News, Politics, Religion, Entertainment, Gossip and Opinion for Thinking Folks
From the category archives:
The great Josephine Baker, 1927.
Billie Holiday, 1947.
Lena Horne, 1956.
Marian Anderson was denied the right to perform at Constitution Hall by the DAR because of her color. Instead, at the urging of Eleanor Roosevelt, Interior Secy. Harold Ickes permitted Anderson to perform at the Lincoln Memorial. April 9, 1939, a seminal day in the Civil Rights movement.
In memory of Whitney Houston
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in chexy's saturday matinee, cinema, legends, memorials, music, remembering
The delightful Sultan of Agrabah from Disney’s “Aladdin.”
And here’s Maria Muldaur singing about a sultan.
And here’s a clip from “Aladdin”… in Swedish.
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in animation, music, stuff I like, turban tuesday
Okay, Valentines… let’s do it. Ella swings it.
La vie en rose. Marlene Dietrich at 71 in ’72.
Dino croons it. So groovy.
Stevie, 1974.
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in 1930, Cole Porter, legends, lovebirds, music, stuff I like, ya gotta love it
No, darlings, it’s not Turban Tuesday, it’s Friday Face, and it’s opera legend Leontyne Price’s 85th birthday! And before you say you hate opera, listen to this.
Here, she sings Gershwin for President Carter at the White House in 1978.
And here, as Aida, from a television program in 1963.
Among her many honors: the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1964), the Kennedy Center Honors (1980), the National Medal of Arts (1985), numerous honorary degrees, nineteen Grammy Awards (13 for operatic or song recitals, five for full operas) and a special Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989 — more than any other classical singer.
In October 2008, she was one of the recipients of the first Opera Honors given by the National Endowment for the Arts.
A star since her debut in 1952, Leontyne Price is today’s Friday Face.
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in Friday Face, awards, gorgeousness, legends, music
God bless Rosa Parks, born on this day in 1913. One person can change the world.
For the Sephardim.
Miller and Lyles.
Billie at Carnegie Hall…
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in 1930, birthdays, chexy's saturday matinee, fabulosity, music, righteousness, stuff I like
Florence Arto of Houston Texas was born in 1895. Her husband was film director King Vidor, who put her to work in silent films in 1916 as Florence Vidor. They had a daughter, Suzanne. Flo divorced King in 1925 and married famed violinist Jascha Heifetz.
Her career ended with the advent of sound pictures. She died in 1977 at the age of 82.
Here’s a trailer for her lost film, Ernst Lubitsch’s “The Patriot,” the last silent film of the era to be nominated for an Oscar.
And here’s Jascha now with a little Tchaikovsky, ya slobs.
In memory of Ian Abercrombie
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in cinema, little known facts, music, stuff I like, turban tuesday
Cream, with Max Raabe.
Coffee, with Frank.
Happy 71st Birthday to Richie Havens… sweet Tupelo Honey.
Tea with Lee… Liberace, that is. Gone 25 years Feb. 4th. The TV movie about him is scheduled to film this summer.
for J, B, C, and E.
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in birthdays, chexy's saturday matinee, food, gays, gone, music
Careful, Shirley Bassey may short-circuit your computer.
I’ll always love her. Joni Mitchell from a 1986 concert. Hejira. Gorgeous poetry. Jaco Pastorius on bass.
I’m feeling this song, hard. Stevie Wonder. Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing.
A little more Stevie, because one isn’t enough, and this made me misty.
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in chexy's saturday matinee, gorgeousness, legends, music, stuff I like, ya gotta love it
The original Lady Ga Ga, Garland, singing Cole Porter. Ga ga ah ah ah ah.
Since it’s Christmas Eve, more Cole Porter. Pure gorgeousness.
Christmas Eve commercial.
Mel Torme rocks it.
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in chexy's saturday matinee, holidays, legends, music, stuff I like
Today’s Friday Face created the music of my rugged sentimentalism, French composer Erik Satie.
He published the Gymnopedies in 1888, when he was just 22 years old. It was like nothing ever heard… and for me, there’s still nothing like this.
This is the sound of the light rain at sunrise, the daydream of your Christmases past, your loves lost and found, and the exquisite peacefulness that we can sometimes find.
You can listen and go about your other internet business.
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in Friday Face, gorgeousness, music, stuff I like
"If the phone doesn't ring, it's me.”
--Jimmy Buffett
