Victor Trent Cook, Ken Ard, Adrian Bailey and Frederick Owens are featured in Keep In Rollin’ and Searchin’, two of the songs featured in this final performance of Smokey Joe’s Café.
Author Archives: Andrew Godfrey
Smokey Joes Cafe Last Performance: Fools Fall in Love – B.J. Crosby
B.J. Crosby sings Fools Fall In Love in this emotional last performance of the long-running play Smoky Joe’s Café. The song builds to a crescendo in the last moments of the song, that you will never forget.
Disregard the foreign language captions, since the main thing is the song itself and the fantastic job B.J. Crosby does singing with so much emotion, that the audience gives her a standing ovation at the end of the song.
Frankie Valli Still Going Strong At 79
Frankie Valli earlier in his career.
Frankie Valli was born Francesco Stephen Castelluccio on May 3, 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. The 79 year-old singer appeared on American Idol singing his classic hits Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You and Grease in the Season 12 American Idol finale.
Frankie Valli shown with Curtis Finch, Burnell Taylor and Lazaro Arbos on the stage during the Season 12 finale for American Idol.
Valli was enticed to sing after seeing Frank Sinatra in concert at the Paramount Theater in New York City. He appeared with various groups, but his main claim to fame came during his time singing with the Four Seasons. The group had monster hits like Sherry, Walk Like A Man, Big Girls Don’t Cry, which all went to No.1 on the Billboard charts in 1962 and 1963. Another 1963 hit Candy Girl peaked at No.3. Dawn (Go Away) would also climb to No.3.
His first hit as a soloist was Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You, which reached the No.1 spot on the Billboard charts. My Eyes Adored You went to No.1 in 1974, then he had his last No.1 solo song with Grease.
An interesting note of trivia is that the Four Seasons were named after a New Jersey bowling alley.
When Valli recorded solo albums he sang in his regular voice, not the falsetto he used with the Four Seasons. Valli sounded good whether singing in falsetto or regular voice.
The Four Seasons and Valli weren’t affected by the British invasion, as they didn’t alter their sound to fit in with the Beatles craze.
The late 70′s would see Valli battle otosclerosis, which causes loss of hearing. He would have to sing from memory during this time and but would regain his hearing in 1980.
He would record his first solo album in 27 years in 2007 and is still active today 62 years after he first became an active singer.
A crowning achievement for Valli and Four Seasons was their induction, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.
These are some 30 second clips of the Four Seasons and Frankie Valli hits:
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/frankie-valli-mn0000794449/songs
Four Seasons singing Working My Way Back To You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pI1BgbYIPk
Four Seasons singing a medley of Dawn, Rag Doll and Bye Bye Baby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmFFsBCHLB0
Ryan Seacrest who is usually shorter than most of the singers on American Idol had to be happy, to stand next to the diminutive Frankie Valli who is five foot five, so Seacrest towered over him at five foot eight.
It is great to know that 79 year-old Valli is still active, with no signs of retiring anytime soon.
American Idol: America Got It Right With Choice of Candice Glover
Candice Glover is the new American Idol of Season 12.
It has been evident since the Final 10 were chosen by judges, that Candice Glover was the best singer among those singers in the Final 10.
American Idol fans confirmed that she was the best, by choosing her as the new American Idol for Season 12. The only surprise would have been if Candice had not won. Kree Harrison finished second and Angie Miller was third in Season 12. I look for Kree and Angie to have successful careers, but Candice should have her first album released long before either of them, since her album should be in stores for months, before Kree and Angie release their albums.
The producers are smart to release the first album of Candice much sooner than usual. Most albums by the current American Idol are not released till November, so the summer release will let fans of Candice have her music, in their MP3 players and phones sooner rather than later, plus many albums should be sold on the American Idol tour this summer.
There were many guest artists on the finale, but none of them came close to matching Frankie Valli and him singing with the five guys on I Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You and Grease. Valli commanded the stage like giants of entertainment do when they enter the spotlight. Valli turned 79 earlier this month and was born a year before Elvis Presley. Valli has been singing since 17, which was 62 years ago.
Aretha Franklin also sang but her singing didn’t have the impact of Valli, since she was singing from New York, but she sang some of her biggest hits, which were received well by the audience.
It was great to see Candice become the first girl to win American Idol since Jordin Sparks won in Season 6.
Randy Jackson said his goodbyes to fans of American Idol last night. He is the only one of ten judges to remain with the show the first twelve seasons. Latest rumors say that the other three Idol judges could be leaving too, but it could be several months, before any changes to the judging panel will be announced. There are even some reports that the show could return to a three judge format.
It is too early for ratings results for the finale, but it is almost a foregone conclusion that the ratings will be the lowest for any finale in the 12 year history of the show.
The Voice Season 4 will be ending soon, then Season 5 of The Voice will return in the fall along with Season 3 of X-Factor, so three music competitions will end before American Idol returns in January.
American Idol: Candice Glover Should Be Next American Idol
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/candice-glover-performs-i-who-have-nothing/17womoku7
It will be complete shock if Candice Glover isn’t crowned as the next American Idol. The above video escalated Candice to a whole new level of excellence. Kree Harrison is a great singer, that should have a long and successful career, but she is not the singer that Candice is.
Her rendition of I Who Have Nothing the Ben E. King classic showed that she is the best singer on American Idol this season. However, her chances of winning depend on how her voting base voted last night.
American Idol needs a win by Candice, since she is a powerhouse singer, that should sell millions of records and draw thousands to her concerts. Kree may sell a lot of albums, but she will never reach the star power of Candice, who delivers the big moments in her songs, that the Idol judges are looking for.
There are rumors that Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey will not return as judges, while Randy Jackson has already announced he won’t be returning for Season 13.
Simon Fuller: Creator of American Idol
Simon Fuller the creator of American Idol was criticized last night, for the songs he chose for Candace and Kree to sing last night. Randy Jackson disliked his song choices and Ryan Seacrest interjected, that he only said that since he would be leaving the show after tonight’s finale.
Randy was wrong to even mention song choices, since Candice and Kree only sang the songs and had no part in selecting them. Why criticize the man who created the American Idol juggernaut and paid Jackson millions of dollars since the first show?
We can expect many changes in American Idol in Season 13. Another year of lower ratings demands that changes be made.
There is way too much emphasis on the celebrity of the judges, when the focus should be entirely on the contestants. Paying Mariah Carey $18 million, Nicki Minaj $12 million and Keith Urban $5 million was not able to attract viewers in larger numbers and in fact this season had the lowest ratings in the history of the show.
There are already rumors that Jennifer Lopez may return as a judge in January, but can’t see the producers signing another high salary celebrity.
I wouldn’t mind seeing some of the previous winners join the judge panel, who wouldn’t have the clout to demand huge salaries, plus they would understand better, what the contestants are experiencing during the life of the show.
Former American Idol contestants currently have albums in the Billboard 200. The Voice may be attracting more viewers, but their winners are not selling albums and downloads like winners or also-rans from American Idol. That makes American Idol the king of the singing competitions, till the other shows start producing singers that sell albums in the millions.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/idolchatter/2013/05/15/american-idol-sales-finale-week/2164287/
American Idol: Angie Miller Goes Home, All Four Judges Reportedly To Be Fired For Season 13
Angie Miller went home on American Idol leaving Candice Glover and Kree Harrison to compete on the last performance show next Wednesday for the coveted title of American Idol.
It was an almost foregone conclusion for me at least, that Candice Glover and Angie Miller would be the last two standing on American Idol but the voters chose Kree Harrison to face Candice in the last performance show next Wednesday night.
There was no doubt that Kree is a good singer, but to me she was not a singer of the caliber of Angie Miller. I don’t think Kree can connect with an audience nearly as well, as Candice who clearly has to be the favorite next week, but even she is not a sure winner, unless her supporters take time to vote her the next American Idol next Thursday night.
All Four Judges Could Be Fired
The latest reports circulating in the media are saying that all four judges will be fired, before the start of Season 13 next January.
In fact, Randy Jackson announced he is leaving the show in a Thursday statement. It would have been no surprise if Nicki Minaj or Mariah Carey had been fired or both, since their feud was a distraction during Season 12. Nicki Minaj telling Mariah to “simmer down sir” was a prime example of their dislike for each other.
Mariah has fired Randy as her manager, so that may have been a cause of a reported dustup between the two.
However, doubt many observers thought that all four judges would be fired. I thought Keith Urban did a good enough job to be retained for another season.
Even executive producer Nigel Lythgoe is reportedly in line to be fired. Ryan Seacrest could be the only familiar face to return next season.
The days of the high priced divas may be over for American Idol, after paying Mariah $18 million and Nicki $12 million, for this season.
Worst of all the May sweeps ratings determine the prices that sponsors are charged and with only 11.11 million tuning in last Wednesday night the show won’t have the money to pay the high salaries in Season 13. The 11.11 million viewers were the fewest viewers watching American Idol this season.
Season 6 ratings averaged around 30 million, so that is an indication of how far the ratings have tumbled since Jordin Sparks was the last woman, that was voted the winner of American Idol six years ago.
We should hear from American Idol management in the coming months, if these latest rumors are true. The show really has no choice, but to make changes in light of the extremely low ratings. There is almost no chance of the show being cancelled, since it is one of the top money-making shows on television.
So if you watch American Idol next week soak in the atmosphere, because it is almost a sure bet, that there will be major changes in Season 13.
Duck Dynasty: Is This The Way To Run A Business?
Kay, Phillip, Willie, Si, Jase and Korie Robertson stars of Duck Dynasty.
The Season 3 finale of Duck Dynasty, which featured their trip to Hawaii attracted an amazing 9.6 million viewers. It was the most watched program in the history of the A&E cable network. An even bigger shock was that it had a higher rating than American Idol in the key 18-49 demographic.
When a program about a family making duck calls has a higher rating, than the ratings blockbuster American Idol there has to be some real concern right now by American Idol producers.
Phil Robertson who started the Duck Commander business of making duck calls, that captured the same sound as actual ducks was starting quarterback at Louisiana Tech in Ruston, Louisiana. The second string quarterback was a guy named Terry Bradshaw, who went on to fame as the quarterback, of the Pittsburgh Steelers and would win Super Bowls for the Steelers. Robertson said Terry went after the bucks, while he went after the ducks, but Phil went after the bucks too and is worth $5 million today.
His wife Kay is also worth $5 million according to Celebrity Net Worth website, but since all the wives are shown with the same worth as their husbands among the Robertson sons it could mean they are both worth the same $5 million and not $10 million total.
The website lists the wives with the same worth, so will just quote the worth of the sons.
Alan Robertson is the oldest of the Robertson sons and can be easily identified since he is the unbearded Robertson and doesn’t seem to belong with the others.
Oldest son Alan Robertson has never been seen on the show to my knowledge and is a senior pastor of a West Monroe, Louisiana church. His net worth is $3 million, so he still shares in the wealth with the rest of the family.
Willie is the CEO of the company and is worth $10 million, while his brother Jase is worth $4 million and younger brother Jeptha is worth $8 million.
Their Uncle Si is worth $2 million and although he is married don’t think his wife has ever been shown.
The duck call company Duck Commander is based in West Monroe, Louisiana where we lived in 1974 and 1975 before moving across the Ouachita River to Monroe, while working for the local Monroe Morning World newspaper.
Phil Chose Right Son For CEO
Phil was smart to designate Willie as CEO, since he is the only son that seems to have a modicum of ability to run the company. His brother Jase and uncle Si are apt to leave work without notice, to go duck hunting or do whatever they want, with no regard for how it affects the business.
One of the programs this morning showed Willie trying to get the brothers and other workers to wear uniforms. They all decided to wear the uniforms, except Jase who refused to wear the new uniforms and rallied the others to go on strike. So they left the room where they make duck calls, to go outside and made signs to picket Duck Commander.
Meanwhile Kay Robertson, who is selling boudin from a truck passes by and puts a stop to the nonsense, by serving the brothers and co-workers boudin and managed to convince the strikers to leave the picket line and return to work.
Si Wakes Up In The Woods
On another program this morning Si and other workers had a hankering for donuts and descended on the donut shop and proceeded to have a contest to see who could eat the most donuts. Si won the contest and used his winnings to buy some tickets for a drawing for a camper.
By the time they returned to work Si later found out he had won the drawing, when the camper was delivered to Duck Commander headquarters. Si decided to cook something in his new camper and later fell asleep in the camper. The other workers were not happy campers, when Si was sleeping and they needed him to make reeds for the duck calls.
So Jase hooked up the camper to a truck and hauled the camper with Si sleeping on the bed to the woods. They left Si sleeping in the camper and drove off. It was a funny sight to see Si open the camper door and find out he was in the middle of nowhere in the woods.
Willie Gets No Respect
Willie gets absolutely no respect from his brothers and their co-workers. Willie is so serious about getting the work done, while the brothers would rather goof off, than actually make any duck calls. Work comes to a standstill often, when the guys are not in the mood to work.
It is a miracle any work is ever done in the duck call shop, with this group of characters. They are sometimes more intent on exacting revenge on Willie for his latest show of force, to increase their productivity.
Willie has a camera installed in the duck call room, so he can witness for himself how little work is being done. Jase, who is not happy with this development has one of the other workers steal the monitor for the camera out of Willie’s office, then give Willie a taste of his own medicine. The guys are watching Willie line up his shot in his office, with golf putter and then Jase says something over the speaker about Willie needed to adjust his grip. Willie puts away his putting green and golf club and goes to duck call room to demand the monitor is returned.
Jase and Willie argue about the camera being in the duck call room, then work out a compromise and Willie is given his monitor back.
Willie has a quandary in that he can’t fire family members, so he has to tolerate their antics in the duck call room. If any of these guys were working for another company they would have been fired years ago, but they have the job security of working for the family business.
This is no way to run a business, but their business is picking up since the show has become so popular. These guys especially Jase and Si may be a train wreck, but they are keeping millions of us entertained.
Latest news is that family is asking for more money to film Season 4, but they are dealing from a position of strength as A&E is not going to battle with them over salary, since they will probably raise advertising rates to recoup the money and make even more money in the long run. Latest word is that Season 4 filming will start soon and that we will see those episodes later this year.
American Idol: Nobody Going Home
Angie Miller and Kree Harrison were Top 2 in American Idol results show in which nobody went home to get the show on schedule after judges didn’t use their save.
Kree Harrison had to be shocked to be in the Top 2 with Angie Miller, on the Thursday night results show on American Idol. The judges had roundly criticized her performances on Wednesday night, but evidently the judges couldn’t sway the voters into not voting for her.
It was a shock to see Candace Glover in the Bottom 2, since she had some of the best feedback from the judges on Wednesday night. Amber Holcomb also was in the Bottom 2, but that wasn’t too surprising since there was some criticism of her decision to sing MacArthur Park on Wednesday’s show.
Ryan Seacrest teased the audience by saying “And going home is no one” and then explaining the show was expecting the judges to use their save, but when they didn’t the show needed an extra week to finish on the original schedule.
According to my calculations there should be three more weeks, with the final three revealed next week, then the final two the following week and finale the third week. None of this is official so is only conjecture at this point.
Lee DeWyze, the Season 10 winner, who is probably the least recognizable winner among the 11 winners so far sang a song from his new album.
Angie Miller seems to be favorite to win American Idol.
The favorite to win Season 12 of American Idol seems to be Angie Miller, unless she falters in the remaining shows. She needs to follow the advice of the judges and Jimmy Iovine and sing while playing the piano, which seems to be the niche she needs to be in to become the next American Idol.
However, with the votes from yesterday and those cast next week anything can happen, so it is crucial for each of the remaining four contestants, to make good song choices and to perform them as flawlessly as possible.
American Idol has lost almost 5.5 million viewers since the premiere show in January. I think many fans have gone over to The Voice and don’t care to watch American Idol the next two nights. A Big Bang Theory rerun topped American Idol last week, which shows how far the ratings have tumbled this season.
Only 12.46 million viewers tuned in to the Wednesday performance show, but no results are available yet for last night’s show.
George Jones Dies at 81
1931-2013
George Jones has died in the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 81. He had been admitted into the hospital, with fever and irregular blood pressure.
Jones was a traditional country singer in the purest sense. He was far removed from the uptown country sound heard so much today. When a country music fan thought of the greats of the past Jones was one of the first to come to mind.
George Jones shown early in his career.
The first George Jones song to make the Billboard charts was Why Baby Why which went to No.4 in 1955. Three years later White Lightning would be the first No.1 hit for Jones.
Tender Years would reach No.1 in 1961, then She Thinks I Still Care was No.1 in 1962. Five years later Walk Through This World With Me became his last No.1 hit in the 60′s.
The Grand Tour and The Door were his only No.1 hits in the 1970′s and both were released in 1974.
The 1980′s would see him release his signature song He Stopped Loving Her Today in 1980 and followed by another No.1 song Still Doin’ Time in 1981. 1983′s I Always Get Lucky With You was his last No.1 hit in the 80′s.
It has been 30 years since Jones recorded a No.1 song, but he did release three No.1 singles with Tammy Wynette, which included We’re Going to Hold On in 1973, Golden Ring and Near You in 1976.
He recorded Yesterday’s Wine another No.1 song with Merle Haggard in 1982.
It is hard to believe that Jones only had nine solo No.1 hits, but this is all that showed up on Wikipedia as being No.1 songs.
George Jones had a tumultuous life, but this is no day to go over his past. This is a day to remember one of the best pure country singers during our lifetime.
George, Thanks for the memories.
American Idol: Judges Praise Angie, Trash Kree
Candace Glover, Angie Miller, Kree Harrison and Amber Holcomb will find out who is going home next on American Idol on the results show tonight.
The judges may not have that much influence on American Idol voters, but if they do make a difference in the voting, then Angie Miller and Candace Glover should be in Top 2 and Kree Harrison and Amber Holcomb should be in the Bottom 2. However, we can only guess what the actual results will show, when Ryan Seacrest reveals the results tonight.
Kree Harrison got trashed, hammered and battered by the judges after she sang the Susan Tedeschi song Hurt So Bad. I was thinking how good of a job, that she had done with the song, but the judges hated her rendition of the song. It was plain to see that Kree was shocked at being attacked so mercilessly by the judges. I thought she did a creditable job on A Whiter Shade of Pale, but the judges were not impressed by that either.
Keith Urban seemed to think the one hit wonder songs should have been recorded in the last 10 years. The contestants are not mind readers and shouldn’t be expected to know what timeline the judges were wanting the songs from.
I can understand A Whiter Shade of Pale being a one hit wonder, since it was the only hit of Procol Harum, but Cry Me A River recorded by Julie London 58 years ago in 1955 would not be considered a one hit wonder, since London recorded many more albums after its release. It has been covered many times over the years, including my favorite version by Diana Krall in her Look of Love album released in 2001.
Candace received mixed reviews from the judges, while Angie received more praise, than any of the other three contestants. It would be a tremendous shock if Angie is in the bottom two and it would show that the opinions of the judges were not affecting the voting results.
Jimmy Iovine did not like Amber singing MacArthur Park, which was written by Jimmy Webb. Iovine called the song corny, probably because of the lyrics saying “Someone left a cake out in the rain and I’ll never find that recipe again” which was corny. Interesting side note about the song: Webb wrote the song after breaking up with Linda Rondstadt, since they had met many times in MacArthur Park.
Kree and Amber clearly got the worst feedback from the judges, so it looks like Angie and Candace should be the top vote-getters.
Vote For the Worst website has Kree as the one to vote for this week, which might help her stay another week. There is speculation that Ryan Seacrest’s surprise tonight may be that nobody goes home, since the judges haven’t used their save.
So the surprise may be either that the judges use their save or that Ryan will announce nobody will go home. The bad thing about that scenario is that fans cast millions of votes for nothing, so it would make sense if the judges are allowed to use the save, rather than just announce nobody will go home.
I don’t think the judges should even have judged the two group songs. The group songs are only filler anyway and it gave the judges a third chance to trash Kree. I don’t know if Kree can recover from hearing how much the judges hated her singing to become the American Idol.
There is no sense in American Idol having a two-hour show for four contestants and next week it will again be two hours for three contestants, unless the judges use their save to keep all four contestants for another week.
Next week’s show could be the next to last show of Season 12, unless everybody stays another week tonight.
Rumors have been flying around the internet that Mariah Carey might be fired, before the completion of Season 12, to boost the ratings, but those rumors seem to have been unfounded.
For a more complete recap of last night’s show:
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/04/25/american-idol-amber-holcomb-judges-argue/
Not Your Average Resume
Resumes can make the difference between being hired and not being hired. The following resumes are not your average resume:
Lizard Lick Towing’s Ron and Amy Shirley Worth Combined $5 Million
Ron and Amy Shirley who star in Lizard Lick Towing reality show on TruTV.
Ron and Amy Shirley know that each renewal of Lizard Lick Towing means they can deposit huge amounts of money in their bank account.
They are both worth a total of $5 million, with Celebrity Net Worth showing they both have net worths of $2.5 million each.
http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/business-executives/ron-shirley-net-worth/
http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/business-executives/amy-shirley-net-worth/
One of the articles says that the Shirleys recreate some of the their encounters, when repossessing cars, so that tells me they are using actors in the wild scenes seen on the show. I don’t mind that the show is fake, as long as the producers don’t try to fool the fans, into thinking that the action scenes are real.
Bobby Brantley in his cool shades.
Bobby Brantley once stated that some of the scenes were staged. The last I knew Bobby Brantley was married to his fourth wife Anita, so it surprised me that the show had a storyline, that showed Bobby dating a local girl on the show, which infuriated Amy, since Amy had a long and bad history with the girl. Anyone that knows if Bobby is still married is welcome to comment.
It doesn’t really matter to me that it is fake, since it is an entertaining show. I have seen scenes where Ron and Bobby have been shot at during a repossession. A person being shot at in real life would have called the police, but even with all the fights at repossession sites and in the office police are seldom called.
They are inviting trouble in the office leaving stuff that can be thrown around. That office lobby should not have anything that is not nailed down, since if it is not then it will be destroyed.
Ron and Amy Shirley may not be earning Kardashian type money, for their reality show but most of us wouldn’t mind having $5 million in our bank accounts
It is another reason that Ron and Amy are probably on pins and needles, till they get their renewal notices for the next season.
Wikipedia says that Ron and Amy were going to be in Wife Swap. Just thinking about them being on the show makes me laugh. However it didn’t pan out, but it may have turned out for the best as Lizard Lick Towing was first seen on All Worked Up, before TruTV offered a deal to Ron and Amy, to have their own show and they hopped on the money train that would make them both millionaires.
I assume there will be new shows, if it is renewed next summer or fall.
The main thing is that Lizard Lick Towing is a fun show to watch, whether it is fake or not.
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Lizard Lick Towing Boss Arrested in 2008 With 2013 Update on Bobby Brantley
This is the most read article in the history of Nostalgia and Now with 31,634 page views as of April 21, 2013. Some links were dead since the article was so old, so inserted a photo and video.
Ron Shirley owner of Lizard Lick Towing was arrested in 2008, for telling an employee to impersonate a sheriff's investigator while repossessing cars.
31,634 visitors have read this article, which is the most in the four year history of Nostalgia and Now.
Internet Headaches
My No.1 complaint about the internet is to be reading an article, then a pop-up ad covers up the article, which makes you have to X out the ad, so you can finish reading the article. Guess you can call this kind of pop-up a pop-over since it covers up an article. If the advertiser thinks pop-up ads will make me want to look at their ad, then they are dead wrong, since I will never buy a product, from a company that intrudes on my time on the computer.
Another culprit is the spammer who reads your blog and likes it and posting a phony message, about how much they like your blog, then you see it is a business trying to use your blog to advertise their business.
You Tube videos are another headache, when you expect to see a music video, but instead an advertisement starts playing for 30 minutes or 60 minutes. You are a prisoner to the advertiser, since you have no choice, but to watch their ad if you want to see the music video. I hate inserting a link in my blog, to a You Tube video that first shows an ad, since some viewers won’t want to sit there for 60 minutes watching an ad, before seeing the video.
Some websites are interminably slow to open a page, so eventually I will avoid those websites. For instance I have seen some websites take forever to open, but then go to ESPN which opens almost immediately, despite being graphic intensive website.
Then there are the websites, that require you to sign in with your email address and a password, just to view the content of that website. Another pet peeve of mine is going to a website that lets you read only part of an article, then says you have to pay to read the complete article.
There is nothing more aggravating, than to go to a website and start reading, then the page becomes unresponsive and you have to wait till the page lets you start scrolling again.
One thing that often happens on the internet is to go to a website and you get a message saying you need to download a program, before you can view that website. If you have problems downloading the program, then you have wasted several minutes for nothing.
Bloggers like me have another problem, by posting a photo found in a Google search, then go back to that page later and the photo is gone. Copyrighted photos should not show up in a Google search. I have about 925 posts in my blog, so it is impossible to go through each blog to see which photos or videos have been removed by someone.
Charging to view a website tells me it is time to forget about that website. That is why Facebook will not charge to use Facebook, because Facebookers will leave the site in droves, if they start charging. Facebook doesn’t want to tell their advertisers, that millions have closed out their Facebook accounts, so the advertiser will ask Facebook to reduce their advertising rates and Facebook surely doesn’t want to lose revenue.
The only internet service that I would ever consider paying for is if all the email services begin charging, for using their email service. Email is almost certainly the most widely used service on the internet, especially those that don’t use the social media for one reason or the other.
Note: Readers are welcome to list their complaints about the internet in the comments section. Any comments are appreciated.
American Idol: Janelle Goes Home: And Then There Were Four
Janelle Arthur received the fewest number of votes and was sent home on American Idol.
Janelle Arthur who expected to be sent home last night became the first girl to be eliminated on American Idol on Thursday night.
The judges could have saved her, but seem to be saving their save for one of the remaining four contestants. Had heard that they had to use their save by Top 5 week, but apparently they will have it at their disposal for one more week. I will be surprised if these judges will ever save anyone, as they can’t seem to agree on who is worth saving. The following article says the judges will not be allowed to use their save now:
http://www.rickey.org/american-idol-12-to-end-one-week-early-after-non-save-in-the-top-5/
Top 4 week will see Amber Holcomb, Candace Glover, Angie Miller and Kree Harrison try to extend their time on American Idol. It was surprising to see Kree in the Bottom 2, but in another way it was not surprising, since any of the four remaining contestants would make excellent American Idols.
From now on the competition should be even tougher for the contestants, since we are nearing the end of Season 12. If the save is not used Season 12 will end the second week in May. The judges will have their hands full, as they and the voters hold the fate, of the remaining contestants as the season nears its end.
Nicki Minaj and Jimmy Iovine did not see eye to eye on the merits of Amber Holcomb’s singing on Wednesday’s show.
Clay Aiken and Fantasia sang on the show last night and Paula Abdul made a surprise appearance. Paula may have not been the best judge ever, but would be an upgrade over either Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey.
American Idol continues to trail The Voice in the television ratings. The Voice has seen a spike in their ratings during the Battle Rounds. The Voice may be an excellent show, but until one of their winners makes a real mark in the music world I can’t take it too seriously. I lose interest after the blind auditions on The Voice, then watch when they get down to the live shows after the Battle Rounds are over. Worst thing is that there is such a long gap from seeing The Voice contestants in the Battle Rounds, till all the finalists from the Battle Rounds appear individually in the remaining shows.
All four of the remaining contestants on American Idol should have recording careers, plus Janelle Arthur should make it big in the world of country music.
Lazaro Arbos has some less than flattering words about one of the remaining contestants, after he went home from the show:
“I’m not gonna say names and I don’t wanna sound rude,” Lazaro told ABC News Radio backstage at Live with Kelly & Michael earlier in the week. “But I think that one woman in particular is cra-a-a-a-z-y and she wants to win!” Lazaro would not say if the contestant was Kree, Candice, Amber, Angie or Janelle, but he thinks that she — whoever she is — needs to chill out. Big time. “She thinks that we’re in The Hunger Games and she’s fighting for her life,” dished Lazaro about the mystery contestant. “She needs to realize that it’s not about winning: it’s about what you do after the show.” – Vote for the Worst website
Janelle was chosen by Vote For The Worst website as their choice to vote for this week. It will be interesting to see how they choose as the worst remaining contestant, now that Janelle has been eliminated.
Facts on remaining contestants:
Candace Glover – Candace is 24 and from Beaufort, South Carolina. This was her third try at American Idol having competed in Season 9 and Season 11. She made it to Las Vegas week in Season 11 and performed in a group with Season 11 finalists DeAndre Brackensick and Jessica Sanchez.
Angie Miller – Angie is 19 and from Beverly, Massachusetts. She is partially deaf and has a You Tube page with 2.8 million views.
Amber Holcomb – Amber is 19 and from Houston, Texas. She was seen in Season 11 and was in a group with Season 11 finalists Shannon Magrane and Joshua Ledet.
Kree Harrison – Kree is 23 and came from Winfield, Texas, but currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Kree’s father died in an airplane crash when she was 12 and her mother died in a car accident, when Kree was 16.
The following poll asks which of the remaining four contestants will be the Season 12 American Idol:
FBI Releases Video of Boston Marathon Bombing Suspects
The FBI has released videos of two suspects, that may have participated in the Boston Marathon bombing earlier this week.
The agency is seeking help from citizens, that may have seen the suspects and anything that they may recall about the two individuals.
It is imperative that these two suspects be captured, as soon as possible to prevent them from leaving the country, if they are international terrorists or go into hiding if they are American citizens.
We should know more about these suspects, now that those there at the Boston Marathon may remember them and may have even have their photos in their cell phones.
The main thing is to get these people off the street, so they can be brought to justice, if they are the perpetrators behind the Boston Marathon bombings.
American Idol: Candace Glover Current Favorite To Win American Idol
Angie Miller, Candace Glover, Janelle Arthur, Kree Harrison and Amber Holdomb comprise the Final 5 on American Idol Season 12.
The American Idol judges Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj, Randy Jackson and Mariah Carey have their work cut out for them since only the most talented singers are left in the competition.
It is looking like Candace Glover is the current favorite to win the title of the American Idol for Season 12. It will be interesting tonight to see how Candace fares in the voting results, that will be revealed tonight. The best singer on American Idol is not always the winner on the finale in May.
Janelle Arthur on the other hand is almost certain to be in the bottom two tonight, after receiving lukewarm critiques from the judges. I agree with Nicki Minaj that Janelle will make a mark in country music, even if she doesn’t win the competition.
It will be sad to see Janelle go home tonight, if she does receive the fewest votes. She is very likeable and seems to be able to handle any criticism from the judges well.
However, there are no guarantees in American Idol voting, as Pia Toscano can testify to when she was eliminated early in Season 12.
Pia Toscano eliminated early in Season 10 of American Idol.
So Ryan Seacrest might reveal some surprising results tonight, but in all likelihood Janelle will be bidding adieu to her fellow contestants tonight.
Kree Harrison probably will be among the top vote-getters tonight, with Angie Miller or Amber Holcomb joining Janelle in the bottom two.
The shocking event of the night was that Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey actually talked to each other, for the first time that I know of during Season 12 live shows.
Unreality TV delves further into their altercation last night:
Personally, I thought all the contestants performed well, but the judges know music much better than me who missed notes or sang offkey, so my opinion and a dollar will get me on the city bus, but doesn’t really mean that much.
New York Daily News has posted a recap of last night’s show:
Latest Idol News
Pia Toscano mentioned earlier in this article will be seen in her first movie Grace Unplugged in October and should also release her debut album. New York Daily News has more info on the Season 10 American Idol contestant:
Fantasia will be seen on American Idol tonight singing Lose To Win and Clay Aiken is also slated to appear in the telecast.
Taylor Hicks is still appearing in concerts, but his albums are not selling well. His 2011 album Taylor Hicks has received great reviews with 248 Amazon reviews rating the album 5 stars, while only 5 gave the album 1 star. His problem is that it has not sold well and is currently 87,267th in sales and new and used copies of the album can be bought for one cent.
George Beverly Shea Dies At 104
George Beverly Shea 1909-2013
George Beverly Shea has died in Montreat, North Carolina after a brief illness at the age of 104. He was born on February 1, 1909 in Winchester, Ontario, Canada.
Shea is best known for being a soloist with the Billy Graham crusade from 1947 till almost 60 years later when Graham was no longer physically able to stand and preach.
George Beverly Shea shown with Billy Graham at a crusade.
His recording career lasted from 1951 till his death and he recorded 70 albums during his recording career. I can still remember hearing him sing How Great Thou Art and It Took A Miracle and many other songs during the televised crusades.
He was an accomplished musician playing the violin, piano and organ.
Shea was married a combined 70 years to his first wife Erma Scharfe who died in 1976 and his second wife whom he married in 1985 and survived him upon his death.
George Beverly Shea may be gone, but he will never be forgotten by the many of us who saw him sing so many times over the years, with the Billy Graham crusade. His music will live on for years to come.
Duck Dynasty Stars Duck Autograph Signing
The Duck Dynasty stars apparently think they don’t have to fulfill their obligations. They failed to stay for an autograph signing after an archery event.
It is not surprising since they march to a different drummer, than most of us since they are used to doing what they want and when they want.
A&E network can’t be happy with their behavior, since disgruntled fans will be probably be non-fans in the future and won’t waste time tuning in to see the same people who didn’t think of their fans, but of themselves at the Las Vegas event.
Maybe it is time that we stop making celebrities of people who become too big for their britches, while thinking they are too good to spend time with the “little people” who made them so popular.
It is not asking too much to expect celebrities to spend time with their fans. Maybe the Duck Dynasty stars were anxious to try out the gambling casinos in Las Vegas and didn’t want to delay their fun, by stopping to sign autographs for the “little people”.
If they continue to behave this way, their record ratings will begin to tumble, as they seem to have forgotten who made them reality stars in the first place.
http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2013/04/duck-dynasty-star-refuse-sign-autographs-angry-fans/
1948 Killer Smog In Donora, Pennsylvania
Killler smog that engulfed Donora, Pennsylvania in October of 1948.
I have been reading Stan Musial: An American Life which mentioned that a killer smog had took 18 or more lives. Stan Musial’s father Lukasz already had health problems before the killer smog and died less than two months after the smog hit Donora, Pennsylvania, late in October of 1948.
The smog first started engulfing the city on October 27 and remained until October 31, when rain dispersed the smog. Poisonous gases from the Donora Zinc Works and American Steel and Wire plant usually left the area, but this time the poisonous gases were trapped in smog that covered the area nearest to the plants.
Driving was risky during the smog, since visibility was close to zero. Drivers had to drive with their head out the car window to see where they were going.
Surprisingly, a high school football game was played during the killer smog, but no passes were thrown, since they couldn’t be seen through the smog.
Fluorine gas was the cause of the deaths and illness experienced by Donora residents. Some of the victims had 20 times the normal fluorine in their bodies.
Nearly 7,000 people became ill from the killer smog, which was about half the population of Donora. There is no telling how many deaths were a direct result of the smog, in the years following the smog.
Boston.com website has an excellent article on the Donora killer smog:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/11/02/pa_town_remembers_killer_smog/
Historical marker commemorating the killer smog in Donora, Pennsylvania in October of 1948.
The killer smog in Donora eventually brought about change in the way poisonous gases were released into the atmosphere when Clean Air Act was enacted by the government.
It is possible that young kids living in Donora in 1948, who would be about 65-75 today could someday too be victims of the 1948 killer smog if they ingested smaller amounts of the poisonous gases.
Day of Fun Turns Into Tragedy In Boston (WordPress Formatting Problems With Some of the Paragraphs)
A bomb explodes near the finish line at the Boston Marathon on Monday.
The Boston Marathon is usually a cause of celebration, but two bombs exploding near the finish line turned the day into an unspeakable tragedy.
Earlier that day the Boston Red Sox had played the Tampa Bay Rays and the players heard the explosions as they left Fenway Park, after playing the traditional Red Sox game, that coincides with the Boston Marathon.
27,000 runners had converged on Boston to participate in the 117th running of the Boston Marathon. After the bombs exploded near the finish line nobody was even thinking of who won the race, but everyone was concerned about the three killed and 148 injured, according to the latest reports.
New York Times photo and overhead shot of where the two bombs exploded.
The mood of the crowd changed from euphoria as they cheered the runners crossing the finish line, to utter shock as two bombs exploded near the finish line. The reports of the injuries to those wounded in the bombings are too graphic to recount in this article. I heard some gruesome accounts of what witnesses saw in the aftermath of the bombing, but no need to detail their accounts, since the terrorists would enjoy hearing the gory details, of what pain and suffering was caused by the bombings.
Now the focus turns to who committed such a cowardly act, that led to loss of life and injuries that may force some of the injured to be crippled for life.
Is Anyone Really Safe?
This latest tragedy caused by terrorists once again reminds us of how fragile life is. People were having fun one minute and then utter chaos ensues after the bombs do their damage to innocent people, who only wanted to enjoy a day off from their work, only to have it end in such a tragic manner.
We don’t know whether international terrorists or national terrorists are responsible for yesterday’s tragedy, but we do know it was a terrorist act, whether by an organized group or one or two individuals.
There certainly was a state of fear on Boylston Street in Boston yesterday, when an idyllic day turned into a day that will never be forgotten, but never to be forgotten for the wrong reason.
United States has been the scene of terrorism in the last year or so, from those shot or killed at the Aurora, Colorado movie theater, to the students and teachers who lost their life in their school in Newtown, Connecticut and now this terrorist act on Boylston Street in Boston, Massachusetts.
Even though the theater and school murders were executed by lone gunmen they still were acts of terrorism in my book and while the bombings in Boston seem to be the work of organized terrorists we still don’t know for sure how many were involved.
What we do know is that theaters, classrooms and downtown streets are no longer safe. Is there really a safe place that can be regarded as terrorist free? The terrorists have answered that question with a resounding no.
I could point out the many places that invite terrorism, but why give terrorists ideas of how to inflict more loss of life. It is difficult to understand the mind of a terrorist, since most people may not like a situation they are in, but would never take the extreme measures, that terrorists take to inflict their will on their victims.
All we can do now is to hope that the government agencies can track down and arrest who were the masterminds, behind the tragic murders of innocent victims yesterday in Boston.
That doesn’t mean that other terrorists won’t continue to strike fear into American citizens, with other terrorist acts like the one, that was committed in Boston yesterday.
Twelve years have passed since 9/11, but the world is no safer than it was on that Tuesday morning, when terrorists ended the lives of thousands of Americans, who were on routine flights or had gone to work in downtown New York or in the Pentagon and the policemen and firemen who gave their life that day.
Life is very fragile and we learned that again, from what happened in Boston yesterday.
Comedy Icon Jonathan Winters Dies At 87
Jonathan Winters 1925-2013
America has lost another comedy icon of the early days of television, with the passing of Jonathan Winters today at the age of 87 in Montecito, California. Winters was born in Dayton, Ohio on November 11, 1925.
The thing I remember most about Jonathan Winters were the funny faces he could make. He first made a name for himself in stand-up comedy and released 22 comedy albums from 1960-2011.
His first television appearance appearing as someone other than himself was when he appeared, on Omnibus in 1954. He was heard on one old-time radio show Monitor in 1959, before old-time radio died on September 30, 1962.
Winters appeared in It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad World in 1963. This is physical comedy at its best as Winters levels a service station singlehandedly and he earned $130,000 for his appearance in the movie. :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzZsp8SvJj8
He later appeared as Mearth on Mork and Mindy television series. His last movie appearance was as Papa on Smurfs 2, which is in post-production. He was to have appeared in Big Finish, but it is in pre-production, so he won’t be seen in that film.
Many of his best known television appearances were Tonight Show, Jack Paar Show and Hollywood Squares.
The world has lost of the best improvisational comics ever. Jonathan Winters will be missed by a legion of fans.
Half Million Visitors To Blog
I started the Nostalgia and Now blog four years ago this month. This morning the 500,000th viewer visited the blog. Half million is a real landmark to reach and I want to thank all the viewers who took time to stop at the blog and read the articles.
There are about 925 articles now posted at the blog dating back to April of 2009.
Thank you again to all the viewers of the blog.
Andrew
Jodi Arias Trial: Defense Expert Tells Prosecutor That He Needs To Be In Timeout
Juan Martinez prosecutor in the Jodi Arias trial is frustrated with the defense expert Alyce LaViolette being unresponsive.
Juan Martinez the prosecutor in the Jodi Arias murder trial has been frustrated with Alyce LaViolette, who has avoided for the most part giving direct answers, when being questioned by Martinez.
LaViolette has even went so far as to ask Martinez if he was angry at her and then earlier this week she told him, that if he was in her group that she would need to put him in timeout.
Can you imagine a witness in the O.J. Simpson trial telling Johnny Cochran that he needed to be put in timeout? Martinez is a bulldog in the courtroom relentlessly questioning witnesses and it seems to be working. LaViolette actually admitted that Travis Alexander was afraid of Arias, which could derail the self-defense theory espoused by the defense.
LaViolette has continuously refused to answer yes or no questions posed by Martinez and instead started talking about unrelated topics. Martinez then comes back and says he is not asking her about the unrelated topic. Martinez has several times complained to the judge, about LaViolette being unresponsive and Judge Sherry Stephens admonished her for her unresponsiveness.
The defense will have problems answering why LaViolette more or less took Arias at her word. She talked to Arias for 44 hours, yet never checked with anyone to see if what Arias was saying was true, since it is a well-known fact that Arias is a chronic liar, that will answer questions, in a way which correspond with her self-defense story.
Defense attorney Jennifer Willmott shown at the right of Jodi Arias is now trying to rehabilitate defense expert Alyce LaViolette after being questioned by Juan Martinez.
Jennifer Willmott one of the defense attorneys has the job, of now trying to rehabilitate defense expert LaViolette, after she admitted that Travis Alexander was afraid of Jodi Arias. Willmott also addressed the stalking issue, which was brought up by Martinez.
Stalkers are known to be serious threats to whoever they are stalking. If Arias slashed the tires of Alexander, then it stands to reason that she wouldn’t stop at anything, to exact revenge on the man who broke up with her.
The closing arguments of the prosecution will almost certainly be the death knell for the self-defense claim, since it will detail how Arias planned the trip to Mesa and how she stole a gun from the house of a relative. Personally, I don’t buy the Arias story of getting a gun off a shelf, without falling or leaving the bookshelves disheveled. Even if she did get the gun off the shelf it would have been her stolen gun being in a hiding place on the shelf, so when she needed it she would know where to retrieve it, without it being seen by Alexander.
We may never know exactly what happened during the murder, since we only have the word of Arias, on what events took place and in what order. It would make sense that she would shoot him first and then proceed to stab him, when he would offer the least resistance. If she was in any danger it seems that she could have left the house with neither of them being hurt or killed.
I can’t even begin to understand the rage she was in to shoot him, stab him almost 30 times and then slit his throat. Nobody stabs someone 30 times in self-defense. By that point it becomes overkill, eliminating any self-defense claim.
You can see that Arias is starting to realize, that she could be given a death sentence, since her defense experts have crumbled during their questioning by Martinez.
If all goes well this trial will be over in a couple of weeks, but with the way this trial has been so drawn out it may continue for another month.
The closing arguments by the prosecution should seal the fate of Jodi Arias. However, we won’t know what the jury is thinking, until they render their verdict. If Arias is sentenced to death it doesn’t mean she will be put to death. There hasn’t been an execution of a woman in Arizona, for the last 83 years and that was in 1930.
It would be a shocker of the first magnitude if Arias were to be acquitted, since there is so much evidence against her including her confession that she killed Travis Alexander, but in self-defense.
I would like to commend HLN for their excellent coverage of the trial, but it may be better to record the trial and watch it later, to prevent so many commercial interruptions.
There will be electricity in the courtroom, when the jury enters the courtroom to reveal their verdict. Let us hope justice will be served.
American Idol: Candace Glover In Bad Situation
Candace Glover received the most positive feedback on American Idol.
Candace Glover received enthusiastic praise for her singing on American Idol last night. Her rendition of Love Song was so good, that Randy Jackson said that it was the best performance of any singing competition ever. It is looking now like Candace is the one to beat. However, she didn’t even finish in the Top 3 last week. Instead Kree Harrison, Angie Miller and Lazaro Arbos finished in the Top 3.
The question now is whether her voting base will cast enough votes for her to be in the Top 3, when the voting results are announced by Ryan Seacrest tonight. American Idol is not always about who is best, but who has the strongest voting base.
A case in point is Lazaro Arbos, who is still around despite being the worst of the boy singers and worst of the remaining contestants. Lazaro was hammered unmercifully by the judges last night, but that may actually work in his favor. It may have caused him to garner sympathy votes, which may keep him on the show. Or maybe the criticism may cause some of his supporters, to abandon him and start voting for real singers. I like Lazaro but know good and well, that he is not going to be the next American Idol.
For the tenth best singer among the ten contestants, to be competing for a spot in the Final 5 tells me the voters are not particularly voting for the best singer.
However, even if Lazaro stays the girl who receives the least votes would almost certainly be saved by the judges.
Nicki Minaj continues being nice to a contestant one minute, then the next minute rip their singing the next minute. She seems to enjoy sticking it to a contestant, after luring the contestant into thinking she is going to say something positive about their performance. Janelle Arthur was the victim last night of her criticism saying her song was boring. I am not saying Nicki doesn’t have the right to criticize the contestants, but she should start her criticism from the start, instead of acting like she really cares about a contestant, then jump on them with both feet.
If the voters vote strictly on performance, then Candace, Kree Harrison and Amber Holcomb should be in the Top 3 tonight, with Janelle, Angie Miller and Lazaro at the bottom of the vote-getters. If Lazaro stays I look for Janelle to finish last and then be saved by the judges.
My personal pick as of today to be the next American Idol is Candace, with Kree Harrison likely to be the finalist with her on finale night, but Amber Holcomb is still in the running, if either of them falters.
One criticism for the show is that I see no need for the show to be two hours long, with only six singers left in the competition. The songs last about two minutes or less, so the 12 songs last night lasted only about 24 minutes. That left one hour and 36 minutes for judges to make their critiques, run umpteen commercials and fill the rest of the time with filler.
We are forced to watch the show on regular antenna, since the satellite network doesn’t carry the closest Fox station. We used to record the shows when we were on cable, which saved us watching about 40 minutes of commercials and turning the show into an hour and 20 minute show. The show will be two hours again next week, even though they may be down to five singers, unless Lazaro stays and a girl singer is saved, which would still leave six singers.
For a complete rundown on last night show from Hollywood.com:
Annette Funicello Dies At 70
Annette Funicello 1942-2013
Annette Funicello died in a Bakersfield, California hospital today at the age of 70. She had suffered from multiple sclerosis for the last 26 years.Her death was caused by complications from multiple sclerosis.
She could longer walk in 2004 and lost her speech in 2009.
Her last movie or television appearance was in Back To Beach film, which was released in 1987.
Longtime fans will remember her as Annette from the Mickey Mouse Club, which debuted in 1955. She starred in several beach movies with Frankie Avalon from Beach Party in 1963 till they co-starred on Back to the Beach 24 years later.
Annette recorded several albums and one of her songs Tall Paul peaked at No.7 on the Billboard charts. She recorded singles from 1958-1983.
I can remember watching Annette on Mickey Mouse Club many years ago and then saw many of her beach movies over the years.
Her husband Glen Holt survives her along with three children, from her first husband Jack Gilardi.
American Idol: Will Lazaro Arbos Go Home Thursday?
Lazaro Arbos is only remaining male contestant in Season 12 of American Idol.
Lazaro Arbos may be going home on Thursday night, since he is only male contestant left in Season 12. However, that is not a foregone conclusion, with him finishing in the Top 3 last Thursday night. Those in the Top 3 were not announced in a particular order, so it is conceivable that Lazaro may have even been the top vote-getter.
Lazaro may be a sentimental favorite of the voters this season, since the judges have not had many kind words about his singing during the season. Their critiques of his singing may even be helping to garner sympathy votes for Lazaro.
Janelle Arthur may even be going home next Thursday, if Lazaro isn’t sent home this week. She finished in Bottom 2 last week, so unless she steps it up next week she could be going home.
If a girl doesn’t win in Season 12, then something is very wrong with the voting procedure, since the girls are clearly much better singers than the boys this season.
If Lazaro is sent home, then it means a very talented singer will be going home the next week and every week after, till the new American Idol is announced.
Any of the remaining girls including Janelle, Amber Holcomb, Candace Glover, Angie Miller and Kree Harrison are worthy of being the next American Idol.
It will be interesting to see how American Idol fans vote in this poll, so we can see if Lazaro’s fan base can keep him on the show and send a better singer home.
American Idol – The Voice Ratings Battle
Season 4 of the Voice premiered with 13.64 million viewers and has increased to 13.93 million viewers on the last episode.
Meanwhile American Idol garnered more viewers, for their premiere of Season 12, with 17.93 million viewers, but last Thursday’s results show drew over 6 million less viewers, with 11.72 million watching the results show. The producers have to be concerned with the loss of that many viewers.
Evidently, viewers are tiring of the music competition genre. Television has a predilection to latch onto a hot trend and doesn’t let go of it till it fizzles out. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire was a prime example of overkill at its worst. The show did well till it was shown on more than one night a week, then withered away till where it wasn’t even shown during primetime.
Singing competitions are proliferating to the point, where summer is our only respite from the shows. However, with X-Factor and The Voice in the fall and then American Idol in January and The Voice in March we are having singing competition shows from September to May.
Funny Signs
Having half a car is better than having no car.
Wonder how fish light their cigarettes?
Talk about a confusing sign….A person would have to be very lucky to find this place open.
That except for asbestos line worries me.
Teenage alcoholics that have been abused by their spouse, have an eating disorder and are using drugs and have been contemplating suicide and are very hungry would have reason to attend this church six nights a week. Then the sermon about America’s Joyous Future should help them forget the other six nights so they can be ready for the next six nights.
In other words don’t touch those wires unless you have $200 with you.
American Idol: Nicki Minaj Going Overboard......Again
Nicki Minaj took to Tweeter lecturing Devin Velez that he should be gracious for being on the show. When Velez sang I Can't Help Myself on Wednesday night, with Lazaro Arbos and Burnell Taylor Minaj compared their singing to that of Hollywood week. Even worse, she ordered the group off the stage, which to me was extremely mean. They had to feel bad enough, after being trashed by Minaj, without her ordering them off the stage.
Photo came out three times on first post, so am reposting with corrections made.
American Idol: Nicki Minaj Going Overboard……Again
Nicki Minaj tweeted that ousted contestant Devin Velez needed to be gracious after being voted off the show last week and that she wasn’t going to use the save on a boy contestant.
Nicki Minaj took to Tweeter lecturing Devin Velez that he should be gracious for being on the show. When Velez sang I Can’t Help Myself on Wednesday night, with Lazaro Arbos and Burnell Taylor Minaj compared their singing to that of Hollywood week. Even worse, she ordered the group off the stage, which to me was extremely mean. They had to feel bad enough, after being trashed by Minaj, without her ordering them off the stage.
Nicki Minaj tweeted to Devin Velez last week, after he tweeted that Minaj was not very professional in ordering the group of Velez, Lazaro Arbos and Burnell Taylor, off the stage after their rendition of I Can Help Myself. Velez did admit the performance was sub-par, but thought Minaj acted unprofessionally, when ordering them off the stage. Minaj tweeted back that Velez needed to be gracious for his shot on the show.
Nicki Minaj was angered by a tweet by Devin Velez, after he was voted off the show and tweeted back to him that he should have been gracious for even being on the show. She went on to say in her tweet, that she was not going to save a boy, since the girls are much better singers. Velez said he didn’t mind being criticized by Minaj after the group of Velez, Lazaro Arbos and Burnell Taylor performed I Can’t Help Myself, but thought she acted unprofessionally, by telling the group to get off the stage.
I don’t think that the group singing should have even be judged on Wednesday night. It was just more filler to justify having eight singers sing in a two-hour show. Fox could have easily cut the show to half and hour, since each song takes about a minute and a half and then the judges do their critiques for 3 or 4 minutes, so each song and judging of that song should last no longer than 6 minutes. That comes out to 48 minutes for 6 songs. That left an hour and 12 minutes for commercials and filler material. Can’t wait till they get down to 6 songs, so maybe they will cut the show down to an hour and a half.
The first poll question is if Nicki Minaj is helping or hurting American Idol ratings in Season 12:
The second poll question is which of the remaining 7 contestants will become the American Idol of Season 12?
I think Minaj has been a major factor in Season 12 of American Idol losing so many viewers. Last Thursday night’s results show was the lowest ratings of the season. I do agree that the save will not be used on a boy, when it could be used on a girl with real talent.
My personal picks for top three to win and not necessarily the one I want to win would be between Candace Glover, Angie Miller and Kree Harrison.
There are even rumors that Ryan Seacrest may not return for the next season, but if I remember right he is in second year of three-year contract paying him $15 million a year.
Duck Dynasty Stars Holding Out For $200,000 An Episode
The stars of Duck Dynasty are holding out for more money before starting filming on Season 4.
Duck Dynasty attracted over 8 million viewers in their Season 3 premiere, which makes it the most watched show on the A&E cable network. The ratings for last week showed only Walking Dead and The Bible with a higher rating than the show about the Robinson clan from Louisiana.
Phil Robertson who created the Duck Commander duck call played football at La. Tech and started ahead of Terry Bradshaw who went on to win several Super Bowls and was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Robertson turned down a chance to go to the pros, because it interfered with duck season.
This article from ABC News tells more about the Robertson family and how they created a duck call business, with sales in the millions.
The Robertson family is holding out for $200,000 an episode of the reality show. A&E is currently filming about 15 episodes a season, which would mean A&E would have to pay the Robertson family $3 million a season.
A&E is caught in a bad place. They surely don’t want to pay the family $3 million a season, but on the other hand they don’t want to lose their most watched television program. The Robertson family is in a win-win situation, since even if they get $100,000 an episode they will make $1.5 million. There were two complete seasons filmed last year, so the Robertson family would make $6 million if they get the $200,000 episode that they want and $3 million if they get $100,000 an episode.
The show is a show that the family can watch, in that they don’t have any profanity on the shows and the family was angered by A&E inserting bleeps in the earlier seasons, so it would look like the family was using bad language.
I had never seen a Duck Dynasty show before this week and can see why the show is so popular. Best of all it is filmed in West Monroe, Louisiana, where we lived from 1974-1976.
It is almost a given, that A&E and the Robertson family will work out an agreement, on their pay per episode in Season 4, since A&E doesn’t want to lose this gold mine of a show.
Lindy Hop Fast Dance Finals 2006
This has been posted again back in the early days of this website when there less than 1,000 readers a month. With over 6,000 visitors in September this will give more visitors a chance to see these great Lindy Hop dancers from the 2006 Fast Dance Championship.
Have blogged and reblogged this so many times that I have lost count, but hope everyone enjoys seeing a 40's dance being done in 2006.
Father Knows Best Children Today
Father Knows Best was pictured as the perfect family during its run of 203 episodes from 1954 to 1963 on CBS and NBC. The show also ran during the days of old time radio with only an entirely different cast except for Young who also portrayed the father in the radio version.
Robert Young portrayed the father Jim Anderson while…
Am reblogging this article from Dec. 2009 for Father Knows Best fans.
Will The Voice Find A Singer That Can Sell Albums?
Shakira, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Usher, judges and Carson Daly host of Season 4 of The Voice on NBC.
The Voice has done well in the ratings, but still hasn’t come up with a winner that can sell records. Season 1 winner Javier Colon’s album Come Through For You peaked at No.134 on the Billboard 200 chart and has sold only 45,000 copies, as of late last December, more than a year after its initial release.
Season 2 winner Jermaine Paul has an album Finally that has no release date listed at Amazon.com, almost a year after he won The Voice in May of 2012.
Season 3 winner Cassidee Pope has released these singles which have sold a lot of downloads. She covered Cry a song recorded by Faith Hill and sold 81,000 copies in one week last December and debuted at No. 60 in its first week.
.Pope also recorded singles of Over You by Miranda Lambert which rose to No.25 on the Billboard Country chart and also recorded Keith Urban’s Stupid Boy which was at No.40, plus Michelle Branch’s Are You Happy Now, which was No.95. The real test for Pope will be when her first album is released later on down the road.
So the judges this season are intent on finding someone who will become a bona fide star, with name recognition something which has eluded the first three winners of The Voice.
Shakira and Usher the two one name judges seemed to have settled in well, in the first shows of Season 4.
Monday night’s show saw all four judges turn around their chairs for the Morgan Twins who sang Fallin’ and Judith Hill who sang What A Girl Wants.
Midas Whale a duo singing Folsom Prison Blues and Sarah Simmons singing One of Us sang well enough to have all four judges turn around for them on Tuesday night.
Cathia who sang “No Me Doy por Vencido” attracted the attention of Shakira, Usher and Blake Shelton and Cathia naturally chose Shakira as her mentor.
No judges turned around for six contestants on Monday night and for one of the six singers shown last night. It is heartbreaking to see a singer sing their heart out, only not to have one judge turn their chairs around. That is what gives the show credibility though, since everyone knows, that some of the singers are not ready for prime time yet.
I usually watch the Blind Auditions, then skip the Battle Rounds, since it seems to be a contest of who can sing the loudest and hit the highest notes. I then return for the individual competitions in the last weeks of the show.
The Voice may be very popular, but until they have a singer who breaks through and has national name recognition it will be known more as the show that features judges turning around in their chairs.
After all these singers are vying to win The Voice and hope to sell millions of albums, like some past winners of American Idol have done. Selling 45,000 albums in close to a year like Javier Colon is not going to help him or The Voice. That is far from the record sales of Carrie Underwood, who has sold 15 million albums, which included 7 million copies of her Some Hearts album.
For The Voice to be taken seriously as a star maker they have to come up with a star that can sell more than 45,000 albums, while an American Idol winner like Carrie Underwood has sold 15 million albums.
The Celebrity Net Worth website discloses that American Idol Season 4 winner Underwood has a net worth of $45 million, while Season 1 American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson has a net worth of $14 million.
I will start taking The Voice more seriously, when they can produce stars of the magnitude of Underwood and Clarkson.
Jodi Arias Trial In Slow Motion
Only Jodi Arias would be smiling in her mug shot after being booked for first degree murder.
The Jodi Arias trial started on January 2 and 83 days later is still going strong, with no end in sight. Arizona permits jurors to ask questions and when they do it slows down the trial. The judge asks the witness the questions, then the prosecutor and defense in turn get to ask questions, about the questions that the jury asked.
When Jodi Arias testified on the witness stand for 18 days, then it really slowed the trial down. The defense attorneys Kirk Nurmi and Jennifer Willmott would ask her softball questions, then prosecutor Juan Martinez would ask her questions like ” Were you crying when you shot Travis Alexander?”, “Were you crying when you stabbed Travis Alexander?” and “Were you crying when you slit his throat?”.
He also made a very good point, when Arias was telling she couldn’t commit suicide, because it hurt too much to cut herself, then he asked her “How do you think Travis Alexander felt when you plunged the knife into his chest?”.
Martinez showed she had planned a trip to the house of Travis Alexander, with the intent of killing him. Why else would she take filled gasoline cans with her, except to avoid being filmed when she stopped to buy gas? Martinez caught her in a lie, when she said she was nowhere near Mesa, then Martinez showed her the receipts from convenience stores, where she had bought gas. Taking an oath”to tell the truth and nothing but the truth so help me God” made no difference to Arias. She has a long of history of lying and wasn’t going to stop because it was in a courtroom.
Jodi Arias dressed like her defense attorney Jennifer Willmott in an effort to give a good impression to the jurors, but she is a liar no matter what she looks like.
The trial has been slowed down by the numerous sidebars, requested by the judge and the attorneys. Even worse each sidebar usually results in more commercials.
With HLN network now being the sole network broadcasting the trial the viewers are being deluged by commercials, about every 10 minutes. It seemed like when TruTV (formerly Court TV) was also broadcasting the trial, that the commercials were less frequent on that network. Somebody made an executive situation to move the trial to HLN, so more money could be made from more commercials.
Judge Sherry Stephens consults with prosecutor Juan Martinez and defense attorneys Jennifer Willmott and Kirk Nurmi during one of the frequent sidebars during the Jodi Arias trial.
Dr. Richard Samuels a witness for the defense has been one of the most discombobulated witnesses ever seen in a death penalty trial as he was totally unprepared when he testified in the courtroom.
When Dr. Richard Samuels was called to testify you could almost feel the case for the defense starting to crumble. It was bad enough that the jury had to endure 18 days of lying by Arias, but then they had to see an expert witness that was a stumble bum on the witness stand that made numerous errors, while scoring PTSD reports of Arias.
Prosecutor Juan Martinez called attention to the mistakes of Samuel numerous times, who didn’t bring all the papers he needed on the first day he testified.
The jurors had many questions for Dr. Samuels, that only gave the prosecution more ammunition in attacking the credibility of Dr. Samuels. If there is ever a class telling expert witnesses what not to do, while on the stand, then Dr. Samuels would be the poster boy.
It is crucial that the prosecutor wrap up the trial with his closing arguments. It will be interesting to see how he describes the timeline of her trip and how she more than likely brought the gun, which had been stolen from the home of a family member. It is too much of a coincidence that the gun was stolen, about the same time she was leaving to murder Travis Alexander.
The gun that Arias said Alexander owned probably did not exist and it is almost certain that Arias hid the gun in the closet, so she could get it when she was ready to murder him.
We will probably never know if Alexander became angered, when Arias dropped his new camera. We are depending on Arias telling the truth, since there are no witnesses and the only time Arias told the truth was when her lips weren’t moving.
The more I know about the case the more I think it was premeditated murder, because Arias knew she could not have Alexander and wanted to make sure nobody else would have him.
Her self-defense claims to me at least are a bunch of malarkey. If this wasn’t a planned murder, then she would have simply left the house if Alexander actually threatened her, which I doubt ever happened. Someone that felt threatened would not have hung around long enough to shoot Alexander and stab him close to 30 times.
If there was any “fog” clouding the memory of Arias it was from the cloud of lies she told detectives, in the days after the murder.
Arias may have been better claiming insanity, since it may hold more water, than her self-defense claims. Someone never stabs someone that many times, unless it is out of rage and the slitting of the throat to the spine tells me that this was the work of a woman who had been spurned and rejected by her former boyfriend. She only knew he had to pay and he paid with his life at the hands of an evil woman, who had no remorse after killing him.
The detective interviewing Arias at the police station had to have a lot of patience. Every time he presented evidence that she was there at the house the day that Alexander was killed, then she would say ” I wasn’t there”. He knew she was feeding him nothing but lies. A less patient interrogator would have read the riot act to her, as soon as he or she would know that she was piling lies on top of lies.
When she asked the detective, if she could clean up before she was booked I knew she had no remorse for what she did. Doing hand stands in the interview room and singing a song about her memory tells me that Arias is a criminal of the worst sort.
It will be interesting to see what verdict the jury renders in this case. We can only hope if it is not over by Easter, that it will be over by the 4th of July.
Jodi Arias is not eager for the trial to be over, unless she thinks there will be one jury member, that is unwilling to send a woman to death row, but her best case scenario is life in prison with no parole. I don’t know if the world is ready for a Jodi Arias retrial, but it would be worth going through all of this again, to see her sentenced to death or life in prison.
Debra Milke, Wendi Andriano, Shawna Forde are the three women on the Arizona death row and would be joined by Jodi Arias if she is sentenced to death at the conclusion of her trial.
The lady on the left has had her conviction overturned, so Arias may be one of three women on the Arizona death row. The prison for women is located at Goodyear, Arizona, where the state prison for women is located.
This link is about the lady above who had her conviction overturned. It is a particularly hideous murder, so don’t read this link if you don’t to read about a heinous murder.
It will be interesting to see how the latest defense expert witness Alyce LaViolette fares, when questioned by Martinez, if he gets to cross-examine her today. The defense doesn’t need another fiasco, like the Dr. Samuels debacle to materialize.
Martinez did cross over the line in my estimation, when he accused Dr. Samuels of having feelings for the Arias, which infuriated Dr. Samuels as he said ” I beg your pardon”. Martinez was visibly angered when the defense asked the judge to tell Martinez to stop yelling and Martinez said “I object to the speaking objection of the defense”.
It is very doubtful that the trial will end this week, since we don’t know how long LaViolette will be on the stand and if the jurors will have questions for her.
Even if she does prove that Alexander was abusive towards Arias it won’t excuse her behavior on June 4, 2008, when she killed him in a jealous rage. If she was so scared of him why did she take such a long trip to see him? I think she caught Alexander in a moment, when he was helpless and in the shower and murdered him in cold blood.
My only hope is that Juan Martinez, in his closing arguments can convince the jury that Arias killed him in a premeditated murder.
I think America is ready for this trial to be over and the sooner the better.
Mr. Ed Still In Reruns 52 Years Later
Mr. Ed the talking horse shown with owner Wilbur Post who was portrayed by Alan Young.
Mr. Ed a comedy series about a talking horse debuted in January of 1958. The owner of the horse in this show was Wilbur Pope, while Alan Young would portray Wilbur Post, when the show became a regular show on the CBS television network.
Mr. Ed was originally named Bamboo Harvester, after being born in El Monte, California 64 years ago in 1949. His name was changed to Mr. Ed after appearing on the show.
Imdb.com says that Mr. Ed died in 1979 at the age of 30,33 or 34, but other sources say that Mr. Ed died in 1968, 1973 or 1974, so in other words nobody seems to really know the date of his death.
Larry Keating, who portrayed Roger Addison the next door neighbor died in the third season and was replaced by Leon Ames of Topper fame and portrayed Col. Gordon Kirkwood.
Katy Rose a singer grew up in the home Mr. Ed lived in many years after the show ended.
The show was owned by George Burns McCadden Production and Burns chose Alan Young to play Wilbur Post, since he seemed like the kind of guy a horse would talk to.
Mr. Ed was a golden Palomino who would only respond to his trainer Les Hilton, since Mr. Ed would not respond to his co-stars.
His daily diet consisted of 20 pounds of hay and a gallon of sweet tea to wash it down. If he got tired Mr. Ed would simply walk off the set. Anyone else would get fired for such insubordination, but not Mr. Ed who was the real star of the show.
Allan “Rocky Lane” a cowboy star was the voice of Mr. Ed.
Alan Young and Connie Hines with Mr. Ed in the background.
Alan Young who portrayed Wilbur Post and Connie Hines who played his wife Carol Post on Mr. Ed shown a few years later.
Mr. Ed was the kind of show that was entertaining, without being controversial. It may have been silly nonsense, but who cared if the viewers enjoyed it. I still record it off the Hallmark Channel, then watch the shows later so I can zip past the commercials.
This is typical of the dialogue heard on the show:
Wilbur Post: [after Ed finds a straw hat] What are you going to do with a straw hat?
Mister Ed: I’ll wear it till it goes out of style. Then I’ll eat it!
Alan Young was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England on November 19, 1919. He was heard in the old-time radio show on the Alan Young Show. I recently heard one of the shows for the first time and the show was surprisingly good, since the show is not mentioned much in old-time radio circles. The show kept me entertained from beginning to end.
Young later would be the voice of Scrooge McDuck on the Duck Tales series.
Alan Young is now 93 and lives in Laguna Niguel, California.
Connie Hines who played Carol Post was born in Dedham, Massachusetts on March 24, 1931 and was seen in the Whirlybirds series for those of us who go that far back.
Hines only acted three more times after Mr. Ed ended, with appearance in one episode each of Bonanza, Love American Style and her last appearance in Mod Squad in 1971. She didn’t appear on TV or in the movies the last 38 years of her life.
She died due to a heart condition on December 18, 2009 at the age of 78.
Mr. Ed may have left the air in 1966, but is still in reruns 52 years later. Mr. Ed was and still remains one of my favorite shows. The interaction between Mr. Ed and his owner Wilbur Post is the highlight of the shows.
This is one of the few remaining shows on television, that you can watch with no bad language and no double entendre jokes, that are so prevalent today on the situation comedies of today. Shows like Mr. Ed, Andy Griffith, Father Knows Best are a refuge, from the shows being shown on the networks today. Some of the older shows, that were so entertaining are seldom seen on television today. I haven’t seen an episode of Amos and Andy, Ozzie and Harriet, Red Skelton Show, Life of Riley and others for years and years. Those reruns are not being shown for some reason. There may be stations or networks telecasting some or all of those shows, but if they are I am not aware of it.
Thanks Mr. Ed for still being around to bring back the memories of years gone by.
American Idol Poll With 8 Remaining Contestants
American Idol : Two Boys Down, Three To Go
This photo shows the Top 9 of American Idol, but Paul Jolley on the far right left the show on Thursday and became the second boy to go home.
It was no surprise that another boy was sent home on the results show of American Idol last Thursday. Paul Jolley became the second boy in a row, to be sent home in Season 12.
This is looking more and more like the years of the girls on American Idol. They are so much better than the boys, that if a boy wins I will be completely shocked.
I have honestly tried to like Nicki Minaj, but when she asked Paul Jolley if he was jolly, then said his song was terrible it just shows how insensitive she can be. Why say something nice about a contestant, then rip his singing in the next sentence? Nicki plays favorites and that has been clear this season. I don’t mind her criticizing the contestants, but she could do it with a little more respect.
There is no way that Amber Holcomb should have been in the bottom three, but my poll a couple of weeks ago sort of gave an indication she does not have a strong fan base.
The results of my poll from the March 13 blog shows the results, with 69 voters in the poll as of this minute:
Angie Miller – 34 votes, 49.28 percent
Candace Glover – 12 votes, 17.39 percent
Kree Harrison – 11 votes, 15.94 percent
Lazaro Arbos – 4 votes, 5.8 percent
Janelle Arthur – 4 votes, 5.8 percent
Amber Holcomb - 2 votes, 2.9 percent (Have no idea why Amber received only 2.9 percent for her 2 votes, while Curtis received 3 percent for his 2 votes.)
Curtis Finch – 2 votes, 3 percent ( Was eliminated last week)
Burnell Taylor, Devin Velez and Paul Jolley ( Was eliminated on Thursday) received no votes.)
The poll showed 5 girls in the first 6 positions.
Lazaro Arbos is being touted by Vote For the Worst website as their poster boy. They are seeking to make Lazaro into another Sanjaya Malakar, who lasted much longer than he should because of the support from the website.
Speaking of Lazaro, there was some confusion over when he learned the song, with him saying he learned it the night before the live show, while Jimmy Iovine claimed he had the song for many days.
Some of the contestants didn’t seem to be very knowledgeable about the Beatles, as some didn’t even know of the song they picked.
It was good to see Jessica Sanchez and Casey Adams again, as they sang for the audience. It looks like both of them could go far in music.
Casey Adams released an album last June, that is currently No.16 among albums on Amazon. Most of the songs are original, with the exception of a duet with Haley Reinhart of the Ray Charles classic Hit the Road Jack. Samples of the songs can be heard in these clips:
It is looking like Candace Glover, Angie Miller and Kree Harrison are the top three contestants this season. I think Amber Holcomb belongs up there with them, but her voting base needs to strengthen to become a factor in the voting.
I don’t think anyone was surprised to see the judges decide not to use their save on Paul Jolley. I doubt if they will use on any of the boys, since they may need it to save one of the girls.
OTHER AMERICAN IDOL NEWS
Katy and Kris Allen are expecting a baby boy later this year.
Kris Allen and his wife Katy were involved in a car accident in January, which left Kris unable to play the guitar due to a broken wrist. However, they now have some good news, with the announcement that they are expecting a baby boy later this year….The ratings for American Idol continued to dip, as the performance show on Wednesday only drew 12.94 million. The performance show from the previous week had attracted 13.44 million viewers. The 11.65 million viewers watching the Thursday results show was the lowest number of viewers for any show in Season 12….Grey’s Anatomy topped American Idol last Thursday night for the first time ever.
The Voice starts on Monday, which could cause further erosion for American Idol. Viewers may be burned out after watching The Voice for a couple of nights, then face two more nights of singing competition on American Idol. This will be a real test, that tells us what direction American Idol is going.
John Mayer has announced that Phillip Phillips winner of Season 11 will be opening for his next tour. Phillip Phillips seems to be one of the more successful American Idols….There has not been a girl voted the American Idol, since Jordin Sparks won in 2007….Aubrey Cleland won out over Charlie Askew as the 11th member of the American Idol tour this summer.
Nicki Minaj has angered the other judges during the auditions, when showing up late for the shows. I have always heard that Mariah Carey was a diva, but it appears Nicki is even more of a diva.
http://popcrush.com/nicki-minaj-said-to-be-the-biggest-diva-on-the-american-idol-set/
Four Months In Vietnam War
One of my first memories after arriving in Vietnam was working in the post office and hearing a loud noise over our post office. Turned out it was our outgoing artillery being fired toward the enemy.
I can recall a soldier working in the mortuary asking to be sent to the infantry because he couldn't handle the stress of working with dead bodies.
This is an article about my four months in Vietnam. Fortunately I only had four months left, when we boarded a troop ship for Vietnam in January of 1966.
Best Jazz Organ Song: The Cat
This is the best jazz organ song I have heard. Jimmy Smith was my favorite jazz organist.
The great organist Jimmy Smith playing his hit song The Cat.
