ANISETTE
TOAST (ITALIAN BISCOTTI)
Commercial sorghum refers to the cultivation and commercial exploitation
of species of grasses within the genus Sorghum (often S. bicolor). These plants are used for grain, fibre and fodder.
The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Commercial Sorghum species
are native to tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia. Other names include durra,
Egyptian millet, feterita,
Guinea corn, jwari (Marathi), jowar, juwar,
milo, maize, shallu,
Sudan grass, cholam (Tamil), jola (Kannada), jonnalu (Telugu), gaoliang,
great millet, kafir corn, dura, dari, mtama,
and solam. Sorghum grows in harsh environments where
other crops do not grow well, just like other staple foods, such as cassava, that are common in impoverished
regions of the world. It is usually grown without application of any
fertilizers or other inputs by a multitude of small-holder farmers in many
countries. Grain sorghum is the third
most important cereal crop grown in the United States and the fifth most
important cereal crop grown in the world.
Read more and see graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_sorghum
The Great American
Songbook has become so ubiquitous
that we take it for granted, whether we’re hearing “Fly Me to the Moon” at a
wedding or a creaky rendition of a Cole Porter tune at a high-school version of
“Kiss Me Kate.” The songbook spans the
spectrum of pop culture, from standards, such as Judy Garland singing “Over the
Rainbow” (1939), to obscure gems, such as hipster Chet Baker crooning “Let’s
Get Lost” (1955) in an opiated invitation to romantic oblivion. “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love,” covered
by dozens of performers from Louis Armstrong on down, first appeared in a 1928
musical and,in 2014, was the highlight of a duet album by Tony Bennett and Lady
Gaga. Oddly, the songbook’s cachet and
classic status are somewhat new developments.
As Ben Yagoda explains in his book, “The B-Side,” the Great American
Songbook almost disappeared for good. Around
1950, there was a sea change in popular music.
Memorable tunes that had buoyed Americans through the late 1920s, the
Depression and World War II—sophisticated yet streetwise songs with witty,
intricate lyrics and elegant, jazz-infused rhythms—went AWOL. Instead, radio playlists and jukeboxes were
flooded with puerile novelty hits like “The Doggie in the Window,” replete with
barking dogs. The writer of that
particular hit, who composed his melodies on a toy xylophone, said that his
songs were “all about America, they are all wholesome and they are all
happy.” It was a long way from the
bittersweet melancholy that suffused a Gershwin classic like “Someone to Watch
Over Me” (1926) and other standards that catered to a grown-up
sensibility. For decades, the standards
thrived in Broadway shows, on the radio and in the movies—and on records. It was in the record industry that the
trouble began. In the late 1940s, as Mr.
Yagoda tells us, the development of the high-fidelity LP ushered in the era of
“mood music,” orchestrated, easy-listening instrumental albums with titles like
“Music for the Fireside.” Record
companies began to invest in production values and sound engineering over
songwriting. By then, Mitch Miller,
first at Mercury and then as artist-and-repertoire director at Columbia, had
discovered the popularity of gimmicky novelty songs. He treated a composition as just another
ingredient in a studio concoction, where sound effects were as important as
lyrics. In “The Cry of the Wild Goose,”
a hit for Frankie Laine in 1949, Miller used French horns to simulate the goose
cry. Veteran songwriters like
Arthur Schwartz, who had penned standards like “Dancing in the Dark” (1931),
were finding it impossible to get their material recorded. In 1954, Schwartz tried to pitch a song to
Miller, who turned him down but suggested a few tweaks to the tune. It was the final insult. A lawyer as well as a songman, Schwartz had
already spearheaded an antitrust lawsuit, on behalf of a group of songwriters,
against the broadcast and recording industry as well as against a rival
songwriters’ group, BMI. The suit
claimed that their works were being systematically stifled, and it dragged on
for years. Testimony from Jack Lawrence,
the lyricist for “All or Nothing at All” (1939), sums up the old guard’s
predicament: “I took a Broadway show score
and a Hollywood picture score to both Columbia Records and NBC-RCA-Victor
records,” he said. “This represented
over a total of twenty-odd songs and perhaps two years’ work or more. In both instances I got not one single
recording.” Despite these setbacks,
songwriters coming of age in the mid-1950s managed to get some quality songs
recorded. They are at the heart of Mr.
Yagoda’s counter-narrative of how the songbook, against all odds, survived. A key figure in this group is the lyricist
Carolyn Leigh, who was 27 when she had her first hit. After a visit to her father in the hospital,
where he was being treated for a heart ailment, she penned the words to “Young
at Heart,” a tune by Johnny Richards that helped launch Frank Sinatra’s
comeback in 1954. Along with partner Cy
Coleman, she wrote other classics for Sinatra, like “Witchcraft” and “The Best
Is Yet to Come,” a phrase that is etched on Sinatra’s tombstone. Eddie Dean
http://www.wsj.com/articles/book-review-the-b-side-by-ben-yagoda-1422658096
QUOTES from Out of Oz, the final volume in the Wicked
Years series by Gregory Maguire (Dorothy Gale returns and thinks of herself as
an accidental immigrant although others regard her as an illegal
immigrant.) "I may not know how to
fly but I know how to read, and that's almost the same thing."
"Spiders don't fall off the wall when they hear a singer." "Grumpiness made him come to
life." "You get everything from
books."
NAME CHANGES Actor, writer, comedian and director Albert Brooks (born Albert Lawrence Einstein 1947) Film stars Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm
1922); Mickey Rooney (born Joe Yule,
Jr 1920); Cary Grant (born Archibald Alexander Leach 1904); Doris Day
(born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff 1922 or 1924); Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer, Jr. 1925 )
Introducing books and reading very early in life will write indelibly on a child’s
future. Here’s how it works: Take a book.
Wrap it. Place it on a child’s
bed so it’s the first thing the child sees on Christmas morning (or whatever
holiday you celebrate). That’s it. “A Book on Every Bed” is an appeal to spread
the love of reading from parents to children. We also want to encourage families to share
books by reading aloud. This idea was
inspired by one of the country’s favorite writers. Pulitzer Prize-winning
historian David McCullough (author of “John Adams” and many other histories)
says that every Christmas morning during his childhood, he woke up to a wrapped
book at the foot of his bed, left by Santa.
http://blog.prathambooks.org/2011/12/this-year-put-book-on-every-bed.html
Reach Out and Read's thousands of doctors and nurses promote early literacy and school
readiness to young children and their families in all 50 states. Each year, medical providers at the nearly
5,000 Reach Out and Read program sites nationwide distribute 6.5 million books
to children and invaluable literacy advice to parents. http://www.reachoutandread.org/
Best Architecture of
2015: Josey Pavilion, a new
meeting and education center at the Dixon Water Foundation in Cooke County,
Texas, Center for Character and Leadership Development outside Colorado
Springs, Colorado, CENTRO University in Mexico City, and
the Columbus Art Museum in Ohio Margaret M. Walter Wing. See descriptions,
pictures, and link to best art, TV, film, music, and theater
of 2015 at http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-best-architecture-of-2015-their-modesty-becomes-them-1450401814?mod=itp&mod=djemITP_h
http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com Issue 1395
December 18, 2015 On this date in
1787, New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S.
Constitution. On this date in
1912, the Piltdown Man, later
discovered to be a hoax, was announced by Charles Dawson.
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