Category: Music

Connie Haines, 1922-2008

With the death of singer Connie Haines coming so soon after the passing of the extraordinary Jo Stafford, we are getting very close indeed to the end of the Big Band era. Like Doris Day, Haines got her start when she was only sixteen. Sharing the Tommy Dorsey spotlight with Jo didn’t sit well with Connie, as recounted in the Washington Post.

In her three years with Dorsey, Ms. Haines made several solo recordings, and she bristled a little when Jo Stafford, who died in July, was recalled as Dorsey’s “girl vocalist” during the time Ms. Haines was with the band. Ms. Haines would remind people that Stafford arrived in the band as a member of the Pied Pipers when Ms. Haines was the featured vocalist. Stafford emerged as a soloist later.

A well-known recording of Haines singing with Sinatra and the Tommy Dorsey band is “Oh, Look at me Now”.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/SEP/LookAtMeNow.mp3]

Jensen! The dirty Dutchie with K3

K3’s popularity isn’t limited to Belgium, it extends all the way north into Holland! 😉 In the Netherlands there’s an obnoxious TV host named Robert Jensen. You’ll hear enough English in this chat to appreciate why Jensen somewhat resembles a Dutch Howard Stern, and why at the end the ladies appear increasingly uncomfortable.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/SEP/K3Jensen.flv 512 288]

Super K3

While awaiting the results of the MRI of my lower back, I shall cheer myself up with the lovably likeable ladies of K3. The Belgian beauties must not be confused with the Hungarian band K3. I don’t know who had the name first, but I know who should stop using it.

Studio 100 has done very well with Free Souffriau as Mega Mindy, so it only makes sense they’d give Karen, Kristel and Kathleen a shot at playing superheroes.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/SEP/K3Superhero.flv 450 360]

In this quickie video the girls strut their stuff live, in their more familiar go-go boots…

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/SEP/K3Zwolle.flv 440 330]

… and here’s a featurette about the making of a K3 video. I don’t have to tell you that’s Kristel Verbeke on the left, Kathleen Aerts in the middle and Karen Damen on the right… do I? 😉

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/SEP/k3Interview.flv 440 293](Does Karen have a tongue stud? Yikes! That’s hard core. Well, I guess I can deal with it.)

Being a fan of the Monkees — a topic I leave open for D.F. Rogers to indulge online someday — I’m intrigued by the idea that a Pop group can be assembled by audition, and achieve a synergy that’s as compelling as any ‘organically’ formed quartet or trio.

Because I don’t understand Flemish, I have to appreciate K3 for everything else they do well. Precisely because I don’t understand the words they’re almost abstract sounds, and they take on their own appealing quality.

Kristel Verbeke is the most beautiful woman in the world. (There, I said it!)

Kristel Verbeke with hubby and baby

K3 have been at this for ten years, and Kristel is married and has two children, yet they keep going, being silly into their 30’s. Perhaps that’s one of the benefits of being in Belgium, where their audience is relatively small, but loyal.

K3 Wallapper

TV Reminder: The ’60s Live!

Today on PBS is The ’60s Live!: My Generation, My Music. Petula Clark sings — you guessed it — ‘Downtown.’ Petula is in Manila for the first time, and a fan has written a review of her show last night. Pet does it all again tonight. In fact, given the time difference, it’s already happened.

The Zombies got a repeat appearance from My Music: The British Beat, but no Petula! I must have gotten bum information.

Arthur Godfrey at 105

DogRat regular Jan, who is a devoted fan of Arthur Godfrey, points out that August 31 would have been his 105th birthday. In recognition of this, here is Godfrey in a 1951 appearance on “What’s My Line.”

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/AUG/ArthurGodfrey.flv 440 330]

I have found a connection between Arthur Godfrey and Petula Clark, in the person of Rod McKuen, Pet’s longtime friend and sometimes colllaborator. McKuen appeared on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts around 1956.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2008/AUG/McKuen.flv 440 330]

A V-J Record

I missed noting V-J Day back on August 14, but I’ll do it now. It’s hard to believe I was born only ten years after the end of the war.

The famous photo taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt in Times Square wasn’t the only view of the sailor grabbing the girl and kissing her. From a different angle, Navy photographer Victor Jorgensen also caught the moment.

A song that’s strongly reminiscent of World War II is “I’ll Be Seeing You.” Don’t confuse it with “We’ll Meet Again,” that’s heard at the end of Dr. Strangelove. Liberace renewed the popularity of “I’ll Be Seeing You,” and stressless songstress Jo Stafford recorded it in ’58.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/AUG/IllBeSeeingYou.mp3]