Les pensées de Stevenson (Mike’s thoughts, large and small … mostly small.)
The friendships we make when we travel are unique, because we become close for a short period of time before becoming barely remembered names in the stories we tell, perhaps attached to photographs, for years and years. Continue reading “Friends of Mine”
This morning, as I did a bit of grocery shopping at my favorite food market here in Providence, Rhode Island USA, we shoppers were treated to a surprise visit from Santa Claus, much to the delight of the many children on hand. This particular Santa certainly looked the part, with a broad face and a little round belly, that shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.
Oddly, this Supermarket Santa spoke with a proper British accent, sounding very much like “King George IV” from The Crown (as played by British actor Jared Harris.) I suggest, if one decides to play Santa as a Brit, please give Father Christmas a working-class London cockney accent or ship-building Liverpool accent. Today (more than ever) we don’t want American children confusing the magnanimous magic of Santa Claus with the execrable machinations of autocracy. Give me a Santa who celebrates charity as well as democracy, and talks like a regular limey – or even better, like one of the Bowery Boys.
Chanson Du Jour 10/17/206 Vikki Carr: “Que sea él” (It Must Be Him)
I’ve always loved the hilariously desperate song “It Must Be Him” performed by Vikki Carr. The song sold over 1 million copies in 1967 and millions more since.
Vikki Carr remains a very under-appreciated vocalist, one who gets unfairly lumped-in with her white bread contemporaries dominating that woeful/golden era of 1960s MOR (Middle of the Road) radio. 
On trips in the Stevenson family station wagon, my dad would play this musical spam on the car radio, punching in the dreaded WLKW button, while we kids in the back seat begged for DJ Joe Thomas playing Beatles, Beach Boys and Motown on WICE. But alas – this was elevator music without doors that open and let you out.
It was in the back seat of the Pontiac Tempest, that I learned Vicki Carr sang ‘grown-up” music that I actually liked. Eventually I saw her perform on TV with Merv, Johnny and Mike, where she was always beautiful, charming, and singing brilliantly. Still later, I became the odd used record customer who purchased both Vikki’s Greatest Hits album AND Moby Grape’s groovy debut (sans “flipping the bird”) while shopping at In Your Ear. Has anyone else ever purchased these two records together? No? Hooray for me.
Born Florencia Bisenta de Casillas-Martinez Cardona before opting for the anglicized stage name, Continue reading “Chanson Du Jour: “It Must Be Him””
Pas De Merde 