Tune Tuesday

Billy Preston was born on this day in 1946.

Preston was a keyboardist, singer, and songwriter whose work encompassed many genres of music.  He was R&B, rock, soul, funk, and even gospel. 

Preston started off at the age of 10 playing keyboards for gospel legend Mahalia Jackson. Later he joined Ray Charles’ touring band before recording with The Beatles on several of their tracks including “Get Back” and “Let It Be” (The Beatles considered him to be the fifth Beatle). He also played on a number of Sly & The Family Stone recordings and went on to have a successful solo career with five Top 10 US hits.

He was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, backing artists like Little Richard, Sam Cooke, the Everly Brothers, the Rolling Stones! He also made a name for himself as a solo artist. Today let’s look at two of his hits.

Will It Go Round in Circles

This funky soul number was Billy Preston’s first #1 solo single. The virtuoso keyboardist, who was credited on the Beatles’ “Get Back” and joined them for their iconic 1966 rooftop concert, was briefly signed to the Fab Four’s Apple Records but found success with a switch to A&M Records. Music Is My Life was Preston’s second album on the LA-based label; his first, I Wrote A Simple Song, yielded the Grammy Award-winning instrumental “Outa-Space, which narrowly missed the #1 slot.

This was born out of a joke Preston made to his songwriting partner, Bruce Fisher, about having a song but no melody. The comment inspired the opening refrain, “I got a song that ain’t got no melody, I’m gonna sing it to my friends,” and set up similar proclamations, such as having a story with no moral and having a dance with no steps.

Nothing From Nothing

Billy Preston started writing this one night in the dressing room of an Atlanta nightclub where he was performing. He wanted to write a song based on the saying, “Nothing from nothing leaves nothing,” a variation on Bob Dylan line: “When you’ve got nothing, you’ve got nothing to lose.”

“The saloon piano gave it character,” Preston explained, “and I had a feeling it would be a hit because it was a singalong kind of thing.”

Bruce Fisher, who was Preston’s songwriting partner (he co-wrote “Will It Go Round In Circles”), added a second verse.

Fun Fact: The B-side of the single was another song Preston wrote with Fisher: “You Are So Beautiful,” which was later a hit for Joe Cocker.

Bonus Fun Fact: “Nothing From Nothing” was the first song performed on Saturday Night Live. Preston and Janis Ian were the musical guests on the October 11, 1975 debut of the show.

The later years of his life were plagued by substance abuse, health issues and legal issues.  In 1997 he was sent to prison on drug charges. He suffered from kidney disease and hypertension.  In 2005, he voluntarily entered a drug rehab center where pericarditis led to respiratory failure.  He was in a coma from November of 2004 until he died in June of 2006 at age 59.

Movie Music Monday – Saturday Night Fever

Today we wish a happy 79th birthday to Barry Gibb!

As a songwriter, Barry shares with John Lennon and Paul McCartney the record for most consecutive Billboard Hot 100 number ones, each having six. In total, he has written or co-written sixteen Billboard Hot 100 number ones.

Barry and the Bee Gees had a ton of hits in the 70’s – many of them can be found on the soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever.

For a little history on today’s song, I turned to Songfacts:

In 1977, The Bee Gees manager Robert Stigwood was producing a movie about the New York disco scene. The working title of the film was “Saturday Night,” so he asked the group to write a song of that name. The Bee Gees thought it was a dumb title, but they had already written a song called “Night Fever.” They convinced Stigwood to use that and change the film’s title to Saturday Night Fever. The movie became a classic, telling a coming-of-age story in the disco era. It helped launch the film career of John Travolta, who starred as Tony Manero, the conflicted youth who escaped his troubles on the dance floor.

The soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever sold over 30 million copies worldwide and won the 1978 Grammy for Album Of The Year. Night Fever was the third single from the soundtrack and its biggest hit, remaining on the top of the Hot 100 for eight weeks in early 1978. It also topped the British singles chart for two weeks and won a 1978 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Group.

In America, it spent more weeks (eight) at #1 than any other song in 1978. For five of those weeks (March 18 – April 15), another Bee Gees song from Saturday Night Fever, “Staying Alive,” was #2. The last week it was at #1 (May 6), “More Than a Woman” by Tavares, which was written by the Bee Gees and featured in the film, reached its chart peak of #32. The following week, “If I Can’t Have You” replaced “Night Fever” at #1.

Light up the disco ball … Happy Birthday, Barry!

Weekend Funny

I was driving by the golf course earlier today.  I noticed a lot of folks squeezing in one last round before summer ends. It reminded me of a joke:

Two dimwitted golfers are teeing off on a foggy par 3.  They can see the flag, but not the green.  Both golfers hit from the tee into the fog. They head to the green to find their balls.

One ball is about 6 feet from the cup, while the other one made it into the cup for a hole in one.  Both players are playing the same brand of ball, and they can’t figure out whose ball is whose.

The golf pro is driving by and the men ask him to weigh in.  He congratulated both men on their fantastic shots.  Then he looked at them and asked “Which one of you was using the orange ball?”

Friday Photo Flashback

I have a few pictures of me that I absolutely love. I may have featured this one before, but it makes me smile when I see it.

This is me at my grandma’s house. It is taken in their front room, where no one was really ever allowed to go (at least when we were there). It was rare that anyone would venture into this room, let alone sit in it.

I’m not sure how old I am here, but I’d guess one or two. I love the look of determination on my face in it. I have no idea what kind of suit I am wearing here. As I look at it, I’m not really sure that shirt even goes with it. I also wonder if I had just woke up from a nap because of the way my hair is all messed up.

That’s my mom behind me. I wish there was more of her face in the picture. I love her smile here. I am guessing that my grandma is sitting on the couch in front of me.

Speaking of the couch, get a load of that crazy design! Compared with the chair my mom is sitting in, I can’t help but ask if these two pieces of furniture even go together. It is almost like they are from two separate (and ugly) sets.

Photos of my grandma’s house are always neat just because of the stuff in the background. The table behind my mom has candlesticks and a lamp on it. I don’t get it. That lamp also has a wacky design on it. I remember that it had one of those light bulbs that had three different brightness levels on it. It also had a way to make the bottom of the lamp only light up.

That orange pillow behind my grandma – I remember it being like a silky kind of material that seemed to snag on anything. There were always little threads hanging off it where it got caught on something.

This is one of those photos where I wish I could zoom out and get a bigger picture of what’s going on. Sadly, I can’t. So I will look at myself staring at this apple with a bite out of it and my mom smiling …. and smile.

Sometimes You Gotta Do What You Gotta Do

My doctor is not going to be happy. That’s why I am waiting to tell her about my latest life change.

I’ve been on second shift for over a year now and I love it. My blood pressure is good, my mood is better, and I actually get to enjoy an hour lunch. However, after the first week of Ella being in kindergarten, I got a picture of what things were going to be like over the next few years.

In total last week I saw her for about 25 minutes in the morning on school days. That’s it. Yes, I got my normal evening video call from the kids, but it isn’t enough. My wife reminded me of all of the summer activities I missed because of work recently. This led to a lot of deep thinking and discussion.

Last week, I went to my boss and asked what the possibility of going back to nights would be. She looked at me in shock because she knows how much I love my shift now. “I would love to have you back on nights. You are a great educator to both patients and the students. But is it really what you want to do?”

I had told her if it was not possible, I would stay at my current shift and I’d be ok with that. I then explained how hard I thought about it. My boss has always understood that “family comes first.” I told her that working midnights would allow me more time with my kids because I would have four days in a row off each week. She said to take the weekend to think it over.

Tuesday, we talked more and she once again asked if I was sure about the change. I said I was and the change was put in motion. In the next few weeks, I’ll be showing some of the staff some of the stuff that I was responsible for on days. Then I will transition back to the midnight shift.

Things are a lot different than when I was on nights before. There are some good people who will be working with me and they will make the transition and easy one. We have three students who are learning the ropes and getting ready to take their board exam, too. So I will be able to help them prepare for that as well.

I have a feeling that it will be a challenge to make the switch back, but knowing there will be more time with my kids makes it worth it.

Life’s Little Moments

The past few weeks have been crazy. It seems like every one of us has had doctor appointments for various things. Then Ella starting Kindergarten began an entirely new schedule for us. Andrew will start preschool after the holiday, so there are yet more changes coming.

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My father-in-law is the best! As you know, he has helped me with every project I have had to do at home. He is always bringing over tools to work on things because I don’t have them. Well, they sadly had to sell their place up north. When they went up to clean out their stuff, he found some things for me.

My brothers-in-law and my father-in-law each have just about every tool at home. So when they were cleaning stuff, they brought some tools to me.

I was super surprised when he brought home a couple saws (including a chain saw), an oscillating tool, a drill and an impact drill. It was like Christmas came early. I’ll have to rearrange the garage, or better yet, get a nice big tool box to put them in. Thanks, Dad.

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Sunday I took the kids to the Children’s Zoo. The weather was perfect. The high was only in the low 70’s and there was plenty of sunshine.

We’re zoo members, so we can ride the train and carousel as many times as we want. We certainly did!

The animals were plenty active that day. The monkeys were bouncing all over the place, the penguins were swimming, and the prairie dogs seemed extra crazy. What thrilled the kids (and me) was the otter. They usually swim around and ignore folks, but Sunday one was putting on a show! He kept swimming by the glass, doing flips in the water, and following kids back and forth on the other side of the glass. He seemed to come right up to the glass to everyone who was there.

The kids loved every second.

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Monday was weird weather wise. It went from sunny to cloudy and back to sunny. Every once in a while there was a small shower, but nothing big. My wife wanted me to grill burgers for dinner. So I went out, started the grill (as the sun was shining) and put the patties on the grill. within 5 minutes there was crazy rainfall. It was coming down pretty hard along with some good thunder. Me neighbors must have thought I was crazy!

Thank goodness my wife’s car was unlocked so I could grab her umbrella!

Tune Tuesday

Happy 76th birthday to Bob Cowsill of the Cowsill.

Wikipedia says: The band was formed in early 1965 by brothers Bill, Bob, and Barry Cowsill; their brother John joined shortly thereafter. Originally Bill and Bob played guitar and Barry played the drums. When John learned to play drums and joined the band, Barry began playing bass. After their initial success, the brothers were joined by their siblings Susan and Paul along with their mother, Barbara. A seventh sibling, Bob’s fraternal twin brother Richard, was never part of the band during its heyday, although he occasionally appeared with them in later years.

Between 1967-1970, the band released 5 albums. In their career, they chatted 8 singles that made the Hot 100 chart.  They never had a number one song, but came close.  Hair and The Rain The Park and Other Things both made it to number 2.

The Rain, The Park and Other Things was the breakthrough hit for the group.  The  song is known to many as “The Flower Girl.”

The Cowsills were the forerunner of The Osmonds, a group that would appear on the same record label a few years later. Unlike the Osmonds, the boys’ mother Barbara also features on the recordings. The Cowsills also made many television appearances during the late 1960s and the early 1970s and they were an inspiration for the Partridge Family.

Studio musicians were brought in for the recording, a practice that continued until 1969, when the Cowsill family were allowed to play their own musical instruments. (No, the Wrecking Crew did not play with the group.)

Olivia Newton-John recorded an upbeat version of this song for the 2011 movie soundtrack A Few Best Men. The soundtrack album is all cover songs recorded by Newton-John and mixed by various producers.

Sources: Songfacts.com, Wikipedia

Movie Music Monday – Goldfinger

Sir Sean Connery was born on this day in 1930.  He has had so many wonderful roles in the movies.  I loved him in The Untouchables, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and The Hunt for Red October (just to name a few). 

Connery nailed it as Agent 007 – James Bond.  He played Bond in 7 films: Dr. No, Never Say Never Again, From Russia With Love, Thunderball, Diamonds Are Forever, You Only Live Twice, and Goldfinger. He was the tallest actor to portray the character.

Shirley Bassey was asked to sing the theme to the movie.  On Shirley Bassey’s website, she says about Goldfinger: “John Barry wrote the music. We were touring in England at the time and he was conducting for me. One day he said, ‘There is this new song for the James Bond film Goldfinger and we’d like you to do it. I know your rule that you will never listen to a song unless there are words. There are no words, I must warn you – there’s only the music, which I have done. And we’re waiting on the lyric.’ And because we had such a wonderful relationship on our tour I said to John, ‘Well, I’ll listen to it. I’ll break my rule.’ And thank God I did, because the moment he played the music to me, I got goose pimples, and I told him, ‘I don’t care what the words are. I’ll do it.’ And fortunately the words were great.”

Songfacts.com says: John Barry worked long into the night on the music. According to an article in the London Times, the next morning over breakfast, he played the opening three notes to his flatmate at the time, Michael Caine. The actor said bluntly, “It’s ‘Moon River.'” Barry swiftly added the three-note brass line to disguise the similarity.

Bond producer Harry Saltzman hated this and he took a lot of convincing to use this as the film tune. John Barry explained in his interview with NPR that Saltzman called it “the worst song he’d ever heard in his life,” but because there was no time to change it, he had to live with it.

I can’t imagine there being a better song for the film.  It wound up being Bassey’s biggest hit!

Vic Flick, who was one of the top session musicians in England in the 1960s, played guitar on this track. He told the Daily Mail that Shirley Bassey originally struggled with this song: “Barry wanted this long note held,” he recalled. “He said to do it again, and she said she couldn’t. But then there was a rustling noise – and suddenly this bra comes over the top of the vocal booth. And then Shirley really let it go.”

Happy Heavenly birthday to Sir Sean Connery.  Try not to be distracted by the voice of bra-less Shirley Bassey!

Sunday Funny

The world’s leading expert on European wasps enters a record store. He asks the assistant “Do you have ‘European Vespidae Acoustics Volume 2? I believe it was released this week.”


“Certainly,” replies the assistant. “Would you like to listen before you buy it?”


“That would be wonderful,” says the expert, and puts on a pair of headphones.


He listens for a few moments and says to the assistant, “I’m terribly sorry, but I am the world’s leading expert on European wasps and this is not accurate at all. I don’t recognize any of those sounds. Are you sure this is the correct recording?”


The assistant checks the turntable, and replies that it is indeed European Vespidae Acoustics Volume 2. The assistant apologizes and lifts the needle onto the next track.


Again the expert listens for a few moments and then says to the assistant, “No, this just can’t be right! I’ve been an expert in this field for 43 years and I still don’t recognize any of these sounds.”


The assistant apologizes again and lifts the needle to the next track.


The expert throws off the headphones as soon as it starts playing and is fuming with rage.

“This is outrageous false advertising! I am the world’s leading expert on European wasps and no European wasp has ever made a sound like the ones on this record!”

The manager of the shop overhears the commotion and walks over.


“What seems to be the problem, sir?”


“This is an outrage! I am the world’s leading expert on European wasps. Nobody knows more about them than I do. There is no way in hell that the sounds on that record were made by European wasps!”


The manager glances down and notices the problem instantly.


“I’m terribly sorry, sir. It appears we’ve been playing you the bee side.”