Monday, April 7, 2014

Kinda Quiet For A Monday ...

re:  THIS JUST IN ... :  
Big news for Forgotten Hits fans going to the Paul Revere and the Raiders concert on Sunday at The Arcada Theatre ...  
We just booked The New Colony Six as the opening act! Half-price tickets are still available thru the www.oshows.com website ...  
Just enter the special promotional code FH2014 when checking out!
Hope to see you there!  (kk)  

re:  THE BRITISH INVASION:
I remember when the Stones first came to America, accompanied by Afghan Hounds.  (The dogs were cuter than the lead singer).  Mick said if they weren't accompanied by the dogs, the papers wouldn't have paid them much attention.
The Great and Wonderful Malcolm Collins
I have a hunch that there might have been a LITTLE more to it than that ... but hey, whatever gets you noticed, right?  Who ON EARTH ... in 1964 ... could have predicted that we'd STILL be talking about them 50 years later???  I don't care HOW big a fan you were ... rock and roll was NEVER supposed to last!  (kk)   

re:  THIS AND THAT:
Last weekend we told you about Larry Lujack's typewriter going up on the auction block thru eBay. 
Chicago columnist Robert Feder and Chicagoland Radio and Media have now both picked up the story and are spreading it quickly throughout the media.  (Our buddy Ron Smith hinted that he would LOVE to put together a group to buy it.)  
Incredibly, it's an old Smith-Corona MANUAL model that Larry typed on for over 40 years.  Once they stopped making ribbons for it, he inked his own ribbons just to keep it going!!!  Let's just say that Ol' Uncle Lar never really embraced the computer generation!!!)
More information here ...    
Click here: Larry Lujack's Smith Corona Typewriter | eBay 
 
A Luddite to the very end, Chicago radio great Larry Lujack never took an interest in e-mail, text messaging or social media. If Ol’ Uncle Lar had something to write, it would come out of his typewriter and find its recipient by snail mail or fax.  
Now the typewriter that launched a thousand “Animal Stories” can be yours. 
The legendary “Superjock,” who died last December of esophageal cancer at 73, left his old Smith-Corona to John Rook, a longtime friend and radio consultant who was program director of WLS AM 890 from 1967 to 1970. Rook is auctioning the typewriter on eBay (at a starting price of $500) to benefit the Hit Parade Hall of Fame, which he founded in 2007. 
Records show the SCM Smith-Corona Secretarial 76 was the last Smith-Corona manual standard model made by the company.  
“Not one to accept the internet or computers, every letter, script or memo he ever wrote over a forty year period magically appeared from his trusty Smith Corona typewriter,” Rook wrote of Lujack in the eBay description. “Reduced to re-inking the ribbon in those years since the passage of time ended their availability.”  
“We are honored . . . that he chose to make his personal Smith-Corona typewriter available to the highest bidder as a fund raising project for the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.” Rook said he could make arrangements to have Lujack’s widow, Jude Lujack, take a photo with the winner accepting the typewriter. 
-- Robert Feder  

The Hit Parade Hall of Fame is having a very unique way to raise some funds, courtesy of the late, great Chicago DJ Larry Lujack.  
Larry Lujack, one of the most influential radio personalities in history, known for his many years on Chicago's WLS-AM and WCFL-AM, passed away in December, 2013. In addition to being a Hall of Fame DJ, the man nicknamed "SuperJock" and "Uncle Lar" was also known for having a distaste for modern technology. He used it sparingly, if at all. For Lujack, it was no emails, no word processors, no computers, no Internet, no cell phones. He preferred landline phone calls and typing out his thoughts on an old Smith Corona Typewriter.  
Supposedly, every letter, note, memo, or script he used or sent out over the last four decades was typed out on this one machine. Since the typing ribbons were no longer being sold in stores (Lujack refused to shop online), he was forced to manually re-ink the ribbon in order to keep using the typewriter.

After his retirement from radio, one of the many things Lujack did to keep busy was to be a founding member of Hit Parade Hall of Fame board and nominating committee.
The Hit Parade Hall of Fame was formed in 2007 as a counter-balance to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which is primarily run by one person and has ignored artists that are not to his personal taste. It also has ignored a great many artists that have have had numerous hits records.
John Rook -- one of the most respected radio programmers / consultants of all time and the man behind WLS-AM's success in the late 1960s and WCFL-AM's success in the early 1970s -- founded the Hit Parade Hall of Fame. Unlike other radio and music Hall of Fames, this organization is completely open and transparent on its nomination and voting processes. Each member of the nominating committee is listed on the HPHOF website, along with a brief bio informing the reader of their past accomplishments. A candidate for nomination has to be proposed by three members of the committee. Candidates come from hit music charts from 1950 to more recent times. To be considered, a candidate must have earned at least two Top 10 songs on a national chart of Billboard or Cashbox. After the nominees are selected, the voting is done entirely by the public, with the votes publicly posted.
The Hit Parade Hall of Fame does not have a physical museum location and does not have televised induction ceremonies. This particular Hall of Fame is entirely web-based, making it somewhat ironic that Larry Lujack, a stubborn anti-Internet person, was such a proud, strong supporter of the organization.
Before he passed away a few months ago from cancer of the esophagus, Larry Lujack wanted to do something to help out he Hit Parade Hall of Fame. He gave his precious Smith Corona typewriter to his friend John Rook to sell as a fundraiser for the organization.
That typewriter is now available on eBay. Those interested in purchasing this piece of radio history may do so HERE for $500 or best offer. There is no cost for shipping/handling. This special auction will be on eBay for a limited time only.
-- Chicagoland Radio and Media  
 
>>>Ironically, I was just talking to somebody about Disco Demolition this the other day.  I was home watching the entire thing unfold on tv.  Normally during a double header, the cameras break away and show you something else between games ... and this was the case that night, too ... until all hell and mayhem broke loose!  Then you couldn't get away from it ... it was on EVERY channel all night long ... all over the country!  (First time a major league baseball team ever had to forfeit a game!!!)   kk  
Kent: 
Actually that was the third time in the 1970's a team had to forfeit a game, what that was the first time a forfeit occurred BEFORE the game began. In 1971 at the last game in Washington, the fans stormed the field and there was a forfeit after about the 7th or 8th inning and then there was the infamous 1974 Cleveland 10 cent Beer Night in which the game was forfeited as fans overran the field during the game. This one was the first that prevented a game from being played.  
Rich  

And this just in from our buddy Jimmy Jay, the DJ to the Stars.  Seems he and Dave Sommerville, the lead voice of The Diamonds, are doing a show / fund-raiser together THIS WEEKEND in Deep River, Connecticut, as part of Autism Awareness Month.  Hopefully some of our East Coast Readers can attend the show and report back to us.  More details below.  (kk)

re:  REMEMBER THESE???:
A few from the '70's that you probably haven't heard in a long, long time ...