Studio Walls--January 24, 2024

 

A weekly update/preview of my latest podcasts, and a look back at some of my previous audio work from this week in history over the past 40+ years.

Our podcasting equipment finally broke down after 500+ episodes, so we are in the process of building a new studio. Until that is completed, here are a few audio highlights to chew on.

*January 21--Len Kasper birthday

=We interviewed Len just before his last season with the Cubs. 

*January 21, 2020: CDC reports first American COVID case. 

=Would you believe we talked to America's Patient Zero? His name is Gregg Garfield and listening back to this interview is a good reminder about how scary COVID was at the beginning.  

*January 22—Ismo birthday

=Who is Ismo? Only the funniest comedian from Finland. 

*January 22, 1921—George Streeter dies. 

=A neighborhood of Chicago is named after him, and a member of the Moody Blues (Alan Hewitt) is a descendant . That little tidbit emerged organically during this interview.

*January 23—Jack Quinlan birthday 

=He is largely forgotten today, but he was a great radio play-by-play man for the Cubs who died in a car accident in 1965. We found audio of him and have featured it. 

*January 24—Gennifer Flowers birthday 

=My brush with the former presidential mistress was discussed on this episode, along with audio of the interview, and the parody song I wrote about it. 

January 24, 1995—OJ Simpson trial begins

=Yes I am an original Dancing Ito (photo). Yes I did explain that story in a previous Minutia Men episode. 

*January 24--Jack Brickhouse birthday

=He was the Cubs announcer of my youth, and I met him several times over the years. Those stories are told in this episode.  

*January 24—Ernest Borgnine birthday

=Never met Mr. Borgnine, but we did talk to Filmmaker Jeff Krulik, the genius behind the show Borgnine on the Bus. 

*January 24--Warren Zevon birthday

=On this episode I explained the story behind this photo.

January 27, 1990—Molly Hagan’s Golden Girls episode

=She played Betty White's daughter. Molly is a Chicago gal, and Dave and I really hit it off with her.

Studio Walls

       Every week I send my Minutia Men Co-Host Dave Stern a list from our audio archives for this week's Studio Walls feature. These are the possibilities for this week. Which one will he choose?

*July 17 is Fast Times at Ridgemont High star Robert Romanus' birthday. He appeared on our show a few years ago to talk about the film. (Listen to entire interview here)

*July 18, 1910 is the anniversary of the classic poem about the Cubs, Baseball's Sad Lexicon. We have the audio of a famous actor reading that poem. (AUDIO)

*July 19 is Wayne Messmer's birthday. We have audio of Wayne singing a song written by Rick when he was the producer of John Landecker's show. (AUDIO)

*July 20, 2002 is the debut of the cartoon Jimmy Neutron. We interviewed the voice of Jimmy, Debbie Derryberry, a few years ago. (Listen to the entire interview here)

*July 21 is playwright/author/broadcaster/comedian Spike Manton's birthday. Spike was nice enough to join us as a guest on the program a few years ago. (Listen to the entire interview here)

*July 22 is composer Alan Mencken's birthday. We interviewed his songwriting collaborator Glen Slater a few years ago, and Glen told us all about the genius of Alan. (Full interview here)

*July 23, 1965, the Moody Blues released their debut album. We had Moody Blues member Alan Hewitt on the show last year. (Listen to the interview here)

Studio Walls

   Every week I send my Minutia Men Co-Host Dave Stern a list from our audio archives for this week's Studio Walls feature. These are the possibilities for this week. Which one will he choose?

*February 7th is the birthday of Coleman Griffith. He was a trailblazer in baseball, one of the first sports psychologists. He was also roundly dismissed by baseball players of the day, and inspired the character in the movie The Natural (We have the audio of his famous scene)

*February 7, 1971, Earth Wind & Fire released their first album. We talked to Alan Hewitt who was one of the producers with the band, and who later joined the Moody Blues (Listen to the entire interview here)

*February 10, 1994, the Olympic Games were taking place in Lillehammer Norway. The big story about that Olympics was the drama between Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. John Landecker and I wrote two songs about that, including this one. 

*February 11, 2001, Disney released "The Tigger Movie". Little Tommy Kaempfer reviewed the film for the radio show. (We have the audio)

*February 12 is Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Dave's famous award winning poem about Lincoln has been committed to audio, and needs to be played at least once a year.