So You Think YOU Know Music.

This past weekend, TCM ran a virtual marathon of Leonard Bernstein's appearances on The Young
People's Concerts, and Omnibus, from the mid-1950's.
I had never seen any of them, nor did I know that the tapes still existed.
They had 10 hours worth, and showed them all..
It was a lot to take in.
But take it in I did.
And boy, was it something!
I always thought I knew a lot about music.
Compared to Lenny, I knew nothiug.
He knew everything.
And everything he knew was worth knowing.

1-On Beethoven's 5th Symphony. He de-constructed Beethoven's 5th so any of one could make sense out of it.

2-On the World of  Jazz. he demonstrated it's roots, and how one thing built on another.  And made it all sound glorious.  "Preludes Fugues a Riffs" was obviously something he stuck into West Side Story.

3-On the art of conducting. He displayed how it was a hell of a lot more than a man standing in front of an orchestra just shaking a stick.

4-On American Musical Comedy-He displayed how it evolved all the way from  "The Black Crook"
to "Damn Yankees"  "West Side Story"was still two years away.

5- On Introduction of Modern Music- It was explained quite evocatively why it should be appreciated.
.
6-On J.S. Bach, Bernstein goes to great length to show why compared to all other composers
Bach is in a class by himself.  Everyone else is merely a shlepper.  Yes, he has very kind words for
Beethoven, but he is much more passionate for Bach.  Who am I to argue?.

7-What Makes Opera Grand?  This is an interesting dissection of Puccini's "La Boheme" where we see actors perform the recitative, the non-singing and different actors do the singing.  One of the key non singers is Hans Conried..  He is delightful..

The excuse for show is that its is Bernstein's 100th Birthday.
If you missed it, implore TCM to rerun it.
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My books, "Show Runner" and "Show Runner 2" can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store,

along with newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".

They are all compilations of blog entries have since been removed from the blog.

So this is the only way you can find them.,

You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.

Check them out.

You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.

Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.

The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.

But they are available for people without Kindle.

I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.

If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@comcast.net

And now, there's my reading of my screenplay of my unmade "Laverne and Shirley" movie on "YouTube".

           

My Les Crane Story.

For those of you who don't remember, or never knew, Les Crane went head-to-head as ABC's Late
Night host opposite Johnny Carson in the mid-sixties.
He lasted 2 years.
He had a certain charm, and was extremely good-looking.
His gimmick was a studio audience in the round, and Les used a shotgun microphone to take questions from audience members.
It was very effective.
But his ratings were never more than anemic.
Everyone watched and loved Johnny.
And Les was soon enough left in the dust.
Virtually never to be heard from again.
He had a hit record, "Desiderata"
After that, nothing.
As the talk-show wound down, ABC stopped paying for Crane's limo service.
How do I know this?
My father was his limo driver.
And was he was left holding the bag when Crane didn't pay his limo bill.
So what do you do, if you're my father, you hire a collection agency to recover what you can.
In this case, $1500.
My father did not hesitate to sic-the-goons on Les..
So the goons were sic'ed on Les, and after crying "foul" to my father, and Les whipped out his
checkbook.  The goons took their cut. And that was that.
By the way, Les was married to Tina Louise at the time.
Yes, THAT Tina Louise.
They were divorced shortly thereafter.
And Les was officially a deadbeat.
........................................................................................................

My books, "Show Runner" and "Show Runner 2" can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store,

along with newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".

They are all compilations of blog entries have since been removed from the blog.

So this is the only way you can find them.,

You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.

Check them out.

You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.

Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.

The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.

But they are available for people without Kindle.

I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.

If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@comcast.net

And now, there's my reading of my screenplay of my unmade "Laverne and Shirley" movie on "YouTube".

-----

Recent Celebrity Deaths.

Since I left the hospital, there are the most significant celebrity deaths that came to my attention---
Nick Meglin-Long time mainstay at Mad magazine.
Kent Mckray--Long time creative partner  of  Michael Landon.
Joe Pintauro- Priest turned playwright.
Steve Ditko-Co-creator of Spider Man.
Ed Schultz-former MSNBC political host.
A rather light turnout for death.  Which is a good thing.

Oh yes....and my favorite writer of the twentieth century----Harlan Ellison.  Devastating.

----------------------------------------

My books, "Show Runner" and "Show Runner 2" can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store,

along with newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".

They are all compilations of blog entries have since been removed from the blog.

So this is the only way you can find them.,

You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.

Check them out.

You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.

Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.

The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.

But they are available for people without Kindle.

I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.

If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@comcast.net

And now, there's my reading of my screenplay of my unmade "Laverne and Shirley" movie on "YouTube".

-----

Doppelgangers.

It's a word that I'd heard of, but wasn't quite sure of its meaning.
And for the longest time didn't even think to look it up in  the dictionary.
When I was in the hospital, I was suddenly surrounded with people who spoke Doppelganger-ese.
So just by keeping my eyes and ears open, I learned the in-and-outs of Doppelganger-ism.
A famous person, one who resembles another famous person, is a Doppelganger.
Or an ordinary person who resembles a famous person is a Doppelganger.
The more famous the famous person is, the more combined the stature of the Doppelganger.
I saw a great Doppelganger in Hospital when I went to the rehab gym.
He was always on the bicycle.
He was a dead-ringer for about a 70 year old Orson Welles.
It couldn't have been Orson Welles who had been already dead for over 20 years.
That he could have gotten on the bicycle at all always astounded me.
This was the fat-old-Orson Welles.
----------------------------------------

My books, "Show Runner" and "Show Runner 2" can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store,

along with newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".

They are all compilations of blog entries have since been removed from the blog.

So this is the only way you can find them.,

You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.

Check them out.

You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.

Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.

The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.

But they are available for people without Kindle.

I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.

If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@comcast.net

And now, there's my reading of my screenplay of my unmade "Laverne and Shirley" movie on "YouTube".

--------------------------