Share Your Nostalgia

We continue with my trial run of Share Your Nostalgia, an idea suggested to me by some fellow bloggers. 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?

Today, we shine the spotlight on Christian. Christian is another one of the great music lovers I’ve connected with here on WordPress. His blog is loaded with all kinds of musical writings. He has a love for 1960’s and 1970’s music, but his blog is far from just those decades. You can check him out at Christian’s Music Musings: https://christiansmusicmusings.wordpress.com/

Take it away, Christian –

When fellow blogger Keith (Nostalgic Italian) reached out to me the other day to see whether I’d like to participate in his call for contributions about the “Toy of Your Life,” I immediately accepted. Then I thought, ‘oh, oh, what am I going to write about?’ After all, I really can’t point to one specific object that was THE toy. As such, I decided to take a bit of liberty and write about my (childhood) obsession with toy cars.

I remember my mom often told me that when I was a toddler back in Germany, I would always walk around carrying stuff in my hands. This included all kinds of pens in different colors and a Tonka-type plastic toy truck. At some point, I guess by the time of first grade, I had discovered Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars. I couldn’t get enough of them. And I found an ingenious way to increase my supply!

During much of my early childhood, I had blood anemia and needed to take iron in liquid form – yuck, not a medicine I can recommend! The condition also required frequent blood

monitoring. This meant my mom had to take me our primary care doctor where they always stuck my finger to collect blood.

I was very afraid of the little needles the assistant used to take my blood and always made a big scene. On one such occasion, out of despair, my mom once told me if I would be brave, she would reward me with a Matchbox car after the doctor’s visit. While I still dreaded the needles, that sounded good to me!

And so I began accumulating Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. I played with them all the time, alone and with my best friend who I met in second grade and who I’m still fortunate to call my best friend to this day. At some point, we began building roads in the sandbox that was in the backyard of his house and taking our cars there – safe to assume a few of them got buried forever!

At some point as I grew bigger, so did the toy cars. Matchbox and Hot Wheels were out, and I started collecting cars that were about twice the size of a Matchbox car. I remember one of the brands was called Siku. One of the cars was a BMW 630CSI like the one pictured below, though I believe mine was silver.

During my early teenage years, I started collecting even bigger toy cars (1:18 scale) by Schuco and other toy car makers. Those cars had many more details and looked way more sophisticated. One, a red Mercedes 280SL convertible even had a working steering wheel. I also had a red Porsche 911 (still my favorite sports car to this day!) that looked similar to the below model, though it wasn’t a Targa.

While I kept my bigger cars on display in my room well into my late teens, once I started getting my first guitar and taking lessons, guitars became my new toy of interest, and the toy cars on the shelves started collecting dust.

While I’m older now (at least on paper!), I will say my fascination for toy cars has never entirely disappeared. When my son was a toddler and the Pixar movie Cars came out, it didn’t take much to convince papi (as he usually called me) to start collecting die-cast models of Lightning McQueen, Tow Mater, Doc Hudson or Sally Carrera. In fact, oftentimes it felt papi was more excited than his son!

Even to this day when I happen to spot toy cars in the pharmacy, I sometimes stop and glance to see what kind of makes and models they have. If I were a kid, I’m sure I’d like some them, especially muscle cars.

Since I’m a music blogger, I can’t wrap up this post without some music. As such, I’m leaving you with three car/driving songs, including one titled Matchbox Cars, though it’s not about toy cars but real cars looking like Matchbox cars from the 52nd floor of a skyscraper – but, hey, close enough!

Deep Purple/Highway Star (1972) – perhaps the ultimate driving song!

Golden Earring/Radar Love (1973) – another contender for best driving song!

Coot/Matchbox Cars (2012) – from the eponymous debut album of this New Orleans-based rock band who are completely new to me – I guess they passed the audition!

Share Your Nostalgia

We turn the blog over to my buddy, Randy Dafoe today. Randy is a fellow music lover and he and I happen to share a love for a good (and sometimes bad) cover song. His blog, Mostly Music Covers, is a daily read for me. Be sure to check him out here: https://mostlymusiccovers.com/

Will Randy opt for a musical toy like Nancy did yesterday? Take it away, Cowboy …..

The Toy of Your Life – Randy Dafoe

What was the “Toy of Your Life?”. What was that one toy that you carried with you everywhere, brought to show and tell, and made your friends envious of you? When you think back to your childhood, what is that one toy that sticks out as a favorite? Why was it? Why did you want it? How did you get it?

When Keith asked the above questions, I needed no time to think about which toy I was going to write about. It was my Roy Rogers toys. If you grew up from the 1940s through to the 60s it was a coveted thing to have the pair of Roy Rogers and his horse Trigger action figures.

If you don’t know who he was here is a song “Blue Shadows On The Trail” and a little background.

Roy Rogers (Leonard Franklin Slye, November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998) was following the dusty trail blazed by the likes of Tom Mix and the great Gene Autry (where Rogers was at one time just his sidekick). However, Rogers would come to be known as the “King of the Cowboys”. A great singer who would go into acting and become the biggest singing and acting “Western Star” of all time.

Elton John & Bernie Taupin wrote a song about him, and it appeared on the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album in 1973.

Being a star like that you inevitably have the merchandise. Back then lunch boxes were a big thing, but for me it was the Roy Rogers Cowboy figure and his faithful horse Trigger. I found a picture that shows it came with his dog Bullet (gotta love the original names) but I really don’t remember having it. At around seven years old Roy Rogers was like a hero to me. He had his own TV series that, like his Western movies were in reruns in the mid 60s. So, I got to watch his shows when we got our first TV in about 1965. Now one TV and eight people in the house, my time was rationed, thankfully my dad liked to watch Roy Rogers, which is where I picked it up to begin with. Roy was the prototypical good guy in the white hat who always did the right thing and saved the day.

So, I probably bugged my parents for the better part of a year before I got it for Christmas. I would pretend he was riding into various adventures and sometimes I just liked to look at it sitting on the floor of my room. I use the term ‘room’ generously, I actually didn’t have one at that time. My bed was on the landing at the top of the stairs in our little one and half story house. My sister’s had the room on the left and my two older brothers the room on the right. But there was plenty of space to play and as possessions were a rare thing, I coveted that Cowboy and horse for at least a couple of years.

But, as it is said in the song “A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys”. Roy and Trigger got put in a box. At first it was in the closet in my sisters (I have three of them) room and then to be honest I don’t know what happened to them. My mother made a healthy habit of donating our things. As the years passed Roy became less of a celebrity and to another little boy it was probably just a cowboy and horse. Needless to say, I have not forgotten Roy and Trigger, nearly 60 years later I can still picture myself on the floor and having the time of my life making up my own cowboy stories.

Thanks, Keith, for the opportunity to reminisce and share a story about my favorite toy.

Share Your Nostalgia

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:

And The Music Goes Round And Round

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.

Thanks for a great start to this feature, Nancy!

Saturday Selections

Share Your Nostalgia Update

Recently, I asked if anyone would like to participate in a “Guest Blog Series.” I’m happy to tell you that I have enough interest to proceed with the series. I have asked for guest bloggers to write a piece about their favorite childhood toy. They will write about that one special toy that they will never forget. I know many of the writers well, and am looking forward to their piece.

The series will begin on Sunday, October 20th. Each day will feature one of my guest bloggers. There is still time if you would like to participate. Drop me an e-mail at: Nostalgicitalian@yahoo.com if you are interested. I’m excited to walk down memory lane! Stay tuned!

The Silly Monty

On this day in 1969, Monty Python’s Flying Circus Premiered on BBC1.

The sketch comedy show featured the talents of John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Eric Idle and Graham Chapman. The series stands out for its use of absurd situations, mixed with risqué and innuendo-laden humor, sight gags and observational sketches without punch lines. Live-action segments were broken up with animations by Gilliam, often merging with the live action to form a segue to the next bit.

I recall seeing it for the first time on Channel 9 out of Canada. I remember it was nothing like I had ever seen before. It was completely crazy. One of the first bits I ever saw was called the Funniest Joke in the World. A guy writes a joke that is so funny, he dies laughing. Everyone who reads the joke does the same. The joke is so funny that it is dangerous and it is used as the ultimate war weapon. It was so ridiculous!

Monty Python created some of the funniest sketches in comedy. They include The Dead Parrot Sketch, The Lumberjack Song, The Spanish Inquisition, Spam, Election Night Special, Cheese Shop, The Ministry of Silly Walks and Nudge Nudge. Each of them make me laugh.

The one that kills me every time is the stupidest bit ever. I laugh like crazy when I watch it. So for your enjoyment… The Fish Slapping Dance

The Argument Clinic is a sketch that was done on the show, however, I prefer the recording of it a little better:

The absurdity of the Bookshop sketch shows the brilliance of the writers. Cleese plays a marvelously frustrated book seller who is forced to deal with a very picky customer.

There are so many classic sketches, I could write a whole blog about them, but I will move on.

Life is Just a Bowl of Larry’s

Today is the 122nd birthday of my favorite Stooge – Larry Fine.

I was late to the Larry party. I, like most Stooge fans, loved Curly. However, while working at my first radio gig, a co-worker changed that. My pal, Johnny Molson, was a Stooges fan. I remember him telling me that Larry was his favorite. I couldn’t imagine why. He didn’t really do much … or so I believed. Johnny told me that the next time I watched the Stooges to forget about every thing else going on in a scene. “Just watch Larry,” he told me.

I am forever grateful for that advice. I noticed things that I would have never seen if he hadn’t told me that. Larry’s facial expressions are priceless. His reactions are like no other. Larry added more to those films than people realize. Once I started watching him, I gained such an appreciation for his contributions to the group. Moe and Curly’s personalities are so big that they can easily overshadow the “Larry-ness” that is the glue that holds the team together!

Happy Birthday, Porcupine!

World Teacher’s Day

Today we celebrate teachers all over the world! Whether you are teaching currently or a retired teacher, I thank you for all you do. YOU play such an important role in the lives of your students.

Back in April of 2018, I wrote about some of the teachers who made a difference to me. Some of them have since passed away, but it is worth sharing again.

Let’s Take a Quiz and Thank a Teacher … or two.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Be My Guest – More Info (For those who asked…)

A couple days ago, I reached out to see if there was any interest in taking part in a “Nostalgic” feature here on my blog. Like many of the features and blog-a-thons hosted by other blogs, I’d have you write on my topic and feature one daily from all the submissions.

I was vague and deliberately left out the topic in my original post. However, I had some emails saying that they might be interested, but didn’t want to commit until they knew the topic and felt they could write about it.

So here is what I’m thinking: The Toy of Your Life. I think every child has that one toy that was the “ultimate” one growing up. Maybe it was a Christmas or birthday gift, or maybe it was the first one you bought with your allowance. However you got it, it was THE toy that you always played with and took with you wherever you went. It is the toy you look back on with fond memories.

When I asked “What was your favorite toy growing up?” to coworkers, it was amazing how quickly they each had an answer. As we all sat around sharing stories, the conversation continued with other toys and memories. Watching these coworkers speak passionately about these toys, led me to think that this would be a neat topic to feature.

So now you know. You have a toy in mind already, don’t you? If you’d be interested in sharing yours, I’d love for you to participate. Your piece can be as long as you want it to be. Share why you loved it, how you got it, and a story about it. If you want to share a photo, you can do that, too.

The plan is to start this toward the end of October. Once I know who wants to participate, I will lock in a start date and send a schedule. Please email me: nostalgicitalian@yahoo.com if you have questions or want to join in the memories.

I am excited to hear from you!

Keith

A Personal Invite to YOU

I have been honored to take part in many features that are hosted by other bloggers and their sites. Honestly, writing for those features is really a lot of fun for me. Not to mention that you get some exposure for your blog on another site.

Themed blog-a-thons about movies are always fun to write for. Dave Ruch’s musical Turntable Talk feature is one of my favorites to participate in. Recently, Max at the PowerPop Blog did a week or two feature on the Kinks and their music. He said that he got a lot of positive feedback from that. Then, of course, we had our Song and TV Show Drafts which was a wonderful stroll down memory lane.

With that in mind, some of my blogger friends have said that I should host some sort of feature where my followers could join in and contribute a piece to be posted here. I have gone back and forth on whether or not this would be something that anyone might be interested in doing. Before making the decision, I thought I would ask for your opinion.

I called my site the Nostalgic Italian, because that’s who I am. I love the things of the past. I have no doubt that every reader of this blog has some sort of nostalgic memory that they could share. Let me say, without spoiling it for anyone, that I have a topic in mind. I randomly asked the question at work last week and was amazed at how passionate some of my coworkers were about it and how it led to about an hour long conversation.

So, if you think that you might be interest in taking part, I’d like to you comment here. Better yet, drop me an e-mail at: nostalgicitalian@yahoo.com. If you’d like to know the topic before deciding, I will e-mail it to you. I was thinking that this could be something that runs for a week or two (with every blogger getting a day devoted to their piece) in mid to late October.

If there is enough interest, I will compose an email with the topic and instructions. I’ll give a dead line to get your piece to me and then send out a schedule of when each piece will post. This works well with Dave and his Turntable Talk, so I see no need to do it any differently.

I’m not sure what to expect, but I really hope you will consider taking part. Why? Because I am truly interested in your answer to the question and it will let you explore your childhood a bit while coming up with that answer. If it turns out like I think it will, YOUR piece will not only bring back memories for you, but it will stir up memories for the other readers, too.

If you need more info – don’t hesitate to reach out.

Thanks in advance. I hope to hear from you!!