The song “Gran Torino” from the film Gran Torino
Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino
The haunting tune “Gran Torino” (Composed by Clint Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, Michael Stevens, Kyle Eastwood, and Written by Michael Stevens) from the film of the same name is a bit reminiscent of the song “Skylark” (Written by Johnny Mercer and Hoagy Carmichael,) and featured in Eastwood’s memorable film: “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” Both renderings have the floating, fading, disappearing quality of smoky dissipation. Listen to this musical tribute to “Gran Torino” (provided by YouTube’s “jeremjoee.”)
I was also struck by the similarity to another amateur singer’s (he was primarily a horn player) vocal work on a song from the 60s: Herb Alpert’s “This Guy’s In Love With You” presented on this YouTube clip, from someone called “thegoochman.”
Both performances have a very tentitive quality. The voice is barely there, yet it somehow manages to surface - into a moving, memorable work of audio art. Eastwood’s very short (just a few seconds) vocalization of “Gran Torino” (other performances of the film’s theme are played throughout the movie) is one of the best audio-slices I’ve heard lately “in the muggy, foggy, haze of ear polution out there,” as Walt Kowalski (Eastwood’s character) might say.
January 21, 2009
Last Chance To Cowboy-Up at the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo / “Chavez at the Brown Palace on Friday.”
This is your Last Chance to attend the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo in Denver.
The 2009 show shuts after the last activity (feeding the animals), the evening of January 25th.
Cruise to my post for Stock Show Information.…Or just scroll down a couple of posts…
Chavez at the Brown Palace on Friday - Denver Post.
“No. 1 & 3 Stock Show Steers Visit The Brown Palace”
“Guests enjoying afternoon tea at the Brown Palace Hotel were served an extra treat Friday when the National Western Livestock Show’s grand champion steer arrived with a surprise guest, the No. 3 steer.”
“Since 1945, the stock show’s grand champion steer has made its farewell appearance at the hotel before it’s sent to the slaughterhouse. This year’s grand champion, named Chavez, was joined by the third-place steer, Rolex” read more from The Denver Post…
I’m not a Vegan, but this bothers me on several levels…BC
NATIONAL WESTERN STOCK SHOW & RODEO IN DENVER
Wild West Show Trick Rider
NW-Wild West Show - click for full size photo
Before the Denver Broncos, the Rockies, the Nuggets, or the AVS, and before LODO was named LODO, before the 16th Street Mall, even before Larimer Square was Larimer Square there was: The National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver. It was Cow Town’s Main-Event-Of-The-Year, the Big Enchilada, the Moneymaker. It was the reason Denverites left Christmas decorations up well past News Years Day. In fact the lights & Santas remained until the closing of the Stock Show. Cow Town’s citizens wanted to give thanks and show their appreciation for all the money the cowboys and Stock Show people brought to town so they left the welcome lights on. More lights, more money… Sort of like painting the town Bronco Blue and Orange these days.
The National Western Stock Show is basically a meat sale. One of the high-end-steak-houses will bid, win and buy the Blue Ribbon Steer. After a reasonable amount of time, you will be able to order a piece of it - right off the menu. You’ll also be dining - around town - on beef-burgers, bison-burgers and steak n’ eggs obtained from the competition’s winners and losers…
The WORLD-CLASS Rodeo is a promotional event - promoting the sale of the meat and fowl. This is not meant to demote the Rodeo. It is a first rate event. The LasVegasBuffetClub recommends that you put on your boots & hat and make a day of it: go down into the pens and checkout the livestock and exhibits, then watch the rodeo! Check out the: Arabian Cutting Horses, Mexican Rodeo Extravaganza, African-American Heritage Rodeo, National Western’s Super Dogs, Western Art Exhibit and Sale and more…
The National Western Stock Show & Rodeo in Denver, Colorado - January 10-25, 2009.
Click the NWSS Official Website link (above) for information, including ticket purchase. [New Yorkers are allowed!]
January 20, 2009
Spotlight on PORTILLO’S HOT DOGS in Buena Park, California - Chicago-Style
Soup's On...
20s Theme-Northlake, IL
Portillo’s - Buena Park, California
8390 La Palma Ave.
Buena Park CA 90620
714-220-6400
Theme: 30’s Prohibition
I “happened” on to a colorful sight a few years ago, as Portillos was in the process of preparing another restaurant opening - in Buena Park, CA. A sign said “Grand Opening Tomorrow” so I made it a point to return. I did and it was a veritable circus - jam packed with customers and staff at the business of food. More precisely, the business of hot-dog-type-food: Chicago Hot Dogs. “HOT DOG…2.45 - With everything includes: mustard, relish, freshly chopped onions, sliced red ripe tomatoes, kosher pickle and sport peppers piled onto a perfectly steamed poppy seed bun” check out the full menu…
“Welcome to Portillo’s Hot Dogs, Inc., started in 1963 by Dick Portillo in a small trailer and soon will be operating 48 units” read more…
CHICAGO HOT DOGS in detail - HotDogChicagoStyle.Com…
Chicago Hot Dog ingredients by Doug Criner-enginova.com this is a comprehensive list.
Chicago-style hot dog - Wikipedia…
Visit the LasVegasBuffetClub’s page for Portillo’s…
Visit the LasVegasBuffetClub’s page for Mustard’s Last Stand in Denver, Colorado…
January 19, 2009
WYNN - ENCORE opened December 22 in Las Vegas…
This post [from December] was culled from the “other” LVBC BLOG…
photo is from flipchip - lasvegasvegas.com
Wynn/Encore opened December 22, 2008 in Las Vegas.
“Las Vegas’ biggest snowstorm in 30 years kept Courtland Campbell and his friends in town long enough to attend the opening of the $2.3 billion Encore on Monday night.”
“Security measures kept him in the cold an extra hour.”
“Steve Wynn’s newest property opened to the public at 8 p.m. Monday with nearly 800 people braving temperatures in the 40s and wind gusts along the Strip. Hundreds more waited inside along the hallway connecting Wynn Las Vegas with the newest property.”
read more from Las Vegas’ Review Journal…
Connect to the Wynn/Encore Official Website: http://www.encorelasvegas.com/
January 16, 2009
TEMPEST STORM - Still Stripping After All These Years.
In the 50s my cousin Bobby and I (in our 10s) were major fans of the exotic dancer Tempest Storm. Her photo was often in the local paper advertising her act. We were afficionados of the ecdysiast. Tempest Storm and the late Betty Page were among the favorite, famous, fantasy figures of male adolecence. Maybe even ahead of Ted Williams (Boston Red Sox,) albeit a different fantasy altogether.
Tempest Storm was a 50s - 60s Striptease Artist who worked for a time at Denver’s Tropics Nightclub, as well as many other venues around the world. In her 80s now, she is still stripping after all these years, in Las Vegas.
Tempest Storm
Tempest Storm
Watch a video directed by Irving Claw below.
The late Bettie Page and Tempest Storm in The Teaserama Video, produced and directed by Bettie Page’s well known manager/photographer Irving Klaw. This is a very sensual video of Bettie Page and Tempest Storm.
January 14, 2009
MERYL STREEP, PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN & CO hit one out of the park without DOUBT.
Hoffman, Davis and Adams
Click to enlarge IMDb photo of Hoffman, Davis and Adams
THIS POST IS FROM [The other blog] JANUARY 5, 2009)
John (Moonstruck) Patrick Shanley’s “DOUBT” is a tight, lean movie - that is to say: there is no extraneous fat, what-so-ever. Every scene, every word, every shot is integral to the movie - nothing is wasted.
Without a doubt, there will be Academy Award Action for this film. Possible nominations may be: BEST MOVIE, BEST CASTING, BEST SCREENPLAY (John Patrick Shanley,) BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (Philip Seymour Hoffman,) BEST ACTRESS (Meryl Streep) and more.
Set in “The Bronx” (1964) at St. Nicholas’ Catholic parish-school, Father Brendan Flynn (Hoffman) is accused of a vague indiscretion with a black student by principal Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Streep.) Sister Aloysius Beauvier suspects that the head priest has taken the troubled minority student just a bit too far under his wing, eventhough she has absolutely no proof. She is running on her moral compass and is certain that she is right. And, she is going to win - at any cost.
Amy Adams as Sister James is stunning even under her habit, which frames her beautiful, sparkling face in a dark halo. There’s a bit of comic-relief in the form of elementary school antics from the uniformed students, and an especially amusing scene with Sister-Steam-Roller snaking down the church-isle, during mass, whacking various students for snoozing or other inattentiveness. Viola Davis as Mrs. Miller (the troubled boy’s mother) keeps it real with a heart-wrenching portrayal of a 60s era Black mother’s desperate suffering. This is a film I’ll see twice, maybe thrice, maybe more.
“It’s 1964, St. Nicholas in the Bronx. A charismatic priest, Father Flynn, is trying to upend the schools’ [sic] strict customs, which have long been fiercely guarded by Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the iron-gloved Principal who believes in the power of fear and discipline” read more from IMDb
January 12, 2009
The LVBC BLOG is up and running!
The BLOG is back. It needs a bit more tweaking, however all the old posts are available and new posts may be viewed shortly. Thanks for your patience. Oh wait, you were cursing me out. No probs, I’m used to it…I’ll be switching over posts from the other blog. While I’m doing that you can view those posts at: http://apps.lasvegasbuffetclub.com/blog or…you can visit this blog’s posts below or in the archives on your right.
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