Bing Crosby
Wed Jul 04 2001 at 18:59:41
Americancrooner and actor (1904-1977). Probably one of the most popular celebrities prior to the 1950s, in radio, TV,
andmovies. Born Harry Lillis Crosby in Tacoma, Washington, he was nicknamed Bing or Bingo after one of his favorite comic strips. He put together a vocaltrio called the Rhythm Boys with some friends at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Bing had a beautiful, mellowbaritone voice that both men and women enjoyed listening to and that sounded really good both in person and on the radio. When the Rhythm Boys got fairly popular and appeared in the film The King of Jazz in 1930, Crosby left the group.
The Montpelier Bridge
Tom Azarian, foreground, pictured in an unnamed newspaper clipping dated 1963–64. Courtesy image.
There is so much more to tell what music and life was like from the 1930s through 1940s before TV and all. I left out many French Canadian fiddlers small town square dances, etc. As poor as everyone was during the Depression, we had one bright spot. That was radio. It seems every family had a radio. We didn’t have cars or phones, we had little food, but radio helped the country through the hardest times.
There have been so many musicians in Vermont it’s hard to list them all. Old time fiddlers, retired farmers, country people of that radio generation now are gone. Thankfully young people are keeping traditional music from going extinct.
If ever someone was deserving of the nickname “Crazy Legs”, it just might be Gordie MacKeeman. His thrilling dance style mixed with great bluegrass vocals, Peter Cann’s blistering guitar solos, and the lively multi-instrumental talents of Thomas Webb and Mark Geddes, and Gordie MacKeeman and his Rhythm Boys are a complete entertainment package. Catch them at the Talking Heads in Portswood on Wednesday.
THE Cellar’s SOUL 45 is now two years old and to celebrate the super cool Soul Circle Gang from Leeds have been invited to join the party, delivering their own mix of Funk, Soul, Reggae, Afro-beat and World Rhythms as organisers light the candles; dish out the cake and get dancing shoes on for a big birthday bash.