Some Judy Blume Nostalgia

Hey! Remember the 70’s when author Judy Blume was ALL the rage among schoolkids throughout America? I wonder if kids today can fathom the impact those Blume books had on our generation- the subjects her books explored the topics that every teen or pre-teen went through- from worries, anxieties, peer pressures, etc, all while keeping us entertained with solid stories!

My Judy Blume Collection

The first Judy Blume book I borrowed from the library was her kids’ book  “Freckle Juice”, a story about a boy dealing with his freckles- something I never had to worry about but was entertained throughout nonetheless! At the time I didn't know who this Judy Blume was, just thought it was a fun story...But there would soon be more!

As most of Judy Blume’s books were focused on teenage girls, the stories I first learned from her were not through reading them but through hearing classroom book reports given by girls in class, specifically “Are you There God, It’s Me, Margaret”, “Blubber” and “Deenie”, dealing with menstruation, weight struggles (and bullying) , and scoliosis, the first time I’d ever heard of such a malady.

The book I really fell in love with from her was the 1972 classic “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing”.  The trials of a young lad named Peter Hatcher dealing with all the gradeschool problems as well as a troublemaking younger brother REALLY hit home for me who was living in a SIMILAR situation!!

About this time my younger sister started getting into Judy Blume, and over time amassed a small handful of books. It was through her paperbacks that I finally read most of Blume’s catalog: Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret, Blubber, Tiger Eyes, Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great, Starring Sally J Freedman as Herself, Forever, Iggie’s House, and found that even as a guy I loved them all!

As an adult rebuilding my library to include all my childhood books, I naturally amassed a bunch of Judy Blume books, and wanted to make sure I got all the titles my sister had as well. Here's the thing: I wanted to get those books, but I wanted editions with the same exact covers my sister had on her shelf, NOT an easy feat!

Because while ebay is your friend and there are lots of people selling Judy Blume books, they rarely are the versions I want, and sometimes the dealers DON'T EVEN POST THE CORRECT IMAGES on their auction, totally irking me when the book arrives in the mail and it's some  other variation I don’t want or need! 

For example, THIS is the version of her 1975 book "Forever" that my sister had and I was trying to get:

Found someone selling it on ebay with the exact image and bought it, only for THIS edition to arrive in the mail:

 Look, I understand that some dealers have hundreds of books to deal with, but they REALLY should specify if the item they're selling is not the actual item you're getting! Some do, some don't. 

In the end, it took months and months of auction bidding and buying Judy Blume lots and individual auctions, and at this point, have mostly completed my sister's original collection:

Only missing "Forever", but I suppose I will find it eventually. Gotta keep looking!

PS: I've mentioned this before, but as the household's only other sibling who read books as much as me, my sister's collection of paperbacks was a constant source of new books to check out, especially since they'd usually be girly ones I'd never borrow from the library on my own!

I wrote about the awesome Ellen Conford book The Luck Of Pokey Bloom in an earlier post, and the Judy Blume books are yet another series I learned through her! Thanks, Sis!!

More Misheard Lyrics: Turtle Love!

Back when I was an artist at Tower Records, my friend Holly who was a label rep would sometimes hang out in my room as I painted, and we'd chat about stuff while the radio played.

One time "Good Lovin'" was on the radio, and she said, "Did I ever tell you about when I was a kid and my older brother convinced me they were singing "Turtle Love" in this song?"
I had no idea what she meant until the chorus came uyp and what do you know, it DID sound like they were saying "turtle love" instead of Good Lovin' if you set your mind to it!~

I began cracking up with laughter imagining her going around as a kid singing "Turtle Love", and she soon shook her head and said, "Maybe it was a mistake to tell you that!", making me laugh even MORE!

One, two, Three...TURTLE LOVE!

Just Like Before, It’s Yesterday Once More! Favorite Artists: The Carpenters

My parents had decidedly opposite tastes in music: my Father was into rock acts like Chicago, Steve Miller and Boston, but my mother was into soft vocals and easy listening tunes of artists like Johnny Mathis, Lettermen, Neil Sedaka, and…the Carpenters!

As such I grew up with the songs of Richard and Karen playing in the house for seemingly my whole life, and as I got older, I'd always reminisce fondly over those classic Carpenters tunes from my youth! In a nostalgic mood one day, I picked up their Greatest Hits album “The Singles 1969-1973” and was INSTANTLY taken back to my childhood with all those familiar tunes, “We’ve Only Just Begun”, “Close To You”, “Sing”, “Yesterday Once More” and the awesome “Top of the World”, and WOW did I LOVE it! It became my GO-TO album for awhile there, and it was all my poor friends heard every time they came over!

With all those hit singles, it occurred to me that I was still missing a lot of other songs I grew up with, songs  that came AFTER 1973, like “Please Mr. Postman”, “A Kind of Hush”, “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft”, and the first song I really loved from them, the 1977 single “All You Get From Love Is A Love Song”, and I remedied this with the purchase of the double A&M CD collection “Classics Volume2”, (one of the earliest CDs I ever bought, BTW) and was soon in love with THAT album and songs within as well!

With a newfound love and infatuation with the duo, it was time to venture into The Carpenters’ vast catalog of ALBUMS, and by chance I came across a beautiful LP of their 1976 release “A Kind Of Hush” in a used bookstore, and as the first actual album release of theirs I got, still have a huge sentimental attachment to!

But I couldn’t be restricted to just that ONE album- I was now a huge fan and needed to hear MORE, and soon got all their regular releases: “Ticket To Ride” “Close To You”, “Carpenters”, “Now and Then”, “Horizon”, and the incredible “A Song For You”- I fell in love with them ALL!

Not content with the vinyl, I  had to grab every album on CD, and soon had most of those as well! 

My Carpenters Albums:

My Carpenters CDs

By this point my love of the group was obsessive, and I spent my days perusing the used record shops in search of what collectible 45s I could find- I found quite a few, and was particularly tickled when I found one that my Mother had when we were kids!

My Carpenters 45 Singles

One album that always eluded me was their 1969 LP "Offering”...This was Karen and Richard’s original A&M debut LP, but it did poorly and was withdrawn. Only after the success of “Close To You” was it re-released under the new moniker “Ticket To Ride”, and while that's all very good,  for the consummate Carpenters Collector, the original Offering LP was a MUST HAVE!!!

Sadly I went for many a year without it, that is until the arrival of the internet and auction site EBAY  (the true BOON for collectors!) where I was FINALLY able to get my hands on a dealer with a copy for me to purchase!!!! Words cannot explain how giddy with DELIGHT I was upon receiving THAT one, but the collection continued, with Books, Magazines and MORE to get!

My Carpenters Books, Magazines, Programs

Carpenters Video and Laserdiscs

With the help of ebay,  there were always brand new venues to explore, and for awhile I was even passionate about collecting individual SONG SHEETS for some of their classic songs- these were really just glossy one sheets folded in half, but they were so PRETTY I just had to have them!

My Carpenters Music Song Sheets, Cassettes

In the above picture, you see an envelope on the side and this is an oddity for sure- In the mid 80’s I tried to join the International Carpenters Fan Club advertised on their album sleeves, and sent along my information to the club...only to get a letter back advising that they were CLOSING the club and were no longer accepting memberships! NOOOOO

They DID send along a complimentary postcard in the letter and a xeroxed list of remaining club merchandise if I chose to purchase anything. I ended up getting a program and one book, but was SO bummed being denied the ultimate fan "feather-in-the-cap" status!

It’s funny- The Carpenters are SO cherished and beloved yet they are one act that has no official club anymore. True, there are some fine individual clubs (especially the facebook groups), but  with their legacy only getting bigger and more celebrated as the years go by, isn’t it time to open an OFFICIAL Carpenters Fan Club up again? Come on, A&M! We'’ll be waiting!

More Misheard Lyrics: "I Love The Japanese Lady"

This one wasn't mine but my Mother whose ears somehow scrambled the lyrics to the 1983 Song "Jeopardy" by The Greg Kihn Band and turned it into a confession about a guy's Asian obsession!

Me and my sister were watching MTV and the Jeopardy video came on.  My mother came into the living room and, after watching for a bit, said how funny the video was- "He keeps singing I Love the Japanese Lady, but that woman's not even Asian!" to which me and my sister looked at each other and started cracking up!

"I Love The Japanese LADY? HAHAHA, he's saying "Our Love's in Jeopardy, Baby!" we laughed, to which my Mom shrugged and went back to her cooking. 

 Little did she know she just created a classic that we'd continue to sing OVER the actual song lyrics from then on! Years later Weird Al Yankovic did his own parody of the song with "I Lost on Jeopardy"...

...but for my money, ya can't beat the original parody we heard that day!

Favorite Artists: Petula Clark

The still-fabulous Petula Clark

One of my all-time favorite female vocalists, Petula Clark probably THE female vocallist of the “Swinging Sixties” sound with hits like “Downtown” and “Don’t Sleep in the Subway”, among others!

Growing up, my favorite song from Ms. Clark, or “Pet” as they called her occasionally, was the super-positive, horn blaring single A SIGN OF THE TIMES. I always turned this one up whenever it came on the radio, Petula’s voice always seemed so sincere and happy as she sang the lines “You’ve changed a lot somehow from the one I used to know, ‘cause when you hold me now, it feels like you never wanna let me go!”.

Strangely enough, it wasn’t until I fell in love with ANOTHER one of her singles that I finally decided I’d better pick up an album from her: One day we were all riding down to drop someone off at the Denver Airport, and Pet’s song MY LOVE came on the radio. With its simplistic lyrics, it was one of those songs that everybody knew the words to, and everyone in the car started singing at the tops of their lungs, “MY LOVE IS WARMER THAN THE WARMEST SUNSHINE SOFTER THAN A SIGH MY LOVE IS DEEPER THAN THE DEEPEST OCEAN WIDER THAN THE SKY MY LOVE IS BRIGHTER THAN THE BRIGHTEST STAR THAT SHINES EVERY NIGHT ABOVE, AND THERE IS NOTHING IN THIS WORLD THAN CAN EVER CHANGE MY LOVEEEEEEEEEE!!!!” After the song ended, we all sat around grinning like idiots, that song made us so happy! I said, “Ah, I really must pick up this song the next time I’m a a record store!”

Well, when I finally got down to the record store, I was PLEASANTLY surprised to find that the album “My Love”ALSO featured my old favorite, “A Sign Of The Times”!! I couldn’t believe it! How did I ever miss picking this album up originally?! For a very modest $6.99 I was able to purchase that album and take it home!

Well, for weeks and weeks, that album was my main disc to play almost every track was just pure pop perfection. Arranged and Conducted by Tony Hatch, the sound of Pet’s recordings really had that Phil Spector “Wall of Sound” aura about it, the tunes just blared out with droning horns, banging drums and riffin’ guitars!

Nowadays, young people cannot imagine having to change sides to hear a complete album, but that’s how it was, and sometimes it would happen that you’d get attached to one side more than the other…that’s what happened to me with the My Love album! I had to hear MORE!

This purchase was soon followed by what would become my OTHER favorite album from Pet, “Petula Sings The International Hits” but these were only the beginning of a long and lasting love of all things Petula Clark and I was probably the happiest guy at Tower Records when, years later, they FINALLY got around to re-releasing all of Pet’s albums on CD! 

Thus began my collecting of Petula Clark's immense catalog with GREAT earnest, and it seemed like EVERY new purchase I got from Ms. Clark became YET another hUGE favorite! From her 60's output to her 70's and 80s output an even her early 50's stuff, it was ALL golden and I loved 'em ALL!

My Petula Clark CDs

My Petula Clark Albums, Video

Even into the 2000's with new releases from Petula like "From Now On" and "Lost In You",  there were still songs to captivate me and make those albums a must have as well! Yes, seems even today Petula is still going strong!

And there is HAPPY news for all of us Petula Clark fans as Pet has announced her very own AUTOBIOGRAPHY "Is That You, Petula?" out this coming OCTOBER! 

Already put in my order over at Amazon UK! Ooooh, CAN'T WAIT!

The Days of Disco

Nowadays one would scarcely believe the impact the film Saturday Night Fever (and the whole Disco scene in general) had on the general public, but there was a time where it was simply EVERYWHERE, in particular the "look" of John Travolta's  character Tony Manero and his FAMOUS dancing duds!

Of course the pranksters at MAD Magazine had to have the first crack at it-

But soon even the superheroes in Marvel Comics were on the dance floor shaking their groove things (like the THING in Marvel Two-in One)

Seasame Street had their own fun take on it...

...and even SNOOPY became "the world's Famous Disco Dance" in the strips of PEANUTS!

 TV, Movies, Books, Comcics, if the character had to be "hip" he was down at the discotheque!

Let’s Get Small: On The Subject of Tiny Heroes

With apologies to Steve Martin, I’ve always thought that among the super-powers our comic heroes had, getting small or being tiny had to be among most useless out there. Powers were supposed to make you strong and give you a fighting advantage against your foes- not turn ordinary household appliances and things into deadly weapons!

I laughed when went to my friends’ house and he had these copies of The Atom and Micronauts (both strangely issue 2 of its run) where, due to their powers, are threatened by such mundane things as a lawnmower and…a kitchen sink filled with water?! 

Holy Rick Moranis were these powers useless!
Even Ant-Man himself was defenseless against a tub filled with water in an early issue of Tales To Astonish- imagine having a power that makes taking a bath a deadly proposition!

LOL, it’s probably not a coincidence that by the next issue, Ant Man had given up his shrinking powers and had transitioned into GIANT-MAN!

PS: I remember when I was in college, meeting this girl who had grown up reading her brother's LEGION of SUPER-HEROES collection. I mentioned in passing how boring SHRINKING VIOLET's shrinking powers were, however she made me laugh when she said, "Remember TRIPLICATE GIRL? Now THAT was a ridiculous power!" LOLOL

More Misheard Lyrics: “And I’m Dewey”

In late 1979, a song started airing on the radio that made me immediately think of Donald Duck and his rambunctious nephews, Huey Dewey and Louie, because whenever I heard it, it sounded like the girl was saying:

He was singing

“And I’m Dewey…

And I’m Dewey…

…Delacie!

I’m Dewey DeLacie!”

 I laughingly told my friends “Dunno who this Dewey DeLacie guy is, but in MY mind I'm imagining that she’s singing about Dewey Duck!” We all laughed and from that point on, we’d all sing those words over the song whenever it came on! LOL

The SONG, as it turns out, was the Fleetwood Mac song “Sara”, written and sung by Stevie Nicks from their  1979 album "Tusk" ...

.... and unlike the very silly Disney lyrics I THOUGHT Stevie was singing, I was to later find out that the words were ACTUALLY:

He was singing

 and undoing

and undoing 

the laces

undoing the laces

 These lyrics were referring to her infamous fling with the Eagles Don Henley, her pregnancy and their would be daughter Sara (if Stevie had decided to keep the child).  BOY, to go from Dewey Duck acknowledging himelf to a song about a man serenading a girl while undressing her was quite a 180 degree twist!…and quite a bit darker than I thought!

"Sara" excerpt:

Fleetwood Mac would become one of my favorite groups of all time and the `978 album “Tusk” a classic, but even though I now know the lyrics and song well, there are times when it STILL sounds like she’s singing about Donald Duck’s nephew!

Favorite Artists: Joni James

 

And continuing the lines of the "Things I first Heard About in Charles M Schulz Peanuts" is the name of legendary songstress Joni James, whom it seems was always mentioned in the strips, not only as s favorite singer of Snoopy's:

...but also as a prize for a phone-in contest Linus wanted to win tickets for! (sadly Lucy thwarts his efforts, so no Joni James for him!)

So I've always knew her name, but that was about it. It wasn't until many years later when Kate Bush (another HUGE fave artist of mine) covered the Gershwin classic "The Man I Love" and, falling in love with the mesmerizing vintage vocal stylings of the tune, piqued my interest in delving more into singers and songs of that era. 

But where to start? I had no real idea. Looking up artists of that time who covered George Gershwin (and there were many, many, many!!) for suggestions , I saw the familiar name Joni James and thought- "Ah! THAT'S a name I know- let's go exploring into HER catalog!"

Looking over Joni's HUGE catalog of music, I COULD have started on her Gershwin LP, however, I decided to start in a more chronological order, beginning with her earliest albums "In The Still Of The Night" and "When I Fall In Love".

WELL, to say I liked it is an understatement- I fell head over HEELS with these two albums; as a primer for the singers of the 40's and 50's, I felt it a WONDERFUL introduction- wistful, dreamy vocals and soothing orchestral backdrops- I was in LOVE!  Over and over I played those two albums and  I soon had to invest in MORE of her music, bit by bit, album by album (well, CD)  til I think I own (almost) all of them in some form or another!

My Joni James CD Collection:

Platinum & Gold: The MGM Years

Legendary: Platinum & Gold Hits

Let There Be Love 

Little Girl Blue

When I Fall in Love

In the Still of the Night

Sings Songs by Victor Young and Frank Loesser/

Sings Songs by Jerome Kern and Harry Warren

Merry Christmas from Joni/ Give Us This Day

Among My Souvenirs/ Joni Sings Irish Favorites 

Je T'aime... I Love You/Ti Voglio Bene... I Love You(1961)

Songs of Hank Williams / Country Style 

Joni Swings Sweet/Bossa Nova Style 

100 Strings and Joni

100 Strings & Joni In Hollywood /100 Strings & Joni On Broadway

Joni After Hours/ Like 3 O'Clock in the Morning

I Feel a Song Coming On/Put On A Happy Face (2x)

Something for the Boys/ I'm Your Girl

My Favorite Things/ Joni Sings the Gershwins

Italianissima!/Folk Songs by Joni

 The MOOD Recordings:

The Mood is Blue/The Mood is Romance/ The Mood is Swinging

 Joni James LPs

In the Still of the Night

Little Girl Blue

100 Strings & Joni

100 Strings & Joni in Hollywood

Give Us This Day

According to online stats, Charles M Schulz and Joni James were friends in real life, no wonder her name came up so often in his strips- Snoopy himself even appeared on the COVER of one of Joni's later collections "Jukebox Joni"!

How sweet is that!