Dolly Parton has a new series on Netflix called Heartstrings. This is just another notch in her very successful acting-music career. The starter for the series is her number #1 hit, Jolene, a country ballad of a "hussy" trying to steal Dolly's husband. It debuted in 1973 and was a surprise hit as heavy metal... Continue Reading →
#J33 Louis Alter, Composer / Pianist
Louis Alter was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts on June 18, 1902 at 7 o'clock in the morning. He played vaudeville as the accompanist for headliners Irène Bordoni and Nora Bayes, the latter which he worked with continuously until her death in 1928. As he had previously written some songs for Broadway shows, after Ms Bayes... Continue Reading →
J905 Maestro Arturo Toscanini
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/books/review/toscanini-biography-harvey-sachs.html We excerpted his bio from the times book review. Click on title to read it in its entirety. It all began in Rio On the night of June 30, 1886, Arturo Toscanini — recently turned 19 — arrived, barely on time, at the imperial opera house in Rio de Janeiro, was to perform “Aida.”... Continue Reading →
The Asteroid Lilith Discovery & Lili Boulanger
Marc Jones wrote very little on the nodes, so last month we took a turn with several other authors and highlighted their work on the nodes. Naturally, we found some better than others like Martin Schulman, Georges Muchery and Bernice Grebner, but in all honesty we did not survey Dr. Mohan Koparkar, Haydn Paul and... Continue Reading →
Country Singer, Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris was born on April 2 1947 in Birmingham, Alabama to a military traveling family. She has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2018 she received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. https://youtu.be/Klh7sAv9hu4 Ms. Harris a multi-talented singer songwriter was... Continue Reading →
C434 Jazz Singer Susannah McCorkle & fear of the unknown
This essay is on Jazz Singer Susannah McCorkle's who refusal to accept changing times and adapt led to the narrowing of her life perspective and eventual suicide.
#108 Heavenly song: Celestina Boninsegna
The diva Celestina Boninsegna was a born on 26 February 1877 in Reggio Emilia, Italy. She studied with composer Guglielmo Mattioli (1857-1924) for the opera and made her professional debut at 15 years of age. Reggio Emilia in red on the Italian map. She is best known for her soulful interpretations of Verdi's heroines, but... Continue Reading →
#114 Leonard Borwick, concert pianist
Leonard Borwick (26 February 1868 – 15 September 1925) was an English concert pianist especially associated with the music of Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms. Early training and debuts Borwick was born in Walthamstow, Essex -- East London on the River Lea -- of a Staffordshire family that relocated that for business. He studied piano under... Continue Reading →
#53 Wilhelm Backhaus, pianist
Wilhelm Backhaus, (born March 26, 1884, Leipzig, Ger.—died July 5, 1969, Villach, Austria), German pianist was best known for his interpretation of the works of Ludwig van Beethoven. Backhaus studied piano in Leipzig and in Frankfurt am Main. His rst concert appearance took place when he was eight years of age, and in 1905 he... Continue Reading →
#504 The many voices of Maria Jerritza
Marc Edmund Jones in his Jones 1000, has Miss Jerritza listed at 7 am that gives her the following chart and 22 Libra rising, "a child giving birds a drink at the fountain." I do not fully agree with this chart and so rectified her birth time to 10:46 AM and got now a 4... Continue Reading →
#835 Cyril Meir Scott, Theosophical Composer
Cyril Meir Scott, (born Sept. 27, 1879, Oxton, Cheshire, Eng.—died Dec. 31, 1970, Eastbourne), English composer and poet known especially for his piano and orchestral music. In the early 20th century Scott established a musical reputation in continental Europe with his Piano Quartet in E Minor (1901) and Second Symphony (1903). He music was so... Continue Reading →
C610 Aretha franklin and the soul of r&b
Aretha Louise Franklin was born in Memphis on March 25, 1942. Her mother, Barbara Siggers Franklin, was a gospel singer and pianist. Her father, the Rev. Clarence LaVaughn Franklin, known as C. L., preached. When she was 6, her parents separated; she remained with her father. Her mother died about five years later from a... Continue Reading →