I Miss You So Cats and the Fiddle (Bluebird, 1940)
The Cats and the Fiddle were an African American singing group formed in Chicago in 1937. Until they broke up in 1951, they released over 30 songs. The original (they experienced numerous line-up changes over the years; they’ve had 14 members) line-up was Jimmy Henderson, Ernie Price, Chuck Barksdale and Austin Powell. They were discovered by Lester Melrose, a rep for Victor Records. Signed by Bluebird Records, their debut single was Nuts to You.
In 1940, Henderson penned the mid-tempo ballad I Miss You So. (The Orioles later covered the song at a slower tempo.) Soon after, Henderson died from meningitis. In 1941, Barksdale also died. (And the revolving door in the Cats and the Fiddle began.)
The Full Monty is a British comedy-drama (dramedy) released in August 1997. Set in Sheffield, England, six unemployed men form a male striptease act (a British version of Chippendale dancers), in order to make enough money for Gaz (Robert Carlyle) to see his son Nathan (William Snape). The Full Monty also starred Mark Addy, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber and Hugo Speer. The Full Monty refers to the fact that the men will completely take off all their clothes (unlike the Chippendales).
The Full Monty was a critical success and became an unexpected international success. Produced on a paltry $3.5 million, The Full Monty grossed a whopping $250 million! It was the highest grossing UK movie until that winter when the Titanic was released. The Full Monty won an Oscar for Best Original Music Score. Love for The Full Monty endures. In 2000, the film was adapted into a Broadway musical and in 2013, a stage play by the original screenwriter Simon Beaufoy, which nationally toured the UK.
A New Flame was the third
album from the British pop
group Simply Red. A New Flame was Simply Red’s first UK
number one album and was certified 7x Platinum. A New Flame also hit #1 in Italy, New
Zealand and Switzerland. In the U.S. A New Flame hit #22 (and was certified Gold).
Four singles were released: It’s Only Love, a cover of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes’ If You Don’t Know Me By Now, A New Flame and You’ve Got It. It’s Only Love was also a cover — of Barry White’s It’s Only Love Doing Its Thing. Simply Red’s It’s Only Love went to the top of Italy’s singles chart. Their cover of If You Don’t Know Me By Now went to the top of American (their second #1 hit) and Canadian (their only #1 hit) singles charts and peaked at #2 in their native UK. At the time, If You Don’t Know Me By Now became their best known hit. It also won the boys a Grammy in 1989 for Best R&B Song.
Stacking Rings have been around
for several decades. The earliest I can find pictures of them goes back to the 1950s. Up until the 1970s, Stackable Rings were wooden. Starting in the 1980s, the rings
were then made of plastic. The rings come in a variety of solid colors or even patterns. There are usually five (or more, sometimes less) rings that slide over a rod pole (that can be flexible or not). This is not a very exciting toy, but I don’t know a single person who didn’t have one as an infant or has never seen this toy. The Stacking Ring toy is truly a childhood staple.
In April 1975, Gary Dahl was in a Bonny Doon, California bar listening to his friends complain about their pets. This gave him an idea for the “perfect pet” — it would never need feeding, walking, grooming, nor a bath and it would never die — a rock. A rock would never become sick or misbehave. He told his friends and they all had a laugh. But Dahl was the one to keep on laughing — all the way to the bank.
He ended up taking the idea seriously and wrote an “instruction manual” full of puns, gags and play-on-words to help pet owners give their pet rock a healthy life. The Pet Rocks were smooth stones from Mexico’s Rosarito Beach. They came in custom cardboard boxes and were filled with straw and had breathing holes. These rocks were marketed as a living pet. In six months (before people came to their senses), Dahl sold (at $4 a piece) 1.5 million Pet Rocks and became a millionaire. For Christmas 1975 the Pet Rock was a popular present. By February 1976, it was over.
Rosebud Entertainment re-introduced the Pet Rock in September 2012.
We Are the World was a charity single recorded by supergroup USA for Africa. We Are the World was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian. Selling over 20 million copies, it’s one of approximately 30 singles to have sold 10 million copies (or more).
Seven weeks after Band-Aid released Do They Know It’s Christmas? (December 3, 1984), Jackson and Richie completed writing We Are the World. Recording began the next evening. We Are the World was released March 7, 1985. It topped the singles charts worldwide and became the fastest-selling American pop single in history. We Are the World was the first single to receive a multi-platinum certification (quadruple platinum). We Are the World won three Grammys, an American Music Award and a People’s Choice Award. We Are the World has raised over $63 million for both long and short term African relief.
Soloists were Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Al Jarreau, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Darryl Hall, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes, Bob Dylan and Ray Charles. The chorus was made up of Dan Aykroyd, Harry Belafonte, Lindsey Buckingham, Mario Cipollina, Johnny Colla, Sheila E., Bob Geldof, Bill Gibson, Chris Hayes, Sean Hopper, Jackie Jackson, LaToya Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Randy Jackson, Tito Jackson, Waylon Jennings, Bette Midler, John Oates, Jeffrey Osborne, the Pointer Sisters (Anita, June and Ruth) and Smokey Robinson.
On January 12, 2010, Haiti experienced a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake. On February 1, another all-star cast got together to remake We Are the World to benefit the Haitian survivors. On February 12, We Are the World 25 for Haiti was released.
Dennis Wilson (December 4, 1944 – December 28, 1983)
American musician Dennis Carl Wilson was co-founder and drummer for the Beach Boys. Dennis was responsible for their songs Forever, Little Bird and Slip On Through. He also helped write Joe Cocker’s 1974 hit You Are So Beautiful.
Dennis released a solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue in 1977. A follow-up, Bambu was in the works when Dennis passed away. In 1988, Dennis was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Beach Boys.
Dennis was always the black sheep of the Wilson family; a fact he, too, acknowledged. He refused to participate in family sing alongs and had an anxious, aggressive, yet sensitive and generous nature. He ended up in the Beach Boys because the Wilson brothers (Brian, Carl and Dennis) would sing together late at night in their shared bedroom and their mother forced Brian to include Dennis in the original line-up. The Beach Boys also included their cousin Mike Love.
A particular part of Dennis’ life that he rarely talked about was his involvement with Charles Manson. Driving through Malibu in 1968, he saw Patricia Krenwinkel and Ella Jo Bailey hitchhiking. He delivered them to their destination. Later he saw them hitchhiking again and, again, dropped them off. He went on to a recording session. At 3 am, when he returned home, Charles Manson and a dozen of his followers were on his premises. The family ended up living with him on Dennis’ dime. Manson dabbled in song writing and the Beach Boys reworked a Manson song into Never Learn Not to Love as a B-side single off their 20/20 album. After Manson allegedly threatened Dennis’ family by showing him a bullet, Dennis beat him up and dissolved the friendship by moving out of his own house. After further attempts to contact Dennis were rejected, Manson left a bullet with a cryptic message with Dennis’ housekeeper.
After this time period, Dennis began withdrawing from an active participation with the Beach Boys, preferring to take on a creative force behind-the-scenes. During the 1970s his onstage antics (usually streaking) began to disrupt Beach Boys shows. In the 1980s Dennis’ abuse of alcohol and heroin had taken their toll. He was banned from performing with the band and would only be allowed to rejoin them if he went to a detox program.
At the time of his death, Dennis was homeless and living nomadically. In November 1983, he checked into an Arizona therapy center. Just before Christmas, he was back in California, in and out of Santa Monica hospitals. On December 28, 1983, Dennis drowned at Marina Del Rey, Los Angeles. He had been drinking all day. In the afternoon he began driving, trying to recover items he had thrown overboard into the marina from his yacht three years earlier. Dennis was 38 years old. He was survived by his wife (he was separated from but not divorced), Shawn Marie Love and sons, Gage, Michael and Carl and his adopted son Scott and daughter Jennifer.
Stuff White People Like was born as a blog written by (white) Canadian-born Christian Lander. The blog poked fun at the stereotype of the affluent, socially and environmentally conscious, anti-corporate white North Americans (that tend to
have a degree in liberal arts). None of that has stopped some readers from lambasting the blog as offensive and racist.
The criticism didn’t stop Random House from calling for the rights either. The blog first appeared in January 2008. By July, the novel Stuff White People Like appeared on book shelves. In 2010, Lander published the sequel, Whiter Shades of Pale: The Stuff White People Like, Coast to Coast from Seattle’s Sweaters to Maine’s Microbrews.
The blog Stuff White People Like is still around but hasn’t been updated since November 2010.
These were crackers with holes in them made to look
like Swiss cheese. They were made to taste like Swiss cheese, but it’s a subtle flavor. They were crunchy and had a great texture.
Oddly, Nabisco has discontinued the brand in the U.S. Since there remain a lot of fans of these crackers, potentially, it could be a quick trip to get your hands on them again. Christie Foods (a division of Nabisco, both of whom are owned by Kraft) readily produce Swiss Cheese crackers throughout all of Canada. They can be found in any Canadian supermarket and online at Canadian food selling sites.
The Upper Hand was a British sitcom adapted from the
American sitcom, Who’s the Boss?The Upper Hand premiered May 1, 1990 and ran for
7 seasons (or 94 episodes), ending on October 14, 1996.
Affluent advertising executive Caroline Wheatley (Diana Weston) lives with her mom Laura West (Honor Blackman) and son Tom (William Putlock) in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire in London. Down on his luck former footballer Charlie Burrows (Joe McGann) wants a better life for his daughter Joanna (Kellie Bright). He applies to be Caroline’s housekeeper. Laura talks her into hiring him. The two date other people and deny their feelings for six seasons before marrying for the final seventh season.
All separate seasons as well as a complete series box set are available for purchase.