Saturday 9

 

Jive Talkin'

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love to answer the questions, however, and here is today's questions!

Saturday 9: Jive Talkin' (1975)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

This month we're going to recall Summer Songs. These will all be records that topped the charts during August.

1) Number 1 on the charts in August 50 years ago, "Jive Talkin'" was originally called "Drive Talkin'," because it was inspired by the "chunka-chunka" sound the Bee Gees' car made as it rolled over the bridge from Biscayne Bay to Miami every morning. Tell us about a drive you make regularly. What do you love, or hate, about it?

We are fans of a minor league baseball team, the Long Island Ducks.  We try to see about 8 or 9 games every summer. The drive to their ballpark in Central Islip has become very, very familiar. 

We take the Southern State Parkway, a highway designed by master builder Robert Moses, who assumed Long Island would remain sleepy, bucolic farmland and had no vision of what a modern suburb would look like.  Moses designed and built Jones Beach State Park (which I love), but his highways …decades and many upgrades later, the highways are still awful.

Our trip to the ballpark takes us through one of the worst interchanges on the eastbound Southern State.  

I don’t know if you can really see it on the map … 

It’s the interchange where the northbound Robert Moses Causeway ( yes, they named it after him) terminates merges into the Southern State and where the Southern State merges into the northbound Sagtikos Parkway.  If you’re traveling northbound on the causeway , you merge onto the Southern State from the right and almost immediately cross three lanes of traffic to exit left to the Sagtikos. And those of us who are simply traveling eastbound …inevitably Drew will make a sarcastic comment about this being his “favorite “ part of the highway, and then he’ll curse Robert Moses’ name.

2) Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb always enjoyed singing together and as kids, practiced their harmonies in the bathroom because that's where the acoustics were best. Do you sing in the shower?

No

3) Early in their career, the brothers wrote and recorded a radio jingle for Coca Cola. If we were to peer into your refrigerator right now, would we find any carbonated beverages?

I admit to an addiction to Diet Pepsi.

4) Though their sound depended on tight harmonies, all three Bee Gees were heavy smokers, which is bad for the throat. Do you smoke? Are there smokers/vapers in your life?

No.

5) Robin Gibb agreed to perform on the CD Sesame Street Fever so his kids could meet Cookie Monster. Who is your favorite Muppet?

6) In addition to younger brother Andy, who also scored hit records, the Bee Gees have a sister, Lesley. Unlike her siblings, she didn't go into show business. Instead she became a dog breeder. Tell us about a dog who holds a special place in your heart.

Molly the beagle.  She slept under my daughter Jen’s crib when Jen was a baby.  When Jen was learning to stand and walk, she’d grab Molly by the ears and push off from the poor dog to get herself upright.  And the dog allowed it.

Let's look at the summer of 1975.

7) That summer, producer Lorne Michaels was auditioning talent for the Not Ready for Prime Time Players. This band of comedic performers would premiere that October in a new show called Saturday Night Live. In the days before DVRs and streaming, Saturday Night Live was considered "appointment television," a show you wanted to catch when it aired so you made sure you were in front of a TV to hear "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" Is there a show you go out of your way to watch when it airs? Or is most of your viewing either recorded or streamed?

People know not to call our house at 7 PM on a weeknight.  Jeopardy!  is on.

8) The top movie at the box office that summer was Jaws. Have you seen it?

Yes, more than once.  Read the book, too.

9) In 1975, Jim Palmer of the Baltimore Orioles was having a career season and won the second of his three Cy Young Awards. In 2012 he put all three trophies up for auction. As proud as he was of the awards, he said, "My priorities have changed," and the money would help pay for college for his grandchildren. Think about your belongings. Is there anything you would never part with at any price?

I can’t think of anything.

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!