We remember Willie Davis (1934-2020)

We remember Willie Davis who was born in Louisiana on this day in 1934.

As a teenager growing up in Wisconsin, I had to learn about pro football.  

We did not play it in Cuba.  Nevertheless, I fell in love with the Green Bay Packers, the dream team of the pre-Super Bowl days. 

Before the Steelers, 49ers and Patriots won Super Bowls, the Packers won a bunch of NFL titles.

They had a great coach in Vince Lombardi, a great QB in Bart Starr and a great running back in Jim Taylor. The Pack even had great rookies, like Donny Anderson and Jim Grabowski. I remember Leroy Williams, who used to run back kickoffs. He ran one back for almost 100 yards against the Rams!

What a great team. It was easy to fall in love with a team like the Packers.

Willie Davis was also on those teams and a great fan favorite.    After football, Davis became a successful businessman, author and speaker.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

"Doo wop" and the chapter of "wonderful harmonies" in rock music!

Doo Wop is one of the most interesting and fun chapters of rock music:

"Doo-wop is a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music, which was started in the black community and became popular in the 1950s to the early 1960s."

It was before my time. I learned to love the music later when I began reading about "doo wop" groups. I love the tight harmonies! I love the songs and catchy melodies. Doo wop was great!

Let me pick some of my favorites.

It starts with The Chimes singing "Once in a while".

The next selection is "Just two kinds of people in the world" by Little Anthony and The Imperials.

My third selection is "You belong to me" by The Duprees".

The next selection is one of my real favorites. It is "This I swear" by The Skyliners.

The Four Seasons came around a little bit later. They borrowed many of the vocal arrangements from the previous "doo wop" groups. This is "Rag Doll".

The Platters were the best of the "doo wop" groups. They were so elegant and recorded songs like "My prayer".

As I wrote before, the "doo wop" chapter was way before my time. Nevertheless, I loved the sounds and the arrangements. They were great songs!

 P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

1958: "La violetera" with Sara Montiel

In previous posts, I've written of my love for Spanish songs and traditions.

To be honest, I didn't like this movie the first time around.  Years later, I saw it again and appreciated Sara Montiel's voice and acting skills.

"La Violetera" was released in 1958.   

Sara died in 2013 and left behind quite a legacy of movies and recording, including "Vera Cruz" (1955) with Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster and "Run of the Arrow" (1957) with Rod Steiger.

It's a nice movie.

P.S.  You can listen to my show (Canto Talk).  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column.