New beginnings and the Jester conducts

Hi! Happy New Year!  Since it’s a time for new beginnings, perhaps it’s time for me actually to start keeping in touch and writing some things here. I’m not quite sure what it will be. Brenda describes it as a sandbox. A sandbox is a much more inviting notion than a blank page. Hopefully you can jump in and play too when you have the time.

No more procrastinating; let’s get started.

Here’s a cool new thing I learned this weekend. Danny Kaye was a conductor. Danny Kaye, the Court Jester, conducted the New York Philharmonic and other major orchestras.

Perhaps you knew this already. I just heard it on Sunday's New York Philharmonic broadcast, which included Kaye leading the NYP in Johann Strauss Jr.'s Die Fledermaus Overture (you can still hear the program online for at least a week).

Kaye was highly in demand for conducting at fundraising concerts -- musician pension funds and the like. And while the Strauss was nice enough, it reminded me over my favorite silly musical scene featuring Danny Kaye, from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Clowning around or not, this guy knew some things about music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-M1F8hVfjM


Update: It's a few days after I posted Walter Mitty up there, and I've just realized there are videos of Danny Kaye with the New York Philharmonic on YouTube. So much fun!