Robert Jones

Wow, hey I've been a member of this board for over a month, and just now found this? What can I say, I am lazy. Thanks for the props on my article, Roger. I'd be interested to see your addendum. Writing that article was a real ordeal: I went through about 100 CDs from my collection, 30 new ones I purchased just to round out my survey, and finally distilled everything down to that article. The day after I finished writing it, in three days of marathon writing late at night with my screaming baby boy interrupting every half hour, I checked myself into the hospital finding out for the first time I had full-blown diabetes, with a blood glucose level of 496! So, when I tell people I sweated blood to get it written, I wasn't far off! Ha ha! I still get compliments on that one; in the latest issue of TNI is a very kind letter to Bidinotto about it. Fact is, while that article ran about 8 pages, Robert lopped off about 2,000 words. I consider an article like a slab of brisket: I give editors a little more than they need, and they can just trim off the excess fatback. The whole thing became rather unwieldy (where do you stop, especially if you are passionate about your material?) So, what I did was try to get mentions in of other artists in the 10 reviews I settled on. When writing something of this scope, my method is to be inclusive, but not exhaustive. I tried to get different styles, both male and female vocalists, to give a reasonably good overview. In that, I believe I succeeded with the article. There were some albums by contemporary artists I wanted to include, but could not, because of lack of space. Among these are Carly Simon, Neil Sedaka, Burt Bacharach, Monica Mancini, Tom Wopat, Barry Manilow, Brian Setzer, Michael Amante, Josh Groban, Marcie Castro and Rod Stewart; I'm sure there are others you could easily add. Not saying I particularly liked or loved all of these: Simon is losing her voice and while the technically less gifted Danny Aiello made it on my survey because of honest and heartfelt love for the songs that comes through, fellow thespian Tom Wopat did not, despite being more musically gifted. One of the comments Robert edited out was in comparison to Aiello, I felt that Wopat was trying too hard to please the critics, and that if nobody had coined the phrase "Method Singing" (after the Stanislavsky acting method), I was going to do so to describe Wopat's brilliant, but mechanical, vocal performances. Nonetheless, I'm pleased to find you found my standards article both entertaining and edifying. Rob't

A beautiful voice has passed on. I just found out that soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf is no longer among us. She died at her home in Austria, at 90 years old. She had a breathtaking voice, rivalling even Kirsten Flagstad and Helen Traubel performing Wagner. Schwarzkopf sang a heart-wrenching Bruennhilde. Her recording of Don Giovanni was also a gem. She was also quite a looker during her younger years.

I just saw it. They should change the name to "The Blair Witch Anthem"!

My all time top 100 favorites: 1. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) 2. Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) 3. Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958) 4. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1967) 5. The Godfather, Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974) 6. All About Eve (Joseph Manckiewicz, 1950) 7. The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise, 1951) 8. The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946) 9. The Third Man (Carroll Reed, 1949) 10. High Plains Drifter (Clint Eastwood, 1973) 11. Rushmore (Wes Anderson, 1998) 12. Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur, 1947) 13. North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959) 14. Terminator II (James Cameron, 1992) 15. Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1925) 16. Death Wish (Michael Winner, 1974) 17. Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959) 18. It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1947) 19. Rocky (John Avildsen, 1976) 20. On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954) 21. The World's Fastest Indian (Roger Donaldson, 2005) 22. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980) 23. We the Living (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1942) 24. Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939) 25. Goldfinger (Guy Hamilton, 1964) 26. Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984) 27. Confidentially Yours (Francois Truffaut, 1983) 28. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) 29. The Taking of Pelham, 1,2,3 (Joseph Sargent, 1974) 30. King Kong ((Merian C. Cooper, 1933) 31. A Face in the Crowd (Elia Kazan, 1957) 32. The Purple Rose of Cairo (Woody Allen, 1985) 33. The Quiet Man (John Ford, 1952) 34. Advise and Consent (Otto Preminger, 1962) 35. The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960) 36. The Caine Mutiny (Edward Dmytryk, 1953) 37. El Dorado (Howard Hawks, 1966) 38. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942) 39. Key Largo (John Huston, 1948) 40. Breaking Away (Peter Yates, 1979) 41. I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (Mervyn LeRoy, 1932) 42. The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock, 1963) 43. The Great Santini (Lewis John Carlino, 1979) 44. Paper Moon (Peter Bogdanovich, 1973) 45. Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950) 46. The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer, 1962) 47. To Be, Or Not to Be (Ernst Lubitsch, 1942) 48. For a Few Dollars More (Sergio Leone, 1965) 49. To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962) 50. Braveheart (Mel Gibson, 1995) 51. In the Heat of the Night (Norman Jewison, 1967) 52. Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976) 53. The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974) 54. Airplane! (Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker, 1980) 55. Patton (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1970) 56. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock. 1960) 57. Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz, 1945) 58. The Fountainhead (King Vidor, 1949) 59. White Heat (Raoul Walsh, 1949) 60. This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984) 61. Hud (Martin Ritt, 1963) 62. Demolition Man (Marco Brambilla, 1993) 63. Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick, 1957) 64. Charade (Stanley Donen, 1963) 65. Scent of a Woman (Martin Brest, 1992) 66. Cape Fear (J. Lee Thompson, 1962) 67. From Here to Eternity (Fred Zinneman, 1953) 68. Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks, 1974) 69. The Verdict (Sidney Lumet, 1980) 70. A Splendor in the Grass (Elia Kazan, 1961) 71. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) 72. High and Low (Akira Kurosawa, 1963) 73. High Noon (Fred Zinneman, 1952) 74. Ray (Taylor Hackford, 2004) 75. His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940) 76. Stalag 17 (Billy Wilder, 1952) 77. Dead Poets Society (Peter Weir, 1989) 78. Only the Lonely (Chris Columbus, 1991) 79. The Untouchables (Brian DePalma, 1987) 80. Elmer Gantry (Richard Brooks, 1960) 81. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1985) 82. Kingpin (Farrelly Bros., 1996) 83. Sorry, Wrong Number (Anatole Litvak, 1948) 84. The Little Thief (Claude Miller, 1989) 85. Papillon (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1973) 86. The Dirty Dozen (Robert Aldrich, 1967) 87. I Confess (Alfred Hitchcock, 1953) 88. Hoffa (Danny DeVito, 1992) 89. Citizen Ruth (Alexander Payne, 1996) 90. Ben Hur (William Wyler, 1959) 91. Ace in the Hole (Billy Wilder, 1951) 92. On Dangerous Ground (Nicholas Ray, 1952) 93. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (Joseph Manckiewicz, 1947) 94. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Don Siegel, 1957) 95. The Edge (Lee Tamhori, 1997) 96. The Hitch-Hiker (Ida Lupino, 1952) 97. Strangers On a Train (Alfred Hitchcock, 1951) 98. The Boys From Brazil (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1978) 99. Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992) 100.Carlito's Way (Brian DePalma, 1993)

"Metropolis" was THE reason I became a photographer! Karl Freund is my God!!!

Right now, I'm listening to Bruno Walter's live recording of Mahler's 9th, which was recorded at the Musikvereinssaal with the Vienna Philharmonic on 16 January 1938. It was Walter's (who was Jewish) last appearance with the VPO, as he fled for Paris immediately thereafter, seeing the Anschluss writing on the wall. This is my favorite recording, and is surprisingly "modern" sounding, despite being on 78s. Thanks for theMahler post -- it has made me dig out my tapes and vinyl recordings as well as my CDs.

Paul: Thanks for the kind words. It's nice not to have to be tolerated. You won't have to even tolerate my Texanism: I only reside here; I am a Goddamned Yankee, through and through: I was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in the Baltimore area. I have lived in Texas for eight years, and every Sunday in the fall and winter, I leave the house with my Washington Redskins sweatshirt on to start fights and shouting matches with the evil Dallas Cowboy fans! Ha ha! Also, you might be interested to know that I am an honorary Canadian, and a full member of the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 32, of Nipigon, Ontario. I served with some Army buddies in the Canadian Forces when I was stationed in Germany, and they invited me to become an RCL member.

Two questions: 1. Why were artists such as Waterhouse and Rosetti called PRE Raphaelites, when they came after him? 2. Has anyone ever heard Bernard Herrmann's incidental music to "La Belle Dame Sans Merci"? Is beyond beautiful!

Ed: Which Solti recording do you mean? The one with Chicago, or his more quicksilvery recording, with the London Symphony on Decca (hard to find, but I have a reel-to-reel in mint condish). Can't say I care for Herbert von Karajan in anything, but I never got around to hearing him conduct Mahler, so I can't say. When it comes to Mahler, there is nothing like hearing it live. So I've been told -- I've attended hundreds of concerts, but never Mahler! It's usually a big to-do, so is programmed seldom. I've seen my share of Sibelius, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Dvorak, though. The best I've heard of the "Titan" Symphony is Bruno Walter. He really grokked Mahler, learned from him directly. Of the "Resurrection" Symphony, my favorite was Ormandy's two recordings -- the one he did with the Minneapolis Symphony was the closest you can come to imagining Toscanini conduct Mahler (which he never did). The 1969 Philadelphia Orchestra recording is a tie for me with the Solti/LSO. I have only one recording of the Eighth, by Stokowski, so I cannot judge it against others. The greatest all-time recording of any Mahler Symphony was Erich Leinsdorf/Boston Symphony's recording of the Fifth -- Roger Voisin's trumpet is seering and soaring on that one, and the orchestra full of the proper Viennese sturm und drang to provide counterpoint with the brass, percussion and low strings. As for more recent conductors, I like Bernard Haitink; They should keep James Levine away from Mahler's scores.

In Barbara Branden's bio, she took "Rand" from her Remington Rand typewriter. However, I've been told by some IOS people that that is not accurate.

I am a "Concerned Visionary."

Welcome from Romania! How did you discover Ayn Rand s writings?

I found this site quite by accident, but am glad I did. I googled "The Objectivist Center" the other night, and though TOC came up first, a blog belonging to one Diana Hsieh came up second. After spending an hour at the latter, I felt like I needed to take a bath. Nonetheless, through a chain of links that popped up, I eventually worked my way over to here. Looked like a nice place to come, discuss issues and principles with people, and get an honest, forthright reply, but without the haranguing and blistering judgmentalism. I was a Teenage Objectivist, and I hung up my large-O objectivist cape in 1989. This was not because of many major disagreement with the philosophy, but mainly because -- to paraphrase Shakespeare -- there was more to be found between heaven and earth than lies in Ayn Rand's philosophy. On balance, though, I'd say my priniciples are objectivist. What do I do? First and foremost, I am a 41 year-old father of a 10-month old baby, Evan Bernard. He keeps me young, by default. Keeping up with him is a workout in itself. I am a professional photojournalist, having just left the military after 17 years, most of which were spent in the Army. I bicycle, I go hiking in the mountains of northern New Mexico and shoot stuff with both my Winchester 30.06 and my Rolleiflex SL-66. I also write for the New Individualist, which is published by TOC/Atlas Society (or, IOS, as I like to think of it). Back to Objectivism, I guess you can call my title "Apostate Objectivist," or "ex-Objectivist." Actually, I find it quite liberating, as it gives me a sort of diplomatic immunity -- I can't be excommunicated, because I already quit. These days, I'm a Robertist. BTW, I also decided to park my pants here because you guys were judicious in supporting Chris Sciabarra. I read his early bio of Rand, "The Russian Radical," and thought how nice it was an outsider is taking her intellectual development seriously. I am sorry that by stepping into the circle of official Objectivism, he got burned. He deserved better than that.