SceneAroundTown.... Coming Soon.... Wine, Food, Art, Fashion at 60s Soiree at Los Angeles Theatre Center August 12.... HH(:

LATC will again be a host for a Los Angeles Wine Tasting gourmet rendezvous on Friday, August 12.  The themed evening is called "A 60s Soiree" and will take place from 7-9 pm in the LATC Grand Lobby, 514 S. Spring Street.   This hot ticket will include an exclusive exhibition of photographs from January 1961 by photographer Bert Stern from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Inaugural Gala featuring JFK and the celebrities summoned by gala impressario Frank Sinatra, among them Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Gene Kelly, Tony Curtis, Bette Davis, Peter Lawford, Jimmy Durante and more (available for sale and autograph by Mr. Stern that evening!); A 60s vintage fashion show produced by Dave Temple with Clever Vintage Clothing,  providers for the Mad Men serides; U.S. wines handpicked from boutique wineries by Buzz Wine Beer Shop; Italian wines imported by D'Aquino; Light appetizers and artisan cheeses from Nicole's Gourmet Food; Grand Cru chocolate truffles by Yvan Valentin; A signature wine tasting glass (yours to keep); Advice from wine and gourmet food experts; Live jazz performance and... a ticket worth $35 to a play from the new fall season from LATC!  60s atttire is encouraged but not mandatory and admission is only $64.  For advance tickets (recommended), go to http://www.losangeleswinetasting.com/.  Sounds like a fantastic way to enjoy your Friday nite.... Hope to see you there....   HH(:

"Rome, Italian Style" Track of the Day: Frank Sinatra and Count Basie, "More [Theme from Mondo Cane]"

Song: "More [Theme from Mondo Cane]" by Frank Sinatra and Count Basie
Released: 1964
Why's it part of the "Rome, Italian Style" playlist?: It's my favorite version of "Ti guarderò nel cuore," a theme Riz Ortolani wrote for the score to the 1962 Italian movie Mondo Cane (the movie's title is Italian for "Dog World," so I guess that means "Doggy Dogg World" would be "Mondo Caney Cane"). Mondo Cane is an example of what was known as the "exploitation documentary" genre, which had documentarians capturing shocking and appalling behavior that later turned out to have been staged for the camera. Today, we call that Jersey Shore.

The most famous thing to come out of Mondo Cane is "Ti guarderò nel cuore." Lyrics were added to the instrumental, the tune was retitled "More" and the rest is history.

Plus, this cover of "More" has Sinatra together with Basie, with Quincy Jones as conductor and arranger. That's like the '60s big-band equivalent of Phil Jackson coaching Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. (So who'd be Dennis Rodman? Basie's drummer Sonny Payne?)

Think of some more similar powerhouse trios while you listen to the Sinatra/Basie/Jones "More" over at my SwiftFM site.

Tomorrow's "Rome, Italian Style" Track of the Day is another film music cover by Basie.

"Rock Box" Track of the Day: Neil Richardson, "The Riviera Affair"

Song: "The Riviera Affair" by Neil Richardson
Released: 1970
Why's it part of the "Rock Box" playlist?: When I first saw Ocean's Thirteen, I dug the old-sounding Warner Bros./Village Roadshow logo music.



I wasn't aware that the logo graphics and music were a reference to '70s and '80s TV, in keeping with the film's nostalgia for things like '60s and '70s caper flicks and the camaraderie of the Rat Packers who starred in the original version of Ocean's Eleven (as heard in "You shook Sinatra's hand," the film's frequently repeated line to Al Pacino's villainous character about how much of a backstabbing asshole he's become). I didn't grow up in New York, so I learned on YouTube that the swanky Ocean's Thirteen logo music--"The Riviera Affair," a library music cue written by British composer Neil Richardson, who died in October at the age of 80--was the same instrumental that used to open and close the "4 O'Clock Movie" broadcasts on New York's WOR.



Steven Soderbergh's shout-out to the WOR movie broadcast graphics is the director's way of saying, "Ocean's Thirteen is just like those old, breezy caper flicks that used to turn up at 4:00 on WOR."

Richardson's instrumental was left off the Ocean's Thirteen soundtrack album, but it's part of 1996's Sound Gallery '60s and '70s library music instrumental compilation. An Amazon.com user review of The Sound Gallery sums up "The Riviera Affair" well. "Picture David Janssen and Diana Rigg cruising in a turquoise convertible along the open highway with the wind in their hair and the glorious possibilities of the future before them," says the reviewer. "This will give you just a small idea of how glorious and transcendent this tune is!!"

True, although when I hear "The Riviera Affair" and picture nearly the same thing--a relaxed playa cruising in a turquoise convertible along the open highway with his woman by his side--the twitchy star of the original Fugitive TV series doesn't exactly come to mind.

In 2009, another one of Richardson's loungy library music instrumentals was used to great effect when director Michel Hazanavicius gave ample screen time to Richardson's "Rio Magic" in the French spy spoof sequel OSS 117: Lost In Rio.

All the other "Rock Box" Tracks of the Day from this week:
Iggy and the Stooges, "Search and Destroy"
Raekwon feat. Inspectah Deck, Ghostface Killah and GZA, "Guillotine (Swordz)"
Dinah Washington, "This Bitter Earth"
Earth, Wind & Fire, "Reasons"