Nostalgic Rambler: April 2013

Welcome to the Nostalgic Ramber

Hans Jeff Borger is heard on WRGE 97.9 FM in Ocala, FL featuring Christian programming.

"The Nostalgic Rambler" radio show can be heard on Youtube. Just search for Hans Jeff Borger Nostalgic Rambler.

Why a blog? I wrote a book "The Little Grownup: a nostalgic Michigan boyhood" which should appeal to most baby boomers. A mass market book? Well, not yet...but the potential is there! (Be sure to buy it at "finer on line bookstores" everywhere!)

The comments presented in "The Nostalgic Rambler" probably won't be of interest to the masses...anymore. If grandma and grandpa and their friends were still alive, then it would be a different story.

I live in the past. My time warp is a comfortable cocoon even if it sometimes drives my wife crazy. The music of the 1940s and 50s, the stars of those days were big stuff in their day, but are now almost forgotten. Oddly enough, I was born in '64 so those iconic years were for the most part over by that time.

Through "The Nostalgic Rambler" I maybe can help share my love and knowledge for those times and things...all at one time important pieces of Americana but now a bit faded in memory.

The woman who did the blog about cooking all of Julia Childs' French Cuisine Cookbook in a year got a sweet movie deal out of her blog experience. I wouldn't mind that but would be happy to know that you are reading this....and maybe enjoying my time warp, too.

Hans Jeff Borger

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Do The Mambo!

One of the biggest music/dance crazes of the 1950s was the mambo. One of my favorite mambo records is by Perez Prado. This is it:

The mambo sound is a very happy sound. It was everywhere in its heyday and even sung about it popular music by such stars as Perry Como.

Perez was from Cuba but became famous after he moved to Mexico. Eventually he was "discovered" for the US and by 1951 was recording for RCA Victor.

Recently I heard his famous "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" arrangement on the ABC show "Dancing With The Stars." It wasn't played with as much pep as Perez used, but then as my wife says "they probably slowed it down a bit so they could dance easier to it!" The song was #1 in 1955. A few years ago someone released a version of his "Mambo #5". Of course the young whippersnappers think all of this is new material, but in reality it is all rehash of the mambo king himself, Perez Prado!

Here's another mambo artist, Edmundo Ros with Mambo Jambo. My grandpa had this record in his collection.

Everybody do the mambo!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Vintage TV is back -- on the Roku -- We dumped Dish network

It's not too often that The Nostalgic Rambler embraces modern technology. Sometimes people push us into it and recently it paid off big time. We have had Dish Network for years. Their price went up recently and we thought to ourselves "who needs this same old same old programming anymore at fees that don't justify what we watch?"

Enter the Roku. What is the Roku you might ask? I never heard of it until a few weeks ago when JaCk, (yes "JaCk" NOT "Jack") Copeland told me about it. It's the latest thingie you hook up to your TV. Using a wireless internet connection it allows you to watch practically anything imaginable on TV and much of it is FREE.

Do you know what a Pub D Hub is? I didn't. It is the Public Domain Hub on the Roku. It is one of several channels allowing me to live in the past. Who knew the 1950s tv show "I Married Joan" could still be seen in 2013? It's here on Roku! I always get a kick out of hearing the announcer proclaim "America's Favorite Comedy Show with America's Queen of Comedy Joan Davis." Joan who? Lucy doesn't have anything to worry about, but it's fun to watch Joan try to be another Lucy. Jim Backus aka Mr. Howell aka Mr. Magoo is also this series.

The Desilu Production of Our Miss Brooks starring Eve Arden is another great ancient find. Lots of Lucy alumni on the show and behind the scenes including Gale Gordon and Mary Jane Croft. It's on the Roku!

I have watched some Best of Groucho on the Roku, The Lucy Show, The Jack Benny Program, and Our Gang comedies. Lots of old movies are on the Roku as well from Bob Hope/Bing Crosby to Shirley Temple. There are lots of obscurities I never saw on my Dish Network package.I even watched "Rescue from Gilligan's Island." Hokey but lots of fun.

The Roku allows us to watch several of my church's channels, German news and movies, cool programming from The Smithsonian Channel and (as they used to say in the commercials) much much more. The Roku is available on line or at stores like Walmart or Best Buy. There is so much to watch I better cut this blog short to get back to the TV!