SEPARATED at BIRTH #1 - TV star Rachel Bilson and pop singer Mandy Moore.
 
MUSIC NOTES - the Israeli/Argentinean Daniel Barenboim will be the guest conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic in their annual New Year's Day concert.
It will appear on TV in the evening on PBS - hosted by Julie Andrews, after Walter Cronkite's retirement from that role ...
...and also that morning on many public radio stations.
SPORTING NOTES - the NHL's first black player Willie O'Ree - who played for the Boston Bruins for parts of 1958-1961 - has been named to the Order of Canada, recognizing significant contributions to Canadian society.
SEPARATED at BIRTH #2 - English film stars Steve Coogan and Alan Rickman.
 
.......for a musical bio of the day .............................................. though his tenure was controversial - both in his dealings with veteran artists and inability to cope with changing musical tastes - any look at American music in the 20th Century without mentioning Mitch Miller by definition is incomplete. For about 15 years, there was arguably no one with more power in the record business, he had his own successful recording career as well as a hit TV show that was symbolic of its times. Though he largely faded from view at the beginning of the 1970's, his story is a fascinating one.
Born on the Fourth of July in 1911, the Rochester, New York native became an accomplished oboe and French Horn player, attending the prestigious Eastman School of Music and having as a classmate Goddard Lieberson, who was to play a role in Miller's life later on. Graduating in 1932, Miller was hired for the CBS Symphony (the company did not yet have a record label)...
... and was one of the musicians on the infamous Orson Welles War of the Worlds broadcast in 1938. But Miller also did work with the Philadelphia Orchestra and - when Columbia did launch its own label in 1939 - he performed on many recordings of Andre Kostelanetz and other classical recordings.
After WW-II, Miller joined the fledgling Mercury Records - originally as a classical producer, then taking over as Artist & Repertoire (A&R) for their popular music division. He signed Frankie Laine, the first of many stars he signed over the course of his career (Percy Faith, Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Johnnie Ray, Patti Page and Ray Coniff) or inherited yet aided (Doris Day, Dinah Shore and Jo Stafford). In 1950, his old classmate Goddard Lieberson - now on his way to the Columbia Records presidency - brought him back to Columbia (which had just patented the LP record).
Miller's style at this point was alternatively "innovative" (working with overdubbing and creating a producer's aural sound) and "gimmicky" (choosing novelty material for established stars). This pertained to Rosemary Clooney (who found Come on-a My House cloying) and especially Frank Sinatra, who left the label after 1952 due to fractious relations over the choice of often-gimmicky material.
Yet Miller had catapulted Columbia in prominence and huge sales: it was during this period that Doris Day enjoyed her greatest success, and Miller signed Mahalia Jackson at a time when black performers were not often able to record on white-owned labels. Miller was open to the burgeoning folk music boom, signing the New Christy Minstrels and the Easy Riders. During the 1950's Columbia grew in influence in the jazz world (Ellington, Brubeck, Miles Davis), had the New York Philharmonic plus the Philadelphia Orchestras, and had the Broadway musical soundtrack business practically to itself.
All the while, Mitch Miller was recording his own works: "River Kwai March", "Colonel Bogey March", "Major Dundee March" and "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena" were major hits for Columbia. And of course, Sing Along with Mitch was a TV hit from 1961-1964.
I recall as a child when "Puff the Magic Dragon" became a 1963 hit that my mother couldn't understand the second line of the lyrics. But I saw in TV Guide that Mitch and the gang were to sing it that night: with the lyrics on the screen, all she had to do was "follow the bouncing ball" and I got a hug for it. Mitch hired a young Leslie Uggams who became one of the first African-American performers to be regularly featured in prime-time; she presented Mitch with a CORE award (photo right) for this in 1998.
Yet it turned out to be the high-water mark for Mitch. He was far from the only executive to sneer at rock'n'roll, but aghast at how much Tom Parker wanted for Elvis Presley, he passed on him. As he did for Buddy Holly as well. Bob Dylan came to be an extremely valuable signing - "Dylan's label" was how Columbia came to be known - but that was a John Hammond signing (though Miller, to his credit, approved it, as Dylan's folk roots appealed to him). But with the British Invasion, Miller's day had passed, and he was forced out at Columbia in 1965. Two years later, the label had signed The Byrds and Janis Joplin under the ascendancy of Clive Davis.
Still, Miller's career had many more hits than misses, and he continued to perform with orchestras across the country. Although seen as an old fogey today: Pete Seeger noted in his memoirs that Miller led thousands in singing Where Have All the Flowers Gone? during the 1970's at an anti-Vietnam War rally and - in 1992 at the age of of 81 - he made five grueling bus tours for Bill Clinton's presidential campaign.
 
You may be surprised to learn - as I was - that Mitch Miller is alive, well and living in New York City at the age of 97. And, returning to his roots, he apparently is able to make guest-conductor appearances for classical music orchestras to this day.
BUSINESS NOTES - despite a US embargo, the nation of Iran is still able to obtain Hewlett-Packard printers.
POLITICAL NOTES - more than 25,000 Turks have added their names to an online statement apologizing for Ottoman Empire war crimes committed against Armenians during World War I.
SEPARATED at BIRTH #3 - the Netherlands-born Victoria's Secret model Doutzen Kroes and TV/film star Denise Richards.
 
HISTORY NOTES - as a boy, I was always fascinated by stories from the Antarctic, notably the 1912 race to the South Pole won by the Norwegian Roald Amundsen over the Englishman Robert Scott (whose team all perished attempting to return safely). For years Amundsen was considered a bit player, as Captain Scott's diaries became the stuff of legend (carrying on even with doom staring one in the face). But in 1979, the British historian Roland Huntford wrote a book called "Scott and Amundsen" that cast aspersions on Scott's planning, lack of experience skiing and ego problems - all of which led the late Alistair Cook to admit his unease over the new findings (which he had to admit that he did find them plausible).
Despite some later books, including an American scientist who felt that Scott faced truly epic conditions ....
.... as well as Ranulph Fiennes - an explorer and distant cousin of actor Ralph Fiennes - who criticizes Huntford's lack of exploration experience ....
... Roland Huntford in a recent interview stood by his work, saying it was less about criticizing Scott than extolling Amundsen (who receives little praise in the Anglo-speaking world) and reminds readers he finds Sir Ernest Shackleton to be a superior British explorer. With that last statement, I concur.
ART NOTES #1 - an exhibit entitled The Fertile Goddess is at the Brooklyn Museum in New York through May 31st.
THE BEST BOOK I have read all year was Tim and Tom - the story of the first black-white comedy team of Tim Reid and Tom Dreesen from 1969-1974. They never broke through and wound up making it separately (Reid on "WKRP" and "Frank's Place", with Dreesen on the "Tonight Show" plus opening for Frank Sinatra). Both are wistful that they are still the only black-white comedy duo ever, yet hope for the future.
THE NATION of ICELAND - has suffered mightily from the collapse of its financial services industry. Now, perhaps its most famous citizen Björk - she of the swan dress and offbeat singing voice - has become a venture capitalist, with a new fund that aims to revive Iceland's economy.
ART NOTES #2 - a collection of Chinese Art spanning centuries is at the Columbia Museum of Art in South Carolina through May 10th.
KITTY NOTES - nine women were named as runner-ups in the Animal Planet's Cat Hero of the Year award.
TOM TOMORROW wraps up his Year in Review in two parts.
DEBAUCHERY CENTRAL - women upset over injuries caused by illegal fireworks in Naples, Italy are threatening a sex strike this New Year's Eve.
WEDNESDAY's CHILD is Lucy the Cat - a New Jersey kitty who demonstrates that - in these difficult economic times - gifts for pets need not be expensive.
....... and for a song of the day .............................................. while I have other favorites of his, traditionally I listen to the John Mayall song "Goodbye December" at this time of the year. It comes from 1970's "Back to the Roots" and at this link you can hear it (with Eric Clapton as a guest lead guitarist). Happy New Year, everyone!
Time for reflection
Winter is here
Goodbye, December
The passing away of the year
Watching the day of the wind
Blowing the dirt from the sky
Clearing the air for tomorrow
Bidding December goodbye
Make celebration
Another year is gone
Now part of history
Gotta be moving along
Look for the sunrise
Old days are dead
Goodbye, December
Got a big future ahead
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