ometime back in 1995, I was browsing a record store (remember those!) at the corner of Ventura Blvd. and Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles and I came across a Bing Crosby boxed set called Bing Crosby: His Legendary Years, 1931-1957. I knew who Bing was, of course, and I’d seen one or two of his movies,…
I don’t know when it was that I first heard of Bing Crosby. I know that the name was familiar when I was younger, but only because it was distinctive. Who else in entertainment was named “Bing”? In college, I recall hearing one of his songs, “They All Laughed” but I don’t exactly recall where…
I don’t generally listen to music while I write. The problem is that I can’t split my attention: if I listen to the music, I don’t write; if I write, I don’t hear the music. There have been one or two rare exceptions, but 99% of the time, I write with nothing in the background–all…
Last night, we watched White Christmas for the second time in a week. White Christmas is one of my favorite movies and it is my favorite holiday movie. The difference last night was that we watched it with Rosemary Clooney’s commentary, which was great. One feature of the commentary that I hadn’t seen before was…
In an effort to fight the somber mood, I’ve declared today “Bing Crosby” day. I’ve got 160 Bing Crosby songs on my iPod and I’m listening to them all throughout the day today.
Most of my friends know that I’m a big Bing Crosby fan. One of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen is The Road to Morroco with Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. I’ve never seen any of the other “Road” movies until this evening when I settled down with my dinner to watch The…
Yes, it’s a Bing and Friends morning. What better to listen to on a cold winter day than Bing Crosby crooning with friends like Fred Astaire, Bob Hope, Burl Ives, the Andrew Sisters, the Williams Brothers, Kay Thompson, Louis Armstrong, etc., etc. I tend to start singing out loud when I listen to Bing and…
This one isn’t related to reading. It is related to music. Yesterday, I was listening to Bing Crosby on the way home. Bing Crosby and Bob Hope were doing a duet of “If I Knew You Were Coming I’d’ve Baked A Cake”. This was back in the day when there was some improvisation that went…
Just a few miscellaneous items before I head off to bed. I’m up late because I got sucked into watching the Barbara Walters special “30 mistakes in 30 years”. The second part is on tomorrow night, but I’m TiVoing it so I don’t have to stay up for it. I did catch Smallville, which was…