Chelsea Pines is the home to film stars of the golden age, which thanks to home video and DVRs we can see and enjoy their films any time we want. But no star was bigger, brighter or more multi-talented than Doris Day. Ms. Day has had a "room" at Chelsea Pines (as do 21 other iconic film stars) for many years now, and she has been a personal favorite of mine since I was a kid. Obviously, this is true for my guests as well, as her room has always been among the most requested. And we can now thank Nellie McKay, one of the music world's most popular singers, for revisiting the world of Doris Day's music.
Nellie has made her mark as singer/songwriter/arranger/animal right activist, and her albums chart on Billboard and Amazon.com in the top 100 with regularity. Now she has taken all her passions and combined them into an amazing recording called "Normal as Blueberry Pie," a tribute album to the songs and style of singer/actress/animal right activist Doris Day. Ms. Day, whose career spanned the early 1940s as a big-band singer, then a top recording artist and Hollywood actress through the mid-60s, and finally the star of a regrettably dopey TV series until the early 70s, has taken an unfair beating in tbe film and music field until recent years and a more comprehensive look at her amazing career. With virtually all her films now available on DVD and most of her recordings on CD and MP3, and several recent books that examine her personal and professional lives, Ms. Day can now be seen for what she really was: a show business phenomenon that will probably never be repeated again.
Now 87 and living totally out of the spotlight, Ms. Day continues to own the pet-friendly Cypress Inn Hotel in the picturesque town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calfornia, where guests are encouraged to vacation with their cats and dogs. While she rarely if ever appears in public, her popularity has reached a new peak in the 21st century. The fact is that Nellie McKay has produced this new recording, which brings Doris to a whole new (and much younger) music-listening audience, as an homage to Ms. Day's unique style and sound, without attempting to offer an imitation but more a suggestion of Ms. Day's artistry.
True, Doris was saddled with some really poor song choices by her then-husband (who famously lost all her money in bad investments while signing her to a TV-series contract without telling her, and then dying and leaving her to clean up the mess), and at least one of them (the title song from the lame "Send Me No Flowers," suprisingly by Bachrach and David) does surface on this album, and time hasn't made it any better. However, from the hundreds of songs Doris recorded over a 20-year period, Ms. McKay's other choices are generally terrific, including the first song that made Doris a singing superstar ("Sentimental Journey") and one of her last recorded songs, "Close Your Eyes" (from an amazing album with music great Andre Previn called "Duet"). Other highlights are "Mean to Me" (from what is arguably Doris' finest film performance, as singer Ruth Etting in "Love Me or Leave Me") and the Rodgers and Hammerstein chestnut "Wonderful Guy" (from "South Pacific," one of the films Doris should have made, with apologies to Mitzi Gaynor). Ms. McKay even includes an original song, "If I Ever Had a Dream," written and sung in the best Doris Day style.
It's taken too many years for Ms. Day to receive her due (she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004 and a Lifetime Grammy in 2008), and her final years of performing in films and TV were formulaic, to say the least. How different would her legacy had been if she had accepted the offer to star as Mrs. Robinson in the late-60s classic film "The Graduate"? Watch her performances in such classics as "Pillow Talk," "The Man Who Knew Too Much" and aforementioned "Love Me or Leave Me" and you can see what an amazing and natural talent she had. And now we can listen to both Nellie McKay and Doris Day and revel in their very different but equally amazing musicality.
And we know that both Doris and Nellie would love Charlie Chaplin, our hotel mascot (he's really the owner, I only do what he tells me).
Monday, December 14, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
Celebrating 40 Years (Stonewall, Moonwalking, Woodstock and Coming Out)
Just having seen the new Ang Lee TAKING WOODSTOCK (a major disappointment from a major filmmaker), it is probably time to recall the world 40 years ago this summer. And quite a world it was in the summer of '69.
Okay, we all know that Judy Garland had died, the cops were doing their usual bust of gay bars (this time the Stonewall on Christopher Street), and the drag queens and other queers finally said, "no more!" All right, it wasn't that simple, but all the years of community repression came to a boil in that singular moment, and an entire movement was born (at least in New York City; not sure that San Francisco needed that epiphany to gather momentum, but it certainly gave the green light to other urban areas around the country that it was time to kick open those closet doors and come out into the street and into the light). Our world, and the world at large, would never be the same again. While it is true that we are impatiently waiting for our hoped-for human rights breakthrough from our current administration, we must take stock of the fact that we have made incredible strides in ONLY 40 YEARS; it took women and ethnic minorities a lot longer (and still does) to accomplish what the LGBT community has done in such a short time. When President Obama was face to face with an octogenarian lesbian colleague of mine at his recent LGBT White House meet-and-greet, she looked him straight (?) in the eye and said, "When will I have the same rights as everyone else?" He looked right back at her and said that it would happen by the time his term of office was over. Let us take heart and be patient but vigilant.
For those of you were alive during that fateful summer, watching astronaut Neil Armstrong take his "first small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" as he did his now-historical moonwalk, is something you will never forget. Many of us thought at the time that by now we would routinely be flying to the moon, to Mars, to other galaxies. Human mistakes, lack of funding and perhaps an inability for our country to dream have slowed things down considerably; now, if you can afford beaucoup bucks, a ride on a rocketship may be yours, but for the rest of us, it really is only a dream. When Walter Cronkite passed away last month, we were reminded of that historical moments and how we all felt and thought and dreamed, even while the war in Vietnam raged on. A paradoxical time, to be sure.
No, I didn't make it to Woodstock, and I didn't actually know anyone who did, but the tales have become more fanciful over the years, and you might think that everyone in their teens and twenties were there, but you would be wrong (it's like all the theatregoers who swear they saw ANYONE CAN WHISTLE or CARRIE in their original incarnations; if it were true, those shows would still be running). But we all took the same drugs, listened to the same music and did our best to score with our sexual partners of choice. As I mentioned earlier, TAKING WOODSTOCK, which is yet another coming-of-age, coming-out story, doesn't even really conjure up the music of the day (perhaps the rights were too expensive), and only pretends to get its bell-bottom jeans dirty with mud and rain. Save your money, go to Amazon and buy the new special edition of WOODSTOCK, which includes amazing footage of the singers and the songs and three days of peace and love.
And finally, my coming out...well, let's just say it was something akin to Columbus discovering America. I mean, I always knew it was there, but it was the repressive 1950s and the exploding 1960s, and frankly, I was just overwhelmed. Yeah, I had a couple of gay sexual encounters, but I always beat a hasty retreat back to the closet, where I was starved and stangled but safe. But in the summer of '69, thanks to a new feeling in the air, in the world, I finally allowed myself to feel, to be my true self...and to sleep with three guys, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes just one at a time, but oh what a time it was. I was 20 and suddenly I could conquer the world as a gay man. There were many bumps and many obstacles still to come, but at that moment in time, none of it mattered. Many "relationships" followed this time, and ultimately the two relationships that formed and forged my life (my late partner Sheldon, my beloved husband Tom) were still to come, but for the first time in my life I could begin to understand what I was about and why I was here at all.
So a 21-gun-salute to the 40th anniversary of what was, in many ways, the first year of me.
Okay, we all know that Judy Garland had died, the cops were doing their usual bust of gay bars (this time the Stonewall on Christopher Street), and the drag queens and other queers finally said, "no more!" All right, it wasn't that simple, but all the years of community repression came to a boil in that singular moment, and an entire movement was born (at least in New York City; not sure that San Francisco needed that epiphany to gather momentum, but it certainly gave the green light to other urban areas around the country that it was time to kick open those closet doors and come out into the street and into the light). Our world, and the world at large, would never be the same again. While it is true that we are impatiently waiting for our hoped-for human rights breakthrough from our current administration, we must take stock of the fact that we have made incredible strides in ONLY 40 YEARS; it took women and ethnic minorities a lot longer (and still does) to accomplish what the LGBT community has done in such a short time. When President Obama was face to face with an octogenarian lesbian colleague of mine at his recent LGBT White House meet-and-greet, she looked him straight (?) in the eye and said, "When will I have the same rights as everyone else?" He looked right back at her and said that it would happen by the time his term of office was over. Let us take heart and be patient but vigilant.
For those of you were alive during that fateful summer, watching astronaut Neil Armstrong take his "first small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" as he did his now-historical moonwalk, is something you will never forget. Many of us thought at the time that by now we would routinely be flying to the moon, to Mars, to other galaxies. Human mistakes, lack of funding and perhaps an inability for our country to dream have slowed things down considerably; now, if you can afford beaucoup bucks, a ride on a rocketship may be yours, but for the rest of us, it really is only a dream. When Walter Cronkite passed away last month, we were reminded of that historical moments and how we all felt and thought and dreamed, even while the war in Vietnam raged on. A paradoxical time, to be sure.
No, I didn't make it to Woodstock, and I didn't actually know anyone who did, but the tales have become more fanciful over the years, and you might think that everyone in their teens and twenties were there, but you would be wrong (it's like all the theatregoers who swear they saw ANYONE CAN WHISTLE or CARRIE in their original incarnations; if it were true, those shows would still be running). But we all took the same drugs, listened to the same music and did our best to score with our sexual partners of choice. As I mentioned earlier, TAKING WOODSTOCK, which is yet another coming-of-age, coming-out story, doesn't even really conjure up the music of the day (perhaps the rights were too expensive), and only pretends to get its bell-bottom jeans dirty with mud and rain. Save your money, go to Amazon and buy the new special edition of WOODSTOCK, which includes amazing footage of the singers and the songs and three days of peace and love.
And finally, my coming out...well, let's just say it was something akin to Columbus discovering America. I mean, I always knew it was there, but it was the repressive 1950s and the exploding 1960s, and frankly, I was just overwhelmed. Yeah, I had a couple of gay sexual encounters, but I always beat a hasty retreat back to the closet, where I was starved and stangled but safe. But in the summer of '69, thanks to a new feeling in the air, in the world, I finally allowed myself to feel, to be my true self...and to sleep with three guys, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes just one at a time, but oh what a time it was. I was 20 and suddenly I could conquer the world as a gay man. There were many bumps and many obstacles still to come, but at that moment in time, none of it mattered. Many "relationships" followed this time, and ultimately the two relationships that formed and forged my life (my late partner Sheldon, my beloved husband Tom) were still to come, but for the first time in my life I could begin to understand what I was about and why I was here at all.
So a 21-gun-salute to the 40th anniversary of what was, in many ways, the first year of me.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
CHELSEA PINES to be featured on NEXT TRIP RADIO with Duane Wells
Today Tom Klebba, Director of Sales & Marketing at CHELSEA PINES INN will be a featured guest on the Duane Wells travel radio show.
Come here all about Chelsea Pines' exciting new enhancements including the addition of 1-Bedroom Suites and a business center!
HERE'S THE THING airs daily Monday through Friday, 2 - 3pm EST, on NEXT TRIP RADIO.
Next Trip Radio, the 24 hour a day, seven day a week destination for travel. Each day Duane, an editor and writer whose work covers everything from politics and entertainment to travel and style, can be heard discussing the world of travel from the inside OUT.
A native of the South, Duane Wells decided early on in life that the world at large and not just the rural South would be his playground. In fact he claimed at an early age as his motto the phrase, “The best is yet to come!”
In addition to being an independent publishing professional, Duane is currently Editor-at-Large for GayWired Media in which capacity he oversees content related to politics, entertainment, travel and style for the GayWired Media family of websites. Duane also serves as a contributing writer for magazines including: Passport, Instinct, OutTraveler, URB, DYSONNA The Magazine and the Toronto-based Canadian luxury travel and design magazine, Homefront where he debuted a quarterly lifestyle column called Living Wells in 2007.
A resident of Los Angeles, Duane has most recently been living in London where he has been toiling over a number of projects which include his first novel, Heaven or Hell, Darling?, a collection of his previously published work as well as a collection of short essays entitled, One Day I Woke Up and Everyone was Wearing Culottes!
Stop by and give them a listen!
Come here all about Chelsea Pines' exciting new enhancements including the addition of 1-Bedroom Suites and a business center!
HERE'S THE THING airs daily Monday through Friday, 2 - 3pm EST, on NEXT TRIP RADIO.
Next Trip Radio, the 24 hour a day, seven day a week destination for travel. Each day Duane, an editor and writer whose work covers everything from politics and entertainment to travel and style, can be heard discussing the world of travel from the inside OUT.
A native of the South, Duane Wells decided early on in life that the world at large and not just the rural South would be his playground. In fact he claimed at an early age as his motto the phrase, “The best is yet to come!”
In addition to being an independent publishing professional, Duane is currently Editor-at-Large for GayWired Media in which capacity he oversees content related to politics, entertainment, travel and style for the GayWired Media family of websites. Duane also serves as a contributing writer for magazines including: Passport, Instinct, OutTraveler, URB, DYSONNA The Magazine and the Toronto-based Canadian luxury travel and design magazine, Homefront where he debuted a quarterly lifestyle column called Living Wells in 2007.
A resident of Los Angeles, Duane has most recently been living in London where he has been toiling over a number of projects which include his first novel, Heaven or Hell, Darling?, a collection of his previously published work as well as a collection of short essays entitled, One Day I Woke Up and Everyone was Wearing Culottes!
Stop by and give them a listen!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)