Saturday Nine: Turn Me Loose (1959)

This week's Saturday Nine:

1. In this song, Fabian sings he has change in his pocket. Every evening, Sam puts her change in the piggy bank on her kitchen counter. Do you do anything special with your coins? Or do they just jingle/jangle in your wallet or pocket until you spend them? They're just in my wallet until I spend them. But I went to the US last week and got some pennies in change and I can't use them here because we discontinued pennies, so I'm not sure what the hell to do with them and they're just taking up space in my wallet.
   
   
2. Fabian got his start because his neighbour in Philadelphia owned a record label and thought 14-year-old Fabian had the looks to be a teen idol. Tell us about a time recently when you were in the right place at the right time. When I was trying to buy tickets for Paramore's Tour Two through Ticketmaster a few months ago, I had logged on through both my computer and the app on my phone just as the pre-sale started so I could double my chances of getting tickets. But for the next 20 minutes, I couldn't get any seats for any sections — either hundreds of people were trying to get tickets at the same time, third party selling sites were buying them out, or the site just couldn't handle the traffic. I kept refreshing and refreshing, and there were no tickets available. I was about to give up and decided to refresh one last time and, lo and behold, actually managed to get two tickets in the front centre balcony section — someone must've given them up at the last minute. (The concert is actually this Friday!) Don't know if this constitutes as being in the right place at the right time, but it sure felt like it.
   
   
3. His record label paid Fabian $30 week to study singing after school. What jobs/chores did you have when you were in high school? Did they prepare you for your eventual career? For two summers when I was 14 and 15, I answered phones, took reservations, and processed payment transactions for a Chinese buffet restaurant. To this day, I still have to answer phones to take appointments, and process payment transactions for products and services, so... I guess it did.
   
   
4. In 1959 he appeared on the cover of now-defunct magazines like Teen Screen and Dig. Who and what did you read about when you were a teenager? I didn't read celebrity gossip or teen-specific magazines once I hit high school. As a teenager, I read a lot of fashion/style magazines like InStyle, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Allure, and Lucky (my personal favourite) — I read them more for the beauty/cosmetics sections and interviews than clothing/couture.
   
   
5. In the 1960s he moved from singing to acting. In 1965 he appeared in Ten Little Indians, a screen adaptation of an Agatha Christie mystery. Have you ever read an Agatha Christie book? Surprisingly, no.
   
   
6. In 1973, in an attempt to jumpstart his career, he appeared nude in Playgirl magazine. By the time it hit the newsstands, he regretted it.  Tell us about a time you were very embarrassed. When I was in Grade 7 or 8, I was taking the subway home during rush hour, and as I was running up the stairs from the station to catch my bus, I tripped on the last step and crashed to the ground. Not only was I sprawled on the floor in the middle of the bus depot in front of dozens of people, my books also flew out of my backpack and landed everywhere. So after I picked myself up, I also had to go around and pick up my textbooks, binders, papers, pencil case, Discman, CDs, and whatever else, to add insult to injury. It was so embarrassing that I still remember it vividly even after nearly 20 years.
   
   
7. In 1959, when this song was popular, most women wore nylons on a daily basis and the average price per pair was $1. What socks or leg wear — if any — do you have on right now? None; I'm barefoot right now.
   
   
8. 1959 also saw the premiere of The Twilight Zone on CBS. 58 years later, you can still see the show in reruns. Are you a fan? I have actually never seen an episode of The Twilight Zone, but if I watched it during its heyday, I actually think I'd be a real nerd about it.
   
   
9. Random Question: While we're talking about TV... Sam finds it disturbing that her brother claims he's seen every episode of Bad Blood, a show devoted to family members who have murdered their relatives. Do you enjoy "true crime" reality shows? Not particularly. I've never really cared for them.