Bing Crosby on BBC

[ejp626]

This show is only up for 2 more days, but it might be worth a listen: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pd812

esp. if like me you are wondering whether the Bing set would find a place in your heart.

I can't tell how far back this program was developed and recorded, but it does not feature a single track off the Bing Crosby Mosaic.* What a wasted opportunity. I would certainly have delayed the program if necessary to include a track or two off the set (or asked Mosaic to send some kind of advance copy). I'm not even sure they mention the new set. Oh well, I guess I'll find out tonight.

* And while the Bing Crosby-David Bowie duet on Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth is not a bad track, how jazzy is it really...

[Jerry]

Thanks for the link, I enjoyed the show. I did turn off before Drummer Boy, however! I think Bing was particularly good with a guitar backing. Unfortunately on the Mosaic set Buddy Cole's keyboards are often a bit overpowering and though he is a good player with excellent chops, sometimes his 'cuteness' is too much. I saw the film Riding High on TCM a few days ago and Bing's music with a guitar very much in the foreground was great in that film.

[jazzbo]

Bing and Eddie Lang were bosom buddies, and before Lang's death he did a lot of "music directoring" for Bing I think, and a number of instances where he was the central accompanist. What a player Lang was!

[Jerry]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grddVIAeBjs

[Shrdlu]

Bing Crosby yet?

[Shrdlu]

This show is only up for 2 more days, but it might be worth a listen: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pd812

I can't tell how far back this program was developed and recorded, but it does not feature a single track off the Bing Crosby Mosaic. What a wasted opportunity. I would certainly have delayed the program if necessary to include a track or two off the set (or asked Mosaic to send some kind of advance copy). I'm not even sure they mention the new set.

That is typical of the BBC. It gouges U.K. TV viewers with its compulsory tax (with a 1000 pound fine if it's not paid ) but offers f all to viewers and listeners. For decades, it has had hardly any jazz at all. But that is the case in most "Western" countries. The tax can, however, be avoided, because the BBC is funded by the E.U., in contravention of the U.K. Treason Act of 1351 and the Treason & Felony Act of 1848. (No, seriously.)

[side note: one thing they did have that is well worth a watch is "World's Strictest Parents". I saw two episodes where U.K. teens were sent to stay with legalistic parents in America. It was hilarious to watch the clash between the cultures: the kids kinda hedonistic, the parents conservative shmucks, completely out of touch with the real world. It's still up on the BBC website; look under BBC Three.]

[A Lark Ascending]

I think you'll find that the BBC is funded by Satan himself.

[Shrdlu]

Lol.

Bev, that stuff about the Treason Act is not a windup. The info is on a Youtube that my son found recently.

I'm sure you don't like helping them to pay Jonathan Woss 3 million a year, hee hee.

[A Lark Ascending]

I've plenty of gripes with the BBC but I don't resent paying for it because it does things no commercial station in the UK does. I just wish it would pay more attention to its 'public service' remit. It's very good at serving the classical/intellectual end of things (on radio, that is); and has also got the knack of serving the populist end. The trouble is that it has allowed its ratings-chasing to dominate.

I'd hate to see it lose the licence fee and become yet another completely commercialised concern. Sadly, I can see that happening in the next few years, not because it will be good for UK listeners and viewers but because the Murdochs of this world and other vested interests want it swept out of their path.

You won't get programmes like Alyn Shipton's in Rupert (and sons) world.