Animation Pages...

If you're looking for our Animation pages, we are having a major problem (again) with our webhost. We are going to be investigating what's going on with our hosting, and hopefully we'll have better news to report this weekend.

UPDATE: It has been fixed and the pages are all still there. Whew.

Happy Birthday, Steve Turre

60 candles today for the trombone wizard, who starts his 24th season in the house band on "Saturday Night Live" tomorrow night, with host Michael Phelps and musical guest Lil Wayne.

Yeah, We Were ALL Kaiser Bill's Batman

Not Whistling Jack Smith - some rummy pretending to be the guy who actually recorded the thing - on Beat Club, in the bad old days.



Part of me thinks this became a hit because of that last word in the title, much like Lorne Greene's "Ringo" did at the height of Beatlemania. Bear in mind, that in the strict British usage, a "batman" was kind of like your right-hand man in the military. The guy you sent in to do your dirty work...

Mets Take A Well-Earned Breather

It's been quite exciting - if a little nerve-wracking - following the rollercoaster-type games the Mets have been playing of late. Last night's game against the Nationals only cemented that reputation, with the Mets building a 7-1 lead, blowing it (THANKS TO AARON HEILMAN, WHO MUST FIND THE FIRST BUS OUT OF QUEENS), then more back and forth until David Wright's coda in the eighth, a 2-run homer. (Wright was 4-4 and made some great defensive plays. You think Delgado's got a lock on the MVP, think again.)

On September 11 last year, the Mets enjoyed a 6-game lead over the Phillies - and we all know what happened in the ensuing three weeks. The Mets simply cannot let it happen again, and with no guarantee that the second-place NL East team will have the wild card, every game is crucial from this point out. It's pennant race baseball, kids. Hope the Mets are playing somewhere in October.

I'm Done Watching Football On TV

Under the following condition: I will absolutely NOT watch a football game on a TV network that continually insults my intelligence by plastering a huge virtual arrow showing me the down and yardage.

Mo Rocca on Sarah Palin

The frequent VH1 contributor discusses the Republican veep candidate.

Chris Russo Update

Well, he's joined Sirius... sort of. Chris Russo will actually be developing his own channel for XM called "Mad Dog Radio", but first, on September 15, he will begin a five-hour daily show on XM 144 that will air pretty much at his old time period - 2-7 p.m. Eastern.

It's gonna sound just like his old WMCA show... just him and the masses. No Francesa to keep him in check.

Heard Us Lately?

We are now using a Blogger plug in from Odiogo which will read our blog posts aloud, either streaming or as MP3 files. You can listen to individual posts or a stream of the entire blog. Hope you find this a useful addition to our blog.

Whatever Happened To...

The Happy Little Wheel Alignment Bear? (Warning: Article is 13 years old.)

UPDATE - He's alive and well and also in Canada now.

A Gaspar Saladino Love-In

Todd Klein, a pretty decent comics letterer himself, on the king of 'em all, Gaspar Saladino. His lettering graced the covers of DC Comics for years. If I had known yesterday was Gaspar Saladino day, I would have joined the fray myself, noting the one bit of Saladino trivia no one else knows - he was the letterer on the "Superfan" comic strip that appeared in "Pro Quarterback" magazine. The strip was crafted by writer Nick Meglin and artist Jack Davis, both MAD Magazine stalwarts, and thus the quality showed through.

Don LaFontaine Dead At 68

Hope y'all said your prayers and held good thoughts for the voiceover master. Don LaFontaine died this afternoon, from complications from pneumathorax (gas in the pleural cavity, usually caused by a collapsed lung).

LaFontaine had recently gotten some face recognition, thanks to commercials for GEICO Insurance (standing in a lady's kitchen describing her experiences with auto insurance) and the New York Lottery, where he's sitting in a diner having coffee with fellow voice guys Ed McMahon and Johnny Gilbert. (LaFontaine's speaking part is sometimes edited out of the commercials to promote specific lottery games, but you can definitely see him sitting in the booth.) He was also part of an all-star team of trailer announcers (which also included Al Chalk, Nick Tate, John Leader and Mark Elliott) who made a short film shown at the Hollywood Reporter Key Art Awards. This is actually funny stuff and you don't have to know all that much about the guys - if you know the kind of schtick they do, then you'll laugh at them all poking fun at their image. Note LaFontaine's hair. I don't know if that is LaFontaine's real hair or a rug.

Roger Ebert's Latest Criticism

Oh, what vitriol from the pen of Ebert as he says goodbye to a former colleague at the Chicago Sun-Times.

Al Brodax Toons

Thanks to Charles Brubaker for corrections to this post.

On our Paramount Cartoon Studios 1960's page, we have a major update on the Al Brodax-produced Beetle Bailey cartoons. We got our hands on the DVD release that came out last year and have the credits now for all but two cartoons. Paramount produced 30 of the 50 Beetle cartoons (all directed by Seymour Kneitel), with Gerry Ray/Geoff Pike's unit based in England doing 18 cartoons, one from Gerry Ray made in Hollywood in 1961, and one from Joe Oriolo, the first pilot from 1960 (as noted earlier on this blog).

On our page, we also now have all the titles listed for the "Barney Google and Snuffy Smith" cartoons, all 50 of which were produced at Paramount and again directed by the indefatigable Kneitel.

A lot of the English crew from the Ray/Pike version of Beetle Bailey were involved with the 1965 "Beatles" cartoon series, which was also produced by Al Brodax, such as Peter Gardiner, Cam Ford, Lief Gram, and Aubrey Stapleton. However, even the "Beatles" series had some oddball moments. A few of the early cartoons were produced in Hollywood and directed by a man more remembered as a cartoon writer, John W. Dunn (with help from Tom McDonald, on loan from Format Films). Animators included Dale Case, an acquaintance of John Dunn from the DePatie-Freleng studio (and Dale is the son of Disney animator Brad Case, who also later wound up at DePatie-Freleng). Here's an example of a US Beatles cartoon, "I'll Follow The Sun".

Strahan: "No Thanks, I'll Stay Retired"

Michael Strahan put the rumors to bed when he disclosed that he will not return to the Jets to supplant an ailing teammate (see several posts below this one).

Say A Prayer...

for voice over legend Don LaFontaine, in Cedars Sinai with a blood clot in his lung.

Life Is One Big List

When we celebrated the 100th anniversary of John Wayne's birth, we ran a quote by the New York Daily News' resident commentator on just about everything, David Hinckley, the gist of which was that men treat life as one big to-do list and the adventure is crossing things off. Dave Freeman knew that and authored a book called "100 Things To Do Before You Die".

We wonder if Dave Freeman himself had a similar list, and how much of it he accomplished, now that we've gotten this shocking and tragic news.

Vote for Me!

Or, you can elect someone more worthy of the title...

Stage Set For Strahan's Return?

According to reports, the New York Giants are trying to lure Michael Strahan out of retirement. The defensive great for the Giants retired just after the team's Super Bowl XLII win last February. But Osi Umenyiora, heir apparent to Strahan at defensive end, is going to be down for the season with damage to one of his knees. I heard a weekend sports guy on one of the New York stations just casually mention after reporting on Umenyiora's injury, "Wouldn't it be something if Michael Strahan came back?"

My initial reaction was, "You're already in Canton, Michael. Don't push it." But, I think squeezing another year out of Strahan would be a great move for the Giants, who really need star power back on their team, now that the balance of power in the Meadowlands has shifted over to the Jets with their acquisition of Brett Favre (there are already #4 jerseys for $80 in the Sports Authority). And Strahan knows the position, knows the Giants system... it's their best bet.

Ken Levine's Place In Jingle Lore

Ken Levine is an Emmy-winning writer for television, writing shows like "M*A*S*H" and "Cheers". He also has a blog which is quite fun to read and as such is on our blogroll. He's also a baseball fan and broadcaster. But he also has a lot of radio in his blood, and I ran across something interesting last night. Levine participated in one of the greatest jingle demo tapes of all time.

For the uninitiated, jingle production companies like JAM Creative Productions, Inc. would create new packages of jingles to syndicate to radio stations, usually piloted at a certain station. In 1978, JAM created its first custom package for WLS in Chicago called "Class Action", featuring its star deejay of the time, John "Records" Landecker. JAM's owner and founder, Jon Wolfert, created one of the most entertaining demos ever made, mixing the cuts in with phone calls purportedly from listeners. Much of it was adlibbed, and one of those callers was Ken Levine. He's the guy who's asking what the jingles would sound like for stations whose call letters began with "K" (usually indicating a station west of the Mississippi, but there are exceptions like KYW in Philadelphia). There's a great bit at the end with "your local announcer" (actually WABC's Dan Ingram!), crafted entirely from outtakes and cut number calls taken from other packages (perhaps Pro Mod?)

Anyway, here is the link to more info on the Class Action demo, including a link for download

One Final Word On The Olympics

From Star Spangled Canuck

And that's really all I have. No more Olympics for me until 2010. Good night, Beijing.

7450

One of you Mets wanna get a hit? Please? I would really hate to see Backe get a no-no right in the middle of this Mets hot streak.

Thanks, Ryan Church!

The Latest Olympics Controversy

Perhaps goaded into it by NBC's rah-rah USA coverage of the games, the International Olympic Committee is asking for an investigation of members of China's women's gymnastic team, which is rumored to include athletes who are well under the age limit of 16. (I don't hear a lot of hue and cry from NBC for someone, anyone to check 16-year-old Shawn Johnson's paperwork.)

If the China team members are stripped of their medals, the USA would be bumped to team gold. Individually, so would Nastia Liukin, who technically tied with He Kexin (one of those under scrutiny) on the uneven bars, but was awarded the silver medal on the basis of a tiebreaker.

Makes a doping scandal seem quaint, now, doesn't it?

Mets Sweep Braves

Five years ago, this headline would have meant a lot more than it does now, simply because the Braves are just not the team they used to be. Well, there are a few familiar faces still there from the team's glory days like Chipper Jones, but these guys simply are not up to the standard that won them the division title for many years in a row. The Mets have bigger things to worry about like the Phillies and (my sister hates when I call them this name) the Marlenes.

Also, Monday is the day that Shea Stadium seats go on sale for $895 the pair. It's been speculated that Yankee Stadium seats will go for at least double that, if not more.

The Professional Bowlers' Tour Opening Titles

Ah, Saturday afternoons in the winter when I was a kid. Back when we tributed Chris Schenkel at his September 2005 passing, we talked a little about the "Professional Bowlers Tour" TV show wich aired on ABC. This was the version of the main title used from 1974-1976. Dave Diles is reading the billboards, music by Edd K.

Christina Applegate's Double Mastectomy

Hopefully, she's made the right choice, but as all readers of this blog know, a double mastectomy is no guarantee that the cancer will never recur. She made the same choice my first wife did, and hopefully it will work for her. I wish Christina all the best and hopefully she will continue to have a long, healthy life and career.

Perhaps the last high-profile celebrity to have had similar surgery was Ann Jillian, who had appeared in sitcoms like "It's A Living" and "Jennifer Slept Here". I don't think Ann underwent reconstruction surgery like Christina plans to, which meant less daring waitress costumes for her when she returned to "It's A Living" after her surgery.

Well, Here It Is

Eat and enjoy.

Back In Time

Our Blog Archives have now been officially married. There were two different archives at one point, with January 2003 being the cutoff point. We now have merged all the archives thanks to the Import and Export functions in Blogger In Draft. And the process of titling and adding comments and checking pictures begins anew...

MDAbay

Here's a new way for the MDA to raise money for Jerry's Kids... auctions! Don't know if they tried it this year, but hopefully it will work for them.

Or else Jerry Lewis will hold a gun to your head!

Yet Another Newish Look Update

We have finished the task of "titling" our posts and all the archives are solid. We are still looking for some missing graphics. The one that's eluding us the most is the picture of the Mets fan holding up the sign saying FIRE ART HOWE. If you know of one, point us to it. (Art Howe was three managers ago, so that will give you some idea of how long ago that was.) We have all the vacation pictures from last year somewhere, so that's the only other major thing that's missing.

Things I Will Not Miss About Chris Russo

WFAN announced yesterday that Chris Russo has left the station, presumably to go work for Sirius Satellite Radio. My WFAN listening is not as constant as it was in my single days; however, I have had an inkling that Mike and The Mad Dog were not going to be a team any longer. Mike Francesa has signed a new contract to continue as a solo act on the station.

However, here's what I won't miss about the Mike and The Mad Dog Show.

1. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand GOOD AFTERNOON EVERYBODY!" This opening made it seem like it was Chris' show and Mike was just along for the ride. At least they could have taken turns opening the show.

2. The Giants. Not the New York Giants, but the San Francisco Giants, which Chris was so enamored of. Yeah, that plays really well on a NEW YORK sports station. If you're going to work in a market, get behind that market's teams, "will ya please?" (to borrow a Russo catch phrase).

But what will I miss? The unique chemistry these two brought to the air. The best radio partnerships have some yin and yang to them. Mike Francesa was all about connections (right, Bill Parcells?) and knowledge. Chris Russo was all about noise. But in more civil times, these two really clicked and made for listenable radio.

Another Newish Look Update

We're in the process of converting our blog posts to Actual Titles, rather than the old "h2" at the start of the body of each post. In so doing, the only content changes we are making is that prior to the 7000th game, we are incrementing the numbers of games in which the Mets have participated by eight, to account for the fact that our no-no-hitter counter was off by eight games through game 6999. There is a post somewhere that addresses why.

We will try to locate missing graphics and videos, but in some cases where a video is unavailable due to a rights issue, we will insert a comment so saying, rather than leaving the carcass of the YouTube player up on the post. Some of the replaced graphics may not match the original graphics but will be in the same spirit as those replaced.

Thank you and happy reading!

So True

Here's a blog post from Matt Roush, who seems to swallow the NBC Olympic line hook, line and sinker.

However, scroll down the page, where a user comment rings truer than anything else on the page:

The coverage of the Olympics on NBC is a disgrace. Whole swathes of sports are ignored while primetime NBC shows almost 24 hour old footage of women's gymnastics qualifying.

Swimming is billed as live despite it happening 5 hours ago. The Chinese have already arranged the swimming finals to co-incide with U.S. prime time viewing. At least show them live.

As for the little "heart warming" stories go, who cares? Save them for when there is no live sport to show.

It would have been nice to have watched the opening ceremony with the rest of the world too.

Thank heavens for the BBC and their excellent, jingo free, live Olympics service on their sports website.

The Olympics are meant to be a celebration of the world coming together in the spirit of competition and peace. NBC manage to change it into another "America against the world" event instead.

"Millionaire", For The Last Time

In markets that get two episodes of "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire", you should be able to see my episode this coming Thursday, for hopefully the last time in syndication until GSN picks it up in the year 2014.

Newish Look Update

We found a lot of the missing graphics and have restored them to the blog posts. I will try to find the vacation photos from last year.

Also, you may notice some funky formatting on some old posts - we're trying to catch as many of those as possible. More tweaks to come!

Church, Steeple, People

My church's version of the ad that the United Church of Christ hopes to raise funds to air nationally. This was shot by my wife Tracy and edited by our Youth Pastor Adam Tietje, whose blog now is part of our blogroll.

Our Newish Look

Hey, it's a Blogger template, but that's just the start.

YOU CAN NOW COMMUNICATE WITH DAVE THROUGH COMMENTS! Huzzah! Be advised that you have to be a registered Google/Blogger user, you may have to type in some nonsense words like DYSKJDS and I will sift through your comments. If it is cogent, even if I don't agree with your opinions, I will post it. But be concise. "Your blog sucks" just doesn't cut it with me.

We are going to be tarping up some of our other pages as well to bring them up to standard. And we are going over our old pages and fixing broken links and maybe including some updates as comments! Keep watching.

And yes, Earl, I took pity on you and added you back to my blogroll.

What a Weekend for Music!

Saturday, I took the family to Atlantic City to see the American Idols tour. Strange that they can say American Idols but cannot use the show's logo - perhaps some sort of legal thing with Fremantle. Who did I like the best? Carly Smithson, of course. The reactions to the Idol top ten only intensified as each one got closer and closer to Your American Idol, David Cook.

Sunday, I volunteered at Toms River Fest, working the north gate. Believe it or not, the gate is a pretty good place to hear the music. Avril Lavigne was pretty good but only gave her fans 40 minutes of music instead of the advertised 85. Daughtry is a true talent and he and his band gave a very well received performance.

When TR Fest premiered three years ago, in 2005, it was four days, all day, and just a bloated presentation. The 2006 version slimmed each day down somewhat, but the new streamlined two-day format is much better. I think the ticketing aspect was much better managed this time out, and processing people into the festival was a lot easier with barcoded tickets and hand scanners. Only those people wishing to come back needed to be wristbanded. It was a pleasure working the North Gate with my new boss at North Dover Elementary, Ed Keller, and other volunteers from my school as well as High School South. Can't wait to do this again next year - and please don't make us wait until 2010!

HEILMAN HAS TO GO

Nuff said.

The Blogroll

As time permits, I am going to be making some changes to the Blogroll. I hear that Blogger now has a built-in tool to manage the Blogroll, so I will try that. I am looking to have something that will rank the blogs for freshness.

That means you, Earl Kress, aren't going to be that far up on the blogroll unless you get off your butt and start posting a little more.

The Puzzle Brothers Will Be Back

We are on a brief vacation (we forgot to renew the domain) - we will be back very soon.

Faster Service Coming Soon!

As I prepare to finally get cable modem access (a freebie from my employer), the one thing I won't miss about dial-up (besides paying for it) is ISP's that take your money and give you no level of service. I used to do a ton of Usenet, but I'm down to one newsgroup now for the very reason that the news server I am presently using likes to poop out after reading about four messages. So maybe I can go back to those obscure groups I used to haunt.

Jerry Lewis

Jerry Lewis packing heat! Who knew?

21

Carlos Delgado has just been playing some amazing baseball. Just socked another home run. I'm now sorry I gave Robair my Delgado shirt.

And we have learned that Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher John Lackey is no better than any pitcher who ever played for the Mets, as he failed to convert his no-no against Boston with one out in the ninth.

Closed For Good Department

Bennigan's and Steak and Ale have filed for Chapter 7 and have closed their restaurants nationwide.

Weird, because on Sunday I passed by the closest unit of theirs to my house - a Steak and Ale in Middletown - and remarked to my wife how I've never in my life eaten at a Steak and Ale. Now, I never will.

I blame Applebees and that damn apple voiced by Wanda Sykes that sounds like Gary Coleman 30 years ago.

Beetle Bailey

Would you believe that Joe Oriolo was one of the producers of the Comic Kings cartoons? I had not an idea until I saw this Beetle Bailey cartoon called "Labor Shortage" (which is not presented here in English). It's directed by Steve Muffatti, animated by George Rufle, and scenics by Frank Dorso. It carries a 1960 copyright date, but I think that may be in error. I would love to see an English-language print of this.

Somehow, Pat Sullivan's name is also on the credits. As the elder Pat Sullivan died in 1933, I'm guessing it's probably his son.

Yes, It Was A GREAT Day For A Ball Game!

My wife woke me up at 6:00 a.m. to tell me it was raining.

"You're still going to try to go to the game?" Not wanting to eat the tickets, I said, "Yes."

Weathercasters on channels 11 and 5 were predicting a total washout. Boomer Esiason on WFAN was talking in terms of "if the game were to be played today", and were even predicting an early call to the game due to the swarm of day campers due to take advantage of the 12:10 first pitch. Nevertheless, Robair and I boarded the 8:28 train out of Long Branch. We shared a lot of our experiences today with a wonderful mother-daughter duo, both Mets fans. The daughter impressed me with her Tidewater Tides commemorative shirt.

We got to Shea roughly an hour before Oliver Perez threw the first pitch. With Citi Field rising majestically beyond the outfield fences, we took our loge seats.

The game was a very tight pitcher's duel, with few big bombs from the bats of either team. The Mets only got four hits, but the last of those four mattered the most - a massive double by Carlos Delgado, which turned out to be the Mets' last AB, as Delgado was thrown out trying to go to third on the play. Billy Wagner shut the door, getting out the final batter - pinch-hitter Jimmy Rollins, pulled from the lineup just 15 minutes before game time.

This is just the way I want to remember Shea. Next time we get to a Mets game, we will most likely do it at Citi Field, which is a ball park that is going to truly rock.

Great Day For A Ball Game... Maybe

We have tickets for today's Mets game. The weather is downright crappy, but Robair and I are going to make a stab at it. We have pretty good seats (Loge 13), so we're looking forward to seeing the Mets go into first place (they're tied right now with the Phillies).

Two Chips and a Miss

This is a nice cartoon. It's from 1951, featuring Chip, Dale, and their friend Clarice. Apparently, it starts with Chip and Dale feigning going to bed when each wants to sneak out on the other to meet up with Clarice at a nightclub. There are some good Tex Avery-type arousal gags, and it ends with a real ho-yay moment. Clarice, Chip and Dale are all in good voice in this cartoon, and one can't help thinking of Ross Bagdasarian watching this cartoon in a theatre in the mid-1950's and hearing the wheels turning in his head.

Directed by Jack Hannah, who was responsible for Disney's best short cartoons of the 1950's, when Donald Duck pretty much supplanted Mickey Mouse as the studio's star character (Hannah would later work his same magic for the Walter Lantz studios). But Chip and Dale came a pretty close second.

End of A TV Era

Roger Ebert announced today via his website that he is leaving "Ebert and Roeper" after over 33 years of thumbs, mostly with late partner Gene Siskel, but more recently with Richard Roeper (UPDATE: Roeper turned down Disney's renewal offer, so there's pretty much no more show). The last two years of cancer surgeries have made it impossible for him to continue in an on-camera role (most notably, he can not speak), so he's simply saying ta-ta to the format. (Ebert had to miss his film festival this year, because of, of all things, a broken hip.)

I think Disney would be best served by hiring A.O. Scott, the film critic for the New York Times, to soldier on in Ebert's absence.

Speaking of film critics, has Peter Travers ever seen a movie he didn't like?

World's Oldest Blogger Dies

I guess I'm now the World's Oldest Blogger. (Here's her blog.)

EDIT: I guess I'm not after all. She is.

All Star Home Run Derby

I would think that in the future, there should be some sort of minimum threshold for hitters in this contest, none of this "it hurts my swing" babyishness. Seeing Eva Longoria with her 14 career home runs trying to beat some of these other guys just doesn't cut it for me.

Oh, it's EVAN Longoria. Sorry.

But how about this Josh Hamilton guy and his septugenarian pitcher? He could have wound up hitting more home runs last night than in his entire career (40 so far)! And some of those shots were massive. But he used up all his dingers in the first round, it seems, and was runner up to Justin Morneau. It was most impressive to see those moon shots of his trying to make it over the famed Yankee Stadium facade.

My money (figuratively) was on Dan Uggla and Grady Sizemore, both of whom hit six home runs but didn't make it out of the first round.

Personal to RG: You really need one of these on top of that balding head of yours.

STILL too early for Back To School!

So I got my first issue, post-McCracken, of the PC World magazine in the mail, about a week ago (only now am I out of shock enough to blog about this), and the very first page I turn to has an ad that prominently features the phrase that appears in the heading that I dare not type again, for fear of foreshortening my summer vacation more than it already has.

Maybe I'll get over it enough to keep from cancelling.

Baseball...Then And Now

1991: "Hey, Jose Canseco! How's Madonna?"

2008: "Hey, A-Rod! How's Madonna?"

This just in: Madonna is now scouting out the Little Leagues.

Cartoon Time!

Some of the Warner Bros. cartoons of the early-mid 1930's are interesting at best. This one is actually on the good side. It's called "Sittin' On A Backyard Fence" and it's a 1933 Merrie Melodie, produced by Leon Schlesinger shortly after the departure of Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising as producers. It's only the second Schlesinger-produced MM, after "I've Got To Sing A Torch Song". By this time the song "I Think You're Ducky" became the Merrie Melodies signature tune (replacing "Get Happy"), and this cartoon features a much longer arrangement of same.

Sittin on a Back Yard Fence
Uploaded by MatthewHunter

Jerry Beck and Will Friedwald, in the "Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies" guidebook published some 20 years ago (really!), took special note of the girl cat in the closing title, saying "So Long Folks" with what was described as "grotesque" mouth action. It's not all that bad, actually, and she does pose quite cutely at the end of her brief recitation. Thanks to Matthew Hunter, one of the Net's flamekeepers of WB cartoons, for posting this one.

Technologizer

It rhymes with apologizer.

But we wish HMcC great luck in this new endeavor.

Joan Rivers Late Show

This is the first several minutes (and some of the closing) of the first episode of the Joan Rivers Late Show that launched the Fox Broadcasting Company in 1986. I'm posting it here because my wife and I had a little discussion minutes ago about Michael Sembello, whether he was more famous for the song "Maniac" or for co-writing the theme song to this talk show with bandleader Mark Hudson (one of the Hudson Brothers of 70's kidvid fame). Only musicians I can pick out of this clip are baritone sax player Beverly Dahlke-Smith (known as "Bev The Tramp" on the show), and tucked almost out of sight in the back row is bass trombone player Lew McCreary.



Prior to her taking this show over, Rivers acted quite frequently as Johnny Carson's guest host, and I believe the two never spoke again when Rivers basically double-crossed the King of Late Night and decided to compete against him. Alas, Joan Rivers and Fox parted ways a few years later, and after a succession of guest hosts (including Howie Mandel), the time slot eventually went to Ross Shafer and eventually Arsenio Hall, who spun off into his own syndicated offering for Paramount. Fox floundered in late night with garbage such as "The Wilton North Report" and "The Chevy Chase Show" and finally gave up on the daypart altogether.

When IMDb Is Most Annoying

Today, when they suck up to corporate sponsors' dollars and frame their site in an ad for some movie that's going to make a billion dollars anyway.

And don't get me started about WENN.

Contradiction

Seen within a few feet of each other in a LBI sign shop:

TREASURE FAMILY - ENJOY FRIENDS - CELEBRATE LIFE

and

FRIENDS WELCOME - RELATIVES BY APPOINTMENT

George Carlin Dead

The news of George Carlin's death yesterday at age 71 solicited mixed reactions from those staying at our beach house. Some of the West Coast types who "got it" were almost in tears, while the older, Eastern folk just focused in on his filth.

Among his many accomplishments in the comedy field were this "Baseball vs. Football" routine - very funny, and 100% devoid of those "seven dirty words" that brought him such notoriety. This clip is from 1990; George had been doing this routine for many years and in fact did it on the very first episode of "Saturday Night Live" in October 1975.

Beachin' It

This next week, I will be ensconced at our family's beach house on Long Beach Island. Though we have ready Internet access, sitting at a computer is a task simply not done at the beach. We'll try to update that No Hitter count, because we can again. But we'll be super active once back from our week at the shore. Bye for now!

When Boredom Strikes

Bye, Bye, Willie

BUT, the Mets could have figured out a much more dignified way to axe him. His 3:15 a.m. (ET) dismissal seems like he was being thrown out with the empties at the end of a long, drunken night.

I'm glad Rick Peterson is gone too. When you have no idea that your starting pitchers can actually go 8 or 9 innings and take some pressure off the bullpen once in a while, then it's time to go.

Well, That Lasted Long

Due to the fact that we couldn't make Movable Type do what we needed it to do, we are back using Blogger. We will try to recover the posts that appeared under the Movable Type version of our blog.

Now That "American Idol" Is Over

The finale last night was quizzical. There were a lot of things on there that didn't have to do with AI, such as that faux-1972 "audition" for Gladys Knight's Pips, featuring Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. (looking very good for an ex-junkie). But we were most impressed with the musical performances. Really liked Michael Johns and Carly Smithson teaming up, and that shot at the end of the show with Carly snuggling up to David Cook was precious. We are looking forward to seeing them in performance when the AI tour comes our way in August. But so much of it seemed to be selling something - commerce trumping art. (And Fox, like I've said, the end of the May Sweeps is way to early to be flogging your Fall crap.)

Congrats to David Cook - the "word nerd" did it!

ENOUGH ALREADY

In the last two days, I have seen ads for fall shows - and I certainly won't mention which ones - on Fox and CBS. Is it too much to ask, oh mighty TV networks, for us to have a SUMMER first?

McCracken Hangs It Up -- Again

Lest you think that the resignation from Harry McCracken from PC World Magazine is becoming an annual event, this time he means it. Last year, Harry (my very good friend of almost two decades) resigned in a dispute with upper management at the magazine, but later recanted the decision after powwwows. Now he's about to launch his own venture - we're not quite sure exactly what it's going to be but we know that Harry knows his way around HTML. We'll let you know when it launches! Good luck, Harry.

Oh Boy! Videos of Records Playing!

This guy direct-outed a couple of goodies. First, the Cold Blood version of the Donny Hathaway tune, "Valdez in The Country"...



And, Lighthouse's "One Fine Morning", played off the vinyl as it should be. Warning: Do not play any version of this song from a CD, as the remastered version is horrible. All you kiddies, this was like Canada's answer to Chicago, and it even had Howard Shore in the sax section.

7359: UGLY

Sadness of the day, more so than the Mets dropping the third game of four to the Nationals (so full of Mets castoffs it's embarrassing), was Mike Pelfrey's no-hit bid being broken up in the 7th.

Come on, dude. We need that no-hitter.

Pinball in Allentown This Weekend!

If you love the pin and ball as do the Mackey Bros., check out the Pinball Wizards Convention this weekend at the Agri-Plex, in Allentown, PA. We'll be there Saturday; any more time spent there and my wife would have my head. It's $15 a day to get in, and you can play pinball all day for free. Our hands are usually aching by 5 or 6 p.m., but it's a happy day well spent (and afterwards, we eat at the Waffle House off the Interstate, which is the nearest one to my house). It's also a great place to buy or sell your machine. We are planning on bringing my three machines next year, all Gottliebs: Mayfair (1966), Roller Coaster (1971), and Spin Out (1975).

The Mayfair was a machine I picked up last October intending it to be a surprise Christmas gift for my wife and stepdaughters, but lack of suitable space in the house nixed that idea, so the machine is currently in storage. I won it on an eBay auction for $200, priced low because it wasn't working. (It turns out the guy I bought it from is employed by the same school system I teach in, as a bus driver.) Within a day or two of bringing it to my old house, I had the thing running again. I put about $200 worth of new parts on it, including new rubbers and some new lane guides, and it looks and plays like a champ. The playfield on this one is in outstanding shape. Roller Coaster and Spin Out were purchased in the late 1980's-early 1990's and were on location in arcades near me - the Roller Coaster was at the old Palace Amusements in Asbury Park, while the Spin Out was purchased from Buccaneer Bill's arcade in Lavalette. They haven't been set up lately, so I'm just wondering what they're going to do once under power again.

All-Stars Already?

Voting has been opened for this year's All-Star Game, which is being held this year at the soon-to-be-demolished original Yankee Stadium. Go to the MLB website and vote. Back in my day, you had to send in punch cards which had the most likely candidates. If you wanted Bobby Pfeil on the team, for some odd reason, you had to write him in. The online ballot works much the same way.

When Irish Eyes Are Voted Off By The Great Unwashed

The Los Angeles Times' Richard Rushfield on the unfortunate voting-off of Carly Smithson on "American Idol".

I had Carly to win. Really. The more I saw her, the more I liked of her performances and her feisty and fun Irish attitude. (If they ever decide to remake "The Commitments", here's your girl.)

UPDATE: The Idol Tour Dates have been announced. Carly and the gang will be rolling into Atlantic City on Saturday, August 2nd, with an on-sale date of Saturday, May 17 at 10:00 a.m.

Da Mets

As you can tell, I've been strangely silent on the issue of the New York Mets so far this season. If you've come late to the party, be it known that I am now in my 42nd year as a New York Mets Fan, having first embraced the team in the latter days of Casey Stengel's run as manager.

It seems to me that in spite of the same personnel (except maybe Pedro, who's out with hammy issues), the Mets team that has taken the field this week (and won all five of their games so far) is a lot more together than the team who played the first two weeks of the season. And it's great that the Mets are taking the Phillies to the cleaners, as that team did them dirty last year, especially near the end. This excites me no end.

But I'm still waiting for that no-hitter. All that pitching talent and no goose-eggs to show for it.

Wrong Blog, But Hey...

Here's a puzzler from that puzzlin' guy, Pat Sajak.

It's (Almost) Harry McCracken Day

This is a heretofore unseen picture from December 28, 2007. You all know what happened on that day. As with a similar ceremony on October 15, 1994, I said, "You know who needs to be a part of this? Mr. Harry McCracken." It was in his presence that I proposed to Tracy, so after all he was very deserving of a place in my wedding party for the second time. I've known Harry for almost two decades, and can't think of anyone else who could have stood at my side (besides my brother) at this affair.

Anyway, April 2 (about one hour away as I write this) is Harry's birthday, so I hope you'll all be wishing him a merry xxth birthday.

Miss Me on "Millionaire"?

In markets that air two episodes of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire", this Thursday you can see the episode that I was featured on last season.

"So, what do you do for a living?"

An easily answered question, but in 1950, producer Mark Goodson answered the question most eloquently with a pioneering panel show called "What's My Line?". For seventeen years, and another seven in syndication, a parade of people with the widest variety of jobs you could imagine passed by a panel of four whose job it was to ask questions to find out what they did. "No" responses caused the questioner to lose his or her turn; ten "No"'s and the contestant won $50.

In 1975, ABC (of all networks, since "WML" remained CBS property) mounted a 25th anniversary special for the show, featuring Mark Goodson, panelist Arlene Francis, and original host John Daly. Thanks to the good offices of Mike Klauss, you can see this special. Part 1 is embedded below, and you can easily get to the other eight parts from there. Enjoy.



On the same subject, J. Keith van Straaten is currently mounting his What's My Line Live Onstage show in New York City on Monday evenings - check it out!

Pat In '08!

Pat Paulsen is running for president again,, in spite of his current status.

Mets No-Hitter Watch Update!

Fervent as we are in our desire to see one New York Mets pitcher toss a no-hitter, we've found an entire website devoted to it... No No-Hitters has blithely taken up the mantle. Wish they would have given a little credit to us for originating the idea, though.

UPDATED: We put our counter back. What if nonohitters.com goes down? Then you can come here for it. Regardless, tomorrow the season starts. What better way for Johan Santana to begin his Mets career than a no-hitter against the Marlenes?

Plea for Donors

An old friend of mine from back in the days of BIX needs your help.

Emru Townsend, who with Harry McCracken was one of the moderators of the BIX animation conference, also editor of FPS Magazine, and now a technology blogger for PC World's website, has been diagnosed with leukemia. A complicating condition called "monosomy 7" does not guarantee that the cancer will be completely gone, even with successful chemo.

Bottom line is that Emru needs a bone marrow transplant, and there are not enough black donors in the bone marrow registry (Emru is black) to ensure a match from existing donors.

Although Emru's best chance at a match comes from anyone who shares his ethnicity, I would urge you to join a registry, no matter your color. It is quick and (almost) as painless as getting a blood test. Chances are, you may be a match for Emru.

I would urge you to visit HealEmru.com and see how you can help.

Clampett vs. The World

About ten years before he died, Bob Clampett seemed to be everywhere, promoting (and some say puffing up) his role in creating the Warner Bros. cartoons, wearing those jackets Sody made for him and that Roy Orbison haircut. And all the other creators were up in arms.

None was more so literate on the matter than Chuck Jones. And one day in 1975, as Clampett-soaked projects like "Bugs Bunny Superstar" and "Camera Three: The Boys From Termite Terrace" clogged the psyche of adolescent cartoon fans, he decided to vent to Tex Avery. (Tex, by the way, would have celebrated his 100th birthday last week.) Jim Engel, longtime cartoon and comics fan, has scanned a copy of the letter with Tex's notations on Scott Shaw!'s Oddball Cartoons website. It's interesting reading and you get a good picture of the cameraderie most of the WB cartoonists shared. You've read the excerpts, now get the whole picture.

Through The Miracle Of Modern Science...

...we now have a better idea what J.S. Bach might have looked like.

I'm Not Watching The Oscars Tonight

I could give a rat's ass about the movies that are nominated. The best movie I saw this year was probably "Knocked Up". A film totally overlooked by the Academy.

And I'm probably not alone. Here's Mitch Albom in the Detroit Free Press about why it always seems to be the depressing movies that get the Oscar nods.

Snow Day? What's That?

Well, it's been a little over three years, but the little kiddies in Toms River have gotten their snow day.

I don't have a record of the exact date since I no longer have my journal from that school year, but the last snow day our district had was in the 2004-2005 school year. We had gone through two entire school years without losing a day to weather, until today, which would have been the 107th day of school.

This now means, unfortunately, that the end date of our school year now becomes Monday, June 16.

UPDATE: The last snow day was February 25, 2005. It was also a Friday.

Sorry, Earl

We've once again had to take Earl Kress off our blogroll due to inactivity. I'm sure he's just swamped with projects. Hope to see you back soon, Earl. We've been fans here since "The Oddball Couple". No, really.

Pitchers and Catchers!

Yes, today is the day that pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training for a lot of clubs, the beloved New York Mets included.

All the focus this spring of course will be on Johan Santana, who the Mets just picked up and signed for a significant amount of money - most ever paid to a pitcher, I heard. Hopefully Mr. Santana will bring the stuff home and it's going to be an exciting final season at Shea Stadium before they tear it down.

Meanwhile, you can now get your SANTANA 57 tees. They've just come out, and I think you can get them in all three colors - black, blue and orange. I went to one store and they were already sold out of the adult sizes (yet, inexplicably, they still had some LODUCA 16 on the shelves. If I hadn't already thrown out my Matsui shirt, I'd have a place to put it.)

The "Sign Man" Is No More

The New York Times on the passing of Shea Stadium fixture Karl Ehrhardt, who for years sat behind third base and held up little signs that commented on the action.

The WOR-TV cameras would frequently zoom in on Ehrhardt whenever he picked up one of his professionally lettered signs, always the right sign at the right moment. When the Mets won the World Series in 1969, Ehrhardt brandished a sign which read "THERE ARE NO WORDS".

Sidebar: You have to know what watching a Mets game was like back then. There was no SNY. Every game was on broadcast TV, specifically WOR-TV (now WWOR-TV, a MyNetwork affiliate). The Mets switched to WPIX about a decade ago. Radio skipped around from station to station - I think in the championship year of 1969, it was on WJRZ-AM out of Hackensack, NJ well before its rebranding as WWDJ (home of Bwana Johnny among others) and rebirth as a religious station. (The WJRZ calls were soon adopted by a station in Ocean County.) By that time the games moved to WHN, and eventually to WFAN where they are today.

Since we never went to the games in person, we had to settle for TV, with its more primitive camera angles. We think WOR-TV broadcast the games on a budget of about 50 cents each. The outfield fences were green back then. (We knew that from reading yearbooks; never had a color TV back then.) The sights and sounds of the game included broadcasters Lindsey Nelson, always outrageously dressed in sort of an odd cultural bridge between Liberace and Rod Roddy, Bob Murphy (who was best experienced on radio) and Ralph Kiner. Jane Jarvis' organ punctuated all of the action; today in sports arenas, the organ and other sounds are largely on tapes.

Banner Day was one of the big promotions - it took place between games of a scheduled double-header (remember those? bet you don't). People would come in with spraypainted bedlinens and other outpourings of love for the Amazin's, then the Mets themselves would offer their own banner to the fans after the banner parade had ended.

And in all these years, it had never occurred to me why Karl Ehrhardt never won the Banner Day prize. He didn't need to. For all those years from his third-base field-level box, he put into words what Mets fans felt.

Don't Meet These Spartans

I don't ordinarily do movie reviews - that's best left to the many "experts" on the Internet who think they're A.O. Scott - but I have to say that "Meet The Spartans" probably represented the most excruciating 75 minutes I've ever spent in a theatre. Only redeeming feature: Carmen Electra. That's pretty much the only time I was awake during the film.

Had I known from the start this film was so poor, I wouldn't have gone. I publicly regret making the decision to see this film.

THE THIRD ANNUAL DAVEMACKEY.COM SUPER BOWL AD REVIEW

Well, the game is over, and thankfully the Giants won. Now, as the NFL league goon hands out the mandatory hats to mark the victory, we start sifting through the multitude of ads that appeared during the game. Which ones scored, and which ones were just plain poor? Here we go...

Coca-Cola "Balloons" A

Coke came late to the party with two fourth-quarter spots, but these were beauts. In the first, at a parade, giant balloons of Underdog and Stewie Griffin battled it out over a balloon of a Coke can. I can't imagine either drinking Coke, but hey. Charlie Brown swoops in and grabs the can. Finally, he wins at something. We liked the changing expressions on the faces of Underdog and Stewie, and the timing couldn't have been better - the ad appeared roughly when Lois would have been singing the opening song of "Family Guy". The other Coke ad garnered a strong B grade. In it, Bill Frist and James Carville go out for a Coke and put aside their political differences.

E-Trade "Baby 1" A, "Baby 2" B

Sure, the baby talking as a human has been done before, but I kinda liked these ads. In the second one, the baby hires a clown. Very good.

Bud Light "Makes You Fly" B, "Makes You Breathe Fire" B

The two most creative of the Bud Light ads, traditionally the Bowl's funniest, take a slightly different tack. This time, the ads start out straight, and then postulate the miraculous things Bud Light can allegedly do. The best of the "traditional" Bud Light ads, "Wine & Cheese", earned an A. The other Bud Light ads were fairly pedestrian, including one of last year's ads coming back for a rare bowl rerun*, and one promoting some Will Ferrell movie.

* NOTE: This ad was actually a refry of last year's spot with Carlos Mencia teaching an ESL class. Just as tasteless as last year's similar ad.

Doritos "Kira Grannis" B, "Billy Federighi" B-

This year's Doritos spots weren't about the flavor. The Kira Grannis spot showed a lady by this name singing a song for sixty seconds. Quite pleasant. The Billy Federighi spot is user generated content, and shows how you can make giant mice appear when you eat Doritos.

T-Mobile "Hi Chuck" A

This is the first T-Mobile ad I've actually like since they canned Catherine Zeta-Jones as their spokesperson. In it, Charles Barkley talks quite a bit to his five favorite people, who are quite annoyed to have Sir Charles always calling them about minor things.

Gatorade "Drinking Dog" D-

As Ed Selzer asked Chuck Jones and the boys what was so gosh-durned funny about bullfights, I ask the folks at Gatorade, what in the blue hell is so funny about 30 seconds of a dog drinking? Gatorade's previous ad got a C, primarily because Derek Jeter is in it. Oh, please.

Bridgestone Tires "Richard Simmons" F

Automatic disqualification for Do Not Attempt, but we do chuckle at the thought of running over Richard Simmons. Bridgestone's other ad also received an F for DNA, as did the final in-game spot - one for Amp which showed a man connecting jumper cables to his nipples.

FedEx "Carrier Pigeons" B

Probably this year's funniest spot, a company makes do with carrier pigeons, some quite large, to get their shipments there faster (if the carrier pigeons don't drop them first).

GMC Yukon "Animated Guy Pushing Rocks Up A Hill" B

This animated spot was the best of several animated ads in the game. Too bad it was wasted on a Bullymobile™. The others, both for Salesgenie.com, fell flatter, earning a C for their first spot and a D for their second.

Godaddy.Com "Danica Patrick" B

The commercial is basically a tease to go to their website to see their real spot, which Fox rejected. It has something to do with beavers. And Danica Patrick. But it worked. I went there. Not that I need to register domain names.

Tide Pen "Talking Stain" A-

The Tide Pen saves the day at a job interview, where all the hirer hears is the gibberish generated by the stain on a man's shirt. I called out "Tide Pen!" at about :15 into this spot. And hey, Tide and other advertisers (including the aforementioned Doritos): why are you hiding behind URL's that don't disclose your product's name? It makes more sense for me to go to tide.com rather than theincredibletalkingstain.com or some crap like that.

Briefly, how all the other ads fared, in order of appearance. We only counted in-game ads, not local ads or ads during halftime.

Audi R8 B-

Diet Pepsi Max :60 D

Underarmour B

Dell D

Cars.com "Flaming Stone Circle" C

Budweiser C - this was USA Today's highest ranking ad, but it left me cold

Toyota "Badgers" C

Garmin C

Career Builder #1 D

Life Water C

Planters D

Pepsi "Timberlake Promo" C

Cars.com "Witch Doctor" C

Vitamin Water B-

Ice Cubes C

Career Builder #2 C

Hyundai Genesis #1 B

Sunsilk D

Toyota Sequoia C

Taco Bell D

Hyundai Genesis #2 C

Victoria's Secret C

Movie ads, which are not rated, included Wanted, Iron Man, Leatherheads, Prince Caspian, Wall-E, Jumper, and You Don't Mess With The Zohan. Nor was the NFL's house ad, a most entertaining look about an oboe player's odyssey into the league, nor was the drug abuse PSA that ran during the game in which a pusher complains about his lack of business these days.

Mixed Weather Report

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow.

Staten Island Chuck did not.

Hey, Dr. Frank Field and Tex Antoine used to disagree back in the day, too.

SANTANA 57

Makes you forget all about that other Santana that played at Shea, don't it?

Now, with Johan Santana as part of the pitching staff (and arguably its ace, if not its Opening Day starter), I can predict that Shea Stadium, in its final year, will finally have a home team pitcher throw a no hitter. (And before you ask, no, the New York Yankees did not have a no hit game during their brief tenancy at Shea while Yankee Stadium was being refurbished in the 70's. In fact, they didn't have a single one from the time Don Larsen threw his World Series perfect game to Righetti's 1983 gem.)

TLC Doesn't Get It

If I were TLC, and I knew that people were going to be interested in "Trading Spaces" again because of the return of Paige Davis, I'd be promoting it up and down, right?

No. Because TLC is locked into a who-cares beauty pageant (move it back to Atlantic City WHERE IT BELONGS and I'll care again, thank you), that's getting all its promo time.

So remember. TLC, tomorrow at 10:00 p.m. NOT 8:00 P.M. Thank you very much.

EDIT: Not five minutes after this went up on my site, TLC threw a promo. Shows Paige Davis and the new TS logo. Many of the new cast members introduced in the just-ended season will be returning, and two of the "classic" designers - yes, the Gruesome Twosome themselves, Doug and Hildi - will be aboard as well!

Don't Put This Tiger In Your Tank

Here's a commercial for Esso, an earlier incarnation of Exxon, and take a look at that wacky image at the end - doesn't it remind you of the end of "Betty Boop, M.D."?

Steve Turre Is So "In The Moment"!

I often cringe when I hear the phrase "in the moment", partly because when word got out that Barbra Streisand had been enamored of Andre Agassi (prior to her marriage to James Brolin, and his marriage to Steffi Graf), one of the things she said was, "His tennis is... so in the moment."

However, that phrase may fairly be applied to Steve Turre, for over 20 years one of my favorite trombone players. Occupant of the trombone chair on "Saturday Night Live" since 1985 and runner-up for longest band tenure with Earl Gardner (Leon Pendarvis has been there the longest, 28 seasons), and very busy off the show as well, there is a great article in this month's International Musician that catches us up with Steve and some new projects he's working on, including an album with New York Philharmonic principal trombonist Joseph Alessi.

Mort Garson 1924-2008

The synth genius passed away last Friday at the age of 83 in San Francisco. He put out a slew of electronica albums in the 60's and 70's but TV fans of my generation remember him best for writing game show themes, the best known of which was perhaps the theme to the long-running "Gambit". Thick with electronic textures and gee-whiz effects, Garson's electronic themes became the template for many similar game show themes such as "Concentration" (Edd Kalehoff) and "Spin-Off" (Nick Nicholson).

In a world where so much game show music is out there, relatively few Garson cuts have made it onto the trading circuit (Those that have included his "Gambit" open and close, and the later "Magnificent Marble Machine" and "Battlestars".)

The man is gone, now let his music live on (all you music hoarders out there).

UPDATE: There is more Garson music out now. I guess someone was listening. If you go to The Television Production Music Museum and click on "Listen" and then click on "Mort Garson", you will be duly rewarded. The unknown cut #4 is the "Baffle" theme, and if you look hard enough you will find one other "Baffle" cue.

The Height Of Hannah Fever

It's really weird. I had a student ask me yesterday in the most reverent and hushed tones, "I hear that Walt Disney died. Is that true?" Stopping short of telling the young man about the whole freezing thing, I informed him that yes, Walt Disney did die... forty years ago.

Anyhoo...

My two stepdaughters, different as they may be (one's 11, the other, 8), do share one thing in common - they both love the Disney Channel character "Hannah Montana". Played by talented teen Miley Cyrus, Hannah is a music star who leads an interesting life offstage as well, where she deliberately keeps a low profile and very few people know she's really a rock star.

Tonight, they will be in their glory.

Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City is going to be tonight's stop on the "Hannah Montana-Miley Cyrus Best Of Both Worlds Tour", and I am probably one of only a handful of people out there who got the tickets at face value. And NO, I AM NOT SELLING THEM. Don't even ask. Opening for Hannah and Miley will be the Jonas Brothers, another popular group championed by Disney. There's a possibility that Miley's dad - the ever popular Billy Ray Cyrus, your achy breaky hunk of a country star from the 90's - will show up too.

(I often confuse the Jonas Brothers with Nickelodeon's Naked Brothers Band, which is populated by offspring of the marriage of Michael Wolff and Polly Draper and is actually quite a funny show, usually written and directed by Draper. Nickelodeon is probably going to put more marketing oomph behind the Naked Brothers, as they cannot get pregnant.)

We'll make a day of it, complete with a visit to the brand-new Sonic that just opened in Waretown - the very first Sonic in New Jersey. Then the girls will go to the concert, homemade poster proclaiming their love for all things Hannah in hand. Tracy and I, meanwhile, have our earplugs all ready, because we're expecting lots of preteen and tween girls screaming at this thing. We'll report back later when our hearing pops back to normal.

MAN AND WIFE

By no means the official wedding portrait, but this is the best one I've seen so far.
Photo by Jennifer Malpass

Guaranteed: The Last Blog Post Of 2007

Right now, Tracy and I are taking it easy. We have New Year's dinner reservations, a prix-fixe five course dinner at one of Cape May's prominent eateries. Then, back to our B&B for some New Year's revelry, and hopefully watching Dick Clark successfully count backwards from ten. Happy New Year... the next blog post will be from home.

Requiem for A Phone Phreak

The always-worth-reading Elizabeth McCracken details the life of Joybubbles, said to be one of the very first phone phreaks, in today's New York Times.

Hello from Cape May

Tracy and I give greetings from the southern tip of New Jersey. Yesterday was the first day of our honeymoon and we did a tour of the Cape May Vineyard and Winery and also a nighttime tour of Christmas lights, capped off by a tour of the Emlen Physick estate.

The wedding ceremony went well. The food was great, the Jazz Lobsters were jammin', and people were having a great time.

Of All Days to Link to This...

One of my favorite theatre moments from the Stephen Sondheim show "Company", captured in the incredible "making of" documentary. This is the song "Getting Married Today", sung by three members of the original Broadway cast. The brunette singer who is spitting out words a mile a minute is Beth Howland, who would later play the endearingly dizzy waitress Vera on the sitcom "Alice". The others are Steve Elmore and Teri Ralston.

As I remember, there was a little bit of a turnover in the cast, with Dean Jones (who played the main character, Bobby) being replaced very early in the run by Larry Kert, who was nominated for a Tony that year for his performance, marking one of the few times a replacement actor in a role was nominated for a Tony. But it was Jones' performance that survives on the incredible original cast recording, many copies of which I've owned over the years.