"The Goin's Great!"

Hit work a tad gloomy...

No real reason...It was a Friday and traffic was light, but for some reason I just slugged my way to my desk and plopped down...





It wasn't twenty minutes until a fellow co-worker came into our two man office and closed the door...

Now, what's up?

Within seconds he blurted out, "I just quit!"

Heavy thing for one to utter after working here for nearly twelve years...Heavy...

He has been dabbling in another growing business for several years...Taking tourists into clubs...Breaking through the lines and getting them situated at their table and lining up the agreed to bottle service...





The VIP biz has started to head big time...And he is now poised to take it there as the new Director of Sales for Red Carpet VIP...





Good for him...Leaving the ship but able to sail away in style...





I thought for that guy..."The Goin's Great!"

Then I started to think about that song I played over forty years ago on the radio back in the San Fernando Valley at KVFM on the 11th floor of the Panorama Towers...

Sammy Davis Jr. and "The Goin's Great"...Up beat and super cool and hip back then...




It was used as the theme for all the Pan Am radio and TV spots...

Looked it up on You Tube and found a playable cut...

Here is the address:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2fTLFQ93nU&feature=player_embedded#at=95

Listen up and enjoy!

Question: Is the goin' great?
Answer: Yes, the going's great

Question: Is the livin' fine?
Answer: Yes, the living's fine

I've got someone, it's such fun to cling to
If I could I would describe that face
Someone that I mean everything to
And I'm in Heaven as it were
Every time I'm in her embrace

So, question: Is the goin' great?
Here's my answer: Yes, the going's great

The milk and honey's flowing
And my love for her keeps growin'
Which makes the lovin' goin' great
Great!


Question: Is the goin' great?
Here's my answer: Yeah, the going's great

That milk and honey's flowing
And my love for her keeps growin'
Which makes the lovin' goin' great
Great!

And I hope YOUR weekend makes "The Goin's Great!"

Lucky little shit...

What is with the weather here in Sin City?


Come on...It is the 18th of May and rain is slamming up against the window right now...





Cold and windy...This sucks...





We should be in the ninety plus arena each and every day...


But there is a BIG bonus to this situation...


Everyone will have much lower power bills from NV Energy come the end of the month...




According to the weather folks here are the May numbers for weather freaks everywhere...




Average Temperatures in May in Las Vegas

• Average High Temperature in May in Las Vegas: 88 F (31.1 C)
• Average Low Temperature in May in Las Vegas: 60 F (15.5 C)
• Average Rainfall in May in Las Vegas: .28”
• Average Humidity in May in Las Vegas: 18%

Today is 64 with a low headed to 54...


The Strip properties sell those pool cabanas for big bucks now but they won't be moving any until (as the song title says) "The Heat Is On"...


It was so cold in Fresh and Easy last night that my nipples were rock hard...


Not from excitement, just cold air...


Oh great weather gods, stoke that fire and turn up the heat!

OUCH!

Saturday...

Would be a good day but I just took my first big dope pill and I'll have my second in four hours and then I'll be smack dab in the dentist's chair...





Ouch!  Last week, even with the gas, they stuck that needle in my gums and I shot my leg up to the ceiling...The pain! 





At that point I recall them saying, "oh, you'll be OK...Just relax"...

Who are they kidding...It hurt like hell and I was beyond gone on dope...

More work this week on the right side...So I am now missing a gap of three teeth of the top left side of my mouth...Two flimsy front teeth attached to the implants that are healing and now work on the bottom right side...

After today I am DONE for a while...DONE!

Keep losing weight and it is because I can't taste crap anymore...

Lots of refried beans and soup...Yummy!




Bring on the mashed potatoes...

Getting old sucks!  But it does beat the alternative (at least I think it does)...

Ciao all!

Sounds Like It Was Yesterday!

I told the story about getting a phone call from an old KMPC DJ pro from back in the day, Johnny Magnus...

John said he would forward on a cut of "Weather With A Beat", a regular segment on his nightly KMPC show in the 60's and 70's...

A man of his word, the MP3 arrived and I put some video behind it...

Want to take a look?

Here is the link to the You Tube presentation of Neil Hefti's tune, "Cute"...as performed by the Count Baise orchestra...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz3sRrbrWtI

Nice when all the pieces fall together, yes?

Oh, enjoying the hell of a a new best seller...

Dick Van Dyke has been selling his new auto bio like printed hot cakes...

Recommend you head to the bookstore (the old way that I followed) or download for your reading tablet...

Saw that new one by Barnes and Noble, the Nook?  Nifty, but no modem...Only works with wi-fi...

OK, off we go...

Chat at ya later!

Artie out from Sin City

p.s.  Here I am out and about in Sin City...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGnY3KqVVC4

Hats Off To All The GREAT Mom's...Past And Present (Let's Face It, We Wouldn't Be Here Without Ya)

I find this a very meaningful day...Mother' Day!


We've all had one in order to gain admittance to the planet.


Your dogs and cats had 'em, too.





Mother's are pretty important in the strata of life.


I am blessed because my Mom is still amongt us.  She lives in Atlanta and is thriving at the perky age of 89.





Her past was varied.  Her best decision was marrying my Dad.  Their love lasted in a 51 year marriage.  A good blending of two fine folks.


They meet when both were in show business and they traveled the globe together in the decades that would follow their 1947 marriage.


Mom and Dad were on Broadway back in the late 40's.  Then they had this bouncing young pup and then Dad had to scramble for a real job.

He landed in the airline business and hung in there with that gig for the remainder of his career.  Because of his employment with two international air carriers, he was able to haul us around the globe.  





We never had a dull day.


Mom made certain that both of us were busy.  I was about to have some brothers and sisters but Mom's plumbing didn't let those blessed events occur.  They just had me, the only child.


She has been a great Mom, always filling me with awe and wonderment about everything on earth...Culture.  Travel.  The social graces.  On and on.





I have been gifted with two good folks.  Each day I give thanks to both of them for bringing me into the world and helping me to cope with it day in and day out.


If you have been half as lucky with your parents, congrats!   


The following explanation of the roots of modern Mother's Day celebrations is from a web site called:  Mother's Day Central


Spiritual Origin of Mothers Day
Only recently dubbed “Mother's Day,” the highly traditional practice of honoring of Motherhood is rooted in antiquity, and past rites typically had strong symbolic and spiritual overtones; societies tended to celebrate Goddesses and symbols rather than actual Mothers. The personal, human touch to Mother’s Day is a relatively new phenomenon. The maternal objects of adoration ranged from mythological female deities to the Christian Church itself. Only in the past few centuries did celebrations of Motherhood develop a decidedly human focus. 

Modern Celebration

When the United States congress approved Mother’s Day in 1914, they designated it for the second Sunday in May, and required that the President proclaim the Holiday every year shortly prior to its commencement. A recent example of a presidential Mother’s Day proclamation can be seen here. While the president proclaims the event, some mothers who lost a child use it to protest against war.
Typically a family in the United States will devote Mother’s Day to activities in honor of Mom, whether playing games, going out to dinner, taking the weekend off or going on a walk in the park. Flowers are popular, dating back to the original celebration where Anna Jarvis handed out carnations to the church-goers. It is also common to give Mother cards and chocolate candies on her special day.
In the United States Mother's Day continues to be highly commercialized.

• The National Retail Foundation predicts Mother's Day is a $14 Billion industry, offering demographic spend breakdowns.
• Google Trends shows a sharp spike in search traffic for Mother's Day on Mother's Day in the US and UK and the month leading up to it.
• Florists see their highest sales in May.
• US restaurants claim that it is the busiest day of the year.
• Long distance telephone calls also peak on this day.
• The US Postal Service experiences increased volume during the surrounding days.
• According to Hallmark, 96% of American consumers take part in shopping on Mother's Day, while retailers report it as the second highest gift giving day of the year behind Christmas.

While some continue in Jarvis’ tradition of decrying the exploitation of the holiday, other’s appreciate the heavily marketed availability of gifts, vacation packages, brunch specials and other reminders of the day. While contemporary cultural awareness of the holiday is largely based in commercialism, it is the market force that adds to the overall importance of Mother’s Day. Where people once may not have heeded the holiday, they are made abundantly aware of the chance to pay special tribute to Mom. 







So hats off to all the wonderful Mothers...those still with us and those who have departed our mortal orb...

Kudos to all the Mom's who helped shape and mold all the kids in the universe.  It is your day.  Enjoy it!



Happy Mothers Day Ladies!

A Good Day

Ya never know...

This is a follow up to my previous blog...

Out of the blue the phone rang in my office yesterday...Picked it up and a voice boomed out at me...

"Hello, Art?  This is Johnny Magnus"...

The day before I had sent him a note hoping he would respond...

He did better than that...He called me...




His pipes sounded just as they did back four decades ago...The same clear resonance came across even on the phone and started my memory bank spewing forth all the countless hours I listened to Johnny Magnus evenings on KMPC back in the 60's and 70's...



From left are MOYL host Johnny Magnus; KGIL Los Angeles on-air personality Jerry F. Sharell; Pat Boone, who is currently promoting his latest album "Near", and serves as a MOYL host; singer/violinist Calabria Foti; Marshall; and Global Radio Network/MOYL CEO Marc Angell. PHOTO: BRYAN SHOWALTER




He still lives in the Valley...Works for a syndicated music service, "The Music of Your Life" and is heard on stations across the US as well as the web...




Talk about nice...He took the time to reminisce about some of the "good old days' of LA radio in the past...

Though he stated more than once that ya gotta get movin' on and not stay back in that era...

One comparison he gave me was taking a DC-3 from Washington to New York...Today it would be a modern jet...





But I stammered, "the DC-3 is my favorite plane"...He retorted,"Mine, too"...

Smart radio people think exactly the same way...

Good to hear the past is still part of the present...

Yea, it was a very good day... 

Digging Old Memories

As I head back in my cranial time machine I recall all the good times listening to LA radio when I was a growing sprout...



Everyone (including me) tuned in the hot rockers in the day...KHJ, KRLA, and KFWB...







BUT



I went further to the left side of the dial to 710...KMPC, a 50,000 watt daytime flamethrower that hit 10k watts at night...From the tower site in North Hollywood KMPC send out some of the best local radio in the market...







They were known by their huge news department and over the top traffic reports...Those were and still are mega important for Angelenos as they traverse the criss-cross freeway system that blankets the Southland...







Their talent rooster retained some of the highest paid jocks in LA...Dick Whittinghill, Gary Owens, Roger Carroll, Geoff Edwards and on and on...







One "cool" cat who jocked at night was Johnny Magnus...He played jazz, light and mellow sounds each evening from seven until midnight...







I was in the station many times at night and would walk by his studio when he was on the air and he worked with a small Tensor light and keep the place looking like a nightclub as he and the engineer on the other side of the glass filled the five hours each evening on KMPC...



One of his bits was the "Weather With A Beat"...He did it several times per shift...Using Count Baise and "Cute" he did the weather report for the nation...



"Dallas, 58 and clear...San Francisco, 46 and foggy"...



Here's that tune:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j8Y5xJwLnM



I have put together scores of videos using the jingles for KMPC...



Find those at my Sincityartie You Tube channel:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teLzVFa0SSU&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL







Most were done in the mid 60's by Anita Kerr and they stand as some of the finest and classiest jingles to ever hit the airwaves...




I'll have more on KMPC soon...



Meantime, dig on those memories!