Category: Culture

Fats Domino – I Want To Walk You Home

This man could take any song and make it his own. He must have loved walking… he had hits with I’m Walkin’, Did You Ever See A Dream Walking?, Walking To New Orleans, and this song I Want To Walk You Home. It was written by Fats Domino and produced by his long-time collaborator Dave Bartholomew. It peaked at #8 on the Billboard 100 and #1 on the Billboard R&B Charts. 

Antoine “Fats” Domino Jr. was not flashy and wild like some of his 1950s peers such as Elvis, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis. The first I heard of Fats Domino was on “Happy Days” and the song Blueberry Hill. I was at a relative’s yard sale when I was a kid and was given his and Chuck Berry’s greatest hits. My Aunt never knew how much those two records would influence me. 

Domino was the youngest of eight children in a musical family, he spoke Creole French before learning English. At age 7 his brother-in-law taught him how to play the piano. By the time he was 10, he was already performing as a singer and pianist.

Fat’s first hit in the Billboard 100 was the great “Aint That A Shame” in 1955 written by  Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew which peaked at #16 and his last charting song was a cover of the Beatles’s “Lady Madonna”(great version) that peaked at #100 in 1968. He had 45 songs in the top 100 and 4 top 10 hits…many more top 10 hits in the R&B Charts.

He lived in New Orleans During Hurricane Katrina, he lost most of his possessions and he and his family were rescued by the Coast Guard. He unselfishly made many personal appearances to raise money for the hurricane relief. His house was hit hard and he lost his National Medal and gold records but George Bush gave him another medal to replace the lost one and the RIAA gave him replacement gold records.

To raise money for repairs for his own home, friends and fellow musicians recorded a tribute album, Goin’ Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino, featuring Robert Plant, Elton John, Paul McCartney, and more. He was living in New Orleans at the time of his death on October 24, 2017.

He was a huge influence on The Beatles, Elton John, Robert Plant, and Randy Newman. Elvis even called Fats “The King”…a well-deserved title. 

I Want To Walk You Home

I want to walk you homePlease let me walk you homeI wants to walk you homePlease let me walk you homeYou look so good to me, oh-ooh-eeI wish I was the lucky guy who could walk you right on down the aisle

I love the way you walkI love to hear you talkI love the way you walkI love to hear you talkI’m not tryin’ to be smart, I’m not tryin’ to break your heartBut if I ask you for a date, will you tell me that I’m not too late

I want to hold your handPlease let me hold your handI want to hold your handPlease let me hold your handYou look so good to me, oo-ooee

I saw you walking all alone, that’s why I want to walk you home

So let me walk you homePlease let me walk you homeI want to walk you homePlease let me walk you homeYou look so good to me, oh-ooh-eeI saw you walking all alone, that’s why I want to walk you homeThat’s why I want to walk you home, that’s why I want to walk you homeThat’s why I want to walk you home

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Johnny Cash – Ring of Fire

Johnny Cash crossed genre’s probably better than anyone. I’ve met metal, punk, and rock fans who love this man. It’s probably a combination of personality and music that draws people into his orbit. He is still crossing genres even after being gone for years. 

This song was written by his best friend June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore in 1962. The inspiration came from June’s feelings about her relationship with Johnny Cash. At the time, their relationship was intense as Johnny was struggling with addiction and the complications of his personal life. When she wrote the song, they were just close friends at the time and not married yet. They would not get married until March 1, 1968. 

Johnny wasn’t the first to record this song though. That would be Anita Carter who was June’s sister. She did a really good version of it but without those horns…it just doesn’t click like Johnny’s version does. Cash claimed that he dreamed of the song’s eventual arrangement, including the Mexican-style trumpets. He wanted the song to have a mix of country, rock, and mariachi sounds.

The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts and #17 on the Billboard 100 in 1963. It appeared on the compilation album Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash in 1963.

Vivian Cash (Johnny’s Ex-Wife):  “She didn’t write that song any more than I did. The truth is, Johnny wrote that song, while pilled up and drunk, about a certain private female body part.”

Ring of Fire

Love is a burnin’ thing
And it makes a fiery ring
Bound by wild desire
I fell into a ring of fire

I fell into a burnin’ ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire, the ring of fire

I fell into a burnin’ ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire, the ring of fire

The taste of love is sweet
When hearts like ours meet
I fell for you like a child
Oh, but the fire went wild

I fell into a burnin’ ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire, the ring of fire

I fell into a burnin’ ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire, the ring of fire
And it burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire, the ring of fire
The ring of fire, the ring of fire

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Bob Dylan – Girl From The North Country

If you go when the snowflakes storm
When the rivers freeze and summer ends
Please see if she’s wearing a coat so warm
To keep her from the howlin’ winds

This is one of the most beautiful songs that Bob Dylan ever wrote. I learned this song on guitar and harmonica when I was in my twenties. When we were playing out the equipment would break down like the guitar player’s amp or my amp…I would grab an acoustic and a harmonica with my harmonica rack and play this one. It always went over well. The song hits me deeply for some reason…you can tell this song was genuine. 

I read Robert Shelton’s book about Bob Dylan, and the song appears to be about Echo Helstrom (If I would have had a daughter…I wanted to name her Echo), a girl he knew in Hibbing, Minnesota before he made it. As with every Dylan song, there is another rumor that it’s about a folk singer and actress named Bonnie Beecher. I tend to believe the Shelton book on this one and go with Echo but who knows which one it is? He knew both in Minnesota so it could have been either one. Some say Suzy Rotolo was it but he didn’t meet her until he was in New York.

It was originally released on his 1963 album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and later re-recorded as a duet with Johnny Cash for Dylan’s 1969 album Nashville Skyline. Unlike some Dylan songs…this one is not a musical novel. It’s a little over 3 minutes and gets right to the point in the most elegant way. Bob did take the melody of Scarborough Fair for this one. 

The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan peaked at #22 on the Billboard Album Charts and #1 in the UK in 1963. It was his second album and here is where he started to get real traction with people and build an audience, especially in the UK. The folk purists would get two more albums until the electric instruments of 1965’s Bringing It All Back Home would shatter their Dylan folk singer dream. 

Johnny Cash: “I had a portable record player that I’d take along on the road, and I’d put on The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan backstage, then go out and do my show, then listen again as soon as I came off. After a while at that, I wrote Bob a letter telling him how much of a fan I was. He wrote back almost immediately, saying he’d been following my music since ‘I Walk the Line,’ and so we began a correspondence”.

This live clip is from Hard To Handle when Dylan used Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as his backing band. I learned it from this live version. 

Girl From The North Country

If you’re travelin’ in the north country fair
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine

If you go when the snowflakes storm
When the rivers freeze and summer ends
Please see if she’s wearing a coat so warm
To keep her from the howlin’ winds

Please see for me if her hair hangs long
If it rolls and flows all down her breast
Please see for me if her hair hangs long
That’s the way I remember her best

I’m a-wonderin’ if she remembers me at all
Many times I’ve often prayed
In the darkness of my night
In the brightness of my day

So if you’re travelin’ in the north country fair
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline
Remember me to one who lives there
She once was a true love of mine

The Stegosaurus

I know you are probably thinking…what is he doing? Ok…humor me today, please. 

I’m veering away from my usual subject of pop culture…but…you know what? Dinosaurs may fit into that category. Lately, I’ve been really getting into dinosaurs and I have watched a lot of programs about them like Walking With Dinosaurs and Planet Dinosaur which I would recommend both…and yes all the Jurassic Park/World films just to see them.

Dinosaurs were separated by both time and geography. The Age of Dinosaurs (the Mesozoic Era) included three consecutive geologic periods (the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous Periods).

When I was in first grade, I learned about dinosaurs. We were all assigned one to make a Play-Doh model of, and I was assigned the Stegosaurus. Okay, it wasn’t the cool T-Rex or Spinosaurus but cool all the same. The Stegosaurus lived in the late Jurassic period. It was hunted not by the T-Rex but by the Allosaurus because it was in the same period. The T-Rex would come later in the late Cretaceous period. 

Allosaurus

Ok enough of the technical stuff…. what struck me about these beautiful animals were the dermal plates on the back with the killer spikes or thagomizers on its tail.

Stagomizer

They were deadly if they landed. They have found fossils with Allosaurus’s teeth marks in Stegosauruses but they have also found the huge thagomizer lodged in an Allosaurus. These spikes could get up to 3-4 feet long… if you were a carnivore you had to think twice about having a Stegosaurus for dinner. 

Here is an example of an Allosaurus meeting its match. 

It has been “my” dinosaur since first grade and they are one of the most recognizable dinosaurs. The biggest knock on this one is the small brain pan size so it wasn’t the brightest dino.  At one time it was thought they had two brains because they were so long but now they don’t think that. They were 30 ft long and 14 ft tall. In other words about as tall as a Giraffe and as long as a London Bus. If they ever brought dinosaurs back to life…this is the one I would like to see most. 

Thank you all for humoring me today. I may feature a dinosaur once in a while…kinda like an animal appreciation day. 

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Max’s Drive-In Movie – Rocky

I love boxing movies like Raging Bull, Requiem for a Heavyweight, and even Chaplin’s City Lights that feature a match. This movie also included that musical theme that is probably played more at gyms than anything else. 

At the time it was released, the movies coming out had unhappy endings. It was the trend at the time. I like movies like that as well but this one split the difference. Rocky didn’t end up winning the belt in the movie but he held his own against Apollo Creed the current champion. The movie is the ultimate underdog movie. 

In the mid-1970s, Stallone was an unknown actor struggling to make it in Hollywood. He had only a few minor roles and was living in poverty, even selling his dog at one point because he couldn’t afford to feed it. He wrote the script for Rocky in less than four days. The character of Rocky the Underdog mirrored himself because of the struggles he was going through. 

Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff offered him $360,000 for the story but Stallone had one condition…he insisted on playing Rocky. Despite his financial struggles, he refused to sell the script unless he was cast as the lead. The producers were hesitant, preferring a big star like Robert Redford or Burt Reynolds, but Stallone convinced them.

The budget was low so they had to film sometimes guerrilla-style without permits and permission. Stallone’s friends and family were cast in roles to save money. For example, Stallone’s wife, Sasha, played a minor role, and his dog, Butkus (he bought him back), his two pet turtles Cuff and Link, appeared in the film.

Why was this movie so successful? Other than rooting for the underdog, it was the characters. They all had faults, likes, and dislikes but we could relate to these people because we knew them. You had Talia Shire playing Rocky’s shy love interest, Burt Young who played He played Rocky’s brother-in-law and best friend Paulie Pennino, Burgess Meredith who played his trainer Mickey, Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed the character influenced by the boxer Jack Johnson. 

The main story is about one man’s struggles to overcome the odds but it is also a love story. There are real touches of greatness… such as Burgess Meredith as Mickey a veteran boxer who does not want to train Rocky as he sees him as a washed-out bum until he is offered a shot at the big time. Then seeing his relationship with Rocky grow. The acting is superb and the music still pumps me up to this day. This may have been the movie to invent the training montage which is now a must in any movie about sports or fighting. Stallone’s performance is great in this role.

All Rocky wants to do, as he confesses to Adrian (Talia Shire) in that touching apartment scene, is go the distance with the champ. He doesn’t have to knock him out, doesn’t even have to win, just go the distance. You know, I still have to remind myself at times as I reflect on the picture that Rocky really didn’t win the match but the film won because of it. 

Rocky has become part of pop culture for so many years it’s hard to look at the first film as a standalone low-budget entry in the boxing genre. This is a great film and put the writer and main lead Sylvester Stallone into the stratosphere of Hollywood. The film is not flawless but it is classic. 

A fun note about this film. In the movie, Rocky has two pet turtles, Cuff and Link, and he still has them at his home today. They are around 50 years old. He bought his dog Butkus back and the guy that he sold him to knew he had Stallone over a barrel so Stallone had to pay him $15,000 but he said it was worth every penny. 

PLOT IMDB

Rocky Balboa is a struggling boxer trying to make the big time, working as a debt collector for a pittance. When heavyweight champion Apollo Creed visits Philadelphia, his managers want to set up an exhibition match between Creed and a struggling boxer, touting the fight as a chance for a “nobody” to become a “somebody”. The match is supposed to be easily won by Creed, but someone forgot to tell Rocky, who sees this as his only shot at the big time.

Quotes

  • Adrian: Why do you wanna fight?
  • Rocky: Because I can’t sing or dance.

____________________________________________

  • Adrian: Einstein flunked out of school, twice.
  • Paulie: Is that so?
  • Adrian: Yeah. Beethoven was deaf. Helen Keller was blind. I think Rocky’s got a good chance.

____________________________________________

  • Bodyguard: Did ya get the license number?
  • Rocky: Of what?
  • Bodyguard: The truck that run over your face.

THEME of Rocky

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The Polar Express

I’ve never covered this movie before so I thought it was about time…to add another to my Holiday Christmas marathon. 

When Bailey was four years old we went to the theater to watch this in 2004. For me, it was an instant classic. They used the new style motion-capture technology at the time and it worked. I don’t think they got the eyes quite right but other than that it was a great story and a well-done movie. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis. 

In 1985, Chris Van Allsburg wrote and illustrated the book The Polar Express. The book tells the story of a young boy who boards a magical train headed to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. It is about belief, wonder, and the magic of childhood. The book received critical acclaim, winning the prestigious Caldecott Medal in 1986 for its illustrations. In the movie, they stayed true to the illustrations. 

Polor Express Book

I watched the movie with 4-year-old Bailey and he really liked it…it was the Rudolph of his generation. The next Christmas we traveled to Watertown Tennessee to ride a Polar Express train they had set up to look like the one in the film. He has never forgot the movie or train ride. 

It’s a good story that kids and adults can like with the universal humor. Tom Hanks played many characters in this movie and as always does a great job. The kids on the train span a nice cross-section of kids including one known as “Know It All” and he was annoying. Eddie Deezen appropriately did the voice for the character. We had a neighbor kid at the time exactly like him. 

It’s a nice adventure film with some great characters including the big guy Santa. The North Pole was definitely my favorite place in the film. It looked like what you think it would look like in a realistic feel. In a surprise, Steven Tyler makes a short appearance on a unicycle…yes Tyler on a unicycle. 

If you haven’t seen it…stop reading now. 

The best part of the movie was the bell that came off of Santa’s sleigh in my opinion. That is what the main character known as the hero boy wants out of any present. Grown-ups could not hear it ring because they stopped believing a long time ago. If you could still hear it ring…you still believed in the magic of Christmas. In the movie he could still hear it when he grew up so he kept the magic intact. I hope all of you can still hear that bell ring. No matter how old or young you are. 

Merry Christmas to all of you…Max

Plot IMDB

Santa Claus does not exist. Or does he? For one doubting boy, an astonishing event occurs. Late on Christmas Eve night, he lies in his bed hoping to hear the sound of bells from Santa Claus’ sleigh. Then to his surprise, a train’s roar and whistle can be heard outside his bedroom window. The conductor invites him on board to take an extraordinary journey to the North Pole with many other pajama-clad children. There, he receives an extraordinary gift only those who still believe in Santa Claus can experience.

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Remembering Buffalo Springfield

I wrote this before I had any readership so I thought I would post it today. 

I had a friend’s dad who owned their 1969 greatest hits album when I was in sixth grade and we wore it out. Broken Arrow, Mr Soul, and Expecting to Fly were the ones we played over and over, and heard something we missed in the previous play. So when my peers were listening to The Flock of Seagulls (nothing wrong with that!)…I was listening to Buffalo Springfield and I stayed stuck in the 60s for a long time.

Buffalo Springfield is a band that gets lost in the shuffle at times. People know their big hit “For What It’s Worth” but little about the band. They were only active between 1966-68 but had a huge impact on other artists. The band was very talented……with Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay, Bruce Palmer, Dewey Martin, and Jim Messina who replaced Bruce Palmer. They had some great songs like Mr Soul, Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing, Burned, Expecting to Fly, Bluebird, Rock and Roll Woman, Broken Arrow, and their big hit For What It’s Worth…

I just read Neil Young’s book “Waging Heavy Peace” and he said that the end of Buffalo Springfield started because the bass player Bruce Palmer kept getting busted for drugs and taken away…more than once… By 1968 it was over and what a waste of potential they had…The remaining members reunited in 2011 and played 6 concerts… in 2012 they were going to tour and do 30 concerts. Neil quit and did an album with Crazy Horse. He has a history of leaving projects when they don’t interest him anymore.

If this band would have stayed together originally… There’s little doubt they would have gotten much bigger with the talented members they had in place.

The song Broken Arrow is a song that was made in sections and it’s hard to explain it with words… Something is haunting and beautiful about it. I listen to it now and it’s like Buffalo Springfield’s own A Day In The Life. It was produced in 1967 during the psychedelic era. One of my favorite songs of all time…any song with the lyric “He hung up his eyelids and ran down the hall” grabs my attention. Neil Young wrote this beautiful song. Gregg Allman cornered Neil backstage somewhere in the 2000s and pleaded with him to start playing this song again. He did when Buffalo Springfield reformed. 

Right after the breakup, Stephen Stills helped form Crosby, Stills, and Nash….short time later Young came aboard and would join them occasionally. Furay and Messina helped form Poco and Messina teamed up with Kenny Loggins later on.

They made three albums while together. Buffalo Springfield (1966), Buffalo Springfield Again (1967) and Last Time Around (1968). A greatest hits came out in 1969 called Retrospective The Best of Buffalo Springfield. A box set was released in 2001.

So…what are your thoughts about Buffalo Springfield?

Broken Arrow

The lights turned on and the curtain fell down
And when it was over it felt like a dream 
They stood at the stage door and begged for a scream 
The agents had paid for the black limousine 
That waited outside in the rain 
Did you see them, did you see them? 
Did you see them in the river? 
They were there to wave to you 
Could you tell that the empty quivered 
Brown skinned Indian on the banks 
That were crowded and narrow 
Held a broken arrow? 

Eighteen years of American dream, 
He saw that his brother had sworn on the wall 
He hung up his eyelids and ran down the hall 
His mother had told him a trip was a fall 
And don’t mention babies at all 
Did you see him, did you see him? 
Did you see him in the river? 
He was there to wave to you 
Could you tell that the empty quivered
Brown skinned Indian on the banks 
That were crowded and narrow
Held a broken arrow? 

The streets were lined for the wedding parade 
The Queen wore the white gloves, the county of song 
The black covered caisson her horses had drawn 
Protected her king from the sun rays of dawn 
They married for peace and were gone 
Did you see them, did you see them? 
Did you see them in the river? 
They were there to wave to you 
Could you tell that the empty quivered 
Brown skinned Indian on the banks 
That were crowded and narrow
Held a broken arrow?

It’s A Wonderful Life

In baseball, you have a closer. A pitcher that comes in the 9th inning and nails it down for his team. This is the Christmas closer. If someone said you can only watch one Christmas movie every year, this one would be it. It’s very close to a long Twilight Zone. I have seen this movie more times than any other, hands down.

This weekend I plan to watch it. I would like to know how many times I’ve seen this movie. I would guess…30+ times now that I think about it. The movie was based on Philip Van Doren Stern’s short story The Greatest Gift, which he self-published as a Christmas card after failing to sell it to a publisher.

The film was initially a box-office disappointment and contributed to the financial struggles of Frank Capra’s Liberty Films. He and Samuel J. Briskin founded Liberty Films in 1945. The movie is now huge but it took years before it really set in pop culture. For years, the film’s copyright lapsed into the public domain, which allowed TV stations to air it frequently, helping it gain its spot in popular culture.

I didn’t watch this great movie until the late 80s. All it took was one time and I haven’t missed a year of watching it. I don’t tear up very easily..but it never fails at the end of the movie when Zuzu says… Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings…it gets me every time. This movie was released in 1946.

Poor George Bailey. All he wanted to do was travel and get out of Bedford Falls to see the world. Every single time he gets close…so close that it hurts…something happens and George ends up doing the right thing.

Bedford Falls needs George Bailey…every town needs a George Bailey but many end up with only a Mr. Potter. There is one thing about this movie which was unusual. Mr. Potter was never punished for what he did…which drew criticism at the time but it was more in line with reality to me. Potter was never won over by the Christmas spirit and I think that helps the movie. 

This is a Christmas movie but really only the last part of the movie is about Christmas. It is a movie for any time not just for December. I was thinking of names for our unborn child and couldn’t think of one…I was watching this movie in November of 1999 and it hit me…Bailey…so the movie means more than some movies do.

Donna Reed played Mary Hatch Bailey to perfection. The role was offered to others as well like Olivia de Havilland, Ginger Rogers, and Jean Arthur. I would have been interested to see Jean Arthur in that role. I’m a huge fan of her and Capra used her in some great films but I can’t ever complain about Donna Reed. 

Here is a small summary from IMDB…don’t read it…watch the movie instead. If you haven’t seen it…give it a shot…whether it is Christmas or July.

George Bailey has spent his entire life giving of himself to the people of Bedford Falls. He has always longed to travel but never had the opportunity in order to prevent rich skinflint, Mr. Potter, from taking over the entire town. All that prevents him from doing so is George’s modest building and loan company, which was founded by his generous father. But on Christmas Eve, George’s Uncle Billy loses the business’s $8,000 while intending to deposit it in the bank. Potter finds the misplaced money and hides it from Billy. When the bank examiner discovers the shortage later that night, George realizes that he will be held responsible and sent to jail and the company will collapse, finally allowing Potter to take over the town. Thinking of his wife, their young children, and others he loves will be better off with him dead, he contemplates suicide. But the prayers of his loved ones result in a gentle angel named Clarence coming to earth to help George, with the promise of earning his wings. He shows George what things would have been like if he had never been born.

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Scrooged

Sheila mentioned this movie yesterday while talking about A Christmas Carol. I always wanted to write it up anyway so today is a good day and I thank Sheila for bringing it up. After this review…the name I would like you to remember over any other name is Michael O’Donoghue. He was the key to this movie and Saturday Night Live’s first years. O’Donoghue and Mitch Glazer were credited as the writers of this movie. O’Donoghue hated the finished film and he said that he and Glazer wrote a much better story than was shown. He was such a talented writer and died at an early age. He is not as remembered as much as he should have been. 

Michael_O'Donoghue

He claimed that director Richard Donner ruined the film (using only about 40% of his script, eliminating subtler material going for big broad laughs, etc).  The writer hated what Murray did with the movie’s final redemption speech.  Despite co-writer Glazer imploring the actor to get over his nerves (Murray had been away from movies for four years) and just deliver the words as written, Murray went off on an emotional, big-actor-moment tirade. Glazer actually thought Murray was having a nervous breakdown. After Murray finished that scene…O’Donoghue remarked “What was that? The Jim Jones Hour?” O’Donoghue was a comedy trailblazer with National Lampoon and added dark humor to SNL. When I say dark humor…I mean very dark humor. So much so that Lorne Michaels eventually had to step in and stop O’Donaghue from going too far on SNL. 

I do love this movie no matter what O’Donoghue thought. Not only Murray but so many actors and actresses did such a great job. You had Robert Mitchum, Carol Kane, Karen Allen, Michael Pollard, John Forsythe, David Johansen, Bobcat Goldthwait, and so many more. I’m a Bill Murray fan anyway and this movie he was terrific in. This movie is a different take on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens and was released in 1988. It has become a cult classic. Christmas is not the same without this movie. I didn’t see it until the late 90s and I attempt to see it before every Christmas.  I watch it alongside the glorious Alistair Sim version, for although they are poles apart, they both entertain for very different reasons.

Scrooged marked Bill Murray’s return to a lead role after a four-year hiatus following the success of Ghostbusters. The movie was a moderate hit but since then it has grown in popularity. I also love the closing song…Jackie DeShannon’s Put A Little Love In Your Heart to close it out. 

The movie also has some great lines. After Frank Cross played a violent commercial for their version of Scrooge, Bobcat Goldthwait (Eliot Loudermilk) said the commercial looked like the Manson Family Christmas Special.

  • Frank Cross: Do you think I’m way off base here?
  • Elliot: Yes. You’re, well, you’re a tad off base, sir. That thing looked like The Manson Family Christmas Special!

_______________________________________

PLOT IMDB (Spoilers)

Frank Cross is the president of IBC Television, a network obsessed with ratings. Frank is a modern-day Scrooge: rude, selfish, and focused only on himself. On Christmas Eve, while preparing for a live broadcast of A Christmas Carol, he fires an employee, Eliot, for questioning his plans. Frank also pushes away his sweet ex-girlfriend, Claire, who still believes in kindness and helping others.

That night, Frank is visited by the ghost of his old boss, Lew Hayward, who warns him to change his ways or suffer terrible consequences. To drive the point home, Frank is told he will meet three ghosts:

  • The Ghost of Christmas Past: A loudmouthed cab driver who takes Frank back in time to see his lonely childhood and the moment he lost Claire because of his greed.
  • The Ghost of Christmas Present: A violent, glittery fairy who shows Frank how his selfishness is hurting others, including his assistant Grace and her son, Calvin, who hasn’t spoken since his father died.
  • The Ghost of Christmas Future: A terrifying, Grim Reaper-like figure who shows Frank what will happen if he doesn’t change—his death will be lonely, and everyone he knows will suffer.

Shaken by these visions, Frank has a change of heart. During the live broadcast, he takes over the show and delivers an emotional speech about love, generosity, and the true meaning of Christmas. He makes amends with Claire, Grace, and even Eliot, and ends the night singing with the cast and crew.

____________________________________________

Bill Murray: “We tore up the script so badly that we had parts all over the lawn, there was a lot I didn’t like. To remake the story, we took the romantic element and built that up a little more. The family scenes (which featured real-life siblings Joel and Brian Doyle Murray) were kind of off, so we worked on that.”

Bill Murray was asked if he had problems with director Richard Donner. He replied “Only a few. Every single minute of the day. That could have been a really, really great movie. The script was so good. There’s maybe one take in the final cut movie that is mine. We made it so fast, it was like doing a movie live. He kept telling me to do things louder, louder, louder. I think he was deaf.”

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A Christmas Carol (1951)

I will be watching this movie this week. It gets me in the mood for Christmas. Alastair Sim is such a pleasure to watch and he is why this is my favorite interpretation of  A Christmas Carol. 

There have been countless takes on A Christmas Carol, but the 1951 version is something special. It’s not just a holiday movie—it’s a haunting, moving, and uplifting journey that brings home the power of compassion and redemption. Whether it’s your first time watching or your fiftieth, this is the version that truly captures the heart of Dickens’ story. When I think of Scrooge…I think of Alastair Sim.

The movie is in black and white which turns some people off but it makes it that much better to me. They do have a color version but trust me…watch the black-and-white version. It gives the movie a darker feeling. The effects they use are obviously not CGI but they get the point across well and serve the story very well. I like the scene where the ghost of Jacob Marley is warning Ebenezer of being greedy…the two were not on the set at the same time…it looked really good for being 1951…or anytime for that matter.

The film feels like you are stepping into Victorian London…gritty, cold, and yet somehow magical. Scrooge’s transformation feels real, earned, and deeply satisfying. In 1971 Sim voiced the same character in an animated version of A Christmas Carol and it’s great as well. 

So get some hot butter rum, sit back, and watch this great movie. The recipe for Hot Buttered Rum is here, or you can go to the bottom of the post. I haven’t tried this recipe but I want to this year. When I was younger I would go to TGI Fridays…they had great hot buttered rum. 

From IMDB…spoilers

Ebenezer Scrooge (Alastair Sim) is a greedy businessman who thinks only of making money. For him, Christmas is, in his own words, a humbug. It has been seven years since his friend and partner, Jacob Marley (Sir Michael Hordern), died and on Christmas Eve. Marley’s ghost tells him he is to be visited during the night by three spirits. The Ghost of Christmas Past (Michael Dolan) revisits some of the main events in Scrooge’s life to date, including his unhappy childhood, his happy apprenticeship to Mr. Fezziwig (Roddy Hughes), who cared for his employees, and the end of his engagement to a pretty young woman due to a growing love of money. The Ghost of Christmas Present (Francis De Wolff) shows him how joyously is nephew Fred (Brian Worth) and his clerk, Bob Cratchit (Mervyn Johns), celebrate Christmas with those they love. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (Czeslaw Konarski) shows him what he will leave behind after he is gone. Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning, a new man intent on doing good and celebrating the season with all of those around him.

Cast

  • Alastair Sim (Ebenezer Scrooge)
  • Kathleen Harrison (Mrs. Dilber)
  • Mervyn Johns (Bob Cratchit)
  • Hermione Baddeley (Mrs. Cratchit)
  • Michael Hordern (Jacob Marley)
  • Glyn Dearman (Tiny Tim)

Ingredients

  • 2 quarts hot water

  • 2 cups brown sugar

  • ½ cup unsalted butter

  • 1 pinch salt

  • 6 whole cloves

  • 3 cinnamon sticks 

  • 2 cups rum

  • 1 cup sweetened whipped cream

  • ground nutmeg to taste

 
 
 
Directions

  1. Combine hot water, brown sugar, butter, and salt in a 5-quart slow cooker. Add cloves and cinnamon sticks.

     

  2. Cover slow cooker; cook on Low for 5 hours. Stir in rum.

     

  3. Ladle buttered rum into mugs. Top with whipped cream; dust with nutmeg.

 

Twilight Zone – The Night of the Meek

★★★★★  December 23, 1960 Season 2 Episode 11

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes

I haven’t re-run any of my Twilight Zone reviews but since it’s Christmas…I thought I would post this one. It’s a very touching episode and you get Art Carney and some great character actors in this one like John Fiedler, Robert P. Lieb, and Val Avery. 

This one is a sentimental, touching, and timeless, episode of the Twilight Zone. I watch this every year around Christmas. One of the reasons Rod Serling wrote this episode is to see Art Carney play Santa Claus. This is a genuinely funny episode, with the humor feeling natural and enhancing the characters. There are no big laughs but rather many great moments.

John Fiedler plays Mr. Dundee does a great job and has good comedic moments with Robert P. Lieb who plays Flaherty. Fielder would appear on the Bob Newhart Show later on in the seventies. It was taped just three weeks before Christmas, it had a special effect on the cast and crew, and especially on the many children on the set. Production assistant Lillian Gallo later said more children were performing on that show as extras than on the other tape shows, and she remembers their excitement and their joy. Sometimes, it was difficult for them to contain themselves during the times that you had to be quiet during the show.

One sour viewer was so enraged at the blasphemy of presenting a drunk as Santa Claus that he sent outraged letters to Serling, the network, and several newspapers. Can’t Santa have a cheery night?

This show was written by Rod Serling

Rod Serling’s Opening Narration: 

This is Mr. Henry Corwin, normally unemployed, who once a year takes the lead role in the uniquely popular American institution, that of the department-store Santa Claus in a road-company version of ‘The Night Before Christmas’. But in just a moment Mr. Henry Corwin, ersatz Santa Claus, will enter a strange kind of North Pole which is one part the wondrous spirit of Christmas and one part the magic that can only be found… in the Twilight Zone.

Summary

Henry Corwin is a down and outer who is normally unemployed and who definitely drinks too much. Every year he works as a department store Santa Claus. This year however, he’s spent just a little too much time in the bar and is quite drunk by the time he shows up for work. He’s fired of course and deeply regrets what he’s done. In fact, Henry has a big heart and worries not only about the children he’s disappointed at the store but about all of those children who will not get what they’ve asked for Christmas. When he comes across a large bag of gifts, everything changes for the kids and for himself as well.

Rod Serling’s Closing Narration:

A word to the wise to all the children of the twentieth century, whether their concern be pediatrics or geriatrics, whether they crawl on hands and knees and wear diapers or walk with a cane and comb their beards. There’s a wondrous magic to Christmas and there’s a special power reserved for little people. In short, there’s nothing mightier than the meek. And a Merry Christmas to each and all.

CAST

Rod Serling … Narrator / Self – Host (uncredited)
Art Carney … Henry Corwin
John Fiedler … Mr. Dundee
Robert P. Lieb … Flaherty
Val Avery … The Bartender
Meg Wyllie … Sister Florence
Kay Cousins Johnson … Irate Mother (as Kay Cousins)
Burt Mustin … Old Man
Steve Carruthers … Bar Patron (uncredited)
Andrea Darvi … Kid with Santa (uncredited)
Jimmy Garrett … Street Child (uncredited)
Larrian Gillespie … Elf (uncredited)
Jack Kenny … Man in Mission (uncredited)
Caryl Lincoln … Store Customer (uncredited)
Mathew McCue … Man in Mission (uncredited)
Frank Mills … Man in Mission (uncredited)
Mike Morelli … Man in Mission (uncredited)
Nan Peterson … Blonde in Bar (uncredited)
Ray Spiker … Man in Mission (uncredited)
Glen Walters … Store Customer (uncredited)

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Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody

This is fast becoming my favorite rock Christmas song second only to John Lennon’s Happy Xmas (War Is Over). This week is going to be Christmas week. I will let up on the weekend but let’s bring in the cheer.

This is a great Christmas song that was released in 1973 and ever since it re-enters the charts every December in the UK. The song never hit in America but it went to #1 in the UK Charts. I first heard it on a Doctor Who episode in the mid-2000s and have liked it ever since.

This was based on a psychedelic song, “My Rocking Chair,” which Noddy Holder wrote in 1967. In 1973 the Slade vocalist decided to convert it into a Christmas song after a night out drinking at a local pub.

He and the band’s bass player and co-writer Jimmy Lea camped out at Noddy’s mother’s house and got down to changing the lyrics to make them more Christmassy. Jimmy Lea incorporated into the verse parts of another song which he was then writing and Noddy re-wrote the words incorporating different aspects of the Christmas holiday season as they came to mind.

This went straight in at #1 in the UK, selling over 300,000 copies on the day of its release, making it at the time the fastest ever selling record in Britain. It eventually became Slade’s best-ever selling single in the UK, selling over a million copies.

In the UK this has become a standard, and it is usually reissued in its original form each Christmas. On several occasions, the song has re-entered the Top 40.

UK copyright collection society and performance rights organization PRS For Music estimated in 2009 that 42 percent of the earth’s population has heard this tune.

The song was written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea of Slade. It was produced by Chas Chandler formerly of the Animals. The harmonium used on this is the same one that John Lennon used on his Mind Games album, which was being recorded at the studio next door.

Noddy Holder: “I wrote the original verse with the lyrics, ‘Buy me a rocking chair, I’ll watch the world go by. Bring me a mirror, I’ll look you in the eye,’ in 1967 in the aftermath of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper,” I was being psychedelic. Dave (Hill) wrote another part to the song but it didn’t work so we put it away. Then in 1973 he remembered my verse one day when we were trying to write a Christmas single. We changed the words to, ‘Are you hanging up your stocking on the wall?’ and the rest fell into place.”

Noddy Holder: “As a lad we used to knock sleds with old orange boxes and go tobogganing down this big old quarry in the snow at Christmas. It was the inspiration for the line ‘are you hoping that the snow will start to fall.’”

Someone…anyone…give me that hat for Christmas PLEASE!

Merry Christmas Everybody

Are you hanging up a stocking on your wall?
It’s the time that every Santa has a ball
Does he ride a red nosed reindeer?
Does a ‘ton up’ on his sleigh
Do the fairies keep him sober for a day?

Chorus:
So here it is merry Christmas
Everybody’s having fun
Look to the future now
It’s only just begun

Are you waiting for the family to arrive?
Are you sure you got the room to spare inside?
Does your granny always tell ya that the old are the best?
Then she’s up and rock ‘n’ rollin’ with the rest

Chorus:
So here it is merry Christmas
Everybody’s having fun
Look to the future now
It’s only just begun

What will your daddy do
When he sees your Mama kissin’ Santa Claus?
Ah ah

Are you hanging up a stocking on your wall?
Are you hoping that the snow will start to fall?
Do you ride on down the hillside in a buggy you have made?
When you land upon your head then you’ve been slayed

Chorus (4x)
So here it is merry Christmas
Everybody’s having fun
Look to the future now
It’s only just begun

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A Complete Unknown… private movie showing

My son Bailey saw a private screening of the new movie about Bob Dylan called A Complete Unknown along with the star of the movie there at the theater as well. His name is Timothée Chalamet and Bob Dylan said he did a great job portraying him.

Bailey did say they got the era down really well. Everything looked right for that time period compared to real footage he had seen. He loves the film. Bailey is probably a bigger Dylan fan than I am and that is saying a lot.

Bailey wrote the following.

I got to see Timothée Chalamet from shorter than arm’s reach. Here are a couple of photos I was lucky enough to get with my phone.

I got to see the film early due to a record store I follow on Instagram promoting free tickets.

A Complete Unknown follows Bob Dylan from 1961 to 1965 as he becomes a folk legend to a rock n roll rebel. The film really lets you see how Dylan progresses with his fame alongside his own character wanting to do what Dylan wants to do. You also get insight into other characters like Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Woodie Guthrie, and Sylvie Russo in their relationship with Dylan.

I was really pleased with how this film paced itself. It wasn’t trying to make a buck out of you. It was trying to make you feel moved. There are times you laugh at a clever witty comment Dylan makes to feeling annoyed like he does with what people want him to be… instead of what he wants to be. The entire film moves you towards the Newport folk music festival in 1965. It was so cathartic with what followed ( I can’t say anymore from here).  I really loved every second of it and cannot wait to see it again. It is now one of my favorite films.

Vince Guaraldi Trio – Linus and Lucy

It’s hard to resist this song. It automatically makes me happy when I hear it. I see the Peanuts gang doing their thing.

Peanuts GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

This song I can hear anytime of the year and be happy. It’s associated with Christmas also…whichever… I never get tired of it.

I was reminded of this song this year in Hanspostcard’s song draft when run-sew-read’s pick was this song.

Ironically, just about everyone would call this “the Charlie Brown song” even though it’s actually titled after Linus and Lucy Van Pelt, brother and sister in Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip universe.

The song is most famous for its use in the yearly favorite A Charlie Brown Christmas, which first aired in 1965, but it was written two years earlier for a documentary about Schulz and the Peanuts gang called A Boy Named Charlie Brown, which never aired.

Producer Lee Mendelson was in charge of the documentary and asked Vince Guaraldi to compose music for it

Guaraldi was huge in the jazz world and won the 1962 Grammy for Best Original Jazz Composition for “Cast Your Fate To The Wind” for his group, the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Mendelson was searching for what kind of music to play for the documentary when he took a taxi cab and “Cast Your Fate To The Wind” was playing as he crossed the Golden Gate bridge. He loved it and his decision was made.

Guaraldi wrote a series of songs for the project, including “Linus and Lucy,” that he recorded with his group, the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Even though A Boy Named Charlie Brown was shelved, the soundtrack was released in 1964, which is where “Linus and Lucy” first appeared.

In 1965, Mendelson put together the first Peanuts TV special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, using many of the same people who worked on the documentary. “Linus and Lucy” formed the score, and a song he wrote with Guaraldi called “Christmas Time Is Here” was included in a key scene.

When A Charlie Brown Christmas debuted in 1965, it quickly turned the Peanuts franchise into a television institution. That first special also shot Guaraldi to greater fame, and he became connected to all subsequent Peanuts shows.

Guaraldi would continue to work on Peanuts films until his death in 1976.

No words…just enjoy

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December 8, 1980…

I wanted to include this early today before my posts for Sunday.

As I’ve told people before…I rarely do anniversaries…but this one I will post as long as I blog. I add something to it every year but I wish John would be alive and well at 84 years old but that didn’t happen. It brings back a lot of memories and I’m 13 all over again.

I grew up in the seventies and became a teen in the 1980s. The Beatles were not popular where I lived to say the least. One concerned mother of a friend actually called my mom warning her that I was headed toward destruction because I was listening to the Beatles at around 11 years old. No, I’m not kidding.  My mom, bless her heart, told the lady that “Max knows right from wrong. You worry about your child and I’ll worry about about mine.” Ok back to December of 1980.

Damn this date. Every Dec 8th I can’t help but think of where I was when I heard. Last year’s release of the UK #1 Now and Then only heightened the anger, sadness, and confusion over what happened. I post this post every year on this date and will continue. I have updated it each year and I’ve almost rewritten it since I posted it first back in 2018…and if it’s too long now I apologize. I still feel what I felt on that date. Although to be accurate it was on December 9th that I found out…the next morning getting ready for school.

When I watched the news clips at the time I felt like an interloper because all of these fans who were sobbing grew up with Lennon in real time…I was this 13-year-old kid who was late to the party…a decade late.

It’s odd to think the Beatles had only been broken up for 10 years when this happened…to a 13-year-old at the time…that was a lifetime but in reality, it’s nothing. To put it in perspective… it’s now 2023 and 10 years ago was 2013…that doesn’t seem that long ago does it? I was only 3 years old when the Beatles broke up so I had no clue.

Since second grade (1975), I’ve been listening to the Beatles. While a lot of kids I knew listened and talked about modern music …I just couldn’t relate as much. By the time I was ten, I had read every book about The Beatles I could get my hands on. In a small middle TN town…it wasn’t too many. I was after their generation but I knew the importance of what they did…plus just great music. The more I got into them the more I learned about the Who, Stones, and the Kinks. I wanted to get my hands on every book about the music of the 1960s. Just listening to the music wasn’t enough…I wanted to know the history.

I spent that Monday night playing albums in my room. Monday night I didn’t turn the radio on…I’m glad I didn’t…The next morning I got up to go to school and the CBS morning news was on. The sound was turned down but the news was showing Beatle video clips. I was wondering why they were showing them but didn’t think much of it.

Curious, I turned the volume up and found out that John Lennon had been shot and killed. I was very angry and shocked. The bus ride to school was quiet… at school, it was quiet as well. Some teachers were affected because John was their generation. Some of my friends were shocked but some didn’t get the significance at the time and some didn’t care.

I went out and bought the White Album, Abbey Road, and Double Fantasy in late December of 1980…I can’t believe I didn’t have those two Beatles albums already…now whenever I hear any song from those albums they remind me of the winter of 80-81. I remember the call-in shows on the radio then…pre-internet… people calling to share their feelings for John or hatred for the killer.

The next few weeks I saw footage of the Beatles on specials that I had never seen before. Famous and non-famous people pouring their hearts out over the grief. Planned tributes from bands and everyone asking the same question…why?

My young mind could not process why a person would want to do this to a musician. A politician yea…I could see that…not that it’s right but this? A musician? Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, and JFK were before my time.  By the mid-1970s John had pretty much dropped out of sight…John and Yoko released Double Fantasy on November 17, 1980, and suddenly they were everywhere…Less than a month later John was murdered. The catchwords were Catcher in the Rye, Hawaii, handgun, and insane. The next day we were duly informed who killed John in the First, Middle, and Last name format they assign to murderers. I won’t mention his name.

I didn’t want to know his name, his career, his wife’s name, his childhood…I just wanted to know why… he says now…” attention”

I noticed a change happened after that Monday night. John Lennon was instantly turned into a saint, something he would have said was preposterous. Paul suddenly became the square and the uncool one and George and Ringo turned into just mere sidemen. Death has a way of elevating you in life. After the Anthology came out in the 90s that started to change back a little.

I called my dad a few days after it happened and he said that people were more concerned that The Beatles would never play again than the fact a man, father, and husband were shot and killed. He was right and I was among those people until he said that. Dad was never a fan…he was more Elvis, Little Richard, and country music… but he made his point. When my father passed in 2005 I thought about this conversation and knew he was teaching me again.

It was odd being into the Beatles at such a young age and after their time so to speak. While my peers were talking about all the contemporary artists at the time…all I talked about was John, Paul, George, and Ringo. I would end up comparing all the new music I heard to theirs…and that wasn’t fair at all to new music. I would think to myself…well this song (any new song at the time) wasn’t as good as Strawberry Fields and so on. I, fortunately, grew out of that but it took a while.

Below is a video of James Taylor telling how he met the killer a day before Lennon was murdered. Also, Howard Sterns broadcast the day after.

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