Links beyond this blog have been known to expire, sometimes rather quickly. I wish things weren't this way (but they are). I will do what I can to choose wisely (but don't say you weren't warned). Click away!
Boston's jazz community lost a beloved fixture this week as WBUR jazz radio host and trombonist Tony Cennamo passed away at age 76.
My memories of T.C. were mostly his overnights in the late 80s. The acerbic asides, championing of working musicians, and his distaste of fanfare. One of a kind.
This blog has just hit 200,000 page views since its creation in mid-2005.
For me, it seems like both a colossal figure and, well, not very much for 4 and a half years of posting. Expressed in Uraguayan pesos it doesn't seem like much either; just ask Pedro Figari (the guy on the bill). And then when you consider how many of this blog's visitors were just trolling for free images ... um, hey, has anybody been to any good concerts lately?
Guarneri String Quartet publicity photo (Soyer is on far right)
David Soyer, the founding cellist of the Guarneri String Quartet, which was formed in 1964 at Vermont's famed Marlboro Music Festival, died Feb. 24 at his home in Manhattan. He had turned 87 on Feb. 23.
Mr. Soyer performed with the Guarneri String Quartet in concerts presented by the Celebrity Series of Boston on 38 occasions from 1967 to 2001, the year he retired from the group.
English singer John Reed in the 1966 D’Oyly Carte Opera Company production of The Mikado
English character dancer, actor and baritone, John Reed, who delighted generations in Gilbert & Sullivan’s D’Oyly Carte operettas, died on February 13, his 94th birthday. He is survived by his partner of 52 years, Nicholas Kerri.
Mr. Reed was born in County Durham, England, in 1916.
He joined D’Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1951 as a comic understudy. He
became principal comic baritone in 1959, where he performed and recorded
all the major roles in his fach, including Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S.
Pinafore, Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance,
Ko-Ko in The Mikado (his favorite), the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe,
and John Wellington Wells in The Sorcerer. He also directed
and appeared with other companies.
Mr. Reed appeared on the Celebrity Series of Boston season 3 times as a member of D’Oyly Carte Opera Company, in 1962 at The Shubert Theatre and in 1966, and '68 at The Savoy Theatre.
According to the A) viral marketing materials designed by Google to get me to promote Google for Google, or B) nice letter from the good folks at Google, this blog is A) a Favorite Place on Google found by over 14,000 people between July 1 and September 30, with 1186 people requesting driving directions or other info about Aisle Be Seeing You, B) a small business, or C) a good target for Google marketers because, "this guy will post anything, including stickers."
Seriously, I would like to thank all 14,245 of you for checking in. And thanks for the sticker, Google!
Liam Clancy sings Carrickfergus from The Clancy Brothers 1984 reunion tour with Tommy Makem
Folk singer Liam Clancy, the last surviving member of the renowned Irish group The Clancy Brothers, has died at 74 in County Cork.
The Celebrity Series presented Liam Clancy as a member of The Clancy Brothers in 1985, when the group kicked off its reunion tour at Symphony Hall. Liam was quoted by the Boston Herald at the time as saying, "I think it's quite appropriate it starts at Symphony, considering we were banned from there once. The fans were too wild for them, bringing six-packs onto the stage and all. This was back in 1965. They're older and a bit better behaved nowadays."
In the same interview, the youngest Clancy brother also said, "In London and New York we were amazed at the audiences - people were reliving something that we had never realized was that important to them."
According to the Boston Globe, "The loudest ovations [at the 1985 concert] greeted Liam's soulful rendition of the beautiful ballad Carrickfergus."