I'm an immortal walkin' case of the blues.

Yesterday, while listening to a recently-burned mix CD of Ben's authoring, I found myself smiling the stupidest of smiles while listening to Dean Martin's Houston (2.4 megs).

It was the sort of "life is good smile" that will occasionally creep up on my face without warning -- particularly on sunny days or after I've eaten a really good meal.

This song just made me glow with glee -- and I just have to think it has more to do with Dean Martin's vocal charm than any sort of musical arrangement.

This feeling lead to me utter the weirdest of phrases:

"I wish Dean Martin would have been immortal," I said. "I wish that he never aged and never died and was still around singing like this."

Now, I'm sure that most people would pick a more noble candidate for immortality -- Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jesus (of course, in his earthly form -- I believe He's got the immortal thing already down).

But I'm not everyone and that's why I want Dean Martin walking the Earth for all time.

So, which entertainer would you like to see as an immortal? And, why?

Comments

[Paula]

Billie Holiday.

She "transports" me.

(Well, she does!)

[Mena]

I've got to point out that the never-aging Dean Martin should be the late 1950s early 1960 Dean -- not the older Dean who wore those big glasses around. Ben wanted me to clarify that.

[Ben]

Serge Gainsbourg... I suppose my favorite would be early 1970's Serge Gainsbourg, so that's the time period I choose for my immortal Gainsbourg.

But of course, he's already immortal.

"Gainsbourg n'attend pas d'etre mort pour etre immortel" - Philips slogan for De Gainsbourg a Gainsbarre

[linda]

john lennon.

[julianna]

Sophia Loren, just because she's so darn good-looking.

[Cindy]

Seeing as I feel about the same way about _Back to the Future_ that Mena does about _The Poseidon Adventure_, I'd have to say Michael J. Fox.

The 1985, cowlicked, "You invented a time machine, out of a DELOREAN?!", version.

[Mena]

Oh, I'm guilty of being obsessed with Back to the Future as well. It was the first movie I ever saw more than once in the theaters.

It's not the greatest movie, but it just draws me in -- I actually thought of buying it on DVD yesterday.

[rebecca blood]

freddie mercury.

the voice, the stage presence, the songs.... there will never again be anyone like him.

[Drew Bell]

Fred Rogers (no, he's not dead yet). As long as he's happy and be-sweatered, I'll know somebody thinks I'm special.

[Caramia]

If you want another song to provide the "smile", try "Buona Sera" by Louis Prima.

I always preferred Louis to Dean; Dean sounds drunk when he sings (big surprise right?)

[nicole]

okay; so serge and sophia were taken (does this mean there is a type of 'mind' that is attracted to dollarshort?), so...
david bowie is kinda living forever already doing all sorts of weird stuff, so how about him? and on the further weird Back to the Future kick, crispin glover. my picks are all about the aliens. these two definitely are alien if anything.

[Dawn]

Tom Hanks?

I've thought about this for a good 3 or 4 hours (Thanks a lot Mena!) and I think I'm just not a celebrity-lovin' kind of person.

I would say Tom Hanks, because I just adore him. The way he acts in movies and in interviews. He just seems like a swell down-to-earth kinda guy. How could you not like that?

[Aravis]

I would have to go with Gene Kelly, right around the American in Paris time. Good Golly that man just turns me into a big pile of mush! Singing, dancing, acting, and cute too. Sigh...

[Mack E.]

Groucho: "Those are my principles, and if you don't like them...well, I have others."

[caroline]

Gav. Cause he's a friend and I can't deal with ultimately having to bury him.

[Elle]

I'd have to go with old-school Frank Sinatra - debonair, charming, quirky. Before he got puffy and old.

If you don't believe me, go watch Guys and Dolls. It's bliss. :)

[Jeff]

Ditto on Sinatra. But add Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn. A tisket a tasket...

[Liz]

I'm going with Aravis on this one. Gene Kelly. And Buster Keaton, too.

[sakana]

ah, dean. his version of houston is without a doubt one of the most wonderful things ever recorded. he made everything seem perfect, no matter how crappy it really was. (take, for example, the shocking hideousness of MOVIN' WITH NANCY, the nancy sinatra tv thing which dean temporarily transforms with his appearance as her fairy god-something-or-other. uncle? anyway. i digress.)

and frank. if dean and frank could live forever, things would be much, much better. in every imaginable way.

[darian]

I would have to say Frank Sinatra..Everytime I hear his music..his voice..I get carried away to a far off romantic fantasy, leaving me feeling nostalgic and smiling when the song is completed.

[Ginger]

Clint Eastwood, most-loved childhood hero. My dad introduced me to the "Dirty Harry" and "Every Which Way" movies at around age 12, I think. When I think of Clint, I think of my Dad. They are not dissimilar in looks, and both seem to be aging in similar ways. The day I wake up to the news that Clint has passed on will be the day my Dad's own mortality hits home.

[brad]

It's really a tie between Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison. All of the aformentioned musicians had such an impact on rock music that I can't help but wonder, sometimes for hours on paper, what music we would be listening to now? More importantly, what would all of these people be doing today?

[D'Amour]

I think you are rite! If it were up to me to choose wich entertainer would be inmortal, it would definitly be Dean! (Dean Martin)

Cha, Cha, Cha D'Amour. Take this song to my betta!:)

[Paul]

I gotta agree with almost everyone here, but to narrow it down ai'm gonna have to say the whole Rat Pack. Although they kicked ass seperately it was together that they really excelled. Plus Deano and Sammy made one hell of a double act in the Cannonball Run