Monday, September 16, 2024
SONG SPOT
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The following item was sent to me by friend John Pierce yesterday, my comments follow at the end.
Thanks John.
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John’s item:
Enjoy this songs history and following performance. Almost expect to see Sinatra appear on stage at some point.
Interesting article below and very enjoyable 5 min musical video.
Before you click on the video, take a few minutes to read below!
While singer-songwriter legend Paul Anka has left a long trail of hits over his 60-year career, he admits that early on, he was terrified to pen a tune for Frank Sinatra. “He’d always tease me, ‘hey kid, when are you going to write me a song?’” Anka remembers. “But I couldn’t. I was scared to death. I was writing all this teen stuff.” Of course, there are few music lovers today who aren’t familiar with the poignant ballad Anka eventually crafted for Sinatra, “My Way.” Some dub it the most powerful of Anka’s many earworms, which also include classics like “Puppy Love,” “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” and even Johnny Carson’s theme song for “The Tonight Show.”
Anka didn’t think twice 55 years ago when Sinatra called him out of the blue and declared, “kid, we’re going to dinner.” “When Sinatra says ‘we’re going to dinner, you drop everything and you go to dinner,” recalls Paul, who as a budding Vegas headliner in the 1960s had a friendly tie with the Rat Pack. During the meal, Sinatra dropped a stunning surprise: He was about to quit showbiz. “He said, ‘I’ve had it. I’m fed up. But I’m doing one more album,’” Anka remembers. “He said, ‘and you never wrote me that song.”
Anka felt the pressure. Still reeling over the news at 1 a.m. in his apartment, he found himself toying with lyrics to a melody he had heard in France. “I thought, ‘What would Frank do with this melody, if he were a writer?’” Anka says. “And all of a sudden, it just came to me: ‘And now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain.’”
He finished the song at 5 a.m. and called Sinatra on the spot, promising him a song for his final album. “I knew I had something I wouldn’t be afraid to give him,” Anka says. The next day, he recorded a demo of the song and flew to Las Vegas, where Sinatra lived. “I played him the song and he looked at me and said, ‘I’m doing it.’”
Two months later, Sinatra called Anka again. This time, with better news. “He says, ‘kid, listen to this,’ and puts the phone up to the speaker,” Anka remembers. “I heard ‘My Way’ playing for the first time, and I started to cry.”
Paul Anka never knew what a legacy he had created when, at the request of Ol’ Blue Eyes, he wrote this song for Frank’s (presumed) retirement. Frank Sinatra had a mega smash hit with it, followed by the Three Tenors, Pavarotti and numerous other big stars who covered the song over the years.
*In this video, 10 superb voices, an amazing orchestra, plus piano,saxophone, electric guitar and extra choral support go well beyond of doing justice to Anka’s composition. The singers are Dutch, and you will notice that the majority of the orchestra are women. The performance is fantastic and extraordinarily beautiful. Take five from those Holiday chores, and enjoy this beautiful rendition.*
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My comments:
John’s email did not contain a link to the version he referred to above, but this is it:
Personally that version did not grab me and nothing will ever surpass the Chairman’s version:
Frank Sinatra performing My Way Live from Madison Square Garden in 1974
Frank Sinatra, remastered studio version:
By the way:
In 1960 Frank Sinatra founded Reprise Records after he moved away from Capital Records. Sinatra founded Reprise because he wanted more creative freedom, which is something he also offered to acts who joined the label, which included The Kinks, Rosemary Clooney and pals like Sammy Davis, Jr. It was in founding Reprise that Frank Sinatra earned the "Chairman of the Board" title, which soon became his most popular nickname. Despite this, Frank Sinatra's spouse Barbara once stated the singer himself hated the term.
Some other versions:
The Three Tenors (2017):
Miley Cyrus:
Robbie Williams, Live From Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London. [2001]
Sunday, September 15, 2024
UNUSUAL FACTS
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There is a Facebook page called Unusual Facts which can be looked at by clicking on the following link:
Bored Panda recently published a selection, at:
Here is a selection from both sites . . .
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Coober Pedy, located in the arid outback of northern South Australia, is renowned as the world's leading producer of opals, contributing to over 70% of the global supply. The town was established in 1915 after the discovery of opal by prospectors and quickly became a key mining hub.
To cope with extreme weather conditions, where summer temperatures can soar above 40°C (104°F), many residents live in underground homes known as "dugouts." These structures are carved into the earth to provide a cooler and more stable living environment compared to traditional surface homes. This unique lifestyle extends to various underground facilities, including churches, shops, and even hotels, making Coober Pedy distinctive for its extensive subterranean architecture.
The landscape of Coober Pedy is dotted with thousands of mine shafts and piles of excavated rock, reflecting the town’s ongoing mining activities. The local economy remains heavily reliant on opal mining, with numerous active mines. In addition to mining, tourism plays a significant role, as visitors are drawn to explore the opal mines, underground attractions, and learn about the town's mining heritage. Despite the challenges posed by the harsh environment, Coober Pedy continues to be a significant contributor to the opal market and an iconic site within Australia's mining industry.
The town's innovative solutions to extreme conditions, combined with its ongoing role in the opal industry, make Coober Pedy a fascinating and resilient community.
1998: Yahoo refuses to buy Google for $1 million.
2002: Yahoo realises their mistake, offers to buy Google for $3 billion. Google wants $5 billion. Yahoo declines.
2008: Microsoft offers to buy Yahoo for $40 billion. Yahoo declines.
2016: Yahoo sold to Verizon for $4.6 billion.
Google's value today: $515 billion.
Saturday, September 14, 2024
SYDNEY SUBURBS: DOONSIDE
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DOONSIDE
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INTRODUCTION:
This suburb has a special significance for me: my high school days were spent at Doonside High School.
For the first 6 months we had to share classrooms at the primary school in tjat the high school was not finished yet.
The name has been changed to Doonside Technology High School but the school motto remains the same:
The High School was opened in 1964 as Doonside High School. The School became a Technology High School in 1989.
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LOCATION:
Doonside is located 40 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region.
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NAME ORIGIN:
Western residential suburb bordering on Eastern Creek. It was named by early settler Robert Crawford (1799-1848) after his home town in Scotland.
In 1802, Governor Philip Gidley King reserved a large proportion of land for a Government Stock Reserve. For the next twenty years the land was used as grazing land for cattle and sheep by convict herdsmen. In 1822 part of the Government stock run was granted by Governor Thomas Brisbane to Scottish immigrant, Robert Crawford. Robert first named his 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) Milton before renaming it "Hill End". In 1826 John Crawford purchased land adjacent Hill End fronting Richmond Road which he named Doonside. The region had various names, before officially becoming Doonside.
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ABOUT:
The western railway arrived with a single line to Rooty Hill opening on 23 December 1861, there was no station official but the rail siding was known as Crawford siding. Doonside Railway Station was official opened on 27 September 1880. Electric trains arrived to Doonside station in 1955. Edith Crawford from the founding family, also being the oldest inhabitant, was given the privilege of 'cutting the ribbon'. Her death was in 1956.
The present station was upgraded in 1955, replacing the original buildings. The design of the station buildings applied the railway Stripped Functionalist style, as was done at other stations between Lidcombe and St. Mary's. The station was one part of a much larger scheme to increase the tracks to four main lines between Lidcombe and St. Mary's during World War II in order to provide maximum track capacity to the American ammunition and general store built at Ropes Creek. Quadruplication was completed in 1981.
The Doonside name was changed briefly in 1921 to an Aboriginal name ‘Wolkara’ When the new railway station was being constructed, At Crawford rail siding. Wolkara was also the name of the post office that opened here in 1921, but in April 1929 it was changed back to Doonside, after local residents protested at the name change.
There was no electricity until 1929 and water was drawn from wells. Horse-drawn carts would deliver bread and meat. Blacktown was accessed by train as there were not any buses or schools. Parramatta and Penrith, were the nearest high schools.
A store and post office were opened unofficially in 1926 by Bill Francis on the corner of Hillend Road and Cross Street. For some years his nephew Jack Francis operated the post office on the other side of the railway line but once it was made official it returned to its original site until 1987.
Doonside has a number of heritage-listed sites, including Bungarribee Homestead Site..
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CRIME:
From Wikipedia;
Crime is a major problem in Doonside.[ Safety is a large concern for residents of Doonside; statistics from the Blacktown City Council show that only 28% of residents in Doonside feel safe walking down their own street, with crime and community safety being ranked as the biggest challenges faced by locals.Doonside is a hub for many street gangs.
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RECREATION:
On the western edge of Doonside lies the Nurragingy Reserve, which is situated in the Western Sydney Regional Parklands. The Reserve is a 90ha park featuring picnic grounds and original bushland. It was established a nature reserve in 1981 and named after Nurragingy, a Darug man given a land grant in the Blacktown area in 1819.[14][15][16] Just south of the railway line is the Featherdale Wildlife Park, a private zoo established in 1953 and specialising in Australian native animals and birds.
Featherdale Wildlife Park is a wildlife and zoo facility located in Doonside. It covers 3.29 hectares and has over 260 species on display and for interactive experiences.
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GALLERY:
Knox Road, Doomside, 1960s – site of my high school
William Francis General Store Doonside c1926.
It was located opposite Doonside Station, corner of Cross Street and Hill End Road.
The homestead Bungarribee was built in New South Wales, Australia for Scottish-born settler John Campbell (1770-1827). Now demolished, it was situated on Doonside Road, about 10 miles beyond Parramatta. The house was recently completed before Campbell's death in October 1827, with the tower and round room added by Thomas Icely in 1829-30, following his purchase of the estate in late 1828.
The house was built in the early 1800s and was demolished in 1957. The property was used by the Overseas Telecommunications Commission (OTC) after World War II. Much of the property was subsumed by the Western Sydney Parklands, although part was zoned residential. The house site was retained as Bungarribee Homestead Park. Bungarribee House at time of demolition in this photograph.
And below: Nurragingy Reserve
And below. Featherdae Wildlife Park
Friday, September 13, 2024
QUOTE FOR THE DAY
Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's
a sunny day
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don't take my Kodachrome away
- Paul Simon, Kodakchrome
PHOTOS FROM THE PAST
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Sydney Mint and Infirmary, Macquarie Street, Sydney, 1870
The Sydney Infirmary, Macquarie Street, Sydney, 1870
A family from Cooma at the Wagga show, 1911
Country road, Port Macquarie, 1949
Coonabarabran, 1946
Crowds at Bondi Beach, 1929
Eucalyptus Town, La Perouse
A type of dwelling, Eucalyptus Town, La Perouse, 1913
Crowd around the aeroplane of Sir Ross Smith’ after landing at Mascot, 1920
Hyde Park and Elizabeth Street, Sydney, c 1871
The photographer of the above photograph was at the top of the spire of St James, King Street. Compare with this different photo (c. 1871) from the same steeple –
Panoramic view of Sydney, looking south west towards Darling Harbour, around 1871 / photographer unknown.
Shows Hyde Park in lower left of picture with the corner of Elizabeth and Market Streets opposite. Castlereagh Street is clearly seen running south towards St. George's Church. The roof of Victoria Markets is visible in the middle distance, right hand side. In the distance can be seen Sydney University and the Glebe estate.
Hyde Park Barracks, 1871
Queen Victoria Building, looking down George Street, Sydney, 1922
Heavy loads, Pyrmont Bridge, 1927
Surveyor determines second peg - Canberra
Canberra Inauguration Ceremony: Minister for Home Affairs (King O'Malley) watching Surveyor determine second peg.
Minister for Home Affairs, King O'Malley driving the first peg on the Federal site, Canberra
Canberra Inauguration Ceremony 1913
Tourists waiting for cars, leaving Challis House for Jenolan Caves, 1923
Stables in Paddington, 1900
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