The Names Behind The Icons

Mental Floss has posted a great article featuring the real names for characters such as Captain Crunch, Barbie and Mr. Clean. Who knew? Check it out!

A Month of Monkees: Celebrity Endorsement!

Over at Davy Jones' Facebook Page, he gave the World of Wonder a rousing endorsement by posting a link to yesterday's comic book post! It doesn't get much cooler than that!

December Is Upon Us!

It's December 1 which means the Christmas season is here! Being on the road, I don't have access to all of my Christmas goodies so unfortunately I won't be able to give another "25 Posts of Christmas" like I did last year. But don't worry, I still have lots of fun Christmas stuff to post and send your way (including this year's Christmas Mixes)! We start off the month of December with an announcement about Creamed Corn. For those of you who don't know, Creamed Corn is a band that I have been in for the past 12 years. We are basically a group of friends that grew up together that like to have fun and play music. 10 years ago, we released a Christmas album entitled "Santa Loves You". Before we knew it, several tracks off the album became giant hits on the Internet and the album became a holiday cult classic. We were featured on several Internet radio shows as well as The Doctor Demento Show! Over the past ten years, the album has continued to pop up all over the Internet in various qualities and forms. Since the release of the original, we released a sequel, "Santa Loves You Too" and several different compilations of the two, the most recent being "Christmas Hits", which featured a very cool bonus track. This year is the 10th anniversary and we re-released the album on-line. By now, most of you probably have the original but this re-release is completely remastered and sounds amazing! I personally oversaw the remastering process and made sure that it was up to par. The result is a fuller, richer and bigger sound. This is the Corn's way of saying thanks to the Internet community for all that they did when the original was first released. You can download it at following sites:

I-Tunes

Amazon

E-Music

So head on over and grab your copy of Creamed Corn's "Santa Loves You, 10th Anniversary Edition". You not only get the original album, but you also get a few tracks from Santa Loves You Too and the super secret bonus track from Christmas Hits! Thanks!

Saturday Fright Special

After giving the whole spiel on late night horror hosts for the Count Floyd post, I started thinking about my good friend Mark "Dangerboy" Nelson who, along with several other friends of mine, have started up a late night horror show in Keene, New Hampshire entitled, "Saturday Night Fright Fest". It's been on for over a year now and it's doing quite well. If you want to watch it, you can stream it live every saturday night at this website. It's on every Saturday night at 10 and every Sunday night at midnight. For those of you who aren't available at those times, here's a recent episode for you to enjoy! It features the film, "Tormented"! For more info on the show you can head over to their website!

Elvis Month: How To Dance Like The King

How to Dance Like Elvis Presley
from eHow Arts & Entertainment

Elvis Presley is one of the most impersonated celebrities, but there's more to it than just curling your lip and saying, "Thank you very much." The King of Rock n' Roll was also well known for his signature, hip-shaking dance moves that offended suburban housewives and made teenage girls scream in the fifties. To dance like Elvis, you'll need to feel the rhythm in your pelvis.

Step 1
Gyrate your hips. Bend your knees slightly and move your hips around in a circular motion. Accentuate your movements with timed thrusts. Elvis' notorious hip movements are his signature moves and at the heart of any Elvis-related dance performance.

Step 2
Move your legs with your hip movements. Spread your feet apart and move your thighs in together and then apart with your hip thrusts. Keep your legs loose so that they move in a flowing motion.

Step 3
Incorporate arm movements into your dance when you feel it's appropriate. Hold your arms up and snap your fingers to the beat of the music, or swing your arms around in time with the music and your hip and leg movements.

Step 4
Maintain your balance. Elvis' unique ability to keep his balance while moving his lower body in different directions is what made him such a good dancer. To dance like Elvis, you'll need to be able to hold balance well.

Step 5
Practice playing the guitar while doing to Elvis dance moves with your hips and legs. Elvis often played the guitar and showed off his signature dance moves simultaneously while performing.

New Single Release!!!!

Hello All
My new single has been released! The single, "Girl Named Female" is available from i-tunes as well as from Amazon, Groupie Tunes, E-Music and LaLa! It's an original song featuring myself on guitars and vocals along with Kim Shattuck (The Muffs, The Beards, The Pandoras) on Bass and Roy MacDonald (The Muffs, Red Cross) on drums! The song was produced by myself and Kim! All proceeds from the sale of this single will go to The Richard S Dart Memorial Arts Scholarship. You can get it off of i-tunes or through the other sites mentioned at the links below:

I-Tunes (search for Girl Named Female)
Amazon
Groupie Tunes
E-Music
LaLa

Enjoy!

Edd Byrnes Gets Kookie

Schadenfreudian Therapy posted selections from the soundtrack to the television series "77 Sunset Strip" which makes me want to be part of the action. One of the cast members of "77 S.S." was a fellow by the name of Edd Byrnes. Fans of "Grease" know him as Vince Fontaine. Fans of the Love Boat know him as many different characters. And fans of Sunset Strip know him as Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III. Kookie was famous for his duck tail hair-do and his constant combing of it. It became such a phenomenon that Edd Brynes and Connie Stevens recorded a novelty number entitled "Kookie, Kookie Lend Me Your Comb." The song was such a big hit, a complete album of "Kookie" related songs was released by Warner Brothers. Incidentally, singing the female parts on all but the "Lend Me Your Comb" track is none other than Joanie Summers, who would have a hit of her own with "Johnny Get Angry". One final note: the character of Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III was not originally a part of the series regulars. Edd Byrnes starred in the pilot in the role of a continuously hair-combing serial killer in the pilot, Girl on the Run, and was so popular as a result that he was brought back the following week as a regular cast member in a different role! At the beginning of the episode which followed Girl, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. broke the fourth wall with the announcement:"We previewed this show, and because Edd Byrnes was such a hit we decided that Kookie and his comb had to be in our series. So this week, we'll just forget that in the pilot he went off to prison to be executed." Here's Edd Byrnes, Connie Stevens and Joanie Summers having a ball with the full length "Kookie" album! Enjoy!

Edd Byrnes - Kookie

Another Eddie Ablert Album!

Way back in last year, I posted an Eddie Albert album (The Eddie Albert Album). Now Stax-O-Wax has posted another Eddie Albert gem! It seems that Esther (the moderator of Stax) and I are kindred spirits. We've posted the same albums at various points in our blogdom! Anyway, head over there to get this great Eddie Albert album and more! Tell her Dartman sent you!

A Toast To Yvonne

I'm sure that you've all heard that Yvonne DeCarlo passed away on January 8. While she was best remembered as Lillian Munster, she had a tremendous film career that started in 1941 and continued right through to the 90s. Ernie Not Bert has posted her album of standards from 1957. Head over there and check it out!

Christmas With A Brooklyn Accent

FALALALALA.COM has posted one of my all time favorite Christmas albums - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town by The Peppermint Kandy Kids! This was one of two albums that I received as a kid that had decorations as part of their covers. You could take the front flap of the album off and set it on a mantle or shelf or a door or what have you. The other album that had this feature was Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer. I still have these albums and love them. What was the coolest about these albums was that there were the classic Christmas carols woven into a story albong with original songs as well. Holiday entertainment at its finest! Head over to FALALALALA.COM to get this classic! And tell them Dartman sent you!

Trading Cards That Never Were

Over at Bubblegum Fink, there are collections of trading cards that should have been made but weren't. The most recent set is "A Christmas Story". These are a must see! Head over there and tell him Dartman sent ya!

Now Here This

Way Out Junk helps out with my series of Micky Dolenz/Monkees posts by sharing "Here No Evil: A Tribute To The Monkees". This album features all different indie bands doing their versions of Monkees tunes. Some are good, some are bad and some are down right ugly. But the late Deacon Lunchbox gives us a version of "The Day We Fall In Love" that makes the whole album worthwhile! Head over and check it out!