Recently I read a book on World War Two, this is nothing unusual for me since I have had a fascination with this period of history since I was six years old, I have read many books, from biographies to books that covered events and battles of the war. So I was looking forward to reading We Had A Job To Do, Especially because the description on the cover states that this is a basic history of world war two as seen through the eyes of those who served, When I read that this would be through the eyes of those who served, I was excited, I expected a lot of first-hand eyewitness accounts from the men who fought the war. Instead I got a lot of cut and paste quotes from the brass in most cases, a lot of history of those who went to war, what they had done before going to war and very brief and descriptions of the battles themselves. There are errors in dates such as the Potsdam conference pre-D-Day when this conference was in 1945. The book is written in broken segments and is extremely dry. There is nothing that makes this a must-read book, if anything it is bland and boring, Save your money this is not the book that you are looking for on World War Two. ***
Since the 1970's I have been a huge fan of Hal Linden, not just as the actor who played Barney Miller for 7 seasons, but for his talent as a singer as well. I remember seeing him on Merve Griffin, and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, to name a few, where he would sing as well as use his comedic wit. Here is a special I found by accident last week, I hope you take the time to enjoy it. From the 1976 Tony Awards not just Hal Linden but Leslie Uggams and a few other surprising singers. This is only part 1 of the program, perhaps I will be able to find the rest. Enjoy this musical spectacular.
For those interested, here are the complete tony awards for 1976 not just the segment from the awards. Enjoy and just remember the sweat, perseverance and dedication it takes to work to be a success on broadway. This is for everyone who had that dream and found a way to make it happen.
When I was in high school I had the chance to be in the Chorus of a rather amazing musical called THE ME NOBODY KNOWS. The music was written and originally performed by students in New Yorks' public school system. It went onto to be an off Broadway hit. The 5th Dimension did the following piece from THE ME NOBODY KNOWS in 1971
One of my favorite songs from a favorite musical, is What I did for Love from a Chorus Line, this is a very good arrangement done by a surprising individual.
Last a song made famous n=by one of Andrew Lloyd Webers longest running plays, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
