June 11: Tom Cochrane

• Tom Cochrane’s full name is Thomas William Cochrane. He was born on May 14, 1953, and is a Canadian singer, songwriter and musician.
• He is best known as the lead singer for the rock band called Red Rider. He is also well known for his work as the solo singer-songwriter.
• He has won eight Juno Awards, he is a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, An Officer of the Order of Canada, and has an Honorary Doctorate from Brandon University.
• In September 2009, he was inducted onto the Canada Walk of Fame.

Life and Career

Red Rider

• After they met at the El Mocambo Tavern in Toronto, Tom joined the Canadian rock band called Red Rider in 1978 and was their lead singer and main songwriter for more than 10 years.
• The members in the band Red Rider included Ken Greer, Jeff Jones, Peter Boynton and Rob Baker.
• They were managed by Bruce Allen from their debut album until 1985.
• Tom recorded six studio albums with Red Rider plus a live album, a best of album, and a box set.
• By 1986 the band was known as Tom Cochrane and Red Rider.
• He called this period of time in his career a stretch of manageable success. This was before the release of Mad Mad World.

• In 2002, Tom got back together with his former Red Rider bandmates Ken Greer and Jeff Jones and they still perform together today.

Solo Career

• Tom was already very famous in Canada with his time with Red Rider.
• He launched his solo career in 1991 with the release of the song Life Is a Highway. It became a global success and was followed by the release of his Mad Mad World album. It sold 6 million copies worldwide.

• The albums Ragged Ass World, Songs of a Circling Spirit, X-Ray Sierra, and No Stranger were released after Mad Mad World.

Today

• Tom is an avid golfer, pilot and he is an extreme hockey fan. He lives in Oakville Ontario with his wife Kathleen.
• He spends summers at his cottage/studio on the shores of Georgian Bay in northern Ontario.
• He spends winters part of the time at his home outside Austin Texas.  Tom and his wife have two daughters.
• He continues to tour and perform in Canada.
• In 2006, the group Rascal Flats charted in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 with cover song of Life Is a Highway. It was recorded for the Pixar film Cars.
• Although this song was not originally released to country radio, several country stations began playing the song causing it to be on the charts within the top 20 of hot country songs.
• Chris Ledoux also had a country hit with Life Is a Highway.
• In October 2016, Tom celebrated the 25^th anniversary of his Mad Mad world album with an announcement of the release of a special edition of the album. It featured a demo recording of Life Is a Highway and as second disc featuring a live performance from a 1992 Chicago stop on the tour supporting the album.
• In 2017 he toured with Meghan Patrick and Nice Horse and he released a coffee-table book about the album.
• In 2016, the Manitoba provincial government renamed a section of a highway near his hometown of Lynn Lake after the hit Life Is A Highway. A stretch of highway 391 was renamed Tom Cochrane’s Life Is a Highway.

Honours

Canadian Music Hall Of Fame Induction

• He was inducted into the Canadian music Hall of Fame 2003 for his outstanding contribution to the greater recognition of Canadian music. The ceremony was on April 5, 2003. The following night he was honoured for his induction in a speech by Jeff Healy At the Juno awards. Tom closed the show by performing a medley of his hits and was joined on stage by the host Shania Twain for the final song Life Is a Highway.

Order of Canada

• in April 2008, Tom received one of the highest honours for a Canadian citizen. He was invested as an officer of the Order of Canada. He was honoured for a lifetime his of charity work, his contribution to the arts and for being an extremely proud Canadian.

Canada’s Walk of Fame

• In September 2009, Tom was inducted into the Canada’s walk of fame. The induction was highlighted by a two hour nationally televised gala At Toronto’s Four Season Centre for the Performing Arts. Anne Murray was the host and Kim Cattrall, Raymond Burr, Blue Rodeo, Dsquared2, Howie Mandel, Robert Munsh, and Chantelle Petitclerc were also inducted that day.

Honorary Colonel

• In November 2007, Tom was formally invested as an Honorary Colonel by the Royal Canadian Air Force’s 409 “Nighthawks” tactical fighter squadron. As part of his weekend there Tom experienced his second flight in a CF 18 fighter jet.

Honorary Doctorate

• In May 2005, Tom received an honorary doctorate from Brandon University in Brandon Manitoba. This was at the spring convocation ceremony held on May 28, 2005.

Canadian Music Industry Hall Of Fame

• Tom was inducted on May 9, 2014. Gil Moore from the band Triumph presented this to Tom.

Canadian Music Industry Humanitarian Award

• In March 2005, Tom received the Humanitarian Award at the Canadian Music and Associations gala dinner in Toronto during the annual Canadian Music Week Festival.
• This award is given to honour an outstanding Canadian artist or industry leader whose humanitarian contributions have positively enhanced the social fabric of Canada and/or whose impact can be felt worldwide.

Allan Waters Humanitarian Award

• In April 2013, Tom received the award at the 2013 Juno awards gala dinner.
• The Humanitarian Award (formerly the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award) is awarded by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) to Canadian musicians who have made significant humanitarian efforts. Since 2006, it is given annually every Juno Awards ceremony.

Henry H Knowles Humanitarian Award

• In May 2014, Tom received the award from OPSEU.

Order of Manitoba

• In July 2015, Tom received the order of Manitoba. On October 31, 2016, the Provincial Legislature of Manitoba announced a 322 km section of the Provincial Road 391 connecting Lynn Lake and Thompson would be designated Tom Cochrane’s Life Is a Highway.

June 6: Reba McEntire

Who Is Reba McEntire

• Reba is a country music star and she got her break singing the national anthem at the 1974 rodeo finals.
• She is a Grammy-winning artist and has recorded more than 30 studio albums, topped the country charts 24 times and has been named Best Female Vocalist for the Country Music Association four times.
• Some of her biggest hits are Fancy, Whoever’s in England, Consider Me Gone, and Does He Have You.
• Her many accomplishments allowed her to win a spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2011.
• She is also an actor and starred in her own sitcom called Reba for six seasons and has several movie roles.
• In 2023 she became a celebrity coach for the singing competition show called The Voice.

Early Life and Musical Background

• Reba’s full name is Reba Nell McEntire. She was born on March 28, 1955, in McAlester Oklahoma.
• She was born into a family of champion steer ropers. While she was growing up Reba and her three siblings Del, known as Pake and sisters Susie and Alice travelled to and from their father’s world championship rodeo performances.
• Their parents were Clark and Jacqueline McEntire.
• They always encouraged their children’s musical talent. During their long car rides the family would pass the time by learning songs and harmonizing.
• When Reba was in ninth grade she and her two youngest siblings formed the group called the Singing McEntire’s. They performed at rodeos. The group discontinued but Reba continued to appear as a solo Act during her college years.

Country Music Stardom

• In 1974, Reba got a break when country music star Red Steagall heard her sing at the National finals rodeo.
• Reba’s rendition of the national anthem performance impressed him causing him to help her record a demo and eventually sign with Mercury Records.
• Her debut album called Reba McEntire came out in 1977.
• In the late 1970s, soon to be Queen of Country spent several hours in the recording studio. She created and released singles there.
• None of her early songs were major hits but success was just around the corner.
• In 1980, You Lift Me up (To Heaven) made it to the top 10 of Billboard’s hot country songs and helped to ultimately launch her career.

• In the 1980s, Reba stayed close to her roots in terms of her personality and capitalized on the rodeo girl theme in photos and on stage.
• As her voice matured her image changed as well. She went from a rough edged and rural person to a more polished and mainstream persona.
• Nashville was still very much considered a boys town when Reba was getting her start in the 1970s and 80s.
• When she was asked how she managed to get through the gender politics so successfully Reba responded and said, “as a woman, you don’t complain, you work twice as hard and you do your job. You try to outsmart them, you try to outwork them and get their first. You help, you volunteer, you are At the front of the line. That’s what I learned from working on the cattle range, it helped me in the music business.”
• Reba had an excellent year in 1980s.
• She released her ninth studio album called Whoever’s In New England and it became her first album to get a Grammy Award.
• The title record won her Best Female Country Vocal Performance. The success of this album was a product of its unique sound. It was a blend of Reba’s more traditional twangy style with a more mainstream pop sound and it appeal to a wide audience. It cemented her place as a country royalty for many years to come.

• Because she is a strong businesswoman she understood early on the importance of music videos and the influence they would have on her career. Her first video for the song called Whoever’s In New England told the story of a suburban housewife tortured by the idea of her husband going on trips up north to visit his mistress. The video employed many well-known actors and directors and Reba took full advantage of this visual medium to showcase the strong narratives of her songwriting, using video’s to tell full and compelling stories.
• In the future, her flair for drama not only drove up her record sales but it also fueled an unexpected acting career.
• In 1986, her success continued with another album called What Am I Gonna Do about You. The Country Music Association also named her Entertainer of the Year and for the third consecutive year she was named Female Vocalist of the Year. She won again in 1987.
• Her success did not stop there. Reba went on to release hit after hit and most of them were selling by the millions.

• In 1998, she released the album Rumour Has It. It eventually sold 3 million copies and went triple platinum by 1999.

• On March 16, 1991, tragedy struck when a charter plane carrying eight members of Reba’s band crashed. Unfortunately, there was no survivors and the accident left the singer stunned and reeling from her grief.
• Reba turned to her music and out of her grief came a bleak but very popular album called For My Broken Heart. She dedicated this album to all her bandmates that passed away in the plane crash.

• In the late 1990s she recorded duets with Brooks & Dunn and Linda Davis.

• During the past two decades Reba has continued to reign as the “Queen of Country”.
• She worked with other country music stars like Kenny Chesney, Tricia Yearwood, and LeAnn Rimes.

• She released the albums Room to Breathe in 2003 and Reba: Duets in 2007. Both of these albums earned platinum status and Duets debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 charts.

• In 2009 she released another chart topping album called Keep On Loving You. In that same year, Reba broke a CMA record, suppressing Dolly Parton as the most nominated female solo artist in the 43 year history of the CMA awards.
• Today, her 52 nominations are second to Miranda Lambert’s 63 nominations.
• In 2010, Reba released her next album called All the Woman I Am which included the number one hit country song called Turn on the Radio.

• In March 2011, The Country Music Association announced they would be inducting Reba into the country music Hall of Fame.
• However, Reba missed the announcement because she was back in Oklahoma with her father who was hospitalized after having a serious stroke and he was in a coma.
• When she was asked about the honour she said “this is a huge honour for me and something I’ve dreamed about since I was a little girl. When I was a young girl, we would take vacations to Nashville and tour the Country Music Hall of Fame. And now, for me to be inducted, is a dream come true.”
• Reba released a gospel music album in 2017 called Sing It Now: Songs of Faith And Hope. Her new sound was very well accepted and earned her the Grammy for Best Roots Gospel Album.
• She recorded a second gospel album called My Chains Are Gone 2022.
• In December 2018, Reba was an honoree at the annual Kennedy Centre Honours Ceremony.
• Her most recent album called Not That Fancy is an acoustic collection of some of her hit songs. It was released in early October 2023.

Acting Career

• Even though Reba had a lot on her plate, she successfully crossed over from music to movies at the height of her stardom.
• She costarred in the 1990 film Tremors. She played a racecar driver in The Little Rascals in 1994 and starred in several made-for-TV movies.
• In 2001, she launched a TV sitcom called Reba. She starred as a divorcee trying to raise a teenage daughter. The show ran for six seasons and she got a Golden Globe nomination. In the same year Reba was successful on the theatre stage. She was Annie Oakley in a Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun.
• Reba also voiced Betsy The Cow in 2006 in the movie Charlotte’s Web. She then starred in a second sitcom called Malibu Country.

• It debuted on ABC in November 2012 however the show only lasted 18 episodes.
• In 2022 she showed off her acting ability by joining the cast of the ABC series Big Sky. She played Sonny Barnes. She also had a guest role on The Big Bang Theory.
• In 2023 she appeared in the lifetime movie called The Hammer.

Net Worth

• According to Celebrity Net Worth, Reba’s net worth is estimated at around $95 million as of July 2023.

Coach on the Voice

• In 2023, Reba joined the NBC singing competition The Voice. She was a celebrity judge working with Gwen Stephani, Niall Horan, And John Legend.
• She was on the program as an advisor and “mega mentor” before she took on the role of coach to replace Blake Shelton.
• When Asked about the show, Reba said, “John and Niall are all really funny and clever and always have so many smart things to say, so I’ve got my work cut out for me. I’m most excited about basically getting started, and I’m sure that I’ll have lots of help, lots of advice, lots of people coming around saying you can do this, you can do that. I’m not afraid At all. I think it’ll be a very fun adventure.”

Boyfriend, Ex-Husbands, and Son

• Reba is dating actor Rex Linn. They met in 1991 on the set of the Kenny Rogers movie The Gambler Returns: the luck of the draw. They reconnected during the quarantine. Reba revealed the relationship had become romantic in 2020.
• She has married and divorced twice. In 1976 Reba married Steer wrestling champion and rancher Charlie Battles. The couple owned a ranch in Oklahoma. But in 1987 right when Reba’s musical career began to get moving their marriage ended. After the divorce Reba moved to Nashville to refocus on the music.
• In 1989 Reba got married to her manager Norvell Blackstock. He had three children from a previous marriage. In 1990 the couple welcomed a son Shelby McEntire Blackstock. In 2015, after 26 years together they announced they were separating.
• Before her relationship now she was in a relationship with Anthony “Skeeter” Lasuzzo from 2017 2019.

May 28: Cute Animals in Movie History

The Adventures of Milo and Otis

The film is about a curious cat and a pug who get separated and are trying to reunite with one another. During the movie the kitten and puppy mature into adults through their struggles.

Rango

Rango is an animated comedy starring a pampered pet chameleon who gets lost in the desert when he falls out of his family’s truck. He accidentally stumbles into the role of a sheriff for a town under control by a greedy man who tries to limit access to water for the citizens because he wants to make more money. Rango meets a young lady that he likes and he uses his acquired knowledge of Hollywood Westerns to assume the role of sheriff to win her heart and save the town.

Paddington Bear

Paddington bear is based on a classic children’s book about a small bear that is searching for a home in London. He is adopted by the Brown family when they find him. Paddington is very good at getting himself into situations and trouble but the family loves him very much anyway. They try to keep him away from a taxidermist named Millicent. She is determined to capture him in order to add him to her collection.

He even had a marmalade sandwich with Queen Elizabeth!

The Jungle Book

Disney’s the Jungle Book tells the story of Mowgli the man cub. He is cared for by the animals of the jungle. He’s raised by wolves and taught to hunt by the panther Bagheera. Mowgli also befriends the carefree bear named Baloo. However, there is a tiger that wants to kill him and it forces him to decide whether the jungle is a safe place for humans to be and live.

Zootopia

Zootopia explores the lives of a population of anthropomorphized animals in the city. It’s focused on a police rabbit named Judy Hopps. She works with Nick Wilde, a scheming fox. She sets out to prove that she can make it as a cop in the big city. Together they find themselves at the centre of a conspiracy in the city. They form an unlikely friendship along the way.

March of the Penguin

Sometimes the best story is a real one. In 2005 the March of the Penguins documentary that was narrated by Morgan Freeman came out. The film follows the life of a group of emperor penguins beginning at the end of summer in Antarctica. As the penguins travel to their breeding grounds, we are treated to scenes of their natural mating rituals, and the journey from egg to hatchling.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

This story is based on the Ronald Dahl children’s book called fantastic Mr. Fox. It tells the story of the titular fox who goes on a stealing spree and the three farmers who try to get revenge on him for what he stole. The fox struggles to maintain his quiet family life while embracing his wild animal nature as a chicken thief. This leads to a decision that puts him and his entire community in jeopardy.

Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo is one of Pixar’s biggest achievements. It is a charming and timeless tale of family and friendship and the bonds that bring them together. The story is about Marlin. He is a neurotic clown fish who has to embark on a dangerous journey through the ocean when his son. He is joined on his journey by the forgetful but kind fish named Dory.

Finding Dory

Finding Dory is the sequel to Finding Nemo. Dory was played by Alan degenerates. Dory is attempting to find her long-lost parents with the help of Nemo and the gang.

Babe

the story follows a young pig who was taken in by a farmer and adopted by the men’s dog. He wanted to fit in so badly that he takes an interest in the art of hurting the sheep. The movie has a lot of humorous parts but it is also a beautiful story that is right lesson to young viewers and a reminder to older ones that any person or animal can be whatever they want to be with the right attitude.

Bambi

Bambi was made in 1942 and it was one of the most iconic animated movies of all time. The film is a work of art that features beautiful animation and hand-painted backgrounds with a story that shows the cycle of life. The movie follows a young dear fawn named Bambi whose mother is shot by hunters and the fawn must grow up to become a leader in his own right. It features some of the most adorable scenes such as Bambi trying to skate on a frozen lake with his friend Thumper. The movie picked up three Oscar nominations and was listed by the American Film Institute as the third best animated movie in history.

May 23: Little Richard

Who Was Little Richard?

• Little Richard defined the early rock ‘n’ roll era of the 1950s with his driving, flamboyant sound. With his croons, wails, and screams he turned songs like Tutti-Frutti and Long Tall Sally into huge hits. He was the influence of the Beatles.

Early Years

• Little Richard’s real name was Richard Wayne Penniman. He was born on December 5, 1932, in Macon Georgia. He was the third of 12 children.
• His father’s name was Bud and he was a stern man who sold moonshine and didn’t hide is anger for his son’s early signs of being homosexual. At the age of 13 Richard was ordered to move out of the family home and his relationship with his father was never repaired. When Richard was 19 his father was shot outside the local bar.
• His childhood was largely shaped by his church. Two of his uncles and his grandfather were preachers and Richard was involved with the church with the rest of his family. He sang gospel and eventually learned to play the piano.

• When he moved out of his family’s home Richard was taken in by a white family who owned a club in Macon where Richard eventually began performing and improving his talent.
• By 1951 Richard caught his first major break when a performance at an Atlanta radio station caused him to get a record contract with RCA.
• But his catalogue of mainly blues numbers that hid his searing vocals and piano talent that would soon define his rock music, Richard’s career failed to take off as he’d hoped it would.

Commercial Success

• In 1955 Richard teamed up with Speciality Records producer Art Rupe who had hunting for piano pounding front man to lead a group of musicians in New Orleans.
• In September, Richard stepped into the recording studio and finished Tutti-Frutti an instant Billboard hit that reached number 17.

• Over a year and a half Richard put out several more rock hits including, Long Tall Sally, Good Golly Miss Molly and Send Me Some Lovin’.

• With his exciting piano playing and suggestive lyrics Little Richard and other musicians like Elvis Presley and Gerry Lee Lewis were able to establish rock as a real musical form and inspired others especially the Beatles to try to succeed in music as well.
• In addition to his records little Richard appeared on several early rock films such as Don’t Knock the Rock in 1956, The Girl Can’t Help It and Mister Rock ‘n’ Roll in 1957.

Gospel Music and Return to Rock

• As his success soared little Richard remembered his earlier connections to the church and he saw his doubts about rock music deepen.
• In 1957 he abruptly and very publicly quit performing rock and committed himself to the Ministry and recorded some gospel songs.
• He recorded a debut religious album called God Is Real in 1959.

• In 1964, after the Beatles recording of Long Tall Sally, little Richard jumped back into rock music.
• Over the next decades Little Richard continued to perform and record.
• The public response was not as enthusiastic as his earlier success. However, his importance to the development of rock music has never been questioned. He still is said to have been an integral part in the beginning of the Rock ‘n’ Roll sound.
• In 2023, the movie Little Richard: I Am Everything, a movie about little Richard was released.

• He was even on Sesame Street.

Awards and Honors

• In 1986, Little Richard was one of the 10 original inductees of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. He was a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in 1993. A year later the Rhythm and Blues Foundation honoured him with its prestigious Pioneer Award.
• In later years, the once dynamic performer moved away from the concert stage. He got ill during a show in Washington DC during the summer of 2012.
• The following September, Little Richard suffered a heart attack. He described the incident Cee Lo Green during an interview in Atlanta he said, “the other night, I didn’t know I was having a heart attack. I was coughing and my right arm was aching.” The singer took baby aspirin which his doctor said save his life. However, Little Richard was very religious and attributed his survival to a higher power,: “Jesus said something for me. He brought me through”.

Death

• Little Richard’s agent confirmed that the singer passed away on May 9, 2020, in Nashville, Tennessee from bone cancer.

In case we have some extra time I thought we could finish class by watching a very funny video with everyone’s favourite James Corden.

May 21: Precious Pets and Animals in TV History – Continued

Dino The Flintstones

Dino was first seen in the pilot episode of the Flintstones. His name was never mentioned until the fourth episode. He was a dinosaur with doglike qualities. Dino was voiced by Mel Blanc who was also the voice of Barney Rubble. Dino appeared in many of the spinoffs that have followed Flintstones.

Scooby Doo Where Are You?

Do you really think you can call Scooby of pet considering he is the lead character in several animated series, TV movies and feature films? It began with the 1969 TV show called Scooby Doo, Where Are You? Scooby is a great Dane owned by Shaggy Rogers. Scooby and his four teenage friends travelled around in their van that was called the Mystery Machine. They solved crimes and mysteries together.

Falcor Never-Ending Story

Falcor is a very wise, optimistic, dignified, and very friendly creature from Fantasia. He gives advice when people have lost hope. He helps people find what they’re looking for or gives hope to people have that have lost hope and faith altogether. He is starring in the movie Never Ending Story.

Kermit and Miss Piggy

Kermit the frog and Miss Piggy have a confusing on-and-off relations that goes on for decades. They started together as coworkers and friends the short-lived ABC show the Muppets. In the movies Kermit eventually marries Miss Piggy in the Muppets Take Manhattan.

Big Bird Sesame Street

big Bird is a character on the children’s television. Carol Spinney played big bird from 1969 2018. He is an 8’2”, approximately 249 cm, tall bright yellow anthropomorphic canary. He can roller skate, ice skate, dance, swim, sing, write poetry, draw, and even ride a unicycle.

Winnie the Pooh

Winnie the Pooh is the main character. He is sometimes called Pooh or Edward Baer. He is a good-natured, has yellow fur, and loves honey. He lives in the forest surrounding the Hundred Acre Wood. It is modelled after Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, England.

Tigger the Tiger

He is a fictional character. He has orange fur with black stripes. He was originally written about in A.A Milne’s book called The House at a Corner. He can be easily recognized by his beady eyes, long chin, springy tail, and bouncy personality.

Garfield and Odie

Garfield is described as being sarcastic, lazy and always hungry. His favourite food is always lasagna. His owner’s name is John Arbuckle and he is a man with boring nerdy past times. He has another pet and his name is Odie. He is a yellow dog and Garfield has to get used to him and they both have to get used to living with each other.

Wishbone the TV Series

Wishbone is a Jack Russell Terrier. He is owner is Joe Talbot. Wishbone has a wealth of reading knowledge. Wishbone helps his owner Joe and his friends face certain problems and compares them to classic stories where he frequently sees himself as the main character,

The Littlest Hobo

The littlest hobo aired from 1979 to 1985. His name is London. He is an extremely intelligent German shepherd that wanders and walks into a different place in each episode of the television series. He always stumbles upon people that are down on their luck or in trouble. London always befriended and helped the struggling person or persons. His job is always done at the end of the show he always leaves at the end of the show to continue his cross-country drifting instead of being the pet of people he has helped.

May 16: Precious Pets in TV History

Precious Pets in TV History

Marcel in Friends

Marcel was Ross’s pet Capuchin monkey on season one of Friends. He was Ross’s date for Monica’s New Year’s Eve party. He ran off while Rachel was watching him which caused the idea to come out that Marcel was an illegal exotic pet. Even though he loved his little monkey Marcel was sent to the San Diego zoo. It turned out that he was actually a female monkey made Katie. Katie had several other Hollywood roles including the show 30 Rock, the movie Bruce Almighty and she’s also been seen with Ariana Grande and Kendall Jenner. Not bad for being a monkey.

Tiger of the Brady Bunch

The Brady Bunch began with two pets but Carol’s cat Fluffy disappeared after the first episode. Tiger lasted a bit longer. The bearded Collie was seen in a total of 10 episodes. But big fans will notice that Tiger was played by two different dogs. The second dog that played Tiger wasn’t as talented as the first so he was eventually faded out of the show.

Lassie

Lassie is definitely one of the most well-known dogs in the world! She starred on her own series from 1954 to 1974. In this series she was portrayed as a boy! Can you believe that? Lassie saved many people and many other animal from terrible situations and always knew how to get help, where to get help and how to find the way back to whoever needed help.

Gary the snail in SpongeBob SquarePants

Gary’s full name is Gary Gerald Wilson Junior. He is SpongeBob Squarepants’ pet snail. When you live at the bottom of the sea you have a pet snail that meows. On occasion Gary has also been known to roar and even on rare occasions he can sometimes speak. But most of the time the snail gets his point across without even having to say a word.

Lucky the Cat on Alf

When alien Alf came to live with the Tanner family things got a little complicated for their cat, Lucky because where Alf lived on his planet called Melmac, cats were considered a culinary delicacy. Thankfully, Alf kept himself from eating the adorable Kitty. When Lucky did pass away season 4 the Tanner family got a new cat and named it Lucy two.

Petey the Little Rascals Dog

Most people remember that American pit bull terrier dog with the round circle over his right eye and a complete black ring around his left eye. Petey, was also known as a “nanny” dog that protected the Little Rascals gang in every episode and followed the children on all of their adventures.

Gidget the Taco Bell Dog, 1997 to 2000

When you hear the saying “Yo Quiero Taco Bell” you probably start thinking about the little dog in the Taco Bell commercials. This dog was played by Gidget. She was an adorable little Chihuahua. The commercials ran from 1997 to 2000. She quickly stole the hearts of Americans while she was the mascot for the restaurant chain.

Lady and the Tramp

This Disney movie is about a stray dog named Tramp and a very sophisticated cocker spaniel named Lady. This love story is well-known and has never lost its popularity. It is considered a classic animated film that shows the struggles they have as they fall in love. Lady found herself on the streets after her comfortable life is changed when her owners have a baby and the street-smart Tramp looks out for her. In time they both fall in love.

Benji

Benji became a household name after the release of this 1974 movie. Benji was not a purebred dog. He was actually a stray. But that certainly didn’t stop him from doing things that would help people in their time of need. Things like aiding in the capture of some kidnappers.

Clifford the Big Red Dog 2021

Clifford is a big red dog and his breed has never been said in the movie. Clifford is a sweetheart grows to a huge size so much so that his family has to leave their New York city apartment to find a much bigger house. Clifford definitely knows how to give love in a big way just like his size.

May 9 & 14: Barry Manilow

• Barry Manilow’s full name is Barry Alan Pincus and he was born on June 17, 1943.
• He is an American singer and songwriter with a career lasting six decades.
• He has hit records That include Could It Be Magic, Looks like We Made It, Mandy, I Write the Songs, Can’t Smile Without You, Weekend in New England, and Copacabana.
• He has recorded 51 top 40 singles on the adult contemporary charts. These included 13 songs that went number one, 28 that appeared within the top 10 and 36 that reached the top 20.
• Barry has released 13 platinum and six multi-platinum albums.
• In the 1970s, Frank Sinatra predicted that he would be the next star. He has produced and arranged albums for himself and other artists but has also written and performed songs for other musicians, films and commercials for corporations such as McDonald’s, Pepsi-Cola and Band-Aid.

• He has been nominated for a Grammy award as a producer, arranger and performer a total of 15 times from 1973 to 2015.
• He has produced Grammy nominated albums for Bette Midler, Dionne Warwick, Nancy Wilson and Sarah Vaughn.
• He has sold more than 85 million records as a solo artist worldwide, which make him one of the world’s best-selling artists.

Early Life

• Barry was born in Brooklyn New York. He is the son of Edna Manilow and Harold Kelleher, a truck driver of Irish descent.
• Barry’s mother made his father changed his name to Pincus. This was the name of a Jewish uncle of his father from the 1800s.
• His parents were divorced when he was a baby and his mother’s Jewish family didn’t allow any further contact between Barry and his father.
• Barry’s grandfather had his surname changed to Manilow a few weeks for better Barry’s bar mitzvah.
• Barry grew up in the Williamsburg neighbourhood of Brooklyn and graduated in 1961 from Eastern District High School.
• He had a short marriage in high school and then enrolled in the City College of New York before he entered the New York College of music.
• He worked at CBS while he was a student to pays expenses.
• After he decided to study musical theatre at Juilliard Performing Arts School.

Career

1960s

• In 1964, Barry meant Bro Herrod, a CBS director. He asked him to arrange some songs for musical adaptation of The Drunkard. Instead, he wrote the entire original music score.
• Herrod used Barry’s composition in the off-Broadway musical which ran 8 Years in New York.
• Barry then earned his money by working as a pianist, producer and arranger. He began work as a commercial jingle writer and singer all through the 1960s. His singing only credits can include commercials for Kentucky fried chicken, Pepsi, McDonald’s and Dr Pepper.
• He was awarded an Honorary Cilo at the 50^th anniversary Cilo Awards in Las Vegas in 2009 for his 1960s work as a jingle writer and singer. While he was accepting the award said that he learned the most about making pop music by working for three or four years as a writer in the jingle industry.
• In 1967, Barry was the musical director for the WCBS TV series Callback which premiered on January 27, 1968.
• He conducted and arranged a new theme song from the late-night show for Ed Sullivan while singing and producing television jingles.
• By 1969 Barry was signed by Columbia/CBS music vice President and recording artist Tony Orlando who went on to cowrite with and produce Barry and a group of studio musicians.

1970s

• Barry recorded four records they were produced by Tony Orlando on Bell records.
• They were called Morning, which was a ballad, Amy which was a psychedelic pop song, Could It Be Magic which he would later sing with Tony Orlando and Rosalie Rosie.

• Bette Midler saw Barry’s act in 1971 and decided that he should be her musical pianist at the Continental Baths in New York City that year and eventually be a producer on both her debut album and second album. He was also acting as her musical director on the tour for her first album called the Divine Miss M in 1972.
• In 1973, Barry was nominated for the Grammy award for album of the year for his production role on the Divine Miss M album at the 16^th annual Grammy awards. Barry worked with that Midler from 1971 to 1975.
• In July 1973 the album Barry Manilow was released by Bell records. This album was a mixture of piano driven pop and guitar rock music. It included the song called I Am Your Child which was in the 1972 Vietnam war drama called Parades.

• In 1974 Barry released the single called Mandy. It was on his second album called Barry Manilow to. A fun fact is that Barry wanted to call that song Brandy and Not Mandy. The title was changed to Mandy during an actual recording session of on August 20, 1974, because of the fact that there had already been a song called Brandy. Mandy was the beginning of a string of hit singles and albums that went through until the early 1980s.

• They were from the multi-platinum and multi hits albums Tryin’ To Get the Feeling Again, This One’s for You, Even Now, and One Voice.

• After the success of Barry Manilow Two they decided to remix the album Barry Manilow one on Arista records.
• When Barry went on his first tour he included what he called A Very Strange Melody. This was a song including some of the commercial jingles that he had written, composed and/or some in the 1960s. This melody eventually appeared on his triple platinum 1977 album Barry Manilow Live.
• On March 22, 1975, Barry appeared on American Bandstand promoting his second album. This is where his friendship with Dick Clark started. They worked together on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rock and Eve and he sang one of his original seasonal favourites called It’s Just Another New Year’s Eve.

• Even though he was a songwriter several of Barry’s successful songs were written by others some of them are Trying to Get the Feeling Again, Weekend in New England, Ships, Looks like We Made It, Can’t Smile Without You, and Ready to Take a Chance Again.

• Barry’s number one hit was written by Bruce Johnston of the Beach boys and it was called I Write the Songs.

• Barry’s popularity in Britain came with the release of Even Now. This was the first of many top 20 albums for him. It contained four singles that became very popular in the US. and Manilow Magic – the Best of Barry Manilow, also known as Greatest Hits, was released.
• In the late 1970s and early 1980s ABC decided to air four variety televisions specials starring Barry. He was the executive producer. The Barry Manilow special had Penny Marshall as his guest was on March 2, 1977, and 37 million people watched this episode. It was nominated for four Emmy awards at the 29^th primetime Emmy awards and won the in the category of outstanding special comedy variety of music.
• The second Barry Manilow special was in 1978 with Ray Charles. It was also nominated for Emmy awards at the 30^th primetime Emmy awards.
• On February 11, 1979, a concert from Barry sold out tour dates from his Even Now tour dates at the Greek theatre in Los Angeles was made into an HBO series Standing Room Only. This was the first pay television show to pose a threat to network primetime specials for ratings.
• From the same tour in 1978 a one hour special from Barry’s sold out concert at the Royal Albert Hall aired in the UK.
• On May 23, 1979, ABC eyrie aired the third Barry Manilow special with John Denver as his guest. It was nominated for two Emmy awards at the 31^st primetime Emmy awards and one for outstanding choreography.

1980s

• During the 1980s Barry was on top of the adult contemporary radio charts with songs such as The Old Songs, Somewhere down the Road, and Read Em and Weep.

• In 1980 Barry’s One Voice special with Dionne Warwick as his guest was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding music direction at the at the 32^nd primetime Emmy awards.
• He released his self-titled album in 1980 as well which was his first album to reach the top in the United States. It got to number 15. The album had hits on it like I Made It through the Rain, and Bermuda Triangle.

• In 1981 he released the album called If I Should Love Again. Two of the songs were able to reach top 40.
• On August 27, 1983, Barry performed a landmark open air concert in Britain and he told his audience that it was one of the most exciting nights in his life. It was attended by an estimated 40,000 people.
• In 1984 Barry released 2 AM Paradise Café.
• In 1985 Larry left Arista records and went to RCA records and released the pop album called Manilow.
• He began a phase of international music and performed songs and duets in French, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese.
• The Manilow album was very different from the paradise Café album.
• His only acting role came when he became played Tony Stark in the 1985 CBS film called Copacabana which was based on his 1978 hit Copacabana.

• In 1987, McGraw-Hill published his autobiography called Sweet Life: Avengers on the Way to Paradise. It took him three years to complete the book.
• In 1988 Barry performed Please Don’t Be Scared and Mandy/Could Be Magic at That’s What Friends Are for: AIDS concert 88. It was a benefit concert for the Warwick foundation headed by Dionne Warwick.
• In the 1988 Walt Disney pictures animated feature called Oliver and Company, Bette Midler’s character sang a new Manilow composition called Perfect Isn’t Easy.

• In 1989 he released Barry Manilow with the songs don’t Please Don’t Be Scared, Keep Each Other Warm, and The One That Got Away.

1990s

• In 1990 he released his Christmas LP called Because It’s Christmas. He covered the song called Jump Shoot Boogie.

• In 1996 he released a recording tribute to Frank Sinatra called Frank Sinatra Manilow Sinatra it was released months after Sinatra’s death.
• In the early 1990s Barry signed on with Don Bluth to compose the songs for three animated films. He cowrote the musical scores for Thumbelina in 1994 and the Pebble and the Penguin in 1995.
• In 1993 PBS aired Barry Manilow: The Best of Me. It was taped at Wembley Arena in England earlier that year. The BBC also played a one-hour version of the same show that included The Best of Me, which was sung during the concert.
• He performed 14 concerts as a part of an extended tour covering Germany, Austria and Denmark.
• In December 1996, A & E aired Barry Manilow: Life by Request. This was the first of two Life By Request appearances. This broadcast was A & E’s most successful music program because it attracted an estimated 2.4 million viewers.
• On October 23, 1999, NBC aired the two hour special called star skates salute to Barry Manilow which featured numerous figure skaters performing Barry’s music. He also performed.

2000s

• In June 2000 Direct TV aired the two hour concert special Manilow Live. He had a 30 piece orchestra and a choir. The special documented the tour at the time with the greatest hits of his career and was also released to video.
• Also, Barry’s record contract with Arista records was not renewed due to new management. He got a contract at Concorde records which was a jazz oriented label in California and got to work on the album Here At the Mayflower. It was an eclectic mix of different styles and almost entirely composed and produced by Barry himself. While at Concorde records he also started a scholarship that was awarded for four consecutive years from 2002 to 2005 to the six highest achieving students to reward excellent in the arts and crafts of lyric writing.
• In February 2002 Barry returned to the charts when Arista records released a greatest hits album, Ultimate Manilow.
• On December 3, 2003, A&E aired a Barry Manilow Christmas: Live By Request. This was his second of two concerts series. The two specials had Barry taking requests for Christmas songs performed live with a band and orchestra.
• On September 15, 2004, he was on the Oprah Winfrey show and she announced that Barry is one of the most requested guests of all time on her show. He promoted his One Night Live One Last Time tour.
• He appeared for the first time on American Idol and appeared on Clay Aiken’s TV special a Clay Aiken Christmas.
• On October 31, 2006, he released a 50s tribute albums called The Greatest Songs of the 50s. It included songs such as And I Love Her And Can’t Help Falling in Love. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200.

• In October 2009 Manilow TV, a monthly video subscription service launched. Once a month Barry would post a different concert from his personal archive to show to subscribers.

2010s

• On January 26, 2010, Barry released The Greatest Love Songs of All Time and in December of that year the album was nominated for a Grammy award in the category of Best Pop Traditional Vocal album at the 52^nd Grammy awards.
• On December 11, 2010, Barry performed at the Nobel Peace concert in Oslo Norway.

• In a June 2011 interview with the Los Angeles Times Barry said that his new album is influenced by Britney Spears. The album is about the pleasures and pains of fame. It was influenced a lot by Britney’s personal struggles in late 2007.
• The album called 15 Minutes debuted at number seven on the US Billboard 200 album charts. The first single from 15 minutes called Bring on Tomorrow went to number 40 on the Billboard hot 200. This became Barry’s 47^th top 40 hit.

• In 2019, it was announced that Barry’s original musical Harmony would make it to New York at the National Yiddish theatre Folksbiene in the Museum of Jewish heritage. It would be running from February 11 March 29, 2020. Unfortunately, it was cancelled due to the start of the COVID 19 outbreak and rescheduled for spring of 2022.

2020s

• In April 2020 Barry got his 36^th top 20 Billboard Adult Contemporary chart hit with the song called When the Good Times Come Again which topped the chart at number 12 in the week of July 2. A fan made a lyric video for the song when the pandemic hit. Barry found the video and posted it on his Facebook page which caused the management company to send the song to the radio stations so they could play it.

• In August 2020, Barry sold his song catalogue to Hipgnosis Songs Fund. In 2021, Barry started his The Hits Come Home residency at the Westgate hotel in Las Vegas.
• On December 11, 2023, NBC aired a Christmas special called Barry Manilow’s a very Barry Christmas that featured Barry himself.

Personal Life

• Barry married his high school sweetheart in 1964. Later he said that he was in love with his wife and that is passion for music career and his lack of maturity put a big strain on their relationship.
• His wife started divorce proceedings in 1966. In 2017 Barry said that even though he was in a long term relationship with a man, he had been in love with his wife and the failure of his marriage was not related at all to his sexual orientation.
• In 1978, Barry began a relationship with TV executive Garry Kleff and he became his manager. The two married in 2014 after same-sex marriage became legal in California.
• Barry did not want his marriage to become public but when it did he came out as gay in April 2017, and he told People Magazine that he was pleasantly surprised to find out that most of his female fan base was being supportive of the marriage. He had initially feared that the news would disappoint them.
• He has a stepdaughter through his husbands previous marriage and an adopted granddaughter.

Philanthropy and Fundraising

• In 1989, to help with the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo which affected Charleston South Carolina, Barry held a benefit concert on November 12 at the University of South Carolina’s Carolina Coliseum in Columbia.
• The $10 ticket sold out in only three hours and he had asked people attending the concert to bring canned food to be donated to the residents in the disaster areas.
• Before his concert the mayor named that day Barry Manilow Day. Barry presented the Red Cross and the Salvation Army with checks of $42,500 each.
• To help with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, for every US dollar donated by his fans to the American Red Cross through The Manilow Fund for Health and Hope website, Barry personally matched and the funder itself also matched the amount of the donation. This tripled the original donation. The fund delivered $150,000 in 48 hours to the American Red Cross.
• On October 27, 2011, Barry visited Joplin, Missouri. It was a little more than five months after a tornado destroyed one third of the city, including its only high school.
• His Manilow Music Project made a contribution of $300,000 to help restore the musical program and instruments that were lost in the tornado.

May 2: Paul McCartney

Who is Paul McCartney?

• Paul McCartney’s work as a singer/songwriter with the Beatles in the 1960s is what helped change popular music into a creative, highly commercial art form, with the ability to blend the two together.
• He is also one of the most popular solo performers of all time because of the sales of his recordings and attendance at his concerts.

Early Life

• His full name is James Paul McCartney. He was born on June 18, 1942, in Liverpool, England.
• His mother’s name was Mary and she was married to James McCartney. His mother was a maternity nurse and his father worked as a cotton salesman and jazz pianist in a local band.
• Paul was raised in a traditional working class family and so was his future fellow Beatles Ringo Starr and George Harrison.
• Sadly, when Paul was only 14 years old his mother died of complications from a mastectomy. His future bandmate John Lennon also lost his mother at a young age. This connection would create very close bond between the two musicians.
• His father encouraged him to try to learn multiple musical instruments and as a result his love affair with music began at a very early age.
• Even though he had formal music lessons when he was young, Paul preferred to learn music by ear, teaching himself the Spanish guitar, trumpet and piano.
• By age 16 he had already written the song called When I’m Sixty-Four. He hoped to eventually sell it to Frank Sinatra.

• In 1957 he met John Lennon at a church festival where John’s band called the Quarrymen were performing. He was he was soon invited to become a member of the band.
• John and Paul quickly became the group’s songwriters. There were many name changes and a few personnel changes as well. Early on they agreed that all of their songs would be credited to John and Paul no matter who had written the song or if each of them wrote a song separately.

The Beatles

• By 1960, the group had settled on a new name the Beatles and George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best joined the group. They were a regular fixture at Liverpool’s cavern club. They usually brought in over 500 people to see them in a 200 person capacity club.
• Their fame got them an offer to play in Hamburg Germany. They spent the next three years improving their touring skills, drinking, and occasionally getting in trouble with the law.
• While they were in Germany Stuart fell in love with local Astrid Kerchherr. She was an artist and photographer who helped create the Beatles look, she influenced their wardrobe and styled and cut their hair. Stuart left the band to move in with Astrid and McCartney was finally free to take over the base guitar position. He had been wanting this position for a long time.
• While in Hamburg the Beatles recorded their first records and they got the attention of Brian Epstein who was a music columnist who managed his family’s record store. He went to see them perform and offered to manage them because he knew how successful they could be. Paul missed their first meeting with them because he decided to take a bath instead.
• Eventually they all got together and the great partnership was born. Epstein refined their look and there on stage performance. He worked them very hard trying to get them a record deal.
• Producer George Martin signed them to EMI record label but they had to do one thing: he asked that they replace their drummer. They did and ultimately they decided on Ringo Starr. Pete Best’s fans protested saying they would never listen to the Beatles again but despite that the group began to get increasingly more popular.
• The impact that the Beatles would have on popular culture is very hard to explain. But Beatlemania soon went worldwide and when the group made their debut in America, the media called the period of musical crossover between the two nations the British invasion.
• This era would have a lasting impact on the history of rock ‘n’ roll. During a decade full of physical and social problems the Beatles expressed their hopes of finding ways to have peace, love, and rock ‘n’ roll with just a little bit of rebellion in their songs. They called this British “cheek”.
• Paul wrote more hits for the band than any other member. Songs like Yesterday, Hey Jude, Let It Be, and Hello Goodbye would be the songs that would provide the soundtrack for generations.
• The song Yesterday was is still the most covered Beatles song of all time.

• From 1962 to 1970, the Beatles released 12 studio album. They were on tour all the time until 1966. They played their final show at candlestick Park in San Francisco on August 29.
• The crowd was hysterical and they couldn’t even hear themselves sing over the screaming.
• Their music had become more complex and it was harder and harder to reproduce the sound without the benefit of being in the studio.

Wings and Solo Success

• The Beatles broke up in 1970 and the fans were broken hearted worldwide.
• However, Paul had no intention of dropping away from the public. He was the first of the Beatles to release a solo album called McCartney in 1970. The critics reactions were mixed but this album was a hit with the public.
• Paul decided to form a band called Wings. It remained very popular throughout the 1970s. They won two Grammy awards and put out multiple hit singles.
• In 1969, Paul married Linda Eastman. She was an American photographer and they were married for 30 years. They had four children. They all moved into McCartney’s farm in Scotland and Paul did most of the renovation work himself. One day they wore working with superstars and politicians and the next day they were back on the farm.
• In the 1980s it was very hard for Paul. He got arrested for marijuana possession in Japan in January and it put him in jail for nine days.
• Later in the year his longtime partner and friend John Lennon was killed outside his New York city apartment. He was so upset about his friend’s death that he stopped touring for almost a decade.
• However, he continued to play and record new music. He collaborated with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson and still had an amazing amount of success.

• In 1989, he was ready to perform live again and launched a world tour. This tour provided material for a triple live album. The tour also gave him a world’s record when he performed for the largest stadium audience in history. It was a concert for 184000 fans in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• He started working with Elvis Costello and they each released albums featuring different records That they had written together.
• In the early 1990s, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society commissioned Paul to compose an orchestral piece. The result was Liverpool Oratorio. This hit number one on the UK classical charts.
• In 1994, he decided to take four years away from his solo career to work with his former bandmates George Harrison and Ringo Starr on the Beatles Anthology Project. They released a rock album in 1997 as well as a classical album.
• The following year Linda died of cancer after a long illness.
• In September 2001 he watched the attack on New York City from the tarmac at JFK airport and then became one of the organizers for the concert for New York City. He continued recording and performing around the world.
• His 2002 tour was named the top tour of the year by Billboard magazine.

Later Career and Collaborations

• In 2012, Paul released the album Kisses on the Bottom. It featured renditions of his favourite songs from childhood. They included classics like It’s Only a Paper Moon and My Valentine.
• Paul made headlines later that year when he performed with fellow rocker Bruce Springsteen at London’s Hyde Park. The two legendary rock musicians even performed two Beatles hits together. They played I Saw Her Standing There and Twist and Shout. Unfortunately, this concert was cut short by the authorities when it exceeded the scheduled end time and Springsteen’s and McCartney’s microphones were turned off by the event organizers.

• In 2013, Paul headlined the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. It was a four-day event held annually in Manchester, Tennessee. Other performers at the event were Tom Petty, Billy Idol, John Oates, Jeff Tweedy and Bjork.
• That same year he released his album called New. This album was produced by Giles Martin the son of longtime Beatles producer Sir George Martin.
• The next year, Paul collaborated with Kanye West on the song called Only One. In 2015 they worked again with Rihanna on the song called Four Five Seconds.
• In March 2016, Paul announced he would release Pure McCartney a solo album that had songs on it that spanned his whole legendary career.
• In April 2016 he kicked off his One-On-One Tour and later he performed at the Desert Trip Festival with people like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Roger Waters, the Rolling Stones and The Who.
• In June 2018 right after his 76^th birthday he released the ballad I Don’t Know and the upbeat song called Come On To Me from the album Egypt Station.  

• For his contributions to global rock ‘n’ roll culture, he has been knighted, Named a Fellow of the Royal College of Music, the recipient and of The Kennedy Centre Honours and inducted into the rock ‘n’ roll Hall of Fame.
• In 2010 President Barack Obama awarded him with the Gershwin Prize. This is the highest award a musician can receive in America. McCartney was the first non-American to receive this honour.
• Two years later he was named the musiCare’s Person of the Year in honour of his artistic achievement and dedication to philanthropy.

Personal Life

• Linda McCartney passed away in 1998 after a long battle with cancer.
• Four years later Paul married Heather Mills. She is a former model and activist. They had a daughter Beatrice in 2000.
• There was a lot of tabloid news and intense conflict between the two of them and they separated in 2006.
• In October 2011 he married for the third time. She is a New York businesswoman named Nancy Shevell. They married in London.
• Besides music Paul has many interests. He is very interested in filmmaking, writing, painting, meditation and activism.
• He is a vegetarian and in 2009 teamed up with his daughters Mary and Stella and launched Meat Free Monday, it is a Not-for-profit campaign aiming to raise awareness about negative impact of meat consumption on health as well as the environment.
• In November 2017, they released a short video called One Day a Week which included an unreleased song from Paul called Botswana.
• Paul also found time have a cameo appearance in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, starring Johnny Depp.

• In 2019 published a children’s book called Hey Grandude!
• Paul is now in his 70s and he continues to work and sell out massive arenas. When he is asked about his retirement plans, Paul replied, in typical fashion, “why would I retire? Sit at home and watch TV? No thanks. I’d rather be out playing.”

Go Leafs go!!!

April 23: Earth Day

• More than 8 billion people live on this earth, and we use Earth Day to remind us all of the need to take care of our home earth.
• Earth Day takes place on April 22 and dates back to 1970. This is when US-based organizers hoped to bring an awareness to the environment and the damage we are doing to the earth.
• The damage that they witnessed while they travelled across the country bothered them so they decided to make a difference. After that Earth Day began.
• Since we started to recognize Earth Day as a special day it has expanded to more than 190 countries.
• This day is a difficult reminder of the work that must be done and the celebration of the progress that has been made when it comes to climate change efforts.
• It’s also been a catalyst for action and the creation of international Climate Agreements and Environmental Agencies.
• This year’s theme is Planet versus Plastic. This calls on all government leaders, businesses, and people to reduce plastic production by 2% by 2040.
• It calls for the full elimination of all single use plastics by the end of this decade.

• “The word environment means what surrounds you. In the case of plastics, we have become the product itself. It flows through our bloodstream, adheres to our internal organs, and carries with it heavy metals known to cause cancer and disease” said Kathleen Rogers, President of Earth Day.org. “The planet versus plastics campaign is a call to arms, a demand that we Act now to end this use of plastics and safeguard the health of every living being upon our planet.”

10 Interesting Facts about Earth Day

1. Earth Day Was Created by a Senator

• Gaylord Nelson was a Democratic senator from Wisconsin.

• He was getting more and more concerned over the state of US environment in the 1960s.
• After a huge oil spill in Santa Barbara, California in January 1969 he had the idea to launch a nationwide environmentally focused class on college campuses.
• He got inspiration from the antiwar movements against the Vietnam War that were happening on campuses around the country.
• He recruited Denis Hayes who was a young activist. He was hired to help bring the idea to the public.

2. The Idea for Earth Day Came after a Series of Environmental Catastrophes

• Dennis told Time magazine that the idea of Earth Day came because of a number of events that drew the attention to the environment, including the release of Rachel Carson’s book called silent Spring in 1962, and the 1969 Cuyahoga River fire.

• He said that even though there was a number of in the US working on different environmental issues like trying to reduce air pollution, bringing attention to the impact of pesticides on farmworkers and a lot more, they had never worked on these causes together.
• He said “what we did was take all of those issues including wildlife protection issues and brought them all together. It sounds strange today, but back then the folks involved with each of the various causes, didn’t think of themselves as having anything in common with one another,” he told Time magazine in 2019. “No one was asking this question At the end of the 1970s.”

3. More Than 20 Million People Participated in the First Earth Day

• Millions of people participated in the first Earth Day celebration on April 22, 1970.
• It even shut down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue and people demonstrated and participated in street cleanups.
• “The holiday mood on Fifth Avenue was exemplified by members of the architectural firm of Warner, Burns, Toan and Lunde, who spread a yellow and white quilt on the asphalt near 57^th Street put a tulip in a wine bottle for the centerpiece and enjoyed a picnic in the sun. A laughing crowd gathered around them and sang, “Happy Earth Day to You,” the New York Times reported that day.

4. Earth Day is on April 22 Because of College Schedules

• The date for Earth Day was set because of the schedules of the college students that Hayes and Nelson were hoping to attract.
• April 22 fell on a weekday during the school year right between spring break and final exams, when the weather was mild enough to allow people to be outside and help clean up.

5. The Environmental Protection Agency Was Created after the First Earth Day

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which regulates mechanisms to protect the environment, was created on December 2, 1970, in a direct response to the first Earth Day. It was formed by Congress after witnessing the huge participation in Earth Day demonstration across the country. When it first began some said they would never be another Earth Day. Some people even saw the concern for our environment as a fad.

How does the EPA help the environment?

6. Earth Day Went Global in 1990

• Because there were millions of people that participated in the first Earth Day movement, there were many laws that were passed. They included the National Environmental Education Act, The Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Clean Air Act in the US later that year.
• Earth Day in 1970 is said to have achieved a rare political alignment that causes people that would Not normally work together to come together to fight to clean up our environment.
• Earth Day went global in 1990 after a group of environmental leaders approached Hayes to organize another major campaign to help clean up the planet.
• It brought 200 million people in 141 countries together to achieve the goal of cleaning up our earth. In the new millennium this movement changed its focus to campaign against global warming and in 2020 over 1 billion people worldwide participated in Earth Day activities and actions.

7. The Paris Agreement Opened for Signature on Earth Day

• The Paris agreement is the most significant international climate agreement in history. It was open for signature on Earth Day in 2016. The treaty has more than 190 signatures and all of the people that signed agreed to reduce the carbon emissions and carry out other actions to reduce climate change.

8. United Automobile Workers Union Played a Role in Making Earth Day Possible

• The former head of the United Automobile Workers Union was one of the biggest contributors to the original Earth Day.
• They donated $2000 in the year 1970 Earth Day. Today that amount would be close to $15,000.
• The United Automobile Workers Union was the largest contributor to the first Earth Day and its support was beyond financial. It helped to print and mail all the materials at its expense. Union workers turned out in every city where there was a United Auto Workers Union to help in the cause.

9. Organizers Are Trying to Have the Biggest Earth Day Cleanup Events in History in 2024

• For this year’s Earth Day celebrations, Earth Day.org is working with Malaysian organizations to help host the largest cleanup and Earth Day history.
• Penang Island, the country’s main island, has been very impacted by plastic pollution due to tourism there. At least 100,000 volunteers will be helping to clean up the beaches and forests in the country. They also will plan more than 1 million trees.

10. Tens of Millions of Trees Have Been Planted on Earth Day

• It is believed that 18 million acres of forest are lost every year due to deforestation according to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization. To fight against this, Earth Day.org founded the Canopy Project in 2010 and says it has since planted tens of millions of trees around the world.

What can we do to clean up our earth and make our environment cleaner and safer?

Happy Earth Day 2024!

In celebration Of the Leafs road to the Stanley Cup! Go Leafs Go!

April 18: Billy Joel

Who is Billy Joel?

Billy was born on May 9, 1949, in New York.

He had a disappointing first album called Cold Spring Harbor in 1971 but his second album was made in 1973 and it was called Piano Man. It featured songs like Piano Man and Captain Jack.

– He made a lot of successful albums including Street Life Serenade in 1974, The Stranger in 1977 and 52^nd Street in 1978.

– During the 1980s, Billy married supermodel Christie Brinkley and he was on top of the musical charts with the songs called Uptown Girl and We Didn’t Start the Fire.

– In 1999, his song sales all over the world topped $100 million and he was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

– In 2013, he received the Kennedy Centre Honours.

Early Life

His full name is William Martin Billy Joel and he was born in the Bronx, New York on May 9, 1949.

His parents were Howard and Rosalind Joel.

Shortly after he was born his family moved to section of America’s famous “first suburb” in Levittown on Long Island.

His father was an accomplished classical pianist but it was his mother that pushed Billy to study piano. He began playing at the age of four and showed his immediate ability and talent for the piano.

By the time he was sixteen Billy was already a pro at playing piano and he joined his third band before he could even drive.

Early Career

Billy was inspired by the Beatles and it wasn’t long before he was asked he on the Ed Sullivan show. It was then that he decided to commit his heart and soul to a life of music.

He decided to drop out of high school to pursue a performing career and devoted himself to creating his first solo album called Cold Spring Harbor which was released in 1971.

The terms of Billy’s contract with Family Productions turned out to be very expensive with Billy being left disappointed with the album they helped him release. It wasn’t successful at all.

After that he was very disillusioned with his ability to become a rockstar so he decided to move to Los Angeles and stay out of the public eye for a while.

In early 1972 he got a job working as a lounge pianist under the name of Bill Martin. His time playing at this lounge called The Executive Room on Wilshire Boulevard was later immortalized in his song Piano Man which describes a no-name lounge with down and out patrons.

By late 1972, an underground recording of Joel Billy’s Captain Jack album had been released on the East Coast and received rave reviews.

Executives from Columbia Records started to look for him and gave Billy a second chance to become a rockstar.

Career Breakthrough

Because of the success of the top 20 single called Piano Man Billy began recording new songs and albums. In 1974 he released Street Life Serenade.

Many of his songs related to a growing frustration with the music industry and Hollywood. This was even before he left to go to Los Angeles in 1976.

As the years went on, Billy’s style began to change showing his ability to go from pop music to the bluesy jazz style that we all expect to hear from him.

The Stranger album was released in 1977 and it was the first commercial breakthrough album. It gave him four songs in the top 25 of the US Billboard charts.

By 1981, Billy had collected a lot of awards including a Grammy For Best Male Rock Vocal Performance and A People’s Choice Award.

Awards and Achievements

Through the 1980s, Billy would release a number of hits with songs like Tell Her About It, Uptown Girl, Innocent Man, and The Longest Time.

He released two volumes of Greatest Hits and became the first American performer to perform a full-scale rock production in the Soviet Union.

He would also perform benefit concerts with stars like Cyndi Lauper and John Mellencamp to raise money for various causes.

In 1989, just after he released the successful single called We Didn’t Start the Fire, Billy was presented with the Grammy Legend Award.

He continued to be very successful into the early 1990s.

His personal life however became somewhat dramatic.

After the release of the album River Of Dreams in 1994, Billy didn’t record as much in the studio but continued to tour alone with artists like Elton John.

In 1999, the worldwide sales of his songs past the 100 million mark.

After that year Billy was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame by his idol Ray Charles.

Several years later in 2013, he received the Kennedy Centre Honours.

Later Career

In the early 2000’s Billy struggled with an ongoing alcohol addiction and found himself going in and out of rehab.

In 2007, he released the single called All My Life. This was his first song with original lyrics in 13 years.

Even though he had semiretired from recording new pop songs, he continued to tour and branch out as an artist.

He has composed several classical songs and even reworked older ballads with an orchestral backing.

Over the years, Billy’s songs have acted as personal and cultural milestones for millions of people. They mirrored his own goal of writing songs. He said, “songs that meant something to me during the time in which I lived…and transcended that time.”

When Billy’s residency at Madison Square Garden was announced in 2013, his devoted fans proved how much his music meant to them. As the first music franchise in Madison Square Garden’s history, Billy broke records: his monthly concerts have sold out every time and as of October 2015 he has grossed over $46 million in sales.

Wife and Children

In 1982 Billy split up with his first wife, Elizabeth Weber Small. She had been his partner since 1973.

In 1984, Billy would meet and marry supermodel Christy Brinkley. Soon after that, their daughter Alexa Ray (she was named after Ray Charles) was born on December 29, 1985. Billy divorced Christy in 1993.

In 2004, he married the television personality and journalist Katie Lee. They would divorce after five years of marriage.

In 2015, Billy and his girlfriend of 16 years, Alexis Roderick announced they were expecting a baby together.

That summer that summer Billy and Alexis got married at the couple’s annual Fourth of July party at his long island estate. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo presided over the nuptials. Their daughter Della Rose Joel was born on August 12, 2015.

I thought we could finish class by watching a cute video with Billy and his little girl.