I enjoyed your write-up of Burton Cummings’ concert. I saw him on Saturday in Davenport, IA, and it looked like he had a blast. So many concerts I’ve seen lately barely include any talking or background of the songs, so I liked hearing Burton “humblebrag” with a sense of humor about his (well-deserved) gold records and discuss how “Laughing” was written in under an hour.
It’s interesting that you brought up how he played “Star Baby” after seeing someone in the audience wearing a shirt with that title on it … because the same thing happened in Davenport. Hmmm …
Prior to heading in, I was looking forward to hearing him play and I was blown away on every level.
Next month, I’ll be seeing Peter Noone & Herman’s Hermits at the Iowa State Fair … I heard they still sound great, too.
Colin Donahue
You will have a GREAT time at the Peter Noone concert … guaranteed!
I’m not sure how well “Star Baby” gets across in other cities in light of its #39 Billboard showing …
But it sure was a big hit here in Chicago! (kk)
BTW, you can buy a “Star Baby” T-Shirt from Burton’s website!
https://shop.burtoncummings.com/products/star-baby-t-shirt
Here’s a vintage interview Harvey Kubernik did with Burton Cummings from back in 1974 …
Guess Who's a smash!
Harvey Kubernik, Melody Maker, 28 December 1974
© Harvey Kubernik, 1974
"I WANTED to buy some records, so I went collecting for UNICEF on Halloween and took the money," recalls the 26-year-old lead singer for the Guess Who, Burton Cummings, as the remaining members of the group, Bill Wallace – bass, Garry Peterson – drums and Domenic Troiano – guitar, filed into the fourth floor office of RCA records.
Burton and Co. have long since made up for his crime of 15 years ago, when the group recently raised $70,000 for the financially troubled Canadian Ballet, and another $17,000 for the Winnipeg Zoo.
The Guess Who have been in Los Angeles finishing up their 13th album for RCA, Flavours, and to give a concert at the Anaheim Convention Centre. Over the years, the Guess Who have turned out many hit singles, and some very impressive albums. However, the Guess Who are earning the title as the most misunderstood, underrated, and consistently entertaining band ever produced in the rock genre.
The original members came from a Winnipeg group called Chad Allen and the Expressions. When Allen departed, they changed their name to the Guess Who. At the time, the group consisted of Jim Kale, Gerry Peterson, Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman, now the guiding force behind the Bachman Turner Overdrive. Then, in 1966, the group dented the charts with the definitive version of 'Shakin' All Over.'
It wasn't until 1969 that the Guess Who achieved international recognition with their first million seller single, 'These Eyes.' As the decade approached its end, the Cummings-Bachman team turned out three more million-selling tunes, 'Laughing,' 'No Time' and 'American Woman.'
In 1970, Bachman left the band, or from Cumming's perspective, "He was kicked out," replacing him with two Winnipeg musicians, Greg Leskiw and Kurt Winter. The group then ventured into new musical spheres with an album entitled, Share The Land.
Through the next year or two, the group gained recognition with tunes such as: 'Albert Flasher,' 'Rain Dance,' 'Sour Suite' and 'Glamour Boy,' which helped fill a second volume of the Guess Who's Best.
In 1972, Jim Kale and Greg Leskiw left the band. Replacing them were two friends from over the years, Don McDougall and Bill Wallace. The new power-packed Guess Who made their debut with an album, Guess Who Live At The Paramount, which paved the way for subsequent LP's such as: Artificial Paradise, No. 10 and the group's 1974 offering, Road Food.
The Guess Who have recently undergone another major personnel change with Domenic Troiano replacing both McDougall and Winter. Dom is a veteran of Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, Mandala, Bush, and the James Gang.
"This is the best incarnation of the Guess Who," Cummings said. "The new LP contains a variety of different musical forms, and with Domenic playing, the musicianship has improved tremendously. Dom and Bill have sung lead with other groups over the years, and in this group, we now have a strong vocal contingent."
Domenic added, "The James Gang was a lot of fun for a while, but musically it was kinda narrow. In the Guess Who there's more room to try new things."
Flavours was written in five days. "I dig writing with Dom. I think we're just beginning. We're doing four songs from Flavours on this tour and getting good crowd reaction, especially on 'Dancin' Fool' and 'Long Gone'” mentions the dark haired multi-talented (piano, flute, guitar, vocals) Cummings.
On stage, Burton Cummings can be a combination of Mose Allison, Joe Cocker and Fats Domino rolled into one. "After studying ten years of classical piano, I discovered the real rock 'n' roll piano players, and they knocked me out. People like Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Little Richard.
"Around 1960, the guitar took prominence and the piano was pushed in the background."
Lyrically, Burton, the focal point of all Guess Who activity, was influenced by the British boom in the sixties and now, by mid-sixties lyrical giants as Dylan, "Mainly 'cause he wasn't just sitting down and writing love songs." Cummings is also partial to the works of Jim Morrison, Pete Townshend and, currently, the writing team of Fagen-Becker of Steely Dan.
Until recently the group still was pegged as a singles band, with their albums regarded as secondary activities. Burton said: "We're not a singles oriented band. After our initial success of six years ago, we swayed more to the LP. We do albums, and the singles get picked from them. Just because a group enjoys a large degree of success on AM radio, does that make them a 45 band? What group doesn't want exposure on AM radio or crack the music chart?"
Burton in many past vinyl efforts has mirrored the Canadian life style. Songs such as: 'Guns Guns Guns,' dealing with Canadian gun legislation, 'Eagle All Gone/And No More Caribou,' 'Glace Bay Blues,' 'Runnin Back To Saskatoon' and 'Light-foot,' a song written in 1968 about 1974's most popular folk singer, "His hair blondish and poetic / He is the image of Alberta / I sit softly waiting for him to paint his pictures / He is an artist," show the scenes, situations, and environment of growing up in Canada.
"You must understand the Winnipeg psyche," Cummings explains, "It's not like growing up in London, Los Angeles, New York, or Chicago. Winnipeg is a small town. It's the prairies in Canada. I was locked up there so long that's all I wrote about.
"Neil Young was in a group with Garry's brother and I was a paper boy from 9 to 12 and one of my customers was Don Hunter, now our manager. Everyone has gigged with each other at one time or another." Garry responded, "The first thing I recorded in 1962 was a record called, 'Tribute To Buddy Holly'."
The year is 1974 and the music from Canada is sweeping up the charts. The Band, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray and Terry Jacks, et al. "There's really no such thing as 'Canadian Rock'," says Domenic "Rock and roll is basically an American music form.
"Five years ago, there was an attitude that you were terrible if you're from Canada. Now, it's totally chauvinistic. You're great if you're from there. The Guess Who were the first group to make it from over the border, even though we're only 69 miles away from the States."
The group first tried to gain American recognition in 1967. Burton, who was only 18 at the time, recalls cutting three sides in England including, 'Flying On The Ground Is Wrong', a Neil Young composition which later surfaced on the first Buffalo Springfield LP. "We went to England to do an album and tour. The record deal and tour fell through. We were £25,000 in debt"
Canada around 1967 and 1968 exhibited geographical prejudices that hampered the band. "In Canada then, east was east and west was west. If you were a western Canadian band, you couldn't get a booking west or east of Ontario. You were the darlings and heroes from Montreal up to British Columbia. If you were an eastern Canadian band, you played places like Buffalo. Our manager, Don Hunter, had an idea to make the band nationally accepted in Canada. That was to do television.
"The Canadian Broadcasting Company kept the group together. We did 80 TV shows at 5:30 every Thursday for two years. In some major Canadian cities, we couldn't walk down the streets. Kids were asking for autographs. It was like the Monkees.
"The first year we did mostly cover versions of the top 30 tunes and the second year we got a chance to open up," Burton looks back fondly. Long before Procol Harum fused Rock with an Orchestra, Burton and the boys performed one week with an orchestra and did one half of Sgt. Pepper in 1968.
"We also did a concert then with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. It was a 50 piece ensemble with the Contemporary Dancers." So after failing to reach America through the back door, by going to England, the two years of TV paid off. RCA signed the Guess Who and the first record they released, 'These Eyes,' (covered also by Junior Walker and The All Stars) sold a million copies.
Besides the performing group, there are a lot of people behind the Guess Who who make it all happen. One is their producer, Jack Richardson (of Alice Cooper and Poco fame.) "A lot of people believed in the Guess Who. Jack mortgaged off his house so we could do the Whitfield Soul album. We didn't find out he did that until two years later. I was floored. We've grown up with him and work well together. He's taught us a lot, and we've taught him a lot.
"The Guess Who are a self-contained group, quite different from a fabricated studio group like Alice Cooper," laughs Burton. "He gets £75,000 a night and the group can barely play their way out of a paper bag."
Burton Cummings is a very upfront individual. Many of the things he believes in or feels are pictured in his songs. Last year, 'Glamour Boy,' off their 10th LP, gained some airplay in the Los Angeles area but failed as a single. "It wasn't a love song, perhaps it was too topical," Burt explains.
"The whole syndrome of painting your face and guys putting make-up on just got to the point of pissing me off. 'Glamour Boy get your costume on / You got 'em lined up waitin' for you / For £25,000, you can look like a woman tonight / For £25,000 I think it will work out all right ...' I did the song and lyrically it was my feeling of what's happening.
"There are so many groups around that are a joke. People want something more than good playing, but they settle for a lot less. Pure visuals with no music to go along with it. There are certain groups and people around that I wouldn't care if they wore 20 lbs of glitter and painted their faces, if they could back it up musically. Ninety per cent use make-up as their only hope.
"When it all comes out of the wash, 'Glamour Boy' will stand on its own two feet, a lot better than most of the songs by the so-called. 'Gorgeous People'."
© Harvey Kubernik, 1974
>>>We ventured out to The North Shore Center For Performing Arts in Skokie, IL, to see Burton Cummings and his band. Burton was dressed in a "Midnight Special" T-Shirt, as was I! We both received these shirts as gifts from East Coast Radio Programming Extraordinaire Tom Cuddy and I had a feeling he might wear his for the show so I dressed accordingly. (A shame we couldn't get a picture of the two of us together.) kk
And yet . . . there you are . . . together . . . vogueing in front of the North Shore Center theater . . . in your look-alike T-Shirts!!!
I don't get it!
Buell!
Awesome! (Maybe you can get your own AI service going!) kk
Oh wait …
We can say what we will about Artificial Intelligence, but sometimes it can create something that's just stunning!
For instance, I remember playing this when it was a Number One Song for two weeks in 1959 on my very first young, teenage radio shows. (KRSD, Rapid City, South Dakota, for those of you who like minutiae!)
I didn't appreciate it much then as a young rocker but as the years passed, I learned to enjoy it more.
And, to me, today's attached AI creation gave it some Great New Life.
You've probably heard it a number of times over our many years as well!
Chuck!
Steve Miller has cancelled ALL upcoming tour dates … because it’s just not safe to tour on Planet Earth anymore! (OK, that’s a new one on me!)
According to Steve, "The threat of natural disasters such as floods, tornadoes and hurricanes has made the risk to his band, crew and fans "unacceptable.""
With a Wednesday night social media post Miller, who was set to launch a 28-date U.S. tour on August 15th in Bethel, New York said he was trusting his gut rather than putting people in harm's way:
You make music with your instincts.
You live your life by your instincts.
Always trust your instincts ...
The Steve Miller Band has cancelled all our upcoming tour dates.
The combination of extreme heat, unpredictable flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes and massive forest fires make these risks for you our audience, the band and the crew unacceptable.
So ...
You can blame it on the weather ... The tour is cancelled.
Don't know where, don't know when ... We hope to see you all again.
Wishing you all Peace, Love and Happiness,
Please take care of each other.
Steve, The Band and Crew
re: The Jeff Lynne debacle …
>>>In hindsight, better PR should have come into play (kk)
you think????
dis
I’m sure everybody in Jeff’s camp (and Jeff in particular) was hoping he would be able to ride this thing out and still be able to perform … obviously, this was all booked and arranged MONTHS in advance … so once this illness came on, I doubt that anyone knew for sure how long it would last or how intense it might become. Still better to have cancelled ALL of the shows with at least one week’s full notice than disappoint fans already in their seat! (kk)
Look for a new documentary spotlighting the career of The Zombies …
Produced and directed by Robert Schwartzman, leader and frontman of the band Rooney, Hung Up On A Dream: The Zombies Documentary is an insightful and moving portrait of The Zombies, who first came to prominence in the ‘60s with such hits as “She’s Not There,” “Tell Her No” and “Time Of The Season.”
As the decades have passed, thanks to the rediscovery of their classic Odessey and Oracle album and a slate of strong new studio releases and a rigorous tour schedule, the band has seen its legacy and popularity blossom, culminating with the group’s induction into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.
Read more about it (as well as an interview with founding member Colin Blunstone) here: https://rockcellarmagazine.com/the-zombies-band-interview-colin-blunstone-documentary-2025/?utm_source=Rock+Cellar+Subscriber+Sign-Up+Popup&utm_campaign=2455da4696-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_8_26_2021_9_13_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_141dd5f77a-2455da4696-524395303&mc_cid=2455da4696&mc_eid=f8f75f98ed
Neil Diamond Performs 'Sweet Caroline' With 'A Beautiful Noise' Tour Cast in LA, July, 2025
https://youtu.be/-JXFotlaBSE?si=PRRXx6xAGOeFjOBf
We saw “Beautiful Noise” here in Chicago last year and were very disappointed … which is a shame, as I was really looking forward to it. (My very first live concert was Neil Diamond at The Civic Opera House in 1970.)
“Sweet Caroline” is ruined forever for me … between the revelation of the Caroline Kennedy connection several years ago … and the “bom, bom, bom” sing-along that has now become part of the song lyrics … I can’t even listen to it anymore. Another shame because at one time, I thought it was a great song. (kk)
Reminder: The $10 off per book offer on Rich Gardner’s WLS Survey books expires this Saturday (July 19th)
Head on over to his website now and get those orders in! (kk)
(The password is: wvetspoptop)
And, speaking of books …
The other day we told you about a new book that takes you inside The Record Plant. Some of the greatest albums every made were recorded here …
And this is a chance for you to meet and visit with the authors … next Friday Evening, July 25th, if you happen to be in the Sausalito area. More details below. (kk)
On Friday, July 25th, at 5:30 PM, Sausalito Books by the Bay (100 Bay Street, Sausalito, CA) will host an event for veteran music journalists Martin Porter and David Goggins (aka Mr. Bonzai) for their recently published Buzz Me In: Inside the Record Plant Studios (Thames & Hudson). Buzz Me In comprehensively chronicles the rise of the recording studios that birthed dozens of classic albums, starting in 1968 when the first Record Plant opened in New York and soon thereafter in Los Angeles. The Sausalito Record Plant which opened in 1972 and was the space where Fresh by Sly and the Family Stone, Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder, Prince’s debut For You, and many others were made.
For more about this new book, scroll back to our Sunday Comments Page dated 7-13-25. (kk)
And finally, from Chuck Buell …
60 YEARS AGO TODAY:
Hard to believe today, but on July 17th, 1965, The Byrds were forced to cancel a concert during their UK tour at The Guildhall in Portsmouth when only 250 of the 4,000 tickets had been sold.
