WLSO.FM

ROCKOLLECTIONS: A SHOW ABOUT NOTHING PT.2

I meant to tell you that one of the main reasons I am doing these shows about Nothing now is because of the seriousness of the previous series.
Seemed like a good time to do it, since I have been thinking about it for years.
It was a great plot device of Seinfeld to have them pitch a show to NBC- making it a show within a show.
And as usual when doing my own show, I play a song and it makes me think of another, and I am running around pulling out songs…whew!
So you are probably not surprised that what was going to be one, will now be two shows.
Therefore for next week, I can promise you more of…NOTHING!
Hope you like this episode, it’s a cross-section of music from four decades.

Mike

Tags: NBC, seinfeld

ROCKOLLECTIONS: HEY HEY…THE MONKEES - PT.1

Here is a group I never thought I would play.
I honestly thought I was too hip to do so, lol!
They were a MANUFACTURED group, the Pre-Fab Four!
A cheap knockoff of the Beatles!
Everyone should know about the ad put in Variety by NBC.
But time has a way of making you mellow, and their music is catchy.
Mainly because they had some great songwriters handing them songs, like Tommy Boyce & Boby Hart, Carole King, and Neil Diamond.
They were considered TV actors first, musicians a distant second!
Mike Nesmith seemed the most serious about music, he wrote Different Drum for Linda Ronstadt & the Stone Poneys among some other very good songs- and in an interview I once heard with him, he sounded so sad about his and the band’s musical shortcomings, he forever had me on his side.
In fact, the Monkees were not ALLOWED to play anything on on most of their 1st records, just sing!
But Nesmith was able to put some of his songs on those albums.
They were immensely popular at the time, and I guess I have to say I like many of their songs- I even have a favorite.
So just for those reasons alone, I bring you the Monkees, lol!
Enjoy, and there is a second half to come.

Mike

Tags: Beatles, Bobby Hart, Carole King, Different Drum, Linda Ronstadt, Mike Nesmith, NBC, Neil Diamond, Pre-Fab Four, Stone Poneys, Tommy Boyce, Variety

ROCKOLLECTIONS: JOHNNY CARSON LEAVES THE TONIGHT SHOW PT.3

In these final two chapters, you will hear more Johnny Carson.

In 1972 the Tonight Show moved from New York to Hollywood permanently- and that move was seriously questioned.

Since we played a show opening from New York, this time we will have one from Burbank- and right into some monologues. Just HOW hot was it?

There were times when Carson was never funnier than when a joke bombed.

He could be charming with celebrities as well as ordinary people.

Some examples, The Nut Lady and Pancho The Singing Bird.

Not sure how ordinary they are, now that I think about it, lol!

Johnny Carson had over 22,000 guests on the Tonight Show, and at one time he accounted for 17% of NBC’s revenues.

Some routines never get old, as we shall hear with Johnny playing Ronald Reagan- think Abbott & Costello!

All of this intermingled with our music.

Including a song I’ll bet you never knew existed, actually TITLED Johnny Carson!

We will go out of this episode with an on-air call to Carson from Steve Allen, one of my heroes.

It is very funny, and listen for the mad bedlam that was a staple of Steve’s show, when Johnny catches on.

SMOCK, SMOCK!!!

Coming up next time, the Goodbye.

Mike

Tags: Abbott & Costello, Burbank, Hollywood, NBC, New York, Pancho The Singing Bird, Ronald Reagan, Steve Allen, The Nut Lady