The incredible Grace Jones turned 76 one month ago today. Did you know that in 1968 she worked in Philadelphia as a go-go dancer under the name Grace Mendoza? Imagine happening upon her then! And while modeling in Paris in the 1970s, Jones roomed with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. There's lots more you can learn about Grace Jones right here.
Charles Magnante was an American piano-accordionist, arranger, composer, author, and educator who first began performing with his amateur musician father, singing at weddings and dances, at the young age of five. By the time he was seven, he had learned to play his father's accordion, and, fewer than ten years later, he was being offered opportunities to play with various orchestras...opportunities he turned down at the time in order to focus on his studies.
By the 1940s, Charles was leading a successful trio that also featured George Wright at the organ and Tony Mottola on guitar. (Mottola and his guitar are also featured on the recordings collected for this LP.) Magnante worked to expand the types of music that featured the accordion beyond the stereotypical Italian-American "O Sole Mio" image that audiences of the era always expected to hear. The "bright and sparkling new sounds" featured on this 1961 "Percussion Italiano" LP do, indeed, seem to break free of that old tradition.
All the information above about Charles Magnante—and more—can be found at Wikipedia here. Did you know accordionist Charles Magnante was also an avid big game hunter? He wrote articles detailing his hunting expeditions that were published in hunting magazines!
When I was in junior high, my friend Denny Kibbe and I were always excited when we got to visit Tower Records in Seattle. We usually had a hard time finding the place, but once we did we would spend hours inside, just digging through all of their 7" singles. Here's one that I picked up back then, in 1984. Having never heard of I Am Siam, I selected it solely because of its cover.
Even now there's not much information about the band online. Their bio on LastFM tells us what we already know, and provides no information about the group:
With the New Wave scene so active in the mid-eighties, many one-hit-wonders appeared on the charts for a brief, one-time stab at the big time. I Am Siam was one of those. Their record "Talk to Me" received only limited club and radio play, and the band faded from the scene as quickly as they appeared.
I should note that other online sources indicate I Am Siam was a trio based in NYC.
Here's another one of the singles I was forced to purchase with my recent Discogs order from Europe so that my total order cost would be worthy of overseas shipping. According to Wikipedia, Snoopy was a short-lived Dutch disco duo formed in 1978, featuring Ethel Mezas and Florence Woerdings...until Florence left in 1979 and was replaced by Maureen Seedorf. In any case, Snoopy "ceased activities" in 1980, just two years after they had formed. "It's All In the Bible" was released in 1979, so one of those lovely ladies on the cover could still be Florence, or instead she might actually be Maureen. In any case, this song was a top-10 hit in both Belgium (peaked at no. 9) and The Netherlands (no. 10).
