Peace In The Valley

From 1969, Andra Willis sings "Peace In The Valley" courtesy of our friends from YouTube.

And heeeeeerrrrrreeeeeeee's Andra!

An Italian Haiku

One of my finest 5-7-5 ever written, now that's amore!

On the streets of Rome

There's singing, dancing and fun

Viva Italia!

Deep Thoughts

Have you ever wondered what goes inside the heads of the music makers?

Famous Musical Families

This is one of my favorite Lawrence Welk episodes, it originally aired October 19, 1974 and later on PBS with Anacani hosting the wraparounds.

1. Bye Bye Love - Clay Hart with Tom Netherton, Bobby Burgess, Ken Delo, Jimmy Roberts, Cissy King, Sandi Griffiths, Gail Farrell and Mary Lou Metzger

2. The Raindrop Serenade - Bob Smale & Larry Hooper at the piano, Bob Ralston at the organ

3. Vaya Con Dios - Anacani

 

4. The English Quickstep - danced by Bobby & Cissy

5. If I Were a Carpenter - Guy Hovis & Ralna English

6. Undecided - the orchestra

7. Somethin' Stupid - Gail Farrell and Dick Dale

8. Love Walked In - Joe Feeney with Bob Ralston at the organ

9. Stop Time - danced by Arthur Duncan

10. We've Only Just Begun - Tanya Falan

11. Chanson d' Amour - Sandi Griffiths with Anacani, Gail, Mary Lou, Cissy & Tanya

12. You Always Hurt the One You Love - Ken Delo

13. Cab Driver - Larry Hooper, Bob Lido, Charlie Parlato and Kenny Trimble

14. Pretend - orchestra

15. Imagination - Norma Zimmer

16. Gershwin Medley - orchestra

17. Sugartime - Ava Barber

18. Unchained Melody - Bob Ralston at the organ with Charlotte Harris at the cello

19. The Pennsylvania Polka - Sandi, Gail & Mary Lou with Myron Floren at the accordion and Bobby & Cissy dancing

20. Solamente Una Vez - duet by Anacani and her mother

Latest poll results

Here's the results from the Battle Royale of the Champagne Guitar Heroes

Out of 49 total votes.....

Clay Hart came out on top with 57% of the ballot (28 votes)

followed by Neil Levang at 20% (10 votes).....

Rounding out the rest is Buddy Merrill with 18% (9 votes).....

.....and Jim Turner at 4% (2 votes)

And we have a new poll up, don't forget to vote!

Lawrence Welk's European Vacation

Let's go on a trip to Europe, from the comforts of your own computer!

First we go to Ireland, Clay Hart sings "Danny Boy"....

Then it's off to Spain where we join Anacani.....

Now it's off to France, where Ken Delo plays traffic cop.....

We now visit Merry 'Ol England, home of all the King's Horses and the King's Men.....

....and finally Germany, just in time for Octoberfest!

Hope you enjoyed the trip! My apologies for any jet lag one may suffer from.

A Paul Humphrey Haiku

This is the only place on the web you'll get poetry like this!

Bang the drum slowly

That's just one way Paul can play

Take it up a notch

Dick Dale sings about Denver

From 1969, here's Dick Dale singing "Denver" from the Musical Tour of the USA episode.

Thank You America

Words are hard to describe this historic day, I know....I have tried several drafts without much luck in describing the whole thing.

Thank you indeed America, this is and always will be a great country!

And you can print that!

Happy Martin Luther King Day everyone....

I think I need a new printer, lately....the stuff I have printed dosen't show up too good, and this is after I cleaned the headers and did all the usual maintenance to fix such problems in the past.

But I did get a nice photo only printer from one of the many we're-going-outta-business Circuit City stores. The quality of the photos is excellent....and all at a nice low price too!

Looking forward to the Welk shows I plan to attend in '09....first Gail, Sandi and Mary Lou at Bear Creek Farms in May, the Lennon Sisters in July at Columbus and back at Bear Creek in October for the Aldridge Sisters and the Otwell Twins.

And perhaps, some addition shows that may pop up in between!

But first, it's basketball on the tube.

Let's go to France!

This week, Lawrence and the Music Makers pay salute to France from 1964....

Here's Barbara and Bobby dancing across the Siene....

Looks like Kenny Trimble is not too happy with his art.....

....and Larry Hooper is pictured here singing "Just a Gigolo"

Here's one of the numbers from the show, it's a salute to pedestrain traffic with "Chantez"

Richard Maloof's birthday

The master of the bass.....

....and the tuba

....and the ladies appreciate and admire his talent as a musician!

Happy Birthday Richard!

Oh Thank You Very Much

On the 1971 Academy Awards show, this is how the episode ended on public television, Joe Feeney and the cast singing "Born Free"

But there's a number after that in the original broadcast that got cut to make time for the interview segement.

Thanks to the efforts of YouTube and a dedicated Welk fan, we now get to see the original closing number!

It's titled "Thank You Very Much"....and we thank you, very much.

Country Champagne

From the 1968 Country & Western how, here's a pair of great musical numbers!

First, it's Myron Floren and Jo Ann Castle as an accordion twosome with Richard Maloof on tuba for "Just Because" followed by Bob Lido and the gang with "Ragtime Country Joe".

And stay tuned to the end, the Maestro gets a pleasant surprise from the musical family!

Words of Inspiration by Aladdin

Straight from my vinyl collection, here's a good one from Dot Records.

This is Words of Inspiration by Aladdin, some of his most requested recitations from the Lawrence Welk Show.

It does include material written by Helen Steiner Rice, such as "The Legend Of The Raindrop" and "The Windows Of Gold". But it also include stuff such as "The Cradle To The Cross" by Paul Cunningham, and "The Touch Of The Master's Hand" with words by Myra Brooks Welch and original music by Tex Ritter.

It also has plenty of traditional poems such as "I am the United States", "The Spirit of Forgiveness" and "A Cowboy's Prayer".

Each and every one of these recitations are excellent and uplifting, all in Ultra High Fidelity! Such as this sample, it's titled "Deck Of Cards" written by T. Texas Tyler.

The A-B-C's of Champagne Music

Here's Ken Delo with Sandi, Gail and Mary Lou singing "A" You're Adorable...

Tom Netherton's birthday

Don't forget to send him your cards and greetings!

Happy Birthday Tom!

All Time Favorites

Right now, Toledo is buried knee deep in January snow....but I am keeping warm with this week's Lawrence Welk show!

Saturday Nights are meant for.....

Bobby and Elaine dancing the Champagne Waltz.....

Anacani singing "Sway".....

Gail, Ron and Michael getting "In The Mood".....

Sheila and Sherry Aldridge singing "Please Release Me".....

.....and Henry Cuesta playing "Just a Closer Walk With Thee"

That, plus switching back an forth between the Cardinals-Panthers playoff game on FOX and some NBA basketball on my dish's League Pass package.

Oh, and the Ravens won.....damn

A Dick Cathcart minute

Just set your stopwatch to sixty seconds and look at him until time's up....

This has been a Dick Cathcart minute....

a public service courtesy of Welk Musical Family.

First haiku of 2009

And this is surely a good one!

Sherry and Sheila
Coming to a town near you
The Aldridge Sisters