On this week’s ‘Not My Job’ segment of the NPR quiz show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, the guest is Bernie Taupin, longtime lyricist for Elton John. In his conversation he’s a wonderful storyteller (though compressed, since his time is limited) and very funny with comeback quips. The only quibble is that while guest host Peter Grosz asks good and interesting questions, at times he talks on a bit too much and you want to say, “Let Bernie talk!”
This is the full Wait, Wait… broadcast, but you can jump directly to the “Not My Job” segment, it starts around the 18:00 mark.
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This week's contestant is Brian Hunke from Richmond, Virginia. And it’s actually a new one. The composer style genre is one of those which (for me) could be one of almost half a dozen, and not one I know well. But I actually got it right – which is largely because the composer is one of the few from that genre who I knew better than most of the others. As for the hidden song…well, let’s just say I thought it was wonderfully hidden and didn’t get it. (I did hear a hidden song, it’s just not the one that was hidden.)
This week's contestant is Chuck Romportl from Hopkins, Minnesota. I was able to get the hidden song pretty quickly. The composer style, though, is in that area of which I generally have to toss a coin, and didn't get it. And in fairness, it's pretty tough. To my shock, the contestant actually guessed the composer style right off -- but didn't get the hidden song. Only on a second go-round, where pianist Bruce Adolphe brought the song out more, did he guess correctly.
In 1995, Jacques D’Amboise received the Kennedy Center Honor. D’Amboise was a ballet dancer and choreographer, and I suspect is not extremely well-known today. But then most ballet dancers aren’t as well-known as movie stars and singers even at their height. But I post this for two reasons – but one above all. It’s because the first number of the tribute is a superbly choreographed and fun dance to the tune of Cole Porter’s “Let’s Misbehave”. Oddly, the video cuts out Walter Cronkite’s introduction of the performers, which is a huge shame, since the two of them are his children, Charlotte and Christopher D’Amboise. Christopher has had a successful career as a dancer, choreographer and director, and Charlotte is a highly-accomplished dancer and actress who’s received two Tony nominations on Broadway. (In fact, I’ve posted a glorious video of her in the Kennedy Center Honors tribute to Mary Martin, where she recreated the number she was then-performing in the revue Bob Fosse’s Broadway, superbly singing and soaring in “I’m Flying” from Peter Pan.) The two siblings are absolutely great in the number, but the best part is whenever the camera cuts back to their father -- with the biggest beaming smile you can imagine. Let me put it this way, I don’t particularly like dancing…and I absolutely love this. It’s great. And it’s topped by the glow from the father watching them honor him. Very nice as this full video is, this number and that reaction alone are the reason I’m posting this. But I do also like the finale number in the segment – which is a lot of fun for a reason you’ll discover – but I specifically like it, too, because it’s sung by a performer I like a great deal, Judy Kuhn. Okay, as a bonus, here's the performance I referred to above, the re-creation of the “I’m Flying” number from Peter Pan with Charlotte D'Amboise. Notable for me is that they do the full number, which includes my favorite part, the great (and rarely seen) Flying Ballet at the end, which I dearly love. And you'll note the reaction from the audience here -- and these are all sophisticate adults in tuxedos and ball gowns, not a child in sight. And above all that, as great as Charlotte D'Amboise is here -- can you imagine the pressure (and joy) of her performing this in front of Mary Martin?! UPDATE: And something I never noticed before, for all the many times I've watched this, but did finally after having posted this: at the very end, a moment before the video cuts off, you'll see applauding her and joyously beaming in the audience, a man at the 5:17 mark wearing glasses -- her father, Jacques D'Amboise. And we're going to end our Valentine's Day roundelay of little-known love songs with one of the absolutely happiest performances of a love song that I know, performed by Louis Armstrong. It's just hard to listen to this and not smile. Which is a pretty good way to end Valentine's Day. By the way, what I particularly love in this recording is his shout-out to his wife. It's quick, but you won't miss it. This is "Be My Life's Companion." Continuing along the lesser-known Valentine's Day path, we have a couple of wonderful songs by the great Steve Goodman. This first is his gem, the wistful "I Just Keep Falling in Love," for which happily we have video of him in concert. And here's happily even more video of the fellow, this time performing what is a perfectly quintessential Goodman song, tender and rambunctious at the same time, "You're the Girl I Love." |
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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