McFly New Version of the Monkees?

Sorry for the poor scans. Is the rock group/boy band the new Monkees? According to wikipedia they are a pop group from England. Influenced by groups like the Beach Boys and the Beatles. They are a four piece band. Doesn't that sound like the Monkees? Now get this. They have gotten flack BECAUSE they play their own instruments. My how times change. If you want to read more you can click here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McFly to go to wikipedia or click on the title above.

Beth Donovan

Not long ago I asked anyone reading this site to pray for an old high school friend who has cancer, Beth Donovan. I am asking that you continue with those prayers. Beth is someone who, at least to me, stood for all the good things of high school. You may have had to go to my school to understand. Our class was very cliqueish. If you weren't in their group some kids wouldn't have anything to do with you. I was not that way and, as I told my wife, neither was Beth. She was friendly and outgoing. She always had a smile for everyone. Beth never said anything bad about anyone that I know of. I remember going to her house with others from a school club to work on a club project and having alot of fun. Beth was one of our senior class officers, a straight A student and elected most versatile. Basically Beth was a nice, smart and friendly person. I never heard her use bad language or any rumors about her doing anything bad.Recently I did hear that she was fighting cancer. Now I have heard that she has given up and has come home to die. Pray that she continues to fight and God keeps her with us. With the world in the shape it is in today, we need more people like Beth Donovan. Beth if you are reading this I want you to know that my wife, myself and alot of other people are praying for you.

1980 Christmas Comic

Yes from 1980 Archie's Christmas Love In. Most of the stories are very good. All of them are entertaining.The first story was one of the weaker ones. They see a street Santa get fired and offer him a job to help the Archies raise money for charity by caroling with them. Of course it is a success. Who can say no to Santa? The best is titled "The Guest" Archie and the gang are full of Christmas cheer at school. However, Miss Grundy, Miss Beazley and Mr.Swenson are grumpy. Later at home when Archie is talking to his Dad he tells Archie that some people are alone on Christmas and they get grouchy and out of sorts seeing happy familes at this time of year. Archie then tells his parents of Miss Grundy, Miss Beazly and Mr. Swenson. The story ends with them celebrating Christmas with the Andrews family. Anoter good one is "Fron the Heart" Archie and Betty have saved to have enough money to spend on Christmas gifts for their friends. They see a friend from school named Ernie. He is selling chestnuts on the corner to raise money for Christmas. His Dad is in the hosptial and they have no money. Archie and Betty decided to give Ernie all the money they saved. When they tell Reggie and Veronica they can't exchange gifts they get called cheapskates. However, Ernie shows up and thanks them for what they did. When Ernie leaves Reggie tells them to forget about the gifts. Just being friends of Archie and Betty is gift enough. Then he offers to by them Cokes. If you see this at your local comic shop buy it. The book is pretty good. 

Captain Atom Armageddon #3 print error

See the page above. It is from Captain Atom Armageddon #3. The story is good. The art is good. Every thing about it is good. DC and Wildstorm thought it was so good they printed it twice...in the same book. At least they did in the one I bought this week. It wasn't the only page as there was about 3 more pages printed that way in mine. I may even be missing important parts of the story. On the page before this one Capt. says to the President "We need to talk." Then on this page the first thing he says is "Only human? What sort of thing is that to say?" Who said it? No one in the book I bought. Then when I turned the page there was the same page looking back at me. Then I knew what happened. Some pages were printed twice and the other pages were accidentally left out. I know accidents happen but I hope this doesn't happen again.
I know this series to to bring about changes in Capt. Atom and the Wildstorm universe but I hate the new costume. He looks like someone went crazy with the spray paint. 

Caught in a drug bust

Don't know how many would want to know this but it may be interestin to a few. Back more years then I care to mention, I worked for a rental company. It was called Universal Rentals then later it was bought out by Rent a Center. It was one of those places that if you didn't have enough money to buy something outright then you could make weekly payments to us and at the end of the contract it would be yours. Now some people would only make one or two payments and try not to pay again. That is were the biggest part of my job came in. I was to call or go to that persons home and convince them to pay or I had to take back the items. One time a man rented a VCR. This was when a VCR cost what a DVD player/recorder now cost. Well he stopped paying and it was not paid off. He moved and we had a hard time finding him. One day my manager, Jessie, told me someone said he sold the VCR to someone on Turkeyfoot Road in Elsmere Ky. This was on a Friday and he was going to send Mark and I to get it on Saturday. While out on my route that day I found myself not far from the address. I saw a car turn into the drive way so I thought since they were home I would get it today. It was a long winding driveway that went up a hill. At the end of the drive I saw cars from the Elsmere Police, the FBI and local news reporters. I had the urge to turn around and leave but decided that was not a good idea. I got out of the company van and knew God was watching out for me. You see Police Chief Bill Hiler was there. He use to go to my church when I was younger and we would see each other on occassion and he would greet me by name. So I knew when he approached me that he knew who I was but couldn't let anyone else there know it. He ask if he could help me and what was I doing there. I said "I'm just here to get a VCR." He looked exasperated as he turned to get an FBI agent. The agent escorted me into the house. In the center of the room was a woman who was in her 30's. She was surrounded by more police and FBI men. The agent with me looked at her and said "I thought you told me everything here was yours and your husbands?" She said it is. He said well this man here wants to get his VCR. She said that she bought it from the man we were renting it to. I told her he was renting it from our company and it was not paid for yet. At that point I disconnected the VCR and walked out. Alot of the cops made jokes about putting it in their car so they could take care of it. I got in my van to leave. The reporters who arrived after me didn't like that they had to back up to let me out but I didn't care. I just wanted out of there. It turns out that the couple that were arrested were growing marajuna in the barn in the back. The FBI agent who went in with me was undercover as one of their customers. When I got back to the store my manager said he called up the people that bought the VCR. They told him that if we came for the VCR they would shoot first and ask questions later. He didn't tell me that cause he didn't want to scare me and that is why he wanted Mark to go with me on Saturday. Guess he thought there would at least be a witness to my death. But God watched out for me. He sent the Elsmere police dept and FBI agents to clear my way.
I want to make it clear that Elsmere Ky is a nice clean town to live and work in. This is just a rare occassion but shows how well the police respond to criminal activity in the area. If you want you can go to the city site by clicking here http://www.cityofelsmere.com/ or click on the title above. This is also a memory that I have of Bill Hiler. I hear that he went to be with our Lord not long ago. May he rest in peace.

The Invaders...A Quinn Martin Production

Anyone remember this tv show? When all the other kids were getting into Star Trek I was getting into this show. It starred Roy Thinnes. He was David Vincent who got lost and wound up on a dead end road. There he saw a space ship landing in a field. He is the only witness to their secret invasion. He is on the run from being killed by the aliens and trys to convince people that he meets that we are being invaded. It was part Fugitive, part War of the Worlds. The show was really good and I have 6 VHS tapes of the show that I never wanted to part with but I need some money so I have them up for sale on e-bay. If you want to bid you can click on the title or here http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Invaders-VHS-Roy-Thinnes-Quinn-Martin-1960s_W0QQitemZ6464630469QQcategoryZ309QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
It is a one day auction so you should bid now. 

Nick Clooney in Money Maze

As big as talk shows were in the 90's and the so called reality shows are today, game shows were in the 60's and 70's. As I stated in an earlier post Nick Clooney (George's Dad and Rosemary's borther) was a local star by anchoring the local news and hosting local variety shows and talk shows in my area. However, he had a shot at being a national star when in the early 70's for about a year he hosted a game show called the Money Maze. Mark Evanier has an excellent post on it here http://www.oldtvtickets.com/ Another site you can go to is here at the Cincinnati Post http://www.cincypost.com/living/1998/cloon072298.html it is an article from 1998 that Nick wrote himself when he had his own column in the Post. He tells in his own words of his experience on The Money Maze. The above photo is from this site http://www.curtalliaume.com/moneymaz.html Hope you enjoy the attached articles and a glimpse into broadcasting history. 

"The Pledge of Allegiance" by Red Skelton

Just found this site. The late Red Skelton talked on his TV show about the respect that he had for a teacher he had and how he taught them the Pledge of Allegiance. It is a beautiful word for word defination of the pledge and we should all hear it. You can go to this link by clicking here http://www.poofcat.com/july.html or click on the title above. You can read it and hear it on that site. 

The Americans

Just found this commentary from Canadian broadcaster, yes I said Canadian broadcaster, Gordon Sinclair. Thought you would like to see it.

"The Americans"
The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany. It has declined there by 41% since 1971 and this Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the world.
As long as sixty years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtse. Well, Who rushed in with men and money to help? The Americans did, that's who.
They have helped control floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges and the Niger. Today, the rich bottom land of the Mississippi is under water and no foreign land has sent a dollar to help. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy, were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of those countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.
When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. And I was there. I saw that.
When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries into help... Managua Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples. So far this spring, 59 American communities have been flattened by tornadoes. Nobody has helped.
The Marshall Plan... the Truman Policy... all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries. And now, newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent war-mongering Americans.
I'd like to see one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplanes.
Come on... let's hear it! Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tristar or the Douglas 10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all international lines except Russia fly American planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or a woman on the moon?
You talk about Japanese technocracy and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy and you find men on the moon, not once, but several times ... and safely home again. You talk about scandals and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are right here on our streets in Toronto, most of them... unless they are breaking Canadian laws... are getting American dollars from Ma and Pa at home to spend here.
When the Americans get out of this bind... as they will... who could blame them if they said 'the hell with the rest of the world'. Let someone else buy the bonds, let someone else build or repair foreign dams or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart in earthquakes.
When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both of them are still broke. I can name to you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.
Can you name to me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.
Our neighbours have faced it alone and I am one Canadian who is tired of hearing them kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their noses at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.
I hope Canada is not one of these. But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians. And finally, the American Red Cross was told at its 48th Annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke.
This year's disasters... with the year less than half-over... has taken it all and nobody... but nobody... has helped.
If you want to find out the background on this commentary or on Gordon Sinclair you can click here http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/index3.html or on the title above and look around. You can also hear the actual 1973 broadcast. 

Marvel Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag

Here is the Christmas comic/photo for today. The 1976 Marvel Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag. The The stories are reprints of Marvel Team up #6, Tales to Astonish #93, The Avengers #58 and Daredevil #86. There is an orignal story that is written by Roger Stern with art by George Tuska and edited by Archie Goodwin. That story starts out with the Fantastic Four and the Avengers holding a charity snowball fight. Spider-man, who is not a member of either group hits Ben Grimm with a snowball. Instead of getting mad Ben jokes with Spidey so Ben's not made to look foolish in public. Then the Marvel Team up story starts. Later the action shifts back to the snowball fight. There the Wasp rembers the classic story of how the Vision joined the Avengers in "Even An Android Can Cry." After that story the Silver Surfer is shown flying over New York and he passes by the Defenders HQ and seen by the Hulk. Hulk remembers the Surfer, or as he called him Silver-Face. He recalls the story from Tales to Astonish. Later Hulk is given a Christmas party by the Defenders. The story shifts to the law office of Nelson and Murdock. Matt Murdock leaves for the day and recalls the story "Once Upon A Time...The Ox" Finally the story winds up in sunny California with the then new super team the Champions with Hercules, Black Widow, Ghost Rider, Angel and Iceman. Iceman makes it snow so they can have a white Christmas. They too have a snowball fight. Then they tell Iceman to stop the snow. He says that he did and they all stand there in awe of watching it snow in California.
None of the reprint stories had anything to do with Christmas but they were all entertaining. This is the way I prefer to have a book of reprints. A loose knit story that ties then all together.But who cares as long as it is an affordable way to read good classic stories.

Davy Jones on TV Land

Monkees and Davy Jones fans may already be aware of this. For those who aren't I have just read on Davy's site that he will be on a mini-series on TV Land. In March 2006, TV LAND will launch "Living in TV Land", a series based on a 2004 special that chronicled a day at the racetrack with Eight Is Enough pop Dick Van Patten. The roster of "day in the life of" stars will include none other than Davy Jones! You can read more about it by going to his site http://www.davyjones.net/ Not to be little Davy or anything like that. I just have to wonder why is it that when I hear a network do something like this and they want to include the Monkees it is only Davy they go to? I would also like to see a day in the life of the other three Monkees. Perhaps they do go and ask them and they just say no. Anyway I plan to watch and I hope you do to.