A few weeks ago, after some prodding from some blogger friends, I decided to experiment with a new feature. I was unsure if anyone would want to participate in another “Topic based” feature, so I asked around. The response was more than I had expected, so this is a trial run. In the days ahead, some of my favorite bloggers and guests will share a bit of their nostalgia with you. I hope you enjoy it.
The topic for this feature is “The Toy of Your Life.” Was there one toy that you considered the “best?” When you think of yourself as a child, what is the toy that immediately pops into your mind? What was the toy that you brought to Show and Tell or took with you everywhere? Let’s kick things off with Nancy. She’s a music person, so was her toy music oriented?
Nancy and I hit it off right away. We’re both Sicilian/Italians. We both love music, humor, and a good story. She reached out to me some time ago and I wrote some musical pieces for her blog, The Rhythm Section. That site is now defunct and she shares on the blog: The Elephant’s Trunk https://theelephantstrunk.org/
Nancy is now a #1 bestselling author on Amazon as a contributor to the anthology “Wounds I Healed: The Poetry of Strong Women” and “Hidden In Childhood: A Poetry Anthology”, edited and curated by Gabriela Marie Milton, international bestselling author and editor of Literary Revelations.
A few months ago, she had some surgery and is still recuperating. She was hesitant at first, but she then decided to write as she recovered. She has already posted her piece on her blog. The rest of the submissions will appear in their entirety on this blog, but for Nancy’s, I will offer up the link:
Nancy, with every post, I learn more and more about how much we are alike. I didn’t have a teal record player. Mine was in a red case. I remember the needle, arm and actual turntable being white. After searching online, I found it.
This was the turntable that played my Beatles albums, my Dumb Ditties album, and countless 45’s! There may have been a headphone jack on this thing, but honestly, I don’t recall. I would imagine that music sounded better in headphones than that little speaker.
There are “fans”… And there are fans. I would say these two guys are true fans.
Detroit Lions fans have waited a very long time to have a team and a coach that is worth cheering for. Last year was just amazing, and this year promises to be just as good or better.
Some fans are showing their love for the team in unique ways. Metro Detroiters Jared Blair and Brad Smith, for example, transformed this Woodhaven, MI front lawn into a 1/10th replica of the Detroit Lions’ field at Ford Field.
Kudos on a fantastic job!!! I hope that they actually play some games on this field!
The timing on this photo find is almost perfect. We’re less than two weeks away from Halloween and I stumbled on this photo of my folks.
This photo made me laugh out loud! My mom is wearing one of my dad’s old band outfits. They used to wear these blue tuxes when they played weddings as I recall. That is definitely one of his tux shirts, too. Those ruffles were something!! If I had to guess, that is an old hat from a New Year’s Eve party, but I can’t say for certain.
Next to mom is dad, ever the clown! I love this picture of them. My dad is never one to shy away from dressing in something silly. I have NO idea where that polka dot shirt came from! I cannot begin to imagine where anyone would wear it that was NOT a Halloween party! The make up he is wearing was probably the makeup that they used on my brother and I the year we went out as “vampires.” The buttons on the coat are my Three Stooges buttons. I had quite a few of them as a teen. Obviously, the perfect things for his ensemble.
What I don’t know is whether he wore this outfit first, or if I did. Our high school band had a Halloween party my sophomore year. That party would have taken place in October of 1985. I don’t recall much about it. I know it was in a barn or at a cider mill maybe. We had to pile onto a bus to get there. At any rate, I wore most of this same outfit!
If I had to guess, I wore it first. I am sure my dad didn’t wear the yellow pajama pants (more on why in a minute). There are also no buttons on the coat. I would think that if my dad wore the coat first, then I would have kept the buttons on it. Then there is the horn. Man, that horn was hilarious. It was your typical Harpo Marx horn that was loud and annoying. I can see why I made sure to bring it to the party. Missing from my dad’s take on the costume are the hat and giant scissors. Maybe I lost them at the party?
Back to the yellow pajama pants. There is another photo of me before the party. My mom, always happy to ham it up, had the perfect pose.
Look closely at the back of the left leg. I remember my dad grabbing a magic marker that night. He wrote “Band Reject” on there! This is totally my dad! Great stuff.
That Halloween costume may have been responsible for my three year reign as “Band Clown” in the mock elections! What an honor!
Back to the original photo for a minute as I wrap this up. It makes me smile. My mom looks young and healthy here. Nine or ten years later, she’d get the initial diagnosis of breast cancer. There would be a lot of changes from that point on. In this photo, though, she and my dad are happy and it reminds me of some great days.
The late Norm MacDonald would have been 65 years old today. When he passed away in 2021, the world learned that he had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma back in 2013. He only told his family, agent, and producing partner, fearing that revealing his condition to the public would “affect the way he was perceived”.
Comedians, actors, talk show hosts all seemed to have a favorite story about Norm. Many were visibly shaken by his passing. Norm was highly respected and loved by many. Among those who praised him were David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Dave Chappelle, Chevy Chase, Adam Sandler, Jay Leno, David Spade, Artie Lange, Bob Saget and Jim Carrey.
Letterman said he was “[The best] in every important way, in the world of stand-up… an opinion shared by me and all peers.”
Conan said, “Norm had the most unique comedic voice I have ever encountered and he was so relentlessly and uncompromisingly funny. I will never laugh that hard again.”
My favorite Norm MacDonald joke was told on Conan’s show. It is a fantastic example of Norm’s amazing ability to tell a joke. I don’t care how many times I hear this, I always laugh.
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.
In 1992, I turned 22 and would land a radio gig at WHND, Honey Radio. It was through my old radio partner that I would become all too familiar with karaoke bars. We spent a lot of time pretending to be singers at them. Believe it or not, it was listening to people try to sing that introduced me to many songs. Many of those songs, were ones I normally would have been unfamiliar with.
Let’s jump right into 1992!
The Spin Doctors are often referred to as an alternative band. I tend to think of them as a rock band, though. Two Princes sounds more like a rock song to me. I could easily hear the Stones covering it.
A buddy of mine used to sing this song all the time. From the opening drum kick and guitar lick, I was hooked. The content of the song was influenced by some classic literature. Chris Barron, said:
“I loved The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I was really into fantasy fiction and stuff like that. I wrote that song when I was 19, so I was still coming out of childhood, and as a child I loved wizards and kings and queens and princess and princesses and stuff like that. And I loved Shakespeare – I already was way into Shakespeare. So I gravitated towards that kind of imagery just because I liked books and poems from that period of time.”
Drummer Aaron Comess said that the song was almost a lot faster. “There are certain songs when you find the right tempo, all of a sudden the lyrics come out, it feels right and I think with ‘Two Princes’ we really lucked out. It’s one of those things, we got in the studio, found a good tempo, we recorded it, everything just really came together. It’s very simple, there’s not a lot of stuff on it, somehow the sound and feel we got, we just lucked out and found the perfect thing.”
Songfacts pointed out that it was songs like this one that were in high demand on radio in 1992-1993. There was an onslaught of hip-hop songs at the time and it was this “sound” that began pushing it back a bit.
Two Princes
Here is another example of how I came to learn of the original because of a parody. I was familiar with the cover of their Nevermind album, but unfamiliar with a lot of their songs. Enter once again, Weird Al.
When Al first heard Nirvana, he was very impressed but thought they wouldn’t catch on. He was thrilled when “Teen Spirit” became a huge hit, since that made the group a parody target.
Al is famous for asking for permission before doing any type of parody. He got permission from Nirvana’s lead singer Kurt Cobain while he was doing an episode of Saturday Night Live. Kurt initially thought the song would be about food. Instead, it was poking fun at how hard it was to understand their lyrics.
The video is a very close parody of Nirvana’s, and got almost as much airplay. For example, the same janitor used in Nirvana’s video also makes an appearance in Weird Al’s. This time donning a tutu and playing a tuba. Al dresses just as Cobain did, complete with wig. He plays a fake blowup guitar and makes fun of the hard-to-understand lyrics by gargling water and singing with marbles in his mouth.
FYI – Dick Van Patten was not in the Nirvana video.
This song is probably the one that really solidified my opinion of Weird Al as a musical genius!
Smells Like Nirvana
For comparison – the original video:
Ok, I admit that the next song was far from a hit. It only peaked at #92 in the US, however in the UK it hit #27. The original, of course, was a number one hit for Elvis Presley in 1957. Personally, I really like Billy Joel’s version of All Shook Up. I think it should have done better on the charts.
The song is one of many Elvis covers from the soundtrack to Honeymoon in Vegas. The movie starred Nicolas Cage, James Caan, and Sarah Jessica Parker. It also featured a whole lot of Elvis impersonators.
What I love about Billy’s version is that it retains the feel of the original, but there is enough “Billy” to make it his song. When I was DJing, I used to put on a cape, an Elvis Wig, Elvis glasses, and grab some random gal out of the audience and “lip synch” this to her. It was ridiculous, but it always got a laugh from the crowd (along with a lot of photos).
All Shook Up
Next, we have the only song that I will fast dance to. I say this, because I believe there is no real dancing necessary. Songfacts explains this perfectly:
House of Pain’s Jump Around earned relentless airplay on MTV and pop radio, and became a huge crowd pleaser in bars and dance clubs. It was great for getting people on the dance floor, as no real dancing is involved – just jumping around.
Exactly. I jump like a fool when this one is on! It’s hard to look bad. It brings the bounce with a steady, throbbing rhythm along with explicit instructions on when to jump. You can’t mess this one up!
Erik “Everlast” Schrody wrote the song. Songfacts explains that the lyrics on this track are very aggressive. It contains lines like “I bust him in the eye, and then I’ll take the punk’s ho.” Everlast was surprised when the song crossed over to a pop audience. He thought it was “too hardcore” to do so. The “pugnacious” lyrics, however, are tempered with comic relief. Listen for lines like “I got more rhymes than there’s cops at a Dunkin’ Donuts shop. ” They make it a lot less threatening.
If the horn flourish that opens this song sounds familiar, it is because it comes from Bob and Earl’s song, “Harlem Shuffle”.
Jump Around
Next a movie song that never made the movie’s soundtrack. In A League of Their Own, Madonna starred with Tom Hanks, Geena Davis and Rosie O’Donnell. The film was based on the true story of an all-women baseball team that was popular during World War II.
The song is about a woman who can’t and let go of her past, with the implication that her present circumstances aren’t so good. The lyrics fit well with the film’s premise, as the now-elderly women reunite and recall their glory days as baseball stars.
To a degree, I can relate to this as I tend to live in my nostalgia and memories, however, my present circumstances are actually good. I find myself thinking of those summers playing ball at our old elementary when I hear this song.
This made me laugh: The video for this song, which shows Madonna singing from the pages of a photo album, bears a strong resemblance to Boy George’s video for his 1987 song “To Be Reborn.” The similarities were not lost on the Culture Club singer, who angrily dubbed it “This Used to Be My Video” in his autobiography.
This Used To Be My Playground
What I love about country music is the honesty of it. There are a handful of songs that I can say really hit home for me. One of them is from Travis Tritt’s third album. For me, I could relate to the lyrics of Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man. After all, I was working on a DJ’s salary!
Truth be told, it doesn’t matter what job you hold, these lyrics hit home. While primarily focusing on the economical injustice to blue collar workers, it fits anyone who struggles financially.
Uncle Sam’s got his hands in my pockets And he helps himself each time he needs a dime
Why’s the rich man busy dancing While the poor man pays the band Oh they’re billing me for killing me Lord have mercy on the working man
The final verse features Tritt’s friends joining in. Listen for Brooks and Dunn, George Jones, Little Texas, Tanya Tucker, T. Graham Brown and Porter Wagoner.
Lord Have Mercy On The Workin’ Man
MTV’s Unplugged had been around since 1989. It featured Joe Walsh, The Cure, Paul McCartney, Sting, and Mariah Carey. Eric Clapton recorded an Unplugged performance at Bray Studios in London. He rearranged many of his classic songs for the acoustic context.
The resulting Unplugged album went on to become the best selling Unplugged album in the U.S. and worldwide with sales of 10 million in the U.S. and 26 million worldwide. He earned six Grammy Awards for the album. He earned Grammys for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Best Rock Male Vocal Performance and Best Rock Song.
I have been a fan of acoustic shows for a long time. I loved when artists came in and played acoustically for us. It is raw and you really feel the song. When I heard the Unplugged version of Layla, I couldn’t get enough of it. I loved the entirely different feel to the song! It was so much more bluesy.
The Unplugged version also helped Eric do his vocal. According to Songfacts, “playing the “Layla” riff while singing is like juggling on a unicycle, so Clapton tries to avoid it. When he does the rock version live, he’ll play the riff until his vocals come in, then let one of his band members take over the riff.” With the slower version, it was a lot easier for him.
Layla (Unplugged)
When it comes to Disney, you cannot deny the amazing songs that have been featured in their films. It is truly hard to picture anyone other than Robin Williams as the Genie in Aladdin. He was just perfect. There were hours of audio that were not used in the film from Robin. If it were ever released to the public, I’d buy it in a heartbeat!
Prior to having children, I was not one to run out and watch a Disney movie. However, knowing that Williams was the Genie in this one, I had to go see it. I was not disappointed.
The Genie’s song, Friend Like Me was written by the amazing composer Alan Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman. Menken and Ashman didn’t write this with Robin Williams in mind, but the actor would make the number his own. Menken told Entertainment Weekly:
“We didn’t know who was going to play the genie when we wrote the song. We were looking at the character as black, a hipster, and I suggested a Fats Waller, Harlem stride-piano style from the ’40s. When Robin Williams was suggested, my first thought was, ‘Can he sing like Fats Waller?’ Robin learned every note. He was working on Hook at the time, and he would come in after being stuck in a harness all day and sit at the piano and learn. When we went into the studio, we got exactly the Fats Waller performance we wanted, and then everyone said, ‘Okay, but now can we let Robin do his thing?’ He was amazing. That trumpet wah-wah-wah was supposed to be from an instrument, and he made it vocal. He took ahold of the creative process, both on that and ‘Prince Ali’ especially. My God, he went crazy on ‘Prince Ali.’ He was doing the Thanksgiving Day Parade, Arab-style.”
One source says that the song was originally written as a Cab Calloway style big band number. Some elements of this concept remain (for instance, when the Genie scats, in typical Calloway moves), but after Robin Williams was cast it was expanded as a more comedic, pop-culture-filled song.
I miss Robin Williams. He could do comedy and drama and do them both well. This is what makes a great actor, in my opinion. He was truly one of the best ad-libbers and I always loved watching him on late night shows.
When we were picking songs for our alumni band one year, I picked this song for us. Not the best song to march to in a parade, but it was fun to play.
Friend Like Me
I was disappointed in the soundtrack version, as it seems like Robin’s vocals are a bit buried.
I just realized that my list has two Elvis covers on it. Technically, they are both movie songs, too.
When ZZ Top released their Greatest Hits album, they included a remake of Viva Las Vegas. ZZ Top took it up a notch. They took Elvis’ song and modernized it and gave it a real driving rock sound.
I remember my dad bringing home the 12 inch single of it and saying, “Keith, you’ve got to hear this!” He put it on the turntable and there was a downward swishy sound effect followed by Elvis saying, “Y’all still want me to come with ya?” Once the guitars kick in, it just jams!
It’s one of my guilty pleasure songs.
Viva Las Vegas
I had a meeting with a bride and groom once. We were going over songs for their wedding. When I asked them what their wedding song was, they told me “If I Had $1,000,000 by Barenaked Ladies.” I must have looked like an idiot. I thought they were joking. “Barenaked Ladies?! Really?!” I had never heard of them.
I had no idea what to expect when I went searching for the song. I’ve had my share of weird songs to play for the bridal dance, so I was ready for anything. I was finally able to get a copy of it, but it wasn’t easy. The couple enjoyed their dance and the crowd loved every second of it.
Even though it’s one of the group’s most popular songs, it was never a hit single in America. It wasn’t a hit in the UK either. A lot of it was timing: The group didn’t break through outside of their native Canada until their 1998 album Stunt. The song was even re-released in 1996, but didn’t chart then either.
This is a very important song for Barenaked Ladies. They have performed it at nearly every live show since 1988. Frontman Ed Robertson told Songfacts:
“It has become its own thing and people sing along and it represents a time and a place for so many people. It’s oddly a song I don’t get bored of. It brings such joy to the room that it’s hard to not enjoy it.”
He goes on to say, “That song, it was about being in love and being maybe a little bit extravagant but not losing hold of what’s important.” Ultimately it’s just about celebrating your good fortune with someone else, and I think I’ve stayed pretty true to that.”
The song was my introduction to the group. I have come to enjoy many of their future songs, too. Perhaps one or two may show up in the years to come.
If I Had $1,000,000
That’s a wrap on 1992. Did I miss one of your favorites? Drop it in the comments.
Next week, as we head to 1993, a few ballads with a lot of personal meaning to me, a couple fun dance songs, a spelling lesson, and more stories behind the songs.
65 years ago today, The Untouchables premiered on ABC TV starring Robert Stack as Eliot Ness.
The show fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness as a Prohibition agent fighting crime in Chicago in the 1930s. Ness does this with the help of a special team of agents. He handpicked them for their courage, moral character and incorruptibility. This team was nicknamed The Untouchables.
The show had one of my favorite theme songs. It was composed by the great Nelson Riddle. In a biography of Riddle (written by Peter Levinson) it says that the theme song “was one of the most fitting and identifiable weekly television themes ever written.”
When the show won four Emmy Awards, Capitol Records decided to put out an album of music from the show.
The liner notes from the album describe Riddle’s effort as: “tabloid-headline music that evokes and reports on a bygone era of irresistible appeal,” including several tracks devoted “to the vintage jazz that punctuated the gunfire.”
On this day in 1927, Sir Roger Moore was born. I was introduced to him by my mother, who loved watching James Bond movies. I am ashamed to admit that as a kid, Roger Moore was the only James Bond I knew. It was years later when I found out that Sean Connery was the previous 007!
Moore would play James Bond seven times in films. His first time was in Live and Let Die.
It was Paul McCartney who was approached to write the movie’s theme song for someone else to record. He agreed to write it only if his band Wings could perform it. He received a copy of the Ian Fleming novel. This was to give him an idea of what the film would be about. In 2010, Paul said:
“I got the book and it’s a very fast read. On the Sunday, I sat down and thought, OK, the hardest thing to do here is to work in that title. I mean, later I really pitied who had the job of writing Quantum Of Solace. So I thought, Live And Let Die, OK, really what they mean is live and let live and there’s the switch. So I came at it from the very obvious angle. I just thought, ‘When you were younger you used to say that, but now you say this.'”
Wings drummer, Denny Seiwell, remembers:
“We were up at the house one day and he had just read the book the night before, and he sat down at the piano and said, ‘James Bond… James Bond… da-da-dum!’, and he started screwing around at the piano. Within 10 minutes, he had that song written. It was awesome, really. Just to watch him get in there and write the song was really something I’ll remember the rest of my life.”
The song was voted the best Bond theme ever in a poll of BBC Radio 2 and 5 Live listeners conducted in 2012. The poll was done to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the release of Dr. No.
I took the day off on Friday to celebrate Andrew’s birthday. I worked a bit over Thursday night so they would be set for Friday and the weekend.
We got Andrew an indoor trampoline to help him build some upper core strength. I knew I’d be putting it together when I got home. That way, it would be ready for him when he woke up.
As I was in the front room, at 2am, I heard a noise from the kitchen. Apparently, he heard me come home and wanted to see me. Surprise ruined.
So he helped me build it! Of course, he wanted to stay up when it was done. So he jumped for a few minutes before we all headed back to bed.
When we woke up, I took him to get his birthday pictures done. They were all done outside and I can’t wait to see them. There should be some really great shots.
Afterwards, we drove to pick up his cake. He got to pick what was on it. Sam told me I would find it extremely funny. I had no idea what he could have chose, but was not surprised.
“It’s poop, Daddy!”
It sure is ….
The kids were still not feeling 100%, so we laid low for most of the day. We had a nice day with warm temps, so we decided to go to the local Homecoming parade, which happens less than a half mile from our house.
They were ready for candy with their Halloween buckets. And Andrew told everyone would listen that it was his birthday. It probably got him extra candy.
On the walk home he told us how awesome it was that somebody threw him a birthday parade!
Yesterday, our whole family met with our friend (and Andrew’s former speech therapist) Christa and her daughters and went to a pumpkin patch for the afternoon. The day was beautiful and we all had a blast.
They had so much to do and so many photo ops. The kids enjoyed feeding the many animals that were there. Sam and Christa kept trying to talk me into getting a goat!
They had a beautiful little Sunflower patch.
Pony rides for the kids
And a little barrel train ride.
It was a perfect day to check out all the sites, but after a while, someone got tired and needed a lift
They had these amazing apple cider slushies, fresh baked donuts, regular cider, kettle corn, and donut sundaes!
After we enjoyed our desserts, it was off to get a pumpkin. Ella found hers, Andrew picked one that was no bigger than a softball!
Knowing we couldn’t carve that, I grabbed another one for him. Sam found a huge white pumpkin and said she had to have it. After a great day, we sat outside and carved the pumpkins and they are out on the porch.
Having two days in a row with family is an absolute joy! There were plenty of smiles and many memories made!!
All I can say is, “Wow!” I could not put this one down. Lisa Jewell’s None of This is True was a novel that kept me wanting to know more.
I feel like I should give you the Goodreads synopsis before I start giving my thoughts, so here it is:
Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.
Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.
A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.
Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.
But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.
Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?
Right from the start, the characters are a bit odd. The podcaster, Alix, seems to be the most normal of them. Josie is a bit creepy, if I am being honest. The more she tells Alix, the more “off” she feels. The things she mentions, the things she says, and the things she does point to a very disturbed person.
With each chapter, you learn more and more about Josie and who she is. The thing is – you know she has done something, but you have no idea what that something is! Little by little and piece by piece the puzzle starts to come together. You get bits and pieces and I found myself wanting to know “what was that about?” “How does that tie in with what is going on?” “Did she really just ask here THAT!?”
The book reminded me of Listen For The Lie, which also revolves around a podcast. But None of This is True was even better, in my opinion. Lisa Jewell really hit it out of the park! It was a suspenseful thrill ride that I absolutely enjoyed.
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 