Antoinette Powell

Author: Antoinette Powell

She Took a Little Piece of Our Hearts

joplinOn October 4, 1970, Janis Joplin committed her final act of self-destruction. At a time when women in popular music were folk singers (Mary Travers, Joan Baez,) flower children (Cass Elliot and Michelle Phillips,) tightly coiffed and choreographed girl groups (The Supremes, Martha & the Vandellas) or singer-song writers (Carole King and Carly Simon,) a white, female blues singer was a stand-out. A year earlier on the “The Tonight Show” Johnny Carson asked her if she was going to her high school reunion. She smiled and said “Yeah. I’m goin’.” We hope she made it.

Watch her in action at Woodstock.

TV For Old People

kangarooReturn with us again to the 1950’s and a most momentous day: on this day in 1955 both Captain Kangaroo AND The Mickey Mouse Club premiered on TV, the first on CBS, the second on ABC. This must have presented quite a problem for children with no DVR or TiVo®.

Those of you of a certain age will certainly remember:

Monday – Fun With Music Day

Tuesday – Guest Star Day

Wednesday – Anything Can Happen Day

Thursday – Circus Day

Friday – Talent Round-Up Day

And we must revisit SCTV for “Captain Combat”

Also premiering on Oct. 3:

“Father Knows Best” (1954, CBS)

“The Andy Griffith Show” (1960, CBS)

“The Dick Van Dyke Show” (1961, CBS)

Cool.

Last week we were too consumed by meat products to mark this momentous anniversary. On Sept. 26, 1957, West Side Story opened at the Winter Garden in New York, with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by a very young Stephen Sondheim. An item in the New York Times that day revealed that it dealt with “the timely subject of juvenile delinquency.” They might as well have said “Oklahoma! it ain’t.” The next day Times reviewer Brooks Atkinson showed that he got it: a score that captures “the shrill beat of life in the streets;” “Everything contributes to the total impression of wildness, ecstasy and anguish;” “This is one of those occasions when theatre people…are all in top form.”

The Mudd has the original cast recording, the full score, the 1961 film (on DVD) starring Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer, and the crazy, what-were-they-thinking 1985 studio recording with José Carreras as the Polish youth and Tatiana Troyanos as the Puerto Rican teenage girl. Give it a listen just to hear UW-Milwaukee’s own Kurt Ollmann.

Symphony of a Thousand + One Guitar Player

mahler

An ocean away on Sept. 12, 1910, “Antonio Martello pleads guilty…to playing a guitar and singing Neapolitan ballads to a woman in the Bronx and is sentenced to serve 20 days in the workhouse as a common nuisance.” — <a href="http://carol.lib.lawrence.edu/F/?func=item-global&doc_library=LAW01&doc_number=000326728&year=&volume=&sub_library=LUCIA"Music Since 1910.

The Mudd has numerous recordings of the Mahler and even one of Neapolitan songs.

We’re So Glad We Had That Time Together

burnettOn September 11, 1967 The Carol Burnett Show premiered on CBS. It was the first hour-long comedy-variety show to be hosted by a woman. When you think about it, the show produced theater (skits,) production numbers and musical numbers with all the trappings every week: choreography, sets, costumes by Bob Mackie, the works. Today the costs would be prohibitive and TV audiences probably would have no interest. But back then people stayed home to watch the show. Imagine doing this for a weekly TV show today.

The Paley Center for Media, formerly The Museum of Television & Radio, has an informative profile on Carol Burnett for you young folk who missed this golden age. You can also hear Carol Burnett on the original cast recording of Once Upon a Mattress.

Always Dress Your Carcass in the Best From Neiman Marcus

A trainOn September 10, 1907 a new department store, Neiman Marcus, (that’s a big store in Big D) opened its doors. Also on this day 75 years ago at one minute past midnight the A Train started running on the IND 8th Avenue Line in New York.

There’s a Neiman Marcus in Manhattan at 41st. and Broadway. The A Train doesn’t run over there, but you can take it to 42nd St. (the Port Authority Bus Terminal) and then take the IRT Times Square-Grand Central Shuttle. It’ll get you pretty close. And listen to Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the A Train” while you’re traveling.

Working 3-5

boss

The day’s half over, but you can still benefit from National Employee/Boss Exchange Day. Of course, it’s likely that you don’t work in a place that actually use the terms “boss” and “employee” anymore. So if you’re the “employee,” swap tasks with your “team builder,” “ring master,” or “zoo keeper.” You can’t really wreck anything in just one day. And if you’re normally the one “in charge,” try living stress-free: check out youtube, read the paper, play some computer games.