Three Dog Night In Black and White by Ronald Sklar The feat would be impossible to achieve in today’s market-fragmented world, but back in ’71, the bell-bottomed-and-walrus-mustachioed anthem “Joy To The World,” by Three Dog Night, shone through the polluted air and permeated the culture. In a world already torn every which way but loose, Jeremiah … Continue reading
RICHARD PRICE BETTER THAN FICTION BY RONALD SKLAR If Richard Price’s life story were made into a movie, you would accuse the joint of being too far-fetched. But, as the old cliché goes, truth is stranger than fiction. Price came up in a Bronx housing project, but his gift for writing gained him entrance into the … Continue reading
Barney Miller The First Season – 1975 (Columbia Tri-Star-2004) In 1975, New York City was on the verge of financial and moral ruin. Criminals ran rampant in the streets and terrorized the weary riders of the graffiti-drenched subways. Times Square was bursting with X-rated peep shows and drug-addicted hustlers. The city’s plea for Federal help resulted … Continue reading
The Ed Sullivan Show Rock ‘n’ Roll Classics (Rhino-2002) Your tolerance of the variety show format is equally proportional to the amount of hours you’ve viewed MTV since 1981. More than two decades have passed since the rest of television adapted to the now-taken-for-granted style of the quick-edited, odd-camera-angled, sound-bit, irony-heavy entertainment presentation. You are … Continue reading
Tom Verica American Dad by Ronald Sklar Tom Verica stars as family patriarch Jack Pryor on the NBC sleeper hit American Dreams. The role calls for the strong silent type: a challenge which is not always as appreciated as it should be in a medium that often displays the dad as the house fool. Here, Verica … Continue reading
Colin Quinn – Tough Guy by Ronald Sklar Originally posted on Mar. 10, 2003. We as Americans have always taken for granted that we know Colin Quinn intimately. Of course, as a nation we’re bound to make that presumption since we feel that we have more or less grown up with the dude. Sure, we learn more than … Continue reading
Jimmy Webb All He Knows… by Ronald Sklar If you are under thirty and have even the slightest retro sensibility, chances are you are familiar with the classic pop songs of Jimmy Webb, and good for you. And if you are over thirty, endlessly toiling in an office and music appreciation is just a faint … Continue reading
BOBBY VEE SOMEWHERE DOWN THE LINE BY RONALD SKLAR Rock and roll is cram-packed with ironic stories. Read the bio of almost any artist and you’ll find the woulda-coulda-shoulda tale of how he almost became an accountant. And prefacing almost every Top 10 hit is the tiresome fable of how the song nearly wound up … Continue reading
Alan Rafkin The King of Nick at Nite by Ronald Sklar “I’m still working,” sixty-eight-year-old Alan Rafkin says. “They’ll have to carry me out in a body bag.” If you had his job, they would drag you out kicking and screaming too. Alan Rafkin is a TV sitcom director. And not just another forgotten name … Continue reading
Gregg Oppenheimer He Loves Lucy by Ronald Sklar Dig this if you can. It’s a Monday night in 1954 and you want to go clothes shopping. Forget it, daddy-o. All the stores in town are closed for the evening and you look like a damned fool for being the only idiot walking the streets. And … Continue reading
PopEntertainmentblog.com 