Modern Rock Holiday: Planes, Trains and Automobiles Theme

planes 1

Sometimes in business travel, you’re Steve Martin (Neal): sophisticated, reserved, well-dressed. But every messy incident on the road with other people is uncomfortable.

Sometimes in business travel, you’re John Candy (Del): not the sharpest or coolest guy. But your customers like you. And your wife likes you. What you see is what you get.

Sometimes getting home is all that matters. Cue the theme to Planes, Trains and Automobiles!

I am not a big fan of electronic music. But I love the song “Red River Rock” by The Silicon Teens. I am posting about it here due to its connection to holiday music and Thanksgiving even thought the tune itself has nothing to do with either. But this electronic version of the old folk tune “Red River Valley” is my favorite Thanksgiving song due to its prominence in the now-classic movie, Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Enjoy below and Happy Thanksgiving!

Adam Sandler: Thanksgiving Song

Adam Sandler SNL
Remember when Adam Sandler was funny? I think it was a narrow window from 1993 through mid-1997. But in that time he gave us a few holiday tunes via Saturday Night Live. Here’s the Turkey Song – Happy Thanksgiving!

Modern Rock Christmas: Ray Davies, Thanksgiving Day

Ray Davies Thanksgiving Day

Pop music, especially in the modern rock era (which I define as roughly 1979 to 1999), has a lot of Christmas songs in its catalog. A lot. A whole lot. In fact, way too many.

Like Christmas itself throughout the same era, pop and rock bands have cashed in over the past couple of decades, using Christmas as a reason to offer up specific product. But, no one has really created big hits for other holidays since Bobby “Boris” Picket staked his claim on Halloween in 1962.

Enter Ray Davies. The first time I heard “Thanksgiving Day” in 2005, I could just picture Ray telling his friends that the song isn’t just a Thanksgiving song, but more importantly it’s NOT another Christmas song. After all, Ray and his band The Kinks already conquered the Christmas genre with 1977’s “Father Christmas”!

Have a listen below to Ray perfroming this on the old Conan show in 2005:

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WKRP: Thanksgiving Turkey Drop

Arthur Carlson WKRP — “As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly.”

What a pro! Mr. Jump was a PR person’s AND a media outlet’s perfect interviewee: he promoted the Maytag event for which he was the guest, and also was open to reminiscing about his WKRP glory days. It was near Thanksgiving, so he gave us his best on-air recreation of his classic quote from the WKRP turkey massacre episode. He was thankful for having such a good run and for still acting and portraying fun characters.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
-Jack Monson

Oh, the humanity!
-Les Nessman

The Greatest Thanksgiving PR Stunt of All Time: WKRP

The holiday reruns start now! Here’s a re-posting of last year’s Thanksgiving post, with a new list…

Several years ago, I had the privilege of meeting Gordon Jump, aka Arthur “Big Guy” Carlson of WKRP in Cincinnati. He was passing through town on a PR tour for Maytag (he was the Maytag Repairman in the commercial campaign at the time) and did a live studio interview at the radio station I was programming.

What a pro! Mr. Jump was a PR person’s AND a media outlet’s perfect interviewee: he promoted the Maytag event for which he was the guest, and also was open to reminiscing about his WKRP glory days. It was near Thanksgiving, so he gave us his best on-air recreation of his classic quote from the WKRP turkey massacre episode. He was thankful for having such a good run and for still acting and portraying fun characters.

In honor of the late Mr. Jump’s spirit of thankfulness for lasting in his chosen industry, here’s a new list of just a few of the folks in the PR and Social Media Marketing industry I am thankful for meeting, collaborating with, or working with in 2010:

@PaulaBerg @kamichat @geoffliving

@cldegoede @_LaurenShapiro_ @cgflood

@Engage121 @JackSerpa @nperold

@reynmorgan @evelyntimson @emailfray

@kristinepfeiff @AllisonB023 @PaulSegreto

@jeswal06 @terrimcculloch @StoryAssistant

@chuckhester @JessicaNorthey @jillianmk

@rebeccafoss @brandjournalist @prsachicago

@acappellamedia @shashib @shelholtz