Tune Into My New Radio Show!

The Nostalgic Rambler is now an internet radio show!

Gene Martin, a friend of mine, is a local celebrity and great music fan. He was on the radio here in Florida for years playing the recordings mentioned here on my blog.

Now he has his own internet radio station heard all over the world at www.thegenemartinshow.com. When I was on the radio back in the 1980s and 1990s we became friends and were on each other's radio shows. We've kept in contact. Now that Gene has taken his show on line he has developed quite a listenership, with people tuning in from everywhere...the UK, Ukraine, Canada, Holland, etc. etc. Gene offered me a chance to "unretire" from radio! Now I invite you to tune in to my show, The Nostalgic Rambler.

At this point I'm not sure if Gene will run the show the same time every week, but as of now it will be an hourly show on Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 1pm Eastern Time. Just click here or go to www.the genemartinshow.com and click on the one of the listed top audio players to access it. I usually use Realplayer, which seems to work great. Let me know how you like the show. I'd love to hear from you.

pic above of the legendary Gene Martin, pic below of the Nostalgic Rambler, me!

I've Told Every Little Star

Lots of my favorite songs are about stars. Perry Como's "Catch a Falling Star" or Hugo Winterhalter's "Count Every Star" come to mind.

This week I heard another "star" song that was quite catchy and apparently has been around the block a few times. It is "I Told Every Little Star" written by Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern in 1932 for a musical called "Music in the Air."

See if you find this song as catch as I do. Click here to listen to the 1961 hit by Linda Scott. Click here to listen to a version by Margaret Whiting with a very Lawrence Welk-esque background. Or click here to watch a fascinating video put together by a very talented young man Jacob Collier. How did he do that? Even if it's not often, it is great to see young folks recognize these great tunes....

Where The Hell Is Desilu?

I overheard some women I work with say they couldn't stand writing book reports back in their school days...I guess that's what makes us all different. Writing has always been something I enjoy and sharing a good book with you is another thing that is fun.

You might have to search for this one a little bit as it never was on a best seller list. Still it is a fascinating look at Hollywood and the entertainment biz through the eyes of an insider. Howard Rayfiel was an entertainment lawyer and writer. His book "Where The Hell is Desilu?" is subtitled "How To Fail In Hollywood Without Really Trying." I don't think Rayfiel failed as he mixed and mingled with lots of the big shots of his day. The moral of the whole book seems to be that Hollywood and the entertainment biz is full of egos, crooks and sheisters (is that a word?). For the most part Rayfiel kept his honesty and integrity throughout.

In the post Desi Arnaz days at Lucille Ball's studio Desilu, Howard Rayfiel was the "Resident Counsel" which meant he was the studio's lawyer. His book isn't full of legal mumbo jumbo, however. Instead we get an inside look at showbiz. By that time Lucy was divorced and remarried and her second husband Gary Morton was involved in the production end of her empire. Morton isn't painted in a very good light here. Rayfiel tells the story about how some poor slob was watering plants at the studio and got some hose water on one of Morton's Rolls Royce (he had several). He had a fit and the car had to be driven home immediately. His cars were only washed with bottled water!

The book is full of anectodes about everybody from Bob Hope's son to Walter Mattthau (Matthau responded to a question about why his plumber makes $30 an hour while Matthau made millions....Matthau told the plumber nobody pays money to watch the plumber work!)

Star Trek was of course a Desilu production. At the time nobody thought much about merchandising. A Star Trek t shirt or fan convention was unheard of. Rayfiel talks about how that end of the biz all started as well.

Today Howard Rayfiel lives in Florida (perhaps we'll meet some day....) and is enjoying his retirement I assume.

Since this isn't a school book report there is no minimal word limit, so since I have to make lunch now, I'll stop and just tell you that this is lots of fun and a good read.

Mom liked Pat Boone over Elvis!

Teens in the 50s had several different "idols" to choose from. My mom didn't pick Elvis, she chose Pat Boone. A few years ago Pat gave a concert in Michigan. Ma dragged along several of her record albums to get them autographed. Pat Boone did not give out autographs. Ma wasn't heartbroken, she was livid that her favorite wouldn't do that for her!

It seems like people have been upset at poor Pat Boone for a while now. While researching this nostalgic rambler entry, I read comments about how wrong Pat was for recording songs by blacks in the early days of rock and roll. Pat had several cover hits of songs that black folks like Little Richard did.

At the time I think no one really gave it much thought. Pat Boone's version of "Tutti Frutti" (listen here) went right along with the pop music of the day. I don't think my mom would have gone for the rougher original black version. Pat Boone sang with the crooner style of Bing Crosby and Perry Como. See how Pat Boone affected the teenage girls of the day as he appeared here on The Lawrence Welk Show for heaven sakes! I love that song Moody River...

I'm sorry, but I don't see anything wrong with that and I don't see anything wrong with him recording versions of "black" songs of the day (I don't think the term African American had even been coined back then). One Youtube user commented saying Pat was the "scourge of the music business...." That person obviously wasn't in tune to the 1950s pop music scene. He had lots of fans and hits and the people loved him. Sorry but you can't revise history....although fans of 1950s rock and roll often try. Sirus/XM radio's 1950s station almost ignores the original pop music of the fifties, as if rock and roll/doo wop were the only thing people listened to back then.

I'd like to hear Little Richard do Pat's version of "Angel on My Shoulder." Then we'll see who does it best....

A tip of the hat today to Pat as he is involved in keeping the music of our past alive on the "Music of Your Life" radio network.

Cool Couple Steve and Eydie!

I love to sing but unfortunately am not in the same league as Steve Lawrence. My wife carries a tune but she isn't an Eydie Gorme. Too bad. It must be great to have a career where both husband and wife can be on stage together and sing to their heart's content.

A few years ago Eydie retired but before she did I was able to see her with her husband at one of their last concerts together here in Florida. It was great.

Both Steve and Eydie had great separate recording careers. Click here for a listen to one of Eydie's big hits "Blame it on the Bossa Nova." Click here for one of Steve's hits "Portrait of My Love."

Together they were magic as you can hear by this recording. They did TV shows, starting off with one of my favorite guys, Steve Allen of the original 1950s Tonight Show. Watch them here as they host the Hollywood Palace!

Steve and Eydie, you are COOL! Visit their website at www.steveandeydie.com






enjoy the pics including several albums and one of Steve and Eydie with Steve Allen

Michael Feinstein's American Songbook

I'm jealous of Michael Feinstein. While most of us poor nostalgia slobs have to be content with combing old thrift stores for records hoping to find a gem, people send him things for free. On top of that he can sing, play the piano, and he gets to hob nob with famous and not so famous people who want to show off their collections relating to popular music. Of course Feinstein himself is quite famous so that helps!

Feinstein has a series on PBS entitled "American Standards." It is a gem of a show. Not only does he uncover some interesting stories behind the songs that America loved, but he also talks to such people as Hugh Hefner (notice Hef in his robe showing off his jukebox to Michael). Hefner's jukebox plays the music of his youth, including one of his favorites, Margaret Whiting. Oddly enough Feinstein even got to visit big band songbird Margaret Whiting before she passed away, playing a rare recording for her that she probably didn't even recall (notice the pic of her).

In between playing the piano and singing songs, the show also shows Feinstein visiting various collectors who share their memories about everyone from Irving Berlin to Liberace. The glimpses into Feinstein's home life are pretty interesting, too. His talent has made him a rich man as is evidenced by the beautiful home and huge collection of music memorablia he has surrounding him. If I could go to his studio where he preserves all kinds of recordings, you probably would have to evict me by force, as it would be glued to the speakers listening. I'll keep watching the classified to see if he posts an archivist position. Feinstein is dedicated to preserving all kinds of recordings so folks send him things all the time. Very cool. He is out of town a lot doing concerts a lot, keeping the sounds of popular music alive. Not bad considering most people who present this stuff have their main audience in a nursing home these days....His charisma and charm must be the key. I am jealous though. If I had the voice and talent, I would be doing the same thing!

Nice to know that the nostalgic rambler (yours truly) isn't the only one who has a passion for this kind of stuff. If you're ever in the neighborhood Michael, drop in and we'll watch Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall together...or maybe I'll show you my Jo Stafford autograph! Michael,do you know the song "Boise, Idaho" as sung by Ethel Merman and Bing? No one else would understand...

Many of the collectors on the PBS series as well as Michael Feinstein himself offer a treasure trove of audio and video clips for your enjoyment at the show's website. Visit it here. If you're like me, you'll find it irresistible and hours later you'll still be there....

Johnny Mathis Love Songs

With Valentine's Day around the corner, the nostalgic rambler looks at some of the most romantic love songs ever recorded.

According to the experts.....After Elvis and Sinatra, Johnny Mathis is the artist who has sold the most albums. He has recorded everything from religious to jazz, but his main claim to pop fame is his love song output.

His 1958 album "Johnny's Greatest Hits" is chocked full of beautiful sounds. It spent nine and half years on the top 100 album chart listings! I recall hearing somewhere that more people "made out" to Johnny's album than any other. I don't know how you could verify that, but it sounds possible.

Here are a few selections from that album you might like. Click here for Wonderful! Wonderful! and click here for The Twelfth of Never. The harp on that song will melt your heart!

I have Johnny's first album. It is nothing like his later years where his sound was molded by Columbia Records icon Mitch Miller. His first album even has him singing the Desi Arnaz theme "Babalu," not exactly a smooth silky love ballad! It's an interesting collector's piece but I don't play it much.

I do play the other albums in my collection and there are quite a few Mathis gems in there. "Open Fire, Two Guitars" is a beautiful one I would recommend highly. Of course if you don't have "Johnny's Greatest Hits," that would be the place to start. It's Wonderful! Wonderful!