Could it be that it’s been ten months since we’ve talked together? Yup, lots of distractions that have kept me from blogging.

1) We moved to a new house. Loving the location. More trees and room for my ham radio antennas.
2) Colleen was diagnosed with cancer. It’s all good, but from November until a few weeks ago we were working on getting her into remission.
3) Rebranding: Launched a new Facebook Fan Page and Twitter Feed.

So.. A lot going on!

Still rockin the night away, with some shorter on-air hours while we get Colleen through her adventures. Join me overnights from 3-6AM MT at http://realoldies1600.com!

I promise to try to communicate here more often. Sure wish I had the staff that Ryan Seacrest does!

What a fantastic Friday night with y’all! Colleen and I had a blast celebrating our 31st wedding anniversary on the air with you. Congrats to Joe and Edna from Albuquerque who just crossed the 42 year mark, and to Steve and Kathy in Eaton Rapids, Michigan who are just a few years behind us.

When Colleen left to Salsa dance at 7, we inaugurated “Facebook Friday”, celebrating all of the Scott Owens Facebook friends who are Real Oldies artists. Thanks to Mark Lindsay, Johnny Rivers, Bob Dylan, B.J. Thomas and Beverly Bremers who contributed hit records to the fest. Next week, Facebook Friday will become a regular feature, but focusing on requests we get through our social networking connections, www.twitter.com/realoldies1600 and the Real Oldies 1600 Facebook page. We never turn down a request so feel free to send em my way anytime via email to scott@scottncolleen.net or on our 24 hour comment line at 505 931-1600.

At 8PM we showcased the “PNM Electric Hour”. PNM is our New Mexico electric utility and that inspired us to turn to the amplified side of the Real Oldies era with great stuff from the Byrds, Iron Butterfly, Free, the Illusion and many, many deep tracks from the days when we all owned lava lamps.

The requests came in from around the world on Friday night and we spent the 9 till 10 hour catching up on great suggestions from Amsterdam, Tokyo, Moscow, Leeds (England) and from 27 different States. Great to hear from Jack in the Midwest, Helen, Jonah and Kiera from Rio Rancho, from Bonnie in Philly and Dana in Denver, just to name a few.

Finally, great to hear Tim Laurence on the air again. Tim and I started our radio careers in 1971 back in Ann Arbor, Michigan and it’s fun to be working at the same station again 38 years later. Good to know we both still look the same!

Thanks for the many emails, Facebook and Twitter posts and phone calls. One of the most exciting things I’ve discovered as Real Oldies 1600′s on-line listenership grows is how wide the demographics are. It’s an honor to have fans from age 14 to 64 share our passion for the “greatest music ever pressed to black plastic”.

See you on the radio!

Colleen and I did a Date Night salute to the Fab Four on Friday. As many Real Oldies fans know, 09/09/09 was the date when two big Beatle events took place. The Beatle iteration of the incredibly popular Rock Band video game was released (Kathy Adams hasn’t been seen since). And the entire Parlophone Beatle catalog was re-released in digitally remastered form.

Those of us who saw the Beatles Love show in Vegas, and bought the associated CD, marveled at the magic that Fab Four producer George Martin, and son Giles Martin, worked. We’ve worked their re-mix of “Get Back” into the Scott Owens Show rotation.

The same attention to detail has been given to the Beatle catalog we all bought as 45s, LPs and CDs over the years.

The question some of the Scott Owens Empire has been asking this week is, “Is it worth the money?” With the Beatle re-master box priced north of $200 bucks, is the quality really THAT much better to justify shelling out the bucks again?

It all depends on your ears. For some, your current Beatle CD collection will suffice. It sounds great and brings back all those memories just as vividly as it did when you listened on your HiFi. But for others, the additional nuances of each track will jump out to your trained ears. Paul’s bass lines are that much more precise, reminding us again that he’s an outstanding musician. The harmonies behind John’s lead are so crisp that if you put headphones on, you may feel like you’re in Abbey Road Studios back in the 60s when all this was happening for he first time.

One of the benefits of being a DJ is that we get our hands on this stuff a tad before the rest of the world. When I took a listen, I immediately wrote the kids telling them to throw in together to get Dad the Beatle Box for Christmas.

If sales statistics mean anything, the Beatles are again one of the top selling rock acts. The box sets are flying off the shelves and a whole new generation of baby boomers are discovering the Rock Band game, Beatle style. If you’re a Beatle freak, you’ve probably already taken delivery of your digitally re-mastered collection. If not, find someone who has one and listen for yourself.

Show your enthusiasm for the greatest music ever recorded by adding a Real Oldies 1600 Ringtone to your phone. Here’s the link to the file! RealOldiesRingTone

Had a terrific evening last night at the Owl Cafe’s Cruise-in. Real Oldies 1600 is there twice a month as the muscle cars, rods and customs come to the Owl parking lot. If Stella and Tim had been there, we would have had every member of Albuquerque’s largest Oldies Air Force in the house. Barbara Fox had her usual grilled chicken salad. Double C had the meatball special. Steve Suttle stole a hot dog. Not sure what Kathy Adams had cause she was oogling all the dancing going on in the parking lot. Don and Martha had their usual healthy menu. The Owens kid followed Barbara’s lead on the salad thing.

The big news of the evening: My interview with Viki (or Mrs. Ski), the inventor of the Owl’s legendary Juice Cake. She was forthcoming with ingredients but kept the patented mixture a secret.

Another Owl Cruise Night is coming in a couple of weeks. Hope you can join us!

How bout that bogus rumor that Charlie Watts was quitting the Stones? Fran Curtis, the Stones publicist, tells my girlfriend Susan Whitall at the Detroit News that Charlie is “he is the heart and soul of the band,” and isn’t going anywhere.

I got a sneak listen to the digitally re-mastered Beatles catalog today. All I can say is, “incredible!” EMI sure knows how to get us to, gladly, fork over our money.

Colleen is in Florida this week and we’re not sure if we can get Date Night together for Friday. I was down there last weekend for my beautiful daughter’s 30th birthday… Yup I’m THAT old. We’ve loved her every day since she came to us and she’s even more wonderful now. Same goes for her brother and his wife.

Thanks to the team from the National Hurricane Center, who visited New Mexico’s greatest oldies station last week. They are heavy duty on line listeners to realoldies1600.com. Are you finding that you’re listening to us more often on line? The stats show that our stream count is growing by leaps and bounds. More proof that the sun never sets on the Scott Owens Empire.

Welcome aboard to Tim Laurence, our new overnight guy. In the small world department, Tim and I started our radio careers together back in 1970 in Ann Arbor, Michigan and it’s fun to again introduce him to our beloved listeners each and every weeknight. Listen to Tim from 10PM till 6AM weekdays after yours truly.

Our Frost Mortgage Saturday Special this week celebrates every number one from the month of September, between 1958 and 1973. Got a September fave? Shoot it my way to scottowens@realoldies1600.com or call 505 931-1600.

Coming up: Real Oldies on Facebook – Where we play records by and for our Facebook friends. Johnny Rivers, B.J. Thomas, Mark Lindsay and Beverly Bremers are just a few of the hit makers who I’m lucky enough to have as Facebook buddies. Friend Scott Owens on Facebook and I’ll make sure to give you a shout out!

See you on the radio, weeknights from 6-10PM and Saturdays Noon till 4.. Don’t touch that dial!!

Once upon a time, there was a place where poets and composers gathered to create true magic. If you stepped inside the Brill Building during the Real Oldies era, you were likely to hear a half dozen pianos playing at once. If you were a time traveler from the future, you would instantly recognize artists who would later bloom into the most celebrated performers of the decade. Some, like Niel Sedaka, were already stars. Others, like Carole King, were still writing hit records for others. At it’s height, Brill was home to some of the greatest songwriting teams of the rock era: Hal David and Burt Bacharach, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.

In the early years of the decade, you might see Niel Diamond, recently a pre-med student, struggling to find his muse. This was raw talent that needed polish and mentors to model the behaviors and fire the imagination. It would become a creative process that record company excecs would simply label “The Brill Building Sound”. Read more…

Our Date Night 60s at 6 hour on August 14 is all about Psychedelia. Thanks to our Real Oldies friends on Facebook and Twitter, we’ve culled your favorite hippie tunes for an hour of lava lamped, incensed, mind expanding rock n roll. Remember the Strawberry Alarm Clock? The Electric Prunes? Fever Tree? They are all on the docket along with Tommy James, the Temptations, Deep Purple, The Beatles, and yup, even Iron Butterfly.

And the fun continues on Saturday as Frost Mortgage begins it’s sponsorship of the Scott Owens Saturday Special. We feature the bands that appeared at the Woodstock Music and Art festival, 40 years ago this weekend. We have Grace Slick, Sly Stone, John Fogerty, John Sebastian, all the Real Oldie artists who appeared at Woodstock, along with some backstory about the event that you may not have known.

Join us on the air, or on line at realoldies1600.com

Colleen the Queen joins me tonight at 6pm MT for the 60s at 6. We play her top five kissing songs and she tries to convince me to go see Julie and Julia. Join us on line at realoldies1600.com

LISTEN: Scott n Colleen On-Demand

We had a great time doing our first Friday Date Night on the Scott Owens Night Shift on the radio at Real Oldies 1600. Thanks for all the email and phone calls! We’ll do it again soon.

We play “Truth or Fiction” in this episode. Scott reads three news accounts and Colleen tries to decide which two are the real deal.

A woman’s dream come true? Eat chocolate every day for a year and get paid to do it. (Colleen interviews the proprietors of cocopotamus.com, a brand new local chocolatier here in ABQ on next week’s show.)

Been to Washington lately? The National Mall needs a face lift.

Even though it won’t be in theaters until next March, a trailer for Tim Burton’s Disney Pictures project Alice in Wonderland has found it’s way to YouTube.

Gidget the Chihuahua who became famous for animitronically uttering “Yo quiero Taco Bell” has died at age 15.

Colleen digs deeper into the assertion that plastic bottles can be hazardous to your health, pointing us to an NBC report and some Q&A from the National Institutes of Health

Twitter’s Top 5 trending topics:
· Comic-Con
· Taco Bell
· Jay-Z
· Tim Burton’s Alice
· Harry Potter
(Michael Jackson has slipped to number 8, but of course, Colleen weighs in on the latest scandal, Omar, the love child. )

Why is Comic Con so hot on Twitter? 40% of the users over there are under 35.

Shameless plug: The new Comcast iPhone app is here and pretty darn cool! Are you an iPhoner? Here is a link to Gizmodo’s This Week in iPhon Apps.

For our worldwide listeners.. Come visit ABQ! Need cool event info in your hometown? Visit upcoming.yahoo.com.

YouTube Video of the week: Remixing the wedding march..

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We inaugurate a new feature tonight! Colleen joins me for Date Night Friday, tonight from 7-9PM (After 60s at 6). She counts down the top 5 most popular Duke City Movies (along with her unique commentary), we debate the best Albuquerque Sunset views and she shares her slow-dance pick of the night.

Join us on the air at the “livin end of your radio dial” or on line at www.realoldies1600.com. And if you want a longer Scott n Colleen fix, check out our podcast over at scottncolleen.net!

On the Scott Owens Saturday Special, we highlight Under the Covers Hits, those rare renderings that appeared two times on the Duke City record charts by two different artists. Think “Twist and Shout” (Isley Brothers / Beatles) and you’ve got the idea! Send me your favorites over at the Real Oldies Facebook page or via twitter.com/realoldies1600.

See you on the Radio!