The Donny Osmond Chronicles

I had so many posts planned, but it seems a pressing matter has reached my news desk. It deals with Donny Osmond. In a disturbing turn of events, it seems Donny has become an ubiquitous presence on TV. How this happen?After a break that felt like a decade and a half, one Donald Osmond was called back into the ranks of people who are seen daily?

Like every despot, there's a ton of collateral damages. Let's review what Donny Osmond's resurgence has done to a few folks who might look familiar.







Kevin Frazier: Marginalized- Frazier seemed to be the go to guy in case we "lost" Mark Steines. Not so much now. With Osmond leap frogging over him, the details are grim. Frazier is locked on the weekend shift where they either do celebrity diets or they interview one of the Golden Girls for the thousandth time.


The Low Lights: Most depressing, Frazier was assigned to report on play video games with some 17 year old who came in 305th on American Idol. His fake smiles almost shattered his teeth into little bits.





Mark Steines- Rendered Even More Superfluous- Let's face it, Mark Steines was never an exciting reporter. His connections are non existent, not a whole heck of a lot of charisma. The only reason why he got the ET job was because unlike Bob Goen, he wasn't Bob Goen-y. Now Steines is even worse. With a personality like Donny Osmond, it makes Mark that much pointless.


Note: Steines wasn't invited to the awards gala pictured. He was "taken away" shortly after for "observation."

Diagnosis: Mark Steines is criminally insane.



Pat O' Brien: O' Broken- Pat O' Brien was flying high after his rehab stint. In fact, I flew over to his house, we went to a few disco parties and I was impressed by Pat's commitment to sobriety. Now that's a switch. Take a gander at that sad face on the left. Sadly, Pat's demons started rearing their ugly heads the same time Donny Osmond started making appearances on the Insider too. The picture on the left was taken at my birthday party.

Stuff In My YouTube History

I was stumbling around YouTube when I noticed the following notice...

These are your recently watched videos. We respect your privacy, and do not share this information with anyone. You can clear your history by clicking the 'Clear Viewing History' link at bottom.

Done! Now one needs to know what videos I've watched--or do they? Heh, heh, heh (coughs) ha, ha...



Bob Crane-Check out Swingin' Bob Crane on the skins. They just weren't whistling dixie when they said he could play, he actually could. This is a clip from him on the Red Skelton Hour from 1967. Bob Crane liked playing the drums. You know what else Bob Crane liked? Having sex and filming it with the "state-of-the-art" film/video products of the day. Well, let's not remember him for that or his unctuousness, but then again, it's impossible.










Tyrone Davis-There It Is- This is a clip from Tyrone Davis at probably the Kit Kat/Boom Boom Lounge. Here Davis is lip-syncing to his 1972 classic "There It Is." Given his satiny, tasseled ensemble and the synthesizers, this was videoed years after the song was a hit. It's a great clip anyway.

Favorite Line: "I followed them to a little 'ol place/Where they sit right down/And ordered a taste." Hilarious.


The Dramatics-I'm Going By The Stars in Your Eyes (1976)- You know, I don't give a heck about that old zodiac either. I love to pretend to actually like new music, but I don't, hate 95% of it. This is the kind of stuff I usually listen to. This clip not only features one of my favorite groups, but also my favorite era for Soul Train. On this track, the singers are the late Lenny Mayes, he leads it, LJ Reynolds and Ron Banks--the dude with the high voice.

Now, Now: The Dramatics are one of those groups that are much loved. How much? Here's a comment from a YouTuber contrasting the guys to Earth Wind and Fire.

"Its all bout the dramatics so the elements can go sit down cause they ain't shit..."


Funny...


Little Richard- On Jimi Hendrix (1973) Before Little Richard found a happy balance between the sacred and profane, he made for an often uncomfortable presence on talk shows and the like. This is the peak of that era. This clip is from the 1973 documentary film Jimi. As we can clearly see here, Little is far way from the church at this point. And how many catchphrases/witticisms are in this? About 100.

Transcription: Between me and GTL66, a fellow commenter on YouTube, I, I mean, we give you this, committed to print.

"...I got ta take ya higha! Not off a some cocaine uh uh uh some piece of grass or some uh uh heron, but Jimi was gonna take em higha than that!!!" That's oddly profound--and true.




George Burns-Fixing a Hole- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band- After all of those clips, it was time for a real classic featuring one of the premiere singers of our time. Thank God this was filmed, we'll always be able to see it.

Recording Info: This take was different from the one that appeared on the 1978 soundtrack. This is one of the best performances ever.