Jeez…..there’s nothing more challenging than following the venerable Mr. Vickers. The wizard of words, the lord of linguistics, the man who requires most of us to have a dictionary, any dictionary, in extremely close proximity, preferably at one’s fingertips (or at least within stretching distance), and has us laughing two sentences in. If you missed it, you’ll find his discourse (or diatribe) here Highly recommended reading!
Bruce Springsteen’s refusal to play North Carolina because of new, drastic LGBT laws might have shocked some people, but it didn’t surprise me at all.
So, what project in your life has taken you the longest to complete? Has anything you’ve really wanted to do ever taken you 18 years? Most likely not, but that’s how long it took director Denny Tedesco to complete his documentary on a small group of musicians in Los Angeles who, from the late 1950’s through to the 1970’s, supplied the rhythm section (drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, percussion, saxophone) for hundreds, if not thousands of hit records.
Hard to miss that’s it’s the Christmas season. Department, drug and clothing stores have all been playing Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”, Bobby Helm’s “Jingle Bell Rock”, Wham’s “Last Christmas” and The Beach Boys “Little Saint Nick”, along with newer Christmas ditties from the likes of Neil Diamond, Taylor Swift, Michael Buble and the omnipresent “White Christmas” from der Bingle (aka Bing Crosby) for what seems like months already.
I’d been longing to see the Academy Award winning documentary film “20 Feet from Stardom” since it first came out in 2013, but it was only recently that I actually had the chance.
“Well doggies” (as Jed Clampett used to say on the 60’s TV series, “The Beverly Hillbillies), there were quite a few responses to my last blog about instrumentals. Most simply wrote to say ‘You forgot so and so’…or ‘what about…’, but hey, if that column sparked discussion about great instrumentals, then I have been successful.
And so, I guess I’m done. Goodnight!
Bullseye Records of Canada
Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say 