When Coca-Cola came out of this?

Never could figure oit what went on in the big box.

The notion that we get more forgetful as we age is a cliché. Sadly, most clichés contain an element of truth. What can you do to give your memory a boost?

Physical activity – Like you’ve been hearing forever, exercise is good for you. Experts recommend dozens of small ways you can be more active, like picking a parking space farther from the store or taking the stairs instead of the elevator when it’s only a few floors.

Eating right – Foods that can help include fruits, veggies, nuts, fish and olive oil.

Spending time with friends & family – Studies show engaging in group activites can help stimulate brain activity.

Managing your blood pressure – High blood pressure can cause small blood vessels in your brin to rupture. As you might guess, that’s not good for the cells involved with memory.

What doesn’t work?

Surprisingly, researchers can find no benefit to playing “brain games,” consuming Omega-3 fish oil or ginseng.

Fortunately, they do find a brain benefit in listening to music! Yay! That means you should be listening to Boomtown America as much as possible!

We talk quite a bit about essential rock albums every self-respecting Baby Boomer should own, but in this age of giant flat screen TVs and surround sound systems, let’s take a look at  10 Rock & Roll DVDs that should be in your collection!

• A Hard Day’s Night (The Beatles) – It all starts here. With this low budget, black & white movie, the Fab Four (and director Richard Lester) completely rewrote the rules of what a rock film should be. Generally credited with creating the art form that came to be known as the music video.
  
  
• Stop Making Sense (Talking Heads) – Director Jonathan Demme captures the Talking Heads at their very peak and has the good sense not to overwhelm the movie audience with a lot of flashy camera work. Instead, he keeps his shots and editing tight and lets the band overwhelm you. The film also pioneered digital audio, so the music sounds amazing.
  
  
• The TAMI Show (James Brown, Rolling Stones & others) – Shot on a shoestring budget with TV cameras, the low-def film is still a “must-have.” Not only does it capture what many feel is James Brown’s best film/video performance, it also includes an amazing array of Hall of Fame talent like Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys, and so many more. As icing on the cake, they all join together at the concert’s close.
  
  
• Black & White Night (Roy Orbison) – While we’re talking all-star line-ups, in 1999, a truly impressive back-up band was assembled to accompany Roy Orbison in the very intimate setting of L.A.’s Coconut Grove nightclub. Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, T-Bone Burnett, J.D. Souther, Jennifer Warnes, k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Waits join Roy as he roars through 17 classic songs (including one written by Elvis Costello that still uncannily sounds like it was something Roy must have recorded in the early 60s). The sound on this show is so good, you’ll swear you are in the room with them.
  
  
• Monterey Pop (Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, The Who & more) – D.A. Pennebaker had already established his reputation as a documentary filmmaker without peer when he captured the very first rock festival. This show was a breakthrough moment for 3 of the acts: Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding and The Who, but it also featured a solid line-up of musical talent, immortalized in Eric Burdon and the Animals' song, “Monterey.”
  
  
• The Reunion Concert (Everly Brothers) – In September of 1983, Don and Phil Everly, two of rock’s real founding fathers, played their first live gig together in ten years. They chose London’s Royal Albert Hall because their popularity had never waned in the UK. The resulting show was magic and captured on video for an HBO special. As the boys’ harmony influenced so many other rockers from the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel to others, this is a show you won’t want to miss.
  
  
• Farewell Tour 1 (The Eagles) – If record sales are any indication, the Eagles may be the most popular band America has ever produced. While the band has often been accused of not presenting the most dynamic stage show, this 2-DVD set presents every song you could ever want to hear them play, all performed exceedingly well. They also include a generous helping of solo hits by band members Glenn Frey, Don Henley, and Joe Walsh.
  
  
• London Calling: Live at Hyde Park (Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band) – Bruce is justly famous as one of the greatest live performers of his generation. His marathon shows also reshaped rock concerts, forcing other acts to play longer and harder just to try and keep up. The Boss has several concerts available on home video, but this one comes closest to giving you the actual experience of being at one of his shows. The E Street Band (definitely the world’s greatest bar band) begins playing in the afternoon sun in England, but concludes long after dark has fallen.
  
  
• The Last Waltz (The Band) – When Bob Dylan’s former backup band decided to call it quits, director Martin Scorsese was tapped to film the group’s farewell show in New York. Joining the group for their swan song was a most impressive guest list that included Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Muddy Waters, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, Ringo Starr, Dr. John, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, and Ronnie Wood.
  
  
• The Kids Are Alright (The Who) – Rounding out our Top 10 is this documentary about England’s classic hard rockers. Capturing 13 years of the band’s performances and assembled just before Keith Moon’s passing, the video captures the unique balancing act between self-destruction and majesty that was the Who in their prime.
  
  

For a show that lasted only a single season, a surprising number of Baby Boomers remember the situation comedy My Living Doll. Perhaps that’s because once seen, Julie Newmar cannot easily be forgotten.

The situation was simple. Newmar was a sophisticated robot (who would still be sophisticated by today’s standards). Originally label "AF 760," she was supposed to be a secret Air Force Project. But her creator decided he was not going to turn her over to the military. Instead, she was placed in the care of his friend, a psychiatrist (Bob Cummings) when her creator was transferred overseas. The doctor then tried to teach the robot, who he named Rhoda, how to emulate a human female while also keeping her true nature a secret. Along for the ride were the psychiatrist’s sister (Doris Dowling), who lived with the pair so the neighbors wouldn’t gossip (those were the days) and a horny neighbor and co-worker named Peter Robinson (Jack Mullaney) who had the hots for the robot without knowing she was just a machine.

Each week, Newmar’s robot was placed in situations like a blind date, a wedding proposal, a beauty pageant, etc. that threatened to expose her decidedly unhuman nature.

Julie's training as a dancer (and her 6-foot, leggy figure) helped audience believe she was the mechanical marvel she was portraying. Her acting ability turned a character who was supposed to be devoid of emotion into someone the audience rooted for.

(What was really unbelievable about the show was the fact that her caretaker was so much of a wolf in public, yet never even allowed the robot to strip naked in private.)

But with My Living Doll, the real drama was taking place off camera.

Here’s the back story:

CBS had wanted to star Ms. Newmar in a TV series for nearly 2 years prior to Living Doll’s debut. Producer Jack Chertok had just delivered the network a big hit with My Favorite Martian. So when Chertok came to them with a script for second sci-fi comedy, CBS gave the series a green light without ever shooting a pilot (a rarity then and now). Chertok was happy to cast Newmar in the title role.

That the part of psychiatrist Bob McDonald was filled by veteran actor Cummings may have been the problem with the show’s ultimate failure. Cummings was not their first choice. CBS and Chertok wanted the shrink to be played by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. When they couldn’t get him, they settled for Cummings.

Cummings is best known for a long-running sitcom where he played a skirt-chasing glamor photographer. Unfortunately, that was nearly a decade before My Living Doll. When production started, Cummings was 54, 25 years older than Newmar. Any sexual tension the series should have had between the two co-stars seemed downright creepy as it was obvious that Cummings was old enough to be her father.

It didn’t help that Cummings always thought he should have been a movie star and wasn’t happy about his middling career on television. Exacerbating the problem was Cummings' long-term dependence on methamphetamines in an era when their destructive power was not fully understood. His moods were erratic, to say the least.

Although Newmar denies it now, there are stories about clashes between the two stars. Cummings also took scripts home and re-wrote them to give himself more screen time as he thought the show should be about him, something that drove the director to distraction. Tensions on the set escalated until…

Whether Cummings was fired or quit, no one today knows; but he abruptly left the show after 21 episodes. By then, CBS knew there wasn’t going to be a second season (ratings had been middling to poor throughout the show’s run), So, they never replaced him. For the final 5 episodes, horny neighbor Peter Robinson discovered Rhoda’s secret and became her caretaker. And then My Living Doll disappeared from TV.

Only 11 of the original 26 episodes are known to exist, although Chertok’s production company is actively trying to find copies of the remaining 15 episodes. The surviving episodes have been released on home video.

For Newmar, there was a much happier ending. Less than one year after My Living Doll’s cancellation, she was cast as Catwoman on the Batman TV series and finally found the fame she deserved.

How much did the Tooth Fairy leave under your pillow when you lost a baby tooth?

How much do you think she leaves now?

Surveys show, the Tooth Fairy now delivers over $4 a tooth! Unfortunately for us, that's only for baby teeth!

A rare meeting of the Rolling Stones and that other "fab" group, the Rotting Stumps!

The revival of interest in the music of the late 1950s and early 1960s that occurred in the mid-1970s hit Great Britain even harder than it did America. Bands like The Rubettes, Showaddywaddy and Wizzard scored huge hits on the UK charts with modern updatings of early rock sounds.

Here in the States, the hits were harder to come by, but one British import not only cracked the U.S. market, it became a bigger hit here than in its native England. The record was a tribute to the Beach Boys and the early 60’s surf music called “Beach Baby.” The artists behind the record were known in the UK as The First Class. In America, “the” was dropped and DJ’s simply called them First Class.

What’s the real story behind he song? 

Like a lot of one-hit wonders, First Class began as a collection of session musicians. John Carter and his wife Jill Shakespeare wrote the tune and then recruited Tony Burrows (formerly of Edison Lighthouse) and Chas Mills to help them record it. The song did well enough in England, reaching #13. But across the Atlantic, “Beach Baby” reached #4 in the U.S. and #1 in Canada.

The album version of the song is quite a bit longer than the single (as was the fashion at the time). If you listen closely, you’ll also hear a touch of Sibelius's Fifth Symphony near the end of the song.

With “Beach Baby’s” tremendous success, there was a demand for the band to perform live. None of the session players had much interest in that. So, Carter recruited lead singer Del John, guitarist Spencer James, Robin Shaw on bass, Clive Barrett on keyboards and drummer Eddie Richards to be the “live” First Class. That’s the live group on the record sleeve – although none of the guys pictured actually played or sang on the record.

Unfortunately, although First Class (the studio guys) released 2 albums and multiple singles, they never came close to a second hit. Except for Tony Burrows. Besides having had hits with “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” and “Beach Baby,” Burrows also lent his voice to “My Baby Loves Lovin’” (White Plains), “United We Stand” (Brotherhood of Man) and “Gimme Dat Ding” (Pipkins) – making him a one-hit wonder 5 times over!

We all know modern society is more disconnected than the world we grew up in. That is especially true as we age.

Isolation is different than simple lonliness. Isolation means emotional and physical disconnection with friends and family members and researchers say it affects more than 8 million Americans over the age of 50.

Prolonged isolation can contribute to poor health. A recent study suggests it's as bad as smoking 15 cigarettes!

To find out your risk of isolation, AARP has posted a quiz online at their webite. If you'd like to take the quiz, click here.

Apparently, too much time on pro bono crime-fighting and not enough time running the family business forced Batman to recently downsize.

As we get older, sadly, we can’t eat like we once did and heartburn may become a problem, particularly during the nighttime hours.

The experts say these foods can be part of the problem:

• Caffeine
• Citrus
• Chocolate
• Tomatoes
• Spicy Foods
• Fatty Foods
• Alcohol
• Spearmint or Peppermint (Who knew?)

The first rule in relieving the discomfort is: don’t go to bed on a full stomach!

Other things that might help:

• Lose weight (which eases the pressure on your stomach)
• Elevate your head – if you can, your head should be about 6 to 8 inched above your body to help prevent reflux
• Minimize your meals – Try eating smaller portions more frequently
• If you smoke, stop – tobacco smoke can weaken the gateway between your stomach and esophagus.