THE REAL DON STEELE WAS COOLER THAN PAUL HARVEY

Paul Harvey

Many people on Facebook, both media colleagues and former classmates, and even the media trades were all raving about a commercial that aired during the Super Bowl that featured and old recording of radio commentator Paul Harvey. People were hailing this as the best commercial of this year's Super Bowl (My personal favorite this year was the Audi ad and the Go Daddy ad. Since I'm a nerd, I like nerd kissing fantasies.) and some were saying it was the greatest Super Bowl commercial ever. Yeah right!

I realize I'm going to upset many people, but it will not be the first time I have said it. I was not a fan of Paul Harvey. I never understood why he appealed to people. He always sounded to me like an old cranky man who was about to give you one of those "When-I-was-your-age..." speeches that, as a teenager, I abhorred getting from the disrespectful adults in Lebanon, MO, who thought they were smarter than me.

When I got into radio, I heard what I thought was the ideal radio personality on a syndicated radio oldies show called "Live From The 60s." The host was a guy, who sounded like what I always thought a rock radio DJ should sound like; upbeat, fast-talking and loud. His name was Don Steele, or more accurately THE REAL DON STEELE. His name was usually sung by the Johnny Mann Singers. Paul Harvey didn't have a jingle.

The Real Don Steele

The Real Don Steele trademarks were a loud, upbeat, fast paced, energetic style and always wearing sunglasses. While Paul Harvey told you to "Stand by for news," Real Don Steele would tell you "TINA DELGADO IS STILL ALIVE!!!" followed by a woman screaming. To compare their styles, Paul Harvey was a cart pulled by pack mule and The Real Don Steele was a rocketship.

Where as Paul Harvey was really Paul Aurant, The Reel Don Steele was really Donald Revert. A program director in Omaha, Nebraska decided that he should call himself The Real Don Steele because it would make him stand out among other DJs. It was when he was hired for a job in his hometown of Hollywood with a new Top 40 radio station programmed by Bill Drake. With in a short time KHJ 93 AM in Los Angeles, became not just the most popular radio station in LA but a major force in the music industry. Many acts such as The Doors, The Byrds, The Monkees, The Seeds, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Sonny & Cher, all received their first major exposure through KHJ and the Reel Don Steele was one of the key on-air personalities since he was on from 3 to 6 p.m, when most of the very important, teenage crowd were just getting out of school. If you listen The Doors Live LP, The Real Don Steele introduces the group on the lead-off track, "Roadhouse Blues" (This live version was included on some greatest hits compilations).

The Reel Don Steele also hosted a long running TV dance show in LA. He appeared on TV shows such as Bewitched and Laugh-In. However, most people outside of Los Angeles were familiar with The Real Don Steele through his appearances in such films as Gremlins, Eating Raoul, KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park, Grand Theft Auto, Eat My Dust, Rock and Roll High School and Death Race 2000. He voiced the movie trailer for Eat My Dust, in which he uttered the tagline, made famous by MST3K, "Ron Howard pops the clutch and tells the world to EAT MY DUST!" In Rock and Roll High School, the Real Don Steele played Screaming Steve, a parody of himself, who utters the great line about the classic confrontation between “mindless authority and the rebellious nature of youth.”

Paul Harvey only acted in two movies: Everything That Rises and The Right of the People.
  
Out of all of the Real Don Steele's movie appearance, he should win multiple points for coolness for being in the dystopian-sci-fi-road-race movie Death Race 2000 with David Caradine and Sylvester Stallone. He plays a TV race commentator named Junior Bruce, who delights when the racers run over a victim.

You can find several airchecks of the Real Don Steele on the web including two tribute from Reel Radio found here and here. Also YouTube has some interesting airchecks as well, including a novelty record with Real Don Steele using his famous catchphrase "Tina Delgado Is Still Alive!"   A video aircheck from 1988 when Real Don Steel was a KRLA with a sexy blonde helping him (Could SHE BE TINA DELGADO?).

However, I wanted to include this aircheck from the early 70s that includes the Real Don Steele working the phones during a movie trivia contest.

The problem is modern radio would be happy to create another version of Paul Harvey, but another Real Don Steele is frowned upon in the current radio world. The idea the past few years has been to create stars in the talk radio side, but cut jobs and fire DJs on the music side. It is kind of sad when you think about it.
Of course, opinions, like this one expressed here, are why I'm considered the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
 

Jazz Musician Donald Byrd's Death Confirmed, Leaves Legacy In Hip Hop

Jazz Musician Donald Byrd's Death Confirmed, Leaves Legacy In Hip Hop

"Cristo Redentor" is one of Donald Byrd's best and great male-out music. I would have liked to post "Walking In Rhythm" by the Blackbyrds by it is blocked from You Tube. I will load it into the Amazon MP3 widget.

I AM NOT ASHAMED PLAYLIST 6

This is the first I AM NOT ASHAMED playlist of 2013. I started this last summer after I read on some other websites where people had made playlist of "Guilty pleasures" in their Ipod and Itunes. These were songs they liked but were ashamed to admit it. My thought, contrary to what the liners of a radio station here in Springfield, Missouri says,  is that you shouldn't have to be "guilty" or "ashamed" of the music you like. WHAT MUSIC YOU LIKE IS YOUR BUSINESS AND NONE OF THE BUSINESS OF YOUR SNOOTY, SELF-RIGHTEOUS CO-WORKERS, GRANDMA OR JERK IN THE CAR NEXT TO YOU.

So here is a list of songs in my Ipod that some would say are un-cool or upset them in some way. Crank it up and tell people "IF IT IS TOO LOUD, YOU ARE TOO OLD!"

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young  - "Woodstock"
Glen Campbell - "Rhinestone Cowboy"
The Rising Storm - "Frozen Laughter" (Spooky psychedelic masterpiece that opens with a woman saying, "Honey, is that you.")
Wham! - "Wake Me Up Before You Go-go"
Glen Shorrock - "Dream Lover"(A great cover of the Bobby Darin hit by the lead singer of Little River Band)
 Ian Hunter - "Ships" (Ian's original and much superior version of the song that would later be a hit for Barry Manilow)
The Sandford-Townsend Band - "Smoke From a Distance Fire" (One of the greatest one-hit wonders ever)
Barenaked Ladies - "One Week"
Jimmy Castor Bunch - "Troglodyte" (Her name was Bertha - Bertha Butt-one of the Butt Sisters)
Monifah - "Touch It"
Billy Abbott and the Jewles - "Hey Good Lookin!" (An upbeat R&B-Doo Wop version of a Hank Willaims song)
Brian Hyland - "Gypsy Woman"
Rick Springfield - "Jessie's Girl"
First Class - "Beach Baby" (British studio group doing a killer Beach Boys imitation)
T. Rex - "Ride The White Swan" (Many old T-40 radio stations playlist played this, but it didn't make the Billboard Top 40. An upbeat radio-friendly rocker from 1970.)
Pink Lady - "Kiss In The Dark" (Great disco hit from a sexy female duo from Japan..Yes, I watched their short lived TV variety show when i was a little kid.)  
Cycle V - "Blood From a Stone" (Great song from the soundtrack of the 80s rerelease of Metropolis.)
The Cyrkle - "Turn Down Day" (Summer-sunshine pop)
Elton John - "Mama Can't Buy Your Love"
Clarence Clemmons (w/Jackson Browne) - "You Are a Friend of Mine"
Asia - "Only Time Will Tell"
The Fuzztones - "Charlotte's Remains" (Late 80s-Paiseley Underground-Garage Band song about murdering a wicked chick)
Albert Hammond - "It Never Rains In Southern California"
Little Anthony & The Imperials - "Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko Bop"
Nick Gilder - "Hot Child in The City"
The Dillards - "There Is a Time" (Folk-bluegrass group from Salem, Mo, who played The Darling boys on the Andy Griffith Show. This song has been covered by several Goth bands.)
Roger Miller - "My Uncle Used To Love Me But She Died"
Episode Six - "Love Hate Revenge" (Ian Gillian and Roger Glover of Deep Purple were in this group)
Pilot - "Just a Smile" (From the group who gave us "Magic")
Blondie - "Rapture" (This was the first rap song many of us white kids in the Midwest heard-Not the best Blondie song, but fun to listen to.)
Sniff n The Tears - "Driver's Seat"
    

The Troggs frontman Reg Presley dies at 71

Reg Presley is seated in the middle.

The Troggs frontman Reg Presley dies at 71

In the mid-70s, The Troggs released an LP called The Troggs Tapes. It contained some rather off-color and some what abusive studio banter between band Presely and the other band members. Most of it involved at word that started with "F."

Not long afterward, a longtime NBC employee retired from the Standards and Practices division. As a send off, the cast of Saturday Night Live performed a sketch that poked fun at the Troggs Tapes. The characters were Medieval Traveling Minstrels, who used the phrases "flogging" and "flogger." The retiring NBC employee loved it.

WHAT'S THIS? A FOREIGN BATMAN MOVIE POSTER?

My favorite Batman movie is the 1966 one, featuring the cast of the TV show. I've taken quite a bit of flak from "Dark Knight" worshipers. I discovered this poster on another retro website for the 1966 Batman movie. I'm guessing by the strange coloration that this poster is from a foreign country or Batman washed his tights in the same load of clothes with Robin's red vest.

NOTE: When I uploaded this an enlarged it, I did notice some of the words are in a foreign language. 

OZARKERS HAVE PUT UP WITH ME FOR 6 YEARS NOW

Yes, it has been six years since started the old blog. We were suffering through an ice storm at the time. I commented on current events in my own satirical manner. After all, I grew up watching people like Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Mark Russell, The Smothers Brothers and the various stars of Laugh-In and  Saturday Night Live make jokes about current events, why couldn't I. I also created a persona of a crazy mad scientist/super-villain. I used every cliched phrase used by super-villains and mad scientist in comic books, movie serials and Saturday morning cartoons. I thought it was funny. Apparently, most Ozarkers didn't watch the same cartoons I did. THEY REALLY BELIEVED I WAS SOME SORT OF TERRORIST PLANING TO TAKE OVER THE COUNTRY!

One of the reasons I stopped allowing comments on the old blog was because of the stupid comments from people who obviously didn't get the joke. The bad part is that many of these people would leave their full names. I really didn't want them to be embarrassed. I would say something like "Soon I make myself emperor of America! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" The next day someone would leave a long explanation of why the Constitution wouldn't allow me to be the emperor. Once I said I was going to "Rule the world" and that "every knee will bow to Desdinova!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" The next day I had at least two different post from people saying, "I will only bow to the Lord Jesus Christ." That made me feel like dirt. Another post from a guy named Carl said, "As long as I got me a gun I won't be bowing to you. Stupid Lefty!" Comments like these were very bad for my self esteem.

There was also a person at my work, who asked if I could go back to allowing comments, so he could debate me. I said no, "Do you really think it is going to make you look intelligent debating a guy, who calls himself a super-villain and mad scientist, claims to live under Park Central Square and claims to have a giant robot and a death ray?" It made this guy mad, BUT HONESTLY!


The funny thing is, THE SECOND POST I MADE EXPLAINED THE CONCEPT TO PEOPLE!!! Here is what I posted:
"Maybe I should have posted this first. I feel that in this day of silly disclaimers ('Please do not put child in dish washer' or 'Toilet seat should not be used as a flotation device') I should have one too. There are some very litigious individuals out in our world.I am not a real super-villain. I don’t really have a death ray or the ability to throw balls of lightning. I’m not trying to take over the world and enslave people. So don't report me to Homeland Security or Springfield PD. You'd end up looking like an idiot.

I’m just a regular guy with an off beat sense of humor, off beat taste in music and (according to some) off beat political views. I’m really a nice guy if you know me. Very little of what you should read here should be taken seriously. I just like to make jokes about things going on and the folly of others. It is like Oscar Wilde said, "Life is too important to be taken seriously." Ozarks tend to be upset about the wrong things. A few years back a Southern Baptist minister came to the community I grew up. He worked to get the local cable company to drop MTV, tried to get the local newspaper cartoonist fired over a cartoon showing the Southern Baptist lynching Mickey Mouse, and trying to keep grocery stores and restaurants from selling liquor. While all of this was going on there were several unsolved murders, spouse and child abuse increased, hate groups and meth dealers moved in. Eventually people woke up and said, "What happened to our community?" Well, they ignored the real problems while getting upset about things that really didn’t matter.
Getting mad at me won’t do any good. Making a fuss over something I said would be silly, because I’m just being silly myself. Just relax, read and enjoy.
As Red Skelton used to say, "It’s a lot of fun to try and make people laugh because regardless of what your heartache might have been, while laughing for a few seconds you have forgotten about it. I personally believe that each and every one of us put here for a purpose and that is to build and not to destroy. And if by chance someday you’re not feeling well, you should remember some silly little thing that I’ve said or done and it brings back a smile to your face and a chuckle to your heart, then my purpose as your clown has been fulfilled." (Aren't you glad I didn't quote that highly overrated record he made about the Pledge of Allegiance)." 

WHAT PART OF THAT DID OZARKERS NOT UNDERSTAND??? I have it on good authority that several people called Springfield PD and ask why they were not conducting an investigation into who I was. In another instance, a frantic woman called Springfield PD after reading this post and asked if they were "going to stop Desdinova's robot from stomping on her house." Instead of calling the police, she should have celebrated Kwanzaa (BTW-The robot in the picture is only 6 inches tall. I gave it to my 2 year old great-nephew. He calls it a wo-bot).

You see, my anonymity was a major issue with my critics. I'm not sure what the big deal was. Now that I'm a retro blogger, it is not an issue, because most retro bloggers don't use their real name. I will admit much of the controversy surrounding the old blog came from my making fun of and criticizing talk radio. Especially one former talk radio show host here in Springfield, MO. He made an issue of my existence on his radio show. He also had several fans who started blogs and THEY ALL HATED ME! I even had some co-workers, who liked that guy so much they wanted me fired because I made fun of him. Once he was fired from his job, the old blog was kind of like David Frye after President Nixon resigned or Yakov Smirnoff after the end of Communism. Soon those other blogs disappeared as well. After the demise of the Blog Net News, I had a hard time finding topics. There were a few blogs on that site that I poked fun at calling them "weenie blogs," because they were mainly conservative or libertarian bloggers who seemed to be whining and crying after the 2008 presidential election (Although "weenie" came from the cartoon I posted on the original post - a double entendre).
    
The old blog proved one thing to me: OZARKERS HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE OF HUMOR! Besides the people who I were told called the Springfield police about me, you wouldn't believe some of the dumb reactions from the "weenie blogs" over some of my post. One person started a blog a week after mine. This person was upset because in my profile I said that I wanted to "outlaw talk radio and country music." Whoever this would be blogger was only had about three post after that and never posted again. I think most extreme was a blogger here is Springfield, who was so upset that I said Paris Hilton was better looking than Sarah Pailin, that they wrote a post condemning me for that remark that, when I printed it off of my computer, was 30 pages long. GET A LIFE, BUSTER!!! If find it interesting that these bloggers, who hated me so bad that they called me "hateful,""traitor," "unpleasant" and "coward" cannot be found anymore. Most of their "weenie blogs" are gone. Oh, and who can forget the obsessive Dark Knight fan, who said I was "suffering from being a douchebag." 

I'm actually glad I switched to being a retro blog. I don't feel rushed to comment on anything and I get to take time to post about things I want to post about. Feedback can be slow coming, but this time the feedback has been all positive. No death threats.

Even though I stopped updating the old blog on a regular basis, I have left it up for all to see, with the exception of a few post that I removed because they were irrelevant. Last year, I received some positive feedback on something I posted on the old blog in September of 2009. I'm always amazed a how some post are up for along time before I get a response. I was contacted through my Facebook site about a post entitled "THE LEGEND OF SHEBA THE BELLY DANCER." This unusual and rather sad story from Springfield, Missouri's history would make one Hell of a movie. I was contacted by the daughter of "Sheba the Belly Dancer" (That was her stage name. I chose to respect the family's privacy and not mention her real name). She was small when the events took place and didn't understand what exactly happened that lead to her mother's death. She praised my post for filling in the details. She thanked me for showing interest in her mother's story. I guess the original blog served a good purpose even though most of Springfield and the Ozarks hated it.

And that is why I'm still the Super Villain of the Ozarks!!! Mwu-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

BTW: More people have found the original blog just searching for the "ugly hillbilly boys" photo than they have searching for a particular topic. So why not put it on this blog.
    

Jimmy O'Neill dies at 73; L.A. deejay hosted TV's 'Shindig!'

Jimmy O'Neill dies at 73; L.A. deejay hosted TV's 'Shindig!'

Sorry this is a little late, but I just now learned of this.