A historic day!

I don’t care what Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong say (3:35).

Or Billie Holiday (3:50).

Or Jimmy Buffett, who included the seldom-sung verse (4:13).

Or even the sugary-sweet, white-bread warblings of Doris Day (3:41).

Stars didn’t fall on Alabama last night.

Snow did.

At my daughter’s house.

We’ve been having pneumonia weather in the South this month. This morning the temperature at my house was 28 degrees Fahrenheit and it’s supposed to reach 72 this afternoon.

Potayto, Potahto, Tomayto, Tomahto

Just as there is only one Cher and only one Elvis (but truth in blogging compels me to tell you that there actually are three Elvises -- Elvis Presley, Elvis Costello who was born Declan Patrick MacManus, and Elvis Stoyko the ice-skater from Canada; I do not say that there are multiple Chers), there was also only one Ella and only one Louie. In case you are unfamiliar with them, they were Ella Fitzgerald (1917 - 1996) and Louis Armstrong (1901 - 1971).

Here they are collaborating on “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” (4:18), a song written by George and Ira Gershwin (who were born Jacob and Israel Gershowitz) for the 1937 film Shall We Dance where it was introduced by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers as part of a celebrated dance duet on roller skates.

Israel Gershowitz (Ira Gershwin) should not be confused with Israel Balin (Irving Berlin). Did you know that Jack Benny’s real name was Benny Kubelsky and Tony Curtis’s real name was Bernie Schwarz? Or that Marilyn Monroe was Norma Jean Baker and John Wayne was Marion Morris? But I digress.

I do apologize for the unflattering caricatures of Ella and Louie in the video clip. I do not apologize, however, for the music.

Speaking of a celebrated dance duet on roller skates, here are the one and only Fred and Ginger (1:01). At least this time Ginger didn’t have to do everything backwards and in high heels. Here they are in a more traditional role without the wheels (2:27).

It’s Musical Monday

...so I’m taking a little survey.

1. Which version of “P.S., I Love You” do you prefer:
....A. This one by Mel (The Velvet Fog) Torme (2:48) or
....B. This one by Billie Holiday (3:36)? Why?

2. Which version of “Someone to Watch Over Me” do you prefer:
....A. This one by Ella Fitzgerald (4:33) or
....B. This one by Amy Winehouse (4:37)? Why?

3. Which version of “Good Night, Irene” do you prefer:
....A. This one by Eric Clapton and friends (4:01),
....B. This one by Willie Nelson and friends (2:35), or
....C. This one by Johnny Cash (2:42)? Why?

4. Who do you think was higher during the making of the videos in question #3, Eric Clapton or Willie Nelson? On what substance? Audiences count.

5. Rank all seven artists from 1 to 7, with 1 being the artist you like most and 7 being the artist you like least.

It is against the rules to say you don’t like any of the artists.

Also, for your information, there is no such thing as Musical Monday. I made it up. Blogworld does have a Sepia Saturday and a Wordless Wednesday, though. No, I don’t know why. I have yet to find a Meatless Tuesday, but I keep looking.

If enough people like this little survey, we may do another one sometime.

HOLD THE PRESSES! I found Meatless Tuesday. Not my cup of tea. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

’Round Blogland

Every once in a while, whilst kayaking through Blogland, I find something I want to share with you. For example, for a good time, call 706-555-9372 and ask for Stella click on any of the items in blue below:

1. Direct from Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, here are some new ways of looking at the world. Literally.

2. The Bob B. who wrote this email isn’t me. I don’t care where you get your oil changed. But if I ever do become Putz’s twin, this is probably the way the transformation will begin.

3. Here’s the Swanson Pyramid of Greatness, and unless you have 20/15 vision like my amazing daughter who can read signs a mile away (I’m exaggerating only slightly), you will definitely have to click on the pyramid to read it.

4. Read this one only if you absolutely LOOOVVVE baseball (Reamus, this means you) or heartwarming stories involving several members of one family who play the same sport.

5. I really enjoy fiction in the form of a good short story and here’s one I enjoyed more than usual. To my way of thinking, a good short story is one that makes me wish it were not fiction.

6. Try as I might, I could not find a video clip called “ ’Round Blogland” to insert here. However, I did find “ ’Round Midnight” with Ella Fitzgerald doing the lyrics (3:17) and if that is not “pure jazz” enough for you, here is Thelonious Monk, the composer of “ ’Round Midnight,” giving us his wordless version on the piano (2:59). On this Fourth of July, you won’t get any freer than that.

I guess that’s enough kayaking for one post.

Lets be very careful out there

In a copyrighted article dated January 31, 2009, the Associated Press has exposed the soft underbelly of the current state of the English language in, of all places, England.

The French have their Académie française to keep the linguistic wolves at bay and supposedly protect their precious language from all enemies, foreign and domestic, but English, alas, has no such Maginot Line to fall back on. People are free to do whatever they jolly well please to the English language. And in Birmingham, England, my friends, they have done it, reaching a new high in absurdity.

I direct your attention to the article, “Its a catastrophe for the apostrophe in Britain” by writer Meera Selver.

I hardly know what to say. We could, as Cole Porter did not write and Ella Fitzgerald did not sing, say, “Its delightful, its delicious, its delectable, its delirious, its dilemma, its de limit, its deluxe, its de-lovely!”

Or we could, as Cole Porter also did not write and Ella Fitzgerald did not sing, say, “Lets call the whole thing off.”

Or, if you think those responses are a bit extreme, we could just try to remember what Sergeant Phil Esterhaus did not tell us every week on Hill Street Blues back in the eighties: “Lets be very careful out there.”