Studio Walls--7-24-24

 

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...

July 21--Spike Manton birthday

=We talked to the razor-tongued devil in this episode.  

 

July 22—National Cowboy Day. 

=One of the cowboys from the show 1883, Eric Nelsen, appeared on our show.  

July 22--Bobby Sherman birthday

=Yes, I have a Bobby Sherman story. I told it in this episode. 

July 22--Governor Jim Edgar birthday

=You won't believe this story.  He once offered me a job.

July 22—Alan Menken birthday. 

=His lyricist Glenn Slater explained the genius behind the man. 

July 22, 2022—Rick appears on Destination Eat Drink podcast 

=On this particular episode I was talking about Ireland. 

July 22, 2023—Pat Hughes inducted in Hall of Fame

=You can see his speech here. 

 

July 23—World Ant Day

=Coyote Peterson told us how painful it was being stung by certain ants.  

July 23—Slash birthday

=Yes, I have a Slash story. It's here. 

July 23--Ray Rayner birthday

=My one and only brush with the Chicago children's TV star of the 60s & 70s.  

July 23, 1965—Moody Blues release debut album. 

=Allan Hewitt was in the Moody Blues, and we talked to him about it. : 

July 23—Monica Lewinsky birthday 

=Max Joseph worked with her, and told us this story.  

 

July 24, 1970—I’m Your Captain released by Grand Funk Railroad

=Would you believe it came to Mark Farner in a dream? That's what he told us.  

 

July 25—Walter Payton birthday

=We have audio of Walter on John Landecker's show. It's on this show.

=Jim McMahon also told us a story about him. 

July 25—Mitzie Shore birthday

=Ross Bennett story about Mitzie told him ‘you’re not funny’ 

 

July 26--Darlene Love birthday

=My personal story about her was told in this episode.  

July 26—Mick Jagger’s birthday

=James Finn Garner and I argued about the Beatles vs. the Stones. 

=Lighting director Chip Monck told us a great Mick Jagger story.  

July 26--Shane Obedzinski birthday

=The star of The Sandlot was on our show a few years ago. 

July 26, 2000—Thomas and the Magic Railroad debuts

=Little Tommy Kaempfer reviewed it. We have the audio.

 

July 27, 1919—Chicago race riots.

=Chicago historian Robert Loerzel explained the story

July 27, 1990—Presumed Innocent (the movie) opens. 

=The writer of the book, Scott Turow, told us all about the film. 

 

Studio Walls--7-17-24

 

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...

July 14, 1857—Frederick Maytag is born. 

=Jim McMahon gets a visit from the washing machine guy while we're interviewing him.  

 

July 15--Jonathon Brandmeier birthday. 

=Danny Bonaduce told us a great story about Johnny B.

July 15--Dr. Ian Smith birthday

=When we talked to the famous TV doctor it was the first week of COVID. Let's just say his predictions were a little bit off. 

July 15, 1973—Release of We’re An American Band by Grand Funk Railroad

=Mark Farner talked to us about his band's most famous album. 

 

July 16—Michael Flatley birthday. 

=Irish actress Amy Shiels told us a great story about having to fake Irish dancing once during an audition.  

July 1-- Shoeless Joe Jackson birthday. 

=The actor who played him in Eight Men Out, DB Sweeney appeared on the show. 

 July 16—-Phoebe Cates birthday

=In this episode I tell my one and only Phoebe Cates story.  

July 16—World Snake Day. 

=Yeah, that's right. We interviewed Jake the Snake Roberts. 

 

July 17--Minutia Men releases  100^th episode (2018)

July 17--Robert Romanus (Fast Times) birthday

=One of our favorite interviews. He sounds exactly the same. 

July 19—Wayne Messmer birthday

=I wrote a parody song for him and made him sing it live on the air once. We have the audio.

 

July 20, 2002—Jimmy Neutron debuts

=The voice of Jimmy, Debi Derryberry, was a great interview. 

Studio Walls--July 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.

Here are a few from the archives...

July 7, 1974—West Germany wins the World Cup, beating Netherlands 2-1. 

=This was the tournament that spurred my love of soccer, and eventually inspired the Free Kicks podcast

July 7, 1899—Adolph Luetgert dies

=Chicago historian Robert Loerzel wrote a book about that crazed killer. He told us all about it in this episode.

July 7—Ringo Starr birthday 

=Felix Cavaliere tells the story of playing in Ringo's All star band in this episode.  

=Bill Schnee tells the story of recording Ringo's album sessions, when all three of the other Beatles showed up.  

***

July 8, 1990—Germany wins the World Cup, beating Argentina 1-0. 

=This was the tournament that restored my love of soccer, and eventually inspired the Free Kicks podcast.

***

July 9, 2005—Adam Greenberg’s only Cub at bat

=One of the all-time great baseball stories.  

July 9, 2006—Men in Blazers stars Roger Bennett and Michael Davies meet at a wedding reception in New York.

=Roger Bennett told us that story in this episode.

July 9, 2019—Chance the Snapper found. 

=Block Club Chicago Editor-in-Chief Shamus Toomey told us the story of the alligator that put his Chicago website on the map.  

July 9, 1971—Grand Funk at Shea Stadium. 

=They sold more tickets in a shorter amount of time than the Beatles did six years earlier. Mark Farner told us more. 

 

***

July 10--Fred Mitchell birthday

=The legendary sportswriter appeared on this episode of Minutia Men Celebrity Interview.

 

***

July 11, 1996—5:30 Club

=This is a video of the John Landecker show's opening segment every morning on WJMK--The 5:30 Club. My age and shape are mentioned. 

July 11, 1960—To Kill a Mockingbird is published. 

=And now it's banned in Florida. Scott Turow talked to us about his thoughts regarding its banning. 

***

July 12, 1979--Disco Demoilition

=This video from that night does a pretty good of explaining the hype.

***

July 13, 2014—Germany wins the World Cup, beating Argentina 1-0. 

=Pretty good week in history for Germany, eh?

July 13—Cheech Marin birthday 

=We interviewed Tommy Chong, who told us all about his ex-comedy partner Cheech.  

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.  

Minutia Men Celebrity Interview Classic: Mark Farner

 

We have now done over 200 interviews on our various Minutia Men podcasts, and this year we're going to revisit some of the best. Mark Farner was the leader of Grand Funk Railroad, a classic rock band in the 1970s. We talked to him about his heady rock and roll days, from the band's sold out Shea Stadium concert, to the massive hit records they released. We even chatted about the evils of corporate radio. Great chat. Worth a relisten.

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.