Today is when I learned that RuPaul already has three Christmas records and this new 2o23 “Essential Christmas” is a remastered and remixed greatest-hits collection. Of course, I don’t have a CD in hand. Like everyone else these days, I’m streaming the first thirty seconds of various tracks until I find one I like. This is the first one I hit that lets Ru’s personality come through without overtaxing his range. I’d definitely put it on the Christmas party spin list.
Most folks recognize Fran Drescher’s exaggerated Queens accent from “The Nanny.” I think it’s safe to say she heightens it for comedy, especially the nasal quality, but at the core, it’s how she talks. Here’s an interview from 2018.
Of course, Drescher’s an actress, so she’s learned to ramp it up – or tamp it down – as needed. In her film debut, 1977’s “Saturday Night Fever” it’s not quite so exaggerated when John Travolta abandons her on the dance floor.
Mark Elliott passed away April 4, 2021. If you grew up watching white clamshell VHS prints of Disney movies, Mark’s voice is forever part of your childhood.
OK, most of 1992’s “Lethal Weapon 3” was made in and around Los Angeles, but the building that goes boom at the beginning is the old City Hall in Downtown Orlando. Here’s Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, and their stunt doubles running out of “International Control Systems Inc.” You can even see a WFTV 9 live truck on the left side of the screen, but the mast is down, so it couldn’t have been going “live.”
Today, that area isn’t far from what most people call the giant asparagus statue, although it’s officially the Tower of Light.
And here’s the moment, captured forever on the backglass of the Lethal Weapon 3 pinball machine.
Wrapping up (get it?) my series of posts about Christmas music with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and Grammy-winner Darlene Love. Love is one of producer Phil Spector’s discoveries and featured on 1963’s “A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector” album. That record still sounds great, but we now know that Spector is a monster and a literal murderer. I’d rather think of happier things on Christmas, so let’s focus on Love. From her official YouTube channel, here’s an animated video for “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”
In 1986, Love first appeared on “Late Night with David Letterman” to sing her signature holiday tune. Between Letterman’s NBC show and “Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS, Darlene Love performed “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” 28 times. (The scaled-down tradition continues on “The View.”) Here’s a Leterman supercut through the years.
“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” has since been covered by both Mariah Carey and Cher, who is rumored to be a back-up singer on the original. Another rumor is that Love helped out U2 with their version by singing back-up herself.