Mr. Clark you're a 98

Dick Clark passed away today and my heart is sad.  I knew he wasn't doing well but it's still so sad. At 12 noon on Saturday afternoons, my face was in front of our TV.  Our family's Saturday morning ritual was to have our entire house clean so that we could be ready to watch Bandstand.  We had our favorite lunch (white bread sandwiches with bologna) and our favorite show.

Man, I loved that show. I always wanted to be a dancer on that show. Admit, you wanted that too.  I wanted to dance on top of the tiers. I wanted to wear Yo-Yo's and jeans with the monogrammed pictures on the back pockets.  Man, I was a dreamer.

I loved everything about it: Rate -A-Record, the Spotlight Dance and my favorite, the dance contest during the summer. One of my favorite memories was seeing Prince (with his perfectly coiffed hair and big earring) perform "I Wanna Be Your Lover".  I loved that song. I trusted Mr.Clark's taste and he didn't let me down with that one.

This how ingrained that show was in our family.  Back in the 70's, there was a dancer that looked like my sister's boyfriend, Mr. X (at least we thought he did). So for years, we always called that dancer, Mr. X.  Tonight I am watching the CNN coverage on his death and they are showing Bandstand footage and there is Mr. X. I called my sister and told her what I was watching and to guess who I just saw.  First thing out of her mouth, "Mr.X!"

And who can forget the Pyramid? My sister's would play as a team and were actually pretty good.  I think they earned about $1million. That ticking sound always made me nervous. When the contestant made it to the winner's circle, boy howdy were we glued.  Now that was some good TV.

Wait, I almost forgot one of my favorite shows, American Dreams.  It was on NBC back in 2002.  Oh, I loved the Pryor family.  It's a shame it only lasted 3 seasons.  I miss you J.J. Pryor!

Today's soundtrack theme is for the oldest teenager, Dick Clark.  Mr. Clark, I rate you the highest; a 98.  Thank you for bringing us great music and TV shows.  Thank you for being a constant in my young adolescence life.  No matter what teenage drama I was having, you were the one thing I could always count on.  Heaven will be rockin' now that you're there.

Thanks for reading my blog!
Julie

Don Cornelius: Love, Peace and Soooouuullll!

What!  It's been over 2 weeks since the last time I was here? I usually have so much to say but the last but lately, not so much.  The last few days I have been feeling my age. And mainly because of the death of Don Cornelius.  It made me so sad that he took his own life.  Just a shame.

When I was younger, we watched Soul Train when we were in Dallas visiting our big sister.  They didn't show American Bandstand so it was Soul Train. And for me, it was a hard transition because I needed my "spot light dance" and "rate-a-record".  But soon I began to get into the greatness of the Soul Train line and the Soul Train Scramble Board.

A couple of years ago there was a great documentary on VH1 about the show called "Soul Train: The Hippiest Trip in America".  It  was really interesting. I love learning about the history about any thing that involves music. If they run it again, I suggest you check it out.

As you would expect, today's theme is Soul Train.  I hope you enjoy the music as much as I do.

Thanks for reading my blog!
Julie