It is strange but the most of my posts are about music. Well, may be for these last several months this is something that bothers me. Too many new emotions actually…

So, it goes about something absolutely new for me here. Have you ever thought what actually the true American culture is made of? You would probably say, well… Broadway, Musicales, Hollywood, Britney Spears (gosh..). Some geeks will mention Edgar Poe and O. Henry.

The last week I have discovered what the true American culture is for me. And it is The Glenn Millers Orchestra. Everything began when my father brought 2 tickets for their concert here in Sofia. The first question was – who is this? He said, well, they are very famous big band. I said – Jazz? He said – not exactly. They play Swing:) So I began to study the topic. I found it interesting. I finally got loved this music! I have read Glenn Milers biography and have seen a nice movie about his life. So I was totally ready for the show.

So, the big hall, 3000 people, everything is ready! The come and start to play. And of course it is the moonlight serenade! Just wonderful! Everybody is laughing, the atmosphere is just amazing! I was impressed by the way they behave themselves on stage. I have seen many events of that kind. In most cases, every step and every motion is subject of repetition and scenario. Especially on the Russian performances. Here it was just the opposite. Everything is just an improvisation. For example during the song, one of the musicians suddenly stands up goes to the front and plays an amazing solo. May be this is a script, but you don’t have this feeling, what makes it very pleasant.

During the performance there were not only music themes but also some very nice songs, performed by a gorgeous pretty lady. She had a very nice voice and a near to perfect figure. Nice dresses in style of the 40-es made everything look just magnificent! So I can say that this was a very nice present for Christmas for me.

The emotions are just fantastic!

And I think that that is what’s called a good music!

The fam and I had a Christmas Tree decorating party last night. It basically involved my parents sitting on the couch watching me decorate the tree. For entertainment, I put on my “Old Soul Playlist” and I made them guess who each singer was. Anyway … I just love this playlist so I decided that it is high time to share it.

In the Mood – Glenn Miller
      Epic.

Sentimental Journey – Les Brown & His Orchestra feat. Doris Day
      I always think of M*A*S*H when I heard this one because it’s Colonel       Potter’s favorite.

Take the A Train – Duke Ellington
      Catchy + Plays to my love of trains

Swinging on a Star – Bing Crosby
      First heard this working on a 1940s History project a couple years ago.       Makes me smile. “By the way you hate to go to school, you may grow       up to be a mule.”

Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree – Andrews Sisters
      Not my favorite Andrews Sisters but still great

The Gypsy – The Ink Spots
      Got this from Revolutionary Road. When I first heard it, I thought the       singer was a very deep-voiced woman.

Take Five – The Dave Brubeck Quarter
      Classic. Right for any occasion.

Sing You Sinners – Charleston Chasers
      First heard Erin Mckeown’s cover of this.

Jump, Jive, An’ Wail – Louis Prima
      Let’s get those feet swinging!

Night and Day – Frank Sinatra
      Because you always need a little Sinatra in a playlist like this

Moonlight Serenade – Glenn Miller
      Glenn Miller is the best.

Hello, Dolly! – Louis Armstrong
      Saw this show as a kid. Don’t remember anything but this song.

Oh Johnny – Andrews Sisters
      Narnia movie. So fun and playful

Chattanooga choo-choo – Glenn Miller
      More Glenn Miller. More trains. “Read a magazine and then you’re in       Baltimore”

Don’t Fence Me In – Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
      I’m not fenced in but snowed in right now.

Get Happy – Judy Garland
      Another I heard as an Erin Mckeown cover. I think I actually like her       version better but Judy is more old-school

You’ll Never Know – Dick Haymes
      Story of my life. I’m always missing someone no matter where I am.

Beyond the Sea – Robbie Williams
      So, it’s supposed to be Bobby Darin, but I liked Finding Nemo’s version       better.

It’s Only a Paper Moon – Ella Fitzgerald & Mills Brothers
      The first of many Ellas. Way better than Erin Mckeown’s cover.

Moon River – Frank Sinatra
      Not a big Sinatra fan, but I like his version of this better than others.       Finally saw Breakfast at Tiffany’s a couple weeks ago, by the way.

Sway (Quien Sera) – Dean Martin
      NO, NOT Michael Buble, guys.

Lullaby of Birdland – Ella Fitzgerald
      Mmmmm … Scat Queen

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy – Andrews Sisters
      Fav. I wish I sounded like this.

When You’re Smiling – Louis Prima
      So smile everyone!

I Wish – Nina Simone
      I really wanted to be Nina Simone when I was younger. She’s just       fabulous.

Cheek to cheek (Heaven) – Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald
      This is such a sweet song.

Sing Sing Sing – Benny Goodman & His Orchestra

God Bless the Child – Billie Holiday
      I had to get some Billie in here somewhere

Dream a Little Dream of Me – Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong
      Used to fall asleep to this as a kid

Feeling Good – Nina Simone
      Little later in the timeline but so classy I had to include it.

La vie en rose – Edith Piaf
      Edith is to France what Ella is to America … in my mind

Come Rain or Come Shine – Diniah Washington
      Cloudy or sunny? How about snowy?

C’est si bon – Yves Montand
      Another French song here. This was in a production of Mr. Marmalade       that I saw recently and I fell in love.

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps – Doris Day
      The current song on repeat in my iTunes. Reminds me of that lovely       scene from Strictly Ballroom

Wild Is The Wind – Nina Simone
      So pretty but so haunting. Thanks, Revolutionary Road.

At Last – Etta James
      I just had to do it. Especially after Wild Is The Wind.

]]> http://donzell.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/some-relaxing-music-on-a-lazy-saturday-afternoon/ Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:51:44 +0000 donzell http://donzell.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/some-relaxing-music-on-a-lazy-saturday-afternoon/ http://blog.uso.org/2009/12/15/a-page-from-history/ Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:00:03 +0000 fyiuso http://blog.uso.org/2009/12/15/a-page-from-history/ http://geezermusicclub.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/chattanooga-has-inspired-classic-songs/ Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:11:09 +0000 BG http://geezermusicclub.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/chattanooga-has-inspired-classic-songs/

I’ve always been a train buff, and since I’m also a fan of big-band music it stands to reason that one of my favorite songs of all time would be Glenn Miller’s “Chattanooga Choo-Choo.” I especially like the long version, which includes a ‘jive’ reprise. That performance, which features Dorothy Dandridge (who was just 18 at the time) and the Nicholas Brothers, is available below as an excerpt from the the 1941 film, Sun Valley Serenade.

But even though Miller’s version was number-one on the charts in 1941 (and won the recording industry’s first-ever gold record) it wasn’t the only game in town. Lots of other bands performed the song, which was a popular piece both during and after World War II — and later a suspiciously similar song would become a hit for a country music star.

Clyde Julian ‘Red’ Foley came out of Kentucky during the Depression, determined to make it in music. A talented guitarist and singer, he began building his fame by winning talent contests and making radio appearances in the Chicago area. Before long he became a regular on the popular radio show, National Barn Dance, and over the next several years became an audience favorite.

By the time World War II started, Foley had become established enough to co-host his own radio show (with young comedian Red Skeleton) and had even shown up in a Western movie with his buddy, Tex Ritter. However, he still hadn’t hit the big time in record sales. That would change in 1944, when his “Smoke on the Water” rocketed up to number one on the charts, where it would remain for 13 consecutive weeks.

In the post-war years, Foley confirmed his country music stardom with a series of hits that he recorded with his own band, the Cumberland Valley Boys. Some of the most popular included “New Jolie Blonde (New Pretty Blond),” and “Tennessee Saturday Night,” but in 1950 he recorded the song I mentioned earlier, and it became one of his best-known.

“Chattanoogie Shoeshine Boy” certainly owed a lot to the original big-band hit, but was apparently different enough to sidestep any legal difficulties. It was recorded by a number of singers — even Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra — but it was Foley’s version that hit the top of the charts and stayed there for three months.

However, not everything was working out well. The singer’s wife committed suicide the following year — reportedly due to his infidelity — and even though he continued to churn out hits for the rest of the decade, he began spending more time with his family (including daughter Shirley, who would later become Mrs. Pat Boone).

He continued working well into the Sixties, but died in 1968 — just a year after his induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

A Date to Remember

How many of you know the significance of December 15, 1944?   A mystery began on that day, which in some quarters will promote a lively, often heated, discussion of just what happened.  You may think it involves a WWII battle, given the year, and it does have a connection to the morale of the Allied troops.  Now, think music.

Have any of the above hints jogged your memory?  Here’s the answer:   On the above mentioned date, Maj.Glenn Miller boarded a single engine  C-64 Norseman at Twinwood Farms airfield in England, bound for Paris.   The weather was overcast and a cold drizzle fell as the plane took off.  Neither the aircraft, nor its three occupants:  Maj. Miller, Lt. Col. Norman Baessell, and pilot John Morgan were ever seen or heard from again.  For those of you who find this an insignificant historical footnote, please read the following and reconsider your opinion.

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Glenn Miller led the most popular dance band in the United States.   Young people jitterbugged to Miller tunes such as In the Mood, Pennsylvania 6-5000, and Jukebox Saturday Night at college proms and ballrooms.  The 1941 movie Sun Valley Serenade featured the Miller orchestra.   Their hit recording of Chattanooga Choo Choo, with its 1.2 million in sales, earned the first Gold Record.   Miller’s band broadcast the Chesterfield Moonlight Serenade radio show three days a week.  The Glenn Miller Orchestra was everywhere in 1941.

Miller’s patriotism was well known.  In 1940, he created the Sunset Serenade radio program, dedicated to those in the service.   Training camps were given the opportunity to win a radio/phonograph and fifty records.  The Miller band also appeared in person at many military installations.  After Pearl Harbor, Glenn wanted to do more for his country.  In less than a year, the 38 year old bandleader had broken up his successful civilian band, and enlisted in the U. S. Army.  The Air Corps swiftly moved to appropriate his services, and despite opposition from the tradition-bound brass, Miller built an AAF super-band.

General Jimmy Doolittle said of the AAF Miller band, “…next to a letter from home, that organization was the greatest morale builder in the European Theater of Operations.”

When Paris was liberated in 1944, Glenn wanted to entertain the troops on the continent with a Christmas show.  Preparations were underway for the grand broadcast, and Miller was anxious to arrive in Paris early to do some advance work, but the weather had all flights across the Channel grounded.  Then Lt. Col. Baessell offered to let Glenn fly over with him on the Norseman.  When the band arrived in Paris the next day, Glenn Miller’s plane had not arrived and he was nowhere to be found.  So the mystery began.

What happened that day almost sixty-five years ago?  No one can say definitively what did occur.  Books have been written about Glenn Miller’s disappearance.  Documentaries have been filmed in an attempt to explain.   Arguments have erupted between Miller aficionados who subscribe to differing theories as to how Miller met his fate.

Maj. Glenn Miller

But what matters most is not the solution to the mystery, so much as the need to recognize Glenn Miller as a national hero.   He loved his country, and volunteered for service, though he was not required to serve.  Miller left a successful civilian life and career to build the morale of our fighting men through the powerful medium of music.   In the end, he gave his all, just as surely as any other WWII soldier.

Now you know the significance of December 15, 1944.  Next time you hear that date mentioned, please pause and think of Maj. Glenn Miller, American hero.

In this job market, who hasn’t considered padding their resume? But resume padding can come back to haunt you as Elizabeth Lane (Barbara Stanwyk) discovers in the classic Christmas comedy of errors Christmas In Connecticut.

One moment Elizabeth Lane is at the top of her profession writing an enormously popular feature for the magazine Smart Housekeeping, the next she facing the prospect of unemployment all because her boss thinks she is a wonderful cook who has a husband, a farm, and a baby in Connecticut.  But Elizabeth Lane, America’s favorite homemaker, is really a single, New York career woman who can’t cook, doesn’t have a baby, and lives in a small apartment that doesn’t even have a window box. What she does have is a newly purchased mink coat, a true friend in her “Uncle” Felix (S.Z. Sakall), and a boring architect, would-be fiancé John Sloan (Reginald Gardiner) who keeps proposing despite her numerous rejections. But all that is about to change.

Who could have anticipated all the trouble and excitement that would enter Elizabeth’s orderly life when a nurse in a faraway naval hospital thinks that if her sailor hero fiancé could only spend Christmas with America’s favorite homemaker he will stop dragging his feet and set the date for their wedding? Unable to talk her overpowering boss, publishing giant Alexander Yardley (Sydney Greenstreet), out of sending her a sailor for Christmas, Elizabeth embarks on an elaborate, last-minute charade to protect her magazine editor and give this war hero his picture-perfect Christmas in Connecticut.

This charade, however, is not without cost. Elizabeth is finally persuaded to accept John Sloan and marry him on Christmas Eve at his farm in Connecticut. All that is needed to complete the illusion of domestic bliss is a borrowed baby, but when the handsome sailor, Jefferson Jones (Dennis Morgan), lands on Elizabeth’s Connecticut doorstep—suddenly the prospect of marrying the stable but dull John Sloan is the last thing on Elizabeth’s mind. How does a girl win the man of her dreams when he thinks she’s married to another man? To find out, I suggest you spend your Christmas in Connecticut.

Random Facts:

Christmas in Connecticut

· In 1944 when Christmas in Connecticut was filmed, Barbara Stanwyck was so successful that she was the highest-paid woman in the United States.

· Stanwyck was a four-time Academy Award nominee but she didn’t take home Oscar until 1982 when she was given an Honorary Award.

· Sydney Greenstreet, who plays the indomitable publisher Alexander Yardley in Christmas in Connecticut, also appears in the films Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon.

· Budapest-born actor S.Z. Sakall who plays Felix Bassenak in Christmas in Connecticut was also known as S.Z. “Cuddles” Sakall.

· Christmas in Connecticut was remade for television in 1991 starring Dyan Cannon, Kris Kristofferson, and Tony Curtis, it was directed by Arnold Schwarzenagger.

· The movie set used to depict John Sloan’s country home in Christmas in Connecticut is the same set that was used in the 1938 comedy Bringing up Baby.

Christmas in Connecticut Party Plan

My fellow Starlet and I love this movie and have been known to watch it at all times of the year, but there are all sorts of fun ways you can tie this movie into your holiday party or as a special dinner-and-movie event.

· Flippin’ flapjacks. The menus Elizabeth Lane writes in her magazine feature are elaborate and gourmet, but it is flipping a single flapjack that nearly gets her caught. Take a page out of the movie and invite your friends over for a pancake and pajamas party before you watch Christmas in Connecticut. As host, you can provide the pancake batter, have your friends pitch in and bring their favorite toppings like strawberries, peaches, and whipped cream, then get cozy and watch Elizabeth Lane work her magic in the kitchen.

· Old fashioned Christmas. Christmas in Connecticut was released by Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. in 1945 when World War II was just concluding. Get your viewing party into the spirit of the time with music from the 1940s like Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman. Research menus and recipes from that era—maybe even find out what one of Elizabeth Lane’s recipes would cost. Mix up some retro cocktails.

· “The things a girl will do for a mink coat!” Elizabeth Lane has promised herself a mink coat all her life and, feeling confident in the success of her feature, she buys herself one. Have your guests arrive for your viewing party wearing fur or faux fur coats just like Elizabeth Lane.

Pancake Recipe

Introduced to the market in 1931, by 1945 when Elizabeth Lane is flipping her first flapjack Bisquick was a staple in American homes. Uncle Felix, true gourmet that he is, might have turned his nose up at using a mix, but for novice and busy cooks Bisquick was a handy convenience food. In keeping with that spirit, here is the pancake recipe from Betty Crocker’s Bisquick Cookbook.

Ingredients

2 cups Original Bisquick

1 cup milk

2 eggs

1. Heat griddle or skillet; grease if necessary.
2. Stir all ingredients until blended. Pour batter by a little less than ¼ cupfuls onto hot griddle.
3. Cook until edges are dry. Turn; cook until golden brown.

5 servings (three 4-inch pancakes each)

 25 Swingin’ Hits by Glenn Miller

2009 (25 tracks, 1:15:50)

jazz

Music biographies mesmerized me when I was a kid. Whether it was Glenn Miller or Elvis Presley, it was always the same fascinating formula: talent and tenacity leading to the precipice of success, with the artist always searching for that one elusive element to define his signature sound, to breakthrough. With Miller it was the addition of trombones. The proceedings always put me on the edge of my seat and the breakthroughs set me reeling. I guess it was in my blood.

It persists. The other night I watched two great documentary-style biopics on TV, one on Johnny Cash, another on Willie Nelson. Willie, as many of his fans may not realize, was actually a Nashville songwriter penning such classics as “Crazy,” which Patsy Cline etched into the music lexicon. Despite his preeminent status as a writer, Willie couldn’t get arrested as an artist in Music City. His quirky phrasing was way too off-beat for the 60s sound, which was infused with sweet strings and pop arrangements.

At the age of 40, Willie returned home to Texas. Such a move would have meant a life sentence selling insurance had history not intervened. As fate would have it, Woodstock Nation had opened the doors to multiple music movements by the early 70s, and Willie realized that such hippie hangouts as Austin’s Armadillo World Headquarters were ready for a new kind of country artist. He enlisted his buddy Waylon Jennings, among others, and set about launching a novel sound to a new audience. His ultimate success turned country music, and the music establishment at large, on its head. Ultimately, he was responsible for redefining music, establishing its “outlaw” class and creating the Austin revolution as well as worldwide social activism that persists to this day.

Despite his huge outsider success, Nashville rejected this giant yet again. By the 1980s, you couldn’t find a Willie song on mainstream country radio, and forget about a major label deal.

Okay, let’s get right down to the hard part. Cash was just another music god to be tumbled unceremoniously from Olympus. By the 80s, he, too, was cast out like so much trash. His popularity was dwindling, and he was struggling to find an audience and make a living.

So these outlaw outcasts banded together, literally, forming the country supergroup The Highwaymen, along with Waylon and Kris Kristofferson. Talk about a Mount Rushmore of talent. They had taken fate into their own hands and, once again, set out to redefine the music scene, outside the establishment, all on their own.

A Bronx boy, I was still getting my country legs under me, when I hit Nashville in the late 80s. At the time, I couldn’t understand why the likes of Willie and Johnny weren’t getting mainstream air play, why I could eat lunch with Emmylou Harris but couldn’t hear her songs on country radio, why Nanci Griffith was considered a darling in all the clubs, to all the execs, but couldn’t get the chart toppers and eventually carped about it in interviews.

I was just getting introduced to the hard truth of the music industry: bitterness. Griffith was bitter, my friend Artie Traum (from back home in Woodstock) — one of the sweetest guys to ever grace the business — was expressing a degree of bitterness, too, in interviews of the day. I was just learning.

The songwriting trade in Nashville was rough. By year two, I was saying you had to learn to live on a diet of stones. Rejection was the blue-plate special everyday. It took me two years to get my first major song contract and more to get my first staff writing job and my first cut. Everyone who stuck with it had war stories: the song on hold that never happened, the artist cut that got dropped by the label or never got released as a single or didn’t make it above 20 on the charts. But, despite eventual successes and even industry support, I left after a decade to pursue a career as an artist, packing scars and wisdom, love and hate.

But back to Johnny Cash. One of the greatest artists to “walk the line,” he faced the pure pain of artistry more deeply, more movingly than anyone before him. Late in his career, with the help of producer Rick Rubin, Johnny faced his inner darkness, his demons, his truth, his soul. With such albums as “American Recordings” and “Unchained,” he found a vast and vital new audience, just years before his death. His new material was so raw that family members had a tough time listening. They told him it sounded like he was saying goodbye. He told them he was.

Pure Johnny Cash

In the Cash bio, artists such as Sheryl Crow, John Mellencamp and Vince Gill expressed the true painful tumble that all artists must face. Mellencamp himself recently penned a telling if rambling article on the biz in HuffPost, a blog post that established a wellspring of conversation in the social media sector.

So, this little Bronx boy, who reeled from the Glenn Miller story and cut and broke his teeth on Music Row, finally came to understand bitterness and the role it plays in any music career. No one is exempt. It may be (excuse me) a bitter pill to swallow, but I recommend downing it to develop a good artist-immune system. Another words, one has to learn to deal with it, embrace it, pain and all, and find a way to move on. Carry it on your back, in your suitcase, in your heart, on your skin — the rose tattoo of the music artist.



Rocksteady

The Jam-Tex selector offers a new chapter in the World of Reggae Music Collection entitled Rocksteady. The rocksteady collection contains over 100 of the best Jamaican songs from the Rocksteady Era (1966-1968). Rocksteady music represents the transition from the faster-paced ska music of the late 1950s and 1960s to the easy-grooving reggae music of the 1970s. The sounds of rocksteady are the soul of reggae. An excellent film that depicts this era is Stascha Bader’s Rockteady: The Roots of Reggae, which is narrated by Stranger Cole and provides an excellent historical account of late 1960s Jamaica rocksteady music scene.

As the precursor to reggae, many reggae and ska musicians participated in the Rocksteady Era including legendary Jamaican performers like Alton Ellis, Lee Scratch Perry, Bob Marley & the Wailers, Desmond Dekker, and Ken Boothe. Many well-known vocal groups including The Paragons, The Techniques, the Melodians, the Ethiopians, the Kingstonians, and the Maytals participated in the movement while bands like the Uniques and the Jets laid down the intoxicating rhythms. The great musicians of ska and reggae music played rocksteady tracks, including Tommy McCook, Ernest Ranglin, Jackie Mittoo, and Lynn Taitt.

Here are over 100 essential tracks of Rocksteady music…

1. Alton Ellis – Rock Steady
2. The Jamaicans – Ba Ba Boom
3. Hopeton Lewis – Take It Easy
4. Lee “Scratch” Perry – I Am The Upsetter
5. The Paragons – Wear You To The Ball
6. The Techniques – Queen Majesty (aka Minstrel and Queen)
7. Pat Kelly – How Long Will It Take
8. Slim Smith & the Uniques – People Get Ready, Do Rock Steady
9. The Melodians – Little Nut Tree
10. Derrick Harriot – Dancing the Reggae
11. Phyllis Dylon – A Thing Of The Past
12. The Paragons – Island in the Sun
13. Dawn Penn – Lonely Day Short Night
14. Errol Dunkley – I’m Going Home
15. Glen Miller – Rocksteady Party
16. Derrick Morgan– I Want To Go Home
17. Desmond Dekker – Beautiful And Dangerous
18. Ken Boothe – Can’t See You
19. Derrick Morgan – Hey Them
20. Roy Shirley – Hold Them
21. Desmond Dekker & the Aces – Bongo Gal
22. Delroy Wilson – Once Upon a Time
23. Derrick Harriot - Solomon
24. The Ethiopians – Reggae Hit the Town
25. Justin Hinds & the Dominoes – Carry Go Bring Come (Rocksteady Version)
26. Bob Marley & the Wailers – Hypocrites
27. The Kingstonians – Winey, Winey
28. The Melodians – I Will Get Along Without You
29. Phyllis Dillon – Don’t Touch Me Tomato
30. Honeyboy Martin – Dreader Than Dread
31. Joe White – Rudies All Around
32. Lynn Taitt & the Jets – To Sir With Love
33. The Tennors – Ride Your Donkey
34. Slim Smith – Let Me Go Girl
35. The Tartans - Dance All Night
36. The Paragons – On The Beach
37. The Uniques – My Conversation
38. Tommy McCook – The Shadow of Your Smile
39. Alton Ellis & the Flames – All My Tears
40. The Versatiles – Teardrops Falling
41. Derrick Morgan – Conquering Ruler
42. Errol Dunkley – You’re Gonna Need Me
43. Clancy Eccles – What Will Your Mama Say
44. The Melodians – Swing and Dine
45. Pat Kelly – Somebody’s Baby
46. The Gaylads – A.B.C. Rocksteady
47. The Ethiopians – Engine 54
48. Alton Ellis – Girl I’ve Got A Date
49. The Silvertones – Smile
50. The Techniques – You Don’t Care
51. Ike Bennet and the Crystalites – Illya Kuryakin
52. The Sensations – Right On Time – Original
53. Alton Ellis – Cry Tough
54. Desmond Dekker – Unity
55. Phyllis Dillon – Don’t Stay Away
56. Stranger Cole & Patsy – Down The Train Line
57. Justin Hinds – Save A Bread
58. The Three Tops – Do It Right
59. Derrick Harriot – Walk The Streets
60. Clancy Eccles – The Revenge
61. Alton Ellis – Loving Mood
62. The Gaylads – Over the Rainbows End
63. Errol Dunkley – King and Queen
64. The Techniques – Traveling Man
65. Desmond Dekker – It Mek
66. The Gaylettes – Silent River (Runs Deep)
67. Desmond Dekker – Intensified ’68 (aka Music Like Dirt)
68. Ken Boothe – Lady with the Starlight
69. Rudy Mills – Long Story
70. Stranger Cole – Just Like A River
71. Derrick Harriott – The Loser
72. Lester Sterling – Super Special
73. Johnny & the Attractions – Young Wings Can Fly
74. The Natives – Live It Up
75. The Versatiles – The Time Has Come
76. The Melodians – I Will Get Along Without You
77. Keith and Tex – Tonight
78. The Jamaicans – Things You Say You Love
79. The Gaylads – Hard to Confess
80. The Maytals – Just Tell Me
81. Larry Marshall – Please Stay
82. Beres Hammond – The Wanderer
83. The Tartans – Far Beyond the Sun
84. Alton Ellis – Feeling Inside
85. The Overtakers – Girl You Ruff
86. Lloyd Robinson – Death A Come
87. Dennis Brown – Things in Life
88. Lee “Scratch” Perry – People Funny Boy
89. Glen Adams – Hey There Lonely Girls
90. Phyllis Dillon – It’s Rocking Time (Rocksteady)
91. Dawn Penn – To Sir With Love
92. Errol Dunkley – Please Stop Your Lying
93. The Paragons – Only A Smile
94. The Melodians – You Have Caught Me
95. Owen Gray – Take Me Back
96. Sound Dimension – Mojo Rock Steady
97. Bob Marley & the Wailers – Rocking Steady
98. Eric “Monty” Morris – Cinderella
99. Bob Andy – Too Experienced
100. The Uniques – Gypsy Woman
101. The Sensations – Lonely Lover
102. Peter Tosh – Them Ha Fi Get A Beaten
103. Stranger Cole – Seeing Is Knowing
104. Big Youth – A So We Say
105. Nicky Thomas – God Bless the Children
106. The Dynamics – My Friends
107. The Mellotones – Fat Girl In Red
108. Keith Blake – Musically
109. Jimmy London & the Inspirations – Who You Gonna Run To
110. Alton Rock, Suga Roy, & Conrad Crystal – Rock Steady

Last night was a time of nostaglic moments.  I spent some time rummaging through youtube looking over some videos, then I happily keyed in “Sha Na Na”!  It was such a blast to watch some of those videos which I had seen when I was merely a few years old!  Then I came across one of my favourite songs, Venus by Frankie Avalon.  It is such a soothing song!

And I also searched for my “music first love” for swing music from the big band era.  And this is Sing, Sing, Sing by Benny Goodman & His Orchestra.  I first heard it in the movie, Swing Kids.  Catchy catchy tune, although I can’t swing for nuts myself.  But boy, do I love the music!!!

And here’s another one from the great Glenn Miller!  In the Mood!  Gotta love that tune!  Gotta love that beat!  Gotta love that music!!

1.  Don’t you just love music?!?  I love music!  Thank you God for creating music!!

2.  I, me and myself, the 3 of us, ran a meeting this morning for some senior management at my workplace.  I am just thankful that it went by smoothly without much of a hitch!

3.  This evening, my youngest daugther snuck up behind me and stretched out both her arms to me.  It was a simple gesture, but it meant plenty.  I just carried her and walked about the house for awhile, and it was pleasant

00036.0000 IDA, SWEET AS APPLE CIDER
Words and Music By: Eddie Leonard

Lyrics and Chords
Sheet Music Cover
Glenn Miller Performance

Ida, sweet as apple cider, sweeter than all I know;
Come out in the silvery moonlight,
Of love we’ll whisper, so soft and low.
Seems though -can’t live without you,
Listen, oh honey, do-
Ida, I idolize ya,
I love you, Ida honey, deed I do.

Actor William Schallert (Get Smart, The Patty Duke Show) joins Ed and Frankie to discuss his many roles in film and television, including his work with Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, John Sturges and Don Siegel:

http://media.podcastingmanager.com/9/3/5/3/3/142636-133539/Media/090709tvc29_2.mp3

Ed and Frankie welcome TV historian Andrew Lee Fielding, author of The Lucky Strike Papers, as they look back at the career of bandleader Kay Kyser. Then, during This Week in TV History, Tony Figueroa remembers Bob Newhart, Yvonne de Carlo, Jane Curtin, the game show Truth or Consequences and the inimitable Saturday morning series H.R. Pufnstuf:

http://media.podcastingmanager.com/9/3/5/3/3/142636-133539/Media/090709tvc29_1.mp3

September, 1944
Hollywood Gossip

SPT = St. Petersburg Times
TM = Time Magazine

Carrie Jacobs Bond, sugary sweet, old-time song writer (A Perfect Day, I Love You Truly) was treated to a Sand-birthday party by the ham-&-eggs eating Los Angeles Breakfast Club. White-haired, ailing Mrs. Bond brushed aside the protests of her nurse, made a speech, next day was back in bed. One of ASCAP’s top-ranking members (A Perfect Day alone has sold over 8,000,000 copies), she has grown rich on her royalties, still turned out songs until six months ago, when she became a semi-invalid. Her latest is called Because. Said she: “My songs have brought me everything I could want.”  –TM: 09-11-1944

"Charlie McCarthy Profile" - Click image to see all available merchandise with this design!

Ever since Edgar Bergen appeared on Rudy Vallee’s show, Rudy has been interested in ventriloquism.  Bergen taught him some of his tricks, and Vallee, through persistent practice, has perfected his technique.  He has three dummies in his family—Sally Ann, a girl talking doll; Linoleum, a negro character, and Ezra Snerd, Mortimer’s brother.  –SPT: 09-17-1944

Garry Moore, Jimmy Durante’s laugh partner, is being considered for some of Harold Lloyd’s greatest film comedies, soon to be readapted for filming.  –SPT: 09-17-1944

Gene Krupa and divorced wife Ethel are set to tie the knot again.  The event will take place sometime in November when Krupa retruns to Los Angeles to make a film for MGM.  Incidentally, Harry James, Tommy Dorsey and Xavier Cugat are in Hollywood making pictures.  –SPT: 09-17-1944

Georges (“Georgeous Georges”) Carpentier, dapper light-heavyweight boxing hero of the ’20s and a French air-force veteran of World Wars I & II, was met in Paris by sight-seeing U.S. soldiers who questioned him in schoolboy French, mobbed him when he wisecracked in English: “Why the hell don’t you speak your own language? Don’t you recognize me?” Carpentier said that his Paris nightclub had been taken over by the Nazis, declared that he had cooperated with the enemy only once, and then under pressure, when he refereed a fight in Berlin. His only question: where was his one-time conqueror, Jack Dempsey —”a grand guy.”  –TM: 09-11-1944

Gertrude Stein was discovered by CBS War-caster Eric Sevareid at a chateau in the mountains of southeast France. Over the radio she expressed her feelings: “What a day is today, that is, what a day it was day before yesterday. What a day!” Sevareid reported that the 70-year-old, iron-haired, literary experimentalist was fit but thinner, because she walked seven-and-a-half miles a day for food, chopped wood all winter. She has finished a new book, All Wars I Remember, which Sevareid said “appears to be about the human race always destroying its century. Hitler, it explains, is essentially a 19th-Century creature.” Gertrude Stein told him: “This war is far more logical than the last war, and much more interesting.” She wanted to go to Paris, but had no thought of returning to the U.S.  Said she: “I was never happier than during the last four years, because I came so close to the French people.”  –TM: 09-11-1944

Glenn Miller, who is overseas with an AAF outfit, was recently promoted to major.  Glenn and his swingsters are making music at American Army camps in England.  –SPT: 09-17-1944

Screen Actress Lola Lane won a divorce yesterday from Henry Clay Dunham, aircraft executive, but her suit took a different course than most Hollywood divorce settlements. . . . . Miss Lane declared that she wanted neither alimony nor property from Dunham after testifying that her husband started “showing quite a lot of indifference” toward her a year ago, than began staying out late at night until they finally separated last Feb. 15.  –SPT: 09-16-1944

Paulette Goddard, who likes to wear her own jewelry in pictures, dazzled her co-workers recently when she appeared on the set wearing a diamond necklace valued at $175,000.  –SPT: 09-17-1944

Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, bald, bespectacled British humorist (Thank You, Jeeves; Quick Service, etc.) captured in France by the Nazis in 1940, was found alive & well in Paris’ Hotel Bristol, eager to return to London to dispel the rumors that he had been a Nazi sympathizer.* He called his five broadcasts on the German radio in 1941 “a terrible mistake,” explained that he intended them “in the spirit of the British soldier who spoke on the radio to get messages back home.” Wodehouse said he was released from prison camp “mainly because I had reached the age of 60,” then arranged for the talks describing life in the camps. “I suppose it sounds idiotic,” he declared, “but it never occurred to me that it would be held against me. . . . I guess all authors must be half-witted.”  –TM: 09-11-1944

Actresses sometimes have an awful time with movie fog.  Rita Hayworth can’t stand the smelly stuff, so she dumps in a bottle of her favorite perfume. . . . . And whenever Vivian Blaine works in fog scenes when she has a cold, she puts in tincture of benzoin and eucalyptus, which not only smells good but has a medicinal value, too.  –SPT: 09-17-1944

Shirley Temple, 16, in Manhattan on a bond-selling tour, revived memories of her youth on her first trip to the city in six years. Said she: “New York looked different then. I think the buildings looked taller, but maybe it’s because I was shorter.” She teamed up with her old-time dancing partner Bill (“Bojangles”) Robinson to do a shim-sham-shimmy before 50,000 in Central Park. Exclaimed modest Miss Temple: “I haven’t done this since I was seven, so excuse me if I’m not so hot.” Said Robinson: “Honey, you haven’t done this since you were four. So it’s going to be sensational.”  –TM: 09-11-1944

Tallulah Bankhead, coming back to the screen in “Czarina,” is defying the old stage superstition against the color green in selecting her film wardrobe.  Eight of her 20 costumes will be in Erin’s favorite hue. . . . . But Rene Hubert, the designer, is taking no chances.  He had the wardrobe workers embroider four-leaf clovers inside all the garments.  –SPT: 09-17-1944

Died:  Mrs. Julia Columbo, 78, mother of the late famed Bing Crosby-style crooner, Russ Columbo; in Los Angeles. When Russ Columbo was killed in 1934 by the accidental discharge of an antique dueling pistol, his mother was too ill with heart trouble to be told of his death, soon after began losing her eyesight. For ten years the family kept Russ’s death secret from her, explained he was having great success in England, read her affectionate weekly letters signed “Russ,” inclosing the monthly $398 insurance annuity he had taken out in her favor.  –TM: 09-11-1944

* In London, British authorities said no legal charges would be pressed against Wodehouse, announced that facilities for repatriation were based on “physical conditions,” with no priority allowed Wodehouse.

And another tune from Down The Hall on Saturday Night – the great Glenn Miller band with I’ve Got A Gal In Kalamazoo

How Big Band Jazz Music Became Popular

Author: Akhila Choudhary

Big Band Jazz Music became popular around 1930s, also called as swing era, when it was played in the music concerts held at hot spots, such as New York and Chicago. Radio stations throughout the world begun to play this music thereby becoming the top choice of youngsters and adults who craved for intermediate jazz tools so as to learn and practice jazz piano.

Historical facts suggest that jazz grew popular when the touring musicians started singing songs based on themes of big band jazz music among the natives of America especially on the streets of New Orleans from where the touring musicians started their jazz tour in America. The modern style, steady rhythm and bluesy feel of jazz music got shape in New York and Chicago. Gradually jazz became so popular that the era of 1920s is still called as “jazz age” when people attended coaching so as to know how to play and practice jazz piano. By 1930, jazz emerged as the strongest and most popular mainstream music, and standard jazz songs got composed by the popular jazz musicians of that era.

One of the most common reasons for popularity of Big Band Jazz Music is that the musicians play all intermediate jazz tools in it thereby giving audience more time to dance. Another reason which led to the popularity of jazz is that the Lindy Hop dance introduced in 1930s by Charleston promoted solo dance thereby allowing jazz musicians to play for a long time.

Gradually Big Band Jazz Music became the popular choice of almost all the premier dance clubs throughout the America. The syncopated rhythms and blue notes of jazz emerged through usual waltzes and foxtrots.

Radio was one of the most popular sources by which Big Band Jazz Music became extremely popular. The era of 1930s and 1940s witnessed sky high popularity and huge demand of Big Band Jazz Music. Some of the common Big Band legends of that era include Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Count Basie.

Till date, the Big Band jazz music is considered as a favorite of many youngsters and that is why modern bands like Squirrel Nut Zippers and The Brian Setzer Orchestra performs new and standard songs from Big Band Jazz Music. Youngsters who are passionate about jazz music opt for intermediate jazz tools so as to practice jazz piano.

About the Author:

Myself webmaster of http://www.studiobypass.com – find tools for learning jazz music, intermediate jazz tools, Big Band jazz music, jazz midi files etc play about jazz music.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – How Big Band Jazz Music Became Popular

Character actor William Schallert, a familiar face (and voice) for anyone who’s grown up watching television, will be our special guest on the next edition of TV CONFIDENTIAL, premiering Monday, Sept. 7 at 10pm ET, 7pm PT on Shokus Internet Radio, with a rebroadcast Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 11pm ET, 8pm PT on Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org.

Though often remembered for his regular roles as Patty Duke’s dad, Dobie Gillis’ teacher or the Admiral on Get Smart, William Schallert has played a wide variety of characters on stage, screen and television, in comedies and in dramas, for more than 60 years, including recent appearances in such top shows as True Blood, According to Jim, How I Met Your Mother, Desperate Housewives and the HBO movie Recount. Along the way he has worked with some of the top names in the entertainment industry. We’ll be talking about that and more when Bill joins us in our second hour.

In our first hour, Andrew Lee Fielding will join us as we look back at the career of bandleader Kay Kyser. Andrew’s book, The Lucky Strike Papers, is a history of such early network TV variety programs as Your Hit Parade, The Freddy Martin Show and Kay Kyser’s College of Musical Knowledge; his mother, Sue Bennett, was a featured singer on the Kyser show, as well as other musical variety shows of that era.

Ed Robertson
Co-Host, TV CONFIDENTIAL
Mon-Sun 10pm ET, 7pm PT
Shokus Internet Radio
Every other Tuesday at 11pm ET, 8pm PT
Share-a-Vision Radio, KSAV.org
www.tvconfidential.net
blog.tvconfidential.net
Also available as a podcast via iTunes and FeedBurner

Never forgotten, music to smooch to

The great Glenn Miller Band