Author: DOuG pRATt

Lonnie Donegan

Before I post another video with Pop songtress supreme Petula Clark, let’s back up a little to 1955-56 and put her career into perspective. Rock and Roll was on the horizon, and the Skiffle music craze was huge in England. Pet’s style obviously wasn’t going to mesh with that.

Lonnie Donegan

Skiffle was popularized by Lonnie Donegan, who had a huge influence on British kids, including John Lennon. Donegan seemed to have a wide range of musical interests and influences, including Woody Guthrie, who was later a primary inspiration for Bob Dylan. Donegan performs Guthrie’s “Grand Cooley Dam” in this video:

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/FEB07/LonnieDonegan.flv 320 235]

Donegan had a gigantic hit with “Rock Island Line,” a song that he apparently first heard on an old record by Leadbelly. It was such a big hit for Donegan that it crossed over to America, and Stan Freberg did a parody of it.

The audio player has Donegan’s “Rock Island Line”, along with a follow-up hit, “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour On The Bedpost Overnight?”

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/FEB07/RockIslandLine.mp3,http://www.dograt.com/Audio/FEB07/ChewingGum.mp3]

And here is Leadbelly doing “Rock Island Line”, along with Freberg’s parody of Donegan:

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/FEB07/Leadbelly.mp3,http://www.dograt.com/Audio/FEB07/StanFreberg.mp3]

Watching Netflix Watch Now

I thought screen captures weren’t possible with the Netflix Watch Now player, but not so. I grabbed the picture above and shrank it. Another bit of good news is my connection speed is now consistently being rated as fast. On the downside, I’ve found a couple of issues with using the TV output from the computer, but these are within my NVidia graphics adapter, and have nothing to do with Netflix.

Obituary: Tige Andrews

Tige Andrews

Tige Andrews has died. My mother knew him at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts long ago, as I mentioned here.

Tige Andrews; nominated for Emmy

By Valerie J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times | February 3, 2007

LOS ANGELES — Tige Andrews, a character actor who earned an Emmy nomination for portraying Captain Adam Greer, the officer who recruited the undercover police officers of television’s “The Mod Squad,” has died. He was 86.

Mr. Andrews, who often played detectives during a career in television that spanned five decades, died of cardiac arrest Jan. 27 at his longtime home in the San Fernando Valley, his family said.

“Dad was really proud of `The Mod Squad.’ He felt the show made a big difference because it was one of the first television series to address social issues, such as drugs, prostitution, and teen pregnancy, that were more hush-hush before that time,” said Barbara Andrews, one of his six children.
Continue reading Obituary: Tige Andrews

Even More Netflix Instant Viewing

Mohr

It’s Bogart! Wait. Nope. It’s not Bogie, it’s Gerald Mohr. I cropped this from a photo taken of my Sony 32XBR100 screen, while Netflix Watch Now was running, thanks to the 25-ft. S-Video and audio cables running between the computer and the TV. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Add-on Note: I’m taking a break from playing with Netflix, and I’m doing my usual Web browsing. I see that Mark Evanier has Watch Now, too. Maybe everybody does. Click here to read Evanier’s comment.

More Netflix Instant Watching

NetflixVideo.gif

Netflix is rating my connection speed as being merely “Basic.” HA! I don’t think so. I have FiOS, the fastest residential connection there is. If there’s a throughput problem, it’s not with the last mile!

After repeated re-testing, I managed to get a “Good” rating and confirmed that the image is much better. The jaggies are less flagrant, but there’s still a lot of color banding.

Angry Red Planet

In my viewing test I still haven’t moved on beyond Mars, that angry red planet. The script offers seemingly endless lessons on life and, yes, love. How do I compare thee? I compare thee to my dog …

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/FEB07/AngryRedPlanet2.mp3]

The distinctive male voice belonged to Gerald Mohr. A radio actor for many years, he switched to TV in the 50’s. Mohr was the voice of Reed Richards in the 1967 Fantastic Four cartoon series.