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At the Oscars

KNKX Public Radio | By John Kessler,
John Maynard
Published February 24, 2011 at 4:15 AM PST
Oscar, himself.
NMCIL ortiz domney
/
Flickr
Oscar, himself.

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kplu/local-kplu-953939.mp3

And the winner is…

Music and movies have pretty much always gone together. What would Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid be without “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head”? Try to imagine The Wizard of Oz without “Over the Rainbow”. Or Blue Velvet without “Blue Moon”. Okay stop imagining now.

It doesn’t take a good movie to produce an Oscar winning song. For example, The Poseidon Adventure produced the Oscar winner “The Morning After”, and Towering Inferno gave us “We May Never Love Like This Again.”

No one knows exactly why the Academy Award is called “an Oscar”, though some interesting theories abound. Bette Davis claims she named it after her husband Oscar Nelson. Another story goes that the statue resembled the King of Sweden and Norway, King Oscar.

People who can vote for Academy Awards must be members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and there are not many. In 2007 only about 6,000 people could vote for the awards.

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards ceremony is Sunday Feb. 27, and some of the films up for awards are Black Swan, The King's Speech, The Social Network, and True Grit.

 

POP QUIZ

1. Which cartoon character won an Oscar for best original song?

            a. Bugs Bunny

            b. Foghorn Leghorn

            c. Pinocchio

            d. Fritz the Cat

2. What Oscar winning score must be whistled?

            a. The Godfather

            b. Shaft

            c. Purple Rain

            d. Bridge Over the River Kwai

3. Who was the first rock band to win an Oscar?

            a. The Fugs

            b. The Beatles

            c. Herman’s Hermits

            d. Spinal Tap

4. Name 4 people named Oscar, and your relationship with them

See Answers below

 

 

 

Answers:

  1. Pinocchio, for “When You Wish Upon a Star” in 1940, although he did not attend the award ceremony.
  2. Bridge Over The River Kwai. Whistling is a universal language.
  3. The Beatles won in 1970 for “Let it Be”
  4. Let’s see, there’s Oscar Mayer, I’ve eaten some hotdogs…Oscar De La Renta, but as far as I know I’ve never worn any of his designs…my Uncle Oscar lives in a retirement home in Florida…I’ll get back to you…

           
 

 
Tags
OscarAcademy AwardsOscar-winning songs
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).
See stories by John Maynard
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