Will you be in New York on Nov. 16? How about Toronto on Nov. 18? Come hear me talk about my new book, Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop (Grove).
Nov. 16—In New York, I will be at Barnes & Noble at 82nd St. and Broadway. I will be joined by Rob Hyman, keyboardist, co-founder of the Hooters band and co-writer with Cyndi Lauper of the #1 hit Time After Time. Our conversation will begin at 7 p.m. Be sure to come up after to say hi to us.
Nov. 18—In Toronto, I will be at the radio studios of JAZZ.FM91, Canada's leading jazz station, to talk about my book with the station's director of community outreach David Wall. I'll be sharing my most personal and touching interview moments with major artists, including Joni Mitchell, Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger, Stevie Wonder, Keith Richards, Elvis Costello and many others. For tickets and more information, go here.
To pre-order Anatomy of a Song in the U.S., go here. In the U.K., go here. And in Canada, go here.
More exciting events and media coverage to follow in the days ahead.
In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn on growing up in Minnesota and what the fearless alpine racer fears most (go here). Lindsey has a new book out, Strong Is the New Beautiful.
Also in the WSJ, my chat with former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins on the day in 1955 that he saw beatniks motor up in a boat on an Ontario lake, park at the dock, get out, set up a phonograph, play Benny Goodman's Sing Sing Sing and dance (go here). Billy has a new collection of poetry, The Rain in Portugal.
Shirley Horn. In the wake of my post on Shirley Horn this week, I received the following email from vocalist Tessa Souter:
"Marc, wonderful blog post. I love her. She's like a Jane Austen novel—super subtle. So subtle that people might not get it. Lazy Afternoon, with Billy Hart and Buster Williams, has an instrumental version of Gentle Rain with a phenomenal arrangement. I love it. My granddaughter could sing the bass line the moment she heard it when she was 6." Here's the Shirley Horn Trio playing The Gentle Rain...
Love bassist Bob Cranshaw? His family is in pressing need for funds to help pay for his 24-hour at-home care. Bob has stage-four cancer. For more information and to donate, go here.
Here's Bret Primack's interview with Bob on his bass...
Woody Shaw's son, Woody Shaw III, has posted at his site a 1976 interview with his father. The subject: "My Approach to Jazz" (go here).
Thelonious Monk radio. New York's WKCR-FM will present its annual Thelonious Monk Birthday Broadcast on Monday, Oct. 10, playing his music for 24 hours around the clock. The on-air festivities begin Sunday night at 11:59 p.m. (EDT), and then last all day and night on Monday. To listen on your computer from anywhere in the world, go here.
Nina Simone. If you missed the documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone?, a 2015 film by Liz Garbus, it's now available as a DVD and CD from Eagle Rock. The footage will take your breath away, and the film does a powerful job of detailing Simone's rise and her struggles with mental illness. I certainly was taken aback (go here). Here's the film's trailer...
Frank Sinatra. Also from Eagle Rock, three new DVDs of Frank Sinatra live and TV performances. As you may recall, I reviewed the first batch of DVD releases here. Out now, Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back (1973) teamed with The Main Event (1974); At the Royal Festival Hall (1970) with Sinatra in Japan (1985); and Happy Holidays With Frank & Bing with Vintage Sinatra, which combines a Christmas TV special from 1957 with a compilation from his 1950s TV shows. You'll find these three DVDs here, here and here.
Roland Kirk. Last week I received the following email from singer-songwriter and pianist Meredith D'Ambrosio...
"Marc, your post brings back memories. The first time I saw Roland Kirk was in the mid-1960s at Lennie's on the Turnpike in Peabody, Mass., before the club burned down. He was on a break, fiddling around with a large camera, taking it apart and putting it back together again. How did he know how to do that? I watched him in amazement. And suddenly there he was on stage with his mouth stuffed with the hippest sounding instruments that he played at the same time. I was very amused! That night he played a flute tuned to a radio frequency. Loved him."
For more on Meredith, visit her site here.
Jack Sheldon. The ever-graceful West Coast copywriter Margy Bloom sent along the following YouTube clip of Jack Sheldon. It features Jack on The Cara Williams Show, sort of a Los Angeles version of That Girl. [Photo of Jack Sheldon by Brian McMillen]
This episode aired in January 1965...
WLS radio jingles. Like me (and probably you), Margy is nuts for radio jingles that feature vocal harmony groups. As you may recall, I posted on Larry and Toni Greene's jingles for WNEW back in 2012. Margy found a treasure trove of vocal jingles for WLS in Chicago. Go here and click on the various clip bars that trace the history of the station's jingle through the years and music fads.
The Byrds. Writer Michael Simmons has a piece in this month's Mojo magazine in the U.K. on the Byrds' Eight Miles High (1966) and how it set the stage for acid rock. In the States, you'll find Mojo in the magazine racks at most Barnes & Noble bookstores.
Stove-top serenade. A couple of weeks ago, I featured the cover of Music for Cooking With Gas as an Oddball Album Cover of the Week. Jim Eigo of Jazz Promo Services happened to have the album and uploaded it. Here's the entire EP...
What the heck. Here's the regal Nancy Wilson singing Face It Girl, It's Over...
Oddball album cover of the week.
Page Cavanaugh may be carrying the torch but our model seems distracted by a car flying through the lounge's plate-glass window.
