Digression No. 3

A number of updates and observations, but first I want to say a belated thanks to my friend Jean, the incredibly energetic and charming fellow who runs a blog called Shareyes. Jean was so taken by my item on the soundtrack of Salome that he restored the cover image and posted it on his blog with a link back to this blog, meanwhile saying nice things about this place in this post. So if you want a better cover of Salome, head over there and also check out his very rare items. But hurry - he's thinking of going private.

Way back at the beginning of this blog, I wrote about the singer-pianist Page Cavanaugh, who has been laid up recently. Bill Reed of the People vs. Dr. Chilledair visited Page a short while ago and reports that he is playing the piano again. Great news.

Another favorite of mine is the late singer Jackie Paris. In my opinion, some of Paris' best work is heard on an obscure jazz version of the show Oh Captain!, which ran on Broadway for six months in 1958. That LP has turned up on a interesting blog called Musical Moadom. There are many jazz greats on the album and the female vocals are by Moody Marilyn Moore. The Livingston and Evans score is very underrated. Highly recommended.

Sometimes I am amazed at what interests people. The recent Martha Raye item has been very popular - I suppose the curiosity factor. Raye was a good singer, but her item has seen more action than an equally obscure item by a much better singer, Jo Stafford. Now, admittedly the latter is gospel music. The items I have posted here related to religion tend to be passed over, and that could be the reason.