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[bk]

Back from the long jog.  My lower back was really killing me yesterday and I didn't think I would jog today, but amazingly the jog worked it out and I'm totally fine now.  Gonna sit in the jacuzzi in a moment.

Meanwhile, Donald is putting up a new radio show today so check it out!

[MBarnum]

Just read the 1950s singer Yma Sumac passed away.









Yma Sumac, the Peruvian-born singer whose spectacular multi-octave vocal range and exotic persona made her an international sensation in the 1950s, has died. She was 86.

Sumac, who was diagnosed with colon cancer in February, died Saturday in an assisted living facility in Silver Lake, said Damon Devine, her personal assistant and close friend.

Bursting onto the American music scene after signing with Capitol Records in 1950, the raven-haired Sumac was known as the "Nightingale of the Andes," the "Peruvian Songbird" and a "singing marvel" with a 4 1/2 -octave (she said five-octave) voice.

"She is five singers in one," boasted Moises Vivanco, her composer-arranger husband, in a 1951 interview with the Associated Press. "Never in 2,000 years has there been another voice like hers."

After Sumac performed at the Shrine Auditorium with a company of dancers, drummers and musicians in 1955, a Los Angeles Times writer observed: "She warbles like a bird in the uppermost regions, hoots like an owl in the lowest registers, produces bell-like coloratura passages one minute, and exotic, dusky contralto tones the next."

Sumac's first album for Capitol, "Voice of the Xtabay," soared to the top of the LP charts. A handful of other albums followed during the `50s.

With her exotic beauty, elaborate costumes and singing voice that could imitate the cries of birds and wild animals, the woman who claimed to be a descendant of an ancient Incan emperor offered Eisenhower-era audiences something unique.

During her 1950s heyday, Sumac sang at the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall and Royal Albert Hall. She reportedly made $25,000 a week in Las Vegas and turned down offers to sing with New York's Metropolitan Opera.

She was featured in the 1951 Broadway musical "Flahooley" and appeared in the films "Secret of the Incas" in 1954 and "Omar Khayyam" in 1957.

Although details of her birth date and early life vary widely, Devine said Sumac was born Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chavarri del Castillo in Cajamarca, Peru, on Sept. 13, 1922.

She later said she began singing when she was about 9.

After joining Vivanco's large group of native singers, dancers and musicians, she made her radio debut in 1942; she and Vivanco were married the same year.

In Argentina in 1943, she and Vivanco's group recorded a series of Peruvian folk songs. By then, she was known professionally as Imma Sumack (Capitol Records later changed the spelling).

In 1946, she and her husband moved to New York City, where they performed as the Inca Taky Trio, with Vivanco on guitar, Sumac singing soprano and her cousin, Cholita Rivero, singing contralto and dancing.

After making her name as a solo artist, Sumac toured around the world for several years in the `60s, but her popularity in America had waned by then.

In 1971, she recorded a psychedelic rock album that was not widely released, "Miracles," and "semi-retired" to Peru later in the decade -- at least that's what she always said.

"That's the legend that she stuck with all through these decades," Devine, who runs the Sumac website yma-sumac.com, told The Times shortly before Sumac's death. "She didn't want people to know she was here and not working. The story was good for her. She's a very eccentric woman. . . . Her whole career and life is based on her mystery and so the facts and fiction is a fine line with her." Sumac, however, did return to performing in 1984 at the Vine Street Bar & Grill and the Cinegrill in Hollywood. In the early `90s, she toured in Europe and continued to perform until 1997.

"The younger generation loves the music, loves Yma," Sumac told the Tampa Tribune in 1996. "The new generation told me many times: 'Miss Yma, we love you. Your music is something. It's out of this world.' "

Sumac, who was divorced and remarried to Vivanco in the late `50s and divorced from him again in 1965, is survived by their son, Charles, who lives in Europe, and three sisters, who live in Peru.

Services will be private.

[Ginny]

Back from my early voting adventure.  Forty minutes, which I didn't think was bad at all.

Now I'm going in the other room to watch skating and prop my feet up.

[bk]

Had a nice Jacuzzi and will now relax until the matinee.  I did the weekly weigh - two pounds lost, so I'm happy.  Actually, just another seven pounds and I'm pretty much done with this phase of the diet.  At that point, I'll probably cut back the jog to five days a week rather than seven.

[Jane]

Thanks DR Danise & DD Sheena.

DR FJL, Thank you.

[Jane]

I'm back from a lovely walk in the neighborhood.  The dirt trail was comfortably soft from the rains without being muddy.  The sun was shinning & the mountains were autumn orange.

[George]

~~~Even More Vibes for DD Sherlock!!~~~

[TCB]

Just read the 1950s singer Yma Sumac passed away.

I am not saying it was true, but my mother who was a singer, a pianist, and later a music teacher; said that she had been told by friends in the industry that Yma Sumac actually just reversed her real name (Amy Camus) and claimed to be from Peru, instead of the mid-west.

[George]

Well, it's been a lazy day so far, but no more.  I need to take a shower, get dressed in my usher clothes, go to my sister's to help her move a large piece of exercise equipment into her garage, then go to the Washington Center to usher for S.O.G.O., the Student Orchestras of Greater Olympia.  That starts at 4:00 pm, but I need to be there by 2:30. 

[George]

After the ushering (however long it takes), I'll be off to my parents' house for some lasagna and if there's time, I will swap out some of their light fixtures.  That shouldn't be difficult, but if it's too late in the evening, we'll have to figure the easiest way to turn off the power to swap out the fixtures, but have some other light source so that I can see what the heck I'll be doing...otherwise, it shouldn't take long.

[George]

So, I'm off.  Have a good day, all!

[Matt H.]

It eventually became warmer outside than in the house, so open came the doors and windows. I'm warming the house up instead of cooling it down!

[Matt H.]

I began my afternoon with Thursday night's SMALLVILLE which I watched as I cooked and ate lunch. Good episode though it looks like CHloe is up to something nefarious.

[Matt H.]

Then, I watched my work disc for the day: the new Criterion release of FANFAN LA TULIPE. I had never seen it before, and it's a rollicking romp that's a pleasure from beginning to end. Kind of a cross between TOM JONES and THE THREE MUSKETEERS, I truly enjoyed it even if it did have about three endings. Beautiful transfer, too.

[Matt H.]

This must be one of Criterion's "budget" releases (29.95) because there were really only three bonus features and that including the trailer and a bit of the 1997 colorized version of the movie.

I despise colorization, but I have to admit this excerpt is the best example of it I've ever seen, much better than any American film colorized methods that I've seen.

[Matt H.]

I concluded my afternoon (as I folded the laundry) watching an episode from season three of THE CLOSER. This was the one where Brenda and Gabriel have a serious difference of opinion over her arresting someone he feels should be given a pass on his crime due to all the good he has done for the community.

The upconverted image, by the way, is one of the best I've ever seen from a sDVD, especially for a television show.

[Matt H.]

Since I should have some time tonight before TRUE BLOOD, I may try to watch 27 DRESSES which I recorded off HBO-HD. I assume it recorded. I forgot to check. It comes on again tonight at 6:30, but I'm not sure I'll be downstairs by that time.

[Jane]

Thank you DR George.

[Jane]

Just read the 1950s singer Yma Sumac passed away.

I am not saying it was true, but my mother who was a singer, a pianist, and later a music teacher; said that she had been told by friends in the industry that Yma Sumac actually just reversed her real name (Amy Camus) and claimed to be from Peru, instead of the mid-west.

"That's the legend that she stuck with all through these decades,"

Maybe 

[Matt H.]

I'm hopping off-line now to write up my work disc of the day. Then, it's downstairs for more viewing pleasures.

WBBL.

[bk]

I shall now be on my way to a matinee, after which I shall return, and hopefully to a few more pages of postings.

[JoseSPiano]

Good Afternoon!

Wow! The sun sure seemed to set earlier today. 

[JoseSPiano]

The Mass of Runners, Families, Friends and Onlookers along Central Park West was AMAZING! And INSPIRING too!

My brother's girlfriend finished in just over five hours - 5:04 - which was a great time considering she hadn't been training for a marathon in about four years.  My other friends did rather well too, with one of breaking his personal best and finishing in 3:45!!

[JoseSPiano]

Pardon my lack of syntax. My fingers are still a little cold. And correcting posts on/via my iPhone is sometimes more effort than it's worth. 

[JoseSPiano]

DR Jane - Most races use a "chip" system now to track their participants. Each runner is given a tracking device - the chip - that they attach to their shoes (usually through the laces).  This allows the race officials to track the progress of the runners, as well to provide a more accurate record of when they cross the Finish Line - and the Start Line.  -Which is very important when you have 39,000+ runners starting over the span of 90 minutes.

Some runners even have a "lucky chip", and will use the same chip from race to race - as long as the transmitter is still working. They just have to register their chip number for each new race.

[JoseSPiano]

DR Danise - Good to hear that you're getting your new computer system up and running. *Of course, the easiest way to deal with Windows programs on a Mac is just to learn the Mac equivalents. 

-I forget - Why and for how long are you going to Pittsburgh?

[TCB]

Just read the 1950s singer Yma Sumac passed away.

I am not saying it was true, but my mother who was a singer, a pianist, and later a music teacher; said that she had been told by friends in the industry that Yma Sumac actually just reversed her real name (Amy Camus) and claimed to be from Peru, instead of the mid-west.

"That's the legend that she stuck with all through these decades,"

Maybe 

Yeah, maybe!  My mom had a lot of these behind the scene stories.

[JoseSPiano]

I just had a very funny phone conversation with my brother Randy. We are both wondering when the hell that property closing's going to happen,and we talked a bit about putting the property up for sale with a realtor. He makes laugh, and I really do miss him and JoAnn.

It's not being sold through a realtor now?

[FJL]

Maybe they mean a real realtor???

[FJL]

What the frell that means, I have no idea