This Day in Music History: Michael Bolton and How Am I Supposed to Live Without You

Michael Bolton and Doug James were both surprised when they got a call that Laura Branigan was interested in recording How Am I Supposed to Live Without You, the song they wrote together. You see the song had already been placed on hold by Arista artist Air Supply. However, Clive Davis wanted to make a change in the chorus that Michael Bolton didn't want made. Still they were excited that Air Supply wanted to record it as they were selling millons of records at that time. In the end Air Supply never recorded the song and Branigan did. She took it up the charts to number 12 in the top 40.
For Michael Bolton this was great. It was his first big hit for him as a songwriter. He had others record his songs before like Rex Smith, the Pointer Sisters, Kenny Rogers, Starship and Joe Cocker but they were mostly album cuts. Now he had co-written a hit song.
In 1983 Deidre O'Hara of CBS Songs introduced him to Doug James. They went into the studio and joked around while getting to know each other. Finally Doug sat down at the piano and Michael started singing. They started bouncing ideas off each other and the first song they wrote was this one.
It was while waiting on Air Supply to record it that they got a call saying "Congratulations! Laura Branigan's cutting your song this afternoon." Doug James said he was worried because they had not done a lead sheet yet. However, Branigan cut the song from the demo tape.
When Bolton wrote the song he was really a rocker and trying to stay away from ballads. He had been in a band that release a couple of albums that sounded more like Led Zeppelin or Bad Comapany. He went did a couple of solo rock albums but they didn't do too well on the charts. With that experience and the urging of others he went from rock and roll to pop ballads. He has been more successful in music ever since.
Doug James said that Michaels version of How Am I Suppose to Live Without You is closer to what they had in mind then Laura Branigans. It was the second single from his Soul Provider album and became the first #1 song of the 1990's on this day in music history, January 20,1990. It was #1 on the Billboard charts for 3 weeks.

Happy Anniversary Marvel Two-In-One

This month is the 33RD anniversary of Marvel Two-in-One. Marvel had such success with Marvel Team-Up with Spider-Man that they created another team up book. The star of this book, which started in 1974, was the Fantastic Fours ever lovin’ blue eyed Thing. Like Spider-Man did in Marvel Team-Up the Thing would have a different guest star from the Marvel roster of heroes. His first guest star was Man-Thing who would also get his own series that year. One of its more popular issues was the King-Sized Annual #2. It said that Spider-Man was the guest star but it also had Captain Marvel, the Avengers and Warlock. The story was written by Jim Starlin and they were fighting Thanos who was going to destroy half the stars in the universe. In the end Thanos and Warlock “died”. However, death in comic books is rarely permanent and both were brought back years later in the Silver Surfer’s comic book.
While the series was never as popular as Marvel Team-Up it did have an impressive run. It lasted for 100 issues and ran from 1974 to 1983 and had several annuals. In his last team up he was joined by his human self Ben Grimm. This happened when he was able to visit an alternate world where he had never become the Thing.
So Happy Anniversary to Marvel Two-in-One. Too bad you didn’t get to run a lot longer.

If you want the first issue as seen above you can click on the title and go to a site where you can buy it.

New Universal #1

Slowly but surely Marvel Comics has been reintroducing the New Universe. First they gave us new stories, and in some cases completing stories, based on the old series that started the New Universe during Jim Shooters run as editor-in-chief at Marvel. Now we have New Universal. The book is being published semi-monthly and it is where the fabled “White Event” takes place. The white event is what started the old New Universe series of books. The white event takes place in outer space but it has ramifications with certain people on Earth. They have something in them that is like the mutant gene in the Marvel Universe and it ignites that gene and gives them all special powers. This issue is written by Warren Ellis and art by Salvador Larroca. The art is breathtaking. The shots from outer space made me feel as if I was on a space station looking at the Earth. Most importantly Mr. Ellis gives us more background stories on the main characters. Mostly Star Brand and Justice. Justice is a police Detective named John Tensen. He is shot and barely alive. He is now considered 98% dead while lying in a hospital room. When the White Event takes place he is healed and sees that his nurse was about to kill him. He could see into the nurse’s mind that he was not doing it as a mercy killing. So he gives his brand of Justice to his first criminal.
Star Brand is out on a date and they fall asleep in a field while looking at the stars. When he wakes up he has the Star Brand on his hand and the power of the White Event has fried his girlfriend alive. Her Father was the local Sheriff and now believes he killed his daughter.
There is also an unnamed girl who gets powers from the event. I don’t remember her from the first series but she is told that “This is a paradigm shift. Everything you know has changed. Please remain calm.”
So far I like this new universe. Perhaps when Mr. Shooter started it he was ahead of his time. Jim Shooter got us on base and Mr. Ellis and Mr. Larroca have been set up to hit it out of the park.

WKRP in Cincinnati is coming to DVD

Like the title says one of my favorite shows is coming to DVD. However, I have heard that there will be music substitutions as it is too expensive to get all the songs they used. I hope certain songs are there as they were sometimes the punch lines to the joke. Either way if you want you can get a notice from Amazon.com when it becomes available. Click here and go to Amazon.com where you can sign on to get a notice from them when it is available for pre-order. The above photo is from TV Guide.com. I used that as there is no cover art for the box set yet. You can click on the title above to go to TVGuide.com.

This Day in Music History: George Harrison and Got My Mind Set on You

Before the Beatles came to America in 1964 George Harrison came by himself a few months earlier in 1963. You George had an older sister who left home when she was about 17 years old. She studied to become a teacher and moved to America. So George came to America to vist his sister. While visiting he bought an album by the singer James Ray. He said that the album was terrible but there were three really good songs on it. All of them were written by a former mailman named Rudy Clark. The songs were It's Been A Drag and Got My Mind Set on You Part 1 and Part 2. However, the two parts didn't have any break in between.

George said he got the idea to record the song when he was in the studio with Jim Keltner and Gary Wright. Keltner started playing a swing/rock type of beat. Wright said that it sounded like Got My Mind Set on You. George was surprised anybody else had ever heard of the song. He then decided to record it. George made some changes when he recorded it. He changed it from the Jazz/Swing sound that the original had to a more pop rock sound with some chord changes. He also eliminated the female background singers. When he was asked why he made the changes he said it was because he prefered the way he heard it in his head.

The song was co-produced by George and Jeff Lynne of ELO fame. George said he wanted to work with someone who's work he respected and someone who respected his work. He didn't want a newcomer who would dismiss everything that he had done in the past. Dave Edmonds set up a meeting between the two and the rest is history. So on this day in music history, January 16, 1988 George Harrison release the song Got My Mind Set on You from his Cloud Nine Album and had the #1 song on the Billboard charts for 1 week.

The song had two music videos made for it. The most popular one was George just sitting in a room singing and playing his guitar to the tune while the objects in the room became animated and moving to the beat. My friend Mike loved this one and wanted the suit of armor to start dancing to the tune but it never did. Too bad as it would have been a nice touch.

My favorite was the second as it had a story to it. A boy and girl were at an arcade trying to get each others attention. They were playing a game where the prize was a snowglobe. Inside the snowglobe was George, Jeff Lynne, Jim Keltner, etc. playing the song.

There was always a friendly rivalry between the Beatles and I heard that Paul McCartney was happy but also a little bit jealous when George hit #1. You see Paul had not had a #1 hit since 1983 when his duet with Michael Jackson was #1 in December of that year.

Amazing Grace

I got this story in an e-mail and I thought it was interesting.

One day, a man went to visit a church..

He got there early, parked his car, and got out.

Another car pulled up and the driver got

out and said,"I always park there!

You took my place!" The visitor went inside for

Sunday School, found an empty seat and sat down.

A young lady from the church

approached him and stated,

"That's my seat! You took my place!"

The visitor was somewhat distressed

by this rude welcome, but said nothing.

After Sunday School, the visitor went

into the sanctuary and sat down.

Another member walked up to him and said,

"That's where I always sit! You took my place!"

The visitor was even more troubled by this

treatment, but still He said nothing.

Later as the congregation was praying

for Christ to dwell among them,

the visitor stood up, and his appearance began to change.

Horrible scars became visible on

his hands and on his sandaled feet.

Someone from the congregation

noticed him and called out, "What happened to you?"

The visitor replied, as his hat

became a crown of thorns, and a tear fell from his eye,

"I took your place."

May we all remember the Man who took our place.

This Day in Music History: Dean Martin and Memories Are Made of This

On this day in music history, January 14, 1956, Dean Martin had the first #1 song of the year with Memories Are Made of This. Not bad for a poor kid from Steubenville, Ohio. He was born Dino Crocetti and held many jobs from gas station attendent to boxer before deciding on a career in show business as a singer. He made the change he said because he was tired of getting punched in the mouth and cleaning windshields. He was doing well as a nighclub singer but he really took off when he teamed up with a new nightclub comedian who was not doing too well at the time. The comedian as many know was Jerry Lewis. Their chemistry started a fire that burned bright for many years. Together they had hit movies, TV shows and club apperances. Dean never had a recording contract before they got together but he signed with Capitol records and had many hits for them. Memories Are Made of This started his year out right as it was #1 for 5 weeks. By the end of the 1950's Martin and Lewis broke up. Jerry was the comedian and no one worried how well he would do. They did wonder about Dean's solo career. They didn't have to worry as he was a fine singer and a pretty good comedian himself. That was a side that was rarely seen in his previous movies as most of the funny lines were given to Jerry. He had hits in musical/romantic comedies like Bells Are Ringing. His spoof of the spy movies in the Matt Helm series were also big hits. He also did war dramas like the Young Lions and westerns with John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart as well as the crime drama Ocean's Eleven with all of the Rat Pack in the cast. In his later years he became know for his hit variety series and his Dean Martin's Roast. It was in his TV shows where his comedy really shined. A short time before he died he had started a tour with his old friends Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. On December 25, 1995 he passed away at the age of 78 from acute respiratory failure at his home in Beverly Hills, Ca.
If you want to get a copy of the photo you can click on the title above and it will take you to the site where it can be purchased.

This Day in Music History: The Steve Miller Band and The Joker

Actually I should have showcased this song yesterday as January 12, 1974 was its first day as the #1 song in the country on the Billboard charts. However, it was #1 for one week so this was its second day at #1 on this day in music history. Steve Miller was born on October 5, 1943 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin but was raised in Dallas, Texas. It was there that his love for music grew and he formed a band that included Boz Scaggs. Steve eventually left Dallas and traveled to other cities and formed new bands where ever he went. It was in San Francisco that he formed a band that became a local favorite. Boz Scaggs joined his new band and in a short while they were offered a contract with Capitol Records. The Steve Miller Band’s first two albums were Children of the Future and Sailor. Both are considered his best work but no hits were released off of the albums. The band was great and developed a loyal following but no one knew who Steve Miller was. He was dubbed the man without a face. As he said “People tended to be fans of the albums. Not Steve Miller.” In 1969 Scaggs left the group for a successful solo career. It was with the bands eighth album The Joker, that mainstream audiences found the group. Steve always wanted to have single hits and took up the challenge to have a hit. He said he always thought a hit song had to be two and a half minutes and have a soul-disco symphony. While the album went gold Miller said that he was uncertain of its commercial potential. He said that he asked a roomful of record executives what they thought as making and marketing hit records was their business. He said after listening to it one of them stood up and pointed to the record and said “That’s a hit.”

Marvel Bullpen Page from 1976

Here is a Marvel Bullpen Page from 1976. Notice the man in the yellow uniform. He is called Nova and we are told that Stan thinks we will dig him. I remember thinking that he didn't look so cool to me. Little did I realize that when Marv Wolfman's creation did appear he would become one of my favorite heroes. Sorry for the crooked scan but that is the way my scanner scans everything.

Marvel comics in house advertisment

Here is a page from a Marvel comic book in 1976. It shows other Marvel comics that were on sale at that time in the Mighty Marvel checklist and on top it shows a book that made comic book history. The first ever meeting of Superman and Spider-man.

God will never stop working in our lives

"I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need. Philippians 4:13 NLT
Man is never so tall as when he kneels before God—never so great as when he humbles himself before God. And the man who kneels to God can stand up to anything. Louis H. Evans1 Isaiah 9:6-7 NLT"

"Like most folks, the apostle Paul had his share of financial ups and downs. He speaks openly of his experience in the last few paragraphs of his letter to the church at Philippi. His comments are wise and helpful for anyone facing hard times, fiscal or otherwise.

He acknowledges having "plenty" on certain occasions and "almost nothing" in the way of financial resources at other times (Philippians 4:12). But notice that even in his bleakest moments, when his stomach was literally empty and growling, Paul's spirit was full (v. 11). Paul experienced genuine contentment in difficult times. How did he do this?

Paul relied on the strength of Christ to get him through. The verb translated "gives me…strength" means to infuse needed power into our souls. God's strength is a persevering kind of divine energy that can sustain you through economic difficulties or troubles of any kind.

Praying God's Promise:
I need help, Lord, and you have promised to infuse me with your infinite power. Without divine assistance I cannot press on. With your help and strength, I can do whatever you ask of me. Give me a second wind. I look to you in trust because I know you are faithful.2

1quoted in Wise Words & Quotes by Vernon McLellan (Tyndale) p 211
2from Praying God's Promises in Tough Times by Len Wood (Tyndale) pp 170-71"

This Day in Music History: Whitney Houston and So Emotional

Well we have talked about the #1 hits of many songs of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s so today lets talk about one from the 80’s. On January 9, 1988 a song written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly reached #1 on the Billboard charts for Whitney Houston. That song was So Emotional. Clive Davis, the president of Arista, Whitney’s record label, called and told them that he needed an uptempo song for her new album.
Steinberg and Kelly started to write the song but tried to not have Whitney in mind while they wrote it and produced their demo. Mr. Kelly said that “Whenever we try to write a song for somebody, we usually end up writing something stupid and contrived, so it’s best we just write.” The song they ended up with they titled Emotional. Kelly said the song when they were done with it actually sounded more like a song Prince would have written and produced.
They sent the song to Clive Davis. He gave them a fast response letting them know that he liked the song. Mr. Kelly said that Clive Davis gets in touch with you immediately to let you know if he likes a song or not. He usually will call or write a note the very day he hears the song. He says he is direct and lets you know if he liked it or not and if he doesn’t like it you don’t feel insulted.
Ten songs for the album were already recorded when Mr. Davis got the song to Whitney’s producer Narada Michael Walden. By the time Mr. Walden received the song it had been retitled So Emotional. Whitney was scheduled that day to come in to record minor changes to some of those songs. Before they recorded the changes he had her record So Emotional. She recorded 90% of the song in one session. So Emotional was the last song recorded for the Whitney album.
When Mr. Davis heard the song he loved it. It wasn’t that way for Mr. Steinberg and Mr. Kelly. You see Mr. Walden slowed the song down a bit. Mr. Kelly said it was hard for them to get use to. He said that he kept calling Mr. Davis telling him “You really ought to speed it up. Now we love it.”

This Day in Music History: Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. and You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)

In 1975 the husband and wife team of Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. made a hard decision when they decided to leave the successful group of the Fifth Dimension to start solo careers. The original plan was for them to have seperate careers. But suddenly Billy decided they should have their first album be together and the songs would all be duets. Producer Don Davis had a song, You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show), that he thought would be perfect for them. It wasn't written as a duet but was rearranged for them. Getting top musicans Davis was able to produce a song that sounded like a fresh new record from Motown but it was really on ABC records. However, it was not the first song released from the album. The first was called I Hope We Get to Love on Time. It only reached #91 on the Billboard charts.
It was their second one that reached #1 on the charts on this day in music history, January 8, 1977 for one week. It was a huge cross over hit and won a Grammy as Best Vocal R & B Vocal Preformance by a Duo, Group or Chorus. Their success on the charts led them to have a summer variety TV series for 6 weeks in 1977. Later, Marilyn was host of the TV show Solid Gold. She later signed as a solo artist with RCA and released several songs solo and with Billy but none of them reached the top 100 on the charts.

The Prestige on DVD

Fans of Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Michael Cane may be interested to know that the movie The Prestige will be released on DVD on February 20th. Click here to pre-order the Prestige.

God is merciful: Can you ever be beyond God's mercy?

Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life.
Psalm 23:6 NLT
From poolroom to pulpit
By the age of thirteen, Johnny Hunt was already heavily abusing alcohol. His mother worked two jobs to provide for her family, and Johnny capitalized on the lack of adult supervision by getting into all kinds of trouble. When he was fourteen, he found a fake ID and gained entrance to the local poolroom, where he began playing pool five to eight hours a day. Johnny dropped out of school at sixteen and was hired as the manager of the poolroom.
When he married, his wife, Jan, soon began to talk about going to church, but that was not part of his plan. Then a man named Mr. Pridgen began coming into the hardware store where Johnny had taken a part-time job. As Mr. Pridgen paid for his purchases each week, he would tell Johnny how Jesus had changed yet another life and invite him to church. He finally gave in.
After a few weeks Johnny was surprised to feel the Lord working in his heart. Each week, during the invitation hymn, he began to weep. During the morning service of January 7, 1973, Jan noticed his tears. At the evening service that night, Johnny went forward and put his trust in Jesus.
From that moment on, Johnny Hunt was a changed young man. He went to all his old hangouts, sharing with his old friends what Jesus had done for him. When a skeptic asked him, "What are you going to do now that you're saved and going to heaven?" His answer came easily, "Take as many people with me as I can." To achieve that goal, Johnny decided to finish school and become a pastor.
from The One Year® Book of Christian History by E. Michael and Sharon Ruten, Tyndale House Publishers (2003) pp 14-15

God is Mercuful Have you received God's Mercy?

Praise the Lord, I tell myself; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, I tell myself, and never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives my sins> and heals all my diseases. He ransoms me from death and surrounds me with love and tender mercies.
Psalm 103:1-4 NLT
Having chosen [his people], he called them to come to him. And he gave them right standing with himself, and he promised them his glory.
Romans 8:30 NLT
Pardoned
The essential act of mercy was to pardon; and pardon in its very essence involves the recognition of guilt and ill-desert in the recipient. If crime is only a disease which needs cure, not sin which deserves punishment, it cannot be pardoned. How can you pardon a man for having a gumboil or a club foot? But the Humanitarian theory wants simply to abolish Justice and substitute Mercy for it. This means that you start being "kind" to people before you have considered their rights, and then force upon them supposed kindnesses which no one but you will recognize as kindnesses and which the recipient will feel as abominable cruelties. You have overshot the mark. Mercy, detached from Justice, grows unmerciful. That is the important paradox. As there are plants which will flourish only in mountain soil, so it appears that Mercy will flower only when it grows in the crannies of the rock of Justice: transplanted to the marshlands of mere Humanitarianism, it becomes a man-eating weed, all the more dangerous because it is still called by the same name as the mountain variety.
C. S. LEWIS in God in the Dock

Tabitha on DVD

Recently as a Christmas gift my wife got me the DVD series Tabitha. It was a spin off of the old Bewitched series in the 60’s. Tabitha and her brother Adam were now in their 20’s and working at a local TV station. It was full of lighthearted fun that it parent series had. It stared Lisa Hartman as Tabitha and Robert Urich as her co-worker Paul. While both became famous for their dramatic acting they proved in this series that they could handle comedy. Especially, Mr. Urich as he played the Ted Baxter type role that Ted Knight made famous earlier on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. However there were several things wrong with it that doomed it to be done in less then 13 weeks. First is for fans of Bewitched they got the continuity wrong. Tabitha and Adam would have been children in the 1970’s. So it really should have been a school comedy more like Sabrina was years later. Secondly, Adam in the first episode referred to Tabitha as his kid sister. That was wrong as Tabitha was born first. Her character was added to the Bewitched series in 1966 and Adam was born in 1971. So Adam was her kid brother. The only way to have done this series the way they did it was to ignore continuity and that is what the producers did. Either that or they never were fans of Bewitched to begin with. The third thing wrong is that the show was mediocre comedy. When watching the DVD set I had to admit I had seen better sit-coms. However, I also had to admit that I had seen worse and most of that was recently. Being mediocre in television is worse then being bad because rotten TV grabs the audience attention and if they comeback to watch each week then the show will stay on and it has a chance to get better. If you are mediocre then hardly anyone watches and you get canceled. Another thing that killed the show was its time slot. It was on Saturday nights at 8 pm. It replaced the show Fish that stared Abe Vigoda. The main competition was on CBS. It was the Bob Newhart Show in its last year. Perhaps in time Tabitha could have grown into a really good comedy. However, the audience didn't want to wait for that when it already had a seasoned show already in that slot for them to watch. Still I liked the show and I am glad to see it again. It was gone so fast that I missed half of the series and now I can catch up. It was lighthearted innocent fun and we need to see that now more then ever.

Breast Cancer Benefit at Comic Book World

Just wanted to tell you of what my local comic book store did this past New Years Day. They held an auction of rare and signed comic books and posters to benefit the I Have Wings Breast Cancer Foundation. You can click on the article to read more about it and you can click on the link to Comic Book World at the right to go to their site and e-mail them with any questions you have about getting in touch with the Foundation. Sorry for the askew scan. I tried to fix it but this was the best I could do. You can click on the title above or on the link on the right to go to Comic Book World's website.

This Day In Music History: Bobby Vinton and There! I've Said It Again

On this date in music history, January 4, 1964, a line was about to be crossed that signified that music was changing. On this date Bobby Vinton had the #1 hit with There! I’ve Said It Again. The era of the safe white bread rock and roll star and the crooners was about to come to an end and Mr. Vinton is were the dividing line starts. With Bill Haley and the Comets and Elvis the rock era started and it took on a rebellious sound. By 1960 rock and roll in America was starting to sound safe and content with singers like Bobby Vinton, Pat Boone, Bobby Vee and even Elvis was not sounding so rebellious anymore.
There! I’ve Said It Again was #1 for the first four weeks of 1964 and was the third #1 single for Bobby Vinton. He said the song was brought to his attention in an odd way. He was performing in Cincinnati, Ohio when he saw a long haired, bearded DJ who he found intimidating. He said as he went on stage the man was screaming at him “Come here!” He asked him what he wanted. The DJ told him if he recorded There! I’ve Said It Again he would have a #1 hit. He went on and preformed his act but wondered why that man was so concerned about him and why he thought he should record that song.
When he did record it he said it only took him 5 minutes. They had booked studio time till 10 pm. The session started at 7:10 pm and they were done by 7:15 pm. Mr. Vinton said “I could sing this all night, but it’s not going to get any better. It’s a hit the way it is, goodnight everybody.”
The song dominated the charts for the first month of 1964. In February the USA would start getting even more hits from overseas. Singers like Mr. Vinton would still have hits but they would be few and far between as time went on. Music would never be the same again.
You can click on the title above to be taken to a site where you can get the photo. It says it is signed by Mr. Vinton.

Hawaii Five-0 and McHale's Navy

Just a heads up that both Hawaii Five-0 and McHale's Navy season one are coming out in March of this year. You can pre-order them at Amazon right now. No cover art on McHale's Navy yet but one of the extras is to be a reunion of the surviving cast memebers Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway, Carl Ballantine, Edson Stroll and Bob Hastings from when they held a party announcing the DVD release date. Click here to buy Hawaii Five-O season one from Amazon.com. Also, you can click here to buy McHale's Navy Season One on DVD from Amazon.