Friday, June 07, 2013

Neil Levang: A story of a man and his Stratocaster



I found this from the official webpage of Fender, makers of the Stratocaster guitar. I guarantee that you'll enjoy reading this!

40 YEARS LATER: NEIL LEVANG RECEIVES NEW STRAT



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Tuesday, June 04, 2013

James Hobson (1922-2013)

Last April, the longtime producer and director of the Lawrence Welk Show, James Hobson passed away at the age of 90.





From the very beginning on July 2, 1955 as a director until its conclusion in 1982, Jim was part of the Welk Show with his impeccable behind the scenes production that gave the program that added sparkle of champagne.

Rest In Peace Jim. Here's a reprint of his obituary (edited to remove dated references) from the Los Angeles Times.

James Hobson was born on December 30, 1922 in Chicago, Illinois to John Surtees Hobson Sr. and Mary Ellen Jones. 

James attended public school and later St. John's Military Academy and Purdue University. Drafted into the army in 1943. He was assigned to the 397th Field Artillery in France, Italy and Germany and was awarded the Bronze Star for stopping an artillery barrage. He also attended Signal Corps Motion Picture School in London and was discharged in 1946.

In that same year, he attended the Pasadena Playhouse where he met Elsie Holmes, a talented and successful actress in stage and movies from Yazoo City, Mississippi. They married in 1950. 

James began his career as a cameraman for Channel 13, KLAC TV in 1949. He made the transition to producer director in 1952 with "The Liberace Show". He became director of "The Lawrence Welk Show" in 1955 and in 1962 became the producer/director of the Welk show until his retirement in 1986. 

After Elsie Hobson died in 2001, James met actress, singer and writer Ashley Aarons. In 2005, they founded " Coffee Dog Productions" and he produced a catalogue of songs and a musical in pre-production entitled, "Dance Myself Free". His hobbies included building a "Rogallo Wing Hang Glider", sailing and collecting model airplane engines. 

James Hobson died in his wife's arms in Santa Monica on April 26, 2013. Services was held on Thursday, May 23rd at the Old North Church in Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, CA.
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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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