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
Ella had a fun birthday! She thanks everyone who sent birthday wishes.
She had really hoped to go to the Children’s Museum, but it was closed. So we decided to take her down to Build a Bear where she could pick her own animal, stuff it and pick an outfit. She loved every second.
Despite the many bears, she chose to Build a Cat! The lady at the stuffing machine had her step on the pedal to shoot the stuffing in the kitty. She then got to pick a heart and put it inside the kitty. After she was stuffed, Ella went and got her a rainbow tutu and rainbow shoes to match!
Andrew got Chase from Paw Patrol. He had to get the uniform, the boots, and the hat and “pup pack.”
You can’t put a price on fun or kid memories. But this was an expensive trip! I can’t imagine my folks ever spending almost $200 on two stuffies!
They loved it, though and they will always remember that! On the way home we had to stop by Nana and Pa’s house to pick up her “Mermaid tail” cake. Nana made it out of cupcakes and she was thrilled with it.
After dinner and cake, Ella finally got to open her gifts. She got a huge box of beads and such to make necklaces, rings, bracelets and more. She also got a princess game.
Basically, the game is like the game Cootie. You spin the spinner move along the board and collect your earrings, your ring, your necklace, your bracelet and finally the crown. Collect all of those without having the “cursed ring” and you win.
When your birthday girl asks you to play … you do!
Ridiculous!
Tuesday morning, she couldn’t wait to show her class her cat! Her teachers were nice enough to let her sit up front and tell her story about building the kitty and she passed it around. I was there because she wanted me to make sure that the cat made it home safe. She wanted her to be ok when she got home from school.
Five years! Wow. It is so hard to believe. It seems like just yesterday that I was posting about her being born.
I am so glad she had a good day and I hope she’ll always remember it!
Welcome back to The Music of My Life, where I feature ten songs from each year of my life. In most cases, the ten songs I choose will be ones I like personally (unless I explain otherwise). The songs will be selected from Billboard’s Year-end Hot 100 Chart, Acclaimed Music, and will all be released in the featured year.
One of my comedy heroes has always been Jack Benny. He claimed to be 39 for most of his career. It was one of the many personality traits built into his comedy character. In 2009, I actually turned 39 and have celebrated the anniversary of my 39th birthday ever since.
2009 once again brought changes as it was when my partner and I were let go from our morning show. They replaced us with a form of syndication. They had one person in Flint, and the rest of the crew was on the west side of the state. It hurt because we always talked about the importance of being local. Now the majority of the show is miles away and the only “local” Flint got was traffic and weather.
I think had they let us continue, we would have continued to do well in the ratings. Our program director loved what we were doing. When he passed and a new one came in, I always felt that they had it out for us. Why? So that they could do the morning show instead. In a sense, that is what happened.
It is one of those things that I have to look back on. When I do, I know that had that not happened, my life may have turned out very different. So I have to look back and be grateful for where I am now.
Ok, let’s look at some music.
I wrote all of the above without realizing that my first song is Lucky by Jason Mraz. This was the song that one of my former sisters-in-law used as her wedding song. Of all of my ex’s family, I miss her the most. I used to love making her laugh out loud. I think of her often.
This was a song I really liked right from the get go. I loved the blend of their voices. What was neat was to hear of their mutual love for each other’s music. Colbie Caillat said:
“He (Mraz) emailed me many months ago, saying that he loved my music, that he’s heard my album and he has a song on his album that he wanted me to help him finish writing and collaborate with. We finished writing through email. When he was in London recording his album, I was over there doing promotions for my album and I went over there to do vocals.”
Jason said:
“I became a fan of Colbie through MySpace and just cold-called her to see if she’d want to write and sing together. I dug her laid-back style and her attention to little things that make relationships work. She was a delight to share the mic with.”
They recorded the song without telling their respective record labels. The labels were not really into the idea. Those labels were obviously wrong as this won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
Lucky
It has been said that “men only want one thing.” I suppose there are many “things” that can be interpreted to be that “one thing.” If you think that one “thing” is money, well, here is a song for you.
I remember the first time I put this one in the CD player at work. It follows the classic “flip.” In other words, you have this slow, serious sounding introduction. That is immediately flipped into something not so serious. Does that make sense? Give it a listen and you will understand what I mean, I hope.
The Trace Adkins songs I have featured here have always had a very serious tone to them. He has had his share of hits with that serious tone, too. But every artists needs to break away from those ultra serious songs now and then. Trace says:
“It’s just fun stuff. You have to try to balance these records. I try to go deep on some, but you’ve got to do some that are just mindless – just stuff you can listen to and turn it up loud and drive fast and just have fun with it and smile and sing along and laugh. You’ve got to have that stuff.”
That’s exactly what “Marry For Money” is. It is the picture of a low down, cheating, male gold digger. And with that being said, it is fun to listen to!
Marry For Money
I had DJ’s enough high school and middle school dances to hate Miley Cyrus. Urgh! That Hannah Montana stuff that the kids loved was just crap to me. That is until I heard, The Climb. It was the first song where I felt like, “Ok, she can sing” and “That song is a hit!”
The song was written by Jessi Alexander and Jon Mabe. I was worked with Jessi before, as she did a show for our listeners at the Moose. She seemed shy and quiet, but she sang like a superstar. I always thought her debut album should have done more.
This was the first single to be taken from the soundtrack of the 2009 Miley Cyrus film Hannah Montana: The Movie. When this reached #1 on the on the Adult Contemporary chart, Miley was 16 years and seven months old. This meant she was the youngest artist to top that survey since LeAnn Rimes. It was Miley’s first #1 single on any of Billboard’s airplay charts.
The song’s lyrics remind me of the poem “The Dash.” The poem is about a grave stone’s dates and the dash between them. Life isn’t about the date of birth or date of death, it’s about what happened between them – the dash.
Here is the chorus of The Climb:
There’s always gonna be another mountain I’m always gonna wanna make it move Always gonna be an uphill battle Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose Ain’t about how fast I get there Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side It’s the climb
Life is about the climb!
The Climb
The next song is one that really hits home for me. Not that it was important in 2009, however, it reflected my thoughts on a situation in the mid-90’s. Without giving too much info that folks who know her would figure it out, here is the story.
There was a gal who I really liked. Ok, loved. I hated seeing her with this other dude, who totally treated her like crap. She deserved more. Deep down, I wondered if I ever got a shot to be with her. If I did, I would treat her much differently. I would treat her like he should have. She would often come to me upset because of her relationship. I wanted to scream, “Dump him! I’m here!” That never happened.
Taylor Swift explained the song this way:
“This song is basically about wanting someone who is with this girl who doesn’t appreciate him at all. Basically like ‘girl-next-door-itis.’ You like this guy who you have for your whole life, and you know him better than she does but somehow the popular girl gets the guy every time.”
Last I heard, that gal married the guy. We lost touch, because of that guy. We were such good friends at one point. It is sad to think about.
You Belong With Me
When I used to DJ, I sort of had a rough play list. I started almost all of the weddings the same way. I would play Unchained Melody after all the wedding dances were done. This got all the couples on the dance floor to dance. After it, I would play a fast song to keep the floor packed. Depending on the age group, it might be Old Time Rock and Roll, Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It, Get The Party Started, or something else.
When the Black Eyed Peas released I Gotta Feeling, it was my go to “kick off” song. All age groups loved it. It was the perfect song to talk up, too. “I gotta feelin’ we’re going to have a great night tonight! What song can I play for you, etc….”
It was a great party song and a great radio song. The song was a number 1 song for 14 weeks! The song was the first ever single to be downloaded more than one million times in the UK. Said Fergie:
“It’s exhilarating to know we are so connected to our Peabodies. Hopefully the good vibes from that song will continue to brighten people’s lives.”
According to will.i.am, he literally dreamt up this tune. He said:
“I’ve written songs right from a sleep. Have you ever had a dream where there’s a melody in your dream? I’ll wake up out of my sleep and record that! ‘I Gotta Feeling’ was one of those songs.”
I Gotta Feeling
Next is a song that I remember playing when I worked at the Adult Contemporary station. I was, of course, familiar with Colby Caillat’s music already. It wasn’t until I had moved in with Sam while going through my divorce that the lyrics of this one took on a whole new meaning. I really did begin to fall for her.
Caillat explained to Elle that the song is:
“about falling for a guy I was friends with. We went out on a date and I realized that there was no one else in the room. The room was silent, and I was on this high from it the next day and wrote this song.”
If the guy in the video looks familiar, Colby explains why:
“Bobby Moynihan from SNL plays my love interest, and the whole video is about this guy who’s not my type, but he does all these dorky things on our date that somehow impress me. So he picks the roses from my garden instead of buying me flowers. And then we’re going to go surfing and he almost hits me over the head with the surfboard. And he also has this really funny fantasy dream where he’s dressed all ‘Guido’ in white shoes and his chest is showing and I’m in this ridiculous bathing suit with huge hair and we’re dancing at a DJ party on the beach. It’s just a funny, silly video.”
Falling For You
I have been friends with a gal for almost 40 years. She always said, “Remember to smile, it’s contagious!” I always loved that. There are plenty of great sayings about smiles. “Smile, it makes everyone wonder what you’ve been up to” is another great one. One of my favorite DJ’s used to say, “If you are walking down the street and you see someone with no smile, give them yours and tell them Don Alcorn says hello.”
There are some great songs about smiling, too. “When You’re Smiling” by Dean Martin and “Smile” by Nat King Cole immediately come to mind. Well, Uncle Cracker’s isn’t a bad one either.
Uncle Kracker told Billboard magazine this is: “probably the most positive song I’ve ever written.” He added that the overall tone of the album Happy Hour, “is pretty positive in light of everything that’s going on in the world.” He said: “I made a conscious decision to try something positive. It’s what I needed. it’s a positive spin on everything.”
It’s one of those positive songs that I love!
Smile
Remember the saying, “A stranger is a friend that you haven’t met yet?” That was the thought I had when I heard the title of this Michael Buble’ song. Whether it is an unborn baby or a future lover, the song can have special meaning.
When it came time to record the Crazy Love album, Michael told song facts:
“I started this record knowing I was going to record it differently than my previous ones. I dug way deeper and was more introspective on this one. Basically, I sang the truth – made each song autobiographical – and you can definitely hear the difference. I went back to the way my idols made their records. I wanted an organic feel – so people could feel like they were in the studio with me. The musicians and I all sat in the room, recorded it right from the floor and we let the sounds all come together and bleed into one another. It’s not contrived. Not too perfect. It just feels really good.”
In an interview with The Associated Press, Bublé was asked what the message is he’s trying to send with Crazy Love. He replied:
“I think the message is that all of us can relate to this feeling, this emotion called love and it’s a complicated feeling. It doesn’t just come with butterflies in the stomach and happiness and sunshine and lollipops, it comes with heartache and jealousy and sometimes rage and sometimes insecurity and sadness and regret. It’s a beautiful, complicated, and really special feeling that keeps us all connected.”
This was the first recording by a jazz crooner to reach the Top 30 of the Billboard singles chart since Norah Jones’ “Don’t Know Why” seven years previously in 2003.
Haven’t Met You Yet
The next song stood out to me because of the sound. The first time I heard Hey Soul Sister by Train on the radio, I loved it! That ukulele cut through like a knife to me. Train’s Pat Monahan said, “The ukulele made everybody happy. I think that along with the song itself and the melodies, people gravitate towards that positive part of it. The ukulele made a big difference.”
He told Billboard that the song and the album were a return to their folk roots. He said:
“There’s super catchy riffs and melodies in it, which I think are way more important that any production trick or great-sounding vocal production. It’s kind of us going backward so we can go forward.”
The song was the most downloaded on iTunes in 2010 and is just a great feel good song.
Hey Soul Sister
Lady Antebellum (Known now as Lady A) was one of those groups that came through on a radio tour and left me speechless. They were SO good. I knew that they would be stars. They music they played, their vocal stylings, the dynamics of the group – they had it all.
Lady A is Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and David Haywood. Need You Now was from their second album. Hillary Scott explained that the song, and many others on the album, “Are about what we are learning as we go through the ups and downs of different relationships.” She added: “All three of us know what it’s like to get to that point where you feel lonely enough that you make a late night phone call that you very well could regret the next day. But you do it anyway because it’s the only thing that’s going to give you any relief in that moment.”
Charles Kelly said that initially there some concerns about the song’s lyrical content from executives at their record label. “The response from the get-go was so big,” he said. “I remember even having some conversations with the label and people were [saying], ‘Oh no, hope they don’t get offended by the ‘I’m a little drunk and I need you now’ line. And I said, ‘But that’s honest! We’re talking about Country radio, right? What happened to the old Waylon [Jennings] songs and stuff and people said what they felt?’ It’s storytelling.” Dave Haywood added, “The three of us have been there, too. I mean, we’ve been in serious relationships and when you get out of that, all you want is that person next to you.”
I don’t know one person who hasn’t felt that way after a break up. The song connected with people everywhere and went straight to # 1. When this ballad reached #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart in its 10th week, it achieved the quickest climb to the top (excluding seasonal titles) since Phil Collins.
Lady A performed “Need You Now” at the 2010 Grammy Awards, where it won for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. It marked just the second time a country song won the Record of the Year prize and the third time Song of the Year went Country.
The song is a great song, and sadly at its peak was overplayed on the radio.
Need You Now
So there you have my picks from 2009. Did I pick one of your favorites? Did I miss one of yours? Tell me about it in the comments.
He began his career playing serious roles, but wound up being a comedy legend. Leslie Nielsen was born today in 1926. Most folks who are familiar with him know him going serious to funny. It was the opposite for me, as I first saw him in Airplane!, Police Squad, and the Naked Gun films first.
When I saw him in those early roles, I was blown away. He was a great actor! His performance in Forbidden Planet was amazing! Then I saw him pop up on TV shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Gunsmoke, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and even Columbo! Each time I saw him I was more and more impressed with him. He was also good as the captain in the movie The Poseidon Adventure. He could be funny, serious, mean, nasty, romantic and more!
In Airplane! he was hilarious. His deadpan delivery is exactly what the directors wanted and it worked. It worked so well, they had him play Lt. Frank Drebin in a short lived show called Police Squad.
The show only lasted 6 episodes, but it laid the groundwork for the Naked Gun films, which featured him again as Drebin.
In his honor today, here is the Theme from Police Squad (and Naked Gun).
Five years ago, my life changed forever. I became a girl dad. Happy birthday to my sweet baby girl.
My wife made me shed a tear or two with her post today:
HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY to my sweet Pamela Rose!!
Today you are officially 5, the day that you have been waiting for, for so long! This has been such a year of growth for you! You started sports and completed a year of TBall. You are in dance which has totally turned into your favorite thing. You started preschool and have the best teachers and friends! You have turned into such a great friend who is always so proud of your friend’s accomplishments. You have started to read and write and just all around thrive.
This year you have asked us to start calling you your “big name” Pamela instead of your nickname Ella. Which totally made my mommy heart melt when you told me it is because you wanted to have matching names with your best friend (Nana!)
Sweet girl keep being the stubborn, funny, loving, best friend and best big sister, the smart and caring girl you are! Because you are loved!
Loved indeed!! Oh, the love I feel for her!!
From the moment I first saw her my heart was bursting with love. That love continues to grow every second of every day!
Happy birthday, Sissy! Daddy loves you more than you will ever know! I am so thankful that God gave you to us! What a blessing you are!!
Before I start today, I promise that this will all tie together. Today’s film is the biography of Glenn Miller, The Glenn Miller Story. The 1954 film starred Jimmy Stewart as Glenn Miller and June Allyson as his wife.
The film really is good, even though there are places where it may not be historically accurate. Jimmy does a pretty good job as Miller. I think any time someone plays a musician, who isn’t necessarily a musician, you’re going to be scrutinized by a musician. I watched pretty closely to his trombone “playing” and it is good enough to fool some people.
The movie follows Miller through his early career right up until he is lost over the English Channel. When I first saw this movie, I was unaware that was how he died. I really did enjoy this movie and recommend it to those who love music.
I picked this film today because one of the songs in it, made history today. Glenn and his band had many hits. They include, I Got a Gal in Kalamazoo, Moonlight Serenade, American Patrol, and Tuxedo Junction. His best known is In the Mood, but none of those are songs that I’m presenting today.
It was on this day in 1942 that the first literal gold record was awarded. It was given to Glenn Miller from RCA Victor Bluebird for selling 1.2 million copies of “Chattanooga Choo Choo” on this day. W. Wallace Early, the manager of record sales had this to say:
“We’re mighty proud of that Chattanooga Choo Choo, and the man that made the record, Glenn Miller. You see it’s been a long time – 15 years in fact – since any record has sold a million copies. And Chattanooga Choo Choo certainly put on steam and breezed right through that million mark by over 200,000 pressings. And we decided that Glenn should get a trophy. The best one we could think of is a gold record of Chattanooga.”
In 1958, the Recording Industry Association of America introduced a gold record award program. It was for any record which received one million dollars in retail sales.
So, hop on board as we chug along on the Chattanooga Choo Choo…
The Real Glenn MillerJimmy Stewart as Glenn Miller
This book came up more than once on my recommendations. Granted, I have read a lot of World War II books and plenty about Auschwitz.
The Happiest Man on Earth is written by Eddie Jaku. I would not think that “happy” and “Auschwitz” appear in a sentence together too often. I decided to give it a try.
Once you get into the book, it becomes very apparent that Eddie is indeed a happy guy. He is 100 years old while writing the book. He has seen a lot in his lifetime – bad and good. So who better to talk about happiness, than Eddie? Here is the Goodreads synopsis:
Life can be beautiful if you make it beautiful. It is up to you.
Eddie Jaku always considered himself a German first, a Jew second. He was proud of his country. But all of that changed in November 1938, when he was beaten, arrested and taken to a concentration camp.
Over the next seven years, Eddie faced unimaginable horrors every day, first in Buchenwald, then in Auschwitz, then on a Nazi death march. He lost family, friends, his country.
Because he survived, Eddie made the vow to smile every day. He pays tribute to those who were lost by telling his story, sharing his wisdom and living his best possible life. He now believes he is the ‘happiest man on earth’.
Published as Eddie turns 100, this is a powerful, heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful memoir of how happiness can be found even in the darkest of times.
The book was written in 2020. Eddie enjoyed turning 101 on April 14, 2021. He passed away 6 months later, on October 12, 2021. He died a happy man.
Auschwitz survivor, Eddie Jaku, has just celebrated his 100th birthday and has published his autobiography, “The Happiest Man on Earth”. His memoir is based on a TEDx talk and other speeches he has given over the years, July 2, 2020. (Photo by Louise Kennerley/The Sydney Morning Herald via Getty Images)
Sam pointed out to me that next to Christmas, the day of the Daddy Daughter Dance is what our daughter looks forward to most. She is SO right. We’ve been counting down the days since Christmas!
Thanks to the steroids that the doctor put me on, I packed on a few more pounds than I anticipated. So, I had to alter my outfit at the last minute. Ella, of course, noticed. She asked, “Aren’t you going to wear a tie tonight, daddy?” I told her this year I wanted to be different, and she was ok with that lame excuse.
She looked just beautiful. What an honor to be escorting her to the dance.
We arrived early, and she insisted that she wanted to go inside. I told her we were 30 minutes early and the door was probably locked. She made me get out of the car and try the door, which was open. LOL. We went upstairs to get the professional photo taken, then headed to the gym.
The DJ was already playing music. He was one of those “gotta mix the songs at the same beat guys.” I’ve never been that way. I always felt it sounded weird when two songs were playing at the same time for 30 seconds. Ella didn’t notice and started to dance, even though she was one of four girls in the gym.
The theme this year was Barbie. So we had to get a photo with Ken and Barbie.
They also had a Barbie car for us. Naturally, I let Ella drive….
I think we just avoided hitting a roadrunner on that trip!
One of the projects that we could do together was to “bedazzle” some sunglasses. We made a pair for each of us. She said she wanted to make glasses for her brother and for her mom, so we went back later and did that.
She requested Let It Go from Frozen and we got to dance to that again. Three years in a row, that has been our first dance together. A while later, she was sitting drinking water and they played My Girl by the Temptations. I said, “Oh, Daddy loves this song!” She set her water bottle down and said, “Then we have to dance to it!” I picked her up and swayed with her, singing it to her. She was all smiles.
Not too long ago, on my Music of My Life feature, I mentioned how the song Daughters by John Mayer took on a new meaning when I became “girl dad.” Well, that new meaning went a lot deeper last night. This will forever be one of the best moments of my life:
When Daughters started to play, we were still swaying. She put her arms around my neck and leaned her head against mine. I reached up and wrapped my arm around her. For 4 minutes, it was just her and me. I swayed with my eyes closed, holding back tears. It was the most amazing dance. I was lost in my thoughts, too.
I know that as a 54 year old man, I may not be around when she gets married. We may never get the chance to have THAT Daddy/Daughter dance. So I treasure the ones we do get, and that one was extra special!
Every year, we take pre-dance pictures. It is amazing to compare them and see how much she has grown. This year’s was eye opening. In the first one, she still has that “baby” look to her. She would have been three for that dance. My beard gets more grey in them, too. The photos are a reminder of just how fast time goes by and how every moment is important.
Ella, thank you for spending such an amazing evening with me. Every day my love for you grows. I am already looking forward to next year’s dance. I love you forever!
65 years ago today, Hollywood started to break up the crumbling sidewalks and adding stars! I’m talking, of course, about the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was on this day that the first star was placed. Do you know whose star it was? I’ll tell you in a paragraph or two.
After the official groundbreaking ceremony on the walk, construction continued for 16 months. In that time, they installed 1,500 other stars belonging to actors, musicians, fictional characters and filmmakers.
The stars are placed on both sides of Hollywood Boulevard. They stretch from Gower to La Brea (15 blocks). And another row are placed on Vine Street from Yucca to Sunset (three blocks).
The Hollywood Walk of Fame currently holds more than 2,700 terrazzo and brass stars with about 30 added each year.
47% of stars are for motion pictures, 24% for television, 17% for music, 10% for radio, and less than 2% for theater and live performance.
Marilyn Monroe’s star is one of the most visited stars on the Walk of Fame.
Michael Jackson’s star is possibly the most photographed star on the Walk of Fame.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame attracts an estimated 10 million visitors each year.
So who was the lucky recipient of the first star?
She had television appearances on Alfred Hitchcock Presents, You Are There, The General Electric Theater, The Philco Playhouse and more.
Her movies included The Three Faces of Eve, The Fugitive Kind, The Stripper, and The End. SHe also appeared in movies with her actor husband (Paul Newman) in films like The Long Hot Summer.
As I have said all week, I wasn’t sure how a second round of nostalgia would go. I was pleasantly surprised to see the stats for the posts of my guest bloggers. Speaking of them, I need to thank Randy, Christian, Max, Stewart, and Dave for all taking time to write a piece for this feature. Each of them have blogs that they write and have a life off the blogging grid. The fact that they chose to participate means a lot to me. Thank you guys!
This round’s topic was to write about your favorite childhood book. It may have been something you were read by your parents or grandparents. It could have been the first book you ever read by yourself. Perhaps it is a book that you read to your own children. The posts from my guests ranged from western heroes to wild things. There were groups of adventure seeking kids to good ole Dr. Seuss.
Dave’s books yesterday tie in with one of mine today. He had two Little Gold Books. Those books lined the book shelves in my room. I had SO many of them. I had Disney books, books with Sesame Street Characters, and just about every Little Golden Book you can imagine. The one that stands alone for me was one I remember my mom reading to me.
As a kid, I naturally had a lot in common with this poky little pup. I always seemed to lag behind. One time I was so interested in something at the mall, I didn’t realize my dad had left the store!
It is not the story that I love so much, it’s that I remember mom reading it to me. I made sure to buy this when my first son was born. I remember reading it to him and thinking, “Why did I like this book so much?” The answer was – mom.
Fourth grade was a milestone year for me in many ways. Mrs. Gallop was my teacher and she read us many books throughout the year. As a matter of fact, the ones I am about to mention have forever stuck with me. I cannot wait until my kids are old enough for me to read those books to them.
The first one was How To Eat Fried Worms.
Ah, childhood! Billy has made a bet. If he wins, he gets $50, which he will use to buy a minibike. What does he have to do? Eat 15 worms over 15 days. I remember all of us getting grossed out as he began to eat these worms.
Next, it was Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.
Peter is a fourth grader. His younger brother, Fudge, is always doing something. So much that Peter feels that compared to Fudge, he is … “nothing.” Throughout the book, you see Peter’s frustrations and how he often gets caught up in his brother’s chaos. As an older brother, I remember thinking of my little brother, Christopher, and just how much he was like Fudge!
Finally, Mrs. Gallop read us a classic. James and the Giant Peach.
James is forced to live with two evil aunts. He discovers a giant peach in his yard. He, and a bunch of insects, use the peach to get away from it all. Their adventure takes them across the ocean and all the way to New York City! I remember the book had a few small cuss words, which made us all laugh. This was one of those books that we all were engrossed in this story!
I give kudos to the guest bloggers who were able to come up with just one. For my childhood, there were so many that stuck with me. I was so grateful to those who introduced me to reading.
I had hoped my wife would join us and blog about her favorite childhood book, but she is shy and said she wasn’t sure about it. So I will tell you that she still has a copy of her favorite book, and reads it to our kids often.
I had never head of this one, but it’s actually cute.
I have a book that makes me think of each of my kids. For Dante’ (Now 22), it’s The Three Little Kittens.
I read this more times than I can count. When I was away on a radio trip, I actually recorded it onto DVD so I could “read” it while it was away. For Dimitri (almost 18), it was …
Both kids actually liked this, but it is Dimitri who noticed and laughed at the silly faces on some of the snowmen in the book. For Ella (5 next week), it was ….
This book will forever warm my heart and remind me of my sweet baby girl sitting on my lap. I loved when it got to the point where she would finish the lines with me. Wonderful memories with this book. Andrew’s book was one that his speech therapist gave him…
This makes so much sense for him. He has always been fascinated with tools, plugs, flashlights and everything that has buttons!! He loves interacting with this book
Last one, I promise! Both of my kids loved this next book….
I gotta tell you, it was hard to read to them the first time. I laughed as I read it! It’s a future classic!!
What was your favorite book as a child? Please tell me in the comments. If you’d ever be interested in taking part in this feature, let me know. I’d love to feature YOU here.
This blog has always been an outlet for me to share my experiences, my memories, and my life with you. I hope that my posts cause you to look back at your life at your fond memories, too. Thank you for being here.
Thanks again to those who participated in Round 2. I’ll begin to think about Round 3, if readers would be interested in that. If so, I think I’ll run it in April. Does that work for you?
Back in November, I did a feature I called “Share Your Nostalgia.” I asked some of my blogger friends to write up a piece that focused on their favorite toy from childhood. The response was positive and it was suggested to do another round. So this time around, I asked for them to tell us about their Favorite Childhood Book.
Their book could be something that was read to them by their parents or grandparents. It could also be a book that was read to them in school at story time. I also suggested that their book might be one that they read to their own children. I wanted each of them to have as much freedom as necessary.
Today’s guest blogger is responsible for my continuing this feature. Dave from A Sound Dayhosts Turntable Talk every month, which many of the participants and I take part in. It’s a wonderful music feature that we all enjoy taking part in. When I decided to try my feature, Dave was very supportive of the idea and felt it was worthy of doing again with a change in topic.
Dave has been one of those bloggers that I followed early on. His musical pieces are worth a read daily. Will his books have a musical theme to them? Let’s find out together…
Thanks Keith, for running this interesting feature and inviting me to be a part of it. Last time, we talked about toys we loved as a kid which brought me back a lot of nice memories, as it likely did to most of the readers I would bet. This time we’re remembering something that was as important as the toys to me growing up – books.
I feel fortunate I grew up in a household of readers, book-lovers. My Mom was a school teacher (although she pretty much gave that up to be a stay-at-home mom as my brother and I grew up) and loved books, read quite a bit. Even in her old age, she loved romance novels and Diana Galbadon fantasy books. She even read the hefty Harry Potter series by JK Rowling. My dad was more surprising to many. He dropped out of school at 14, more due to his family’s financial reasons than a disdain for education. He grew up speaking German but learned English when he came over here and taught himself a great deal reading. He built nice bookcases in our living room and filled them with books, fiction and non-fiction alike. He read anything from history epics to James Bond thrillers to ones of philosophy to books theorizing about extraterrestrials; probably where I got my fascination for UFOs from. There were series of books on foreign lands and even some novels that were considered on the “racy” side I’d eventually find out. He was walking proof that formal education isn’t necessarily equal to intelligence. Both of them had their flaws (we all do) but both loved reading and would often take me to the library or bookstores and for that I’m grateful.
Not surprisingly then, my parents got me reading pretty young. I can’t remember the exact dates or details, but most definitely I could read some basic things before I was near school age.
Like most kids my age, I would guess, the first books I remember having and learning to read (first having my mom read it and after awhile being able to myself) were various ones from the great, delightful Dr. Seuss. He had to have done more to promote literacy in young people than any other individual in the 1950s through ’70s. We had pretty much all of the “classic” titles in his collection; I’m thrilled when I go to my town supermarket now and see a big display featuring most of them, even in the same format and with the same covers I remember. Green Eggs & Ham was a real fave of mine, and I liked that rascally Cat in the Hat but of course the prize in that set was The Grinch. Of course I loved the TV version of it (still do) but it was amazingly fun to me back then to be able to read the words and see the still pictures Ted Geisel (aka, Dr Seuss) drew for them. I nearly picked those books collectively to feature but decided to go for something a little more unusual perhaps that were hugely important to me later, when I was … maybe eight to ten years old. The little Golden books, and in particular Weather : A Guide to Phenomena and Forecasts, and Birds : A Guide to Familiar American Birds. Both were small, pocket-sized ( just a shade smaller than a Reader’s Digest magazine as a reference point), had 160 pages and were published in the mid-’50s. And both let me develop a couple of interests I already had into real passions.
Ever since I was little, the changes in the weather, and especially storms always fascinated me. When the thunder rolled or snow blizzarded so hard you could barely see across the street, I ran to the window, not for cover. By the time I was about 10, I had a little weather set and kept records of the temperature, the barometer, the amount of rain we got day-by-day. I was quite the nerd apparently! But I loved that stuff and the Golden book was the one that made me understand it all. It described air masses, cold and warm fronts, how storms developed, tornadoes and hurricanes and how professionals measured it all and came up with forecasts. All explained with a lot of pictures and maps and in terms simple enough for a kid my age to understand, but not totally dumbed down. I swear that an average person who read through it twice might well have a better understanding of how weather works than a number of TV “weathermen” or “weatherwomen” I’ve seen on TV. It was a trusty reference book for me for years, probably until my parents split up and my Mom and I moved, when I was a teen. In no small part thanks to it, I even thought about becoming a meteorolgist. The amount of advanced schooling required for the degree and the probability of being sent to work in some remote northern locale ended up deterring me from that but to this day, I note the weather and try to see the weather maps online. I even took a training course a few years back offered by the Weather Service to be an informed weather spotter… basically if I see a wall cloud that’s rotating or nickel-sized hail falling, I can call into the weather office and report it and they won’t think I’m some total bozo without a clue.
The birds book had a similar effect on me, and I probably got it around the same age. I’d always loved nature, and back then our family often watched shows like Wild Kingdom . I was fascinated. When my Mom put out a bird feeder in the birch tree in our front yard, near the living room window, I soon became enthralled by the creatures. The color, the vibrancy, the variety… I’d spend hours at times in winter adoring the tiny, busy chickadees, admiring the occasional neon-red Cardinal that dropped by, seeing the goldfinches and being amazed how the dazzling yellow June ones and the more subdued olive-and-brown January ones were the same birds! All the while, I thought the bold, loud and ultra-colorful Blue Jays were just about the best. How great for me my favorite baseball team chose them as their name and symbol!
Anyway, when something unfamiliar showed up in the yard, I was always wondering what it was. What it ate, where it came from, that sort of thing. The Golden book helped me do that. Now, it was only 160 pages, so it probably only covered about 140 or so species; a small sampling of the over 700 types that inhabit the U.S. and Canada. But most of the ones I saw regularly were in there, or if not, were close to ones that were shown. Soon I knew a Slate-colored Junco was that little blackish sparrow eating seeds on the ground and those green-headed ducks I’d see on every pond and creek were Mallards. The book showed them, told a bit about them in a paragraph or two, and even had a little map to show where you should expect to see them. It also made me see birds that I wanted to see but hadn’t – man, who can look at a Pileated Woodpecker, the one the cartoonist based Woody on, the size of a crow with a flaming red crest on top of its head, and not be in awe? I would venture out to parks and woods to look for some of those magic creatures, and in time saw most of them. Soon of course, I wanted to know more and got a full field guide (as it happens, also a Golden one, but a much more scientific and complete one, over 400 pages with pretty much every bird on the continent shown) that could tell me all those species and how to tell them apart, but it was the little beginners one that got me to that point. I found one in a used store not many years ago, and of course bought it. Why wouldn’t I?
If I wasn’t nostalgic for my childhood, I wouldn’t be writing this for Keith… and if you weren’t for your own childhood, you wouldn’t be reading it.
My brother at those ages liked the Hardy Boys. Nothing wrong with that, but I guess I was always more fascinated by what really was than what could be in a pretend world. Thanks to the creators of that Golden series for helping me understand the basics and become even more fascinated with every bit I learned.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 