WA2K Radio is now on the air

Barbara Hutton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Barbara Hutton, born November 14, 1912 in New York City, United States - died May 11, 1979 in Los Angeles, California, was a wealthy American socialite dubbed by the media as the "Poor Little Rich Girl" because of her troubled life.

Barbara Hutton was the only child of Edna Woolworth (1883-1918) who was the daughter of Frank W. Woolworth, the founder of the enormously successful Woolworth department store chain. Barbara's father was Franklyn Laws Hutton (1877-1940), a wealthy co-founder of the respected E. F. Hutton & Company, a New York Investment banking and stock brokerage conglomerate. She was a niece by marriage of cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and a first cousin of the actress-heiress Dina Merrill (née Nedenia Hutton).

Born into a highly dysfunctional family, Barbara Hutton's father was a notorious philanderer whose conduct drove her mother to suicide when Barbara was only six years old. After her mother's death, her father wanted nothing to do with raising a child and she was shuffled between various relatives, raised by a governess. She became an introverted child who had limited interaction with other children her own age. Her closest friend and only confidante was her homosexual cousin Jimmy Donahue, the son of her mother's sister. Donahue grew up to become a personable and charming member of cafe society during the 1950s who befriended the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. In his 2000 book, Dancing With the Devil: the Windsors and Jimmy Donohue, author Christopher Wilson tells a much-debated story of a sexual relationship between a 35-year-old Donahue and the then 54-year-old Duchess.

In accordance with New York's high society traditions, at age 18 Barbara Hutton was given a lavish débutante ball where guests from the Astor and Rockefeller families, amongst other elites, were entertained by stars such as Rudy Vallee and Maurice Chevalier. Three years later, on her 21st birthday, Barbara Hutton inherited close to 50 million dollars from her mother's estate, an enormous amount of money at the time. Her inheritance made her one of the wealthiest women in the world and the target for every fortune hunter around.

Portrayed in the press as the "lucky" young woman who had it all, the public had no idea of the psychological problems she lived with that led to a life of victimization and abuse. Barbara Hutton married seven times:

1. 1933 - Alexis Mdivani, a so-called Russian prince, divorced 1935;
2. 1935 - Count Curt Heinrich Eberhard Erdmann Georg von Haugwitz-Hardenberg-Reventlow, divorced 1938;
3. 1942 - Cary Grant, divorced 1945;
4. 1947 - Prince Igor Troubetzkoy, divorced 1947;
5. 1953 - Porfirio Rubirosa, divorced 1954;
6. 1955 - Baron Gottfried Alexander Maximilian Walter Kurt von Cramm, divorced 1959;
7. 1964 - Prince Pierre Raymond Doan Vinh na Champassak, divorced 1966.

Her first two husbands had their own dysfunctional backgrounds and could not deal with the needy girl. They used her great wealth to their advantage, especially the extremely abusive Curt Haugwitz-Reventlow with whom she had her only child, a son named Lance. Curt Reventlow dominated her through verbal and physical abuse that escalated to a savage beating that left her hospitalized and him in jail. Hutton's divorce gave her custody of their son, and like her father had done to her, she left the raising of Lance Reventlow to a governess and private boarding schools. The physical and sexual abuse led to drug abuse and Hutton developed anorexia nervosa which would plague her for the rest of her life. Her need for gratification led to an addiction to shopping, but like all addictions it only gave her tortured mind temporary relief.

With World War II raging in Europe, Hutton gifted her London mansion Winfield House to the United States government and moved to California. Back home, Hutton became active during the war, giving money to assist the Free French Forces and donating her yacht to the U.S. government. Using her high profile image to sell War bonds, she received positive publicity after being derided by the press as a result of her marriage scandals. In Hollywood, she met and married Cary Grant, one of the biggest movie stars of the day. Grant did not need her money or to benefit from her name and genuinely cared for her. Nevertheless, Cary Grant had his own child abandonment issues which combined with Hutton's addictions led to the failure of this marriage too.

Barbara Hutton left California and moved to Paris, France before acquiring a mansion in trendy Tangier. Hutton then began dating Igor Troubetzkoy, another expatriate Russian prince of very limited means but world renown. In the spring of 1948 in Zurich, Switzerland, she married him. That year, he was the driver of the first Ferrari to ever compete in Grand Prix motor racing when he raced in the Monaco Grand Prix and later won the Targa Florio. For the second time she had married a man who actually loved her and the Prince did everything to help her overcome her addictions but to no avail. He ultimately could not deal with her problems and filed for divorce. Hutton's attempted suicide made headlines around the world. Mocked by the press as the "Poor Little Rich Girl," her life nevertheless made great copy and the media exploited her for consumption by a fascinated public.

Her next husband was the celebrated German tennis star, Baron Gottfried von Cramm. A completely messed up Barbara Hutton sought safety and friendship with the homosexual von Cramm with whom she had been friends for years. This situation could only lead to disaster and they soon divorced. He died, in an automobile crash, near Cairo, Egypt, in 1976.

Barbara Hutton's next marriage lasted 53 days. Porfirio Rubirosa, one of the most notorious of international playboys, only married the vulnerable woman for her wealth and reputation while continuing his affair with the actress Zsa Zsa Gabor. Hutton then met James Douglas, a handsome young American who, though gay, cared for her and managed to get her off drugs and alcohol for a time. (She also had a intense though platonic relationship with another good looking young American, Philip Van Rensselaer.) However, her lavish spending continued, and although already the owner of several mansions around the world, in 1959 she built a luxurious Japanese style palace on a 30 acre (120,000 m²) estate in Cuernavaca, Mexico. For a time she seemed happy but when her neglected 23-year-old son Lance visited and unleashed his anguish over his upbringing, Hutton was unable to cope and reverted to her addictions. (Her son later married the actresses Jill St. John and Cheryl Holdridge, a former Mouseketeer who is now known as Cheryl Reventlow Post.)

Extremely volatile when drinking, Hutton had to be restrained on an airplane flight after which she began suffering from drunken blackouts. No longer caring about public perceptions, she frequently appeared drunk in public and her rash spending continued unabated. Over the years, she had acquired a large collection of valuable jewelry, including elaborate historical pieces that had once belonged to Marie Antoinette and Empress Eugénie of France. In her drunken stupors, Hutton began sleeping with numerous younger men, total strangers to whom she gave money, diamond bracelets and other pieces of expensive jewelry.

In Tangier, she fell victim to her seventh husband, Raymond Doan, for whom she bought an Laotian title. (Other sources indicate that his title came through his late-in-life adoption by the head of the Champassak family, deposed Indochinese royalty.) His sole motive was to get at her wealth which by then had shrunk considerably from years of reckless spending. This marriage, too, was short lived.

The 1972 death of her son in an airplane crash sent Barbara Hutton into a state of permanent drunken despair. Her fortune had shrunk to the point where she began liquidating assets in order to raise funds to live on. Nonetheless, she continued to spend money on strangers willing to pay a little attention to her. A pathetic Barbara Hutton spent her final years living at the Beverly Hills Hotel where she wasted away to little more than a skeleton. She died bedridden in May of 1979 and was interred in the Woolworth family mausoleum at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York. At her death, it is said that $3,000 was all that remained of her fortune.

Over the years, numerous books have been written about Barbara Hutton the best known of which are:

* Poor Little Rich Girl: The Life and Legend of Barbara Hutton by C. David Heymann
* Million Dollar Baby: An Intimate Portrait of Barbara Hutton by Philip Van Rensselaer

In 1987 a television motion picture titled Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story starred Farrah Fawcett in the role of Barbara Hutton.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Hutton

Veronica Lake
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Veronica Lake, born Constance Frances Marie Ockleman, also known as Constance Keane (14 November 1922, Brooklyn, New York - 7 July 1973, Colchester, Vermont) was a popular American film actress and pin-up model who achieved wide fame and critical praise, especially for her film noir roles during the 1940s. Described by Bette Davis as "the most beautiful person who ever came to Hollywood," her success was fleeting and after a string of broken marriages and long struggles with mental illness and alcoholism she died destitute and friendless at the age of 50.


Early life and career

Constance's father worked on a ship for an oil company. When she was about a year old the family moved to Florida but had returned to Brooklyn before she was five. According to some accounts she was beaten as a child. Her father died in an industrial explosion when she was 12. Her mother married Anthony Keane a year later and Constance began using his last name. They are said to have lived in Canada, New York state and Miami, Florida where she graduated from high school. A troubled teenager, she had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic during her childhood at a time when therapy for such conditions was usually limited to long-term institutionalization. Having already achieved minor celebrity in Miami for her beauty, in 1938 Constance moved with her mother and step-father to Beverly Hills, California where Mrs. Keane enrolled her daughter in Hollywood's Bliss Hayden School of Acting.


Her first appearance on screen was for RKO, playing a small a role among several coeds in Sorority House (1939). Similar roles followed, including All Women Have Secrets and Dancing Co-Ed. However her contract was dropped by RKO. She married art director John Detlie in 1940. Another small role in the comedy movie 40 Little Mothers brought unexpected attention and in 1941 she was signed to a long term contract by Paramount Pictures, was given her stage name Veronica Lake and on August 21 gave birth to a daughter, Elaine Detlie.


An icon of the 1940s

Her breakthrough film was I Wanted Wings (1941), a major hit in which she had the second female lead and was said to have stolen scene after scene from the rest of the cast. This success was followed by another, Hold Back the Dawn (1941). She was soon noted as a witty, intelligent and trend-setting actress and had starring roles in more popular movies including Sullivan's Travels (1941), This Gun for Hire (1942), I Married a Witch (1942, later used as a basis for the 1960s hit television series Bewitched), The Glass Key (1942) and So Proudly We Hail! (1943).


For a short time during the early 1940s Veronica Lake was considered one of the most reliable box office draws in Hollywood and was also known for her onscreen pairings with actor Alan Ladd. A stray lock of hair during a publicity photo shoot led to her iconic peekaboo hairstyle which hid one eye with her shoulder-length blonde hair and was widely imitated. During World War II she changed her trademark image as a publicity move to encourage women working in war industry factories to adopt more practical hairstyles. Some critics have speculated that the loss of her peekaboo look diminished the mystery and allure of her on screen image, damaging her box office appeal. Given the fickle nature of movie audiences there could have been some truth to this initially but other factors were at work.

Although widely popular with the public, Lake had a complex personality and professionally she had developed a reputation for being difficult to work with. Eddie Bracken, her co-star in Star Spangled Rhythm (1942), was quoted as saying "She was known as The Bitch and she deserved the title." However, in that same movie Lake took part in a song lampooning her own hair style, "A Sweater, A Sarong and a Peekaboo Bang."

Lake's career stumbled with her role as Nazi sympathizer Dora Bruckman in The Hour Before Dawn (released in 1944). During filming she had tripped on a lighting cable and her second child was born prematurely on July 8, 1943. William Detlie died a week later from uremic poisoning and there are indications she may have deliberately attempted to miscarry him. By the end of 1943 her first marriage had ended in divorce. Meanwhile scathingly poor reviews of The Hour Before Dawn included criticism of her unconvincing German accent which was also said to have interfered disasterously with her acting. Nevertheless Lake was making $4500 per week under her contract with Paramount when she married director André de Toth in 1944. Their son, André Michael de Toth III, was born October 25, 1945. Lake is said to have begun drinking more heavily during this period and people began plainly refusing to work with her. She had been seeing psychiatrists for years but de Toth didn't approve and according to a published account, once suggested Constance spend the $50 she would otherwise pay for a doctor's appointment on a new hat. Meanwhile Paramount cast Lake in a string of mostly forgotten films. A notable exception was The Blue Dahlia (1946) in which she again co-starred with Alan Ladd (who reportedly was less than fond of her) but Paramount decided not to renew her contract in 1948.

Tragic spiral

Her fourth child, Diana de Toth, was born October 16, 1948. Lake was also sued by her mother for support payments that year. After a single film for 20th Century Fox her career collapsed catastrophically. By the end of 1952 she had appeared in one last film (Stronghold, which she later described as "a dog") had filed for bankruptcy and divorced de Toth. The IRS seized what was left for unpaid taxes. Lake resorted to television and stage work and in 1955 married songwriter Joseph A. McCarthy.

After severely breaking her ankle in 1959 Lake was unable to continue working as an actress. She and McCarthy divorced and she drifted between cheap hotels in Brooklyn and New York City and was arrested several times for public drunkness and disorderly conduct. A reporter eventually ran across her working as a barmaid (with easy access to alcohol) and wrote a widely distributed story which led to some television and stage appearances. In 1966 she had a brief stint as a TV hostess in Baltimore, Maryland along with a largely ignored film role (Footsteps in the Snow). Her physical and mental health declined steadily and by the late 1960s Lake was in Hollywood, Florida, apparently immobilized by paranoia (which included claims she was being stalked by the FBI).

She published her autobiography Veronica amid much publicity and positive reviews. With the proceeds Lake co-produced and starred in her last film, Flesh Feast (1970), a very low budget horror movie with a Nazi-myth storyline. She then moved to the UK where she had a short-lived marriage with "English sea captain" Robert Carelton-Munro before returning to the US in 1973, having filed for divorce. Lake was immediately hospitalized and although she is said to have made a cheerful and positive impression on the nurses who cared for her, she had no guests or visitors and was again financially destitute. Lake was 50 when she died of hepatitis and acute renal failure (complications of her alcoholism) near Burlington, Vermont. Her ashes were scattered off the Virgin Islands.

Veronica Lake has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6918 Hollywood Boulevard for her contributions to the motion picture industry.


Quotes

"I wasn't a sex symbol, I was a sex zombie."

"You could put all the talent I had into your left eye and still not suffer from impaired vision."

"I've reached a point in my life where it's the little things that matter... I was always a rebel and probably could have got much farther had I changed my attitude. But when you think about it, I got pretty far without changing attitudes. I'm happier with that." (1970)
[edit]

Trivia

* She was reportedly only 4' 11" tall (although some accounts place her height two or three inches higher). According to Celebrity Sleuth magazine, Lake said her "measurements" were 33C - 21 1/2 - 33 1/2.

* The name of Archie comics character Veronica Lodge is remarkably similar to Veronica Lake, who was in the throes of her early celebrity when the comic book character was introduced in the spring of 1942.

* Veronica Lake is also the name of a fictional lake located near the small town of Frostbite Falls, Minnesota (a parody of International Falls) on the animated Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.

* Many women are said to have damaged their hair while trying to imitate her platinum blonde color during the 1940s.

* She learned to fly in 1946 and flew her small plane from Los Angeles to New York in 1948.

* Her close friendship with actress Rita Beery, former wife of actor Wallace Beery, has led to unconfirmed rumours she experimented with lesbianism.

* In 1997 the Academy Award-winning film L.A. Confidential paid homage to Lake's image and manner through Kim Basinger's starring role in an adaptation of James Ellroy's crime novel set in early 1950s Los Angeles. One scene even included a fragment from This Gun for Hire screening in the background.

* A somewhat bizarre twist came in 2004 when some of Lake's ashes were reportedly found in a New York antique store.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronica_Lake

Brian Keith
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


Brian Keith (November 14, 1921 - June 24, 1997) was an American stage, film and television actor.


Biographical Information

Brian Keith was born Robert Keith Richey, Jr. in Bayonne, New Jersey to actor Robert Keith and stage actress Helena Shipman (born in Aberdeen, Washington). He made his acting debut in a silent film, Pied Piper Malone (1924) at the age of 3.

After high school, he joined the U.S. Marines (1942-1945) where he served during World War II as an aerial gunner and received an Air Medal. After the war, he became a stage actor, branching into television and films in the late 1940s. During the later part of his life he suffered from emphysema and lung cancer. He was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on June 24, 1997 at the age of 75, just two months after his daughter had committed suicide.

He is buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California.


Career

Keith was a strong and capable actor who spent many years playing second leads and gruff sidekicks, He may be best known for his role as "Uncle Bill" on the television series Family Affair (1966-1971).

some of his better known films


* Young Guns (1988)

* The Mountain Men (1980)

* Hooper (1978)

* The Wind and the Lion (1975)

* Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967)

* Nevada Smith (1966)

* The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966)

* The Hallelujah Trail (1965)

* With Six You Get Eggroll (1963)

* The Parent Trap (1961)

* The Young Philadelphians (1959)



Trivia

Keith' father was married to actress Peg Entwhistle from 1927-1929 who jumped to her death from the Hollywood sign in 1933.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Keith

Good morning, WA2K radio fans and contributors. It's amazing what a good night's sleep and a cup of coffee can do for the morale.

Hamburger, Although Sinatra was, in real life a jerk, we all must admit he was one helluva singer, especially in the rhythm department.

Hey, Rex. Thanks for that song, buddy. Wasn't that from Hair?

Bob, happy to see you in our studio early and with your usual bio's. Strange, I caught the tale end of a TV documentary on Barbara Hutton, and I did read that book. Sometimes one's legacy turns sour, right folks?

I suppose of all the artists that I enjoy seeing, The Impressionists are my favorite.

Let's awake the morning with another "hair" song, listeners:

Good Morning Starshine Lyrics

Good morning starshine
The earth says hello
You twinkle above us
We twinkle below

Good morning starshine
You lead us along
My love and me as we sing
Our early morning singing song

Gliddy glub gloopy
Nibby nabby noopy
La la la lo lo
Sabba sibby sabba
Nooby abba nabba
Le le lo lo
Tooby ooby walla
Nooby abba naba
Early morning singing song

Good morning starshine
The earth says hello
You twinkle above us
We twinkle below

Good morning starshine
You lead us along
My love and me as we sing
Our early morning singing song

Gliddy glub gloopy
Nibby nabby noopy
La la la lo lo
Sabba sibby sabba
Nooby abba nabba
Le le lo lo
Tooby ooby walla
Nooby abba naba
Early morning singing song

Singing a song
Humming a song
Singing a song
Loving a song
Laughing a song
Singing a song
Sing the song
Song song song sing
Sing sing sing sing song

Since we are bit later here on the old continent, the Kings now with


Monday Tuesday Wednesday
Ah, the milkmen came in, and that washing machine
It's drivin' you crazy, to hear the kids scream

Ah, but your life ain't so bad
You feel happy inside, it's a crime
That you're wastin' away each and every precious day
Don't be blind

Every Monday it seems so lazy
It's the time that could drive you crazy

My Monday, My Tuesday, My Wednesday
The paper boy's been, and that news looks so black
There ain't time to read it
'Cause you might get the sack

But your life ain't so bad
You feel happy inside, it's a crime
That you're wastin' away each and every prescious day
Don't be blind

'Cause every Monday it seems so lazy
It's the time that could drive you crazy

La la la, la la la, la la la..........

My Monday, My Tuesday, My Wednesday
Could grab up your money, and run for the gate
You just missed your bus, now you're late for a date

Ah, but your life ain't so bad
You feel happy inside, it's a crime
That you're wastin' away each and every precious day
Don't be blind

'Cause every Monday it seems so lazy
It's the time that could drive you crazy

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Hair

She asks me why
I'm just a hairy guy
I'm hairy noon and night
Hair that's a fright
I'm hairy high and low
Don't ask me why
Don't know
It's not for lack of break
Like the Grateful Dead
Darling

Gimme head with hair
Long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming,
Streaming, flaxen, waxen

Give me down to there hair
Shoulder length or longer
Here baby, there mama
Everywhere daddy daddy

Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair

Let it fly in the breeze
And get caught in the trees
Give a home to the fleas in my hair
A home for fleas
A hive for bees
A nest for birds
There ain't no words
For the beauty, the splendor, the wonder
Of my...

Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair

I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy
Snaggy, shaggy, ratty, matty
Oily, greasy, fleecy
Shining, gleaming, streaming
Flaxen, waxen
Knotted, polka-dotted
Twisted, beaded, braided
Powdered, flowered, and confettied
Bangled, tangled, spangled, and spaghettied!

Oh say can you see
My eyes if you can
Then my hair's too short

Down to here
Down to there
Down to where
It stops by itself

They'll be ga ga at the go go
When they see me in my toga
My toga made of blond
Brilliantined
Biblical hair

My hair like Jesus wore it
Hallelujah I adore it
Hallelujah Mary loved her son
Why don't my mother love me?

Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair

Aha! another Hair song. I loved the rebellion of that culture, listeners. I think the observation that men had worn long hair much longer than they had worn it short is great. Thanks for that reminder, Boston.

Well, today I have to dress up in "big people's clothes" and go to the bank. Rather it would be this bank, folks:

Ye Banks and Braes
Ye banks and braes o' bonnie Doon,

How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair?
How can ye chant, ye little birds,
And I sae weary, fu' o' care!
Thou'll break my heart, thou warbling bird,
That wantons thro' the flowering thorn!
Thou minds me o' departed joys,
Departed, never to return.
Aft hae I rov'd by bonnie Doon

To see the rose and woodbine twine;
And ilka bird sang o' its luve,
And fondly sae did I o' mine;
Wi' lightsome heart I pu'd a rose,
Fu' sweet upon its thorny tree!
And my fause luver stole my rose -
But, ah! he left the thorn wi' me.

Alas, it's one of the institutional kind.

BBB
Sunday afternoon, I attended a concert with friends at the Albuquerque Hispanic Cultural Center, a relatively small theater which may have the best acoustics in the country. New Mexico's Symphony Orchestra wowed us.

Clarinetist Eddie Daniels is that rarest of rare musicians who is not only equally at home in both jazz and classical music, but excels at both with breathtaking virtuosity.

His first number was Aaron Copland's Clarinet Concerto: Slowly and Expressively; Cadenza; and Rather Fast. These pieces were originally commissioned by Benny Goodman for $2,000. Goodman was the soloist at the premiere performance on 11/6/50 with the NBC Symphony under Fritz Reiner.

Then he had us wiggling in our seats and tapping our feet with the most amazing renditions of other Benny Goodman pieces from the Big Band era. The audience was on their feet cheering, which brought Daniels back for several encores. We could have kept him playing all night.

The guest conductor for this concert was unknown to me. Andrea Quinn is 41 years old. She is the first conductor that could distract me from the musicians to watch her conducting ballet. I've never seen anyone express with her body the music filling our ears. She even wiggled her butt during Eddie Daniels jazz sessions.

The Wagner and Beethoven pieces also were great but no threat to Eddie Daniels, a Santa Fe resident. It was a wonderful concert.

BBB

in tribute to our PD's favorite artists, the Impressionists, here's an uplifting tune by Curtis Mayfield & the Impressions:

People get ready
There's a train a-coming
You don't need no baggage
You just get on board
All you need is faith
To hear the diesels humming
Don't need no ticket
You just thank the Lord

People get ready
For the train to Jordan
Picking up passengers
From coast to coast
Faith is the key
Open the doors and board them
There's room for all
among the loved the most

There ain't no room
for the hopeless sinner
Who would hurt all mankind just
To save his own
Have pity on those
whose chances are thinner
Cause there's no hiding place
From the Kingdom's Throne

So people get ready
for the train a-comin'
You don't need no baggage
you just get on board !
All you need is faith
to hear the diesels humming
Don't need no ticket
you just thank the Lord

I took The Lovely Bride to the "Celtic Woman" show at the
Boston Opera House for her birthday.

Here's "Isle of Innisfree"; it was sung by Orlagh Fallon who
accompanied herself on the harp.


I've met some folks who say that I'm a dreamer
And I've no doubt there's truth in what they say
But sure a body's bound to be a dreamer
When all the things he loves are far away.

And precious things are dreams unto an exile
They take him o'er the land across the sea,
Especially when it happens he's an exile
From that dear lovely Isle of Innisfree.

And when the moonlight peeps across the roof-tops
Of this great city, wondrous tho' it be
I scarcely feel it's wonder or it's laughter
I'm once again back home in Innisfree.

I wander o'er green hills thro' dreamy valleys
And find a peace no other land could know
I hear the birds make music fit for angels
And watch the rivers laughing as they flow.

And then into a humble shack I wander
My dear old home, and tenderly behold,
The folks I love around the turf fire gathered
On bended knees their rosary is told.

But dreams don't last tho' dreams are not forgotten
And soon I'm back to stern reality,
But tho' they paved the footways here with gold dust
I still would choose the Isle of Innisfree.

BBB, the last concert that I attended was the London Symphony Orchestra in Daytona Beach. The hostesses served champagne in the lobby during intermission, and someone poured his glass full up my sleeve. (that defied gravity) It was a wonderful experience that I shall always remember. Wish I had kept the program.

Love it, Mr. Turtle. Wonder if Monet; Manet; Renoir; Degas would approve. Thanks, buddy.

There are so many songs about trains and glory, listeners. Wonder if there has ever been a song about airoplanes or autos and heaven?

Dizzy Gillespie did Swing low, sweet Cadillac, but i don't have the lyrics for it.

Frank Sinatra was very popular in movies, but it was mainly as a singer, with his legions of fans, he is remembered
Could someone explain to me why, cos to me & my ear, I always thought he sang boring songs in a tedious voice.
I never got on with Elvis either.
The Blues I believe are more evocative & exciting too listen too.
Sinatra v John Lee Hoooker. The latter
Elvis or Howlin' Wolf. The latter

George, my furry friend, I missed your song. That was beautiful and gave me a tingle. How heavenly to hear a woman sing with a harp resting on her shoulder, especially of the Irish kind. We thank you for that, my friend.

to oldandknew, guess i'm not a huge fan of Sinatra or Presley, but i do like some of their material very much. in particular, i like I've got you under my skin by Sinatra, and Peace in the Valley by Elvis. it may be paradoxical for an agnostic, but i have a weakness for Gospel influenced music.

John, I'm sorry that I missed your comment. I had to get up and do something.

As for Sinatra, it's more a matter of rhythm than voice, I think. John Lee Hooker, of course, is wonderful, right listeners?

I suppose the only Elvis song that I ever came close to liking was "I Can't Help Falling in Love with you." Don't think I know howling wolf, however.

Back later after checking our archives.

yitwail ---- Gospel Music helped gives us the Blues & that is just fine with me.
25 years ago I lived in the East End of London & there was a Carribean Church just along the road from my house & on the weekend you could here those gospel songs coming out of there & some times I'd stick my head in through the door so I could listen better. Great songs from great people

oldandknew, do check out Peace in the Valley. Elvis grew up singing Gospel, and it shows on the recording. unlike his later Gospel albums, it's not a big production; it's just him, a piano & guitar, and the Jordanaires, who were Gospel artists when not doing Elvis' backup vocals.

yitwail --- -- found that song on the web.

http://www.borderblue.com/lyrics/song/05400.

I'll check out my record shop in town tomorrow. They sell all manner of music.