Man, this woman can sing, write and play! She’s also smart, sassy and sexy. She had a good run in the contemporary country market in the 80’s and early 90’s but hasn’t done much lately which is a shame. A lot of her RCA catalog is still available and I urge you to give this woman a listen she was too mature, too outspoken and quite frankly, too talented for the Country market ( hey I love country music, but I’m telling it like it is ). I have been unable to stop listening to her ‘Love in a Small Town’ disc. My favorite cuts, ‘Come Next Monday’, ‘The Story of Mary and Willy’, and the killer ballad, ‘New Way Home’.
A film noir from 1949 that stars Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter, directed by Robert Wise. I love this film, the much overlooked Robert Ryan who was never anything less than exceptional in anything he played in stars as an aged prize fighter who can’t face the fact that his career is over but with too much pride and character to take a dive ( even tho his manager has sold him out on the side ) Boxing is just the back drop for this tale of love, faded dreams and honesty.No happy endings ( but no tragedy either ) its fast paced , dark and believable. I think Robert Ryan was one of America’s greatest actors, he could play a realistic hero in this film or a murdering racist in ‘Bad Day at Black Rock’ with equal effectiveness. Good Black and White viewing.
OK, I admit it, I’m a sap but this movie has a lot going on for it. The concept for one. I had a recurring dream for almost 20 years after I graduated from high school that I was back in school only at my than current age and knowing what I know now. It was half nightmare and half very cool so I guess the concept is right up my alley. It’s funny cuz I don’t care for Kathleen Turner but she is perfect in the role of the high school sweetheart who doesn’t’ want to make the same mistake twice. Nicholas Cage who I can take or leave, is just as excellent as the no talent singer who doesn’t want to turn into his father but of course does. Great cameos by Leon Ames and Maureen Sullivan as the grandparents and John Carridine getting a rare role in a big budget film. Don Murray and Barbra Harris are also super as the parents. The clincher for me is the beautiful and haunting theme song. Check it out.
This 1962 Sam Peckinpah western has over the years not only made my top 10 list but my top 3. Randolph Scott and Joel McCrea star as two former lawmen in a tale of honor, deception and redemption. Performances are superb. It’s not a blood bath like Peckinpah’s later westerns but very gritty and real. Both Scott and McCrea retired after this film ( both very wealthy ) and you can see why both worked exclusively in the Western genre for the last 10 years of their careers.
Best line in the film is when Scott asks McCrea what he wants from his job and McCrea replies I want to go to my house justified! It turns up on cable sometime and you might be able to rent it, if anyone knows where I can purchase a DVD of it let me know.
By Eric Burdon. Burdon to refresh, was the singer for the Animals who along with The Beatles and Stones were in my opinion the best of the 60’s. In fact for a time I liked the Animals better! My daughter gave this to me for Christmas and I couldn’t put it down. It’s candid, savvy, witty and sometimes hilarious. It also is free from the bitterness of his last book ‘ I used to me an Animal but I’m alright now’. Burdon has probably done as much as anyone to spread the blues and more importantly champion the original artists that created the music.He’s alive and well.
The story of Soul Music, by Gerri Hirshey. Published in 1984 by Penguin it’s well worth seeking out. It tells the story of the great Soul artists and their music, from Aretha, James Brown, Martha Reeves, Junior Walker, Otis Redding and many more. From Motown to Memphis and every important stop in between. More than any other form of music, the Soul connection just gets me every time. The first time I heard Ray Charles sing ‘What’d I Say’ on the radio I became ‘altered’ and have stayed that way ever since. I often wonder how music would have changed if Otis Redding hadn’t died. He was so set to ‘cross over’ and what a great example to all he would have continued to be. I just retired my blue van, ‘the songbird’ and bought a new Dodge Grand Caravan and the first cd I played in the cockpit had to be special and it had to be soul, so it had to be my idol, ‘the big O’, Otis Redding.
Welcome to Life in Joe’s Room were I share my thoughts on just about any topic.
