BOSTON JAZZ RADIO GETS AXED

IN ONE WEEK BOSTON JAZZ RADIO LANDSCAPE
GETS CUT DRAMATICALLY
WFNX AXES JEFF TURTON
WGBH CUTS AL DAVIS and KEVIN BALL
RON GILL DEPARTS FOR N. CAROLINA & WILL NOT BE REPLACED BY LIVE HOST


Boston-MA--May 11, 2009--Jazz host Jeff Turton announced today that WFNX FM has cancelled his show, The Sunday Jazz Brunch, as of his show yesterday after 26 years on the air on Sunday mornings.

“I got a call late last week informing me that this past Sunday would be my last show. The reason being given is budget cuts related to diminished revenues at both ‘FNX and at the Boston Phoenix. While I wasn't surprised, given the nature of the newspaper business and radio in general, I am incredibly disappointed. I’m not sure where to go next but I guess I'll sleep in for a couple of weekends and then figure it out. I still plan on being active in some way but everything happened pretty quickly so I really haven't had much of an opportunity to figure out what's next,” noted Turton in an e-mail Monday morning.

Legendary jazz concert promoter Fred Taylor weighed in. “I think it shows WFNX’s total lack of acknowledgement of Boston’s arts community. To cut one lonely jazz show like this which represents a basic American art form from the station’s 24-7 programming is unconscionable,” he said upon hearing the news.

“Jeff Turton has been a jazz resource for Boston listeners for 26 years. He hosted the go-to show on Sunday morning radio, and he will definitely be missed.” stated noted jazz writer and Marsalis Music Creative Consultant Bob Blumenthal.

Last week came the news that WGBH FM jazz host Ron Gill would be moving to North Carolina to live with relatives after 23 years on the radio here and the jazz scene held its collective breath and wondered who would be his replacement host. Then the word came that his show would be covered by another syndicated show taped on the west coast by Bob Parlocha.

Next there was a call from WGBH 9 year veteran jazz DJ Al Davis. “I can’t book any guests on the show until I speak with WGBH. They’ve called me in for a meeting and it sounds serious,” said Al to publicist Sue Auclair.

Tuesday, May 5 brought the news that ALL of the Jazz Gallery hosts would be departing at the end of May. That included Davis on overnight Fridays, 15 year veteran Kevin Ball overnight on Saturdays and Ron Gill, overnight on Sundays. Davis and Ball will be occasional substitutes for Eric Jackson’s “Eric In The Evening.”

All live-hosted weekend jazz shows will be gone, as of May 30 and the new programming will feature “Jazz With Bob Parlocha,” the program that is syndicated nationally and now already airs on 89.7 FM overnights on weeknights.

While it’s good that jazz will still be on the air on WGBH FM, it disconnects the regional audience from the live Boston experience, say some.

Scented Geraniums

Lime Scented Geranium with Tiny Purple Flowers!

One of the most pleasurable things in gardening is having your plants offer up fabulous fragrances.

Scented geraniums will keep you in good stead in this regard. Many years ago I would travel with friends for an afternoon at Caprilands in Coventry, Connecticut and it was there that I first learned about scented geraniums. I never really took kindly to "normal" geraniums as they didn't smell well!

The woman who ran Caprilands was quite unique. She would hold court and offer up very entertaining lectures in the greenhouse followed by a luscious lunch for approximately 75 women in her antique farmhouse. Adelma Simmons was wonderful and her thriving business selling herbs and plants was amazing.

I purchased my first scented geraniums from her and some of the ones in my window today are decendents of her plants. Every winter my window becomes overgrown with big leafy plants that fragrance my flat with scents of rose, lemon and lime.

For some reason, my nutmeg geraniums have failed over the last couple of years. It's as if they are more fragile and likely that something environmentally evil is at work in their demise.

I would like to try nutmegs again as these are incredible in their aroma and the leaves are very delicate. Flowers are secondary to the scented geraniums unlike other geraniums.

Aromatherapy is another passion. Recently I bought some geranium scented oils at Whole Foods and it's fantastic. I realized after using it in a diffuser one day, that the fragrance was actually Rose Geranium.

One of these days, I would like to have a little greenhouse!

The Fabulous Eartha Kitt

Eartha Kitt at Newport, 2005, photo copyright Sue Auclair

Eartha Kitt at Scullers in the '90s; copyright Sue Auclair

The first time I met Eartha Kitt was in the mid '90s when she was booked at Scullers Jazz Club, a little club I had been one of the founders of in Boston. I had never worked with Ms. Kitt before and was eager to see her perform.

She was very nervous before her show. You could NOT speak to her!

What amazed me was that she was willing to do several interviews on camera in the afternoon, including a live shot on the 5 pm newscast on WBZ TV with host Joyce Kulhawik. There were at least 3 other camera crews on hand as well, New England Cable News, WHDH TV and WLVI TV.

Before each interview, Eartha was sullen, quiet, and seemed to be uneasy, but once the lights and the cameras were rolling, she completely transformed! She growled, she hissed, she purred, she drank a little Dom Perignon [that was her favorite!] and she wowed everyone! I had not seen her in action before, but THIS was amazing.

Hours later, it was show time, and Ms. Kitt came down to the club in a slinky black gown, her makeup and hair were flawless. She traveled with a professional stylist to each concert. She looked fantastic.

I went to hug her before the show, already feeling close to the diminutive singer, but was immediately rebuffed! "Don't TOUCH me!" she ranted. It was then that I realized that she was going through some heavy mental preparation and before a show, you dared not get near her!

After the band vamped through an uptempo tune, the club announced, "Ladies & Gentlemen, Ms. Eartha Kitt!" and the band went into her opening song. She walked brazenly onstage and immediately captivated every single person in that room with her magic. She was in control. No one dared to move or speak, Eartha was in charge!

Her show was tight, hotly scripted like a 75 minute little Broadway show, complete with jokes, dancing, monologues, and high kicks. She tortured the man in the front row, ogling him and making him embarassed, while the audience laughed. She employed the services of our young and handsome club manager, Miguel, who played the role of the young waiter that she desperately wanted to seduce with a bottle of Dom Perignon.

Eartha packed the club nightly with rave reviews and standing ovations. She was a prize and we gradually became friends. We had lunch, champagne, and on another occasion, two large glasses of really fine wine on her birthday when she was in town for a Broadway show.

Over that wine, we compared notes about life, she talked a good deal about her difficult and painful childhood and how that had shaped her life. She was a real life Cinderella . . . abandoned by her mother and raised by a step family who abused her, but she still became the princess of the world.

Then in 2005, my other client, the Newport Jazz Festival, had a last minute opening slot at the Newport Casino's Friday night kickoff concert. Danny Melnick and I convinced George Wein to bring in Eartha Kitt for a Newport debut.

George was reluctant since he had thought of her as an artist who worked in small clubs, and he worried that she wouldn't sell enough tickets at the 3000 seat Newport Casino venue.

But I knew we could make it sell out, since I knew that Eartha understood the meaning of publicity. Further, she was in the New England area on the day of the Newport press conference and I knew that I could get her to come to the event to announce her appearance.

Wein finally relented and Eartha was booked. I went into third gear as we had only three days to plan what would become a media explosion. I located video from the old Scullers shows and edited it and sent it to all the TV outlets in Boston, Providence and APTN. I hired a stretch limo [white of course] and had her driven to Newport for the media event. Clearing one key TV interview with her PR firm for Associated Press Television Network, I greeted Eartha outside and brought her to her dressing room. We HAD to make her happy, so food, tea, whatever she needed was brought in on a dime. I raced all around like a crazy woman!

After the announcements of the lineups for the jazz and folk festivals were almost finished, producer Danny Melnick said, "And now, we have a surprise, we have our opening artist here today to meet you. Here's Eartha Kitt!"

The crowd of writers and journalists and producers went wild. Eartha strutted up to the podium and GROWLED! This was her trademark from the Catwoman role in the Batman series. The media roared. They loved her and, again, Eartha was in charge!

She told a few stories--she mentioned that she had danced at the very first Newport Jazz Festival in 1954 with the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra and she said she loved having heard the great Billie Holiday sing. She adored her.

She said her goodbyes, the crowd cheered and George Wein leaped to the podium and gave thanks to the sponsors including the CEO of Dunkin' Donuts, who was in the audience. Well, when Eartha heard this, she came back and said, "Wait a minute! You OWN Dunkin' Donuts???" "grrrrrrrrr!"

"Well," she said, "I have a little story to tell you. When I was 16, I was a member of the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe in New York and I made $10 a week. $5 went to the rent, and $5 went to Dunkin' Donuts!"

What a coup! She now had Dunkin' Donuts in the palm of her hand!

Tickets went on sale the next day and there was an immediate rush at the box office. The TV stations all ran tape, the papers put her on their covers. The Mayor declared "Eartha Kitt Day in Newport." Eartha was already a hit.

Friday, August 12, 2005 was opening night of the 51st Newport Jazz Festival and Eartha hit the stage with a roar.

Special lighting was brought in by my pal Len Schnabel of DesignLight to accentuate her show to the large audience.

A packed crowd gave her standing ovations and CBS Sunday Morning captured parts of the show. It was a huge success. Afterwards, she gave a riotous interview to Reuters Television over a glass of red wine. Newport toasted Eartha in a big way.

The two photos above are my shots, the first is Eartha at Newport during the standing ovation in 2005. The lower one is a photo from one of her Scullers shows. Both are copyright, Sue Auclair