Paul Goldfinger has published quite a few of his Paris photos including this portrait. One time one of our Paris images (of the Eiffel Tower) was used in a commercial in Spain. I never saw the commercial, but they sent me $100.00, enough to go for dinner at Don Pepe in Newark.
About 10 years ago our photo of the Asbury Park lifeguards was chosen for the cover of the book “New Jersey 24/7”
But now we have some news: One of our Paris images has been chosen for the cover of a book to be published in London in 2022. This will be our second book cover.
We cannot offer the details now, but this is very exciting, so I will share it with our readers —–Paul
Lee Wiley, a jazz singer from Oklahoma, was popular in the 1930’s, ’40’s and ’50’s. This is a sweet song. Lee says, “I’m daffy about sugar.”
That’s not surprising because sugar does stimulate pleasure receptors in the brain causing release of dopamine and making children and adults a little daffy.
Last Christmas a young lady gave her heart to a slick, fast talking ski instructor. She was swept off her feet and wound up on a bear rug at the lodge. But she couldn’t help herself, and after a long night of mistletoe, jollies, and egg nog, she found herself alone by an open fire, surrounded by chestnut shells and with Jack Frost nipping at her toes. When she regained her poise, she swore not to make that mistake again, but guess what’s going to happen this Christmas?
Here are the Puppini Sisters relating this sad story. Hopefully there is a lesson to be learned: This Christmas be careful whom you allow to jingle your bells.
Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net. Re-post from May, 2012. Eileen’s Ocean Grove garden.
We bought a honeysuckle plant about four years ago for our little OG garden which has a shady northern exposure and looks toward Asbury Park. The nursery expert told us that it needs sunshine, but we really wanted one, so we got it and planted it where it gets partial sun, from the west, late in the day.
Fast forward to now, and it is blooming nicely, thank you very much. There are over one hundred varieties, but this one has funny looking orange flowers. Some would call it a bush and some would call it a vine, but you can call it Al. Anyhow, it is vining its way over the top and then through the chain link fence to Meredith’s yard where she gets to enjoy it also.
Soundtrack: This song, “Honeysuckle Rose,” is a jazz standard, performed by many of the greats. But we chose Jenna Mammina because we like her style (think Blossom Dearie,) but also because of the unique confectionery way that she enunciates “honeysuckle rose.” PG
Ocean Grove, New Jersey. “Summer Tents”–anybody creeping around? Paul Goldfinger photo
Re-post from 2012.
We have been having, according to Kathy Arlt, a bit of a “tent festival” on Blogfinger. We have slow dancin’ in a tent and then Kathy’s historical account of tenting in the Grove. Then we have the Hebrews sleeping in tents as part of the Passover story.
Well, it seems that throughout history, some hanky panky finds its way into somebody’s tent. It sure did occur when the Sheik of Araby showed up, creeping around the campground. Here’s Asa Prebner, even though he’s no sheik. Asa is a rocker, and this is from his Session Americana album
Saturday night. Ocean Grove, NJ By Paul Goldfinger
SOUNDTRACK. Joe Venuti. This song is usually done with a trumpet lead—Louis A. mostly. But Joe Venuti is something else altogether. He uses a violin for the lead, with the trumpet coming in later. His voice sounds like a combo of two Louis—Prima and Armstrong. PG
Eydie Gormé passed away in 2013 at the age of 84 (1928-2013). She became a star at the age of 22. She had one of the best voices in popular music. This article is re-posted from August 2013 @Blogfinger.net.
She was born in the Bronx to immigrant parents from Sicily and Turkey. She was fluent in Spanish, and later in her career her Spanish language recordings were more popular than the ones in English. She became an international star.
Eydie Gormé performed for most of her career with her husband Steve Lawrence, and everyone knew them as “Steve and Eydie.” They were a huge draw in Las Vegas.
Her biggest hit was “Blame it on the Bossa Nova,” but here is one of the number one recordings she had in Spanish—in this case recording with the “Trio Los Panchos.”
EYDIE GORMÉ WITH THE TRIO LOS PANCHOS: “Amor” This album is one of her most enduring.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Next August, 2021, at the Axelrod Theater in Deal, Steve and Eydie’s son David Lawrence will be presenting the music of his parents. He will have a songstress performing with him. Steve Lawrence is 85 years old (1935-) and lives in California.
Gloria Lynn (b. 1929-2013) was from New York City. She started out as a pop singer having a big hit in 1964 with ”I Wish You Love” which became her signature song. Later in her career she became known as a jazz singer.
The song was written by the French singer and composer Charles Trenet in 1942, and its first lyrics were in French.
Keely Smith had the first hit in English in 1957, and the song was featured in several movies including the French “Stolen Kisses.”
Ironically, the French version, sung by Mr. Trenet, appeared in the American movie “Something’s Gotta Give,” and we present that version below.
Rabari tribal elder. 2010 India. Photo by Steve McCurry.
By Paul Goldfinger, Photography Editor@Blogfinger.
Re-post from 2011 in order to make an update point. Comments from 2011 are still interesting and include a 2019 update. Feel free to offer 2019 comments.
From 1935-2009, professional photographers preferred shooting color with Kodachrome slide film They appreciated the remarkable quality and vivid colors— as well as the archival properties of the film.
Because of the advent of digital photography, Kodak ended production in 2009. Professional photographer Steve McCurry requested and received the very last roll of Kodachrome that was manufactured. He traveled from New York City to India to obtain those last 36 exposures. When he returned, he had the roll developed at a lab in Kansas, the last one in the world to be able to process Kodachrome. One of those images is shown above. The model is a tribal elder of the Rabari people who can be traced back all the way to Atilla the Hun.
Steve McCurry is a well-known photojournalist who has worked at National Geographic for 30 years. In addition, he has published books and he is a member of the renowned photo agency Magnum, based in New York City. His most famous image is that of an Afghan woman who appeared on the cover of National Geographic Magazine in 1985. Here is a link to an NPR report on McCurry dated today. You can see his iconic image from 1985 as well as other amazing photographs. NPR article about Steve McCurry
Currently, the tribal elder image on top is part of an exhibit entitled “Kodachrome: Images by Steve McCurry” at the Open Shutter gallery in Durango, Colorado. If you go to the link below, you will see a Vanity Fair article about this topic including a slide show of all the images on that last roll.
