Friday, June 18, 2021

The Friday Flash

Well, they've done it again ...

The movie I've been waiting 2 1/2 years to see ... the new Peter Jackson Director's Cut of "The Beatles: Get Back" ... originally due in theaters LAST year (and then delayed because of the pandemic ... but pushed back to open in theaters THIS year ... on my BIRTHDAY, no less) has now been pushed back to Thanksgiving Weekend ... and airing exclusively on Disney+, the premium streaming channel.  (Now I know why the book accompanying the film was delayed until October!)

On the PLUS side (no pun intended), we already HAVE Disney+ ... signed up for it so we could see "WandaVision" and kept it going for "Big Shot," the new John Stamos television series (and any number of Disney programs for the Grandkids) ... and, instead of being a two-hour theatrical release, we'll get 6+ (there's that "+" again) hours ... a full director's cut with footage NEVER before seen.  (This rivals "The Beatles Anthology" in terms of length .... but focuses on a VERY specific era in Beatles folklore ... the sessions that nearly broke up the band and begat the "Let It Be" album.)  The six-hour mini-series will air on three consecutive nights, November 25th, 26th and 27th, kicking off on Thanksgiving Day.

Actually, the "Get Back" / "Let It Be" sessions (including the legendary rooftop concert) all took place BEFORE the band regrouped to record their REAL swan song LP, "Abbey Road" ... and this film promises to show a MUCH happier and carefree group of guys, together now for over a dozen years, (long and) winding down a career unparalleled by any other.  It rewrites history to allow the band to end their career on a high note.  (Honestly, the best one could previously have hoped before with the original theatrical release plan for was maybe a few hours of dvd extras ... but NOW, we get the six hour version up front with ... hopefully ... several more hours of unaired footage once the BluRay and DVD are released, most likely JUST in time for Christmas.)

Filmed over a three week period in January of 1969, as sort of a musical diary showing The Beatles making their new record album, it was interesting to see The Beatles warming up with a number of old '50's and early '60's favorites in the studio before laying down tracks of their own.  In addition to the footage used in the original "Let It Be" film, Jackson had another sixty hours of unseen video footage to review, as well as another 150 hours of audio recordings ... and, thanks to all the delays up to this point, he also had ample time to determine the pick of the litter ... so this should REALLY be something.

Paul and Ringo have already heaped massive praise on the final results, as have Beatle widows Olivia Harrison and Yoko Ono Lennon ... and we're chomping at the bit to see it, too.  (It all culminates with the full-length rooftop concert, the last time all four Beatles performed together live as a band.)

Vanity Fair (in on the well-kept secret for awhile now) ran this exclusive piece yesterday ...

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/06/the-beatles-get-back-exclusive-deep-dive-peter-jacksons-movie

While news circulated quickly through all of the other usual music news sources (myself included!)

Kent,
I am sure you will get a lot of reaction to the fact that the Peter Jackson Get Back Beatles film has turned into a 6-hour documentary.
When a friend texted me this information, I wrote back 'Sort of like his trilogy of Lord of the Rings.'
Here is a link to an article of how the documentary mini-series will be presented over the Thanksgiving weekend.
I'll bet the DVD / BluRay set is available in time for the Christmas gift giving season.
Get Back To Where You Once Belonged --
Joe Cantello
Marietta, Ga

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/peter-jacksons-the-beatles-get-back-headed-to-disney-for-thanksgiving-bow-1234969639/

A GREAT way to end the week ... as we now begin the countdown to Thanksgiving Weekend!!!

And, since we're talking Beatles ...

Happy 79th Birthday to Paul McCartney!

In reflecting on his career AFTER The Beatles (he charted an incredible 48 more times on Billboard's Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart between 1971 and 2018 with NINE more #1 Hits), I challenged myself to pick my All-Time Top Ten Favorite Macca Singles.  (As a lifetime fan, I can assure you that this was no easy task ... and that the titles on this list have changed MANY times over the past fifty years!)

But after hearing many (if not MOST) of these songs literally THOUSANDS of times now, here's what I've come up with:

(Remember, these are my PERSONAL favorites ... and do not reflect how well these songs performed on the chart.)

# 1 - Listen To What The Man Said (#1, 1975)

# 2 - Live And Let Die (#2, 1973)

# 3 - Say Say Say (with Michael Jackson) #1, 1983

# 4 - Coming Up (Live At Glasgow) #1, 1980

# 5 - Arrow Through Me (#29, 1979)

# 6 - Goodnight Tonight (#5, 1979)

# 7 - Take It Away (#10, 1982)

# 8 - This One (#94, 1989)

# 9 - So Bad (#23, 1984)

#10 - My Brave Face (#25, 1989)

Surprised?  Only three of my Top Ten Favorites were #1 Hits ... and, incredibly SIX are from the '80's (which surprised even ME!)

Happy Birthday, Sir Paul ...

And thank you for ALL the great music.  (kk)

Lots of press this past week, too, on the new 50(+) Year Anniversary Deluxe Box Set of George Harrison's #1 Album, "All Things Must Pass" ... so LOTS of "new" Beatles-related events going on right now!  (kk)

Kent,

Thank you for including the piece on Tufano & Giammarese.  It was a very creative time for Dennis and I, one of my best musical experiences in my long musical career.
Best,

Carl

My pleasure ... this was not an era in the band's history that a lot of people got the chance to explore ... so I am happy to relive those memories here.  (kk)

I stand corrected ... 

>>>Some of the songs on Sean Ross' "Lost Songs of the '70's" list simply don't fit Me-TV-FM's "soft rock oldies" format ... I don't think you're going to hear "Dynomite!," "My Ding-A-Ling," "Scorpio" or the Frijid Pink version of "House Of The Rising Sun" any time soon on Me-TV-FM ... no matter HOW long you listen!!!  (kk)

Good Morning, Kent:

Thank you for mentioning our weekend features in your blog today — above the fold, no less!  We truly appreciate that.

As for the “Lost” songs that “simply don’t fit their ‘soft rock oldies’ format,” you referred specifically to four titles.  We’ll be playing three of them over the weekend.  One of them will be on “Dance With Me” Saturday night, and two others can be heard between 10:00 am and 12:30 pm on Sunday, so it’s not like we’re relegating them to the overnight.

Rick O'Dell

Program Director 

Me-TV-FM

Well, I can pretty safely guess the Bazooka song playing on their "Dance With Me" feature ... and will go out on a limb and guess that "My Ding-A-Ling" (which may have already received airplay on the station during their Thanksgiving / Novelty Turkeys feature) and Dennis Coffey's "Scorpio" may be the other two he's referring to ... but I stick with my gut feeling about the Frijid Pink tune.  (So I guess we'll have to feature it HERE so that you all still get the chance to hear it!!!)  kk

Speaking of Me-TV-FM, it looks like they still have a safe home at 87.7 on the Chicagoland dial … for a while anyway …

A new ruling, coming in ahead of the July 13th deadline to convert from an analog tv signal to a digital one (or face cancellation and, in this case, extinction), is allowing Me-TV-FM (a Top Ten Station here in Chicago … and now boasting six affiliates throughout the country with streaming available from their Milwaukee hub) to continue broadcasting from their 87.7 FM berth.

According to Venture Technologies Group CEO Paul Koplin on behalf of Me-TV-FM, “We still need to make this a permanent solution ... but in the meantime, MeTV FM will live and thrive, and we are lucky to have someone like Neal Sabin entertain us.” Venture leases WRME-LP to Weigel Broadcasting as Soft Oldies “87.7 MeTV-FM,“ of which Sabin is vice chairman of Weigel Broadcasting and creator of MeTV FM … and a pretty savvy businessman.  (He took the whole concept of Forgotten Hits and turned it into a successful radio station, proving once and for all that listeners DO remember all this great music that we all grew up with way back when ... just like I kept trying to tell everybody they would!!!)  kk

Speaking of Me-TV, here’s a story we’ve told a few times …

Being a HUGE Rick Nelson fan (I was fortunate enough to see him perform live about a dozen times … and was even mistaken for BEING him when I was ambushed by four girls as I was coming out of the bathroom prior to Rick taking the stage at one of his shows … yeah, right ... like I look like Rick Nelson … or the REAL Rick Nelson would  be using the public bathroom at the venue!), I thought I knew everything there was about the guy … including the fact that his dad, Ozzie, would NOT allow his son to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show at the peak of his career … despite the fact that an appearance on Ed’s show would most certainly result in even MORE record sales for the early rock star.  (Life Magazine literally coined the phrase "Teen Idol" when referring to Rick in and early profile ... and that distinction has been with us ever since!)

The idea was that if Rick ONLY performed on The Ozzie and Harriet Show, more teenage fans would tune in to see him.  (Once Nelson's singing career took off, he typically ended each episode with a musical performance.  I have quite a collection of these on video … unfortunately VHS tapes for the most part … but they’re still fun to watch every once in a while!)

It’s not like his not appearing on Ed’s program really hurt his career … from 1957 to 1964, Nelson made The National Top 40 an incredible 34 times before The Beatles hit and put nearly every American act that came before them out of business.  (This tally included 18 Top Ten Hits, including two that went all the way to #1.)

So I maintained Rick’s Sullivan status until Frannie blew me out of the water one day when she told me that she had seen Rick Nelson on The Ed Sullivan Show.

“Impossible,” I maintained … “It never happened” … but Frannie insisted that she had seem him perform, wearing a yellow sweater, on one of those “Best Of Ed Sullivan” episodes that came out AGES ago (and are currently still running on Me-TV-FM.)

Turns out she was right …

After The Adventures Of Ozzie and Harriet went off the air (and the competition was no longer a threat … AND, quite honestly, Rick’s career was in the doldrums, not having a hit since 1964), he FINALLY appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1966 to perform both sides of his latest single, “Fire Breathing Dragon” and “Your Kind Of Lovin’” … and guess what … after all that, the Sullivan magic didn’t work … the record never even made the charts!  (Cue the Johnny Mathis record “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late!!!”)  By 1966, nobody cared WHAT Rick Nelson was doing … but Little Ricky (oh wait, that was the other one!) still had a couple of comebacks up his sleeve.

In 1968, he made the charts with this version of a Bob Dylan tune, “She Belongs To Me,” which peaked at #23 … and, four years later, after a disastrous appearance at a Madison Square Garden oldies concert, he was inspired to write and record “Garden Party,” a hit that went all the way to #3 in 1972.  (Nelson’s foray into Country/Rock with his Stone Canyon Band made him one of the first innovators of this genre of music, soon taken to even greater heights by bands like The Eagles, Poco and several others.)

Sadly, Nelson died on New Year’s Eve, 1985.  (I had seen him perform on New Year’s Eve just a couple of years before at The Park West here in Chicago, making this an even more eerie death for me.  I even got interviewed by Alan Krashesky of ABC News inside Rolling Stones Record about what Nelson’s music meant to me.  It meant a LOT.)

Me-TV ran a feature on this particular topic this week in their newsletter (which is what inspired me to tell this story again)

https://www.metv.com/stories/ricky-nelson-only-performed-on-the-ed-sullivan-show-once-and-his-father-is-to-blame

After recently rerunning our “Songs Of Bob Dylan” / 80th Birthday feature (which just happened to feature Rick Nelson singing Bob's "She Belongs To Me"), I just had to tell you that Bob has announced a brand new, streaming concert event to take place on July 18th, kicking off at noon Chicago time.

While more details are expected to come as the concert date draws near, it is currently being described as “An exclusive broadcast performance, Shadow Kingdom, which will showcase the artist in an intimate setting as he presents renditions of songs from his extensive body of work created especially for this event.”

The announcement goes on to say that “Shadow Kingdom will mark the first concert performance since December, 2019, and first performance since his universally acclaimed album, Rough and Rowdy Ways.”

Tickets ($25) are on sale now at Veeps.com  (Those who purchase tickets will be able to rewatch it until July 21 at 2:59 a.m. ET.)  kk

From Frank B. on one of his faves ...

WCBS-FM 101 New York - Bruce Morrow FIRST SHOW - June 5, 1982 - Radio Aircheck – YouTube

kk:  Reviewing Cousin Brucie's Career ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEhZUKvuD8g

FB

>>>I have seen a brand new commercial (at least brand new to me) on television. It is 15 seconds long and the item is Lipton Iced Tea.  In the background is the song by Davie Allan and the Arrows, I'M LOOKING OVER A FOUR LEAF CLOVER.  I have only seen this commercial twice … so I am not positive that it is Davie Allan ... but I am positive about the song, even though it is done very quietly in the background, causing one to have problems figuring it out at all!  (Larry) 

>>> Well, I can ask Davie Allan if his song is being used in the new Lipton Tea advertising campaign!!!  (Davie has been a long-time Forgotten Hits Reader … so let’s see what he has to say.)  kk

>>>I have searched the Iced Tea tune and couldn't find my recording. Is there a way your reader can give me more info and somehow get a copy of the commercial?  Thanks.  (Davie) 

>>>I can only surmise by this response that either it isn’t Davie … or if it is, he was never notified (or likely compensated!)  Can we get a little bit more information on this so we can check things out?  (I found a site that shows all of the recent Lipton Iced Tea commercials … and none of them feature this song.  Maybe it’s a different brand? (Not Lipton)  Since I’ve never seen the commercial, maybe you can let us know the next time you see it.  Thanks, Larry … or any other readers who can steer us right!  (kk)

https://www.ispot.tv/brands/dJH/lipton

Kent,

I saw that commercial again last night after I emailed you concerning the Lipton Iced Tea. Now this commercial seemed to be a different one, but also some 15 seconds long. It appeared to not have quite as much instrumental in the background. Now I know that through the years this song has been recorded some half-dozen times or more. I did look up who did the other versions but none of those seemed to fit the commercial. I'll try to update you when I get something more substantial. But the first time I saw the commercial, Davie Allan's version was what came to my mind.

Larry

But then …

Kent,

I just now saw and heard that commercial advertising Lipton Iced Tea. This time I heard it somewhat more distinctly and came to the conclusion that it wasn't Davie Allan's version of I'M LOOKING OVER A FOUR LEAF CLOVER ... but initially when I heard it the first two times, I actually thought it was Davie Allan's recording.

Now you ain't gong to believe this. A few minutes before that, I saw another commercial.  This is a new one advertising Clorox Hand Sanitizer. Kent, call me crazy, but I swear that the music I heard being played in the background is a Little Richard tune.

Larry

Based on all of these recent reports, I can only conclude that you are watching WAY too much TV!!!

I haven’t seen this one either (but probably a bit more likely to hear a Little Richard tune than Davie Allan’s version of “I’m Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover” which, I must admit, I have never heard in my entire life (nor could I even find a copy on YouTube.)

Regardless, NOW I want to see this commercial!  (The fact that you’ve seen it this many times in the past two weeks tells me it must be a VERY recent ad … it doesn’t even appear on that Lipton collection I sent out the other day.)  kk

I, for one, am very happy to report that the new Peacock Series “Girls 5eva” has been renewed for a second season.

It’s a fun, light-hearted look at a One Hit Wonder, flash-in-the-pan ‘90’s girl group (not too unlike The Spice Girls) who had their moment in the spotlight and then disappeared into obscurity until a present day rapper sampled one of their songs in his new hit single … and now all of a sudden they’ve decided it’s time for a comeback.

The songs are catchy as hell (and pretty damn funny, too!) And the girls are genuinely talented.  Leading the cast are Grammy Winning singer / songwriter Sara Bareilles, Renée Elise Goldsberry (who starred on Broadway in Hamilton … and is a REAL hoot here), Paula Pell (from Saturday Night Live) and Busy Philipps (Cougar Town.)  (Their fifth singer — played in flashbacks by Emily in Paris‘ Ashley Park — died in an accident during their first round of fame and fortune ... and may have an even larger role in Season Two above and beyond flashbacks.  In fact, there are rumors that maybe her character didn’t really die after all back in the ‘90’s!)

Anyway, to show you just how talented these girls really are … and with a wink and a nod homage to the group who probably inspired the lion’s share of inspiration for their characters … check out Girls 5eva performing The Spice Girls’ hit “Wannabe” with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots!  (What a great clip!)  kk

 

And how about this ...

What a GREAT way to end the week!!! 

Kent …

Your blog continues to ROCK!

All of us at the “Rare & Scratchy Rock ‘N Roll” podcast get smarter every week that we peruse what you and your subscribers have written.  Absolutely great, and reliable information you cannot get anywhere else!

Great stuff!

Rock on,

Radio Dave

Disc Jockey At Law

Thank you, kind sir ... your praise is MUCH appreciated.  (kk)