George Jones, 1931-2013

Interesting that Nelly Furtado also sang this song.  I don't like her version, I guess because I'd always been a fan of her early song, "I'm Like a Bird," 2000.  Furtado, a Canadian, is a pop singer, but has tones like the British blue-eyed soul singer, Amy Winehouse, 1983-2011, who I liked.  

Find some biographies of George Jones.

"The Cold Hard Truth," George Jones, 1999. 

"Corvette Song," George Jones, 1985.

"White Lightning," 1959. 

"A Wound Time Can't Erase," George Jones, 1962.

"He Stopped Loving Her Today," George Jones, 1979. 

"Still Doin' Time," George Jones, 1981.

With Tammy Wynette, 1942-1998, "Milwaukee Here I Come," 1968.

"Stand by Your Many," Tammy Wynette, 1968.  One of Mrs. Parker's favorites.  

El Encanto

There are certain images that are so iconic to my upbringing that when I'm in their vicinity, I'm reminded what a happy youth I had growing up in Duarte and running up into and along the San Gabriel Foothills (Fish Canyon Falls, Van Tassel, Rincon, East & West Fork, & Crystal Lake) and the riverbed and the SG Canyon or Hwy 39 hiking & fishing. That was a great, adventurous, life explored with great friends and family.  

This park wasn't always a park with Duarte's Museum.  It was an empty field when we were kids.  And, in fact, there's one memory that stands out when Tom and Joe were walking along El Encanto Parkway, parallel to the field, when they came across a dead body.  So this field has a history that the new immigrants to the area would be shocked by.

John Facenda, 1913-1984, Narrator of NFL Films, 1967-1976

John Facenda, 1913-1984, narrator of NFL Films from 1966-1984, my absolute favorite show to watch and voice to listen to as a kid.  https://youtu.be/avUmLeoLubU?si=NKuy6DGn8o1vV5LA.  

 

More John Facenda.

Drawing a mouth using 3 circles

Drawing a mouth using 3 circles

📹 ylanastart
pic.twitter.com/RU06hD9vvG

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) January 18, 2024

Soile Isokoski "Var det en drom?" (Was it a dream)?

One of the most beautiful orchestral songs ever composed. Happy New Year!  https://t.co/W40jXmuzec pic.twitter.com/JPctJLI0V8

— Walter M Chesnut (@Parsifaler) January 2, 2024

5 Songs, OP 37 (arrangement N. Fougstedt and J. Jalas): No. 4. Var det en drom?  (Was it a dream)?  Luonnotar Orchestral Songs, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Conductor, Leif Segerstam.

Yes, Walter may be absolutely correct in that assessment, that this is one of the most beautiful orchestral songs ever composed.  But still, I think that Victoria de Los Angeles' aria, "Si, mi chiamano, Mimi," (Yes, they call me Mimi) in La Boheme [composed by Puccini in 1893 and based on the 1851 novel, Scenes of Bohemian Life, famously conducted by  Toscanini in 1896] is the most beautiful.  Here is the aria, and the lilting beauty occurs at the 3:30 mark.  

Another famous aria from La Bohme is "Quando m'en vo" also known as "Musetta's Waltz."  I like Ramon Vargas' rendition.  It is hard to surpass Rene Fleming's soprano beauty.

Here is the full opera.  

Renee Fleming

This is from Marta, Act 2: Last Rose of Summer, 1847.  It's beautiful.  "Letzte Rose (The Last Rose of Summer)" (Qui sola vergin rosa) (Harriet, later with Lyonel). 

There are 8 notable pieces from the opera, Marta.

Noted arias, duets, ensembles

• "Ach! so fromm, ach! so traut (M'apparì tutt'amor," (Lyonel)  "Ah! so pious, ah! so daring (M'apparì tutt'amor)" (Lyonel)
• "Blickt sein Aug" (Harriet and Lyonel).  "Behold his eye."
• "Lasst mich euch fragen (Porter-Lied)" Drinking Song (Plunkett)
• "Letzte Rose (The Last Rose of Summer)" (Qui sola vergin rosa) (Harriet, later with Lyonel)
• "Mag der Himmel Euch vergeben" (Lyonel's Prayer)
• "Schlafe wohl! Und mag Dich reuen" (Good Night Quartet)
• "Was soll ich dazu sagen?" (Spinning-Wheel Quartet)
• "Povero Lionello... Il mio Lionel" (Added by Flotow for baritone Graziani's Plunkett, solely in the Italian version)

O, Holy Night.  Probably the best version I've heard of it.

The Plaza Church on Main Street across from the Plaza and Olvera Street, 1925

 

Circa 1925 The Plaza Church on Main Street across from the Plaza and Olvera Street.  Behind the streetcar is the Hotel Pacific, the office of Philip Morici & Company, "Agencia Italiana," and the grocery store of Giovanni Piume, who also made wine (Piuma Road in Malibu was named for him.)  The area north of the Plaza was at this time an Italian neighborhood.

What impressed me about this photo is the caption that says that the area north of the Plaza was at this time an Italian neighborhood and that got me to thinking about the different Italian businesses over there, like Little Joe's, San Antonio Winery, and the the Italian neighborhoods over by Lincoln High School.  I had an Italian lunch one time with Dad at the San Antonio Winery.  The tables were decorated with checkered red-and-white cloth, and a candle in a Chianti bottle.  Dean Martin's "That's Amore" was playing, and I got to enjoy an exclusive hour with my father, one of the few members of the family who enjoyed talking about the past to give me a glimpse of his times, as he put it, the best days.