The Garlic: Louis Prima

Showing posts with label Louis Prima. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

The Hippest, Swingest Christmas Tune ... Evah!

Oh, do we have a treat for you this evening.

Finally found a the Christmas tune we have been searching for (well, at least a 'Free" version of it), and it is one, even on the most downbeat jazz radio stations, doesn't always make the playlists.

It is the hippest, swingest Christmas tune - Evah!

We have to thank that showman-of-showmen, Louis Prima, for being, well, Louis Prima

Click through, wait a few moments for it to buffer, and, when it starts playing, don't be surprised if your fingers are snapping, and toes'a tapppin'

Louis Prima - What Will Santa Say (When He Finds Everybody Swingin')

Bonus Bonus

Here's another from Louis ...

Louis Prima - Shake Hands with Santa Claus

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Pennies From Loomis!

Well, actually, a lot more than pennies ...

Try, about $160,000!

You gotta love stories like this, and it comes with a H/T to Maria Stuart, over on Open Salon.

It’s raining dead presidents in Detroit

It’s been a week since motorists and passersby competed with armored truck crews and police for money that landed like litter along the I-75/Chrysler freeway in Detroit.

It was about 8:30 a.m. on June 11 when a Loomis armored car transporting an unknown amount of cash lost part of its load, reportedly newly printed $20 and $100 bills. No one’s yet sure how it happened. The freeway was closed for about an hour as Loomis crews and police recovered as much of the cash as they could.

But they had competition. According to news reports, dozens of motorists and passersby scrambled along the freeway to grab up as much money as they could.

In the end, there’s $160,000 missing.

The Detroit News called it a "Freeway Lottery", "as dozens of drivers stopped to compete with Loomis guards in scooping up scads of cash lying on the roadway and in the waist-high grass leading to the service drive."

Stuart's post goes on to say that Loomis offered a 10% reward for any money returned, which was accompanied by the club-in-hand threat of prosecution for those that don't.

Yeah, good luck with that one Loomis.

Especially when you read the ClickonDetroit story;

Police are also looking at surveillance video from cameras mounted along I-75, in hopes of figuring out who took the cash.

"Any monies that are lost are obviously guaranteed by Loomis to the people who own them," said Loomis spokesman Pat Flaharty.

One driver told Local 4 that police were picking up the cash, otherwise she might have tried to pick up some bills.

Take it away, Louie!

Louis Prima - Pennies from the Heaven

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Another Good One Passes On ... Sam Butera

A good friend hipped me to the news, yesterday, that saxophonist Sam Butera, known for his long association with Louis Prima, passed away over the weekend.

Jazz saxophonist Sam Butera dies ...Musician made mark with Louis Prima in Las Vegas

Another link to Las Vegas’ storied past was cut Wednesday morning with the passing of legendary jazz saxophonist Sam Butera, sideman to another Vegas legend, Louis Prima.

Family friends said Butera died at about 6 a.m. at Sunrise Hospital, where he had been since early January suffering from the effects of Alzheimer's Disease.

Butera, who retired in 2004, would have been 82 in August.

[snip]

The music of Prima and Butera resurfaces from time to time, played in film sound tracks an commercials. A Gap commerical in the '90s, featuring “Jump, Jive and Wail” gave Butera’s career a boost.

“Louis Prima’s true ace in the hole for 21 years was Sam Butera,” Prima’s widow, Gia Maione, said during a telephone call from her home in Florida. “I don’t care what vocalists were with Louis, his true ace in the hole was Sam Butera. Side by side, Louis and Sam kicked Las Vegas’ butt for 21 years.”

[snip]

“I really do not believe over all of these years that Sam Butera got the accolades he deserved as a tenor saxophone player,” Maione, 67, said. “I defy anyone to name someone that played better tenor sax that Sam Butera.

“From the day I got the job with Louis, before every show every night, emanating from the dressing room you would hear Sam running his scales, running his fingering, making sure his mouthpiece and reed were perfect. He was a technician beyond belief with that instrument, let alone the showman that he was. And you put those two side by side, Prima and Butera, that was it.”

She says her husband didn’t get the credit he deserved, either.

“Both of them were such great showmen and they had so much fun that people overlooked the skill because they were having too much fun,” she said.

Yes, incredible fun, indeed.

More Sam Butera Obits

All Things Considered: Famed Jazzman Sam Butera Remembered

All About Jazz: Sam Butera 1950s-'60s Tenor Saxophonist with Louis Prima Dies

JazzTimes: Saxophonist Sam Butera Dies at 81

Nola.Com: Sam Butera, former Louis Prima saxophonist, dies in Las Vegas at age 81

Sam Butera on Wikipedia

The Music

Louis Prima - Just a gigolo

Louis Prima - Oh Marie

Louis Prima - Angelina & Zooma, Zooma

Louis Prima Jump Jive An' Wail

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Pennies from the Heaven

Boy, rough day to sit on the sidelines, still on the DL.

We had to listen to the Congressional Republicans whine and moan like cats in a warehouse full of rocking chairs.

Stimulus Bill Passes House With 0 Republican Votes

President Obama won his first vote, with the House, going strictly along party lines, but this is just the first dance, with much more, and, perhaps, greater theatre, to be played out.

Steve Benen asks a rather interesting question;

If the House Republican caucus, en masse, isn't willing to support a stimulus package in the midst of a global economic crisis, it's hard to imagine when, exactly, GOP lawmakers are going to work with the majority party in a constructive way.

[Snip]

Of course, the last time we saw a vote like this one was probably the 1993 vote on Clinton's first budget -- every single Republican in the chamber voted against it, hoping to prove, once and for all, that they were right about economics and Democrats were wrong. If memory serves, that budget was the first step towards the longest economic expansion on record, the creation of 22 million jobs, and the total elimination of the federal budget deficit.

Cue me when the Third Act starts up

In the meantime, sing along with Louis, because they better start falling damn soon ...

Louis Prima - Pennies from the Heaven