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Happy Valentine’s Day from me and some cherubs in sweat socks!

I won’t lie, I really can’t get into Valentine’s Day. Next to this clip, my fondest memories of the day go back to second grade when I stayed home sick from school and ate all the Cinnamon Red Hots that I was supposed to bring to class, while I played with my Barbies and watched Hollywood Squares. The day just hasn’t been as exciting since.

Instead, for me, it’s a day of listening to great music (or celebrating with some anti-love songs).  But I’m in a good mood, so here are a couple of Cupid-themed rock ‘n’ roll hits.

This Day in Greaser History

Today marks another historical day in music history. Yes, it was 50 years ago on this day that The Beatles first appeared the Sha Na Na show.

Hey, why is Paul playing right handed? Everyone knows Paul is left handed! It must be Sha Na Na up to their usual trickery and deceit. D’ohhhh!

Oh well. While today doesn’t mark any historical date between Sha Na Na and the Beatles, there is still history there going back over 40 years. See if you can spot the Sha Na Nas in this Beatle’s 1972 concert.

And for fun, check out Chico’s pre-Sha Na Na Beatlesque appearance from 1968 while playing bass with The Rockin’ Ramrods (who went by the name Puff for that year’s album release). He’s got a bit of George Harrison’s look while playing a Höfner bass like Paul McCartney’s.

The Day the Music Died

Fifty-five years ago today, the world lost three talented performers, namely Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, as well as the airplane’s pilot, Roger Peterson.

Happy New Year!

A very happy and prosperous New Year to all my fellow Sha Na Na fans and to everyone who has stopped by to read and/or follow the Sha Na Na TV Show Blog. I appreciate your support and look forward to sharing more memories in 2014.

I promise to continue with more posts and more updates to the episode guide in the new year. For now, since tonight is all about clocks and countdowns, let’s have a little “Rock Around the Clock.”.

 

Isn’t that that song?

Since I enjoyed going through lesser known songs so much, I thought I’d put the spotlight on some songs that originally started out as ballads and ended up as rock ‘n’ roll hits and were later featured on Sha Na Na.

“I’ve Told Ev’ry Little Star” – 1932
Originally written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II for the 1932 musical, Music in the Air, the song was recorded and performed by many popular artists such as Jack Denny & his Orchestra, Pat Boone, Ray Conniff, Bing Crosby, Irene Dunne, Mary Ellis, Percy Faith, Cannonball Adderly and Mario Lanza. Over time, the song evolved from a ballad to a big-band, swing and jazz favorite.

Here’s a grown-up Shirley Temple singing the song on Sing Along With Mitch.

So Who’s Johnny Casino?

If you’re a fan of Sha Na Na, you have to be a fan of their appearance in Grease, Whether you were already a fan of the TV show or discovered the band after seeing the movie, seeing Johnny Casino and the Gamblers is a special treat in an already entertaining film. That said, the band’s screen time is woefully brief for us fans. Still, on the official soundtrack recording, Sha Na Na’s songs almost fill up an entire side of the double record album, so that’s something.

A city of strangers…

For most of this blog, I’ve been writing about various songs and skits on the show as well as the members of Sha Na Na.

And while I haven’t gotten around to it before, I have not forgotten about the show’s wonderful supporting cast. What would the Sha Na Na show be without the Window Lady, Ginger, Officer Fussy, Lorraine, Winston and the rest? I fully intend to shine the spotlight on each of these wonderful actors in due time. But first, I’d like a present a brief feature on someone I consider “the 11th Sha Na Na”, Pamela Myers.

Happy (and Greasy) Halloween!

October is always one of the craziest months for me as far as work and family go, but I can’t deny that it’s still my favorite month of the year. I know that goes back to my earliest memories of October and Halloween. I’m sure other generations have fond memories of Halloween, but it’s hard for me to see how they’d be better than Halloween in the 1970s. Forget about being able to go trick or treating at every house within a 5-mile square radius, we had the best costumes, the best candy, and the best Halloween specials on TV.

Even though Sha Na Na never had their own Halloween special–and they should have–they still managed to celebrate the Halloween spirit throughout the series’ run. Keep an eye out, and you can see vampires, cavemen, witch doctors, extraterrestrials, pirates, mad scientists and ghosts appear at any time. Here are just a few characters.

Aahaahaaa! Count Jockula and his guests Wolfgang, Frankie, Igor and the Crypt Kickers have a graveyard smash. The Monster Mash medley was also a long-running staple of their live concerts.

A Quick Byte

I remember as a young Sha Na Na fan often being tickled when other TV shows made reference to the group or did something that reminded me of them. I guess it’s something I haven’t quite grown out of. If, like me, you saw Saturday Night Live’s season premier this weekend, you may have been reminded of three particular singer/dancers during Tina Fey’s opening monologue.

What song is that? Part 2

Yep, I’m back with more lesser-known songs from the show, so without further ado..

“Little Girl of Mine” – The Cleftones 1956
One of The Cleftones first hits, “Little Girl of Mine” reached #8 on the R&B Charts and #57 on Billboard’s Hot 100. They would become more well-known for their 1961 hit, “Heart and Soul” On the show, Chico performed the song in one of his few opening, on-stage numbers.