Friday, November 23, 2012

DOCTOR WHO IS 49

The TV show Doctor Who debuted on this day, November 23, in 1963. The first episode was entitled "The Unearthly Child." You can see the first part of it on You Tube, however the BBC likes to remove the the rest of the episode.

I did find this great Comic Relief parody of Doctor Who on YouTube.


Actress Deborah Raffin dies at age 59 - MiamiHerald.com

LOS ANGELES: Actress Deborah Raffin dies at age 59 - Movies Wires - MiamiHerald.com

This is from a photo shoot that appeared in the June 1985 Good Housekeeping. Not to take anything away from the late Ms. Raffin, but I don't recall ever seeing any movies or TV shows she was in. I mainly remember her being on the cover of magazines, especially Good Housekeeping.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Doc Severinsen and Johnny Carson Talk Thanksgiving Plans on "The Tonight...

I had never seen all of this, only an edited version. Interesting side note, Doc Severinsen played at Juanita K. Hammons Hall a few years ago. The radio show I was producing for a local radio station was going to have a phone interview with Doc to promote the concert. As a lead in to the interview, we were playing a recording Doc made of the "Tonight Show Theme." I always would secure the line by asking the person to be interviewed if they could hear the music on air coming through their phone. Desdinova: Mr. Severinsen, could you hear the music we was playing? Doc Severinsen: Son, I would recognize that song anywhere! That is one of the coolest moments of my career.

BEST OF DESDINOVA: A QUICK THOUGHT ON THANKSGIVING (I STILL DON'T LIKE THOSE STUPID PILGRIMS


Originally posted on the Desdinova - Super Villain of the Ozarks blog on November 26, 2009.

On this Thanksgiving Day, I want to get something off my chest. The one thing I never liked about Thanksgiving was the emphasis on the pilgrims. I didn't want to study about the pilgrims, because they were boring and dull. The pilgrims were always presented as so-holier-than-thou people that we could never measure up to. However, in a college course I had to read pilgrim diaries. These were not only boring, but the pilgrims spent most of their time having sex. The pilgrims have to be the most overrated group in history, next to the dorky founding fathers. Of course, opinions like this one is why I'm considered the Super-Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Mr. Food passes away - KLTV.com

Mr. Food, seen on KLTV7 for years, passes away - KLTV.com-Tyler, Longview, Jacksonville, Texas | ETX News

Mr. Food was a staple on local TV station KOLR for many years. This was the only obit I could quick link to with Blogger. 

Saturday, November 17, 2012

DESDINOVA'S FAVORITE ROLLING STONES SONGS


To celebrate their 50th anniversary, the Rolling Stones have released a new greatest hits compilation entitled GRRR! To be exact, they have released three different versions of this greatest hits, each one with more hits included. I became a major fan of the Rolling Stones in the seventh grade. That was when they released the Tattoo You LP which included the hits "Start Me Up," "Waiting On a Friend" and "Hang Fire." Oddly enough, I saved up enough money to get Hot Rock 1964-1971, because I felt I should start at the beginning with the songs that had made them famous. From there, I was hooked. I've decided to list my twenty favorite Rolling Stones songs. Trust me, I could pick more than twenty, but I think twenty is enough for now.

  1. "Jumping Jack Flash"
  2. "Paint It Black"
  3. "Start Me Up"
  4. "Bitch"
  5. "I Can't Get No Satisfaction"
  6. "She Was Hot"
  7. "She's So Cold"
  8. "Can't You Hear Me Knocking"
  9. "Dandelion"
  10. "Get Off of My Cloud"
  11. "The Last Time"
  12. "It's Only Rock & Roll (But I Like It)"
  13. "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)"
  14. "Miss You"
  15. "Time Waits For No One"
  16. "Gimmie Shelter"
  17. "Brown Sugar"
  18. "Let's Spend the Night Together"
  19. "Under My Thumb"
  20. "Honky Tonk Woman"
As I said above, there could be more. I will add this, my two least favorite Rolling Stones songs are "Fool To Cry" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want." I also left off (on purpose) songs that the Rolling Stones covered, "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," "Harlem Shuffle" and "It's All Over Now." 

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

THE MISIDENTIFIED HITS OF ROCK & ROLL

While working at Rock 99 (KWTO-FM), I and some of my co-workers noticed that some people requested songs by the hook rather than the actual title. This was because the title had nothing to do with the song itself.I have listed about twenty of the songs that was requested by the wrong title. The actual title of the song is in the parentheses. I should mention that some of these were not on the Rock 99 playlist while I worked there, but the mangled request always made me and my fellow DJs laugh.
  1. "Stop, Children, What's That Sound" by Buffalo Springfield (For What It's Worth)
  2. "This Ain't No Party, This Ain't No Disco" by Talking Heads (Life During War Time)
  3. "Welcome Back My Friends To the Show That Never Ends" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer (Karn Evil #9)
  4. "Go Ask Alice" by Jefferson Airplane (White Rabbit)
  5. "I Need a Dirty Woman" by Pink Floyd (Young Lust)
  6. "Teenage Wasteland" by the Who (Baba O'Riley)
  7. "Ground Control To Major Tom" by David Bowie (Space Oddity)
  8. "Don't Go" by Led Zeppelin (D'yer Mak'er)
  9. "Hearts Afire" by Earth, Wind & Fire (That's the Way of the World)
  10. "I Don't Give A Damn, I Ain't Going To Vietnam" by Country Joe & the Fish (I Feel Like I'm Fixing To Die Rag)
  11. "I Love the Flower Girl" by the Cowsills (The Rain, The Park and Other Things)
  12. "My Name Is Lucifer" by Black Sabbath (N.I.B)
  13. "Clap Your Hands a Little Bit Louder" by Stevie Wonder (Fingertips Part 2)
  14. "Mr. Jones" by Bob Dylan (Ballad of the Thin Man)
  15. "There Is No Dying" by The Beatles (Tomorrow Never Knows)
  16. "Take A Load Off Annie" by The Band (The Weight)
  17. "I Don't Like Cricket" by 10CC (Dreadlock Holiday)
  18. "There's Blood In the Streets" by the Doors (Peace Frog)
  19. "See My Lonely Life" by Alice Cooper (The Ballad of Dwight Fry)
  20. "Don't Ask Me What I Think of You" by Fleetwood Mac (Oh Well)
Honorable Mentions: "Little Robin Marie" by Mountain (Nantucket Sleighride), "Annie, Are You Okay?" Michael Jackson (Smooth Criminal) and "Here We Are, Entertain Us" by Nirvana (Smells Like Teen Spirit).

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

I AM NOT ASHAMED PLAYLIST 5

It is time for me to list more songs that are in my Ipod that I'm not ashamed to admit to liking. Some call these guilty pleasures. Life is to short to be guilty about your entertainment choices.

Ars Nova - "March of the Mad Duke's Circus" (An early prog rock band)
Capt. Groovy and His Bubble Gum Army - "Capt. Groovy and His Bubble Gum Army" (Really Bobby  Bloom of "Montego Bay" fame)
The Monroes - "What Do All the People Know" (Great lost hit of the 80s)
Geoff Goddard - "Sky Men" (A sci-fi Joe Meek novelty. Goddard played keyboard on the more successful Joe Meek production "Telestar")
The Squares - "This is Airebeat" (British New Wave/pop pop of late 70s/early 80s "This has always been a backwater")
Tommy Roe - "Dizzy"
The English Congregation - "Softly Whispering I Love You"
The Fabulous Poodles - "Mirror Star" (A 70s punk song about playing air guitar)
Chad McDevitt Skiffle Group with Nancy Whiskey - "Freight Train" (Early British hit in this country in the 1950s)
Baz Luhrman - "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)" (One of the best spoken word/recitations ever)
Cee Lo Green - "Forget You" (One of the great ultimate break up songs - How could anybody not like it?)
Ray Parker - "The Other Woman" (A great R&B hit of the 80s that you don't hear anymore)
Blondie - "Heart of Glass"
Louie Armstrong - "Old Man Mose"
Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band - "Abba Zaba"
The Rembrandts - "I'll Be There For You" (YES I DO LIKE THE THEME SONG TO FRIENDS! WANNA MAKE SOMETHING OF IT!)
The Breakfast Club - "Right On Track" (A memory from high school)
Owl City - "Fireflies"
Rockwell - "Somebody's Watching Me" (Barry Gordy Jr's son - featuring backing vocals by Michael and Jermaine Jackson)
The Combo Kings - "Batman A Go Go" (A soul dance hit from 1966 - There was a similar James Bond dance number)
The Seeds - "Pushing Too Hard" (One of my all time favorite songs. It sums up my life. If I ever find who was responsible for taking this out of the TouchTunes juke box at Buffalo Wild Wings, I will kill them!)
Charlie Dore - "Pilot of the Airwaves" (A song about a girl in love with a radio DJ. Dore was a Emmylou Harris sound alike from Australia)
Robbie Dupree - "Hot Rod Hearts" (I was told this was "dirty" when I was in elementary school - Never figured out why)
The Lettermen - "Come Back Silly Girl " (Early sunshine pop -slightly un-PC title)
October Country - "My Girlfriend Is a Witch" (Psychedelic/Sunshine Pop by Ray Bradbury fans - he even wrote the liner notes on their only LP)
Sarah Brightman/Michael Crawford - "The Phantom of the Opera"
The Beginning of the End - "Funky Nassau" (Fast reggae hit of the early 70s)
The Bosstweeds - "The Theme from Faster Pussycat Kill Kill"
The Coasters - "Little Egypt" (Singing Yiiiinnnng YYYaaang! Gitchy gitchy!)
The Hollywood Argyles - "Alley Oop"
Morris Day & the Time - "Jungle Love"
Even & Jaron - "Crazy About This Girl"
Cliff Richard - "Dreaming"
Hank Ballard & The Midniters - "Annie Had a Baby"
The Floaters - "Float On" (A Quiet Storm hit featuring the most romantic line ever "Cancer and my name is Larry")
The Bangles - "Walk Like an Egyptian"
Neil Sedaka "Bad Blood"
Lady Antebellum - "Need You Now"
The Hollies - "If the Lights Go Out" (From their 80s reunion LP - Why was this song not a bigger hit?)

If you want to see the previous "I AM NOT ASHAMED" Ipod playlist, here are links:
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4 

Thursday, November 8, 2012

The President's Analyst - Trailer

This is one of my favorite comedy movies of the 60s. Staring James Coburn, Severen Darden, and Godrey Cambridge. Also featuring Laugh-In's Arte Johnson, "Eve of Destruction" singer Barry McGuire, Virginia from Spider Baby, Grandpa Walton, Mr. Feeney from Boy Meets World and Schnieder from One Day At a Time.

Super President Theme Song!




A lost cartoon of the 60s. It would be great if it was on DVD.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

"Svengoolie" Hospitalized After Heart Attack

WHY I STOPPED TALKING ABOUT POLITICS AND CURRENT NEWS

Someone sent me an e-mail asking why I wasn't posting anything about politics. Andy Cline of Rhetorica once said I wrote some of the best satire of anyone. He was one of the few who liked it.
Not only were there many people in the Ozarks who didn't like it. I received many death threats, mainly from an idiot at Mansfield, Mo. The main problem was some people in the local media, including co-workers, who didn't like it. They felt I made fun of the wrong people or things. I've been told I've been blacklisted by at least one of the radio clusters here in Springfield (Clear Channel). The co-workers who didn't like my opinions went to management and tried to get me fired.
I should note that I'm not angry about the state of the country like I was when I first started the old blog, however, I am not happy with the state of the Ozarks. I may never be. I've hated the Ozarks since I was in elementary school.
I have figured out that nothing makes Ozarkers more upset than someone having fun, being entertained and not griping about politics. So that is what I am doing with my current blog. I'm entertaining people.  I'm much happier and I'm having fun. The response is much slower but has always been very positive. That is what I like.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN 2012 - MY FINAL THOUGHTS

The problem with participating in the Countdown To Halloween is there is so much I would have liked to have posted but didn't have the time. You have to scramble some times to post something each day, so you take short cuts with a You Tube video or just a photo.

I had some post about horror films I wanted to get to, but didn't have the time because of other commitments. I just wanted to mention these in passing since people tend to stumble onto this blog after several weeks or months.

I wanted to look at a few horror movies that I think are underrated. I'll admit, I'm not big on slamming something as overrated, but I wanted to single out one horror film for this distinction. I'm not suggesting it should be removed from circulation and all copies burned like many websites would do, but just to point out the fact.

MOST UNDERRATED "GOLDEN AGE" HORROR FILM: Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde (1932) Director Roubin Mamoulian created a master piece that set the precedents for how horror films are made with his use of sound, special effects, makeup and writing. The bad part is the film was not seen for many years. When MGM remade the film in the mid-40s with Spencer Tracy, they bought up copies of the 1932 Paramount version and had it hid. The reason was they knew their version was inferior to Mammolien's masterpiece with Frederic March. March (above) won an Oscar because he played Dr. Jeckyl as a caring doctor and idealist and Mr. Hyde as hateful, pushy, abusive Neanderthal monster. Many people have remarked that it was hard to tell when Tracy was Jeckyl or Hyde, because he didn't use elaborate make-up. This is also a pre-Code film so there is some mild sexual content with the character of Ivy (were led to believe she is a prostitute). The sounds heard during the transformation scenes included a recording of a gong played backwards and Mammolien's heartbeat. You must see this film at least once.

MOST UNDERRATED 60s HORROR FILM: Carnival of Souls (1962)  Directed by Herke Harvey, who made educational films in Kansas, this film became a cult classic after airing on late night television. Many people compare the look of the film to the later, more successful 60s zombie movie Night of the Living Dead. Unlike that movie, this film relies more on atmosphere than gore. These zombies prefer to dance with their victim than eat them. The movie stars Candace Hilligoss as Mary, a young woman who survives a horrible car accident. She takes a job as a church organist in Utah. On the way, Mary sees a strange pavilion by the shore of Salt Lake (An actual place known as Saltair Pavilion). At the same time, her radio begins playing only creepy organ music, which she cannot turn off. She swerves to miss a mysterious corpse-like man (Pictured above played by director Herke Harvey) standing in the road. She soon begins to see the man everywhere she goes. The film features many unnerving scene such as when women in a department store ignore Mary. The scene was filmed without sound, so we see the women talking to each other, but we don't hear anything. Another more famous scenes is near the end, when Mary goes to the Pavilion and finds the zombies waltzing to the creepy organ music. I can't tell you any more, I wouldn't want to give away the ending.

MOST UNDERRATED HORROR COMEDY: Shadows and Fog (1991)  Director Woody Allen's homage to expressionist films of the 20s and 30s. You can spot references to German directors Fritz Lang, F. W. Murnau, G. W. Pabst, as well as, Todd Browning, James Whale and, the above mentioned, Roubin Mamoulian. The movie involves a serial killer terrorizing a community, while rival gangs of vigilantes hunt for him in between trying to kill each other. One vigilante group tries to recruit a nebbish accountant named Kleinman (Played by Allen-who else?), who doesn't want to be involved. Meanwhile, a circus sword-swallower named Irmy (Mia Farrow) has a fight with her clown boyfriend Paul (John Malkovich) after she catches him making love to the circus tightrope walker (Madonna) and decides to leave the circus. Irmy and Kleinman eventually meet, as well as interact with a coroner, a poor mother and her baby, a group of prostitutes, college boys, police detectives, an alcoholic magician, Kleinman's bitter ex-fiance, Kleinman's voyeuristic boss and clairvoyant who smells people. Along with the impressive sets and black and white cinematography, there are several well-known people with small parts.
Heather Donahue apologizes for the movie

MOST OVERRATED HORROR FILM OF ALL TIME: The Blair Witch Project (1999) Directed by two guys, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, this film duped more people than Bernie Madoff. The film is supposed to be a collection of found video from three college students (Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, Michael C. Williams), who went to Maryland to make a film about the legend of the Blair Witch. They supposedly never returned and all that was left was the video equipment and video of what supposedly happened. Oddly enough, the young lady leading the group (Donahue) turned up later in commercials for Steak N Shake, so she must not have died a violent death. As a matter of fact, you can't tell what happened at the end. I'm sorry this movie wasn't as scary as everyone said, as a matter of fact, it is downright borring. The only thing I thought was scary was the fact that, as a media major, I have worked with people like the Heather Donahue character. The Blair Witch couldn't be half as scary as the cranky, overachiever taskmaster, who demands she receive an "A" her project, even if she has to leave the others in the group for dead. It is too bad that I couldn't find on You Tube a stand-up routine Bill Cosby performed on The Late Show with David Letterman about going to see The Blair Witch Project at the theater with Mrs. Cosby. He talked about the overuse of the "f-word" to characters running through the woods in the dark with cameras "without hitting a tree."

And that brings an end to my Halloween celebration for 2012.    

Thursday, November 1, 2012

WHY BEING A MONSTER KID IN THE OZARKS IS HELL

I'm proud to say I was a monster kid and I STILL AM. As a kid, I read Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine and the first record I owned was Monster Mash (It was a bad Peter Pan version, but the cover art was great) and one of my favorite toys was a Colorforms Castle Dracula playset. I wanted to say that because in the Ozarks, being a monster kid is considered a bad thing. In the Ozarks, a "good person" starts off being a St. Louis Cardinals fan at a young age, then grows up to become a Republican. I, of course, had to be different and start off a monster kid and grow up to be a Democrat. I'm a "bad person." Most Ozarkers believe that monster kids grow up to be serial killers.

Admittedly, things were actually better for monster kids when I was younger. Locally, KMTC (Channel 27) ran old horror films til dawn on Friday and Saturday night. Off and on they were hosted by a host named Dr. Dead (The actor who played Dr. Dead was later Sammy B. Goode on KSPR in the 80s). Also, at this time, CBS Late Movie featured many great horror movies.

In 1988, I had the pleasure of working on The Late Night Horror Show with Count Norlock at KSPR (that is a picture of one of the promotional materials above). Sadly, it only lasted one summer. I'm very proud of my work on this TV show, yet I have been in job interviews with local companies and they have insulted me over having this on my resume.

I tried for most of the 90s to try to interest the local TV stations in doing a horror movie show with myself as the host. I was treated with distain and verbal abuse to just the old excuse of "Ozarkers/advertisers don't like that sort of thing."

As far as over-the-air broadcasting goes, there has only been one attempt to do a show of this kind since Count Norlock. I can't remember what it was called, but it was hosted by Kevin and Liz from the Alice 95.5 Morning Show. There is a show on Mediacom public access, The New Uncle Gregory Horror Hour, that can also be viewed on the Internet at the show's website.

As I mentioned, the local media doesn't want to produce a horror movie show. All I can gather on the reason for this attitude is that some of the local ad agencies didn't like the Late Night Horror Show with Count Norlock and they are probably the one who have cultivated this animosity toward the Count Norlock show, people associated with it and horror movie shows in general (I want to note that one of the directors/producers on the Count Norlock show was Joe Bauer, who was responsible for the visual effects on Elf, Get Smart and Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer).

To make things even more frustrating, you can't even find a good horror film on local late night TV. All you can find on local TV late at night is this douchebag:

This guy is usually on every channel when I come home late from work. His name is Dean Graziosi and he is the star of the worst made infomercials ever made (Looks like he just points the camera at himself, turns it on and starts talking). He tells people they can make millions in real estate and he will show you how. He is really a scam artist. Why is he on local TV? Because he pays to be on TV.  The same with TriVita and its Nopela, a concoction from cactus berries that makes women cry on camera (At least that is what I got out of the infomercial). TriVita is referred to a Multi-Level Marketing by its sycophantic minions. This is a politically correct term for pyramid scheme. They pay to be on-air so they can rip desperate people off.

The Ozarks Correctness (as opposed to being politically correct which is based in logic-Ozarks Correctness isn't) mongers will tell you this is a good thing.  They will say horror films are evil and children shouldn't stay up late watching them on TV. Also, a redneck told us that he thought horror movie shows are stupid and we always take the opinion of rednecks over someone with a Bachelor of Science in electronic media. They will also tell you that real estate people are better than everyone else and we should worship them, because they make tons of money. They will also tell you that a pyramid scheme shouldn't be illegal because the only people, who think it is a scam are the people who don't work hard enough to be successful at it. They will also say business people shouldn't have to answer to the government or law enforcement. Also, the only people who should have access to local TV and radio are the people who can pay to be on-the-air.

And then, they will say that business people don't want to advertise on horror movies and that adults don't like horror movies. These the same reason the local radio stations won't play Halloween music like they do Christmas music (Since Halloween is over, I'm sure KGBX will start their usual wall-to-wall Christmas music puke-fest. I can make fun of this since I've been banned from working for the local Clear Channel/Bain Capital cluster).

I HATE ADULTS - I'M ASHAMED TO BE ONE!

Of course, an opinion, like this one, is why I'm considered the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!


    
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