FRANCIS ALBERT
Today marks Frank Sinatra's 100th Birthday. I mentioned The Chairman of the Board earlier this year in a post about Billie Holiday's centennial; she was a vocalist Frank idolized, one who hit it big shortly before Sinatra did. Frank's impact on modern culture is incalculable. I'm not going to try to provide a biography. His life was too rich to capture in a blog entry, no matter how long and detailed. I would like to touch on a few ways Frank has had an impact
"MRS. PEEL, WE'RE NEEDED."
There Will Always Be An England: Patrick Macnee died this past summer, but thanks to my DVD collection, he will never fail to live on as the embodiment of the perfect British gentleman, bowler and brolly in tow. I cannot overstate the impact the show had on me when The Avengers, a whimsical, tongue-in-cheek, sophisticated mystery/thriller television series, finally made its way to American television in 1965. The show had been running in Britain since '61, with Macnee, as
THE POWER OF WORDS
I've had the good fortune to have met many wonderful poets through the years, including John Hollander, Stanley Kunitz, Sharon Olds, Howard Nemerov, Mark Doty, Robert Pinsky, Paul Auster, Richard Wilbur, and many others, but I will always have a special place in my memory for Galway Kinnell, a bigger-than-life wordsmith with a wonderful voice and a charismatic presence. Galway died of Leukemia ten days ago-at the age of 87. He had a good run. Upon meeting him, you would ha
LADY DAY
I have long been an aficionado of Jazz/R&B vocalists, particularly those of the female persuasion. From Dinah Washington to Bessie Smith to Nina Simone to Betty Carter to Amy Winehouse to Janelle Monae and Jill Scott. Aretha was a titanic presence in many fields of popular music. I even had the good fortune to see some of the greats live in concert in arenas, or even better in jazz clubs or supper clubs, including Miss Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Etta James, Shirley Horn,
SIDE BY SIDE
It took me a long time to come around to Stephen Sondheim, I admit. Oh, I recognized his importance to the American Musical Theatre--he is unquestionably a giant. Of that there can be no doubt. But his musical compositions often only had a tenuous relationship to melody (and that was of paramount importance to me) and his lyrics were sometimes too cute by half. Most of my theatre-going life has been dedicated to drama anyway, as anyone scanning the walls of my classroom can
THE COLORS OF SPACE
Been reflecting more than usual and I thought I'd pay tribute to an artist about whom nothing is written these days. Yet he was as influential as John Glenn at inspiring both young and old to embrace the incipient space program with passionate intensity. Chesley Knight Bonestell (Okay, okay...pretty unusual name! I think the only other Chesley I know about was heroic pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger!) was a painter who specialized in landscapes of distant planets and visio
1963
At my age it's easier to look back and identify key moments in my life. Emotion often obscures objectivity, but after half a century one can pinpoint this or that moment as integral to one's development. For me, 1963 was one of those transformative years. On July 29th, my father surprised my brother Stephen and me by taking us to a ballgame, the one and only time he would do so, I'm sure at the behest of my mother. We entered Yankee Stadium, the original stadium, and when we
CHRISTMAS JAZZ Part IV
Yup. It's that time of the year again. Thought I'd focus on one song today--the soulful R&B favorite "Merry Christmas Baby", which has become a holiday staple. The song, penned by Lou Baxter and Johnny Moore, hit # 3 on the Billboard charts in 1947 with a recording by Johnny Moore's Three Blazers and the great Charles Brown on vocals. It has been covered by myriad song stylists, including everyone from Booker T to Bruce. Below are a few of the more interesting renditions.
READING LIST
I was involved in a discussion recently, probably in response to various Ray Bradbury tributes (see earlier entry), about those books that have proven most influential in my life. I'm big on lists, so I thought I would give it a go and reflect a little on those titles that helped inform me or define me as I grew up. Time to get personal. Let's try things roughly chronologically: 1. The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss This was early Seuss, writte
GILT-EDGED BONDS
There are many different methods for evaluating the James Bond franchise. Today it is likely that most people who have seen as many as two dozen James Bond films have not read a single Bond book or Bond story by the man who created the character or by those who have tried to maintain that legacy. So whether their first James Bond was Sean Connery or George Lazenby, or Roger Moore, or Timothy Dalton, or Pierce Brosnan, or Daniel Craig, it is more likely that their notion of th
