Bob Barker is taping his last “The Price Is Right” today, then retiring tomorrow. I wish Bob all the best, but I’m not really a Bob Barker guy. Never seen “Happy Gilmore,” either.
When it comes to game shows, I’m more a “Hollywood Squares” or “Match Game” guy. I’ll take some witty comments with my lovely parting gifts.
That’s why I feel a much greater loss with the recent passing of the wonderful Charles Nelson Reilly, one of our constant companions as we watched late-afternoon TV during the ’70s.
But this is a music blog, and in that spirit, here’s an excerpt from the best insider’s tribute to the life of Reilly. It’s written by Danny Miller, and it ran in the Huffington Post, entitled “Laughing With Charles Nelson Reilly.”
My brother-in-law, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, was a huge Charles fan. A few years ago, when Jeff was in town mixing the Wilco CD “Summerteeth,” we brought Charles to the recording studio for a visit. Charles immediately had the entire rock crowd under his spell. They all wanted to pose for pictures with him and they seemed more excited to see Charles than if a member of the Rolling Stones had wandered in. Someone handed him a CD by a band called the Didjits called “Full Nelson Reilly” and Charles signed it to Jeff, “From one rock star to another.”
Another fine tribute to Charles Nelson Reilly, a fan’s tribute that perfectly captures what it was like to be young and watching late-afternoon TV in the ’70s, is from Andrew at the always interesting Armagideon Time.
— And now for something completely different.
It’s always interesting to watch the blog statistics, to see which posts are popular, and to see where our visitors are coming from. Every time we get the good word from Jefitoblog, and more recently from Retro Music Snob, the traffic shoots up.
Last week, Jefito mentioned three recent posts as he sent his readers our way (and RMS mentioned two of the three). Of the three — Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, the Pusherman songs and selections from my dad’s record collection — guess which one got the most visitors?
The raid on my dad’s record collection, which delivered tunes from Dean Martin and Gene Krupa. Both cuts are more than 50 years old, yet Dino’s cut — the rumba-flavored “Sway” — is close to becoming the most-downloaded song in the short history of this blog. Go figure.
Guess we better stop by Ray’s Corner more often.
Here’s a tune that nicely ties together both of today’s themes. It comes from my Ray’s Corner playlist but is not technically part of my dad’s collection. He would dig it, though.
And if you watched late-afternoon TV in the ’70s, as I did, you’ll recognize it from another of those wild game shows.
“Jumpin’ at the Woodside (alternate take),” the Duke Ellington and Count Basie orchestras, 1961, from “First Time: The Count Meets The Duke.”
AM, Then FM 
My wife and I wanted to use that as our “leaving the church” song at our wedding, but it didn’t happen… (We were even going to do the moves.)
They really need to release a DVD “Best of” set of that show.
Hey pallie Jeff, man does it surprise me that Dino’s “Sway” is gettin’ so much action? Never, the King of Cool is bein’ discovered by more and more of today’s y0uth who know true cool when they hear it. Remember that “DINO: The Essential Dean Martin” album when platinum way quick in big part ’cause of the younger crowd discoverin’ the Dinodifference!!!! BTW, tomorrow, June 7th is the 90th anniversary of Dino’s entry on to the planet!!!!
I love Dino’s song “Sway.” It doesn’t suprise me that it’s being d-loaded so much. It’s an awesome song. It shows Dino at his cool and hip best. I was sad to hear about the passing of Charles Nelson Reilly. He was always one of the comedians I grew up liking. I was more into those game shows he was a frequent guest on as well. He and Paul Lynde, and a few others, always cracked me up.