Studio Walls--9-25-24

 

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 22, 1994—Friends debuts

=If it happened in the 90s, I have written a parody song about it. You can hear it here. 

 

September 23, 1977: Aja Released by Steely Dan

=Bill Schnee was the recording engineer on that album and told us what is was like working with Donald Fagen and Walter Becker.  

September 23, 1986: Matlock debuts

=Voice over actor Richard Epcar worked on the show. He even remembered his lines when we interviewed him 30+ years later.

 

September 24, 1970—Patridge Family debuts 

=Danny Bonaduce was on our show.

September 24, 1993—Boy Meets World debuts

=One of the stars of that sitcom, Maitland Ward, was on our show. You'll never guess what she's doing now. She's an adult film actress. 

September 24, 2007—Big Bang Theory debuts 

=Bridget and I were on the set...(OK, it was just part of the WB tour)

September 24, 2013—The Goldbergs debuts

=One of the stars of that sitcom, Hayley Orrantia, was a delightful interview.  

 September 24--Eric Soderholm birthday

=We talked to the former White Sox slugger in this episode. He later endorsed our book Chili Dog MVP.

September 25--Michael Douglas birthday

=One of the most memorable interviews I booked for John Landecker. We have the audio from that day. I told the story in this episode. 

September 25, 2021—Arlington Park closes forever. 

-For a few glorious summers, Dave was the wacky Quinn Ela at Arlington Park. We wrote the bits together. Here's an example...

 

September 26—George Gerschwin birthday

=We wrote a radio ad for Biasco Music starring George Gerschwin. It was an award winner.

September 26, 1965—Gilligan's Island debuts

=I wrote a parody song about our morning show to the tune of this theme song. Will we play it this week?

September 26, 1969—The Brady Bunch debuts

=We had Robbie Rist (Cousin Oliver) on the show. 

=We also had NY Times Best Selling Author William Dameron on the show. In this interview, he refers to his family as The Gaydy Bunch. 

September 26, 1969—Abbey Road released

=On the same exact day as the Brady Bunch? Does not compute. My boys and I went to street crossing of Abbey Road when we were in England.

September 26, 1975—Rocky Horror Picture Show released. 

=Fee Waybill starred in it. He told us all about it.  

 

September 27, 1992—Dr. Demento plays Ebony & Ivory song “Oktoberfest ist here”

=Don't believe me? Here's the show list for that day. 

September 27—Debi Derryberry birthday

=We interviewed the voice of Jimmy Neutron on this episode. 

September 27—Wilford Brimley birthday

=Mark Giangreco told us a story about how he once got in a trouble for making a Wilford Brimley joke.  

September 27—The Inheritance debuts on Broadway. 

=We talked to the producer of that show, Eric Nelsen. 

 

September 28, 1938—The Homer in the Gloamin

=We have the audio of Gabby Hartnett's famous homer--probably the second most famous homer in Wrigley Field history.

 

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 10, 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.

April 7, 2017—Release of Mick Rock Documentary Shots

=We interviewed the great photographer shortly after the movie came out. 

April 7, 1993—Release of The Sandlot

=We talked to one of the stars of that movie, Shane Obedzinski  

April 7, 1976—Release of The Bad News Bears 

=We talked to one of the stars of that movie, David Pollock 

April 8--Julian Lennon birthday

=We haven't yet talked to Julian, but we did chat with a woman who spent a lot of time with him, John Lennon's old girlfriend, May Pang 

April 9—National Antique Day. 

=We talked to the king of the antique world, author/shop owner Duane Scott Cerny 

April 9—Mark Pellegrino birthday

=He was in The Great Lebowski, a subject that naturally came up in this interview. 

April 9, 2021—Them episode featuring Gene Silvers airs

=We talked to the actor who played a terrifying role in the show. 

April 10, 1972—Fred Karger crashes the Oscars

=He actually did it twice. He told us about both times.  

April 10—Steven Seagal birthday

=Actress Carmen Serano (Breaking Bad) worked with Seagal in a movie, and trust us, it's a memorable story. 

April 11, 1976—Tubes song “Don’t Touch Me There” released

="The smell of burning leather" is a line in the song. Fee Waybill explains it to us. 

April 12—Scott Turow birthday

=Ho Hum, just a worldwide best-selling author shooting the shit with Rick and Dave.  

April 12—David Letterman birthday. 

=Tom Dreesen told us the backstory of his life-long friendship with Dave. 

April 12—David Cassidy birthday

=Danny Bonaduce told us about his former co-star. 

April 13, 1990—Rico Suave peaks at #7

=Gerardo talked to us about those heady days.  

April 13—Scrabble Day 

=Who better to interview than Scrablyon director Scott Petersen? 

April 13—Bob Stroud birthday

=On the eve of his radio retirement, we talked to him about his outstanding career. 

Studio Walls--March 27, 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 Free Kicks is a preview of the FA Cup Semi-Finals, and the Europa and Champions League quarter-finals. It's called "Cup Previews"

This week's Minutia Men Celebrity Interview is with Chip Monck, the Emcee and Lighting Director at Woodstock.

This week's Minutia Men episode is called "Paging Dr. Freud".

Some other audio moments from the archives...

March 24--Lara Flynn Boyle birthday. I told the story of my brush with her on this episode of Minutia Men.  

March 24, 1975--Grand Funk Railroad released "Bad Time". Mark Farner told us the sad story behind the lyrics to that song in this interview.

March 25—Elton John birthday. Jim Peterik told us the story of the first time he heard Elton on the radio and how it changed his life. May Pang told us about Elton & John Lennon appearing together at Madison Square Garden.

March 25--Paul Michael Glaser birthday. We had the original Starsky on the show and geeked out on our adolescent love of his show. 

March 25, 1976—Tubes released “Don’t Touch Me There”. Fee Waybill told us the story behind that naughty song.  

March 27, 1973—Fred Karger crashes the Oscars…again! He told us how he pulled it off.

March 27, 1987--The Bold & the Beautiful debuted. Maitland Ward, now an adult film star, got her acting start on the soap opera. Dave and I have never researched an interview more than this one with Maitland. 

March 28--John Landecker birthday. He's been on our show at least three times. Part One. Part Two. Part Three. 

March 28, 1971—Final Ed Sullivan show airs. Carl Giammarese’s Ed Sullivan story

March 29, 1996—Debut of “Baby Boomer”. I wrote this song for Landecker & the Legends the day John Landecker received his first AARP card. Will we play it on this week's show?

March 30, 2023—Cubs Flicks debuts on Marquee. It was opening day, and "Writer Rick Kaempfer" was introduced by Pat Hughes in this documentary to tell stories about Cubs history.  

March 30--Fred Winston birthday. We had the WLS great on the show to talk about his impressive career.  

Studio Walls--February 14, 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.

The latest Minutia Men covers: Business card critiques, a kid in the claw, George Constanza's girlfriend, Guinness record whoopsie, and one-liners from India.

The latest Free Kicks is about: The Premier League keeps every conceivable stat, and Adam and Rick go over some of the more obscure ones.

These are from the audio archives

February 11, 2000—The Tigger Movie released

=Little Tommy Kaempfer reviews it. Audio from my days on the John Landecker show. Will we hear it this week? Hmmm.

February 12--Abe Lincoln birthday

=Eckhartz Press founder David Stern debuts on the radio, with his poem about Abraham Lincoln on WBEZ Radio (1974).  We played the audio on this episode. 

February 12--Lorne Greene birthday

=My story about Lorne Greene was told on this episode of Minutia Men.

February 12, 2019—Bohemian Rhapsody, the movie released 

=We talked to Mick Rock, the great photographer who had taken the photos of Queen album covers, and asked him to review the movie. "Not nearly gay enough" 

February 13, 1967—Buckinghams “Kind of a Drag” hits #1

=Carl Giamarese, the leader of the band, came on the show and told us about those glory days of 1967. 

February 13, 2018—Beatles in India hardcover released 

=We talked to the author Paul Saltzman, who was there with the Beatles, this week in 1968. 

February 14, 1991—Silence of the Lambs released 

=One of the actors in that Academy Award winning movie, Dan Butler, talked to us about his truly creepy scene. 

February 15—Chris Farley birthday. 

=We never got a chance to interview Chris, but we did talk to his college buddy, the Real Matt Foley 

February 15—Walter Shapiro birthday 

=The acclaimed journalist and author of Hustling Hitler was one of Dave's all-time favorite guests. 

February 15, 1985—Vision Quest released

=We interviewed the villain from the movie, Frank Jasper.  

February 15--Joseph Gannascoli birthday

=The Sopranos star (Vito) was kind enough to join us for a discussion about one of our favorite television shows ever. 

February 17, 1984--Footloose released

=Mike Reno of Loverboy wrote a hit song on that soundtrack. Naturally, he appeared on Minutia Men Celebrity Interview.

February 17, 1989--Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is released

=We talked to one of stars of that movie, Fee Waybill.

Studio Walls--January 17, 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 15--Josh Gondelman birthday

=We interviewed the Last Week Tonight w/John Oliver writer (and Mrs. Maisel comedy consultant) about his impessive comedy career. 

*January 16--Jack McDowell birthday

=The former White Sox pitcher had some great stories about his baseball career including one unforgettable tale about the night the team plane had to make an emergency landing. 

*January 16, 2021—Phil Spector dies in prison

=John Lennon's ex-girlfiend May Pang told us a story about the night Spector almost accidentally shot John Lennon during a recording session. 

*January 17—Muhammad Ali birthday

=Dave told a great story about meeting the champ at a print shop in Michigan. The story was confirmed on the show by the printer who owned the joint.  

*January 17, 1905—First Chainsaw invented.

=Would you believe we've had two guests on the show who used chainsaws in their acts? Kevin Matthews and Tube's lead singer Fee Waybill 

*January 18--Kevin Costner birthday

=This is the episode I told the story of my brush with Costner.  

*January 18—Pep Guardiola birthday. 

=The manager of Manchester City is a constant subject of discussion on Free Kicks with Adam & Rick.

*January 19—John Johnson birthday

=The gazillionaire founder of Ebony was a notorious character in Chicago history. Chicago historian Shermann Dilla Thomas told us what Johnson was really like. 

 

*January 20—David Lynch birthday. 

=Actress Amy Shiels was part of the Twin Peaks show written and directed by Lynch. She told us what it was like working for the eccentric filmmaker.

*January 20, 1996—New area codes for Chicago area established

=When the 773, 630, and 847 area codes were introduced it sparked a Landecker & the Legends parody song, Land of 1000 Area Codes. Odds are good that song will be appearing in an upcoming Minutia Men episode.

*January 20, 2008—Breaking Bad debuts

=We interviewed one of the actresses from that show, Carmen Serano.  

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 25--Michael Douglas birthday. He was a great guest on Landecker show when I was producer and we created a little game for him.  (Landecker audio)

September 25--Donald G. Evans birthday. The president of the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame (and Eckhartz Press author) was a guest on our Minutia Men Celebrity Interview.

September 25, 2021—Arlington Park closes forever, permanently retiring a video bit that Dave & I did for the racetrack.

September 26, 1969—Brady Bunch debut. Cousin Oliver was a guest on our show. 

September 26, 1965—Gilligan Island debuts. I wrote a parody song about the Landecker show to the tune of the Gilligan theme. (AUDIO)

September 26—George Gerschwin birthday. Dave and I wrote a funny ad for Biasco Music featuring Gerschwin bitching about the deli spread backstage. (AUDIO) 

September 26, 1975—Rocky Horror Picture Show released. Fee Waybill starred as Frank N. Furter on stage many times, and told us all about it.  

September 27, 1992—Dr. Demento plays Ebony & Ivory song “Oktoberfest ist here” . It was my second ever parody song. I sing this one.

September 27—Debi Derryberry birthday. The voice of Jimmy Neutron was on our show.

September 27—Wilford Brimley birthday. Mark Giangreco told us a very funny story about how Wilford Brimley once got him in trouble on the air.

September 29—The Forgotten 1908 Cub Harry Steinfeldt would be celebrating a birthday today. I have written a poem about Harry, and performed it live on the radio and on the podcast. (AUDIO)

September 29—Grand Funk Railroad's Mark Farner's birthday. We chatted with him on the show a few years ago.

September 29—Jeffrey Gentile birthday. Jeff wrote Mob Adjacent for Eckhartz Press, but he also was a great guest on Minutia Men Celebrity Interview. 

September 30--Amy Landecker's birthday. Amy was a great guest on our show a few years ago. Her husband Bradley Whitford even hopped on the air and did a few segments with us.

September 30—Famed astronomer Dr. Phil Plait's birthday. He appeared on MMCI just before the 2020 election. 

October 1, 1999—Elmo in Grouchland released. Little Tommy Kaempfer reviews it. (AUDIO)

October 1—Bullying Awareness month. We interviewed two anti-bullying activists Mark Pellegrino and Andrew Rossow.

October 1, 1962—Tonight Show with Johnny Carson debuts. Former Cub Carmen Fanzone told us a few great stories about the musicians on Johnny's show. 

October 1—Rod Carew birthday. Eric Soderholm was his teammate in Minnesota, and told us a great story about Rod.  

October 1, 1996—House of Blues opens in Chicago. Tours with Mike likes to feature it as Chicago's ugliest building. Mike talked to us about that. 

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)

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 13, 1967, the Buckinghams hit #1 with Kind of a Drag". We spoke to the guitarist of the band Carl Giammarese about that song, and the incredible success the band achieved in 1967. (You can listenn to the entire interview here) 

*February 14, 1991, the movie "Silence of the Lambs" was released. We talked to one of the actors from that film, Dan Butler, about his memorable scene involving bugs. (The entire interview is here.)

*February 15 is Joseph Gannascoli's birthday. The man who played Vito on the Sopranos was a guest on our podcast. (You can listen to his entire interview here)

*February 16, 2014, Dave released the video to his promotional song "Cueball Wizard". (We have the video here)

*February 16 is John McEnroe's birthday. Randy Merkin told us a story about encountering the tennis great on our podcast earlier this year. (Listen to the podcast here.)

*Feburay 16, 1968, the Beatles arrive in India to study with the Maharishi. Paul Salzman was there when it happened, and told us all about it. (Listen to the entire interview here)

*February 17, 1984, the film Footloose came out. Mike Reno of Loverboy had a song on that soundtrack and told us the story behind the song. (Listen to the entire interview here)

*Feburary 17, 1989, the movie Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure came out. Tubes lead singer Fee Waybill was in that movie and explained how it all came to be. (Listen to the entire interview here)

*February 18, 1998, Harry Caray died. We have audio of Harry talking about how he'd like to be remembered. We also have a song that I wrote about Harry's passing for the John Landecker show (Audio is on Landecker & The Legends, Volume 5)

*February 19, 2016, Rich King visited the White House along with the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks. Rich told us that story when we interviewed him last year (Listen to the entire 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?

*January 17, 1905, the first chainsaw was invented. Two former MMCI guests have told us great stories about using chainsaws on stage, Tubes lead singer Fee Waybill (Listen to entire interview here), and radio legend Kevin Matthews (Listen to entire interview here)

*January 18, 2008, I appeared on Steve Cochran's show on WGN Radio to unveil my brand new venture, Just One Bad Century. (The website still exists)

*January 20, 1996, Chicago added several new area codes. I wrote a song for John Landecker and the Legends about this called "Land of 1000 Area Codes" (Which can still be found on the Landecker & the Legends CD, Baby Boomers)

*January 20, 2008, the show Breaking Bad debuted. We interviewed the woman who played the principal of the high school in the show, Carmen Serano. (Listen to the entire interview here)

*January 21, 2014, Dave appeared on the Pete McMurray show to promote his side-hustle, the Pothole Store. (That interview is still available here)

*January 21 is baseball announcer Len Kasper's birthday. We interviewed him in his last season with the Cubs. (Listen to the entire interview here)

*January 21, 2020, the CDC announced the first COVID case in America. We interviewed patient zero Gregg Garfield. (Listen to entire interview here)