Author: nostalgicitalian

I'm just a guy who likes the classics. I love Old Time Radio Shows. I love Classic TV. I love Classic Movies. I love songs from the "Great American Songbook". I dig songs from the first decade of Rock and Roll. Don't get me wrong, I am not opposed to newer things. My musical taste ranges from Classical to Classic Rock and Country to Rap. I love a good book and am always looking for something to read. I tend to lean toward historical fiction, biographies, mysteries, and more. I have always believed that our past (and the things we've experienced in it) make us who we are today. That being said, after reading through some old My Space blogs (yeah, that's about how long it's been since I blogged regularly), I decided that I should once again write. Welcome to my blog. I hope you find it interesting, thought provoking, and entertaining in some way. CONTACT ME AT - nostalgicitalian@yahoo.com

Tune Tuesday

Normally, I would steer clear of this song, but because it is his birthday, I will feature it today.

Happy 83rd Birthday to Bob Lind!

In 1965, Bob Lind signed a contract with World Pacific Records, which was a division of Liberty Records. It was there that he recorded his composition (and only hit) Elusive Butterfly.

From songfacts.com:

Bob Lind wrote this song, where he sees himself as a butterfly hunter. He is looking for romance, but he finds it as elusive as butterflies are to capture. It turned out to be the only hit for Lind, who did a lot of traveling as a kid and ended up playing folk music around Denver when he flunked out of Western State College. He wrote “Elusive Butterfly” as the sun was coming up after staying up all night. He says the song is about “The magic of the quest, the thrill of searching, even when that which is sought is hard to see.”

One of music’s greatest bass players, Carol Kaye, played on the song. She told songfacts.com:

“It was at Sunset Sound. It was kind of a boring tune. I think it was D-flat or something, and it stays a long time in that chord and then it moves in a funny way to the next chord, it’s like a sidebar phrase or something like that. I missed it and I went to go up to the G-flat or whatever and I missed it and I came right back down. I did a slide up and down. And they stopped and I thought, ‘Uh oh, he caught me.’ He said, ‘Do more of those!’ (laughing) So the slide was born, then. I’d stick that slide in here and there on the records I cut.”

I chuckled when I read her quote calling the song “boring.” When I was at WKSG in Detroit, this song would come up on the play list from time to time. Johnny Molson, who did the evening show before I came on the air, had the best description of the song. He told me that the song “sounds like someone ate a Hallmark card … and threw up.”

Happy Birthday to Johnny, by the way. Who knew he and Bob shared a birthday?

Plagued by drug and alcohol problems, Lind gained a reputation in the business for being “hard to work with.” He eventually left the music business for some time, but his music was recorded by over 200 artists. Those artists include: Cher, Glen Campbell, Dolly Parton, Eric Clapton, The Turtles, Johnny Mathis, Nancy Sinatra, The Four Tops, and Petula Clark!

In 1988, he moved to Florida. He wrote five novels, an award-winning play, and a screenplay, Refuge, which won the Florida Screenwriters’ Competition in 1991. He also worked briefly for the Weekly World News and is credited with co-writing their famous “Bat Boy” story.

I’d say that he should stick to singing, but I’m not really keen on that either… So, Happy Birthday, Bob.

Movie Music Monday – Mrs. Doubtfire

It was on this day in 1993 that Mrs. Doubtfire premiered in theaters. Sally Field, Pierce Brosnan, and the late Robin Williams all starred in this funny, yet serious film. Robin Williams is SO good in this movie.

Desperate to see his children after a divorce, Robin’s character disguises himself as Mrs. Doubtfire, a nanny, to help with the kids. If you’ve never seen it, you really should. It is a fantastic film.

One of my favorite scenes in the film is when there is a montage of Mrs. Doubtfire doing various things while Dude Looks Like a Lady is playing underneath the scenes. Robin dancing with a vacuum or a broom is cinema magic.

The song was written by Desmond Child. Songfacts.com spoke with him about the song’s use in the film: “Desmond Child told us, “It’s funny, because they used that song in Mrs. Doubtfire, and then it was like every four or five-year-old child in America was able to sing that song. It was like; do you realize this is about a tranny?”“

Songfacts also shares:

While Aerosmith is a very heterosexual band, they were secure enough to sing about wanting sex with the “Dude” even after they discover he is a man. They weren’t concerned about their masculinity, but were worried about offending the LGBT community – they didn’t want to come off as jackass rock stars making fun of someone different.

Desmond Child was the one who pushed it through. He told us, “Joe (Perry) stepped in and said, ‘I don’t want to insult the gay community.’ I said, ‘Okay, I’m gay, and I’m not insulted. Let’s write this song.’ So I talked them into the whole scenario of a guy that walks into a strip joint and falls in love with the stripper on stage, goes backstage and finds out it’s a guy. But besides that, he’s gonna go with it. He says, ‘My funky lady, I like it, like it, like it like that.’ And so he doesn’t run out of there, he stays.

If you think about how far back that was, it was a very daring song to sing, and everyone went with it. It’s not like the polarized society we have now, because that was before gay people really started fighting for their rights and nobody cared about it and everyone thought that they could make fun of us. So they accepted the lyric, and not only that, went for it. (Laughs) I don’t know if anyone has looked deep enough into the song, but it’s a very accepting song, and it has a moral that says never judge a book by its cover, or who you’re going to love by your lover.”

If you’d rather just listen to the song – here is the official video from Aerosmith:

Book Recommendation – The Deal of a Lifetime

If you are looking for a quick read to help you meet your reading goal for the year, I’ve got one. This one has a slight holiday theme and it will make you think. If that sounds interesting, check out The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman.

This was one of the rare books that I was compelled to write a Goodreads review about. First, let me share the Goodreads synopsis:

A father and a son are seeing each other for the first time in years. The father has a story to share before it’s too late. He tells his son about a courageous little girl lying in a hospital bed a few miles away. She’s a smart kid—smart enough to know that she won’t beat cancer by drawing with crayons all day, but it seems to make the adults happy, so she keeps doing it.

As he talks about this plucky little girl, the father also reveals more about himself: his triumphs in business, his failures as a parent, his past regrets, his hopes for the future.

Now, on a cold winter’s night, the father has been given an unexpected chance to do something remarkable that could change the destiny of a little girl he hardly knows. But before he can make the deal of a lifetime, he must find out what his own life has actually been worth, and only his son can reveal that answer.

With humor and compassion, Fredrik Backman’s The Deal of a Lifetime reminds us that life is a fleeting gift, and our legacy rests in how we share that gift with others.

Here now is my Goodreads review:

In reading some of the other reviews of this book, I was surprised at them.  Many of them speak of how good the concept of the story is.  Others complain that this should have been expanded into a full novel.  Some held back a five star rating simply because of those things.

One review spoke of how Backman’s books always made them laugh or cry and this one did not.  They said that it did make them think, but it “lacked” that emotional element. I have to disagree.

When I was a radio personality I was once told that success came from connecting with the listener.  “If you make them laugh, make them cry, make them angry, or simply make them think – then you have entertained them.  Then you have connected with them.” This works the same way with books.  I have yet to read a Backman book that did not entertain me.

This story is perfect the way it is.  You get enough information about the characters and the situation to get what you were intended to get.  Would it hit you differently or deeper if parts were expanded?  Perhaps.  However, for something so simple to still “pack a punch,” says a lot about the story and the writer.

Maybe I connected more with this because of my own situation.  I’m divorced and remarried with children from both marriages.  I still have a relationship with my older children, but at times I can tell they struggle at times with the situation.  There are a lot of feelings that are being dealt with.

Any time that a relationship is ended, whether it be a friendship or a marriage, there will be “What if” questions.  It is a given, but life in general is also filled with them, too.  As we age and look back, there are always things that we wonder about.  “What will my legacy be? How will I be remembered? Did I do enough?”

This book made me ask those questions about myself. It may do the same for you.  It is worth the read.

Half a Million?!

Today I extend to you my thanks. As a reader of my blog, you have helped me achieve another blogging milestone. This week I received a note stating:

I am so grateful for those of you who read my ramblings here. I thank you for commenting and liking the things that I post. I am humbled by this and I appreciate those who have shared this page with others.

Thank you so very much!

Friday Photo Flashback

Since this is the last Friday before Thanksgiving, I thought I would post a turkey themed photo.

There used to be a store around town called The Christmas Tree Shop. It was such a cool store. It was the perfect place to shop for holiday themed items. They had some neat wall art, home items, toys, greeting cards, and even food and snacks. It was one of those places where we’d go to whenever we were out that way.

When Sam and I first moved in together, we got huge coffee mugs with a “K” and an “S” on them. We also bought our monogrammed Christmas stockings there. We had Christmas and Thanksgiving placemats and table runners that we bought there, too. We were pretty sad when we heard it was closing down.

On one of our early fall stops there, I remember Sam had been in one area of the store looking at some things while I was in another area. I spotted something that I thought would make her laugh. So I put on this ridiculous turkey hat and just kept walking around the store until she spotted me. Surprisingly, she didn’t ignore me (which she had every right to). She chuckled and probably told me to take it off. So I did, and immediately put on another one.

Of course, I asked her to take pictures.

Looking back, I kind of wish I had bought the one with the legs hanging down.

I’m looking forward to eating turkey next week!!

Book Recommendation – What About The Bodies

Today’s book was one that I just happened upon while at the local library with the kids. The title peaked my interest. I read the synopsis and thought it sounded good. The book is What About the Bodies.

The author is a new one for me. I wasn’t sure what to expect. Before I go on, here is the Goodreads synopsis:

Carla, a single mom poised to finally break free from her cycle of poverty, must risk it all, including her morality, to help her son hide a terrible secret.

Reed, an autistic young man, sets out on a journey to keep a deathbed promise to the mother he just lost. Along the way he’ll encounter both kindhearted residents and a cold-blooded nemesis.

And Liz, an aspiring musician on the cusp of a breakthrough, needs to quickly come up with the cash she owes a brutal ex-con. If she can’t pay him, both her dream and her life will be in grave danger.

As these three compelling characters intersect, the novel ignites into a story filled with explosive twists, hair-raising chills, and boundless love.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a very quick read. I think it took me two days. Jaworowoski ended each chapter in a way that made me not want to put the book down. I love a book like that.

If I had to describe the book, I’d say that it was like merging onto the highway. You’ve got these three characters who all start off the book with their own issue and storyline. With each chapter, they get closer and closer to each other. You begin to see where one story and another connect. Finally, they all come together and intersect in a way that brings the book to a conclusion.

To a degree it was a mystery, but it was more of a suspenseful story that had me wanting more at the end of each chapter.

4 out of 5 stars

Rest Easy, Old Friend

I held quite a few different titles during my radio career. One of those was “Music Director.” Part of my job was to listen to the new songs that we received every week and then discuss with the Program Director and consultant which ones we would add to the play list.

One day a week, before the meeting with the PD and consultant, I would take record calls. There was a two to four hour window where representatives from the various record labels would call to “sell” me on their records. They would pitch me recent research or airplay success stories in hopes that we would add their songs.

There were a few independent record promoters that would call working songs that might not be on a major label or to help promote major label artists. One of my favorite music calls each week was from and independent promoter named Jack Pride.

He and I began chatting when I first became a music director at B95. Our program director had known him for longer than me and we would often add songs that we felt were good enough to play (even though consultants disagreed). It felt good to be able to help him out. As time went on, it started to get harder and harder to get some of those songs on the air, as many corporate consultants stepped in and had the final say on adds.

I always enjoyed chatting with Jack. For both of us, it was never about the label or the artist – what mattered was if the song was good or not. He and I loved a good lyric and story behind the song. He was passionate about the music he promoted and there were many songs that should have been hits that never made it to radio because of consultants and corporate people.

Our chats each week lasted a bit longer than a normal call, but that is because we became good friends. We’d talk about mutual friends, our family, faith and life in general. He was such a great guy.

After years of telephone chats, I finally had the pleasure of meeting Jack in Nashville at the Country Radio Seminar. He had been talking about a steakhouse down there called Morton’s and he took me and my program director there for dinner one night. It was such a great time.

Every year, Jack would make hundreds of chocolate chip cookies for his radio contacts. The first year, I got this big box with a metal tin in it. When I opened it, there was a dozen of his famous cookies. There were the BEST cookies! I know I wasn’t the only one who waited for those cookies every year. The first couple years I was out of radio, Jack still sent me cookies at Christmas. He knew my kids loved them, too.

When I left radio all together and went into sleep medicine, our chats were less frequent. I’m not sure he ever retired, but I know he had stopped making calls to stations within the last couple years. I guess he had some health issues recently, and I was saddened to hear that he passed away this week at age 80.

I really need to be better about calling someone when I think about them. I had just thought about him a week or so ago and made a mental note to call him before the holidays. Lesson learned.

Rest easy, Jack. See you on the other side, buddy.

Moose and Squirrel

It was 66 years ago that we were first introduced to Rocky and His Friends. Rocky debuted on this day in 1959 along with his friend Bullwinkle, the evil Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale, Dudley Do-Right, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, and even Aesop! They debuted on the ABC Network.

The show was sort of a variety show which featured Rocky and Bullwinkle on an adventure that always ended in a cliffhanger. Their portion of the show was surrounded by Fractured Fairy Tales (narrated by Edward Everett Horton), Peabody’s Improbable History, and the adventures of Dudley Do-Right. The show has been described as “a radio show with pictures” and I would tend to agree.

While the animation isn’t all that great (it was done by Gamma Productions in Mexico and there were plenty of mistakes), the series is still held in high esteem. The show was fun for kids and adults. The humor consisted of puns, satire, and characters poking fun at themselves.

Production on the show began in 1958 with voice work being done by the amazing June Foray, Bill Scott, Paul Frees, Hans Conried and William Conrad. Conrad acted as narrator for the show and his frantic narration was a highlight for me. Wiki says at the end of the episode (at the cliffhanger) he would announce two humorous titles for the next episode that typically were puns of each other (and usually related more to the current predicament than to the plot of the next episode). For example, during an adventure taking place in a mountain range, Conrad would say, “Be with us next time for ‘Avalanche Is Better Than None,’ or ‘Snow’s Your Old Man.'”

https://youtu.be/0yZ3hEpyaD8?si=Pll5MhjWc373v9QX

Here is Conrad and Paul Frees in a promo for the show:

https://youtu.be/uEzTYtzLRz0?si=2kGD-4ux_9rSbsuP

In between the various acts of the show, we’d be treated to Bullwinkle as Mr. Know It All. He would claim to be an authority on just about any topic. Things never seem to go his way in the segment.

Then there was a segment where Bullwinkle would tell Rocky he was going to pull a rabbit out of his hat. Often times it would be a rhino or a lion. Bullwinkle would then say, something about the hat.

https://youtu.be/kRW7pITY5Cg?si=3XBnbIYAPouEZbAU

As a kid, I loved that the characters would break the fourth wall.  They either spoke to you, the viewer, or interacted with the narrator, which was always funny…

https://youtu.be/oUf7YR7gl64?si=CVioEoGyDwZlT99v

I used the music from Fractured Fairy Tails as an open to my radio show.  I had Richard D, my program director, do a hokey British accent and say, “WHND now cautions you that the following program may contain extreme silliness, ridiculous situations and partial nudity. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Keith Allen Experience.”. The music made it sound even more ridiculous.

This was the version I used:

https://youtu.be/PcSpOonwsJo?si=TPpO6oBPZNi8eNZR

There were three other versions with different music:

https://youtu.be/H926TwAkhjM?si=G1dFH9Id9oReKhAB

Mr. Peabody and Sherman also had three different themes:

https://youtu.be/HWXEM2Qo1c0?si=tqaGo05-DiUyGpt4

I love how Dudley Do Right’s theme has that section with music that is so reminiscent of the old movie and radio melodramas.

https://youtu.be/Npfi0UZL2ow?si=n1cIMayF4lpWlNq8

The Rocky and Bullwinkle show was a groundbreaking. And though there have been many attempts at rebooting the cartoon, and movies based on the characters, nothing tops the original!

Tune Tuesday

Happy Heavenly Birthday to Michigan’s own Hank Ballard! He was born on this day in 1927. He, of course, wrote and recorded the original version of The Twist. The song will be forever associated with Chubby Checker. He also had hits with Work With Me Annie, Annie Had a Baby and more.

I have featured Hank on this blog before with the 2021 Song Draft

I’d like to feature two of my other favorite Hank songs. I played both of these when I was working at Honey Radio in Detroit.

“Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go” (also known as “There’s a Thrill on The Hill”) is a 1960 pop and R&B single written by Hank and performed by Hank and the Midnighters.

The single was the last of the Midnighters’ three number one singles on the US Billboard R&B Chart, staying there for three non-consecutive weeks. “Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go” is also Ballard & the Midnighters’ most successful pop single, peaking at number six on the Billboard Hot 100. The record sold in excess of one million copies. In Canada the song reached number 16.

“Finger Poppin’ Time” is a song that was written by Ballard and reached number two on the US Billboard R&B chart. It reached number seven on the pop chart in 1960. It was featured on their 1960 album Mr. Rhythm and Blues. 

The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance in 1961. It lost to Ray Charles “Let The Good Times Roll.” It ranked #49 on Billboard’s list of Top 100 songs for 1960.

Happy Birthday, Hank!!

Movie Music Monday – Tommy Boy

Happy 81st Birthday to Lorne Michaels! He has won 24 Primetime Emmy Awards. He has 112 nominations, holding the record as the most nominated individual in the award show’s history. He is best known for Saturday Night Live, but he has also produced some very funny films, including Tommy Boy.

There are some really great songs in the movie, but I chose Superstar by the Carpenters because of the scene it is played. If you are not familiar with the movie, Chris Farley and David Spade are off on a road trip intending to sell enough brake pads to save the company they work for. Whether they are on the road or making a sales pitch, things don’t go well. In one scene, they are driving along when Superstar plays. we eventually see them cry their eyes out listening to this song, which is the pay off to a great set up.

The Superstar was written by Leon Russell and Bonnie Bramlett. It is about a woman who falls for a rock star, has a tryst with him, but then in a bout of delusion awaits his return, apparently falling for it when he said he loved her.

A young Bette Midler started performing the song later in the year, and Richard Carpenter heard the song for the first time when Midler performed it on The Tonight Show. Richard knew it could be a hit for the Carpenters, so he reworked the song in their style and recorded it, resulting in the most successful version.

“Superstar” was recorded by Karen on her first take, singing the lyrics that had been scribbled by Richard onto a napkin. It took a while for Karen to warm up to the song. “For some reason that tune didn’t hit me in the beginning,” she recalled in a 1981 interview. “It’s the only one. Richard looked at me like I had three heads. He said: ‘Are you out of your mind?’ When I heard his arrangement of it I fell over, and now it’s one of my favorites too.”

Here’s the scene from Tommy Boy

Happy Birthday, Lorne!!