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Thursday, August 22, 2013

Going Viral and "Loving" It!

This past week in “A Pop Culture Addict's Guide To Life” has been a rather weird one...but in a very good way. I'm going to explain why this has been the case in today's Thursday Diary entry.

August 22, 2013

You know, I've only been a fairly new member of the blogging community. I've only kept a blog going for two years plus a few months. There are some blogs that have been started after mine, but millions more that began before I even started off “A Pop Culture Addict's Guide To Life”.

And of course, the goal for any blogger (or published author, which is what I really hope to become one day) is to have one of their pieces make such an impact that people share it with their friends.

Have you ever heard of the phrase “going viral” before? It's when a picture, blog post, or video is shared with friends, who share it with their friends, who in turn post them on friends of friends' personal profiles, and before you know it, fifty thousand people have viewed it within a twenty-four hour time period. It's a phenomenon that almost every blogger wants. After all, there's no better way of knowing how successful you are than watching people read your stuff, right?

So, why am I talking about this today? Well, although one of my posts is nowhere near reaching fifty thousand people in a given day, I will state that this past week, one of my blog posts recently went viral!

What makes this situation even more bizarre is that it was the one blog post that I never expected to go viral in the first place! It was on a topic that I thought was so obscure that I didn't think that people would even remotely remember it, and yet, as of August 22, 2013, it is my most viewed entry, and the page views are still climbing on this particular subject! Just have a look at this chart that I took a screenshot of!



Now prior to August 15 (which was when the surge of activity began to skyrocket), I was averaging a total of 350 page views each day. It's a fairly good number, but I was secretly hoping for more. We reach August 15, and the page views increase to five times that amount! I actually did a double take, thinking that there was a mistake in the coding of the site, but the graph doesn't lie!

So, which blog topic caused this spike in activity recently? Surely it had to be something that was quite big. Was it a Monday Matinee? Was it a personal story? Were people so gripped by Diana Ross and the Supremes that they had to know more about them?

Well, as it turns out, it was a blog entry on a soap opera that was cancelled eighteen years ago! I know, right? It seems like the most random blog topic ever to go viral!



It wasn't even a recent blog entry! I wrote it all the way back in October 2012 as part of a special Halloween themed month. I cherry-picked spooky and scary topics to feature all that month, and I figured that doing a special feature on the soap opera “Loving” certainly fit.

If you want to read the post that went viral, you're more than welcome to click HERE, but the reason why I decided to do a blog on a long-forgotten soap opera was because it fit the Halloween theme. It was a show that certainly went out with a bang as the show's final storyline featured the police department trying to catch a serial killer who was killing off characters left and right. It was certainly a gripping storyline, and from what I have heard, the ratings for “Loving”'s final storyline were quite good.



The victims of the Corinth Serial Killer were all tied to the blue-blooded Alden family, and when the killer was unmasked as Gwyneth Alden - the matriarch of the family – it was revealed that she did it to take away the pain caused by Alden heiress Trisha Alden, who was kidnapped in an amnesiac state and developed a case of Stockholm Syndrome with her kidnapper and decided not to return to Corinth. This caused Gwyneth to lose her mind, kill six people (including her own son and husband), and when she was exposed, she committed suicide.

Thus ended the soap opera “Loving”, which became “The City”, which became cancelled in 1997.

Now, it was a decent topic to write a Halloween themed entry on (the killer was unmasked right around Halloween 1995, so it fit), and it certainly did get some people talking about it for a bit...but it was also a show that I felt that nobody would remember. After all, eighteen years has passed since the final episode aired. Who would have remembered it?

So imagine my surprise when the entry that I did on “Loving” started to increase in popularity right around the middle of August 2013 – a full ten months after I wrote the initial blog entry.

And I was very clueless as to why this was the case.

And so, my investigation began. And what I eventually discovered made a whole lot of sense!

In the control panel of my own blog (which none of you can really see except me), I have a lot of neat little features that I can use to check my blog post views, the nationality of all my followers (United States is #1 followed closely by Canada and the United Kingdom), and I can even check and see where most of my traffic sources are coming from.

Needless to say, I checked out where the traffic was coming from first.

Of course, most of the listings were fairly self explanatory. You can find my blog listings on Google, so that would automatically be number one. I post links to my blog on both Google+ and Facebook, so those listings would automatically show as well. I even get the odd link to Yahoo and Bing popping up under there.

But then I saw a link to somewhere that I had never heard of before. If you click on this link HERE, you can visit it. And it is here where the mystery begins to unfold.



As you can see by clicking on the blog link, it is a blog dedicated to another soap opera that is currently celebrating its fiftieth anniversary on ABC. As it so happens, “General Hospital” is the only soap opera still airing on ABC following “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” shifting their focus to an online audience. For those of you who watch “General Hospital”, you know that the show is all about doctors and nurses, and Luke and Laura.

Nice. But what does “General Hospital” have to do with “Loving”? I'm getting to that point.

I'll be the first one to admit that I never watched one episode of “General Hospital”. So I thought that I would take the opportunity to read through this person's blog on General Hospital to get caught up. After all, they were kind enough to link my blog to theirs, so I thought I'd share the blogger love and link their blog to mine! Consider it sharing amongst blogger buds! So, reading the blog on “General Hospital”, one key point should be highlighted.

Apparently there's a storyline going on featuring the characters of Holly Scorpio and Luke Spencer. They're involved in a mystery where they're trying to find out what happened to the missing and presumed dead Robin Scorpio, and their destination takes them to a small town in Pennsylvania called Corinth.

Hmmm...Corinth. Where have we heard that name before? It wouldn't be the setting for the soap opera “Loving”, would it? Why, yes! I believe it is!

The plot thickens.

Clue number two comes from this episode of “General Hospital”, which you can click on HERE if you want. Just focus on the scenes that feature Holly and Luke. They're the only ones that matter.

So we have some juicy information. Both Luke and Holly talk about Gwyneth Alden and how she snapped and killed off her entire family. The setting of where they are kind of looks like the mansion that the Alden family once called home two decades earlier. And to add to the fun of the storyline, there are pictures and family snapshots of the Alden family randomly scattered around the abandoned house. What this exactly has to do with advancing the plot on “General Hospital”, I'm not sure. Whatever the case, it's become clear that the writers of the soap certainly didn't insert this scene randomly. It will fit in somehow to future storylines, I'm certain of it.

But check out the date that this episode aired. August 15, 2013. And, what a coincidence. That's exactly the date in which the “Loving” blog post went viral! And, according to the “General Hospital” blog, the post in which their blog linked to mine was written on...drumroll please...August 15, 2013!

So now the answers have been made clear. The reason why my blog on “Loving” went viral was because another soap opera began to reference the soap opera into their own storyline. The storyline prompted other bloggers who write about “General Hospital” to find out everything they could about the “Loving Murders”, and as it so happens, they felt that they must have liked something about my blog enough to link to it.

It's been a week since the “Loving” blog post went viral, and I just noticed that I am now getting traffic from the Soap Central message boards as someone posted the link to the blog on that forum, which is fantastic as far as I am concerned. In fact, I actually owe everyone who has shared my blog a huge thank you! Up until now, I thought that doing a blog was kind of a personal thing...something that I thought was only to give myself the false satisfaction that if I even had a few people reading my stuff, it was okay. But now that I see so many people looking at and sharing my work with others...it gives me a renewed hope that this career path that I want for myself as a writer could possibly happen.

And perhaps what is even more exciting is the fact that the people who have clicked on the “Loving” post are not only reading that post. I've noticed that a lot of my blog posts from October 2012 have gotten an insane amount of page views this past week...which tells me that the people who are reading the “Loving” blog are interested in other things that I have written. It's a wonderful feeling.

So that's the story of how one of my blog posts went viral. It could very well be the only one that ever does, and I may not have a situation like that happen ever again (unless the cast of the Young and the Restless does a Macarena party or something). But for now, I'm “loving” it!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Those 70s Fashions - Riverdale Style

I was almost ready to give up on the All-Request Wednesday because the request well had been dried up for some time, and no new requests were coming in. I was at a loss as to what I would be talking about in this blog entry.

But then I had a request from someone who had already submitted a request to me a few months earlier, and I thought to myself...why not? After all, I encourage all of my readers to send in their ideas...and if a person is a huge fan of my work, why wouldn't I take their ideas into consideration?

So once again, I want to thank Cullen P. from Virginia for this great suggestion.

Now here's the tricky part. Cullen's request was all about fashion trends of the 1970s. And certainly there is a lot to talk about. After all the 1970s were the era of mood rings, feathered hair, and of course, this iconic poster from the heyday of the era.



I'm certain that poster hung on the walls of many teenage boys at the time.

The only problem is that I wasn't around to see the fashion trends of the 1970s. I missed that decade completely! Oh, sure, there were still some traces of seventies era fashion still kicking around by the time I was born in 1981, but not much. So, it would be kind of difficult for me to do a blog entry on fashions from a decade that I could only experience through the history books.

I knew that if I were to do a blog entry on seventies fashions, I would have to consult an encyclopedia of sorts. I would have to find ways to talk about the fashion trends of the era while showing some visual aids for good measure. I would have to give my opinion on fashion trends from four decades ago when I've only lived through three decades.

But fear not. I had a plan. And, all it took was going through my collection of comic books for the inspiration.



That's right. Who better to showcase the fashion trends of the 1970s than Archie and his pals and gals? After all, the 1970s were a brilliant decade for the company. With no less than twenty different titles in print, and with Archie celebrating its thirtieth anniversary in 1971, the Archie world was never any hotter than it was during the decade of the pet rock and energy crisis.

Artist Dan DeCarlo was the premier Archie artist of the 1970s, and some of his covers from the 1970s remain his best work. A huge part of that success came from the fact that he was always paying attention to the latest fads and trends that were in vogue at the time, and drew the latest fashions on Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Reggie.

Jughead...well, he had his own distinct style.

For this blog entry, I'll be posting an Archie comic cover from my own personal collection – specifically covers released between January 1970 and December 1979 – and underneath it, I'll point out the fad that is being shown, why it was a popular choice, and what my own personal feelings are (would I wear it, how I think it would look on others, etc.)

Okay, so let's have a look at cover number one – as well as fad number one.



You know, I've completely forgotten how jerky Reggie can be. He certainly was in this Archie's Pals N Gals cover from 1979. However, this cover demonstrates the very first fashion fad of the 1970s. Roller skating! And I'm not talking about the roller blades or heelies that the kids of today are used to. I'm talking about those old-fashioned skates with the four clunky wheels that one reportedly used a key on (maybe some of you who actually experienced the 1970s can tell me the significance behind the keys). As the 1970s came to a close, roller discotheques became extremely popular – well, at least until people decided that disco sucked and destroyed their disco records.

Now would I try roller skating? Only if someone was able to hold me up. My equilibrium on roller skates would be similar to one who guzzled down twelve shots of tequila. It's not a pretty sight.

Okay, fad number two is a “blink and you'll miss it” one. Keep a close eye on Jughead on the right hand side of this “Archie's Joke Book” cover from 1978.



Did you notice the smiley face button on Jughead's clothes? Yep, smile buttons were all the rage in the 1970s...which was kind of ironic given the fact that the period known as the 1970s was among some of the most bleakest with presidential scandals, the fear of running out of gasoline, and the shell-shock of the Vietnam War still fresh on people's minds. At least by the end of the decade, people were beginning to find reasons to smile again, and the yellow happy face button became a little bit of a fad during this time.

Okay, next fad.



Now Archie and Mr. Weatherbee certainly had fashion sense, didn't they? Personalized T-shirts were in style back in the days of the 1970s. I have heard that the 1970s were one of the most creative decades of the 20th century, and certainly with a personalized T-shirt, you could express yourself however you wanted. Since buying a T-shirt with writing on it was somewhat rare back in the 1970s (unless you bought one of those vintage concert tees), many people sewed the letters on themselves, or had someone else stitch the letters on instead.



Again, I have to say that Reggie can be a jerk even when he isn't provoked. Sheesh. But this cover does demonstrate another 1970s fad. Well, the early 1970s anyway. Yes, tie-dyed clothing was all the rage, as Archie and Betty are demonstrating below. And as Archie happily pointed out, tie-dying was a lot of fun because you could never make the same exact pattern twice. You could tie dye several hundred pairs of jeans, and have no exact matches. It certainly was a mainstay from the swinging sixties, but people really seemed to enjoy this trend well into the 1970s. Even in 2013, you still see the odd person wearing a tie-dyed garment. Shirts, pants, shorts...even socks and underwear if you believe it! And while I will be the first one to admit that I have never worn tie-dyed underwear, I have worn tie-dyed shirts before. I even had the opportunity to make my own tie-dyed shirt when I was a kid...but I tossed it when it wore out.



Now this cover certainly showcases the next fashion trend of the 1970s...and it also shows that Veronica can be just as snooty as Reggie. But don't let the lack of laughs on this “Laugh” cover fool you. Rather, I want you to take a look at the bottoms that both Betty and Reggie are wearing. You notice how they flare down like a bell? Bell-bottomed pants and jeans were all the rage in the 1970s, and according to some people, the more your pants flared out, the better they were. On a personal note, I have never worn a pair of bell-bottoms, and I don't think that I would particularly like them just because I would feel as though every time I walked down a street I would feel like I was sweeping it! But I'm sure many of you will counter my point by telling me that bell-bottoms were comfortable. Some of you may still wear them today, and that's cool. They're just not for me.



I just posted this cover because I'm honestly not sure if Bermuda shorts were all the rage in the 1970s. The 1950s and 1960s, yes. But this post isn't really about the shorts. It's really about the pattern and colour. Reggie's blinding Bermudas could also be found on sweaters, vests, leisure suits (another popular trend of the 1970s), and trousers. For some reason, plaid was the new black when it came to trends in 1970s fashion. And, actually come to think of it, plaid was all the rage in the 1990s as the grunge movement really came into its own. And in the 2010s, I definitely think that plaid is making a comeback, as I'll readily admit to owning a pair of shorts almost similar to the ones that Reggie is wearing in this very cover!

And speaking of patterns, they weren't just limited to men's clothing. Check out this Betty and Me cover from 1971!



Again, this is just another example of wild prints becoming fashionable in the 1970s – paisley being another one – and how Betty's trousers weirdly match the rest of her ensemble.



Now this cover of Archie's Joke Book features quite a lot of fashion trends all rolled into one cover as we peer in on Archie and his pals at a disco party. And on a lighter note, it's nice to see Archie deliver a put down to Reggie once in a while.

Some of the fashion trends in this cover are ones we have already talked about (such as the lime green bell-bottomed pants that Betty is wearing in the background). But we're also seeing a couple of new fashion trends. Get a look at Reggie and Veronica dancing along to the music. You notice the shoes that both of them are wearing? Those shoes are known as platform shoes, and they made a brief comeback in the mid-1990s when the Spice Girls made them popular once again.

On a personal note, I am not really a fan of platform shoes. For one, they may have been the height of fashion back in the 1970s, but I just find them to be some of the ugliest looking shoes of all time. Not as ugly as Crocs, mind you, but ugly enough. And the second thing that I would hate about platform shoes is that with my general lack of balance, I would NEVER be able to walk in them. I would trip over my own feet and end up crashing into a bush.

Oh, and while we're on this cover, check out how short Veronica's skirt is! Miniskirts started becoming fashionable in the 1960s, but it wasn't until the 1970s that the fad really took off. For many men, the shorter the skirt, the more they drooled. And, yeah, I'll be the first to admit that had I been a teenager in the 1970s, I likely would have done the same. I'm human, right?



This Betty and Veronica cover also showcases how women's fashions of the 1970s became skimpier and briefer. Those bikinis that Betty and Veronica are wearing certainly don't leave much to the imagination, do they? Bikinis have been around since 1949, but when we first saw them introduced, they certainly didn't look like that! Now, on a purely scientific form, I would guess that bikinis became smaller because less fabric meant more agility when it came to swimming. After all, the less fabric a person is wearing, the less it slows you down...which is why we very rarely ever see someone swimming fully-clothed. Of course, just looking at how the bikinis were styled back then, I would hope that the gals tied the knots tightly!

Of course, this also meant that men's bathing suits also seemed to get skimpier over the years, resulting in the Speedo becoming popular during this time period. And, just for the record, you will never see me wearing a Speedo. Ever.

Another interesting thing to note about the cover is the flower that Veronica is wearing. I don't know whether that was strictly a 1970s thing, but it just seems to have that 1970s vibe about it. I don't know exactly.



This next cover is nice and pleasant with the gang dancing at a ski lodge party and OH MY GOD, REGGIE SHAVED HOT DOG AND MADE A VEST OUT OF HIM!

Well, not really. Reggie's just demonstrating the trend of fur being a real fashion statement during the 1970s, as he shows us in this cover. I honestly don't know what to say about this trend. I suppose if it were fake fur, I would find a way to rock the fur vest. If it were real fur, I don't think I could do it. I suppose you could call me pro-fake fur, and anti-real fur. If that makes any sense.



And finally, here's an “Everything's Archie” cover from the late 1970s, showcasing another seventies fad. I don't know what exactly triggered the western chic trend, but it seemed as though as we closed out the 1970s, people began to don cowboy hats, cowboy boots and western style kerchiefs out on the streets. I suppose that's where the term “urban cowboy” came into play. Mind you, this fashion trend lasted all the way into the early 1980s, but it sometimes makes a reappearance ever so often. And certainly for some celebrities like Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, and Miranda Lambert, the country-western look never really goes out of style!

As for me? I could wear the plaid shirts. I could rock a belt buckle the size of a baseball. I might even be persuaded to wear a ten-gallon hat. But my feet are WAY too big to squeeze into a cowboy boot. I would have to have them custom made, and who has the money to do that?


And that ends our look back on 1970s fashion as demonstrated by the Archie gang. I do hope that this entry was as creative as it was informative. I'll leave you now with one final cover.


Tuesday, August 20, 2013

August 20, 2007

I really thought long and hard about today's Tuesday Timeline entry for today. When I was looking over the events and happenings of August 20, there was one subject that I really wanted to talk about. In fact, I guess you could say that the subject immediately stood out as one that I really wanted to speak about.

However, I was initially very conflicted about the subject matter.

As you well know by some of my previous posts in this blog, I am a huge advocate of stopping bullying. As a person who went through it, I am not one who has any sympathy for anyone who belittles, degrades, or humiliates people just because they see it as a fun distraction for their own lives. I've even started up a Facebook group devoted to stopping bullying in schools and workplaces entitled the “Gallery of Healing”. I know what it was like and it was not a fun experience.

Well, I'm going to offer you a bit of a warning. Today's Tuesday Timeline happens to feature a person who many would consider to be a bully. She was a right nasty piece of work who allegedly terrorized her own employees and went for the jugular of anyone who ever dared cross her path.

Now, you might be wondering why I would choose to spotlight someone like that when I have such a strong dislike of all bullies. Well, I'll be completely honest with all of you as I type this. I always have been a huge believer in karma. I believe that if you do good things, you will be bestowed positive karma that will serve you well in life. And if you do things that are very, very bad – well, you better put up your dukes, because bad karma will surely come your way.

In today's Tuesday Timeline, we're going to explore the life of this person as well as some of the things that helped make them famous – or infamous – as someone who was intensely mean towards those who were “beneath them”. But what is interesting is that for all of their bravado towards the world – they also experienced quite a bit of heartbreak along the way. And one might wonder if maybe that heartbreak contributed to the hardening of their personality and heart.

But we'll get to that a little later. For now, we have other business to attend to.

If you were born today, you are quite lucky, as you share a birthday with the following famous faces. Happy birthday to you and Don King, Ron Paul, Connie Chung, Robert Plant, Patrick Kilpatrick, Al Roker, Joan Allen, James Marsters, Sophie Aldred, KRS-One, David Rees Snell, Colin Cunningham, Billy Gardell, Fred Durst, Amy Adams, Misha Collins, Andrew Garfield, Brant Daugherty, Daniele Donato, and Demi Lovato.

And, here are the events throughout history on this, the twentieth day of August.

14 A.D. - Agrippa Postumus, adoptive son of late Roman Emperor Augustus, is executed by his guards while in exile under peculiar circumstances

1775 – The Spanish establish the Presidio San Augustin de Tucson in the area that would eventually come to become the city of Tucson, Arizona

1858 – Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection

1866 – American President Andrew Johnson declares the American Civil War is over

1914 – German forces occupy Brussels, Belgium as the first World War proceeds

1920 – Detroit, Michigan becomes home to the very first commercial radio station entitled 8MK (now WWJ Radio)

1923 – Country singer Jim Reeves is born in Galloway, Texas

1938 – Baseball player Lou Gehrig hits his record breaking 23rd Grand Slam

1940 – On the same day that Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, Leon Trotsky is attacked by an axe-wielding man in Mexico City, succumbing to his injuries the following day

1942 – Singer, songwriter, and actor Isaac Hayes is born in Covington, Tennessee

1960 – Senegal declares its independence from the Mali Federation

1988 – The Yellowstone National Park fires blaze on; August 20, 1988 is declared “Black Saturday”, with over 150,000 acres of trees being consumed by the flames

1989 – Following a collision, pleasure boat Marchioness sinks into the River Thames, killing fifty-one people

1991 – More than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building in protest of the coup aiming to depose Mikhail Gorbachev

1998 – The U.S.A. launches a missile attack against alleged al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a chemical plant in Sudan following the bombing of two American embassies nearly two weeks earlier

2002 – A group of Iraqis who are opposed to Saddam Hussein's regime stage a takeover of the Iraqi embassy in Berlin for a little over five hours

2012 – Actress and comedienne Phyllis Diller passes away at the age of 95

So, you can see that August 20 was a fairly busy day in a historical sense.

So, which date am I going to feature in today's blog entry? Well, it's actually a date that is fairly recent.



August 20, 2007.

I don't think that I've featured the year 2007 in this blog before. Partly because the year 2007 wasn't exactly a great year for me on a personal standpoint. I've certainly had worse years than 2007, but it wasn't really one of my best years either.

Of course, for our blog subject for this week, 2007 was not a great year for her either. It was the year she died!

Yes, on August 20, 2007, our blog subject breathed her final breath at the age of 87. The cause of death? Congestive heart failure. Some might call that incredibly ironic, given that she allegedly spent her entire life treating other people miserably and was frequently named in the press as “The Queen of Mean”.



This is the story of Leona Helmsley, who passed away exactly six years ago today.

Now, some of you might not know the name, so for those of you who don't, here's a brief biographical sketch of her.

She was born as Lena Mindy Rosenthal on July 4, 1920 in the small town of Marbletown, New York to Polish-Jewish immigrants. And as a child, she had a rather interesting upbringing, moving at least six times to various neighbourhoods before settling in Manhattan, New York City by the time she was a young woman.

I can only imagine what that must have been like, trying to get settled into a new place, only to have to move again once you were. In fact, I can say that I was one of those kids, moving to at least five different homes before I was five years old. It was difficult for me to establish long-term friendships with people as a result, and I imagine that for little Lena, it was the same story, different time period.

Lena Rosenthal dropped out of high school before graduating, as she felt that it was necessary for her to achieve fame and fortune.

PSA:  Stay in school, kids!  Get that degree.

Something else changed when Lena Rosenthal dropped out of school.  Her name.  She eventually settled on the name Leona Roberts after trying out the names "Lee Roberts", "Mindy Roberts", and "Lani Roberts".

And Leona Roberts had a bit of a struggle finding love as well.  Her first marriage to Leo Panzirer ended in divorce (though the union did produce Leona's only child, Jay, born in 1940).  Her second marriage to Joseph Lubin also ended in divorce, and after the breakdown of her second marriage, Leona worked at a sewing factory before joining the staff of a real estate firm in New York.  The one thing that I will say about Leona is that she worked exceptionally hard to make her way up within the company, and that work ethic helped her secure the vice-presidency of the very company she worked for.



In 1968, Leona became acquainted with a man named Harry Helmsley while Leona was working as a condominium broker, and joined his own firm two years later in 1970.  Soon after, Leona became involved in the first of many scandals that seemed to pop up in her life.  In late 1971, several people sued Leona for forcing the tenants of one of the apartment buildings she managed to purchase condominiums in an effort to increase her own personal net worth.  Leona ended up losing the case, and as part of her sentence, she had to compensate and give the tenants involved in the lawsuit a three-year-lease, and her real estate license was suspended.  In the end, it meant little to Leona.  She married Harry Helmsley in the spring of 1972 (which made her Leona Helmsley), and focused her energies on helping to grow her husband's booming hotel empire.



Over the next seventeen years, the Helmsleys built a billion dollar empire, with some prime real estate under their control.  Amongst some of their real estate success stories were the Helmsley Palace on Madison Avenue, the Park Lane Hotel, the New York Helmsley Hotel, the Helmsley Palace Hotel, and believe it or not at one time their real estate portfolio included the Empire State Building!  By 1989, it was estimated that Leona Helmsley directly controlled almost two dozen hotels!

But while the Helmsley's personal fortune and net worth continued to grow, Leona Helmsley began showing her true colours...and they weren't pretty.

It's hard to say when Leona turned into the "Queen of Mean", but I would hazard a guess that it may have been triggered by the death of her son Jay in March 1982.  Jay's wife, Mimi, was left a widow with four children to raise.  And how did Leona support her?  She served her an EVICTION NOTICE!  Yes, Mimi happened to live in a building that Leona owned, and just days after Jay's funeral, Mimi was thrown out!  To add insult to injury, Leona sued her son's estate for money and property that she claimed he borrowed from her before his death, and was awarded almost $150,000!  The end result left Mimi nearly penniless, and without answers as to why Leona would do such a thing, especially since she and her husband had a net worth estimated to be one billion dollars at the time.

Now you understand why she was called the "Queen of Mean"?

There are other horror stories as well detailing Leona's treatment of other people within her hotel chains.  It had become common knowledge that Leona was a tough cookie whom you did not want to cross, but few really knew exactly how mean she was.  Here are a few alleged examples of what I mean.

- When Leona Helmsley went to breakfast with lawyer Alan Dershowitz, Dershowitz claimed that Helmsley humiliated a poor waiter who worked at one of the hotels she owned.  He served a cup of tea with a little bit of water spilled on the saucer, and this infuriated Helmsley so much that she grabbed the cup, smashed it on the floor and demanded the waiter get down on his knees and beg for his job!
- Leona had commissioned somebody to install a barbecue pit for her home, but flipped out when she saw that the final bill was over thirteen thousand dollars.  She refused to pay the bill claiming that the work was subpar.  What was worse, the contractor had a family of six to support, which gained him no sympathy from Helmsley, who thought that he should have "kept his pants on" if he wanted money so badly!
- And perhaps one of the most shocking comments that was allegedly uttered by Helmsley was in 1983 when Elizabeth Baum - a former housekeeper at the Helmsley home - made the remark that the Helmsleys must pay a lot of taxes.  To which Leona quipped the following.

"We don't pay taxes.  Only the little people pay taxes."

Funny thing is that it is this statement that caused Leona Helmsley to swallow a dose of nasty, bitter tasting karmic retribution.



The floor came crashing down in 1983, when the Helmsleys purchased Dunnellen Hall to use as a weekend retreat.  The cost of the property was a steal at eleven million dollars, but the Helmsleys wanted to make the property value soar by remodelling the 21-room mansion.  They put Jeremiah McCarthy in charge of the operation, and initially things started off well.  But then McCarthy claimed that Leona repeatedly demanded that he sign illegal invoices designed to illegally bill purchases to the estate.  When McCarthy refused to do this, it ticked Leona off big time.

By the time the renovations were completed, the Helmsleys were disgusted to realize that the total bill came to eight million dollars, and initially refused to pay.  The Helmsleys did pay off most of the money after the contractors went to court, and the contractors made the claim that Leona Helmsley and her husband were billing their work as business expenses for the Helmsley hotel empire.  These expenses included a mahogany card table, a clock crafted with silver, and a dance floor that reportedly cost a million dollars!



The contractors were understandably furious with Helmsley, and they sent out documentation to the New York Post, supporting their claims, which prompted United States Attorney Rudolph Giuliani to indict the Helmsleys on extortion charges in 1988.

The trial commenced in 1989 after a few months passed, due to the fact that Harry Helmsley had suffered a stroke during this time and was declared unfit to stand trial.  Therefore, "The Queen of Mean" had to face her accusers alone.

And at the trial, all of the "Queen of Mean"'s dirty knickers were exposed for all to see.

Several former staffers testified that she had a tyrannical personality and she used it to her advantage.  She often belittled her staff, and she fired people for disagreeing with her and the way she ran things.  Many of the staffers talked about how much they feared her and the horror stories that unfolded while working for her.  Mind you, Leona Helmsley did herself no favours by alienating the jury, who were appalled by her hostile personality and arrogance.

On August 30, 1989, Helmsley was found guilty of several charges, which included...

- One count of conspiracy to defraud the United States
- Three counts of tax evasion
- Three counts of filing false personal tax returns
- Ten counts of mail fraud
- Sixteen counts of assisting in the filing of false corporate and partnership tax returns

Leona Helmsley met karma that day...and my oh my what a bitch karma was to her.  

Luckily for Helmsley, karma's bitch-slap wasn't as powerful as she feared.  She was acquitted of the major charge of extortion, which could have seen her thrown in jail without any chance of getting out.  But the sentence she was given was severe.  If she had served out her full sentence, she would have been in jail until the year 2005.  Instead, she appealed the sentence, and it was greatly reduced.  

Ironically enough, Leona Helmsley was ordered to report to prison on April 15, 1992 - the American tax day.  She remained in custody at a federal prison for the next eighteen months.  By 1994, she was by all accounts a free woman.

But was she really free?  

Since Leona Helmsley's release from prison, she spent the remainder of her life in complete isolation.  Her beloved husband died in 1997, making her a widow, and although she was left her husband's entire fortune which was worth five billion dollars, she ended up losing an entire fortune herself.  Because she was a convicted felon, she was forced to give up the majority of her hotel empire because it was illegal for felons to obtain a liquor license (most of Helmsley's hotels had bars within them).  



She died on August 20, 2007 without anybody but her beloved dog, Trouble, beside her.

Of course, some might say that she got exactly what she deserved.  Even in the months after her death, many people still felt that she was demonstrating her "Queen of Mean" persona from beyond the grave.  Her will reading in particular was especially shocking - especially the part about her awarding a twelve million dollar trust fund to her dog, Trouble, but completely snubbing two of her four grandchildren, leaving them with absolutely nothing.

I mean, really...who leaves two grandchildren money and ignores the other two?  Come on.  And even the other two grandchildren who did receive a five million dollar trust fund found that it was conditional.  They had to visit their father's grave at least once a year, and sign a registration book proving that they did!  Unbelievable.  Is it any wonder why the Hemlsley grandchildren were reportedly estranged from Leona?

Although, it was later determined that when Leona made her will, she was mentally unfit to make such huge decisions given everything that had happened, and in 2008, a court reversed Leona's will, making the divvying up of her assets a little fairer.

But still, to see someone go from being a bully to her staffers making everyone's life miserable to becoming a woman so broken and empty that she died alone...that's gotta make one think, doesn't it?

And I should also state that in her later years, it appeared that Leona Helmsley was trying her best to rebuild the tattered reputation she ended up with.  After the September 11, 2001 attacks, she reportedly donated five million dollars of her own fortune to the families of firefighters that were killed in the World Trade Center collapse, and she even contributed twenty five million dollars to the New York Presbyterian Hospital to aid in medical research.

Perhaps there is a lesson to learn in Leona Helmsley's life and death.  There is no glamour in being a bully.  And being a bully in this life might take you so far.  But as Leona Helmsley learned the hard way...sometimes when you take the unscrupulous climb to the top...it only makes the impact after the fall so much more painful when your grip inevitably loosens.

And that's what happened on August 20, 2007.





Monday, August 19, 2013

Murder on the Orient Express

I just want to talk about my love for mysteries. In particular, the mysteries that usually end up with somebody dying at the very end.

I think I got bit by the mystery bug at a really young age. If I remember correctly, it started with a book that I had my mother order for me through the Scholastic Book Clubs that we used to have in elementary school. Here's the thing though...for the life of me, I can't even remember what the book title is, but I can tell you that it was one of my all-time favourite books. There were ten mysteries that you had to solve just by reading the stories and examining the illustrations for clues. Now, keep in mind that because the book was geared towards an elementary school audience, the crimes were more like petty larcenies (for example, one case had you trying to figure out which seventh grader cheated on a test, while another case had you trying to discover who destroyed a shop window), but as a kid, I was so fascinated with trying to piece together all of the puzzles. In fact, it almost inspired a possible career choice as a private investigator...

...until I deduced that my absolutely dislike of the sight of blood would forever crush that dream.

Oh well...I still love the idea of a good murder mystery. I love watching mystery movies, I enjoy playing video games with a murder mystery element to it, and I will be the first one to admit that one of the things that I have added onto my bucket list is to participate in a murder mystery dinner or murder mystery theatre. I just think it would be so fun to be a part of the action, even if I ended up being one of the victims.

I mean, I was watching the television series “Whodunnit” that recently concluded on ABC last night, and I was absolutely glued to the series from the very beginning. The premise of the show was that thirteen ordinary people of different backgrounds came together inside of a luxurious mansion to what they think is a simple cocktail party. But when people start getting killed off one by one, the real game becomes clear. One of the party guests is the murderer, and the other twelve, pawns in his or her game. Using clues left behind by the killer, the surviving guests of the manor must piece together how each person died, and pinpoint who the killer is before they become the next victim themselves. Whoever is the last one standing receives a cash prize of $250,000...and more importantly, the right to stay alive.

DISCLAIMER: Contrary to what some people astonishingly believed, nobody on the show actually ended up dead.

And, you know what? Even though I got the murderer wrong in the end, I still had a great time trying to piece together all of the puzzles.

SPOILER ALERT: From day one, I had my eye on Lindsey. I either suspected that she would win the whole thing, or be exposed as the killer. Imagine my surprise when she was the killer's final victim, shot through the throat by an arrow shooting knight. I did have Cris (the real killer) on my radar for a little bit, but discarded her as being the killer because I thought Lindsey acted more suspicious by playing both sides. But anyway, congratulations to Kam for exposing Cris as the real killer. Spend that money wisely. And, Cris? Congratulations for duping even myself! You really had a ball playing the role of killer, and I for one was impressed. Well done all!

(I certainly hope there's a second season.)

So, why would I talk about murder mysteries? Well, as you might have guessed, today's Monday Matinee will be featuring a film that acts as a two hour long murder mystery. And the reason why I chose this movie is because it happens to be one of the better murder mystery films that I have ever seen. There are so many twists, turns, clues, and red herrings within this film that it keeps you glued to the screen right from the very beginning until the surprise ending.



And we have author Agatha Christie to thank in part for the film being brought to the big screen.

Now, anyone who has heard of Agatha Christie knows that she is the master of detective fiction. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time, and her various works have been ranked by her estate as the third most-widely published books, right behind the works of William Shakespeare and the Bible. Her works have been translated into at least 103 different languages, and some of her best-selling novels include “The A.B.C. Murders”, “Ten Little Indians”, and “A Murder is Announced”, and made household names of Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

(Appropriately enough, Agatha Christie was the subject of a mystery herself when she disappeared for nearly two weeks following a fight between her and her then-husband! But more on that story another time.)

Instead, we're going to be featuring one of Agatha Christie's works, which was adapted into a feature film in 1974.



On New Years' Day, 1934, Agatha Christie published one of her most famous books, “Murder on the Orient Express”, a tale about a murder taking place on a train and investigator Hercule Poirot has to examine every nook and cranny to determine who committed the crime. Not an easy task though, given that everyone on the train was a potential suspect.



Well, director Sidney Lumet felt that it was a classic book that was worthy enough to be made into a movie. And on November 24, 1974, the film adaptation of “Murder on the Orient Express” debuted in theatres, and instantly became a success. In fact, many critics believe that this film was one of the greatest film adaptations of any Agatha Christie novel ever made.

I certainly can see why. The film boasted some immense star power, and had a great story that kept people guessing right up until the end.

(Well...that is unless you read Christie's book prior to watching it.)

TRIVIA: Admittedly Agatha Christie was apprehensive about greenlighting the producers and director the rights to turn her novel into a movie, as she had not been happy with previous films. However she reluctantly agreed, and the final project earned her seal of approval – minus the fact that she disapproved of the way that Albert Finney's moustache was styled when he performed the role of Hercule Poirot.

Sigh...everyone's a critic.



Anyway, the mystery begins on the legendary Orient Express (a train route through Europe that began services in 1883), as Hercule Poirot is on his way back home to England. While on the journey, Poirot reconnects with his friend Monsieur Broc (Martin Balsam), a director of the company which owns the line that the Orient Express travels on. While the Orient Express is usually almost always filled with people, this particular day, every single first-class compartment is booked completely.



As soon as the train departs from Istanbul, Turkey, Poirot is approached by a man named Ratchett (Richard Widmark), who wishes to secure Poirot's help for the price of fifteen grand. You see, Ratchett is not exactly the most popular person in the entire world. In fact, according to Ratchett's claims, several people want to kill him. He is willing to do anything to stay alive, even if it means asking a random stranger on a train to serve as his bodyguard. Poirot, on the other hand, wants no part of it, and flatly turns down his offer.

That night, a sudden snowstorm slows the train to a crawl, and the people inside have no choice but to wait it out. It's only until the next morning arrives that Poirot and the rest of the passengers on the train realize that Ratchett's fears were founded. His body was found in one of the first-class cabins, stabbed twelve times. Some of the wounds were not harmful, but at least a couple were enough to kill the man. It was a very puzzling case indeed.

And this time, Poirot was on the case to figure out who did the deed.

Certainly, everyone who had access to the first-class cabins were instant suspects. There were thirteen in all.

Pierre-Paul Michel (Jean-Pierre Cassel) – French conductor of the sleeping car
Hector McQueen (Anthony Perkins) – Ratchett's secretary/translator
Cyrus B. “Dick” Hardman (Colin Blakely) – a detective in the guise of a travel agent
Antonio “Gino” Foscarelli (Denis Quilley) – an Italian car salesman from Chicago
Edward Henry Beddoes (John Gielgud) – Ratchett's valet
Mary Debenham (Vanessa Redgrave) – a teacher returning home to England
Harriett Belinda Hubbard (Lauren Bacall) – a chatty socialite from America
Colonel Arbuthnott (Sean Connery) – an officer of the British Indian Army
Greta Ohlsson (Ingrid Bergman) – a missionary from Sweden returning from Africa
Count Rudolph Andrenyi (Michael York) – an aristocratic Hungarian diplomat
Countess Elena Andrenyi (Jacqueline Bisset) – The Count's wife
Princess Natalia Dragomiroff (Wendy Hiller) – a member of the Russian Royal Family
Hildegarde Schmidt (Rachel Roberts) – Princess Natalia's maid

Wow...right off the bat we have Anthony Perkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Lauren Bacall, Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, and Jacqueline Bisset in the same movie! No wonder this film was so good, with all the Hollywood influence signed to the picture!

But which one did the deed? Well, I'm certainly not going to tell you. One thing I absolutely HATE is when people spoil the murder mystery for me ahead of time. So the last thing that I will do is reveal who the killer is.

But what I can do is reveal some clues as to what the motive could be.

You see...Ratchett wasn't the man who he claimed to be. Five years earlier, he was going under a different name, and he was involved heavily in criminal activity. His worst sin was kidnapping a young child from a family and demanding a huge ransom from her worried parents. Something went terribly wrong though, and the end result meant that an entire family was completely destroyed and eradicated from existence forever. Ratchett went into hiding, taking on a brand new identity in hopes that his crime would go unpunished.

But fate has a funny way of delivering instant karma, courtesy of a train trying to pass through a blinding snowstorm.

What connection could any of these suspects have in a case that took place five years ago? Well, that's for you to figure out.

Since I'm ending this blog off on a mysterious note, I thought that I would offer up some trivia in regards to the behind the scenes action during the filming of this movie.

1 – Although the actual Orient Express train cars had not been used for some time prior to the filming of this movie, the authentic Orient Express engine was.

2 – The film's premiere was the last public appearance that Agatha Christie would make prior to her death in January 1976.

3 – Ingrid Bergman was initially asked to play the role of Princess Dragomiroff, but she felt that the role of Greta would give her more to work with. Although Greta had far fewer scenes than the Princess did, they were enough to earn Bergman an Academy Award for her performance!

4 – Believe it or not, Albert Finney was just two years shy of forty when he won the role of Hercule Poirot. He had prosthetic make-up applied to make him appear a decade older than he was to fit the part.

5 – Alec Guinness was offered the role of Hercule Poirot, but he had to turn it down as he had another prior engagement.

6 – The cast filmed the final scene of the film in multiple takes, which nearly exhausted poor Albert Finney, who had an eight page monologue at the end of it all!

7 – Richard Widmark admittedly was a little star-struck when he agreed to take on the role of the victim. He did so just so he could have the opportunity to meet the other stars who took part!

8 – Sean Connery was reportedly the first person cast for the movie. According to the director, he felt that if he said yes, others would surely follow.

9 – The backstory of the film (and I hate to give plot details away, but I have no choice here) is loosely based on the Lindbergh kidnapping case of 1932.

10 – I found this to be absolutely bizarre, but according to the Internet Movie Database, Albert Finney was actually picked up at his home each shooting day by ambulance! While Finney still slept, the people inside the ambulance would apply his make-up! Apparently, Finney was working on a stage play at the same time the film was shot and he was complaining about not being able to get enough sleep!

11 – The luxury food that is inspected and carried aboard the train early in the film was actually stolen from the set before the scene was shot! It all had to be repurchased, which must have been a huge strain on the already tight $1.4 million budget!

And finally...


12 – If you want to see the film yourself, click HERE. The entire two hour movie is available for viewing on YouTube (though admittedly, you may want to click on it as soon as possible, as full length movies typically don't last too long there.)

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Venus Was Her Name...

I suppose that you could consider this blog entry one of those “two for the price of one” deals, as today we're featuring songs by two different artists.

But there's a catch. The artists in question will be singing the same song. There is a reason for this. I was trying to decide which version to feature in this space for the Sunday Jukebox, and I simply could not make a decision as I enjoy both versions.

So today, you'll be hearing both. You'll be hearing the original version which was released in 1969, as well as a cover version by a different group seventeen years later.

Of course, we have to have some sort of background info before we launch into the song. And, I do have to warn you...it may come across as a mythology lesson. But trust me. It's of great importance.

So, everyone has heard of at least one of the Roman deities that have been mentioned throughout Greek mythology. Or maybe you've seen works of art in museums painted and sculpted by artists of the Renaissance era that have featured Roman gods and goddesses. Believe it or not, there are at least twenty identified principal gods of Roman religion. Would you like to know what they are? Here's the list.

APOLLO      CERES             DIANA
GENIUS       JANUS              JUNO
JUPITER      LIBER              LUNA
MARS          MERCURY       MINERVA
NEPTUNE   ORCUS             SATURN
SOL             TELLUS           VENUS
VESTA        VULCAN

That's quite a list of names! Some of the names may seem familiar (many are also the names of planets in our solar system), while others you may not have heard of. I'll be the first to admit that I didn't even know there was a god named Vesta.

But we're not going to talk about Vesta. The goddess we're discussing today is the eighteenth one on the list alphabetically (or the last name in the last column).



Venus. The goddess of beauty and love.

Mind you, it's also the name of the second planet in the solar system, a razor blade made especially for women, the name of a pro tennis player, the name of Miss America 1944, a plant that eats flies and possibly other creatures, and according to John Gray, it happens to be the location where all women come from.

How Venus came to be depends on what book you read it from. But in the world of literary mythology, it is said that Venus was born of sea-foam and represents the element of water, which balances out with the fiery tempers of fellow Roman gods Vulcan and Mars. Venus reportedly tempers the male essence, offering the promise of military victory, sexual satisfaction, good fortune, and prosperity.

Sounds like the kind of gal a man wishes they could have, right? I know that I'm currently searching for my own “Venus”, so to speak and make no apologies in admitting this fact.

Anyway, back to the blog.

All you really need to know is that Venus is a gal who really represents love, passion, and beauty. Certainly qualities that suitors definitely look for in a mate (whether you're male or female).

So why wouldn't there be a song written about this goddess?

Well, okay, Frankie Avalon recorded a song entitled “Venus” in 1959 (and if you're interested in hearing that song, you may click HERE). But as talented a man as Frankie Avalon is, we're not going to be featuring his song today.

Instead, let's go back to 1969 and hear the first version of today's song.



ARTIST: Shocking Blue
SONG: Venus
ALBUM: At Home
DATE RELEASED: October 2, 1969
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #1 for 1 week

Now, here's the write-up of the band who introduced us to the classic rock hit “Venus”.

Did you know that the group that sang the song originated in the Netherlands? It's true. The band came together in 1967 in The Hague, and was originally comprised of Robbie van Leeuwen (guitar/sitar), Cor van der Beek (percussion), Klassje van der Wal (bass guitar), and Fred de Wilde (vocals).



It should be noted though that “Venus” was not the band's first single to be released. They had a minor hit in 1968 with the song “Lucy Brown Is Back In Town”, but it wasn't until Mariska Veres took over the lead vocals from de Wilde that the band really began to take off. The band released the single “Venus” in the Netherlands months prior to the American release in October 1969, where it peaked at at modest #3. But little did the band know that the single would become a huge chart-topper worldwide. We already know that the single reached the top of the charts in America when it hit the pole position in February 1970. But did you know that the song also hit #1 in Canada, Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, and Spain as well? It also made the Top 10 in the United Kingdom and Japan.

The original version of the song sold at least seven and a half million copies worldwide since it was released in 1969, and it remains Shocking Blue's one and only chart-topper.

The song certainly has withstood the test of time over the years. The song has been featured in a variety of television shows and feature films from “Grumpier Old Men” to “The Brady Bunch Movie” to “Remember The Titans”.



And, if you skip ahead to the two minute mark in this video, the song was even parodied in a commercial for the V-Chip by a few of the Muppets! I thought it was kind of cute, but that could just only be me.



So, whatever became of “Shocking Blue”? Well, in North America, their popularity quickly fizzled after the release of “Venus”, making them more or less a one-hit-wonder there. But in their native country, they were anything but. The band released over a dozen singles between 1969 and 1974, all of which received heavy airplay on Dutch radio. The band continued making hits until 1974, when Mariska Veres quit the band to embark on a solo career (with her peak popularity lasting between 1975 and 1977). The band did attempt a bit of a comeback five years after Mariska's departure. However, despite the fact that the band recorded the single “Louise” in 1979, it was never released. The band did manage to have a couple of releases in the 1980s as well.

Sadly, Mariska Veres died of cancer at the age of 59 on December 2, 2006.

So, that was the story of Shocking Blue. But it's not quite the end of the story for their hit single “Venus”. For just seventeen years later, the single would chart once more, courtesy of an all-girl group from the United Kingdom. And just like the Shocking Blue version, this group's version also topped the charts.



ARTIST: Bananarama
SONG: Venus
ALBUM: True Confessions
DATE RELEASED: May 30, 1986
PEAK POSITION ON THE BILLBOARD CHARTS: #1 for 1 week



Just like the Shocking Blue version, Bananarama's version also lasted one week at the top of the charts, peaking at #1 on September 6, 1986. Although the trio (made up of Keren Woodward, Sara Dallin, and Siobhan Fahey) were used to performing the song already. They started incorporating the song into their live sets right around the time that they recorded 1983's “Deep Sea Skiving”, and really wanted to record the song as a single as all three girls loved the song and wanted to record it as a Hi-NRG dance single.

The only obstacles in their way were their producers, Steve Jolley and Tony Swain.



The production team had nearly completed the band's third album “True Confessions”, set to be released in July 1986, and when Woodward, Dallin, and Fahey approached them to include their cover version of “Venus” onto their album, they were given a bit fat no by both Jolley and Swain.

And that just wasn't good enough for the group.

Determined to make the single a success, the group approached the production team of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman, the team who would eventually help put Rick Astley, Dead or Alive, and Kylie Minogue on the map. It wasn't initially met with a warm reaction when Bananarama asked Stock, Aitken, and Waterman if they would help them produce the song, as the production team believed that “Venus” wasn't exactly a song that they believed would make a great dance record.

Naturally, Bananarama disagreed. And it's a really good thing that the women were strong enough to keep pressing their belief that the song was ready to be reinvented by them because eventually Stock, Aitken, and Waterman relented. Not only did Bananarama record “Venus” with Stock, Aitken, and Waterman for “True Confessions”, but they also recorded another minor hit on the album, “More Than Physical”.

Actually, come to think of it, Bananarama would start working with Stock, Aitken, and Waterman more often, as they recorded several singles with the production team between 1986 and 1993. So I suppose that “Venus” helped the band expand their horizons and seek out a brand new sound which made them sound more sophisticated and mature.

TRIVIA: And here's some shocking trivia for all of you reading this. Do you know who choreographed Bananarama in the music video for “Venus”? It was a man by the name of Bruno Tonioli – better known as one of the judges of the ABC reality television series “Dancing With The Stars”.

Now, the remake of “Venus” didn't top the charts in as many countries as Shocking Blue's did, but it did hit #1 in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, and Switzerland. And like the original version, the Bananarama version has appeared in several films like “Romy and Michele's High School Reunion” and “American Wedding”.

And, just like Shocking Blue, Bananarama had some personnel changes over the years. Siobhan Fahey left the band in 1988 to form Shakespear's Sister with Marcella Detroit, to be replaced with Jacquie O'Sullivan later that year. Three years later, O'Sullivan departed the band herself, leaving Bananarama a duo in 1991. As of 2013, Woodward and Dallin still perform and record as Bananarama, and I would almost be certain that they still perform the single “Venus” in concert every now and then.

Two different groups with the same single. Both songs hit the top of the charts, and both bands sustained line-up changes after the song was released. But no matter what you say about both songs, and no matter how well you like either Shocking Blue or Bananarama...the fact remains that had it not been for “Venus”, people would not have heard of either band.


They've got it. Yeah baby, they've got it...