FlaNative's Blog

Just read a great post here from lisawfamily about the old I Love Lucy show, and it got me thinking.  What are you favorite comedy tv shows of all time?  Which would you even maybe buy the DVD for?

My favorites off the top of my head:  (no particualar order)

Carol Burnett Show....Watching Tim Conway and trying to make Harvey Corman crack up was tooooo funny!!!!!  Or when he played the old may rolling down the stairs!

I Love Lucy....of course, that has to be there!

3's Company...John Ritter was great!!

The Honeymooners ...  WGN had a Honeymooners marathon on over the holidays!!  "To the moon Alice!!!!!!!!"

Bewitched....  OK....I use to have the hots for Elizabeth Montgomery...a shame she died so young

Dean Martin Roasts...not for children....but loved Foster Brooks playing the drunk!!

Andy Griffith...good, clean comedy still funny today!!   Don Knots with his mussed up hair??

Yea....I know...I dated myself.  Some of you will say "what's the Honeymooners"??????? 

Feel free to add more...I know I missed many, and may look for the DVD's of those forgotten shows....

On vacation this week, so decided to take my grandkids (4 & 7) to see the 3D "Fly Me to the Moon" at Altamonte.  Unfortunately, it's the ONLY "G movie except for WALL-E, which is ONLY showing at Pleasure Island and I don't do Disney!!

Well, for the 3:15 show it still cost over $26 buck to get the 3 of us in (extra $2 each for 3D and no discount), then another $25 at the concession!!!!  Not that the grandkids are not worth it, but just reminded me why I haven't done a theater in years and years....and I haven't seen a 3D in decades (can't remember when).

Anyway, I must admit, the 3D technology of today is FANTASTIC!!  The granddaughters would occasionally stick their hands out thinking they could catch the fly, or duck when something came towards them.

Hats off to Pixar for the technology and having a "G" movie out that I could take the grandkids to, but very sad of the poor selection of decent shows you can take the little ones to!!

So, if you have kids in the 4-8 range and are weatlhy enough to go out to a movie, something I'd recommend!!  For me, unless (until) I take the grandkids again, I'll be happy to stay home and wait till the come out on video!!!

The latest comments by Imus to come under scrutiny were aired on Monday's broadcast. During a conversation about Jones' run-ins with the law, Imus asked, "What color is he?" Sports announcer Warner Wolf said Jones -- formerly known as Pacman -- is "African-American." Imus responded: "There you go. Now we know."

http://www.myfoxorlando.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail
;jsessionid=300945ADC3507C6486225996A0A16D6B?contentId=
6834881&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1
.1.1&sflg=1

I had the opportunity to see him perform a few years ago a Bike Week...he still had it!!!  One of the greats and founders of Rock & Roll, he will be missed by those of us that loved his music.

Rest in peace Bo.

Bo Diddley, a founding father of rock 'n' roll whose distinctive "shave and a haircut, two bits" rhythm and innovative guitar effects inspired legions of other musicians, died Monday after months of ill health. He was 79.

Diddley died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla., spokeswoman Susan Clary said. He had suffered a heart attack in August, three months after suffering a stroke while touring in Iowa. Doctors said the stroke affected his ability to speak, and he had returned to Florida to continue rehabilitation.

The legendary singer and performer, known for his homemade square guitar, dark glasses and black hat, was an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, had a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, and received a lifetime achievement award in 1999 at the Grammy Awards. In recent years he also played for the elder President Bush and President Clinton.

Diddley appreciated the honors he received, "but it didn't put no figures in my checkbook."

"If you ain't got no money, ain't nobody calls you honey," he quipped.

The name Bo Diddley came from other youngsters when he was growing up in Chicago, he said in a 1999 interview.

"I don't know where the kids got it, but the kids in grammar school gave me that name," he said, adding that he liked it so it became his stage name. Other times, he gave somewhat differing stories on where he got the name. Some experts believe a possible source for the name is a one-string instrument used in traditional blues music called a diddley bow.

His first single, "Bo Diddley," introduced record buyers in 1955 to his signature rhythm: bomp ba-bomp bomp, bomp bomp, often summarized as "shave and a haircut, two bits." The B side, "I'm a Man," with its slightly humorous take on macho pride, also became a rock standard.

The company that issued his early songs was Chess-Checkers records, the storied Chicago-based labels that also recorded Chuck Berry and other stars.

Howard Kramer, assistant curator of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, said in 2006 that Diddley's Chess recordings "stand among the best singular recordings of the 20th Century."

Diddley's other major songs included, "Say Man," "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover," "Shave and a Haircut," "Uncle John," "Who Do You Love?" and "The Mule."

Diddley's influence was felt on both sides of the Atlantic. Buddy Holly borrowed the bomp ba-bomp bomp, bomp bomp rhythm for his song "Not Fade Away."

The Rolling Stones' bluesy remake of that Holly song gave them their first chart single in the United States, in 1964. The following year, another British band, the Yardbirds, had a Top 20 hit in the United States with their version of "I'm a Man."

Diddley was also one of the pioneers of the electric guitar, adding reverb and tremelo effects. He even rigged some of his guitars himself.

"He treats it like it was a drum, very rhythmic," E. Michael Harrington, professor of music theory and composition at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., said in 2006.

Many other artists, including the Who, Bruce Springsteen, George Michael and Elvis Costello copied aspects of Diddley's style.

Growing up, Diddley said he had no musical idols, and he wasn't entirely pleased that others drew on his innovations. "I don't like to copy anybody. Everybody tries to do what I do, update it," he said. "I don't have any idols I copied after."

"They copied everything I did, upgraded it, messed it up. It seems to me that nobody can come up with their own thing, they have to put a little bit of Bo Diddley there," he said.

Despite his success, Diddley claimed he only received a small portion of the money he made during his career. Partly as a result, he continued to tour and record music until his stroke. Between tours, he made his home near Gainesville in north Florida.

"Seventy ain't nothing but a damn number," he told The Associated Press in 1999. "I'm writing and creating new stuff and putting together new different things. Trying to stay out there and roll with the punches. I ain't quit yet."

Diddley, like other artists of his generations, was paid a flat fee for his recordings and said he received no royalty payments on record sales. He also said he was never paid for many of his performances.

"I am owed. I've never got paid," he said. "A dude with a pencil is worse than a cat with a machine gun." In the early 1950s, Diddley said, disc jockeys called his type of music, "Jungle Music." It was Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed who is credited with inventing the term "rock 'n' roll."

Diddley said Freed was talking about him, when he introduced him, saying, "Here is a man with an original sound, who is going to rock and roll you right out of your seat."

Diddley won attention from a new generation in 1989 when he took part in the "Bo Knows" ad campaign for Nike, built around football and baseball star Bo Jackson. Commenting on Jackson's guitar skills, Bo Diddley turned to the camera and said, "He don't know Diddley."

"I never could figure out what it had to do with shoes, but it worked," Diddley said. "I got into a lot of new front rooms on the tube."

Born as Ellas Bates on Dec. 30, 1928, in McComb, Miss., Diddley was later adopted by his mother's cousin and took on the name Ellis McDaniel, which his wife always called him.

When he was 5, his family moved to Chicago, where he learned the violin at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. He learned guitar at age 10 and entertained passers-by on street corners.

By his early teens, Diddley was playing Chicago's Maxwell Street.

"I came out of school and made something out of myself. I am known all over the globe, all over the world. There are guys who have done a lot of things that don't have the same impact that I had," he said.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/music/
orl-bk-bo-diddley-dead-06022008,0,3137748.story

One of the greats....one of the legends....

Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing "Ben-Hur" and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s, has died.

He was 84Heston revealed in 2002 that he had symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease, saying, "I must reconcile courage and surrender in equal measure."

."If Hollywood had a Mt. Rushmore, Heston's face would be on it," Levine said. "He was a heroic figure that I don't think exists to the same degree in Hollywood today."

The actor assumed the role of leader offscreen as well. He served as president of the Screen Actors Guild and chairman of the American Film Institute and marched in the civil rights movement of the 1950s. With age, he grew more conservative and campaigned for conservative candidates.

In June 1998, Heston was elected president of the National Rifle Association, for which he had posed for ads holding a rifle. He delivered a jab at then-President Clinton, saying, "America doesn't trust you with our 21-year-old daughters, and we sure, Lord, don't trust you with our guns."   Now THAT was one of the truest things ever said!!!

Heston lent his strong presence to some of the most acclaimed and successful films of the midcentury. "Ben-Hur" won 11 Academy Awards, tying it for the record with the more recent "Titanic" (1997) and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" (2003). Heston's other hits include: "The Ten Commandments," "El Cid," "55 Days at Peking," "Planet of the Apes" and "Earthquake."

He liked to the cite the number of historical figures he had portrayed:

Andrew Jackson ("The President's Lady," "The Buccaneer"), Moses ("The Ten Commandments"), title role of "El Cid," John the Baptist ("The Greatest Story Ever Told"), Michelangelo ("The Agony and the Ecstasy"), General Gordon ("Khartoum"), Marc Antony ("Julius Caesar," "Antony and Cleopatra"), Cardinal Richelieu ("The Three Musketeers"), Henry VIII ("The Prince and the Pauper").

Heston made his movie debut in the 1940s in two independent films by a college classmate, David Bradley, who later became a noted film archivist. He had the title role in "Peer Gynt" in 1942 and was Marc Antony in Bradley's 1949 version of "Julius Caesar," for which Heston was paid $50 a week.

Film producer Hal B. Wallis ("Casablanca") spotted Heston in a 1950 television production of "Wuthering Heights" and offered him a contract. When his wife reminded him that they had decided to pursue theater and television, he replied, "Well, maybe just for one film to see what it's like."

Heston earned star billing from his first Hollywood movie, "Dark City," a 1950 film noir. Cecil B. DeMille next cast him as the circus manager in the all-star "The Greatest Show On Earth," named by the Motion Picture Academy as the best picture of 1952. More movies followed:

"The Savage," "Ruby Gentry," "The President's Lady," "Pony Express" (as Buffalo Bill Cody), "Arrowhead," "Bad for Each Other," "The Naked Jungle," "Secret of the Incas," "The Far Horizons" (as Clark of the Lewis and Clark trek), "The Private War of Major Benson," "Lucy Gallant."

Best known as "Kinchloe", actor Ivan Dixon passed away at 76 years old.  (He was the black guy if you don't remember).   He was also a director, producer and got an Emmy nomination for  a Playhouse Special. 

I still love Hogan's Heroes.  TV Land use to play it...hopefully they will again for a day for "Kinch". 

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/sns-ap
-obit-dixon,0,7544955.story

In my 50 some odd years of life, with over 20 in the military, I've probably heard the National Anthem hundreds of times....some good...some not so good.  But I've NEVER, EVER seen it done as beautifully as in this clip!!!  Please take a look and tell us what you think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKCVS57j284

If you didn't see their first visit to the St Augustine Lighthouse (will be replayed at 7pm tonight on Sci Fi channel) you missed a great video of "something" in the lighthouse!!

They decided to go back, and it's on at 8pm tonight.

I don't usually post in the Entertainment section, but some of the stuff seen on this show will make you really wonder!!

If you have 6 minutes, check this out...the USMC Silent Drill Team....!!!

(being an Air Force guy, even I have to give them credit)!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y90UPLLo6nY

Not a fan of the show, America has talent, but heard about the guy that won, Terry Fator.  He's does impressions and a ventriloquist.  So off I went to youtube.com and WOW WOW WOW!!!   THIS GUY IS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Check him out...you won't believe it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I remember as a kid (BEFORE Disney) going to see the "mermaids" at Weeki Wachee!!  It's a part of our history...and another victim of Disney.  How sad so many people visit Florida and never see the REAL Florida...places like this, Silver Springs and the "glass bottom boats", etc.

I wasn't aware of the old mermaids doing shows now, but I am definately planning on going soon and taking the grandkids!!!!  If you've never been, take the time while you still can and spend a day!  Especially for those of you with kids...IT'S A GREAT place to spend a day and the kids will LOVE IT!!!  See the REAL Florida!!!  (it's only about an hour and a half from Orlando)!!!  Besides, at tickets for adults only $23, kids $16, it's A LOT CHEAPER THAN DISNEY!!!!

July 28, 2007

Legend has it that mermaids live forever. That may not be true for the mermaids of Weeki Wachee, the quirky Florida attraction whose glory days have been eclipsed by newer, grander theme parks.

But this weekend, concerns for the future will be set aside as hundreds of mermaids flood the fabled roadside attraction to celebrate its 60th anniversary with a reunion and four different underwater shows -- including a grand finale featuring 16 current and former mermaids performing together for the first time.

Mermaids greeting visitors to the park will include Central Floridians Ginger Stanley Hallowell, 75, who doubled for Julie Adams in Creature From the Black Lagoon and for Esther Williams in Jupiter's Darling; Mary Dwight Rose, 72, longtime coach of Orlando's Loreleis synchronized swim team; and identical twins Holly Harris Hall and Dolly Harris Heltsley, 57, owners of Holly & Dolly's sports bar in Casselberry.

Nervous excitement rippled through the backstage section of the Mermaid Theater on July 18, as past and present mermaids gathered to rehearse. Ashley Furlong, 17, is the youngest. Dottie Meares, who will be 77 in September, is the oldest. She first swam at Weeki Wachee in 1951.

"I'll keep swimming till they kick me out," said Meares, whose first stint as a mermaid continued three years. "I adore it. I can't wait to get into the water. It's a magical place."

She is one of a group of former mermaids who put on a show during their 50th reunion. It was such a hit, they have been performing monthly ever since as the Mermaids of Yesteryear.

"Once a mermaid, always a mermaid," Meares said. "Once you've been down in that spring, you never get over it."

Being a mermaid "is an experience only a select few have," said Lu Vickers, author of Weeki Wachee, City of Mermaids. "They cherish that."

This weekend, in addition to their regular performance of The Little Mermaid, the current mermaids will debut Dream Girls, a mesmerizing sequence of undulations, pinwheels and slow-motion back flips.

The former mermaids will reprise some of their greatest hits, including scenes from Peter Pan, Cinderella and The Wizard of Oz.

Idea arose in 1947

The original Weeki Wachee mermaids were dreamed up in 1947 by Newton Perry, a champion swimmer, movie stuntman and trainer of World War II frogmen.

Ricou Browning, a swimmer who later doubled as the Creature in Creature From the Black Lagoon and two sequels, recalled those early days:

"Newt Perry told me his idea for an underwater show," said Browning, now president of Ivan Tors Studios near Fort Lauderdale. "I went with him to see this fabulous spring. It looked like a little duck pond off the side of the road. But I went into the water anyway, and it was beautiful -- except there was everything but the kitchen sink down there: fridges, tires, mattress springs."

Browning helped clean out the junk and build the first underwater theater -- a structure rather like a sunken boxcar with windows looking into the spring. He also helped train the first mermaids, teaching them underwater ballet using air hoses invented by Perry.

"Underwater, you're like astronauts in space, free-moving and almost weightless," said Browning. "It's like being in a different world."

Mary Darlington Fletcher performed in the inaugural show. A petite 15-year-old, she donned a mask and flippers and dived into the spring, bewitching audiences with her underwater antics. Taking occasional sips from her air hose, she cavorted with the fish, nibbled bananas and glugged Grapette sodas.

"We didn't wear tails back then," said Fletcher, now 75. "We supplied our own bathing suits. Mine was a two-piece, lime-green. A very covered-up two-piece."

She performed on weekends and holidays all through high school, and was one of three doubles for actress Ann Blythe when Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid was filmed at Weeki Wachee.

In 1950, Fletcher moved on to the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she still lives. Almost a half-century later, she returned to perform with the Mermaids of Yesteryear for three years.

"It was bliss being in that cold, clear water again," said Fletcher, who will attend this weekend's reunion.

In Weeki Wachee's early days, there was not much traffic on U.S. Highway 19, Fletcher said. "When we heard a car coming, we would run out in our bathing suits and beckon them to come in. All it took was one car and one person to put on a show."

A decade later, Weeki Wachee was on every Florida tourist's map, said Vicki Vergara Smith, who swam with the show in the early 1960s -- the start of the attraction's golden age.

The spring had been purchased by the American Broadcasting Co. -- ABC -- in 1959. Amid much fanfare, a new 500-seat theater was built into the side of the spring, and elaborate shows were choreographed with costumes, props and music. Mermaids performed eight shows a day to sold-out crowds. Visiting celebrities included Esther Williams, Arthur Godfrey and Elvis Presley.

"I swam the show for Elvis," said Smith, 67, now a Mermaid of Yesteryear. "Afterwards he came into the Mermaid Villa and signed autographs. He was a true Southern boy, a gentleman to the core, real soft-spoken and polite. And he wore loads of pancake makeup."

The Harris twins also were mermaids during Weeki Wachee's heyday.

"It was like living a fantasy," Holly Harris Hall said. "We lived in a little cottage behind the spring and swam three or four shows a day. We never went to bed with dry hair."

They earned about $250 a week, her sister added. "That was pretty good for young girls back then. We bought our first car together, a 1967 pink Mustang. It was probably the happiest time of my life."

Disney led to decline

The twins hung up their mermaid tails in 1971 -- the year Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, diverting tourists away from Weeki Wachee.

Soon after, ABC sold the park. It slowly became shabby and forlorn.

In 2001, the Southwest Florida Water Management District bought the spring and surrounding 442 acres. The 27-acre park was leased back to its operator, Weeki Wachee Springs LLC -- which later donated the lease to the tiny city of Weeki Wachee.

"We took over the attraction in order to save it," said John Athanason, the park's marketing director. "It's part of Florida's history. We don't want to see it disappear."

Despite the city's efforts to upgrade the park and pay off debts of almost $1 million, the owner has filed suit to terminate the lease. The case likely will come before a judge in August.

Some Weeki Wachee fans fear the park's 60th-anniversary celebration will be its swan song. Others can't imagine a time when the mermaids' siren call no longer lures tourists to the legendary spring.

I'd especially like to see all you "I support the troops but not the war" people here!!!!   Time to put your donations where your mouth is!!!  

Alive After 5 Thursday July 12th

THE INVASION HAS BEGUN THE TROOPS ARE HERE! 

The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, National Guard, VFW, The American Legion Post 53 D.A.V. Chapter 30 and the American Red Cross will be here in force at the event.  Here is your chance to show your support.  We will be taking donations for items needed by our troops at Alive After 5 ticket booths or at various drop off points.  Drop off points are at Eberweins, The Welcome Center, The Sanford Wine Company, Cafe Perks, Porzig Realty, The West End, Pella Windows, Elks Lodge, 3 Wachovia locations and 5 Federal Trust lomcations.  Cash and credit card donations will also be taken at the AA5 ticket booths. 

Bring in to The Welcome Center a picture of your loved one in uniform and it will be posted on display at the event.

Live Music, Art, & Fun on Sanford's First Street!$5.00 sampling donation gets you, wine, beer, food samples & store-to-store treats!

Needed items include:

• PHONE CARDS - OVERSEAS
• BEEF JERKY
• SLIM JIMS
• TURKEY, TUNA OR CHICKEN IN FOIL BAGS
• FRUIT - IN PLASTIC CONTAINERS
• PUDDING IN TUBES
• SEASONING PACKETS
• TABASCO HOT SAUCE
• RANCH SALAD DRESSING - REGULAR SIZE
• COOKIES INDIVIDUAL PACKS
• CHEESE & CRACKERS
• SUNFLOWER SEEDS
• BAGS OF PEANUTS, CASHEWS ETC...
• CEREAL SMALL VARIETY PACKS
• GUM, TIC-TACS, HARD CANDY
• PEANUT BUTTER SMALL PLASTIC & JELLY SQUEEZE
• POWDERED DRINK MIXES(GATORADE, LEMONADE REGULAR SIZE)
• BATTERIES AND / OR CHARGERS FOR ELECTRONICS
• DIGITAL CAMERAS
• PSP AND DVD MOVIES
• MP3 PLAYER AND HEADSETS
• ZIPLOC PLASTIC BAGS
• GARBAGE BAGS
• READING MATERIAL
• SEWING KITS
• SMALL FLASHLIGHTS
• SUNGLASSES(W/STRAP)
• BOOT INSERTS
• VISINE
• MEDICATED FOOT POWDER Q-TIPS SMALL PACKAGES
• RAZORS
• CHAP STICK
• HAND SANITIZER SMALL
• WHITE COTTON SOCKS
• LARGE TRAVEL PILLOW & CASE
• DISPOSABLE CAMERAS
• FRESHEN UP MOIST WIPES
• TOILET PAPER - TRAVEL SIZE
• HAND SANITIZER SMALL
• MOISTURIZING LOTION
• KNEE HIGH STOCKINGS
• SHOWER CAPS W/ SHAMPOO
• SKIN SO SOFT OR BABY OIL
• BAND-AIDS
• BUG REPELLENT
• FLEA COLLARS
• LAUNDRY DETERGENT, SMALL
• FEMALE SPECIFIC ITEMS(PADS/TAMPONS)
• SPORTS BRAS
• SUN BLOCK
• SOCK WARMERS
• BATTERY ALARM CLOCK
• KING SIZE PILLOW CASES
• THANK YOU CARDS
• HAND WRITTEN LETTERS
• NOTE PADS & PENS
• EYE GLASS/ CONTACT LENSES REPAIR & CLEANING SUPPLIES
• OVER THE COUNTER MEDICATIONS, SUCH AS SLEEP AIDS, ASPRIN, IBUPROFEN, ANTI DIARRHEA, ANTACID, COLD / ALERGY RELIEF, ANTI FUNGAL SPRAY... ETC
• PLAYING CARDS

** We want to pack a variety of items in each box.  Sample sizes are best.  Our goal is to send 5,000 boxes overseas.

*** Please DO NOT provide any glass, aerosol cans or FAMILY sized items.

Not everyone gets the opportunity to go to Washington to actually see the Vietnam Wall.  We've all seen the pictures, or seen it on tv.   What's the next best thing to being there...to seeing the "real thing"?   The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall, which is going to be in our area next weekend.  

Several of us will be escorting the wall from the Debary VFW (17-92 & Dirkson Rd) to Orange City Rotary Park, leaving the VFW at 9am Thur, Jun 28.  Upon arrival, many of us will help put it up.  The wall will be there until Monday morning, Jul 2.  On Saturday, Jun 30th, there will be a dedication, renaming Rotary Park to Veteran's Memorial Park, and PATRIOTIC PICNIC with several events planned during the day.  You can find more info on the Orange City website.  http://www.ci.orange-city.fl.us/

What a great opportunity to see it, maybe bring your kids and explain the freedom isn't free, the cost is great.  Any bikers who would like to join us in the escort show up at the VFW before 9am, info also on Dixie Biker or feel free to ask me.  You can also meet us at Rotary Park if you like to help put it together.

Some info on it...

About Our Wall