Titles That Tickle

This might sound like another example of our Saluting Silly Songs feature, but it's not. All we're interested in today are strange song titles that tickle our fancy. If you haven't had yours tickled lately, these might do the trick. This post started when I was chuckling to myself about a memory of my son … Continue reading Titles That Tickle

Pat Upton’s Brush With Fate

It always fascinates me to run across odd musical stories, and Pat Upton, the star of the pop group, Spiral Starecase (no, that name isn't mispelled), has a good one. Upton was Alabama-born, and first made his mark in music in the mid-sixties when he joined the Fydallions, a Sacramento-based band formed by a bunch … Continue reading Pat Upton’s Brush With Fate

Music Appreciation 3.0

I've written before about the way my musical tastes have changed and broadened through the years (Music Appreciation 2.0). And I've sometimes talked about how my personal music collection has evolved from platters to tapes to CDs, and then to digital MP3 files on my computer. But now I've pretty much moved on to the … Continue reading Music Appreciation 3.0

The Lost Memorial Day Picnic

All holidays are evocative of the past - it sort of goes with the territory - but each has it's own set of memories, and memories are what Memorial Day is all about, beginning with it's very name. Of course it was originally called Decoration Day, but that's kind of beside the point. It was … Continue reading The Lost Memorial Day Picnic

The Musical Side Of The Circus

Who doesn't like circus music? It brings memories of simpler days, when we were young and less jaded, a time before we were drowning in all the entertainment choices now available to everybody. If you didn't live in a big city, which most Americans didn't, the arrival of a traveling circus in your area was … Continue reading The Musical Side Of The Circus

Our Favorite Membranophone

If you're a geezer like me -- or even if you're not -- you might remember how kids would sometimes wrap cellophane around a pocket comb and hum through it. Although we didn't give a lot of thought to it, we were actually demonstrating the principles of a membranophone. Here at the Geezer Music Club … Continue reading Our Favorite Membranophone

How Much Realism Do We Want?

Anyone who stops by the GMC from time to time has probably caught on to my fondness for Westerns, something that began in my childhood. I can remember being a fan of several different movie cowboys, and of course later continuing to follow some of them to TV. But the early film and TV stars … Continue reading How Much Realism Do We Want?

Masters Of Sunshine Pop

Monkees "Theme Song" Monkees "Last Train to Clarksville" Monkees "Valleri" Monkees "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" (Originally Paul Revere and the Raiders) Jay & the Americans "Come a Little Bit Closer" Curtis Lee "Pretty Little Angel Eyes" Little Anthony & the Imperials' "Hurt So Bad" Fats Domino "Be My Guest" Boyce & Hart "I Wonder … Continue reading Masters Of Sunshine Pop

Anatomy Of A Song: Ritorna-Me

The title of this latest installment of Anatomy of a Song is a little misleading, because the song we're featuring is much better known by it's English title -- "Return to Me"-- but when Dean Martin introduced it in 1958 the Italian name was included in parentheses, so I figure that makes it pretty official. … Continue reading Anatomy Of A Song: Ritorna-Me

Ruby And The Romantics – The Pride Of Akron

You wouldn't normally think of Akron, Ohio, an average Midwestern city, as the birthplace of a R&B group with a number-one hit in the 1960's, but that's exactly what happened when Ruby and the Romantics hit the top. Their 1963 recording of "Our Day Will Come" was a huge success, topping the charts in the … Continue reading Ruby And The Romantics – The Pride Of Akron