On Jan 21, 1:18*am, Zz Yzx wrote:
On Thu, 20 Jan 2011 08:44:40 -0800 (PST), RicodJour



wrote:
Two nights ago I went to a performance by Christine Lavin at our local
public library. *She was funny as hell, poignant and read from her
recent memoir (subtitled Mem-Wha??). *I love her music and, a rarity
in today's world, she sounded exactly like her albums.

At the beginning of the show she introduced a guy in the front row, an
elderly chap, as a great songwriter - Irv Drake. *Actually it's Erv,
but I didn't know it at the time, and I didn't recognize the name
anyway, but I clapped dutifully.

A bit later in the show she read an excerpt from her book about Erv
Drake. *A truly amazing story about getting his heartbroken at an
early age and writing a song about it, Good Morning Heartache. *Say
what? *The guy sitting three seats away from me was that guy? *The guy
that wrote Billie Holiday's song, the jazz standard covered by nearly
everyone with vocal cords? *Wow!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rk1IKHd_0fk

She then asked him to get up on the stage and play something. *Like I
said, he was elderly, 91 as it turns out, and as he sat down and
started to play my jaw dropped. *It kept dropping until the floor
stopped it. *He was playing It Was A Very Good Year. *Holy crap - this
was the guy that wrote one of Sinatra's signature songs!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ervin_Drake

Then he played I Believe, Frankie Laine's #1 hit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qklmcYa1PhM

Like I said, Mr. Drake is songwriting royalty, and he's a really
charming guy. *Here's an article that tells a little bit more about
him:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123862611987180187.html
One thing that came out at the show that differs from that article -
he didn't withdraw from Edith's life (the girl that broke his heart),
she booted him on the spot when he proposed. *Read the article for the
outcome. (spoiler alert: the outcome at the bottom of the post)

Needless to say, I stuck around afterwards and thanked everyone for
everything. *It really was a magical evening, and it was at the local
library for free.

R

SPOILER: *They held hands the entire show. *Before I knew who he was I
noticed it and it warmed my heart.

Ah, it reminds me of the great Doonsbury strip featuring Thudpucker
and Bob Dylan (who was never directly pictured in the series). *The
particular strip featured Thudpcuker reading quotes from Bill Clinton
(?) Bob's amazing insights and lyrical magic. *Bob replies, from
behind a closed bathroom door (leading the reader to imagime him on
the can):

"Wow. *I was only trying to make it all rhyme".

Funny you should mention, Dylan. Christine Lavin told a bunch of
stories, and one of them was about meeting Dylan when the Rolling
Thunder Review was just starting out. She was starstruck and
searching for something to say that would interest him to keep the
conversation going, and kept striking out, until she asked him if he'd
heard the new verse that Pete Seeger was singing in This Land Is Your
Land.

Lyrics to This Land Is Your Land :
(Woody Guthrie)

[Chorus:]
This land is your land,
This land is my land,
From California to the New York Island,
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters,
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway,
I saw below me that golden valley,
This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and I rambled, and I followed my footsteps
To the sparking sands of her diamond deserts,
All around me a voice was sounding,
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, then I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving, and the dust clouds rolling,
A voice was chanting as the fog was lifting,
This land was made for you and me.

One bright sunny morning, in the shadow of the steeple,
By the relief office I saw my people,
As they stood there hungry, I stood there wondering if,
This land was made for you and me.

Was a big high wall there that tried to stop me,
Was a great big sign that said, "Private Property,"
But on the other side, it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking my freedom highway,
Nobody living can make me turn back,
This land was made for you and me.

[Additional verses by Pete Seeger:]
Maybe you've been working as hard as you're able,
But you've just got crumbs from the rich man's table,
And maybe you're thinking, was it truth or fable,
That this land was made for you and me.

Woodland and grassland and river shoreline,
To everything living, even little microbes,
Fin, fur, and feather, we're all here together,
This land was made for you and me.

[And a Native American verse:]
This land is your land, but it once was my land,
Until we sold you Manhattan Island.
You pushed our Nations to the reservations;
This land was stole by you from me


She also had stories about Rambling Jack Elliot (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramblin%27_Jack_Elliott ), Joe Namath,
etc., etc. Her stories were always kind and always hysterical - as in
maybe-I-should-have-worn-Depends-tonight hysterical.

I know it's stupid, but I felt like I had cheated somehow by getting
all of that for free at the public library.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that wonderful experience with you guys
as I know a lot of you appreciate Talent, humor and getting stuff for
free. Hmm, come to think of it - this was a gloat!

R