INSPIRED BY THE SHADY DELL, YORK, PA, AND DEDICATED TO ITS OWNERS JOHN & HELEN ETTLINE
AND TO MARGARET ELIZABETH BROWN SCHNEIDER, NICKNAMED "THE OLDEST LIVING DELL RAT"


Saturday, January 1, 2022

2022 - Year of the Dell Rat, Part 1:
Crazy Little Thing Called Love!



 CAN SHADY DEL KNIGHT KEEP YOU 
 ENTERTAINED IN THE COMING YEAR? 






 DOES 
 CHRIS GRIFFIN 
 REACT POORLY 
 TO BAD NEWS? 



 WELCOME BACK, DEAR FRIEND! 
 AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! 



I'm delighted to have you along for the ride
as I begin another year of blogging here
at Shady's Place Music & Memories.
This year I am excited to launch eight
new S-P-M-M radio shows hosted by
engaging TV and radio personalities.
You met them all last year in sneak
previews, and they're back in this
special two-part post to help me
kick-off 2022. Today, in part one,
you will meet the first four new
members of The Shady Bunch,
so let's get right to it.



Lo & behold, two of your favorite Shady's Place regulars,
Brian and Chris Griffin from Family Guy, are back,
along with my first special guest, their sister Meg.


Meg was overjoyed when I slipped her a note in class
and invited her to join The Shady Bunch DJ team.



Santa was good to Meg this year, and my job offer was the icing on the cake. 



Meg's social media accounts blew-up when word spread that she
had been chosen to become the latest celeb radio personality on SPMM.






Without further ado, please
join me in welcoming this
delightful young woman
back to Shady's Place.
Ladies and gentlemen -
Meg Griffin!





Thank you very much, Shady,
and happy new year, everyone!

CLICK TO START
THE VIDEO NOW!

I am beyond excited that Shady picked
me to host my very own radio show.
I've decided to call it Meg Griffin's
Frantic Romantic. I'll be playing the
greatest love songs of your lifetime
including somebody done somebody
wrong songs and wistful ditties like
this one by ABBA. Goodbye '21,
hello '22 and-- "Happy New Year!"


"Happy New Year" - ABBA
(from Nov. 1980 album Super Trouper)


That was the Swede sound of ABBA
and "Happy New Year," featuring
"Aggie" (Agnetha Fältskog) on
lead vocal. Penned & produced
by Benny and Björn, the song
was released in the fall of 1980
on ABBA's Super Trouper album.

It's time for me to hand over the mic
to another new Shady Bunch deejay.
Before I go, I'd like  to invite you to
join me later this year for my show
Meg Griffin's Frantic Romantic
 here on S-P-M-M Retrosonic Radio

Now welcome back America's sweetheart.
You know her as Adrian Monk's smart,
savvy and sometimes sassy assistant,
and she's also my great new friend--
Natalie Teeger!



Thank you so much, Meg, and happy new year
to one and all! My new show on S-P-M-M is
called Natalie Teeger's Array of Sunshine.
As the name suggests, I will be bringing
my sunny disposition to the airwaves and
brightening your day with the groovy sounds
of sunshine pop and light rock. For example,
did you know that The Critters derived their
name from The Animals? As the summer of
'66 was getting underway, these Jersey boys
landed their first single on the chart with a
version of a song written by John Sebastian.

CLICK TO START
THE VIDEO NOW!


Here are The Critters with a record that brushed the top 20
on Cash Box and got them noticed-- "Younger Girl."


"Younger Girl" - The Critters
(June/July 1966, highest chart pos. #21 Cash Box/#42 Hot 100)

You just heard "Younger Girl," the first single by The Critters,
one that revealed their hit potential as sunshine poppers.
Oddly, while the platter performed well on Cash Box,
it failed to reach the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100.

CLICK TO START THE VIDEO NOW!

Later that year the group followed-up with "Mr. Dieingly Sad"
which cracked the top 20 on Billboard and top 15 on Cash Box.


"Mr. Dieingly Sad" - The Critters
(Sept./Oct. 1966, highest chart pos. #14 Cash Box/#17 Hot 100)




That's all I have for now. Please join me
this year for the official debut of my show
Natalie Teeger's Array of Sunshine
on S-P-M-M Retrosonic Radio!

Now here's one of the charismatic stars of the
Netflix science fiction drama Sense8. She's the
San Francisco-based trans woman hacktivist
and blogger you first met at Riley's Raves
on the old blog, SDMM, and she's back
this year with her own radio show.
Please welcome-- Nomi Marks!


Thank you, Natalie... and happy 2022 to all my
friends and followers out there in S-P-M-M land!
Just a friendly reminder -- whatever you do,
don't call me Michael. I am delighted that
Shady Del Knight has given me this
amazing opportunity to co-host a radio
show along with my BFF Nia Nal from
Supergirl. Our show, Transitive Verve,
celebrates diversity in music, a mix
of styles by artists old and new...
everything from 80s new wave
to modern pop and rock.

CLICK TO START
THE VIDEO NOW!

On our show, you'll meet exciting young entertainers from around the
world, like up-and-coming Romanian stars Andrei Cerbu and Beatrice
Florea. Here they are with-- "Crazy Little Thing Called Love!"


"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" - Queen cover
by Andrei Cerbu & Beatrice Florea (Sept. 2019)


Hi, I'm Nomi's radio co-host Nia Nal,
and that was the fabulous Romanian
duo of guitarist Andrei Cerbu and
 singer Beatrice Florea covering
Queen in fine fashion doing the
Freddy Mercury song "Crazy
Little Thing Called Love." As
that exciting performance
illustrates, people of all kinds
across America and around
the world share a bond. We
have something in common -
this thing called love, a love
of good music. With that in mind,
I invite you to join Nomi and me
for Transitive Verve, making its
official debut this year on S-P-M-M.

Now it gives me great pleasure to introduce Shady's last special guest of the day,
WMEX Boston top 40 radio legend Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsburgback from
Beantown to start moonlighting as a Shady Bunch personality
this year on S-P-M-M. Take it away, Arnie!


Thank you, Nia Nal, and happy new year
to all my top 40 teens in the listening audience.
Your friend The Woo Woo is here for you-you,
Old Aching Adenoids, Arnie Ginsburg, back
on the air to bring you another sampling of
my famous Night Train Show coming to
you in '22 on S-P-M-M Retrosonic Radio.
I'll be spinning the great sounds of doo-
wop, pop and rock & roll, records that
were hot in New England and across
the USA in the pre-Beatles years,
the late 50s through early 60s.

CLICK TO START
THE VIDEO NOW!

Here's one now, ripped from the Wimmex Tunedex. It's Beantown's
own Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon taking us along for a day
of fun and teen romance down at-- "Palisades Park!"


"Palisades Park" - Freddy Cannon
(June 1962, highest chart pos. #3 Hot 100 & Cash Box)


Penned by Gong Show host Chuck Barris and
sung by Freddy Cannon, that was a rock & roll
tribute to New Jersey's Palisades Amusement
Park. Can you believe that great song was the
designated B side of a single? What were the
guys in suits thinking? When a deejay played
the song by mistake, it took off and went
top 3 in the spring of 1962, becoming
the biggest hit of Freddy's career.

Gee, that does it for Part 1 of our new year
spectacular. Stay tuned for Part 2 coming up
next Wednesday, the 5th of January, when
you'll meet four more new members of
The Shady Bunch deejay staff.


CLICK TO START THE VIDEO NOW!

And stick around for more great sounds from Meg Griffin, Nomi & Nia,
Natalie Teeger and me, Arnie Ginsburg, coming your way throughout
2022 on S-P-M-M Retrosonic Radio. Remember - while the others
are talkin'...we're rockin'! As Ernie Fields plays us off with
his hit instrumental "In The Mood," this is your buddy
Old Aching AdenoidsArnie "Woo Woo" Ginsburg,
saying so long and, once again, happy new year!


"In The Mood" - Ernie Field's Orch. aka Ernie Fields Orchestra
(Nov./Dec. 1959, highest chart pos. #4 Hot 100/#7 Cash Box)

 MEET MORE NEW S-P-M-M DEEJAYS 
 IN PART 2 ON WEDNESDAY, JAN. 5! 

18 comments:

  1. Happy New Year, Tom! How's the first day of 2022 going for you? Here it feels like spring with 72º and a mixture of sunshine and clouds. We're under a wind advisory. Things in the weather department for our area will be changing up tomorrow throwing us into the freezer or so it'll seem after a week of pleasantly warm conditions. I guess Old Man Winter doesn't want us to think he's not doing his job.

    What an excellent new series for 2022. Some of your song selections sound familiar, especially the two songs by The Critters. In recent years I've noticed some of their songs airing on SiriusXM 60s on 6. I like that with satellite radio the song/artist is often displayed. You reminded me with your feature band, ABBA that I want to do a mini series using the individual artists in the future but haven't gotten around to doing the research. Perhaps, this will nudge me to get going on it. Thanks for sharing some fun tunes to start New Year's Day to even if it is in the afternoon that I finally got over to visit. :) Here's to another fantastic year of blogging and building friendships, my friend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Cathy!

      Happy new year and thanks for being the first Early Bird of 2022, dear friend!

      It's been a nice, peaceful day for me so far. Thanks for asking. Yessum, we've had the air conditioning running for the last couple of days, even overnight! Florida winter is short enough as it is. Please send us some of your cooler air tamale.

      Yessum, you might have heard one or both of those Critters songs before, but this is the first time I presented the "enhanced" versions. Several YouTube channels now offer enhanced versions of original studio recordings from the boomer years. They remix the originals adding layers of instrumental backing. The process turns "flat" or "thin" recordings into more vibrant, full-bodied ones. As a result, many of these classic oldies sound a lot better than ever before, certainly better than they sounded playing on my transistor radio and cheap record player.

      Our mutual friend BB in Canada posted that ABBA video the other day, but Shady's Place newbie Meg Griffin wanted to play it as her teaser today because I have a different readership for the most part.

      Yessum, I look forward to all you have to offer in '22, dear friend Cathy. Thank you again for coming over early today and for your kindness and support over the years. Enjoy the rest of your New Year's Day and I'll see you soon!

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    2. Tom,

      DH was worried that we might have to turn the AC on last week but I told he that would be necessary. It was a bit too warm especially after taking showers but I always cooled off being to a comfortable temp. He's a lot hotter than me all the time which works really well at bedtime. He is like my personal heater. :) Thanks for dropping by this morning after your Internet came back up. That is a bummer when it goes out. I hope we don't have any more issues with it. Have a great week, dear friend!

      Delete
    3. Hi, Cathy!

      Yessum, I was freezing last night at bedtime, and Mrs. Shady reminded me that she is a heat generator. Problem is, she also likes to hog the bed and pull the covers off me! :)

      We were running the a/c for weeks in a row and now we're running the heat day and night. That kind of seesawing is typical of a Florida winter.

      Thanks again for swinging by, dear friend Cathy, and stay tuned for Part 2 of my New Year's bash coming up tamale morning!

      Delete
  2. Happy New Year, Shady! Here's to a year of good music, good books, and good friends!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Kelly!

      Happy New Year, dear friend, and thanks for being the co-Early Bird of 2022! I wish I could have been there at your house to smooch my good buddy Pat at the stroke of midnight.

      Yessum, let's hope it's a good year, a better year in many ways. I appreciate your visit and your toast. Have a safe and happy weekend and a wonderful year ahead, dear friend Kelly!

      Delete
  3. Happy New Year Shady and all your guest DJs! Fun, fun tunes and I knew every one of them! I love ABBA and had never heard that song. It was good and perfect as we welcome a new year here at the S-P-M-M! I wish you all the best in your life and blog this year. I hope your little kitty is OK after the fireworks! I know you and Mrs. Shady have had rough times also in 2021 so let's hope the new year is going to be better. I know it will be good here anyway. So Happy New Year and prayers and blessings I'll send your way. Hugs from Ohio!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, YaYa!

      Thanks for coming to my New Year's Day meet & greet, dear friend! The new members the The Shady Bunch say howdy, welcome and happy new year.

      I'm very happy to know this was your first time watching ABBA's "Happy New Year" video. It seemed like the logical choice for Meg Griffin's first song of the year. Meg's show will bring you the greatest romantic love songs of the 20th century with new snuggle songs and modern covers of old classics included on her play list from time to time.

      Yessum, our Bootsie Wootsie is just fine, thank you. I'm sure he has forgotten about the seven or eight hours of noisy fireworks that spooked him last night. I love what you wrote here, YaYa. Yessum, we will face 2022 with courage and a smile, and be there for each other during times of hardship, heartache and tragedy. It's how we roll, the only way we know.

      I'm glad you enjoyed the show. Stick around for Part 2 of my New Year's extravaganza coming up next Wednesday, January 5. You will meet more new members of The Shady Bunch and hear samples of the music they'll be playing on their shows starting this year.

      Hugs to you, my wonderful friend. Thank you again for your prompt visit and sweet words of wisdom and hope, dear friend YaYa!

      Delete
  4. I really liked the ABBA song. It sounds like I may have heard it before, but I see it was never released as a single, and I've never had that album.

    The two Critters songs I liked, but not so much I'm going to give any money to PayPal.

    Good Queen cover by Andrei Cerbu & Beatrice Florea. I seem to remember seeing them here before, but just not this song.

    I love "Palisades Park". I Wonder why Chuck Barris didn't become a fulltime songwriter. Maybe that's all he had in him. Or he was more interested in game shows. As for that amusement park footage that went with the song, that looks like Robert Cummings, but I'm not sure.

    While I can't say I prefer it to Glenn Miller's version, "In the Mood" shows how an instrumental that you think can only work one way can, in fact, be made to sound quite different.

    By the way, Shady, I left a rambling response to your comment on my blog, and I'm thinking I should have taken it off, because it's really much ado about nothing. Sometimes my writing is faster than my sense of proportion. Hope it doesn't scare you away from my place.

    Happy New Year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Kirk!

      Happy new year, good buddy! Thanks for joining the fun as new Shady Bunch personalities share song samples from their upcoming SPMM radio shows.

      I'm delighted that you and YaYa (above) are seeing this ABBA video for the first time. Meg Griffin is pleased as punch to offer it as a teaser for her new SPMM radio show Frantic Romantic. By the way, the name of Meg's show comes from the title of the 1986 album released by the late R&B singer Jermaine Stewart, best known for the hit song "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off."

      Glad you liked The Critters. Both of those songs were big in my neck of the woods. Romanian guitar wizard and music producer Andrei Cerbu now has multiple YouTube channels running and a rapidly expanding roster of featured female vocalists. Week by week, the gang in Andrei's "Garage" cranks out new material, mostly covers of 20th century hits. Beatrice Florea remains one of Andrei's most popular singers.

      I'm happy to learn that you love the Freddy Cannon hit "Palisades Park." Yes, I think Chuck Barris was on a hot streak creating TV entertainment and probably didn't have time to write more songs. Remember zany madman Rip Taylor hosting the Barris series The $1.98 Beauty Show? Rip died in 2019.

      It's funny that you mention Bob Cummings, because he appears at the top of my very next post on Wednesday. I too initially thought that was Cummings in those amusement park scenes. However, when I looked more closely, I realized it is Dana Andrews. Turns out, the clips are from the 1945 Rodgers & Hammerstein musical film State Fair starring Andrews and Jeanne Crain. You can watch the entire movie free on YouTube:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMtuq3xX6eY

      Thanks for acknowledging the rock & roll era hit version of "In The Mood" by Errnie Fields, the showender played by much loved Boston DJ Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsburg who died last summer.

      Heck no, good buddy. I already read and replied to your reply at S.O.A.D. It's all good. I think sometimes you assign a more negative or critical tone to my remarks than was actually present. I tend to get passionate while presenting my case, as do you, and we both ramble a bit. I appreciate that our friendship is solid and allows for occasional animated venting on either side. Please know that I always come to your place with love and respect.

      Thanks again for your visit and excellent comments, good buddy Kirk. Have a great week ahead and stay tuned for Pt. 2 of my New Year's salivation coming up on Wednesday!

      Delete
  5. Happy New Year, Dear Friend! Happy New Year, Meg! Thank you for hosting and yes, I agree: your brother doesn't handle bad news well at all.

    Shady! I LOVE this playlist. ABBA and Freddy Cannon, perfect! Palisades Park is always on my summer playlist when I'm going to the beach, so it was different hearing it on New Year's. Maybe next year I can listen to it going to a polar plunge. You have me grooving.

    So glad you included "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," that is my favourite Queen ditty and Andrei Cerbu and Beatrice Florea don't disappoint as always. They truly are amazing artists.

    I wish you the best for 2022! Can't wait to see what this year brings.

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    Replies
    1. Hi, Jessica Marie!

      Happy new year to you as well, dear friend! How's 2022 treating you so far? :)

      Yessum, Meg Griffin, another character from Family Guy, is joining the Shady Bunch as a full-time DJ starting this year. I'm glad you got a kick out of her brother Chris going all Jurassic Park in that opening clip.

      I'm thrilled that you like "Palisades Park." I've been waiting a long time to run that cool video and decided to include it as one of "Woo Woo" Ginsburg's New Year's Day sample songs. My thinking was that great custom made videos like this are sometimes removed from YouTube before I can even get them posted. Heck, with global warming, winter is turning into summer. Soon your "polar plunge" will be like wading in bath water.

      You always seem to like the material that comes out of Andrei Cerbu's Garage. He and featured vocalist Beatrice Florea perform a variety of styles from pop oldies of the 50s to 21st century symphonic Euro metal.

      Thanks again for dropping by to spread new year cheer, dear friend JM. Please BOLO for Part 2 of my bash this Wednesday. It's another chance for you to meet and greet your favorite celebrities as they take their places behind the mic as full-time deejays on SPMM Retrosonic Radio.

      I hope you continue to build on the momentum you gained in the second half of last year, making 2022 your best year ever. Once again, happy new year to you, dear friend JM!

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    2. Hi Shady,

      You're so right! Polar plunges will be turning into warm baths. Today was 60 degrees, but it's supposed to snow tonight, tomorrow and fall into the law 30s. Crazy! I guess I can make "Palisades Park" a new winter theme song because of global warming.

      YAY! So happy to hear about Meg! I hope she DJs more from Andrei Cerbu's garage. I admire this group and have thought about sponsoring them on Patreon.

      Thank you, dear friend. I have high hopes for 2022. I wish you the best year ahead as well. I'll BOLO for Wednesday's post.

      Delete
    3. Thanks, Jessica Marie!

      Down here in the city of Tarpon Springs on the west central coast of Florida, there will be on Thursday, January 6, the annual Greek Orthodox Epiphany celebration of the Baptism of Jesus Christ by St. John the Baptist in the River Jordan. The Greek Reporter sez:

      << An invocation is recited and a white dove is released symbolizing the Holy Spirit to fly over the Bayou. The Archbishop will cast a white cross into the water and dozens of young men will dive for the cross, each seeking the honor of retrieving it. The retriever then kneels with the cross before the Archbishop for a blessing. >>

      The young men who dive for the cross each year must plunge deep into the chilly waters of the bayou. It has been warmer than usual the last few days, but a cool down is expected before Thursday, so I'm sure they will feel it when they make that traditional dive.

      Yessum, I hope you will come over to meet and greet more Shady's Place newbies on Wednesday. Until then, have a fine week, dear friend JM!

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  6. ABBA is always good for some songs. They have so many good ones.
    I have always loved Queen and anyone who can sing their songs well is fun to listen to.

    I hope you have a good year.

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    Replies
    1. Hi, Mary!

      Thanks for coming over and checking out Part 1 of my my New Year's 2022 party, dear friend!

      Yessum, ABBA gave us many good songs and slick music videos to go along with them. Now they're back at it again. Glad to know that you love Queen and artists that can do a good job of covering their songs. I assume you give thumbs up to the Romanian duo Andrei & Beatrice.

      Thanks again for being here, Mary. I hope you, your daughter and my good buddy Falcor have a splendid year as well. Have a wonderful week and I hope to see you again soon!

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  7. Happy New Year!! I hope it was a nice one even if quiet. I enjoyed listening to all these fun songs and am unsure if I ever heard of them before except for the Queen song. She has a good voice but, I must admit, I prefer the original:). You have to love Family Guy and the gal with the pink cap deserves some recognition. The songs were fun and I love the old movie footage from State Fair starring Dana Andrews and the lovely Jeanne Crain whom I feel has been overlooked. May the new week of the new year be filled with wonder.

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    Replies
    1. Hi, Birgit!

      How are you, dear friend? Thanks for coming and Happy New Year to you!

      Shirley you should remember that ABBA song, dear BB. You posted it yourself a week or so ago. :) Yessum, Shady Dee-lite has hired four characters from Family Guy - Chris, Brian, Meg and Peter - as members of his Shady Bunch, all four hosting separate shows.

      Yessum, thanks for acknowledging that footage from State Fair. Dana Andrews showed up in many of the films I watched as a kid, and I agree that Jeanne Crain deserved more recognition. I remember watching her in Burke's Law starring Gene Barry, and in the 1967 juvenile delinquency - teensploitation flick Hot Rods to Hell, again co-starring with Dana Andrews.

      Thank you again for dropping by to spread new year cheer. Stay tuned for Part 2 of my year-opener on Wednesday. It's a chance for you to meet another batch of new Shady Bunch recruits. Have a wonderful week and a safe, healthy and happy year, dear friend BB!

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