News Round-Up: Sinatra TV Specials Boxed, Handmade Does Comedy

August 30, 2010 By Joe Marchese — 2 Comments

Frank Sinatra Concert Collection

Rhino Handmade has revealed the latest addition to its catalogue, and it’s an unexpected one. The State began its MTV run in 1993, and ran for three seasons, showcasing its young ensemble in edgy sketch comedy. The troupe spent January 1996 recording an album for Warner Bros. Records, but it was ultimately shelved. That album, Comedy for Gracious Living, gets its first-ever release on September 20 from the busy Handmade folks. Cast members are recognizable from their work in Wet Hot American Summer and Reno 911!, and they continue to develop a film based on The State. Until then, though, fans should be able to tide themselves over with this 25-track treat which can be pre-ordered for $19.98 directly from Rhino Handmade.

Shout! Factory and Frank Sinatra Enterprises have a new box set on the way that looks to be a must-have for fans and collectors alike. Frank Sinatra: Concert Collection is a 7-DVD box set arriving in stores on November 2 containing 14 hours of Sinatra’s finest television appearances housed in a handsome box with a 44-page book. This box restores to print some of Sinatra’s best-known television specials, including the original A Man and His Music (1965) and its three sequels (1966, 1967 and 1981); 1973’s “comeback” Ol’ Blue Eyes is Back, and 1974’s triumphant The Main Event. Over 7 discs, Sinatra welcomes Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Tony Bennett, Loretta Lynn, The Fifth Dimension and his daughter Nancy, just to name some of the celebrity guests. 1982’s The Concert for the Americas, already released on DVD in the United Kingdom, receives its first US DVD release as part of this set, and it will also be available individually. Hit the jump for full details.

Frank Sinatra: Concert Collection (Shout! Factory, 2010)

Discs 1 and 2: A Man and His Music: The Collection
A Man and His Music
A Man and His Music Part II
A Man and His Music + Ella + Jobim
Sinatra: The Man and His Music

Discs 3 and 4: Around the World
Ol’ Blue Eyes is Back
Sinatra: The Main Event
Sinatra In Concert at Royal Festival Hall
Sinatra In Japan: Live at the Budokan Hall, Tokyo*

Disc 5: Primetime
Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing
Sinatra
Sinatra and Friends*

Disc 6: The Concert for the Americas

Disc 7: Bonus Disc
Happy Holidays with Bing and Frank
Vintage Sinatra (2003 PBS Special)*
Bonus TV performances*

* denotes previously unreleased material

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Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song and beyond, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with labels including Real Gone Music and Cherry Red Records, has released newly-curated collections produced and annotated by Joe from iconic artists such as Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Spinners, Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Meat Loaf, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Liza Minnelli, Darlene Love, Al Stewart, Michael Nesmith, and many others.

Joe has written liner notes, produced, or contributed to over 200 reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them America, JD Souther, Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, BJ Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, Petula Clark, Robert Goulet, and Andy Williams.

Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray.

Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.