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Peace, someday, if you want it
The first Christmas wish Christmas bells, those Christmas bells Ringing through the land Bringing peace to all the world And good will to man “Snoopy’s Christmas,” the Royal Guardsmen, from “Snoopy and...
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Gone in threes, 2022
They go in threes. They always go in threes. 2022 was no different. Adventurers: Joseph Kittinger Jr. (set world record for parachute jump from edge of space), Lance Mackey (won Iditarod Trail Sled Dog...
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Television, disconnected
Television, for 20-year-old me in 1977, was something I watched. A lot. Television, for the same 20-year-old, was not something I heard. At all. So here I am, standing off to the side again, feeling a...
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What the world needs now
Burt Bacharach, who composed the music that was the soundtrack to the lives of people all over the world for generations, is gone. He died yesterday at 94. The beautiful thing about Burt Bacharach’s...
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Sweet sixteen
Before we get started, a word for all you Substack loyalists. Long before there were Substacks, writers wrote things called blogs. This is one. Please feel free to explore this blog’s vast archive —...
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Raquel Welch, singer
OK, first things first again. Anyone here not know Raquel Welch? I gotta ask because two younger co-workers had no idea who I was talking about last month when I mentioned she’d died. Both were like...
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Digging that ’60s pop
Not quite sure that the dry spell of almost a year has ended, but we’ve put a dent into it over the last couple of weeks. Record Store Day was two Saturdays ago. There’s usually not much for me among...
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A dollar for your thoughts
The dollar sitting on my desk was a bribe. Listen to the radio for a week and tell us what you listened to. Janet received the same bribe, thus these two envelopes. Greetings from the Nielsen family...
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Tina Turner, channeled
Here, in its entirety, is my review of the Tina Turner tribute channel on SiriusXM: Too much nice and easy. Not enough nice and rough. If you tune in to SiriusXM Channel 49 through this Friday (June...
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Pink Floyd is not playing in Keshena
The things you find in the old newspapers … 50 years ago this week, in late June 1973, a county judge in northern Wisconsin issued a restraining order preventing what was described as “an extravagant...
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July 1979: My rock ‘n’ roll moment
Last time out, we shared the story about a long-ago Wisconsin rock festival that never happened after the organizer was exposed as a hustler at best and a potential fraud at worst. That reminded me of...
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The playlist of a lifetime
From a car-crazy southern Wisconsin town in the late ’60s, a love story. Deb and Jer were a year apart at Janesville High School — Jer in the Class of ’66, Deb in the Class of ’67 as it became...
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It’s been a long time
Since we last gathered here … Jimmy Buffett left the party. Didn’t have much to write about him that I hadn’t already written. Hip-hop turned 50. Gave some thought to writing about that, but at the end...
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Our record show’s greatest hits
Late October traditionally is record show time here in Green Bay. This year, however, the Green Bay Record Convention took place two weeks earlier than usual, bumped back to the second Saturday of...
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We’ve all come together
Saw this tweet first thing this morning. This is the last time XPN can say “Brand New Music – from The Beatles!” Mike Vasilikos will debut the last new Beatles song, “Now and Then,” today at 10 AM....
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Ladies’ night
WXPN, the fine public radio station out of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, has been asking listeners to help pick the 885 greatest songs by women artists. (Why 885 songs? WXPN is 88.5...
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Unexpected holiday moments
Sometimes, that holiday spirit sneaks up on you. Unexpected holiday moment No. 1 .38 Special played a show in Green Bay on Friday night. My friend Mike mentioned on Facebook earlier that day that he...
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Let’s just sit down and watch one video after another. Let’s have a rock and roll Christmas just like we used to know. All you kids who weren’t born yet, don’t get hurt shaking your head in disbelief....
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Hey, Satch! Rob! It’s Christmas Eve!
Please enjoy our traditional Christmas Eve post. On a winter day now more than 50 years ago, Louis Armstrong went to work in the den at his home at 34-56 107th Street in Corona, Queens, New York. On...
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Three Christmas wishes for us all
The first Christmas wish Christmas bells, those Christmas bells Ringing through the land Bringing peace to all the world And good will to man “Snoopy’s Christmas,” the Royal Guardsmen, from “Snoopy and...
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