Technically, from last night:
Trying to think of how my life would be different if all the songs written by the Beatles were forgotten and not really thinking of any major differences.
— Fr. Brendon Laroche (@padrebrendon) February 14, 2019
Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
Tweet of the day.
Thursday, February 14th, 2019Obit watch: February 11, 2019.
Monday, February 11th, 2019Great and good friend of the blog Borepatch, who has probably forgotten more about popular music than I know, sent over a couple of obits that I missed.
Bonnie Guitar passed away in January at the age of 95.
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And Sanger D. “Whitey” Shafer also died in January. He was perhaps most famous for writing “All My Ex’s Live in Texas” and “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind”.
Tribute from “Austin City Limits”. Obit from Saving Country Music. Obit from WFAA.
Obit watch: February 5, 2019.
Tuesday, February 5th, 2019This one goes out to Borepatch and Weer’d Beard: Jacqueline Steiner, who co-wrote “M.T.A.”. That song (also known as “Charlie on the M.T.A.”) later became a huge hit for the Kingston Trio:
Thing I did not know: it was originally written for a guy running for mayor in 1949. He only got one percent of the vote, and was later blacklisted as a Communist.
Also among the dead: Albert J. “Chainsaw Al” Dunlap, notorious corporate raider.
Obit watch: February 2, 2019.
Saturday, February 2nd, 2019This one goes out to Mike the Musicologist: Sanford Sylvan, noted baritone. He did a lot of work with John Adams: among other roles, he was the first Chou En-lai in “Nixon in China” and Leon Klinghoffer in “The Death of Klinghoffer”.
Finally, Captain Rosemary Mariner, United States Navy (ret.). She was one of the first six women to go through naval flight training, the first to fly an attack jet, and the first woman to command a naval aviation squadron. She also had a leading role in removing the restrictions on women flying combat missions.
When she retired from the Navy in 1997, Captain Mariner “had become one of the nation’s leading advocates for equal opportunity in the military,” Deborah G. Douglas wrote in “American Women and Flight since 1940” (2005).
Captain Mariner logged 17 landings on aircraft carriers and more than 3,500 flight hours in 15 different aircraft.
Obit watch: January 24, 2019.
Thursday, January 24th, 2019Mary Boyd Higgins, trustee of the Wilhelm Reich estate and legacy.
When she was appointed trustee, in March 1959, Ms. Higgins had her work cut out for her.
She quickly discovered that most of Dr. Reich’s personal papers, which he had wanted sealed for 50 years before anyone could see them, had been stolen; she had to start litigation to retrieve them. He wanted his Maine property turned into a museum; she would need to become an expert in museum design. She also studied copyright law in seeking to have his books republished.
I wasn’t originally going to post this, but then it occurred to me that this obit gives me a flimsy excuse to embed this video:
Obit watch: January 16, 2019.
Wednesday, January 16th, 2019I wanted to give the Carol Channing obit a chance to shake out before posting it. I’m kind of glad I did: now they’re leading off the obit with the Hirschfeld drawing, which fills me with delight down to the bottom of my coal black heart.
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As Lawrence pointed out to me yesterday, she was also in “Skidoo“. (Honest to Ghu, I thought that had been released on Criterion, but apparently not.)
This one goes out to my friend Todd: Alan R. Pearlman, synthesizer pioneer and founder of ARP Instruments.
ARP’s analog synthesizers — particularly the compact, portable ARP Odyssey, introduced in 1972 — grew ubiquitous in pop and electronic music. By the mid-1970s, ARP was the leading synthesizer manufacturer, commanding 40 percent of the market and outselling its predecessors and competitors, Moog and Buchla.
ARP sounds were central to numerous songs, including Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein,” Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon,” Kraftwerk’s “The Robots,” Underworld’s “Rez,” Nine Inch Nails’ “The Hand That Feeds” and the early-1980s version of the theme to the television series “Doctor Who.”
The five-note signature motif of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” was played on an ARP 2500 synthesizer, which is seen in the film. An ARP 2600, mixed with natural sounds, provided the voice of R2-D2 in the first “Star Wars” movie.
Obit watch: January 3, 2019.
Thursday, January 3rd, 2019For the historical records:
Daryl Dragon, the “Captain” in “Captain and Tennille”.
Bob “Super Dave Osborne” Einstein.
Gene Okerlund, wrestling guy.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
Tuesday, December 25th, 2018Yeah, it doesn’t have vocals, but I find the combination of drums and organ striking. Let’s go old school.
And because that was short, here’s another one. The tempo is a little slower than I’d like, but there’s something about Alyth McCormack’s voice that gets me.
Bagatelle (#9)
Thursday, December 20th, 2018Throwaway post instead of content. My five favorite Christmas songs:
Obit watch: December 15, 2018.
Saturday, December 15th, 2018Nancy Wilson, noted chanteuse.
Sondra Locke, Academy Award nominated actress and Clint Eastwood’s lover for a period of time (followed by an extended court battle). Apparently, she passed away in early November but it was not widely reported until this week.
Other people I know seem to have a strong negative reaction to her, but I thought she was fine in “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (which we watched recently) and “Sudden Impact” (which I need to rewatch). I also remember her being…okay…in “The Gauntlet” for what that was: a fun B-movie action thriller.
Obit watch: November 16, 2018.
Friday, November 16th, 2018Roy Clark. NYT. Nashville Tennessean.
William Goldman, noted writer. I loved Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade and I keep looking for more of Goldman’s books.
Also, I should look for a copy of “The Ghost & the Darkness” while I’m out and about this weekend.
Travel day.
Wednesday, November 7th, 2018Going to be on the road for a few days. Blogging will be catch as catch can, though I do intend to get some stuff up.
In the meantime, please enjoy this coded musical interlude. I think I’ve posted these before, but what the heck: they’re still great songs.