Shopping Trips

copyright © 2014 Victoria Doyle

Happy Birthday, Victoria Doyle!

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Portraits in Douchebaggery

Flight departing from Orlando International to Philadelphia.

copyright © 2014 Victoria Doyle

copyright © 2012 Victoria Doyle

Shopping Trips

This rather hunky Lazarus can be yours for a mere $19.99

photo © 2011 Victoria Doyle

Shopping Trips

Trannies on the stroll join the STREET DAWGZ "Bobbin' Playaz" line.

photo © 2011 Victoria Doyle

Shopping Trips

Have "urban toys" gone too far? Even "Kat" seems disapproving of the introduction of paint huffers to the STREET DAWGZ line.

photo © 2011 Victoria Doyle

The Gallery

photo © 2011 Victoria Doyle

Shopping Trips

photo © 2011 Victoria Doyle

Shopping Trips

photo © 2011 Victoria Doyle

Shopping Trips

photo © 2011 Victoria Doyle

Shopping Trips

photo © 2011 Victoria Doyle

Shopping Trips

photo © 2011 Victoria Doyle

"Remembering Danny" by Wyatt Doyle

I learned I lost a friend today. I wish you could have met him.

Danny was a sweet old guy I meet through my kid sister. She’s a singer—she sings like an angel—and she frequently performs at senior citizens’ centers and hospice care facilities. Danny was a resident at the same place our grandfather passed his final days, and everyone there sure knew Danny. You couldn’t miss him: he used to sit out front, the unofficial greeter, enthusiastically welcoming and seeing off all who came and went. And despite the certain sadness inherent in even a fine senior living facility, a friendly hello from a cheerful soul like Danny can’t help but take some of the edge off. Not that I believe Danny thought that way; I think he just really liked people.

He adored my sister, and she was wild about him, too. She knew he and I would hit it off, so she made a point of introducing us the first time I tagged along to one of her shows there. After praising her voice and beauty to the skies, he informed me he was also a singer; and when I asked him what kind of music he sang (placing bets in my head whether it would be gospel or jazz), he surprised me by answering country and western…and also some classical—but acknowledged that was a long time ago.

I liked Danny a lot; it was near impossible not to. Confined to a wheelchair, his teeth were mostly gone and he was deeply critical of his appearance. His hearing wasn’t very good at all, and you usually had to repeat things several times before he picked up on exactly what you were saying. But he was rarely less than fully engaged—and fully engaging. Abandoned by his parents, he’d had a tough time from the very start; by his account he’d spent a lot of his life unloved and unwanted. But he didn’t dwell too heavily on the bad times, no matter that there’d been plenty of them. Maybe having survived them was more than enough; why spend the rest of your life reliving them? And while he was charming and funny and loved to talk, what really stood out was his apparently boundless joy and enthusiasm; he had an infectious laugh, and he seemed absolutely delighted by everything.

The spring before I saw him for the last time, my sister had phoned me after performing a show at Danny’s hospice. “I have some Danny news for you,” she told me. (I was always eager to hear how he was doing.) She went on to explain that as she finished her show, Danny—her #1 fan—asked if he could sing something. She always encourages her audiences to join in on the songs, so she presumed that’s what he intended. But Danny didn’t have a sing-along in mind; he wanted to solo. And before it could even occur to anyone to try to talk him out of it, solo he did, launching into an epic rendition of—wait for it—“Bali H’ai” from South Pacific. But he didn’t merely sing “Bali H’ai”; he belted the bejeezus out of it. “Bali H’ai,” loud as he could bellow. “Bali H’ai” to call the cows home. “Bali H’ai,” elongated and expanded, with new, improvised lyrics and scatting fills. “Bali H’ai” until the other residents were actually crying out, demanding he stop at once! “Bali H’ai,” no holds barred. Hearing the story I howled, and wished I could have been there. I could picture his hospice neighbors, groaning from their wheelchairs for Danny to stop, and Danny, up at the front, center stage in his wheelchair, head tossed back, singing his happy heart out. Unable to hear a word of their protests, showboating his way to his very own Bali Ha’i, wherever that may have been.

Last Christmas, I was back East and got to see Danny again. I’d been looking forward to it. We were able to sit and talk for a while after my sister’s show. He was fascinated that my camera could also capture video, and I asked him if he wanted me to record him singing something.

“What should I sing?” He asked me.

Problems viewing? Click here to watch on YouTube instead.

POSTSCRIPT:

Later, remembering his love for country music, I asked if he wanted to do a country and western number. His poor hearing prevented him from understanding my request the first, second and third times. After the fourth, he responded, “Oh, you want me to sing a gospel song!” (His tickled reaction to his own performance at the end of this clip makes it particularly special.)

Problems viewing? Click here to watch on YouTube instead.

copyright © 2010 Wyatt Doyle

"How Great Thou Art" by Victoria Doyle & Rev. Raymond Branch

Recorded at the Heavenly Rainbow Baptist Church, August 2010.

To hear more by Victoria and to purchase her music, click here.

Visit Rev. Branch here.

© 2010 Rev. Raymond Branch, Victoria Doyle, Wyatt Doyle

"Amazing Grace" by Rev. Raymond Branch & Victoria Doyle

Recorded at the Heavenly Rainbow Baptist Church, August 2010.

Victoria Doyle's CD, A Salute to Cole Porter, is available NOW from New Texture, on CD and digital download. Visit her website here.

© 2010 Rev. Raymond Branch, Victoria Doyle, Wyatt Doyle

Victoria Doyle on WVLT-FM Saturday!

In the Philadelphia/NJ area, tune in to WVLT 92.1 FM to hear Victoria Doyle on The Steve Kurtz Show tomorrow, Saturday March 14, between 1 and 2 pm EST.

To listen online, visit http://www.wvlt.com/index1.html and click on Listen Live.

Meet Victoria Doyle

Victoria Doyle has appeared here before as a poet and tipster, but this clip finds Victoria at her day job - singing.

The song is "Here Alone," from the musical Little Women. The clip was directed, shot and edited by filmmaker Gordon Shoemaker.

You'll be hearing a lot more from both of them.


Rate and comment on Victoria's clip on YouTube by clicking here.

"Man of the Hour Later" by Victoria Doyle

A poem in response to Wyatt Doyle's "Man of the Hour"...

I.
With tonight’s guests
Flip Wilson
Jimmy Stewart
Howard Cosell
Jack Benny
General Omar Bradley
Phyllis Diller
Milton Berle
Neil Armstrong
Rich Little
Ginger Rogers
Reverend Billy Graham
Johnny Bench
Foster Brooks
Governor Ronald Reagan
Nipsey Russell
Don Rickles
Sugar Ray Robinson
Mark Spitz
Zsa Zsa Gabor
John Wayne (on location)
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
and your roastmaster
Dean Martin

II.
Everyone put your hands together for
Fred Astaire
Bob Hope
Sonny Bono
Governor Raymond P. Shafer
Captain & Tennille
Mario Bava
Sarah Vaughn
Ed Sullivan
Edgar Bergen
Sonja Henie
Neil Simon
Margaret Sanger
Anthony Perkins
Joe Namath
Alain Delon
The Nat King Cole Trio
Buddy Ebsen
Dame Shirley Bassey
Aaron Copland
Tom Selleck
Lenny Bruce
The Easybeats
Alan Freed
Jack Kerouac
and the star of our show
Sammy Davis, Jr.

III.
We’re proud to welcome
Bob Fosse
James Cagney
Loudon Wainwright III
District Supervisor Harvey Milk
Liberace
Jean Pierre-Melville
Bobby Darin
Bob Newhart
Orson Welles
Pele
Harold Prince
Malcolm X
Ed Wood
Bobby Riggs
Tom Courtenay
The Glenn Miller Orchestra
Norman Lear
Diana Ross
Leonard Bernstein
Sean Connery
Garrett Morris
Badfinger
Wolfman Jack
Ray Bradbury
with your host
Ed McMahon

IV.
Martha Graham
Chico Marx
Leon Russell
Senator George McGovern
Christopher Cross
William Castle
Rufus Harley
Fred Rogers
Don Ameche
George Foreman
Jerry Brock
Bobby Seale
Peter Cushing
Bobby Clark
Catherine Deneuve
Artie Shaw & his Orchestra
Betty White
Donna Summer
John Barry
Adrian Zmed
David Steinberg
The MC5
Tom Donahue
Faith Baldwin
and the Mayor of Sunset Strip
Rodney Bingenheimer


copyright, © 2008 Victoria Doyle