Forever Sung

After watching Martin Scorsese's powerful documentary on Bob Dylan's life and career (up through the time he went electric), No Direction Home, I was going to list all my favorite Dylan songs. But they were too long to list. So instead, here are some of my favorite Dylan covers, as performed by other artists:

• Blowin' in the Wind (Peter, Paul and Mary)
• Boots of Spanish Leather (Nanci Griffith)
• Every Grain of Sand (Emmylou Harris)
• I Shall Be Released (Nina Simone)
• If Not For You (George Harrison)
  
• I'll Be Your Baby Tonight (Robert Palmer)
• Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (Judy Collins)
  
• Mr. Tambourine Man (Melanie)
• When I Paint My Masterpiece (The Band)
  
• You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go (Madeleine Peyroux)
  

rev. 12/29/08

Goodbye to all that

Two 20th century icons have passed on: that multitasking octogenarian sex kitten, Eartha Kitt, who had hits with Santa Baby, and I Want to Be Evil, among others.
And the influential British playwright Harold Pinter, of whom the word "Pinteresque" was coined, to indicate menacing pauses, and who wrote the screenplays for some of my favorite movies (The French Lieutenant's Woman, Betrayal).
They will be missed.

Desert Island DVDs - The "So Bad It's Good" Category

Fathom (1967), stars Raquel Welch as a skydiving dental hygienist who is kidnapped on her vacation in the south of Spain to rescue some stolen H-Bomb codes. Or something like that. But really it's not about the codes at all, but some stolen jewelry from the Ming dynasty. I think. To paraphrase one of the actors, Richard Briers, one really can't "fathom the plot." In addition to skydiving, our heroine gets to run from a bull, pilot a plane and set fire to a yacht. All while changing into a different cleavage-baring ensemble every five minutes, despite limited access to luggage. Groovy, Baby!

The Al Franken Decade

OK, so it's almost arrived!
In unrelated news, Caroline Kennedy for Time's Person of the Year!

Name of the Day

Pim Techamuanvivit.
"Not an arbiter of taste."

Waiting for the man...

Elvis Costello is not only a masterful musician in pretty much every genre, but he can now add to his resume....master interviewer. Yes, folks, he's got his own show on the Sundance channel. Each week he has on a different musician who talks about their musical influences. Week one was Elton John. Week two was Lou Reed. Week three is going to be Bill Clinton (doesn't he play the sax?). Elvis and his guests also perform together. It's quite a spectacle. In fact, that's the name of the show!

Name of the Day

Rod Blagojevich.
It's a scandal!

Things I ALWAYS Say (Pop Vernacular Edition)

"That Way, Oh Great Navigational Wizard" (from MAD Magazine)
"Hey there, you with the torn underwear" (sung to the tune of Hey There - from The Dean Martin Show)
"I wandered lonely as a cloud" (William Wordsworth)
"Hello Young Lovers, whoever you are" (from The King and I)
"Sleighbells ring, are you listening?" (from the song Winter Wonderland)
"What Fresh Hell is This?" (Dorothy Parker)

Name of the Day

For the benefit of my reader(s), as well as myself, I am instituting a semi-regular new series I'll call "Name of the Day." I will highlight a semi-intriguing sounding name in the news, and provide a link. Today's name is Saxby Chambliss.