 The Palomar Turns One
from The Palomar
June 27, 2008
George Shearing The Palomar will turn one year old on Tuesday, July 1st. Thanks to our active members who have published so many posts and comments during the past 12 months, The Palomar has indeed become what I had hoped it would -- an interactive, member-driven big band broadcast blog. Sure, not all of the music on The Palomar is from big band broadcasts, but so much of it is. If you scroll down to "Da Footer," as former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley might have called it, at the bottom of the page, you will find an incredible selection of big band broadcasts and big band playlists -- enough to entertain big band fans for weeks on end. To celebrate our first anniversary, I hope our members will each publish a post or two about the big bands, the Swing Era, and perhaps how The Palomar enhances their own enjoyment of this great music. I want to thank each of you for making The Palomar everything I had hoped it would be and quite a bit more. Some of you included videos in your posts. I was familiar with You Tube and other online video web sites, but thanks to these Palomar members, I became far more aware of all of the great big band and jazz videos online today. When I revamped my big band web site, Tuxedo Junction, in April and May of this years, I followed their example and added plenty of videos. I also added many articles by Palomar members, because I want to share your love of big bands with my web site visitors -- and there are many. Tuxedo Junction has been online since October 2000. It has drawn hundreds of thousands of visitors from more than 55 nations. It is not the most popular big band web site, but it consistently ranks in the Top 50, often in the Top 20, and sometimes in the Top 10. I remember one day in 2002 when the number of daily visitors to Tuxedo Junction skyrocketed from about 500 to more than 10,000! The reason: National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" did a segment mentioning the 25th anniversary of "New York, New York" and included a link to my article reviewing the film when it came out in 1977. Tuxedo Junction had so many hits that day that the web hosting company I used back then dropped me as a customer like a hot potato! To mark our first anniversary, I'm going to deviate from big band music to feature a video starring one of my all-time favorite musicians, George Shearing. Born in 1919, George came of age in England during the big band era. He once told me that he patterned his Quintet on the Glenn Miller reed sound. I came across this video only a few weeks ago while I was rebuilding Tuxedo Junction. George is featured with the Boston Pops conducted by John Williams. They perform "Look at That Face," a beautiful song by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for their musical, "The Roar of the Grease Paint, The Smell of the Crowd" (1964). This arrangement was scored by Robert Farnon for George Shearing and The Boston Pops. Here are two more beautiful vocal versions of "Look at That Face" that I know you will enjoy: Look at That Face - Joy Bellis Album: Coming Alive Look at That Face - Greta Matassa Album: Favorites from a Long Walk I want to thank our members for their contributions to The Palomar and to all of our visitors who enjoy and appreciate our efforts. George Spink Moderator - The Palomar Los Angeles, California Email Me
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