Sitemeter Sez: Visitors from Redmond, Wahington; Jamaica, New York and Concord, North Carolina.
REAL SLC Punk, not the movie, at: Theater X-Net
Starring: Ida Rubinstein Belle Epoch Russian/Parisian beauty.
Ida's Places in Paris -- from my first jet-lagged day by the Seine.
Read more about Ida in Sisters of Salome by Toni Bentley
Visit: Michael's Montana Web Archive
Theater, Art, Flash Gordon, Funky Music and MORE!
Spitfires of the Spaceways
Wilma Deering & Dale Arden to the rescue; Bodacious Princess Aura I; Hapless Aura II; The fiery Emperor Ming; The Orson Welles Rumor Debunked; and BOTH incarnations of Jean Rogers!
Thanks to Jim Keefe (Visit his Website) -- the LAST Flash Gordon illustrator of the 20th Century, and Flash's first illustrator of the 21st, for his recommendations -- HERE!
Charity Alert: Make a Holiday Resolution to click on The Hunger Site every day. Also check into Terra Sigilata blog -- donate $$$ to cancer patients just by clicking onto the site.
In The Community: All that stuff is going to come DOWN at Hockaday Museum of Art -- Seems like just eight weeks ago when we put it all UP. I'm not complaining, it is GOOD that we install over a dozen shows a year. The college's Honors Symposium is sketched out for next year: Lessons Learned: The Role of Humanities in a Free Society -- Ivan scheduled a variety of events concerning History, Literature, Religion, Art & Design, Poetry, Ethics, and Music.
Media Watch: I saw some more of that odd BBC awards show from last year, which I mentioned earlier on my blog. Singer Joss Stone was calm, professional, and delightful in her tribute to the late Dusty Springfield. The finale featured George Martin conducting the second side of Abbey Road with Queen's drummer Roger Taylor as the "Spotlight" performer. There were some excellent guitarists recreating the solos, and two young singers, male and female, doing lead vocals. A choir solidified the voices, and an orchestra held down the back, as in the original record. Mr. Taylor was VERY busy playing through the WHOLE thing, which was something that Ringo Starr never had to do.
Ringo used to be slagged for his musicianship, even at the height of the Beatles' popularity. It was never fair. I'll bear witness to two occasions. One was George Harrison's Concert for Bangledesh, where he matched studio ace Jim Keltner stroke for stroke. The second was Roger Taylor's obvious work and effort in duplicating Ringo's one and only bit of recorded "flash" during The End, where everything is held together by his distinctive bass-heavy drums and easy (for him) cymbal tirades in between the hard strokes. It was an effective round of skins that set up McCartney's histrionics well, with some much-needed humor. Mr. Taylor's own dynamics were NEVER that mischievous. Ringo's style was inimitable, and part of the Beatles' success, in that his warm, disarming personality showed up in his playing as well as the rest of what he did in the group. Those great records would have lacked a particularly charming vibe if he hadn't been there.
No elite drummer, or studio wonk that I'm aware of had anything like Ringo's aura -- Ginger Baker would have withered beneath the onslaught of those three Liverpudlian egos on the front line, Kenny Jones might have shared Pete Best's fate, since he largely "sat back there." Notice how the Rolling Stones flourished with unflashy but STRONG Charlie Watts on the throne. The study of group dynamics is such an inexact thing!
Or should I say Ringo in the Eye of the Tiger(s)? The Beatles were so popular the media even made money laughing at them. Mad Magazine helped revive the artistic career of Frank Frazetta in 1964, who had worked for Mad's Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein ten years previously. He'd recently left the employ of Al (L'il Abner) Capp, and was trying to pay his bills working for legendary tightwad Donald A. Wollheim, painting Edgar Rice Burroughs covers (background). Many well-heeled customers sought Frazetta's services when this portrait of Ringo Starr (foreground) made such a "splash." I also think those hot-selling Burroughs reprints helped attract interest too -- one out of every thirty paperbacks sold that year were by E.R.B.
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