Tuesday This And That

March 6, 2018, 4:41 am

≪ Previous: The Sunday Comments ( 03 - 04 - 18 )

And a JUMBO Edition at that!!!

Hi Kent,
Though I haven't written in some time, I still read Forgotten Hits religiously (and even when I'm not feeling religious)! It is still the best music publication on the market! Keep up the GREAT work for all the legendary music stars, performing artists, composers, managers, road managers, agents, and those of us that appreciate all of them.
Please sign me up for a Forgotten Hits lifetime subscription. As I said, IT IS THE BEST!
Kent, I hope you & your family are all doing GREAT!
All My Best,
Tim Kiley
Thanks, Tim!
Have the rest of you guys out there signed up for the list?
For the most part, we expect you to check the website on your own on either a daily basis or whatever fits your schedule … but from time to time, we also send out periodic reminders and special features to those folks who have signed up for our mailing list.
And, if you live in the Chicagoland area, we also have a “Locals List” where you’ll receive notification of upcoming shows and special discount ticket offers … even free give-aways from time to time.
If you want on the list, just drop me a note at kk@forgottenhits.com and we’ll add your name to the list. Please provide the best email to reach you and your real name … and use the above email address to contact us.

Thank you! (kk)

Hi, Kent -

That Drew Carey "Five O'Clock World" clip became an instant favorite of mine the moment I saw you'd posted it in Forgotten Hits. To help celebrate the life and career of The Vogues' lead singer Bill Burkette, here are a couple "History of Rock 'n' Roll" episodes which illuminate the two phases of The Vogues' hitmaking career.

Gary Theroux

"The History of Rock 'n' Roll"

Hi Kent,

This week in NYC's WABC 770 AM chart shows Simon Says at position #2, the highest it ever reached due to the massive popularity of Paul Mauriat's Love Is Blue instrumental. Here's a link a to that chart:

http://www.musicradio77.com/Surveys/1968/surveymar568.html

WABC along with WMCA were the top AM radio stations in the NYC area before the advent of FM.

Sorry to hear about Bill Burkette. We did many shows with him and he was a very nice guy and quite the gentleman. He will be missed.

Yesterday we did two great shows at the American Music Theater in Lancaster, PA. Interestingly, the shows were doo-wop themed. On the bill with us were The Tymes, Sonny Turner (lead vocalist of the Platters), The Toys (featuring Barbara Harris) and Johnny Farina of Santo and Johnny. Chris Montez was also scheduled to appear but he had travel issues.

FYI, Here are links to charts from WABC and WMCA”

http://www.musicradio77.com/Surveys/surveys1968.html

http://www.musicradio77.com/wmca/surveys/surveys1968.html

Take care,

Frank

Hey, Frank, great to hear from you.

If anybody out there happens to have a copy of the WPGC Survey dated February 16, 1968, showing “Simon Says” by The 1910 Fruitgum Company at #1, original band member Frank Jeckell sure would love to get a clean copy that he could post on the band’s website.

Please send me the cleanest scan possible and I’ll send it right off to him. Thank you! (kk)

Kent,

Proud to see “Susan” on top in Boston (Go Bucks!)

But surprised (shocked, really!) to see the Beach Boys’ “Darlin’” at #5!

In retrospect, this is one of several unheralded but great singles The Beach Boys produced during this period that was ignored only because they were deemed “uncool.” They produced truly great music post “Good Vibrations” into the 70s.

Phil

PrayForSurfblog.blogspot.com

It’s always been one of my favorites! (kk)

Before they were the Farquahr "Brothers," they were the McGowen Boys and, in 1965, had a great 45 that should have stood with the best folk trios of the mid-60's with this VERY Irish sounding folkie, "Daddy I've Tried." It sits in the pile of my fave 45s!

Clark Besch

Well, Charlie will appreciate this one if he hasn’t heard it before! Seems like he’s a REAL Farquahr Fan!

This Saturday we return to the Midwest to visit WKNX in Michigan … be sure to stop back and check it out! (kk)

And, speaking of the charts, people are loving the fact that we’ve brought back The Saturday Surveys.

Here are a few, courtesy of FH Reader Larry Neal, that pre-date 1968 … from a bunch of different cities! (kk)

Kent,

I have got some miscellaneous radio surveys here at home and really can't remember where I got them through the years. Of the many I have, I am sending you these four because each one had something that stuck out with me.

The KTLN Denver survey is not only small in size but records marked with an asterisk are those records that were "forced" to be played on "brand x" radio, as indicated at the bottom of the survey. Never saw that before on a survey, maybe you have.

The survey KFJZ from Fort Worth, Texas, has probably the most records I have seen listed on a weekly survey, that includes, of course, the records listed as Klimers, Instrumentals, etc.

The KAKC survey from Tulsa and this is something I already knew, is that their #1 record never charted here locally in OKC as far as I know without checking. I do, however, have a copy of the Bobby Lee Trammell record.

Finally, the WIBG survey from 1958 is the oldest survey I have. And again, I cannot tell you how I got this. There is some writing on it which is apparently that of Joe Niagara indicating which picture is he.

Larry

Hi Kent,

Absolutely loved reading your personal history with the Record Research books. Since posting my video, I’ve heard similar stories from all over the world! It’s funny, but I think each and every one of us chart fanatics thought we were just about the only ones with such a deep, abiding passion for the charts. The internet has allowed many of us like-minded individuals to come together and I’ve made numerous new friends as a result. As I stated in the video, working at Record Research has been a dream come true for me. Two of my biggest heroes growing up were Joel Whitburn and Casey Kasem. I never got to meet Casey in person, but I’m so fortunate to count Joel as not only my boss, but also a good friend. Some of my favorite moments are when it’s just me and Joel, sitting in his home office, talking music and charts.

Paul Haney

Record Research

That’s kinda how I feel about Forgotten Hits … we’ve been able to connect with SO many people over the years who share a passion for this music … and even cooler still, now hear from some of these artists, too, who gave us this music.

As for the charts, I’m sure there are THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of us out there who have devoted countless hours to this “hobby” … another tip of the hat to Joel Whitburn, who kicked off a trend that is often imitated these days … he has set the standard for all “record research” books to follow. (kk)

Just got this from one of our ‘70’s WLS Heroes …

Hey Kent …

I always enjoy your site and amazing information.

BTW, I just did a fun Voiceover / On-Camera gig in Amsterdam for McDonalds ... major production ... fun stuff.

Kris Erik Stevens

www.kriseristevens.com

I love it! Thanks so much for sharing with our readers. (kk)

Here’s something you’ll want to take part in …

It’s Rich Appell’s Annual I.R.S. Countdown …

Music fans from all over the globe send in their choices for records that should have been a bigger hit than they were. (You’ll see one of our choices below!

Anyway, here’s the complete information on how to fill out YOUR ballot and cast your vote(s) …

The Annual I.R.S. Countdown (as in It Really Shoulda Been a Bigger Hit!)

Help build that thing's 2018 I.R.S. 10-99 countdown!

That's I.R.S. as in ..."It Really Shoulda" been a bigger hit!

Tell us what songs "Really Shoulda" been bigger hits by filing your I.R.S. form at https://www.thatthingshow.com/irs now until MARCH 21st, and qualify to win the new DVD release of BANG! The Bert Berns Story. LIST AS FEW AS 1, OR AS MANY AS 100 SONGS - it’s up to you.

Then tune into that thing the weekends of March 31st through April 14th, as we count down this year's I.R.S. 10-99, based on the songs you declared, and award BANG! DVDs to randomly selected listening filers. Stations and start times at

https://www.thatthingshow.com/listen-guide.

(Note: On Saturday, March 31, Don Tandler hosts the “Countdown to the Countdown,” playing back songs 200-110, leading up to Part 1 of the I.R.S. 10-99, on http://popgoldradio.com/.)

And listen each weekend in March leading up to the countdown, for I.R.S. hours and lots of songs that "Really Shoulda" been bigger hits.

Get in on the fun via the links above. Like we say in Chicago, Vote Early … and Vote Often! (kk)

Michael Nesmith took to Social Media to talk about what he expects to come out of his tour with Micky Dolenz this June … the first ever for these two Monkees bandmates …

Heading to LA tomorrow for meeting and a hang with Mick. Have to cook up the M&M shows. Right now no clue what to do other than Monkees songs -- which are of course a lock.
I didn't expect to go out again singing Monkees songs -- but here I am looking at dates with Mick for the month of June -- the beginning of Summer, I think -- dates are posted at most of the Monkees sites and here -- but the set list doesn't exist yet.
M and I will sit around and sing try to find out what makes sense with the two of us -- maybe the occasional guest.
As I write this I put on Chris Smither's "Live As I'll Ever Be" and its lifting me up into the skies of songs -- opening up settlements where we might perch and gaze out for miles and miles and sing and play the Music.
If all goes as planned, I think we will put together a fine show.
I love singing with Mick -- this will be the first time an M&M show will be realized -- after all these years.
As I say, I suppose we will play the deep cuts from the Monkees catalog -- and songs M&I have written over the years – and, as we are blessed, we will find the space that the great live players find over the years -- those deep and real places that are undeniable, that leave no question unanswered -- and to me that is a definition of Smithers concert and his magic acoustic guitar. So I am listening closely to him -- learning what I can.
Maybe M&M can "Kill the Blues" like Chris --
Anyway, I'm looking forward to the trip and to seeing Mick appear singing along beside me in the same room. One of my life's gifts and blessings.

- - Michael Nesmith

MIKE and MICKY TOUR DATES:

06/01 - Chandler, AZ - Chandler Center For The Arts
06/02 - Los Angeles, CA - The Orpheum
06/03 - San Diego, CA - Humphrey’s
06/05 - Anaheim, CA - The Grove
06/06 - Saratoga, CA - The Mountain Winery
06/08 - Stockton, CA - Bob Hope Theatre
06/09 - Stateline, NV - Harrah's Lake Tahoe
06/12 - Denver, CO - Paramount
06/14 - Chicago, IL - Copernicus Center
06/15 - Huber Heights, OH - Rose Music Center
06/16 - Cleveland, OH - Cain Park
06/18 - Toronto, ON - Sony Center
06/19 - Kitchener, ON - Centre In the Square
06/21 - Philadelphia, PA - Keswick Theatre
06/22 - New York, NY - Beacon Theatre
06/25 - Red Bank, NJ - Count Basie Theatre

We're Going To See The Beatles
by Garry Berman

Celebrate the 10th anniversary of this ground-breaking book!

This month marks ten years since the release of Garry Berman's book We’re Going to See the Beatles! (Santa Monica Press). It’s an oral history of Beatlemania, as told by over forty fans from across the country whom Garry had the pleasure to interview, and hear their stories. Garry has always felt a little odd referring to himself as the “author” of this book, since most of the words are those of the interviewees, who told him of their first-hand experiences as teens during the Beatlemania era and the years beyond. They are the true stars of the book.

As the first Beatles oral history from the fans ever published in the U.S., this book was a ground-breaker. Since this book's release, many writers have used the same format for their own books about the Fab Four, but nothing has compared to Garry's collection.

In celebration of this landmark, Garry is giving away three signed copies of We're Going to See the Beatles! on his blog.

Click to enter: Garry Berman's Blog

Garry and I have become pretty good friends over the years – sort of a “mutal admiration society” if you will.

I first interview him for Forgotten Hits when this book was originally released ten years ago … and we had a bit of fun putting the whole thing together.

Here it is again for those of you who weren’t with us yet back in 2008 …

http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2008/05/were-going-to-see-beatles.html

http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2008/05/introducing-garry-berman.html

Hi Kent,

Veeder Van Dorn from the "Denver Rock and Roll 60's" here.

Your Newsletter is always fun to read and always gives me memories and smiles.

I was singing with my guitar in a local Convalescent Hospital the other day and suddenly, in the middle of the song "Don't Worry Baby," I remembered that my old friend and manager, Roger Christian (a prolific songwriter for The Beach Boys), had been there many years ago, and I had visited him there.

It was fun for me to be singing a couple of his songs for the residents there, and to be able to tell them about him and the fact that he had been there.

Many of them remembered his songs, and so my story brought out some smiles. One of them asked "Did he recover?" and I said "Yes, and you will, too."

Then EVERYONE smiled, and under my breath, I thanked Roger for that moment of his positive energy flowing through the room.

Thanks for all the "positive energy" YOU give us, Kent.

Stay Well,

Veeder Van Dorn

Hey Veeder! Good to hear from you … it’s been awhile

Wow! Thanks for the kind words … it means a lot.

I’ve always loved the way you’ve “given back” by doing these little shows for some of the folks who otherwise cannot get out to hear and enjoy music. It truly is “the universal language” … and a great healing tool.

Thanks for sharing your story with our readers. (kk)

Toto, one of our favorites from the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s, is releasing a massive box set … 17 CD’s covering their entire career (along with a few new cuts and some previously unreleased live material!)

You can read all about it here:

https://theseconddisc.com/2018/03/update-massive-toto-box-set-all-in-to-also-include-all-albums-on-cd/

I don’t think we’ll be adding this one to our collection any time soon, however … for $500, I think Toto should come and perform in your living room!!!

Besides, we’ve already got the ones we want, so what would be the point? (Then again the other day we saw a 10-CD Garth Brooks package being sold for $14.98 … now THAT’S the way to reward your fans who have stuck with you for all these years!!!) kk

kk …

This was the finale on last night’s "Doo - Wop Generations."

Fred Parris came out of retirement amd returned to St. Bernadette's Church -- where he recorded this song 62 years ago.

Yes, I remember covering this when it happened. SO hard to believe 62 years have passed. It may be the #1 Doo-Wop Classic of All-Time … yet only went to #24 when it was released in 1956. (Keep in mind that this was still a time where black artists weren’t always crossing over to the pop charts … and this genre of music was brand new … folks were getting hit with a LOT of new choices all of a sudden … Elvis’ first #1 Record “Heartbreak Hotel” had only first begun to chart two months earlier!

Still it was great to see these guys sing in again … in the same spot where they first recorded it, trying to get the echo and ambience just right back in ’56. (kk)

Kent,

At the end of Sunday's FH, you mentioned it was National Peanut Month. I did not know that but appreciated the tune you posted by Little Joe and the Thrillers. The first record that came to my mind was that novelty record out of 1970 called WHAT TIME IS IT by the Pea-NUT Gallery on Buddah. Haven't heard that one in years. Also, remember PEANUTS from 1961 by Rick and the Keens.

And how could one forget PEANUT BUTTER by the Marathons or possibly the PEANUT BUTTER SONG by Gabriel and the Angels?

Larry

You’ve come to the right place!

It was actually released as the P-Nut Gallery and went to #54 on the national charts in 1971. (It topped out at #62 in Billboard … but here in Chicago it went all the way to #8!!!)

It was a salute to the old Howdy Doody Show (where the kids sat in the P-Nut Gallery)

As for the Rick and the Keens’ version of “Peanuts”, I believe that that one’s just a remake of the Little Joe and the Thrillers record, if I’m not mistaken. As I recall, The Four Seasons cut a version of this tune, too … which sounds like a PERFECT match for Frankie Valli’s voice! (kk)

And, finally, here’s another example of radio at its very best … sent in by Radio’s Best Friend, Art Vuolo!

Hey Kent ...

Don't let me fall off the list. You have great stuff! LOVED the Drew Carey clip with Five O'Clock World. FYI, there's a (real-name) Drew Carey who works at WFBQ in Indianapolis and manages the affiliates on The Bob & Tom Show Network. On Wednesday, it will mark 35 years since B&T premiered on Q95 in Indy. They came from WJML in Petoskey, MI, and took the city by storm. Even though Bob retired at the end of 2015, it's still kickin' ass ... and takin' names!
Don't know if you advise readers about PODCASTS, but a few years ago, I did a couple of short podcasts and it was fun, but this was a major deal with pro-podcaster Matt Cundill in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Matt does these for audiences mostly with an interest in broadcasting, and specifically RADIO. It was recorded on Saturday, the 10th of February, 2018, and personally what I feel makes it entertaining is the insertion of numerous audio clips. This way it's not just two guys talking for 67 minutes. I hope you'll learn something about me that you might not have known. Feel free to post this link in Forgotten Hits so others can enjoy listening, too. Please let me know what you think of it .... good or otherwise. I can take it.
My WRKO 50th Anniversary Reunion video is also a mind-blower because ALL five of the 1967 original jocks are still alive and were all there! A clip of it is on the home page of my website, www.vuolovideo.com.
Thanks ...

ART

The story below is from the 2-14-18 edition of Jockline Daily by Don Anthony.

[LISTEN] How Video Thrilled The Radio Star

THE MOUTH, FEBRUARY 14TH, 2018 –– Radio's eternal best friend, Art Vuolo, takes the spotlight in an in-depth podcast hosted by Sound Off's Matt Cundill (R). In the hour-plus long feature, Vuolo explains the entire evolution of his beloved 'Video Air-Chex,' how they got started, who inspired him and which shows, to this day, won't allow him to film them. Among other highlights includes who coined the term"Radio Best Friend." Credit here would go to none other than legendary programmer and morning host, Scott Shannon, of Entercom's WCBS-FM New York.

Cundill says Art is radio's biggest advocate and shares audio from some his career's biggest highlights, including the infamous take-down - 'Don Rickle's style - by the late Jay Thomas during a Morning Show Boot Camp; 'Art, do your parents know what you do?' Art tells Cundill of the greatest moments of his life was gaining an exhibit in the Museum of Broadcast Communications at the National Radio Hall of Fame in Chicago. Cundill shares that Art's latest DVD feature, the WRKO 50th Anniversary Reunion, is now available and five dollars of each sale go to the most worthy Broadcasters Foundation of America - Check out the catalog HERE.- LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE

And finally FH Reader John LaPuzza sent us this photo of rock and roll crayons … I love it!!! (kk)

↧

Thursday This And That

March 8, 2018, 4:00 am

≫ Next: The Saturday Survey (March 10th)

≪ Previous: Tuesday This And That

Kent,

Just a reminder that this Thursday (March 8) at 8:00 p.m. ET, I will counting down the entire WMCA Top 57 from this week 50 years ago on a special edition of my Top Shelf Oldies [www.topshelfoldies.org] show Randy on the Radio. All songs on this special are from high-quality sources, and most are stereo, for those who are stereo oldies fans! (After Thursday, the show will be archived at

http://www.ramtownlive.com/randyontheradio.html).

– Randy Price

That's tonight, folks! Please tune in and listen if you can. (kk)

Radio here in Chicago was thrown for a loop (pun intended) this week when, after 41years as one of Chicago’s premier rock stations, WLUP (The Loop) was sold to a Christian Broadcasting Service.

41 years pushing the same format is virtually unheard of in the radio business, especially with all of the network take-overs these past few decades.

The Loop was a big part of our lives growing up here in Chi-Town … Loopfest … Steve Dahl … Jonathan Brandmeier and (more recently) Mancow … Lorelei and some of the other Loop Girls … and never deviating from the concept of providing classic rock to its listeners.

(Steve Dahl made a comment on NBC News Tuesday night that while he may have single-handedly ended disco, it took GOD to shut down The Loop.)

K-LUV, a nationally syndicated Christian station, will start filling the airwaves immediately. (One rumor is that they’re keeping the call letters, WLUP, but dropping “The Loop” slogan, instead preferring to push WLUP as W-Let Us Pray.)

There are still plenty of good classic rock stations here in Chicago, but The Loop was an institution … and it will be missed. (kk)

It’s a sad day.

Clive Topol

RIP THE LOOP. I AM BEYOND DEVASTATED!
GOLDIE

The Loop has been a part of our lives for a long, long time … but we’ve still got The Drive, The River and WXRT to fall back on … plenty on the dial for us old classic rockers.

Meanwhile, this frees up another button on my car radio … anybody got any interesting radio ideas out there??? (kk)

http://digitaledition.chicagotribune.com/html5/mobile/production/default.aspx?pubid=6209f5b6-9511-458d-b890-3de8c188cdc8

http://www.robertfeder.com/2018/03/06/loop-ends-rock-era-today/?utm_source=new%20post%20alert&utm_medium=email&utm_content=main%20content&utm_campaign=%2F2018%2F03%2F06%2Floop-ends-rock-era-today%2F

I remember when WSDM-FM occupied this frequency before the Loop … kind of a soft rock / jazz station helmed by a staff of all female deejays. Their week-long goodbye was outstanding … I can’t even tell you how many reels of tape I filled up recording these final shows. (Back then WSDM could be found “Smack Dab in the Middle” of your radio dial.) It was a very listenable station but The Loop moved right in and developed a whole new audience. Somehow I just don’t think those “Loop Heads” are going to stick around and listen to Christian Music as “the next logical step.” They’ll find their own audience … or not. Kinda like the recent flip of K-Hits to all Hip-Hop … not at all the same “target” audience but proof that each station is willing to build from the ground floor up. (kk)

We had a couple of people send in copies of the WPGC Survey featuring The 1910 Fruitgum Company at #1 with “Simon Says.” I have since forwarded a copy to Frank Jeckell for use on the band’s website.

Meanwhile, Frank tells us …

Thanks Kent.

I just watched TJ Lupinski's new PBS doo-wop show. Very interesting concept. Since the doo-wop acts are all retiring or expiring … and in order to "keep the music alive"… TJ surveyed many talented performers and put the best he could find who are still loving and performing doo-wop classics on the show. If you haven't seen it, it's worth watching. I would, however, recommend taping it so you can skip all the commercials … and there are a lot.

Take care,

Frank

The 1910 Fruitgum Company have recently played on the same bill as some of these doo-wop acts ... kind of a mix of genres for sure (doo-wop and bubblegum??? That's a bit of a stretch for me!) But honestly, we're just happy whenever we hear that somebody out there is helping to keep this great music alive ... and who knows ... maybe just like in the '60's, fans may be exposed to a new style of music they weren't all the familiar or fond of before ... but walk away with a new appreciation for it now. Let's face it, groups like The 1910 Fruitgum Company and The Ohio Express help to define "feel-good music" ... and I'm all for that! (kk)

Kent,

I love the Vogues - always have. I believe their ultimate wax masterpiece remains "Magic Town," a story of broken dreams in sunny California. I play the tune all the time. The lead and high tenor are just superb.
"They said that the streets were all paved with gold but these dirty sidewalks our gray and concrete cold" ...
I worked a doo wop show with the Vogues about ten years. I loved "Five O'Clock World" but was sick at heart when the group omitted "Magic Town."

Keep on truckin' man. There are so many of us who are proud of Kent Kotal.
The Best,
Chet Coppock

Thanks, Chet! (kk)

Here’s an update on the next Wrecking Crew Soundtrack from Denny Tedesco …

I'm happy to say that the Wrecking Crew Soundtrack Take 2 is closing in. We have three more weeks to reach our goal. Here's more info.
The songs below are looking like our play list that we've been able to secure the rights. More are on the way. This is a 3-CD set. Two discs filled with hits and the third filled with Wrecking Crew players under their own name.
One of the songs that is included is a 5th Dimension hit, "One Less Bell To Answer". One of the last interviews we pulled together before the DVD was released is with Marylyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. Such a wonderful couple that still tour. If you have the chance to see them live -- go!
With writers like Jimmy Webb, Laura Nyro, Ashford & Simpson, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, how can you go wrong. With Bones Howe producing and Bob Alcivar as the singers' vocal arranger, the Wrecking Crew shined.

Here are some of the songs being considered for the new release, The Wrecking Crew, Take Two (more song titles are also in the works):

1. She Gets Me Where I Live - Al Kooper
2. He's a Rebel - The Crystals
3. Young Girl - Gary Puckett and the Union Gap
4. Memories - Elvis
5. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel
6. Without Her - Harry Nilsson
7. More Today Than Yesterday - Spiral Staircase
8. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - The Ronettes
9. Hey Little Cobra - The Rip Cords
10. Lady Luck - Kenny Loggins
11. Having A Party - Sam Cooke
12. It Never Rains in Southern California - Albert Hammond
13. One Less Bell To Answer - 5th Dimension
14. Woyaya - Art Garfunkel
15. Surfer Stomp - The Marketts
16. Classical Gas - Mason Williams
17. Humming Bird - Seals and Crofts
18. Puerto Vallarta - Jack Nitzsche
19. Windy - The Association
20. It's Love - The Addrisi Brothers
21. Sky Surfin’ - Avalanches
22. Fools Rush In - Ricky Nelson
23. 18 Yellow Roses - Bobby Darin
24. I Saw Her Again Last Night - Mamas and Papas
25. Half Breed - Cher
26. Sloop John B - Beach Boys
27. Secret Agent Man - Johnny Rivers
28. Dead Man's Curve - Jan & Dean
29. Feeling Alright - Joe Cocker
30. Galveston - Glen Campbell

31. Fun Fun Fun - Beach Boys
32. Travelin' Man - Ricky Nelson
33. Take Good Care Of My Baby - Bobby Vee
34. Batman - Jan & Dean
35. Tainted Love - Gloria Jones
36. When You Walk In The Room - Jackie DeShannon
37. Little Italy - Stephen Bishop
38. Different Drum - Stone Poneys
MORE SONGS ARE STILL IN THE WORKS FOR WRECKING CREW TAKE 2

The other day we ran the clip for a new McDonald’s ad running in Amsterdam featuring one of our own Chicago Radio Rock Legends, Kris Erik Stevens.

I asked Kris how the gig came about … and if he actually got to fly over there to film it. Here’s what he told me …

Hey Kent ...

Just caught the McDonalds McDrive mention in today’s Blog ... I really appreciate you running that. Thanks … very kind and very cool.

In answer to your question, the gig came about via a few different recording engineers in Europe that I guess I made an impression on.

I’ve traveled there frequently over the years ... and often either my Agent or a client would require my voiceover services while on holiday.

Thus I’d have to find a studio and pop in to record the commercial / trailer, etc. I guess these studio guys kinda liked the way I’d pop by the studio and bang out a spot in 10 or 15 minutes and be gone! So, as the recent story goes, the Ad Agency in Amsterdam was looking for an American Voiceover talent who was also an actor for on-camera work. I auditioned ... and ‘boom,’ they called and I departed for Amsterdam in 48 hours.

Fortunately, they loved my performance. It was fun, and wasn’t exactly a stretch for me to get into character!

But then again, not exactly my usual day at the office.

My best ...

Kris Erik

PS Love that you added my web site to the blurb ... but it was misspelled (see attached) and the link went into the ‘void” instead of to my site ... hoping you can run the correct link next time.

http://kriserikstevens.com/

Consider it done, Kris … now folks know exactly where to go to sample some of your work. (kk)

I am saddened by the loss of Russ Solomon, the founder of Tower Records, who died last night at age 92 of a heart attack in Sacramento, Ca.

One of the many joys surrounding the acclaim and kudos of my 2017 book, 1967: A Complete Rock Music History of the Summer of Love, were the fans and book buyers who thanked me for profiling Russ in the pages and devoting a sidebar to his monumental impact on the retail record business as well as our own record collections.

I further realized what a destiny spot a Tower store was for thousands of people in so many U.S. cities. Tower was our little secret in California until late 1969.

There was a time when the only option of getting a record was going to the record store.

In 2015 I interviewed Russ when the Colin Hanks-directed documentary on Tower, "All Things Must Pass" had its theatrical debut for Record Collector News magazine which also was displayed on www.cavehollywood.com

Here’s an article submitted by long-time FH Reader David Lewis … it spotlights another well-known “super fan” who built quite a legacy for himself by taping some incredible, legendary concerts back in the day.

Check it out here: http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/features/report/6498/the-tragic-tale-of-a-legendary-concert-taper/

How many hours have I wasted replying to your blog site? TOO MANY! But I love it!

I sit and watch the snow falling and wait to head into another ten hour day with lots of stuff to do, but when I read FH, my mind starts thinking, "Hey, I should ... “ Of course, transferring a static filled tape of mid-70's AM radio to digital always helps me.

Today, listening to Landecker Boogie Check and Super CFL clippings from a very cold and snowy day in Lincoln when, like 40 years later, it's best to stay inside and listen to fave DJ's and stations of that time.

ALSO, today, it's Frank from the 1910 Fruitgum Company asking for the WPGC that has spurred me on. Sometimes, I think I am Larry Neal in disguise! (Great charts, Larry!). I found my chart (amazingly) and am sending along. However, you have to take the good with the bad. You also get a couple of my personal charts from my pretend station I made from 1963 - 1976. I've always been a huge survey / radio fanatic and these charts are as important to me as Silver Dollar Surveys. Maybe more!

On the WPGC chart attached, "Simon Says" does hold Paul Mauriat off the top. On MY charts, "SS" was never #1 due to "Lady Madonna" holding it off at #2 in March, 68. The ONE 1910 45 that reached #1 on my KLGR chart was "123 Red Light," which held off the group's main bubblegum competitors, the Ohio Express'"Down at Lulu's" which would reach #1 shortly thereafter. It was a top 60 featuring, of course, several Chicago artists, but have attached just Page 1.

More interesting may be the story behind the 1970 1910 45 "Go Away" reaching #14 on my top 100 chart in August of that year. HOW did a kid in Dodge City, Kansas, ever hear this 45 when it did nothing nationally? Well, it was because I was recording it off American Bandstand's "Rate-A-Record" segment! I liked it and in the late 70's, I was happy to track down the 45 and add it to my collection.

Of interest to others may be these things:

#1 All Right Now was a 7 week #1 record, making it the longest running record EVER on my years of chart making!

#2 The Gentrys were on a hot streak on my charts: Four consecutive #1's from the 69 - 70 era.

#12 FH'er Stu Shea recently got a Uber driver named Ronnie Rice who told him NO ONE played "Close Your Eyes Little Girl" by his NC6! Well, I DID! You might note too that I was pretty excited to pass the news of one of my fave bands ever playing in Wichita that week too! (See top of chart!)

#25 Beach Boy fan Phil might enjoy seeing the great "Slip On Through" rising to #25 this week.

#29 Kris Erik Stevens might enjoy seeing me feature Richard Carpenter's B side "I Kept On Loving You" charting when the band was just a 2-hit wonder at the time. Kris released his own 45 version of this later on.

#31 Burton Cummings' great B sides always did well on my chart. They were almost ALL "Two sided winners" to me! "Bus Rider" reached #2!

#41 Crowfoot was a Canadian band that I heard thru "Rate-a-Record" as well back then!

#43 Rod Stewart's new gig and first as a Small Face. This was charting well mostly on how cool the STEREO was on this 45!

#34 HOW is this 1965 B side charting five years later? Well, I had just bought the Sunrays 65 Tower LP on a mono clearance and fell in love with the song! HEY, it was my chart, my station!

And there were 50 more songs on the back side!!!!

BTW, Art Vuolo radio videos really ROCK! Some of the best things anyone can watch if you are a radio geek.

Also, Larry Neal's survey signed by Joe Niagara is great! He was a radio legend!

As was WLS' Kris Erik Stevens!!!

Clark Besch

WASTED?!?!? SPENT, maybe, but never wasted! And we all appreciation your dedication and input. And hey, listener requests had to count for SOMETHING!!! (Even if they were your own!) Thanks, Clark! (kk)

PHOTOS

Kent,

I really liked your posting of John's rock 'n' roll crayon colors.

Now what goes with crayons? Why, a COLORING BOOK of course.

Just ask Sandy Stewart and Kitty Kallen.

Larry

Sandy Stewart and Kitty Kallen had competing versions on the charts in 1963. (Kallen won the battle, peaking at #8 in Music Vendor, while Stewart and Kallen shared a #13 peak in Cash Box) The first version I ever remember hearing was by Barbra Streisand, which is pretty surprising since the best that one could do was “bubble under’ in 1962 at #102. (Must have heard her do it on a television special or something.) kk

SKYHORSE’s MARK BEGO AT ELTON JOHN OSCAR BASH

WITH CO-AUTHOR MARY WILSON

New York: Author Mark Bego, tub-thumping his Eat Like A Rock Star best-seller on the West Coast, attended, with his co-author Mary Wilson of The Supremes, Elton John’s 26^th Academy Awards viewing party, which raised $5.9 million for his AIDS Foundation Sunday night in West Hollywood. Oscar Event.

PHOTO L - R: Elton John; Mary Wilson; and Mark Bego

- Submitted by David Salidor

↧

The Saturday Survey (March 10th)

March 10, 2018, 4:00 am

≫ Next: The Sunday Comments ( 03 - 11 - 18 )

≪ Previous: Thursday This And That

3-8-68 WKNX - Saginaw, Michigan

Located in middle Michigan not far from Great Lake Huron, if memory serves me right, our FH member Bob Stroud grew up getting some of HIS rock 'n roll roots listening to this station in Saginaw.

This is the first of our '68 charts to feature a true psychedelic song at #1! The top 10 here is almost as diverse as could be. Psychedelia, C&W, garage, R&B, instrumentals, soul, bubblegum, pop, soundtrack hits, Brit invasion, bluegrass!!! Amazing and great to see and hear.

Two of our FH stars are featured with songs that did not reach their potential hit status nationally, but managed to hit regionally all over the nation, both cashing in on the bubblegum sound.

Trying to shake the Snoopy image momentarily, "I SayLove" was the Royal Guardsmen's new 45 from an album I received for Christmas, 1968 ("Snoopy and His Friends")

And Tommy Roe's"Dottie I Like it" got lots of airplay in the Midwest states!

-- Clark Besch

I'm not sure I'd call this week's #1 Record a bona-fide psychedelic hit ... but it IS cool to see this record at #1. (The Balloon Farm record falling down the chart may be a more appropriate choice!)

LOTS of Bubblegum happening here ... The 1910 Fruitgum Company, The Ohio Express and, to a degree, The Monkees, Tommy Roe, Herman's Hermits and, on this track anyway, The Troggs.

I like the Orpheus debut at #31 and it's cool to see the Flatt and Scruggs Bonnie and Clyde tune charting, too.

Raymond LeFevere's "Soul Coaxing" is a frequent Forgotten Hits request ... so let's feature a few of these this week.

THIS WEEK IN 1968:

3/4/68: Eddie Kendricks and Otis Williams of The Temptations end up in a Somerset, Pennsylvania, hospital after an icy car crash

3/5/68: Wildman Rocker Jerry Lee Lewis opens in “Catch My Soul,” a rock musical version of Shakespeare’s “Othello” in Hollywood, California. He plays the part of Iago.

Also on this date, sales of “Simon Says” reach the million mark, earning The 1910 Fruitgum Company their first gold record.

3/8/68: Promoter Bill Graham opens The Fillmore East in New York City. Opening night features Albert King, Tim Buckley and Big Brother and the Holding Company.

Elvis’ movie “Stay Away Joe” opens that same day. (I’ve never seen this one!)

3/10/68: The Fifth Dimension perform “Up Up And Away” and “Monday Monday” Live from Caesar’s Palace, on The Ed Sullivan Show

FH BONUS:
I asked Barry Winslow of The Royal Guardsmen and Tommy Roe about their obscure 1968 hits ...

While neither one of these tracks made much of a dent in the national charts, BOTH arts would come back in a very big way in the not so distant future ...

Hi Barry!
We're featuring one of your songs in this week's Saturday Surveys feature and thought you might want to comment on this track ...
Clearly this was a break-away from the Snoopy mold (as were "Airplane Song" and "Wednesday") ... but then you went back to the Charles Schultz well one more time for "Snoopy For President" ... was that a move more designed to go for the "sure hit" after "Airplane,""Wednesday" and "I Say Love" didn't fare as well on the chart? (kk)

Hi Kent,
Well, Sir, we enjoyed our time with the pup ... and wanted to "expand our horizons" ... but being under contract, we didn't have a lot of say in the matter. And I doubt there was much money spent on promotion either. T'was all fun, though, and it gave our audiences a chance to see that
we could do something besides novelty stuff.
Keep up the super work, Kent ...
Take care my friend,
Barry

Hi Tommy -

Hope you're doing well.

I know you've told me before that you've considered yourself retired (or at least SEMI-retired) for the last several years now ... but it's still hard to see it in print, knowing how much joy your music has brought to so many people. But I also understand your need to stay close to home right now. I hope you'll enjoy your leisure time ... and still pop in every now and again to let us know how you're doing ... and comment on any special memories our service may inspire.

So, with that thought in mind, I just wanted to let you know that we'll be featuring one of your tunes, "Dottie, I Like It" as part of our new Saturday Surveys Series, and I wondered if you might care to make a comment on it.

(This one was kinda like the last big "fail" before the HUGE comeback with "Dizzy".)

Had you considered that maybe your time had passed after a streak of a couple of years without a hit record?

Did you continue to write and record in the hopes of something catching on ... or perhaps experiment with a new "niche" to see if you could break thru again on the charts? (Turns out the successful niche was the OLD niche ... a return to the bubblegum sound propelled "Dizzy" all the way up to the top of the charts where it stayed for a month!!!)

Hi Kent ...

Yes, after “Sweet Pea” and “Hooray For Hazel,” which were both top 10 Billboard hits in 1966, I recorded two experimental albums, “Phantacy,” and “It’s Now Winters Day.”

“It’s Now Winters Day” was a moderate hit but didn’t really set the charts on fire. So in 1967 and '68, I was in No Hits Land and “Dottie I Like It” was my first attempt to get back on the bubble gum train which had worked so well for me in 1966. It charted but came up short. But at least I felt I was back on track with Dottie.

Then in 1969 I started writing with my friend Freddy Weller, who had just joined Paul Revere and the Raiders as their new guitarist. Our first effort as a song writing team was “Dizzy.”

Need I say more, I was back in the charts big time when “Dizzy” topped the Billboard charts at number one for four weeks. With my second number one after “Sheila” in 1962, Freddy and I then went on to write the follow up to Dizzy, and my forth gold record, “Jam Up And Jelly Tight.”

Thanks to the bubble gum genre I created with “Sweet Pea” in 1966, I was back on the hit train with “Dizzy” and “Jam Up And Jelly Tight" in 1969.

Thanks Kent!

Tommy

↧

The Sunday Comments ( 03 - 11 - 18 )

March 11, 2018, 12:31 pm

≫ Next: A Monday Morning Quickie!

≪ Previous: The Saturday Survey (March 10th)

We sometimes forget … especially in this day and age of mostly “disposable” radio with each genre playing the exact same tunes from the exact same “proven” play list … with deejay patter held to an absolute minimum (assuming there’s even a deejay present) … but it was amazing to witness the outpouring of love as Chicago said goodbye to WLUP / The Loop this week.

This station was a part of our lives for 41 years … and during that time it remained true to its calling … fine, classic, rock and roll. Although their best years were well behind them, they carried on the tradition nonetheless … and while I was never much of a Mancow fan, he has kind of taken on the roll of poster boy for the station these past several years.

The glory days of this radio station, however, cannot be beat … Steve and Garry … Buzz Killman … Jonathan Brandmeier … Kevin Matthews … even Danny Bonaduce. We were all younger then but this vibe tapped perfectly into what a young 20-something wanted to hear … and although some of it sounds juvenilely insane today, a whole lot of it still holds up incredibly well. (Along the way even guys like Bob Stroud, Mitch Michaels and Bobby Skafish made stops there.) In fact, WDRV / The Drive did a very tasteful salute to their long-time competitor as their way of saying goodbye to their formidable foe.

And, in what can only be described as the most fitting farewell ever, the last live voice ever heard over The Loop’s airwaves was that of Steve Dahl, who broadcast his four hour program on Friday as a simulcast between WLS 890 AM and WLUP 97.9 FM … again, a brave (and rarely seen) form of unity between the radio ranks of a very major market.

Congratulations to all on a job well done. It HAS to feel good that you made your mark and you made a difference with such a wide audience of fans. It’s work you can be proud of, saluted by your peers. We’ll miss ya. (Damn – now I gotta go reset another button in the car!) kk

On a related “good news” radio report, FH Reader John LaPuzza files this positive report:

https://radioink.com/2018/03/08/radio-still-dominates-in-the-automobile/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Radio+STILL+Dominates+In+Aut

More proof that listeners bond with their deejays …

This Facebook post sent in by Frank B, celebrating the 15 anniversary of Harry Harrison broadcasting his final show on WCBS-FM …

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10213635238148176&set=gm.10155320138966464&type=3&theater

Here is a GREAT Tower Records story, submitted by Gary Theroux …

The passing of the founder of Tower Records brought back this memory.One day I was in one of my most frequent haunts, Tower Records on Sunset in Hollywood, when a customer mistook me for an employee. Holding up a Jimmy Reed album he said, "Hey -- is this any good?" Glancing over, I saw that the customer was John Belushi. "It’s not bad, "I replied, “but there are better." I moved over to the Jimmy Reed bin and began flipping through. "Here's one I think you'll like," I said, passing an album to John. "There's also this double LP if you want a more comprehensive overview of his career." Belushi was enthused. "Got any John Lee Hooker?""Sure," I smiled, as I began to help him pick out LPs by about a dozen blues stars over the next 20 minutes. John had a lot of questions about each artist and I answered every one of them. He was thrilled that a Tower "employee" was taking so much time to help him. He finally shook my hand with enthusiasm and grinned, "I'll take all of these.""Fine," I said, pointing toward the registers. "Just take 'em up to the counter." I then watched as John gleefully purchased his LPs and, yellow Tower shopping bags in hand, strode out of the store to a car which had been idling in the parking lot the entire time. And, just like that, John Belushi was gone.
The next day I opened the L.A. Times to read of his death. With the story was a photo taken inside Belushi's bungalow at the Chateau Marmont down the street from Tower Records. Scattered all over the floor were the very albums I had picked out for his pleasure.
I've always wondered if John ever got the chance to hear any of them.
Gary Theroux
"The History of Rock 'n' Roll"

The Saturday Survey:

>>>#25 - Beach Boy fan Phil might enjoy seeing the great "Slip On Through" rising to #25 this week. (Clark Besch)

THANK you, Clark -

Yes, this Beach Boys fan was overjoyed (and completely surprised) at "Slip On Through" being on ANY chart at that time - They produced great songs and good albums but were ignored simply because of their early surf / summer / car hits. Slip On Through was a "new" Beach Boys sound that led off the shimmering Sunflower line-up, thanks to the emergence of drummer Dennis Wilson.

Phil

Kent,

I've got a question and that is why the song by Bubble Puppy was posted? As you probably know, it didn't chart nationally until about a year later and also didn't make out local survey until a year later. In fact, I've got the record filed here at home under the year 1969. I figured that this was a mistaken posting. I looked twice on the survey posted and read what was said but couldn't find any reference to the song. Just curious that's all. Still a good song to post

Larry Neal

Totally my goof.

I mentioned the Balloon Farm single “A Question Of Temperature” and then posted the Bubble Puppy tune by mistake instead. So we’ll fix that right now by putting the RIGHT tune in today’s post! Sorry about that! Just going too fast again! (kk)

MICKY DOLENZ IN ORLANDO
MICKY DOLENZ appeared this morning on Fox 35's Good Day Orlando -
L-R: Danielle Knox; Jayme King; Micky Dolenz; and Amy Kaufeldt.

(submitted by David Salidor)

Todd Rundgren's Utopia Reunite!

Reuniting for First North American Tour in 32 years –

Releasing Limited Edition “The Road To Utopia” Box Set

FOR 32 YEARS, FANS HAVE BEEN CLAMORING FOR A REUNION - The wait is over.
No longer able to turn a deaf ear to the unceasing requests from fans and the media alike, Todd Rundgren, Kasim Sulton, Willie Wilcox and Ralph Schuckett are reuniting for their first North American tour since the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded. Presented by Sirius XM and produced by Live Nation, TODD RUNDGREN’S UTOPIA will be performing across North America beginning on April 18.
In celebration of the upcoming reunion tour, Friday Music will be releasing a 7-disc box set, THE ROAD TO UTOPIA: THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS (1974-82). This limited edition collection will bring each of their seven classic albums to life, now in first-time CD digipak gatefold covers featuring the original album artwork elements, rare inner sleeve art, newly written commentary from the band, and more. The box set has a scheduled street date of April 20. Fans can pre-order now at Friday Music, Amazon and Record Store Day.
Todd Rundgren’s Utopia was formed in 1974 out of Todd’s desire to explore new musical territory. Starting as a prog-rock-progenitor septet the band’s music ranged from extended synth experiments to four-song albums, while their live shows were distinguished by their ahead-of-the-curve video backdrops and computer-generated music.
In 1976 the band evolved into “Utopia”, the shiny mainstream power-pop rock quartet, uniting Todd Rundgren on guitar, Willie Wilcox on drums, Roger Powell on keyboards, and Kasim Sulton on bass. Known for their hallmark lyrics, lush inventive background vocals and a voracious appetite for the highest level of musicianship. Utopia became known as the quintessential “musician’s band”. Every member took his turn singing lead on every album, and all songwriting was collaborative.
By 1980, Utopia had developed into a hit-making entity in its own right. Standout Utopia albums included Oops! Wrong Planet, Adventures in Utopia, and Oblivion, spawning hits including “Rock Love,” “Set Me Free,” “Mated,” and “Love Is The Answer”, which also became a global #1 for England Dan and John Ford Coley.
Utopia’s tours, among the first to aggressively incorporate then-state-of-the-art video technology, produced at Todd’s groundbreaking Utopia Video Studios, featured some of the most lavish and audacious stage productions in rock history. Their headline concerts frequently featured opening acts as future superstars Cheap Trick and The Cars, and the band performed at some of the 70’s most epic rock festivals, including Knebworth Castle in the UK --- once with the Rolling Stones in 1976 and twice with Led Zeppelin in 1979, before a combined audience of over 1,200,000 (amongst them a Who’s Who of rock royalty, including Paul McCartney and David Gilmour) .
Always on the bleeding edge, Utopia chalked up a long history of groundbreaking media “firsts”, including:
• 1978: The first interactive television concert, broadcast live over Warner/QUBE, the experimental interactive cable system in Columbus, Ohio (the home television audience chose each song in real time during the concert by voting via QUBE’s 2-way operating system).
• 1978: The first live nationally broadcast stereo radio rock concert (via microwave), linking 40 cities around the country.
• 1982: The first live national cablecast of a rock concert (on the USA Network), simulcast in stereo to over 120 radio stations.
In 1986, after ten years of non-stop recording and arena touring cycles, the band declared they were “going on sabbatical”, and Todd, Willie, Roger and Kas each embarked on their own career paths.
What’s been happening with the Utopians during the world’s longest ever sabbatical?
Todd Rundgren returned to his stellar solo recording and producing career. His myriad production projects ranged from Patti Smith, Cheap Trick, XTC, and Psychedelic Furs to Grand Funk Railroad, Hall & Oates, and Meat Loaf’s seminal Bat Out Of Hell, while his solo offerings catapulted Todd further into the superstar limelight with hits like “Can We Still be Friends”, and “Bang The Drum”; in addition to his own tours, Todd has been an erstwhile member of Ringo Starr’s All Starr Band for the past 28 years.
Kasim Sulton continued touring and recording with a long list of diverse artists including Joan Jett, Hall & Oates, Blue Oyster Cult, Patti Smith, Celine Dion, and Meat Loaf. In 1993 Kasim joined Meat Loaf’s live band after the release of Bat Out Of Hell II, touring extensively and becoming his Musical Director. In 1999 he produced Meat Loaf’s critically acclaimed VH1 Storytellers album. Releasing four solo albums of his own, Kasim has continued his long musical relationship with Todd as the bass player in his solo bands.
Willie Wilcox continued to pursue his songwriting career. Having written songs for & performed with Luther Vandross, Natalie Cole, Bette Midler, Meat Loaf, Hall & Oates, and Kylie Minogue positioned Willie perfectly for his segue into television writing. He was the senior staff composer for NBC Universal in NY for 5 years and composed the current show theme for CNBC’s “Mad Money,” launched a major audio post production facility in Miami with clients MTV & VH1, penned famed boxer Manny Pacquiao’s ring walk music, and continues to maintain his position as senior audio director at Scientific Games, the number one gaming company in the world, where he recently completed the surround sound audio production on the blockbuster Michael Jackson game, “King Of Pop!”
Ralph Schuckett: Ralph’s tenure with Todd Rundgren’s Utopia segued into composing themes & scores for TV & Film including “Kate & Allie” & “Another World.” As chief composer for “4 Kids Productions” he scored numerous feature films & animated TV series including; “Pokémon,” “Yugioh,” “Sonic X,” “Kirby,” & “One Piece.” He has recorded and /or toured with Carole King, Hall & Oates, Whitney Houston, George Benson, and Rodney Crowell, and provided arrangements on recordings for Billy Joel, Michael Bolton. and Joan Osborne. As a songwriter / producer Ralph has worked with Belinda Carlisle, Sophie B. Hawkins, and Clarence Clemons.
As fate would have it, in early April Todd, Kas, Willie and Ralph will find themselves back in Woodstock New York, 32 years later, right where it all started, rehearsing their newest stage spectacle.
TODD RUNDGREN'S UTOPIA North American reunion tour, featuring Todd, Kasim, Willie, & Ralph, begins on April 18 and ends on June 5 (tour dates below). Tickets and more information are available at Live Nation, Ticketmaster and all Ticketmaster outlets.
THE FIRST REUNION ON-CAMERA INTERVIEW – WATCH HERE:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e3Wrps2zr0
TODD RUNDGREN’S UTOPIA TOUR DATES
APRIL 18 JIM THORPE PA, PENNS PEAK
APRIL 20 ENGLEWOOD NJ, BERGEN PAC
APRIL 22 HOUSTON TX, HOUSE OF BLUES
APRIL 23 DALLAS TX, MAJESTIC THEATER
APRIL 25 BROWARD FL, BROWARD PAC
APRIL 27 ST PETERSBURG FL, MAHAFFEY THEATER
APRIL 28 ATLANTA GA, TABERNACLE
APRIL 29 DURHAM NC, CAROLINA THEATER
MAY 1 HUNTINGTON NY, PARAMOUNT THEATER
MAY 2 WASHINGTON DC, WARNER THEATER
MAY 3 NEW YORK NY, TOWN HALL
MAY 5 PHILADELPHIA PA, TOWER THEATER
MAY 6 BOSTON MA, ORPHEUM THEATER
MAY 7 RIDGEFIELD CT, RIDGEFIELD PLAYHOUSE
MAY 9 ST LOUIS MO, PEABODY OPERA HOUSE
MAY 10 CINCINNATI OH, TAFT THEATER
MAY 12 MILWAUKEE WI, PABST THEATER
MAY 13 MINNEAPOLIS MN, STATE THEATER
MAY 15 GRAND RAPIDS MI, 20 MONROE LIVE
MAY 16 TORONTO ONT, MASSEY HALL
MAY 17 DETROIT MI, THE FILLMORE
MAY 19 CLEVELAND OH, HARD ROCK LIVE
MAY 20 CLEVELAND OH, HARD ROCK LIVE
MAY 22 CHICAGO IL, CHICAGO THEATER
MAY 24 DENVER CO, PARAMOUNT THEATER
MAY 26 LAS VEGAS NV, THE JOINT @ THE HARD ROCK
MAY 27 PHOENIX AZ, COMERICA THEATER
MAY 29 LOS ANGELES CA, THE WILTERN
MAY 30 SAN FRANCISCO CA, THE MASONIC
JUNE 1 SEATTLE WA, MOORE THEATER
JUNE 2 PORTLAND OR, REVOLUTION THEATER
JUNE 4 SACRAMENTO CA, CREST THEATER
JUNE 5 RIVERSIDE CA, FOX PAC

Hey Kent:

DINOSAUR EXHIBIT will be at SPACE in Evanston on Saturday, June 16. Jerry Goodman (violinist with the FLOCK and Mahavishnu) will be joining us.

Wanted to give you a heads-up.

Tickets are on sale now: www.evanstonspace.com

Quent Lang

This is a very hot ticket and the show sold out last time. Get yours now to see these vintage rockers prove they’ve still got it all night long! (kk)

And finally, if you’ve got about an hour and a half to kill … and have always wondered how that whole Wizard Of Oz / Dark Side Of The Moon mash-up thing really worked … you can go over to the link provided to see what Ultimate Classic Rock has put together. (It’s been talked about for decades now … here’s your chance to decide for yourself if it really makes any sense at all!!!) kk

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/pink-floyd-dark-side-wizard-of-oz/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=newsletter_4572276

↧

A Monday Morning Quickie!

March 12, 2018, 3:27 am

≫ Next: Some Of Your Mid-Week Comments

≪ Previous: The Sunday Comments ( 03 - 11 - 18 )

Some GREAT Music Television choices this past Saturday Night if you happened to be home and channel surfing!
With a couple of different PBS outlets available thru our cable service, we had our choice of watching either the Ron Howard Beatles Documentary “Eight Days A Week” or The Bee Gees Live 1989 “One For All” Australian Concert film that we reviewed a few months back, both excellent choices.
But it was AXS TV that really pulled out all of the stops Saturday Night … featuring an entire night of Beach Boys-related programming that included a “Rock Legends” profile of the band, Brian Wilson and Friends live performance at the Venetian in Las Vegas, premiering his “No Pier Pressure” album with TONS of special musical guests, followed by the all-time classic Beach Boys profile film “An American Band,” which was then topped off by an interview with Mike Love, originally aired to coincide with the release of his biography a couple of years ago.
And, for good measure, they even snuck in a “Rock Legends” profile of The Monkees and a concert film of The Monkees’ 50^th Anniversary Tour! Well over eight hours of non-stop musical joy! (kk)

Hi Kent,
Not sure of the context, but no guilt trips concerning posting Bubble Puppy's "Hot Smoke & Sassafras" as, bottom line, it's a great song and certainly a great example of the Psychedelic Era.
As posted in Wiki:
"Bubble Puppy scored a US Top 20 hit in 1969 with their single, "Hot Smoke & Sasafrass." The name was a misheard line lifted from an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies.^[3]^[4] The single peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and number 15 on the RPM chart in Canada. The song also had local successes, for example, reaching #6 on WLS."
Having grown up in a small town in North Dakota, KOMA - the 50,000 watt blow-torch out of Oklahoma City, was part of my late-night radio menu when they went directional after sundown (thank goodness we were also in the night pattern of WLS as it would have been a shame to miss John "Records" Landecker's Boogie Checks or Larry Lujack's "Farm Reports” booming over the fruited plains" moooooooo)! I distinctly remember listening to KOMA DJ Sean McKay intro-ing that tune on the air in 1969 and also listening to Larry Neal on Sunday nights.
Though chart-numbers can't always be taken literally as to song quality, sometimes depending on a group's momentum whether on the way up or past being the flavor of the month, but it's the only barometer we have. Bubble Puppy's "Hot Smoke & Sassafras" peaked at Number 14 in Billboard while ironically, Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock & Roll" peaked at Number 28 in Billboard. Guess which one showed better in focus groups, made the soundtrack for the Tom Cruise movie "Risky Business, and has mercilessly been burned into the brain of radio listeners in America ("please, please don't play it again, I'll sign zee paper)?
Enclosed is a video of a Bubble Puppy appearance in 2016. And you can see, like good Canadian Whiskey (and Burton Cummings), they just got better with age!

Peace,
Tim Kiley
This is a GREAT clip … amazing to think it’s just from two years ago. (I wonder what they do to fill out the rest of their set?!?! Wouldn’t it be cool if they also performed “A Question Of Temperature” by Balloon Farm??? I could almost feel vindicated if they did!!! Lol)
Thanks, for sharing. Interesting to see that Wikipedia singled out its WLS showing. I’m also showing that it reached #4 on the CHUM Canadian Chart … and #13 in Record World. A classic psychedelic tune if there ever was one. (Don’t believe me? Check out our Top 20 Greatest Psychedelic Songs of All-Time as voted on by The Forgotten Hits Readers … this one came in at #10! (kk)
http://forgottenhits.com/top_20_favorite_psychedelic_songs

"Wow, what a bummer," as we used to say in the late 60's.

Another lifelong friend and music icon has passed at age 92.

Russ Solomon, the charismatic and always upbeat giant of retail music sales -- and founder of Tower Records -- died on Sunday at his home in my adopted hometown of Sacramento, CA. Russ and I were both born in San Francisco -- and, as luck would have it, we ended up barely two miles apart when he opened Tower #1 -- Watt Avenue -- in 1960. Russ was 35 and I was 16 and a sophomore at El Camino High School. Both the school, and my home, were within a bike ride from his first store.

For those reading this post who were fortunate to grow up an era of vinyl records and Top 40 AM radio, Tower Records was "Mecca" to us music junkies. It was like a giant 'warehouse,' certainly a music superstore, and better yet, the clerks, including Russ in those early days, shared your passion for music. They knew the entire inventory and Russ had it all: rock, folk, country, blues, jazz, classical, even bluegrass, before that genre became hip. Up until the time of Tower, at least in Sacramento -- and most other cities -- you got your favorite 45's or LP's (if you could afford a $3.99 album) in a small record department of a large department store or '5 and dime,' as Woolworth's, Kresses, and Grants were known. The local Walgreen's Drugs would occasionally purchase hundreds of used juke box 45's from a one-stop and sell them in a large 'bargain bin' for 10 cents. One Saturday while my folks were shopping next door at the Lucky - Cardinal Market, my brother and I found a copy of "Blue Moon Of Kentucky" and "That's Alright Mama" by Elvis. Yes, the original Sun 45 for 10 cents! In fact, that’s how Russ started his career, selling one-stop cut outs in a small section of his father's Tower Drugs location at Land Park Drive and Broadway in Sacramento, at age 16, in 1941. The seed for Tower Records was born in that drug store and even after Tower had expanded to the largest retail record store chain in the world -- with over 200 locations, including nearly 60 stores throughout the world, Russ never lost that childhood passion for music. He never lost that special twinkle in his eyes, nor his desire to know everything he could about the latest music. On my occasional trips back home, after moving to Nashville in 1974, I would often call or visit Russ at his MTS headquarters in West Sacramento, or we would meet at a local deli where we would have lunch and 'talk records.' He was always eager to find out what was going on in "Music City, USA."

In 1968, when San Francisco was the epicenter of the 'love generation,' and 'acid rock,' Russ opened his Columbus Avenue store and when LA became the center of the rock scene, Russ opened his 'flagship' store on Sunset Blvd. It was a frequent stop for visiting rock icons, like Elton John, Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, my buddy, Brian Wilson, and others. Russ had changed the way we bought our music, but, at the same time, was unprepared to compete with 'file sharing,' digital downloading, and the increasing number of 'big box' stores. No, those stores didn't stay open until midnight or 1 AM like Tower, nor did their clerks know music, but it was too late. The competition was just too much and Russ sadly folded his tent in 2006.

If any of you wish to know more about my friend, the amazing Russ Solomon, check out the wonderful HBO documentary by Colin Hanks, son of Tom Hanks, who produced the special "All Things Must Pass -- the Rise and Fall of Tower Records." Colin, like Russ and I, grew up in Sacramento. He knows what an impact Tower had on his life as it had on mine and millions of other music buyers. The documentary is a must see. Russ was one of my very first ticket locations -- as you can see by the December 21, 1963, Beach Boys poster (thanks to my friend, Pete Howard, of Poster Central, for sharing it). Funny side note: Back in those days of no Ticketmaster screwing the concert goer with 'convenience' fees, I used Russ, local musical instrument stores, and other record shops for ticket locations. No middle men, no scalpers, just a great place to pick up your ticket, maybe buy a record, and hang with friends. At one point, Russ came to me and asked if he could get a small commission on his store's ticket sales. I thought to myself: "here goes a piece of my profit.' I asked Russ what he had in mind. He said, "well, Fred, I am taking a bit of a risk and my clerks are having to take on the extra responsibility of selling your tickets. How about 5 cents a ticket." Sure Russ, you got it:) Later, when Russ started "Tower Productions," to give me a little competition, I took it as a supreme compliment. That's just the way Russ was.

RIP, Russ Solomon. You will be missed, and, hopefully, like Brian Wilson, and the late Sid Bernstein, and at least a dozen others, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will have the good sense to induct America's master 'record man.' After all, Russ had a direct impact on virtually every inductee already in the Hall.

Fred Vail

Doesn’t ‘Dottie I Like It’ have a similarity to ‘Sweet Little Sheila’?

Ok, someone is going to remind me that all women are similar, and we all sound the same. BUT!!!!

Shelley J Sweet-Tufano

Well, since both songs were written and sung by the same artist … and Tommy Roe admits that he was trying to get back to his successful bubblegum roots with this record, I’d say it’s a pretty sure thing that there’s at least SOME similarity. (Fortunately for Tommy, he wasn’t being managed by Saul Zaentz at the time, so wasn’t at risk of being sued for plagiarizing himself!!! Lol) kk

Hi Kent,
Well Sir, with “Snoopy For President,” I think they wanted to push us through that rabbit hole one more time because of all the political hoopla that was present ... and maybe that would trigger another Snoopy victory for them. :O)

I really didn't have a say in the matter ... the label was the "Boss" ... we
just did what we had to.

Thanks again, Kent ... it's always good to hear from you, my friend.
Blessings -
Barry

WLUP signed off as a rocker Friday Night. Although a number of former jocks stopped by to visit with Steve Dahl during his four-hour simulcast (from 2-6 pm) the one who everyone HOPED would make an appearance DIDN'T ... Garry Meier, Dahl's former partner, was nowhere to be found. (The saddest part of all is that absolutely NOBODY listening expected him to show up ... which is why it would have been SO much cooler if he had.)
At this point, I don't know that anyone truly understands the deep-rooted hatred that must still exist on Meier's part toward Dahl after all these years ... quite honestly I'm not even sure HE could verbalize it at this point as it seems to be something that only makes sense to him alone.
Suffice to say that without Steve Dahl, the world would likely never have known who Garry Meier was. (And that's literally true ... when the two hooked up, Garry wasn't even using his real name on the air! It was Dahl who got him to go with the real deal!)
For some reason, the two clicked and it was radio magic for many, many years. (And while Dahl is often credited as the wacky, crazy one, Garry had a pretty creative sense of humor and imagination as well.) They worked well off one another (although Garry sometimes had to reign Dahl in from time to time as the voice of reason.) However, we also saw a change in Meier over the years (and not in a very good way) when some of the biting became cruel (most notably the whole Larry Lujack exchange when all three were on WLS at the time.) I cannot help but wonder if, in hindsight, Garry may be a little embarrassed by what he became (especially knowing that Lujack was a radio idol of his.)
Sadly, anyone hoping for a "Dean and Jerry" tearful reunion came away a little bit disappointed ... if not disenchanted. (After all, if not THIS opportunity, then what would it take? This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime send off that deserved a bigger moment. I can't imagine it happening under any more worthy set of circumstances.)
According to Robert Feder, Dahl tried to get Garry to participate all week but it all fell on deaf ears. (Meier even cancelled other appearances where he was scheduled to reminisce about The Loop, probably because he knew this would be the only question folks were interested in.)
However, on an up note, I AM happy to report that, as the final "live" track aired on the station (before flipping to an all Christian Music format), Steve Dahl closed his show with AC/DC's "Highway To Hell" ... which now goes down in history as the final live track to lead into the format change. (Atta boy, Steve!) kk

↧

Some Of Your Mid-Week Comments

March 14, 2018, 4:04 am

≫ Next: The Friday Flash

≪ Previous: A Monday Morning Quickie!

Man, you really do a great job with your postings. Keep them coming.
I enjoy the heck out of them.
-- Dennis Gilbert

Thanks, Dennis, I appreciate that! (kk)

I just discovered your site while I was searching for information about The Ides / Shames Union. I saw / heard them at Shulas in Niles Mi.

Terry Turner

Incredible to think that some 50 years later, both groups are still performing around the area … and sound every bit as good as ever. If you get the chance to see one of their Cornerstones Of Rock shows, GO!!! You'll be glad you did. (They next hit The Arcada Theatre in St. Charles, IL, on April 29th.) kk

kk ….
Here are some April 2, 1957 pictures of Elvis.
Frank B

https://www.facebook.com/VintageToronto/photos/a.1885273141542661.1073742339.256041347799190/1885273411542634/?type=3&theater

There are some INCREDIBLE shots here …. a still so young and innocent Elvis Presley, his career having just taken off and he was still enjoying it all. (It's the candid backstage shots that do it for me.) These are great! As you click thru them it's almost like a movie unfolding before your very eyes. Thanks, Frank. (kk)

Speaking of Elvis, check out this incredible performance of a live, tv event … a duet of Elvis and Helene Fischer performing "Just Pretend"… it's chilling! (Obviously this has Priscilla's endorsement … so I'll make it two thumbs up!) kk

Sad to report the passing of Nokie Edwards of The Ventures.

Nokie was first brought into The Ventures as a bass player, arriving just in time to play on the band’s first hit, “Walk, Don’t Run” in 1960. Edwards said he was really more of a lead guitar player, which is the role he assumed thru 1968, at which point he left to pursue a solo career. (He would rejoin The Ventures a couple more times over the years, first from 1973 to 1984 and then again in the early 2000’s.) In addition to a fair amount of session work, he also dabbled in acting, perhaps most famously starring as Wild Bill Hickok’s mysterious friend in the HBO series “Deadwood.” The Ventures were finally inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2008. (kk)

kk:

The Larry Chance Fan Club is reporting that Nokie Edwards of The Ventures died on March 12, 2018.

"Book ‘Em, Dan-O."

I watch the old "Hawaii Five-O" every night on ME-TV.

Monday I stayed up till 2 AM to watch "The Fugitive," a QM Production.

That's the only time it’s on.

Apparently Nokie was already gone by the time The Ventures recorded their 1969 hit “Hawaii Five-O.” Surprisingly, it was revealed that a lot of The Ventures’ recordings were actually done by members of The Wrecking Crew because the REAL Ventures were out on the road so much! Still a great track, however … and a television theme song classic!

(Yeah, it’d be nice if they’d schedule “The Fugitive” at a more viewer-friendly time!!!) kk

Taking a moment out wishes for a speedy recovery to one of our own ….

We just learned that long-time Forgotten Hits Reader and Contributor Ronnie Allen suffered a stroke last month. (We recently featured Ronnie’s new online musical “Snippets” game, which quickly addicted several of our readers!)

It sounds like it may be a long road ahead but I’m sure all of us wish Ronnie the very best. (I’ve seen some amazing things over the past several years in this area so our thoughts and prayers are with you.) kk

kk …

Did you write about Richard Wess in your Bobby Darin series? I don't remember.

https://thisisbobbydarin.wordpress.com/2018/03/10/richard-wess-the-forgotten-man/

I touched on it but nowhere near as in depth as this article goes. (In my piece, I give Wess full credit for the incredible arrangements contained in Bobby's "That's All" album.) This piece by Shane Brown is very well done. (Of course if you're ever unsure of what is or isn't covered, you can always check our Bobby Darin series online … it is now permanently posted at www.forgottenhits.com.) kk

http://forgottenhits.com/the_bobby_darin_story

New Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees Bon Jovi just set a brand new record on The Billboard Album Chart … but it’s probably not the kind anyone would strive for.

Their latest album, “This House Is Not For Sale,” returned to the #1 spot a couple of weeks ago, thanks to a special ticket promotion tied to the band’s new tour … and then fell to #168 the following week … the biggest single week drop in chart history! (On the one hand I could say I guess that everybody who wanted a copy, already bought theirs … but the fact is this album was first released in 2016 and topped the chart then, too.)

A special voucher was issued allowing fans purchasing concert tickets to pick up a copy of the LP … and around 120,000 fans did so … earning enough sales to make it the biggest selling album of the week.

But then the following week only 5000 more copies were sold (a drop-off of about 96%!), causing the huge plummet to #168. (kk)

↧

The Friday Flash

March 16, 2018, 3:57 am

≫ Next: The Saturday Survey (March 17th)

≪ Previous: Some Of Your Mid-Week Comments

Sorry, but I just can’t let this one go.

Now I will admit that I have never been a fan of Cousin Brucie … I have never understood the appeal … and I guess maybe you just had to be there … because this guy has iconic rock and roll deejay status on the east coast and was there from the beginning of the rock era, so he certainly has earned a certain amount of street cred in the process. (I’m sure there are folks out in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia who don’t understand the appeal of our Dick Biondi, too … although Dick was on the air in Buffalo for a stretch.)

But Bruce Morrow has always been, for me, one of those jocks who just loves the sound of his own voice rather than giving any serious thought to what he’s actually saying with it.

Still, all that being said, a guy of THIS stature … with this type of reputation and this type of following … REALLY ought to know better … so rather than be embarrassed for him, I instead felt anger that he was spewing off bad information to a loyal legion of ‘60’s music fans (along with any potential new fans first discovering this music) on his Sirius / XM radio program on Wednesday.

It all started off as a plug for a new Paul Shaffer program that’s running on Sirius XM’s Deep Tracks and Classic Vinyl channels. Paul goes one on one with some of the biggest artists out there, manno to manno, speaking musician to musician … and, although I’ve yet to hear it, it’s really supposed to be quite good.

Paul’s guest this week is Graham Nash and Cousin Brucie (who was THERE at the time, don’t forget … and has this WEALTH of hands-on history to share with his listeners) starts going on and on about what a GREAT artist Graham Nash is … and how he’s always been a fan and how Graham has always been one of his favorites … and what a distinctive voice he has … and then, to illustrate his point says, “Here, listen to this … this is Graham Nash with The Hollies and you can tell the minute Graham comes in because his voice just jumps right out at you” … and then proceeds to play “Long Cool Woman With A Black Dress,” the #1 Hollies hit from 1972, recorded FIVE YEARS AFTER Nash left The Hollies!!! In fact, by 1972, he had already had six Top 20 Hits with Crosby, Stills (and sometimes Young)!!! You’re not going to hear “Graham Nash’s distinctive voice” on this record because Graham Nash isn’t ON this record!!! (In fact, if I remember correctly, this track was first recorded as a solo track by Allan Clarke, who was then persuaded to record it with The Hollies instead to take advantage of the name recognition and get the band back on the charts.)

It’s not even the fact that he got the story wrong … but more the fact that he spoke it with such knowing authority and got it wrong, thus misinforming every listener in the process that ultimately got my goat.

I mean, c’mon … this is Cousin Brucie … HE WAS THERE!!! If he says it, then it MUST be true, right?!?!? (I’m sorry, but this just shouldn’t be happening at this level of professionalism … and even more so on a radio station dedicated and devoted to preserve the music of the ‘60’s.)

Which begs, I guess, another question or two …

Why is The 60s Channel playing a song from 1972 in the first place when there are at least a dozen bona-fide Hollies hits from the ‘60’s that actually DO feature Graham Nash on vocals?!?!? I just don’t get it! (kk)

On the plus side, you can learn more about Paul’s new program … and hear some excerpts from it … here: https://blog.siriusxm.com/graham-nash-talks-david-crosby-little-richard-and-jimi-hendrix-with-paul-shaffer/

Saw an awesome Eagles concert Wednesday Night.

Don Henley started off a bit rough but after he warmed up, he was great. Vince Gill is a natural addition and said he's honored to be a part of a band he's admired for the past 45years. Deacon Frey is a clone of his father and a great fit.

They began with all the 70's hits, moved on to a Vince Gill solo of one of his hits, some Joe Walsh, then Timothy B Schmit sang a couple of his well-known hits while sitting down thru the entire concert, due to an injury yesterday at the hotel.

They ended the night with three encores: Hotel California, Desperado and Joe Walsh doing a rousing rendition of Rocky Mountain Way. The lighting, graphics and acoustics were outstanding.

Ed Kristak

We had really wanted to see this show (but the ticket prices were just so killer-crazy this time around that we had to pass.) Still it’s hard to feel like you don’t get your full money’s worth at an Eagles concert … without question one of the best “live” bands I’ve ever seen … and consistently so for decades now.)

I’m glad to hear that Vince Gill is fitting in so well … and that he’s getting to do at least something from his own catalog. (The guy’s had like 60 hits under his own name on the Country Charts … and did some band-time with The Pure Prairie League in the early ‘80’s.)

I’ve heard that Glen’s son just continues to improve with every performance … and who’d have EVER thought that Joe Walsh would still be with them forty years later!!! Sounds like you had a GREAT time (as I knew you would!!!) kk

SET LIST:

Here is the 27-song set list The Eagles performed at The United Center Wednesday Night here in Chicago:

1 - Seven Bridges Road (all)

2 - Take It Easy (Deacon Frey lead vocals)

3 - One Of These Nights (Don Henley lead vocals)

4 - Take It To The Limit (Vince Gill lead vocals)

5 - Tequila Sunrise (Vince Gill)

6 - Witchy Woman (Don Henley)

7 - In The City (Joe Walsh lead vocals)

8 - I Can't Tell You Why (Timothy B. Schmit lead vocals)

9 - How Long (Deacon Frey)

10 - Ol''55 (Vince Gill)

11 - Peaceful Easy Feeling (Deacon Frey)

12 - The Best Of My Love (Don Henley)

13 - New Kid In Town (Vince Gill)

14 - Love Will Keep Us Alive (Timothy B. Schmit)

15 - Lyin' Eyes (Vince Gill)

16 - Next Big Thing (Vince Gill)

17 - Those Shoes (Don Henley)

18 - Already Gone (Deacon Frey)

19 - Victim Of Love (Don Henley)

20 - Walk Away (Joe Walsh)

21 - Heartache Tonight (Vince Gill)

22 - Life's Been Good (Joe Walsh)

23 - Funk #49 (Joe Walsh)

24 - Life In the Fast Lane (Don Henley)

Encore #1:

25 - Hotel California (Don Henley)

Encore #2:

26 - Rocky Mountain Way (Joe Walsh)

27 - Desperado (Don Henley)

This, too, is great to see ... while I thought things might take on more a tone of "The Don Henley Show," vocals are nicely distributed throughout the set amongst all of these talented vocalists. (In fact Henley handling only eight lead tracks is far less than I ever would have expected.)

And it’s nice to hear that Don Henley and Vince Gill have also been working together on a project outside the confines of The Eagles.

Next month two Elton John – Bernie Taupin tribute albums will be released (both a pop and a country version) and Vince and Don take on Elton’s “Sacrifice” on the country album. (I’m very anxious to hear this!)

This isn’t the first time that big-name artists have gotten together to pay tribute to this incredible song-writing duo … back in 1991, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Sting, The Who, The Beach Boys, Joe Cocker, Wilson Phillips, Jon Bon Jovi, Tina Turner, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Bruce Hornsby, George Michael and Phil Collins (along with a few others) released the “Two Rooms” CD. (In fact Sinead O’Connor performed “Sacrifice on this LP.)

New artists paying include Pink, Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Mary J. Blige, Florence and the Machine, Lady Gaga, Little Big Town, Chris Stapleton, Willie Nelson, Miranda Lambert and, appearing on BOTH the pop AND the country releases, Miley Cyrus.

Looks like these will hit the streets on April 6^th. (kk)

Here's a story we never expected to see ...

Kent:

Here’s a new Rascals story from Mike McCann from Premiere Radio Networks

-Tom Cuddy

RASCALS: Gene Rejoining Felix

The band's founding guitarist and frontman will reunite for shows later this summer.

Gene Cornish will re-join Felix Cavaliere on this year's Rascals tour. And they'll welcome a familiar and respected name on drums -- Carmine Appice.

The Rascals guitarist says strong support from the fans and radio led to his joining Felix.

Here's Gene Cornish on teaming up with Felix Cavaliere and Carmine Appice as The Rascals:

"Because of the fan base and their love for the music. And because we've lost so many great stars like Prince, Tom Petty, Glen Campbell, Glenn Frey, Felix and I decided we have to go out there and play for the fans. It's about, we don't have a lot of time left in our lives. And we want to make it just very very worthy of the support that we got from the fans. We replaced our drummer with Carmine Appice; we don't miss a beat with him. He's just an iconic, wonderful drummer."

A founder of the legendary rockers Vanilla Fudge, Appice spent many years working with Rod Stewart and co-wrote such classics as "Young Turks" and "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy." Gene also touched on the two Rascals who won't be part of this year's tour.

"We reached out to Dino [Danelli], but he didn't show much interest. He's very dedicated to his artistry. He's a painter; he hasn't played in five years. Eddie Brigati is committed to his one man show -- he's doing kind of like a standards kind of show, doing 'Send in the Clowns' and stuff like that. And this is something he dreamt of his whole life. And everybody at our age -- which is like, between 73 and 75 -- has the right and, of course, the blessing of all the other Rascals to do exactly what they want."

Gene doesn't expect a repeat of their 2012 - 2013 Once Upon a Dream reunion tour. While crediting Steve Van Zandt for creating and producing it, Gene also blames him for its abrupt end, just before a series of canceled New York dates.

"I must set the record straight and without any kind of disrespect. The tour ended because of Steve Van Zandt, not because of The Rascals. The Rascals got along famously. We're indebted to Stevie for what he did, but he cut ... he cut us off at the pass and he moved onto projects, as he always does."

Due to other commitments, rehearsals won't begin until June. Cornish says that they're looking to making "some happy Rascal music" -- probably starting in mid-July. The soon-to-launch websiteTheRascalsTour.comwill post show dates and locations.

This should pose an interesting, new dynamic ... we wish them the best. (Half a reunion is better than none at this point ... Gene and Dino performed for years as "The New Rascals" and neither of them ever really sang much with the band ... the whole "sound" was Felix and Eddie ... but I LOVE the fact that Gene says they're all getting along really well right now ... and each was approached with the opportunity to team up again. (kk)

Sad news about the passing of iconic producer, arranger, songwriter Jimmy Wisner earlier this week. This guy worked with EVERYBODY over the years!

I just lost my good friend and long, long time arranger and record producer, Jimmy Wisner. He was so inventive, so talented, and so honorable.

Jimmy and I recorded the Billboard-charted and big-city country radio topper, “Hello, This Is Joannie” in 1979. We also recorded a couple of albums together.

Jimmy was a secret weapon in the music business and you can read about his long and lustrous music career and a list of the artists that he worked with at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wisner

Somewhere Jimmy is making music today because music and his wife Jane were the loves of his life.

Paul Evans

Jimmy Wisner passed away Tuesday according to Tommy James. This man had his hands in the works of SO many of our FH artists, it's incredible. He wrote, produced and arranged songs for Tommy James, for one, but how about these FH member songs? These are just ones with ties to FH (and many more by some of these artists). He worked with so many stars (of which you only need to hear half their name) from Streisand to Bennett to Cymbal to Avalon to Keith to Hirt to Pitney to Caiola to Mann to Calloway to Goulet to Nilsson to Simone to Vinton to Dyson to Greaves to Butler to Lynne to Noble to Ronnie Spector to Len Barry to Peaches & Herb and more. He took over as producer of the Buckinghams in ‘68, and altho their hits soon waned, his production was spot on. SO many more too.
Mr. Wisner, we bow to your great work.
Rest in Peace.
WLSClark

ARRANGER:

Tommy James And The Shondells - I Think We're Alone Now and almost all the rest of his hits
The Cowsills - The Rain, The Park And Other Things
Paul Evans - Hello, This Is Joannie (The Telephone Answering Machine Song)
Jay And The Techniques - Keep The Ball Rollin'
Spanky And Our Gang - Sunday Will Never Be The Same
The Tokens - Portrait Of My Love
Neil Sedaka - The World Through A Tear
The Archies - Plum Crazy
Bobby Rydell - The Joker
Lou Christie - Waco
Jay And The Americans - (He's) Raining In My Sunshine

WRITER:

Bobby Rydell - Forget Him

*-- Actually this was Tony Hatch, writing under the name of Mark Anthony (kk)

Chubby Checker - Rosie
The Searchers - Don't Throw Your Love Away
Fabian - The Love That I'm Giving To You

PRODUCER:

Paul Evans - Hello, This Is Joannie (The Telephone Answering Machine Song)
The Buckinghams - Back In Love Again

The Buckinghams - Where Did You Come From

He also produced a song in 1968 that I loved from the first day it arrived at my house that year. It's a bit of a strange song done with sounds of the period, but never took off anywhere, it seems. Our Ron Dante wrote it, so I'd love to hear any story behind it. Bob Dileo did three 45s for Columbia, but earlier did a very cool Beach Boys sounding 45 as the Giant Jellybean Copout. This has all the psychedelic yet MOR sounds that could have made it a nice AM AND MOR fit almost.

Speaking of recent deaths, you wouldn’t think the passing of Stephen Hawking would have much impact on the rock world … but Ultimate Classic Rock points out that recordings of Hawking speeches were used on albums issued by Pink Floyd and U2. Hawking himself says he attended a few rock and roll shows, most notably Dephche Mode, Pink Floyd and Tracy Chapman … but said he went to a concert by Status Quo “but left after twenty minutes … they were terrible!”

Howard Kaylan of The Turtles was one of the first to post the notice of Hawking’s passing … and Micky Dolenz issued this statement when informed of the news:

I had the pleasure of meeting Stephen Hawking as he and I were leaving a restaurant in Cambridge, England, sometime around the year 1980.

He, of course, had no idea who I was but I was well versed in who he was as I have always been, and continue to be, a student of science and particularly quantum physics and cosmology.

Needless to say, we have lost one of the greatest minds in science (which, BTW, is a word directly translated from the Latin word “scire” which simply means - “know”.)

He obviously loved to “know” things and will certainly be remembered right up there with all of the other greatest men and women who attempted to know the truth: Copernicus, Galileo, Ada Lovelace, Tycho Braye, Kepler, Newton, Madame Curie, Einstein, Rosalind Franklin, Feynman, etc.

Science is about knowing - or at least attempting to know the truth about our natural world: without subjectivity, without snake oil salesmen, without wishing and hoping.

Stephen Hawking exemplified this notion and, given the extraordinarily difficult reality of his physical existence, he will surely go down in history as one of the greatest knowers that the world has ever seen.

Micky Dolenz

Kent,

In today's FH you mentioned the passing of Nokie Edwards of the Ventures fame. I was a little bit surprised in that today's paper here in OKC there was a somewhat good obit on him. The reason being in that he had some ties to the state of Oklahoma. For whatever reason, I still remember the Sunday afternoon back in 1960 when I went to a local drugstore, along with my parents, and bought their first recording of WALK DON'T RUN. Their 1964 record RAP CITY / SLAUGHTER ON 10TH AVENUE was a two-sided hit here in OKC as well as a probably forgotten instrumental GENESIS from 1962. They probably had more instrumentals than some people realize.

One final thing and this is something I remembered was a record they made in 1959 (their first?) called THE REAL MCCOY.

Larry

I remember having “The McCoy” (no “real” ... you must be thinking of a Walter Brennan record!) as the B-Side of my Dolton “Walk Don’t Run” 45 … according Joel Whitburn’s book, this single was issued with two different flip sides … “The McCoy” (which was a pretty tasty instrumental in its own right) and “Home.”

Edwards was actually born in Oklahoma (Lahoma … must have been a real creative town!) in 1935. In the late ‘50’s, he moved to Tacoma (oh come on, really?!?!) Washington, where he hooked up with Buck Owens’ band (prior to The Buckaroos) and it was while playing in a club there, that Don Wilson and Bob Bogle recruited him to start The Ventures. (As mentioned the other day, Edwards started first on bass guitar but then convinced his bandmates that we was really better on lead.)

The rest, as they say, is history. The Ventures racked up a total of 35 national chart hits, six of which made The Top 40: “Walk, Don’t Run” (#2, 1960); “Perfidia” (#12, 1960); “Ram-Bunk-Shush” (#29, 1961); “Walk, Don’t Run, ‘64” (#8, 1964); “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” (#35, 1964) … by the way, the flip side “bubbled under” nationally, too, peaking at #132) … and “Hawaii Five-O” (#4, 1969. (kk)

kk,
Always surprising to read the variety of R&R-related data you include in your blogs, including the mention of "unsung hero" Richard Wess.
As soon as I saw the name I knew him as the man who created the theme music for just the 1st season of "I Dream Of Jeannie" (The Black & White Season).
After hearing his connection with the like of Bobby Darin and now hearing the original IDOJ theme in my head, I can just hear Bobby singing to that original theme because that theme fit Mr. Darin. Too bad Richard never tapped Bobby to sing words to that theme, it might've been a hit!
Uncle T. Jay
We’re all about the music … so when there are topics you guys want to cover we try to buy in whenever we can … what I’ve found over eighteen years of doing this is that we all learn things in the process … and that goes for me as much as anybody else! (kk)

kk …

The song "Sh-Boom" was recorded on 3/15/1954. It went on to become a #5 Billboard Hit and a #1 Cash Box Hit.

Here's the story behind the hit …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dUK9j5X7Zw

And here's the whole song …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp2IyWM4ycs

Technically “Sh-Boom” peaked at #9 on Billboard’s Best Sellers Chart … this predated their Top 100 and Hot 100 listings. Back in 1954 Billboard would also publish a Jukebox Chart (which is where it peaked at #5) and a Disc Jockey Chart.

It spent seven weeks at #1 on the Cash Box Best Selling Singles Chart and peaked at #3 in Music Vendor, the precursor to Record World. It was also a #2 Hit on Billboard’s R&B Chart. Incredibly The Crew Cuts’ version reached the #1 Spot in Billboard … because, at that time, that’s the version that was played throughout the majority of white-bread America. (kk)

Miss hearing some of the songs from the '50's?

Then you won't want to miss our April 1st Easter Feature!

And be sure to stop back tomorrow to check out this week's Saturday Survey ... next stop ... NEVADA!!! (kk)

↧

The Saturday Survey (March 17th)

March 17, 2018, 4:00 am

≫ Next: The Sunday Comments ( 03 - 18 - 18 )

≪ Previous: The Friday Flash

*Survey courtesy Frank Merrill

Wow! Some MAJOR Movers on this Nevada Chart this week!
Aretha Franklin moves up ten spots (from #12 to #2) with her latest, "Since You've Been Gone." Right behind her are Georgie Fame ("The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde," which climbs seven places from #10 to #3), "Men Are Gettin' Scarce" by Joe Tex, up eleven places from #15 to #4, "Simon Says" by The 1910 Fruitgum Company (up to #5 from #11), "What You Want" by The Music Explosion (jumping 13 places from #19 6o #6), "The Mighty Quinn" by Manfred Mann (Up from #24 to #7, a move of 17 places!) and then "Back Up Train" by Al Green, up twelve spots from #22 to #10. (Not much Top Ten left from the week before!)

Just outside The Top Ten we find "Green Light" by The American Breed, climbing from #31 to #14 (that's 17 spots), "La La Means I Love You" by The Delfonics (#35 to #16, up 19 spots) and "Scarborough Fair," the latest by Simon and Garfunkel, which now sits at #20 after a 19 point jump from #39 the week before. (kk)

3-11-68 KBMI - Henderson, Nevada

Henderson may not ring a bell like it's next door neighbor, Las Vegas, but it has about 300,000 people today. In 1968, it had a cool station playing some great forgotten hits. The Vegas area was being blasted by the bubblegum psychedelic sounds of the Music Explosion and"What You Want (Baby I Want You)"this week. The top producers of 1968 were likely Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz with their parade of bubblegum hits on the charts. Although Buddah Records became basically known for this genre, Laurie Records enjoyed many of these hits of their doings, too, including THIS one. There will likely be very few (if any) charts in this 1968 collection to NOT feature a K-K song or two.

One cool tune that charted almost nowhere else is Sonny & Cher's "Circus" which you can imagine might go over well in Vegas. A pretty "heavy" sound and lyric complete with mob gunshots that even surpass Georgie Fame's #3 "Bonnie & Clyde." It's a Sonny original that I would have thought would break nationally with its'"mouth popping" (literally!) percussion and its doom filled ending somewhat in a "Ode to Billie Joe" musical arrangement!

THIS WEEK IN 1968:

3/13/68: The Beatles’ “Lady Madonna” / “The Inner Light” single released is Great Britain, their last release for the Parlophone record label. A few months later, they would issue their first single on their own brand new record label, Apple Records. (“Hey Jude”)

3/13/68: The Byrds receive a Gold Record for sales of their “Greatest Hits” album.

3/15/68: The Del Satins and The Rhythm Method merge to form a new group, The Brooklyn Bridge. In less than a year, they will top the charts with “The Worst That Could Happen,” a Jimmy Webb song sung by the incredible voice of lead singer Johnny Maestro. (Story goes that when the two groups merged to form an eleven-piece band, talent agent Dave Zahn told their manager, Betty Sperber, “Jesus Christ, Betty … tryin’ to sell that will be like tryin’ to sell the Brooklyn Bridge!” … and that’s how they got their new name!)

3/16/68: Robert Kennedy (RFK) announces Presidential campaign.

Also on this date, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay” reaches #1 on The Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart, where it will stay for four weeks. (Incredibly, it will NOT reach #1 in either Cash Box or Record World.) It IS #1 in Nevada, however, as shown in this week's special Saturday Survey!

3/17/68: The Bee Gees perform “Words” and “To Love Somebody” on The Ed Sullivan Show. It is their US television debut.

↧

The Sunday Comments ( 03 - 18 - 18 )

March 18, 2018, 7:03 am

≫ Next: Tuesday This And That

≪ Previous: The Saturday Survey (March 17th)

Cousin Brucie:
As expected, my Cousin Brucie commentary on Friday sparked a series of responses. Folks seem split into a few different camps on this one … those who say "cut him some slack … he was one of the best there ever was"… others who have NEVER cared for him in the first place and have always found him to be highly overrated … and then those who say, "yes, he's gotten older … and he's not what he used to be … but he was there for the dawn of it all … and if you weren't there with him, you probably won't get him at all now."

And I can relate to that … if only by using our own Dick Biondi again as an example. (I'll probably get crucified for some of this but there are a lot of parallels here, so here goes!)

Biondi was revolutionary for his time … outspoken, outlandish … speaking out against the establishment by criticizing his boss and WLS Management on the air … he immediately established a unique bond with his audience and they LOVED him for it! He was recording music parodies while Weird Al Yankovic, Steve Dahl and Jonathan Brandmeier were still wearing diapers.

Remember, rock and roll was brand new then … nobody knew how to handle it … because for the first time in pop music history, it was the KIDS who were dictating the hits … this music spoke directly to them … so even though most of these jocks (like Alan Freed and Biondi and Cousin Brucie and Wolfman Jack and Jerry Blavat and Hy Lit and all the others) were considerably older than their audience, they inspired these kids to “bring out the crazy” and enjoy this music … using whatever tactics they could come up with. And it worked.

But by and large the game changed once The British Invasion hit … jock patter became more sophisticated … they HAD to know about the music because there were new artists on the scene every week … names that would live in infamy forever more. And these guys … this new crop of jocks … were there to make you feel part of the scene. Perhaps the nationally most famous was Murray The K, who attached himself to The Fab Four as "The Fifth Beatle." Here in Chicago it was people like Ron Riley and Art Roberts at WLS and Ron Britain and Barney Pip at WCFL that pushed the envelope, raising the intelligence level a notch by challenging the listeners to keep up and participate … and that worked well until the next wave of jocks came along and revolutionized our listening habits again forever more. Guys like Super Jock Larry Lujack and John Records Landecker … before giving way to the Steve Dahls and Howard Sterns and Mancows who seemed to be there only to derive some type of shock value with their comments. It wasn’t even about the music anymore.

I can only speak for Chicago here (and honestly, Biondi's golden time with WLS ended before I was even listening to the radio ... and I would have been too young to get most of it anyway) ... but there was a time when EVERY teenager was listening ... there really wasn't anything much in the way of competition back then for Top 40 Rock And Roll ... WLS was it ... and anything that Biondi said or did was heard by ALL ... and repeated and talked about the next day within those circles. (It was like that with Lujack in the '70's and '80's ... all you had to do was start a sentence at any time during the day with, "Did you hear what Lujack said this morning?" and it was an automatic, resounding "Yes" ... because EVERYBODY was listening ... everybody heard it and those conversations continued to spark throughout the day because we were all joined as one and hung on every word to hear what he was going to say next.)

The simple fact is, hard as it may be to swallow, that guys like Biondi and Cousin Brucie really haven’t been relevant since 1963. That’s taking NOTHING away from these guys … they’re broadcasting LEGENDS … and had such a HUGE impact on the lives of MILLIONS of teenagers growing up that those same fans will tolerate a sub-standard performance today just because of who these guys were and how much they meant.

Chicago LOVES Dick Biondi … he’s an institution … we've named a street after him here! ... we’re doing all we can to help raise funds to make a documentary on his life, a documentary that NEEDS and deserves to be made to celebrate a life worth celebrating … but the plain and simple truth is that he hasn’t done a show entertaining enough to be worth remembering since the ‘70’s.

Still, he LIVES to be on the radio … he's actually told me that he wanted to die on the air … it’s all he’s ever done … it’s all he’s ever known … radio is the love of his life and he has dedicated every minute of his life to it … but just like every other fad that comes along, it comes with an expiration date.

Bruce Morrow’s passed decades ago. The difference is he still tries to speak with some authoritative relevance. While he was still on the air, Biondi would reminisce about those early day … GREAT stories … and many of the artists would even call in or come on the air to reminisce with him. Dick (and ONLY Dick) could get away with deviating from the play list and spin some of the records he played on WLS back in the early '60's because there was usually a great story behind them ... or a lifetime loyal listener request that just couldn't be denied and had to be honored.

Health issues have kept him off the air for awhile now ... and he really should have gracefully retired 25 years ago ... but he just loves it too much ... and his audience loves him ... so radio has provided a "permanent home" until such time he simply can't do this anymore. (Much like Morrow, I imagine, what radio programming director would EVER want it on his epitaph that HE was the guy who fired Dick Biondi for the last time?!?!)

Every major artist from the ‘60’s and ‘70’s owes a HUGE debt to Dick Biondi for the boost he gave their careers … if only by playing them and talking about them on the air. I guess in that respect, Cousin Brucie deserves the same … but then up your game a little bit if you want to stay in it. The old schtick doesn’t work in 2018. Go ahead and rest on your laurels while you still can … and bask in the adoration of the fans ... but then shut up once in awhile and play some music!!! (kk)

Check out these two cool ‘60’s DeeJays links that I found … you'll find Cousin Brucie and Dick Biondi listed on BOTH of these … Biondi's even listed at #1 on one of them. They truly changed the game in a revolutionary way ... but then never really changed again with it to keep up with the times ... thus never really developing their original connection with any type of a new audience. The diehards who were there remain true ... but can anybody name ANYTHING that either Dick Biondi or Cousin Brucie have said or done on the air that's been worth repeating since 1975???
https://www.metv.com/lists/8-boss-disc-jockeys-of-the-1960s-did-you-listen-to-any-of-them

http://www.the60sofficialsite.com/Top_DJs_of_the_60s.html

Kent,
One reason I enjoy following your efforts - you ain't afraid to "Say It Like It Is," even if I find you to be misguided in rare instances ("It Must Be Him" by Vicki Carr will always be Puke City, USA to me).
Anyway .... Hear! Here! regarding the incredibly lame legend NYC DJ, Cousin Brucie and his woeful, laughable Hollies comment. I'll go even further - people who grew up in the NYC area routinely champion and brag about 77WABC and their line-up of jocks. I personally am sick and tired of the incessant flag-waving for a station that was really BORING to listen to.
For me, I was a little bit too young for their 1960's heyday. During the early to mid 1970s, I preferred my local stations over tuning in W-A-Bloated-C on the transistor radio. If I was somewhere, and WABC was playing on the radio, I'd flip the dial every chance I got. The weekly playlist selected by gestapo programmer Rick Sklar notwithstanding (they were always a month behind, charting hits that already peaked and were recurrents locally). Of all their jocks, Brucie was thee worst. His god-awful, idiotic "eeeyyyeeee" squeals were aural fingernails clawing a chalkboard. His delivery was totally goofy, and came across as someone who tried way to hard, in my opinion, to sound hip.
When I began collecting old 1960s radio airchecks in the mid-1980s, WABC was one of the stations often sent to me via trades with other collectors. Upon careful listening, I reaffirmed my assumptions - the format was cluttered, the jocks rambled far too long, the songs were overplayed and late when compared to other competing stations. I grew to be even more annoyed with the incessant gabbing of Cousin Bruce. Whereas Ingram was tolerable, Brucie was just too damn annoying. If I lived in NYC, I'd be tuning into any other available Top 40 station, not WABC.
When I discovered the Chicago stations WLS and WCFL via old airchecks, thanks to my long time pal Clark Besch, I was immediately hooked. Ron Britain and Barney Pip sounded and delivered a much more teen oriented attitude while sounding "with it", whereas WABC jocks were elders trying to be hip. And upon discovering KHJ! Wow!! Where have ya BEEN all my life? Morgan, Mack, Steele, Riddle, Tuna, and Humble Harv ... Christ! These jocks kicked Top-40 ass round the clock!! That was exactly the kind of station I would've been hooked on 24-7 as a teenager during their heyday. Uncluttered on-air presentation, catchy short jingles, and rockin' weekly playlists that were immediate and happening. Naysayers of Bill Drake and Ron Jacobs can just stick it - those guys were like the Beatles of radio programming during the 1960s. I know WABC was the all-time greatest share-rated station during their heyday, but, so what? As a listener and fan of Top 40 radio, I have always been more concerned and interested in quality, not overall popularity.
Now, regarding Cousin Brucie's errant authoritarian commentary with Graham Nash - absolutely no excuse for that idiotic, uninformed assertion. I'll bet if someone like myself or you were able to tell him
right afterward about the comment, I'll bet any amount of money that Brucie's reply would be, "So what? Nobody really cares about that stuff."
I'm not surprised, however, that this kind of rewriting history of rock and roll occurs regularly with Sirius programming - most of the people who work there think MTV was the first channel to broadcast rock and roll, support rap music artists as rock and roll hall of fame inductees (barf!) and certainly can't name five Chuck Berry songs, let alone identify him without having to look via their smartphone. The Sirius formats are impotent flops, especially when it comes to oldies. The same, overplayed 150 songs. The oldies jocks, like the esteemed Cousin Bruce, are boney fossils that should have been sent out to pasture years ago. There are far, far better options to listen to than Sirius for oldies - via webstream on the 'net, brought direct to you from people who operate their own internet stations. They are passionate, they know rock and roll history, and jeez, you can actually hear something you may not know, or have not heard in eons. There is no chart referencing program director telling you: "Hey, you can't play *that* song, it only peaked nationally at #22, it wasn't a hit." Is it any wonder the scant few oldies formats broadcasting on terrestrial radio are perpetually whirling around in the toilet before changing formats?
My late, former DJ friend had it absolutely right whenever we conversed about radio (almost always, as we had both been employed as DJ's on AM and FM stations for a time) - terrestrial radio has gone the way of the DINOSAUR. Thank God the people who worked during the Top 40 heyday of the 60's and '70s kept tabs on the operation by recording the broadcasts. I'll listen to one of my 1,000s of airchecks anytime over some modern oldies channel or station. Folks like yourself, Clark Besch, and many others are the true behind-the-scenes kingpins keeping the spirit and fun alive, not the has-been Cousin Bruce's of the radio world.
Mike Markesich

You'll find some serious rebuttal by way of this perspective from Allan Sniffen who, by the way, I believe runs HANDS DOWN, BAR DONE, the best Internet Oldies Station on the planet, Rewound Radio.
http://rewoundradio.com/
They help keep the spirit of Top 40 Radio alive by running vintage airchecks over the weekend and while tied to the past of WABC by nature, they also feature programming from Top 40 Jocks from all over the country including (somewhat frequently) many of our Chicagoland heroes who, I believe, raised the bar significantly when it came to entertaining broadcasting.

Here's his take on this whole Cousin Brucie thing …

Hi Kent:
As you know, I run the Musicradio WABC web site (since 1996) and program and DJ on Rewound Radio. I grew up with Cousin Brucie and have chronicled his career on Musicradio77.com and on Rewound Radio. I saw your comments about his flubbing the Hollies song and I'd like to give you some perspective on Bruce Morrow.
I totally understand why you're not a fan. If you didn't grow up with him on WABC, you'll never get him. I will tell you that he was amazing as the nighttime DJ on the biggest radio station in the nation of that era (WABC). He had a sixth sense for how to appeal to his young audience as a friend, "cousin" and confidant. No one ... and I mean no one (yes, I'm including Dick Biondi) was as good at that as he was. He really was sincere and in the process advocated his listeners do the right things. He truly reached them through a small transistor radio stuck under a pillow. His fan base will never lose that bond he created back then.
All that said, if you're not one of the millions of baby-boomers who became a fan at that time, you'll never get him now. As an adult hearing him since about 1974, he sounds like a DJ with poor technical skills and goofy commentary who should talk less. He's partially responsible because he's been riding his own coattails for so long he's become a caricature of himself. It's like a TV sitcom when they exaggerate the past.
Bruce messed up the Hollies / Graham Nash story because he doesn't know any better. He was never really into the music as New York DJ's Scott Muni or Bob Lewis were. What he wanted was to be a star and if the music got him there, he was cool with it. As the years have gone by, he's tried to set himself up as a music historian because that's where the tide has taken him as his baby-boomer audience has aged.
For the most part, he gets away with it as long as someone is ghost writing behind him and he stays on the script. To those who love him, it's just "Brucie being Brucie". They don't care if he's not perfect. If anything, it makes him more endearing. To those who don't get him, it's maddening. I talk to radio people all the time who think I'm crazy for celebrating him. I get why. Imagine if you're a Real Don Steele fan!
I suspect Sirius messed up the segment and gave him an inappropriate song. Then he didn't know any better and you heard the results. Annoying as it is, his fans won't mind a bit.
-- Allan Sniffen

Kent,
Cousin Brucie is the most miserably boring jock in radio history. He once dared at an oldies concert I attended at Madison Square Garden around '95 to declare that rock 'n roll had been invented in the men's room at the high school he attended in Brooklyn.
He is the primary reason I am closing my subscription to Sirius. Book it, the Drive 97.1 has a better overall play list that this satellite crap. Wow, I feel better already.
Chet Coppock
New book: "Chet Coppock in Pursuit of Chet Coppock" due out in July

Hi Kent:

Sorry to hear about Cousin Brucie's faux pas regarding Graham Nash. I'm one of those Brucie fans dating back to when I was about six years old in northern New Jersey, and an avid listener of WABC. Brucie has always been somewhat eccentric, with his rapid-fire talk and almost stream-of-consciousness patter (evident on his airchecks from the '60s and '70s, preserved on the web site www.77musicradio.com). I don't have satellite radio, so I haven't heard him on Sirius or anywhere else in quite some time, but I agree that he should have taken at least a moment to double-check himself before presenting the wrong song to demonstrate Nash's wonderful singing. In his defense, I could only speculate that it was a case of Brucie having had the song in his head for the past several decades, always attributing the vocals to Nash, even though that wasn't the case. Lord knows the man must have such an overstuffed musical database in his brain that a glitch is bound to happen once in a while. I'm sure I've done that myself many times, unwittingly crediting one artist for something that another had recorded. I understand your point that a professional of Brucie's experience and stature should not make such a glaring mistake, and, to be honest, I'm surprised that he is still going strong at his advanced age. Those who aren't fans of his might argue that it's time for him to hang-up the ol' headset, but his genuine enthusiasm for what he does can't be denied. So, while it was an embarrassing (or, if you prefer, inexcusable) mistake for him to make, I personally would give him a pass this time. His intentions were good, in praising Nash's work, he just screwed up by choosing a song he thought was a Nash vocal, but simply wasn't. I'm sure it's been pointed out to him by now. Oh,well. We're all human. Anyway, keep up the good work!

--Garry Berman

Kent,
I didn't hear the "Cousin Brucie" Morrow gaffe, but I'm not the least bit surprised. To put it bluntly, at age 82 Bruce Morrow is past it. He was big-big-big in New York 50 years ago, but these days he's just a shadow of his former self. His SiriusXM show is an embarrassment ... constantly calling everyone "cousin" and basically babbling, when listeners want to hear music. It is indeed sad when people "age out," but sadder still when they don't realize it and continue to pretend they're still as good as they used to be.
Henry M / Connecticut

Hi Kent,

Oh, you’ve touched on a pet peeve of mine too!! That’s not the first time I’ve of the Graham Nash / ”Long Cool Woman” comment from a deejay. This happens a lot with many bands these days and I’m yelling at the radio that the deejay is a moron!

Yes, Cousin Brucie does seem more interested in talking than taking any interest in the music he’s playing. Seems to me at this point he’s been doing it for so long that he’s fairly confident about what he says, details be damned. But the Hollies one is a great mistake that many have made. I’ve also heard Diana Ross mentioned with the Supremes as they’re about to play “Up the Ladder to the Roof” or “Stoned Love”, both hits with Jean Terrell on vocals after Ross left. If you don’t know what you’re talking about, don’t tell us who’s singing.

Sirius XM music stations are constantly frustrating to me. The 60’s channel is better than most “oldies” stations but still plays songs that made the top 10 and rarely go much deeper. Very frustrating. And the Volume channel … oh my! A music talk channel is an excellent idea but most of what I hear on this channel are former deejays (or veejays from MTV who are now legends I guess) talking about some of the most inane topics or some of the most inconsequential “artists” like Bieber or some other passing pop star that matters not. The Debatable show is, on occasion, interesting if the deejays could stop trying to impress us with how much they know. There are some great interviews with some legends sometimes and there is the occasional half hour interview with some unique performers or music related players. Just not enough of this overall. A lot of filler it seems to me.

The Eddie Trunk on Volume show is all heavy metal 90% of the time even though he says it’s not about that. I listen in to see how long it takes for him to mention Kiss on any given day. It rarely takes very long. Still, I like his enthusiasm and knowledge of his genre as he is genuine and truly loves his music and the people that make it.

The Deep Tracks is quite good as it plays album tracks that you may remember or not but it’s much better than hearing the same old stuff. My only frustration here is how many times they play “hits” that we’ve heard many times and aren’t, um, deep tracks!

The Rascals news is indeed fascinating and wonderful to hear about. I’m one of their biggest fans from back in the day and know every song and album by heart. They made some amazing, soul-filled, rock and sounded like no other.

I did see the “Once Upon A Dream” show (twice) and thought it was quite good. They played the hits as well as some deeper tracks which was really nice to hear. Hopefully this will happen with the new incarnation. Frustrating that Dino won’t be involved as he is a fantastic and underrated drummer and truly should be playing on these songs. My fear is that Carmine might overplay as he can do, although he is an amazing drummer also. These guys all go back to NY / Long Island scene of the 60’s and I’m guessing have known each other from way back then.

Try as I have, I’ve never gotten the whole scoop on the breakdown of the Rascals and why it is so hard for them to get together. 40 years passed before the “Dream” tour and it was amazing to hear that they were getting together again and so great to see them together making music. Felix always infers that Eddie leaving during the “Search and Nearness” sessions was as the core of their distance. He seemed very bitter when he did talk about it in interviews and laid the end of the Rascals on Eddie’s leaving but I suspect there are two sides to this one like everything else.

I also saw a Facebook post from Dino a couple of years ago where he said that if the Rascals were to get together again that there would have to be contracts signed and everyone getting the same share of the pie. Not sure but it sounds like he might have been bitter about the “Once Upon A Dream” situation and how things played out there.

As much as I love this band, I saw Felix’s show last year and was quite disappointed. He sounds great but seemed like he was just going through the motions ... played the hits and was gone after about one hour and then a two song encore. Why travel from city to city and play as little as you can? I never understand this with bands. “Here’s the hits you came to hear with a guitar solo thrown in here and there, good-bye.” Oh well.

AXS-TV is a highlight on the vast wasteland of music on tv, agreed! Some great concerts and interviews. The Dan Rather interviews are really quite good (even though Dan wouldn’t be my first choice for this) with some important musicians. This coming Tuesday he’ll be interviewing John Densmore and Robbie Krieger from the Doors.

Bubble Puppy vs. Balloon Farm … tough call! I was a big fan of “Question of Temperature” back in the day.

Thanks, Kent, for all you do. You got me thinking today!!

Jim House

Jimmy Wisner

I am so sad today to have lost my great friend, Jimmy “The Wiz” Wisner, who passed away March 13th. He was my arranger, co-producer, and songwriting partner for 52 years. Our first record together was "I THINK WE'RE ALONE NOW" in 1966. Our latest collaboration was two songs on my soon to be released new album ALIVE! ... he will be terribly missed! Our prayers go out to Jane, his wife, and Matt, his son.

Tommy James

Hi Kent.

I was so saddened by the passing of Jimmy Wisner.

I worked with him on so many record productions.

His production of Bob Dileo's "Band In Boston" was so cool.

I wrote the song with my writing partners Bobby Feldman (who was one of The Strangeloves and co-producer of The Angels and The McCoys.) The other writer on that song was my longtime writing partner Gene Allan, who was originally in The Tempos, who recorded an early version of "See You In September".

Jimmy Wisner did an incredible job every time I worked with him.

Truly a legend of his era.

See you this summer when I take over as the lead singer of The Turtles on the "Happy Together Tour".

Rock on bud,

Ron Dante

Looking forward to it. Thanks for the insight on "Band In Boston," a pretty cool undiscovered track! (kk)

Don't forget Jimmy "The Wiz" Wisner's own Top 10 hit, "Asia Minor," which he recorded under the name "Kokomo" because he was afraid his peers in the classical music field would look down on him for cutting a pop record! "Asia Minor" -- a rocklin' adaptation of Grieg's "Piano Concerto in A Minor" -- soared to #8 in the spring of 1961.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IS3YnvAkDw

Gary Theroux

"The History of Rock 'n' Roll"

Kent,

On the passing of Jimmy Wisner, musical producer, arranger, songwriter, nothing was said but isn't this the same Jimmy Wisner who, in 1961, had a record with a catchy little tune called ASIA MINOR on Felsted records? He recorded it under the name of Kokomo. This was not mentioned maybe because it might be considered one of the least of his accomplishments.

Larry Neal

Double-mentioned now for good measure! (kk)

This And That:

Eagle Rock Entertainment will be releasing Days Of Future Passed Live by The Moody Blues on DVD, Blu-ray, 2CD and 2LP next Friday on March 23th.

Filmed in high definition, this title captures the incredible night when the band performed Days Of Future Passed live in its entirety with a full orchestra.

The Moody Blues’ classic 1967 album Days Of Future Passed is regarded as one of the foundation stones of the progressive rock genre. In 2017, the band headed out on the album’s 50th Anniversary Tour, including this stop at the Sony Centre For The Performing Arts in Toronto, accompanied by a full orchestra. The concert begins with the band by themselves performing a selection of classic Moody Blues tracks before they are joined by the orchestra to perform Days Of Future Passed in its entirety plus a couple of fantastic encore tracks. The bonus feature, entitled ‘Remembering Days Of Future Passed’, delivers brand new interviews with Justin Hayward, John Lodge and Graeme Edge discussing the making of this classic album.

The Moody Blues, Justin Hayward (guitar, vocals); John Lodge (bass, vocals) and Graeme Edge (drums, percussion) are joined on stage by Norda Mullen (flute, guitar, percussion, vocals); Julie Ragins (keyboards, percussion, guitar, saxophone, vocals); Alan Hewitt (keyboards, vocals); Billy Ashbaugh (drums, percussion) and Elliot Davis (musical director, conductor and co-arranger). The live show also features the voice of Oscar winning actor Jeremy Irons on the two spoken word tracks Morning Glory and Late Lament.

Days Of Future Passed Live is available on DVD, Blu-ray, 2CD and 2LP and can be ordered here.

Hi Kent!

Great column jam packed with great nuggets!

Thanks for posting the clip from Paul Shaffer’s new show on Sirius XM. Looks great. Paul is a old friend and I called to congratulate him. Wanted to thank all our friends for the well wishes yesterday on our day - the Ides Of March!

We are busy getting ready for our two set show at the Metropolis in Arlington Heights on Mar 23rd. The two set show will start out unplugged ... and then the second set will feature full brass jacket, including a couple of songs we haven’t done in decades and a newer one we never play called Who I Am from our box set.

You can also catch The Ides at City Winery May 3rd. If you’ve never been there, you will love this venue.

And don't forget the next Cornerstones show at the Arcada on Sunday, April 29th. It'll be a matinee show with a few surprises! Tba soon!

Thanks again, Kent, for keeping the music and the memories alive.

Rock steady.

Jimbo

Kent,

I’ve always believed Graham Nash receives WAY to much credit for the success of the Hollies. Allan Clarke was the voice of the group, with Nash AND Tony Hicks providing back-up vocals and parts of the great Hollies three-part harmonies. Nash seems to get way too much reciprocal Hollies credit because of his Crosby / Stills / Nash membership, while Clarke gets way too little. Even Nash, at the Hollies’ Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, called Clarke one of the greatest lead vocalists in rock history.

Bob Verbos

I would agree that Allan Clarke has one of the greatest (yet under-appreciated) voices in rock history … he was a key part of The Hollies' sound … but it was their incredible three-part harmony that won the band their greatest accolades over the years … other groups aspired to be just like them. (Here in Chicago nearly all our Local Heroes were first inspired by the incredible vocals The Hollies demonstrated … themselves HUGE fans of The Everly Brothers.)

This goes to one of my greater on-going points about The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame … (oh no, there he goes again, off on another RRHF tangent!!!) But the WHOLE point of this organization was to recognize the artists who moved the genre of rock and roll forward into new directions with new ideas and inspiration. Back then, artists influenced each other … and egged each on to newer and greater heights because of the extreme amount of competition for airplay and fan base. So you had The Everly Brothers inspiring The Hollies (they ultimately cut an album together … can you even IMAGINE what that must have felt like for The Hollies to be there in the studio working with and producing perhaps their favorite artists of all time!!!) … and then The Hollies inspired other artists all over the world to strive for better harmonies and finding that third and fourth part. Who the heck did Bon Jovi inspire?!?! We can see who inspired THEM … but what have THEY done to move the genre forward? (OK, stepping off the soap box now!)

If you haven't already done so, read Graham Nash's biography … it is a glowing tribute to the vocal abilities of his oldest and dearest friend, Allan Clarke.

And by ALL means pick up a copy of The Hollies DVD "Look Through Any Window"… it is an absolute MUST HAVE for EVERY music collection, INCREDIBLY well done, spotlighting the true talents of ALL of the members of the band. (You'll find our review here, along with a few other comments and a look at Graham Nash's book.)

http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/search?q=hollies

Meanwhile, you've inspired me to run this clip again, too! (kk)

Now granted, it IS Graham who takes the lead on this one (pointing that out for Cousin Brucie's sake, too, in case he wasn't sure!) but this is just SUCH a cool clip I had to feature it again! (kk)

Hi Kent,

Great info on Graham Nash, especially with "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress" (one of my favorites!).

A singer of the past, Ronnie Hawkins (& the Hawks) …how amount some insight on him?

One of his best songs was "MARY LOU" (cool lyrics for the day: "I had a '55 Ford and a Two Dollar Bill and when she took that it gave me a Chill...")

Carolyn

I don't know that we've ever done any type of feature on Ronnie Hawkins (although I know he has come up a time or two … but I wouldn't know where to begin to find it!!!)

"Mary Lou" was a #24 Hit back in 1958 … so the least we can do is feature it! (kk)

kk:

Have you ever printed a Disc Jockey countdown like this one?

March 15, 1958.

No, but this is exactly the type of chart I was talking about from back in the day when Billboard ran multiple pop hit charts in their publication. This continued until 1958 when everything was finally consolidated into The Hot 100 Chart, which is the way these records have been ranked ever since. (kk)

And, since we're stuck in 1958, let's feature this one, too!

WE thought it was a BRILLIANT move … but apparently not everybody felt the same way. (On the other hand, back in 1975 we couldn’t understand why on earth The Eagles would want to bring Joe Walsh on board … or why he’d want to stay there!)

But Vince Gill seems to be fitting in just fine … and it sounds like everybody’s happy all the way around.

FH Reader Tom Cuddy sent us this clip of Gill talking about this:

http://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/music/kevin-johnson/vince-gill-says-joining-the-eagles-makes-perfect-sense/article_dcaa4c0f-9deb-5b87-84c2-7d9f18f3857b.amp.html

Hey Kent -

I did an extensive interview with Bill Champlin, who was with Chicago from 1981-2008. He's the guy who suggested they use producer David Foster, which ended up both invigorating and fracturing the band. Bill explained that it wasn't just the horn section that felt marginalized - Foster brought in studio musicians (often the Toto guys) to play, which made the band feel like an upscale version of The Monkees. It became all about Peter Cetera, which was rough not only on the band, but on the fans who heard Chicago go from "25 To 6 To 4" to "Hard To Say I'm Sorry."

Before Chicago, Bill was in a great San Francisco band called Sons Of Champlin. They were right there musically, but couldn't break through because of (as Bill explained) their youthful stupidity. He also co-wrote Earth, Wind & Fire's "After The Love Has Gone" and George Benson's "Turn Your Love Around." Fortunately, he didn't hang up on me when I asked why the girl in that song was "charging by the hour" for her love.

Here's the interview:

http://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/bill_champlin_after_the_love_has_gone_ex-chicago_/

Be Well,

Carl Wiser

Songfacts

Carl also did a recent interview with Andy Kim, which can be found here: http://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/andy_kim/

And so did WRCO's Phil Nee, who sent us this clip to share:

It was exactly 50 years ago today that The Beatles had a song on the charts titled LADY MADONNA.

Five months later they would release the follow up single -- HEY JUDE.

Question: Did Paul McCartney have a thing for Biblical names?

Tal

Could be … Mother Mary came to him a couple of years after that! (And let's not forget Gideon's Bible in "Rocky Raccoon"!) kk

As to the recording of THE (real) McCOY by the Ventures, I did not know that the instrumental was on the flip of WALK, DON'T RUN. However, and I went to double check since I have the 45, THE REAL McCOY came out in 1959 on Blue Horizon records with a flip called COOKIES AND COKE. Now the song THE REAL McCOY was written according to the record by Wilson and Bogle. The tune THE REAL McCOY is an instrumental with an occasional word or two spoken by a Walter Brennan sound alike. There might be a discrepancy here somewhere but I don't know.

You say you are going to have a special feature on Easter Sunday, April 1. Looking forward to that. Are you going to be posting I WANNA BE AN EASTER BUNNY by the Singing Reindeer? (lol)

Larry Neal

So obviously "The Real McCoy" is a totally different recording that "The McCoy" then … now I'm curious to hear it! (Especially since it predates The Ventures' hit status!)

Sorry, no … no Singing Reindeer for Easter … but a more in-depth look back at the '50's than we typically do in Forgotten Hits. Stay tuned … I think you'll enjoy it! (kk)

Radio woes … give us something worth listening to and maybe people will tune in again!
https://radioink.com/2018/03/15/1300-radio-stations-are-now-under-the-bankruptcy-umbrella/?utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=1300+Radio

http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/15/media/iheartmedia-bankruptcy/index.html
https://radioink.com/2018/03/01/millions-bonuses-approved-iheart-executives/

I’m not sure I understand the relevance of these two Annette Funicello links I got today … but here goes!

kk …

Johnny Crawford (The Rifleman) talks about Annette.

http://www.closerweekly.com/posts/the-mickey-mouse-club-remembers-annette-funicello-155505

And then …

You probably don't remember this movie. It’ a fun song.

Are you kidding me??? We’ve featured “The Monkey’s Uncle” a whole bunch of times before in Forgotten Hits!

In fact, I remember playing it one time on Jim Shea’s morning show and making the comment that if they remade this movie today, it would probably star Miley Cyrus, Maroon Five and Snakes On A Plane! (Definitely a better song than a movie!) kk

↧

Tuesday This And That

March 20, 2018, 3:34 am

≫ Next: More Of Your Radio Comments

≪ Previous: The Sunday Comments ( 03 - 18 - 18 )

Sacred Cows:

Hey Kent –

Thanks for the e mail. WOW, some response to the Bruce Morrow piece!!! Everyone has an opinion, not only of Bruce but of all of us who happened to be working in that golden era of radio the late 50's and 60's right up through the middle 70's.

But you have you know when it's time to step away at the right time ... and hopefully you get to make that call yourself.

I think back to the last time I played the hits and it had to be 1978 ... FORTY years ago! But for me, the timing was right and I moved on to Sports. I'm sure what I did at WHK in Cleveland, 1010 WINS in New York, KYA in San Francisco and here in Washington, DC at WWDC probably would not play in the climate we're in today. But that’s okay … things change and we move on. Like you said, guys like Bruce Morrow and Dick Biondi paved the way. Hey, I'm just happy they are both still with us!

Johnny Holliday

Well, you made both those to DJ lists, too, so your early work certainly didn’t go unnoticed. And you were able to spin that off into a far more lucrative and long-lasting sports casting career. Most aren’t so fortunate. (We’ve got a few former top 40 jocks working on television or as weathermen or sidemen on the radio … when you’re born with the gift and the passion it’s hard to step away.)

Sadly, with the sad state of radio today, kids are no longer inspired to pursue a career in broadcasting. Think about it … how many stations even have live deejays anymore?!?

It’s a shame - and certainly not what any of us grew up with. (kk)

I'm with you, Kent ... we could talk about it for hours.

I don't get it ... I got in the Biz when I had just turned 18 and loved every minute of it. Today I enjoy it just as much as I ever did ... but in a much different way.

Anytime you want to discuss further, give me a call.

Keep up the great work.

Johnny

As always, late to the party, but I had to comment re: Cousin Brucie gaffe and the subject of talking head radio DJs.

Growing up in the Dallas - Ft.Worth area, we did not have (as I recall) any real superjock radio personalities. Ron Chapman of KVIL reigned in the Adult Contemporary sound, John Labella and John Rody from KZEW were the class duo in the rock music scene. Perhaps the shock / supertalk came along later, but at that point I had switched to the oldies station KLUV, which did not have the intense on-air personalities.

Even if there had been more opportunities to hear that type of personality driven programming, I would not have chosen to do so. I love an informed, low-key presentation that showcases and enhances the music; knowledgeable commenting and sharing of accurate information and experiences.

The radio personality who is a master of this format is Bob Stroud of Chicago’s 97.1, The Drive. Stroud is perfection on the air: classy, well-informed, mature, professional. He makes the radio listening experience a real pleasure for those who truly love and appreciate music and musicians. It is a solid relief to know that in listening to a Stroud show, one will not hear prank calls, embarrassing “discussions” of inappropriate bodily functions, or insane cackling from some lame toady in the background.

I will always love Dick Biondi for his pioneering in radio broadcast and for the longevity he has deservedly had. He has an honorable legacy that no one can deny. I have no familiarity with Cousin Brucie, but when a radio personality is frequently passing incorrect information as fact or experience, it’s time to hang it up ... beloved or not.

Mrs. kk / Frannie

I enjoyed reading Allan Sniffen's support for Cousin Brucie. However, for Allan to suggest, or even equate him as an on-air DJ equal to The Real Don Steele is beyond absurd. Steele had far more talent (his ad-libs remain the stuff of legend) whereas Brucie just eeee-i-eeee-i-o'd his way along for years, fumblin, bumblin' and stumblin', as Chris Berman would say. Still, WABC fans ate it up. Well, no accounting for taste!
The big difference between both DJs - unlike the famed Cousin, Steele NEVER took himself too seriously. He knew the whole presentation was all about doing a job and giving 110%, yet he knew when to turn off the schtick. The man didn't carry his on-air perceived ego 24-7, whereas Brucie laser-beams it, projecting that 'better roll out the red carpet for me' kinda attitude to this very day. Steele was one of the most private individuals in the radio industry. I found that out when, like a radio dork, I went to Los Angeles on vacation, circa 1986. While running all over the city airchecking stations and hitting the boss beaches, I had hoped to flag Steele down after his daily shift stop at KRLA and maybe chat for a few minutes in the parking lot. Not happening, haha! Hey, could you even imagine Cousin Brucie doing the role Steele played in "Eating Raoul"? Only Steele could pull that off, because of what I just stated.
A shout out to your followers, Kent, if I may - if anybody out there has board-quality airchecks from WAVZ New Haven, CT, circa 1972 - 1976, please let me know. I already have everything that is available elsewhere, Reel Radio, etc.
Mike Markesich
I don’t think Allan Sniffen tried in ANY way to equate the talents of The Real Don Steele and Cousin Brucie Morrow … quite the opposite, in fact. I took his comment to read more as “imagine the fans of The Real Don Steele, a TRUE radio pro, seeing Cousin Brucie elevated to anything near that stature.”
I’ll tell you what … listening to the vintage airchecks on Reel Radio beats just about ANYTHING that’s on the air today … but it sounds like they may be ready to close up shop. The donations just aren’t coming in to keep them supported … and ever since they had to cut all of their airchecks to scoped versions, it just hasn’t been the same. But anyone who hasn’t checked them out and wants to hear what Top 40 Radio REALLY sounded like back then, owes themselves a trip to this website. (There is an annual subscription fee required before you can listen. However, I just checked and it looks like they are not taking new subscriptions at this time … makes me wonder if this really is the end of this site. Too bad if it’s true … HOURS of enjoyment to be found here on every new visit.) kk

Hi Kent:
I was a fan of Cousin Brucie in the Heyday, at least through the 60’s. Living in Milwaukee, I couldn’t get him all of the time, but I thought he was kind of nuts, which I liked. He had that classic 4 Seasons Intro song. It was good fun. Having said that, I think these mistakes modern shows make are kind of laughable. With all the staff and internet research at your fingertips, it’s amazing how much nonsense gets spewed out. It’s just laziness on everyone’s part that gaffs like that are made. It’s also true that probably only music geeks like us give a crap. Still, it’s kind of unprofessional and seems bogus that simple items like this are messed up.
I’m with Mike Markesich, I will listen to all the great old airchecks and skip the mediocre retro oldies fodder of the day.
Ken

He still plays that custom Four Seasons track on his Sirius XM Program today ... definitely one of the highlights of his show! (kk)

Kent,

As a big AM-DX'er in the 60's, me and my brothers could spin that dial just 10 KC often to get a station with a song we wanted to hear. What kept us mostly tied to WLS and CFL often WAS the great DJs. Like you, I was late for Biondi at WLS and only heard him in REAL time when he returned to CFL late nights in late 67. Even then, he seemed a bit out of place with the hip CFL sound of Barney Pip and Ron Britain coming before him at night. It was SOOOO hard to choose what DJ on each station was the one to listen to. Luckily, it was only a 110 KC flip of the dial to go from 890 to 1000. Biggest obstacle was Larry Neil's OKC stations. Living in Dodge City, Kansas, WLS and WCFL were clear channel stations who had big drawbacks in my area. 890 was also home to KBYE and 1000 to KTOK, BOTH in OKLAHOMA CITY! I have tapes of both stations with the OKC stations fading in mentioning the call letters during a song I obviously wanted to tape from Chi stations. Making it even more odd, was that OKC was home to two great Top 40 stations, WKY at 930 and KOMA at 1520! 930 was also home to LA's great KHJ and we even got it at night and taped it one night in 68!

Now, about Cousin Brucie. WE were in 7th heaven when WABC came in over another troublesome station. 770 was clear channel WABC, but also housed KOB Albequerque, who was ALSO 50,000 watts like WABC! Ugh! We only got WABC (and many other greats) at night, so we heard Brucie, Charlie Greer and Harry Harrison and just knowing about those guys and the station made them stars to us. It wasn't until I met Ricky Kaufman when he was co-DJ with Larry Neil at KOMA in the 90's that Ricky sent me tapes of Dan Ingram on WABC. After hearing Ingram on WABC tapes, I found him every bit worthy of praise that Ron Riley and the WLS / CFL jocks got. To me, Riley and Dex Card and Jim Stagg were the perfect top 40 pro sounding jocks of their times. Ron Britain and Ingram and Big Jack Armstrong were the most crazy and fun guys to hear with great funny wit. Pip was the trumpet master and unique in every way and his opposition, Art Roberts was the amazing calm story teller that we all loved. It was just amazing radio. Clark Weber had his great humor, but being a morning jock (after 63), I seldom heard him in real time, as I was getting up for grade school then. Those guys have had a lasting effect on me all my life. Lujack? He was with me so much longer from 67 - 87 and then for a time in the 2000's, so it's tough to compare, but he was awesome IMO. So many greats could be mentioned. We heard Chuck Buell as early as 1961 on KIMN Denver and Fred Winston on WKYC Cleveland in 68. It was a great time!

Your synopsis is pretty right on, I think. I appreciate Biondi more NOW than I did then, mostly for his artist help and his controversial radio-speak vs. the powers. Indeed, he was of the same cloth as the Geater, Brucie, but with the outspoken views of a Bob Crane (yes, HOGAN!) in LA on KNX at the time. Biondi deserves his legendary status and altho I have changed views of some DJs like Brucie or Jimmy O'Neil, who was a star on TV and KOMA and in LA but was really a line bumbler more often when at KOIL Omaha in the 70's. STILL, I agree that they are legends and I'd go back and listen to them all if I could.

As for Mike Markesich's nice words, that guy carried the BOSS RADIO flag brilliantly when he first took on radio in the 80's when no one much knew about airchecks. He was young, but was wise beyond his years as far as 60's radio and music went. Both Sides Now's Mike Callahan and I had traded tapes and basically, I knew no one else at the time but youngsters like Mike and FH'er Stu Shea were very astute and have carried the flag for decades since. Both have written books on bands and garage rockers that should be read. Look them up for some cool reads! I hope Mike won't mind me sending along a short aircheck of his youthful radio days in Connecticut on Boss Radio WQAQ in the early 80's (?). I helped supply some vintage edited jingles to fit WQAQ and Mike provided the KHJ format and great DJ patter of 60's Boss radio with obscure tracks long before we had CDs and the internet to find these artifacts. Pretty nice work dealing with cassettes and 45s and 8 track PSAs like we all did back in the days.

Great to read Ron Dante's take on writing "Band in Boston" too. Thanks, Kent!!! You rule when getting to these guys with obscure questions! As for Jim Peterik congratulating Paul Shafer on his new show, I hope Paul fixes a big mistake whgile he was Letterman's sidekick. GET JIMBO on your show. You played "Vehicle" almost monthly on the show, yet never got Jimbo on to sing and play with the band. Why?????

As to the Graham Nash / Allan Clarke controversy, I think TONY HICKS is the mastermind of the Hollies. If you read the great Hollies biography, "Long Dark Road," you might agree that through all the leaving, coming back, leaving, etc, TONY HICKS was the guy who kept the whole thing together and picked many of the hits to record from demos, while Nash and Clarke (both great) get all the applause and accolades.
Clark Besch

Tony Hicks has never received the credit he deserves for his contribution to The Hollies. He was the one out there finding a great selection of music for the band to record … and his third harmony helped give the band their distinctive sound. Again, check out that “Look Through Any Window” DVD … it’s outstanding! (kk)

I read this, then was really relieved that it wasn't about me!

>>>Cut him some slack… others who have NEVER cared for him in the first place and have always found him to be highly overrated … and then those who say, "yes, he's gotten older … and he's not what he used to be … " (kk)

James Fairs

LOL … thanks, James, you made my morning! Great to hear from you! (kk)

On The Radio:

Some more good news on the local radio front … Me-TV-FM’s ratings are up AGAIN … I got an advance notice over the weekend from Neal Sabin, who couldn’t be happier. (And with less competition on the dial these days, they should continue to rise … and more folks discover the wide range of variety that can be found here, all on one station!)

Hi Kent.

Watch for the February Chicago radio ratings out tomorrow. MeTVFM will be the story I believe.

Neal

According to the latest stats, Me-TV-FM jumped from 21^st place to 6^th in the latest ratings poll! (That’s an increase in listener share from 2.4 to 3.6 … or 50%!!!) This is ESPECIALLY encouraging after reading all that radio bankruptcy news over the weekend.

Sabin told Robert Feder:

“We continue to break many of the old ‘radio rules’ by playing thousands of different songs in a strategically balanced manner that span many decades, genres and tempos.”

I was also extremely pleased to see She-FM (100.3 FM)’s Brooke and Jubal program finally break into The Top Ten. (This is the show that I listen to every morning on the way to work … just as entertaining as hell with a nice mix of music from the ‘80’s, ‘90’s, 2000’s and today … a nice break from my otherwise constant diet of oldies music and classic rock.

With K-Hits (they flipped to all Hip-Hop) and The Loop (now Christian Rock) out of the picture, stations like Me-TV-FM, She-FM and The Drive are enjoying a new influx of listeners looking for more of what they like best on the dial.

To that degree, NOBODY can touch the variety offered my Me-TV-FM. (I was surprised to read that they’re now ranked #2 during mid-days … since they don’t stream, how is it that people are listening to them at work???) I still say this is the key missing element that could propel them over the top … by being accessible 24/7 through not only streaming devices but also those areas that still have difficulty picking up their weak signal. (When I had Me-TV-FM in the car, I never experienced any difficulty … we would often drive 140 - 150 miles outside the city and still get clear reception. Sooner or later I’ve just GOT to get my car in to see if they can do a radio software upgrade. Honestly, between Me, She and The Drive, I could easily give up Sirius XM again!)

Congratulations to Neal Sabin, Rick O’Dell and Bill Cochran on your continued success! (kk)

Chicago radio ratings: ‘Me-TV FM’ hits it bigger than ever

Clive Topol

This And That:

>>>Are you kidding me??? We’ve featured “The Monkey’s Uncle” a whole bunch of times before in Forgotten Hits! In fact, I remember playing it one time on Jim Shea’s morning show and making the comment that if they remade this movie today, it would probably star Miley Cyrus, Maroon Five and Snakes On A Plane! (Definitely a better song than a movie!) kk

I've got that clip of you and Jim ... love it when it hits my shuffle list ... great "updating" of a 60's classic (Annette/Miley. Beach Boys/M5. Monkey/Snakes ...on a plane no less ~ Great fun!),

Phil

PrayForSurfBlog.blogspot.com

Really? Would love it if you could send it to me. (Actually at the time I think I said Britney Spears … but Miley seemed even more timely today!) Thanks, Phil! (kk)

Great bit with the two of you!

Are you still in touch with Jim?

Phil

Totally off the cuff … and older than I remember since I referenced Disney’s OTHER “it girl” at the time, Lindsay Lohan … but that makes Miley Cyrus an even better updated choice!

We hear from Jim every now and then … he’s still on the list and checks us out when he can … working as a podiatrist these days I believe! (kk)

Hi Kent,

THANK YOU SO MUCH for featuring “MARY LOU" by the Great Ronnie Hawkins & the Hawks!

He would be in his 80's and I think he is still around. One of our legends.

Glad all your readers had the chance to listen to it.

Carolyn

Hawkins was born in 1935 so he just turned 83 this year. (He may be more famous for helping to form The Band than for his own work as an artist.) He formed The Hawks in 1952 … YEARS before people were talking about anything called rock and roll! (And DIDJAKNOW that he’s also a first cousin to Dale Hawkins of “Susie Q” fame? (kk)

>>>As to the recording of THE (real) McCOY by the Ventures, I did not know that the instrumental was on the flip of WALK, DON'T RUN. However, and I went to double check since I have the 45, THE REAL McCOY came out in 1959 on Blue Horizon records with a flip called COOKIES AND COKE. Now the song THE REAL McCOY was written according to the record by Wilson and Bogle. The tune THE REAL McCOY is an instrumental with an occasional word or two spoken by a Walter Brennan sound alike. There might be a discrepancy here somewhere but I don't know. (Larry Neal)

>>>So obviously "The Real McCoy" is a totally different recording that "The McCoy" then … now I'm curious to hear it! (Especially since it predates The Ventures' hit status!) kk

FOUND IT!:

Harvey Kubernik’s new book on The Doors, “The Doors Summer’s Gone” is available now …

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Doors+Summer%27s+Gone

and check out this awesome cover!

FH Reader Tom Cuddy shares the good word about the revamped edition of one of his all-time favorite bands, Chicago ...
http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/by-the-way/article205829239.html

kk …

I went to shows like this one in my younger days,

Frank B.

Can you even imagine seeing a show like this, all on one bill?!?! Crazy!!! (kk)

And, speaking of great shows, The Arcada Theatre is doing a special live concert television taping of Ann Wilson’s show on Wednesday, April 11^th. (Man, we can’t WAIT to see this one!!!)

Ann will be performing hits from the Heart catalog as well as some new material and soul favorites. The whole thing will air later in the year on PBS … but you can see it LIVE if you act now.

Complete details can be found below …

St. Charles, IL: Ann Wilson, the lead singer and songwriter for the superband, HEART, will record her live concert special on Wednesday, April 11^th, at the intimate Arcada Theatre. The exclusive performance will air on PBS later this Fall and will include all of the songs that make up the essence of Ann - songs from her solo work as well as the unforgettable hits of HEART. For this special, Ann will also perform iconic soul stirring covers from her upcoming album, "Songs for the Living, Vol. 1," a collection honoring late artists who have greatly inspired and influenced Ann and popular music, set to release this Summer.

President and CEO Ron Onesti announced the television taping after learning of how quickly Ann's first show, scheduled for Sunday, April 8, sold out. "For me, Ann Wilson truly represents the power of rock and the music of the era," said Ron, "As powerful as it is, even her ballads command rockin' respect."

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees and sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson first showed the world that women can rock when their band, Heart, stormed the charts in the ‘70’s with hits like “Crazy on You,” “Magic Man,” “Barracuda,” “Straight On” and so many more. For her Arcada appearances, Ann will be joined by special guests and backed by a band of 'true artists.' “Ann Wilson of Heart is what I have been preparing for all my life” said the singer, “The time is right, and I’m ready.”

Tickets for the 7:00pm performance are $75, $95, $125, $150 or $175 and are available at oshows.com or by calling 630-962-7000.

The Historic Arcada Theatre is a 900-seat Vaudeville-era theatre that hosts over 300 live concerts annually.


	*The Onesti Entertainment Corporation* 105 East Main Street • St. Charles, Illinois 60174 • 630.962.7000 • www.oshows.com

↧

More Of Your Radio Comments

March 21, 2018, 3:33 am

≫ Next: Thursday This And That

≪ Previous: Tuesday This And That

LOTS of good radio discussion going on here this past week …

So let's keep things rolling!

The Great Ones:

Kent -
Thanks for posting the email from Johnny Holliday. I had the pleasure of meeting him for the first time about ten years ago at a WHK reunion event here in Cleveland, and he treated me like we had known each other all our lives. Talk about a great DJ and a great guy … he is right up there with the best!
Clay Pasternack

That he is … and just as natural to talk to as can be! He truly appreciates the great career he has enjoyed in the business he loves … and it still shows, even after all these years. The fact that he has build an extraordinary broadcasting career in sports and is still remembered so fondly for his Top 40 rock and roll days says a lot about this guy. (kk)

Kent,

Growing up as a radio loving teenager in Western Canada (Edmonton, Alberta), I was fortunate enough to be able to pick up 'the wild Itralian' DIck Biondi on WLS as well as Wolfman Jack on XERB from Mexico at nighttime (it could have been XERF, but for some reason I always have thought that it was XERB). This would have been early 1960's. Gotta love those AM signal skips through the ionosphere. Both Chicago and Mexico are a very long way from Edmonton. I loved listening to both jocks (especially during the winter months when it got dark around 4 'clock). WLS was a little static-y sometimes, but Wolfman came in crystal clear most nights.

While we did have great radio DJ's in Edmonton as well, there just something magically about listening to radio from foreign countries, especially two legends like Biondi and Wolfman.

Once I got into radio and was hired as a board operator at CHUM in Toronto in February of 1965, I discovered WABC at night and was glued to the radio on my nights off. While I enjoyed listening to Cousin Brucie, WABC's star jock (as far as I was concerned) was Dan Ingram. Dan was a jock's jock, witty, hip and quick. I still enjoy listening to airchecks of Dan today. I equate Dan Ingram's talent with the Real Don Steele's and I was fortunate enough to hear both legends.

In 1970, I was hired by radio consultant Ted Randal, who was based in Los Angeles, sorry, I meant Boss Angeles, and got to listen to KHJ's the Real Don Steele LIVE every afternoon in the office. In fact, I wouldn't go home until his show was over most nights.

Ted's office was located on Argyle Boulevard in Hollywood (from where The Hollywood Argyles of "Alley Oop" fame took their name). Two blocks up from Ted's office was a restaurant / bar called Martoni's on Cahuenga Blvd. Spent more than a few nights there having dinner and often saw KHJ's legendary program consultant Bill Drake. Never saw Don Steele at Martoni's though. I did see him a few times Nickodell restaurant at 5511 Melrose Avenue, by the famous Paramount Studios main gate and the KHJ building.

Just down the block from Martoni's was a bar on Sunset called the Jolly Roger. It was on the ground floor in what is now the CNN building. Can't remember what it was back in 1970. Anyway, one or two of us from the office would occasionally pop in there after work when we didn't go to Martoni's. Harry Nilsson was a regular at the Jolly Roger bar. Saw him there many, many times. Only had conversations with him once or twice.

Amazing times in LA.

Doug Thompson

Toronto

The comments concerning oldie dee jays like Cousin Brucie and my fellow “Was-Been” radio stars are to be expected and I couldn’t agree more! By the way, a “Was-Been” was somebody who was once a star and is no more! There was a time when we were the delightful and daring radio companions while you struggled with Algebra homework … now, 50 years later, we are as outdated as saddle shoes!

Sure, I still get a kick out of the Beach Boys driving their 409 whether it's on air or in print and the “Do Lang Do Lang” in “He’s So Fine” still gets my attention! However hearing an 80 or 85 year man doing his “shtick” can be more than a little sad.

But don’t entirely blame the old “Gaffer” who’s vocal cords now resemble shoe leather … the media is also to blame. According to Radio Ink, an estimated 2000 stations are in bankruptcy and they are desperate. By paying some old DJ who today thinks denial is a river in Egypt a couple of bucks to fill airtime in the name of entertainment is criminal. Is he as good as he once was? Ask his wife!

87 year old “Was-Been Clark Weber”

There's been a formula for years now of bringing back the original jocks who played all this great music in the first place and filling an oldies radio station with this personnel … some are even brave enough to allow them to incorporate some of their old Top 40 tricks to not only help retain some of the older, original fans as well as draw in some new ones by showing how radio USED to be. Some of these experiments have worked better than others ... but there is a certain "comfort zone" with this type of programming.

(My Grandparents were into old those old radio serials from before television came along to dominate the entertainment industry. They swore that there was NOTHING like using your own imagination to help move the story along ... so when some of these programs became available on cassette tape, they scooped them up!)

But those of us who grew up listening to the fast patter of Top 40 Radio know that many of these jocks were every bit as important as the music they were playing … and we miss it.

Would it play well today? Probably not. There is no "dedicated" radio listener anymore … there are too many distractions and too much multi-tasking going on. Radio has become white noise in the background … if it's on at all.

That's why it's SO refreshing to see a radio station come along like Me-TV-FM reverting back to the variety of all that radio can offer and play some of the long-lost gems on a regular basis. (Like I've said all along, it's Forgotten Hits Radio to the nth degree!) kk

Speaking of which …

It's All About ME:

Hi Kent:

Thanks so much for the numerous mentions and kind words about the station in today’s blog. Things broke our way in February, and we’ll take it!

To be honest, we don’t know just how many listeners we picked up with the demise of WJMK. We shared some of our audience with them but not nearly as much as WLS-FM. They also skewed younger. But losing K-Hits from the range of available choices did not hurt us in any way. We might also gain a few former WLUP listeners, although that station was even younger than K-Hits. In the end, The Drive might be the most fortunate station of all, gobbling up the lion’s share of Loop listeners.

You asked how a station like ours could reach #2 during the day without streaming? Two things. First of all, stream listeners do not count toward a station’s terrestrial listening audience. It’s a separate measurement. In other words, you could be the top streaming station in the city, but you still can’t add those listeners to your terrestrial count. The ratings in Robert Feder’s column are strictly over-the-air listeners. Second, although there are fewer radios at workplaces, in-car listening is still huge for terrestrial radio in general. In our case, MeTVFM is a very popular choice in cabs and ride-sharing vehicles (probably one of the top five stations in those cars), and that definitely counts in the ratings. Every week we hear from listeners who’ve ridden in Ubers and Lyfts and taxicabs that had MeTVFM on when they got in — or they glanced up at the dashboard and saw 87.7 as one of the presets.

Ratings can change quickly, as you know. We’re just going to savor the moment and try and thank all the people who helped get the station to where it is today. It’s all about the listeners.

Rick O'Dell

Me-TV-FM

What a great jump for WRME! Commentary and Nielsen Ratings below.

Danny

Chicago sticks with iHeart’s urban AC “V103” WVAZ for much of the day – the only daypart it doesn’t win is mornings (third), and it’s #1 total - week (4.7 - 6.8 - 6.6). Entercom is second with news WBBM / WCFS (4.5 - 4.7 - 5.3). That’s also ’BBM’s rank in both drive-times and at night. Third is Hubbard’s hot AC “Mix” WTMX (4.3 - 5.4 - 4.9). It wobbles through the day from #1 (“Eric in the Morning with Melissa & Whip”) to a tenth-place tie middays and third in afternoons. Cooling as expected is Entercom’s still-newish classic hip-hop / throwbacks “104.3 Jams” WBMX, the former classic hits WJMK (5.4 - 4.8 - 4.0, on strong time-spent listening). It’s second on weekends and third at night. (Julian Jumpin Perez just took over nights last week.) Fifth is Univision’s regional Mexican WOJO (3.3 - 3.5 - 3.7). It’s another wobbler – fourth mornings, but twenty-first at night and fifteenth on weekends. The age 6+ star of the book is Weigel-run easy oldies WRME (1.8 - 2.4 - 3.6). It’s on a low power TV channel 6 leased from Venture Technologies, and Chris Huff says the 3.6 is “its largest share ever.” WRME’s got some special P1 fans in middays, where it’s second, and nights. But it’s not just a time-spent story, since the cume’s up. WLS-FM programmer Brian Thomas hears good news while he packs for Atlanta. His Cumulus classic hits station is up to seventh (3.0 - 3.1 - 3.4), and third middays. Brian’s next challenge is leading country “Kicks 101.5” WKHX for Cumulus, replacing Scott Lindy. (Succeeding Brian at WLS-FM is former “Loop” PD Wade Linder.)

Last call for the Loop in Chicago – Cumulus-run / Merlin-owned classic rock WLUP finishes gamely (2.7 - 2.9 - 3.2, its best topline since Jul 2013). It’s being sold to EMF, which began programming not-for-profit K-Love there on March 11. In AC, iHeart’s WLIT does the usual post-Christmas-music swan-dive (12.4 - 3.4 - 3.3), tied with Hubbard’s improving AC WSHE (2.4 - 2.6 - 3.3). In talk, there’s Tribune’s WGN (2.8 - 3.3 - 3.1) and Cumulus’ WLS (1.5 - 1.7 - 2.0). The midday Rush Limbaugh daypart on WLS is tied for eighth. Fifteenth for the week – and hinting at its potential – is iHeart CHR “Kiss” WKSC (3.2 - 3.4 - 3.0). It’s Chicago’s cume leader at just over 1.7 million. Final Chicago note – Radio Insight tweets that the WLUP calls just bounced to Randy Michaels-owned “97.9 the Moose” WZXP Au Sable, New York. They’d briefly belonged on 88.3 / Starke, Florida, which is the new WLSF.
--Tom Taylor

First, I'd like to tell you that your blog is one of the first things I read when I start work in the morning. Great blog.
Your short blurb on METV-FM was on the mark about streaming their broadcast. Even though I have Sirius, I sometimes listen to the local stations. Most are awful. Unfortunately my car radio is in a 2017 Ford Escape and the lowest my FM channel will go is 87.9. My hope is that METV-FM decides to stream on TuneIn or Audials. I can't even get NextFM to tune to 87.7. I have heard a lot about METV-FM from your blog and would love to listen to it.
Thanks
Gil McAuliff
It's a great station - but unfortunately they have no plans for streaming at this time (or in the foreseeable future.) The streaming feature that the do offer thru their website does not accurately represent the brilliant programming actually going on at the station … you have to appreciate it live to really take it in.
(I've been told some of these newer cars have software upgrades available that will bring your radio dial down to the desired 87.7 … I have the same problem in my new car … and REALLY need to get it back to the dealer to see what, if anything they can do.) kk

This And That:

As announced here several months ago, Ringo Starr was knighted yesterday, 53 years after first being awarded his Member of the British Empire medal. (Sir Richard Starkey joins Sir Paul McCartney with this new honor. Also recently recognized was Sir Barry Gibb of The Bee Gees!)

Ringo will be 78 years old in July … and he looks GREAT!!!

He seems to be truly honored for being recognized for his lifetime of work. (kk)

Hi Kent -

I did not know Ronnie Hawkins and Dale Hawkins were first cousins!

I also did not realize that Ronnie had an 'ear' for putting great musicians together.

But I did know that "Mary Lou" was a great song to jitterbug to!!!

When in doubt ask the Master for the facts ...

Carolyn

Check it out!

The City Winery is presenting Al Stewart for TWO nights (June 4th and 5th) and each night he and his band will perform a different album in its entirety! (Meaning fans can attend BOTH concerts and not even see the same show!)

More details below (along with ticket information)

Al Stewart– 2 Albums over 2 Nights!

Monday - Tuesday, June 4 - 5

$42 / $45 / $48 / $52

Al Stewartcame to stardom as part of the legendary British folk revival in the sixties and seventies and developed the combination of folk-rock songs with delicately woven tales of the great characters and events from history. Stewart has 19 studio albums between Bedsitter Images in 1967 and Sparks of Ancient Light in 2008, plus the live album Uncorked with Dave Nachmanoff in 2009. Stewart continues to tour extensively around the U.S. and Europe. He is best known for his hit “Year of the Cat” from the Platinum album of the same name and the Platinum follow up album Time Passages. Stewart’s career spans four decades as a key figure in British music. He played at the first ever Glastonbury Festival in 1970, worked with Yoko Ono pre-Lennon, and shared a London apartment with a young Paul Simon.

At City Winery Chicago on Monday, June 4, Stewart performs his album Year of the Cat in its entirety with full band and on Tuesday, June 5, Stewart returns to the stage with full band to perform his album Past, Present & Future.

↧

Thursday This And That

March 22, 2018, 3:39 am

≫ Next: The Saturday Survey (March 24th)

≪ Previous: More Of Your Radio Comments

This And That:

Big show this weekend as Burton Cummings returns to The Arcada Theatre for two shows. Friday Night’s performance is a complete sell out but there are still seats available for Saturday Night.

This time around, it’s just Burton at the piano … up close and personal … telling stories and playing all the songs you love and know by heart!

Get your tickets now before they’re gone …

https://www.etix.com/ticket/p/7445198/burton-cummings-324-stcharles-the-arcada-theatre

(Burton has made our Top 20 Concerts List EVERY year we’ve ever done one … so don’t miss your chance to see this rock and roll legend.) kk

For once I seem to agree with the general consensus. While I'm sure Cousin Brucie was really cool 50 years ago, when this survey was published, this is 2018 and what was funny then isn't funny the next few thousand times you hear it. The same goes for Dick Biondi. Sad to say, but I think it's time for Dick to ride off into the sunset. Have a week of shows with guest appearances from other jocks he worked with over the years and say goodnight Dick. Like a lot of music acts, sometimes you have to know when it's time to pull the plug.

Jack

Oh cool ... and a 1968 chart no less!!! (Be sure to check out The Saturday Survey as this week we travel to Wyoming as we make our way across all fifty states in this brand new 50 Year Flashback Feature!)

I clicked on Sirius XM’s 60’s on 6 on the way home from work Wednesday night and found Ronnie Rice on the phone with Cousin Brucie! Unfortunately they got cut off so they never really had a chance to talk … and shortly afterwards, Brucie went into a pre-recorded program so there was no chance for Ronnie to call back and get Brucie back on the phone. (It was just SO weird to hear that after all the talk this past week about Cousin Brucie’s show!) kk

I lost interest in listening to Cousin Brucie many years ago. During one of the early Radio Greats weekends on WCBS-FM, he told a story about a black lady who, in the 1950's when he was an upcoming radio dj, said to him, in her singsong speech impediment, that she loves listening to his show. It was in the EEE, EEE, EEE, EEE, voice. I was appalled when he told all of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and other states that picked up WCBS-FM, that's where he got his EEE, EEE, EEE, EEE from. A nutty former co-worker who loved the Cuz, thought I was crazy after I turned 50 many years ago and I told him I can no longer stand him saying EEE, EEE, EEE, EEE. A couple of years later, after this co-worker turned 50, he knew what I meant. After a certain age, some things dj's say or do becomes very annoying.

Arlene Schwartz

The Moody Blues will be making a special appearance at The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Museum down in Cleveland on Thursday, April 12th. Justin Hayward, John Lodge and Graeme Edge will discuss their induction into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, their careers and their influences as part of this special interview.

The event begins at 7 pm on Level 1 with a Moody Blues-themed Happy Hour featuring food and drink specials. The interview kicks off at 8 pm and will be streamed live on The Rock Hall's Facebook Page. (Fans can submit questions during the Q&A segment on The Rock Hall's Facebook Page as well.)

More information here:
Rock Hall Members (free admission, first come, first served):
logging into their online membership account

General Admission:
general admission ticket

In addition, the brand new "Days Of Future Passed" Live Concert film (out this Friday) will play non-stop throughout the day in The Foster Theater.

Shooting a couple of quick angry glares at Forgotten Hits Readers Frank Buongervino, Jr. and Phil Miglioratti…

Thanks to these two guys, "The Monkey's Uncle" has been playing non-stop in my head, 24/7, for the past week and a half now!!! (I wouldn't wish this on ANYBODY!!!)

While it was kind cute the first 3000 times it played, I'll be certifiably insane if this keeps up much longer!!! (kk)

kk …
Do you know the last song ever performed by The Everly Brothers?
Good trivia question … I never would've guessed it.

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

Kent,

I also did not know about the relationship between Dale Hawkins and Ronnie Hawkins. Probably in the past I might have imagined if they were related in one way or another.
What a rocker MARY LOU by Ronnie Hawkins is. You may or may not know this, but the song came out earlier in 1955 by a singer from Los Angeles … I believe by the name of Obadiah Jesse, who recorded under the name of Young Jesse. Also, when I say the name Ronnie Hawkins, it reminded me of the Bo Diddley tune WHO DO YOU LOVE which Hawkins recorded in 1963 and was a huge hit here in OKC.
Larry Neal

Here’s a great line attributed to Ronnie Hawkins …

“I’ve been around so long I remember when The Dead Sea was only sick!” (kk)

And from the always entertaining and amusing Chuck Buell …

Movie News ~~~

A British moviegoer was at the Vue Cinema in Birmingham, England, when he was trying to retrieve his cell phone that he dropped between some seats.

When he was down on the floor looking underneath the seats, the electronic recliner's footrest shifted from the extended upright position to the lower recessed position wedging his head and trapping him. While others struggled desperately to break the footrest away and free him, the man panicked and suffered a fatal heart attack.

If I HAD a show, I would say, "Well, we're all familiar with the pre-movie announcement to silence our cell phones. This is the first time a cell phone has silenced a movie goer!

Chuck Buell ( Your Personal Show Prep Service! )

Helping Out Our Readers:

Kent,

Not sure if you can help me with this or if you are still doing forgotten hits or b-side songs, but I am trying to identify a b-side song and could use help.

It was circa 1960. A friend of mine and I were walking to a party. I was around 12. We were carrying our 45s. On one of my 45s, the B-side song was really stupid and I was taking the 45 to the party more to get laughs than to play the A-side. It may have been the flip side of Freddy Cannon’s Palisades Park, but I am not sure. Anyway, I sang the stupid little ditty for my friend and he took my 45 and sailed it down the street like a Frisbee. Not sure if it was the song or my singing that caused his reaction but regardless, it was gone for good. (I would have punched him, but I was smitten by his twin sister who looked a little like Pat Benatar and if I had any chance at her, I couldn’t whale on her brother.)

Anyway, I digress.

I just turned 70 and I still can’t get this incredibly stupid song from 58 years ago out of my mind. It was sung in English but with a strong Mexican accent. To make matters worse, I have a way of mis-interpreting lyrics I hear and don’t see in print. Case in point: for years I thought the song Maneater was Magnito (just never understood how something that would cause a spark could “chew you up”). I say this because what this singer calls his lover sounded to me like “my guyeena” but could have been my chiquita or some other word entirely. Not a lot to go on when searching,

Here are some of the lyrics.

My guyeena she’s so mean-a

That she lock-a me outside

She laugh-a when I cried

Yes she laugh-a when I cried

She no wanna let me in

To make-a love again

My guyeena she’s so me to me.

My guyeena

She’s so mean to me, tweedley-dee

But I love her

Yes I love her

And I think-a she like me.

Anyway, that is what I am looking for. Not sure if you can help. If not, I hope my request at least gave you a chuckle or two!

Tom Huth

Not only are we still doing Forgotten Hits, but we're also still doing our "Helping Out Our Readers" segment … so while I don't recognize this one at all (other than to say I doubt that it's the flipside of "Palisades Park"), my guess is that somebody else on the list WILL recognize this ditty and be able to point you in the right direction.

Let's see what comes back from the bleachers. (kk)

↧

The Saturday Survey (March 24th)

March 24, 2018, 4:00 am

≫ Next: BURTON CUMMINGS: UP CLOSE AND ALONE ... LIVE AT THE ARCADA THEATRE ... Saturday, March 24th

≪ Previous: Thursday This And That

3-18-68 - KODI - Cody, Wyoming

If you've been to Yellowstone National Park, chances are you've visited Cody, Wyoming, on the eastern outskirts of the park.

Way out west, our FH heroes are getting airplay, but the obvious theme of this station was geared around Coca-Cola! Most likely, you heard the Coke jingles blasting much of the time on KODI. Without much obscure music on this chart, how about some of the Coke jingles that may have been waking Old Faithfull geyser hourly by artists holding this week's #1, #18 and #23 positions with current national hits.

The American Breed one is also featured with FH member Chuck Buell's outro on WLS in late 1968 and it would become so popular that the Breed would eventually make a full song out of it and put out as a single later in the year!

BTW, for those of you at home keeping score, that's two weeks in a row that we did not move the AM dial. This week and last week we featured stations located at 1400 on the dial!

-- Clark Besch

Yep, LOTS of Coke references on this week's chart! "Lady Madonna" is brand new at #24 for The Beatles ... and Otis Redding's (spelled here with two T's) falls from #1 to #4 with "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay," allowing The Troggs to take over the top spot with "Love Is All Around," just ahead of The Monkees'"Valleri."

Madeline Bell's version of "Im Gonna Make You Love Me" is a Top Ten Hit here in Wyoming, too, so again I'm surprised by its somewhat meager #26 showing in Billboard. You'll also find "Dr. Jon" and the In-Crowd in The Top Ten this week. We featured that tune a few weeks ago in our Saturday Surveys Series. (kk)

THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS:

Here are some of the musical events that took place this week in 1968 ...

3/20/68: Now that’s a party … Eric Clapton and Neil Young, along with Richie Furay and Jim Messina of Poco, are all arrested for “suspected drug use” at the home of Stephen Stills in Los Angeles. (Clapton will be freed while all of the others are fined.) Maybe Stills wasn't home??? He isn't mentioned at all!!!

3/21/68: The Hollies appear on The Hollywood Palace

3/24/68: Lots of music tonight on The Ed Sullivan Show … Spanky and Our Gang perform “Like To Get To Know You,” Diana Ross and the Supremes perform “Forever Came Today” and Nancy Sinatra both solo (“100 Years”) and with her Producer Lee Hazlewood (“Storybook Children”). Jimmy Dean is also onboard to sing “To A Sleeping Beauty.”

↧

BURTON CUMMINGS: UP CLOSE AND ALONE ... LIVE AT THE ARCADA THEATRE ... Saturday, March 24th

March 26, 2018, 3:52 am

≫ Next: Tuesday This And That

≪ Previous: The Saturday Survey (March 24th)

Burton Cumming, fighting off the last strains of a month-long cold (hey, I can relate ... I'm in week four of my own!) took to the stage at The Arcada Theatre on Friday and Saturday Night to perform his one-man "Up Close And Alone" show. (Friday's performance was a complete "to the rafters" sell out ... I'd have to say the theatre was a little bit better than half-full when we attended Saturday night for the hastily added second show.)

I must say that I've never seen the Arcada stage look more elegant ... silk sheets were draped thru the lighting areas above and illuminated beautiful hues of color throughout Burton's set.

He mixed things up a little bit this time around, kicking off the show with "You Saved My Soul," a seldom-heard "comeback" track from the early '80's (#32 US / #13 Canada). This was followed by the very sophisticated "Sour Suite," a Guess Who track from 1971.

After that it was pretty much business as usual as Cummings ran through a good chunk of his Guess Who catalog that included live, solo versions of "Hand Me Down World,""No Sugar Tonight" / "New Mother Nature,""Laughing,""Undun""No Time" and "Clap For the Wolfman." (Burton warned the audience to not even DARE to request "American Woman," as he couldn't possibly duplicate it by himself alone at the piano ... although he DID tease us with a short riff punctuated by a few well-time grunts.)

He did many of the songs he likes to feature in this intimate setting ... so, as such, we were treated to his Gordon Lightfoot / "Maggie May" impersonation (which still makes us laugh no matter how many times we've heard it) and "Mack The Knife," his tribute to Bobby Darin, of whom he as a HUGE fan. (Burton, you should check out our special Bobby Darin feature, which is now permanently posted on the Forgotten Hits Website, along with the interview WE did a few years ago.)
http://forgottenhits.com/the_bobby_darin_story
http://forgottenhits.com/forgotten_hits_interviews_burton_cummings

Other highlights for me were an absolutely perfect reading of the old Platters tune "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," the rollicin' rockin'"Albert Flasher" (I swear this has to be one of my Top Three favorite Guess Who songs) and perhaps my favorite solo track by him, "Dream Of A Child," which touches my heart and brings a tear to my eye EVERY time I hear it ... what a beautiful tune.

Naturally he did his first big solo hit, "Stand Tall," which got a great reaction from the crowd ("Yes, she broke my heart ... but I got a gold record out of it so that made everything ok.") Noticeably missing was "These Eyes," the song that started it all ... I don't think I've EVER seen a show where Burton didn't do this one and remind the audience once again how this track changed his life forever. Recorded nearly 50 years ago, it has afforded him the life style (not to mention the dream job!) that he has been able to enjoy for six decades now. An encore of "Share The Land" ended the show.

We were fortunate enough to get to visit for a few minutes backstage after the show (during which Burton spent MOST of the time blasting me for waking him up at 5:30 and 6:00 in the morning with my Forgotten Hits emails! lol) and snapped a new, updated photo for our collection. (VERY special thanks to Jeff Berger, who took ALL of the photos on display here today. You can visit his site at www.jeffbergerphotography.com)

Another great show by an incredible artist. (Burton WITH the band are headed for Las Vegas next week for a series of shows at the Orleans Hotel and Casino ... March 31st, April 1st, April 5th and April 6th)
More tour dates can be found here:
https://www.burtoncummings.com/

P.S. Sorry for waking you up again this morning!!! (kk)

↧

Tuesday This And That

March 27, 2018, 3:50 am

≫ Next: Thursday This And That

≪ Previous: BURTON CUMMINGS: UP CLOSE AND ALONE ... LIVE AT THE ARCADA THEATRE ... Saturday, March 24th

The Global Take-Over Has Begun!!!

Me-TV-FM has been talking about expanding thru syndication since last year … and they’ve just signed their first station out of Saginaw, Michigan. (Soon the whole world will discover the unique programming we’ve been enjoying here in Chicago for the past two-and-a-half years!)

Full details below, courtesy of FH Reader Tim Kubat:

When Susan and Philip Bernstein’s Northern States Broadcasting closes on its $175,000 acquisition of Catholic 1250 WHHQ Bridgeport / Saginaw, MI, from Ave Maria Communications in the next few weeks, it will become the first syndicated affiliate of the Soft Oldies “MeTV FM” format.
Heard on 87.7 WRME-LP Chicago and made available in syndication by Envision Radio Networks last year, the station will also adopt a set of call letters recent discarded in Chicago: WJMK. Co-owner / Station Manager to be Philip Bernstein told Robert Feder, “We are excited to bring the Tri-Cities the proven Me-TV music format, which attained ratings far surpassing the heritage stations in Chicago in only one year of being on the air.”
Congratulations to all parties concerned. The “Me Revolution” has begun! (kk)

Kent,

The True Oldies Channel has disappeared here in Milwaukee. The music genre (pop, rock and R&B oldies) seems the same but it’s now called “FONZ-FM”. I guess the “Happy Days” will never end here in Brew City.

Bob Verbos

Hmmm … I’ll have to ask Scott Shannon about that. (Then again maybe Me-TV-FM is soon to be headed YOUR way, too!!!) Stay tuned. (kk)

And talk about your radio legends ...

Robert Feder saluted one of OUR favorites, Bob Stroud, this past week as Bob celebrates 40 YEARS on the air here in Chicago. (And we’ve followed him from start to finish … back to the old WMET days on thru The Loop, WCKG and WXRT … we were there the morning he launched The Drive back in 2001 … and have stuck with him thru thru every move he’s made … and we’ve got the Rock And Roll Roots CD’s to prove it … including the ULTRA-rare, hard to get CD 94.7 Volumes 1, 2 and 3 editions!!!)

Just last week Frannie referred to Stroud as the consummate deejay …

>>>I love an informed, low-key presentation that showcases and enhances the music; knowledgeable commenting and sharing of accurate information and experiences. The radio personality who is a master of this format is Bob Stroud of Chicago’s 97.1, The Drive. Stroud is perfection on the air: classy, well-informed, mature, professional. He makes the radio listening experience a real pleasure for those who truly love and appreciate music and musicians. It is a solid relief to know that in listening to a Stroud show, one will not hear prank calls, embarrassing “discussions” of inappropriate bodily functions, or insane cackling from some lame toady in the background.

We couldn’t agree more.

And Feder says that Bob will be entertaining The Stroud Crowd for awhile longer … he just signed a long-term deal with The Drive extending his contract thru several more years.

We love ya, Bob. 40 Years?!?!? Seriously?!?!?
Damn, it doesn’t seem a day over … 39 ¾!!!

http://www.robertfeder.com/2018/03/26/drives-bob-stroud-still-rocking-40-years/?utm_source=new%20post%20alert&utm_medium=email&utm_content=main%20content&utm_campaign=%2F2018%2F03%2F26%2Fdrives-bob-stroud-still-rocking-40-years%2F

Here’s another one of those great dance compilation videos, ‘60’s Style!

https://www.facebook.com/OldieStation.co/videos/205488743271661/?multi_permalinks=2007068302893715%2C2006608952939650%2C2006287569638455%2C2006224526311426¬if_id=1521769515523854¬if_t=group_activity

It must have been a slow news week ...

It was revealed last week that actor Macaulay Culkin lost his virginity to The Beatles’ White Album. (I’m not sure if his pick-up line, “Why don’t we do it in the road,” helped him or hindered him during this big event.)

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/macaulay-culkin-lost-virginity/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=newsletter_4572276

In either case, we’re putting together a very special 50^th Anniversary Salute to The Beatles’ White Album to be run later this year … and our challenge to YOU … our faithful Forgotten Hits Readers … is …

If you had to get The White Album down to a single disk … 16 tracks … could you do it? And if so, what would those tracks be?

Send us your responses and we’ll add them to this upcoming feature. (kk)

And speaking of The Beatles, both surviving members, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, made news headlines last week.

Ringo, of course, was knighted … and then he announced the new line-up and tour schedule for this summer’s All-Starr Band tour.

Appearing for the first time will be Graham Gouldman of 10cc. Returning artists include Colin Hay (of Men At Work), Steve Lukather (of Toto), Gregg Rolie (of Santana), Warren Ham and Gregg Bissonette.

The tour kicks off in Europe and then wraps up here in The States. (Ringo’s All-Starr Band will perform at The Chicago Theatre on September 22^nd)

Complete concert dates are shown below:

June 2 - Atlantic City, NJ, USA - Borgata Casino Event Center

June 6 - Paris, France - L'olympia

June 8 - Grolloo, Netherlands - Holland Blues Festival

June 9 - Flensberg, Germany - Flens Arena

June 10 - Hamburg, Germany - StadPark

June 13 - Helsinki, Finland - Kaisaniemi Park

June 15 - Horsens, Denmark - Lunden

June 16 - Berlin, Germany - Tempodrom

June 17- Zwickau, Germany - Stadhalle

June 19 - Prague, Czech Republic - Congress Hall

June 20 - Vienna, Austria - Stadhalle

June 23- Tel Aviv, Israel - Menorah

June 26 - Barcelona, Spain - St. Jordi Club

June 28- Madrid, Spain - WiZink Center

June 29 - La Caruna, Spain - Coliseum

July 1 - Bilbao, Spain - Bizkia Arena

July 4 - Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg - Rockhal

July 6 - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Sporting Complex

July 8 - Lucca, Italy - Piazza Napoleone

July 9 - Marostica, Italy - Piazza Degli Scacchi

July 11 - Rome, Italy - Auditorium Parco Della Musica, Cavea

Sept 1 - Tulsa, OK, USA - Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

Sept 2 - Rogers, AR, USA - Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion

Sept 3 - Kansas City, MO, USA - Starlight Theatre

Sept 5 - Ames, IA, USA - TBA

Sept 7 - St. Louis, MO, USA - The Fox Theatre

Sept 8 - Milwaukee, WI, USA - TBA

Sept 9 - South Bend, IN, USA - Morris Performing Arts Center

Sept 11 - Kettering, OH, USA - Fraze Pavilion

Sept 13 - New York, NY, USA - Radio City Music Hall

Sept 14 - Saratoga Springs, NY, USA - Saratoga Performing Arts Center

Sept 15 - Wallingford, CT, USA - The Toyota Oakdale Theatre

Sept 17 - Boston, MA, USA - Bosch Center Wang Theatre

Sept 19 - Pittsburgh, PA, USA - Heinz Hall

Sept 21 - Northfield Park, OH, USA - Hard Rock Rocksino

Sept 22 - Chicago, IL, USA - The Chicago Theatre

Sept 23 - St. Paul, MN, USA - Ordway Center for Performing Arts

Sept 25 - Denver, CO, USA - Paramount Theatre

Sept 27 - San Diego, CA, USA - Humphreys Concerts by the Bay

Sept 28 - San Jose, CA, USA - City National Civic

Sept 29 - Los Angeles, CA, USA - The Greek Theatre

And Paul McCartney made headlines when he joined the March For Our Lives Anti-Gun Demonstration in New York City, stating that he “lost one of his best friends right around here due to guns.” (John Lennon, of course, was murdered on December 8, 1980, by a crazed fan with a handgun.)

From The Beatles to Elvis …

March 25^th marked the 57^th Anniversary of Elvis’ concert at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii …it was all staged as a Benefit Concert for the U.S.S. Arizonal Memorial.

Here’s a great clip commemorating this event, sent in FH Reader Frank B … (word is Elvis donated $5000 of his own money to the cause.)

You can read more about it here: http://www.elvis-history-blog.com/elvis-uss-arizona.html

Thought you'd get a kick out of this … probably 1966 or ’67.

Fred Glickstein

Yeah Fred, I remember going down to the Esquire Hotel with you to say hello and visit Mark and Howard ... interesting couple o'guys, man. Lots o'fun!

Tom Webb

Tom & Fred,

Believe it or not, I verified thru a calendar of 1965 that Saturday, December 11^th, was in 1965. This was beforeTom (and Frank Posa) were in For Days & A Night or The Flock.

Nick Vitullo

Wow, Nick and Tom!!! Thanks for the detective work and good memory.

1965 was the year I graduated High School.

Fred

Yeah Nick, you're the man with the dates. Maybe a later tour? That whole period seems "As If In A Dream" which, by the way, is the title of my next instrumental album coming out sometime around the middle of this year. It's featuring some really great musicians from the Tucson and Phoenix areas as well as California and Oregon ... some real fun stuff. Thanks for all the dreams. Keep an eye on my Facebook band page. I'll be posting things as they are in action.

Tom

https://www.facebook.com/tshenrywebb

http://www.reverbnation.com/tshenrywebb

Congrats to all of us for having survived “in the day”! Timing of the event on the poster brought back memories …

As soon as we were done with our set, I changed and ran to the back wall of Arie Crown to catch Jeff Beck on lead guitar with the Yardbirds; wow!!!!!! Also coincidentally, this concert just about matched the first few weeks of any of our cumulative Chicago bands’ reaching the airwaves = initial airplay for us was during Thanksgiving week, 1965. Proud to say that we, NC6, opened the door and have had these three charts on my computer forever so decided to share this morning from workplace (still at the desk fulltime). Shadows came next with Gloria as I recall but we beat ‘em to the charts by eight weeks and, if not for Lou Christie (…sigh), might have topped WLS two days short of 51 years to the date my first grandchild was born!
Ray Graffia, Jr.
The New Colony Six

Same Nehru jacket still fits me from the picture sleeve for our 45 released in 1967 to our last concert 11-25-17 (Arcada Theatre, St. Charles, IL, and returning there again in April with Cornerstones-of-Rock as per details here: http://www.arcadalive.com/event/cornerstones-of-rock-american-garage-april/)!!!

And, speaking of our Local Heroes, have you seen the new TLX car commercial that has “Vehicle” playing in the background? (It’s kinda subtle but it’s definitely there!!!) kk

FH Reader Frank B sent in this vintage 20/20 clip on Jackie Wilson … another sad and tragic tale of rock and roll …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_0DGEIyAkU

CFZM Toronto did a big three-hour thing three years ago celebrating Ronnie Hawkins' 80th birthday. This was a live party-interview event with Ronnie present and lots of big-time Canadian musicians dropping by or phoning in to say something to Ronnie. The video was here http://www.zoomerradio.ca/blogs/station-blog/dont-miss-our-ronnie-hawkins-80th-birthday-bash-live-to-air-this-friday/ but it seems to have been removed from their website.

Last year Ronnie threw a party at his farm, and that video is here: http://www.zoomerradio.ca/videos/ronnie-hawkins-threw-last-hoorah-party-farm-zoomer-radio/

David Lewis

From FH Reader John LaPuzza …

For most of us Boomers:

'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' Genealogy: What You Don't Know - Rolling Stone

kk …

It's long, but interesting. Reminds me of the story behind "House Of The Rising Sun."

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/the-lion-sleeps-tonight-genealogy-what-you-dont-know-w474059

Frank B.

We did a piece on "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" back in 2006 … I haven't read this Rolling Stone piece yet but my guess is we came to the same conclusion … will have to check this out! (In fact, we ran clips of several different versions, including The Weavers' hit, the original Solomon Linda Zulu Chant, the #1 Hit recorded by The Tokens, the Robert John remake hit version from the early '70's and a [then] recent remake by the popular boy-band N*Sync.) kk

'60's FLASHBACK:

Thanks to a connection made by Laura Eckert of Pro Talent Promotions, I've been talking with Mitch Margo of The Tokens recently … and decided to put together a little "background piece" on the group.

The Tokens (first calling themselves The Linc-Tones) were formed in Brooklyn, New York, back in 1955 when Lincoln High Schoolers Neil Sedaka, Jay Siegel, Hank Medress, Cynthia Zolitin and Eddie Rabkin got together to perform at weddings, bar-mitzvahs and school functions.

Sedaka (who we've covered a number of times before in Forgotten Hits) was considered a child prodigy on the piano ... although he was classically trained (and would eventually attend Julliard), he really loved the new sounds of Rock And Roll and the street-corner harmonies of the up and coming Doo Wop Groups.

Already writing songs as a teenager, Neil supplied some of the original compositions that this early version of The Tokens performed. (Because he had a crush on Cynthia Zolitin, the other members of the group felt that he was favoring her by awarding Cynthia all of the lead vocals!)

Although the other members of the group may have been jealous, they tolerated this arrangement for a while ... after all, Cynthia's Mother knew a man by the name of Happy Goday, who ran a music publishing company in the famed Brill Building ( where Sedaka would eventually land as a staff songwriter!) and he just might be their ticket to fame and fortune! Goday arranged an audition with Morty Craft of Melba Records, who signed the vocal group to their first recording contract.

Still disenchanted with how things seemed to be going, (the Melba recordings failed to chart), The Tokens eventually parted ways, with Sedaka going off on his own to pursue a solo singing (and songwriting) career and Medress and Siegel forming a NEW group (along with new recruits Warren Schwartz and Fred Kalkstein) called Darrell and the Oxfords.

By 1959, The Oxfords had already recorded a couple of flop singles and Neil Sedaka had already had a few solo Top 40 Hits (including one written for his NEW crush, Carole King, called "Oh, Carol," which topped the charts here in Chicago. (We featured both "Oh, Carol" and Carole King's reply, "Oh, Neil" awhile back in FH).

Hank Medress and Jay Siegel figured that they could probably do better on their own than with The Oxfords … perhaps even seek out and produce new talent ... so they returned to their old hunting grounds and soon discovered Phil and Mitch Margo, two brothers who were now attending Lincoln High. (Incredibly, Mitch was only thirteen years old at the time!) They started rehearsing together and liked the way things sounded. They quickly dubbed themselves "Those Guys" and auditioned for a couple of different record companies. Ironically, it was old pal Morty Craft (now running Warwick Records) who signed the boys to a brand new recording contract.

Their first effort was the song "Tonight I Fell In Love," which would eventually go to #15 in both Billboard and Cash Box Magazine. Craft HATED the name "Those Guys," however, and persuaded them to go back to calling themselves The Tokens. Once Dick Clark got behind their new record, things began to happen very quickly. With a solid hit record now under their belts, they next moved on to RCA Records, home of ... guess who ... Neil Sedaka! … and, working with famed producers Hugo and Luigi, cut a ten year old Weavers folk tune called "Wimoweh."

With some quickly-written additional lyrics, The Tokens soon had their first (and only) Number One Hit ... retitled "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," the record raced up the charts. Collectively, the producers (Hugo and Luigi) and the singers (The Tokens) had come up with a whole new musical style, which caught the ear of virtually all of America ... the record took the country by storm! It can be said that the combination of the popular new folk trend ... along with their street corner Doo-Wop roots ... made for just the right mixture to create one of the most popular, famous and time-tested #1 Hits of all-time ... but you've also got to give an awful lot of credit to Jay Siegel's soaring falsetto lead vocal ... it simply makes the tune.

DIDJAKNOW?-1: Obviously, Brooklyn's Lincoln High School produced some pretty good vocal talent ... but DIDJAKNOW that it was ALSO the setting for the film "The Lords Of Flatbush"???

DIDJAKNOW?-2: It has been reported for the past forty years that The Tokens took their name from the subway tokens they used to buy in order to ride to Manhattan ... but The Margos told us that their name REALLY came from the expression "A TOKEN Of My Affection." Cool, huh?!?!?

DIDJAKNOW?-3: The origin of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" dates back to 1939, when a South African singer named Solomon Linda first recorded a Zulu chant called "Mbube." Thirteen years later, The Weavers got ahold of the tune and recorded it (with a few new lyrics ... VERY few, in fact) and, as the newly-retitled "Wimoweh," scored a #14 Pop Hit in 1952. When Hugo and Luigi learned that "Wimoweh" was actually about a lion hunt, they recruited songwriter George Weiss to write new English lyrics and the song became "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," which went on to top the U.S. Charts ten years after The Weavers' Top 20 single. (The following year, that same songwriting trio penned one of Elvis Presley's biggest hits, "Can't Help Falling In Love," this time inspired by an old French tune!!!)

A SPECIAL TREAT: The Evolution Of A Song:

Thanks to some pretty rare tracked down by FH Reader Hil (aka THEONEBUFF), we are now able to track the evolution of the song that we have all come to know and love as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."

Listen first to "Mbube" by Solomon Linda, a 1939 recording of not much more than a Zulu chant.

In 1953, The Weavers took it to another level when they added a few lyrics to the African beat and released it as "Wimoweh."

When The Tokens auditioned for RCA Records with their rendition of "Wimoweh," producers Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore liked it enough to call in songwriter George Weiss and commissioned him to write a complete set of English lyrics, taking the song to its final state. In hindsight, it's truly amazing to think that each enterprising new producer heard enough of a magical melody in the previous rendition to push it to another level ... but "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" has stood the test of time ... it truly is a rock and roll classic!

Ten years after The Tokens went to #1 with their Pop Hit version of the song, it became a hit all over again for an artist by the name of Robert John … he took his version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" all the way back up the charts to #2 in 1972. (John would hit the #1 Spot in both Billboard and Cash Box Magazine seven years later when "Sad Eyes" topped the charts.

DIDJAKNOW? - 4: The Robert John remake of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" was produced by original Tokens Hank Medress and Jay Siegel!!! How unusual (and intimidating!) it must have been to have your remake of one of the most famous, most popular, best-known songs ever recorded be produced by a couple of the guys who were involved with the recording of the original hit itself!!!

The fact is that after their own successful recording career, The Tokens formed B.T. Puppy Records and, over the years, worked with and / or produced DOZENS of other artists (including recording artists as diverse as The Chiffons, The Happenings, Bob Dylan and Connie Francis) ... and yet STILL found the time to sneak in a comeback record (or two) of their own. ("I Hear Trumpets Blow" went to #30 in 1966 and "Portrait Of My Love" hit #25 the following year.)

DIDJAKNOW? - 5: In 1973, Jay Siegel, Mitch Margo and Phil Margo regrouped as Cross County recorded the absolutely AWESOME, slowed-down, acoustic, harmoniously-rich version of the Wilson Pickett classic "In the Midnight Hour"… which gave them ANOTHER Top 20 Hit.

AND FINALLY: Here's one more version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"… this one performed by the popular Boy Band N*SYNC.

Some great upcoming shows at City Winery Chicago during the month of April:

April 1^st– Christopher Cross

April 2^nd– Al Jardine

April 4^th– Karla Bonoff

April 6^th– The English Beat

April 12^th– Berlin (featuring Terri Nunn)

April 13^th– Jimmy Webb

April 17^th– Whose Live Anyway

April 18^th– Max Weinerg

April 19^th– Delbert McClinton

April 20^th– Kevin Nealon

And don’t forget about the Ann Wilson TV Taping Wednesday Night, April 11^th, at The Arcada Theatre. Special Guests are expected for this concert, which will air later this year on PBS as a “Live From The Arcada” television special. More details on this (and all the other great shows coming up) at www.oshows.com

Harvey Kubernik talks to Marshall Chess, Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko, Andrew Loog Oldham and Bill Wyman about the legacy of Muddy Waters and the 60th anniversary of his debut album, The Best of Muddy Waters in the brand new issue of Record Collector News.

Kent,

Got a question for you.

Since Easter Sunday is coming up this week, that also corresponds with April Fool's Day.

I was wondering if any radio stations through the years ever put out an April Fool's Day (week) survey of the songs they were currently playing at the time. It seems to me that maybe years ago you did a feature on this but I can't remember. Can't remember how many songs there are with the word 'fool' in the title.

Larry

I know CHUM used to run an April Fool’s Chart with lots of plays on words both with song titles and artist names.
(Here's the one from 1965):

A lot of stations used to use April 1^st as an excuse to spotlight novelty tunes. (Here in Chicago, Me-TV-FM have done this over Thanksgiving Weekend the past couple of years, playing some of the biggest “turkeys” of rock and roll.

We’ve played up the “fool” aspect more often recently … back in 2016 we even did a Sweet 16 Fool List. (I found at least a hundred songs with the word “fool” in the title when putting together this piece … so yes, a radio station could easily feature a different fool song every half hour throughout the day if they chose to do so.)

But, quite honestly, with April Fool’s Day being a religious holiday this year (first time Easter has fallen on April Fool’s Day since 1956!) I think the trend probably won’t be for anything too novel this time around. (kk)

http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2016/04/sweet-16-special-april-fools-edition.html

And, speaking of turkeys …

kk …

April 2 = WKRP in Cincinnati: The Complete Series

Dr. Johnny Fever is coming to ME-TV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieQaJTcEj74

Frank B.

Yep, this was their big announcement a couple of weeks ago.

This is one of those shows that I REALLY wanted to like SOOO bad … and it had its moments … the characters were fun enough (at least for the first two seasons or so) but I just kept thinking that there was SO much more they could have done within such a clever concept.

Still … "With God as my witness … I swear I thought turkeys could fly" is just one of those memorable lines that stays with you forever.

I’m sure I’ll give it another shot once it starts up again.

(And hey, I like the theme song!!!)

Oh yeah … BOOOGER!!!!! (kk)

↧

Thursday This And That

March 29, 2018, 4:17 am

≫ Next: The Friday Flash

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Burton Cummings:

GREAT Burton Cummings review … and, as always, spot on.
Frank

Hi Kent -

Good to read the great review you gave Burton Cummings but I am waiting for the reunion concert with Randy Bachman. I remember all their songs with a band backing them up.

Burton and Randy had a distinct sound together which should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. " American Woman" is a National Anthem in Rock and Roll ... and Randy didn't do 'too bad' with his "Takin' Care of Business" either!

Hope they come together soon. That would be a complete SELL OUT for Mr. Onesti!

Keep Rockin',

Carolyn

I can assure you that it is Ron Onesti's dream to reunite these two one more time. NOTHING would please him more. (And he's on great terms with both of them … but in the end, it all comes down to Randy and Burton.) All I know is that we have seen it FAR too often … especially lately … take the moment to do it NOW while you still can … NOBODY knows what tomorrow may bring … and it SURE would be sad to see these guys end things on a sour note. (kk)

Here's my review of the FRIDAY Night Burton Cummings show at The Arcada Theatre …

It was another fine time at the Arcada Theatre in St Charles, IL, a lovely old place that goes back to the silent films era … and, free parking just a block away!

Opening the show was a four piece, unplugged-style group, calling themselves The Chicago Hitmen. Since I can’t find anything about them online, I’m wondering whether they might have been an ad-hoc, pick-up band. The bass player / vocalist, and acoustic guitar / vocalist, definitely sounded like pros, trading lead vocal chores, and showing great range and power. I have to say that I’m generally not a fan of percussionists on cojones … might as well be hitting a table. As for the lead (acoustic) guitarist, I’m thinking he was too low in the mix, to where he had to play super hard for him (and us) to hear his soloing, where, playing easy would’ve allowed him more fluidity – too much effort involved, causing his lead parts to sound labored. I was impressed with a lot of what they did, though, covering some oldies and classic rock. “Tied To The Whipping Post” and “Not Your Stepping Stone” were a couple highlights. Some great vocal harmonies.

Then came the legendary Burton Cummings ... “An old Irish guy, alone on a Japanese keyboard” Gotta start by saying: You know I love ya, Mr. C, but enough already with the “I’m so nervous, being up here without a band to hide my not-so-perfect piano playing.” Along with that, the “’Smoke Gets In Your Eyes’ is SO hard to sing”… c’mon dude, that’s why we pay you the big bucks (oh, and in the verse, that’s an augmented, not a dominant 7 going up to the IV Maj7th). And, “watch me do three things at once on ‘Mack the Knife.’ Don’t worry … “Mack” was just as amazingly awesome as when I first heard you do it decades ago … sheesh. My point being, this guy doesn’t have qualify these things.

I was never too crazy about the opener, “ You Saved My Soul,” due largely to the breakdown vocal portion right before the final chorus –but perhaps that’s just a personal problem. Speaking of which, him doing Guess Who rockers such as “Hand Me Down World” (takes a lower melody line through the chorus … guess he didn’t want to drop it another step) and “No Time” (which depends so largely on the back-up vocals and lead guitar riff), both felt very lacking. Again, probably more a personal problem, in that I’ve seen him and the band do these a gazillion times, and would’ve preferred more piano-suited material instead. Less fully immersed, less fanatical fans no doubt needed to hear those tunes, I’ll allow.
I will say that his delivery of “No Sugar / New Mother” cooked very nicely, with a lot of fine boogie chops on display. Although it sounds like he’s dropped the key considerably, “Stand Tall” was a highlight. Probably the most poignant line of the song, “Sometimes late at night, when there’s nothing here except my old piano / I'd almost give my hands to make you see my way”, he paused between lines in a way that was tremendous and sublime. Another highlight was “Sour Suite,” a song I consider to be one of his best, sans co-writer tunes.

He chose a great song, “Dream of a Child” to close the set. He really did have us in the palm of his hand with that one. Proves that, even with a (well-chosen) non-hit obscure tune, he can make it a highlight of the evening, that he need not feel a prisoner to playing just the hits. Speaking of which, I wonder if anyone missed “These Eyes?”

It certainly should be gratifying for Burton Cummings to be able to play two dates (this show was sold out), where someone like Peter Noone and Tommy James, a couple legends with more stateside individual name recognition, require a full band to play the same venue.

Burton Cummings, up close and alone, did not disappoint.

Daniel Hudelson

Burton told me again backstage that he really DOES get nervous going out there alone, even after all this time. There's just something about being out there "naked and afraid," as he put it … leaving everything to chance. Sure he's got his act down pat … he's been doing it for YEARS … and let’s face it, his audience will forgive him just about anything … and he’s so frickin’ good at what he does that the confidence should always be there … but maybe those nerves are a good thing … keeps him on his toes and his aim to please.

Still, I cannot help but wonder sometimes if he might want to mix things up a little bit, if only for his OWN enjoyment, since there is such a deep catalog to draw from. (Being out there alone eliminates the risk of "Stump The Band," too … why not take a couple of requests from the audience just to mix things up once in awhile … who knows, you may find one that goes over really well that you'll want to include in your next solo show!)

Had I been able to go backstage BEFORE the show, I was fully prepared to request "Bus Rider"… they played the HECK out of that song here in Chicago back in 1970 … and I think that one … and maybe "Star Baby" might make for a couple of energized tunes to pick up the pace here and there.

Still, I left feeling completely satisfied … and that's the thing about a Burton Cummings concert. You're just not gonna see a bad show. The material is SO strong … and he executes it SO well … that he need not deal with a case of "the nerves"… the folks are gonna love him no matter what he does! (kk)

Hey Kent ...

Glad to see you had a great time recently with Guess Who's Burt Cummings. As a former groupie now grandma, I find that it is always amazing to see the happy pics of how you get to rub shoulders with all the oldies rock stars. I never fail to be surprised who will be seen with you and how you get to do the things you do. Do you walk up to the back stage manager and just say I have a blog and would like to meet the star and have a pic taken? Gee, I wish I could do that! LOL

Luckily, in the past, I have had the pleasure of meeting many oldies stars. Here are the names of some: Mitch Ryder (2x), The Young Rascals' Felix Cavaliere, Bruce Springsteen, The Duprees (had dinner with), and The Eagles' Joe Walsh to name a few. The Chicago venues seem to have the "corner on the market" though because of the many stars that perform there, one after another. Your being able to meet them all makes you very fortunate. Kudos to you, Kent.!!!

P.S. I can’t wait to see the "Chappaquiddick" movie. It seems that Mary Jo and I had a lot in common. She grew up a mile from where I currently live for over the last 50 years, up the hill and in the next town. Whenever I pass by her house I do think of her even though we never met. I have read so much about her over the years, that I feel like I know her. (At one time, we were both living on the borders of each of our respective towns.) She and I both attended the same secretarial school, different locations, but not at the same time. Had she lived, she would be older than me. An even more mind boggling coincidence, is that Mary Jo's ancestors and parents are from the same area in Pennsylvania of which my family and ancestors are from for over 200 years. Again, just minutes away. Amazing coincidences!

Sandy

I have really been looking forward to this one, too. I always found the circumstances surrounding this event to be pretty fascinating … how Kennedy could leave the scene of the crime, so to speak, and not report anything for ten hours, using the time instead to concoct the perfect version of the story to tell the police and the press. While it pretty much killed his chances at a Presidential run, he was still afforded a life-long high profile career in politics … all the more amazing in and of itself. It opens in theaters next Friday, April 6^th.

As for the photos, I pretty much only go backstage to visit these days if I already know the artist. I did an extensive interview with Burton Cummings a few years ago and we’ve been friends ever since. I try to say hello whenever he plays here in Chicago. (I have been a life-long fan from Day One … between the Guess Who days and Burton’s solo career, I’ve probably seen him 35 times now … and NEVER been disappointed by a show.)

Also being friends with Ron Onesti, who runs The Arcada Theatre, doesn’t help … so I’ve got a lot of those “staged” shots there in front of the clock, which is the usual photo area backstage in the dressing room area. Thanks to Ron, I’ve been able to meet a lot of my musical heroes over the years so yes, you’ll find me back there with the likes of Little Anthony and the Imperials and Nelson and several others. But for the most part, it’s just a chance to visit with the artists we’ve crossed paths with during the course of doing Forgotten Hits for the past 18 ½ years. I interviewed Tommy Roe backstage at The Arcada … will usually stop back to say hello to guys like Peter Noone and Tommy James and a few others (like all the Cornerstones guys) and will hopefully get the chance to do so again when Lou Christie, Bobby Rydell, Freddy Cannon, The Box Tops, Chuck Negron and a few others pass thru town in the months to come. Believe me, it’s still a real kick for me to be able to meet and visit with these guys. As I’ve said a thousand times before, I will ALWAYS be a fan first … so sometimes I have to pinch myself to think that I’m hangin’ out backstage with these guys. I love the opportunity to help promote some of these shows and then getting the chance to see them perform live on stage. It’s a blast! (kk)

A second backstage shot with Burton from last weekend ...

On The Radio:

Did you see Don Imus' 50th anniversary retirement interview on CBS Sunday Morning show? Loved him at WNBC with Wolfman back in his DJ days. He was funny, THEN. One of the special moments was one I recorded when he and Wolfman were hosting a weekend show nationally on NBC stations'"Monitor" show. Imus loved to impersonate Wolf and did it often on his show then. Of course, Wolf sold EVERYTHING from Mexico in the 60's on XERF/B including baby chicks! Attached is Imus' great bit he did on one of those shows that I played a few time on MY radio show in the 80's.
Clark Besch

Here’s the whole segment – along with the background story. (kk)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/don-imus-the-sun-sets-on-his-morning-radio-show/

Of course, there’s Loyola Fever going on here right now as The Ramblers make their first Final Four since 1963 when they won it all.

To help celebrate, Me-TV-FM is featuring the music of 1963 throughout their regular programming this week as we cheer on our most unlikeliest of underdogs to the next round. (Personally, I think we need to get Sister Jean out there in a cheer-leading outfit to put this thing to bed once and for all! Can you believe it?!?! At 98 years old, she’s become a pop culture icon! I love it!) kk

This And That:

Local Forgotten Hits Readers have the chance to enter for a chance to win tickets to see Al Jardine perform at City Winery Chicago on Monday Night (April 2^nd). We’ve got a couple of pair of tickets to give away, thanks to the good folks at the venue … so if you haven’t registered yet, drop me an email at kk@forgottenhits.com and we’ll throw your name into the hat. We’ll pick the winners this weekend. (kk)

Hi Kent –

I would love to see Al Jardine again, but by himself. I can't register since I will be out of town. He also has a background with folk music so his music selection will be very interesting.

Good luck to the winners. Looking forward to your review!

PS And thank you for the info on Ringo coming to Chicago. I saw him the last time around and would love to see him again.

Carolyn

Hi Kent,

Al Jardine live in concert sounds like something I’d love to experience. I interviewed Al for our Dick Biondi documentary and he is a true gentleman and a huge talent.

Thanks for the opportunity, Kent!

Pam

Our FH buddy Rick Levy tells us about a new pop package tour that’s been put together by Paradise Artists.

This one will feature The Buckinghams, The Grass Roots and The Box Tops … between them, they had 28 Top 40 Hits! Should be a night of pop music magic. (Hey Rick … let me know when this show is going to hit Chicago … this would be a great one to see!) kk

Hello ...

Rick Levy here ... Manager and Guitarist for the Memphis legends THE BOX TOPS.

I am so very proud to announce that our agency, PARADISE ARTISTS, is presenting a brand new, hit filled package for national and international audiences.

AMERICAN POP: STARRING The GRASSROOTS (California pop rock); THE BOX TOPS (Memphis soul, rock, blues; The BUCKINGHAMS (sweet Chicago pop) [The Box Tops and Buckinghams use HORN SECTIONS] Between them, 28 TOP 40 CHART HITS …

Each band self contained … this is not a house band show … so you get the best and full show from each artist –

family friendly, all ages, shows, fairs, festivals, conventions, corporate, casinos, clubs , cruises

Contact: AMERICAN POP / PARADISE ARTISTS / (805) 646 8433 for booking information

Hi Kent –
I found some short programs on Youtube that you might find interesting. It is called Behind the Vinyl and they talk to people who created music while their song plays in the background. The episode lasts only as long as the song. There are three that feature Andy Kim and a couple of others featuring Dennis DeYoung. You should check them out.
Gil McAuliff
There are a ton of these already posted … just got YouTube and search “Behind The Vinyl”. (kk)

12/11/65: I am pretty sure I have submitted this before, but the Yardbirds doubled up on that date. They drove to Rockford in a serious snow storm and played at the Rock River Roller Palace later that night as well.
Robert Campbell

I don’t recall seeing these before so thanks for sharing! Pretty amazing when you think about it … to do two shows a day in two different cities (some 90-100 miles apart) in the thick of Winter in Chicago! (kk)

Hi Kent,

I got a message from a fellow in the UK who is looking for information about a couple of groups that I am not familiar with and I thought you or one of your subscribers might be able to help him.

I'll send him a link as well. Thanks.

Eddie Burke

His message is as follows...

Hi Eddie

Yann Here from London UK. I am a Dj & a Record Collector.

I am doing some research about some old 45rpm recorded at Hartford, Connecticut.

“The YOUNG MEN”

Does TYRAND GOLD sounds familiar to you? Recorded in 1966

Song call: More / By the way?

I am trying to get in touch with those guy about their music.

And also looking for another band call Louzzett and the Fabulous Swans. Thanks in advance.

Yann

Neither of these artists charted nationally so I’m afraid I’m not of much help … but perhaps somebody else on the list can offer up some information. (Dave The Rave or Tom Diehl … this should be right up your alley!!!) kk

And Finally:

And now . . . yet another Chuck Buell Interior Design Concept for the Offices of “Forgotten Hits.”
This time, it’s a personally unique Feature for FH’s Executive Washroom.

CB ( which stands for "Conceptual Boy!" )
I tell you what, Chuck ... if I ever DO make any money doing this and can afford a huge, pretentious executive office building high on the hill, you are the very first guy I'm going to call to decorate it!!! You've got some GREAT ideas here! (kk)

↧

The Friday Flash

March 30, 2018, 4:24 am

≫ Next: The Saturday Survey (March 31st)

≪ Previous: Thursday This And That

>>>This concert just about matched the first few weeks of any of our cumulative Chicago bands’ reaching the airwaves = initial airplay for us was during Thanksgiving week, 1965. Proud to say that we, NC6, opened the door … Shadows came next with Gloria as I recall but we beat ‘em to the charts by eight weeks and, if not for Lou Christie (…sigh), might have topped WLS two days short of 51 years to the date my first grandchild was born! (Ray Graffia, Jr. / The New Colony Six)

The New Colony 6 started out here pretty good, too!
Ken

We've actually seen charts where "I Confess" made it to #1 in New York ... not bad for a local Chicago band hitting the charts for the very first time and pressing their records at their very own family-owned record company! (kk)

If Rock And Roll Never Forgets ever makes any money, I'm calling Chuck.

Jack

I’m telling you Chuck Buell could make a hell of a living designing rock-and-roll-related room concepts as a side job. There are enough of us crazy fans out there who would LOVE to walk into an executive washroom or vinyl kitchen floor and see these designs! (kk)

>>>I am so very proud to announce that our agency, PARADISE ARTISTS, is presenting a brand new, hit filled package for national and international audiences … AMERICAN POP: STARRING The GRASSROOTS (California pop rock); THE BOX TOPS (Rick Levy)

The Buckinghams are excited about our American Pop shows addition of The Box Tops. It’s a really great package presenting a lot of hits! Different from Happy Together because each band stays intact, which keeps it much more diversified. American Pop has been a success for several years as we packaged with the Grass Roots, but this will be a welcome addition having the Box Tops joining us and allowing us to offer many more great hits! Kent, thank you for sharing with all our great fans,
Carl
The Buckinghams

www.thebuckinghams.com

Facebook.com/thebuckinghams

Facebook.com/carlgiammarese

Kent:
Please, don't let this shock you.
Over the years, I think you and the FH family has come to recognize that my views on the songs we love are, shall we say, a bit abstract.
So, with that in mind, I have a tune I want to riff about for the benefit of the audience.
Think about the long gone Traveling Wilburys. Now, isolate on Roy Orbison and his lead vocal on "Not Alone Anymore."
It is far and away the best track in the Wilburys' library and also the most beautiful, poetically brilliant song of the 1980's. On any given moment it does what rock 'n roll should make you do … smile a wide smile or shed as modest tear.
Really, how many artists from the 20th century had pipes that could match Roy Oribson? I'll hang up and wait for the answer.
Chet Coppock

Man, I wish The Traveling Wilburys could have toured … can you even imagine seeing that show … especially if each artist threw in a few of their own hits?!?!? Definitely would have been something to see.

Roy Orbison’s voice has to be one of the most distinctive in rock and roll history … and the fact that it was still that strong in the late ‘80’s is amazing enough in itself!

It’s funny because so much has been said over the years about the original concept of The Beatles becoming “another band” to do the Sgt. Pepper album … yet if you really think about it, that “illusion” lasted for all of three songs (and even that’s only if you include the Sgt. Pepper Reprise as a track.) After that the whole concept disappears yet many still regard “Sgt. Pepper” as the first real concept album. (Even Ringo has since said “People only thought it was a concept album because WE told them it was.”)

Yet Beatle George (along with cohorts Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty) actually DID that … they BECAME a whole other band with names like Lefty, Nelson, Lucky, Otis and Charlie T. Junior Wilbury!!! And created a whole new sound in the process, even though each artist’s individual roots still came through. (And I bet they had a ball doing it!!! One would think that the least-likely guy to want to take part would be Bob Dylan … yet it was Bob who rounded everybody up again by asking “Hey, when are we going to make our second album?” Too cool!) kk

>>>I got a message from a fellow in the UK who is looking for information about a couple of groups that I am not familiar with and I thought you or one of your subscribers might be able to help him. (Eddie Burke)

>>>I am doing some research about some old 45rpm recorded at Hartford, Connecticut. “The YOUNG MEN” -- Does TYRAND GOLD sounds familiar to you? Recorded in 1966 - Song call: More / By The Way? I am trying to get in touch with those guy about their music.

And also looking for another band call Louzzett and the Fabulous Swans. Thanks in advance. (Yann)

For Yann via Eddie Burke:
The Youngmen - one word - had two 45s released. I own a copy of "By The Way" b/w "All My Trials."
It was issued in late 1966 on their custom label, Tyrant Gold #TY6661/2. "By The Way" was released again on Tyrant Gold, with a remake of "More," a vocal version of the tune made famous in an instrumental rendition by Kai Winding in 1963.
The songs were recorded in Wallingford, Connecticut, at Syncron Studios, later renamed Trod Nossell Recording Studio. The company is still in business today; many famous rock acts and music starts have recorded there over the past decades.
The Youngmen were a folk group. "By The Way" has a sublime, haunting feel with bongos accompanying the muted acoustic guitar. I did try to locate them many years ago, but their original song was not registered for copyright. "All My Trials" is a longtime folk / religious standard in the public domain … that means it is not subject to copyright restriction and performance laws.
I thought they may have been Yalies (Yale University students) in New Haven or Wesleyan University students from Middletown, Connecticut - that is my best guess to this point in time but certainly not verified. Bob King is the listed songwriter for "By The Way".
Mike Markesich

Hi Kent,
I read your response to my Burton Cummings review. Yes, I certainly get that performing alone in front of so many attentive people for an hour is quite demanding – rather different from those us relegated to playing in noisy pubs for several people. So sure, mention the butterflies once, but let’s move on, is all I ask.
A little humoUrous to Canadians to typify “Dream of a Child” as obscure, since the LP went triple platinum up there, but yes, did next to nothing down here. Still, the fact that the great reception for this obscure, but stunningly delivered tune does support the idea that he does NOT need to rely on the radio hits, which may be less than ideally suited for the solo show. “Timeless Love” and “Rhapsody” would certainly go over well. Covering Ray Charles’ “That’s Enough” once again would be great.
I was wondering whether you had any information about the opening act, The Chicago Hitman. At least a couple of those guys really seemed like they might’ve had some major league experience at some point … or AAA minors, at least. A couple other opening acts I’d seen at Arcada seemed less polished.
Always appreciate your impressively thorough work.
Dan
I've probably seen them at some point and time … obviously there's another group (called simply The Hit Men) who we have reviewed in the past … these guys were studio musicians and/or band members who toured with everybody from Tommy James to The Four Seasons to Carly Simon … but they wouldn't be opening for Burton Cummings. I know there's also a band like this with a similar name that features four of the Super Bowl Chicago Bears … we saw them open for Eddie Money a few years ago … but I doubt that that was this group either. Anybody else at the show Friday Night that can shed some light on this? Or maybe Ron Onesti? Let us know. (kk)

kk:

Did I ever tell you this story?

All this talk about the Tokens reminded me of this story.

I use to listen to this Oldies radio show, hosted by Mickey B.

I'll give you an idea of how popular this show was.

All the years I've been listening to WCBS-FM, I never once got through with one of my phone calls. Every time I called Mickey B --- I got to talk to Mickey B.

Contest question: What was the Tokens’ first hit ?

Everybody who called answered " The Lion Sleeps Tonight"… except me. I had the correct answer with "Tonight I Fell In Love." Mickey even asked me to sing it on the radio.

I won a tape of Doo - Wop greetings for an answering machine. Now I have to go out and buy an answering machine.

Why couldn't I say "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" like the rest of the callers?

TRIVIA: Mickey B was a member of a group called Tico And The Triumphs. In 1961, they had a song that was on the charts for one week … "Motorcycle." Paul Simon was a member of this group.

After recording "Hey! Schoolgirl" (as Tom and Jerry - 1957) Paul went solo for a while.

Frank B.

Wanna hear something wild?

Tico and the Triumphs spent exactly one week on the chart with “Motorcycle,” as you said, in both Billboard (#99) and Music Vendor (#97) magazine … but in Cash Box Magazine, this song “bubbled under for an incredible THIRTEEN WEEKS before finally peaking at #103!!!

Paul Simon made a series of tries prior to finally hitting pay dirt with Art Garfunkel. The Tom and Jerry record predates his involvement with Tico and the Triumphs by about five years. In addition, he also charted as Jerry Landis in 1963 with “The Lone Ranger” (#92) and also released records under the names Paul Kane, True Taylor and Harrison Gregory. (kk)

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The Saturday Survey (March 31st)

March 31, 2018, 4:00 am

≫ Next: APRIL 1st

≪ Previous: The Friday Flash

*Survey courtesy Frank Merrill

Greenville, Mississippi is showing many of the same Top Ten Hits as elsewhere around the country this week ... but I've always liked the Gene and Debbie record that sits at #10 this week, "Playboy."

New on the chart this week are Elvis Presley with "U.S. Male,""You've Gotta Be Loved" by The Montanas, a record that was a big hit here in Chicago and "Sweet Inspiration" by The Sweet Inspirations (man, what a great idea!!! I wonder how much THAT guy got paid for coming up with that one!)
[Actually The Sweet Inspirations would go on to become Elvis' background singers when he returned to the stage in Las Vegas a few years later! DIDJAKNOW that member Cissy Houston, in addition to cutting a few solo records, was also the mother of Whitney Houston ... and the Aunt of Dionne Warwick???] kk

3-29-68 - WDDT - Greenville, Mississippi

With a population today of around 30,000, Greenville sits along the Arkansas / Mississippi border on the mighty Mississippi River. This state was the rarest find for a 1968 survey out of the 50 states so very special thanks to Frank Merrill for sending this one in.

In 1967, my late friend Alan Gordon and his writing partner Gary Bonner were almost never off the national charts, writing songs that became hits over and over throughout the year. "Happy Together" was the gem, but in 1968, their songs were more often falling on deaf ears.

Two of their songs appear as survey extras this week: "Mary Elizabeth" by the Magic Fleet and "Me About You" by Jackie DeShannon.

"Me About You" was actually plugged as the B side, but got flipped and made a little chart noise. Despite never becoming a hit for anyone, it was also a 45 release by the Mojo Men, the Lovin' Spoonful, The Turtles and Jimmie Rodgers!

THIS WEEK IN 1968:

3/25/68: Tonight the 58^th and final episode of The Monkees

television series is broadcast on NBC

3/26/68: R&B Star Little Willie John dies in prison under mysterious circumstances. He had been convicted of manslaughter two years earlier.

3/31/68: Smokey Robinson and the Miracles perform a medley of “I Second That Emotion,” “If You Can Want,” “Going To A Go-Go” and “Yesterday” on The Ed Sullivan Show

↧

APRIL 1st

April 1, 2018, 5:00 am

≫ Next: A Monday Morning Quickie

≪ Previous: The Saturday Survey (March 31st)

Happy Easter everybody!

This is the first time that Easter has fallen on April 1st since 1956 ... so we thought we'd salute this unusual occurrence by taking a look back at the music scene back then.

(Normally on April Fool's Day ... which is ALSO today ... we either run a series of "fool" songs ... or some novelty tracks ... so if you feel like scrolling back and checking out some of our previous postings, please do ... but THIS year we wanted to do something to commemorate the fact that 62 YEARS have passed since we last had an April Fool's Easter!)

It was definitely a different time. Although the Top 20 included Rock and Roll Classics like "Blue Suede Shoes" by Carl Perkins, "Heartbreak Hotel" by Elvis Presley and "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" by The Teenagers, the top rated "rock and roll record" belonged to Kay Starr with "Rock And Roll Waltz"! (It sits at #3 for the third week in a row after topping the chart the week before that.)

Other classic '50's artists are also represented ... Pat Boone has hits at #5, #23 and #98 ...The Platters hold down #'s 11, 20 and 36 ... and Bill Haley and the Comets, Fats Domino, Little Richard and The Diamonds all have chart hits this week, as do Perry Como, Teresa Brewer, Mitch Miller, Lawrence Welk, Peggy Lee and Nat King Cole!

But the two biggest hits this week are both instrumentals ... Les Baxter's version of "The Poor People Of Paris" sits at #1 and Nelson Riddle's version of "Lisbon Antigua" holds down the #2 spot.

This was still the era where the song was often viewed more important than the artist ... thus we find multiple versions of the same titles charting at several positions spread throughout The Top 100.

Just a quick scan shows three versions of "The Poor People of Paris" and "Eddie My Love" ... plus two versions of "Lisbon Antigua,""Long Tall Sally,""Tutti Fruitti,""I'll Be Home,""Ivory Tower" and "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" ... and an incredible FIVE versions of "Moritat (A Theme from "The Three Penny Opera")," which would become a MUCH greater hit three years later when Bobby Darin recorded it as "Mack The Knife" ... you'll also find the Roger Williams version of "La Mer" at #71 ... Bobby Darin will take this one to the top of the charts as "Beyond The Sea" in 1960.

Check out this mega-early copy of our Super Chart ... I think this just may be the oldest chart we've ever featured!

Here are some of our essential favorites from April 1, 1956 ... a Baker's Dozen ... and all tunes worth remembering! (kk)

↧

A Monday Morning Quickie

April 2, 2018, 4:04 am

≫ Next: Al Jardine Concert Review - Part 1

≪ Previous: APRIL 1st

Congratulations to Art Walicki and Phil Miglioratti … they’ll be joining me at the Al Jardine concert tonight at City Winery Chicago! (Very special thanks to Dan Conroe of The City Winery for this special FH ticket giveaway offer.) Watch for our reviews later in the week.

Of course that means we’re going to have to miss the premier of WKRP in Cincinnati tonight on Me-TV. (Damn! And the NCAA finale, too … but now that Loyola’s been eliminated, my heart’s just not in it.)

In a promo piece released by Me-TV showing little-known facts about the series, we found this interesting tidbit:

WKRP in Cincinnati became a legitimate vehicle for launching bands to pop success. Acts like U2, Toto, The Knack. The Cars and Devo, all count WKRP as pivotal in exploding their audiences. But the biggest band the show helped hit was probably Blondie, whose album Parallel Lines went on to become a gold record after the show played "Heart of Glass" from it on air. Blondie was so grateful, they donated a gold record to the show and you can sometimes see it hanging up in the background during scenes that take place in the bullpen from the second, third and fourth seasons.

A few days ago we posted the complete tour schedule for Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band. That’s why I couldn’t help but smile when I read this quote in a 1965 edition of the popular British Music Tabloid, “Melody Maker” the other day. (Starr turns 78 this July) …

I look at Elvis, who’s 30, and I wonder how he keeps on. John (Lennon) and I often have a laugh and say to each other, “I’m not gong on stage when I’m 30.” You know, I wouldn’t go on tour as a rock ‘n’ roll drummer with a group if I was 30. I’d feel so old and out of it. I feel old now, man! When I get on that stage and see the audience, I think to myself, “Good Good … they’re 16 and I’m 24.” It doesn’t seem right.
-Ringo Starr

By the way, Ringo stopped performing “You’re 16” as part of his act a few years ago because he didn’t think it was the kind of song a 75 year old man should be singing. (lol!) kk

Things I wonder about ...

Do you think they let Yvonne Elliman watch the live Easter Night broadcast of "Jesus Christ Superstar" from prison?

Yvonne and her husband, Allen Alexader have been sentenced to a 14-day prison stay for drug possession. (Elliman, of course, first rose to fame playing Mary Magdalene both on Broadway and in the original film of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and first broke thru on the charts with her version of "I Don't Know How To Love Him," a #23 Hit in 1971.) Helen Reddy bested her chart showing with a #12 peak with her version of the popular tune. (kk)

By the way, Alice Cooper certainly made the most of his single scene, nearly 100 minutes in! He had the whole crowd up on their feet and screaming throughout ... they loved it (and it looked like he was having a blast!) kk

From FH Reader Tom Cuddy …

Dionne Warwick Cancels Paradise Performance

Due to Payment Issue

Fans in the audience got to see the legendary performer take the stage to explain why the show would not go on and left upset, and disappointed.

Posted: Mar. 30, 2018 2:18 PM

Updated: Mar. 30, 2018 2:28 PM

Posted By: Linda Watkins-Bennett

Paradise, Calif. -- Fans of Grammy winning singer Dionne Warwick were more than a little disappointed when she cancelled a performance in Paradise Thursday night.
Warwick was scheduled to perform at the Paradise Performing Art Center in a show promoted by North Valley Productions.
Audience members say they were waiting for it to start when Warwick came out on stage with promoter Steve Schuman and said she had to cancel.
Warwick said that her good friend Sammy Davis Jr. once told her that even if you have one person in the audience, you still give it your all ... as long as you get paid. She also said this was one of only four shows in her long career that she backed out of, the other three were when she was ill.
Most people in the audience rose from their seats to give her a standing ovation.
Ticket sales were less than expected, and many people believe the event wasn not promoted properly.
Schuman told Action News Now in an email that he and Warwick's Booking Agent tried to convince her to perform, but that it was Warwick's call. He would not elaborate further other than to say this is the first time he has experienced this in 21 years of producing shows and that ticket holders will be refunded.
While the event was to be held at the Paradise Performing Arts Center, the venue was only being rented for the show and was not involved in recruiting Warwick to sing there or promoting the performance.

Have you been following our Saturday Survey feature? If so, you’ve seen “Simon Says,” the first hit for The 1910 Fruitgum Company, at or near the top of the charts fifty years ago today. (Nationally, it hit #1 on the Record World Chart … but peaked at #2 in Cash Box and #4 in Billboard.)

But FH Reader Clark Besch (who collected all of those charts we’re running during this year-long series … one from EVERY single State) just sent us this unique American Bandstand countdown where, not only did The 1910 Fruitgum Company top their Top Ten Chart that week but they also performed their hit on the program! Pretty cool! (Frank Jeckell will LOVE this one!) kk

Before it gets out of the top 10 (50 years ago), "Simon Says" for me to send it how Dick Clark presented the song on American Bandstand in March of ‘68 as #1 on his AB Top 10 board we loved to watch him pull the card and unveil weekly on ABC Saturday afternoon TV.

Because the band was to be on the show that week, it's an abnormal countdown, so I included as it aired and also the way the band would likely have LIKED it to play out as the countdowns USUALLY went.

First, the countdown as it aired and then as it should have sounded.

Here's the top 10 board pieced together into a photo as the camera moved from 10 to 1:

And just for fun …

But I like this one even better!

And, speaking of charts …

That's a very cool SuperChart you ran on Easter as it coincides with the VERY week I was born in April, 1956!

Clark Besch

Robert Lamm told Billboard Magazine that he can envision Chicago continuing without ANY original members!!!

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/chicago-no-original-members/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=newsletter_4572276

Songwriter Kenny O’Dell passed away last Wednesday (the 28^th). Best known for his country hits (“Behind Closed Doors” for Charlie Rich was one of his biggest), we gave Kenny the spotlight treatment last year during our 1967 Series for his OWN hit recording of “Beautiful People,” a song that shared chart-time with the slightly more popular version recorded by Bobby Vee. (Vee’s record peaked at #22 while Kenny’s made it to #31.) He was 73 years old. He also wrote The Judds’ #1 Country Hit “Mama He’s Crazy” as well as the 1967 Rose Garden hit “Next Plane To London.” (kk)

Kent,

At the end of today's FH, you mentioned Jerry Landis' recording of THE LONE RANGER. Actually it was THE LONE TEEN RANGER,recorded on Amy records. No big deal though.

Larry

My bad … rushing to get out the door again this morning! (kk)

Loved the Paul Shaffer - Graham Nash interview on Sirius XM.

Bob

Love your lists, etc. Sorry to see The Ricochettes not mentioned anywhere. Very understandable as we never had a big record. However we were in the midst of 60s music in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Chicago.
Through the help of disc jockeys like Bob Barry of WOKY and King Zbornik of WRIT, we received local airplay for all our records. Sad to say none of them broke nationally.
We did have exciting moments playing big concerts in Milwaukee and Chicago. We played for Ed Pazdur in several shows with The DC5, Herman’s Hermits and even opened for the Stones in Milwaukee, where they only drew about 2500 kids in 1964.

I felt the need (probably just mine) to inform you of our small part in the musical life we all treasure. Keep up the good work.

John Galobich
Kind reminds me of the Moonrakers out in Denver, Colorado ... they opened for literally EVERYBODY who came through town ... yet never made it thru to the national charts ... and this despite having several #1 and Top 5 Hits on their local charts. Wisconsin's Robbs, I believe, had much the same fate ... and they were even featured on "Where The Action Is"!!! (kk)

The Ricochettes had a chart 45 on WRIT. Got to #19, which is in my book. It’s an excellent 45, co-written by Brian Hyland. (On A Chicago Label, by the way!) They also had a different 45 that was an Up n Comer / Hot Prospect on WOKY here. Thanks, Kent.

Ken Freck

Thx, Kent. I've spoken with Galobich and have heard from him fairly recently. Our band was on a gig with the Ric's in '64 and of course they're in my books. Their main lead guitar man went on to work with Bobby Vee for many years. They reunited quite some time back (Galobich did not take part) and have been doing gigs again for several years.

Gary E. Myers / MusicGem
I didn't realize the band was back together (minus John Galobich). Their website lists some of the acts they shared the bill with back in the day ... pretty impressive indeed! (kk)

The Rolling Stones; The Hollies; Herman’s Hermits; Peter & Gordon; The Dave Clark 5; The Kinks; Chad & Jeremy; Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders; The Searchers; Chubby Checker; The Animals; Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels; The Byrds; The Yardbirds; The New Colony Six; The McCoys; The Flock; The Ideals; The Zombies; and The Moody Blues http://www.thericochettes.com/bio--links.html

I have had Ar Stevens (Kriegel) on the air with me. He was the lead guitar player with the Ricochettes and later went on to front Bobby Vee's touring band for years. I will contact John. It would be good to hear his stories. They had some good records. Come In My Love (Out Of The Rain) on Quill records was my favorite.
Thanks, Kent.
Phil Nee
WRCO
Well, we've certainly mentioned The Ricochettes now, haven't we!!! (kk)

Robert Miller’s Project Grand Slam opened for legendary-rocker Edgar Winter Friday night at the Paramount Hudson Valley Theater in Peekskill, NY.  Miller’s PGS will also open for smooth jazz star Boney James April 11 at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, NJ and April 12 at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, NJ.
They are currently represented on the charts with The PGS Experience (SONY-RED) and will record their next album in April.
David Salidor

L-R - Miller and Winter

Kent;

Wadda surprise to see my not so smiling face in the Pat Campbell story about the YARDBIRDS AT THE Rock River Roller Palace in Rockford on 12-11-65. I’m the guy with the glasses and I’m not smiling because I just slogged thru that snow storm from Chicago and will have to re-slog my way back to Chicago that night!

Clark Weber

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