Author: Roger

I'm a librarian. I hear music, even when it's not being played. I used to work at a comic book store, and it still informs my life. I won once on JEOPARDY! - ditto.

Music throwback: Nowell Sing We Clear

The Cutty Wren

Nowell we Sing Clear

When I first came to Albany in the late 1970s, I saw a quartet called Nowell Sing We Clear perform two or three times. Here’s a description of the group:

“In the summer of 1975, dance musicians Fred Breunig and Steve Woodruff moved to southern Vermont and teamed up with the singing duo of John Roberts and Tony Barrand. Nowell Sing We Clear was first performed in December of that same year…

“The program explores and reveals the active and still vital themes of the birth of Jesus and the celebration of the return of the light at the winter solstice. The combined interests and skills of the performers in contra and morris dancing and in ballads and bawdry afforded an unusual approach to Christmas music.”

I bought a couple of their LPs, and I played them regularly until the albums went into storage. I didn’t think about Nowell we Sing Clear until this month. A local group called the Helderberg Madrigal Singers performed at my church on December 7. One of the songs in their repertoire was The Cutty Wren. I knew instantly where I knew that song from.

And I’m told they’re still performing, with Andy Davis replacing Woodruff. From a 2013 Slate article: “Nowell Sing We Clear celebrates an older, and perhaps more pagan, Christmas as it was known for centuries in Britain and North America.”

Listen to Nowell We Sing Clear

The Cutty Wren
 The Holly And The Ivy
 Green Grow the Rushes-O
 Rise Up Jock

And since this the last Saturday before the big day:

Jaquandor’s Daily Dose of Christmas

Coverville 1243: The Coverville 2018 Christmas Episode

Little Drummer Boy (African Tribal Version) – Alex Boye’ ft. Genesis Choir

12 Days of Christmas Cookies – Cookie Monster and friends

Jingle Bells – The Fab Four, in the style of Tomorrow Never Knows by The Beatles

Every Valley – Handel’s Messiah, A Soulful Celebration

The Christmas Song – Nat King Cole

White Christmas – the Drifters

Linus and Lucy – Vince Guaraldi

The Coventry Carol – Alison Moyet

Christmas All Over Again – Tom Petty

What Christmas Means To Me – Stevie Wonder

The Bells of Christmas -Julie Andrews at 17:05

R.O. Blechman – CBS Christmas Message (1966)

Actor Samuel L Jackson turns 70

Samuel L Jackson

There’s a 2012 article in the New York Times which tries to explain How Samuel L Jackson Became His Own Genre:

“Jules was the moral center of Pulp Fiction because he carried himself like a professional. Before Jules, my characters were just ‘The Negro’ who died on Page 30.” Look at his early credits in IMDB, he’s not wrong.

“After Jules, I became the coolest [expletive] on the planet. Why? I have no clue. I’m not like Jules. It’s called being an actor.” However, it was Spike Lee’s movie Jungle Fever that broke him, “well before Pulp Fiction made him a household name. His role as a crackhead son of a minister came literally weeks after his own rehab, and changed everything.”

Maybe, as some speculate, it’s his bald head and youthful demeanor that allows him a chameleon-like quality. Regardless, he’s now EVERYWHERE. In credit card commercials on TV. As Nick Fury, agent of SHIELD, in a slew of movies in the Marvel Universe. He’s in two other franchises, Star Wars, and the animated Incredibles; he’s also appeared in a number of Quentin Tarantino’s other films.

From the Wikipedia: Samuel Leroy Jackson “grew up as an only child in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His father lived away from the family in Kansas City, Missouri, and later died from alcoholism. Jackson was raised by his mother, who was a factory worker… and by his maternal grandparents and extended family.

“Between the third and 12th grades, he played the French horn and trumpet in the school orchestra. Jackson also played the flute and piccolo.

“Initially intent on pursuing a degree in marine biology, he attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. After joining a local acting group to earn extra points in a class, Jackson found an interest in acting and switched his major.

“In 1969, Jackson and several other students held members of the Morehouse College board of trustees hostage on the campus, demanding reform in the school’s curriculum and governance. The college eventually agreed to change its policy, but Jackson was charged with and eventually convicted of unlawful confinement, a second-degree felony.

“Jackson was then suspended for two years for his criminal record and his actions. He would later return to the college to earn his Bachelor of Arts in Drama in 1972.” To make ends meet, he sold hot dogs, burgers and fries at Atlanta Falcons’ football games.

“In 1980, Jackson married actress and sports channel producer LaTanya Richardson, whom he met while attending Morehouse College. The couple has a daughter, Zoe (born 1982).”

Samuel L Jackson has been such a diverse array of films that, according to Rotten Tomatoes, he’s been in movies lauded by all the critics – Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (2004) and by none of them – Kite (2014).

Jackson “has achieved critical and commercial acclaim, surpassing Frank Welker as the actor with the highest-grossing film total of all time in October 2011.” Also, “he enjoys collecting the action figures of the characters he portrays in his films, including Jules Winnfield, Shaft, Mace Windu, and Frozone.”

Ask Arthur Anything; then Ask Roger Anything

Arthur Schenck

Arthur the AmeriNZ does his Ask Arthur Anything every year in the autumn. Wait, November is SPRING in New Zealand. I’m so confused.

Arthur’s a smart and interesting guy, and another old political science major to boot. So you can AAA. Then you can Ask Roger Anything. Heck, it can be the same questions; I’m not proud. (Note to Michael Rivest: that was a proper use of a semicolon.)

You can ask us both about our late parents. I already asked him about his favorite Republicans, and that’d be a fair question to ask of me. Ditto favorite composers (classical), artists (painters, sculptors, et al).

You can’t ask me about being a preacher’s kid, because I wasn’t one, but I can ask Arthur. Request that he explain the New Zealand parliamentary procedure, but my knowledge is extremely limited. Don’t ask him what it was like to grow up as a black kid in America.

I was thinking about this a LOT actually because of something I saw on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah the first week in December. Trevor went to South Africa to host an event honoring Nelson Mandela. He went back to the United States and developed laryngitis. So the correspondents spoke, sometimes saying they were Trevor, while Trevor sat beside them. The disconnect was very funny.

In case you’re new to this, you can AsK Roger ANYTHING. For reasons unknown, I must respond, usually within the month, to the best of my ability. I allow for obfuscation, but it’s not generally required.

As always, you can leave any of your questions, no matter how weird, in the comments section or on Facebook or Twitter; for the latter, my name is ersie. Always look for the duck. If you prefer to remain anonymous, that’s fine, but you need to SAY so. E-mail me at rogerogreen (AT) gmail (DOT) com, or send me an IM on FB and note that you want to remain unmentioned; otherwise, I’ll assume you want to be cited.

Director/actor Penny Marshall, R.I.P.

Penny Marshall appeared in Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers (1974-1975), a TV show that only about 14 people, including me, even remember.

Penny Marshall

The first regular gig Penny Marshall got on television was as Myrna, the secretary of Oscar Madison (Jack Klugman) on The Odd Couple (1972-1974), a program I watched religiously. The late Garry K. Marshall, Penny’s brother, adapted the Neil Simon play for the small screen and cast Tony Randall as Felix Ungar.

I loved Myrna. Penny Marshall explains how she got the role and that distinctive laugh. Rob Reiner, her husband at the time, who played Mike “Meathead” Stivic on All in the Family, was a guest star in this 1974 episode (sound quality so-so).

Then she appeared in Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers (1974-1975), a TV show that only about 14 people, including me, even remember.

Penny shows up in a couple episodes (1975-1976) of the immensely popular Happy Days as Laverne DeFazio, a date for the Fonz. Garry created, produced, directed and scripted that show, and then Laverne and Shirley, a successful spinoff also starring Cindy Williams as Shirley. “During the late ’50s and early ’60s they worked as bottlecappers for Shotz Brewery in Milwaukee.” By the time their characters moved to Hollywood, I had stopped watching.

L and S was a family affair. Ronny Hallin, their sister, served as the show’s casting director, and Anthony Marshall, their father, produced as well. Penny Marshall directed four episodes of the series (1979-1981).

She went on to direct a string of movies. I’ve never seen Jumpin’ Jack Flash (1986) with Whoopi Goldberg. But I watched Big (1986) with Tom Hanks; Awakenings (1990) with Robert De Niro and Robin Williams; and A League of Their Own (1992) with Hanks, Geena Davis, and Madonna, all originally in the movie theater.

Two films, in particular, contain iconic scenes. Big features Hanks and the late Robert Loggia playing piano in FAO Schwarz. And A League of Their Own, which revealed to America a piece of its own hidden history, There’s No Crying in Baseball, with Hanks and Betty Schram.

I also watched 1996’s The Preacher’s Wife, with Whitney Houston, on TV at some point.

Schram said that Penny Marshall “broke barriers as one of the first great women directors/ She really had a knack for picking material, finding the right talent and making a hit. Her instincts were impeccable. She was a true pioneer for women.”

Christmas music in November

A typo augers a special appearance, for naughty boys and girls

Christmas musicThe Boston Globe had a story in mid-November: Are you crazy for Christmas music in November – or does it make you crazy?

“Is there anything that can summon the Scrooges quicker than early-onset Christmas music? ‘If you listen to Christmas music in November, you are a psychopath,’ one person recently wrote on Twitter.

“Yet, for a small but dedicated contingent, the jeers and eye rolls offer little deterrence. Yes, the jack-o’-lanterns might still be perched on doorsteps. True, Thanksgiving might be weeks away. They just can’t help themselves.”

I’ll admit being in the “made crazy” category for much of my adulthood. But I’ve found that finding my own soundtrack, in my own mind if necessary, works reasonably well so that I’m not totally bored by seasonal music by the Ides of December.

Still, the fact that Thanksgiving in the United States in 2018 is the earliest it can be is slightly problematic. It seems to invite turning to the “all-Christmas music all the time” radio station in the car. Not by me, and not by my daughter. Fortunately, the Hamilton soundtrack or some K-pop usually wins the day, at least until December 1.

That said, the fact that Arthur posts Christmas ads in his blog in November, from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the United States. I find interesting and charming because I don’t tend to see them otherwise.

Here’s something I’ve known for decades: Santa’s Elves Live in … Schenectady? Schenectady is near Albany, so this is required information. But this story about the Christmas transit transfer was new to me.

A typo augers a special appearance, for naughty boys and girls.

Finally, frankincense has been proven to be a psychoactive antidepressant. I’ll keep that in mind the next time I hear too much Christmas music in November. Or October, fercryinoutloud.

(X is for wanting to X out Xmas music in November, for ABC Wednesday)

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