The slinky voice of Dolores Gray would be the perfect soundtrack to a midnight skinny dip or an evening trapped in a snowed-in cabin. It also soothes the beastly rage brought about by Los Angeles morning gridlock or your internet service provider being totally ineffective at diagnosing your connection issues, not that I would know.
Dolores Gray was an actress and singer who won a Tony award for her performance in the Broadway musical version of the 1936 French film Carnival in Flanders. The stage show, backed by Bing Crosby was generally hated and ran only six nights. But Gray’s performance in the show still managed to win her the Tony Award in 1953 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical, which makes her the record-holder for shortest run of any actress to win the award. Take a listen below and find out why.
For those of you who like a little spirited action and romance themes to goose you into the kitchen and underscore you weekend beef bourguignon preparations, here comes nearly four hours of the best tracks from 40 years of James Bond music, reaching back to 1964′s Goldfinger and shuffling all the way up to 2008′s Quantum of Solace.
This music also works well while you’re electrocuting Korean henchmen or sneaking onto a rocket with intentions to thwart a ego-maniacal billionaire’s plans to destroy the Earth with poison orchids and re-populate it with genetically perfect human specimens bred in outer space.
You can also play card games to it.
I made this especially for my friend Laura, who is currently scuba diving off the coast of Honduras in Utila on her birthday (March 31st). Love to you, Brassy!
“I who was lost and lonely… believing love was only… a bitter tragic joke, have found with you, the meaning of existence, oh my love”
“Corcovado” (known in English as “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars”) was written by Anotnio Carlos Jobim and had been recorded in the early sixties by both Sergio Mendes and Miles Davis before becoming an international success when a version included on 1964′s landmark bossa nova album Gilberto/Getz, with lyrics by Gene Lees and vocals by Astrud Gilberto. The Gilberto version is below. Sinatra’s 1967 version from the bossa nova album Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobimfollows after the jump.
“When your lonely heart has learned its lesson… You’d be his if only he’d call… In the wee small hours of the morning… That’s the time you miss him most of all”
“And now I think of my life as vintage wine… From fine old kegs… From the brim to the dregs… It poured sweet and clear… It was a very good year”
Arguably the most famous Frank Sinatra song of them all, the 1965 recording of “It Was a Very Good Year” was filmed by CBS Television and used for a Walter Cronkite news special celebrating Sinatra’s 50th birthday, broadcast on November 16th of that year. The footage is included below.
“If you can use some exotic booze… there’s a bar in far Bombay. Come fly with me, let’s fly, let’s fly away.”
Show of hands, please.
Who’s not looking forward to their upcoming annual December encounter with the airport?
Sure, it’s gonna be great to see the faces of distant loved ones and family members again. But is it really worth the humiliation of standing in line for thirty minutes for the esteemed pleasure of showing off your current sock choice to complete strangers? Do you miss Grandma so much you’re willing to say nothing to the guy next to you in the track suit, chowing down on McDonalds straight out of the grease-stained sack as he screams into his phone at the divorce attorney who seems incapable of preventing “that vindictive bitch from taking it all!”
MG is much better at handling airport happenings than I am. He actually chit-chats with the people he finds sitting next to him at the gate. HE ACTUALLY PURPOSELY ENGAGES IN CONVERSATION WITH THESE PEOPLE! Apparently, he enjoys finding things out about them. Meanwhile, I’m sitting on the other side of him, slumped down, repeatedly muttering under my breath “Stop… talking to them” while debating whether or not to extend my leg and purposely trip the unattended child who’s running in circles with a drool-soaked Red Vine hanging out of its mouth.
I always walk into the airport with the best of intentions. But I always walk out with an upset stomach, a snarling lip, and for some reason the latest issue of Macworld, a magazine that holds absolutely no interest for me whatsoever.
If you look very very carefully, you might just catch the product placement in J-Lo’s performance.
And I remember thinking how out of control it was back in 1986 when Wang Chung dared to include their own name in ”Everybody Have Fun Tonight.” How far we’ve come.
Had the Fiat just rolled onto stage at the end and whisked her off, I don’t think I would have felt so dirty for having tuned in. But when a car that looks like a big toe on wheels comes off cooler in the performance than the person actually performing, everyone should be worried.
Video below. And right now, somewhere in Hollywood, a network executive is sitting on their couch, working up a preliminary budget for the next big television phenomenon: Dancing with the Datsuns.
“Stars and steel guitars… Luscious lips as red as wine… Broke somebody’s heart… and I’m afraid that it was mine”
“It Happened in Monterey” was written by lyricist Billy Rose and composer Mabel Wayne for the 1930 film revue King of Jazz starring Bing Crosby, John Boles, and Jeanette Loff.
The… shall we politely call it “dated”… version, as performed by Boles and Loff, is included below. Clear the dance floor for great-gradma. When she hears this coming out of your speakers, she’s gonna jump up, pop a rose between her teeth and bolero herself from one end of the living room to the other!
For those of you who like a little spirited action and romance themes to goose you into the kitchen and underscore you weekend beef bourguignon preparations, here comes nearly four hours of the best tracks from 40 years of James Bond music, reaching back to 1964′s Goldfinger and shuffling all the way up to 2008′s Quantum of Solace.
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Dancing with the Stars Recap: Performances from the Finals – May 21, 2012 (with VIDEOS and SPOILERS)
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Food Network Star Recap: May 13, 2012
Game of Thrones Recap – Episode 18: “The Prince of Winterfell”
“Titanoboa”: Largest Snake in the World Comes to Smithsonian Channel
Listening To: “The Girl from Ipanema” – Stan Getz, João Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, Astrud Gilberto
Watching: The “Little House on the Prairie” Blind School Fire
Time to Play… “DIY Network or Gay Porn?” Round 2
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Dancing with the Stars Recap: May 7, 2012 (with VIDEOS)
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Season Pass: Modern Family (ABC)
Listening To: “C’est Si Bon” – Ann-Margret
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The Bachelor 15-5: Brad Womack and the Two We Know Are Gonna Be in the Finals
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Television
Dancing with the Stars Recap: March 21, 2011
Project Runway – July 28, 2011 – The Top Tweets
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The Bachelor 16-4: January 23, 2012 – Your Top Tweets
The Bachelor 15: Emily or Chantal? Former Cast Members Weigh In
The Bachelor 15-2: Brad Womack and the Carnival Clowns
Listening To: “Get the Party Started” – Shirley Bassey
I’m Taking My NuWave Oven to Bed With Me