WA2K Radio is now on the air

Absolutely, edgar. Love that one and for once know the melody.

Well, folks, time for a station break:

This is cyber space, WA2K radio.

I see you, and raise:

Never been to Spain
- Three Dog Night

Well I never been to Spain
But I kinda like the music
Say the ladies are insane there
And they sure know how to use it
The don't abuse it
Never gonna lose it
I can't refuse it

Well I never been to England
But I kinda like the Beatles
Well, I headed for Las Vegas
Only made it out to Needles
Can you feel it
It must be real it
Feels so good
Oh, feels so good

Well I never been to heaven
But I been to Oklahoma
Well they tell me I was born there
But I really don't remember
In Oklahoma, not Arizona
What does it matter
What does it matter

Well I never been to Spain
But I kinda like the music
Say the ladies are insane there
And they sure know how to use it
They don't abuse it
Never gonna lose it
I can't refuse it

Well I never been to heaven
But I been to Oklahoma
Well they tell me I was born there
But I really don't remember
In Oklahoma, not Arizona
What does it matter
What does it matter

We remember that one, Try. Again we are in your debt, buddy.

You know, listeners, it is becoming increasingly difficult to locate lyrics. Everything seems to be turning toward the money side of things. Perhaps that is only fair, but I do believe it will be like the snake who swallowed his own tail. Perhaps we are relying too heavily on other people to do our thinking and remembering for us. There is a lot of energy that goes into those who are vocalists and musicians. They have to have, somewhere in the corner of their mind, a memory, and an imagination.

That is why, my friends, folk music will always be an antique worth keeping. Music of the people.

Let's see if I can locate the song that came out of the Travel Game.

Ray Charles:

Alone together

Alone together, beyond the crowd,

Above the world, we're not to proud

To cling together, We're strong

As long as we're together.



Alone together, the blinding rain

The starless night, were not in vain;

For we're together, and what is there

To fear together.



Our love is as deep as the sea,

Our love is as great as a love can be,

And we can weather the great unknown,

If we're alone together.

WOW! All done in a minor key.

Alone together. Hmm. That reminds me of a Barbra Streisand song, "Lullaby for Myself." I remember thinking this song summed up how I felt when I was single. I copies the lyrics by hand and gave them to my hubby when we first met. He loved it. I think he saved them somewhere. Anyway...


Self-contained and self-content
No promises to keep
I've got things so together
That I just can't fall asleep
Walked the night and drank the moon
Got home at half-past four,
And I knew that no-one marked my time
As I unlocked my door.

It's really lovely to discover
That you like to be alone
Not to owe your man an answer
When he gets you on the phone
Not to share a pair of porkchops
When you crave champagne and cheese
And your aim becomes to please yourself
And not to aim to please

Oh they sold me when they told me
Two can live as cheap as one
But I'm learning twice you're earning
Doesn't mean it's twice the fun
If you spend your each dime and all your time
On someone else's schemes
I'm not needy but I'm greedy
And I live my deepest dreams

Take an hour in the shower
Use the water while it's hot
In the tub. A hand to scrub my back
Is all I haven't got.

Self-aware with self-esteem
Is selfishness a crime?
I take the day for quite a ride
And I take my own sweet time
Time to spare and time to share
And grateful I would be
If just one damn man would share the need
To be alone with me.

Oh, my god, Eva. That is beautiful. Frankly, I think the lyrics to that song would make wonderful marriage vows. I mean it, too. Of course, everyone needs his quiet time and time to himself, but in the end togetherness is the real friend. Thank you so much for reminding all of us, dear.

some tom waits, for your listening pleasure

Tom Traubert's Blues

Wasted and wounded, it ain't what the moon did
I've got what I paid for now
see ya tomorrow, hey Frank, can I borrow
a couple of bucks from you, to go
Waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda, you'll go waltzing
Mathilda with me

I'm an innocent victim of a blinded alley
and I'm tired of all these soldiers here
no one speaks English, and everything's broken
and my Stacys are soaking wet
to go waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda, you'll go waltzing Mathilda with me

now the dogs are barking
and the taxi cab's parking
a lot they can do for me
I begged you to stab me
you tore my shirt open
and I'm down on my knees tonight
Old Bushmill's I staggered, you buried the dagger in
your silhouette window light go to go
waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda, you'll go waltzing
Mathilda with me

now I lost my Saint Christopher now that I've kissed her and the one-armed bandit knows, and the maverick Chinamen, and the cold-blooded signs
and the girls down by the strip-tease shows go
waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda, you'll go waltzing Mathilda with me

no, I don't want your sympathy, the fugitives say that the streets aren't for dreaming now
manslaughter dragnets and the ghosts that sell memories
they want a piece of the action anyhow go
waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda, you'll go waltzing Mathilda with me

and you can ask any sailor, and the keys from the jailor
and the old men in wheelchairs know
that Mathilda's the defendant, she killed about a hundred
and she follows wherever you may go
waltzing Mathilda, waltzing Mathilda, you'll go waltzing
Mathilda with me

and it's a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace
and a wound that will never heal
no prima donna, the perfume is on
an old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey
and goodnight to the street sweepers
the night watchman flame keepers
and goodnight to Mathilda too


I Wish I Was in New Orleans

Well, I wish I was in New Orleans
I can see it in my dreams
arm-in-arm down Burgundy
a bottle and my friends and me
hoist up a few tall cool ones
play some pool and listen to that
tenor saxophone calling me home
and I can hear the band begin
"When the Saints Go Marching In"
by the whiskers on my chin
New Orleans, I'll be there

I'll drink you under the table
be red nose go for walks
the old haunts what I wants
is red beans and rice
and wear the dress I like so well
and meet me at the old saloon
make sure there's a Dixie moon
New Orleans, I'll be there

and deal the cards roll the dice
if it ain't that ole Chuck E. Weiss
and Clayborn Avenue me and you
Sam Jones and all
and I wish I was in New Orleans
I can see it in my dreams
arm-in-arm down Burgundy
a bottle and my friends and me
New Orleans, I'll be there


The Piano Has Been Drinking

The piano has been drinking
my necktie is asleep
and the combo went back to New York
the jukebox has to take a leak
and the carpet needs a haircut
and the spotlight looks like a prison break
cause the telephone's out of cigarettes
and the balcony's on the make
and the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking...

and the menus are all freezing
and the lightman's blind in one eye
and he can't see out of the other
and the piano-tuner's got a hearing aid
and he showed up with his mother
and the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking

cause the bouncer is a Sumo wrestler
cream puff casper milk toast
and the owner is a mental midget
with the I.Q. of a fencepost
cause the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking...

and you can't find your waitress
with a Geiger counter
And she hates you and your friends
and you just can't get served
without her
and the box-office is drooling
and the bar stools are on fire
and the newspapers were fooling
and the ash-trays have retired
the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking
The piano has been drinking
not me, not me, not me, not me, not me

Ah, dj. and you do give us listening pleasure, Canada. Love this verse:

The Piano Has Been Drinking

The piano has been drinking
my necktie is asleep
and the combo went back to New York
the jukebox has to take a leak
and the carpet needs a haircut
and the spotlight looks like a prison break
cause the telephone's out of cigarettes
and the balcony's on the make
and the piano has been drinking
the piano has been drinking...

Is there a song that says "I took two aspirin and my shoulders they are aching, and my chair is getting worn, and tonight there's no more faking.."

Goodnight, my delightful friends.

From Letty with love

Tom Waits
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thomas Alan Waits

Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor.

Waits has a distinctive voice, described by the MusicHound Rock Album Guide as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months and then taken outside and run over with a car." (Waits's voice was also described in one court decision as follows: "Waits has a raspy, gravelly singing voice, described by one fan as 'like how you'd sound if you drank a quart of bourbon, smoked a pack of cigarettes and swallowed a pack of razor blades... Late at night. After not sleeping for three days.'" Waits v. Frito-Lay, Inc., 978 F.2d 1093 (1992 9th Cir.)) With this trademark growl, as well as his experimental tendencies and a love of pre-rock Americana styles such as blues, jazz, and Vaudeville, Waits has built up a distinctive musical persona.

Lyrically, Waits's songs are known for atmospheric portrayals of bizarre, seedy characters and places, although he has also shown a penchant for more conventional and touching ballads. He has a cult following and has influenced subsequent songwriters, despite having little radio or music video support. His songs are best known to the general public in the form of cover versions by more visible artists, such as Eagles, The Ramones, Bruce Springsteen, and Rod Stewart. Although Waits's albums have met with mixed commercial success in his native United States, they have occasionally achieved gold album sales status in other countries.

Waits has also worked as a composer for movies and musical plays and as a supporting actor in films, including Short Cuts, The Two Jakes, The Fisher King, Mystery Men, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Coffee and Cigarettes. He also had a starring role in the film Down By Law.

From the Beatles

She's not a girl who misses much
Do do do do do do do do
She's well acquainted with the touch of the velvet
Hand
Like a lizard on a window pane.

The man in the crowd with the multicoloured mirrors
On his hobnail boots
Lying with his eyes while his hands are busy
Working overtime
A soap impression of his wife which he ate
And donated to the national trust.

I need a fix 'cause I'm going down
Town to the bits that I left uptown
I need a fix cause I'm going down
Mother superior jump the gun
Mother superior jump the gun
Mother superior jump the gun
Mother superior jump the gun.

Happiness is a warm gun
Happiness is a warm gun
When I hold you in my arms
And I feel my finger on your trigger
I know no one can do me no harm
Because happiness is a warm gun
-yes it is.

Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors.

What a beautiful day it is here in our little studio. I do hope your day begins with a song or at least a lilt. <smile>

Sublime, welcome back. Thank you so much for that bio of Tom Waits. I have never heard him but he sounds like my kind of guy. I remember The Fisher King. I liked that movie, frankly. Strangely, I don't recall the music, however.

and there's edgar with a Beatle song that is a "velvet touch" for the morning. Thanks, Texas.

From velvet to magic, folks:

Aerosmith
» Magic Touch

Somebody better call a doctor, doctor
Or wake me up with a shove
I'm gonna knock you off you're rocker, rocker
Cause I think I'm in love
I tried to get a message to ya
But you walked the other way

I need your magic touch, don't you know
I got a habit and I can't let go
Feel the fire burnin' slow
You better get it while it's hot now babe
Cause I can't let go

Don't need a wedding with a shotgun, shotgun
So don't you push me too far
Don't try to take me for a fool child, who child
Do you think that you are
You really got it coming to ya
It's gonna come as no surprise

I need your magic touch, don't you know
I'm after you and now I can't let go
Take it easy, take me slow
You better get it while it's hot now babe
Cause I can't let go

You never know what you got
Till they take it away
I'm comin ready or not
Gonna get you someday

I need your magic touch, don't you know
I'm after you and now I can't let go
Feel the fire burnin' slow
I got a habit and I'm back for more
Your magic touch don't you know
I'm after you and now I can't let go
Feel the fire burnin' slow
You better get it while it's hot now babe
Cause I can't, can't, can't let you go

Well, listeners, Adele has given me permission to read this lovely poem on our radio:

THIS MAN


There was this man, this wonderful man,
Who suddenly left this world.
He was a man, that when he spoke,
His words were worth much more that gold.

Everyday, he would go to work,
So we can have a better life.
He was a man, who never gave up,
Never hesitated himself to sacrifice.

He always laughed, never cried,
He never showed disrespect.
He was a man, that warmed people souls,
With him, you'd never know what to expect.

This man, he was my father,
A husband, grandfather and a son.
This man, my dad, became a legend,
To each, and everyone.

Thank you Dad, for everything,
For unselfishly giving what you can give.
Because of you, I am a better person, B
ecause of you, I learned to live.

Adele Natasha Mohammed

Copyright ©2005 Adele Natasha Mohammed

What a wonderful tribute to a father, Adele. Thank you, dear

Shirley Temple
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Shirley Jane Temple (born April 23, 1928), later known as Shirley Temple Black, is an American diplomat and former film child actress. Not only was she the most famous child actress of the 1930s, she is also considered to be the most famous child actor/actress of all time. Her films continue to enjoy popularity today, particularly among young girls.


Film career

Born in Santa Monica, California, she starred in over 40 films during the 1930s. She was the only daughter of banker George Francis Temple (1888-1980) and his wife Gertrude Amelia Krieger (1893-1977). She had two older brothers. Temple began her career at the age of three, after being chosen from her dance class by a visiting director. Between the end of 1931 and 1933 she appeared in two series of short subjects for Educational Pictures. Her first series, Baby Burlesks, satirized recent motion pictures and politics. The series was considered controversial by some viewers because of its depiction of young children in adult situations. Her second series at Educational, Frolics of Youth, was a bit more acceptable, and cast her as a bratty younger sister in a contemporary suburban family.

While working for Educational Pictures, Temple also performed many walk-on and bit player roles in various other movies. She was finally signed to Fox Film Corporation (which later merged with 20th Century Pictures to become 20th Century Fox) in late 1933 after appearing in Stand Up and Cheer with James Dunn. She would stay with Fox until 1940, becoming the studio's most lucrative player. Her contract was amended several times between 1933 and 1935, and she was loaned to Paramount for a pair of successful films in 1934. For four solid years, she ranked as the top-grossing box office star in America. To hold on to her babyhood, Shirley's birth certificate had been altered. Only on her twelfth birthday did she realise she was actually thirteen [1].

Her popularity earned her both public adulation and the approval of her peers. Even at the age of five, the hallmark of her acting work was her professionalism: she always had her lines memorized and dance steps prepared when shooting began. She was the first recipient of the special Juvenile Performer Academy Award in 1935. Seventy years later, Temple is still the youngest performer ever to receive this honor. She is also the youngest actor to add foot and hand prints to the forecourt at Grauman's (now Mann's) Chinese Theater.

Temple was paired with James Dunn in several films. She also made pictures with Carole Lombard, Gary Cooper, Adolphe Menjou, and many others. Arthur Treacher appeared as a kindly butler in several of Temple's films.

Temple's ability as a dancer (especially a tap dancer) is well known and celebrated. Even in her earliest films she danced, and she was able to handle complex tap choreography by the age of five. She was teamed with famed dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in The Little Colonel, The Littlest Rebel, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and Just Around the Corner. Robinson also coached and developed her choreography for many of her other films. Because Robinson was African-American, his scenes holding hands with Temple had to be edited out in many cities in the South.

Aside from the films, there were many Shirley Temple product tie-ins during the 1930s. Ideal's numerous Temple dolls, dressed in costumes from the movies, were top sellers. Original Shirley Temple dolls bring in hundreds of dollars on the secondary market today. Other successful Temple items included a line of girls' dresses and hairbows. Several of Temple's film songs, including "On the Good Ship Lollipop" (from 1934's Bright Eyes), "Animal Crackers in My Soup" (from 1935's Curly Top) and "Goodnight my Love" (from 1936's Stowaway) were popular radio hits. She frequently lent her likeness and talent to promoting various social causes, including the Red Cross.

The role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, played by Judy Garland, was originally intended for her. She was unable to appear in the film when a trade between Fox and MGM fell through. She was also rumored to be the inspiration for Bonnie Blue Butler in Gone With the Wind and was one of the early contenders for the role in the motion picture, but was too old by the time the film went into production.

In 1940, Temple left Fox. She juggled classes at Westlake School for Girls with films for various other studios, including MGM and Paramount. Her most successful pictures of the time included Since You Went Away with Claudette Colbert, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer and Fort Apache. She retired from motion pictures in 1949. In the 1950s and 1960s, she made a brief return to show business with two television series.

In 2001, she served as a consultant on the ABC Television Network production of Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story, based on part one of her autobiography.

Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced on September 12, 2005, that she was to receive the Guild's most prestigious honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award. SAG President Melissa Gilbert said:

I can think of no one more deserving of this year's SAG Life Achievement award than Shirley Temple Black. Her contributions to the entertainment industry are without precedent; her contributions to the world are nothing short of inspirational. She has lived the most remarkable life, as the brilliant performer the world came to know when she was just a child, to the dedicated public servant who has served her country both at home and abroad for 30 years. In everything she has done and accomplished, Shirley Temple Black has demonstrated uncommon grace, talent and determination, not to mention compassion and courage. As a child, I was thrilled to dance and sing to her films and more recently as Guild president I have been proud to work alongside her, as her friend and colleague, in service to our union. She has been an indelible influence on my life. She was my idol when I was a girl and remains my idol today.

Family and career as Shirley Temple Black


At the age of 17, Temple was married first to soldier turned actor John Agar (1921-2002) on September 19, 1945. They had one daughter, Linda Susan Agar (later known as Susan Black) born on January 30, 1948. Temple filed for divorce in late 1949 with the divorce becoming final on December 5, 1950. Earlier that year she had met and fallen in love with California businessman Charles Alden Black (1919-2005) and they were married on December 16, 1950 and she took his name. Together, they had two children: Charles Alden Black Jr. born April 29, 1952 and Lori Black born on April 9, 1954. They remained married until his death from myelodysplastic syndrome at age 86 on August 4, 2005.

Black subsequently became involved in Republican Party politics, unsuccessfully entering a Congressional race in 1967 on a pro-war platform. She went on to hold several diplomatic posts, serving as America's delegate to many international conferences and summits. She was appointed American ambassador to Ghana (1974-76). In 1976, she became the first female Chief of Protocol of the United States which put in her charge of all State Department ceremonies, visits, gifts to foreign leaders and co-ordination of protocol issues with all US embassies and consulates. She was ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1989-92) and witnessed the Velvet Revolution, about which she commented, "That was the best job I ever had." In 1987 she was designated the first Honorary Foreign Service Officer in US history by then US Secretary of State, George Schultz.

Black appeared on the cover of People magazine in 1999 with the title "Picture Perfect" and again later that year as part of their special report, "Surviving Breast Cancer." She appeared at the 70th Academy Awards and also in that same year received Kennedy Center Honors.

Black served on the board of directors of some large enterprises including The Walt Disney Company (1974-75), Del Monte, Bancal Tri-State, and Fireman's Fund Insurance. Her non-profit board appointments included the Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Council of American Ambassadors, the World Affairs Council, the United States Commission for UNESCO, the National Committee on US-China Relations, the United Nations Association, and the US Citizen's Space TaskForce.

She received honorary doctorates from Santa Clara University and Lehigh University, a Fellowship from College of Notre Dame, and a Chubb Fellowship from Yale University.

Black now lives in Woodside, California. Recently, she has teamed with Legend Films to release colorized versions of some of her early black and white films. These new versions have been released on DVD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_Temple

Roy Orbison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 - December 6, 1988), nicknamed "The Big O", was an influential American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll, whose recording career spanned more than four decades. By the mid-1960s Orbison was internationally recognized for his ballads of lost love, rhythmically advanced melodies, three-octave vocal range, characteristic dark sunglasses, and sometimes distinctive usage of falsetto, typified in songs such as "Only The Lonely", "Oh, Pretty Woman", and "Crying". In 1989, he was inducted posthumously into the National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Two common misconceptions about his appearance stubbornly continue to surface about Orbison: one, that he was an albino, and two, that he wore his trademark dark glasses because he was blind or nearly so. Neither is correct, although his poor vision required him to wear thick corrective lenses (He suffered from childhood from a combination of hyperopia, severe astigmatism, presbyopia, anisometropia, and strabismus). Orbison's trademark sunglasses were a fashion statement arising from an accident early in his career. Due to go onstage in a few minutes, Orbison left his regular glasses in an airplane. Unable to see without corrective lenses, the only other pair of glasses he had available were darkly tinted prescription sunglasses. "I had to see to get onstage," so he wore the glasses throughout his tour with the Beatles, and he carried on with it for the rest of his professional career. "I'll just do this and look cool."


Early life and career

Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas, the second son of Nadine and Orbie Lee. After moving to Fort Worth around 1943 to find work in the munitions and aircraft factories expanded as a result of the Second World War, the family moved to the tiny oil town of Wink in late 1946. Music was an important part of his family life.

In 1949, at age 13, he organized his first band, "The Wink Westerners", and when not singing with the band he spent his time playing guitar and writing songs. The band appeared weekly on KERB radio in Kermit, Texas. Orbison graduated from Wink High School in 1954. He attended North Texas State College in Denton, Texas for a year, and enrolled at Odessa Junior College in 1955 to study history and English. The Wink Westerners had some success on local television, being given 30 minute weekly shows on KMID and then KOSA. One of the guests on their show was Johnny Cash, who advised them to seek a contract with his record producer, Sam Phillips, of Sun Records. Having renamed The Wink Westerners as "The Teen Kings", Orbison left college in March 1956, determined to give music a serious try, and headed for Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee.

Many of the earliest songs he recorded were produced by Sam Phillips, who also produced Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley. Orbison achieved his first commercial success in June 1956 with "Ooby Dooby", a song written by friends of Orbison from college. His song "Claudette", named after his first wife, was recorded by the Everly Brothers as the B-side to their Number 1 hit "All I Have To Do Is Dream". However, the rockabilly and blues sounds of Sun's artists did not bring Orbison much success and his career seemed over, although fans of rockabilly music count his records among the best that this kind of music has to offer. For a time, he worked at Acuff-Rose Music in Nashville, Tennessee as a songwriter, and then was given a contract by RCA, but eventually Chet Atkins referred him to Fred Foster, the owner of Monument Records, where he moved after his contract with RCA ended in 1959.

Breakthrough and sudden decline

At Monument, Foster encouraged him to break from his established style. Under Foster's guidance, he began writing his own songs alone or in collaboration with Joe Melson and later Bill Dees, developing his signature operatic voice, and creating a sound unheard of in rock and roll at the time. His first record, "Uptown" was moderately successful. With the release of "Only The Lonely" and its immediate rise to the top of the charts (#2 in the US, #1 in the UK), he went on to become an international rock and roll star. His follow-up single, "Running Scared" became a US #1. Throughout his stay at Monument Records, his backup band was a group of outstanding studio musicians led by Bob Moore. The play of Orbison's voice against the dynamic yet uncluttered sound of the band gave Orbison's records a unique, identifiable sound.

A powerful influence on his contemporaries such as The Rolling Stones, in 1963, Roy Orbison headlined a European tour with The Beatles, becoming lifelong friends with the band, in particular with John Lennon and George Harrison. Orbison would later record with Harrison as part of the Traveling Wilburys. During their tour of Europe, an impressed Roy Orbison encouraged The Beatles to come to the United States. When they finally decided to try America, they asked Orbison to manage their first tour but his own schedule forced him to turn down what was to become an astounding success.

Unlike many artists, Orbison maintained his success as the British Invasion swept America in 1964. His single "Oh, Pretty Woman" broke the Beatles' stranglehold on the Top 10, soaring to No. 1 on the Billboard charts. The record sold more copies in its first ten days of release than any 45rpm up to that time and would go on to sell more than seven million copies. The song later became the signature tune for the film Pretty Woman, named for his song, which brought fame to actress Julia Roberts.

He toured with The Beach Boys in 1964, and with The Rolling Stones in Australia in 1965. He was very successful in England, logging three No.1 hit singles and was several times voted top male vocalist of the year.

Orbison signed a contract with MGM Records in 1966, and starred in MGM Studios' western-musical motion picture The Fastest Guitar Alive in which he would perform several songs from an album of the same name. However, due to changes in musical taste, he suddenly ceased to have hits in the United States after 1967, and although he would remain popular elsewhere, his American popularity did not recover until the 1980s.

He also suffered problems in his personal life, with the death of his first wife, Claudette (Frady), in a motorcycle accident in 1966 after 11 years of marriage. Two years later, the family home at Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville, Tennessee burned to the ground while Orbison was touring in England, and two of his three young sons, Anthony and Roy Jr., died in the fire. The youngest boy, Wesley, at the time only three, was saved by Orbison's parents. He met his second wife, Barbara, in August 1968, in Leeds, England, and they were married in Nashville on May 25, 1969.

His contract with MGM ended in 1973, and he signed for Mercury Records. Songs that had only reasonable success in North America, such as "Penny Arcade" and "Working for the Man," would go to Number 1 on the Australian charts, and "Too Soon to Know" was Number 3 in England. His popularity extended to Germany, and he recorded his hit song "Mama" in German. His records were in great demand on the "black market" behind the Iron Curtain. In France, he was viewed as the master of the ballad of lost love in the vein of that country's most popular singer Édith Piaf, and a cover version of Orbison's "Blue Bayou" sung in French by Mireille Mathieu went to the top of France's record charts. Fans in the Netherlands founded his largest world-wide fan club. He continued to perform in Ireland, despite the constant terrorist activities. A rendition of the popular ballad "Danny Boy" on the 1972 Memphis album is considered one of the best recordings ever made of this much-recorded song.

He re-signed with Monument in 1976, but his career remained in the doldrums until the late 1980s.

Resurgence in the 1980s

In 1980, Orbison teamed up with Emmylou Harris to win the 1981 Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for their song, "That Lovin' You Feelin' Again." In 1985, Orbison recorded Wild Hearts for the Nic Roeg film Insignificance, released on the ZTT Records label, produced by David Briggs and Will Jennings. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, the induction speech made by Bruce Springsteen. His pioneering contribution was also recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Having signed a recording contract for the first time in 10 years, with Virgin Records, he re-recorded his 1961 hit song, "Crying," as a duet with k.d. lang in 1987 for the soundtrack of the motion picture, "Hiding Out". The song would earn the Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals.

Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night, a black and white Cinemax television special recorded at the Coconut Grove in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in 1988, brought Orbison to the attention of a younger generation. Orbison was accompanied by a who's who supporting cast, organized by musical director T-Bone Burnett, all fans and all volunteers who lobbied to participate: on piano was Glen Hardin, who had played for Buddy Holly as well as working with Elvis Presley for a number of years; lead guitarist James Burton had also played with Presley; male background vocals, with some also playing the guitar, came from Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, and Steven Soles; and k.d. lang, Jennifer Warnes, and Bonnie Raitt provided female background vocals.

Shortly after this critically acclaimed performance, whilst working with Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra on tracks for a new album, Orbison joined Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty to form the Traveling Wilburys, achieving substantial commercial and critical success. He subsequently recorded a new solo album, Mystery Girl, produced by Orbison and Mike Campbell (of the Heartbreakers), Jeff Lynne. It included one track by U2's Bono (who also wears trademark dark glasses and co-wrote the track She's A Mystery to Me with the Edge specifically for Orbison). At an awards ceremony in Antwerp, a few days before his death, Roy Orbison gave his only public rendition of the hit "You Got It" to the applause of a huge crowd.

Death

Orbison had triple heart bypass surgery on January 18, 1978. On December 6, 1988, at the age of 52, he suffered a fatal heart attack while visiting his mother in the Nashville, Tennessee suburb of Hendersonville. [1] At the direction of his second wife, Barbara, Roy Orbison was interred on December 15, 1988, in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California. His two sons and their mother, Claudette, who predeceased him, had been laid to rest at his request in the Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Nashville, Tennessee.

His new album, Mystery Girl, and the single from it, "You Got It", were posthumous hits, and are generally regarded as Orbison's best work since his success of the 1960s. He was the posthumous winner of the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and in 1992, the popular "I Drove All Night" and "Heartbreak Radio" appeared on the posthumous album, King of Hearts, produced by Jeff Lynne.

Legacy

Orbison is most remembered for his ballads of lost love, and within the music community he is revered for his song-writing abilities. Record producer and Orbison fan, Don Was, commenting on Orbison's writing skills, said: "He defied the rules of modern composition." Songwriter Bernie Taupin, composer of many lyrics for Elton John, and others referred to Orbison as far ahead of the times, creating lyrics and music in a manner that broke with all traditions. Roy Orbison's vocal range was impressive (three octaves) and his songs were melodically and rhythmically advanced and lyrically sophisticated. Three songs written and recorded by Orbison, "Only The Lonely," "Oh, Pretty Woman," and "Crying," are in the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2004, Rolling Stone named those three songs plus "In Dreams" on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time." In 1989, he was inducted posthumously into the National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame.

From the stage in Las Vegas in 1976, Elvis Presley called Orbison "the greatest singer in the world" [2], and Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees referred to him as the "Voice of God." Multiple Academy Award-winning songwriter Will Jennings ("My Heart Will Go On," from the Titanic soundtrack) called him a "poet, a songwriter, a vision," after working with him and co-writing "Wild Hearts." Bob Dylan, later a bandmate of Orbison's in the Traveling Wilburys, wrote "Orbison … transcended all the genres. … With Roy, you didn't know if you were listening to mariachi or opera. He kept you on your toes. … [He sang] his compositions in three or four octaves that made you want to drive your car over a cliff. He sang like a professional criminal. … His voice could jar a corpse, always leave you muttering to yourself something like, 'Man, I don't believe it.' His songs had songs within songs. Orbison was deadly serious-no pollywog and no fledgling juvenile. There wasn't anything else on the radio like him."

Trivia

* According to the Rockabilly Hall of Fame [3], at a press conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sam Orbison said that his brother Roy Orbison was always "saddened by the sordid treatment of Elvis Presley in the aftermath of his death in 1977."
* He was also well known in the much smaller world of radio controlled model aircraft as a champion modeler and flier.
* His song "In Dreams" was used extensively in the David Lynch film Blue Velvet, and Lynch would later feature a Spanish version of "Crying" in his film, Mulholland Drive.
* His early Sun side, "Domino", was used repeatedly in Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train.
* Orbison was portrayed by Johnathan Rice in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Orbison


Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)

Artist: Roy Orbison (peak Billboard position # 4 in 1962)
Words and Music by Cindy Walker

Sweet dream baby
Sweet dream baby
Sweet dream baby
How long must I dream

Dream baby got me dreamin' sweet dreams the whole day through
Dream baby got me dreamin' sweet dreams night time too
I love you and I'm dreaming of you but that won't do
Dream baby make me stop my dreamin', you can make my dreams come true

Sweet (sha-da-da-da) dream (sha-da-da-da) baby (sha-da-da-da) (sha-da-da-da)
Sweet (sha-da-da-da) dream (sha-da-da-da) baby (sha-da-da-da) (sha-da-da-da)
Sweet (sha-da-da-da) dream (sha-da-da-da) baby (sha-da-da-da) (sha-da-da-da)
How (sha-da-da-da) long (sha-da-da-da) must I dream

Dream baby got me dreamin' sweet dreams the whole day through (dream baby)
Dream baby got me dreamin' sweet dreams night time too (dream baby)
I love you and I'm dreaming of you but that won't do (dream baby)
Dream baby make me stop my dreamin', you can make my dreams come true

Aww, sweet dream baby (dream baby ah-huh-huh)
Yeah, yeah, swee-ee-et dream baby (dream baby ah-huh-huh)
Sweet dream baby (dream baby ah-huh-huh)
How long must I dream

Sweet dream baby (dream baby ah-huh-huh)
Sweet dream baby (dream baby ah-huh-huh)

FADE

Sweet dream baby

Sandra Dee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sandra Dee (April 23, 1944 (some sources say 1942) - February 20, 2005) was an American film actress best known for her role as "Gidget".

Born Alexandra Zuck to John and Mary Zuck, of Rusyn ancestry, in Bayonne, New Jersey, Dee was a professional model by the age of four. She progressed to television commercials and then made her first film, Until They Sail, in 1957.

In 1958 she won a Golden Globe Award for "Most Promising Newcomer" (along with Carolyn Jones and Diane Varsi). Her film career flourished, and she became known for her wholesome ingenue roles in such films as Imitation of Life, Gidget and A Summer Place (all in 1959).

Her marriage in 1960 to singer/actor Bobby Darin kept her in the public eye for much of the decade. She was contracted to Universal Studios, who tried to develop Dee as a mature actress, and the films she made as an adult--including a few with Darin--were moderately successful. They had one son together, who took the name Dodd Mitchell Darin, but in 1967 she and Darin were divorced.

During the 1970s she took very few acting roles, but made occasional television appearances. Her 1950s persona was the inspiration for the song "Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee," featured in the 1972 Broadway musical Grease. The song later reappeared in the 1978 film version of the play, which starred John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Eve Arden, and Sid Caesar.

Dee's adult years were marked by ill health. She admitted that for most of her life she battled anorexia nervosa, depression and alcoholism. In 2000, she reported that she had been diagnosed with throat cancer and renal disease, but it seems that the throat scare was unfounded. Complications from the kidney failure (aka End Stage Renal Disease-ESRD), combined with a bout of pneumonia, led to her death on February 20, 2005, in Thousand Oaks, California.

Depending on sources, she was either 60 or 62 at the time of her death. It had been widely reported that she was 62, but this may have been due to her mother's policy of misrepresenting Sandra as two years older to accelerate her career. Because of this, many sources listed her birth year as 1942. Adding to the confusion, it was reported that her son, Dodd Darin, said she was 63 at her death [[1]]. The final New York Times Sunday Magazine for 2005, in its necrology, stated that Dee was 60 at the time of her death, not 62, and factored in the two-year misrepresentation, lending credence to the 1944 birth year.

At the time of her death, she was survived by Dodd, her son with Bobby Darin, and two granddaughters, Alexa and Olivia Darin.

Her life with Bobby Darin has been dramatized in the 2004 film Beyond the Sea, in which she was played by Kate Bosworth.

It is noteworthy that at the peak of Sandra's fame, while mainstream Hollywood turned its focus, lensing and marketing mature female roles and their inherent sexiness, Dee's demure role as "Gidget" became arguably (even though there were other child stars in the studio stables at the time), the epitome of the Teen Screen Queen, which then went a long way to solidify the '50's - '60's American teen male ideal of falling in love with the "girl next door".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Dee

Joyce DeWitt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Joyce DeWitt (born Jocelyn Ingrid Ittaglio April 23, 1949) is an American actress most famous for her role as Janet Wood on the television situation comedy Three's Company. She is also the older sister of boxer Doug DeWitt.

She was born in Wheeling, West Virginia to a mother of Swedish, Dutch, Scottish, Irish, and French descent and an Italian-American father. She became almost as famous for her disappearance after the series as she did for her Three's Company role; after the series, she did not appear as a regular player on any television series, which led to a number of "Whatever Happened to Joyce DeWitt?" retrospectives in newspaper entertainment columns and television gossip shows [1] [2]. This was also parodied on an episode of Family Guy, when Brian finds DeWitt hiding in a wicker basket in an Aladdin-type fantasy world. Surprised, Brian remarks, "Joyce DeWitt!? So that's where you've been!" To which she promptly responds with a "Shhh."

Years later, Joyce DeWitt would reveal that she turned her back on Hollywood and show business because of the "disrespectful treatment" she received from the producers of "Three's Company".

She and her former Three's Company co-star Suzanne Somers have had an acrimonious relationship (caused by Somer's mid-season salary negotiation ploy in 1980) and, according to many sources, did not speak to each other for approximately twenty-three years, but have apparently made up following former co-star John Ritter's untimely death.

Famous for always wearing pantyhose (e.g., Season 7's "A Night Not to Remember"), she became a paid endorser for hosiery. DeWitt was also engaged to actor Randolph Mantooth, but they called off their engagement.

Although she was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, Joyce grew up in Speedway, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis. After she received a bachelor's degree from Ball State University, she moved to California to earn her masters degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. While attending UCLA, she worked part-time as a house painter and once was hired to paint actor Abe Vigoda's garage doors. This painting job spawned a friendship between DeWitt and Vigoda which has endured to the present day. Joyce DeWitt is not related to George DeWitt, the noted star of the 1950's musical quiz television program, Name That Tune.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_DeWitt

Valerie Bertinelli
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Valerie Bertinelli (born April 23, 1960 in Claymont, Delaware) is an actress best known for her role as Bonnie Franklin's younger daughter, Barbara Cooper, on the long-running television show One Day at a Time. In later years, had two short-lived television series: Sydney in which a young Matthew Perry (actor) played her brother, and Cafe Américain. She has also appeared on a number of made-for-television movies and, in 2001, joined the cast of Touched by an Angel.

She married Eddie Van Halen in April 1981; they had a son, Wolfgang "Wolfie" William Van Halen, ten years later. On July 9, 2002, they announced that they had been separated since October 2001. She filed for divorce on December 5, 2005.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Bertinelli

Jack wakes up at home with a huge hangover he can't believe.
He forces himself to oen his eyes, and the first thing he sees
is a couple of aspirins next to a glass of water on the side table.
And, next to them, a single red rose!

Jack sits down and sees his clothing in front of him, all
clean and pressed.

Jack looks around the room and sees that it is in perfect
order, spotlessly clean.

So is the rest of the house. He takes the aspirins and then
cringes when he sees a huge black eye staring back at him
in the bathroom mirror, and notices a note on the table:

Honey, breakfast is on the stove, I left early to go
shopping--Love you!"

He stumbles to the kitchen and sure enough, there is hot
breakfast and the morning newspaper. His son is also at
the table, eating. Jack asks, Son...what happened last night?"

Well, you came home after 3 A.M., drunk and out of your mind.
You broke some furniture, puked in the hallway, and got that black
eye when you ran into the door."

So, why is everything in such perfect order, so clean, I have
a rose, and breakfast is on the table waiting for me?"

His son replies, "Oh THAT!... Mom dragged you to the bedroom,
and when she tried to take your pants off, you screamed,
"Leave me alone, lady, I'm married!"

Broken furniture - $85.26

Hot Breakfast - $4.20

Red Rose bud -$3.00

Two Aspirins -$.38

Saying the right thing, at the right time.........Priceless!!

ah, Bob. That man should be written up in Ripley's Believe it or Not. Love it, Boston.

As my Irish friend once told me, listeners, God looks after fools and drunks. <smile>

Before we review the hawkman's bio's, I was interested in this news item because I could see myself in the same situation:

Immigrants Rely on Patchy English Teaching By JUSTIN POPE, AP Education Writer
Sat Apr 22, 6:35 PM ET



LYNN, Mass. - For Lidia Veras and Elena Clarisa Sepulveda, the pace of life is achingly slow, weighed down by confusion and delay.


Unable to speak or read English, the two immigrants and beauty salon co-workers from the Dominican Republic are at the mercy of friends to translate for them. When friends cannot help, doctors' appointments are skipped and mail goes unread, leaving the pair unsure what their banks, insurance companies or children's teachers are asking them to do.

Amid the national immigration debate, Congress has considered stronger incentives for immigrants to take English classes, including money and the potential for accelerated citizenship. But these women say they don't need an extra incentive; they need a desk. They are on a years-long, 400-person waiting list to get into a free, government-supported class at a community program called "Operation Bootstrap."

and from Shirley:

- Temple Shirley Lyrics - If All the World Were Paper Lyrics

Lyrics/Music W.Bullock/H.Spina

(Shirley sings to the guy in the car)
If all the world were paper
And all the seas were ink
I'd write a great big note to you
And tell you what I think
I'd say I love you dearly
In letters three miles high
And sign it yours sincerely
Cross my heart and hope to die

If all the skies were diamonds
In golden skies above
They wouldn't be worth that
Without your love
I'd like to write I love you
So big that you would blink
If all the world were paper
Yes and all the seas were ink

Translation, please. <smile>