As some of you might already be aware, I've got a new book out. One of the best stories in the whole volume is that of Sammy Davis Junior going AWOL on the day of a Simon Dee chat show, only to turn up in mid-transmission with a sheaf of band parts. The full, glorious tale is told in the book (pp210-212) by Roger Ordish, who was producing and directing the show, but here's the accompanying visual and aural magnificence. Sammy's original recording has Ray Brown on bass. This has Joe Mudele, taking the lead and sight-reading like mad. You know what? It leaves the studio version standing.
Despite this blog being the fount of all light entertainment knowledge, I shall avoid dwelling on the Jonathan Ross/Russell Brand incident. Apart from to say that Andrew Sachs appears to be one of the most tolerant and decent men alive. If only those with a less direct connection to the furore could show such grace and restraint.
The UK is heading for sovereign default in a couple of months or so but both the Prime Minister and David Cameron have decided that the Brand-Ross issue deserves their urgent attention instead. Most odd.
ReplyDeleteThis is really an attempt by the Mail and its ilk to get *two* vast stories out of the news - the economic crisis (caused by their own beloved neoliberalism) and Barack Obama, whose election would be the greatest blow to their credibility since Suez.
ReplyDeleteThose who like Brand and Ross are no doubt deeply offended by what Peter Hitchens says when he appears on Any Questions? But they do not - whatever Hitchens and his acolytes may imply to the contrary - launch campaigns to ban Hitchens from broadcasting. Those who would walk on hot coals if Hitchens told them to seem far less tolerant, for some reason.
*Two* people complained when it actually went out. Those who would have been offended recognised that the show was not for them and did not listen, just as I don't listen to Alan Titchmarsh. The whole business is a new nadir for Britain and British life.
SDJ has to be my favourite entertainer who ever walked this planet. There is no performance of him in any capacity I've watched which hasn't left me wanting to watch him over and over again.
ReplyDeleteHow many of today's so-called entertainers would be able to pitch up on television and perform a song unrehearsed with a band that, as you say, actually knocks the studio version into a cocked hat.
Book is arriving from Amazon tomorrow, good job I have the day off to appreciate it.