I mentioned yesterday that in addition to hosting an array of glitzy show-biz guest, Merv Griffin also hosted his share of important and controversial guests. One of them was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who appeared on Merv’s show in 1967. I had no idea that this interview existed when
Merv Griffin–talk show host, game show creator, media mogul, hotel and resort tycoon–was my first late-night talk show host. That’s because he wasn’t on late-night. He was on KTTV Channel 11 in Los Angeles at 9PM. So as a ten year old obsessed with show-biz I was able to stay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7SsYtLP9fg NOTE: FOR SOME REASON THE ABOVE VIDEO HAS BEEN BLOCKED FOR VIEWING ON OTHER WEBSITES SO SIMPLY GO TO YOUTUBE (CLICK ABOVE LINK) AND WATCH IT DIRECTLY. *********** Shortly after I met Peter Bogdanovich at a party I gave in 2002 (actually about 20 minutes after we met) we discovered that
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jqWC6ENShc Who’d a thunk? He’s good too! Let’s consider this a week of videos featuring people singing skillfully who really ought not to be singing at all (see previous post). Next up is Earl Holliman…
In 2002, my new friend Peter Bogdanovich and I decided to make a CD of songs from the American popular songbook. We both loved the standards from the 30s/40s/50s and Peter was, believe it or not, a pretty good singer. We’d been getting together at my apartment for the past
My dear friend Peter Bogdanovich passed away the other day, age 82. I saw him last October in L.A. and he was, as always, funny and charming and dry-witted. While we were waiting for our table in the restaurant somebody noticed him and approached us (not an uncommon occurance–he was
I’ve been working on a documentary about the great Burt Young on and off for the past five or so years. I’m honored to count Burt as a good friend and artistic collaborator and am delighted to be able to say that a cut of the film is finally finished.
Even though I’ve loved Ray Charles forever it somehow eluded me that he played clean, swinging and funk-infused bop piano and did so in depth on a 1957 album called ‘The Great Ray Charles’ (Atlantic, 1957). Here’s ‘The Ray’, by Quincy Jones, the opening track and the one that sets
I find every second of this thirteen minute clip of Ray Charles rehearsing ‘They Can’t Take That Away From Me’ with an orchestra that he’s clearly never worked with before absolutely mesmerizing. Charles’ clarity and precision with what he wants (needs, really) from the band and his direct and not
Here’s a terrific twelve minute excerpt of a 1972 Flip Wilson show with the Jackson 5 as his guests. You get the family participating with Flip in a fairly tame ice-cream based sketch which is then followed by two terrific Jackson family performances. Enough has been said about the freaky