Blog: Musical Fruitcake

Well, boils and ghouls, light the candles and bake the Tollhouse cookies, for the Cryptkeeper is coming to your doorstep! Based on the EC Comics comic book series created by William Gaines, " Tales From The Crypt " was an HBO television series that lasted seven seasons (1989-1996), airing 93 episodes, and starring many famous celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Teri Hatcher, Demi Moore and Sam Kinison. The series was hosted by the Cryptkeeper , a repulsive, creepy-looking puppet who cracked corny goulish one-liners and gave out weird anecdotes about the characters in [...]

Three-time Oscar winner and country musician Walter Brennan was born in 1894, and died in 1974 of emphysema. While serving in World War I, his vocal cords were damaged by mustard gas causing him to... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://musicalfruitcake.com for full links, articles, polls, other content, and more! ]]

Three-time Oscar winner and country musician Walter Brennan was born in 1894, and died in 1974 of emphysema. While serving in World War I, his vocal cords were damaged by mustard gas causing him to age prematurely. That ailment helped him to land roles playing characters much older than his actual age. He most often was seen in offbeat rural parts, appearing as an eccentric old-timer or a grizzled prospector. As Grandpa Amos McCoy on the popular sitcom " The Real McCoys ," he delighted television audiences with his gol-darnin', dagnabbed consarnin' and meddlesome ways. Here [...]

Tommy Christy is best known as a Doo-Wop singer and for his single " Teen-age Jive ," which he released with his backing group, The Chris-Tones . He also released a Christmas song on the Scot label called " 8 Tiny Reindeer ," where he lists a bunch of people he knows who are all waiting for Christmas. Apparently he only knows people with annoying names that rhyme, such as Georgie Porgie, Teeny Weenie and Nosey Rosey. This song is catchy-watchy, but crappy-wappy. LISTEN TO MP3: [See post to [...]

How do Wookiees entertain themselves? Why is Grandpa Wookiee named "Itchy"? What is the warm, cuddly side of Han Solo? What would a love scene between Bea Arthur and Harvey Korman look like? What type of virtual reality porn do wookies prefer? Why would an imperial bad guy (or anyone else) watch Jefferson Starship for 10 minutes? What are the lyrics to the "Star Wars" theme song? And what would they sound like if Princess Leia sang them? These questions (and more) are raised by the Star Wars Holiday Special . In May [...]

Antonio Fargas is an American actor most famous for roles in the 1970s. He appeared in several blaxploitation movies including the classic Shaft (1971), the Mafia flick Across 110th Street (1972), and the Pam Grier vehicle Foxy Brown (1974). He also appears in a recurring role on the Chris Rock sitcom " Everbody Hates Chris ," as Mr. Harris, the local grocery store owner. His performance as a pimp in the 1974 James Caan film [...]

I have added polls here so you can vote for what you feel is the " worst song of the week ." I will be posting the polls after the week has finished. You can find the polls in the sidebar on the left or on the Polls page . Please be sure to visit the Polls Archive so you can vote for previous weeks songs as well. All polls will remain active throught the year so newcomers will have a chance to vote on previous weeks as [...]

Back in the old days, before cable & satellite television, VHS/DVD, TiVo & YouTube, anyone who wanted to watch something on TV was only offered a total of three choices at a time, which accounts for the success of TV shows like Bonanza . Bonanza was an American western/cowboy television series which aired on NBC from 1959 until 1973. The show also aired in reruns for many years, retitled as Ponderosa , and it currently airs on many cable stations such as TV Land and [...]

Universal Robot Band were an American disco group consisting of the members of Kleeer - Woody Cunningham (vocals/drums), Richard Lee (vocals/guitar), Paul Crutchfield (vocals/percussion) and Norman Durham (vocals/bass/keyboards). Their first single, " Dance and Shake your Funky Tambourine " was an international underground smash, later covered by Inner City Express . Their second album included the brilliant disco track " Freak With Me, " along with " Doing Anything Tonight " and " Dancing Disco Party ." They toured and recorded as the Universal Robot [...]

Whenever people think of children and Christmas they usually think about wasting their hard-earned money on lottery tickets, right? So, it's only natural that in 1982 the Ontario Lottery Corporation would release a Christmas record called " Christmas Is For Children ." Nothing goes together quite like lottery tickets and kids. I like to put this record right next to my collection of Joe Camel and Budweiser Frog knickknacks and toys. The vocals and production on these songs are so overblown and campy that you can't help but feel a toothache from [...]

Whenever people think of children and Christmas they usually think about wasting their hard-earned money on lottery tickets, right? So, it's only natural that in 1982 the Ontario Lottery... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit http://musicalfruitcake.com for full links, articles, polls, other content, and more! ]]

Buddy Hackett (1924 – 2003), was a legendary rubber-faced comic, actor, and entertainer. Described as a "comic's comic," he appeared in motion pictures such as " It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World " (1963), and " The Love Bug " (1968)," as well as numerous television appearances. Here is a potato chip commercial featuring Buddy Hackett: On a nightclub stage or talk show, there was nobody funnier than [...]

Gary Ramey is a singer who seems to currently model himself after Jimmy Buffett (see picture above). Early in his career he released some songs for the Tammy label out of Youngstown, Ohio (primarily a soul and funk label). One of the singles that he released through Tammy Records was ' Moon-y Min-i Men Visit Santa Claus ,' which he recorded with ' Floyd and the Little Soul Sisters .' The song tells the story of 5 tiny moon men (Moon-y, Min-i, Mine-y, Moe and Joe) who come to earth on a mission [...]

Earney Vandagriff was one of the many country music artists influenced by Hank Williams. Joe Poovey, who embraced many nicknames in his career, was encouraged to become an entertainer by his father at age four. By age nine he was recording hillbilly music in a studio. His parents had encouraged him to learn the guitar and by 1953 he was fronting his own country band, the Hillbilly Boys, and playing the prestigious Big D Jamboree radio show where he was billed as "Jumping Joe Poovey." The Jamboree was a regular weekly show similar to the Opry and was broadcast on [...]

Out of the unholy compositional alliance of Don Kirshner and Bobby Darin comes " I Want To Spend Christmas With Elvis (Heartbreak Noel) ." The long forgotten Debbie Dabney brays the lyric made up of Elvis Presley song titles loosely strung together around a sexually suggestive Christmas theme. Punctuating the two and four with bright guitar chords is none other than legendary jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell. This song fits in to a pop music sub-genre called the "cash-in record," this takes place when a musical star becomes so famous that other people (read: record [...]

Art Carney (1918-2003) was an actor in film, stage, television, and radio. He played many roles, but is best known for his portrayal of upstairs neighbor and sewer worker Ed Norton, opposite Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden, in the popular television comedy show The Honeymooners . In 1954, a year before he started doing The Honeymooners , he recorded " Santa and The Doodle-Li-Boop " and released it with "' Twas The Night Before Christma s" (columbia 4-40400). His retelling of "' Twas The Night Before [...]

Shelley Duvall is an award-winning American film and television actress who began her career in the 1970's appearing in the movies of Robert Altman. She has also appeared in movies by Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick, Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton. In 1991 she released a Christmas music collection called " Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall...Merry Christmas ." This music is so bad it was hard to choose a single song as being the worst of the bunch, but I decided on the song " Dear Santa Claus " as being [...]

The spirit of Christmas shines through in one of the worst movies ever made: Santa Claus Conquers The Martians . Shot on a shoestring budget on Long Island, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians has developed a rabid cult following over the years. In case you aren't aware of the movie, here is the basic "plot" (such as it is): Santa Claus gets "kidnaped" (sic) by distraught martians (guys with bad green makeup and a few dishwasher parts glued to their heads and very [...]