Thanks to The Gal for authoring this meme. Click on the Sat-9 title of song on the next line below to play.
Saturday 9: Baby Love (1964)
With my mom a few years ago.
1) When this song was popular, the Supremes were known for their elaborate hairstyles, make up and full-length gowns. When was the last time you got dressed up? I hate to be a “Debbie Downer”, but it was at my mom’s funeral two weeks ago. She was 94 and had been the Martiarch of our family since her mother died. Her siblings all died over twenty years ago, except for her “Irish Twin” sister Helen who died a few years ago.
2) “The girls,” as they were known to the 
engineers and executives at Motown Records, were Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Diana Ross. They began singing together when they were high school classmates. Are you still in touch with any friends from your high school days? For WTIT’s 50th Anniversary three of four of my group came. Two I am always in touch with, the other I see for sporadically. That’s strange since he was my bestie, but now we are so different.
3) Mary Wilson was born in Mississippi and her family moved a great deal before settling in Detroit, where she fatefully met Florence and Diana. Were you uprooted often when you were a child? Or did you spend your school years in the same neighborhood? My folks built our house when I was seven and I lived there until my ill-fated first marriage.
4) The Supremes began as a quartet called the Primettes. In addition to Mary, Flo and Diana, there was Betty McGlown. In 1960, Betty left the group to get married and was
Rock & my pub photo
replaced by Barbara Martin. In 1962, Barbara left the group to have a baby. They quit trying to replace the fourth voice, soldiered on as a trio, and made pop history. Have you ever found yourself in a position similar to Betty’s or Barbara’s, where you had to make a difficult decision and choose between your personal life and your career? One of my best friends agreed to try to get a job as a morning team. The one station that wanted us only wanted one. I took it since I was the DJ and my buddy had only been on WTIT. We would have been great. But I took the job. Fortunately he understood.
5) Thinking of babies and “baby love,” is anyone in your life expecting a baby in 2018? My nephew Tug is expecting his first, the third grandchild of my brother’s.
6) With twelve #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, The Supremes remain America’s most commercially successfully recording group, and this song (along with “Stop! In the Name of Love”) is one of the most popular karaoke songs. If we handed you the mic this morning and absolutely insisted you perform, what song would you choose (any song, any genre)? “Bad Leroy Brown” is a song in my range. I am not enamored by the song but I can sing it.
7) Original group member Florence Ballard left the group in 1967. She died of cardiac arrest in 1976 at the age of 32. Since February is National Heart Month, it seems appropriate to ask: Is anyone in your life battling heart disease? I have had heart disease since 2004.
8) Florence Ballard’s brother, Hank, wrote Chubby Checker’s famous dance song, “The Twist.” When did you last dance? Other than at home with my lady, I don’t recall. Probably at a wedding.
9) Random question: Close your eyes and visualize the most beautiful place you’ve ever been. Now describe it to us. It was St. Martin. The two cultures, the beautiful beaches and the people were all spectacular. They say it won’t ever recover from being wiped out be a hurricane.
Have a terrific weekend. Join us again. Same time. Same blog. Hopefully funnier.
-30-
1) Bette Midler sings about the storm that’s raging outside. How’s the weather where you are today? It’s fucking 6 out there today. I am not leaving the house without portable heaters everywhere. And no, I don’t if the make battery operated heating units either. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but occasionally my wife has me on her YouTube program for comic relief. This is the first video that I did for her by myself. Other than she filmed it, help write it and produced and directed it. It’s 
love me my Klingon gloves. Other than those, they just have to keep me warm.
5) Her mother, Ruth, was a talented seamstress. How about you? Can you sew on a button? Raise a hem? Darn a hole? Right. I’ll get some of my people on that.
3) Clearly Elvis liked a flocked white Christmas tree. Is your tree flocked, aluminum or pine green? Real or artificial? Or do you skip the whole tree thing altogether? When I was single my youngest gave me a mini tree for my apartment. Every year she’d bring something more to put it on, add more mini-ornaments and the like. She is the child I am estranged from. It bothers me most on holidays. I’m lucky, I’m very close with my three other children, their five kids, the ones I call my “Perfect granddaughters”.
appointment scheduled between now and year end? This must be a women thing. I never make appointments. My current salon employs a woman who started cutting my hair when I moved to Enfield in 2004. She left various incarnations of the salon, but left when two others opened their own salon bout 9 years ago. She was shocked that I drove from my current town to still use her. I will probably use someone local next time, but last time I was of to Manhattan for my nephew’s wedding. Not a time when you want to fuck around with someone new.
5) Have you ever peeked, looking for a Christmas gift you know is hidden for you somewhere in the house? Nope. Not even as a kid…
9) This time of year is big for charitable fundraising. Here’s your chance to plug a cause or organization that’s near and dear to you. Give to “Our Sisters of The Tiny Breasts”. Why should only rich woman get great breasts?
1. Have you ever had chicken pox? I had it while I was about 4 years-old. There was “The Great Flood” of 1955 and we had no power. Everything that I wanted to do (remember I was 5) they said, “Dr. Harvey doesn’t want you to do that!” At one point, I got up and my mother said, “Where are you going?” I responded, “To the bathroom if Dr. Harvey don’t mind!”
drove the good guys out of hardware. Kinda like Blockbuster drove out the video stores. (This I mention since I owned a chain of video stores in the 80s (1981-1990). They did not ruin my business. But had it gone another way, they would have.
6. Have you ever lied about your age? I don’t know if I did it as a youngin’. Not now. I don’t do it as an adult. Wait. There was this one time when I was 41 and my date was21. She asked if I was as old as her father. I asked his age. She said he was 38. I said, “I’m not that near your dad’s age.”
1) In this song, Harry sings, “We don’t talk enough, we should open up before it’s all too much.” When you have something serious on your mind, who do you share it with? As with most things in life, it depends on who I have the problem with. Before he passed, my dad was the one that I would tell relationship problems or work stuff or friends shit. Now it’s my sister or my wife and usually the latter. Kathy is a great listener and fairly objective if it’s not our own problem. But we still see a marriage councilor, which is down to once a month. This dude helped save our marriage. Now he’s seeing Kathy also privately from issues from her upbringing. She doesn’t trust easily so the job he did with us allows her to be comfortable confiding in him.
good at seeing both sides of an argument? Yes. In fact you might remember the story of the breakup I had with my high school girlfriend Sally. I hitchhiked from Boston to Burlington VT to spend the weekend with her. After a 5 hour ride I get to her place and she states the “Let’s talk” routine. In a nutshell she told me that “God” didn’t want us together. Now I’m an athiest that still calls himself agnostic. I was then at 17 as well. I asked her how she knew this. It was a long and complicated story that as you can well believe, it made ZERO sense. She had asked not that long before if I’d raqise our kids Christen. I stated that my dad was an atheist and I was raised Catholic and it all worked out. “But you aren’t Catholic anymore!”, she exclaimed. “‘Cause I got smart,” I replied. This did not help my case, my argument or the relationship.
was selling ads for a Hartford radio station. One account insisted that I DJ his bar on Friday nights. Now since it was a comedy club, I basically warmed the crowd up for the jokers and after the show I played dance music. As a club DJ you are always hit on by women. Now at this point in my life not only was I single, but I welcomed the shot of meeting women as a DJ again. (My last go round was in the 70s.) I had this woman come in the DJ booth on new Years Eve. Everyone had dates (naturally) and the woman stopped in to request a song. I started kissing her. After 10 minutes she said she should get back to her date. I agreed so IF she gave me her number. She was 21. I had recently turned 40. On our first date she stated, “I know that you are older than I. But I need to know how much older.” I asked “Why?” She explained that her dad was 39 and if I was his age, she’d see it as a problem. So I asked his age, she explained, “39”. I’m thinking, “Holy shit!” but I say, “He’s nowhere near my age,” I stated to her delight. We dated some six months. So yes, age is relative…
