March « 2026 « The False Ducks Blahg

March 27, 2026

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO RECEIVE A FREE MATTRESS?

Filed under: Uncategorized — sinatrafan @ 10:55 pm

I won. That should be the short version of this blahg. Okay, maybe it should be a little longer with me adding that I received my prize. Well, things don’t always work that way in my world and if they did, I wouldn’t get a full tale out of it. Sit back, this one is still developing.

About a week and a half ago, on Saturday March 14th, to be exact, my wife and I had gone shopping for a new love-seat. I should note that we actually had started the looking a week before but we hadn’t found anything we liked. We have an electric reclining lounge chair that I like to sit in and Jeanette likes to sit on the love-seat because she has quilting or knitting or crocheting material that she likes to place next to her, depending on the project. There’s also a spot for Rogue, our cat, because she likes to be up beside Jeanette. Here’s a picture of our love-seat:

It’s not as firm as it used to be and Jeanette has been complaining of a sore back after sitting there for long periods of time. We decided it was time to look for a new one. We had started out looking at a couple of furniture shops but nothing appealed to us. We even thought about another recliner but Jeanette wasn’t keen on the options we run into. This is where the story gets interesting.

We decided to go and look at The Brick in Belleville. It prides itself as being “a Canadian retailer of furniture, mattresses, appliances and home electronics. We have purchased there before and it was the last real furniture outlet in Belleville we hadn’t browsed for a new love-seat. On entering, we saw a couple of posters for “The Price Is Right” promotion that was happening in the store. The first poster was on the outer door:

The second poster was between the doors:

When we got in the store, we were greeted by a store associate named “Eric” who let us know about the Price Is Right contest and how we could spin the wheel at the back if we made a purchase or how we could scan the QR Code on the larger poster between the doors. He wasn’t high pressure so we were left alone to walk around and look at the furniture. We spent half an hour looking at various chairs and love-seats but finally settled on a new sofa because it was firm and Jeanette liked it. Here’s what it looks like:

We decided on another sofa because it was a good deal and I thought if our current sofa eventually needs replacing, we could then replace it with a love-seat. It’s a backwards sort of logic but we have room for two sofas in our living-room. After purchasing it, that should have been the end of our tale but you have to know by now that there’s always more to the story.

Remember me mentioning they were having a Price Is Right contest? You should, it wasn’t that long ago. Eric, rang us up and at the back of the store was a cardboard wheel Jeanette got to spin. The slots on the wheel either had a “1” or a “2”. She spun a “1” which meant she would get a Price Is Right scratch off card. The prizes were either $100 off your purchase or a free delivery. We won free delivery. That’s an $80 value because we live in the country, 30 minutes south of Belleville. We were happy with that. Still, that’s not the end of this narrative. Eric, reminded us of the other poster and about scanning the QR Code for chances to win other prizes. This is where it gets interesting.

Both Jeanette and I scanned the QR Code. You had to register with your email address and phone number. After that, the online contest brought up a plinko game. It was similar to one seen on The Prize Is Right gameshow:

I don’t remember what the labels were at the bottom but I remember there were several “entry” slots and in the middle was a “grand” slot. Jeanette went first and her digital ball fell into an “entry” slot. I guess that meant her name goes into a draw for a large prize. I went next and my ball dropped into the “grand” slot. Immediately a page opened up that said an email was being sent to me about the prize I had won. The directions were that I was not to open the email until I was in front of a Brick sales associate because there would be a link in the email to tell me about my prize and I must be in front of a store employee. So back we go into The Brick.

We could not find Eric when we reentered but we met a nice male associate named RJ. I explained to him what had happened. He directed me to open my email, which I did, and then to click on the link in the email to reveal my prize. A browser window opened up and told me I won a free mattress up to the value of $1500. He was very happy for us. He directed us to go to the mattress department while he went to talk to his Manager. Jeanette and I began to look at the mattresses. We wanted to find a mattress that would not put us over the $1500 value. The notification had also said we had to pay the tax but there would be free delivery for the prize. Sweet!

After about ten minutes, the Manager, a woman named Jenn, came to the mattress department to congratulate us. She also said we could go home because the digital part of the contest would be online and we would be notified about the prize and be given a prize claim code. Luckily, in the ten minutes before Jenn arrived, I had read all the details of the notification and nowhere did it say everything was online and there was definitely no mention of a prize claim code. I explained this to Jenn. I even showed her my notification. She went away and was gone for another ten minutes. When she came back, she asked us to come to her office. She asked for my phone and started to re-read all of the information in the prize notification. I don’t know what she did but she managed to click on something else and got to a different page which she believed detailed the next steps.

Jenn informed me that I had to write a 50 word essay and submit a prize claim form and answer a skill testing question. Again, I had read the notification and no where did it say anything about the essay. She was very insistent so I wrote out the essay on a notepad and put down my contact information. The theme of the essay was how The Brick was a good community partner. I don’t know what I wrote but I mentioned how I was greeted and how I was treated by RJ and Jenn. I wasn’t negative and I didn’t stress how Jenn seemed to be confused about the contest. She kept apologizing and saying they had never had a winner in that store before. She decided also to call the Kingston store; which is a larger market. They explained that there was no need for the essay and that I should make the mattress purchase today and everything could be written up and taken care of then and there.

I completed the prize claim form and answered the mathematical question. I couldn’t use any electronic devices to answer the question but it was fairly simple and I was positive that my answer was correct. RJ was brought back in to witness everything because he had seen me open the email and click on the link. Jenn decided she would scan the claim form and my essay and submit everything to Corporate. That whole ordeal took about thirty minutes. Then we were invited to go back to the mattress department with RJ and select our mattress. Seeing as RJ was already dealing with another customer, we went to look at the mattresses and wait for RJ.

When RJ finally met up with us, we showed him the mattress we had selected. Remember, we were looking at the price tags and were determined to select something that would keep us under the $1500 prize limit. RJ began to show us other mattresses. I thought maybe he was trying to upsell us, thinking that we would pay the difference between the $1500 and the price of the mattress he was promoting. Not the case. RJ was highlighting a line of mattresses that were on sale, 40% off so we could select a more expensive mattress and, with the 40% sale, we’d still come in less than $1500. He left us again for ten minutes and we started to look at the more expensive, but on sale, line and sat and reclined on a few before we made our decision. Here’s the one we selected:

This is the Beautyrest Black Hotel Cornerstone Suite Tight Top Firm Queen Mattress. The price of it was $2,249 but with the 40% off it came in at $1349.40. According to the contest, we only had to pay the tax on the $1349.40 which was $175.42. Again, delivery was free. RJ took us to the back and rang it up. I explained that we had purchased a new sofa and it was being delivered on Wednesday, March 18th. RJ assured me that the mattress would also arrive on Wednesday with the new sofa. I thanked RJ and went to thank Jenn. She said we couldn’t go yet because she needed a copy of the receipt and would I please go and find RJ and make sure he had a copy of invoice for Jenn. I found him, already helping other customers, and he assured me he had a copy of the invoice for Jenn. I went back and told Jenn everything was good with RJ. She congratulated me again and I was free to go. Nope, still not the end of the story.

By the time Jeanette and I left the store, we had been in there two hours. The first half-hour was selecting and purchasing the sofa and the remaining ninety minutes was due to winning a mattress. Let’s cut to the next part. Wednesday, March 18th came and I had received an email notification of the time window for our delivery. I was at work but Jeanette messaged me after the delivery:

Just got the couch. They had no mattress for us, he checked the order. Maybe we don’t get it until the Brick gets confirmation?

I messaged back:

Does our mattress invoice have a delivery date on it?

Jeanette replied:

No but at the top it does say that delivery date will be confirmed and scheduled upon arrival of product from suppliers…guess RJ forgot to mention that

My response:

Can you take a pic of it and send it to me. I will maybe call them.

Here’s the invoice:

I decided not to call The Brick. If it was an inventory issue then maybe I’d hear about it. I decided that if there was no update by Monday March 23rd, I would visit the store.

Let’s move on to March 23rd. I took my invoice into the Customer Service desk and asked the attendant for an update on my order. She looked at my Invoice and then checked her computer. She said they were waiting for me to pay the balance. You can’t see in the Invoice picture above but it does show that I had paid $175.42 in taxes and the balance owing was the $1,349.40. Nope, sorry, I don’t owe that. I explained to her politely that I had won the contest and that the balance was to be paid by the Brick or The Price Is Right or whoever but definitely not me. I had seen that Jenn was in her office so I directed the Customer Service attendant to talk to Jenn about it. Jenn came out shortly after that and explained I had to wait until the contest was over and the Brick was reimbursed by the Price Is Right. She apologized again that I had been told by RJ that the Mattress would be delivered with the sofa. It was at this point, I was absolutely sure that no one associated with The Brick really knew what to do with a free Mattress winner. I have been promised that someone will be in touch with me.

The last caveat to this story, besides the fact that I’m still waiting for my Mattress is that there were only three prizes of this $1500 Mattress in all of Canada. I wonder how the other two chumps are fairing?

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March 12, 2026

A FOUR RECORD STOP

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: Bethlehem, Bill Black's Combo, Dakota Staton, False Ducks, Julie London, Red Norvo, Scott Henderson — sinatrafan @ 2:03 am

Yesterday, I played a little hooky from work. I have a job where I tend to run around a lot checking on clients and taking them to appointments. I also try to sneak in some time to visit my Mother in the long-term care home where she resides. I received a call in the afternoon that she was out of a certain denture adhesive, so I drove to the pharmacy and then took them up to her. On the way back to work, I took a diversion and stopped in at a local thrift store. I had been there on the weekend but I hadn’t had a chance to check out the vinyl records section because there had been an individual taking a deep dive through them. Yesterday, I had a chance to go through the records and scored four records. Thus the title.

Before I start in on sharing songs from the records, let me show you some quick photos of the vinyl. I took these while in my car because I wanted to research them in my office when I got back:

That last record was, I believe, the first one I selected yesterday. I have in fact written a previous blahg about Dakota Staton, WHY DID I BUY THIS CD? I talked about a CD with the title “Dakota Staton – Five Classic Albums” which I had purchased but didn’t remember doing so. Here’s a picture of that CD:

Dakota Staton CD

Notice that the five albums compiled on the CD set did not include “In The Night” which is the album she did with George Shearing that I purchased yesterday. That’s where I will start.

I won’t go into more details about Dakota Staton but you can check out the blahg, I referenced above. Here’s a better look at the front cover of the “In The Night” LP as well as a shot of the back cover. You can click on the images to make them bigger:

I’ll start off by offering the title track, “In The Night:”

That one was slow and sultry. Here’s a track that gently swings, “I Hear Music”:

I’ll offer one more that fits the sultry category, “The Thrill Is Gone”:

I’ll jump back to the top photo which shows the LP “Solid and Raunchy” featuring Bill Black’s Combo. I found this quote on YouTube where someone posted the whole album:

Bill Black was the original bass player in Elvis Presley’s band. He played on all the early Elvis recordings. After leaving Elvis Presley’s band he formed Bill Black’s Combo, which became one of the most popular instrumental bands of the period.

Here are more cover shots of the front and back:

Bill Black front cover

I noticed right away that the song “Don’t Be Cruel” leads off the first side. This is a song closely associated with Elvis Presley. Here’s the Bill Black Combo version:

If you want to talk about songs closely associated with someone else, then what do you think of when I say “Tequila?” You should say Pee Wee Herman and it should conjure up images of Pee Wee dancing to this song on top of a bar in the 1985 film, “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure”:

That version was performed by “The Champs.” Here’s Bill Black’s Combo version:

Finally, from this album, I want to offer up “Mack The Knife” because it too is such an iconic song. There have been great versions by Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Darren, Frank Sinatra, and Bing Crosby with Bob Scobey’s Frisco Band. You can listen to the Bing and Scobey version by viewing my blahg, WHAT ON EARTH IS SCOBEYFAN? Here’s Bill Black’s combo with their version:

The next album is a compilation of sorts, “Bethlehem’s Girlfriends.” The AI version of google stated this about the album:

Bethlehem’s Girl Friends
(1956) is a compilation album released by Bethlehem Records featuring jazz vocalists Chris Connor, Julie London, and Carmen McRae. The 12-inch LP (BCP-6006) showcased tracks from these prominent artists, including songs like “It’s All Right With Me” and “A Foggy Day.”

Here are the front and back covers:

Where do I start with this album? Well, I noticed that the song “The Thrill Is Gone” is sung on the album by Chris Connor. I offered a version earlier in this blahg by Dakota Staton. Now here’s Chris Connor’s take:

Another song by Chris Connor on this compilation LP is “Lush Life.” Not too many have attempted this song. Sinatra tried recording it and there’s an incomplete version:

There’s also a nice version by Linda Ronstadt and a marvellous version by Blossom Dearie:

Now here’s Chris Connor’s version:

Another vocalist from the Bethlehem’s Girlfriends record is Carmen McRae. Here she is singing on “Easy To Love”:

Here’s a more uptempo song, “Tip Toe Gently”:

The last singer featured on the Bethlehem album is Julie London. I think I have a couple of Julie London albums at home so I know who she is. She sings four songs on this record but I’m going to choose the two songs I have heard by Frank Sinatra. The first is “A Foggy Day”:

I think I used the word “sultry” earlier when talking about Dakota Staton’s singing on “In The Night,” but sultry fits here, too. Here’s Julie London singing “Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me”:

Wow, what a voice!

I’m not sure what to say about the last record I purchased, “Windjammer City Style” featuring Red Norvo. I purchased the album because I had heard of Red Norvo. In fact, I referenced him in two of my Linda Keene blahgs: TRACING LINDA KEENE, PART 2: THE MOMENT IN MY LIFE and TRACING LINDA KEENE, PART 3: ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD. Linda Keene was on a six month tour across the USA with Norvo from June to December of 1940. I also mention a CD I own of Norvo live at The Blue Gardens in Armonk, New York in January 1942. A Billboard notice had Norvo there from December of 1941 to January 1942 and that Linda Keene was appearing with him:

Unfortunately, Linda Keene did not appear with him at The Blue Gardens. Here’s an image of the CD:

The vocals on the CD are attributed to Helen Ward, Kay Allen, Fran Snyder, and Eddie Bert. Here’s one of the songs I posted with a Helen Ward vocal on “This Time The Dream’s On Me:

On February 16, 1945 Linda Keene also recorded four songs with a group of musicians that included Red Norvo on vibes. They both appeared on the Black & White label. The A side featured the song “I Don’t Stand A Ghost Of A Chance” :

The flip side was “I Must Have That Man”:

Linda Keene also recorded two other songs on February 16, 1945 with the same musicians, including Norvo, also released on the Black & White label. “Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You” and “Blues On My Weary Mind” were 19A and 19B on the Black & White Label.

GEE BABY, AIN’T I GOOD TO YOU–LINDA KEENE WITH CHARLIE SHAVERS & RED NORVO

———————————–

BLUES ON MY WEARY MIND–LINDA KEENE WITH CHARLIE SHAVERS & RED NORVO

I guess, with all of that in mind, I thought that purchasing the Red Norvo album, Windjammer City Style would be an interesting listening experience. It bills itself as the musical score from the Cinemiracle production, “Windjammer.” Both the movie and this record were released in 1958. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about the “Windjammer” film:

Windjammer is a 1958 documentary film that recorded a 17,500-nautical-mile (32,400 km) voyage of the Norwegian sail training ship Christian Radich. Windjammer was produced by Louis de Rochemont and directed by Louis de Rochemont III. It was the only film to be shot in the widescreen Cinemiracle process, which came with a seven-track stereophonic soundtrack.

Here are images of the Red Norvo Windjammer LP:

I don’t know most of the songs from this record but I recognize the title “Memories Are Made Of This.” I believe Dean Martin had a hit with it:

The only other song from the LP that has a familiar title is “Marianne” and has been recorded by Harry Belafonte and there’s a live version by Trini Lopez on the album Trini Lopez at P.J.’s. Here’s Trini singing it as part of a medley from the P.J.’s record:

Now here’s Red Norvo’s version:

I haven’t listened to all of the tracks on all four albums. That’s another day. Not bad though for a quick stop at a thrift store….A Four Record Stop.