Tag: Wham

Tune Tuesday – Hand Clappin’

Yesterday, November 6, was National Saxophone Day. It is celebrated on November 6, on the birthday of Antoine-Joseph ‘Adolphe’ Sax, the inventor of the saxophone. This soulful instrument has a rich history and musical range. It was prominent in many rock and roll records in the early 50’s; it always seemed to be featured as a solo instrument in the Big Band songs of the 40’s; and what would Wham’s Careless Whisper be with out the sax?

Maybe it is the “band geek” in me, but I love cool instrumentals. Today’s Tune Tuesday song features a fantastic saxophone player and basically one big sax solo. The song is called Hand Clappin’ by Red Prysock.

Red was born in 1926. He served in the US Army in World War II, where he learned how to play the saxophone. According to Wikipedia, he gained recognition by playing lead saxophone in Tiny Bradshaw’s band in 1952. He went on to lead his own band and in 1954 signed with Mercury Records. It was there that he had his biggest hit, our featured song, in 1955. That same year, he joined a band that played at DJ Alan Freed’s (the man who coined the phrase “Rock and Roll”) stage shows.

Speaking of “DJ’s,” many used Hand Clappin’ as their “Theme Song” throughout the 50’s and early 60’s. It is definitely what Jerry Lewis’s Nutty Professor character would call a “toe tapper.”

My dad is the one who introduced me to this one. We were out with my grandma one day garage sailing. My dad found the Mercury 45 in a bin of records and was amazed to have found it. He was so excited about it. We went home and he immediately put it on the turntable. It was like nothing I’d ever heard before. Give it a listen and let me know your thoughts.

I Made It 15 Days! A New Record!

I’m out! I got “Whammed” on Tuesday by a co-worker.

Another co-worker and I were just talking about this on December 1st. Do you play Whamageddon? Do you even know what it is? If not, I’ll tell you.

It’s probably one of the stupidest and silliest games of the holiday season. The objective? Avoid hearing Last Christmas by Wham from December 1st to December 25th (although there are some people who try to avoid it the entire month of December).

Here are the rules:

When I was working part time at Cars 108, it was especially difficult to avoid hearing it, because the station played all Christmas music during the holidays. However, now that Covid has pretty much forced my retirement from radio, I have a bit more control over things.

Yes, I still do flip through the channels on the radio, but it is mostly Sirius XM stations that probably wouldn’t play the Wham version. However, there were times that my wife and I were driving where we were scanning through local stations and the risk factor was higher. I thought for sure if I was gonna be “Whammed” it would be driving in the car, but that is not what happened.

One of our co-workers was listening to a variety of music on YouTube Tuesday night. I know for a fact that she was here the night me and my other co-workers were talking about Whamageddon. Whether she heard the discussion or not, I don’t know.

She was playing Christmas songs of her choice – meaning, she was searching and then selecting the songs to play. She literally turned to us and said, “Here’s one for you” and started Wham! My buddy and I looked at each other and were like, “Really!? Why would you play that?!” She said she had no idea about the game. That was NOT the way I thought I’d lose the game! I am sure that there was a look of disgust and defeat on our faces!

I suppose I’ll give it a go again next year … Maybe I can go longer than 15 days!