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Hey, Try. Well, buddy, you seem to be doin' all right, just ask the queen<smile>

What a surprise to find this song, listeners:

Beautiful South
» Les Yeux Ouverts (dream A Little Dream Of Me)

Ce souvenir je te le rends.
Des souvenirs, tu sais j'en ai tellement.
Puisqu'on reva de jours errants.
Pas la peine de changer trop...
Ce souvenir je te le prends.
Des souvenirs, comme ca j'en ai tout le temps.
Si par erreur la vie nous separe,
J'le sortirai d'mon tiroir.
J'reve les yeux ouverts.
Ca m'fait du bien.
Ca ne va pas plus loin.
J'vais pas voir derriere
Puisque j'aime bien.
Vivement demain.
Un dernier verre de sherry.
Du sherry mon amant quand je m'ennuie.
Tous les jours se ressemblent a present.
Tu me manques terriblement...

Translation:
This memory I'm giving back to you.
These memories, you know I have so many.
Since we dreamed of passing days
No need to change too much.
This memory I'm taking from you.
Memories like that happen to me all the time.
If life mistakenly sets us apart,
I'll get it from my drawer.
I dream with my eyes open.
It feels good.
It does not go any farther.
I don't look back
Since I feel good.
I wish tomorrow would come quick.
A last glass of sherry.
Sherry, my love, when I feel sad.
All days look alike to me now.
I miss you so terribly.

Hmmmm. Mama Cass did that one as well, listeners, only the words were different. Odd, no?

Later, the Cass version.

Anna Sewell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Anna Sewell (March 30, 1820 - April 25, 1878) was a British writer, the author of the classic novel Black Beauty.

Biography

Anna was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, in a Quaker family, one of two children. Her brother, Philip (1822-1906) had an early career as a construction engineer in Europe, building railways.

At the age of 14, Anna fell while walking home from school in the rain, injuring both her ankles. Possibly through mistreatment of her injury, she became lame for the rest of her life and was unable to stand or walk for any length of time. For greater mobility, she frequently used horse-drawn carriages, which contributed to her love of horses and concern for the humane treatment of animals.

She never married or had children, but lived at home, and remained very close to her mother, Mary Wright Sewell. Mary was an author of evangelical children's books, which Anna helped to edit. As Quakers, the Sewells, and her mother's family, the Wrights were active in good works.

While seeking to improve her health at European spas, Sewell encountered various writers, artists, and philosophers, that her previous background had not exposed her to.

Sewell's only publication was Black Beauty, which she wrote between 1871 and 1877. During this time her health was declining. She was often so weak that she couldn't get out of bed and writing at all was a challenge. She dictated the text to her mother and from 1876 began to write on slips of paper which her mother then transcribed.

Sewell sold the novel to the local publishers Jarrold & Sons for £40 on 24 November 1877, when she was 57. Although now considered a children's classic, she originally wrote it for those who worked with horses. Anna said "its special aim being to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses" (Mrs Bayly, 272). The book's sales broke publishing records, it is said to be "the sixth best seller in the English language" (Chitty in Wells and Grimshaw, x).

Sewell died of hepatitis or phthisis on 25th April 1878 just five months after its publication; living long enough to see the book's initial early success. She was buried on 30 April 1878 in the Quaker burial-ground at Lammas near Buxton (not Derbyshire) not far from Norwich where a wall plaque now marks her resting place.

Her birthplace in Church Plain, Great Yarmouth, is now a museum.

The cottage where she lived, from 1866 until her death, in Old Catton, (then a village but now a suburb of Norwich) remains a private residence.

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

Vincent van Gogh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Born: March 30, 1853
Zundert, Netherlands
Died: July 29, 1890
Auvers-sur-Oise, France
Occupation: Painter

Vincent Willem van Gogh listen (help·info) (March 30, 1853 - July 29, 1890) was a Dutch painter, classified as a Post-impressionist, and is generally considered one of the greatest painters in the history of European art. His work shows the objects, people and places in his life with bold, usually distorted, draughtsmanship and visible dotted or dashed brushmarks, which are intensely yet subtly coloured.

He is popularly known as much for his embodiment of the myth of the tortured romantic artist as for his work, which is seen as the visual expression of his life. Three of the most widespread myths about him are that he cut off his ear (it was only the lobe), that he killed himself because no one recognised his talent (in the last six months of his life he received generous accolades which he found very disturbing), and that he painted as he did because he was mad (he painted during his lucid periods).

He produced all of his work (some 900 paintings and 1100 drawings) during the ten year period before he committed suicide. Most of his best known work was produced in the final two years of his life. In the two months before his death he painted 90 pictures.

He was afflicted with increasingly recurrent periods of mental ill health, spending time in a sanatorium. His state of mind was not helped by overwork (especially in the hot sun), bad dietary habits and reliance on tobacco, coffee and alcohol. His career was cut short too early for him to reap success during his lifetime; his fame then grew slowly, helped by the devoted promotion of it by his widowed sister-in-law. A major show of 71 paintings was held in Paris eleven years after his death.

As the pioneer of what came to be known as Expressionism, Van Gogh has had an enormous influence on 20th-century art, especially in the early part of the century, when many paintings of the Fauves and German Expressionists, particularly Die Brücke are highly derivative. His energetic approach to the painted surface follows a lineage to the Abstract Expressionism of Willem de Kooning and beyond.

His brother Theo, who worked at the art dealers Goupil & Cie, was a central part of Vincent's life, continually providing financial support. Their lifelong friendship is documented in the large collection of letters they exchanged from August 1872 onwards. These letters provide much insight into the life of the painter, and show him to be a talented writer with a keen mind.

In Dutch, the name Gogh is pronounced [xɔx]; however common pronunciations used in English include [gɒf], [gɒx], and [goʊ].


Early life 1853-69

Vincent Willem van Gogh was born in Zundert in the Province of North Brabant, in the southern Netherlands, the son of Anna Cornelia Carbentus and Theodorus van Gogh, a Protestant minister. He was given the same name as his first brother, who had been born exactly one year before Van Gogh in 1852 and had died within a few hours.

Four years after Van Gogh was born, his brother Theodorus (Theo) was born on May 1, 1857. He also had another brother named Cor and three sisters, Elisabeth, Anna and Wil. As a child, Vincent was serious, silent and thoughtful. In 1860 he attended the Zundert village school, where 200 pupils had one teacher, a Catholic. From 1861 he and his sister Anna were taught at home by a governess, until October 1, 1864, when he went away to the elementary boarding school of Jan Provily in Zevenbergen, The Netherlands, about 20 miles away. He was distressed to leave his family home, and recalled this even in adulthood. On September 15, 1866, he went to the new middle school, "Rijks HBS Koning Willem II", in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Constantijn C. Huysmans, who had achieved a certain success himself in Paris, taught Van Gogh to draw at the school and advocated a systematic approach to the subject. In March 1868 Van Gogh abruptly left school and returned home. His adult comment on his childhood was: "My youth was gloomy and cold and barren..."

Art dealer and preacher 1869-80

In July 1869, at the age of 16, he obtained a position with the art dealer, Goupil & Cie in the Hague, through his Uncle "Cent", who had built up a good business which became a branch of the firm. After his training, Goupil transferred him, in June 1873, to London (where he lodged in Stockwell). There he became increasingly isolated and fervent about religion, and suffered from unrequited love. His father and uncle despatched him to Paris, where he became increasingly resentful at treating art as a commodity and manifested this to the customers. On April 1, 1876, it was agreed that his employment should be terminated.

His religious emotion grew to the point where he felt he had found his true vocation in life, and went to England to do unpaid work, first as a supply teacher in a small boarding school overlooking the harbour in Ramsgate, and then as a Methodist minister's assistant in Isleworth, Middlesex, wanting to "preach the gospel everywhere".

At Christmas he returned home and worked in a bookshop in Dordrecht for six months. His family sent him to university in Amsterdam, where he studied the theology entrance exam, for a year, before having to give up. He then studied, but failed, a three-month course at a Brussels missionary school, and returned home yet again in despair about himself.

In 1878 Van Gogh became a preacher in the coal-mining district of La Borinage in Belgium, following his father's profession, but taking Christianity to a literal extreme, wishing to live like the poor and share their hardships to the extent of sleeping on straw. This did not endear him to his flock, or to the appalled church authorities, who dismissed him for "undermining the dignity of the priesthood". On his own initiative, he stayed for a further year, during which time he became increasingly interested in the everyday people and scenes around him, which he recorded in drawings.
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Beginning artist (Nuenen) 1880-86

In 1880, Vincent followed the suggestion of his brother Theo and took up art in earnest. In autumn 1880, he went to Brussels, intending to follow Theo's recommendation to study with the prominent Dutch artist Willem Roeloff, who persuaded Van Gogh (despite his aversion to formal schools of art) to attend the Royal Academy of Art. There he not only studied anatomy, but the standard rules of modelling and perspective, all of which, he said, "you have to know just to be able to draw the least thing."

In April 1881 went to live in the countryside with his parents in Etten and continued drawing, using neighbours as subjects. That summer his recently widowed cousin, Kee Vos, visited and became the focus for Van Gogh's (unreturned) amour. Van Gogh went to The Hague where he called on his cousin-in-law, the painter Anton Mauve, who encouraged him towards colour by giving him a box of watercolours. In the autumn in Amsterdam, Kee refused even to see him and he burned his left hand in a candle flame to prove his commitment. At Christmas he quarrelled violently with his father, even refusing a gift of money.

In January 1882 he left for The Hague, where he was taught for a while by Mauve, but soon fell out with him, disapproving of drawing from plaster casts. He lived with an alcoholic prostitute, Clasina Maria Hoornik (known as Sien) and her young daughter. His uncle Cornelis, an art dealer, commissioned 20 ink drawings of the city from him. He spent 3 weeks in hospital for gonorrhoea. In the summer, Van Gogh began to paint in oil.

In Autumn 1883, after a year with Sien, he left her reluctantly, feeling family life was irreconcilable with his artistic development. He moved to the Dutch province of Drenthe in the north of the Netherlands, and in December, driven by loneliness, to stay with his parents who were by then living in Nuenen, North Brabant, also in the Netherlands.

In Autumn 1884, a neighbour's daughter, Margot Beggeman, ten years different in age, accompanied Van Gogh constantly on his painting forays and fell in love, which he reciprocated (though less enthusiastically). They agreed to marry, but were opposed by both families.
The Potato Eaters (1885)
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The Potato Eaters (1885)

On March 26, 1885, Van Gogh's father died of a stroke. Van Gogh grieved deeply. For the first time there was interest from Paris in some of his work. In spring he painted what is now considered his first major work, The Potato Eaters (Dutch Aardappeleters). In August his work was exhibited for the first time, in the windows of a paint dealer, Leurs, in The Hague. In September he was accused of making one of his young peasant sitters pregnant and the Catholic village priest forbad villagers from modelling for him.

It should be noted that during this time Van Gogh's palette was of sombre earth colours, particularly dark brown, and as yet he had shown no sign of developing the vivid colouration which distinguishes his later, best known work. (When Vincent complained that Theo was not making enough effort to sell his paintings in Paris, Theo replied that they were too dark and not in line with the current style of bright Impressionist paintings.) During his two year stay in Nuenen, he had completed numerous drawings and watercolours, and nearly 200 oil paintings.

In November 1885 he moved to Antwerp, studied colour theory and looked at work in Museums, particularly Peter Paul Rubens, gaining encouragement to broaden his palette to carmine, cobalt and emerald green. He also bought some Japanese woodblocks in the docklands.

In January 1886 he matriculated at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp, studying painting and drawing. Despite disagreements over his rejection of academic teaching, he nevertheless took the higher level admission exams. For most of February he was ill, run down by overwork and a poor diet (and excessive smoking).
[edit]

Transitional artist (Paris) 1886-88

In March 1886 he moved to Paris, soon studying at Cormon's studio, where he meets fellow students, Emile Bernard and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Later he and Bernard exchange paintings to commemorate this occasion.

In May 1886 his mother and sister Wil moved to Breda. 70 of Van Gogh's abandoned paintings were bought by a junk dealer, who burnt some and sold others at very low prices.

Theo introduced Vincent to the Impressionist circle, including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Edgar Degas, Camille and son Lucien Pissarro (with both of whom he became friends), Paul Signac and Georges Seurat. Van Gogh liked Impressionism's use of light and color, more than its lack of social engagement (as he saw it).

He especially loved the technique known as pointillism (where many small dots are applied to the canvas that blend into different hues when seen from a distance. He was also strongly committed to the use of complementary colours in proximity?-especially blue and orange?-in order to enhance the brilliance of each. (He wrote in a letter: "I want to use colours that complement each other, that cause each other to shine brilliantly, that complete each other like a man and a woman.")

In June he took a flat with Theo at 54 Rue Lepic in Montmartre, and adopted the pointillist style to paint Paris scenes. He used the paint store run by Julien "Père" Tanguy, who introduced him to more artists.

In the winter of 1886 he met and befriended Paul Gauguin, who had just arrived in Paris. For a time Theo found shared life with Vincent "almost unbearable".

In Spring 1887 Tanguy commissioned two portraits of himself.

In 1888, when city life and living with his brother proved too much, Van Gogh left Paris, having painted over 200 paintings during his two years in the city.
[edit]

Mature artist 1888-90
Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers, August 1888 (Neue Pinakothek, Munich)
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Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers, August 1888 (Neue Pinakothek, Munich)
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Arles, February 1888 - May 1889

He arrived on 21 February 1888, at the Hotel Carrel in Arles, Bouches-du-Rhône, France, where he intended to found a Utopian art colony . His companion for two months was the Dutch artist, Christian Mourier-Petersen. In March, he painted local landscapes, using a gridded "perspective frame". Three of his pictures were shown at the Paris Salon des Artistes Indépendents. In April he was visited by the American painter, Dodge MacKnight, who was resident in Fontvieille nearby.
The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night, September 1888
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The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night, September 1888

In May he paid 15 francs a month to rent the four rooms in the right hand side of the "yellow house" (so called because its outside walls were yellow) in Place Lamartine. Because of a disagreement about the price, he stayed at Joseph and Marie Ginoux' station café and became friends with them. In June he visited Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. He gave drawing lessons to a Zouave second lieutenant, Paul-Eugène Milliet, who also became a companion. He was introduced to Eugenè Boch, the Belgian writer and painter, who stayed at times in Fontvieille (they exchanged visits in July). Gauguin agreed to join him in Arles. In August he painted sunflowers; Boch visited again. Finally in September he moved into the "yellow house" with minimal furnishing.
The Red Vineyard, November 1888, a rare painting sold during Van Gogh's lifetime (for 400 francs (US$74 today). (Pushkin Museum, Moscow)
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The Red Vineyard, November 1888, a rare painting sold during Van Gogh's lifetime (for 400 francs (US$74 today). (Pushkin Museum, Moscow)

On 23 October Gauguin eventually arrived in Arles, after repeated requests from Van Gogh. During November they painted together, Van Gogh deferring to Gauguin's lead that this should be (uncharacteristically for Van Gogh) from memory. Van Gogh painted The Red Vineyard.

In December the two artists visited Montpellier and viewed works by Courbet and Delacroix in the Museé Fabree. However, their relationship was deteriorating badly. They quarrelled fiercely about art. Van Gogh felt an increasing fear that Gauguin was going to desert him, and what he described as a situation of "excessive tension" reached a crisis point on December 23, 1888, when Van Gogh stalked Gauguin with a razor and then cut off the lower part of his own left ear, which he wrapped in newspaper and gave to a prostitute called Rachel in the local brothel, asking her to "keep this object carefully". Gauguin left Arles and did not speak to Van Gogh again. Van Gogh was hospitalised and in a critical state for a few days. He was immediately visited by Theo (whom Gauguin had notified), as well as Madame Ginoux and frequently by Roulin.

In January 1889 Van Gogh returned to the "yellow house", but spent the following month between hospital and home, suffering from hallucinations and paranoia that he was being poisoned. In March the police closed his house, after a petition by thirty townspeople, who call him fou roux ("the redheaded madman"). Signac visited him in hospital and Van Gogh was allowed home in his company. In April he moved into rooms owned by Dr. Rey, after floods damaged paintings in his own home. Theo married Johanna Bonger in Amsterdam.
Starry Night, June 1889 (The Museum of Modern Art, New York
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Starry Night, June 1889 (The Museum of Modern Art, New York
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Saint-Rémy, May 1889 - May 1890

On May 8, 1889, Van Gogh, accompanied by a carer, Rev. Salles, was admitted to the mental hospital of Saint-Paul-de Mausole in a former monastery in Saint Rémy de Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, France, a little less than 20 miles from Arles. It was run by a former naval doctor who had no specialist qualifications. Van Gogh had two small rooms, one for use as a studio. During his stay there, the clinic and its garden became his main subject. At this time some of his work was characterised by swirls, as in one of his best-known paintings, Starry Night. He took some short supervised walks, which gave rise to images of cypresses and olive trees, but because of the shortage of subject matter due to his limited access to the outside world, he painted interpretations of Millet's paintings, as well as his own earlier work (in September 1889 two of Vincent's Bedroom in Arles), and in February 1890 four of L'Arlésienne (Madame Ginoux), identical to a charcoal sketch by Gauguin.
[edit]

Auvers-sur-Oise, May - July 1890

In May 1890, Vincent left the clinic and went to the physician Dr. Paul Gachet, in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, where he was closer to his brother Theo. Dr. Gachet had been recommended to him by Pissarro, as he had previously treated several artists and was an amateur artist himself. Here Van Gogh created his only etching, a portrait of the melancholic Doctor Gachet. As it turned out the doctor was as much in need of help as his patient: Van Gogh commented that Gachet was "sicker than I am, I think, or shall we say just as much". [1]

Wheat Field with Crows with its turbulent intensity is often, but mistakenly, thought to be Van Gogh's last work (Jan Hulsker lists seven paintings after it). Daubigny's Garden is a more likely candidate. There are also seemingly unfinished paintings, such as Thatched Cottages by a Hill in the National Gallery, London.

Van Gogh's depression deepened, and on July 27, 1890, at the age of 37, he walked into the fields and shot himself in the chest with a revolver. Without realising that he was fatally wounded, he returned to the Ravoux Inn, where he died in his bed two days later. Theo hastened to be at his side and reported his last words as "La tristesse durera toujours", (French for "the sadness will last forever"). He was buried at the cemetery of Auvers-sur-Oise.

Theo had contracted syphilis (though this was not admitted by the family for many years) and, not long after Vincent's death, was himself admitted to hospital. He was not able to come to terms with the grief of his brother's absence, and died six months later on 25 January at Utrecht. In 1914 Theo's body was exhumed and re-buried beside Vincent's.


Legacy


Art


Van Gogh's fame grew steadily after his death. Large exhibitions were organized in Paris (1901), Amsterdam (1905), Cologne (1912), New York City (1913) and Berlin (1914). These had a great influence over a new generation of artists. The French Fauves, including Henri Matisse, extended both his use of colour and freedom of applying it, as did German Expressionists in the Die Brücke group. 1950s Abstract Expressionism is seen as benefiting from the exploration Van Gogh started with gestural marks. In 1957, English artist Francis Bacon did several paintings based on reproductions of Van Gogh's The Painter on his Way to Work (which had been destroyed in World War II). In 1997 Cameron Cross began "The Van Gogh Project" to erect giant easels with Van Gogh's sunflower paintings around the world. [2]In 1999 the Stuckists art movement saw themselves as a continuation of Van Gogh's vision; co-founder, Billy Childish staged a show of interpretations, "Handing the Loaded Revolver to the Enemy".[3]


Other

Van Gogh's letters, most of them to Theo, were published in 1914.

The artist's life forms the basis for Irving Stone's biographical novel Lust for Life (later turned into a film).

In 1972 in honour of Van Gogh, singer Don McLean wrote the ballad Vincent ?- also known as "Starry Starry Night", the song's opening words, which refer to the painting Starry Night. It was also sung by Josh Groban in 2002 and the punk band NOFX did a version on a rarities and b-sides double album.

In 1986-87, the composer Einojuhani Rautavaara wrote an opera, Vincent, based on several events in Van Gogh's life, and later used some of the same themes in his 6th symphony, Vincentiana.

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

Frankie Laine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Frankie Laine, born Frank Paul LoVecchio on March 30, 1913, is one of the most successful and influential American singers of the twentieth century. Often billed as "America's Number One Song Stylist," his nicknames include "Mr. Rhythm," "Old Leather Lungs," and "Old Man Jazz."

A clarion voiced pop singer with lots of style, able to fill halls without a microphone, and one of the biggest hit-makers of late 1940s/early 1950s, Laine had more than 70 charted records, 21 gold records, and worldwide sales of over 250 million disks [1]. Originally a rhythm and blues influenced jazz singer, Laine excelled at virtually every music style, eventually expanding to such varied genres as popular standards, gospel, folk, country, western/Americana, rock 'n' roll, and the occasional novelty number. He is known as Mr Rhythm for his driving jazzy style.

The first and biggest of a new breed of black-influenced singers who came to prominence in the post-WWII era, he belted out torch blues while stomping his foot in cutting edge joints like Billy Berg's, Club Hangover and the Bandbox. His innovative style, in which he would bend notes and sing about the chordal context of a note rather than sing the note directly, and place his stress on the downbeat initially made it difficult for him to find acceptance in the music world. But when he finally did hit, he hit big -- making the smooth crooning styles of the day something of an anachronism.

"Frank's style was very innovative, which was why he had such difficulty with early acceptance. He would bend notes and sing about the chordal context of a note rather than to sing the note directly, and he stressed each rhythmic downbeat, which was different from the smooth balladeer of his time." -- Richard Grudens

His 1946 recording of That's My Desire remains a landmark record signalling the end of both the big bands and the crooning styles favored by contemporaries Dick Haymes and Frank Sinatra. Often called the first of the blue-eyed soul singers, Laine's style cleared the way for many artists who arose in the late 40s and early 50s, including Kay Starr, Tony Bennett, Johnnie Ray and Elvis Presley.

"I think that Frank probably was one of the forerunner of .... blues, of .... rock 'n' roll. A lot of singers who sing with a passionate demeanor -- Frank was and is definitely that. I always used to love to mimick him with 'Thats...my...desire.' And then later Johnnie Ray came along that made all of those kind of movements, but Frank had already done them." -- Patti Page

Throughout the 1950s, Laine enjoyed a second career singing the title songs over the opening credits of Hollywood films and television shows, inluding: Gunfight At OK Corral, 3:10 To Yuma, Bullwhip and Rawhide. His rendition of the title song for Mel Brooks' 1974 hit movie Blazing Saddles won an Oscar nomination for Best Song, and on television, Laine's featured recording of Rawhide for the series of the same name became one of the most popular theme songs of all time.

"You can't categorize him. He's one of those singers that's not in one track. And yet and still I think that his records had more excitement and life into it. And I think that was his big selling point, that he was so full of energy. You know when hear his records it was dynamite energy." -- Herb Jeffries


Early years

Frankie Laine was born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio on March 30, 1913 to Giovanni and Cresenzia LoVecchio (nee Salerno). His parents had emigrated from Monreale, Sicily to Chicago's "Little Italy," where his father worked at one time as the pesonal barber for gangster Al Capone.

The eldest of eight children, he got his first taste of singing as a member of the choir in church of the Immaculate Conception's elementary school. He realized he wanted to be a singer when he cut school to see Al Jolson's current talking picture, "The Singing Fool." At 17 he sang before a crowd of 5,000 at The Merry Garden Ballroom to such enthusiastic applause that he ended up performing five encores on his first night. But success as a singer was another 17 years away.

Some of his other early influences during this period included Enrico Caruso, Carl Buti, and, especially, Bessie Smith -- a record of whose somehow wound up in his parents' collection:

"I can still close my eyes and visualize its blue and purple label. It was a Bessie Smith recording of 'The Bleeding Hearted Blues,' with 'Midnight Blues' on the other side. The first time I laid the needle down on that record I felt cold chills and an indescribable excitement. It was my first exposure to jazz and the blues, although I had no idea at the time what to call those magical sounds. I just knew I had to hear more of them!" -- Frankie Laine


Signing as a member of The Merry Garden company, Laine toured with them, working dance marathons during the Great Depression (setting the world record of 3,501 hours with partner Ruthie Smith at Atlantic City's Million Dollar Pier in 1932). Still billed as "Frank LoVecchio," he would entertain the spectators during the fifteen minute breaks the dancers were given each hour. During his marathon days, he worked with several up-and-coming entertainers including Rose Marie, Red Skelton and a fourteen-year old Anita O'Day, who became his protegee.

Other artists whose styles began to influence Laine at this time were Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Mildred Bailey and Nat "King" Cole.

His next big break came when he replaced Perry Como in the Freddy Carlone band in Cleveland in 1937. But success continued to elude him and he spent the next 10 years alternating between singing at small jazz clubs on both coasts, and a series of jobs including that of a bouncer, a dance instructor, a used car salesman, an agent, a synthetic leather factory worker, and a machinist at a defence plant. It was while working at the defence plant during the second world war that he first began writing songs ("It Only Happens Once" was written at the plant). At the lowest point of his career, he was sleeping on a bench in Central Park.

"I would sneak into hotel rooms and sleep on floor. In fact, I was bodily thrown out of 11 different New York hotels. I stayed in YMCAs and with anyone who would let me flop. Eventually I was down to my last four cents, and my bed became a roughened wooden bench in Central Park. I used my four pennies to buy four tiny Baby Ruth candy bars and rationed myself to one a day." -- Frankie Laine

In 1943 he moved out to California where he sang in the background of several Hollywood films including "The Harvey Girls," and dubbed the singing voice for an actor in the Danny Kaye comedy "The Kid From Brooklyn." It was in Los Angeles in 1944 that he met and befriended disc jockey Al Jarvis and composer/pianist Carl Fischer who was to be his songwriting partner, musical director and piano accompanist until his death in 1954. Their songwriting collaborations included "I'd Give My Life," "Baby, Just For Me," "What Could Be Sweeter?," "Forever More," and the jazz standard "We'll Be Together Again."

It wasn't until the end of 1946 when Hoagy Carmichael heard him singing at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles that success finally arrived. Unemployed at the time, Laine would drop in the various Los Angeles nightclubs in hopes that the band playing there would call him up to sing. Not knowing that Carmichael was in the audience, Laine sang the Carmichael-penned standard "Rockin' Chair" when Slim Gaillard called him up to the stage to sing. This eventually led to a contract with the newly established Mercury records. Laine and Carmichael would later collaborate on a song, "Put Yourself in My Place, Baby."

Frankie Laine's early significance is best described by rock critic Jonny Whiteside:

"In the Hollywood clubs, a new breed of black-influenced white performers laid down a bafflingly hip array of new sounds. ... Most important of these was Frankie Laine, a big white lad with 'steel tonsils' who belted out torch blues while stomping his size twelve foot in joints like Billy Berg's, Club Hangover and the Bandbox. ... Laine's intense style owed nothing to Crosby, Sinatra or Dick Haymes. Instead he drew from Billy Eckstine, Joe Turner, Jimmy Rushing, and with it Laine had sown the seeds from which an entire new perception and audience would grow. ... Frank Sinatra represented perhaps the highest flowering of a quarter century tradition of crooning but suddenly found himself an anachronism. First Frankie Laine, then Tony Bennett, and now Johnnie (Ray), dubbed 'the Belters' and 'the Exciters,' came along with a brash vibrance and vulgar beat that made the old bandstand routine which Frank meticulously perfected seem almost invalid."

That's My Desire

Even after Carmichael's discovering him, Laine still was considered to be only an intermission act at Billy Berg's. His next big break came when he dusted off a fifteen-year old song that few people remembered in 1946: "That's My Desire." Frankie had picked up the song from songstress June Hart a half a dozen years earlier, when he sang at the College Inn in Cleveland. He introduced "Desire" as a "new" song -- meaning new to his repertoire at Berg's -- but the audience mistook it for a new song that had just been written. He ended up singing it five times that night. After that, Frankie Laine quickly became the star attraction at Berg's, and the record company executives took note.

He was soon recording for the fledgling Mercury label, and "That's My Desire" was one of the songs cut in his first recording session there. It quickly took the number one spot on the R&B charts, where Laine was initially mistaken for being black; and made it to the #4 spot on the Mainstream charts. Although it was quickly covered by many other artists, including Sammy Kaye who took it to the #2 spot, it was Frankie's version that became the standard.

"Desire" became Frankie Laine's first Gold Record, and established him as a major force in the music world. A series of hit singles quickly followed, including "Black and Blue," "Mam'selle," "Two Loves Have I," "Shine," "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "Monday Again," and many others.

At Mercury

Frankie Laine's name was synonymous with jazz in the late 40's when, accompanied by Carl Fischer (with whom he wrote the great standard "We'll Be Together Again") and some of the best jazz men in the business, he was swinging standards like "By the River Sainte Marie," "Black and Blue," "Rockin' Chair," "West End Blues" "At the End of the Road," "Ain't That Just Like a Woman," "That Ain't Right," "Exactly Like You," and "Sleepy Ol' River" on the Mercury label. His soulful, masculine style dealt a severe blow to the predominant crooning styles of the day. As jazz vocalist Kay Starr expressed it:

"A crooner is so soft, he could be a girl. Frank sounded like a man -- he just stood there flat-footed and sang, and you've got to admire a man who's that brave. Whether you were listening to a record or watching him on stage, you could feel what he felt."

But Laine had his greatest success after impressario Mitch Miller, who became the A&R man at Mercury in 1948, recognized a universal quality in Laine's voice which he began to exploit via a succession of chart-topping popular songs often with a folk or western flavor.

Laine and Miller became a formidable hit-making team who, almost singlehandedly, established Mercury as one of the most successful record labels of its time. Their first collaboration, "That Lucky Old Sun" became the number one song in the country three weeks after its release. It was also Laine's fifth Gold Record. The song was knocked down to the number two position by Laine and Miller's second collaboration, "Mule Train" which proved to be an even bigger hit. (Making Frankie Laine the first artist to ever simultaneously hold the Number One and Two positions on the charts.) "Mule Train" has been cited as the first song to utilize an "aural texture" that "set the pattern for virtually the entire first decade of rock." (Will Friedwald, "Sinatra! The Song Is You," Da Capo Press, 1997.)

Other Laine/Miller Mercury hits included "Shine," "On the Sunny Side of the Street," "Mam'selle," "Two Loves Have I," "Dream a Little Dream of Me," "All of Me," "Georgia on My Mind," "Blue Turning Grey Over You," "The Stars and Stripes Forever," "Nevertheless" "The Cry of the Wild Goose," "Swamp Girl," "Satan Wears a Satin Gown," and "Music, Maestro Please."

"He was my kind of guy. He was very dramatic in his singing ... and you must remember that in those days there were no videos so you had to depend on the image that the record made in the listener's ears. And that's why many fine artists were not good record sellers. For instance, Lena Horne. Fabulous artist but she never sold many records till that last album of hers. But she would always sell out the house no matter where she was. And there were others who sold a lot of records but couldn't get to first base in personal appearances, but Frankie had it both." -- Mitch Miller

But the biggest label of all was Columbia Records, and in 1950 Mitch Miller left Mercury to embark upon his phenomenally successful career as the A&R man there. Laine's contract at Mercury would be up for renewal the following year, and Miller soon brought Laine to Columbia as well. Laine's contract with Columbia was the most lucrative in the industry until RCA bought Elvis Presley's contract five years later.

At Columbia


Laine began recording for Columbia Records in 1951, where he immediately scored a double-sided hit with the single "Jezebel"/"Rose, Rose, I Love You," confirming his reputation as the premiere hitmaker of the early 50s. Other Laine hits from this period include, "High Noon," "Jealousy (Jalousie)," "The Girl in the Woods," "When You're in Love," "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans" (with Jo Stafford), "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Granada," "Hey Joe!," "The Kid's Last Fight," "Cool Water," "Someday," "A Woman in Love," "Love is a Golden Ring" (with The Easy Riders), and "Moonlight Gambler." A consummate duettist, he also scored hits with Patti Page ("I Love You for That"), Doris Day ("Sugarbush"), Jo Stafford ("Hey, Good Lookin'," "Gambella (The Gambling Lady)," "Hambone," "Floatin' Down to Cotton Town," "Settin' the Woods on Fire," and many others), Jimmy Boyd ("Tell Me a Story," "The Little Boy and the Old Man"), the Four Lads ("Rain, Rain, Rain") and Johnnie Ray ("Up Above My Head").

Frankie scored a total of 39 hit records on the charts while at Columbia, and it is many of his songs from this period that are most readily associated with him. His "Greatest Hits" album, released in 1957, has been a perennial best seller that has never gone out of print.

In 1953 he set two more records (this time on the UK charts): weeks at No 1 for a song ("I Believe," which held the number one spot for 18 weeks), and weeks at No 1 for an artist in a single year (27 weeks: a little over half the year, when "Hey Joe!" and "Answer Me" became number one hits as well). In spite of the popularity of rock 'n' roll artists like Elvis Presley and The Beatles, fifty-plus years later, both of Laine's records still hold.


Always exceedingly popular in the U.K., he broke attendance records at the London Palladium in 1952 and gave a Command Performance for Queen Elizabeth II in 1954. By the end of the decade he remained far ahead of Elvis Presley as the most successful artist on the British charts. See the "Chart of All Time" for details. "I Believe" is listed as the second most popular song of all time on the British charts as well.

Throughout the remainder of the 50s and into the early 60s, he released many great theme albums as well including "Rockin'" (with Paul Weston's Orchestra), "Jazz Spectacular" (with jazz trumpet great Buck Clayton), "Frankie Laine And The Four Lads" (a gospel album that truly rocks), "Reunion In Rhythm'" (with Michel Legrand), "Balladeer" (folk songs), "Torchin'" (Torch songs), "Hell Bent For Leather" (western songs), "Call Of The Wild" (outdoor songs), "Wanderlust" (the last four with John Williams' Orchestra), etc.

Each of these albums is good enough to merit its own heading here, and it is during this period that many of Laine's fans consider his voice to have been at its peak. "De Glory Road," from his "Wanderlust" album of 1963 is a vocal tour de force, and one of Laine's personal favorites. Other great Laine album cuts from Columbia include: "You Are My Love," "Because," "I Would Do Most Anything for You," "Blue Moon," "Lover Come Back to Me," "Rocks and Gravel," "On a Monday," "And Doesn't She Roll," "Riders in the Sky," "Serenade," "Bowie Knife," "Wanted Man," "La Paloma," "Midnight on a Rainy Monday," "These Foolish Things," "I Got it Bad," "On the Road to Mandalay," and "Stars Fell on Alabama."

"Frankie Laine was somebody that everybody knew. He was a kind of a household word like Frank Sinatra or Bobby Darin or Peggy Lee or Ella Fitzgerald -- Frankie Laine was one of the great popular singers and stylists of that time. ... And his style ... he was one of those artists who had such an unique stamp -- nobody sounded like he did. You could hear two notes and you knew who it was and you were right on the beam with it right away. And of course that defines a successful popular artist, at least at that time. These people were all very uniquely individual and Frank was on the front rank of those people in his appeal to the public and his success and certainly in his identifiability." -- John Williams

Social Activism

Along with opening the door for many R&B performers, Laine played a significant role in the equal rights movements of the 1950s and 60s. When Nat King Cole's television show was unable to get a sponsor, Laine crossed the color line, becoming the first white artist to appear as a guest (foregoing his usual salary of $10,000.00 as Cole's sustainer show only paid scale). Many other top white singers followed suit, including Tony Bennett and Rosemary Clooney, but Cole's show still couldn't get enough sponsors to continue.

In the following decade, Frankie Laine joined several African American artists who gave a free concert for Martin Luther King's supporters during their Selma to Montgomery marches on Washington DC.

Laine has also been active in many charities as well, including Meals on Wheels and The Salvation Army. Among his charitable works are a series of local benefit concerts and his having organized a nationwide drive to provide "Shoes for the Homeless."


Film and Television

Beginning in the late 1940s, Frankie Laine starred in over a half dozen backstage musicals, often playing himself; several of these were written and directed by a young Blake Edwards. The films were: "Make Believe Ballroom" - Columbia, 1949; "When You're Smiling" - Columbia, 1950; "Sunny Side Of The Street" - Columbia, 1951; "Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder" - Columbia, 1952; "Bring Your Smile Along" - Columbia, 1955; "He Laughed Last" - Columbia, 1956; and "Meet Me In Las Vegas" - MGM, 1956. The last, a big budget MGM musical starring Cyd Charisse features Laine performing "Hell Hath No Fury" and provides us with a glimpse of what his 1950s Las Vegas nightclub act must have been like.

His films were very popular in the United Kingdom, but to establish him as a movie star in the United States. State side, Laine gained more popularity in the new medium of television.

On television he hosted three variety shows: "The Frankie Laine Hour" in 1950, "The Frankie Laine Show" (with Connie Haines) 1954-5, and "Frankie Laine Time" in 1955-6. The Last was a summer replacement for "The Arthur Godfrey Show" and featured such high-powered guest stars as Ella Fitzgerald, Johnnie Ray, Georgia Gibbs, The Four Lads, Cab Calloway, Patti Page, Eddie Heywood, Duke Ellington, Boris Karloff, Patti Andrews, Joni James, Shirley MacLaine, Gene Krupa, Teresa Brewer, Jack Teagarden and Polly Bergen.

"He had a different sound, you know and he had such emotion and heart. And of course you recognized Frankie, just like Sinatra had that sound that you'd always recognize. That's what made for hit records, as well as being a great singer. But you have to have a real special sound that never changes. He could do it all ... but again, you always knew that it was Frankie Laine." -- Connie Haines

He was a frequent guest star on various other shows of the time including "Shower of Stars," "The Steve Allen Show," "The Toast of the Town," "What's My Line?," "This is Your Life," "Bachelor Father," "The Nat 'King' Cole Show" "The Sinatra Show," "The Walter Winchell Show," "The Perry Como Show," "The Gary Moore Show," "Masquerade Party," "The Mike Douglas Show," and "American Bandstand."

In the 1960s, he continued appearing on variety shows like "Laugh-In," and "The Mike Douglas Show," but took on several serious guest starring roles in shows like "Rawhide," "Burke's Law," and "Perry Mason." His theme song for "Rawhide" proved to be exceedingly popular and helped to make the show, starring a young, unknown actor named Clint Eastwood a hit. Other t.v. series' for which Laine sang the theme song included "Gunslinger," and "Rango."

Frankie Laine performed at three Academy Awards ceremonies: 1950 ("Mule Train"), 1960 ("The Hanging Tree"), and 1975 ("Blazing Saddles"). Only last two of these ceremonies were televised. In 1981 he performed a medley of his hits on "American Bandstand's 30th Anniversary Special," where he received a standing ovation from the many celebrities present. Later appearances include "Nashville Now," 1989 and "My Music," 2006.


At Capitol, ABC, and Beyond

In 1963 Frankie Laine left Columbia for Capitol Records, but his two years there only produced one album and a handful of singles (mostly of an inspirational nature). He continued performing regularly at this time, including a South African tour.

After switching to ABC Records in the late 1960s, he found himself right back at the top of the charts again, beginning with the first song he'd recorded there, "I'll Take Care of Your Cares." Written as a waltz in the mid-1920s, "Cares" had become the unofficial theme song of the Las Vegas call girls but was virtually unknown outside of the strip. Laine recorded a swinging version that made it to number 39 on the national and to number 2 on the adult contemporary charts. A string of hits followed including "Making Memories," "You Wanted Someone to Play With," "Laura, What's He Got that I Ain't Got," "To Each His Own" "Born to be with You," "I Found You," and "Lord, You Gave Me A Mountain" (which was written for him by country legend Marty Robbins. The last song was a number one hit on the adult contemporary charts (#24 national), and proved that Laine was as big a hit-maker as ever.

Seeking greater artistic freedom, Laine left ABC for the much smaller Amos Records, where he cut two exciting albums in a modern, rock-influenced vein. The first album contained contemporary versions of his greatest hits, such as "Your Cheatin' Heart," "That Lucky Old Sun," "I Believe," "Jezebel," "Shine," and "Moonlight Gambler." The new arrangements work surprisingly well and many of the cuts can stand alongside of the originals. His second album for Amos was called "A Brand New Day" and, along with the title song, features all new material including "Mr. Bojangles," "Proud Mary," "Put Your Hand in the Hand," "My God and I," and "Talk About the Good Times." It's one of Frankie Laine's most exciting albums and one of his personal favorites. Unfortunately Amos, which was soon to fold from lack of funds, couldn't adequately promote them at the time, however they have developed a following through CD rereleases. After Amos folded, Laine started his own label, Score Records, which is still producing albums today.


Later years

His career slowed down a little in the 1980s due to triple and quadruple bypasses, but he nevertheless continued cutting some terrific albums including "Wheels Of A Dream" (1998), "Old Man Jazz" (2002) and "The Nashville Connection" (2004).

In 1986, he recorded an album, "Round Up" with Eric Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, which made it to the classical charts -- a fact which Mr. Laine seems to have taken some amusement in.

He recorded his last song to date, "Taps/My Buddy," shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attack on America. The song was dedicated to the New York City Fire Fighters, and Mr. Laine is donating profits from the song, in perpetuity, to the NY Fire Fighters.

Frankie Laine's 70-plus year career spanned most of the 20th century and has continued into the 21st. Laine was a key figure in the golden age of popular music, and remains, quite possibly the greatest singer of all time. On June 12, 1996, he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 27th Annual Songwriters' Hall of Fame awards ceremony at the New York Sheraton. On his 80th birthday, the United States Congress declared him to be a national treasure.


Marriages

His first marriage was to actress Nan Grey, (June 1950 - July 1993) and Laine adopted her daughters from a previous marriage, Pam and Jan. Following a three year engagement to Anita Craighead, he married Marcia Ann Kline in June 1999.

Frankie Laine Today

Although Frankie Laine lives in semi-retirement in the Point Loma area of San Diego, California, he still continues to perform. He will be appearing in an upcoming PBS "My Music" special recorded in 2005 and will be headlining "The Branson Follies" for 3 1/2 months at the end of 2006.

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


Mule Train :: Frankie Laine

MULE TRAIN.

MULE TRAIN, MULE TRAIN
CLIPETTY CLOPPING OVER HILL AND PLAIN
SEEMS AS HOW THEY'LL NEVER STOP
CLIPETTY CLOP CLIPETTY CLOP
CLIPETTY CLIPETTY CLIPETTY CLIPETTY
CLIPETTY CLOPPING ALONG

THERE'S A PLUG OF CHAW TOBACCY
FOR A RANCHER IN COROLLA
A GUITAR FOR A COWBOY WAY OUT IN ARIZONA
A DRESS OF CALICO FOR A PRETTY NAVAHO
GET ALONG MULE GET ALONG

MULE TRAIN, MULE TRAIN
CLIPETTY CLOPPING ON THE MOUNTAIN CHAIN
SEEMS AS HOW THEY'LL NEVER STOP
CLIPETTY CLOP CLIPETTY CLOP
CLIPETTY CLIPETTY CLIPETTY CLIPETTY
CLIPETTY CLOPPING ALONG

THERE'S SOME COTTON THREAD AND NEEDLE
FOR THE FOLKS WHO'S WAY OUT YONDER
A SHOVEL FOR A MINER WHO LEFT HIS HOME TO WANDER
SOME RHEUMATISM PILLS FOR THE SETTLERS IN THE HILLS
GET ALONG MULE GET ALONG

MULE TRAIN, MULE TRAIN
CLIPETTY CLOPPING THROUGH THE WIND AND RAIN
THEY'LL KEEP GOING TILL THEY DROP
CLIPETTY CLOP CLIPETTY CLOP
CLIPETTY CLIPETTY CLIPETTY CLIPETTY
CLIPETTY CLOPPING ALONG

THERE'S A LETTER FULL OF SADNESS
AND IT'S BLACK AROUND THE BORDER
A PAIR OF BOOTS FOR SOMEONE
WHO HAD THEM MADE TO ORDER
A BIBLE IN THE PACK FOR THE REVEREND MISTER BLACK

Warren Beatty
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Henry Warren Beaty (born March 30, 1937), now known as Warren Beatty, is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, and director. He long had a reputation as a womanizer and playboy, but that reputation has faded since his 1992 marriage to Annette Bening. The Academy Awards honored him with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 2000, presented by his close friend Jack Nicholson, while in 2004 he received a Kennedy Center Honor.

Beatty was born In Richmond, VA to an American father whose family had lived there for several centuries, and a Canadian mother of half Scottish and half Irish descent; the family was devoutly Baptist. His sister is the actress and writer Shirley MacLaine.

Beatty started out his career by doing several auditions, and he was first choice (after Elvis Presley) for the lead role in West Side Story, but the role eventually went to Richard Beymer. Eventually, he got his start in film under Elia Kazan's direction and opposite Natalie Wood in Splendor in the Grass (1961), though he had previous television experience in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959). At age 30 he achieved critical acclaim and power as a producer and star of Bonnie and Clyde (1967), which was nominated for 10 Academy Awards.

Subsequent Beatty films include McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971), The Parallax View (1974), Shampoo (1975), and Heaven Can Wait (1978). The last film gave him the box-office power he hadn't had since Bonnie & Clyde. He used this to make Reds (1981), a historical epic about famed Communist journalist John Reed in the Russian October Revolution. It won Academy Awards for Best Director (Beatty), Best Cinematography, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Maureen Stapleton) while losing Best Picture to Chariots of Fire. It was nominated for eight other Oscars and joined a handful of films to win Best Director but not Best Picture. Other critically acclaimed works include Bugsy (1991) and Bulworth (1998). Beatty is the only person other than Orson Welles to receive Oscar nominations in the same year for acting, directing, writing, and producing, and he did it twice, in 1978 and 1981.

Beatty's career as a ladies' man has been marked by a series of well-publicized romances, including Madonna, Isabelle Adjani, Candice Bergen, Leslie Caron, Julie Christie, Joan Collins, Catherine Deneuve, Janice Dickinson, Faye Dunaway, Britt Ekland, Jane Fonda, Melanie Griffith, Daryl Hannah, Goldie Hawn, Brooke Hayward, Margaux Hemingway, Barbara Hershey, Bianca Jagger, Diane Keaton, Elle Macpherson, Joni Mitchell, Michelle Phillips, Diana Ross, Jessica Savitch, Diane Sawyer, Stephanie Seymour, Carly Simon (whose song "You're So Vain" is thought by many to be representing him, although Simon has never confirmed or denied this), Inger Stevens, Barbra Streisand, Liv Ullmann, Natalie Wood (who left her first marriage to Robert Wagner for him), and Susannah York. He settled down at 55, marrying Annette Bening, his co-star in the gangster film Bugsy, in 1992. They have four children: Kathlyn (b. 1992), Benjamin (b. 1994), Isabel (b. 1997) and Ella Corinne (b. April 8, 2000).

Though perhaps not respected for his acting ability as much as some of his contemporaries, Beatty has played a wide range of characters to critical acclaim and has always involved himself heavily in the production of his movies.

In May 2005, Beatty sued Tribune Co. for 30 million dollars in damages, claiming he still maintains the rights to Dick Tracy (1990). Beatty received the rights in 1985 and is now claiming that 17 years later Tribune moved to reclaim them in violation of various notification procedures. Dick Tracy grossed over $100 million dollars upon its release in 1990, making it the highest grossing film of Beatty's career. There are also rumors that he plans to make a sequel. Whether or not he intends to star in it, it seems very unlikely for that to happen, as Beatty is now almost 70.


Politics

A longtime activist in various liberal political causes, Beatty has, at various times, been extremely active in the presidential politics of the Democratic Party.

In 1968, he hit the campaign trail for the first time, supporting Senator Robert F. Kennedy's bid for his party's presidential nomination. His involvement in the senator's campaign, which included stump speaking and fundraising, was cut short when Kennedy was shot and killed by Sirhan Sirhan on the same night that he won a crucial primary in California.

Four years later, Beatty joined the campaign of Senator George McGovern as an advisor. As part of the so-called "Malibu Mafia," a group of Hollywood celebrities who were part of the candidate's "inner circle," Beatty gave McGovern's campaign manager Gary Hart advice about the handling of public relations and was instrumental in organizing a series of rock concerts which raised over $1 million for the senator's campaign.

In 1984, and again in 1988, Beatty was to play a similar role in Hart's own presidential campaigns. Hart, who had, by that time, become a senator himself, had become friends with Beatty during the 1972 campaign and the relationship had grown closer during the intervening decade. After Hart's second campaign imploded over allegations that he had committed adultery with a former beauty queen named Donna Rice, a mutual friend of the two explained why they were so close: "Gary always wanted to have Warren's life and Warren always wanted to have Gary's. It was a match made in heaven."

Beatty himself was to become presidential timber during the summer of 1999. After it became clear that the only two contenders for the Democratic Party's nomination were to be Vice President Al Gore and former Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey, Beatty made it generally known that he was dissatisfied with the two choices and began to drop hints that he might be willing to seek the nomination himself. After meeting with several powerful liberal activists and influential Democratic operatives, including pollster Pat Caddell, who had worked previously for Hart, McGovern, and President Jimmy Carter, and adman Bill Hillsman, who had worked on the campaigns of Senator Paul Wellstone and Governor Jesse Ventura, Beatty announced in September of 1999 that he would not seek the nomination. However, he continued to be courted by members of a different political party, the Reform Party, who were looking for an alternative to Pat Buchanan, a conservative who had switched parties after losing the Republican Party's presidential nomination for the third time in a row. Despite frequent entreaties by Governor Ventura, real-estate magnate Donald Trump, and syndicated columnist Arianna Huffington, Beatty refused to enter the race and Buchanan eventually won the Reform Party's nomination. Later in the campaign, Beatty announced that he was endorsing Ralph Nader for president.

Despite his decision not to seek the presidency in 2000, Beatty intimated that he might still run at a later time, telling reporters that he would do so if he thought he "could make an impact on the debate."

As California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's popularity with California voters dropped, Beatty campaigned against the special election in November 2005. He was the keynote speaker at the California Nurses Association's 2005 convention, and recorded radio ads urging voters to reject Schwarzenegger's ballot proposals. The propositions were defeated at the ballot box, increasing speculation that Beatty may run against Schwarzenegger in the 2006 election. Beatty has said that he is reluctant to enter the race because of the possibility of revealing his sexual liaisons, but he has not ruled it out.

Trivia

* Beatty studied acting at Northwestern University and joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity, but dropped-out prior to graduation.

* He is a good friend of Jack Nicholson and Garry Shandling, with whom he has worked on several films.

* Beatty graduated from Washington and Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia. [1] [2]

* Beatty is 6'2".

* Turned down roles in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Way We Were, The Great Gatsby and The Godfather.

* Has a lifelong addiction to ice cream.

* Was interested to play the title role in Crimson Tide.

* The part of Bill in the film Kill Bill was originally written for him.

* While attending Northwestern University, Warren Beatty once rode a motorcycle into his European History class. When he turned the engine off, the class and professor were still in a stunned silence. Before anyone could say a word, Beatty ripped out an electric guitar and performed what was reported to be a very rousing rendition of Good Golly, Miss Molly. He then got back on the motorcyle, rode out of class, and never returned to the university again. [citation needed] (This particular stunt is one of several urban legends that have been attributed to several actors in Mr. Beatty's generation at various universities.)

* One of his first jobs was as a "rat catcher" in a Virginia movie theater.

* Dick Tracy is the highest grossing film of Beatty's career.

* Has starred in two of the biggest flops of all time, Ishtar and Town & Country.

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

Eric Clapton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Eric Patrick Clapton CBE (born March 30, 1945), nicknamed "Slowhand", is a Grammy Award winning English guitarist, singer and composer, who became one of the most respected and influential musicians of the rock-era, garnering an unprecedented three inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Clapton is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential guitarists in popular music history.

Although Clapton's musical style has varied throughout his career, it has always remained rooted in the Blues. Clapton is credited as an innovator in several phases of his career, which have included Blues-Rock (with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and The Yardbirds) and Hard Rock (with Cream). Clapton has also achieved great chart success in genres ranging from Delta Blues (the acoustic MTV Unplugged album), Rock ("Sunshine of Your Love"), Pop ("Change the World") and Reggae ("I Shot the Sheriff").


Musical Career & Personal Life


Clapton's Early Days

Eric Clapton was born in Ripley, Surrey, England, UK as the illegitimate son of 16 year old Patricia Molly Clapton and Edward Walter Fryer, a 24 year old Canadian pilot. Fryer returned to his wife in Canada prior to Clapton's birth.

Clapton grew up with his grandparents, believing they were his parents and that his mother was his older sister. Years later his mother married another Canadian soldier, moved to Canada and left Eric with his grandparents. When Clapton was 9 years old he discovered this family secret, and the experience became a defining moment in his life.

Clapton grew up a self-confessed "nasty kid". During his secondary school years he attended the Hollyfield School in Surbiton. His first job was as a postman. Influenced by the blues from an early age, at age 13 Clapton received an acoustic guitar for his birthday, but he found learning the instrument so difficult he nearly gave up. After high school, Clapton studied stained-glass design at Kingston Art School but was later kicked out for playing his guitar during class. Clapton joined his first band at 17 and stayed with this band - the early British R&B outfit The Roosters - from January through to August 1963. During his time with the band, Clapton frequently jammed in London clubs with future members of the Rolling Stones. Clapton did a seven-gig stint with Casey Jones and the Engineers, a Top 40 band, in September 1963.


The Yardbirds & John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers


Clapton joined The Yardbirds, a blues-influenced rock and roll band in 1963 and stayed with them until 1965. Synthesising influences from Chicago blues and leading blues guitarists such as B.B. King and Freddie King, Clapton forged a distinctive style and he rapidly became one of the most talked-about guitarists in the British music scene. The band initially played all strict blues covers of Chess/Checker/Vee-Jay material and began to attract a large cult following when they took over the Rolling Stones' residency at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond. They toured England with American bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson; a joint LP, recorded in December 1963, was issued belatedly under both their names in 1965. In March 1965, the band had their first major hit, on which Clapton played guitar: For Your Love.

Still obstinately dedicated to his roots in blues, Clapton took strong exception to the Yardbirds' new pop-oriented direction, partly because "For Your Love" had been written by pop songwriter-for-hire Graham Gouldman, who had also written hits for teen pop outfit Herman's Hermits and harmony pop band The Hollies. He only plays the blues-shuffle portion in the middle of the single and quit the band as soon as it had been recorded in 1965. He recommended his friend Jimmy Page as his replacement, but Page was at that time unwilling to relinquish his lucrative career as a freelance studio musician, so Page in turn recommended Clapton's successor: Jeff Beck (although Page would also eventually join the band).

Having quit the Yardbirds in March, Clapton joined John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers in April 1965. His emotional playing on their hugely influential first album, Blues Breakers (which features Clapton reading a copy of the Beano on the cover), established his name as a blues player par excellence, and it inspired a short-lived craze of graffiti that deified him with the famous slogan Clapton is God.


Cream

Clapton left the Bluesbreakers in mid-1966 (to be replaced by Peter Green) and then formed Cream, one of the earliest examples of a supergroup. Cream was also one of the earliest "power trios", with Jack Bruce (also of Manfred Mann and the Graham Bond Organisation) and Ginger Baker (another member of the GBO). During his time with Cream, Clapton began to develop as a singer and songwriter, as well as guitarist, though Bruce, one of rock's most powerful singers, took most of the lead vocals and wrote the majority of the material with lyricist Pete Brown. Debuting at the Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival, Cream established an enduring legend on the high-volume blues jamming and extended solos of their live shows, while their studio work was more sophisticated and original rock.

In early 1967, Clapton's status as Britain's top guitarist was shaken by the arrival of Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix attended a performance of the newly-formed Cream at the Central London Polytechnic on October 1, 1966, during which Hendrix sat in on a shattering double-timed version of Killing Floor. Clapton immediately realized that he had a new and almost unbeatable competitor, whose dazzling showmanship was matched by his staggering ability as a guitarist. Hendrix's early club performances were avidly attended by top UK stars including Clapton, Pete Townshend and The Beatles. Hendrix's arrival had an immediate and major effect on the next phase of Clapton's career.

Cream's repertoire varied from pop soul ("I Feel Free") to lengthy blues-based instrumental jams ("Spoonful") and featured Clapton's searing guitar lines, Bruce's soaring vocals and prominent, fluid bass playing, and Baker's powerful, polyrhythmic jazz-influenced drumming.

In a mere three years Cream had immense commercial success, selling 15 million records and playing to standing-room only crowds throughout the U.S. and Europe. They redefined the instrumentalist's role in rock and were one the first bands to emphasize musical virtuosity, skill and flash. Their U.S. hit singles include "Sunshine Of Your Love" (#5, 1968), "White Room" (#6, 1968) and "Crossroads" (#28, 1969) - a live cover version of Robert Johnson's "Cross Road Blues".

Although Cream was hailed as one of the greatest groups of its day, and the adulation of Clapton as guitar hero reached new heights, the band was destined to be short-lived. The legendary in-fighting between Bruce and Baker and growing tensions between all three members eventually led to Cream's demise. Another significant factor was a strongly critical Rolling Stone review of a concert of the group's second headlining U.S. tour, which affected Clapton profoundly. By this time he had also fallen deeply under the spell of the music of The Band after they had released the album Music From Big Pink and began to believe that rock music was heading in a new direction. He was so infatuated with them that he even asked to join them, but was turned down.

The valedictory Goodbye album featured live performances from Cream's farewell performance at the Royal Albert Hall; it was released shortly after Cream disbanded in 1968, and also featured the studio single "Badge", co-written by Clapton and George Harrison, whom he had met and become friends with after the Beatles had shared a bill with the Clapton-era Yardbirds at the London Palladium. (The chorus of "Badge" served as the basis for Harrison's later Beatles composition, "Here Comes the Sun", which Harrison reportedly composed in Clapton's back garden.) The close friendship between Clapton and Harrison also resulted in Clapton playing on Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from the Beatles' White Album - according to some, a tactic intended to make the other Beatles take Harrison's song more seriously, but whatever the truth, by all accounts the presence of an outsider, especially of Clapton's calibre, had the effect of bringing harmony to the irritable band (in January, 1969, during the making of what would become the Let It Be album, Harrison walked out after an argument and in his absence - fearing Harrison had gone for good and concerned that the album could not be completed - John Lennon proposed that Harrison be replaced by Clapton.) In the same year of release as the White Album, Harrison released his solo debut Wonderwall Music which became the first of many Harrison solo records to feature Clapton on guitar, who would go largely uncredited due to contractual restraints. The pair would often play live together as each other's guests, right up until Harrison's death in 2001 and the following tribute concert in his name, for which Clapton was one of the main performers and organizers.

Since their 1968 breakup, Cream briefly reunited in 1993 to perform at the ceremony inducting them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A full-scale reunion of the legendary trio took place in May 2005, with Clapton, Bruce and Baker playing 4 sold-out concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall (the scene of their 1968 farewell shows) and 3 more at New York's Madison Square Garden that October. Recordings from the London shows were released on CD and DVD in September 2005.

Blind Faith & Delaney and Bonnie and Friends

A desultory spell in a second supergroup, the shortlived Blind Faith (1969), which was composed of Cream drummer Baker, Steve Winwood of Traffic and Rick Grech of Family, resulted in one LP and one arena-circuit tour. The supergroup debuted before 100,000 fans in London's Hyde Park on June 7, 1969, and began a sold-out American tour in July before its one and only album had been released. The LP was recorded in such haste that side two consisted of just two songs, one of them a 15 minute jam entitled "Do What You Like". Nevertheless, Blind Faith did include two classics: Winwood's "Can't Find My Way Home" and Clapton's "Presence of the Lord". The album's jacket image of a prepubescent girl was deemed controversial in the U.S. and was replaced by a photograph of the band. Blind Faith dissolved after only a year together, and while Winwood went on to a highly successful solo career, by now Clapton was tired of both the spotlight and the hype that had surrounded Cream and Blind Faith, and wanted to make music that more closely resembled that of The Band.

Clapton decided to step into the background for a time, touring as a sideman with the American group Delaney and Bonnie and Friends. He moved to New York in late 1969 and worked with the band through early 1970. He became close friends with Delaney Bramlett, who encouraged him in his singing and writing which would show determined growth in his next effort.

Using the Bramletts' backing group and an all-star cast of session players including Leon Russell and Stephen Stills whose solo albums Clapton played on, he released his first solo album in 1970 fittingly named Eric Clapton, which included the Bramlett composition "Bottle Of Red Wine" and one of Clapton's best songs from this period, "Let It Rain". It also yielded an unexpected U.S. #18 hit, the J.J. Cale cover "After Midnight".

Clapton's "between-bands" period from 1969 to 1970 also saw him appear on a large number of other artists' records, ranging from George Harrison's All Things Must Pass (for contractual reasons, Clapton's contributions went uncredited for decades) to The Plastic Ono Band's Sometime in New York City and Dr John's Sun Moon and Herbs.


Derek and the Dominos

Taking over Delaney & Bonnie's rhythm section ?- Bobby Whitlock (keyboards, vocals), Carl Radle (bass) and Jim Gordon (drums) ?- Clapton formed a new band which was similarly intended to counteract the 'star' cult that had grown up around him and show Clapton as an equal member of a fully-fledged group. This was made evident in the choice of name Derek and the Dominos, derived from an announcer's mispronunciation of the group's provisional name - "Eric & The Dynamos" - at their first concert appearance.

Clapton's close friendship with George Harrison had brought him into contact with Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd-Harrison, with whom he fell deeply in love. When she turned him down, Clapton's unrequited affections prompted most of the material for the Dominos' album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, most notably the hit single "Layla", inspired by the Persian classical poet Nizami Ganjavi's "The Story of Layla and Majnun", a copy of which a friend had given him; Clapton found a strong similarity between the situation of Layla and Majnun and the one between him and Boyd-Harrison.

Working at Criteria Studios in Miami with legendary Atlantic Records producer Tom Dowd, the band recorded a brilliant double-album which is now widely regarded as Clapton's masterpiece. The two parts of "Layla"" were recorded in separate sessions: the opening guitar section was recorded first, and for the second section, laid down several months later, drummer Jim Gordon composed and played the elegiac piano part.

The Layla LP was actually recorded by a five-piece version of the group, thanks to the unforeseen inclusion of guitarist Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band. A few days into the Layla sessions, Dowd -- who was also producing the Allmans -- invited Clapton to an Allman Brothers outdoor concert in Miami. The two guitarists ?- who previously knew each other only by reputation ?- met backstage after the show, and then both bands repaired to the studio to jam (an impromptu session which, happily, was captured on tape). Clapton and Allman fell in love with each other's playing and became instant friends, and Allman was immediately invited to become the fifth member of The Dominos. (These studio jams were eventually released as part of the 3-CD 20th-anniversary edition of the Layla album.)

When Allman and Clapton met, The Dominos had already recorded three tracks ("I Looked Away", "Bell Bottom Blues" and "Keep On Growing"); Allman debuted on the fourth cut, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out", and contributed some of his most sublime slide-guitar playing to the remainder of the LP. The album was heavily blues-influenced and featured a winning combination of the twin guitars of Allman and Clapton, with Allman's incendiary slide-guitar a key ingredient of the sound. It showcased some of Clapton's strongest material to date, as well as arguably some of his best guitar playing, with Whitlock also contributing several superb numbers, and his powerful, soul-influenced voice.

Tragedy dogged the group throughout its brief career. During the sessions, Clapton was devastated by news of the death of Jimi Hendrix; eight days previously the band had cut a blistering version of "Little Wing" as a tribute to him which was added to the album. One year later, on the eve of the group's first American tour, Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident. Adding to Clapton's woes, the Layla album received only lukewarm reviews on release; he later commented that the album's initial poor reception had angered and disillusioned him, as he had (perhaps naively) expected it to be assessed on its merits rather than his involvement.

The shattered group undertook a US tour. Despite Clapton's later admission that the tour took place amidst a veritable blizzard of drugs and alcohol, it resulted in the surprisingly strong live double album In Concert. But Derek and the Dominos disintegrated messily in London just as they commenced recording for their second LP. Although Radle worked with Clapton for several more years, the split between Clapton and Whitlock was apparently a bitter one, and they never worked together again. Another tragic footnote to the Dominos story was the fate of drummer Jim Gordon, who was an undiagnosed schizophrenic ?- some years later, during a psychotic episode, he murdered his mother with a hammer and was confined to a mental institution, where he remains today.


Full Throttle Solo Career

Despite his success, Clapton's personal life was in a mess by 1972. In addition to his (temporarily) unrequited and intense romantic longing for Pattie Boyd-Harrison, he withdrew from recording and touring and became addicted to heroin, resulting in a career hiatus interrupted only by the Concert for Bangladesh (where he passed out on stage, was revived, and continued the show). In 1973, the "Rainbow Concert" was organized by The Who's Pete Townshend to help Clapton kick the drug. Clapton returned the favour by playing 'The Preacher' in Ken Russell's film version of The Who's Tommy in 1975; his appearance in the film (performing "Eyesight To The Blind") is notable for the fact that he is clearly wearing a fake beard in some shots, the result of deciding to shave off his real beard after the initial takes.

Now partnered with Boyd-Harrison (they would not actually marry until 1979) and free of heroin (although starting to drink heavily), Clapton put together a strong new touring band that included Radle, Miami guitarist George Terry, drummer Jamie Oldaker and vocalists Yvonne Elliman and Marcy Levy (later better known as Marcella Detroit of 1980s pop duo Shakespear's Sister). With this band Clapton recorded 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974), an album with the emphasis on songs rather than musicianship; the cover-version of "I Shot The Sheriff" was a major hit and was important in bringing reggae and the music of Bob Marley to a wider audience. The band toured the world and subsequently released the 1975 live LP, E.C. Was Here.

The 1975 album There's One In Every Crowd continued the trend of 461. Its original intended title The World's Greatest Guitar Player (There's One In Every Crowd) was altered, as it was felt the ironic intention would be missed. (Clapton's own original cover artwork, a (self-)portrait of a miserable-looking character with a pint glass, was also replaced by a photograph of Clapton's dog Jeep, apparently with its muzzle on a coffin.)

Clapton continued to release albums sporadically and toured regularly, but much of his output from this period was deliberately low-key and failed to find the wide acceptance of his earlier work; highlights of the era include No Reason to Cry, whose collaborators included Bob Dylan and Robbie Robertson, and Slowhand, which featured "Wonderful Tonight", another song inspired by Pattie Boyd-Harrison, and a second J.J. Cale cover, "Cocaine", which has since become a rock staple.


Controversy and comeback

In 1976, Clapton was the centre of controversy, and accusations of racism, when he spoke out against increasing immigration, during a concert in Birmingham. Clapton said that England had "become overcrowded", and implored the crowd to vote for Enoch Powell to stop Britain becoming "a black colony". These comments (along with equally ill-advised remarks by David Bowie) led to the creation of the Rock Against Racism movement in the UK.

Despite his controversial stance, Clapton has not made any notable effort to distance himself from the remarks and has denied there was any contradiction between his political views and his career based on an essentially black musical form. At about this time, his name appeared on albums distributed in Japan as Eric Crapton[1], though this is most probably a case of Engrish rather than sabotage.

The late 1970s saw Clapton struggle to come to terms with the changes in popular music, and a relapse into alcoholism that eventually saw him hospitalised and then spending a period of convalescence in Antigua, where he would later support the creation of a drugs and alcohol rehabilitation centre, The Crossroads Centre.

As Clapton came back from his addictions, his album output continued in the 1980s, including two produced with Phil Collins, 1985's Behind the Sun and 1986's August. The latter, a polished, pop-oriented album suffused with Collins's trademark drum/horn sound, became his biggest seller in the UK to date and matched his highest chart position, number 3. The album's first track, the hit "It's In The Way That You Use It", was also featured in the Tom Cruise-Paul Newman movie The Color of Money The horn-peppered "Run" echoed "Sussudio" and the producer's Genesis/solo output, while "Tearing Us Apart" (with Tina Turner) and the bitter "Miss You" echoed Slowhand at his angry best.

The period kicked off Clapton's extensive two-year period of touring with Collins and their August collaborates, bassist Nathan East and keyboard player/songwriter Greg Phillinganes. Despite his own earlier battles with the bottle, Clapton also remade "After Midnight" as a single and a promotional track for the Michelob beer brand produced by Anheuser-Busch, which had also marketed earlier songs by Collins and Steve Winwood.

Clapton won more plaudits and a British Academy Television Award for his collaboration with Michael Kamen on the score for the critically-acclaimed 1985 BBC television thriller serial Edge of Darkness.

In 1989, Clapton's commercial and artistic resurgence finally came full circle with Journeyman, which featured songs in a wide range of styles from blues to jazz, soul and pop and collaborators including George Harrison and Robert Cray.


Tragedy again

In 1985 Clapton, while still married to Pattie Boyd-Harrison, had started a relationship with Yvonne Khan Kelly; they had a daughter, Ruth, in the same year. Clapton did not publicly acknowledge his daughter's existence for several years (she eventually made a spoken-word appearance on his 1998 album Pilgrim and in 2001 was pictured in the Reptile album artwork). Clapton and Boyd-Harrison divorced in 1988 following his affair with Italian model Lory Del Santo, who gave birth to his son Conor in August 1986 (the month of his birth prompting the title of the album released that year).

The early 1990s saw tragedy enter Clapton's life again on two occasions. On August 27, 1990 guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who was touring with Clapton, and two members of their road crew were killed in a helicopter crash between concerts. Then, on March 20, 1991 at 11:00AM, Conor, who was four and a half, died when he fell from a 53rd-story window in his parents' New York City apartment, landing on the roof of an adjacent four-story building. A fraction of Clapton's grief was heard on the song "Tears in Heaven" (on the soundtrack to the 1991 movie Rush), co-written with Will Jennings, which, like the MTV Unplugged album that followed it, won a Grammy award.

It should be noted that Clapton's MTV Unplugged album included a former member of the Allman Brothers Band: keyboardist Chuck Leavell (thus making Unplugged Clapton's second critically acclaimed offering to feature a member of the Allmans.)

Slowhand Re-Emerging

While Unplugged featured Clapton playing acoustic guitar, his 1994 album From The Cradle contains new versions of old blues standards highlighted by some of his best electric guitar playing ever recorded.

Clapton finished the twentieth century with critically-acclaimed collaborations with Carlos Santana and B. B. King. Clapton's 1996 recording of the Wayne Kirkpatrick/ Gordon Kennedy/Tommy Sims tune "Change the World" (featured in the soundtrack of the movie Phenomenon) won a Grammy award for song of the year in 1997, the same year he recorded Retail Therapy, an album of electronic music with Simon Climie under the pseudonym TDF.

In 1999 Clapton, then 54, met 25 year old graphic artist Melia McEnery in Los Angeles while working on an album with B.B. King. They married in 2002 at St Mary Magdalen church in Clapton's birthplace, Ripley, and as of 2005 have three daughters, Julia Rose (2001), Ella May (2003), and Sophie (2005).

In November 2002 Clapton masterminded The Concert for George, a star-studded tribute to George Harrison at the Royal Albert Hall, featuring Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty, amongst others.

The rights to Clapton's official memoirs, to be written by Christopher Simon Sykes and published in 2007, were reportedly sold at the 2005 Frankfurt Book Fair for USD $4 million.

Clapton initiated the revival of Cream, playing at London's Royal Albert Hall in May and New York's Madison Square Garden in October 2005.

In 2006 it was announced that Derek Trucks would join Clapton's band for his 2006 and 2007 tour. Trucks is the third member of the Allman Brothers Band to support Clapton.

Clapton's Guitars


Clapton's choice of electric guitars have been as notable as the man himself, and alongside Hank Marvin, The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, Clapton has exerted a crucial and widespread influence in popularising particular models of the electric guitar.

Early on in his career, Clapton used a 1960 Gibson Les Paul, and was partially responsible for Gibson's reintroduction of the original Les Paul body style after it was replaced by the Gibson SG.

During his stint in Cream, Clapton continued to use Gibson guitars, including the Les Paul (which was later stolen) and a Gibson ES-335, but his most famous guitar in this period was a 1964 Gibson SG. The guitar was noted both for its distinctive singing tone - which Clapton called the "woman tone" - and for its remarkable appearance. In early 1967, just before their first US promotional tour, Clapton's SG, Bruce's Fender VI and Baker's drum head were repainted in eye-popping psychedelic designs created by the visual art collective known as The Fool.

It is not clear whether Clapton played the SG or a Les Paul on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". (Guitar World magazine - March 1999, page 117 - says it was a Les Paul, as do most other references). He later loaned the SG to singer Jackie Lomax, who subsequently sold it to musician Todd Rundgren for US 500 in 1972. Rundgren restored the guitar and nicknamed it "Sunny", after "Sunshine Of Your Love", on which it featured. He played the guitar extensively on record and in concert in the mid-1970s, eventually retiring it in 1977. He retained it until 2000, when he sold it at an auction for US$150,000.

During Clapton's heroin addiction from 1971 to 1973 following the dissolution of Derek and the Dominos, Clapton began to sell his collection of guitars to pay for his drug habit. Seeing Clapton selling his most treasured possessions was one of the reasons Pete Townshend was prompted to assist him get over his addiction.

Another moment involving Clapton's guitars and Pete Townshend resulted in Hard Rock Cafe's unique and gigantic collection of memorabilia. In 1971, Clapton, a regular at the original Hard Rock Cafe in Hyde Park, London, gave a signed guitar to the cafe to designate his favorite bar stool. Pete Townshend, in turn, donated one of his own guitars, with a note attached: "Mine's as good as his! Love, Pete." From there, the collection of memorabilia grew, resulting in Hard Rock Cafe's atmosphere.

Later (and probably due to Hendrix's influence), Clapton began using Fender Stratocasters. Most famous of all Clapton's guitars was "Blackie" (a concoction of Clapton's favorite parts from several other Strats) which he used until the late 1980s when it wore out.

In 1988 Clapton, along with fellow Strat player Yngwie Malmsteen, was honored by Fender with the introduction of his signature Eric Clapton Stratocaster. These were the first two artist models in the Stratocaster range and since then the artist series has grown to include models inspired by both Clapton's contemporaries such as Jeff Beck and those who have influenced him such as Buddy Guy. The late Stevie Ray Vaughan also has an artist series model. Clapton has also been honoured with a signature-model acoustic guitar made by the famous American firm of C.F. Martin & Co..

In 1999 Clapton auctioned off some of his guitar collection to raise money for his Crossroads Centre he founded in Antigua in 1997. The Crossroads Centre is a treatment base for addictive disorders like drugs and alcohol. The total revenue raised by the auction at Christie's was US $7,438,624.

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



After Midnight :: ERIC CLAPTON

(J. J. Cale)

After midnight, we're gonna let it all hang down.
After midnight, we're gonna chug-a-lug and shout.
We're gonna stimulate some action;
We're gonna get some satisfaction.
We're gonna find out what it is all about.
After midnight, we're gonna let it all hang down.

After midnight, we're gonna shake your tambourine.
After midnight, it's all gonna be peaches and cream.
We're gonna cause talk and suspicion;
We're gonna give an exhibition.
We're gonna find out what it is all about.
After midnight, we're gonna let it all hang down.

After midnight, we're gonna let it all hang down.

[Repeat Second Verse]

After midnight, we're gonna let it all hang down.
After midnight, we're gonna let it all hang down.
After midnight, we're gonna let it all hang down.
After midnight, we're gonna let it all hang down.

Celine Dion
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Céline Marie Claudette Dion, OC, OQ (born March 30, 1968) is a Canadian Grammy, Juno, and Oscar award-winning pop singer and occasional songwriter[1] and actress.[2] Dion became an adolescent star in Francophone Canada after her manager and future husband, René Angélil, mortgaged his home in order to finance her career. She also gained recognition in parts of Europe and Asia by winning both the 1982 Yamaha World Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, and established a foothold in the Anglophone music market with the release of her first English album, Unison (1990) published by Sony Records.

Dion's music has been influenced by various genres, ranging from pop and rock, to gospel and classical, and she is noted for her technically skilled and powerful vocals. She released a slew of chart-topping English and French records including "I'm Your Angel" and "My Heart Will Go On", before announcing a temporary break from entertainment in 1999. In 2002, Dion returned to the music scene with the release of A New Day Has Come, and in 2004, she received the Chopard Diamond from the World Music Awards show for total sales in excess of 100 million albums.[3] Dion currently performs nightly in her show, A New Day...Live in Las Vegas, at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, under a contract that extends to 2007.


Childhood and early career


Céline Dion, the youngest of fourteen children born to Adhémar and Thérèse Dion grew up in a poverty-stricken but, by her own accord, happy home in a small town called Charlemagne. Dion gained an appreciation for music by singing with her siblings in the small piano bar belonging to her parents called the Vieux Baril. In a 1994 interview with People magazine, she said, "I missed my family and my home, but I don't regret having lost my adolescence. I had one dream: I wanted to be a singer." [4]

At the age of twelve Dion collaborated with her mother and her brother Jacques for the composition of her first song, "Ce N'était Qu'un Rêve" (English: It Was Only a Dream). Her brother, Michel, sent the song to music manager René Angélil, whose name he discovered on the back of an album by Ginette Reno. Angélil immediately knew that Dion would become an international success, and decided to mortgage his home in order to fund her first record. In 1981, they released "La Voix Du Bon Dieu" ("The Voice of God"), which became a number-one single in the local market and made Dion an instant star in Québec. Her popularity spread to other parts of the world when she competed in the Yamaha World Song Festival in Tokyo, Japan with the song "Tellement J'ai D'amour Pour Toi". She won both the gold medal and the Musician's Award for "Top Performer". In 1987, Turkish songwriter Atilla Şereftuğ and Swiss songwriter Nella Martinetti approached Dion and asked her to represent Switzerland in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi". By winning the contest in Dublin, Ireland, she received a large boost to her career in Europe, Asia, and Australia.

By the late 1980s, Dion had already established herself as a local popular artist with albums like Incognito (1987), and had won many Felix Awards, appeared on local and French television shows, and became the first Canadian artist to receive a gold record in France for the single "D'amour Ou D'amitié" (1982). At the age of eighteen, after seeing Michael Jackson performing on television, she told Angélil that she wanted to be a star like him. Even though he had no doubt in her talents, Angélil realized that in order for her to be marketed worldwide, her image needed to be changed. She was also sent off to the Ecole Berlitz School to polish her English and interviewing skills. Dion, eager to begin her career in America, learned English in only three months.


Music and recording career


1990-1992: Career breakthrough


A year after she learnt English, Dion made a successful attempt at breaking into the Anglophone market with Unison (1990). She made sure to work with many established musicians, including David Foster and Vito Luprano. The album was largely influenced by 1980s soft rock and was fit for the adult contemporary radio format; this style would remain throughout many of her future albums. Unison seemed to hit the right notes with critics: Jim Faber of Entertainment Weekly wrote that the album was a relief, her vocals were "tastefully unadorned", and that Dion never attempted to "bring off styles that are beyond her".[5] Stephen Thomas Erlwine of All Music Guide declared it as "a fine, sophisticated American debut".[6] Singles from the album included "Where Does My Heart Beat Now", a mid-tempo soft-rock ballad featuring an electric guitar, "(If There Was) Any Other Way" and the title track, "Unison". The album established Dion as a rising music artist in the United States and across Continental Europe and Asia.


Dion's real international breakthrough came when she teamed up with Peabo Bryson to record the title track to Disney's animated film Beauty and the Beast (1991). The song captured a musical style that Dion would utilize in the future: sweeping, classically influenced ballads with soft instrumentation. Both a critical and commercial smash, the song not only topped the U.S. Billboard chart, but also won the Academy Award for Best Song, and the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. "Beauty and the Beast" was featured on Dion's 1992 eponymous album, which, like her debut, had a strong rock influence, along with soul and classical music. Due to the success of the lead-off single and her collaboration with Foster and Diane Warren, the album was as well received as Unison. Other singles achieving moderate success included the Gospel-tinged "Love Can Move Mountains", "Water from the Moon", "If You Asked Me To" (actually a cover of Patti LaBelle's song from Licence to Kill), and "Did You Give Enough Love". As with Dion's earlier releases, the theme of this album had an overtone of love.

By 1992, Unison, Céline Dion and media appearances had propelled Dion to superstardom in the United States and the United Kingdom. She had achieved one of her main objectives: wedging her way into the Anglophone market and establishing fame. While Dion was enjoying her rising success in the United States, her French fans criticized her for neglecting them. After winning "Anglophone Artist of the Year", at the Felix Awards show, she attempted to reconnect with her french fans by openly refusing to accept the award. She stated she was, and will always be, a French, and not an English artist.[7]

Apart from her rising success, there were also changes in Dion's personal life, as Angélil would make the transition from manager to lover. However, the relationship was kept a secret as both were fearful that the public would find the twenty-six-year difference between their ages perturbing.

1993-1996: Popularity established

In 1993, Dion indicated to the public that she was romantically involved with her manager by declaring him "the colour of her love" in the dedication section of her third Anglophone album, The Colour of My Love. But instead of criticizing their relationship as she had feared, fans happily accepted and embraced the couple. Eventually, they became engaged and had an extravagant wedding ceremony in December 1994. As it was dedicated to her manager, the album's motif centered on "love" and "romance", most exponent in "The Power of Love" (a remake of Jennifer Rush's 1985 hit, and Dion's first U.S number-one single), "When I Fall In Love", a duet with Clive Griffin and "Misled". The album established her success in Europe; "Think Twice" became the fourth single by a female artist to sell in excess of one million copies in the United Kingdom.[8] For five consecutive weeks, the song and album stood on top of the respective British charts, an achievement not replicated since 1965 and the heyday of The Beatles. "Think Twice" remained at number one for two more weeks.


Dion kept to her French roots, releasing Francophone recordings between each English record. These included Dion chante Plamondon (1991), À l'Olympia (live album 1994), and D'eux (1995, known as The French Album in the United States), which would go on to become the best-selling French album of all time. As these albums were in French, the worldwide commercial success was limited, but Dion's Francophone fans embraced each release, and generally, they achieved more credibility than her Anglophone works.

The mid-1990s was a transitional period for Dion's musical style, as she slowly moved away from strong rock influences and transitioned into a more pop and soul style. Her songs began with more delicate melodies using soft instrumentations, and built up to strong climaxes, over which her vocals could be displayed. This new sound raised critics' eyebrows, who accused her of preferring vocal acrobatics over dynamics, and embarking on a trend of uninspiring, crowd-pleasing ballads. Resultantly, she earned frequent unfavorable comparisons to artists such as Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. There were signs that her songs, lyrics and videos were becoming clichéd; critically, The Colour of My Love was not consistent with earlier works. However, while critical praise declined, this was not the case for popularity, as Dion's releases performed increasingly well on the international charts. By the mid-1990s, she had established herself as one of the best-selling artists in the world, among female performers such as Mariah Carey and Shania Twain.


1997-1999: Worldwide success

Dion's 1996 album Falling into You presented her at the height of her popularity. Working with Foster, Warren and Aldo Nova, this album showed a further progression of Dion's music. In an attempt to reach the widest possible audiences, Dion's album combined many elements; ornate orchestral frills and African chanting, and instruments like the Spanish guitar, trombone, the cavaquinho, and saxophone created a new sound. The singles encompassed a variety of musical styles from dance-pop and fast-tempo, gospel-tinged rhythms to soft-rock songs and sentimental ballads. The title track and "River Deep, Mountain High" (a Tina Turner cover) made prominent use of percussion instruments. "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" (a remake of Jim Steinman's hit) and a remake of Eric Carmen's "All by Myself" kept their soft-rock atmosphere, combined with classical sounds of piano. "Because You Loved Me", written by Diane Warren, served as the theme to the film Up Close & Personal. The song spent two weeks at number one in Canada and six weeks at number one in the United States.


Reviews were generally favourable. On the one hand, Dan Leroy wrote that Falling into You was not very different from her previous work, and Stephen Holden (The Los Angeles Times) and Natalie Nichols (The New York Times) wrote that the album was formulaic and the songs suffered from a lack of emotional connection.[9] [10] However, other critics such as Chuck Eddy, Erlewine and Daniel Durchholz lavished the album as "compelling", "passionate", "stylish", "elegant", and "remarkably well-crafted".[11] [12] Falling into You became Dion's most commercially successful album: it topped the charts in eleven countries and became one of the best-selling albums of all time.[13] It also won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Pop Album. Dion's status on the world stage was further solidified when she was asked to perform at the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

Dion followed Falling into You with Let's Talk About Love (1997), publicized as its sequel. The recording process took place in London, New York City, and Los Angeles, and featured a host of special guests: Barbra Streisand ("Tell Him"), the Bee Gees ("Immortality"), and world-renowned tenor, Luciano Pavarotti ("I Hate You Then I Love You"). Other musicians include Carole King, Sir George Martin, and Jamaican singer Diana King, who added a reggae tinge to "Treat Her Like a Lady". As the name suggests, the album had the same theme, love, as Dion's preceding albums. However, emphasis was also placed on "brotherly love", with tracks such as "Where is the Love" and the title track. The most successful single from this album was "My Heart Will Go On", a ballad composed by James Horner and produced by Horner and Walter Afanasieff as the love theme for the film Titanic. "My Heart Will Go On" became one of the decade's biggest hits, and one of few songs to debut at number one on the Billboard charts. Dion embarked on a world tour between 1998 and 1999 in support of Let's Talk About Love. Comments were favorable, and focused on her on-stage movements, which often consisted of chest-pounding, backward bending, and other flashy movements. While some people found these bombastic and even silly, others simply saw it as another extension of Dion's commanding stage presence.

Dion ended the 1990s with two more successful albums on Columbia Records: the Christmas album, These Are Special Times and All the Way... a Decade of Song . On These Are Special Times, Dion had a hand in writing some of the material. The album was her most classically influenced yet, with orchestral arrangements found on all tracks. "I'm Your Angel", a duet with R. Kelly, became Dion's second and final number-one Billboard debut, and another hit single across the world. All the Way... a Decade of Song was a compilation of her most successful hits coupled with seven new songs, including the leadoff single "That's the Way It Is", a cover of Roberta Flack's "The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face", and "All the Way", a duet with Frank Sinatra.

By the end of the 1990s, Céline Dion had sold nearly 100 million albums worldwide, and had won a slew of industry awards. Solidifying her status as one of the biggest divas of contemporary music, she was asked to perform on VH1's Divas Live special in 1998 with such superstars as Aretha Franklin, Gloria Estefan, Mariah Carey, and Shania Twain. She had also received two of the highest honors from her home country ?- "Officer of the Order of Canada for outstanding contribution to the world of contemporary music" and "Officer of the National Order of Quebec". In 1999, she was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame and won two Grammy awards for "My Heart Will Go On"?-"Best Pop Vocals, Female", and the most coveted "Record of the Year".

Compared to her debut, both the quality and sound of Dion's music had also changed significantly. The soft-rock influence on her earlier releases were no longer prominent; they were replaced by more soul/adult contemporary styles. However, the theme of "love" remained in all her releases. The musical progression was accompanied by a decline in critical appreciation, and she was seen as "the height of cookie-cutter banality." [14] Though commercially successful, her album received mixed reviews at best, with most suggesting that her work was predictable and banal. In a scathing review of Let's Talk about Love, Rob O'Connor wrote:

"What never ceases to amaze me is how the trite-est, most cliché-ridden music often takes an assembly-line of lauded music industry professionals to perfect... Sinking ships are what I imagine as this tune ["My Heart Will Go On"] plows onward of four-plus minutes, and this album feels as if were never to end. Is it no wonder why I have such fears of going to the dentist?" [15]

Dion was also criticized for some of her remakes and duets: "The First Time Ever I saw Your Face" (her Roberta Flack remake) and the "All the Way" duet with Frank Sinatra were described as disastrous and "creepy" by Allison Stewart of The Chicago Tribune and Erlwine of All Music Guide.[16] Even though she was still praised for her vocal abilities (critics called it a technical marvel), the much favored vocal restraint heard on her early releases had waned, and Steve Dollar, in reviewing These Are Special Times wrote that Dion was a "vocal Olympian for whom there ain't no mountain?-or scale?-high enough [to hit]".[17]


2000-2002: Career break


After releasing and promoting thirteen albums during the 1990s, Dion felt that she needed to settle down, and announced on her final album, All the Way... a Decade of Song, that she had experienced many things and needed to take a step back and enjoy the finer things in life. Angélil's diagnosis with throat cancer also prompted her to retire. After undergoing fertility treatments, she gave birth to a son, René-Charles Angélil, in January 2001.

In late 2002, the National Enquirer published a false story about the singer. Brandishing a picture of Dion and her husband, the magazine misquoted Dion, printing the headline: "Celine?-'I'm Pregnant with Twins!'" Dion later sued the magazine for over twenty million dollars. The editors of the Enquirer printed an apology and a full retraction to Dion in the next issue, and donated money to the American Cancer Society in honor of Dion and René Angélil, who battled cancer.

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Dion returned to the forefront of music, and in a televised performance, sang "God Bless America". Chuck Taylor of Billboard wrote that "the performance... brings to mind what has made her one of the celebrated vocalists of our time: the ability to render emotion that shakes the soul. Affecting, meaningful, and filled with grace, this is a musical reflection to share with all of us still searching for ways to cope."[18] Dion would sing "God Bless America" again in 2003 during the pre-game for Super Bowl XXXVII.

2002-2003: Return to music

Dion's aptly titled A New Day Has Come, released in March 2002, ended her two-year break from the music world. The theme of the album was "new beginnings", and, even though it did not incorporate many genres, a few dance-pop tunes ("I'm Alive" and "Sorry for Love") could be found among a throng of adult contemporary tracks. Shania Twain also appeared on the album, singing backing vocals. The album established a more mature side of Dion with the songs "A New Day Has Come", "Nature Boy" and "Goodbye's (The Saddest Word)". This change was as a result of her new-found maternal responsibilities, because, in her own words, "becoming a mother makes you a grown-up."[19] A New Day has Come restarted her commercial success topping the charts in seventeen countries. However, critical comments suggested that the album was forgettable and the lyrics were lifeless. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone magazine wrote that Dion's music had not changed. Calling her music "schlock pop", he opined that "Dion's voice is still just furniture polish".[20] The album featured the title track, "A New Day Has Come", and a cover of Etta James' "At Last", for which Sheffield believes Dion lacks the voice. A concert helped to promote the album, during which Dion performed with Destiny's Child and Brian McKnight.

In drawing inspiration from personal experiences, Dion released One Heart (2003), an album that encapsulated her appreciation for the joys of life.[21]The album was largely comprised of dance music?-a deviation from the soaring, melodramatic ballads, for which she had once been given mixed reception. Although it achieved moderate success, One Heart gave indication that Dion was unable to surpass the creative wall that she had hit, and words such as "predictable" or "banal" appeared even in the most lenient reviews. A cover of Roy Orbison's "I Drove All Night", released to launch her new advertising campaign with Chrysler, incorporated dance-pop and rock and roll and was called reminiscent of Cher's 1980s work, but it was dismissed as Dion trying to please her sponsors.[22]

By the mid 2000s, Dion's music had changed to the point where her releases possessed maternal overtones: Miracle (2004), a multimedia project conceived by Dion and photographer Anne Geddes had a theme centering on babies and motherhood. The album was saturated with lullabies and other songs of maternal love and inspiration, the most popular being a cover of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" and "Beautiful Boy". The reviews for Miracle were generally weak: while Chuck Taylor of Billboard magazine wrote that the single "Beautiful Boy" was "an unexpected gem" and called Dion "a timeless, enormously versatile artist", Nancy Miller of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "the whole earth-mama act is just opportunism".[23]


The Francophone album, 1 Fille & 4 Types (English: One Girl and Four Guys, 2003), fared better than her first two comebacks, and presented Dion as attempting to distance herself from the "diva" image. She recruited the help of Jean-Jacques Goldman, Gildas Arzel, Eric Benzi, and Jacques Veneruso, whom she had previously worked with on S'il suffisait d'aimer and D'eux. The album's musical theme was one of fun and relaxation, and Dion herself has referred to it as "the album of pleasure". The cover showed Dion in a simple and relaxed manner, a contrast to the choreographed poses usually found on her album covers. The album achieved critical success; reviewer Stephen Erlwine of "All Music Guide" wrote that Dion was "getting back to pop basics and performing at a level unheard in a while".[24] An English version of the album was highly anticipated, but it has yet to surface.

Though her albums were relatively successful, signs of slowing down had began to appear in the poorer critical reception of The Collector's Series ?-Volume 1 (2000), A New Day Has Come (2002), and One Heart (2003). The mass appeal of Dion's later works had lessened due to the nature of the themes, and her songs, now fit for the adult contemporary charts, received less airplay, as radio became less embracing of balladeers like Dion, Carey and Houston, and now focused on up-tempo and rhythm and blues songs. [25] The albums became her lowest-sellers up to this point, with the exception of her Francophone releases. However, by 2005, Dion had accumulated sales of over 175 million records, and received the Diamond Award from the World Music Awards for becoming the best-selling female artist of all time.


2003-present: A New Day...Live in Las Vegas


In early 2002, Dion announced a three-year, 600-show contract to appear five nights a week in an entertainment extravaganza, A New Day, at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. This move was seen as "one of the smartest business decisions in years by any major recording artist" given the poor performance of her current releases.[26] She conceived the idea for the show after seeing "O" by Dragone early in her break from recording, and began on March 25, 2003, in a 4000-seat arena designed for her show. The show, put together by Franco Dragone, is a combination of dance, music, and visual effects. It includes Dion performing her biggest hits against an array of dancers and special effects.

Reviewer Mike Weatherford felt that, at first, Dion was not as relaxed as she should be, at times, it was hard to find the singer among the excessive stage ornamentations and dancers. However, he believes that her stage presence improved and simpler costumes and appearance provided for an enjoyable show.[27] The show has also been well-received by the audiences, despite the expensive tickets; it has sold out almost every night since its 2003 opening. According to Pollstar, Dion had sold 322,000 tickets and grossed $43.9 million in the first half of 2005, and by July 2005, she had sold out 315 out of 384 shows. Because of the show's success, Dion's contract was extended into 2007 for an undisclosed sum.[28] By the end of 2005, Dion grossed over $76 million, placing sixth on Billboard's Money Makers list for 2005.[29]

In 2005 Dion released her first comprehensive greatest hits album in french On Ne Change Pas. The album features three new songs, including a duet with Il Divo called "I Believe in You".


Image

Dion's conservative nature, stage movements, and music is often the subject of media ridicule, where she is repeatedly impersonated on shows like Mad TV and Saturday Night Live. Celine Dion also heavily ridiculed by South Park, Conan O'Brien and many other stand up comedians and television and movie comedies from across the anglosphere. However, Dion seems unabashed by media ridicule: "I'm flattered when they take the time to impersonate you" she says, "I think it's a good sign."[30] Dion is often perceived as a diva, where mimicking her songs is popular among female impersonators.

Being a successful artist, Dion has influenced the singing styles and musical offerings of many younger singers, including Jessica Simpson, Kelly Clarkson and Cosima De Vito. In "MTV's 22 Greatest Voices in Music" countdown she placed ninth (sixth for a female), and was also placed fourth in Cove Magazine's list of the "100 Outstanding Pop Vocalist", showing she is recognised as one of the best vocalists in modern music. In MuchMoreMusic's "Top 20 Divine Divas" program, Dion ranked at number three, behind Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. They also described her voice as "one of the most powerful vocal workouts ever to be recorded".

Dion rarely gets caught up in media spotlight due to controversies. She says, "My career, my work, is not to judge people, not to hurt people... [but only to] enter people's lives with my music". However, in 2005, following the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Dion appeared on Larry King Live and tearfully criticized U.S. President George W. Bush regarding the Iraq War and his slow response in aiding the hurricane victims, saying, "How come it's so easy to send planes in another country, to kill everyone in a second, to destroy lives? We need to be there right now to rescue the rest of the people." She believed that the response to the hurricane was "unacceptable". She also suggested that kayaks be used to save the victims still stuck in their homes. She later claimed, "When I do interviews with Larry King or the big TV shows like that, they put you on the spot, which is very difficult. I do have an opinion, but I'm a singer. I'm not a politician".[31]

Other activities

Apart from her success as a musician, Dion has also become an entrepreneur with the establishment of her franchise restaurant, "Nickels", in 1990 (though she is no longer affiliated with Nickels as of 2006) and her own line of perfume, manufactured by Coty, Inc..

Dion has been an active supporter of many charity organizations worldwide. Since 1982, she has been promoting the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CCFF), becoming the foundation's National Celebrity Patron in 1993. She has an emotional attachment to the foundation, as her niece succumbed to the disease at the age of sixteen. In 2003, Dion joined a number of other celebrities, athletes and politicians in support of World Children's Day, a global fundraising effort for children, which was sponsored by McDonald's. The effort, which raised money from over 100 countries, benefited many orphanages and children's health organizations. Dion has also been a major supporter of many health and education campaigns, the T.J. Martell Foundation and the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.

In October 2004, Canada's national air carrier Air Canada hired Dion as part of the new promotional campaign as the airline unveiled new in-flight service products and new aircraft livery. "You and I", the theme song sung by Dion, was written by an advertising executive working for Air Canada. The endorsement is not without controversy, however. Union workers criticized that the airline could have spent money elsewhere to improve service and on employees. At the time of the new branding, the airline had come out of bankruptcy protection just 18 months prior and thousands of workers were laid off in the restructuring. Management defended the celebrity endorsement as money well spent to boost corporate morale.

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


My Heart Will Go On :: Celine Dion

Every night in my dreams
I see you, I feel you,
That is how I know you go on

Far across the distance
And spaces between us
You have come to show you go on

Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And you're here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on

Love can touch us one time
And last for a lifetime
And never let go till we're gone

Love was when I loved you
One true time I hold you
In my life we'll always go on

Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
Once more you open the door
And you're here in my heart
And my heart will go on and on

There is some love that will not go away

You're here, there's nothing I fear,
And I know that my heart will go on
We'll stay forever this way
You are safe in my heart
And my heart will go on and on

Women have many faults.
Men only have 2
Everything they say,
And everything they do.

Well, my goodness hawkman. That was a two liner joke.<smile>

What a surprise to find out that Mr. Beatty was a Virginia boy and attended W&L University.

Thanks again for all the bio's, Boston.

What a shock it was to me when I found out via my husband that Frankie Laine had written this song:

Here in a moment of darkness
remember the sun has shone
Laugh, and the world will laugh with you
Cry, and you'll cry alone

No tears, no fears
Remember, there's always tomorrow
So what if we have to part
We'll be together again
Your kiss, your smile
are memories I'll treasure forever
so try thinking with your heart
We'll be together again
Times when I know you'll be lonesome
times when I know you'll be sad
don't let temptation surround you
don't let the blues make you bad
Some day, some way
we both have a lifetime before us
for parting is not goodbye
We'll be together again


Tha song was done by literally eveyone including me.

I would be surprised :wink:



Why does it always rain on us?

My word, Walter. No wonder we couldn't find the lyrics.

Well, here's the companion piece to "Dream a Little Dream" by Cass:


Dream A Little Dream of Me", as sung by Mama Cass Elliot.
Transcribed May.1993 by P. Brady Hargrove.

Stars shining bright above you,
Night breezes seem to whisper, "I love you";
Birds singin' in the sycamore tree;
Dream a little dream of me...

Say "nighty-night" and kiss me,
Just hold me tight and tell me you'll miss me;
While I'm alone and blue as can be,
Dream a little dream of me...

Stars fading, but I linger on, dear,
Still craving your kiss;
I'm longing to linger til dawn, dear,
Just saying this:

Sweet dreams til sun beams find you,
Sweet dreams that leave our worries behind you;
But in your dreams, whatever they be,
Dream a little dream of me

Stars fading, but I linger on, dear,
Still craving your kiss;
I'm longing to linger til dawn dear,
Just saying this:

Sweet dreams til sun beams find you,
Sweet dreams that leave our worries far behind you;
But in your dreams, whatever they be,
Dream a little dream of me

I couldn't find those lyrics neithers, but I do know it's raining in Manchester tonight.

Spare a little candle
Save some light for me
figures up ahead
Moving in the trees
White skin in linen
Perfume on my wrist
And the full moon that hangs over
these dreams in the mist
Darkness on the edge
Shadows where I stand
I search for the time
On a watch with no hands
I want to see you clearly
Come closer than this
But all I remember
Are the dreams in the mist
These dreams go on when I close my eyes
Every second of the night I live another life
These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside
Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away

Is it cloak 'n dagger
Could it be spring or fall
I walk without a cut
Through a stained glass wall
Weaker in my eyesight
The candle in my grip
And words that have no form
Are falling from my lips

These dreams go on when I close my eyes
Every second of the night I live another life
These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside
Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away

There's something out there
I can't resist
I need to hide away from the pain
There's something out there
I can't resist
The sweetest song is silence
That I've ever heard
Funny how your feet
In dreams never touch the earth
In a wood full of princes
Freedom is a kiss
But the prince hides his face
From dreams in the mist

These dreams go on when I close my eyes
Every second of the night I live another life
These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside
Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away

These dreams go on when I close my eyes
Every second of the night I live another life
These dreams that sleep when it's cold outside
Every moment I'm awake the further I'm away

Well, Taggers. It always rains in Southern California as well. <smile>

Ah, shari. Welcome back, honey. Love these lyrics:

Spare a little candle
Save some light for me
figures up ahead
Moving in the trees
White skin in linen
Perfume on my wrist
And the full moon that hangs over
these dreams in the mist.

How often have I watched a red moon rise over the Atlantic. It truly is hypnotic.

Another coincidence, folks. As I was trying to fall asleep, I heard the Moon of Manakoora on the TV and the melody was awesome. It rather reminds me of shari's song.

Recognize this, McTag?




IT NEVER RAINS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
ALBERT HAMMOND

Got on a board a west bound seven forty seven
Didn't think before deciding what to do
All that talk of opportunities, TV breaks and movies
Rang true, sure rang true.
Seems it never rain in Southern California
Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before
It never rains in California
But girl, don't they warn ya
It pours man it pours.
Out of work, I'm out of my head
Out of self respect I'm out of bread
I'm under loved I'm under fed
I wanna go home
It never rains in California
But girl don't they warn ya, it pours, man it pours.
Will you tell the folks back home I nearly made it
Had offers but don't know which one to take
Please don't tell them how you found me
Don't tell them how you found me give me a break
Give me a break
Seems it never rains in Southern California
Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before
It never rains in California
But girl, don't they warn ya
It pours man it pours

Walter you are amazing, knowing lyrics to a song that is not yet released.


SONNY AND CHER lyrics -
"Let The Good Times Roll"

Come on baby let the good times roll
Come on baby let me thrill your soul
Come on baby let the good times roll
Roll all night long

Come on baby yes this is this
This is the something I just can't miss
Come on baby let the good times roll
Roll all night long

Come on baby while the thrill is on
Come on baby lets have some fun
Come on baby let the good times roll
Roll all night long

Come on baby just close the door
Come on baby lets rock some more
Come on baby let the good times roll
Roll all night long

Feels so good
When your home
Come on baby
Rock me all night long

Come on baby let the good times roll
Come on baby let me thrill your soul
Come on baby let the good times roll
Roll all night long

Feels so good
When your home
Come on baby
Rock me all night long

Come on baby let the good times roll
Come on baby let me thrill your soul
Come on baby let the good times roll
Roll all night long

Try, don't you know that Walter is a doppleganger? <smile>

Changing the good times to a little something sinister, listeners.

Doppleganger Lyrics

Who comes to me wearing my own face

As dull as ache with eyes of empty space

What is its name, why this restless haunt

What do you want?

Doppelganger (whispered and echoed)



What have I done that you come to me?

Your vacant stare takes the soul of me

Your frigid grip, rigid claws that clutch

I fear your touch

Doppelganger (whispered and echoed)



Mirror me, fear or fantasy

Are you my death in disguise?

Mirror me, you are heresy

Of my flesh, if we mesh

Which one dies?



Who comes to me wearing my own face

As dull as ache with eyes of empty space

What is its name, why this restless haunt?

What do you want?

Doppelganger (whispered and echoed)



Mirror me, fear or fantasy

Are you my death in disguise?

Mirror me, you are heresy

Of my flesh, if we mesh

Which one dies?



Where now is fear?Fever drove it out

My time is near, this is not in doubt.

The ghost is gone; I will follow after

I hear your laughter,

Doppelganger (whispered and echoed)

Doppelganger (whispered and echoed)

Doppelganger (whispered and echoed)

and speaking of spooky, listeners:


Ex-FBI Agent Indicted in Mob Killings By TOM HAYS, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago



NEW YORK - A retired FBI agent was indicted on murder charges Thursday for allegedly taking bribes from a mobster to supply him with inside information that led to four underworld slayings in Brooklyn.



R. Lindley DeVecchio, 65, was arrested in a case of "confidential leaks, payoffs and death" dating back two decades, District Attorney Charles Hynes said.

DeVecchio pleaded not guilty and was released on $1 million bail. He did not speak at his arraignment. One of the two alleged mob hitmen behind the slayings was jailed without bail. The other was in Florida, awaiting extradition.

Colleagues of the FBI veteran were quick to defend him against the charges.

"We all know Lin, and we all know he's not capable of doing these kinds of things," James Kossler, a former supervisor with the FBI's New York office, said Wednesday. "It's so sad it could happen to a guy like this."

Hynes said the charges stemmed from the unusually close relationship between DeVecchio ?- then head of the FBI's Colombo crime family squad ?- and Gregory Scarpa Sr., a government informant and Colombo captain nicknamed "The Grim Reaper

LONDON CALLING.


HERE IS THE NEWS FROM THE BBC...........................



The BBC tonight announced tonight that it will be paying a special tribute to Selwyn Wedgley, Britain's leading understudy, by showing a special season of everybody else's films.

The Metropolitan Police today denied that prisoners in their custody are excessively pampered. This follows yesterday's report that a man was hustled out of New Scotland Yard with an electric blanket over his head.

Reports are coming in that a truck carrying onions has shed its load all over the M-1 Motorway.
Motorists are advised to find a hard shoulder to cry on.

In Newport Pagnel this evening, Mr. Horace Whipsley, the world's most superstitious motorist, known for the lucky horseshoe dangling from his rear window, the sprig of heather on his wipers, the St. Christopher suspended from his dashboard and the four rabbit's feet in his glove compartment -- was run over by thirteen steamrollers.

Many old music hall fans were present at the funeral today of Fred 'Chuckles' Jenkins, Britain's oldest and unfunniest comedian. In tribute, the vicar read out one of Fred's jokes, and the congregation had two minutes silence.

Britains most famous inventor, Professor Gruntwhistle, has patented a machine that combines certain organic material with water, turning it into top quality milk and cream. This kitchen appliance completely replaces the services offered by the local milkman, unless you're the woman at 14 Catbury Drive with the green door.

In our next bulletin, there will be a short programme, featuring the brilliant top civil servant who's got his ear to the ground, his nose to the grindstone, his shoulder to the wheel, his eye on the clock, his hand in the till, his back to the wall, his foot in the door and his finger on the button.....and the BBC will be asking him how he does his flies up.


....and now, back to the programme..........

Back to the programme, L.E.? We'll have to wait until we stop laughing first.

We love those blurbs, Brit. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Someone play a song. Letty must leave for the loo.