Tula Ellice Finklea

Faleceu ontem, com 87 anos de idade, uma mulher de sonho.
Representou junto de Fred Astaire e Gene Kelly, deixando-nos para sempre presos à sua sensualidade e movimentos de pernas.
Uma deusa criada no Texas por uma familia de joelheiros, apresentava em criança uma saude pouco estavel, razão pela qual decidiu entrar em aulas de dança para reforçar o corpo. No entanto, aos 14 anos este hobbie passou a carreira quando se apresentou numa audição que mais tarde lhe proporcionou a entrada no Ballet Russo de Monte Carlo.
Ficam aqui registadas as saudades da Idade de Ouro de Hollywood. ...

Simple Song of Freedom

Now, no doubt some folks enjoy doin' battle
Like presidents, prime ministers and kings
So, let's all build them shelves
Where they can fight among themselves

Metric

• Grow Up and Blow Away (2007)
• Live It Out (2005)
• Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? (2003)

The Jezebel of Jazz

Contemporânea dos maiores nomes femininos do Jazz como Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen McRae e Sarah Vaughan, Anita Belle Colton desafiou todos os cânones da época tendo sido a primeira Mulher a trocar o evening gown pelo band jacket e por uma saia. A sua voz inconfundível embalada pelos ritmos (ela intitulava-se de instrumentista e não de vocalista) valeu-lhe os mais altos elogios dos críticos da época such as Jazz writer Nat Hentoff who declared her "the most authentically hot jazz singer of all."e a sua estonteante beleza tornaram-na num ícone para as gerações vindouras.
Alterou o seu nome para Anita O'Day e faleceu em 2006 com uma pneumonia. Era errante, era alcoólica, era viciada em heroína, foi violada, fez inúmeros abortos e foi uma das maiores vozes do Jazz de sempre, uma das grandes pioneiras do bebop e uma das melhores no scat.

Nick Drake

"Nicholas Rodney Drake (June 19, 1948 – November 25, 1974) was an English singer-songwriter best known for his acoustic, autumnal songs. His primary instrument was the guitar, though he was also proficient at piano, clarinet, and saxophone. Although he failed to find a wide audience during his lifetime, Drake's work has grown steadily in stature, to the extent that he now ranks among the most influential English singer-songwriters of the last 50 years.
Drake released his debut album Five leaves left in 1969. By 1972 he had recorded a further two albums, although none sold more than five thousand copies in their initial releases, while his reluctance to perform live or be interviewed further contributed to his lack of commercial success. Drake battled with depression and insomnia throughout his life, and the topics were often reflected in his lyrics. Upon completion of his third album, 1972's Pink Moon, he withdrew from both live performance and recording, retreating to his parents' home in rural Warwickshire. On 25 November 1974, Drake died from an overdose of the prescribed antidepressant, Amitriptyline.
There was residual interest in Drake's music through the mid-1970s, but it was not until the 1979 release of the retrospective album Fruit Tree that his back catalogue came to be reassessed. Drake's first biography was written in 1997, and was followed in 1998 by the documentary film A Stranger Amongst Us. In 2000, Volkswagen featured the title track from Pink Moon in a television advertisement, and within one month Drake had sold more records than he had in the previous thirty years."

Over and out

O mundo das Vixen!

"His first feature, the nudist comedy The Immoral Mr. Teas (1959), cost $24,000 to produce and eventually grossed more than $1,000,000 on the independent/exploitation circuit, ensconcing Meyer as "King of the Nudies." Over the next decade, he made nearly twenty movies with a trademark blend of warped humor, huge-breasted starlets and All-American sleaze, including such notable films as Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965) and Vixen! (1968). Russ Meyer was a true auteur who wrote, directed, edited, photographed and distributed all his own films. He was able to finance each new film from the proceeds of the earlier ones, and became very wealthy in the process." Russ Meyer era um dos mais proeminentes realizadores de filmes de sexploitation, como o nome indica, de exploração do sexo e da sexualidade. Russ Meyer era libertino, amava mulheres. Amou as mulheres mais bonitas da sua época, obrigava-as a incursar relações sexuais com prostitutas. Russ Meyer fazia o casting de mulheres no primeiro trimestre da gravidez pois dava-se um aumento natural do peito.
Mas Russ Meyer também deu poder às mulheres, as suas female carachters eram as mais fortes, as mais bonitas. Tomavam conta do homem física e psicologicamente.
Vi Lorna (1964) numa sessão do Fantas...

Nota: a cena final de Death Proof (2006), do Tarantino, hm, de onde virá?