Christiern

I knew there was something wrong when I kept forgetting that I am an anti-Semite.

The answer is YES, I'm going senile. I found that out today when a box containing five copies of Miles On Miles arrived by mail, along with a "thank you" for granting permission. Is my face red? You betcha, as they say in the Alaska trailer parks.

I just recalled that I actually did hear Dionne sing well in person. It was many years ago at a Eugene McCarthy rally in Madison Square Garden. She sang "If" and it was excellent.

I enjoyed the interview (and clip).

When I was very active as a writer/reviewer, Peter Levinson was one of my favorite publicists (the only time I thought he steered me wrong was when he sent me a cassette of a newcomer, Kurt Elling and was convinced I'd love it). He eventually gave u his PR business and concentrated on writing autobiographies (biographies of Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Nelson Riddle) that always were thoroughly researched and full of new information. He completed an Astaire biography that is, I believe, scheduled for publication in the spring. Peter passed away on Tuesday and he will be sorely missed by those of us who are old enough to have been on his PR list.

Never pass up a photo-op, no matter how silly it is. Found this one in the August 25, 1973 issue of Cashbox. Whatever became of Joe Keyes?

Carter Family, they don't come much better.

The Bacharach formula and her recordings with him are pleasing to the ear, but I have never heard Dionne Warwick in person when she wasn't horrendous. I don't think some recording engineers get half the praise they deserve.

Just a little side note... In 1959, when the first Bethlehem release reached us at WHAT, we gave it a lot of airplay and the phones lit up each time. The unusually high response to Nina made us call Bethlehem to give them the good news. "It's just a local rumble," said the Bethlehem rep (Nina was based in Philly). Of course, they soon heard rumbles from other parts of the country.

Thank you, Valerie. I guess escalated rate of such loss is a sign of one's own advancing age and a grim reminder of fragile mortality.

This is really a passing that hits me hard. I have known Mark since the 1970s, when he was a producer for Southern Television and hired me to write a biographical mini series on Alberta Hunter. He was an absolutely wonderful person who kept in touch with cheerful notes whenever he learned of something I was doing. I stayed at his house when in London and he was the perfect host. Once he threw a celebrity-studded birthday dinner for me in a London restaurant, carefully selecting guests whose minds would make it a memorable evening for me. I was totally unaware of his cancer situation, so this has really come as a shock. Mark's communications will be missed. You may not have heard of Mark Shivas, but you might be familiar with some of his work. Here's his Wikipedia bio.

Cute

Well, then don't let me be the first. I apologize and retract.

That post was not for you, Valerie, but I'll let you know when sense of humor goes on sale.

He sure can be embarrassing, can't he? This was painful.

It has all become much clearer now

I had no idea that you also did birthdays!

WHAT was a Philly station that played R&B and gospel in the AM and Jazz 24/7 on the FM. The AM staff was all black, the FM staff was all white. Dolly Banks, who owned the station would not allow blacks on the FM nor whites on the AM—she had a black dog named AM and a white dog named FM. Need I say more? Here's a full-page ad from the Philadelphia Daily News. It appeared shortly before I had enough of Miss B's racism and quite (telling her why). I was replaced by a guy named Joel Dorn.

A 1977 review from Stereo Review:

I have heard of dead wax in an ear, but an ear in dead wax? And P in dead wax? What the hell is that about—sounds kinda kinky.

Did that Canadian storm trooper at AAJ somehow hack his way in here and banish The Magnificent?

A good one, Conrad.

I just ordered this new Kodak printer (a birthday present, actually), because I hate the HP razor blade system that soaks you for ink, as it were. Kodak has very cleverly decided to build the print mechanism into the printer rather than sell it to you again each time you purchase a cartridge. So the two cartridges (color and black) add up to $30, which is a lot cheaper then HP. I really don't need this thing, but the ink price is great and I also like the fact that it is wireless.

How misguided can one be ? Thanks for posting that.

All of us probably receive the Nigerian scam letters, but I posted this one because it is different: It is a scammer pretending to be the anti scammer.