Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Footloose (1984)

1) In this week's song, Kenny Loggins encourages everyone to lose their blues by dancing. What reliably shakes you out of a funk? Cuddling a cat.

2) To cut footloose, he has to kick off his "Sunday shoes." What's on your feet as you answer these 9 questions? Nothing. I'm barefoot and suddenly very aware of my chipped pedi.

3) This is the title song of the popular 1984 movie of the same name. It's so well-identified with the film that the AFI named it #96 of the top 100 movie songs of the last 100 years. Have you seen Footloose? Once. I didn't care for it much, one way or the other. I can still sing along with the soundtrack, though. "Let's Hear It for the Boy," "Almost Paradise," "Holding Out for a Hero." They were all very popular and ubiquitous on the radio.

4) The title of his 2022 memoir, Still Alright, was inspired by "I'm Alright," the song he wrote for the raucous golf comedy, Caddyshack. Do you play golf? (Yes, putt-putt miniature golf counts!) Do you watch it on TV? I don't get golf. I wish I did, because I admire the passion of those who are into it.

5) Thinking of movies, Kenny says watching Yankee Doodle Dandy when he was just 7 years old made him think performing looked like fun and says, "I knew deep inside this is something I could do." Do you recall when you set off on your chosen career? When I was a little girl, I used those wax paper squares made to separate hamburger patties. I'd trace pictures out of my Golden Books and make up my own stories. Then I'd staple the squares and announce I'd "written another book." So my mom was not surprised when I became a professional writer.

Where it all began.

5) Kenny grew up in Everett, Washington, north of Seattle and 84 miles from the Canadian border. Have you ever visited Canada? If yes, where did you go? Montreal when I was 8, Toronto when I was in my late 30s.

6) In 1977 Kenny struck up a friendship with Stevie Nicks, who was a source of encouragement and would sing with him on one of his biggest hits, "Whenever I Call You Friend." Tell us about when you met one of your best friends. At my first job as a writer, for the Sears catalog, I was given the cubicle next to John. He was an old-timer who had been there two years already. He came over to give me the keys to my file cabinet. My first assignment was to write about men's tube socks. "Why do I have to lock the drawer? Are we worried about spies from JC Penney's?" He knew then I had attitude and he liked me. Over our shared cubicle wall I saw a cardboard silhouette. I went into his cubicle and saw he'd taken a photo of Diana Ross (his goddess) sitting at a fashion show, cut it out, backed it with cardboard, and made a paper doll to "watch him work." I knew then he was an original and I liked him. We were dear friends for 43 years, until his death in April.

7) In 1984, when this song was a hit, Angela Lansbury premiered in Murder, She Wrote, a show still seen in reruns today. Were/are you a fan? Not really. I'll watch it if it shows up in the middle of the night when I can't sleep, or if I'm spinning the dial and see a guest star I recognize. 

Yes, that's a young George Clooney in Cabot Cove.

8) Let's tweak your memory about something else that happened in 1984. Without looking it up, can you recall why Michael Jackson's Pepsi commercial made headlines the world over? His hair caught on fire during filming.

9) Random question -- Think of your last professionally prepared meal. Did you dine in, carry out, or have it delivered? Carry out.