Merry Happy Holly thing: Dean and Frank

Real holiday cheer is hard to obtain (unless one is disposed to altering one's "headspace" in front of coworkers or relatives -- a bad idea all around...). Anyway, I do associate the Yuletide with variety specials, and so had to share this absolute plum with viewers and blog-reading-type people: the Dean Martin Show Xmas special from 1967 that has Dean welcoming his own family and Frank Sinatra and his three grown kids (no wife, it was gonna be odd seeing young Ms. Mia amidst the family gathering). The show starts off with this rousing bit of infectious goofiness. Dean certainly brought out the absolute best in Sinatra. He was a somber fella on TV, whether as host or guest singer, and it seems that only when he was with Dino did he absolutely brim over with enthusiasm for what he was doing. And so I present to you their opening number, a ditty first sung by Bing Crosby but better known to those in "the rock era" for Darlene Love's version on the Phil Spector Xmas record.


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UPDATE: This clip has been taken down by the folks who own the show, but have no plans at all to actually release the sucker. Perhaps it's because half of it is sublimely delightful and the other half is hardcore kitsch, who knows.

Les Rita Mitsouko, as filmed by Godard

Godard has done some gorgeous work with music over the years, and while his taste seems to run more to classical than pop, he has crafted some unforgettable sequences using rock. The ye-ye moments in Masculin-Feminin immediately spring to mind, as does the “Mao-Mao” bit in La Chinoise, the Madison in Band A Part, some terrific bits in Grandeur et Décadence d’un petit commerce de cinéma. Perhaps the most interesting fusion of his seminal ’60s cinema and seminal ’60s music was his documenting of the recording of “Sympathy for the Devil” by the Rolling Stones in One Plus One. Almost two decades later, in his light (and very strange) comedy Soigne Ta Droite (Keep Your Right Up, 1987), he did the same for Les Rita Mitsouko, chronicling the creation of a few songs from their second album The No Comprendo. In honor of the recent death of Fred Chichin, I thought I would upload some scenes from Godard’s film that feature he and Catherine Ringer in the middle of the “process.” And those who know anything about Godard can guess that no completed songs by Les Rita appear in the film, as he is all about process….


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