New Blog

http://themouseclique.blogspot.com/ carries the flame of the late Lloyd Thaxton, whose blog we discovered and linked to during the final years of his life.

Tom "T-Bone" Wolk 1951-2010

The Music's Over blog is reporting that bass player and music producer Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, who played in the Saturday Night Live Band in the 1980's and 1990's, has died at the age of 58. Tom was also a member of Hall and Oates' backup band, along with guitarist G.E. Smith, who was musical director for SNL as well as Hall and Oates. Wolk was born in Yonkers, New York on December 24, 1951.

It's Wolk's insistent bass line introducing the Hall and Oates hit "Maneater" that draws comparisons to the bass player for the Motown house band, James Jamerson. Besides bass, he was also skilled on guitar, accordion, and organ. He played with and produced many other famous artists in a career that spanned almost 35 years.

Wolk and Smith joined the reconstituted Saturday Night Live Band in 1985 and brought a certain rock and roll style swagger to commercial breaks and other band appearances, so much so that after a year playing above the stage, producer Lorne Michaels brought the band center stage for the first time since the show's premiere in 1975 to give Smith and Wolk's performances more exposure. For his first several years on the show, Wolk shared the bass chair with Tony Garnier. Wolk left SNL after the 1991-1992 season and was replaced by a succession of talents: Paul Ossola, Tom Barney, and currently James Genus.

Tom "T-Bone" Wolk died Saturday night of a heart attack. Due to Wolk's passing, Hall and Oates have cancelled their expected appearance on tonight's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" anniversary show.

Crossword Puzzle Tournament

Visit The Puzzle Brothers for all the latest on the Crossword Tournament in Brooklyn this weekend.

Super Bowl Ad Review

I am going to put a link in this message to our replay of the event. Thank you for watching our live coverage.



I'm quite pleased to announce that this year's Ad Meter winner was the second spot thrown in the game - the first quarter ad for Snickers that featured 88-year-old Betty White and 88-year-old Abe Vigoda on rival football teams. One of my fellow game show watchers remarked, "Finally! A game Betty White can't play."

Bill Watterson Speaks!

This is said to be the first interview with the ultra-reclusive "Calvin and Hobbes" creator since 1989.

Cleveland Plain Dealer Interview

Super Bowl Ad Review Live Blog Reminder

Even though CoverItLive.com crashed under the weight of all the live bloggers at the iPad introduction yesterday, I still have enough confidence in this product to give this a go for this year's Super Bowl Ad Review. We will be embedding videos, having polls, it will be like a party. If you like ads, THIS is the place to be on Super Bowl Sunday!

More importantly, this will be a test run for our live blogging of the finals of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament later in February. Please visit our sister site, The Puzzle Brothers, for more information about that.

Super Bowl XLIV Ad Review Pre Game Show

USA TODAY has the complete list of spots.

It's two weeks before "A Madison Avenue Christmas" hits television screens, so it's high time we checked the broadcast log and see who's got what in Super Bowl XLIV, which hopefully will star the Jets and the Vikings.

Anheuser Busch In-Bev: Anheuser has bought five minutes of ad time, most of any advertiser as has been tradition. The majority of their avails should be going to Bud Light's humorous commercials, with Bud Light's new tagline "Here we go" at the center. According to Advertising Age, this may be an off year for Bud's Clydesdales, but Bud will have two spots, one a :60. Michelob Ultra (with Lance Armstrong) and Budweiser Select 55 (getting a :15) will be featured too. Wonder if Conan O'Brien's going to show up this year? Some of Bud's spots for this year have already been posted to their Facebook page.

Audi: A :30, 4Q for the A3 TDI will feature Cheap Trick.

Boost Mobile: One :30 will reunite many of DA BEARRRSSSSSS who participated in their 1985 "Super Bowl Shuffle" ad. NOTE TO CRAFT SERVICES: I don't see The Fridge among the participants. Bring a quarter of the food you were originally planning.

Bridgestone: Two :30's (1Q and 3Q) and halftime name sponsorship of The Who's performance. This company needs to be watched closely as over the last two years, two of their spots were red-flagged for "Do Not Attempt". To be fair, though, they did do that creative "Mr. Potato Head" ad last year. So they could run either way.

Cars.com: One :60, 1H.

Careerbuilder: One viral :30, 2Q. If you remember, a consumer-created ad for Doritos topped last year's USA Today Ad-Meter and won a million dollars for its creators. One ad up for consideration takes "Casual Friday" to a new and frightening extreme.

Chrysler: One :60 for Dodge that is said to present "a message of irreverence". What? Something FUNNY from a Detroit automaker? Whatever.

Coca-Cola: Two :60's, 1Q and 3Q. One of the spots will feature characters from "The Simpsons"; quite odd that this occurs in a year where the Super Bowl ISN'T on Fox.

Denny's: One spot which will highlight a special promotion at their restaurants. Chickens watching television.

Diamond Foods: Creative for their 4Q :30 has changed - it is now going to be a dual-purpose ad with both Pop Secret and Emerald Nuts, the latter of which has been in the Super Bowl before with its Robert Goulet ad.

Dockers: One 2Q :30 for khaki pants. For all you Khaki Hunters out there. (Dave's really reaching with a "Porky's" reference.) The ad will feature mostly men wearing no pants, singing about wearing no pants.

Dorito's: 3 30's, again consumer-created. That worked so well for them last year.

Dr Pepper: One 2Q :30 with Gene Simmons (the alive rocker, not the now-dead actress) promoting their super-delicious, gotta-drink-em Cherry flavor soft drinks. (You may leave the cases of Diet Cherry Dr Pepper on my doorstep. Directions to follow.)

E-Trade: One :30. Creative has traditionally featured the talking baby.

Electronic Arts: At least one spot. CBS has rejected the creative for their spot for the "Dante's Inferno" game.

Focus on the Family: One spot from the Christian group featuring Tim Tebow. Women's groups are protesting the spot's inclusion as the ad is said to be pro-life.

Godaddy: Two 30's (1Q and 4Q) again with spokesbabe Danica Patrick. As is our custom, we will evaluate their "unrated" (and generally unexciting) online content as well.

HomeAway: One :30 which will feature Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo as the Griswolds from the "Vacation" movies.

Honda: One :30 2H featuring the Accord Crosstour. The ad will feature an animated squirrel and the tune "Funky Stuff".

Hyundai: One 2Q :30 and one 3Q :30. One of their ads will look 10 years into the future, when Brett Favre is still winning football games at the age of 50.

Intel: One 4Q :30 with employees singing that damn annoying jingle.

Kia: One 3Q :30 for the American-made Sorento crossover which will feature a character from "Yo Gabba Gabba". Thanks for telling me, I wouldn't have known.

KGB: One 3Q :30 which will be in the vein of their past ads and featuring two of the Baldwin Brothers - but not Alec, who was pushing Hulu last year.

Mars: Snickers will have one :30 spot. Three years ago, the company aired a spot that featured two men sharing a Snickers bar simultaneously, ending in a kiss to which both men reacted with digust, triggering a backlash in the gay community. For some reason, we didn't review that spot that year. Now, we're so sophist that NOTHING ESCAPES OUR NOTICE. (UPDATE: The spot has Betty White in it. Sold.)

Monster: Last year's spot was a contest for Director of Fandemonium, sort of a do-nothing position with the NFL. Much like what Roger Goodell does. This year's spot will be different because Harry Kalas is not available to do the narration this year. We'll miss you, Harry. (UPDATE: Get ready for the violin-playing beaver.)

Motorola: One ad, possibly for the Verizon Wireless "Droid".

NFL: Two in house ads. We usually do not rate these.

Papa John's Pizza: The company is using a quarterback sneak to get into the Bowl by buying the ad time from the NFL rather than CBS. It will be a :30 for their present "Papa's In The House" campaign. The ad will feature PJ's founder John Schnatter delivering pizzas at a football game. The spot will be filmed at the Pro Bowl on February 1.

Pepsi: For the first time in 23 years, Pepsi is not advertising in The Bowl.

Qualcomm's FloTV: I think it's a TV channel that shows nothing but Polly Holliday saying "Kiss My Grits!" Wait, what? It's "personal television". (Sort of like MyNetwork TV.) Two :30's, one 1Q and other TBA. One has Jim Nantz and the other has will.i.am redoing "My Generation".

Teleflora: Will be back for its second Supes appearance. This year the nasty talking weeds will be voiced by Mr. Warmth himself, Don Rickles.

TRU TV: One 2Q :30 promoting its "Full Contact" reality show, behind the scenes of the NFL.

US Census Bureau: One spot. This is 2010, after all. Be counted! (The spot is based on a concept by Christopher Guest.)

Unilever: One ad introducing Dove for Men. NOTE: It's soap. Plain and simple. Dove Soap. If you want men to be comfortable in their own skin, as your ad will say, at least speak their language. "Honey, where's the soap?" "On the shower floor, Bubba."

Universal: One spot. "Wolfman"? "Robin Hood"? "Despicable Me"? (And remember, movie ads are never rated.)

Viacom/Paramount: Three 1H ads for ""Shutter Island", "Iron Man 2" and "The Last Airbender".

Volkswagen: Not seen since Super Bowl XXXVI or so, VW is back a 3Q :30 that will star Tracy Morgan.

Walt Disney Pictures: One ad, possibly for the "Alice in Wonderland" remake. Eat me.

Yum/Taco Bell: One spot. I don't expect the creative to be anything more than what they're usually capable of.

As we march toward February 7, keep watching this post for more updates.

Gus Arnheim Time!

I like the young lady singing with the Gus Arnheim orchestra in this 1937 Max Fleischer "Screen Song" cartoon, "Whispers in the Dark". Whatever happened to June Robbins, apart from singing with Eddy Duchin?

It's been pointed out that Stan Kenton is playing piano.

Yum! Peanut Butter

How about some peanut butter for a bedtime snack tonight? That was the conceit of this live commercial from a broadcast of the NBC game show "Say When!", hosted by Art James. However, that last little bit of the peanut butter at the bottom of the jar can come out a whole lot easier IF YOU BREAK THE JAR.

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Arnold Stang 1918-2009

Entertainer Arnold Stang has died at the age of 91. His nebbish persona was a hit with movie and television audiences for decades. Even when you couldn't see him, you knew just what kind of body and face went with the voice. He began his voiceover career doing the voice of "Shorty" in Popeye cartoons, then also did "Herman the Mouse" for the same studio, and in the 1960's, Hanna-Barbera toplined him in "Top Cat", using a smoother variation of his voice to emulate Phil Silvers' Bilko routine. Here's a great example of Stang playing Shorty - the 1944 Popeye cartoon "Moving Aweigh" - please forgive the wrong main title card, music in the beginning, and the extremely annoying speed increase. This is one of the very first Famous Studios cartoons scored by Winston Sharples.



Arnold did have one interesting artifact in his career. He was teamed with a young European bodybuilder named Arnold Schwarzenegger for a 1970 film variously titled "Hercules in New York" and "Hercules Goes Bananas". Schwarzenegger's name was changed to Arnold Strong (to play off Arnold Stang) and his voice was dubbed since it was thought that people wouldn't understand his thick accent. Since I can't embed the whole movie here is a selection of clips.

Checking In With Lanny

We've talked before about Lanny Morgan. Regrettably we haven't checked in on the guy lately. We're pleased to report, among other things, he has his own website now at www.lannymorgan.com, and he's got a new sound - a sextet, in fact - and his album "6" has been nominated for almost as many Grammy awards as its title indicates - five is still pretty impressive.

If you didn't click back to what we said about Lanny five years ago, it still holds: HE IS THE BEST SAX PLAYER YOU'VE PROBABLY NEVER HEARD OF.

And who you probably saw hundreds of times in the 1970's on television...



...as a member of the house band on "The Gong Show", always hanging out right over Chuck's shoulder. Even back then the cat could BLOW! And his four bar solos on the Gene Gene dance were NEVER enough. Good luck at the Grammys, Lanny!

The Facebook Effect

I had no idea that opening a Facebook account - which I did on February 14 of this year - would cause a reduction in posts on this blog.

It's not that blogging is a lost art - perhaps it's that, as I've gotten more worldly-wise (read "older"), I'm not quite as cranky as I was when I started this blog and don't feel the need to comment on things that happen.

We could have done Tiger Woods' marital woes to a turn. I had a great line about "his wife has a better swing than he does", which I shared with a FB pal. But, I just let things sail by more.

We have a banner on top of the blog that we change every so often that says that we are guaranteed not to discuss x, y, or z, because every other blog talks about those people/things ad nauseum. Perhaps, at the end of the 00's, I'm taking Tom Kennedy's advice: it's not what you say that counts, it's what you DON'T say.

So stay tuned... I promise to be more faithful to my larger audience in the future!

Bopin' Hood

Great 60's cartoon with animation from Irv Spector among others.

Bess' Plaque Gone For Good

I received an email from someone connected with the Atlantic City shopping district. She explains that all of the Miss America plaques were accounted for when the Rose Walk was reconfigured during the construction of the new shops along that street. Since then two have been stolen, one being Bess Myerson's. The other one I don't know; I'll try to take a closer look next time I'm down there (I'm supposed to be back November 28 for the Brian Setzer Orchestra holiday show).

It is my understanding that the artwork/plates for these plaques is nowhere to be found so the plaques will not be replaced when they're lifted, which is a damn shame.

Action May Be Taken

I notified the head of the Atlantic City Visitors and Convention Bureau and he has said he will look into the matter addressed in the previous post.

Bess Mess '09

I didn't even have to take a new picture this year.

You will recall last year in this space, we bemoaned the disappearance of Bess Myerson's Miss America plaque on the Rose Walk and its replacement by a municipal garbage can. We spotted this on the Thursday of the NJEA Convention last year. The convention is still held in Atlantic City, while Miss America no longer calls the seaside town home.

Exactly one year later, the situation has not changed.

Bess Myerson was one of the more important Miss Americas. She is so far the only Jewish Miss America, and she later became a television personality in her own right, appearing as a model on quiz shows, then later as a valuable member of the panel on "I've Got a Secret" from 1958 to the program's cancellation in 1967. She's still alive, although semi-retired. Why, then, is her plaque gone from the Miss America Walk and a trashcan unceremoniously placed where Bess' rightful place should be? I mean, even Vanessa Williams has a plaque, and she posed for those dirty pictures.

I think this is the year I start digging for answers.

NOTICE

Not every comment I receive gets published. You may have briefly seen a spam comment today. This is not allowed and I will sic my dogs on you.

Don Pardo Speaks...

Here is one part of the archive interview of Don Pardo, specifically dealing with "Saturday Night Live", a program to which Mr. Pardo has returned this season, in spite of his announcement that he was retiring at the end of last season.

48 Years and Counting

From the first pitch of today's game, it was apparent that a no-hitter would not be in the New York Mets' future in 2009. We will continue our daily game counting in 2010. The count, which was advanced a few weeks ago, stands at 7644.

What's more intriguing at this point is what the Mets will be doing to make change to their coaching staff for the coming year. Current manager Jerry Manuel said that changes, if any, would be announced tomorrow. Don't be surprised, however, if Manuel is one of the outs.