(Above: If you look up "groovy," you get this image.) February 8, 1969 The final issue of The Saturday Evening Post is published. It makes a brief return as an every-so-often magazine a year later. Tomorrow morning, a new airplane will make its maiden flight - a jumbo jet that Boeing has dubbed the 747. … Continue reading New this week in ’69: February 8
WGVU
Congratulations to Johnny B! Johnny and the Leisure Suits, “Just Havin’ Fun” (1981)
(Above: In the early 90s, in Chicago, you had this CD. It was the law.) The Hyper Rooster is in the Hall. For the second year in a row a local Chicago radio legend has gotten the call for the Radio Hall of Fame. Jonathon Brandmeier, who held down mornings at WLUP in Chicago through … Continue reading Congratulations to Johnny B! Johnny and the Leisure Suits, “Just Havin’ Fun” (1981)
“L’amour est bleu” and other mellow sounds: The Billboard Hot 100, February 17, 1968
(Above: The song at Number One, as I remember it looking....) Fifty years ago this week Paul Mauriat's "Love Is Blue" was the number one song in the country. About three years after that it became my earliest memory of a phonograph. I've shared a picture before of my mother holding me next to our … Continue reading “L’amour est bleu” and other mellow sounds: The Billboard Hot 100, February 17, 1968
‘Twas the day after Christmas, and all through the mall: Atlantic Soul Classics (1985)
(Above: The mall used to get a bit trashed on the day after Christmas.) In my career, I have worked in three main areas: Retail (1985-1988). My first job was selling cigarettes to minors at a gas station in Tinley Park, IL. From there I moved to working at the mall. Most of the time … Continue reading ‘Twas the day after Christmas, and all through the mall: Atlantic Soul Classics (1985)
The last show: WGVU-AM, July 28, 2012
(Above: Me, in the studios of WCKS student radio, 2015) I guess I never expected that there would be a last radio show. I mean, I should have expected it. When I decided to go back to school in the fall of 1999, working to piece together the wreckage that was my undergraduate education by … Continue reading The last show: WGVU-AM, July 28, 2012
The politically incorrect jukebox: Bill Dana, “The Astronaut” (1961)
(Above: the cover of Bill Dana's breakthrough LP.) Comedian Bill Dana passed away last week at the age of 92. Dana wrote one of the most powerful television episodes dealing with race in the history of the medium - the episode of All in the Family where Sammy Davis, Jr. pays a visit to the … Continue reading The politically incorrect jukebox: Bill Dana, “The Astronaut” (1961)
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