#late night with david letterman

[oldshowbiz]

[doppleganger-rental]

Writer Joe Furey of the Letterman show had this short but prophetic bit back in the day.

[fatmagic]

[krispyweiss]

“A Great Loss:” Saxophonist David Sanborn Dies at 78

Saxophonist David Sanborn, who recorded smooth jazz as a solo artist and toured and recorded with David Bowie, Todd Rundgren, Steely Dan and others as a sideman, has died.

“May the great David Sanborn rest in love and peace,” Rundgren’s Spirit of Harmony Foundation said.

Sanborn, 78, died May 12 of complications from prostate cancer, said a post on his Facebook page. The saxophonist had continued performing since his 2018 diagnosis and “already had concerts scheduled into 2025,” the post read.

“David Sanborn was a seminal figure in contemporary pop and jazz music,” the announcement read. “It has been said that he put the saxophone back into rock ‘n’ roll.”

Fernando Perdomo echoed this sentiment, crediting Sanborn with “defin(ing) the sax’s role in pop and rock in the ’70s and ’80s.”

Questlove recalled being “floored” by a Sanborn show in Colorado, where the saxophonist made the drummer “feel like a complete amateur” despite playing an instrument that requires a significant amount of oxygen at altitude.

“He told me that since being diagnosed with cancer, he got a renewed vigor … and decided henceforth to play like his life depended on it,” Questlove said. “Amen, David. Rest in melody.”

Sanborn played Woodstock with the Butterfield Blues Band and went on to a career that included more than two dozen solo albums, gigs with the “Late Night with David Letterman” and “Saturday Night Live” bands and collaborations with Bowie, Rundgren, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, B.B. King, Maynard Ferguson, Linda Ronstadt, Elton John and others.

“RIP, David S.,” Eric Clapton said.

The members of Spyro Gyra found themselves “shocked and beyond sad” at the news, while band leader Jay Beckenstein eulogized Sanborn as “a truly great saxophonist and musician, one of the most influential of my lifetime and an artist who had an extraordinary ability to play emotionally.

“Whatever he touched, whether jazz, gospel or pop, his approach was beautiful and powerful,” Beckenstein said. “A great loss."

5/13/24

[bitter69uk]

“As a sexual persona, Bernhard is unique in the contemporary arts. She is completely American. No other country can produce this kind of brashly individualistic woman, harsh, aggressive, raunchy and physical, with an imagination drenched in thirty flamboyant years of popular culture … Sandra Bernhard has Lenny Bruce’s brooding menace and quick, razor-sharp mind. She re-creates the brainy neuroticism and earthy sensuality of Beatnik women, with their gloomy hipster realism. By her gutsy insistence on singing – in an ever-improving but often thin or fractured voice – Bernhard has rejoined stand-up to its origins in vaudeville, where music and comedy were brassily interwoven … she has the sophisticated worldliness of gay men and the gorgeous theatricality of drag queens … Bernhard embraces the great female personae excluded by the prudish Steinem politburo: bitch, stripper, whore, lady, fashion model …”

/ Camille Paglia’s musings from her think piece “The Female Lenny Bruce: Sandra Bernhard” in the San Francisco Examiner, 6 December 1992 /

Happy birthday to perennially fierce and in-your-face comedienne, singer, actress, authoress, conceptualist, performance artist and Playboy playmate - the divine Sandra Bernhard (born 6 June 1955)! How fitting she was born during pride month! Like so many Gen X-ers, Bernhard first came to my attention as a teenager when she was a regular anarchic (or as The Village Voice put it, “rivetingly obnoxious”) presence on Late Night with David Letterman. And seeing her 1990 film Without You I’m Nothing in a nearly empty cinema (was it The ByTowne? The Mayfair?) as a university student in Ottawa, Ontario blew my freaking mind. Pictured: portrait by Timothy White (circa late 1980s, I estimate?).

[popclture]

Ralph Macchio on Late Night with David Letterman (1992)

[greensparty]

Remembering David Sanborn 1945-2024

Saxophonist David Sanborn has died at 78. In addition to his own solo music, he collaborated with loads of musicians including James Taylor (that's him on "How Sweet It Is (to be Loved by You)"), Stevie Wonder, Todd Rundgren, David Bowie (that's his epic sax on "Young Americans"), Bruce Springsteen (he played on "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out"), The Rolling Stones, and Mick Jagger among many others. I remember seeing him sit in with the band on Late Night with David Letterman and 70's SNL episodes too.

In addition to his numerous movie soundtrack contributions, he appeared in some films as a musician too, like as a street musician in Scrooged. He also hosted the late night music show Night Music with Jools Holland from 1988-1990.

The link above is the obit from Hollywood Reporter.

[retropopcult]

Years before the Commentary Tracks on commercial DVDs but popular on marketed laserdiscs at the time, this rerun from May 9, 1985, features various video asides by Dave taped 3 1/2 years later and aired on December 30, 1988.

The reason Letterman did this commentary show instead of a new one was due to a writer’s strike, much like the current one with no new shows being produced.

[cchsunday]

i need this more than oxygen in my lungs

[oldshowbiz]

Sandra Bernhard bumps Senor Wences

[doppleganger-rental]

1988. I loved that Letterman guitarist Sid McGinnis rocked the yellow shoes/guitar combo.

[fatmagic]

[living-space-design]

[plakatierenverboten]

Iggy Pop: Real Wild Child (Late Night with David Letterman, 1987)

[bitter69uk]

Believe it or not, I got sucked into watching the new Netflix documentary about Martha Stewart. My memory about her saga was hazy, especially the legal insider trading scandal. Considering Stewart herself participated, the doc was surprisingly, frankly "warts and all.” (Having said that, the filmmakers let Martha freely disparage her ex-husband and ex-boyfriend of fifteen years, but I was thinking, I would be curious to hear THEIR side of the story, too!). Who Stewart ultimately reminded me of was Betty Draper from Mad Men (imagine frosty impeccable obsessed-with-appearances “Betts” rising to the top as a powerful CEO). Stewart was clearly a blunt, no-nonsense business genius. It raised interesting questions about why we expect her to also be "likable", “humble” and "relatable" too. (I wouldn't want to be on her staff, mind you). Her stint in prison clearly made Stewart a better person. And I completely forgot about her doing the Comedy Central roast for Justin Bieber. Who knew she was so funny – and filthy? Anyway, last night YouTube “recommended" to me an ancient clip of David Letterman reflecting on the 2003 made-for-TV biopic Martha Inc: The Story of Martha Stewart starring the perfectly cast Cybill Shepherd (pictured). Letterman showed little snippets from it (mostly of Stewart berating underlings) to roars of laughter. The highlight: Martha drives up to a woman jogging (an employee who’s having an affair with Stewart’s husband) and screams "Hey, slut! I'm writing your mother a letter telling her you're a whore!” and speeds away. It’s an outrageously campy moment worthy of John Waters and Mink Stole and Shepherd NAILS it. (If Kathleen Turner had been unavailable for Serial Mom (1994), Shepherd would have been a viable alternative for Beverly Sutphin). So, imagine my heartbreak to discover Martha Inc isn’t streaming anywhere in the UK! Not even a grainy pixelated version on YouTube. It’s a hate crime!