Search This Blog

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

March 5, 1958


This is the first Tuesday Timeline for March 2013.  It’s the fifth of March, and as it so happens, a lot happened on this date throughout history.  Of course, we can only choose one event to spotlight in this space...but since there is so much to talk about, why don’t we begin with what else happened on March 5.

1496 – King Henry VII of England issues letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands

1616 – A book written by Nicolaus Copernicus, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium is banned by the Catholic Church

1766 – Antonio de Ulloa -  the first Spanish governor of Louisiana – arrives in New Orleans

1770 – Boston Massacre; five Americans are killed by British troops, which would inevitably be one of the main reasons for the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War

1824 – Britain declares war on Burma, setting forth the early beginnings of the First Anglo-Burmese War

1836 – The first production-model revolver, the .34-caliber, is made by Samuel Colt

1850 – The Britannia Bridge – spanning across the Menai Strait – is opened

1868 – Arrigo Boito’s opera, Mefistofele holds its premiere performance at La Scala

1872 – George Westinghouse patents the air brake

1910 – Momofuku Ando, inventor of instant noodles, is born in Kagi County, Taiwan

1912 – Italian forces are among the first to employ airships to be used for military purposes

1933 – Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party receives almost 44% of the vote at the Reichstag elections, which allows the Nazis to pass the Enabling Act while establishing a dictatorship

1940 – Members of the Soviet politburo sign an order which calls for the execution of over twenty-five thousand Polish intelligentsia, in an event come to be known as the Katyn Massacre

1943 – The first flight of Gloster Meteor jet aircraft in the United Kingdom

1946 – The phrase “Iron Curtain” is used in a speech given by Winston Churchill at Westminster College, Missouri

1956 – The late singer Teena Marie (Square Biz, Lovergirl) is born in Santa Monica, California

1960 – Photographer Alberto Korda snaps the world-famous photograph of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara

1963 – Country singer Patsy Cline is killed in a plane crash at the age of 30 along with Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins

1966 – 124 people are killed after BOAC Flight 911 crashes into Mount Fuji

1974 – Israeli forces retreat from west bank of the Suez Canal during the Yom Kippur War

1975 – The first meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club takes place

1979 – The Landsat 3 is launched from Vandenburg Air Force Base in California, while at the same time, Voyager 1 spacecraft has its closest approach to the planet Jupiter

1981 – The ZX81 home computer is launched in Britain by Sinclair Research

1982 – John Belushi dies of a drug overdose in Hollywood, California at just 33

1984 – Six thousand miners go on strike at Cortonwood Colliery in the United Kingdom

1999 – Paul Okalik is elected the first Premier of the newly created Canadian territory, Nunavut

2003 – The first case of SARS in Canada is discovered in the city of Toronto, Ontario

Some of those events are quite sad and depressing, aren’t they?  Hopefully we have some better news within the celebrity birthday section.  Happy birthday to Milt Schmidt, James Noble, Erik Carlsson, J.B. Lenoir, Del Crandall, James B. Sikking, Philip K. Chapman, Paul Sand, Dean Stockwell, Paul Evans, Fred Williamson, Samantha Eggar, Mike Resnick, Billy Backus, Murray Head, Michael Warren, Eddie Hodges, Tom Russell, Eddy Grant, Elaine Paige, Alan Clark (Dire Straits), Marsha Warfield, Penn Jillette, Ray Suarez, Jonathan Penner, Charlie & Craig Reid (The Proclaimers), Joel Osteen, Bob Halkidis, Michael Irvin, Paul Blackthorne, Danny King, John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Lisa Robin Kelly, Rome, Jeffrey Hammonds, Yuri Lowenthal, Brian Grant, Kevin Connolly, Matt Lucas, Eva Mendes, Jill Ritchie, Jolene Blalock, Niki Taylor, Kimberly McCullough, Sterling Knight, and Jake Lloyd.

Well, today’s subject would have also celebrated his birthday today had he lived.


He would have turned fifty-five years old today, making his birthdate March 5, 1958.

His road to stardom was such that he achieved teen idol status at a very young age.  Certainly, his career almost seemed destined to be in the music industry.  After all, his three older brothers formed one of the most successful groups of all time.  Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, he racked up several Top 10 singles, including a couple of #1 hits, and he embarked on a relationship with a prime time television starlet.  However, he also had a highly publicized addiction to drugs, and this addiction would not only end his career, but his life as well.


This is the story of pop star and teenage idol Andy Gibb, born fifty-five years ago today.

Andrew Roy Gibb was born in Manchester, England, and moved with his family to Australia when he was just six months old.  Andy was the youngest of five children, the kid brother to his older sister, Lesley, and three older brothers.


Those older brothers would be Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb, the three brothers who would form the Bee Gees in the 1960s. 

Andy lived in Australia until he was eight years old, before relocating back to the United Kingdom in January 1967, when the Bee Gees began to achieve popularity as a singing group.  During Andy’s teenage years, he worked at clubs and pubs around the island of Ibiza and the Isle of Man, and while he was in the United Kingdom, he formed his first band with John Alderson and John Stringer that was named after a Bee Gees song, Melody Fayre.  During this time, the band recorded a song that was written by Maurice Gibb entitled “My Father Was a Reb”, but it was never released on the charts.

By the time Andy was seventeen, he was encouraged by his brothers to move back to Australia.  Alderson and Stringer followed him, and together they tried to make a go of it as a band.  But due to the band’s sporadic periods of work, as well as Andy taking off for long periods of time, Alderson and Stringer returned to the United Kingdom.

Andy Gibb began his solo career with the release of the single “Words and Music”, which was released under the ATA label.  Shortly after that, he joined another band Zenta, who would later tour alongside acts such as the Bay City Rollers and Sweet when both bands visited Australia for a tour.

It was also around this time that Andy crossed paths with Bee Gees’ manager, Robert Stigwood, who was impressed by Andy’s talent based on demo tapes that he had listened to.  He immediately signed Andy to his record label, RSO Records in 1976, and relocated to Miami Beach, Florida to record songs for his debut album.  Older brother Barry worked with Andy on the songwriting.


That album, 1976’s “Flowing Rivers” would end up being a huge success globally - in particular, within the United States, where two of the singles would become #1.  One was (Love Is) Thicker Than Water.  And the second was this one...


ARTIST:  Andy Gibb
SONG:  I Just Want To Be Your Everything
ALBUM:  Flowing Rivers
DATE RELEASED:  May 1977
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #1 for 4 weeks

TRIVIA:  Those four weeks that song was on the top of the charts weren’t consecutive ones.  It initially peaked at the top for three weeks during the summer of 1977, was dethroned by the Emotions single “Best of My Love”, and went back to the top of the charts the week of September 12, 1977!


This song, which was written by Barry Gibb, also topped the charts in Australia, and was the first of three #1 hits in a row by Andy Gibb.  When Andy’s second album, “Shadow Dancing” was released in 1978, the title track also hit the top of the charts, and the next two singles, (“An Everlasting Love” and “(Our Love) Don’t Throw It Away”) made it into the Top 10.  By the early 1980s, Gibb had released a third album, “After Dark”, had one more top 10 hit with “Desire” (a song that was written by Barry, Robin, Maurice, and Andy Gibb in a four-way collaboration), and performed a duet with Olivia Newton-John (“I Can’t Help It”).


By 1981, his popularity was beginning to fade in the music scene, so he decided to try his hand at acting in musicals.  He had landed a gig in the Andrew Lloyd Webber production, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”, and secured a co-hosting job on the television series “Solid Gold” in 1980.  He even began a relationship with Dallas starlet Victoria Principal in the early 1980s, which also spawned the unlikely musical collaboration below.


(That song was a cover version of the Everly Brothers single, “All I Have To Do Is Dream”, which just missed hitting the Top 50, peaking at #51 in 1981.)

Now, you might think that Andy Gibb was doing fantastic around this time.  But by 1982, he was struggling.  He had developed a serious addiction to cocaine, which included several instances where he binged on the substance.  These incidents caused Gibb to miss several performances of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”, as well as several tapings of “Solid Gold”.  While the producers and co-workers were initially patient at first, his chronic absenteeism eventually led to his being dismissed by both shows.  His relationship with Victoria Principal also suffered, and the relationship ended after Principal issued an ultimatum where he had to choose between the drugs and her.

By the mid-1980s, Andy was deep into his addiction to drugs, and his family stepped in to try and intervene.  Andy checked into the Betty Ford Clinic, and reinvented himself in the process.  During the period between 1984 and 1987, Andy began to appear in guest-starring roles on sitcoms such as “Gimme A Break” and “Punky Brewster”.  He also launched a series of stage shows and performed concerts in San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Lake Tahoe.


By the time 1988 rolled around, Andy was in a very good place in his life.  He had turned thirty years old on March 5, 1988, and he had plans for his future.  He was determined to live the rest of his life drug free, and he even had plans to get back into the recording studio to release what would have been his first new album in eight years.


Sadly, the rest of his life would last less than a week.  Within hours of his thirtieth birthday, Gibb had started feeling sick.  After a recording session in London, England, he was admitted to a hospital complaining of chest pains.  On March 10, 1988, Gibb was pronounced dead, five days after he turned thirty.

The cause of death was myocarditis, which was an inflammation of the heart muscle caused by a viral infection.  Because Andy’s heart had been weakened from years of drug abuse, it was too weak to fight the infection, and it ultimately killed him.  Although the Gibb family (as well as all of Andy’s fans) were saddened by the loss, nobody took it harder than Barry.  Not only was Barry the closest family member to Andy at the time of his death, but Barry later admitted that before Andy died, the brothers had gotten into a really terrible fight, and that was the very last conversation that Barry had with Andy.

He was survived by a daughter, Peta, who was born in 1978 from a brief marriage to Kim Reeder.  At the time of his death, Gibb had only reportedly visited Peta just once, in the early 1980s.

You know, it’s been twenty-five years since Andy Gibb passed away.  A lot has happened in those twenty-five years.  Barry Gibb is the only surviving Gibb brother (Maurice died in 2003, Robin passed away last year), and Andy’s daughter is now thirty-five years old. 

Andy Gibb was a man who achieved success at a ridiculously young age, and unfortunately seemed to be unable to keep up with it.  It’s a shame to see such a talented young man be completely under the influence of drugs and alcohol to the point where it nearly destroyed his career completely.  Perhaps the biggest tragedy of Andy’s short life was the fact that when he died, he was well on his way to staging a comeback.  He had seen how destructive his choices were in the past, and was hoping to make a fresh start as a clean and sober performer.  It’s a shame that time simply wasn’t on his side, and that the damage he had done to his body was too great.  I sometimes think that had he lived, he could have been a real force to be reckoned with.


Sadly, we’ll never know.

Monday, March 04, 2013

Monday Bat-inee - Batman (1989)


I’m going to do something unique for all of the Monday Matinees in March.  A special theme is planned for this month only on Mondays.  I’ll get to the topic of today’s blog entry in a moment, but because my goal for 2013 is to bring more of me to this project, I will be telling all of you a little story that links up to this blog entry.

Do any of you remember going to the birthday parties of your classmates?  I didn’t go to very many parties, but I did remember going to a few.  And, for whatever reason, I remember one birthday party incredibly well (except for the kid’s name, funnily enough).

If I remember correctly, this party was sometime when I was in the third grade, so the kid would have been turning eight or nine years old.  And, if I also remember correctly, the party was great fun, and I remember getting along with every kid that was there (even though looking back on it, I have absolutely no idea who any of them are now). 

One detail seems to stand out at the party that I CAN recall.  When it came time for the birthday boy to open up his presents, one of them ended up being a VHS copy of a popular movie that had been released the year before.  To say that this kid was absolutely excited about getting this movie as a gift would be the understatement of the entire year.  He immediately ran towards his parents and begged them to put the movie inside the VCR so that he and the other partygoers could watch it on the television in the living room.  Of the ten guests that were invited, I think seven of them joined the birthday boy in the living room to watch the movie.  Myself and the other two?  We stayed in the kitchen playing “Operation”.  I don’t know what it was about the movie, but at the time, it did not interest me at all.

It wasn’t until about ten years later that I decided to watch the movie on cable television (it was a Sunday afternoon and nothing else was on), and I immediately regretted not watching it at that childhood birthday party.  Sure, the movie was rather dark and dismal, and some of the characters in the movie did look incredibly scary...but the way that it was presented was brilliant, and I thought that everyone who appeared in the film gave it their all. 

The film became a summer blockbuster in the year 1989...in fact it was 1989’s highest grossing film in North America.  It earned $46.2 million during the film’s opening weekend, grossed over $400 million worldwide, and became the very first film to gross over $100 million during the first ten days of release.



The film that we’ll be looking at in the first installment of the Monday “Bat-inee” is the Tim Burton directed film, “Batman”, which was released on June 23, 1989.  The film that I opted to skip out of at that childhood birthday party I attended years ago.

And don’t think that the word “bat-inee” is a typo.  All this week, I’m spotlighting Batman films every Monday in March.  Hence the phrase, Monday Bat-inee. 

(Well, I thought it was clever.)


As many of you know, Batman is a superhero that was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger.  Batman’s been around since May 1939, when he made his first appearance in Detective Comics #27.  Over the next seven decades, Batman has appeared on a regular basis in several publications by DC Comics.  You’re also probably aware that Batman’s real identity is that of billionaire philanthropist and industrialist, Bruce Wayne.  By day, he lives a life of luxury in his mansion where his faithful butler, Alfred has served him for years.  But by night, he dons the black cape and tights, steps into the Batcave, and hops in his Batmobile to protect the people of the fictional Gotham City as Batman.

And Bruce’s motivation behind why he would assume the identity of a superhero is understandable.  When he was just a young boy, he witnessed the murder of his parents, and since that day, he promised himself that he would make all criminals pay for their crimes.

Batman stands out among the other superheroes of the day (Spider-Man, Superman) by not having any special superhuman powers.  He used his brains, his wits, and his natural agility to defeat evil forces...which Gotham City seemed to have more of than actual citizens.  I think that might be one reason why I kind of admire Batman a lot more than other superheroes.  Deep down underneath those black tights and cape, he’s just a regular guy like you or I...albeit a regular guy who has been pissed off at criminals for some seventy-four years.


The idea of making Batman into a film wasn’t too farfetched.  After all, a successful (not to mention campy) television series and film which starred Adam West and Burt Ward kept audiences entertained throughout the later part of the 1960s.  And a screenplay for a Batman film was in the planning stages as early as 1980...a full nine years before the 1989 “Batman” film was released.


Tim Burton was hired to direct the film, while Sam Hamm came up with the first draft of the screenplay.  Although Warner Brothers was reluctant to greenlight the film at first, the project went ahead in 1988 following the massive success of Burton’s 1988 film, “Beetlejuice”.  In fact, the star of Beetlejuice, Michael Keaton, was cast in the iconic role of Batman.  And this was a decision that was not met well with fans of the Batman series.  It was reported that as many as fifty THOUSAND letters were sent, demanding that Burton rethink his decision to cast Keaton in the role.  Even screenwriter Sam Hamm expressed his concerns about casting Keaton in the role of Batman.


I mean, I’ll be the first one to admit that Michael Keaton might not have been my first choice when it came to casting Batman.  He starred in a film called “Mr. Mom”, after all.  Of course now that I watch the 1989 film again, I now can’t see anyone else playing Batman! 

Rounding out the cast were Kim Basinger as Vicki Vale, Michael Gough as Alfred, Robert Wuhl as Alexander Knox, Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent, Jack Palance as Carl Grissom, Jerry Hall as Alicia Hunt, and Jack Nicholson as Jack Napier (otherwise known as “The Joker”).


TRIVIA:  And Jack Nicholson ended up scoring huge when he agreed to sign onto the film...albeit with conditions.  Among some of these conditions?  Well, how about a high salary, a percentage of the box office earnings, and the ability to pick and choose his shooting schedule?  How’s that for a sweet deal!


I won’t bore you too much with the plot of the film.  I imagine that by now, almost all of you have seen this film at least once, so you know all about how Jack Napier became the Joker, you know about the romantic spark between Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale, and you know about the Joker using parade floats filled with toxic gas to kill the population of Gotham City.  No need to delve any further.

Besides, when I was watching the movie as well as doing research on some of the behind-the-scenes happenings of this film, I found the backstage trivia quite interesting.  And, I hope that you find it interesting too.

01 – The budget for the film was originally an even thirty million dollars, but it was increased to $48 million.

02 – As a result of the Writers Guild of America strike of 1988, Sam Hamm was forced to drop out of the project.  The screenplay was finished by the uncredited Warren Skaaren, Charles McKeown, and Jonathan Gems.

03 – Before Kim Basinger won the role of Vicki Vale, the part was originally given to Sean Young, who had signed on to begin shooting the film in October 1988.  However, when Sean was thrown off a horse before filming, she sustained injuries that prevented her from being able to continue with the movie.

04 – After Sean Young dropped out of the film, Michael Keaton had suggested that Michelle Pfeiffer take over the role, but she turned it down.  However, she did join the cast of the 1992 film, “Batman Returns” in the role of Batman villainess, Catwoman.

05 – Other actresses who auditioned or were briefly considered for the role of Vicki Vale were Jamie Lee Curtis, Geena Davis, Brooke Shields, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sigourney Weaver, Anjelica Huston, Goldie Hawn, Tatum O’Neal, Lori Loughlin, and Madonna.

06 – On that note, the following people were briefly considered for the role of Batman; Pierce Brosnan, Alec Baldwin, Emilio Estevez, Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Matthew Broderick, Kurt Russell, Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, Kevin Costner, Tom Selleck, Charlie Sheen, Michael J. Fox, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  As many of you know, Schwarzenegger ended up playing a Batman villain just eight years after “Batman” was filmed.

07 – Robin Williams reportedly campaigned to get the role of the Joker, and was well on his way to being cast...but when producers approached Jack Nicholson and told him that Williams would take the part if Nicholson didn’t.  Because Williams felt like he was used as bait by producers, he refused to appear in any film project made by Warner Brothers (including a role in 1995’s “Batman Forever”) until the studio apologized.

08 – Other actors considered for the role of the Joker included Willem Dafoe, Tim Curry, John Lithgow, and David Bowie.  Truth be told, I think Bowie would have made a great Joker!

09 – The entire picture only took twelve weeks to film, wrapping up production in January 1989.

10 – Billy Dee Williams had it written in his contract that he would be brought back to play the role of Two-Face in the 1995 film “Batman Forever”.  But when producers decided to use Tommy Lee Jones instead, the company bought out Williams’ contract.


11 – The theatrical trailer for the movie was reportedly so well-received that people would pay for movie tickets just to see the trailer, and then would exit the theatre!

12 – Appropriately enough, the film was released on the 50th anniversary of Batman’s first appearance.

13 – Before Prince was considered to compose some of the music for the film, Michael Jackson was asked...but he had to turn down the opportunity because he was too busy touring.


14 – The original script was supposed to feature Dick Grayson (a.k.a. The Robin), and Kiefer Sutherland was considered for the role.  But it was decided to drop Robin from the film script before the film went into production.

15 – Ever wondered where Gotham City was located?  If you go by the map that was used in the film, Gotham City is really Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada!


16 – The Batmobile was built on the chassis of a Chevy Impala.

17 – David Cronenberg was offered the opportunity to direct the film, but declined.

18 – Only two of the actors in 1989’s “Batman” appeared in the next three Batman films...Michael Gough and Pat Hinkle (who played Commissioner Gordon).

19 – The film won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction.


20 – This may be spoiling the ending a smidgen, but Robert Wuhl’s character of Knox was supposed to die during the parade scene towards the end of the film.

21 – When Keaton put on the Batsuit, it nullified his sense of hearing.  Fortunately, the lack of hearing helped Keaton get into character better.


22 – Kim Basinger screams a total of twenty-three times during the whole film!  I sure hope she had a huge stock of throat lozenges!

23 – Jerry Hall was cast in the movie by a crew member who happened to spot her while she was on a break filming an ad for chocolates.

24 – Keep an eye on one of the Joker’s goons in the scene where the Joker causes havoc at a museum.  One of them is played by Tim Burton.

25 – Have you wondered just how many people end up dying in the film?  According to the Internet Movie Database, the total body count is fifty-six!

(Wow, you know, come to think of it, maybe “Batman” wasn’t the best choice of entertainment to showcase at a 9th birthday party.  But, it wasn’t my party, who was I to say anything?)


So, that’s our first Monday Bat-inee out of the way.  Next week, we’ll be going ahead in time three years to take a look at Keaton’s second turn as the heroic Batman.  I hope you’re excited!

Sunday, March 03, 2013

Another Day In Paradise


Before I launch into another edition of the Sunday Jukebox, I wish to tell you a story about something that happened to me a couple of weeks ago. As always, whenever I tell you a story, I will usually tie it in to the theme of today's topic.

You know, I've been trying my best to get back in shape this year. It's not really what one would call a New Year's Resolution because I have been in what is probably the best shape I've been in my whole life. Let's put it this way, I can walk all the way from my apartment to the waterfront and back again in just under an hour and a half. As far as distance goes, I'd estimate it at anywhere between five and ten kilometers. Considering that I spent most of my public school gym classes gasping for breath and collapsing in a pool of my own sweat, I'd consider that remarkable progress.

However, since I lost my gall bladder and part of my liver two years ago, I've found that my metabolism is kind of stuck in neutral. I'm at the point where I am maintaining my weight, but I'd ideally like to slim down to what my weight was two years ago (which was roughly around 215). Not that being 6'2” and being 240 is necessarily bad though. At least I'm trying...and that's what counts.

Anyway, I'm going off on a massive tangent here, so I'm going to take control of the wheel before we end up steering this Sunday Jukebox over a cliff.

My walks down to the waterfront are often filled with many different things despite the fact that I more or less take the same exact route each time (I live in a small town). When I strap on my iPod, I set the controls to “shuffle mode”, so I get a different soundtrack each time I go out. Sometimes I'll take different side streets to give off the impression that I'm exploring new territory (even though the destination is always the same). And, depending on the time of day that I decide to go on my mini-adventures, I will see a whole variety of people. If I go out at three in the afternoon, I'll likely see teenagers getting out of high school. If I wait until six in the evening, I'll see people of all ages going outside of the various restaurants nearby.

(I live about a block away from the neighbourhood known as “fast food alley”. Which in turn gives me more incentive to keep on my goal of staying in shape.)



Well, a couple of weeks ago, I was walking down the main street of my hometown on my way back home when outside of one of the drug stores in town, I came upon the sight of a man who was holding a sign. According to his sign, he had come down upon some hard times, and he was requesting a couple of bucks from anyone who happened to be walking by.

Here's the situation. I very rarely carry cash on my person. On that particular day, I didn't even have my wallet with me. So, long story short, I could not spare the guy a dime because I didn't have one. And, so help me, I felt just a slight bit guilty about it. I am generous to a fault sometimes, and if anyone was in need of help, I would try to do the best that I could to see if I could lend a hand. The fact that I couldn't made me feel about this small.

But I suppose I wasn't the only one who passed this man by. I imagine that several people walked by this man, completely ignoring him as they went about their daily business. And, I imagine that some people believed that he was putting on a show, and that he was embellishing his plight. And, I imagine that some people were thinking that he needed to just get a job.

I'll admit that all those thoughts went through my mind as I continued my walk home. At the same time, who was I to make judgments about someone that I don't even know? Yes, I suppose he could have been a charlatan who was taking advantage of patsies. At the same time, he very well could have been down on his luck and needed some help to get through another day. Some may have found it easier to ignore his plea, but I was conflicted the whole time.

And, naturally to make me feel even more conflicted, this song happened to pop up on the iPod just five minutes after passing the guy on the street.



ARTIST: Phil Collins
SONG: Another Day In Paradise
ALBUM: ...But Seriously
DATE RELEASED: October 9, 1989
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #1 for 4 weeks

Yes, that song could not have come at a worse time, I tell you. Just my luck, huh?

I guess since we've already heard the song, we may as well talk about the artist who recorded the single.



When you think of Phil Collins, you may consider many adjectives. Creative. Goofy. Silly. Talented. Happy-Go-Lucky. Upbeat.

When you take his solo work as well as his work with the band, Genesis, Phil Collins has done some rather incredible things. Prior to 1989, I would say that the vast majority of his songs (excluding the haunting “In The Air Tonight” and “Against All Odds”) were upbeat, and a little silly. The video for “Don't Lose My Number” was a collection of music video parodies. The video for “Two Hearts” was a throwback to the days of the Ed Sullivan Show. He's the only artist who could take a nonsensical word like Sussudio, and turn it into a part of everyone's vocabulary during 1985. And, he incorporated a nice brass section in his 1981 hit, “I Missed Again”.



USELESS TRIVIA: “I Missed Again” was a song that I had misheard the lyrics of. It's not my fault I thought he was singing, “I'll be your Michigan J. Frog”!



Anyway, when 1989 came around, Phil Collins was working on his “...But Seriously” album, his fourth solo studio album. In contrast to his previous album, “No Jacket Required”, the songs on “...But Seriously” matched the tone of the title. All of the songs were serious in nature, with strong ballads, and songs that took a stand on serious issues.



In the case of “Another Day In Paradise”, the subject of the song is homelessness. Phil was inspired to create the song upon visiting Washington D.C. Collins was quite stunned at the amount of people who were homeless in the city, and just how many citizens were living at or below the poverty line. He was even more stunned at the complacent nature of the city in regards to helping the homeless get back on their feet. The song title was almost considered to be ironic, or sarcastic, given that the very people who could have helped the homeless the most (congressmen, senators, politicians) seemed to look the other way everytime. In the mind of Phil Collins, this situation was filled with lots of bitter irony.

And, listening to the lyrics of the song, you can understand why I felt a little bit guilty and shameful when I passed that guy who was holding up the sign. In the song, a young woman happens to come across a man who is clearly doing better in life than she is. He seems to have a home, a great life, and everything he could want in life, while she's desperate for a place to sleep. She tries to get the man's attention in hopes that he can direct her to a place where they can help her, but he seems to be very uncomfortable being in that situation and actually goes out of his way to get out of there. He crosses the street and begins singing a song to himself hoping to drown out her crying so that he can make out as though she didn't exist.

It's really a very moving song, and the song was honoured with several awards for Phil Collins. Aside from the United States, the song hit the #1 position in Canada, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, and Sweden. It was ranked the seventh most popular song of 1990 (the song was the very first #1 hit of the 1990s). The song won the 1990 Brit Award for Best British Single, and was nominated for four Grammy Awards in 1991, winning one for “Record of the Year”.



I should note that the song was also re-recorded by R & B artist Brandy and her younger brother Ray J in March 2001, and while their version did not do so well in the United States, it did reach top 10 status in several European nations.

You know, when I got home after my walk, I kept thinking about that song, and how I passed that man on the street. I kept thinking about what might have happened if the situation was reversed. If I had been the one on the street holding a cardboard sign begging people for loose change. I wonder how I would have felt if people just walked past, not even acknowledging my existence. I probably wouldn't feel very motivated to try and make positive changes in my life.

So, what have I learned from that event, as well as that Phil Collins song? Well, I learned that sometimes I might have the tendency to complain about how things are going...but I also have to take into consideration that some people have it a lot worse than I do.



So, the next time I go out for a walk, and I happen to come across someone who needs a bit of a hand...well, hopefully I'll be able to help them out...or at the very least not just walk on by.

Saturday, March 02, 2013

Lizzie McGuire


I have a confession to make.  And I know that when I make this confession, one of two things will happen.  I’ll either have people come up to me and say, “Wow...you know, I never really considered this person to release a song that you like, but I kind of dig that beat, man.”

Or, they’ll say, “You listen to HER?  And LIKE it?  What kind of a blockhead are you?”

Well, okay, maybe they aren’t quite the exact words that they’ll say...but I do think that this particular confession will divide some people.  After all, pop culture disagreements have spawned some rather lively, if not heated discussions.

And, if you’ve read between the lines, you’ll know that this confession involves a song.

Oh, what the heck.  I may as well rip this Band-Aid off and just be out with it.


ARTIST:  Hilary Duff
SONG:  Stranger
ALBUM:  Dignity
DATE RELEASED:  June 25, 2007
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS:  #97



Okay.  Here’s the confession.  I happen to find this particular song by Hilary Duff to be awesome, and I am unapologetic in letting people know.

Sure, the song didn’t even crack the Top 90 on the Billboard Charts...but on the Dance Charts, it was a #1 hit during the summer of 2007.  And, I imagine that some of you might believe that I wouldn’t enjoy a song like this, but I’ll also be the first to admit that if you were to really listen to the song, it’s got some decent lyrics.  It was written by Hilary Duff, Kara DioGuardi, Vada Nobles, Derrick Harvin, and Julius “Logic” Diaz, and believe it or not, the song release was chosen by Hilary’s fans.  She posted a question on her website asking people to vote on which single should be the third one to be released from the “Dignity” album (following “Play With Fire” and “With Love”).  As it turned out, “Stranger” – which is reportedly a song that is about her father having an extramarital affair behind her mother’s back – won the popular vote by a landslide.  And, while the song itself didn’t chart well, it was a huge departure from her squeaky clean image that she portrayed in her early career.

(Hey, I liked it, and I typically avoid singles released by Disney Channel stars.)

That said, I see some confusion appearing on your faces.  Isn’t the music day supposed to be Sunday and not Saturday?  Well, this is true, and this hasn’t changed.  The reason why is because today’s blog topic features Hilary Duff in a starring role.  It’s a show that I was forced to watch several times because my niece and nephew used to watch it when they were toddlers...and I’ll put it to you this way, I was definitely not the target audience for this program.  But, since I was given this suggestion by a person who wished to remain anonymous, I thought that I would give it a whirl.


When Hilary Duff released her “Dignity” album, she was only nineteen years old, and she admittedly had a really tough year.  She had split up from her then-boyfriend Joel Madden, her parents had separated, and she had become the target of a stalker’s obsession.  Is it any wonder why “Dignity” was an album of self-exploration and therapy for Duff?  And, you know, I can understand exactly why she would channel her anger and frustration into an album.  After all, I do the same thing with my blog.

Therefore, it’s hard to believe that Hilary Duff was once a little girl, who seemed not to have a care in the world given how raw with emotion “Dignity” was.  She landed her first big role in 1998 when she played Wendy the witch in the film “Casper Meets Wendy”, and won a Young Artist Award the following year for her appearance in the made-for-television movie “The Soul Collector”.  But Hilary almost gave up her acting career after experiencing an incident where she was cast in the sitcom, “Daddio”, only for producers to cut her from the cast before the pilot aired.

Luckily for Duff, she received an offer to appear in a new television series that was going to be airing exclusively on the Disney Channel just one week after being booted from “Daddio”.  And it would be this series that would kickstart Hilary’s career.


Yes, today we’ll be looking at the Disney Channel series “Lizzie McGuire”, which originally ran from January 12, 2001 until February 14, 2004.  The series also spawned a feature film, “The Lizzie McGuire Movie” in 2003. 


And, while I realize that “Lizzie McGuire” is not everyone’s cup of tea (I know that admittedly it wasn’t my favourite), again, I’m doing this blog as a suggestion from someone else...so I’m going to try to be as impartial as possible.

I mean, if the show could have Robert Carradine (brother of Keith and David) playing Lizzie’s father, then that alone has to count for a little bit, right?

(Yeah...I’m stretching here.)


The cast was also rounded out by Hallie Todd (who played Lizzie’s mother), Jake Thomas (who played Lizzie’s annoying brother, Matt), Lalaine (who played Lizzie’s best friend, Miranda), and Adam Lamberg (who played Lizzie’s other best friend, Gordo).

TRIVIA:  The show also featured recurring actors Kyle Downes (as Larry Tudgeman), Clayton Snyder (as Ethan Craft), Ashlie Brillault (as Kate Sanders), Carly Schroeder (as Melina Blanco), and Hilary’s older sister, Haylie Duff (as Amy Sanders).

The show’s pilot was filmed almost a whole year before it initially aired, in March 2000.  At the time, Duff was only twelve.  When the series was picked up for a full season, production began in September 2000, and the final episode was wrapped up in June 2002 (though the series continued to air into 2004).  And, the show was rather unique in a sense, as to how it was presented.


It certainly wasn’t the first television series to combine live-action scenes with animation.  The technique was previously used in the 1989-1995 American series “McGee and Me”, and the 1997-1999 Canadian series “Student Bodies”.  But the way that the show utilized it was quite interesting, because animated Lizzie (also voiced by Hilary Duff) was meant to serve as the “What is Lizzie really thinking?” moments.  And, believe me, if you’ve ever sat through an episode of Lizzie McGuire, you know she has at least three or four of these moments each episode.  At LEAST.  Here’s an example of what I am talking about below.


I know.  Looking back on it now, it’s incredibly cheesy.  Back in 2001, it was kind of innovative and different (though still cringe-worthy).  I keep telling myself that I was not the target demographic.  In 2001, I was twenty, and this show was marketed towards preteens and teens.

TRIVIA:  According to series producer Stan Rogow, the overall look of the series was meant to be designed after the 1998 film “Run Lola Run”.  I’ve seen the film, and I suppose that there are minute similarities between the two.

As far as the plot for Lizzie McGuire goes...well, unfortunately that’s where the series seems to suffer a bit.  It’s really no different from other shows that were about life at school.  It almost seemed to me like a watered down version of “Saved By The Bell” or “California Dreams”.  It was basically Lizzie, Miranda, and Gordo struggling to make it through junior high school and dealing with various problems such as tests, finding dates for a dance, dealing with homework, trying to get along with bratty siblings, and finding first love.  Nothing really groundbreaking here, but keep in mind, it was a Disney Channel program.

That said, I will give a couple of compliments about the program.

Firstly, I will say that the show’s use of incidental music was quite good.  In the few clips that I watched online to prepare this blog, they use quite a lot of popular songs from the 1980s and 1990s as background music for montage scenes.  And, secondly, the show also seemed to poke fun at movies from the past as well.  There was one episode in which they paired Lizzie, Kate Sanders, and Larry Tudgeman together after all three of them received detention for starting a food fight in the cafeteria.  It was an obvious knockoff of “The Breakfast Club”, which was released in 1985 (a year in which admittedly most fans of Lizzie McGuire never actually saw)...but for us twenty and thirtysomethings and parents who were alive in the 1980s, it was a nice throwback to a memory of the past.  The episode even ended with the Simple Minds song “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”, which was a really nice touch!

See?  I was positive!

All right, so maybe “Lizzie McGuire” wasn’t my type of program.  It entertained millions of children in the three years it was on the air, and it was nominated for a slew of awards, including a couple of Emmy Awards in 2003 and 2004.


And, the show was successful enough that there were actual plans made to keep the series going on primetime television on ABC, when Lizzie, Gordo, and Miranda were going to begin high school.  But, the deal fell through at the last minute when representatives for Hilary Duff were unable to reach a deal with the production company.  Another spin-off of Lizzie McGuire was planned in 2006, which would have focused around Miranda’s little sister (who would have been played by Selena Gomez), but it too was dropped.

So, that’s our look back at Lizzie McGuire.  And, in the years since, Hilary Duff has gotten married to hockey player Mike Comrie and became the mother of a son in March 2012.  She’s also launched a successful clothing line and perfume, wrote several books, and recently appeared on an episode of “Raising Hope” in February 2013, sparking rumours of Duff reviving the acting career she put on hold in recent years.  Time will tell, I suppose.

You see?  I made this piece mostly positive!  No “playing with fire” on this blog!