The BBC has an audio feature on the famous moment when, on American TV, Petula Clark touched Harry Belafonte’s arm.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/witness
Here’s what the fuss was all about. As you can see, Pet actually held his arm.
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One of my favorite YouTube genres is of turntables playing records. It must be the ex-DJ in me. One of the best examples is from a woman in England named Liz, whose channel is called 78s4FR.
http://www.youtube.com/user/78s4FR
Here’s a sample. Stan Freberg’s superb parody of Harry Belafonte’s ‘Banana Boat Song’, followed by the equally great ‘Tele-Vee-Shun’.
Note for younger readers: Because a shellac 78 could hold only a few minutes of sound, record albums used to be exactly that — multiple discs in an album book. Later, vinyl LP’s could hold up to 30 minutes in mono, yet there were still albums. In a 2-disc LP set, side 1 was backed with side 4, and sides 2 and 3 were on the same disc, so they could be played in sequence on a changer. The arm on the changer held the stack steady. When playing a single record, with the arm in the position shown in the video above, most changers repeated the record.
My list of all-time great singles includes ‘The Letter’, by the Box Tops.
Alex Chilton was supposed to be at the South by Southwest show this weekend, but he died on Wednesday.
The year: 1967
The place: London
Two girlfriends from the boring north arrive in Swinging London, determined to find success and have a smashing time. This screwball comedy stars Rita Tushingham, who didn’t become well known in America, and Lynn Redgrave, who did.
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Thanks, Lía Pamina, for pointing out this quintessentially British 60’s arty-fact that I’d never heard of.
The reigning queen of British bad girl Pop music, Lily Allen, is reportedly taking a break from music after only two CD’s.
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A Sunday night ritual I’ve had for many years is listening to “The Jazz Decades,” hosted by Ray Smith, on WGBH radio Boston.
http://www.wgbh.org/897/programDetail.cfm?programid=282
Tonight, it was announced that Smith, 87, passed away on Friday. Considering his age, I can’t say this is a surprise, but it is sad news, and a loss for radio and music. The realization that I am now five years older than Smith was when he started at WGBH, and that I first listened to him while still in my 20’s, certainly gives me something to think about.
Some of the names of the Jazz greats from the 20’s and 30’s that Smith often featured, like Teagarden and Beiderbecke, I first learned from a set of cards by Robert Crumb. Hover over the picture to read the back of the card.
At this moment, Smith is playing a recording by the legendary Belgian guitarist Django Reindhardt, with the equally incomparable Stéphane Grappelli on violin. For moi, it doesn’t get any better dan dat.
One of the Internet stations on my list of favorites on my Logitech Squeezebox Radio is WGBH’s 24-hour stream of “The Jazz Decades.” So although Smith is gone, with nearly 2,000 programs in the library, he shall remain.
