Rant #3,606: My "Quiet Village"

I watched TV all day about that horrific incident in New Orleans in the early hours of New Year's Day.

What happened is truly sickening--15 people dead and many more injured when a pickup truck drove through a crowd on Bourbon Street a 3 a.m. in the morning--and I am sure the FBI will get down to the bottom of this.

And they had better do it quickly, because two major sporting events being held in New Orleans--the Sugar Bowl and the Super Bowl--and people need to be protected from such insanity.

And Mardis Gras is coming up too.

The Sugar Bowl was postponed from yesterday to today, and it might have to be postponed again, because possible accomplices to the driver of the truck remain on the loose.

It all spells out to a terroristic attack, and a very bad way to begin 2025.

Let's move on to something a bit lighter ...

Chanukah 2025 is over, and I had a much better holiday this year as compared to last year.

I was able to really participate, able to walk over to the menorah to say the prayer and light the candles, and able to enjoy the holiday to its fullest.

Among the gifts I received from my family for Chanukah were a couple of gift cards, and I have started using them to fortify, and add to, my record collection.

One of the records I purchased using the gift cards was a single by someone who just about everyone knows--

But knows as a child, not for what she did as an adult.

The single is by Darla Hood, the lead female in the middle Little Rascals/Our Gang group of movie shorts.

Once she was too old for the series and left it in the late 1930s, she was in a few movies, got married and raised a family, and pretty much became a lounge singer, releasing nine singles in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

I had heard that one of these singles, "My 'Quiet Village,'" was a strange, yet interesting record, so I figured that using the gift card on it was a no-brainer.

I found the 1959 recording for a good price, purchased it, and it came in the mail earlier this week.

Yes, it is a strange song, what they call "exotica" or "lounge" music, but if nothing else, it is one of the most atmospheric records I have ever heard.

Here it is on YouTube ... tell me what you think. 

https://youtu.be/GxHn7DppYME?si=El8Q7A2z0RlwBPgZ

The B side, "Red Dress," actually sounds like Hood is channeling one of her contemporaries as a child and as an adult, Judy Garland.

Hood died at an early age from complications stemming from surgery, but she lives on in those wonderful shorts.

(And as an aside, no, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, the off-tone singer of the troupe, never released a record under his own name.)

Anyway, I sure hope that things get back to normal in New Orleans.

My wife and I honeymooned there in 1993, and we have great memories of that city and the people there.

Here is my personal wish for a quick rebound!