Ten Songs in a Row That We Heard on Steve-FM (Roanoke, Va.): Jimmy Buffet Fans Will Like This....

Last week, we watched our favorite comedy show on tv "Maron" on IFC, which stars comedian/actor Marc Maron as a version of himself. During the episode, Marc talked about how much he hated Jimmy Buffett. It was an amusing segment although we really have nothing against Buffet's music, unlike late period Aerosmith or REO Speedwagon.

As it turns out, Buffett's beach music anthem "Cheeseburger in Paradise" (pict. bottom) was one of the ten songs played on Steve-FM (106.5  Roanoke, Va.), a variety pop and rock music station, played between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on Friday night.

Other tunes in the mix included "Hold the Line" by Toto (top image, yeah we couldn't resist), "Mickey" by Toni Basil (center image, yeah we couldn't resist that either...the video for the song featured cheerleaders) and "Out of Touch" by Hall and Oates, which surprisingly enough was also played on Simon-FM (98.7 in Greensboro, NC) one hour later!

Here is the list, which is in the order they were played in the radio, not in order of preference........don't worry, we will let you know which song is our favorite, and which song is our least favorite.........:

1) Hold the Line, Toto, 1978

2) Mickey, Toni Basil, 1982

3) Danger Zone, Kenny Loggins. 1986.

4) Lips of An Angel, Hinder, 2006 (our least favorite song)

5) Cheeseburger in Paradise, Jimmy Buffett, 1978

6) Dance Hall Days, Wang Chung. 1984 (our favorite song!)

7) Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now), C + C Music Factory, 1990

8) Out of Touch, Hall and Oates, 1984

9) Take the Money and Run, Steve Miller Band, 1976

10) Sugar, Maroon 5. 2015.

http://www.1061fm.com

http://www.margaritaville.com

http://www.hallandoates.com

http://www.visitroanokeva.com

Chuck Norris vs. Cuneyt Arkin_ The Wonder Kick Years

It is 6:30 a.m. in Harare, Zimbabwe, 1:30 p.m. where one might be having sushi for lunch in Tokyo, Japan, and 9:30 a.m. in Karachi, Pakistan; we read an article in "Mental Floss" that said 9:30 a.m. on Mondays was the best time to post a blog entry. The problem is I don't think we get too blog-reader traffic from Pakistan, but perhaps today is that day.

We are looking at the collective careers of American action movie star Chuck Norris, who turned 72 on March 10th, and his Turkish counterpart Cuneyt Arkin, who is now 75. Both actors have right-wing views, well we are not 100-percent sure of Arkin, but since Norris said that the re-election of President Barack Obama would bring 1,000 years of darkness, it is safe to Norris is very conservative. But, he may actually be to the left of the Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan.

In 1977, Norris had a break-out role as a truck-driver hell-bent on finding his missing brother in "Breaker! Breaker!," a film which has been screened on IFC (The Independent Film Channel) here in the states. There was a time when IFC would show arthouse films with indy screen goddess Parker Posey ("House of Yes," "Personal Velocity"), but it appears that Norris films get slightly better ratings.

On a sad note, Norris' co-star in "Breaker! Breaker," veteran actor George Murdock, who also played Testikov in a "Seinfeld" episode in 1994, died this year.

So, we are asking which actor actually won a Best Actor the year Norris made "Breaker! Breaker!," which incidentally has a 3.4 on the Internet Movie Database, in 1997.

Is the answer?:

A) Jack Nicholson

B) Dustin Hoffman

C) Richard Dreyfuss

D) Marlon Brando

E) Jon Voight

As to the answer in our last entry in this series, in 1982,  the year that Cuneyt Arkin was in  "The Turkish Star Wars" the Oscar went to B) Ben Kingsley for the title role in "Gandhi."

http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com

 http://www.chucknorris.com

http://www.ifc.com

http://www.imdb.com

http://www.parkerposey.org

http://www.cuneytarkin.com.tr

http://www.mentalfloss.com

Program Reminder- Bug on IFC This Week

Before we start this entry, I want to ask my long-time girlfriend Ashley Judd if she'll marry me. Oh right! I forgot she was married to some Italian race car driver, and she ran on the track barefoot when he won the Indianapolis 500.

But, Judd starred in the creepy thriller "Bug" based on the play by Tracy Letts. The 2006 film from director William Friedkin deals with a woman who moves into an el cheapo motel where she meets a Gulf War veteran who thinks agents inserted bugs in his mind as part of a military experiment.

The film airs on IFC at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Perhaps, students from Manhattan High School in Manhattan, Kansas, which is our High School of the Week along with about 45 other schools, will think it's a biology documentary.

Manhattan HS has Back to School Night on Monday, and their principal is (mr) Terry MCarty.

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- IFC to Show American Splendor

Alas, we were saddened to hear of the passing of the comic book genius Harvey Pekar
(1939-2010) on Monday. Our good friend Moviezzz has a moving tribute to him on his blog http://www.moviezzz.blogspot.com

On Twitter today, we learned that IFC will show the film "American Splendor," the 2003 film based on his autobiographical graphic novel of the same name, on July 21 at 8:20 a.m. (not a typo) and 3:00 p.m. as well as on July 30 at 11:45 a.m.

Both the film and the comic book took place in Cleveland, a city that is coming up a lot today (see last entry). The film starred Paul Giamatti in a stellar performance as Pekar who has a cameo in the film as well. He will be missed.

On Twitter today, we also saw the following tweet from Therealgarfield (we presume it is from Jim Davis or a member of the "Garfield" staff): "Eat. Sleep. Eat. Sleep. Works for me." This proves that at least on some occasions a 32-year-old cat can still make one laugh.

There was a less amusing tweet from the Turkish newspaper "Zaman" which reported that Iran has temporarily decided not to stone Sakineh M. Ashtiani (a woman) to death, but she could still face execution pending a judiciary decision. Hey, we only thought things like this happened in Utah and Texas!

Radio Sweden reported that the very, very, very liberal group Greenpeace has slammed a Swedish icebreaking outfit for proposals to break ice near the Arctic Circle. The same media outlet tweeted that tourism is also on the rise in Sweden where some tourist from Kalamazoo, Michigan, is probably wondering where to Little Mermaid statue is (it's in Copenhagen, Denmark, of course!).

And, lastly, "The Hartford Courant" tweeted that a Sonic Drive-In will come to folks in Wallingford, Conn., on Wednesday. I'm sure this will put them on the map!

Program Reminder- "Food Party" at IFC

Since we promoted the documentary "Food Inc," which is going to be on PBS tomorrow night, on our other blog, we thought we'd promote another food-related show- "Food Party" which will premiere on IFC next Wednesday at 10 p.m.

To be honest, we aren't fully sure what the show is about, but it sounds very interesting!

The show's web-site describes "Food Party" as a 'non-reality cooking show' with host Thu Tran (pictured here) as hostess.

"Food Party" will also feature puppets as culinary assistants and a selection of 'fictitious celebrities' (like Pee Wee Herman?!).

Each episode runs 15 minutes, and two back-to-back shows will air next week.

Episode One is entitled "Thu Has a Normal Day," and the host will go down Main Street where she will apparently try to steal ingridients from a local retailer to make lunch.

Episode Two is entitled "PBJ Love" and it will feature Thu meeting up with Peanut Butter Jerry who gets stung bees.

I found this actual quote from the show: "It's duck blood. You don't like it! I've been chugging it all day. It's got a delicate flavor."

Alas, I don't have IFC, but ironically my 70-year-old mother in Colonial Heights, Va., (not where she actually resides) does!

Interesting Programming Choice for Valentine's Day

The Independent Film Channel (IFC) is actually going to broadcast the ground-breaking, controversial 1970 film "The Honeymoon Killers" about a real-life couple who went on a spree-killing rampage in the 1950s (didn't have time to Wiki that, so I could be off on the decade!) at 10:05 a.m. on Valentine's Day.

The documentary-style black and white film is also available on dvd through the Criterion Collection.

"The Honeymoon Killers" was initially supposed to be directed by a young Martin Scorsese but creative differences with the producer lead to Leonard Kastle directing the film which is his best known film.

The story involves Martha Beck and Ray Fernandez, both of whom were executed by an electric chair at Sing Sing Prison in New York (I have publicly disclosed that I am opposed to capital punishment, but this is not a political entry, but there might very well be one on this subject here soon!).

It has actually been re-filmed twice since 1970, including an odd Mexican remake entitled "Deep Crimson" (1996) which is the most graphic of the three films as it features an on-screen murder of a child- something that is considered to be a virtual taboo in American cinema.

There is also the more widely-known, fairly recent American film "Lonely Hearts" (2006) with Jared Leto and Salma Hayek playing the killers. The lead actor though is John Travolta who plays a detective in the case, which makes the film considerably different in pov than "The Honeymoon Killers."

In the original film, Beck is played Shirley Stoler who resembles the actual killer who weighed over 200 pounds at the time of her execution. Due to her excessive weight, Beck could not fit into the electric chair so she was secured on the arm rests when the fatal shock was delivered.

The story unfolds as Beck takes care of her invalid mother in Mobile, Ala. As she craves affection, Beck decides to place an ad in a lonely hearts column which is responded to by Fernandez (Tony LoBianco).

They become a couple and run off to New York, leaving Beck's mom to be tended to in a nursing home. Gradually, they begin to fleece vulnerable women. This causes Beck to become jealous, so she starts killing each of the women and in one instance she murders a victim's child by drowning him in a washing machine.

"The Honeymoon Killers" was actually released almost exactly 40 years as it premiered on American screens on Feb. 4, 1970- a full month before I was born!

The film will re-air on IFC (their web site is ifc.com) on Friday, Feb. 26 at 9:05 a.m. and 2:15 p.m.

I consider the film to be a vintage classic and it would probably be on my Top Ten list for the best films of 1970- a year which also saw the release of the film version of "MASH," "Five Easy Pieces" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."