We haven’t seen Mr. Lo for a while. Because of his numerous responsibilities, he delegated most of the leadership of the Circle Band task force to Mr. Zhu here.
I miss his unique brand of bureaucratic judo. With any luck, I’ll find more reasons to make him show up more frequently.
Let’s wish a very happy 127th birthday to Mr. Duke Ellington!
This year, I have something special, his soundtrack for Anatomy of a Murder. He won three Grammy Awards in 1959, for Best Performance by a Dance Band, Best Musical Composition First Recorded and Released in 1959, and Best Sound Track Album.
On a side note, Anatomy of a Murder is a classic, with a brilliant performance by George C. Scott and amazing opening credits by the great Saul Bass. I reviewed it here.
Okay, here’s a new one: The Italian Rhapsody by Julie Giroux, performed by the US Army Field Band. I hadn’t heard of this one before, and frankly, it sounds like a medley of Italian folksongs and opera made specifically for one of these concerts, but it’s entertaining.
For this week’s rhapsody, we return to Amanda Harberg’s Tenement Rhapsody. This time for two pianos!
This one’s a fun one, and a case where I regret not speaking Spanish to appreciate the opening. Yes, I ran it through a translator to mostly know what they were talking about. But these things usually scrub all of the humor in the process.
I’ve got a new perk for all of my patrons over on Patreon! Now I’ll be including the pencils for some upcoming comic strips. So, if you join up, you can get to see how things look before they’re inked. The first batch starts with the first and last strips of the upcoming story. (Being ahead of schedule means you can get around writer’s block by doing strips out of order.) You can check them out here!
Here’s wishing a very happy 108th Birthday to Mr. Dizzy Gillespie!
Let’s celebrate by enjoying the title number of Birk’s Works!
