Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Max Pillar and His Orchestra feat. Sally King

Artist: Max Pillar and His Orchestra feat. Sally King
LP: Where Dreams Come True
Song: "They Don't Care"
[ listen ]

Did you know that the Seattle Space Needle is where dreams come true? They probably come true in the fancy and expensive circular restaurant up there at the top. The entire restaurant rotates a full 360° every 30 seconds or something, so that people will have a panoramic view of the city while they eat their dinner. So if that's your dream, it comes true!

The trouble is, the cover of this 1961 LP by Seattle legend Max Pillar sticks the Space Needle somewhere over in West Seattle instead of at the site of the 1962 World's Fair. It looks like it's right where Salty's is supposed to be. So if you've ever wanted the West Seattle Salty's to be displaced by the Space Needle, well then that dream comes true too. Vocals on two album tracks, including "They Don't Care," are nicely handled by big band singer Sally King, who just passed away last August. Her obituary, with lots of biographical information and some neat photos from her career, can be found here

You can go here to read the briefest biography of Max Pillar, go here to read the Seattle Times obituary for Mary Pillar, Max's wife of 38 years, and there's a neat article here from 1993 about the closing of Parker's Ballroom on Aurora, where Max Pillar and His Orchestra used to play regular gigs. Parker's opened in 1930 and was a Seattle music hot spot for decades, but in 1993 it got turned into a sports bar—a sports bar where dreams come true.

 [ Max Pillar: 1913 — 2002 ]

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