A compromise has been reached with Honda. My position is that I can understand the compressor going on a car with 95,000 miles on it. But this Black Death thing, where the A/C is completely destroyed to the tune of $4000, indicates a product defect. I have agreed to pay $1300 for a compressor replacement job, and they will replace the entire system. The car goes into the shop on Thursday.
Secret Project Update
It seems likely that I am getting closer to being able to reveal the secret project I’ve mentioned occasionally for some months now. Once I’ve been released from my promise of silence I’ll let you in on the news.
“GI Jo” Stafford
With Jo Stafford gone, World War II and the Big Band era slip further away from living memory. But Jo’s recordings remain. Thanks go to D.F. Rogers for helping me compile this collection.
This Jo Stafford record is from Christmas ’42, a year after Pearl Harbor…
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/ManhattanSerenade.mp3]The year 1944 was a big one for Jo Stafford. She started it with the Pied Pipers, who recorded one version of the popular novelty tune “Mairzy Doats.”
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/MairzyDoats.mp3]Jo left the Pied Pipers to join Johnny Mercer, one of the principals behind Capitol Records, and she sang “Candy” with him.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/Candy.mp3]Hey, I’m getting better at this. I can tell this is Mercer and not Tex Beneke. Mercer didn’t have the control that Tex, let alone Jo, had.
On D-Day Jo had a song on the charts from the movie “Cover Girl,” called “Long Ago (And Far Away)”…
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/LongAgoAndFarAway.mp3]In September she could be heard on the radio singing “It Could Happen To You”…
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/ItCouldHappenToYou.mp3]After the war, Christmas ’45, when the Baby Boom started, there was “Symphony”…
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/Symphony.mp3]And in September ’46, while those babies were being born, Jo sang “There Is Always”.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/ThisIsAlways.mp3]Don’t Click!
Don’t click here! Promise me you won’t click here. If you do click here it’s your own fault. OK? And for goodness sake, before you click here, which I know you won’t do, turn your computer speakers off! I’ll say it one more time. Don’t click here! Thank you.
Dr. Horrible Isn’t
Bismo recommended Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog to me, and now I’m recommending it to you. For once, something that’s been hyped on the Net lives up to the hype. All three episodes are available right now. Watch them quick for free, because after Sunday — or maybe on Sunday, I’m not sure — you’ll have to buy the series on iTunes. And oh, by the way, I’d rate it TV-14.
Jo Stafford and the Pied Pipers
The more I see, and hear, and know about Jo Stafford, the more impressed I am. D. F. Rogers could write a better appreciation of her than I could (hint).
Tommy Dorsey, Chuck Lowry, Jo Stafford, Frank Sinatra, Clark Yocum, John Huddleston
This appears to be the best copy of that photo you’ll find on the Net. Click to see it full size. I scanned it from an LP in my collection. That’s Jo Stafford next to Frank Sinatra in 1940, when Jo was all of 22, before she married to her first husband, John Huddleston, who’s on the right. Calling themselves the Pied Pipers, they sang with Tommy Dorsey’s band and backed up Sinatra on “I’ll Never Smile Again,” recorded March 23, 1940.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/NeverSmileAgain.mp3]Jo is featured more prominently with Sinatra on “Stardust,” recorded November 11, 1940.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/JUL/Stardust.mp3]I’ll have more of the remarkable Jo Stafford, coming up.