Photo via ABC News
We don’t really do politics here at MFL but when a colossus of human rights like Nelson Mandela passes on, respect must be paid.
And for those of us of a certain age, it’s not hard to remember that the sainted figure that we pay tribute to today and the cause that he championed was not embraced by all in the Western world. Here’s to those who got it right in real time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlMdYpnVOGQ
Following in Ray Charles’ footsteps by fusing gospel music with secular lyrics, Sam Cooke packed more soul into a 3-minute single than most singers can muster over an entire lifetime. In fact, many critics contend that he “invented” Soul music (although for me that is too simplistic an interpretation of the pioneers and sources of the genre). Blessed with suave charisma and a magical voice, Cooke’s all-too-brief career was filled with terrific highlights and smash hits, including 30 Top 40s between 1957 and 1963, as well as several posthumous successes like the glorious, Civil Rights-infused “A Change is Gonna Come”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOYuhLNwh3A
That epic song points to the direction Cooke would undoubtedly have headed had he lived: politically aware music committed to the cause of Civil Rights and social justice, just as he was in life. “A Change is Gonna Come” also prefigures the social awakening that such artists as Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye would undergo as the 1960s wore on by showing that protest music was a natural fit for R&B and soul and not merely the sole province of white folk singers.
Though there are a ton of songs to choose from among the less political, from “Wonderful World”, “Chain Gang”, “Cupid” and “You Send Me” to name just a few, the more classically blues-structured “Somebody Have Mercy” has always seemed to me one of the best Cooke recorded during his breakout crossover period onto the pop charts: soulful but not too sweet, lyrically very clever and featuring top notch musical backing.
Obviously, we can say that at 33 Sam Cooke died far, far too young, robbing us of a full lifetime of his rapidly evolving greatness. But with his enormous influence on the artists that followed him such as Otis Redding, James Brown, Al Green, Gaye, Ben E. King, Bobby Womack and on up to today’s soulful R&B singers, as well as popular music as a whole, we can also say that Sam Cooke never really died at all. The true immortals never do.
…and after all that turkey & red wine, please do not be like Del Griffith no matter how nice a man he is…
Happy Thanksgiving and safe home to you and yours from all of us at MFL.
Gina Carano, the sexy former MMA champ, burst — and ran, and punched, and kicked — onto the scene in Steven Soderbergh‘s underrated Haywire in 2011, where she smoked Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender and Ewan McGregor’s asses as deluxe super agent Mallory Kane. Take a look-see here what you get for treating Ms. Carano poorly, as Fassbender finds out the hard way (note: this clip contains spoilers):
Despite some controversy about her voice being altered (read: deepened) in post, Gina can walk with her held high for her work in that demanding and satisfying action epic. She manages to be tough, smart and vulnerable at the same time as she deals with a mission gone south and treachery from her former boss. And did I mention that she kicks everyone’s ass pretty much all the time in emphatic fashion?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6UTRX8SajY
Since Haywire, Ms. Carano has acted in Fast & Furious 6, the soon-to-be-released In the Blood and rumor has it that she will be playing the title character in an adaptation of the comic book Avengelyne, which seems like perfect casting for that scantily clad avenging angel.
Sure, it takes a certain kind of confident man to squire a lady around town who can probably take you in a throwdown. But here at MFL we think keeping company with a stunner like Gina is a no-brainer and we can check our macho at the door for the privilege. Besides, when it comes to the ladies, we’re lovers not fighters.
A swinging hard bop track by the talented tenor sax man and composer/arranger, Benny Golson, “A Bit of Heaven” can be found on the 1959 album Gone With Golson.
Benny Golson – A Bit of Heaven
The tune features wonderful solos by the often overlooked Golson and the great trombonist Curtis Fuller, who wrote it. The rest of the bouncy group for this session includes Al Harewood on drums and the brothers Tommy and Ray Bryant on bass and piano respectively. Moving along at a jaunty 4:26 and featuring tight team playing, “A Bit of Heaven” more than lives up to its title with Golson coolly demonstrating his impressive range amongst fine company.
After bursting onto the scene as Strawberry Fields, the sexy spy destined to die drowned in oil in 2008’s underrated Bond entry Quantum of Solace, the dark and lovely Gemma Arterton found herself in great demand in Hollywood. And no wonder: with her curvy figure and expressive deep brown eyes, Gemma is one of the sexiest British imports since the Astin Martin Vanquish.
Trained at RADA, the talented chestnut-haired ingenue has appeared at the Globe in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost and on BBC TV in the title role of Tess of the D’Urbervilles. But her quick wit and stunning good looks have also made her a hot property in high concept Hollywood blockbusters such as Prince of Persia, Clash of the Titans and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.
With several smaller scale projects either shooting or in post production, it should be interesting to see if the lovely 27-year-old Ms. Arterton can find material that will help evolve into a consummate actress as opposed to simply a super sexy super heroine. Then again, whatever roles she chooses, she’s probably always going to be super sexy. The girl can’t help it.
This incredibly long paean by Liz Robbins in today’s New York Times about aging former Meatpacking District restaurateur & scenester Florent Morellet. A mercifully short excerpt from this slavering epic:
To which those of us who are not discoing away every night in our luxurious retirement can only say: Fuck You. As if Brooklyn needs any more ultra-rich douchebags coming over from Manhattan to advocate for building luxury skyscrapers (none of them providing affordable housing) in the middle of previously low-rise working and middle class neighborhoods and trying to make their cool little “discovered” corner of Brooklyn more like, you know, Manhattan. Please go away or die already. You say “we have tons of neighborhoods to rebuild”… until we don’t and we are all living somewhere near JFK with jets roaring over our heads every 5 minutes because that’s all we can afford. And did not the editor think to tell Miss Robbins to maybe cut her ode to Mr. Fabulous here by, oh, I don’t know, 15 or so paragraphs? It boils down to a fawning story about a guy who owned a restaurant and is now on his 3rd midlife crisis discovering his personal fountain of youth in Bushwick, not exactly Pulitzer-worthy journalism. Jesus wept, at 3000 words who could possibly make it to the end of this damn thing? I dare you to try to finish it without wanting to throw your computer out the window.
The lovely Rachel Weisz is no mere pretty face… but what a face it is. A Cambridge graduate, Weisz has been a hard working theater professional as much as a glamorous Hollywood ingenue, earning critical praise for her acting on stage in major works by Noel Coward, Neil Labute and Tennessee Williams, including the hyper-demanding role of Blanche DuBois.
With her long dark brown hair and glittering hazel eyes, as well as readily apparent wit and intelligence, Weisz first came to wide popular attention with her role in 1999’s special effects blockbuster The Mummy alongside Brendan Fraser. But she soon moved on from such popcorn fare to more demanding roles in Beautiful Creatures and, most impressively, as the impassioned activist and wife of Ralph Fiennes’ diplomat facing danger from a rogue pharmaceutical company in the splendid le Carré adaptation, The Constant Gardener. Her complex and fiery portrayal of Tessa Quayle won her the 2005 Best Supporting Actress Academy Award and announced that a major talent had arrived.
After living with indie director Darren Aronofsky (Pi, The Wrestler) for about a decade the couple split and Ms. Weisz began dating Daniel Craig. The two were married in a quiet ceremony in 2011 and reside in New York City and London. So dream on, fellas–it’s going to be pretty hard to tempt this extraordinarily lovely and talented lady away from James Bond himself. But who doesn’t like a challenge?
One of the more intriguing and often overlooked alto sax men to come to prominence in the late 1950s and 60s, Jackie McLean straddles the line between the era’s reigning Hard Bop and the Free Jazz being pioneered by Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. With excellent support from an obscure but swinging rhythm section of pianist Larry Willis on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass and Clifford Jarvis on drums, “Right Now” from the eponymous 1965 Blue Note album is nine and a half minutes of hard charging excitement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0JHiZkDZAw
Anchored around a recurring piano-bass refrain reminiscent of Horace Parlan’s “Skoo Chee”, McLean’s hyperkinetic yet melodic sax is shown at its finest on this track and on the entire Right Now! album. In all, McLean recorded 21 albums as leader for Blue Note alone and was elected to the DownBeat Hall of Fame in 2006.
Jackie McLean also passed away in 2006 after an up and down career, with bad contracts and time out for teaching at the University of Hartford. But he still performed intermittently and produced solid work until the end, often with his students. As a really fine and innovative sax player in a very exciting time for Jazz’s development, his almost-but-not-quite sweet and very often sharp sound is ripe for rediscovery.
Women simply don’t get much more gorgeouser than Ms. Theron.
The South African-born goddess is one of the few modern actresses who could conceivably hold her own with the sexy and talented leading ladies of the past like Faye Dunaway, Julie Christie and Grace Kelly, as her Best actress Oscar from her startling performance in Monster attests. But more characteristic of her screen persona and less flashy than that homely and chilling portrayal of serial killer Aileen Wuornous are the scheming sci-fi ice queen Meredith Vickers in Prometheus and the hilariously messed up and self-centered Mavis Gary in Young Adult.
Aside from her statuesque beauty, Charlize radiates athleticism, class and a sharp intelligence. She also displays an attractive tomboyish competitiveness worthy of a Howard Hawks’ leading lady, fully on display in the “Driving School” feature from the DVD of 2003’s successful remake of the Italian Job: