Now that I’m subscribing to The New Yorker, I look at the weekly cartoon caption contest, and sometimes a gag comes to mind instantly, without thinking. Here’s an example of what pops in my head. I know that puns are not favored by the magazine, and I’ll be amazed if a submission with this idea is picked by the editors as a finalist.
As I’ve said before, I feel that Petula Clark’s career is one of the most impressive ever in popular entertainment. She started as an endearing child star in England, developed into a sexy adult actress, then became an international singing superstar — which was where we caught up with her in the States — and she’s still going strong!
I’ve spliced together about ten minutes of Petula as Lee Nicholls, a perky and resourceful stewardess in a 1954 comic caper flick, “The Runaway Bus”. It’s not the greatest print, but at least it’s available in the U.S., including Netflix.
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Oh, dear. Did I hear Pet ask for some uppers? No wonder she was so perky!
For a much more recent view of Petula, here’s a link recommended by David Moncur. Turn it up!
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit is about a woman warrior who has been hired to protect a boy prince sentenced to death by his father for being possessed by a water spirit. Hey, Stephen King story summaries sound silly too! 😉
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This series is another one that looks particularly good on the Panasonic video projector. We’re disappointed, however, by the DVD box set of Mushi-shi, which suffers from the excessive video compression required to fit seven episodes on a single disc. The original release had only four shows per disc.
Once again it’s National Kissing Day in England! But it’s Belgium that has a song celebrating the Day of Kisses…
http://youtu.be/eBg5JB8IH5E
The A-side of this single by a British band went to #1 in the US in 1966, and it sounds nothing at all like the lovely little ditty on the B-side.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/JUL/WaitForMeBaby.mp3]D.F. Rogers says, “Needs more megaphone!” You are correct, sir! The song “Wait For Me Baby” is the flip side of the New Vaudeville Band’s megahit with a megaphone from 1966, “Winchester Cathedral”. I’m always amazed by how a 40+ year old piece of plastic that was beat on when new can sound so good. I doubt there were many original Rudy Vallee records from the 20’s that were playable in ’66.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/JUL/WinchesterCathedral.mp3]The YouTube player has the New Vaudeville Band performing the song, with the first tune, “Peek A Boo” being more interesting because it’s not familiar. (From there it’s an easy leap to Tiny Tim and to Robert Crumb’s Cheap Suit Serenaders.) Then Petula Clark sings “Winchester Cathedral” followed by a more familiar performance of her own hit, “This Is My Song.”
The original “Winchester Cathedral” LP, in my hands at this moment, doesn’t have “Peek A Boo”, so I had to find it elsewhere.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/JUL/PeekABoo.mp3]
The New Vaudeville Band, 1966
Do I have anything good to say about the late Allen Klein? No, I don’t. He was an opportunistic, dishonest, unscrupulous scumbag. Eric Idle and John Belushi were dead-on with their Ron Decline parody in “The Rutles”. Hey look, there’s Al Franken, the new senator from Minnesota, with his old comedy partner Tom Davis.
The first LP I ever bought with my own money was “Let It Be” the day it was released, and I immediately noticed that Apple Records had become “an abkco managed company”. Even as a kid of fourteen I was suspicious of what that meant.
In this picture the second scan is from an 80’s British LP copy of “Let It Be”, and you’ll notice that the name Harold Seider is missing. Seider was Klein’s attorney, and later he was John Lennon’s lawyer.
Since “Let It Be” I have tried to avoid Allen B. Klein Company products, with the only exceptions being on vinyl. As a consequence, my Rolling Stones collection is minimal. One of the exceptions is the Stones outtakes LP, “Metamorphosis”. I bought it for a couple of bucks in college as a cut-out, only a year after its release in 1975.
“Metamorphosis” has a some tracks worth noting, including the Dylan-influenced “Memo From Turner” and a good alternate version of “Out Of Time”. The best song, I think, is “Each and Every Day of the Year”. Unfortunately, it’s in fake stereo that includes phase shifting as well as frequency separation, so it sounds lousy if forced into mono.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/JUL/EachAndEveryDay.mp3]