Ted O'Reilly

It's just "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane", BTW. No 'Sweet'.

Given that someone once told me I deflated the value of many of my LPs by putting my name on them (they often co-habited with a radio library), wouldn't collectors find such Carfagna/Wojick actions devalue those discs?

...and in Canada, the banks. (But now that I think of it, our banks are in better shape than they are in most countries).

I've heard that Irving Fazola took that name from solfeggio, particularly "fa-so-la". I wonder if he was after the do-re-mi? Kenny Davern once told me he had a chance to play Fazola's clarinet, and that when the horn warmed up, it stank of garlic...

...and yet, "Duke" is at the top of the D page, not the E. Didn't miss too many of those gigs. (More accurately, the C/D, not the E/F).

Geez, 75 responses, and not a single vote for "Some Like It Hot", which is usually at the top of Best Comedy lists... It's the "Kind Of Blue" of the film world!

This is the first thing that came to my mind, as well. Play that anywhere in the world to any audience and you'll have them laughing. Most of the bits came from Stan Laurel's fecund mind. Brilliant!

How about "volunteered taxation"?

Okay, will need a mailing address. Do you wish to send it to me by my email? (I see you're "all set for this trimester", but you WILL accept a headstart on the next, won't you?)

A cheque from Canada would be a bit of a problem, I think. Maybe a money order, OR find someone with Paypal, give them the (modest amount) money and have them 'forward' it. Yeah, that's the ticket!

The only link I can give you is the Paypal homepage. www.paypal.com Go there, click on "Send Money" and follow the instructions. You'll need the email address I use for Paypal payments, which is b3groover@hotmail.com. You do not need to be a member of Paypal to send the money. You can simply use a credit card. If all that is German to you, than don't worry about it. But the problem is, you can't just send money using a credit card -- you end up creating a Paypal account, and I don't want one. (I just tried to do it.) I had some problems with one years ago, and don't wish to start up again.

Perhaps amongst certain classes (or those aspiring to those classes). But the bulk of the population has always listened mainly to either contemporary popular music or the popular music of their youth that is soaked in memory (Dennis Potter knew that!). My dad used to constantly flaunt his preference for 'the classics' - he was actually clueless, but did have a very genuine love of opera arias and big tunes from classical music. The desire to be seen as an appreciator of 'the classics' was part of his need to be seen as someone who had made something of himself, no longer a farm hand but someone with a house, some of the good things of life and the ability to provide comfort for his family. He was very much of the opinion that I would grow out of Led Zeppelin and go on to listen to 'proper' music. He was right in one sense in that my musical interests widened considerably; he was wrong because I still love Led Zeppelin! I think that is a common experience of many of my generation - we ditched the idea that one type of music was 'better' than another (even if it might vary enormously in complexity, innovation, insight, technical command etc). There may be a "Tale Of Two Countries" element here, with our 'no-class' Canadian culture a part of it, as opposed to the UK's... I never felt that 'music choice equals status' thing. And Also, perhaps I'm that much older than you, in that Led Zep (pretty much all pop stuff post-'63ish) means little to me, since my tastes had been guided before that, and my music-time was spent keeping up with, and learning more about jazz. You remark "that is a common experience of many of my generation", but I don't think MY genereation had that kind of common experience. The difference may be the kind of radio (the primary source of music entertainment available to me) was wide ranging in the 1940s and '50s when I was being 'formed'. Since there was only one radio in the house, the listening was shared around a 3-generation family, and you heard everything. Lux Radio Theatre for dramas, live hockey broadcasts, soap operas, comedy shows, etc. Pre-Top 40 radio you would hear a variety of music -- everything from big band remotes to the NBC Symphony to the Hartz Mountain Canaries singing, to Sunday church broadcasts from black parishes (exciting to one used to Catholic Gegorian chants services in latin), to well, you name it. And the pop music of the time was quite pallid -- "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window", "If I Knew You Were Coming I'd Have Baked A Cake", "I'm My Own Grandpa" and Mitch Miller's idea of good stuff -- so it wasn't much to dispose of it in favour of (for lack of a better term) Adult Music. One sort of music wasn't dominant in/on the air, as it is today, so there were more chances to hear something different. Dialing across a radio in today's Toronto finds 95% varieties of 'rock', classics or current. I will admit that some of my youth-music sticks with a smile: I heard "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" in a shop the other day, and was surprised that I remembered all the lyrics.

Sonny Tufts?!? (Sorry, too old a reference...)

Yes... I thought he was looking for "distillation", so to speak. Purifying, perhaps, or deepening. (edit for spelling)

And a very tidy lawn it is Mr. O'Reilly. That's not what my neighbours say. (But that's cool with me).

Dave Frishberg dealt with this... But it appears no-one listened! Those who see are often not heard. Being seen and heard whilst appearing not to care seems to be what cool aims at. Is using "whilst" cool? It was in the latter half of 1883. The serious point of the article is the problem getting folk music a place in the sun has (one shared by other less commercial musics like jazz). Sometimes it stumbles close to the awareness of the mainstream; but invariably the mood passes. So those who feel it should be part of that mainstream start worrying about making it 'cool' so it can get a permanent place there. The trouble is that usually compromises what makes it unique. Glasper territory! All part of that 'How do we reach the young folks' angst - you've got to make it 'cool'. All understood, and agreed. But didn't Armstrong once say something like "All music is folk music...I never heard no horse play music"...or such. I think there used to be a universal understanding that there was Music, and there was Pop -- the Kid's music. It was okay for Kids, and meant to be fleeting. But it was also understood that Kids would grow up and grasp Music. Since about the time of The Beatles, the Kids grew up but kept THEIR music, never accepting Music. And get off my lawn.

Ah, I get it: "It Don't Mean A Thing..." Cool. Duke Ellington had a wonderful explanation of where "I'm hip" came from, involving sewer workers and hipwaders. Ed Norton would understand...

But...is it hip to be cool, or just hep? I'm so confused! (THAT we all understand, right?)

Dave Frishberg dealt with this... But it appears no-one listened! Those who see are often not heard. Being seen and heard whilst appearing not to care seems to be what cool aims at. Is using "whilst" cool?

Dave Frishberg dealt with this... But it appears no-one listened! Those who see are often not heard.

I think Kenny Davern was playing better-than-ever at the end of his life.

Dave Frishberg dealt with this...

Dallwitz, of course! My late night posting passed right over him, and shouldn't have. A great composer and pianist, essential in creating significant and distinctive music. He 'caught' Australia and expressed it using the same tools as any other composer, but it came out completely individual. "Ern Malley Suite", the "Melbourne Suite", dozens of truly original compositions, stylistically ranging from ragtime to dixieland to mainstream (if you want to try to label An Original). I am surprised to learn that he was an artist, and did a search to learn of his great talent in that direction. Indeed, I guess that painting and teaching took over his life for 20 + years. I never knew why there was a gap in his music from the early '50s to the early '70s, but that would explain it. Like Graeme Bell, Dallwitz had a long life -- he made it to 89 years. I wish some Canadian composer did as well as Dallwitz in picturing his own country in jazz -- probably our best is composer/clarinetist Phil Nimmons, especially in his wonderful "Atlantic Suite". Phil's going strong, too -- he just passed his 89th birthday, and has concerts scheduled through the summer. He and a brilliant younger pianist David Braid (mid-30s) go onstage with no music, no pre-discussion, and just start improvising. Mostly brilliant, never banal...

Larry, you're right about the Ausralian jazz scene of the Bell brothers, the Barnards, Ade Monsborough and others -- quite a distinctive take on jazz, with its' own accent. I had the great pleasure of meeting Bell, and recording him with the Climax Jazz Band here in Toronto in 1975. He was a very good pianist, and a very good interview -- a charming man, full of anecdotes. A nice couple of days in his company. I recall that I had a full beard on one day of his visit, and was clean-shaven on the next. He didn't recognize me, and said something like "It's an instant disguise!". I was in Sydney in 2008, and Bob Barnard put me on the phone with Graeme. He said, "Oh, yes -- Toronto! Did you ever grow your beard again?" That was 33 years later, and he was 94, and obviously still sharp as a tack.

Just to add another flavour here, I love Woods' clarinet work. His playing on that old Colpix Al-Cohn-led "Goodman guys back from Russia" album is GRRRREAT!