Category: Music

Saturday Night Retro

The year was 1973, and you were there (unless of course you weren’t born yet). I was a 6-year-old kid living with my Mom and Dad in the Washington D.C. suburb of Bowie Maryland on Peach Walker Drive. In September I began attending Catholic school 5 days a week as a first-grader at Saint Matthias The Apostle in Lanham Maryland near my grandparents’ house.

I had two dogs at the time – Brandy – a German Shepherd – and Girlie – a miniature sheepdog. Brandy barked a lot and dug holes out in the backyard. I didn’t really like him very much. In fact I was scared of him. We wouldn’t have him for very long. Girlie lasted a few years longer. She was lovable and squeezeable with an adorable personality. She had a tiny bony tail.

On Saturday nights America stayed home and watched this amazing lineup of TV shows on CBS – “All in the Family” (8 PM), “M*A*S*H” (8:30 PM), “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” (9 PM), “The Bob Newhart Show” (9:30 PM), and “The Carol Burnett Show” (10 PM). It may just be the greatest primetime lineup on a single night – on a single network – in television history.

A few hours before that three-hour block of Emmy-award-winning laughs on Saturday nights this hot music and dance show was breaking new ground on the tube, and I was paying attention to it – even as a 6-year-old. It was seen locally at the time on WTTG Channel 5 out of Washington D.C. It lasted for an incredible 35 years in first-run syndication nationwide, but this was clearly its hey day.

Ladies and Gentlemen – I present to you for your ‘Saturday Night Retro’ review – some LOVE, PEACE, and SOUL ! GET DOWN & BOOGIE !

Did anyone spot their young parents (or even grandparents) in that vintage clip ?

History Life Movies Music Radio Television

Saturday Night Retro

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date September 27, 2008

The year was 1995 and I was 28-years-old. I moved from a house in Naranja to my current home in Homestead. I’ve been here ever since then. Homestead was still a sleepy small town back then with mostly narrow two-lane roads. It was struggling to recover from the overwhelming destruction of Hurricane Andrew just 3 years earlier. U.S. gas prices remained rather steady (between $1.10 and $1.20 per gallon). The entire nation stayed home on Thursday nights to watch Friends, Seinfeld, and ER on NBC-TV. I enjoyed listening to ‘Bobby & Footy’ in the morning on Y-100. I only saw two movies at the box office during the entire year – “The Brady Bunch Movie” and “Tommy Boy”.

This song and video was all of the rage on television, on the radio, and at the clubs. It would go on to become a runaway International sensation – and one of the most successful singles in the entire history of the modern rock era. It spent a record-shattering 14 months on the Billboard HOT 100. It’s what I was doing every few months up in Orlando’s nightclub scene:

Tags 1995, Macarena

Music

Saturday Night Retro

LAST WEEK on the ‘Retro’ I got my Disco groove on with Patrick Hernandez and “Born To Be Alive”. It’s one of my all-time favourite hits from the “Studio 54” era.

THIS WEEK we keep it ‘Retro’, but we fast-forward in time by exactly a decade. It’s 1989, and America is prosperous, peaceful, and happy. President George H.W. Bush is following the legacy of President Ronald W. Reagan and staying the course. The Cold War is done and over with. The Berlin Wall is crumbling to pieces. We’re watching “The Cosby Show” and “Cheers” on TV on Thursday nights. We’re listening to Fine Young Cannibals, Milli Vanilli, New Kids On The Block, Paula Abdul, and Roxette on the radio. Me – I’m dancing like a total maniac to this # 1 club smash at Cafe Iguana in Kendall and Confetti’s in North Miami Beach:

Music

Saturday Night Retro

Last week on the ‘Retro’ I featured a classic Miami-grown television commercial from right around 1965. This week we keep it ‘Retro’, but fast-forward 14 years into the future. It’s the Summer Of 1979, and disco was dying a slow death due to many intentionally orchestrated campaigns at the time to kill it. This was one of the last successful disco hits on the U.S. pop chart back during disco’s last remaining breaths. It’s a TOP 20 gold smash from Frenchman Patrick Hernandez. Ladies and Gentleman. I present to you for your ‘Retro’ review – “Born To Be Alive” !