WELCOME TO THE RED DOOR

I am very particular about my music enjoyment and what moves me, makes me want to sing and dance.  I want to identify ultimately with the performers, composers and musicians in the music videos and not just be a casual bystander.  I appreciate and admire those who made the videos in the first place, since normally, it is the first thing I grab onto when clicking on YouTube to visit a video.

 

I like to be moved by music not just sit and be washed over.  I want to be drawn in and become a part of the video.  I am noted for having eclectic tastes in music and enjoy many kinds of music from rock to classical, jazz, country and more.  Some are just good, even if I am not enamored with the type of music.  Many times, I stumble on a cultural music or an ethnic music and think about it for a while, listen and view it many times, then when I start humming it and thinking it, I put it into my favorites places, which include my mind, heart and soul.

 

I, myself, am a percussionist and enjoy drum and tap and anything that is percussive, and many cultures of the world base their music on their sense of drumming or tapping.  I love to watch dance, and I become part of it and want to do it many times, and I have.  I hope you enjoy these videos, and I hope you come back to purchase my books, stay a while and look at the pictures and become a friend.  If I wanted visitors only, I would not go to the trouble to create worlds for you to enjoy with me, my wife, Elizabeth, and the rest of my family.  Come on in and stay a while.  Contact me at gregtheartist@gmail.com and let me know if you enjoy the experience with my following 25 music and dance videos.  I hope these videos provide a means for you to understand me better and what drives me in the world of music and dance.

 

NOTE 1

 

I want to acknowledge Wikipedia for having provided much of the detail information

found in the descriptions of these videos.  I have also used much Wikipedia data

in many of my books and have placed acknowledgments to this effect.

My wife and I contribute each year to Wikipedia's maintenance.

 

NOTE 2

 

Due to the changing face of YouTube recently, some videos are being blocked.

In the event, one of the videos below becomes blocked, please email me

at gregtheauthor@gmail.com, and I will replace it with another one I find wonderful.

 

 

Video 1

This video features Cyril Pahinui, the older man, with Peter Moon, Jr. accompanying on ukulele.  It presents a Hawaiian slack-key song called Hi'ilawe for the waterfall of the same name.  I think this is one of the most beautiful songs ever written and performed.  It is interesting that both men are sons of prior well-known and superb performers, Peter Moon, Sr., and Gabby Pahinui who played together themselves.

 

Charles Philip "Gabby" or "Pops" Pahinui (April 22, 1921 - October 13, 1980) was a slack-key guitarist.  Gabby was born Charles Kapono Kahahawaii Jr. and later hānai-ed into the Pahinui family as Charles Philip Pahinui and raised in the Kaka'ako area of Honolulu in the 1920s.  It was impoverished at the time, very much resembling a shanty-town with small cluttered buildings and tin roofs falling apart.  He spent his childhood supporting his family by selling newspapers and shining shoes.  He dropped out of school after 5th grade at Pokukaina School.  Eventually, he became the "father" of the Hawaiian music resurgence.  Gabby's son, Cyril, is one of six sons.  Gabby and his wife also had four daughters.

 

Peter Moon, Sr. (born August 25, 1944) is a ukulele and (slack-key) guitar player.  Peter Moon was born on the island of Oahu to Wook and Shay-Yung Moon.  From the late 1950s through the 1960s, he gained musical inspiration, insight, and knowledge; playing as a Maile Serenader with Gabby "Pops" Pahinui in the 1960s.  Later, in the 1970s, he also served as Gabby's manager.  Soon after, Moon became a founding member of The Sunday Manoa, along with Palani Vaughn, Alfred "Baby" Kalima, and Cyril Pahinui.  After Vaughan and Cyril left the group, Moon released another album (Hawaiian Time) with Alfred and another of Gabby's sons named Bla.  After this however, Moon remained the only member and recruited the very young Robert and Roland Cazimero.  In 1969, their first album, Guava Jam was released and became seen as the spark of the Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance.  Two more albums were released, but personal conflicts within the group led to their eventual breakup.

Hi'ilawe Falls is 1450' high with a free fall of 1200', the highest on the Hawaiian islands.  Hi'ilawe Falls is the most famous waterfall in Waipio Valley and can be found in the largest valley on the Big Island.

 

Here are the lyrics.

Kamaka ka ikena ia Hi`ilawe
I ka papa lohi mai a`o Maukele

Pakele mai au i ka nui manu
Hauwala`au nei puni Waipi`o

A`ole no wau e loa`a mai
A he uhiwai au no ke kuahiwi

He hiwahiwa au no ka makua
A he lei `a`i na ke kupuna

Na Puna ke `ala i hali`ia mai
Noho i ka wailele a`o Hi`ilawe

Ha`ina `ia mai ana ka puana
Kamaka ka `ikena ia Hi`ilawe

Here is the translation.

 

All eyes are on Hi`ilawe
In the sparkling lowlands of Maukele

I have not been trapped by the gossip
Chattering everywhere in Waipi`o

I am not caught
For I am the mist of the mountains

I am the darling of the parents
And a lei for the necks of grandparents
*Beloved of my parents

The fragrance is wafted from Puna
And lives at Hi`ilawe waterfall

I was at the bosom of Ha`i, the woman
At the beloved bosom of Ha`inakolo

Annoyed at the many birds
They were indifferent to the distress they caused

You are my companion in the day of joy
The many birds there caused a commotion

It is my great skill
The waves of the ocean overwhelm us

The ocean rages fearfully
But my steering is skillful

Hurry, let us go close to the wharf
I am your new love to be kissed

My flower, my lei, my love for you
Is unforgettable like the muilan flower

Tell the refrain
All eyes are on Hi`ilawe
*The fragrance is wafted from Puna

"Hi'ilawe" written by Sam Li`a Kalainaina, Sr.
 

This is a most-unusual piece entitled Tunak Tunak Tun by India-based, Punjabi, pop singer Daler Mehndi.  This was suggested by a young man of 10 who said I would like it.  It did, and I still do.  It is straight-forward fun and entertainment.  Daler Mehndi Daler Mehndi was born August 18, 1967, and is an Indian Bhangra pop singer.

Mehndi was a student of traditional Punjabi music, and his first album broke sales records in India.  Since 1995, he has recorded several highly successful albums in India, and also has sung as a playback singer for several Hindi movies.  His international popularity has grown in recent years allowing him to tour the United States.  Mehndi is also well known as a philanthropist, funding beautification projects in Delhi and aiding earthquake victims.

 

Mehndi' was born and raised in Patna, Bihar to a Punjabi Sikh family.  He began singing at age 6 and was taught the ragas and Shabads from the Guru Granth Sahib by his parents.] At age fourteen, he spent three years refining his voice and learning how to play the tabla, dholak/dhool, harmonium and tanpura from Late Ustad Raahat Ali Khan Saheb of Gorakhpur.

Mehndi eventually switched from classical music to pop, and in 1995 his first album Bolo Ta Ra Ra, with tunes based on those given to him by his mother, sold half a million copies in four months and 20 million copies total, making him the best selling non-soundtrack album in Indian music history.  He received the Award for Voice of Asia International Ethnic and Pop Music Contest in 1994.  He earned Channel V's Best Male Pop Singer Award, which he received in 1996 for Dar Di Rab Rab and in 1997 for Ho Jayegi Bale Bale.  He has appeared in the films Mrityudata and Arjun Pundit. His success helped him negotiate a record-breaking deal with his record company Magnasound for 20.5 million rupees.  He has also been a guest star on the new Indian version of Sesame Street known as Galli Galli Sim Sim. Currently, he is mentor in the Zee TV reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Singing Superstar.

His album song "Tunak Tunak Tun" (1998) is a worldwide Internet phenomenon.  This cult following was spurred by the music video for Mehndi's song "Tunak Tunak Tun", often referred to simply as "Tunak", which gained its popularity due to Daler Mehndi's wild dancing and has led to many homages and parodies.  Mehndi originally conceived of the music video, in which he dances with "clones" of himself, in response to media statements that he was popular only because of the models in his videos. "Tunak Tunak Tun" was the first music video to make use of bluescreen technology in India.  It would later be the inspiration behind the dance employed by the fictional Draenei race in the popular video game World of Warcraft.

Mehndi has also worked with British punk-rock band The Wolfmen, releasing songs such as "Two Eyes" and "Thieves and Liars" that combine his Indian vocal style with the strong guitar work of Marco Pirroni, well known from Adam and the Ants.  Daler specializes in a type of Hindi-Pop that he infuses with Rababi singing, a Sikh musical tradition.  The sound is similar to that of Techno, dance, and house music, with the folk sounds of an Indian tabla being played in the background.  His popularity and the concurrent revival of Bhangra music is thought to be driven by the ease of dancing to it and a national pride in the Indian people.  He has been trained under Girija Devi for a short span.

He has established the Daler Mehndi Green Drive to help make a cleaner environment in Delhi.  He has also donated 85 million rupees to the green drive, 12 million rupees to KARGIL charities, and built 16 houses in Gujarat after an earthquake there.  He also did a concert series in Pakistan to raise funds for the quake victims.  He has also helped rehabilitate victims of the Orissa cyclone and street children in Kenya.

This is one of my favorite performers, and I wanted to put this particular piece in, because of how beautifully and smoothly, the legendary Chet Atkins plays Hawaiian slack key guitar out of interest, respect and talent.  Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.

Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle Travis, Django Reinhardt, George Barnes and Les Paul, brought him admirers within and outside the country scene, both in the United States and internationally.  Atkins produced records for Perry Como, Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Eddy Arnold, Don Gibson, Jim Reeves, Jerry Reed, Skeeter Davis, Connie Smith, Waylon Jennings and others.

Among many honors, Atkins received 14 Grammy Awards as well as the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, nine Country Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year awards, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

 

This is another unique piece, one featuring ice dancing skills and creativity unmatched today.  The dancers are Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean performing to Ravel's Bolero.  My wife and I consider this Olympic event to be one of the most inspiring and innovative occurrences ever.  Torvill and Dean were amazing and set a level of creativity that has not been matched yet.  The sheer controlled grace and ultimate precision is still exciting and inspirational today as it was in 1984.  It was also stunningly romantic.

 

Jayne Torvill

 

Jayne Torvill, born 7 October 1957, is a British ice dancer.  With Christopher Dean, she won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics and a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics.  She became hooked on ice skating at the age of 8 following an after-school trip to the local ice rink.  In 1971 at age of 14, Torvill became the British National Pairs Champion with her then partner Michael Hutchenson.  After parting with Hutchenson, Torvill continued to skate on her own for a while before teaming up with Dean in 1975.  After placing 5th in the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, Dean gave up his job as a policeman, and Torvill gave up job as an insurance clerk to skate together full-time.

Torvill and Dean's free program at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics, performed to the music of Maurice Ravel's Boléro, became world famous.  They received twelve perfect 6.0 marks, one of five occasions they were awarded all perfect scores for artistic impression.  This is one of the most popular achievements in the history of British sport, watched by a British television audience of twenty four million.

Torvill and Dean turned professional after their 1984 Olympic win and under then existing Olympic Committee rules their professional status made them ineligible to compete in the Olympics again. However in 1993 the International Skating Union relaxed the rules for professional skaters, allowing the pair to participate in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer where they won a bronze medal.

Torvill took a seven-year break from skating from 1998-2005. In January 2006, she and Dean began starring in the ITV show Dancing on Ice.  Each year, the show ran from January to March and then went on tour to arenas across the United Kingdom.  In November 2011, Torvill said, "the standard each year has gotten higher and higher, which is exciting for us -- to think what we can achieve with people who have never skated or are relatively unknown to skating."  Torvill was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2000 New Year Honours list.  Torvill and Dean were elected to the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1989.

Torvill currently resides in East Sussex, England, with her husband, Phil Christensen, and their two children, Kieran and Jessica.  She remains close friends with skating partner Christopher Dean.

 

Christopher Dean

 

Christopher Colin Dean, OBE, born 27 July 1958 in Calverton, Nottinghamshire, England), is a famous British ice dancer who won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics with his skating partner Jayne Torvill.  They also won a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics.  Dean grew up in Calverton, Nottinghamshire, and from 1974-80, he was a police constable with Nottinghamshire Police. 

 

Christopher Dean began to skate at the age of 10 after he received a pair of skates as a Christmas present.  His parents were ballroom dancers.  At school he was captain of the football team and he saw ice skating as a sport that was athletic and graceful.  Dean's first ice partner was Sandra Elson.  They began skating together when he was 14 and competed as ice dancers for a few years.  However, despite becoming British Junior Dance champions, the team parted, as Dean and Elson did not get along well. Dean then agreed to try out Jayne Torvill, another skater at the Nottingham rink.  The pair were first coached by Janet Sawbridge, but in 1978, Betty Callaway became their coach.

Dean left school at age 16 and joined the Nottingham Police Force in 1974.  It was challenging for him to undergo police cadet training, as his schedule often clashed with his skating training sessions.  Thus Torvill and Dean had to practice during his off-hours.  These difficult times brought them closer and gave them a sense of discipline that was to prove vital throughout their career.

By 1980, Torvill and Dean had progressed to not only become British National Dance Champions but were in medal contention in international competitions as well.  It was then that Chris realized he could no longer balance his skating and police careers, and he resigned from the police force.  Torvill soon left her job as well.  Dean also served as the chief choreographer for the Torvill and Dean team.  Torvill and Dean were admitted to the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 1989.

 

Between 1991 and 1993 Dean was married to French-Canadian World ice dance champion Isabelle Duchesnay whom he met while choreographing the routines for her and her brother Paul Duchesnay in the late 1980s.  On 15 October 1994, Dean married American skater Jill Trenary in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  They have two sons, Jack Robert and Sam Colin, and resided in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Dean's agent confirmed in March 2010 that the couple had separated.  He and Trenary remain on good terms.  Dean also remained close friends with partner Jayne Torvill, although they did not skate together again until 2006.  In January 2011, it has also been confirmed that Dean is in a relationship with former Dancing On Ice Judge Karen Barber. 
 

This is another unique piece, one featuring the tap dancing arts of Savion Glover.  This performance was held in the White House for President Bill Clinton and First Lady, Hillary Clinton.  It is a remarkable study of tap and coordination.  I have always enjoyed watching and listening to tap dancing, and this is one performance I think is one of the best, a controlled, even-paced presentation.

 

Savion Glover, born November 19, 1973, is an American tap dancer, actor, and choreographer.  As a learning prodigy, he was taught by notable dancers from previous generations.  Glover is currently interested in restoring African roots to tap.  He wants to put tap back into the contemporary black context.  His great grandfather on his mother's side, Dick (King Richard) Lundy, was a short stop for the Negro Leagues.  He managed eleven Negro League baseball teams, including the Newark Eagles. His grandfather, Bill Lewis, was a big band pianist and vocalist.

His grandmother, Anna Lundy Lewis, was the minister of music at Newpoint Baptists Church in Newark. She played for Whitney Houston when she was singing in the gospel choir.  Anna Lundry Lewis was the one who first noticed Savion's musical talent.  She once held him and hummed some rhythms to him, and he smiled and joined along.  Savion claims his style is young and funk.  When asked to describe what funk is, he says it is the bass line.  Funk is anything that gets one's head on beat.  It is riding with the rhythm.  It is a pulse that keeps one rolling with the beat.

Gregory Hines, a tap legend, was once one of Glover's tap teachers.  Hines states that, "Savion is possibly the best tap dancer that ever lived."  Savion likes to start his pieces with some old school moves from famous tappers and then work his way into his own style.  Hines says it’s like paying homage to those he respects, those he looks up to.  When Honi Coles died, Savion performed at his memorial service.  He finished his dance with a famous Coles move, a backflip into a split from standing position, then getting up without using one's hands.  Savion rarely does this move because it wasn't his style, but he did it because it was Coles' style that Savion wanted to keep alive, "I feel like it's one of my responsibilities to keep the dance alive, to keep it out there, to keep the style."

Henry Le Tang calls Glover the Sponge because he learns very quickly with everything that is thrown at him.  Le Tang taught the Hines brothers back in the 1950s and taught Glover for a little while before having him work for "Black and Blue," a tap revue in Paris in 1987.  Glover is the future of tap.  Many legendary tappers taught Glover such as Le Tang, the Hines brothers, Jimmy Slyde, Chuck Green, Lon Chaney, Honi Coles, Sammy Davis, Jr., Buster Brown, Howard Sims, and Arthur Duncan. They all passed on their moves and talents to Savion after he went public with his career with the Broadway performance in, "The Tap Dance Kid" at the age of ten.

 

In the pre-Civil War South, slaves were forbidden to use drums because their owners feared of rebellion. Because drums were unattainable, the rhythm of the beat was relocated to their feet in the form of tap. There was a connection of the tap beat and the subversive liberation.  Many tappers have played the drums in their lifetime.  In addition to Savion, Harold Nicholas, Fred Astaire, Gregory Hines, and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson went from drums to tap. At the age of seven, Savion drummed in a group called Three Plus One.  In the group, he demanded that he danced while he played the drum.  Tap is like a drum solo where one may create many tones from the foot.  The heel may be used as the bass drum, the ball as the snare, and the side of the foot as a rim shot.  A regular tap dancer knows the typical ball and heel movement, but not many know about the side of the arch, the inside of the foot.

Glover has a heavy foot for tap.  He dances hard and loud in every step.  He teaches his mentees that one must learn how to hit.  "Hitting" is a term related to one's ability to express oneself, to complete a tap sequence, to say something.  One can't hit if he or she cannot express themselves.  Savion claims that tap won't go anywhere if tap is kept within the classroom.  One must reach that point where one can hit by incorporating all the classroom moves, but converting it into his or her own style.  Savion likes to see what one has learned in the class, but he only likes to see one's true self behind the new moves, how one feels, how one hears the rhythms, without any restrictions.

There are no dancers of tap finer than the famous Nicholas Brothers, and this video shows why.  It is a concerted effort of two brothers who provide both halves to a whole, a memorable performance back when black and white film was supreme.  The Nicholas Brothers were a famous African American team of dancing brothers, Fayard (1914–2006) and Harold (1921–2000).  With their highly acrobatic technique ("flash dancing"), high level of artistry and daring innovations, they were considered by many the greatest tap dancers of their day.  Growing up surrounded by Vaudeville acts as children, they became stars of the jazz circuit during the heyday of the Harlem Renaissance and went on to have successful careers performing on stage, film, and television well into the 1990s.  Fayard Antonio Nicholas was born October 20, 1914 in Mobile, Alabama.  Harold Lloyd Nicholas was born March 17, 1921 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. 

The Nicholas Brothers grew up in Philadelphia, the sons of musicians who played in their own band at the old Standard Theater, their mother at the piano and father on drums.  At the age of three, Fayard was always seated in the front row while his parents worked, and by the time he was ten, he had seen most of the great African American Vaudeville acts, particularly the dancers, including such notables of the time as Alice Whitman, Willie Bryant and Bill Robinson.  Neither Fayard nor Harold had any formal dance training.
They became the featured act at Harlem's Cotton Club in 1932, when Harold was 11 and Fayard was 18. They were the only entertainers in the African American cast allowed to mingle with white patrons.

In that exhilarating hybrid of tap dance, ballet and acrobatics, sometimes called acrobatic dancing or "flash dancing," no individual or group surpassed the effect that the Nicholas Brothers had on audiences and on other dancers.  By 1940, they were in Hollywood and for several decades alternated between movies, nightclubs, concerts, Broadway, television, and extensive tours of Latin America, Africa, and Europe.

The Nicholas Brothers taught master classes in tap dance as teachers-in-residence at Harvard University and Radcliffe as Ruth Page Visiting Artists.  Among their known students are Debbie Allen, Janet Jackson, and Michael Jackson.  Several of today's master tap dancers have performed with or been taught by the brothers: Dianne Walker, Sam Weber, Lane Alexander, Mark Mendonca, Terry Brock, Colburn Kids Tap/L.A, Channing Cook Holmes, Chris Baker, Artis Brienzo, Chester Whitmore, Tobius Tak, Carol Zee and Steve Zee.

Harold died July 3, 2000 of a heart attack following minor surgery.  Fayard died January 24, 2006 of pneumonia after having a stroke.  One of their signature moves was a "no-hands" splits, where they went into the splits and returned to their feet without using their hands.  Gregory Hines declared that if their biography was ever filmed, their dance numbers would have to be computer generated because no one could duplicate them.  Ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov once called them the most amazing dancers he had ever seen in his life.  I agree.

The world record for the fastest tap is held by the incomparable Michael Flatly of 1995 Riverdance fame.  This is an excerpt from the show, and it contains all the elements for music and dance drama.  It is one of my favorites and features Michael Flatley and Jean Butler.  This is Irish step-dancing at its best.

 

Michael Flatley

 

Michael Ryan Flatley, born 16 July 1958, is an American Irish dancer, choreographer, actor, musician and occasional television presenter.  He became internationally known for Irish dance shows Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames, and Celtic Tiger.  On April 20, 2010 Michael announced he would return to the stage for the European tour of 'The Return of Michael Flatley as Lord of the Dance'.  A movie of the show was released worldwide on Saint Patrick's Day 2011 in 3D.

 

Flatley is a native of the South Side of Chicago, born to Irish parents.  He began dancing lessons at 12 and, in 1975, became the first non-European resident to win the All-Ireland World Championship for Irish dance.  He is a trained amateur pugilist as well as a proficient flautist, having twice won the All-Ireland Competition.  In dance, Flatley was taught by Dennis Dennehy at the Dennehy School of Irish Dance in Chicago, then went on to producing his own show.  After graduating from Brother Rice High School, on Chicago's Southwest Side, he opened a dance school.

He was the first American to win the World Irish Dance Championships and also won numerous All-Ireland Flute Championships.  From 1978–79 he toured with Green Fields of America.  Later he toured with The Chieftains in the 1980s.  He received the National Endowment for the Arts' National Heritage Fellowship  in 1988.In May 1989, Flatley set a Guinness Book world record for tapping speed at 28 taps per second. Flatley was named one of National Geographic Society's Living Treasures in 1991 for mastery of a traditional art form by a living person – the youngest person at that time ever to receive this accolade.

Flatley choreographed the original Riverdance and led the show to great success as the intermission act in the Eurovision Song Contest on April 30, 1994.  He then starred in the full-length show that was developed from the original seven-minute act.  He also took a starring role in the show's U.K. debut.  After leaving the show due to disagreement over creative control after its first run in London, he produced, directed, and choreographed Lord of the Dance which was played mostly in arenas and stadiums instead of theaters.  He also put together a dance production called Feet of Flames in 1998.  He later went on to produce another version of that show of which around 50% of the numbers were different from that of the 1998 show.  Titled Feet of Flames The Victory Tour, he toured Europe in 2000 and the USA in 2001.  He broke his own record for tapping speed in February 1998, by achieving 35 taps per second.

Flatley also received Guinness Book recognition in both 1999 and 2000 for being the highest paid dancer, earning $1,600,000 per week and for having the highest insurance policy placed on a dancer's legs at $40,000,000.  In December 2001, Flatley became the first recipient of the Irish Dancing Commission Fellowship award, an honorary degree in Irish dance, and was simultaneously made a Fellow of the American Irish Dance Teachers’ Association.  Irish America magazine named Flatley Irish American of the Year in March 2003.  In March 2011, Michael Flatley was inducted into Irish America magazine's Irish America Hall of Fame.

In 1986, Flatley wed Polish make-up artist Beata Dziąba, and divorced in 1997.  In April 2006, Flatley spoke about his recent discovery of a facial skin cancer.  He had kept the cancer a closely guarded secret, but said, "I'm completely fine now, thank God."

On November 15, 2006, Flatley was admitted at Harley Street hospital in London after falling ill in his London home as said by his publicist.  According to media reports, a serious viral infection caused the illness. All the fall and winter tours of his latest production, Celtic Tiger, were cancelled. He was discharged after spending two weeks there and claimed that he will release future tour dates but never did.  Niamh Flatley gave birth to son, Michael St. James Flatley, on Thursday April 26, 2007. 
 

Jean Butler

 

Jean Butler, born March 14, 1971, is an Irish American Irish dancer, choreographer, and occasional actress. She is best known for originating the principal female role in the Irish dance company Riverdance.

Jean Butler was born in Mineola, New York.  Her mother, Josephine, is from County Mayo in Ireland.  She has an older brother, Michael, and a younger sister, Cara.  She started off with ballet and tap classes at the age of four.  She eventually quit both.  She began Irish dance lessons at the age of six, which she quit promptly. "I hated it. They made me stand with my arms at my sides for two hours. So, I left. I was too young."  She tried Irish dance again at age nine, this time with a different dance teacher, Donald Golden, who she considers to be one of the most influential people in her life.  About a year into Irish dance, she became very serious with it and quit the soccer and baseball teams.  From a young age, she competed in regional, national and international championships.

Butler attended Hofstra University and earned an Honours Degree in Theatre and Drama from the University of Birmingham.  In England she met Irish dancer Colin Dunne when she was fifteen, and they performed together at Mayo 5000.  Together they produced the Irish dancing show Dancing on Dangerous Ground.  Jean completed a Master's degree in Contemporary Dance Performance from the University of Limerick in 2005.

In 2001 she married Irish designer Cuan Hanley.  Jean and her sister, Cara Butler, each won numerous national titles and regional titles, and placed well in international competitions.  Jean has performed with Green Fields of America and Cherish the Ladies. She debuted with The Chieftains at Carnegie Hall at the age of seventeen, and toured with them on three continents.

In 1994, under the invitation of producer Moya Doherty, she performed in a seven-minute intermission piece at the Eurovision Song Contest entitled Riverdance.  The piece was co-choreographed by Butler with Michael Flatley.  The response was so explosive that it was extended into a full show, starring Jean Butler and Flatley.  The show toured for about a year.  Flatley then abruptly left the show over contractual disputes; six months later she was joined by Colin Dunne.  They then danced at the famous Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York.  This was later put on DVD.  After a long and extremely successful run with the show, Butler also eventually left Riverdance.

She and Dunne (who had by then also left Riverdance) collaborated again to create the show Dancing on Dangerous Ground, which was based on the ancient Irish legend of Diarmuid and Gráinne.  It opened in London in 1999 to critical acclaim, and then in New York.  In 1999 she was also awarded the Irish Post Award for "outstanding contribution to Irish Dance".  From 2003 to 2005, Butler was Artist In Residence at the University of Limerick's Irish World Music Centre.  In 2009 she received the "Outstanding Contribution to Arts & Culture Alumni Award" from the University of Limerick.

She received a commission from the Irish Arts Council to create a solo work in 2004 and premiered Does She Take Sugar? on 12 April 2007 at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin.  With Colin Dunne and George Hook, she is a judge on the Radio Telefís Éireann reality series Celebrity Jigs 'n' Reels.  She retired from active dancing in 2010.

Rhine Area Pipes & Drums

Founded 1977 in Düsseldorf, Germany

(a wonderful bagpipe presentation)

http://www.rapd.de/

Military Tattoo Cologne 2004

The song was written by McCartney and band mate Denny Laine in tribute to the picturesque Kintyre peninsula in Argyll & Bute, Scotland, where McCartney had owned a home and recording studio since the late 1960s.

Lyrics:

Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre
Far have I traveled and much have I seen
Dark distant mountains with valleys of green.
Past painted deserts the sunsets on fire
As he carries me home to the Mull of Kintyre.

Mull of Kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre

Sweep through the heather like deer in the glen
Carry me back to the days I knew then.
Nights when we sang like a heavenly choir
Of the life and the time of the Mull of Kintyre.

Mull of Kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre

Smiles in the sunshine
And tears in the rain
Still take me back to where my memories remain
Flickering embers growing higher and higher
As they carry me back to the Mull of Kintyre

Mull of Kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre

Mull of Kintyre
Oh mist rolling in from the sea,
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre

Forever Young, Joan Baez, Austin City Limits

 

Both of these videos, 23a and 23b, are from one of my all-time favorite female singers, and a woman who had a great influence on my love of music, Joan Baez, who I believe has one of the most beautiful voice ever.   I love watching her perform, but I only chose these two. 

 

Lyrics:

 

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young. 

Diamonds and Rust, 1975, Joan Baez

 

Lyrics:

 

(Words and Music by Joan Baez)

Well I'll be damned
Here comes your ghost again
But that's not unusual
It's just that the moon is full
And you happened to call
And here I sit
Hand on the telephone
Hearing a voice I'd known
A couple of light years ago
Heading straight for a fall

As I remember your eyes
Were bluer than robin's eggs
My poetry was lousy you said
Where are you calling from?
A booth in the midwest
Ten years ago
I bought you some cufflinks
You brought me something
We both know what memories can bring
They bring diamonds and rust

Well you burst on the scene
Already a legend
The unwashed phenomenon
The original vagabond
You strayed into my arms
And there you stayed
Temporarily lost at sea
The Madonna was yours for free
Yes the girl on the half-shell
Would keep you unharmed

Now I see you standing
With brown leaves falling around
And snow in your hair
Now you're smiling out the window
Of that crummy hotel
Over Washington Square
Our breath comes out white clouds
Mingles and hangs in the air
Speaking strictly for me
We both could have died then and there

Now you're telling me
You're not nostalgic
Then give me another word for it
You who are so good with words
And at keeping things vague
Because I need some of that vagueness now
It's all come back too clearly
Yes I loved you dearly
And if you're offering me diamonds and rust
I've already paid

Over 60 samples of my artwork for you to view

OUR HOBBY

Elizabeth and I at home on our private fantasy island

 Elizabeth and I have a hobby, and it is designing and constructing large HO-scale (1/87) dioramas. 

This is the first, the Galax Bay Canal, designed for our private South Pacific island group,

Shoppolis Islands.  What you see are details as of December 31, 2011.

 

 

You might ask why I have included a survey of myself and have called it "Greg's Tavern Room."  There was a room in our house called the Tavern Room, and we put musical instruments and other party things in it.  The room itself was the room you went through when going from a room we called the Folly Room (dining and partying) to the pool.  Ever since them, I have considered any personal statements about myself to be coming from Greg's Tavern Room, so here it is..... my survey of myself for you and anyone else interested in learning more about me, so you can decide whether to buy and read my books.  I hope you enjoy this sojourn into me.  It is long and involved, but personal and informative.

 

In addition:  If I publish the results of a self-contrived survey, I won't have to bear the burden of answering survey questions at a party, assuming I am ever invited to one.  I just have to figure out how to get everyone I hope to know to come to this site first.  Needless to say, I suggested some questions, and others are mine alone.  In general, I have included aspects of life that have had a great influence on my life in one way or another.  I have all had actors, movies and other institutions that I thank for the good things.  I shy away from the bad, but I have included elements of bad example.  I asked myself an array of questions (not in order) and received the following answers (in order).  From this assortment, you can better understand me and probably can assemble a reason why you should read my books.  I hope you enjoy this, and who knows?....we might have much in common.   Then, again, you might buy and read me books, because we are so different and not alike at all.

 

 

THE SURVEY

 

- Science Fiction that changed me:  Aldous Huxley, Writer, particular: Chrome Yellow
- Poet that had the greatest impact on me:  Lawrence Ferlinghetti, A Coney Island of the Mind
- Favorite artist of all times:  Maxfield Parrish, a fellow Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts alumnus
- Model polo players:
- - Cecil Smith
- - Ray Harrington (my family had one of Ray's old horses, Racer)
- - the Barrys
- - Tommy Hitchcock

- - Ben Forney of Lancaster, PA (I played on the same field with him)
- The best times I had with my Dad:  stick-and-ball plus playing polo on his team

- Artist that had the most profound effect on me:  Giotto
- Former situation:  clawing out of the upper middle class
- Current situation:  mired in the lower middle class; clawing my way to the bottom (a line used by my friend Richard Raezer of Raezer's Edge speakers for guitarists )...... RIP Richard (www.raezers-edge.com)
- Future situation:  basking in the upper levels of the lower class (any higher would be undignified)
- Former concern:  the targeting of the American middle class; Let's hear it for the New World Order...... prrrrrt!
- Current concern:  the victimization of the American middle class; Did someone say, "New World Order" or was it "Governance?".  It could be the way to go.... who knows?  Might have to wait and see.
- Most detrimental effect of Corporate America on its citizens:  Loss of independence unless sanctioned by the MBA system
- Biggest insult to corporate employees:  Jeans on Friday (what are we children? Yes.)
- Most enigmatic dichotomy:  ghost writing for the living
- Most compelling annoyance:  the falling short of fellow man
- Favorite pastime:  Sailing a broad reach between 4:30pm and 6:00pm on a Summer evening with friends and family
- Most dramatic illustrator:  N.C. Wyeth
- Most-noted artist friends:
- - Howard Boyle, illustrator supreme, particularly of military systems; Boeing Helicopters in the 1970s
- - Albert Hampson, painter of Mayor Tate's portrait displayed in Philadelphia City Hall; Saturday Evening Post artist 1930s
- Freedom is defined as selling everything and touring America
- One of his most miserable periods:  living in the Junior School at Admiral Farragut Academy in the 1950s
- Great fun place in his area:  Radisson Hotel complex featuring Lily Langtree theater in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
- Most recent social downer:  The Radisson closed Lily Langtree on April 30, 2006; still have gift of two glasses
- Best feeling in life: Security; then one can do anything
- Worst feeling in life: Fear; then one can do nothing
- Number One piece of art in the world:  The Pieta
- Most enchanting association:  face-face sex
- Favorite well-known song in the world:  Sailing by Christopher Cross (my daughter's choice for father dance at her wedding)
- Number 1 oldie song:  Come Softly to Me by the Fleetwoods
- Favorite rock groups of all time:
- - Led Zeppelin
- - Beatles
- - Aerosmith
- - Fleetwood Mac
- - Pink Floyd
- - Gorillaz

- - Bronze Radio Return (recent)
- Favorite short film:  Crazy Frog (Ding Ding) by Kaktus Film
- Second Favorite short film:  Scrat (and his nut)
- Favorite techno/rock song of all times:  Dare by the Gorillaz
- Favorite Blu-Ray concerts:
- - Bruce Springsteen and the Pete Seeger Session Band in Dublin (I have the DVD)

- - - Bruce Springsteen – vocals, guitar, harmonica
- - - Sam Bardfeld – violin, vocals
- - - Art Baron – sousaphone, trombone, mandolin, penny whistle, euphonium
- - - Frank Bruno – acoustic guitar, vocals, field drum
- - - Jeremy Chatzky – Bass guitar, double bass
- - - Larry Eagle – drums, percussion
- - - Clark Gayton – trombone, vocals, percussion
- - - Charles Giordano – accordion, piano, Hammond organ, vocals
- - - Curtis King Jr. – vocals, percussion
- - - Greg Liszt – banjo, vocals
- - - Lisa Lowell – vocals, percussion
- - - Ed Manion – tenor and baritone saxophones, vocals, percussion
- - - Cindy Mizelle – vocals, percussion
- - - Curt Ramm – trumpet, vocals, percussion
- - - Marty Rifkin – steel guitar, dobro, mandolin
- - - Patti Scialfa – acoustic guitar, vocals
- - - Marc Anthony Thompson – acoustic guitar, vocals
- - - Soozie Tyrell – violin, vocals

- - Toto, 25th Anniversary Performance in Amsterdam (I have the DVD)

- - - Bobby Kimball - Vocals
- - - Steve Lukather - Guitar/Vocals
- - - Mike Porcarro - Bass
- - - Simon Philips - Drums
- - - David Paich - Keyboards/Vocals
- - - Tony Spinner - Guitar/Vocals
- - - John Jessel - Keyboards/Vocals
- Friends in music:
- - Caryn Lin of Philadelphia
- - Ray Beran of Washington
- - Terry McGrath and the Greystone Ramblers of West Chester
- Most interesting couple in history:  Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian
- Funniest shows ever on TV:
- - The Carol Burnett Show with Harvey Korman, Tim Conway and Vicki Lawrence
- - Rowan & Martin's Laugh-in
- - Taxi
- - Married with Children
- - Soap
- - F-Troop
- Favorite dance steps:
- - The Pony
- - The Bristol Stomp

- - Pata Pata (introduced by Miriam Makeba in the 1960s) performed now by Coumba Gawlo
- Movies I wish I had today:
- - Disney's Living Desert
- - Disney's The Sea Around Us
- - Disney's Water Birds
- - Tight Little Island
- - The Golden Age of Comedy (featuring Ben Turpin, Keystone Cops, Laurel and Hardy, et al)
- Funniest skit ever:  On Dean Martin's Goldigger Show; Marty Feldman as resident fat man at fat farm
- Funniest movie scenes ever:
- - White Girls (Wayan Brothers), the bathroom scene
- - Down Periscope when Buckman farts
- - The Imposters when the sheik dances with Tucci and Platt
- - Blazing Saddles, the campfire scene
- - "Not now, Kato!" from Pink Panther
- - Laurel and Hardy as sailors driving a car in The Golden Age of Comedy
- - The mission briefing with the girl in the short dress in Catch 22
- - Nathan Lane as the mother in Birdcage
- - The fart scene in Robots with Robin Williams
- Favorite classical music piece:  Ravel's Bolero
- Greatest accomplishment so far:  My daughters
- Favorite alter ego:  Father Time
- Greatest disappointment so far:  Still no peace in the world, only patches in which to pretend peace exists
- Greatest fear to date: the medical profession has sold out to the pharmaceutical industry
- Most diabolic twist in advertising:  advertising prescription medicines to those watching TV
- Most interesting man in history:  Imhotep (not the character played in the Mummy, the real man)
- Most interesting woman in history:  Mary Magdalene
- Favorite philosopher:  Greg Taylor (me)
- Favorite methodologist:  William James
- Greatest distinction:  making distinctions
- Original Greggie:  Did you hear about the masochistic schizophrenic who took both the high road and the low road and beat himself there?
- Most capturing image to me:  a beautiful, naked 21-year old female from any culture in the world
- Most un-capturing image: a beautiful, naked 21-year old female from any culture in the world with no body hair
- Highest rank achieved in USAF:  Buck Sergeant
- Number of times passed over for promotion in the USAF:  twice
- Number of times Greg should have been promoted instead of being passed over:  twice
- First love:  Patricia Stone

- Current love:  my wife, Elizabeth Lesse
- The four most memorable moments in time:
- - telling a roomful of people in Sparks Building at Penn State that President Kennedy had died (I went to the funeral with a girlfriend, Clare Weitzel, shortly thereafter)
- - watching the Towers fall
- - sharing the moment with the unnamed soldier who danced and sang on the hood of a Hummer and gave out candy to the Iraqi children during the Iraq War
- - beating the stigma of diabetes in 139 days
- The one thing that can bring peace to the world:  Celestial music spread across the canvas of time.  That's it.
- Best songs I cry to every time:
- - Trace Adkin's Arlington
- - Sara Brightman's Requiem

- - anything by Hawaiian Bruddah IZ, whose real name is Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
- Favorite country star:  Trace Adkins
- Movie that held my attention the most:  Alien (the first one)
- Best year of my life:  "The one I am in"
- Greatest loss in my life so far:  Loss of my mother, Clementine, on September 22, 2004
- Next greatest loss in my life so far:  Loss of thousands of words in our working American vocabulary since the 1960s
- Worst four movies ever made - in my opinion (worst to least):
- - Anchor Man
- - Cabin Boy
- - Master of Disguise
- - Bottle Rockets
- Next to the worst four movies ever seen: Clash of the Titans
- A major creative concern:  the continuing decay in quality porn movies (no viable plots to enjoy)
- Worst ending for a movie:  The old lady throwing the necklace into the ocean in "Titanic." (egads......)
- Favorite composer:  Ferde Grofé

- Favorite country songs:
- - Get Into Reggae Cowboy (Bellamy Brothers)
- - Texas Girls (Hank Williams, Jr.)
- - Dixie on my Mind (Hank Williams, Jr.)
- - Cotton-Eyed Joe (The Rednex)
- - Arlington (Trace Adkins) Spillman/Turnbull
- Favorite light opera:  The Pirates of Penzance
- Favorites composers of the light opera:  Gilbert and Sullivan
- Greatest fear:  Fear itself
- Person who says the most by saying the least:  Silent Bob (could ruin a great thing by coming out and talking)
- Most enduring quality of man:  Survivability
- Favorite concert:  The Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofé
- The stupidest stride in the world:  models on the catwalk (major strike against real women)
- Top movies of all times (number one is number one on my list; others are randomly listed)
- - No. 1: The Imposters (Stanley Tucci, Oliver Platt, Lillie Taylor, Campbell Scott)
- - No. 2: A League of Their Own
- - No. 3: The Pirates of Penzance (Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt version)
- - No. 4: Soldier in the Rain (Steve McQueen and Jackie Gleason)
- - No. 5: Men in Black 1 (Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones)
- - No. 6: Independence Day (Will Smith)
- - No. 7: Love, Valor, Compassion
- - No. 8: Down Periscope
- - No. 9: Trip to Bountiful
- - No. 10: Gigot (Jackie Gleason)
- - No. 11: Das Boot (Jurgen Proknow)
- - No. 12: Snow White from Disney
- - No. 13: White Girls (the Wayan Brothers)
- - No. 14: King Arthur
- - No. 15: The Birdcage (Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman and Robin Williams)
- - No. 16: Young Frankenstein (Gene Wilder)
- - No. 17: Ice Age (brilliant production)
- - No. 18: I, Robot (Will Smith)
- - No. 19: Robots
- - No. 20: Shrek
- - No. 21: Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang
- - No. 22: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Zero Mostel)
- - No. 23: Ice Age II (brilliant production)
- - No. 24: Cars

- - No. 25: Sherlock Holmes, A Game of Shadows (Robert Downey Jr., Noomi Rapace and Jude Law)

- Top actor of all times:  Charles Laughton
- Top candidate for replacing top actor of all times:  Stanley Tucci
- Favorite animated character:  Sid the Sloth in Ice Age
- The actor who should have been asked to be the Inspector in Pink Panther:  Stanley Tucci
- Most enjoyed roll of all times:  Nathan Lane as the mother in The Birdcage
- Top actress of all times:  Angela Landsbury
- Book that shook me up the most:  Treblinka
- The only movies I ever turned off before they were over:
- - Natural Born Killers (bad roll models)
- - Bad Lieutenant (unnecessary depravity)
- The most troubling scene ever in a movie:  White Squall when the idiot captain watches his wife sink out of sight
- Interesting family facts (father's side):
- - my grandmother and friends used to play with the Czar's children in Russia
- - my grandfather used to play guitar with Andres Segovia
- - my family was made up of Cossacks from Irkutsk, Siberia

- - I believe my Russian grandmother was a real, true Gypsy
- - famous actress and writer of The Wolf Man, Maria Ouspenskya, taught my father how to play chess
- - my grandfather was one of seven engineering students under the tutelage of Professor Nicholas Sawin sent to USA in around 1914 as munitions inspectors; others included Baron George Wrangle (the famous Hathaway man with the patch), one of the Smirnoffs, and an unnamed executive from Max Factor; the 7 got Sawin out of Russia in late 50s with wife Natalia and poodle Maki
- Hollywood's biggest bloopering:  lost hubcaps in car chases
- Interesting family facts (mother's side):
- - related to Jonathan Swift
- - had a bishop who condemned Mary Queen of Scots
- - have a castle in Ireland (two walls still standing)
- - related to General O'Meara buried in Christ's Church in Philadelphia
- - descended from the Druidry through the Cullinan family (O'Cullinaine)
- - inherited a bit of fey
- Favorite contemporary classical guitarist:  Christopher Parkening

- Favorite Hawaiian slack-key guitarists

- - Ledward Kaapana

- - Cyril Pahinui

- - Dennis Kamakahi
- Biggest concern:  Would time stop if the ball falling in Times Square on New Years got stuck halfway down?
- Finest violinists:
- - Itzak Perelman (related to wife)
- - Isaac Stern (not related to wife)
- - Jack Benny (no way)
- Most memorable philosophical statement: (paraphrasing George Burns on turning 100) The first step to become 100 is becoming 99.
- Best ice dancers ever: Torvill and Dean (Jayne Torvill & Christopher Dean)
- Favorite drummers:
- - Joe Morello (Dave Brubeck Quartet)
- - Gene Krupa (Benny Goodman Orchestra and his own later)
- Favorite albums of all times (not in order of preference):
- - Raggea album by Herbie Mann
- - Graceland by Paul Simon
- - Tubthumper by Chumbawamba (Greg would make a Broadway Musical out of this if I had the money)
- - Tea for the Tillerman by Cat Stevens
- - Memory Years by Ray Beran
- - The Dance, Fleetwood Mac
- - The Call, Caryn Lin
- - African Tapestries, Hennie Bekker
- - Celtic Moods, Virgin Records
- - Hank Williams, Jr.'s Greatest Hits, Hank Williams, Jr.
- - Gene Krupa & His Orchestra - Drum Boogie, Gene Krupa
- - A Little Bit of Mambo, Lou Bega
- Person in this day and age he would like to sit down and talk with right now:  President George W. Bush
- Best blue-eyed soul singers:
- - George Michael
- - Van Morrison
- Retire? Never
- Sports:  Competitive swimmer in high school (asked to go to 64 Olympics as breaststroker.... didn't accept; kept stroking breasts informally as a side interest); polo player; sailor; track and field (discus)
- Least favorite social happenings:  A woman whining, a guest complaining, drunken behavior, no dancing, asking questions without giving a poop what the answer is....
- Favorite American car:  57 Chevrolet convertible (turquoise and white) with a Continental kit, lake pipes and skirts
- Favorite International car:  55 Mercedes Benz 300SL convertible
- Favorite yacht:  a fully found John Trumpy
- Most interesting current yacht:  Etap's unsinkable cruiser
- Most enchanting place to be:  On the fantail of a turn-of-the-century Geary yacht at anchor in a beautiful harbor
- Favorite clear drink:  Jack Daniel's (black label) and Seagram's ginger ale (with four cubes of ice) in a large glass
- Favorite wine:  Porto from Cockburns in Portugal

- Favorite exotic drinks:
- - Pink Squirrel or Grasshopper in larger-than-normal glasses (over too quickly otherwise)
anisette, straight up; ice on the side (watching it fog when the ice is added)
- Most wonderful black female voices in song:
- - Kathleen Battle
- - Aretha Franklin
- - Roberta Flack
- Most wonderful white female voices in song:
- - Anne Murray
- - Celine Dion
- - Joan Baez
- - Dolly Parton
- - Sara Brightman

- - Sophia Jannok
- Most wonderful black male voices in song:
- - Lou Rawls
- - Johnny Mathis
- - Paul Robeson
- - Al Hibbler
- Favorite singer of all times:  Sara Brightman

- Most capturing song combo:  Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice
- Most enchanting song ever sung:  Unchained Melody by Al Hibbler
- Most amusing word in the English language:  Fart
- Most meaningful word in the English language:  Friend
- The most enchanting and capturing sound in the world:  The belly laugh of a one-year-old child
- The most beautiful face in the world:  A woman's after a satisfying sexual interlude
- Happiest moments:  The one just before and the one after
- Best line in an advertisement:  "I don't throw a party; I cast one." (Orson Welles in wine ad)
- Most entertaining musician:  Victor Borge on the piano
- The perfect face:  Alistair Sims in A Christmas Carol
- Favorite Dancers:

- - Michael Flatly in Riverdance

- - Savion Glover, tapdance
- Favorite Musics:
- - Dixieland Jazz
- - Bluegrass
- - Techno

- - Hawaiian slack-key guitar

- - Sami joiks and related music
- Best jazz piece ever done:  Desmond's Take 5, Dave Brubeck Quartet
- Favorite Tap Dancers:
- - The Nicholas Brothers
- - Gregory Hines
- - Michael Flatley

- - Savion Glover
- Most wonderful white male voices in song:
- - Michael Crawford
- - Luciano Pavarotti
- - Frank Sinatra
- - Michael Ball
- - Trace Adkins

- - Ledward Kaapana

- - Cyril Pahinui

- - Nathan Aweau

- - Bruddah IZ, whose real name is Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
- Most underrated movie: The Professional, Leon & Mathilda; Jean Reno and Natalie Portman (among other greats); fascinating relationship under the most unusual circumstances; quite surreal
- Favorite Broadway Musical:  Big River (Roger Miller)
- Hardest things to get:  Friends and Money
- Easiest things to get:  Air and Water (not necessarily clean)
- Reason for women:  Filling one half of the guest list
- Reason for men:  Filling the other half of the guest list
- Most inviting dinner: Lobster tails with butter after a shrimp cocktail, chilled white zinfandel and an anisette a bit later
- Favorite bar and restaurant:  Casey's Grill and Seafood in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania; Hi, Peter
- Favorite diner:  West Chester Diner, Route 3, West Chester, Pennsylvania; Hi Alex; Hi Steve
- Most moving songs:
- - Memories (Betty Buckley)
- - Our Love Will Go On (Celine Dion)
- - I'll Catch a Yesterday (Ray Beran)
- - Requiem (Sara Brightman)
- - Arlington (Trace Adkins)
- Person I would like to know:  Benjamin Franklin
- My hero?  The Druid who decided to invent a pantheon for the oncoming Celts instead of dying at their hands.  Long live Brigitte and oak.
- Best people show:  Inside the Actors Studio hosted by the incomparable James Lipton
- Best people show 2:  Ellen Degeneres Show
- Best hope for America (at the present time)... you (are you up to the task?)
- Most delightful and amusing song:  the Bricklayer's Lament by Pat Cooksey
- About Presidents:
- - President who would make the best next-door neighbor:  Jimmy Carter
- - President who would make the worst next-door neighbor:  Teddy Roosevelt
- - President who would be the most interesting to talk to:  Richard Nixon
- - President who would be the best party pal:  Bill Clinton
- - President who would be most likely to lend me money:  Thomas Jefferson
- - President most likely to tell me the truth about things:  Harry Truman (whether I liked it or not)
- - President most likely to nominate me for President:  not born yet (but there's hope)
- Some interesting people I would like to have drop by the apartment as friends to have a drink or two just because I would like to be in their company, no reason other than some interesting chit chat and relaxation:
- - Ellen DeGeneres
- - James Lipton (of Actor's Studio)
- - Will Smith
- - The entire cast of the Imposters (this is the only cast where I liked everyone)
- - Any 10 Playboy bunnies under 25 (who am I kidding?)
- - Mike Meyers
- - Sean Connery
- - Bill Clinton
- - Margaret Thatcher
- - Bill Cosby
- - Barbara Bush
- - Celine Dion
- - James Earl Jones
- - John Madden
- - The Wayan Brothers
- - Nathan Lane
- - Kevin Kline
- - Kevin Klash (Elmo)
- - Steve Martin
- - Neil Cavuto
- - Andrew Lloyd Webber
- - Trace Adkins
- - Barack Obama

- - Ledward Kaapana (Hawaii)

- - Cyril Pahinui (Hawaii)

- - Bruddah IZ, whose real name is Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (Hawaii)

- - Sophia Jannok (Sami)
 

 

As opposed to other authors, I enjoy direct contact

and do not funnel communications through my publisher unnecessarily.

Please contact me directly, if you wish, through gregtheauthor@gmail.com.

In the event you prefer to contact my publisher directly, use duopubs@aol.com

This is my wife, friend, partner, Elizabeth. 

She and I work in this compact office together.  She sits on this site, and I sit on the other,

and side-by-side we progress through life, toward visions and create shared experiences.

I hope you have an enduring relationship with your spouse.  This one is going on 36 years.

 

Living with Elizabeth is like making all sorts of music.

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© 2011, Gregory St. John Taylor, All Rights Reserved

Still walking......