Ronny, Dionne and Merle

In The Wall Street Journal last week, I interviewed comedian Ronny Chieng for my House Call column in the Mansion section (go here). Ronny is Comedy Central's Daily Show senior correspondent and co-stars in Interior Chinatown, a new drama-comediy series from Hulu. Ronny's rise is rather amazing. He grew up in Malaysia, came to the US as a 4-year-old when his parents went to college here, returned to Malaysia, went to law school in Australia, tried stand-up after watching Seinfeld and David Letterman, gained visibility and was brought into the Daily Show when Trevor Noah took over in 2015. [Publicity photo above of Ronny Chieng courtesy of Ronny Chieng]

Here's a sample of Ronny's comedy...

And here's the trailer for Interior Chinatown...

What I'm Watching Now

My favorite streaming TV series, ranked...

1. Babylon Berlin
2. My Brilliant Friend
3. Killing Eve
4. The Crown
5. The Americans
6. Band of Brothers
7. Landman
8. Friday Night Lights
9. Feud: Bette and Joan
10. Downton Abbey
11. The Blacklist
12. Goliath
13. The Gentlemen
14. Turn: Washington's Spies
15. Unbelievable
16. Justified
17. Voiceless (Bella da morire (2020/MHz)

Just viewed and highly recommended...

Friday Night Lights (2006-2011)—A fantastic series I missed when it came out focusing on a Texas football town and the drama that goes on with the gridiron at the center of it all. Great performances by Connie Britton, Taylor Kitsch and Minka Kelly. (Netflix)

Here's the trailer...

The Blacklist (2013-2023)—I'm still on Season 6 out of 10 and still hooked on this spy-thriller series. James Spader is fantastic as the man who knows where the bad guys are and, in action-packed scenes, does away with them with an FBI task force. Lots of other subplots going on throughout. An attention-holder. (Netflix)

Watched in advance and recommended, plus start dates...

• Landman S1 (Nov. 17/Paramount+)
• Interior Chinatown S1 (Nov. 19/Hulu)
• A Man on the Inside S1 (Nov. 21/Netflix)
• No Good Deed S1 (Dec. 12/Netflix)
  
• American Primeval S1 (Jan. 9/Netflix)

Worth watching...

TV series

• The Affair—(2014-2019/Hulu)
• Alaska Daily—(2022/Prime)
• The Americans—(2013-2018)/Prime)
• Anatomy of a Scandal—(2022/Netflix)
• Apples Never Fall—2024/Peacock)
• Babylon Berlin (2017-2024/MHz via Prime Video)
• Band of Brothers—(2001/Netflix) 
• The Bay (2019-current/BritBox)
• The Blacklist (2013-2023/Netflix)
• Belgravia—(2020/Prime Video)
• Blue Lights—(2023/BritBox)
• Bosch—(2014-2021/Prime)
• Bosch: Legacy—(2022-current/Prime)
• The Crown—(2016-2023/Netflix)
• Cherif—(2013-2019/Prime)
• Dark Winds—(2022/AMC)
• The Diplomat—(2023/Netflix)
• Downton Abbey—(2020-2015/Prime)
• Emily in Paris—(2020-present/Netflix)
• Feud (S1): Bette and Joan—(2017/Hulu)
• Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans—(2024/FX, with streaming on Hulu)
• Fisk—(2021/Netflix)
• Friday Night Lights (2006-2011/Netflix)
• The Gentlemen—(2024/Netflix)
• Godless—(2017/Netflix)
• Goliath—(2016-2021/Prime)
• The Gilded Age—(current/Max)
• High Water—(2022/Netflix)
• Homeland—(2011-2020/Showtime)
• Jane Eyre—(2006/Britbox)
• Justified—(2010-2015/Hulu)
• Killing Eve—(2018-2022/Netflix)
• Life & Beth—(Seasons 1& 2, 2022-present/Hulu)
• Lincoln Lawyer—(2022-present/Netflix)
• Loudermilk—(2017-2020/Netflix)
• MI-5, the Series—(2002-2011/BritBox)
• Monsieur Spade—(2024/AMC)
• Murdaugh Murders: The Movie, Parts 1 and 2—(2023/Lifetime)
• My Brilliant Friend—(2018-current)
• 1923—(2022-present/Paramount+)
• 1883—(2021-2022/Prime)
• Outlander—(2014-present/Netflix)
• Pieces of Her—(2022/Netflix)
• Poldark—(2015-2019/Prime)
• Reacher—(2016-present/Netflix)
• Ripley—(2024/Netflix)
• Scott & Bailey (2011-2016/Prime)
• Turn: Washington's Spies—(2014-2017/Prime)
• Unbelievable—(2019/Netflix)
• Under the Banner of Heave—(2022/Hulu)
• Veronica Mars—(2004 to 2019/Hulu)
• Voiceless (Bella da morire—(2020/MHz)
• The Watcher—(2022/Netflix)
• The Way Home—(2023-current/Peacock)
• Who Is Erin Carter—(2023/Netflix)
• The Woman in the Wall—(2024/Showtime)
• The Veil—(2024/Hulu-FX)
• Wilder—(2017-current)
• WPC 56—(2013-2015/Britbox)
• Yellowstone—(2018-present/Paramount Network)

Films

• The Accountant—(2016/Hulu)
• American Gangster—(2007/Max)
• Armageddon Time—(2022/Prime)
• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs—(2018/Netflix)
• The Ballad of Lefty Brown—(2017/Netflix)
• Blackout (2022/Netflix) 
• The Bricklayer—(2024/Netflix)
• The Commuter (2018/Netflix)
• The Dig—(2021/Netflix)
• Eiffel—(2021/Prime)
• Enola Holmes 1 and 2—(2022/Netflix)
• The Equalizer 1, 2 and 3—(2014-2024/Prime)
• The Great Lillian Hall—(2024/Max)
• Fury—(2014/Netflix)
• God's Country—(2022/Hulu
• Guy Ritchie's The Covenant—(2023/Prime)
• I Used to Be Funny (2023/Netflix)
• Jack Reacher (the movie)—(2012/Paramount+) 
• Kill Chain—(2019/Max)
• Knight and Day—(2010/Roku)
• Last Night in Soho—(2021/Prime)
• Last Seen Alive—(2020/Netflix)
• The Little Things—(2021/Netflix)
• Lonely Planet—(2024)/Netflix)
• Man on Fire—(2004/Max)
• Manchester by the Sea—(2016/Prime Video)
• MI-5—(2015/Max)
• The Mule—(2018/Netflix)
• The Night Agent—(2023/Netflix)
• Nobody—(2021/Prime)
• Nobody Wants This—(2024/Netflix)
• Ordinary Angels—(2024)
• Purple Hearts—(2022/Netflix)
• The Queen's Gambit—(2020/Netflix)
• Queenpins—(2021/Pluto TV)
• Reptile—(2023/Netflix)
• Ruthless—(2023/Hulu)
• The Secret: Dare to Dream—(2020/Netflix)
• Self Reliance—(2023/Hulu)
• Seraphim Falls—(2006/Netflix)
• Some Girl(s)—(2013/Amazon Prime)
• Somewhere in Queens—(2022/Hulu)
• The Spy—(2019/Netflix)
• Spy(ies)—(2009/Prime)
• The Stranger—(2022/Netflix)
• Toscana—(2022/Netflix)
• The Two Popes—(2019/Netflix)
• Up in the Air—(2009/Max)
• Wonder Wheel—(2017/Prime)

Documentaries

• Aftershock: Everest and the Nepal Earthquake—(2022/Netflix)
• The Beach Boys—(2024/Disney)
• Carole King: Live in Central Park—(2023/PBS)
• The Comeback—(2005 and 2014/Max)
• Cunk on Earth—(2022/Netflix)
• Cyndi Lauper: Let the Canary Sing—(2023/Paramount+)
• Facing Nolan—(2022/Netflix)
• Five Came Back—(2017/Netflix)
• Jane Fonda in Five Acts—(2024/Max)
• Kate Hepburn: Call Me Kate—(2023/Netflix)
• Suzi Q: Suzi Quatro—(2019/Prime)
• The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari—(2022/Netflix)
• 'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris—(2007/go here

Early winter abroad. Last week, two friends sent along photos of winter's early arrival in the form of snow and ice. 

Here's a photo taken by photographer Gilles D'Elia in Paris...

And here's the road Nina Øverland had to travel to get home in western Sweden...

Billy Taylor. Last week, following my post on Billy Taylor's My Fair Lady Loves Jazz, I heard from Mark Rabin:

Hi, Marc. I loved Billy Taylor's "My Fair Lady Loves Jazz" and the two "Jazz Studio" posts. Random detail: I was born less than five miles from Decca's studio on Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles where the "Jazz Studio" sets were most likely recorded. It is now a Paramount Studios parking lot.

The full liner notes from the CD release of "My Fair Lady Loves Jazz" are on the Internet Archive (go here), as are Decca's "Jazz Studio" series notes (go here). 

I only had a chance to see Lou Donaldson in person one time, back around 1980, at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago. It was too small an audience for a Sunday afternoon set, but I'll never forget him playing his heart out on Polka Dots and Moonbeams. It was also my only time hearing Herman Foster live.

Jazz radio is alive in San Diego and streaming to the world on KSDS-FM. Representing New York City jazz in the Jazz Across America series is a weekly show hosted by the great bebop jazz drummer and self-described "jazz maniac," Kenny Washington. Thanks to KSDS for providing an archive of 80 past programs.

There aren't many jazz DJs whose shows I'd enjoy more than once or twice, but Kenny is certainly one of them. He brings the sound of surprise, to lift a line from Whitney Balliett.

The archive of Kenny's programs is here.

Johnny Hartman. Here's Sammy Davis jr. introducing the singer, who sings It Never Entered My Mind...

Amazing duets. Here's Carmen McRae and Sarah Vaughan singing Body and Soul...

Here's Dionne Warwick and Whitney Houston with Burt Bacharach at the piano playing his composition, That's What Friends Are For (with lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager) at Clive Davis's Arista Records 15th Anniversary Celebration in 1990...

Merle and Marty. One of my favorite country artists is Merle Haggard. He also was a wonderful interview. Whether you like country or not, you have to admire the voices and music of Hag and Marty Robbins:

Here's Today I Started Loving You Again...

Here they are on Don't Worry 'Bout Me...

And here's Hag and Dwight Yoakam singing Swinging Doors...

Breakfast at Tiffany's. Here's Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra playing the movie's theme, one of Henry Mancini's most beautiful pieces...

For comparison, here's the movie soundtrack version, with Hank's wife Ginny in the chorus hitting the hot notes...

New York tear-downs. For you architectural preservationists out there, last week, director Raymond De Felitta posted on three New York buildings that were torn down in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Their demolition was accompanied by such a public outcry that they led to the Landmarks Preservation Movement and the passage of the 1965 New York City Landmarks Law designed to protect buildings of architectural significance from the wrecking ball. [Photo above of the Savoy-Plaza Hotel, next to the thinner Pierre Hotel]

You can read Raymond's posts here, here and here.

Here are the three YouTube clips featuring well-written and well-spoken mini-documentaries on lost New York: 

Here's the tear-down of the Savoy-Plaza Hotel (replaced by the GM Building)...

Here's the tear-down of Pennsylvania Station (replaced by Madison Square Garden)...

And here's the demolition of the Singer Building (replaced by One Liberty Plaza in New York's financial distirct)...

Quincy Jones. Chris Cowles, long-time host of the Greasy Tracks radio show on WRTC-FM in Hartford, Ct., recently hosted a three-hour tribute to Quincy Jones. You can listen to the music archived here.

And finally, here's Billy Stewart singing Secret Love in 1966...

And here's probably Stewart's biggest hit from 1965—Sitting in the Park...