I've posted a bunch of videos of the song "Hello, Dolly," from a comparison of four versions of stage productions to a few gems by Louis Armstrong. This one is up there with the best. Even for those who don't care much for Broadway musicals. This is a video of the song "Hello, Dolly" being performed at a 1979 concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City by (are you ready) -- Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Ray Charles! Yes, really. (The description also says B.B. King, though I can't see him in the video. That doesn't mean he's not there somewhere off-camera, but I can't swear to it.) Just sit back and revel at a bit o' history.
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Earlier today, I was out on my morning constitutional, walking along when from behind me I heard, "Clop, clop, clop." I wasn't quite sure what it was, but soon enough a woman came jogging past me in her jogging clothes and ...sandals.
It was the closest I've come to yelling at someone, "Seriously?!! You're jogging in sandals???!!" I know this is Southern California, where laid-back is core to the lifestyle, but man, there has to be some limits, I would think. Yes, to each their own, and no one should have to jog in running shoes, or even athletic shoes. But I have to admit, jogging in sandals really surprised me. Sandals are made for plodding along on the beach, where you get the give-and-take of the sand, or even slowly strolling along as your everyday footwear. But the sole of a sandals is flat and hard, no bending, and there is no bottom support, or side support. Jogging in a sandal -- while personal choice -- is pretty much a guarantee that you're going to muck up your feet, and sprain an ankle at the slightest twist. Even wearing no sandals is probably better, since your foot has a natural give-and-take. (Though that probably works better in the hills of Kenya, rather than the streets of Los Angeles...) But...well, there she went on ahead, "Clop, clop, clop..." I have no idea if this is the first time she ever jogged in sandals, or if she's been doing it for a while, or even years and just lucked out. Godspeed, I wish her well. But it did take all my self-control not to yell after her, "For godsake, if only for me, please, pleeeease, don't wear sandals when you jog!" Sir Ralph Richardson is one of my all-time fave actors, equally adept on stage or film, or doing very serious drama or fall-over funny comedy. Most of you probably know him, but if not his many -- many -- films include Doctor Zhivago, The Heiress, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Fallen Idol, Time Bandits, and perhaps his funniest comic turn in The Wrong Box. This from a career that got two Oscar nominations and three Tony nominations (not to worry, he did win a few things, like Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival, of Long Day's Journey, and a BAFTA Best Actor Award for The Sound Barrier) and lasted 51 years from 1933 to appearing in Paul McCartney's film Give My Regards to Broad Street in 1984. And includes a great performance as Mr. McCawber in an all-star TV production of David Copperfield. So, it's a treat to see him as the Mystery Guest on What's My Line? Apparently not feeling that his credentials warranted sticking around, it's amusing to see him rush off immediately after the game ends. As I mentioned yesterday, Microsoft held its major event on Wednesday to present Windows 10, which is due later this year. I watched the whole thing which streamed online and lasted about 2-1/4 hours. It was good and mediocre -- but the good was largely the substance, while the mediocre was some of the presentation. (Lest you have any questions about my opinion on all this, the title of a CNET article here about the event is titled, "It May Just Be Everything That Windows 8 Should Have Been.") As I noted, I've various reports of Microsoft's upcoming major operating system update, and it looks extremely impressive. I happen to like the current Windows 8.1 a great deal, though I know there are people who were a bit confused or put-off by the blending of a desktop operating system and a mobile one. (While I understand some of the confusion, I'm also a bit surprised by it, as well -- after all, Apple has two operating systems, OSX and iOS, and people seem to be able to handle them quite easily.) Also, much of the reaction to Windows 8 came from the initial release -- the 8.1 update addressed a lot of that. But Windows 10 goes light-years farther in addressing the issues. What it does is blend the comfortable, well-liked Windows 7 desktop software more closely with the changes in Windows 8, to make everything a much, much more familiar experience. For starters, it brings back the Start button, whose disappearing probably caused the most angst from Windows users. Also, and this is huge, it allows users to work with "Metro apps" on the familiar desktop, no longer having to switch between the desktop and mobile interface. Metro apps, which are "Live Tiles" (the live part meaning that updated information can be displayed on them, let news headlines, sports scores or stock tickers) can even be embedded on the Start button. Speaking of Metro apps, one of the issues that some people had with them is that they could only open and be run in full-screen. Now they will be called "Universal apps," and will be re-sizable, just like any window of yore. Grab the corners of a window, and make it any size you want, and drag it around your screen to move it to wherever is most convenient. They will also be added Cortana to Windows 10. This is the Siri-like voice application that's only available on Windows Phones right now. Though it's the last one to the table (after Google Now, as well), reviews have given it raves and called it possibly the most sophisticated. The upgrades described at the event seem even more impressive, including allowing you to access your files by voice. But the biggest change and easily the most noteworthy is that the software will now use a process called "Continuum" which will recognize what device you're using and adjust everything accordingly. So, there's no longer a Windows operating system and a Windows Phone operating system or being confused about which view you're in. There will only be Windows -- one Windows. And it will run on on everything the same, desktops, tablets, touch-screen laptops and phones, recognizing what kind of device it's on and even if there's a keyboard attached, and then automatically adjusting for the size and system accordingly. If you're using a touch tablet and attach a keyboard, a box will pop-up and ask if you now want to switch to desktop view. (You can say "No," if you like...) As I said, though, I did have some problems with the presentation of the event. For instance, Microsoft should have streamed the Q&A afterwards, because I read some very interesting tweets and blog postings that came from it. The thing that most intrigued me from the Q&A is how combining the Windows Phones operating system to the exact same O.S. for all Windows is what might very well make the phone platform significantly more valuable for app developers, since they'll now be creating apps not just for the phones with their small number of users compared to iOS and Android, but for a market that now will reach the full Windows user-base, which hovers around 100 million. But that got left out of the presentation. Another poor decision: if I had to bet cash-money it would be that the Cortana segment was using a real person talking, not Cortana itself, which is not a good idea. Sort of cheesy. Also, while they focused at the start about changes to Windows 10 is and how it will be improved from Windows 8, they put far too much much attention on the 3rd-party hardware that will be developed to work with the the new operating system -- most especially the Surface Hub, Xbox games and (mainly) the HoloLens for hologram usage. This hardware is definitely important – mainly Xbox, since games can bring people to the platform – and should have been dealt with, of course, just not so extensively. The problem is I suspect that the Windows 10 Hub and Xbox and holograms is what will most be remembered and written about, rather than, “Okay, you had issues with Windows 8, but here’s why we fixed that.” And it's the latter issue that, right now, is the most important by far. And they did seem to address though issues, but just overwhelmed them with the whizbang hardware. By the way, the hardware does look great. I read an article here on CNET by Nate Ralph who explains that he's a big skeptic about Virtual Reality products, but was blown away testing Microsoft's 3D HoloLens goggles after the event. Among other things, he describes a test-run he was given that showed HoloLens technology blended with something as basic as a Skype phone call. For the test, "friend" called him, and with both participants using HoloLens and connected over Skype, he writes, "His video feed followed my gaze, but I could also pin him to a spot in the air in front of me and keep him in place while I looked around the room. All the while he could see everything I could, and proceeded to draw instructions in the air in front of me." This is part of the problem, though. It's pretty impressive technology and got so much of the attention. But it's SO secondary to what the public cares about in upgrading to Windows 10 when it comes along. And yet it got a full article, and it's probably what a lot of people want to read about. Hey, this is even the only graphic that I included in this article. (In fairness, I've posted other Windows 10 pictures earlier -- though those were earlier, not part of any Big Event that Microsoft was putting on, for which they wanted to draw huge attention to Windows 10 -- not 3D hologram goggles.)
Still, those quibbles are about presentation. What was substantive came across very impressively. Windows 10 is expected to be delivered to third-party developers this summer, with release to the general public later in the year. I can't wait... My friend Mark Miller has been writing columns about his dating life for several years now. And he's put them together in actual book form, 500 Dates: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Online Dating Wars. Lest you think that 500 dates thing is a joke for the sake of a good title, it's not. Mark has dated more relentlessly than anyone I know. Half the fun of going to Writers Guild screenings was to see if Mark was showing up with a new female person. He usually was. Three screenings in a row with the same woman was the equivalent of a common law marriage. Truth in advertising. I haven't read the book yet. (It's not officially published until February 3.) But I've lived through many of the stories in real-time -- and read many of the original articles that comprise the book. His stories are often otherworldy. I never quite know who's at fault for all the relationships not working out, though his most recent debacle he told me about was most definitely not his fault. I believe it had something to do with him offering to drive to her neighborhood for dinner, and her getting offended at that and calling it off. If I have the details slightly wrong, that's because the tale was so convoluted and funny -- peppered through with me repeating the phrase, "Say what??" Here's what I posted for Mark on his website -- I’d write more nice things about Mark Miller if he had offered to pay me something, but he didn’t, and as Samuel Johnson said, “No one except a blockhead writes except for money.” So, I’m stuck with keeping it brief and uncompensated and just say that I’m glad I don’t have to buy his book because he’s already told me about his 500 dates, so I know all the funny stories. And despite what other might say, I was laughing with him, not at him. I’ll just add that as an outside observer, I’m glad that the dates didn’t work out because I was the happy recipient of the stories. And now you’ve lucked out, as well. And even better, you get the stories in one wonderful, contained book, and not dragged out for years… But I do hope the next date works out, just on general principal and the law of averages. For thems interested, you can find the book here on Amazon.
This will be a treat for fans of Robert Preston, of whom I suspect there are many. Most people know of Preston as Harold Hill in The Music Man. And some may also know his work in another successful musical, I Do! I Do!, the two-person show he starred in with Mary Martin, written by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones (who wrote The Fantasticks), that I've posted video of in the past. He also starred in the Jerry Herman musical, Mack & Mabel, opposite Bernadette Peters, about silent movie legends Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand. It was a flop of just 66 performances, though has had a life beyond that due to the credentials of all involved -- plus a fairly respectable score. But Preston was in another much-less known Broadway musical, too, one that is far more lost to history. It was, Ben Franklin in Paris, which opened in 1964, with a score by Sidney Michaels and Mark Sandrich Jr. The show was about Franklin's efforts to raise financing for the upcoming American Revolution The musical wasn't a disaster, despite its lack of recognition, running for 215 performances, most likely I'm guessing on the strength of Preston's star power. The score is okay, though not memorable. There are only two songs that I especially have liked, one of them a lovely number called "Look for Small Pleasures," and the other, a far-more rousing tune, "Half the Battle." Not long ago, on a whim, I decided to look and see if I could find any video of the show online. And happily, I did find one. And most happily of all -- it's the song, "Half the Battle"!! There are also several minutes of the dialogue scene that leads into it. Most likely it's from an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. So, here then is Robert Preston and other members of the original Broadway cast. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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