3/11 2-4p EST: Tribute to Wrecking Crew Guitarist/Composer BILLY STRANGE (1930-2012)

Prolific composer, session guitarist, arranger, vocalist and actor Billy Strange (born William Everett Strange in Long Beach, CA) died on Wednesday, February 22, 2012 in Franklin, Tennessee. He was 81. Strange recorded with Elvis Presley (including many of his late 1960's film soundtracks), the Beach Boys, Phil Spector, Frank and Nancy Sinatra, Wanda Jackson, Dean Martin, Willie Nelson and the Partridge Family; wrote No. 1 single "Limbo Rock" for Chubby Checker and 1962 instrumental hit "Tequila" recorded by the Champs; arranged and played on Nat King Cole’s hit “Ramblin’ Rose;” and arranged for all Nancy Sinatra’s albums in the 1960's including the No. 1 hits "These Boots Were Made For Walkin'," "Somethin' Stupid" (her duet with her father), and "Some Velvet Morning" (her duet with Lee Hazlewood).



A long term member of the celebrated cadre of young Hollywood studio musicians known as The Wrecking Crew (because they took work away from the veteran session musicians of the time), Strange played on psychedelic touchstones like the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” and Love’s “Forever Changes.” Rock and roll, all the surf records, big orchestras, country albums, the crooners, he played it all. He made numerous recordings under his own name, including instrumental guitar albums with versions of James Bond and other spy themes and Morricone Westerns and eventually scored his own soundtracks for psychedelic "De Sade" and "Bunny O'Hare" films.



An occasional actor, Mr. Strange played the steel guitarist Speedy West in “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” the 1980 film about Loretta Lynn, appeared in the TV series “Rawhide,” and ghost sang the vocals for Steve McQueen in "Baby, The Rain Must Fall" in 1965. After more than two decades in Hollywood, Strange relocated to Nashville in the early 1970s to manage a music publishing firm of Frank and Nancy Sinatra. He was inducted into the Nashville Musicians Hall of Fame.

Here is a very incomplete discography:
http://www.janderrer.ch/music/billy-strange/billy-strange-credit-list.html



Tune into your source for all things soundtrack, Morricone Youth, this Sunday, March 11th from 2-4 p.m. ET, for host Devon E. Levins dedicates the entire two hours to the genius of Billy Strange.

Tune into your source for all things soundtrack, Morricone Youth, this Sunday, February 26, from 2-4pm ET, for a look back at the scores of films released in 2011 in honor of the 84th Academy Awards scheduled to take place later that day at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, CA.. Whereas last year's winner Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' work for The Social Network was built largely on electronic and ambient sounds created by the Swarmatron analog synth, all five nominees this year utilize a full orchestra with nods to scores past. The Artist to Bernard Herrmann's Vertigo; Hugo to Shore's early score for Big but with more French flair; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy to spy thrillers such as John Barry's The IPCRESS File or Jerry Goldsmith's Russian House; and John Williams' War Horse and The Adventures of Tintin to...well, errr...John Williams. It was a pretty great year for film music.



Host Devon E. Levins will review the nominated original scores and songs, discuss his obvious pick for the coveted Oscar and conclude with some of his favorite overlooked music from the past year.

Best Original Score
The Artist - Ludovic Bource
The Adventures of Tintin - John Williams
War Horse - John Williams
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Alberto Iglesias
Hugo - Howard Shore













Best Original Song
"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets - Bret McKenzie
"Real in Rio" from Rio - Sergio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett

DJ DEvon E. Levins spins OSTs at Nitehawk Theater in Williamsburg

Please join us at the Nitehawk Cinema's downstairs café for an evening of cinephilic reverie/revelry as DJs Casey Block, Devon E. Levins (Morricone Youth), and Amanda Chouette spin their favorite soundtracks for your listening pleasure.

Listen to Morricone Youth Pay Tribute to the Music of NFL Films, SuperBowl Sunday at 2pm ET

Anyone who remembers the old NFL Films highlight shows ("NFL Game of the Week") will fondly remember the music of synthesizer pioneer Sam Spence or KPM library music production composers Johnny Pearson, Syd Dale and Keith Mansfield. For most football fans, the music is etched into their memories. Nobody knew the names of the songs nor the composers but they surely recognized them when they heard them.



A former USC music instructor living and working in Munich in the 1960's, Sam Spence is a peculiar piece of the complicated krautrock puzzle hired in 1966 to score the mini-documentaries that conveyed NFL highlights and personalities to fans in the network-television era. Spence's music cues combined with the baritone voice of John Facenda to remarkable artistic effect. Initially Mahlon Merrick was asked to provide scores for NFL Films. Merrick asked friend Spence to help in the session adding his own orchestral compositions with strings and woodwinds, more like a Hollywood film score. It turned out Spence's contributions were NFL Films founder Ed Sabol's favorites and he offered Spence a three-year contract to write, conduct, and produce NFL Films' music.



NFL Films productions weren't just seen; they were felt. The music is what defined the style that set the standard. For NFL Films, music always held great importance in the production process and, along with the booming narrations and moving images of the game of pro football, music served as a key element of what has become known as The NFL Films Style. Steeped in tradition but relentlessly innovative, this music has created a reputation of the highest production quality, powerful, dramatic moods and dynamic support for the most compelling visual content. NFL Films Music shares DNA with great film scores and classic popular music. This is music that is designed to tell stories.


NFL Films made the fan albums available on vinyl in the 70's. If you were persistent, you could also find the additional KPM library production albums from which many of the other non-Spence tracks derived. Today, Spence's music is ubiquitous heard, on shows like The Simpsons, Everybody Loves Raymond, King Of Queens, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show, Sponge Bob and several TV and radio commercials. Recently, Spence has received a resurgence with recent compilation releases "Sam Spence: Our Man In Munich" (All Score Media) and "Sam Spence Sounds" (Finders Keepers).

Tune into your source for all things soundtrack, Morricone Youth, this Super Bowl Sunday, February 5th from 2-4 p.m. ET, for host Devon E. Levins' curated listen to highlights of NFL Films Music. Expect tons of Spence, a bit of KPM and maybe a couple of random Giant or Patriot film scores thrown in for good measure.

Listen to Morricone Youth's The Sound of Film Noir [ARCHIVE]

 A private eye. A plainclothes cop. A law-abiding citizen turned to a life of crime. A victim of circumstance. Film noir, an often debated term to describe the stylish Hollywood crime melodramas initially regarded from the early 1940s to late 1950s, is a low key black and white visual style with roots in German Expressionistic cinematography with many of the prototypical stories derived from the hardboiled school of fiction which emerged in the U.S. during the Depression. Film Noir music, on the other hand, is obvious when you hear it. A haunting sax solo. A distant trumpet. A cocktail piano over a Latin beat. Sultry songs in a small, smoky nightclub oozing out into the dark, wet alleyway like neon from a flickering sign.  

Tune into your source for all things soundtrack HERE, Morricone Youth, this Sunday, January 29 from 2-4pm ET, for host Devon E. Levins' curated listen to sound of the Film Noir. Expect the original masters Miklós Rózsa, Franz Waxman, Adolph Deutsch and David Raksin as well as plenty of re-interpretations and contemporary takes on the music from this classic genre.

http://www.morriconeyouth.com/

Dances of Vice & Shien Lee Creative Group Present The Diamond Ace II A Salute to Classic Film Noir and Pulp Fiction

Dances of Vice calls all dangerous women, fugitive lovers, dashing desperadoes, lonely detectives and ne’er-do-wells are to the sequel to last year’s crime noir soiree “The Diamond Ace”, a 1960s themed salute to classic film noir at Public Assembly executed in grand pulp ...style.

Sponsored in part by New York crime fiction publisher Hard Case Crime, “The Diamond Ace II” promises a night of mystery, passion, suspense and seduction with live crime jazz and film noir music by Morricone Youth.

New York femme fatales Bettina May, Ruby Valentine and Tansy Tandora weave tales of violence and temptation before your eyes, and DJs Michael Leviton and Devon E. Levins provide a killer soundtrack for your dancing pleasure until the early hours.

Hard Case Crime prizes will be awarded to the most thematic dressed attendees.

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Dances of Vice & Shien Lee Creative Group Present
The Diamond Ace II
A Salute to Classic Film Noir and Pulp Fiction

January 28, 2012 - 10PM

Starring:
Morricone Youth

Bettina May
Ruby Valentine
Tansy Tandora

DJ Michael Leviton
DJ Devon E. Levins

Public Assembly
70 N6th St, Brooklyn NYC
Admission: $15 | 21+

www.dancesofvice.com
www.hardcasecrime.com

Morricone Youth Returns to Rockwood Stage 2 Wed 1/25/12 10:30p

 

2012 - The End Titles

Please check the 1/22/12 archive HERE for the 2012 -The End Titles installment of Morricone Youth.  All End Titles in honor of this year's impending doom.

Tribeca Grand Hotel New Year's Eve Morricone Youth

Classic Hollywood glamour meets downtown Manhattan chic at "Dances of Vice: The Grand Illusion", the most spectacular New Year's Eve celebration in New York, produced in partnership with Shien Lee Creative Group at the luxurious Tribeca Grand Hotel.

Sultry screen sirens, debonair gents, and young sophisticates converge to celebrate the coming year with requisite abandon from 9pm-4am as Tribeca Grand Hotel comes alive with a cavalcade of dazzling cirque, aerial, burlesque, tango, and showgirl performances, followed by New York's most sensational indoor ball drop in the hotel's eight-story atrium.

Dance among winking beauties and tomorrow's leading men to the live music of Morricone Youth, performing dance music and crime jazz from films of the 1960s and 70s after midnight, with New York's best DJs spinning all night in the Church Lounge.

Enjoy a bevy of tantalizing desserts and gourmet hors d'oeuvres catered by Tribeca Grand's award-winning chefs, and delicious cocktails in a premium open bar from 9pm-1am.

Tickets for an unforgettable evening of passion, glamour and romance on the last night of 2011 are available now at the Tribeca Grand E-Shop. Late-night reduced admission after midnight dependent upon space and availability. Formal evening attire requested. Official Press Release, 12/13/11

Michael Blake and John Rubino on Morricone Youth 12/18

On Morricone Youth this weekend, host Devon E. Levins will welcome Brooklyn-based composer/saxophonist Michael Blake and writer/producer/director John Rubino to discuss their new film Vodka Rocks!, a satire about branding, consumerism and the Hollywood dream factory, and to listen to the score featuring some of New York's finest musicians Steven Bernstein, Owen Howard, Napolean Maddox, Marcus Rojas and Jennifer Charles.

 

Michael Blake honed his skills in John Lurie's iconic The Lounge Lizards.  Blake's first solo album was produced by the legendary Teo Macero and he has since produced another ten as a leader along with three with his band Slow Poke featuring David Tronzo, Tony Scherr and Kenny Wolleson.  Michael has written for television and film and can be heard on the popular kids show theme The Backyardigans and John Lurie's soundtracks for Get Shorty, Excess Baggage, Fishing with John and African Swim.  

 

 

 

John Rubino is a writer, producer and director of independent feature films and documentary projects.  John just finished production on Vodka Rocks!, his second feature film.  Lotto Land, his first which he also wrote, produced and directed, was distributed theatrically by CFP/Lions Gate Films and won Best Screenplay at the Avignon film festival.  John’s interest in music led him to put a major focus on the music element of his films.  Lotto Land stars Wendell Holmes, a member of the Holmes Brothers who co-wrote and recorded the music with John.

 

Listen live starting at 2pm ET on Sunday!