That Guy on TV - John Graham's Blog, Resume, and Hootenanny
That Guy on TV - John Graham's Blog, Resume, and Hootenanny

I Miss Flea World

I live in Orlando, so occasionally, I’m going to write something a little specific. Today is one of those days.

Everyone knows Walt Disney World, but way on the other side of Central Florida, about an hour’s drive north of WDW, was a place with a whole different kind of magic – Flea World. America’s “largest flea market under one roof,” Flea World was only open on weekends – a great place to wander, look at all the weird stuff for sale, and look at all the weird people buying it.

Sunday was my day. I’d drive to Sanford, get a giant draft beer around 10am, and start walking. Live birds and fresh pickles, car stereos and haircuts, bootleg “Scarface” t-shirts and trail mix by the pound. It was all laid out in rows and rows and rows and rows of open-air stalls. My big thing was to go through all the used CDs. I’d usually leave with two or three – plus some weird Chinese knock-off action figure and a pack of Tiger Blood incense.

There might be a trained dog act or a juggler and you could definitely get a decent burger or corn dog.

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Orlando
January 10, 2021 | 9:36 pm

Goo Goo Ale from Yazoo Brewing Company

I drove through Tennessee a few weeks back and picked up a six-pack collaboration between Yazoo Brewing and the candy bar that’s the pride of Nashville – Goo Goo Cluster. The original Goo Goo is a patty of caramel, marshmallow, and peanuts – covered in milk chocolate. So, Goo Goo Ale is a brown ale steeped with vanilla beans, peanut butter powder and cocoa nibs.

On the pour, Goo Goo Ale looks like your standard brown ale – reddish-brown with a head of tight bubbles that quickly fades. The aroma is roasty with a definite vanilla note. If you’re worried Goo Goo Ale is going to be syrupy, it’s not. Sure, there’s a bit of sweetness, but I’ve also had cloying brown ales that aren’t based on a candy bar.

To get the most out of Goo Goo Ale, make sure that it’s not too cold. When I tried a can in my hotel room back in Nashville, I definitely got the vanilla, peanut, and chocolate. Back home, I just got the vanilla at first and then just the roastiness of the grain. After the glass warmed up to about 55 degrees, the peanut and the chocolate reappeared.

Is this going to become a beer anyone drinks all the time? I’m sure somebody out there will hoard Goo Goo Ale, but most of us just won’t want three or four vanilla/peanut/chocolate beers in a night. Think of Goo Goo Ale like the weirdo OREO flavors I wrote about. It’s fun to try, but once is enough.

Goo Goo Ale is a limited-edition beer from Yazoo Brewing in Nashville, TN and is 5% ABV. It’s available in cans and, as I write this, at the Yazoo Taproom in Madison, TN.

Beer
January 10, 2021 | 6:52 pm

Made in Orlando – Lethal Weapon 3

OK, most of 1992’s “Lethal Weapon 3” was made in and around Los Angeles, but the building that goes boom at the beginning is the old City Hall in Downtown Orlando. Here’s Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, and their stunt doubles running out of “International Control Systems Inc.” You can even see a WFTV 9 live truck on the left side of the screen, but the mast is down, so it couldn’t have been going “live.”

Today, that area isn’t far from what most people call the giant asparagus statue, although it’s officially the Tower of Light.

And here’s the moment, captured forever on the backglass of the Lethal Weapon 3 pinball machine.

1990s, Orlando
January 8, 2021 | 12:38 pm

0 Days Until Christmas

Wrapping up (get it?) my series of posts about Christmas music with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and Grammy-winner Darlene Love. Love is one of producer Phil Spector’s discoveries and featured on 1963’s “A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector” album. That record still sounds great, but we now know that Spector is a monster and a literal murderer. I’d rather think of happier things on Christmas, so let’s focus on Love. From her official YouTube channel, here’s an animated video for “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”

In 1986, Love first appeared on “Late Night with David Letterman” to sing her signature holiday tune. Between Letterman’s NBC show and “Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS, Darlene Love performed “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” 28 times. (The scaled-down tradition continues on “The View.”) Here’s a Leterman supercut through the years.

“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” has since been covered by both Mariah Carey and Cher, who is rumored to be a back-up singer on the original. Another rumor is that Love helped out U2 with their version by singing back-up herself.

1980s, 1990s, Music
December 25, 2020 | 2:05 pm

1 Day Until Christmas

Today’s Christmas song is side one, track one from Johnny Mathis’ 1958 album, “Merry Christmas” – “Winter Wonderland.” Growing up, just looking at my mom and dad’s copy of this LP meant it was Christmastime. You can put on the record, listen all the way through, and let those strings and Mathis’ silky vibrato work their magic.

Mathis’ version of “Winter Wonderland” has both the original 1930’s lyrics about Parson Brown and the later version of the lyrics, meant for children, removing the romance and changing the snowman to a “circus clown.” He also moves the intro to the middle.

Just for fun, here’s Johnny Mathis singing the same song almost 40 (!) years later in 1997.

 

Music
December 24, 2020 | 10:33 am
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John Graham is That Guy on TV – an Emmy-winning producer/writer/host and owner of Mosquito County Productions, based in Orlando, FL.

Over the years, John has produced YouTube videos with millions of views, worked with Muppets and Princesses, won two regional Emmys for travel reporting, interviewed celebs from Ariana Grande to Hillbilly Jim, and done thousands of live news broadcasts. (You know it’s me writing this, right?)

Get ahold of me at John@thatguyontv.com

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