I was a weekend Smooth Jazz DJ for about three years in the early 2000s, right as the number of stations that could make the format work on commercial radio was getting smaller. I was never one of the main on-air talent at Orlando’s WLOQ, 103.1 FM, but you might hear me Saturday afternoons or Sunday mornings. I’d be playing – still on CDs – Euge Groove or Mindi Abair or Acoustic Alchemy. Smooth Jazz was never my personal favorite, but it can be nice while reading or studying – not a lot of lyrics to distract you.
I’ve worked behind the camera a lot in the last few years, but this week, I combed my hair and appeared on the national show Daily Flash as an expert in new foods on the market. Thanks to Mitch and Andrea and the crew for letting me broadcast my very specific knowledge to the world. Please check out the link below.
About a week ago, just before Halloween, I talked about new foods for the nighttime radio show “A Corporate Time with Tom and Dan” (WTKS 104.1) as well as the video live stream that goes out when they record the show (www.tomanddan.com). We talked about the new Carmella Creeper breakfast cereal, a mystery Fanta flavor that dyes your tongue black, Mambo Sauce and Sweet and Spicy Jam from McDonald’s, a Salt & Straw ice cream made with chocolate-covered crickets and grubworm brittle, and the reject Jelly Bellys called Belly Flops. I’d been wanting to try one of these “expert” segments for a while, something you can definitely have fun with while also sharing some real information about what’s new and unusual at the supermarket.
YouTube is acting up for me, so jump to 48:55 for my segment and to see Dan almost cough up a cricket.
Between working in TV news and working in non-news video, I paid the bills (mostly) for a year by working at Brookstone. Remember Brookstone? The memory foam mattress you could lie down on (ew) and weird flashlights and a massage chair anyone could hop into? The company now seems to just live in airports, but once, it was a magical place where shoppers could kill ten minutes until Mom came out of Burdine’s.
That’s “my” store in the photo – Mall at Millenia in Orlando, FL. It’s a Lily Pulitzer now.
My Brookstone year started as a Christmas gig, shuffling boxes in the tiny back room. Eventually, I got to put on the denim apron and work the floor. It was a very hands-on store, so just about anything a customer could pick up would end up in the opposite corner from where it started. I remember these tiny sealed glass bubble aquariums that were in equilibrium until a sticky-fingered kid would shake it like a snowglobe and rattle all the brine shrimp (aka generic Sea Monkeys) inside.
It’s one of the sloppiest rhymes in pop music and The Beach Boys’ last #1 hit. You might remember “Kokomo” from the Tom Cruise flair bartending movie, “Cocktail,” but did you know the music video was shot in Orlando at Walt Disney World?
It’s 1988 and Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort was built, but not yet open. The white sand beach would be a perfect place to fake a Beach Boys concert and with no one staying there, production could make all the noise they wanted. A friend who was on-set tells me it was rainy all day, so the sunny concert scene turned into a nighttime bonfire party.
Some of the guys and gals dancing along with Mike Love and the Boys were recruited at Downtown Disney (now Disney Springs) and yes, big Disney fan John Stamos is playing various percussion in the back.
Non-Orlando trivia – Credited writers on “Kokomo” include Mike Love, Scott McKenzie (“San Francisco – Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair”), John Phillips (The Mamas & The Papas), and Terry Melcher (the song’s producer who also did The Byrds’ first two albums).
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?)
