A Sucker for Retro Rock

The Rolling Stones at 60's Rockelodean

Retro Comic Spotlight

Hey, look at me. I'm putting up websites. One after another. I can't seem to stop. In fact, I just might give up blogging altogether and just put up websites. Put them up just like a farm wife "puts up pickles" for later. Might as well. Can't dance.

Retro Comic Spotlight is my latest creation and this website has nothing to do with me or my books or my blogs or any science fiction or comedy creations of mine. Retro Comic Spotlight is my fourth website at Webnode (bless them for putting up with me) and it pays homage to the kings and queens of stand-up comedy, guys and gals who told jokes and funny stories on shows like The Ed Sullivan Show, The Jack Paar Show, The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman. Back in the 20th Century.

Yeah, I was a big fan of 20th Century stand-up comics, back when a man who told jokes was called a "comedian" and a woman who told jokes was called a "comedienne". Nowadays, they think men and women are somehow interchangeable. Hmmph. Not on your life. Yep, they call them all "comics" in the 21st Century. Comics. Not to be confused with the Sunday "funnies".

When they started calling them all "comics" I thought the "funny papers" had come to TV or maybe "comic books" had finally gotten on the tube. Back when I was a youngster, a boy who told jokes on TV might have been called a "junior comedian" and a girl who told jokes on TV more than likely would have been called a "comediette" and hardly anybody would have cared.

Today we'd be knee-deep in "hissy fit" doo-doo and opportunistic, discriminatory lawsuits if we pulled "insensitive" politically-incorrect stunts like that and I guess that's why everything that moves on TV and tells jokes today is called a "comic". I guess that's better than watching a bunch of "comedy persons" on TV. Hell, yes. But I don't know. I kind of miss the old days. Like John Housman said about World War I — as opposed to The Cold War — in the spy movie "Three Days of the Condor": "I miss that kind of clarity."

I just hope they never come out with a joke machine. If they ever do, they'll probably call it a stand-up "comic", even if it looks like a Hoover upright vacuum cleaner. But, hey, I put up another new website this week. And, y'know, I think there's still a little bit of room on that shelf.

Author's Note 4-28-14: In late spring 2012 (I don't keep records of exactly when I do everything) I added the Fred Fortune page to Retro Comic Spotlight, which is still about 20th Century comics and not really about me. I DID this because of all the insane viewing problems with these videos on the Fred Fortune blog. That's also why I added the three Fred Fortune "stand-up comedy" videos to my YouTube Channel and embedded them on blogs like Think-A-Holic Lounge. You know why. As soon as you've got a nice, FREE thing going online, along comes Google the Destroyer to f**k that up for everyone. Thus, Fred Fortune, the "stand up" comic, is now a permanent fixture at Retro Comic Spotlight.

A Sucker for Motown

When I was in Junior High School and then Senior High School a lot of the popular music that appealed to me came out of Detroit. The people who made it were part of Motown Record Corporation, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Motown was founded in 1960, the pop-music brainchild of Berry Gordy, a talented and visionary music producer.

I really liked the idea that Motown, now headquartered in New York City, came from Detroit where most of our automobiles were made back then and not from some distant world like Los Angeles. In my opinion, Motown is as much an American musical treasure as Jazz, Soul, Rhythm & Blues, Blues, Country & Western, Folk, Rockabilly and Rock and Roll.

Motown music was a celebration of life and a pleasant, uplifting diversion from the roller coaster ride of being young. In addition to that, Motown fed the romantic spirit of people of all ages. I loved the "big", exciting sound of Motown's brand of Rhythm & Blues and Soul. Listening to Motown was an unfailingly upbeat and positive experience. I'm not a music expert and I'll never claim to be one. I'm a music lover and there's hardly any type of music that I don't like something from.

With Motown, I liked almost all of it. Whenever I felt bad, turning on my transistor AM radio at night and catching some Motown tunes always made me feel better. My favorite radio stations back then were WABC New York, WBZ Boston, WLS Chicago and CKLW Windsor, Ontario. Even though Motown produced records beyond the 1960s, my favorite Motown sound came from the Sixties Decade. These 25 songs are my tribute to the music and the magic of Motown Records and its many talented artists. Thanks, YouTube posters, for keeping this music alive.

1. Money — Barrett Strong (actually released in 1959)

2. Shop Around — The Miracles (1960)

3. Wonderful World — Sam Cooke (1960)

4. Mama Said — The Shirelles (1961)

5. Please Mr. Postman — The Marvelettes (1961)

6. Beechwood4-5789 — The Marvelettes (1962)

7. Do You Love Me — The Contours (1962)

8. The One Who Really Loves you — Mary Wells (1962)

9. Be My Baby — The Ronettes (1963)

10. Heat Wave — Martha Reeves and the Vandellas (1963)

11. Baby I Need Your Loving — The Four Tops (1964)

12. Come See About Me — The Supremes (1964)

13. Dancing in the Street — Martha Reeves and the Vandellas (1964)

14. My Girl — The Temptations (1964)

15. My Guy — Mary Wells (1964)

16. Needle In A Haystack — The Velvelettes (1964)

17. Where Did Our Love Go — The Supremes (1964)

18. I Can't Help Myself — The Four Tops (1965)

19. Nowhere to Run — Martha Reeves and the Vandellas (1965)

20. Shotgun — Jr. Walker And the All Stars (1965)

21. Heaven Must Have Sent You — The Elgins (1966)

22. This Old Heart Of Mine — Isley Brothers (1966)

23. You Can't Hurry Love — The Supremes (1966)

24. Jimmy Mack — Martha Reeves and the Vandellas (1967)

25. I Heard It Through The Grapevine — Gladys Knight & The Pips (1968) — 1967 is the date it was recorded

A Sucker for a Sixties Song

I'm not a sucker for a Sixties song very often. But every now and then...

1. Baby Don't Go - Sonny & Cher (1964)
2. California Dreamin' - The Mamas & the Papas (1965)
3. Turn Turn Turn - The Byrds (1965)
4. Eight Miles High - The Byrds(1966)
5. For What It's Worth - Buffalo Springfield (1967)
6. A Whiter Shade Of Pale - Procul Harum (1967)
7. Light My Fire - The Doors (1967)
8. Play With Fire - The Rolling Stones (1965)
9. Like A Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan (1965)
10.Homeward Bound - Simon & Garfunkel (1966)

A Sucker for a Sad Song

Once upon a time I was a very impressionable young man who listened to sad songs every once in a while for some unexplained reason that I'm unable to remember at age 58. Thank heavens for that. Anyway, here are five such songs. Why anyone in their right mind would choose to torture himself with sad-ass old music when they have classic jazz and big band on CD and even on vinyl is totally beyond me.

Yeah...right. Listen to me. An old fart with not much left to go on except memories. Thank heavens for them.

1. In My Room (The Beach Boys - 1963 Surfer Girl Album)
2. The Dangling Conversation (Simon and Garfunkel - 1966 Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme Album)
3. Lonely Boy (Iron Butterfly - 1971 Ball Album)
4. Nights In White Satin (The Moody Blues - 1967 Days of Future Passed Album)
5. Knocking on Heaven's Door (Bob Dylan - 1973 Soundtrack to the movie Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid)