duaneiac

Man I haven't heard that song in ages and forgot all about it! Thanks for the reminder/correction.

All right! The funk goddess of the universe is finally recognized. Lynda Barry has long been a favorite of mine. I've only had my picture taken with two celebrities. One was Carol Channing because, given the opportunity, who wouldn't have their picture taken with Carol Channing? The other was with Lynda Barry. She has long deserved this award in my opinion.

So who were some of your favorite one-hit wonders? Some of mine were:

For me, it wasn't even enjoyable in that "so over the top it's funny" manner. The movie seemed to me like a really weak episode of The Wild, Wild West, (y'know from that period when Ross Martin was out of the show for medical reasons and James West had to do even more of the work himself) with Vincent Price's character running around turn-of-the-century San Francisco engaging in various chases/fights/escapes in the midst of a Tong war as he tries to break up a kidnapping/yellow slavery ring and free several nubile, young, imprisoned Asian women. Sorry, it doesn't make any better sense than that. The story is confusing, the pacing is bad, yet somehow Vincent Price manages to retain his dignity and soldiers through it all like the professional he was. It's rather fitting that the movie literally ends up in the sewer Spoiler alert: No opium is actually eaten in this film.

Well that was really, uh . . . something.

Phil Woods - Philology

An interesting documentary about the world of industrial musicals. The story is centered around Steve Young, a writer for David Letterman's shows, who got into these little known musicals when he had to seek out oddball records for skits on the Letterman show. He gradually became interested in and then obsessed with the music in these old trade show souvenirs. The film takes us along as Mr. Young meets fellow record collectors in this specialized field and as he meets some of the performers (including Florence Henderson and Martin Short) who worked in these industrial shows and he even gets to meet some of the composers of the shows, who are like legends in his eyes. The film is a little slow at first, but it has a couple of goods surprises, a little sadness and a boffo ending. The following song plays an integral role in the film, so if you can appreciate music like this, you might enjoy this film. I sure did.

If you had room in your collection for only one Sammy Davis, Jr. album -- and mind you , no one is saying your collection needs any Sammy at all -- you better damn well make sure it 's this one! I'd rate this as one of the finest male vocal records (non-Sinatra division) of all time, right up there with the Tony Bennett & Bill Evans album and the Johnny Hartman & John Coltrane album. Mr. Davis displays on track after track of this album that underneath all the Rat Pack glitz/schtick, there beat the heart of a sensitive song stylist. Beautiful, thoughtful music.

At the very first rock concert I ever attended (Nov. of 1978, I think it was), Eddie Money was the opening act for Heart. He was "hot" at that time on the basis of his two early hits "Baby Hold On" and "Two Tickets To Paradise". While I was never a big fan of his, he was a really good performer who knew how to work up a crowd. Rest in Peace, Mr. Money.

Say what you will about the advisability of "jazzing up" songs like "Michael Row The Boat Ashore" or "Polly Wolly Doodle", Terry Gibbs swings his butt off on each tune here. Some of his bandmates (including Jimmy Raney and Alice McCleod) seemed, at times, to lack faith in the album's concept, but Mr. Gibbs was all in and he simply used those tunes as fuel for his fire. Not a great album, but a fun one primarily due to Mr. Gibbs' commitment.

According to Google Maps street view, the former home of Prestige Records (203 S. Washington Ave., Bergenfield, NJ) is apparently now the parking lot for a dental practice. If said dentist played this kind of music in her/his office, I'd actually look forward to going there.

Back in the late 1980's early 1990's I went through a big Cornell Woolrich phase. I read a bunch of his books with such alluring titles as Night Has A Thousand Eyes, The Bride Wore Black, Waltz Into Darkness, The Black Curtain, and The Black Path of Fear. This film was loosely based on that last novel. It begins, as these things will, with a down on his luck war veteran stumbling into a job as chauffeur for a mobster type with a beautiful, oppressed wife. Vet/chauf naturally falls in love with the dame and hatches a plan that will whisk them both off to carefree Cuba. "What could go wrong?", you may ask. "MURDER", the movie answers. The first two-thirds of the film are pretty good, but the final third takes a pretty radical departure from the book and was very much WTF? viewing for me. Still, there are some interesting and, at times, compelling touches throughout. Robert Cummings is, as usual, a bland tower of oatmeal. Peter Lorre is very good, not overdoing it but always providing a sense of impending violence. I've never heard of Steve Cochran, but he was very good as the bad guy.

Watched the DVD version of this music.

I thought he had moved to England years ago.

Thanks for that info, HutchFan. I did not know Alan Broadbent had a new CD out. Geez, the last one I have from him is his 'Round Midnight release from 2004! Darius Brubeck lived in Durban, South Africa for many years and then moved to London. Not sure if that's where he resides today. Stephane Grappelli lived in England during the war and for several years post-war. Was his final home back in Paris, though? Jean-Luc Ponty, perhaps? He lived in the US for a while, but I think (not sure) he is living in France again now.