What do you do when your writers are on strike? Crossover, baby! Crossover.
[flv:/Video/2008/FEB/ColbertConanStewart.flv 440 330]Conan O’Brien is scary tall.
Year: 2008
Run, Run, Run
I am registering for the Boston Marathon. Last year was a no-go because of my ankle injury. Honestly, I don’t know if I’ll be in shape to even finish it this year. I’m fifteen pounds over my ideal running weight. Also, I haven’t yet tested my ankle for a distance longer than 12 miles. I’ll be doing that next weekend, when I attempt to go for sixteen. Getting into shape isn’t easy! Staying in shape once you’re there is much easier.
Charlie Brown’s Coke Catch
New England is close to losing the Super Bowl, and I only have time to post a couple of frames from the Coke commercial with Charlie Brown beating out Underdog and the other cartoon character whose name I can’t recall because I don’t watch the show.
P.S. Well, that’s it. With 35 seconds left, New England has lost. Grrr…
Randy Bachman’s Vinyl Tap
Saturday night is oldies night everywhere, it seems, even in Canada, eh? CBC Radio One has Randy Bachman’s Vinyl Tap. Randy Bachman was the first name in Bachman Turner Overdrive, and before that with Burton Cummings he formed the core of The Guess Who, a band that had a string of big hits in the late 60’s and early 70’s.
David Lee Roth had an infamous failed attempt at being a DJ, but other musicians have done well as radio hosts. I always enjoy Nights With Alice Cooper, aired Saturdays over WZLX in Boston. Bachman is also very good. It comes in on 1550 AM on my GE Superadio III, but it’s better to play the live streaming audio.
Tonight, Bachman had an all-British show, starting with songs by Cliff Richard and The Shadows, and finishing, of course, with Petula Clark. Here are the last 10+ minutes of tonight’s program.
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/2008/FEB/RandyBachman.mp3]Did you hear “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You” by The Foundations? To my ears this is definitely a different vocal than the American single, maybe even a different singer. I happen to have an original 45 of the song from 1967. And here it is.
As always, I’ll rely on Pop Musicologist D.F. Rogers to provide some explanation.
Quick Notes
- Singer/songwriter Andy Pratt, who had a huge hit in ’73 with “Avenging Annie,” commented on one of my Pet Clark posts. It’s here if you didn’t see it in the RSS comment feed. I highly recommend clicking on Andy’s name to go to his MySpace page, and from there to his Web site and beyond. Don’t miss Andy’s friend Milli Moonstone!
- January had over 100,000 hits on this blog from over 5000 different addresses — excluding my own, of course.
Jon Provost’s Well-Told Tale
Timmy’s In The Well, Jon Provost’s autobiography, written with his wife Laurie Jacobson, is an amazing accomplishment. If you ever watched Jon as Timmy Martin in Lassie, you must get this book. Click here to see a complete episode of Lassie with Jon.
This is not a book for kids. Provost vividly evokes the sweeping social changes in America in the staid 50’s, through the psychedelic 60’s, and beyond. This is a real insider’s view of growing up in Hollywood, with many revelations about the life of a TV child star. All of the wild fun, the hard work, and the bitter pain, is told matter-of-factly, with total honesty and utter sincerity. There are many quotes and comments from colleagues and friends in the entertainment business, and although the photos are small, there are a lot of them, conveniently integrated into the text.
Jon Provost is appearing today at Canine Companions for Independence in Santa Rosa, California, where he lives. Santa Rosa is also home to the Charles M. Schulz Museum. Schulz’s widow Jeannie is a board member of Canine Companions for Independence.
