In The Wall Street Journal this week, I interviewed actor Andrew McCarthy for my "House Call" column in the Mansion section (go here). The mid-1980s, the Brat Pack star was best known for his roles in St. Elmo's Fire, Pretty in Pink, Less Than Zero and, of course, the cult classic Weekend at Bernie's. He now has a best-selling memoir out, Brat: An '80s Story. [Photo above of Andrew McCarthy courtesy of ABC/Emmys]
Here's a clip from the latter film, with Andrew as Larry in the Hawaiian shirt...
Crystal Blue Persuasion. In case you missed my most recent "Anatomy of a Song" column in the WSJ, go here for my interview with Tommy James on how it was written and recorded. Here's the album version of Crystal Blue Persuasion, a pop masterpiece...
SiriusXM. Last week, I was on SiriusXM's Feedback with Lori Majeswki and Adam Weiner of the band Low Cut Connie (sitting in for Nick Carter) to talk about Tommy James and the Shondells and Crystal Blue Persuasion. To listen to the show, go here...
Rob Madna. Following my post on Dutch pianist Rob Madna (above), I heard from Angela Ballhorn, a jazz journalist, in Berlin...
Hi Marc, to read about Rob Madna at your blog was an amazing surprise. I found the link to your blog post in the press review of the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt/Germany on June 8th, which would have been Rob‘s 90th birthday.
I had the honor of knowing Rob, being a student of his and a friend of the family. Rob was an amazing musician, dedicated to the music, not the fame. Therefore he didn't play too many concerts. He practiced for hours. I remember him playing a spectacular improvisation on "Invitation," grinning afterward and saying "I never played that song in C# minor before." I also remember him watching Wimbledon tennis while practicing "Body and Soul" on a trumpet in all of the keys.
He was very proud of his "At Home" recordings, where he played everything by himself—keyboards, trumpet and the drums—adding the keyboard as the last trick. The sound might have been old fashioned (a Korg M 1 synthesizer), but his sense of swing was absolutely stunning. Bob Brookmeyer, Rob's dear friend, who came over to Europe quite often to jam, used to say about these recordings that he‘d love to hire the bass player.
Here's a link to an at-home recording of Stella by Starlight...
Here's Rob with the Dutch Jazz Orchestra...
One last thing, something many people probably aren't aware of: During the war, Rob's father in Holland, Tole Johannes Madna, hid a Jewish boy from the Nazis and saved his life. You'll find the story in the Washington Post here.
For an hour-long audio oral history with Tole Johannes Madna about the war and the hidden boy, go here.
Walter Becker, the late guitarist and co-writer with Donald Fagen of Steely Dan's catalog of songs, died in 2017. He was fondly remembered in an essay by Howard A. Rodman that director Raymond De Felitta sent along here.
Percy France now has a tribute site created by Dan Gould. Go here.
And finally, here are trumpeters Maynard Ferguson and Dusko Goykovich on Mike Abene's Fox Hunt in 1969 just before Ferguson's mid-life musical crisis...
