Professor Mikey’s OLD SCHOOL

OS#64 Tales of the Unexpected

Hey Professor Mikey dropping into your audio rotation with Old School. If you are a follower of the podcast, you’ll know we usually have better organized themes than what I’m going to throw at you next. None of these songs were huge hits, in fact the most nostalgia driven listeners may not recognize any of this. The Boomers, the Millennials, the Gen-Exers, the GEICO Caveman, all tossed into a dark room with big speakers.I’m even going to borrow a great title. Tales of the Unexpected was a fun TV series that ran 112 episodes from 1979-1988 and will be on YouTube when your great grandchildren are watching it on their sneakers.. Before that Tales of the Unexpected was a great DC comics published 106 issues from 1956-1968. It was mostly sci fi anthology, although there were some great recurring characters including  Space Ranger, Automan, Green Glob, and Spaceman-At-Work.I will put links into the newsletter, which you can get for free simply by typing professormikey.substack.com.Comics:https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Tales_of_the_Unexpected_Vol_1TV EpisodesThe only thing the TV show or the comic book have in common with what is all cued up is the Unexpected. Surprises every time you drop the needle. Certainly the first podcast to ever include Creedence when they had another name, Yma Sumac whose name backwards really Amy Camus, some British invasion that never got off the boat, and at least one song the censors banned because it sounded like a duet making loud passionate love on prime time radio.Go figure. Not everything has a great plan, but this one is a real getaway. Professor Mikey’s Old School, Number 64, “Tales of the Unexpected.”Babalu  YMA SUMAC 1952Larf and Sing  FAMILY 1971Itty Bitty Pieces  THE ROCKIN’ BERRIES 1963The Janitor Drives a Cadillac PAPA JOHN CREACH 1971Nerds  THE ROCHES 1980 Fight Fire  THE GOLLIWOGS 1966 My Name is Jack  MANFRED MANN 1968Dust My Blues ELMORE JAMES 1955Uncle Willie ZOOT MONEY 1964Little Girl JOHN AND JACKIE 1958Bring It to Jerome BO DIDDLEY 1956Professor Mikey hopes you enjoyed these Tales of the Unexpected. The playlist was not approved by a programming committee or a focus group. Back in the beautiful days of freeform radio, this is often how shows came together. Browsing through the music library, picking what feels right. Pearl diving along the bottom of the Sea of Love. Finding tunes that have been waiting for you for years.To receive new posts as well as access to the files of forgotten favorite, remember that Professor Mikey's OLD SCHOOL is a reader-supported publication. Consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. At least share. Or do a no strings attached YouTube subscribe.Old School is produced for educational purposes. Any and all music heard in this program resides within the public domain, is licensed through the podcast carrier, or is used within the guidelines of fair use provided for in Section 107 of the copyright act of 1976. You sharing what you like is a great way to get the word out. Subscribing on YouTube means you will never miss a rocking discovery. The newsletter remains free and those subscribers hear the new podcasts first. Subscribe anytime at professormikey.substack.com.Since we are in a good collaboration kumbaya mood, lets close with a song about working together and appreciating those who help our dreams come true. Jerome Green played maracas and provided vocals in Bo Diddley’s band. Some of Bo’s greatest songs involves hard charging call and response with his friend and bandmate. From Bo Diddley’s first album in 1956, here is Bring It To Jerome I’m Professor Mikey, thanks for listening.  This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe

SPRING BREAK ‘74

Hey and welcome to a special edition of Old School. I’m Professor Mikey. My lesson plans are all about digging into the lost world of 20th century rock and roll and listening to records rather than delivering lectures, assigning homework, issuing grades. It’s all pass, no fail.Last year we had our first 50th anniversary rite of spring party with episode 44. You can hear it anytime by searching Spring Break 73. It racked up thousands of hits last year, which tells me we had older listeners grooving on the music of their glory days, and even more younger ones  who feel they were born to late, to late for the cool that settled upon the earth before  algo rhythms and cell phones.Now it is 1974. The tunes are still rocking but there are signs that a dance craze is on the horizon. Disco is being born, just as  the Watergate scandal dies down. President Nixon will turn in his resignation before the end of summer. Also a bare assed craze is sweeping the country. It involves people jumping out of their clothes and jogging in their birthday suits, wherever they can find a large crowd. It’s called streaking, and it’s just weird. But that’s the naked truth.The times are still changing. Nineteen year old heiress Patricia Hearst, kidnapped by the radical lefties of the Symbionese Liberation Army in January, has now joined the group and is helping with bank robberies and demands to feed the poor and bring about social change through violence and regular meals. Skylab just spent 84 days in space. Right in the middle of spring break, Hank Aaron will break Babe Ruth’s record by hitting the 715th home run of his career. Muhammad Ali is in training to fight George Foreman around Halloween.And though it isn’t making headlines, the annual tradition of spring break is swerving toward the drunk and crazy spectacles that will evolve in the next couple of decades.So much for history. Now lets hear some tunes. What got played at beach raves and beer busts was a mixture of Top 40, underground, and the freewheeling fabulous foundations of funk. For our purposes the music selection boundaries fall between September of 73 and about May of 74. It’s long on music, but there’s some sound bites of the time, in this the last year of beach blanket bingo before JAWS becomes part of pop culture.Get ready to slice some sand, chill some Lone Star, fall in love with a stranger, and introduce another Endless Summer with a Spring that is hardly silent.We start with where we have landed in our time traveling Mustang. It’s the Golden Age of Rock and Roll by Mott the Hoople. It’s not me doing the introduction, but I think this guy sounds great. This is Professor Mikey’s Old School…Spring Break 74!!!Professor Mikey’s Old School is on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, Pandora, anywhere you get your podcasts. It’s a crapshoot whether or not YouTube will have it on my channel because they are so strange about what music they block and what they post, even though every song included in Old School mixes can be found elsewhere, streaming away on YouTube with no problem. Last years 50th anniversary show entitled Spring Break ‘73. In case you missed it, the links are below. Enjoy your Spring Break!1974The Golden Age of Rock and Roll  MOTT THE HOOPLERock On DAVID ESSEXLa Grange Z Z TOPThe Wild One SUZI QUATROStone Cold Crazy QUEENThe Loco-Motion GRAND FUNK RAILROADSneaking Sally Through the Alley ROBERT PALMERThe Man Who Sold the World  LULU1984  DAVID BOWIEDon’t Eat the Yellow Snow  FRANK ZAPPABad Company  BAD COMPANYBoogie Down  EDDIE KENDRICKSDancing Machine  JACKSON 5The Streak RAY STEVENSJungle Boogie KOOL AND THE GANGBaby’s On Fire BRIAN ENOI Don’t Want to be President BILLY VERAFunky President (People It’s Bad) JAMES BROWNThe Holdup DAVID BROMBERGLong Tall Glasses (I Can Dance) Leo SayerMust Have Got Lost J. GEILS BANDRock and Roll Heaven THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERSYou Make Me Feel Brand New THE STYLISTICSI’m in Love with a Girl BIG STAR This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe

OS62 “Pharmaceutical Grade Rock and Roll”

Coming to you live on a podcast, it’s Old School with Professor Mikey. Professor, not doctor. I can’t diagnose what is bothering you. I can’t write you a prescription. But I can replace a hypodermic needle with the kind that plays records from all over the last half of the 20th century that will make you feel better and help you tolerate an overdose of traffic on the way home.Most of these prescriptions were written for or by artists who were feeling under the weather until they visited their doctor. There they would find any and every malady could be cured with a little Vitamin L. When I talk about LUV (shangri las) Fill out the questionnaire. Do you feel you listen to too much music? How many times a week do you feel you have lost interest in everything? Crank up the Old School podcast and call me in the morning. Time to scrub up, find a vein for the IVs, have a martini and an MRI, and see how many beats per minute you are getting from the blood pessure cuff. How can you snap your fingers while wearing a pulse oximeter?This show is a medical emergency, a therapeutic necessity, a fast ride in a hot rod of an ambulance, and you can get it over the counter.  Purely organic Aretha Franklin, Blue Oyster Cult, Ray Charles, the Thompson Twins and many more at the door.  Zero deductible but if you would subscribe it would help the out of pocket expenses.Here to check your vitals is Felix Cavaliere…and the Young Interns. I mean the Young Rascals! It’s Old School #62: Pharmaceutical Grade Rock and Roll.💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊💊RX GRADE PLAYLIST GOOD LOVE The Rascals (1966)BAD CASE OF LOVING YOU Robert Palmer (1978) EMERGENCY Jefferson Airplane (1968)ROCKIN PNEUMONIA AND BOOGIE WOOGIE FLU Huey “Piano” Smith and the Clowns (1957)DOCTOR DOCTOR Thompson Twins (1984) CALL THE DOCTOR J. J. Cale (1972)DR FEELGOOD Aretha Franklin (1967)I DON’T NEED NO DOCTOR Ray Charles (1966)DOCTOR DOCTOR The Who (1966)MY DARK HOUR Steve Miller Band (1966)ROCK AND ROLL DOCTOR Little Feat (1978)MR PHARMACIST The Other Half (1982)      DR. STONE The Leaves (1967)     HEART ATTACK AND VINE Tom Waits (1980)CURE FOR PAIN Morphine (1993)TWISTED Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross (1961)DR MUSIC Blue Oyster Cult (1979)THE HOSPITAL SONG 10cc (1973)RUN THAT BODY DOWN Paul Simon (1972)I DON”T NEED NO DOCTOR Humble Pie (1971)HIT TAKERS1. David Bowie (1947-2016): In 1976, Bowie suffered a serious cocaine addiction and faced physical and mental health issues. He sought medical care, underwent rehabilitation, and eventually conquered his addiction. 2. Eric Clapton (b. 1945): Clapton battled alcohol and drug addiction in the early ’70s. He sought help through rehab, embracing sobriety, and focusing on his music. 3. Mick Jagger (b. 1943): In 1979, Jagger underwent heart valve replacement surgery in New York. The rock icon recovered successfully and resumed his energetic performances. 4. Keith Richards (b. 1943): Richards struggled with substance abuse during the ’70s and ’80s. While he initially resisted medical intervention, he eventually sought help for his addictions. 5. Lemmy Kilmister (1945-2015): Diagnosed with diabetes in the ‘80s, the Motörhead frontman managed the condition while continuing to rock. Lemmy’s resilient spirit kept him performing until his passing. 6. Freddie Mercury (1946-1991): In the mid-’80s, the Queen vocalist faced rumors about his health, later revealed to be complications from AIDS. Mercury sought medical care but kept his diagnosis private until shortly before his death. 7. Steven Tyler (b. 1948): The Aerosmith lead singer struggled with substance abuse throughout the ’70s and ’80s. Tyler eventually sought rehabilitation, leading to a successful recovery. 8. Joe Perry (b. 1950): Aerosmith’s guitarist, Perry, faced health issues related to drug abuse in the late ‘70s. He sought medical care and overcame his addiction, contributing to the band’s continued success. 9. Syd Barrett (1946-2006): The founding member of Pink Floyd faced mental health challenges in the late ’60s, leading to his departure from the band. Barrett struggled with mental illness and withdrew from the public eye for the rest of his life. 10. Keith Moon (1946-1978): The legendary drummer of The Who battled alcohol and drug addiction, contributing to his erratic behavior. Moon’s excesses eventually led to his untimely death at the age of 32. Despite his struggles, he left an enduring mark on rock history.Professor Mikey’s Old School ©️2024 by Mike Flanagan, realprofessormikey@gmail.com and ProfessorMikey.Substack.com This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe

OS Single: ”Spring Sprang Sprung” by Jack Fascinato (1959)

Jack Fascinato had a couple of claims to fame.  First, he was the conductor and arranger for the little old pea picker Tennessee Ernie Ford.  He was also the musical director for an early day kid’s TV show called Kukla, Fran, and Ollie.  Zany puppets and top selling religious albums weren’t enough for Fascinato, he had to put his own orchestra together and in 1959, record an album that has been called the holy grail of space age pop.  Music From a Surplus Store featured traditional instruments being played alongside tools and hardware.  This cut features “stressed helical springs plucked with a surplus Medical Corps scalpel.”  Really.  Move over rock and roll, it’s time to get really weird.  Jack Fascinato and “Spring, Sprang, Sprung.” This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe

OS Special: ”1964, A Beatles Story”

“Why--hello, dear. Now tell me quickly, which one are you?”                                     -- Sheila Graham to George Harrison“We came out of nowhere with funny hair, looking like marionettes or something. That was very influential. I think that was really one of the big things that broke us--the hairdo more than the music, originally.  A lot of people’s fathers had wanted to turn us off. They told their kids, “Don’t be fooled, they’re wearing wigs.”                                                                                   —Paul McCartneyThe buildup was boss. Fab. Gear. The Beatles had been wowing England since January of 1963 when “Please, Please Me” had topped their charts. Without an internet or an American label push, their reach across the Atlantic had dragged.  When George Harrison visited his sister in the summer of ’63, news of it barely rippled. One local newspaper said “the next Elvis Presley” was visiting,” When his sister Louise introduced her brother that was yet to be called “the quiet Beatle, her friends just didn’t get it.The going rate for a phenom on the Sullivan show was $50,000 for three performances, set in 1956 by Elvis Presley. In Nov 1963, Ed was visiting London when he offered Beatles manager Brian Epstein $10,000 for one performance. Brian was aware of the Elvis number, but more than the money, he was interested in the exposure. He countered with an offer that his Beatles would play three shows for the same amount if they could open and close each show. Ed thought he had gotten the best of them.  All the goodwill hit the fan the night of Jan 3 when NBC’s Tonight Show host Jack Paar aired some BBC footage of the Beatles wowing swinging London. Ed wanted to be the first and he was pissed. Brian wanted Ed to be the first and he was pissed, charging his lawyers to rattle legal swords at the BBC. The network felt his pain, but could not take back time. Ed railed and threatened but cooler heads prevailed. The show was on.The Beatles, their entourage and a crew of British journalists on Pan Am Flight 101  from Heathrow, landed at JFK Friday, Feb 5. The band emerged, waved to thousands of screaming fans, and were hustled straight to their first American press conference, a cheeky affair of thick Liverpudlian quips, cigarettes, and a refusal to sing a song.  “We need money first,” said John.Then it was off in the limo, radio blasting.“We were so overawed by American radio, Epstein had to stop us: we phoned every radio in town, saying, ‘Will you play the Ronettes doing this?’ We wanted to hear the music. We didn’t ask for our own records, we asked for other people’s. In the old days we listened to Elvis, of course, Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Little RIchard and Eddie Cochran, to name but a few, but now we liked Marvin Gaye, The Miracles, Shirelles, all those people.”                                                                                         --John LennonIf there was any worry, it was over George Harrison’s health. He had been out of the groove since a series of Paris shows. Alll he wanted to do was check into the interconnecting ten rooms in the suites that had been rented on the twelfth floor of the Plaza Hotel and get to bed. On Saturday John, Paul, and Ringo strolled forth into the drizzle of Central Park for photos. Then they visited the CBS Studios on 53rd Street where they were required to join AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) before performing on live television.  George stayed down, the doctors having put his sister Louise in charge of his care.Exactly what was troubling him has been reported as tonsillitis, strep, and flu. His temperature was 104° on Saturday afternoon and Harrison missing the big show was a real possibility.  Road manager Neil Aspinall stood in for camera run throughs on Sunday.  Said early biographer Hunter Davies in The Beatles: The Authorized Biography (McGraw, Hill, 1968): “George was by this time ill in bed and it appeared he would miss the Ed Sullivan Show. Neil stood in for the rehearsal but George managed the show, filled with dope.”His wit was the first thing to heal.  The famed well wishing telegram arrived backstage, signed “Elvis and the Colonel,” and George answered “Elvis who?”That Sunday afternoon, before the first live broadcast, they taped their segments for the third Sullivan appearance that would run on Feb 23 after their return to England.  Sandwiched in between, the second show would come Feb 16 in sunny Miami. There they rehearsed in swimsuits, were photographed in a pool for the cover of LIFE, and visited Cassius Clay at the gym where he was training for his upcoming title fight with Sonny Liston.Competition for Sunday night viewing on Feb 9 included Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color with an episode of a Robin Hood series. Gryndl a sitcom with Imogene Coca, and “Arrest and Trial,” a 90-minute drama on ABC rounded out the three-network lineup. A whopping 60% of American televisions tuned to Ed and CBS. The Rev. Billy Graham said he broke his rule of no TV on the sabbath to see what the fuss was about.Brian Epstein paced, nervous and precise. At one point as the countdown had begun he collared Sullivan and said “I would like to know the exact wording of your introduction.” Ed barked back: “I would like you to GET LOST.”Then it was showtime, 8 P.M. EST. The same viewing community wouldn’t get together in these numbers until a man walked on the moon. The hype had hit blg, now it was time to see if the Brits with a big song could back it up. Seventy-three million people, all there for put up or shut up time.Sullivan greeted his live audience of 728.. That many out of 50,000 had gotten in.  Walter Cronkite and Richard Nixon had both pulled strings for their daughters’ tickets. Leonard Bernstein got turned down.Our master of ceremonies raised his hands, the hard nosed newspaper columnist who had fought his way to the top in his own dull but special way (“Quiet down kids, these are ambassadors of goodwill”). He cited the Elvis telegram and threw the show to commercials from Aero Shave and Griffin Shoe Polish. Clean shaved and shoes shined, America was back.“Now yesterday and today our theater’s been jammed with newspapermen and hundreds of photographers from all over the nation, and these veterans agreed with me that this city never has witnessed the excitement stirred by these youngsters from Liverpool who call themselves The Beatles. Now tonight, you’re gonna twice be entertained by them. Right now, and again in the second half of our show. Ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles! Let’s bring them on.”                                                                                  --Ed SullivanFirst song: “All My Loving (Video from Ed Sullivan Show unavailable.)Author: McCartney 100%  “It was the first song I ever wrote where I had the words before the music. I wrote the words on a bus on tour, then we got the tune when I arrived there.”Lennon: “‘All My Loving is Paul I regret to say...because it’s a good piece of work. But I play a pretty mean guitar in back.” First recorded: July 30, 1963, Abbey Road, 13 takesSecond song: “Till There Was You” (Video from Ed Sullivan Show unavailable)Author: Meredith Willson, for the 1957 Broadway musical The Music Man, originally sung by Robert Preston and Barbara Cook.Note: During the Sullivan show, this was the song where their first names were superimposed because many were still trying to figure out who was who,  “Paul,” “Ringo,” “George,” “John-Sorry girls he’s married.”First recorded: July 18 and 30, 1963, Abbey Road, 8 takesThird song: “She Loves You”Author: Lennon 50%, McCartney 50% (Lennon: “It was written together. It was Paul’s idea. Instead of singing ‘I Love You’ again, we’d have a third party.” Written in a Newcastle hotel room after a performance June 26, 1963.Released in UK Aug 23, 1963, entering the charts at #2.  Stayed at #1 for 6 total nonconsecutive weeks and sold 1.3 million copies, the biggest hit in the UK in 1963.Capitol and Vee Jay refused to release in the US after poor performances by the previous two singles. Epstein persuaded Swan records to release it and it spent 14 weeks on the US charts. The week it hit #1 in March, the Beatles had 5 songs in the Billboard Top 40. It was the group’s first million seller.First recorded July 1, 1963, Abbey Road, takes unknown.Following those first three songs, magician Fred Kaps  got the honor of flipping through some card tricks. He was followed by members of the Broadway cast of Oliver! singing “I’ll Do Anything.” Future Monkee Davy Jones performed with the ensemble that night and he was a little Dickens. Next Georgia Gibbs of the same ensemble performed “As Long As He Needs Me.”Impressionist Frank Gorshin, two years out from donning the green question mark tights for the Riddler role on TV’s Batman, was next introduced. His bit was, “Wouldn’t it be funny if Hollywood personalities decided they wanted to get into politics?” The fantasy ran on with imagined campaign speeches by Broderick Crawford, Marlon Brando, and Kirk Douglas.A medley from Ireland’s Tessie O’Shea, 51, followed (“the peroxide pumpkin...turns into a boisterous Cinderella” the New York Times had said in a recent show review), then the rushed comedy of McCall and Brill.Another commercial, and the Beatles were at long last returned.Fourth song: “I Saw Her Standing There”Author: McCartney 80% Lennon 20%The authors say the song was written in Paul’s living room while playing hooky.Lennon: “That’s Paul doing his usual good job of what George Martin used to call ‘a potboiler.’ I helped with a couple of the lyrics.”Working title: “Seventeen”B-side in the US of “I Want to Hold Your Hand”Recorded: Feb 11, 1963, Abbey Road, 17 takes.Fifth song: “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”Author: Lennon 50%, McCartney 50% (Lennon: “We wrote a lot of stuff together, one on one, eyeball to eyeball...we were in Jane Asher’s house, downstairs in the cellar playing on the piano at the same time...Paul hits this chord and I turn to him and say ‘That’s IT!’ I said,“Do that again!” In those days we really used to absolutely write like that, both playing into each other’s noses,”Recorded Oct 17, 1963, Abbey Road, 17 takes.Notes: Released in UK Nov 29, 1963, debuted at #1 and stayed for 7 weeks.  By Jan 17, 1964, sold 1.5 million.Released in US Jan 13, 1964 after being leaked unofficially since before Christmas. First US #1, held that position for 7 weeks and spent another 14 in the Top 40. Capitol Records finally got on board, the huge some of $50,000 was spent to promote just this single, and receptionists were instructed to answer the phones, “Capitol Records, the Beatles are coming.”The Beatles were almost the last act. Perhaps adrenalin had kicked in for the performers, the show was a little short, so stand by acrobats Wells and the Four Fave got to tumble for their lives in front of an audience they could never have imagined. Hey!!Following the show, disc jockey Murray the K., who had been “adopting” the band on his daily show on WINS radios, took the three healthy Beatles to chow at the Playboy Club. George went back to bed. From dinner, the entourage boogalooed to the Peppermint Lounge at 128 West 45th Street in Manhattan, where they danced until 4 A.M.For such a world and culture changing event, much of the media chose to play things reserved and underwhelmed, responding more to a shipment of 35,000 Beatle wigs arriving in New York than what Ed Sullivan had wrought the night before. The New York Herald said the Beatles were “”75% publicity, 20% haircut, and 5% lilting lament.” “Asexual and homely,” snipped the Washington Post in a terse dismissal.The best reviews came from law enforcement. It was reported that the crime rate in America was lower during the show than at any time in the past half-century. New York police precincts noted a drop in juvenile crime. All five boroughs reported zero hubcap theft during the entire Sullivan airing. (Snopes reported in our era that this was an urban legend.)The Beatles on Ed Sullivan was the giddiest high point of the 60s, a turbulent and joyful conclusion to the first wild weekend of the British Invasion. Much of the audience thought that this was the apogee of the ultimate for the Fab Four, still clueless of what had just launched. Others were gobsmacked on the Epiphany level, drawn to rock, roll, and originality in ways that had never occurred to them. Within a decade, analysts would be asking their clients their favorite Beatle as a first insight into their souls.Recalling the event on her 59th wedding anniversary with her husband Charlie Brill in 2014, Mitzi McCall remembered, “For us it went lousy. It was terrible. We were doing a sketch. We couldn’t hear each other because of the screaming”  After a pause she reflected and referred to the evening as a sort of “honor.”“We were there when the world changed.” Professor Mikey's OLD SCHOOL is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support the educational mission of bringing 20th century rock to modern listeners consider becoming a free or paid “The past is a blast.” This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe

OS Special LIFE AFTER BUDDY

It has happened every February 3 since 1959. Waking to the news of one of rock music’s earliest tragedies, the plane crash that claimed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper near Clear Lake, Iowa.Holly was 22, Valens 17, J. P. Richardson the Bopper 28. Richardson got his seat on the plane from Waylon Jennings. Bob Dylan saw their penultimate show the night before at Duluth, Minnesota.I saw Buddy Holly two or three nights before he died. I saw him in Duluth [Minnesota], at the armory. He played there with Link Wray. I don’t remember the Big Bopper. Maybe he’d gone off by the time I came in. But I saw Richie Valens. And Buddy Holly, yeah. He was great. He was incredible. I mean, I’ll never forget the image of seeing Buddy Holly up on the bandstand. And he died – it must have been a week after this. It was unbelievable.Bob Dylan (to Kurt Loder, March 1984)So many ironic threads run through the tragic conclusion to the Buddy Holly story. Here’s some visuals to go along with the audio. PS the music never died!Rave on!Chuck Berry and Alan Freed introduce Ricardo Valenzuela in Go Johnny Go! (1958)The Bopper on Clark’s American Bandstand This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe

OS61 “RUNNING WILD”

We are about to plunge into the wild with some classic tunes, beloved and forgotten, all of them wild. Running wild, lost control, says a song from the first Roaring Twenties that is all cued up.Look at the wildness in culture. Wild as the wind. Wild hair. Wild stories. Girls Gone Wild.Listen to the wildness in our music.Look On the bookshelf. The Call of the Wild. The Wild West. Where the Wild Things Are.Candace Bushnell, writing as Carrie Bradshaw in and the City, says:“Maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed. Maybe they just need to run free until they find someone just as wild to run with them.”That’s the heart of it all. Wild in love, wild in music. Adding wild to anything  just spices up the gumbo. Wild , wild drugs, wild rock and roll. When all else fails there is wild. A release of energy that can be positive. Unless property and reputations suffer.No less a talent than Marilyn Monroe starts it off, sing a 100 year old song in her film classic Some Like It Hot. Mess up your hair, kick some furniture over, get your motor running. This is Old School #61. Running Wild. Let’s get lost.As we get to the home stretch of this Running Wild episode, it’s obvious there is a couple of big wild songs we need to throw on the Old School turntables.It’s all built around the wildest wild song ever.Chip Taylor was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2007. He is the older brother of actor Jon Voight, which makes him the uncle of Angelina Jolie. Years later she would make a French perfume commercial that used his most famous song, that was a flop when it was first recorded by Jordan Christopher and the Wild Ones. That song was heard by the British group The Troggs and lead singer Reg Presley. They thought they could improve on the original, never guessing the song would be used in a number of situations over the next half century.As great as Sam Kinison’s version of Wild Thing is, the video is a forgotten treat. I’ll put a link to it in my newsletter which you can read or subscribe to for free at professormikey.substack.com. The model in the video is Playboy playmate Jessica Hahn who at the time was making scandal headlines with PTL and Heritage USA head Jim Bakker. Theres a story there.Tone Loc’s Wild Thing was a huge hit. Tonya Harding used it as skating music, and when members of  Van Halen noticed a sample from their song Jamie’s Cryin while listening to rock radio, they got their lawyers together with Tone Loc’s legal crew and arranged for an unexpected bonus.Wild stories. Wild songs. This has been episode 61 of Professor Mikey’s Old School.There are so many great wild songs, this has only been a sampling, like what Tone Loc did with Van Halen. Old School is produced for educational purposes, and can be found on most podcast providers. Some can be heard on the Professor Mikey’s Old School channel on YouTube, but I find out if that’s going to happen at the same time you do. It’s a long wild story. Any music you might have heard resides within the public domain, was offered for promotional use by the labels or the artists, or is used within the guidelines of fair use provided for in Section 107 of the copyright act of 1976.RUNNING WILD Marilyn Monroe 1958 WILD CHILD The Doors 1969 RUNNING WILD Judas Priest 1978 WILD SIDE OF LIFE Hank Thompson 1952 IT WASN’T GOD WHO MADE HONKY TONK ANGELS Kitty Wells 1952 A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE Hugo Montenegro 1962 A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE Brook Benton 1962 WALK ON THE WILD SIDE Lou Reed 1972 WILD ONE Bobby Rydell 1960  REAL WILD CHILD (WILD ONE) Iggy Pop 1986 LET HIM RUN WILD The Beach Boys 1965 RIDE THE WILD SURF Jan and Dean 1964 WILD BOYS Duran Duran 1984 REAP THE WILD WIND Ultravox 1983 WILD THING The Troggs 1966 WILD THING Sam Kinison 1988 WILD THING Tone Loc BORN TO BE WILD Steppenwolf 1968 This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe

Old School #60 DESTINATION SITUATION

Anytime you’ve been away on break, its pretty hard to get back into the swing of the everyday routine. That’s because deep down, you crave break time. We all do. Maybe you didn’t go anywhere and now you wish you had. If there’s an overlying deep meaning to this show, and I don’t think there is, its that its always to have a destination in mind, no matter your current situation.This isn’t a roadtrip show, although you can find many of our tour stops on Google Maps. Like you do when you try to figure out whose car that is in front of your house or apartment. And although some of these destinations will show up on any basic search, they won’t show up like this. I think that is murky and hippie enough to get us into the music. Whatever situation you may be in or want to be in, you are going to need some tunes to get you in the groove. Welcome to Old School #60 Destination Situation. And we begin by getting back to life as well as reality with Soul to Soul.I hope you’ve enjoyed getting away from it all with this episode of Old School. Destination Situation. You can come back anytime you need some audio to smooth out the bumps. Any music you may have heard in this session either resides within the public domain or is used within the guidelines of fair use provided for in Section 107 of the copyright act of 1976. Podcast carriers compensate artists directly.Unexpurgated episodes of Old School are available on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Pandora or wherever you get your podcasts. Several episodes are also ready to rock and ready to roll on Professor Mikey’s Old School on YouTube where your free subscription on your end is invaluable on this end.join us again soon for Old School where the past is a blast.Back to Life SOUL 2 SOULShady Grove QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICESituation THE JEFF BECK GROUPLiving in the USA THE STEVE MILLER BANDShanghai Noodle Factory TRAFFICMeadowlands JEFFERSON AIRPLANETokyo BRUCE COCKBURNEgyptian Shumba THE TAMMYSGrotto Farm COMPTON AND BATEAUXOde to Tobago VAN PARKSShangri-LA The KINKSTraveling Man RICKY NELSON This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe

Old School Special: CHRISTMAS IN

Christmas in 1994!Holiday on Fire, The 30th Anniversary!!As you might have realized, Professor Mikey’s audio archives run deep and strange. From the time I could hold a cassette microphone up to the radio speaker, I’ve been piecing together mixtapes to give my friends at Christmas. I haven’t mailed out CDs in the last couple of years because people don’t have CD players anymore. But that’s okay, we have the always reliable interweb.“Christmas in ” made its debut on tape in 1994. I did a refresh in 2014, and this year it’s coming up as a Professor Mikey Old School podcast. It’s a fiery and fun trip through snow melting from brimstone. When I opened with Spinal Tap’s “Christmas with the Devil” it was so radical and new. Also that year I discovered Bob Rivers, who after all this time still doesn’t get a lot of airplay because everything these days can offend anybody. So I apologize to everybody including Bob Rivers and Adele Dazeem.So here I am, sending out a different mix tape to all my friends. Thanks to everybody who has subscribed to the podcast this year, both as a podcast and as an offering on YouTube. As I write this I don’t know if the latter is going to block any of the songs.  But you can always subscribe, give free holiday subscriptions, and turn up the speakers to beat the devil.But your are there and listening, and that’s what it’s all about, Alfie.Enjoy your trip through Dante’s least favorite holiday theme park. And Merry Christmas!Professor Mikey1994 CHRISTMAS IN * Christmas with the Devil – Spinal Tap* My Favorite Things* Yo Ho Ho – Klark Kent* What’s It To You – Bob Rivers* I’m a Christmas Tree* Didn’t I Get This Last Year?* Jingle Bells – Singing Dogs* Walking Round in Women’s Underwear-Bob Rivers* Mr. Grinch - D.I.* Silver Bells – Fats Domino* Grab Yer Balls like Michael Jackson* Manger 6* Oh Little Town of Bethlehem (a la animals)* Everyday Will Be Like a Holiday* White Christmas??Diana Ross and Tenors* Santa Claus is Coming to Town – Frank Sinatra & * I Am Santa Claus* Christmas at Ground Zero – Weird Al* 12 Pains of Christmas* Christmas Baby Please Come Home - Capt Howdy Bono* Christmas with the Devil REMIX - Spinal Tap* Santa Never Comes to the Ghetto* Sled Zeppelin* Flu Ride* There’s a Santa Who Looks a Lot Like Elvis* Santa’s Elves - Crash Kills Four* Rummy Rockerboy - Bob Rivers This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe

Old School Special: ALT 50s CHRISTMAS

Just to be absolutely, positively, midnight clear, “Alt-50s” isn’t a real term.Yet.An underground was afoot in the years of Ike and Elvis, but usually it was linked to “shelters,” and usually involved survival tactics for getting through the next thousand year nuclear winter.This underground would evolve into the beat generation of Jack Kerouac, coffee houses, digable poetry, and bongoes.Christmas in the 1950s is about as safe as you can get, what with Rudolph, and Frosty, and the snow that everyone got on their black and white televisions. But there was another side to the era. We may have heard Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run” a few times, but when it was new in 1958, it was an edgy reindeer game.As the years keep piling on, I realize that fewer and fewer people are around who actually experienced Christmas in the 1950s.You know the Fifties, the decade that dominates nostalgia like no others. The time when babies boomed. The era that rolled out Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, and the 1955 Thunderbird. The decade that birthed rock and roll, television, frozen pizza. juvenile delinquents, poodle skirts, sideburns, the Kraft music hall, enormous tailfins, green Jello, Johnny Unitas, Mickey Mantle, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jayne Mansfield, Peyton Place, TV Superman, Marlon Brando, Kim Novak, Sergeant Bilko, the Andrea Doria, Gunsmoke, Lolita, cinemascope, J Fred Muggs, Sputnik, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.The Fifties were, and still are, a great escape. Television was amazing, three networks in fuzzy black and white devoted to the Old West. HD stood for Howdy Doody. Far more hip, but without the pictures, was radio, and the changing genres it produced. Rock music was still pretty new, mostly ridiculed by a mainstream,who preferred their children listen to more proper, wholesome music like Liberace.Whats My Line? To tell the truth, I’ve Got a Secret. An hour or so of 50s Christmas music will not bring it all back. That’s okay too. The good parts are much more fun. Nobody wants to stock your fallout shelter, or explain segregated water fountains.What’s left is not so much an innocent Christmas memory, but a collection of artists who saw the kinds of paydays that were happening for Gene Autry and Elvis. The spirit of the yuletide moved them into studios across the land where they tried to create their own seasonal recurring bonuses.That’s the ground rules. Everything here was recorded in the 50s. Cool daddy. The fat man’s on his way. Get rid of that greasy kid stuff, put some mistletoe on your hula hoop, kick off your penny loafers, swivel your hips, grab a cheeseburger with fries and a cherry coke, roll the fuzzy dice. The 50s are here for a quick holiday visit before the years pile them under a blanket of nostalgia and memory, like snow in the grooves of a 45 rpm flashback.ROCK N ROLL SANTA Little Joey Farr 1959DIG THAT CRAZY SANTA CLAUS Oscar McLollie & Honey Jumpers 1954SLEIGH BELL ROCK Chuck Blevins (1958)I WANT TO SPEND CHRISTMAS WITH ELVIS Debbie Dabney 1956SANTA AND THE SATELLITE Buchanan and Goodman 1959SPACE AGE SANTA CLAUS Hal Bradley Orch & Patty Marie Jay 1956SANTA TO THE MOON Sonny Cole 1958NORTH POLE ROCK Cathy Sharpe 1958PAPA NOEL Brenda Lee 1959WHITE/HOT CHRISTMAS The Elves 1958CHRISTMAS BELLS Bobby Nunn 1953GONNA HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS Nic Nacs & Little Mickey Champion (1950)MY BIRTHDAY COMES ON CHRISTMAS Spike Jones & His City SlickersGREEN CHRISTMAS Stan Freberg 1958CHRISTMAS IN JAIL The Youngsters 1956REINDEER BOOGIE Hank Snow 1953RUN RUDOLPH RUN Chuck Berry 1958YULESVILLE Ed “Kookie” BurnsBE BOP SANTA Babs GonzalesSANTA DONE GOT HIP The Marquees 1959 This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit professormikey.substack.com/subscribe