Tony Bennett: The Beat of My Heart
Born and raised in the Queens area of New York to an Italian-American family, Anthony Dominick Benedetto, better known professionally as “Tony Bennett” truly has nothing left to prove. He’s now 95 years old, fighting Alzheimer’s, but not allowing this disease to keep him from living. Bennett started singing at a very young age. By …
Top Ten Christmas Movies, Which is Your Favorite?
Any list of “Top 10 Christmas Movies” tends to be subject to both cheers and derision as these compilations are inevitably driven by the reader (or writer’s) tastes. This one’s no different. I chose movies that I felt best portrayed the true meaning of Christmas, in one way or another. I didn’t put these together …
Rick Springfield: Hard To Hold
Rick Springfield (nee Richard Lewis Springthorpe) was born in South Wentworthville, a suburb of Sydney, Australia to a career Australian army officer and his wife. He grew up in Australia and England and was bitten by the music bug early on. He learned guitar at age 13, saw the Beatles at age 14, and his …
Fictional Band Movies: Retro Review of Velvet Goldmine and Still Crazy
What do the rock movies Velvet Goldmine and Still Crazy have in common, other than great music? Both are British in nature, both are heavily music oriented, and both are fictional… Or are they? Velvet Goldmine Velvet Goldmine is primarily about androgenous glam rock icon Brian Slade, who sets 1970s London on fire with his …
Temporary Insanity: The Strange Death of Ray Vitte
Inspiration comes from many places, but in this case, I was inspired in the identical fashion of my last offering about the eerie similarities of the suicide scene of the group Boston’s Brad Delp and a fictional suicide from the television show Twin Peaks. If you haven’t read it, give it a read as it comes highly recommended, …
The Beatles A Hard Day’s Night: Retro Movie Review
Over five decades after its release, The Beatles A Hard Days Night Movie has aged very well, and is not dated; it stands outside its time, its genre, and even rock music. It is one of the great life-affirming landmarks of musical movies. When it opened in September 1964, many critics attended the viewing, prepared …
Smashing Pumpkins: From 1979 and Beyond
Alt-Rock band, The Smashing Pumpkins were formed in 1988 in Chicago by front man, Billy Corgan, along with D’Arcy Wretzky (bass), James Iha (guitar), and Jimmy Chamberlin (drums). While the lineup has changed over the years, the current one is Corgan, Chamberlin, Iha and guitarist Jeff Schroeder. Disavowing the punk rock roots of many of …