Studio Walls--December 11, 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.

December 8, 1980—Death of John Lennon

=We interviewed his one-time girlfriend May Pang  

=We also interviewed Mitch Weissman, who played John in Beatlemania, about the last time he saw John. 

December 8, 1943—Jim Morrison birthday. 

=Chip Monck told us a story about saving Jim from the cops in Miami. 

December 8—Judd Legum birthday

=We interviewed the political reporter in this episode of the show.  

 

December 9--Sheila Moeschen birthday

=The Humorist/author was a fun guest.  

December 9, 2010—Commercial debuts

=My son Sean was featured in a commercial for the U.S. Men's National Team. Fluke thing. He received a pair of cleats. Very end of the ad.

December 9--Neil Innis birthday

=The late Monty Python (and Rutles) great was featured on this episode of the show.  

December 9--Donny Osmond birthday

=My Donny story.

=Danny Bonaduce's Donny story

December 9—Redd Foxx birthday 

=As it turns out, Nick Digilio does a very good Redd Foxx impersonation.  

December 9—Mort Downey Jr.  birthday

=Scott May worked on his show. Memorable story.  

 

December 10--Rod Blagojevich birthday

=My brush with Blago.  

December 10, 1995—Tommy pees in his own ear

=Landecker audio. It's a long story, but it's a good one. Maybe we'll play it this week.

 

December 11, 1886—Arsenal plays their first match ever 

=That reminds me...

 

December 12, 2012--Concert for Hurricane Sandy relief

=The Who played there. Their keyboardist Loren Gold told us all about it.  

December 12—Rentahitman saves a life

=We interviewed Rentahitman about it. His name is Bob Innes. 

December 12, 2022—Kim Simmonds (from Savoy Brown) dies. 

=His drummer Garnet Grimm told us about his bandmate's musical genius.  

 

December 13—National Horse Day 

=Stuntwoman Janene Carleton specializes in movie stunts with horses.  

=Actor DB Sweeney told us a story about how he lied to a director about his knowledge of horses. 

December 13, 1996--Debut of "McCaskey the Greedy Owner" song

=Still appropriate today. Guess who wrote the lyrics. We may feature it this week on the show.

 

December 14, 2019—Debut of Twelve Days of Every Cub Ever

Studio Walls--October 30, 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.

October 27, 1973

=The Who releases "Love Reign Oer Me".  Loren Gold plays the keyboards for that every night when the Who goes on tour. He told us about it.  

October 27, 2018

=Pittsburgh Synagogue shooting. Mark Cuban told us that he knew people in that congregation. 

 

October 28—International Animation Day 

=We have audio from the day that our voice genius, Vince, got to play on the air with legendary cartoon voice over artist June Foray.

October 28—Jami Gertz birthday

=My brush with Jami is discussed in this episode.  

October 28, 2021

=I appeared on an Australian soccer podcast

October 28—Adam Bitterman birthday

=We interviewed the Chicago actor in this episode.  

October 28, 2023

=Matthew Perry died. Alex Kapp told us about Perry and what it was like being an actor on Friends.  

 

October 29—Quiet Riot singer Kevin DuBrow’s birthday. 

=Loverboy’s Doug Johnson told us what it was like touring with Quiet Riot. 

October 29--Denny Laine birthday

=We talked to the late Wings guitarist when we filled in at WLS-AM. 

 

October 30--Myke Cole birthday

=We had the best selling author on the show not just once, but twice.  

October 31--Adam Schlesinger birthday

=My brush with the late Fountains of Wayne songwriter is discussed in this episode.

October 31—Halloween. 

=Boris Karloff's daughter, Sara Karloff was interviewed by us in this episode.  

 

November 1, 1884—Leicester City plays first game ever 

=That reminds me of this podcast...

 

November 2, 2001—Monsters Inc released 

=Johnny Kaempfer reviewed it when he was 3. We have the audio.

November 2, 2006—The Arab/Israeli Comedy Hour debuts 

=Aaron Freeman (the Israeli part of it) was on our show. 

November 2—Kurt Elling birthday

=The jazz genius was on this episode of the show. 

November 2, 1980—The Kings/"Beat Goes On-Switchin To Glide: released.

=We talked to Mr. Zero himself on this episode.

Studio Walls--February 28, 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.

This week's Minutia Men is called Jenkins in the newsroom, and features a story about a truly massive whoopsie on a TV newscast in Oregon.

This week's Minutia Men Celebrity Interview is with retiring Channel 9 meteorologist Tom Skilling.

February 25--George Harrison's birthday. 

=We had record producer Bill Schnee on the show and he told us a few incredible George stories, including one about the maze beneath George's castle.

February 25--Sean Astin's birthday. 

=DB Sweeney wrote and produced a comedy show with Sean, and told us all about it. 

February 26--The late Sun Times columnist Robert Novak's birthday. 

=I met him once and it was a truly memorable encounter. You can hear that story in this episode.

February 27--The late actor Howard Hesseman's birthday. 

=Would you believe we've had two different celebrities on our show with great Howard Hesseman (Johnny Fever) stories? Tommy Chong has a hilarious tale about their comedy feud. Howard's Head of the Class co-star Dan Frischman has a similar tale.

March 1-- Harry Caray's birthday

=I told the stories about my multiple brushes with Harry in this episode of Minutia Men. Rich King has even better Harry Caray stories. He tells a few of them to us in this interview. 

March 1, 1996—Carl Giammarese appears at live Landecker broadcast 

=I handed him new lyrics to one of his songs, and he performed it live at Union Station in Chicago at 8:00 in the morning. You can hear it in this episode of Minutia Men. 

March 1—Roger Daltrey's birthday

=The Who's keyboardist Loren Gold told us several funny stories about what it is like working with Roger.  

March 2--Lou Reed's birthday

=Famed rock photographer Mick Rock hung out extensively with Lou, and told us about a four day binge they went on together.

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? It's the last show of the year, so lots to choose from...

December 12, 2012--A concert for Sandy relief.  Loren Gold (The Who) was there.

December 12—Frank Sinatra birthday. Tom Dreesen story about Frank

December 12—Rentahitman saves a life:  Rentahitman interview.

December 13—National Horse Day (stuntwoman Janene Carleton story about horses)

December 13--National Horse Day (DB Sweeney story about horses)

December 13, 1996—LANDECKER AUDIO—McCaskey the Greedy Owner song

December 14, 1970—Stop action Santa Claus is Coming to Town released. AUDIO—Tommy sings the song.

December 16---Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) birthday. Doug Johnson of Loverboytells story about him. 

December 18—Keith Richards birthday. Bill Kurtis story about being backstage at Stones show.

December 19—Birthday of Doug Johnson from Loverboy 

December 19—Tim Reid birthday: Tom Dreesen story about Tim.

December 20, 1995—Tommy Kaempfer at the Live show in Oak Lawn—Landecker audio

December 20—Chris Robinson birthday. Bob Stroud story about Robinson

December 22—Diane Sawyer birthday (Bill Kurtis story about working with her)

December 23--Twas the Night before Parents Christmas/video

December 26--Bill Paige birthday. 

December 26—Carlton Fisk birthday (Jack McDowell story)

December 26, 1973—The Exorcist debuts (Larry Potash story)

December 28, 2021—Jeff Dickerson dies (Randy Merkin tells story about him)

Minutia Men--Gold From the Who

 The latest episode is out now. Listen to it here.

Loren Gold, keyboardist for the Who tells a few Who stories, plus flamethrowers in Wisconsin, a Cheetos statue, Ageist emails and emoji critiques, a pig-semen-selling priest, and a celebrity story about a titan of industry are among the minutiae discussed by Rick and Dave. [Ep289]

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 27 would have been Howard Hesseman's birthday. He sadly passed away a few weeks ago. We had Tommy Chong on the show a few years ago, and he told us the story of his feud with Howard. (Listen to the entire interview here)

*February 28, 2008, I was on the radio with John Landecker and Turi Ryder discussing my brand new venture, Just One Bad Century. (AUDIO)

*March 1 was Harry Caray's birthday. I wrote a tribute to Harry when he passed away, called Hats Off To Harry, which appeared on Landecker and the Legends, Volume 5.

*March 1, 1996, Buckinghams lead singer Carl Giammarese appears on the John Landecker show, and I hand him a parody song I've written to one of his songs. This one is about the Girl Scouts (we were selling girl scout cookies at the time). Carl told us about that day when we interviewed him for Minutia Men. (Listen to that entire interview/song here)

*March 1 is Roger Daltrey's birthday. We interviewed the keyboardist from the Who, Loren Gold, and he told us some great Roger Daltrey stories. (That interview is here)

*March 2 was Lou Reed's birthday. One of his running buddies in the early 70s was the late great photographer Mick Rock. He told us an unbelievably great Lou Reed story. (The entire interview is here)

*March 3, 1978, Bill Kurtis broke the biggest story of his journalism career. It was about Agent Orange in Vietnam. When we interviewed him, he told us all about it. (The whole interview is here.)

*March 4 is World Grammar Day. We had the great grammar author, Jim Baumann, on the show to discuss his book Grammar Moses. (Listen to the entire interview here)

*March 4, 1992, Jim Peterik debuted his song "Spirit of Chicago". He told us about it, and played it for us on the podcast (Listen to entire interview here)

*March 4, 1837 is Chicago's birthday. We had famed Chicago historian Robert Loerzel on the show, and he told us some great stories about this city's history. (Listen to entire interview here)

*March 4 was also Tim Weigel's birthday. Tim was a friend of ours and cut a promo for our advertising agency, AMISH Chicago Advertising. (AUDIO)