100 nights,
100 movies
I carried a Top Ten Movies list around in my head for many years. Who didn't? It was a flexible list, meaning every now and then I'd bounce one film and add another.
Then came computers and the ability to jot down a whole lot more than 10 movies, maybe even say a few words about each, and still be flexible. Next thing you know, the list is 10 times longer.
I don't know if it ever did mean "top" ten, as in the ten best films ever made, in my humble opinion. Wait, yes . . . I guess it did. Now that's arrogant. But like I said, we all did it.
But now, with 100 movies, clearly somewhere up there near the top this segues into a list of 100 films I'd highly recommend if you were stranded on a desert island with just a DVD player for entertainment.
Your own list it no doubt looks much different. Some of my choices will make you spit celluloid. Or pixels. But you'll agree with a few, and maybe you'll get one or two good ideas for viewing. In any case, I hope you have fun reading this list.
Ranking the first 10 or 20 moves was easy. The first 50 was not too difficult. The final cut to 100 was not easy at all. And I'm thinking of dropping a few to make way for a couple new favorites.. So it goes. Amazing, though, how many of the old ones refused to budge.
1. Nashville (1975)—Robert Altman’s semi-improvisational masterpiece was described early on as a portrayal of “post-Nixon angst.” Well, yeah. But the movie is many things, and only recently revealed itself as a Tea Party documentary filmed three decades before the Tea Party existed.
The night “Nashville” arrived in Detroit my newspaper assigned me to take some local country music personalities out to see the movie, then out for a beer, and then write a piece on what these guys thought of the songs.
Casey Clark, a fiddler who had played up and down the Midwest, said "the song about the tape deck in a tractor might sell—in Iowa.” I asked Deano Day, then the country’s #1 country DJ, whether his audience would like it. “Ask me in six weeks," he said. "That's when it’ll get to the drive-ins.”
Ever since that night, the movie’s 24 major characters—including one who is never heard and one who is never seen—continue to sustain more entertainment and insight for me than any other film. It’s as if Tocqueville himself had been a fiddler who played “three chords and the truth.” If that sounds too heavy, remember: this is a funny movie.
2. The Commitments (1991)—Do music or the Irish or social class or ensemble
Read the REST OF THE STORY
. . . good saloons, average saloons, and one that leveled the pool table with firewood . . . corporate events, and soup kitchen benefits . . . and then there was that hot August night in a soft-ice-cream parking lot.
Teenagers and AARP long-timers both enjoy the material I draw from 150 years of American music (see feedback at left). The oldest song on my playlist pre-dates the Civil War—but it's the only tune I do that has been recorded by both Bruce Springsteen and James Taylor. The great majority of the Ecelectic Jazzabilly repertoire, though, ranges from early 20th-Century New Orleans to Lyle Lovett.
What kind of music is it? My heroes include Duke Ellington, Willie Nelson, Johnny Mercer, and The Band. So let's just say I enjoy playing the classics.
If you want quiet ambiance, I go in a corner and play cocktail piano. If you want a little more pulse, I crank it up a tad and make sure it swings. Some R&B texture? I fire up the Hammond organ. Vocals? I have fun with 'em. You want entertainment? I get on the mic and share the pleasure of putting these tunes in a little historical context. You want a stage show? Let's tailor one to your venue—maybe the show with all the Hats. Or the one I call Dr. Tom Goes to the Movies. Or Saturday Night at the Dew Drop Inn, which revisits live music at the corner bar back before TV, let alone the home entertainment center, obliterated that scene.
Whatever the format, it's a one-man, affordable, self-contained musical act. I bring the musical gear and a sound system suitable for venues from a theater stage to a living room.
Let's book a date and have a good time. E-mail me at twf@pathwaynet.com and I'll fill you in on dates, rates, or whatever you need to know. Phone number on request.
Steely Don
Some good memories turn out to be true
If you like these, you'll enjoy a Dr. Tom show
"Don started the gig by tapping off a brisk beat and calling, not for all those cowboys expecting a Ray Price shuffle, 'Take the A Train in A-flat'."
I'm not aware of any Don Buzard clip on YouTube, or even a good audio sample elsewhere on the Net. Gatemouth Brown's Blackjack or Down South in the Bayou Country, though, are still around and more than worth the purchase price.
Photo by DR. TOM
Last Call
On a trip up north to jam with old friends I hadn't made music with in a very long time I stopped to photograph a gigging spot from half a century ago. This corner bar was the place to be on a Saturday night in 1960—four-piece bands and neighborhood complaints that the joint was too lively. Time and neglect have peeled history's onion to reveal something I never knew. The Brothers Bar (and before that the Thunder Bay Tavern) once was called, well, The Corner Bar.
All contents of this web site (c) 2012 by Tom W. Ferguson
A musician at war
A few heartfelt words about my cousin—and all other combat veterans. If you are inclined not to read anything further on the Dr. Tom site ... read this one. It's about someone in your family, too. Click here.
Lotsa good stuff
on this page, so . . .
SCROLL DOWN
Dr. Tom's Journal
Commentary and observations on music and most anything, home delivered
The Dr. Tom Bugle
Going a tad more formal (above) for a wedding reception at Fredrik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park; razzing the maize and blue (right) of those Arrogant Asses from Ann Arbor—and those who take offense should note Dr. Tom is a U of M grad; heading onstage (below) for a show at Louisiana State University/Eunice.
My Life in the Movies
A Balcony Memoir in 15 Scenes
Actually, I've only been in two movies.
The first was a film-school student movie. I was an extra who played "Moonglow" on a baby grand while a couple dances near the Chicago lakefront. A car drove by with supercharged bass booming. "Cut! Take two!"
The other was a '70s Italian film shot in Detroit. I managed to make myself a part of the local color by standing around in one exterior scene. I thought it was a drama. Only recently I discovered it was a comedy. In any case, no tape or DVD is available, even in Italian.
So the above title of the little e-book I wrote this summer refers to its 15 anecdotal chapters about places where films and I crossed paths. I think it's entertaining, at times amusing, at times nostalgic, and often insightful about things other than movies. But how do I know, I only wrote it.
The good news is it only costs two bucks to download it to your Kindle or other electronic device (free Kindle app on same Amazon page). "Invasion of the Closet People" alone is worth the $1.99.
Guaranteed to span 60 years of movies and the places—from modest to palatial to palm-held—where they have been shown.
—Dr. Tom
Audience
Feedback
"Loved his laid-back style and funny anecdotes. He gives a commanding performance."
—Celeste Gomez, St. Landry Parish (Louisiana) Tourism Director.
"What a delight it was to have Dr. Tom perform on the Montcalm Community College campus! His noon Eclectic Jazzabilly show was a hit with students. His evening gig, Dr. Tom Goes to the Movies, was a quite humorous education on musical lore in the movies."
—Gary L. Hauck, Ph.D, Dean of Arts and Sciences, Montcalm Community College.
"We absolutely enjoyed your show and would recommend it to anyone. We got a lot of good feedback, and that makes us very happy."
—Sue Dahlquist, Administrative Assistant, Noth Berrien (Michigan) Senior Center.
"We had lots of great feedback on your show at the Cass County Fair."
—Sandi Hoger, Leisure Enrichment Director, Cass County Council on Aging.
"Dr. Tom puts on a good show, but I enjoy it for the music. He claims to know what saloon musicians sounded like in the pre-rock era. He's right. I know. I was one of them."
—Lloyd Walker, Greenville, Michigan.
"Dr. Tom doesn't just play jazz and blues; he pays homage to the musicians who invented jazz and blues. Dr. Tom's show is fun to watch partly because the music is great, but also because the passion he feels for the music is infectious."
—Tim Rimer, Dearborn, Michigan.
"I saw Dr. Tom play for a crowd gathering to watch a fireworks display. Dr. Tom won over a previously tough and uninterested audience. He clearly enjoys the music he plays and successfully welcomes the audience to enjoy it with him."
—Mister Sam, veteran dueling pianos performer, Phoenix, Arizona.
"Tom was so easy to work with. He brings everything he needs, which is important to a small venue like ours. The auditorium was nearly packed and the evening was great
fun."
—Donna Baltakis, LSU-Eunice Performing Arts Series Coordinator.
By DR. TOM
Ph.D. in Pianology, Nightclubology
MFA in Hatology, Entertainology
Quasi-Emeritus and Summa Cum Loudly
I've been performing really old (and really good) American pop, jazz, swing, blues, R&B and country songs for 55 years. I must like this stuff.
Audiences like it too (whether it is, from their perspective, something old or something new). It's an endless show that has taken me to college stages and high-school gyms
Shocking discovery!
Old guy plays old music,
even kids get in groove
Photo by DR. TOM
Seeking meaning in Altman's Nashville? Nope. Just a kid I photographed, during a recent Nashville visit, playing hide and seek with his brother. No one at the Parthenon that day had ever heard of Robert Altman's movie. Click here and you'll discover that the boy is hiding on the site of my favorite scene from my favorite movie (the spot above is 10 seconds into the YouTube clip). You'll find similar links throughout my "100 favorites" piece at left.
My most memorable musical experience happened in 1961 at a saloon that on Mondays through Saturdays had no customers, then entertained about 1,000 rowdy patrons each Sunday afternoon.
Decades-old memories tend to feature buildings three times as big in your mind's-eye as they were in the real world, populated by characters also too big to believe. But after nearly a half-century of wondering about a musician I met only once and then never heard again -- or even heard about -- until recently, I've decided Don Buzard really was that good. Maybe even better, if that's possible.
On the spring Sunday in question I was either 18 or 19, depending whether the date fell before or after March 21. Don was about a year younger. It was his gig.
Don was a pedal steel guitar player in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I had hitchhiked west from Michigan as part of a six-month tour in lieu of launching my alleged college career. An older ironworker/drummer friend was out there building ICBM silos by day and playing western swing by night. When I dropped in to say howdy, my friend passed word that his visitor (me) was "a jazz player." To Don Buzard that was like telling the Yankees front office about your pal Harley from the Friday night slow pitch league and saying: "This boy can bring it."
Somebody borrowed a Wurlitzer electric piano of the type Brother Ray played on "What'd I Say," and I picked up a couple appropriate items of western clothing from the local Goodwill store. Then it was south just a few miles to the Colorado border,
where a divergence in liquor laws drew those big Sunday crowds.
Don started the gig by tapping off a brisk beat and calling -- not for all those cowboys who expected a Ray Price shuffle -- "Take the A Train in A-flat." At some point in a blazingly chorded solo the likes of which I had never heard, Don turned my way and said, intending to be helpful I am sure, what I remember as: "That's a C13th with a flatted fifth."
Whatever he said, it was as far beyond me as his soloing. I was a teenager out wandering around for the hell of it; Don already was a virtuoso with, I was instantly certain, a huge musical future.
This was also the approximate instant I realized the Hammond B3 and the pedal steel are the most powerful instruments in music, two welding torches that can simultaneously deconstruct, reassemble, and drive away with any groove in the shop. None of that has changed to my way of thinking.
Don Buzard's incredible talent is the only musical thing I remember about that afternoon. After trying just to stay afloat as Don ran down some jazz tunes, I'm sure I faded off instantly to a role akin to a tambourine player's. At the time I didn't know western tunes, I didn't know how to play in E and B, and I was dumbstruck by what I was hearing.
Let me cut to the chase, for those (99.9 percent) who don't know about Don Buzard: Go buy a CD by Clarence
Click for REST OF STORY
So tell me, Maude,
what kind of music
does this guy play?
A playlist doesn't tell the whole story, but it tells a lot. Here's a sampling of tunes you might here in an ECLECTIC musical evening with Dr. Tom. If you want to try something really new, sometimes it's good to try something really old—and diverse:
Route 66 (Nat King Cole, Manhattan Transfer); She's No Lady (Lyle Lovett); Mack the Knife (Louis, Ella, Bobby Darin); In a Mellotone (Duke Ellington); Something You Got (Harry Connick Jr., Henry Butler); This New Heartache (Vince Gill); Iko, Iko (Dixie Cups); That's Life (Frank Sinatra); Gimme That Wine
(Lambert, Hendricks and Ross); I Started Out to Boogie, But I Wound Up Taking It in Stride (Dr. Tom); Blueberry Hill (Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino); Irene Goodnight (Leadbelly); Make Me a Pallet on the Floor (Kid Ory, Lucinda Williams); Piano Man
(Billy Joel); Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby (Louis Jordan); Ain't Misbehavin' (Fats Waller); Memphis Tennessee (Chuck
Berry); Stormy Monday (T-Bone Walker); Crazy-Gee Ain't It Funny How Time Slips Away-Nightlife (Willie Nelson); Hymn to Freedom (Oscar Peterson); Since I Fell for You (Buddy Johnson, Woody Herman); Just Like Greta Garbo (Van Morrison); Jambalya (Hank Williams); Hard Times Come Again No More
(Stephen Foster, James Taylor, Mavis Staples); Tennessee Waltz / Such a Night (Cowboy Copas, Doctor John); One O'Clock Jump (Count Basie); I Feel Like Hank Williams Tonight (Chris Wall); Tuxedo Junction (Erskine Hawkins); Good TIme Charlie's Got the Blues (Charlie Rich); Ophelia (The Band); Southern Nights (Allen Toussaint, Glen Campbell); Milk Cow Blues (Bob Wills); The Eggplant Song (Michael Franks); Trickle, Trickle (Manhattan Transfer); St. Thomas (Sonny Rollins); One for My Baby (Johnny Mercer).
The Dr. Tom Lead-Pipe-Cinch guarantee
Nightclubs, if you can find one.
Real drinks.
Box scores.
Casablanca.
NPR.
Print.
Hitchcock.
The Times puzzle.
Route 66 (and Route 66).
Mel Brooks.
When racetracks meant horses.
Diners.
Real hats, not baseball caps.
Live, toe-tapping, 4/4 music.
Frozen custard.
Two-lane blacktop.
Movies that said something.
The Carson show.
A favorite childhood haunt in downtown Alpena, Michigan.
Dr. Tom is based in central Michigan and is available for nightclub dates, corporate events, private parties, and ticketed fund-raisers anywhere on the planet. Travel expenses, however, must be added to his highly affordable show rate.
Photo by DR. TOM
Here's a dirty little secret: Musicians who make less than $1,000 a night tend to hold down day jobs. My good friend Don the Drummer has also worked as a carpenter since the '50s. When we have a garage rehearsal there's always a little drywall compound handy to get a tune sealed tight.
February's calendar pick:
Check out Candlestone's special
The food is great (it's a neat place in Belding, MI), but I'm thinking of the speical music on February 1 and 15 (first and third Wednesdays of the month). I'll be there both nights, beginning with cocktail jazz at 6:30 and escalating into the usual upbeat eclectic flair. Feb.1, though, is the real special. Don Jack (photo above) will be there to complete my favorite duo, which—because of geography—hasn't gigged together since 2010. Come on out, have a good meal, and enjoy answering the trivia question: What do two guys who have been making music together since Eisenhower was president sound like?
Specs*:
One Yamaha stage piano.
One Roland keyboard.
One Hammond stage organ.
Complete sound system.
* Lighting available, but transport
can be expensive because my van
is already full.
