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Millvina Dean, the last accepted survivor of the R.M.S. Titanic disaster, died on May 31, 2009 at the age of 97. She was only a few weeks old when she, her brother, and her parents boarded the famous doomed ship in Southamption, England. (Her father went down with the ship.) Her ashes were scattered at the docks in Southampton on October 24, 2009 in a ceremony attended by family, friends, and about 150 members of the British Titanic Society. Dean is pictured here in 1998 autographing movie posters.
Tags:
Titanic
survivor
Millvina
Dean
Added: 25th October 2009
Views: 859
Rating: 
Posted By: Lava1964 |
 
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The Jeffersons was a hugely successful spinoff from All in the Family, running for 10 seasons from 1975 to 1985. It also inspired a not-so-successful spinoff: Checking In.
On The Jeffersons, Marla Gibbs played Florence Johnston, the sassy, wisecracking maid who regularly exchanged insults with George Jefferson. Her character was so well liked by viewers that CBS figured it would be a smart move to give Gibbs her own series. Accordingly, in episode #154 and #155 of The Jeffersons, a hotel manager was so impressed by Florence that he offered her the job as supervisor of maids at his St. Frederick Hotel. Florence accepted and Checking In was born. It premiered on Thursday, April 9, 1981. Larry Linville (Major Frank Burns from MASH fame) played Lyle Block, the hotel's weasly manager and, naturally, Florence's nemesis. After four weeks, though, Checking In was floundering in the ratings and CBS pulled the plug after the April 30 episode. Smartly, the network had Gibbs return to the Jeffersons' household as their maid. In her return episode, #161, Florence arrives at the Jeffersons' door explaining that the hotel burned down! (Her clothing and hair had traces of soot and fire damage to add credibility to the plot twist!) She had to compete with new maid Carmen to get her old job back. After missing just five shows, Gibbs' Florence character remained on The Jeffersons until the series ended in 1985.
Marla Gibbs was nominated for an Emmy as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy in for five stright years (1981 through 1985) for her role as Florence Johnston. Gibbs' career accomplishments are even more impressive when one considers she was married at age 13 and had three children by age 20! She still managed to graduate from Wendell Phillips High School in Chicago. A performer in amateur theatricals, Gibbs was working as a customer service agent for United Airlines when she got her role on The Jeffersons. Cautiously, she waited until The Jeffersons was a bonafide hit show before quitting her job at United!
Tags:
Marla
Gibbs
checking
In
Jeffersons
sitcom
Added: 28th August 2011
Views: 627
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Remember? It's the final biggie for Florida's individuals. The men had established themselves then with a cool way all their own.
The memorable tune was the last massive stand for the men. Totally sold for weeks on its 1st outing, mainly thanks to AM. The men achieved six number ones during their partnership. It is best remembered as the one that made the guys depart into separate ways after having success in '75. The following year was as well a fantastic time for the guys. People were driving all over town with sunshine in their ears. Unfortunately, with spending much time at the top, it was the final on the chart, it had actually became the 1st top-charter in the year 1980. A tune that could be heard right through Xmas of '79 into the new year.
Ever since the Seventies, KC (Harry Wayne Casey) has been making himself move; singing and shaking to his fans across stages worldwide. Did you know that the man also released his own material since then too. "All I want" would be worth you're time-give it a try!
Most critics have agreed that his solo work was worthy of being brought on the charts.
The group achieved more in a short time than what most bands achieve in a decade or more.
Today, KC and the rest can be heard in movies, and being sampled in other tunes that you may not even recognise.
They were a group effort that had more hits than others could only dream for in that time. Do you remember highly creditable dance hits, the former groups singer has proceeded on after an amazing revival of KC and the Sunshine Band's hits were played on 70s nostagia stations in the 1990s? The singer was recently seen on "American Idol" in 2009, showing all that he still has the ability to get people on their feet and dance.
Simply fantastic from a band that should of went on with more of the same energy they created on vinyl.
Now, let me concentrate on original bass player Richard Finch. A man also known for his studio production abilities.
Let us learn the truth to the bassist as he was the one who brought an inventive variety of numerous Sunshine Band brass players to the iconic seventies group. I would not want to be ridiculed on here for posting false information, right?
The talented musican has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! With people like this, there is nothing more you can do but be happy for him for being a unique individual. I mean, after all, he was partly responsible responsible for bringing KC and the Sunshine Band's music into our lives, especially with his musical abilities as a songwriter and musician.
Also, you can say as well that Richard Finch brought international acclaim to the group with his ear for on-going funky dance music.
Now with working together with singer Harry Wayne Casey (KC), they both became very successful with their original compositions. You can't deny this fact, or any of these truths to the tune or its history.
Hey, I went to music business school to study history and genres, and getting myself into the industry.
But I found out the truth's with it, and discovering it was not what I thought. Music is better to know as a listener. Hey, I love getting grilled on YRT with questions. What more could one ask for? This is the life of a teacher with an awareness to get asked the unasked. How does one prevent negative surprises online? By doing something uncommon. A nil response. My Motto: I am only going to promote awareness and interest in popular culture for the masses to reflect upon.
Published by *E*
Tags:
Grammys
Record
45
Miami
City
Number
One!
Added: 11th November 2009
Views: 1720
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Posted By: Electricland |
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In the autumn of 1941 many football fans began following the exploits of Plainfield (NJ) Teachers College. Too bad the school and its football team didn't really exist. It was an elaborate hoax that fooled hundreds of newspapers--even the New York Times' sports department--and thousands of college football fans. Stockbroker Morris Newburger and radio announcer Alexander (Bink) Dannenbaum concocted the idea of a mythical college football team. Using the name 'Jerry Croyden,' Newburger telephoned the New York City newspapers while Dannenbaum phoned the Philadelphia papers with fantastic stories of Plainfield's lopsided victories over nonexistent schools. With the newspapers printing Plainfield's scores week after week without question, Newburger and Dannenbaum got bolder. They began writing creative press releases about the new football powerhouse. One release praised Plainfield's star runningback, a 'full-blooded Chinese-American' sophomore named Johnny (The Celestial Comet) Chung. Chung's amazing abilities on the gridiron were credited to the handfuls of wild rice he ate during huddles. The Teachers' offense operated out of an innovative 'W' formation in which all the linemen but the center faced backwards. Colorful Hopalong Hobelitz was named as Plainfield's coach. Six weeks of spectacular Plainfield victories raised speculation that the team might secure a bid to a coveted bowl game. Curious journalist Red Smith of the Philadelphia Record journeyed to Plainfield to find the college. Of course, there wasn't one. Their fraud exposed, Newburger and Dannenbaum confessed--but only after Jerry Croyden issued one final bogus press release. It announced Plainfield was forfeiting its remaining games because Chung and several other players were declared academically ineligible after flunking their exams.
Tags:
Plainfield
Teachers
College
football
hoax
Added: 12th November 2009
Views: 1542
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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It was the innovation that saved professional basketball: The 24-second shot clock. Coach Howard Hobson came up with with the idea of a shot clock, but it was first used in 1954 in Syracuse, New York. There Danny Biasone, the owner of the National Basketball Association's Syracuse Nationals, experimented with a 24-second version during a scrimmage game. He then convinced the NBA to adopt it. In the pre-shot clock days, the NBA had problems attracting fans and television coverage. This was largely due to the stalling tactics used by teams once they took the lead. Without the shot clock, teams could pass the ball in the front court endlessly without penalty. If the team in the lead chose to stall, the trailing team was forced to commit fouls to get the ball back following the free throw. Low-scoring, boring games with many fouls were common. The most extreme case occurred on November 22, 1950, when the Fort Wayne Pistons defeated the Minneapolis Lakers 19-18. A few weeks later, the Rochester Royals and Indianapolis Olympians played a soporific six-overtime game with only one shot in each overtime. The NBA tried several rule changes in the early 1950s to speed up the game and reduce fouls before eventually adopting Biasone's idea. How did Biasone arrive at the strange figure of 24 seconds? According to Biasone, 'I looked at the box scores from games I enjoyed, games where they didn't screw around and stall. I noticed each team took about 60 shots. That meant 120 shots per game. So I took 48 minutes--2,880 seconds--and divided that by 120 shots. The result was 24 seconds per shot.' When the shot clock first came into vogue, it made players so nervous that it hardly came into play; players were generally taking fewer than 20 seconds to shoot. According to Syracuse player Dolph Schayes, 'We thought we had to take quick shots. But as time went on, we saw the inherent genius in Danny's 24 seconds. You could work the ball around for a good shot.'
Tags:
NBA
shot
clock
Added: 15th November 2009
Views: 1861
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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Remember them? I meant to talk about these clean-cut group of boys yesterday, but anyways, here is a 1966 clip that was shown on the farewell of "Hullaballoo", which was televised 4/11/66 on NBC.
The nation-wide program was a direct copy of the teen-attended "Shindig" show.
This sixties telecast had all the cool acts at the time; all who were being popularized by the medium of television.
Singer Paul Anka introduces the group here with the enthusiasm of what was the 1960s.
With their success playing at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, the group were about to receive the finest management that was not at all common.
You may not be aware, The Cyrkle was not just another American band from the mid-60s. This group had certain pro's in the business behind them.
This clip of their most famous hit "Red Rubber Ball", became a number two hit on the Billboard chart marker for this unusual reason.
Musicians Don Dannemann on guitar and lead vocals, bassist and backup vocalist Tom Dawes were the two responsible for getting their act together in the "Keystone State" known as Pennsylvania. It was the moment Brian Epstein got involved that things eventually changed, Brian immediately became interested in getting a contract together with the four members.
Brian's business partner Nathan Weiss, had attended a Atlantic City show with the band performing.
At the time, the boys were know as The Rhondells.
He obviously saw the potential in them with their 1965 concert.
He took over entirely with "making them over" to something that would be a record-hit selling group.
Weeks later, musican John Lennon gave some input to Brian's new discovery, Lennon suggested that the new name should be spelt in a different manner.
In 1966, a decision was made for The Cyrkle to join the Beatles for their American tour.
The Dodger Stadium show was an eventful moment for the Cyrkle as it gave them the chance to expose their sound to a great deal of the teen audience. The band owned a great deal of debt for the opportunity that night. The group though was part of a few other acts picked to open the eventful concert.
A favorite from the era, The Cyrkle's 1966 song "Red Rubber Ball," landed on the number two position that year on the vinyl single selling chart.
A cool fact about this was that Paul Simon of Simon and Garfunkel and Bruce Woodley of The Seekers helped in creating this composition for the band. Nothing may of happened if it weren't for Simon. At some point, Paul passed along the song to The Cyrkle when the boys were the opening act for for Simon and Garfunkle.
Their record company, Columbia now had a hit on its hands, this was thanks to the creative output given to the boy group.
The Cyrkle would return to the charts with "Turn-Down Day," as a follow-up in 1966.
The group recorded one more album, and a soundtrack for a risky adult flick called "The Minx", which came out during 1967. It was not well received by critics due to its poor subject matter. The Cyrkle went for a psychedelic sounding soundtrack album filled with harmonies, clearly presented as a departure from The Cyrkle's familiar sound.
Soon after, more 45's came out, but the group felt like breaking-up. Their past success was hard to match, which was just at the end of the year of 1967.
Following-up, members of the group remained in the business by going into television commercial territory.
Two of the guitarists became popular jingle composers.
One of them was for Alka-Seltzer. It was Tom Dawes who had turned out the "plop plop fizz fizz" tune for the company. The other, Danneman as well wrote popular jingles that kept advertisers happy with positive sales.
Danneman wrote for Swanson Foods and the Continental Airlines Corportation commercials.
Both were successful with their television advertising careers.
Also to Danneman's credit was the famous 7Up Uncola tune.
Together, their jingle ability was proven to be second to none in the business of selling products to consumers. Bandmates did do one last benefit show where they had originally formed, that was back in 1986 in Easton, Pennsylvania.
Published by *E*
Tags:
TV
Earl
Pickens
Paul
McCartney
Radio
Ringo
Starr
Marty
Fried
USA
George
Harrison
Britain
Added: 2nd December 2009
Views: 1475
Rating:
Posted By: Electricland |
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Something that brought attention to the "Philly" lady back then, originally done in the late Nineteen Sixties from Tommy James and the Shondells. Remember him? The thing about the significant other one is that, it really went to the lower bottom of No. Eighteen - then went right out off the chart. Kinda a wonder how that happened so fast? Big one week, practically gone the following. Tommy and the Shondells percussion player put, both together, really made the effort to make a great sounding composition unlike anything they did prior; perfecting the steady number lyrically and instrumentally. The update had a harder edge than the '68 one. It was from an album that really showed how strong she is in the field. The release was a success for weeks. The updated one, it climbed up to the seven spot. The woman had a tough time getting a deal at first though. How many don't know that? In the end, she really proved herself with so many cover sleeves. And, you can really feel her coming off the disc. The lady was really influenced by what she saw on a trip to the United Kingdom, then did her best to project the appeal to the people she was trying to capture with her solid sound. She is still on the live circuit. And she inspired women globally with the actual fact that if she could do it, then they could do it too. Many of them became interested in her for this reasoning. This prompted the woman to continue on with what she does best worldwide. *E*
Tags:
Radio
USA
Added: 10th December 2009
Views: 894
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Posted By: Electricland |
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One of the strangest stories of the Second World War was the bizarre flight of Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's deputy, who unexpectedly parachuted into Scotland on May 10, 1941 on a mysterious mission, apparently undertaken on his own. (This photo shows the wreckage of his plane.) The details of Hess' mission are still shrouded in mystery; the British government will not release its official documents until 2016. Historians tend to believe that Hess boldly 'dropped in' on Britain to negotiate a separate peace with the western Allies so Nazi Germany would not have to fight a two-front war. (Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union would begin six weeks later.) Hess was promptly captured by locals and imprisoned for the remainder of the war. An enraged Hitler ordered that Hess be shot on sight if he ever again set foot in Germany. The British believed Hess was mad. His initial behavior at the Nuremburg Trials in 1946 seems to confirm this: Hess constantly counted on his fingers and laughed for no apparent reason. He claimed no knowledge of his days in Nazi Germany. His antics so unnerved fellow defendant Hermann Goring that Goring asked not to be seated beside Hess in the prisoners' box. Later in the tral, Hess' sanity seemed to return. Hess and six others were given life sentences, to be served in Spandau Prison in West Berlin. By 1966 the other six prisoners had been released. As Hess aged, the western Allies repeatedly asked for Hess to be released on humanitarian grounds. The Soviet Union always vetoed the request. Hess was the only prisoner at Spandau for 21 years until his curious death on August 17, 1987. He was found hanging in a garden house, strangled by an electrical wire. It was ruled a suicide. Family members doubted the accuracy of the report because by 1987 the 93-year-old Hess was so enfeebled that he could no longer tie his own shoes. Further conspiracy theories state that the man in Spandau Prison was not even Hess at all, but in fact a double. Spandau Prison was demolished after Hess' death so it would not become a shrine for Nazi sympathizers.
Tags:
Nazi
Rudolf
Hess
mysteries
Added: 14th December 2009
Views: 671
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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This internationally known English group began in 1978, right up until 1984. DJ's loved this two guy group for their brand of dance material.
This reworked vision was brought out in the early 1990s, since it was continuing to be played on radio and within the club/dance scene.
Years later, the two British artists remixed the track in 1991, and recently took up touring in 2001.
It was clear that their synthpop instrumentations had inspired many pop groups, especially those who had came out in the late eighties and early nineties.
Mostly, the duo of David Ball and singer Marc Almond are best remembered for the 1981 cover
version of Gloria Jones original 1964 classic.
If you can recall Brit singer Marc Bolan, well, Gloria Jones was hooked up with the legendary performer for a few years, up until his passing. I still remember hearing the recording with a mix of the Supremes "Where Did Our Love Go". It was a nine minute chart topper for months. Remember twelve-inch singles?
The dancing version was known back then as a Guinness World Record holder for the biggest consecutive stay on the all-important Billboard Chart. Wowed at 43 weeks, a big deal for any recording in the eighties.
Ironically, the group of two lost out on a big sum of money due to not including one of their own compositions on the flipside of the 45 or a long-played mixed single. Remember those? The two peformers since have though have made "original" recordings released in Britain.
*E*
Tags:
1991
Love
Added: 10th February 2010
Views: 1021
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Posted By: Electricland |
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There seems to be a lot of bits written about Canada these past weeks.
I betcha that some of you had no idea that in 1957 a little series was shot in rural Pickering, Ontario. It eventually ended up having more than one title when shown worldwide in syndication.
At the time, it was up against the best that was being made across the border. It's of common knowledge that the show managed to be more rugged and realistic than most others at the time. It was photographed outside, far away from the sunny west coast of America. Some of it looks quite cold.
it did cause a lot of attention at the time with a total of thirty nine performances that were brought and eventually marketed widespread overseas.
Chingachgook and Hawkeye were played by Lon Chaney, Jr. and John Hart. On set, both were up against the weak-minded badness both encountered each week.
You could see that they were clearly enjoying themselves in the two iconic roles.
Unfortunately, the clincher to this was that it got itself a tough deal when advertisers had misunderstood the productions producers. With this approach, the end was over for the frontier side of life. *E*
Tags:
YRT
Check
My
Blog
Added: 13th March 2010
Views: 769
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Posted By: Electricland |
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