There is no rhyme or reason as to how I come up with the songs I choose to write about every day. They usually spring out of something I’ve been listening to or something I’ve read. So, if you regularly follow this column, you’ll get a pretty good idea of some of the stuff I […]
Happy 3D Birthday Elvis Presley
I’m everyone’s Uncle Marty, on The Award Winning 3D RadioActivity, #516 as we prepare for and celebrate the birthday of a musical icon. Elvis is the best-selling solo artist in the history of recording. . He was commercially successful in many genres, including pop, country, blues, and gospel. He won three competitive Grammys, received their Lifetime Achievement […]
RadioActive Christmas Bells
I’m everybody’s Uncle Marty, this is The Award Winning 3D RadioActivity, and on installment # 514, we are going to have a ringing endorsement, not necessarily more cowbell, however that is sort of half right. With Christmas upon us, we’re about to embark on a visit to silver, gold and jingle varieties with a ringing and rocking endorsement […]
Song Of The Day – “The Nutcracker Suite” by Les Brown & His Band Of Renown
The story of The Nutcracker was inspired by E.T.A. Hoffmann’s ‘The Nutcracker and the King Of Mice’ and was presented to Russian composer, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, by Marius Petipa who was maître de ballet of the Imperial Theater from Dumas. Tchaikovsky was unmoved by the prospect of writing a ballet for the story and was […]
Song Of The Day – “I Was Kaiser Bill’s Batman” by Whistling Jack Smith
Whistler’s brother? Actually, no. Then who was Whistling Jack Smith, and why is his sole hit from 1967 haunting me? I played an album of British Invasion hits released on the Parrot Record label from the late ‘60s before I went to work this morning. When this song came on, my ears quickly perked up. […]
Song Of The Day – “Chicken Fat” by Robert Preston
It’s “Poultry in motion!” (Sadly, I didn’t write this line but it was too great to pass up.) How many of you remember this gem from the early 1960s? Even though I was only one year old when this record was released to public schools across the nation, I distinctly remember exercising to this song […]
Song Of The Day – “Brand New Key” by Melanie
When Melanie’s released her biggest hit back in 1972, roller skating and roller rinks were all the rage in my eleven year old age group, and “Brand New Key” was speaking our language. Having an older sister, I had been exposed to Melanie’s music since 1970 and her single with The Edwin Hawkins Singers, “Lay […]
Song Of the Day – “The Alley Cat” by Bent Fabric
Dance crazes come and go, but they are never forgotten. Today there’s Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” wreaking havoc across dance floors all over the world. In the 1990s, there was “The Macarena.” In the 1980s, country line dancing and “The Lambada” had their day in the sun, and the ‘70s gave us “The Electric Slide.” But […]
Song Of The Day – “Come On Get Happy” and “When We’re Singing”– by The Partridge Family
The Friday nights of my wonder years would have never been complete without The Partridge Family. “The Partridge Family” TV show was based on the real-life family group, The Cowsills, who had hits in the 1960s with “The Rain, The Park and Other Things” (1967) and “Hair” (from the musical of the same name) in […]
Song Of The Day – “The Painless Dentist Song” by Allan Sherman
Funny guys are often tragic figures, and Allan Sherman surely fits into this category. In the span of several years, Sherman went from the pinnacle of success as a TV sketch writer and recording artist who had a huge hit with the song “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh,” (plus the requisite books, cartoons and board games […]
