Look at it this way - no more Andy Williams Christmas songs. Now that's something to look forward to. What I can't figure out is why radio doesn't start playing Christmas songs later than let's say, oh - November. You think that just maybe we can live without Christmas music until December? And then play them all Christmas Day when about 5 people are listening to radio anyway. Instead, all the stations that started playing seasonal stuff either before or after Thanksgiving stop playing them about noon Christmas Day...
What I won't try to do regarding Christmas music is try to figure out why Motown could never do a decent Christmas tune. I just know that in the spirit of the holiday season and whatever you celebrate, I hope you have a happy, healthy one with family and friends and try to be more amicable than Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump. How do you take sides in that one???
Personal aside: Please don't forward me The Drifters "White Christmas" animated video. I've only seen it about a dozen times since last year. I used to love their version too...
In the spirit of the season, our video link today is one of the greatest Christmas standards of all-time. It's not "The Christmas Song", one of the all-time greats and the biggest Christmas hit ever written during a summer heatwave in Los Angeles. It isn't "White Christmas" but it is as poignant and reverent as those songs. The guessing game is over. Click on and enjoy our pick for best Christmas song of all-time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok5rOO2v2dU ...
Timeline Memories...
- [1882] The 1st string of Christmas tree lights is created by Thomas Edison...
- [1937] The Lincoln Tunnel, connecting Manhattan and New Jersey opens to traffic...
- [1984] New York City resident Bernhard Goetz shoots 4 youths on a Manhattan subway, claiming they were about the rob him. Much to popular belief, the youths armed with screw drivers did not wish the "subway vigilante" Merry Christmas when he went berserk screaming "I'm a Chanukah boy, I'm a Chanukah boy. Take that"...
Happy Trails: 1995] Lawrence Berk, founder of Berklee College of Music dies of natural causes at 87 in Boston...2002] Joe Strummer, lead singer of The Clash dies suddenly of a congenital heart defect at 50...
Premiered on this date: 1965] "Dr. Zhivago" starring Omar Sharif and Julie Christie...
#1 on this date: 1957] "April Love" - Pat Boone...1965] "Over and Over" - Dave Clark Five...1984] "Like a Virgin" - Madonna...
Wedding Bells: 1968] Julie Nixon and David Eisenhower exchange wedding vows...2000] Madonna can't claim she's a virgin anymore after bed-uh-wedding Brit director Guy Ritchie...
The Final Curtain" 1976] The last show of "Let's Make A Deal" airs (several attempts since haven't been successful but it's rumored that Rosie O'Donnell would love to host a new version of the show. She could block all 3 doors easily)...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in each timeline]...
Commentary...
On the night of December 24th, 1906, Canadian physicist Reginald A. Fessenden became the 1st person to broadcast a music program over the radio from Brant Rock (MA) and in celebration of the historic event, WATD owner Ed Perry held events to commemorate it. The legendary Fred B. Cole emceed the honors. Fred hosted Big Band music on radio stations in New York and Boston. Our thanks to Len Zola for the information...
In a somewhat related event, Dick Summer who perhaps is itching for a O'Donnell-Trump feud, offers this: "Harvey's (Mednick) first record was Tom Edison's "Happy Birthday". It was a cylinder, not a record. Mine was "Wake The Town and Tell The People" by Les Baxter. The week I played it was #4 with an arrow. The settlers hadn't arrived yet with their bullets". Dick, Harvey may have played the cylinder but Cousin Brucie introduced Thomas Edison at the historic occasion...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Ralph Fiennes (44), Robin Gibb (57), Rick Nielsen (60), Diane Sawyer (61), Hector Elizondo (70) and Lady Bird Johnson (94)...
Saturday, December 23, 2006...
Timeline Memories...
- [1888] Following a quarrel with Paul Gauguin, Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh cuts off part of his own earlobe. My question is a simple one: Why didn't he cut off Gauguin's ear???
- [1942] Bob Hope does his 1st Christmas show to entertain U.S. airmen stationed in Alaska and starts an annual tradition...
"T'was the night before Christmas...": 1823] The poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" ("T'was the night before Christmas...") by Clement C. Moore is published in the Troy (NY) Sentinel...
"TAXiiiiiiiiii": 1834] English architect Joseph Hansom patents his "safety cab" a.k.a. the "Hansom Cab" which is still available for rides in Central Park for your first born and second mortgage to your house, an hour...
#1 on this date: 1942] "White Christmas" - Bing Crosby (will also be #1 in 1945, 1947 and would be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1974)...1959] "Why" - Frankie Avalon (it's the shortest title of any #1 hit)...1964] "I Feel Fine" - Beatles (the 30th song by the group to reach the charts in 1964, the most songs in one year by any group)...1977] "How Deep Is Your Love" - Bee Gees (the 1st song from the "Saturday Night Fever" LP to become a single. The LP is #1 for 24 weeks)...1989] "Another Day In Paradise" - Phil Collins...
Busted: 1959] Chuck Berry is arrested for "transporting a minor across a state line for an immoral purpose" (apparently not to discuss the bitter dispute between Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump)...
Recorded on this date: 1959] "This Magic Moment" - The Drifters...
Debuted on this date: 1964] The Beach Boys make their 1st appearance on "Shindig!"...
Released on this date: 1968] 82 crew members of the U.S. intelligence gathering ship, Pueblo, are released by North Korea after being captured 11 months earlier...1978] "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" - Rod Stewart...
Wedding Bells: 1969] Elton John and Bernie Taupin begin their songwriting team...1997] Woody Allen, 62, marries the adopted daughter of wife Mia Farrow, 27-year old Soon-Yi Previn (this is still as distasteful 9 years later as it was when it happened. YECHHHHHH!!!)...
"Immaculate Reception": 1972] That's what they called the catch made by the Steelers Franco Harris on a last-second play that won a playoff game for Pittsburgh over Oakland (13-7)...
"Guilty as Charged": 1997] A jury in Denver convicts Terry Nichols for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing (Nichols is serving a lifetime term without parole)...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Eddie Vedder (42), Susan Lucci (60), Harry Shearer (63), Jerry Koosman (64) and Paul Hornung (71)...
Sunday, December 24, 2006...
Timeline Memories...
- [1865] Several veterans of the Confederate Army form a private social club in Pulaski (TN) called the Ku Klux Klan...
- [1906] Canadian physicist Reginald A. Fessenden becomes the 1st person to broadcast a music program over the radio from Brant Rock (MA)...
"Happy Trails": 1954] R&B singer Johnny Ace shoots himself fatally while playing Russian Roulette backstage at a concert in Houston. Ace of "Pledging My Love" fame was just 25...
"It's Over": 1812] The War of 1812 between the U.S. and Britain ends with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in Belgium...
Composed on this date: 1818] "Silent Night", written by Josef Mohr with music by Franz Gruber of Germany...
The Final Curtain: 1920] Enrico Caruso gives his last public performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (he would, he said continue to offer himself for weddings and bar mitzvahs)...
Debuted on this date: 1948] A midnight Mass is broadcast on TV for the 1st time from St. Patrick's Cathedral...1955] The Lennon Sisters debut on "The Lawrence Welk Show" as my mother and aunt Irene kvell...
"Brought to you by...": 1953] NBC-TV's "Dragnet" becomes the 1st network show to be sponsored (by Fatima cigarettes)...
Recorded on this date: 1966] "I think we're Alone Now" - Tommy James...
"T'was the night before Christmas...": 1968] The Apollo 8 astronauts orbiting the moon read passages from the Old Testament Book of Genesis during a Christmas Eve TV broadcast...
Wedding Bells: 1981] Guardian Angel Curtis Sliwa and Lisa Evers walk down the aisle in their red berets (they would break up in 1993)...1990] Nicole Kidman succumbs to the many "charms" of Tom Cruise as they tie the knot (the marriage made in Scientology heaven ends in 2001)...
"Guilty as Charged": 1997] Ilich Ramirez Sanchez a.k.a. Carlos the Jackal is sentenced to life for the 1975 murders of 2 French investigators and a Lebanese national (he's now serving a lifetime sentence)...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Ryan Seacrest (32), Ricky Martin (35), Mike Curb (62) and Dave Bartholomew (86)...
Monday, Christmas Day, December 25, 2006...
Timeline Memories...
- [1776] General George Washington and his troops cross the Delaware River for a surprise attack against Hessian forces at Trenton (NJ)...
- [1818] Written the night before, "Silent Night" is performed for the 1st time at the Church of St. Nikolaus in Austria...
"Happy Trails": 1946] W.C. Fields dies at 66 from a stomach hemorrhage (despite all the rumors about the Philadelphia joke being on his headstone, it just has his name and dates of birth and death on it)...1977] Charlie Chaplin dies in his sleep at 88...1989] Ousted Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu and wife Elena are executed following a popular uprising (popular to everyone but Ceausescu and his wife)...1989] Former Yankee manager Billy Martin dies in a pickup truck crash in Fenton (NY) at 61...1995] Dean Martin (Christmas Day was not nice to anyone named Martin) dies from respiratory failure at 78...
"Name That Tune": 1896] John Philip Sousa puts a title to the new music he composed: "The Stars and Stripes Forever"...
Debuted on this date: 1948] "The Perry Como Show"...
Wedding Bells: 1950] Dick Tracy marries Tess Truehart (but keeps his fedora on during their wedding night)...
"The Big Beat": 1958] Alan Freed's "Christmas Rock 'n Roll Spectacular" at the Loew's State Theater stars Frankie Avalon, Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochran, the Everly Brothers, Moonglows, Johnnie Ray & Jackie Wilson...
"Christmas Wish": 1959] Richard Starkey a.k.a. Ringo Starr, 18, gets his 1st drum set...
Premiered on this date: 1964] The James Bond movie, "Goldfinger" premieres...1990] "Godfather III" premieres...
"He loves me...he loves me not...he loves me...": 1967] Paul McCartney and Jane Asher get engaged but never marry...
"Open for binness": 1977] Harlem's famed Apollo Theater after renovation...
"Tee it up...oops": 2002] Katie Hnida (still looking for a vowel) becomes the 1st woman to play in a Division I football game when she attempts an extra point for New Mexico against UCLA in the Las Vegas Bowl ("and the kick is up.........oh, it's no good")...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Rickey Henderson (48), Annie Lennox (52), Karl Rove (56), Sissy Spacek (57), Barbara Mandrell (58), Jimmy Buffet (60) and Tony Martin (94)...
Tuesday, December 26, 2006...
Timeline Memories...
- [1996] 6-year old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey is found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder (CO) (the murder remains unsolved)..
- [2004] A tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean leaves more than 216,000 dead or missing, mostly in southern Asia...
"Happy Trails": 1799] George Washington is eulogized by Col. Henry Lee as "First in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen"...1972] Harry S. Truman our 33rd president dies in Kansas City of lung congestion from pneumonia at 88...1974] Jack Benny dies from pancreatic cancer at 80...1999] Curtis Mayfield dies at 57 from diabetes after being paralyzed when a light stand fell on him some years earlier...2000] Jason Robards dies from lung cancer at 78...
A cup of Joe: 1865] James H. Nason of Franklin (MA) receives a patent for a coffee percolator...
A snow job: 1947] A major snowstorm blankets New York City under 25.8" in 16 hours (80 people die in the northeast as a result of the storm)...
Recorded on this date: 1961] "She Cried" - Jay & The Americans (with the original Jay)...
Released on this date: 1963] "I Want To Hold Your Hand/I Saw Her Standing There" - The Beatles...
Debuted on this date: 1968] Led Zeppelin begin their 1st U.S. tour in Boston opening for Vanilla Fudge...
Premiered on this date: 1973] "The Exorcist" starring Linda Blair (rated X)...
"Computer Games": 1982] The Time Man of The Year is a computer (it's the 1st time a non-human receives the honors)...
The Final Curtain: 1986] "Search For Tomorrow" bows out after 35 years...1992] Legendary sports play-by-play man, Marty Glickman retires at 75...
Wedding Bells: 1993] Rodney Dangerfield, 72, marries Joan Child 41 (the marriage lasts until Rodney's death in 2004...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Ozzie Smith (52), Carlton Fisk (59), John Walsh (61), Paul Power (62), Phil Spector (66), Abdul "Duke" Fakir (one of 2 living members of the Four Tops)(71) and Richard Widmark (92)...
Timeline Countdown: Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, 5 days until 2007, 11 days until the NFL playoffs, 13 days until the BCS championship game, 40 days until Super Bowl XLI and 51 days until pitchers & catchers...
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