Florence Foster Jenkins - Worst Opera Singer Ever Recorded

This lady's voice reminds me of Alfalfa's when he used to sing opera on the Our Gang shows .

Florence Foster Jenkins was born on July 19, 1868, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. She received music lessons as a child, and expressed a desire to go abroad to study music. Her wealthy father refused to pay the bill, so she eloped to Philadelphia with Frank Thornton Jenkins, a medical doctor. She earned a living there as a teacher and pianist. Upon her father's death Jenkins inherited a sum of money which allowed her to take up the singing career that had been discouraged by her parents and now former husband. She became involved in the musical life of Philadelphia, and later New York City, where she founded and funded the Verdi Club, took singing lessons, and began to give recitals, her first in 1912. Her mother's death in 1928 gave her additional freedom and resources to pursue singing.



From her recordings, it is apparent that Jenkins had little sense of pitch and rhythm and was barely capable of sustaining a note. Her accompanist can be heard making adjustments to compensate for her tempo variations and rhythmic mistakes. Her dubious diction, especially in foreign language songs, is also noteworthy. Nonetheless, she became tremendously popular in her unconventional way. Her audiences apparently loved her for the amusement she provided rather than her musical ability.

Despite her patent lack of ability, Jenkins was firmly convinced of her greatness. She compared herself favorably to the renowned sopranos of the day and dismissed the laughter which often came from the audience during her performances as coming from her rivals consumed by "professional jealousy." She was aware of her critics, however, saying "People may say I can't sing, but no one can ever say I didn't sing."

The music Jenkins tackled in her recitals was a mixture of the standard operatic repertoire by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Giuseppe Verdi and Johann Strauss (all of them well beyond her technical ability), and songs composed by herself or her accompanist, Mr. Cosmé McMoon, who reportedly made faces at Jenkins behind her back to get laughs.

Jenkins often wore elaborate costumes that she designed herself, sometimes appearing in wings and tinsel, and, for Clavelitos, throwing flowers into the audience while fluttering a fan and sporting more flowers in her hair. After each performance Cosmé McMoon would collect these flowers from the auditorium in readiness for redistribution at the next one.

After a taxicab crash in 1943 she found she could sing "a higher F than ever before." Instead of a lawsuit against the taxicab company, she sent the driver a box of expensive cigars.

In spite of public demand for more appearances, Jenkins restricted her rare performances to a few favorite venues, and her annual recital at the Ritz-Carlton ballroom in New York City. Attendance at her recitals was always limited to her loyal clubwomen and a select few others — she handled distribution of the coveted tickets herself. At the age of 76, Jenkins finally yielded to public demand and performed at Carnegie Hall on October 25, 1944. So anticipated was the performance that tickets for the event sold out weeks in advance. Jenkins died a month later.

Midnight Music Club - Tito & Tarantula - After Dark

The 1996 movie From Dusk Till Dawn had a teriffic soundtrack. I bought the disc years ago and it is one fine mixture of bluesy and ballsy songs by Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughn, The Blasters , The Mavericks, ZZ Top and Jon Wayne. Two things made this a memorable movie for me. First was this song and it's seriously sick guitar solo. The other was Salma Hayek's snake dance. Heres Tito & Tarantula doing After Dark. Enjoy !

Midnight Music Club # 4 - Dan Hicks - I Scare Myself

He may be the only really hip person there is. Dan Hicks was with San Francisco band The Charlatans and left in 1968 to form Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks with violinist David LaFlamme. This band was a cult favorite because of their both funny and wonderful original songs. My favorite release from that time is "Last Train To Hicksville." Dan works with only the best players and singers and the way they work is amazing. In a live show the music is enhanced by their low key antics. Here's the band doing "I Scare Myself" :

Midnight Music Club # 3 - Norman Nardini

Norman has never worked a straight job for one day of his life. He has only ever played music. Pittsburgh has had some great rock bands: Gathering Field, The Silencers, Joe Grusheckey & the Iron City Houserockers, Rusted Root, Donnie Iris, The Clarks and Billy Price to name just a few. Among all these, Norman Nardini is a legend. He is working tonight, somewhere, at a festival or in a dive bar he's playing his rust belt rock & roll, his three piece band working man's music. It's American heartland music, like Seeger or Bruce or Mellencamp or Petty, no different than any of them and certainly no less. He's lacked a great commercial success but what the fuck does that have to do with making great rock and roll ?

In 1975 he was a bass player for the rock band Diamond Reo. Norman left the band to start Norman Nardini & The Tigers as lead singer, lead guitar and song writer. The 1981 release "Eatin Alive", recorded live at Cleveland’s legendary Agora Club, received a 4 Star Review from Rolling Stone’s record guide. The Tigers toured together through 1986. CBS in 1983 released "Norman Nardini and The Tigers", which featured Norman’s longtime friend, Jon Bon Jovi, on background vocals. In 1987, CBS released "Love Dog" which featured Rick Derringer, Dr. John and Paul Schaeffer. Throughout the 90's, Norman continued touring and released 3 CDs on New York City's Circumstantial label . 1991’s "This Ole Train" took Norman over to Germany for a tour with the Blues Brothers. In 1998, Moondog Records released "There Was A Time" and more great stuff has followed. 1993's "It's Alive" is live and alive Norman at his best. He's the real deal. He makes friends easily, shares his toys and jams well with others.

..."Norman Nardini is the epitome of rock'n'roll. He lives it and breathes it. The greatest compliment anybody can pay a player is that he lives it. God bless him for it.." ~Jon Bon Jovi

Here are my friends Norman and Whitey Cooper and Harry Bottoms doing "Rock & Roll City" in the Beachland Tavern, a neighborhood bar, the kind of place where they are most at home. With Norman , it's all about the music and the buzz he can pass on to you in the night.

If you want more I recommend the "Smoke Two Joints " video, above.

Midnight Music Club # 2

The Foo Fighters cranking it out at Wembley Stadium............Times Like These...........

Midnight Music Club #1

My friend Randy turned me on to this..........................From Woodstock - With A Little Help From My Friends.........I have heard this song all my life but never like this. It is definitely one of the funniest I have ever seen. It seems Joe attempted to improve on the lyrics of Lennon - McCartney and he did, at least, make it more interesting.