Martin Sheen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez
Born August 3, 1940 (1940-08-03) (age 66)
Dayton, Ohio, USA
Spouse(s) Janet Templeton
Children Emilio Estévez
Ramón Luis Estévez
Charlie Sheen
Renée Estévez
[show]Awards
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
1994 Murphy Brown
Golden Globe Awards
Best Actor, Drama
2001 The West Wing
Martin Sheen (born August 3, 1940) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-winning American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Captain Willard in the film Apocalypse Now and, most recently, as President Josiah Bartlet on the acclaimed and long-running television drama series The West Wing.
Biography
Early life
Sheen was born Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez in Dayton, Ohio to Francisco Estévez, a Galician factory worker/machinery inspector from Parderrubias, Galicia, Spain, and Mary Anne (Phelan), an immigrant from County Tipperary, Ireland. Sheen's mother fled from Ireland during the Irish War of Independence due to her family's IRA connections. Sheen adopted his stage name in honor of Catholic archbishop and theologian Fulton J. Sheen. Sheen lived on Brown Street in the South Park neighborhood, and was one of 10 siblings (9 boys and one girl). He attended Chaminade High School (now Chaminade-Julienne High School). He was raised as a Roman Catholic.
For some time during the 1940s and 1950s the Estevez family lived in Bermuda where Francisco was a representative of IBM, selling cash registers and early computing and copying equipment to businesses and the US Air Force, according to a report in the Royal Gazette newspaper. The family lived on St. John's Road, Pembroke, just outside Hamilton and attended the Mount Saint Agnes school, which is run by the Sister's Of Charity order of the Roman Catholic Church. Martin was the only one of the ten Estevez children who was not actually born in Bermuda. One has returned to live there and is a guidance counsellor at Mt. St. Agnes.
Career
Sheen had wanted to act since he was very young, but his father disapproved. In spite of this, Sheen borrowed money from a priest and headed to New York City. While Sheen claims he deliberately flunked the entrance exam for the University of Dayton so that he could pursue his acting career, he still has an affinity for UD, and is seen drinking from a "Dayton Flyers" coffee mug during several episodes of The West Wing. Sheen has said that he was greatly influenced by the actor James Dean. Sheen developed a theater company with other actors in hopes that a production would earn him recognition. In 1963 he made an appearance in Nightmare, an episode from the TV science fiction series The Outer Limits. The following year he starred in the Broadway play The Subject Was Roses, which he recreated in the 1968 film of the same name. Sheen was a co-star in the controversial, Emmy-winning 1972 television movie That Certain Summer said to be the first television movie to portray homosexuality in a sympathetic, non-judgemental light. His next important feature film role was in 1973, when he starred with Sissy Spacek in the crime drama Badlands - which he has said in many interviews is his best film.[1]
In 1974, Sheen portrayed a hot rod driver in the TV movie The California Kid, and that same year received an Emmy Award nomination for Best Actor in a television drama for his portrayal of Pvt. Eddie Slovik in the made-for-television film, The Execution of Private Slovik. The film told the World War II story of the only American soldier to be executed for desertion since the American Civil War. It was Sheen's performance in this film that ultimately led to Francis Ford Coppola choosing him for a starring role in 1979's Apocalypse Now which gained him wide recognition. On the set of Apocalypse Now, Sheen admitted that he wasn't in the greatest shape and was drinking heavily. On location Sheen had a heart attack and crawled out to a road for help.
Sheen has also done voiceovers as the narrator for the Eyewitness Movie series.
Awards
Sheen received six Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his performance on The West Wing, for which he won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in TV-Drama, as well as two SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series, and was part of the cast that received two SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
In his acting career, Sheen has been nominated for twelve Emmy Awards, winning three. He has also earned eight nominations for Golden Globe Awards. Sheen has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 1500 Vine Street.[2]
NUI Galway
In light of the end of filming of "The West Wing", Sheen announced plans to further his education. "My plan is to read English literature, philosophy and theology in Galway, Republic of Ireland, where my late mother came from and where I'm also a citizen".[3] Speaking after an honorary arts doctorate was conferred on him by the National University of Ireland, Sheen joked that he will be the "oldest undergraduate" at the National University of Ireland (NUI), Galway when he starts his fulltime studies there in the autumn of 2006. Although expressing the concern that he might be a "distraction" to other students at NUIG, he will be attending lectures like everyone else. Speaking the week after filming his last episode of The West Wing, he said "I'm very serious about it." He once said "I never went to college when I was young and am looking forward to giving it a try... at age 65!"[4] On 1 September 2006, Sheen was among first to register as a student at NUI Galway.[5] He has since left the University after completing a semester.
Political activism
Martin Sheen is no stranger to politics, both as an actor and in real life. He has played U.S. President John F. Kennedy (in the miniseries Kennedy ?- The Presidential Years), Attorney General Robert Kennedy in the television special The Missiles of October, White House Chief of Staff A.J. McInnerney in The American President, sinister future president Greg Stillson in The Dead Zone, and fictional Democratic president Josiah Bartlet in the acclaimed television drama The West Wing.
Although he didn't attend college, Sheen credited the Marianists at University of Dayton as a major influence on his public activism. Sheen is known for his robust support of liberal political causes, such as United States military actions and a toxic-waste incinerator in East Liverpool, Ohio. Sheen has resisted calls to run for office, saying "There's no way that I could be the president. You can't have a pacifist in the White House
I'm an actor. This is what I do for a living."[6] Sheen is an honorary trustee of the Dayton International Peace Museum.
He supported the 1965 farm worker movement with Cesar Chavez in Delano, California. He has also supported causes for PETA and is a proponent of the Consistent Life ethic, which advocates against abortion, capital punishment and war.[7] He also supports the Democrats for Life of America's Pregnant Women Support Act.[8] In 2004, along with fellow actor Rob Reiner, Sheen campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean. He later campaigned for nominee John Kerry.
On 16 May 1995, Martin Sheen and Paul Watson from Sea Shepherd were attacked in a hotel on Magdalen Islands by a number of Canadian sealers, who were upset that they had come there to protest against the annual seal hunt and promote non-lethal alternatives. Sheen was trying to negotiate with the angry mob while Watson was escorted to the airport by police and had to spend the night in hospital.[9] On 28 August 2005, he visited anti-Iraq War activist Cindy Sheehan at Camp Casey. He prayed with her and spoke to her supporters. He began his remarks by stating, "At least you've got the acting President of the United States," referring to his role as fictional President Josiah Bartlet on The West Wing.[10] Cindy Sheehan had been demanding to speak with the actual President, George W. Bush.
Sheen endorsed marches and walkouts called by the civil rights group, By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), to force the state of California to honor the Cesar Chavez holiday. On March 30, the day of the protests, thousands of students, primarily Latino from California and elsewhere, walked out school in support of the demand.
On 10 April 2006, the New York Times reported that members of the Democratic Party in Ohio had contacted Sheen, attempting to persuade him to run for the U.S. Senate in Ohio. Sheen declined the offer, stating that "I'm just not qualified," he said. "You're mistaking celebrity for credibility."[citation needed] On 26 November 2006, the Sunday Times in the Republic of Ireland, where Sheen is currently living due to his enrollment in NUI Galway, reported on him speaking out against mushroom farmers exploiting foreign workers by paying them as little as 2.50 an hour in a country where the minimum wage is 7.65.
Because of his activism, Sheen was one of many political celebrities spoofed in Team America: World Police. On April 1, 2007 Sheen was arrested, with 38 other activists, for tresspassing at the Nevada Test Site at a Nevada Desert Experience event protesting the Nevada Test Site.[11]
Personal life
Sheen married art student Janet Templeton on December 23, 1961, and they have four children, three sons and a daughter, all of whom are actors: Emilio Estévez, Ramón Luis Estévez, Charlie Sheen and Renée Estévez.
Martin Sheen starred in the war film about Vietnam Apocalypse Now and his son Charlie Sheen also starred in a war film about Vietnam: Platoon. Charlie Sheen once stated that he wanted to star in a film similar to one his father was in because he wanted to know what it feels like.
In the Spring of 1989, Sheen was named Honorary Mayor of Malibu, California. He promptly marked his appointment with a decree proclaiming the area "a nuclear-free zone, a sanctuary for [illegal] aliens and the homeless, and a protected environment for all life, wild and tame".[12] Some local citizens were angered by the decree, and the Malibu Chamber of Commerce met in June of that year to consider revoking Sheen's title, but voted unanimously to retain him.[13] Sheen has limited lateral movement of his left arm, which is three inches shorter than his right, due to it being crushed by forceps during his birth.[14]
Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport
Rolf Harris
(SPOKEN)
There's an old Australian stockman lying, dying
He gets himself up onto one elbow and 'e turns to his mates
Who are all gathered around and 'e says
Watch me wallabies feed, mate
Watch me wallabies feed,
They're a dangerous breed, mate
So watch me wallabies feed
Altogether now!
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Keep me cockatoo cool, Curl
Keep me cockatoo cool
Ah, don't go acting the fool, Curl
Just keep me cockatoo cool
Altogether now!
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
'n' take me koala back, Jack
Take me koala back
He lives somewhere out on the track, Mac
So take me koala back
Altogether now!
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Let me abos go loose, Lew
Let me abos go loose
They're of no further use, Lew
So let me abos go loose
Altogether now!
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
And mind me platypus duck, Bill
Mind me platypus duck
Ah, don't let 'im go running amok, Bill
Just mind me platypus duck
Altogether now!
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Play your didgeridoo, Blue
Play your didgeridoo
Ah, like, keep playin'
'Til I shoot thru, Blue
Play your didgeridoo
Altogether now!
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Tan me hide when I'm dead, Fred
Tan me hide when I'm dead
So we tanned his hide when he died, Clyde
And that's it hangin' on the shed
Altogether now
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Tie me kangaroo down, sport
Tie me kangaroo down
Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors.
First, allow me to thank hbg for the info on The Beatles. Amazing, Canada.
edgar, we will dedicate your song to all our Aussie friends. Thanks, Texas, and it looks as though "the joint is jumpin'"
I was surprised to learn that there are two groups named The Sandpipers, folks. One is an all girl's group that was formed in Pensacola, Florida, and the other who had a hit with a song called Guantenamara.
Let's begin the day with this one.
Come Saturday morning
I'm goin' away with my friend
We'll Saturday-spend till the end of the day-ay
Just I and my friend
We'll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles
And then we'll move on
But we will remember long after Saturday's gone
(Come Saturday morning, come Saturday mo-o-rning)
Come Saturday morning
I'm goin' away with my friend
We'll Saturday-laugh more than half of the day (ay-ay-ay)
Just I and my friend (my friend)
Dressed up in our rings and our Saturday things
And then we'll move on
But we will remember long after Saturday's gone
(Come Saturday morning, come Saturday morning)
Come Saturday mo (Saturday) rning
Just I and my friend (my friend)
We'll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles
And then we'll move on
But we will remember long after Saturday's gone
(Come Saturday morning, come Saturday mo-o-rning)
(Come Saturday morning, come Saturday mo-o-rning)
FADE
My word, edgar. I had forgotten that oldie. Thanks for the reminder. I think Bud called Vaughn Monroe, "Vitamin Voice". Funny!
Well, here's the other song by The other Sandpipers, folks
Guantanamera, guajira guantanamera,
Guantanamera, guajira guantanamera.
Yo soy un hombre sincero,
De don de crece la palma,
Yo soy un hombre sincero,
De don de crece la palma,
Yantes des morirme guiero,
Echar mis versos del alma,
Guantanamera, guajira, guantanamera
Guantanamera, guajira guantanamera.
Guantanamera, guajira guantanamera,
Guantanamera, guajira guantanamera.
I'm just a man who is trying
To do some good before dying,
To ask each man and his brother,
To bear no ill toward each other.
This life will never be hollow,
To those who listen and follow.
Guantanamera, guajira, guantanamera,
Guantanamera, guajira, guantanamera.
Guantanamera, guajira, guantanamera,
Guantanamera, guajira, guantanamera.
I write my rhymes with no learning,
And yet with truth they are burning,
But is the world waiting for them?
Or will they all just ignore them?
Have I a poet's illusion,
A dream to die in seclusion?
Guantanamera, guajira, guantanamera,
Guantanamera, guajira, guantanamera.
Guantanamera, guajira, guantanamera
Guantanamera, guajira; guantanamera,
A little brook on a mountain,
The cooling spray of a fountain,
Arouse in me an emotion,
More than the vast boundless ocean,
For there's a wealth beyond measure,
In little things that we treasure,
Guantanamera, guajira, guantanamera,
Guantanamera, guajira, guantanamera.
Never heard that one, but I can identify with it.
Louis Armstrong
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Louis Armstrong's stage personality matched his flashy trumpet. Armstrong is also known for his raspy singing voice.
Background information
Birth name Louis Daniel Armstrong
Also known as Satchmo, Pops,
Born August 4, 1901
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Died July 6, 1971 (aged 69)
Corona, Queens, New York City, NY, USA
Genre(s) Jazz
Dixieland
Swing music
Traditional pop
Occupation(s) Trumpeter, Vocalist
Instrument(s) Trumpet, Cornet
Years active 1919-1971
Associated
acts Joe "King" Oliver
Louis[1] Armstrong[2] (4 August 1901[3] - July 6, 1971), nicknamed Satchmo[4] and Pops, was an American jazz musician. Armstrong was a charismatic, innovative performer whose inspired, improvised soloing was the main influence for a fundamental change in jazz, shifting its focus from collective melodic playing, often arranged in one way or another, to the solo player and improvised soloing. One of the most famous jazz musicians of the 20th century, he first achieved fame as a cornet player, later on switching to trumpet, but toward the end of his career he was best known as a vocalist and became one of the most influential jazz singers.
Early life
Armstrong lived his entire life believing that he was born on July 04, 1900, (Independence Day for the new century). Many biographies note this date. Although Armstrong died in 1971, it wasn't until the 1980's that his correct birthdate of August 4th, 1901 was discovered.[5]
Armstrong was born into a very poor family in New Orleans, Louisiana. He spent his youth in poverty in a rough neighborhood of uptown New Orleans, as his father, William Armstrong (1881-1922), abandoned the family when Louis was an infant. His mother, Mary Albert Armstrong (1886-1942), then left him and his younger sister Beatrice Armstrong Collins (1903-1987) under the upbringing of his grandmother Josephine Armstrong. He first learned to play the cornet (his first of which was bought with money loaned to him by the Karnofskys, a Russian-Jewish immigrant family) in the band of the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs, where he had been sent multiple times for general delinquency, most notably for a long term after (as police records show) firing his stepfather's pistol into the air at a New Year's Eve celebration. To express gratitude towards the Karnofskys, Armstrong wore a Star of David pendant for the rest of his life.[6] He followed the city's frequent brass band parades and listened to older musicians every chance he got, learning from Bunk Johnson, Buddy Petit, Black Benny and above all Joe "King" Oliver, who acted as a mentor and almost a father figure to the young Armstrong. Armstrong later played in the brass bands and riverboats of New Orleans, and first started traveling with the well-regarded band of Fate Marable which toured on a steamboat up and down the Mississippi River; he described his time with Marable as "going to the University", since it gave him a much wider experience working with written arrangements. When Joe Oliver left town in 1919, Armstrong took Oliver's place in Kid Ory's band, regarded as the top hot jazz band in the city.
Early career
On March 19, 1918, Louis married Daisy Parker, a prostitute from Gretna, Louisiana. They adopted a 3-year-old boy, Clarence Armstrong, whose mother, Louis's cousin Fiona, died soon after giving birth. Louis's marriage to Parker failed quickly and they separated. In 1922, Armstrong joined the exodus to Chicago, where he had been invited by Joe "King" Oliver to join his Creole Jazz Band. Oliver's band was the best and most influential hot jazz band in Chicago in the early 1920s, at a time when Chicago was the center of jazz. Armstrong made his first recordings, including taking some solos and breaks, while playing second cornet in Oliver's band in 1923.
Armstrong was happy working with Oliver, but his second wife, pianist Lil Hardin Armstrong, urged him to seek more prominent billing. He and Oliver parted amicably in 1924 and Armstrong moved to New York City to play with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, the top African American band of the day. Armstrong switched to the trumpet to blend in better with the other musicians in his section. His influence upon Henderson's tenor sax soloist, Coleman Hawkins, can be judged by listening to the records that the band made during this period. During this time, he also made many recordings on the side arranged by an old friend from New Orleans, pianist Clarence Williams; these included small jazz band sides (some of the best pairing Armstrong with one of Armstrong's few rivals in fiery technique and ideas, Sidney Bechet) and a series of accompaniments for Blues singers.
He returned to Chicago, in 1925, and began recording under his own name with his famous Hot Five and Hot Seven with such hits as "Potato Head Blues", "Muggles" (a reference to marijuana, for which Armstrong had a lifelong fondness), and "West End Blues", the music of which set the standard and the agenda for jazz for many years to come. His recordings with pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines (most famously their 1928 "Weatherbird" duet) and Armstrong's trumpet introduction to "West End Blues" remain some of the most famous and influential improvisations in the whole of jazz history.
In the late Thirties Armstrong began to experience problems with his fingers and lips, which were aggravated by his unorthodox playing style. As result he began to branch out and develop his vocal style, and make his first theatrical appearances.
Armstrong returned to New York, in 1929, where he played in the pit orchestra of the successful musical Hot Chocolate, an all-black revue written by Andy Razaf and Fats Waller. He also made a cameo appaearance as a vocalist, regularly stealing the show with his rendition of "Ain't Misbehavin' ", and his version of the song became his biggest selling record to date. [7]
Armstrong had considerable success with vocal recordings, including versions of famous songs composed by his old friend Hoagy Carmichael. His Thirties recordings took full advantage of the new RCA ribbon microphone, introduced in 1931, which imparted a characteristic warmth to vocals and immediately became an intrinsic part of the 'crooning' sound of performers like Bing Crosby.
Armstrong's famous interpretation of "Stardust" became one of the most successful versions of this song ever recorded, showcasing Armstrong's unique vocal sound and style and his innovative approach to singing songs that had already become standards.
Armstrong's radical re-working of Sidney Arodin and Carmichael's "Lazy River" (recorded in 1931) encapsulates many features of his groundbreaking approach to melody and phrasing. The song begins with a brief trumpet solo, then the main melody is stated by sobbing horns, which are memorably punctuated by Armstrong's growling interjections at the end of each bar: "Yeah! ..."Uh-huh" ..."Sure" ... "Way down, way down".
In the first verse, he ignores the notated melody entirely, and sings as if playing a trumpet solo, pitching most of the first line on a single note and using strongly syncopated phrasing. In the second stanza he breaks into an almost fully improvised melody, which then evolves into a classic passage of Armstrong 'scat singing'.
As with his trumpet playing, Armstrong's vocal innovations served as a foundation stone for the art of jazz vocal interpretation. The uniquely gritty colouration of his voice became a musical archetype that was much imitated and endlessly impersonated. His scat singing style was enriched by his matchless experience as a trumpet soloist, and his resonant, velvety lower-register tone and bubbling cadences on sides such as "Lazy River" exerted a huge influence on younger white singers such as Bing Crosby.
Armstrong moved to Los Angeles in 1930; then toured Europe. After spending many years on the road, he settled permanently in Queens, New York in 1943 in contentment with his fourth wife, Lucille. Although subject to the vicissitudes of Tin Pan Alley and the gangster-ridden music business, he continued to develop his playing.
During the subsequent thirty years, Armstrong played more than three hundred gigs a year. Bookings for big bands tapered off during the 1940s due to changes in public tastes: ballrooms closed, and there was competition from television and from other types of music becoming more popular than big band music. It became impossible to support and finance a 16-piece touring band.
The All Stars
Following a highly successful small-group jazz concert at New York Town Hall on May 17, 1947, featuring Armstrong with Jack Teagarden, Armstrong's manager Joe Glaser dissolved the Armstrong big band on August 13, 1947 and established a six-piece small group featuring Armstrong with (initially) Teagarden, Earl Hines and other top swing and dixieland musicians, most of them ex-big band leaders. The new group was announced at the opening of Billy Berg's Supper Club.
This group was called the All Stars, and included at various times Earl "Fatha" Hines, Barney Bigard, Edmond Hall, Jack Teagarden, Trummy Young, Arvell Shaw, Billy Kyle, Marty Napoleon, Big Sid Catlett, Cozy Cole, Barrett Deems and the Filipino-American percussionist, Danny Barcelona. During this period, Armstrong made many recordings and appeared in over thirty films. In 1964, he recorded his biggest-selling record, Hello, Dolly!. The song went to #1 on the pop chart, making Armstrong the oldest person to ever accomplish that feat at age 63. In the process, Armstrong dislodged The Beatles from the #1 position they had occupied for 14 consecutive weeks with three different songs.[8]
Armstrong kept up his busy tour schedule until a few years before his death. While in his later years, he would sometimes play some of his numerous gigs by rote, but other times would enliven the most mundane gig with his vigorous playing, often to the astonishment of his band. He also toured Africa, Europe, and Asia under sponsorship of the US State Department with great success and become known as "Ambassador Satch". While failing health restricted his schedule in his last years, within those limitations he continued playing until the day he died.
Personality
The nickname Satchmo or Satch is short for Satchelmouth (describing his embouchure). In 1932, then Melody Maker magazine editor Percy Brooks greeted Armstrong in London with "Hello, Satchmo!" shortening Satchelmouth (some say unintentionally), and it stuck.
Early on he was also known as Dippermouth. This is a reference to the propensity he had for refreshing himself with the dipper (ladle) from a bucket of sugar water which was always present on stage with Joe Oliver's band in Chicago in the early nineteen-twenties.
The damage to his embouchure from his high pressure approach to playing is acutely visible in many pictures of Louis from the mid-twenties. It also led to his emphasizing his singing career because at certain periods, he was unable to play. This did not stop Louis though, because after setting his trumpet aside for a while, he amended his playing style and continued his trumpet career. Friends and fellow musicians usually called him Pops, which is also how Armstrong usually addressed his friends and fellow musicians (except for Pops Foster, whom Armstrong always called "George").
He was also criticized for accepting the title of "King of The Zulus" (in the New Orleans African American community, an honored role as head of leading black Carnival Krewe, but bewildering or offensive to outsiders with their traditional costume of grass-skirts and blackface makeup satirizing southern white attitudes) for Mardi Gras 1949.
The seeming racial insensitivity of Armstrong's King of the Zulus performance has sometimes been seen as part of a larger failing on Armstrong's part. Where some saw a gregarious and outgoing personality, others saw someone trying too hard to appeal to white audiences and essentially becoming a minstrel caricature. Some musicians criticized Armstrong for playing in front of segregated audiences, and for not taking a strong enough stand in the civil rights movement suggesting that he was an Uncle Tom. Billie Holiday countered, however, "Of course Pops toms, but he toms from the heart."
Armstrong, in fact, was a major financial supporter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights activists, but mostly preferred to work quietly behind the scenes, not mixing his politics with his work as an entertainer. The few exceptions made it more effective when he did speak out; Armstrong's criticism of President Eisenhower, calling him "two-faced" and "gutless" because of his inaction during the conflict over school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 made national news. As a protest, Armstrong canceled a planned tour of the Soviet Union on behalf of the State Department saying "The way they're treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell" and that he could not represent his government abroad when it was in conflict with its own people.
He was an extremely generous man, who was said to have given away almost as much money as he kept for himself. Armstrong was also greatly concerned with his health and bodily functions. He made frequent use of laxatives as a means of controlling his weight, a practice he advocated both to personal acquaintances and in the diet plans he published under the title Lose Weight the Satchmo Way. Armstrong's laxative of preference in his younger days was Pluto Water, but he then became an enthusiastic convert when he discovered the herbal remedy Swiss Kriss; he would extol its virtues to anyone who would listen and pass out packets to everyone he encountered, including members of the British Royal Family. (Armstrong also appeared in humorous, albeit risqué, advertisements for Swiss Kriss; the ads bore a picture of him sitting on a toilet ?- as viewed through a keyhole ?- with the slogan "Satch says, 'Leave it all behind ya!'")
The concern with his health and weight was balanced by his love of food, reflected in such songs as Big Butter & Egg Man, Cheesecake, Cornet Chop Suey, and, especially, Struttin' with Some Barbecue.[9] He kept a strong connection throughout his life to the cooking of New Orleans, always signing his letters, "Chilli Beans and Sticky Rice".[10]
Music
In his early years, Armstrong was best known for his virtuosity with the cornet and trumpet. The greatest trumpet playing of his early years can be heard on his Hot Five and Hot Seven records. The improvisations which he made on these records of New Orleans jazz standards and popular songs of the day, to the present time stack up brilliantly alongside those of any other later jazz performer. The older generation of New Orleans jazz musicians often referred to their improvisations as "variating the melody"; Armstrong's improvisations were daring and sophisticated for the time while often subtle and melodic. He often essentially re-composed pop-tunes he played, making them more interesting. Armstrong's playing is filled with joyous, inspired original melodies, creative leaps, and subtle relaxed or driving rhythms. The genius of these creative passages is matched by Armstrong's playing technique, honed by constant practice, which extended the range, tone and capabilities of the trumpet. In these records, Armstrong almost single-handedly created the role of the jazz soloist, taking what was essentially a collective folk music and turning it into an art form with tremendous possibilities for individual expression.
Armstrong's work in the 1920s shows him playing at the outer limits of his abilities. The Hot Five records, especially, often have minor flubs and missed notes, which do little to detract from listening enjoyment since the energy of the spontaneous performance comes through. By the mid 1930s, Armstrong achieved a smooth assurance, knowing exactly what he could do and carrying out his ideas with perfectionism.
As his music progressed and popularity grew, his singing also became important. Armstrong was not the first to record scat singing, but he was masterful at it and helped popularize it. He had a hit with his playing and scat singing on "Heebie Jeebies" when, according to some legends, the sheet music fell on the floor and he simply started singing nonsense syllables. He also sang out "I done forgot the words" in the middle of recording "I'm A Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas". Such records were hits and scat singing became a major part of his performances. Long before this, however, Armstrong was playing around with his vocals, shortening and lengthening phrases, interjecting improvisations, using his voice as creatively as his trumpet.
During his long career he played and sang with the most important instrumentalists and vocalists; among the many, singing brakeman Jimmie Rodgers, Bing Crosby, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Bessie Smith, and notably with Ella Fitzgerald. His influence upon Bing Crosby is particularly important with regard to the subsequent development of popular music: Crosby admired and copied Armstrong, as is evident on many of his early recordings, notably "Just One More Chance" (1931). The 'New Grove Dictionary Of Jazz' describes Crosby's debt to Armstrong in perfect detail, although it does not acknowledge Armstrong by name: "Crosby...was important in introducing into the mainstream of popular singing an Afro-American concept of song as a lyrical extension of speech...His techniques - easing the weight of the breath on the vocal chords, passing into a head voice at a low register, using forward production to aid distinct enunciation, singing on consonants (a practice of black singers), and making discreet use of appoggiaturas, mordents, and slurs to emphasize the text - were emulated by nearly all later popular singers". Armstrong recorded three albums with Ella Fitzgerald: Ella and Louis, Ella and Louis Again, and Porgy and Bess for Verve Records. His recordings Satch Plays Fats, all Fats Waller tunes, and Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy in the 1950s were perhaps among the last of his great creative recordings, but even oddities like Disney Songs the Satchmo Way are seen to have their musical moments. And, his participation in Dave Brubeck's high-concept jazz musical The Real Ambassadors was critcially acclaimed. For the most part, however, his later output was criticized as being overly simplistic or repetitive.
Armstrong had many hit records including "Stardust", "What a Wonderful World", "When The Saints Go Marching In", "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "Ain't Misbehavin'", and "Stompin' at the Savoy". "We Have All the Time in the World" featured on the soundtrack of the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and enjoyed renewed popularity in the UK in 1994 when it featured on a Guinness advert. It reached number 3 in the charts on being re-released.
In 1964, Armstrong knocked the Beatles off the top of the Billboard Top 100 chart with "Hello, Dolly", which gave the 63-year-old performer a U.S. record as the oldest artist to have a #1 song. In 1968, Armstrong scored one last popular hit in the United Kingdom with the highly sentimental pop song "What a Wonderful World", which topped the British charts for a month; however, the single did not chart at all in America. The song gained greater currency in the popular consciousness when it was used in the 1987 movie Good Morning Vietnam, its subsequent rerelease topping many charts around the world. Armstrong even appeared on the 28 October 1970 Johnny Cash Show, where he sang Nat "King" Cole's hit "Rambling Rose" and joined Cash to re-create his performance backing Jimmie Rodgers on "Blue Yodel # 9.""
Armstrong enjoyed many types of music, from the most earthy blues to the syrupy sweet arrangements of Guy Lombardo, to Latin American folksongs, to classical symphonies and opera. Armstrong incorporated influences from all these sources into his performances, sometimes to the bewilderment of fans who wanted Armstrong to stay in convenient narrow categories. Armstrong was inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an early influence. Some of his solos from the 1950s, such as the hard rocking version of "Saint Louis Blues" from the WC Handy album, show that the influence went in both directions.
Death and legacy
Louis Armstrong died of a heart attack on July 6, 1971, at age 69, the night after playing a famous show at the Waldorf Astoria's Empire Room. He was residing in Corona, Queens, New York City, at the time of his passing. He was interred in Flushing Cemetery, Flushing, in Queens, New York City. His honorary pallbearers included Governor Rockefeller, Mayor Lindsay, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Guy Lombardo, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Pearl Bailey, Count Basie, Harry James, Frank Sinatra, Ed Sullivan, Earl Wilson, Alan King, Johnny Carson, David Frost, Merv Griffin, Dick Cavett and Bobby Hackett.
On December 31, 1999, (the New Years Eve of the new Millenium), US President Bill Clinton announced that Armstrong's trumpet was among several items of national memorabilia, that was to be interred in a Millenial time capsule to be opened 100 years later.[11]
Today, the house where Louis Armstrong lived at the time of his death (and which was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977) is a museum. The Louis Armstrong House & Archives, at 34-56 107th Street (between 34th and 35th Avenues) in Corona, Queens, presents concerts and educational programs, operates as an historic house museum and makes materials in its archives of writings, books, recordings and memorabilia available to the public for research. The museum is operated by the City University of New York's Queens College, following the dictates of Armstrong's will.
The museum was opened to the public on October 15, 2003. In 2005, it was among 406 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. [2] [3]
The influence of Armstrong on the development of jazz is virtually immeasurable. Yet, his irrepressible personality both as a performer, and as a public figure later in his career, was so strong that to some it sometimes overshadowed his contributions as a musician and singer.
As a virtuoso trumpet player, Armstrong had a unique tone and an extraordinary talent for melodic improvisation. Through his playing, the trumpet emerged as a solo instrument in jazz and is used widely today. He was a masterful accompanist and ensemble player in addition to his extraordinary skills as a soloist. With his innovations, he raised the bar musically for all who came after him.
Armstrong is considered by some to have essentially invented jazz singing. He had an extremely distinctive gravelly voice, which he deployed with great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also greatly skilled at scat singing, or wordless vocalizing. Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra are just two singers who were greatly indebted to him. Holiday said that she always wanted Bessie Smith's 'big' sound and Armstrong's feeling in her singing.
On August 4, 2001, the centennial of Armstrong's birth, New Orleans' airport was renamed Louis Armstrong International Airport in his honor.
Radio, films and TV
Armstrong appeared in more than a dozen Hollywood films (though few of particular note), usually playing a band leader or musician. He was the first African American to host a nationally broadcast radio show in the 1930s. He was heard on such radio programs as The Story of Swing (1937) and This Is Jazz (1947), and he also made assorted television appearances, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, including appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
Louis Armstrong has a record star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 7601 Hollywood Boulevard.
Many of Armstrong's recordings remain popular. More than three decades since his passing, a larger number of his recordings from all periods of his career are more widely available than at any time during his lifetime. His songs are broadcast and listened to every day throughout the world, and are honored in various movies, TV series, commercials, and even anime and computer games. "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" was included in the computer game Fallout 2, accompanying the intro cinematic. His 1923 recordings, with Joe Oliver and his Creole Jazz Band, continue to be listened to as documents of ensemble style New Orleans jazz, but more particularly as ripper jazz records in their own right. All too often, however, Armstrong recorded with stiff, standard orchestras leaving only his sublime trumpet playing as of interest. "Melancholy Blues," performed by Armstrong and his Hot Seven was included on the Voyager Golden Record sent into outer space to represent one of the greatest achievements of humanity.
Argentine writer Julio Cortázar, a self-described Armstrong admirer, asserted that a 1952 Louis Armstrong concert at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris played a significant role in inspiring him to create the fictional creatures called Cronopios that are the subject of a number of Cortázar's short stories. Cortázar once called Louis Armstrong himself "Grandísimo Cronopio" (Most Enormous Cronopio).
Armstrong also appears as a minor character in Harry Turtledove's Timeline-191 series. When he and his band escape from a Nazi-like Confederacy, they enhance the insipid mainstream music of the North.
Louis Armstrong is also referred to in The Trumpet of the Swan along with Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. Three siblings in the film are named Louie, Billie, and Ella. The main character, Louie, plays a trumpet, an obvious nod to Armstrong.
In the original EB White book, he is referred to by name by a child who hears Louie playing and comments "He sounds just like Louis Armstrong, the famous trumpet player".
Honors and awards
The main airport in New Orleans, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is named for Armstrong. In addition, the U.S. Open tennis tournament's former main stadium was named Louis Armstrong Stadium in honor of Armstrong who had lived a few blocks from the site.[12]
Armstrong was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1972. He will be inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007.
Billy Bob Thornton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name William Robert Thornton
Born August 4, 1955 (1955-08-04) (age 51)
Hot Springs, Arkansas, United States
Spouse(s) Melissa Lee Gatlin (1978-1980)
Toni Lawrence (1986-1988)
Cynda Williams (1990-1992)
Pietra Dawn Cherniak (1993-1997)
Angelina Jolie (2000-2003)
Official site
www.billybobthornton.net
[show]Awards
Academy Awards
Best Adapted Screenplay
1996 Sling Blade
Billy Bob Thornton (born William Robert Thornton on August 4, 1955) is an Academy Award-winning American screenwriter, actor, as well as occasional director, playwright and singer. He came to fame in the mid 1990s, after writing, directing, and starring in the film Sling Blade, and has since established a career as a Hollywood leading actor, having appeared in several successful films, including 2003's Bad Santa. Thornton, who has been described in media reports as "Hollywood's go-to alpha male",[1] is also known for his former marriage to actress Angelina Jolie.
Biography
Early life
Thornton was born in Arkansas to Billy Ray Thornton, a high school history teacher and basketball coach, and Virginia R. Faulkner, a psychic. Thornton has three younger brothers, Jimmy Don, born in 1958 and now deceased, Jim Bean, and John David, born in 1969. Thornton lived in both Alpine, Arkansas and Malvern, Arkansas during his childhood, and also spent time with his grandfather, Otis Thornton, a forest ranger, in a small shack in the woods. He attended Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, where he studied psychology but dropped out after two semesters. Thornton is the cousin of noted professional wrestlers Dory Funk, Jr. and Terry Funk, which Terry Funk makes note of in his autobiography Terry Funk: More Than Hardcore.
In the late 1980s, Thornton settled in Los Angeles to pursue his career as an actor alongside future writing partner Tom Epperson. Thornton initially had a difficult time succeeding as an actor, and worked in telemarketing, off-shore wind farming and fast food management while auditioning for acting jobs. He also played drums and sang with South African rock legend Piet Botha's band Jack Hammer. While Thornton worked as a waiter for an industry event, he served film director Billy Wilder and struck up a conversation with Wilder, who advised Thornton to consider a career as a screenwriter.
Career
Thornton first came to semi-prominence as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire with John Ritter and Markie Post. His role as the villain in 1992's One False Move brought him to the attention of critics. He also had small roles in the early 1990s films Indecent Proposal, On Deadly Ground, Bound By Honor, Grey Knight, and Tombstone.
Thornton put Wilder's advice to good use, and went on to write, direct and star in the independent film Sling Blade, which was released in 1996. The film, an expansion of a short film titled Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade, told the story of Karl Childers, a mentally handicapped man. Sling Blade garnered international acclaim. Thornton's screenplay earned him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, a Writers Guild of America Award, and an Edgar Award, while his performance received Oscar and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Actor. Thornton adapted the book All the Pretty Horses into a 2000 film with the same name, starring Matt Damon and Penélope Cruz. The negative experience (he was forced to cut more than an hour) led to his decision to never direct another film (a subsequent release, Daddy and Them, was filmed earlier). Also in 2000, an early script which he and Tom Epperson wrote together was made into The Gift which starred Cate Blanchett, Hilary Swank, Keanu Reeves, Katie Holmes and Giovanni Ribisi.
During the late 1990s, Thornton, who has had a life-long love for music, began a career as a singer-songwriter. He released a roots rock album entitled Private Radio in 2001, and two more albums, The Edge of the World (2003) and Hobo (2005). Thornton was the singer of a blues rock band named Tres Hombres. Guitarist Billy Gibbons referred to the band as "The best little cover band in Texas", and Thornton bears a tattoo with the band's name on it.[2] He also performed the Warren Zevon song The Wind on the tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich: Songs of Warren Zevon. Thornton also recorded a cover of the Johnny Cash classic "Ring of Fire" for the Oxford American magazine's Southern Music CD in 2001. As of September 2006, Thornton is working on another album.[3]
Thornton's screen persona has been described by the press as that of a "tattooed, hirsute man's man".[1] He appeared in several major film roles following Sling Blade 's success, including 1998's Armageddon and A Simple Plan, 2001's Monster's Ball and 2004's The Alamo, in which he played Davy Crockett. He played a malicious mall Santa Claus in 2003's Bad Santa, a black comedy that performed well at the box office and established Thornton as a leading comic actor. Thornton has stated that following Bad Santa's success, audiences "like to watch [him] play that kind of guy"[1] and "they [casting directors] call me up when they need an asshole. It's kinda that simple... you know how narrow the imagination in this business can be".[4] He appeared in the comic film School for Scoundrels, which was released on September 29, 2006. In the film, he plays a self-help doctor; the role was written specifically for Thornton.[1] His most recent film role was The Astronaut Farmer, a drama released on February 23, 2007. Other upcoming roles include another comedy, Mr. Woodcock, in which Thornton will play a sadistic gym teacher; and the drama Peace Like A River, which is scheduled to begin filming in early 2007. Thornton has also expressed an interest in directing another film, possibly a period piece about cave explorer Floyd Collins,[5] based on the book Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins by Robert K. Murray and Roger Brucker.
Thornton received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on October 7, 2004.
Personal life
Thornton has stated on several occasions that he has obsessive-compulsive disorder; he and rock singer Warren Zevon became close friends after sharing their common experiences with the disorder.[6] He is known for various idiosyncratic behaviors, well-documented in interviews with the actor. Among these is a phobia of antique furniture, something shared by the Dwight Yoakam character in the Thornton-penned Sling Blade. That trait was also added to Thornton's character in the 2001 film Bandits. Additionally, he has stated that he has a fear of certain types of silverware,[7] a trait which was included for his character in 2001's Monster's Ball, in which his character requests a plastic spoon each time he consumes his daily bowl of chocolate ice cream.
Thornton lives in Los Angeles. He has been married five times, most notably to actress Angelina Jolie. The pair were known for their eccentric behavior, including reports that they wore vials of each others' blood around their necks; he later clarified this to be that the two of them wore small lockets that contained a drop of blood from each of them inside.[1][8] Thornton and Jolie adopted a child from Cambodia renamed Maddox. Jolie's divorce petition named the child as being both hers and Thornton's offspring and requested the Court grant her custody and Thornton reasonable parenting time.[9] He is the father of four other children: Amanda Spence with his first wife, Melissa Gatlin; William Langston and Harry James with his fourth wife, Pietra Cherniak; and Bella, with Connie Angland, who is Thornton's current girlfriend. Thornton has also stated that he will likely not marry again; he has specified that he believes that marriage "doesn't work" for him.[1]
On September 11, 2003, Thornton had received word that his ex-Hearts Afire star, John Ritter had died, while filming the last movie Bad Santa, which was dedicated to him. He along with Markie Post attended Ritter's funeral four days after his co-star's death.
Kym Karath
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Kimberly Karath
Born August 4, 1958 (1958-08-04) (age 48)
Los Angeles, California, USA
Spouse(s) Philippe L Equibec' (1985-)
Kimberly "Kym" Karath (born 4 August 1958 in Los Angeles, California, USA) is an American actress, best known for her role in The Sound of Music.
Career
Karath started her career at a very young age, appearing in Spencer's Mountain with Henry Fonda and Veronica Cartwright in 1963, and The Thrill of It All with Doris Day. However, Karath is best remembered for her role in The Sound of Music, where she played the "baby of the family," Gretl Von Trapp. After The Sound of Music she primarily appeared in American television, including an appearance in Lost in Space.
Karath graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in Humanities, and shortly after that she moved to Paris, France where she studied art history and modelled as well. At the age of 26, she married Philippe L Equibec; they have a son, Eric.
Trivia
Although Karath was born in the States, her family were actually Greek. Her original surname was Karathanasis, but then it was changed to Karath by her father.
Kym got cast in The Sound of Music when she marched to meet Robert Wise the director, with a portfolio under her arm and declared: "I've been in three films already, I'm exactly who you're looking for."
Kym's older sister Francie did audition for the eldest Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, but eventually that role went to Charmian Carr.
Kym remains good friends with the 'Von Trapp' children today, and in 2000 she went back to Salzburg with them, filming a documentary about the making of the film.
Kym nearly drowned in the boat scene in The Sound of Music as she couldn't swim. What was supposed to happen was that Julie Andrews was to catch her immediately after they fell in the water. Unfortunately, Julie went right out the back of the boat, and Kym fell out to the front. A producer ran into pull her out and in a later take Heather Menzies (Louisa) was asked to carry her out. This can be seen in the film. Years later as an adult, Kym admitted that she still wasn't fond of the water after that experience.
Kym worked with Veronica Cartwright in Spencer's Mountain, and then a year later, she worked with Veronica's younger sister Angela Cartwright in The Sound of Music.
As of 2006; Kym is now resuming her successful acting career.
When on the Ellen Show, Julie Andrews was asked about working with the Von Trapp children. Julie replied, "They were all lovely. However, the youngest one (Karath) was the most difficult one, because she was just a bit tad heavy in those days. Today, she is this amazing gorgeous looking mother."
Love Bob's headlines.
) and Martin Sheen (liked him in all his movies - wasn't a bad President, either). No comment on Tony after he left his heart in San Francisco.
back to England in November 1960, they had also worked their way up to the tonier Kaiserkeller (Große Freiheit 38) and the Top Ten Club (Reeperbahn 136). George Harrison was kicked out of Germany because he was underage (17) and in violation of German child protection laws. Paul McCartney and Pete Best were deported after being charged with arson. All of the Beatles' problems arose out of a contract dispute with the rather unsavory German club operator Bruno Koschmider.
