WA2K Radio is now on the air

After all the jacks are in their boxes
And the clowns have all gone to bed
You can hear happiness staggering on down the street
Footprints dressed in red
And the wind whispers Mary


A broom is drearily sweeping
Up the broken pieces of yesterday's life
Somewhere a queen is weeping
Somewhere a king has no wife
And the wind cries Mary


The traffic lights turn blue tomorrow
And shine the emptiness down on my bed
The tiny island sags downstream
'Cause the life that they lived is dead
And the wind screams Mary


Will the wind ever remember
The names it has blown in the past
With its crutch, its old age, and its wisdom
It whispers, "No this will be the last"
And the wind cries Mary

Sleeping Buddha

Shut your eyes,
Where do you go?
To the center of your soul?
Do you resist all of
The pleasures of this world?
Can you find radiance in the mind?
Do you stand boldly
In the presence of the Atman,
Or do you hide in a life
You have not yet dreamed?

Eric (RexRed) Pedersen
3/6/06

WA2K Radio is now on the air
I Want You

(Dean Martin)

I want the highest star to travel far
The things the world has seen
And speaking of the things the world has seen
I want you

I want a rajah's jewel, a swimming pool
The rarest treasures known
And speaking of the rarest treasures known
I want you

So soft your touch so sweet your kiss
So tender are your charms
And when my love I hold you near
The world is in my arms

I want a rainbow's gold a heart to hold
The greatest love of all
And speaking of the greatest love of all
I want you

So soft your touch so sweet your kiss
So tender are your charms
And when my love I hold you near
The world is in my arms

I want the rainbow's gold a heart to hold
The greatest love of all
And speaking of the greatest love of all
I want you

Good morning, WA2K listeners and contributors. It's still dark here, and I have had a moment to look through all the transcripts and songs so fervently played on our cyber radio.

dys, that is an interesting but rather depressing song. What do you think it means, cowboy? Often, just as Frost observed, creative things do not have to have a meaning, they just are.

Rex, glad to see you back and we are happy that you have recovered from your bout with the orange juice malady. We can't have our Florida products producing unpleasant effects. I especially like the line from your original "....or do you hide in a life you have not yet dreamed...".Thanks, Maine.

Hey, P.S. We can always use a little of the Rat Pack, dear. Thank you for reminding us of that Italian nova. <smile>

Well, folks, I noticed that Crash/2005 upset the predictions and won best picture at the oscars. I am truly happy about that because it really said a great deal about people and life among ethnic diversity.

Hey, listeners. Our Urs is having a birthday:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=70468&highlight=

What a wonderful lady she is.

Ring Lardner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Ringgold Wilmer Lardner (March 6, 1885 - September 25, 1933) was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre. Born in Niles, Michigan, from adolescence his ambition was to become a sports reporter, an ambition he fulfilled in 1907 by getting a position on the Chicago Inter-Ocean. He was editor of The Sporting News in St. Louis in 1910 and 1911; he contributed columns to the Boston American, Chicago American and others until 1919 when he joined a syndicate.

In 1916 Lardner published his first book of short stories, You Know Me, Al, which was written in the form of letters written by a bush league baseball player to a friend back home. Like most of Lardner's stories, it employed satire to show the stupidity and cupidity of a certain type of athlete. Lardner went on to write such well-known stories as Haircut, Some Like Them Cold, The Golden Honeymoon, Alibi Ike, and A Day in the Life of Conrad Green.

Lardner also had a lifelong fascination with the theatre, though his only success was June Moon, a comedy co-written with Broadway veteran George S. Kaufman. He did write a series of brief nonsense plays which poked fun at the conventions of the theatre using zany, offbeat humor and outrageous, impossible stage directions.

Lardner was a close friend of F. Scott Fitzgerald and other writers of the Jazz Age, and was published by Fitzgerald's editor, Maxwell Perkins. Lardner never wrote a novel, but is considered by many to be one of America's best writers of the short story.

Ring Lardner was married to Ellis Abbott of Goshen, Indiana in 1911. He died at age 48 in East Hampton, New York, of complications from tuberculosis. Their son, Ring Lardner, Jr., won two Academy Awards as a screenwriter and was blacklisted as one of the Hollywood Ten.

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

\Lou Costello
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Louis Francis Cristillo aka Lou Costello (March 6, 1906 - March 3, 1959) was an American actor, producer and comedian. He is best known as half of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Bud Abbott.


Birth

Costello was born in Paterson, New Jersey to an Italian American father and an Irish American mother; the family was Catholic. In 1927 he went to Hollywood to become an actor, but found work as a laborer at MGM and Warner Brothers. He worked temporarily as a stuntman, and then eventually became a burlesque comedian.


Bud Abbott

In the early 1930s, Costello crossed paths with a talented straight man named Bud Abbott. They formally teamed up in 1936, and performed together in burlesque shows, minstrel shows, vaudeville and movie houses.

Hollywood

In 1938 they received national exposure for the first time by performing on the Kate Smith radio show, which led to the duo signing with Universal the following year. Abbott and Costello appeared in their first film in 1940, a movie entitled One Night in the Tropics. Although Abbott and Costello were only filling supporting roles, they stole the film with their classic routine Who's On First?. (Abbott and Costello are often mentioned as the only two non-baseball players honored in the Baseball Hall of Fame museum in Cooperstown, New York, because of their legendary Who's On First? routine, even though that is not true.)

The team's breakout picture, however, was "Buck Privates" which was released early in 1941. They immediately became the top ranking comedy stars in Hollywood and fans looked upon each of their pictures as a major event. Most movie-goers had never seen the duo's Vaudeville routines, and so their dated but hilarious material seemed fresh. Many of their films showed them as bumbling servicemen such as In The Navy and Keep 'Em Flying. An amusing footnote to this is that the Japanese military showed these films to Japanese soldiers to demonstrate how inept American soldiers were.


Death of son

In 1943, Costello had an attack of rheumatic fever and was unable to work for a year. A tragic event shadowed his comeback. On the day Costello returned to do the team's popular radio show, his infant son, 'Butch', drowned in the family pool by accident. Lou said he had asked his wife in the morning to keep Butch up that night so he could hear his Dad on the radio for the first time. Rather than cancel the show, Lou said, "Wherever he is tonight, I want him to hear me." and went on as planned. No one in the audience knew of the tragedy, and Lou performed just as he always did. Only after the show had ended did Bud Abbott explain how the phrase "The show must go on" had been epitomized by Lou that night. People who knew Lou Costello said that he never recovered from the loss of his son.


Split up

Abbott and Costello split up in 1957, after troubles with the Internal Revenue Service that forced both men to sell off their large homes and the rights to some of their films.


Death

After making one unsuccessful solo film, The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock, Costello died of a heart attack three days before his 53rd birthday in 1959. He was interred in the Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles, California.

Memorials

On June 26th 1992 the city of Paterson (New Jersey) in conjunction with the Lou Costello Memorial Association erected a statue of Lou Costello in the newly named Lou Costello Memorial Park in the city's historic downtown section.

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

Ed McMahon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Ed McMahon (born Edward Leo Peter McMahon Jr., 6 March 1923 in Detroit, Michigan, USA) is most famous for his work on television as Johnny Carson's announcer on the Tonight Show. For more than 30 years, he introduced the show with a drawn-out "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny!". His booming voice and constant laughter earned him the nickname the Human Laugh Track.

He later also became well-known as the presenter of American Family Publishers sweepstakes (not to be confused with Publishers Clearing House) who arrives unannounced at the homes of winners. He subsequently made a series of Neighborhood Watch public service announcements reprising that role in parody.

He also hosted the long-running syndicated talent show Star Search, cohosted the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon, emceed the game shows Snap Judgment, Concentration and Who Dunnit?, and performed in numerous television commercials, most notably for Budweiser.

In the 1970s and 80s, he anchored the team of NBC personalities covering the network's coverage of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

McMahon has appeared in several films, including The Incident (1967), Fun With Dick and Jane (1976), Full Moon High (1981) and Butterfly (1982).

McMahon began his career as a bingo caller in Maine, when he was fifteen. He worked as a carnival barker for three years as a teenager, and put himself through college as a pitchman for vegetable slicers on the Atlantic City boardwalk. He attended The Catholic University of America where he joined the Phi Kappa Theta fraternity. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1949.


During World War II he was decorated as a Marine fighter pilot, and also served as a flight instructor and test pilot. He continued his military career in 1952 by flying 85 missions in Korea, and rose to the rank of full Colonel in the Marines, then was commissioned as Brigadier General in the California Air National Guard, a fact confirmed by John Garofalo but not believed due to his earlier proclivity towards exaggeration. Several of his ancestors, including the Marquis d'Equilly, also had long and distinguished military careers. A McMahon was a Marshall of armies in France and served under Napoleon III. McMahon also once asserted to Johnny Carson that an ancestor of his had something to do with the invention of the salad dressing known as mayonnaise. Since the origin of mayonnaise is unclear, it is also unclear if he was being sincere or just being funny.

McMahon served on the boards of The Marine Corps Scholarship Fund, the Horatio Alger Association, and St. Jude's Ranch for Children in Boulder City, Nevada. He was named honorary chairman of the National Marine Corps Aviation Museum to be built at Cherry Point, North Carolina. He was President of the Catholic University Alumni Association for four years.

In the 1990's, McMahon was considered one of the richer members of the Hollywood set with substantial investments in real estate (one of the largest landlords in Malibu), and in diversified brewing stocks. He was reputed to be worth in excess of $200 million in real estate holdings and real estate partnerships.

In 1986 "Weird Al" Yankovic wrote a tribute song titled "Here's Johnny".

From 1997 to 1998 he appeared in the situation comedy The Tom Show.

In 2004, he became the announcer and co-host of Alf's Hit Talk Show on TV Land.

As part of the introductory patter to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, McMahon would state his name out loud, pronouncing it as Ed "Mc MAH yon", but neither his long-time cohort Johnny Carson nor seemingly anyone else who interviewed him ever seemed to pick up on that subtlety, usually referring to him as Ed "Mc MAN".

The extroverted McMahon made a good counter to the notoriously shy Carson. Nonetheless, McMahon once told an interviewer that after his many decades as an emcee, he would still get "butterflies" in the stomach every time he would walk onto a stage. He said that instead of letting that nervousness defeat him, he would use it as "energy" for his role as emcee.

Recently, McMahon sued and won a substantial lawsuit related to toxic mold that overtook his home and ruined his priceless memorabilia collection.

He has just authored a memoir recounting his decades long relationship with Johnny Carson.

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

Mary Wilson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Mary Wilson (born March 4, 1944 in Greenville, Mississippi) is an American singer best known for her work as a member of the Motown soul and pop group The Supremes. Wilson was the only Supreme who was there from the very beginning in 1959, when the group was known as The Primettes, until the very end, when the group was dissolved in 1977. As a member of the Supremes, Wilson (along with Florence Ballard, Diana Ross, and later, Cindy Birdsong) enjoyed twelve US #1 hit records.

Biography

The Supremes

Main article: The Supremes

Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard were good friends in junior high school with a mutual interest in singing. When Milton Jenkins, manager of male vocal group The Primes, decided to form a female spin-off called The Primettes, he recruited Ballard, who recruited Wilson. Wilson then recruited a new friend of hers, Diane Ross, and Jenkins added Betty McGlown to complete the lineup.

By 1961, The Primettes had signed to Motown Records, replaced McGlown with Barbara Martin, and changed their name to The Supremes. In the early days, the girls traded lead vocals, with Wilson handling many of the ballads in her distinctive alto voice. The Supremes went two years without a Top 40 hit, finally scoring with "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through his Eyes" in 1963. By 1964, Diane Ross (now Diana Ross) was the sole lead singer of the group, which finally began a long streak of Holland-Dozier-Holland-helmed Top 10 hits, including ten US #1 hits, with "Where Did Our Love Go".

During the mid-1960s, Wilson dated and later lived with Four Tops member Abdul "Duke" Fakir. After three years of phenomenal success, Motown chief Berry Gordy changed the name of the group to Diana Ross & the Supremes and replaced Flo Ballard with Cindy Birdsong. The group carried on for the rest of the 1960s, although hits were less frequent than they had been during the middle part of the decade.

When Diana Ross left the group in 1970 for a solo career, singer Jean Terrell was brought in as her replacement. The "New" Supremes--Wilson, Terrell, and Birdsong--continued their hit-making process from 1970 through 1972 with big hits like "Up The Ladder To The Roof," "Stoned Love", "River Deep-Mountain High" (with The Four Tops), "Nathan Jones", and "Floy Joy".

Cindy Birdsong left the group in April 1972 to start a family and was replaced by singer Lynda Laurence, formerly of Stevie Wonder's Wonderlove group. This pairing didn't last long. After Stevie Wonder's "Bad Weather" failed to ignite much interest, both Jean and Lynda departed the group. Mary enlisted Scherrie Payne (Freda's younger sister) and welcomed back Cindy Birdsong to carry on the group.

Mary took charge of the Supremes, sharing lead vocal duties with Scherrie. This trio continued on until 1976, when Cindy was replaced by Susaye Greene, also a former Wonderlove member. With Susaye, the Supremes recorded two more albums before they disbanded and gave their final performance at the Drury Theatre in London. Since disbandment, Mary continues to take great pride in sometimes calling her show "The Supremes Show with Mary Wilson" or "The Supremes Starring Mary Wilson".


Solo career

Mary Wilson continued on as a solo artist, releasing her debut album on Motown Records entitled, Mary Wilson, and the single, "Red Hot," which hit #95 on the R&B/Soul charts in 1979. It wasn't long before she was on tour as "The Supremes' Mary Wilson." Motown dropped her from her contract in 1980, and Mary sought deals with Atlantic and the Boardwalk labels. In 1986, she released her first autobiography, Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme, a New York Times Best Seller for months that was also eventually released in paperback. The title of the book is taken from the Broadway musical Dreamgirls, thought to be based on the Supremes story.

In England, Mary recorded the dance single, "Don't Get Mad, Get Even" on the Motorcity label. In 1990, her second book, Supreme Faith: Someday, We'll Be Together, was released. She continued to tour, appearing in Vegas, Reno, Tahoe and other venues alongside comedians such as Jay Leno, Don Rickles, and Joan Rivers. In the early 1990s, Mary recorded her first solo album in 12 years, Walk the Line, on CEO Records. Two singles were released, "One Night With You," and the title track, "Walk the Line." The record company unfortunately folded, shortly after Mary's album was released.

On January 29, 1994, tragedy struck Mary when she fell asleep at the wheel of her Jeep Cherokee, which hit the central barrier of a highway in California. As a result of the accident, Mary suffered serious injuries and the youngest of her three children, 14-year-old Rafael Ferrer, died.

Later years

In the years since, Mary has released other records, namely "U" (1995) and "Turn Around" (1996) for various labels; both were hits in Europe. She continues to tour 9-10 months out of every year, singing those "old, old Supremes songs." In 1997, she moved to New York City and enrolled at New York University. She graduated from New York University in May of 2001 with an associate's degree in liberal arts. In April of 2001, she performed in the musical Leader of the Pack at the Shubert Theatre in Boston. The year after, she starred in the national touring company of Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies.

In March of 2003, she performed in The Vagina Monologues at the Detroit Opera House. In September of 2003, she began hosting The Motown Show, a syndicated radio program on Westwood One.

Mary is divorced and has two living children and five grandchildren. Currently, she is recording an album of songs taken from her personal diaries for the Holland brothers, co-writers of many of The Supremes' #1 hits of the 1960s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Wilson_%28singer%29


Havin A Party :: Supremes

(S. Cooke)

We are having a party
Dancing to the music
Played by the D.J.
On the radio

The cokes are in the ice box
Popcorn s on the table
Me and my baby
We re out here on the floor

So mister, mister D.J.
Keep those records playing
Cause we re having such a good time
Dancing with my baby

Havin a party
Everybody s swinging, dancing to the music
On the radio

We are havin a party
Everybody s swinging, dancing to the music
On the radio

So mister, mister D.J.
Keep those records playing
Cause we re having such a good time
Dancing with my baby

Sally s doing that twist
If you take requests
I ve got a few for you
Play that song called "Shot gun"
Play that one called "My girl"
Don t forget them
No other song will do

Mommy Test

I was out walking with my then 4 year old daughter.
She picked up something off the ground and started
To put it in her mouth.
I asked her not to do that.
"Why?"
"Because it's been laying outside and it is dirty and
Probably has germs."
At this point, she looked at me with total admiration
And asked, "Wow! How do you know all this stuff?"
Ooh," I was thinking quickly, "...all moms know this
Stuff. Um, it's on the Mommy Test. You have to
Know it, or they don't let you be a Mommy."
We walked along in silence for 2 or 3 minutes, but
She was evidently pondering this new information.
"OH...I get it!" she beamed, "So if you flunk, you
Have to be the Daddy."

Well, folks, there's our bio Bob with his usual celebs. Thanks, Boston, and I know most of them with the exception of Mary of the Supremes.

I recall having read "Hair Cut" by Ring Lardner as a kid so I'll have to check that out.

Of course, most of us know Elizabeth Browning and her wonderful relationship with Robert, one of my favorite poets. I have often wondered about where that Portuguese part came into play. Thanks for the explanation, hawkman.

Back later with a less popular but favorite sonnet of Elizabeth's.

Incidentally, Bob. That song by The Supremes was perfect for our radio. <smile> and we all loved your joke about daddies.

One of my favorite sonnet's from Elizabeth:

XXXVIII

First time he kissed me, he but only kissed
The fingers of this hand wherewith I write;
And ever since, it grew more clean and white,
Slow to world-greetings, quick with its ' Oh, list,'
When the angels speak. A ring of amethyst
I could not wear here, plainer to my sight,
Than that first kiss. The second passed in height
The first, and sought the forehead, and half missed,
Half falling on the hair. O beyond meed !
That was the chrism of love, which love's own crown,
With sanctifying sweetness, did precede.
The third upon my lips was folded down
In perfect, purple state; since when, indeed,
I have been proud and said, ' My love, my own.'

Good day all.

Great bios, Bob. I'll add one more and wish a Happy Birthday to:



Dame Kiri Te Kanawa ONZ AC DBE (born March 6, 1944), is a well-known New Zealand opera singer of Māori ancestry. In 1981, she was seen and heard around the world by an estimated 600 million people when she sang Handel's "Let the Bright Seraphim" at the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.

Te Kanawa was born in Gisborne, New Zealand. She was adopted as an infant and little is known about her birth parents. In her teens and early 20s, Te Kanawa was a pop star and popular entertainer at clubs in New Zealand.

She was also formally trained in operatic singing by the celebrated Dame Sister Mary Leo, who was already New Zealand's most well-known opera coach. She then began her singing career as a mezzo-soprano but later developed into a soprano. Her recording of the "Nuns' Chorus" from the Strauss operetta Casanova was New Zealand's first-ever gold record.

In 1965, she won the prestigious Mobil Song Quest, entered by all types of singers, jazz, pop and classical, with her performance of Puccini's "Vissi d'arte" from Tosca. As the winner, she received a grant to study in London. In 1966, she enrolled at the London Opera Study Centre.

In 1971, Te Kanawa made her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Countess Almaviva, in The Marriage of Figaro. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut on short notice in 1974 as Desdemona in Otello, replacing an ill Teresa Stratas at the last minute.

In subseqent years, she performed at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Paris Opera, Sydney Opera House, the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, San Francisco Opera, Munich and Cologne, adding the Mozart roles of Donna Elvira, Pamina, and Fiordiligi in addition to Italian roles such as Mimi in La bohème. Te Kanawa has a particular affinity for the heroines of Richard Strauss: the Marschallin, the Countess in Capriccio, and the title role in Arabella.

Te Kanawa has been overwhelmed with honours. She was created Dame Commander of The Order of the British Empire in 1982, invested with the Companion Order of Australia in 1990 and awarded the prestigious Order of New Zealand in the 1995 Queen's Birthday Honours List. She has also received honorary degrees from universities in Cambridge, Oxford, Nottingham, Durham, Dundee, Warwick, Chicago, Auckland and Waikato as well as being honorary fellow of Somerville College, Oxford and Wolfson College, Cambridge.

Te Kanawa retired from the opera stage after her performances in Samuel Barber's Vanessa with the Los Angeles Opera in 2004, but she still performs in concert halls.

Career highlights:

Born 6 March 1944 in Gisborne.
Studied under Sister Mary Leo 1959-1965 at St Mary's College in Auckland.
Had New Zealand's first ever gold disc with a popular classical tune.
Was second to Dame Malvina Major in the Mobil Song Quest in 1963, won it in 1965.
Won the Melbourne Sun Aria in 1965, and was awarded an Arts Council bursary to study at the London Opera Centre.
Sang at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, at the Royal Opera House in London, and La Scala in Milan, Italy.
In 1981 sang at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in St Paul's Cathedral.
Became Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in 1982, and has returned to New Zealand to sing several times, including the New Year's millennium concert at Gisborne in January 2000.
In 1994 celebrated her 50th birthday, culminating in a spectacular Birthday Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London.
November 1999 released a new album Māori Songs.
Sang in her last opera, Vanessa, in 2004, but continues with recitals and concerts and organising the Dame Kiri Foundation, to help young music students.

Well, there's our Raggedy. Fabulous bio yourself, PA. I have never heard of the lady, but if she has maori ancestry, she must be good. <smile>

Thanks, gal.

You know, folks, I searched out two people today. One, Ring Lardner and skimmed his "Hair Cut" short story. (don't recall it being so gruesome) and John Le Carre. Was I ever surprised to find out Le Carre was a nom de plume. The only thing that I ever read by him was THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD. Great book, and then I see he won an award for The Reluctant Gardner.

RAGGEDY'S BACK!!!

Hooray!

William Ernest Henley. 1849-1903

Invictus

OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance 5
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade, 10
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate: 15
I am the captain of my soul.

Letty, Don't tell anybody, but I'm back!

Hey, Eva. She's been back for a couple of days. Probably caught you off guard when you were immersed in James Taylor<smile>

Love Invictus, Bob, but I can still see Timothy McVeigh's eyes as they gave him that lethal injection. That was the poem that he felt was him.

Well, where in the world are our European friends?

OH, MY GAWD, It's our C.I.

HOORAH!