The Wonderful World of Nora Ephron

For the words of When Harry Met Sally, I thank you.  Nora Ephron left a legacy of great movies and writings.  She had a witty way of looking at well everything including her neck. 

I've seen When Harry Met Sally about 15 times. It never gets stale, it always works.  I remember briefly meeting Rob Reiner who came to a performance at the Bottom Line.  John Hiatt, who I was working with at the time was performing.  Rob came with his new girlfriend who I think is the woman he later married.  At that point he had directed one wonderful movie after another:  Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing ("We speak each others unspoken language"), Stand By Me and The Princess Bride.  At that time, he was filming a movie in NY with Meg Ryan (who I remembered as Betsy from As The World Turns) and Billy Crystal. I thought it was interesting that Billy was staring in a romantic comedy.  The basis was that a man and a woman can't just be friends without wanting to have sex.

When the movie finally came out I was so excited to see it.  Nora's screenplay had everything. It was heartwarming, sassy, witty, brash and ugly.  It had it all.  Sally, "Are you saying I am the dog?"  It's still one of my top 5 movies.

Nora wrote for the Huffington Post which has a front page tribute to her.  She wrote, directed and above all it seems she was a great friend to many.  Nora Ephron died at age 71. 

Brian WIlson's Sense of Humor

Robin Roberts read the fan question to the Beach Boys:  "How has touring changed in 50 years?"

Brian Wilson:  "We've had a lot of practice"

Mike Love:  "We've advanced from a station wagon and a U-Haul." 

Beach Boys Chart at #3

According to Billboard Biz:

• The Beach Boys notch their highest-charting album since 1974 as That's Why God Made the Radio debuts with 61,000. It's the group's highest debut ever and best rank since 1974's Endless Summer greatest-hits set hit No. 1. In terms of studio albums, That's Why God Made the Radio is its highest-ranked since 1965's Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) reached No. 2. That's Why God Made the Radio is the group's 14th top 10 album overall and first since 1976's Big Ones (No. 8).

The Beach Boys Set For Highest Charting Album in 37 Years That's Why God Made the Radio is the band's 29th studio album and was released as part of the group's 50th anniversary celebration. Its 61,000 sales start also includes nearly 20,000 copies that were pre-ordered during the band's concert appearance on the QVC shopping network on May 16.

When you think about The Beach Boys albums that have had an enormous impact on people such as Pet Sounds and you realize  the small number of charting albums they've had, it doesn't seem to make sense. If you looked at the total sales over the life of the albums, it might fit the picture better. 

The Beach Boys are set to play Good Morning America on Friday.

Your Old CD's Can Help Autism Research

@RosanneCash brought to my attention CD Sweep.  According to Billboard Biz, CD Sweep founder Jason Roth got an idea from iPodmeister, which sends you an iPod, iPhone, etc in return for your old CD's.  His son was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome last year, leading Roth to come up with idea to donate the proceeds of old CD's to The Autism Science Foundation, which conducts innovative autism research and supports the needs of people with autism and their families.

It's almost too simple.  You let CD Sweep know how many CD's you want to send them.  They send you a prepaid Fed Ex shipping label.  He's the cherry on the sundae: they will also digitized your CD's and send them back on a DVD as MP3s for free.  Whew.  What a wonderful idea come to life.  Start packing up those old CD's this weekend.

Ex-Fleetwood Mac Dies

I bought French Kiss.  The Bob Welch album contained the hits Sentimental Lady and Ebony Eyes. It's cover was pink and red.  He replaced Peter Green in Fleetwood Mac. He was later replaced by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.  After his Mac departure, he had a big solo hit with the French Kiss album.

It appears that Welch died of a self inflicted bullet wound in Nashville where he lived. 

This Is Too Groovy

Boyce and Hart do an acoustic two song medley of hits they wrote for the Monkees (unfortunately they start with I Wanna Be Free).

The always debonair Herb Alpert interrupts to introduce them.

They join the band for I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight.

Their velvet suits and white boots are too cool for school.

The boys do a badly choreographed dance  to the musical interlude of the song.

The band consists of three cowboys.

There are horns all over the song, but no one pretends to play one.