Count Basie Trumpet Player Pauly Cohen Celebrates His 90th Birthday

Posted on August 8, 2012 by EngAGE

On August 6th, Pauly Cohen celebrated his 90th birthday and another year of leading his own big band. Click here for great photos and more info. Listen to him tear up his trumpet solos back in the day on this video clip from an upcoming documentary about his life. (E-mail subscribers: Remember to click on the title of this post to go to the blog and see the video.) From the YouTube post:

“Trumpeter Pauly Cohen, 87 at the time this video was produced, is a veteran of Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman bands, who called Billie Holiday a friend and played his horn on thousands of sessions and gigs, starting in the 1940s.  In the 60s and 70s, he played lead trumpet with Count Basie. Today, he leads his own big band in South Florida.”

 

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Self-Driving Cars

Posted on August 7, 2012 by EngAGE

Yes, they exist — at least in prototype! Below are two videos that demonstrate how these exciting cars will work. Thanks to friend of EngAGE and former guest on Experience Talks, Ronni Bennett, for the post on her TimeGoesBy blog that featured the videos.  (E-mail subscribers: Remember to click on the title of this blog post to go to the blog and see the videos.)

The first video features Ronni trying out the self-parking feature (1:30).

This video features a visually-impaired man enjoying a drive (3:02). The narration is designed for the visually-impaired, too.:

Ronni’s comment: “Google’s self driving car is making remarkable progress and my only complaint is that in discussions about it, no one involved in development seems yet to understand how much this will mean to elders who must turn in their keys.”

 

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Help for Difficult Financial Times

Posted on August 6, 2012 by EngAGE

 

MONEYRecently, the U.S. Government launched a new section of their website called “Help for Difficult Financial Times.” There you’ll find links to all kinds of useful information about unemployment, jobs, and training; family support; housing; health care and insurance; and debt and credit.  Click here to learn more.

 

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Who’s the Oldest Woman to Win an Olympic Gold Medal?

Posted on August 5, 2012 by EngAGE

 

SPORTSQueenie Newell, 1908 gold medalist in archery, was fifty three years old at the time, making her the oldest woman to win a gold medal. Thanks to Cool Chicks from History for this photo and tidbit.

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Worth Repeating: Retiring Near a College Campus

Posted on August 4, 2012 by EngAGE

WORTH-REPEATING“Worth Repeating” is a new weekly feature on the EngAGE Blog that will bring you previous posts that we think are still timely, interesting, or just plain fun!

From 8/10/11:

Many seniors are opting to retire or move to homes near college campuses. This choice is appealing because of access to both classroom opportunities as well as a community who shares an interest in intellectual stimulation.

“During the last decade…a nationwide movement…to create more integrated, formalized relationships between academic institutions and senior housing has grown steadily. ‘To really have a truly college-affiliated retirement community, where there is a strong bond educationally between the two, takes an enormous institutional commitment and some component of lifelong learning in the college mission,’ says Lasell Village [Auburndale, MA] dean Paula Panchuck.”

Read more from Harvard Magazine here; see a list of available communities and find links to further articles on the subject here.

 

 

 

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Yet Another Older Woman Fashion Model!

Posted on August 3, 2012 by EngAGE

 

vector illustration of a black bow tie in low-polygonal style. mWe’ve posted on Facebook about 82-year-old Jacquie  Tajah Murdock landing a Lanvin campaign (learn more here), and we’ve now learned that 62-year-old Tziporah Salamon is also going to be in a Lanvin ad. Having a major design house use older women as models is welcome news in a world that needs to learn that beauty is ageless. Click here for more info and photos, and take a look at a video of Tziporah below. (E-mail subscribers: please click on the title of this blog post to visit the blog and see the video.)

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Experience Talks 8/4: John Altman – Part Two

Posted on August 2, 2012 by EngAGE

Tune in to Experience Talks, our “Radio Magazine for the Experienced Listener.” Saturdays 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles, 98.7 FM Santa Barbara, 99.5 China Lake, 93.7 N. San Diego, streaming live online and now syndicated on up to 100 Pacifica Network stations! You can also enjoy hearing all of our previous shows on the Listen Page of our Experience Talks website.

This week: Host John Semper Jr. with Part 2 of the John Altman interview.

(If you missed it, you can hear Part 1 on the Listen Page of our website.)

The Experience Talks Online podcast of this interview has been so well received that we’ve decided to put it on the air so more people will hear it. In this second part of our conversation with John Altman, he talks about his work with Neil Innes on “The Rutles,” “The Secret Policeman’s Ball,” his TV and film scoring career, and much more.

John Altman is an Emmy Award-winning British composer, arranger, orchestrator, and conductor. Born in London, Altman was introduced to the music of the 1930s and 1940s at an early age by an uncle who arranged and composed music for big bands and conducted for Judy Garland, the Marx Brothers, and Laurel and Hardy, among others. His only formal musical training was piano lessons as a child, but he found he had inherited the “music gene” which allowed him to understand music and play multiple instruments easily. While enrolled at the University of Sussex he was involved in session work and gigs with Fleetwood Mac and Nico. He also played saxophone in rock bands and with blues and jazz groups with such artists as Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Little Richard, and Van Morrison.

In the mid-1970s, Altman began arranging and conducting, and worked with Rod Stewart, George Michael, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Graham Parker, and Monty Python. For the latter, he arranged the music for their Rutles television special and later contributed to The Life of Brian, most notably as the co-writer and arranger of the song, “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.”

Altman also frequently has been a guest conductor for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and is a prolific writer of music for commercials, having scored more than 4,000 international ads.

The John Altman Big Band often performs in the US and UK.

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