Wine…
How to…
Bada Boom!
A woman goes to the doctor looking fantastic. Hair and makeup done by a professional, Gucci heels, Versace dress, and Prada purse. “I’ve been stung by a nasty insect of some kind,” she tells the doctor, “…but I’m ashamed to tell you where.” “It’s okay,” says the doctor. “Our communication is privileged; I won’t tell anyone.” “Okay,” says the woman, “It was at Walmart.”
Want to know where I store all my dad jokes? In a dad-a-base.
How do babies keep track of their fathers?They use an extensive dada-base.
I thought I got a job building Egyptian tombs.Turned out to be a pyramid scheme.
Do they allow loud laughing in Hawaii, or just a low ha?
Paddy says to Mick, “I found this pen. Is it yours?”Mick replies, “I don’t know, give it here.”He tries it and says, “Yes it is!”Paddy asks, “How do you know?”Mick says, “That’s my handwriting!”
Musical Moment
Today is the birthday (in 1939 in Greenwood, Mississippi) of Betty Everett. She is best known for her 1964 hit ‘The Shoop Shoop Song’. She had a number of other hits including the duet with Jerry Butler, ‘Let It Be Me’. Here she is. (If you’re getting this post by email you’ll have to click on the link to hear/see it.)
Today is the anniversary of the first public performance (22 November, 1928) of Boléro by Maurice Ravel. It was one of his last compositions before his death in 1937.
Boléro was composed as a ballet commissioned by Russian dancer Ida Rubinstein. Ravel decided to base it on the Spanish musical form and dance called bolero. He invented a melody and said to a friend, “Don’t you think this theme has an insistent quality? I’m going to try and repeat it a number of times without any development, gradually increasing the orchestra as best I can.”
The piece was an instant success and is his most famous piece. I think the melody indeed has an insistent quality and I love the way he builds the orchestra behind it as wonderfully demonstrated in this performance by The Wiener Philharmoniker led by Gustavo Dudamel. Note: some subscribers do not get the youtube videos in your email. If you don’t see it, click on the link to the post.
Today is the birthday (15 November, 1932) of Petula Clark. Most of us on this side of the pond know her for her iconic 1964 hit ‘Downtown’. She was, however, a very successful performer before her first US hit.
She made her radio debut in 1942 and went on to a series of some 500 performances designed to entertain the troops. She also toured the UK with fellow child performer, Julie Andrews. She was considered a mascot by the British army and troops plastered her photos on tanks and such for good luck in battle.
In the late 50s and early 60s she became a star across Europe, recording hits in German, French, Spanish and Italian and had numerous number 1 hits both in the UK and across the channel. She also began composing film scores.
Her US debut came with the release of ‘Downtown’ in 1964. It went to number 1 on the charts in January of 1965. She also recorded the song in French and the song was a hit in the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Australia, India and Rhodesia. Clark went on to record 15 consecutive top 40 hits in the US.
An interesting episode occurred in 1968 when she was invited by NBC to film her own special. While singing a duet with Harry Belafonte, she took hold of his arm, much to dismay of a representative of Chrysler corporation (the sponsor) who feared that the moment would incur racial backlash from southern viewers. He demanded that they re-film the song with the two standing well apart. Clark refused and destroyed all other takes of the song and delivered the show to NBC with the touch intact. The Chrysler rep was fired and the show aired on 6 April, 1968, four days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Enough of my blathering. Here’s Petula!
And this…
and this…
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