Readers Send Arguments For Their Favorite Music Years
Preliminary results are coming in on Spotlight’s “Best Pop Music Year” poll, and so far, the ‘60s are leading the pack.
For instance, Big Al Olson called in with a persuasive case for 1967 as the best music year ever.
“It was the year of ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’; two albums from the Doors, the finest rock ‘n’ roll band ever in the United States; and it was the year Jimi Hendrix exploded onto the scene,” he said. “Buddy, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
Other readers also made a case for 1969, the year of the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” and “Led Zeppelin II.”
And Jon Tuning of Spokane seconded our nomination of 1966, but he added some other songs to the year’s honor roll, including one forgotten classic, “Double Shot of My Baby’s Love” by the Swingin’ Medallions.
Tuning knows his ‘66 tunes by heart; during that year, he was pulling night duty six nights a week, listening to Armed Forces Radio in Vietnam.
Other decades haven’t been entirely ignored. For instance, Jeff Finn of Moscow made an impressive case for 1983. He wrote that it was the year of “War,” U2’s breakthrough album; “Murmur” by R.E.M. (“one of the finest albums of the ‘80s”); “Synchronicity” by The Police, and “Speaking in Tongues” by the Talking Heads.
Even the much-maligned ‘70s has advocates. There was one nomination for ‘78, the year that saw the debuts of The Police and Dire Straits.
However, I will admit that I am appalled by the lack of support for certain other decades. Will no one step forward to advocate the ‘40s, the decade of the great big bands? The ‘50s, the decade of Elvis, Frank Sinatra and Chuck Berry? The ‘90s, the decade of, well, lots of people?
So I’m leaving nominations open for another week. Just tell me your favorite year in pop music.
Call me or my personal assistant (Mr. Voice Mail) at 459-5493, or write me at the Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane WA 99210.
Sorry, no Stallone
Be still my beating heart. Spokane barely lost out on the chance to be immortalized in the next bad Sylvester Stallone movie.
Warner Bros. scouts were in town a month ago, seeking a secondary location for Sly’s epic “Assassins.” Most of it will be filmed in Seattle, but the producers wanted another street location, preferably somewhere within striking distance of Seattle.
They were looking for a street that was oppressive, urban, brooding and gray.
Martha Lou Wheatley, the film liaison for the Spokane Convention and Visitors Bureau, showed the scouts around some of Spokane’s older abandoned-brick-warehouse neighborhoods.
But Wheatley received word this week that Warner Bros. chose Portland instead. Our streets were “not gritty enough” and presumably not oppressive enough either.
How do I know that “Assassins” will be bad, not to mention violent and stupid? Well, I saw “Cliffhanger.”
Coliseum idea fizzles
While they were here, the Warner Bros. filmmakers heard that the old Coliseum was going to be torn down, said Wheatley. They were intrigued with the idea of blowing it up for the movie.
Never mind that the movie has no scene showing a building blowing up. The writers could always be ordered to contrive one.
The filmmakers toyed with the idea for quite a while, but eventually dropped it when they decided to film in Portland instead.
I can’t document this, but this may be the first explosion ever passed up by a Sylvester Stallone movie.
KREM-2 news director leaves
Paul Brandt, the news director at KREM-2, left last week to take a job at KREM’s sister station in Honolulu, KHNL-TV.
Brandt will be starting up a news operation at that station, which is switching from a FOX affiliation to NBC. It’s a step up for him.
“I’m happy for Paul,” said KREM station manager Barry Barth. “But meanwhile, I’m without a news director.”
Barth said the search for a replacement has begun.
Brandt will be sorely missed on the Spokane broadcasting scene. A journalist at heart, he brought a nice combination of softspokenness and outspokenness to his job.
Museum honored by the Guv
The Cheney Cowles Museum and its alter-ego, the Eastern Washington State Historical Society, received the 1995 Governor’s Arts Award last month in Olympia.
The museum was one of only three recipients of the award this year. The other awards were given to Mr. and Mrs. Jack Benaroya of Seattle and the Columbia River Renaissance Art Committee in Vancouver.
The awards are for “significant contributions to the cultural life of Washington state.”
An AIDS benefit cabaret
The cast of the national touring show “Oliver!” will present an evening of cabaret at Hour Place, 415 W. Sprague, on Tuesday at 10:30 p.m.
A $5 minimum donation is suggested, and proceeds will benefit the Spokane AIDS Network.
This show is part of the national theater community’s continuing commitment to stage fund-raisers in cities while they are on tour. Several other Broadway touring shows have presented similar cabaret benefits in Spokane.
An Irish benefit
Speaking of benefits, another cabaret revue is taking place at The ACT, 425 N. Evergreen in the Valley.
It’s called “The ACT Revues Broadway” and this one is raising money to bring a theater troupe to our shores from our sister city of Limerick, Ireland.
Spokane sent a production of “Quilters” to Ireland earlier this year.
The cabaret runs today at 2 p.m., and continues on Friday and Saturday evenings. For tickets and info, call 921-1706.
“Little Women” at Rogue
All you kids and adults who loved the film “Little Women” might want to check out the stage version at the Rogue Players, at the West Central Community Center, 1603 N. Belt.
This community theater opened their own two-hour stage adaptation this weekend. This play was produced several years ago by the Rogue Players, and it is back by popular demand.
There’s a 2 p.m. performance today, and it continues through March 19. Call 327-9907 for tickets and info.
Hampson reviewed
Here’s what James Oestreich of the New York Times said about Wednesday’s “Live From Lincoln Center” concert starring Kathleen Battle and Spokane’s Thomas Hampson:
“In general, Hampson sounded fresher and stronger than Ms. Battle. From the bluster of the ‘Bill’ soliloquy from ‘Carousel’ to the finesse of Pierrot’s Tanzlied from ‘Die Tote Stadt,’ superbly delivered, he was at the top of his form.”