Podcasts about western tv

We have made it to 1969, the final year of Elvis Presley's film career, and we're kicking things off with Charro! This means we have just two movies to go, but we may have finally accomplished something special: did we finally find a good tagline? We talk about how Charro! is a movie featuring no songs (other than the title/theme song) sung by Elvis, the movie's truly wild alternate titles, and how hyper-violent (and overly sexual) it is (at least for an Elvis movie). We explore how Charro! exists at seemingly at a pivot point in Elvis's film career, which makes the fact that the end is nigh a bit depressing. We imagine Elvis as the star of a 1960s Western TV series. Mike explains how this movie is similar to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and how Elvis's sense of morality and justice in the movie is akin to Superman. We play our normal games at the end of the episode, but they hit a bit different this time, given the lack of music in this movie. We guess what The Trouble with Girls will be about. Is it going to be a stinker? We're worried!

In this month's Classic Recast, Greg interviews Palm, a professional translator of English to Thai, but in a very specific context: subtitles for film and television. Palm begins by explaining that she literally learned English by being a couch potato and watching a lot of Western TV shows and movies, surviving by figuring out the subtitles word by word. This led naturally to an interest in doing it for a living, and lo and behold, her dream came to when she got a job translating for MTV Thailand. Eventually, this led to translating for a major video distribution company (which shall remain anonymous).  Greg quizzes Palm on the difficulties of her job and how she can possibly find Thai equivalents for all the weird expressions and slang in English. Palm notes that this in fact makes her job fun, as she often has to do research to first make sure she has the proper understanding in her own head before she can determine the best Thai equivalent. Unsurprisingly, curse words are quite difficult, and Greg and Palm discuss some rude expressions and how Palm approaches translating them.  They also discuss the difference between simply translating a word, and translating intentions, concepts, and context. Apply this to, say, hip-hop culture, or RuPaul's show “Drag Race”, and you can see where it becomes difficult!  Palm concludes with some advice for wannabe subtitlers, so listen in for some excellent career guidance if you are so inclined.  As always, the podcast will continue to be 100% funded by listeners just like you who get some special swag from us. And we'll keep our Facebook, Twitter, and LINE accounts active so you can send us comments, questions, or whatever you want to share.

“I think we're right where we want to be. People say to me, ‘You've succeeded in hospitality. What's your next project? What do you want to do?' And I said, ‘No, this ranch is a diamond and I'm just going to continue to polish it.'”We're in great company with Jim Manley, the Dreamer behind and Owner of The Ranch at Rock Creek, an award-winning all-inclusive ranch destination set amidst Montana's unspoiled beauty that preserves the spirit of the Wild West, while celebrating nature's bounty.It all started with young Jim Manley's Wild West obsession that took him from Wall Street success on a 20-year quest that finally materialized as The Ranch at Rock Creek—proving some childhood dreams refuse to fade with time.Today, Jim chooses to share that dream with his worldly guests, which has matured into the world's first Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star and Relais & Châteaux ranch—expanding the frontiers of experiential travel, or as he coins it, “adults at play.”In this episode, Jim shares with us why he believes the best souvenir is a great story, one that's lived and not just bought. Top Takeaways[1:30] How it all started for Jim as a child, hypnotized by cowboys galloping across his TV screen in a cramped New Jersey home, sparking a dream that he carried with him into adulthood. [4:30] It would take 20 years of searching, a long list of criteria, many doubters, and yet even more patience and perseverance, before Jim found an old mining and cattle ranching pocket of Philipsburg, Montana that would become The Ranch at Rock Creek.[9:40] Rejecting the beachside boredom of traditional getaways, Jim set out to create America's only truly inclusive luxury ranch—where adults rediscover their playful spirits through countless activities—all without the interruption of constantly opening their wallets. [20:05] What is “high end ranch food,” you ask? While it's not fussy, it is certainly local and seasonal, fresh and quality—best paired with good conversation in great company around the table. [24:30] Sustainability has taken root since The Ranch at Rock Creek's inception, and it only grows stronger over time—from local sourcing to community engagement, from eliminating single use plastics to encouraging guests to embrace walking and biking about the land. Visit For YourselfThe Ranch at Rock Creek Website | @theranchatrockcreek Give the Ranch a Call | 1.877.786.1545

Six String Hayride Classic Country Podcast, Episode 51, Our Favorite Westerns. Winner of the 2024 OCLU Podcast award for a Music Series. Chris Wainscott and Jim O'Malley discuss their favorite Western Movies, Directors John Ford, Henry Hathaway, and Howard Hawks, Composers Elmer Bernstein and Ennio Morricone. The great films like Tombstone, The Magnificent Seven, The Searchers, Liberty Valance, Butch and Sundance, SHANE, True Grit, Unforgiven, and More. Western TV shows and their influence on Science Fiction TV. A toast to John Wayne and John Ford's collaboration with two new drink recipes and our Western Movie Recommendations. Join Chris and Jim for the Classic Westerns, the Amazing Actors, and the Classic Songs on Six String Hayride Classic Country Podcast. We are your Classic Country Podcast Huckleberry. ‘Over the Mountains Of the Moon, Down the Valley of the Shadow, Ride, boldly ride.'https://www.patreon.com/user?u=81625843

Join us in today's sermon podcast where we delve into the transformative power of prayer and faith. The sermon begins with a nostalgic story about old Western TV shows, leading into a powerful testimony of actor Clint Walker's near-death experience and his life-changing prayer. Walker's prayer, uttered in a moment of desperation, serves as a testament to the life-saving power of faith and divine intervention. We then explore the story of Hannah from the Old Testament, who, like Walker, prayed a desperate prayer. Despite her barrenness and the mockery she faced, Hannah's unwavering faith and heartfelt vow to God led to the miraculous birth of her son, Samuel. This story highlights the importance of taking action, trusting in God's plan, and responding to His call. Through these narratives, the sermon encourages listeners to stand up in faith, trust in God's timing, and respond to His guidance, ensuring that their lives align with His divine will. It is a call to live a life of holiness, engage with the community, and lead families in righteousness. Thank you for joining us today. You can find a copy of this sermon, other sermons, and the sermon outline on our church's website, www.mvcnaz.org. We pray that you will seek a church home that recognizes the authority of the Bible. Thank you for joining us today. You can find a copy of this sermon, other sermons, and the sermon outline on our church's website, www.mvcnaz.org. We pray that you will seek a church home that recognizes the authority of the Bible. With Pastor Mike Curry, “Hannah's Journey from Barrenness to Blessing” 1 Samuel 1:9-28 Introduction: A Life-Changing Accident Hannah's Journey I. Hannah Takes Action – God Hears a. She stood up (v. 9) b. She wept and prayed (v.10) c. She made a vow (v. 11) i. vow – a voluntary promise to God to perform some service or do something pleasing to him, in return for some hoped-for benefits II. Hannah Trusts God – God Moves a. She kept praying (v. 12-16)   b. She received a blessing (v. 17) i. Her demeanor changed (v. 18) c. The Lord remembered her (v. 19) III. Hannah Responds to God – God Accepts a. She gives birth to a son – Samuel “asked of the Lord” (v. 20) b. She dedicated him fully to the Lord (v. 28) c. Hannah Praises God – 1 Samuel 2:1-11 IV. Application: a. We must take action! b. We must trust God. c. We must respond to God.

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

New episode out now! We cover the first episode of Prime Suspect 1973 (or Prime Suspect: Tennison if you're American), a 2017 prequel series about the early days of Jane Tennison's law enforcement career. We enjoyed the more nuanced take it had regarding many things, including how the detectives treated drug users, how they presented the autopsy scene, and the time the show spent on the grief of the family. We discuss the differences in how the women of the police force are treated versus the men, talk about how they establish “good cop” Len Bradfield and the “bad cops” of the other detectives, love the character of Morgan and how competent she is, and continue to not understand London police organization. We love the 1970s setting and think it really adds a whole other level to the show; the costumes, set decoration, and especially the excellent music selection really enhanced the vibe. Katy points out multiple obvious things, Carrie was not impressed by the wigs, Maddy leads a moment of silence, and Mack thought there were too many greasy white boys. We also discuss the trope of a quirky medical examiner and how shows try to deal with the reality of a dead body, get excited about radios and ticker tape, learn Carrie was right about London buildings being cleaner, and do not approve of puking on screen. Listen to hear more about bleached Henry Cavill, British accents, Scone Palace, Night Court, and more! Plus, try to figure out which one of us had Covid while recording, which one was hungover, and which one had a few audio dropouts fixed in post! Enjoy! TW: Drug addiction, sex work, sex work of a minor, murder of a sex worker, police abuse, misogyny, quality of low income housing, Grenfell Tower fire Show Notes: It should be noted that one theory as to why the police force seemed to be more delicate/nonchalant about the drug use and methadone clinic is that this does take place both in the UK and pre-Reagan and the “War On Drugs”, which very much criminalized and villainized drug use, especially in communities of lower income. The focus shifted to criminalization and prison rather than any sort of addiction treatment or rehabilitation.  One possible origin of the quirky coroner/medical examiner is the Canadian show Wojeck that aired from 1966-1968, about a “coroner who regularly fights moral injustices raised by the deaths he investigated”. According to Wikipedia this was the first Western TV series to feature forensic pathology as the main investigative resource for crime solving. This show then inspired Quincy, M.E., a popular American show that aired from 1976-1983 about a LA County medical examiner, who was more quirky than the coroner character in Wojeck. About the Grenfell Tower fire from Wikipedia: “On 14 June 2017, a high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in North Kensington, West London, at 00:54 BST and burned for 60 hours. Seventy people died at the scene, and two people died later in hospital, with more than 70 injured and 223 escaping”. More details here from Wikipedia and here from the BBC. 

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

Have Gun - Will Travel was a popular show, and it was nominated for a number of awards, including the Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series. It won the award in 1960."Have Gun Will Travel" is a Western TV series that aired on CBS from 1957 to 1963. It follows the adventures of Paladin, a gentleman gunfighter who roams the Old West helping those in need. The show, created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and starring Richard Boone, was a critical and commercial success, known for its unique blend of action and moral complexity. It also spawned a successful radio adaptation. The title is a variation on a newspaper personal ad cliché, popularized by the show in the 1950s and 1960s. Set in an unspecified period in the Old West, Paladin, despite his gunfighter skills, is portrayed as a complex character with a strong sense of justice. The show features recurring characters like his loyal sidekick, Hey Boy. "Have Gun - Will Travel" received award nominations and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Western Series in 1960. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dwight-allen0/support

This is the second part of my chat with Thomas who worked in a secret East German radio monitoring base. He describes how a BRIXMIS or another Allied Military Liason Mission vehicle had once got into the base and what the East German Army was told about MLM capabilities. When the officers aren't around he and his comrades listen to Western radio and watch Western TV. Gorbachev is now in power and liberalisation has now started in the Soviet Union and the East German government worries about contamination. Thomas describes his participation in the Dresden protests and is totally ​shocked ​by ​police brutality against East German citizens. We talk about the opening of the Wall and the decline in NVA discipline as East Germany starts to implode in the march to reunification. We also hear about the surprising contents of his Stasi file.  Extra episode information here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode313/ The fight to preserve Cold War history continues and via a simple monthly donation, you will give me the ammunition to continue to preserve Cold War history. You'll become part of our community, get ad-free episodes, and get a sought-after CWC coaster as a thank you and you'll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ If a monthly contribution is not your cup of tea, We also welcome one-off donations via the same link. 0:00 Introduction 1:21 Thomas's Stasi file and military liaison mission experiences 11:30 Perception of NATO and potential for invasion 18:06 Exposure to Western media and culture 22:39 Unrest and start of the rebellion in East Germany 34:20 Closure of the Czech border 49:04 Shared experiences with American and Czech soldiers 55:38 Recollection of the day the Berlin Wall came down 1:02:55 First experience visiting the West and adapting to Western lifestyle 1:12:27 Transitioning back to civilian life and the reunification of Germany 1:27:13 Joining the Cold War Conversations Facebook discussion group Table of contents powered by PodcastAI✨ Find the ideal gift for the Cold War enthusiast in your life! Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/store/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Love history? Check out Into History at this link https://intohistory.com/coldwarpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How the West was Won - A selection of Tunes from the old Western TV shows and Movies. Broadcast on OAR 105.4FM Dunedin oar.org.nz

In this "For The People" episode, Nick talks with The Consumerman Herb Weisbaum, from Checkbook.org, about important consumer stories including: keeping up with your home insurance, the violation of child privacy laws by Amazon, the creeping dangers of A.I. scams, and the fact that Americans are keeping their cars longer than ever. Then, Tom Appel from Consumer Guide Automotive, joins Nick to review the new Dodge Hornet, and discuss the driver-less car takeover in San Francisco, the great ads for "Dad Cars" from the past, the lost problem of overheating cars, and, of course, spotting stars on old Western TV shows. Plus, we remember Barry Newman, the star of "Vanishing Point," a CLASSIC car film from the 70's. And, it all closes with Nick's Dad Tells a Joke. [EP147]

This week, we drive to the Chief Joseph Ranch, a cattle ranch and a filming location for a Western TV drama series. Next, we walk through a silver, lead, and zinc mine in a city that was the largest supplier of copper. Lastly, we analyze dinosaur fossils at Makoshika State Park.

In the first episode of a series that explores remade and reimagined Steve McQueen projects, Will from the Exploding Helicopter podcast and website joins me to discuss 1987's reimagined Wanted: Dead or Alive, a film that attempts to connect to Steve McQueen's Western TV show of the same name.

Full Hour | Today, Dom led off the Dom Giordano Program by revealing some great news out of Harrisburg, telling that the House Judiciary Committee organized to investigate DA Larry Krasner's role in the spike in Philadelphia's violence have voted to send impeachment to the House for a full vote, propelling forward the Republican push to remove Krasner from office and reinstall normalcy in the City. Also, Dom introduces his side topic of the day, telling of the success of Yellowstone and asking listeners for other great Western TV shows and movies. Then, Dom welcomes in State Representative Martina White fresh off the floor in Harrisburg after she and the rest of the House Judiciary Committee voted to pass a resolution sending an impeachment vote to the general House. Martina explains the reasoning behind the resolution, telling how Krasner has a large role in the spike in violence in Philadelphia and is responsible for implementing policies that have aided the downturn of the City, and why he needs to be held accountable. Then, Martina tells what happens next, and offers her prediction as to where things go from here. (Photo by Getty Images)

Pull back on those reins, buckaroos, and slow down long enough to listen as Six-Gun Justice Podcast host Paul Bishop is joined by guest co-host Tim DeForest discuss an overlooked niche in the Western genre—Western episodes of non-Western TV shows...Support the show

Dust off your tiara and slip into your finery because this week we are joined by Downton Abbey's Lady Mary herself, Michelle Dockery! As a ‘Downton Abbey' obsessive (I mean those savage Maggie Smith one-liners give me life), I have wanted to talk to Michelle for the longest time, so I am so excited that we are talking to her this week. We take her journey to the big screen all the way back to the beginning… After growing up in Romford, Essex Michelle started her career in theatre - understudying 10 roles at one time (!!) - before she got the break of a lifetime, starring in Downton Abbey when she was 27. Ten years later, after six seasons, four personal Emmy award nominations and one box office smash of a movie, we are heading back to Grantham for the latest movie, Downton Abbey: A New Era. Whilehalf of the family skip off to France, Lady Mary oversees the filming of a silent movie in the family home. It is also a new era for Michelle who recently starred in Netflix's Anatomy of a Scandal as bad babe barrister, Kate. The story follows Kate, a QC who represents Olivia (Naomi Scott) a woman whoaccuses her former boss and MP, James (Rupert Friend) of rape. Meanwhile, James'wife, played by Sienna Miller, not only has to watch the unfolding drama in court, but also has to reflect on her own role in proceedings. The plot twists are so juicy - so be warned there are some spoilers in this episode! Michelle has also starred in ‘Defending Jacob' opposite Chris Evans as a mother whose teenage son is charged with murder (if you haven't watched it yet, head to Apple TV+ RN), Guy Ritchie movie, ‘The Gentleman' and Netflix's Western TV drama, ‘Godless' playing Alice, a widowed outcast who takes in a stray outlaw played by Jack O'Connell. Lucky Alice! Today we talk about Michelle's incredible journey from living in a house share with her mates to the big screen, the no's she faced along the way, and what her career has taught her about success and failure. We of course talk about returning to Downton, how working on Anatomy of a Scandal made Michelle reflect on how sets can be so male dominated, the coaching she did with a real barrister for the Netflix show, and how she felt truly in her own power when she turned 40. I loved hearing Michelle talk about the start of her career so I hope you find her story just as inspiring as I did. I also hope you continue to listen and find the power to Reign in your own lives. If you love this episode, please get in touch (follow me across social media @joshsmithhosts), I love hearing from you. Love, Josh xxx

To the the general U.S. audience, anime in the 1980's was a chopped up, serialized, monster of the week cartoon that was beloved by children and...tolerated by adults. In 1988 Toho produced an anime with incredible voice acting, adult themes, real world issues, and stunning, albeit bizarre at times, animation. When it hit Western TV's a year later, it would let the world know that anime wasn't just for kids. Welcome to Season 2 Episode 59 of Digital Dissection: A Nerd Podcast! Today Mark and Joe welcome friend and fellow nerd Josh to the podcast to discuss the critically acclaimed anime classic, Akira! Music by Joystock: https://www.joystock.org Opening Track: "Modern Power-Up Electronic" Closing Track: "Future is Now" Follow us on: Facebook: https://facebook.com/DigitalDissect1 Twitch: https://twitch.tv/digitaldissect1 Twitter: https://twitter.com/digitaldissect1

The horses are hitched and the stage coach is ready to hit the trail for another episode of the Six-Gun Justice Podcast. Join head wrangler Paul Bishop for a Gatling gun burst of Western book and movie reviews, a look at the Kids of Western comics, an overview of TV's Wanted: Dead Or Alive, and an in-depth feature on Western TV show gimmick guns...Support the show (https://tinyurl.com/sgjpdonate)

Writer, actor, and podcaster Dion Baia joins me to discuss four of Steve McQueen's early TV appearances, including The Defender, the two-part television play starring Ralph Bellamy and William Shatner, and the pilot for McQueen's Western TV show, Wanted: Dead or Alive.

Spoiler free until 00:28:32! For this episode Andrew, Joel, and Steven review Young Justice S1. Released in 2010, Young Justice is a well regarded addition to the DC animated pantheon, but can it hold up to our metrics? Can one of the last hand drawn Western TV shows hold up after more than a decade? Just how good is the story anyways? Can character interactions carry what was intended as a kid's show meant to sell toys? Why does Joel hate intros? We try to answer all these questions and more in this episode. 00:00:00 Intro 00:00:34 One Piece PSA 00:03:05 What are you watching? 00:15:24 Spoiler Free Review 00:27:53 Intermission 00:28:32 Spectacle 00:42:02 Performance 01:07:32 Score 01:20:41 Plot 01:36:38 Entertainment Value 01:44:28 Outro Website: https://www.spoilersintendedpodcast.com/ (https://www.spoilersintendedpodcast.com/) Patreon : https://my.captivate.fm/patreon.com/SpoilersIntendedPodcast (patreon.com/SpoilersIntendedPodcast) Discord : https://discord.gg/kGRAmjbqcF (https://discord.gg/kGRAmjbqcF)

Head 'em up and move 'em out...It's time for another full-length episode of the Six-Gun Justice Podcast. Westerns on TV have almost as long a history as television itself. Stampeding across the black and white TV screens of American living rooms on every network the popularity of westerns during the ‘40s thorough the ‘60s has been fully documented, however there has been no concerted effort to document the history and the stories behind the numerous novels and novelizations tied in to these shows. Today's episode will hopefully go a long way toward filling that void, as Paul discusses the many Western TV tie-in novels he has collected over the years...Support the show (https://tinyurl.com/sgjpdonate)

The only thing that matters is how a character transforms over time.This is Part 1 of my Four-Part Miniseries on how to PLAN, WRITE, EDIT, and PUBLISH your creative work.This episode is a deep-dive into the fundamentals of storytelling, fundamentals that apply to any genre and any medium.My co-host for the series is Greg Larson, who first came on the pod in August with great advice on how to market your book.Greg, author of Clubbie: A Minor League Baseball Memoir, was a fantastic resource as I finished and published my memoir Zen and the Art of Coaching Basketball.In this episode, Greg and I dive into the questions and process you should have in place before you start writing.We discuss many genres of story, from sci-fi to memoir to zombie apocalypse, and many types of story, from prose to screenplay to film.We touch on the Iceberg Theory by that old hack Ernest Hemingway.And The Hero's Journey, based on the work of Joseph Campbell.We talk how to find your theme, create character backstory, and outline.At the end of Part 1 Greg shares his process for ensuring he finishes his book.It's genius.And involves BBQ.Part 2 will focus on Writing, Part 3 on Editing, and Part 4 on Publishing.It is our hope that these four episodes will provide a guide for you to publish your work.Please share with the storytellers in your life and, more importantly, the people who have a story to tell.Speaking of telling a story, this mini-series is sponsored by Greg's company, Self-Publishing Sherpa. If you like our conversation and wish to engage Greg and his group, please schedule a free strategy call.Last but not least, I'm adding two new features to the podcast with this episode (at least for this mini-series): Transcripts and YouTube video :-)Episode TranscriptBen Guest:Planning obviously is the beginning of the creative process. Greg, what are your thoughts about planning?Greg Larson:In general, I think a lot of authors get stuck in the planning stage. What I find is people try to make a perfect outline. For example, when I advise people in non-fiction, my entire thought process is, just create an outline that will remind you what you need to write in two months. That's it. Don't write your book in the outline, none of that kind of stuff. But even before you get into the outline, figuring out who your audience is, figuring out who your ideal reader is in that audience, figuring out what your goals with the book are, and figuring out how you want your reader to change. This is more strictly nonfiction, but figuring out how you want your reader to change, those are incredibly important aspects of the planning process that I think a lot of people overlook.Ben Guest:Let's start there and let's start with nonfiction and we'll probably jump over to fiction as well at some point, but we'll try to signpost that. So in nonfiction, I think the key question to ask yourself at the beginning is what you just said, "Who is this written for?" And I think the mistake a lot of people make is, I had an interesting experience or I've had an interesting life, or I had an interesting business, or I met this person or whatever. It's great that it's interesting to you. If you want to write that down for your kids, for your family, for your best friend, great, do that. But in terms of connecting to someone who doesn't know you and has no connection to you, you have to ask, "Who is this for?" Tied to that, "What do I want them to get out of it?"Greg Larson:A book with no audience is a diary, which is purposely fine and valid, but it doesn't need to be published as a book necessarily. The way I think about it, especially with memoir, a lot of people think that a memoir is a series of things that happened. Do you ever hear somebody tell you a story and they just go through every single detail, they're like, "Well, what was the cashier's name? I forget what they... or the week it was." None of details matter. They're not relevant. The only thing that matters is how a character transforms over time and the story that gets them to transform. So when you look back through your life and you're interested in writing a memoir about it, you have to think, "What is the shortest period of time in which I had the greatest transformation?" That is how you answer that so-what question for the reader, I think. Once you're able to put a timeframe on it, even if you're not writing a memoir, any kind of nonfiction where you have personal stories inside of it, once you have a tight timeframe around it of, "I started out as a new clubhouse attendant in a minor league baseball team and I ended as a grizzled veteran." Boom, I have a constrained timeframe that I can work with.Ben Guest:So we're talking about both a compressed time frame, and as importantly, the greatest amount of change that happened in that compressed timeframe?Greg Larson:That is what makes the most compelling stories, I believe.Ben Guest:We talk about storytelling traditions, and if we go back to Aristotle and Poetics, it's unity of time, place and action, everything should happen over three days and two nights. I'm a big fan of the film director, Michael Mann, who did Heat and Miami Vice and Last of the Mohicans. And he's like, basically you want your story to be the most important few days, few weeks, few months, whatever it is, of your hero's life. It is the key moment of their adult life or even their childhood, what happened in those moments that changed them. And in that specific detail, it'll become relatable.Greg Larson:Yes. Yeah, exactly. A lot of authors, they'll try to become universal by being vague or not trying to exclude anybody with too many details. It's like, no, the universality is found in specifics.Ben Guest:Right. And so just to highlight this for the listener, we just said earlier, remember how you hear a boring story and the person tells you every little detail? So that's a story with too much information. The flip side of that is once you've nailed down the timeframe, and once you've nailed down the experience, now you want as much specific detail as possible and not to go, “Well, it needs to be more general so people can relate.” For some reason, the way we're wired to connect and empathize with somebody, the more specific detail the person gives, the more we relate to it.Greg Larson:The right details, for sure. I see this as a problem in a lot of literary fiction and literary nonfiction, it's like this self-congratulating scene building. The reader doesn't always need to see everything. If a couple of characters are in, say an arcade or something, a person generally knows what an arcade looks like, but if you're zeroing the focus into a specific detail, make it for a reason. Otherwise, it's just showing off, it's just literary gymnastics, but that's more into the craft of writing, not the preparation as much.Ben Guest:Right. I agree 100% with that. The keys in the early stages and the beginning stage is what's the experience, compressed timeframe, greatest change. And who's the audience. And within that audience, who's my ideal reader, and what's the impact I want this to have on my ideal reader?Greg Larson:What's the impact to, I want this to have on my life too? That's an important part that I think a lot of people miss. You should be selfish in this part of the planning process. Again, we're focused on non-fiction. Yeah, you might be writing a non-fiction book to teach people something specific, maybe it's prescriptive nonfiction, whatever it may be, but you need to have a selfish goal for yourself. If it is getting speaking events, if it is having more newsletter subscribers, having a larger following on social media, whatever it is, that's an important aspect to this process because you need to have an incentive to keep going that is somewhat selfish.Ben Guest:With Clubbie, what was your side of that? And what was the audience side of that?Greg Larson:For the most part, I was blind writing Clubbie. I learned through air, I didn't know how to do a lot of this stuff yet, but as far as audience goes, I had a specific idea in my mind of the audience, I was like, "My audience member... " Because with baseball, I could've gone so deep into statistics that it would've alienated certain people. But then if I would've assumed too much ignorance on the part of my reader, it would've alienated even more people. So it was like my ideal reader knows what an earned run average is and what a batting average is, but they don't know the significance of say a wins above replacement or the more obscure metrics. That was the knowledge level that I was working with. It's a baseball fan who knows earned run average and batting average, and that's the way I wrote it. But as far as like my specific goals, I was not articulating those to myself just yet. I don't think I was as nuanced in my planning process at that point.Ben Guest:When you started your outline for Clubbie, did you have a theme in mind in the way that in a piece of fiction writing generally we'll create a theme?Greg Larson:Yeah. The theme was Minor League Baseball players are taking advantage of and look at what that world is like. And I wrote, and I outlined, "Oh, this is what their love life is like," that's one chapter. "This is how the Dominicans are treated. And then this is how they handle the off season," that kind of stuff. And I wrote a rough draft in that way, and it was just boring, it was impersonal, it just didn't work. But then when I started writing it more as narrative nonfiction, as a memoir, I did this weird thing where I had two Google Documents, a Google Document on the right with just chaos notes. I chopped up some of the old boring pieces that I thought might be useful, threw it into this note document. I had little fragments of little notes that I would scribble in class and I would type it up in there. And then on the other Word document, I had, it wasn't even a draft, I was just starting to write what was happening in the story. I wasn't writing prose, I was basically just writing a summary like, "I drive down to Florida, I meet with the team, I meet X, Y, and Z here." And I kept doing that. And then what happened was, it naturally just turned into prose, and I didn't try to, but as I went on more and more, I was like, "Oh, I know what the dialogue is here because I have the notes on this side of the screen and I know what's happening." And then eventually, by the end of it, I was just writing a full draft. By the time I got finished with that full draft, I could go back to the beginning and then say, "Oh, I know what this prose is supposed to be." So it was almost like writing half of a draft and then going back and writing the first half of the draft, and that seemed to work.Ben Guest:Yeah, there's a phrase I heard once, I think it was something like jumping out of an airplane and sewing the parachute together as you're in the air. And that's what you did, just jumping in, putting it together. And by the time you get to the end, now I can go back and finish the beginning.Greg Larson:Yeah. Dude, I hadn't thought of this, I love that metaphor as well, but I hadn't thought this metaphor or this analogy before until like the last week. We were talking about therapy before we started recording. In the first draft, when I'm in a therapy session, I'm just saying whatever comes to my mind and I'm making connections that my unconscious mind is making that I don't recognize. Then it's my therapist who says, "Here's what's happening here." In the first draft, I'm the crazy person in the chair just making connections, just trying to trust my gut intuition, free association as much as possible. And then in the second draft and the third draft, I'm like the therapist where because now I'm outside of it, I can see what I was trying to do much better. It's that realization helped me recognize or more easily trust my instincts in the first draft.Ben Guest:That is so great, because one of the things that the therapist is doing, the professional is doing ,is finding patterns and helping you see patterns, right?Greg Larson:Yes.Ben Guest:So now, the patient side of it is we're just throwing stuff out there, so go back to writing, we're throwing stuff on the page, thoughts, ideas, quotes, fragments, and then therapist side of it is, we're finding the through line. And sorry, as I've mentioned on previous podcasts, there's some construction going above my apartment, so you may hear random little banging sounds and so forth. Let's jump over to the fiction side. One of the things I did over the pandemic was I wrote a screenplay, and it's a zombie movie, because in some ways, COVID, the pandemic, it was like living in a zombie apocalypse where this thing is spreading and coming and so forth. And the theme that I came up with was the idea that “Everything changes.” True in normal times, and obviously even more so when you're living through a pandemic. Everything changes. You had a normal life and now everything has changed. The reason I'm mentioning that in the outlining process is I have that phrase, everything changes. That's my theme for this screenplay that I'm going to write. And now I have that at the top of my outline, because I want that either consciously or subconsciously, to just be working as I'm doing my planning, because that's the heart of the piece and everything needs to be in service of reaching that. And it may never be explicitly stated in the screenplay, it may never be explicitly stated in theoretical movie, it should all be residing there in the intent of the writer.Greg Larson:Yeah. I like that idea. I've heard a guy I really look up to, he did the same thing where he would write, his word was “Vulnerability”. He just wrote “Vulnerability” on a Post-It and he always had it on his computer so that everything you write, if it wasn't in service of that word, he would cut it out no matter how good it was, and he had a lot of success in his book.Ben Guest:And the book was eight pages long.Greg Larson:“I'm not telling you guys anything about myself.” My version of that is I have a question that I'm trying to answer. Like the novel that I'm working on right now, my question that I'm trying to answer is, how do our relationships with our parents impact our romantic relationships? Because sometimes I hesitate to start with an explicit theme, because then it's almost like I'm starting with an answer before I even ask a question. I want to just explore the question and see and surprise myself in a certain way too. It's scary because I don't always know where the book is going and it surprises me, but it also makes it more exciting.Ben Guest:I love that. One thing that I want to be clear about is, there are many different paths up the mountain. As many authors as there are, that's as many paths up the mountain to completing your work that there are. And so I like this idea of just comparing our different processes. And again, in the detail, people will find things that they can relate to. So I love the idea of start with a question and then you're going to start working towards answering that question. I need to have the structure of knowing where this is going, and it sounds like for you, you don't need to have that.Greg Larson:Oh, I'm at least trying not to. The novel that I'm writing, I think I've technically tried it. This is the third time and I didn't really know that this is really the third time. But looking back in the past, I can see, "Oh, I tried to tell this in some way." The first time I tried it was four years ago and I legit had no plan whatsoever. I was just writing words and then what came out were just fragments of chaos and it wasn't a book, it was just like a series of thoughts. The difference now is that I have a rough idea of the ending and I have a rough idea of this question that I'm trying to answer. But what I'm allowing myself to have is to discover new characters along the way. That's been a biggest one where these two characters are in a summer camp and I think it's all about this love story of these two characters in the summer camp falling in love for the first time. But then lo and behold, that the man of this camp actually becomes a really prominent figure, even though I didn't realize this was going to happen, and so now I'm not going to say, "Well, it wasn't in the outline, so I'm not going to have this character." It's like, "No, I discovered this guy and he needs to be a fully developed character as well." That's been the biggest difference in this iteration of this novel."Ben Guest:That's fantastic because that's also part of the magic, that's the spooky side of it. Right? So if we're talking actionable items, I guess for the listeners, for people that are interested in writing a piece of nonfiction memoir, a biography, what have you, think of the most transformative time in your life and the lesson or lessons you learned in that time. From there, think about, how would you like if you were to write this experience down, if you were to create a piece of art around this experience, how would you like that to impact someone else, someone you don't even know, someone reading this story? What's the takeaway you want them to have? And then from there, think about, what are your goals for writing this book? And who's your ideal reader? Who are you writing for day to day? Does that cover it?Greg Larson:I think those are the most important questions to ask. I would call that the positioning part of the process. The questions you need to answer, ask yourself and to answer before you go into the outline process. Yeah, I think that covers it.Ben Guest:And then on the fiction side, and again, many different paths up the mountain, I think two ways to do it. One is to think of, "What is a theme like ‘Everything changes' that I want to explore, that I want to process, that I want to think about? What is a question I have? How do our parents impact relationships with our romantic relationships? So what's a question I have? Now, how do I want to explore that?" One way would be to start with a theme, another way would be to start with a question outlining. How do you outline?Greg Larson:So for nonfiction, I'd say this applies to both prescriptive nonfiction and narrative nonfiction, but I start with brainstorming a table of contents, not even thinking about it as a table of contents, but just brainstorming the main stories and brainstorming the main lessons that I want to evoke in the book. I try to come up with a minimum of 20, and then inevitably, it's going to get condensed down and you're going to add more. But starting with 20 I think is a really good starting point. And then once you have those 20 brainstormed chapter topics, not even think about them as like chapter titles. People get obsessed with chapter titles way too early and it gets them stuck. But once you have those chapter topics, again, don't even worry about order and structure yet. I use a table in Google Docs where I have chapter topic and then I have either a thesis or a question that I'm trying to answer in the chapter, as in like, "What overall point am I trying to make in this chapter/what question am I trying to answer in this chapter?" And then I come up with a hook. Your mileage may vary, but I've never seen anybody successfully write a nonfiction book after coaching 100 plus people who has basically written their book in the outline. I haven't seen anyone do it successfully yet. I'm sure somebody does, but just like sentence fragments in the outline. What's the hook? Story of getting fired from a FinTech company. Boom, that's the hook. I'll remember that when I go to write it. And then I do, "What are the stories or anecdotes or examples in the chapter that I want to tell? What are the points I want to make? What are the actions I want the reader to take based on those points that I'm making?" Those are the biggest ones. Most people just tell stories and they don't have any takeaways. An even smaller percentage of people have stories and then have the takeaways. An even tiny percentage stories, takeaways, and actions to take. That's the key to writing excellent nonfiction, I think.Ben Guest:And can you say a little bit more about the actions to take that focus-Greg Larson:Yeah, for sure. That's exactly what we're doing in this podcast, it's a perfect example of it. We're talking abstractly, but then you're saying, "Okay, based on what we said, here's the action you should take." An example, I helped my friend edit his book that's written for young men in their 20s who are trying to find their way in life after college. And he had a story about him moving to Austin and not knowing how to make friends, and that's an interesting story. But then he said, the takeaway is that you need to treat everybody as though they're a friend until they prove otherwise. Boom, there's a takeaway. There's an aphorism that they can use. And then he had an action for them to take, he's like, "Create a customer management system for friends, and here's how I do it, here's how you can do it." So he had a story, a takeaway, and an action, a specific action for them to take. And what I've found is that people who write nonfiction, more often than not, they think that the things that they know are way more useless than they are. It's like if you're an expert in something, even if you're expertise is in your own life, you're more often going to dismiss what you know just because you are an expert. It seems obvious and easy to you because you're the expert, but to a reader or a listener, you have to lay it out explicitly and that's valuable.Ben Guest:I love it. And when you're doing this kind of outline, you personally, pen-paper, computer, note cards, what?Greg Larson:I do it on a Google Drive document, and I have a template that I use that I can just repeat. I can copy and paste these 10 tables so that all of the segmenting off is already filled in. It's like, "Oh, there's a box for stories and there's a box for points." That kind of thing. That's how I use it. And then I write the draft. I'm writing my current novel on Legal Pad, but I would never write nonfiction on Legal Pad, I think, I don't know why exactly, but a narrative story I'd write on the-Ben Guest:Nice. So just to recap. One of the advantages actually with non-fiction is, basically, you know the ending. If you've selected this transformative moment in your life or you and I have both done ghost writing and co-authoring someone else's life, the transformative event or events. But generally, you want to keep it as tight as possible, the lesson they learned from that or the life lesson, I guess. If you know that, you know how it ends, you know what you want to communicate, that's then going to help you when you come up with the chapter topics. Because something that takes a detour off that main road probably doesn't need to go any further.Greg Larson:Probably so, but I want to make an important distinction here. The difference between a memoir and prescriptive nonfiction, a memoir is explicitly a narrative, it's nonfiction written with all the tenets of good fiction, character, scene, plot, all that stuff. That's a different beast in a certain way. And that should be constrained in a timeframe. Whereas prescriptive nonfiction, which is the type of... like how-to books, self-help books, business books, that kind of thing, they're going to have memoir elements of stories and stuff, but it doesn't need to be as constrained, it just needs to be constrained by the topic. So those stories can be plucked from all different aspects of your life, they both serve different purposes.Ben Guest:The prescriptive writing, like you're saying, there's lots of room for lots of different types of topics and lots of different stories and lots of different examples, and the overall theme can be as narrow or as wide as you want to make it.Greg Larson:Yes, exactly.Ben Guest:Okay. If we jump over to fiction, so if I go back to my zombie apocalypse screenplay, so now I have my theme, “Everything changes.” So now what I do is, I'm going to come up with the characters, and I'm going to come up with their backstory, the kind of music they like, are they an introvert or an extrovert? Do they have a lot of friends or just a few friends? What's their favorite movie? Just some information. When I then do act one, act two, act three, I have something to generate why this person is doing this thing in this moment.Greg Larson:Do you use character diamonds?Ben Guest:No. Talk to me about that.Greg Larson:It's a screenwriting tool that I've been trying to use for fiction. I'm not super familiar with it, but in general, a character diamond, it's like a four-pointed diamond, the same kind of diamond you'd see on a ski hill, like double diamond. A character diamond, so you have at the very top of a diamond like the point of a four points diamond you might see on a ski hill. At the very top is the primary trait of the character or their North Star, what they want more than anything else in the world. And then opposing it is their mask, the version of themselves that they show the world that they would probably never admit to themselves. And then on the other side, on the horizontal points, on one end is their non-negotiable, the hill that they're willing to die on, and then on the other end is their fatal flaw. And theory behind it that I've learned or that I'm trying to understand more completely is that, the more opposed each of those points in the diamond are, the more strong that character will be. An example, like Han Solo, I guess. Han Solo's primary trait, he's he's a maverick cowboy space bounty hunter. That's his primary trait. And then his shadow or his mask is that he's an emotionless swashbuckler. His fatal flaw, I think that he is money hungry and that he would do anything for money. But the hill he's willing to die on is his friends. So it's like these things are somewhat opposed. I'm sure I'm f*****g up the vertical diamond's points, but we're learning as we go here. But the more opposed these things are, the stronger the character. I'm trying to understand that relative to fiction writing.Ben Guest:Right. That is a great framework because storytelling almost always involves conflict, internal conflict and external conflict. So that's a great way to figure out both the character's internal conflict and then find things that are going to spark external conflict. I think the most important is deciding what your character really wants, because that's usually going to drive the actions they take, and that will eventually drive the conflict. David Mamet says each scene should be, what does the hero want? Why doesn't she get it? What happens next? That until the character gets what they want, which doesn't happen until the very end of the story, you're always going to have forward plot momentum.Ben Guest:So to use our Star Wars idea, Luke Skywalker, in the first Star Wars, Luke Skywalker wants to leave home and go on an adventure. He gets that, not necessarily in the way that he was initially thinking, but that's eventually what he gets by the end of the film.Greg Larson:The details for these characters, their backgrounds and stuff, sometimes you just have to know that as the author, but your reader doesn't have to know that. How do you discern which goes in and which is just is for you?Ben Guest:I saw an interview with Tarantino about Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. And in that film, Leonardo DiCaprio's character is on a '50s Western TV show called Bounty Law. It's not really important in terms of when you're watching the film, they just cut to it a few times. Tarantino said he wrote six episodes of Bounty Law just so he would know exactly what this show is that this character had been the lead actor on that the movie is not even about. It's not about the lead actor. It's not about Leonardo being in Bounty Law, it's about 10 years later when Leonardo is losing his career. And I'm sure there are other authors that just have a really light sketch.So for me, I like to be somewhere in the middle. I don't want to spend all this time thinking about, what did they major in college? And there are certain things like music or your favorite movie that if you know that, that's what you need to know to sketch the character out. So for me, I have like an iceberg that has a third underneath, one third above and two thirds underneath, something like that at maybe.Greg Larson:Got you. But you keep those things to yourself for the most part.Ben Guest:Yeah. I would say the ratio of what you know versus what you reveal is... Again, sorry for the hammering, I don't know, one to six probably. So, I know this character's favorite movie is Aladdin, there's a one in six chance that at some point that's going to be mentioned somewhere or referenced somewhere in the story. What about character in terms of nonfiction or in terms of memoir?Greg Larson:For my most recent memoir, I did a lot of interviews with the guys that were going to be characterized in the book. It's an interesting balance to play. The characters are real people and so in the first draft, I had to think about it in sociopathic terms, like, I'm not going to think about the ramifications of telling these stories on the real people, I'll think about that in the edit. And so the first draft, or I should say the first draft of my memoir as an actual narrative memoir, I had stuff in there about people that I eventually cut out because I was like, "This is wildly inappropriate." Inside Clubhouse stuff, even beyond inside baseball, it was just like, it might have ruined marriages kind of stuff. And I was like, "This is just not worth it." But at the same to time, I was looking at it through the lens of, what did I see? Anything that I see or hear is mine to own from then on, and anything that I could discover online, I would try to figure out as much as possible. I don't know, man, it's a hard question to answer because you're confined by who somebody really is and who somebody was as you saw of them at that time. I didn't do it real consciously.Ben Guest:Right. And that's one of the things you always have to think about with real people is, "This is my perception of one side of them or one side of their mask even, and this thing I'm creating is going to live "forever" I'm putting that in quotation marks, "in the world." So I think that tactic that you mentioned is exactly right. In the planning stages when it's just you and you, 100% honesty and openness about everything. Right now, it's just stuff you're throwing on the metaphorical page and it doesn't ever need to go further than that. But early on, I think it actually until you get to the editing phase, honesty is the best pilot, and the more open and the more honest, the better.Greg Larson:Yes. You're going to be honest throughout the entire process, but it's just a matter of how much you reveal.Ben Guest:Yeah. That's a better way to put it, 100%. Now we've got our char, we've got our theme, we have our question, we have our audience, we have our goals, we have our characters.Greg Larson:I was curious, actually you mentioned the three act structure in screenwriting, and that's another one of those things I'm like, "Man, how much does that apply to novel writing?" Where did you learn the three act structure and how did you start implementing it?Ben Guest:Sure. The most famous, I guess in interpretation is Joseph Campbell, The Hero's Journey. So act one would be leaving home, Luke Skywalker's aunt and uncle are killed and he flies off to the stars. And then act two is discovering the new world and ends with the lowest point. So in Star Wars, it's when Obi-Wan is killed. And then act three is triumph. Usually you get what you wanted, but not in the way you wanted, you changed as a person and you bring peace back to the land or whatever it is. The Matrix fits that perfectly where Neo, at the end of act one is when Neo leaves the Matrix, is pulled out of the Matrix.Ben Guest:Then act two is learning this new world, and the end of act two is when Morpheus is captured, it's the low point. And then act three is the triumph. But I like to make it even simpler and so I go back to David Mamet, who said, "Act one is you get your character up a tree, act two is you light the tree on fire. And so it's just each scene should lead into the next scene. And generally, the scene should lead into the next scene because the character isn't getting something. So if we go back to Mamet's idea of up a tree, tree on fire, then the character is going to reach a stumbling block and then a character's going to reach a much bigger stumbling block. Those are your ends of act one and act two. So let me ask you, does that translate into fiction writing and memoir writing? I'm trying to think in my own mind now?Greg Larson:If I'm doing it well. That's the thing, is I think, well, two things, did you learn that from what's called The Hero with a Thousand Faces? I don't know.Ben Guest:Yeah. That's the Joseph Campbell book. I haven't read that book, but there's plenty of work that's been done off of it. Yeah, 100%.Greg Larson:But did you find that framework somewhere else?Ben Guest:Yeah. Just online, there's a bunch of stuff on the Hero's Journey and there's a circle diagram that you just follow the circle in terms of the events that can happen in that type of story.Greg Larson:As far as memoir, does that framework hold up for memoir? Here's some mistakes that I made when writing both my memoirs is that I wasn't thinking about it in terms of those really tightly defined storytelling elements. I was just trying to write a story interestingly, but I didn't even... A fatal flaw with literary fiction and literary nonfiction is that they focus more on character than story, which they're not mutually exclusive, but I was focusing more on the internal transformations of the characters, which is interesting, but it didn't always have... When you read upmarket fiction, you can tell that each chapter is like the cliff hanger at the end of an episode of a really great TV show and it keeps you going more, and more and that's not an accident. And it's a formula that I'm trying to learn, but I don't even know how to learn it exactly yet. I'm just trying to write this novel that I'm writing, I'm just trying to write each scene in a way that somebody transforms in some little way at the end of it, and that we get a little bit closer to what I think the ending is without wasting the reader's time and trying to do it as beautifully as possible.Ben Guest:So to that idea then the impetus to keep going is every scene I read in Greg's book, I'm learning a little something because there's a little nugget of truth of a life lesson in there.Greg Larson:Well, that would be more for prescriptive nonfiction, but if I'm thinking of a narrative of a memoir or a novel, I don't know that there even needs to be a life lesson, it's just the character develops or the plot advances a little bit farther. But with prescriptive nonfiction, ideally it would be some kind of life lesson, because a reader isn't reading a self-help book or a how-to book to watch a character develop. They're reading it so that their own characters can develop oddly enough. And so in order to do that, you have to help them transform at the end of the chapter. I'd never made that connection before, but a prescriptive nonfiction book is a book in which the hero is the reader.Ben Guest:Oh, that's deep. That's fantastic. And the hero's going on a journey, the reader's going on a journey hopefully, or they're going to take steps to go on a journey. Oh, I like that. I'm working on a memoir right now about coaching basketball, coaching high school in the states and then professionally "overseas" in Namibia, in Southern Africa. So what I try to do there is each scene, each chapter should have enough forward plot momentum that it makes you want to read the next chapter, very, very light cliff hangers. That's how I think about it in memoir writing that there needs to be, why is the reader going to turn a page? What are your thoughts about it with memoir?Greg Larson:I look back at my old work and I cringe because I would do it so differently now, but what I tried to do with my most recent memoir was end each chapter in a way that... It was like I would be in scene for most of the chapters. We're in the clubhouse, we're on the field and I'm describing details in a way that you can actually put yourself there. And at the end of each chapter, I would try to zoom out a little bit and not say, "This is what it meant." And when I was there, I would do something more like, I can find an example here.Ben Guest:I love it. Available at fine independent bookstores near you.Greg Larson:That's exactly right.Ben Guest:Or even better, signed by the author online.Greg Larson:That's right. At clubbiebook.com. So this is the end of chapter 11, where I am in the middle of two seasons. It's the off season and we spend a lot of time in my off season home in South Carolina with my girlfriend and our relationship troubles and it's like, "Am I going to go back to baseball or am I going to stay in South Carolina?" Well, there's another half of the book, so we know what's going to happen. So we're in scene in the house for most of the chapter. And then at the very end, I decided that I'm going to go back and there's these final couple of paragraphs where I zoom out and I'll read a few sentences.Greg Larson:And just like that, I packed my things into the caddy for the drive north, Nicole and I renewed our lease so I was coming right back there once the season finished. We said goodbye to each other just like we had so many times before. Aberdeen had been just a memory.So now I'm zooming back a little bit.I never thought I'd actually return there anymore than I'd returned to my youth, but I looked forward to the season in a certain way, like when you do the same things over and over again expecting something to be fundamentally different, because it's always the next meal, the next f**k, the next Christmas that will finally make you happy, the next baseball season, because this is all you know how to do. You don't ask the sun, why you orbit, you just orbit. You let the gravitational waves of the baseball season pull you in and you surrender yourself happily. You slap on your faded, blue stretch, fit BP cap with the orange cursive “A”on the crown and you drive your Cadillac from one single story, brick rambler to another somewhere just off the I-95 corridor in Maryland.And so there's this zooming out that I think I wasn't consciously doing that, but that was how I would give the reader a cliffhanger. It was like, scene, scene, scene, zoom out for a little bit of, "Oh, here's the meaning of what happened," without saying like, "Here's the meaning of what happened." And I think that kept some momentum going, even though I didn't realize that's what I was doing.Ben Guest:That's such a great framework, Greg. So to my mind, the best storytellers out there are the folks at This American Life, the radio program, their framework is exactly that, scene, scene, scene, what's the bigger meaning behind this? Scene, scene scene, what's the bigger... And that's exactly what it is. So that I think is a beautiful way to end the chapter and to plug's into people's naturally wanting to make connections, hear a story and understand what the greater connection is, the greater meaning.Greg Larson:Yes. And I found that readers were actually upset or at least inquisitive about the parts where I didn't zoom out and provide the greater meaning. And I wanted to be like, "Well, just look at the action and discern for yourself." But they wanted my guidance as the author, which totally makes sense. Again, I can look back and see places that I would've done it differently.Ben Guest:What chapter was that the end of?Greg Larson:Chapter 11.Ben Guest:So in your outline, what do the chapter 11 outline look like?Greg Larson:If I recall correctly, I did not have anything like, "Oh, expand out at the very end of the chapters." No. I think it was just literally, I said off season, and then I wrote a bunch of fragmented details of come back to South Carolina, find mess, Nicole and I argue, like that kind of stuff. It was chaos us in a certain way, but that's how I think about it. It's like writing a book is taking like the chaos of my ideas into the order of-Ben Guest:Right. Back to our therapy analogy, randomness of this, this and this, okay, where's the pattern in it? The next thing that I do, if I go back to my screenplay and my act. So act one, if we do the zombie movie, act one is when the zombies start taking over the world and this father and his two teenage kids have to find shelter. That's the end of act one. And then the end of act two is the father has a medical condition, I gave him meningitis, and he needs to have a shot of penicillin to save him. So now the kids are going to have to leave the shelter that they sought out. So just act one, act two. And then in act three, the father dies, but the daughter who is the main character comes to accept that everything changes. And then what I'm going to do is plot out scene by scene. Scene one is going to start in the chemistry lab at the high school, scene two is going to be the hallway in the locker room, scene three is going to be the wrestling mat. And then I have the characters who are in that scene and the point of that scene. And now to your point about the diagram, the character diamond, on the left hand side of the outline for each scene, vertically I write each of the characters in that scene once. And then vertically on the right side, and I think this is the key, and this is going back to something you said really early on in this conversation, on the right side, I write down what is the emotion I want the audience to be feeling in this scene. Do I want them laughing, scared, nervous, whatever? All of that translates to any kind of storytelling, I think, except maybe prescriptive in terms of what is the emotional feeling, what is the emotion I want the audience to have at this moment?Greg Larson:Do you know how many scenes you're going to have in each act? Do you set that aside beforehand or know an ideal?Ben Guest:No. Generally, for me, it's like 10, 10 and 10. It's like a third, a third, a third, but depending on again, many pass, many stories. The other thing especially with fiction writing, so not screenplay writing, but fiction writing and memoir, it's also like the story's going to tell you how to tell it, because we haven't even into non-linear storytelling, but In some ways as you're working through the story, it will also reveal to you the way in which you should tell that story, right?Greg Larson:I like that. I like the screenwriting tenets because screenwriting has to be way more succinct than these other forms of writing, you have to be totally dialed in. That dialed-in process, I don't even start that until the editing phase. In the drafting phase, I'm just like, have a rough idea and f*****g bang it out, but I want to use that in my editing process because I can be too slip shot with like, "Oh, what exact points or emotion are we trying to evoke?"Ben Guest:I'm just trying to think of this, the memoir I'm working on now how I outline that. So it's 21 chapters, and you said Clubbie was 20 chapters, right?Greg Larson:Yep.Ben Guest:So similar number of chapters. And then I know the events that are happening in chronological order, first game of the playoffs is a chapter. And then maybe just the two or three key moments I want to hit in that chapter. And that's it.Greg Larson:Are you going off of like a journal or anything like that? Yeah, that's invaluable. I honestly, I don't know how people would write a memoir without having something like that.Ben Guest:What's really funny Greg is, the book covers two basketball seasons, and I kept a journal the second season. And the second season, everybody, all my early readers, they're all like, "Man, the second half of the book just moves in a good way." And I'm like, "Yeah, it's because I had so much of that iceberg to work from. And the first half I'm trying to remember conversations from five years ago."Greg Larson:Did you have a lot of summary in the first half of the book or were you still able to build-Ben Guest:The biggest thing, actually I was working on this morning, is just going back, and this goes back to screenplay writing of the idea of show don't tell. I was just doing a lot of telling and now basically I'm just going back and recreating dialogue to make it more in the moment.Greg Larson:Show versus tell is an important comparison. This thing that I learned in school that was really helpful distinction on that was scene versus summary of scene building of a story with dialogue and summary of here's what happened, "I went to the store that day and I bought apple juice," that kind of stuff. And another one, this is getting more into the craft of actually storytelling, but action is character is one of the biggest ones that I've stuck with, that one of my teachers taught me from F. Scott Fitzgerald. That's been a big one, don't tell the reader who somebody else is, just show it to them.Ben Guest:If you have to tell the reader, you're a shitty storyteller. You should be able to show the character by the action.Greg Larson:I want to talk about one part of the planning process that I haven't mentioned yet that is so important that a lot of people screw up. I teach people how to do this and I still screw it up. You can have all this stuff right and you still... Forget about writing a great book, but not even finishing your first draft ever. You can do all of this right and just not write your words because of anxiety is getting in the way and because of all kinds of stuff. The way I think about it, you need a writing plan, accountability and a reward system in order to get your book regardless of what genre you're working in.Greg Larson:The way I think about it is this, a writing plan, how many words per day are you going to write? And are you going to be writing on only weekdays? Are you going to be writing only on weekends? Are you going to do seven days a week? That's your writing plan? Where are you going to write? What time of day are you going to write? And actually put in it in your Google or Outlook calendar, whatever it be. And so you have a specific word count that you have to reach every single week, for example. For me, it's two pages per weekday, so 10 pages per week.Greg Larson:My goal is two pages a day that turns into 10 written pages per week. That's my writing plan. And then the accountability, this is where a lot of people mess up, you have to have accountability in order to finish your book, I think. My accountability is that I send a video of the 10 pages I've written to my friend, my business partner, Alex, every Friday at 6:30 PM to prove that I've actually written a book. And those little details matter a lot because then all of a sudden, I have somebody that's like, I don't know if he even cares or would be disappointed, but I would be disappointed if I didn't have it to send to him.Greg Larson:And then the rewards and punishment, if I do that every week, I reward myself. For me, I go get barbecue or I go to a buffet or something. And then the punishment is I send him $100 if I don't do it. I think a lot of authors mess that up because those are the workday technicalities of actually getting your words down on the page. I don't know if it's going to turn into an amazing book, but I know that it's going to get me a finished book, and that's way better than an unfinished book. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit benbo.substack.com

This week on Lets Talk, we're discussing Clint Eastwood. Clint Eastwood s an American actor, film director, producer, and composer. After achieving success in the Western TV series Rawhide, he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy" of Spaghetti Westerns during the mid-1960s and as antihero cop Harry Callahan in the five Dirty Harry films throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, among others, have made Eastwood an enduring cultural icon of masculinity. As always let us know your thoughts send us a tweet or on Facebook Make sure you listen for the secret word. The secret word will be said during each episode on Wednesdays for five weeks. After collecting all the secret words email us at larry@cinema-gold.com and be the first one and you could win a pair of Raycon earbuds. Sponsors: Pod Decks: www.poddecks.com - Use Promo Code larry21 for Ten Percent off your order Audible: Free 30-day trial and audiobook - www.audibletrial.com/larry21 Follow Us on Social Media: Twitter: www.twitter.com/cinemagoldshow IG: https://www.instagram.com/thecinemagoldshow/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cinemagoldshow If you enjoy the show, consider becoming a financial supporter. You can: Buy Us A Coffee:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/cinemagold Become a Patron: https://patreon.com/cinemagold GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/dadb7f77

The star of a Western TV series suddenly finds himself transported back in time to the real Wild West, and face-to-face with the real Jesse James.Sean Magers and Keith Conrad are re-watching The Twilight Zone. Each week they share their reactions to each episode and even a little a little trivia along the way.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/time-enough-at-last/donations

Hundreds of episodes of old Western TV shows plus dozens upon dozens of Western movies, and no one was shot on set.  How?  Alec Baldwin says now we need an off duty police officer on all movie sets to make sure they are safe.  How did we manage it before? Peter and callers discuss this silly idea.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How many people were shot on the set of the older Western TV shows and Movies?  How did they manage it when Alec Baldwin could not on his movie set? Peter and callers discuss the shifting blame in the story of the movie set shooting See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's episode of The Waves, Slate TV critic Willa Paskin and Vulture staff writer Kathryn VanArendonk talk about the precarious position of white men on TV this summer. Their conversation, inspired by Kathryn's recent piece in Vulture, TV's White Guys Are in Crisis, surveys the history of white men on TV, from the good-guy dad to the complex antihero, through to our current moment, where shows like Rutherford Falls and Kevin Can F**k Himself position their white guys as obstacles, and The White Lotus overtly asks, would we prefer white guys to disappear entirely? Willa and Kathryn get into it.  After the break, our hosts contrast these shows to their glaring exception, Apple TV's Ted Lasso, which allows its white guy lead to be uncomplicatedly beloved. Is his charming take on progressive masculinity too good to be true?  For Slate Plus members, Willa and Kathryn contribute to our regular segment, Gateway Feminism, where they talk about one thing that helped make them feminists. For Willa, it's the young adult series The Baby-Sitter's Club, by Ann M. Martin, and for Kathryn it's the Western TV drama Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.  Recommendations Kathryn recommends three things: Felco garden clippers, the Toniebox, and the TV series What We Do in the Shadows. Willa thinks you should check out Richard Powers' novel The Overstory. Podcast production by Asha Saluja filling in for Cheyna Roth. Editorial oversight by Susan Matthews and June Thomas.  Send your comments and thoughts about what The Waves should cover to thewaves@slate.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode of The Waves, Slate TV critic Willa Paskin and Vulture staff writer Kathryn VanArendonk talk about the precarious position of white men on TV this summer. Their conversation, inspired by Kathryn's recent piece in Vulture, TV's White Guys Are in Crisis, surveys the history of white men on TV, from the good-guy dad to the complex antihero, through to our current moment, where shows like Rutherford Falls and Kevin Can F**k Himself position their white guys as obstacles, and The White Lotus overtly asks, would we prefer white guys to disappear entirely? Willa and Kathryn get into it.  After the break, our hosts contrast these shows to their glaring exception, Apple TV's Ted Lasso, which allows its white guy lead to be uncomplicatedly beloved. Is his charming take on progressive masculinity too good to be true?  For Slate Plus members, Willa and Kathryn contribute to our regular segment, Gateway Feminism, where they talk about one thing that helped make them feminists. For Willa, it's the young adult series The Baby-Sitter's Club, by Ann M. Martin, and for Kathryn it's the Western TV drama Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.  Recommendations Kathryn recommends three things: Felco garden clippers, the Toniebox, and the TV series What We Do in the Shadows. Willa thinks you should check out Richard Powers' novel The Overstory. Podcast production by Asha Saluja filling in for Cheyna Roth. Editorial oversight by Susan Matthews and June Thomas.  Send your comments and thoughts about what The Waves should cover to thewaves@slate.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode of The Waves, Slate TV critic Willa Paskin and Vulture staff writer Kathryn VanArendonk talk about the precarious position of white men on TV this summer. Their conversation, inspired by Kathryn's recent piece in Vulture, TV's White Guys Are in Crisis, surveys the history of white men on TV, from the good-guy dad to the complex antihero, through to our current moment, where shows like Rutherford Falls and Kevin Can F**k Himself position their white guys as obstacles, and The White Lotus overtly asks, would we prefer white guys to disappear entirely? Willa and Kathryn get into it.  After the break, our hosts contrast these shows to their glaring exception, Apple TV's Ted Lasso, which allows its white guy lead to be uncomplicatedly beloved. Is his charming take on progressive masculinity too good to be true?  For Slate Plus members, Willa and Kathryn contribute to our regular segment, Gateway Feminism, where they talk about one thing that helped make them feminists. For Willa, it's the young adult series The Baby-Sitter's Club, by Ann M. Martin, and for Kathryn it's the Western TV drama Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.  Recommendations Kathryn recommends three things: Felco garden clippers, the Toniebox, and the TV series What We Do in the Shadows. Willa thinks you should check out Richard Powers' novel The Overstory. Podcast production by Asha Saluja filling in for Cheyna Roth. Editorial oversight by Susan Matthews and June Thomas.  Send your comments and thoughts about what The Waves should cover to thewaves@slate.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode of The Waves, Slate TV critic Willa Paskin and Vulture staff writer Kathryn VanArendonk talk about the precarious position of white men on TV this summer. Their conversation, inspired by Kathryn's recent piece in Vulture, TV's White Guys Are in Crisis, surveys the history of white men on TV, from the good-guy dad to the complex antihero, through to our current moment, where shows like Rutherford Falls and Kevin Can F**k Himself position their white guys as obstacles, and The White Lotus overtly asks, would we prefer white guys to disappear entirely? Willa and Kathryn get into it.  After the break, our hosts contrast these shows to their glaring exception, Apple TV's Ted Lasso, which allows its white guy lead to be uncomplicatedly beloved. Is his charming take on progressive masculinity too good to be true?  For Slate Plus members, Willa and Kathryn contribute to our regular segment, Gateway Feminism, where they talk about one thing that helped make them feminists. For Willa, it's the young adult series The Baby-Sitter's Club, by Ann M. Martin, and for Kathryn it's the Western TV drama Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.  Recommendations Kathryn recommends three things: Felco garden clippers, the Toniebox, and the TV series What We Do in the Shadows. Willa thinks you should check out Richard Powers' novel The Overstory. Podcast production by Asha Saluja filling in for Cheyna Roth. Editorial oversight by Susan Matthews and June Thomas.  Send your comments and thoughts about what The Waves should cover to thewaves@slate.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By 1973 Elvis had definitely not left the building.  In fact, January 1973 would be the month that Elvis Presley would broadcast a concert live via satellite to 38 countries.  The concert would air in the United States on NBC in April 1973, and would be the basis for the album we are featuring - Aloha From Hawaii via Satellite, the four-month delay being a result of a conflict with Super Bowl VII (which Miami Dolphin fans will recall as the culmination of Miami's undefeated season).Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis's manager, got the idea of a live satellite broadcast from Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China.  There is also speculation that Parker took this step in lieu of an international tour to avoid revealing his status as an illegal immigrant in the United States (Parker was Dutch).  The concert was scheduled at the conclusion of the fifty-nine show engagement at the Las Vegas Hilton.The special was produced by Marty Pasetta, who had produced television specials for others like Perry Como, Glen Campbell, and multiple specials from Hawaii for Don Ho.  Pasetta was concerned after seeing what he considered a lackluster live Elvis show in Long Island.  Despite a dismissive stance from Colonel Parker, Pasetta took his ideas directly to Presley.  He wanted a lower stage with a runway, allowing better audience participation.  He wanted mirrors to frame the stage and neon lights to read "Elvis" in the language of all the countries to which the concert was broadcast.  Finally, and most controversially, he wanted Elvis to lose weight for the show.  Presley was impressed with his frankness, and took up his ideas, even embarking on an exercise routine at Graceland.  Aloha From Hawaii via Satellite would bookend the comeback era for Elvis which was started with his 1968 television special.  Elvis would encounter difficulties in his family life, health, and prescription drug use that would eventually result in his untimely death in 1977. Also Sprach Zarathustra/See See RiderThe Ricard Strauss tone poem made famous in "2001: A Space Odyssey" starts off the concert.  The intro leads into the blues standard "See See Rider" first performed by Gertrude "Ma" Rainey in the 1920's, and covered by many performers including Chuck Willis, Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels, and the Animals.Burning LoveDennis Linde wrote this song for Elvis in 1972, and it was a big hit, rising to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.  The track would be the last Elvis song to reach the 1op 10 in the U.S.My WayThis song is a cover originally performed by Frank Sinatra in 1969.  The lyrics are from Paul Anka.  Although it remains closely associated with Sinatra, it would also become a staple of Elvis performances in the 70's, and would hit number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 shortly after Presley's death.American TrilogyCountry composer Mick Newbury wrote this medley, and it would be popularized by Presley as the showstopper for many of his concerts.  The medley includes the 19th century southern song, “Dixie,” the marching hymn of the Union army, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and the African American spiritual “All My Trials.”  ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:Theme from the television series “Bonanza"The final episode of this long-running Western TV series aired in this month. STAFF PICKS:Papa Was a Rollin' Stone by the TemptationsBruce's staff pick is a funky and long song, with the album version of the song running 11 minutes and 46 seconds.  Originally released by The Undisputed Truth, the Temptations would take this song to number 1, and would win 3 Grammy awards.  “Papa was a rollin' stone.  Wherever he laid his hat was his home, and when he died, all he left us was alone.” You Turn Me On I'm a Radio  by Joni MitchellRob heads into the folk genre with singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell and this single from her fifth studio album.  David Crosby, Graham Nash, and Neil Young all participated in the recording session for this song, but only Nash's harmonica work made it to the final cut.  This was Mitchell's first top 40 hit in the United States. Dixie Chicken by Little FeatWayne's Southern Rock staff pick was actually recorded by a Los Angeles band.  Bonnie Raitt sings backing vocals on this song.  The story is about a guy who marries a girl in a drunken haze, only to be left shortly thereafter.Living In the Past by Jethro TullBrian's pick is a 5/4 metered song by rock flutist Ian Anderson.  This is the highest charting track from Jethro Tull.  It was a rejection of the happy tone that was fashionable in the post-Beatles music of the time.  Despite its success, Anderson did not like it.   FINISHING TRACK:I Can't Help Falling in Love With You by Elvis PresleyElvis closed out his concert with this song, and we're closing out this week's podcast the same way..

There's a parade of great and adventurous stories of the Old West as seen through the lens of mid-century television courtesy free TV - Guy perseveres through a graphic design project logjam and comes out on top... and celebrates - Buckles Branigan joins Guy in the studio to talk about his beloved town of Southfork. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/guy-masse/support

Michael and Pax finish up the Sabata series as Lee Van Cleef comes back to the role for Return of Sabata. Something else that returns is the "Whatchoo Been Westernin'?" segment with Pax reading the comic The Legend of Oz: Wicked West by Tom Hutchinson and Alisson Borges and listening to Zaron Burnett's Black Cowboys podcast. Meanwhile, Michael's been watching the 1998 sorta-Western TV series, Little Men.  

The Good Neighbor Kathy Keene had an open show.

Phil discovers "outdated depiction" warnings on Western TV shows, and he suspects there's a lot in the Bible that would get the same treatment. Al gives a shout-out to an "Unashamed" listener who started a ministry. Jase shares what the "Duck Dynasty" producers said about his belief in God at their first meeting. And the guys discuss the most embarrassing rebuke in the history of organized religion, cancel culture in Acts, and why anyone can become an amazing child of God. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For this full-length episode, Paul and Rich hit the dusty trail with crews from two of the most fondly remembered Western TV shows—Rawhide and Wagon Train. It's time to head 'em up and move 'em out and get the herd moving and the wagons rolling into the badlands of rustlers, Indians, and all manner of unscrupulous varmints...01:35 — Listener recommendations for fascinating cavalry adventure reads.02:40 — Rich rediscovers Frank Bonham and reviews ONE RIDE TOO MANY and LOGAN’S CHOICE. 06:36 — Paul takes a look at A HACK’s NOTEBOOK by Ben Haas and Mens’ Adventure Christmas lists10:24 — Paul and Rich look at the origins of TV’s Rawhide14:20 — Rawhide’s gritty, adult realism was tempered with familiar guest stars15:35 — What about Rawhide stars Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood?18:20 — Rich and Paul hitch a ride on TV’s Wagon Train20:50 — Who were Ward Bond and Robert Horton?23:10 — The loss of the show’s two top stars28:10 — Up against The Virginian31:20 — Paul & Rich reveal some Rawhide and Wagon Train tie-in merchandise33:14 — Shoot-outs and Shout-outsThanks to sponsors, Wolfpack Publishing, Author Chris Enss, and the Western Writers of America. Thanks too to WWA’s Roundup magazine for helping us get the word out about the Six-Gun Justice PodcastSupport us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sixgunjusticePlease drop us an email at: sixgunjusticewesterns@gmail.comAs ever, thanks to all our friends and listeners. Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/donate?token=kRf2_NuEPxu37b9-4FZKmX0UAJ4ZdKVRhAgUrm-4gBj-CkNHowjeqW7Q4bYKdoyNoNgGhKTBK-OpQSh_)

We go through all our favorites of the year from 2020 Western TV animation after giving all of our thoughts on the recent Adventure Time Obsidian special, the premiere episodes of Onyx Equinox, Season 1 of the Animaniacs reboot, and […]

We go through all our favorites of the year from 2020 Western TV animation after giving all of our thoughts on the recent Adventure Time Obsidian special, the premiere episodes of Onyx Equinox, Season 1 of the Animaniacs reboot, and […]

We go through all our favorites of the year from 2020 Western TV animation after giving all of our thoughts on the recent Adventure Time Obsidian special, the premiere episodes of Onyx Equinox, Season 1 of the Animaniacs reboot, and […]

We go through all our favorites of the year from 2020 Western TV animation after giving all of our thoughts on the recent Adventure Time Obsidian special, the premiere episodes of Onyx Equinox, Season 1 of the Animaniacs reboot, and […]

We go through all our favorites of the year from 2020 Western TV animation after giving all of our thoughts on the recent Adventure Time Obsidian special, the premiere episodes of Onyx Equinox, Season 1 of the Animaniacs reboot, and […]

We go through all our favorites of the year from 2020 Western TV animation after giving all of our thoughts on the recent Adventure Time Obsidian special, the premiere episodes of Onyx Equinox, Season 1 of the Animaniacs reboot, and […]

We go through all our favorites of the year from 2020 Western TV animation after giving all of our thoughts on the recent Adventure Time Obsidian special, the premiere episodes of Onyx Equinox, Season 1 of the Animaniacs reboot, and […]

We go through all our favorites of the year from 2020 Western TV animation after giving all of our thoughts on the recent Adventure Time Obsidian special, the premiere episodes of Onyx Equinox, Season 1 of the Animaniacs reboot, and […]

We go through all our favorites of the year from 2020 Western TV animation after giving all of our thoughts on the recent Adventure Time Obsidian special, the premiere episodes of Onyx Equinox, Season 1 of the Animaniacs reboot, and […]

We go through all our favorites of the year from 2020 Western TV animation after giving all of our thoughts on the recent Adventure Time Obsidian special, the premiere episodes of Onyx Equinox, Season 1 of the Animaniacs reboot, and […]

We go through all our favorites of the year from 2020 Western TV animation after giving all of our thoughts on the recent Adventure Time Obsidian special, the premiere episodes of Onyx Equinox, Season 1 of the Animaniacs reboot, and […]

Jump into the ring with us as we revisit “The Return of the Masked Rider.” This week we go a few rounds with a posse of aging Western TV stars, a stylish street gang, and a kidnapped grandpa. Sam unexpectedly gets a bleak glimpse of his future to round out this knockout of an episode. SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/highwaytoheavenrevisited QUESTIONS AND OPINIONS ------------------------- Call the Hotline to Heaven: 612-356-2495 Email: highwaytoheavenrevisited@gmail.com Website: https://www.highwaytoheavenrevisited.com FOLLOW US ELSEWHERE ------------------------- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/highwaytoheavenrevisited Facebook: https://fb.me/HighwayToHeavenRevisited YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX33CQUcYBFpY2x193g_Miw SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/ch3tv PRODUCTION CREDIT ------------------------- Host: Rachel Mayer: https://www.instagram.com/rachaelmayerart Host: Joel Lueders: https://www.instagram.com/joelmakesthings Moderator & Editor: Sam Heyn: https://vimeo.com/samheyn Recorded at CH3TV Studios in beautiful Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2020. MUSIC CREDIT ------------------------- Title Theme: Brian Just Artist Link: https://www.brianjust.com

It's time to push through the batwing doors and start living on Jacks and Queens for Episode 17 of the Six-Gun Justice Podcast. Have a seat at the poker table with Paul and Rich as they deal in one of the most fondly remembered Western TV icons—The cardsharp and reluctant hero known as Maverick... 01:20 — Rich reviews PULP, a new graphic novel by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.03:16 — Props to our behind-the-scenes friends, Ed Robertson, Lee Goldberg, and Max Allan Collins04:18 — Roy Huggins and the Origin of Maverick08:54 — Not a Comedy Western, but a Western with Humor10:00 — Huggins’ Ten Point Guide to Maverick’s Success12:00 — Enter Jack Kelly as Bart14:20 — Rich and Paul share Maverick’s “Pappyisms.”15:40 — Exit Garner, Enter Moore…16:45 — …and Robert Colbert17:05 — Paul and Rich share their favorite episodes21:40 — The New Maverick and Young Maverick fold23:16 — 1981’s Brett Maverick plays his hand25:33 — The Not-So Magnificent Six26:40 — What Might Have Been—with Jack Kelly28:30 — Richard Donner’s Big Screen Maverick31:00 — Paul Newman as Maverick?33:49 — Max Allan Collins on the movie tie-in novel35:52 — Rich looks at the Whitman juvenile tie-in novel38:29 — Paul reviews the Little Golden Book39:48 — Our heroes explore the Maverick comics and licensed oddities43:25 — Shoot-Outs and Shout-Outs—Thanks to sponsors, Wolfpack Publishing, Author Chris Enss, and the Western Writers of America. Thanks too to WWA’s Roundup magazine for helping us get the word out about the Six-Gun Justice PodcastSupport us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sixgunjusticePlease drop us an email at: sixgunjusticewesterns@gmail.comAs ever, thanks to all our friends and listeners. Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=suROpN0f2hQhThddyTchkgR4CytqmFW705g1jNJV3rCDT8OLxSCXKbf8j0oyifmCvb3fAW&fromUL=true&country.x=US&locale.x=en_US)

Today's Snapshots: The first colorized Western TV show The man who revolutionized the flour & wheat industry dies The tragic death of the Princess of Monico The lost art of visiting & Sunday drives Don't forget to send us your trivia answers! Submit them by messaging us on Twitter (@Amalfi_Media) or Instagram (@AmalfiMedia).  Not a fan of social media? No problem, answer your trivia via email at snapshots@amalfimedia.com. Discover all of the shows that Amalfi offers by visiting us at www.amalfimedia.com.  We hope you enjoy the experience. 

In this Speed Listen installment of the Six-Gun Justice Podcast, Paul tells you everything you need to know about the Western TV series Lancer, the Lancer tie-in novel, and the ongoing scandal in the world of Lancer fan fiction—all in under fifteen minutes...give or take. Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=suROpN0f2hQhThddyTchkgR4CytqmFW705g1jNJV3rCDT8OLxSCXKbf8j0oyifmCvb3fAW&fromUL=true&country.x=US&locale.x=en_US)

The BBC's former veteran war reporter, Kate Adie talks about her iconic reporting of the Iranian embassy siege in London in 1980, witnessing the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 and getting the only Western TV footage of the atrocities that took place, how Colonel Gaddafi nearly ran her over with his little Peugeot while she was reporting from Libya and her reporting of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Conversations with Bruce Dern on January 7, 2014. Moderated by Joshua Rothkopf, Senior Film Writer, Time Out New York. Bruce Dern's tremendous career is made up of playing both modern day heroes and legendary villains. Through decades of critically acclaimed performances, Bruce has acquired the reputation of being one of the most talented and prolific actors of his generation. A celebrated stage actor, Bruce was trained by famed director Elia Kazan at The Actor's Studio and made his film debut in Kazan's "Wild River" (1960). In the 1960's, Bruce also found success as a distinguished television actor. He appeared regularly in contemporary Western TV-series as well as Alfred Hitchcock's television series. Hitchcock was such a fan of Bruce, he cast him in both "Marnie" and, "Family Plot" (Hitchcock's final film). During the 1960's, Bruce went on to work with director Roger Corman and appeared in several of his classic and decade defining films including "Wild Angels." He received critical success for films such as "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" and "Drive, He Said" and went down in history for his role as Long Hair in "The Cowboys" in which he became the first man ever to kill John Wayne. Bruce went on to star in such classic films like "The King of Marvin Gardens" with Jack Nicholson and Ellen Burstyn as well as playing Tom Buchanan in "The Great Gatsby" (for which he received a Golden Globe nomination). It was his brilliant and powerful performance in Hal Ashby's "Coming Home" that earned him both an Academy Award® and Golden Globe nomination. Bruce co-starred with Charlize Theron in "Monster", one of the most critically acclaimed independent films of all time, and he can also be seen on the HBO series "Big Love." Most recently Bruce has worked with iconic directors Francis Ford Coppola in "Twixt" and Quentin Tarantino in "Django Unchained." Other credits include: "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" with Bette Davis, Douglas Trumball's "Silent Running," Michael Ritchie's "Smile," "Middle Age Crazy" with Anne Margaret, Jason Miller's "That Championship Season," "Tattoo" with Maude Adams, "The 'Burbs" with Tom Hanks, "The Haunting" with Catherine Zeta Jones, Billy Bob Thornton's "All The Pretty Horses," Bob Dylan's "Masked and Anonymous," "Down in the Valley" with Edward Norton, "Astronaut Farmer" with Billy Bob Thornton and "The Cake Eaters" with Kristin Stewart. His other outstanding films include the much heralded "After Dark My Sweet," "Harry Tracy," "On the Edge," "Laughing Policeman," "Posse," the great John Frankenheimer's "Black Sunday" and Walter Hill's "The Driver."

In this episode of the Six-Gun Justice Podcast, Paul and Rich posse up to track down the best of the rooting, tooting, fumbling, bumbling, high voiced, lazy-eyed, horse faced, Western sidekicks to ever ride the range in movies and on TV... 03:09 — Rich reviews Rick O’ Shay, Hipshot, and Me by Stan Lynde 6:30 — Christmas comes in July for Paul with podcast stats and the story of Jim Baird’s Western TV and Movie Tie-In collection. 10:04 — A history of the trusty sidekick. 15:40 — Tonto: the Wild One who friended the Lone Ranger 19:19 — Gene Autry’s pal, Frog, aka: Smiley Burnett 23:38 — Pat Brady takes the stage—and don’t forget Nelly Belle 25:30 —Chill Wills had a hot showbiz career, in more ways than one 28:35 — Andy Devine and Jack Elam: turning physical handicaps into valuable characteristics 32:00 — Slim Pickens: The Gabby Hayes of the ‘60s and ‘70s 34:06 — Pat Buttram steps in 36:19 — Ken Curtis: From Colorado to Hollywood’s Dodge City 38:20 — Leo Carillo’s California roots stretch far beyond the Cisco Kid 41:19 — Possibly the Most Famous Western sidekick of all time: Gabby Hayes 43:43 — Paul and Rich pay tribute to the four-legged co-stars 50:36 — Shoot-outs and Shout-outs — Pat Brady sings “Hot Lead” in Bells of San Angelo — https://youtu.be/Asw2nsIwnkQ Thanks to sponsors, Wolfpack Publishing, Author Chris Enss, and the Western Writers of America. Thanks too to WWA’s Roundup magazine for helping us get the word out about the Six-Gun Justice Podcast Support us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sixgunjustice Please drop us an email at: sixgunjusticewesterns@gmail.com As ever, thanks to all our friends and listeners. Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=suROpN0f2hQhThddyTchkgR4CytqmFW705g1jNJV3rCDT8OLxSCXKbf8j0oyifmCvb3fAW&fromUL=true&country.x=US&locale.x=en_US)

Janie Johnson is a Western TV Reporter at The Cowboy Channel. She also reported for Ride Tv as a Professional Bull Riding Reporter! I talk with her about how she got into TV, her first internship and a little about her background. She has covered events like The National Finals Rodeo, Professional Bull Riding and The Cinch Timed Event Championships and many more. Thank you for listening to The Remy Kelbel Podcast. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/remy38/message

Paul Bishop and Richard Prosch take a deep dive into the world of Western TV Tie-In Novels.02:41 — Paul shares his background experience with TV Tie-In novels in the ‘60s04:16 — What is a TV Tie-In novel?11:45 — Rich and Paul look at the earliest Western TV Tie-In novels including Wagon Train, Tales of Wells Fargo, The Restless Gun, and The Deputy16:05 —The Rebel’s unique multi-decade saga of tie-in novels and a connection to Hondo21:01 — Paul shares some info re: Rawhide and Wanted, Dead or Alive22:04 — Rich offers up Have Gun Will Travel22:44 — Paul on Lancer27:18 — Rich and Paul talk The Iron Horse, William Johnston, The Outcast and Cimmaron Strip31:15 — The mysterious background of Bearcats33:30 —The tie-in saga of Wild Wild West36:30 —Rich on The Quest39:00 — The Virginian and How the West Was Won40:30 — Gunsmoke lives on43:28 — Bonanza gets its due47:29 — The Whitman juveniles, Big Little Books, and Little Golden board books48:19 — Shoot-outs and Shout-outThanks to Mike Bray and Wolfpack Publishing, our primary sponsorsThanks too to WWA’s Roundup magazine for helping us get the word out about Six-Gun Justice PodcastSupport us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sixgunjusticePlease drop us an email at: sixgunjusticewesterns@gmail.comThanks to our sponsor, Wolfpack Publishing, and all our friends and listeners. Support the show (https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=suROpN0f2hQhThddyTchkgR4CytqmFW705g1jNJV3rCDT8OLxSCXKbf8j0oyifmCvb3fAW&fromUL=true&country.x=US&locale.x=en_US)

Cram Daniels (Jason Mantzoukas), host of The Deadwood Boys and self-proclaimed Western TV expert, magnanimously offers to show Dalton how podcast recaps are really done. Then they discuss episode 7 of Bonanza, "The Saga Of Annie O'Toole," in which Annie gets some silver miners excited with her woman cookin', and Cram reveals his son may be a werewolf.

Meet Connor! A 24-year-old Canadian living in Los Angeles as a Comedian, Writer & Producer. Connor opens up about his sexuality and what it was like growing up in Aurora, Ontario. Connor shares what it was like attending Western University and having the opportunity to interview celebrities such as Lil Yachty and Tory Lanez for Western TV. Lastly, Connor explains his reasons for moving out to L.A and what opportunities he hopes to take advantage of. Socials: My YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ThinkNPink101 My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clarissagrgorinic https://www.instagram.com/girlofgenz Connor's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6xqMebl9rs3htC6-EaCfyg/featured Connor's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/connormalbeuf Connor's Twitter: https://twitter.com/ConnorMMalbeuf Connor's Website: https://www.connormalbeuf.com/ If you enjoyed this episode please subscribe, leave a rating and share it with a friend!

Danny is back and we just cant believe that Shireen hasnt watched Game of Thrones yet. So we know what she is going to watching during this MCO. We compared Eastern vs Western TV show and tried to differentiate between the two. Which one do you prefer? We are still on a daily routine, so tune in to us everyday during these dark times Spotify | https://spoti.fi/2JxhYrC Apple podcast | http://bit.ly/theytfshow Google podcast | http://bit.ly/ytfshow Stitcher | https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=417648 Castbox | http://bit.ly/theYTF Youtube Clips | http://bit.ly/ytfclips

Episode sixty-eight of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Searchin'" by The Coasters, and at the group's greatest success and split, and features discussion of racism, plagiarism, STDs and Phil Spector. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode.   Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "Tears on My Pillow" by Little Anthony and the Imperials.   ----more----   Resources As always, I've created Mixcloud streaming playlists with full versions of all the songs in the episode. Because of the limit on the number of songs by one artist, I have posted them as two playlists -- part one, part two.  I've used multiple sources to piece together the information here. Hound Dog: The Leiber and Stoller Autobiography by Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, and David Ritz tells Leiber and Stoller's side of the story well. Yakety Yak, I Fought Back: My Life With the Coasters by Carl and Veta Gardner is a self-published, rather short, autobiography, which gives Gardner's take on the formation of the Coasters. Those Hoodlum Friends is a Coasters fansite, with a very nineties aesthetic (frames! angelfire domain name! Actual information rather than pretty, empty, layouts!)   The Coasters by Bill Millar is an excellent, long out-of-print, book which provided a lot of useful information. And The Definitive Coasters is a double-CD set that has the A- and B-sides of all the group's hits. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them?   Transcript When we last left the Coasters, they'd just taken on two new singers -- Cornell Gunter and Dub Jones -- to replace Leon Hughes and Bobby Nunn. The classic lineup of the Coasters had finally fallen into place, but it had been a year since they had had a hit -- for most of 1957, their writing and production team, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, had been concentrating on more lucrative work, with Elvis Presley among others.   Leiber and Stoller had a rather unique setup, which very few other people in the business had at that point. They were independent writer/producers -- an unusual state in itself in the 1950s -- but they were effectively under contract to two different labels, whose markets and audiences didn't overlap very much. They were contracted to RCA to work with white pop stars -- not just Elvis, though he was obviously important to them, but people like Perry Como, who were very far from Leiber and Stoller's normal music. That contract with RCA produced a few hits outside Elvis, but didn't end up being comfortable for either party, and ended after a year or so, but it was still remarkable that they would be working as producers for a major label while remaining independent contractors. And at the same time, they were also attached to Atlantic, where they were recording almost exclusively with the black performers that they admired, such as Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker, and the Drifters. And it was, of course, also at Atlantic that they were working with the Coasters, who unlike those other artists were Leiber and Stoller's own personal project, and the one with whom they were most identified, and for whom they were about to write the group's biggest hit: [Excerpt: The Coasters, "Yakety Yak"] For the most part, Leiber and Stoller had the classic songwriting split of one lyricist and one composer. Leiber had started out as a songwriter who couldn't play an instrument or write music -- he'd just written lyrics down and remembered the tune in his head -- while Stoller was already an accomplished and sophisticated jazz pianist by the time the two started collaborating. But they wrote together, and so occasionally one would contribute ideas to the other's sphere. Normally, we don't know exactly how much each contributed to the other's work, because they didn't go into that much detail about how they wrote songs, but in the case of "Yakety Yak" we know exactly how the song was written -- everyone who has had a certain amount of success in the music business tends to have a store of anecdotes that they pull out in every interview, and one of Leiber and Stoller's was how they wrote "Yakety Yak". According to the anecdote, they were in Leiber's house, in a writing session, and Stoller started playing a piano rhythm, with the idea it might be suitable for the Coasters, while Leiber was in the kitchen. Leiber heard him playing and called out the first line, "Take out the papers and the trash!", and Stoller immediately replied "Or you don't get no spending cash". They traded off lines and had the song written in about ten minutes. "Yakety Yak" featured a new style for the Coasters' records. Where their earlier singles had usually alternated between a single lead vocalist -- usually Carl Gardner -- on the verses, and the group taking the chorus, with occasional solo lines by the other members, here the lead vocal was taken in unison by the two longest-serving members of the group, Gardner and Billy Guy, with Cornell Gunter harmonising with them. Leiber and Stoller, in their autobiography, actually call it a duet between Gardner and Guy, but I'm pretty sure I hear three voices on the verses, not two, although Gardner's voice is the most prominent. Then, at the end of each verse, there's the chorus line, where the group sing "Yakety Yak", and then Dub Jones takes the single line "Don't talk back": [Excerpt: The Coasters, "Yakety Yak"] This formula would be one they would come back to again and again -- and there was one more element of the record that became part of the Coasters' formula -- King Curtis' saxophone part: [Excerpt: The Coasters, "Yakety Yak"] While “Yakety Yak” seems in retrospect to be an obvious hit record, it didn't seem so at the time, at least to Jerry Leiber. Mike Stoller was convinced from the start that it would be a massive success, and wanted to put another Leiber and Stoller song on the B-side, so they'd be able to get royalties for both sides when the record became as big as he knew it would. Leiber, though, thought they needed a proven song for the B-side -- something safe for if "Yakety Yak" was a flop. They went with Leiber's plan, and the B-side was a version of the old song "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart", performed as a duet by Dub Jones and Cornell Gunter: [Excerpt: The Coasters, "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart"] Leiber shouldn't have worried -- "Yakety Yak" was, of course, a number one hit single. The song was successful enough that it spawned a few answer records, including one by Cornell Gunter's sister Gloria, which Cornell sang backing vocals on: [Excerpt: Gloria Gunter, "Move on Out"] With the new lineup of the group in place, they quickly settled into a hit-making machine. Everyone had a role to play. Leiber and Stoller would write the songs and take them into the studio. Stoller would write the parts for the musicians and play the piano, while Leiber supervised in the control room. Cornell Gunter would work out the group's vocal arrangements, Dub Jones would always take his bass solo lines, and either Carl Gardner or Billy Guy would take the lead vocal -- but when they did, they'd be copying, as exactly as they could, a performance they'd been shown by Leiber. From the very start of Leiber and Stoller's career, Leiber had always directed the lead vocalist and told them how to sing his lines -- you may remember from the episode on "Hound Dog", one of the very first songs they wrote, that Big Mama Thornton was annoyed at him for telling her how to sing the song. When Leiber and Stoller produced an artist, whether it was Elvis or Ruth Brown or the Coasters or whoever, they would get them to follow Leiber's phrasing as closely as possible. And this brings me to a thing that we need to deal with when talking about the Coasters, and that is the criticism that is often levelled against their records that they perpetuate racist stereotypes. Johnny Otis, in particular, would make this criticism of the group's records, and it's one that must be taken seriously -- though of course Otis had personal issues with Leiber and Stoller, resulting from the credits on "Hound Dog". But other people, such as Charlie Gillett, have also raised it. It's also a charge that, genuinely, I am not in any position to come to a firm conclusion on. I'm a white man, and so my instincts as to what is and isn't racist are likely to be extremely flawed. What I'd say is this -- the Coasters' performances, and *especially* Dub Jones' vocal parts, are very clearly rooted in particular traditions of African-American comedy, and the way that that form of comedy plays with black culture, and reappropriates stereotypes of black people. If black people were performing, just like this, songs just like this that they had written themselves, there would be no question -- it wouldn't be racist. Equally, if white people were performing these songs, using the same arrangements, in the same voices, it would undoubtedly be racist -- it would be an Amos and Andy style audio blackface performance, and an absolute travesty. The problem comes with the fact that the Coasters were black people, but they were performing songs written for them by two white people -- Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller -- and that Leiber and Stoller were directing how they should perform those songs. To continue the Amos 'n' Andy analogy, is this like when Amos and Andy transferred from the radio to the TV, and the characters were played by black actors imitating the voices of the white comedians who had created the characters? I can't answer that. Nor can I say if it makes a difference that Leiber and Stoller were Jewish, and so were only on the borders of whiteness themselves at the time, or that they were deeply involved in black culture themselves -- though that said, they also claimed on several occasions that they weren't writing about black people in particular in any of their songs. Leiber said of "Riot in Cell Block #9" "It was inspired by the Gangbusters radio drama. Those voices just happened to be black. But they could have been white actors on radio, saying, “Pass the dynamite, because the fuse is lit.”" [Excerpt: The Robins, “Riot in Cell Block #9”] That may be the case as well -- their intent may not have been to write about specifically black experiences at all. And certainly, the Coasters' biggest hits seem to me to be less about black culture, and more about generic teenage concerns. But still, it's very obvious that a large number of people did interpret the Coasters' songs as being about black experiences specifically -- and about a specific type of black experience. Otis said of Leiber and Stoller, "They weren't racist in the true sense of the word, but they dwelled entirely on a sort of street society. It's a very fine point -- sure, the artist who performed and created these things, that's where he was. He wasn't a family person going to a gig, he was in the alleys, he was out there in the street trying to make it with his guitar. But while it might be a true reflection of life, it's not invariably a typical reflection of the typical life in the black community". The thing is, as well, a lot of this isn't in the songwriting, but in the performance -- and that performance was clearly directed by Leiber. I think it makes a difference, as well, that the Coasters had two different audiences -- they had an R&B audience, who were mostly older black people, and they had a white teenage audience. Different audiences preferred different songs, and again, there's a difference between black performers singing for a black audience and singing for a white one. I don't have any easy answers on this one. I don't think that whether something is racist or not is a clear binary, and I'm not the right person to judge whether the Coasters' music crosses any lines. But I thought it was important that I at least mention that there is a debate to be had there, and not just leave the subject alone as being too difficult. The song Johnny Otis singled out in the interview was "Charlie Brown", which most people refer to as the follow-up to "Yakety Yak". In fact, after "Yakety Yak" came a blues song called "The Shadow Knows", based on the radio mystery series that starred Orson Welles. While Leiber and Stoller often talked about the inspiration that radio plays gave them for their songs for the group, that didn't translate to chart success -- several online discographies even fail to mention the existence of "The Shadow Knows". It's a more adult record than "Yakety Yak", and seems to have been completely ignored by the Coasters' white teenage audience -- and in Leiber and Stoller's autobiography, they skip over it completely, and talk about "Charlie Brown" as being immediately after "Yakety Yak". "Charlie Brown" took significantly longer to come up with than the ten minutes that "Yakety Yak" had taken -- while Stoller came up with some appropriate music almost straight away, it took Leiber weeks of agonising before he hit on the title "Charlie Brown", and came up with the basic idea for the lyric -- which, again, Stoller helped with. It's clear, listening to it, that they were trying very deliberately to replicate the sound of "Yakety Yak": [Excerpt: The Coasters, "Charlie Brown"] "Charlie Brown" was almost as big a hit as "Yakety Yak", reaching number two on the pop charts, so of course they followed it with a third song along the same lines, "Along Came Jones". This time, the song was making fun of the plethora of Western TV series: [Excerpt: The Coasters, "Along Came Jones"] While that's a fun record, it “only” reached number nine in the pop charts – still a big success, but nowhere near as big as “Charlie Brown” or “Yakety Yak”. Possibly "Along Came Jones" did less well than it otherwise would have because The Olympics had had a recent hit with a similar record, "Western Movies": [Excerpt: The Olympics, "Western Movies"] Either way, the public seemed to tire of the unison-vocals-and-honking-sax formula -- while the next single was meant to be a song called "I'm a Hog For You Baby" which was another iteration of the same formula (although with a more bluesy feel, and a distinctly more adult tone to the lyrics) listeners instead picked up on the B-side, which became their biggest hit among black audiences, becoming their fourth and final R&B number one, as well as their last top ten pop hit. This one was a song called "Poison Ivy", and it's frankly amazing that it was even released, given that it's blatantly about sexually transmitted diseases -- the song is about a woman called "Poison Ivy", and it talks about mumps, measles, chicken pox and more, before saying that "Poison Ivy will make you itch" and "you can look but you'd better not touch". It's hardly subtle: [Excerpt: The Coasters, "Poison Ivy"] Shortly after that, Adolph Jacobs left the group. While he'd always been an official member, it had always seemed somewhat strange that the group had one non-singing instrumental member -- and that that member wasn't even a particularly prominent instrumentalist on the records, with Mike Stoller's piano and King Curtis' saxophone being more important to the sound of the records. "Poison Ivy" would be the group's last top ten hit, and it seemed to signal Leiber and Stoller getting bored with writing songs aimed at an audience of teenagers. From that point on, most of the group's songs would be in the older style that they'd used with the Robins -- songs making social comments, and talking about adult topics. The next single, "What About Us?", which was a protest song about how rich (and by implication) white people had an easy life while the singers didn't have anything, "only" reached number seventeen, and there seems to have been a sort of desperate flailing about to try new styles. They released a single of the old standard "Besame Mucho", which extended over two sides -- the second side mostly being a King Curtis saxophone solo. That only went to number seventy. Then they released the first single written by a member of the group -- "Wake Me, Shake Me", which was written by Billy Guy. That was backed by the old folk song "Stewball", and didn't do much better, reaching number fifty-one on the charts. The song after that was an attempt at yet another style, and that did even worse in the charts, but it's now considered one of the Coasters' great classics. "Clothes Line (Wrap It Up)" was a comedy blues song written by a singer called Kent Harris and performed by him under the name Boogaloo and His Solid Crew, and it seems to have been modelled both on the early Robins songs that Leiber and Stoller had written, and on Chuck Berry's "No Money Down": [Excerpt: Boogaloo and His Solid Crew: "Clothes Line (Wrap it Up)"] Leiber and Stoller told various different stories over the years about how the Coasters came to record what they titled "Shopping For Clothes", but the one they seem to have settled on was that Billy Guy vaguely remembered hearing the original record, and knew about half the lyrics, and they'd reconstructed the song from what he remembered. They'd been unable to find out who had written it, so had just credited it to "Elmo Glick", a pseudonym they sometimes used. The new version of the song was reworked significantly, and in particular it became a dialogue, with Billy Guy playing the shopper and Dub Jones playing the sales assistant: [Excerpt: The Coasters, "Shopping For Clothes"] The record only reached number eighty-three on the charts, and of course Kent Harris sued and was awarded joint writing credit with Leiber and Stoller. While it didn't chart, it is usually regarded as one of the Coasters' very best records. It's also notable for being the first Coasters record to feature a young session musician that Leiber and Stoller were mentoring at the time. Lester Sill, who had been Leiber and Stoller's mentor in their early years, had partnered with them in several business ventures, and was currently the Coasters' manager, phoned them up out of the blue one day, and told them about a kid he knew who'd had a big hit with a song called "To Know Him Is To Love Him", which he'd written for his group the Teddy Bears: [Excerpt: The Teddy Bears, "To Know Him Is To Love Him"] That record had been released on Trey Records, a new label that Sill had set up with another producer, Lee Hazlewood. Sill said that the kid in question was a huge admirer of Leiber and Stoller, and wanted to learn from them. Would they give him some kind of job with them, so he could be like an apprentice? So, as a favour to Sill, and even though they found they disliked the kid once he got to New York, they signed him to a publishing contract, gave him jobs as a session guitarist, and even let him sleep in their office or in Leiber's spare room for a while. We'll be hearing more about how their collaboration with Phil Spector worked out in future episodes. Around the time that "Shopping For Clothes" came out, the group became conscious that their time as a pop chart act with a teenage fanbase was probably close to its end, and they decided to do something that Carl Gardner had wanted to do for a while, and try to transition into the adult white market -- the kind of people who were buying records by Tony Bennett or Andy Williams. Gardner had wanted, from the start, to be a big band singer, and his friend Johnny Otis had always encouraged him to try to sing the material he really loved, rather than the stuff he was doing with the Coasters. So eventually it was agreed that the group would do their first proper album -- something recorded with the intention of being an LP, rather than a collection of singles shoved together. This record was to be titled "One By One", and would have the group backed by an orchestra, singing old standards. Each song would have a single lead vocalist, with the others relegated to backing vocal parts. Gardner took lead on four songs, and seems to have believed that this would be his big chance to transition into being a solo singer, but it didn't work out like that. The album wasn't a particular success, either commercially or critically, but to the extent that anyone noticed it at all, they mostly commented on how good Cornell Gunter sounded. Gunter had always been relegated to backing roles in the group -- he was an excellent singer, and a very strong physical comedian, but his sweeter voice didn't really suit being lead on the material that made the group famous. Gunter had always admired the singer Dinah Washington, and he used to do imitations of her in the group's shows. Getting the chance to take a solo lead on three songs, he shone with his imitation of her style: [Excerpt: The Coasters, "Easy Living"] For comparison, this is Washington's version of the same song: [Excerpt: Dinah Washington, "Easy Living"] Despite the record showing what strong vocalists the group were, it did nothing, and by this time the group's commercial fortunes seemed to be in terminal decline. Looking at their releases around this period, it's noticeable as well that the Coasters stop being produced exclusively by Leiber and Stoller -- several of their recordings are credited instead to Sill and Hazlewood as producers. There could be several explanations for this -- it could be that Leiber and Stoller were bored of working with the Coasters, or it could be that they thought that getting in another production team might give the group a boost -- after all, Sill and Hazlewood had recently had a few hits of their own, producing records like "Rebel Rouser" by Duane Eddy: [Excerpt: Duane Eddy, "Rebel Rouser"] But nothing they produced for the group had any great commercial success either. The group's last top thirty hit was another Leiber and Stoller song -- one that once again shows the more adult turn their writing for the group had taken: [Excerpt: The Coasters, "Little Egypt"] "Little Egypt" was originally the stage name for three different belly-dancers, two of whom performed in Chicago in the mid-1890s and introduced the belly dance to the American public, and another who performed in New York a few years later and was the subject of a scandal when a party she was performing at was raided and it was discovered she planned to perform nude. These dancers had been so notorious that as late as the early 1950s -- nearly sixty years after their careers -- there was a highly fictionalised film supposedly based on the life of one of them. Whether Leiber and Stoller were inspired by the film, or just by the many exotic dancers who continued using variations of the name, their song about a stripper would be the last time the Coasters would have a significant hit. Shortly after its release, Cornell Gunter decided to leave the group and take up an opportunity to sing in Dinah Washington's backing group. He was replaced by Earl "Speedo" Carroll, who had previously sung with a group called the Cadillacs, whose big hit was "Speedoo": [Excerpt: The Cadillacs, "Speedoo"] Carroll, according to Leiber and Stoller, was so concerned about job security that he kept his day job as a school janitor after joining the Coasters. Unfortunately, Gunter was soon sacked by Dinah Washington, and he decided to form his own group, and to call it the Coasters. A more accurate name might have been the Penguins, since the other three members of his new group had been members of the Penguins previously -- Gunter had come out of the same stew of vocal groups as the Penguins had, and had known them for years. Gunter's group weren't allowed to record as the Coasters, so they made records just under Gunter's own name, or as "Cornell Gunter and the Cornells": [Excerpt: Cornell Gunter, “In a Dream of Love”] But while he couldn't make records as the Coasters, his group could tour under that name -- and they were cheaper than the other group. Gunter was friends with Dick Clark, and so Clark started to book Gunter's version of the group, rather than the version that was in the studio. Not that the group in the studio was exactly the same as the group you'd see live, even if you did go and see the main group. Billy Guy decided he wanted to try a solo career, but unlike Gunter he didn't quit the group. Instead, he had a replacement go out on the road for him, but still sang with them in the studio. None of Guy's solo records did particularly well, and several of them ended up getting reissued under the Coasters name, even though no other Coasters were involved: [Excerpt: Billy Guy, "It Doesn't Take Much"] The band membership kept changing, and the hits stopped altogether. Over the next few decades, pretty much everyone who'd been involved with the Coasters started up their own rival version of the group. Carl Gardner apparently retained the legal rights to the name "the Coasters", and would sue people using it without his permission, but that didn't stop other members performing under names like "Cornel Gunter's Coasters", which isn't precisely the same. Sadly, several people associated with the Coasters ended up dying violently. King Curtis was stabbed to death in the street in 1971, outside his apartment building. Two people were making a drug deal outside his door, and he asked them to move, as he was trying to carry a heavy air-conditioning unit in. They refused, a fight broke out, and he ended up dead, aged only thirty-seven. One of Cornell Gunter's Coasters was murdered by Gunter's manager in 1980, after threatening to expose some of the manager's criminal activities. And finally Gunter himself was shot dead in 1990, and his killer has never been found. These days there are three separate Coasters groups touring. "Cornell Gunter's Coasters" is a continuation of the group that Gunter led before his death. "The Coasters" is managed by Carl Gardner's widow. And Leon Hughes, who is the only surviving original member of the Coasters but was gone by the time of "Yakety Yak", tours as "Leon Hughes and His Coasters". The Coasters are now all gone, other than Hughes, but their records are still remembered. They created a sound that influenced many, many, other groups, but has never been replicated by anyone. They were often dismissed as just a comedy group, but as anyone who has ever tried it knows, making music that is both funny and musically worthwhile is one of the hardest things you can do. And making comedy music that's still enjoyable more than sixty years later? No-one else in rock and roll has ever done that.

Episode sixty-eight of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Searchin'” by The Coasters, and at the group’s greatest success and split, and features discussion of racism, plagiarism, STDs and Phil Spector. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode.   Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on “Tears on My Pillow” by Little Anthony and the Imperials.   —-more—-   Resources As always, I’ve created Mixcloud streaming playlists with full versions of all the songs in the episode. Because of the limit on the number of songs by one artist, I have posted them as two playlists — part one, part two.  I’ve used multiple sources to piece together the information here. Hound Dog: The Leiber and Stoller Autobiography by Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, and David Ritz tells Leiber and Stoller’s side of the story well. Yakety Yak, I Fought Back: My Life With the Coasters by Carl and Veta Gardner is a self-published, rather short, autobiography, which gives Gardner’s take on the formation of the Coasters. Those Hoodlum Friends is a Coasters fansite, with a very nineties aesthetic (frames! angelfire domain name! Actual information rather than pretty, empty, layouts!)   The Coasters by Bill Millar is an excellent, long out-of-print, book which provided a lot of useful information. And The Definitive Coasters is a double-CD set that has the A- and B-sides of all the group’s hits. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them?   Transcript When we last left the Coasters, they’d just taken on two new singers — Cornell Gunter and Dub Jones — to replace Leon Hughes and Bobby Nunn. The classic lineup of the Coasters had finally fallen into place, but it had been a year since they had had a hit — for most of 1957, their writing and production team, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, had been concentrating on more lucrative work, with Elvis Presley among others.   Leiber and Stoller had a rather unique setup, which very few other people in the business had at that point. They were independent writer/producers — an unusual state in itself in the 1950s — but they were effectively under contract to two different labels, whose markets and audiences didn’t overlap very much. They were contracted to RCA to work with white pop stars — not just Elvis, though he was obviously important to them, but people like Perry Como, who were very far from Leiber and Stoller’s normal music. That contract with RCA produced a few hits outside Elvis, but didn’t end up being comfortable for either party, and ended after a year or so, but it was still remarkable that they would be working as producers for a major label while remaining independent contractors. And at the same time, they were also attached to Atlantic, where they were recording almost exclusively with the black performers that they admired, such as Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker, and the Drifters. And it was, of course, also at Atlantic that they were working with the Coasters, who unlike those other artists were Leiber and Stoller’s own personal project, and the one with whom they were most identified, and for whom they were about to write the group’s biggest hit: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Yakety Yak”] For the most part, Leiber and Stoller had the classic songwriting split of one lyricist and one composer. Leiber had started out as a songwriter who couldn’t play an instrument or write music — he’d just written lyrics down and remembered the tune in his head — while Stoller was already an accomplished and sophisticated jazz pianist by the time the two started collaborating. But they wrote together, and so occasionally one would contribute ideas to the other’s sphere. Normally, we don’t know exactly how much each contributed to the other’s work, because they didn’t go into that much detail about how they wrote songs, but in the case of “Yakety Yak” we know exactly how the song was written — everyone who has had a certain amount of success in the music business tends to have a store of anecdotes that they pull out in every interview, and one of Leiber and Stoller’s was how they wrote “Yakety Yak”. According to the anecdote, they were in Leiber’s house, in a writing session, and Stoller started playing a piano rhythm, with the idea it might be suitable for the Coasters, while Leiber was in the kitchen. Leiber heard him playing and called out the first line, “Take out the papers and the trash!”, and Stoller immediately replied “Or you don’t get no spending cash”. They traded off lines and had the song written in about ten minutes. “Yakety Yak” featured a new style for the Coasters’ records. Where their earlier singles had usually alternated between a single lead vocalist — usually Carl Gardner — on the verses, and the group taking the chorus, with occasional solo lines by the other members, here the lead vocal was taken in unison by the two longest-serving members of the group, Gardner and Billy Guy, with Cornell Gunter harmonising with them. Leiber and Stoller, in their autobiography, actually call it a duet between Gardner and Guy, but I’m pretty sure I hear three voices on the verses, not two, although Gardner’s voice is the most prominent. Then, at the end of each verse, there’s the chorus line, where the group sing “Yakety Yak”, and then Dub Jones takes the single line “Don’t talk back”: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Yakety Yak”] This formula would be one they would come back to again and again — and there was one more element of the record that became part of the Coasters’ formula — King Curtis’ saxophone part: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Yakety Yak”] While “Yakety Yak” seems in retrospect to be an obvious hit record, it didn’t seem so at the time, at least to Jerry Leiber. Mike Stoller was convinced from the start that it would be a massive success, and wanted to put another Leiber and Stoller song on the B-side, so they’d be able to get royalties for both sides when the record became as big as he knew it would. Leiber, though, thought they needed a proven song for the B-side — something safe for if “Yakety Yak” was a flop. They went with Leiber’s plan, and the B-side was a version of the old song “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart”, performed as a duet by Dub Jones and Cornell Gunter: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart”] Leiber shouldn’t have worried — “Yakety Yak” was, of course, a number one hit single. The song was successful enough that it spawned a few answer records, including one by Cornell Gunter’s sister Gloria, which Cornell sang backing vocals on: [Excerpt: Gloria Gunter, “Move on Out”] With the new lineup of the group in place, they quickly settled into a hit-making machine. Everyone had a role to play. Leiber and Stoller would write the songs and take them into the studio. Stoller would write the parts for the musicians and play the piano, while Leiber supervised in the control room. Cornell Gunter would work out the group’s vocal arrangements, Dub Jones would always take his bass solo lines, and either Carl Gardner or Billy Guy would take the lead vocal — but when they did, they’d be copying, as exactly as they could, a performance they’d been shown by Leiber. From the very start of Leiber and Stoller’s career, Leiber had always directed the lead vocalist and told them how to sing his lines — you may remember from the episode on “Hound Dog”, one of the very first songs they wrote, that Big Mama Thornton was annoyed at him for telling her how to sing the song. When Leiber and Stoller produced an artist, whether it was Elvis or Ruth Brown or the Coasters or whoever, they would get them to follow Leiber’s phrasing as closely as possible. And this brings me to a thing that we need to deal with when talking about the Coasters, and that is the criticism that is often levelled against their records that they perpetuate racist stereotypes. Johnny Otis, in particular, would make this criticism of the group’s records, and it’s one that must be taken seriously — though of course Otis had personal issues with Leiber and Stoller, resulting from the credits on “Hound Dog”. But other people, such as Charlie Gillett, have also raised it. It’s also a charge that, genuinely, I am not in any position to come to a firm conclusion on. I’m a white man, and so my instincts as to what is and isn’t racist are likely to be extremely flawed. What I’d say is this — the Coasters’ performances, and *especially* Dub Jones’ vocal parts, are very clearly rooted in particular traditions of African-American comedy, and the way that that form of comedy plays with black culture, and reappropriates stereotypes of black people. If black people were performing, just like this, songs just like this that they had written themselves, there would be no question — it wouldn’t be racist. Equally, if white people were performing these songs, using the same arrangements, in the same voices, it would undoubtedly be racist — it would be an Amos and Andy style audio blackface performance, and an absolute travesty. The problem comes with the fact that the Coasters were black people, but they were performing songs written for them by two white people — Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller — and that Leiber and Stoller were directing how they should perform those songs. To continue the Amos ‘n’ Andy analogy, is this like when Amos and Andy transferred from the radio to the TV, and the characters were played by black actors imitating the voices of the white comedians who had created the characters? I can’t answer that. Nor can I say if it makes a difference that Leiber and Stoller were Jewish, and so were only on the borders of whiteness themselves at the time, or that they were deeply involved in black culture themselves — though that said, they also claimed on several occasions that they weren’t writing about black people in particular in any of their songs. Leiber said of “Riot in Cell Block #9” “It was inspired by the Gangbusters radio drama. Those voices just happened to be black. But they could have been white actors on radio, saying, “Pass the dynamite, because the fuse is lit.”” [Excerpt: The Robins, “Riot in Cell Block #9”] That may be the case as well — their intent may not have been to write about specifically black experiences at all. And certainly, the Coasters’ biggest hits seem to me to be less about black culture, and more about generic teenage concerns. But still, it’s very obvious that a large number of people did interpret the Coasters’ songs as being about black experiences specifically — and about a specific type of black experience. Otis said of Leiber and Stoller, “They weren’t racist in the true sense of the word, but they dwelled entirely on a sort of street society. It’s a very fine point — sure, the artist who performed and created these things, that’s where he was. He wasn’t a family person going to a gig, he was in the alleys, he was out there in the street trying to make it with his guitar. But while it might be a true reflection of life, it’s not invariably a typical reflection of the typical life in the black community”. The thing is, as well, a lot of this isn’t in the songwriting, but in the performance — and that performance was clearly directed by Leiber. I think it makes a difference, as well, that the Coasters had two different audiences — they had an R&B audience, who were mostly older black people, and they had a white teenage audience. Different audiences preferred different songs, and again, there’s a difference between black performers singing for a black audience and singing for a white one. I don’t have any easy answers on this one. I don’t think that whether something is racist or not is a clear binary, and I’m not the right person to judge whether the Coasters’ music crosses any lines. But I thought it was important that I at least mention that there is a debate to be had there, and not just leave the subject alone as being too difficult. The song Johnny Otis singled out in the interview was “Charlie Brown”, which most people refer to as the follow-up to “Yakety Yak”. In fact, after “Yakety Yak” came a blues song called “The Shadow Knows”, based on the radio mystery series that starred Orson Welles. While Leiber and Stoller often talked about the inspiration that radio plays gave them for their songs for the group, that didn’t translate to chart success — several online discographies even fail to mention the existence of “The Shadow Knows”. It’s a more adult record than “Yakety Yak”, and seems to have been completely ignored by the Coasters’ white teenage audience — and in Leiber and Stoller’s autobiography, they skip over it completely, and talk about “Charlie Brown” as being immediately after “Yakety Yak”. “Charlie Brown” took significantly longer to come up with than the ten minutes that “Yakety Yak” had taken — while Stoller came up with some appropriate music almost straight away, it took Leiber weeks of agonising before he hit on the title “Charlie Brown”, and came up with the basic idea for the lyric — which, again, Stoller helped with. It’s clear, listening to it, that they were trying very deliberately to replicate the sound of “Yakety Yak”: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Charlie Brown”] “Charlie Brown” was almost as big a hit as “Yakety Yak”, reaching number two on the pop charts, so of course they followed it with a third song along the same lines, “Along Came Jones”. This time, the song was making fun of the plethora of Western TV series: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Along Came Jones”] While that’s a fun record, it “only” reached number nine in the pop charts – still a big success, but nowhere near as big as “Charlie Brown” or “Yakety Yak”. Possibly “Along Came Jones” did less well than it otherwise would have because The Olympics had had a recent hit with a similar record, “Western Movies”: [Excerpt: The Olympics, “Western Movies”] Either way, the public seemed to tire of the unison-vocals-and-honking-sax formula — while the next single was meant to be a song called “I’m a Hog For You Baby” which was another iteration of the same formula (although with a more bluesy feel, and a distinctly more adult tone to the lyrics) listeners instead picked up on the B-side, which became their biggest hit among black audiences, becoming their fourth and final R&B number one, as well as their last top ten pop hit. This one was a song called “Poison Ivy”, and it’s frankly amazing that it was even released, given that it’s blatantly about sexually transmitted diseases — the song is about a woman called “Poison Ivy”, and it talks about mumps, measles, chicken pox and more, before saying that “Poison Ivy will make you itch” and “you can look but you’d better not touch”. It’s hardly subtle: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Poison Ivy”] Shortly after that, Adolph Jacobs left the group. While he’d always been an official member, it had always seemed somewhat strange that the group had one non-singing instrumental member — and that that member wasn’t even a particularly prominent instrumentalist on the records, with Mike Stoller’s piano and King Curtis’ saxophone being more important to the sound of the records. “Poison Ivy” would be the group’s last top ten hit, and it seemed to signal Leiber and Stoller getting bored with writing songs aimed at an audience of teenagers. From that point on, most of the group’s songs would be in the older style that they’d used with the Robins — songs making social comments, and talking about adult topics. The next single, “What About Us?”, which was a protest song about how rich (and by implication) white people had an easy life while the singers didn’t have anything, “only” reached number seventeen, and there seems to have been a sort of desperate flailing about to try new styles. They released a single of the old standard “Besame Mucho”, which extended over two sides — the second side mostly being a King Curtis saxophone solo. That only went to number seventy. Then they released the first single written by a member of the group — “Wake Me, Shake Me”, which was written by Billy Guy. That was backed by the old folk song “Stewball”, and didn’t do much better, reaching number fifty-one on the charts. The song after that was an attempt at yet another style, and that did even worse in the charts, but it’s now considered one of the Coasters’ great classics. “Clothes Line (Wrap It Up)” was a comedy blues song written by a singer called Kent Harris and performed by him under the name Boogaloo and His Solid Crew, and it seems to have been modelled both on the early Robins songs that Leiber and Stoller had written, and on Chuck Berry’s “No Money Down”: [Excerpt: Boogaloo and His Solid Crew: “Clothes Line (Wrap it Up)”] Leiber and Stoller told various different stories over the years about how the Coasters came to record what they titled “Shopping For Clothes”, but the one they seem to have settled on was that Billy Guy vaguely remembered hearing the original record, and knew about half the lyrics, and they’d reconstructed the song from what he remembered. They’d been unable to find out who had written it, so had just credited it to “Elmo Glick”, a pseudonym they sometimes used. The new version of the song was reworked significantly, and in particular it became a dialogue, with Billy Guy playing the shopper and Dub Jones playing the sales assistant: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Shopping For Clothes”] The record only reached number eighty-three on the charts, and of course Kent Harris sued and was awarded joint writing credit with Leiber and Stoller. While it didn’t chart, it is usually regarded as one of the Coasters’ very best records. It’s also notable for being the first Coasters record to feature a young session musician that Leiber and Stoller were mentoring at the time. Lester Sill, who had been Leiber and Stoller’s mentor in their early years, had partnered with them in several business ventures, and was currently the Coasters’ manager, phoned them up out of the blue one day, and told them about a kid he knew who’d had a big hit with a song called “To Know Him Is To Love Him”, which he’d written for his group the Teddy Bears: [Excerpt: The Teddy Bears, “To Know Him Is To Love Him”] That record had been released on Trey Records, a new label that Sill had set up with another producer, Lee Hazlewood. Sill said that the kid in question was a huge admirer of Leiber and Stoller, and wanted to learn from them. Would they give him some kind of job with them, so he could be like an apprentice? So, as a favour to Sill, and even though they found they disliked the kid once he got to New York, they signed him to a publishing contract, gave him jobs as a session guitarist, and even let him sleep in their office or in Leiber’s spare room for a while. We’ll be hearing more about how their collaboration with Phil Spector worked out in future episodes. Around the time that “Shopping For Clothes” came out, the group became conscious that their time as a pop chart act with a teenage fanbase was probably close to its end, and they decided to do something that Carl Gardner had wanted to do for a while, and try to transition into the adult white market — the kind of people who were buying records by Tony Bennett or Andy Williams. Gardner had wanted, from the start, to be a big band singer, and his friend Johnny Otis had always encouraged him to try to sing the material he really loved, rather than the stuff he was doing with the Coasters. So eventually it was agreed that the group would do their first proper album — something recorded with the intention of being an LP, rather than a collection of singles shoved together. This record was to be titled “One By One”, and would have the group backed by an orchestra, singing old standards. Each song would have a single lead vocalist, with the others relegated to backing vocal parts. Gardner took lead on four songs, and seems to have believed that this would be his big chance to transition into being a solo singer, but it didn’t work out like that. The album wasn’t a particular success, either commercially or critically, but to the extent that anyone noticed it at all, they mostly commented on how good Cornell Gunter sounded. Gunter had always been relegated to backing roles in the group — he was an excellent singer, and a very strong physical comedian, but his sweeter voice didn’t really suit being lead on the material that made the group famous. Gunter had always admired the singer Dinah Washington, and he used to do imitations of her in the group’s shows. Getting the chance to take a solo lead on three songs, he shone with his imitation of her style: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Easy Living”] For comparison, this is Washington’s version of the same song: [Excerpt: Dinah Washington, “Easy Living”] Despite the record showing what strong vocalists the group were, it did nothing, and by this time the group’s commercial fortunes seemed to be in terminal decline. Looking at their releases around this period, it’s noticeable as well that the Coasters stop being produced exclusively by Leiber and Stoller — several of their recordings are credited instead to Sill and Hazlewood as producers. There could be several explanations for this — it could be that Leiber and Stoller were bored of working with the Coasters, or it could be that they thought that getting in another production team might give the group a boost — after all, Sill and Hazlewood had recently had a few hits of their own, producing records like “Rebel Rouser” by Duane Eddy: [Excerpt: Duane Eddy, “Rebel Rouser”] But nothing they produced for the group had any great commercial success either. The group’s last top thirty hit was another Leiber and Stoller song — one that once again shows the more adult turn their writing for the group had taken: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Little Egypt”] “Little Egypt” was originally the stage name for three different belly-dancers, two of whom performed in Chicago in the mid-1890s and introduced the belly dance to the American public, and another who performed in New York a few years later and was the subject of a scandal when a party she was performing at was raided and it was discovered she planned to perform nude. These dancers had been so notorious that as late as the early 1950s — nearly sixty years after their careers — there was a highly fictionalised film supposedly based on the life of one of them. Whether Leiber and Stoller were inspired by the film, or just by the many exotic dancers who continued using variations of the name, their song about a stripper would be the last time the Coasters would have a significant hit. Shortly after its release, Cornell Gunter decided to leave the group and take up an opportunity to sing in Dinah Washington’s backing group. He was replaced by Earl “Speedo” Carroll, who had previously sung with a group called the Cadillacs, whose big hit was “Speedoo”: [Excerpt: The Cadillacs, “Speedoo”] Carroll, according to Leiber and Stoller, was so concerned about job security that he kept his day job as a school janitor after joining the Coasters. Unfortunately, Gunter was soon sacked by Dinah Washington, and he decided to form his own group, and to call it the Coasters. A more accurate name might have been the Penguins, since the other three members of his new group had been members of the Penguins previously — Gunter had come out of the same stew of vocal groups as the Penguins had, and had known them for years. Gunter’s group weren’t allowed to record as the Coasters, so they made records just under Gunter’s own name, or as “Cornell Gunter and the Cornells”: [Excerpt: Cornell Gunter, “In a Dream of Love”] But while he couldn’t make records as the Coasters, his group could tour under that name — and they were cheaper than the other group. Gunter was friends with Dick Clark, and so Clark started to book Gunter’s version of the group, rather than the version that was in the studio. Not that the group in the studio was exactly the same as the group you’d see live, even if you did go and see the main group. Billy Guy decided he wanted to try a solo career, but unlike Gunter he didn’t quit the group. Instead, he had a replacement go out on the road for him, but still sang with them in the studio. None of Guy’s solo records did particularly well, and several of them ended up getting reissued under the Coasters name, even though no other Coasters were involved: [Excerpt: Billy Guy, “It Doesn’t Take Much”] The band membership kept changing, and the hits stopped altogether. Over the next few decades, pretty much everyone who’d been involved with the Coasters started up their own rival version of the group. Carl Gardner apparently retained the legal rights to the name “the Coasters”, and would sue people using it without his permission, but that didn’t stop other members performing under names like “Cornel Gunter’s Coasters”, which isn’t precisely the same. Sadly, several people associated with the Coasters ended up dying violently. King Curtis was stabbed to death in the street in 1971, outside his apartment building. Two people were making a drug deal outside his door, and he asked them to move, as he was trying to carry a heavy air-conditioning unit in. They refused, a fight broke out, and he ended up dead, aged only thirty-seven. One of Cornell Gunter’s Coasters was murdered by Gunter’s manager in 1980, after threatening to expose some of the manager’s criminal activities. And finally Gunter himself was shot dead in 1990, and his killer has never been found. These days there are three separate Coasters groups touring. “Cornell Gunter’s Coasters” is a continuation of the group that Gunter led before his death. “The Coasters” is managed by Carl Gardner’s widow. And Leon Hughes, who is the only surviving original member of the Coasters but was gone by the time of “Yakety Yak”, tours as “Leon Hughes and His Coasters”. The Coasters are now all gone, other than Hughes, but their records are still remembered. They created a sound that influenced many, many, other groups, but has never been replicated by anyone. They were often dismissed as just a comedy group, but as anyone who has ever tried it knows, making music that is both funny and musically worthwhile is one of the hardest things you can do. And making comedy music that’s still enjoyable more than sixty years later? No-one else in rock and roll has ever done that.

Episode sixty-eight of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Searchin'” by The Coasters, and at the group’s greatest success and split, and features discussion of racism, plagiarism, STDs and Phil Spector. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode.   Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on “Tears on My Pillow” by Little Anthony and the Imperials.   —-more—-   Resources As always, I’ve created Mixcloud streaming playlists with full versions of all the songs in the episode. Because of the limit on the number of songs by one artist, I have posted them as two playlists — part one, part two.  I’ve used multiple sources to piece together the information here. Hound Dog: The Leiber and Stoller Autobiography by Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, and David Ritz tells Leiber and Stoller’s side of the story well. Yakety Yak, I Fought Back: My Life With the Coasters by Carl and Veta Gardner is a self-published, rather short, autobiography, which gives Gardner’s take on the formation of the Coasters. Those Hoodlum Friends is a Coasters fansite, with a very nineties aesthetic (frames! angelfire domain name! Actual information rather than pretty, empty, layouts!)   The Coasters by Bill Millar is an excellent, long out-of-print, book which provided a lot of useful information. And The Definitive Coasters is a double-CD set that has the A- and B-sides of all the group’s hits. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them?   Transcript When we last left the Coasters, they’d just taken on two new singers — Cornell Gunter and Dub Jones — to replace Leon Hughes and Bobby Nunn. The classic lineup of the Coasters had finally fallen into place, but it had been a year since they had had a hit — for most of 1957, their writing and production team, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, had been concentrating on more lucrative work, with Elvis Presley among others.   Leiber and Stoller had a rather unique setup, which very few other people in the business had at that point. They were independent writer/producers — an unusual state in itself in the 1950s — but they were effectively under contract to two different labels, whose markets and audiences didn’t overlap very much. They were contracted to RCA to work with white pop stars — not just Elvis, though he was obviously important to them, but people like Perry Como, who were very far from Leiber and Stoller’s normal music. That contract with RCA produced a few hits outside Elvis, but didn’t end up being comfortable for either party, and ended after a year or so, but it was still remarkable that they would be working as producers for a major label while remaining independent contractors. And at the same time, they were also attached to Atlantic, where they were recording almost exclusively with the black performers that they admired, such as Ruth Brown, LaVern Baker, and the Drifters. And it was, of course, also at Atlantic that they were working with the Coasters, who unlike those other artists were Leiber and Stoller’s own personal project, and the one with whom they were most identified, and for whom they were about to write the group’s biggest hit: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Yakety Yak”] For the most part, Leiber and Stoller had the classic songwriting split of one lyricist and one composer. Leiber had started out as a songwriter who couldn’t play an instrument or write music — he’d just written lyrics down and remembered the tune in his head — while Stoller was already an accomplished and sophisticated jazz pianist by the time the two started collaborating. But they wrote together, and so occasionally one would contribute ideas to the other’s sphere. Normally, we don’t know exactly how much each contributed to the other’s work, because they didn’t go into that much detail about how they wrote songs, but in the case of “Yakety Yak” we know exactly how the song was written — everyone who has had a certain amount of success in the music business tends to have a store of anecdotes that they pull out in every interview, and one of Leiber and Stoller’s was how they wrote “Yakety Yak”. According to the anecdote, they were in Leiber’s house, in a writing session, and Stoller started playing a piano rhythm, with the idea it might be suitable for the Coasters, while Leiber was in the kitchen. Leiber heard him playing and called out the first line, “Take out the papers and the trash!”, and Stoller immediately replied “Or you don’t get no spending cash”. They traded off lines and had the song written in about ten minutes. “Yakety Yak” featured a new style for the Coasters’ records. Where their earlier singles had usually alternated between a single lead vocalist — usually Carl Gardner — on the verses, and the group taking the chorus, with occasional solo lines by the other members, here the lead vocal was taken in unison by the two longest-serving members of the group, Gardner and Billy Guy, with Cornell Gunter harmonising with them. Leiber and Stoller, in their autobiography, actually call it a duet between Gardner and Guy, but I’m pretty sure I hear three voices on the verses, not two, although Gardner’s voice is the most prominent. Then, at the end of each verse, there’s the chorus line, where the group sing “Yakety Yak”, and then Dub Jones takes the single line “Don’t talk back”: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Yakety Yak”] This formula would be one they would come back to again and again — and there was one more element of the record that became part of the Coasters’ formula — King Curtis’ saxophone part: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Yakety Yak”] While “Yakety Yak” seems in retrospect to be an obvious hit record, it didn’t seem so at the time, at least to Jerry Leiber. Mike Stoller was convinced from the start that it would be a massive success, and wanted to put another Leiber and Stoller song on the B-side, so they’d be able to get royalties for both sides when the record became as big as he knew it would. Leiber, though, thought they needed a proven song for the B-side — something safe for if “Yakety Yak” was a flop. They went with Leiber’s plan, and the B-side was a version of the old song “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart”, performed as a duet by Dub Jones and Cornell Gunter: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart”] Leiber shouldn’t have worried — “Yakety Yak” was, of course, a number one hit single. The song was successful enough that it spawned a few answer records, including one by Cornell Gunter’s sister Gloria, which Cornell sang backing vocals on: [Excerpt: Gloria Gunter, “Move on Out”] With the new lineup of the group in place, they quickly settled into a hit-making machine. Everyone had a role to play. Leiber and Stoller would write the songs and take them into the studio. Stoller would write the parts for the musicians and play the piano, while Leiber supervised in the control room. Cornell Gunter would work out the group’s vocal arrangements, Dub Jones would always take his bass solo lines, and either Carl Gardner or Billy Guy would take the lead vocal — but when they did, they’d be copying, as exactly as they could, a performance they’d been shown by Leiber. From the very start of Leiber and Stoller’s career, Leiber had always directed the lead vocalist and told them how to sing his lines — you may remember from the episode on “Hound Dog”, one of the very first songs they wrote, that Big Mama Thornton was annoyed at him for telling her how to sing the song. When Leiber and Stoller produced an artist, whether it was Elvis or Ruth Brown or the Coasters or whoever, they would get them to follow Leiber’s phrasing as closely as possible. And this brings me to a thing that we need to deal with when talking about the Coasters, and that is the criticism that is often levelled against their records that they perpetuate racist stereotypes. Johnny Otis, in particular, would make this criticism of the group’s records, and it’s one that must be taken seriously — though of course Otis had personal issues with Leiber and Stoller, resulting from the credits on “Hound Dog”. But other people, such as Charlie Gillett, have also raised it. It’s also a charge that, genuinely, I am not in any position to come to a firm conclusion on. I’m a white man, and so my instincts as to what is and isn’t racist are likely to be extremely flawed. What I’d say is this — the Coasters’ performances, and *especially* Dub Jones’ vocal parts, are very clearly rooted in particular traditions of African-American comedy, and the way that that form of comedy plays with black culture, and reappropriates stereotypes of black people. If black people were performing, just like this, songs just like this that they had written themselves, there would be no question — it wouldn’t be racist. Equally, if white people were performing these songs, using the same arrangements, in the same voices, it would undoubtedly be racist — it would be an Amos and Andy style audio blackface performance, and an absolute travesty. The problem comes with the fact that the Coasters were black people, but they were performing songs written for them by two white people — Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller — and that Leiber and Stoller were directing how they should perform those songs. To continue the Amos ‘n’ Andy analogy, is this like when Amos and Andy transferred from the radio to the TV, and the characters were played by black actors imitating the voices of the white comedians who had created the characters? I can’t answer that. Nor can I say if it makes a difference that Leiber and Stoller were Jewish, and so were only on the borders of whiteness themselves at the time, or that they were deeply involved in black culture themselves — though that said, they also claimed on several occasions that they weren’t writing about black people in particular in any of their songs. Leiber said of “Riot in Cell Block #9” “It was inspired by the Gangbusters radio drama. Those voices just happened to be black. But they could have been white actors on radio, saying, “Pass the dynamite, because the fuse is lit.”” [Excerpt: The Robins, “Riot in Cell Block #9”] That may be the case as well — their intent may not have been to write about specifically black experiences at all. And certainly, the Coasters’ biggest hits seem to me to be less about black culture, and more about generic teenage concerns. But still, it’s very obvious that a large number of people did interpret the Coasters’ songs as being about black experiences specifically — and about a specific type of black experience. Otis said of Leiber and Stoller, “They weren’t racist in the true sense of the word, but they dwelled entirely on a sort of street society. It’s a very fine point — sure, the artist who performed and created these things, that’s where he was. He wasn’t a family person going to a gig, he was in the alleys, he was out there in the street trying to make it with his guitar. But while it might be a true reflection of life, it’s not invariably a typical reflection of the typical life in the black community”. The thing is, as well, a lot of this isn’t in the songwriting, but in the performance — and that performance was clearly directed by Leiber. I think it makes a difference, as well, that the Coasters had two different audiences — they had an R&B audience, who were mostly older black people, and they had a white teenage audience. Different audiences preferred different songs, and again, there’s a difference between black performers singing for a black audience and singing for a white one. I don’t have any easy answers on this one. I don’t think that whether something is racist or not is a clear binary, and I’m not the right person to judge whether the Coasters’ music crosses any lines. But I thought it was important that I at least mention that there is a debate to be had there, and not just leave the subject alone as being too difficult. The song Johnny Otis singled out in the interview was “Charlie Brown”, which most people refer to as the follow-up to “Yakety Yak”. In fact, after “Yakety Yak” came a blues song called “The Shadow Knows”, based on the radio mystery series that starred Orson Welles. While Leiber and Stoller often talked about the inspiration that radio plays gave them for their songs for the group, that didn’t translate to chart success — several online discographies even fail to mention the existence of “The Shadow Knows”. It’s a more adult record than “Yakety Yak”, and seems to have been completely ignored by the Coasters’ white teenage audience — and in Leiber and Stoller’s autobiography, they skip over it completely, and talk about “Charlie Brown” as being immediately after “Yakety Yak”. “Charlie Brown” took significantly longer to come up with than the ten minutes that “Yakety Yak” had taken — while Stoller came up with some appropriate music almost straight away, it took Leiber weeks of agonising before he hit on the title “Charlie Brown”, and came up with the basic idea for the lyric — which, again, Stoller helped with. It’s clear, listening to it, that they were trying very deliberately to replicate the sound of “Yakety Yak”: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Charlie Brown”] “Charlie Brown” was almost as big a hit as “Yakety Yak”, reaching number two on the pop charts, so of course they followed it with a third song along the same lines, “Along Came Jones”. This time, the song was making fun of the plethora of Western TV series: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Along Came Jones”] While that’s a fun record, it “only” reached number nine in the pop charts – still a big success, but nowhere near as big as “Charlie Brown” or “Yakety Yak”. Possibly “Along Came Jones” did less well than it otherwise would have because The Olympics had had a recent hit with a similar record, “Western Movies”: [Excerpt: The Olympics, “Western Movies”] Either way, the public seemed to tire of the unison-vocals-and-honking-sax formula — while the next single was meant to be a song called “I’m a Hog For You Baby” which was another iteration of the same formula (although with a more bluesy feel, and a distinctly more adult tone to the lyrics) listeners instead picked up on the B-side, which became their biggest hit among black audiences, becoming their fourth and final R&B number one, as well as their last top ten pop hit. This one was a song called “Poison Ivy”, and it’s frankly amazing that it was even released, given that it’s blatantly about sexually transmitted diseases — the song is about a woman called “Poison Ivy”, and it talks about mumps, measles, chicken pox and more, before saying that “Poison Ivy will make you itch” and “you can look but you’d better not touch”. It’s hardly subtle: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Poison Ivy”] Shortly after that, Adolph Jacobs left the group. While he’d always been an official member, it had always seemed somewhat strange that the group had one non-singing instrumental member — and that that member wasn’t even a particularly prominent instrumentalist on the records, with Mike Stoller’s piano and King Curtis’ saxophone being more important to the sound of the records. “Poison Ivy” would be the group’s last top ten hit, and it seemed to signal Leiber and Stoller getting bored with writing songs aimed at an audience of teenagers. From that point on, most of the group’s songs would be in the older style that they’d used with the Robins — songs making social comments, and talking about adult topics. The next single, “What About Us?”, which was a protest song about how rich (and by implication) white people had an easy life while the singers didn’t have anything, “only” reached number seventeen, and there seems to have been a sort of desperate flailing about to try new styles. They released a single of the old standard “Besame Mucho”, which extended over two sides — the second side mostly being a King Curtis saxophone solo. That only went to number seventy. Then they released the first single written by a member of the group — “Wake Me, Shake Me”, which was written by Billy Guy. That was backed by the old folk song “Stewball”, and didn’t do much better, reaching number fifty-one on the charts. The song after that was an attempt at yet another style, and that did even worse in the charts, but it’s now considered one of the Coasters’ great classics. “Clothes Line (Wrap It Up)” was a comedy blues song written by a singer called Kent Harris and performed by him under the name Boogaloo and His Solid Crew, and it seems to have been modelled both on the early Robins songs that Leiber and Stoller had written, and on Chuck Berry’s “No Money Down”: [Excerpt: Boogaloo and His Solid Crew: “Clothes Line (Wrap it Up)”] Leiber and Stoller told various different stories over the years about how the Coasters came to record what they titled “Shopping For Clothes”, but the one they seem to have settled on was that Billy Guy vaguely remembered hearing the original record, and knew about half the lyrics, and they’d reconstructed the song from what he remembered. They’d been unable to find out who had written it, so had just credited it to “Elmo Glick”, a pseudonym they sometimes used. The new version of the song was reworked significantly, and in particular it became a dialogue, with Billy Guy playing the shopper and Dub Jones playing the sales assistant: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Shopping For Clothes”] The record only reached number eighty-three on the charts, and of course Kent Harris sued and was awarded joint writing credit with Leiber and Stoller. While it didn’t chart, it is usually regarded as one of the Coasters’ very best records. It’s also notable for being the first Coasters record to feature a young session musician that Leiber and Stoller were mentoring at the time. Lester Sill, who had been Leiber and Stoller’s mentor in their early years, had partnered with them in several business ventures, and was currently the Coasters’ manager, phoned them up out of the blue one day, and told them about a kid he knew who’d had a big hit with a song called “To Know Him Is To Love Him”, which he’d written for his group the Teddy Bears: [Excerpt: The Teddy Bears, “To Know Him Is To Love Him”] That record had been released on Trey Records, a new label that Sill had set up with another producer, Lee Hazlewood. Sill said that the kid in question was a huge admirer of Leiber and Stoller, and wanted to learn from them. Would they give him some kind of job with them, so he could be like an apprentice? So, as a favour to Sill, and even though they found they disliked the kid once he got to New York, they signed him to a publishing contract, gave him jobs as a session guitarist, and even let him sleep in their office or in Leiber’s spare room for a while. We’ll be hearing more about how their collaboration with Phil Spector worked out in future episodes. Around the time that “Shopping For Clothes” came out, the group became conscious that their time as a pop chart act with a teenage fanbase was probably close to its end, and they decided to do something that Carl Gardner had wanted to do for a while, and try to transition into the adult white market — the kind of people who were buying records by Tony Bennett or Andy Williams. Gardner had wanted, from the start, to be a big band singer, and his friend Johnny Otis had always encouraged him to try to sing the material he really loved, rather than the stuff he was doing with the Coasters. So eventually it was agreed that the group would do their first proper album — something recorded with the intention of being an LP, rather than a collection of singles shoved together. This record was to be titled “One By One”, and would have the group backed by an orchestra, singing old standards. Each song would have a single lead vocalist, with the others relegated to backing vocal parts. Gardner took lead on four songs, and seems to have believed that this would be his big chance to transition into being a solo singer, but it didn’t work out like that. The album wasn’t a particular success, either commercially or critically, but to the extent that anyone noticed it at all, they mostly commented on how good Cornell Gunter sounded. Gunter had always been relegated to backing roles in the group — he was an excellent singer, and a very strong physical comedian, but his sweeter voice didn’t really suit being lead on the material that made the group famous. Gunter had always admired the singer Dinah Washington, and he used to do imitations of her in the group’s shows. Getting the chance to take a solo lead on three songs, he shone with his imitation of her style: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Easy Living”] For comparison, this is Washington’s version of the same song: [Excerpt: Dinah Washington, “Easy Living”] Despite the record showing what strong vocalists the group were, it did nothing, and by this time the group’s commercial fortunes seemed to be in terminal decline. Looking at their releases around this period, it’s noticeable as well that the Coasters stop being produced exclusively by Leiber and Stoller — several of their recordings are credited instead to Sill and Hazlewood as producers. There could be several explanations for this — it could be that Leiber and Stoller were bored of working with the Coasters, or it could be that they thought that getting in another production team might give the group a boost — after all, Sill and Hazlewood had recently had a few hits of their own, producing records like “Rebel Rouser” by Duane Eddy: [Excerpt: Duane Eddy, “Rebel Rouser”] But nothing they produced for the group had any great commercial success either. The group’s last top thirty hit was another Leiber and Stoller song — one that once again shows the more adult turn their writing for the group had taken: [Excerpt: The Coasters, “Little Egypt”] “Little Egypt” was originally the stage name for three different belly-dancers, two of whom performed in Chicago in the mid-1890s and introduced the belly dance to the American public, and another who performed in New York a few years later and was the subject of a scandal when a party she was performing at was raided and it was discovered she planned to perform nude. These dancers had been so notorious that as late as the early 1950s — nearly sixty years after their careers — there was a highly fictionalised film supposedly based on the life of one of them. Whether Leiber and Stoller were inspired by the film, or just by the many exotic dancers who continued using variations of the name, their song about a stripper would be the last time the Coasters would have a significant hit. Shortly after its release, Cornell Gunter decided to leave the group and take up an opportunity to sing in Dinah Washington’s backing group. He was replaced by Earl “Speedo” Carroll, who had previously sung with a group called the Cadillacs, whose big hit was “Speedoo”: [Excerpt: The Cadillacs, “Speedoo”] Carroll, according to Leiber and Stoller, was so concerned about job security that he kept his day job as a school janitor after joining the Coasters. Unfortunately, Gunter was soon sacked by Dinah Washington, and he decided to form his own group, and to call it the Coasters. A more accurate name might have been the Penguins, since the other three members of his new group had been members of the Penguins previously — Gunter had come out of the same stew of vocal groups as the Penguins had, and had known them for years. Gunter’s group weren’t allowed to record as the Coasters, so they made records just under Gunter’s own name, or as “Cornell Gunter and the Cornells”: [Excerpt: Cornell Gunter, “In a Dream of Love”] But while he couldn’t make records as the Coasters, his group could tour under that name — and they were cheaper than the other group. Gunter was friends with Dick Clark, and so Clark started to book Gunter’s version of the group, rather than the version that was in the studio. Not that the group in the studio was exactly the same as the group you’d see live, even if you did go and see the main group. Billy Guy decided he wanted to try a solo career, but unlike Gunter he didn’t quit the group. Instead, he had a replacement go out on the road for him, but still sang with them in the studio. None of Guy’s solo records did particularly well, and several of them ended up getting reissued under the Coasters name, even though no other Coasters were involved: [Excerpt: Billy Guy, “It Doesn’t Take Much”] The band membership kept changing, and the hits stopped altogether. Over the next few decades, pretty much everyone who’d been involved with the Coasters started up their own rival version of the group. Carl Gardner apparently retained the legal rights to the name “the Coasters”, and would sue people using it without his permission, but that didn’t stop other members performing under names like “Cornel Gunter’s Coasters”, which isn’t precisely the same. Sadly, several people associated with the Coasters ended up dying violently. King Curtis was stabbed to death in the street in 1971, outside his apartment building. Two people were making a drug deal outside his door, and he asked them to move, as he was trying to carry a heavy air-conditioning unit in. They refused, a fight broke out, and he ended up dead, aged only thirty-seven. One of Cornell Gunter’s Coasters was murdered by Gunter’s manager in 1980, after threatening to expose some of the manager’s criminal activities. And finally Gunter himself was shot dead in 1990, and his killer has never been found. These days there are three separate Coasters groups touring. “Cornell Gunter’s Coasters” is a continuation of the group that Gunter led before his death. “The Coasters” is managed by Carl Gardner’s widow. And Leon Hughes, who is the only surviving original member of the Coasters but was gone by the time of “Yakety Yak”, tours as “Leon Hughes and His Coasters”. The Coasters are now all gone, other than Hughes, but their records are still remembered. They created a sound that influenced many, many, other groups, but has never been replicated by anyone. They were often dismissed as just a comedy group, but as anyone who has ever tried it knows, making music that is both funny and musically worthwhile is one of the hardest things you can do. And making comedy music that’s still enjoyable more than sixty years later? No-one else in rock and roll has ever done that.

HELLO GANG! Welcome to a FRESH SIGNAL OF DOOM! Rey is BACK in TOWN! We cover topics wide and roaming and free, such as Marvel Legends figures, recent Omni and Epic Collection buys, Rey talks about Bloodshot, Disney's Obi Wan series is on HOLD, Quentin Tarantino may direct some Western TV, US Agent is on the set of Falcon and Winter Soldier, AND MUCH MORE! Plus...extra Dave rants! Weekly Comics Conan: The Serpent War #4 The Ruins of Ravencroft: Dracula #1 Guardians of the Galaxy #1 Wonder Woman #750 TRADE OF THE WEEK The Incredible Hulk: Ghosts of the Past Epic Collection

Greg interviews Palm, a professional translator of English to Thai, but in a very specific context: subtitles for film and television. Palm begins by explaining that she literally learned English by being a couch potato and watching a lot of Western TV shows and movies, surviving by figuring out the subtitles word by word. This led naturally to an interest in doing it for a living, and lo and behold, her dream came to when she got a job translating for MTV Thailand. Eventually, this led to translating for a major video distribution company (which shall remain anonymous).  Greg quizzes Palm on the difficulties of her job and how she can possibly find Thai equivalents for all the weird expressions and slang in English. Palm notes that this in fact makes her job fun, as she often has to do research to first make sure she has the proper understanding in her own head before she can determine the best Thai equivalent. Unsurprisingly, curse words are quite difficult, and Greg and Palm discuss some rude expressions and how Palm approaches translating them.  They also discuss the difference between simply translating a word, and translating intentions, concepts, and context. Apply this to, say, hip-hop culture, or RuPaul’s show “Drag Race”, and you can see where it becomes difficult!  Palm concludes with some advice for wannabe subtitlers, so listen in for some excellent career guidance if you are so inclined.  As always, the podcast will continue to be 100% funded by listeners just like you who get some special swag from us. And we’ll keep our Facebook, Twitter, and LINE accounts active so you can send us comments, questions, or whatever you want to share.

How an East German cameraman filmed the first major demonstrations in the GDR from the top of a church steeple in Leipzig. A month later, East Germany would effectively cease to exist. Part of our mini-series The Final Curtain. Siegbert Schefke was officially unemployed after being fired from his job as a building engineer. Unofficially, he began to arrange for diplomats to smuggle videotapes from East Germany to be broadcast on West German TV stations. As it happens, most East Germans could also pick up Western TV on their receivers. Siegbert didn't really know how to use a video camera, but that didn't really matter, what mattered was that the world could see what was really going on behind the Wall. How did Siegbert and his friend Aram Radomski end up filming the first major protest in the GDR on 9th October 1989?  How did they outfox the Stasi and get the footage to the West? Find out in the newest episode of The Final Curtain. Like our show? Sign up for our newsletter! Time stamps [01:08] Born in the GDR [03:50] From part-time revolutionary to full-time revolutionary [06:22] Smuggling videotapes to the West [08:40] Foreign diplomats & secret codes [11:11] The Monday Demonstrations in Leipzig [14:27] Making history [18:22] The day the Berlin Wall fell [21:12] What next? Further reading Siegbert Schefke // short biography on Revolution89.de The Monday Demonstrations in East Germany // on Wikipedia A Peaceful Revolution in Leipzig // on Spiegel.de 'I was very angry for 30 years' // interview on AlJazeera.com Sex, Karate & Videotapes: The VHS Craze of the 1989 Transformation // on Culture.pl Credits Written & produced by Piotr Wołodźko Edited by Adam Zulawski & Wojciech Oleksiak Scoring & sound design by Wojciech Oleksiak Hosted by Nitzan Reisner & Adam Zulawski

Today on Weird West Radio:  The hosts discuss upcoming 2019 and 2020 westerns. Show your support by pledging to our Patreon Page. When you pledge,  each month you will receive 2-4 additional broadcasts from Mike and Clint, including more Weird West Radio discussions and the exclusive Spaghetti Western Corner monthly show. Acorns Core automatically invests your spare […]

Murray and Matt sit down to discuss a very one sided conversation about Lorne Greene and the cast of characters for the second longest running Western TV show.

Hooray & hallelujah! For episode 300 the lovable human Cameron Hattan has taken me out to the center of Lake Tahoe on a sail boat. After cruising around the majestic beauty of the lake we parked and went down in the cabin to record this episode. Cameron taught sailing on Lake Tahoe for many years, teaches me what a zephyr is and then he goes to intensely pull lines when our lives were in danger. Sun sparkles on water go perfectly with Native American beliefs in how they read signs from the mountains, the classic Western TV show Bonanza and other California factoids. His worst sailing experience took place on the sea of Cortez in Mexico and mine was in Malaysia between Penang and Langkawi.  You will learn about the sea gypsy people of the world who are raising their kids at sea, how to properly clean out the butthole of a lobster, and how to bring vision aid glasses to Honduras. Find your center with the zen wisdom of the film Captain Ron and the Cheech and Chong film Yellow Beard the pirate. Cameron has been a strong advocate of cannabis as medical treatment and this has led his mother to block him on facebook because she doesn't want her quilting group to know that her son is a drug dealer. Genesis 1:12 in the bible clearly states "All seed baring plants I give to you." For the first time in human history we have a chance to treat serious illnesses with cannabis and Cameron eloquently explains how his company Fiddler's Greens is forging the way in this treatment. Louis Armstrong got Richard Nixon to smuggle marijuana into the Unites States for him? According to Cameron this story is true. Its great to have a friend but its even better to have a friend with a boat. Add to this a friend who is also a cannabis expert and you get the nautical adventure that is the celebratory sun sparkles on the lake enhanced episode 300 that will trigger the serotonin in your brain and make you happy. In the immortal words of Bill Murray in the film 'What about Bob?' "I'm sailing! I'm sailing! I'm really sailing!" Ahoy and joy be upon you! Community over competition! Long may you sail!   patreon.com/tomrhodesradiosmartcamp

Welcome back everybody to Collider Live. It's the show where we scream and yell about things on the internet and occasionally, make some fart noises. Today we're talking about the Game of Thrones guys dropping out of their Comic Con panel... SHOCKER! You ever been in Hall H and you hear just as much booing as you did cheering? Yeah, 2016 Justice League panel with Zack Snyder. Look, I don't care for those movies but booing the guy trying to promote his new movie is just lame. For real, don't boo people. Well, you can boo your least favorite sports team but that's kind of different. Or maybe it's not. I don't know I don't usually write the descriptions (this isn't Cody or Alex btw). Who could it be? Find out on this week's episode of Scooby-Doo. Get tickets to Mark Ellis’ live shows tonight at SDCC: https://markellislive.com 00:00 how’s everyone doing? WHAT is everyone doing?; sports things 11:02 how does the Twitch work? demons and exorcisms and ghosts and stuff; Amanda Macuga calls in 20:35 Cody’s SDCC plans, TGI Friday’s, writing books; Cody-Con - let’s make it happen 29:11 please don’t raid Area 51 thank you 38:23 It Chapter 2 new trailer released 45:21 Quentin Tarantino wants to do a Western TV series now? 52:47 Javier Bardem cast as King Triton in live action The Little Mermaid 1:03:28 CODY IS ON THE TABLE, is he ready to be a papa? 1:07:12 Nikolaj Coster-Waldau reacts to reactions, Benioff & Weiss not doing a Comic-Con panel 1:21:33 favorite Comic-Con memories, Wanger talk, Cody papa 1:29:06 Edward Furlong back in Terminator: Dark Fate 1:33:26 Christian joins and shares some Comic-Con memories, Scream and Wes Craven 1:39:47 what Comic-Con panels we’re looking forward to 1:48:46 calls - next Superman villain? why is everyone against the Terminator sequels? what do you want to happen in the Marvel panel? #ColliderLive: You have no idea what might happen in this off the wall show that is a mix of the old Schmoes Know show with a dash of Collider, mixed with nonsense, shaken with comedy and served every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday live from Collider Studios. Make sure you like and share the show so we can build it TOGETHER. Make sure you give it a like as well and subscribe to the Collider Podcast feed! Watch the new short film from The Wangers/Amateur Hour Films, “Teddy”: https://youtu.be/RzRRg9RDYI8 Listen to (Alex) Marzoña’s new song, “Maybe in Another Life”: https://youtu.be/nirUFVj6b5k Visit the Schmoedown website for the latest Schmoedown news and more: http://triviasd.com Get your tickets for Schmoedown Live events in San Diego and New York: https://theschmoedownlive.com Follow Josh: https://twitter.com/JoshMacuga Follow Reilly: https://twitter.com/ReillyAround Follow Ken: https://twitter.com/KenNapzok Follow Rocha: https://twitter.com/TheRochaSays Follow Christian: https://twitter.com/ChristianRuvy Follow Cody: https://twitter.com/TheRealCodyHall Follow Alex: https://twitter.com/AlexMarzona SUBSCRIBE ? ? https://bit.ly/1qU5ENT More Great Collider Content ??Movie News & Analysis: https://bit.ly/2n1MZb7 ??Celebrity Interviews: https://bit.ly/2OyLjSU ??Video Games: https://bit.ly/2vszg0Z ??Sports: https://bit.ly/2Au5rmv ?????Pro Wrestling: https://bit.ly/2LKhWzy ??Breaking News: http://collider.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/ColliderVideo Instagram: https://instagram.com/ColliderVideo Facebook: https://facebook.com/colliderdotcom Want to listen to Collider on the go? Search "COLLIDER"...

Welcome to episode thirty of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs. This is the last of our three-part look at Chess Records, and focuses on “Bo Diddley” by Bo Diddley. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode.  —-more—- Resources As always, I’ve created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode.I accidentally used a later rerecording of “I Wish You Would” by Billy Boy Arnold on the playlist, but I use the correct version in the podcast itself. Sorry about that. As this is part three of the Chess Records trilogy, you might want to listen to part one, on the Moonglows, and part two, on Chuck Berry, if you haven’t already. Along with the resources mentioned in the previous two episodes, the resource I used most this time was Bo Diddley: Living Legend by George R. White, a strong biography told almost entirely in Diddley’s own words from interviews, and the only full-length book on Diddley. This compilation contains Diddley’s first six albums plus a bunch of non-album and live tracks, and has everything you’re likely to want by Diddley on it, for under ten pounds. If you want to hear more Muddy Waters after hearing his back-and-forth with Diddley, this double CD set is a perfect introduction to him. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Welcome to the final part of our trilogy about Chess Records. Last week, we looked at Chuck Berry. This week, we’re going to deal with someone who may even have been more important. One of the many injustices in copyright law — and something that we’ll have a lot of cause to mention during the course of this series — is that, for the entire time period covered by this podcast, it was impossible to copyright a groove or a rhythm, but you could copyright a melody line and lyric. And this has led to real inter-racial injustice. In general, black musical culture in the USA has emphasised different aspects of musical invention than white culture has. While white American musical culture — particularly *rich* white musical culture — has stressed inventive melodies and harmonic movement — think of, say, Burt Bacharach or George Gershwin — it has not historically stressed rhythmic invention. On the other hand, black musical culture has stressed that above everything else — you’ll notice that all the rhythmic innovations we’ve talked about in this series so far, like boogie woogie, and the backbeat, and the tresillo rhythm, all came from black musicians. That’s not, of course, to say that black musicians can’t be melodically inventive or white musicians rhythmically — I’m not here saying “black people have a great sense of rhythm” or any of that racist nonsense. I’m just talking about the way that different cultures have prioritised different things. But this means that when black musicians have produced innovative work, it’s not been possible for them to have any intellectual property ownership in the result. You can’t steal a melody by Bacharach, but anyone can play a song with a boogie beat, or a shuffle, or a tresillo… or with the Bo Diddley beat. [Very short excerpt: “Bo Diddley”, Bo Diddley] Elias McDaniel’s distinctive sound came about because he started performing so young that he couldn’t gain entrance to clubs, and so he and his band had to play on street corners. But you can’t cart a drum kit around and use it on the streets, so McDaniel and his band came up with various inventive ways to add percussion to the act. At first, they had someone who would come round with a big bag of sand and empty it onto the pavement. He’d then use a brush on the sand, and the noise of the brushing would provide percussion — at the end of the performance this man, whose name was Sam Daniel but was called Sandman by everyone, would sweep all the sand back up and put it back into his bag for the next show. Eventually, though, Sandman left, and McDaniel hit on the idea of using his girlfriend’s neighbour Jerome Green as part of the act. We heard Jerome last week, playing on “Maybellene”, but he’s someone who there is astonishingly little information about. He doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page, and you’ll find barely more than a few paragraphs about him online. No-one even knows when he was born or died – *if* he died, though he seems to have disappeared around 1972. And this is quite astonishing when you consider that Green played on all Bo Diddley’s classic records, and sang duet on a few of the most successful ones, *and* he played on many of Chuck Berry’s, and on various other records by Willie Dixon, Otis Spann, the Moonglows… yet when you Google him, the third hit that comes up is about Robson Green and Jerome Flynn, a nineties soft-pop duo who span out of a soap opera. At first, Jerome’s job was to pass the hat around and collect the money, but McDaniel decided to build Jerome a pair of maracas, and teach him how to play. And he learned to play very well indeed, adding a Latin sound to what had previously been just a blues band. Jerome’s maracas weren’t the only things that Elias McDaniel built, though. He had a knack for technology, though he was always rather modest about his own abilities. He built himself one of the very first tremelo systems for a guitar, making something out of old car bits and electronic junk that would break the electronic signal up. Before commercial tremelo systems existed, McDaniel was the only one who could make his guitar sound like that. The choppy guitar, with its signal breaking up deliberately, and the maracas being shook frantically, gave McDaniel’s music a rhythmic drive unlike anything else in rock and roll. McDaniel and his band eventually got their music heard by Leonard Chess at Chess Records. Chess was impressed by a song called “Uncle John”, which had lyrics that went “Uncle John’s got corn ain’t never been shucked/Uncle John’s got daughters ain’t never been… to school”; but he said the song needed less salacious lyrics, and he suggested retitling it “Bo Diddley”, which also became the stage name of the man who up until now had been called Elias McDaniel. The new lyrics were inspired by the black folk song “Hambone”, which a few years earlier had become a novelty hit: [Excerpt: “Hambone”, Red Saunders Orchestra with the Hambone Kids] Now, I have to be a bit careful here, because here I’m talking about something that’s from a different culture from my own, and my understanding of it is that of an outsider. To *me*, “Hambone” seems to be a unified thing that’s part song, part dance, part game. But my understanding may be very, very flawed, and I don’t want to pretend to knowledge I don’t have. But this is my best understanding of what “Hambone” is. “Hambone”, like many folk songs, is not in itself a single song, but a collection of different songs with similar elements. The name comes from a dance which, it is said, dates back to enslaved people attempting to entertain themselves. Slaves in most of the US were banned from using drums, because it was believed they might use them to send messages to each other, so when they wanted to dance and sing music, they would slap different parts of their own bodies to provide percussive accompaniment. Now, I tend to be a little dubious of narratives that claim that aspects of twentieth-century black culture date back to slavery or, as people often claim, to Africa. A lot of the time these turn out to be urban myths of the “ring a ring a roses is about the bubonic plague” kind. One of the real tragedies of slavery is that the African culture that the enslaved black people brought over to the US was largely lost in the ensuing centuries, and so there’s a very strong incentive to try to find things that could be a continuation of that. But that’s the story around “Hambone”, which is also known as the “Juba beat”. Another influence Diddley would always cite for the lyrical scansion is the song “Hey Baba Reba”, which he would usually misremember as having been by either Cab Calloway or Louis Jordan, but was actually by Lionel Hampton: [Excerpt: Lionel Hampton, “Hey Baba Reba”] But the important thing to note is that the rhythm of all these records is totally different from the rhythm of the song “Bo Diddley”. There’s a bit of misinformation that goes around in almost every article about Diddley, saying “the Bo Diddley beat is just the ‘Hambone’ beat”, and while Diddley would correct this in almost every interview he ever gave, the misinformation would persist — to the point that when I first heard “Hambone” I was shocked, because I’d assumed that there must at least have been some slight similarity. There’s no similarity at all. And that’s not the only song where I’ve seen claims that there’s a Bo Diddley beat where none exists. As a reminder, here’s the actual Bo Diddley rhythm: [Very short excerpt: Bo Diddley, “Bo Diddley”] Now the PhD thesis on the development of the backbeat which I talked about back in episode two claims that the beat appears on about thirteen records before Diddley’s, mostly by people we’ve discussed before, like Louis Jordan, Johnny Otis, Fats Domino, and Roy Brown. But here’s a couple of examples of the songs that thesis cites. Here’s “Mardi Gras in New Orleans” by Fats Domino: [Excerpt: “Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Fats Domino] And here’s “That’s Your Last Boogie”, by Joe Swift, produced by Johnny Otis: [Excerpt: Joe Swift, “That’s Your Last Boogie”] As you can hear, they both have something that’s *sort of* the Bo Diddley beat, but not really, among their other rhythms. It’s most notable at the very start of “That’s Your Last Boogie” [Intro: “That’s Your Last Boogie”] That’s what’s called a clave beat — it’s sort of like the tresillo, with an extra bom-bom on the end. Bom bom-bom, bom-bom. That’s not the Bo Diddley beat. The Bo Diddley beat actually varies subtly from bar to bar, but it’s generally a sort of chunk-a chunk-a-chunk a-chunk a-chunk ah. It certainly stresses the five beats of the clave, but it’s not them, and nor is it the “shave and a haircut, two bits” rhythm other people seem to claim for it. Most ridiculously, Wikipedia even claims that the Andrews Sisters’ version of Lord Invader’s great calypso song, “Rum and Coca Cola”, has the Bo Diddley beat: [Excerpt: “Rum and Coca Cola”, the Andrews Sisters] Both records have maracas, but that’s about it. Incidentally, that song was, in the Andrews Sisters version, credited to a white American thief rather than to the black Trinidadian men who wrote it. Sadly appropriate for a song about the exploitation of Trinidadians for “the Yankee dollar”. But none of these records have the Bo Diddley beat, despite what anyone might say. None of them even sound very much like Diddley’s beat at all. The origins of the Bo Diddley beat were, believe it or not, with Gene Autry. We’ve talked before about Autry, who was the biggest Western music star of the late thirties and early forties, and who inspired all sorts of people you wouldn’t expect, from Les Paul to Hank Ballard. But Diddley hit upon his rhythm when trying to play Autry’s “I’ve Got Spurs That Jingle Jangle Jingle”. [excerpt, Gene Autry, “I’ve Got Spurs that Jingle Jangle Jingle”] No, I don’t see the resemblance either. But this ties back into what we were talking about last week, with the influence of country musicians on the blues and R&B musicians at Chess. And if you become familiar with his later work, it becomes clear that Diddley truly loved the whole iconography of the Western, and country music. He did albums called “Have Guitar Will Travel” (named after the Western TV show “Have Gun Will Travel”) and “Bo Diddley is a Gunslinger”. Diddley’s work is rooted in black folklore — things like hambone, but also the figure of Stagger Lee and other characters like the Signifying Monkey — but it should be understood that black American folklore has always included the image of the black cowboy. The combination of these influences – the “Hambone” lyrical ideas, the cowboy rhythm, and the swaggering character Diddley created for himself – became this: [Excerpt: “Bo Diddley” by Bo Diddley] The B-side to the record, meanwhile, was maybe even more important. It’s also an early example of Diddley *not* just reusing his signature rhythm. The popular image of Diddley has him as a one-idea artist remaking the same song over and over again — and certainly he did often return to the Bo Diddley beat — but he was a far more interesting artist than that, and recorded in a far wider variety of styles than you might imagine. And in “I’m A Man” he took on another artist’s style, beating Muddy Waters at his own game. “I’m A Man” was a response to Waters’ earlier “Hoochie Coochie Man”: [Excerpt: “Hoochie Coochie Man”, Muddy Waters] “Hoochie Coochie Man” had been written for Muddy Waters by Willie Dixon and was, as far as I can tell, the first blues record ever to have that da-na-na na-na riff that later became the riff that for most people defines the blues. “Hoochie Coochie Man” had managed to sum up everything about Waters’ persona in a way that Waters himself had never managed with his own songs. It combined sexual braggadocio with hoodoo lore — the character Waters was singing in was possessed of supernatural powers, from the day he was born, and he used those powers to “make pretty women jump and shout”. He had a black cat bone, and a mojo, and a John the Conqueror root. It was a great riff, and a great persona, and a great record. But it was still a conventionally structured sixteen-bar blues, with the normal three chords that almost all blues records have. But Bo Diddley heard that and decided that was two chords too many. When you’ve got a great riff, you don’t *need* chord changes, not if you can just hammer on that riff. So he came up with a variant of Dixon’s song, and called it “I’m a Man”. In his version, there was only the one chord: [Excerpt: Bo Diddley, “I’m a Man”] Willie Dixon guested on bass for that song, as it wasn’t felt that Diddley’s own bass player was getting the feeling right. There were also some changes made to the song in the studio — as Diddley put it later: “They wanted me to spell ‘man’, but they weren’t explaining it right. They couldn’t get me to spell ‘man’. I didn’t understand what they were talking about!” But eventually he did sing that man is spelled m-a-n, and the song went on to be covered by pretty much every British band of the sixties, and become a blues standard. The most important cover version of it though was when Muddy Waters decided to make his own answer record to Diddley, in which he stated that *he* was a man, not a boy like Diddley. Diddley got a co-writing credit on this, though Willie Dixon, whose riff had been the basis of “I’m a Man”, didn’t. [Excerpt: Muddy Waters, “Mannish Boy”] And then there was Etta James’ answer record, “W.O.M.A.N.”, which once again has wild west references in it: [Excerpt: Etta James, “W.O.M.A.N.”] And that… “inspired” Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller to write this for Peggy Lee: [Excerpt: Peggy Lee, “I’m A Woman”] Of course, none of those records, except Muddy Waters’, gave Bo Diddley a writing credit, just as Diddley didn’t credit Dixon for his riff. At the same session as the single was recorded, Diddley’s harmonica player, Billy Boy Arnold, recorded a single of his own, backed by Diddley and his band. “I’m Sweet on you Baby” wasn’t released at the time, but it’s a much more straightforward blues song, and more like Chess’ normal releases. Chess were interested in making more records with Arnold, but we’ll see that that didn’t turn out well: [Excerpt: Billy Boy Arnold, “I’m Sweet on you Baby”] Despite putting out a truly phenomenal single, Diddley hit upon a real problem with his career, and one that would be one of the reasons he was never as popular as contemporaries like Chuck Berry. The problem, at first, looked like anything but. He was booked on the Ed Sullivan Show to promote his first single. The Ed Sullivan Show was the biggest TV show of the fifties and sixties. A variety show presented by the eponymous Sullivan, who somehow even after twenty years of presenting never managed to look or sound remotely comfortable in front of a camera, it was the programme that boosted Elvis Presley from stardom to superstardom, and which turned the Beatles from a local phenomenon in the UK and Europe into the biggest act the world had ever seen. Getting on it was the biggest possible break Diddley could have got, and it should have made his career. Instead, it was a disaster, all because of a misunderstanding. At the time, the country song “Sixteen Tons” by Tennessee Ernie Ford was a big hit: [Excerpt: “Sixteen Tons”, Tennessee Ernie Ford] Diddley liked the song — enough that he would later record his own version of it: [Excerpt: Bo Diddley, “Sixteen Tons”] And so he was singing it to himself in his dressing room. One of the production staff happened to walk past and hear him, and asked if he could perform that song on the show. Diddley assumed he was being asked if he would do it as well as the song he was there to promote, and was flattered to be asked to do a second song. [Excerpt: Ed Sullivan introducing “Dr Jive”, with all the confusion about what words he’s using] When he got out on to the stage he saw the cue card saying “Bo Diddley Sixteen Tons”, assumed it meant the song “Bo Diddley” followed by the song “Sixteen Tons”, and so he launched into “Bo Diddley”. After all, why would he go on the show to promote someone else’s record? He was there to promote his own debut single. So of course he was going to play it. This was not what the production person had intended, and was not what Ed Sullivan wanted. Backstage, there was a confrontation that got so heated that Diddley had to be physically restrained from beating Sullivan with his guitar after Sullivan called Diddley a “black boy” (according to Diddley, “black” at that time and in that place, was a racial slur, though it’s the polite term to use today). Sullivan yelled and screamed at Diddley and told him he would be blacklisted from network TV, and would certainly never appear on Sullivan’s show again under any circumstances. After that first TV appearance, it would be seven years until Diddley’s second. And unlike all his contemporaries he didn’t even get to appear in films. Even Alan Freed, who greatly respected Diddley and booked him on his live shows, and who Diddley also respected, didn’t have him appear in any of the five rock and roll films he made. As far as I can tell, the two minutes he was on the Ed Sullivan show is the only record of Bo Diddley on film or video from 1955 through 1962. And this meant, as well, that Chess put all their promotional efforts behind Chuck Berry, who for all his faults was more welcome in the TV studios. If Diddley wanted success, he had to let his records and live performances do the work for him, because he wasn’t getting any help from the media. Luckily, his records were great. Not only was Diddley’s first hit one of the great two-sided singles of all time, but his next single was also impressive. The story of “Diddley Daddy” dates back to one of the white cover versions of “Bo Diddley”. Essex Records put out this cover version by Jean Dinning, produced by Dave Miller, who had earlier produced Bill Haley and the Comets’ first records: [Excerpt: Jean Dinning, “Bo Diddley”] And, as with Georgia Gibbs’ version of “Tweedle Dee”, the record label wanted to make the record sound as much like the original as possible, and so tried to get the original musicians to play on it, and made an agreement with Chess. They couldn’t get Bo Diddley himself, and without his tremelo guitar it sounded nothing like the original, but they *did* get Willie Dixon on bass, Diddley’s drummer Clifton James (who sadly isn’t the same Clifton James who played the bumbling sheriff in “Live and Let Die” and “Superman II”, though it would be great if he was), and Billy Boy Arnold on harmonica. But Billy Boy Arnold made the mistake of going to Chess and asking for the money he was owed for the session. Leonard Chess didn’t like when musicians wanted paying, and complained to Bo Diddley about Arnold. Diddley told Arnold that Chess wasn’t happy with him, and so Arnold decided to take a song he’d written, “Diddy Diddy Dum Dum”, to another label rather than give it to Chess. He changed the lyrics around a bit, and called it “I Wish You Would”: [Excerpt: Billy Boy Arnold, “I Wish You Would”] Arnold actually recorded that for Vee-Jay Records on the very day that Bo Diddley’s second single was due to be recorded, and the Diddley session was held up because nobody knew where Arnold was. They eventually found him and got him to Diddley’s session — where Diddley started playing “Diddy Diddy Dum Dum”. Leonard Chess suggested letting Arnold sing the song, but Arnold said “I can’t — I just recorded that for VeeJay”, and showed Chess the contract. Diddley and Harvey Fuqua, who was there to sing backing vocals with the rest of the Moonglows, quickly reworked the song. Arnold didn’t want to play harmonica on something so close to a record he’d just made, though he played on the B-side, and so Muddy Waters’ harmonica player Little Walter filled in instead. The new song, entitled “Diddley Daddy”, became another of Diddley’s signature songs: [Excerpt: Bo Diddley, “Diddley Daddy”] but the B-side, “She’s Fine, She’s Mine”, was the one that would truly become influential: [Excerpt: Bo Diddley, “She’s Fine, She’s Mine”] That song was later slightly reworked into this, by Willie Cobbs: [Excerpt: Willie Cobbs, “You Don’t Love Me”] That song was covered by pretty much every white guitar band of the late sixties — the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Allman Brothers, Steve Stills and Al Kooper… the list goes on. But Cobbs’ song itself was also slightly reworked, by Dawn Penn, in 1967, and became a minor reggae classic. Twenty-seven years later, in 1994, Penn rerecorded her song, based on Cobbs’ song, based on Bo Diddley’s song, and it became a worldwide smash hit, with Diddley getting cowriting credit: [Excerpt: Dawn Penn, “You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)”] And *that* has later been covered by Beyonce and Rhianna, and sampled by Ghostface Killah and Usher. And that’s how important Bo Diddley was at this point in time. The B-side to his less-good follow-up to his debut provided enough material for sixty years’ worth of hits in styles from R&B to jam band to reggae to hip-hop. And the song “Bo Diddley” itself, of course, would provide a rhythm for generations of musicians to take, everyone from Buddy Holly: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, “Not Fade Away”] to George Michael: [Excerpt George Michael, “Faith”] to U2: [Excerpt: U2, “Desire”] Because that rhythm was so successful – even though most of the success went to white people who didn’t credit or pay Diddley – people tend to think of Diddley as a one-idea musician, which is far from the truth. Like many of his contemporaries he only had a short period where he was truly inventive — his last truly classic track was recorded in 1962. But that period was an astoundingly inventive one, and we’re going to be seeing him again during the course of this series. In his first four tracks, Diddley had managed to record three of the most influential tracks in rock history. But the next time we look at him, it will be with a song he wrote for other people — a song that would indirectly have massive effects on the whole of popular music.  

Welcome to episode thirty of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs. This is the last of our three-part look at Chess Records, and focuses on “Bo Diddley” by Bo Diddley. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode.  —-more—- Resources As always, I’ve created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode.I accidentally used a later rerecording of “I Wish You Would” by Billy Boy Arnold on the playlist, but I use the correct version in the podcast itself. Sorry about that. As this is part three of the Chess Records trilogy, you might want to listen to part one, on the Moonglows, and part two, on Chuck Berry, if you haven’t already. Along with the resources mentioned in the previous two episodes, the resource I used most this time was Bo Diddley: Living Legend by George R. White, a strong biography told almost entirely in Diddley’s own words from interviews, and the only full-length book on Diddley. This compilation contains Diddley’s first six albums plus a bunch of non-album and live tracks, and has everything you’re likely to want by Diddley on it, for under ten pounds. If you want to hear more Muddy Waters after hearing his back-and-forth with Diddley, this double CD set is a perfect introduction to him. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Welcome to the final part of our trilogy about Chess Records. Last week, we looked at Chuck Berry. This week, we’re going to deal with someone who may even have been more important. One of the many injustices in copyright law — and something that we’ll have a lot of cause to mention during the course of this series — is that, for the entire time period covered by this podcast, it was impossible to copyright a groove or a rhythm, but you could copyright a melody line and lyric. And this has led to real inter-racial injustice. In general, black musical culture in the USA has emphasised different aspects of musical invention than white culture has. While white American musical culture — particularly *rich* white musical culture — has stressed inventive melodies and harmonic movement — think of, say, Burt Bacharach or George Gershwin — it has not historically stressed rhythmic invention. On the other hand, black musical culture has stressed that above everything else — you’ll notice that all the rhythmic innovations we’ve talked about in this series so far, like boogie woogie, and the backbeat, and the tresillo rhythm, all came from black musicians. That’s not, of course, to say that black musicians can’t be melodically inventive or white musicians rhythmically — I’m not here saying “black people have a great sense of rhythm” or any of that racist nonsense. I’m just talking about the way that different cultures have prioritised different things. But this means that when black musicians have produced innovative work, it’s not been possible for them to have any intellectual property ownership in the result. You can’t steal a melody by Bacharach, but anyone can play a song with a boogie beat, or a shuffle, or a tresillo… or with the Bo Diddley beat. [Very short excerpt: “Bo Diddley”, Bo Diddley] Elias McDaniel’s distinctive sound came about because he started performing so young that he couldn’t gain entrance to clubs, and so he and his band had to play on street corners. But you can’t cart a drum kit around and use it on the streets, so McDaniel and his band came up with various inventive ways to add percussion to the act. At first, they had someone who would come round with a big bag of sand and empty it onto the pavement. He’d then use a brush on the sand, and the noise of the brushing would provide percussion — at the end of the performance this man, whose name was Sam Daniel but was called Sandman by everyone, would sweep all the sand back up and put it back into his bag for the next show. Eventually, though, Sandman left, and McDaniel hit on the idea of using his girlfriend’s neighbour Jerome Green as part of the act. We heard Jerome last week, playing on “Maybellene”, but he’s someone who there is astonishingly little information about. He doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page, and you’ll find barely more than a few paragraphs about him online. No-one even knows when he was born or died – *if* he died, though he seems to have disappeared around 1972. And this is quite astonishing when you consider that Green played on all Bo Diddley’s classic records, and sang duet on a few of the most successful ones, *and* he played on many of Chuck Berry’s, and on various other records by Willie Dixon, Otis Spann, the Moonglows… yet when you Google him, the third hit that comes up is about Robson Green and Jerome Flynn, a nineties soft-pop duo who span out of a soap opera. At first, Jerome’s job was to pass the hat around and collect the money, but McDaniel decided to build Jerome a pair of maracas, and teach him how to play. And he learned to play very well indeed, adding a Latin sound to what had previously been just a blues band. Jerome’s maracas weren’t the only things that Elias McDaniel built, though. He had a knack for technology, though he was always rather modest about his own abilities. He built himself one of the very first tremelo systems for a guitar, making something out of old car bits and electronic junk that would break the electronic signal up. Before commercial tremelo systems existed, McDaniel was the only one who could make his guitar sound like that. The choppy guitar, with its signal breaking up deliberately, and the maracas being shook frantically, gave McDaniel’s music a rhythmic drive unlike anything else in rock and roll. McDaniel and his band eventually got their music heard by Leonard Chess at Chess Records. Chess was impressed by a song called “Uncle John”, which had lyrics that went “Uncle John’s got corn ain’t never been shucked/Uncle John’s got daughters ain’t never been… to school”; but he said the song needed less salacious lyrics, and he suggested retitling it “Bo Diddley”, which also became the stage name of the man who up until now had been called Elias McDaniel. The new lyrics were inspired by the black folk song “Hambone”, which a few years earlier had become a novelty hit: [Excerpt: “Hambone”, Red Saunders Orchestra with the Hambone Kids] Now, I have to be a bit careful here, because here I’m talking about something that’s from a different culture from my own, and my understanding of it is that of an outsider. To *me*, “Hambone” seems to be a unified thing that’s part song, part dance, part game. But my understanding may be very, very flawed, and I don’t want to pretend to knowledge I don’t have. But this is my best understanding of what “Hambone” is. “Hambone”, like many folk songs, is not in itself a single song, but a collection of different songs with similar elements. The name comes from a dance which, it is said, dates back to enslaved people attempting to entertain themselves. Slaves in most of the US were banned from using drums, because it was believed they might use them to send messages to each other, so when they wanted to dance and sing music, they would slap different parts of their own bodies to provide percussive accompaniment. Now, I tend to be a little dubious of narratives that claim that aspects of twentieth-century black culture date back to slavery or, as people often claim, to Africa. A lot of the time these turn out to be urban myths of the “ring a ring a roses is about the bubonic plague” kind. One of the real tragedies of slavery is that the African culture that the enslaved black people brought over to the US was largely lost in the ensuing centuries, and so there’s a very strong incentive to try to find things that could be a continuation of that. But that’s the story around “Hambone”, which is also known as the “Juba beat”. Another influence Diddley would always cite for the lyrical scansion is the song “Hey Baba Reba”, which he would usually misremember as having been by either Cab Calloway or Louis Jordan, but was actually by Lionel Hampton: [Excerpt: Lionel Hampton, “Hey Baba Reba”] But the important thing to note is that the rhythm of all these records is totally different from the rhythm of the song “Bo Diddley”. There’s a bit of misinformation that goes around in almost every article about Diddley, saying “the Bo Diddley beat is just the ‘Hambone’ beat”, and while Diddley would correct this in almost every interview he ever gave, the misinformation would persist — to the point that when I first heard “Hambone” I was shocked, because I’d assumed that there must at least have been some slight similarity. There’s no similarity at all. And that’s not the only song where I’ve seen claims that there’s a Bo Diddley beat where none exists. As a reminder, here’s the actual Bo Diddley rhythm: [Very short excerpt: Bo Diddley, “Bo Diddley”] Now the PhD thesis on the development of the backbeat which I talked about back in episode two claims that the beat appears on about thirteen records before Diddley’s, mostly by people we’ve discussed before, like Louis Jordan, Johnny Otis, Fats Domino, and Roy Brown. But here’s a couple of examples of the songs that thesis cites. Here’s “Mardi Gras in New Orleans” by Fats Domino: [Excerpt: “Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Fats Domino] And here’s “That’s Your Last Boogie”, by Joe Swift, produced by Johnny Otis: [Excerpt: Joe Swift, “That’s Your Last Boogie”] As you can hear, they both have something that’s *sort of* the Bo Diddley beat, but not really, among their other rhythms. It’s most notable at the very start of “That’s Your Last Boogie” [Intro: “That’s Your Last Boogie”] That’s what’s called a clave beat — it’s sort of like the tresillo, with an extra bom-bom on the end. Bom bom-bom, bom-bom. That’s not the Bo Diddley beat. The Bo Diddley beat actually varies subtly from bar to bar, but it’s generally a sort of chunk-a chunk-a-chunk a-chunk a-chunk ah. It certainly stresses the five beats of the clave, but it’s not them, and nor is it the “shave and a haircut, two bits” rhythm other people seem to claim for it. Most ridiculously, Wikipedia even claims that the Andrews Sisters’ version of Lord Invader’s great calypso song, “Rum and Coca Cola”, has the Bo Diddley beat: [Excerpt: “Rum and Coca Cola”, the Andrews Sisters] Both records have maracas, but that’s about it. Incidentally, that song was, in the Andrews Sisters version, credited to a white American thief rather than to the black Trinidadian men who wrote it. Sadly appropriate for a song about the exploitation of Trinidadians for “the Yankee dollar”. But none of these records have the Bo Diddley beat, despite what anyone might say. None of them even sound very much like Diddley’s beat at all. The origins of the Bo Diddley beat were, believe it or not, with Gene Autry. We’ve talked before about Autry, who was the biggest Western music star of the late thirties and early forties, and who inspired all sorts of people you wouldn’t expect, from Les Paul to Hank Ballard. But Diddley hit upon his rhythm when trying to play Autry’s “I’ve Got Spurs That Jingle Jangle Jingle”. [excerpt, Gene Autry, “I’ve Got Spurs that Jingle Jangle Jingle”] No, I don’t see the resemblance either. But this ties back into what we were talking about last week, with the influence of country musicians on the blues and R&B musicians at Chess. And if you become familiar with his later work, it becomes clear that Diddley truly loved the whole iconography of the Western, and country music. He did albums called “Have Guitar Will Travel” (named after the Western TV show “Have Gun Will Travel”) and “Bo Diddley is a Gunslinger”. Diddley’s work is rooted in black folklore — things like hambone, but also the figure of Stagger Lee and other characters like the Signifying Monkey — but it should be understood that black American folklore has always included the image of the black cowboy. The combination of these influences – the “Hambone” lyrical ideas, the cowboy rhythm, and the swaggering character Diddley created for himself – became this: [Excerpt: “Bo Diddley” by Bo Diddley] The B-side to the record, meanwhile, was maybe even more important. It’s also an early example of Diddley *not* just reusing his signature rhythm. The popular image of Diddley has him as a one-idea artist remaking the same song over and over again — and certainly he did often return to the Bo Diddley beat — but he was a far more interesting artist than that, and recorded in a far wider variety of styles than you might imagine. And in “I’m A Man” he took on another artist’s style, beating Muddy Waters at his own game. “I’m A Man” was a response to Waters’ earlier “Hoochie Coochie Man”: [Excerpt: “Hoochie Coochie Man”, Muddy Waters] “Hoochie Coochie Man” had been written for Muddy Waters by Willie Dixon and was, as far as I can tell, the first blues record ever to have that da-na-na na-na riff that later became the riff that for most people defines the blues. “Hoochie Coochie Man” had managed to sum up everything about Waters’ persona in a way that Waters himself had never managed with his own songs. It combined sexual braggadocio with hoodoo lore — the character Waters was singing in was possessed of supernatural powers, from the day he was born, and he used those powers to “make pretty women jump and shout”. He had a black cat bone, and a mojo, and a John the Conqueror root. It was a great riff, and a great persona, and a great record. But it was still a conventionally structured sixteen-bar blues, with the normal three chords that almost all blues records have. But Bo Diddley heard that and decided that was two chords too many. When you’ve got a great riff, you don’t *need* chord changes, not if you can just hammer on that riff. So he came up with a variant of Dixon’s song, and called it “I’m a Man”. In his version, there was only the one chord: [Excerpt: Bo Diddley, “I’m a Man”] Willie Dixon guested on bass for that song, as it wasn’t felt that Diddley’s own bass player was getting the feeling right. There were also some changes made to the song in the studio — as Diddley put it later: “They wanted me to spell ‘man’, but they weren’t explaining it right. They couldn’t get me to spell ‘man’. I didn’t understand what they were talking about!” But eventually he did sing that man is spelled m-a-n, and the song went on to be covered by pretty much every British band of the sixties, and become a blues standard. The most important cover version of it though was when Muddy Waters decided to make his own answer record to Diddley, in which he stated that *he* was a man, not a boy like Diddley. Diddley got a co-writing credit on this, though Willie Dixon, whose riff had been the basis of “I’m a Man”, didn’t. [Excerpt: Muddy Waters, “Mannish Boy”] And then there was Etta James’ answer record, “W.O.M.A.N.”, which once again has wild west references in it: [Excerpt: Etta James, “W.O.M.A.N.”] And that… “inspired” Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller to write this for Peggy Lee: [Excerpt: Peggy Lee, “I’m A Woman”] Of course, none of those records, except Muddy Waters’, gave Bo Diddley a writing credit, just as Diddley didn’t credit Dixon for his riff. At the same session as the single was recorded, Diddley’s harmonica player, Billy Boy Arnold, recorded a single of his own, backed by Diddley and his band. “I’m Sweet on you Baby” wasn’t released at the time, but it’s a much more straightforward blues song, and more like Chess’ normal releases. Chess were interested in making more records with Arnold, but we’ll see that that didn’t turn out well: [Excerpt: Billy Boy Arnold, “I’m Sweet on you Baby”] Despite putting out a truly phenomenal single, Diddley hit upon a real problem with his career, and one that would be one of the reasons he was never as popular as contemporaries like Chuck Berry. The problem, at first, looked like anything but. He was booked on the Ed Sullivan Show to promote his first single. The Ed Sullivan Show was the biggest TV show of the fifties and sixties. A variety show presented by the eponymous Sullivan, who somehow even after twenty years of presenting never managed to look or sound remotely comfortable in front of a camera, it was the programme that boosted Elvis Presley from stardom to superstardom, and which turned the Beatles from a local phenomenon in the UK and Europe into the biggest act the world had ever seen. Getting on it was the biggest possible break Diddley could have got, and it should have made his career. Instead, it was a disaster, all because of a misunderstanding. At the time, the country song “Sixteen Tons” by Tennessee Ernie Ford was a big hit: [Excerpt: “Sixteen Tons”, Tennessee Ernie Ford] Diddley liked the song — enough that he would later record his own version of it: [Excerpt: Bo Diddley, “Sixteen Tons”] And so he was singing it to himself in his dressing room. One of the production staff happened to walk past and hear him, and asked if he could perform that song on the show. Diddley assumed he was being asked if he would do it as well as the song he was there to promote, and was flattered to be asked to do a second song. [Excerpt: Ed Sullivan introducing “Dr Jive”, with all the confusion about what words he’s using] When he got out on to the stage he saw the cue card saying “Bo Diddley Sixteen Tons”, assumed it meant the song “Bo Diddley” followed by the song “Sixteen Tons”, and so he launched into “Bo Diddley”. After all, why would he go on the show to promote someone else’s record? He was there to promote his own debut single. So of course he was going to play it. This was not what the production person had intended, and was not what Ed Sullivan wanted. Backstage, there was a confrontation that got so heated that Diddley had to be physically restrained from beating Sullivan with his guitar after Sullivan called Diddley a “black boy” (according to Diddley, “black” at that time and in that place, was a racial slur, though it’s the polite term to use today). Sullivan yelled and screamed at Diddley and told him he would be blacklisted from network TV, and would certainly never appear on Sullivan’s show again under any circumstances. After that first TV appearance, it would be seven years until Diddley’s second. And unlike all his contemporaries he didn’t even get to appear in films. Even Alan Freed, who greatly respected Diddley and booked him on his live shows, and who Diddley also respected, didn’t have him appear in any of the five rock and roll films he made. As far as I can tell, the two minutes he was on the Ed Sullivan show is the only record of Bo Diddley on film or video from 1955 through 1962. And this meant, as well, that Chess put all their promotional efforts behind Chuck Berry, who for all his faults was more welcome in the TV studios. If Diddley wanted success, he had to let his records and live performances do the work for him, because he wasn’t getting any help from the media. Luckily, his records were great. Not only was Diddley’s first hit one of the great two-sided singles of all time, but his next single was also impressive. The story of “Diddley Daddy” dates back to one of the white cover versions of “Bo Diddley”. Essex Records put out this cover version by Jean Dinning, produced by Dave Miller, who had earlier produced Bill Haley and the Comets’ first records: [Excerpt: Jean Dinning, “Bo Diddley”] And, as with Georgia Gibbs’ version of “Tweedle Dee”, the record label wanted to make the record sound as much like the original as possible, and so tried to get the original musicians to play on it, and made an agreement with Chess. They couldn’t get Bo Diddley himself, and without his tremelo guitar it sounded nothing like the original, but they *did* get Willie Dixon on bass, Diddley’s drummer Clifton James (who sadly isn’t the same Clifton James who played the bumbling sheriff in “Live and Let Die” and “Superman II”, though it would be great if he was), and Billy Boy Arnold on harmonica. But Billy Boy Arnold made the mistake of going to Chess and asking for the money he was owed for the session. Leonard Chess didn’t like when musicians wanted paying, and complained to Bo Diddley about Arnold. Diddley told Arnold that Chess wasn’t happy with him, and so Arnold decided to take a song he’d written, “Diddy Diddy Dum Dum”, to another label rather than give it to Chess. He changed the lyrics around a bit, and called it “I Wish You Would”: [Excerpt: Billy Boy Arnold, “I Wish You Would”] Arnold actually recorded that for Vee-Jay Records on the very day that Bo Diddley’s second single was due to be recorded, and the Diddley session was held up because nobody knew where Arnold was. They eventually found him and got him to Diddley’s session — where Diddley started playing “Diddy Diddy Dum Dum”. Leonard Chess suggested letting Arnold sing the song, but Arnold said “I can’t — I just recorded that for VeeJay”, and showed Chess the contract. Diddley and Harvey Fuqua, who was there to sing backing vocals with the rest of the Moonglows, quickly reworked the song. Arnold didn’t want to play harmonica on something so close to a record he’d just made, though he played on the B-side, and so Muddy Waters’ harmonica player Little Walter filled in instead. The new song, entitled “Diddley Daddy”, became another of Diddley’s signature songs: [Excerpt: Bo Diddley, “Diddley Daddy”] but the B-side, “She’s Fine, She’s Mine”, was the one that would truly become influential: [Excerpt: Bo Diddley, “She’s Fine, She’s Mine”] That song was later slightly reworked into this, by Willie Cobbs: [Excerpt: Willie Cobbs, “You Don’t Love Me”] That song was covered by pretty much every white guitar band of the late sixties — the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Allman Brothers, Steve Stills and Al Kooper… the list goes on. But Cobbs’ song itself was also slightly reworked, by Dawn Penn, in 1967, and became a minor reggae classic. Twenty-seven years later, in 1994, Penn rerecorded her song, based on Cobbs’ song, based on Bo Diddley’s song, and it became a worldwide smash hit, with Diddley getting cowriting credit: [Excerpt: Dawn Penn, “You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No)”] And *that* has later been covered by Beyonce and Rhianna, and sampled by Ghostface Killah and Usher. And that’s how important Bo Diddley was at this point in time. The B-side to his less-good follow-up to his debut provided enough material for sixty years’ worth of hits in styles from R&B to jam band to reggae to hip-hop. And the song “Bo Diddley” itself, of course, would provide a rhythm for generations of musicians to take, everyone from Buddy Holly: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, “Not Fade Away”] to George Michael: [Excerpt George Michael, “Faith”] to U2: [Excerpt: U2, “Desire”] Because that rhythm was so successful – even though most of the success went to white people who didn’t credit or pay Diddley – people tend to think of Diddley as a one-idea musician, which is far from the truth. Like many of his contemporaries he only had a short period where he was truly inventive — his last truly classic track was recorded in 1962. But that period was an astoundingly inventive one, and we’re going to be seeing him again during the course of this series. In his first four tracks, Diddley had managed to record three of the most influential tracks in rock history. But the next time we look at him, it will be with a song he wrote for other people — a song that would indirectly have massive effects on the whole of popular music.  

Welcome to episode thirty of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs. This is the last of our three-part look at Chess Records, and focuses on "Bo Diddley" by Bo Diddley. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode.  ----more---- Resources As always, I've created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode.I accidentally used a later rerecording of "I Wish You Would" by Billy Boy Arnold on the playlist, but I use the correct version in the podcast itself. Sorry about that. As this is part three of the Chess Records trilogy, you might want to listen to part one, on the Moonglows, and part two, on Chuck Berry, if you haven't already. Along with the resources mentioned in the previous two episodes, the resource I used most this time was Bo Diddley: Living Legend by George R. White, a strong biography told almost entirely in Diddley's own words from interviews, and the only full-length book on Diddley. This compilation contains Diddley's first six albums plus a bunch of non-album and live tracks, and has everything you're likely to want by Diddley on it, for under ten pounds. If you want to hear more Muddy Waters after hearing his back-and-forth with Diddley, this double CD set is a perfect introduction to him. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Welcome to the final part of our trilogy about Chess Records. Last week, we looked at Chuck Berry. This week, we're going to deal with someone who may even have been more important. One of the many injustices in copyright law -- and something that we'll have a lot of cause to mention during the course of this series -- is that, for the entire time period covered by this podcast, it was impossible to copyright a groove or a rhythm, but you could copyright a melody line and lyric. And this has led to real inter-racial injustice. In general, black musical culture in the USA has emphasised different aspects of musical invention than white culture has. While white American musical culture -- particularly *rich* white musical culture -- has stressed inventive melodies and harmonic movement -- think of, say, Burt Bacharach or George Gershwin -- it has not historically stressed rhythmic invention. On the other hand, black musical culture has stressed that above everything else -- you'll notice that all the rhythmic innovations we've talked about in this series so far, like boogie woogie, and the backbeat, and the tresillo rhythm, all came from black musicians. That's not, of course, to say that black musicians can't be melodically inventive or white musicians rhythmically -- I'm not here saying "black people have a great sense of rhythm" or any of that racist nonsense. I'm just talking about the way that different cultures have prioritised different things. But this means that when black musicians have produced innovative work, it's not been possible for them to have any intellectual property ownership in the result. You can't steal a melody by Bacharach, but anyone can play a song with a boogie beat, or a shuffle, or a tresillo... or with the Bo Diddley beat. [Very short excerpt: “Bo Diddley”, Bo Diddley] Elias McDaniel's distinctive sound came about because he started performing so young that he couldn't gain entrance to clubs, and so he and his band had to play on street corners. But you can't cart a drum kit around and use it on the streets, so McDaniel and his band came up with various inventive ways to add percussion to the act. At first, they had someone who would come round with a big bag of sand and empty it onto the pavement. He'd then use a brush on the sand, and the noise of the brushing would provide percussion -- at the end of the performance this man, whose name was Sam Daniel but was called Sandman by everyone, would sweep all the sand back up and put it back into his bag for the next show. Eventually, though, Sandman left, and McDaniel hit on the idea of using his girlfriend's neighbour Jerome Green as part of the act. We heard Jerome last week, playing on "Maybellene", but he's someone who there is astonishingly little information about. He doesn't even have a Wikipedia page, and you'll find barely more than a few paragraphs about him online. No-one even knows when he was born or died – *if* he died, though he seems to have disappeared around 1972. And this is quite astonishing when you consider that Green played on all Bo Diddley's classic records, and sang duet on a few of the most successful ones, *and* he played on many of Chuck Berry's, and on various other records by Willie Dixon, Otis Spann, the Moonglows... yet when you Google him, the third hit that comes up is about Robson Green and Jerome Flynn, a nineties soft-pop duo who span out of a soap opera. At first, Jerome's job was to pass the hat around and collect the money, but McDaniel decided to build Jerome a pair of maracas, and teach him how to play. And he learned to play very well indeed, adding a Latin sound to what had previously been just a blues band. Jerome's maracas weren't the only things that Elias McDaniel built, though. He had a knack for technology, though he was always rather modest about his own abilities. He built himself one of the very first tremelo systems for a guitar, making something out of old car bits and electronic junk that would break the electronic signal up. Before commercial tremelo systems existed, McDaniel was the only one who could make his guitar sound like that. The choppy guitar, with its signal breaking up deliberately, and the maracas being shook frantically, gave McDaniel's music a rhythmic drive unlike anything else in rock and roll. McDaniel and his band eventually got their music heard by Leonard Chess at Chess Records. Chess was impressed by a song called "Uncle John", which had lyrics that went "Uncle John's got corn ain't never been shucked/Uncle John's got daughters ain't never been... to school"; but he said the song needed less salacious lyrics, and he suggested retitling it “Bo Diddley”, which also became the stage name of the man who up until now had been called Elias McDaniel. The new lyrics were inspired by the black folk song "Hambone", which a few years earlier had become a novelty hit: [Excerpt: "Hambone", Red Saunders Orchestra with the Hambone Kids] Now, I have to be a bit careful here, because here I'm talking about something that's from a different culture from my own, and my understanding of it is that of an outsider. To *me*, "Hambone" seems to be a unified thing that's part song, part dance, part game. But my understanding may be very, very flawed, and I don't want to pretend to knowledge I don't have. But this is my best understanding of what “Hambone” is. "Hambone", like many folk songs, is not in itself a single song, but a collection of different songs with similar elements. The name comes from a dance which, it is said, dates back to enslaved people attempting to entertain themselves. Slaves in most of the US were banned from using drums, because it was believed they might use them to send messages to each other, so when they wanted to dance and sing music, they would slap different parts of their own bodies to provide percussive accompaniment. Now, I tend to be a little dubious of narratives that claim that aspects of twentieth-century black culture date back to slavery or, as people often claim, to Africa. A lot of the time these turn out to be urban myths of the "ring a ring a roses is about the bubonic plague" kind. One of the real tragedies of slavery is that the African culture that the enslaved black people brought over to the US was largely lost in the ensuing centuries, and so there's a very strong incentive to try to find things that could be a continuation of that. But that's the story around “Hambone”, which is also known as the “Juba beat”. Another influence Diddley would always cite for the lyrical scansion is the song “Hey Baba Reba”, which he would usually misremember as having been by either Cab Calloway or Louis Jordan, but was actually by Lionel Hampton: [Excerpt: Lionel Hampton, “Hey Baba Reba”] But the important thing to note is that the rhythm of all these records is totally different from the rhythm of the song "Bo Diddley". There's a bit of misinformation that goes around in almost every article about Diddley, saying "the Bo Diddley beat is just the 'Hambone' beat", and while Diddley would correct this in almost every interview he ever gave, the misinformation would persist -- to the point that when I first heard "Hambone" I was shocked, because I'd assumed that there must at least have been some slight similarity. There's no similarity at all. And that's not the only song where I've seen claims that there's a Bo Diddley beat where none exists. As a reminder, here's the actual Bo Diddley rhythm: [Very short excerpt: Bo Diddley, “Bo Diddley”] Now the PhD thesis on the development of the backbeat which I talked about back in episode two claims that the beat appears on about thirteen records before Diddley's, mostly by people we've discussed before, like Louis Jordan, Johnny Otis, Fats Domino, and Roy Brown. But here's a couple of examples of the songs that thesis cites. Here's "Mardi Gras in New Orleans" by Fats Domino: [Excerpt: "Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Fats Domino] And here's "That's Your Last Boogie", by Joe Swift, produced by Johnny Otis: [Excerpt: Joe Swift, "That's Your Last Boogie"] As you can hear, they both have something that's *sort of* the Bo Diddley beat, but not really, among their other rhythms. It's most notable at the very start of "That's Your Last Boogie" [Intro: "That's Your Last Boogie"] That's what's called a clave beat -- it's sort of like the tresillo, with an extra bom-bom on the end. Bom bom-bom, bom-bom. That's not the Bo Diddley beat. The Bo Diddley beat actually varies subtly from bar to bar, but it's generally a sort of chunk-a chunk-a-chunk a-chunk a-chunk ah. It certainly stresses the five beats of the clave, but it's not them, and nor is it the "shave and a haircut, two bits" rhythm other people seem to claim for it. Most ridiculously, Wikipedia even claims that the Andrews Sisters' version of Lord Invader's great calypso song, "Rum and Coca Cola", has the Bo Diddley beat: [Excerpt: "Rum and Coca Cola", the Andrews Sisters] Both records have maracas, but that's about it. Incidentally, that song was, in the Andrews Sisters version, credited to a white American thief rather than to the black Trinidadian men who wrote it. Sadly appropriate for a song about the exploitation of Trinidadians for "the Yankee dollar". But none of these records have the Bo Diddley beat, despite what anyone might say. None of them even sound very much like Diddley's beat at all. The origins of the Bo Diddley beat were, believe it or not, with Gene Autry. We've talked before about Autry, who was the biggest Western music star of the late thirties and early forties, and who inspired all sorts of people you wouldn't expect, from Les Paul to Hank Ballard. But Diddley hit upon his rhythm when trying to play Autry's "I've Got Spurs That Jingle Jangle Jingle". [excerpt, Gene Autry, "I've Got Spurs that Jingle Jangle Jingle"] No, I don't see the resemblance either. But this ties back into what we were talking about last week, with the influence of country musicians on the blues and R&B musicians at Chess. And if you become familiar with his later work, it becomes clear that Diddley truly loved the whole iconography of the Western, and country music. He did albums called "Have Guitar Will Travel" (named after the Western TV show "Have Gun Will Travel") and "Bo Diddley is a Gunslinger". Diddley's work is rooted in black folklore -- things like hambone, but also the figure of Stagger Lee and other characters like the Signifying Monkey -- but it should be understood that black American folklore has always included the image of the black cowboy. The combination of these influences – the “Hambone” lyrical ideas, the cowboy rhythm, and the swaggering character Diddley created for himself – became this: [Excerpt: “Bo Diddley” by Bo Diddley] The B-side to the record, meanwhile, was maybe even more important. It's also an early example of Diddley *not* just reusing his signature rhythm. The popular image of Diddley has him as a one-idea artist remaking the same song over and over again -- and certainly he did often return to the Bo Diddley beat -- but he was a far more interesting artist than that, and recorded in a far wider variety of styles than you might imagine. And in "I'm A Man" he took on another artist's style, beating Muddy Waters at his own game. "I'm A Man" was a response to Waters' earlier "Hoochie Coochie Man": [Excerpt: "Hoochie Coochie Man", Muddy Waters] "Hoochie Coochie Man" had been written for Muddy Waters by Willie Dixon and was, as far as I can tell, the first blues record ever to have that da-na-na na-na riff that later became the riff that for most people defines the blues. "Hoochie Coochie Man" had managed to sum up everything about Waters' persona in a way that Waters himself had never managed with his own songs. It combined sexual braggadocio with hoodoo lore -- the character Waters was singing in was possessed of supernatural powers, from the day he was born, and he used those powers to "make pretty women jump and shout". He had a black cat bone, and a mojo, and a John the Conqueror root. It was a great riff, and a great persona, and a great record. But it was still a conventionally structured sixteen-bar blues, with the normal three chords that almost all blues records have. But Bo Diddley heard that and decided that was two chords too many. When you've got a great riff, you don't *need* chord changes, not if you can just hammer on that riff. So he came up with a variant of Dixon's song, and called it "I'm a Man". In his version, there was only the one chord: [Excerpt: Bo Diddley, "I'm a Man"] Willie Dixon guested on bass for that song, as it wasn't felt that Diddley's own bass player was getting the feeling right. There were also some changes made to the song in the studio -- as Diddley put it later: "They wanted me to spell 'man', but they weren't explaining it right. They couldn't get me to spell 'man'. I didn't understand what they were talking about!" But eventually he did sing that man is spelled m-a-n, and the song went on to be covered by pretty much every British band of the sixties, and become a blues standard. The most important cover version of it though was when Muddy Waters decided to make his own answer record to Diddley, in which he stated that *he* was a man, not a boy like Diddley. Diddley got a co-writing credit on this, though Willie Dixon, whose riff had been the basis of "I'm a Man", didn't. [Excerpt: Muddy Waters, "Mannish Boy"] And then there was Etta James' answer record, "W.O.M.A.N.", which once again has wild west references in it: [Excerpt: Etta James, "W.O.M.A.N."] And that… "inspired" Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller to write this for Peggy Lee: [Excerpt: Peggy Lee, "I'm A Woman"] Of course, none of those records, except Muddy Waters', gave Bo Diddley a writing credit, just as Diddley didn't credit Dixon for his riff. At the same session as the single was recorded, Diddley's harmonica player, Billy Boy Arnold, recorded a single of his own, backed by Diddley and his band. "I'm Sweet on you Baby" wasn't released at the time, but it's a much more straightforward blues song, and more like Chess' normal releases. Chess were interested in making more records with Arnold, but we'll see that that didn't turn out well: [Excerpt: Billy Boy Arnold, "I'm Sweet on you Baby"] Despite putting out a truly phenomenal single, Diddley hit upon a real problem with his career, and one that would be one of the reasons he was never as popular as contemporaries like Chuck Berry. The problem, at first, looked like anything but. He was booked on the Ed Sullivan Show to promote his first single. The Ed Sullivan Show was the biggest TV show of the fifties and sixties. A variety show presented by the eponymous Sullivan, who somehow even after twenty years of presenting never managed to look or sound remotely comfortable in front of a camera, it was the programme that boosted Elvis Presley from stardom to superstardom, and which turned the Beatles from a local phenomenon in the UK and Europe into the biggest act the world had ever seen. Getting on it was the biggest possible break Diddley could have got, and it should have made his career. Instead, it was a disaster, all because of a misunderstanding. At the time, the country song "Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford was a big hit: [Excerpt: "Sixteen Tons", Tennessee Ernie Ford] Diddley liked the song -- enough that he would later record his own version of it: [Excerpt: Bo Diddley, "Sixteen Tons"] And so he was singing it to himself in his dressing room. One of the production staff happened to walk past and hear him, and asked if he could perform that song on the show. Diddley assumed he was being asked if he would do it as well as the song he was there to promote, and was flattered to be asked to do a second song. [Excerpt: Ed Sullivan introducing "Dr Jive", with all the confusion about what words he's using] When he got out on to the stage he saw the cue card saying "Bo Diddley Sixteen Tons", assumed it meant the song "Bo Diddley" followed by the song "Sixteen Tons", and so he launched into "Bo Diddley". After all, why would he go on the show to promote someone else's record? He was there to promote his own debut single. So of course he was going to play it. This was not what the production person had intended, and was not what Ed Sullivan wanted. Backstage, there was a confrontation that got so heated that Diddley had to be physically restrained from beating Sullivan with his guitar after Sullivan called Diddley a “black boy” (according to Diddley, “black” at that time and in that place, was a racial slur, though it's the polite term to use today). Sullivan yelled and screamed at Diddley and told him he would be blacklisted from network TV, and would certainly never appear on Sullivan's show again under any circumstances. After that first TV appearance, it would be seven years until Diddley's second. And unlike all his contemporaries he didn't even get to appear in films. Even Alan Freed, who greatly respected Diddley and booked him on his live shows, and who Diddley also respected, didn't have him appear in any of the five rock and roll films he made. As far as I can tell, the two minutes he was on the Ed Sullivan show is the only record of Bo Diddley on film or video from 1955 through 1962. And this meant, as well, that Chess put all their promotional efforts behind Chuck Berry, who for all his faults was more welcome in the TV studios. If Diddley wanted success, he had to let his records and live performances do the work for him, because he wasn't getting any help from the media. Luckily, his records were great. Not only was Diddley's first hit one of the great two-sided singles of all time, but his next single was also impressive. The story of "Diddley Daddy" dates back to one of the white cover versions of "Bo Diddley". Essex Records put out this cover version by Jean Dinning, produced by Dave Miller, who had earlier produced Bill Haley and the Comets' first records: [Excerpt: Jean Dinning, "Bo Diddley"] And, as with Georgia Gibbs' version of “Tweedle Dee”, the record label wanted to make the record sound as much like the original as possible, and so tried to get the original musicians to play on it, and made an agreement with Chess. They couldn't get Bo Diddley himself, and without his tremelo guitar it sounded nothing like the original, but they *did* get Willie Dixon on bass, Diddley's drummer Clifton James (who sadly isn't the same Clifton James who played the bumbling sheriff in "Live and Let Die" and "Superman II", though it would be great if he was), and Billy Boy Arnold on harmonica. But Billy Boy Arnold made the mistake of going to Chess and asking for the money he was owed for the session. Leonard Chess didn't like when musicians wanted paying, and complained to Bo Diddley about Arnold. Diddley told Arnold that Chess wasn't happy with him, and so Arnold decided to take a song he'd written, "Diddy Diddy Dum Dum", to another label rather than give it to Chess. He changed the lyrics around a bit, and called it "I Wish You Would": [Excerpt: Billy Boy Arnold, "I Wish You Would"] Arnold actually recorded that for Vee-Jay Records on the very day that Bo Diddley's second single was due to be recorded, and the Diddley session was held up because nobody knew where Arnold was. They eventually found him and got him to Diddley's session -- where Diddley started playing "Diddy Diddy Dum Dum". Leonard Chess suggested letting Arnold sing the song, but Arnold said "I can't -- I just recorded that for VeeJay", and showed Chess the contract. Diddley and Harvey Fuqua, who was there to sing backing vocals with the rest of the Moonglows, quickly reworked the song. Arnold didn't want to play harmonica on something so close to a record he'd just made, though he played on the B-side, and so Muddy Waters' harmonica player Little Walter filled in instead. The new song, entitled "Diddley Daddy", became another of Diddley's signature songs: [Excerpt: Bo Diddley, "Diddley Daddy"] but the B-side, "She's Fine, She's Mine", was the one that would truly become influential: [Excerpt: Bo Diddley, "She's Fine, She's Mine"] That song was later slightly reworked into this, by Willie Cobbs: [Excerpt: Willie Cobbs, "You Don't Love Me"] That song was covered by pretty much every white guitar band of the late sixties -- the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, the Allman Brothers, Steve Stills and Al Kooper... the list goes on. But Cobbs' song itself was also slightly reworked, by Dawn Penn, in 1967, and became a minor reggae classic. Twenty-seven years later, in 1994, Penn rerecorded her song, based on Cobbs' song, based on Bo Diddley's song, and it became a worldwide smash hit, with Diddley getting cowriting credit: [Excerpt: Dawn Penn, "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)"] And *that* has later been covered by Beyonce and Rhianna, and sampled by Ghostface Killah and Usher. And that's how important Bo Diddley was at this point in time. The B-side to his less-good follow-up to his debut provided enough material for sixty years' worth of hits in styles from R&B to jam band to reggae to hip-hop. And the song “Bo Diddley” itself, of course, would provide a rhythm for generations of musicians to take, everyone from Buddy Holly: [Excerpt: Buddy Holly, “Not Fade Away”] to George Michael: [Excerpt George Michael, “Faith”] to U2: [Excerpt: U2, “Desire”] Because that rhythm was so successful – even though most of the success went to white people who didn't credit or pay Diddley – people tend to think of Diddley as a one-idea musician, which is far from the truth. Like many of his contemporaries he only had a short period where he was truly inventive -- his last truly classic track was recorded in 1962. But that period was an astoundingly inventive one, and we're going to be seeing him again during the course of this series. In his first four tracks, Diddley had managed to record three of the most influential tracks in rock history. But the next time we look at him, it will be with a song he wrote for other people -- a song that would indirectly have massive effects on the whole of popular music.