Picture Of The Day (9-28-06)

Norma Zimmer and Jimmy Roberts relaxing by the sea, and what may I ask they are singing about?

Red Sails In The Sunset of course! From 1975's Gotta Travel On show.

Lynn Anderson

Well now, it's time for another Music Maker birthday! Today, it's Lawrence Welk's Original Country Gal, Lynn Anderson!

Her time on the show may be so brief (1967 to 1969), but she was so popular that she parlayed it to a very successful country music recording career....remember her super number one smash "Rose Garden?"

There is also an baskeball arena in Portland, Oregon called the Rose Garden....I wonder if the Trail Blazers and their fans are also Lynn Anderson fans?

The native of Grand Forks, ND continues to make music, as well as her famous songwriter mom Liz Anderson, you can check it out on her own webpage.

Happy Birthday Lynn!

Arthur Duncan

Today is Arthur Duncan's birthday, tapping his way to fame from Pasadena to stages all over the world. As a member of the Music Makers from 1964 to 1982, he kept the art of tap dancing alive on national television....just like how Lawrence Welk kept Big Band music alive.

Now today is the day we celebrate his day....Happy Birthday Arthur!

Mancini-Mercer

This week's show, the music makers salute to fine songwriters, Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer. Here's Cissy & Bobby getting things started with the Mercer classic "Goody Goody."

The maestro had Henry Mancini himself as his special guest, and the man behind the music of Pink Panther played two of his hits on the piano, "Days Of Wine And Roses" and "The Sweetheart Tree". We also had Arthur Duncan dancing to "Jeepers Creepers" and Guy & Ralna a great rendition of "All His Children".

There were several great numbers in the show, Gail Farrell and Larry Hooper teamed up at the piano with their rendition of "You Must Have Been A Beautiful Baby" in which both looked and sounded cute. Myron Floren played "Charade" on his accordian, and the orchestra had several great instrumentals such as the popular standby, "That Old Black Magic" along with "Laura's Theme."

The girls chorus sang "Send A Little Love My Way" which came from the motion picture Oklahoma Crude, here's our dancers Cissy & Bobby, Jack & Mary Lou adding some dance steps to some nice harmonies followed by Clay Hart with "Hey Porter" and "Moon River" by Joe Feeney.

We also had Anacani and Tanya team up for "Accentuate The Postive" and the whole gang teaming up for the finale with "In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening"....putting the cork on yet another vintage show filled with music and melodies that is sweet sounds to anyone's ear.

Mary Lou had Bobby Burgess on as her guest to be interviewed, and he talked about how he not just danced but can play the accordian. He also mentioned his days on the Mickey Mouse Club television program which was an ideal breeding ground for what's to come next, The Lawrence Welk Show; plus his family where he and wife Kristi enjoy going out to dance, and he and kids are teaching Southern California how to dance.

Next week I believe is "School Days", see you all later!

Guy Hovis

Today is another spectacular music maker birthday, and it's Guy Hovis!

The man we know as one half of Guy & Ralna hails from Tupelo, Mississippi where one cannot help but be musical. Orginally, he planned on being an accountant after graduating from Ole Miss (University Of Mississippi), but thankfully decided on being a musician which led him to 12 wunnerful seasons on The Lawrence Welk Show.

Oh, he and Ralna English were husband and wife from 1969 to 1984.

Now remarried, to Sis Lundy Hovis, he makes his home in Jackson and when he isn't singing....he works as head of US Senator Trent Lott's state offices.

Happy Birthday Guy, may there be many more down the road!

Elaine Balden

Today we celebrate the birthday of another popular music maker, Elaine Balden, who is Bobby Burgess' dancing partner number three, celebrates her special day today.

This Texas native attended Sam Houston State, and once appeared as a dancer on one of the annual Jerry Lewis Telethons as one of her highlights prior to joining Lawrence Welk in 1979. Today, happily married to Jim Balden, she's the mother of two daughters and teaches her craft to a new generation of dancers.

Happy Birthday Elaine.....let us do the Tango in your honor!

Can You Recognize This Music Maker?

You'll be suprised that is Henry Cuesta, who usually wears glasses!

Whether he wore glasses or not, Henry was one fine clarinet and saxophone player who played for the Welk Orchestra from 1972 to 1982 and continued to perform live across the country afterwards, especially with the Live Lawrence Welk Tours up until his death in December 2003.

He even had a musical arrangement named after him, "Oh Henry."

Picture Of The Day (9-20-06)

Here's Bobby Burgess and Elaine Balden dancing to the music of "An American In Paris", tres magnifique!

Salute To Roses

Time to head to your local florist, cause' this week's show is all about roses and here's the Champagne Music Makers starting it all off with "Everything Is Coming Up Roses."

The show, first blossomed on TV back in June 1971, has alot of rose songs. such as "Rambling Rose" by Clay Hart, Primrose Lane by Guy & Ralna, Mary Lou Metzger and Bob Lido with "San Antonio Rose" complete with Hotsy Totsy Boys and Ken Delo singing "Red Roses For A Blue Lady."

If any of you guys don't like roses...here are some more roses...LOL!

Bobby & Cissy dance to a nice instrumental of Henry Mancini's "Days Of Wine And Roses", Myron Floren plays a rousing "Yellow Rose Of Texas" complete with our two favorite dancers cutting an rug the size of Tyler (Texas that is)....oh and did you know that Tyler, TX is a mecca for roses in the USA, you learn something new everyday.

We also have Sandi & Sally singing Lynn Anderson's uber-hit "I Never Promised You A Rose Garden", and below we have Gail and Dale (Gail Farrell and Dick Dale) singing "One Dozen Roses" to close out the show.

All in all....a very "rosy" show, perfect for any thorn birds!

Mary Lou this week interviews Ralna English, one of the more engaging interviews of the season with the Texas Rose....just keeping in theme this week....talking about her start in singing from Haskell, TX...her hometown....to places such as Six Flags, The Horn and eventually the Lawrence Welk Show. She also chats about her daughter Julie, now a teacher, living in Arizona (Go Cardinals!) and touring on the road with Guy Hovis, who suprises everyone by making an appearance on camera.


See you all guys next week....and always keep a song in your heart!

Janet and Kathy Lennon on KSAV

Here's some exiting news for Lennon Sisters fans. On Tuesday, September 19, 2006....Janet and Kathy Lennon will be the featured special guests on Talking Television with Dave White on internet radio station KSAV. It will air 7:30 to 9:00pm Pacific Time (10:30 to 12:00am Eastern Time) and all Welk fans are invited to call in or email the show with questions or greetings for Kathy and Janet.

If you're perhaps a first time user of internet radio, don't worry...all the important information for Tuesday can be found at KSAV.org.

Dick Dale

Today is music maker Dick Dale's birthday....and this one is a milestone, it's his 80th and still going on strong!

The native of Algona, Iowa joined the Welk orchestra in 1951 has played the saxophone and the reed instruments as well as being a fine vocalist. I always said that there's something about that Champagne Music that makes every person feel young and happy!

Happy Birthday Dick! Everyone here in Welk Nation salutes you!

Picture Of The Day (9-13-06)

Larry Hooper gets served....and it's maid to order! Any guy would love to have attractive servants such as Tanya Falan, Andra Willis, Sandi Griffiths and Sally Flynn work for him.

It's More Than Just Password....It's

From 1979, GSN is showing a week's episodes featuring our Janet Lennon as one of the celebrity contestants! Here she is featured to your left with host Allen Ludden and game show icon Monty Hall.

So far, from what I have watched....Janet has proven to be a very good Password player, plus her years on the Welk show have made her a very entertaining and easy to root for. Here's Janet trying to guess the password from clues given by her partner.

And towards the end of the show, knowing that she's on the show...this following puzzle is an ode to Janet's association with the Champagne Music Makers, but in a cruel twist of fate...it was Monty Hall's team that guessed the puzzle correctly and won $100 dollars! Here's the puzzle below.

And the password for today is "Wunnerful", which means that both shows on TV are simply "wunnerful, wunnerful!"

Never Forget.....

On a somber note here....today is the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington DC. Let us never forget those we lost on that infamous day, and let freedom reign here not just in Champagne cyberspace, but across the USA and the entire world.

Season Premiere: The ABC Finale

It's time for the 2006-07 season on PBS to begin! This week we kick things off with a grand finale....Lawrence's last show on ABC.

Here's the maestro getting the show started, and reminding everyone that next week you can watch the show on syndication....which would turn out to be a nice little run of eleven years. The band kicks things off with "Say It With Music" which ironically, was the first musical selection played on the very first network show back in 1955.

Sandi & Sally once again proved they were America's Sweethearts when they next came out with their number, "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter" which had a great beat to it. There was also the "Three Musketeers" of Clay Hart, Buddy Merrill and Neil Levang with their guitars with "Gentle On My Mind" in which Clay sung the vocals. I also forgot there's Richard Maloof on bass, also known as the "fourth" musketeer.

This show was also fun for one other reason, we get to hear Buddy Merrill sing, here he sings "It May Be Silly", who would have thunk that Buddy was also a good singer in addition to being a fine guitarist?

There were plenty of fine numbers in the show, such as "Calcutta", "True Love" by Guy & Ralna and "It's A Most Unusual Day" sung by Gail Farrell and her friends below. It's rapidly becoming one of my favorite numbers on the show, musically and visually.

Tanya was next with "That's Amore" along with Dick Dale singing "Manny Sue" with a little help from Barney Liddell at trombone. And for a great way to conclude the last ever program on PBS, have Bob Lido, Mary Lou Metzger and the Hotsy Totsy Boys go crazy with "Runnin' Wild", and I can betcha that the network drove itself crazy when the lost a good share of their ratings to syndication!

Time now for Mary Lou's interview segment, and it was Dick Dale in the hot seat. He talked about his start in showbiz, growing up in Algona, Iowa....and the interesting people he met during his years of performing. Would you believe that Dick came to the Music Makers from Harold Loeffelmacher and his Six Fat Dutchmen?

That's this week's show in a nutshell....next week it's another instant classic, Salute To Roses, see you all on the flip side!

Picture Of The Day (9-7-06)

Mary Lou Metzger really looks suprised with Jack Imel right behind her....makes you wonder what tricks Ace has up his sleeve?

Perhaps it's because this Saturday marks the start of the 2006-07 Welk schedule on PBS.....check your local listings for air dates!

Jim Turner

Today is Jim Turner's birthday, let us celebrate in honor of Mr. Welk's favorite country boy! You can send greetings and more to Jim by visiting his webpage JIM TURNER SINGS

Jo Ann Castle

Tommorow maybe Labor Day but today is where the real celebrating begins! Jo Ann Castle, our mistress of the ragtime piano, celebrates her birthday today!

Happy Birthday Jo Ann! Play some of that birthday cake and ice cream rag for us!