“I ended up gifting the finished Liza Box to my little brother Robbie for Christmas that year. To gild the Minne-lily, I filled the box with all matter of Liza loot, including VHS copies of Rent-A-Cop and Arthur 2 from my personal collection and, the jewel in the crown, a customized Liza snow globe that played “New York, New York.” This feature gave me an unexpected thrill because the shaking movement required to activate the snow seemed to push Liza’s already erratic vibrato into previously uncharted tremulous territory.”
Tag: Natalie Cole
Blog posts
The Year Without Music: To Natalie…With Love
…when NARAS held its 58th Annual Grammy Awards on February 16, 2016, there was an expectation among family, fans, and the industry that the organization would pay tribute to the nine-time Grammy winner in a manner befitting her unique multi-generational, multi-genre status.
Remembering Natalie Cole: See You in the Music
In the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 2005, three years into our friendship, I enjoyed one of the most intimate and spontaneous performances ever given by Natalie Cole. It consisted of a…
A List of Songs Stephen Sondheim Wishes He Wrote Himself (At Least in Part), Volume 1
This most interesting list of songs Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim wishes he wrote himself (at least in part), originally appeared in the New York Times Magazine in 2000 and was a fascinating sidebar to a…
Donna Summer, “Dim All the Lights”: My Personal Memories of One of the All-Time Great Singers
May 17th is the anniversary of Donna Summer’s death, which came as a shock to her fans around the world having kept her illness a secret to even those she regarded as close friends. Though her…
Songs That Should Have Been Top-10 Hits, Volume 5
1. k.d. lang, “Sing it Loud” (2011) k.d. lang is simply one of the best singers currently breathing. An intrepid boundary-crosser and rule breaker, lang has struggled with record labels from the jump. Her…
Songwriter’s Forum: Shelly Peiken
Shelly Peiken is a multi-platinum Grammy nominated songwriter who is best known for her #1 hits, Christina Aguilera’s “What a Girl Wants” and “Come On Over Baby (All I Want is You).” She earned…
Natalie Cole Gave Fever to Birdland, October 7th, 2013
I’ve been hearing for quite a while Jim Caruso’s Cast Party is by far the most amazing open mic night in Manhattan. I was so glad to finally stop by and check it out…
Melismania! The Art of Good Singing Has a Terrible Case of the Runs
I recently received a thoughtful email regarding my Stargayzing piece about Christina Aguilera’s musical identity crisis. In addition to expressing strong feelings about the relative aspects of what I perceive as Aguilera’s disappointing artistic trajectory,…
Songs That Should Have Been Top-Ten Hits, Volume 3: The Clive Davis Edition
For many years, it was customary for those seeking to curry favor with Clive Davis, the legendary hit maker and founder of Arista Records, to be given the “Clive Davis Challenge”: make two CDs (or,…
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