Category: Radio

Categories
History Home Life Music Radio

Saturday Night Retro

This week on the ‘Retro’ it’s a TOP 10 pop smash that I consider to be one of the greatest written songs of the rock and roll era. It’s a song by Andrew Gold who worked behind the scenes with Linda Ronstadt at the time. In fact she returned the favour in this song by providing backing vocals.

As the story goes this kid who was born ‘on a summer day – 1951’ (such as Andrew himself) was thrown to the side and neglected and abandoned by his parents when his sibling was born ‘in the summer of ’53’ (such as Andrew’s sister). He was once an only son who was the only one. He was a lovely boy that then became a lonely boy. At the age of 18 ‘on a winter day – 1969’ that lonely boy left home to find the love that he had lost. We’re not sure if he ever found it, but his sister went on to live happily ever after.

By substituting the years 1951, 1953, and 1969 with 1967, 1975, and 1985 this song can be the lyrics of my childhood. I take this song very personal because unfortunately I can totally relate to it. If I elabourate any further on this I will get way too emotional, so I’ll just leave it at that.

All is well in 2010, but it’s been a slow and struggling recovery for me over the past 35 years. I AM living happily ever after.

Parents – love your children forever, and never neglect or abandon them.

Categories
History Life Music News Radio

The Major’s Friday Night Disco Party

FLASHBACK with me to the Summer of 1978. It’s when Garfield made his debut in the comics section of daily newspapers everywhere. It’s when the world’s first test tube baby was born in England. It’s when Pope Paul VI died at the age of 80, and was succeeded by Pope John Paul I who died just a month later.

I turned 11-years-old on June 05TH 1978, and I successfully completed the 5TH grade at Magnolia Elementary School in Lanham Maryland. After all of these years it’s the 5TH grade that stands out above all of the rest as the most memorable of them all. It was memorable in a positive way – great teachers – great classes – great classmates. I really believe that the latter half of my grade school years (4TH, 5TH, and 6TH grades) were more influential and more valuable in molding my later adult life than the subsequent Junior High and Senior High school years. My writing skills today were conceived and developed during those latter grade school years.

On the radio during the Summer of 1978 Disco ruled, as it crossed-over in a big way from the big city nightclubs to mainstream pop, rock, and soul radio nationwide. The Bee Gees‘ younger brother Andy Gibb was only 20-years-old at the time, but he was one of the hottest solo acts in the world. Here’s his memorable Disco smash that spent most of June and all of July of 1978 at the very top of the national pop chart. It went on to become the # 1 song of the entire year here in the U.S. – as well as one of the biggest songs in American chart music history. Here’s “Shadow Dancing” on the ‘Disco Party’:

Categories
Blogging Career History Life Music Radio Shopping Travel

Saturday Night Retro

17 years ago yesterday – on Friday February 26TH 1993 – I served my final day in uniform as an Active Duty USAF NCO (SGT). I did so at Andrews AFB MD just six months after Hurricane Andrew destroyed my previous duty station – the original Homestead AFB FL. The day was memorable for many reasons – a going-away luncheon in my honour, a snowstorm, and the first terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City. A week later I moved back down to Florida (Melbourne) to start my new civilian life – which would eventually (and unexpectedly) take me back to the USAF in Tampa and then ultimately back to Homestead exactly a year later in March of 1994.

This year as I celebrate my 25TH silver anniversary working for the USAF (military and civilian careers combined) I look back fondly at those final six months in the Active Duty USAF from the end of August of 1992 through the end of February of 1993 up at Andrews AFB MD. It turned out to be the pinnacle of my military career. I certainly left on a high note, and that was truly a blessing in disguise that was unfortunately born out of the destruction and chaos that Hurricane Andrew left behind some 1,100 miles to the south.

Just a short trip down the road from Andrews AFB MD is the suburban bedroom community of Waldorf. Members of the punk-pop band Good Charlotte are originally from there, and they used to hang out as young teenagers at the sprawling St. Charles Towne Center Mall – the very same mall that I shopped at frequently while I was stationed there at the same exact time. Here’s their debut radio smash from a full decade later at the start of 2003. It’s all about those “Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous”.

This concludes another blogging week for me. It’s been a lot of fun getting back into the normal swing of things on here, and I can’t wait to do it all over again next week. Be sure to help me kick-off a fresh new week of blogging come Tuesday night when I present another new ‘Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’. Until then my friends – be safe – be good – and be reasonable.

Categories
Blogging Bugs History Home Life Music Radio

The Major’s Friday Night Disco Party

It’s the start of another fun ‘Moldie-Oldie Music Weekend’ here on the big polyester and bell-bottoms blog. I kick it off with my fan-favourite ‘Disco Party’ on most Friday nights because that’s how I roll with it !

Flashback with me – won’t you ? – to the Fall of 1976. Back then I was a short and skinny 9-year-old in the 4TH grade. I walked to and from (public) school, as it was located right in the middle of my Lanham Maryland neighbourhood. After school and on the weekends I loved to play outside past the end of the street – into the woods – and down by the creek. That’s when I first discovered one of God’s Great Creations – mosquitoes. I was also in the Cub Scouts, as I, Christopher Day, promised to do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to help other people, and to obey the Law Of The Pack.

Life was much simpler then, and the world was a whole lot smaller for me back in 1976 – the year of our Bicentennial.

On the radio The Ritchie Family (all-female act, but none of them were actually related to each other) were hittin’ it big with a pop, soul, and disco smash titled “The Best Disco In Town”. It was a medley of disco hits from the era set to a fresh new beat. The group was created and run by the same French producer who also created The Village People. Let’s dance: