Okay, back from the Southland. I’m saving the trip report for next week. You’re safe till then…
First a quick commercial. Saturday, October 18, I’m offering a one-day Private Railroad Car Excursion from Oakland to Bakersfield and back to Oakland. We’ll be recreating the classic days of passenger travel aboard the Santa Fe’s “Golden Gate” trains that used to make the same trip down the San Joaquin Valley before Amtrak. Using two (and maybe three) former Santa Fe passenger cars, our staff will be at the ready for a full day of travel. The fare includes an all-day buffet with beverages. The first ten people to pay in full will also receive a commemorative gift. The Private Car Service web page has more info. If you’ve wanted to see what this kind of trip is all about, this is a great chance to do just that. Think of a cruise on land instead of at sea, and you’re on the right track — literally.
Enjoy the open platform business car “Tamalpias” and the Dome lounge “Plaza Santa Fe”
both seen in this photo by Nathan Holmes.
Now the Disney connection. If you’ve enjoyed your copy of Michael Broggie’s “Walt Disney’s Railroad Story”, then you’ll recall the trip Walt Disney and Ward Kimball made from Los Angeles to Chicago to visit the 1949 Railroad Fair. That trip was aboard the Santa Fe’s famed “Super Chief”. The Dome lounge car we will be using for this excursion was built for the “Super Chief”. It featured the Turquoise Room — the only private dining room aboard a train at that time. While I can’t promise the beef stew Ward Kimball wanted to enjoy aboard the dining car or even the fine steaks Walt ordered for them, I can offer a great trip with service in the style of those days gone by with our uniformed staff at the ready to meet your every need.
Hope you can join us for what should be another great excursion.
And now, today’s column…
Well, despite best intentions, things change.
(That’s the title of one of my favorite films, a small classic starring Don Ameche with some great moments at Lake Tahoe.)
I’ve bashed this column about three or four times. Started out as a trip report, then a glimpse into some activities of note at the Disneyland resort. Then another thoughtful piece. Saving all for another time, and doing this one instead… Just felt better about it.
One of the pleasures of last weekend was some great music in Downtown Disney. Some interesting musicians playing everything from jazz at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen to blues, Latin jazz and some great violin pieces. We bought some CD’s from the folks and enjoyed them along the way.
So, how about some musical selections? Don’t worry, I’m not going to start singing Disney tunes, although I have been known to break into an occasional Sinatra song after a cocktail or two. And I did my bit in local church choirs, high school choirs and musical productions (Damn Yankees and The Sound of Music) once upon a time. But that’s all well behind me, so you’re still safe!
My musical history also included piano lessons way back when in both grammar school and high school, and I did my band stint during as well with the tuba and sousaphone for concert and marching band. So with all of that, there should be little surprise that my musical tastes run all over the place.
When it comes to Compact Discs, I have a good-sized collection. Movie soundtracks tend to make up a good percentage of it followed by Disney discs of all flavors. Big band and jazz come next along with a growing group of Hawaiian titles. I still have a turntable with a bunch of 33 rpm LP’s and then about a hundred or so old 78’s. Throw in a few 45’s left over from the KSFO experience, too.
My very first compact disc was a copy of the Beatles “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” and then the Beach Boys “Pet Sounds”. Still two of my all time favorite albums of any genre…
Personally, I’ve been somewhat excited about some of the great developments in personal electronics and music — Apple’s iPod and iTunes in particular. While I’m decidedly a Mac person, I am happy to see that the Windoze crowd has the opportunity to enjoy both the iPod now and then iTunes later this fall. The price is right for the downloads of individual songs at 99 cents and then complete albums at $9.99. And now Real Networks has upped the ante with it’s pricing of songs for 79 cents each. (Here’s a link to a story on that price war in the making.) I’ll admit to having downloaded a few songs from Apple and hope for a more expanded selection as the summer goes along.
So? How about some other highlights from what seems like the wall of discs in my front room?
If you watched the episode of “ER” that featured the death of Dr. Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards) then you were probably taken by the version of the “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World” medley heard in the closing moments. That’s Israel Kamakawio’ole and the track is from his album “Facing Future”. It was also used on the soundtrack of “Meet Joe Black”. Check out his web pages. I picked up this disc at Island Charters in Downtown Disney. They got me by playing this disc as I walked into the shop. Lots of good music for sale here, all with an island flavor — Pacific and Caribbean as well!
While having dinner at Naples on Saturday night, we were seated on the patio. From across the way, we were treated to the sounds of some great violin music. That was provided by Drew Tretick. His rendition of the theme from “Somewhere in Time” (another favorite film of mine) was especially enchanting. Like all of the artists we encountered that night, he had CD’s for sale, and I picked up a copy of his album “Serenata”, which he was more than happy to autograph. Here are his web pages.
What would a visit to Disneyland be without taking a while to enjoy the strains of Rod Miller at the piano at the Coca Cola Corner? Glad to say that Rod was back at the old stand doing what he does best last weekend. His “Ragtime” album has become a standard part of any private car excursion I run, as it simply sets a classic mood. Rebekah Mosely has a fine page devoted to Rod. According to her notes, “It was at ‘Rod’s Table’ that I met and later accepted the proposal of my husband, Doobie.” Rod has made a lot of memories for thousands of Disneyland guests, and I’m hoping he keeps playing there for some time to come!
Way back when, it was the sounds of the Firehouse Five Plus Two entertaining folks at Disneyland. Led by Ward Kimball (he owned the fire truck), Danny Alguire, George Probert, Frank Thomas, *** Roberts, Ed Penner, Jim MacDonald, Harper Goff, Monte Mountjoy, Ralph Ball, George Bruns, Eddie Forrest, Don Kinch, K.O. Eckland, and Bill Newman all did their parts to bring some classic jazz tunes back to life for their own as well as the audiences enjoyment. They could easily be credited with reviving the Dixieland craze outside of New Orleans. Their “Firehouse Five Plus Two At Disneyland” album features a night at the Golden Horseshoe theater. Amazon has all ten of their albums from Fantasy Records on the Good Time Jazz label — again both new and used.
Among all of those soundtracks, one favorite is that from “Toys”. Now while this film may be one of Robin Williams less than classics (and we know there have been several, don’t we?) the soundtrack has a great mix of genres to bring a smile to my face. From the great MTV parody (“The Mirror Song”) performed by Thomas Dolby with Robin Williams and Joan Cusack as “Steve and Yolanda” to the hopeful anthem of “The Closing of the Year”, this one gets my vote for five stars. It’s available new and used on Amazon.
GNP Crescendo has done its part to keep soundtracks going as they have offered a good selection of titles from the various “Star Trek” franchises. My favorite on their label was the soundtrack compilation they did for the series “Quantum Leap”. Star Scott Bakula got his musical training early and even earned a Tony nomination for his performance in “Romance, Romance”. Even Dean Stockwell gets into the act with his “Alphabet Rap”. The scores by Velton Ray Bunch (now doing scores for “Enterprise” again with Bakula — who knows? He may sing on that show yet!) and Mike Post were favorites of fans of this show.
Capitol Records dug into the vaults and came up with some great oldies but goodies with the “Ultra Lounge” series of discs. Some rare gems and some classic keep the mix fresh, bringing back days of swinging bachelor pads and smart cocktails with the Rat Pack on the Strip in Vegas. Yeah, Baby! And how about the trio of soundtracks from the Austin Powers franchise? As a child of the Sixties and Seventies, there is just something about these that appeals to me.
Now when it comes to bands, the one that always gets my vote is the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band. Now even though I have a definite Cardinal bias, (my maternal grandfather played football here from 1925 to 1928 and went to two Rose Bowl games — 1927 and 1928 — as quarterback), but these folks just know how to have a good time. In days gone by, the breakfast of band champions was beer and donuts. Not to say that they have gone teetotaling (see some of the links about trips and alcohol! Woo!)… Still their album “Mirth Control” is a classic with some of their standard game tunes including the anthem; “It’s All Right Now”. The band is an experience (not an official school organization, like at other universities!) and they even have marched in their own fashion at Disneyland when Stanford appeared in the Rose Bowl games in 1971, 1972 and 2000. What’s not to like about a group who has a tree as their mascot?
So have I dipped into an eclectic enough variety so far? There is a whole lot more from Jack Kerouac reading selected works including my personal fave, “October in the Railroad Earth” (that tale from his days railroading with the Southern Pacific out of San Francisco) to the compositions of Tom Lehrer (who could ever forget that classic “Poisoning Pigeons In The Park”?) to any of the Disney soundtracks or park discs, including a handbell parade from Tokyo Disneyland and the “Ce’ Magique” disc from the show done during the opening of Euro Disneyland.
And I’ll admit to putting more than a few songs together in some interesting compilations for my own amusement. Ain’t technology grand?
It is said that music soothes the savage beast. Although I can’t recall what music Cruiser really likes. We’ve caught him watching television on occasion (the “Fireflash” episode of “Thunderbirds” on Tech TV was the most recent), but who knows? He’s not telling…
Using the Amazon links below, many of the titles can be yours! Help support the efforts at Jim Hill Media making your purchases here!
Thanks to those who made a donation to Roger’s Amazon Honor System Paybox. Your help is appreciated in keeping him plugging along at the keyboard. To quote Homer Simpson, “Oooooh, how convenient.” As for next week, there is still the trip report for the long Memorial Day weekend. Some amusing tales to be sure. Stay tuned…