Shaun Squad Society
The Shaun Squad Society Podcast is a podcast written, produced and hosted by three women who want to keep the Magic of a Midnight Sky alive!
Cindy, Dorese and Dame became friends at a Shaun Cassidy concert and immediately decided to form "The Shaun Squad." Soon after, the Shaun Squad Society Podcast was conceived to discuss and reminisce about all-things Shaun Cassidy, from his first years as a teen idol to his current career as a writer and producer.
This podcast brings together a community of Shaun's devoted fans, the ones who played his albums non-stop, and who tuned into The Hardy Boys Mysteries every Sunday evening. And now, 46 years later, Shaun's story-telling tour has delighted fans again. So, join us for the stories, fun-facts, and fascinating interviews as we take you down memory lane with our Teen Dream, Shaun Cassidy.
Shaun Squad Society
Jingle All The Way: A Shaun Squad Society Christmas Special
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Are you ready to get your Christmas spirits high? This episode is our Christmas present to you, all of our listeners! We promise you an episode that will not only make your holiday season merrier, but will also fill you with warmth and compassion. This special Christmas edition of the Shaun Squad Society podcast, with discussions about our favorite charities and exclusive snippets from Shaun's recent Christmas shows, is bound to give you a full, heart-warming holiday experience! So, grab a glass of the delightful My First Crush wine, a collaboration between Shaun and award-winning winemaker Steve Clifton, and join us for a festive journey.
Let's usher in the season of giving with a look at some worth-while charities such as No Kid Hungry which is run by Share Our Strength. Share Our Strength is an organization dedicated to solving problems of childhood hunger and poverty in the United States. Also, we'll look at the pressing issue of homelessness. Together, we share stories of our efforts to combat homelessness in our home towns. Switching gears, we then turn the spotlight on the phenomenal work of St Jude Children's Research Hospital. This charity holds a special place in our hearts, and when you hear about the impact it has had on families with children fighting catastrophic diseases, we're sure it will touch yours too. And don't forget all of the wonderful wishes being granted by the Make A Wish Foundation who make it possible for children to believe that anything is possible in the fight against their illnesses.
As we continue our journey, we interview fellow fans as they share their excitement before some of Shaun Cassidy's holiday concerts and their unique stories about what his music has meant to them. We'll also take a stroll down memory lane, unveiling the fascinating histories of your favorite Christmas songs. And for the finale, we'll bring you the thrill of "Santa Shaun" singing his favorite Christmas songs! Trust us when we say this episode of the Shaun Squad Society podcast is just the Christmas treat you will love!
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Email us at shaunsquadsociety@gmail.com
Welcome to the Shawn Squad Society podcast Christmas Special. We're so excited because today we are giving you a Christmas special, which is a present from us to each one of you. This episode is focused on a season of giving. We want to talk about our favorite places to give to our charities. We'll tell you what they mean to us and even mention one that means a lot to Shawn. We'd also like to give you more on the recent Christmas shows that Shawn's touring with. Right now he's singing his favorite Christmas songs and we're going to talk about those. We also will have live recordings and a few check-ins that were with fans that were in line before the shows. Girls, I am so excited. Are you ready? Ready to get this Christmas special rolling?
Speaker 2We are ready. We are so ready. Glad everybody's able to join us today for this special episode.
Speaker 3It is going to be such a great time. I cannot wait to hear all of the good things we're going to share with our listeners today.
Speaker 2Yeah, what a way to end the season and the year.
Speaker 3Right. It's such a wonderful second season, and what better way than to give back to our faithful listeners who have stepped by us and supported us for the first and second season?
Speaker 2Yeah, we really appreciate everybody following us and liking us and listening to all these great episodes that we've been putting out. So today we're going to start talking about charities. The time forgiving is now and the holiday season it all ties in together and talk about that and give you information to be able to donate to them.
Speaker 3So, cindy, speaking of holiday season and time forgiving, it's also a little bit of time forgiving to yourself, and every year I try to give to myself a little bit with my favorite bottle of wine that I like to have at my Christmas table.
Speaker 2Oh, and what's that one?
Speaker 3It would be my first crush wine.
Speaker 2Yes, we all know about my first crush wine, and I think you have a bottle here too. I did.
Speaker 3I brought a bottle to bring to our podcast table today, and it's not the autographed bottle.
Speaker 2And how do you say that? Which flavor is that? This is the Sera Sera.
Speaker 3And it's really. I've had it a couple of years. It's from when Sean first introduced my first crush wine. Okay, and I bring out. I bought 12 bottles at the time and I try to bring out one every holiday. I don't want to hold it for too much longer. I don't know this shelf life, but this wine. I don't have a good background on wine.
Speaker 2Right, but I think longer the better. More shelf life, the better it tastes. Let's talk about my first crush, wine. There's a collaboration between Sean and the award winning win maker, steve Clifton.
Speaker 3Steve Clifton is an award winning win maker. I just don't know which award, but has really done a great job with this wine. So whatever award he's won, I think he deserves it.
Speaker 2Yeah, I love the design of it too. I don't know if Sean wrote that label, but I like how they designed that with the heart on there.
Speaker 3It's very, it's very like welcoming. It has a little heart under the name of the wine and the name of the wine looks like maybe someone's penmanship. They wrote that out.
Speaker 2Yes Now, but I do have to say, as a teenager I would not be drinking this wine. This is my first crush. But as an adult, yes, I think I did try one. I'm not sure which flavor it was. I did have one before. I enjoyed it. But yeah, did you know? Sean recently announced the official launch of the Buy First Crush Wine Club.
Speaker 3I did read that on his social media that he has a wine club. Yes, you could order your wine now, not just every time you need wine. You can join a wine club, Not just for holidays. No wine is my pleasure. You can have it anytime, trust me, I know.
Speaker 2I think we're going to try some today too. We might have to Try that out, so, but you know too, they're shipping now to every state in the US.
Speaker 3Because of the wine club.
Speaker 2Yes.
Speaker 3Now they're able because remember when the first came out, so many people were disappointed that they weren't shipping to their state and they wanted the wine. I'm not giving names or anything, but I think a couple of people maybe did a couple of illegal bootleg shipping of bottles across the lines of states. Right, they were like I don't know anything.
Speaker 2You don't know anything. Somehow they got a bottle in their hands, which is good, and it's good to know that now everybody can get a bottle, so hopefully that goes well with this wine club.
Speaker 3I think it will and it really I'm thinking of joining it because I am in a couple of other wine clubs and remember, back when Sean was doing city winery tours, I joined the city winery wine club. Right, I have a local wine club here that I'm in. So, no, I don't need a meeting, yeah, so I just want to let everyone know I don't have a problem, I just enjoy a nice bottle of wine. Do you have a favorite? The wet kind.
Speaker 2The wet kind. I lean more towards sweet wine, so I think like a Moscato type wine. Don't know if Sean has it in his lineup, but I would be interested in something like that.
Speaker 3I don't like the red ones so much, the ones that kind of taste like wood or like those, the drier ones, the dry ones. But I got to tell you, when I opened up Sean's last year I was like, well, this actually is not so bad. It wasn't as dry and oak flavored as the other ones.
Speaker 2Right, and don't forget, sean did taste test all of these wines.
Speaker 3I hope it was the bottle that he sent to me. He just took a little swig and sealed it up.
Speaker 2This was good. This was good to go, so we're all glad to hear about that. It has a wine club now we can all taste it. We can get on a regular basis. If you're a wine drinker, so look into that on his website. And we also want to let you know that my first crush wine partners with no Kid Hungry, which is an organization that feeds hungry kids nationwide, and we've all heard Sean talk about that before that a portion of the sale of the wines do go to no Kid Hungry.
Speaker 3And what a great organization. No Kid Hungry really does take care of children the way I know them is because the lunch program that ends at school season, a lot of kids today get their free lunches through school Right and when school is out for Christmas or summer or COVID, a lot of kids that have a meal. Right, no Kid Hungry. I love this organization.
Speaker 2Yeah, share Our Strength launched no Kid Hungry in 2010. And, as a child hunger organization, ending childhood hunger is the primary focus of this charity through. Share Our Strength continues to invest in and develop, you know, with other campaigns, but they support things like school meals, like you said, they also help with grants to schools, like food banks, community groups across the nation, you know to help them get what they need to feed kids. They're also an advocate too. They work with national and state and local elected leaders on both sides of the aisle, and they help fight for policies to help families with feeding their children. They also are part of an awareness group that they work with celebrities, like we know, with Sean chefs, news media, major companies you know lots of different people involved with this, and that just brings awareness on the crisis of childhood hunger in the US. So they really want to get the word out there, and they've also included research and policies too. They know what works in one community and that could be helpful somewhere else.
Speaker 3So, cindy, I am not against helping other nations and developing nations that need help, but this organization, hungry Children in the US Right, and that's what really touches me.
Speaker 2Start at home first.
Speaker 3Yes, and there are so many hungry children. Yes, and this organization is helping them with grants and helping them by finding out ways to help families.
Speaker 2Exactly, and what?
Speaker 3who need the money to get food to feed their children.
Speaker 2Yeah, they help parents, caregivers yes, you know all with young children that may struggle to make ends meet. They try to help these families out also, so it's a great organization. So if you want to donate to them, go to nokidhungryorg and you can look on their website as a how to donate to the charity.
Speaker 3And that's what, Cindy. You could go to Sean's website. Yes, you can and there are links to no-cat hungry Sean has a link to that on his website.
Speaker 2Exactly, there is a special section on his website for my first crush wine, so check it out. Highly recommend it.
Speaker 3I do too. You have to. You have to start at home at Christmas.
Speaker 2You do.
Speaker 3And speaking of which, I'm going to talk a little bit about one of my favorite charities, because today, like Dame said, we're going to talk about how we give back personally. Yes, and I have a special connection with homelessness Because you guys may not know this, but when I'm going to get all emotional here, when I was a kid, 12 years old, I was homeless my mother and six kids and a grandchild on the way. So I really do take a special, special fondness to any program that helps end homelessness in the United States. Well, we have an organization and it's called the PADS Shelter Program. Now, I'm going to put a little caveat that what I'm talking about is local to Illinois, but homelessness is a crisis in the US and you can find a shelter program in any major area of the US If you'd like to support.
Charity Organizations
Speaker 3But the PADS Shelter Program has a lot of homeless shelters in Illinois and I'm going to talk about DuPage County Pads, because that's the one I'm most connected to. I give back to that. I live in DuPage County. I help them all the time. Dupage County Pads is a beacon of hope for those with little or no support while experiencing homelessness. They provide interim and permanent housing and support services. Their mission is to end homelessness in DuPage County, illinois. They all year round, feed and shelter individuals and families who are homeless and they connect with them by giving them a case manager to identify the underlying cause of their homelessness. So they don't just bring you in and get your place to sleep. They try to get to the root cause of why you are in this crisis.
Speaker 2And they should do that. I mean some people. This is a temporary situation, but sometimes there's more to it and you need to look into the whole story.
Speaker 3Yes.
Speaker 1Well, also, even where I live, there's something connected to that and that was one of the charities I was going to talk about was Grand Nation of Craig County, Oklahoma, and what Doris is saying. They pretty much do the same thing here in Oklahoma and it's amazing and that's called Grand Nation of Craig County in Oklahoma and they help find homes and food and classes and ways to get these people that are homeless a home and a way to build their life much better and their health.
Speaker 3Yes, and do you guys remember, years ago, comic relief with Billy Crystal, Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg? Yes, their mission was to end homelessness and they raised money. And I remember one thing I thought it was a tagline from comic relief homelessness happens. It happens to just about anybody can be homeless. It's not like when you were a kid and you picture guys on a freight train with a little stick in a bandana and we called them hobos and they wanted to be homeless. Well, that's back in the 30s 40s. In today's world, homelessness happens to just about any and every body.
Speaker 2Right, I'll say anybody, any level of financial situations or whatever it is, you can find yourself in that situation.
Speaker 1Yes, yes, and these organizations help so much, you know, and Christmas is wonderful for that reason that it's a reason for giving you know. It reminds people. There's people out there that need more food, they need a home, you know, they need to learn how to get on their own and they need to know that they're not alone.
Speaker 3And that's the main thing, dane Get on your own and know that you're not alone. Exactly these organizations will give you keys to your first new apartment. They will make sure that's their goal not to just give you a shelter to sleep in tonight, but to give you a home to go to.
Speaker 2And what a feeling that is. You know, as you say, this is mine and I have the keys, and what a great feeling and an accomplishment.
Speaker 1And then to get on their feet. You know, to get on their feet on their own.
Speaker 2Exactly, and the support is still there. It sounds like they will continue to support these people. They do.
Speaker 3And before I get to falling over here and become a waterhead. I'm going to tell you if you'd like to give to the PATS organization or do Page PATS. In particular you could go to do Page Patsorg and find out all about the organization. And, Dane, how about you tell how to give to the organization in Oklahoma that you support?
Speaker 1Well, the one, the Grand Nation. There's a phone number they gave me it's 918-276-2192. And then there's a post office box of 572 and it's Vanita, oklahoma, and it's 74301. And it's an amazing program. I know my husband and my sons. They go out every month and spend many hours handing out food for this program.
Speaker 3I support the PATS organization as much as I can, as often as I can. So if you guys would like to see homelessness in the United States, go on your computer, look up different organizations and you don't have to give to our local ones. And can I just say why we're talking about giving back? Giving back comes in many forms. I like to say time, talent and treasure. You don't have to give money, that's treasure. You could give your time, like Dane's family, and help pass out or help set up or help whatever they need, and you could give your talent. So many times they have fundraisers, they have so many different things where they need someone who could help develop a website or help put together posters or help do something that requires a talent. So please understand that now, in this time of giving back, you could give time, talent and treasure.
Speaker 1And it's so nice to be behind people that need this, and Daryse isn't saying this, but I have so much respect for her because, even though she went through exactly what we're trying to help, she was one of those people that were helped, but she also went on and got on her own feet and she received her degree, and so it's wonderful when people get behind these type of programs and believe in the children.
Speaker 2And there is success in the stories.
Speaker 3Yes, every one of these people have a success story at the end of the day. Go to a couple of their fundraiser events. They always highlight a family and put a little video together. You'll be a waterhead. Don't worry about it, you'll cry.
Speaker 2And don't just do this at the holidays. This is needed all year round. I know the holidays zones in on giving and charities, but please remember to give to these charities all year through, because it's needed all year.
Speaker 3All year round. Homelessness is a crisis and it's a year round crisis. Right, so don't forget them there are these other charities, and that's a perfect segue right into the next one we like to talk about.
Speaker 2Yes, let's talk about the St Jude Children's Research Hospital Organization. This is special because it pertains to children. I'm partial to children, love children. And my husband and I always would want to give to children's charities and we just think that St Jude's Children's Research Hospital is a great charity to give to.
Speaker 3That's the Danny Thomas and Marlowe Thomas. Yes, I love the organization.
Speaker 2Yeah, we all know Danny Thomas, don't we? And Marlowe Thomas, his daughter.
Speaker 1He was an actor and he had so much talent and he used his name to do something with so much. I mean to be that wonderful, to think of the children.
Speaker 3No child, no family has to worry about how they are going to pay for services. I'll never forget that that was the first thing I learned about it.
Speaker 2Families never receive a bill from St Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food. All they want them to do is focus on helping their child live. That's their main motto.
Speaker 3Now with St Jude. What is the illness that they mostly specialize with children? Is it like any childhood disease?
Speaker 2Well, it's geared towards pediatric catastrophic diseases is how they put it. Yeah, through research and develop. They don't not only treat children. This is a research hospital. They research this childhood cancer and they do studies at the hospital. These kids are actively involved in clinical trials and research and treatment. So they are fully active in this childhood awareness for the pediatric catastrophic diseases is how they put it. So it may not just be cancer, it could be other catastrophic diseases that they're experiencing.
Speaker 1Well, with that being said, because I have a love towards getting rid of cancer, because I survived cancer myself, but I read that with St Jude's they have gone from the survival rate for a child from 20% before this program to now 80% to 94% of survival rates.
Speaker 2Yes, can you believe that? Yay, that is wonderful.
Speaker 3Yes, yes, wonderful.
Speaker 2That is great news.
Speaker 1Well, like I was saying, as a cancer survivor myself, my heart really goes out to children that have to fight that terrible disease that I had to fight. I can't imagine, as a child, having to fight this by yourself, or parents would have to give up their whole house and everything. But as parents, that's what we would do if we had to. So St Jude's is helpful to adults as well, yeah.
Speaker 2I was going to say that they help the whole family, not just the child. The whole family is taken care of and they take care of you regardless of the duration of treatment or the cost of the care of the therapy.
Speaker 1Yes, and I also noticed something, even with my situation. Something came in on Facebook today and it said that today is my memory day for 10 years ago, exactly when I got over with the 33 radiation treatments.
Speaker 2It was on the station.
Speaker 3Congratulations. Yay, thank you Wonderful.
Speaker 1Yeah, and my friend I have a friend that he also went through cancer treatment but he gives to St Jude's and he said that the donations go directly to the children and the promoters aren't involved to reduce any of the money. It all goes to the children. It's meant to go directly to the kids as it should be.
Speaker 2That's great to hear and yeah, it's important with these charities too, to know where the money goes, because some people are hesitant to donate because they don't know.
Speaker 3Well, some charities, not all money go to the charity. There are some charities we won't name them, but I know for a fact. There are some where the money 60 percent and then they use 40 for overhead and costs and everything else. St Jude, 100 percent goes to the child Right.
Speaker 2And did you know? Four out of five children do survive the cancer.
Speaker 1Yes, it's so high and so it's wonderful. I hope they do the same type of thing for adults some day, you know, because they know what they're doing.
Speaker 2Yes, that would be great to have it encompass children and adults, because this company is so wonderful with their organization and research, yes, that I think that adults could benefit from that also.
Speaker 3I just think it's so great. When I was a kid I knew about the anytime and see I had some TV shows on back in the early 70s, late 60s, and for his daughter, marlowe, who we all know from that girl, right to be continuing this legacy is just wonderful. And you know, you see her on the national TV shows St. Jude is a national program. So just to see Marlowe Tom is continuing all these years later with Danny Thomas started and we have a four out of five greater survival.
Speaker 2Mm hmm, yep, and they said every child deserves to live their best life. And you can help St Jude give kids with cancer that chance. You just have to go to stjudeorg and you can look up. There's many different ways to donate, like Doree's talked about before. There's volunteering, you know there's regular donations. There's payroll deductions. You can do ploy, gift matching. You could become a partner with them. There's a memorial card you can do. There's many different ways you can give to this organization.
Speaker 3You know, cindy you brought up a good point. A lot of people forget because I work for a company that has a charitable foundation and my side work at work is to run our charitable foundation for our local office, a lot of people forget to go to your HR and find out how to get matching contribution for anything that you give. If you give five dollars, you get your matching. However, they match Right, whatever, whatever that matching looks like. I know through my company we say we match time, talent and treasure. I give two hours of time donating. They give three hundred dollars. So go to your company and, even if you can afford to give financial financial see if your job will match in some kind of way.
Speaker 2Yeah, and you can also do fundraisers for St Jude and through your will, you can donate the money to them. Yeah, there's many different ways to help out this organization, right.
Speaker 3That is great. We want to see our kids live, because they are our future and we want them to live their best lives Right.
Speaker 2And I wanted to lastly mention about another childhood organization called Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Speaker 3I love Make-A-Wish.
Speaker 2Foundation.
Speaker 3I do too, I do too you guys are going to turn me into a real waterhead today. All of these charities are so special yes.
Speaker 1And they put children first. I mean, that's just amazing to you know, the children should be put first.
Speaker 2We do anything for our children, yes, and they grant wishes to children with critical illnesses. Yes, in the US.
Speaker 2You hear a lot of stories about the Disney World trips and things like that. Yes, but I believe the first story of Make-A-Wish it was called Chris's Wish and this was back in 1980. There's a seven-year-old little boy battling leukemia and wanted to be a police officer, and he lived in Phoenix and the community came together to make his wish come true. And little did Chris know that his wish would be to create a movement that would transform millions of lives with these children. So today, make-a-wish has granted hundreds of thousands of life-changing wishes to children battling critical illnesses. These wishes give families hope through the dark times, of course, and, you know, give them strength to persevere and forever change their lives. Yes, so this is how Make-A-Wish got started and it's just grown so much now. And if you want to donate to them, you just have to go to wishorg and you can donate for Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Speaker 3And I think maybe everybody knows somebody who benefited from Make-A-Wish. I'm not going to say for a fact, but I know that I know someone. It's like that six degrees. I think we all may know someone, who knows someone even. But Make-A-Wish is that connected to communities and lives that we all know the work that they do. Yes, we all know it.
Speaker 2We all know the celebrities involved that help these kids out and it's just wonderful to see that every time.
Speaker 3What a heartwarming segment we just did, oh man. But you know, there's nothing better to me than giving back at Christmas and, like you said, Cindy, you could give back year round.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 3So we're going to just wrap this little part up before. Like I said, I get really emotional and we don't want me to start messing up the equipment with my tears.
Speaker 2Well, I think we gave out all the information. I think I don't know. I'm sure if I gave out the information with my First Crush Wine. To find out more about my First Crush Wine Club, visit their website at MyFirstCrushcom and click on Crush Club Sign Up. And to find out more about no Kids Hungry and to donate, visit NoKidsHungryorg.
Speaker 3And again, I think both of those have a link on Shawn's website. Yeah, Shawn has a link also. To find out more about Pats, dupage Pats or any Pats organization, but DuPage Pats in particular go to DuPagePatsorg. Or you could just Google Homeless Shelters in your community.
Speaker 2Yes, and St Jude's again with StJudesorg, or Make a Wish is at Wishorg If you want to learn more information.
Speaker 3And, Dame, did you have one that you'd like to give their phone number and address again?
Speaker 1Just the one that I was telling you about Grand Nation, which is PO Box 572, bonita, oklahoma, 74301. And that phone number I gave earlier was 918-276-2192. But now let's get to the part where we get to talk to friends who are in line as they were anxiously awaiting to see Shawn's winter shows. Santa Shawn added a lot with his Christmas songs.
Speaker 10Alright, so this is Beth Ann, and I'm here in Clearwater, florida, for Sean's first show of the new ones that he's doing for the season, and I'm sitting here with a couple girls who have never seen Sean Cassidy, so we're going to talk to them a little bit and see how they feel about it. So, hi, what is your name? Hey, I'm Trisha Knox, I'm from Tallahassee, florida, and Sean, you've never seen Sean before. Nope, this is my first time. And how did you come about finding out about this concert?
Speaker 5I stumbled across the fan Facebook page and through the Facebook page I saw Sean was touring and before I knew it he announced new tour dates and Clearwater was listed, and Clearwater is four hours from Tallahassee.
Speaker 10So I said I'm there, awesome. And so where are you sitting tonight, rowe Eye? Oh, okay, that's not too bad, alright, well, I hope you enjoy your experience with Sean Cassidy tonight.
Speaker 5Yep looking forward to it.
Fans Excited for Shaun Cassidy Concert
Speaker 10Okay, bye, bye. Hi, this is Beth Ann. Again, I'm back at the Capitol Theater in the Clearwater Show and I'm here in the lobby before the show and I'm talking with Marcy and I just turned her on to the fan convention page. So now she liked it on Facebook and I just told her all about the Sean Squad Society. She's going to look up the podcast, so we're going to talk to her and find out what she thinks of Sean. So go ahead and tell me your name again and where you're from. My name is Marcy and I am from Suffer Hills, florida. Oh, so you're local here. And how many times have you seen Sean? This is going to be my first time. Oh, my God, I know. Oh, wow, okay. And when you were like, how old were you when you fell in love with him? High school, grade school?
Speaker 5Oh no, it was probably grade school. It was around grade school, grade school, yes, and so you had pictures on your walls and things like that. Yep, and I still have his album it's the white album With his face on it.
Speaker 10That's it, yep exactly, the Dew Run Run. The Dew Run Run, yes, okay. And so of all the songs you know he's going to do some Christmas ones tonight, Of all the songs that you hope that he hears tonight, which one do you want to hear the most?
Speaker 5Oh gosh there's so many. I like the, of course, the Dew Run Run. Can you believe it's magic?
Speaker 10Oh yes, that's a good one too.
Speaker 5Just, this is so many, I just don't know how to narrow it down.
Speaker 10And where are you sitting tonight? We're, I think, around the 5th row, if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 5Wow, okay, I'm going, I'm going. Big have you ever?
Speaker 10been in this theater before.
Speaker 5No, this is my first time.
Speaker 10I was just in there for the early thing. It's very small and 5th row you're going to feel like you're right on top of me. I cannot wait. I cannot wait. And did you come here alone tonight? Nope, my husband's with me. You brought your husband, I know.
Speaker 5Yes, I did.
Speaker 10How did you get that to happen?
Speaker 5I had to be very nice.
Speaker 10Did he even know who Sean Cassidy was? He has no clue, okay, no.
Speaker 5Well, he kind of does. He's heard like a song, but he's a lot younger than me.
Speaker 10Well, sean says that a lot of husbands come and they end up having a good time. Yeah, all right. Well, marcy, I want you to have a wonderful time and thank you so much for talking with us and make sure you tune into the Sean Squad Society podcast. Thank you, you're welcome, and now we're going to speak with Linda, who also has never seen Sean Cassidy before, and so we're going to get her opinion of what she's excited and what she wants to see tonight. So, linda, tell us who you are, where you're from and how far did you travel to get here.
Speaker 11My name is Linda Colville and I live in Clearwater and I only traveled 15 minutes to come to the show, and this is the first time that you've ever seen Sean in contact.
Speaker 10Correct, yes, it is. And what's your favorite song? What are you hoping he's going to sing the most tonight? I like them all. You do run, run. I'm sure he's going to sing. I'm sure he's going to sing that one. Okay so, and when Sean was popular, how old were you way back when?
Speaker 9My goodness, I must have been about seven or eight. I'm going to say Okay.
Speaker 10Well, should Sean hear this one day on the podcast? Is there anything you would like to say to Sean?
Speaker 9No, just that I'm looking forward to tonight. I've been waiting a long time.
Speaker 10All right, thank you so much, linda. So, jana, tell us who you are and where you're from.
Speaker 12Hi, I'm Jana. I'm actually I'm from Tampa, florida, but I've traveled to see Sean.
Speaker 10And how many times have you seen Sean? Now, I think this is number four. How old were you the first time you ever saw Sean?
Speaker 12Oh, this is these recent two tours. I never got to see him the first time around, even though I wanted to.
Speaker 10And did you have pictures of Sean hanging in your bedroom when you were growing up?
Speaker 12I had pictures of David. I'm sorry, but I always liked that I was just a Sean can too.
Speaker 10I always liked Sean and his music and so now you're definitely you've been in the meet and greet with me and the VIP question and what did you think about how he was acting for us there tonight?
Speaker 12Oh, I thought it was wonderful. He was very open in the way he answered questions, very personable. I thought it was fantastic.
Speaker 10And are you going to enjoy hearing all the Christmas songs tonight, or do you just?
Speaker 12want to hear the old classics, oh well, I love Christmas too, so that's fine with me if he puts on some Christmas songs, and his music is great too, so I'm good, no matter what, all right.
Speaker 10Well, thank you, jan. Enjoy the show. Hi, this is Beth Ann. Again, I'm here at the Capitol Theater in Clearwater and right now in the lobby I have Jack. Jack came alone to see Sean Cassidy, and so we're going to talk with Jack a little bit and find out what brought him here. So just tell me your name again and tell me where you're from.
Speaker 8Hi, I'm Jack and I live in the next town over from here, which is Largo, and I came here by myself because I knew it would be a good time. I've never seen him before in all the years, and his debut album was one of the first, if not the first album I ever bought.
Speaker 10And how old were you then, Jack?
Speaker 8Was I then? Yes, well, let's see, that was 77, right, yeah, so I was swell.
Speaker 10Another young one. I was like 15, 16 back then. Okay, so besides Sean Cassidy, were you other? What were some of? Your other fans that you like back then, or was that you were a fan of them?
Speaker 8Back then it was Disco Donna Summer. Basically Rollers probably. Yeah, so Sean Cassidy. I just loved the music and watched the TV show and in fact he got me into reading all the Hardy Boys books too.
Speaker 10Oh yeah, we all love the Hardy Boys mystery. So tonight he's going to do a lot of favorites and he's going to do some holiday songs, Since it's so close to Christmas. He said so what is the one song that you just got to hear tonight and you hope he plays it?
Speaker 8Anything that's not a hit up of his first two albums.
Speaker 10Every song on those two albums was very good.
Speaker 8Yes, I mean, I know all of them, but just something you know it's a certain one you're always going to hear, but something I can just sing along to and be happy with.
Speaker 10Well, you're going to be happy tonight, jack, and everything is a sing along with him, so thank you so much for coming. I enjoyed talking to men who come see Sean Cassidy and love to hear your story. And you have a great day and have a happy holiday.
Speaker 8Oh, thank you. I've met some really great people here tonight.
Speaker 10We are Sean's sisters, so now you are Sean's brother or sister. Yes, hi, so this is Beth Annigan and we're here waiting for the VIP and we're inside the Capitol Theater in Clearwater and waiting for him to let us in to see Sean. So I'm talking with a nice lady in line who was here with her husband, and we're going to find out who she is and where they're from. Hi.
Speaker 5I'm Christine. I live in Safety Harp, Florida.
Speaker 10Oh, so you're local. Yeah, that's pretty cool. And how did you happen to find out that Sean was going to be here today? His Instagram, his Instagram, okay, yeah, he has a lot of followers on that one. And you brought your husband with you, didn't you? Yes, I did. And how did that happen to come about?
Speaker 5It's a birthday and Christmas present combined.
Speaker 10For you, or him For me? For you. Well, I admire that he's here and he looks very excited to be here. Thank you, is this the first time you've ever seen?
Speaker 5Sean Cassidy? No, I'm sure no. Where else did you see him? I saw him in 1982 at the Pokemon.
Speaker 10Playhouse. Okay, in 1982,. How old were you in 1982? Sixteen. You are a young one and should you get to how Sean hear this podcast, anything you want to say to him? I?
Speaker 5just think he's wonderful.
Speaker 10Wonderful person, all right. Well, enjoy the show.
Speaker 1I'm looking for his voice. Wait till you see him. Okay, girls, say your name and something about Sean.
Speaker 11Katherine Compton got me through some hard times Sean did. Listening to his music got me. When I was all alone, you know, and thought there was nobody in the world cared about me. I would put his music on and go into another world. Disappear just me and him. Hi, I'm Kathy Nelson and I first fell in love with Sean Sean when I saw him on the Hardy Boys.
Speaker 1And it was true love after that. Yes, okay, jennifer, jennifer.
Speaker 11Hoffpauwer. And here's my first concert, my first crush that my sister blessed her heart. She had taken to the concert just days after having tonsillocomy, but she said it wasn't that bad yeah yeah, that was good.
Speaker 1Okay, jennifer, second time here with me, so that's kind of cool.
Speaker 5Hi, my name is Laura Sandson and I started in love with Sean Cassidy in fifth grade when Hardy Boy and Nancy Drew series came on, and I always thought I had a shot to marry him, because my parents were nine years apart and he's only nine years older than I am. So, yes, the world now knows I'm 56.
Speaker 7And here's a friend my name's Jill and my. Well, my first crush, like so many others, was Sean, and my mother would not let me go to his concert when I was 14 because she thought I was too young. And since then, this will be my third time that I'm seeing him, because I am making up for lost time. He's never enough.
Speaker 1He's never too late either. The one of our friends. What's your first name, Lisa? Her name's Lisa and she's wearing one of our favorite shirts. We all have that first crush and you want to tell any stories of reason. You think Sean's so awesome. This is our third concert. Her hubby's third.
Speaker 7And he's come along to the last two and I don't know just.
Speaker 1I absolutely love that you could sing along to the songs and they were wholesome and Hardy Boys and all of that, and still wearing Hardy books. Absolutely. I remember my folders for school having Sean. Cassidy on that and you just love it. We get here and we just all feel the same.
Christmas Songs and Their Backgrounds
Speaker 2It's awesome, thank you His last concert was fun. Well, that was fun. Listen everybody talk about their excitement seeing these shows. But now let's get to the Christmas songs. The first song we're going to talk about is have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. This song was written in 1943 and first sung by Judy Garland in the movie Meet Me in St Louis.
Speaker 3Well, meet Me in St Louis is the way I like to call it. Oh no, that's just me being crazy, but it was a great movie. And Judy Garland sings this song to a little girl. A little background about the movie. It's about a family who has to move to New York City right before the St Louis World Fair in the 40s, like you said, and the little girl doesn't want to move because she's afraid Santa won't know where to deliver her presence.
Speaker 3So there's a scene in the movie I remember perfectly. They're sitting at a window and Judy Garland is singing to her little sister have yourself a merry little Christmas. She wants to assure the little girl that Santa will find her and get her presence to her home in New York City. And one thing about the movie that stands out is after she sings the song. It's supposed to cheer her up, I think, but the little girl is so sad and so upset she runs outside and you see a snowman that she had been working on pretty much the whole week, getting this guy all ready for Christmas, and she just takes a stick and knocks the whole thing down.
Speaker 3Oh that's how upset she is about moving to New York and the song have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas really didn't make it. It didn't make her feel much better.
Speaker 2Oh, oh, better in a bad mood, but it is a very nice song. And here is Sean right now with that version of have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
Speaker 4This time again, this year, our struggles will be miles away. Here we are, as in golden days, happy golden days of yours. Faithful friends who are dear to us, troubly into us once more, flayers, we all will be together If the things surround the star of the high years. Have yourself a merry little Christmas Now, right now.
Speaker 2Wasn't that a great rendition of have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas from Sean. It was wonderful. I loved it.
Speaker 3Yes.
Speaker 2So the next one we're going to talk about is oh Holy Night. And did you know? Oh Holy Night started off as a poem and it was written back in 1843. The church organ was being renovated and it was a dedication to the new organ in the church. But then, in 1847, the opera singer this was in France now, the opera singer, emily Lawry turned it into a song, and now it's become a holiday favorite.
Speaker 1They used it for a ballet too.
Speaker 2Yes, Okay, I never knew any of that. Yes, that's a really old Christmas song, really old.
Speaker 3Yes.
Speaker 2I didn't know that either. Interesting.
Speaker 1Yes, these stories behind them are amazing. And then with oh Holy Night, I also learned that there was a legend behind this song so I don't know if it's true behind it, but this is what I heard, and it said that the oh Holy Night was sang on Christmas in the middle of a fight, when a French soldier stood up in a muddy trench and then faced the Germans and broke out into the song Wow. So the story goes that the fighting stopped for the next 24 hours, while the men on both sides observed a temporary peace in honor of the Christmas day.
Speaker 3I heard that many years ago.
Speaker 2Did you?
Speaker 3I listened to American Top 40 with Casey Casemont. He told that story I heard that.
Speaker 2That's where he told it.
Speaker 1Okay so I'm not the only one.
Speaker 2Interesting.
Speaker 1Interesting backgrounds. We're excited to hear Sean singing oh Holy.
Speaker 2Night. So let's hear Sean's rendition of oh Holy Night.
Speaker 4Oh Holy Night, oh Holy Night, oh Holy Night, oh Holy Night, oh Holy Night, oh Holy Night.
Speaker 2All right, well, let's go on to the next Christmas song, and that is White Christmas. Everybody's heard of that song before, and that song was written in 1942, and Bing Crosby sang this song in a musical called Holiday Inn.
Speaker 3And in White Christmas.
Speaker 2Yes Movie, white Christmas yes, two movies. And it was the best selling single with that song, which was interesting. Yes, I read that too, and I also read too that in 1942, it came out in 1942, that's when Pearl Harbor got hit. And that's the first time he's saying it was Christmas of 1942 after the Pearl Harbor incident happened.
Speaker 1And it was written by the same composer, his name, Irving Berlin. That also wrote God Bless America.
Speaker 3Yes, right, irving Berlin was such a cool composer back in the day. And here's the funniest fact that I know about Irving Berlin he was a Jewish composer but he wrote a lot of holiday. Christmas sounds like we know White Christmas, but did you know White Christmas was written while he was on a beach. It was a very hot sunny day and he was on a beach and he wrote about dreaming of a White Christmas.
Speaker 2How ironic. Usually in the summertime we're just enjoying the sun, but somebody's thinking about a White Christmas.
Speaker 3Yeah, I don't know what inspired it. I don't know what he saw that made him think about Christmas and he just thought about it and he wrote the biggest Everybody knows White.
Speaker 2Christmas, everybody, yes, yes, and Sean did too, so here's Sean's rendition of White Christmas.
Speaker 4With every Christmas card I write may your days be many and bright, and may all your Christmas days be white.
Speaker 3That was such a great version of White Christmas. Oh, wasn't that nice, sean just has me dreaming, get us in the mood.
Speaker 2Yes, love it.
Speaker 3But our next and last song we want to talk about is Santa's song is coming to town.
Speaker 2Wait, wait, wait. That's not the name of the song. What happened to it?
Speaker 3Well, you know, sean, he's not going to sing about Mr Claus, he's going to sing about Santa's song.
Speaker 2So Sean changed the words already.
Speaker 3Yeah, he made a little tweak in the words Okay, and he made it great too. Did you know that in 1934, this song was written in Bing Crosby's song? You know Bing Crosby did a lot of Irving Berlin musicals. Yeah. Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. Right, I didn't Google and asked Mr Google. Irving Berlin wrote Santa Claus is coming to town, but he may have. You never know.
Speaker 2He never know a lot back then. He wrote like 1500 songs. That Irving Berlin wrote like 1500 songs. Oh my goodness, yes.
Speaker 3Well, did you know that Santa Claus is coming to town? Not Santa Sean, but Santa Claus is coming to town. It's covered by a lot of people. We all heard the Phil Spector version and the crystals version. Yes, there's a Jackson 5 version. The Supremes did a version. One of my favorite versions is the 1975 Bruce Springsteen rock version.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, he really put a turn on that.
Speaker 3Yeah, he really did and he had such a great time. If you listen to the live version, it really does rock out and I love that version.
Speaker 2But right, now, that was good, but don't forget, you forgot one of our favorite groups we talked about before, the Partridge family. Oh, did that? One too. Yes, we talked about that with Johnny Ray Miller. Yes, we did, we enjoyed that.
Speaker 3Thank you, Cindy, for reminding me of that.
Speaker 2Yeah, I would. Sean wanted to sing one of their songs on his tour. One of the Partridge family. My Christmas card to you. I would love to hear him sing that.
Speaker 1Maybe next year, maybe next year when he puts together his new songs.
Speaker 2He does another holiday show, he does another one.
Santa Shaun Is Coming to Town
Speaker 3Yeah, and now here he is, santa Sean singing. Santa Sean is coming to town.
Speaker 4Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town.
Speaker 1Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town.
Speaker 3Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town. Santa Sean is coming to town.