DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS Rich Buckland and Bill Mesnik

There are certain artists with whom we share an affinity - those who have touched our souls in such a way that our lives are forever changed. 

Such an artist was Patrick Sky: a folk singer of Georgia Creek descent, whose professional trials and eventual retreat from public life tell a compelling story.

Lulu’s husky croon is unmistakeable. The Scottish shouter is a UK national treasure, and still gorgeous. Picking up the torch from Brenda Lee, and passing it to Miley Cyrus, Lulu was, (along with Dusty Springfield), foundational to the world-wide popularization of white, female voiced R&B. Her 1964 cover of The Isley Brother’s Shout, at the age of 15 cemented her vocal persuasiveness, and To Sir, With Love catapulted her into the dreams of millions of devotional worshippers like me. 

James Clavell’s film about a black teacher thrown into the deep end of London’s inner city school system, was part of Sidney Poitier’s cinematic triple crown of 1967, following: In the Heat of the Night (for which he won the academy award), and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Everything about the project was poised for success, and the title song didn’t disappoint - driving to number 1 as it cascaded out of every car radio across America. 

I was 13 when I saw the film, and it made a big impression on me. Of course, Sidney Poitier’s journey from awkward novice to mentor was totally convincing (as were all his performances? - but it was Lulu’s voice that has stayed with me through the years. And, with each passing year it glows a little bit warmer. 

Blossom Dearie: what a great name! It was her real name, too. Well, Margrethe Blossom Dearie - she dropped the first part, and that was a good choice for Show Biz, I think. And, that voice: light, breathy, girlish, delightfully witty - I loved it from the first time I heard it.  And, not only was she a fantastic vocalist, but considered one of the great jazz pianists - Bill Evans was inspired by her chord work; that tells you something. 
Everything I’ve Got Belongs to You comes off of her first album for Verve, deriving from the Broadway show “By Jupiter” by Rodgers and Hart, which ran for 427 performances in 1942. The Amazonian lyrics juxtaposed with the little girl voice is kinky perfection. And, her articulation - hilarious and sexy, delivers a delightful confection. 
Though she was born in Upstate New York, she made her bones in Paris when she formed the vocal group The Blue Stars, which later became the famous “Swingle Singers”. Always entrepreneurial, she started her own label, Daffodil Records in ’74. I immediately recognized her voice from the educational recordings School House Rock and Multiplication Rock (the latter winning her a Grammy in 1973). 
Blossom Dearie - an unforgettable name for an incomparable singer. 

THE DIG THIS THANKSGIVING EXTRAVAGANZA-
AN AUDIO MOTION PICTURE-
MUSIC, GRATITUDE, INSPIRATION, LOVE, FAITH AND LAUGHTER- OUR GIFT TO YOU AND YOURS.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM RICH BUCKLAND & BILL MESNIK-YOUR SPLENDID BOHEMIANS

BILL MESNIK'S HOLIDAY INVOCATION
1) CHAPEL IN THE MOOLIGHT- THE ORIOLES
2) THANK YOU FOR BEING A FRIEND- ANDREW GOLD
3) IN MY LIFE- DIANA KRALL
4) I THANK YOU- SAM AND DAVE
5) THIS IS ALL I ASK- TONY BENNETT
6) LONG LIVE OUR LOVE- THE SHANG-RI-LAS
7) THE TRUTH WON'T FADE AWAY- PROCOL HARUM
8) THERE BUT FOR FORTUNE- PETER, PAUL AND MARY
9 ) THE WHITE CLIFFS OF DOVER- THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS
10) i'LL BE SEEING YOU- FRANK SINATRA
11) VANLOSE STAIRWAY- VAN MORRISON AND GEORGIE FAME
12) A CHANGE IS GONNA COME- OTIS REDDING
13) THANK U- ALANIS  MORISSETTE
14) MANY RIVERS TO CROSS
15) IT'S MY LIFE- BON JOVI
16) MORE I CANNOT WISH YOU- PAT ROONEY SR.
17) ALMOST HOME- CRAIG MORTON AND JELLYROLL
18) LISTEN PEOPLE- HERMANS HERMITS
19) AMAZING GRACE- ELVIS PRESLEY

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In 1985, the British rock band Dire Straits released the song “Money for Nothing.” 
It is an undeniable rock classic. It also is a superb entry point for—of all things—judging the morality of capitalism. It is worth a listen as well as a classroom lesson.
The lyrics relay the perspective of a laborer. As he sees a video of rock musicians on MTV, he expresses envy. He strains in the delivery of appliances while the musicians enjoy great wealth and adoration with little hardship:
We got to install microwave ovens, custom kitchen deliveries
We got to move these refrigerators, we gotta move these color TVs
Listen here
Now that ain’t workin’, that’s the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain’t workin’, that’s the way you do it
Money for nothin’ and your chicks for free
As the song proceeds, the envy gives way to anger and resentment. There is injustice—even absurdity—in how wealth is distributed! An honest day’s work should be more valued!
No shit.
“Money for Nothing” is the dream of every generation. For society as a whole, there are two ways to get it. The first way is theft on a national scale. That means the extraction of goods and services from neighboring lands through warfare (i.e., pillaging and enslavement). The second way is through a set of property rights which aids the exchange of values and which permits innovation to flourish.
For ninety nine percent of human existence, we have chosen extraction. More recently, the right liberal attitudes toward commerce and diversity have won favor enough to inform our institutions.
While we still remain uneasy about the free-wheeling quality of markets, I think we can all agree that exchange is better than the old way to get “money for nothing and your chicks for free.”     - 

Scott Drylie -
Assistant Professor of Economics, Cost Analysis, and Acquisition Management at the Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, Ohio.

The Wanderer is two minutes, fifty-one seconds of pure swagger. Imagine my surprise when I read a quote from Dion where he said it was essentially a sad song, and that the one of lyrics demonstrated the singer’s existential crisis: “with my two fists of iron - ( I always thought it was “two fifths of wine”) - and I’m goin’ nowhere!”   Dion is a Buddha of self-reflection.


He has always been my rock and roll Sherpa since the age of 8 when my friend Larry Bader and I would play “Dion and Chubby Checker on tour”. Larry was Dion and I was Chubby (‘cause I was) - we’d put on the records and lip-sync our act. The Beatles took over as an obsession a couple of years later, but Dion was never far from my thoughts: he kept coming back through the decades: in the late 60s as a folky warrior for peace; playing coliseumson the oldie circuit in the 70s; in the 80s and 90s as a grizzled, born again survivor; then, producing a string of hit blues albums in the 2000s,  And, he’s still at it, sounding better than humanly possible. At the age of 84 he’s producing some of his best work ever.- just listen to American Hero, his latest with Carlene Carter, and genuflect.


The long delayed Norton release of “Kickin’ Child”, an album he recorded for Columbia that was scrubbed, posits the notion that it was perhaps Dion, before Dylan, who first took folk music electric with the master producer Tom Wilson.  He’s always been in my life, and I’m so grateful for that. If he had taken that doomed plane ride with Buddy Holly in ‘59… just think about what would have been lost.