O’Connoradioland February 27, 2012

Hey, welcome to our humble abode here.  Sorry I haven’t dusted lately.  It’s Week 41 of this feature, brought to you by the Foundation for The Maintenance of Good Mental Hygiene.

Thought of a funny memory the other day, when some lady on Trading Post asked me if I had ever baked a pie.  Not sure why she asked that, but she did.  And YES, I can say that I am an official Pie Guy.  At least once. I baked an apple pie totally from scratch, and man, that is a CHORE.  Hats off to the people who can do it well and even like doing it. But pie making is not easy.

How did this come about? Well, it was an outflow of an idea that seemed good at the time.  My wife and I had been vacationing in the old home state of Wisconsin, and we decided to run up and see the famous Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) Island at the junction of Lakes Michigan and Huron. It is a small resort-type island with beautiful old vacation homes, hotels and also home of the famous Grand Hotel.  No motorized vehicle traffic is permitted on the island, so you get around by horse carriage, bike or foot. The place really has a neat old-timey charm.

Anyway, there are a lot of little sandwich, pie and coffee-type shops, both on the island and in Mackinaw Cityacross the bay.  So I said to Sally,  wouldn’t it be neat to start one of these little restaurants in Great Bend, you know, just pie, sandwiches and drinks.  She said sure, but let’s see you make a pie first.   It’s a lot more work than you think, she said. I replied, ha! What’s so hard about making, say, an apple pie?  Well, she was right. Back home in Kansas I got all the ingredients together, rolled out my crust, cut up the apples, prepared everything else,and actually made a passable pie.  Which promptly cured me of the desire to open a pie and sandwich place.  But I still like almost all kinds of pie and admire the skill of people who can do it well.  Making a pie is not a piece of cake.  (Oh, I like that line.)

Trivia results on the way, but first a few more tunes for you from all All-Time Favorites List:

1.  ‘Take It Easy’ by The Eagles. I like all the Eagles stuff, but this one is especially memorable for me. It was big in ’72 when I was with Armed Forces Radio in Korea.  One day  I had a GI call me up and request it for his buddy who had just survived a jeep wreck. Turned out his buddy was one of our AFKN engineers, who took a mountain road a little too fast. So THAT’S why he didn’t show up for work that day.  The Eagles had a great run in the 70s and 80s, when just about everything they recorded was a hit.

2.  ‘Beep Beep’ by The Playmates.  This was a giant novelty hit in 1958, and was the story of the little Nash Rambler that beat the Cadillac. Check it out on YouTube. This was also one of my wife’s favorites, partly because her family had Nash Ramblers at the time, and partly because it is a very funny song. “Hey buddy, how do I get this car out of second gear???”  Listen and laugh.

3.  ‘The Peter Gunn Theme’ by Henry Mancini.  Peter Gunn (played by Craig Stevens) was an ultra-cool private eye in an early 60s TV series, and the show’s instrumental  theme music by Mancini was a gigantic hit. It was a driving jazz/rock sort of  song that made you feel ultra-cool too, just because you liked it.  The success of the show lead to other hip private eyes show (77 Sunset Strip, Surfside Six etc) and to even greater success for Mr. Mancini, who wrote the music all sorts of movies and TV shows and recorded dozens of excellent albums.

The Trivia part of our weekly feature is being written in a weakened condition. I picked up a flu-type bug over the weekend that just knocked me flat.  I am still weak and shakey with an elevated temp, but we carry on.

Just 3 reponses this week, and winners all! Vince got the music question; the Beatles went by a different name early in their career: The Quarrymen.   Good thing they changed it, huh? Dana Dawson remembered Pickerell Appliance as the appliance store in the 1600 block ofMain. You are correct, sir! And Terry Keenan did some intensive research on the Italian immigrant who made good in the ‘transportation’ industry.   It was Antonio Pasin, who started making little red coaster wagons, which became the Radio Flyer empire.  Nice work!

Okay, some new ones for you.  What clothing store—1970s-80s—was located on the southwest corner of Lakin and Main?

In music, the Twist was not the only big dance craze in the 60s. In 1962 this lady had two Top Ten hits that mentioned a carbohydrate-rich food. In the first one she just sings about the food; in the second one she adds a little topping to it. Name the food, the artist, or the song titles. Is this easy or what?

Well, hows about a history question?  This well-known French engineer helped with  early financing of the Panama Canal. This was a big flop and the USA took over the project and finished it. The engineer’s OTHER project was a huge success and still stands in France. Name the engineer or his successful project.

Have a great week ahead. I hope to be feeling a LOT better when we meet here again.

John