Last Ten Songs on Simon-FM (Greensboro, NC): Two Swedish Songs!

Greetings to our blog readers in Colombia, Japan and Hungary.....

Welcome to another addition of this wacky blog.

Today, we focus on the last ten songs we heard on 98.7-Simon FM (Greensboro, NC), which can now be heard all over the globe thanks to streaming but we imagine less than one percent of the station's listenership comes from Bergen, Norway!

Speaking of nations from Scandinavia, two songs which almost came up consecutively were from Swedish bands (sorry, not Roxette!), which makes us wonder if the computer which designates which songs to play is aware that the radio station played two songs from Swedish pop bands with Eric Clapton (pict. center) in between.

Here are the last ten songs from the 4:00-5:00 p.m. hour on Mon., Feb. 16th, 2015:

1) Some Like It Hot. Power Station. 1985. (The song was actually released on March 4, 1985, my 15th birthday!)

2) Smooth Criminal. Michael Jackson. 1988.

3) Sweet Emotion. Aerosmith. 1975 (we can't stand this band, actually)

4) The Sign. Ace of Base (pict. top, one of the Swedish bands)

5) Cocaine. Eric Clapton. 1977 (we learned while researching this, that J.J Cale of Velvet Underground originally performed this song)

6) Take a Chance on Me. Abba. 1978 (the other Swedish band)

7) Under the Bridge. Red Hot Chili Peppers. 1992.

8) Respect. Aretha Franklin. 1965 (pict. bottom)

9) Talking in Your Sleep. The Romantics. 1983

10) When I See You Smile. Bad English (w/John Waite) 1989.

http://www.987simon.com/

http://www.visitnc.com/piedmont

http://www.ericclapton.com/

And, Now a Word from Our Spnsor- Malev Hungarian Airlines

We were actually initially going to with Bulgarian Airlines, but then we said to ourselves: "Hey, ya know_ Hungary is a larger country than Bulgaria. You'll get more hits if you mention Malev Hungarian Airlines."

Our apologies to all our blog readers in Sofia and Varna (those of Bulgaria's two largest cities, we think!).

http://www.malev.hu

http://www.air.bg/en

Our Favorite Olympic Athletes (2 of 4)_ A Korean Archer and a Kazak Lifter, et al

We just noticed that somehow Ilya Ilyin, a gold medalist in weightlifting from Kazakhstan, and Aron Szilagyi, a gold medalist in fencing from Hungary, look like the exact same person!

Here are some of our favorite international male athletes from the 2012 London Olympics, in alphabetical order:

1. Rolf-Goran Bengtsson, 50, Sweden, equestrian_ Bengtsson who won silver at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics was expected to perform well in horse-jumping this time around, but things didn't go according to plan (Cliche Alert!). But, the country's flag-bearer will hopefully be happy that his teammate Sara Algotsson won silver. Equestrian is the only event we now of where men and women compete against each other. Sweden has won one gold medal in sailing, and seven overall in London so far.

2. Im Dong-Hyun, 26, South Korea, archery (pictured top)_ Im Dong-Hyun won a team gold medal in both 2004 and 2008. This year, South Korea finished third behind the United States and Italy, which won gold. South Korea has had a very successful Olympics with 12 gold medals and 23 medals overall. In addition, the women's indoor volleyball pulled a major upset over Italy yesterday.

3. Ilya Ilyin, 24, Kazakhstan, weight-lifting (pictured center)_ Kazakhstan has won a very impressive total of six gold medals so far. Ilyin won gold in the -94 kg division of weightlifting, beating out two other lifters from former republics_ Alexander Ivanov (silver, Russia) and Anatoli Ciricu (bronze, Moldova). Ilyin lifted a total of 418 kg (921 pounds) and his country won four gold medals in men's and women's weightlifting.

4. Kirani James, 19, Grenada, track and field (sprinter)_ One of the highlights of the Olympics has to be the moment when James switched jersey numbers with Oscar Pistorius of South Africa (see below). James won gold in the 400-meter relay; it was the first ever for the tiny Caribbean island nation. James also competes for the University of Alabama in America.

5. Oscar Pistorius, 25, South Africa, track and field (sprinter)_ Known as 'the blade runner,' Pistorius is likely to be one of the most remembered London Olympians even though he didn't win a medal. The South African sprinter, who has won four gold medals and a bronze at the paralympics was the first paraplegic athlete to ever compete at the Olympics.

6) Aron Szilagyi, 22, fencing (sabre), Hungary (pictured below)_ Szilagyi won the first of what is now six Hungarian gold medals in London. Krisztian Berki of Hungary won a gold in the pommel horse event in men's gymnastics.

Parade of Nations (Two of Four)- Albania to Italy

We continue our Parade of Nations of flag-bearers for their respective countries, with the likes of an Albanian women's weight-lifter to a Cuban wrestler:

Albania: Romela Begaj (women's weightlifting)

Azerbaijan: Elnur Mammadi (men's judo)

Chile: Denisse van Lamoea (women's archery)

Cuba: Mijain Lopez (pictured below, wrestling)

Cyprus: Marcos Baghdatis (pictured above, tennis)

Hungary: Peter Biros (water polo)

Iran: Ali Mazaheri (boxing)

Italy: Valentina Vezzali (pictured center, fencing)

http://www.olympic.org

http://www.valentinavezzali.com

Olympics Cities Destination Quiz- Berlin to Stockholm

Though it has been a tragic day here in the United States, as all of us are mourning the shooting victims at midnight premiere screening of "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises" at a theatre in Aurora, Colorado, but we are going to go ahead with our plans to conclude this series.

We finish this series up with a look at the distance between Berlin, Germany, which hosted the very controversial 1936 Olympics, in which Adolf Hitler promoted Aryan supremacy, and Stockholm, Sweden, which hosted the more sanguine 1912 Olympics.

American track and field athlete Jesse Owens (1913-1980), a black man who is the subject of a folk song by Greensboro, NC, singer/songwriter Bruce Piephoff (a personal friend) entitled "Jesse" (2008), was able to prove the absurdity of Hitler's concepts as he won four gold medals in Berlin.

On a more tragic note, I learned from an exhibit about the 1936 Berlin Olympics at the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, that Endre Kabos (1906-1944), a Hungarian athlete of Jewish heritage who won gold in Berlin in addition to his gold medal at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics was among the millions of Jewish people killed during World War II.

Kabos was sent to a concentration camp, but his death reportedly came on the battlefield after he escaped. His Hungarian teammate Attila Petschauer* (1904-1943) who won gold medals in fencing at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics and the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics was killed in a concentration camp.

Just this week, Hungarian officials detained Laszlo Csatary, 97, for alleged role in deporting Hungarian Jews to concentration camps.

On a lighter note, today's Berlin features stop lights, featuring little green men  and little red men, which are one of few surviving relics from East Germany. In 2004, several German cities, including Dresden introduced female counterparts for pedestrian stop lights.

As for the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, among the gold medalists were Finnish wrestler Kaarlo Koskelo, Italian gymnast Alberto Broglia and Australian women's swimmer Fanny Durack. The above pictured dish is a popular one in Sweden during the holidays.

And, even though he has nothing to do with either Olympics, we will mention Bruce Jenner, the American 1976 Montreal Olympics track champion, since the mere mention of his name assures significantly more hits for our blogs.

So just how far apart are these two cities?

A) 454 miles

B) 479 miles

C) 504 miles

D) 529 miles

http://www.ushmm.org

http://www.jewishsports.net

http://www.washington.org


*-I happen to share a first name with the Hungarian Jewish athlete. My first name is Attila. My late Turkish father Mehmet Gokbudak chose to give me the Hungarian spelling as opposed to the Turkish spelling which is Atilla, which has assured that people in Turkey, including passport officials, do not spell my name correctly.

Casualties of Modern Technology (11 of 12)_ Slide Projectors

Back in the 1970s, while other families

were watching "The Love Boat," my late father Mehmet Gokbudak would get out the slide projector and we would watch slide shows featuring images of backyard family trips (we lived in Roanoke, Va) of Highland County and from the two European trips we took. One famous slide was of me posing besides a street sign for Attila Josef Street in Budapest, Hungary, in a Dallas Cowboys hat and jacket. Since Attila is my name, this seemed very cool to my dad. And, I had no idea who Attila Josef was until today (a legendary Hungarian poet who died at age 32 in 1937).

Another famous slide was one of a crocidile at a restaurant in Warsaw, Poland- of all places. The croc was a gift from Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. We have no idea what the croc's name is, but we learned from Google that the croc came to the establishment in 1972. He may well still be the only crocidile in Poland.

As for the slide projector, it was very popular and hip from the 1950s to the 1970s, as it allowed slide prints to be displayed on a screen. But, today, many manufaturers have quit making both the prints and the machines.

http://www.highlandcountyva.org/

Virtual Postcard from Colorado- Graffiti Van in Denver

We have no idea which graffiti artist performed this radical makeover on this van, but we did learn from our visit to Colorado last week that Denver-area street artist Gamma Agosta has made quite a name for himself. Among his most famous works include one depicting a female Mexican bandit wearing a sombrero with machine guns in her hands and bullets covering her large breasts (hmmmm......I think we just got hit with an 'R' rating! But, we do try to keep it clean here).

Among the things to do in Denver when you're NOT dead (that's a reference to an independent American film for those of you in rural Uzbekistan), we highly suggest a visit to the Clyfford Still Museum, even though many of the great expressionist American painter's works are untitled (which drives us crazy).

But, speaking of people who have literally gone insane, earlier this year, Carmen Tisch, a Denver resident, punched one of Still's famous paintings, done in 1957 and worth $30 million, at the museum.

The dubious incident reminds one of an attack on Paul Gauguin's "Two Tahitian Women" painting at the National Gallery in Washington, DC, in April of last year. According to various media reports, Susan Burns of Alexandria, Va., the culprit in question in the Washington, DC-incident, said Gauguin's work was evil since it featured nudity and that it was 'bad for children.'

Burns later came back to the National Gallery and tried to assault Henri Matisse's painting "The Plumed Hat" in August of last year.

Lastly, we send out a special thanks to blog visitors from Armenia?!*, Belgium, Hungary and Jamaica** for visiting our blog today.

*-Hmmmm......I am a Turkish-American, how is it possible to be more popular in Yerevan than Ankara?!

**-It must have been a rainy day in Montego Bay! 

http://www.gammagallery.com

http://clyffordstillmuseum.org

Quote of the Day/Week- Roger Staubach

Today we continue our quips from Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks with a quote from Roger Staubach, 70, who helped the Dallas Cowboys win two Super Bowls in 1972 (over the Miami Dolphins) and in 1978 (over the Denver Broncos). The Cowboys would win three more Super Bowls in the 1990s.

This one brings back memories because there is a photograph of me taken in Budapest, Hungary, in 1976 when I was just six years old, as I was wearing a matching Dallas Cowboys hat and jacket. Of course, at the time, I had no idea who Roger Staubach really was.

Staubach was also a Heisman Trophy winner for Navy in 1963, and he helped the Midshipmen win two games over arch rivals Army. Along with former NBA star David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs, Staubach is considered to be the most famous athlete to graduate from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Due to his military commitment, Staubach did not enter the NFL as a rookie until he was 27 in 1969. He retired from football after the 1979 season. Staubach played for the Dallas Cowboys for his entire career.

On the Fox-TV animated sitcom "King of the Hill," which ran for 13 seasons, the local Texas elementary school is named after Staubach.

Here is his quote:

"Confidence comes from hours and days and weeks and years of constant work and dedication."

SIDEBAR: One thing one has to love about Google is that it can help you answer a question about something you saw on Twitter. Today, The Grammar Girl (Mignon Fogarty) said that several words in English, such as Gobblefunk, were the creation of children's book writer Roald Dahl ("James and the Giant Peach"). I was puzzled as to what exactly Gooblefunk or gobblefunk meant, and the answer is 'delicious.'

Quotes from the Composers- Zoltan Kodaly

We conclude our Quotes from The Composers series with a quip from Hungarian master Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967) who was also an educator, linguist and philosopher. Kodaly is perhaps best-known for his orchestral/opera "Hary Janos" (1926) which Wikipedia describes as 'a Hungarian folk opera.' It was first performed by the Royal Hungarian Opera House in Budapest that same year.

We love this quote, and in case, you were wondering the image above is of Hungarian goulash, which they might serve at the Mirabell Restaurant in Chicago, which is actually a German restaurant:

"The laws of morals and the laws of music are the same."

Classical music fans in Pittsburgh, Pa., can hear a performance of "Mozart's Symphony, Number 4" on Jan. 28 at 8:00 p.m., followed by another performance on Jan. 30 at 2:30 p.m.

SIDEBAR: Since I am a Turkish-American, it may surprise a few folks that I am a huge fan of the Greek film composer Mikis Theodakris, who is alive and well (we hope!) at age 85. Theodakris is known for his legendary compostions to "Z" and "Zorba the Greek" and he also scored the 1973 Al Pacino drama "Serpico."

One can listen to WUVT-FM (90.7 Blacksburg, Va), the student-run college radio station of Virginia Tech, for Greek music from 11 a.m.-1:00 p.m. on Saturdays. A Turkish music show follows on the same station from 1:00-2:30 p.m. I co-hosted a Turkish music show on WUVT in 1994 and I was told that I played too much music from the late pop singer Baris Manco which proves it's impossible to make people happy!

It's Been a Messy Week

The weather may have actually been nice in Fargo, N.Dak., than it was in Greensboro, NC, yesterday. Snow, sleet, ice and freezing rain left much of Virginia and North Carolina in a mess in a storm which also went through parts of South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Maryland.

There were fatal highway accidents near Lexington, Va., and Fayetville, NC, which are about six hours away from each other.

As a result, we are behind with lots and lots of things, folks!

So, until things get back to normal, I highly recommend a Youtube video of my friend Bruce Piephoff singing "I Remember Asheville" or you can always settle for Ukrainian folk dancing or Hungarian klezmer clarinet music!

PSA- Take a Bite Outta Crime

Today, we focus on crime prevention for our Thursday PSA entry. Of course, McGruff the Crime Dog actually uses this motto which came of age (we believed in the late
'70s).

But, the late Greek-American actor Telly Savalas was the ever-hip sleuth "Kojak" on CBS. The series lasted 105 episodes, and it ran from 1973-78.

The show was remade with black actor Ving Rhames playing the title role in 2005 on the USA Network, but alas it was only around for a year.

In Hungary and Romania, according to Wikipedia, a kojak is slang for a lollipop!