Free Republic

Question: What's the connection between the Muslim call to prayer and Fred Astaire? Answer: Night and Day You are the one Only you beneath the moon and under the sun... Well, that's the way Cole Porter told it, some of the time: His biggest hit was supposedly inspired by hearing the muezzin summon the faithful in Morocco during one of Cole's Mediterranean wanderings. If so, it must rank as Islam's greatest contribution to American popular music (along with "What Is This Thing Called Love?"). Morocco-wise, it seems more attuned to the country's nocturnal near namesake in Manhattan: "The crowds at...

June Dance | May 27, 2021 | Julien Daian Quintet - Topic Featured Artist: Sylvain Gontard Bass Guitar: Tommaso Montagnani Drums: Octave Ducasse Flute: Cyril Benhamou Piano: Edouard Monnin Saxophone: Julien Daïan Trumpet: Alex Tassel Trumpet: Sylvain Gontard Composer: Julien Daïan

This month we are marking the centenary of Nelson Riddle, perhaps the greatest of all arrangers of popular song. That's what Frank Sinatra thought, and we cite "I've Got the World on a String", "I've Got You Under My Skin" and "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry" as merely the obvious examples. This week's selection is less frequently cited, but is a particular favorite of mine. On March 27th 1929 the Charles B Cochran revue Wake Up And Dream opened at the London Pavilion, with a host of West End talent, including Jessie Matthews, Sonnie Hale, Tilly Losch...

Paul McCartney has once again crept upon our shores. He was, of course, vanguard in the original “British Invasion”, which occurred in early 1964. Now, an invasion is something to be resisted, to be fought off, to be repelled. Sadly—quite, quite sadly—we had no Winston Churchill on our shores to boost our morale with stirring words like these: 'We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in New York, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Culture, whatever the cost may...

Memo to: Hillary Clinton, Her Indescribable Holiness from: Irv, New York Impresario re: your Presidential Gig Hillary, baby, Yes, I know the last time I offered you show biz advice, it was about your senatorial shtick. I said it wouldn’t work, and offered several reasons. You were right and I was wrong. But now you’re looking at a bigger league. You’ve put yourself in a great position to have a shot at the presidential gig. The Democratic Leadership Committee has just made you chairman (you don’t mind being referred to as a man, do you?) of the effort to write...

In "De-Lovely," the new film about songwriter Cole Porter’s life, Porter tells his wife, Linda, about his homosexuality. Linda, who is the inspiration behind his genius, tells him that his music comes from his talent not from his destructive behavior. But she does beg Porter to give up his scandalous behavior so as “not to put us at jeopardy,” a promise Porter isn’t prepared to make. The prospect of a marriage where children, permanence, and fidelity are in doubt is supposed to make us pity Linda Porter, even if she was complicit in her own plight. After all, who would...