WTIT: The Blog

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: It’s Late (1959)

1) Ricky Nelson laments that he should have been home hours ago. When is the last time you stayed up later than you should have? What were you doing? These days I only stay up late when my meds get screwy. I can fall asleep at almost any time. My wife wakes me up in the WTIT studio way too many times. Speaking of the studio, for the first time in our 52 years that we gave the studio a permanet name, until now. It’s the Jumping Johnnie Walker Studio, named for my late friend wwho stuck with me when we kept changing friends and DJ staffers. But Johnnie stuck with me. I am so glad Bouncing Billy & I paid for his flight from Denver for our 50th. He passed 11 months later.

2) Compounding Ricky’s problem is that he’s nearly out of gas. How is your gas tank right now? When did you most recently fill ‘er up? I do so little driving other than errands. I put 30K on it (Chevy Malibu loaded – I love my car) but since I retired I do so little of it. It’s by design since I’m not able to get much range of motion that happened wshen I broke my neck in October 2016. Now the car – 2 1/2 years later – 37,500.

3) It gets worse! He can’t call home because he doesn’t have a dime for the pay phone. Have you recently been in a situation where you’ve been glad you had your cell phone handy? Besides everything else I need my MapQuest GPS on it.

4) The video for this song is from an episode of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. Ozzie Nelson, Ricky’s father, was in charge of the show and made the rules. One was that no one was allowed to smoke on the set … except his wife, Harriet. Do you smoke? Have you ever lived with a smoker? I smoke from 13 till 21. I quit because I wanted to be a DJ and throat cancer would have killed that. I started agaiun in my 40s when I was in bars and people offered them. Next thing I know that I’m back to 2 packs a day. So from 1993 till 2004 I smoke again. My heart problems stopped me immediately quiting. I do vape pot. Legally, of course. I got my medical marijuana card last year so that I scale back the opiods.

5) Life magazine coined the phrase “teen idol” to describe Ricky’s popularity. According to Tiger Beat, today’s teen idols include Johnny Orlando and Ruby Jay. Johnny was born in 2003, Ruby in 2004. Sam admits that before today, she had no idea who these young people are. How about you? I don’t know them, but it doesn’t mean I don’t own there music. I routinely check charted tunes and add them if I like them. And watching TV I’ll hear a song I like, I Shazam them and add them as well.

6) While Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan have posthumously praised Ricky Nelson’s music, 1950s music critics dismissed him as a lightweight. What’s the last review you read? Was it written by a professional critic, or was it contributed by a consumer to a site like Amazon or Yelp? He was my first as far as buying music goes. I recently paid a dollar for “Rick is 21″…

7) At the height of his popularity, Ricky tried his hand at movies, appearing in the western Rio Bravo with John Wayne. He turned 18 during the filming, and Wayne celebrated by playfully throwing Ricky into a sack of horse manure. Do you think pranks and practical jokes are funny? Nope. That’s called being a bully.

8) In 1959, when this song was popular, the St. Lawrence Seaway was completed. It connects Canada to our Great Lakes. Without looking it up, can you name all 5 Great Lakes? This must be a midwest thang. No I cannot name any of them. I can’t name the fucking river that borders our backyard.

9) Random question – You drive past a local motel and see the car of a very married friend right there in the lot. Would you ask her about it? Nope. I just would blackmail her.