That is fun! Here is more fun and remembrance of things past.
This is George's cousin Ed and his wife who founded Stoudt's Brewing Company in Adamstown, PA. Now no longer.


We used to go to their Octoberfest at the Black Angus Restaurant, adjacent to the Brewery. This was their banquet/beergarden room.

Mars - I agree that it looks like lots of fun!   I especially liked Octoberfest, and watching the happy people of all ages getting up and dancing.  Did you ever go to the brewery or to the Octoberfest celebration with George?   
I hope that events like this are still going strong in PA?   Nothing of the sort here in CA?   The young people of today are missing so much.   The Norgegian/Swedish  Lutefisk dinner that we attended every December for many years was like this.   Bring on the Accordians!   

Yes, we had gone at least three times, and stopped there other times for a meal. I remember when the restaurant was still decorated with heavy red drapes at the booths as well as at the windows, when they offered a German menu, as well as some of the most wonderful steaks and Beef Wellington and an Oyster bar (one of George's favorites). Very Victorian. Later they "modernized" by removing the heavy curtains, changed the menu such that there was only one German dish, and added a bunch of, to me unappealing, foods that might appeal to the younger set of the day. The last time we were there, at lunch this time, I was totally disappointed with the choices. George and I were both meat and potatoes people. As for Octoberfests around here, here is a list of some (definitely not all) beer and Oktoberfests, most of which are already over. There one or two others that I know of fairly locally not listed. Nice to see that Bethlehem has a nice big hall. Bethlehem throws the best "parties". At the bottom of the page there are other listings, including Beer Gardens. https://www.visitpa.com/blog/post/must-attend-pennsylvania-beer-festivals/

We have a big Oktoberfest event here every year as well (and it's often said that ours is the largest outside the original in Munich, but I don't know how true that is). Our big thing is the "world's largest chicken dance" (apparently an actual record set by the city in 1994 when 48,000 people participated), which is always led by a celebrity or local personality of some sort (past hosts have included George Takei, the cast of Hamilton and various local TV/radio personalities). Here's one from 2017 when two of the Bengals (local NFL team) players hosted it.


And back to the music, here's an excellent version of "She Taught Me How to Yodel" from 1950. This was originally recorded by Elton Britt in 1941 and gained popularity in the 1970s. Kenny Roberts was popular in the late 40s and early half of the 50s.

A funny one from 1966 by Hoyt Axton. Hoyt wrote numerous songs which were hits for others - "The No No Song" (Ringo Starr), "Joy to the World" (Three Dog Night), "Greenback Dollar" (Kingston Trio) and more. His biggest hit was "Boney Fingers", a duet with Renee Armand which hit #8 on the country chart in both the US and Canada in 1974.

More great yodeling from Kenny Roberts. I'm really surprised he's not more well known today given his talent.

"They said that I should cheer up, that things could be much worse... So I cheered up, and sure enough, things got worse!" 

If you go to the link below, click on the PLAY button.  Other than that, it's a good site to play around on.  Have fun.

https://archive.org/details/78_yes-we-have-no-bananas_golden-gate-orchestra-silver-cohn_gbia0101533a

Red Ingle and Jo Stafford mess up the 1940s standard "Prisoner of Love". Hard to believe that this is the same Jo Stafford who had a huge hit with "You Belong to Me" just 5 years later. Further proof that the best comedians were also the most talented performers.

Dean Martin doing a song made popular by Al Jolson in 1946 but dates back to at least 1920. This is from 1967.

Michael -  I have been unable to post a PM since the new "Botchecker" showed up again.      Will you please remove the Botchecker from my Personal messages?  No reason for it to be there anyway.  Thank you. 

Quote from: Marilyne on October 27, 2026, 07:25:36 PMMichael -  I have been unable to post a PM since the new "Botchecker" showed up again.      Will you please remove the Botchecker from my Personal messages?  No reason for it to be there anyway.  Thank you. 

I'm not sure why it's affecting your PMs but I'll turn it off for now and hope the bots stay away for a while. It should only pop up maybe once an hour at the most.

Back to the music, here's Elaine Paige's brilliant performance of "Memory" from the musical Cats. This role was originally supposed to be played by Judi Dench, but she had to drop out during the rehearsals after tearing her Achilles tendon. While Dench is a great actress (though I've never heard her sing), it's hard to imagine anyone doing this as well as Paige did.

Thank you Michael.  My ability to use Preview, on both the regular messages and PM is back.  I think I'm the only one left on Seniors and Friends, who uses an Apple computer?  Could that be the reason?  Same thing happened the last time you installed the Checker.

It could be. I'm not that familiar with Safari and haven't used an Apple computer in a couple of decades so I can't be much help unfortunately.

A wild over-the-top rendition of Sheb Wooley's classic 1958 novelty song by Judy Garland. This was recorded just three months after the original came out and released six months later in early 1959.

I didn't know she sang this. What an intro. Great find, MIchael!

One of my fav's.   So easy to listen too, and relaxing.

"They said it couldn't be done... They tried to tell me it couldn't be done... <screaming>... They were right! It can't be done!" 

A great live rendition of the Cowsills' hit "Indian Lake". This was recorded as part of a short-lived TV series called Entertaining the Troops. The Cowsills were a family group who had a number of hits - this one, "The Rain, the Park and Other Things" and most notably "Hair". They also served as the inspiration for the TV series The Partridge Family. The kids in the band ranged in age from 9 to 21 at the time this was recorded. Only three of them are still alive today.

An excellent rendition of The Beatles classic "Fool on the Hill" by Ray Stevens. Although mostly known for comedy music, Ray did some serious stuff too.

I haven't listened to ambient music in a while. Ran across this one this morning while looking for "November" music. Note that this is AI assisted or generated, the first one I've run across to my knowledge.

Oh, my! Here is George Winston with Thanksgiving. It has been a while since I have listened to his music. At age 73, he passed away in 2023 in Williamsport, PA after fighting many years with several cancers. Williamsport is upriver from me, closer to Jane than to me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKJRf98GU3o&list=RDXKJRf98GU3o&start_radio=1

An upbeat rockabilly rendition of "Mona Lisa" from 1959. This was originally recorded in Italian by Sergio De Karlo for the 1949 film Captain Casey, USA. The first English version was recorded by Charlie Spivak and His Orchestra with Tommy Lynn on vocals and was released in March of 1950. Dennis Day and Nat King Cole both had hits with it in mid-1950, and Conway Twitty had a hit with it in 1959.