Last November, the BBC ran a long overdue one-hour documentary on Petula Clark, called Petula Clark: Blue Lady. In thanks to whomever started the Petula Clark blog, here’s the entire show. Honor Blackman, the first leading lady of the The Avengers TV Series and Pussy Galore in Goldfinger, narrates.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Movies/Wordpress/NOV06/PetulaBBC.flv 440 330]
My Pet Posts have been picked up by a new blog called Petula Clark: Driven by Emotion. I don’t have any information yet on the blogger.
Carol and I took a break from anime with Eric last night and watched Little Miss Sunshine. Am I the only blogger who doubts the premise for the running gag (literally a gag with running) about the busted clutch?
Long ago I briefly owned a VW with a busted starter. By myself I could get it running by popping the clutch. I’d put it in first gear, then stick my head under the steering wheel while holding the clutch down with my left hand. With my legs hanging out of the driver’s door, I’d get the car moving then I’d let out the clutch. That got the motor going, and I’d jump into the car and drive off.
But note: I said the STARTER wasn’t working. Popping the clutch requires a clutch! In Little Miss Sunshine the clutch was supposedly blown. If that were the case, it wouldn’t have held in third gear, or any gear. This would be a good question for Tom and Ray Magliozzi, the Car Talk guys on NPR.
I was just getting caught up on the local papers, and I spotted this article. Maryann Price is making an appearance tonight, not far from here. If I’d known sooner, I would have been interested in seeing her.
Who’s Maryann Price? She sang with Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks, a string-and-vocal group I enjoyed a lot back in high school and college. That’s Maryann on the left, and Naomi Ruth Eisenberg on the right. Together they were called, respectfully and not derisively, the Lickettes.
Rather than try to explain them, just give a listen. In the first song, “I Feel Like Singing,” Maryann does the scat bit heard in the left channel. The second song, “I Scare Myself,” features the spine-tingling violin playing of Sid Page.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/JUL07/IFeelLikeSinging.mp3,http://www.dograt.com/Audio/JUL07/IScareMyself.mp3]Next, Maryann sings “I’m An Old Cowhand.” Can you tell I like songs with titles that start with “I”? All tracks were taken from the original vinyl disks I loved listening to 35 years ago.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/JUL07/ImAnOldCowhand.mp3]Finally, if you read the article at the link above, you know there are recent home videos of Maryann on YouTube. This one includes a bit of her doing “I’m An Old Cowhand.”
The lame-brained Republican political commentator David Brooks is always good at raising my blood pressure, which is sometimes too low anyway. Look at this idiotic comment he made on The News Hour:
DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I’ll just tell you that, in private conversations months ago, Republican senators, senior Republican senators were anxious to move away from the White House, to move towards some sort of withdrawal. Now they’re not talking that way. They’re talking, “We’ve got to stick with the president.” And why? Two words: Harry Reid.
It’s because they detest the way he’s drawn the line. He’s drawn the line that said, “You’re either for a certain withdrawal right away, or starting with 120 days or whatever, or you’re with the president.” And they hate those two choices. And they’d rather not be in those choices, but Reid is the majority leader. He sets the parameters of the choices, and that’s the dilemma they’re in.
Sheesh. Always, always the Neocon supporters, mostly now reduced to being apologists due to the undeniably total failure of the Bush administration, still insist on constructing convoluted logic that blames Democrats for everything. Yeah, it’s Harry Reid’s fault that Republican politicians can’t distance themselves from Bush. Ridiculous.
Year 7 is here!
