The Music of My Life – The 2000’s Part 2

This is sort of a continuation of the Music of My Life feature. It focused on music from 1970-2025. It featured tunes that have special meaning to me, brought back a certain memory or a tune that I just really like. I found that with the first three decades, there were songs that I didn’t feature. So I sat down with my original lists and selected some songs that “bubbled under,” so to speak. Songfacts.com helped me a lot with stories and background info.

I figured a good way to present them was to focus on a decade. 10 years = 1 song per year = 10 songs. Last week we looked at the 2000’s and we’ll so that again this week. You may remember that the more current I got, the less music I connected with. Perhaps there will be enough to look at the 2010’s next week. So, let’s check out a few “Decade Extras.”

2000

I used to love VH1’s Behind the Music and Pop-Up Videos. You could always count on trivia or a great story. That’s the case with Kryptonite from 3 Doors Down. From Songfacts…

Picture this: 3 Doors Down lead singer/songwriter Brad Arnold at 15 years old, sitting in math class bored out of his skull, begins tapping on his desk. The tapping turns into drumming, and pretty soon he’s unknowingly written the first monster hit for his future band.

He laughs at the memory: “Thank God for the little dude that sat in front of me, that dude deserves credit on the album! I was so bad in math. So bad. But my teacher knew I was not good, not paying attention, but he just kind of let me go. I believe I wrote the lyrics to some other songs in that same class. I wrote probably about half of that Better Life album sitting in that math class.”This song is also, according to Arnold, only the 3rd or 4th song he’d ever written, period. “The skippy little drumbeat in the song was just me beating on my desk. It’s almost exactly the beat we played to, just kind of drumming, just skipping along with it.”

Brad says this song is a question. As it turns out, it was a rather prophetic one. “Its question is kind of a strange one. It’s not just asking, ‘If I fall down, will you be there for me?’ Because it’s easy to be there for someone when they’re down. But it’s not always easy to be there for somebody when they’re doing good. And that’s the question it’s asking. It’s like, ‘If I go crazy, will you still call me Superman?’ It’s asking, ‘If I’m down, will you still be there for me?’ But at the same time, ‘If I’m alive and well, will you be there holding my hand?’ That’s kind of asking, ‘If I’m doing good, will you be there for me? Will you not be jealous of me?’ And maybe throughout the years of singing that song, I might have come up with more meanings for it than it actually might have originally had,” he laughs.

The fact that he wrote this song when he was only 15 doesn’t seem remarkable to Brad, because, he says, “every 15-year-old has those questions in their head. They might not know quite how to say it, or they might not feel like it’s acceptable to say something. And the biggest thing that I’ve had as an honor to be able to do is to be able to say something, and after I say it, it’s okay. After an artist says it, if a rock star says it, okay, it’s fine. That really boils down to why rock and roll inspires pop culture so much, or just music in general, not just rock and roll. Because artists push the envelope, and they go out on a limb to say something else. But it also comes with responsibility; you gotta watch what you say, because kids listen. And I try to watch what I say, too.”

Here are the deep thoughts of a 15-year old….

Kryptonite

2001

I remember hearing Turn Off The Light on the radio and kind of liking it. When they said the artist’s name, I actually chuckled. It sounded like something I’d order at a Mexican restaurant. “I’ll have a Furtado with a side of beans and rice….”

The song is part of Furtado’s debut album, Whoa, Nelly! It was released when she was just 21. She wrote the song herself and produced it along with Gerald Eaton and Brian West. People in the business took notice of her right from the get-go.

She was born in British Columbia to Portuguese parents. At 17, she moved to Toronto and started a trip-hop band called Nelstar. Pop music at the time was dominated by Disney-bred singers like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. Furtado stood out from this crowd with an underground sensibility and terrific songwriting skills. In “Turn Off The Light” she was able to take a pretty much universal experience – the outgoing public persona that is a lot more insecure in private – and flesh it into a compelling song.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I can tell you that I could relate to the song. I have always felt insecure when I wasn’t out in the public. I was radio guy with big personality out there, and at home I felt like I was never enough or couldn’t do anything right.

Turn off the Light

2002

I really liked a lot of Carlos Santana’s later stuff. I loved that his music was still being played and that he was having hits all these years later. One of the songs I really liked was The Game of Love which featured him and Michelle Branch.

Branch is the lead vocalist on this song. She earned an audition through the song’s writer, Gregg Alexander, who suggested her – members of his band The New Radicals also played in Branch’s touring band. “I didn’t think I got it,” Branch told Songfacts: “I was really nervous. I went on tour and thought that was the end of it, and then I got a call saying they loved my version and they had decided that I was the singer. The next thing you know, I was going to Chicago to film the music video. The first time I met Carlos was on set for ‘The Game Of Love.'”

Branch was still a teenager when she recorded her vocal, but she had the poise and confidence to suggest a change to the lyric. Instead of “a little bit of laughs,” she wanted “a little bit of lust,” and the line “I’m telling you my babe” changed to “I’m turning in my bed.” Her suggestions were politely declined.

In her Songfacts interview, she said: “I was thinking of being lovesick, unable to sleep, turning in the bed. Like lusting after someone. But they wanted it a little more lighthearted. But I love the song and I’m honored that I was chosen to sing it.”

Michelle Branch was an excellent pairing for Santana. She was a TRL favorite with a young, female fanbase, but sounded great to the ears of Santana fans, who were much older. Branch wrote her own songs and was a student of emotions, able to sing convincingly about romantic love before she had experienced it herself. She could also play acoustic guitar, providing a nice symmetry in the video while Carlos Santana played electric.

The Game of Love

2003

When I worked in country radio, it always seemed that there were 5-10 new artists trying to get a spot on the play list. Many of them were just average, but there were some who really “fit” what the station wanted to sound like.

Pat Green was a singer-songwriter who released an album in 2003. The first single was also the title of the album – Wave on Wave. The song was written by Green, David Neuhauser and Justin Pollard. I admit that I didn’t care for the song at first. After a few listens, I began to change my mind. We played it quite a bit. It became his first and, to date, only Top 10 hit. I find that crazy because he has recorded at least 7 or 8 studio albums.

I can’t for the life of me remember one of the follow ups to Wave on Wave, but I can remember that one sounded almost exactly like it – only faster.

Wave on Wave

2004

I’m sure that this next song was one that I heard on Christian radio. The message struck me and reminds me that when all is said and done, All I Need is Him.

Bethany Dillon began singing when she was thirteen years old. Three years later, she released her self-titled 2004 debut album. It was the highest selling female solo debut for that year, and attracted Gospel Music Association nominations for both Female Vocalist and New Artist of the Year. All I Need from that album was released on April 20, 2004.

I try to begin each day thankful to God for another day. Her words would be appropriate for any time of the day.

You are all I need when I’m surrounded
You are all I need if I’m by myself
You fill me when I’m empty
There is nothing else
You’re all I need

All I Need

2005

By 2005, I had met Martina McBride at least once. I have always loved her voice. When I heard she was going to be releasing an album of classic country songs, I was intrigued. I wondered what songs she might cover.

The album was called “Timeless” and it featured Lynn Anderson’s Rose Garden. Anderson almost didn’t sing it, though. Because of lyrics like “I could promise you things like big diamond rings,” Anderson’s producer (and husband) Glenn Sutton considered this a man’s song and tried to dissuade her from covering it. Only when they had some extra studio time left did he consider it for an album cut, but with some changes. They reworked the track with an uptempo arrangement that included a string section and mandolin. When Columbia Records’ exec Clive Davis heard it, he insisted it be released as a single.

Martina’s version landed at #98 on the pop chart and #18 on the country chart.

Rose Garden

2006

I was introduced to Lips of an Angel while working in country radio. It was covered by Jack Ingram. I had no idea that the original was done by Hinder. The song has an interesting backstory. From Songfacts:

Sometimes inspiration for songs comes quickly. Hinder singer Austin Winkler wrote this song in just 20 or 30 minutes with drummer Cody Hanson while the two sat in Hanson’s living room. Winkler came in with the first line – “Honey, why you calling me so late?” – And the rest of the song just flowed out naturally.

The story in the song about having trouble letting go of a former love is real – it’s what Winkler was going through with an ex-girlfriend. He told the story to Hanson, who already had a guitar progression in mind, and the two finished the song very quickly.

“Lips Of An Angel” sold over 3 million ringtones – more than any other rock song. It was popular at a time when everyone was buying up ringtones for their new phones. Man, how much money did I waste to have those 20 second ringtones?!

Lips of an Angel

2007

The next song is from back when Taylor Swift wasn’t “pop-a-fide.” It was also a peak into how she would toss real people into her songs, often to call them out on something. Teardrops on My Guitar really stuck out as a great song and did very well on country radio.

Written by Taylor Swift and Liz Rose, this song of unrequited love is based on a true experience during Taylor’s schooldays when she had a crush on a boy she was friends with. However there was no chance of him reciprocating her feelings as he already had a girlfriend whom he was madly in love with and he used to tell Swift all about her.

In an interview with the HMV magazine, Taylor revealed that this song was written for a boy named Drew, who only ever saw her as a friend, despite Taylor having feelings for him. She went on to explain what happened when he realized the song was about him. Said Taylor:

“About two years after the album came out in the States, he showed up in my driveway. Apparently he and his girlfriend had broken up so that was his first stop when he was back in town. I was like ‘you are so late, y’know. If you’d stopped by right after the album came out then that would be one thing, but…’ I remember reading on his MySpace page one time ‘My name’s Drew and I have a famous song written about me. Email me and I’ll give you details.’ I was like, right, wow, note taken.”

MySpace!! Remember that?! If you’re wondering about Drew, things didn’t go too well for him. In 2015, he and his wife, Joni, were arrested in Hendersonville, Tennessee on charges of child abuse.

Teardrops on My Guitar

2008

I love Mel Torme’. Once I discovered him, I went looking for his albums. He did quite well in the time of the Crooners, but his chart presence faded with the birth of a new type of music. With the advent of rock and roll, the Velvet Fog fell out of favor with the younger crowd and was reluctant to try to fit in. “Rock music is heinous,” he claimed. “I’m not a teenagers’ singer. My steady market is the Young Marrieds.”

Mel was absent from the charts for 10 years. However, there was one song that brought him back to the Top 40 in 1962. That song was one that Torme’ did not really want to record. In the early ’60s he joined Atlantic Records. It was there that producer Nesuhi Ertegun convinced him to record the beat-centric R&B scorcher “Comin’ Home Baby.”

It took a fair bit of arm-twisting to get Tormé to agree. The singer recalled: “It was a minor-key blues tune with trite repetitious lyrics and an ‘answer’ pattern to be sung by the Cookies, a girl trio that had once worked for Ray Charles.” To his surprise, his rendition – arranged by Claus Ogerman – peaked at #36 on the Hot 100 and notched a #13 entry on the UK chart. It proved to be a bittersweet success in the long run, as it marked his final appearance on both charts.

But Keith, we are supposed to be talking about 2008. Yes, that is true. As much as I love the Mel Torme’ version, Michael Bublé recorded a version featuring Boyz II Men for his 2007 album, Call Me Irresponsible. It isn’t as cool as Mel’s, but I love that this great song came back so many years later. Buble’s version was released as a single in Germany, where it peaked at #17.

Comin’ Home Baby

2009

DJing high school dances was sometimes difficult because of song content. Many of them had references to sexual acts, profanity, violence or drug use. There were a few artists that all the kids seemed to love. The screams from girls when I first played a Justin Bieber song still has my ears ringing. Another artist who always seemed to work was Miley Cyrus.

Party in the USA was scheduled to make its radio debut on August 4, 2009. However, due to an illegal leak of a demo version, it was released early on July 29 for airplay. The song’s producers, Katy Perry and Kelly Clarkson collaborators Dr. Luke and Claude Kelly, broke the news to Miley about the leak. The teenage singer expressed irritation but seemed more concerned about the response of the audience to the earlier than expected release of the song.

Director Chris Applebaum told MTV News that in the song’s music video, Miley wanted to pay tribute to her favorite movie, Grease. He explained: “Miley did have an idea – one of her favorite movies is Grease. Everything kind of sprang forward from that scene in ‘Grease’ where John Travolta is singing… and he gets out of the car and goes to jungle gym and sits in one of the swings and sings the song at night as projections go in the background – she came to me [with that].”

In addition to the Grease tribute, Miley also wanted to pay tribute to her parents’ courting days. He explained: “Interesting enough, Miley’s parents Tish and Billy Ray, when they were first dating they went to a drive-in in Kentucky, I think, called the Corral Drive-In – so we named the drive-in after that as an homage to them. In addition, Miley’s mom Tish used to drive ’79 black Pontiac Trans Am, Smokey and the Bandit style, and obviously that’s the car that Miley arrives in.”

Miley Cyrus began to disassociate herself from the song a few years after recording it. “That’s not where I want to sing, that’s not what I want to sing, and that’s not what I want my voice to sound like,” she told V magazine. I’m not sure, but did any of her other songs do as well as Party in the USA? I don’t know, but why distance yourself from it? To each his own, I suppose.

Party in the USA

That wraps up the 2000’s. As I said earlier, if there are enough songs from the 2010’s worth featuring, the feature will return next week.

Thank you for listening and for reading. I really hope you enjoyed this trek through the decades.

Movie Music Monday – Grease

47 years ago today, Grease opened in theaters starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $8,941,717 in 862 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking at number 2 (behind Jaws 2).

The soundtrack album for Grease featured some original songs (Grease, Summer Nights, You’re the One That I Want) and covers mostly sung by Sha-Na-Na (Blue Moon, Hound Dog, Tears on My Pillow). It wound up being the second best selling album of the year. The soundtrack that was number one was from Saturday Night Fever, which also starred Travolta.

Fun fact: Two of the bass players who recorded on the Grease soundtrack were members of the band Toto.

Olivia Newton-John’s contract for Grease stipulated that she should have a solo spot. However, nobody had any ideas for a song for her character, Sandy, until Olivia’s producer John Farrar came up with “Hopelessly Devoted To You” halfway through the shoot. Director Randal Kleiser wasn’t wholly convinced by the song at first and had to come up with an entirely new scene to fit it in. It was eventually filmed and recorded after the movie had wrapped and it earned the film’s only Oscar nomination, for Best Music – Original Song.

John Travolta evoked this song when he introduced the In Memoriam segment at the Oscars in 2023, seven months after Olivia Newton-John died of cancer at 73. “In this industry we have the rare luxury of getting to do what we love for a living, and sometimes getting to do it with people we come to love,” a tearful Travolta said. “They’ve touched our hearts, they’ve made us smile, and became dear friends that we will always remain hopelessly devoted to.”

Ladies and Gentlemen – Mr. Eddie Deezen!

I have been meaning to do a little interview with Eddie Deezen for a couple of years. I was always afraid to ask. You see, we’ve been friends on Facebook for some time and I’ve found that we share a lot in common. He has shared a lot of great personal stories about his interactions with other Hollywood celebrities, as well as some amazing trivia on just about everything.

I had noticed that he did a few podcasts with other Facebook friends and thought, “Maybe, he’ll allow me to ask him some questions for my blog.” As scared as I was to ask, Eddie said yes almost immediately. What follows in the transcript, if you will, of our chat. My questions are in bold and his answers follow.

Today is Eddie’s birthday, by the way, so what better way to celebrate than sharing a few minutes with him?

Keith: You and I have been Facebook friends now for almost 10 years. You have a very active social media presence. For fans like me, it is a wonderful way to connect with you. Like a true friendship, you share your life with us and you share your laughs with us. Many celebrities avoid social media or have someone run their page for them. What is it about social media (Facebook) makes you love it so much?

Eddie Deezen: I love Facebook. I am 100% pure Facebook. I know I could reach more fans and have more followers on other sites, on Facebook I am limited to just 5,000 fans. This is the only thing about Facebook I dislike. The 5,000 friend limit makes no sense to me. I am a compulsive writer and joke writer. I fill up notebook after notebook with my jokes and stuff. With Facebook I have an avenue of people to see my stuff. Before I joined Facebook in 2009, I would write jokes and stories and trivia to a list of about 200 friends. My Facebook friends are wonderful. I love them very much. Also, I get told by people who are not on my Facebook friends list that they read my posts too. So that makes me happy.

One of the things I look forward to on your Facebook posts is your personal stories about your movies, behind the scenes tid-bits, and your interaction with other actors. Many folks know you as Eugene from Grease. You have shared so many wonderful stories about John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John (and others). Do you have a favorite Grease story you love to share?

My favorite Grease story would be how I got Grease in the first place. Ok, I went to my Grease audition in my little suit, with a bow tie and I put Vitalis or some greasy stuff in my hair (The movie was called “Grease”, so I figured Grease in my hair made sense). I went in to Paramount Studios (by the way, Paramount has always been my favorite studio) and the place was packed with guts in leather jackets and girls in poodle skirts and saddle shoes.

I read for Allan Carr the producer), Randal Kleiser (the director) and Joel Thurm ( the casting director). As I was talking to them and reading my two or three lines, I saw them nudging each other. I figured the nudges were a good sign. Anyway, a few days later, my agent calls and tells me I got the part. I was ecstatic, I called my parents and my friends and told them I was going to be in a movie with John Travolta and all.

Then, a few days later, my agent calls me and tells me “Eugene is a small role and the studio decided they’re going to cut out your role from the film”. Of course, I felt like jumping off a cliff. My agent said “We’re going to church to pray”. I swear to God, we go in, my agent gives me a match and tells me to light candies and pray at the alter. I prayed fervently to God. “Please God, let something good happen”. A few days later, the studio calls my agent and tells her they want me back in the movie.

True story. Divine intervention? Or just a lucky break? Who knows? I have wondered about this first 48 years now. You can believe whatever you want, but this really did happen..

That is a GREAT story! I’m glad you got back into the film! Speaking of Grease, you worked with comedy legend Sid Caesar. Did you have any interesting interactions with him?

Well, I was chauffeured home each night with Sid Caesar. I was carefully instructed “Don’t speak to Mr. Caesar unless he speaks to you first”. So I would sit in the back seat and Mr. Caesar would sit in the front seat and I would just sit silently as he spoke to our chauffeur. One day He turned around to me and said “So you’re the water boy, huh?”. I replied sarcastically “ Oh, is it okay if I speak?”. This was very rude of me, but I was a twenty year old kid. Very immature.

Mr. Caesar was a very intelligent man. I would listen to him pontificate about history and religion and stuff. Our chauffeur was named Kirk or Kurt. He was a nice guy.

One of my favorite movies of yours is 1941. What a cast for that movie! You had the chance to work with John Belushi. On Facebook, you have shared that Belushi was actually pretty quiet and was very nice to you. Can you elaborate on that?

John was always extremely kind and nice to me. I loved him so much. We had met previously in New York. He was at the premiere of my movie “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”. At the party after the premiere I sat with John and we chatted for about 15 minutes. He was serious and thoughtful. No jokes. He spoke earnestly. I loved seeing him on the set of “1941”

The last time I saw John was around 1980. I was just leaving a really bad audition. I felt bad and who comes walking down the street but John Belushi. He saw I was sad and said “What’s the matter, Eddie?”. I said, “ I just had a terrible audition, John. These guys hated me”. He replied “They’re assholes”. And he just walked away. That was the last time I ever saw John Belushi.

To John’s credit, he was probably right!

I wasn’t going to ask, but I’d kick myself if I didn’t ask you to share a bit about Murray Hamilton and the dummy from the Ferris Wheel scene….

Murray was a wonderful, very nice guy. We had many great talks up on that Ferris wheel. Murray was a big time smoker. He smoked three or four packs a day. So every once in a while he would have trouble breathing up there. Steven had a. Oxygen tank he kept for Murray. If Murray was having trouble breathing, Steven would let us down and Murray would take a few hits of oxygen.

One of my favorite holiday films is the Polar Express. Your work as the Know It All kid is just wonderful! How did you and Tom Hanks get along? Is he as nice as he seems?

Tom has always been my favorite movie star. The first day of the table read, there were a bunch of us all gathered to greet Tom. He was the biggest movie star in the world. He spots me in the bunch, walks up to me first and says, “Hi Eddie. I’m Tom”. No shit Sherlock.

He was a total pro. Never flubbed a line or missed a cue. One day I made a bad mistake. I screwed up a line or some such thing. Our director, Bob Zemeckis, said “cut”. “What happened, Eddie?”, he asked me. Before I could say anything, Tom cut in. “That was my fault”, he said. He took the blame for my mistake. He was like an older brother to me.

After we finished filming “The Polar Express”, he took me to three Dodger games at Dodger Stadium. We sat in his box seats. We sang the National Anthem and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” together. He was just as cool as you’d expect him to be.

That’s awesome. What an experience for you!

You got to work with Dick Shawn in an episode of Magnum PI.

He seemed like a pretty unique guy. His comedy was so different and manic at times. I don’t think there is anything I’ve seen him do that didn’t intrigue me. What was it like to work with him?

Dick Shawn was a wonderful, nice, lovely, friendly, terrific, and delightful guy. I loved working with him. My career was pretty much movies, not a whole lot of television. But that “Magnum P.I.” episode I did (“Squeeze Play”) was probably the best thing I ever did on tv. I loved the entire Magnum cast and crew. Dick Shawn was a marvelous comedian and a fantastic straight man too. I loved playing his nephew.

You also shared the screen with two of the hottest gals of the 1980’s: Heather Thomas in Zapped! and Morgan Fairchild in Mob Boss.

Correct me if I am wrong but don’t you have a story about kissing Morgan Fairchild?

Yes, I did a movie called “ Mob Boss” with Morgan. Ok, we had a scene where the nerdy guy (me) kisses the ultra-sexy woman. We embrace and kiss and my glasses are all steamed up. Well, before we did that scene, Morgan said to me, “Eddie, do you want to rehearse?”. YOU THINK?? So she held me and kissed me at different angles and straight on, Etc. By the way, Morgan was a marvelous kisser. Her lips were so soft. She was also the most lovely lady ever. I loved her so much. She was a fabulous comedienne. Great straight woman too.

It was so much fun to work with Heather Thomas, too. Heather was a doll. She was very cool and incredibly nice. The episode of “The Fall Guy” I did with her was very fun to shoot. I loved all the cast and crew of “The Fall Guy”.

As a voice over actor, you have appeared in countless cartoons and series.

I always love when I hear your voice on something my kids are watching. You showed up recently on an episode of Handy Manny and also on Oswald. Do you find voice acting to be easier than acting on screen or are the about the same? Do you prefer one over the other?

Well, I have never been great at memorizing lines. Now, on camera stuff, you have to learn your lines by heart. For “The Polar Express”, our director Bob Zemeckis, knew my problem, and he let me read my entire role using cue cards.

I enjoy voiceovers and doing cartoons because you can just read your role from a script, no memorization involved. But as a performer, you get a bigger rush doing a movie, because it’s fun seeing yourself onscreen.

A show that many folks don’t remember is the Weird Al Show from the late 90’s. Can you tell me how you got to play “Guy Boarded Up in the Wall?”

Yes, Weird Al is a marvelous, very nice guy. He also knew of my problem remembering lines and he wanted me on his show. So he created the “Man in the Wall” character. I was “ on camera” but I was behind a wall, so I could just read my lines. It was a very fun gig.

Your fans are well aware of your love for the Beatles and their music.

A while back, my blogger friend, Dave from A Sound Day ran a feature. He had some of us bloggers write about the Beatles and if they were still relevant today. I wrote my piece about songs I would use to introduce the band to someone. So, if YOU had to introduce someone who had never heard of the Beatles or their music, what 5 (or ten if you wish) songs would you play for them?

My favorite Beatles song is “A Hard Day’s Night”, so I would have to include that one. Now, you did not ask first my favorite Beatle songs, however, you asked first five or ten Beatle songs I would use to introduce a new fan to the Beatles. So here are my choices:

Love Me Do
She Loves You
I Want to Hold Your Hand
Help!
Yesterday
In My Life
Penny Lane
A Day in the Life
Strawberry Fields Forever
Let It Be

There are so many great Beatles tunes to choose from, and you have some classics there!

You and I share many of the same likes, the Beatles being one of them. However, you are also as big a Stooge Fan as I am. I have loved The Three Stooges since my dad introduced me to them as a kid. You have said often that Curly is your favorite.

It is hard NOT to like him. Is there any one thing in particular that makes him your favorite?

Yes, Curly Howard is my all- time favorite comedian. He was as great as Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton physically. Plus, he was a hilarious verbal comedian, something Chaplin and Keaton were not. He made 97 shorts. About 70 or 80 are comedy classics. He was amazingly prolific. He was all finished and retired by the age of 42. 42!!!! He just wore himself out. He was spent and got progressively sicker. The poor guy was gone at the age of 48. 48!!!

You could really see how sick he was in his last few shorts. The world certainly got a lot less “funny” when he passed away. So, do you have a favorite Stooges Short?

My favorite Three Stooge shorts are “Punch Drunks” and “Micro-Phonies”

Those are both in my top ten Stooges shorts, too. One last question for you, my friend. Do you think Shemp gets a bum rap for following Curly?

Well, yes. Shemp is obviously anticlimactic because he followed Curly. That’s Iike following Elvis or Paul McCartney, anyone would suffer in comparison. That said, Shemp was a fair to good comedian. He was not great. He did not have Curly’s innate sense of humor or timing or sense of what makes a line funny or what makes a gag funny.

He had his great moments, yes, but he has a lot of very unfunny scenes too. Plus, his character was not as original or lovable or magical as Curly’s. I always love what Leonard Martin said about him- Shemp was an indisputably good comedian, but he never had Curly’s “otherworldliness.” A perfect word that captures it all. Curly was otherworldly.

I’d forgotten that you wrote a piece about Shemp for Mental Floss back in 2011. It’s a great piece that readers can see on the Mental Floss Site.

Eddie, thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. Thank you for your friendship. I truly hope to meet you in person one day. Maybe a trip to the Stoogeum in Pennsylvania one day? I wish you all the best and lots of happiness on your birthday, my friend! Cheers to another year of friendship and laughs!

Thanks Keith. I’m glad to answer these questions for you. You are a wonderful guy and I am proud to have you as a friend both on Facebook and in my life. That trip to the Stoogeum sounds like a plan on my bucket list, so let’s hope! See you on Facebook!

I need to once again extend a huge thank you to Eddie for taking the time to chat with me. If you are a fan, Eddie also does do personalized messages for birthdays and such on Cameo. I had him do one for my dad a year or so ago! You can check out the information on Eddie’s Cameo Page.

Happy Birthday, Eddie! May your day be filled with laughter and happiness!

Movie Music Monday – Grease

46 years ago today, the title song to the blockbuster movie Grease hit number one in America. It was a huge smash for Frankie Valli, but did you know he almost didn’t record it?

The title song is one of four songs that were written specifically for the movie and obviously did not appear in the stage production. It was also recorded later than any of the other songs.

Bee Gee Barry Gibb was asked to write the song. At first, the thought was that Barry would sing it as well. However, it was felt that when people thought of Barry, they thought of disco. The Disco genre was obviously not the vibe of the film.

With Gibb out as the lead singer, they began to think about someone who would better fit the 50’s/60’s feel of the film. Frankie Valli was approached because his vocal range was very similar to Gibb’s. He also represented the “Pre-British Invasion” era that they were looking for.

The title song was the only song in the movie that was not sung by a cast member. Valli was actually given the option of singing the theme or having a role in the film as the Teen Angel. He opted for the theme song and Frankie Avalon was given the role as the Teen Angel.

Even though Barry Gibb didn’t sing lead on the song, he did sing background vocals. Oh, and Barry had his friend Peter Frampton play guitar on the song.

Grease was is last top 40 record for Frankie Valli to date.

Favorite Film – The 70’s

I guess I saw this on Facebook some time ago. Somebody had the idea to post a list of your favorite films. The list was to consist of your favorites from each year of your life. So, you start with your birth year and move ahead year by year and list all the films from each year. I am SURE I have this idea written down in my notebook of “blog ideas”. A post from the Avocado site came up in my “Reader” list of blogs that had the same principle, but with one exception – you can only pick one movie from each year. You can read that blog here:

https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/73828787/posts/2442817483

I am going to say that narrowing down just one film from each year will be next to impossible for me. I am going to attempt to do it. I have a feeling that I will go back in a day, a month, or year from now and think, “No, I should have picked _____ instead!” At any rate, some of these will be easy to pick, and some I will have to “eenie meanie miney moe” to pick just one. Maybe this is a topic I revisit each year? I don’t know.

I am going to break it down by “decade”, so each post will include 10 films. Deep breath. Here we go – back to the year I was born:

Of the 1970 films that made my personal favorite list, many have “war” themes: M*A*S*H, Kelly’s Heroes, and Tora! Tora! Tora! Other films include Dean Martin in Airport! and the Mel Brooks comedy The 12 Chairs. Of all of the films from the year of my birth, if I had to pick my absolute favorite, it would be the classic biopic, Patton.

George C. Scott is brilliant as Patton! He won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role. The film won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. It’s an amazing film.

1971 was the year that George Lucas would release his film THX 1138, Gene Wilder starred in the classic Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and Clint Eastwood starred in the film that scares all radio DJs – Play Misty for Me. But it is another Clint Eastwood film that gets my vote for my favorite film of 1971, Dirty Harry.

There are so many good Clint Eastwood films! It doesn’t take long for Eastwood to establish what kind of character Dirty Harry is! Come on, you know the quote:

“I know what you’re thinking: “Did he fire six shots or only five?” Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do you, punk?”

1972 was the year we saw Burt Reynolds in Deliverance, Charles Bronson in The Mechanic, and the all star cast of the Poseiden Adventure that included Gene Hackman, Shelley Winters, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons and others! It was also the year that introduced many to two of the best known adult films, Behind the Green Door and Deep Throat. 1972 is probably the easiest year to pick a hands down favorite for me – no doubt about it – Mario Puzo & Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather.

The novel is amazing. The movie is just as powerful! The cast (many unknown at the time) is just perfect! It is hard to imagine anyone else as these characters. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Abe Vigoda, Richard Conte, Alex Rocco, and so many others star in this superb film about family and power. I don’t think a week goes by without me quoting this film! The film won the Best Picture Oscar and Brando won (and refused) the Oscar for Best Actor.

While 1973 had some good films, in going through my list, they all are just “ok” to me. In other words, there is no real “WOW” movie for me. Charlton Heston is good in Soylent Green, Al Pacino is good in Serpico, The Sting had Paul Newman and Robert Redford (and the tune The Entertainer), Clint Eastwood is back for a Dirty Harry sequel called Magnum Force, and then there was the Exorcist. I guess if I HAD to pick a favorite, it would be American Graffiti – because of two things (1) the music and (2) Wolfman Jack!

1974 was a bit more difficult to narrow down to just one film. The reason for this is that I have some classic favorites that were released in ’74 and “how do I just pick one?” Two of my favorite Charles Bronson films, Mr. Majestyk and Death Wish, came out this year. Also, two of my favorite Mel Brooks films were also released – Young Frankenstein (“That’s Frahn-kun-steen”) and Blazing Saddles! It did, however, become clear that the one film that had to be at the top for 1974 was The Godfather Part II.

The first time I saw it, I hated it! I can’t lie about that. I was confused by the shifts from past to present. However, it became very clear with a second and third watch that the shifting from past to present is what makes this movie SO amazing. If you really must see it all in order, you can rent the Godfather DVD and watch it chronologically. This movie is where you really see the genius of Francis Ford Coppola. Robert Deniro is just amazing as Vito and Al Pacino’s portrayal of Michael is about as perfect as it can get.

1975 was the year that had us doing the Time Warp, thanks to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. The Sunshine Boys was supposed to star Walter Matthau and Jack Benny (there are clips of screen test shots on YouTube somewhere), but when Benny died, George Burns stepped in. Jack Nicholson is “crazy” good in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and Dean Martin starred in a forgotten favorite, Mr. Ricco. The one movie that really stands out for me from 1975 is based on the Peter Benchley novel – Jaws!

Like many, I couldn’t swim at the beach for some time after seeing it! Now, they actually show it on a screen while people float in rafts and tubes on a lake in the summer time! And who can forget the Jaws theme?

In 1976, America celebrated it’s bicentennial year. It was a very patriotic year and there were some good films in theaters. The Watergate Scandal was the focus of All The President’s Men. Clint Eastwood returned in another Dirty Harry sequel, The Enforcer and the western The Outlaw Josey Wales. The wonderful Barbara Harris was featured in both Freaky Friday and Hitchcock’s Family Plot (two very opposite roles!). Mel Brooks offered up Silent Movie, while an all-star cast (Charlton Heston, Robert Mitchum, Glenn Ford, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, and Cliff Robertson) appeared in the war film, Midway. We were first introduced to Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa in Rocky and Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were first teamed together in Silver Streak. There are many reasons I could pick any one of these as a favorite, but I am going to go with one I already featured as my favorite – Murder By Death. You can read that blog here:

https://wordpress.com/post/nostalgicitalian.com/856

It’s such a fun film and I revisit it often.

1977 was a year of great films! There was Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. Then George Burns first took on the role of God in Oh, God. John Travolta danced to the Bee Gees in Saturday Night Fever. We were introduced to the comedy of the Zucker brothers with Kentucky Fried Movie. Mel Brooks saluted Alfred Hitchcock in High Anxiety. The “other” space movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, hit theaters, too. From here, I was able to narrow things down to two faves, but as I said, I can only pick one for the year. While Star Wars could easily be the top pick for 1977, I am going with Smokey and the Bandit.

Burt Reynolds, Jerry Reed, Sally Field, and Jackie Gleason took us on a wild ride and this remains my favorite for a number of reasons. First, it’s just funny. Second, there are some very cool stunts. Third, “East Bound and Down”. Last, there are so many great quotes!

Smokey JUST beats out Star Wars, probably because it’s a comedy. Don’t get me wrong, Star Wars is a CLASSIC, and at some point I really need to blog about the influence of that film on me as a 7 year old kid!

In 1978, we first meet Michael Myers in John Carpenter’s Halloween. Peter Falk appears in the “sorta” sequel to Murder By Death in The Cheap Detective. Robert Deniro and Christopher Walken star in The Deer Hunter. Cheech and Chong go Up in Smoke. Christopher Reeve first donned the cape in Superman. Burt Reynolds starred as a stuntman in Hooper and tried to kill himself in The End. We got chills that multiplied as we sang along with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in Grease. I’m honored to have Eddie Deezen (who plays Eugene in the film) as a friend on Facebook and he often shares cool stories about the film. Time to pick my favorite from 1978. It is yet another very quotable movie – a comedy – National Lampoon’s Animal House.

Kent Dorfman. Flounder. Pinto. Bluto. D-Day. Otter. Animal House remains as funny to me today, as the first time I saw it. John Belushi is just awesome in this film. I have said before that Belushi can emote more with just his eyebrows than any other actor. I also love John Vernon as Dean Wormer – he is such a great actor! It’s amazing that “Shout” from Otis Day and the Knights is still requested at weddings 40+ years later. One of my most quoted movies!

“Zero. Point. Zero.”

Closing out the decade, I see my list of favorites for each year growing more and more. In 1979, Sigourney Weaver appeared in the first (of many) Alien films. George Hamilton’s comedic take on Dracula was in Love at First Bite. Sylvester Stallone appeared for his second “round” as Rocky in Rocky II. Star Trek became relevant again, as it appeared on the big screen for the first time (with the original cast members) with Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Steve Martin brought The Jerk to life. Alan Arkin and Peter Falk are great together in The In-Laws. Robert Stack, Eddie Deezen, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and so many others appeared in 1941 (It didn’t do all that well at the box office, but I still love this silly film). To me, my favorite of 1979 goes to the genius of Jim Henson – The Muppet Movie. I STILL marvel at this one!

This was such a breakthrough film. For the first time we saw Muppets walking! We saw them riding bikes! The technological stuff that was achieved in this movie is still awesome to me. This movie had tons of big cameos (including Edgar Bergan’s last film role) and just wonderful music. I blogged about the music previously and you can read that here:

https://wordpress.com/post/nostalgicitalian.com/1218

What a “groovy” and “far out” list, huh? I will have to move on into the 80’s next time. I can tell you, it will be much more difficult to pick just one for every year in THAT decade!

A Shemptastic Day in History…

Throughout history, some truly great people never got the respect they deserved simply because they had big shoes to fill.

* John Adams following George Washington as President of the United States.

* Ryan Seacrest following Dick Clark hosting New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.

* Ray Combs following Richard Dawson as host of Family Feud.

*Daniel Craig is forever compared to Roger Moore and Sean Connery as James Bond.

* Dick Sargent never fully got the credit he deserved as an actor because he replaced Dick York on Bewitched.

There is one “under rated” comedian who truly never got the true respect that he deserved … Simply because he stepped in to fill the shoes of a comedy GIANT! This modest blog hopes to give him some recognition.

Shemp Howard was born today in 1895. Shemp was born Samuel Horwitz, but his mother had a very heavy Lithuanian accent so when she called his name it came out “Shemp”. That name stuck and he was Shemp for the remainder of his life.

Shemp and his younger brother, Moe, watched a lot of vaudeville shows and eventually started their own act. They did an act entirely in black face. This wasn’t unusual as many performers like Al Jolson, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll we’re doing just the same.

Moe and Shemp teamed up with Ted Healy, and eventually Larry Fine joined the group. Ted Healy and his Stooges were a vaudeville hit.

My pal, Eddie Deezen, who you may know as Eugene from the movie Grease and many other great films, wrote an very nice article about Shemp for Neatorama. In it he addresses one of Shemp’s “issues”:
According to Shemp’s wife, Gertrude “Babe” Howard, whom Shemp married in 1925, Shemp was “just a big old ‘fraidy cat.” Everyone has a particular fear or phobia (many of us have more than just one); Shemp was “afraid of his own shadow,” according to his friends, with a whole litany of fears:

*He lived in constant fear of cars, never driving or getting a driver’s license. According to Moe, this fear was rooted in an auto accident Shemp experienced when he was a youth. (In his films, when Shemp had to fake driving a car, he was towed by prop men in a simulated car but was still scared, nervously holding the steering wheel until the scene mercifully ended.)

*Shemp also refused to fly in airplanes, travelling only by train.

*He was terrified of strange dogs and would carry a big stick with him, just in case a strange dog approached him.

*He refused to swim or go in any body of water larger than a bathtub. Shemp always carried a pair of rubber overshoes in his pocket, lest he be caught in the rain.

*It also became fairly common that, before Shemp appeared live on stage, he would throw up to relieve himself.

*And Shemp was a chronic bed-wetter. He had actually served in World War I, but his stint was truncated due to his bed-wetting.

Ted Healy was a jerk. He saw these things and often used his knowledge of Shemp’s fears to scare him. Because of Healy, Shemp left the group to do solo projects. He was replaced by…Curly Howard (Shemp and Moe’s younger brother). Curly went in to become the comedy icon with the Stooges and was loved by millions.

Shemp had great success working alone. He can be seen in some of Abbott and Costello’s films, but according to Eddie Deezen’s article, Costello was very jealous of Shemp and most of his funny stuff ended up being edited out. He also appeared with WC Fields in The Bank Dick and he also played Knobby Walsh in the Joe Palooka films. While off on his own, Shemp was called (and billed as) “The Ugliest Man in Hollywood”!

In the 1940’s, it is evident by watching the Three Stooges comedies that Curly’s health was on the decline. In 1946, while waiting to shoot a final scene for Half-Wits Holiday, Curly had a massive stroke. With Curly no longer able to perform, Moe turned to his older brother, Shemp, who agreed to return to the group.

Shemp made over 70 comedies with the Stooges. He never stepped in to copy Curly, nor did he want to. He was Shemp and that was what makes his comedies with the boys unique.

Shemp had his on vocal sounds. Curly “woo woo woo’d” and “n’yuk n’yuk n’yuk’d while Shemp did something totally different. His most notable characteristic as a Stooge was a high-pitched “bee-bee-bee-bee-bee-bee!” sound, a sort of soft screech done by inhaling. This was rather multi-purpose, since Shemp emitted this sound when scared, sleeping (done as a form of snoring), overtly happy or dazed. It became as much a trademark sound of Shemp as the “nyuk nyuk” sound had become Curly’s.

Shemp was always compared to Curly. In my humble opinion, this is like comparing baseball to football or apples to oranges. They are both unique and each have their own attributes! There is no way to compare them to each other! Curly was Curly. He was energetic, childish, silly and graceful. Shemp (who was already in his 50’s when he rejoined the group) was more flippant. He was a wise cracking, all talk no action kinda guy. The dynamic was different, but it still worked.

He played with the human language wonderfully. One of my favorite Shemp lines comes from the short Sing a Song of Six Pants. The boys are dry cleaners/tailors. A customer comes in and Shemp says “Where did you get this mess?” (Referring to the man’s suit). The customer replies ” I bought it here!”. Shemp’s reply: “Oh, what a beautiful messterpiece!”

On November 22, 1955, Shemp went out with his friends to a boxing match at the Hollywood Legion Stadium. After the fights were over, Shemp hailed a taxicab to take him to his North Hollywood home with friend Al Winston. Shemp set back and lit up his cigar and told a joke. Suddenly he slumped over into Winston’s lap. Shemp had a heart attack and was dead at the age of 60. (Shemp’s daughter-in-law, Geri Greenbaum, maintains he suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage.) His friend, Al, thought Shemp was playing a joke, since Shemp was laughing moments earlier, but realized he was actually dead. Moe’s autobiography gives a death date of November 23, 1955, as do most subsequent accounts, because of Moe’s book. But much of that book was finished posthumously by his daughter and son-in-law, and some specific details were confused as a result. The Los Angeles county coroner’s death certificate states that Shemp Howard died on Tuesday, November 22, 1955, at 11:35 [PM] PST.

Many Stooge fans know “the rest of the story” (to quote Paul Harvey), but for those who don’t, Eddie Deezen’s article shared the odd final chapter of Shemp’s film career :

Columbia Studios still needed four new Three Stooges shorts after Shemp died, so they hired a replacement named Joe Palma to “be Shemp.” Joe became Shemp’s “double,” or stand-in, faking scenes by not facing the camera, just standing with his back to the camera and running off or bumbling. Old footage from previous Stooge films was intermixed with the Joe Palma footage, and thus the last four Three Stooges films with “Shemp” were made.

To this day, to “get a Shemp” or “a fake Shemp” or “a Shemp” is Hollywood nomenclature for “get a double” or “use a stand-in.” Director Sam Raimi (Spiderman), a big Three Stooges fan, always credits stand-ins or doubles in his films as “Fake Shemps.”

While people who talk about Shemp often say things like, “he’s no Curly” and Stooge Festivals often promote being “all Curly”, let’s give Shemp some credit! He was a brilliant performer. He was quick, funny, and helped to keep Stooges Comedies in theaters for years after Curly left the group.

As with any team, everyone plays a part. While the team took on a new look, the slapstick was still there. The puns are still there. Larry’s facial expressions and reactions are still there. Shemp Shorts are still funny, but people who automatically cop an attitude at the opening credits before the short even starts will never come to appreciate the genius of Shemp…and that is sad.

Happy Birthday, Shemp!