Lil Mike's Last Known Thoughts & Random Revelations...: Get Smart ! It's 2006 Already ?!

As I hustle back to work this morning for the first gig of 2006, doubt I'll miss a lot from 2005, particularly all that horrendous bad news, although 2006 is looking pretty vicious already as well...

Indeed unlike the speedy data delivery folks, I prefer to not even start reviewing the events of the past year until the new one has officially started, much less the art. Heck, I haven't even mailed out all my X-mess gifts out yet. Maybe I'm Russian Orthodox, superstitious, or just lazy and disorganized...

Anyhow, I mentioned in my last post that I'd keep a tally on some of the noteworthy figures that passed away in 2005 and I'll continue to do just that until I run out I suppose...

Here's a few more ...

Sandra Dee died

Sandra Dee

Born Alexandra Zuck of Bayonne New Jersey in 1942, by the late 50's she was escaping her step father's gropings to become known to moviegoers as teen icon Sandra Dee. She was a wholesome blonde beauty, the original "Gidget", starred in "A Summer Place" and by 1960 was married to pop singer Bobby Darin whom she met while filming "Come September" with him. Despite the Hollywood glamour and show biz trappings, the liquor soaked marriage wasn't a picnic, and Darin was a troubled troubadour, who had a bad heart and found out at 32 his sister was actually his mother. After having a son and then a divorce brought on by Bobby's unfaithfulness in '67, and his eventual death in 1973, Sandra Dee fell off the radar. In the early 70's she made some low budget Italian flicks and didn't resurface in the public eye until she had a bit part in the 1978 sensation "Grease". Dee's last screen appearance was the 1983 film "Lost" and she died of Kidney failure, after many years spent in virtual recluse.

here's an old circa 1963 Doo Wop release on the Jubilee label about a girl named Sandra

The Volumes- Sandra

newsreel audio from Come September premiere...

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Don Adams cemented his role in pop culture as the comical secret agent "86" on the show 'Get Smart" which ran from 1965 - 70. He started out life as Donald Yarmy born in NYC in 1923. In his 20's he tried his luck at standup comedy and took his wife's last name to avoid being called last at auditions. He won a contest on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts show in 1954, which lead to more TV & nightclub work including spots on the Steve Allen, Perry Como & Bill Dana shows. Highlihts of his career include Don winnng an unprecedented 3 Emmy's for his role on Get Smart, a Clio directing commercials and was also the voice of hit 80's cartoon detective Inspector Gadget.

Don appeared in many commercials, as well as other TV shows and specials, including Laugh-In, Fantasy Island, and many episodes of The Love Boat, including the pilot. He liked hanging out at the Playboy Mansion, playing cards with his pal Hef, with whom he appeared numerous times on various Playboy TV specials. In 1987 he had a cameo as the harbor master in Back To The Beach, featuring Annette Funicello & Bob Denver who had cameos in my last post, He had lowpoints to including a panned revival of Get Smart in the 1990's and was known to be forgetful,slept with a gun beside the bed, and I knew his nutty daughter who died of a Heroin overdose in the early 90's. Don died at age 82 in September battling lymphoma, a broken hip and finally a lung infection which provided his fatal blow.

here's a fitting upbeat wav file of Don from a Get Smart tribute page-

"Once again the forces of niceness and goodness have triumphed over the forces of evil and rottenness." 81K WAV

Get Smart Theme .mp3

Don had a few albums out during the 60's, and since i couldn't find any mp3 tracks online, I uploaded the next best related thing I could...

Barbara Feldon was Don's female co-star Agent "99" here's her kitschy Nancy Sinatra-esque theme song, produced by Elliot Mazer, whose other credits included Janis Joplin, Mike Bloomfield and the Byrds.

Barbara Feldon - 99

So you think you see a pussycat you'd like to pet
You start to come on strong to see how far you will get
You feed the pussycat that I'm a tiger lie
You don't know that you're mess'n with 99, 99
You brag about your motorboat and Cadillacs
How you cheated 'bout a million on your income tax
It isn't 'til they slap you with a great big fine
That you know that you've been mess'n with 99, 99
There's music on the hi-fi and she dims the light
She fixes a Martini that is out of sight
Your tongue begins to loosen 'cause you're all alone
But that ain't a olive buddy that's a microphone
You're a foreign spy who wants to come in from the cold
And you've never been uncovered you're so self controlled
But when they find your body floating down the Rhine
That's a lesson don't go mess'n with 99, 99
You're the highest paid informer for a Balkan State
On your night off you invite her for a dinner date
But when she freshens up, you'll end up unemployed
'Cause that ain't a lipstick buddy that's a Poloroid
So listen tigers this is what it's all about
A pussycat will get you if you don't watch out
Though she may send shivers running up and down your spine
She is doing her caress'n with a tiny Smith and Wesson
And that means you've been mess'n with 99, 99, 99, 99

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hey are you looking for my top ten list?

quit looking...

Not one to rush to judgment, I don't mind reading em, but I disdain the idea of making top ten lists, probably because I'd hate to have to consider whittling art down into tidy casualty counts...

does anyone ask those people to do that ?

hey blogger X !? what's on yer I-pod dude?

are you still digging what ya were digging in July?

that's so cool !

I just can't imagine the "blogger" thinks the world is waiting and the clock running when whatever new recordings they brought home and listened too warranted more than their mere appreciation.

I wonder the merits of comparing the worth of my fave music vs some other morons Jukebox Jury choices...it's not like there will be a playoff between Coldplay and My Morning Jacket to make the big bowl challenge vs the West Coast blogger league champs ( Rogue Wave ? Beck ? Deerhoof ? Sleater Kinney ? )

Anyhow, none of it matters cause usually the dusty vinyl or old 78's I score sound newer to me than most of the indie or corporate dreck I hear.

let's get back to some others who passed on in 2005

1,638 Jamaicans were murdered last year according to latest island statistics, while an estimated 36,000 die in the U.S each year from influenza.

Meanwhile a new low of only 45 Israelis were killed by Palestinian attacks, while 221 Palestinians died in the violence prone West Bank & Gaza strip.

and hey, enough reminiscing, as this new year of 2006 is already well under way and taking no prisoners... first to go of note around here....

Champion CA bicyclist killed in rain by non native Eucalyptus tree

R.I.P Dan Plummer