Do You Remember "Dallas"?

One of my favorite shows of all time.

Do You Remember "Father Knows Best"?

Do You Remember "My Three Sons"?

Heatwave

Most of you have probably heard by now that Los Angeles is having an extreme heatwave. Yesterday it was 113 degrees in downtown Los Angeles which broke the "all time" record for high temperature there. Here in the Santa Clarita Valley, we hit 109 degrees. It's strange because we are usually hotter than downtown L.A.

It's supposed to be a little bit cooler today. Santa Clarita is supposed to be 106 degrees. BIG DEAL...3 degrees cooler. To me, anything over 80 degrees is too hot.

I went out at 7:30 am for my morning walk to beat the heat. It was a little cloudy, so we will probably have some humidity today. We usually have dry heat.

Do You Remember The Nelson Family?

Do You Remember "Theme From A Summer Place"?

To me, the quintessential song of 1960 was "Theme From A Summer Place". I can listen to this song over and over and I never get tired of it. Don't think I ever saw the movie, but I sure love the song. Guess maybe I should rent the movie.

Do You Remember The "Dobie Gillis" Show?

Saturday Morning

Took a very nice 2 mile walk this morning after Ben left for work. The weather was perfect. About in the high 60's. Wanted to get out early because it's supposed to hit 103 deg. here today, so didn't want to be out in that heat. It's not 11:00 am here in SoCal yet and it's already 86 deg. I thought this was supposed to be Fall!

Took a photo from Discovery Park while I was out. If you look closely, you can see the little white dot of a moon in the middle of the picture.

My little wild birds are out on the patio chirping up a storm this morning.

Do You Remember "The Stroll"?

If you watched American Bandstand....you'll remember "The Stroll".

Do You Remember The McGuire Sisters?

Ben's Surgery Finally Scheduled

The surgical scheduler called about Ben's upcoming eye surgery. He is going to our primary doctor Oct. 12th for a pre-op with him, then he is going to his ophthalmologist Oct. 15th for a pre-op with him and then on Oct. 20th he will have the surgery. No details on time yet, she just said it would be in the morning and it takes about 2 hours to do.
I'm heading up to Paradise, CA on October 2nd with my younger brother Keith. We are going for our yearly visit with our older brother Ron. We will be there until October 7th. I am taking my laptop, so hopefully I will have an Internet connection and be able to post photographs of the trip.

Do You Remember Pat Boone?

My "Do You Remember" Posts

It's been getting harder to find information and photos for some of the performers for my "Do You Remember" posts here on my blog, so I hope you don't mind if I just post their videos instead of the photos and a little bio on them. It was taking me a lot of time to find out the little bit of info I did.
Hopefully the videos will bring back memories for some of you.

DO YOU REMEMBER JERRY LEE LEWIS?

Fun Day

My friend Judy came down to Canyon Country from Lancaster, CA today and we went to lunch over at the Route 66 Grill then went shopping. Weather was great and we had fun.

JUDY AT ROUTE 66 GRILL

ME INSIDE THE GRILL

1956 FORD TBIRD

Do You Remember Dion?

Dion Francis DiMucci was born in The Bronx in 1939.
He was one of the most popular American performers before the British Invasion.
Between 1957 and 1960, he formed a group called "The Belmonts".
In 1960, he went solo.
Today Dion pursues prison ministry and reaches out to men going through addiction recovery.
Some of his hits include "The Wanderer" and "Donna The Prima Donna",
His biggest hit was "Run Around Sue".

Do You Remember Fabian?

Fabian was born Fabiano Anthony Forte in 1943 in Pennsylvania.
He was an "overnight sensation" but his career ended in the early 1960's when it was alleged that his voice was electronically altered to improve his voice.
Today, he is involved with the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association.
His songs include "Tiger", "Hound Dog Man" and "Turn Me Loose".

Do You Remember Bobby Vee?

Bobby Vee was born Robert Thomas Velline in 1943. He was born in North Dakota.
His career began amid tragedy. On Feb. 3, 1959 the three headline acts (Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper) in the line-up of the traveling 'Winter Dance Party' were killed in a plane crash on their way to Moorehead, Minnesota. Bobby,then aged 15, and a hastily-assembled band of Fargo, North Dakota schoolboys calling themselves The Shadows volunteered for and were given the unenviable job of filling in for Holly and his band at the Moorhead engagement. Their performance there was a success, setting in motion a chain of events that led to Bobby's career as a popular singer.
Bobby Vee is still touring and performing today.
Some of his hit songs were "Take Good Care Of My Baby", "Rubber Ball", "Devil Or Angel", and "Run To Him". The video below shows him singing "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes".

Do You Remember Buddy Holly?

Buddy was born Charles Hardin Holley in Texas in 1936.
His older brothers taught him to play a variety of instruments including the guitar.
He won a singing talent contest at the age of 5.
In 1955 he "opened" for Elvis.
In 1956 he formed a group called "The Crickets" and got a recording contract.
In 1959 he was killed in a plane crash with Ritchie Valens and J.P "The Big Bopper" Richardson.
Some of his songs were "Oh Boy", "Every Day", "That'll Be The Day" and "Peggy Sue".

Do You Remember The Beach Boys?

The group was initially composed of singer-musician-composer Brian Wilson, his brothers, Carl and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine.
The group was "born" in Hawthorne, CA near the beach.
Many changes in both musical styles and personnel have occurred during their career, notably because of Brian Wilson's mental illness and drug use (leading to his eventual withdrawal from the group) and the deaths of Dennis and Carl Wilson in 1983 and 1998, respectively. Extensive legal battles between members of the group have also played their part. After the death of Carl Wilson, founding member Al Jardine left to pursue a solo career. Currently, the surviving members of The Beach Boys continue to tour in three separate bands: "The Beach Boys Band" with Love, Bruce Johnston, and a rotation of backing musicians; Al Jardine's "Endless Summer Band" with Jardine, his sons, and several former Beach Boys backup musicians; and Brian Wilson with a 10-piece band including members of The Wondermints and Jeff Foskett, who toured with the Beach Boys in the 1980s and 1990s as a backing guitarist/singer.
Some of their biggest hits include "Surfin' USA", "Surfer Girl", "Little Deuce Coupe", "In My Room", "Be True To Your School", "God Only Knows", "Good Vibrations", "Fun Fun Fun" and "Kokomo". Naturally, since I was born and raised in Southern California, my favorite has to be "California Girls".

The Original Beach Boys

Mike Love Today

Brian Wilson Today

Sunday Afternoon

Ben and I went for a Sunday afternoon drive. Thought a few days ago that we were finally heading into Fall, but it's turned hot again here in SoCal. We hit about 97 degrees today. Took a couple of photos while we were out.

My younger brother Keith and I are going to go up to Paradise, CA in northern California in about 3 weeks to visit our older brother Ron. We keep hoping the weather will be cooler by then.

Do You Remember Brenda Lee?

Brenda Lee was born Brenda Mae Tarpley in Georgia in 1944. She is from both the 1950's "rock'n'roll" era and from country music.
At age six, she won a local singing contest sponsored by local elementary schools.
In the mid-1950's she appeared on Red Foley's ABC-TV program Ozark Jubilee. She sang "Jambalaya" and the audience erupted in applause and refused to let her leave the stage until she had sung three more songs.
Her biggest hits include "Sweet Nothin's", "I Wanna Be Wanted", "Fool #1", and "I'm Sorry". But her biggest song ever, and the one people still ask her to sing today, no matter what season it is, is "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree".

I Really Meant To Go For A Hike

This was Ben's Saturday to work, so I decided to go over to Towsley Canyon for a hike. I got over to Towsley around 8:30 a.m. and parked the car then headed up the road towards the trail. I had hiked about one mile, heading for The Narrows when I realized I needed to go to the bathroom. We old people are like that (LOL). When we have to go, we have to go NOW! I was only about 1/4 mile from the restrooms in the Ed Davis Park, so I headed back down the trail to the park. After I did what I went there for, I noticed a sign that read "Nature Center Open Today". I had no idea they even had nature center there. It's a very small one in a room about the size of my living room. There was a very nice volunteer there and she greeted me and since I was the only there, we discussed all of the different displays they had. I stayed for about 20 minutes, looking at the stuffed animals, fossils and Indian relics. After leaving the nature center, I decided to head back down the trail to my car instead of continuing my hike to The Narrows.
As I headed out of the park, I snapped a few photos of what I thing was a black bird of some kind, a baby jack rabbit and some California Quail.

"I Was There" 09/11/2001

09/11/2001

A few years back Ben and I visited the WTC 9/11 Memorial at the Los Angeles Fire Dept. Training School near Dodger Stadium. They have a piece of one of the towers there. When I looked at the piece, I had this urge that I just HAD to touch it and when I did, tears welled up and I could not help but stand there and cry. ...Here is a photo of me in front of that piece of the tower.

Do You Remember Fats Domino?

Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino was born in New Orleans in 1928.
Fats was one of the first "rock'n'rollers in the 1950's.
As a child his brother-in-law, who was twenty years his senior, taught him to play the piano.
He had hits like "Ain't That A Shame", "Whole Lot 'a Lovin'", and "I Wanna Walk You Home". His biggest hit was "Blueberry Hill".
Fats still lives in New Orleans.

Do You Remember June Carter-Cash?

A few posts back, I asked if you remembered Johnny Cash, well do you remember the love of his life June Carter?
Valerie June Carter was born in 1929 in Virginia.
She was a singer, dancer, songwriter, actress, comedian and author who was a member of the Carter Family.
June was born into music. She never thought that she was much of a singer, but she loved writing music and performing for her fans.
She married Johnny in 1968 (he was her third husband) and they had a son, John Carter Cash.
June passed away in 2003 of complications following heart valve replacement surgery.
Her best known song was "Wildwood Flower".

Do You Remember Connie Stevens?

The other day I asked if you remember Edd "Kookie" Byrnes and had a video of him singing "Kookie Lend Me Your Comb" with Connie Stevens.
Connie Stevens was born Concetta Rosalie Ann Ingoglia in Brooklyn, NY in 1938.
She starred in many "B" movies and on the TV series "77 Sunset Strip" with Edd.
Connie is still in the business today and works with the Screen Actor's Guild.

Hummingbirds In Our Back Yard

I've been watching all the little birds in our back yard today. A lot of sparrows, finches and two little hummingbirds. Got some photos of the little hummers.

Do You Remember Johnny Cash?

John R. "Johnny" Cash was born in 1932 in Arkansas. He was the second of 7 children.
At 5 years old, Johnny was working in the cotton fields, singing with his family as they worked.
In 1954, Johnny and his first wife Vivian moved to Nashville where Johnny wanted to become a radio announcer. He worked selling appliances during the day and at night he played guitar for the "Tennessee Two".
He finally got up the courage to go to Sun Records and record a song.
He finally recorded "Cry Cry Cry" and "Hey Porter". Both got radio air time and Johnny was on his way to stardom.
His second wife was June Carter of The Carter Family. They recorded many songs together.
Johnny passed away in 2003 from complications from diabetes.
Some of Johnny's other hits were "Folsom Prison Blues", "Boy Named Sue" and "Ring Of Fire". My favorite was "I Walk The Line".

Do You Remember Edd "Kookie" Byrnes?

Edd Byrnes was born in 1933.
He was best known for playing the character "Kookie" on the TV show "77 Sunset Strip".
He also appeared in several movies, but including the movie "Grease".
Below is a video of him with Connie Stevens (his co-star on "77 Sunset Strip").

Do You Remember Hank Williams Sr.?

Hank Williams Sr. (real name Hiram King Williams) born in 1923.
One of the biggest country stars of all time with songs like "Hey Good Lookin'", "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and "Cold, Cold Heart".
Hank led a hectic life with booze and women. He died at age 29 in 1953 of heart failure.
His biggest hit was "Your Cheatin' Heart".