JSngry

http://www.covinawell.com/bartenders/

I dunno, let's see what's behind curtain #3!

HERE we go!

Set by Reid Miles?

Thanks. Chris. Not to big for my screen at all.

THIS seems like a really wierd show. A dead squirrel for a mascot, Mogen-David Wine for a sponsor, and a Milton DeLugg Trio that looks like it might include Johnny Smith for a house band. It's a Tripod site, so no sense in posting an image.

Yeah, Monty! Can you put the big pic back? That's some cool shit!

THIS is Bill Cullen!

Oh yeah - the back to back of Dating Game & Newlywed game was a summer afternoon ritual for me for many years. ABC also had Let's Make A Deal, and when they also had Where The Action Is (not a game show) on, it was an ABC afternoon, broken up only by General Hospital (NEVER dug the soaps...)

Hugh Downs.

Are you a professional academic or a professional student?

What's THIS alleged Green album? I've never heard of it.

Nobody knows Mayhew's work?

Congrats, David! Will Volume 4 be about the collected wit and wisdom of jazz bulletin boards?

Anybody remember the 1960s verion of Match Game on NBC, the one w/"Swingin' Safari" as its theme song? That one wasn't played for laughs, but Jayne Mansfield was a regular (remember, there were two teams, each with a celebrety captain), so what the hell. LOVE the old game shows myself, going back to the 1950s. Watched a steady diet of them every day until I started kindergarten, and even then watched them during summers well into adulthood, GSN used to be really hip, before they started focusing on their original shows, some of which are ok, some of which... They used to show the late 60s/early 70s version of To Tell The Truth (probably my all-time fave), the one w/Gary Moore as host, and the one with sets that looked like Peter Max came in, threw a bunch of stuff out on the set from which to pick and choose, and never came back to finish the gig. GREAT stuff. Orson Bean and his customized 1s, 2s, or 3s, Kitty Carlise (who I always thought was about 100 years old. Reruns have since proven me wrong), Peggy Cass, Nipsey Russell, etc. I had a run of about 3 months where I got EVERY contestant right. Thought about getting a gig w/the FBI there for a second! The all time game show king is my man, Bill Cullen. I dig this cat so much, I wrote an as yet unrecorded tune for Quartet Out called "Polio Bill" in his honor, complete w/a "game show" bridge that goes through all the wakily incongruent yet irrepressibly sunny modulations, and a "Love Supreme-style chant towards the end that goes "Polio Bill was the game show king, Polio Bill did the game show thing", played for laughs, but serious laughs, if you know what I mean. This cat was the consummate "Golden Era" TV personality, and he had a career of staggering longevity. They don't make'em like that anymore. Also once on GSN, the Larry Blyden-hosted What's My Line, a lower budget version of the classic deal, but still plenty o'fun, I saw Dizzy Gillespie (guessed by Soupy Sales) and Duke Ellington (guessed by Jack Cassidy, whose ascots were a show unto themselves) as mystery guests, and Mel Torme was a frequent panelist. That was a fine show too, especially the older prime-time CBS version w/Bennet Cerf as a regular. Now THAT guy was a trip! Arlene Francis stuck around on WML for what seemd like forever. You can see her on the early 50s version straight throuh into the 70s. Dorothy Kilgallen, though, was not so lucky... Hope this thread gets legs and goes a while, becasue I love this stuff. Anybody remember Video Village? Henry Morgan? Wally Cox? Camoflage? I'll Bet? You Don't Say? Betsy Palmer (Mmmmmm!)? Peggy Cass? Polly Bergan (another Mmmmmmm!)? Password? The Bill Cullen-era The Price Is Right? Treasure Island? Henry Morgan? Robert Q. Lewis? Oh yeah, I love the classic game shows.

I've heard the name, but only today heard the artist. KNTU played something off her new album, "Babble On", an uptempo original with "standard"-ish changes. The head was nice, but her soloing (on tenor) was what really got my attention - a real ability and desire to play ideas, not licks, and a very free yet swinging rhythmic flow, the total opposite of the constant stream of eighth notes that is so common among today's "straight ahead" players. An attactive tone too, somewhat reminiscent of Harold Land, but not derivative or cloned. I hear a player simultaneously thinking, feeling, and, in general, just having some serious fun in a thouroughly substantive and original way. The way she varied and broke up her phrasing yet still maintained an ongoing momentum was quite interesting and impressive. And yes, again, ORIGINAL! Hell yeah. So what's the deal on Virginia Mayhew. Is she a totally "in" player, or does she do freer stuff too? Does she mostly play tenor? Was I just in a good mood, was that just a really good cut, or is she consistently this fresh in her playing? I'd like to know more. This chick sounds like she can play! (P.S. - if I can call male musicians "cats" and "dudes", I can call female musicians "chicks", so don't anybody go left on that. To reiterate, she sounds like she can PLAY, and if anybody thinks that the word "chick" diminishes the genuine respect I have to have for a player before I'll say that about them, they are truly clueless, and can BITE ME! )

Until now, I'd never made the connection between "Off Minor" & Herman Munster. Thanks, Thelonious Moog!

I agree, which is why those MPS albums always appealed to me. They DO breathe. But don't get me wrong - I love most of the Columbia stuff too (most of it anyway). The bands are SO much more into it than the earlier PJ stuff, and the brashness of players like Glen Ferris, Pete Robinson, and John Klemmer (!) is very appealing. Those guys really DO sound like they're on a mission to reinvent music from the ground up, and that kind of passion can't help but be heard and felt. Looking back on it now, the late 60s/early 70s were a kind of mini "Golden Age" for big bands. Duke, Basie, Woody, & Kenton were still in full flower, with the latter two going in a more "contemporary" direction fairly successfully, and newer bands like Ellis' and Buddy Rich's were not going unnoticed either. Gerald Wilson was putting out records, and cats like Pat Williams and Clare Fischer were doing one-offs of no little interest. Of course, Jones-Lewis and Clarke-Boland were going strong, too. The popularity of jazz-rock horn bands certainly spurred things along, but I think that the general turbulance and vigor of the times was a factor too. It was a time in which so many different things were happening in society and in music that a big band was at once a throwback to the familiarity of earlier times AND a big blast of reality, a unit of power that gave you the loudness of rock (and for those newer listeners who haven't had the opportunity to hear a REAL big band in the flesh, not just a local rehearsal band, but a real working unit of top-shelf players, let me tell you that the energy and volume might very well scare the bejeebers out of you the first time you experience it. It's a vERY visceral experience). Well, here comes Ellis, who seemingly knows no fear when it comes to volume, electronics, and general controlled chaos. You COULDN'T ignore him once you heard him! Those were good times for jazz, I think. And if I find Ellis' overall output to be uneven, I don't think less of him for that. If anything, I respect him more for it, because he seemed like the kind of guy who wanted to do everything all at once, and by god, he went for it! Very similar to vintage Mingus in that regard, even though they were coming from totally different places. That kind of ambition, musical and otherwise, is something I have a huge respect and admiration for. In theory, I'll take something like a Don Ellis "failure" over a failsafe snoozefest of predictability most any day. If I might sometimes LIKE the snoozefest more, it's the ambitious and sincere failure that I LOVE more. Who do we harass to get somebody to look into that Stanford gig and see if the tapes still survive? Now THAT'S one of the major big band triumphs of the post WWII era by any standard. I have a feeling that there's a revelation waiting to be unearthed!