Happy 100th Birthday, Stella Brooks!
I found a youtube post of a Beatles recording session from 1969 that purportedly included the mythical version of the Fab Four doing 38 seconds of “Little Piece of Leather” supposedly while rehearsing or learning or working up “Octopus’ Garden”. I listened (the visual is just a flat image — it purports to be an actual album cover — the material is listed as unreleased) but did not hear what was advertised. I did post on someone’s Beatles blog — I am hoping someone more in the know responds or hips me to this.
Stella has been feted recently by being the focal point of a play at the Tennessee Williams Festival in Provincetown “Jazz Funeral for Stella Brooks” by Terry Abrahamson and David Kaplan. I am hoping to help them bring this production to the Bay Area.
Stella will be turning 100 this November, around Thanksgiving. It would be a great birthday (centennial) present for her for her fans to hear this Beatles ditty, ie where Stella Meets the Beatles.
Eric Cohen made this rudimentary social network profile for Stella:
http://www.myspace.com/stellabrooksjazz
I also traded messages with Leah Garchik about the Stella news and learned in that process that Blake Green, who wrote a story about Stella for the Chronicle in the eighties and we have in our files, was the companion of Franklin Meiuli, who owned the Warriors basketball team. Did Stella follow basketball?
Perhaps a funny place to mention Apples in Stereo with new album, youtube video about their “mental Theramin (toy)” and giving props to the person who did their cover art — saw it on myspace. Rob Schneider recalls as a child listening to a radio contest in his hometown in Ruston, Louisiana where he and a friend sat through a Beatles A to Z broadcast and called in with the one song that had been omitted.
Congrats to Train for Grammy nomination, also Chistopher Tan, Arcade Fire, Matt Hamiovitz, Darcy James Argue, Mingus Big Band, Pinetop Perkins, Charlie Musselwhite,
I watched the Grammy awards last night and actually enjoyed it. The fact that a jazz act — Esperanza Spalding — won best new artist is quite remarkable. And I am quite inspired by the fact that Arcade Fire won album of the year. Not that I know their music so well – I don’t — but that they are on an indie label. Congrats to Mac MacCaughan, Laura Ballance and everyone in Carrboro, North Carolina headquarters for all their hard work and big INDIE ears.
http://www.mergerecords.com/