How about some tunes about radio? One of my fondest memories is listening to WLAC in the mid-70's when it was still a top 40 music station. As usual you need to be viewing the web version of the blog to see the embedded YouTube videos. There are many songs about the radio, some bands have multiple ones so if there's one you wish I had posted why not leave a comment. "The only time I turn it down is when I'm sleeping it off."
The Fortune Band - Airwaves
Autograph - Turn Up The Radio or is it an ad for Papermate?
I ventured up into our attic the other day and found a box full of old notebooks filled mainly with my college notes. There was lots of anthropology, history, German, and algebra. There was also one filled with setlist's from my old bands, a few stray song lyrics, and an episode guide to The Brady Bunch. But it wasn't just any old episode guide. This was one that D.D. Blank and I wrote out from memory one afternoon while we were hanging out at his father's office around 1992. Sure, the internet was a thing by then, but personal computer access to the internet was not a given. I know D.D. was into perusing his university internet message boards, but I wasn't yet. His father's office wasn't wired to it. What I'm getting at is that to come up with an almost complete episode guide to a television series which had 117 episodes is pretty cool. It was the kind of random fun that could be had in those days and while I remembered us writing down the information as we remembered the shows from its endless syndication I didn't think either of us had kept the papers with our episode summaries. So it was a pleasant surprise to find.
1st page out of just over 3 in the notebook
What we came up with isn't completely accurate. We would conflate some episodes and sometimes split multiple storylines into different ones. One thing is for certain though; we both had watched the series multiple times. I'm old enough to barely remember the last few seasons in prime time. When it first entered syndication I didn't get to see it often as I stayed with a babysitter named Mrs. Green who would only tune her television to the local NBC station with only exception when I first began staying with her. The exception was she would always watch The Waltons. I later managed to get her to let me watch the Donny and Marie show on Fridays. There was a girl who lived next door in a duplex (one side was her immediate family and the other was her grandparents) and I was able to to see The Brady Bunch every now and then with her grandparents if I was able to sneak away.
Years later I would finally be able to see The Brady Bunch often even without cable television during and after high school. I loved the show and still do. I'm an only child and it was interesting seeing a family full of children on television. I loved the house and the astroturf backyard. I really enjoyed the fashion and the bright colors (which were a staple of television in the late 60's as more and more people bought color television sets). I know many people feel the show was corny and unrealistic, but I beg to differ. While it would not have been unrealistic to have Greg become a hippie protestor who then gets hooked on heroin, it's also not unrealistic to expect him to be what he was on the show: a guy who gets in trouble for smoking and for shirking schoolwork, a guy who buys a clunker car and so on. Most people live lives much like the Brady family. There's nothing corny about that at all.
Besides, it was a television show. If you want real life, then look around and you'll find it. I still enjoy watching the show because it's relatable and fun. So, without further ado is a transcription on the episode list D.D. and I put together one evening way back in the 90's. It was probably inspired by The Real Live Brady Bunch show I had recently seen at Vanderbilt. I will list these as we wrote the episode up and then note the actual episode name. We'll get a star for each one we got right and no star if we've listed one twice or mixed it up. I know we won't get 117 stars, but we'll come close. Note: we were not attempting to list the episodes in order, but was just trying to remember each one. You can almost see the wheels in our mind spinning as certain clusters of shows based around certain characters show up periodically.
1. Pilot - "The Wedding" * We get a star. This episode is actually titled "The Honeymoon" and you'll see that we listed it twice in our attempt to compile every episode.
2. The hideout one - the boys don't want the girls in their hideout. * This was episode 6 "A Clubhouse Is Not a Home."
3. Mom gets laryngitis and Cindy asks Santa to cure her. * Episode 12 "The Voice of Christmas" which is a truly great one. Susan Olson is wonderful in her portrayal of Cindy in this one.
4. Alice doesn't allow Carol to be a real mommy one. * Episode 4 "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore"
5. Evil stepmother one so Bobby decides to run away, but mom is going to go too. * Episode 10 "Every Boy Does It Once."
6. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves episode. * Episode 98 "Snow White and the Seven Bradys"
7. Oh my nose episode - Marcia's nose gets busted. * Episode 90 "The Subject Was Noses"
8. Mom said never play ball in the house. * Episode 37 "Confessions, Confessions"
9. Millicent one - mumps and skyrockets. Bobby's first kiss. * Episode 99 "Never Too Young"
10. Bobby finds a wallet and gives it back to old man. * Episode 32 "The Treasure of Sierra Avenue"
14. Greg's groovy pad - the den one "They're not sunglasses, they're shades" * Episode 43 "Our Son, The Man"
15. Greg's crush on his teacher. * Episode 17 "The Undergraduate"
16. Greg's bonus baby episode - Don Drysdale. * Episode 26 "The Dropout"
17. Johnny Bravo one. * Episode 96 "Adios, Johnny Bravo"
18. Stealing the mascot - everybody thinks Greg has a girl up in his room. * Episode 101 "Getting Greg's Goat"
19. Cyrano de Bergerac one. * Episode 77 "Cyrano de Brady"
20. The playbook one - Greg and Marcia fight over football. * Episode 104 "Quarterback Sneak"
21. Greg the star photographer. * Episode 60 "Click"
22, 23, 24. Hawaii one - Vincent Price voodoo idol. Do we get three stars? Yes, we do. *** Episodes: 73 "Hawaii Bound", 74 "Pass the Tabu", and 75 "The Tiki Caves" It was always a treat when the Hawaii episodes came up during syndication. I loved that it was shot in Hawaii and Vincent Price is a hoot.
25, 26, 27. Grand Canyon ones - family locked in jail - Bobby and Cindy are missing. *** Episodes: 50 "Ghost Town U.S.A", 51 "Grand Canyon or Bust", and 52 "The Brady Braves"
28. Cindy's lisping one. Peter beat up by bully then beats up bully. * Episode 33 "A Fistful of Reasons"
29. Good ship lollipop one. Cindy sings to Natalie Schafer. * Episode 115 "The Snooperstar"
30. Cindy thinks Bobby stole Kitty Carry All. * Episode 7 "Kitty Karry-All Is Missing"
31. Bobby is Jesse James. * Episode 89 "Bobby's Hero"
32. Joe Namath Bobby one. * Episode 97 "Mail Order Hero"
33. Bobby wants a trophy one because Cindy had just won one for jacks. Bobby loses the ice cream eating contest. * Episode 46 "The Winner"
34. Cindy's on a quiz show and she freezes. * Episode 94 "You Can't Win Them All"
35. Evil Juliet. Marcia's got an ego problem. * Episode 56 "Juliet is the Sun"
36. Peter's voice changes, but they don't kick him out of the singing group. * Episode 65 "Dough Re Mi"
37. Jan gets her glasses smashes picture. * Episode 62 "The Not-So-Rose-Colored Glasses"
38. Jan looks like Aunt Lucy. Ok, so we got the name wrong, it's actually Aunt Jenny, but I'm still giving us a star since the episode is about Jan looking like her Aunt. * Episode 66 "Jan's Aunt Jenny." So, I understand why Jan is spotlighted, but wouldn't Aunt Jenny be aunt for all of the children?
39. Jan wig one. Wears wig to Lucy Winner's party. Once again, we get a name wrong, but we were oh so close. The correct name is Lucy Winters who was played by the awesome Pamelyn Ferdin. This one also features the great Marcia Wallace too. * Episode 40 "Will The Real Jan Brady Stand Up?"
40. Peter joins glee club - singing canary. * Episode 41 "The Drummer Boy"
41. Desi Arnaz Jr. comes for a visit to see Marcia. * Episode 22 "The Possible Dream"
42. Davy Jones - Marcia gets Davy Jones to sing at dance. * Episode 61 "Getting Davy Jones"
I met Davy at the Real Live Brady Bunch show. He was awesome.
43. Marcia runs for president against Greg. * Episode 11 "Vote for Brady"
44. Marcia tries to get head cheerleader. Greg is chairman. * Episode 83 "Greg's Triangle"
45. Marcia turns goofy girl into my fair lady. * Episode 71 "My Fair Opponent"
46. Marcia nominates Dad as father of the year get's punished. Lots of crying. * Episode 14 "Father of the Year" If this one doesn't bring a tear to your eye, you're not human. It's just great television.
47. Marcia does driving test against Greg. Greg loses. * Episode 110 "The Driver's Seat"
48. Peter plays Benedict Arnold and tries to get out of it. * Episode 84 "Everyone Can't Be George Washington"
49. Greg and Bobby get trapped in Sam's meat freezer. * Episode 64 "Big Little Man"
50. Payphone episode. Mike installs payphone lands contract. * Episode 9 "Sorry, Right Number"
51. Peter's job at the bicycle shop. * Episode 91 "How to Succeed in Business?"
52. UFO episode. * Episode 111 "Out of This World"
53. Ice cream shop one. Eve Plumb horns in on Marcia's job. (I don't know why I wrote out Eve Plumb instead of Jan.) * Episode 102 "Marcia Gets Creamed"
54. Let's haunt Alice one. * Episode 78 "Fright Night" This one was one of my favorites. It's perhaps the first one I can vividly remember actually seeing when it first ran.
55. Haunt house so people won't buy the house. * Episode 23 "To Move or Not to Move"
56. Mike and Carol play role of grandparents. * Episode 93 "You're Never Too Old"
57. Bobby, Oliver, and Cindy are secret agents. Sam is a double agent. Not completely on the mark, but it deserves a *. Episode 114 "Top Secret"
58. Cincinnati trip to King's Dominion. Don't eat snacks. So it's King's Island. Everybody remembers this one. * Episode 106 "The Cincinnati Kids"
Lots of scenes featuring the Bradys on the rides
59. Green stamp one they get a TV in the end. * Episode 15 "54-40 and Fight"
60. Alice wins the stereo Cindy is a tattletale. * Episode 35 "The Tattle-Tale"
61. Carol and Marcia do the bum thing at the talent show. * Episode 79 "The Show Must Go On??"
62. Peter saves girl at toy store. * Episode 21 "The Hero"
63. Bobby's a pool shark. * Episode 116 "The Hustler"
64. Greg and Marcia fight over the attic. * Episode 95 "A Room at the Top"
65. Peter has two dates. * Episode 113 "Two Pete's in a Pod"
66. Peter has a double - similar show. No star for us here since it wasn't a similar episode but was the same episode as "Two Pete's in a Pod."
67. Three musketeers Ken Berry fails to get a spin-off show. * Episode 109 "Kelly's Kids" which was, indeed, a back door pilot for a series that was never produced. It wasn't bad.
68. Alice is Jan's secret admirer. * Episode "Lost Locket, Found Locket" This episode is delightful and is such a great use of Ann B. Davis's character Alice.
69. Alice's cousin played by Alice turns home into boot camp. * Episode 69 "Sergeant Emma"
70. Alice and Sam are going to elope one. * Episode 107 "The Elopement"
71. Marcia joins Frontier Scouts Peter joins Sunflower Girls. * Episode 44 "The Liberation of Marcia Brady"
73. Jan's imaginary boyfriend George Glass. * Episode 34 "The Not-So-Ugly Duckling"
74. The Brady kids appear as the Silver Platters. * Episode 88 "Amateur Nite"
75. Oliver arrives on the scene. His parents are anthropologists touring the world. * Episode 112 "Welcome Aboard"
76. Oliver is a bad luck charm. No stars for us on this one as it's the same as "Welcome Aboard" above. We somehow remembered Robbie Rist being in way more episodes than he really was.
77. My exact words episode. Frogs and concerts. * Episode 87 "Greg Gets Grounded" While the frogs jumping around are funny this is an episode I don't enjoy. Bobby is just a little jerk.
78. Greg loses chin up war with Bobby. * Episode 67 "The Big Bet" Never take Bobby to a drive-in movie in a convertible.
79. Bobby and Cindy try to break the see-saw record to prove themselves. * Episode 63 "The Teeter-Totter Caper" This is another one of my favorites.
80. Greg doesn't want to be an architect one. * Episode 81 "Career Fever"
81. Carol and Mike switch roles. He cooks, she plays with the boys. * Episode 24 "The Grass Is Always Greener"
82. Peter the volcano one. Marcia tries to get into every club. * Episode 76 "Today, I Am a Freshman" This is one I always enjoy, but I still don't understand why Peter is making a volcano during the first week of a new school year. Those snooty Boosters had it coming.
83. Greg's first day at high school he tries to impress the chicks. No star here. This is the Greg gets the den episode we listed before 43 "Our Son, the Man"
84. Bobby's a hall monitor. * Episode 86 "Law and Disorder"
85. Marcia joins every club at high school after horrible first day. We missed this one as this is episode 76 "Today, I Am a Freshman" again.
86. Bobby sells hair tonic to Greg turns hair orange. Last episode. * Episode 117 "The Hair-Brained Scheme"
87. Greg buys his first car junker mobile. * Episode 53 "The Wheeler-Dealer"
88. Greg needs money for a surfboard works for Dad as a gopher. It's not a surfboard (that's actually in episode 64 "Big LittleMan") but close enough to earn the coveted star * Episode 31 "Call Me Irresponsible"
89. Cindy tries to back out doing a play because she can only invite one parent. * Episode 3 "Eenie, Meenie, Mommy, Daddy"
90. The commercial the family gets free stuff. * Episode 57 "And Now a Word From Our Sponsor"
91. Peter is a press guy. * Episode 68 "The Power of the Press"
93. Bobby overflows washing machine trying to wash pants. No star here as this is the hall monitor episode 86 "Law and Disorder" again.
94. Alice gets sick, kids pitch in to do chores. She doesn't get sick, but a sprained ankle is kind of sick so we're taking that star for this one. * Episode 19 "The Big Sprain" Don't leave your Chinese checkers game on the floor.
95. Thanksgiving episode. Family builds set in backyard. * Episode 29 "The Un-Underground Movie"
96. Bobby's locked in the closet. Peter lets him out. * Episode 103 "My Brother's Keeper" Another episode where Bobby is a total jerk.
97. Mike and Carol go to dinner and leave the children alone with Greg and Marcia. * Episode 27 "The Babysitters"
98. They all go on honeymoon together. Mike and Carol miss the kids so they invite them too. No star as this is the pilot episode which was called "The Honeymoon" which we listed first. Somehow we managed to turn it into two episodes in our memories.
99. Greg and Peter double date. Peter wears a phony mustache. * Episode 100 "Peter and the Wolf" That Phil Packer is a player!
Phil Packer is a babe magnet
100. Jan decides she'd like to be good at something, but she sucks at everything. She tries out for a play and finds out she can paint. * Episode 105 "Try, Try Again"
101. Peter's big party one. All of the kids trick Peter into thinking he's getting a party. Mom and Dad find out so they give him one. * Episode 58 "The Private Ear"
102. The trip to Hollywood. Take part in screen test. Oliver is there. Well, we managed to turn the first Oliver episode 112 "Welcome Aboard" into three parts somehow. No star for us.
103. Cindy's boyfriend episode. She wants to be grown up like her sisters. Bobby sends her secret admirer notes. * Episode 70 "Cindy Brady, Lady"
104. Save the park episode. The kids try to save park while Mike's company wants to destroy it. * Episode 47 "Double Parked"
105. Measles episode. The whole family gets measles. * Episode 13 "Is There a Doctor in the House?"
106. Earring episode. Jan or was it Cindy loses an earring of Carol's. Peter helps find it. He's a Humphrey Bogart type. We get a star for the earring, but have obviously conflated the Humphrey Bogart bit with a episode 55 "The Personality Kid." * Episode 92 "The Great Earring Caper"
107. Carol gets into accident in parking lot. Jackie Coogan takes her to court. * Episode 72 "The Fender Benders"
108. Jan runs for president and promises favors for constituents. She actually ran for the title of Miss Popularity so we're off on that but close to get a *. Episode 108 "Miss Popularity" This is another one that I don't like. Jan can be flighty, but I think it was way out of character for her to behave the way she did in this later episode.
109. Alice leaves to take better job. She's a waitress. * Episode 82 "Goodbye, Alice, Hello" This is not one I care much for either. The children are really mean to Alice for much of the episode. It does feature the funny gag of the vase leaking water at supper though.
110. Marci's diary gets sold. No star for us as this is Episode 22 "The Possible Dream" featuring Desi Arnaz Jr. coming to visit.
111. That darn Charleston episode. No star. This is episode 99 "Never Too Young" where Bobby gets his first kiss which we listed earlier.
112. Painting the bedroom one. This is episode 103 "My Brother's Keeper" which we mentioned before.
113. Missing ring episode? This is most likely episode 25 "Lost Locket, Found Locket" so no star.
114. Marcia tries to cook food, but it's terrible. No star as we were probably thinking of episode 24 "The Grass Is Always Greener" where Carol and Mike swap roles.
That's the end of our attempt to list each episode. We fell short of 117 episodes and we had several that we listed multiple times so how many did we get and what did we miss? We remembered 102 episodes off the top of our heads. That's a solid 87% we got right or almost right in some cases. I don't know how we didn't remember some of these iconic episodes, but here are the ones we missed:
Episode 2 "Dear Libby" Everyone sends letters to advice columnist Libby after seeing a letter that mirrored their new living arrangements.
Episode 5 "Katchoo" Jan's allergies might be because of Tiger.
Episode 16 "Mike's Horror-Scope" A strange woman is supposed to come into Mike's life per his horoscope.
Episode 28 "The Slumber Caper" Marcia's slumber party is off and on again after an unflattering picture of her English teacher is attributed to her.
Episode 30 "Going, Going...Steady" Marcia falls for bug boy Harvey Klinger.
Episode 36 "What Goes Up..." Bobby is scared of heights.
Episode 38 "The Impractical Joker" Jan starts playing practical jokes which leads to science experiment mouse Myron getting loose.
Episode 42 "Coming-Out Party" Both Cindy and Carol get tonsillitis which means they may miss a chance to ride on Mike's boss's boat.
Episode 45 "Lights Out" Cindy is scared of magic.
Episode 48 "Alice's September Song" Alice's old boyfriend shows up to rip her off.
Episode 49 "Tell it Like it Is" Carol writes a magazine article about the family.
Episode 54 "My Sister, Benedict Arnold" Marcia dates Greg's school rival. Sub-plot is the school carnival and the Brady's build a dunk tank.
Episode 55 "The Personality Kid" Peter thinks he's dull so he tries various personas including Humphrey Bogart. "Pork chops and applesauce."
Episode 80 "Jan, the Only Child" Jan wishes she was an only child so her siblings act like she's not there.
Episode 85 "Love and the Older Man" Marcia falls for her dentist.
The great Sylvain Sylvain Mizrahi passed away on January 13, 2021 after battling cancer for two and 1/2 years. He was a founding member and heart of the awesome ground breaking New York Dolls. I go by Wally Bangs in tribute to Lester Bangs since this is filled with my writing, but when I performed musically I went by Wally Thunders in tribute to the Dolls's Johnny Thunders whose anarchic guitar style I loved. It way Sylvain that taught Johnny guitar. I didn't really discover the Dolls music until after I graduated high school in 1985 even though I had heard of them due to their connection to the Mercer Art Center which I knew about because I was a huge Kiss fan in elementary school. I had seen photos of the band in rock magazines and while their glam look was intriguing their music wasn't played on mainstream radio when I was really young nor was their old catalog getting any airplay on the local hard rock station. Interesting to me that Sylvain moved to Nashville in 2015.
The first album of theirs I bought was the Night of the Living Dolls compilation in the fall of 1985 and that hooked for me good. The first verse and chorus of "Personality Crisis" made me a fan for life. It was like some amped up chaos version of the Stones. I found the debut and Too Much Too Soon in used record stores and still play them often. I wrote my own tune called "Born To Lose" in honor of Johnny years after he died. Crazy to think David Johansen is the only one left now. Time passes on. Sylvain Sylvain left an incredible musical legacy with the Dolls and with his own stellar and criminally underrated solo work. Time can't erase that. The thing I've thought of even more after learning of his passing is just what a great person Sylvain was during his life. I, somehow, happen to know a few people that actually knew the man. These people didn't happen to talk to after a show or bump into him on the street. They really knew the guy and they are grieving not just as fans, but as his friends. He was such a positive presence in their lives and that makes me happy. Godspeed Sylvain Sylvain. One of those people I know that knew him has this awesome blog post from 2017 with an interview she had done with him in 1993. It is essential reading if you want to learn more about this visionary rock and roll icon.
Looking For A Kiss
get it while it's hot!
Who Are The Mystery Girls?
Formidable
Teenage News
I Can't Forget Tomorrow
Godspeed Sylvain Sylvain we won't forget you today or tomorrow.
My first big time rock concert! It was incredible. Eddie lives forever in my heart.
A couple of department store music ads from December 1980. The first is from Clarks and the second one is obviously from Kmart. Clarks usually had a great record selection and was a stand alone store.
During the 80's and early 90's I wrote lots of letters to people. I had friends who had gone away to college and I also had penpals I had made through a mutual love of the Manic Street Preachers and due to my fanzine Anti*Society (tooting my own horn alert: that fanzine received national praise from Flipside magazine and the Beastie Boys magazine Grand Royal). I would say for every letter I sent there are probably 2 or 3 more I didn't send. Some of them even made it to addressed envelope stage, but I either forgot to mail them or more likely the information enclosed had changed so a new letter had been written and sent.
My recent post about visiting Washington D.C. and staying at the American Motel in Crystal City led me to look through some boxes trying to find the photo of me in front of the White House. I finally found that photo in a box of old tape cassettes under my bed. Before I found it I found a trove of old song lyrics (look for the tune "Nobody's Perfect" on my YouTube channel soon) and old letters never sent. One of those letters never sent was from the end of 1987 maybe into 1988 some and it serves as an addendum to the July 1987 D.C. trip. Hope you enjoy this brief look back in time.
I believe this letter would have been meant for D.D. Blank who was well into his 3rd year of college. The first page is missing so forget the salutations and whatever was on that first page.
1987/8:
I learned some more guitar from Drocam. We watched some Super 8 home movies one night at J.D's. Lots of old basketball footage. J.D.'s moves haven't changed since he was a little kid. Then the projector started burning through the film. I took Jethro B. to see Rocky Horror at MTSU. He wasn't too pleased. What else? I went to the Al Gore satellite hookup with M.D.. What trash. Al's a walking quaalude. Drocam and Fannblade went too. I found out I got along fabulously with Fannblade. He's not a shallow scenester like I originally thought. I read The Reivers. It was excellent, you'd like it.
Dalai Lamai's Death Squad (DLDS) is closing in on reality. Gonz saw an F.U.C.T. show and has seen the power in punk. $$$$ We're going to be working on some punk tunes this weekend after we go see Intruder and Mr. Zero. Life is, indeed, wild. I'm working at Cummings Sign from 3:00 to 11:30 weeknights. It's not too bad. Ace's Pizza folded. My manager there had played drums with Luck London. He was a great guy though. He didn't even get mad when I told him we thought Luck London stunk.
I have nothing else to say so GOODBYE,
Wally Wastoid
I don't ever recall being on night shift at Cummings Sign. Weird how one forgets everything.
