Studio Walls--August 7, 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.

Here are a few from the archives...

August 4—Barack Obama birthday

=Jazz singer Kurt Elling was on our show and told a great story about our former president.  

August 4—Scott May birthday

=The keyboardist from Ides of March was a fun guest last year. You can listen to it here.  

 

August 5, 1921—First baseball game broadcast on radio. 

=The announcer was Harold Arlin in Pittsburgh. We have AUDIO of early Cubs announcers from the 1920s and 1930s. Will we play it this week?

August 5, 1983—Risky Business debuts. 

=Harry Teinowitz was in that movie, and told us all about it.  

August 5, 1994—Harry Caray appears on Landecker show

=And he won’t tell JRL the Elvis story that he was booked to tell. We have the audio of his odd on-air refusal. Will we play it this week?

August 5, 1996—Harry and Jack Brickhouse sing together

=The old rivals made up for one day at Wrigley Field. We have the audio

August 5--Maureen McCormick birthday

=Yes, I have a Maureen McCormick (Marcia from the Brady Bunch) story, and I told it in this episode of Minutia Men. 

 

August 6—Cheech and Chong’s Los Cochinitos was released 

=It features their hit Basketball Jones. We talked to Tommy Chong about that in this episode of Minutia Men Celebrity Interview. 

August 6—Andy Warhol birthday. 

=Stan Lawrence tells us a story about Andy, that involves the Playboy Mansion and heroin. 

August 6, 2012—Rock Bottom Remainders appear on Craig Ferguson show. 

=One of the members of that band was best selling author Scott Turow and he talked about that band performance. 

 

August 8, 1977—Ernie Banks inducted in HOF 

=We have the audio.

August 8, 2019—WPGU Reunion

=A very special episode of Minutia Men featured some of our WPGU alumni, including TV reporters Dane Placko and Jay Shatz.

 

August 9, 2009—Shark Tank debuts

=Everything was going great during our Mark Cuban interview, until Dave brought up Shark Tank.  

 

August 10, 2003—Manchester City’s stadium opens.

=It was originally known as City of Manchester Stadium, now known the Etihad. Yes, it's another excuse to remind you that Free Kicks with Adam and Rick will be returning for our seventh season this month.

August 10—Justin Theroux birthday. 

=His Mosquito Coast co-star Gene Silver talks about him in this episode of Minutia Men Celebrity Interview. 

 

 

Studio Walls--May 22, 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.

 

May 19—Pete Townshend’s birthday. 

=Will Wagner wrote a book about his guitar from the Woodstock festival. We talked to Will about his great book.

May 19--Curly Neal birthday

=I told the story of my brush with the Harlem Globetrotters in this episode of Minutia Men. 

May 19--Dusty Hill birthday

=I told the story of my brush with the ZZ Top great in this episode of Minutia Men. 

May 20—Sainty Nelsen birthday

=We interviewed the actress/producer/voice over artist. She was a delight.  

May 20, 1997—Packers meet President Clinton. 

=Jim McMahon was a member of that Packers Super Bowl team. He legendarily wears a Bears jersey. He told us all about that in this interview.  

May 21--Jay Shatz birthday

=You may not know Jay's name, but he went to college with Dave and I and became a famous television personality in Cincinnati. One day he came into the studio with us to reminisce. 

May 21--Mr. T birthday

=I pity the fool that doesn't listen to my brush with Mr. T. story. I told it in this episode of Minutia Men.

May 22, 2007—Severance radio ads debut 

=Severance is the name of my first novel. Will we play one of them on the show this week?

May 23--Tom Ricketts birthday

=My brush with Tom Ricketts story in this episode of Minutia Men. 

May 23--Joan Collins birthday

=My story about meeting her is a memorable one.  

May 23, 1946—First Chick Fil A opens in Hapeville GA. 

=Our chicken related interview with the San Diego Chicken: 

May 23—World Wrestling day. 

=We interviewed the wrestling legend Jake the Snake Roberts. 

May 24--Mike Toomey birthday

=The WGN-TV comic was on our show a few years ago. He's hilarious.  

May 24—Tommy Chong birthday

=The legendary comedian spent nearly an hour with us just shooting the shit.  

May 24—Rick reads Man with the World’s Longest Name

=You can read it on last week's blog. Or you can hear it here. 

May 25--Mike Myers birthday

=My brush with the Wayne's World star is revealed in this episode.  

May 25--Brian Urlacher birthday

=And my brush with the Chicago Bears Hall of Famer is in this episode.

Studio Walls--May 1, 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.

Here are a few from the archives...

April 28, 2007—Severance video tease

April 28--Jay Leno's birthday. I told my memorable Jay Leno story in this episode of Minutia Men.  

April 28--David Pollock birthday. We talked to the star of Bad News Bears about five years ago.  

April 29—Richard Epcar birthday. The voice over artist superstar was featured on this episode of Minutia Men Celebrity Interview.  

April 29—Jerry Seinfeld birthday. Our old friend Jay Shatz has a great story about meeting Jerry in the 1980s. It takes a twist you will not expect.  

April 30--Al Lewis birthday. Yes, I knew Grandpa Munster. Yes, he was a total nutball. I told the story in this episode.  

April 30--Chet Coppock birthday. The king of Chicago sports talk radio became an Eckhartz Press author, and a Minutia Men guest. 

April 30, 1945—Adolf Hitler kills himself and Eva Braun. Would you believe we have a guest who has a story to tell about that day? Antony Penrose 

May 1—National School Principal’s day. Neil Steinberg story about the principal he really upset in a column.

May 1, 1997 Carol Marin resigns from Channel 5 to protest Jerry Springer's hiring. Her co-anchor Ron Magers appears on our morning show on Oldies 104.3 (audio)  It was memorable.

May 1, 1891—Harvey, Illinois founded. Harvey's hometown boy Tom Dreesen told us a story about the danger of becoming a Cubs fan from Harvey

May 1, 1893—Cracker Jacks unveiled at Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. Harry Caray was not a fan.

May 2--Larry Potash birthday. Larry appeared on the show about six years ago.  

May 2—Franke Previte birthday. Yes, Frankie was once on the show as well.  

May 3, 2023—Last episode of The Goldbergs aired. Hayley Orrantia, who played Erica on the show, came on Minutia Men Celebrity interview shortly after the last episode aired. 

May 3, 1979--The San Diego Chicken was fired by KGB-Radio. It was just the beginning of a great career for Ted Giannoulus (San Diego Chicken), who told us all about it. 

May 3, 1971—All Things Considered debuts on NPR. One of the contributors to that show over the years was Aaron Freeman. He was one of our favorite interviewees. 

May 4, 1970--The Kent State Massacre. We talked to John Filo, the man who took the Pulitzer Prize winning photo that day.  

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?

*One August 8, 2019, we had a very special podcast at the Museum of Broadcasting with special guests Dane Placko and Jay Shatz. (Photo below) (Full show is here)

*August 8, 1977, Ernie Banks was inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame. We have the audio (AUDIO)

*August 10 is Justin Thereaux's birthday. Gene Silver, one of the stars of the Mosquito Coast, written/directed by Justin, was on our podcast a few years ago, and talked about working on that famous streaming classic (Full interview is here)

*August 11, 2017, Rick and Dave fill in on WLS Radio for Bob Sirott. Among our guests that day, Denny Laine, Neil Innes, and Mark Hudson. (Photo below) (Audio is here)

*August 11 is Chris Hemsworth's birthday. We had his stunt double on the show, and he had some great stories about working with Chris and some of the stunts he has performed for him. (Full interview is here)

*August 11 is also Barry Butler's birthday. The best photographer of Chicago was on our podcast a few years ago to talk about the lengths he goes to snap his memorable photographs (Full interview is here)

*August 12, 1994, baseball went on strike. I wrote a song about that incredibly unpopular strike for John Landecker & the Legends (AUDIO)

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 26 is Melania Trump's birthday. We had the author of Inside Melania, Lauren Logiudice, a real live Melania impersonator on the show. (Listen to that here)

April 27 would have been Casey Kasem's birthday. We have the famous "Dog dying" audio outtake of Casey losing it in the studio. (AUDIO)

April 28, 2007, the upcoming book $everance, by me, is announced with this YouTube ad. 

April 28 is Jay Leno's birthday. We have a clip of Jay coming on to John Landecker's show to deny stealing the Dancing Ito's from John (AUDIO)

April 29 is the famous Lee Elia rave out day. This is the first anniversary of that famous tape since the man who recorded it (Les Grobstein) passed away. (AUDIO)

April 29, 1997, Mike Royko passed away. He considered Rick a genius. He was also a die-hard Cubs fan, and we have audio of him explaining what makes a Cubs fan tick (AUDIO)

April 29 is Richard Epcar's birthday. We had the voice over star on our show discussing his incredible career (You can listen to the entire interview here)

April 29 is also Jerry Seinfeld's birthday. Journalist Jay Shatz was on our show and told us the story about the day he interviewed his double-ganger Jerry Seinfeld. (Entire interview is here)