My Beverly Cleary Collection!

Been organizing my shelves of Childrens' Books after digging out those Halloween classics a few weeks ago, and bringing out all my beloved Beverly Cleary books to scan, thought it might be interesting to take some pictures of them for posterity! 
   Up first are the Hardcover books, and these are the ones I treasure most because they're the ones that I grew up with, the ones that I read and re-read all through grade school and made me fall in love with all things Beverly Cleary!!  Through Rummage Sales and Ebay, I've managed to get my hands on just about every book edition I loved as a kid, though there are some (like "Socks") that I only have in later paperbacks.
  Next are the Dell Yearling Paperbacks that came out in the 80's that I remember my little sister bringing home from the library, at the time, the covers looked so strange and modern, now when I look at them I get the same feelings of nostalgia as the original Louis Darling/Alan Tiegreen/ etc covers!
  Then we've got the miscellaneous paperbacks and books (including the VERY interesting Beverly Cleary autobiographies where you found that so much stuff in her books happened to her in real life!(My Own Two Feet, for instance, is almost a dead-on same story as "The Luckiest Girl", they are THAT similar!) , and finally, some fun audio books-you haven't heard the Ramona story til you've herd it read by Stockard "Rizzo" Channing and Henry Huggins read by Neal Patrick "Doogie Howser" Harris!

 Hardcover Books:

Henry Huggins, Henry and the Clubhouse, Ribsy, Henry and the Paper Route, Henry and Beezus, Henry and Ribsy, Emily's Runaway Imagination, Mitch and Amy, Otis Spofford, The Luckiest Girl, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Runaway Ralph, Ramona Quimby, Age 8, Ramona Forever, Ramona the Brave, Ramona the Pest, Beezus and Ramona, Henry Huggins 50th Anniversary Edition

Beverly Cleary Hardcover Books

Dell Yearling Paperbacks (Joanne Scribner covers)

Henry Huggins, Henry and Ribsy, Henry and the Clubhouse, Henry and Beezus, Ribsy, Emily's Runaway Imagination, Ramona Forever, Ramona Quimby, Age 8, Ramona and Her Mother, Beezus and Ramona, Runaway Ralph, Socks

Beverly Cleary Dell Yearling Paperbacks (Joanne Scribner Covers)

Other Paperbacks and Books

The Mouse and The Motorcycle, Ramona and Her Father, Ellen Tebbits, Ralph S. Mouse, Ramona's World, Strider, Dear Mr, Henshaw, Otis Spofford, Fifteen, Henry and the Paper Route, A Girl From Yamhill, My Own Two Feet

Other Beverly Cleary Paperbacks and Books + her two autobiographies

Audio Books:

Ramona Forever, Henry Huggins

Beverly Cleary Audio Books: Ramona the Pest and Henry Huggins

I have a friend who was lucky enough to have met Ms. Cleary back in the seventies and is a proud owner of a personalized copy of "The Mouse And The Motorcycle", I sadly have never had a chance to meet her (yet!!!) but I was able to acquire copies of "Henry Huggins" and "Ramona Forever" autographed by Beverly Cleary through the internet! You can be sure that these are the crowns of my collection!

My Autographed Beverly Cleary books: Henry Huggins and Ramona Forever

Favorite Albums: Buddy Holly "20 Golden Greats"

I’ve always been quite fascinated by the Fabulous Ffties (and what kid growing up in the seventies wasn’t? With movies like American Graffiti and Grease out and TV Shows like Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley, we were simply inundated with the stuff! HWne me and my friend began showing an interest in learning more of the music from that golden era, my friend’s mother introduced us to some of her LPS, and one of the ones I absolutely LOVED was a nifty little “Greatest Hits” collection of sorts by Buddy Holly called “20 Golden Greats”
 As the song implies, it was a record of 20 songs with 10 songs per side, and what awesome songs they were! First off I was amazed at just how many of Buddy Holly’s songs I already KNEW, with songs like “That’s Be The Day”, Everyday”, and "Maybe Baby” to name a few, but it was  equally surprising to find that even the songs I hadn’t heard before were soooo sooo good too! Songs like “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore, Peggy Sue Got Married” and “Think It Over” were pure pop masterpieces, and songs like “Oh Boy!”,“Rave On” and the kickin’ Chuck Berry classic “Brown Eyed Handsome Man” were as rock ‘n’ Rollin’ as you got!  And songs Like “True Love Ways and “Raining In My Heart” really captured that pure 1950’s essence that made me feel like I was being transported back to those days! After a few weeks of listening to the LP at his house, I HAD to go out and get my own!

I don’t know who chose these particular songs to make up this collection, but I want to shake his or her hand. Through the years I’ve gotten quite a few Buddy Holly collections, but none have had the perfect balance of pop, rock and ballads to them like 20 Golden Greats had. It was just perfection!

  The cover for 20 Golden Greats was pretty basic: Just a brick wall with the words “Buddy Holly Lives” sprayed on it, so I would spend the entire time listening to the record reading and re-reading the song credits on the back of the album with a stoic Buddy Holly  photo smiling down  upon me. But the words that summed it up best was the text above the picture of Buddy: “In Just 18 Months, Buddy Holly Recorded 9 Top Ten Smash Hits. He Was Ahead Of His Time. He Died Before His Time. His Music Lives On.”

The Comedy Of Errors with the Honeydrippers

   Back in the 80's when Led Zeppelin was a thing of the past and the reunions still to come, there emerged several acts to keep the faith alive as it were, among them the Paul Rodgers/Jimmy Page unit THE FIRM,  and the swingin' Robert Plant/Jimmy Page project THE HONEYDRIPPERS!
Me and my friends loved both of them, but by far the one we loved best was the fun loving  Honeydrippers album, VOLUME ONE.
  I remember during the first few weeks of its release, thinking what a bone head our local DJ was because he kept referring to the group as the honeyDIPpers. as if the members all had Chicken McNuggets needing some sweet topping sauce. but I shouldn't have spoke too soon because later I found MYSELF on the end of a misheard line:
 When it came out that the HoneyDrippers was named after a line in the Led Zeppelin' song "Black Dog",  I said, "I don't remember them saying Honey Drippers in Black Dog?" My friend said, "Sure they do, it goes 'Hey hey baby when you walk that way, watch your honey drip, can't keep away', remember?",  to which I remarked, "Huh! I always thought he was saying 'Watch your heartache trip can't keep away'"! D'oh, I took a LOT of heat for that one!
  Anyway, with songs like "I Got a Woman" and the much MTV played "Sea Of Love", it was a great addition to our Led Zeppelin collection, and the song we loved most was the Jazz Swinging "Rocking At Midnight", a song we'd blast every time it came on the air!
  So a few years later and I'm cruising in the car with some friends from college, when I bring out a cassette with the Honeydrippers on it and tell them, "Hey guys, here's a kick ass album you'll all remember" and launch right into Rocking At Midnight, blasting it for all it was worth! 
  One of my friends jumps up and yells, "Holy CRAP, I LOOOOOOVVEE THIS SONG!!! This was  my FAVORITE back then!!! HELL YEAH, blast it...." before tapering off to a quiet  "Wait...what IS this?" I'm like, "Dude, It's Rocking At Midnight" by the Honeydrippers!", to which he replied, "WHO? I never heard of them OR this song before." He certainly was disappointed. 
  "Dude", I began again, "You were so excited, who did you THINK this was?" to which he sheepishly said " Aw Man, I thought you were playing 'The Curly Shuffle'!" Oh MAN, me and my friends all fell about the floor cracking up!!! From Led Zeppelin to the Three Stooges, it was priceless!!!
 Years later and I'm  ripping a bunch of compilations songs and arranging them on my harddrive, and come across the aforementioned Curly Shuffle by the hilarious Jump N The Saddle Band on it,  and as I listened to it, I heartily laughed out loud... I have to cut my friend some slack, there IS sort of a resemblance, after all!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA