The Real St. Patrick's Day-- Part 2: Blogs, Irish Music, Stucky's, Shepherd's Pie, Corned Beef & Cabbage, Jim Seig and MargaritaO'ville

THURSDAY, MARCH 17

Like I said in an earlier post, this St. Patrick's Day was a whole lot more fun than the one in 2020.

Listened to CDs by Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly.  Irish music with an edge as you might guess with names like that.  Listened to that great You Tube mix of Irish Drinking Songs.  

Posted to all blogs.

Met Kevin and Kelly at Stucky's in Johnsburg for our St. Patrick's Day meal.  Kevin and Liz had the corned beef & cabbage while Kelly and I had the shepherd's pie.  I don't remember ever having shepherd's pie before and it is excellent.

We had a discussion as to where shepherd's pie came from.  I kind of thought it was from England, but Kelly said it was from Ireland.  I looked it up later and she was right.

Lots of green being worn for some reason and Krystal was quite an eyeful.  Watched some more of the NCAA on TV.  More great games.  Jim Seig and his band performed as they do every Thursday at Stucky's.  We've been listening to him for at least 30 years.  Great time.

Came home and watched more NCAA Tournament in Margaritaville, our basement bar.

Quite warm for this time of the year.  Made it even nicer, especially after how cold it was last weekend.

A Touch O' the Irish.  --RoadPie

How I Do These Music Deaths Posts

I get the names and dates from the Hope I Die Before I Get Old site.  The first thing about the person you read also comes from that site.  

Then I go to obituaries and/or Wikipedia for the rest of the information as well as Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1993."

Then, I go to You Tube and listen to their music, especially if it is an artist I don't know very well.  I have found a lot of artists that I wish I had known about earlier.  Outstanding music.

--RoadDog

TRIVIA:  With the aid of three servicemen, what actress and pin-up girl left an imprint of one of her million dollar legs at Grauman's Chinese Theatre?

Betty Grable

The Story Behind Dan Fogelberg's 'Same Old Lang Syne'

This morning I was listening to Jim Morgan who is a disk jockey at Myrtle Beach's WVCO, 94.9 FM, the Surf, which plays Carolina Beach Music as I often do on internet radio.

Every Monday to Friday, he has a segment I especially like called Music Spotlight where he takes a song and tells you the story behind it.  Usually the song has something to do about the date of its release, recording or the artist's date of birth or death.

Today is the anniversary of Dan Fogelberg's death in 2007.  The song Jim Morgan chose of Dan Fogelberg was "Same Old Lang Syne."  There is quite a story behind this song that Dan wrote.  It is based on an actual event in his life from 1975.

He was back in his hometown of Peoria, Illinois, visiting family for the holidays and on Christmas Eve, they needed something for dinner and he drove over to a local convenience store to get it since all the stores were closed.  While there, he met his old high school girlfriend.

You can go to You Tube and view  Bob Natale's video "The Story Behind Dan Fogelberg's 'Same Old Lang Syne' " to hear what Jim said.  After that, go to the Track X Track video "On Location: The True Story of Dan Fogelberg's 'Same Old Lang Syne' " and view that which takes you to the places mentioned in the story.

After that, go to the video Dan Fogelberg- Same Old Lang Syne (Lyrics).  The lyrics are shown as the song is sung.

This Is Quite the Story.  --RoadDog

Music Deaths: John Prine

JOHN PRINE, 73

Died April 7, 2020

I wrote about him back when he died as he was always one of my favorite performers.  I thought I was really knowledgeable about him, but since then, I've been on You Tube a whole lot and I find I really didn't know his songs.  And, that was my mistake.  I should have listened more.

I know whenever I'm at a bar and a solo performer is on stage and I ask for a John Prine song, that really impressed them.

John had what I consider one of his best ever songs just a year or so before his death with "Summer's End."  Watch the video and if that is not one of the saddest videos you've ever seen, let me know.  There is also a video about the making of this video.  make sure you watch it.

Here Are Ten Sings for Mother's Day 2020: Mother and Child Reunion

And, what a strange Mother's Day it will be.

These songs were played on Bob Stroud's Ten at Ten show Friday, May 8 on Chicago's WDRV.

MOTHER'S LITTLE HELPER--  Rolling Stones
MAMA TOLD ME (NOT TO COME)--  Three Dog Night
MAMA--  Genesis

MOTHER AND CHILD REUNION--  Simon & Garfunkel
MAMA KIN--  Aerosmith
MOTHER--  John Lennon
MAMA I'M COMING HOME--  Ozzy Osbourne

MOTHER--  Pink Floyd
YOUR MAMA DON'T DANCE--  Loggins & Messina
NO SUGAR TONIGHT/NEW MOTHER NATURE--  Guess Who

A Big Happy Mother's Day Out There To All You Mothers.  --RoadDog

And, if you want to see a good reason to call or get together with your mom right now, go to You Tube and view the late great John Prine's "Endless Summer" then watch the video of how it was made.

Name That Tune (from the above songs):  "Tell Me A Story About How You Adore Me."  Answer below.  --RoadDog


"Have You Seen Your Mother (Standing In the Shadow)"

Get Your Music Here

Right now, I am listening to the WLS Top 40 songs from May 11, 1970, on You Tube.  Once a month I do the whole Top 40.  The other weeks I just do a Top Ten and Debuts. This really takes me back fifty years.

However, here are some other really good places to hear music.  Some of it probably not what you're used to listening to, but good nonetheless.

All of these are available over the internet:

**  JUKIN' OLDIES--  A group of deejays on the internet but not in the same studio.  They really play a lot of different songs, many of which are Beach, Boogie and Blues.

**  WXRT (Chicago)  Blues and Soul Channel.  Go to the site  Click on Music at the top and scroll down to Chicago's Blues and Soul and click on it.

**  WVCO, 94.9 FM, out of North Myrtle Beach, S.C.  Beach Music.  On Wednesday's, DJ Jim Morgan takes you out to the beach and plays some of the best Beach Music ever.  (And this isn't West Coast/Beach Boys Beach Music either.)

Give To me the Music.  --RoadDog

LAUGHTER HELPS WITH THE "V":  "If you're upset about regular folk hoarding toilet paper, wait till you hear about how a tiny percentage of rich people have managed to hoard most of the world's wealth.

Now That Halloween Creep Has Begun, How About A Scary Song?

Now that the stores are selling off or putting away their Back-To-School Creep stuff, I see that they are starting to put out the Halloween Creep stuff--  two months early..

As I was making entries on the blog today, I am listening to You Tube which has made one of many personal listening sets based on songs I have played on their service.  They do an absolutely wonderful job of it.

An hour or so ago, they put on the Guess Who's "Shakin' All Over." on my Mix:  Illusion "Did You See Her Eyes."  I wish I had known about this song as a good scary one back when I was deejaying as I absolutely would have used it in my Halloween shows.

And, this version is played along with Walt Disney's scary 1929 "Skeleton Dance" cartoon.  They go perfectly together.

Check out St.PeteArtisan's  "The Guess Who - Shakin' All Over --  Skeleton Dance on You Tbe.

Like, BOO!!!

Eagles' "Greatest Hits 1971-1975" Tops "Thriller" as No. 1

From the August 21, 2018, Chicago Sun-Times by Mesfin Fekadu, AP.

"The Eagles' greatest hits album (which includes that Route 66 favorite 'Take It Easy" where he was 'Standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona) has moonwalked past Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' to become history's best-selling album of all-time in the U.S.."

The Recording Industry Association of America said the Eagles' album is  now certified 38x platinum, which means sales and streams of it have reached 39 million copies.  The album was released in 1976.

RIAA's platinum status was once equivalent to selling 1 million albums or singles, but in 2013, the company began incorporating streaming from YouTube, Spotify and other digital musical services.  Now 1,500 streams of an album is equivalent to an album sale.

The Eagles formed in Los Angeles in the early 1970s.  Co-founder Glenn Frey died in 2016.

By teh way, the Eagles' "Hotel California" is No. 3.

--RoadEasy

Songs From Last Week's WLS Top 30 That I Didn't Know.

As usual, I remember the Top Ten songs fairly well, but see the names of others that I don't remember hearing.  As such, I have to go to You Tube which almost always has the recordings.

Here are the songs I didn't remember.

7.  ASK ME--  Elvis Presley  And I thought I'd heard all his big hits.  A pretty slow one.
13.  SHE UNDERSTANDS ME--  Johnny Tillotson  (Country pop)  Country comes to town.
14.  EVERYTHING'S ALRIGHT--  Newbeats  A take-off on "Bread and Butter."

16.  SCRATCHES--  Travis Wammack  instrumental
17.  RIGHT OR WRONG--  Ronnie Dove  Slow ballad
18.  LEADER OF THE LAUNDROMAT--  Detergents  (See #30)

19.  WEDDING SONG--  Julie Rogers  Was this played a lot at weddings back then?
25.  I JUST CAN'T SAY GOODBYE--  Bobby Rydell     Slow
27.  WALK AWAY--  Matt Monro  Super slow.

28.  THE OTHER RINGO--  L:arry Finnegan  Not Lorne's outlaw desperado, but that guy with that famous band.
29.  FALL AWAY--  Eddie Albert  Slow
30.  DO WACKA DO--  Roger Miller  (OK, I've heard it, but just had to hear it again.)

And, He Had a What?  --RoadDog

Gangham Style Gone and Probably Never-to-Be-Forgotten

From Y! Music.

Remember hearing this song played ad infinitum back a coupla-three years ago?    Well, South Korean rapper Psy had a new single out called "Gemtlemen," back then, but it never took off, making him, so far, a one-hit wonder.  But, at the time, he was known as "The King of You Tube."

This new single met with mixed reviews and closely followed the same formula as his big hit.

I loved the video and the song was one you just couldn't get out of head.

Really!!  --RoadDog

SIHNS OF OLD AGE:  You keep repeating yourself.

Follow Up On "Frank's Place"

As I finished typing the last entry, the name You Tube popped into my head. Might they have some episodes on it? Went there and they did. I'll have to catch up. //// Saw part of the pilot, where Frank inherits the place from his deceased father and encounters the interesting employees. Then, there were those great accents. //// Of interest, this was a multi-racial cast, who seemed to really get along. //// Poor Tim Reid had some "learning" to do. //// Not only was there that great music, but food as well. //// I foresee Some Hours On You Tube. --RoadDog

Here We Go Again

Bob Stroud likes to play parts of songs from the Time Warp date he is on, last Sunday, March 3, 1965, as he segues from commercials back to the music.  He played one from that date called "Let's Lock the Door" and for the life of me, I could not remember who did it and he didn't say.

So today, before I put it on my Where Were You entry, I looked it up.  It was Jay and the Americans.  Unfortunately, there was a place to view it on You Tube and, like a fool, there I go off to Never-Get-Out-of-You-Tube Land.

Alright, then there was "Only in America," "She Cried" and a bunch of others that needed watching.  Then, I see Randy and the Daytonas "Denise."

Then, here comes a whole bunch of Three Stooges videos, including some with an elderly Larry and Moe.  Moe still had the same haircut, only gray.

There Went an Hour.  --RoadDog

Why It Takes So Long to Do These Doggone Blogs

Take today for example.  After writing earlier about the death of Paul Tanner and his electro-theramin instrument heard on the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations," I got the urge to watch the video, so went to You Tube, always a mistake when it comes to time as one thing leads to another.

OK, I got the video up.  By the way, Mike Love played the electro-theramin on stage.  Well, of course, what's better than one Beach Boy performance?  So then, there were many others, including "Surfer Girl," "California Girls," "Wendy" and "Little Deuce Coupe."

One mean thing You Tube does is put other things on the page that you might want to see.   Well, that led to John Prine's "In Spite of Ourselves" with some of the funniest pictures I've ever seen.  And then, "Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian."

Then, the Fratellis and about ten of their videos.  I wrote about them yesterday in connection with the streak of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Then the Donald Duck "Window Washer" cartoon which, wost of all led to "A Christmas Story."  My favorite-ever Christmas movie.  This one really took a lot of time.  I started with "A Christmas Story: The Documentary" where two fans go to the grand-opening of the house in Cleveland and visit a lot of the filming sites.

Then there were two parts of Behind the Scenes :The Christmas Story Parts 1 and 2.  And then "A Christmas Story Cast Reunion" on the Voice.

This Is Why It Takes So Long to Do These.  --RoadDog

Why It Takes So Long to Do These Dumb Blogs

Well, one thing leads to another.

In connection with son Al's death, I went to You Tube.  It is always a mistake to go to You Tube as that usually is a three hour layover.  One thing leads to another.  I hate those video offerings on the right side.  Takes up a lot of time.

Anyway, with Alfons being such a Cub fan, I looked up Steve Goodman's "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request" on You Tube and found one of him playing on one of the famous rooftop places across from Wrigley Field's left field.  It was six minutes of Steve playing a guitar and singing the song.  I have to wonder how he remembered all those words.  Great video.

Then, there was one of him playing my favorite country song, "You Never Even Call Me By My Name" made ever-so-famous by David Allan Coe and also called "The Perfect Country and Western Song" which is what I called it when I played it back in the deejaying days.  Always a great sing-a-long, especially when you hit that one part.  Well, Steve did not sing that "one part" the way we've always heard it.

Then, there was that great "Lincoln Park Pirates" and "City of New Orleans" of Goodman's.

Unfortunately, Steve Goodman said he co-wrote "Name" with John Prine, well, that took more time.  I'm a big Prine fan as well.

So, That's Why?  --RoadDog


ANSWERS TO MONDAY'S WHICH CAME FIRST:  Teddy Bear (1902), Ragedy Ann Doll (1918), Yo-Yo (1929), Frisbee (1957)