Dusty Springfield Interviewed by Anne Murray
CALLING ALL DUSTY SPRINGFIELD FANS – I found this video looking for something else. It certainly shows Dusty’s sarcastic side and Anne Murray’s butch side. Their duets are lovely and sung with heart while looking deeply into each other’s eyes! I found it entertaining and amusing.
Filed under Anne Murray, Dusty Springfield, Interview, Rock and Roll, Singer
John Cage performing “Water Walk” in January, 1960 on the popular TV show I’ve Got A Secret. — Notice the smoking blender.
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LOOKING FOR LAURA NYRO POSTS – GO TO JUNE 2012 and MAY 2011
I shot this video directly from the TV with my iPhone / hand held = I am crazy. I hope you enjoy it.
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Sly and the Family Stone was one of the seminal bands of the ’60s with hits like ”Dance to the Music”, “Hot Fun in the Summertime, ” Everybody is a Star, ” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)”. I spent a lot of time dancing to their music and still do! They managed to slip in their song, “Don’t Call Me Nigger” on to this live TV medley. Even by today’s standards the band was remarkably integrated and even had a female trumpet player.
Brothers Sly Stone and singer/guitarist Freddie Stone combined their bands (Sly & the Stoners and Freddie & the Stone Souls) in 1967. Sly and Freddie Stone, trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, drummer Gregg Errico,[2] saxophonist Jerry Martini, and bassist Larry Graham completed the original lineup; Sly and Freddie’s sister, singer/keyboardist Rose Stone, joined within a year. This collective recorded five Billboard Hot 100 hits which reached the top 10, and four ground-breaking albums, which greatly influenced the sound of American pop music, soul, R&B, funk, and hip hop music. In the preface of his 1998 book For the Record: Sly and the Family Stone: An Oral History, Joel Selvin sums up the importance of Sly and the Family Stone’s influence on African American music by stating “there are two types of black music: black music before Sly Stone, and black music after Sly Stone”.[3] The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.
During the early 197 0s, the band switched to a grittier funk sound, which was as influential on the music industry as their earlier work.[4] The band began to fall apart during this period because of drug abuse and ego clashes; consequently, the fortunes and reliability of the band deteriorated, leading to its dissolution in 1975.[5] Sly Stone continued to record albums and tour with a new rotating lineup under the “Sly and the Family Stone” name from 1975 to 1983. In 1987, Sly Stone was arrested and sentenced for cocaine use, after which he went into effective retirement.
Discography
Filed under Rock and Roll, Sly and the Family Stone, Sly Stone, Uncategorized
A Boy, the Moon, the Beach – July 4th, 2012, Debora Donato
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By Debora Donato
The video was recorded at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. Laura Nyro’s idiosyncratic performance baffled the crowd. It was the dawn of Acid Rock/Psychedelic Music. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Jefferson Airplane, and the Who all came away from the festival as huge successes.
Looking more like a lounge singer than a hippy, Laura Nyro appeared to have come from a different era. Her combination of blues, jazz, gospel, and folk was not a crowd pleaser at the Festival. That said, it is amazing that the power of this performance was not recognized and appreciated. A lot of what happens in life depends on timing.
Luckily, David Geffen — a music agent at the time/and ex collaborator/husband of Carol King. — caught her set and was so impressed he quit his job to become her manager. He landed Nyro a contract with Columbia, and in 1968 she released the extraordinary album Eli and the Thirteenth Confession.
Laura Nyro was a brilliant and innovative composer, who wrote complex and nuanced music. Her records are intricate, haunting works which highlight her powerful vocal phrasing, and evocative lyrics. Many of her songs had greater commercial success in the hands of other performers. A few examples are: the Fifth Dimension scored with “Wedding Bell Blues” and “Blowin’ Away,” Barbra Streisand covered “Stoney End,” and Blood, Sweat & Tears tackled “And When I Die.”
At the age of 24, Nyro announced her first retirement and severed her connections with the music industry. This was the first of several self-imposed hiatuses she took from her musical career. Sadly, she died of ovarian cancer in 1997. She was a breath of fresh air in the notoriously formulaic music industry.
In this video, Elvis Costello and Elton John talk about the impact Nyro’s music has had on other musicians and how far ahead of her time she was.
Discography
Studio
Live
Compilation
Filed under Uncategorized, Laura Nyro, The 5th Dimension, Peter, Paul & Mary, Three Dog Night, Barbra Streisand, Carole King, Rock and Roll, Jazz, Blues
During my trip to Italy, restaurants would serve a complimentary shot of Limoncello as an aperitif. I love anything with lemons but found the Limoncello to be cloying
sweet. I was driven to come home and attempt my own version with far less sugar.
I looked at several recipes and combined them into what I thought would make a Limoncello more to my likening – Less sweet and lighter – tasting more like a Lemon Drop Martini. I made a couple of batches and tried them out on my friends.
The Limoncello has been met with rave reviews!
The biggest difference is that I put in about half the sugar that is called for in most recipes. Some friends drink it in the traditional fashion – chilled from the freezer, while others have pushed on to new frontiers. One added Limoncello to her Earl Gray tea and another mixed it with tonic. In any event, I hope you enjoy the Limoncello you create. I would love to hear about your results and how you vary the recipe or process.
RECIPE:
One Bottle (750 ml) Everclear
One Bottle (750 ml) 100% Vodka – Smirnoff is fine
20 lemons (10 per bottle)
2 cups of sugar (about)
2 cups of water (about)
This is the “to taste part” and it depends on how long the peels are left in during the infusion stage.
PROCESS
Rinse and brush the lemons – clean very well
Peel the lemons – avoiding the bitter pith – I use a vegetable peeler
Combine the peels and alcohol in a large leak proof container with a wide mouth that you can get a ladle in (easier to get the peels out later).
Leave peels in the container for 4 to 6 weeks.
Leaving the peels in the container: You can leave the peels as few as two weeks or as long as four months. After two weeks you will produce a Limoncello on par with what you can buy in the U.S. I like mine with a deeper lemon flavor and leave the peels in about 5 to 6 weeks. Some recipes say to swirl the concoction once a week, others don’t. I swirl every so often.
This is a good time to buy your bottles – go online. You need metal clip top bottles.
PROCESS
It is time to take the peels out of the Limoncello. Use a large slotted spoon to remove the peels. I put them in a large bowl to drain and pour the “drippings” back into the container. Waste not, want not!
Strain the Limoncello – You do this to get rid of the impurities. I use paper coffee filters, a funnel, and a coffee mug, for draining. This part is so sloooowwww. Wet the filter so it does not absorb your precious Limoncello. I change the filter every once in a while, it helps the draining to go a little faster.
MAKE THE SIMPLE SYRUP – 2 cups water to 2 cups sugar. Bring the syrup to a boil and then cool to room temperature.
This is where you tinker with the flavor. REMEMBER – This is half the amount of sugar called for in most recipes. Sometimes I add a little extra syrup and/or water.
Combine the Limoncello and the simple syrup in the large container and leave for another week to let the flavors blend.
BOTTLE!!!!!
HERE IS THE BEST PART – Drink your Limoncello and spread the cheer.
Filed under Infused Drinks, Limoncello, Uncategorized
I couldn’t resist posting Marianne Faithful’s cover of the Herman Hermits hit “I’m Into
Something Good” which was written by Carol King and Gerry Goffin in1964.
It started as a singing-in-the-shower-moment for me. For some odd reason I tend to sing very odd and old songs out of the blue while showering. I Youtubed the song and found the Marianne Faithful cover. I must add that Marianne Faithful is one of my favorite performers. It is a little slow to buffer. Sorry…
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I Will Rule
This is a very clever parody of Michele Bachmann. It truly captures her essence! Enjoy.
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This is not to make light of a very serious situation. My favorite part about FRACKING is when people can light their tap water on FIRE!! You KNOW it is safe to drink. Politicians sell us down the river again. The Congress is LUCKY to have only an 82% disapproval rating.
VIEW THE VIDEO OF FRACK RAP
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WeVidiots
WeVidiots