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Who is listening in 2020?

BrianWilkins.org
April 28, 2020

This is Brian’s 1996-97 broadcasting school tape. He really thought he was cool, trying to rap! 🙂

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Dirty Dancing: (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life “was an accident”

BrianWilkins.org
April 28, 2020

Unpopular opinion: Dirty Dancing sucked. Jennifer Grey’s character was named “Baby.” It reminded many Gen X kids of that cheesy dinosaur movie, Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend, two years earlier.

There’s also a very popular opinion about the film – its signature soundtrack tune is an 80s classic.

“(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life” by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 28, 1987. It also reached #1 in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Holland and South Africa. But the song was supplanted from the #1 spot in the U.S. after only one week, thanks to Belinda Carlisle and “Heaven Is A Place On Earth” (which contains one of my favorite lyrics of all time: “…and lift me up in a wave of love”). Regardless, every American age 40-50 probably has a story associated with either the movie Dirty Dancing or its signature soundtrack song. read more

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Billy Ocean: 32 years ago (April 16, 1988) “Get Out Of My Dreams, Get Into My Car” was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100

BrianWilkins.org
April 14, 2020

Corey Haim, Corey Feldman and Heather Graham starred in the 1988 classic movie “License to Drive.” Billy Ocean anchored the soundtrack.

Corey Haim passed away on March 10, 2010 – my 35th birthday. He was 38. Feldman just released a pay-per-view exposĂ© of Hollywood pedophiles within the last few weeks. There’s a bunch of drama going on with it though now. Corey Haim’s mom and sister are apparently not happy about the documentary. Feldman exposed Charlie Sheen as the pedo who raped Haim. But that was apparently already known and/or not altogether true. Judge for yourself. read more

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30 years ago today: Paula Abdul reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Opposites Attract”

BrianWilkins.org
February 15, 2020

I skipped school on Thursday, February 15, 1990. I’d met this cute eighth grader at Skate North in Des Moines the previous Friday and was going to spend the day at her house. Problem was that I was only 14 (no driver’s license) and she lived far out in Urbandale. The bus took me part of the way, before I walked the last three miles.

My journal is a bit illegible the rest of the way due to spilling something on it over the years. But her mom came home early and I ended having to hide in the closet and climb out a window when the coast was clear. In-school suspension was coming the next day for the truancy. But hey, she was really cute! read more

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Ruth Williams (May 31, 1927 – February 3, 2020): My grandma was awesome

Brian A. Wilkins
February 10, 2020

Me, Ruth and my little sister Tonya at my high school graduation.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4 (NIV)

I was angry and sad for about an hour. Then the photos came out of the box. And I couldn’t help but smile.

Ruth was always smiling and laughing. That’s not embellishment. I was 10 when she and I watched Beverly Hills Cop on HBO together. The scene when Rosewood tried boosting Taggart over the wall made Ruth cry-laugh for like 2-3 minutes.

She cracked up for several minutes at me slipping and falling on ice while wearing those stupid cowboy boots my mom bought me when I was six. But that’s ok. I got back by saying the okra she ate looked gross. read more

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RIP Marie Fredriksson: My 5 Favorite Roxette Songs

by Brian A. Wilkins
December 10, 2019

The duo of Per Gessle (L) and the lovely Marie Fredrikkson are Roxette.

My good friend Blake had a memorable, funny comment when we were roommates at Iowa State University in 1994. “Black men aren’t supposed to be Roxette fans.” He said that after observing the fact I had three Roxette CD’s in my collection. That’s what happens when you’re black and grow up in 1980s Iowa.

Roxette vocalist and keyboardist Marie Fredriksson passed away yesterday in Djursholm, Sweden at the age of 61. She had been battling brain cancer for over 17 years. She is survived by her husband of 25 years, Mikael Bolyos, and their two children. read more

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Lucinda Williams vs. Mary Chapin Carpenter: Who did “Passionate Kisses” better?

BrianWilkins.org
November 23, 2019

Mary Chapin Carpenter version

Lucinda Williams version

Hung Jury

Lucinda Williams wrote the song. It was a track on her eponymous third studio album released in 1988.

The song didn’t chart in the States for whatever reason. “Passionate Kisses” reached #169 on the Aussie charts in 1989. That was the extent of its commercial success. There was/is no music video for the song. That may have contributed to its relative anonymity in the last few years of the MTV MUSIC TELEVISION era.

Mary Chapin Carpenter added her own sugar and spice to “Passionate Kisses” in 1993. The song was suddenly ubiquitous, just four years after the Lucinda Williams original. It reached #4 on the U.S. Hot Country Singles chart, and #57 on the Billboard Hot 100. Chapin Carpenter won a Grammy in 1994 for Best Female Country Vocal Performer. Williams won a Grammy that year as well for Best Country Song. read more

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Then and Now: 80 years after Phoenix Colored High School

by Brian A. Wilkins
September 1, 2019

Phoenix Colored High School Class of 1948. Photo via African American Registry (aaregistry.org).

PREFACE

This article was my junior year Advanced Reporting (301…whatever it was called) assignment at Arizona State University and was turned in on November 23, 2006). It was the most challenging class in my ASU years. Christia Gibbons was the professor. She’s tough and only gave me a B+ for this article that I thought was an “A+.” 

I read all the reviews on that RateMyProfessor site linked above. It’s nauseating. All the entitled Millennials and Gen Z kids on the site are just whining. Journalism is truth, accuracy and proofreading. The latter is what cost me an “A” in my 301 article. Christia is cool and taught me a lot; and she can teach you a lot. She wouldn’t still be there after all these years if she’s not effective. Christia has been in media for a long time and has watched the metamorphosis live in living color. read more

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