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A Tip of the Hat to these Songs About Hats

KNKX Public Radio | By John Kessler,
John Maynard
Published October 4, 2012 at 4:30 AM PDT

This is how Record Bin Roulette LOOKS in VIDEO ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLitlqpWWoY

This week the Record Bin Roulette Wheel randomly stopped on the category “Hats”. We rarely question The Wheel’s judgment, but we must admit we were a little worried The Wheel might be spinning eccentrically.

But then, in our vast Record Bins, we found these singing stars who would be nothing without their iconic hats. In the 1940’s Carmen Miranda became one of the highest paid performers in the world, and she did it with the help of hats. This completely over-the-top Busby Berkeley production from 1943 features her singing “The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLsTUN1wVrc

Fred Astaire wore a topper for much of his film career and made excellent use of it in this 1935 film with “Top Hat, White Tie and Tails”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZOJoV6H2UM

Hats helped SsGT Barry Sadler reach the charts in 1966 with his “Ballad of the Green Beret”. This is possibly the most boring music video ever made: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zWk-BA7IP0

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Record bin Roulette
John Kessler
John has worked as a professional bassist for 20 years, including a 15 year stint as Musical Director of the Mountain Stage radio program. John has been at KNKX since 1999 where he hosts “All Blues”, is producer of the BirdNote radio program, and co-hosts “Record Bin Roulette”. John is also the recording engineer for KNKX “In-Studio Performances”. Not surprisingly, John's main musical interests are jazz and blues, and he is still performing around Seattle.
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John Maynard
John Maynard started working in radio in the seventies as a DJ at Seattle’s KJR AM which at the time was the dominant AM station in the Seattle market. After a brief stint as a restaurateur and night club owner, Maynard returned to radio with Robin Erickson, creating the hugely popular “Robin and Maynard Show.” In the more than 20 years under that marquee, Maynard flew with the Blue Angels, piloted the Goodyear Blimp, sang with Donny Osmond and hung out in a Universal Studios bar with Kojak (Telly Savalas).
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