by Peter Cates Sidney Bechet The Blue Bechet RCA Victor LPV-535, LP reissue of 78 originals, released 1966. To call Sidney Bechet (1897-1959) an ornery cuss would be an understatement. He was COLD – willfully mean, self-centered, and capricious in his cruelty to others. One night, he was drinking tiny glasses of booze, one after […]
by Peter Cates Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 Paul Kletzki conducting the Czech Philharmonic; Quintessence PMC-7216; stereo LP, 1983 reissue of 1967 Supraphon original LP. Paul Kletzki, who died in 1973, was one of six truly great conductors – the others being Jascha Horenstein, Karel Ancerl, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Otto Klemperer and Istvan Kertesz. From what I have […]
by Peter Cates John Prine The first time I heard singer/songwriter John Prine, now 71, was at the Gorham gym, of what is now the University of Southern Maine, during the spring of 1972. He was the opening act for Lighthouse, was totally new to me and failed to make any impression . Even his […]
by Peter Cates Conversations about Bernstein William Westbrook Burton, editor Oxford Univ. Press, 1995, 198 pages. Conversations is a volume of interviews with various individuals who knew and worked with the composer, conductor, pianist, author, TV personality extraordinaire, Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), who was arguably the most famous man involved in classical music during the last […]
by Peter Cates Alfredo Campoli, violin, with Eduard Van Beinum conducting the London Philharmonic (Mendelssohn) and Royalton Kisch, the New Symphony (Bruch); London LL 966, mono LP, recorded 1954. I own a number of duplicate recordings in which the Mendelssohn is coupled with either the Bruch or Tchaikovsky VCs; all three are central to the […]
by Peter Cates The number of record collectors who listen to the dusty old 78s are few when one considers the general population but, if gathered in a convention hall from around the world, could fill it. The dealers hawking them on Ebay, popsike and other venues plus the Facebook pages testify to the interest, […]
by Peter Cates Dick Haymes Sings Irving Berlin MCA, MCL 1773, LP, released 1983 and based on Decca 78 originals. Irving Berlin (1888-1989), born Israel Baline, in Czarist Russia, came to America with his parents to escape the frequent bloody pogroms occurring there. He left home at the age of eight years, eking out a […]
by Peter Cates Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet starring Ozzie, Harriet, David and Ricky Nelson; ABC network, 435 episodes between Oct. 3, 1952 – April 23, 1966. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet was one of the two or three longest running comedy shows in TV history. From 1944-54 – the last two years simultaneously […]
by Peter Cates Breakout Kings starring Laz Alonso, Dominick Lombardozzi, Malcolm Goodwin, Serinda Swan, Jimmi Simpson and Brooke Nevin, produced for A&E, 2011-12, 23 episodes, 43 minutes each. Breakout Kings dealt with a special task force, led by an investigator, Charlie (Laz Alonso), and his assistant, Ray (Dominick Lombardozzi), to catch prisonors who have escaped, […]
by Peter Cates Cheers for Miss Bishop starring Martha Scott, William Gargan, Edmund Gwenn, Sterling Holloway, Sidney Blackmer, etc.; directed by Tay Garnett; United Artists, 1941, 95 minutes, DVD. I have seen and enjoyed this warm-hearted soap opera twice, if such a term can be employed. Martha Scott (1913-2003) portrays an English teacher, Ella Bishop, […]