Venturing out in search of a longtime favorite

NE OF the great

benefits to being an

arts critic — apart
from the fabulous money
involved — is that we don’t
have to pay for most of our
entertainment.

The flood of free tickets and

recordings we get, for example,
should normally keep us happily

out of the music stores — even in
the event of a big sale.

But this arrangement has its
drawbacks too because it means
that some faceless marketing ex-
ecutive or publicist, burdened
with overstock, gets to choose
whether we end up in the
nosebleed seats at the Orpheum
or which CDs will be added to our
collections.

It was while in mind of this
blessing-cum-curse that ! ventured
‘forth and actually bought this
week’s feature recording — An
Evening With Fred Astaire, from

«the Elite/PolyTel label. Fred is one
of my longtime favorites but has
remained stubbornly absent from
my freebee pile.

So, newly purchased disc in
hand, | went happily home leok-
ing forward to an evening with, of
course, Fred Astaire, and the no
less than 31 selections promised
by the CD jacket. They’ re all fa-
miliar favorites too from com-

APRIL IS a month that separates
the wine from the lees, what with
the city’s premier oenological
event, The Vancouver Playhouse
International Wine Festival, loom-
ing April 21 to 25.

(Training tips: forget mineral
_water and running laps; that’s for-
‘marathoners. Wine-lovers should
be working out — by practising
the Cork Toss. Just like the shot
put, only a lot more fun.)

Besides, throughout the month,

_LDB outlets at Park Royal,
Ambleside and Caulfeild will be
participating in a promotion of
New Zealand wines that offers a

chance to win a trip to New
Zealand next February (when it’s

EASTER A

Display Advertising

Ross MacDonald
MUSIC REVIEW

posers like Gershwin, Porter,
Berlin and friends — but what |
soon discovered is that all | had
instead is the soundtrack from a
television special recorded -~
more’s the pity — in 1960,

On the surface you might not
see the problem, but | find it per-
sonally frustrating to be given con-
siderably less than one minute
each from an abundance of great
songs separated, as these are, by
the annoying applause of some
over-zealous — and, no doubt,
prompted — studio audience of a
generation ago.

A little arithmetic applied to the
printed timing info tells us that the
31 songs we happily expected ac-
tually end up covering a mere 27
minutes total time.

Another annoyance about this
CD is that — being the soundtrack
from some big budget and proba-
bly badly decorated television af-
fair — we are treated to the

constant blare of a typical — and
uncredited — TV orchestra of the
period. ... You know the kiad, the
heavy brass bunch who have
never even heard of dynamics yet
who somehow still manage to sur-
vive on popular late-night talk
shows. This musical mayhem car-
ries over to Fred, of course, who
ends up firing off everything, from
the delicate Cheek to Cheek to the
fluid Night and Day, at full bore,

Like se many others, | assume, |
was duped by Elite/PolyTel’s
packaging strategy which is or-
chestrated so much niore effec-
tively than the music inside. The
cover bears no information about
this being a television soundtrack
and the photo of Fred they use
looks like vintage ‘50s to rne. The
only hint at all that there might be
something amiss comes from the
fact that the word “‘medleys”’
appears over the song list on the
back.

1 had noticed this curious termi-
nology while in the record store,
but with no time indicators or any-
thing else to go by, | figured that |
would at least get medieys of the
original movie versions, But better
to have kept my eye on PBS for
the next Fred Astaire special than
pay oui for this sadly wantin
soundtrack. From now on | think
Ill just wait for my usual freebies
to roll in and save all that fabulous
money for batter things — like a
poke in eye.

promoting kiwi products

tres froid here) to attend the
Marlborough Wine and Food Fes-
tival, not to mention runner-up
prizes of four-course dinners here
in Vancouver, featuring New

980-0511

issue
Friday, Apr. 9
Sunday, Apr. 71 -

agline
Mon., Aor. 5, tiam
Tues., Apr. 6, 4pm_

. Wednesday, Apr.14  Thurs., Apr. 8, 4pm

Classified Advertising |

Fri., April 9
Sunday, Apr. 11

986-6222

Beadiine

Issue
- Friday, Apr. 9
Friday, Apr. 16

Wed., April 7,12noon
Thurs., April 8,12noon

Zealand grub and plonk.

Both the Stoneleigh Sauvignon
Blanc ($9.95) and the Longridge
Hawkes Bay Chardonnay ($9.95)
have been recommended by
Yours Truly for offering Califor-
nia-style quality at a sane price.

A glance at the LDB Guide sug-
gests some of these products may
be suffering from delusions of
grandeur, but it’s worth trolling
the shallows for bargains, (Try the
Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc at
$12.95.)

Enter the contest: somebody has
to win, right? You have a year to
practise ordering ‘‘fush ‘n chups”’
so the Kiwis wull understand you.

by John Moore

Real Estate
985-6982

Deadline
Mon., Apr. 5, 11am
Tues., Apr. 13, 4pm

Wednesday, April 14 = Tues., April 13th, {2noonf’

Classified display follows Display
Advertisings deadlines

THM VOICE OF NOFTTH AMD WEST VANCOUVER

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