Let's get this party started early.
I got so wrapped up in the moonshot this past week that I didn't much pay attention to anything else the last several days. Hate it that I missed Paducah Jack Staulcup rocking the VFW last Friday. Maybe 1969 Rach and I will get out and check out Jay Dee and the Dee Jays or Gerald Johnson & the Castaways this weekend, though.
Similar regrets around the movies. What's on now (on the left) doesn't much grab me, but the Skyway double feature last weekend looked like fun.
Ellis Park's running up in Henderson, or maybe we'll check out the "thrills, spills & chills" out on Butler Road ...
I definitely want to get by the bank before it closes today to go ahead and get our tickets for the Billy Graham movie at the Western Kentucky State Fair next week.
The Nationals won the All-Star Game again. Oh, well, ... COME ON, A'S!
And, of course, glorious TV ...
It appears that NFL Action sadly might be over for the summer, but never fear--Rich Hoptown 1969 me used my fancy new video-recording device to tape earlier episodes, including this great thing ...
Says YouTube user 707Promotions's: "The legacy of The Jack Staulcup Orchestra is that it operated continuously for 60 years, when many of its more famous contemporaries disbanded, or at least took a hiatus, at the end of the big band era. The orchestra provided big band dance music, to a region of the country, where live performances of the genre were otherwise unavailable."
ReplyDeleteAnd Wikipedia: "The first performance of the orchestra, was on New Year's Eve, 1929. in the ballroom atop the then new Irvin Cobb Hotel in Paducah. Throughout the 1930s and until the early 1950s, the orchestra traveled over a much larger territory than it did in succeeding decades. This area ranged from Chicago to Birmingham, Alabama and from Texarkana, Texas to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Most of these locations were reached by extending out from Paducah in a series of one-night stands, involving lengthy and grueling road trips. The initial success of the orchestra was the result of playing in nightclubs in smaller towns, where few of the name big bands ventured. It was an opportunity for fans to hear a live performance and dance to a big band, that was similar to the bands they heard on records and the radio."
ReplyDeleteMore Wikipedia: "With the advent of Rock Music in the mid-1950s, Staulcup found business for the orchestra more limited. During this period, many big bands of the genre disbanded. Staulcup resolved to keep going, and reinvented his business model. He revised his territory, to that of a 150-mile radius of Paducah. ... Besides the private clubs, the orchestra also played many high school proms. The formality of a prom was a concern, and many school administrators of the era, were reluctant to allow Rock groups to perform at these events. ..."
ReplyDeleteAnd: "... In 1973, Staulcup achieved his dream of having his orchestra perform at the famed Roseland Ballroom in New York City for a several week engagement. Unfortunately, this was at a low point in both the ballroom's and New York City's history. Staulcup found the area around 52nd Street crime infested, and had his wallet stolen during his time there. On the returning plane trip, he suffered a heart attack. Upon landing in Paducah, he immediately was taken to a hospital, where he recuperated over several weeks. The band kept going during his absence. Staulcup returned to the band, but was limited to a few vocals, and mainly served as a front man who often mingled among his fans during the performance. ..."
ReplyDeleteExcellent, from a summer 1950 recording session in Chicago ...
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't know. Hell On Wheels with Marty Robbins is pretty good.
ReplyDeleteI was unaware of Marty Robbins's stock-car enthusiasm and prowess.
DeleteYouTube user Donald TittleJr: "Marty Robbins was a pretty good driver. When he came to Talladega he and a lot of the drivers stayed at the Ramada Inn in Oxford,AL. The hotel had a lounge with a grand piano. After Marty would have a few drinks he'd get on the piano and give everybody some good music. One year at Talladega he had a Charger like the one Petty ran with the Hemi engine and Marty took the restrictor plate off his and told everybody to watch. It was just practice a few days before the race and he caught Richard on the back straight and blew past him like he was up on blocks! When they got to the garage area Petty walked over wide- eyed and Marty had that Cheshire cat grin on his face. He and Petty were good friends and they all got a laugh out of it. Marty really just ran the cars for fun after he got big in music. The good old days."
DeleteAt several points in this movie, you can see a press-box banner for WENO. That's 760 AM in Nashville. Says Wikipedia, "The historic WENO broadcast on the frequency of 1430 kHz currently assigned to WPLN-AM. It was the only Nashville-area station in the early post-World War II era to program country music as its major format; even WSM, known in the public mind as the most influential station in the genre's development, at this time broadcast country music only during selected parts of the day (mainly at night, when the clear-channel signal settled in elsewhere in the country). The bulk of WSM's programming actually consisted of popular music, judged by its owners to be more 'mainstream' and, hence, more attractive to the majority of listeners, particularly those affluent listeners most attractive to advertisers. WSM did not adopt country full-time until 1979."
DeleteOne thing I really respect about this movie is that they put in a lot of exciting racing footage and a lot of great Marty Robbins music and then filled in everything else around that. We're having a great time at the Skyway Drive-in.
DeleteThis movie is probably where Bruce Springsteen got "Highway Patrolman."
DeleteWell, that was anti-climatic. I don't even know what the heck happened. I guess everybody's OK. I don't know. Oh, well, who cares? Here's Marty Robbins singing to a little girl to end the thing.
DeleteGlen Campbell is everywhere these days.
ReplyDeleteEarly this Saturday morning in 1969, Channel 5 in Nashville appears to be broadcasting what might be four consecutive episodes of Black Heritage: A History of Afro-Americans, a program produced by Columbia University and WCBS in New York.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that Stanford University has a film of one episode: "Dr. Vincent Harding introduces the Black heritage series. He discusses the near loss of the black past and the importance of reexamining the ancient struggle as well as the need to evaluate present conditions and expectations for the future."
Here's an open letter to President Obama that the late Vincent Harding wrote after Osama Bin Laden was killed.
I found something that indicated that sculptor Ruth Inge Haridson had some input on the series. (Very cool watching her sculpt here.)
Jack Nicklaus is coming around. There was some talk earlier this year that maybe his best days were behind him, but he was on the fringe of contention at the British Open. Now he's the leader after two rounds of the American Golf Classic in Akron, Ohio. "For the first time this year I feel I can make a putt and that's better than thinking you can't make anything," the 210-pound Ohio strongboy told Bob Green for the Associated Press.
ReplyDeleteCBS has Round 3 late this afternoon.
I kind of like those Wilburn Brothers (this afternoon 1969 at 5:30, on NBC).
ReplyDeletePorter Wagoner, too--but it appears to be pre-empted this Saturday evening by the Miss Kentucky pageant!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part about this series is how 1969 Hoptown Eric has lots of money.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's excellent! I flip through a 1969 Sports Illustrated or whatever sometimes and see ads for fancy cars or whatever, and I just think to myself, "Well, I guess I bought one of those." It's great.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I try to figure out how he got all of this money, but I'm not going to worry about that too much.
Hope Lange, as the widowed writer who moves into the Maine home of a long-dead sea captain in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, got the Emmy in 1969 (and again in 1970) for "Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series." It's an odd show.
ReplyDeleteTonight 1969's Hee Haw had Charlie Pride and Tammy Wynette ... wow.
ReplyDeleteIf Patsy Cline hadn't gotten to "Sweet Dreams" first, Tammy Wynette still would've ensured the song went down as a classic.
ReplyDeleteThe Kentucky New Era had an AP story over the 1969 weekend about the 30th College All-Star football game, coming up Friday at Soldier Field in Chicago. This is, of course, thrilling to think about.
ReplyDeleteJoe Namath just this past week rescinded his retirement and returned to work with the Super Bowl-champion Jets. The AP said he looked good in his first scrimmage with the boys, and the champs have a rookie running back, George Nock, who is reportedly playing well.
Things don’t seem to be lining up for the college stars. Bills-holdout O.J. Simpson (the 1968 Heisman winner and top overall draft choice out of USC) isn’t playing; neither are utility back Leroy Keyes of Purdue and the Eagles, halfback Ron Johnson of Michigan and the Browns, defensive tackle Joe Greene of North Texas State and the Steelers, wide receiver Ron Sellars of Florida State and Patriots, tight end Ted Kwalick of Penn State and the 49ers or guard George Buehler of Stanford and the Raiders—all first-round choices.
On the other hand, the all-stars do have back Otto Graham, the ex-Redskins coach, who engineered the last two beatdowns of the professional champs: 20-17 over the Packers in 1963 and 35-19 over the Lions in 1958. Graham has had 17 of the 26 first-round picks among the collegians’ workouts at Northwestern University the last couple of 1969 weeks, including Greg Cook, the former University of Cincinnati quarterback and No. 6-overall pick in the combined AFL/NFL draft, by Paul Brown and the hometown Bengals.
ABC is televising Friday’s night’s game!
Tell you what ... I had a giant Marty Robbins 1969 weekend. He was on the Johnny Cash Show, too.
ReplyDeleteIn case you've been wondering, the big story on My Three Sons this 1968-69 CBS season is that Katie and Rob are becoming parents.
ReplyDelete