Ronstadt Trivia

[the Scribe]

Date of Birth
15 July 1946, Tucson, Arizona, USA
Birth Name
Linda Maria Ronstadt
Nickname
Queen of Country Rock
Queen of Rock
First Lady of Rock
Height
5' 2" (1.60 m)

Trivia
Singer, song writer, record producer and actress.

Had a string of highly successful country and pop singles during the 1970s, including "When Will I Be Loved" (a 1975 No. 1 country hit); "Heat Wave" (also 1975); "Tracks of My Tears" (1976); and "Blue Bayou" (1977).

With country performers Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris, formed the Trio, releasing two successful albums--in 1987 and 1999. Only their first song, "To Know Him is to Love Him" (1987) would go to No. 1 on Billboard magazine's country singles chart.

Has 11 Grammy Awards

Ranked #21 on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock N Roll

Brother Peter is former police chief of Tucson, Arizona.

In an interview published on 15 July 2004, she told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the presence of a "Republican or fundamental Christian" in her concert audience "can cloud my enjoyment."

Was nominated for Broadway's 1981 Tony Award as Best Actress (Musical) for "The Pirates of Penzance," a role she recreated in the film version of the same title, The Pirates of Penzance (1983).

Revealed in a late 1970s Rolling Stone magazine interview that she was battling severe depression.

Mother is English, Dutch, and German. Father is Mexican, English, and German.

Has recorded and performed in the widest diversity of genres in popular music such as country, rock, standards, rock 'n' roll, reggae, New Wave, rhythm and blues, folk, big band, jazz, Cajun, opera, Broadway, Latin American, Mexican and Afro-Cuban, children's music, acoustic rock, adult contemporary, art rock, and gospel.

She has two adopted children, Carlos (born 1994) and Mary (born 1991).

Her first big hit "Different Drum" was released in 1967 while performing with "The Stone Poneys".

Attended University of Arizona.

Was engaged to George Lucas.

Ex-girlfriend of then-California governor Jerry Brown.

[1997] Diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease attacking the thyroid, which has contributed to her weight gain over the years.

[1983] Dated Jim Carrey when he was 21 years old, and she was 37 years old.

Half-niece of Luisa Espinel. (Luisa was Linda's father's half-sister).

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The album cover for Some Girls was designed by Peter Corriston, who would design the next three album covers as well, with illustrations by Hubert Kretzschmar[citation needed]. An elaborate die-cut design, with colours varying on different sleeves, it featured The Rolling Stones in garish drag alongside select female celebrities and lingerie ads. The cover immediately ran into trouble when Lucille Ball, Farrah Fawcett, Liza Minnelli (representing her mother Judy Garland), Raquel Welch, and the estate of Marilyn Monroe threatened legal action.

The album was quickly reissued with a revised cover that removed all the celebrities whether they had complained or not, and were replaced with black and punk style garish colours with the phrase PARDON OUR APPEARANCE - COVER UNDER RE-CONSTRUCTION (found on most reissues since). Jagger later apologised to Minnelli when he encountered her during a party at the famous discothèque Studio 54.

There also existed a third version of the album cover with hand-drawn women (found on the 1986 CD reissue).

A fourth amended version that included Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Britt Eklund and Jimmy Carter in drag was not published.

[the Scribe]

John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John Almost Lost Their 'Grease' Roles to These Stars

watch video



www.etonline.com/movies/180183_john_travolta_olivia_newton_john_almost_lost_their_grease_roles_to_these_stars/

by Raphael Chestang 5:26 PM PST, January 15, 2016

Grease stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John turned their leading roles of Danny and Sandy into iconic characters, but they weren't the only ones who were considered for those parts.

While it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role of Sandy, Marie Osmond actually turned the gig down, according to Vanity Fair contributing editor, Michael Callahan.

"She didn't foresee how big a turn Sandy was going to take at the end in that spandex outfit, and that just wasn't her image," Callahan told ET.

Linda Ronstadt and Carrie Fisher were also considered for Sandy, but as Travolta reminded ET in 1998, "every guy in the world wants Olivia Newton-John as their girlfriend."

Travolta was signed on to the film prior to Newton-John’s casting. He might seem like the obvious choice to play Danny now, but at the time, producers had their sights set on another popular actor.

"Henry Winkler dropped out, because he didn't want to be typecast forever as Fonzie," Callahan said.

Of course, the final cast proved a winning combination, as Grease went on to be the No. 1 grossing movie of 1978.

WATCH: 'Grease: Live' Cast Does the Hand Jive in New Teaser

"I think we're very lucky," Newton-John told ET in 1983. "It could have been somebody else and it might not have been the same."

On Sunday, Jan. 31, Fox will reimagine the seminal musical with a live, one-night production featuring Julianne Hough as Sandy, Broadway veteran Aaron Tveit as Danny, Vanessa Hudgens as Rizzo, Carly Rae Jepsen as Frenchy, Kether Donohue as Jan, David Del Rio as Putzie, Carlos PenaVega as Kenickie and Keke Palmer as Marty.

[the Scribe]

Val Garay on the Hits of the '70s and '80s

www.waves.com/val-garay-on-the-hits-of-the-70-and-80

February 21, 2011
Val Garay
Producer / Engineer
Linda Ronstadt, Kim Carnes, James Taylor

Producer/engineer Val Garay worked on many of the biggest recordings of the ‘70s and ‘80s, including a slew of soft rock classics by the likes of James Taylor, Seals & Crofts, Linda Ronstadt, and Jackson Browne. Currently wrapping up production on the new CD by Katrina, the first release on his new Red Red Records label, Val recently spoke to us about his illustrious career and how the Aphex Aural Exciter® fit into it.

BACK IN THE DAY

How did you get your start in audio engineering?

I was trying to become a producer, working out of Hollywood’s famous Sound Factory with the then world-renowned engineer Dave Hassinger. He was a staff engineer for RCA for many years and did some amazing records there: most of the early Rolling Stones, the first two Jefferson Airplane albums, the early Grateful Dead records, Sam Cooke and on and on.

AURAL EXCITEMENT

How did you first find out about the Aphex Aural Exciter®?

At the time, I was working with Peter Asher and Andrew Gold. We decided to go see Paul McCartney and Wings at the Forum, and after the show we went backstage. Peter knew Paul fairly well because he was the head of A&R for Apple Records in the UK and his sister Jane Asher had been Paul’s girlfriend.

The piano sound in the Forum was just spectacular, so I asked how they got it. Paul mentioned the Aphex Aural Exciter and a gentleman name Curt Knoppel. So, I went and met Kurt, and we hit it off right away. The next thing I knew, I was mixing the first record ever using the Aphex Aural Exciter. Eventually, Kurt would sometimes come to me with modifications and ask me to try them.

What was special about the Aural Exciter?

What I noticed was the ability to get the stereo image much wider. There was also a silky high-end effect that you could get, depending on how much you added to each track, which is basically how I used it adding it to a track at a time.

I was also taken aback by how easy it was to use the device, which I used as a send/return because it seemed like a piece of stereo hardware. I remember first trying it strapped across the stereo buss like an LA-3A, but I couldn't control it as well, which is why I always had it in Mix mode with the knob at 10; I wanted the output of the device to be just the Aphex.

What were the first records you used it on?

The first album I used the Aural Exciter on was Linda Ronstadt’s Hasten Down The Wind in 1976. After that, I used it on Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, Neil Diamond, Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, Andrew Gold, Orleans, and others. After the huge success of the multi-Platinum, Grammy® award-winning Linda Ronstadt album Simple Dreams, it became a recording industry standard.

It was very interesting back in the day how much mystery there was surrounding the Aural Exciter, especially since we always credited it in the liner notes of the records: "This album was mixed using the Aphex Aural Exciter system.”

People whom I spoke to years later in New York thought it was a big hoax, that there wasn't really a device at all. They thought the engineers out here on the West Coast just made it all up. I thought that was very funny!

[the Scribe]

Love it or hate it at the time movie theatre owners all over the country refused to show Pirates in their theatres which in my opinion had a disastrous effect on its release. Most people including fans don't realize how big a deal this was at the time. I watched it on cable then ran to the local theatre to watch it. (another first lol) Being on the big screen made a huge difference. It was so much better and there was audience interaction. People all around me could not stop laughing (at the funny parts) and they actually cheered at the end (as if it were a BillyJack movie). Had there been a normal release it would have done better and Linda may have felt confident to do another but the rest as they say is history. In watching the on stage performance as well I must say the movie did not capture Linda's charm and nuance. Her stage performance was exceptional. I do not know if her mom taking ill and dying during the filming had an effect on her or not but it would any normal person I would think. That had to be rough for Linda. I can't imagine a worse thing.



'PENZANCE' TO MAKE DEBUTE ON PAY TV

By ALJEAN HARMETZ, Special to the New York Times

Published: January 29, 1983

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 28— Three weeks from tonight, Hollywood takes a daring step into what one studio chairman has called ''the electronic fireplace.''

For the first time, a theatrical movie will make its debut on payper-view television. Universal's $12 million ''Pirates of Penzance'' will be shown on the pay system on Feb. 18, the same day the film has its premiere in 62 motion-picture theaters in 30 cities.

According to Jerry Hartman, marketing vice president for pay-TV at Universal, 17 pay-cable and subscription television systems representing 75 to 80 percent of homes set up for this service have signed for the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta that stars Linda Ronstadt and Kevin Kline and which was directed by Wilford Leach. He said that 1.5 million to 2 million homes have the necessary equipment to enable the occupants to receive ''The Pirates of Penzance'' by paying an extra $10.

How many of those occupants will choose to view the movie made from Joseph Papp's prize-winning Broadway-from-Central Park musical is, of course, the question. It will probably not be answered until the day before the television performance. Last-Minute Decisions

''We've discovered people make their pay-per-view purchase decisions the last two days,'' said Mr. Hartman. ''They don't choose a movie two weeks in advance.''

The system works in two primary ways - subscribers can order the film by phoning in ahead of time, and when the program is shown their home video equipment is activated by the pay-television company. In homes with more sophisticated two-way equipment, viewers can activate the program themselves by pushbutton and a computer handles the billing.

Hollywood looks to pay-per-view as a solution to most of the film industry's financial problems. By 1985, when five million households are expected to have pay-per-view equipment, a movie could theoretically generate $50 million revenue in a single night. So far, however, the results of the system have been spotty. Boxing matches have done particularly well, often drawing 50 percent of possible subscribers, or about one million homes. ''Star Wars'' was purchased by 30 percent of the potential subscribers last September even though the movie was playing rerun engagements in theaters at the time.

However, the pay-per-view screening of the Broadway musical ''Sophisticated Ladies'' last November was a financial failure, and so was 20th Century-Fox's Dec. 17 broadcast of the final concert on the Who's North American farewell tour. Both events drew about 12 percent of the potential viewers. Universal Asks Guarantees

Universal has asked cable and subscription television operators to guarantee that 30 percent of their subscribers, or about 600,000 homes, will take ''The Pirates of Penzance,'' and many operators have grumbled publicly because the studio wants 60 percent of the fees that subscribers pay them.

Universal has spent nearly $1 million on marketing aids for the cable systems. These aids for the ''Pirates'' showing include 150 metal suitcase kits that contain trailers and featurettes on threequarter-inch cassettes; advertising mats in many sizes; bill stuffers that read, beneath a skull and crossbones, ''You are cordially invited to the world premiere of a major motion picture,'' and a libretto of the operetta to be stitched into each system's monthly program guide sent to subscribers.

At a press luncheon yesterday, Mr. Papp, who also produced the movie version, said that Ned Tanen, when he was president of Universal Pictures and the movie was still in production last January, had suggested the idea of putting it on pay-per-view.

''I thought it was preposterous,'' Mr. Papp said. ''I told him he would have a revolt of theater owners, that he would use up the audience. And there were esthetic questions. How would the movie look on a small screen?'' But by the next day, Mr. Papp had changed his mind. ''I'm interested in reaching a mass audience,'' he said. ''I decided it was exciting, a little dangerous and a marvelous risk.'' Market Differences Cited

''We don't see the pay-per-view showing as competitive with theaters,'' said Gordon Armstrong, Universal's advertising vice president. ''Cable viewers are older, infrequent moviegoers. If they like the film, the pay-per-view showing will have served as a sneak preview.''

Many theater owners disagree. ''Our policy is never to play after cable,'' said Larry Gleason, president of the Mann Theaters chain in California. Although the shrill battle was fought last May when Universal first announced its plans for ''Pirates,'' many chains have quietly refused to take the film.

''We told Universal we weren't interested in playing the movie first run, because it wouldn't be first run if it was already on cable,'' said Henry Plitt, chairman of Plitt Theaters, a national chain. ''I don't see any reason to finance our own debacle.''

In Los Angeles, the movie will be playing in the Laemmle Music Hall, part of a small independent art-house chain. Robert Selig, vice president of the Pacific chain that often plays Universal movies in Southern California, said his group had passed on the movie not because of the cable showing but because it was considered an art film.

Universal is cross-pollenizing its publicity and advertising campaigns. The 30 cities in which ''The Pirates of Penzance'' will play in theaters - including Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio - are, in most cases, pay-per-view cities (New York City is an exception because it has no pay-per-view). Newspaper ads will mention the cable showing. A live 30-minute television show at Mr. Papp's Public Theater, which will cancel all its shows for the night, will be fed by satellite to the pay-per-view systems, to be presented half an hour before the movie goes on. The show will combine the glamour of a standard Hollywood premiere with 15 minutes of information about Gilbert and Sullivan and the esthetic choices made for the movie.

[the Scribe]

this is something all dickheads will know:

Which science fiction author's love for the works of composer John Dowland led him to include the title of one of Dowland's best-known songs in the title of one of his books?

Philp K. Dick

Dick had two professional stories published under the pen names, Richard Phillips and Jack Dowland. "Some Kinds Of Life" in Fantastic Universe, October, 1953 was published as by Richard Phillipps apparently because "Planet For Transients" was published in the same issue under his own name.

The surname Dowland refers to Renaissance composer John Dowland, who is featured in several works. The title Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said directly refers to Dowland's best-known composition, "Flow My Tears". In the novel The Divine Invasion, the 'Linda Fox' character, created specifically with Linda Ronstadt in mind, is an intergalactically famous singer whose entire body of work consists of recordings of John Dowland compositions. Also, some protagonists in Dick's short fiction are named 'Dowland'.

link en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick

[the Scribe]