Drye Goods: Merry Christmas

12/24/2009

Merry Christmas

This video animation by Joshua Held of The Drifters' version of "White Christmas" has been making the rounds on the Net for several years now, but I never get tired of it. In my opinion, The Drifters' arrangement is the best version of this classic ever recorded.

The Drifters recorded their version in 1954, shortly after tenor Clyde McPhatter left The Dominoes and joined the group. McPhatter sang lead on most of the Drifters' recordings, but for "White Christmas" bass singer Bill Pinkney took the lead.

It was an inspired move. Pinkney's resonant bass does wonderful things with Irving Berlin's lyrics that Bing Crosby couldn't touch. And Clyde McPhatter adds his soaring tenor in a brief solo.

The backup vocals are provided by Jimmy Oliver, Gerhart Thrasher and Andrew Thrasher.

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Check out Willie's IPPY Award-winning book, For Sale - American Paradise on Amazon!

Also listen to Willie discuss his book on The State of Things and Topical Currents

The story of how Florida became entwined with Americans' twentieth-century hopes, dreams, and expectations is also a tale of mass delusion, real estate collapses, and catastrophic hurricanes.

For Sale--American Paradise hones in on the experiences of American icon William Jennings Bryan, journalist Edwin Menninger, and others who shaped the image of Florida that we know today and who sold that image as America's paradise. The cast also includes the Marx Brothers, Thomas Edison, Al Capone, a pack of backwoods bandits known as the Ashley Gang, and the visionaries and businessmen who poured their dreams and their cash into Florida in the roaring, raucous 1920s.

About Me

. . . above left, shown with treasure hunter John Green off Fort Pierce, Florida in 1994, is the 2007 winner of The Charlie Award for Public Service, presented by the Florida Magazine Association. He also is the author of IPPY Award-winning book, For Sale-American Paradise, and Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, published by National Geographic. He appears in the History Channel documentary "Nature's Fury: Storm of the Century." Drye is a contributing editor for National Geographic News. His work has been published in the Washington Post, Toronto Globe and Mail, and other national publications. Drye served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps and earned a degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He and his wife live in Wilmington, North Carolina. He can be reached at willie.drye@gmail.com.

Storm of the Century

Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 tells the story of the most powerful hurricane to make landfall in the U.S.

The hurricane, with winds probably gusting to at least 200 mph and a storm surge probably exceeding 18 feet, came ashore in the Florida Keys on Sept. 2, 1935.

The vicious storm killed about 260 World War I veterans who building a New Deal highway from Miami to Key West and living in flimsy beachfront work camps in the islands. Camp supervisors waited until too late to try to evacuate the men, and a train sent to move them off the islands was blown off the tracks at Islamorada, Fla.

Storm of the Century was praised by Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, the Boston Herald, and other reviewers across the U.S. The book also was the basis for a History Channel documentary that premiered Oct. 1, 2006.

Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and other outlets.

12/24/2009

Merry Christmas

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Check out Willie on Amazon