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Backstage in San Francisco on October 26, 1957

"All Shook Up" (Reached the top of all three U.S. charts [pop, country and r&b], staying there for eight weeks in 1957, from April 13 through May 27. In the U.S., it is regarded as the top song of 1957.)

via Candid Central

Sinatra does his "thing"

One of the things I admire about Frank Sinatra was his willingness to try nearly anything to stay on top as he weathered the numerous cultural shifts of his 50-plus year career. Marrying Mia Farrow is but one example. Another was donning a nehru jacket and love beads on national TV in 1968 for Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing.

As far as what his "thing" was supposed to be, here's what he read off of cue cards at the beginning of the program:

"This is our fourth little get together and I'd like to explain that the title of our show is in the patois of the youth of today. Now no one would really explain to me exactly what my 'thing' is supposed to be, but it can't be all bad, baby, because they let me do it on television."

Starring with Sinatra were artists he must have felt were vital and "with it". The "cutting edge" entertainers included The Fifth Dimension and Diahann Carroll. Knowing Sinatra like I do, my theory is he was actually just in the mood for a little dark 'n' lovely, seeing as both involved beautiful African American ladies.

You must watch at least the beginning of this vid. I can not allow you to leave until you do.

Sinatra more than makes up for the heavy cheese factor with the music, so it's worth a complete viewing. He does a medley of "Nice 'n' Easy" (a song he rarely performed live) and "(How Little It Matters) How Little We Know". I'm guessing he, or someone else, selected the latter due to the menition of "chemical" and "chemistry" in the lyric. It was 1968. The "kids" were all into chemicals and stuff.








Yeah, why won't TV let women speak out?? What's the deal, TV?

Goo goo ga joob

"I Am the Walrus" is probably the best thing, musically and cinematically, to come from the Magical Mystery Tour project. I've always felt you can actually see John Lennon losing his mind during this performance. Yoko Ono would soon enter the picture to make it all better (for John). This is creepy weird (which is the tone of the entire film), at parts, but that's why it's classic Beatles.

I wonder if they had to do any reshoots of that long fade out.


the Walrus?

"Nobody's ever been a bigger star than me. This'll never end."

Higher and Higher was the 1943 film debut of boy singer, Francis Albert Sinatra. He was billed third because the contracts of Michèle Morgan and Jack Haley prevented higher billing. Who were they? Exactly.

Here is twenty-seven year old Sinatra at the pinnacle of the first act of his career. This is "Swoonatra", the "Sultan of Swoon", the crooner who soothed the bobby-soxers with "The Voice". This is the Sinatra who was so skinny, he was said to disappear when standing behind the microphone stand. This is the recklessly cocksure, pre-career implosion Sinatra, the one, who, is quoted as saying "Nobody's ever been a bigger star than me," and, "This'll never end."

The clip features Frankie doing a Harold Adamson and Jimmy McHugh tune they wrote for him called "I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night". I sing this to my cats on the mornings they've awakened me during the night (which is frequent). The bastards. It's a beautiful song, and it allowed Sinatra to display what he was becoming known for, which was the long, extended note, carried out over two or more measures (à la Tommy Dorsey and his slide trombone technique).



Sinatra nicknames:

Ol' Blue Eyes
The Voice
Chairman of the Board
Frankie Boy
Swoonatra
The Bony Baritone
The Innkeeper
The Swing-Shift Caruso
The Lean Lark
The Groovy Galahad

NO! Just, no!

While nothing like the blast of cold air they received on the East Coast, we got down to 21° here in Nacognowhere on Saturday night/Sunday morning.

tcb

Candid Central has pictures from a fan site of Elvis arriving at the airport in Knoxville, Tennessee, on April 8, 1972.













If you've never been to Graceland, here are some pics from an eBay auction of the plane's ultra-tacky, 1970s decor, which were taken in 1994.






How much business was taken care of here?

Jedi mind trick

Something Awful's Photoshop Phriday this week ("A Very Star Wars Valentines") is hilarious.