WA2K Radio is now on the air

edgar, Thanks for the memory. Luvs both those songs, Texas, and speaking of memory, folks. I just found out that Marian McPartland is still alive and playing her jazz piano. <smile> Not certain if she did this one by Johnny Mercer, but let's listen anyway.

(johnny mercer, victor schertzinger)

Was it in tahiti?
Were we on the nile?
Long, long ago,
Say an hour or so
I recall that I saw your smile.


I remember you,
You're the one who made
My dreams come true
A few kisses ago.


I remember you,
You're the one who said
"I love you, too," I do.
Didn't you know?


I remember, too,
A distant bell,
And stars that fell like rain
Out of the blue.


When my life is through,
And the angels ask me to recall
The thrill of it all,
Then I shall tell them
I remember you.

Lovely ballad, folks

Well, folks. Hope our Raggedy is all right. I make a poor substitute for her marvelous collages of famous faces, but I will do one.

Huey Lewis



and, listeners, a song by Huey.

The power of love is a curious thing
make a one man weep, make another man sing
Change a hawk to a little white dove
more than a feeling that's the power of love

Tougher than diamonds, rich like cream
Stronger and harder than a bad girl's dream
make a bad one good make a wrong one right
power of love that keeps you home at night


You don't need money, don't take fame
Don't need no credit card to ride this train
It's strong and it's sudden and it's cruel sometimes
but it might just save your life
That's the power of love
That's the power of love

First time you feel it, it might make you sad
Next time you feel it it might make you mad
But you'll be glad baby when you've found
that's the power makes the world go'round

Chorus

They say that all in love is fair
yeah, but you don't care
But you know what to do
when it gets hold of you
and with a little help from above
you feel the power of love
you feel the power of love

Can you feel it ?

Hmmm


It don't take money and it don't take fame
don't need no credit card to ride this train
Tougher than diamonds and stronger than steel
you won't feel nothin' till you feel
you feel the power, just the power of love
That's the power, that's the power of love
You feel the power of love
you feel the power of love
feel the power of love

Let The Little Girl Dance
Billy Bland

[Words and Music by Henry Glover and Carl Spencer]

(Little wallflower on the shelf)
(Standing by herself)
(Never had the nerve to take a chance)
(So let the little girl dance)

Let the little girl dance
Let the little girl dance
She never danced before
So let her on the floor
(So let her on the floor)

Let the little girl dance
Let the little girl dance
She wants to give it a try
So let the little girl by
(So let the little girl by)

She's been a little wallflower on the shelf
Standing by herself
Now she got the nerve to take a chance
So let the little girl dance

Let the little girl through
She wants to pass by you
Buddy, can't you see
She wants to dance with me
(She wants to dance with me)

---- Instrumental Interlude ----

She's been a little wallflower on the shelf
Standing by herself
Now she got the nerve to take a chance
So let the little girl dance

Let the little girl through
She wants to pass by you
Buddy, can't you see
She wants to dance with me
(She wants to dance with me)

(Little wallflower on the shelf)
(Standing by herself)
(Never had the nerve to take a chance)
Let the little girl dance
(Let the little girl dance)

Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors.

edgar, thanks for the song by Billy Bland. Not familiar with him, but the lyrics say more than can be discerned on the outside, Texas.

Here's an interesting tune by David Bowie and I find it interesting that the translation into another romance language is a learning experience. I think it may be either Spanish or Portuguese, folks.

David Bowie - All The Young Dudes Lyrics

Billy rapped all night about his suicide
How he'd kick it in the head when he was twenty-five
Don't wanna stay alive when you're twenty-five

Wendy's stealing clothes from unlocked cars
And Freddy's got spots from ripping off the stars from his face
A funky little boat race

The television man is crazy
Saying we're juvenile delinquent wrecks
Man, I need a T.V. when I've got T-Rex
Hey, brother, you guessed

I'm a dude

All the young dudes
Carry the news
Booga-loo, dudes
Carry the news

All the young dudes
Carry the news
Booga-loo, dudes
Carry the news

Now Jimmy's looking sweet, though he dresses like a queen
He can kick like a mule, it's a real mean team
We can love, we can love

And my brother's back at home with his Beatles and his Stones
We never got it off on that revolution stuff
What a drag, too many snags

Well, I drunk a lot of wine and I'm feeling fine
Gonna race some cat to bed
Is this concrete all around, or is it in my head?
Oh, brother, you guessed

I'm a dude

All the young dudes
Carry the news
Booga-loo, dudes
Carry the news

All the young dudes
Carry the news
Booga-loo, dudes
Carry the news

All the young dudes
Carry the news
Booga-loo, dudes
Carry the news

All the young dudes
Carry the news
Booga-loo, dudes
Carry the news

All the young dudes
Carry the news
Booga-loo, dudes
Carry the news

All the young dudes
Carry the news
Booga-loo, dudes
Carry the news

All the young dudes
Carry the news
Booga-loo, dudes
Carry the news

All the young dudes
Carry the news
Booga-loo, dudes
Carry the news

David Bowie - All The Young Dudes (Tradução) Lyrics

Todos os caras jovens

Billy falou a noite toda sobre seu suicídio
Como ele iria dispara na cabeça
Quando ele tinha 25
Falou rápido, não queria
Ficar vivo quando tiver 25
E wendy roubando roupas
Da marks and sparks
E freddie ficou com manchas
Por ter espremido espinhas de seu rosto
Interessante corrida de barcos

O cara da televisão está louco
Dizendo que nós somos jovens delinquentes
Cara, eu precisa da tv? eu tenho t. rex
Eu irmão você adivinhou
Eu sou um cara agora

Billy está com boa aparência
Porque ele se veste como uma rainha
Mas ele pode chutar como uma mula
É realmente um time de homens
Mas nós podemos amar, sim, podemos amar
E meu pai está lá em casa com seus
Beatles e seus stones
Ele nunca entrou no papo de revolução
Que droga
Muitos obstáculos
Bem, eu bebi muito vinho
E eu estou me sentindo bem
Devo levar alguma gata pra cama
Cara - isso é de verdade ao meu redor
Ou é só em minha cabeça
Irmão, eu sou um cara agora

Todos os caras jovens
Levando as novidades
Os caras de boogaloo
Levando as novidades

Bill Haley
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




Background information

Birth name William John Clifton Haley
Also known as Jack Haley, Johnny Clifton, Scott Gregory
Born July 6, 1925
Origin Highland Park, Michigan
Died February 9, 1981
Genre(s) Rock and roll, country music
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, bandleader
Instrument(s) Guitar, slap bass
Years active 1946 - 1980
Label(s) Cowboy, Atlantic, Keystone, Center, Holiday, Essex, Decca, Warner Bros. Records, Orfeon, Dimsa, Newtown, Guest Star, Logo, APT, Gone, United Artists, Roulette, Sonet, Buddah, Antic
Associated
acts Bill Haley & His Comets, The Down Homers, The Jodimars

Bill Haley (pronounced hay-lee) (July 6, 1925 - February 9, 1981) was one of the first American rock and roll musicians, and is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the mid-1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and their hit song Rock Around the Clock.





Biography

Early life and career

Haley was born William John Clifton Haley (some sources append "Junior" to his name, but his eldest son states that this is erroneous) in Highland Park, Michigan and raised in Booth's Corner, Pennsylvania. Many sources (almost universally predating his death in 1981) state that Haley was born in 1927, which is due to Haley knocking two years off his age for publicity purposes in the 1950s. A few recent sources erroneously give a birth year of 1924.

Haley was blinded in his left eye as a child due to a botched operation. According to biographer John Swenson, Haley later adopted his distinctive spit-curl hairstyle to distract attention from his blind eye. The spit-curl caught on as a 50's style signature, although Haley and others had worn the hairstyle much earlier.

In 1946, Haley joined his first professional group, a Pennsylvania-based western swing band called the Down Homers run by Kenny Roberts. It has often been reported in musical reference works that Haley's first professional recordings were made with the Down Homers on a pair of singles released in 1946 by Vogue Records. [1] This was later debunked by Roberts and others, stating Haley had already left the group by the time the singles were made. In the early 2000s, however, a set of 1946 radio recordings by the Down Homers were discovered and Haley is definitely present as he is identified by name and sings a solo number "She Taught Me to Yodel"; these recordings were commercially released for the first time in 2006.

After gaining experience with the Down Homers, Haley set out on his own, forming several groups such as the Range Drifters and the Four Aces of Western Swing. With the Four Aces, he made a number of regionally successful country music singles in the late 1940s for Cowboy Records while working as a touring musician and, beginning in 1947 as musical director [2][3] at WPWA. (Many of Haley's early recordings from this period would not be released until after his death.)

After disbanding the Four Aces and briefly trying a solo career using the names Jack Haley and Johnny Clifton (as chronicled in the biography Sound and Glory), Haley formed a new group called The Saddlemen in either 1949 or 1950 (sources vary as to the exact year); this new group recorded for several labels, including one single for Atlantic Records, Haley's first exposure to a major national record company.

Haley was signed to Dave Miller's Philadelphia-based Holiday Records in 1951 and began to change musical styles, recording Rocket 88 (originally by Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats), and in, 1952, "Rock the Joint", previously recorded by several bands including Jimmy Preston and His Prestonians. (By the time of "Rock the Joint", Haley had graduated from Holiday Records to Miller's larger Essex label.[4] The relative success of these recordings (both sold in the 75,000-100,000 copy range in the Pennsylvania-New England region) convinced Haley that his new and as-yet officially unnamed hybrid of country and rhythm and blues could be a commercial success.


Bill Haley & His Comets


During the Labor Day weekend in 1952, The Saddlemen were renamed Bill Haley with Haley's Comets (inspired by a popular mispronunciation of Halley's Comet), and in 1953, Haley's recording of "Crazy Man, Crazy" (co-written by Haley and his bass player, Marshall Lytle although Lytle wouldn't receive credit until 2001) became the first rock and roll song to hit the American charts. Soon after, the band's name was revised to Bill Haley & His Comets.

In 1953, a song called Rock Around the Clock was written for Haley (Dawson 2005). He was unable to record it until April 12, 1954. Initially, it was relatively unsuccessful, but Haley soon scored a major worldwide hit with a cover version of Big Joe Turner's "Shake, Rattle and Roll," which went on to sell a million copies and became the first ever rock'n'roll song to enter British singles charts in December 1954. Haley and his band were important in launching the music known as "Rock and Roll" to a wider (white) audience after years of it being considered an underground movement. When "Rock Around the Clock" appeared behind the opening credits of the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle starring Glenn Ford, it soared to the top of the American Billboard charts for eight weeks, launching a musical revolution that opened the doors for the likes of Elvis Presley.

"Rock Around the Clock" was the first record ever to sell over one million copies in both Britain and Germany and, in 1957, Haley became the first major American rock singer to tour Europe. Haley continued to score hits throughout the 1950s such as "See You Later, Alligator" and he starred in the first rock and roll musical movies Rock Around the Clock and Don't Knock the Rock, both in 1956. His star was soon surpassed in the USA by the younger, sexier Elvis, but Haley continued to be a major star in Latin America, Mexico, and in Europe throughout the 1960s.


Death and legacy

A self-admitted alcoholic (as indicated in a 1974 radio interview for the BBC), Haley fought a battle with liquor well into the 1970s. Nonetheless, he and his band continued to be a popular touring act, enjoying a career resurgence in the late 1960s with the Rock and Roll Revival movement and the signing of a lucrative record deal with the European Sonet Records label. After performing for Queen Elizabeth II at a command performance in 1979, Haley made his final performances in South Africa in May and June of 1980. Prior to the South African tour, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and a planned tour of Germany in the fall of 1980 was canceled. Despite his ill health, Haley began compiling notes for possible use as a basis for either a biographical film based on his life, or a published autobiography (accounts differ), and there were plans for him to record an album in Memphis, Tennessee, when the brain tumor began affecting his behavior and he retired to his home in Harlingen, Texas where he died early on the morning February 9, 1981.

Media reports immediately following his death indicated Haley displayed deranged and erratic behavior in his final weeks, although beyond a biography of Haley by John Swenson released a year later which describes Haley painting the windows of his home black and making rambling late-night phone calls to friends and relatives, there is little information extant about Haley's final days. The exact cause of his death is controversial. Media reports, supported by Haley's death certificate (reproduced in the book Bill Haley: The Daddy of Rock and Roll by John Swenson), suggest he died of "natural causes most likely heart attack". Members of Haley's family, however, contest that he died from the brain tumor. Haley was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Haley's original Comets from 1954 and 1955 still tour the world to packed houses. Despite ranging in age from 72 to 84, the band shows no sign of slowing down, releasing a concert DVD in 2004, playing the trendy Viper Room in West Hollywood in 2005, and performing at Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater in Branson, Missouri in 2006-07.


Asteroid

In February 2006, the International Astronomical Union announced the naming of asteroid 79896 Billhaley to mark the 25th anniversary of Bill Haley's death.


Children

Married three times, Bill Haley had at least eight children. John W. Haley, his eldest son, wrote Sound and Glory, a biography of Haley, while his youngest daughter, Gina Haley, is an up-and-coming musician based out of Los Angeles. Scott Haley is a noted athlete, while Bill's youngest son, Pedro Haley, is also a musician-in-the-making.


Biographies

In 1980, Haley began work on an autobiography entitled The Life and Times of Bill Haley but died after completing only 100 pages. The work is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office but has yet to be released to the public.
In 1982, John Swenson wrote Bill Haley: The Daddy of Rock and Roll (published in the UK under the title, Bill Haley), which is controversial among Haley fans for alleged inaccuracies.
In 1990, Haley's eldest son, John W. Haley, along with John von Hoëlle wrote Sound and Glory, a biography focusing mostly on Haley's early life and peak career years. This book is long out of print.
A German-language biography was published soon after Haley's death, written by Peter Cornelsen and Harald D. Kain.
A book on the history of Haley's most famous recording, Rock Around the Clock: The Record That Started the Rock Revolution by Jim Dawson was published in June 2005 ([5]).

Film portrayals

Unlike his contemporaries, Bill Haley has rarely been portrayed on screen. Following the success of The Buddy Holly Story in 1978, Haley expressed interest in having his life story committed to film, but this never came to fruition. In the 1980s and early 1990s, numerous media reports emerged that plans were underway to do a biopic based upon Haley's life, with Beau Bridges, Jeff Bridges and John Ritter all at one point being mentioned as actors in line to play Haley (according to Goldmine Magazine, Ritter attempted to buy the film rights to Sound and Glory).

Bill Haley has also been portrayed - not always in a positive light - in several "period" films:

John Paramor in Shout! The Story of Johnny O'Keefe (1985)
Michael Daingerfield in Mr. Rock 'n' Roll: The Alan Freed Story (1999)
Dicky Barrett (of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones) in Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story (also 1999)
In March 2005, the British network Sky TV reported that Tom Hanks was planning to produce a biopic on the life of Bill Haley, with production tentatively scheduled to begin in 2006. However this rumor was quickly debunked by Hanks.




Unreleased recordings

Bill Haley recorded prolifically during the 1940s, often at the radio stations where he worked, or in formal studio settings. Virtually none of these recordings were ever released. Liner notes for a 2003 CD release by Hydra Records entitled Bill Haley and Friends Vol. 2: The Legendary Cowboy Recordings reveal that several additional Cowboy label single releases were planned for the Four Aces, but this never occurred.

A number of previously unreleased Haley country-western recordings from the 1946-1950 period began to emerge near the end of Haley's life, some of which were released by the Arzee label, with titles such as "Yodel Your Blues Away" and "Rose of My Heart." Still more demos, alternate takes, and wholly unheard-before recordings have been released since Haley's death. Notable examples of such releases include the albums Golden Country Origins by Grassroots Records of Australia and Hillbilly Haley by the British label, Rollercoaster, as well as the aforementioned German release by Hydra Records. In 2006, Bear Family Records of Germany released what is considered to be the most comprehensive (yet still incomplete) collection of Haley's 1946-1950 recordings as part of its Haley box set Rock n' Roll Arrives.

Janet Leigh
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Birth name Jeanette Helen Morrison
Born July 6, 1927
Merced, California
Died October 3, 2004 (aged 77)
Los Angeles, California
Spouse(s) John Caryle (1942-1942)
Stanley Reames (1946-1948)
Tony Curtis (1951-1962)
Robert Brandt (1962-2004)
Notable roles Marion Crane in Psycho
Academy Awards

Nominated: Best Supporting Actress
1960 Psycho
Golden Globe Awards

Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1960 Psycho

Janet Leigh (July 6, 1927 - October 3, 2004), born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress.





Biography

Early life

Leigh was born in Merced, California, the only child of Frederick Robert Morrison and Helen Lita Westergard. She was discovered by actress Norma Shearer, whose late husband Irving Thalberg had been a senior executive at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Shearer showed talent agent Lew Wasserman the photograph she had seen of Leigh while vacationing at the ski resort where the girl's parents worked. She left the University of the Pacific, where she was studying music and psychology after Wasserman secured a contract with MGM.


Career

Leigh's best-known role was as the morally ambiguous Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho. Years later, she wrote a book about the making of that film, in which she dispelled the urban legends which had popped up around it, notably, about the immortal "shower scene". Her performance earned her a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination.

In 1975, she played almost herself (a retired Hollywood star) in Columbo: Forgotten Lady.

Leigh appeared in two horror films with her daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, playing a major role in 1980's The Fog and making a cameo appearance in 1998's Halloween H20: 20 Years Later.


Private life

Leigh married her third husband, Tony Curtis, on June 4, 1951. They had two children, Kelly and Jamie Lee. Curtis, who has admitted to cheating on her throughout their marriage, left Leigh in 1962 for Christine Kaufmann, the 17 year-old German co-star of his then-latest film (Taras Bulba). Leigh was granted a divorce, and married stockbroker Robert Brandt later that year in Las Vegas; they remained married until her death. Leigh served on the board of directors of the Motion Picture and Television Foundation, a medical-services provider for actors.

She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California on May 14, 2004. She delivered an inspirational speech to graduating students, faculty, and administrators in accepting her award. Author Maxine Hong Kingston and United States Solicitor General Ted Olson were also awarded honorary degrees on the same day.


Death and illness

She died at her home on October 3, 2004 after suffering cardiac arrest due to dilated cardiomyopathy at age 77. Her family was at her side. She also suffered from vasculitis and peripheral neuropathy, which caused her right hand to become gangrenous.

Della Reese
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Background information

Birth name Delloreese Patricia Early
Born July 6, 1931 (1931-07-06) (age 75)
Origin Detroit, Michigan
Genre(s) Gospel Music, Pop Music, Jazz, R&B, Traditional Pop
Occupation(s) Singer, Actress, Theater Actress, Minister
Years active 1957-Present
Label(s) Jubilee Records
RCA Records
Associated
acts Mahalia Jackson, Erskine Hawkins
Website Della Reese Official Website

Della Reese (born Delloreese Patricia Early on July 6, 1931), is a famous American Emmy nominated actor and Grammy nominated singer. She started her career in the late 1950s as a successful Jazz singer, best known for her 1959 hit single "Don't You Know". Later in her career, she became a successful actress, best known as playing Tess on the television show Touched by an Angel. Today, she is also an ordained minister in the Understanding Principles for Better Living Church in Los Angeles, California. She is of half African-American and half Cherokee Indian descent.





Early Life

Della was born in the summer of 1931 in Detroit, Michigan. At only six years old, she began singing in church. From this experience, she became an avid Gospel singer. At the age of thirteen, she was hired to sing with Mahalia Jackson's Gospel group. Afterwards, she formed her own gospel group called the Meditation Singers. However, due in part to the death of her mother, and her father's serious illness, Della had to interrupt her schooling at Wayne State University in order to work to help support her family.


Successful Singing Career

Della's big break finally came when she won a contest, which gave her a week to sing at Detroit's well-known and talked-about Flame Show bar. They liked Della so much at the bar, she remained there for eight weeks. Although her roots were always in Gospel music, she was now being exposed to and influenced by such great Jazz artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn and Billie Holiday. In 1953, she got an even bigger break when she signed a recording contract with Jubilee Records. In 1953, she also joined the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra. Her first recordings for Jubilee were songs such as "In the Still of the Night", "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" and "Time After Time". These songs only hinted at the potential that lurked inside of Reese to make it big in the music business, and all three of the songs failed to gain any chart success.


In 1957, Della released a single called "And That Reminds Me". After years of trying, Della finally had gained chart success with the song. The song became a Top Twenty Pop hit for Reese that year and the record became a million-seller. In 1957, Reese was also voted by Billboard, Cashbox, and various other magazines as The Most Promising Singer.

In 1959, Della had moved on to another record company, this time with RCA Records. She released her first single from the record company called "Don't You Know", which was taken from Puccini's "La Bohème". However, Della turned the song into her own and it became her biggest hit ever, reaching the #2 spot on the Pop charts, even going as far as topping the R&B charts that year (which was then called the "Black Singles Chart"). Today, the song is probably known as her signature song.

Her success in the recording business didn't end there. In 1960, she released a successful follow-up single called "Not One Minute More". However, after that, Della's recording career took second place to her other activities. Due to the success of her previous big hits, Della went on to perform in Las Vegas for nine years, as well as touring across the country. However, she didn't stop recording regularly throughout the 60s, still releasing singles and several albums, two of the first most significant of which were "The Classic Della" (1962) and "Waltz with Me, Della" (1963), which were instrumental in her finding a major following abroad, particularly in Australia and South Africa, where she is especially revered, both as a pop singer (in the two aforementioned albums) whose lyricism, dynamics and phrasing could make any opera star envious and as a superb jazz singer on such albums as "Della Reese Live" (1966), "On Strings of Blue"(1967), and "One of a Kind" (1978) where her amazing gift for reinventing a song is unparralleled.

In 1987, she was nominated for a Grammy for one of her acclaimed gospel albums.


Television Career

In 1969, she was given her first shot at television stardom, when she starred on a self-titled variety series. A year later (after her variety series was canceled after one season), she became the first black woman to serve as guest host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

Reese later appeared in several TV movies and miniseries' (including The House of Yes, Sanford and Son (in Season 5 episode "Della Della Della" that featured her performing "Ease On Down the Road" with Redd Foxx, and Roots: The Next Generations) and was a regular on Chico and the Man. In 1979, after taping a guest spot for The Tonight Show, she suffered a nearly fatal brain aneurysm, but made a full recovery after two operations by noted neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Drake at University Hospital in London, Ontario. This was Reese's second brush with death. A number of years earlier, she accidentally walked into a plate glass door in her home. She was sliced so badly by the broken glass she required a thousand stiches to close her wounds. She lost most of her blood and later said she had a "near death" experience where she saw her beloved mother.

She played the mother of B.A. Baracus in the A-team episode 'Lease with an option to die'. After appearing on two sitcoms, Reese did a voice over for the animated series A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. In 1989, she starred alongside Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor and Arsenio Hall in the movie Harlem Nights, where she was seen doing a fight scene with Eddie Murphy. In 1991, she starred opposite Redd Foxx in his final sitcom, The Royal Family. His death halted production of the series for a few months.


Success On Touched by an Angel

From 1994-2003, Reese took on the co-starring role she is possibly best known for: Tess on the inspirational television drama Touched by an Angel. Reese also sang the show's theme song. Her participation in this series has given her popularity among the younger audiences a boost.


Life Today

Della Reese announced, on Larry King Live in 2002, that she suffers from Type-2 diabetes. She is a spokeswoman for the American Diabetes Association, travelling around the United States to raise awareness about the disease.

In 1983, she married Franklin Thomas Lett Jr., a concert producer and writer. Between them they have four adult children: Dr. James Barger, Deloreese Owens, Franklin Lett III, and Dominique Lett-Wirtschafter.

Besides being a singer and actress, Reese is an ordained minister in the Understanding Principles for Better Living Church in Los Angeles, California. She is godmother to the child of Angel co-star, Roma Downey who played a leading role in Touched by an Angel, alongside Reese. In 2005, Reese was honored by Oprah Winfrey at her Legends Ball ceremony along with 25 other African-American women.

Ned Beatty
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Birth name Ned Thomas Beatty
Born July 6, 1937 (1937-07-06) (age 69)
Louisville, Kentucky, USA

Ned Thomas Beatty (born July 6, 1937) is an Academy Award-nominated American character actor.




Biography

Early life

Beatty was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to Charles William Beatty and Margaret Fortney Lennis, a high school lunch lady. He has a sister, Mary Margaret. In 1947, he began singing in gospel and barbershop quartets in St. Matthews, Kentucky, as well as at his local church.[1] He made his stage debut at the age of 19, appearing in Wilderness Road, an outdoor historical pageant.[2]


Career

Beatty has appeared in over 100 films and is probably most recognized from his appearances as Delbert Reese, a Tennessee lawyer and husband of Lily Tomlin (who attempts to have a sexual liaision with Gwen Welles) in Robert Altman's Nashville (1975), Lex Luthor's henchman Otis in Superman (1978), Rudy Reuttiger's father in the 1993 biopic Rudy and as rape victim Bobby Trippe in Deliverance (1972) (his debut film). He was a member of the original cast of the television police drama Homicide: Life on the Street, playing Det. Stanley Bolander in the show's first three seasons. He also had a recurring role as Dan Conner's father Ed on the hit television show Roseanne.

Beatty was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Network (1976). He has also been nominated for two Emmy Awards and one Golden Globe Award. In the award-winning 1991 British film Hear My Song, he portrayed the singer Josef Locke.

In March of 2006, Beatty received the RiverRun International Film Festival's "Master of Cinema" award (the highest honor of the festival).


Personal life

Beatty spends his summers in Karlstad, Minnesota, his wife's home town. He resides in Springville, California.[citation needed]

Gene Chandler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Background information

Birth name Eugene Dixon
Born July 6, 1937
Origin Chicago, Illinois, United States
Genre(s) R&B, soul
Occupation(s) singer
Website [1]

Gene Chandler, "The Duke" was born Eugene Dixon, July 6, 1937, in Chicago, Illinois. A powerful performer and singer, he personified the laid-back, carefree attitude that the early 1960s soul and R&B singers developed. He will be best known for his 1962 smash "Duke of Earl", though he wrote and performed many more songs, and collaborated with many of the greats in the soul and R&B world, such as Curtis Mayfield and Jerry Butler.



Early years

Although Chandler seems to have sprung into being in 1962, when he introduced himself to the world as "The Duke of Earl", Eugene Dixon had been singing since the early 1950s, first with The Gaytones. In 1957 he joined a doo-wop group called The Dukays with James Lowe, Shirley Jones, Earl Edwards and Ben Broyles, quickly becoming their lead singer. He was drafted by the US Army to Germany for three years, returned to Chicago in 1960, and rejoined his bandmates. Through music industry contacts, the Dukays were offered a recording contract by Chicago based Nat Records. The first single was titled "The Girl Is Evil." In 1961, Nat Records released a song titled "Nite Owl", and the band went back to the studio to record one more.


The Duke is born

As the story goes, during their vocal warm-ups, the group would repeat the phrase "doo-doo-doo-doo" at different pitches. Through many repetitions, it began to evolve. Words were added. Melodies began to form. Earl Edwards' name was added. The song that evolved was "Duke of Earl."

At the time, Nat Records wanted to release the new song "Duke of Earl", but was unable to. An executive with Vee-Jay records heard the song and wanted it for distribution as a song on his label, but only as a Gene Chandler record. Vee-Jay wasn't interested in The Dukays.

Meanwhile, the previously recorded "Nite Owl" was on the charts, putting Chandler in more of a dilemma. Should he stick with his bandmates, or go solo? He tried to do both. He recorded with The Dukays under the name "Gene Dixon" and recorded solo as "Gene Chandler".

When VeeJay was finally able to release "Duke of Earl", it sent it out as a Gene Chandler song, although the Dukays had recorded it. The song sold a million copies in just over one month. "The Duke" was born. Chandler can be seen in the full "Duke" outfit singing "The Duke of Earl" in the 1962 movie "Don't Knock the Twist", starring Chubby Checker.


The Duke lives on

After spending 3 weeks at number one on the Billboard Magazine charts, Chandler got a cape, a monocle, a top hat and a cane. He simply became "The Duke of Earl". His concerts were legendary for pulling in a large crowd.

Occasionally he would come out for another encore, usually "Rainbow." "Rainbow" was one of Chandler's collaborations with Curtis Mayfield, and the only song Chandler has ever recorded three times. Each time the song has been re-recorded, it became a hit all over again.

Chandler left Vee Jay and recorded for Constellation Records (which was bought by Chess Records) and for Brunswick Records. In the end, he wound up on two record labels at the same time. This left the record labels with having to work out a compromise. It was decided that the companies would alternate Chandler's releases, a new one from Brunswick, followed by a re-release from Chess.

After a number of years on the road, Chandler decided to become more involved with the business end of the music industry. He produced, wrote, arranged, and started his own record label, Bamboo Records. With Bamboo, he had a major hit in 1969 with Mel and Tim's recording of "Backfield in Motion". By 1970, Gene Chandler was ready to be on the other side of the microphone again. He signed as an artist with Mercury Records and recorded "Groovy Situation".

The hits he recorded and produced got him The National Association of Television and Radio Announcers Producer of the Year award in 1970. It should be noted that Chandler was nominated with Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff and Norman Whitfield, who were very successful producers at that time, working with The Temptations and the Philadelphia soul sound.

Chandler went on to have a number of disco era hits, including "Get Down," "When You're #1," "Does She Have A Friend?" and "Rainbow '80." Most of these were more popular in England at the time. At that time, he was also the Executive Vice President of Chi-Sound Records. He worked a lot with reggae star Johnny Nash.


The Revival

In the late 1970s, even while he was putting hits on the disco charts, the nostalgia craze began. Legendary DJ Wolfman Jack put together a traveling show of "oldies" acts, and Gene Chandler joined them in the travels around the country.

He still performs in Chicago, Las Vegas, Nevada, and elsewhere around the US. He also still wears the cape.

Burt Ward
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Born July 6, 1945
Los Angeles, California

Burt Ward (born Bert John Gervis, Jr. on July 6, 1945) is an American television actor. He is best known for his work as Robin, the "Boy Wonder", in the 1960s television series, "Batman." The show, which aired on ABC from 1966 to 1968, starred Ward and Adam West as the title character, also known as "The Caped Crusader."





Early life

Ward was born in Los Angeles, California. At the age of two, he was listed in the prolific magazine, Strange as it Seems, as the world's youngest professional ice skater.[citation needed] Growing up, he was an avid reader of Superman (comic), Superboy, and enjoyed the action-adventure show Adventures of Superman.[citation needed] He excelled in high school athletic activities such as football, track, wrestling, and was a member of the chess club. In addition to this, he earned a brown belt in karate.[citation needed] After graduation, he enrolled in college, while working part-time for his father's real estate company.[citation needed]


Robin begins

At the age of 19, he decided to audition for the part of Robin, without having ever read a Batman comic book.[citation needed] Upon meeting with executive producer William Dozier for the role, Dozier was impressed, saying "Robin just walked into my office."[citation needed] Ward and Adam West were up against Lyle Waggoner and Peter Deuel for the roles of Batman and Robin.[citation needed] During this time, the show was being planned as a campy style action-adventure show, and their screen tests consisted of staged fight scenes and, at one point, Ward chopping a set of boards with his hand. Eventually, he was selected for the role of Robin at the age of twenty, stepping onto the screen in 1966 with the debut of "Batman." Unfortunately, unlike his partner, Ward was required to act during dangerous stunt work, because his costume revealed more of his face than a stuntman could compensate for.[citation needed]

During the first months of shooting, Ward was paid $350 per week.[citation needed] By the series' end, he was earning up to $600 a week.[citation needed] According to him, in an interview, he stated that the series only lasted three seasons for a total of 120 episodes, due to the high cost of production. The show was still high in the ratings, but ABC Network was losing thousands of dollars on filming (this can be seen in the decline of the sets and constant re-use of stock footage).[citation needed] Weeks later, NBC offered to pick it up for a fourth season, but the offer was withdrawn upon realization that the sets had been bulldozed.[citation needed]


Post-Batman career

After the end of "Batman," Ward found himself hard-pressed to find other acting jobs. Ward only re-emerged on the movie scene to act in more than 30 made for television films such as Virgin High.

Although wanted by the producer, Ward wasn't given the Dustin Hoffman part in The Graduate, because the studio (20th Century Fox) didn't want to dilute his popularity and identification as Robin, the Boy Wonder.

He did, however, appear in numerous reunions with co-star Adam West. The most memorable reunions included Ward and West reprising their roles as Batman and Robin on a short-lived animated television series called The New Adventures of Batman and the 2003 television movie, Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt.


Autobiography

Ward also wrote a "tell-all" autobiography called "Boy Wonder: My Life in Tights" (ISBN 0-9647048-0-3), which described his life at the time that he was playing Robin. In 2001, Ward began Boy Wonder Visual Effects, Inc. Boy Wonder Visual Effects has provided visual effects for 25 studio features, for 10 independent films, and for several television series.


Animal work

In 1994, Ward and his wife, Tracy Posner Ward, founded a Charitable organization called Gentle Giants Rescue and Adoptions, Inc. [1], which rescues giant breed dogs and some smaller breed dogs. Their work with the organization has been featured in such outlets as People, ASPCA Animal Watch,[2], Hard Copy, Inside Edition, and Entertainment Tonight.[3]


Family

Ward has two daughters: Lisa Ann Ward, his daughter from a previous marriage, who had a baby in 1991, and Melody Lane Ward, born on February 16, 1991 with his current wife.


Trivia


Burt Ward (a.k.a. Bert John Gervis, Jr.) decided upon his professional surname by using his mother's maiden name. He substituted the "e" with the "u" in his first name to add more of a "punch." Ward's reasoning behind the name change was that he was afraid that people would have a hard time pronouncing "Gervis" (which is pronounced with a soft-"G").[citation needed] Adam West recounts a slightly different reasoning in his autobiography, Back to the Batcave, that Bert was changed to Burt to make the name more "rugged," a la Burt Lancaster, and an additional reason for Ward being the fact that Dick Grayson/Robin was Bruce Wayne's/Batman's ward in a play on words.[citation needed]
At the height of "Batman's" popularity, Ward recorded a series of tracks under the production of Frank Zappa. The first two, "Boy Wonder, I Love You" (which Zappa wrote) and "Orange Colored Sky," were released as a single on November 14, 1966. Two other tracks from these sessions, "Teenage Bill of Rights" and "Autumn Love", remained unreleased. [4]

Sylvester Stallone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Birth name Sylvester Stallone
Born July 6, 1946 (1946-07-06) (age 61)
New York City, New York, USA
Years active 1970 - present
Spouse(s) Sasha Czack (1974-1985)
Brigitte Nielsen (1985-1987)
Jennifer Flavin (1997-)
Official site sylvesterstallone.com
Notable roles Rocky Balboa in the Rocky series
Johny Kovak in F.I.S.T
Det. Sgt. Deke DaSilva in Nighthawks
John J. Rambo in the Rambo series,
Sheriff Freddy Heflin in Cop Land

Academy Awards

Nominated: Best Actor
1976 Rocky
Nominated: Best Original Screenplay
1976 Rocky

Sylvester Stallone (born July 6, 1946) is a two-time Academy Award-nominated American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He achieved his greatest successes in a number of action films, notably the Rocky and Rambo series.




Biography

Early life

Stallone was born in Hell's Kitchen, New York; the son of Jacqueline "Jackie" (nee Labofish), an astrologer, former dancer, and promoter of women's wrestling, and Frank Stallone, Sr., a hairdresser.[2] Stallone's father was an immigrant from Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily and his mother is of part Eastern European Jewish ancestry (her grandmother, Rosa Rabinovich, was from Odessa, Ukraine).[3] In the 1960s, Stallone attended the American College of Switzerland, Leysin and the University of Miami for three years. He came within a few credit hours of graduation, before he decided to drop out and pursue an acting career. After Stallone's request that his acting and life experiences be accepted in exchange for his remaining credits, he was granted a Bachelors of Fine Arts (BFA) degree by the President of the University of Miami in 1999.[4]


Early film roles 1970-1975

Stallone made his film debut with a 1970 pornographic film. He was paid US$200 for two days work. Originally released as hardcore pornography, scenes of sexual penetration were edited out on later releases of the film designed to cash in on Stallone's fame. These releases were re-packaged under the names of Italian Stallion (taken from Stallone's nickname and a line from the film) and Cocky (a spoof of Rocky). Stallone's other first few film roles were minor, and included brief uncredited appearances in Woody Allen's Bananas (1971) as a subway thug, in the psychological thriller Klute (1971) as an extra dancing in a club, and in the Jack Lemmon vehicle Prisoner of 2nd Avenue (1975) as a youth. In the Lemmon film, Jack Lemmon chases and tackles Stallone, thinking he is a pickpocket. He had his first starring role in the cult hit The Lords of Flatbush (1974). In 1975 he played supporting roles in Farewell, My Lovely, Capone and, another cult hit, Death Race 2000. He also made guest appearances on the TV series Police Story and Kojak.


Success with Rocky 1976

Stallone did not gain world-wide fame until his starring role in the smash hit Rocky (1976). The film was awarded the 1976 Academy Award for Best Picture. On March 24, 1975, Stallone saw the Ali-Chuck Wepner fight which inspired the foundation idea of Rocky. That night Stallone went home, and in three days he had written the script for Rocky. After that, he tried to sell the script with the intention of playing the lead role. Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler in particular liked the script (which was suggested by Stallone after a casting), and planned on courting a star like Burt Reynolds or James Caan for the lead role. The final result was an unequalled success; Rocky was nominated for ten Academy Awards in all, including two for Stallone himself, for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. In addition to winning Best Picture, Rocky won for Best Director and Best Film Editing. Rocky cost about US$1.1 million to make, and grossed about US$225 million worldwide. The Rocky series has made the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art a Philadelphia tourist attraction. On the list of the top heroes of all time by American Film Institute (AFI) in 2003 , Stallone is listed seventh as Rocky Balboa behind Gregory Peck (Atticus Finch), Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones), Sean Connery (James Bond), Humphrey Bogart (Rick Blaine), Gary Cooper (Will Kane) and Jodie Foster (Clarice Starling).



Rocky, Rambo and new film roles 1978-1989

The sequel Rocky II which Stallone had also written and directed was released in 1979 and also became a major success, grossing US$200 million worldwide.

Apart from the Rocky films, Stallone did many other films in the late 1970s and early 1980s which were critically acclaimed but were not successful at the box office. He received critical praise for films such as F.I.S.T (1978), a drama in which he plays a warehouse worker, who becomes involved in the labor union leadership and Paradise Alley (1978), a family drama in which he plays one of three brothers who is con artist and who helps his other brother who is involved in wrestling. In the early 1980s he starred alongside British veteran Michael Caine in Escape to Victory (1981), a sports drama in which he plays a prisoner of war involved in a Nazi propaganda football tournament. Stallone then made the thriller film Nighthawks (1981), in which he plays a New York city cop who plays a cat and mouse game with a foreign terrorist, played by Rutger Hauer..


Stallone had another major franchise success as Vietnam veteran John Rambo in the action adventure film First Blood (1982). The first installment of Rambo was both a critical and box office success. The critics praised Stallone's performance, saying he made Rambo seem human as opposed to the way he is portrayed in the book of the same name First Blood and in the other films. Two Rambo sequels Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Rambo III (1988) followed. Although box office hits, they met with much less critical praise than the original. He also continued his box office success with the Rocky franchise and wrote, directed and starred in two more sequels to the series: Rocky III (1982) and Rocky IV (1985). He also attempted roles in different genres during this period but was unsuccessful. He wrote and starred in the comedy film Rhinestone (1984) where he played a wannabe country music singer and the drama film Over the Top (1987) where he played a truck driver who enters an arm wrestling competition to impress his estranged son. The action films Cobra (1986) and Tango and Cash (1989) continued the hit parade, further solidifying Stallone's fanbase.

Stallone has turned down many hit films: Romancing the Stone, Beverly Hills Cop, Die Hard, Pretty Woman, Basic Instinct, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Enemy of the State. His trademark sneer and slurred speech are the result of lazy eyes and partial paralysis in the left side of his face caused by birth complications.[5]


1990-2002

At the start of the 1990s, Stallone starred in the fifth installment of the Rocky franchise Rocky V which was considered a box office disappointment and was also disliked by fans as an unworthy entry in the series. It was intended to have been the last installment in the franchise at the time.

After starring in the critical and commercial failures Oscar (1991) and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992) during the early 90s, he made a major comeback in 1993 with the blockbuster hit Cliffhanger which became an enormously successful film grossing over US$255 million worldwide. Later that year he enjoyed another hit with Demolition Man which grossed in excess of $158 million worldwide. His string of hits continued with 1994's The Specialist (over $170 million worldwide gross). In 1995 he played the comic book based title character Judge Dredd in Judge Dredd which was based on the British comic book 2000 AD. His overseas box office appeal even saved the domestic box office disappointment of Judge Dredd with a worldwide tally of $113 million. In 1996 he starred in the disaster movie Daylight which made only $33 million in the U.S but was a major hit overseas taking in over $126 million, totaling $159,212,469 worldwide.


Following his breakthrough performance in Rocky, critic Roger Ebert had once said he could become the next Marlon Brando - however arguably Stallone had never recaptured the critical acclaim he won in Rocky. Stallone did however receive much acclaim for his role in Cop Land (1997) in which he starred alongside Robert De Niro and Ray Liotta, but the film was only a minor success at the box office. It could be said that due to the lack of box office draws, when Stallone would take a venture out of action and more into drama, was the cause for Stallone to return to his action flicks so often. His performance led him to win the Stockholm International Film Festival Best Actor Award. In 1998 he did voice-over work for the computer-animated film Antz, which grossed over 90 million domestically.

As the new millennium began, Stallone's career started to decline as he starred in a string of critical and commercial failures starting with the thriller Get Carter which was a remake of the 1971 British Michael Caine film Get Carter. This was followed by Driven (2001), Avenging Angelo (2002) and D-Tox (2002) which were also critical and box office failures.


2003-2005

In 2003 he played a villainous role in the third installment of the Spy Kids trilogy Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over which was a huge box office success (almost 200 million worldwide). Stallone also had a cameo appearance in the 2003 French film Taxi 3 as a passenger.

Following several poorly reviewed box office flops, Stallone started to regain prominence for his supporting role in the neo-noir crime drama Shade (2003) which was a box office failure but was praised by critics.[6] He was also attached to star and direct a film about the murder of rappers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls titled Notorious but the film has yet to be made due to the legal problems concerning the movie.

In 2005 he was the co-presenter of the NBC Reality television boxing series The Contender alongside Sugar Ray Leonard. That same year he also made a guest appearance in two episodes of the television series Las Vegas.


Rocky Balboa

After three years since his last film appearance in Shade, Stallone returned in 2006 with the sixth and final installment of the Rocky series; Rocky Balboa, which was both a critical and commercial hit. After the critical and box office failure of the previous and presumed last installment Rocky V, Stallone decided that he should end the series with a sixth installment which would be a much more appropriate climax to the series. The total domestic box office gross came to a close with US$70.2 million (an impressive US$155.3 million worldwide), almost three times its production budget. His performance in Rocky Balboa has been praised and garnered mostly positive reviews.[7]


Resurrecting Rambo

Stallone is currently in production on the latest Rambo sequel John Rambo which is experiencing very positive buzz due to a favorable reception of its rough cut trailer for Cannes. The movie is scheduled for a big summer 2008 release. However, in recent interviews Stallone and the production company stated that the movie may get released before the end of this year (presumably in November or December).


Future projects

It was also recently announced that Sylvester Stallone would be directing a movie on The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, based on the book written by Franz Werfel.[8][9] which tells the story of the 1915 Armenian Genocide. Stallone is also set to direct a biography on the life of Edgar Allan Poe, which will be titled Poe .

Stallone has also been linked to Inglorious Bastards, a Quentin Tarantino film, which is set to be Tarantino's next film.[10]


Other work

Stallone claims to have been able to bench press 385-400 lbs (174.6-181.4 kg) and squat 500 lbs (226.8 kg) in his prime. While in a bench pressing contest with former Mr. Olympia Franco Columbu, he severely tore his pectoral muscle and needed over 160 stitches on it. This is why one half of his chest is more vascular than the other.[11]

Stallone's debut as a director came in 1978 with Paradise Alley, which he also wrote and starred in. In addition, he directed Staying Alive (the sequel to Saturday Night Fever), along with Rocky II, III, IV and Balboa.

In addition to writing all six Rocky films, Stallone also wrote Cobra, Driven, and the last Rambo film, John Rambo. He has co-written several other films, such as F.I.S.T., Rhinestone, Over the Top and the first three Rambo films. His last major success as a co-writer came with 1993's Cliffhanger.

Stallone owns shares in Planet Hollywood restaurants with Bruce Willis and formerly Arnold Schwarzenegger (who has since sold his part).


Personal life

Other famous members in Stallone's family are his brother, actor/singer Frank Stallone and his mother, Jacqueline Stallone, who achieved notoriety in the middle 1990s as an astrologer. At the time of ownership, Stallone's pet Bullmastiff, Butkus, appeared in the first Rocky film as an often-teased favorite pet of Balboa's who lived in Adrian's pet shop. Also Half-Brother: Dante Stallone born in 1997; son of Frank Stallone Sr and his fourth wife. Half-Sister: Toni-Ann Dialto,mother, Jacqueline Stallone

Stallone has been married three times, to Sasha Czack (1974-1985), Brigitte Nielsen (1985-1987), and Jennifer Flavin (1997-present). He has five children, sons Sage Moonblood and Seargeoh, who is autistic (with Czack, born 1976 and 1979 respectively), and daughters Sophia Rose, Sistine Rose and Scarlett Rose (with Flavin, born 1996, 1998, 2002 respectively). He and Flavin, an Irish-American, were married at Winston Churchill's birthplace, Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, England.

In addition to these marriages, he has had romantic relationships with models Susan Anton, Angie Everhart, Naomi Campbell, and Janice Dickinson. Dickinson once believed that Stallone was the father of her daughter Savannah.[12]

On January 14, 2007, Stallone was at Goodison Park to promote Rocky Balboa, and to watch Everton take on Reading. The match ended as a 1-1 draw. After receiving a brilliant reception from 40,000 fans he now claims to be an official Everton fan.[13]


Growth hormone controversy

On February 16, 2007, Stallone flew into Sydney, New South Wales as part of his promotional tour Rocky Balboa[14]. Upon landing he was searched by Australian Customs officials, who found 48 vials of the human growth hormone (HGH) Jintropin in his personal luggage. As a result of this, he was charged one count of importing a prohibited import. The hormones are banned under the Australian Customs Act, are not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and are not a recognised treatment for any medical condition. In a court hearing on May 15, 2007, he pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing a controlled substance. On May 21st 2007 he was formally convicted of importing restricted muscle-building hormones into Australia and ordered to pay more than $9,870 in fines and court costs [15]. As a result of the controversy within Australia, Stallone banned the Australian media from attending the Los Angeles premiere of the film.[16] [17]

In a typed apology from Stallone, delivered to the court on May 15, Stallone said: "I made a terrible mistake. Not because I was attempting to deceive anyone but I was simply ignorant of your official rules and I wish to sincerely apologise to the court and the Australian community for my breach of Australian customs law. ... I have never supported the use of illegal drugs or engaged in any illegal activities in my entire life. ...I wish to express my deepest remorse and again apologise for my actions."[18]

Chemistry Teacher
A chemistry teacher wanted to teach his 5th grade class a lesson about the evils of liquor, so he produced an experiment that involved a glass of water, a glass of whiskey, and two worms.

"Now, class, closely observe the worms," said the teacher while putting a worm into the water.

The worm in the water wiggled about, happy as a worm in water could be.

He then put the second worm into the whiskey. It curled up and writhed about painfully, then quickly sank to the bottom, dead as a doornail.

"Now, what lesson can we learn from this experiment?" the teacher asked.

Johnny, who naturally sits in back, raised his hand and wisely, responded
confidently, "Drink whiskey and you won't get worms."

Well, hawkman. You have a great list of bio's today, Boston. Love your anecdote about the kid and the worms. Reminds me of a Homer and Jethro funny.

Homer: Hey, there. Where ya going?
Jethro: Goin' fishin'
Homer: Ya got worms?
Jethro: Yup, but I'm goin' anyway.

Love Della Reese, folks, especially her early recordings and songs.

How about this one.

Oh, they say some people long ago
Were searching for a diff'rent tune
One that they could croon
As only they can
They only had the rhythm so
They started swaying to and fro
They didn't know just what to use
That is how the blues really began

They heard the breeze in the trees
Singing weird melodies
And they made that the start of the blues

And from a jail came the wail
Of a down-hearted frail
And they played that
As part of the blues

From a whippoorwill
Out on a hill
They took a new note
Pushed it through a horn
'Til it was worn
Into a blue note

And then they nursed it, rehearsed it
And gave out the news
That the Southland gave birth to the blues!

Way to go, Della

Hope our Raggedy is ok, folks, or I may have to ask our whale man to do another round of pictures.

Good afternoon.

Lots of celebs today.






Sebastian Cabot; Bill Haley; Janet Leigh; Della Reese; Ned Beatty; Gene Chandler; Burt Ward and Sylvester Stallone

Well, bless my soul, folks. There's our Raggedy. (glad you're all right, gal)

I declare, PA, you get better at this every day. Thanks again for the awesome collage of famous faces. I think we all know most of them.

Not familiar with Gene Chandler, but thought I would play this song by him, although it doesn't sound like the one that I know, listeners.

Duke of Earl by Gene Chandler

Good evening sweet darling
May I ask your name
You seem to be lonely
Well don't worry I'm feeling the same

Oh, it's a groovy situation
A splendid combination
That we should meet
At a time like this
Oh it's a groovy situation
a splendid combination
You're something that
I just can't miss

It's been a long time sweet darling
since love has come my way
But I'm trying so hard
To find the right words to say

Oh, it's a groovy situation
A splendid combination
That we should meet
At a time like this
Oh it's a groovy situation
a splendid combination
You're something that
I just can't miss

Not the best choice, obviously.

Incidentally. We call it "puppy love"

And they called it puppy love
Oh i guess they'll never know
how a young heart really feels
and just why i love her so
and they called it puppy love
just because we're in our teens
tell them all
please tell them it isn't fair
to take away my only dream
i cry each night
my tears for you
my tears are all in vain
i hope and i pray
that maybe someday
you'll be back (you'll be back) in my arms(in my arms)
once again
someone help me
help me
help me please
is the answer up above?
how can i
oh how can i tell them
this is not a puppy love
someone help me
help me
help me please
is the answer up above?
how can i
oh how can i tell them
this is not a puppy love
(this is not a puppy love)
(this is not a puppy love)
not a puppy love
(this is not a puppy love

Love it, Raggedy!

Here's a familiar one by Bill Haley and the Comets.

Well I saw my baby walkin',
With another man today,
Well I saw my baby walkin'
With another man today.
When I asked her "What's the matter?"
This is what I heard her say.

Chorus:
See you later alligator,
After 'while, crocodile.
See you later alligator,
After 'while, crocodile.
Can't you see you're in my way now?
Don't you know you cramp my style?

When I thought of what she told me,
Nearly made me lose my head,
When I thought of what she told me,
Nearly made me lose my head.
But the next time that I saw her,
Reminded her of what she said.

Repeat Chorus

She said, "I'm sorry, pretty daddy,
You know my love is just for you."
She said, "I'm sorry, pretty daddy,
You know my love is just for you,
Won't you say that you'll forgive me,
And say your love for me is true."

I said, "Wait a minute, 'gator,
I know you mean't it just for play."
I said, "Wait a minute, 'gator,
I know you mean't it just for play.
Don't you know you really hurt me,
And this is what I have to say."

Repeat Chorus

See you later alligator, after 'while crocodile,
See you later alligator,
So long, that's all,
Goodbye

Well, listeners, you can't hear this alligator, but take it from me it GROWLS.

I'm sitting here listening to Mose Allison, I'm enchanted. (also listening to Harvey Mandel).