Phew, what a week last week was, but as the song says, 'that was the week that was, it's over let it go'. So, last night I did in grand style at the wonderful Bridgewater Hall, in central Manchester, home of the Halle Orchestra. Last night was one of their famous Halle Pops evenings - Puttin' on the Ritz: A tribute to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. To put not to fine an edge on it - I was in my element....
This is, without a doubt, one of the most remarkable dance routines in history! Fayard Nicholas, (on the left in this video) with his brother Harold, wowed the world with their incredibly athletic and original form of rhythmic tap dancing. They and inspired generations of dancers, from Fred Astaire to Mikael Barishnikov to Savion Glover, and Michael Jackson. He died, in 2006, at age 91 -- deep in debt...
Heeeey Mr Blog. What an awesome night last night was!!! My brother's band had their first show in Glasgow at the Barrowlands 2, so they took a chance and put on a bus! I decided to go along on the bus as well... which turned out to be a good plan because all the trains to Glasgow from Livi got cancelled! This was the first time I'd ever gotten a coach to an out of town gig before and it was actually...
Hollywood legend holds that when a film executive watched Fred Astaire's first screen-test, his assessment was grim: "Balding. Can't sing. Dances a little."
On Wednesday, prolific songwriter and singer Johnny Mercer would have turned 100. In his lifetime, he worked with more than 200 collaborators and churned out lyrics for more than 1,500 songs for both Broadway and the silver screen, which were made famous by stars like Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire and Louis Armstrong.
Camilla Dallerup has said what the rest of us were thinking, ITV are giving Katie Price way too much camera time. The Danish dancer walked out of the jungle yesterday and said that so many funny and interesting moments aren’t being aired by ITV, due to a bias towards glamour model, Katie Price. “I feel sorry for [...]
I was feeling a little guilty after that whole "ohhh I love Gene Kelly, he's the dancing man for me" debacle, so I'm here to re-claim my love for Fred Astaire and convince everyone else of it, too. Born in 1899, Fred began working a show business at the age of 5 with his older sister Adele. His first screen test noted, "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Dances a little." Honestly,...
This evening we went to the George & Dragon in Thames Ditton to see the John Barnes quartet, but John was absent so the musicians were Terry Ede (tenor sax, Soprano sax, clarinet and flute, pictured), Alan Berry (keyboard, pictured), Mick Durelle (string bass) and Don Cook (drums). Jim Trimmer (vocals, pictured) joined the band for two numbers. The numbers we enjoyed most were: 1) Recado , about...
Cyd Charisse (March 8, 1922 – June 17, 2008) : After recovering from polio as a child, and studying ballet, Charisse entered films in the 1940s. Her roles usually focussed on her abilities as a dancer, and she was paired with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly; her films include Singin' in the Rain (1952), The Band Wagon (1953) and Silk Stockings (1957). Last year I did a post on Charisse . Sadly she...
Leslie Claire Margaret Caron (born 1 July 1931) : Caron is best known for the musical films Gigi, Lili, An American in Paris, and Daddy Long Legs, and for the non-musical films The L-Shaped Room, Father Goose, and Fanny. She received two Academy Award nominations for Best Actress. She speaks French and English. She is one of the few dancers or actresses that can say they have danced with Gene Kelly,...
On Saturday 21st November I am back with Kim Criswell and John Wilson conducting the Halle Orchestra for “Puttin on the Ritz” a music celebration of the great Fred Astaire. Come along and see us if you can. More details on the Diary page.
Disaster Week: IGN's Disaster Movie ShowcaseWith the end of the world epic 2012 set to open this coming Friday, IGN Movies is spotlighting other star-studded, epic disaster movies. We picked 10 films using the following criteria: 1) the films must have only cosmic or natural disasters (i.e. no invading aliens, plague outbreaks or man-made acts); 2) the disaster, impending or actual, has to be the entire...
Download Thing Below, The in DVD, DivX, PDA quality! Genres: Thriller Countries: Canada Actors: Warlock, Billy Capt. Jack Griffin Runte, Kurt Max Crank Wowchowski Lough Haggquist, Catherine Anna Davis Graham-Gaudreau, Peter Dean Rieser Christie, Warren Cassidy Hunter, Kiara Mel Rogers Richmond-Peck, David Bobby Gibbons Lawrence, Colin Dixon Thorburn, Jim Cole Griffin Bruhnanski, Craig Captain Mark...
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