BIG WEEKLY BLEND PODCAST: SUMMER SOLSTICE & PRIDE MONTH, FATHERS & FLAMINGOS!
This episode’s guests include singer-songwriters Johnny Schaefer and Jill Knight, and author Gayla Turner. Gayla found a box of photos and letters in her mother’s closet that revealed a bohemian LGBTQ community in rural Wisconsin a century ago, and an unexpected love story between her grandmother and another woman. Gayla wrote a beautiful book, “Don’t You Dare,” telling both her story of discovery and a fictionalized account of her grandmother’s story. Johnny was so moved by the story that he wrote the theme song for the audio version of the book, and Jill Knight recorded the vocals and guitar. The book is out now, and the song will be released on June 23, 2023.
MUSIC PLAYLIST
This eclectic playlist features over 50 songs that complement the podcast conversation, and celebrate this week’s holidays, observances, and birth anniversaries as listed below!
* Listen on YouTube
* Listen on Spotify
CELEBRATE SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2023
“Dads are most ordinary men turned by love into heroes, adventurers, storytellers, and singers of song.” Pam Brown
BIRTHDAYS & BIRTH ANNIVERSARIES: Jeanette MacDonald – actress and singer (1903); Kay Lyser – musician, bandleader, radio show host (1906); E.G. Marshall – actor (1910); Sammy Cahn – lyricist (1913); Richard Boone – actor (1917); Lou Brock – Hall of Fame baseball player (1939); Paul McCartney – singer, songwriter and musician, The Beatles and Wings (1942); Roger Ebert – film critic (1942); Isabella Rossellini – actress (1952); Carol Kane – actor (1952); Richard Powers – author (1957); Blake Shelton – country music singer/songwriter (1976); Takeoff – rapper (1994); Trippie Redd – rapper (1999).
HOLIDAYS & OBSERVANCES: Father’s Day, International Sushi Day, National Go Fishing Day, International Picnic Day, National Cherry Tart Day, Sustainable Gastronomy Day, Turkey Lover’s Day.
PODCASTS, ARTICLES, RECIPES & PUZZLES:
Ash Meadows Picnic
Family Picnics in the Park
Ginger’s Hot Weather Picnic Salad
CELEBRATE MONDAY, JUNE 19, 2023
“Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much.” Blaise Pascal (June 19, 1623 – August 19, 1662)
BIRTHDAYS & BIRTH ANNIVERSARIES: Blaise Pascal – philosopher, physicist, mathematician (1623); José Gervasio Artigas – Father of Uruguay (1764), Charles Coburn – actor (1877); Moe Howard – actor, the Three Stooges (1897); Guy Lombardo – bandleader (1902); Lou Gehrig – baseball player (1903); Lester Flatt – musician (1914); Louis Jourdan – actor (1919); Salman Rushdie – author (1947); Phylicia Rashad – actress (1948); Kathleen Turner – actress (1954); Paula Abdul – singer and choreographer (1962); Poppy Montgomery – actress (1972); Zoe Saldana – actress (1978).
HOLIDAYS & OBSERVANCES: Juneteenth, National Martini Day, National Garfield the Cat Day, National Watch Day, World Sauntering Day, World Sickle Cell Awareness Day.
PODCASTS, ARTICLES, RECIPES & PUZZLES:
Craven Raven Cocktails
#OneHourWalk Facebook Group
It’s Time to Get Outdoors
CELEBRATE TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 2023
“Let each man hear his own music and live by it. The drums roll one way for one man, I guess, and another way for another. You have to listen to your own.” Audie Murphy (June 20, 1925 – May 28, 1971)
BIRTHDAYS & BIRTH ANNIVERSARIES: Jacques Offenbach – composer (1819); Charles Chesnutt – author (1858); Lillian Hellman – author (1905); Errol Flynn – actor (1909); Chet Atkins – guitar player and producer (1924); Audie Murphy – Medal of Honor recipient and actor (1924); Martin Landau – actor (1931); Olympia Dukakis – actress (1931); Brian Wilson – musician, The Beach Boys (1942); Anne Murray – singer (1945); Bob Vila – television host (1946); Lionel Richie – musician, The Commodores (1949); John Goodman – actor (1952); Cyndi Lauper – singer (1953); Nicole Kidman – actress (1967).
HOLIDAYS & OBSERVANCES: National American Eagle Day, Ugliest Dog Day, World Refugee Day, National Hike with a Geek Day, World Productivity Day, National Ice Cream Soda Day, and National Vanilla Milkshake Day.
PARKS & PLACES: West Virginia Statehood (1863), Big Bend National Park (1935).
PODCASTS, ARTICLES, RECIPES & PUZZLES:
West Virginia Travel Guide
Rockhaven B&B in Harpers Ferry
Audie Murphy / American Cotton Museum
Big Bend National Park
Warda’s Refugee Memoir
The Story Won’t De Documentary
CELEBRATE WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 2023
“Live in the sunshine. Swim in the sea. Drink in the wild air.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
BIRTHDAYS & BIRTH ANNIVERSARIES: Daniel Carter Beard – Founder of Boy Scouts of America (1850); Al Hirschfeld – American cartoonist (1903); Jane Russell – actress (1921); Maureen Stapleton – actress (1925); Bernie Kopell – actor (1933); Meredith Baxter – actress (1947); Michael Gross – actor (1947); Doug Savant – actor (1964); Larry Wachowski – filmmaker – (1965); Juliette Lewis – actor (1973); Kris Allen – singer (1985).
HOLIDAYS & OBSERVANCES: Summer Solstice, International Yoga Day, National Selfie Day, World of Music Day, Reserves Day, National Smoothie Day, National Yard Games Day, National Seashell Day, National Peaches & Cream Day, National Day of Indigenous Peoples Day, National Day of the Gong, World Giraffe Day, World Motorcycle Day,
PARKS & PLACES: Monocacy National Battlefield (1934).
PODCASTS, ARTICLES, RECIPES & PUZZLES:
Monocacy National Battlefield
Explore the World of Music at MIM
Summer BBQ Season is Here!
Cool Summer Party Pleasers
Days of the Bagnold Summer Film
Summer Family History Adventures
Summer Harvest Bowls
Yoga Animals Kids Book
The Heart & Science of Yoga
The Chief Joseph Trail Ride
Hollywood History of The Gong Show
Chocolate & Peanut Butter Smoothie
CELEBRATE THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2023
“Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after.” Anne Morrow Lindbergh (June 22, 1906 – February 7, 2001)
BIRTHDAYS & BIRTH ANNIVERSARIES: George Vancouver – explorer (1757); Tom Dula – folk character, Tom Dooley (1845); John Dillinger – bank robber (1903); Billy Wilder – Hollywood director (1906); Anne Morrow Lindbergh – aviatrix and author (1906); Joseph Papp – theater producer and Pulitzer Prize Winner (1921); Billy Blass – fashion designer (1922); Kris Kristofferson – singer, songwriter, and actor (1936); Michael Lerner – actor (1941); Ed Bradley – television journalist (1941); Octavia Butler – author (1947); Meryl Streep – actress (1949); Lindsay Wagner – actress (1949); Freddie Prinze – actor and comedian (1954); Erin Brockovich-Ellis – environmental activist (1960); Amy Brenneman – actress (1964); Dan Brown – author (1964); Carson Daly – TV host (1973).
HOLIDAYS & OBSERVANCES: National Kissing Day, National Onion Ring Day, National Chocolate Éclair Day, National Limoncello Day, World Rainforest Day.
PODCASTS, ARTICLES, RECIPES & PUZZLES:
Captain George Vancouver
Grilled Ribeye Steak & Firecracker Onions
The Splendor of Olympic National Park
Daintree Rainforest in Australia
CELEBRATE FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 2023
“Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.” Wilma Rudolph
BIRTHDAYS & BIRTH ANNIVERSARIES: Alfred Kinsey – author and sexologist (1894); Bob Fosse – choreographer (1927); June Carter Cash – singer (1929); Wilma Rudolph – Olympic Gold medal runner (1940); Ted Shackelford – actor (1946); Randy Jackson – music producer (1956); Frances McDorman – actress (1957); Chelsea Memmel – Olympic gymnast (1988); Bridget Sloan – Olympic gymnast (1992).
HOLIDAYS & OBSERVANCES: National Porridge Day, International Olympic Day, International Widow’s Day, National Detroit Style Pizza Day, Let it Go Day, National Women in Engineering Day, Pink Flamingo Day, National Typewriter Day, National Pink Day, National Family Owned & Operated Businesses Day, National Hydration Day, National Pecan Sandies Day.
PODCASTS, ARTICLES, RECIPES & PUZZLES:
Release of “Don’t You Dare” Single
New Olympic Museum in Colorado Springs
Lake Placid’s Renaissance
The Story of Baron Pierre de Coubertin
The Memoir of Rena “Rusty” Kanokogi
The Flamingos of Madison WI
Matt Dorsey – Let Go Album
Tamara L. Wilson – Let It Go EP
CELEBRATE SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 2023
“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.” Dwight D. Eisenhower
BIRTHDAYS & BIRTH ANNIVERSARIES: Jack Dempsey – boxer (1895); Michele Lee – actress (1942); Mick Fleetwood – musician, Fleetwood Mac (1947); Peter Weller – actor (1947); Nancy Allen – actor (1950); Sherry Stringfield – actress (1967).
HOLIDAYS & OBSERVANCES: Saint Jean Baptiste Day, Farmer Day, International Fairy Day, International St. Johns Day, Midsummer Day, National Pralines Day, Upcycling Day.
PARKS & PLACES: Stonewall National Monument (2016).
PODCASTS, ARTICLES, RECIPES & PUZZLES:
Central California’s Farm Country
Arizona’s Fresh Foodie Trail
East Tennessee Farm Stay
A Well-Crafted Home
