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Post by Richard W on Aug 9, 2013 10:12:23 GMT -5
I just read that PBS is doing a series on the history of Latinos in America.
Dolores Huerta is featured. Wonder if Linda will get a mention? You have to wonder how she (and her family) could not, but then we know how that goes.
Gloria Estafan is also featured...
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Post by Richard W on Aug 9, 2013 10:10:04 GMT -5
Oh she was marvelous as Zandra. Very funny.
There should have been a show based on her character as an acting teacher.
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Post by Richard W on Aug 9, 2013 10:07:14 GMT -5
Black was just one of those actresses you couldn't take your eyes off of, no matter the quality of the film.
For me, perhaps her greatest role was as the actress who has delusions of grandeur in the dark and brutal film "Day of the Locust". If you've never seen that movie, you are missing something but be warned -- you'll need a few minutes to recover once it's over.
She was one of a kind.
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Post by Richard W on Aug 8, 2013 18:35:26 GMT -5
I think what Linda is getting at is less the content of media (TV, video games, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) than the simple fact that every hour a child spends in the "isolation booth" of it is one less hour spent interacting with the living human beings that are its family and friends. You can see the the most obvious result of it now if you spend any time around teenagers and gen"Y"ers who cannot remain in the moment -- be it at the dinner table, in company, or even with each other -- without plugging in to some form of media, usually texting.
If, as an experiment, you were to strip away TV, video games, smart phones, etc., children -- and their parents -- would be forced to interact, to relate to each other. I mean, they aren't going to stare into space or at a blank computer or cell phone screen. It's the same thing as when the electricity goes out and the TV shuts off: suddenly everyone is scrambling to find something to do and they break out the candles and the cards and interact with each other.
I have friends who have 3 kids and every time you go to their house one is watching TV, the other is on the internet watching YouTube videos, and the other is playing video games in the basement. They aren't even watching the same TV show together.
I'm not being holier-than-thou about this. I firmly believe that had the same sort of media outlets (other than TV, which I rarely had control of and so didn't watch very much) been available to me as a child, I would have plugged in, too. But I didn't.
There was one phone and one TV and one stereo set (!) and if Dad had control of the TV, then my sister and I did something else, either play a game with each other or the neighbor kids. When we ate dinner, the phone was not to be answered (and who was calling me anyway?) and we talked and ate as a family. If we wanted to talk to our friends, we couldn't send them a text or tweet, we had to physically go and see them face to face.
Which all seems inconvenient and rather quaint today, but what it fostered -- even by force -- was direct human interaction with each other, siblings, friends, neighbors and parents.
Now you can communicate with all those people, even total strangers, and never be in the same room with them. That has to have consequences.
(Caveat: fan message boards are great!)
As for Cuba, who knows? All we get is the voice of the US government and the refugees. I had a friend who went to Cuba a couple of years ago and she pretty much reiterated what Linda said about the happiness of the people. Sure, the cars are old and things are pretty much patched together, but that has more to do with sanctions than with Castro's government. Believe me, I won't be the one to say Castro is a hero and that he no doubt has done some reprehensible things -- he is, after all, a dictator -- but the US is in no position to call the kettle black.
All in all, a very interesting interview.
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Post by Richard W on Aug 7, 2013 13:50:19 GMT -5
actually I could not wait, created an account on Dime - downloaded and watching now! WOW ..... she is in fantastic voice Where did you go to get the whole concert? I did a search for DIME, DIME torrent, etc., but didn't find anything relating to this. Me want!
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Post by Richard W on Aug 2, 2013 14:55:27 GMT -5
You got that right, ronstadtfanaz! Makes my babysitting money story seem like nothing more than a draft under a door.
I suspect that should I have my past lives revealed, it would come out that I was a three-toothed idiot who died of the plague while pilfering turnips or rogering the fishwife.
But back to the topic at hand...
I have to say that it is a phenomenon specific to Linda, that "huh?" look people give when you come out as a Linda fan. I mean, you could name just about anyone else and you might get high-fives, mild disagreement or profound disgust, but Linda is the only one for whom I've gotten that particular look. It's weird.
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Post by Richard W on Aug 2, 2013 13:15:35 GMT -5
I'm with Carlos!
Short of that, it would have to be my vinyl copy of Don't Cry Now, the first album of hers I bought, the very next day after seeing her on TV. It took all of my babysitting money. But it was worth it. I still play that album (albeit on CD) to this very day. That album was the beginning, so it's fitting for her to sign it.
And after all, I've spent a lot of "babysitting money" on her over the years!
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Post by Richard W on Aug 2, 2013 13:01:38 GMT -5
Exactly, Jason. I know when I've gone to a Ronstadt concert I sit enraptured while the people I'm with are digging it but not in the same way I am. And that's OK.
The perfect word to describe that quality we're talking about is "ineffable."
I can testify that the very first time I saw/heard Linda -- when I was a teen -- I was instantly addicted to that ineffable quality. Neurons in my brain hard-wired themselves to the sound of her voice. I've loved many singers over the years, but no one has altered my brain in just the way that Linda has. There are songs of hers that I've heard at least a thousand times and they still get to me.
I'm the same way about Hitchcock films. I saw "The Birds" when I was six years old and his style of filmmaking did something to me. To this day I can watch his films over and over (and do! much to my husband's chagrin) and still enjoy the hell out of them. They fascinate me on some level beyond mere plot that I just can't explain.
I'm really happy for you to meet Linda. I think if you get the chance to tell her that you have only recently discovered her music, she might get a kick out of it. She's no doubt heard from the "life-longers" a billion times over the years (and should I ever get the chance to meet her, make that a billion and one), but I doubt she hears from "newly-hatched" fans very often, especially at this late in her life. It might give her a sense of the staying-power of her music and how it can still affect and attract people decades later.
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Post by Richard W on Aug 2, 2013 9:42:21 GMT -5
I've encountered the "don't get its" many times over the years and have received the same reaction from those people as you have. I mean, you could say you were a fan of Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris -- hell, even Pat Benatar -- and not receive the same "huh?" reaction you get when mentioning Linda.
Three things at play here, I think:
One, Linda doesn't have the same "hip" factor that any of the aforementioned (and others) have been assigned, but don't ask me to explain why that is.
Two, most people only know Linda from a (very) few songs and have no concept of the depth and breadth of her artistry. As we all know, most of Linda's best music is in between the hits on her albums, to say nothing of the many albums that most people never heard anything from (which, ignoring the niche music of the Riddle and Spanish-language records) is basically anything post-Cry Like a Rainstorm), and, again, we know how much of her best music and singing came after this period.
Three, hardly anyone knows that she's been around since 1967 and have no clue about her early years pre-Heart Like a Wheel and all the music (both the good and the not so good that comes with artistic growth) and the musicians she was associated with. Everyone (especially the hipsters) knows and loves Johnny Cash, but have no idea of Linda's early association with him, let alone the fact that Cash was a fan of hers (take that, hipsters!) and actually picked her version of "Desperado" as one of his all-time favorite songs. These same people probably don't even know that Linda is responsible for the Eagles, let alone her close association with hipster fave Neil Young.
That said, I have managed to convert a few people over the years, a couple of them being the most reticent about her, with, as you intuited, a CD or two of carefully selected songs. The compilations (or propaganda!) are tailor-made to each individual, but I almost always include some combination the following, if for no other reason than to show the diversity of her music (both stylistically and thematically) and the range of her voice:
Sail Away Carmelita Willin' How Do I Make You Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues Tumbling Dice (live version from the Box Set) Skylark Honky Tonk Blues (from Box Set) Blue Bayou ('cause everyone loves this one, for good reason) Cry Like a Rainstorm Verdad Armaga Try Me Again (she has written her own songs!) Keep Me from Blowing Away (live version from Box Set) Anyone Who Had a Heart Birds Mohammed's Radio Party Girl Poor Poor Pitiful Me Desperado Falling Down I Can Almost See It (because it's my favorite)
As you can see, I tend to avoid most of the hits (much as I love 'em) and emphasize instead the grooves most people have never heard. I realize that I have neglected many fine songs and neglected some fine albums and that any one of us could come up with a different set, but this is my go-to selection. If they don't get it after this, well, la-ti-da, they never will. But they should at least be given the chance.
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Post by Richard W on Jul 31, 2013 11:54:46 GMT -5
I don't think a movie like TLPS could get made today, either, let alone be a hit.
Perhaps it could be made as an independent feature, but it certainly wouldn't have the same studio quality look.
This is one of my favorite movies.
Brennan was one of the dying breed of movie actors known as "character actors." They were not the stars of the movies they appeared in, and they weren't the beautiful people. But they were often more interesting than the stars and added a depth to a movie that it might not otherwise have.
That's one of the things I love (and miss) about old movies, the character actors. Probably the best ones around today are Christopher Walken and good old Harry Dean Stanton.
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Post by Richard W on Jul 31, 2013 9:07:07 GMT -5
Loved her.
Just watch her performance in "The Last Picture Show" to see a style and level of acting that's all too rare these days.
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Post by Richard W on Jul 30, 2013 18:20:01 GMT -5
Thanks everyone! My husband and I were on a long car drive listening to lots of LR music and thought what a terrific show it would be if they recognized her. I could see the following acts come out of her behalf. Trisha Yearwood, Emmy Lou Harris, maybe Dolly Parton, The Eagles, Jackson Browne and Aaron Neville. It would be incredible. George Lucas could do the introduction. I'm dreaming of it now. Too bad your'e not on the planning committee, Ronda! BTW, what tunes of Linda's were you listening to?
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Post by Richard W on Jul 30, 2013 18:19:19 GMT -5
My advocacy for her Kennedy Center honor was the usual spiel: the fact that four successive generations of pop, folk, country, and roots-rock women have been influenced by her. Usual spiel for us, Erik, but not for the Kennedy Center. They need to hear that "spiel." It's a convincing argument.
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Post by Richard W on Jul 30, 2013 9:44:38 GMT -5
Done! Hope this works. Thanks Ronda!
Here's what I wrote: "Linda Ronstadt is the quintessential American singer: a native Latina who grew up listening to the radio, absorbing the country, rock and R&B music she heard on it, as well as the opera, American standards and Mexican canciones she heard at home. Ronstadt synthesized all of these musical forms and made them her own with a once-in-a-lifetime voice, achieving huge popular and sustained (over four decades) success. Her musical legacy is, like the music of America itself, head-swimmingly eclectic: rock, country (and her pioneering synthesis of the two into country-rock), folk, R&B, pop, mariachi, big band, swing, jazz, standards, opera, bluegrass, cajun, even experimental (the Philip Glass collaborations, to name but one) and even lullabies. Perhaps no other singer in history has expressed herself in so many different musical forms. Linda Ronstadt's eclecticism is her legacy. She is the musical equivalent of the great American "Melting Pot," a living encyclopedia of music, an advocate of the arts (especially the advocacy of them in public schools). In a way she is the embodiment of that other great American democratic musical synthesizer, the juke box. She is a national treasure who is long overdue recognition."
Dang! I wish I had mentioned her trailblazing role for women in music. Maybe someone else can mention that.
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Post by Richard W on Jul 25, 2013 14:49:43 GMT -5
I found it very poignant watching this -- Linda at the very beginning of her solo career, with her green, sweet, awesome talent in abundant evidence, her gorgeous, Bambi-like, barefoot hippie-chick persona in all its erotic glory (I'm gay and even I can feel that!) -- and knowing, as she obviously could not then, the artistic blossoming, the many, many musical triumphs to come. Especially poignant now that, decades after this performance, here we are eagerly awaiting her memoir.
A person (a person on this forum, at least) could get a little choked up. I usually avoid this word like the plague, but that video was "precious."
Thank you so much for bringing it to us. Thank you, too, Mr. Beland for your post.
And I still think "She's a Very Lovely Woman" is this/close to qualifying for a James Bond theme.
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Post by Richard W on Jul 23, 2013 19:14:37 GMT -5
The righties felt very empowered after that Supreme Court stolen election, FOX news lying to them, the war mongering bloodlust that was feeding the right wing thirst for the red stuff, the daily use of 9/11 into some bizarre rallying call (even though they were responsible for it), daily terror alerts, enrichment of war profiteers and Republican cronies, etc. so when this so called has-been upstart Ronstadt challenged these freaks some went ballistic and FOX and the right wing NOISE MACHINE made an international incident out of nothing. That is their m.o. even today. Remember when one grade school principal in some podunk school disallowed a Christmas tree on school premises? The next thing you know on every right wing media outlet the word is that the evil Liberals are at war with Christmas. These people are terrified, hysterical overly dramatic bullies. It is really embarrassing. About half of registered Republicans are composed of these people. You gotta wonder what the other half are thinking about their bretheren? Linda actually came out looking pretty good on this as she kept her calm and the crazies all overreacted in a long line of such behavior. Amen, bro.
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Post by Richard W on Jul 21, 2013 18:46:20 GMT -5
as I doubt Linda will come to the UK, would anyone be interested in getting a signed book for me? If she appears in the Chicago area, I'll be happy to get a book signed for you, Sean. That's a promise. In the mean time, perhaps someone else will volunteer to do this at one of her confirmed appearances?
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Post by Richard W on Jul 17, 2013 14:48:25 GMT -5
If she comes anywhere near Chicago, I'll be there, and would be glad to get together with any others here.
Being the independent woman that she is, an ideal venue for her would be Women & Children first bookstore in the trendy Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago. Rosanne Cash signed books there when she released her collection of short stories. I met her and she kissed me on the cheek (it was also my birthday).
Now if Linda kissed me on the cheek...
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Post by Richard W on Jul 17, 2013 9:51:26 GMT -5
Falling Star: OK, a good portion of the song still has a rehearsal feel to it, but boy, when she gets to the verse that begins "when the birds fly south..." that Ronstadt magic kicks in. And those closing "oooh-oooh-ooohs"? Aural bliss.
And that part in Everybody Loves a Winner, daveb, is exactly the part that gets me, too. In fact, I think that song and her interpretation of it (listen to the original to truly understand how Linda makes it her own) is too often overlooked. Classic country-soul, a sub-genre that Linda practically invented on Don't Cry Now.
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Post by Richard W on Jul 16, 2013 17:12:07 GMT -5
Linda is a big supporter of PBS and has been on Tavis Smiley, her Canciones show was aired there, she's appeared on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the program Jeff listed, as well as Garrison Kealor's show, so maybe once her memoir comes out, someone at PBS will slap themselves in the forehead and say, "hey, we should do an American Masters program on Linda Ronstadt!"
Perhaps we should start a write-in campaign to PBS asking for it...
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Post by Richard W on Jul 15, 2013 10:24:19 GMT -5
There is that old children's game: which would you rather be, blind or deaf? (And its even more morbid variations: which would you rather do, slide down a razor blade or swim in a river of snot?)
Of course, most children choose deaf because to them the world presents itself in visual terms.
Given the choice now as an adult -- well, I'm not so sure. It's painful to think of life without reading, without movies, without autumn trees, without the look of food on a plate. Without faces.
But a world without music, specifically the sound of Linda's voice? After 40 years of listening to it -- more years hearing it than not -- it's unimaginable to me to ever be deprived of it. I don't know what it is, what specific quality there is in her voice that has fostered a decades-long auditory addiction to it, but I'm a (happy) victim of it. After all this time, my brain is hardwired to it.
So, blind or deaf (thanks, kids!). Hmmm. I still don't know. While there is a ton of life-enhancing weight in the visual pan, the singular voice of Linda Ronstadt, and the bliss it brings, keeps the scales from tipping. I can't imagine life without it.
Happy birthday to Linda Ronstadt.
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Post by Richard W on Jul 14, 2013 12:19:56 GMT -5
One of These Nights and Take It to the Limit are two of my favorite Eagles hits.
And yes, When Will I Be Loved is a great song in all departments -- including its brevity. A pure blast of country-rock.
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Post by Richard W on Jul 14, 2013 10:49:40 GMT -5
last night and the DJ, during the cocktail hour when I arrived, played "When Will I Be Loved." As I waited for my "date" to arrive, I made a point of telling him how much I enjoyed his playing that song.
He just nodded, but then, during dinner, he played "Diff'rent Drum." Huh.
And then after dinner he played "How Do I Make You"!
Three Ronstadt songs in one evening -- and I wasn't in charge of the music!
Very unusual, to say the least, especially in that ultra-modern setting surrounded by contemporary art.
Lovely.
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Post by Richard W on Jul 13, 2013 13:21:16 GMT -5
And let's not forget the '70s made-for-TV movie "Dying Room Only" based on his story by the same name. It starred Chloris Leachman.
Matheson's writing style -- stripped to the bone -- was made for film.
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Post by Richard W on Jul 12, 2013 14:58:00 GMT -5
My grandfather, Pasquale, was 100% Italian -- yet the only Italian I learned was "basta macula!" -- roughly translated as "shut your mouth!"
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Post by Richard W on Jul 12, 2013 14:54:45 GMT -5
Bunk. How anyone can apply the adjective "adequate" to the vocals on "Bewitched..." and "My Funny Valentine" is boggling.
However, average user rating is 4.5 out of 5 -- so there!
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Post by Richard W on Jul 3, 2013 8:41:20 GMT -5
No one who sees Trilogy of Terror ever forgets that doll.
What Dreams May Come is a very interesting read, wherein Matheson lays out his spiritual belief system: there may be heaven and there may be hell, but our afterlife, like our life, is of our own creation.
The protagonists's journey to hell to get back his suicide wife is truly awesome.
The film version of that novel is dramatically uneven but is nonetheless a visual masterpiece well worth seeing, even if Robin Williams in the lead doesn't work for me and sinks the movie.
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Post by Richard W on Jul 2, 2013 13:59:54 GMT -5
I don't know. I could pick several, but in all honesty, the gatefold cover shot of Simple Dreams is very nearly a painting already. There's something evocative about that reflection of her back in the dressing room mirror, to say nothing of the dressing room itself. The total effect is both revealing and mysterious and obscurely sensual.
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Post by Richard W on Jul 2, 2013 13:55:37 GMT -5
She did perform at an AIDS benefit in the early '80s, but I don't recall if it were in NYC or in LA. I do remember the fact that she performed for the benefit because I was working at an AIDS clinic in Chicago at the time and was thrilled to see that she had.
(Why do I keep coming back to this forum topic? Have I no self-discipline at all?)
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Post by Richard W on Jul 2, 2013 11:31:38 GMT -5
Dang! I just broke my own promise to see what Mikey B. had to say.
I am so weak.
BTW, the cub scout uniform is already spoken for...
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