Before the Petula Clark blog links to a particular video, I’d like to post it here. This is from an appearance in France, early in 1973, after Pet had her son and had turned 40. She appeared with the late Claude François, who she obviously liked very much.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/JUL07/Pet1973.flv 400 300]
If this isn’t sexy and fun, I don’t know what is. Contrast this captivating performance with the video I posted of Pet from about 12 years earlier.
The blog “Petula Clark: Drive by Emotion” has a post about a special performance that Pet gave in commemoration of the end of World War II for Britain. There’s a link to a recording of her performing just three weeks ago, but for convenience I’ll post it here. CORRECTION: Denro pointed out that as it’s been 62 years since the end of the war, it seemed odd this performance happened this month. He is correct. It was July 10, 2005.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/JUL07/ANightingaleSangInBerkeleySquare.mp3]Pet turns 75 in November, and considering that, the tricky notes she hits perfectly spot-on more than make up for the few that present more of a challenge for her than they once did.
C’mon, UK residents! Sign the online PETition to award this very special lady the acknowledgment that she deserves. Let there be Dame Petula Clark! Sir Michael Caine has spoken up. Perhaps Dame Julie Andrews could lend her support to the cause, as well.
I just did a quick search to see if anybody else is thinking what I’m thinking about everybody’s favorite video blogger, Amanda Congdon. She looks pregnant to me, but apparently I’m alone in this opinion. For now. That’s just a screen grab, by the way, so don’t bother clicking it.
NPR has a super nice feature on session musician Lyle Ritz, who played acoustic bass on many famous recordings in the 60’s, including Brian Wilson’s Pet Sounds. Ritz has also had great success with his sideline of playing the ukulele.
Here are some comments by Ritz, taken from the booklet “The Making of Pet Sounds” taken from The Pet Sounds Sessions CD box set.
What made Brian’s sessions different was the family kind of atmosphere. At first, as I recall, Brian didn’t have any preparation. He didn’t write anything down; he would dictate notes to us on the piano.
What I remember from Pet Sounds was that during that time, his craft was more honed. He brought in music and parts that were written. And he was more intense, more focused.
A Morty Gunty autograph is for sale on eBay. The seller notes, “This is an authentic hand signed item and is NOT a preprint.” If only that had been true of Morty’s autograph back in ’64. It would have saved both him and me a lot of pain.
The power is back on, after 15 hours. And Internet access is working, too. Whew!
Yesterday afternoon we were hit by a sudden and violent thunderstorm with some of the heaviest rain I’ve ever seen, and hail to boot. Carol, Eric and I were watching the storm when we heard a thunderclap that was so loud it sounded as if it were next door. Well, it was. Lightning hit a large tree, the tree hit the utility wires, and out went the power on our street.
We ate out with friends from across the street, then we all watched a movie at our place. No, we didn’t gather around a portable DVD player. My portable generator came to the rescue.
It has two household outlets, 110V/15A. I bought it over five years ago in case we ever need the sump pump running during a power outage. That situation hasn’t happened yet, but it did fine last night powering the 32-inch TV and DVD player.
Our neighbors brought over Bridge To Terabithia. It’s an enjoyable family movie, with a surprise plot twist. The gas tank on the generator isn’t very big, but it ran for two hours and the movie is only 90 minutes long.
