Every Friday night we smooth our way into the weekend with music, the universal language. These selections demonstrate that despite what is being passed off as art today, there is plenty of really good music available. Come along and enjoy. 

When the news broke in mid-February I was stunned.

I still am.

Actor Bruce Willis has been diagnosed with a form of dementia called frontotemporal dementia, or FTD for short.

In a statement Willis’ family said, “Today there are no treatments for the disease, a reality that we hope can change in the years ahead. As Bruce’s condition advances, we hope that any media attention can be focused on shining a light on this disease that needs far more awareness and research.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, frontotemporal dementia is an “umbrella term for a group of brain disorders that primarily affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. These areas of the brain are generally associated with personality, behavior and language.”

The hit 1980’s TV-series Moonlighting featured Willis as the wise-cracking fast-talking David Addison, a detective at the Blue Moon agency run by former model Maddie Hayes, played by Cybill Shepherd. The series was created by Glenn Gordon Caron who reacted to Willis’ debilitating disease which affects language and ability to speak, “It’s like watching a great piano player lose their hands.”

Willis won an Emmy Award for the series that’s our theme this week.

That song done by Milwaukee native Al Jarreau was one of 41 Emmy Award Nominees and was also a track on the Moonlighting soundtrack album.

One of the unique episodes, and there were many, was “The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice” that was shot and aired (mostly) in black and white. Shepherd belted out a pair of sultry songs in a story where our heroes each dream solutions to a 1940’s murder case.

“The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice” was broadcast on October 15, 1985. Welles died a few days earlier, on October 10, 195. His episode introduction was Welles’ final acting assignment.

Also from the soundtrack album, this oldie written by George and Ira Gershwin that was in the episode “Maddie’s Turn to Cry.” Maddie was wrestling with two love interests at that point in the series, David and her former boyfriend.

Nelson Riddle conducts the orchestra.

From a San Diego Union- Tribune article last September:

Ronstadt was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2012. Her condition was rediagnosed in 2019 as also having progressive supranuclear palsy, an incurable degenerative disease.

Under either name, her singing career came to an abrupt end and her life was profoundly changed. Previously simple tasks, such as eating or brushing her teeth, are now challenges that require considerable concentration for this genre-leaping vocal legend. Walking is difficult and she uses hearing aids, although she attributes the latter simply as a sign of growing old.

“I can always harmonize in my head, even without music playing,” Ronstadt said, speaking by phone from her San Francisco home. “That’s all I can do. I can’t sing.”

Next up from the soundtrack album a track from the episode “Blonde on Blonde.”

Maddie reveals to David that she feels frustrated and would consider having a one-night stand with any man she meets, which upsets David. He follows her to a club, but mistakenly ends up tailing a different girl and becomes implicated in a murder. After a night in police custody he resolves to tell Maddie that he loves her, but when he arrives at her house in the early hours of the morning, another man (Mark Harmon) answers the door and states that Maddie is asleep.

Quite a trio here. Bob James on the keyboard, David Sanborn on sax, and once again Al Jarreau on the vocal.

Composed in 1945, this is a rendition of a 1963 hit by Lenny Welch that peaked at #4 on the Billboard chart.

Moonlighting’s focus was the romantic tension between the two leads who constantly bickered, and yet there was an attraction, drawing viewers into a weekly “will they/won’t they?” plot.

Willis and Shepherd appeared on the cover of the February 1987 issue of US Magazine, with the headline reading, “DO IT ALREADY!”

From The TV Addict:

 “The Moonlighting Curse.”  The show consistently scored high ratings until one disastrous night – its core characters David and Maddie slept together at the end of the show’s third season.  After achieving its highest ratings ever, it was all downhill from there – at least in the ratings.  It went from 9th place the Nielsen list to 14th  place during its next season, and then was cancelled after limping through one more final season.  Ever since then, shows that are dependent on the “will they or won’t they” hooks to their premise tend to religiously avoid killing the cash-cow and make sure their hot couples never get together, or to postpone it as long as humanly possible (such as waiting until the series finale).   The thought being that popping the “romantic-tension bubble” spells doom for any television show.

From Scott Ryan, author of Moonlighting: An Oral History:

The part of the story that is left out of every article written about the so-called Moonlighting curse is that Cybill Sheperd was bed ridden during her pregnancy with twins. Bruce Willis went off to make Die Hard and injured his leg in a skiing accident. In fact, when they filmed their famous sex scene, Cybill was pregnant so they filmed the scene standing up. The set designer built a sheet on the wall to make it appear as though they were laying in bed. After filming this episode, they had to let Cybill leave the series for a bit. Even the great writers of the world could not continue that show without either actor available to film.

That’s it for this week.

Goodnight.

Sleep well.

Have a great weekend.

Earlier we mentioned the ‘bet’ between Maddie and David. He was challenged to be serious and professional for a certain time period. Watch and enjoy Willis in a video singing with The Pointer Sisters. The song was not included on the soundtrack album.