OCTOBER 29, 2012

Song of the Day: Swept Away, words and music by Sara Allen and Daryl Hall (who provides the guitar solo), was a terrific #1 1984 dance track recorded by Diana Ross. So, the Detroit Tigers Swept Away the New York Yankees in 4 straight, and the San Francisco Giants (not the New York Football Giants, who barely swept away the Dallas Cowboys yesterday) did likewise to the Tigers, winning the World Series in 4 games. And here in the New York tri-state area, we dig in so as not to be Swept Away by Hurricane Sandy. Check out the Arthur Baker 12" club mix on YouTube.

OCTOBER 28, 2012

Song of the Day: Scattin' the Blues was performed by The Divine One, Sarah Vaughan, on so many of her live concert dates. One version of it can be found in a performance with Bill Mays on piano, Bob Magnusson on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums, live at the 1971 Monterey Jazz Festival [YouTube link]. But my all-time favorite version, by far, made its television debut on the New York-area PBS affiliate, WNET-TV, on this very date in 1974, "In Performance at Wolf Trap" [mp3 link]. When I was 14 years old, I actually recorded this performance right off my television with an old Panasonic portable cassette recorder, but it is preserved in high quality audio by the absolutely indispensable Archival Television Audio, which presents the whole magnificent PBS show from Wolf Trap, starring drummer Buddy Rich and his great band doing a hard-swinging medley from "West Side Story" [check out an alternative take on YouTube, introduced by Frank Sinatra], and Sarah Vaughan, with a great trio featuring a blazing Carl Schroeder on piano (no relation to that Schroeder), a terrific bow-solo by fine bassist Frank DeLaRosa, and the combustive Jimmy Cobb on drums. For me, Sassy's pyrotechnic scatting on this performance is as good as it gets.

OCTOBER 18, 2012

UGH.

Boy was that awful. The Detroit Tigers swept the New York Yankees in the ALCS, and move on to the World Series.

Nothing was more awful than losing The Captain, who went down in Game 1 of this series with a broken ankle. But not even Derek Jeter could have saved this team's anemic hitting.

UGH.

Hopefully, the Yanks, and Derek, will be back in the swing of things in Spring 2013.

OCTOBER 12, 2012

The New York Yankees just won the ALDS in 5 games, beating the tough Baltimore Orioles, 3-1, with C.C. Sabathia going the distance.

It never gets old.

Now, the ALCS against the Detroit Tigers.

Go Yanks!

OCTOBER 08, 2012

Song of the Day: Grenade features the words and music of Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Claude Kelly, Andrew Wyatt, Brody Brown, and Bruno Mars, who recorded the song for his debut album, "Doo-Wops & Hooligans." The song ranks with some of the best F-U pop songs of relationships (sing it Ella!) gone wrong (the Great Tony and Eydie too!). Mars is today's birthday boy; he has a new album coming out soon. Check out the official video of one of his best [YouTube link].

OCTOBER 05, 2012

Song of the Day: Goldfinger ("Dawn Raid on Fort Knox") [YouTube clip at that link], composed by John Barry, expresses all the urgency of a classic James Bond score, from my all-time favorite 007 film, "Goldfinger." On this date, in 1962, the very first James Bond franchise flick made its debut: "Dr. No". On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Bond phenomenon, long live 007!