TEQUILLA

Wow - what do you know. I turn my back for a minute and six days have flown by. Well, clearly Autumn has begun. I am so very fine with that. Somehow I managed to mis the news of the passing of no other than Danny Flores. Who was Danny Flores you may ask. He was the composer of the mega-huge 1958 hit "Tequilla". One online article described it as a " classic instrumental" which "featured Flores' instantly recognizable saxophone line and his periodic growl of the sole lyric – "Tequila!". It has to be one of the most famous songs of al time with that classic "ba dum budda badum bahdum - ba dum budda badum buhm ...tequilla!" Unfortunately, its states in the article that he sold the rights to the song for a pittance.

I caught an intriguing film on Tuner Classic Movies last night. It was titled "Death of A Cyclist" though it seems to have had several different titles including "The Age of Infidelity" and "Egoisti". Though it seems to have been panned during it's initial release, the film has aged well and I really enjoyed it. Here's how the NYTimes describes it "Originally titled Muerte de un Ciclista (Death of a Cyclist), it is a Spanish-filmed guilt trip with overtones of social upheaval. The young wife (Lucia Bose) of an older industrialist inaugurates an affair with a university professor. While driving from their trysting place, the adulterous couple runs down and a cyclist. They can't go to help him without exposing their affair, so the cyclist is left to die on the side of the road. The consequences of this act destroys the lovers' lives -- but not before director Juan Antonio Bardem has illustrated the shallow upper-class lifestyle that has fostered the woman's amorality in the first place. Shorn of its sociological implications (which incurred the wrath of the Spanish press), the plotline of Age of Infidelity was later cannibalized for innumerable American TV dramas, and for the 1965 Theatre Five radio playlet "Ride to Nowhere."
There is one brilliant and visually riveting scene where the leads are visiting a flamenco club together which makes the whole film worthwhile in my opinion. Also, you can't help but be entranced by Lucia Bose (Ms. Italy 1947), is stunningly beautiful and seductive in the lead role.

Lucia Bose circa 1952

Here is my latest work which I finished yesterday:


"Eyewitness"
36" x 48"
acrylic on canvas

Now, it is time to begin my new work for my friend Randi Rhodes, who has commissioned me to paint her portrait.