Buggered Mind of Neale Sourna, The

Opines, comments, rants, concerns, imaginings from Neale Sourna, fiction author and more -- www.Neale-Sourna.com, www.PIE-Percept.com, www.ProjectKeanu.com, www.AuthorsDen.com/nealesourna, www.CafeShops.com/NealeSourna, www.Writing-Naked.com, and www.CuntSinger.com

Monday, September 27, 2004

Rooting for Russo -- Emmy/"LAX"

A huge congratulations to Clevelanders Joe and Anthony Russo on their Directorial Emmy win and hot new show "LAX". Extra fun in LAX's word drops of Cleveland and Basil.

Friday, September 17, 2004

Publisher's ebook Sale: HOBBLE for only $0.92 US

PUBLISHER'S ebook Sale


SUPER DEEP DISCOUNTED PRICE of

90.75% Off!!

LIMITED TIME SPECIAL of

ONLY US $ 0.92!!,

That's nearly Free! So, show some enthusiasm, people. Lusty enthusiasm could make this ebook price permanent.



Why? Because I can and because 9-2 is the ever inspirational Mr. Keanu Reeves' birthday. I'm a happy fan, so I'm sharing the energy. Enjoy!



NO REFUNDS on ebooks, per industry standard. Legal adults only may purchase. Price expires whenever I want it to, so tell/email your friends ASAP, this won't be advertised. 09-07-04

Thursday, September 16, 2004

The Summer the Music Died, and All Was Silent

What can I say about those who've inspired, guided, and taught me ... without ever knowing me.

Chicago Sun-Times: Academy Award-winner Jerry Goldsmith dead at 75

Academy Award-winner Jerry Goldsmith dead at 75

July 22, 2004

BY ROBERT JABLON ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES-- Academy Award-winning composer Jerry Goldsmith, who created the memorable music for scores of classic movies and television shows ranging from the "Star Trek" and "Planet of the Apes" series to "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and "Dr. Kildare," has died. He was 75.

Goldsmith died in his sleep Wednesday night at his Beverly Hills home after a long battle with cancer, said Lois Carruth, his personal assistant.

A classically trained composer and conductor who began musical studies at age 6, Goldsmith's award-dappled Hollywood career-- he was nominated for 17 Academy Awards, won one, and also took home five Emmys-- spanned nearly half a century.

He crafted an astonishing number of TV and movie scores that have become classics in their own right. From the clarions of "Patton" to the syrupy theme for TV's "The Waltons," Goldsmith sometimes seemed virtually synonymous with soundtracks.

He took on action hits such as "Total Recall," which he considered one of his best scores, as well as the "Star Trek" movies and more lightweight fare, like his most recent movie theme, for last year's "Looney Tunes: Back in Action." His hundreds of works included scores for "The Blue Max," "L.A. Confidential," "Basic Instinct" and "Chinatown."

Goldsmith's output also spilled into television, with the themes for shows including "Dr. Kildare," "Barnaby Jones" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation." He also wrote a fanfare that is used in Academy Awards telecasts.

He won his Oscar for best original score in 1976 for "The Omen." He also earned five Emmy Awards and was nominated for nine Golden Globe awards, though he never won one.

"He could write anything. He did Westerns, comedies," Carruth said. "He preferred writing for more character-driven, quiet films but somehow they kept coming back to him for the action films."

Born Feb. 10, 1929 in Los Angeles, Goldsmith studied with famed pianist Jacob Gimpel and pianist, composer and film musician Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. He fell in love with movie composing when he saw the 1945 Ingrid Bergman movie "Spellbound," Carruth said, and while attending the University of California took classes with Miklos Rozsa, who wrote the Oscar-winning score for that film.

In 1950, he got a job as a clerk typist at CBS and eventually got assignments for live radio shows, writing as much as one score a week. He later turned to television.

In the late 1950s he began composing for movies. His career took off in the 1960s with such major films as "Lonely Are the Brave" and "The Blue Max." He earned his first Academy Award nomination for his work on 1962's "Freud."

Goldsmith was know for his versatility and his experimentation. He added electronics to the woodwinds and brasses of his scores. For 1968's "Planet of the Apes," he got a blaring effect by having his musicians blow horns without mouthpieces. With a puckish sense of humor, he reportedly wore an ape mask while conducting the score.

"He experimented a lot and that's what made him so popular with his fans," Carruth said. "When he wrote, he got inside of the characters and he wrote what he felt they were thinking and feeling."

Some of his motion picture scores were adapted for ballets. Goldsmith also wrote composed orchestral pieces and taught occasional music classes at local universities.

He is survived by his wife, Carol; children Aaron, Joel, Carrie, Ellen Edson and Jennifer Grossman, six grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

MSNBC: composer Jerry Goldsmith dead at 75

'Star Trek' composer Jerry Goldsmith dead at 75
Academy Award winner's career spanned nearly half a century
The Associated Press
Updated: 5:27 p.m. ET July 22, 2004

LOS ANGELES - Academy Award-winning composer Jerry Goldsmith, who created the memorable music for scores of classic movies and television shows ranging from the “Star Trek” and “Planet of the Apes” series to “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and “Dr. Kildare,” has died. He was 75.

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Goldsmith died in his sleep Wednesday night at his Beverly Hills home after a long battle with cancer, said Lois Carruth, his personal assistant.

A classically trained composer and conductor who began musical studies at age 6, Goldsmith’s award-dappled Hollywood career — he was nominated for 18 Academy Awards, won one, and also took home five Emmys — spanned nearly half a century.

He crafted an astonishing number of TV and movie scores that have become classics in their own right. From the clarions of “Patton” to the syrupy theme for TV’s “The Waltons,” Goldsmith sometimes seemed virtually synonymous with soundtracks.

He took on action hits such as “Total Recall,” which he considered one of his best scores, as well as the “Star Trek” movies and more lightweight fare, like his most recent movie theme, for last year’s “Looney Tunes: Back in Action.” His hundreds of works included scores for “The Blue Max,” “L.A. Confidential,” “Basic Instinct” and “Chinatown.”

Goldsmith’s output also spilled into television, with the themes for shows including “Dr. Kildare,” “Barnaby Jones” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” He also wrote a fanfare that is used in Academy Awards telecasts.

He won his Oscar for best original score in 1976 for “The Omen.” He also earned five Emmy Awards and was nominated for nine Golden Globe awards, though he never won one.

“He could write anything. He did Westerns, comedies,” Carruth said. “He preferred writing for more character-driven, quiet films but somehow they kept coming back to him for the action films.”

Born Feb. 10, 1929 in Los Angeles, Goldsmith studied with famed pianist Jacob Gimpel and pianist, composer and film musician Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. He fell in love with movie composing when he saw the 1945 Ingrid Bergman movie “Spellbound,” Carruth said, and while attending the University of California took classes with Miklos Rozsa, who wrote the Oscar-winning score for that film.

In 1950, he got a job as a clerk typist at CBS and eventually got assignments for live radio shows, writing as much as one score a week. He later turned to television.

In the late 1950s he began composing for movies. His career took off in the 1960s with such major films as “Lonely Are the Brave” and “The Blue Max.” He earned his first Academy Award nomination for his work on 1962’s “Freud.”

Goldsmith was know for his versatility and his experimentation. He added electronics to the woodwinds and brasses of his scores. For 1968’s “Planet of the Apes,” he got a blaring effect by having his musicians blow horns without mouthpieces. With a puckish sense of humor, he reportedly wore an ape mask while conducting the score.

“He experimented a lot and that’s what made him so popular with his fans,” Carruth said. “When he wrote, he got inside of the characters and he wrote what he felt they were thinking and feeling.”

Some of his motion picture scores were adapted for ballets. Goldsmith also wrote composed orchestral pieces and taught occasional music classes at local universities.

He is survived by his wife, Carol; children Aaron, Joel, Carrie, Ellen Edson and Jennifer Grossman, six grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
© 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Summer the Music Died, and All Was Silent

Many, too many, legends of music, especially, ones who have framed the very way I think and feel and understand life have ... are dying this summer. And people such as those on Entertainment Tonight, TV Guide, and other venues have let them pass unsung. For shame. Just spit on your grandparents when they die, why don't you. Ignore those whose steps came before and made this horrid place more beautiful for all of us.

Bill Randle taught me the range and focus of the can-do spirit, of the selflessness of true genius. Jerry Goldsmith and Elmer Bernstein made me see that music was more than something to dance to and hum, but something that could enhance a movie, a TV story, or just stand on its own as a universal classic, whether it was the themes from "Magnificent Seven," "To Kill A Mockingbird," "Walk on the Wild Side," "The Ten Commandments," "The Great Escape," "National Lampoon's Animal House," "Star Trek," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," "The Omen," "Chinatown," and the classic "Olympics Theme." And so much more....

Cleveland Plain Dealer: DJ legend Bill Randle dead at 81

BILL RANDLE 1923-2004
DJ legend Bill Randle dead at 81
Saturday, July 10, 2004
Clint O'Connor
Plain Dealer Reporter

Bill Randle, one of the most influential, star-making disc jockeys of the 1950s and 1960s and a Cleveland radio voice since 1949, died Friday. He was 81.

Randle had cancer and died at the Hospice of the Western Reserve in Cleveland.

He is survived by his daughter, Pat, and his sister, Ruth Edwards, both of Michigan. His wife of 51 years, Annalee, died in 2000. Service arrangements are pending.

Randle was exceedingly bright and had an excellent ear for spotting No. 1 hits and artists on the rise. Although he is best known for his ra dio and music-indus try work, he also en joyed long careers as a teacher - he had a doctorate and three master's degrees - and attorney. His Lakewood practice specialized in bank ruptcy cases.

He was pivotal in bringing Elvis Presley to the ears of America and helped launch and expand the careers of dozens of other stars, including Tony Bennett, Bobby Darin, Rosemary Clooney, Johnnie Ray and Fats Domino.

"He helped shape popular music in America," said Bob Conrad, president of WCLV and WRMR, where Randle was the host of "The Big Show" on Sunday afternoons. "He knew more people in the entertainment business than anyone I've ever known."

At the height of his popularity on WERE in the mid-1950s, Randle commanded a 54 percent share of the listening audience. Top jocks of today, such as Howard Stern, are No. 1 with a 12 percent share.

Randle kept his sharp mind and sharp tongue to the end.

"Life's a bitch, and then you die," he said last summer before an operation.

"What can I say? If I go tomorrow, it won't bother me. It doesn't matter. If I die Monday, I'll be cremated Tuesday, and that's it. I'm gone. There will be no services, no 'Bill Randle Memorial Show.' "

And yet. There he was, fighting.

Lying in a bed at Lakewood Hospital a few days before his surgery, cable TV news on silently in the background, Randle talked about death and the shortcomings of obituaries.

"I don't care what you write about me," he said. "Who cares? Sixty percent of it is going to be wrong anyway. Newspapermen aren't historians. The New York Times has my obit already. They've updated it over the years. If people call my daughter to ask about me, the only sound they'll hear is 'click.' "

And yet.

Pat Randle was more than happy to talk about her father yesterday. "He was around for me in really, really good ways as a parent," she said. "I admired him. Because he worked nights and weekends, I got to see him a lot during the day."

There were advantages to having an adventurous dad.

"When I was in kindergarten, I got sick and missed all the Christmas celebrations and seeing the Christmas lights downtown," she said. "When I got better, he rented a helicopter to take me over the city so I could see all the Christmas lights."

Even stuck in the hospital, Randle was a gentleman armed with a cynic's quick blade to instantly slice through any pretension being spewed by a questioner. To some, he was a cranky curmudgeon. To others, he was big-hearted and loyal.

"He was the most understated, humble, down to earth, brightest human being I've ever known," said Mary Ann Hanson, a friend, whose in-home assisted-living company, Hanson Services, cared for Annalee and advertised on radio with Randle as spokesman.

Like many larger-than-life characters, Randle is a great tossed salad of contradictions and layers. He would say he hated talking about the past - "what's the point?" - then proceed to dissect some historic event. He said he especially detested talking about himself and his prior accomplishments, then would do just that.

"Everything I did, I did well," he said in his hospital room. "I was good in radio. I made a lot of money. I made a lot of money for other people. I was a good academician. I'm a good lawyer."

Detroit upbringing

William McKinley Randle Jr. was born in Detroit on March 14, 1923. His father worked for Dodge Motors, but when jobs dried up during the Depression, the family sold eggs and bagels door to door.

"Billy was an entrepreneur from the day he was born," said his sister Ruth Edwards. "He opened his own record store when he was 14. He loved jazz. He ran jazz clubs like the Club Sudan. He brought Stan Kenton and Dizzy Gillespie home for big family dinners. He could accomplish more in a day than anyone I know."

Randle's deep voice brought him early radio work with small parts on such Detroit-based shows as "The Green Hornet" and "Hermit's Cave." Spinning records and promoting Jazz shows in Detroit led to other freelance gigs in Chicago, Cleveland and Akron. He met Annalee Africa at a Sarah Vaughan show he was promoting in Detroit. They were married in 1948.

"He kept getting fired in Detroit for playing jazz," said Pat Randle, who, along with her longtime boyfriend Jim Eng spent the last several months here caring for her dad. "Then he came to Cleveland, played rock 'n' roll and everything changed."

He landed here full time at the end of 1949 on WERE AM/1300, making $100 a week.

By 1955, Randle was making more than $100,000 a year through his salary, promotions and endorsements and owned a piece of WERE.

Time magazine hailed him as the top DJ in America. "Randle has predicted every tune but one that appeared among the first five best-sellers in 1954," reported Time. "For years, he has also discovered and masterminded tunes and stars."

Randle plucked Johnnie Ray from obscurity and set him off on a string of top-selling hits ("Cry" was No. 1 for 11 weeks in 1951). He renamed the Canadaires the Crew-Cuts, hooked them up with Mercury Records, had them cover the song "Sh-Boom," and it shot to No. 1. He told the Diamonds to record "Why Do Fools Fall in Love," and that became a hit.

WERE was one of the hottest music stations in the country, featuring star DJs Phil McLean and Tommy Edwards, and crack engineer Jim Church. Randle's slot was 2 to 7 p.m. weekdays, plus weekend shows. "Randle became a colossal radio star," said DJ Carl Reese, a colleague in the '50s at WERE and 2000s at WRMR. "The big buzz in New York was, 'Is Randle on our record?' "

Randle even fashioned hits for groups not seeking airplay. His edited version of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" became a smash in 1959, and the album "The Lord's Prayer" hit No. 1 and stayed on the charts for 80 weeks. Other performers who benefited from his heavy promotion and career advice included Bill Haley and the Comets, Margaret Whiting, Sarah Vaughan, Mitch Miller, the Four Lads, Patti Page and Pat Boone.

Randle was a full-service DJ. He did his own research and promotion and booked his own shows. While other DJs were shouting and screaming, Randle provided information. He knew where a song was recorded, when, who produced it, who played on it, who wrote it and volumes of other music minutiae.

"He was based in Cleveland, but he had huge national impact on the whole radio industry," said Norman Wain, longtime Cleveland radio executive and once a competing DJ of Randle's on WJW. "He had an amazing ear for picking out the stars of tomorrow."

Hip choice

In the fall of 1955, Wain attended a concert Randle was promoting. "There was this kid I had never heard of, singing and shaking his hips," said Wain. "When it was over, Randle turns to me and says, 'This guy is going to be the biggest star in America.' I said, 'Yeah, right.' "

The kid was Elvis Presley.

It was only Presley's second foray to the North. Randle was playing up his records in Cleveland and had him on the bill that day with headliner Pat Boone and Bill Haley and the Comets.

The two concerts, at Brooklyn High School and St. Michael's Hall, have become part of rock lore, because they were filmed for a Universal short on "The Pied Piper of Cleveland," namely Randle. The DJ wisely had the film crew, against their objections, shoot the kid from Mississippi. It is the only footage of the early Elvis. Randle reportedly sold the film rights in 1992 for $1 million (an amount he later called "a lot of baloney.")

Randle has said that he turned down an offer to manage the singer. But in January 1956, he did introduce Presley on his first national TV appearance on CBS' "Stage Show." By then, Randle was doing double duty, also serving as host of a popular Saturday afternoon show on WCBS in New York, where he also heavily featured Presley's music.

"The man had an incredible amount of energy for work," said Wain. "He'd get up at 6 a.m., read all the trades, all the papers, then get to the station about 5 minutes before he went on. But he already had the entire five-hour show all laid out.

"At night, he'd go out to the schools for shows and talk to all the kids and see what they were listening to and finally get home at 10. Friday night, he'd fly to New York, do his WCBS show on Saturday, and for a while he was flying back to Cleveland to do a blues-rhythm-urban show at 10 p.m. on WERE. Then he'd have his Sunday afternoon show from 1 to 6."

Randle moved the family to New York, but they were back in Lakewood three years later. "I feel whatever radio destiny I have is inextricably bound up with Cleveland," he once said. "This city has been magic for me. Giving up Cleveland would be like giving up a talisman."

Straight science

Randle was a genius at music market research even before it existed.

"I was probably the best exploiter, beginning in the 1950s, of American popular music, calculatedly, I think, in some cases, brilliantly," he told Plain Dealer Pop Music Critic John Soeder in 2002.

"I was lucky because I had the overtone of academic awareness. I was a good researcher. I was able to check a record in a jukebox by paying the jukebox guy a buck to give me the listings for 10 or 12 jukeboxes. Nobody could BS me about whether or not that record was being played. I knew it. You dropped those nickels in, I played it the next day and said, 'This is going to be No. 1.' But I wasn't sitting there like Nostradamus or something. I dealt with hard, actual facts."

In the course of their conversation, said Soeder, Randle referenced "a dizzying array of musical artists, including the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, the Strokes, Al Jolson, Luciano Pavarotti, Dave Matthews, Frank Sinatra and Eminem, whom Randle called 'an incredible cultural phenomenon.' "

His eclectic musical tastes were exhibited on his shows. Even though he worked for the nostalgic WRMR in the '90s and '00s, he would mix in some Jewel, ' N Sync or Norah Jones.

By 1961, he had tired of radio and put his energy into attending college.

Randle, a high school dropout, earned six degrees.

In addition to his undergraduate degree from Wayne State University and a law degree from Oklahoma City University, Randle had a doctorate in American studies and a master's degree in sociology from Western Reserve University, a master's degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master's degree in education from Cleveland State University. He also taught communications and sociology at several schools, including Kent State, the University of Cincinnati and Columbia University in New York.

Randle passed the Ohio bar in 1987, at age 64, and opened a law practice in Lakewood. "I'm a lawyer now because I plan to practice for 15 or 20 years," he said, before going on to practice for 16 years. "I still lift weights, jump out of airplanes and play tennis every day to keep myself in shape."

He also raced cars, flew airplanes and collected Eames furniture and R. Crumb cartoons in his Lakewood condo. When his wife, Annalee, was ill, he cared for her for several years.

"He said he wasn't particularly a good husband until she got sick and he became a caregiver," said Hanson. "But I don't believe that for a second."

And with all that, he kept coming back to the microphone. He would retire and say he was done with radio, then re-emerge on WERE or WBBG with talk shows. He would retire again and pop back up as the morning man at WRMR. "He wouldn't admit it, but Bill liked being on the air," said Wain.

"I learned so much from him," said radio executive Sue Wilson, who worked with Randle at WRMR in the '90s. "He was a real salesman. His whole philosophy was, 'We're in the business of putting butts in seats.' And he could do it. We'd do promotions, and you wouldn't believe the number of people who showed up. He had this amazing pull with his audience. And he was ahead of the curve then, too. He was playing Shania Twain when nobody had heard of her."

"Bill could be the sweetest cat in the world, the way he helped people out," said Reese. "But he didn't always make friends. There were some people who couldn't stand him. But that goes with the success."

Some in the industry found him brash, arrogant and a name-dropper.

"We had heard about the big ego, that he was irascible, but there was none of that here," said Conrad. "He was a real pussycat. And he's not a name-dropper. When he talked about seeing 'The Producers' on Broadway and sitting in Nathan Lane's seats, it was true. He knew Nathan Lane."

Randle said there weren't any great projects left undone. Except one. "One book I'd like to see finished is 'The Selling of Elvis.' That deal's in place. My daughter's a writer, and she can finish that one. If she wants to."

Plain Dealer Pop Music Critic John Soeder contributed to this story.

To reach this Plain Dealer Reporter:

coconnor@plaind.com, 216-999-4456

© 2004 The Plain Dealer.

Reuters: Oscar-Winning Composer Elmer Bernstein Dead at 82

Entertainment - Reuters
Reuters
Oscar-Winning Composer Elmer Bernstein Dead at 82

Thu Aug 19, 2:05 PM ET
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By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar-winning composer Elmer Bernstein, who wrote some of Hollywood's most memorable music, including scores for "The Magnificent Seven" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie," has died at age 82, his publicist said on Thursday.

Photo
Reuters Photo

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Slideshow Slideshow: Film Composer Elmer Bernstein Dies

Bernstein, whose work spanned some 200 films and TV shows over six decades, succumbed to a lengthy, undisclosed illness on Wednesday at his home in Ojai, California, about 80 miles northwest of Los Angeles, according to spokeswoman Cathy Mouton.

A native New Yorker who frequently collaborated with such filmmakers as Martin Scorsese, John Landis and Ivan Reitman, Bernstein earned 14 Academy Award nominations in all, winning for the 1967 film "Thoroughly Modern Millie."

His first Oscar nomination was for the 1955 Frank Sinatra film "The Man with the Golden Arm." He was most recently nominated for the 2002 melodrama "Far From Heaven," which starred Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid.

Other memorable projects included 1956's "The Ten Commandments," 1962's "To Kill a Mockingbird" and 1960's "The Magnificent Seven," whose rousing theme became part of the long-running advertising campaign for Marlboro cigarettes and was recently resurrected in Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Bernstein scored the last seven films of actor John Wayne, including "True Grit" and Wayne's final movie, "The Shootist," in 1976.

He also scored music for some of the biggest hit comedies of the 1970s and '80s, including "National Lampoon's Animal House," "Meatballs," "Airplane!," "Ghostbusters" and "Three Amigos."

His television credits include the popular westerns "Gunsmoke" and "The Big Valley."

"Gray-listed" in Hollywood ruing the McCarthy era of the 1950s for his left-leaning political sympathies, Bernstein was relegated to work on two low-budget science fiction films -- "Robot Monster" and "Cat Women of the Moon" -- which have since become cult favorites.

Bernstein began his career as a concert pianist and auditioned at age 12 for legendary composer Aaron Copland, who selected renowned instructor Israel Citkowitz as a teacher for the boy. He started out in Hollywood writing the music for the 1951 big-screen sports drama "Saturday's Hero" and 1952's horse-racing drama "Boots Malone."

Playbill: Elmer Bernstein, Composer of Film Scores and Broadway Shows, Is Dead at 82

Arts and Stage - Playbill
Playbill
Elmer Bernstein, Composer of Film Scores and Broadway Shows, Is Dead at 82

Thu Aug 19, 4:00 PM ET
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Robert Simonson Playbill On-Line

Elmer Bernstein, writer of a handful of Broadway musicals and one of the last great composers from Hollywood's golden era, died at his home in Ojai, Associated Press reported. He was 82.

Mr. Bernstein composed his first score in 1950 and over the next half century executed dozens more. He was nominated for an Oscar 14 times and won for the dizzy 1967 movie musical "Thoroughly Modern Millie." That show was later converted into a Tony-winning Broadway musical with a score largely written by Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan.

Mr. Bernstein himself took occasional stabs at writing musical comedy. He wrote some incidental music for the 1954 musical version of Peter Pan. He stepped up his duties with 1967's How Now, Dow Jones, writing the entire score. The short-lived show (220 performances), about a woman who proclaims a false jump in the Dow Jones average in order to get her fianc to marry her, won him a Tony Award nomination.

He tried one more time in 1983 with the Doug Henning show Merlin. This time his writing partner was lyricist Don Black. The result was largely the same: 199 performances and another Tony nomination.

Several of his film scores, however, have stood the test of time. The brassy, jazz-inflected soundtracks of "The Sweet Smell of Success" (1957), "Walk on the Wild Side" (1962) and "The Man With the Golden Arm" (1956) are among the most memorable of their era. The thundering, percussive, Western-flavored theme of 1960's "The Magnificent Seven" has been hummed by barflies and trivia buffs for decades (not to mention used in Marlboro cigarette commercials). And most movie fans are familiar with the sweeping orchestrations found in 1956's "The Ten Commandments."

Other films Mr. Bernstein composed include "Some Came Running," "The Birdman of Alcatraz," "To Kill a Mockingbird," "The Great Escape," "Hud," "Hawaii," "True Grit," "National Lampoon's Animal House" (a gig which led to him scoring several more big comedies in the 1980s), "An American Werewolf in London," "My Left Foot," "The Grifters" and "Ghostbusters."

In recent years, filmmakers have turned to Mr. Bernstein to anchor the backward-looking moods of their movies. Martin Scorcese, when making a 1991 remake of the 1962 thriller "Cape Fear," hired the composer to adapt Bernard Herrmann's memorable original score. (Scorcese would employ him several more times.) And Todd Haynes used him for 2002's "Far From Heaven," a conscious evocation of the sudsy Douglas Sirk melodramas of the late '50s.

Elmer Bernstein was born in New York City on April 4, 1922, to Edward and Selma Bernstein. He was a protege of Aaron Copland and studied music with Israel Citkowitz (his mentor), Roger Sessions and Stefan Wolpe. He received a thoroughly New York education, attending the Walden School and New York University. Aside from composing, he tried his hand at acting, dancing and painting in early years.

For a brief period in the early '50s, the McCarthy witchhunts left him "gray listed" in Hollywood, forcing him to work on two low-budget science fiction films, "Robot Monster" and "Cat Women of the Moon." Ironically, both became cult classics.

Mr. Bernstein was conductor for one season of the San Fernando Valley Symphony Orchestra. He also helped to found the record label, Varese Sarabande, according to the Internet Movie Database.

He is the father of Peter, Gregory and Emilie Bernstein. Peter is also a film composer and Emilie is an orchestrator in Hollywood.

Talking of his collaborator, Scorcese said, "It's one thing to write music that reinforces a film, underscores it-the traditional sense of stressing, underlining-or gives it added dramatic muscle. It's entirely another to write music that graces a film. That's what Elmer Bernstein does, and that, for me, is his greatest gift."

Elmer Bernstein was frequently confused with composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, leading to his nickname, "Bernstein West."

AP: Film Composer Elmer Bernstein Dies at 82

Entertainment - AP Music
AP
Film Composer Elmer Bernstein Dies at 82

By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES - Film composer Elmer Bernstein, who created a brawny, big-sky theme for "The Magnificent Seven," nerve-jangling jazz for "The Man With The Golden Arm" and heart-rending grace notes for "To Kill a Mockingbird," has died.

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Bernstein, whose prolific career spanned seven decades and earned him 14 Academy Award nominations, an Oscar win and an Emmy Award, died in his sleep at his Ojai home Wednesday, said his publicist, Cathy Mouton. He was 82.

Although he won an Oscar only once for the 1967 film "Thoroughly Modern Millie" — considered one of his weaker works — Bernstein was revered for experimenting with various techniques that bolstered the films.

"It's one thing to write music that reinforces a film, underscores it — the traditional sense of stressing, underlining — or gives it added dramatic muscle," director Martin Scorsese once said. "It's entirely another to write music that graces a film. That's what Elmer Bernstein does, and that, for me, is his greatest gift."

Among his efforts were the scores for "Some Came Running," "Birdman of Alcatraz," "The Great Escape," "Hawaii," "The Great Santini," "Cast a Giant Shadow," "My Left Foot" and "The Age of Innocence." He also composed several works for symphony orchestras.

In addition, he scored such movie classics as "The Ten Commandments," "The Magnificent Seven," "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "True Grit," not to mention comedies like "National Lampoon's Animal House," "Airplane!" and "Ghostbusters."

"Film music, properly done, should give the film a kind of emotional rail on which to ride," Bernstein told The Associated Press in 2001. "Without even realizing that you're listening to music that's doing something to your emotions, you will have an emotional experience."

"To Kill a Mockingbird" presented Bernstein a challenge. For six weeks he could find no way to approach the story of racism and the Depression in a small Southern town.

"Then I realized that the film was about these issues but seen through the eyes of children," he once recalled. "The simple score was played by a small ensemble, at times employing single piano notes, much like a child picking out a tune."

For "The Man with the Golden Arm," in which Frank Sinatra played a heroin-addicted jazz musician, he discarded the studio orchestra for a jazz ensemble. For the landmark western "The Magnificent Seven," Bernstein composed a galloping march that remained famous for years afterward in TV ads for Marlboro cigarettes.

A piano prodigy who studied composing under Aaron Copland in New York, Bernstein moved to Hollywood in 1950 to work on his first movie score, for the football film "Saturday's Hero." After a few more routine assignments he made his mark with the moody music for the Joan Crawford thriller "Sudden Fear."

Although he was friendly with composer Leonard Bernstein, the two were no relation, Mouton said.

A supporter of left-wing causes, Elmer Bernstein nearly lost his career in the Hollywood Red Hunt of the 1950s when he was summoned before a congressional subcommittee and told to identify communists in the film industry. He refused, saying he'd never attended a Communist party meeting.

"I wasn't important enough to be blacklisted, so I was put on a gray list," he once said.

Major studios refused to hire him, and he resorted to turning out music for low-budget films like "Robot Monster" and "Cat Women of the Moon."

Ironically, it was the vocally anti-communist director Cecil B. De Mille who finally hired Bernstein to replace the ailing Victor Young on "The Ten Commandments."

De Mille asked him, "Do you think you can do for Egyptian music what Puccini did for Japanese music in `Madame Butterfly'?" The young composer accepted the challenge.

Through 200 movies and 80 television shows, Bernstein would prove that he could adapt to any kind of music. He won an Emmy Award in 1964 for "The Making of The President: 1960."

He is survived by his wife, Eve; sons Peter and Gregory; daughters Emilie and Elizabeth; and five grandchildren.

___

On the Net:

http://www.elmerbernstein.com

Yahoo News/Reuters: China Threatens Internet Porn Merchants with Life

Technology - Internet Report
Reuters
China Threatens Internet Porn Merchants with Life

Sun Sep 5, 9:22 PM ET
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BEIJING (Reuters) - China has intensified its battle against Internet and mobile phone pornography by threatening distributors with life in prison, Xinhua news agency said.

"Depending on the seriousness of the cases, the sentences range from living under compulsory surveillance, detainment, taking into custody by the police, to various terms of imprisonment and life imprisonment," Xinhua said.

Beijing has stepped up its battle against smut in recent weeks, saying it is worried that the easy access to such material on the Internet and elsewhere will have a bad effect on youth and society.

Under the latest crackdown, which started in July, authorities have shut down hundreds of Web sites and arrested more than 300 people.

The new penalties were laid out on Sunday in guidelines issued by China's Supreme People's Court and the office of the country's top prosecutor, Xinhua said.

A pornographic Web site that had been clicked on more than 250,000 times would be considered a "very severe" case that could warrant a life sentence for its producers, Xinhua said. It did not elaborate.

China's communist rulers have gradually relaxed the puritanical rule they imposed when they swept to power in 1949, but sporadically try to crack down on the sex industry and are particularly nervous about pornography on the Internet.

=======
NS: Everybody forever in time seems to ban sex. Yet it remains, therefore we remain, as everybody wastes time, money, and energy when they could have wasted it all on the ignorant, unprotected --"just say no"-- children, who're just thrown to the world at adult age without a clue. The children everybody always says they're protecting.

Planet Out: Bush speech angers many LGBT leaders

Community - Planet Out
Planet Out
Bush speech angers many LGBT leaders

Fri Sep 3, 7:50 PM ET
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Larry Buhl, PlanetOut Network

SUMMARY: George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" that won over an estimated 1 million LGBT voters in 2000 is now gone, said many gay political leaders after Bush's Thursday speech.

George W. Bush's conciliatory, or at least ambiguous, stance on LGBT issues that garnered him nearly a quarter of the gay vote in 2000 is officially gone, according to community leaders who see the 2004 campaign as red meat for the religious right at the expense of gays and lesbians.

In his acceptance speech Thursday night at the Republican National Convention, Bush told Republicans that he will protect traditional marriage from "activist judges" who would allow same-sex marriages. He went on to say that his second term would continue his fight for the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) -- the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage -- drawing a clear contrast against Democratic opponent John Kerry (news - web sites), who opposes such an amendment.

The president's comments provoked outrage by gay leaders across the political spectrum.

"It seems George Bush (news - web sites) forgot some of his lines during his acceptance speech. Espousing his support of values such as inclusion and the expansion of freedom, he forgot to add, 'except for gay and lesbian Americans,'" said Corri Planck, communications director for the Family Pride Coalition.

"President Bush (news - web sites)'s renewed call for discrimination in the Constitution offends millions of Americans, including not just Democrats, but Republicans, conservatives and swing voters," said Steven Fisher, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign. "The Republican platform is one of the most discriminatory platforms in history, and in following it, Bush has written off the gay vote by trying to use us as a wedge."

National Stonewall Democrats spokesman John Marble suggested that the Bush re-election strategy is about increasing the religious right base. "It's unfortunate that they have to boost their turnout by demonizing gays and lesbians. It's a strategy of desperation," Marble told the PlanetOut Network.

Assessments that Bush has given up on the gay vote seem confirmed by Bush's strategist, Karl Rove, who has repeatedly claimed that the key to re-election is mobilizing the estimated 4 million evangelical voters he believes stayed home in 2000.

But any gains in the evangelical vote would likely come at the expense of the estimated 1 million gays and lesbians who voted for Bush four years ago. Many prominent gay conservatives who supported Bush in the past have already turned away from him.

Conservative gay pundit Andrew Sullivan posted a message on his Weblog Friday, saying he feels "personal sadness" that Bush is taking away freedom from a whole group of Americans who might otherwise support many parts of his agenda.

"The president made it clear that discriminating against gay people, keeping them from full civic dignity and equality, is now a core value for him and his party. The opposite is a core value for me. Some things you can trade away. Some things you can compromise on. Some things you can give any politician a pass on. But there are other values -- of basic human dignity and equality -- that cannot be sacrificed without losing your integrity," Sullivan wrote.

The largest gay GOP group, the Log Cabin Republicans (news - web sites), meets this weekend to decide whether to endorse Bush. The group is already running commercials opposing the FMA and other anti-gay measures.

LGBT political leaders were also dismayed at the absence of Mary Cheney and her partner, as the rest of Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites)'s family followed him onstage following his speech Wednesday evening.

"They can hide gay and lesbian family members at their convention, but Bush can't hide his failed record from the American people," said Democratic National Committee (news - web sites) Chairman Terry McAuliffe. "President Bush isn't content with just dividing the country along political lines, now he's dividing families, including the family of his vice president."

Mary Cheney's absence from the convention stage made many re-examine the vice president's comments in Iowa last week, when he seemed to break with the president over the FMA.

"Dick Cheney said at that town hall meeting in Iowa that he loves his daughter, and the issue should be left to the states; but in the next sentence, which the media didn't cover, he said he supports the president, which basically meant, 'forget the statement I just made,'" said Marble.

"Neither Bush nor Cheney consulted with the Log Cabin Republicans or any gay leaders before they pushed for the FMA, so that should make it clear where their priorities are," Marble said, adding that the National Stonewall Democrats are dramatically increasing their grassroots organizing in an all-out effort to defeat Bush.

Planet Out: Lawyers begin California marriage 'battle'

Community - Planet Out
Planet Out
Lawyers begin California marriage 'battle'

Fri Sep 3, 7:50 PM ET
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Tom Musbach, PlanetOut Network

SUMMARY: Gay rights advocates, 12 same-sex couples and the city of San Francisco geared up Thursday for the first round of a major court challenge in California over same-sex marriage rights.

Gay rights advocates, 12 same-sex couples and the city of San Francisco geared up Thursday for the first round of a major court challenge in California over the rights of same-sex couples to marry.

"This is the beginning of what is going to be the decisive battle," said city attorney Dennis Herrera at a news conference, after he and other lawyers filed opening briefs in the case. The 12 couples are represented by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Lambda Legal and the ACLU.

The legal brief filed on behalf of the couples argues that the state law excluding same-sex couples from marriage violates the California Constitution.

"Exclusion from marriage also marks lesbian and gay couples as second-class citizens," the lawyers wrote in the brief. "It dashes their hopes and dreams, and labels them and their children as inferior, based only on archaic stereotypes. Nothing about these families warrants unequal treatment by the law."

The arguments in the case are very similar to ones used in Massachusetts, where last year the Supreme Judicial Court ruled it unconstitutional to deny gay and lesbian citizens the right to marry.

The groups first filed suit on March 12, after the state Supreme Court ordered the city of San Francisco to stop granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Last month, the same court voided the approximately 4,000 same-sex marriages that had occurred in the city, ruling that city officials did not have authority to bypass state law.

Two of the couples in the lawsuit are recent additions; both had been married during San Francisco's monthlong same-sex wedding parade earlier this year. Longtime activists Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, who have been together 51 years and were the first couple to marry on Feb. 12, joined the lawsuit after last month's nullification of their marriage left them "hurt, angry, insulted and frustrated."

Stuart Gaffney and John Lewis of San Francisco also joined the lawsuit after their marriage was voided.

"Something the court's ruling could not take away from us was the fact that we have now tasted full equality, and we have now experienced what it feels like not be second-class citizens," Lewis told the PlanetOut Network. "That experience motivates us to transform our sadness into determination to win back our freedom to marry and ensure that we and all lesbian and gay couples have equal access to marriage."

The case will be heard in San Francisco Superior Court, and a judge is expected to set a timetable for the case next week. The final ruling from Superior Court in this case will most likely be appealed to the state Supreme Court.