Click to hear the Program of 1-1-17

This Week's Classics & Curios Show: "Echoes of Songs and Laughter" Episode 199 A CELEBRATION AT NEW YEARS WITH GUY LOMBARDO AND SONGS FROM 1945 (Reprise) Classics & Curios celebrates the New Year with a big band remote from 1958 featuring the Guy Lombardo orchestra performing at Lake Tahoe. From that broadcast Guy favors us with five songs in one of his popular Lombardo golden oldies medleys: "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby," "Button Up Your Overcoat," "Shine on Harvest Moon," "My Gal Sal," and "Every Where You Go." Guy will ask you to sing along, so be prepared! Our celebration begins with Margaret Whiting asking a timely question in song: "What Are You Doing New Years?" Then we shift to 1945 to review top songs from that year and to highlight three of them, starting with two terrific songs from Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters: "Accentuate the Positive" and "Don't Fence Me In." Next Kitty Kallen and Harry James bring the song that soldiers and their sweethearts played on jukeboxes and sang in their hearts at war's end: "It's Been a Long, Long Time." Kitty Kallen has stated in interviews that she always sang songs as they were written, without erratic embellishments that detract from the composer's intended melody. No doubt girl singers like Kitty, Helen Forrest, Doris Day, Dinah Shore, Margaret Whiting, Jo Stafford, and Patti Page surely do (or would) listen (with many of us) with concern at the current common practice of singing our National Anthem at many sporting events today with rambling, self styled, up and down phrasing, as if the performers are searching frantically but unsuccessfully for the correct way the song was written. Kitty was a faithful vocalist to composers from her very first job with Jan Savitt's big band while still a teenager in 1936 continuing on to her hit recordings later in the 1940's and then still later in the 1950's with more hits such as "Little Things Mean a Lot" and "If I Give My Heart to You." She actually had her own radio show in Philadelphia as a pre-teen and never stopped singing songs the way the writers intended during her times with the big bands of Artie Shaw, Jack Teagarden, Jimmy Dorsey, and Harry James. To me "little things" such as a good melody still "mean a lot" and that's been true for a "long, long time." Of course our make-believe musical New Years Eve "party" nears conclusion at midnight with Guy's "Auld Lang Syne," and then Frank Sinatra drops by briefly to add a timely and true parting thought for the New Year. And it is that thought that we celebrate as we wish you a very blessed and Happy New Year from Classics & Curios and the Keilstrup family. May God bless you with good melodies, good health, and much joy in the New Year! .

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This Week's Classics & Curios Show: "Echoes of Songs and Laughter" Episode 239 IT'S A CLASSICS & CURIOS DOUBLE HEADER: GREAT SONGWRITERS & "STRIKE UP THE BAND" SHOW # 1: EDDIE HUBBARD & GREAT SONGWRITERS SPOTLIGHTING JOHNNY MERCER This episode showcases again one of the very best Eddie Hubbard DJ shows, the first in a series that highlighted great songwriters. This show, with edited “Liner Notes,” features Johnny Mercer while other shows in the series focused on Irving Berlin, Hoagy Carmichael, and George Gerschwin. Mercer, as Eddie points out, was one of the most loved and greatest lyricists of American music, and his songs remain among the best in the Great American Songbook. Songs with Mercer's lyrics that Eddie chose to feature on this show from June 18, 1989, are among his best and include "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby," "In the Cool, Cool ,Cool of the Evening," "Moon River," "Charade," "Days of Wine and Roses," "The Aitchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe," "GI Jive," and "I'm Old Fashioned." Five of the songs are among my favorite songs by any composer, namely, "Accentuate the Positive," "Dream," "Blues in the Night," "And the Angels Sing," and "Glow Worm." Johnny's new lyrics to "Glow Worm" are simply the work of a wordplay/wordsmith genius, and the lyrics of these favorites and others rank among the most brilliant ever written while enhancing the brilliance of the music by composers like Jerome Kern, Henry Mancini, Harry Warren, Barry Manilow, Harold Arlen, and Ziggy Elman. Artists who perform the songs include Hoagy Carmichael, Rosemary Clooney, Andy Williams, Dinah Shore, the Mills Brothers, Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman, and Woody Herman. Eddie had less than an hour to focus on Johnny's songs, so countless tunes had to be left out, like "Lazybones," "I'm an Old Cowhand from the Rio Grande," "That Old Black Magic," "Wings Over the Navy," "Satin Doll," "The Summer Wind," "My Shining Hour," "Jeepers Creepers," "Goody Goody," "Autumn Leaves," "Come Rain or Come Shine," "Something's Gotta Give," "Hooray for Hollywood," and "P.S. I Love You." From Wikipedia: "Mercer wrote the lyrics to more than fifteen hundred songs, including compositions for movies and Broadway shows. He received nineteen Academy Award nominations, and won four.Well regarded also as a singer, with a folksy quality, Mercer was a natural for his own songs such as "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive", "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)", and "Lazybones". He was considered a first-rate performer of his own work. [Concerning] “When October Goes”, a melancholy remembrance of lost love. [Barry] Manilow applied his own melody to the lyric and issued it as a single in 1984, when it became a top 10 Adult Contemporary hit in the United States. The song has since become a jazz standard, with notable recordings by Rosemary Clooney, Nancy Wilson, and Megon McDonough, among other performers. For the occasion of Mercer's 100th birthday in 2009 Clint Eastwood produced a [television] documentary film on Johnny Mercer's life and work called The Dream's on Me (Turner Classic Movies)." Mercer's own lyrics found in the title of a song composed by his friend Richard Whiting best describe the man himself and the work of this gifted performer, producer, and lyricist: "Too Marvelous for Words." Johnny opened his "Johnny Mercer Music Shop" on the Armed Forces Radio Service in 1944 with these words -- words fitting to start Eddie's tribute to Johnny who still makes listeners "feel tip-top:" "Hi there fellows, won't you feel tip-top? This is Johnny Mercer and his Music Shop All you soldiers, sailors, and Marines out there All you gals in the service, we're on the air." SHOW # 2: A LUX RADIO THEATER MUSICAL: “STRIKE UP THE BAND” STARRING JUDY GARLAND & MICKEY ROONEY George and Ira Gershwin “Strike Up the Band” as more songs by great songwriters continue in the 1940 film of the same name, presented in three acts on CBS’ Lux Radio Theater from October 28, 1940, with stars Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney reprising their original movie roles. At the time of the film version Mickey was the top box office movie star. Of course, nothing on radio could reproduce the boundless energy of the movie dance scenes with whirlwind Mickey leading the way and eighteen-year-old Judy contributing her usual remarkable performance, but this Lux presentation is fun and offers songs by both stars. Director of the film was Busby Berkeley, whose name alone indicates the quality of the movie’s creative integration of camera, music, and dance scenes. Needless to say that I enthusiastically recommend watching the film on DVD after you listen to this Lux radio reproduction. Many songs in the film, including 10 great songs played as background music, are not included in the radio performance. Judy, as Mary Holden, does sing “I Ain’t Got Nobody [and Nobody’s Got Me]” and “Drummer Boy,” and Mickey joins her on “Our Love Affair,” a song written especially for Judy and that was nominated for an academy award. Mickey, as energetic and ambitious high school drummer, piainist, and bandleader Jimmy Conners, wins Paul Whiteman’s band competition and eventually our hearts by his unselfishness and as he recognizes that his mother is truly a “queen” who helped him realize what is important in life. It was my good fortune to meet Mickey in person in Branson where he performed one time in his late 80’s with the same amazing energy, as he danced and sang and played with youthful passion on the piano and drums. He was extremely gracious and shared his genuine love and respect for Judy and the joy she gave him in their performances. .

Click to hear the Program of 1-22-17

This Week's Classics & Curios Show: "Echoes of Songs and Laughter" Episode 240 TWO EDDIE HUBBARD SPECIALS: WALKING SONGS & ANSWER SONGS WALKING SONGS Eddie explores walking songs on this 1990 show that showcases artists such as Patsy Cline, Jo Stafford, Nat King Cole, Eydie Gorme, Eddie Fisher, Fats Domino, Rosemary Clooney, Johnny Ray, Mitch Miller, Nancy Sinatra, Roy Hamilton, Billy Williams and Nancy Norman, Dionne Warwick, and the Rooftop Singers. Eddie plays such songs as “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “I Walk Alone,” “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home,” “Walking with My Honey,” “If You Walked into My Life,” “Walk Right In,” “Walkin’ in the Rain,” “Walkin’ to New Orleans,” “Walking Happy,” “These Boots Were Made for Walking.” “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” “Walk on By,” and “I’m Walking Behind You.” Eddie adds an Extra with Mitch Miller’s “Song for a Summer Night,” a tune appropriate for a summer stroll. ANSWER SONGS Eddie Hubbard bills this special show as one highlighting answers, though sometimes there may be no question! Such songs are included as “Why Do I Love You?” “I Love You Because You’re You,” “Do I Hear a Waltz?” “I Hear Music,” “You’re Driving Me Crazy,” “Crazy in Love with You,” “They’ve Got an Awful Lot of Coffee in Brazil,” “I Love Coffee - I Love Tea,” “Rain,” “Just Walking in the Rain,” “Have You Looked into Your Heart,” “My Heart Tells Me,” ‘I’m a Fool to Care,” “I’m the Biggest Fool of All,” “Beware My Foolish Heart,” “Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime,” “Time on My Hands,” “Tiny Bubbles in the Wine,” and “With My Eyers Wide Open (I’m Dreaming).” Among artists featured are Dean Martin, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, the Ink Spots, Mel Torme, Artie Shaw, Eydie Gorme, Brenda Lee, Les Paul, Patti Page, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Ray, Jerry Vale, Joni James, Don Ho, Vic Damone, and Al Martino. Special thanks to Jerry Haendiges Productions for editing and remastering the original Eddie Hubbard studio tapes for rebroadcast on The Olde Tyme Radio Network. .