdon, Charley Chase and Edgar Kennedy all passed away in the 1940's, so no interviews of them appear to exist (certainly no extensive ones), outside of some Hollywood trade paper and newspaper articles. The urban legend goes that Jerry Lewis spent quite a bit of time with both Chaplin and Stan Laurel, but one suspects that whatever was said between them will remain confidential.

The great Harold Lloyd, whose films are still unequaled in their blend of comedy and thrills with the action hero ethos, periodically made public appearances at screenings of his great 1920's features, and also released feature-length compilations of excerpts from his classic movies.

Here's Harold in 1962, interviewed by Harry Reasoner on a CBS-TV interview. Enjoy.

Buster Keaton Interviews

He was among the greatest of movie and vaudeville comedians, as well as an actor, producer, director, writer, editor, daredevil stuntman, tumbler and acrobat. But there's more - he also made his mark as a gifted engineer and special effects designer! Now it's 2010 and there's still only one person in the history of motion pictures who personifies all of those talents: the incomparable Buster Keaton. Fortunately and luckily for us film buffs, Buster outlived many of his contemporaries long enough to be interviewed several times.

From Columbia University's Oral History Research Office, here are more interviews with Buster Keaton, conducted in 1958. You can listen to and/or read the transcript of Buster reminiscing about his years in vaudeville and film.

Part 1 Buster Keaton's Vaudeville Childhood

Part 2 Fatty Arbuckle Puts Buster Keaton In The Movies

Part 3 Buster Keaton On Making Movies

Part 4 Buster Keaton On The End of Silent Films

Here are two more interviews (note: these are Windows Media files, which will only open on your Mac if you have the appropriate plug-in software):

1. CBS interview, broadcast on April 17, 1964: posted on Hollywood Or Blog
2. CBC Interview
   

I extend big time thanks and a tip of the Jimmie Hatlo hat to Silent Comedy Mafia don (Northern California division) Paul J. Mular for sending these links!

Stan Laurel And Oliver Hardy Interviews

I hope to, in scouring YouTube and Daily Motion, find a few interviews with my favorite comedians of the silent and early sound era. Here are some excerpts from Arthur Friedman's August 1957 interview with Stan Laurel.






The complete interview has been posted on Ross Owens' Blog. Lots more interesting material on the world's greatest comedy team can be found on Laurel And Hardy Forum.

The following 1950 "Ship's Reporter" program is among the rare interviews with Oliver Hardy. Ralph Edwards' unsuccessful attempt to build a "This Is Your Life" show around Stan and Babe, unfortunately, was an utterly flubbed opportunity for a fun and historic interview with the boys.




Alas, many of the great screen comics and comedy creators of the 20's and 30's - Mabel Normand, Roscoe Arbuckle, Charley Chase, Lloyd Hamilton - lived hard and not only died very young, but many years before the concept of film history was even a glimmer in James Agee's mind.

Happy Birthday, Tex Avery

Whatever modest snippet of humanity reads this blog very likely not only knows the legend of innovative and outrageous animator Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery, born in Taylor, Texas on February 26, 1908, but owns DVD copies of every cartoon he directed for Warner Brothers and MGM. That said, if you happen to stumble upon here in those rambling cyberspace travels and have a bit of free time, enjoy this fine documentary about Tex - a cinematic comic genius if there ever was one - produced by John Needham for TBS in 1988.

The Pinewood Dialogues

If you enjoy reading or listening to interviews with film and animation artists, check out the Pinewood Dialogues in the Museum Of The Moving Image
website.

Stan Getz And John Coltrane, Dusseldorf, 1960

Indeed, they are playing together! With Oscar Peterson (Piano), Paul Chambers (bass) and Jimmy Cobb (drums).

More Zoot Sims

Burt Bacharach Day

Ladies And Gentlemen, The Fabulous Zoot Sims

Big Fun In The Comedy Way-Back Machine

After producing the much-enjoyed Pre-Code Follies with the fabulous Kitten On The Keys at the Edison Theatre last weekend, I'm back at Niles to attend the three-day Midwinter Comedy Festival. Historian Richard Roberts, who produced the Slap Happy Comedies series - which ran on PBS (that is, if your local PBS station is any good) - presents the equivalent of a Slapsticon West at Niles every February. As a certified - and certifiable - comedy, classic film and history geek (who probably needs to join a 12-Step program for such things) I find the programs lots of fun and never less than fascinating; the extensive program notes, by Roberts and his co-godfathers from The Silent Comedy Mafia, are most informative and a pleasure to read.

Last night's show spotlighted both very early and not-so-early talkies - and emphatically demonstrated that such inspired comedians as Buster Keaton, Harry Langdon, Charley Chase and Lloyd "The Poor Soul" Hamilton kicked ass even when their personal lives and physical health were a shambles - while much of the rest of the weekend will focus on exceptionally rare silents. Today's screenings encompass funmakers ranging from reknowned to unknown, include a rare short subject starring the talented silent screen comedienne Alice Howell, a feature film starring the ever-dapper "silk hat slicker" Raymond Griffith, as well as a selection of little-seen gems from the Hal Roach Studio (a.k.a. "The Lot Of Fun").

That said, film buffs, historians and comedy fans: I'll see ya at The Edison Theatre.

The Latest And Greatest In Tech Gizmos

Friday Night At Niles: The Pre-Code Follies

Continuing a breathless first few weeks of 2010 which featured the San Francisco Sketchfest comedy extravaganzas and the Noir City Film Festival, yours truly (yes, the actual author of this blog) will keep the good times going and kick off February with a night of music, comedy and movie fun hosted by celebrated San Francisco-based entertainer Kitten On The Keys at Niles' Edison Theatre.

SInce last year's Pre-Code Follies at Niles was way too much fun - and our hostess with the absolute mostess exemplified her Sisters Of Perpetual Indulgence sobriquet, St. Tickle-The-Ivories - we HAD to do it again in 2010. Kitten's inspired performances of genuine "naughty flapper" songs and racy ditties from the movies of Marlene Dietrich and Mae West will share the bill with our customary cinematic pop culture slice n’ dice, early 1930s style: A.K.A. one delirious selection of cartoons, musical clips, trailers and indescribably bizarre comedy shorts from the Pre-Code era.

CLICK HERE FOR ADVANCE TICKETS.

Psychotronic Paul's Joke Of The Day

The Vice Squad caught Supreme Court Justices Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy, Roberts and Alito in a group of luxury hotel suites (customarily used by the RNC leadership), along with eight prominent and hard partyin' Washington lobbyists, various Senators and Representatives of both political parties, two dozen high-priced call girls and call boys, plus unidentified charter members of Skull And Bones, The Bohemian Club, The Bilderbergers, Mark Sanford, John Edwards and a bearded, unrecognizable Tiger Woods. The arresting officer's first question: which of you are the prostitutes?

Burt Bacharach Day

Been a tough year so far, need a bit of cheer, so, by all means, Burt and Dionne, do your stuff - as always, we can all use a little music.



And then, when finished listening and in the mood for something a bit darker, your correspondent will be off to the Noir City festival yet again. . .

Haiti Earthquake Relief Efforts

The city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti has suffered devastating damage from yesterday's earthquake. Here are the websites of charitable organizations taking donations to relief efforts:

• American Red Cross
• American Jewish World Service
• AmeriCares
• Beyond Borders
• CARE
• Childcare Worldwide
• Direct Relief International
• Fonkoze USA
• Haitian Health Foundation
• Hope for Haiti
• International Medical Corps
• International Relief Teams
• Medical Teams International
• Meds and Food for Kids
• Mercy Corps
• Operation USA
• Partners in Health
• Samaritan's Purse
• UNICEF
• World Vision

Have a roof over your head, food on the table and enough money left over to not worry where the next meal is coming from? Then give whatever you can.

2010's First Philosopher, Guru And Mystic Du Jour by Paul F. Etcheverry

Rescued from moldy, disgusting scrolls, the following recently discovered quotations from painfully and justifiably obscure poet (and goat parking attendant to 13th century Sufis) Joey Al-Donnie Roomie:

“The lion is most handsome when looking for food, as long as dinner doesn't resemble me."

"Burdens are the foundations of excruciating lower back disease and bitter chocolates the forerunners of pleasure."

"And when I die again, I will soar past the angels to places that accept coupons."

"Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other at Jalil al-Ascuaga's Desert Inn later that night."

"Everyone is so afraid of death, but the real sufis just laugh, mostly at all the stupid shits around them."

"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a parking lot. I will meet you there - if it's still open and I can find where the fuck it is.”

"You already have the precious mixture that will make you well. Now give it to me."

"Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round and then irritates the shit out of you in another form."

“Now I am sober and there's only the hangover and the memory of Jalil al-Ascuaga's Desert Inn .”

"In silence there is eloquence. So shut the fuck up."

A Worthy New Year's Resolution

Every now and then I stop producing classic movie events, listening to jazz music, watching vaudeville clips, ancient short comedies and Scopitones long enough to ponder just what we, as citizens, given the massive corruption in our political system, can do to make a difference - and invariably end up wandering circuitously through the dark woods of further questions.

Among said questions: "is there any way I can have checking and savings accounts that do not support sleazy business practices, sleazier lobbiests and the even (shudder) sleazier politicos they bribe (a.k.a. buy off with their generous contributions)?" I stumbled upon a potentially satisfactory response in the following article, Move Your Money: A New Year's Resolution.

This posting describes the Move Your Money website, where consumers can easily identify the most sound community banks and smaller financial institutions in their neighborhoods. Credit Unions are not yet included in this assessment, but the website mentions that ratings for these institutions will be forthcoming. One can do further research via the Institutional Risk Analytics website and check out consumer feedback regarding banks and credit unions on Yelp and other portals.

If enough squeezed middle-class consumers migrate a substantial chunk of their business from irresponsible "too big to fail" behemoths to community banks and credit unions, the message - which has yet to reach our elected representatives (and possibly never will) - will be loud and clear. And the small business loans which will lead to a meaningful rebound in the economy won't be coming from the big boys.

After all, the very institutions who begged the most for taxpayer money, without a doubt, lobbied the hardest for ill-advised and ultimately disastrous deregulation and will fight tooth and nail to kill any needed systemic reforms.

Happy New Year With The Levants And Fred Astaire

Three years ago, I rang in the new year with an excerpt (and, if I'm not mistaken, just about the only extant footage) from The Oscar Levant Show, a wonderfully informal and frequently hilarious talk show hosted by the author, wit, raconteur, composer, virtuoso pianist, Algonquin Round Table regular and occasional movie actor. Along for the fun as co-host: Oscar's unbelievably charming and likeable wife, June.

Since 2007, two more excerpts from this 1958 episode featuring special guest Fred Astaire have been unearthed and posted to YouTube. The show's looseness and extemporaneous spontaneity harkens back to the bygone days of local programming; fitting the freewheeling format, Oscar invents one-liners on the spot with the best of them.

While the picture and sound quality leave a lot to be desired, it's all we have of Oscar's deliciously off-the-cuff show. Enjoy!



I've always liked Fred Astaire's singing. Whatever he lacks in voice quality, he more than compensates for with his understanding of a song's essential meaning. After all, he had to deliver these standards for Broadway audiences night after night.



Oscar's three memoirs, A Smattering Of Ignorance, Memoirs of an Amnesiac and The Unimportance Of Being Oscar, are must-reads, especially for students or enthusiasts of 20th century culture - and jam-packed with outrageous bon mots; if you can't find copies or order them online, consult your friendly and invaluable public library. For more essential Oscar Levant lore, peruse this recent tribute by historian Confetta Ras, author of the extraordinary and informative On This Day In Jazz Age Music blog.

Merry Christmas From 1939 And Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog

Last year, creator of cool radio shows and film scholar Aaron Neathery posted a great Eddie Cantor tune, The Only Thing I Want For Christmas, on The Third Banana blog last year. I like it a lot and, being way too damn lazy to write a blog, cribbed Eddie's 1939 Yuletide offering for today's Merry Christmas blog entry.

Last Day For Holiday Fundraiser

The Menu For Hope fundraiser runs through Christmas Day! If you're lucky enough to have a job or investments that didn't tank, bid online for these very cool gifts - and have fun doing it!

More Cheesy Christmas Commercials

Courtesy of RetroJunk.com, here are some truly cheesy Christmas commercials for reprehensible and diabetes-inducing products. I feel guilty enough to flee to the gym with turbo-jets on my ass after just one viewing of these ads!

Burt Bacharach Day

Cheesy Christmas Commercials

Until I find a 1976 TV commercial in which reggae icon Peter Tosh says "friends, here's a wonderful Christmas gift for anyone who smokes herb" (giving new meaning to the phrase "it's TOASTED"), this Christmas chestnut from Your Hit Parade will have to do!

Eddie Cantor, 1929

Regarding Eddie Cantor and vaudeville, the following documentary provides valuable insights on this wildly popular artform that preceded movies, radio and TV.

Psychotronic Paul's Favorite Technicolor Musical Sequence Ever

I saw this, believe it or not, for the first time last night at San Francisco's fabulous Castro Theatre, as part of their excellent Samuel Goldwyn retrospective. Also thought I had seen every bizarre musical production number ever committed to film in 1928-1934. Well, think again! The final 20 minutes of Kid Millions had me sitting with gaping-mouthed astonishment, marveling at the sheer quantity and variety of WTF moments!

The KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival Returns

Like a determined yet mindless zombie in a George Romero flick, the KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival returns to wreak its harvest of pop culture mayhem yet again!

• When: December 12, 2009, 7:00 to 11:30 P.M.
  



• Where: Room 5015 on the Foothill College campus, Los Altos Hills, El Monte exit off of Highway 280.



• Who: Hosted by Robert Emmett of KFJC-FM's Norman Bates Memorial Soundtrack Show. PLUS special guest appearance by horror host Mr. Lobo of Cinema Insomnia.



• Why: a frothing celluloid mixmaster simply oozing with a multi-decade concoction blending ridiculous comedy, the indescribably bizarre and swingin' music never fails to be loads of fun!.



• How Much: $5 Donation to Benefit KFJC and $2 Parking.

Get there early - these shows sell out!

Burns And Allen, 1929