#Singing Lessons in Indianapolis

[fishersmaa]

Unleash Your Vocal Potential with Singing Lessons in Indianapolis

At Fishers Music Academy, we offer exceptional singing lessons in Indianapolis style that nurture your unique voice and help you achieve vocal excellence. Our expert instructors tailor each lesson to your needs, ensuring steady progress and boosting your confidence in performance. Experience a supportive environment designed for aspiring vocalists, where every session unlocks new abilities and passion for music. Embrace the transformative power of professional vocal training today! Start singing now.

[clarklovescarole]

January 15, 1942: Movie Star Turns To Selling Bonds

January 15, 1942 – Associated Press

MOVIE STAR TURNS TO SELLING BONDS

Statehouse Ceremony Signal for Indiana Campaign

INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 15 — (AP) — Carole Lombard of Hollywood, born Jane Peters in Fort Wayne, Ind., turned defense bond salesman today to aid her home state in an all-star attraction billed as the nation’s first state-wide rally of the war.

The 33-year-old blonde movie actress, Clark Gable’s wife, and Will H. Hays of Sullivan, Ind., president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Inc., were headliners of an all-day program including a flag-raising, bond sale and speeches.

On the afternoon’s double feature bill were the raising on the statehouse lawn of the flag which flew over the nation’s capital when war was declared on Japan and Miss Lombard’s bond peddling in the statehouse rotunda.

Everybody who agreed to buy a defense bond was promised a red-white-and-blue receipt carrying the star’s photograph, signature and message: “Thank you for joining with me in this vital crusade to make America strong.”

Speakers for the flag-raising included Alex Arch of South Bend, Ind., who fired the first shot for the United States in the World War, and Arthur P. Braxton of Paoli, Ind., who placed a French 75 for firing of the shot. Arch was a sergeant, and Braxton a second lieutenant.

Tonight, Miss Lombard, Hays, and Governor Schricker will speak in Indianapolis’ Cadle Tabernacle. The Indiana and Purdue University bands, three drum and bugle corps, two choirs, soldiers and sailors and Culver Military Academy cadets will be on the program.

January 15, 1942 – Chicago Tribune

Carole Lombard paused briefly in town yesterday in a flurry of mink cape, defense vigor and Hoosier eloquence:

“My old man (Clark Gable) is head of the Hollywood Victory board,” adjusting her diamond earrings, “and is it terrific? First unity Hollywood ever had. We’re to have from 10 to 25 shows on the road at one time, all the money to go for bombers and things Morgenthau wants. From now on it’s sell-a-bond, sell-a-bond, sell-a-bond. You finish a picture and before you get off the lot, it’s ‘Pittsburgh by 4 o’clock!’ and off you go again. It’s terrific!”

“Hello sweetie,” to redheaded Don Budge, passing thru the W-G-N lobby where she sat.

“O, Bobby, dear,” to Bobby Riggs who trailed him. “The Mickey Rooney of the tennis court,” in an aside.

“A terrific lamb… No, I don’t expect to take Indiana like Willkie did, but I’m a native, too. Fort Wayne. Left there when I was six… I’m going to raise a flag over the Indianapolis courthouse tomorrow for a war rally, the flag that flew over the White House the day war was declared. No, not 1917, Dec. 8…

"If they sing 'The Star Spangled Banner,' I’m lost. I’ll have to let the crowd carry it. Once I took lessons in voice for six months. I was going to be Carmen, Aida, Mignon, everything. I’d practice my mi-mi-mi every night. It was terrific!

"Well, then I sang, and they played it back. It was terrific! I said, ‘Are you kidding me? Is that me? Get a double!’ The rest of my singing lessons I gave away…”

[koolkidschildcare]

Growing Bright Futures: A Parent’s Journey Through Early Learning at Kool Kids Child Care

Watching your child grow is one of life’s greatest joys. From their first words to their first time holding a crayon, every small step matters. But as parents, we also know that these early years fly by quickly, and the learning that happens in this stage lays the foundation for everything to come. That’s why choosing the right place for your child’s care and development is so important. For our family, finding Kool Kids Child Care was the turning point that gave our child a joyful and educational early childhood experience.

When we first began searching for childcare, we were overwhelmed with options. We wanted a place that would treat our child like an individual, not just a number in a classroom. We visited many places before finally walking into Kool Kids—and that’s when everything changed. The warmth of the teachers, the inviting classrooms, and the happy children instantly told us we were in the right place.

One of the things that impressed us the most was their Toddle Childcare program. Toddlers are at a special stage of growth—curious, active, and full of questions. At Kool Kids, the toddler care program isn’t just about keeping children busy; it’s about helping them explore the world around them in a safe and loving environment. Our child learned to communicate better, express emotions, and even began picking up early learning skills—all through play, music, art, and social interaction.

Safety and cleanliness were top priorities for us, and Kool Kids exceeded our expectations. The staff follows routines that keep everything clean, organized, and safe for all age groups. Their caregivers are not only qualified but genuinely passionate about what they do. That love and dedication come through in every interaction—from guiding group play to comforting a crying child.

As our child grew older, they transitioned into more structured learning. That’s when we discovered how Kool Kids excels among other daycare centers in Indianapolis. It’s not just about childcare—it’s a place of learning. The classrooms are filled with age-appropriate books, learning toys, and fun challenges that engage young minds. Every day our child came home with a new song, a fun story, or a creative project to share. It made us realize how much learning can happen when it's supported by love and structure.

The center’s atmosphere is full of life, but never chaotic. The balance of guided learning and free play helps children thrive. Teachers at Kool Kids understand child development and know how to adapt lessons to meet the unique needs of each student. They gently encourage each child to grow at their own pace while supporting them through milestones big and small.

What truly set Kool Kids apart for us was the thoughtful design of their preschool programs. These programs are not only fun but educational in ways that prepare kids for kindergarten and beyond. Children begin to learn basic concepts in reading, numbers, problem-solving, and social interaction. But the learning doesn’t feel forced. It happens through hands-on activities like building with blocks, singing educational songs, working in small groups, and exploring nature.

Our child began recognizing letters and numbers without pressure. They loved story time and even started forming their own short sentences. We watched them develop not just academically but emotionally. They became more confident, more expressive, and better at working with others. Kool Kids created a loving foundation that will carry them through future school years.

Another aspect we deeply appreciate is the focus on early childhood education. Kool Kids doesn’t treat education as something that begins in kindergarten—it starts from the moment your child joins their center. Children are encouraged to explore, ask questions, and think critically even at a young age. Whether they’re painting a picture or counting toy animals, they’re always learning something new.

Early childhood education is more than just letters and numbers—it’s about social-emotional development, communication, independence, and kindness. Kool Kids teaches children how to express their feelings, take turns, and solve small conflicts with words. These are life skills that shape the kind of student, friend, and person your child will become. And seeing our child develop these qualities in such a supportive environment has been priceless.

As parents, we also felt included every step of the way. Communication from Kool Kids is clear and consistent. We received daily updates about what our child learned, how they behaved, what they ate, and who they played with. Special moments, like birthdays or milestones, were always celebrated with love. This made us feel like partners in our child’s journey, not just observers.

Even during times when we needed flexible scheduling or had questions about our child’s development, the team at Kool Kids was always there for us. They listened, offered solutions, and provided resources to help us make informed decisions. That kind of support is rare and shows the level of care they provide to families.

The environment at Kool Kids also promotes creativity. From music to messy art, science experiments to story time, every child is given the freedom to express themselves and explore their passions. Our child discovered a love for music here—something we might not have noticed without the exposure they received at daycare.

Outdoor play is another big part of daily life. Kool Kids has a secure and exciting outdoor area where children can run, climb, and play. These moments not only help children burn energy but also build coordination and teamwork. Watching our child grow more physically active, cooperative, and happy through these activities has been wonderful.

Nutrition also plays a big role in a child’s daily development, and Kool Kids serves healthy meals and snacks that keep little learners fueled and focused. Knowing that our child was eating balanced meals while learning healthy habits brought us comfort and confidence in their well-being.

Now, as we look back on our child’s journey, we are filled with gratitude. Kool Kids Child Care wasn’t just a center where we dropped our child off—it became a second home, a place of learning, laughter, love, and growth. From the toddler room to preschool, every step was filled with memories and milestones.

If you’re a parent searching for a center that offers more than just supervision, that goes beyond basic care and dives deep into your child’s learning and development, then we highly recommend Kool Kids Child Care. From Toddle Childcare to well-designed preschool programs, this is one of the best daycare centers in Indianapolis and a true example of quality early childhood education done right.

Your child’s future begins the moment they are encouraged to explore, imagine, and grow—and at Kool Kids, that journey is filled with joy.

[brightside-of-the-upsidedown]

-kicks in the door-

Okay, but what if Steve sings and plays piano/keyboard?

Maybe his mom got him dancing lessons as a kid so he wouldn't embarrass them at work functions. Then piano and singing lessons so his mom could show him off at her get togethers with other well to do moms.

Unlike all the other stuff Steve got pushed into, he actually came to love the piano and singing. Loved performing for his mom when they were home and the music the house feel less empty when he was alone or stressed.

But when he told his parents he wanted to go to music school and be a musician one day, his dad put a stop to all of it.

Steve bought a keyboard once in middle school when he couldn't use the piano while his parents were home and 'his dad totally freaked', trashed it, and threw it out.

He bought another one a year later and hides it in one of the guest rooms' closet when his parents are home. He only played in front of anyone else, Tommy, once (maybe it went well, maybe it didn't?).

He likes to write music and 'play around' on the piano, like the tiktok guy who teaches you how to 'fake' being good at the piano but he's composing XD

Sometime in high school, maybe sophomore year, he got really stressed and drove to Indianapolis for a weekend with a fake ID (maybe his parents skipped or forgot an important date again).

He's at a bar when he hears the bar owner and the band that's supposed to go on soon arguing. Apparently the dramatic lead singer had quit (again) and taken their keyboardist with them.

Steve's just drunk enough to volunteer and suddenly he has a spot at the club once or twice a month when it was a hit.

Maybe be sticks with the same band or he plays with others.

When he's there, he gets to be someone else. Maybe he styles his hair different and wears glasses (Steve in glasses FTW), plus the dim lightning no one from school should be able to tell it's him if by some chance they go to that club.

Maybe he played for Nancy or at least made her a tape of himself for her.

When the Upside Down starts up and he's not hanging out with his old crowd anymore, he writes a lot more (which he hides and goes to Indie more often to play when he can. It's an outlet he desperately needs, especially once things ended with Nancy.

It's a nice gig, especially when he has to start working at Scoops. Robin and Dustin find out somehow, of course. He plays for them when they visit him. Robin has a good ear and Dustin looks up a bunch of stuff on music to help Steve improve.

Maybe Eddie and/or Billy find out somehow or he invites them when they've gotten close enough.

Brain is tired now, TBC

[echoweaver]

15 Questions from Mutuals

@oasislandingresident, @hazely-sims, @danjaley, @anamoon63, and @olomayasims tagged me in this meme. This is the first time I’ve been able to actually do it! Thanks. I feel loved. It feels good to be included.

​ Are you named after anyone? My great-grandmother, father’s father’s mother. She and my great-grandfather were immigrants from Hungary. I have have a picture of her holding me as an infant. I’m sorry I didn’t get to know her.

When was the last time you cried? I cry all the dang time. I find it more notable when I haven’t cried recently -- when putting our cats down, despite me being the one person in the family who was tracking their health in detail and really worrying about their quality of life. I’m also the one who made the call and coordinated the final vet visit. There’s stuff in there about my personality that I’m pondering.

I guess the last time I really cried it out was over gender politics, if you would believe it. My wife is trans. The horrible state of conservative oppression toward trans people right now is terrifying. OTOH, I think that enemy has led trans advocacy to be less nuanced rather than more. The complex landscape of gender, sex, and safety is often trivialized, and people get hurt. When I can’t jump on the bandwagon, I feel like a traitor to my wife. I wish there could be more thoughtfulness and compassion and nuance, but with the wave of vicious anti-trans laws and rhetoric, I appreciate why it doesn’t feel like there’s space for it.

Do you have kids? One bio-daughter, age 12. We wanted to have another and couldn’t. Then we tried to adopt from foster care, which ended up being a miserable 5-year rabbithole that led nowhere. OTOH, we have a found-daughter who entered our life through the side door as our girl’s babysitter when she was young. It’s an odd family, and we’re still figuring it out, but it’s ours.

Do you use sarcasm a lot? I think of myself as fairly snarky, but actually sarcasm not that much.

What sports do you play/have you played? I got into really physical stuff late-ish, close to 30. I got into weight-lifting and cardio rhythm games. No team stuff. Later, I took up figure skating when my kid was 4 and taking lessons. I love it. I think I could have been really good if I’d found it when I was younger, but I’m very YOLO about this stuff. If I’m going to be a figure skater in middle age, so be it. Convenient classes for adults were canceled during the pandemic, though, and I haven’t built up the momentum to return. I’m settling for a lower-hanging fruit at the moment and taking up Tai Chi.

What’s the first thing you notice about other people? I don’t know exactly what it is, but I get a sense of how easy it is to relax around someone.

Scary movies or happy endings? Those aren’t mutually exclusive. I like being scared, but not so much the jump-scare, blood-and-gore way. Definitely happy endings though. I’m only much into dark endings when my life is stress-free, and I don’t remember when that last happened.

Any special talents? I’m good at looking at a problem from all angles. I think this is objectively a good thing, but it’s also a pain in the butt because I can’t turn it off.

Where were you born? New Jersey, USA. Grew up in Indiana, just north of Indianapolis.

What are your hobbies? Dur. I knit, edit movies, mod video games, write fiction (sims and other), scuba dive, play board games, downhill ski, do amateur carpentry. I did some glassblowing in my 20s, and I’m finally getting a chance to take lessons! I do not specialize well. I also played the viola as a serious amateur. I bought a guitar and am going to try to learn to play so that I can sing and accompany myself.

Do you have any pets? One cat, down from 3 cats. Also one corn snake.

How tall are you? 5′4″ or 162 cm.

Fave subject in school? History, I think?

Dream job? I’m not sure all the stuff I’d want to do in a career can be digested down to 1 job. I’m pretty close to it at the moment, though. I write educational software on a small very family-like team at a university. Sometimes I fantasize about quitting and doing something with game modding that could somehow be profitable, but I’m sure if that were actually possible, I’d end up hating it because my hobby would then be my job.

Eye color? I have the exact eye color @zosa95 described in her reply to this meme.

It feels good to be tagged, but I still have this weirdo anxiety about tagging people. Plus this has mostly made the rounds. I’ll try @withlovefromayre, @declaration-of-dramas

[timeless-hollywood-classics]

Irene Dunne DHS (born Irene Marie Dunn; December 20, 1898 – September 4, 1990) was an American actress and singer who appeared in films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She is best known for her comedic roles, despite being in films of varied genres.

After her father died when she was fourteen, Dunne's family relocated from Kentucky to Indiana and she became determined to become an opera singer, but when she was rejected by The Met, she performed in musicals on Broadway until she was scouted by RKO and made her Hollywood film debut in the 1930 musical Leathernecking. She starred in 42 movies and made guest appearances on radio and in popular anthology television until 1962; she was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress – for her performances in Cimarron (1931), Theodora Goes Wild (1936), The Awful Truth (1937), Love Affair (1939), and I Remember Mama (1948) – and was one of the top 25 highest-paid actors of her time.

In the present, Dunne is considered one of the greatest actresses who never won an Academy Award. Some critics theorize that her performances have been underappreciated and largely forgotten, overshadowed by movie remakes and her better-known co-stars. Dunne once fled across the Atlantic Ocean to avoid starring in a comedy, but she has been praised by many during her career, and after her death, as one of the best comedic actresses in the screwball genre. She was nicknamed "The First Lady of Hollywood" for her regal manner despite being proud of her Irish-American, country girl roots.

Dunne devoted her retirement to philanthropy and was chosen by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as a delegate for the United States to the United Nations, in which she advocated for world peace and highlighted refugee-relief programs. She also used the time to be with her family – her husband, dentist Dr. Francis Griffin, and their daughter Mary Frances, whom they adopted in 1938. She received numerous awards for her philanthropy, including honorary doctorates, a Laetare Medal and a Sepulchre damehood, and was given a Kennedy Center Honor for her services to the arts.

Irene Marie Dunn was born on December 20, 1898, at 507 East Gray Street in Louisville, Kentucky,

Following her father's death, Dunne's family moved to her mother's hometown of Madison, Indiana, living at 916 W. Second St., in the same neighborhood as Dunne's grandparents' home. Dunne's mother taught her to play the piano as a very small girl — according to Dunne, "Music was as natural as breathing in our house," — but unfortunately for her, music lessons frequently prevented her from playing with the neighborhood kids. Her first school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream began her interest in drama, so she took singing lessons as well, and sang in local churches and high school plays before her graduation in 1916. Her first ambition was to become a music teacher and studied at the Indianapolis Conservatory of Music and Webster College, earning a diploma in 1918, but saw an audition advertizement for the Chicago Musical College when she visited friends during a journey to Gary, and won the College scholarship, officially graduating in 1926. She hoped to become a soprano opera singer, relocating to New York after finishing her second year in 1920, but did not pass the audition with the Metropolitan Opera Company due to her inexperience and her "slight" voice.

Dunne took more singing lessons and then dancing lessons to prepare for a possible career in musical theater. On a New York vacation to visit family friends, she was recommended to audition for a stage musical, eventually starring as the leading role in the popular play Irene, which toured major cities as a roadshow throughout 1921. "Back in New York," Dunne reflected, "I thought that with my experience on the road and musical education it would be easy to win a role. It wasn't." Her Broadway debut was December 25, the following year as Tessie in Zelda Sears's The Clinging Vine, and she took leading role when the original actress took a leave of absence in 1924. Supporting roles in musical theater productions followed in the shows The City Chap (1925), Yours Truly (1927) and She's My Baby (1928). Her first top-billing, leading role Luckee Girl (1928) was not as successful as her previous projects. She would later call her career beginnings "not great furor." At this time, Dunne added the extra "e" to her surname, which had ironically been misspelled as "Dunne" at times throughout her life until this point; until her death, "Dunne" would then occasionally be misspelled as "Dunn." Starring as Magnolia Hawks in a road company adaptation of Show Boat was the result of a chance meeting with its director Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. in an elevator the day she returned from her honeymoon, when he mistook her for his next potential client, eventually sending his secretary to chase after her. A talent scout for RKO Pictures attended a performance, and Dunne signed the studio's contract, appearing in her first movie, Leathernecking (1930), a film version of the musical Present Arms. Already in her 30s when she made her first film, she would be in competition with younger actresses for roles, and found it advantageous to evade questions that would reveal her age, so publicists encouraged the belief that she was born in 1901 or 1904; the former is the date engraved on her tombstone.

The "Hollywood musical" era had fizzled out so Dunne moved to dramatic roles during the Pre-Code era, leading a successful campaign for the role of Sabra in Cimarron (1931) with her soon-to-be co-star Richard Dix, receiving her first Best Actress nomination. Her role as the determined but ladylike mother figure of Sabra reflected her later persona and the films she starred in afterwards, such as the melodramas Back Street (1932) and Magnificent Obsession (1935). The latter had the best critical acclaim and the melodrama she reportedly did the most preparation for, studying Braille and working on posture with blind consultant Ruby Fruth. This was after she and Dix reunited for Stingaree (1934), where overall consensus was that Dunne had usurped Dix's star power. The 1934 Sweet Adeline remake and Roberta (1935) were Dunne's first two musicals since Leathernecking; Roberta also starred dancing partners Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and she sang the musical's breakaway pop hit "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." In 1936, she starred as Magnolia Hawks in Show Boat (1936), directed by James Whale. Dunne had concerns about Whale's directing decisions, but she later admitted that her favorite scene to film was "Make Believe" with Allan Jones because it reminded her of Romeo and Juliet. It was during this year that Dunne's RKO contract had expired and she had decided to become a freelance actor, with the power to choose studios and directors. Dunne was apprehensive about attempting her first comedy role as the title character in Theodora Goes Wild (1936), but discovered that she enjoyed it, and received her second Best Actress Oscar nomination for the performance.

Later years of Dunne's film career became diverse. She starred in three films each with Charles Boyer and Cary Grant in screwball comedies (The Awful Truth (1937), My Favorite Wife (1940)), romantic dramas (Love Affair (1939), When Tomorrow Comes (1939)), drama (Penny Serenade (1941)) and comedy (Together Again (1944)). She starred in fictionalized dramas Anna and the King of Siam (1946) and later The Mudlark (1950) as Anna Leonowens and Queen Victoria, respectively, was in the comedies Unfinished Business (1941), Lady in a Jam (1942) and Over 21 (1945), and the war movies A Guy Named Joe (1943) and The White Cliffs of Dover (1944). She also starred as mothers Lavinia Day in Life with Father (1947), and Marta Hanson in I Remember Mama (1948). Marta required her to wear aging makeup and body padding, and she wore prosthetics to portray Queen Victoria.

Dunne's last three films were box-office failures. The Mudlark was a success in the UK, despite initial critical concern over the only foreigner in a British film starring as a well-known British monarch, but her American fans disapproved of the prosthetic decisions. The comedy It Grows on Trees (1952) became Dunne's last movie performance, although she remained on the lookout for suitable film scripts for years afterwards. On the radio, she and Fred MacMurray respectively played a feuding editor and reporter of a struggling newspaper in the 52-episode comedy-drama Bright Star, which aired in syndication between 1952 and 1953 by the Ziv Company. She also starred in and hosted episodes of television anthologies, such as Ford Theatre, General Electric Theater, and the Schlitz Playhouse of Stars. Faye Emerson wrote in 1954 that "I hope we see much more of Miss Dunne on TV," and Nick Adams called Dunne's performance in Saints and Sinners worthy of an Emmy nomination. Dunne's last acting credit was in 1962, but she was once rumored to star in a movie named Heaven Train, and rejected an offer to cameo in Airport '77.

Dunne appeared at 1953's March of Dimes showcase in New York City to introduce two little girls nicknamed the Poster Children, who performed a dramatization about polio research. She was later present at Disneyland's "Dedication Day" in 1955 to christen the Mark Twain Riverboat with a bottle containing water from several major rivers across the United States. Years before, Dunne had also christened the SS Carole Lombard.

In her retirement, she devoted herself primarily to humanitarianism. Some of the organizations she worked with include the American Cancer Society, the Los Angeles Orphanage, and the American Red Cross. She was also president of St. John's Hospital Clinic and became a board member of Technicolor in 1965, the first woman ever elected to the board of directors. She established an African American school for Los Angeles, negotiated donations to St. John's through box office results, and served as chairwoman in 1949 for the American Heart Association's women's committee, and Hebrew University Rebuilding Fun's sponsors committee. She appeared in 1955's celebrity-rostered television special Benefit Show for Retarded Children with Jack Benny as host. Dunne also donated to refurbishments in Madison, Indiana, funding the manufacture of Camp Louis Ernst Boy Scout's gate in 1939 and the Broadway Fountain's 1976 restoration.

Dunne reflected: "If I began living in Hollywood today I would certainly one thing that I did when I arrived, and that is to be active in charity. If one is going to take something out of a community — any community — one must put something in, too." She also hoped that charity would encourage submissive women to find independence: "I wish women would be more direct. ...I was amazed when some quiet little mouse of a woman was given a job which seemed to be out of all proportion to her capabilities. Then I saw the drive with which she undertook that job and put it through to a great finish. It was both inspiring and surprising. I want women to be individuals. They should not lean on their husbands' opinions and be merely echoes of the men of the family.

In 1957, President Eisenhower appointed Dunne one of five alternative U.S. delegates to the United Nations in recognition of her interest in international affairs and Roman Catholic and Republican causes. Dunne admired the U.N.'s dedication to creating world peace, and was inspired by colleagues' beliefs that Hollywood influenced the world. She held delegacy for two years and addressed the General Assembly twice. She gave her delegacy its own anthem: "Getting to Know You" because "it's so simple, and yet so fundamental in international relations today." Dunne later described her Assembly request for $21 million to help Palestinian refugees as her "biggest thrill," and called her delegacy career the "highlight of my life." She also concluded, "I came away greatly impressed with the work the U.N. does in its limited field — and it does have certain limits. I think we averted a serious situation in Syria, which might have been much more worse without a forum to hear it... And I'm much impressed with the work the U.N. agencies do. I'm especially interested in UNICEF's work with children[,] and the health organization[.]"

Dunne was a lifelong Republican and participated in 1948's Republican convention. She accepted the U.N. delegacy offer because she viewed the U.N. as apolitical. She later explained: "I'm a Nixon Republican, not a Goldwater one. I don't like extremism in any case. The extreme rights do as much harm as the extreme lefts." Her large input in politics created an assumption that she was a member of the "Hollywood right-wing fringe," which Dunne denied, calling herself "foolish" for being involved years before other celebrities did.

Dunne's father frequently told Dunne about his memories of traveling on bayous and lazy rivers. Dunne's favorite family vacations were riverboat rides and parades, later recalling a voyage from St. Louis to New Orleans, and watching boats on the Ohio River from the hillside. She admitted, "No triumph of either my stage or screen career has ever rivaled the excitement of trips down the Mississippi on the riverboats with my father."

Dunne was an avid golf player and had played since high school graduation; she and her husband often played against each other and she made a hole in one in two different games. She was good friends with Loretta Young, Jimmy Stewart, Bob Hope, Ronald Reagan, Carole Lombard, and George Stevens Jr., and became godmother to Young's son, Peter. Dunne also bonded with Leo McCarey over numerous similar interests, such as their Irish ancestry, music, religious backgrounds, and humor. School friends nicknamed her "Dunnie" and she was referred to as this in Madison High School's 1916 yearbook, along with the description "divinely tall and most divinely fair."

One of Dunne's later public appearances was in April 1985, when she attended the dedication of a bronze bust in her honor at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California, for which her foundation, The Irene Dunne Guild, had raised more than $20 million. The Irene Dunne Guild remains "instrumental in raising funds to support programs and services at St. John's" hospital in Santa Monica. The artwork, commissioned by the hospital from artist Artis Lane, has a plaque reading "IRENE DUNNE First Lady Of Saint John's Hospital and Health Center Foundation."

Between 1919 and 1922, Dunne was close to Fritz Ernst, a businessman based in Chicago who was 20 years older than her and a member of one of the richest families in Madison, Indiana. They frequently corresponded over letters while Dunne was training for musical theater but when Fritz proposed, Dunne rejected, due to pressure from her mother and wanting to focus on acting. They remained friends and continued writing letters until Ernst died in 1959.

At a New York, Biltmore Hotel supper party in 1924, Dunne met Northampton-born dentist Francis Griffin. According to Dunne, he preferred being a bachelor, yet tried everything he could to meet her. To her frustration, he did not telephone her until over a month later, but the relationship had strengthened and they married in Manhattan on July 13, 1927. They had constantly argued about the state of their careers if they ever got married, with Dunne agreeing to consider theater retirement sometime in the future and Griffin agreeing to support Dunne's acting. Griffin later explained: "I didn't like the moral tone of show business. [...] Then Ziegfeld signed her for 'Show Boat' and it looked like she was due for big things. Next came Hollywood and [she] was catapulted to the top. Then I didn't feel I could ask her to drop her career. [I] really didn't think marriage and the stage were compatible but we loved each other and we were both determined to make our marriage work."

When Dunne decided to star in Leathernecking, it was meant to be her only Hollywood project, but when it was a box-office bomb, she took an interest in Cimarron. Soon after, she and her mother moved to Hollywood and maintained a long-distance relationship with her husband and brother in New York until they joined her in California in 1936. They remained married until Griffin's death on October 14, 1965, and lived in the Holmby Hills in a "kind of French Chateau" they designed. They had one daughter, Mary Frances (née Anna Mary Bush; born 1932), who was adopted by the couple in 1936 (finalized in 1938) from the New York Foundling Hospital, run by the Sisters of Charity of New York. Due to Dunne's privacy, Hollywood columnists struggled to find scandals to write about her — an eventual interview with Photoplay included the disclaimer, "I can guarantee no juicy bits of intimate gossip. Unless, perhaps she lies awake nights heartsick about the kitchen sink in her new home. She's afraid it's too near to the door. Or would you call that juicy? No? No, I thought not." When the magazines alleged that Dunne and Griffin would divorce, Griffin released a statement denying any marital issues. When Griffin was asked about how the marriage had lasted, he replied, "When she had to go on location for a film I arranged my schedule so I could go with her. When I had to go out of town she arranged her schedule so she could be with me. We co-operate in everything. [...] I think a man married to a career woman in show business has to be convinced that his wife's talent is too strong to be dimmed or put out. Then, he can be just as proud of her success as she is and, inside he can take a bow himself for whatever help he's been."

After retiring from dentistry, Griffin became Dunne's business manager, and helped negotiate her first contract. The couple became interested in real estate, later investing in the Beverly Wilshire and partnering with Griffin's family's businesses (Griffin Equipment Company and The Griffin Wellpoint Company.) Griffin sat as a board member of numerous banks, but his offices were relocated from Century City to their home after his death, when Dunne took over as president.

Dunne was a devout Roman Catholic, who became a daily communicant. She was a member of the Church of the Good Shepherd and the Catholic Motion Picture Guild in Beverly Hills, California. Both Dunne and her husband were members of the Knights of Malta.

Dunne died at the age of 91 in her Holmby Hills home on September 4, 1990, and is entombed in the Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles. She had been unwell for a year and became bedridden about a month before. Her personal papers are housed at the University of Southern California. She was survived by her daughter, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Dunne is considered one of the best actresses of The Golden Age of Hollywood never to win an Academy Award. Roger Fristoe pointed out that "a generation of filmgoers is mostly unfamiliar with her work" because some of her movies had been remade, including Love Affair (remade as An Affair to Remember), Show Boat (remade in 1951), My Favourite Wife (remade as Move Over, Darling), and Cimarron (remade in 1960). Dunne once noted that she had lacked the "terrifying ambition" of some other actresses, explaining in 1977, "I drifted into acting and drifted out. Acting is not everything. Living is." The Awful Truth was voted the 68th best comedy of American cinema.

Although known for her comedic roles, Dunne admitted that she never saw comedy as a worthy genre, even leaving the country to the London premiere of Show Boat with her husband and James Whale to get away from being confronted with a script for Theodora Goes Wild. "I never admired a comedienne," she said retrospectively, "yet it was very easy for me, very natural. It was no effort for me to do comedy at all. Maybe that's why I wasn't so appreciative of it." She ascribed her sense of humor to her late father, as well as her "Irish stubbornness." Her screwball comedy characters have been praised for their subversions to the traditional characterisation of female leads in the genre, particularly Susan (Katharine Hepburn) in Bringing Up Baby and Irene (Carole Lombard) in My Man Godfrey. "Unlike the genre's stereotypical leading lady, who exhibits bonkers behaviour continuously," writes Wes D. Gehring, "Dunne's screwball heroine [in Theodora Goes Wild] chooses when she goes wild." Biographers and critics argue that Dunne's groundedness made her screwball characters more attractive than her contemporaries; Maria DiBattista points out that Dunne is the "only comic actress working under the strictures of the Production Code" who ends both of her screwball movies alongside Cary Grant with a heavy implication of sharing a bed with him, "under the guise of keeping him at bay." Meanwhile, outside of comedy, Andrew Sarris theorized that Dunne's sex appeal is due to the common narrative in her movies about a good girl "going bad."

Dunne was popular with co-workers off-camera, earning a reputation as warm, approachable and having a "poised, gracious manner" like royalty, which spilled into her persona in movies. She earned the nickname "The First Lady of Hollywood" because "she was the first real lady Hollywood has ever seen," said Leo McCarey, with Gregory La Cava adding, "If Irene Dunne isn't the first lady of Hollywood, then she's the last one." Ironically, this title had been bestowed on her when she was a little girl when an aunt cooed "What a little lady!"[159] This ladylike attitude furthered Sarris' sex appeal claims, admitting that the scene when she shares a carriage with Preston Foster on the train in Unfinished Business was practically his "rite of passage" to a sex scene in a film, theorizing that the sex appeal of Dunne came from "a good girl deciding thoughtfully to be bad." On the blatant eroticism of the same train scene, Megan McGurk wrote, "The only thing that allowed this film to pass the censors was that good-girl Irene Dunne can have a one-night stand with a random because she loves him, rather than just a once-off fling. For most other women of her star magnitude, you could not imagine a heroine without a moral compass trained on true north. Irene Dunne elevates a tawdry encounter to something justifiably pure or blameless. She's just not the casual sex type, so she gets away with it." When approached about the nickname in 1936, Dunne admitted that it had grown tiresome but approved if it was meant as "the feminine counterpart of 'gentleman'"; a later interview she did have with the Los Angeles Times would ironically be titled "Irene Dunne, Gentlewoman." She would also be made a Dame (or Lady) of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. The Los Angeles Times referred to Dunne's publicity in their obituary as trailblazing, noting her as one of the first actors to become a freelancer in Hollywood during its rigid studio system through her "non-exclusive contract that gave her the right to make films at other studios and to decide who should direct them," and her involvement with the United Nations as a decision that allowed entertainers from movies and television to branch out into philanthropy and politics, such as Ronald Reagan and George Murphy.

Dunne later said, "Cary Grant always said that I had the best timing of anybody he ever worked with." Lucille Ball admitted at an American Film Institute seminar that she based her comedic skills on Dunne's performance in Joy of Living. When asked about life after retiring from baseball, Lou Gehrig stated that he would want Dunne as a screen partner if he ever became a movie actor. Charles Boyer described her as "a gracious house," adding, "the best room would be the music room [...] Great music, and the best of good swing, and things by Gershwin would sound there always. The acoustics would be perfect. Guests in this house would be relaxed and happy but they would have to mind their manners." A two-sided marker was erected in Dunne's childhood hometown of Madison in 2006.

Dunne received five Best Actress nominations during her career: for Cimarron (1931), Theodora Goes Wild (1936), The Awful Truth (1937), Love Affair (1939) and I Remember Mama (1948); she was the first actor to lose against the same actor in the same category twice, losing to Best Actress winner Luise Rainer in 1936 and 1937. When asked if she ever resented never winning, Dunne pointed out that the nominees she was up against had strong support, believing that she would never have had a chance, especially when Love Affair was against Gone with the Wind.

However, Dunne was honored numerous times for her philanthropy from Catholic organizations and schools, receiving the University of Notre Dame's Laetare Medal, and the Bellarmine Medal from Bellarmine College. She received numerous honorary doctorates, including from Chicago Musical College (for music), Loyola University and Mount St. Mary's College (both for Law). In 1953, she and her husband were made Lady and Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, respectively. For her film career, she was honored by the Kennedy Center, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6440 Hollywood Blvd, and displays in the Warner Bros. Museum and Center for Motion Picture Study.

[the-marx-brothers-will-live-on]

Leonard Joseph "Chico" Marx (March 22, 1887 – October 11, 1961) was an American comedian, musician, actor and film star. He was a member of the Marx Brothers (with Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, and Zeppo Marx). His persona in the act was that of a charming, uneducated but crafty con artist, seemingly of rural Italian origin, who wore shabby clothes and sported a curly-haired wig and Tyrolean hat. On screen, Chico is often in alliance with Harpo, usually as partners in crime, and is also frequently seen trying to con or outfox Groucho. Leonard was the oldest of the Marx Brothers to live past early childhood (first-born Manfred Marx had died in infancy). In addition to his work as a performer, he played an important role in the management and development of the act in its early years.

Chico was born in Manhattan, New York City, on March 22, 1887. His parents were Sam Marx (called "Frenchie" throughout his life), and his wife, Minnie Schoenberg Marx. Minnie's brother was Al Shean. The Marx family was Franco-German Jewish. His father was a native of Alsace who worked as a tailor and his mother was from East Frisia in Germany.

Billing himself as Chico, he used an Italian persona for his onstage character; stereotyped ethnic characters were common with vaudevillians. His non-Italian-ness was specifically referred to twice on film. In their second feature, Animal Crackers, he recognizes someone he knows to be a fish peddler impersonating a respected art collector:

Ravelli (Chico): "How is it you got to be Roscoe W. Chandler?"

Chandler: "Say, how did you get to be an Italian?"

Ravelli: "Never mind—whose confession is this?"

In A Night at the Opera, which begins in Italy, his character, Fiorello, claims not to be Italian, eliciting a surprised look from Groucho:

Driftwood (Groucho): "Well, things seem to be getting better around the country."

Fiorello (Chico): "I don't know, I'm a stranger here myself."

A scene in the film Go West, in which Chico attempts to placate an Indian chief of whom Groucho has run afoul, has a line that plays a bit on Chico's lack of Italian nationality, but is more or less proper Marxian wordplay:

S. Quentin Quayle (Groucho): "Can you talk Indian?"

Joe Panello (Chico): "I was born in Indianapolis!"

There are moments, however, where Chico's characters appear to be genuinely Italian; examples include the film The Big Store, in which his character Ravelli runs into an old friend he worked with in Naples (after a brief misunderstanding due to his accent), the film Monkey Business, in which Chico claims his grandfather sailed with Christopher Columbus, and their very first outing The Cocoanuts, where Mr. Hammer (Groucho) asks him if he knew what an auction was, in which he responds "I come from Italy on the Atlantic Auction!" Chico's character is often assumed to be dim-witted, as he frequently misunderstands words spoken by other characters (particularly Groucho). However, he often gets the better of the same characters by extorting money from them, either by con or blackmail; again, Groucho is his most frequent target.

Chico was a talented pianist. He originally started playing with only his right hand and fake playing with his left, as his teacher did so herself. Chico eventually acquired a better teacher and learned to play the piano correctly. As a young boy, he gained jobs playing piano to earn money for the Marx family. Sometimes Chico even worked playing in two places at the same time. He would acquire the first job with his piano-playing skills, work for a few nights, and then substitute Harpo on one of the jobs. (During their boyhood, Chico and Harpo looked so much alike that they were often mistaken for each other.)

In the brothers' last film, Love Happy, Chico plays a piano and violin duet with 'Mr. Lyons' (Leon Belasco). Lyons plays some ornate riffs on the violin; Chico comments, "Look-a, Mister Lyons, I know you wanna make a good impression, but please don't-a play better than me!"

In a record album about the Marx Brothers, narrator Gary Owens stated that "although Chico's technique was limited, his repertoire was not." The opposite was true of Harpo, who reportedly could play only two tunes on the piano, which typically thwarted Chico's scam and resulted in both brothers being fired.

Groucho Marx once said that Chico never practiced the pieces he played. Instead, before performances he soaked his fingers in hot water. He was known for 'shooting' the keys of the piano. He played passages with his thumb up and index finger straight, like a gun, as part of the act. Other examples of his keyboard flamboyance are found in A Night at the Opera (1935), where he plays the piano for a group of delighted children, and A Night in Casablanca (1946), where he performs a rendition of "The Beer Barrel Polka".

Chico became the unofficial manager of the Marx Brothers after their mother, Minnie, died in 1929. As manager, he cut a deal to get the brothers a percentage of a film's gross receipts—the first of its kind in Hollywood. Furthermore, it was Chico's connection with Irving Thalberg of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that led to Thalberg's signing the Brothers when they were in a career slump after Duck Soup (1933), the last of their films for Paramount.

For a while in the 1930s and 1940s, Chico led a big band. Singer Mel Tormé began his professional career singing with the Chico Marx Orchestra. Through the 1950s, Chico occasionally appeared on a variety of television anthology shows and some television commercials, most memorably with Harpo in "The Incredible Jewelry Robbery", a pantomime episode of General Electric Theater in 1959.

His nickname (acquired during a card game in Chicago in 1915) was originally spelled Chicko. It was changed to Chico but still pronounced "Chick-oh" although those who were unaware of its origin tended to pronounce it "Cheek-oh". Numerous radio recordings from the 1940s exist where announcers and fellow actors mispronounce the nickname, but Chico apparently felt it was unnecessary to correct them. As late as the 1950s, Groucho was happy to use the wrong pronunciation for comedic effect. A guest on You Bet Your Life told the quizmaster she grew up around Chico (California) and Groucho responded, "I grew up around Chico myself. You aren't Gummo, are you?" Groucho is heard in videos pronouncing it "Chicko", as in a Dick Cavett episode with Groucho talking to Dan Rowan.

During Groucho's live performance at Carnegie Hall in 1972, he states that his brother got the name Chico because he was a "chicken-chaser" (early 20th century slang for womanizer).

As well as being a compulsive womanizer, Chico had a lifelong gambling habit. His favorite gambling pursuits were card games, horse racing, dog racing, and various sports betting. His addiction cost him millions of dollars by his own account. When an interviewer in the late 1930s asked him how much money he had lost from gambling, he answered, "Find out how much money Harpo's got. That's how much I've lost." Gummo Marx, in an interview years after Chico's death, said: "Chico's favorite people were actors who gambled, producers who gambled, and women who screwed." Referring to Chico's love life, George Jessel quipped, "Chico didn't button his fly until he was seventy."

Chico's lifelong gambling addiction compelled him to continue in show business long after his brothers had retired in comfort from their Hollywood income, and in the early 1940s he found himself playing in the same small, cheap halls in which he had begun his career 30 years earlier. The Marx Brothers' penultimate film, A Night in Casablanca (1946), was made for Chico's benefit since he had filed for bankruptcy a few years prior. Because of his out-of-control gambling, the brothers finally took the money as he earned it and put him on an allowance, on which he stayed until his death.

Chico had a reputation as a world-class pinochle player, a game he and Harpo learned from their father. Groucho said Chico would throw away good cards (with the knowledge of spectators) to make the play "more interesting". Chico's last public appearance was in 1960, playing cards on the television show Championship Bridge. He and his partner lost the game.

Chico was married twice. His first marriage was to Betty Karp in 1917. Their union produced one daughter named Maxine (1918–2009). His first marriage was plagued by his infidelity, ending in divorce in 1940; he was very close to his daughter Maxine and gave her acting lessons.

Chico's second marriage was to Mary De Vithas. They married in 1958, three years before his death.

In the 1974 Academy Awards telecast, Jack Lemmon presented Groucho with an honorary Academy Award to a standing ovation. The award was also for Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo, whom Lemmon mentioned by name. It was one of Groucho's final major public appearances. "I wish that Harpo and Chico could be here to share with me this great honor," he said, naming the two deceased brothers (Zeppo was still alive at the time and in the audience). Groucho also praised the late Margaret Dumont as a great straight woman who never understood any of his jokes.

Chico died of arteriosclerosis at age 74 on October 11, 1961, at his Hollywood home. He was the eldest brother and the first to die.

Chico is entombed in the mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Chico's younger brother Gummo is in a crypt across the hall from him.

[chiseler]

Puttin’ on the Ritz

No fame is more fleeting than the showbiz kind. Some entertainers are just too much in and of a particular time. In the 1920s Harry Richman was a big star, billed as the Greatest Entertainer In America. He could sing and play piano, dance and act a little; he ran a hugely successful nightclub, was the toast of Broadway and, very briefly, a star in Hollywood; he wrote or introduced several songs that are still sung. But most of all he just personified the Roaring Twenties. He was the sleek, rakish, vaguely smarmy bon vivant in top hat and tails who was enjoying the decade's non-stop party as much as you were. It's been said that he was to the 1920s what the Rat Pack were to their era. Harry's career peaked just as the party crashed to a halt at the end of the decade, and he faded out in the 1930s. If his name comes up at all today, it's probably less often as an entertainer than as a footnote in aviation history.

He was born Harry Reichman in Cincinnati in 1895. His dad, a Russian Jewish immigrant, started out peddling eyeglasses door to door, carrying all his equipment on his back. He worked his way up to a prosperous wholesale business and real estate empire, and developed a taste for the high life. It killed him by the time Harry was an adolescent. In his thoroughly entertaining (sometimes suspiciously so) 1966 autobiography A Hell of a Life, Harry paints himself as a fecklessly scheming kid who grew up quick. At nine, he writes, he was a weekend ticket taker at an amusement park, shortchanging every customer he could because he was saving up to marry his childhood sweetheart. One night he showed off his ill-gotten riches by taking the girl out on the town. They stayed out too late to go home, so Harry got them a hotel room. When the cops burst through the door in the wee hours they found the kids sleeping fully clothed on separate beds. A doctor confirmed that the girl's honor was intact. Her dad put the kibosh to their romance anyway.

Harry's mother bought him piano lessons, dreaming he'd be a concert pianist, but like most kids at the time he was more interested in ragtime and jazz. He left home at around fourteen and headed to Indianapolis. There he and a kid who played fiddle went door to door in the kind of neighborhoods where an upright in the parlor wasn't uncommon. They'd bang out a few popular tunes for spare change. As Remington & Reichman they were soon touring the very small-time Webster circuit of vaudeville theaters in the Dakotas and Canada, known to vaudevillians as the Death Trail. Harry kept working his way around the west, singing at the piano in saloons and whorehouses, working as a singing waiter in restaurants, as part of a "Hawaiian" hula act in a circus sideshow. At the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exhibition in San Francisco he was in a musical act that opened for Harry Houdini, fifteen shows a day. Playing in Los Angeles clubs favored by the movie crowd he got to be pals with Charlie Chaplin and Al Jolson, whom he idolized. Jolson got him a shot at Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolic, the late-night club revue that gave Eddie Cantor his big break. Harry raced to New York, but flopped and was canned after only one night. He was so despondent he ran off and joined the Navy.

He arrived back in New York in 1920, just when Prohibition did too. Now he and the city were ready for each other. On vaudeville stages he found work as an accompanist for headliners like the singer Nora Bayes and the beautiful twin Dolly Sisters, and for a while was Mae West's on-stage pianist and straight man. He was reluctant to speak lines at first because he had a lisp that he could hide more easily when singing. West convinced him it was a distinguishing feature. He soon got top billing on his own on the Keith-Albee circuit. He also played at ritzy speakeasies like the Beaux Arts, where, he claims, Prohibition's hostess with the mostest Texas Guinan stole her signature line "Give the little girls a big hand" from him.

Nils T. Granlund, known as NTG, was both a radio pioneer and the publicist for Marcus Loew's movie theater empire. He hired Harry to headline live radio shows from Loew's State Theatre, the movie palace in Times Square. Harry plugged new songs on air, like Billy Rose's "Does the Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?" With NTG's help he opened his own Club Richman just behind Carnegie Hall. Harry made it one of the most opulent and exclusive nightclub/speakeasies in town. A lot of Broadway and movie stars became regulars, as of course did Mayor Jimmy Walker, and the Vanderbilts and Whitneys, and foreign royalty -- you saw everybody who was anybody there.

Or wanted to be somebody, like the chorus girl Lucille Le Seur. Accounts vary as to how Lucille got into the swank club. In one version, she convinced NTG, her sugar daddy at the time, to get her a spot in the club dancing the Charleston. NTG introduced her to Loew, who arranged a screen test at MGM, where she'd get her first tiny roles in 1925. Studio chief Louis B. Mayer decided her name sounded like Le Sewer, so the studio ran a publicity campaign in which the fans got to give her a new name: Joan Crawford. She never liked it.

For his part, Harry claimed that he discovered Crawford. He did have an eye for the beauties. He was one of the first to spot Jean Harlow, Sally Rand and Maureen O'Sullivan. Harry was an infamous ladies' man, bedding a long line of beauties from chorus girls to socialites to Harlow, maybe Rand, and Clara Bow. According to Harry, his office at the club had a secret door for sneaking them in and out while their husbands or dates drummed their fingers at their tables thinking they were just taking a long time powdering their noses. He says that the Hollywood Bowl couldn't hold all the women he had, and classes himself "a specialist in man's favorite sport."

Between the club and his other gigs Harry minted money and became the playboy nonpareil. He wore the finest bespoke suits and carried a gold cigarette case with his initials on it in diamonds. He commuted in a Rolls from Manhattan to his big house out on the water in Beechhurst, Queens, where he had a yacht and threw Gatsby-like parties for celebrities, beauties and millionaires. He learned to fly and kept a growing fleet of planes at nearby Flushing Airport. Harry worked hard, played hard, drank oceans of booze and smoked whole fields of tobacco. Everyone marveled at his stamina and joie de vivre even in that over-the-top decade.

In 1926, while still playing the host at his club, Harry got a featured role on Broadway in George White's Scandals, one of several knockoffs of the Ziegfeld Follies. After a boffo year it toured other cities, including Cincinnati, where, he notes ruefully, it tanked. In 1930 he headlined Lew Leslie's International Revue, where he introduced "On the Sunny Side of the Street." And in 1931 he made it, finally, into the Follies as well. He got his choice of songs to perform, including "Lullaby of Broadway." He was at the top of his career in those shows, the king of Broadway; his friend Eddie Cantor memorably said he wore Broadway like a boutonniere.

He didn't do so well in Hollywood. He starred, playing himself as "Harry Raymond," in the 1930 musical Puttin' on the Ritz, in which he introduced the song by his pal Irving Berlin. The movie did mediocre business then and is barely watchable now except for that number, Harry gliding around in front of an army of dancers with his top hat tilted over one eye. His recording of the song, which some consider the best, was a hit. (Among his other records are Berlin's "Blue Skies," his own "Muddy Waters" and a pretty wonderful Jolson-ish rendition of "Ain't She Sweet.") While in Hollywood to make the film he met Clara Bow. Teamed up at first for publicity purposes only, they became a hot item and got engaged. Then she suddenly married someone else. Hearing the news, he says, was the only time in his life that he fainted.

He'd make only two more feature films and one short. He sums them up this way: "All were forgettable. It became clear to me that whatever I had was best projected in person, either on the stage or in a night club." By the time he made the last film, released in 1938, he was well past his prime. When the Depression hit and then Prohibition ended, guys like Harry, icons of the Roaring Twenties, just didn't fit the new reality. To his credit, he didn't hang around like some other ghosts of the 1920s did. He left New York and settled in Miami, which was booming and lousy with new nightclubs where he could coast for a few years on his dazzling past. He went fishing with Hemingway and played with his airplanes.

His real fame in the 1930s came in fact as a flyer. In the mid-1930s he'd set altitude and speed records. Then in 1935 he and the pilot Dick Merrill made the world's first round-trip transatlantic flight in a single-engine plane. They filled the plane with tens of thousands of ping-pong balls as flotation devices should they land in the soup. Harry being Harry, after reaching Wales on the outward leg of the trip, they flew on to Paris to party all night with Maurice Chevalier before making the return flight. They landed upside-down in a Newfoundland bog, but they made it. It wasn't as big a deal as Lindbergh's one-way crossing in 1927, but Harry calls it the high point of his life.

Harry didn't make much news after that. He played some clubs through the 1940s, his looks and voice rough from all that carousing and smoking. He still had lots of friends in the show business who tried to engineer comebacks for him, but the public had long since forgotten him. By the time A Hell of a Life came out in 1966 he'd spent the millions he'd made in his heyday and was living alone, quietly and frugally, in Burbank, an old guy who'd gone full-tilt as long as he could, had a hell of a lot of memories and not too many regrets. He died in 1972.

by John Strasbaugh

[fishersmaa]

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[linkispink1995]

Alison (1)

A/N: This is the backstory for Alison Martin as featured in my series "Better as Friends" and "Crashing waves of beating hearts" , let me know if you'd like to be added to the tag list , please do not plagiarize my work. Stay safe and feedback is apricated , Thanks - Meg

Chapter Warnings : Language , mentions of being left behind , Angst , sadness and some fluff

December 24th 1972 It was a cold and icy Christmas eve in Indianapolis one of the coldest winters the city had ever seen , the streets were beautifully decorated and the children all asleep as the awaited the highly anticipated jolly old St. Nick. Except one , in the Martin home there were two daughters Beatrice the oldest who had a long day including a nutcracker performance and making cookies with her mother and younger sister Alison. Alison was the youngest daughter unlike her sister Beatrice she the more creative and artistic one who preferred to be inside and color which was something she was very goo at especially for being five. Alison quietly creeped down the stairs before peeking into the formal living room where the beautiful decorated Christmas tree was. Since Mrs. Martin takes pride in how her home looks , seeing that there were no gifts and the stockings were still empty Alison tiptoed into the kitchen for a small glass of water only to find her mother sitting at the kitchen island. The same kitchen island they would eat blueberry pancakes and decorate ginger bread , but her mother didn’t look like the same woman who was cheering and applauding her first born at the ballet earlier or the one that would read the night before Christmas by the fire place as her daughters fell asleep on the father’s lap. Instead she had mascara running down her cheeks and a glass of wine in her hand and wasn’t even acknowledging the dog that the girls had woken up to last Christmas with a bright red bow on him. What made it worst was she was practically devouring Santa’s cookies , Alison frowned before saying “mommy”. Kathrine didn’t even turn around she just stayed quiet in the dark kitchen before saying “what Alison” Alison spoke again saying “where’s daddy” her mother responded “he left to get food for the dog, but that was hours ago”. Alison frowned saying “oh well is he gonna be home before Santa comes” Katharine placed her wineglass on the counter before laughing , laughing so hard almost falling out of her seat. The kinda laughter you would only hear from her when her daughters came inside covered in mud including the dog or when one of the girls pick socks got in the washer while washing her husband’s dress shirts. She then turned in his seat before walking towards the stairs saying “oh Alison don’t you know there is no Santa , it was your father and judging by the fact he’s not here there will be no Christmas”. Alison frowned before watching her mother walk up the stairs leading to the master suite leaving Alison all alone on the last Christmas eve they’d spend as a family.

January 25th 1973 It had been one month , one month since Alison's father left on Christmas eve's. Everything had changed when George left , Alison's mother Kathrine was crumbling the house was a mess , dishes filled the sink , a homecooked meal hadn't been made since Christmas eve dinner. Alison was currently snuggled to her favorite stuffed animal , an owl which was a gift from her father from her  birthday the previous year. She was crying , crying into the owl wishing somehow it would bring her father back that's all she wanted was her father to our come back , to hold her , to sing to her and read her charlotte's web which was her favorite story. "Alison Josephine Martin what do you think your doing" Alison sniffled before saying "I was just-" she was cut over by her mother walking over to her and grabbing the animal out of her hand saying "this" she said gesturing towards the animal before adding "you think this will bring him back" Alison nodded before Kathrine added "you foolish little girl , he left let that sink in he's gone and won't ever come back , so get it out of your head do you understand". Alison nodded before her mother tucked the owl under her arm before walking out of the bedroom only to be stopped by a voice saying "mommy" it was Alison. Kathrine turned before she added "are you going to read me a story" Kathrine sighed before saying "no Alison and do you know why" Alison shook her head before her mother added. "because those stupid fairytales won't ever come true , no prince is going to rescue you , your stuck with me and you'll always be alone always , no one will ever love you so deal with it". Alison felt more tears streak down her cheeks before Kathrine threw the animal into the waste basket by Alison's door before her mother spoke again saying "good night Alison" she closed her bedroom door before walking back down to her bedroom.

A moment or so later the door to Alison room creaked open , she looked up from her tear stained pillow to see her sister Beatrice who was three years older then Alison standing their. Beatrice leaned over and plucked the owl out of the waste basket before walking over to  Alison and handing it back to her , Alison spoke saying "thank you Bea" she nodded before Alison snuggled the animal. Beatrice spoke again saying "are you going be okay" Alison shrugged before saying "Bea can I ask you something" Beatrice nodded before Alison added "is daddy ever going to come back" Beatrice sighed before saying "I don't know Al but you know what if doesn't that's okay because you know why" Alison shrugged before Bea added "because we have each other okay" Alison nodded before saying. "Bea why is mommy so mean" Beatrice sighed again before saying "I think she's just sad Al"  Alison nodded again before her sister placed a kiss into her forehead before saying "do you want me to stay here with you tonight"  Alison nodded before curling up to sister , Bea wiped Alison tears before saying "did mom read to you" Alison shook her head before Bea got up and walked over to the small shelf and pulled a book off of it before walking back over to her sister. Alison snuggled to be as well as her owl before falling asleep to her sister reading.

May 17th 1973 It was Alison's sixth birthday , she was up early and dressed because her mothers always made blueberry pancakes for her , her favorite. She quickly rushed down the stairs to find her mother pouring pancakes onto a griddle , they were plan causing Alison to be confused. Alison shrugged it away before taking the seat at the kitchen table next to Beatrice before her mother spoke saying "what do you want for breakfast Alison". Alison responded saying "blueberry pancakes please" Kathrine shook her head before Alison added "please mommy" again Kathrine shook her head before saying "no Alison we don't have any blueberries" Alison frowned before saying "but it's my birthday , we always have blueberry pancakes on my birthday". Kathrine rolled her eyes before saying "do I look like I give a damn Alison , go get ready for school" Alison frowned before saying "I'm already dressed" her mother huffed before adding "what have I told you your father won't come back no matter how hard you wish , so if you think wearing that dress will help it won't" Alison felt tears form in her eyes before Kathrine added "and enough with the tears those won't help either".

October 31st 1973 It was Halloween , most children were going house to house trick or treating but Alison was sitting in the bay window of the informal living room. Gazing at the decorations , seeing all the smiles , the laughs and the costumes reminiscing about how Halloween was last year. Halloween was both Alison and her fathers favorite holiday , they decorated the house together and he took her trick or treating but this year was different , very different. No decorations , no costume and no going out of the house , however Alison had something , one thing that made her happy . Art , art was Alison's favorite thing , it took her mind off of her dad and helped her feel better , and it wasn't the usually scribble scrabble most children drew but more creative sometimes fields with flowers , sometimes Animals or rainbows in the clouds. The picture she was drawing this time was different , it was a family portrait  she had finished coloring the family dog Snowflake when a Bea took a seat next to her before saying. "your really good Al , you could be an artist when your grown up" Alison imidnetally perked up before saying "really you think so" Beatrice nodded before a voice spoke. "Beatrice Elizabeth your going to be late were going to be late for dance , lets go" it was the girls mother "Beatrice got up before their mother added "Alison shoes on now" Alison hopped up from her seat before saying "mommy" her mother somewhat shrugged signaling she was somewhat listening before Alison spoke again saying "can I take dance lessons like Bea does" he mother rolled her eyes before saying "no" Alison frowned before saying "why not" her mother huffed saying "because I can hardly afford to send you girls to a private school , keep this house and pay for Bea's dance lessons , so would you either like to be a ballerina or live in a nice house and go to school with your friends". Alison frowned before saying "never mind mom".

November 19th 1973 It had been a couple weeks since Kathrine went against her own words and started having dance classes for Alison , she practically scrimped and saved for the money which is something she had never done before. Although her lessons had just started Alison was already excelling and shockingly was dancing circles (literally and figurately) around Beatrice , the girls had just finished their class when Alison spoke saying. "you did really good leaps Bea" Beatrice didn't respond she ignored her sisters words before she added "Bea when we get home do you play princesses you can be Cinderella" again Bea didn't respond again. After the girls were fastened into the car Kathrine began driving home she spoke saying "Bea I know your upset but this is going to be great for Alison" Beatrice ignored her mother before Alison spoke saying. "What is mom" Kathrine responded saying "well your sister is going to stop taking classes and your going to start take more classes" Alison nodded before her mother added. "you have potential Alison if you practice and keep it up your could do this professionally" Alison nodded again before hearing the sounds of sniffles from Bea. The girls had dinner and played in the snow before coming into warming up with hot cocoa however Bea stayed quiet and distant from her sister , Alison ventured to Bea's bedroom door before knocking on it. She spoke saying "Bea , Bea do you wanna-" she was cut off by hearing a voice say "go away" Alison frowned before she spoke again saying "Bea come out we can color or-" she was cut off again before Beatrice opened the door saying. "shouldn't you be practicing" Alison shook her head before Bea added "It's not fair , you don't even like dance you just started because I did" Alison nodded saying "so we can be together" Bea shook her head before saying. "I don't want to be together , you get everything" Alison frowned before Bea closed the door in her younger sisters face.

December 25th 1973 A year , it had been one year since George left and the house wasn't decorated. No green , no red just plain ordinary decorations , Alison and Beatrice had finished dinner with their mother and Kathrine walked back to the kitchen to get dessert before Alison spoke saying. "are we going to open a present" Bea rolled her eyes before Kathrine reappeared with a cheery cobbler before saying "no Alison". Alison frowned as her mother put a piece onto her plate as Alison added "are we going to make cookies for Santa" her mother shook her head while putting a piece on Beatrice's plate. Alison spoke again saying "but what about night before Christmas , are you gonna read it mommy" Kathrine shook her head saying "no Alison , don't ask me again". Alison frowned before she looked over to see Bea who had stuck her tongue out at her , "Beatrice you are a young lady act like one" her mother said Beatrice rolled her eyes before she added "Alison after this you need to go practice your turns" Alison nodded before Beatrice asked "mom can I start taking lessons again". Kathrine shook her head before Bea added "why not" her mother chuckled in response saying "cause you can't tell your right from your left foot" Bea nodded before starting to eat her dessert.

It was after dinner and practice when Alison walked into Beatrice's room with a book tucked under her arm. Bea who was reading on the bench in front of her bed while snowflake snuggled to her. Alison took the seat next to her before saying "Bea can you read this" she then showed her the book which happened to be the night before Christmas" Beatrice shook her head before Alison saying "are you mad at me Bea". Beatrice nodded before Alison frowned saying "why" Bea didn't respond and instead shook her head and spoke saying "go away Alison" Alison frowned again before walking back to her bedroom. Alison sat in the window cell in her bedroom staring down at the snow in the driveway , watching and waiting to see if her father would return. Alison cried and cried into her floral printed pillow which matched her bedroom perfectly before feeling weight in the cushion next to her , she looked up to see Bea with a small package in her hands. Beatrice spoke  saying "I'm sorry" Alison whipped her tears before Bea handed her the messily wrapped package before she spoke saying "merry Christmas Alison". Alison took the box before opening in to see it was a coloring book , Alison gasped before she spoke saying "thanks Bea" Bea nodded before Alison ran over to her toy chest and began searching through it , she pulled the doll out before walking over to Bea saying. "I know she's your favorite so you can have it" Bea nodded saying "thank Al" , Alison began looing through the pages before Bea added "I'm sorry if it's babyish I know you could probabaly draw much better". Alison shook her head before saying "I love it" Bea nodded before Alison spoke again saying "Bea can you read this" she handed her the book before Bea placed her doll next to her before saying "you know I could show you had to read" Alison again gasped before saying "really" Bea nodded before reading to her younger sister. Even though the girls didn't have their traditional Christmas they were used to they had each other , Alison yawned before leaning onto her pillow before muttering "Bea do you think daddy still loves us" Bea nodded before saying "I think so" Alison nodded before adding "do you think he'll come back" Beatrice shrugged before saying. "I don't know Al but if he doesn't it's okay cause we have each other" Alison nodded before falling asleep to her sister reading.

Taglist @charmed-asylum

[notesonnotes]

Notes On: Dustin Phillips

We’re taking a bit of a different approach today! We’re talking with Dustin Phillips, from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is the current drummer for The Ataris (https://www.facebook.com/theataris/). He is also the Owner, producer and music instructor at Dustin Phillips Music (http://www.dustinphillipsmusic.com) He has done other projects not only playing drums, but guitar, and singing as well. He is multi-talented, and likes to engage his followers. If you haven’t taken the time to check him out, do it!

Dustin took the time to answer some questions we had for him. Take a few minutes and get to know a little about him.

------------------------------------------------------------------

NON: What got you started on your musical journey?

DP: My music career began with a pair of un-sharpened No 2 pencils and a counter-top. And while I can attest to the incredible support of my family since the beginning, the constant tapping drove everyone around me crazy. In December of 1990, my stepfather (Pete) was coming off the road from touring with Phil Collins. He had told the crew that he was looking forward to a nice, quiet holiday. Phil’s crew, knowing he had a son that made beats and noises with everything within arms reach, decided to play a bit of a prank. On our doorstep, arrived a box with a note “Pete, enjoy your quiet Christmas.” Inside was a set of shiny, red Reno Junior Pro drums — from Phil and his crew, to me. My family, as amazing as they are, enrolled me in drum lessons at the age of 5 and have supported me every day since. NON: Who are some of your influences? DP: Over the years, I’ve realized that inspiration and influence tend to come and go unexpectedly. While I admire and believe that there is incredible talent that rightfully gets attention, there are millions of people who possess passion and talent that are immensely underrated. That being said, there are absolutely people whose talent and style I find myself incorporating into my own art. Drummers like George Daniel (The 1975), LP (Yellowcard), Carter Beauford (Dave Matthews); Songwriters like Josh Ramsay (Marianas Trench), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters/Nirvana), Jim Adkins (Jimmy Eat World). Additionally, I am constantly inspired and influenced by my incredibly talented friends Kris Roe (The Ataris), Jay Ness (filmmaker), Claudio Rivera (drummer), Rob Freeman (producer/songwriter), Kat Perkins (musician). NON: You've had projects outside of The Ataris. Thru The Static; You Jump, i Jump; a solo, and more. What has been your favorite project so far? DP: Generally speaking, if you ask any artist/musician what their favorite or best project is, it’s almost always going to be their current or most recent. Each project I’ve been a part of in the past holds a special place for its own set of reasons. The most creatively rewarding was the You Jump, i Jump “Reckless” album.(I’m making a plug for this, I have the album, if you wanna check it out, which I think you should, message Dustin on Twitter!) My buddy Braden, who had also been in All the Right moves, and I wanted to put out an album with the sole purpose of satisfying a creative itch. We had no intention to sell a million copies, or an unreasonable dream to take over the world. We simply wanted to release a collection of music that we get didn’t fit our current projects. It was completely self-produced, a little bit all over the place, but exactly what we wanted. NON: You also produce and photograph. What other projects have you done or taken on? DP: While I wish I could get myself to just focus on one thing at a time, I’m constantly looking for different creative outlets to explore. Whether that be producing an artist of a different genre, shooting video, creating social content, I just enjoy the process. NON: How long have you been doing this? DP: I’ve been with The Ataris for 3 years, but playing drums for nearly 30. Oh dear lord, I’m getting old. NON: What advice do you have for anyone trying to break out in the industry? DP: So much of this industry has always been about who you know, but now we have this thing called the internet. My biggest piece of advice would be to document and share content, grow your own following, while also trying to reach out and network with other creatives in your field. It can be a slow, daunting process, but if you bring value and entertainment to your platform, people will follow you on your journey. And that attention can manifest into incredible possibilities. NON: Where do you see yourself in 5 years? DP: I’d like to say drumming for Taylor Swift... but ultimately, continuing to live life in a way that brings happiness not only to me, but to those around me. I don’t need “fancy.” I don’t need to keep up with “the Jones.” Every fiber in my being just longs to live a life where I can create and be happy. And whether that’s on stage, in the studio, or starting a new business — who knows? I’m always ready to allow new experiences or circumstances into my life. Never be so sure of what you want that you wouldn’t accept something better.

----------------------------

You Jump, i Jump: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeYkCQAeoKa3daK-fpzITHA

Dustin Phillips: https://twitter.com/dustinphillips

Tumblr: http://dustinphillips.tumblr.com/

Thru The Static: https://www.facebook.com/Thru-the-Static-211152845567919/

The Ataris: https://www.facebook.com/theataris/

The Ataris are on tour now! A few dates have already been done, but here are some upcoming ones! (* w/ Smoking Popes)

6/11-Phoenix, AZ-Pub Rock

6/12- Las Vegas, NV- 172 Music Club at The Rio

6/13- Salt Lake City, UT- Urban Lounge

6/14-Denver, CO- Streets of London

6/15-Kansas City, MO- Riot Room 

6/17- Des Moines, IA- Gas Lamp

6/18- Chicago, IL- Bottom Lounge

6/19- Indianapolis, IN- The H-Fi

6/20- Cincinnati, OH- Northside Yacht Club

6/21- Pisstburgh, PA- Smiling Moose*

6/22- Asbury Park, NJ- Asbusry Park Brewery*

6/24-Somerville, MA- Once Ballroom*

6/25-Brooklyn, NY- Knitting Factory*

6/26-Philadelphia, PA- Milkboy*

6/27-Baltimore, MD-Metro Gallery*

6/28-Cleveland, OH- Grog Shop*

[still-we-go-pumpkins]

An amazing fan tribute to Weiki. Unique facts compilation 👌🎃

I've just found the post on DeviantArt. As great Weiki fan also, I can confirm that he's really that marvelous just as the author describes him. This will make you feel warm and will set smile on your face as well as you will check Helloween vids/lives while exploring this facts. So, here we go.

Further credits : SamWeiki

100 Reasons I love Michael Weikath

Possible – scratch that, definite – Fangirling ahead (I tried to keep it to a minimum and I probably failed)

1. He has the most gorgeous blue eyes. [right off, I told you – Fangirling]

2. The songs he writes are so unique and AMAZING. Most of them mean quite a lot to me, as well. I’ve always been drawn to them. They just have a certain special quality to them that I love.

3. He wrote “Keeper of the Seven Keys” for cryin’ out loud!

4. His “thanks” section in the Unarmed booklet.

5. He’d pick Judas Priest over Iron Maiden in an instant.

6. The way he sometimes answers questions. For instance, he was asked about what fans could expect from The Dark Ride and his response was: “Well....hmmmm you can expect that it will be standing in stores and it’s very likely you can buy it when you find it there! hahahahahaha apart from that I don’t know if it’s going to say anything but you can go there and buy it, listen to it, and use it, because it’s a CD and it usually makes a lot of sound if you put it into a CD player......but probably doesn't work if you put it into a toaster.....hahahahahaha.”

7. If he wasn’t a musician, he says his life would be dedicated to cartoons.

8. He dedicated the Hammond version of “Burning Sun” to the great Jon Lord.

9. He’s an artist. His little skull and pumpkin drawing is beautiful.

10. He makes the best faces in concerts.

11. I love watching him in the High Live video, especially during “Steel Tormentor”. [I did not just say that]

12. He made the frog noises at the end of “Nothing to Say”.

13. So many people have blamed him for things over the years, when he did nothing wrong, just because they feel it's easier to blame him. I experience that quite a lot and have for several years, so I understand what it's like but he seems a lot stronger than me about it, as it's very hard for me to get over a lot of that stuff. He's sort of my hero about that because it seems like he hasn't let that really stop him.

14. How he totally told off that Phantom guy. His responses were awesome.

15. A part of “Do You Know What You Are Fighting For” is Deep Purple’s “Stormbringer” backwards. There’s actually a lot of Deep Purple in that song. Makes me love it even more – both songs.

16. He played on Uli Kusch’s cover of “Eyes of the World” from the Rainbow tribute album and he played all the guitar on that song. “Yeah I played on Eyes Of The World. So I did all of the guitar work on it. Uli told me that he did not expect me to have the guitar work as close to the original song as I had it.”

17. The seven pronged star on the cover of 7 Sinners was his idea. And what a damn fine idea it was because it makes a freaking sweet album cover! It was a lot of fun for me to draw, as well.

18. When writing “LAVDATE DOMINVM”, he called upon his old Latin lessons from school and actually got to work with his old Latin teacher on the lyrics. Weiki hadn’t worked with Latin for a bit, so he had to relearn a few things and he even managed to correct something his teacher had written.

19. His response to what animal he would be: “A lion, 'cause I could be lyin' round lazy and have my food brought to me by other people.”

20. Helloween would not be Helloween without him, plus Markus and Andi wouldn’t let him quit in 2000/2001.

21. He drew the logo and original pumpkin.

22. How beautiful the lyrics to “Windmill” are. Example:

"Don't feel alone and depressed

Someone will come, at last

To soothe your storming mind

To keep it away from the evil storms."

23. You can clearly hear the man singing in “White Christmas” and he’s the most fun to listen to.

24. “Introduction” never fails to make me laugh very loudly, especially the lyrics to “Rock n’ Roll All Day”.

25. He likes Spinal Tap.

26. The way he sang “Gorgar will eat you” in the Keeper Legacy interviews.

27. He was asked what his motto in life was and his response was: Be as friendly as it comes; have fun, make money and spend it on charity to help people. ~Sei so freundlich wie es geht; Spaß haben, viel Geld verdienen und es für wohltätige Zwecke ausgeben, um Leuten zu helfen~ (it was originally in German)

28. His black and white outfits in the ‘80s and ‘90s, especially those awesome star-printed pants.

29. The entire story of the Keeper of the Seven Keys and Master of the Rings.

30. The Jacuzzi scene in the Keeper Legacy Road movie.

31. He likes Aphrodite’s Child, Nektar, and Camel. He’s cool.

32. I really don’t think I’ve heard him say anything bad about anyone.

33. The moment when he switched his guitar off and “played” a solo after he was introduced in The Legacy concert.

34. “All right… That’s enough! Now, I want to hear Dani’s drum solo!” *rapid fire – BLAMBLAMBLAM!* The first time I watched the “Smoke On the Water” bit from Hellish Rock, I nearly fell to the floor laughing.

35. About the time Pink Bubbles Go Ape came out, in an interview, Michael Kiske said something about they weren’t Metal, they didn’t do that “Heavy Metal” thing and Weiki says, “I thought we were Heavy Metal”. And Michi completely just stopped talking for a second.

36. The way Weiki messed around with Michi and Roland during the interview mentioned above.

37. How much fun he looked like he was having in the “Kids of the Century” video.

38. Every time he dances around on stage.

39. His love for Gibson Les Pauls.

40. He was reading “A Hat Full of Sky” and even recommended it.

41. He says that his writing “Keeper of the Seven Keys” kept him alive and he considers it a major turning point in his life to have come up with the idea for it.

42. The hairspray scene in the Hellish Rock road movie.

43. He actually got involved with the DJ game when they were in Japan (Keeper Legacy road movie) – the whole arcade scene was great.

44. The way he just looks at a camera sometimes and doesn’t say a word – he just starts making faces and looking off in different directions. He can be funny without saying a single word.

45. His guitar solo in “Back On the Ground”.

46. He played most of the guitar on the Better Than Raw album.

47. Weikath Syndrome is the coolest thing to catch.

48. During the German Top 6 video (1993), he was drinking a Capri Sun. I think it may have even been Wild Cherry.

49. A Gibson Les Paul looks absolutely perfect on him. I also love the way he holds the guitar.

50. How his hair has always been shoulder length (at least) since the late ‘80s (and beautiful).

51. He thinks of the younger viewers/fans.

52. All the love for him in the Hellbook.

53. I don’t how much of the lyrics to “Dreambound” he wrote, but he has a credit on that song and OH MY GOD, is it flipping incredible! I must make special mention to how amazing “the Saints” is, too.

54. He wanted to talk to Michael Kiske when they met at a festival in 2012/2013, so they could try and work things out a little.

55. He wanted “Livin’ Ain’t No Crime” to be a single.

56. His song “Number One” and how uplifting and positive the lyrics are, especially the chorus.

57. When they were on the Ferris wheel, they didn’t start REALLY laughing until Weiki did.

58. How he introduces himself as “de Michael Weikath of Helloween” and he even got Dani to do it with him.

59. He contributed a guitar solo to the German Rock Project’s “Let Love Conquer the World” (the long Metal version) but went all incognito with it and is credited as “a member of the Seventh Key”.

60. The fact that he wanted a flute in “Raise the Noise” and it sounds totally awesome!

61. The sexy witch on the cover of Better Than Raw was Weiki’s idea.

62. His makeshift rocking chair.

63. His spoken part of the Dezperadoz song “First Blood” (and “Echoes of Eternity”, too).

64. How funny was in the two Nuremberg interviews from the ‘80s that are on YouTube.

1987 – He lights a cigarette, he passes it Ingo, Ingo passes it back, and Weiki passes it back to him. Ingo then proceeds to throw it on the ground and Weiki attempts to lightly hit him but only manages to hit his hair. xD

1988 – The FUNNY one! He was so frickin’ funny in that one. I won’t give away the end of it if you’ve never seen it, but it involves a balloon and a cigarette. (by the way, Michael Weikath takes his sunglasses off and puts them back on 13 times, 10 of which are in the first three minutes).

65. After an interviewer thanks him for being there, “Ja, that’s not so much I can do about it, because somebody put me on this Earth and I went out of my mother and suddenly I was there and now I have to deal with this crap.”

66. During the Indianapolis Hell On Wheels concert, during “Halloween”, Michi passes the mic over to Weiki and Weiki does the “I’ll show you power and glory” part. Michi then makes a disgruntled face at him and rubs the mic with his shirt, causing Weiki to make a face back at him!

67. Also from the same Hell On Wheels concert, during “A Tale That Wasn’t Right”, he was stepping on the skeleton and making Ingo laugh.

68. Speaking of “A Tale That Wasn’t Right”, that song is incredible and very powerful.

69. He let the other members of the band help out on “Mission Motherland”. That song is very quickly becoming my favorite song of theirs.

70. His backing vocals in the “Sea of Fears” demo.

71. All of his little pins that he wears: the pumpkin, the W, the stars…

72. This comment he made about the Hellbook: “With the hardcover you can better smash your naughty brother... and you can with the regular as well, just maybe not as effective.” I have actually made that joke to my brother before. xD

73. Someone at a meet-n-greet in 2008 showed the band an old picture of the guys, which they all signed. It was an old picture. Kai was stunned, Markus laughed his ass off, and Michael actually said he remembered where it was taken and when. The picture was taken in 1986, so that is kind of impressive.

74. He helped me become a big fan of Deep Purple. Yes, I will admit to only becoming a major Deep Purple fan after becoming a Helloween fan - and it was all because of Weiki. And now I'm really happy because I never realized how awesome Deep Purple is. Same thing with Wishbone Ash.

75. He’s given me several phrases to use whenever applicable.

- “Impressive, isn’t it?”

- “You have to listen with your ears.”

- “It’s nice, cold, windy, sunny weather.” (which pretty much describes Florida in the winter sometimes)

76. He can still sing with a cigarette in his mouth and not drop the cigarette.

77. The intro to “Halloween”. I’m not sure if he played it on the original recording, but when he plays it live… OH MY GOD.

78. His guitar solo in “First Time”.

79. He’s fun to watch in the “When the Sinner” video when he’s shown, especially when he’s playing those power chords in the beginning (even though he played no guitar on the song) and the part in the saloon.

80. How amazing “Les Hambourgeois Walkways” is.

81. He’s written a couple songs that he has dedicated to groups of fans ~ “LAVDATE DOMINVM” for the Latin speaking fans, and “Born on Judgment Day” for the people of Brazil.

82. How he’s so easily able to make Sascha laugh behind the camera.

More here 💜

[jennygoeseastbay]

2018 in Review

So I used to do one of these every year on my Livejournal, and I completely blew it off in 2017 because I kind of abandoned that medium, and because the last month of that year was complete consumed with packing and moving. I’m not entirely certain I want to get more active on here, but for now this is a good place for me to post this, simply to have the written record of my existence that I need in order to process all that has happened and reflect on how it has helped me to grow and improve as a person. If I’m feeling really ambitious, I might even backtrack and do one for 2017 next week, because I like to be complete in my self-documentation. ;)

01. What did you do in 2018 that you'd never done before? Visited Washington DC for the first time.

Visited the Los Cabos region of Mexico for the first time.

Closed a major gift from someone who had not already had decades of cultivation from their University.

Visited even more areas of California that were new to me, including Anaheim, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Pismo Beach, Paso Robles, and Lake Tahoe (I guess that also includes Nevada since we stayed in Carson City)

Visited Ashland Oregon for the first time.

Sold a piece of real estate. Phew!

Practiced Yin Yoga. (And walking meditation!)

Engaged in a yoga hike!

Also tried yoga with goats!

Attended WonderCon

Attended a county fair.

Road a bicycle somewhere other than a residential street

Tried kayaking

Ran a trail run race

02. Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I never really make concrete resolutions, just some general proclamations about eating better, and putting more time into fitness and writing. Of these three things, the one I was most successful at this year, surprisingly enough, was eating better. In September I realized that it was time for a physical tune-up, and so I rejoined WW after a long time away, and though I still have a few pounds to go, I’ve been happy to have gotten a bit sleeker after dialing back the bread and cheese. I also attended a writing group called Shut Up and Write a couple times, and I’d like to become more of a regular at their cafe sessions in 2019, because I’ve found that their method (literally a concentrated hour of shutting up and writing) has been helpful the two times I’ve gone.

03. Did anyone close to you give birth? My dear friends Drew and Kelly had their first child in September. And my friend Lynn had her second child, a little girl, just a couple weeks ago. 04. Did anyone close to you die? Not super close, but a professor at UC Davis who I had worked with closely, passed very unexpectedly right before Halloween. 05. What countries did you visit? Mexico! Finally broke in my current passport with a new stamp! 06. What would you like to have in 2019 that you lacked in 2018? Good novel progress. Or more discipline on some other fiction and an essay that I just started tinkering with. A legit boyfriend. 07. What date(s) from 2018 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

January 2 was my first day on the job at UC Davis.

January 7 was a super fun evening at the Museum of Ice Cream in SF

January 13-15 was a wonderful weekend in Seattle where I got to meet my nephew Apollo for the first time and photograph his first swimming lesson for his parents.

January 20 was my second Women’s March outing in Sac with my friend Jade and her little ones.

January 27 was a day when I got to play tour guide for my friend Gricel and her husband when they were in SF visiting for the first time.

Feb. 10 and 11 was a fun weekend in Berkeley and SF, being silly and singing loudly with my former Cal colleagues who had become dear friends.

March 23-25 Was my whirlwind Anaheim weekend at Wondercon, and I got to catch up with my friend Mike, whom I’d not seen in a couple years.

March 30-April 1 was an epic road trip weekend, the first of what my friend Maya and I now call our Girls Gone Sensibly Wild excursions. We drove to Santa Barbara and visited the deserted UC campus there (it was closed for spring break) and also enjoyed an amazing live show featuring Dave Hause, Dan Andriano, and Cory Branan, among others at the Cold Spring Tavern. And then got a joint membership at Peachy Canyon Winery on our way back, because it was one of the few establishments open on Easter Sunday.

April 22 was Earth Day, and prompted me to venture out to Marin for an impromptu yoga hike at Rodeo Beach.

May 14 was my first appointment with a new hair stylist who would also unexpectedly become a trusted friend.

May 24 was my first time seeing Depeche Mode live, and it was incredible.

June 8-10 was my second of two hit it and quit it Chicago trips (although really, the first one wasn’t so much Chicago as it was Joliet) this year, and allowed me to reconnect with my dear friends Drew and Kelly (Drew finished his PhD at UChicago and I attended his commencement and hooding), have a day at the zoo with my friend Dawn, and also road trip to WI with my friend Mary for a beautiful and moving Lights Festival experience together.

June 30 was the day I attended my first ever CalShakes performance with Maya and our mutual friend Paola (Girls Gone Sensibly Wild continued!), and Maya also got me on a bike for the first time in ages, thanks to LimeBikes being available at the Pleasant Hill BART station. We took a short, wobbly, but fun ride down the Iron Horse Trail.

July 1 was the day I learned to kayak and surprisingly got myself through 5 miles of the Russian River without tipping over or running out of steam.

July 26 saw me reuniting with my dear pals Shannon and Glenn, when they were visiting the Sac area for a wedding.

July 27-29 was the weekend I drove up to Ashland to enjoy some time with my friend Debbie and to experience the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for the first time.

August 3-6 was when I somewhat unexpectedly had the delight of hosting my friend Clarise for a weekend visit. We drove down to Pacifica for the International Dog Surfing competition and I schooled her in the ways of California wine as much as I could with my limited knowledge.

The following weekend, August 9-13, I had a lovely time hosting and touring around with my 16 year old niece, and got to introduce her to the joy that is Santa Cruz. And yoga with goats!

August 30-Sept. 4 was when I hosted (this is a recurring theme in August, isn’t it?) my Aunt Sherrie for local sightseeing and a road trip up to Lake Tahoe.

Sept. 22-24 saw me heading down to L.A. for my cousin Katie’s wedding and some work meetings. It was the first time in ages that I got to connect with that specific branch of my family, and get to know them a bit better.

Sept. 29 was my first AFSP walk in Sac. And i was joined by Jade, her visiting mom, and her three little ones.

Sept. 30 was the really long hair session with Mason that helped solidify that we were legit friends (and included a shared sunset from the window of his hair studio!) and a quick follow up appointment on Oct. 3 allowed us to enjoy a rainbow and storm together.

Oct. 19-21 saw Maya and I doing another Girls Gone Sensibly Wild road trip. Back to Peachy Canyon to pick up some wine, and also Pismo Beach and Santa Maria for our first visit to a really lovely winery called Foxen.

Oct. 26 was quite possibly my all-time favorite Brian Fallon performance. It was just him alternating between his acoustic guitar and an electric piano, and he was joined by Craig Finn from The Hold Steady, who also did his own acoustic set.

Oct. 27 I got to introduce my new friend Torrey to the Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg, and we did a fun wine and Halloween candy pairing and some epic day drinking.

Nov. 3 saw me reuniting with my Cal crew and a sprinkling of East Bay friends at Fillmore Karaoke, for an epic night of loud singing as an early celebration of my 40th bday. So much wine. Actually too much, but for a birthday, that’s acceptable!

Nov. 4-6 I was in Indianapolis for work, and though the work part wasn’t particularly memorable, I was super honored and thrilled that my BFF Dawn drove all the way down from Joliet IL with her two boys to have dinner with me on my first night there.

Nov. 9 was an epic Local H show in Sac. Also a welcome break in the midst of a period of forced solitude, after the Camp Fire residual smoke prompted my whole office to work from home for about a week to protect us from the terrible air quality.

Nov. 18 was the day we had the beautiful service honoring the life of a beloved professor who passed.

Nov. 24-29 was my trip to Cabo with my Aunt Sherrie, and was also my official bday celebration.

Dec. 9-12 was my DC trip, which also allowed me to catch up with my friend Max, who lives in Baltimore, and my friend Stacey, who also happened to be there for her own work purposes.

Dec. 15 was my full day of yoga retreating at Green Gulch Ranch in Marin, and then I drove to the East Bay to catch up with Maya at Calicraft, which is one of our favorite craft distilleries in the area.

Dec. 16 was a white elephant celebration in Pleasant Hill that allowed me to unexpectedly meet a new, interesting friend.

08. What was your biggest achievement of the year? So far, meeting all expectations at my new job and closing a major gift earlier than is required. Also not losing my shit during the condo selling process, even though there were a lot of reasons to do so.

09. What was your biggest failure? I wrote VERY little fiction. But I did dip my toe back into writing in general, so I guess there’s that. 10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I took a tumble at home that left my tailbone a bit tender about a month ago. But otherwise, no, pretty healthy, even after getting rear-ended in my car! 11. What was the best thing you bought? Various travel tickets, both air and rail. A beautiful new necklace that I found at the holiday market in D.C. All the concert tickets that provided soul-fueling live music.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Mine! I adjusted to a new job and an unfamiliar setting and managed to acquire a few new friends while also maintaining the East Bay friendships that meant the most to me. 13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Who else but certain immediate family members? 14. Where did most of your money go? Rent. Travel. Wine, and to a lesser extent, craft beer, now that I’ve picked up a taste for stouts and sours. 15. What song will always remind you of 2018?

Anything off of Sleepwalkers by Brian Fallon

Anything off of  Be More Kind by Frank Turner

Chariot by Gavin DeGraw

Tall Green Grass by Cory Branan

16. Compared to this time last year, you are: Thinner and sleeker, weight-wise

More willing to make room for others and open my life and space to them (friend and lover both) Still as sleep-deprived as ever 17. What do you wish you'd done more of? Novel writing, as always. Flirting. And kissing. 18. What do you wish you'd done less of? Angsting over adulting-related things that were either beyond my control or that ended up working out just as they should.

19. How will you be spending/did you spend Christmas?

I’m driving to Santa Cruz on Xmas Eve and treating myself to an overnight stay so that I can indulge in my happy place and a sunset hike. Also get to celebrate Boxing Day for the first time with my friend Jade and her brood back in Sac.

20. How will you be spending/did you spend New Year’s Eve? Original plan was to hang at my friend Jade’s place with her kids, movies and snacks. But just learned the wee ones are ill, so now I’m not sure what I’m doing. That was how I spent last year (the original plan, that is), with the main difference being that last year I also went to a two-hour yin workshop beforehand, which was how I discovered my current yoga studio, and discovered how much I enjoy yin practice in general. 21. Did you fall in love in 2018?

No. But I made more effort to pursue it, and had more options than I think I’ve ever had in a single year. Which was kind of encouraging even if each one was relatively short-lived.

22. How many one-night stands? I always laugh when I read this question. How about I just wink knowingly and say a lady never tells? 23. What was your favorite TV program? Supernatural. iZombie. To a lesser extent, Riverdale, even though I’m still pretty behind on that one. Sons of Anarchy (which I know is old but I’m playing catchup via Netflix and Hulu) And as a guilty pleasure, Total Divas. And of course, I'm still casually following WWE on the WWE network, though the only thing I’m finding compelling aside from the women’s matches are the Brits featured on the UK specific programming. 24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? No, I don't think so. 25. What was the best book you read? I finally got into the Harry Potter series and I’m really enjoying it. I just finished the Order of the Phoenix, and have the next installment requested from the library. 26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Not entirely new, but my appreciation for Cory Branan was reinforced and amplified after seeing him in Santa Barbara. And I’m also on a rediscovery tear with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Cold War Kids.

27. What did you want and get? Reassurance that this move to Sac was the right next step, after I settled in to my new role relatively easily. 28. What did you want and not get? Romantic love for an extended period. More down time. 29. What was your favorite film(s) of this year? Bohemian Rhapsody, even though I know it had some historical inaccuracies.

A Quiet Place was hard because of the ending, but decent as well.

And the latest Halloween was hella satisfying, especially since I caught it after needing an escape after learning about the passing of the professor I mentioned earlier.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I prepped for my Cabo departure, went exploring at the Cosumnes River Trail, which is also a bird sanctuary, and caught the movie Widows with my work friend Christine. Then she took me to Panera for dinner. Couldnt’ do much more than that since I had a 5 am flight the following morning. I turned 40.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Love, as always. 32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2018? Activewear as much as possible. But never enough. 33. What kept you sane? My friends. The various trips I took and rock shows I attended. Junk food. Wandering in nature.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Jensen Ackles. Tom Hiddleston. Charlie Hunnan. Idris Elba. My taste doesn't change much. 35. Who did you miss? Dawn. Becca. Kelly and Drew. Stephanie and Scott. Rob. Elspeth. Mike K. Jason. 36. Who was the best new person you met?

Lu

Ellen

Mason

Torrey

Anthony

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2018 Never underestimate my own ability to adapt to new situations, and to handle my own shit like a boss. I had a few challenging things thrown at me, namely the condo selling process, and the logistical gymnastics that followed after having to bring my car in for a bumper repair following a recent rear-ending, and though I felt tested by both of those situations, I ultimately succeeded at navigating both of them to a positive end.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

I’m always starting over....

I don’t wanna waste the nights in my life

But I never fit in, or felt home in my skin.

I’m waiting on a big love, baby.

--Brian Fallon, “Her Majesty’s Service”

[davidarthurpersley]

All our lives have been deeply affected by current events. Many businesses & industries are struggling during these trying times. As a performer, concerts & many venues have closed & entire concert seasons ended short or postponed until mid-2021 including: Broadway Shows, Opera Productions, Theatre Productions to Commercial Music Venues. Livelihoods of many in the Entertainment Industry have come to a screeching halt; so one learns to diversify. Frankly, my debut album hasn’t been released yet; hence like many musicians we do rely on other skills to survive. I teach music lessons from time to time. Please feel free to find me online via Wyzant, if you are interested in learning: voice, piano, guitar, songwriting, composing, music theory & sight singing, & music production. Prayers for all my Performing Friends & industry colleagues out there during these challenging times. Stay safe & healthy. DA. https://is.gd/E99XlY #music #lessons #musicinstruction #voice #musictheatre #songwriting #performing #interpretation #nyc #la #chicago #indianapolis #minneapolis #fortwayne https://www.instagram.com/p/CGTB4w4hqSM/?igshid=1k6ikpnesobmv

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