Happy birthday to one of the greatest female vocalists to ever live!
Showing posts with label Frank Sinatra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frank Sinatra. Show all posts
Thursday, April 25, 2013
a birthday to celebrate.
If you're a Google visitor you've undoubtedly noticed their doodle honoring Ella Fitzgerald today. So, I thought it more than appropriate to share a song or two in her honor.
Two of my most favorite people in the world. Man, can't wait to get to heaven for a live performance like this!
And doing what only she can do. Nobody else comes close.
Happy birthday to one of the greatest female vocalists to ever live!
Happy birthday to one of the greatest female vocalists to ever live!
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
an auspicious date!
Happy 12-12-12!
I had hoped to mark the 12:12 time today as well but I was waiting for a technician to come look at my dryer and the time slipped by unnoticed. Good thing the date lasts a little bit longer.
If you're superstitious you probably bought lottery tickets or got married today. Congratulations! Or maybe you're counting down the last few days until the world ends (12-21-12 if those Mayans are to be believed). Hope you're living it up! Or maybe, just maybe you're like me and have spent the day celebrating the birth of one of my favorite people: Frank Sinatra!
Okay, so I haven't really spent the day celebrating. Unfortunately, having an actual job precludes much superfluous celebrating. But I did take a few minutes to watch some YouTube videos and listen to some music and thought I'd share a few of my faves with you in honor of Ol' Blue Eyes and his special day.
Born 12/12/1915 in Hoboken, New Jersey, the scrawny, only child of Italian immigrants grew up idolizing Bing Crosby and never graduated from high school. But he'd been singing for most of his life and figured he might be able to eek out a career in music. Though he never learned to read music he went on to release over 60 albums and won 13 Grammys. But singing was just the start. He also appeared in over 50 pictures, won 3 Academy Awards, had tumultuous love affairs, made friends with politicians and mobsters, fought for civil rights and influenced billions. He died May 14, 1998.
Happy Birthday to The Chairman of the Board! (And if the world really ends next week, I'll be seeing you and expecting a personal, heavenly concert on the other side!)
I had hoped to mark the 12:12 time today as well but I was waiting for a technician to come look at my dryer and the time slipped by unnoticed. Good thing the date lasts a little bit longer.
If you're superstitious you probably bought lottery tickets or got married today. Congratulations! Or maybe you're counting down the last few days until the world ends (12-21-12 if those Mayans are to be believed). Hope you're living it up! Or maybe, just maybe you're like me and have spent the day celebrating the birth of one of my favorite people: Frank Sinatra!
Okay, so I haven't really spent the day celebrating. Unfortunately, having an actual job precludes much superfluous celebrating. But I did take a few minutes to watch some YouTube videos and listen to some music and thought I'd share a few of my faves with you in honor of Ol' Blue Eyes and his special day.
Born 12/12/1915 in Hoboken, New Jersey, the scrawny, only child of Italian immigrants grew up idolizing Bing Crosby and never graduated from high school. But he'd been singing for most of his life and figured he might be able to eek out a career in music. Though he never learned to read music he went on to release over 60 albums and won 13 Grammys. But singing was just the start. He also appeared in over 50 pictures, won 3 Academy Awards, had tumultuous love affairs, made friends with politicians and mobsters, fought for civil rights and influenced billions. He died May 14, 1998.
Happy Birthday to The Chairman of the Board! (And if the world really ends next week, I'll be seeing you and expecting a personal, heavenly concert on the other side!)
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Happiness is...a few random bits of pleasure.
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...these are a few of my favorite things from the past week:
- kamikaze squirrels
- gearing up for the next concert by listening to this album over and over and over!
- chocolate cake with to-die-for peanut butter frosting
- a night filled with Frank Sinatra tunes courtesy of this show at the Kennedy Center
- This scripture:
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Romans 8:18
- driving with the top down along winding country roads at sunset
- not having to wear a sweater at work (the window for this is miniscule and often non-existent, we are either suffering from the cold winter wind blowing in from outside or chronic over air-conditioning)
- getting a massage
- creating things
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| This collage to hang in my dining room |
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| Birthday Party in a Box packages to be sent out to several relatives celebrating big days this coming week |
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| Lemongrass salt scrubs-some to keep and some to gift! |
- bridal showers: visiting with friends, hugs, laughter and amazing food
- leftover Easter Egg salad sandwiches sprinkled with smoked paprika
- cleaning out my closet
- this book
- homemade blueberry basil preserves (a little smear of heaven on my toast! Mucho thanks Madame K :)
- This quote:
- and then marveling!
How has your week been? I'd love to hear about it!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Happiness is...a holiday classic show-down.
Last Thanksgiving I spent the weekend in lovely Savannah, GA. On one of our walking tours of the city we stopped in front of one of the ubiquitous town squares and heard the story of James Lord Pierpont, an organist in his brother's Unitarian church who was commissioned to write a song for the church's children's choir. Inspired by his youth in New England and the sleighs the boys would race up and down the streets during the winter h composed a song that was so popular at the Thanksgiving service the children were requested to sing it again for Christmas. And so, the classic Jingle Bells was born.
At least that's how the story goes.
However, if you go to Medford, Massachusetts, they will tell you he wrote it in Simpson Tavern on what is now High Street in the center of the town square. There's even a plaque there commemorating the event.
No one really knows how it came to be, but no on can deny that it's a timeless classic. It's been redone at least a bazillion times. And even made it's way into outer space! As the fount of all knowledge (aka Wikipedia) tells it, the Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra sent this message to Mission Control on December 16, 1965: "We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, probably in polar orbit... I see a command module and eight smaller modules in front. The pilot of the command module is wearing a red suit...." The astronauts then produced a smuggled harmonica and sleighbells and broadcast a rendition of the song, making it the first to be broadcast from space.
So, on this, the longest day of the year, let's brighten things up a bit with a battle of the bands-ish competition. I've picked a few different (and I think excellent) versions of the song by various and sundry artists. Some are a bit more traditional and some are completely off the wall. Which is your favorite?
I'm sure there are a million more out there. Have I missed your favorite? Post it in the comments and I'll see what I can do to add it in! The winner will be posted after I've received all of your votes.* (Yes, that means you...all you lurkers who read and fail to identify yourselves! Make a comment or man up and become a legit blog follower. --Maybe one of these days I'll make it into the double digits-- It'll be great. We can be friends!) ;)
(btw, don't you love how I squeezed in not one but TWO banjo songs?! Sneaky, aren't I?)
*disclaimer--no actual prizes will be awarded, just the knowledge that your version is superior to all others should be enough for you, yes?
At least that's how the story goes.
However, if you go to Medford, Massachusetts, they will tell you he wrote it in Simpson Tavern on what is now High Street in the center of the town square. There's even a plaque there commemorating the event.
No one really knows how it came to be, but no on can deny that it's a timeless classic. It's been redone at least a bazillion times. And even made it's way into outer space! As the fount of all knowledge (aka Wikipedia) tells it, the Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra sent this message to Mission Control on December 16, 1965: "We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, probably in polar orbit... I see a command module and eight smaller modules in front. The pilot of the command module is wearing a red suit...." The astronauts then produced a smuggled harmonica and sleighbells and broadcast a rendition of the song, making it the first to be broadcast from space.
So, on this, the longest day of the year, let's brighten things up a bit with a battle of the bands-ish competition. I've picked a few different (and I think excellent) versions of the song by various and sundry artists. Some are a bit more traditional and some are completely off the wall. Which is your favorite?
I'm sure there are a million more out there. Have I missed your favorite? Post it in the comments and I'll see what I can do to add it in! The winner will be posted after I've received all of your votes.* (Yes, that means you...all you lurkers who read and fail to identify yourselves! Make a comment or man up and become a legit blog follower. --Maybe one of these days I'll make it into the double digits-- It'll be great. We can be friends!) ;)
(btw, don't you love how I squeezed in not one but TWO banjo songs?! Sneaky, aren't I?)
*disclaimer--no actual prizes will be awarded, just the knowledge that your version is superior to all others should be enough for you, yes?
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Happiness is...a road trip!
New York, New York, a wonderful town!
Once upon a time there was a young girl who fell in love with a singin' and hoofin' Christian Bale. So much so that she watched his movie nearly 100 times (in the theater), joined the fan club, wrote to the Disney studios, followed the careers of his fellow troubadours, and has every song and many of the dance moves memorized to this day.
So, when said girl finds out that there is a stage production of her beloved Newsies, she does the only thing she can do...ropes a group of friends into taking a road trip with her to New Jersey (nope, it doesn't quite rate Broadway yet) to see it.
We spent Saturday in the city visiting the Tenement Museum (highly educational, enjoyable and worth every penny), devouring the heavenly chocolate at Max Brenner's, perusing the 18 miles of books at The Strand, indulging in tasty fries and sandwiches at Schnipper's and driving past The Highline before heading back to NJ and trying our luck at Carlos' Bakery (but the line was wayyyyy too long!)
Then it was off to Millburn and the Papermill Playhouse where we found out that we'd bought tickets for the wrong day! There was a bit of panic and disappointment and trying to appease the person who'd been in charge of ticket buying while cajoling the agent at the window to exchange our tickets...success! We now had tickets for the Sunday matinee but we were also in NJ, all dressed up with no place to go.
So we made the only logical choice; drove to a neighboring small town, found a tiny movie theater and watched the remake of Footloose. We all had very low expectations and thus were highly entertained. It went a long way to soothing the disappointments of missing our intended show.
Sunday we found a random church building in Jersey City where we crashed a sacrament meeting and then tried Carlos' Bakery again (man, that guy is popular!) We voted to find some lunch instead of standing in line in the hopes of getting a baked good. So we found a charming little Italian restaurant, seated ourselves at a sidewalk table in the gorgeous fall sunshine and ate some mighty delicious food while listening to Frank Sinatra over the speakers. Sinatra, Italian, Hoboken, it was all very apropos and a lovely way to spend a morning.
As a wise person once said, it's Frank's world we just live in it. Amen to that. (Long live the Chairman of the Board!)
Following our tasty lunch we ventured back to Millburn where we were finally treated to the musical amazingness of the story of the newsboys strike. There were some adjustments and changes made from the movie but they stayed true to the spirit of the material and it was all just plain old fun. There are few pleasures in life greater than watching a bunch of guys sing and dance. The choreography leaned heavily on the athletic ballet that Gene Kelly made famous, looking masculine, graceful and effortless all at the same time.
Here's a little taste of the show complete with some dancing and the fabulous set/scenery.
*sigh* I'm still hoping one of these days Christian Bale will convert and decide to marry me. My 15 year old self would be the happiest girl alive!
Do you have any childhood obsessions you'd care to confess? Anything that has stayed with you through to adulthood in some form or other? Any obsessions you've acquired since growing up? What is it that can make you smile or feel like a kid again no matter how many times you've seen it/done it/heard it? I'd love to know!
Once upon a time there was a young girl who fell in love with a singin' and hoofin' Christian Bale. So much so that she watched his movie nearly 100 times (in the theater), joined the fan club, wrote to the Disney studios, followed the careers of his fellow troubadours, and has every song and many of the dance moves memorized to this day.
So, when said girl finds out that there is a stage production of her beloved Newsies, she does the only thing she can do...ropes a group of friends into taking a road trip with her to New Jersey (nope, it doesn't quite rate Broadway yet) to see it.
We spent Saturday in the city visiting the Tenement Museum (highly educational, enjoyable and worth every penny), devouring the heavenly chocolate at Max Brenner's, perusing the 18 miles of books at The Strand, indulging in tasty fries and sandwiches at Schnipper's and driving past The Highline before heading back to NJ and trying our luck at Carlos' Bakery (but the line was wayyyyy too long!)
Then it was off to Millburn and the Papermill Playhouse where we found out that we'd bought tickets for the wrong day! There was a bit of panic and disappointment and trying to appease the person who'd been in charge of ticket buying while cajoling the agent at the window to exchange our tickets...success! We now had tickets for the Sunday matinee but we were also in NJ, all dressed up with no place to go.
So we made the only logical choice; drove to a neighboring small town, found a tiny movie theater and watched the remake of Footloose. We all had very low expectations and thus were highly entertained. It went a long way to soothing the disappointments of missing our intended show.
Sunday we found a random church building in Jersey City where we crashed a sacrament meeting and then tried Carlos' Bakery again (man, that guy is popular!) We voted to find some lunch instead of standing in line in the hopes of getting a baked good. So we found a charming little Italian restaurant, seated ourselves at a sidewalk table in the gorgeous fall sunshine and ate some mighty delicious food while listening to Frank Sinatra over the speakers. Sinatra, Italian, Hoboken, it was all very apropos and a lovely way to spend a morning.
As a wise person once said, it's Frank's world we just live in it. Amen to that. (Long live the Chairman of the Board!)
Following our tasty lunch we ventured back to Millburn where we were finally treated to the musical amazingness of the story of the newsboys strike. There were some adjustments and changes made from the movie but they stayed true to the spirit of the material and it was all just plain old fun. There are few pleasures in life greater than watching a bunch of guys sing and dance. The choreography leaned heavily on the athletic ballet that Gene Kelly made famous, looking masculine, graceful and effortless all at the same time.
Here's a little taste of the show complete with some dancing and the fabulous set/scenery.
Not too shabby, eh?
And for all you die-hard purists out there here's a snippet of the original.
*sigh* I'm still hoping one of these days Christian Bale will convert and decide to marry me. My 15 year old self would be the happiest girl alive!
Do you have any childhood obsessions you'd care to confess? Anything that has stayed with you through to adulthood in some form or other? Any obsessions you've acquired since growing up? What is it that can make you smile or feel like a kid again no matter how many times you've seen it/done it/heard it? I'd love to know!
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