March 21, 2019 – davidbruceblog #2

• When Ruth St. Denis was very old, she asked dance critic Walter Terry why a certain publication was always so kind in covering her activities. He investigated and discovered that an executive on the publication had had a romance with Miss Ruth long ago — a romance that Miss Ruth had totally forgotten but which the executive had never forgotten. Once, the executive approached Miss Ruth and Mr. Terry, and Mr. Terry just had time to whisper the name of the executive’s publication and the reminding phrase “night in moonlight California.” Miss Ruth looked into the executive’s eyes and said, “It has been so long ….” The favorable publicity continued.

• Near the end of Ted Shawn’s life, Norbert Vesak visited him. Mr. Shawn told him, “Remember, I always said that my heart always beats in 3/4 time? Well, now I even walk in 3/4 time.” Mr. Shawn then used the furniture to help support himself as he walked across the room, saying, “You see? Chair, two, three / Table, two, three / Doorway, two, three / Banister, two, three.” Years later, Mr. Vesak saw Katherine Hepburn in the play West Side Waltz. At the end of the play, Ms. Hepburn’s character used a walker to get across a room — Walker, two, three / Walker, two, three — and saying, “You see! Now I even walk in waltz time!”

• The famed dance team of Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn almost never happened because Ms. Fonteyn, who was older than Mr. Nureyev, worried about “mutton dancing with lamb.” Fortunately for ballet, she overcame her hesitation. While rehearsing Swan Lakewith Mr. Nureyev, they discussed some changes that he wanted to make to the choreography. At one point, objecting to a change, she said, “Rudolf, I have been doing this ballet since 1938.” He began to giggle, so she said, “I suppose that was before you were born.” He replied, “No — just exact year.” Once, a woman fan who had been talking in Russian with Mr. Nureyev in a restaurant suddenly noticed Ms. Fonteyn and asked Mr. Nureyev in English, “Who is that? Your mother?”

• Catherine Shipley was both a Quaker and a character. When she was old and living alone, her children became worried about her, so they hired a companion for her. Knowing that Kate didn’t want a companion, they told the companion not to leave Kate’s home, even when requested to do so. The companion arrived at Kate’s home and was entertained, and she did not leave even when Kate requested her to once, twice, and three times. However, Kate was master of her own home, and she called the police, who carried the companion off to jail.

• Ellen Terry (1848-1928) was a much beloved Shakespearian actress. Once, close to 80 years old, she was playing Portia, but forgot the words to the “quality of mercy” speech. She struggled to remember, could not, and then said to the audience, “I am a very silly old lady, and I cannot remember what I have to say.” The audience cheerfully shouted out the words to the speech, and Ms. Terry continued with her performance.

• In 1997, Phyllis Diller, who is famous in part for her jokes about plastic surgery, celebrated her 80th birthday. She told her guests, “More men have worked on my face than on the Egyptian pyramids.” To back up her statement, she gave each guest a list of the plastic surgery procedures she had undergone — the list included 18 improvements to her face and figure.

• Sam Mendes was very young — 23 years old — when he directed Judi Dench in three plays. During a conversation, they talked about some plays that Ms. Dench had starred in during the mid-1970s. Ms. Dench asked Mr. Mendes if he seen the plays, and he replied, “Well, no. I was 10 years old.” Ms. Dench screamed, then pretended to choke him.

• When George Burns got old, he used to say that his memory was getting bad, so bad that he hired a secretary with a good memory so she could nudge him when someone was approaching and remind him who the person was. One day, the secretary nudged him and said, “The fellow coming your way is your brother Willie.”

• While traveling in the Orient, American dance pioneer Ted Shawn watched Madame Katayama perform a geisha dance, in which she kneeled on the floor, then bent backward until her head touched the floor between her feet. When she performed the dance for Mr. Shawn, Madame Katayama was 88 years old.

• When Pierre Monteux was in his eighties, he signed a contract that made him principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra for the next 25 years — but he insisted that the contract include an option allowing him to conduct for an additional 25 years.

• Olga Preobrajenska was a very strong ballerina and teacher of ballet. As an old lady, she lived in a nursing home, but whenever she was fed up with the nurses, she stacked all the bedroom furniture against the door so that they couldn’t come in and bother her.

• A wealthy old man was interested in a young, beautiful gold digger. He asked his friends, “How old should I tell her I am? My real age of 70? Or a younger age of 60?” His friends advised, “Tell her you’re 90.”

• A woman objected to buying a Renaissance painting of a young girl because it had been restored. Lord Duveen told her, “My dear Madam, if you were as old as this young girl, you would have to be restored, too.”

• Ethel Barrymore was once told that a woman who had been at school with her wished to see her. Ms. Barrymore replied, “Wheel her in.”

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FUNNIEST PEOPLE IN DANCE (PAPERBACK)

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THE LOCAL GIRLS: Very Listenable Precision, Three-Part Harmony Covers of Notable Songs

THE LOCAL GIRLS: Very ListenablePrecision, Three-Part Harmony Covers of Notable Songs

This is a very listenable album with covers of notable songs by such music luminaries as Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, JD Hutchison, and Bruce Dalzell. I especially like “Where the Girls Are” and “I Feel Free.”

Three singers — Brenda Catania, Gay Dalzell, and Mimi Hart — formed The Local Girls in the summer of 1988 in Athens County, Ohio. They have performed at Town Hall in New York City as guests of A Prairie Home Companionwith Garrison Keillor, toured Europe, and sang for Hillary Clinton’s 50^thbirthday party. In addition, they have recorded two albums: Let Yourself Go(2000) and Three Little Words(2011). How to best describe them? Swing singers, yes. Vocal jazz, yes. Certainly, they perform precision, three-part harmony as they cover older and newer songs. The chronology of their repertoire ranges from 1854 (Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times Come Again No More” — no, not on this album) to the 1990s (T. Bone Burnett’s “It’s Not Too Late” — yes, on this album).

These are the songs on Let Yourself Go:

“Shout Sister Shout.”Recorded in the 1930s by the Boswell Sisters, a close harmony group. Very jazzy and tuneful. Some lyrics: “Just tell old Satan how you feel / Get that old Devil right off your heel / Shout sister, shout sister, shout!”

“Centerpiece.”Recorded by Lambert, Hendricks and Ross in 1960 on the album titled Lambert, Hendricks and Ross! The Hottest New Group in Jazz. This title is an example of proper (earned) pride. Notably covered by Van Morrison. Some lyrics: “The more I’m with you, pretty baby / The more I feel my love increase / I’m building all my dreams around you / My happiness will never cease / But nothing’s any good without you / ’Cause, baby, you’re my centerpiece.”

“Stay A Little Longer.”Some lyrics: “Stay a little longer / A little bit longer / You know you ain’t got nothing better to do / We’ll blindfold the cat / Put out the dog / Pull the shades and lock the door.” Written by Paula Lockhart with additional lyrics by David Lister. One of my favorites on this album.

“I’ll Never Say ‘Never Again’ Again.” Notably recorded by the Nat King Cole Trio, the Three Ambassadors, Ozzie Nelson and His Orchestra, and many more. Some lyrics: “I’ll never say ‘never again’ again / ’Cause here I am in love again / Head over heels in love again with you / I’ll never say, ‘never kiss you’ again / ’Cause here I am kissing you again / That’s just the thing I said I’d never do.”

“I Feel Free.”The Cream song, written by Pete Brown and Jack Bruce. The Local Girls’ version is much less rock and much more harmonic. Some lyrics: “I can walk down the street, there’s no one there / Though the pavements are one huge crowd. / I can drive down the road, my eyes don’t see, / Though my mind wants to cry out loud.”

“Since My Bird Has Flied Away.” The composer, J.D. Hutchison, sings lead, backed up by The Local Girls. A different version of “Since My Bird Has Flied Away” appears on J.D. Hutchison’s album You and the World Outside. Some lyrics: “Pour some more coffee in my coffee cup / I don’t know why, I don’t even like the stuff / But nothing seems to matter / Since my bird has flied away.” The bird, of course, is a woman. Another of my favorites.

“Let Yourself Go.”The Irving Berlin song. Ginger Rogers sang this song, and — of course — danced to it with Fred Astaire. Some lyrics: “Come / Get together / Let the dance floor feel your leather / Step as lightly as a feather / Let yourself go / Come / Hit the timber / Loosen up and start to limber / Can’t you hear that hot marimba? / Let yourself go.”

“Where The Boys Are.”Written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield for the 1960 movie of the same title, starring Connie Francis, Yvette Mimieux, Paula Prentiss, and Dolores Hart. My personal favorite on this Local Girls album. Some lyrics: “Where the boys are / Someone waits for me, / A smiling face, a warm embrace, / Two arms to hold me tenderly. / Where the boys are / My true love will be, / He’s walking down some street in town / And I know he’s looking there for me.”

“Ready On The Firing Line.”Another great song by JD Hutchison. Some lyrics: “In this world / You’ve got to be ready / Got to have everything just so / You’ve got to be ready just to hang around / Or you’ve got to be ready to go / You’ve got to be ready just to hear the word / You must be ready to read the sign / You must be ready on the left / Ready on the right / Ready on the firing line.”

“The Bozo Blues.”A song by Bruce Dalzell, Gay Dalzell’s husband. Bruce and Gay have made a lot of excellent music in Athens County, Ohio, for decades. This is a bluesy, humorous song about going to Chicago to be on The Bozo Show. Some lyrics: “I’m going to Chicago / Be on that Bozo Show/ Yeah, I’m going to Chicago / Be on that B-B-Bozo Show/ Yeah, I don’t know where Chicago is / But, mama, I got to go.”

“It’s Not Too Late.”The T-Bone Burnett song. Some lyrics: “The wind turns like a dagger, / the rain falls like a hammer / The sky has grown dark but it’s not too late / The weather crashes down, what’s lost cannot be found / The night is closing but it’s not too late.”

“I Want To Be A Cowboy’s Sweetheart.”A hit for Patsy Montana & The Prairie Ramblers. Some lyrics: “I want to be a cowboy’s sweetheart / I want to learn to rope and to ride / I want to ride o’er the plains and the desert / Out west of the great divide / I want to hear the coyotes howlin’ / While the sun sets in the West / I want to be a cowboy’s sweetheart / That’s the life that I love best.” Lots of yodeling on this one.

“The Blue Shadows On The Trail.”A Roy Rogers song. Some lyrics: “Blue shadowson the trail / Blue moon shinin’ throughthe trees / And a plaintiff wail from the distance / Comes a driftin’ on the eveningbreeze.”

“Caravan.”The Duke Ellington song. Some lyrics: “Night and stars above that shine so bright / The mystery of their fading light / That shines upon our Caravan / Sleep upon my shoulder as we creep / Across the sands so I may keep / The memory of our Caravan.”

“Mothra vs. Godzilla.”The main title of the 1964 Japanese monster movie of the same name. On Rotten Tomatoes, 90 percent of the critics like the movie. If nothing else, this song proves that The Local Girls are eclectic. Do you speak Monster? I don’t. Look for lyrics elsewhere.

Readers of this review should make heavy use of Amazon’s preview snippets of The Local Girls’ songs on this page: <http://tinyurl.com/y6ph5mzk>.

And check out their Web site: <http://www.thelocalgirls.com>.

The Local Girls ought to be famous, but one problem with Athens County is that it’s such a good place to live that excellent music-makers often stay here rather than moving to Nashville, NYC, or LA to seek fame and fortune. Lots of musicians choose to raise their kids in Athens County.

Support local music, and be aware that in the age of the Internet and the WWW, Athens County is local worldwide.

Ready on the Firing Line