My Year End Wrap Up 2012

Another year has slipped away, and here I sit, reflecting back on what entertained me in 2012.  I always start my wrap up by going back to the beginning of the year, to see how my interests have changed.  I began the year dividing my time between British stuff and vintage television shows…and that’s exactly where I find myself now.  Only the faces have changed!

Best Books:  Might as well get the embarrassment out of the way first.  Normally I read a couple of books a week, but I went 8 months out of the last 12 without finishing a single book!  Oh, the shame.  I could blame my eyes, since I need new glasses, but the real truth is that I spend too much time online.  Making videos has also sucked up my reading time, but that’s for another category.  Of the small selection of books read this year, I really enjoyed Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt, Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth, and Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim.  (More about Arngrim’s book in an upcoming post.)  The biggest disappointment was Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James.

Best Television:  My television is usually always tuned to either Me-TV or CBS, except on Sunday night, when I watch Masterpiece on PBS.  I still enjoy The Big Bang Theory, but I do think it’s losing something from having too many separate storylines, with the characters spending less time gathered in the same living room.  More characters means less screen time for favorites Sheldon and Raj.  I discovered Leverage in reruns just as the show got cancelled, but at least I have five seasons to explore further.  Since September, I’ve been enjoying reruns of Emergency! on Me-TV.  Another season of Sherlock brought more delight, as well as more Inspector Lewis.  Thanks to a friend, I’m now back to enjoying EastEnders, the British serial drama, and already my life wouldn’t be complete without weekly visits to Albert Square.   This year’s favorite program was Call the Midwife, featuring new favorite Miranda Hart as the wonderful Chummy.  I can’t wait for more of this series!

Best Twitter:   I’m very picky about twitter.  Too much shameless self-promotion?  Unfollow.   Too many retweets?  Unfollow.   Too many conversations that should be private?  Unfollow.  No sense of humor?  I shouldn’t have been following in the first place!  I enjoy humor, whimsy,  and folks who don’t take themselves too seriously.   The most consistently entertaining tweets this year have come from Josh Groban.  I’ve also enjoyed following Russell Tovey.  I can count on a friend to share the best of Demetri Martin and The Onion, so I guess they count, too!

Best Theatre:  Oops.  Didn’t see any.  Never mind.

Best Movies:   I had good luck with the movies I saw in the cinema this year.  Mind you, I still haven’t seen three of the four films I was most looking forward to in 2012, so they will have to wait until 2013!  The Avengers was terrific, and I also enjoyed Life of Pi.  The Dark Knight Rises wasn’t a favorite, but Tom Conti and Joseph Gordon-Levitt made it worthwhile for me.   I saw my first 3D movie, John Carter, but I’m not a fan of the technology.  It was a great year for silents: Napoleon was stunning, and I also saw three films at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, with The Canadian (1926) making the deepest impression.   Shah Rukh Khan’s Jab Tak Hai Jaan had an entertaining beginning and middle, but I was disappointed by the third act.  The best new film I saw in 2012 was Argo.

Best DVDs:  I spent six months of this year with Wagon Train at the top of my Netflix queue.  They never sent me any on the discs, and my queue always said “short wait.”  I could have bought the DVDs for the money I spent on my Netflix plan, especially since I wasn’t watching the discs they sent me instead.  I cancelled my account.   This means I can’t go look at my history for this year to review, but this an easy category.  The best DVDs of my year have been the classic television western Laramie, particularly seasons one and two.  When I’m not watching the episodes again and again, I’m making tribute videos and posting them on YouTube.  I now have more YouTube followers than blog followers!   Which leads me to a new category…

Best Time-Sucker-Upper:  Call it a hobby, a passion, an obsession, a skill or an art.  But this year I started making videos, and now I can’t stop.  I’d been making slideshows using still images at animoto.com, and this summer I tried using their template program for short video clips.  It was okay, but I didn’t like their wide border which wasted space, so it forced me to try Windows Movie Maker.  I had no idea it would be so much fun!  My Laramie tribute videos aren’t very interesting to people who aren’t fans of the series, but I’m proud of my channel and grateful for all my followers.

Best Music:  Mostly I’ve listened to older stuff this year.  When Davy Jones died, I started listening to lots of the Monkees.  I love Gaelic Storm’s album How Are We Getting Home? (2004), discovered in a stack of my own CDs that I never got around to hearing.  I’m definitely going to listen to more of this group in 2013.  I’ve also been enjoying lots of Kate Rusby.  One of my favorite new old songs is “Can’t Turn My Heart Away” by Art Garfunkel.  I’m still enjoying The Book of Mormon Broadway soundtrack, but I learned the hard way not to listen to it in public.  Even with earphones, you look like a nutter snickering at the lyrics.

Best Music Video:  My choices are never conventional, but that’s what you get for taking musical advice from me!   Here’s my favorite:

Never mind that it was uploaded in 2008.  It’s still the most adorable video I’ve seen on YouTube this year!  If you don’t know it, this is India’s national anthem.

Best New-To-Me Software:   Handbrake for ripping DVDs, and Google Talk for saving me a fortune on phone bills.  I chat now with friends around the world, without the complications of installing Skype, and no webcam to show everyone how hideous I look through a fisheye lens.

Entertainer of the Year:  Honorable Mention this year goes to Miranda Hart.  I discovered her in Call the Midwife, and now I’m enjoying her comedy on YouTube and her BBC series Miranda.  The winner is an easy choice.  In April, I purchased season one of Laramie on DVD, and by the end of May, I was a member of Robert Fuller’s official fan group.  While my favorite role is Jess Harper in Laramie, I’ve been enjoying Wagon Train, Emergency!, and all of Fuller’s other television shows and movies.   I’ve spent hours chatting with other fans, making tribute videos and collages, and searching ebay for vintage photos.  For so much entertainment in so many different ways, Robert Fuller is my Entertainer of the Year.  Thank you, Mr. Fuller!

Robert Fuller in Laramie

Remembering Don Grady

Don Grady has passed away at the age of 68.  I woke to the news this morning when I visited facebook.  I grew up watching My Three Sons, became obsessed with The Mickey Mouse Club in reruns in the early 70s, and watched Grady in his guest roles on The Rifleman just this year.

Born in San Francisco (or San Diego, since different sites disagree) on June 8, 1944, Grady was a musical prodigy.  He was a third season mouseketeer on The Mickey Mouse Club.  After that, he had guest roles on shows like The Rifleman (in the episodes Heller and The Patsy) and Wagon Train.  He was almost signed for the part of Andy Sherman on the western series Laramie, but the role went instead to Robert Crawford Jr.  (More about this here.)  Grady was then cast in My Three Sons, which ran from 1960-1971.

Many younger viewers of My Three Sons thought Grady’s Robbie was the oldest son, because we never got to see the black and white seasons in syndication.  Tim Considine (Mike) was actually the oldest, but he left the show—er, went off to college.  Not enough sons?  Okay, let’s adopt Ernie.  How convenient that he looks an awful lot like Chip.  (Barry and Stanley Livingston are real life brothers.)   The series ran for so long, Grady’s character got married and had three sons of his own—triplets, no less.  I went to elementary school in San Diego for one year with those triplets.  Well, one set of them, anyway.  Don’t ask me if they were the Swansons or the Todds!  It was too long ago.  We weren’t in the same grade, but the kids were always talking about them.

Grady was in a band that had a hit called The Yellow Balloon in 1967.  That’s the name of the band and the song.  He went on to have a long, successful career as a composer.  His death yesterday from cancer has shocked and saddened his many friends and fans.  RIP, Don Grady.

Don Grady in The Rifleman (The Patsy, season 2)

Don Grady in The Rifleman (The Patsy, season 2)

The Yellow Balloon (1967) Don Grady is in the wig and sunglasses.

Aztec Camera: Somewhere in My Heart

This is especially for Kevin!  We were reminiscing about 80s songs, and I told him how much I love this one.  He looked blank and said “File not found!  I don’t remember that.”  I’m sure it was my off-key singing, not his memory.  I spent the summer of 1988 in England, and this was my favorite song all summer long.  One of my jobs was spending six miserable weeks as an au pair.  I had four minutes of happiness whenever the baby and I danced around the room with this blasting on the tape deck.  Thanks, Roddy Frame!

Happy Birthday, Hadley Fraser (2012)

Today is Hadley Fraser’s birthday.  Currently playing Javert in Les Misérables, this West End performer is about to take a quick break from the stage to appear in the movie version of Les Mis.  (He’s playing the army officer who calls out to the student revolutionaries, “You at the barricades, listen to this!  No one is coming to help you to fight!” and all that.)   My friend and guest blogger extraordinaire, Scolytinae, has written this fine tribute to Mr. Fraser, in honor of his special day:

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Happy Birthday, Hadley – the Metal Monkey

According to the Chinese, people born under the Year of the Monkey are good at mastering anything they put their hands to and are highly successful. Those born during the period of the Metal Monkey are motivated by constancy, are self reliant and stylish, and have a good memory. Quite an accurate description of the lovely Mr. Hadley Fraser, who is, by anyone’s standards, having an amazing year.  From a triumphant return to the West End in Les Misérables, the show that marked his professional debut 10 years ago, to a stunning performance in The Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary, Hadley hasn’t stopped working.  He has filming for the Les Misérables movie still to come next month.  But it’s not been all high profile public performances. In his quiet and unassuming manner, Hadley has also lent his support to charity by taking part in Les Mis Gives, performed shows and cabarets alongside friends and colleagues and, most recently, lent his magnificent voice to the concept album for the prospective new musical The In-Between by new young writer Laura Tisdall—all fitted round a demanding 8 show a week schedule as Inspector Javert, without fuss or fanfares.

He may disagree, but I feel he lives and breathes music in all its many and varied forms. Yes he can (and does) belt out a West End show stopper onstage, but just listen to him perform some of his own beautiful compositions for Sheytoons, or deliver the beautiful ballads of friend Scott Alan, and you begin to appreciate the depth of talent he has. Acting, singing, arranging, writing—he seems to epitomise that monkey by indeed mastering anything he puts his hand to.

As his year in the West End nears its end—his last performance is on 16th June 2012—I can’t help but wonder, what’s next for Hadley? Whatever it may be, rest assured he will have an army of dedicated fans wishing him all the best as he embarks on the next phase of an amazing career.

So it’s with the greatest of pleasure that I say “Thank you” and “Happy Birthday, Mr Fraser!”  Enjoy your day, because you certainly deserve the very best that life has to offer.

Thank you, Scolytinae, I couldn’t have said it more eloquently.  I too wish Hadley Fraser a great birthday.  May the cake flow, and save me slice of champagne!  (Perhaps we shouldn’t have started celebrating so early…)

Ramin Karimloo’s “Thank You” Gig

Helsbrownie was one of the lucky few chosen to attend Ramin Karimloo’s special performance last night.  150 fans were invited to an intimate show as a way of thanking them for their loyalty and patience, since the release date of his new CD has been delayed more than once.  Here is her exclusive report:

You don’t get much for free these days, so when someone offers you something for nothing, I find it best to grab it with both hands.  On that basis, Monday night found me in a hot and sweaty basement bar near Oxford Street awaiting Ramin Karimloo’s “thank you” gig.

My verdict: anyone heading to the upcoming tour is in for a real treat.  We heard a few songs from the album including Constant Angel and Coming Home as well as a new composition, tentatively titled Here I Go, which has a Sheytoons-esque feel.  I was thrilled to hear some Sheytoons material which I hadn’t been expecting, given Hadley Fraser’s absence. But the highlights for me were the covers.  Everyone went mad for Raining in Baltimore by the Counting Crows, but my personal favourite ended the night: Green Day—Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).  The song suits Ramin’s voice beautifully, with a little country music addition in the middle by one of his guitarists.  Ramin stayed away from any musical theatre numbers, which was the right choice as they wouldn’t really have suited the venue, although Bring Him Home would have been stunning in the intimate space.

I think Ramin’s voice is incredible.  His ability to adapt to different musical styles effortlessly puts him in a class above other performers who try to vary their repertoire.  He is a performer comfortable in his own skin and clearly has a genuine relationship with his band, thus creating a lovely atmosphere for the audience.  There was an awful lot of talent on the stage—the band included two guitarists, keyboard, percussion, two violins and a cello, as well as Ramin varying between guitar, banjo and keyboard.  I very much hope some, if not all, are joining him on tour.

Ramin had asked that no-one record the gig (not that this stopped at least one disrespectful guy) and instead passed round his own video camera.  It is definitely worth keeping an eye out for that official footage to appear, once he has edited it.

Overall, I was very impressed by Ramin’s performance and his general attitude.  While he clearly used the gig as a rehearsal for his upcoming tours, he was generous not to charge for entry and he obviously spent a lot of time organising it—he had to send around 150 individual emails to those of us attending.  Most impressively, at the end, he stood at the door and said goodbye to everyone individually—like a line-up at a wedding!  When I approached, he knew my name (I cannot understand how) and seemed genuinely keen to know if I’d enjoyed the gig. Suffice to say I left on a high, both from that meeting and from the music.

Roll on the tour!

Thank you, helsbrownie!   We’re grateful to you for sharing your experience, not to mention envious of your good fortune!

It Was Twenty Years Ago Today…

Well, maybe not exactly today, but this month anyway.  The lyrics from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band keep going through my head, as I think about the band I “joined” 20 year ago.  I had only been living in San Francisco for about a year when I went to an open mike night at a cafe on Haight Street.  One of the acts was a new band called New Grass Spirits.  I took some photographs, began following them, and before I knew it, I was living with some of them in a cramped apartment.  I became their “official photographer,” because I’m not musical and how else could I join a band?  The group broke up and re-formed more than once, changed their name to Straw Coyotes, and kept adding new members.   Everybody went their separate ways after a couple of intense years.   I have some amazing memories and a big box of fun photographs.  Here’s one of my favorites.

New Grass Spirits, San Francisco, 1992 (click to see sharper image)

Happy Anniversary, Kirk, Adam, Dhaivyd, Deana, and Kwame!

Sweepin’ The Clouds Away

I’ve been listening to my Johnny Crawford Orchestra CD, Sweepin’ The Clouds Away, an album of vintage dance band arrangements from the 20s and 30s.  I decided to learn more about the bands and orchestra leaders that Johnny Crawford mentions on his facebook page, since I’d never heard of most of them.  I love the old photographs from that era, so I was inspired to put together this little video.  It’s much better viewed at YouTube, in full screen mode.

 

Merrell Jackson

When I was a teenager doing theatre in high school, a friend introduced me to the musical Godspell.  We listened to the LP record of the Broadway production and watched the 1973 movie on TV.  Years later, I got the movie on tape and then replaced it with a DVD.  Even though it’s not a perfect musical or movie, it has a special place in my heart.  Since 2001, the movie has had an added poignancy, since part of a dance number (All For The Best) was filmed on the roof of one of the Twin Towers.  The building was still under construction at the time.

I spent years wondering what happened to my favorite cast member, Merrell Jackson.  Eventually, the internet provided me with the heartbreaking answer.  Merrell Jackson died in 1991 at the age of 38.  I don’t know any details, and even his tribute site has little biographical information.  Godspell was Jackson’s only movie, but it’s enough.  Every time I watch his performance, I can’t help falling in love with him all over again.  With his big hair, lean frame, beautiful voice, and a smile that’s both shy and winning, Jackson lights up the screen.  He was the youngest member of the cast of ten, but he wasn’t the first one to pass away.  Jeffrey Mylett died in 1986, and since Jackson’s death, both David Haskell and Lynne Thigpen have left us.

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The DVD of Godspell from 2000 could use a quality upgrade, and the “widescreen” side is not truly widescreen; it simply zooms in and chops off the bottom portion of the image to create a wide picture.  I don’t know if the streaming version through Amazon is any better.  I almost overlooked the mp3 download of Merrell Jackson singing All Good Gifts at Amazon, because it is bundled together with the original Broadway soundtrack under the title Godspell (The 40th Anniversary Celebration).   I’m happy to be listening to this song now, as I remember Merrell Jackson.

Celebrities in the Workplace

I’ve been doing a series of posts about my “stage door encounters,” describing some of the actors I’ve met after seeing them perform.  There’s another kind of celebrity encounter that I haven’t touched on.  Sometimes famous people have come to me.  Well, really to the places where I’ve worked.

My autographed tour tag

I spent two years working at Sea World in San Diego as a tour guide.  It was a great job for a college student, because we got to be around the animals every day, plus we got lots of exercise and sunshine.  Of course, the park was open in every kind of weather, so there were some miserable days, too.  A regular question asked by park guests: What happens at Sea World when it rains?  My standard reply: The marine mammals get wet.  So do the employees.  One of the perks of being a tour guide was the occasional “VIP tour,” when a famous visitor requested a private tour.  I never got to give one of these, but one of my co-workers escorted Steven Spielberg, Richard Dreyfuss and both their families.  I got to see Mikhail Baryshnikov from a distance when he came to swim with the pilot whales, but I had already seen him close up backstage earlier that week with the American Ballet Theatre (a story for another post).  Some of the famous people who came to Sea World didn’t want special treatment.  One day I was staffing the Tour Guide Desk, where we signed people up for our 90 minute tours.  Only a small fraction of park guests were willing to pay extra for a behind-the-scenes educational tour, and it was our job to describe the tour in appealing terms and schedule the guests to allow them to see all the shows and still fit in the tour.  A woman walked up to the desk to ask whether her young daughter would enjoy a tour.  She wasn’t wearing any makeup, and she looked quite ordinary, but she had a slight accent and seemed familiar.  It slowly dawned on me that she was Isabella Rossellini.  I asked her if she was an actress, and she said yes, but then she continued asking about the tour, letting me know that she didn’t want to be fussed over.  I signed her up on my next tour, and then I spent the 90 minutes trying not to stare or give away that she was a Somebody.  Just as we got to the best area, the Animal Care Department, she whispered that she was going to drop off.  Her daughter was a little too young and getting restless.  I convinced her that Animal Care was the last and best part, so she stuck it out.  At the end of the tour, everybody dashed off to see the Shamu show, but Ms. Rossellini was kind enough to autograph my tour tag.

I spent 10 years working in one-hour photos labs, getting out just before digital cameras and computers killed the industry.  I was subbing at a lab on posh Union Street, here in San Francisco, when a pleasant woman came in to pick up her film.  I gave her the pictures, rang her up, and then watched as she left in a big SUV.  When I turned to my co-workers, they were looking at me funny.  They asked me, what did you think?  I didn’t know what they were talking about.  They said, didn’t you notice the name on the order?  We usually only wrote last names, so I was still lost.  Anyway, I’d just helped Linda Blair.  That was when I learned to look at the customers as closely as I looked at their photographs.  We had a few other celebrity sightings on Union Street, including Kirstie Alley pushing a baby stroller.

My next job was working in various departments at a large San Francisco Virgin Megastore.  We had a number of special events with musicians, including a memorable one with The Cure. A certain number of wristbands were given out, and these guaranteed that folks would get to meet the band.  I was given the assignment of guarding the ground floor escalator from folks trying to slip past the line and get up to where the band was signing autographs.  I’m not big or tough, so I make a pretty bad bouncer.  A desperate young woman came up to me pleading, saying “I just have to get Robert Smith to bless my unborn baby!”  I pointed to the long line of people with wristbands, explaining that there were others who needed their babies blessed, too.  Later, the staff got to interact with the band members, but I couldn’t even name a song by The Cure.  I did take some photos.

The Cure (on right) with a Virgin store employee (far left)

The nicest musicians I met at Virgin were members of the Scottish band Travis.  They were just taking off in the States, and they were just so friendly and enthusiastic about everything.  Completely adorable, too.  You could tell they were having a great time, although Andy Dunlop was really quiet and might not have been feeling well that day.  I also enjoyed meeting Darren Hayes of Savage Garden, who came in as a customer when he was living in San Francisco.  I bumped into him outside the store and had a quick chat with him.  He was perfectly nice, but he had that wariness famous people get, looking around, hoping that others won’t recognize them.   It’s always best to act cool when this happens, like you’ve just met an old acquaintance.  If you jump up and down and start screaming, you’re not going to score any points.  I kept my cool, pretty much!

Travis: Dougie Payne, Neil Primrose, & Fran Healy

My next job was “interpretive naturalist” at a local aquarium.  That’s just a fancy term for a tour guide, really.  I staffed different areas of the aquarium, providing information and answering questions about the fish and sharks, helping guests to find the octopus.  One day, I got to point out the octopus to Scott Thompson of Kids in The Hall, visiting San Francisco with their touring stage show.  He was alone, so I didn’t get to meet the other guys.  One of our aquarium technicians came up to Thompson while I was still pointing out interesting fish, asking him if he worked at the aquarium.  The tech recognized him but didn’t know why.  I was desperately trying to signal that he was making a big blunder, but the guy was clueless.  Fortunately, Scott Thompson seemed more amused than offended.

It was at the aquarium that I had my most unpleasant celebrity encounter.  I won’t name names, but this famous actress was married to a local writer for several years.  She brought her young son to the aquarium, and I was staffing the elevator when they went down to the underwater tunnel area.  I was concerned about how serious the boy looked, so I told him he’d really enjoy the upcoming tunnels.  When I picked them up on the other side, I asked him if he was having fun yet.  His mother said, “He’s NOT here to entertain.”  Well, there’s nothing you can say to that!  I just shut up and dropped them off at the tide pools.  Soon after, I was chatting with one of my favorite actors from the 70s.  I asked him, who was the worst person you ever worked with?  He named this actress!  (I’m keeping back his name, too, since we were having a private conversation, not an interview.)

Next up: a whole bunch of actors, authors and musicians at Borders Books.

My Year End Wrap Up 2011

Another year comes to a close, so now it’s time to reflect back over what entertained me in 2011.  I just looked at the wrap up from last year, to get an idea of how far I’ve come in twelve months.  It’s clear that my focus has shifted in two directions.   I spent a large part of this year with my head in London, after watching the 25th anniversary concert of Les Misérables in March.  I also headed back to the past in a big way, once I started watching RetroTV and MeTV during a summer of unbearable television on the big networks.   These two obsessions have a major influence on my best and worst list of 2011.

Best Books:  Most of the novels I liked this year were written for children and teens.  I particularly enjoyed Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (the 2011 Newbery Award winner) and Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John.  Guitar Boy by MJ Auch and Countdown by Deborah Wiles weren’t perfect, but they each stayed with me long after reading.  My favorite non-fiction book was The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean, which managed to make the periodic table interesting to someone who barely paid attention to science in high school.  The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan was a little book filled with some gems, and it goes into the “hard to categorize” category.  The funniest books were Demitri Martin’s This is A Book, and Heads You Lose by Lisa Lutz & David Hayward.  The biggest disappointments were The Sherlockian by Graham Moore and The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz.  The lesson here is to give up on Sherlock Holmes in books and stick to the BBC.

Best Television:  The Big Bang Theory remains my favorite sitcom, just for being consistently funny.  The best line: “Let’s hurry up and watch this Star Wars blu-ray before George Lucas changes it again!” (Sorry for the paraphrase.)  NCIS consistently underwhelmed me, and I’m can’t help wondering if I’ll give up on it soon.  In spite of my declaration to boycott Masterpiece on PBS, I still watched and enjoyed Downton Abbey, Rufus Sewell as Aurelio Zen, Jason Isaac as Jackson Brodie, and the Inspector Lewis mysteries.  I spent my summer wrapped up in the old series Da Vinci’s Inquest, and my winter has been dominated by reruns of The Rifleman.  Overall, the television program with the biggest impact this year was the Les Mis concert on PBS.

Best Twitter:  Last year, Matthew Gray Gubler was my favorite tweeter.  He’s still whimsical and original, but now most of his tweets are links to his tumblr page.  I hate tumbr, so this is a big strike against him.  Sorry, Gube.  West End performer Hadley Fraser can be great on twitter, but he goes quiet for long stretches.  Ramin Karimloo tweets with sincerity, but all those tattoo photos freak me out!  Matt Lucas, Josh Groban and Yigit Pura have been consistently entertaining, and Shah Rukh Khan’s twitter feed has a good balance of the personal and professional.

Best Movies:  I did slightly better than last year getting out to see new films on the big screen.  I really enjoyed X-Men: First Class, The Descendants, and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.   I’m not sure The Phantom of The Opera 25th Anniversary simulcast even counts in this category!  At the Frameline Film Festival, I enjoyed Kawa and Spork.  I have many more late 2011 films to see on DVD when they’re released in 2012.

Best DVDs:  I watched a lot of bad DVDs this year, just because they featured actors that I liked.  I really need to get over this habit!  While not necessarily bad, I endured a lot of fighting and CGI in movies like Thor, Captain America, and Centurion, just so I could see actors Tom Hiddleston, Chris Hemsworth, JJ Feild, and Michael Fassbender.  I tried to watch all ten Best Picture Oscar nominees on DVD, but I faltered at 7½.  I did love The King’s Speech.  I hate to admit it, but I think my most entertaining DVD experience this year was re-watching JJ Abrams’ Star Trek with a friend.

Best Streaming:  Da Vinci’s Inquest and The Rifleman on hulu were great, even though I was also watching these series on broadcast television.  The worst: when Netflix split their charges for DVDs by mail versus streaming.  I tried a month of streaming only.  It was a disaster.  Nothing I wanted to watch would play without long pauses to reload.  Now that I’m getting DVDs only, the Netflix site doesn’t tell me what is available streaming only.  Netflix, you’ve got a long way to go before you win back my trust.  One free DVD rental for Christmas isn’t enough.

Best Theatre:  Les Mis and The Phantom of the Opera, obviously, even though I didn’t see either show live in an actual theatre.  I had some fun at San Francisco’s BATS Improv, especially seeing their Spontaneous Broadway.

Best Music:  I’ve spent most of my time listening to Josh Groban, Hadley Fraser, Sheytoons (Hadley Fraser and Ramin Karimloo), and Johnny Crawford.   Another favorite is the song Electricity from Billy Elliot (the stage musical).  Still, nothing beats Hadley Fraser singing Again.  The worst music this year?  Whatever was playing in the trailer for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.  Gack.

Best Music Video:  It really doesn’t count, but I can’t help it.  I love Josh Groban Sings Kanye West Tweets.

Best Entertainment News:  Following the news from London about West End performers from the Les Mis concert has entertained me at least as much as the concert itself.  It brought me new friendships with fellow fans from all over, and it kicked off the practice of having guest bloggers here at The Ugly Bug Ball.  If I’m blogging less about the West End, it’s only because things are pretty quiet right now.  2012 promises some guest reviews of Ramin Karimloo as Valjean.

Entertainer of The Year:  Last year was easy.  This year, it’s difficult to choose.  Johnny Crawford is great, but he came along late, at the end of November.  I blogged the most often about Hadley Fraser.  He provided me with a rich variety of entertainment, between the Les Mis and Phantom of the Opera performances, the online news and tweets, the music recordings and the YouTube videos.  Still, Ian Tracey beats Fraser out for sheer volume.  Tracey has been working steadily since he was a teenager, and even without an online presence (no tweets, fansites, or facebook page) he provided me with the most hours of entertainment.  I’m going to have to declare a tie between Hadley Fraser and Ian Tracey.  Congratulations, guys.  There’s no prize, but you get my sincere thanks.  I’m sorry I can’t promise you my exclusive loyalty, because there’s always going to be a Johnny-Come-Lately waiting in the wings!

Hadley Fraser as Grantaire in the Les Mis concert; Ian Tracey as Adam Worth in Sanctuary

Next: What I’m excited about in 2012.  Happy New Year, everyone!

Television Actors Who Sing

Every time I write about music here at The Ugly Bug Ball, I feel insecure.  I’ll confess to anyone who will listen that music is practically a foreign language to me.  You’ve been warned before, but here we go again!

I collect music performed by television actors.  I don’t do it on purpose.  It just sort of happens, but there’s no disputing the evidence.  It’s sitting right there on my shelf, a testament to either blind faith or questionable taste.   I have been happily surprised by some of albums I’ve purchased, disappointed by others.  Here’s a sample.

I’ve shared my affection for The Partridge Family in an earlier post.  This was the first album in my collection.  I usually start with a greatest hits compilation, and if I like it, I will then seek out other albums. I got this CD in 1990, and now it’s on my mp3 player.  I have most of The Partridge Family LP records, and I like to play them when I’m doing housework.  There’s nothing like a little bubblegum pop to make the work more fun.

I got this CD a few years back when Leif Garrett was in the news for his various problems with drugs.  I didn’t listen to his music in the 70s, unless he was performing a song as a guest star on a television series I happened to be watching.  My interest as a fan came earlier in his career, when he starred in a very short-lived 1975 series called Three For The Road.  It also starred Vincent Van Patten and Alex Rocco.  I was devastated when it was cancelled.  Some of the songs on this album aren’t awful, but there’s too much disco for me to listen regularly.

When Daniel Boone was finally released on DVD, Ed Ames quickly emerged as my favorite actor on the series.  I was curious about his recording career, so I bought this collection.  It’s now one of my favorites.  What a voice!

I’ve watched every episode of Starsky & Hutch on DVD, and I still tune in on RetroTV when there is only reality TV on the other channels.  David Soul’s Don’t Give Up On Us (Baby) was impossible to avoid in the 70s.  I hadn’t heard most of the other songs on this collection.  Some of them I like, some of them I don’t.  With mp3s, you can pick and choose when you add them to your computer and mp3 player.  That’s what I’ve done with this album.

I’ve been a fan of Sal Mineo since I was in junior high.  He is better known for his movie roles, but he did make many television appearances.  I didn’t know until recently that he had some recordings as a singer.  I have to confess, this is the least played album in my collection.  I don’t know if it’s me or the recordings, but I can’t recommend Sal the Singer.

We’re finally into the 21st century!  Last year, I started watching General Hospital to see Jonathan Jackson as Lucky Spencer.  I also started listening to his indie band, Enation.  World in Flight is still my favorite album by these guys.  It seems that every album they release is very different from the one before, making it hard to describe them with any accuracy.  I can recommend this one, and my favorite songs are still Everything is Possible and Permission to Dream.

And now we’re back to the early sixties.  There’s no hiding my current obsession!  Since getting into The Rifleman, I’ve been exploring the recordings of Johnny Crawford.  It took me a couple of listens to get used to the style from this era.  Now I’m hooked.  My favorite song is probably The Girl Next Door.

To stay current with Johnny Crawford, I have to go back to an even earlier era.  These days, the Johnny Crawford Dance Orchestra is based in Los Angeles, playing mostly at private functions and Hollywood events.  The music is vintage arrangements from the 20s and 30s.  This album (the only orchestra one so far) is available through Amazon, CD Baby, and iTunes.  I wasn’t sure I would like this as much as his teen recordings from the sixties, but I’m really enjoying these tunes, especially the title track.

So, that’s a little glimpse at my music collection.  Tell me about yours!  Got any television actors that I missed?

What I’m Thankful For

I’m stunned that Thanksgiving is here already, but there’s nothing I can do to turn back the clock.  Here are a few of the things I’m thankful for this year:

• For Anthony Horowitz, because he finally wrapped up the Alex Rider series before Alex got too morose to hang with anymore, and for writing a new Sherlock Holmes mystery.  Will I feel grateful after I’ve read Scorpia Rising and The House of Silk?  We’ll see.
• For Phil Rickman, because he published another installment of the Merrily Watkins mysteries. Now if it would just become available on kindle in the US…
• For the end of my addiction to General Hospital.   My boss is even more thankful.
• For DVDVideoSoft, for allowing me to put some new music on my mp3 player on a tight budget.
• For Shah Rukh Khan, because he’s in two movies this year instead of the usual one.
• For RetroTV and MeTV, because with all the bad new TV shows on the major networks, I can still be entertained by the classics.
• For YouTube and twitter, although a little less of both during work hours might be a bigger blessing.
• For Da Vinci’s Inquest reruns, but also for having watched every episode already, because now I can go to bed earlier.
• For the two Redbox machines around the corner, saving me from the long Netflix queues for new releases.
• For Alan Cumming, because his introductions to Masterpiece Mystery always make me think he’s enjoying himself more than we are.
• For Josh Groban, because I enjoy his music, but also because he doesn’t take himself too seriously.  His “Kanye West Tweets” video started the year off, and it still cracks me up as the year ends.
• For Sheldon, Leonard, Howard, Raj, Penny, Amy and Bernadette.  The Big Bang Theory consistently makes me laugh, and I’m especially grateful for this joke (paraphrased, I’m sure): “Let’s watch Star Wars on blu-ray before George Lucas changes it again!”
• For Hadley Fraser and Ramin Karimloo, because of the music and videos and tweets, but mostly because of the new friends I’ve made this year through following them.
• For the community at St Agnes, who have become a part of my family, and who continually remind me that there’s more to life than entertainment.
• For my boss, because she trades book recommendations with me, tolerates my endless chatter, and is always willing to watch a good movie—or even a bad one, as long as there are good snacks.
• For my friends, because without them to share it all with, it just wouldn’t be any fun.
• For my family, because they make me laugh a lot.  Besides, they’re stuck with me, and they rarely complain about it.

I wish everyone a peaceful, uplifting, delicious Thanksgiving.  May your teams win, your in-laws get along, and your holidays be blessed.