Don-O’s AudioZineVille Dump

The name might not be very familiar, but for Electric Light Orchestra fans (like me, of course), he was the bassist and background vocalist during the band’s prime between 1974’s Face The Music and Secret Messages in 1983 with the worldwide tours and successes in between.

Other ELO-based sites will go into detail of Kelly’s days before and after ELO, so, instead, I’m presenting a short collage of Kelly moments: first is an oddball short excerpt of a Kelly and Jeff Lynne interview by radio legend Jim Ladd from the mid-70’s, followed by a single he recorded in 1982 for the Riva Record label for the US market.

Thanks for backing ELO up, Kelly! While I’m in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, I’ll drink a toast in your honor.

Don-O

InnerView excerpt © Jim Ladd ‘Am I A Dreamer’ © Estate Of Kelly Groucutt

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Around 1999, my friend Mitch was in town and was crashing at a house I shared with two other bachelors in Manhattan Brach, Ca. One of my roommates told Mitch about a radio talk show on KABC-AM that took calls with no screeners; you could call up and ask a question or briefly talk about any subject you wanted or add to the conversation at hand.

Considering that the AM radio landscape was still 98% neo-con gab, this interested Mitch as he had something to get off his chest and it was on the head of George Lucas.

The background here was that he was an old school Star Wars fan and, even after a year since its release, he still had the foul taste of the Menace in his mouth. He needed vent it off outside of the usual fanboy circles.

So, he bravely picked up the phone and dialed the stations number. Next thing he knew, he was on the air!

NOTE: THIS WAS NOT A PRANK CALL! Mitch was freakin’ nervous and became overly elated when Mr. KABC agreed with him. Mr. K even used a section of this call for one of his promo spots.

Mitch has since moved to Tucson Arizona, I moved out of bachelorland, Lucas continues to make more money and Mr. K’s (now better know as Mark Germain) highly rated show was replaced by a low-rated neo-con nut job show from New York and is currently taking care of business with his TalkRadioOne.com.

Don-O

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More Sweet Dick Whittington for you to tolerate! This time, it’s a long audio piece that took place on the day before that 4th of July fireworks show I previously posted.

Not much is personally know about Whittington as he is a very private man. What IS generally known is that his birthday lands on July 3rd. What year? Well, that’s another level mystery….

Anyways, here’s a slice of the original broadcast from July 3rd 1978, just as the KGIL-AM staff surprises Dick with an on-the-air roast, which includes a very young Joe McDonald WAY before his ESPN days.

Later that day, Dick invites his listeners to call near the end of his show and tell him how much fun he had during his birthday broadcast….not only did I take up the challenge but I ended up on the air. Don’t think I’ll “podcast” THAT anytime soon…way TOO embarrassing….trust me….

Regardless, enjoy, Don-O

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…and now for me first “podcast”….

To make a long story short, I quickly became a fan of LA disc jockey Sweet Dick Whittington soon after my arrival in the San Fernando Valley at the age of 14.

He was broadcasting from ‘Valley Radio’ KGIL-AM, which I would later find out too late that their studios was just a miles from where I lived. I became such a fan that I began to record some of his radio adventures on my Sears boom box in Nobility cassettes.

One of the longer pieces I manage to capture (and that survived) was this tail end of a 1978 (?) broadcast. After having a live broadcast from an Alphie’s restaurant (which was owned by Alpha Beta supermarket) and letting their news anchor do his report from a plane, Dick bragged everybody out to the stations parking lot and set off some fireworks….in broad daylight.

We now join Dick and the KGIL’ers as they finish off the last of the fireworks as he takes care of some last minute business.

I’ll make my official Podcast deal soon…after I find what audio program to use.

Don-O

BTW: I run an unofficial Sweet Dick Whittington web site at: www.geocities/oddlystupid/sweetdick.html.

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