Classic American West Coast Boxing

[Rick Farris]

Thanks for putting that up. I know our pal Bennie might not see eye to eye with us,but if you can't find a good time in Paris I wouldn't know what to tell ya'.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Roger. . . I think you and I would have fun just about any place where there's women.

[bennie]

Thanks for putting that up. I know our pal Bennie might not see eye to eye with us,but if you can't find a good time in Paris I wouldn't know what to tell ya'.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Roger. . . I think you and I would have fun just about any place where there's women.

Lol. Hey, I'm off to a school reunion in my old hometown of Loughborough today (about 80 miles from where I live now). It is a 30-year reunion (we all left in 1979) and a long weekend job. By the time I get back on Monday this will all be a beautiful blur.

[kikibalt]

For all the ladies out there

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvwfLe6sLis
The Ink Spots

"If I Didn't Care"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-nb_AY4poI
"The Gypsy"

The Ink Spots

[Rick Farris]

Thanks for putting that up. I know our pal Bennie might not see eye to eye with us,but if you can't find a good time in Paris I wouldn't know what to tell ya'.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Roger. . . I think you and I would have fun just about any place where there's women.

Lol. Hey, I'm off to a school reunion in my old hometown of Loughborough today (about 80 miles from where I live now). It is a 30-year reunion (we all left in 1979) and a long weekend job. By the time I get back on Monday this will all be a beautiful blur.

Have a good time, Bennie!

[kikibalt]

In the late 1940s-early 50s, we young teenagers used to wear WW II combat boots like the ones shown below.

[kikibalt]

Jazz guitarist sang with Ink Spots

Huey Long, 105, a jazz guitarist whose sprawling career included stints with musical giants Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker and as part of the famed Ink Spots vocal group, died Wednesday at a nursing home in Houston, according to his daughter, Anita Long.

Born in 1904, Long was first drawn to music as a teenager when a group of minstrels visited his hometown of Sealy, a small Texas town about 20 miles west of Houston. He began playing the banjo and joined the Frank Davis Louisiana Jazz Band in the mid-1920s.

In the 1930s, Long -- by then a guitarist -- went to Chicago, where he recorded with pianist Lil Armstrong and joined with Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, who brought him to New York in 1943.

There, Long joined Earl "Fatha" Hines, whose big band included Gillespie, Parker and Sarah Vaughn. In 1945, Long was leading his own trio when vocalist Bill Kenny invited him to join the Ink Spots, whose velvet harmonies and flashy performing style had helped them become one of the first black groups to gain acceptance among white listeners.

Long harmonized on the classics "If I Didn't Care" and "I'll Get By" for the Ink Spots, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. The group is often credited with having a direct influence on the evolution of doo-wop groups and rhythm and blues.

After his stint with the Ink Spots, Long went on to form his own combo and studied music in California.

[kikibalt]

Frank
Looking at your old fight posters gives credence that the weekly boxing cards were not only exciting to watch for the sport itself,but gave the city an excitement and atmosphere that must have been a hell of a lot of fun.

Roger...Some of the younger generation like to accuse us older guys of living in the past, and maybe we do but, anybody with an open mind can see these programs and see that boxing was better then, what is on those programs was boxing action for one week only!, I'm not saying that the fighters were better, only that boxing per se was.

[dagosd2000]

Jazz guitarist sang with Ink Spots

Huey Long, 105, a jazz guitarist whose sprawling career included stints with musical giants Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker and as part of the famed Ink Spots vocal group, died Wednesday at a nursing home in Houston, according to his daughter, Anita Long.

Born in 1904, Long was first drawn to music as a teenager when a group of minstrels visited his hometown of Sealy, a small Texas town about 20 miles west of Houston. He began playing the banjo and joined the Frank Davis Louisiana Jazz Band in the mid-1920s.

In the 1930s, Long -- by then a guitarist -- went to Chicago, where he recorded with pianist Lil Armstrong and joined with Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, who brought him to New York in 1943.

There, Long joined Earl "Fatha" Hines, whose big band included Gillespie, Parker and Sarah Vaughn. In 1945, Long was leading his own trio when vocalist Bill Kenny invited him to join the Ink Spots, whose velvet harmonies and flashy performing style had helped them become one of the first black groups to gain acceptance among white listeners.

Long harmonized on the classics "If I Didn't Care" and "I'll Get By" for the Ink Spots, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. The group is often credited with having a direct influence on the evolution of doo-wop groups and rhythm and blues.

After his stint with the Ink Spots, Long went on to form his own combo and studied music in California.

Frank
I have an old Savoy record recorded in 1950 of Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis on tenor,Fats Navarro on trumpet,Sir Charles Thompson playing piano,Red Callender on the bass,Cozy Cole on the skins,and yes...Huey Long on the Guitar. Quite a session.

[dagosd2000]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wjOP0YzZ7M

Calling Dr. Jazz

Fats Navarro,Eddie Lockjaw Davis,Huey Long

[Rick Farris]

Thanks for putting that up. I know our pal Bennie might not see eye to eye with us,but if you can't find a good time in Paris I wouldn't know what to tell ya'.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Roger. . . I think you and I would have fun just about any place where there's women.

Lol. Hey, I'm off to a school reunion in my old hometown of Loughborough today (about 80 miles from where I live now). It is a 30-year reunion (we all left in 1979) and a long weekend job. By the time I get back on Monday this will all be a beautiful blur.

Reunions . . .

Bennie . . . I finished high school in 1970. I've never gone to any reunions, most of my friends were boxers at the time and I wasn't socially connected to it.
However, I occasionally will run into somebody I haven't seen since school.
Yesterday, I'm with Monica at her doctors office. I see a guy that looks familiar, but I can't think from where.
He's got a full head of white hair, but in good shape, big guy, you could tell he was an athlete in his younger days.
We get talking, and we discover that we went to high school together.

We weren't close friends, but he remembered I was a boxer and I remembered he'd gotten a football scholarship to USC.
I told him I didn't go far in boxing but have some great memories, and know some great fighters.
He told me he washed out at SC after a season, and ended up playing at a smaller college.

He married his high school girlfriend, they were still married and had grandkids. I've married several girlfriends, still married to the last one, two grown daughters from marriage #2.

The nurse called his name. We shook hands, knowing we'd never see each other again.
It was a nice reunion.


-Rick Farris

[kikibalt]

Roger Esty and Armando Muniz review photos of Roger's paintings at WBHOF Director's meeting today.

Rick Farris

[dagosd2000]

For Rick

[Randyman]

Roger Esty and Armando Muniz review photos of Roger's paintings at WBHOF Director's meeting today.

Rick Farris

Rog, I can't tell you how happy it makes me, seeing there with Mando Muniz. I wish you all the success in the world with your paintings and the exhibit at the upcoming WBHOF. It couldn't happen to a nicer and more deserving guy. Kudos to Rick for making it happen. That's what this great thread is all about. I'm proud to be a part of it.

Randy

[Randyman]

Thanks for putting that up. I know our pal Bennie might not see eye to eye with us,but if you can't find a good time in Paris I wouldn't know what to tell ya'.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Roger. . . I think you and I would have fun just about any place where there's women.

Lol. Hey, I'm off to a school reunion in my old hometown of Loughborough today (about 80 miles from where I live now). It is a 30-year reunion (we all left in 1979) and a long weekend job. By the time I get back on Monday this will all be a beautiful blur.

Reunions . . .

Bennie . . . I finished high school in 1970. I've never gone to any reunions, most of my friends were boxers at the time and I wasn't socially connected to it.
However, I occasionally will run into somebody I haven't seen since school.
Yesterday, I'm with Monica at her doctors office. I see a guy that looks familiar, but I can't think from where.
He's got a full head of white hair, but in good shape, big guy, you could tell he was an athlete in his younger days.
We get talking, and we discover that we went to high school together.

We weren't close friends, but he remembered I was a boxer and I remembered he'd gotten a football scholarship to USC.
I told him I didn't go far in boxing but have some great memories, and know some great fighters.
He told me he washed out at SC after a season, and ended up playing at a smaller college.

He married his high school girlfriend, they were still married and had grandkids. I've married several girlfriends, still married to the last one, two grown daughters from marriage #2.

The nurse called his name. We shook hands, knowing we'd never see each other again.
It was a nice reunion.


-Rick Farris

Rick, I'm the same way. I have never been to my high school reunion. I'm still friends with the guys that I grew up with. I don't have a problem with seeing anyone but for whatever reason, I have never went. Someday maybe.

Randy

[kikibalt]

Lady Luck isn't staying at the Cal Neva resort


Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times
Cal Neva bartender and tour guide Carl Buehler gives tours of the underground tunnels used by Frank Sinatra to hustle celebrities and alleged mobsters around the Cal Neva Resort. > > > Video
The famed Lake Tahoe resort, where Frank, Dino and Sammy once held court and Marilyn Monroe spent her final weekend, tries to rebound in a struggling economy.

By Steve Chawkins
June 14, 2009

Reporting from Crystal Bay, Nev. -- Frank Sinatra would have wept into his Jack Daniel's.

The Cal Neva, the rustic Lake Tahoe resort Sinatra owned for three swinging years in the 1960s, was forced into foreclosure earlier this year. The stage where Frank and Dino and Sammy cut up, the cottage where a distraught Marilyn spent her final weekend, the hillside acreage above a lake bluer than Ol' Blue Eyes: It was all up for auction -- and the number of bids was zero.


With the ring-a-ding-ding years long gone, the 220-room Cal Neva has been snared in a tangle of contemporary problems. The recession is taking a big bite out of tourism around Lake Tahoe. Indian gaming in California is keeping day trippers closer to home. And Ezri Namvar, the hotel's most recent ex-owner, was forced into bankruptcy amid several dozen lawsuits, many from the tight-knit Iranian Jewish community in Los Angeles, who claim he ran a $500-million real estate fraud.

The 83-year-old Cal Neva was quiet on a recent off-season Monday afternoon. The parking lot was nearly empty. At the casino, said to be the oldest in the country, gamblers drifted through in ones and twos. The Frank Sinatra Celebrity Showroom was dark -- though just the day before, a local theater group had staged "Alice in Wonderland" for a Mother's Day crowd of 200.

General manager Bob Marcil, on the job only since April, guided a visitor through the Indian Room, a vaulted hall with a few worn easy chairs, some big-game heads and a vast expanse of vintage paneling. Through the picture windows of the white-tablecloth dining room, he gestured toward the snow-capped mountains across the lake.

"This is so God's country!" said Marcil, 51, a Philadelphia transplant who practically vibrates with salesmanship. "Life does not get more glorious, more majestic than this!"

Marcil's company, National Hospitality Holdings, specializes in turning around hotels in trouble. It was hired by Canyon Capital Realty Advisors, the Los Angeles firm that foreclosed on the Cal Neva.

Canyon officials said their April 8 auction flopped because of the resort's unique location: The border between California and Nevada splits the property. "It's the only place," Sinatra joked, "where you walk across the lobby -- and get locked up for violating the Mann Act" (which bans interstate transportation of women for immoral purposes).

The odd division required simultaneous auctions in Reno and in Roseville, Calif. The complicated process "masked" the resort's real value, a Canyon spokesman said.

The resort was once a watering hole for elite seekers of quickie Nevada divorces. Over the years, it was raided by Prohibition agents and shuttered by the IRS. Today, the property once known as the "Lady of the Lake" is showing her age.

Bill Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada-Reno, lives nearby. "The Cal Neva looks tired," he said. "It's really had 50 years of deferred maintenance."

Sales manager Cynthia Langhof said Namvar neglected the Cal Neva. "The last owners didn't even clean the carpet," she said. "I believe they acquired it just to flip it."

Marcil, preparing for the summer, was beefing up the staff from 55 to 90. He is planning jazz brunches, big-band nights and tributes to Sinatra like the memorial pasta dinner held on May 14, the anniversary of his death in 1998.

Twice a week, visitors are ushered through the underground tunnels through which Sinatra used to hustle celebrities and mobsters from the rooftop heliport he built to their cabins around the property. For about $200 a night, guests can stay in No. 3, Marilyn Monroe's favorite; the original white wicker furniture is still there, but her circular bed is history.

Monroe died of a drug overdose at her Los Angeles home in August 1962. Days before, she was at the Cal Neva and, by many accounts, was an emotional, pill-popping wreck, fixated on the broken affairs she allegedly had with President Kennedy, his brother Bobby and Sinatra.

From his home in Palm Desert, jazz pianist and singer Buddy Greco recalled Monroe striding into the Cal Neva's packed lounge. "Honest to God," he said, "it was like everyone froze. She yelled something like, 'Why is everyone staring at me?' She was upset."

Sinatra signaled one of his staff -- he had bodyguards known as "Pucci East" and "Pucci West" -- to usher her out.

Greco, 82, still performs at his club in Cathedral City. In an Internet auction, he hopes to bring in $75,000 for six photos taken by his ex-wife at the Cal Neva that weekend -- including, he says, the last known photos of Monroe alive.

"Everybody was there: Frank, Dean, Sammy, Juliet Prowse, Joe DiMaggio," he said. "Frank flew in Jay Sebring to cut all our hair. It was magic."

From time to time, spiritualists gather to summon up Sinatra and the Rat Pack. Bartender Carl Buehler has a stack of seance photographs with spectral images of . . . well, who knows? "I used to be skeptical myself," he said.

In hotels around Tahoe, faith can only be an asset. On the north shore, where Cal Neva sits, the recession has cut business by about 20%, officials estimate. On the glitzier south shore, Horizon Casino Resort laid off 75 employees in May, shutting down "table games."

Over the last 50 years, Nevada casino revenue has fallen only three times, according to state officials. Two of the off years came after the Sept. 11 attacks. The third was last year, when gambling revenue dropped by nearly 10% -- the steepest decline ever, with Tahoe's north shore taking the biggest plunge at 19.4%.

Competition from Indian casinos has taken a toll even at Tahoe, where card tables and slot machines are an extra for tourists drawn by spectacular scenery and outdoor activities, said Eadington, the gambling expert. At $8 billion, gaming revenue in California matches the haul in Las Vegas.

Like some other hotel owners, Namvar planned to convert the Cal Neva to condos. But that strategy collapsed along with the national zeal for real estate.

Namvar, 57, acquired the Cal Neva in 2005. It was part of a real estate empire that included the downtown Los Angeles Marriott, a Central Valley pistachio farm, land in Nevada and Arizona and a stake in Park Fifth, a stalled project in downtown L.A.

"There was a complete lack of focus," said Pooya Dayanim, a commercial real estate broker and attorney who heads the L.A.-based Iranian Jewish Public Affairs Committee. "He miscalculated the market and over-leveraged himself."

Namvar, who left Iran when he was 18, is the son of a respected businessman who delayed his own departure to secure payment for fleeing Jews who had invested with him.

"Trading on his family's name and his own intelligence, he was able to get access to hundreds of millions of dollars of investments by very unsophisticated Jewish refugees," said Dayanim, who is not among Namvar's creditors or the attorneys suing him.

In the last year, many investors complained that Namvar had stopped paying interest. Negotiations to come up with a solution outside of court -- the community's traditional way -- culminated in an angry meeting of Namvar and more than 300 investors last November.

"It's had a horrible effect on the community. There's no more trust -- now even family members are insisting on documents," said A. David Youssefyeh, an attorney who represents several creditors.

Namvar is a victim of the real estate crash, said his attorney, Stephen F. Biegenzahn.

"Cal Neva was not the only project that went from looking like it had tremendous potential to being underwater in an incredibly short period of time," he said. "His remorse is indescribable -- not because he did anything improper but because he feels it is his moral obligation to pay back investors."

It might be cold comfort to Namvar, but he's not the first Cal Neva owner to run into serious setbacks. In 1983, Ron Cloud, a Fresno plumbing contractor who had acquired the Cal Neva, lost his gaming license for allegedly rigging the slot machines and strong-arming debtors.

And Sinatra himself went out in predictably sensational style.

Sam "Momo" Giancana, the Chicago Mafia figure, was banned from Nevada casinos. Still, he was a frequent -- if incognito -- guest at the Cal Neva, which many say he secretly owned.

Sinatra's undoing came after the mobster, visiting his girlfriend Phyllis McGuire of the McGuire Sisters, got into a loud fistfight with the singing trio's manager, nearly putting the man's eye out.

Pressured by authorities, Sinatra bowed out of the Cal Neva -- but, threatening state officials and making wisecracks, he did it his way.

"Anybody want to buy a hot casino?" he asked.

[email protected]

[Randyman]

In the late 1940s-early 50s, we young teenagers used to wear WW II combat boots like the ones shown below.

Frank, years later we would wear the Vietnam jungle boots. believe it or not, they made excellent running shoes.

Randy

[Randyman]

Thanks for putting that up. I know our pal Bennie might not see eye to eye with us,but if you can't find a good time in Paris I wouldn't know what to tell ya'.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Roger. . . I think you and I would have fun just about any place where there's women.

Lol. Hey, I'm off to a school reunion in my old hometown of Loughborough today (about 80 miles from where I live now). It is a 30-year reunion (we all left in 1979) and a long weekend job. By the time I get back on Monday this will all be a beautiful blur.

Have fun Bennie. Let us know how it turned out.

Randy

[kikibalt]

In the late 1940s-early 50s, we young teenagers used to wear WW II combat boots like the ones shown below.

Frank, years later we would wear the Vietnam jungle boots. believe it or not, they made excellent running shoes.

Randy

Randy, I got a couple of pairs of the Nam jungle boots from my brother Mando who was in Nam.

[Randyman]

Frank
Looking at your old fight posters gives credence that the weekly boxing cards were not only exciting to watch for the sport itself,but gave the city an excitement and atmosphere that must have been a hell of a lot of fun.

Roger...Some of the younger generation like to accuse us older guys of living in the past, and maybe we do but, anybody with an open mind can see these programs and see that boxing was better then, what is on those programs was boxing action for one week only!, I'm not saying that the fighters were better, only that boxing per se was.

I agree Frank. The fight programs and Knockout magazines that you post are evidence of the talent that was around back in the day. These were just fights that were put on weekly shows. Today fights like these would be on pay per view, or at least deserving of it. It was harder for a fighter to make it to the top because the competition was so thick. All the divisions had some depth. It was a different time.

Randy

[Randyman]

In the late 1940s-early 50s, we young teenagers used to wear WW II combat boots like the ones shown below.

Frank, years later we would wear the Vietnam jungle boots. believe it or not, they made excellent running shoes.

Randy

Randy, I got a couple of pairs of the Nam jungle boots from my brother Mando who was in Nam.

Frank, I had a pair that I bought at Circle Sales in Pico Rivera. I wore them for years. They were probably the single best pair of shoes I ever owned.

Randy

[Randyman]

[Randyman]

Keeny Teran stopped Billy Evans in three. There was still hope and promise in the Teran camp, as well as with the family. As good as Keeny was and however far his talent would have taken him (we can only wonder), it was a hope and promise that would remain unfulfilled. It's a heart breaker ain't it?

Randy

[Rick Farris]

Roger Esty and Armando Muniz review photos of Roger's paintings at WBHOF Director's meeting today.

Rick Farris

"El Pintor De Los Campeones"

The World Boxing Hall of Fame is very lucky to have Roger on it's team.
When you think of all the postive energy that flows thru a person when they experience the gratification of artistic recognition, well, it's a gift.

Lot's of people have receieved that gift thru Roger.
Now, the special fighters we respect will experience that feeling.
It may not be unique to them, but something they hadn't felt in ages.
It will rub off on fans, that energy. I've seen it happen.

All this from one man's hands & eyes.

We are all imperfect, but most of us have something that is perfect, if only the world could see it.
Something that defines our spirit.
You can see it in all of Roger's paintings. The fighters spirit, and the artists spirit.
Together they are a powerful force, that's what I see and feel.

Personally, I can't wait to see the cover of this year's World Boxing Hall of Fame banquet program.
That publication will be permanently kept at:

The United States Capitol Historical Society
200 Maryland Ave. Washington D.C. 20505

Los angeles County Museum of Natural History
900 Exposition Bvd. Los Angeles, Calif. 90007

Bancroft Library, University of California
Berkley, Calif. 94720

This is going to be the first historically correct program with regard to our "honor roll" in years.
If it's not, look in my direction because I'm responsible.
The first thing that people will notice is the cover. It has to be special.
We can rest easy on that one. This year we have Roger.


-Rick Farris

[Randyman]

Roger Esty and Armando Muniz review photos of Roger's paintings at WBHOF Director's meeting today.

Rick Farris

"El Pintor De Los Campeones"

The World Boxing Hall of Fame is very lucky to have Roger on it's team.
When you think of all the postive energy that flows thru a person when they experience the gratification of artistic recognition, well, it's a gift.

Lot's of people have receieved that gift thru Roger.
Now, the special fighters we respect will experience that feeling.
It may not be unique to them, but something they hadn't felt in ages.
It will rub off on fans, that energy. I've seen it happen.

All this from one man's hands & eyes.

We are all imperfect, but most of us have something that is perfect, if only the world could see it.
Something that defines our spirit.
You can see it in all of Roger's paintings. The fighters spirit, and the artists spirit.
Together they are a powerful force, that's what I see and feel.

Personally, I can't wait to see the cover of this year's World Boxing Hall of Fame banquet program.
That publication will be permanently kept at:

The United States Capitol Historical Society
200 Maryland Ave. Washington D.C. 20505

Los angeles County Museum of Natural History
900 Exposition Bvd. Los Angeles, Calif. 90007

Bancroft Library, University of California
Berkley, Calif. 94720

This is going to be the first historically correct program with regard to our "honor roll" in years.
If it's not, look in my direction because I'm responsible.
The first thing that people will notice is the cover. It has to be special.
We can rest easy on that one. This year we have Roger.


-Rick Farris

Amen to that Rick! By the way, the World Boxing Hall of Fame is lucky to have you and so are we!

Randy

[kikibalt]

Keeny Teran stopped Billy Evans in three. There was still hope and promise in the Teran camp, as well as with the family. As good as Keeny was and however far his talent would have taken him (we can only wonder), it was a hope and promise that would remain unfulfilled. It's a heart breaker ain't it?

Randy

Yes, Keeny did stopped Billy Evans in three, and I was there to see it live... Yes Randy, Keeny's career had a sad ending, he could/should have been a champion, but I seen Keeny quite a bit during the late 1970s and early 1980s and from what I could see he was a happy man, he was at peace with him-self.