Billy Mitchell, 74, a saxophonist who played in bands led by Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Woody Herman died April 18 of lung cancer at his home in Rockville Center NY. Born in Kansas City, Mitchell moved to Detroit as a youth and quickly honed his interest in music. Mainly a tenor sax player, he also played alto and soprano saxophone as well as flute and clarinet. He worked with Nat Towles' band in Detroit and Lucky Millander's Orchestra in New York in the late 1940s. He replaced Gene Ammons in the Woody Herman Orchestra in 1949. The high point in Mitchell's career was his stint with the Gillespie band in 1956 and '57. He played with Basie from 1957 to 1961 and later in the mid-1960s. Mitchell was very active in jazz education in New York City schools and offered seminars at Hofstra University and Yale. He spent more than 30 years as a resident player at a jazz spot in Seaford, N.Y., called Sonny's Place.
BERLIN (AP) - Evelyn Kuenneke, a Berlin singer and cabaret artist whose tune "Sing Nightingale Sing" was a hit among German soldiers during World War II, died Saturday of lung cancer, her manager said. She was 79.
# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to majordomo@lists.xmission.com.
# To post, email exotica@lists.xmission.com; replies go to original sender.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 09 May 2001 14:30:26 -0400
From: nytab@pipeline.com
Subject: (exotica) Otis on Irwin's show
Anyone else listening to Otis Fodder on Chusid's show right now?
If not, you're missing something!! They're going until 4pm so you still have time to tune in.
link via http://www.wfmu.org
lousmith@pipeline.com
# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to majordomo@lists.xmission.com.
# To post, email exotica@lists.xmission.com; replies go to original sender.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 09 May 2001 15:19:06 -0400
From: alan zweig <azed@pathcom.com>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Re: Rod McKuen.....
At 07:29 AM 5/9/01 -0400, Robert Cohen wrote:
.>. I plan to rethink McKuen completely, as I see the
>McKuen/Kerr albums at yard sales all the time. And, I can relate to you as
>I am continually defending Karen Carpenter to the death, and people think
>I'm nuts.
.
Karen Carpenter had a great voice and she knew how to use it. It's a
distinction worth making in these sorry days of Celine Dion. Karen
Carpenter never tried to impress you with her voice; she just sang the song.
I think I once had anti-Carpenters feelings but that had a lot to do with
the era in which they came out. They seemed like enemies at the time.
And for some reason, Richard Carpenter seems like a bit of a dick.
But I like their records and I listen to them and if "we've only just
begun" comes on the radio, I swoon a little.
As far as Rod goes, I don't know if it's the sound of his voice or
something creepy about his personality or his immense popularity that
turned people off.
I wouldn't defend everything he did. It's just that he did a lot of
different things and I like some of them.
He may be an acquired taste. It's not as easy a call as Karen Carpenter.
If someone were to find the spoken word records a little corny, I could see
that. But the thing that's lovely about the Earth, Sky, Sea records are the
musical pieces arranged and written by Anita Kerr. I don't mind the spoken
word bits but the music is so nice that you can almost ignore the speaking.
And as far as his crooning records go, some people don't like
non-traditional voices. I do. I also like a guy called Robert Scott.
But if you hate his voice, I still recommend the all-McKuen record that
Frank Sinatra did. It's generally hated by Sinatra fans but so is another
Sinatra record I love, namely "Watertown".
I guess I like the Sinatra records that Sinatra fans hate. But it's not
out of perversity. I genuinely like them.
And that's the point, isn't it? Do people genuinely dismiss Rod McKuen or
is it a kneejerk reaction?
AZ
AZ
# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to majordomo@lists.xmission.com.
# To post, email exotica@lists.xmission.com; replies go to original sender.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 09 May 2001 15:45:39 -0400
From: alan zweig <azed@pathcom.com>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Rod McKuen.....
At 01:51 PM 5/9/01, Robert McKenna wrote:
>He seems kind of cool. But he translated Brel appallingly. Absolute
>monstrosity. La Moribunde as 'seasons in the sun' and 'Ne me quitte pas' as
>'If you go away'. Utter absolute kitsch schmaltz shite.
Ne me quitte pas means I suppose, don't leave me. Do you have any
suggestions for how that can be expressed in five syllables?
To me the whole issue of translating lyrics or poetry has always been a
thorny one.
Lyrics by their very nature can't really be translated.
And most of the time, when it's done, people complain. Especially if they
love the original.
I don't know about Brel in particular but I think that whole French
tradition of which Brel was the most famous practitioner is a particularly
French thing and really can't be translated into English. So I don't know
if it's a good translation; I just think "If you go away" is a pretty good
song and at the same time, it reminds me of a song form that is not "English".
If you're not French and you don't speak French, you can't really expect to
experience an artist like Brel. But in spite of that, people do expect it.
They want the untranslatable translated.
That's a very American viewpoint if you don't mind me saying.
I'm not saying that's what YOU're demonstrating here but just in general.
Anyway I don't know why I'm defending McKuen.
I like "if you go away" on its own. If it turns out it's not a good
translation, let someone else try their hand and do a better job.
AZ
# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to majordomo@lists.xmission.com.
# To post, email exotica@lists.xmission.com; replies go to original sender.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 09 May 2001 16:04:52 -0500
From: Clayton Black <clayton.black@washcoll.edu>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Re: Rod McKuen.....
> From: alan zweig <azed@pathcom.com>
> I think I once had anti-Carpenters feelings but that had a lot to do with
> the era in which they came out.
My sentiments exactly. Somehow I knew the moment would appear when I could
bring this up, but has anybody else seen the film "Superstar," in which the
Carpenters are played by Barbie dolls? At first I thought that the gimmick
of dolls was silly, but the longer I watched the more interesting it became
and the less I noticed the dolls. The success of the film, as I saw it, was
that it presented fascinating connections between the Carpenters' success
and the national sense of disgrace that had set in with the failings of the
war in Vietnam. At the same time, however, the feel-good quality of the
Carpenters' music masked the unpleasant realities of Karen's struggle for
control of her body (which the film largely, and perhaps unfairly--I'm in no
position to judge--blames on her parents) just as it made the country feel
good at a time when we were about to lose the war and the president was
about to be revealed as a crook. My explanation may not do justice to the
connections the film makes, but I went away from the film with a very high
opinion of it and amazed at how thoroughly those tunes evoked the feeling of
the early 70s (and I hated those sappy sentimental tunes back then).
Unfortunately, the Carpenters' family has disallowed the use of the
songs in "Superstar" (since they, understandably, disapprove of it), so the
film is only available (as far as I know) in very grainy bootleg copies.
Diehard Carpenters fans may hate it, but I thought it was great.
Clayton
# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to majordomo@lists.xmission.com.
# To post, email exotica@lists.xmission.com; replies go to original sender.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 09 May 2001 16:23:46 -0400
From: alan zweig <azed@pathcom.com>
Subject: (exotica) soundtrack question
The last two potentially groovy soundtracks I bought were not groovy at
all, though "Harrad Summer" has some nice classic soundtrack moments. The
other non groovy one is "Cactus Flower".
But come on, if Harrad Summer isn't groovy, what is the world coming to?
It's based on the Harrad Experiment which is all about sexy hippies having
sex with everyone. And the soundtrack is by Pat Williams who is capable of
being groovy.
And yet the soundtrack sounds like warmed-over early sixties Mancini, which
ain't bad but ain't groovy.
It's 1974. Maybe that was too late for groovy.
So now I need to know.
Is the soundtrack to "Joe" by Joe Butler of the Lovin Spoonful, I assume,
groovy in any way? I have wonderful memories of the film but of course I
don't remember the soundtrack.
And what about this thing called "The Baby Maker" with a score by "Ole
Blue" whoever the hell that was?
Yeah it's on ebay. If I go there tonight and there's a bunch of bids, I
guess I'll know the answer to my questions.
Was there a more clever way to ask my questions?
Anyone?
AZ
# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to majordomo@lists.xmission.com.
# To post, email exotica@lists.xmission.com; replies go to original sender.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 09 May 2001 16:25:49 -0400
From: alan zweig <azed@pathcom.com>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Re: Rod McKuen.....
At 04:04 PM 5/9/01 -0500, Clayton Black wrote:
c, but has anybody else seen the film "Superstar," in which the
>Carpenters are played by Barbie dolls?
If anyone has a copy of this, I'd love to trade anything for a copy of your
copy. But otherwise this Todd Haynes film was pulled out of distribution
by a Richard Carpenter lawsuit. It's now a legend.
AZ
# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to majordomo@lists.xmission.com.
# To post, email exotica@lists.xmission.com; replies go to original sender.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 09 May 2001 16:28:11 -0400
From: Will Straw <wstraw@po-box.mcgill.ca>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Re: Rod McKuen.....
I saw Superstar, and llikewise loved it. I wish I could remember whose
copy I borrowed.
Will
Will Straw,
Associate Professor and Acting Chair,
Department of Art History and Communications Studies
McGill University
853 Sherbrooke Street W.
Montreal, QC H3A 2T6
Canada
Phone: (514) 398 7667 Fax: (514) 398 7247
Co-Investigator, Culture of Cities Project,
http://www.yorku.ca/culture_of_cities/
# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to majordomo@lists.xmission.com.
# To post, email exotica@lists.xmission.com; replies go to original sender.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 09 May 2001 16:46:46 -0400
From: Brian Phillips <hagar@mindspring.net>
Subject: Re: (exotica) soundtrack question
>But come on, if Harrad Summer isn't groovy, what is the world coming to?
>It's based on the Harrad Experiment which is all about sexy hippies having
>sex with everyone. And the soundtrack is by Pat Williams who is capable of
>being groovy.
I thought that Harrad Summer was the groovy sequel to the Harrad
Experiment, in which the co-edded, co-habitating dormies "applied what they
learned" (this was back in the days that the salacious paperback cover art
made me go "ewww").
Is the soundtrack to "Joe" by Joe Butler of the Lovin Spoonful, I assume,
>groovy in any way? I have wonderful memories of the film but of course I
>don't remember the soundtrack.
I have the soundtrack, but I have only listened to the cool, albeit not
groovy song by Exuma, "You Don't Know What's Going On". I will listen to
it and let ye know.
Richard "Your suggestion for my nickname here" Holmes
# Need help using (or leaving) this mailing list?
# Send the command "info exotica" to majordomo@lists.xmission.com.
# To post, email exotica@lists.xmission.com; replies go to original sender.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 9 May 2001 17:07:21 -0400
From: buMp <bump@defectiverecords.com>
Subject: Re: (exotica) soundtrack question
>Richard "Your suggestion for my nickname here" Holmes
