Favorite Television Shows?

Since I’ve been forced to stay pretty still most of the day I have been watching a lot of television (and thanks to Infinity I can go back and see many shows I’ve missed over the months) and have developed a list of shows I don’t want to miss. Act6ually, I’d repeat watching many of them several times (I often fall asleep before the end due to my condition and I want to find out what happened.)

Yesterday my daughter Cassandra and I discovered we liked a lot of the same shows. Oh, there were differences, but so many of the major ones were on both of our lists that I was sure I had had a child who was just like me.

I know you probably have favorite shows, too. Here is my top seven:

1. The Mentalist – I don’t know what it is about this one, but I am totally hooked on it. It’s Cassandra’s number 1 show as well.
2. 

   “Corky” Corcoran, my favorite “Copper” Cop

   Copper – Have you seen this one on BBC America? It’s the story of NYC cops in the 1860s during the late Civil War era and the conflict between the Irish slums of Five Points and the rich folk on 5th Avenue… not to mention the Confederate conspiracy to burn down New York with an explosive called “Greek Fire.” This one has finished it’s 10 shows of the season and is now running repeats. I guess the new season starts in January.

3. Suits – New Episodes start in January, but you can see all the older one’s on USA Network‘s web site.
4. White Collar – waiting for January for this one to come back for another season… really miss it.
5. Covert Affairs – the current season is just ending, but I LOVE this little CIA girl and the stuff she gets into.
6. Big Bang Theory – Got to have my favorite comedy in there.
7. Burn Notice – which just came back for a seventh season last week. Watching Mike, Sam and the folks at work is sooo exciting.

I like “Vegas” on CBS, but the rumor is running around that it will be cancelled for low ratings. Too bad.

So, what are yours? Do you have the same esoteric crime and conspiracy lust that I do? If they had more shows like PBS’ Broadway Musicals (from 2004) which I have been watching the re-runs from, I’d be watching that stuff more.

I get most of my news from MSNBC and PBS. What’s life without starting the day with “Morning Joe?” or Sundays with CBS “Sunday Morning?”

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• USA Renews ‘Burn Notice’ (huffingtonpost.com)
• ‘Royal Pains’, ‘White Collar’ and ‘Covert Affairs’ Renewed by USA For New Seasons (tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com)
• Dynamic CIA Women: Annie of ‘Covert Affairs’ and Carrie of ‘Homeland’ (buddytv.com)
• Copper on BBC America Fine Television – out on Blu-ray (smallscreensilversurfer.com)
• ‘Suits’ Renewed by USA for Third Season (tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com)
• The Mentalist- “If It Leads, it Bleeds” Review (11oclocknews.typepad.com)
• The Mentalist Milestone: 100th Episode (sacramento.cbslocal.com)

 

Now that the Political Season is 0ver…

After the most expensive and longest and most frustrating presidential campaign in our history, we can now get back to0 the important stuff. To me, of course, that is the Arts, especially Visual Arts and Theatre. To kick off my searches and good feelings, here’s some verse by Kurt Vonnegut that my pal Joe Bratcher uploaded to Facebook:

I agree with you, Kurt. We have enough investment bankers, corporate execs and politicians already. Artists we need more of.

I have such an urge to direct again…

… and what I really am eager to do is a production of the 1953 musical “Kismet“, whose music was adapted from classical work of Borodin.

The wonderful Arabian Nights story of 16th Century Baghdad about a fortune teller, a Wazir, a young Caliph and two very lovely women is something I have loved most of my life.

Many of it’s musical numbers became song classics. “Baubles, Bangles and Beads“, “Stranger in Paradise” and this:

“This is My Beloved.”

The show was a starring vehicle for Alfred Drake and the Broadway debut of Richard Kiley.

Unfortunately, my current physical condition makes it seem like I will never be able to direct again. If the tumor is removed it will probably endanger the part of my brain where cognitive creativity is connected. If we don’t solve the problem and I keep having seizures I will never be able to drive again and won’t be able to put in the solid effort that coordinating a musical production, especially a large and complex one as this, would be very difficult. It could certainly, however, make West Virginia community theatre history.

And then I have to find one of the local community playhouses who might let me do it… find 20 great performers … get a nice piano score for my dear collaborator Ruth Robertas to play from… and find a local choreographer who can bring the dancing girls to life.

If I get through this surgery and all that accompanies it, it will take at least a year before I can even get started (apart from notes I am doing now) putting it together. One can hope. It gives me something to focus on.

Related articles

• STAGE TUBE: On This Day 10/7- Alfred Drake (broadwayworld.com)
• MUSIC: On a November weekend, music to evoke ‘Summer Nights’ (kitsapsun.com)
• Augustin Hadelich Performs Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole (wqxr.org)

 

Getting this election over with is becoming an evening of sheer misery…

It’s not enough that I am going in for tests before my Friday brain surgery at 6:30 AM tomorrow and go through four different doctors and three tests by 2:30 PM…just getting my mind in the mood for that doesn’t let me bond with the TV pundits who are arguing out the campaign results they can’t really call.

Thinking about how miserable it would be if Romney won, but that is not nearly as bad as thinking about how graceless in their concessions the losers will be if Obama and the Democratic Congressional candidates win. Nobody seems to really be trying to tie the country together and make us the UNITED states that we have to become.

BTW, I want to really think the hundreds of you who have wished me well by e-mail, in Facebook, and those of you who have commented on this blog.  I never really knew how many of you visit the LobsterScope and it’s daily changing graphic background and what my daughter calls the rantings of an old man. I hope I’ll be back at full speed next week some time, but it will be hard to keep it up now through the weekend. Don’t be surprised if a day has no or only one post… and don’t plan on anything Friday or Saturday.

Those of you who listen to me on the radio at WSHC 89.7 Shepherdstown, either locally or on the worldwide live feed at http://897wshc.org , won’t hear me this weekend. I got friends and fellows to cover my time on the air and I thank all of them.

If you are in a state that has late polls open and you haven’t voted yet, get out there and do it. People have died for your right to vote!

Bye now… Bill.

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We’ve had a lovely afternoon and evening at the American Conservation Film Festival.

We are in the four day period of the ACFF, now celebrating it’s 10th Anniversary of presenting conservation and nature support films here in Shepherdstown.

We saw two films this afternoon, but tonight we saw two films accompanied by live discussions and question periods with the filmmakers.

The most interesting to me was Marion Stoddart whose life and career spent saving the Nashua River was so well presented in the short film “The Work of 1000.”

Filmmaker Susan Edwards broached the subject Can one person truly make a difference? This film tells the inspiring story of how a remarkable woman saved a dying river–for herself, for the community and for future generations–and became an environmental hero honored by the United Nations.

Mrs Stoddart, now in her 80s spent decades getting a very polluted river clean… petitioning, demonstrating, approaching manufacturers and politicians directly, and getting her husband and children involved. Her live presentation with the audience was very involving.

Our Nation’s River: A System on Edge  was the second film we saw this evening. Ten minutes long and made by Alexandra Cousteau, granddaughter of historic natural filmmaker Jaques Costeau. This piece was particularly meaningful for us, since it is about the Potomac River, the water body that forms our northern border and flows from us down to Washington DC.

Ms, Cousteau answered questions but also presented a discussion panel of professionals from the Nature Conservancy and the Potomac River Foundation.

The House was pretty full at Reynolds Hall, Shepherd University, with a number of standers who wanted to catch everything as well. Among the folks there tonight were most of the officers of Sustainable Shepherdstown (My wife is in that bunch, of course), our current State Delegate John Dolan whose work for us has been spectacular and who is leaving office at the end of the session. Steve Skinner, the Democratic candidate for Delegate who, hopefully, will take John’s place, was there as well. Both men realize the importance the Potomac is to our community. Of course, Republican Candidate Elliot Spitzer was NOT there this evening. Preserving our environment is just not a Republican issue… after all, don’t they all think that Climate Change is a joke?

We’re going to some more films tomorrow.

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• Flood Warning Continues For D.C., Coastal Md., Va. (baltimore.cbslocal.com)

Here’s a video treat from ALL HAT NO CATTLE…

…the one blog I try to view every day. This is a video that Lisa put together Called “Back in the Good Old Days” which is a good indicator that Romney will bring Bushiness back to us.

 

Hope you enjoy it. I sure did!

 

Hey radio fans… we have a special schedule today due to football season:

My “Talk To Me” show will be on WSHC this morning from 10:30 AM to Noon. We’ll have 90 minutes for your eclectic song requests, discussion of politics with 3 days to go until all of this is decided, and perhaps some comments on the results of Sandy.

If you are too far away to call in at 304-876-5369 remember you can also Listen Live at our web site from anywhere in the world. Just go to 579WSHC.org and click on “Listen Live” and you can join our regular morning call-in group (join Ralph, Stu, Bobby and Oinky and the rest of the gang… we’d love to have you on the team.

Elliott Simon’s shown is on before ours from 9:00 to 10:30 AM.

OK… I’m putting my show together so I can get out of the house on time.

 

Some words about this blog and me…

I often get e-mail from folks out there in the web world who want to know about Under The LobsterScope and why I keep it going and put a major part of each day into it. It is for that reason that I’ve decided to say a few things that will clarify my relationship with UTL and, perhaps, encourage you to get involved as a commentor.

I started this blog through another editing site, Blogspot, during the 2004 presidential election year. I did several thousand entries over five years or so and then something happened. For some reason, someone got into my blog at Blogspot and did some fairly confusing stuff leaving it impossible for me to post on. I cancelled my relationship with Blogspot and over 4000 posts ago I started UTL up again through WordPress where it remains today.

While I was interested in electoral politics (originally in Maryland before my wife and I moved to West Virginia), my biggest interest at the time – and even now, a little – was in theatre directing. I got to do a couple of musicals and some plays at local community theatres and spent a lot of time attending theatre events (one of the reasons we moved to the Shepherdstown, WV, area was to be closer to the Contemporary American Theater Festival which we attend every year.

I also have a great interest in the visual arts… Elly’s background is as a painter and visual artist. That means heading off to galleries locally, in DC and other places. Add to the visual stuff an interest in music and poetry and dance. The arts in general are very important parts of my life.

As to politics, during the past couple of years beginning with the election of Barack Obama, I have become more and more an active Democrat and have felt it is my obligation, since this is a published item read by thousands of people a week, to expose the really awful things Republicans and extreme conservatives are trying to pull off.

Several of you have also noted that I often expose dangerous things being done by religious organizations. As you probably know I am a non-believer… an atheist, a humanist… and cannot understand how people with developed intellectual capacity can believe this stuff. I have no problem exposing things that might make readers see what I see. I am, however, as opposed to pushing my atheism on others as I am of them pushing their religious beliefs on me.

Now that my current age and health keeps me in the house most of the days of the week, I have much time to read other web sites, magazines and other publications, many of which I quote or comment on in the blog. On an average day I do at least 5 posts.

I have established some regular features in this blog that I hope you enjoy. Cartoon(s) of the Week is the one people think of first when I talk about regular features. I have been interested in editorial cartoons for many years. During the current election I have regularly been posting poll results which I see by the search term roundups many of you are looking for. And, of course, there is my regular posting of celebrity obituaries.

If there is any kind of post I do that you would like to see become a regular feature, just let me know and it’s likely to happen.

– Bill

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Saturday Morning and I’m getting ready for the 11 o’clock show…

Our regular schedule at WSHC (89.7 FM) is back this week, so my show, Talk To Me, is on from 11 AM to 1 PM and I’ll be taking calls from listeners at 304.876.5369. Remember, if you are not in our listening area (which unfortuneately ony covers about 50 miles around Shepherdstown, WV) you can listen live on the web site: http://897wshc.org.

As usual, I am putting together the list of songs I’d like to play on the show, but I expect my regular callers and more will call in with hard to find requests (which I usually pull out of the air) and their music, as usual, outplays mine. It’s really worth listening to if you have a desire to hear work from the 40s, 50s or 60s. Those are the years most of the requests fall into.

I also expect Ralph Petrie to show up around noon for one of my favorite parts of the show, The Petrie Dish. Ralph brings in his historic music list which really educates all of us on the history of rock ‘n roll.

I love the Saturday show and I hope you might as well.

 

I’VE GOT THE MORNING RADIO SHOW ALONE…

John is away this morning so I have to do the Winners & Losers show alone from 7:30 to 9 on WSHC (89.7 FM). To listen on line live from anywhere go to http://897wshc.org.

Elly, of course, is upset that she has to get up so early to take me into the station. John usually picks me up on his way in.

So right now I’m putting my music list together. I’ll be taking requests for music at 304-876-5369 if you want to hear yourself on the air.

 

The Opening of “The Book Of Mormon”

I wonder how much Mitt Romney has effected the success of The Book Of Mormon? I don’t think his identity as a Mormon has anything to do with it.

For a little entertainment though, let me give you, my readers, the opening of The Book Of Mormon at the 2012 Tony Awards on Broadway – Hope you enjoy it:

Finding something to do to keep from going mad!

 

I’ve had a bad day today… physically tripped up by a small seizure while I was doing dishes and an afternoon of trying to stay awake. This is, unfortunately, what life has become… I can’t drive (by law…until I’ve gone a year without a seizure as certified by a doctor) and, since Elly works (which I can’t do outside of the house), I bounce off the walls and am bombarded by televised boredom. If it were not for my laptop and the internet I might as well be in a coma.

So I guess I’m going to start writing something outside of my blog. There is a joy in constructing ideas out of words which I am beginning to look forward to each morning. What I do with what I write is not apparent right now, but I expect it will be realized sooner or later.

I’m tending toward creating a radio drama that I might be able to add to my Saturday show at WSHC, or do with John on the Friday morning show. I’ve been researching radio scripts from the 30s and 40s and I find them fascinating. Some are funny, some are adventures, all of them are strongly character-based since there is little opportunity for scenery (other than sound effects) in radio work.

When I get something finished I’ll let you know.

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My radio show is short and earlier today…

Shepherd University is loaded with alumni this weekend and there is a home football game which is covered on WSHC starting at 11 AM. That means that my show, Talk To Me, is only 1 hour long and starts at 10 AM.

I’m putting my short list of songs on my playlist now and that will keep me from blog posting until I’m back home after 10 AM.

If you want to listen at 10, but are outside of the fifty mile or so tuning radius for 89.7, you can listen live on the WSHC  web site:

http://897wshc.org. When you get there, click on “Listen Live”.

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Singer Andy Williams is Dead at 84.

Andy Williams was a voice of the 1960s whose biggest hit,  the Henry Mancini song “Moon River“,  became his p

Williams was on the pop charts into the 1970s, and continued to perform in his 80s at the Moon River Theatre he built in Branson, Mo.

Williams died Tuesday night at his home in Branson following a yearlong battle with bladder cancer. He was 84.

He became a major star the same year as Elvis Presley, 1956, with the Sinatra-like swing “Canadian Sunset,” and for a time he was pushed into such Presley imitations as “Lips of Wine” and the No. 1 smash “Butterfly.”

In 1970, when even Sinatra had given up and (temporarily) retired, Williams was in the top 10 with the theme from “Love Story,” the Oscar-winning tearjerker. He had 18 gold records and three platinum, was nominated for five Grammy awards.

“The Andy Williams Show”lasted on television in various formats through the 1960s and into 1971,  and featured Williams alternately performing his stable of hits and bantering casually with his guest stars. Williams was the first to introduce The Osmond Brothers and presented some greats like Ray Charles, Mama Cass and a then unknown Elton John.

Retirement was not on his schedule. As he told the AP in 2001: “I’ll keep going until I get to the point where I can’t get out on stage.”

Williams is survived by his wife, Debbie, and his three children, Robert, Noelle and Christian.

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About to go on with my 11 AM show on WSHC…

You can tune in from anywhere in the country… just go to 897wshc.org and click on “listen live”.

And don’t forget, you can call in as well… discuss politics, the arts or anything else…or request an obscure song. We’re on until 1:00 PM (Eastern).

Tomorrow night is the Emmys… here are the shows that are nominated:

64th Primetime Emmy Award Nominations

Outstanding Comedy Series
The Big Bang Theory • CBS • Chuck Lorre Productions, Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television
Curb Your Enthusiasm • HBO • HBO Entertainment
Girls • HBO • Apatow Productions and I am Jenni Konner Productions in association with HBO Entertainment
Modern Family • ABC • Levitan-Lloyd Productions in association with Twentieth Century Fox Television
30 Rock • NBC • Broadway Video, Little Stranger, Inc. in association with Universal Television
Veep • HBO • Dundee Productions in association with HBO Entertainment

Outstanding Drama Series
Boardwalk Empire • HBO • Leverage, Closest to the Hole Productions, Sikelia Productions and Cold Front
Breaking Bad • AMC • Sony Pictures Television
Downton Abbey • PBS • A Carnival / Masterpiece Co-Production
Game Of Thrones • HBO • Bighead, Littlehead, Generator Productions,
Homeland • Showtime • Showtime Presents, Teakwood Lane Productions, Cherry Pie Productions, Keshet, Fox 21
Mad Men • AMC • Lionsgate Television

Outstanding Miniseries or Movie
American Horror Story • FX Networks • Twentieth Century Fox Television
Game Change • HBO • Playtone and Everyman Pictures in association with HBO Films
Hatfields & McCoys • HISTORY • Thinkfactory Media in association with History
Hemingway & Gellhorn • HBO • Attaboy Films and A Walrus & Associates in
Luther • BBC America • A BBC and BBC America Co-Production
Sherlock: A Scandal In Belgravia (Masterpiece) • PBS • Hartswood West for

Outstanding Variety Series
The Colbert Report • Comedy Central • Hello Doggie, Inc. with Busboy Productions and Spartina Productions
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart • Comedy Central • Central Productions, LLC
Jimmy Kimmel Live • ABC • ABC Studios in association with Jackhole Industries, Inc
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon • NBC • Universal Television and Broadway Video
Real Time With Bill Maher • HBO • Bill Maher Productions and Brad Grey Television in association with HBO
Saturday Night Live • NBC • SNL Studios in association with Universal Television and Broadway Video

Outstanding Variety Special
Betty White’s 90th Birthday: A Tribute To America’s Golden Girl • NBC • Brad Lachman Productions and Universal    Television
Kathy Griffin: Tired Hooker • Bravo • Rickmill Productions
Mel Brooks And Dick Cavett Together Again • HBO • Brooksfilms in association with HBO Entertainment
Tony Bennett: Duets II (Great Performances) • PBS • A Production of RPM TV Productions, Inc.

Outstanding Special Class Programs
84th Annual Academy Awards • ABC • Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards • NBC • Dick Clark Productions, Inc.
The 54th Annual Grammy Awards • CBS • AEG Ehrlich Ventures, LLC and John Cossette Productions, Inc.
Herbie Hancock, Gustavo Dudamel And The LA Phil Celebrate Gershwin (Great Performances) • PBS
Louis C.K. Live At The Beacon Theatre • FX Networks • Pig Newton, Inc.
65th Annual Tony Awards • CBS • White Cherry Entertainment in association with Tony Award Productions

Outstanding Special Class – Short-format Live-Action Entertainment Programs
Childrens Hospital • Cartoon Network • The Corddry Company, Abominable Pictures and Studio 2.0
The Daily Show Correspondents Explain • thedailyshow.com • Comedy Central Digital Media
Parks And Recreation: April And Andy’s Road Trip • nbc.com • NBC.com | Universal Television
30 Rock: The Webisodes • nbc.com • NBC.com | Universal Television
Web Therapy • lstudio.com • An Is or Isn’t Entertainment production in association with Intelligent Life Productions
The Colbert Report • Episode 7121A • Comedy Central • Hello Doggie, Inc. with Busboy Productions
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart • Episode 17087 • Comedy Central • Central Productions, LLC
Late Show With David Letterman • Episode 3602 • CBS • Worldwide Pants Incorporated
Portlandia • One Moore Episode • IFC • Broadway Video in association with IFC
Saturday Night Live • Host: Mick Jagger • NBC • SNL Studios in association with Universal Television

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The Christmas Present I Am Looking Forward To…

“Les Misérables“, the movie, opens in the US on December 25th. I can’t wait. I’ve been playing the Broadway Cast album over and over… love the music.

And, from the 25th Anniversary TV special, here are four different Jean Valjeans singing “Bring Him Home“. The first soloist, Colm Wilkinson — the original Jean Valjean — will be playing the Bishop of Digne in the Les Misérables movie. Truly magnificent!

 

Colm Wilkinson is worth the whole gig!

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Some Wednesday Entertainment: Randy Newman’s new election song.

 

“I’m dreaming of a white president.” 🙂

Newman, who is white, is openly supporting President Barack Obama. He says he wants the public to find comedic relief in the song, but to also know he’s serious about his thoughts that racism is well and alive in the world — and in the current presidential race. He called racism ‘‘the great issue of this country.’’

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Director Albert Marre Dead at 86…

 

I remember sitting in the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut back in the mid sixties watching the premiere performance of “Man of La Mancha“. The musical, directed by Albert Marre, eventually won him a Best Director Tony when it appeared on Broadway at the ANTA Theatre.

I went to the La Mancha performance not because I knew anything about the show, nor did I know anything about Marre, but because my friend Charlie Leipart was in the cast (it was our summer break from Northwestern University’s Theatre Department.) I discovered, however, what a wonderful musical it was… I couldn’t wait for an Original Cast album to be released.

Marre began his theatre career as an actor, making his Broadway debut as both performer and associate director in 1950 in The Relapse. One year later, he was director alone, on The Little Blue Light.

In 1948, Mr. Marre was a co-founders of the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA, one of the country’s first classical repertory companies. In 1953, he was hired by Lincoln Kirstein to be the first artistic director of the New York City Drama Company at City Center, where he staged Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Merchant of Venice and Shaw’s Misalliance, all in 1953.

The musical classic Kismet came next, and he won a 1954 Donaldson Award for Best Director of a Musical.

Marre introduced Broadway audiences to composer Jerry Herman in 1961, when he staged Herman’s tale of the birth of Israel, Milk and Honey.  He wrote the book for the 1970 musical Cry for Us All and the 1975 musical Home Sweet Homer.  His final non-La Mancha Broadway credit was the musical Chu Chem in 1989.

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Dorothy McGuire, of the McGuire Sisters, Dies at 84

 

Dorothy McGuire (center) and her sisters

Dorothy McGuire and her sisters, Christine (the oldest) and Phyllis (the youngest and the lead singer), became pop stars at roughly the same time that rock ’n’ roll was becoming a worldwide phenomenon. The McGuire Sisters’ music existed in a kind of parallel universe to R&R — like that of Perry Como, Patti Page and others.

Their most memorable hits were “Sincerely” and “Sugartime” (both of which reached No. 1).  The sisters’ genteel image — identical clothes, identical hairstyles, etc., were an image that stood up well on shows like Ed Sullivan.

The McGuire Sisters’ their first public performances were in their mother’s church. In 1952, after touring veterans’ hospitals and military bases and performing at a hotel in Dayton, they decided to try their luck in New York. Their success was almost immediate. They became regulars on Arthur Godfrey’s hugely popular morning television show, where they remained for six years, and began recording for Coral Records, a subsidiary of Decca.

They had their first Top 10 record, “Good Night, Sweetheart, Goodnight,” in 1954.

The cause of death was complications of Parkinson’s disease, according to her son Rex Williamson.

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Lyricist Hal David has died at 91…

 

He was probably best known as the lyricist to the songs of Bert Bacharach. Harold Lane “Hal” David grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He received an Academy Award for the lyrics to “Raindrops Keep Falling on Your Head” from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

David died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles due to complications from a stroke.

David once outlined how he wrote with Bacharach on “What The World Needs Now Is Love” (proclaimed “The Towering Song” by the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004):

Al Hirshfeld’s portrait of Hal David

Years ago Burt Bacharach and I wrote a song that we thought we liked. After looking it over we decided that our original instinct was wrong. We put it away in our desk drawer and kept it hidden there for ten months-a flop, we thought.

This was particularly disappointing to me. I had thought of the idea at least two years before showing it to Burt. The chorus section beginning with, ‘What the world needs now” came quickly. However, after I finished with, “No, not just for some but for everyone,” I was stuck. I kept thinking of lines like, “Lord, we don’t need planes that fly higher or faster…” and they all seemed wrong. Why, I didn’t know. But the idea stayed with me.

Then, one day, I thought of, “Lord, we don’t need another mountain,” and all at once I knew how the lyric should be written. Things like planes and trains and cars are man-made, and things like mountains and rivers and valleys are created by someone or something we call God. There was now a oneness of idea and language instead of a conflict. It had taken me two years to put my finger on it.

When the idea came the lyric flowed with ease. As soon as Burt saw the lyric, the music seemed to flow as naturally.

“What’s New Pussycat,” “Alfie,” and “The Look of Love” received Oscar nominations. Amongst Hal David’s million-sellers are such standards as “Do You Know the Way to San Jose,” “Walk on By,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me,” “One Less Bell To Answer,” and “To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before.” Earlier this year, David and Bacharach received the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song from the Library of Congress, during a White House musical tribute (which David could not attend due to a previous stroke.)

Related articles

• Top songs by Hal David and Burt Bacharach (cnsnews.com)
• Hal David, legendary lyricist for Burt Bacharach, dies at 91 (nj.com)
• Legendary songwriter Hal David dies at 91 (cbsnews.com)
• Legendary songwriter Hal David who wrote ‘Do You Know the Way to San Jose?’ dies (mercurynews.com)
• R.I.P. Hal David (deadline.com)
• Burt Bacharach’s songwriting partner Hal David dies at 91 (thesun.co.uk)
• Hal David, Oscar- and Grammy-Winning Songwriter, Is Dead at 91 (nytimes.com)

 

What if the Republicans were a TV series?

🙂

Muppeteer Jerry Nelson Dead at 78…

 

He was best known as the Count and other characters on Sesame Street.

Nelson, who suffered from emphysema, died Thursday night in his Massachusetts home on Cape Cod, the Sesame Workshop said Friday.

“Every description of his characters describes Jerry as well. Silly, funny, vulnerable, passionate and musical, for sure. That voice of his was superb… We’re having a rough day on the Street.”

“Sesame Street” executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente.

He was the Count and  Sherlock Hemlock and Herry Monster and the Amazing Mumford. My kids grew up with all of them (and I did, too.)

In recent years, Nelson gave up the physically demanding job of operating the Count and other puppets on “Sesame Street” but still voiced the characters.

Related articles

• Jerry Nelson, Count of ‘Sesame Street,’ dies at 78 (cnsnews.com)
• Man behind The Count dies at 78 (lfpress.com)
• Jerry Nelson Dead: Muppet Performer Dies At 78 (news.moviefone.com)
• VIDEO: Voice of Count von Count on ‘Sesame Street’ dies (savannahnow.com)
• Voice of ‘Sesame Street’s’ The Count dies at 78 (marquee.blogs.cnn.com)
• Puppeteer for Sesame Street’s Count, Jerry Nelson, dies (cbc.ca)

 

Back on the radio this morning… I’m so glad!

I’m over in the outer studio at WSHC 89.5  as Elliot Simon finishes up the last hour of his show. I’m setting up my music list for the two hours I’ll be on the air from 11 AM to 1 PM (and, by the way, if you are out of our very small listening area, you can hear the show on the internet by going to http://897wshc.org/ and clicking on “listen live”. Actually, I have friends and family all over the country who listen, so I know we have the reach.

This is the first time in several weeks that I’ve been able to do the show, since I had my accident, broke a bunch of bones and was in the hospital, then laid up at home for quite a while. When I was finally able to move around last week we went to Wisconsin for my son’s wedding, so I missed last Saturday as well. But the “Talk To Me” show is back on today… if you want to call in and talk or request a song, the number is 304-876-5369.

Since this is one of my favorite activities, this is a happy day. I hope my pal Ralph Petrie gets in for the12 to 1 hour so we can have the segment we call “The Petrie Dish”… no one knows more about popular music history than Ralph and it’s fun to get questions answered.

Bye, now… tune in if you can.

Composer Marvin Hamlisch dies at 68

 

Marvin Hamlisch, who composed the scores for dozens of movies including “The Sting” and won a Tony for “A Chorus Line,” has died in Los Angeles at 68.

The composer won every major award in his career, including three Academy Awards, four Emmys, a Tony and three Golden Globes. He composed more than 40 film scores, including “Sophie’s Choice,” `’Ordinary People” and “Take the Money and Run.” He won his third Oscar for his adaptation of Scott Joplin‘s music for “The Sting.” On Broadway, Hamlisch received the Pulitzer Prize for long-running favorite “The Chorus Line” and wrote “The Goodbye Girl” and “Sweet Smell of Success.”

Family spokesman Jason Lee said Hamlisch died Monday after a brief illness. Other details weren’t being released.

Hamlisch had been scheduled to fly to Nashville, Tennessee, this week to see a production of his hit musical “The Nutty Professor.”

Related articles

• Happy Birthday, Marvin Hamlisch!!! (kidzrockinc.co)
• PSO gives tour of ‘force of nature’ Gershwin (triblive.com)
• Broadway-Bound THE NUTTY PROFESSOR Musical Opens at Nashville’s TPAC Tonight, 7/31 (broadwayworld.com)