Coming home last night as the grey clouds hunkered down over the city, bringing back rain and cold. Coming home to Mitchell, who had called me earlier with these amazing words: “Let me know what time you plan on getting home so I can have dinner ready by then.”
Uhm … heaven??
But seriously. More than that. We’ve just had a great time. Pretty much doing NOTHING. Lying around, Mitchell does the crossword, sometimes we listen to music, we flip through books, we sit in the kitchen and talk … we have covered MANY topics. For example: we talked about Kay Thompson for about 45 minutes.
I came home last night. Mitchell had gone for a run that day – came home, and – since it was chilly and rainy all day – had pretty much just stayed in my apartment, and watched old video clips online – stuff on YouTube. Stuff like Dinah Washington at the Newport Jazz festival. Ella performing live. Sarah Vaughan on some television show. All of Mitchell’s ICONS. We saw an incredible clip of Johnny Cash and Odetta singing a duet. Sadly, there were no Lena Horne clips to be found. But Mitchell just … went nuts with the You Tube. Tracking down clips of Barbra, Burt Bacharach … all the classics.
We talked about how, as kids, we basically just listened to the records our parents had. These were the records I remembered. His parents’ albums were all of those jazz, r & b, and soul classics – from the 40s, 50s, 60s.
I just think that’s so cool.
Oh, and dinner was made. Ready for me. So sweet!!
There was corn on the cob, chicken and a salad.
We had the windows open in the other room, and we could hear the rain coming down softly, peacefully. There was a cool breeze coming in. The lights were low, homey …
Oh, and we had been so blown away by the Odetta/Cash duet that Mitchell popped on some Odetta. I don’t own any Odetta – so Mitchell had to go to his little CD collection that he has brought to my humble abode.
This didn’t’ even occur to me until later on, after dinner – how perfect it was to have a big random Odetta appreciation moment and then to be able to listen to an entire CD of hers immediately …
I turned suddenly to Mitchell: “Uhm … you just happen to have an Odetta CD on you?”
“Oh. It’s always on me.” Mitchell replied, matter-of-factly.
Beautiful.
My mom LOVES Odetta. I called my parents later and just had to tell her: “Guess who we are listening to right now …”
hahahaha
Mitchell has a great story about seeing Odetta last year in Chicago. But I’ll let him regale you with it in the comments, should he so choose. I have heard him tell the story, but I made him tell it to me again. The woman has gotta be 80 years old, she’s got the bifocals on, and she is still touring. She’s still LIVING it. How many people do that?? She’s actually playing in NYC on Friday. But we looked up her tour dates and she is pretty much booked through the next 5 months. Amazing.
Odetta softly playing … the rain coming down … incense burning … my Bohemian little apartment, with Oriental rugs, and red-shaded lamps, and mis-matched furniture … Mitchell looked around at one moment and said, “Wow. I feel almost like … we are back in time … when Odetta first started singing – like the surroundings, the eclectic furniture, the low lights … kind of bohemian energy … we could so be kids back then, listening to her for the first time.”
This is one of the many many reasons why I love Mitchell.
Okay, I’m ridiculously in love with Kay Thompson, I’m ridiculously in love with Odetta, and I’m ridiculously in love with you and Mitchell.
Can I just please live with you or something? Can we make plans to retire together to an artist colony of our own devising? I just gotta have me some Sheila and Mitchell, thasall :)
stevie – hahahahaha We actually brought up your name last night, stevie. Even though we don’t know you, we love you.
I had never even feckin’ HEARD of Kay Thompson – but Mitchell was playing one of her CDs and I just had to ask: “Who is this amazing singer??”
Loved her voice. Such a womanly voice – such a sort of Barbara Stanwyck-as-showgirl voice. Not a pretty little soprano – but the voice of a grown woman. She’s amazing!
Mitchell filled me in on the details of her life – what an extraordinary life she had!!
Please come and visit us in our bohemian commune, stevie. It’s GOTTA happen someday.
Sheila – have you ever heard Regina talk about Mum playing Odetta? When Mum was in college, she would be hanging out at the O’Malley house, and she would play the guitar and sing in a low voice like Odetta. And of course, Regina thought she was so beautiful and cool.
Jean – I love Regina’s stories about Mum back then!! I had heard the Odetta stories – I can so see Regina being like: wow!!! So cool!!
Barbara Stanwyck could sing? (Then again, this is coming from a person who’d never heard of Odetta, until today; this is one of the many reasons I come to this blog, arts education)
Can anyone point me to a movie or TV show where she did sing? I’d like to here her voice (Stanwyck that is, I already got to here Odetta today)
I don’t think Stanwyck did sing (stevie? did she??) – although she often played showgirls and floozy tramp singers. She “sings” in Ball of Fire – but it’s lip synching. She’s a very convincing lip syncher, by the way – you’d never know it wasn’t her. I just meant that TYPE of woman … Kay Thompson sounds like Barbara Stanwyck if she COULD sing. Kay Thompson sounds like a true DAME.
IMDB says that her first gig was as a chorus girl, but that doesn’t mean she could sing (aren’t/weren’t most chorus girls picked for their dancing ability first?).
Another trivia point, it also says that in 1944, she was the highest paid women in America at $400K; that’s 4.2 million in today’s dollars.
JFH – hmmmm, I wonder about the singing thing!! Yeah, I think chorus girls mainly had to be pretty, and had to be able to dance.
Amazing about her salary as well – she’s one of my favorite actresses. She’s just so. damn. GOOD!!!
I saw Odetta at the Old town School of Folk Music in chicago two years ago…i bought the ticket at the door that night..it was a 10pm show…i was seated in the front row at a cabaret table..i was alone…she came out..this gorgeous,old,black,elegant woman of 70 or 80..she wore African isnspired garb and a beautiful headress and bifocals…she sat down and began to read from a piece of paper..it was nelson manda’s famous inaugural speech…”…who are we NOT to belive that we are special and beautiful and talented”..then she put down the paper and the glasses and in her honey and whiskey drizzled voice began to sing a cappella…”this little light of mine..im gonna let it shine…”..she sang one verse and then looked at us and said…”now its your turn”…at which point i started to sing and soon realized that the largely white, middle-aged crowd of former tree-hugger types were simply not going to make a joyful noise for Miss Odetta(who i had promptly fallen in love with)…so i piped down..she stopped our pathetic whispering and said…’when we affirm ourselves we do not do it quietly,now try again”…well…i was NOT going to let her down..i was in the front row for goodness sake and she was so magnificently warm and powerful in her subtle grace…i sang my ASS off…horrible out of tune singing, im sure..but with mucho feeling..the crowd joined in..satisfied..she then did a 2 hour set of traditional folk and blues songs..mostly by Ledbetter…it was a concert, a love-in,a civics class and most of all an evening of true unadulterated talent from a living but overlooked legend…life changing.
hahahaha!! I NEVER get tired of that story! It gives me goosebumps.
Thanks, Mitchell. You tell it better than I do. (Uhm – cause you weren’t there, Sheila??)
I love you bursting out: “THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE … I’M GONNA …” and then slowly subsiding out of shyness. hahaha And I love how she insisted on it being a community event – which is so HER!!
and Stevie..of course u know and love those ladies!!! we are kindred spirits..i just know it.
Wasn’t Kay Thompson in “Funny Face”? I think she was! I think I love her in that!
I Love You Mitchell Fain. With All My Heart. (Smile!!!!)
By the way- Sheila and Mitchell- Have you guys seen “Walk the Line”?? I had no feelings one way or the other about Johnny Cash until I saw that movie. But, WOW-WEE!!!! What an amazing story and what an amazing love story between him and June Carter. I have got to get me some Johnny and June tunes!!!
I gotta find me some Odetta music… love the story!
tracey – yes! I believe she was!!
Beth – LOVED that movie. Weren’t they both just so great??
You need to get the Folsom Prison album … start off with that. Oh. My. God.
Tracey: yes, Kay Thompson was in Funny Face! She played Maggie Prescott, the Diana Vreeland-esque head of the magazine “Quality.” She was simply brilliant in it. She completely ecclipses Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn, which is saying something! She does “Think Pink” and it’s perfect – the world takes her advice (of course) and everything goes pink. At the end of the number, she’s in a crisp dark gray suit and one of her editors says, “Why aren’t you in pink?” And she says, “I wouldn’t be caught dead.” Soooooo chic, so funny, so perfect.
She also does a great number with Astaire called “Ringa Dem Bells” where they’re dressed as 60’s bohemians (Astaire in a goatee). The number is one of Astaire’s best, and he’s matched for the only time onscreen with a woman his age. He got his start on Broadway dancing with his older sister, so this is a taste of that – not sexy Cyd Charisse leg sex but fun, animated, joi de vivre dancing. It’s funny, clever, cheerful, and there’s so damned much talent on display . . . . one of my absolute favorite musical numbers ever.
Kay was an acting and singing coach, a lyricist, a writer and scenarist, among other things, for the Freed Unit on the MGM lot during the 40’s and 50’s. She and Roger Edens set the style and sophistication for all the great musicals of the era – Singin in the Rain, Bandwagon, The Pirate, et al. Star after star, especially Judy Garland, Lena Horne, and more, credited her with bringing out their style, grace and humor in front of the cameras.
Kay wasn’t Hollywood attractive (although I love her elegant, chisled handsome features and of course her haughty/disdainfully melodious voice). She had a huge career as a female Noel Coward chanteuse, a brilliant writing career (the Eloise books), an important Hollywood career with MGM, and the undying love and admiration of everyone I’ve ever cared about who’s been exposed to her talents. I don’t think it’s overstating it to say that Kay Thompson was one of the most talented people of the Twentieth Century.
I luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuv Joaquin Phoenix. Every stinkin’ inch of him. He makes my heart flip. Purely cause of that movie.