Mildred Bailey Tribute show update- The Mildred Bailey tribute show was repeated at the Coeur d'Alene Casino on 11/15/2018. The show was again a smashing success, featuring Cecilia Curtis beautifully singing the role of Mildred Bailey and Gary A. Edwards playing the role of bandleader Paul Whiteman, performing Mildred Bailey songs like Lazybones by Hoagy Carmichael with a seven piece band, including Mary Chavez piano, Eugene Jablonski bass, Brad Ard guitar, Steve Croteau drum set, Keith LaMott Trumpet, David Stultz trombone and Craig Landron on tenor sax doubling on clarinet. Now I’m writing a movie called Mildred Bailey: Rockin’ Chair Lady. We went to Tekoa where Mildred was born and talked to some people who run the Empire Theater including Dan Rosey and Cheryl Morgan. Through Cheryl, we got in touch with Mildred Bailey’s niece Julia Rinker-Miller who owns her intellectual property rights and is excited about the film idea. We are in discussions with two non-profits about doing the Mildred Bailey show as fundraiser concerts. If you would like to help set up a concert for the Mildred Bailey tribute in North Idaho or Spokane areas or have any questions about investing in the Mildred Bailey film project, please email me at gedward@roadrunner.com
A Stitch in Time Update– My writing partner Claude Solnik produced a second public review in NYC on November 10th. It went very well.
The Green Book Movie Review – We recently went to see this movie and enjoyed it immensely. It is about a sophisticated black pianist who wants to take his trio on a tour in the deep South in 1962. He hires an Italian-American to be his driver and bodyguard. They use the Green Book as a guide that tells them where black people are welcome to sleep, eat and use the bathroom. Although the two were initially distrustful, the movie eventually turns into a buddy type road trip movie. The acting is superb, the scenes are reminiscent of when I took a trip to the deep South in 1954 and was shocked at how poorly black people were treated.
Love Medicine - each chapter in this book features the point of view of a different person and is about the contemporary lives of Chippewa Native-Americans. Like most books related to Native-Americans it is a depressing picture of alcoholism, suicide, depression, poverty and hopelessness. I found it very interesting.
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Yours,
Gary A. Edwards