Willie Simpson

Tag: New York City

  • Twenty One, The Quiz Show Scandals

    A movie I always loved was Quiz Show, the 1994 film directed by acting legend Robert Redford.  The movie is about the infamous practice of game show rigging that went on in the 1950s, especially at NBC with their hit show “Twenty One.”  Proclaiming to audiences that the questions to the answers were kept in…

  • Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, Little Bitty Pretty One

    Before Michael Jackson, before Justin Bieber, there was Frankie Lymon.  Well, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers to be exact.  Frankie is the original rock and roll prodigy, a 13 year old backup singer from Harlem who by a stroke of fate stepped in to sing lead for his vocal group the Teenagers when original lead…

  • Andy Kaufman on Letterman

    Many people refer to these days as the golden age of comedy.  With tons of late night comedians, stand-up super stars, box office comedy blockbusters, and comedy nerds running rampant, its easy to buy into that hype.  Well, it might be the case that comedy is bigger then ever, but there probably isn’t one comedian…

  • David Letterman's First Late Night Show Ever

    On February 1st, 1982 David Letterman launched the Late Night Show on NBC.  As you can tell by its overly dramatic and irony fueled science fiction opening, Dave was far ahead of his time.  Understanding David Letterman’s genius is partly based on knowing what a clear cut revolutionary comic visionary he was.  Not only was…

  • John Lennon, Imagine (Live)

    “Imagine” is the sort of song played by rock stars young and old to honor the memory of dearly departed John Lennon.  It’s kind of sad in a way that its turned into a memorial dirge of sorts, obscuring it’s utopian message of peace and harmony due its tragic association with the author’s horrible death. …

  • John Lennon, #9 Dream

    I was sneaking under a bus parked over a snowy muddy pit.  I jostled a hinge holding the front of the truck to the freight, and it began to collapse on me.  As it caved in on me, I genuinely thought I was going to die.  This was the phrase that went through my mind,…

  • Paul Simon, Kodachrome, Coneheads Highlights!

    I was sitting around in Portland, Maine yesterday with nothing better to do, when on came the “Coneheads” movie.  I haven’t seen in quite sometime, but its one of those movies where you just have to sit through the whole thing.  I was amazed at the parade of 90s comedy superstars appearing in one scene…

  • John Lennon, India, India

    Sorry for the disturbing lack of updates, but I was busy packing up my Brooklyn apartment and heading north for Maine.  I’ve got three weeks in beautiful Portland before I head across the world to South Korea and Australia.  I’m happy to be out of the city and hear crickets out my window, as four…

  • Beulah, Gene Autry, Emma Blowgun's Last Stand, Ballad of the Lonely Agronaut

    Beulah was formed in a mail room in San Fransisco when Miles Kurosky and Bill Swan decided they both liked the same music, well mostly.  This is the kind of story yours truly can get behind due to own desire to hatch great ideas when I worked in a mail room.  Robert Schneider of the…

  • Ted Kennedy's Eulogy for Robert F. Kennedy

    Revolution, liberty, discovery, and moral courage.  These were themes prevalent in Ted Kennedy’s eulogy for his brother Bobby, after his insane assassination in 1968.  Drawing directly from one of Bobby’s greatest speeches, Ted quoting Bobby, said that, “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or…