Word: backgrounder
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Drawing from a variety of sources, Ronstadt puts together a strong selection of tunes in the middle of her new album, starting with an Elvis Costello hit, "Alison." With background vocal help from Andrew Gold and David Sanborn's mysterious alto sax weaving through the chorus, the song suits Ronstadt's voice perfectly, alternately showing a soft, shallow tone and then a full, resonant alto swell...
...album, especially a remake of the Elvis Presley classic "Love Me Tender." Ronstadt's stab at the tune is too polished, too slick to work well. She obliterated Presley's rough edges and raw power. "Blowing Away," a lethargic, mournful ballad in which producer-manager Asher sings background, dies before it starts, lacking the poignancy that makes Ronstadt's slowest songs click. A 1934 Oscar Hammerstein song, "When I Grow Too Old to Dream," despite a pretty electric piano line, also falls short. Ronstadt plays with a cutesy, childlike voice which makes the song sound almost like a nursery rhyme...
Alexander's background and style have upset many old-line generals. He is the first black secretary of an Army still overwhelmingly commanded by whites, many of whom have not yet adjusted fully to the concept of a color-blind military. Alexander was educated at Harvard University and Yale Law School, not West Point. Actually, his military experience was six months' active duty as a National Guardsman. As Secretary of the Army, he asks hard questions about the treatment of black soldiers. He also is a strong advocate of a greater role for women, to the distress...
...Cardinals in conclave should move toward Benelli, they would be moving away from a pastoral choice and back toward Curial experience. If they choose to go in that direction, this time as in the last election they will have available a Curial man who also has far more pastoral background than Benelli ?Sergio Cardinal Pignedoli, 68, the affable, gregarious president of the Secretariat for Non-Christians. In between rungs on his Curial career, Pignedoli served as a World War II chaplain (submarines) and auxiliary bishop of Milan (under Archbishop Montini). Young people love him and thousands write him letters...
Supervisor Ted Gertel has an equally illustrious background in Nautilus technique. In addition to working out at a number of Nautilus clubs, he took a supervised reading course in biology entitled "The Physiology of Exercise and Sports Medicine," and a course on "Regulation of Muscle Function" at Harvard Medical School...