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The Differences in Different Drum

Ronstadt

I have indelibly strong memories of hearing the Stone Poneys’ Different Drum on 77 WABC when I was a kid. It was one of those records that I was always especially excited to hear, even before I knew what Linda Ronstadt looked like. The way the single was put together was, like its singer, perfect, and it made me keenly aware of how the sound of a record can be as important as the song itself. My favorite singer was Petula, but even to my pre-adolescent ears I knew that Linda had a wider vocal range.

The Wall Street Journal steps out of character with this blog-like item telling how Mike Nesmith’s song Different Drum became Linda Ronstadt’s first hit single. The comparison between the recording of the song by the Greenbriar Boys that interested Linda, and her own version, illustrates my point about record production. Nick Venet, who helped Brian Wilson develop the Beach Boys sound, produced Different Drum.

A video that’s missing from the WSJ post is Mike Nesmith’s intentionally botched attempt at singing Different Drum on the Monkees TV show.

Evan gets even

Forty years ago I was in the first semester of my freshman year at Westfield State College. I was accepted at UMass in Amherst and at Boston University, but I had to put myself through school, and the only way I could afford to do that was by attending one of the 4-year state colleges in Massachusetts.

I worked hard to earn my B.A. in Economics, and I am very unhappy with the trouble that is going on at Westfield State now, because of Evan Dobelle.

What Boston Globe reporter Scott Allen doesn’t say in the video is that these events are history repeating itself, because Dobelle went through this before, ten years ago at the University of Hawaii. The difference is that the board of trustees in Hawaii didn’t want to hassle with a lawsuit, and they decided to give Dobelle a generous settlement to make him go away.

Close Encounters of the Third Season Kind

If it’s true that the third and final season of Star Trek is the weakest, it’s certainly also true of Lost in Space, which became quite silly toward the end of its run. But I have a fondness for season 3 of LiS, because the month before it started my father bought the family’s first color TV. Another reason for my continued interest in the series had to do with being a boy who had just turned twelve.

I’ve just finished watching a third season episode called Hunter’s Moon, which features my mother’s old friend, Vincent Beck, who I talked about at this link. Vince was never one to turn down a job, no matter how he looked playing the part.

Early in the episode, “Special Guest Star” Jonathan Harris as the always insufferable Dr. Zachary Smith exclaims, “We’re doomed! We’re Doomed!” Ten years later, Anthony Daniels would pick up on that expression as C-3PO.