Monday, December 31, 2012

Your HOLIDAY SOR-BAY: New Years Rockin Eve 2011 Countdown with Dick Clark

Here is a "HOLIDAY SOR-BAY" that we could use to artificially stimulate our festive spirit as we look forward to 2013.
As we say goodbye to 2012 I wanted to take a moment to reflect on a couple of things for the New Year.
Earlier this year I made a commitment to boost my level of civility towards my fellow man and I encouraged others to do the same. Easier said than done. I have seen a decline in civility for the last few years and it seems to have taken a nosedive during this very contentious election year. More and more I see yelling and name calling take the place of intelligent discussion and debate. We have seen a huge number of defriendings on Facebook and many Americans entered this holiday season not speaking to relatives instead of just agreeing to disagree. I feel that this needs to turn around so my resolution for 2013 is to continue to boost my level of civility towards my fellow man and I encourage you to do the same. Again, easier said than done but it must be done. 

"We're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics." 
President Barack Obama


2012 ended on a shocking note when on December 14th a gunman fatally shot twenty children and six adult staff members and wounded two others at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Before driving to the school, the gunman also shot and killed his mother at their home. After killing the students and staff members, the gunman committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.

The massacre was the second-deadliest school shooting in United States history, after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. It also is the second-deadliest mass murder at an American elementary school, after the 1927 Bath School bombings in Michigan.

We have seen this over and over again but this time I am optimistic that 2013 will bring positive change to our gun control problem. A day has not gone by where I have not talked to friends about Sandy Hook Elementary School. The conversations have been both in person and in social media. These conversations contained intelligence, compassion, pragmatism and perspective. These four ingredients are what will create the “meaningful action” that the president was talking about. Just like during the presidential debates, whenever a politician talk like a politician we the people used social media to call them out on their B.S.. As long as the conversation continues (and we will have to do more than talk eventually) we can keep this topic on the front burner. 

And now your SOR-BAY 
The last time we will see a New Years Rockin Eve Countdown with Dick Clark
... AND NOW
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Happy New Year and Stay Tuned  

This Week in Television History: January 2013 PART I

Listen to me on TV CONFIDENTIAL:

As always, the further we go back in Hollywood history, the more that fact and legend become intertwined. It's hard to say where the truth really lies.


January 1, 1943
Don Novello writer, film director, producer, actor, singer, and comedian is born. Novello is best known for his work on NBC's Saturday Night Live, from 1977 until 1980, and then 1985 until 1986, often as the character "Father Guido Sarducci".

Novello has appeared as "Sarducci" on many television shows since then, including Married... with Children, Blossom, It's Garry Shandling's Show, Unhappily Ever After and Square Pegs.


January 5, 1998
Sonny Bono, Congressman and former half of the singing duo Sonny and Cher, is killed in a skiing accident. Born in 1935, Bono rose to fame in the early 1970s as the straight man to his wife in “The Sonny and Cher Show.” As a signer and songwriter he received ten gold records during his career but his biggest hit was undoubtedly 1965’s ”I Got You Babe.” 

He entered the political world in 1988 when he was elected mayor of Palm Springs. He was elected to Congress in 1994 as a Republican. He was 62.


January 6, 1973
The animated Saturday morning TV series of shorts called Schoolhouse Rock premieres on ABC with Multiplication Rock. The first song recorded was Three Is a Magic Number, written by Bob Dorough

The short musical cartoons featured lessons in math, history, science, grammar, and more, with classics like "Conjunction Junction," "Interjections," and "The Preamble to the Constitution."

To quote the Bicentennial Minute, "And that's the way it was".

Stay Tuned

Tony Figueroa