Ultra Swank - Retro Adventures

Music

The Beatles Fifty Years Later
Written by Patricia Greenwood in Music

The Beatles Fifty Years Later

With the 50th Anniversary of the British invasion of America via the Beatles upon us, I thought it apropos to take a walk down Memory Lane, remembering the highlights of Beatlemania in my own life. When the Beatles hit the Mainland in 1964, I had just turned six years old and my whole world was getting through 1st grade without getting my knuckles rapped by...

Guitar Legend: Al Viola
Written by Guest Writer in Interview

Guitar Legend: Al Viola

In 1992, I was performing extensively under the stage name Jimmy Ross through Orange and Los Angeles Counties as a solo pianist/vocalist entertainer and occasionally in jazz trio and quartet settings. I had just started a double emphasis graduate program in piano and vocal performance at California State University. I was performing two nights a week across the street from where Diana Krall was performing,...

A Revision of Italian Pop of the 1950s & 1960s

If you are familiar with Faith No More, then you probably know exactly who Mike Patton, the lead singer, is. Since the 1990s, Patton has worked on a multitude of projects and solo albums, including his 2010 release Mondo Cane. Mondo Cane is Patton’s version of Italian pop from the 1950s and 1960s, but with his own twist to the music. Patton was inspired by...

These Boots Are Made for Walkin’
Written by Patricia Greenwood in Fashion

These Boots Are Made for Walkin’

Before the advent of go-go boots, which arrived in America from Europe in the early 1960s, boot wearing for women was limited to outdoor activities and inclement weather. The go-go boot became a symbol for female empowerment and independence at a time when social equality movements were harbingers for styles and fashions. I suppose my love affair with boots began one evening in 1966 when...

Video

From Solsoulvideo comes ‘Larmes Dans La Pluie’, a nostalgic, melodic and dramatic voyage into the night, depicting melancholic Parisian inner city life set to the bittersweet melodies of swing, jazz, chanson and modal lounge tracks. The clips are taken from the 1967 Italian/French/American movie Woman Times Seven starring Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine and Peter Sellers. What do you daydream about today? ...

Remembering Bob Thompson – A Pioneer of Space Age Music

This morning I woke to the sad news of the passing of Bob Thompson. A composer, arranger, and orchestra leader who scored film and television soundtracks, and wrote commercial jingles. He was a leading exponent of Space Age Bachelor Pad Music. This experimental orchestral music became hugely popular in the 1950s and 1960s as a result of the home stereo systems that had become popular....

Video

It’s Friday and the weekend is around the corner. So what could be better than taking a weekend trip to a vintage flavored past-time London with its vibrant and bustling city scenes? Join Ultra Swank as we take in the sights of 1960s London – grabbing coffee at one of the Moka Bars, checking in at a prestigious Hotel, trying our luck at the casino and to finish it...

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