Category: Petula Clark

The One and Only Miss Petula Clark!

Parlez-Vous Français — Petula Clark

David Moncour has sent this link to an interview with Petula Clark, in French, including the music clips. Thank you, Davie!

http://franckhermann.spaces.live.com/blog/

The audio is linked on Petula’s name, and it isn’t embedded, so depending on how your file associations are set up it will come up on one local player or another. How about I embed it here, so you don’t have to bother doing that?

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/MAR/PETULACLARK_FrenchInterview.mp3]

How about this pair of pictures? On the left is Petula with actor Michael Redgrave in 1942, and on the right they’re together again in 1968, filming Goodbye Mr. Chips.

Petula Clark and Michael Redgrave

For many years, Petula has been great pals with Redgrave’s daughter Lynn, who’s about 5’10” tall. As you can see, Pet is petite!

Lynn Redgrave, Petula Clark

I see that it’s time to renew my subscription to Petula & Company, published by the International Petula Clark Society. There’s all sorts of stuff in there about Pet, facts and photos, that you won’t find anywhere else. I particularly enjoy it for providing so much background about her early years in England. As I keep saying, as far as we were concerned in America, Petula appeared out of nowhere, polished and professional.

Petula Clark Rocks!

Petula Clark is my all-time reference for female Pop singing talent, professionalism and sexiness. Not only is there nobody better, there’s nobody as good. Having said that, what a great cover on the new Collector’s Choice Music catalog!

Petula Clark Rocks

It says see page 3, so here’s page 3.

Petula Clark CCMusic

I’ll be ordering both of these new items. Video of Petula is always a treat, so I’m looking forward to the DVD. Which reminds me. Goodbye, Mr. Chips will finally be released on DVD in a couple of weeks.

David Moncur, our correspondent in Scotland, wrote to say:

Here is the Dutch concert Max proms that she was involved in, in December. Her voice sounds a bit strained, but she’s looking great.

http://www.omroepmax.nl/?waxtrapp=pvfhfDsHnHUVGHwB#

Click on “Afspelen” to get the show. She’s towards the end of the first half, and in the middle of the second half. This is the televised show, so they have cut it, and it doesn’t show all her songs….. Double click on it to make it screen size.

Happy 2009

Dave

Thank you, Dave! She does indeed look great. I wish I could do more than provide the link here, but the video is in Real format, and there’s not a lot I can do with that.

I was poking around TheRadio.com recently and happened to catch this sweet and lovely tune by Petula. Enjoy!

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2009/JAN/TheRadioPetula.mp3]

Playing DJ with theRADIO.com

Thanks to my dad’s cousin Lawrie for tipping me off to (yet another) new online music service. This one is theRADIO.com. Type in a song or artist and it takes you to whichever category it belongs to. theRADIO.com is from some outfit called American Media Services Interactive, and at this point I feel almost overwhelmed by the choices available today for music, whether online on cable TV, and I don’t even have XM/Sirius or HD Radio.

What I’d really like is a free-form option — except no rap or hip-hop, thank you very much. I love playing DJ, so I played with theRadio.com for a while and skipped around genres while recording. The selection includes the Turtles, a Johnny Ramone instrumental (I checked the volume in the middle of it), Lucinda Williams (a fave of Carol’s), followed by my all-time #1 favorite Bob Dylan tune, and finishing with “Reason to Believe”, recorded while I was called away, so I’m not sure who it is. Some of the inflections almost sound like Petula, but it isn’t her. Marianne Faithfull, maybe?

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/DEC/RadioDotCom.mp3]

Speaking of lovely Petula, Dave Moncur sent a link with some photos of our favourite glamour girl, who was performing in Utreht, Netherlands (K3 country!) recently. Thanks, Dave. She looks even better than when I saw her in May!

Petula Clark MAX Proms

Petula Clark goes green?

Here’s a bit of Petula trivia I’ve never seen before. Maybe somebody can ask her if it’s true? At least the part about her ordering a Porche in an unusual shade of green.

There is a story that the singer Petula Clark ordered a car in a unique shade of green and Porsche ordered far too much of the paint and has been using up the stock ever since. I asked whether this green was that colour; but no reply was the reply.

Jonathan Ross and his “Juvenile Radio Prank”

I was flummoxed by how many items and editorials that originated in the UK today about the Jonathan Ross brouhaha didn’t explain exactly what he and his radio pal did. But now I have the story, and it’s strange. Here’s one of many write-ups about it. Sounds like typical shock jock antics, but where everybody knows each other, in one way or another.

Wait! This just came in from our man in Scotland, Petula Clark fan Dave Moncur.

Thought you might like this article which tells a bit about Ross’s fall from grace.

Click here

He is paid £18 million over 3 years, and he and his cohort Brand, thought it would be funny to mock the granddaughter of one of our beloved comedy actors, and to leave a filthy message about having shagged her on the guy’s voicemail.

In England, where they live, that is a criminal offence.

It wasn’t a live programme, it was recorded and “signed off” by a BBC executive.

So frankly, it would, in my opinion be good if there were a series of resignations. The manager, producer and to two so-called stars.

As I write, it seems that Brand has done the decent thing and resigned. Ross seems to be a little too fond of his £18 million to do that, but I hope he will be prosecuted under the Telecommunications Act which makes lewd calls a crime, and hopefully the BBC will sack him. This is not what we all pay £140 a year for!.

Incidentally the said Ross, was horribly patronising and rude to Petula when she appeared on his show in 2002 to promote the Ultimate Tour and Album. She was VERY polite, and a little cold back, but I’m pretty sure the little pipsqueak knew that he had been put in his place by someone who has been a superstar longer that he’s been alive.

From that time on I haven’t watched him or listened to him. Frankly most of his humour is a bit childish and crude. You know, anyone can get a laugh out of saying “fuck” or “wank”. It takes talent to get a laugh out of something less crude.

Hope your health is better now.

Thanks, Dave! Yes, my back is completely better. In fact, it’s better than ever and I can say I’m almost glad it happened.

Sorry to hear that Mr. Ross was anything other than sycophantically worshipful of Petula. The swine. But as a comic book fan, I have to give him credit and thanks for producing “In Search of Steve Ditko”.