This Week on Treasure Island Oldies

November 27th, 2001 to December 3rd, 2011

What a nice way to help get the Holiday Season underway together; playing some of those great Christmas and Holiday Classics. Over the next couple of weeks leading up to our 15th Annual Christmas Treasure Island Oldies Special on December 18th, I'll be playing lots more of great Christmas music on the show. After all, It's Christmas @ Treasure Island Oldies.com If you'd like to make your Christmas Requests, please let me know by clicking Requests on any page of the website. In addition, I welcome your Holiday Dedications to the special person in your life. Let me know who you'd like me to give a shout out to with the Merriest of Christmas Wishes. Send your note to christmas@treasureislandoldies.com. I'll read your good wishes on the show. Please note that for the Christmas Special ONLY, I do not take any requests as I work really hard to prepare my annual Christmas gift to you: the Greatest Christmas Music of All Time.

Legendary DJ, Charlie Tuna, became a friend this week on Facebook, I'm pleased to tell you. I was glad to also connect with Paul Peterson, who co-starred with Shelley Fabares on the Donna Reed Show. Paul also had several hits, including the timeless My Dad. I've also become friends with DooWop Oldies. I invite you to follow me on Facebook and like mypage. One thing I wanted to mention to you. Today it seems that several friends on Facebook received a request to become friends. If we are already friends and you receive an invitation to become friends with me, just ignore it. Sorry for any inconvenience.

The Treasure Island Oldies Blog is getting you in the mood for Christmas with a great holiday favourite of the Treasure Island Oldies Chat Room. The Nuts in the Hut really like this great Christmas novelty tune by Paul Evans. Santa's Stuck Up In The Chimney is our Christmas Song of the Week. Enjoy!

Oh boy, we've got der Bingo, Bing Crosby for you this week on Voice Your Choice with two Christmas classics: It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas and Jingle Bells are the two songs vying for your votes. Make your selection at the Voice Your Choice page and we'll play the winning song (although both really are winners, aren't they) in the 3rd hour of next Week's Show.

Happy Birthday wishes go out to long time listener, Lennart Persson  in Gothenburg, Sweden. If you've got a birthday coming up, send the details to me at birthdays@treasureislandoldies.com . I'll wish you Happy Birthday on the show and play our official birthday song for you by The Beatles, Birthday.

Show your support for Treasure Island Oldies with your own Email Signature. A selection of complimentary signatures to be placed at the end of your outgoing emails is available for download. Click Goodies on the upper Menu on any page on the website. Thanks to the many folks that have downloaded their own copy of the Email Signature. That's great!

As the Holiday Season is now here, I'm going to keep the next few weekly updates a bit shorter. I have less time to write and you, my friend, have less time to read!! I hope you have a great week and see you next Sunday for the live show.

Bye for now.

Michael

Bing Crosby - Voice Your Choice

In many ways, Christmas is Bing Crosby. I'll never tire of watching Holiday Inn and how amazing it must have been to be seeing it for the first time in the movie theatre and then hearing White Christmas.

I can't imagine how stirring that must have been. It sure made an indelible impression on people for generations to come.

The week on Treasure Island Oldies, Voice Your Choice presents Bing Crosby with It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas and Jingle Bells. Cast you vote for the song you'd like to hear at the Voice Your Choice page. We'll play the winning song on the 3rd hour of next week's show.

Paul Evans - Christmas Song of the Week

My good friend, Paul Evans and I keep in touch. Last week he was telling me that there have now been well over 300,000 views of his recent Christmas novelty hit, Santa's Stuck Up In The Chimney. Congratulations, Paul! I'm sure the readers of my Blog will add to the total numbers for this year as they watch.

Here then is a fun animated Christmas new classic by Paul Evans, Santa's Stuck Up In The Chimney. It's our Christmas Song of the Week.

Enjoy!

Michael

This Week on Treasure Island Oldies

November 20th, 2011 to November 26th, 2011

We have a winner! Congratulations to Ed Sanderson of Toronto, Ontario, the winner of our Music By Numbers Special contest. The final total of all songs song played on last week's Music By Numbers special was 9,457,255.1, quite a lofty number. I sure hope you didn't wear out your calculator or the batteries adding up all the song values. LOL  My thanks to everyone who entered the contest, whether with correct or incorrect answers. Our contest winner will receive a copy of the book Rock 'N' Roll Trivia by Michael Harling, who also autographed the book.

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish my many American friends and listeners a very Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy this special time with your families. Despite what's going on here, there and everywhere, we still have a lot to celebrate and it's wonderful to be able to celebrate together. Enjoy your holiday.

Mark your calendar for our next special. The 15th Annual Treasure Island Oldies Christmas Special will air the week of December 18th, with the Live show Sunday, December 18 and the Archive available throughout the rest of the Christmas Holiday Season. It's my favourite show of the year and I know it is well enjoyed by listeners all around the world. And to get everyone in the mood, we'll get the Christmas Season underway with some great Christmas songs starting with next week's show.

The Treasure Island Oldies Blog is playing one of the songs that aired on this week's show. It's The Zombies with She's Not There, our Song of the Week. Enjoy!

Voice Your Choice in getting us in the mood for the Christmas Season with The Beach Boys and two of their great Christmas songs: Frosty The Snowman and The Man With All The Toys. Which holiday favourite would you like to hear? Cast your vote at the Voice Your Choice page, and we'll play the winner in the 3rd hour of next week's show.

If you've got a birthday coming up, send the details to me at birthdays@treasureislandoldies.com . I'll wish you Happy Birthday on the show and play our official birthday song for you by The Beatles, Birthday.

As a part of our celebrating the Christmas Season, I'd like to invite you to send in your Christmas Greetings to someone special in your life. I'll read your best wishes to the special person on the show and play a great Christmas song for you as well. This is sort of a variation on your Letter to Santa. Send your note to Christmas@treasureislandoldies.com. I look forward to hearing from you. And if you'd like to request a Christmas song throughout this Holiday Season, just tap (if you can) the Requests button, otherwise just click. :-)

I am seriously considering to no longer having a dial-up 56k stream available. Before I make my decision, with major input from my Webmaster, Eddy Fisher, I would like to hear from you. Do you use dial-up versus broadband? If so, do you know what the highest bit rate your modem can support? I do not mind continuing to offer it, unless there is no long any demand for it. Please let me know your thoughts. Drop a note to me at michael@treasureislandoldies.com . I look forward to an interesting conversation.

Let the world know you're a proud listener of Treasure Island Oldies! Send in your name, photo, city and province or state for the Listener Gallery to michael@treasureislandoldies.com and our Webmaster, Eddy Fisher, will post it on the Listener Gallery page along with the many already received.

Show your support for Treasure Island Oldies with your own Email Signature. A selection of complimentary signatures to be placed at the end of your outgoing emails is available for download. Click Goodies on the upper Menu on any page on the website. Thanks to the many folks that have downloaded their own copy of the Email Signature. That's great!

I hope you have a great week and see you next Sunday for the live show.

Bye for now.

Michael

The Beach Boys - Voice Your Choice

Ho Ho Ho It's that time of the year again! And the Holiday Season gets underway this week on Treasure Island Oldies and Voice Your Choice presents two Christmas favourites from The Beach Boys.

Would you like to hear Frosty The Snowman or The Man With All The Toys?

Cast your vote at the Voice Your Choice page and we'll play the winning song in the 3rd hour of next week's radio show.

The Zombies - Song of the Week

The Zombies, Rod Argent (keyboards), Colin Blunstone (vocals), Paul Atkinson (guitar), Chris White (bass) and Hugh Grundy (drums), were from Hertfordshire, England. They soard up the charts in 1964 with their debut single, She's No There.

I've just finished reading an excellent book called Where have All The Pop Stars Gone? by Marti Smiley Childs and Jeff March. It's filled with authorized firsthand accounts of The Association, Herman's Hermits, The Kingston Trio, Chris Montez, The Spiral Starecase, Bobby Vee, and The Zombies. It's a fascinating read and I strongly suggest you get a copy for yourself. Check it out on Facebook.

In the meantime, here are The Zombies with their debut smash She's Not There. It's our Song of the Week.

Enjoy!

Michael

Music By Numbers Radio Special - Contest

 

The deadline to enter the Treasure Island Oldies Music By Numbers Contest is this Saturday, November 19th, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time.

All you need to do is listen to the entire four hour Music By Numbers Special. As you're listening, add up all of the numbers contained in the song titles you hear. At the end of the show, send the grand total of all songs played, along with your name and mailing address to contest@treasureislandoldies.com.

I'll announce the Grand Total of all songs played on next week's show, and then let you know the winner of the contest. The lucky winner will received a copy of Rock 'N' Roll Trivia by Michael Harling, who also signed the book!

Enjoy listening to the Archive of the Music By Numbers Special on Treasure Island Oldies.

Bye for now.

Michael

Songwriter Lee Pocklriss Has Died

By ANITA GATES
Published: November 16, 2011


Lee Pockriss, who wrote the music for midcentury pop hits like “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini,” “Catch a Falling Star” and “Johnny Angel,” died on Monday at his home in Bridgewater, Conn. He was 87.

Lee Pockriss also worked in musical theater for decades.

His death was confirmed by his nephew Adam Pockriss.

Perry Como made a hit of the gentle ballad “Catch a Falling Star” (“Put it in your pocket/Save it for a rainy day”), which Mr. Pockriss wrote with Paul Vance, in 1957. Shelley Fabares introduced Mr. Pockriss and Lynn Duddy’s wistful love song “Johnny Angel” (“I dream of him and me/And how it’s gonna be”) as her teenage character on the family sitcom “The Donna Reed Show” in 1962.

But in between, Mr. Pockriss struck a very different note in another collaboration with Mr. Vance: “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini,” a novelty number about a young woman “afraid to come out of the water” and be seen in the revealing swimsuit she was wearing. Her reluctance was understandable, because the navel-revealing bikini was still considered relatively shocking outside Hollywood and the French Riviera. In fact, the song has been credited with helping it gain acceptance.

Brian Hyland had a No. 1 hit with the song in 1960, and it was so inescapable as part of popular culture that a Hollywood film, Billy Wilder’s “One, Two, Three” (1961), affectionately lampooned it with a scene in which East German soldiers tortured a character (played by Horst Bucholz) by forcing him to listen to the song repeatedly.

Mr. Pockriss also worked in musical theater for decades. He wrote the music and Anne Croswell wrote the lyrics for the 1963 Broadway show “Tovarich,” for which Vivien Leigh won the Tony Award for best actress in a musical. The two also collaborated on “Ernest in Love,” a musical version of Oscar Wilde’s “Importance of Being Earnest,” first produced off Broadway in 1960 and revived by the Irish Repertory Company in 2009; “Conrack,” based on Pat Conroy’s book, which had an Off Broadway production in 1987; and “Bodo,” about a 12th-century goatherd, produced at the Promenade Theater in 1983.

With the lyricist Carolyn Leigh and Hugh Wheeler of “Sweeney Todd,” Mr. Pockriss created “Gatsby,” a musical based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby,” in 1969. It was best known as an unproduced work, but this year it received two concert performances as part of the New York Musical Theater Festival. David Rooney, reviewing it in The New York Times, said that the songs succeeded in “evoking Fitzgerald’s characters, spreading a beguiling carpet of melancholy beneath all that jazz age revelry.”

“It made me curious,” he added, “to see a full production.”

Mr. Pockriss also wrote songs for “Sesame Street,” including “My Polliwog Ways,” sung by Kermit the Frog.

Lee Julian Pockriss was born on Jan. 20, 1924, in Brooklyn, the son of Joseph and Ethel Price Pockriss. He attended Erasmus Hall High School and Brooklyn College, and studied musicology at New York University. He served in the Army Air Forces during World War II as a cryptographer in the South Pacific.

He is survived by his wife, Sonja, and a brother, Harold.

Mr. Pockriss’s talent was recognized early. In 1950 The Times reported the presentation of an American Federation of Music Clubs award. The $100 first prize in composing went to a young graduate student, Lee Pockriss, of 325 Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn.
A version of this article appeared in print on November 17, 2011, on page B17 of the New York edition with the headline: Lee Pockriss, 87, Songwriter Behind ‘Itsy Bitsy’ Bikini.

This Week On Treasure Island Oldies

November 13th, 2011 to November 19th, 2011

Testing 1 2 3...Can you still think after adding up all those numbers? LOL I've received great comments about the show, saying it was so much fun to even try to keep up with the running total. Another listener commented that they had no idea there were so many songs with numbers in the song title. All in all, it seems that our Music By Numbers Special has added up to equal a success! I won't be showing the Playlist for this week's show until the end of the week, because you have until 11:59 p.m. Pacific time in Vancouver on Saturday, November 19th, 2011 to enter the Music By Numbers Contest. There will be a prize for the correct total of all songs that were played on the Music By Numbers Special. The prize is a copy of Rock 'N' Roll Trivia by Michael Harling, signed by the author! To enter the contest, send your full name, mailing address, along with the correct answer to the total value of all songs played on the Music By Numbers Special to contest@treasureislandoldies.com. I'll announce the grand total of all songs played on the Special during next week's show, at which time I will also announce the name of the winner of the contest, should there even be a correct entry. LOL Good luck and remember, if you did not hear the entire show, you can listen to the entire show Archive again at the Listen page. Select the Real Media version of the November 13th show, or you can catch it on the 24/7 Stream in Windows Media of the three most recent shows.

In keeping with our Music By Numbers theme, the Treasure Island Oldies Blog is playing an amazing live performance of Chuck Berry with Sweet Little Sixteen. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday wishes go out to Chris Whitmer in Iowa City, Iowa, and to Connie Canode in Madison, Wisconsin. Hope you both have a great celebration of your special day. And if you've got a birthday coming up, send the details to me at birthdays@treasureislandoldies.com. I'll wish you Happy Birthday on the show and play our official birthday song for you by The Beatles, Birthday.

I am very pleased and proud of the continued growth of Treasure Island Oldies. I'm proud that it is one of the longest running radio shows in the world on the Internet, every week since 1997. I'm also proud of the on-going growth of the Broadcast Partner Network, a collection of great AM, FM and Online Radio Stations in Canada, United States, England, Scotland, Sweden, Singapore, New Zealand, and most recently, Germany. I am honoured to be on over 25 radio stations around the world. Thank You for your support!

Voice Your Choice presents The Box Tops with two of their hits: Sweet Cream Ladies, Forward March  and Cry Like A Baby. Cast your vote for the song you'd like to hear at the Voice Your Choice page. We'll play the winning song in the 3rd hour of next week's show.

I am seriously considering to no longer having a dial-up 56k stream available. Before I make my decision, with major input from my Webmaster, Eddy Fisher, I would like to hear from you. Do you use dial-up versus broadband? If so, do you know what the highest bit rate your modem can support? I do not mind continuing to offer it, unless there is no long any demand for it. Please let me know your thoughts. Drop a note to me at michael@treasureislandoldies.com. I look forward to an interesting conversation.

I am pleased with the number of new Friends connecting on Facebook. I'm particularly pleased to have recently become friends with B.J. Thomas, my friend Kirk LaPointe, legendary DJ Duke Roberts (who had been known earlier as Bob Baker). We had a neat chat about someone we knew in common, the great Barry White. I also connected with Jimmy "Just A Dream" Clanton, and this week I became friends with the man who had the smash hit Poetry In Motion, Johnny Tillotson. Let's become friends on Facebook.

I have come across another app for your iPhone and Android. It's by TuneIn Radio, and comes in both free and paid versions. Using your smartphone, search for TuneIn Radio in your app store. Please let me know if you know of other apps that you would like to pass on to me and I'll let everyone know. And as a reminder, here are the links you need to listen to the show wherever you are. To listen to the 24/7 Stream, here's the link: http://treasureislandoldies.com/ContinuousTIO_2.asx. I would really like to hear from you with your thoughts and comments. In the meantime, I'm working on getting a live stream, specifically for the Live show Sunday nights. I'll keep you informed.

Let the world know you're a proud listener of Treasure Island Oldies! Send in your name, photo, city and province or state for the Listener Gallery to michael@treasureislandoldies.com and our Webmaster, Eddy Fisher, will post it on the Listener Gallery page along with the many already received.

Show your support for Treasure Island Oldies with your own Email Signature. A selection of complimentary signatures to be placed at the end of your outgoing emails is available for download. Click Goodies on the upper Menu on any page on the website. Thanks to the many folks that have downloaded their own copy of the Email Signature. That's great!

I hope you have a great week and see you next Sunday for the live show.

Bye for now.

Michael

The Box Tops - Voice Your Choice

The Box Tops were from Memphis, Tennessee and included the great Alex Chilton, who was born in Memphis, on lead vocals. Gary Talley was the guitarist; John Evans played organ, with Bill Cunningham on bass, and Danny Smythe on drums. A change in personnel took place in late 1967 with both John Evans and Danny Smythe leaving the group. They were replaced by Rick Allen and Tom Boggs.

They had a short but stellar string of hit singles between 1967 and when they disbanded in 1970. Sadly Alex Chilton died on March 10, 2010 from a heart attack.

This week on Treasure Island Oldies, Voice Your Choice is pleased to present The Box Tops with two of their many hits. Would you like to hear Sweet Cream Ladies, Forward March or Cry Like A Baby? Cast your vote at the Voice Your Choice page.

We'll play the winning song in the 3rd hour of next week's show.

Chuck Berry - Song of the Week

In keeping with the Music By Numbers theme of this week's Treasure Island Oldies radio show, here is a raw, scorching live black & white live performance of Chuck Berry and Sweet Little Sixteen.

Dig this man!

Enjoy!

Michael

This Week On Treasure Island Oldies

November 6th, 2011 to November 12th, 2011

Thanks once again for the many great comments about our Halloween Spooktacular. I am glad you enjoyed it again this year. I always enjoy preparing and presenting special themed shows for you. 

Be sure to listen to next week for the Music By Numbers Special. You ask what is music by numbers? Every song will have a number in the song title. And to make this fun for you, we're going to have a contest. All you have to do is listen to the entire four hour show, and all the while add up the ongoing value of all songs played. Once you've heard the entire show and added up all the songs, send your total to contest@treasureislandoldies.com. The deadline for submitting your correct answer is 11:59 p.m. Pacific time, Saturday, November 19, 2011. Send your entries with the correct total, your name and mailing address to contest@treasureislandoldiers.com. In the event there is more than one correct answer received, a random draw will be made from all correct emails received and there will be one winner. The name will be announced on Treasure Island Oldies the week of November 20th. Oh and just in case you thought you'd wait for the Playlist to appear on the Listen page before you submit your answer, for our Music By Numbers Special, the Playlist will be held until the entry deadline is over. Not that you'd ever do anything like that. LOL

Happy Birthday wishes go out to Sunny in Berkeley, Illinois, Dana VanDine in New Jersey, Heather Dillon in 100 Mile House, British Columbia, and Andy Diselets in Ottawa, Ontario. In addition, I'd like to wish Happy Birthday to Connie Canode in Madison, Wisconsin. Although her birthday isn't until November 16th, she and her husband Rick will be in Philadelphia celebrating her birthday in her hometown. A very Happy Birthday. And if you've got a birthday coming up, send the details to me at birthdays@treasureislandoldies.com. I'll wish you Happy Birthday on the show and play our official birthday song for you by The Beatles, Birthday.

Once again, a big welcome to Radio Bavaria International in Munich, Germany, the latest station to join the Treasure Island Oldies Broadcast Partners Network. We'll be keeping you company for four hours of great music every Wednesday from 8 p.m. to Midnight local time.

To get you in the mood for our Music By Numbers Special next week on the show, the Treasure Island Oldies Blog is playing a rare clip of Eight Miles High by The Byrds. It's our Song of the Week. Enjoy!

Voice Your Choice presents Bobby Bare with two of his great hits: Four Strong Winds and 500 Miles Away From Home. Which song would you like to hear? Cast your vote at the Voice Your Choice page. The winning song will be played on next week's show in the 3rd hour.

I have come across another app for your iPhone and Android. It's by TuneIn Radio, and comes in both free and paid versions. Using your smartphone, search for TuneIn Radio in your app store. Please let me know if you know of other apps that you would like to pass on to me and I'll let everyone know. And as a reminder, here are the links you need to listen to the show wherever you are. To listen to the 24/7 Stream, here's the link: http://treasureislandoldies.com/ContinuousTIO_2.asx. I would really like to hear from you with your thoughts and comments. In the meantime, I'm working on getting a live stream, specifically for the Live show Sunday nights. I'll keep you informed.

Let the world know you're a proud listener of Treasure Island Oldies! Send in your name, photo, city and province or state for the Listener Gallery to michael@treasureislandoldies.com and our Webmaster, Eddy Fisher, will post it on the Listener Gallery page along with the many already received.

Show your support for Treasure Island Oldies with your own Email Signature. A selection of complimentary signatures to be placed at the end of your outgoing emails is available for download. Click Goodies on the upper Menu on any page on the website. Thanks to the many folks that have downloaded their own copy of the Email Signature. That's great!

I hope you have a great week and see you next Sunday for the live show.

Bye for now.

Michael

Bobby Bare - Voice Your Choice

Bobby Bare was born April 7, 1935 in Ironton, Ohio. He had an interesting start to his career, when in 1958 this singer/songwriter/guitarist was drafted into the US Army. Before leaving, he recorded a demo and left a tape of The All American Boy with Fraternity Records. To his great surprise, Fraternity released the record and credited, in error, Bill Parsons as the artist. For many years, Bobby Bare would have to tell people it was really him singing on that Number 2 song in 1958.

His career really took off in the country music market, and he had 70 country hits on the charts. Meanwhile on the Top 100 charts, he scored 8 singles, with two Top Twenty hits. And it is those two two songs we feature this week on Voice Your Choice: Four Strong Winds and 500 Miles Away From Home.

Make you selection for the song you'd like to hear at the Voice Your Choice page. We'll play the winner in the 3rd hour of next week's show.

The Byrds - Song of the Week

To get you in the mood for next week's Music By Numbers Special on Treasure Island Oldies, it's my pleasure to take you Eight Miles High with The Byrds. Apparently this is a very rare clip.

Be sure to listen to the entire show next week, and add up all the songs  containing numbers in the title. When you have the grand total at the end of the show, send your answer, along with your name and mailing address to contest@treasureislandoldies.com. I'll announce the winner on the show the week of November 20th. Good luck!

And enjoy The Byrds with Eight Miles High, our Song of the Week.

Michael