duaneiac

That's right -- Matlock does Pirandello in this 1976 television adaptation. Here, the setting is a TV studio where a cast is preparing to rehearse for a soap opera when they are interrupted by the mysterious appearance of the six characters. John Houseman plays the director and Andy Griffith plays the Father character. Mr. Griffith was a very good actor as any one who has seen A Face In The Crowd can attest. He is quite compelling at times here, but I wasn't fully buying his performance in this production. This was directed by Stacy Keach and his brother James Keach is also in the cast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okwfF1Or3LI

I remember stumbling across this video by Mr. Freburg's son, Donovan, many years ago. I do hope they were able to come to a reconciliation over the past few years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUGK-J0ddjg

Wow. I'm very sad to hear this. Stan Freburg was one of my comedy heroes. From his work with Beany & Cecil to his radio show to his comedy albums to his commercials ("Who put eight great tomatoes in that little bitty can?"), he was a genius in everything he did. And he could do jazz too! https://youtu.be/OyenSyjSr7k?t=44s Thanks so much Mr. Freburg, for a million laughs. May he rest in peace.

He recorded a series of piano trio albums each saluting the work of a different composer. They are mainstream jazz, but each is worth a listen.

I found the DVD set of Season 1 at the library so I checked it out. I was only mildly interested in the show, being as I live in the geographic Silicon Valley but am not a part of the actual "Silicon Valley" world. It's a pretty lame series. I think I laughed once in the very last episode, otherwise it's a show about very unlikable guys behaving badly. And maybe in the days of sitcoms past one could get away with having the characters engage in some outlandish act with no repercussions the following week, but not in this day and age. In one episode an adult male character picks up a young Latino boy at a gas station and brings him back home under the impression that the boy is a reincarnated version of his younger self (you see, he was on hallucinogenic drugs at the time, so it's funny). Nope, sorry, you can't put that in the script and then just ignore it like it never happened in subsequent episodes. In real life that character would be arrested and facing a lengthy jail term. In another episode the police happen to find a large marijuana grow in the garage of the same character's home. Again, you can't put that in the story and act like it never happened the following week. And of course there is the hackneyed storyline of a super hot successful woman falling in love with a socially awkward and unattractive male. I think I will pass on future seasons of this.

Back in 2003, Verve released the 2 CD Jukebox Ella: The Complete Verve Singles Vol. 1. Here we are 12 years later and with this current change in management direction, it's a pretty safe bet we will never see Vol. 2 materialize.

Interesting. In the James Bond field, I would have picked Goldfinger, which I recall (it's been 30+ years since I read it) as a pretty engaging book and is certainly a top shelf Bond film. Does any one have any opinion on Gone With The Wind? I've only seen it once just because it seemed an obligation. I would never feel the need to see it again and certainly never wanted to read the book. I think I would include Elmer Gantry. It's the only Sinclair Lewis work I've ever read. I thought both it and the film adaptation were good.

Shirley Horn and Betty Carter each had notable albums released on Verve in that era. I know he is not every one's cuppa tea, but Kurt Elling had some good albums on Blue Note. I really enjoyed the Nicholas Payton & Doc Cheatham CD that was also a Verve project. Payton had other projects on that label as well. Terence Blanchard was recording for Columbia during that time although I tend to like his releases after 2000 a little more. Warner Bros. Records gave us releases by Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman. Cyrus Chestnut had some good CDs on Atlantic. Carmen McRae's last 2 (excellent) CDs were on some corporate combination of RCA/Novus/Bluebird

The oft heard complaint about some movies is "It was okay, but the book was better". But there have been many movies made that are just as good as the book upon which they were based. Not necessarily the same as the book -- there may have been some plot or character changes made to make the property more suitable as a film, but the overall storytelling effect should be just as powerful in the film and book versions. First up, I would suggest The Maltese Falcon. It's a great book, a gripping read, and John Huston made a great movie that pretty well captures the flavor of the book. What other movies/books would you include in this list?

10 CD JATP set available on US Amazon for $14.98 http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-at-Philharmonic-Dizzy-Gillespie/dp/B002PDB9LE/ref=sr_1_12?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1426629493&sr=1-12&keywords=jatp

That's incredibly sad news. I heard his show from time to time of KCSM. He obviously loved this music and did his best to advocate for it. May he rest in peace.