The Friday Flash

60 YEARS AGO TODAY:

2/7/65 – George Harrison has his tonsils removed.  (Fortunately, nobody had to sit in for him on a Beatles tour!)

Also on 2/7, comedian Chris Rock is born (you know, EVERYBODY hates Chris … but probably nobody as much as Will Smith!)

 

*********************************************************************

As read in Forgotten Hits ~~~

>>>Dion DiMucci's "New York Minute,” is an ode to the city of Dion’s birth and to his enduring love for his wife, of soon to have been married to for 62 years, Susan. (Bob Merlis)

Oh, no!  Not "Runaround" Sue!!  {:~}

In a Forbes Interview around five years ago, Dion was asked if "Runaround Sue" was about his wife!

He answered, "It’s all according to what day you get me on [laughs]. I like to have fun with people. Actually, it’s kind of a mixture. My wife would love to think it’s about her, because she thinks it would be great for her image. It really is about a girl who was kind of loose in the neighborhood. The word Sue just fit for the song - you couldn’t use Roberta, or Alice, or whatever. I’m not going to mention who it’s really about, but between you and I, the girl called in to an interview show I was on about 20 years ago. She had married a rabbi, had six kids and sounded wonderful! And I thought how good it was to hear from her, you know. She turned out wonderful. [laughs]."

Just in the remote possibility you weren't aware of the song's true inspiration, I researched it and thought you might find this interesting. I wanted to be sure the background was accurate in case you ever asked me and I didn't want to give you the runaround!

CB ( which stands for "Curator Boy!" )

 

Thanks, Chuck!

 

Funny that Dion said "you couldn't use Roberta" ... because in Fred Bronson's book "The Billboard Book Of Number One Hits," Bronson writes:

 

"Dion's biggest hit was 'Runaround Sue,' a song he wrote with Ernie Maresa, who went on to have his own hit, 'Shout! Shout! (Knock Yourself Out).'  Although Dion married a woman named Sue, he remembers the song being written about a girl named Roberta."  lol  (kk)

 

Ed Salamon sent us this review of the Burton Cummings show he saw at The Ryman Auditorium this past week ...

 

Burton Cummings at the Ryman Auditorium February 2, 2025 

 

Last night Burton Cummings did something during his show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville that only hardcore oldies fans like Forgotten Hits readers could appreciate.

Jim Messina opened for Burton, starting with a string of hits he wrote and/or sang on like “House At Pooh Corner,” "Danny’s Song” and “Your Mama Don't Dance” with the packed audience singing along. He then did some of his less familiar songs ending, with “Angry Eyes” ... a great set by an iconic singer/songwriter greatly appreciated,

Burton Cummings paused his show at least four times to reflect on how happy he was to perform at the Ryman for the first time. Burton said he had been restricted from playing in the US in recent years because of litigation with the owners of the Guess Who name. He sang the Guess Who’s gold records and his solo hits with short stories about writing and recording them. He did a couple other artists' songs during the show, but for an encore he said he was doing something special and perform a classic hit EXACTLY as it was recorded. 

 

As he described the history of the song, I knew immediately it would be "Louie Louie!” As if “Louie Louie” at the Ryman wasn’t remarkable  enough, Burton and the band then performed the record exactly like the Kingsmen’s record, down to how the Kingsmen”s lead singer Jack Ely came in early on the last verse on their record! I’ve never seen such detail in a cover performance.

 

Burton and Messina are still touring and I recommend this hit-filled show by the guys who wrote and sang them if they come anywhere near you.

Ed Salamon

Nashville, TN

I've had the pleasure of seeing BOTH these artists live in concert several times now ... and they never disappoint.  (Burton is obviously very fond of "Louie Louie" ... had to be a HUGE inspirational song for him coming up and carving out his own chunk of rock and roll history!)  kk

 

You can catch our FH Buddy Harvey Kubernik TONIGHT on "Coast To Coast AM" ... more details below ...

Author, Journalist and Music Historian Harvey Kubernik is scheduled to return and partake in a two hour guest interview, discussing a variety of rock and pop music subjects, all of which will be broadcast on Coast to Coast AM with Host Rich Berra on February 7th at 10:00 PM (PST) This will be Harvey’s 6^th visit to Coast to Coast AM with Host Rich Berra, the most listened to Overnight Radio Show in the United States.

Friday's radio program is syndicated to hundreds of radio stations in the United States and Canada by Premiere Networks, reaching three million listeners.  They are America’s #1 Audio Company, reaching 9 out of 10 Americans every month.

Harvey and Rich will discuss classic and contemporary rock, album reissues, The Beatles, and music documentaries among other topics, followed by Open Lines.

KFI 640-AM is the Los Angeles California affiliate.

Listen Live Coast to Coast AM | Free Internet Radio | TuneIn

https://tunein.com/radio/Coast-to-Coast-AM-p35675

Listen Live at: https://www.coasttocoastam.com/stations

Pop Music History / Open Lines

Harvey Kubernik is the author of 20 books over his 50-year music journalism career and currently producing and writing two music documentaries.  

His recent work can be read on various web sites including www.bestclassicbands.com, www.forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com, www.uglythings.com, and www.cavehollywood.com.  Kubernik is the Editorial Director of Record Collector News magazine.

The new February, 2025 RCN issue features his cover story on High Moon Records, following his last RCN covers on Johnny Cash, The Doors, Bob Dylan & The Band, and The Beatles.

During 2020, Otherworld Cottage Industries published Harvey Kubernik’s Docs That Rock, Music That Matters.

In 2025, Harvey's forthcoming book will be published: Screen Gems: (Pop Music Documentaries & Rock ’n’ Roll TV Scenes).

From the Foreword: “Harvey takes all that you have enjoyed and embraced. From Hollywood's Gower Gulch, CBS’ Television City, Peter Gunn, RCA on Sunset and Ivar, Stax wax, Tina Turner, D.A Pennebaker’s cameras, to RKO Pictures, M-G-M, AIP, Roger Norman's New World and makes it yours." -- Andrew Loog Oldham.  

Sterling/Barnes and Noble in 2018 published Harvey and Kenneth Kubernik’s The Story Of The Band: From Big Pink To The Last Waltz. In 2021 they wrote Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child for Sterling/Barnes and Noble. 

This century Harvey penned the liner notes to CD re-releases of Carole King’s Tapestry, The Essential Carole King, Allen Ginsberg’s Kaddish, Elvis Presley The ’68 Comeback Special, The Ramones’ End of the Century and Big Brother & the Holding Company Captured Live at The Monterey International Pop Festival. 

More from Harvey ...

Just saw this on the web from AP …

NEW YORK (AP) — Gene “Daddy G” Barge, an admired and durable saxophone player, songwriter and producer who worked on hits by Natalie Cole, oversaw recordings by Muddy Waters, performed with the Rolling Stones and helped inspire the dance classic “Quarter to Three,” has died. He was 98.

Barge had even greater success a few years later. He had returned to Norfolk, working with a Legrand label owner Frank Guida and forming The Church Street Five, named for a major city roadway. The Church Street musicians would cut an instrumental, “A Night With Daddy G,” that was the basis of “Quarter to Three” and led to Barge’s professional nickname.

“Daddy G” originally referred to a local preacher, Bishop “Daddy” Grace, one of whose churches was near Legrand and the site for local shows that included members of the Church Street Five. "A Night With Daddy G” was a driving dance track led by Barge’s hot tenor sax and influenced by New Orleans rhythm and blues. Bonds, a fellow Legrand artist and childhood friend of Barge’s, loved the song. But he thought it needed lyrics, writing in his memoir “By U.S. Bonds” that it lacked a “catchy phrase that makes you anticipate the entire melody.”

“The players were setting up and they started playing ‘A Night With Daddy G,’” Bonds wrote of the studio session, “and I started singing some nonsense and it occurred to me that maybe I could add some words.”

“Quarter to Three,” a No. 1 hit in 1961, became a rock standard and a featured part of Bruce Springsteen’s concerts. Now known to many as “Daddy G,” Barge would collaborate on other hits with Bonds, including “School Is Out” and “Dear Lady Twist,” and work with a wide range of artists over the following decades.

With Chicago’s Chess Records, he played on such hits as Fontella Bass’ “Rescue Me” and produced albums by Waters and Little Milton among others. With Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, he arranged the gospel favorites “Lord Don’t Move the Mountain,” by Inez Andrews, and the Beautiful Zion Baptist Church’s “I’ll Make It Alright.”

Barge’s Chicago connection helped lead to his work with Natalie Cole, daughter of Nat “King” Cole. He befriended the writing-producing team of Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancey and helped produce and arrange the 1970s albums “Natalie” and “Unpredictable” among others. In a 2023 podcast with his daughter Gina, Barge remembered the late singer as “one of the most talented” performers he worked with and most intelligent, “very knowledgeable” about the music business in part because of her father.

Barge’s own album, “Dance With Daddy G,” came out in 1965. More recently, he self-released “Olio,” which included cameos from bluesman Buddy Guy and soul star Otis Clay, and he was on stage often as a member of the Chicago Rhythm and Blues Kings.

“I’m sitting here looking at my horn now, feeling guilty because I didn’t get enough practice time in today — I’m mad because I didn’t write a song, or the intro to a song. I got things to do. I’m not looking back,” Barge told Virginia Living. “My philosophy is that you’ve got to move forward, stay contemporary, read, keep up with the young people. Because that’s the future.”

It's funny how really identical the two tracks are … it was definitely the inspiration for Gary “US” Bonds’ big #1 hit.  (“Quarter To Three” topped all three national charts in 1961.  The Church Street Five, meanwhile, only managed to bubble under at #111 a couple of months earlier.)  Here in Chicago, however, The Church Street Five went all the way to #7!

It was clearly the same background track (I always preferred Bonds’ take on “New Orleans,” which peaked at #3 the year before.)  Young-Holt Unlimited had a big hit with “Soulful Strut” in 1969 … and Barbara Acklin sang lyrics over their backing track and went virtually unnoticed.  But then when Swing Out Sister cut the track in 1992, they scored at #21 Radio and Records hit … and it’s an EXCELLENT recording.  (Somehow, it only peaked at #45 in Billboard and #32.)  kk

A few more pics from Jim Roup ...

 

You mentioned Mark Lindsay and Graham Nash recently ...

 

Happy New  Year and good health to Mark Lindsay! 🙏  Caught Mark around Studio City, Calif. one sunny day. 

 

 

Also Happy Birthday 🎂🎈 to Graham Nash! Seen here with his wife Susan at The House of Blues.

 

I had a locker across from Susan in High 🏫 School! Always very nice to me when I would see them around town. 

Jim

 

A couple of February 4th 🎈🎂 Birthdays!

Alice Cooper seen here with wife Cheryl in Century City and Clint Black with wife Lisa Hartman at Spago in Hollywood.

 

 

Happy Birthday 🎉🎂! to Dave Davies. Was walking down Ventura Blvd. a few years ago when I saw a couple walking toward me dressed in late 60's colorful garb. Glanced at the man under the floppy pink hat and it was Dave and his lady! We had a chat about this and that. Very friendly. That's Dave at House of Blues. 

 

Speaking of photos, Timmy just sent us this one of Graham Nash and Art Garfunkel …

Man, this one hits home …

They look just like the Old Mans Boy Club we see in the neighborhood restaurants on the weekend!  We really are all getting older!  (kk)

I just checked out the Foxwoods tickets for Tom Jones.

Cheapest is in the "higher than nosebleed" section in the last five rows ... $148.00 plus the extras added.

Since I saw him last year at Mohegan, at this point I will pass. The better tickets are over $1,000.00.

Shelley

Yeah, that’s a shame ‘cause I’d really love to see him …

But at $1250 a ticket, that’d be more than I paid to see ELVIS!!!  (kk)

Or you can go see Micky Dolenz in Las Vegas!!!

Micky Dolenz performing live in Las Vegas

https://www.fox5vegas.com/video/2025/02/05/micky-dolenz-performing-live-las-vegas/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIRnrNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHZ4l7Zc6fZPk-IbUm4ZIphsJZ3DmO9SUuOqjXY15zAxR2xyorr7QD4qF5A_aem_arboiDPf6er4uj_PIOmm4A 

(How did this guy get a job doing interviews?!?!)  kk 

By the way, if you happened to miss Shelley's excellent review of the Tom Jones concert she saw, you can view it here:

https://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2024/09/shelley-and-mr-jones.html

Joan Baez on Her Relationship with Bob Dylan:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l32CKUdwtec

Elton John has been teasing a new “event” … and then this week it was announced that he has recorded a brand new album along with Brandi Carlile.

According to the promotion material we received, “Who Believes In Angles” was written and recorded over a period of just 20 days, and is a collaborative studio album between Elton and Brandi.  It mixes Elton-led songs and Brandi-led songs, with long term collaborator Bernie Taupin and Brandi both contributing lyrics, and producer and co-writer Andrew Watt acting as the producer, mediator and creative conduit. They are backed by a world class band of musicians comprising of Chad Smith, Pino Palladino and Josh Klinghoffer.

You can preorder it now … the new 10-track LP is scheduled for release on April 4^th.  (kk)

Ozzy Osbourne has announced his final performance.  It’ll all take place on July 5^th at Villa Park in Birmingham, UK, and will feature a reunion with his Black Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward.

Also on the heavy metal bill are Metallica, Pantera, Slayer, Alice In Chains, Anthrax and a host of other hard rock bands along with special guest appearances. (Billy Corgan, Slash, Sammy Hagar, Wolfgang Van Halen, Fred Durst and several others have already been announced.)  kk

Here’s an interesting read …

Billboard Magazine takes a look back at the 69 Album Of The Year Grammy Winners (with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, of course!) and then ranks how deserving each album and artist were, taking into account not only their competition for this awared at the time, but also other great albums that were overlooked completely!  (kk)

https://www.billboard.com/lists/grammy-winners-album-of-the-year-all-of-them-ranked/#recipient_hashed=fa7e92da6f6e66bffcf0bcbf863670c6eb37d7159eb4d0ea1e44fecd5ec87eeb&recipient_salt=3a1d6b09af3b92ad7e38f8327cf18febeb049fd1c9a251b66957a07d9375735c&utm_medium=email&utm_source=exacttarget&utm_campaign=billboard_daily&utm_content=584218_02-04-2025&utm_term=6338564