Although his legal name was Spencer David Nelson Davies (he dropped the ‘e’ from his last name early on), those of us who were fortunate enough to be his friend knew him as Spence.
When my friend died on Monday (October 19), the news hit me like the grill of a Mack truck going 200 (miles or kilometres, you choose). Spence was 81 but I always thought he’d live into his 90’s. His mother did. He came from strong Welsh stock and that’s one of the initial things we had in common.
Thank you, Dear Readers for another wonderful year.
We will be back at the end of the first week of January 2018.
All of us here wish you and yours the Merriest of Christmases, the Happiest of New Years, and Hope that the Best is yet to come.
Happy Holidays from the DBAWIS Writers, our families, and our sponsors, and thank you for reading what we write…You are the reason we do this. See you next year,
=0=
Sometimes meeting your heroes can be very disappointing. They could just be having a bad day or had a fight with their significant other or their manager, or recently received bad news about a pet project…or as is sometimes the case, they could just be an asshole.
On the other hand, some heroes exceed your expectations and then some.
It’s a miserable, cold, sodden, rainy, pathetically dreary, rather dismal night. Moisture and freezing temperatures will create your very own skating rink on the sidewalk, front lawn and even the roadway. I look out the window and see everything enveloped in ice. Jane Harbury had very kindly invited me down to her Discoveries series at Tranzac tonight but between prior commitments and the weather, my ass is safely ensconced on the couch writing this. I have one artificial hip…..I don’t need two and I’d prefer to keep any modicum of dignity intact.
DBAWIS is on Hiatus until September 5th. In the meantime, don’t forget to visit our site and catch up on the over 1500 articles by entering the name of your favourite DBAWIS scribe in the “Archive” window, and have at it. Great reading for the Dog Days of Summer. See you with Fresh Fun on September 5th!
The Writers – Roxanne Tellier, Pat Blythe, Frank Gutch Jr., Cam Carpenter, Jaimie Vernon, Gary Pig Gold, Doug Thompson, and past contributors, Nadia Elkharadly, Justin Smallbridge, Geoff Pevere, and the Sometimes Darrell Vickers. Not pictured are Guest Writers Ira Robbins, Bobby Singh, and Jade Dunlop, plus friends who have contributed a column or two over the years
=0=
Rolling Stone Magazine recently released their latest ‘list’, “The 100 Greatest Songwriters” rollingstone.com). Let me repeat that title, “The 100 Greatest Songwriters”. Their descriptive line states “From Brill Building tunesmiths to Punk poets, from Woody Guthrie to Max Martin, the visionaries who defined music history.”
A few months back, not long after Stan Freberg died on April 7th, I wrote a column about his early career as a voice actor for Capitol Records children’s records and Warner Bros. cartoons, TV shows like “Time For Beany” plus his hilarious 13 week CBS summer radio series as well as his many hit parodies for Capitol. At the time, I promised (or threatened, I can’t remember which), to write a second column on Stan’s amazing adventures in advertisingland.
Before I begin my review, I have to say that I have the utmost respect for anybody who sits down (or stands up for that matter) to write a book…whether fiction or non-fiction. The amount of time and effort in research and the blood, sweat and tears that it takes to actually write it, can be monumental. Having contributed to over a dozen books, I know that it takes true dedication and can’t be undertaken lightly. Writing a book can (and often does) take over your life.
Stan Freberg passed away on Tuesday, April 7th, 2015 in Santa Monica, California. He was 88. Despite his incredible success in the recording world (albeit in the 1950’s), radio, television and advertising (Freberg is in the Advertising Hall of Fame after all), somehow, Stan wasn’t hip enough for the TMZ generation. They’d rather report on yet another lame Kardashian/Jenner photo op, so Stan’s passing didn’t even merit a mention on their popular website or TV show, although his obituary did make the New York Times.
Bullseye Records of Canada
Segarini: Don't Believe a Word I Say 