Wednesday, August 13, 2008

What's the Matter With Kansas?

The Groo Crew — the four guys who bring you the adventures of the world's stupidest barbarian not currently running for public office — will be making a rare gang appearance in the middle of the country next month. The weekend of September 20-21, you can meet Sergio Aragonés, Stan Sakai, Tom Luth and Yours Truly at the Mo-Kan Comics Conspiracy, an event being held as any fool can plainly see at the Business and Technology College in Kansas City, MO.

There will now be a brief pause while you all think of an appropriate snide remark about Groo being celebrated in a building devoted to business and technology, neither of which has ever figured into the whole enterprise.

We'll be speaking and signing stuff and eating ribs (I told the convention organizers that I want to go to a couple of the great barbecue places in that town I've heard so much about). I dunno about my Groo-mates but it's my first time in that part of the U.S. of A. so it oughta be fun.

Two weeks later, October 4-5, I'll be going (without those other guys) to the Mid-Ohio Con in Columbus, Ohio where I'll be speaking and signing stuff and probably not eating ribs. And then I think I'm going to be a guest again at The National, a large comic con in New York which this year takes place November 14-16. More on these as the dates grow nearer.

• Posted at 8:34 AM · LINK

Serious Oops!

Silly me...I plugged the wrong Stu's Show. The episode with Greg Ehrbar and Tim Hollis is next week. Today, Stu has on two other great pop culture experts, Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, the authors of The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows. This is also a fine book and their presence should also yield a fine show to which you oughta listen. That's 4 PM to 6 PM Pacific Time on Shokus Internet Radio.

Next week will be Ehrbar and Hollis. Then the week after (August 27), Stu will be chatting with Wesley Hyatt, author of The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television and with game show expert Steve Beverly. What's more, the week after that (September 3), it's a conversation with one of the great names in the world of comedy, Mr. Shelley Berman. Don't miss any of these.

• Posted at 7:34 AM · LINK

not me on the radio

I haven't plugged anything on Shokus Internet Radio for a while so here's something. Later today, host Stu Shostak will be welcoming two fine authors/experts onto his Stu's Show. Greg Ehbrar and Tim Hollis are probably authorities on a lot of things but the topic today will be kids' records, about which these gents know everything. In fact, they authored a book I've recommended to you in the past — Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records. They'll be talking about (and playing) rare childrens' records of all kinds...and you can listen in (and even phone in) live!

It all happens today from 4 PM to 6 PM on the West Coast, 7 PM to 9 PM on the East Coast on Shokus Internet Radio. Go to that site at the appointed hour, click where they tell you to click and listen in. You might even hear the two surprise in-studio guests who'll be appearing along with Greg and Tim. Oughta be a good one.

• Posted at 12:07 AM · LINK

Today's Video Link

On June 20, 1965, a once-in-a-lifetime concert was televised as a closed-circuit event to raise bucks for Dismas House of St. Louis, a halfway house for ex-convicts. It was a meeting of the fabled "Rat Pack" with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis sharing the stage at the Kiel Opera House in St. Louis, doing pretty much what they did in Vegas, only this time with cameras taking it all in. There isn't much footage of the Rat Pack in Las Vegas...and certainly no complete performances. The St. Louis event is pretty much the best record of those gents in action.

Unfortunately, they were without the services of fellow Rat Packer Joey Bishop, who was out with a bad back. Fortunately, they got a kid named Johnny Carson to take over Joey's role in the proceedings. Our clip today is a few minutes of a musical number and it's notable that Johnny, who was never much of a singer, agreed to try and perform alongside the big boys.

After the '65 telecast, the show was never seen again...not until the nineties when producer Paul Brownstein tracked down a print of it that had been sitting in a closet in St. Louis. Every time I run into Paul, I find myself thanking him for finding and/or preserving some old TV show which would otherwise have been lost. I don't think I've thanked him for this one...so thanks, Paul. Here's a few minutes of the Rat Pack at their rattiest and packiest...

• Posted at 12:05 AM · LINK

August 14, 2008 • Current • August 12, 2008