The Sound of the Crowd

…this makes four examples of “negative campaigning” at best, “dirty tricks” at worst, that is either eminating from the Dean campaign, or that someone is going to some length to make it appear as if it does.

This is a tragedy for anyone who appreciates truly beautiful photographs of naked women; Helmut Newton has died in a car crash. 99% of nude photography, IMO, tends to sell itself or not of the sex appeal of the model, no matter what the photographers tell you. Not that there’s anything wrong with that–I’d be a hypocrite if I said otherwise. But Newton’s work had a way of staying with you that was entirely seperate from whether or not the women were sexy (though very often they were). They told little stories, they captured moments. Notice that “captured” and “moments” in the last sentence are each seperate links to seperate but linked photographs.

In a weird way maybe the best compliment I can give him is this: He’s the only photographer who, if I had a wife or daughter he wanted to take nude pictures of, I think I would tell them to do it without hesitation. There’d be no question of his making them beautiful, and what’s more they would genuinely be artistic, too. And sexy…goes without saying.

Bond 2: Back Into Bondage

Last year I was mostly reading…

So I’m reading Mark Evanier’s web page this morning, and I see that arranger Billy May has passed away. As Mark recounts here, May not only conducted and arranged the music for many of Stan Freberg’s records, he also had a side business with a little-known singer named Frank Sinatra. As with most comedy records, the sketches on Frebergs’ start to show their age after a while, but you can always listen to the music, and that’s largely because of May’s arrangements. I think of the contrapuntal “Round, Round World” as a great example. Similarly, his work with Frank Sinatra–he’s considered one of the “big three” of the songer’s mature years, with Nelson Riddle and Gordon Jenkins–is immidiately identifiable.

What stands out? His knack for vocal arrangements, sometimes in duets and trios as on Frank & Sammy’s “Me & My Shadow” or the Rat Pack group sings on the Reprise Repetory Theater albums. His love of percussion and overall sense of humor. Other great May/Sinatra records include “Come Fly With Me,” “Luck Be A Lady” and the 1979 version of “The Song Is You.”

Nelson Riddle always said his favorite arrangement of a Sinatra song that he didn’t do himself was May’s “Indian Summer,” recorded in 1967 with Duke Ellington & his orchestra and featuring the most sensuous saxophone solo–by Johnny Hodges–you’ve ever heard in your life. My own favorite is “You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You,” from 1961.

Here’s hoping the first person May met in heaven was Frank, telling him about a new record date he had planned and handing him a glass of booze.

…VH1′s new show Bands Reunited. As the title suggests, the premise is that this hugely enthusiastic prat–he really is, no one is that excited about a Berlin reunion, even Berlin doesn’t seem that interested–tracks down the far-flung members of some long dissolved band and facilitates a reunion, first on a personal level and then for a one-night-only performance in front of the groups’ fans. Now, putting aside that it was billed as reuniting “your favorite bands,” and even a longtime 80′s man like myself can’t put that title on Berlin, Romeo Void, Klymaxx or (God help us) A Flock of Seagulls, it’s surprisingly compelling viewing–like a cross between Where Are They Now? and Behind The Music.

But here’s the thing–over on VH1.com they have a poll for which bands viewers would like to see reunited. One of the possible choices is Naked Eyes.

Naked Eyes can’t reunite. Naked Eyes was two guys, one of whom, Rob Fisher, is dead. Much as I like them–a remixes and rareties collection snuck onto my best-of list for last year–it ain’t gonna happen. Fortunately, the Thompson Twins were another possibilty, so you know how I voted. Now, how to get them to go after OMD, and, for that matter, ABC…

…as digested by Molly Ivins. My favorite:

“My man Dean took a licking. Of course, he had the other candidates and the media ganging up on him, but hey, they always do that to the front-runner, and whining about it never helps.”

You really should, you know. The link’s over there on the right.

In which this writer gets a little Bent. But deep inside, didn’t you already know that?

A) An opportunity for Mark Evanier to write a Top Ten List

B) Just the latest example of George W. Bush enraging those of us who actually care about words and their meaning–such as David Corn–with his Orwellian doublespeak.

C) An underrated Tracy/Hepburn film directed by Frank Capra that if Al Gore had watched, he’d be president today. And from which Ronald Reagan stole one of the most widely quoted examples of his “wit.”

D) All of the above.

Answers on one side of the paper only, please.

The photo for the Aston Kuchner interview. Isn’t that the most repulsive “I’m a serious actor, damnit” pic you’ve ever seen?