Happy New Year!

Thanks to everyone who has visited and/or left comments on my blog in 2008. I really appreciate it. See you all in 2009!

Favorite Holiday Pie Poll Results

With 138 votes cast, this poll has come to an end. And, as no surprise to me, Pumpkin was the big winner. Here's the results --

1. Pumpkin 59 votes (42%)
2. Apple 28 votes (20%)
3. Pecan 26 votes (18%)
4. Lemon Meringue 13 votes (9%)
5. Cherry 12 votes (8%)

Thanks to everyone who voted. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Eartha Kitt, RIP

NEW YORK (AP) — Eartha Kitt, a sultry singer, dancer and actress who rose from South Carolina cotton fields to become an international symbol of elegance and sensuality, has died, a family spokesman said. She was 81.

Andrew Freedman said Kitt, who was recently treated at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, died Thursday in Connecticut of colon cancer.

Kitt, a self-proclaimed "sex kitten" famous for her catlike purr, was one of America's most versatile performers, winning two Emmys and nabbing a third nomination. She also was nominated for several Tonys and two Grammys.

Her career spanned six decades, from her start as a dancer with the famed Katherine Dunham troupe to cabarets and acting and singing on stage, in movies and on television. She persevered through an unhappy childhood as a mixed-race daughter of the South and made headlines in the 1960s for denouncing the Vietnam War during a visit to the White House.

Through the years, Kitt remained a picture of vitality and attracted fans less than half her age even as she neared 80.

When her book "Rejuvenate," a guide to staying physically fit, was published in 2001, Kitt was featured on the cover in a long, curve-hugging black dress with a figure that some 20-year-old women would envy. Kitt also wrote three autobiographies.

Once dubbed the "most exciting woman in the world" by Orson Welles, she spent much of her life single, though brief romances with the rich and famous peppered her younger years.

After becoming a hit singing "Monotonous" in the Broadway revue "New Faces of 1952," Kitt appeared in "Mrs. Patterson" in 1954-55. (Some references say she earned a Tony nomination for "Mrs. Patterson," but only winners were publicly announced at that time.) She also made appearances in "Shinbone Alley" and "The Owl and the Pussycat."

Her first album, "RCA Victor Presents Eartha Kitt," came out in 1954, featuring such songs as "I Want to Be Evil," "C'est Si Bon" and the saucy gold digger's theme song "Santa Baby," which is revived on radio each Christmas.

The next year, the record company released follow-up album "That Bad Eartha," which featured "Let's Do It," "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "My Heart Belongs to Daddy."

In 1996, she was nominated for a Grammy in the category of traditional pop vocal performance for her album "Back in Business." She also had been nominated in the children's recording category for the 1969 record "Folk Tales of the Tribes of Africa."

Kitt also acted in movies, playing the lead female role opposite Nat King Cole in "St. Louis Blues" in 1958 and more recently appearing in "Boomerang" and "Harriet the Spy" in the 1990s.

On television, she was the sexy Catwoman on the popular "Batman" series in 1967-68, replacing Julie Newmar who originated the role. A guest appearance on an episode of "I Spy" brought Kitt an Emmy nomination in 1966.

"Generally the whole entertainment business now is bland," she said in a 1996 Associated Press interview. "It depends so much on gadgetry and flash now. You don't have to have talent to be in the business today.

"I think we had to have something to offer, if you wanted to be recognized as worth paying for."

Kitt was plainspoken about causes she believed in. Her anti-war comments at the White House came as she attended a White House luncheon hosted by Lady Bird Johnson.

"You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed," she told the group of about 50 women. "They rebel in the street. They don't want to go to school because they're going to be snatched off from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam."

For four years afterward, Kitt performed almost exclusively overseas. She was investigated by the FBI and CIA, which allegedly found her to be foul-mouthed and promiscuous.

"The thing that hurts, that became anger, was when I realized that if you tell the truth — in a country that says you're entitled to tell the truth — you get your face slapped and you get put out of work," Kitt told Essence magazine two decades later.

In 1978, Kitt returned to Broadway in the musical "Timbuktu!" — which brought her a Tony nomination — and was invited back to the White House by President Jimmy Carter.

In 2000, Kitt earned another Tony nod for "The Wild Party." She played the fairy godmother in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" in 2002.

As recently as October 2003, she was on Broadway after replacing Chita Rivera in a revival of "Nine."

She also gained new fans as the voice of Yzma in the 2000 Disney animated feature "The Emperor's New Groove.'"

In an online discussion at Washingtonpost.com in March 2005, shortly after Jamie Foxx and Morgan Freeman won Oscars, she expressed satisfaction that black performers "have more of a chance now than we did then to play larger parts."

But she also said: "I don't carry myself as a black person but as a woman that belongs to everybody. After all, it's the general public that made (me) — not any one particular group. So I don't think of myself as belonging to any particular group and never have."

Kitt was born in North, S.C., and her road to fame was the stuff of storybooks. In her autobiography, she wrote that her mother was black and Cherokee while her father was white, and she was left to live with relatives after her mother's new husband objected to taking in a mixed-race girl.

An aunt eventually brought her to live in New York, where she attended the High School of Performing Arts, later dropping out to take various odd jobs.

By chance, she dropped by an audition for the dance group run by Dunham, a pioneering African-American dancer. In 1946, Kitt was one of the Sans-Souci Singers in Dunham's Broadway production "Bal Negre."

Kitt's travels with the Dunham troupe landed her a gig in a Paris nightclub in the early 1950s. Kitt was spotted by Welles, who cast her in his Paris stage production of "Faust."

That led to a role in "New Faces of 1952," which featured such other stars-to-be as Carol Lawrence, Paul Lynde and, as a writer, Mel Brooks.

While traveling the world as a dancer and singer in the 1950s, Kitt learned to perform in nearly a dozen languages and, over time, added songs in French, Spanish and even Turkish to her repertoire.

"Usku Dara," a song Kitt said was taught to her by the wife of a Turkish admiral, was one of her first hits, though Kitt says her record company feared it too remote for American audiences to appreciate.

Song titles such as "I Want to be Evil" and "Just an Old Fashioned Girl" seem to reflect the paradoxes in Kitt's private life.

Over the years, Kitt had liaisons with wealthy men, including Revlon founder Charles Revson, who showered her with lavish gifts.

In 1960, she married Bill McDonald but divorced him after the birth of their daughter, Kitt.

While on stage, she was daringly sexy and always flirtatious. Offstage, however, Kitt described herself as shy and almost reclusive, remnants of feeling unwanted and unloved as a child. She referred to herself as "that little urchin cotton-picker from the South, Eartha Mae."

For years, Kitt was unsure of her birthplace or birth date. In 1997, a group of students at historically black Benedict College in Columbia, S.C., located her birth certificate, which verified her birth date as Jan. 17, 1927. Kitt had previously celebrated on Jan. 26.

The research into her background also showed Kitt was the daughter of a white man, a poor cotton farmer.

"I'm an orphan. But the public has adopted me and that has been my only family," she told the Post online. "The biggest family in the world is my fans."

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As a small tribute to Ms Kitt here is her Christmas smash hit Santa Baby and her follow-up song This Year's Santa Baby.

Click the link below to download --

--> Eartha Kitt <--

Billboard Bing

A few years ago my wife bought me this book for Christmas called Christmas in the Charts 1920-2004 by Joel Whitburn. It features the complete history of every Christmas, New Year's, seasonal single and album that charted on the Billboard charts from 1920 to 2004. Of course Bing Crosby is the artist with the most different songs on the charts. This mix includes all of those tunes. Bing recorded several versions of some of these, so I decided to include only one version of each song.

Track Listing

1. Silent Night
2. Adeste Fideles (Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful)
3. White Christmas (1947)
4. Let's Start The New Year Right
5. I'll Be Home For Christmas (If Only In My Dreams)
6. Jingle Bells (with The Andrews Sisters)
7. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (with The Andrews Sisters)
8. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
9. A Crosby Christmas (Part 1) (with Gary, Phillip, Dennis and Lindsay Crosby)
10. A Crosby Christmas (Part 2) )with Gary, Phillip, Dennis and Lindsay Crosby)
11. A Marshmallow World
12. Silver Bells (with Carol Richards)
13. How Lovely Is Christmas
14. Do You Hear What I Hear?
15. The White World Of Winter
16. Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy (with David Bowie)

Click the link below to download --

--> Billboard Bing <--

Which Christmas Character Are You?

Which Christmas Character Are You? Santa Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas! Like Father Christmas, you're a jovial, easygoing people-person which puts you first in line, should the man in the red suit ever retire. You're probably known for your generosity and good heart and even if you don't have your own magic workshop, we'd guess there's plenty you do to put smiles on people's faces — every day. Click Here to Take This Quiz

Quizzes and Personality Tests

My Father

A Tribute To My Dad
Today (Christmas Eve) my dad would have been 76 years old. Thursday (Christmas Day) is the 10th anniversary of my dad's passing. I can't believe it's been 10 years already.
Dad and mom (Christmas 1965)

Because I'm not very good at writing paragraphs, here are some facts about my dad --

Born Dec. 24, 1932

His parents were Hungarian immigrants

His name was Wendell, but everyone called him Wendy

He worked for Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. for 30 years

He married my mom in 1966

Died Dec. 25, 1998

My dad and his usual Christmas gift, a can of pipe tobacco (1989)
In the 1970s he would buy comic books, read them, then give them to me and my brother. In the 1980s when my brother and I would buy boxes of non-sport trading cards he would sit with us and open packs and help sort the cards. It's because of him that I'm the geek I am today.
Dad as Santa for the Foresters (1989)
Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas Dad!

Reindeer Games

Besides a few little figures, stuffed animals and PEZ dispenses, this is one of the few Christmas related toys I own. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer board game made by Cadaco in 1977.

Big Kids Christmas Mix

Well, I didn't get as much posted this year as I wanted to. I still haven't found my missing flash drive with the files I was working on. Plus I've been working some overtime and other stuff. This may or may not be my last post before Christmas. I don't know yet. I still have to finish Christmas shopping and wrap gifts. It sure is hectic this time of year.

I originally put this mix together in 2005 to give to some family and friends. Enjoy.

Track Listing

1. A Christmas Story Quote
2. All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth - Dracula
3. Blue Christmas - Porky Pig
4. Boofo Goes Where Santa Goes - Linn Sheldon (Barnaby)
5. Christmas At The Farm - Garfield The Cat & Jon
6. From All Of Us To All Of You - Disney
7. Frosty The Snowman - Jimmy Durante
8. Hark, The Herald Angels Sing - Vince Guaraldi Trio
9. Hermie Quote
10. I Hate Christmas - Oscar The Grouch
11. I've Had A Very Merry Christmas - Jerry Lewis
12. Merry Christmas Santa Claus (You're A Lovely Guy) - Max Headroom
13. O Christmas Tree - Disney
14. O Holy Night - The Brady Bunch
15. Peanuts Quote
16. R2-D2 We Wish You A Merry Christmas - Jon Bon Jovi, C-3PO, R2-D2 & Choir
17. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer - Burl Ives
18. Rusty Chevrolet - Da Yoopers
19. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town - Fred Astaire
20. Santa Claus Is Watching You - Ray Stevens
21. Santa's Birthday - Caroleer Singers & Orch.
22. Snoopy's Christmas - The Royal Guardsmen
23. The Grinch Quote
24. The Little Drummer Boy - The Vienna Boys Choir
25. Trim Up The Tree - How The Grinch Stole Christmas
26. Twas The Night Before Christmas - Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo)
27. We Need A Little Christmas - The Muppets
28. We Wish You A Merry Christmas - John Denver & The Muppets
29. Winter Wonderland - The Partridge Family
30. Wreck The Halls - The Three Stooges

Click the link below to download --

--> Big Kids Christmas Mix <--

My Grown Up Christmas List

If you've been wondering what to get me for a last minute Christmas gift, wonder no more. Check out my Amazon Wish List in the side bar -->

:)

Archie Has Been Found!

Well, a photo of him anyway. Thanks to The King of Jingaling over at FaLaLaLaLa.com for digging this up.

Now if I can just find out the fate of Archie.

EDIT: Thanks to Ferris for posting this article in the comments. I thought I'd bring it to the front page in case anyone was interested --

Here's the Beacon Journal column that David Giffels wrote in 2004. It's not on the free/non-member part of Ohio.com any more, but you can look it up via library access...

SAVE ARCHIE BEFORE HE MELTS AWAY
Akron Beacon Journal (OH) -
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Author: David Giffels

Archie ?

Archie ?

Can you hear us? Don't worry, buddy. We haven't given up on you yet.

Somewhere out there in the commercial wilderness, Chapel Hill Mall's beloved 20-foot talking snowman sits in cold storage. He's down, but not necessarily out.

As I reported recently, the mall's new ownership has decided to retire the 35-year-old local icon. With cookie-cutter mall Santas now settling into their thrones, the one-of-a-kind Archie is notably absent. I (hopelessly nostalgic) think this is a bad thing. So, apparently, do many of you.

One local mom offered to put up Archie in her front yard. (Gracious, but not practical.)

A Tallmadge man, whose courtship ritual has included visiting the talking snowman with his fiancee, suggested a Save Archie Foundation.

Meanwhile, the snowman languishes in exile.

Chapel Hill is not going to change its mind, but the mall's management has not directly dismissed the possibility of donating Archie to some community group that would give him a new home.

"We haven't even explored that yet," said Sandra Heymann, a spokeswoman for the mall's new owner, Tennessee-based CBL & Associates Properties.

So for anyone interested in saving Archie , this would be a good time for a good idea. And some sweat equity -- Heymann said Archie is in bad shape.

"He needs to go back to the North Pole. He's not safe," she said. " Archie 's body structure has worsened over the past few years and is in a serious state of disrepair. You'd have to rebuild him completely."

So here's what Archie would need. A sponsor willing to take over the snowman operation. (A competing mall, obviously, is out of the question.) A public setting with 20 feet of head room. A few handy souls who can put him together again.

The response from readers has been passionate, if not overwhelming. I heard from about 15 Archie fans, uniformly dismayed. (An old newspaper rule of thumb is that for every reader who picks up the phone, you can count on 100 others who feel the same way.) Many who called and wrote were parents who grew up with Archie and have carried on the tradition.

"Tell me it's not so!" pleaded Edie Shultz of Mogadore.

The 39-year-old mother of 6-year-old twins has fond memories of visiting Archie as a child, approaching the giant snowman to unload her wish list. Each holiday season since her children were born, she has returned.

"They just asked last week if Archie was going to come around," Shultz said. "What can we do?"

Edward Nime has an even more intimate connection to Archie . In 1999 and 2000, he worked evening shifts, providing the voice of Archie through a hidden microphone. His reason?

"My daughter and nephews," he wrote in an e-mail.

His little girl was 2 the first year he worked. His nephews were 2 and 5.

"I told my family and wife-to-be that I always wanted to be the voice of the snowman that we remembered as children," he continued. "It was fun, seeing kids I knew and calling them by name. You could see that they actually thought their time with him was special, even if it was a minute or two."

Nime's day job precluded him from continuing, but this year he'd planned to return with a new motivation -- his 2-year-old son.

"If Archie is moved to another location, you can bet yourself that it will be a welcomed addition at any holiday spot, and that I would love to be the first one to make those giant eyes flash when he first speaks!"

I've made a couple of inquiries to groups I thought might be a good fit, but so far nothing has panned out. But you probably have better ideas than I do. If you send them to me and I think they have merit, I'll forward them to the mall's management.