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Nelson Riddle and the Kid........

Nick Lewin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:43:25 +0000

During all my years performing magic, only once did I think about giving it up and doing something different. It happened back in the ‘70’s in California when I got to work with a musical hero of mine. A call from the Magic Castle put me in touch with a producer from Pacific Palisades. Getting a referral call from the Castle was like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, you never knew what you were getting! The only thing you did know was that Jean had quoted a fee. Jean Cantor was the dynamo at the center of the Castle who kept things hopping. She always quoted a two hundred dollar fee. It didn’t matter whether it was for performing a full illusion show for a thousand people in a ballroom or doing card tricks in a restaurant! The fee was always the same two hundred dollars.

Billionaire Ross Perot was throwing a huge banquet for returned prisoners of war from the war in Vietnam. Hosted by Ronald Reagan, the evening featured an after-dinner show starring Carol Burnett, Edgar Bergen, Sammy Davis Jr. and Tony Bennet. The musical director was Nelson Riddle with his forty-two-piece orchestra. Someone had decided an unknown English magician would be the perfect item to complete this extravaganza. Maybe it was the $200 fee! The most intimidating part for me was doing a band rehearsal with the great Nelson Riddle. I was a huge fan of Mr. Riddle’s awesome orchestral arrangements. For me, Irish singer Van Morrison expressed it best when he sang, “When Frank Sinatra sings, against Nelson riddle strings and then takes a vacation.” There is just something in the Morrison sings it that says it all.

On the afternoon of the show when the time came for my band call I walked onstage trying to look like this was an everyday occurrence. Mr. Riddle was seated on a piano stool in front of what seemed like an endless orchestra. In my hand were my band parts. I had always been very proud of the jazzy arrangement of “Rule Britannia” that had been written for my by the bandleader from a cruise ship. There were band parts for twelve instruments some of which I had never even heard. Looking at the gigantic orchestra they suddenly seemed very inadequate.

“Mr. Riddle….” I began.

“Call me Nelson.” He replied. I appreciated his gesture but in honesty it had taken all my nerve just to call him Mr. Riddle. Nelson looked at my meager stack of music, smiled and said: “Nick, unless it is very important to you, if it’s just intro and bows music maybe you can leave it to me.” He said with a friendly grin. “I am sure I can come up with something for the band.” I agreed gladly and that was the end of my band call.

That night prior to showtime while standing in the wings I wondered for the first time about what my intro music. This was the summer of “Star Wars” in Los Angeles the movie was everywhere; the characters, actors, images and particularly that wonderful soundtrack by John Williams. That is what I heard following my introduction. Nelson Riddle and his entire ensemble broke into the fanfare from Star Wars. “DA DA DADA DA DAAAAH DA….” Every single one of those forty-two musicians playing their hearts out, strings were soaring, timpani booming, horns blaring and best of all there was ‘Nelson’ on the keyboard keeping it all together. For a moment it ran through my mind that I should just not bother walking out onstage, quit right there on top of the mountain. Then I took a deep breath and walked out on to the stage.

Music, a Gift

pawsinsd — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:01:48 +0000

My parents told me that when I cried as an infant, they played Jackie Gleason’s “Music, Martinis and Memories” to get me to sleep, and if that didn’t work they drove me around the block once and I was a goner. I’d like to say that my cooking memories are analogous with my musical ones, but they’re not. I may hit the high notes with some of my dishes, but at my age my vocal range is more limited.

I remember following the bouncing ball and singing along with Mitch, but Sinatra, not Elvis, was my forever love. If Tommy Dorsey taught me breathing and Nelson Riddle did my arrangements, I’d be up there on stage at the Grammy’s! We listened mostly to classical music, and I took up violin and piano early on.

Of course in high school I listened to the Beach Boys in the cafeteria, but at home I listened to the Beatles, Bad Company, Dave Mason and Jimmy Buffet before he became a pirate. Many others, never enough. I never had Pirate Radio, which we saw this past weekend. It was a blast from the past, a past I never lived because I was only seven when Radio Caroline was broadcasting. My family was more concerned with watching Walter Cronkite and keeping the student masses at bay by not allowing them to know the head of the institution was a member of the Manhattan Project.

My tastes still trend towards folk because I love a good story. Yesterday my husband showed me how to use the new iTunes app that allows home sharing. It’s great because it gives me access to my CD’s that are in storage! I love James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Pete Seger, Arlo and Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez, the former Cat Stevens, the Eagles, Burl Ives (in his underwear), Carlos Montoya, Henry Mancini, Tony Bennett and his alter-ego Antonio Benedetto, Diana Krall, The Chieftains, the Clancy Brothers, Juni Fisher, Enya, Marty Robbins and many other artists. Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, Dan Fogelberg, and my friends Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Offenbach, and the great Celtic poets.

When I was home-sharing, I realized that I did it not for what I wanted to hear, but what I wanted to play on piano or guitar. Korky and Douglas, my music teachers, should appreciate that sentiment. That said, I hope you’re not shopping for tons of gifts as you know that your presence is a gift anywhere, and homemade food gifts show that you really love the recipient. Musically yours, jingle those bells, Zoe…. Dee