C I V I L    M A R R I A G E    I S    A    C I V I L    R I G H T.

A N D N O W I T ' S T H E L A W O F T H E L A N D.


Sunday, March 17, 2024

Sunday Drive: Danny Boy

As performed by the great Tom Jones on the Ed Sullivan Show, April 21, 1968:

 


BONUS: Where, when, and how this beloved song originated:

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Friday, March 15, 2024

Waitin' for the Weekend

You have the right to bare arms . . .

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Thursday, March 14, 2024

Flashback: Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, 1968

OMG, that voice.  I haven't heard these songs in years, but Gary's deep velvet tremolo still does things to me.  Wow. 


FYI, there was no lip-syncing on the Sullivan show; all vocals had to be performed live.  Imagine that,
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Sunday, March 10, 2024

Sunday Drive: Sugar, Sugar

Your Head Trucker couldn't get enough of this bouncy tune when it came out in the fall of 1969.  I got the 45 as soon as I could, and played it over and over and over again, dancing around the house.

My dancing days are long past, but the song still makes me smile.  And I'm loving this brilliant little collage with classic dancers from the golden age of the movies.  Enjoy.


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Friday, March 8, 2024

Waitin' for the Weekend

Pickings were slim in the man groves this week, and I was afraid I wouldn't have anything to offer.  But M.P. threatened to put the kitchen on lockdown if I didn't post this hairless hunk, so here he is.

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Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Wah-Watusi!

Booklet of dance instructions, early 1960s.

Lately it's been hard to get my mind and body in gear.  Perhaps it's just hibernation time.  There's nothing wrong beyond the usual creaks and rumbles of old age.  Guess I'm just in a blah mood.

The state of the world being what it is, I've tried today to think of something I could blog that might give me a lift - maybe it will help somebody else, too.  So here goes.

I'm sure many of my truckbuddies remember the Watusi song and the dance of the same name - or do you?  Alas, by the time I started going to high-school dances, say about 1968 or so, all the cutely named dances popular in the early sixties had degenerated into miscellaneous twitches, jerks, and shuffles.  There were no steps to learn - you just stood there and wiggled as you pleased, more or less in time with the music.  A couple of years later, the Cool Kids in their puritan zeal declared that dancing was "not relevant" - and so there were no more dances, in high school or college.  They didn't return until the rise of disco, about 1976.

But I digress.  Just what was the Watusi?  I've tried to look this up before, and apparently nobody really knows.  I've seen comments from dance teachers on YouTube who say they can't find any actual steps to that dance.  Well, here are some historical videos that might give a clue.  See what you think - and I think you will smile.

1.  The lovely Lennon Sisters on the Lawrence Welk Show:

 

2. Wednesday and Lurch from The Addams Family:



3.  The KCTU Dancers from Wichita, Kansas, in 2014, having big fun with something that may or may not be historically correct:



4.  Luci Johnson and Steve McQueen certainly ought to have known what they were doing in Beverly Hills in the summer of '64, so perhaps this is the definitive performance:



5.  On the other hand, how can you get more authentic than these chaps?  From the 1959 film Watusi, I think:


Vote for your favorite version in the comments section.
 

P. S. -- Actually, there is documentation for how to dance the Watusi.  See it and try it after the jump.  And let me know how that works out for you.

Friday, March 1, 2024

Waitin' for the Weekend

Need a good lineman? 

To see the pole, click here.  (NSFW)

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Sunday, February 25, 2024

Sunday Drive: Candida/Knock Three Times


My truckbuddies of a certain age will certainly remember these lighthearted tunes by Tony Orlando and Dawn from 1970, a very pleasant way to begin a warm and sunny, spring-like morning here in Texas. I always thought Tony was sexy, especially after he grew his hair and stache out. Major woof!


 

But what I really wanted share with you all is this clip I ran across yesterday of Tony performing a farewell concert in Las Vegas just last month - he will be 80 years old in a few weeks, and yet he is still rocking the crowds as he did half a century ago. I saw him and Dawn in concert back in 1976, and it was a fantastic show. Tony is a master showman, a true entertainer, who puts his heart and soul into everything he does on stage. But judge for yourself:


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Friday, February 23, 2024

Waitin' for the Weekend

An old favorite:  Bruno.
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Sunday, February 18, 2024

Sunday Drive: When the Lilac Blooms Again

A beautiful arrangement of a captivating tune, which I just recently heard for the first time.


+ + + + +

"As Far as the East Is from the West":  a brilliant Ash Wednesday meditation by Father Sean Mullen at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia.


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Friday, February 16, 2024

Waitin' for the Weekend


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