List of Notable Graduates from Fairfax High School in Los Angeles-- Part 2

RAMI JAFFEE--  Keyboardist for the Wallflowers
DAVID JANSSEN--  Actor "The Fugitive"
JACK KEMP--  NFL and politician

JEROME "JERRY" LEIBER--  Lyricist of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller
DEMI MOORE--  actress
RICARDO MONTALBAN--  Actor "Rich Corinthian Leather," Mr. Roarke in "Fantasy island," TV and movie "Star Trek."  "The Khan"

MICKEY ROONEY--  actor
ALLAN SHERMAN--  musician and parodist "Muddah, Fattah."
LARRY SHERRY--  MLB, MVP 1959 World Series  (When they beat the White Sox)

SLASH--  Guitarist Guns N' Roses
HILLEL SLOVAK--  Guitarist Guns N' Roses
PHIL SPECTOR--  record producer

WARREN ZEVON--  musician

Quite a Lineup.  --RoadDog

Lots of Notable Graduates from Fairfax High School in Los Angeles-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

In the last blog entry about the death of record producer David Anderle, I mentioned that he graduated from Fairfax High School in Los Angeles and had Herb Alpert, Jerry Moss and Shel Talmy as classmates.  That is a lot of music talent from one high school, so I decided to check out the list of notable alumni on the school's Wikipedia page.

I was quite impressed with the list.  This is just part of it, mostly the ones I am familiar with.  Jerry Moss was not listed as a graduate.

STEVEN ADLER--  Drummer Guns N' Roses
HERB ALPERT--  musician and music industry executive (A&M Records)
MICHAEL "FLEA" BALZARY--  Red Hot Chili Peppers

LARRY GELBART--  TV write and producer MASH
DARLA HOOD--  actress on "Our Gang"
TIMOTHY HUTTON--  actor

JACK IRONS--  Drummer Red Hot Chili Peppers
JACKIE JACKSON--  Jackson Five
TITO JACKSON--  Jackson Five

And, There Are More to Come.  RoadDog


YOU MIGHT BE A YANKEE IF:  You have no idea what a polecat is.

JSIS (More): Sinking Houses, $34 Million Sunken Treasure, Not So Peachy for Georgia

JSIS-- Just Some Interesting Stuff (More). From the July 23, 2013, USA Today. (Sure wish they hadn't raised the price 100% from $1 to $2, especially with no increase in issue size or coverage.

1. SINKING HOUSES-- Eight homes sank and ten others were in danger in a mountaintop subdivision in Lakeport, California. Things got so bad that the U.S. Postal Service refused to make mail deliveries. Found out a leaking county water system had saturated the mountain. Getting that old sinking feeling.

2. $34 MILLION SUNKEN TREASURE-- The Odyssey Marine and Exploration reported it had recovered more than 61 tons of silver from the wreck on the SS Gairsoppa off the Irish coast. The ship had been torpedoed by a German U-boat in February 1941 and the haul is estimated to be worth $34 million. I wrote more about this in my World War II blog. Not a Bad Day's Work.

3. NOT SO PEACHY IN GEORGIA-- The state, long known as the Peach State may have to rethink its slogan. The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture reported that the value of the state's blueberry crop passed peaches in 2005 and continues to widen the gap. Blueberries generated $94 million in 2012, more than three times what peaches did.

Welcome to the Blueberry State. --RoadDog

Dwight Sings Buck-- Part 2

Buck Owens was the founder of the Bakersfield Sound. Merle Haggard, another one of my favorite performers, is also a practitioner of the sound. Don Rich, a member of Buck's band was also in on the creation of this sound.

Dwight Yoakam revitalized the Bakersfield Sound (also called Bakersfield Honky Tonk with his "Little Sister" and "Guitars, Cadillacs, and Hillbilly Music." He had 17 top ten country songs and sold more than 23 million albums. I have more than a few of those.

Back Owens died March 25, 2006.

I remember John Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater Revival "Listening to Buck Owens" while looking out their backdoor. That would be great if John Fogerty would also do an album of Buck Owens music. Oh well. wishful hoping.

The 15 tracks on "Dwight Sings Buck" makes for a great road cruisin' companion if you can afford the gas.

Great Music to Listen to While Travelin' Down that Two Lane Highway. --RoadDog

McRibs Are Back!!!!

Without a doubt, my favorite offering from McDonald's is the McRib sandwich. This sandwich's appearance guarantees a few stops while it is available. And, for $2.19, it is a good deal, used to be $1.99, but that non-existent inflation, you know.

Here in Fox Lake, Illinois, you can get a meal for about $4.

It made my poor, sick drive home from Tennessee a much better time when I got off I-65 by Remington, Indiana, and saw it advertised at the local McD's. Real fast stop.

Then that savory, tasty treat that I've been waiting for all these past months.

Other McD items I like: Johnsonville brats (also seasonal), the $1 double cheeseburger, and the steak, egg, and cheese breakfast bagel.

Of course, McDonald's history goes back to Route 66 in San Bernardino, Ca., with the original McDonald's, and the very first Ray Kroc McDonald's in nearby Des Plaines, Il., on the historic US-12. I've been told, Ray Kroc could often be found out cleaning the parking lot.

Crazy 'Bout Dem McRibs. --RoadDog

Where Were You on July 1, 1967?

Where were you, and what were you doing back 40 years ago? Some of you were not even alive. I was 16 that summer between my sophomore and junior years and had not even met my wife to be, Liz. We met in the fall of that year when she transferred to Palatine High School from Madonna High in Chicago.

That was the same summer that the family went on a major vacation all the way from Illinois to San Francisco, California, down the coast, to San Diego, to Tijuana, Mexico, and back home via the Grand Canyon and I'm sure good old Route 66, although it didn't mean anything to me at the time; just another road.

If you want to relive those good times by way of the music being played during that Summer of Love and Sgt. Pepper's, you need to tune into Bob Stroud's Rock and Roll Roots Time Warp this Sunday from 7 to 10 AM Central. He will be playing songs that were popular on July 1, 1967 according to the WLS and WCFL charts (these were the two big AM stations all the kids in the Chicagoland area listened to back then).

You can listen to it at http://www.wdrv.com/

He is doing four three hour shows at the first Sunday of each month to celebrate the 1967 Summer of Love. This is the second one.

Not only does he play the music, but has a lot of incite and comments about what was going on. He even plays old station ids and commercials. Remember, "See the USA in your ______".

I'm sure Mom will not be listening to it. She wasn't in"into" that kind of music.

Going Back to the Days of my Youth, many, many, many years ago. --RoadDog


By the way, the Drive is still playing their 2000 essential rock songs A to Z. At 2 PM, they were doing all songs that began with the letter P.