Classic Ross Amico

Category: Daily Dispatch

Marooned & Ghost Busters Sci-Fi Nostalgia

As Bugs Bunny would say, “What a maroon.”

We drift into Season 2 of Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner with a mug of water, a cup of coke, a pistol, and a single shot between us. Marvel at our meandering ruminations on “Marooned,” John Sturges’ 1969 stranded-in-space narrative.

Next Friday, we’ll be joined by Roy’s son, Ryan, for another trip back to 1970s Saturday morning television, and share our impressions of “The Ghost Busters.” No, not Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis. More like an “F Troop” reunion, with Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch, joined by Bob Burns as Tracy the Ape.

The most prevalent specters are those of Vaudeville, the Three Stooges, and the Bowery Boys, with plenty of silly schtick, surreal sight gags, and a forehead-slapping array of recognizable guest stars (including Billy Barty, Johnny Brown, Bernie Kopell, Ted Knight, Jim Backus, Joe E. Ross, and Bowery Boy veteran Huntz Hall).

It’s not every kids’ show that makes allusions to Sidney Greenstreet, Wagner, and Oscar Wilde.

Pour yourself a bowl of Cap’n Crunch and prepare to get busted. We’ll be chasing the ghosts of our youth, when we livestream on Facebook, next Friday evening, at 7:00 EDT!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner/

April 10, 2021
Julian Grant’s “Salt” Premieres Online Free Concert

Last year, I interviewed composer Julian Grant for an article in the Princeton weekly, U.S. 1, but when the related concert was cancelled, thanks to Covid, the article never ran. So now I’m saving it to be spruced up for a future date.

In the meantime, Grant has a new piece, scheduled to receive its world premiere this evening, on a streamed concert of Boston-based Emmanuel Music, presented by the Harvard Musical Association. Grant’s “Salt” is an HMA commission.

The composer characterizes the work as “a rollicking vocal chamber music premiere which may be masquerading as an opera, or vice versa. It could either be staged, or performed, as here, in concert.

“Based on a Russian folk-tale, collected by Alexandr Afanas’ev (1826-71) who was Russia’s equivalent to the Brothers Grimm. I have changed the tale slightly, transforming the ne’er-do-well son into a daughter, which gives the story – which also involves a king who won’t eat, a crew of schoolboys, a spoilt princess, a rampaging giant and treacherous siblings – more of a 21st century vibe.

“This piece, written in lockdown, is a piece of pure escapism, which is what I felt I most needed during this past, most difficult of years for us all.”

The remainder of the program will be devoted to works by Beethoven, including selections from his Scottish and Irish folksongs, the song cycle “An die ferne Geliebte” (“To the Distant Beloved”), and the Presto movement from the Piano Trio, Op. 1, No. 1.

The concert is FREE. Watch it online, tonight, live, at 7 pm EDT, or catch it later on the HMA YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC72tpsQe-XZMWrmNLWgZ0GA

For more about Julian Grant, visit:

http://www.juliangrant.net

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=julian+grant+composer

April 9, 2021
Paul Robeson Sings Ode to Joy

On Paul Robeson’s birthday, here’s Princeton’s own, to sing Beethoven’s celebration of universal brotherhood, his setting of Schiller’s “Ode to Joy.”

At the time of this recording, his U.S. passport had been revoked.

https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/24367

More about Robeson’s ties to Wales and the plight of the miners:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jul/02/how-paul-robeson-found-political-voice-in-welsh-valleys

The story behind “Freedom Train,” with audio:

https://njdigitalhighway.org/lesson/paul_robeson/freedom_train

April 9, 2021
Marian Anderson Florence Price Triumph

On this date in 1939 – Easter Sunday, as it turns out – in a supreme demonstration of turning lemons into lemonade, Marian Anderson, barred from performing at Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, on account of her race, sang instead from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, to a diverse crowd of 750,000 people on the mall and a national radio audience estimated in the millions.

The program concluded with the spiritual “My Soul is Anchored in the Lord,” in an arrangement by Florence Price (1887-1953). By coincidence, today also happens to be Price’s birthday. Price, born in Little Rock, Arkansas, became the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer, when her Symphony in E minor was performed by the Chicago Symphony in 1933. Needless to say, in an era when White American males struggled to find acceptance on Eurocentric classical music programs, Price, as a Black American woman, faced even greater challenges

The playing field has shifted in recent years, and interest in Price’s music has been on the rise. It’s hard to believe, for a composer of her accomplishments, that dozens of her manuscripts were rescued from her dilapidated summer home, on the outskirts of St. Anne, Illinois, only as recently as 2009.

It’s an exciting time to be alive. Who knows what other musical riches are out there, undervalued in their time, awaiting rediscovery?

Anderson sings “My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord”

Price’s Symphony No. 1 in E minor

April 9, 2021
Marooned Gene Hackman in Space!

In the old days, when you were marooned, at least they left you with a pistol, some rum, and a single shot. In space, all you get is… Gene Hackman.

Hackman’s character is the weakest link in a satellite mission overseen by temperamental Gregory Peck, in John Sturges’ “Marooned” (1969), our focus for this week’s Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner.

Three astronauts are stranded in orbit, after their capsule’s retro rockets malfunction, making reentry into the earth’s atmosphere impossible. That means they basically have no choice but to sit around and try not to unravel as a rescue attempt is mounted. With David Janssen, Richard Crenna, and James Franciscus in the cast, space was never muskier.

Sturges, director of “The Magnificent Seven” and “The Great Escape,” here lacks his house composer, energetic Elmer Bernstein – or any musical score, for that matter – which is a pity, since if there’s one thing this movie needs, it’s a swift kick in the ass. (Just like Hackman.)

The would-be thriller was given clearance to launch, at the height of first-man-on-the-moon mania. Unfortunately, the special effects, coming so close on the heels of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” are not exactly stellar.

Man-up for our slow-burn conversation about “Marooned.” Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner drifts aimlessly into its second season. Squander your oxygen by shouting in the comments section, as we livestream on Facebook. this Friday evening at 7:00 EDT!

https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

April 8, 2021

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