Studio Walls--October 9, 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 6, 1938—Old Diz’ Last Stand

=Dizzy Dean was a bust as a Cub, except for his one last special outing in the 1938 World Series. We have the audio.

October 6—Valerio De Los Santos birthday. 

=He is the pitcher who beaned Adam Greenberg, ending his career. When we talked to Adam, he told us the follow up story. 

October 6, 1978—Release of Midnight Express (movie)

=The author of the book, Billy Hayes, has appeared as a guest on Minutia Men Celebrity Interview.  

 

October 7--Birthday of John Mellencamp

=We talked to a good friend of his from his pre-fame days, fellow musician Essra Mohawk, and she told us what he was like in those days.  

October 7--Jose Cardenal birthday

=Yes, Rick met him. Yes, it is a memorable and quirky story. 

October 7, 1935—Cubs lose Game 6 of World Series

=We have the audio of the last out.

October 7, 1981—Loverboy’s Get Lucky album released

=Loverboy lead singer Mike Reno told us the story if that album. : 

October 7, 1996—Fox News debuts. 

=We asked political writer Judd Legum if Fox News has broken America. (Spoiler alert: They did)

 

October 8, 2015—Kyle Schwarber roofs one versus Cardinals in playoffs

=We don't have audio, but we do have a photograph of Rick and son Sean there that day.

October 8--Chevy Chase birthday

=Rick has an unpleasant story about his encounter with Chevy.  

 

October 9—Birthday of John Lennon. 

=We interviewed his girlfriend from his lost weekend, May Pang 

October 9—Joe Pepitone birthday 

=His former teammate Carmen Fanzone told us a great story about Joe.  )

October 9, 2016—Ken Bone becomes famous at presidential debate. 

=Remember the guy in the red sweater? We talked to him. 

 

October 10, 1889—Brentford was founded 

=Just another excuse/reminder to tune into Free Kicks with Adam and Rick.

October 10--Bradley Whitford birthday

=Would you believe that we talked to him while he was taking a shower? It's true. 

October 10--David Lee Roth story birthday

=Don't like to brag, but very people have David Lee Roth stories as good as Rick's.  

October 10--Jeff Hoover birthday

=His former writing sidekick, Brendan Sullivan, told us a great story about a personal appearance they made together in the 1990s. It involves Nazis and Skokie. 

 

October 11, 2019—Rick appears on DestinationEatDrink podcast 

=On this episode, the discussion was about Rovinj.

October 12--Glenn Beckert birthday

=Rick's brush with the former Cubs second baseman makes this episode.  

October 12--Sam Moore birthday

=Rick's brush with Sam Moore, from the great soul duo Sam & Dave. 

October 12--Martie Maguire birthday

=The Dixie Chicks almost got the John Landecker show fired. 

October 12, 2011--Siri’s debut

=Hard to believe Siri has only been around for 13 years. We talked to the original voice of Siri, Susan Bennett 

Studio Walls--9-18-24

 

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.

Here are a few from the archives...

September 15, 1949—The Lone Ranger debuts on TV

=We created our own tribute to that show. We call it the Lone Rogainger. Will we play the audio this week?

September 15—Oliver Stone birthday 

=We interviewed Billy Hayes, author of Midnight Express. He worked closely with Oliver Stone on the screenplay to his book, and told us all about it. 

 

September 16, 1857—"Jingle Bells" is published. 

=We have audio of two-year old Johnny Kaempfer singing it.

September 16, 1993—Frasier debuts on NBC

=Dan Butler, who played Bulldog on the show, talked to us about what it was like being on that show.  

September 16—Richard Marx birthday. 

=Believe it or not, Marx is good pals with Tubes lead singer Fee Waybill. Fee told us about it in this interview.  

 

September 17--Bobby Skafish birthday

=The great WXRT and WLUP jock phoned in to this episode.  

September 17--Anne Bancroft birthday

=I told my story about Anne in this episode. 

 

September 18--June Foray birthday

=My story about June, the voice of Rocky the Squirrel and many other cartoon characters, is in this episode. 

September 18, 1965—I Dream of Jeannie debuts. 

=We have Ron Santo audio talking about Jeannie

September 19—Adam West birthday

=Comedian Mike Toomey shared his excellent Adam West impersonation in this episode.  

September 19, 1985—Jim McMahon comes in and throw 3 TDs vs. Minnesota

=One of the greatest games in Bears history. We were thrilled to talk to Jim about it in this interview.  

September 19, 2010—Boardwalk Empire debuts. 

=Actor Paul Calderone was in that series, playing a killer. We talked to him about that, and his scene in Pulp Fiction in this episode.

September 20, 1976--AC/DC releases Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

=Nearly 50 years later we had jazz singer Kurt Elling on the show, and he unveiled his jazz version of that song. 

September 20, 1980--Erehwon founded

=Erehwon was our first client ever for AMISH Chicago Advertising. Would you like to hear the radio ad?

September 20, 2009--Rick interviewed on WGN 

=This was about the Waitle Nex Yeare ad I mentioned on the blog last week. We still have the audio.

September 20, 2022—Suspect by Scott Turow is released

=We talked to him about the book that week. 

September 20--Tim Clue birthday

=Tim's a great comedian and we were excited to have him on the show a few years ago. He later helped me out by being a last second fill-in as keynote speaker for the Chicago Writers Association. That's Tim in the middle with the CWA board.

September 21--Bill Murray birthday

=My Bill Murray story is in this episode.  

September 21--Chuck Jones birthday

=My Chuck Jones story is in this episode.  

September 21--Bill Kurtis birthday

=This entire episode is an interview with the legendary newsman.  

Studio Walls--April 3, 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.

March 31, 1984—Jonathan Stoddard birthday. The actor talked us through the secret of the perpetual 3-days-unshaved look. 

April 1--The Empire Carpet Man (Lynn Hauldren) birthday. We played an audio bit I wrote for John Landecker's show featuring Lynn. The Empire Carpet Man Strikes Back.  

April 1, 1976—Apple Corp founded. We talked to the man who owned 10% on that first day, but sold it for a few hundred dollars, Ronald Wayne 

April 1--Jim Shorts birthday. I interviewed Kevin Matthews' sidekick in German on AM 1000 back in the day.

April 2--Dr. Demento birthday. I told my Dr. Demento story in this episode of Minutia Men. 

April 2—Marvin Gaye birthday. Record producer Bill Schnee told us the story of creating Marvin's live album. 

April 3, 1983—“She’s a Beauty” by the Tubes released. Fee Waybill told us the story about David Foster producing that song. 

April 3, 2018—WJMK becomes WBMX. I worked on WJMK. The Mayor of Slowjamistan works for WBMX.  

April 3--Billy Hayes (Midnight Express) birthday. A man that can answer Peter Grave's question in Airplane with an unqualified yes: "Have you ever been in a Turkish Prison?" 

April 4—World Rat Day. Tours with Mike has a whole tour about rats. : 

April 4--Robbie Rist birthday. The former Cousin Oliver from The Brady Bunch was one of our first ever celebrity interviews. At one point, we talked about his balls. 

April 5—Jane Asher birthday. Paul Saltzman met her in India and told us a lovely story about meeting up her later in London. 

April 6--Marilu Henner birthday. I told my Marilu Henner story in this episode of Minutia Men.

April 6, 2012—Tom Latourette appears on Johnny B to sing a song I wrote. Details here. Will we play the song this week? 

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?

*September 12, 1927, the Cubs broke the 1-million mark in attendance the first time. We had a man on our show who is attempting to collect one million baseball cards. (Full interview here)

*September 12, 1969, the Plastic Ono Band performed their first concert. Yes drummer Alan White was part of that band, and he told us the story of how that came to be. (Listen to it here)

*September 12, 1981, the Smurfs debuted on American television. We talked to the world's biggest smurf collector last year. For real. (Full interview here)

*September 13, 2016, my Cubs parody song collaborator Tom Latourette debuted his parody song about the eventual World Champion Cubs. The song is I'm Not Betting Against My Cubs. (Video is here)

*September 13 is Roger Bennett's birthday. We talked to the Men in Blazers star last year in one of our most popular episodes of the show. (Full interview here)

*September 14, 1949, the Lone Ranger debuted on television. Of course, it inspired the Rick and Dave written bit, The Lone Rogainger, which was played on the John Landecker show. (AUDIO)

*September 15 is Oliver Stone's birthday. We talked to the author of Midnight Express Billy Hayes about how crazy it was working with Stone on the screenplay for the Midnight Express movie. (Listen to it here)

*September 16, 1857, the song Jingle Bells was published. Johnny Kaempfer performed a ridiculously cute version of that song on the John Landecker show (AUDIO)

*September 16, 1993, the show Frasier debuted on NBC. We had one of the stars of the show, Dan Butler (Bulldog) on our show, and he told us all about it. (Full interview here)

*September 17 is Fee Waybill's birthday. The lead singer of the Tubes appeared on Minutia Men Celebrity Interview during the pandemic. (Listen to it 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?

*April 3 is Billy Hayes birthday. Billy wrote the incredible Midnight Express, and was a guest on Minutia Men Celebrity Interview a few years ago. (Listen to the entire interview here)

*April 3, 1983, the Tubes released their biggest hit, She's a Beauty. Fee Waybill told us the story about the creation of that song with famed producer David Foster Wallace. (Listen to the entire interview here)

*April 5 is Jane Ashcr's birthday. Author Paul Salzman was in India with her and Paul McCartney in 1968 and told the story of meeting her there, and then again in London. (Listen to the entire interview here)

*April 6 is Marilu Henner's birthday. We have the audio of her most memorable appearance on the John Records Landecker show (AUDIO)

*April 7, 2017, the Mick Rock documentary was released on Netflix. Mick told us all about that film during our interview. (Listen to the entire interview here)

*April 7, 1993, the classic baseball film The Sandlot was released. We talked to one of the stars of that film, Shane Obedzinski. (Listen to the entire interview here)

*April 7, 1976, another classic baseball film, The Bad News Bears, was released. We spoke to one of the stars of that film, David Pollock (Listen to the entire interview here)

*April 8, 1969, Willie Smith hit a walk off homer on Opening Day to spark one of the most memorable seasons in Cubs history. (AUDIO of Cubs play by play)

*April 9, Mark Pellegrino birthday. We spoke to him about one of his pet causes, anti-bullying. (Entire interview is here)

*April 9 also would have been Mutual of Omaha's Jim Fowler's birthday. He did a nice promo for our advertising agency back in the day (AUDIO)

*April 9, 2021, the Steven King series Them featured actor Gene Silvers in a terrifying role. We spoke to Gene about that (Entire interview is here)