Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Lawrence Welk with Jay North

Better known as TV's Dennis the Menace.....



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Saturday, March 16, 2013

Champagne Covers #2

More fantastic of your favorite pop songs covered by your favorite Welk stars!



 
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Friday, March 01, 2013

Ten Years of Welk Musical Family.com

It all began on a Winter's day.....March 3, 2003 to be exact.

For years, Welk fans clamored for a webpage that provided lots of pictures, fun facts and other stuff that was all things Lawrence Welk and his Musical Family.

So on that very day, a humble, little Yahoo Geocities page was launched, featuring nothing more than a few scanned pictures, some facts and plenty of hope and optimism.

Ten years later, Welk Musical Family.com has grown into a colossus, which included this blog, Welkgirls.com, a Twitter account and a successful Facebook page.

And all the while, the original webpage has become THE source for Welk fans to get their online Champagne Music fix.

In honor of this occasion, I made this 10th anniversary collage of the Maestro and the cast of hundreds that made up his Musical Family over the years, see if you can find anyone of your favorites!

 
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Saturday, February 09, 2013

Champagne Covers #1

In all the years the Lawrence Welk Show has been on the air, the Musical Family have done covers of very popular hit songs of any genre.

Our crack research team has uncovered some musical gems. Their own unique covers of today's hit pop songs the kids like!

See if you can recognize anyone of them.

 
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Friday, January 11, 2013

Thomas Harold Netherton

Or just plain Tom to us Welk fans!

No matter what you call him, he is the young tall fella with the golden baritone voice that the ladies love!

And his birthday is today.




 
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Thursday, January 03, 2013

It's good to be Cissy King

And her birthday is today, here is Cissy in pictures doing what she does best on the Welk Show!








 
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Wednesday, January 02, 2013

The Maestro welcomes in 2013

This is going to be the start of something big....I just know it.

 
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Monday, December 31, 2012

Out with 2012, in with 2013

Here's to the New Year. May she be wunnerful, wunnerful!

 
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Monday, December 24, 2012

And on Christmas Eve, where no mice are stirring....

From my Musical Family to yours.....

 
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Friday, December 21, 2012

My portrait of Norman Bailey

Continuing on in my series of Musical Family portraits, here's another one I drew this week. It's Welk orchestra trumpet player Norman Bailey.

 
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Wednesday, December 19, 2012

My portrait of Joe Feeney

Happy Holidays to all my fellow Welkies!

In between shopping, working and doing the normal Welk-related stuff, I did get some sketching in between.

Recently, I've been doing portraits of the Musical Family. Here is one I drew today of Joe Feeney.

 
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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

The Lawrence Welk Soul Train

If you're like me, and I know that I am, you've probably said to yourself at one time, "I want to see the Champagne Music of Lawrence Welk, the groovy dancing of Soul Train and the high energy sounds of Heavy Metal rock come together as one."

Thanks to the wonders of You Tube and the fertile imagination from one of America's Best and Brightest, it's now a reality!

It is worth four minutes of your time, and it's got a great beat that you can dance to!
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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

By The Time I Get To Phoenix; Tanya's version

We all know that amongst the staple of contemporary pop songs covered on the Lawrence Welk Show, By The Time I Get To Phoenix (written by Jimmy Webb and made famous sung by Glen Campbell) has been one of the more popular songs featured, covered by a good number of the Music Makers.


Tanya Falan is one of them...


Here she is from 1971's Salute To The U.S.A (the very first syndicated Welk episode) giving that song her treatment.

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Sunday, October 14, 2012

Down on the farm, we harvest only the best musicians

1973 was a fine year for music, and from the "Down On The Farm" episode, only Lawrence Welk produces the best!


Guitarists like Neil Levang.....
 

......and Clay Hart.
 

Here's Richard Maloof on bass....
 

......with Henry Cuesta on clarinet.
 

And all the while Bob Lido, when he's not tending to the crops, plays the fiddle too!

 

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Sunday, October 07, 2012

Songs From The Movies Revisited

Who doesn't like going to the movies?

That is unless you saw a particular big budget Hollywood feature that turned out to be a bomb.

But that's not the case with the Music Makers from 1980 with their salute to the silver screen!


Why settle for just being a star when you can shoot for the moon? That's what Arthur Duncan is doing....


But of course, the road to stardom can be on the paths less traveled.....


......however, these highlights from this episode prove that no road can ever be so bumpy and rough.

 

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Saturday, October 06, 2012

I'm no longer AWOL, so lets celebrate with Gail Farrell photos

Yeah, I know.....it's been a long time since I last posted here.

After six years of blogging Welk stuff, I knew the time came when I run dry of stuff to post without repeating myself.

Trust me, if you're in my shoes.....you would know.

And what better way to celebrate from being in exile by posting plenty of pictures of the lovely Gail Farrell, since it was her birthday today.

Happy Birthday Gail!

 
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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Sally Flynn's weekend at Heidi's

If you're anywhere near Cocoa Beach, Florida this weekend, and in the mood for music, you're in luck!

Sally Flynn will be performing at Heidi's Jazz Club this coming Friday and Saturday.


She'll be performing with the Terry Myers Orchestra.

More details can be found at HEIDI'S JAZZ CLUB 
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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Small Towns of America

From Harpster, Ohio to Hudson, Indiana and from Brockway, Wisconsin to Boyd, Minnesota, the final "new" episode of the 2011-12 Welk season salutes Small Town U.S.A.


So here are the highlights, which include....


Myron Floren switching Arthur Duncan's and Jimmy Roberts' regular coffee with Folgers Crystals.....


Natalie Nevins guest stars on this week's Welcome Back Kotter.....


.....and Cissy King with Andra Willis eat apples.


SMALL TOWNS OF AMERICA - February 1, 1969

1. DEAR HEARTS AND GENTLE PEOPLE - Larry, Bob Lido, Sandi, Bobby, Cissy, Andra, Bob Ralston, Tanya, Joe, Jo Ann, Natalie, Jimmy, Arthur, Dick, Curt
2. MY SWEET LITTLE ALICE BLUE GOWN - Norma Zimmer
3. JOSEPHINE - the orchestra
4. THAT OLD GANG OF MINE - Steve Smith, Curt Ramsey, Larry Hooper and Charlie Parlato
5. PEACE IN THE VALLEY - Andra Willis


6. WALKING MY BABY BACK HOME - Bob Ralston at the piano
7. A HOUSE WITH LOVE IN IT - Jimmy Roberts
8. MY HEART IS A HOBO - Steve Smith
9. DO, RE, MI - Natalie Nevins with Cissy, Andra, Tanya, Bobby, Bob Ralston, Charlie and Larry
10. THERE'S THE KIND OF WALK YOU WALK - danced by Bobby Burgess and Cissy King


11. EVERYONE'S GOT A HOME BUT ME - Joe Feeney
12. HOT TIME IN THE OLD TOWN TONIGHT - Jo Ann Castle at the honky tonk piano
13. GIVE ME THE SIMPLE LIFE - Bob Lido
14. SMALL TOWN BOYS - sung and danced by Bob Ralston and Jack Imel
15. (GIVE ME THAT) OLD TIME RELIGION - Larry Hooper with Charlie, Dick, Norma, Myron, Jo Ann, Cissy, Andra, Bob Lido and Joe


16. I'D RATHER BE BLUE - Sandi Griffiths and Sally Flynn
17. MY HOME IS IN MY SHOES - sung and danced by Arthur Duncan
18. IN A SMALL TOWN - Dick Dale
19. EASY STREET - Tanya Falan
20. A PRAYER FOR PEACE - Dick, Charlie, Joe, Bob Lido, Tanya, Jo Ann, Curt, Bob Ralston, Andra, Natalie, Larry, Arthur, Norma, Jimmy, Cissy, Bobby, Sandi, Steve and Sally


This was a fun episode, it was quite different that Myron Floren did the introductions to the musical numbers and that Lawrence only appeared in the opening and closing portions of the show.

And sadly, this concludes this season of episodes that includes "new" ones, so starting in September it will be a full year of repeats. Who knows, maybe due to pledge drives, some markets will be showing the "new" ones for the first time.

So from my small town to yours, from Aliceville, Alabama to Alma, Colorado; keep a song in your heart!

   

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