Category: History

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God History Life Music Radio

Saturday Night Retro

It’s the music of my life – and Life. There’s the life that I used to know prior to the Summer of 2006, and then there’s the Life (always capitalized) of today. The soundtrack of today sounds far different than that of yesteryear. The soundtrack of today is inspired by the center of my heart and soul – my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The soundtrack of yesteryear was inspired by the world around me – a world that told me what to do, where to do it, when to do it, and how to do it. That era may be long gone – a distant memory – but it is certainly not forgotten. That era existed, and then it died.

This week’s featured song is what I refer to as a ‘Melbourne song’. It was part of the soundtrack of my life back during the wild and crazy Spring of 1993 in Melbourne Florida. A lot of good came out of that era. This blog is an offspring of the original MANx CAT BBS (dial-up bulletin board system) that was created back then. This song kept me dancing into the night. It’s AB Logic featuring singer Marianne and rapper K-Swing. Here’s their long-running International dance smash entitled “The Hitman” !

Let’s kick it:

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History Humor Movies Music People Radio Television

The Major’s Friday Night Disco Party

Once upon a time in the land of broadcast network prime time television there existed an abundance of good old-fashioned situation comedies with 24-minute storylines and active laugh tracks from start to finish – sometimes canned – and sometimes ‘recorded LIVE in front of a studio audience’.

The start of the 1978-1979 television season contained no less than 25 such half-hour sitcoms on the three networks at the time, and that season had 9 sitcoms occupy the TOP 10 spots in the ratings.

Sitcoms totally ruled the roost back then, but not every single one was a smash. Here’s a flop – one of the biggest of its generation. It lasted a mere 8 episodes during the Spring of 1979. It was a blatant rip-off of the box office smash “Saturday Night Fever” starring song-and-dance man David Naughton in John Travolta’s role as a disco dancer by night – and an ice cream parlor man by day. Critics trashed this show from the very start, and viewers had enough of disco music in the movies and on the radio. It just didn’t make sense to watch a disco sitcom on TV. Perhaps the most entertaining part of this show was its extended opening theme song and credits that stretched out over the course of nearly two whole minutes !  After the show was cancelled its standard-length theme song became a gold-certified TOP 5 disco smash on the radio.

Check it out – it’s the original opening theme song and credits for “Makin’ It” !

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Blogging God History Music Television Weather

Thursday Night Mini Thoughts

– Let’s get spontaneous.
– Let’s be reasonable – do it my way.
– This is the 37TH weekly edition of the ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’.
– It’s my favourite weekly blog series to compile, as there is no planning for it.
– I’m glad that it was an instant out-of-the-box smash from the very start.
– It’s a Thursday night tradition since January 2009 !
– Today at work I led hard, I worked hard, and I laughed hard.
– It wasn’t that easy though, as the devil was working hard as well.
– It’s a good thing that I’ve got a stronger offensive and defensive line.
– The devil is a total idiot.
– His dirty deeds are done dirt cheap.
– Yeah I know we used to hang out a lot, but I ain’t got no time for you now.
– This Sunday morning at Life Pointe Church we’ll be partying like it’s 2009.
– Pastor Travis J. will be leading a message on beer and partying.
– If you’re near Homestead then grab your drinking buddies and join us.
– You won’t regret it pal.
– I’m getting carried away with my DVRing.
– I hit a new all-time high of right around 60 hours of recorded material.
– I’m declaring this Saturday as ‘DVR Appreciation Day’ in my living room.
– My ‘spaghetti models’ have settled down a bit.
– I believe that I’ve got a reasonable weather forecast for this upcoming weekend.
– That is if you live right here in the greater Homestead area.
– Here’s what I’m forecasting:
– The POWERFUL cold front should pass through by 6 PM on Saturday night.
– At 7 AM on Sunday morning get ready for temps. to bottom out near 64°F.
– We will remain in the 60s and 70s all day long on Sunday.
– It will feel cold on Sunday (day and night) due to gusty north winds.
– Monday morning should be even chillier with perhaps some upper-50s around !
– It will be bone dry, so you may shock yourself as you touch your car.
– This will be our coldest air felt here in nearly 6 months !
– I am so looking forward to it.
– Maybe I can turn off my A.C. on Sunday and let the fresh air in !
– Tomorrow night on the ‘Disco Party’ it’s a little deviation from the norm.
– I’ve got a television sitcom theme song to present to you from 1979.
– It’s considered to be one of the greatest flops of its generation.
– It was a ‘Disco Sitcom’.
– Be sure to check that out tomorrow night.
– On Saturday night we’re gonna go all techno on your ‘Retro’.
– Get those glow sticks ready.
– Those are my ‘Mini Thoughts’ for this week.
– Keep it real dudes !

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History Home Life Music People Radio

The Major’s Friday Night Disco Party

Flashback to the Spring of 1977. I’m 9-years-old – getting ready to turn 10-years-old, and I’m hangin’ out with my friends down by the creek at the bottom end of Red Wing Lane in Lanham Maryland. One side of the creek I ruled. I was in charge. The territory was known as ‘Chris Day Valley’, and it stretched for as far as my imagination would allow. On the other side of the creek my friends ruled, and their territory was known as ‘Wolf Pack State’. Our two territories neighboured each other, and we were friendly nations. See – even back then I was mastering geographic boundaries !

As I was compiling the paragraph above (and wandering around on the web) I believe that I may have discovered two friends of mine (simultaneously) from that neighbourhood and that time period. I’m gonna try to connect with both of them. I see their pictures (avatars) online, and they look very much as I remember them from over 30 years ago. One of them lived in the last house on the street right before the creek and the two ‘territories’. The other lived in a house just behind mine, and he was one of my first good buddy friends.

Playing on the radio back in the old neighbourhood up and down Red Wing Lane was a lot of Disco music. ABBA (from Sweden) weren’t really a Disco act, but they got with the times when they had to. The result was their only # 1 smash stateside and perhaps their most memorable anthem of the era. It’s “Dancing Queen” !  RE-LIVE !