WA2K Radio is now on the air

This is the actual message the Pacific Palisades High School
(California) Staff voted unanimously to record on their school telephone
answering machine. This came about because they implemented a policy
requiring students and parents to be responsible for their children's
absences and missing homework.

The school and teachers are being sued by parents who want their
children's failing grades changed to passing grades even though those
children were absent 15-30 times during the semester and did not
complete enough school work to pass their classes.

"Hello! You have reached the automated answering service of your school.
In order to assist you in connecting the right staff member, please
listen to all your options before making a selection:

To lie about why your child is absent - Press 1

To make excuses for why your child did not do his work- Press 2

To complain about what we do - Press 3

To swear at staff members - Press 4

To ask why you didn't get information that was already enclosed in your
newsletter and several flyers mailed to you - Press 5

If you want us to raise your child - Press 6

If you want to reach out and touch, slap or hit someone - Press 7

To request another teacher for the third time this year- Press 8

To complain about bus transportation - Press 9

To complain about school lunches - Press 0

If you realize this is the real world and your child must be accountable
and responsible for his/her own behavior, class work, homework, and that
it's not the teachers' fault for your child's lack of effort: Hang up
and have a nice day!"

If you can read this thank a teacher.
If you are reading it in English thank a veteran.

ah, hawkman, it is so good to have you back in our studio. We missed you, Boston. Hoping that our Raggedy will be along soon with photo's.

As to your message report via Palisades High School, I am delighted to see that some public schools still have the guts to tell it like it is. Don't quite understand "...if you are reading this in English, thank a veteran...", but I am certain there is an allusion in there somewhere.

The following song is dedicated to the Bear family, especially Stephen:

The Wind Beneath my Wings
Bette Midler

Oh, oh, oh, oh -
It must have been cold there in my shadow,
To never have sunlight on your face.
You were content to let me shine, thats your way.
You always walked a step behind.

So I was the one with all the glory,
While you were the one with all the strain.
A beautiful face without a name for so long.
A beautiful smile to hide the pain.

Did you ever know that youre my hero,
And everything I would like to be?
I can fly higher than an eagle,
For you are the wind beneath my wings.

It might have appeared to go unnoticed,
But Ive got it all here in my heart.
I want you to know I know the truth, of course I know it.
I would be nothing without you.

Did you ever know that youre my hero?
Youre everything I wish I could be.
I could fly higher than an eagle,
For you are the wind beneath my wings.

Did I ever tell you youre my hero?
Youre everything, everything I wish I could be.
Oh, and i, I could fly higher than an eagle,
For you are the wind beneath my wings,
cause you are the wind beneath my wings.

Oh, the wind beneath my wings.
You, you, you, you are the wind beneath my wings.
Fly, fly, fly away. you let me fly so high.
Oh, you, you, you, the wind beneath my wings.
Oh, you, you, you, the wind beneath my wings.

Fly, fly, fly high against the sky,
So high I almost touch the sky.
Thank you, thank you,
Thank God for you, the wind beneath my wings.

Good afternoon.

Well, there she is, folks, with a big smile on her face and picture perfect as usual. Thank you, Raggedy. Glad all is well in PA.

Unfortunately, all I know is Louisa May. So from Beth and Jo:

When you were first born, not an hour old, I told Marmee...

Beth: (spoken)
Beth is mine!

Jo: (spoken)
Everyone has someone special in the world, and I have you;
my sweet Beth. Give me a task to do.

Beth:
Let's pretend we're riding on a kite. Let's imagine we're flying through the air!

Jo:
We'll ascend until we're out of sight. Light as paper, we'll soar!

Beth:
Let's be wild, up high above the sand, feel the wind, the world at our command.
Let's enjoy the view, and never land.

Jo:
Floating far from the shore.

Beth:
Some things are meant to be, the clouds moving fast and free.

Jo:
The sun on a silver sea.

Both:
A sky that's bright and blue.

Beth:
And some things will never end.

Jo:
The thrill of our magic ride.

Beth:
The love that I feel inside for you.

Jo:
We'll climb high beyond the break of day.

Beth:
Sleep on stardust, and dine on bits of moon

Jo:
You and I will find the Milky Way. We'll be mad, and explore.
We'll recline a loft upon the breeze.
Dart about sail on wit with ease.
Pass the days doing only as we please, that's what living is for.

Beth:
We'll be mad, and explore. We'll recline a loft upon the breeze.
Dart about sail on wit with ease.
Pass the days doing only as we please, that's what living is for.
Some things are meant to be, the tide turning endlessly,
the way it takes hold of me, no matter what I do,
and some things will never die, the promise of who you are,
the memories when I am far from you.
All my life, I've lived for loving you; let me go now.

Yes, folks. If you love something, set it free.

Strawberry Roan
Marty Robbins

I was hangin' 'round town just spendin' my time
Out of a job, not earnin' a dime
A feller steps up and he said
I'd suppose you're a bronc fighter from looks of your clothes
You figures me right, I'm a good one I claim
Do you happen to have any bad ones to tame
Said, He's got one a bad one to buck
At throwin' good riders, he's had lots of luck

I gets all het up and I ask what he pays
To ride this old nag for a couple of days
He offered me ten, I said, I'm your man
A bronc never lived that I couldn't fan
He said, get your saddle, I'll give you a chance
In his buckboard we hops and he drives to the ranch
I stayed 'til mornin' and right after chuck
I stepped out to see if this outlaw can buck

Down in the horse corral standin' alone
Is an old Caballo, a Strawberry Roan
His legs are all spavined, he's got pigeon toes
Little pig eyes and a big Roman nose
Little pin ears that touch at the tip
A big 44 brand was on his left hip
U-necked and old with a long, lower jaw
I could see with one eye, he's a regular outlaw

I gets the blinds on 'im and it sure is a fright
Next comes my saddle and I screws it down tight
Then I steps on 'im and I raises the blind
Get outta the way boys, he's gonna unwind
He sure is a frog-walker, he heaves a big sigh
He only lacks wings, for to be on the fly
He turns his old belly right up to the sun
He sure is a sun-fishin', son-of-a-gun

He's about the worst bucker I've seen on the range
He'll turn on a Nickel and give you some change
He hits on all fours and goes up on high
Leaves me a spinnin' up there in the sky
I turns over twice and I comes back to earth
I lights in a cussin' the day of his birth
I know there are ponies that I cannot ride
There's some of them left, they haven't all died

I'll bet all my money, the man ain't alive
That'll stay with Old Strawberry
When he makes his high dive

Just a Little Loving
Eddy Arnold


Just a little lovin will go a long way
And you'll make me happy the rest of the days
Put your arms around me then I'll be your slave
Cause just a little lovin will go a long way

Ever since that time began love has ruled the world
Even Adam set the pace and started in a whirl
I met you and now I know that you're the one for me
Come on back and you will plainly see

Just a little lovin will go a long way
And you'll make me happy the rest of the days
Put your arms around me then I'll be your slave
Cause just a little lovin will go a long way

I don't believe you really know how much I love you
If you did you'd come on back and make my dreams come true
Your eyes your lips your loving kisses seem to linger yet
I'll forgive but please don't you forget

Just a little lovin will go a long way
And you'll make me happy the rest of the days
Put your arms around me then I'll be your slave
Cause just a little lovin will go a long way

Streets of Baltimore
Bobby Bare


I sold the farm to take my woman where she longed to be
Left our kin and all our friends back there in Tennessee
I bought those one-way tickets she had often begged me for
And they took us to the streets of Baltimore

Aaah, her heart was filled with laughter when she saw those city lights
And she said, the prettiest place on earth is Baltimore at night
Well a man feels proud to give his woman what she's longing for
And I kinda of liked the streets of Baltimore

So I got myself a factory job I ran an old machine
Bought a little cottage in a neighborhood serene
Every night when I came home with every muscle sore
She would drag me through the streets of Baltimore

Well, I did my best to bring her back to what she used to be
But I soon learned that she loved those bright lights much more than she loved me
Now I'm a going back on that same train that brought me here before
While my baby walks the streets of Baltimore
Yea, my baby walks the streets of Baltimore

Mark Twain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Born: November 30, 1835
Florida, Missouri
Died: April 21, 1910
Redding, Connecticut

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 - April 21, 1910),[1] better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American humorist, satirist, writer, and lecturer. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and his numerous quotes and sayings.[2][3] Although Twain was confounded by financial and business affairs, he enjoyed immense public popularity. His keen wit and incisive satire earned him praise from both critics and peers. Fellow author William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature."[4]




Biography



Youth

Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835, to John Marshall Clemens and Jane Lampton Clemens.[5] When Twain was four, his family moved to Hannibal,[6] a port town on the Mississippi River that would serve as the inspiration for the fictional town of St. Petersburg in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.[7] At that time, Missouri was a slave state in the union and young Twain was familiar with the institution of slavery, a theme he later explored in his writing.

Twain was colorblind, a condition that fueled his witty banter in the social circles of the day.[citation needed] In March of 1847 when Twain was eleven, his father died of pneumonia.[citation needed] As a teenager Twain worked as an apprentice printer, and by sixteen he began writing humorous articles and newspaper sketches. When he was eighteen, he left Hannibal and worked as a printer in New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. When he was 22 years old, Twain returned to Missouri. On a voyage to New Orleans down the Mississippi, the steamboat pilot, "Bixby", inspired Twain to pursue a career as a steamboat captain, the third highest paying profession in America at the time earning $250 ($155,000 today) a year, a "princely amount". Because the steamboats at the time were constructed of very dry flammable wood no lamps were allowed, making night travel a precarious endeavor. A steamboat pilot needed a vast knowledge of the ever-changing river to be able to stop at any of the hundreds of ports. Twain meticulously studied 2000 miles of the Mississippi for more than two years until he finally received his steamboat pilot license in 1858. He worked as a river pilot until the American Civil War broke out in 1861 and traffic along the Mississippi was terminated.


Traveling in the West

Missouri, although a slave state and considered by many to be part of the South, declined to join the Confederacy and remained loyal to the Union. When the war began, Clemens and his friends formed a Confederate militia (an experience he depicted in his 1885 short story, "The Private History of a Campaign That Failed"), but he saw no military action and the militia disbanded after two weeks. His friends joined the Confederate Army; Clemens joined his brother, Orion, who had been appointed secretary to the territorial governor of Nevada, and headed west. They traveled for more than two weeks on a stagecoach across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains to the silver-mining town of Virginia City, Nevada. On the way, they visited the Mormon community in Salt Lake City. Clemens' experiences in the West contributed significantly to his formation as a writer, and became the basis of his second book, Roughing It.

Once in Nevada, Clemens became a miner, hoping to strike it rich discovering silver in the Comstock Lode. He stayed for long periods in camp with his fellow prospectors?-another life experience that he later put to literary use. After failing as a miner, Clemens obtained work at a newspaper called the Daily Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City. It was there he first adopted the pen name "Mark Twain" on February 3, 1863, when he signed a humorous travel account with his new name.


Life as a writer

In 1867, on a tour of Europe and the Middle East (the source for his later collection of travel letters The Innocents Abroad), Clemens met Charles Langdon, who showed him a picture of his sister Olivia. Clemens claims to have fallen in love at first sight; in 1868, Clemens met her. The two became engaged a year later and were married in February 1870 in Elmira, New York. After settling in Buffalo, Olivia gave birth to a son, Langdon, who died of diptheria after 19 months. They went on to have three daughters: Susy, Clara, and Jean. Their marriage lasted for 34 years until Olivia's death in 1904. Clemens outlived Jean and Susy. Clemens passed through a period of deep depression, which began in 1896 when he received word on a lecture tour in England that his favorite daughter, Susy, had died of meningitis. His wife's death in 1904, and the loss of a second daughter, Jean, on December 24, 1909, deepened his gloom.[8]


Death

In 1909, Twain is quoted as saying:[9]

I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't go out with Halley's Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: "Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens died of angina pectoris on April 21, 1910 in Redding, Connecticut. Upon hearing of Twain's death, President Taft said:[10]

Mark Twain gave pleasure -- real intellectual enjoyment -- to millions, and his works will continue to give such pleasure to millions yet to come... His humor was American, but he was nearly as much appreciated by Englishmen and people of other countries as by his own countrymen. He has made an enduring part of American literature.

Mark Twain is buried in his wife's family plot in Elmira, New York.


Career overview


Twain's greatest contribution to American literature is generally considered to be his novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. As Ernest Hemingway once said:

All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. ...all American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.


Twain in the lab of Nikola Tesla, spring of 1894Also popular are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and the non-fiction book Life on the Mississippi.

Beginning as a writer of light, humorous verse, Twain evolved into a grim, almost profane chronicler of the vanities, hypocrisies and murderous acts of mankind. At mid-career, with Huckleberry Finn, he combined rich humor, sturdy narrative and social criticism in a way that is almost unrivaled in world literature.

Twain was a master at rendering colloquial speech, and helped to create and popularize a distinctive American literature built on American themes and language.

Twain also had a fascination with science and scientific inquiry. He developed a close and lasting friendship with Nikola Tesla, and the two spent quite a bit of time together in Tesla's laboratory, among other places. Such fascination can be seen in Twain's book A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which features a time traveler from the America of Twain's day, using his knowledge of science to introduce modern technology to Arthurian England. Twain also patented an improvement in adjustable and detachable straps for garments.

Mark Twain was opposed to vivisection of any kind, not on a scientific basis, but rather an ethical one, in which he states that no sentient being should be made to suffer for another without consent. He later commented on his views:[11]

I am not interested to know whether vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn't. ... The pain which it inficts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity toward it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further.

From 1901 until his death in 1910, Twain was vice president of the American Anti-Imperialist League.[12] The League opposed the annexation of the Philippines by the United States. Twain wrote Incident in the Philippines, posthumously published in 1924, in response to the Moro Crater Massacre, in which six hundred Moros were killed. Many but not all of Mark Twain's neglected and previously uncollected writings on anti-imperialism appeared for the first time in book form in 1992.


From the time of its publication there have been occasional attempts to ban Huckleberry Finn from various libraries because Twain's use of local color is offensive to some people. Although Twain was against racism and imperialism far ahead of the public sentiment of his time, those who have only superficial familiarity with his work have sometimes condemned it as racist because it accurately depicts language in common use in the 19th-century United States. Expressions that were used casually and unselfconsciously then are often perceived today as racist; today, such racial epithets are far more visible and condemned. Twain himself would probably be amused by these attempts; in 1885, when a library in Concord, Massachusetts banned the book, he wrote to his publisher, "They have expelled Huck from their library as 'trash suitable only for the slums'; that will sell 25,000 copies for us for sure."

Many of Mark Twain's works have been suppressed at times for various reasons. When the publication of an anonymous slim volume was published in 1880 entitled 1601: Conversation, as it was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors., Twain was among those rumored to be the author. The issue was not settled until 1906, when Twain acknowledged his literary paternity of this scatological masterpiece.

At least Twain saw 1601 published during his lifetime. During the Philippine-American War, Twain wrote an anti-war article entitled The War Prayer. Through this internal struggle, Twain expresses his opinions of the absurdity of slavery and the importance of following one's personal conscience before the laws of society. It was submitted to Harper's Bazaar for publication, but on March 22, 1905, the magazine rejected the story as "not quite suited to a woman's magazine." Eight days later, Twain wrote to his friend Dan Beard, to whom he had read the story, "I don't think the prayer will be published in my time. None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth." Because he had an exclusive contract with Harper & Brothers, Mark Twain could not publish The War Prayer elsewhere; it remained unpublished until 1923.

In later years, Twain's family suppressed some of his work which was especially irreverent toward conventional religion, notably Letters from the Earth, which was not published until 1962. The anti-religious The Mysterious Stranger was published in 1916, although there is some scholarly debate as to whether Twain actually wrote the most familiar version of this story. Twain was critical of organized religion and certain elements of the Christian religion through most of the end of his life, though he never renounced Presbyterianism[13]

Perhaps most controversial of all was Mark Twain's 1879 humorous talk at the Stomach Club in Paris, entitled Some Thoughts on the Science of Onanism, which concluded with the thought, "If you must gamble your lives sexually, don't play a lone hand too much." This talk was not published until 1943, and then only in a limited edition of fifty copies.


Financial matters

Although Twain made a substantial amount of money through his writing, he squandered much of it through bad investments, mostly through new inventions. These included the bed clamp for infants, a new type of steam engine that he had to sell for scrap, the kaolatype (a machine designed to engrave printing plates), the Paige typesetting machine (this investment was over $200,000 and while a technical marvel was too complex for wide commercial use), and finally, his publishing house that?-while enjoying initial success by selling the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant?-went bust soon after.

Fortunately, Twain's writings and lectures enabled him to recover financially. [14], especially with the help of financier Henry Huttleston Rogers, with whom he developed a close friendship beginning in 1894, one that was to last another 15 years until Rogers' death in 1909.


Legacy


His birthplace is preserved in Florida, Missouri, and the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum in Hannibal, Missouri, is one of the most popular museums because it provided the setting for much of Twain's work. The home of a childhood friend is preserved as the "Thatcher House" and is said to be the inspiration for his fictional character Becky Thatcher. Clemens was awarded an honorary doctorate from Oxford, and the robes he wore to that ceremony and on many other occasions afterwards (including one daughter's wedding) are on display in the museum. Visitors to Hannibal can also tour the Mark Twain Cave and ride a riverboat on the Mississippi River. In 1874 Twain built a family home in Hartford, Connecticut, where he and Livy raised their three daughters. That home is preserved and open to visitors as the Mark Twain House. Twain lived in many homes in the United States and abroad.

Several schools are named after Twain. One school, Twain Elementary School in Houston, has a statue of Twain sitting on a bench.


Pen names

Clemens tried different pen names before deciding on Mark Twain. He signed humorous and imaginative sketches "Josh" until 1863.[15]

Clemens maintained that his primary pen name, "Mark Twain," came from his years working on Mississippi riverboats, where two fathoms (12 ft, approximately 3.7 m) or "safe water" was measured on the sounding line. The riverboatman's cry was "mark twain" or, more fully, "by the mark twain" ("twain" is an archaic term for two). "By the mark twain" meant "according to the mark [on the line], [the depth is] two fathoms".

Clemens claims that his famous pen name was not entirely his invention. In Chapter 50 of Life on the Mississippi he wrote:[16]

Captain Isaiah Sellers was not of literary turn or capacity, but he used to jot down brief paragraphs of plain practical information about the river, and sign them "MARK TWAIN," and give them to the New Orleans Picayune. They related to the stage and condition of the river, and were accurate and valuable; ... At the time that the telegraph brought the news of his death, I was on the Pacific coast. I was a fresh new journalist, and needed a nom de guerre; so I confiscated the ancient mariner's discarded one, and have done my best to make it remain what it was in his hands?-a sign and symbol and warrant that whatever is found in its company may be gambled on as being the petrified truth; how I have succeeded, it would not be modest in me to say.

Regardless of the source of the name, "Mark Twain," the alter ego of Samuel Clemens, was "born" in February, 1863 when the name first appeared on an article published in the Nevada Territorial Enterprise.

Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (born November 30, 1918 in New York, New York) is an American actor best known for his roles in the television series 77 Sunset Strip and The F.B.I. and for several appearances as "Dandy Jim Buckley" on TV's Maverick.

Zimbalist is the son of violinist Efrem Zimbalist, Sr. (1889-1985) and operatic soprano Alma Gluck (1884-1938).

A 1940 graduate of Yale University, Zimbalist had a stage career as both actor and producer. He also appeared in leading and supporting roles in several feature films, including Harlow, Wait Until Dark, and Airport 1975.

Zimbalist is the father of actress Stephanie Zimbalist and of Efrem Zimbalist III. He had a recurring role on his daughter's 1980s mystery series, Remington Steele. In 1989, Zimbalist played the father of Zorro in the Family Channel's remake "The New Zorro". Zimbalist relinquished the role after the program's first season, due to time being spent on location. Zimbalist had a small recurring role in the 1990s science fiction TV series Babylon 5 as William Edgars.

Zimbalist also provided the voice of the German-accented Dr. Octopus on the 1990s Spider-Man: The Animated Series and Alfred Pennyworth in Batman: The Animated Series. He has appeared on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Virginia Mayo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Virginia Mayo (November 30, 1920 - January 17, 2005) was an American film actress.



Beginnings

She was born in Virginia Clara Jones in St. Louis, Missouri. Tutored by a series of dancing instructors engaged by her aunt, she appeared in the St. Louis Municipal Opera chorus and then appeared with six other girls at an act at the Jefferson Hotel. There she was recruited by vaudeville performer Andy Mayo to appear in his act (as ringmaster for two men in a horse suit), taking his surname as as her stage name. She appeared in vaudeville for three years in the act, appearing with Eddie Cantor on Broadway in 1941's Banjo Eyes.


Hollywood

Mayo continued her career as a dancer, then signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn and appeared in several of Goldwyn's movies. With Danny Kaye she made comedies including Wonder Man (1945), The Kid from Brooklyn (1946) and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947).

In 1949's White Heat she took on the role of "Verna Jarrett," opposite James Cagney). Mayo later claimed in interviews that she was occasionally genuinely frightened by Cagney during the filming of the picture, because Cagney's acting was so realistic and natural.

She was cast against type in The Best Years of Our Lives, in which she gave a performance that garnered much acclaim.

Her film career continued through the 1950s and 1960s, frequently in B-moviewesterns and adventure films. While she also appeared in musicals, Mayo's singing voice was always dubbed.

Mayo has a star on the Walk of Fame, for her work in television, at 1751 Vine Street.

In 1996 she received a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.


Personal life

In 1947, she married actor Michael O'Shea, who died in 1973. They had one child, Mary Catherine O'Shea (born in 1953). The O'Shea family lived for several decades in Thousand Oaks, California.

In the 1990s, Mayo donated her extensive collection of Hollywood memorabilia to the Thousand Oaks Library. She died of natural causes in Los Angeles in 2005 at the age of 84.

Allan Sherman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Born November 30, 1924
Chicago, Illinois
Died November 20, 1973
Los Angeles, California

Allan Sherman (sometimes incorrectly Alan or Allen), November 30, 1924 - November 20, 1973, was an American musician, parodist, satirist, and television producer.




Early life

Sherman took his mother's maiden name after being abandoned in childhood by his father, Percy Copelon, a stock car racer, mechanic and inventor. Copelon would much later offer to pay for Sherman's education if he would re-take the family name, but when no support was forthcoming, the young man became Allan Sherman once again. His mother married four times, with numerous relationships in between. Sherman attended 21 schools. At Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, Sherman wrote the senior musical, starring classmate Ricardo Montalban.


Early career: Classic Albums

Sherman was the creator and original producer of the popular I've Got a Secret (1952-1967), but was fired after a particularly unsuccessful episode (featuring Tony Curtis) that aired June 11, 1958. Later, he found that the little song parodies he performed to amuse his friends and family were taking a life of their own. He released an LP of these parodies, My Son, the Folk Singer, in 1962. The album was so successful that it was quickly followed by My Son, the Celebrity.

The first two LPs were mainly Jewish-folk-culture rewritings of old folk tunes (as suggested by the albums' titles), and his first minor hit was "Sarah Jackman," a takeoff of "Frère Jacques" in which he and a woman (Christine Nelson) exchange family gossip ("Sarah Jackman, Sarah Jackman, How's by you? How's by you? How's by you the family? How's your sister Emily?" etc.) By his peak with "My Son, the Nut" in 1963, Sherman had begun to appeal to a larger audience, and broadened both his subject matter and his choice of parody material.

Sherman's parody lyrics were written in collaboration with Lou Busch. A few of the Sherman/Busch songs are completely original creations, featuring original music as well as lyrics, rather than new lyrics applied to an existing melody. The Sherman/Busch originals?-notably "Go to Sleep, Paul Revere," and "Peyton Place"?-are delightful novelty songs, showing genuine melodic originality as well as deft lyrics.

In My Son, The Nut, his pointed parodies of classical and popular tunes savaged summer camp ("Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh" to the tune of Ponchielli's "Dance of the Hours"), encroaching automation in the workforce ("Automation" to the tune of "Fascination"), space travel ("Eight Foot Two, Solid Blue" to "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue"), the exodus to the suburbs, ("Here's to the Crabgrass" to the tune of "English Country Garden"), and his own bloated figure ("Hail to Thee, Fat Person", which blames his obesity on the Marshall Plan).

Sherman's 1965 album My Name Is Allan (which bears a childhood photograph of Sherman on the jacket sleeve) is something of a theme album. (The cover was a sly dig at Barbra Streisand, whose contemporary album My Name is Barbra also featured a cover photograph of the singer as a young girl.) Except for a couple of original novelty songs with music by Sherman and Busch, all the songs on this album are parodies of songs that had won the Academy Award for Best Song, including "That Old Black Magic", "Secret Love" and "The Continental".


Later work

At the height of his popularity in 1965, Sherman published an autobiography, A Gift of Laughter. For a short period, Sherman was culturally ubiquitous.

He sang on and guest-hosted The Tonight Show, appeared in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and narrated his own version of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf with the Boston Pops under Arthur Fiedler (this concert was released as the album Peter and the Commissar).

A children's book version of "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh" with illustrations by Syd Hoff was released. A pirate album, More Folk Songs by Allan Sherman and His Friends, contained two parodies Sherman had recorded in the early 1950s with material by other artists.

Later albums grew more pointedly satirical and less light-hearted as the decade lost its innocence, and Sherman took up his pen to skewer protesting students ("The Rebel"), consumer debt ("A Waste of Money" to "A Taste of Honey"), and the generation gap ("Downtown", "Pop Hates the Beatles").


A unique voice

Allan Sherman's large body of parody work (over 100 recorded parodies in five years) was brilliant on many levels: his choice of material was itself funny, his lyrics were self-contained and consistently funny (and usually led to a climactic punchline), and yet spookily paralleled the sounds of the original, and his choice of topics was always timely and relevant.

Sherman's humor was charming, self-deprecating, insightful, and always suave and urbane. His brilliance inspired a new generation of developing parodists such as "Weird Al" Yankovic, who pays homage to Sherman (for the sharp-eyed) on the cover of his own first LP. Sherman is also credited with introducing Bill Cosby to a national audience, thus launching that popular entertainer's career.

Like his contemporary Tom Lehrer, Sherman wrote satirical songs for the two-year-long "highbrow" satire program (the American version) That Was The Week That Was (1964-1965), including his "Dropout's March."

Unfortunately, his topics were often relevant only to his own time and place; unlike most of Lehrer's, Sherman's parodies generally did not date or travel very well, although anyone familiar with the American concerns of the era would likely find his songs humorous.[citation needed]

A few of Sherman's works are nonetheless considered timeless?-"Hello Muddah", the aforementioned story of the boy from Camp Granada?-is as fresh now as ever, and has been translated into other languages: Sweden, for example?-represented by Swedish poet Cornelis Vreeswijk?-has translated and adopted the song as its own. [citation needed]


Decline

Sherman's creative career was rather short. After its peak in 1963, his popularity declined precipitously during 1964; some have attributed this decline in part to the Kennedy assassination, as the public felt less open to Sherman's type of comedy. By 1965 he had released two albums that did not make the top 50. In 1966 Warner Brothers dropped him from the label.

Disillusioned but still creative, in 1973 Sherman published the controversial The Rape of the A*P*E*, which detailed his point of view on American Puritanism and the sexual revolution.

Sherman wrote the script and lyrics (but not the music) for The Fig Leaves Are Falling, a flop Broadway musical that lasted only four performances in 1969. This failed comedy seemed to consider itself a sharp satire on sexual hypocrisy, but came across as merely mealy-mouthed.

In 1971 he was the voice of the Cat in the Hat in Dr. Seuss' animated specials.


Personal life and legacy

A smoker, Sherman struggled with lung disease, and finally succumbed to emphysema ten days before his 49th birthday.

Sherman's personal life was rather miserable, both before and after his sudden success as a singer-songwriter. An excellent ([1]) biographical article details his rise and fall, as well as the follow-up story of his son, Robert Sherman, who was the original "Boy from Camp Granada".

Allan Sherman is interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.

His works were not forgotten after his death: a "Best of" CD was released in 1990 and a musical revue of his songs entitled "Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" opened off-Broadway in 1992 and had a run of almost a year, another production later toured in 2003. A box set of most of his songs was recently released under the title "My Son, The Box".

"The Rape of the A*P*E*" is once again topical and actively sought-after, though rare.

National Public Radio profiled Sherman on All Things Considered 14 March 2006 through the eyes of Jesse Green, a writer. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5279983

Richard Crenna
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Richard Donald Crenna (November 30, 1926 - January 17, 2003) was an American actor.

Born in Los Angeles, California to Italian immigrants, Crenna got his acting start on radio, appearing in Boy Scout Jamboree, Date With Judy, the Great Gildersleeve and Our Miss Brooks. He remained with the cast of the latter show when it transitioned to television. When Our Miss Brooks underwent a format change, writing out his character Walter Denton, he moved to another television program, The Real McCoys.

Crenna had a long career in films, appearing in such movies as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, First Blood (and its following Rambo sequels), Hot Shots! Part Deux and The Flamingo Kid.

Suffering from pancreatic cancer, Crenna died of heart failure in Los Angeles, California at the age of 76. At the time of his death, he had a recurring role in the television series Judging Amy. On the show, his death was recognized by the death of the character he portrayed.

He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6714 Hollywood Blvd.

Crenna's son, Richard Anthony Crenna, is also an actor.

Robert Guillaume
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Robert Guillaume (born November 30, 1927) is an American stage and television actor.

Guillaume was born as Robert P. Williams (Guillaume is the French translation of William) in St. Louis, Missouri. He studied at St. Louis University and Washington University and served in the United States Army before pursuing an acting career. He made his Broadway debut in Kwamina in 1961. Other stage appearances included Golden Boy, Tambourines to Glory, Guys and Dolls, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, the Los Angeles production of Phantom of the Opera (succeeding Michael Crawford in the lead role), and Purlie Victorious, for which he won a Tony Award.

Guillaume made several guest appearances on sitcoms such as Good Times and The Jeffersons before making his series-regular debut on the ABC series Soap, playing Benson DuBois as a butler on that series from 1977 to 1979 and then on a spinoff series, Benson, until 1986. He won Emmy Awards for both series, in 1979 and 1985. He also appeared as marriage counselor Edward Sawyer on The Robert Guillaume Show (1989), Detective Bob Ballard on Pacific Station (1991), and television executive Isaac Jaffe on Sports Night (1998-2000). Guillaume suffered a mild stroke on January 14, 1999, while filming an episode of the latter series. He recovered and his character was later also depicted as having had a stroke. He also made a guest appearance on 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.

Guillaume has also appeared in a number of films, including Seems Like Old Times (1980), Lean on Me (1989), First Kid (1996), and Big Fish (2003). His distinctive voice has also been used for characters in television series Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Fish Police, and Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child and for the voice of Rafiki in the movie The Lion King and its sequels and spin-offs. He also supplied the voice for Eli Vance in the 2004 video game Half-Life 2.

In the '80s Guillaume was a commercial pitchman for Ocean Spray, promoting its line of grapefruit juice.

Guillaume has his own star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Mandy Patinkin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Mandel Bruce Patinkin (born November 30, 1952) is an American actor of stage and screen, as well as a renowned tenor.


Biography

Early life

Patinkin was born in Chicago, Illinois of Jewish heritage. He is a cousin of Mark Patinkin, author and nationally-syndicated columnist for the Providence Journal, and Jason "Dink" Patinkin, President of Columbia University's EarthCo. Patinkin attended South Shore High School, Kenwood Academy, University of Kansas and Juilliard School of Drama.


Career

His first real break came when he landed the part of Che in Evita on Broadway in 1979. Patinkin went on to win a Tony Award for the role. After this initial musical theater success he moved to film, playing a number of parts in movies such as Yentl and Ragtime, before returning to Broadway in 1984 to star in Sunday in the Park with George, which saw him earn another Tony Award nomination. He is also well-known for playing Inigo Montoya in Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride.

Over the next decade he continued to appear in various movies such as Dick Tracy and Alien Nation, on Broadway in The Secret Garden and released two solo albums called Mandy Patinkin and Dress Casual. In 1994, he burst onto the small screen playing the role of Dr. Jeffrey Geiger on CBS's Chicago Hope and promptly won an Emmy Award. However despite the award and the ratings success of the show Patinkin left the show part way through the second season.

Since Chicago Hope, Patinkin has taken parts in a number of films. However, he has mostly been performing as a singer, releasing three more albums. He returned to Broadway in 2000 in the New York Shakespeare Festival's The Wild Party, earning another Tony Award nomination. Recently he has also been seen in the Showtime comedy-drama Dead Like Me as Rube Sofer.

In September 2005, he started his role as Jason Gideon, an experienced profiler just coming back to work after a series of nervous breakdowns, the result of his partner's death in the CBS crime drama Criminal Minds.


Personal life

Patinkin married actress Kathryn Grody in 1980; they have two sons, Isaac and Gideon. He suffered from keratoconus, a degenerative eye disease, in the mid-1990s. This led to two corneal transplants, the right cornea in 1997 and the left in 1998.

He also was diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer in 2004. He celebrated his first year of recovery by doing a 280-mile charity bike ride with his son, Isaac ?- the Arava Institute Hazon Israel Ride: Cycling for Peace, Partnership & Environmental Protection. He subsequently joined the boards of both the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and Hazon.

Patinkin has been involved in a variety of Jewish causes and cultural activities. He sings in Yiddish, which he has often sung in concert, as featured in his album "Mamaloshen". He also wrote introductions for two books on Jewish culture, The Jewish American Family Album, by Dorothy Hoobler and Thomas Hoobler, and Grandma Doralee Patinkin's Holiday Cookbook: A Jewish Family's Celebrations by his mother, Doralee Patinkin Rubin.

Billy Idol
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Background information

Birth name William Michael Albert Broad
Born November 30, 1955 (age 50)
Origin Middlesex, England

Billy Idol (born William Michael Albert Broad, 30 November 1955 in Middlesex, England) is a British hard rock musician.

He first came to attention in the punk rock era, then embarked on a solo career with a series of stylish music videos, making him one of the first MTV stars. He has continued to make music, but has yet to recapture the levels of fame he found in the 1980s.



Biography

Early life and career

The name Billy Idol comes from a childhood incident. In his youth, a teacher handed him a test paper he had failed with the words "William is idle" written on the front in giant letters. Rather than be ashamed, Broad was proud, and began calling himself Billy Idol to spite the teacher.[citation needed]

Billy Idol lived in Worthing, England before attending Sussex University for only one year before joining the Bromley Contingent of Sex Pistols fans. Idol joined a punk rock band Chelsea in 1977, soon leaving it to form Generation X.

Generation X signed to Chrysalis Records and released three albums before breaking up. Idol moved to New York City and began working as a solo artist and working with Steve Stevens, soon becoming an MTV staple with " White Wedding" and "Dancing with Myself", the latter of which had originally been recorded with Generation X.


Rebel Yell

Idol's second LP, Rebel Yell (1984) was a blockbuster success, and established Idol's superstar status in the United States with singles like "Eyes Without a Face", "Flesh For Fantasy", and the title cut; Idol also became very popular in Europe thanks to this album, particularly in Germany, in Italy and in his native UK.

He did not release a new album until 1986; Whiplash Smile sold very well and proved to be a smash, including the hits "To Be A Lover", "Don't Need A Gun" and the Country-flavored "Sweet Sixteen". Stevens soon left for a solo career and Idol continued. A live cover of Tommy James' "Mony Mony" (the studio version of which was an Idol staple from early on) did well on MTV.

Just before the release of Charmed Life in 1990, Idol was in a motorcycle accident in which he almost lost his leg. The album sold extremely well (led by "Cradle Of Love", from The Adventures of Ford Fairlane film), but Idol decided to take a break and acted in The Doors, directed by Oliver Stone. The follow-up to Charmed Life was 1993's Cyberpunk, which was a flop in the States, and Idol sank into drug addiction, nearly dying of a GHB overdose in 1994. Upon his discharge he calmed down and began to focus more on fatherhood.

Idol returned to the popular eye in 1998, when he played himself in The Wedding Singer, an Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore romantic comedy, where "White Wedding" was used as the title track. Idol appeared on VH1 Storytellers and issued a successful Greatest Hits CD in 2001.


Idol was embarrassed at the 2002 Australian Rugby League Grand Final when a power problem resulted in no one being able to hear him singing.

"White Wedding" appeared on popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, playing on fictional Classic Rock radio station, K-DST.

Devil's Playground, which came out 22 March 2005, was his first new studio album in nearly twelve years. This album was heavily promoted with use of the Devil's Playground album website, which was made by Squad in early 2005.

Idol played a handful of dates on the 2005 Vans Warped Tour. Then in 2006, as his only UK live date, he appeared headlining the Sunday night of Guilfest.

In 2006, Billy guested on his keyboardist Derek Sherinian's solo album Blood of the Snake, covering the 1970 Mungo Jerry hit, "In the Summertime". A video was also made featuring Idol and former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash.

In November 2006, Idol released a Christmas album called Billy Idol: Happy Holidays. It includes classic Christmas songs like "Frosty the Snowman", "Jingle Bell Rock", and "Silent Night", plus some originals.

The turkey shot out of the oven
and rocketed into the air,
it knocked every plate off the table
and partly demolished a chair.

It ricocheted into a corner and
burst with a deafening boom,
then splattered all over the kitchen,
completely obscuring the room.

It stuck to the walls and the windows,
it totally coated the floor,
there was turkey attached to the ceiling,
where there'd never been turkey before.

It blanketed every appliance,
it smeared every saucer and bowl,
there wasn't a way I could stop it,
that turkey was out of control.

I scraped and I scrubbed with displeasure,
and thought with chagrin as I mopped,
that I'd never again stuff a turkey....
with popcorn that hadn't been popped!!

Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors. Glad to see that our hawkman made it into our wee studio today, and quite early it was. Thanks, BioBob, for all the extensive background on the celebs.

Loved the turkey song, poem, Boston. We will wait to comment when our Raggedy appears with her montage of pictures.

edgar, I recall the song, Strawberry Roan, but I had no idea that Marty did it. Thanks, Texas.

An interesting morning song:

One of the songs the Dead played almost every year from the 60s to the 90s.

Walk me out in the morning dew, my honey
Walk me out in the morning dew today
Can't walk you out in the morning dew, my honey
I can't walk you out in the morning dew today

I thought I heard a baby cry this morning
I thought I heard a baby cry today
You didn't hear no baby cry this morning
You didn't hear no baby cry today

Where have all the people gone, my honey?
Where have all the people gone today?
There's no need for you to be worrying about all those people
You never see those people anyway

I thought I heard a young man mourn this morning
I thought I heard a young man mourn today
I thought I heard a young man mourn this morning
I can't walk you out in the morning dew today

Walk me out in the morning dew, my honey
Walk me out in the morning dew today
Can't walk you out in the morning dew, my honey
I guess it doesn't matter anyway
Well I guess it doesn't matter anyway.

Never understood that song.

well it's today already, but here's a tune i was trying to help somebody with yesterday, but i had to help them once more

Yesterday Once More
Carpenters

When I was young
I'd listened to the radio
Waitin' for my favorite songs
When they played I'd sing along
It made me smile

Those were such happy times
And not so long ago
How I wondered where they'd gone
But they're back again
Just like a long lost friend
All the songs I loved so well

Every Sha-la-la-la
Every Wo-wo-wo
Still shines
Every shing-a-ling-a-ling
That they're starting to sing's
So fine

When they get to the part
Where he's breakin' her heart
It can really make me cry
Just like before
It's yesterday once more

Lookin' back on how it was
In years gone by
And the good times that I had
Makes today seem rather sad
So much has changed

It was songs of love that
I would sing to theN
And I'd memorize each word
Those old melodies
Still sound so good to me
As they melt the years away

Every Sha-la-la-la
Every Wo-wo-wo
Still shines
Every shing-a-ling-a-ling
That they're starting to sing's
So fine

All my best memories
Come back clearly to me
Some can even make me cry
Just like before
It's yesterday once more

Every Sha-la-la-la
Every Wo-wo-wo
Still shines
Every shing-a-ling-a-ling
That they're starting to sing's
So fine

Welcome back, dj. Hey, I know that one, Canada. Always liked the Carpenters. Somewhere I read that Richard said Karen died from being forced fed due to her anorexia nervosa, but in a quick search of the archives, it seems other sources claim that she died at home.

Well, here's one by Richard that may or may not be about Karen.

I wake up in the dark
The silence brings me to my senses
I wonder where you are
Then I feel the pain
The pain in my heart
Coz I'm living without your love
I'm all - alone for the first time
And it doesn't seem to be a dream
A dream that will be over

All the words you said
Weren't enough to fool this heartache
The memories in my head
Are they enough to stop me falling apart?
Coz I'm living without your love
Maybe it won't be the last time
I don't know how much more I can take
Hopeless wide-awake and here I go….

Calling your name again
Thinking of all that we two had before
There's got to be more
This I know
Calling your name again
Remembering all the love you gave to me
And how it used to be…

I think of what's to come
Then I turned and see your picture
The tears began to fall
And soon again they sense of nothing at all
Coz I'm living without your love
Won't think that I'll make it this time
Something tells me this is not the end
Wish I could pretend but here I go

Calling your name again
Thinking of all that we two had before
There's got to be more
This I know
Calling your name again
Remembering all the love you gave to me
And how it used to be…

Calling your name again
Remembering all the love you gave to me
And how it used to be…

How it used to be…