David Bowie

Am really shocked to hear about the death of the extremely talented David Bowie.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/arts/music/david-bowie-dies-at-69.html

Kitty Kallen (1921-2016)

Here is Kitty Kallen's fine vocal, on "I'm Beginning to See the Light," with Harry James and his Orchestra, from 1945:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP7RsdiiHWA

And this is a lovely recording, a hit from 1944, featuring Ms. Kallen and Bob Eberly, singing "Besame Mucho" with Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6seAPfA8ahI

Ms. Kallen died today at her home in Mexico, at age 94.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/08/arts/music/kitty-kallen-big-band-singer-of-besame-mucho-dies-at-94.html

Frank Malzone

Frank Malzone was a great ballplayer (in particular, as a third baseman), and was a hometown favorite, in Boston; he was with the Red Sox from 1955-1965.  In the early to mid-1960s, while growing up, I loved watching him play (on TV, and at Fenway Park).  He died on Tuesday, at 85. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/sports/frank-malzone-star-fielder-for-boston-red-sox-dies-at-85.html

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

A beautiful song, performed by Judy Garland.  It was written for the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis, in which she starred.

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

Merry Christmas!

Morgan White, Jr., on WBZ Radio

My friend Morgan White, Jr., talk show host at WBZ-AM in Boston, will be sitting in, tonight and tomorrow night, for the station's overnight host, Bradley Jay. The program airs from midnight to 5.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/station/wbz-news-radio/

http://www.triviamorganwhitejr.com/

How the world can change

There are particular events, certainly, which cause the world to shift, in dramatic ways.  In America, one thinks of the JFK assassination--and how conversations about it continue, regularly, decades later. (Just a week ago, I began reading another book about what took place in Dallas.) There were the deaths of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King. And, indeed, the catastrophes of Pearl Harbor, and September 11th. 

There has, most recently, been San Bernardino.  One is shaken by it--reading about it; watching, for hours, the television coverage of the aftermath of the killings; wondering what the tragedy could conceivably portend, for the country.

There are also, of course, positive moments of great significance, as well:  three months after JFK's death, for example, The Beatles appeared on American television.  It was thrilling, world-changing.

And then, years later--thirty-five years ago today--John Lennon was killed.  That night, you heard the news of what had happened, and in an instant, the world was not at all the same.