Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Born on this day – Vincent Gardenia:


Vincent Gardenia


Actor

January 7, 1920 – December 9, 1992

Credits:

The Super (1991); L.A. Law (1986); The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story (1990); The Ray Bradbury Theater (1985); Quattro piccole donne (1989); Age-Old Friends (1989); Skin Deep (1989); Cavalli si nasce (1989); Cheeeese (1988); Un siciliano in Sicilia (1987); Moonstruck (1987); American Playhouse (1987); Honor Thy Father (1986); Little Shop of Horrors (1986); The Twilight Zone (1985); Brass (1985); Movers & Shakers (1985); Dark Mirror (1984); Kennedy (1983); Charley's Aunt (1983); Muggable Mary, Street Cop (1982); Ciao nemico (1982); Death Wish II (1982); Thornwell (1981); Breaking Away (1980); The Dream Merchants (1980); The Last Flight of Noah's Ark (1980); That's Life (1979); Goldie and the Boxer (1979); Marciano (1979); The House by the Edge of the Lake (1979); Home Movies (1979); Insight (1960); Firepower (1979); Heaven Can Wait (1978); Greased Lightning (1977); Fire Sale (1977); The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970); Luna di miele in tre (1976); The Big Racket (1976); La banca di Monate (1976); Bordella (1976); Dean's Place (1976); Kojak (1973); Dean's Place (1975); The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery (1975); The Front Page (1974); Death Wish (1974); All in the Family (1971); The Carpenters (1973); Lucky Luciano (1973); Bang the Drum Slowly (1973); Cops (1973); Screaming Skull (1973); The Rookies (1972); Maude (1972); Love, American Style (1969); Hickey & Boggs (1972); McCloud (1970); Sarge (1971); Cold Turkey (1971); Little Murders (1971); Where's Poppa? (1970); Jenny (1970); This Town Will Never Be the Same (1969); Mission: Impossible (1966); Ironside (1967); Coronet Blue (1967); N.Y.P.D. (1967); Judd for the Defense (1967); Mannix (1967); The Rat Patrol (1966); Gunsmoke (1955); I Spy (1965); The Fugitive (1963); The Monkees (1965); The Big Valley (1965); Hawk (1966); Seaway (1965); Ben Casey (1961); New York Television Theatre (1965); Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964); The Trials of O'Brien (1965); The Third Day (1965); Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963); Memorandum for a Spy (1965); The Rogues (1964); The Defenders (1961); Kraft Suspense Theatre (1963); The Bing Crosby Show (1964); The Doctors and the Nurses (1962); East Side/West Side (1963); The DuPont Show of the Week (1961); Ride with Terror (1963); A View from the Bridge (1962); Tallahassee 7000 (1961); The Untouchables (1959); The Hustler (1961); Great Ghost Tales (1961); Mad Dog Coll (1961); Parrish (1961); Play of the Week (1959); The Edge of Night (1956); Murder, Inc. (1960); Deadline (1959); Armstrong Circle Theatre (1950); Naked City (1958); Kraft Theatre (1947); Cop Hater (1958); Decoy (1957); Studio One (1948); The Phil Silvers Show (1955); The House on 92nd Street (1945).

Recommended reading - The Exorcist (1971) and Legion (1983):


The Exorcist

By William Peter Blatty.

Published by Harper Paperbacks.
First published in 1971.
Paperback.

ISBN-10: 006209436X
ISBN-13: 978-0062094360

Description:

Four decades after it first shook the nation, then the world, William Peter Blatty’s thrilling masterwork of faith and demonic possession returns in an even more powerful form. Raw and profane, shocking and blood-chilling, it remains a modern parable of good and evil and perhaps the most terrifying novel ever written.

----------


Legion

By William Peter Blatty.

Published by Tor Books.
First published in 1983.
Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0765327139
ISBN-13: 978-0765327130

Description:

“Jesus asked the man his name, and he answered, ‘Legion, for we are many.’” – Mark 5:9.

A young boy is found horribly murdered in a mock crucifixion. Is the murderer the elderly woman who witnessed the crime? A neurologist who can no longer bear the pain life inflicts on its victims? A psychiatrist with a macabre sense of humor and a guilty secret? A mysterious mental patient, locked in silent isolation?

Lieutenant Kinderman follows a bewildering trail that links all these people, confronting new enigmas at every turn, even as more murders occur. Why does each victim suffer the same dreadful mutilations? Why are two priests among the dead? Is there a connection between these crimes and another series of murders that took place twelve years ago – one that supposedly ended with the death of the killer?

Legion is a novel of breathtaking energy and suspense. But more than this, it is an extraordinary journey into the uncharted depths of the human mind and the most agonizing questions of the human condition.

The answers are revealed in a climax so stunning that it could only have been written by the author of The Exorcist – William Peter Blatty.

Lawrence Clark Powell, on writing, speaking and reading:


Write to be understood,
speak to be heard,
read to grow.

- Lawrence Clark Powell.

Monday, January 6, 2025

On this day in music history - Distant Light, by Renée Fleming (2017):


Distant Light

Album by Renée Fleming,
was released on January 6, 2017.

Track list:

Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op.24; Hillborg: 1. Black Sea [The Strand Settings]; Hillborg: 2. Dark Harbor XX [The Strand Settings]; Hillborg: 3. Dark Harbor XXXV [The Strand Settings]; Hillborg: 4. Dark Harbor XI [The Strand Settings]; Sigurdsson, Guðmundsdóttir: Virus; Sigurdsson, Guðmundsdóttir: Joga; Guðmundsdóttir: All Is Full of Love.

On this day in movie history - Dillinger (1991):


Dillinger

directed by Rupert Wainwright,
written by Paul F. Edwards,
was released in the United States on January 6, 1991.
Music by David McHugh.


Cast:

Mark Harmon, Sherilyn Fenn, Will Patton, Bruce Abbott, Tom Bower, Patricia Arquette, Xander Berkeley, Yvonne Suhor, John Philbin, Amy Yasbeck, David Neidorf, Vince Edwards, Lawrence Tierney, Joe Guzaldo, Michael Krawic, Ramsay Midwood, Ralph Wood, Tom White, Malcolm Rothman, Kurt Naebig, Rod Sell, Peggy Roeder, Lucy Childs, Joe Greco, Will Zahrn, Larry Brandenburg, Tim Grimm, Laurel Cronin, Mike McKune, Bob O'Donnell, Greg Kinnear, Larry Gittelson, Rebecca Borter, Jim Ortlieb, Gary Houston, Lance Alberti, Bill Belongia, Ernest Capponi, Laurence S. Chess, Bart Heimburger, Michelle Radish, Tom Simons, Mark Smith, Steven Marcus Smith, Neil Willenson, Sam Younghans.

Born on this day – Doris Troy:


Doris Troy


R&B singer

Songwriter

January 6, 1937 – February 16, 2004

Credits:

Albums:

Another Look (2024); Doris Troy (1970); I'll Do Anything - The Doris Troy Anthology 1960-1996 (2011); Just One Look (1963); Sings Just One Look (2023); Soul Legend (2011); Stretchin' Out (1974).

Songs:

Ain’t That Cute; All That I’ve Got; But I Love Him; Can't Hold On; Dearest Darling; Don’t Call Me No More; Exactly Like You; Face Up to the Truth; Games People Play; Get Back; Give Me Back My Dynamite; Gonna Get My Baby Back; He Don't Belong to Me; Heartaches; Hurry; I'll Do Anything; Jacob’s Ladder; Just One Look; Lazy Days; One More Chance; Please Little Angel; So Far; Soul Legend; Special Care; Stretchin' Out; Tell Him I'm Not Home; Tomorrow Is Another Day; Trust in Me; What You Will Blues; What'cha Gonna Do; What'cha Gonna Do About It; You Give Me Joy Joy; You Tore Me Up Inside.

Movies and television:

4-3-2-1 Hot and Sweet (1970); A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988); American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story (2017); Bandstand (1965); Blood Ties (2013); Buster (1988); Calendar Girl (1993); Caught (2018); Clickbait (2021); Cold Case (2005); Colour My Soul (1973); Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011); Festival of Entertainment (1974); Get Crazy (1983); Gossip Girl (2021); Hjälten (1990); In Concert (1974); Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! (1971); Lift Off (1970); Loot (1970); Lost Girl (2012); Love Child (2014); Mama I Want to Sing (2011); Mermaids (1990); Murder Trial (1996); My Music: Aretha Franklin Presents Soul Rewind (2010); Nashville (2016); Now! (1966); Radio Wonderful (1974); Ready, Steady, Go! (1965–1966); Redfern Now (2013); Ringo Starr: Sentimental Journey (1970); Shindig! (1964); Something from Tiffany's (2022); Sounds for Saturday (1972); That's the Way of the World (1975); The '70s (2000); The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1961); The All Together (2007); The Flamingo Kid (1984); The Last Letter from Your Lover (2021); The Price of Fame or Fame at any Price (1969–1970); The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020); They Came from Manchester: Five Decades of Mancunian Pop (2008); Top of the Pops (1970); We Are Who We Are (2020); Werner and the Wizard of Booze (1990); Where the Action Is (1966).

Born on this day – E. L. Doctorow:


E. L. Doctorow


Writer

January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015

Credits:

Welcome to Hard Times (1960); Big As Life (1966); The Book of Daniel (1971); Ragtime (1975); Drinks Before Dinner (1979); Loon Lake (1980); American Anthem (1982); World's Fair (1985); Billy Bathgate (1989); The Waterworks (1994); City of God (2000); The March (2005); Homer & Langley (2009); Andrew's Brain (2014); Lives of the Poets (1984); Daniel, Ragtime, Loon Lake (2003); Sweet Land Stories (2004); Poems for Life: A Special Collection of Poetry (2011); All the Time in the World (2011); Essays and Conversations (1983); Jack London, Hemingway, and the Constitution: Selected Essays, 1977-1992 (1993); Poets and Presidents: Selected Essays, 1977-92 (1994); Lamentation: 9/11 (2002); Reporting the Universe (2003); Creationists: Selected Essays, 1993-2006 (2006); Early Sorrow: Ten Stories of Youth (1986); Writing New York (1998); The Best American Short Stories 2000 (2000); The Good Parts (2000); Writers on Writing (2001).