h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Update on storm damage:

--Six million people lost electricity, including much of Manhattan

--Seven New York subway tunnels were flooded.

--Water was up to the rooftops in Staten island.

Storm-related deaths were relatively low, but credit for that should go to government officials who were relentless in urging people to evacuate from vulnerable locations. Governments at all levels cooperated with one another. Hey, the next election is just one week away. No officeholder can afford to be seen as being asleep on the job with a major disaster approaching.

That's right, Paul. They're behaving themselves.

"I don't know Tom Waits as a singer, but I've seen him as actor"

If you get the chance compare "Tom Traubert's Blues" sung by Tom Waits and Rod Stewart (I'm pretty sure Giglgi never sung it )

make that "Gigli never sang it"

"If you get the chance compare "Tom Traubert's Blues" sung by Tom Waits and Rod Stewart" [Pierce]

That song isn't on the one Rod Stewart CD I have [The Great American Songbook, vol. 5].

Tomorrow I have Celine Dion and Tony Orlando on tap for entertainment. I used to enjoy Tony Orlando's TV show in the 1970s. I also watched Sonny and Cher in the 1960s. Between now and then I have solo cantatas by Clerambault, string quartets by Dvorak, Handel's water music, the soundtrack for "Fame," and the original cast album for the musical "The Full Monty."

Paul it's good to hear that you have not received any damage to your house.

Stormy Weather 1960 sung by Sarah Vaughan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG7kQqL_Bik

I have a Sarah Vaughan cd, but "Stormy weather" isn't on it, sad to say. I've sung the song in outreach concerts, though. Lena Horne famously sang it onscreen. I've been meaning to get a CD of her hits.

I originally thought that Stormy Weather was a song from "Porgy and Bess" as it sounded like the songs from the Opera.

Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler wrote it in 1933 for the Cotton Club in harlem, where Ethel Waters sang it for the first time. 1933 was also the year when George Gershwin and Dubose Heyward signed a contract with the Theater Guild to write "Porgy and Bess."

So, "Porgy and Bess" had not yet been written when "Stormy weather:"premiered. But it's very close, isn't it?

"You'll Never Walk Alone" by R. Rogers/O. Hammerstein II


When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark

At the end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of the lark


(Performed by Gerry & The Pacemakers, Righteous Brothers, Barbra Streisand and Sara K.)

Claramae Turner and Shirley Jones sang it in the movie version. Eddie the computer sang it in "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

This side of the pond it is almost exclusively known as the battlehymn of Liverpool Football Club - and everybody believes Gerry (from the Pacemakers) wrote it

I'm not familiar with Gerry and the Pacemakers. I've heard Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, but won't listen to them ever again . So many groups, so little time! The Commodores, the Four Tops, the Four Seasons, the Comets, the Ink Spots, and on and on and on. And those are just the American ones. Thanks to the cluelessness of the BBC, which refused to broadcast rock music on the radio in the 1960s, the British had to go and create their own rock groups so they'd have something to listen to. That doubled the number of rock groups.

Thank Bob. Were would I be without The Beatles, The Stones, Pink Floyd etc.

I think of the ones you mentioned as international groups. Many of them toured dozens of different countries and sold records across many national boundaries. The same is true of many groups in the U.S.

But in the early 1960s, rock and roll was still mostly an American phenomenon. Perhaps the BBC feared giving the British people any exposure to this non-British music. Once there were plenty of homegrown British bands, the BBC had no choice but to play rock music on BBC radio.

Did American radio stations refuse to play British rock music on the grounds that it wasn't America? It's been so long that I don't remember. What I *do* remember is that the Beatles went on American television fairly early in their careers, and attracted a huge amount of attention.

25 years ago, Queen played a concert in Hungary. Film footage of that concert has been found and made into the form of a movie that will be shown in U.S,. movie theaters before long. I like Queen. I look forward to seeing that movie.

You never know where an album will be popular. In the early 1970s, a Detroit singer/singwriter named Sixtus Rodriguez recorded an album called "Cold Fact." It sold exactly six copies. One of those copies found its way into South Africa, where it was played on the radio and copied prodigiously. South African record companies sold half a million copies of it. None of the royalties found their way to Rodriguez because the record label had gone under, and no one could track down Rodriguez himself. It took almost 30 years for word to get back to Rodriguez that he was a huge star in South Africa. He had abandoned his music career in the early 1970s and was supporting himself and his three daughters by renovating houses in the detroit area. He was invited to South Africa in 1998, where he performed to sold-out houses in many different cities.

Someday, after the dust settles from my dental expenses, I hope to get a CD of his first album, which is available from Amazon now.

That is a great story, paulh

By "great story," do you mean the one about Rodriguez? He's something of an inspiration. His daughters were interviewed for the documentary "Searching for Sugar man." Nowadays he receives money form his recordings and concert tours, but he gives it away to family and friends.

Right now I'm listening to Tom Paxton, one of my old favorites from the 1960s. "I can't help but wonder where I'm bound" is playing right now. Paxton had a huge influence because many of his best songs were picked up by better-known performers: "Outward Bound" by Simon and Garfunkle, "Marvellous toy" by many, "The last thing on my mind" by Peter Paul and Mary among others, "Wasn't that a party" by the Irish Rovers. In later years, when folk music died out as a popular movement, Paxton began writing about his children ["Katy," "Jennifer's Rabbit," etc.].This led to gigs for children's audiences.

Last night, just before bed, I listened to a CD of hits by Cab Calloway. I always get a big kick out of his music. He always sounds like he's having a wonderful time! Later in life, he dubbed the songs of Sportin' Life for the soundtrack album of the film "Porgy and Bess." Sammy Davis JR. played the part in the film, but contract restrictions wouldn't let his singing be used for the album, so Calloway sang those tracks. After that, he was on TV a lot. I remember seeing him on "Love Boat." His signature song was "Minny the Moocher."

Hi de ho! Yes, Calloway always seemed to be in a good mood. He performed right up to his death at 86 in 1994. The last 14 of his years he was made famous once again by the film "The Blues Brothers". Unforgettable!

I had forgotten about his appearance in "The Blues Brothers," a seminal movie if ever there was one.