1953: Ronald Reagan looking good in "Law and order"

Doesn't "Law and order" sounds great for a Ronald Reagan movie?    It was released in 1953.

After all, wasn't he the "law and order" governor in who stood up to rowdy students at the universities in California?    Didn't he fire the air controllers when he became president in 1981?

I enjoyed it.  Reagan was Marshall Johnson in this movie based on a W R Burnett's novel.

It was another of the 1950's Westerns about good guys vs bad guys.    The plot was simple and Dorothy Malone was the pretty girl in the story.

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1953: "The naked spur" is a great movie

What a great movie.  I caught "The naked spur" with James Stewart and Janet Leigh a few days ago.   It was worth every second.   

The movie was released in 1953 and this is a summary:    

The title of The Naked Spur refers to a piece of gear worn by the main character, introduced during the credits with an abrupt pan from picturesque mountains in the distance to a jarring closeup of the spur. With the flair and economy that distinguish Mann's best movies, this prepares us for both the setting of the story-it starts and finishes on mountain heights--and its emphasis on the characters' intense, sometimes brutal emotions.

The plot centers on Howard Kemp, a former rancher who's hunting down Ben Vandergroat, a nasty galoot with a $5,000 price on his head. Unable to climb a steep mountainside and capture Ben at the top, Howard accepts help from two strangers who happen to cross his path: Jesse Tate, a gold prospector with rotten luck, and Roy Anderson, recently kicked out of the Union army for his "unstable" character. They soon get hold of Ben and his reluctant girlfriend, Lina Patch, and all five characters start a trek to Kansas, where the three "good" guys plan to turn Ben in and split the reward.

The rest is up to you.  Watch the movie. 

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Our friend Bill Katz remembers the 1960 election!

The 1960 election was one of the most controversial in US history.  It was Kennedy vs Nixon:  110,000 votes out of 76 million cast.

Everything changed when JFK was assassinated in Dallas. He became a legend and myth.

Today, Democratss remember whatever they want to remember about Pres. Kennedy.  What most of them forget is that JFK would not fit in today's party.  In fact, it's very likely that JFK would have joined Joe Lieberman and walk out on the party's irresponsible national security agenda.

Bill Katz was a college student and a party volunteer on Election Night 1960.  Today, he runs Urgent Agenda, one of my favorite websites.

This is an audio history. Listen here! You will enjoy it!

1962: Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the wind"

Bob Dylan recorded "Blowin' in the wind" in July '62:

"Dylan's recording of "Blowin' In The Wind" would first be released nearly a full year later, on his breakthrough album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. This was not the version of the song that most people would first hear, however. That honor went to the cover version by Peter, Paul and Mary—a version that not only became a smash hit on the pop charts, but also transformed what Dylan would later call "just another song" into the unofficial anthem of the civil rights movement."

Dylan was a great songwriter but his recordings are OK.   I am not one of those who pops a Dylan CD and enjoys the whole thing.  

At the same time, no one does "Mr Tambourine Man" or "Like a rolling stone" like Dylan.   I guess that "Positively 4th street" is pretty good too.

It is still a great song 50-plus years later specially when Peter, Paul & Mary sing it.   It is the best version of the song but Joan Baez is a close second.  

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

July 1967: Bee Gees "First" was a great debut LP

Let's look back at The Bee Gees and their "FIRST" LP released July 1967!

What did we learn from that debut LP? 

For one thing, there were 5 Bee Gees back then.  It was the 3 brothers and a couple of friends from Australia.   Eventually, the friends dropped off and it was The Brothers Gibb the rest of the way.

Barry, and his late brothers Robin & Maurice Gibb, were great songwriters.   It was the opening chapter for one of the greatest songwriting trios in modern pop music.

FIRST's songs were catchy, beautiful and always thoughtful.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

Summer 1967: The Beatles and "All you need is love" on the radio

This is a summary of "All you need is love", a Lennon-McCartney song that hit # 1 all over the world back in August 1967:

"It was first performed by The Beatles on Our World, the first live global television link. Broadcast to 26 countries and watched by 400 million, the programme was broadcast via satellite on June 25, 1967.

The BBC had commissioned the Beatles to write a song for the UK's contribution.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked it at #362 in their 500 greatest songs of all time."

Later, the song was added to the movie "Yellow submarine".

"All you need is love" was the first single released after the "Sgt Pepper's".    It was eventually included in the US LP "Magical Mystery Tour" and the animated "Yellow submarine".

My favorite part of the song is the last minute when John & Paul go back and forth.

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We remember Ed Ames (1927-2023)

Edmund Dantes Urick was born in Massachusetts on this day in 1927.    He died in 2022.

We know him as Ed Ames.  For many of us "baby boomers", Ed Ames was "Mingo' or Daniel Boone's sidekick in the very popular TV series.

Who knew that this guy could sing like this? I didn't know! I learned later that Ames had performed professionally with his brothers over the years.

In the spring of 1967, Ed Ames shook up the charts with "My cup runneth over", one of the most remarkable performances by a male vocalist ever!

It was popular enough to compete with the heavyweights in the charts: The Beatles' "Penny Lane", The Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday" and The Turtles' "Happy together".

It was a great song.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.