THIS BLOG is running a bit late this week, but it's just as well as a couple days ago, I found out that one legendary performer in the Garden State passed away. His name was Floyd Vivino, but most people know him as "Uncle Floyd" who had a very notable career in New Jersey, mainly traced to his television show which in some form or another, lasted several decades, as well as his live performances at clubs around the state. He was 74.
 |
| New Jersey TV personality Floyd Vivino passed away this week at the age of 74. |
I think anyone my age who grew up in the 1960's could appreciate the Uncle Floyd Show, when it debuted in 1974. It was a children's show that was modeled after sixties personalities like Soupy Sales. Yes, children watched it, but like Soupy, much of the humor went over the kids' heads, and as young adults, Floyd hit home. While his show featured a puppet ("Oogie") and many humorous comedy sketches (with his cast of human characters like "Netto", "Mugsy", Scott Gordon and "Looney Skip Rooney" and a few others), presented in a low-budget amateurish way, but that was pretty much the charm of the show (with mock laughs behind the camera from his cast after a joke). But music was very important to the show as well. Floyd played piano often on the show, and his song "Deep In the Heart of Jersey" (a parody of "Deep In the Heart of Texas") because a big favorite with Jerseyans; my friend Alan would play this song often at tailgate parties in the Meadowlands.
"Deep In the Heart of Jersey"
Another big part of the show were the musical guests, often they were emerging or local "underground" bands. Acts that would eventually become big, like The Smithereens, Squeeze, Cyndi Lauper, Joe Jackson, Bon Jovi, and The Ramones played on the show, established acts like Blue Oyster Cult, Jan and Dean as well as more "novelty" acts like Benny Bell and Tiny Tim. Several artists, most notably John Lennon and David Bowie were fans; in fact, Bowie had referenced Floyd in one of his songs; he had said that it was Lennon who turned him on to Floyd's show. Alt-rock Jersey band Dramarama mentions Floyd in their song "Work For Food", as do The Ramones on their song "It's Not My Place (In a Nine to Five World)"; Johnny Ramone would often wear an Uncle Floyd t-shirt, Joey Ramone wore a Floyd button, and the band would frequently mention him in its gigs.
The show started on the cable outlet UA-Columbia, but for much of the 1970's, aired on UHF Channel 68, out of West Orange NJ, which had a kids' show block centered around the show. It appeared that the show was gaining momentum as at the dawn of the 1980's, his show aired on Saturday nights after Saturday Night Live, and Second City TV, as several stations would air the show around the country.
While the show never got bigger than that, it lived on, mostly on the New Jersey Public Television network (NJN) each evening, and then on the CTN cable network in the state. Later on, it aired on many Cablevision outlets in the state. Since then, he has performed live at various clubs around the state, notably at Wayne's Holiday Inn at "Uncle Floyd's Restaurant" in the facility.
He also had a radio show from 1987 to 2013 on a station based in New Rochelle, NY and had some acting roles as well, notably in Good Morning, Vietnam. Many remember his commercial for the Stanhope NJ theme park Wild West City.
I actually met him at a Halloween party in 2000 as he was one of the guests attending, and I got to talk with him for a while about various things Jersey. Arguably, I think he was the biggest "celebrity" that I have met to date. In 2009 and again in 2017, he ran for Governor of New Jersey as a write-in candidate.
Vivino was part of a musical family as his younger brothers Jerry and Jimmy were musicians, most notably as members of The Max Weinberg 7 and The Basic Cable Band, the house bands of Conan O'Brien on his Late Night, Tonight Show and his TBS talk show Conan. Floyd was born in Paterson but spent a lot of time in places like Point Pleasant, Island Heights and Glen Rock, where he went to that town's high school. He honed his craft down in Atlantic City as a child tap dancer there and started broadcasting over a friend's pirate radio station.
Sadly, Vivino was diagnosed with prostate and bladder cancer in 2022, and suffered a stroke the following year, but managed to recover. But finally, on January 23 of this year, he passed away.
Floyd Vivino was definitely a New Jersey treasure. May he rest in peace.
WE DO TALK ABOUT BRUNO: As I predicted last week, Bruno Mars' retro-disco romp "I Just Might" debuts at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It's the first debut at the top since the last number one, that being Taylor Swift's "The Fate of Ophelia". It's a "comeback" of sorts for Mars, at least as a solo artist, who had many hits in the 2010's, but it actually is the follow-up to his Lady Gaga duet "Die With a Smile" which was also #1 as well as Billboard's top song of 2025. He was also featured on the K-Pop song "APT." by Rose that also finished in the year-end top ten. On the SNS 100, the song grabs Mover of the Week honors moving 52 to 21. On my chart, aside from "Die With a Smile" which had a seven-week run atop the SNS 100, Mars' biggest blog hits include the #2 "Uptown Funk" with Mark Ronson, and the solo "Locked Out of Heaven" which peaked at #3. Both of those songs hit #1 on Billboard. Overall, Mars has ten #1's on Billboard since "Just the Way You Are" in 2010; both as a main and featured artist.
Taylor Swift moves down to #2. "Golden" still holds at #3 and "Man I Need" is still #4. "Ordinary" drops from #2 to #5. Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" drops a notch to #6.
SNS 100: Turning to my blog playlist chart, The Jay Vons' "Keep On Moving" spends a second week at #1 but the top five songs are still very tight. Actually, the top six are exactly the same as last week, with the only new entry being Vance Joy's "Fascination in the Dark" going from 11 to 8. In the top 20, there is also one new entry, last week's Top Debut, Brooke Combe's "How Can I Tell You?" is this week's Impact winner, moving 34-18. Just outside the top 20, the aforementioned Bruno Mars song is this week's Mover, and Starbuck's "Robusto" also makes big gains (33-23).
THE BIG EASY OF DEBUTS: Another bunch of new additions to the chart, effectively wiping out the remaining holiday entries. They are led by the latest by beach music singer-songwriter Sylvia Johns Ritchie, with "No Place Like New Orleans", timely with Mardi Gras almost upon us. Both the song and video effectively capture the spirit of that Louisiana town. A bit of Cajun boogie-woogie going on here in a tour-de-force should make it an instant smash at the Strand. It enters at #44.
Next is the long-awaited single from Stephen Sanchez, "Sweet Love". This is the singer that had the retro-doo-woppish "Until I Found You" which peaked at #2 in 2023. The new one doesn't sound like that, but it's still wrapped in the 1960's but this time it's more of a pop and Motown-ish approach. This still looks like a smash, at least here. "Until" actually did well on the Hot 100 so maybe lightning can strike twice here. A #51 debut for the song.
Also entering is the latest from Blake Shelton, "Stay Country or Die Tryin'", in the style of his "God's Country"; the return of Lily Allen after a prolonged absence, "Madeline", kind of in her pop style but a bit dramatic; it actually reminds me of The Shangri-La's "I Could Never Go Home Again" with its spoken-word interludes; The Rainy Day Outlaws, who hit top 10 last year with "I Know", return with "Manchester to Nashville", a cool slice of southern rock and blues; Andy and Oneida with "Cruising Down the Boulevard", beach music but no relation to The Carolina Blue Dots song of the same name from a few years back, is an easy going song, another about life down here; Band of Horses who scored top 10 with "Lights" a few years back, enters with "(Riding Time Is a) Boat to Row" sort of a psychedelic thing; The Neighbourhood's "Hula Girl"; the outfit hit top 10 in 2017 with "24/7", in the alt center lane; Florence + the Machine's latest, the peaceful and quite exotic "Sympathy Magic", and finally She & Him's "I Thought I Saw Your Face Today", originally released in 2008 but racking up views on Spotify recently and is #42 on the Hot 100 this week.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100 Playlist
January 18, 2026
|
This Week |
Last Week |
ARTIST-Title |
Weeks on List |
|
1 |
1 |
NUMBER ONE:  Album: The Word (2 Weeks at #1) |
11 |
|
2 |
2 |
11 |
|
|
3 |
3 |
12 |
|
|
4 |
4 |
9 |
|
|
5 |
5 |
19 |
|
|
6 |
6 |
14 |
|
|
7 |
8 |
14 |
|
|
8 |
11 |
10 |
|
|
9 |
9 |
10 |
|
|
10 |
7 |
10 |
|
|
11 |
10 |
18 |
|
|
12 |
14 |
10 |
|
|
13 |
15 |
10 |
|
|
14 |
17 |
9 |
|
|
15 |
16 |
13 |
|
|
16 |
18 |
9 |
|
|
17 |
13 |
13 |
|
|
18 |
34 |
TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:  "How Can I Tell You? (To Love Me More)" (Single Release) |
2 |
|
19 |
20 |
9 |
|
|
20 |
12 |
13 |
|
|
21 |
52 |
MOVER OF THE WEEK:  Album: The Romantic |
2 |
|
22 |
19 |
15 |
|
|
23 |
33 |
3 |
|
|
24 |
21 |
12 |
|
|
25 |
23 |
8 |
|
|
26 |
26 |
8 |
|
|
27 |
28 |
10 |
|
|
28 |
27 |
14 |
|
|
29 |
29 |
17 |
|
|
30 |
41 |
3 |
|
|
31 |
32 |
8 |
|
|
32 |
24 |
16 |
|
|
33 |
46 |
3 |
|
|
34 |
37 |
4 |
|
|
35 |
22 |
15 |
|
|
36 |
38 |
4 |
|
|
37 |
25 |
19 |
|
|
38 |
31 |
9 |
|
|
39 |
36 |
8 |
|
|
40 |
49 |
3 |
|
|
41 |
59 |
2 |
|
|
42 |
30 |
13 |
|
|
43 |
51 |
3 |
|
|
44 |
--- |
TOP DEBUT:  (Single Release) |
1 |
|
45 |
53 |
3 |
|
|
46 |
35 |
HUNTR/X
- Golden |
20 |
|
47 |
43 |
8 |
|
|
48 |
55 |
3 |
|
|
49 |
65 |
2 |
|
|
50 |
45 |
23 |
|
|
51 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
52 |
39 |
17 |
|
|
53 |
57 |
3 |
|
|
54 |
72 |
2 |
|
|
55 |
58 |
3 |
|
|
56 |
75 |
2 |
|
|
57 |
42 |
14 |
|
|
58 |
48 |
12 |
|
|
59 |
63 |
3 |
|
|
60 |
40 |
21 |
|
|
61 |
56 |
12 |
|
|
62 |
68 |
2 |
|
|
63 |
44 |
18 |
|
|
64 |
67 |
3 |
|
|
65 |
62 |
The
Tams - My True Love● |
26 |
|
66 |
70 |
7 |
|
|
67 |
73 |
3 |
|
|
68 |
47 |
20 |
|
|
69 |
76 |
2 |
|
|
70 |
80 |
2 |
|
|
71 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
72 |
60 |
29 |
|
|
73 |
82 |
2 |
|
|
74 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
75 |
50 |
12 |
|
|
76 |
85 |
2 |
|
|
77 |
66 |
23 |
|
|
78 |
54 |
9 |
|
|
79 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
80 |
61 |
14 |
|
|
81 |
83 |
29 |
|
|
82 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
83 |
71 |
14 |
|
|
84 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
85 |
69 |
11 |
|
|
86 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
87 |
79 |
30 |
|
|
88 |
64 |
17 |
|
|
89 |
84 |
15 |
|
|
90 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
91 |
90 |
8 |
|
|
92 |
78 |
18 |
|
|
93 |
81 |
Johnny O and the
Pocket Rockets - Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love) |
15 |
|
94 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
95 |
88 |
16 |
|
|
96 |
92 |
The
Swingin' Medallions - Hit Me With Them Horns |
9 |
|
97 |
99 |
36 |
|
|
98 |
100 |
29 |
|
|
99 |
89 |
11 |
|
|
100 |
98 |
28 |
Murmurs:
The Chelsea Curve - Rally 'Round
Murmurs: Songs which are in the queue for future adds onto the Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100 Playlist.
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week
●Songs garnering 25 plays
on Spotify (“Scrobbles”) according to Last.Fm (effective October 2024) ▲ Songs garnering 50 plays.
Songs
on the SNS 100 are included on the following public Spotify playlists
Scenes
‘n’ Soundwaves Top 40: Contains songs in positions 1-40 on the SNS
100
Scenes
41-100 and Newbies Songs in Positions 41-100 on the SNS 100 plus
new additions
Scenes
Recurrents: Songs which had been in
the top 20 and/or songs on the chart 25 weeks or more, that have dropped off
the SNS 100.
(Rob Sheldon
is a music fan who has followed music trends the past 60 years, and covers new
and classic music, specializing in pop, rock, alternative, beach, soul and
country genres). He can be contacted
at rsheldonx4804@gmail.com
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