Trouble In Mind
Bill Broonzy, Jimmy Whitherspoon
Trouble in mind, babe, I'm blue,
but I won't be blue always
Yes, the sun gonna shine,
in my back door someday
I'm goin' down, down to the river,
I'm gonna take my rockin' chair
Lord, if the blues overtake me,
I'm gonna rock on away from here
'Cause I'm trouble in mind, you know that I'm blue,
but I won't be blue always
Yes, the sun gonna shine,
in my back door someday
I'm gonna lay, lay my head,
on some sad, old railroad iron
I'm gonna let that 2:19,
pacify my mind
I'm trouble in mind, baby you know that I'm blue,
but I won't be blue always
Yes, the sun gonna shine,
in my back door someday
Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors.
dys, you certainly brought back some memories with those two songs. Wow! the lyrics just aren't enough because delivery and interpretation are everything in the old ballads.
These two songs go well together when juxtaposed, folks.
Have I stayed away too long have I stayed away too long
If I came home tonight would you still be my darling or have I stayed away too long
The light that shone so strong my love,
The light that shone so strong my love,
If I came home tonight would that same light be burnin'
Or have I stayed away too long
I'm just outside of town my love,
Maybe I'd be wrong to hurry there
I'd best keep out of town and worry you no more
For maybe someone else has made you care
Have all my dreams gone wrong all my beautiful dreams gone wrong
If I came home tonight would you still be my darling or have I stayed away too long
CARELESS LOVE (origin unknown)
Love, oh love, oh careless love,
Love, oh love, oh careless love,
Oh it's love, oh love, oh careless love
You see what careless love has done.
Once I wore my apron low
Once I wore my apron low
Oh it's once I wore my apron low,
You'd follow me through rain and snow.
Now I wear my apron high
Now I wear my apron high
Oh it's now I wear my apron high,
You'll see my door and pass it by.
I cried last night and the night before,
I cried last night and the night before,
Oh I cried last night and the night before,
Going to cry tonight and cry no more.
Love, oh love, oh careless love,
Love, oh love, oh careless love,
Oh it's love, oh love, oh careless love
You see what careless love has done.
edgar, speaking of Texas, I was reminded of this funny story.
A woman who was really having a hard time raising her four kids alone, couldn't afford to buy new jeans for them, so she had to be content with dying the old ones.
One day as she was heating up some blue dye in a big kettle in her front yard, a little lamb came gamboling by and fell into the vat. It leapt out but was a beautiful blue. A Texas oil magnate saw the blue lamb and was determined to have it, so he offered the woman $10,000 for it.
She sold the lamb to him, of course, and then she started dying all the lambs. Pretty soon she became known as the biggest lamb dyer in Texas.
Back later, folks, with a story about my black snake.
Nelson Eddy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nelson Ackerman Eddy (born June 29, 1901; died March 6, 1967) was an American singer who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. Although he was a classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred with soprano Jeanette MacDonald.
During his 40-year career, he earned three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (one each for film, recording, and radio), left his footprints in the wet cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater, earned three Gold Records, and was invited to sing at the third inauguration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He also introduced millions of young Americans to classical music and inspired many of them to pursue a musical career.
Family Background
Nelson Ackerman Eddy was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the only child of William Darius Eddy and Isabel Kendrick Eddy. His father was a machinist and toolmaker whose work required him to move from town to town. Nelson grew up in Providence and Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and in New Bedford, Massachusetts. As a boy, he was a redhead and quickly acquired the nickname "Bricktop." As an adult, his red hair was streaked with silver, so that his hair photographed as blond.
Nelson came from a musical family. His Atlanta-born mother was a church soloist, and his grandmother, Caroline Ackerman Kendrick, was a distinguished oratorio singer. His ancestry on his mother's side of the family was Russian Jewish[1], while he was pure New England English on his father's side. His father, William Darius Eddy, occasionally moonlighted as a stagehand at the Providence Opera House, sang in the church choir, played the drums, and performed in local productions like H.M.S. Pinafore.
Eddy's parents divorced when he was fourteen. Eddy moved with his mother to Philadelphia, where her brother, Clark Kendrick, lived. His uncle helped Eddy secure a clerical job at the Mott Iron Works, a plumbing supply company. He later worked as a reporter with the Philadelphia Press, the Evening Public Ledger and the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin. He also worked briefly as a copywriter at N.W. Ayer Advertising, but was dismissed for constantly singing on the job.
Early singing background
Throughout his teens, Eddy studied voice and imitated the recordings of baritones like Titta Ruffo, Scotti, Amato, Campanari, and Werrenrath. He gave recitals for women's groups and appeared in society theatricals, usually for little or no pay.
His first professional break came in 1922 when he was singled out by the press after an appearance in a society theatrical, The Marriage Tax, although his name had been omitted from the program.
In 1924, Eddy won the top prize in a competition that included a chance to appear with the Philadelphia Opera Society. Alexander Smallens, musical director of the Philadelphia Civic Opera and later assistant conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, became interested in Eddy's career and coached him. (In a 1936 career profile of Eddy put out by Arthur Judson Concert Management, Smallens is credited with Nelson's "operatic success.")
By the late 1920s, Eddy was appearing with the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company and had a repertoire of 28 operas, including Amonasro in Aida, Marcello in La Bohême, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, both Tonio and Sylvio in I Pagliacci, and Wolfram in Tannhäuser. (William von Wymetal was the group's producer at this time, in association with Fritz Reiner who later directed the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra.) Eddy also performed in Gilbert & Sullivan operettas with The Savoy Company at the Broad Street Theatre in Philadelphia.
Eddy studied briefly with the noted teacher David Scull Bispham, a former Metropolitan Opera singer, but when Bispham died suddenly, Eddy became a student of William Vilonat. In 1927, Eddy borrowed some money and followed his teacher to Dresden for European study, which was then considered essential for serious American singers. He was offered a job with a small German opera company. Instead, he decided to return to America, where he concentrated on his concert career, making only occasional opera appearances during the next seven years. In 1928, his first concert accompanist was a young pianist named Theodore (Ted) Paxson, who became a close friend and remained his accompanist until Eddy's death 39 years later.
In the early 1930s, Eddy's principal teacher was Edouard Lippé who followed him to Hollywood and appeared in a small role in Eddy's 1935 film Naughty Marietta. In his later years, Eddy frequently changed teachers, constantly trying new vocal techniques. He also had a home recording studio where he studied his own performances. It was his fascination with technology that inspired him to record three-part harmonies (soprano, tenor, baritone) for his role as a multiple-voiced singing whale in the animated Walt Disney feature, "The Whale that Sang at the Met," the concluding sequence in the 1946 feature film Make Mine Music.
With the Philadelphia Civic Opera, Eddy sang in the only American performance of Feuersnot by Richard Strauss (12/1/27) and in the first American performance of Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos (11/1/28) with Helen Jepson. In Ariadne, Eddy sang the roles of the Wigmaker and Harlekin in the original German. He performed under Leopold Stokowski as the Drum Major in the second American performance of Alban Berg's Wozzeck on 11/24/31.
At Carnegie Hall in New York, Christmas 1931, he sang in the world premiere of Maria Igiziaca (Mary in Egypt), unexpectedly conducted by the composer Ottorino Respighi himself when famed conductor Arturo Toscanini fell ill at the last minute. Years later, when Toscanini visited the MGM lot in California, Eddy greeted him by singing a few bars of Maria Igiziaca.
Eddy continued in occasional opera roles until his film work made it difficult to schedule appearances the requisite year or two in advance. Among his final opera performances were three with the San Francisco Opera in 1934, when he was still "unknown." Marjory M. Fisher of the San Francisco News wrote of his 12/8/34 performance of Wolfram in Tannhäuser, "Nelson Eddy made a tremendously fine impression....he left no doubt in the minds of discerning auditors that he belongs in that fine group of baritones which includes Lawrence Tibbett, Richard Bonelli, and John Charles Thomas and which represents America's outstanding contribution to the contemporary opera stage."[citation needed] He also sang Amonasro in Aida on 11/11/34 to similar acclaim. Elisabeth Rethberg, Giovanni Martinelli, and Ezio Pinza were in the cast. However, opera quietly faded from Eddy's schedule as films and highly lucrative concerts claimed more and more of his time.
When he resumed his concert career following on from his screen success, he made a point of delivering a traditional concert repertoire, performing his hit screen songs only as encores. He felt strongly that audiences needed to be exposed to all kinds of music.
Hollywood
In 1933, Eddy was "discovered" by Hollywood when he substituted at the last minute for the noted diva, Lotte Lehmann, at a sold-out concert in Los Angeles on February 28. He scored a professional triumph with 18 curtain calls and several film offers immediately followed. After much agonizing, he decided that being seen on screen might boost audiences for what he considered his "real work," his concerts. (Also, like his machinist father, he was fascinated with gadgets and the mechanics of the new talking pictures.) Eddy was right about the power of films: his concert fee soon rose from $500 to $10,000 per performance.
Eddy signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), where he would make the first 14 of his 19 feature films. His contract guaranteed him three months off each year to continue his concert tours. MGM was not sure how to use him, and he spent more than a year on salary with little to do. His voice can be heard singing "Daisy Belle" on the soundtrack of the 1933 Pete Smith short, Handlebars. He appeared and sang one song each in Broadway to Hollywood and Dancing Lady, both 1933, and Student Tour, 1934. Audience response was favorable, and he was cast as the male lead opposite the established star Jeanette MacDonald in a film version of Victor Herbert's 1910 operetta Naughty Marietta.
Naughty Marietta was the surprise hit of 1935. Its key song, "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life," became a hit and earned Eddy his first Gold Record. He also sang "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" and "I'm Falling in Love with Someone." The film was nominated for an Oscar as Best Picture, received the Photoplay Gold Medal Award as Best Picture, and was voted one of the Ten Best Pictures of 1935 by the New York film critics. Critics singled out Eddy for praise:
"A new star emerged on the Capitol screen." -New York Daily News.[citation needed]
"The screen has found a thrilling thrush, possessed not only of a rare vocal tone, but of a personality and form and features cast in the heroic mould." -New York American.[citation needed]
"Eddy is a brilliant baritone, masculine, engaging and good looking."-Richard Watts Jr in the New York Herald.[citation needed]
Eddy appeared in seven more MGM films with Jeanette MacDonald:
Rose Marie, 1936, is probably his most-remembered film. Eddy sang "Song of the Mounties" and "Indian Love Call" by Rudolf Friml. His definitive portrayal of the steadfast Mountie became a popular icon, frequently spoofed in cartoons and TV skits, and even generating travesties on stage (Little Mary Sunshine, 1959) and film (Dudley Do-Right, 1999). When the Mounties retired their classic red jackets and hat in 1970, hundreds of newspapers accompanied the story with a photo of Nelson Eddy as Sgt. Bruce in Rose Marie, made 34 years earlier.
Maytime, 1937, is regarded as one of Eddy's best films. "Will You Remember" by Sigmund Romberg brought Eddy another Gold Record. The New York Times thought Maytime "the most entrancing operetta the screen has given us
.it affirms Nelson Eddy's preeminence among the baritones of filmdom."[citation needed]
The Girl of the Golden West, 1938, had an original score by Sigmund Romberg and reused the David Belasco stage plot also employed by opera composer Giacomo Puccini for La Fanciulla del West.
Sweethearts, 1938, was MGM's first 3-strip Technicolor feature, incorporating Victor Herbert's 1913 stage score into a modern script by Dorothy Parker. A delightful comedy, it won the Photoplay Gold Medal Award as Best Picture of the Year.
New Moon, 1940. Sigmund Romberg's 1927 Broadway hit became one of Eddy's most popular films. His key songs were "Lover Come Back to Me," "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise," "Wanting You," and another rousing march, "Stout Hearted Men," often associated with him.
Bitter Sweet, 1940, was a Technicolor film version of Noël Coward's 1929 stage operetta. The love theme was "I'll See You Again." Eddy played a Viennese singing teacher who elopes with his pretty English pupil and takes her to live in Vienna.
I Married an Angel, 1942, adapted from the Rodgers & Hart stage musical about an angel who loses her wings on her wedding night, suffered from censorship problems. Eddy sang "Spring Is Here" and the title song.
Nelson Eddy also starred in films with other leading ladies:
Rosalie, 1937, with Eleanor Powell, offered a score by Cole Porter. In his first solo-starring film, the script called for Eddy to portray a football playing West Point pilot who pursues a princess-in-disguise to Europe. Eddy recorded the title song.
Let Freedom Ring, 1937, with Virginia Bruce, was a western. Nelson got to beat up rugged Oscar winner Victor McLaglen and preserve freedom and the American Way from bad guys, a popular theme just before World War II.
Balalaika, 1939, with Ilona Massey, based on the 1936 English operetta by George Posford and Bernard Grün. Eddy is a prince in disguise, in love with a commoner during the Russian Revolution. The title song became one of his standards.
The Chocolate Soldier, 1941, with Metropolitan Opera star Risë Stevens, was a stylish musical adaptation of Ferenc Molnár's The Guardsman. He played a dual role and turned in one of his best performances.
Phantom of the Opera, 1943, was Eddy's first film after he left MGM at the end of his 7-year contract. This lavish Technicolor musical also starred Claude Rains as the Phantom and Susanna Foster as Christine.
Knickerbocker Holiday, 1944, was based on the popular stage musical by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson. It costarred Charles Coburn (singing the classic "September Song") and Constance Dowling.
Make Mine Music, 1946, was a Walt Disney animated feature compilation. Eddy provided all the singing and speaking voices for the touching final segment, "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met," later released as a short, Willie, the Operatic Whale, by RKO in 1954. Using a technique based on his technical experiments with his home recording equipment, Eddy was able to sing sextets with himself on the soundtrack, providing all the voices from bass to soprano.
Northwest Outpost, 1947, costarred Ilona Massey. Rudolf Friml provided the songs for a story of Fort Ross, a Russian settlement in the wild west of California. It was made at Republic Studios and turned out to be Eddy's final film.
After Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald left MGM in 1942, there were several unrealized films that would have reunited the team. Eddy signed with Universal in 1943 for a two-picture deal. The first was Phantom of the Opera and the second would have co-starred MacDonald. She filmed her two scenes for Follow the Boys then both stars severed ties Universal, as Eddy was upset with how Phantom of the Opera turned out. Among their later other proposed projects were East Wind, Crescent Carnival, a book optioned by MacDonald, The Rosary, the 1910 best seller--which Eddy had read as a teen and pitched to MGM as a "comeback" film for himself and MacDonald in 1948. Under the name "Issac Ackerman" he wrote a biopic screenplay about Chaliapin, in which he was to play the lead and also a young Nelson Eddy, but it was never produced. He also wrote two movie treatments for himself and MacDonald, Timothy Waits for Love and All Stars Don't Spangle.
Recordings
Eddy made more than 290 recordings between 1935 and 1964, singing songs from his films, plus opera, folk songs, popular songs, Gilbert and Sullivan, and traditional arias from his concert repertoire. Since both he and screen partner Jeanette MacDonald were under contract to RCA Victor between 1935 and 1938, this allowed several popular duets from their films. In 1938, he signed with Columbia Records, which ended MacDonald-Eddy duets until a special LP album the two made together in 1957. He also recorded duets with his other screen partner Risë Stevens (The Chocolate Soldier) and for albums with Nadine Conner, Virginia Haskins, Doretta Morrow, Gale Sherwood, Eleanor Steber, and Jo Stafford.
Eddy's recordings drew rave reviews during the 1930s and 1940s, but it is a special tribute to his vocal technique that he continued to rate them into the 1960s. The Los Angeles Herald Examiner on 10/4/64 noted: "Nelson Eddy continues to roll along, physically and vocally indestructible. Proof is his newest recording on the Everest label, ?'Of Girls I Sing.' At the age of 63 and after 42 years of professional singing, Eddy demonstrates there has not been much change in his romantic and robust baritone?-the baritone that made him America's most popular singer in the early '30s."[citation needed]
War Work
Like many performers, Eddy was active in "war work" during World War II, even before the United States entered the war. He did his first "war effort" concert on 10/19/39 with Leopold Stokowski for Polish war relief. In 1942, he became an air raid warden and also put in long hours at the Hollywood Canteen. In 1943, he went on a two-month, 35,000-mile tour, giving concerts for military personnel in Belem, Brazil; Natal; Accra, Brandenburger Gold Coast; Central Africa; Aden; Asmara, Eritrea; Cairo (where he met King Farouk); Teheran, Persia (now Iran); Casablanca; and the Azores. He also broadcast for the armed forces throughout the war.
Marriage
Eddy married Ann Denitz Franklin, former wife of noted director Sidney Franklin, on January 19, 1939. Her son, Sidney Jr, became Eddy's stepson, but they had no children of their own. They were married for 27 years, until his death. Ann Eddy never remarried after Nelson's death, and died on August 28, 1987. She is buried next to Nelson and his mother, Isabel, in Hollywood Forever Cemetery. A 2001 biography about Eddy and MacDonald, Sweethearts by Sharon Rich, claims that MacDonald's marriage to Gene Raymond was engineered by studio boss Louis B. Mayer to prevent Eddy from marrying MacDonald. Rich's original source for this information was Jeanette MacDonald's older sister Blossom Rock. The Eddy-MacDonald romance has been now verified in other books such as The Golden Girls of MGM by Jane Ellen Wayne. Eddy's relationship with MacDonald began in late 1933 and continued, with a few breaks, until her death in 1965. Many of his personal letters and diary entries are reproduced in Sweethearts, providing insight into his character and disproving some critics' claims that he was emotionally "wooden." Of particular interest is the influence his personal relationship with MacDonald had on his professional career.
Radio & Television
Eddy began his more than 600 radio appearances in the mid 1920s. The first may have been on December 26, 1924 at station WOO in Philadelphia. Besides his many guest appearances, he hosted The Voice of Firestone (1936), Vicks Open House (1936), The Chase & Sanborn Hour (1937-1939), and Kraft Music Hall (1947-1948). He had his own show on CBS in 1942-1943. Eddy frequently used his radio shows to advance the careers of promising young singers. While his programs often featured "serious" music, they were never straight-laced. It was in a series of comedy routines with Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy on the Chase & Sanborn Hour that Nelson's name became associated with the song "Shortnin' Bread."
On March, 31, 1933, he performed the role of Gurnemanz in a broadcast of Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal with Rose Bampton, conducted by Leopold Stokowski. During the 1940s, he was a frequent guest on Lux Radio Theatre with Cecil B. DeMille, performing radio versions of Eddy's popular films.
In 1951, Eddy guest-starred on several episodes of The Alan Young Show on CBS-TV. In 1952, he taped a pilot for a sitcom, Nelson Eddy's Backyard, with Jan Clayton, but it failed to find a network slot. On 12 November 1952, he surprised his former costar Jeanette MacDonald when she was the subject of Ralph Edwards' This Is Your Life. On 30 November 1952, he was Ed Sullivan's guest on Toast of the Town.
During the next decade he guested on Danny Thomas's sitcom Make Room for Daddy, and on variety programs such as The Bob Hope Show, The Edgar Bergen Show, The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Spike Jones Show, The Rosemary Clooney Show, The Dinah Shore Show, and The Big Record with Patti Page. He was a frequent guest on talk shows, including The Merv Griffin Show and The Tonight Show with Jack Paar.
On 7 May 1955, Eddy starred in Max Liebman's 90-minute, live-TV version of Sigmund Romberg's The Desert Song on NBC-TV. It featured Gale Sherwood, Metropolitan Opera bass Salvatore Baccaloni, veteran film actor Otto Kruger, and the dance team of Bambi Lynn and Rod Alexander.
On December 31, 1966, a few months before his death, Nelson and his nightclub partner, Gale Sherwood, sang 15 songs on Guy Lombardo's traditional New Year's Eve program, telecast from the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.
Nightclub Act
The advent of television made inroads in the once-lucrative concert circuits, and, in the early 1950s, Eddy had to consider future career options, eventually deciding to form a nightclub act. It premiered in January 1953 with singer Gale Sherwood as his partner and Ted Paxson as accompanist. Variety wrote, "Nelson Eddy, vet of films, concerts, and stage, required less than one minute to put a jam-packed audience in his hip pocket in one of the most explosive openings in this city's nitery history...Before Eddy had even started to sing, they liked him personally as a warm human being."[citation needed] The act continued for the next 15 years, and made four tours of Australia.
Finale
Eddy visibly aged after the death of Jeanette MacDonald in January 1965. On January 31, 1960, he told Jack Parr on The Tonight Show that "I love her", [2] and he broke down when interviewed[3] after her death. According to Bob Hunter, Eddy's accompanist during his final Australian tour, Eddy sang a special song to MacDonald in every performance of his nightclub act.
In March 1967, Eddy was performing at the Sans Souci Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, when he was stricken on stage with a cerebral hemorrhage. His singing partner, Gale Sherwood, and his accompanist, Ted Paxson, were at his side. He died a few hours later in the early hours of March 6th. He is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, next to his wife, Ann, who survived him by 20 years.
Eddy's meticulously annotated scores (some with his caricatures sketched in the margins) are now housed at Occidental College Music Library in Los Angeles. His personal papers and scrapbooks are at the University of Southern California Cinema/Television Library, also in Los Angeles.
Slim Pickens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Louis Burton (Bert) Lindley, Jr.
Born June 29, 1919
Kingsburg, California,
USA
Died December 8, 1983 (aged 64)
Modesto, California ,
USA
Spouse(s) Margaret (Maggie) Pickens
Louis Burton Lindley, Jr. (June 29, 1919 - December 8, 1983), better known by the stage name Slim Pickens, was a cowboy and actor.
Pickens, who epitomized the profane, tough, sardonic cowboy, was born in Kingsburg, California. He was an excellent rider from age four and quit school to join the rodeo at age twelve. He was told that working in the rodeo would be "slim pickings" (very little money), giving him his name, but he did very well, eventually rising to become a well known rodeo clown ?- one of the most dangerous jobs in show business.
After twenty years on the rodeo circuit, his distinctive voice and drawl, his wide eyes and moon face, and his strong physical presence and grace gained him a role in the western Rocky Mountain (1950), starring Errol Flynn. He subsequently appeared in many westerns, playing both villains and comic sidekicks to the likes of Rex Allen.
His most famous role was as B-52 pilot Major T. J. "King" Kong in Dr. Strangelove, which ended with Pickens riding an H-bomb down to global destruction, while waving his hat. He was chosen because he naturally fit the role of an absurdly patriotic and gung-ho cowboy-type officer, and in fact was not even told that the movie was a comedy: he was instructed to play the role straight, and was only given script portions for the scenes he was in, rather than a script for the whole film. He is best known for both the scene riding the bomb to destruction, and his over-the-top speech early in the film, after his character learns of the mission to bomb Russia:
"Well, boys, I reckon this is it ?- nuclear combat toe to toe with the Rooskies. Now look, boys, I ain't much of a hand at makin' speeches, but I got a pretty fair idea that something doggone important is goin' on back there. And I got a fair idea the kinda personal emotions that some of you fellas may be thinkin.' Heck, I reckon you wouldn't even be human bein's if you didn't have some pretty strong personal feelin's about nuclear combat. I want you to remember one thing, the folks back home is a-countin' on you and by golly, we ain't about to let 'em down. I tell you something else, if this thing turns out to be half as important as I figure it just might be, I'd say that you're all in line for some important promotions and personal citations when this thing's over with. That goes for ever' last one of you regardless of your race, color or your creed. Now let's get this thing on the hump ?- we got some flyin' to do."
Pickens credited the film as turning point in his career, saying "After 'Dr. Strangelove,' the roles, the dressing rooms, and the checks all started gettin' bigger." He also claimed that before 'Dr. Strangelove' he was "HEY YOU" on sets, and after it, he was called "Mr. Pickens." He seemed amazed at such a change occurring after one movie.
Another of his memorable roles was as Taggart, head of the gang of cowboy thugs in Mel Brooks' classic 1974 comedy Blazing Saddles:
"What in the Wide Wide World of Sports is a-goin' on here?! I hired you people to try to git a little track laid, not to jump around like a bunch of Kansas City faggots!"
The next year, Pickens was in another western, playing the evil limping bank robber in Walt Disney's The Apple Dumpling Gang.
Pickens lent his voice to the 1938 children's radio show The Cinnamon bear, where he plays a singing cowboy. He also lent his voice to the 1975 studio recording of Bobby Bridger's collection of Western ballads A Ballad of the West, in which he narrated part 1, Seekers of the Fleece, the story of Jim Bridger and the Mountain Man Fur Trade Era. Slim's interest in this project blossomed in 1970 when his daughter, Daryle Ann, was cast in Max Evans independent film The Wheel. Max had also hired Jim Bridger's great, grand-nephew, Bobby Bridger, to sing the theme song of his film. Aware of her father's interest in mountain men, Daryle Ann set up a meeting for them, and Slim immediately volunteered to narrate the heroic couplets. In July, Bobby, Slim, and the Lost Gonzo Band recorded Seekers of the Fleece outside of Denver in a tipi studio, where Slim's old mountain man pal Timberjack Joe had decorated with grizzly bear robes and beaver pelts to set the mood. The pair kept the musicians entertained with yarns, and everyone was happy when Ramblin' Jack Elliot showed up and joined in to help with background vocals.
Pickens appeared in dozens of films, including, Old Oklahoma Plains (1952), Down Laredo Way (1953), One-Eyed Jacks (1961) with Marlon Brando, Major Dundee (1965) with Charlton Heston, The Cowboys (1972) with John Wayne, Ginger in the Morning (1974) with Fred Ward, Poor Pretty Eddy (1975), The Getaway (1972) with Steve McQueen, Tom Horn (1980) also with McQueen and Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973) in a small, but memorable and moving role.
Pickens was offered the part of Dick Hallorann in Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining. He refused, saying that filming with Kubrick on Dr. Strangelove was too strenuous. He later relented, saying that he would appear in the film as long as Kubrick was contractually required to shoot Pickens' scenes in fewer than 100 takes a shot. Kubrick, notorious for shooting scenes hundreds and hundreds of times, refused, and cast Scatman Crothers as Hallorann instead.[citation needed]
He also appeared many times on television, both in guest shots, and in regular roles in The Legend of Custer, Bonanza, Hee Haw, B.J. and the Bear, and Filthy Rich (1982). He played the owner of station WJM, Wild Jack Monroe, on the Mary Tyler Moore Show.
Toward the end of his life, Pickens lived with his wife in Columbia, Tuolumne County in California. In 1982, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. A year later, he died from a brain tumor at the age of 64. Pickens was living at the Evergreen nursing home in Modesto, California after his brain surgery and that was where he died. His funeral drew such luminaries as Rex Allen Sr.
His brother Samuel T. Lindley (born on Dec. 31, 1921)acted under the name Easy Pickens. His most notable appearance was as "Easy" in Sam Peckinpah's The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970).
In 1978 Slim Pickens lent his voice to theme park Silver Dollar City as a character named Rube Dugan for a ride called "Rube Dugan's Diving Bell". The Diving Bell was a simulation ride that took passengers on a journey to the bottom of Lake Silver and back. The ride was in operation from 1978 to 1984.
Gary Busey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name William Gareth Jacob Busey
Born June 29, 1944 (1944-06-29) (age 63)
Baytown, Texas, USA
Spouse(s) Tiani Warden (September 23, 1996 - 2001) (divorced)
Judy Helkenberg (December 30, 1968 - 1990) (divorced) 1 child
Notable roles Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story
Commander Krill in Under Siege
Karl Westover in Barbarosa
Academy Awards
Nominated: Best Actor in a Leading Role (1978) for The Buddy Holly Story
Golden Globe Awards
Nominated: Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (1978) for The Buddy Holly Story
BAFTA Awards
Won: Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Role (1978) for The Buddy Holly Story
William Gareth Jacob Busey, Sr. (born June 29, 1944) is an Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe Award-nominated American film and stage actor. He has appeared in a number of films, including The Buddy Holly Story, Big Wednesday, Lethal Weapon, Point Break, Valley of the Wolves Iraq and Under Siege.
Biography
Busey was born in Goose Creek (now Baytown), Texas, he attended Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, where he became interested in acting. He is listed as one of the university's "outstanding alumni." He then transferred to Oklahoma State University, where he quit school just one class short of graduation. In 1971, wife Judy Helkenberg gave birth to his son, fellow actor Jake Busey; she would also give Gary a daughter, Ellie Busey (who is now in college). The couple divorced sixteen years later. On December 4, 1988, Busey was severely injured in a motorcycle accident in which he was not wearing a helmet. His skull was fractured and doctors feared he suffered permanent brain damage.
Career
He began his show-business career as a drummer in "The Rubber Band". He appears on several Leon Russell recordings, credited as playing drums under the name "Teddy Jack Eddy", a character he created when he was a cast member of a local television comedy show in Tulsa, Oklahoma called The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting (which starred fellow Tulsan Gailard Sartain as "Dr. Mazeppa Pompazoidi"). Busey continued to play several small roles in both film and television during the 1970s. In 1975, as the character "Harvey Daley" he was the last person killed on the series Gunsmoke (in the third to the last episode, No. 633 - "The Busters").
In 1978, he starred as Buddy Holly in The Buddy Holly Story with Sartain as The Big Bopper. The movie won Busey an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. In the same year he also starred in the critically-acclaimed surfing movie Big Wednesday.
In the 1980s, Busey's roles included D.C. Cab, Silver Bullet (adapted from Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King), and Lethal Weapon. In the 1990s, he appeared in Predator 2, Point Break, Rookie of the Year, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Under Siege, and The Firm.
This is my new life motto:
When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in
a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.
A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front
of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty
mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the
students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the
jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas
between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was
full. They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar
was full. The students responded with a unanimous "yes."
The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and
poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space
between the sand. The students laughed.
"Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to
recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the
important things--- your family, your health, your friends and your favorite
passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life
would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house
and your car.
The sand is everything else---the small stuff. "If you put the sand into
the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf
balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the
small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to
you.
"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with
grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to
dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and
fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really
matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee
represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked."
It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."
Well, hawkman, we're glad that you are back with your great bio's, Boston. Delightful philosophy, incidentally. Thanks for the reminder that coffee counts, too.
Until our Raggedy arrives and does her magic, I will play this song which has been done by many, but I was unaware that Nelson Eddy had done it.
This version by Bobby Darin
Softly as in a mornin' sunrise
The light of love comes stealing
Into a newborn day.
Flamin' with all the glow of sunrise
A burning kiss is sealing
The vow that all betray.
For the passions that thrill love
Lift you high to heaven
Are the passions that kill love
And lead ya down to hell
Same old story
Softly as in an evenin' sunset
The light that gave you glory
Will take it all away.
For the passions that thrill love
And lift you high to heaven
Are the passions that kill love
And lead ya into hell
Same old story
Softly, softly as in an evenin' sunset, sunset
The light that gave you glory
Will take it all away.
"Say Richard
I don't wanna be a drag or anything,
But the title of this tune is ?'Softly' so could we do it that way, please?"
Softly, softly as in an evenin' sunset, sunset
The light that gave you glory
Will take it all away.
Hey, George. Love that version of Worried Man. Gave us all a big smile. Much, MUCH better than the original.
Thanks, buddy.
When I was looking out my bedroom window yesterday, I noticed something moving in my decorative bush. It was my black snake back again and I swear to you, that thing must have been twelve feet long but very, very slender. We looked at he other for a long time. Me looking into his strange eyes, he with his forked tongue darting in and out, and in that brief moment we shared a common bond.
Found this song by a band named Lard, but could find no further information on the group, folks.
A different approach to a sidewinder.
Snake on a dune
Sand so moist and cool
Crawls up to a ledge
To survey the valley below
Slither into town
In the velvet Elvis night
Spiralling remains
Of a garden of delights
The builders are all gone
Their monuments remain
Outlasted by what they once controlled
How on earth is this explained
Sidewind
Refine
Survive
What's left behind
Can't burrow a home down here
Old asphalt lies below
Goodbyes from the dead play on
Half-curied video gravestones
Cracked patches of neon
Flickers as the wind blows
What kind of drugs were these creatures on
To want so much it ate them whole
Aversion to detergent
Always naturally clean
Sleep all day, crush mice by night
More civilized if you ask me
Sidewind
Refine
Survive
What's left behind
Wake up in the bushes
Brush the crust out of my eyes
Fluff the dirt out of my hair
As the bright sun's beatin' down
Time to hit the road
Time to find the rain
Away from the cage where the light bulbs
blaze
Hitch a ride to another plain
Sidewind
Refine
Survive
What's left behind
Raggedy, you have a fabulous sense of humor. It's always great to see you and your fabulous faces, PA. Hey, honey, you have tenure.
Oh, no, folks. The sad, sad story of The Little Prince, and once again a snake is the culprit.
Poem of the day
The Final Doubts of a Little Prince
Lexie
The elephant's now lost to me,
the one a snake eats, supposedly
and I wonder if that's not the trick-
the way worlds are supposed to be.
Is there something in the businessman's
obsession with the stars?
And is the lamplighter fulfilled
because he never sees the dark?
And when the tippler
drinks to shame
when there's no one else
to take the blame
has he found the point of this old game?
Well, the conceited man, he knows his name
but I've just stumbled through my travels
never satisfied
or gratified
by the way things have unraveled
yes, I've left behind my life,
abandoned my love with four small claws
and I can see from here
unkempt volcanoes erupting into stars.
Oh, Boy!
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
All of my love
All of my kissin
You don't know what you've been a-missin
Oh boy, when you're with me
Oh boy, the world can see
That you, were meant, for me
All of my life
I've been a-waitin
Tonight there'll be no...hesitatin
Oh boy, when you're with me
Oh boy, the world can see
That you, were meant, for me
Stars appear and shadows are falling
You can hear my heart a-calling
A little bit a-lovin' makes everything right
I'm gonna see my baby tonight
All of my love
All of my kissin
You don't know what you've been a-missin
Oh boy, when you're with me
Oh boy, the world can see
That you, were meant, for me
Dum-dee-dum-dum
Oh boy
Dum-dee-dum-dum
Oh boy
---- Guitar Solo ----
All of my life
I've been a-waitin
Tonight there'll be no...hesitatin
Oh boy, when you're with me
Oh boy, the world can see
That you, were meant, for me
Stars appear and shadows are falling
You can hear my heart a-calling
A little bit a-lovin' makes everything right
I'm gonna see my baby tonight
All of my love
All of my kissin
You don't know what you've been a-missin
Oh boy, when you're with me
Oh boy, the world can see
That you, were meant, for me
Thanks, edgar. Don't know why I remember that one, but I do. As you already know, Don McLean tuned me in to Buddy.
I remember this one, folks.
Artist: The Big Bopper
Song: Chantilly Lace
Hello baby, yeah, this is the Big Bopper speaking
Oh you sweet thing
Do I what
Will I what
Oh baby you know what I like
Chantilly lace and a pretty face
And a pony tail hanging down
That wiggle in the walk and giggle in the talk
Makes the world go round
There ain't nothing in the world like a big eyed girl
That makes me act so funny, make me spend my money
Make me feel real loose like a long necked goose
Like a girl, oh baby that's what I like
What's that baby
But, but, but, oh honey
But, oh baby you know what I like
Chorus
What's that honey
Pick you up at 8 and don't be late
But baby I ain't got no money honey
Oh alright baby you know what I like
Chorus
One Big Bopper song to hit #1 was recorded by Johnny Preston. It is an interesting story how it came about.
Johnny Preston
Johnny Preston has an impressive place in the history of rock'n'roll music. His hits include the chart topping 'Running bear', 'Cradle of love', 'Feel so fine' and 'Leave my kitten alone'. The Port Arthur, Texas native was discovered by J.P. Richardson, who was known as 'The Big Bopper'. Even though The Big Bopper ('Chantilly Lace') never had a number one record himself, one that he wrote did go all the way to the top of the charts for Johnny Preston; of course, that song was 'Running Bear'.
In 1958, Johnny Preston was working with a group called 'The Shades' in a club in Beaumont, Texas. One night he was visited by The Big Bopper and a record producer named Bill Hall. They were impressed with Preston and asked him if he wanted to cut a session for Mercury Records. So, on a Sunday morning Johnny drove to a recording studio in Houston where he was met by The Big Bopper, Bill Hall and George Jones. The Big Bopper played a demo of 'Running Bear', a song partly inspired by a Dove soap commercial on TV. Johnny wasn't too impressed with the song because it was nothing like the songs he performed in clubs. However, The Bopper assured Johnny that the song had hit potential.
So Johnny Preston recorded 'Running Bear', with the Indian chant in the background sung by The Big Bopper, Bill Hall, George Jones and Pappy Daily. Mercury Records was about to release the record when the world was shocked by the deaths of The Big Bopper, Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens in a plane crash. Mercury decided to hold back on the release of the single until months later. It finally hit the charts in October 1959, but quickly dropped off the Hot 100. It re-entered in November and shot all the way to number one, where it stayed for three weeks.
