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My scale scale is poor (*) to excellent (*****)
By: Stephen Schochet
"Fascinating Walt Disney," authored, produced and narrated
by Stephen Schochet, is an entertaining audiobook that tells the
story of Walter Elias Disney's life. From his early childhood
growing up in Chicago and Marcelline, Missouri, Walt was a dreamer
and a hard worker. His hard work and his "pick myself
up by the boot straps" attitude are a good example for all
of us today.
Schochet weaves many familiar, and some not-so-familiar, stories
about this complicated man into a fun-to-listen-to narrative.
The chronology of the dialog is hard to track with sometimes, but
Schochet's point is to tell the story in an entertaining way (even
if that muddles the timeline somewhat). Regardless, the music,
sound effects, and dialog all work together to make this a fun,
educational, and entertaining production.
Some of the interesting tidbits that you'll hear about include:
- The story of the creation of Mickey Mouse
- Why Walt was so fascinated with the idea of building Disneyland
- How the Disney Studios fared during World War II
- All about the labor unrest among the Walt's animators
- The stories behind "Snow White," "Fantasia,"
"Dumbo" and many of the other classic animated films
produced by Walt Disney.
If you're into Walt Disney, the history of his life, or the Disney
movies and parks -- then you'll thoroughly enjoy listening to this
production.
(You may want to check out Stephen
Schochet's web site to see some of his other tape/CD productions.)
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My scale scale is poor (*) to excellent (*****)
By Michael Broggie
This book was written by the son of former Disney model maker,
Roger Broggie. The elder Broggie was instrumental in helping
Walt as he produced (with quite a bit of help from the shop-hands
at the studios) his Carolwood Pacific miniature steam train layout
at his home in the Holmby Hills above Los Angeles. I have
no doubt that boyhood stories told to Michael Broggie by his father
started him on a lifetime of curiosity about Walt Disney.
This is an excellent book. As one that is fascinated by well-told
history and the legends surrounding Walt Disney, this book had me
captivated from cover to cover. Disney's love for railroads
and other forms of transportation are evident as you stroll through
any of the parks that now bear his name.
Happily, The Walt Disney Company has continued the wonderful traditional
love of the railroad as it has proliferated the iron ribbons around
and through each of it's several "magic kingdom" parks
(Disneyland, The Magic Kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland
Paris) as well as Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World.
Each of these applications of steam-driven is given the full treatment
in descriptions and photographs.
Rarely has a book captured my interest as strongly as this one.
It truly is a remarkable work and well worth the cost of buying
it. It is a book that you'll read over and over again.
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Rod Miller:
Ragtime - CD
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Four Hand Piano ~ Miller & Thompson - CD
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Ragtime at the Magic Kingdoms ~ Chris Calabrese
- CD
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My scale scale is poor (*) to excellent (*****)
I've had a love for ragtime music since I was in elementary school.
Our local library had a five album (that's vinyl disks played with
a mechanical needle, for those of you that are too young to know
that sound used to be recorded that way) set of Scott Joplin rags.
I must have checked out those records a dozen times. Later
I purchased a book with all of Joplin's rags, and I learned some
of the music myself. So, to walk under the train station and
down Main Street only to hear the familiar sounds of ragtime being
played at the hub corner is a treat that I enjoy every trip to Disneyland
and Walt Disney World. The performance of the pianists at
the parks is always a special one.
Rod Miller has been playing at Disneyland since 1969. In
the last few years, Alan Thompson has joined Rod at the piano.
Weekday evenings at the park are special indeed with these two magicians
performing their magic on the ivories. I've spent several
(none too many) hours listening and watching these two guys.
Chris Calabrese has put out a wonderful CD, too. The thing
I really like about Calabrese's CD is the Disney music that he's
arranged into the rag style. "Golden Dream," the
music from the American Adventure at Epcot (and now used in the
presentation of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln at Disneyland, too)
is a particular favorite. The haunting melody comes though
clearly, while the lilting syncopation lends a very unusual, airy
mood to the music. The CD also includes a small booklet with
information, some of it provided by the original composers of the
re-arranged tunes, about each track.
If you click on any of the links to Amazon.com, you can view lists
of all of the tracks on the CDs, as well as other information about
the artists.
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