Contest Entry Deadline Midnight Tonight (Pacific)

As we approach Midnight Pacific time, the deadline is drawing nearer to enter the Music By Numbers contest on Treasure Island Oldies. Remember if you are the lucky winner, you can have the prize of your choice from the Shop The Island store.

There is still only been ONE CORRECT entry submitted. I think I will give a prize to the person who is the furthest away from the correct answer. LOL

And a note to all who have already entered the contest...you may want to consider doing another re-calculation. Be sure to listen to the archive show very carefully. Every song with a number or numbers in the title is part of the contest.

I will announce the winner on the show this coming Sunday, April 2nd.

Deadline To Enter Contest Is Two Days Away

With only two days remaining to enter the Music By Numbers contest, the tension is mounting. So far there has only been ONE correct total submitted of the value of all songs played on the special.

So if you would like to be eligible to win the item of your choice from the Treasure Island Oldies Shop The Island store, come to the website and listen to the the archive of the March 26 Music By Numbers special. Keep a running total of the value of all of the song titles played, then send that correct total, along with your mailing address and the item of your choice from the store, to musicbynumbers@treasureislandoldies.com.

I will make a random draw from all correct entries received and announce the winner on the show this coming Sunday, April 2nd.

Music By Numbers: One Correct Entry Received

With only 3 days remaining until the entry deadline of Friday, March 31st at Midnight (Pacific), time is running out. To date there has only been one correct entry received.

Be sure to go back and re-listen to the archived Music By Numbers special. Come to Treasure Island Oldies and click on the Listen menu and then Archives Sub-menu. Be sure to have your calculator by your side.

I will announce the winner on the show this coming Sunday, April 2nd. Good Luck!

Attention Record Collectors

The 2006 Spring Record & CD Swapmeet will be taking place in Vancouver on Sunday, April 2nd, and is presented by Neptoon Records, the number one place to find collectible records in Vancouver and the Pacific Northwest. I plan on attending and would enjoy meeting you.

Joining me in the studio this week will be Rob Frith, the owner of Neptoon Records and organizer of the Vancouver Record & CD Swapmeets. We'll talk about the art of record collecting, how to make the right choice when you come across that long sought after record and how to correctly assess its value. We'll even play a few hard to find and very collectible records that were major hits in Vancouver.

Please be sure to listen to Treasure Island Oldies live this Sunday, April 2nd, or later on the archives; and for more details on the Swapmeet, click on the link on the Home page of the website.

Bill Haley His Comets

It could be argued that Bill Haley And His Comets were the group that launched Rock & Roll Music in a big way. When (We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock was first released in May 1954, it went practically nowhere. When it was included as part of the movie Blackboard Jungle starring Glenn Ford, the song took off reaching #1 on the charts, remaining in the top position for 8 weeks, that's 2 months, and attaining GOLD status!

Their first charted hit, Shake, Rattle And Roll, a former #1 R&B hit foe Big Joe Turner, reached #7 and was a GOLD record.

Throughout their career, Bill Haley And His Comets had 28 hits on the charts, had 3 GOLD records and four reached the Top Ten .

This week on Voice Your Choice on Treasure Island Oldies, we present two of their GOLD singles. You can vote for either Shake, Rattle And Roll OR See You Later, Alligator.

Come to Treasure Island Oldies and click on the Voice Your Choice button. As usual, we'll play the results of the vote in the third hour of this week's show.

Treasure Island Oldies Site Map Now Available

For the benefit of our listeners and visitors, and to help you navigate your way around, this week we have introduced a site map covering all of Treasure Island Oldies new website. You are able to access the site map in two locations, at the end of the first paragraph at the top of the Home page, and also in the About Section under the Our New Site sub-menu.

Countdown Continues To Contest Deadline

There are only 4 days remaining to the deadline to enter the Music By Numbers contest. To date there have been NO correct totals for the entire list of songs played on the special. If you have already entered the contest, I suggest you re-listen to the show and re-calculate.

If you have not yet entered, please read the blog below for the contest rules. To enter the contest, send your name, mailing address, your choice of item from the Treasure Island Oldies Shop The Island store, plus the correct total of all song titles played, to musicbynumbers@treasureislandoldies.com

All entries must be received no later than Friday, March 31st at Midnight (Pacific).

Come to Treasure Island Oldies to hear the entire Music By Numbers Special.

Calculators Going Nuts Everywhere

Music By Numbers, the special theme for this past week's Treasure Island Oldies show, is causing more use of calculators since last year's tax return season!

In case you did not hear the live show, you can listen to the the archive of the complete show by going to Treasure Island Oldies and click Listen, then Archives.

Here's the rules: You'll need a calculator for sure. You MUST keep a running total of every song played. After listening to the entire show, send your name, mailing address and your total for all the songs played during the special, plus the item you would like to have from the Treasure Island Oldies "Shop The Island Store", to musicbynumbers@treasureislandoldies.com to be included in the draw for a prize.

All entries must be received no later than midnight (Pacific) March 31st. I will make a random draw on Sunday April 2nd from all CORRECT entries received and that listener will win a prize of their choice from Treasure Island Oldies "Shop The Island Store".

Here is how to calculate the running total: if you hear 1 2 3 by Len Barry, you add 1+2+3 for a total of 6 to your ongoing total; Twenty-Five Miles by Edwin Starr would count for 25; if I play Love's 7 & 7 Is, then that would be 14; another example, 634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.) by Wilson Pickett, each digit is an individual number, so you add 6+3+4+5+7+8+9 (for a total of 42 for this song). Got it?

Bobby Darin

He was born Walden Robert Cassotto on May 14, 1936 in The Bronx, New York. Bobby Darin catapulted to fame with his very first record, Splish Splash, shooting to #3 and attaining Gold status. Not a bad start!!

Throughout his career, Bobby had 41 singles on the Billboard chart, including 4 Gold Records and 9 Top Ten songs. In 1963 he was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the movie Captain Newman, MD.

This multi-talented vocalist/pianist/songwriter/entertainer could have continued on for many many years with much success; sadly he died of heart failure at age 37 on December 20, 1973. I vividly recall that night as I was working at CFCF Radio in Montreal at the time and reading the bulletin from the newswire. Later that night I did a one hour tribute to Bobby Darin on my show.

This week on Voice Your Choice we once again spotlight two songs for you to choose from, both signature tunes for Bobby: Beyond The Sea OR Mack The Knife.

Come to Treasure Island Oldies and click on the Voice Your Choice button. Then make your selection (albeit a difficult one this week). I will play the winning song in Hour 3 on this week's show.

I bet this is going to be a VERY close race!

My thanks to the official Bobby Darin website for the picture.

Music By Numbers - Calculator Ready?

For only the second time since Treasure Island Oldies began back in 1997, on Sunday, March 26th I am bringing back a much-requested theme special, Music By Numbers. Every song title excluding the Top 5 Countdown and Voice Your Choice will have a number or numbers in the song title.

Here's the rules. You'll need a calculator for sure. You MUST keep a running total of every song played. After listening to the entire show (either live or archived), send your name, mailing address and your total for all songs played during the special to musicbynumbers@treasureislandoldies.com. All entries must be received no later than Midnight (Pacific), March 31, 2006.

I will make a random draw from all CORRECT entries received and that listener will win a prize from Treasure Island Oldies.

Now, here is how to calculate the running total. For example, if you hear 1 2 3 by Len Barry, you add 1+2+3 for a total of 6 to your ongoing total. Twenty-Five Miles by Edwin Starr would count for 25. If I play Love's 7 & 7 Is, then that would be 14; another example, 634-5789 (Soulsville, U.S.A.) by Wilson Pickett, each digit is an individual number, so you add 6+3+4+5+7+8+9 (for a total for this song of 42). Get it? Most of the songs are far less complicated in the titles.

If you have any questions before the show, please leave a comment on this post so that everyone will have the benefit of the question and answer.

I will NOT be providing a running total during the show! However, I will assist with some of the complicated titles as per the examples above. I will do my best to help out without giving away the running total.

This will be lots of fun, it just takes close listening. I will be sure to let you know the title for every song I play, plus any song that does NOT qualify for the contest.

Have fun listening to Music By Numbers on Treasure Island Oldies the week of March 26th and GOOD LUCK!

Michael

Neil Sedaka

He gave up what was shaping up to be a very promising career in classical music for pop music and never looked back. So from the Juliard School to the famous songwriters haven, the Brill Building in New York City, Neil Sedaka teamed up with high school pal Howard Greenfield and together they had a very successful writing partnership, lasting over 20 years.

Thirty of Neil's singles hit the charts; 9 hit the Top Ten, 3 reached #1 and one attained Gold status in sales.

This week on Voice Your Choice we feature two of Neil's well known hits for you to choose from: Next Door To An Angel OR Little Devil.

Enter Treasure Island Oldies and click on the Voice Yoiur Choice button and make your selection. We'll play the winning song in Hour 3 on this week's show, "Live" Sunday, March 19 from 6 to 10 p.m. Pacific (or Archived after live show has aired).

Open House at Treasure Island Oldies

Come visit the new home of Treasure Island Oldies. Last Sunday we launched the brand new website with our new look. This Sunday on the live show, I will be taking you on a tour of the "Island" and point out some of the new features.

Please join me this Sunday, March 12 from 6 to 10 p.m. Pacific. If you can't be around then, you can listen to the archived show at any time and in either Real or Windows Media formats. Of course, you requests are always welcome. It's all at Treasure Island Oldies.

Happy Birthday Paul Evans

Paul Evans is a very acknowledged and successful songwriter and recording artist. He has hit the charts many times including the Top 10 hits, Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat and Happy Go Lucky Me, plus Midnite Special, The Brigade Of Broken Hearts, After The Hurricane, plus Hushabye, Little Guitar, and other well known 45s.

Bobby Vinton's recording career might not have taken off were it not for Paul Evans and the beautiful song he wrote, "Roses Are Red (My Love)", which went all the way to Number 1 and became a Gold record. Paul also wrote many other hit songs including "Happiness Is", originally a Cleo award-winning commercial jingle for Kent Cigarettes, then becoming a hit for the Ray Conniff Singers. Elvis Presley recorded "I Gotta Know", a Top 20 hit itself and coupled on the 45 with "Are You Lonesome Tonight". Many other artists have recorded songs written or co-written by Paul Evans including Lulu, LaVerne Baker, Cliff Richard, Johnny Tillitson, Count Basie Orchestra, Pat Boone, The Coasters, Skeeter Davis, and so many others.

This past Sunday, March 5th, Paul Evans celebrated his 68th birthday and I sent him birthday greetings. He wrote back:

Hey Michael. Nice to hear from you and - thanks for the birthday wishes. Took a quick look at your site and I must say that I'm proud to see my quote right there. And of course you know, Michael, that I meant what I said. Best wishes with your many endeavors.

I will definitely be calling you one of these Sundays.

Thanks for asking, Paul.

Visit Paul's website.

Hey Hey We're The Monkees

400 people applied for a part in a new TV series in 1966. 4 were chosen: Davey Jones, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Mickey Dolenz. They became The Monkees. They starred in 58 episodes of The Monkees TV Show, a fast-paced, somewhat disjointed romp, with a bit of a feel of The Beatles first movie A Hard Day's Night. The Monkees charted 21 singles, including three #1 songs and 5 Gold records.

This week on Voice Your Choice we feature two 'unbelievable' Pre-Fab Four hits for you to choose from: Daydream Believer OR I'm A Believer.

Enter Treasure Island Oldies and click on the Voice Your Choice button. Then select the song you prefer. The winning song will be played in Hour 3 of this week's show.

Oldies Connection: Joey Dee and The Starliters

Oldies Connection: Joey Dee and The Starliters

A Note to the Visually Impaired

I would like to thank a listener to my radio show Treasure Island Oldies for passing on his comments on the new website and its accessibility for the visually impaired.

He wrote, "The site works just fine and is very easy to get around. The print is large enough for easy reading, and the colors make it quite easy on the eyes. This is important, because some with low vision don't use a screen reader, but appreciate the fact that the text isn't microscopic like some sites are.

There is so much there that one can spend a lot of time just checking everything out, without any confusing navigation issues. You seem to have cocvered all bases for both blind and low vision users.

Keep up the good work, and I'll be checking back often to see what's new. Thanks for all of your hard work, both on the show, and the new site."

Also, he commented on the issue of Word Verification when posting a comment to this and other blogs. I checked out Blogger for help on this and they are working on audio version of CAPTCHA to incorporate into blogs for the visually impaired or blind. In the meantime, I have now turned OFF the requirement for word verification until such time as the audio CAPTCHA service is implemented.

Michael Godin

What A Celebration!

After many months of planning, design and production, this is our new look.

I'd like you to hear my conversation with Ali Knight, the artist who created "You And Me And The Big Palm Tree", the signature graphic of Treasure Island Oldies.

Enter the website and click the Goodies Menu then "Blog & Podcast". You can then download the clip; but better yet, listen to the whole show. Enter the website, click the Listen Menu then "Archives".

Ken Levine

Ken Levine is a long time listener and big fan of Treasure Island Oldies. Ken is an Emmy winning writer/director/producer/major league baseball announcer. In a career that has spanned over 30 years Ken has worked on M*A*S*H, CHEERS, FRASIER, THE SIMPSONS, WINGS, EVERYONE LOVES RAYMOND, BECKER, DHARMA & GREG, and has co-created his own series including ALMOST PERFECT starring Nancy Travis. He and his partner have also written the feature VOLUNTEERS. Ken has also been the radio/TV play-by-play voice of the Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres.

For years now, I have been receiving his occasional email newsletters, which generally have me laughing like crazy. But the cool thing is Ken has his own blog and from time to time he brings back memories of working on a specific show. Yesterday (March 1st) for example, he talked about writing for M*A*S*H and the occasional stumbling block they would encounter with the cast.

Fun, fascinating, and a rare glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes of major television network productions.

Check it out for yourself, and Ken, thanks for including me on your list. I am among your many fans!