Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Rewind: Funky Christmas, Santa Baby















It's weird how we lose so many right around Christmas. I'm so glad to have seen James Brown, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, doing his thing, before he died in 2006, before I ever have to die. Merry Funky Christmas, indeed!










I've plugged the book on Cuba's own Alberto Korda (Alberto Díaz Gutiérrez); now I'll plug the documentary, Hector Cruz Sandoval's Kordavision (2005). This guy was way cool and, like Diane Arbus, lives on as a role model for any still-aspiring hepcat photographer . . .




















Next, I love the fact that Charo (i.e. María Rosario Pilar Martínez Molina Moquiere de les Esperades Santa Ana Romanguera y de la Najosa Rasten) and Don Rickles are still touring -- I used to smile big time watching them on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show when I was a kid staying up late on school nights (much as I still do).

I'm also sad to note the passing [in 2008] of another late night (and Batman) favorite, South Carolina-born (like James Brown) Eartha Kitt, who performed the original 1953 "Santa Baby" and more. Zowie!

Carry on, those of us happy enough to still count ourselves among the living, and RIP to those gone (but not by any means forgotten) . . . Merry Funky Christmas to all!

1 comment:

Charles Gramlich said...

The end of the year, and when it turns cold, is a bad time for losses. And early in the new year too, unfortunately. James Brown in a Santa hat made my day.