Classic Ross Amico

  • Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn a Patriotic Dive

    Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn a Patriotic Dive

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    Ross Amico
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    O that Irving Berlin.

    I watch “Holiday Inn” once a year, whether I need it or not. If you don’t know the premise, worn-out crooner Jim Hardy (Bing Crosby) plans to retire from showbiz, but after a year of hard labor at his “retreat” on a Connecticut farm, he hits upon the idea to convert his home into a nightclub that’s only open (wait for it) ON HOLIDAYS.

    Of course, along the way, there are plenty of farcical digressions, as he and his former partner, hoofer Ted Hanover (Fred Astaire), become involved in successive love triangles. The preposterous framework gives Berlin a chance to write a song for every festive occasion, and then some.

    The results are a mixed bag. On the one hand we’ve got “White Christmas.” On the other, songs like “I Can’t Tell a Lie” (for Washington’s Birthday). And it’s best not even to bring up the Lincoln number in the 21st century.

    That said, how can I pass on Bing as the Freedom Man?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEUBmmQrygU

    Or Fred with firecrackers?

    Celebrate responsibly, everyone, and have a happy 4th!

  • Ellis Island Dreams Immigration Then & Now

    Ellis Island Dreams Immigration Then & Now

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    Ross Amico
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    7 responses

    At a time when immigration remains a divisive issue, it’s instructive to look back to political cartoons of the 19th and early 20th centuries, when bomb-toting Bolsheviks seemed poised to take down our democracy, the Chinese were inscrutable back-stabbers, the Jews were bearers of poverty and disease, and the Irish were simian-faced hooligans and drunkards. Anxiety about outsiders has always been with us, yet somehow we got over each successive alien group, and the country has plugged along just fine.

    This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll gain a little perspective, courtesy of composer Peter Boyer. From 1892 to 1954, more than 12 million immigrants passed through Ellis Island in search of a better life. More than 40 percent of the U.S. population – over 100 million Americans – can trace their roots to someone who entered this country along that route.

    Boyer’s “Ellis Island: The Dream of America” incorporates texts from testimonials archived as part of the Ellis Island Oral History Project. These are real words of real people telling their own stories. The work is performed by actors, rather than speakers or narrators, who deliver their monologues in the first person. In a powerful epilogue, each of them comes together to recite a stanza from Emma Lazarus’ poem, “The New Colossus.” It’s so effective – and affecting – I get a little choked up just thinking about it.

    You will, too, when you join me for “Spirits of Independence,” this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

  • Bard Music Fest Focuses on Rachmaninoff

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    Ross Amico
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    One response

    He was a visiting scholar at the Bard Music Festival in 2018, an event devoted to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and “his world.” A mere blip in Taruskin’s career, but he was awarded an honorary degree from the college’s president, and the festival music director, Leon Botstein. Rachmaninoff will be the focus of this year’s festival, August 5-14. For more information, follow the link (in no way associated with Taruskin’s obituary).

    https://fishercenter.bard.edu/whats-on/programs/bard-music-festival/

  • Doc Savage Rant plus Viewer’s Choice Preview

    Doc Savage Rant plus Viewer’s Choice Preview

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    Ross Amico
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    6 responses

    Roy and my discussion about “Doc Savage” couldn’t have been any more… well, savage. At least when it came to the topic of tearing down movie theaters to make way for parking garages! There was plenty of pulp with our orange juice during last night’s conversation. Enjoy a bounty of beefcake here:

    Next week, we’re past due for another Viewer’s Choice. If there’s a genre film you’d like us to discuss, feel free to suggest it in the comments section or leave a message for Roy. We’ll chew it over during our Fourth of July pie-eating contest and make an announcement by the end of the holiday weekend. The next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner will livestream on Facebook next Friday evening at 7:00 EDT!

    https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner

  • July 4th Movie Music: Patriotism on Film

    July 4th Movie Music: Patriotism on Film

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    Ross Amico
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    With the Fourth of July right around the corner, “Picture Perfect” celebrates its 12th anniversary with an hour of cinematic fifes and drums.

    We’ll begin with selections from “The Patriot” (2000), in which slow-burning pacifist Mel Gibson is pushed too far by ruthless British officer Jason Isaacs and reverts to his bloody French and Indian War ways. By the end of the film, he is literally waving the flag to John Williams’ triumphant score.

    Then we’ll hear a suite from the Jack Benny-Ann Sheridan fixer-up comedy, “George Washington Slept Here” (1942), based on the play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman – not really about the Revolution, beyond the fact that the ramshackle Pennsylvania farm house purchased by a transplanted New York couple is alleged to have been one of the seemingly limitless resting places of the Continental Army’s commander in chief. The music is by Adolph Deutsch.

    The film “Revolution” (1985) seemed to have everything going for it. Its director was Hugh Hudson, whose “Chariots of Fire” was the big winner at the 1981 Academy Awards; its star was Al Pacino; and its composer was John Corigliano, who would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music for his Symphony No. 2 AND an Oscar for his score to “The Red Violin.” But “Revolution” bombed horribly – so horribly that Pacino gave up making movies for the next four years. James Galway plays the flute and pennywhistle on the film’s soundtrack.

    Finally, we’ll hear music from the longest continuously-shown film in cinematic history, “Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot” (1957), created exclusively for the tourist attraction of Colonial Williamsburg. The 38-minute featurette stars future “Hawaii Five-O” icon Jack Lord, and the score is by none other than Bernard Herrmann.

    Here’s a clip from “Williamsburg,” with some of Herrmann’s music:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0VXfVhenXQ

    We celebrate Independence Day this week, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies. Stick a feather in your cap and call it macaroni, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

    PHOTO: George Washington wagers he can crack a walnut with his bare hand in “Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot”

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