Musical Tour of the USA - The episode only a fortunate few have seen

I don't know if calling this a "lost episode" is accurate, but I do know that many PBS affliates (such as yours truly) have never been able to broadcast this episode thanks to Ol' Man Pledge Drive.

To get an idea of what this particular episode was like, here are some highlights....

The Champagne Music Maker's own version of the Mystery Machine runs outta gas

Natalie Nevins finds those bubbles very enchanting......

.....and Bob Lido along with Larry Hooper pretend they're Thelma and Louise

MUSICAL TOUR OF THE USA - June 21, 1969

1. THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND - Dick, Bobby, Cissy, Steve, Sandi, Sally, Jimmy, Larry and Ralna
2. CHICAGO - the orchestra
3. IT HAPPENED IN MONTEREY - Norma Zimmer and Jimmy Roberts
4. SIDEWALKS OF NEW YORK/IN OLD NEW YORK/SHUFFLE OFF TO BUFFALO/GIVE MY REGARDS TO BROADWAY - Bob Ralston at piano
5. HAWAIIAN WEDDING SONG - Ken Delo with Buddy Merrill at the steel piano

  
6. GALVESTON - danced by Bobby Burgess and Cissy King
7. CAN'T BUY ME LOVE - Tanya Falan
8. I LOVE YOU TRULY - organ trio of Lawrence Welk, Bob Ralston and Frank Scott
9. DO YOU KNOW THE WAY TO SAN JOSE? - Sandi Griffiths and Sally Flynn
10. SAN FRANCISCO - tap dancing by Arthur Duncan

  
11. BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX - Ralna English
12. ON THE BEACH AT WAIKIKI - Jo Ann Castle at honky tonk piano accompanied by Buddy Merrill, Neil Levang and Jack Imel
13. MANHATTAN - Steve Smith
14. PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - Myron Floren at accordion with Lawrence and Cissy dancing and Bobby cutting in
15. MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS - Natalie Nevins

  
16. MOON OVER MIAMI - Joe Feeney
17. MENTION MY NAME IN SHEBOYGAN - sung and danced by Arthur Duncan and Jack Imel
18. SAN FERNANDO VALLEY - Bob Lido and Larry Hooper
19. DENVER - Dick Dale
20. ST. LOUIS BLUES - Bob Havens on trombone

This episode marked Ken Delo's debut with the Musical Family, little did the Maestro and everyone else knew that he would be more than just another male vocalist.

Tanya's cover version of "Can't Buy Me Love" was off her Ranwood Records solo album Let It Be Me....here she is, off the sick list.  

Oh yeah, and she was this week's interview by Mary Lou.....

Maybe one of these days, the rest of us will have our prayers answered and actually get to see this episode.

Until then, keep a song in your heart and don't forget to mention my name in Tacoma!

Musical Tour of the USA - The episode only a fortunate few have seen

If you're in need of a haiku fix.....

....I have prepared two of them, all poetic masterpieces

....and as always, go to my new tumblr page for the best Champagne poetry session on the web!

If you're in need of a haiku fix.....

Gail and Ron's Excellent Adventure

Last weekend, the Hawkeye State's PBS station held it's Festival 2010 pledge drive, and during the showing of Welk Stars Through The Years....music makers Gail Farrell and Ron Anderson helped out during the pledge breaks.

The following pictures come to you courtesy from the fine folks of Iowa Public Broadcasting, whom are credited with taking these nice shots.

First, here's two thirds of our mixed trio (minus Michael Redman).....

The action is hot and heavy at the phone bank....

Our husband and wife team by the piano, singing....

Ron lends a helping hand by the pledge board.....

...and here's a lovely parting shot of Gail!

To view more photos from Festival 2010 like these, visit their album at IOWA PUBLIC TELEVISION'S PHOTOSTREAM AT FLICKR

Gail and Ron's Excellent Adventure

March 11th Fun Facts

Of course, this is the day that Music Maestro Lawrence Welk was born....

....but on March 11th, other famous people were born and notable events happened on this date!

Here's an example starting with the news events

1824 - The US War Department creates the Bureau of Indian Affairs
1861 - The Confederate States of America adopts their constitution
1867 - First performance of Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Paris
1927 - Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theater in NYC
1990 - Lithuania declares it's independence from the Soviet Union

And the following famous people, like Welk, were born on this date

1898 - Dorothy Gish (actress and star from Hollywood's Silent Era)
1916 - Harold Wilson (British Prime Minister 1964-70, 1974-76)
1931 - Rupert Murdoch (television and newspaper mogul)
1934 - Sam Donaldson (news reporter for ABC)
1952 - Susan Richardson (actress from Eight Is Enough sitcom)
1974 - Bobby Abreu - baseball player

See? You learn something new everyday on this fine blog!

March 11th Fun Facts

Get your haiku fix over at Tumblr!

The day has finally arrived.....Lawrence Welk can be found at Tumblr

How can this get any better? It's a Tumblr page of my critically acclaimed Welk Musical Family haikus!

If you like them before, I have a feeling you'll love them even more....lets just say they are visually stunning.

Just click on the picture to view my new page....and be sure to check back often, I'll be adding new haikus as humanly possible in the not so distant future.

Get your haiku fix over at Tumblr!

What did you do in the Great Pledge drive, Daddy?

Oh basically, without my weekly dose of Welk....I worked at my day job, watched the Oscars and other pledge drive specials and did some hard core blogging, Facebooking and Tweeting.

And speaking of Tweeting and pledge specials, I posted on my Twitter the following bit of original humor I like to call....

It's the made for public television specials that did not succeed in bringing in those dollars to PBS stations from coast to coast.

Such as.....

CELTIC WOMAN SINGS SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE

Nothing beats our favorite five Irish lassies singing "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)", "Dance To The Music" and "I Want To Take You Higher"

WAYNE DYER'S POWER TO PISS PEOPLE OFF

I think he does that already

RICK STEVES' NORTH DAKOTA

After visiting Europe, Rick shows you the exotic locales of Devils Lake, Fargo and Strasburg

MY MUSIC: GANGSTA RAP MEMORIES

The latest in the My Music series brings you musical memories straight outta Compton, I can just picture Nick Clooney and Suge Knight together during pledge breaks

DANIEL O' DONNELL'S DISCO PARTY

A charistmatic Irish crooner, white polyester and covers of Bee Gees, Village People and Donna Summer, who can ask for anything more?

GREAT PERFORMANCES: THE SPICE GIRLS

Forget Pavarotti, Bocelli or even Reba doing South Pacific....this Fab Five blows all others out of the water

THIS OLD HOUSE vs EXTREME MAKEOVER HOME EDITION

I just wanna see Norm Abram kick Ty Pennington's ass in this Battle Royale of these home improvement titans.


I wonder if Mary Lou would ask for your financial support for these programs?

What did you do in the Great Pledge drive, Daddy?

Tanya Falan Hairstyle of the Week - Twenty Six Miles Across The Sea

.....where a hair salon in Santa Catalina is a waitin' for me

Tanya Falan Hairstyle of the Week - Twenty Six Miles Across The Sea

May I have the envelope please.....

Hollywood has the Academy Awards tonight, but around here we have the Welky Awards to honor the best in Champagne Music.

Tanya will read the winners of this year's Welkies

The Welky for Best Impression of a Beverly Hillbillies character is....

Andra Willis as Irene Ryan's Granny!

The next Welky is for Outstanding Musical Performance in a Animal Costume...

....and the winner is Jack Imel, for playing the drums to "Talk To The Animals" while dressed as an elephant!

The next Welky is for Best Celebrity Guest Appearance on the Welk Show, and the award goes to....

 
.....the legendary Jack Benny with his monologue on the '71 Academy Awards episode!

The next Welky is for Most Colorful Wardrobe Design, and this year's proud winners are....

Cissy and Bobby with their Citrus Disco Wear from their "Love Will Keep Us Together" dance number!

Next is the Welky for Best Original Honky Tony Piano Design, and we are proud to announce that the honor goes to....

The Leis from Waikiki Piano! And accepting on it's behalf is Jo Ann Castle.

And finally, we present the Welky for Outstanding Group Musical Number which is no contest at all....

The Welky goes to the "I Want To Be Happy" chorus line of tap dancers!

In addition to accepting their award, they'll do an encore....

Take a bow!

And we congratulate all the winners tonight, see you next year! 

May I have the envelope please.....

What the Music Makers are doing this pledge weekend

So far, very exciting and then some!

There's Mary Lou Metzger and her friends from Sacramento's PBS affiliate hosting a birthday celebration of what would've been the Maestro's 107th birthday.

LAWRENCE WELK BIRTHDAY WITH MARY LOU METZGER AT KVIE

Oh, if you're thinking about attending....they've reached full capacity.

Sorry!

And there's our friends from Iowa Public Television with their Festival, tonight it's Welk Stars Through The Years with Gail Farrell in the studio.

That's just the tip of the iceberg over in the Hawkeye State.

Next week it's Bobby Burgess and Mary Lou Metzger the week after.

What the Music Makers are doing this pledge weekend

Dancing With The Stars - Season Nine Cast

While my local public stations are taking a pause from regularly scheduled Lawrence Welk the next two weeks with pledge drives, everyone has been inquiring me about DWTS' new lineup for season nine.

First....here's the lineup

PAMELA ANDERSON (She used to run around in a red bathing suit in super slow motion on some show about lifeguards and David Hasselhoff)

BUZZ ALDRIN (Legendary astronaut - That's one small step for man, one giant Paso Doble for mankind)

SHANNEN DOHERTY (90210 witch, Ashley Hamilton's ex-wife)

KATE GOSSELIN (reality TV star, in other words, who cares?)

NIECY NASH (Who?)

CHAD OCHOCINCO (Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver in his spare time, full time self promoter)

EVAN LYSACEK (Who again?)

ERIN ANDREWS (ESPN anchor and subject of many college frat boys dreams)

NICOLE SHERZINGER (pop singer from Pussycat Dolls)

AIDEN TURNER (Who? For the third time this post)

Other than Ocho, Pam and Buzz....I'm not really that buzzed up about this season's cast.

That and Lacey Schwimmer is not back as one of the professional dancers.

I'm still hoping for any members of the Maestro's Musical Family to guest in the Macy's Stars of Dance Segment.

 
I'm also hoping DWTS adds the polka to it's staple of dances.

If that happens, maybe Tom Bergeron should consider this guy as his co-host.

All that would create some buzz again, especially if they have these guys perform the music!

Just my two cents....

Dancing With The Stars - Season Nine Cast

R.I.P Big Tiny Little (1930-2010)

Heaven will now be filled with the sounds of ragtime, it is with deep hearts and sadness that Big Tiny Little has passed on Wednesday.

The native of Worthington, Minnesota has had a productive career in music, beginning at age five in which he recorded several albums and played at President Reagan's inaugural ball in 1985 as well as being a popular member of Lawrence Welk's orchestra

Tiny Little's hometown paper, the Worthington Daily Globe has a detailed obituary on his wunnerful, wunnerful life.

R.I.P Big Tiny Little (1930-2010)

Mister Bass Man

From 1963, here's another classic Welk number courtesy of our friends from You Tube, it's titled "Mister Bass Man."

Starring Larry Hooper....

...and Kenny Trimble

 

Mister Bass Man

Say What?

 Our Musical Family say the darnedest things.....

Say What?

The musical family as South Park characters #2

Here's more of your favorite Music Makers as South Park characters....

Musical Supervisor and Conductor George Cates

Buddy Merrill

and Neil Levang

 

The musical family as South Park characters #2

Tanya Falan Hairstyle of the Week - Inaugural Edition

This will be a brand new weekly feature, looking back at the hair we were....

I wonder what kind of stuff she hides in there?

Tanya Falan Hairstyle of the Week - Inaugural Edition