ALL THE NEWS THAT IS NEWS

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

ELVIS LICENSE PLATE
What a great Valentine's Day gift for your loved one: Elvis Presley license plates for their automobile. The new official Tennessee license plate that features the King of Rock‘n’Roll and the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center premieres at the Elvis Presley Automobile Museum. Elvis's purple 1956 Cadillac Eldorado receives the classic license plate: EP 1956. The official artist proof plate, license number EP 0000, goes to the Graceland Archives and becomes a permanent collection piece. A portion of the proceeds from all Elvis Presley License Plate sales goes directly to the Elvis Presley Memorial Trauma Center and The MED Foundation. For over 20 years, the Level-1 trauma center serves emergencies in a 5-state, 150 mile radius of Memphis, TN. The first sets of Elvis License Plates go to lucky folks who pre-order them, plus are available throughout Tennessee at local county offices and by mail order. Elvis Insiders members get to see exclusive pictures of the event on the members only web site www.elvisinsiders.com.

MELLENCAMP VS MCCAIN
Another heated battle erupts in the hotly contested U.S. Presidential race. It's John against John. Singer-songwriter John Mellencamp who is a staunch Democrat raises his fist in anger and tells Republican Presidential front-runner John McCain to stop using his tunes in his campaign. McCain features Mellencamp's songs Pink Houses and Our Country on his campaign trail and Mellencamp is extremely upset because his choice is John Edwards but he is out of the race. McCain desperately wants to succeed our Emperor George W. Bush in the White House. But he treads on thin water.

R.I.P. JACKIE
Bass player Jackie Orszaczky passes away on Sunday morning, February 3, 2008 with cancer. Jackie is well-known in Australia's music scene with The Whitlams, Grinspoon, You Am I, Hoodoo Gurus, Tim Finn, Savage Garden, Leonardo's Bride & Nikka Costa. Orszaczky produces for David Lane, Tibor Tatrai, The Millers Tale, Dave Ades, Peter O'Mara ad Carl Orr and his partner Tina Harrod. In 1948, Jackie Orszaczky is born in Budapest, Hungry and emigrates to Australia in 1974. He becomes a popular session bass player and appears on hundreds of Australian recordings. Jackie is a star in Hungry with up to 30,000 fans at his Budapest concerts. Orszaczky is due to perform at the Macquarie Hotel in Sydney on February 7. 2008. In August 2007, Jackie Orszaczky & The Grand Masters' final album, Family Lore releases through Vitamin Records.

•JEREMY BEADLE British broadcaster at Capital, LBC, BBC and Talk Radio UK dies at 59. •MICHAEL WALTER is new PD at New Rock WFTK (96.5) Cincinnati-Lebanon, OH after 13 years at crosstown Rock WEBN FM (102.7). •BONNEVILLE sells Classic Country WIL-1430 St. Louis, MO to Entertainment Media Trust for $1.2 million. EMT also owns Talk WXOZ-1510 St. Louis-Highland, IL. •REAL RADIO Wales latest prize is brand new Redrow apartment worth £78,000. Hide & Key hides keys all around South Wales but only one lucky key unlocks the door.

•1940 GOVERNOR JIMMIE DAVIS records You Are My Sunshine for Decca on February 5th. •1958 CHUCK WILLIS (What Am I Living For? #9-1958) R&B singer dies on April 10th of perforated ulcer. •1960 GEORGE HAMILTON IV joins the Grand Ole Opry on February 5th. •1972 MARK OWEN singer with Take That (Back For Good #7-1995) born on January 27th. •1980 CHUBBY ANTHONY Bluegrass fiddler dies at 45 on February 5th. •1997 STÉPHANE GRAPPELLI French Jazz violinist dies on December 1st. •2002 NICKEL CREEK's self-titled debut album certifies Gold on February 4th.

BILLY THORMAN (Ft. Worth, TX) Let's see...I've been through the bomb scare, been shot at twice, through a couple of hurricanes, the storms, chased by the bad guys because they thought I was talking to the feds, chased by the feds because they thought I was one of the bad guys, been through an EBS Alarm that later proved to be false, countless strays including a guy who confessed to murdering his stepdaughter, helping one dying jock plan his funeral without anyone knowing he was dying, 4 other jock employees dying while on the staff and 2500 naked kids running across a university campus, yep. There are some stories to tell. Hmm, more stories. All the best! Billy t

PAUL KELLY (Hemet, CA) Subject: Song Title. Jimbo...Maybe you can help me recall... In the Early 50's there was a song that went like this... I love to go a wandering Along the mountain side, And as I go I love to sling My knapsack at my side Valderee Valderah Valderee valderah HA HA HA HA HA My Knapsack at my side. Do you remember the song? And if you do who sang it?

NAME THAT TUNE! The Happy Wanderer is the name of that joyful tune. Friedrich-Wilhelm Möller writes that popular tune right after World War II. Really like the song. Puts us in a happy mood. When the tune hits radio in the USA, I am only an 11 year old grasshopper. Some folks think it's a German folk song, but it's an original composition by the talented Möller. His sister Edith conducts a small amateur children's & youth choir in Schaumburg County, Northern Germany, called the Obernkirchen Children's Choir. In Deutschland they are known as Schaumburger Märchensänger. In 1953, BBC Radio airs the choir's winning performance at Llangollen International Eisteddfod, which is an annual arts festival in north-east Wales. The broadcast turns the cheery tune into an instant hit. On January 22, 1954, the song enters the UK singles chart - which is only a Top 12 at the time - and remains there for 26 non-consecutive weeks. With BBC Radio's heavy international influence, The Happy Wanderer all of a sudden shows up everywhere, such as the winning song of the 1955 calypso road march season of the Trinidad Carnival, This causes protests that still live today because they say only calypsos should be chosen over foreign music.

DAVE MICHAELS (San Diego, CA) KEEZ FM (99.1) the little FM station. I was there for a short while in 1970. Jim...how do you find out all this stuff? I thought that was a well kept secret; that no one would ever remember, and I was not talking about it. I went to KELP El Paso for one month after that while my ex-wife was looking for me...too many U-hauls; as Mac Davis said - I had Texas in my rear-view mirror...and Glen Campbell was talking to my wife on the phone. Did you know that for a Birthday gift to Glen Campbell; Tanya Tucker gave him a gun - inscribed on the gun "til death do us part"... Have a warm week jim... Dave Michaels

CHUCK CASHMERE (San Diego, CA) Hi Jim. I loved Tom Aswell's hit on radio. The whole thing is correct and to the point. What about those great ole radio shows in which the scripts were as good as today's movies. What about the jocks on KNUZ and KILT, we could tell the time of the day by the news breaks and who was on the air, when we had a jock on who cared more about his mouth than the music programing we could hit a button and get the next station, We had Big Mike on the scene at major accidents and fires, we could hook up with a nice evening by just mentioning that we had nothing to do after our shift, We could interview minor celebrities passing thru town, who wanted to promote their latest whatever, we could look forward to telling our landlord the rent was going to be a couple of days late because payday was the following Monday, Occasionally someone would spring for a drink because they liked something we said or show up with a birthday cake because our cohorts would mention it was our birthday. Today they show up at the station to collect their $100 phone in bonus. We ran military recruiting ads as a PS. Yes the communications act ramrodded by BC took away a great community resource, local radio. By way Jim I have a video on my web site of some clips from The Veterans Day performance here. Check it out. www.chuckcashmere.com

TOM ASWELL (Denham Springs, LA) Subject: Sixties singer Dale Houston dead at 67. Jim, Dale was one of the first interviews I did for my book. I also interviewed Grace and S.J. Montalbano, owner of the record company that I'm Leaving It All Up To You was released on. tom

J.R.R. TOLKIEN (1892-1973) Few can foresee whither their road will lead them, till they come to its end. 

Jim Rose and Tejas
Houston, Texas
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