BE OUR GUEST (October 29, 2023)

Today we have a treat for you: Keith is back in the house!

Keith Allen, AKA The Nostalgic Italian, has written another guest post which we’re sure you’ll find interesting and entertaining. It’s guaranteed to brighten up your end-of-October Sunday! Today Keith is talking about songs that evoke certain memories …. something we can all relate to …. and he’s picked a beauty for us.

OK, enough talking by me; I’m going to hand the reins over to Keith for another edition of Be Our Guest. Take it away, Keith!

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Thank you, Nancy, for allowing me to share another song on The Rhythm Section: Be Our Guest. I’m sure that you would agree there are certain songs that transport you to a specific time in your life and bring about many memories. That is why I chose this particular song.

Today’s tune is another one that you have probably never heard before. It’s from a 1991 album that got bad reviews from the critics. That’s the thing about music – we each have our own tastes and not everyone is going to agree on what’s “good” or what’s “bad”. I happen to really like this album and play it often in the car. Here’s the story of how I discovered it; I hope you’ll find it interesting and different.

Ludington

In 1991, I had broken up with a girl I had been dating for three years. I was working part-time in radio at the time. An old radio buddy called me with a full-time opening for an afternoon shift and wanted to know if I would be interested. Since the relationship with my girlfriend was over, I decided maybe it was time to move. I took the job and moved to the west side of Michigan. It didn’t really pay well but it was a full-time job. It was April of 1991 and here I was in Ludington, MI …. about to settle down in unknown territory.

As a 20 year old guy who had never been away from home, it was a bit scary. I won’t lie to you; my first night away I heard every noise inside and outside my apartment! I really hated being away from my friends and family. I knew a few of the people at the station but that was the extent of it.

I worked from noon till 8:00 PM; my on-air shift was 2:00-7:00 PM. I ran a satellite show until 8:00 PM and was relieved by someone who came in to keep the station on the air until midnight. I lived about 10-15 minutes from work and when I got home, I just watch TV. I’m sure the internet was around at the time but I didn’t have a computer (if I did, it would have been dial up!!).

I only had three or four stations because I couldn’t afford cable TV at the time. It was during this time that I began watching a lot of Johnny Carson and David Letterman and gained an appreciation for late-night TV. One night Carson had Pat Benatar on as a musical guest. I was familiar with her music as it was a big part of my childhood. “Love is a Battlefield” “We Belong” and “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” were huge hits in the 80s. When Johnny introduced her, I was waiting for some kind of rock guitar lick …. but it never came.

The song opened with a very bluesy bass line and I was completely thrown for a loop. Pat’s vocal was sultry, smooth and sexy! I was totally digging this song! It was a HUGE departure from what she was known for. Word is that she had always wanted to do a “jump blues” album and this was it. The album featured some covers (BB King and Wynonie Harris) as well as originals. The song “True Love” was an original. (Jump blues is a style of blues that emerged in the late 1930s from the cross-pollination of blues, particularly Boogie Woogie, and jazz styles popular at the time, such as Swing and Big Band.)

Remember when folks got all excited about Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga singing jazz with Tony Bennett? Both were out of their comfort zone and singing a genre that seemed odd for them, yet they both knocked their vocals out of the park! To me, that is exactly what Pat Benatar does with this album and the title track. It is one of those songs I can listen to over and over again. I just love her vocal and the arrangement. Give it a listen –

So, what did you think? Hope you love the song as much as I do!

Thanks again to you, Nancy, and the team at The Rhythm Section for having me guest post. And thanks to YOU, the readers, for tuning in, reading and listening!

Until next time,
Keith, The Nostalgic Italian

KA©2023

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Thanks, Keith! It’s always great to have you join us. What a terrific story and song you shared today!

Now, I hope you’ll indulge me as I reminisce for a moment or two. I’m going back just a few years to the early 1970s when Pat Benatar performed at an amateur night at the comedy club Catch a Rising Star in New York. If you’ve ever been to any of these places you know the crowd can be brutal. I happened to be there that night with friends when Pat Benatar walked out on the stage and began singing the standard “Someone to Watch Over Me”. That moment was like something you see in a movie; everyone from the busboys to the celebrities in the audience stopped what they were doing and the whole place fell silent at the sound of Pat’s voice. The crowd loved her but it was her rendition of Judy Garland’s “Rock-a-Bye Your Baby With a Dixie Melody” that earned her a call back by club owner Rick Newman, who became her manager. True story and it was Keith’s post today that jogged my memory.

Thanks for letting me tell my story.

See you on the flip side.

I’m Nancy, The Sicilian Storyteller

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