Certain Hollywood Stars

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Martin,

David Letterman was in the habit of having "special" shows for his anniversaries on air, anniversaries at CBS, etc. [Re CBS: Recent departee Mary Tyler Moore, who did a lot of business with CBS, was the first person I'm aware of to put Letterman on TV beyond Indiana. She had a variety show with an ensemble cast, including him. After its 4-episode run, she worked up another variety show, without him.]

His bandleader, Paul Shaffer, knew pretty much everyone in the music business -- possibly exceeding even Doc Severinsen at a similar point in their careers -- so they could get fantastic musical guests for any of these extravaganzas.

For some reason, the Weather Girls and their most famous song were special to the hearts of Letterman and Shaffer, so they featured a blowout performance of it on one show, with backup dancers and confetti and who-knows-what else. However, the only Weather Girl alive and well enough to perform was Martha Wash.

Last I read -- which may have been last century -- she lived in a house in the town where I grew up, near Jimbo. This is credible because there are a couple of other big-voiced singers who own homes in the area, and she may well have visited them and found the town to her liking.

very easy no problems

Zhouqin hit a double today. She also has the Wall Street Journal puzzle. I hope we can call this on-point just this once and post it:
http://herbach.dnsalias.com/wsj/wsj170130.puz

Reprises needed to be written over, (REFRAINS) the only blemish on an enjoyable and easy Monday puzzle...33a reminded me ofthe 1997 comedy "Liar Liar" presented a challenge to one of the MALE LEADS of the film, Jim Carrey. Carrey's grade school son (Justin Cooper) challenges his compulsive liar of a father to go 24 hours without uttering a single falsehood. Bob Hope attempted to LAY odds on the same bet in 1941.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMzg8Ksvnw0

Eric Clapton and friends has some sound advice that guarantees favorable results when taking LIE TESTS:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KnrX3eEFSc

What a fun and smooth solve. Easier when BULLETPROOFVEST and BUCKEYESTATE are filled on the first look, which opened things up nicely.

The most enjoyable thing I'm finding as a subscriber is what I'll do to be sure I get my daily NYT fix before it goes away and messes up my solve rate :). Airport concourses seem to be a good solving location for me.

Thank you to Ms. Burnikel for a fun effort!

COCK n' BULL made me smile.

Loved learning that a rabbit can be a BUCK. That cleared up the BUCK/STAG same animal thing.

Smooth, smooth, smooth, CC ... what a wonderful start to the week!

Easy Monday puzzle with a manly theme. LIETESTS sounds like something nobody actually says, but otherwise a clean fill. Hardly surfaced for air before I was finished.

Elvis Presley had so many memorable hits, it's easy to overlook a dreadfully hokey exclamation of bravado like "U.S. MALE," written by country artist Jerry Reed, which still managed to reach #28 on the pop chart in 1968.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82zYKm61qL4

Fresh and fun! I'll add my voice to the REFRAINS of praise for this one.
Perhaps one tiny quibble: does anyone say EPICFAILURE anymore? Isn't it "epic fail"?

An AA for CC! Very clean puzzle, and my only complaint is that it was over too soon! I can continue bashing my skull against the Saturday Stumper, I suppose....

One more male lead, BOAR, at 9 down.

A smooth, enjoyable Monday jaunt, with an amusing theme to match. I never heard of LASIK, but got it from the crosses. ORE-IDA, on the other hand was a double-Natick for me. BOHO chic is not my style and there are “LETTER”-beams other than I, viz. H-, L- and X BEAMS

I love the smell of testosterone in the morning...It smells like coffee

Was COLT the boy toy reference?

Solid Monday.

Thank you Zhouqin

Started off with DEUCE which brought back memories of yesterday. Liked having LAP under Michael Phelps' RIO. Thought it was particularly appropriate to have LUNAR on a Monday. As always, CC, your puzzles are an UTTER pleasure. (If we were working with female LEADS, they could be an 'udder' pleasure.)

Really nice puzzle and remarkably clean, with LIETESTS being the only awkward entry. I paused before I worked out the reveal after I had all the theme answers filled in, but couldn't see it so that was a nice 'aha' moment.

I was even more impressed by this puzzle after I reviewed the clue histories. The very much 'in the language' entries COCKTAILHOUR, BULLETPROOFVEST and VIPENTRANCE are all appearing in a Times puzzle for the first time, and BUCKEYESTATE and MALELEADS have each only appeared once before. That's a whole lot of 'fresh.'

In the unlikely event that anyone missed the theme, here's Muddy Waters spelling it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSfqNEvykv0

..

I noticed the wording in the clue for LAY, but started with bet anyway until, of course, LASIK.

As usual with CC's puzzles, a pleasure to solve with some nice entries like VIP ENTRANCE. Also a shout out to a couple of us at 14A. I quite like Mondays.

This was not an EPIC FAILURE, but a good Monday puzzle with some interesting fill. I tried CHORUSES before REFRAINS, figuring I had a 50/50 chance. I wondered why the BEADS were on a specifically Indian necklace, as opposed to any other kind of necklace.

I'm worried about Deadline.

Another very nice Monday puzzle from CC, and that's no BULL.

As perfect a Monday as one could ask for. Nice theme, easily guessed after two entries, but still satisfying. Just enough gentle wordplay to keep it from being bland. CC never disappoints.

Rich, I left you a reply to your late Saturday night comment - it was after the Sunday puzzle was here already, so maybe you missed it. I just looked - it got one reco, so maybe that was you?

Very nice Monday puzzle. I had bet before LAY, but pretty smooth otherwise.

Thanks for the entertainment.

8D's answer (YEAH) is a sarcastic response to woo-hoo. A supportive answer would be YAY, but of course that doesn't fit.