Artifacts

Wartime Colleagues Don Underwood and Jack Valenti

2016-08-16 By knowlengr

photo of Don Robert Underwood and Jack Valenti in Flight School — Jack Valenti (far left) and Don Underwood in Flight School or in theatre (undated)

Purely by luck, Don Robert went through flight school with Jack Valenti, and the two kept in touch over the years. (To family: Who has the letters?) For those who haven’t seen the PBS American Experience. Here is a snip from the transcript of the show’s episode on LBJ. The context? LBJ’s historic push to pass the Civil Rights Bill.

Jack Valenti, Special Assistant to the President: And he said to Dick Russell, ‘I want this Civil Rights Bill passed and you nor no one else is going to stand in my way.’ And I remember Richard Russell said to him, he said, ‘Well, Mr. President, you may do it, but I’ll tell you what — it’s going to cost you the South and it will cost you an election.’

While most people will remember Valenti as the head of the Motion Picture Association of America, Wikipedia recounts Valenti’s World War II career:

During World War II, he was a first lieutenant in the United States Army Air Force. Valenti flew 51 combat missions as the pilot-commander of a B-25 medium bomber and received four decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal.[1]

What we do know is that DRU was rather proud of the success his wartime colleague had in later life.

Chet Atkins Workshop

2016-04-17 By knowlengr

DRU was a big Chet Atkins fan, but this then-LP probably got more play from his oldest son, who had to get his own copy soon enough. According to the Wikipedia page on the album, it the studio was pretty bare by today’s standards, but the results speak for themselves. There is a review on AllMusic, which reports that this was Atkins’ best-selling album.

“. . . Much of [the studio] built by Atkins himself: a small maze of mixing panels, a three channel stereo tape recorder, a one channel recorder.”

The YouTube playlist linked to here may not remain up for long, so apologies in advance, but give this a try.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_qkxQTGaIA2Xk8AnSkeEnsPyX4Ttkihl

You can purchase the CD on Amazon.

DRU owned a guitar, but AFAIK he only played prior to the move to Edgemont. On the other hand, both Mark and Ross were struck by the bug.

Album Review:
Chet’s Best-Selling Album Still Performs Its Frown-drowning Magic

This is Mark’s review of the album (see also on Amazon’s page)

Wikipedia advises that, over the course of a highly productive recording career, this album was his best-seller. I am biased, but as one who owns perhaps half a dozen of his other albums, I must agree. I first heard this as a child (hence the sentimentality warning), but after being reminded of this album by a blog post, I sought out the CD on Amazon, and, while I don’t use the term lightly, I’m overjoyed.

Sure, the album has a “country” feel to its arrangements, drum parts bends, and to a lesser extent, the song choice. But the playing sounds so effortless, the delay, tremelo and reverb effects in this pre-electronics era are light years ahead of their time (obviously he educated himself by studying Les Paul closely). “Goofus,” and “Whispering” own their country roots, while “Lambeth Walk,” and “Theme from ‘A Summer Place” reach for a broader audience.

If electric guitar timbre is as important to your listening pleasure as the notes, the combination of good song selection, playing and recording excellence will not disappoint. The Gretsch (assuming it’s used throughout) shows its variety across high, low and midrange, In “Tammy,” you’ll hear it put to full, grinning, use.

Thanks for buying that record, I’d say to my late Dad (but I don’t recommend vinyl!).

Lil’ Darlin’

2016-02-29 By admin

Once he became an empty-nester, DRU resumed a fascination with cars from his pre-family days. Gone were the pragmatic VW Microbus (’56 and ’60) and GMC truck. and a succession of vehicles began that perhaps Kris can recite for us.

Most notable among these was his Ford 1930 Model A, which he worked to restore in the late 90’s and beyond.