I interviewed American
Bandstand host Dick Clark in 1998 at his office in Burbank, Ca.
I asked Clark, a Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame inductee, about The Beatles. On November 26th, Disney+ broadcasts
the premiere of The Beatles Anthology 3-part series.
As a native of Los Angeles,
child of Hollywood and a teenager, I danced on American Bandstand
when it filmed in Hollywood in 1966. One time the Mamas & Papas and Bob
Lind were the in-studio guests. I was in the Slauson Line in May of 1966.
You can stop being jealous … or
telephone or email my longtime pal Bob Kushner who was with me for a weekend of
tapings.
I also danced briefly on Shebang,
another TV danced program hosted by DJ Casey Kasem that Clark produced. The
Beau Brummels were the guests. Surfer Peter Piper was my wingman back
then. We chatted a bit with regular dancer Famous Hooks, who Clark recently
heard from. And, yes, I still talk with
Peter.
Harvey Kubernik: I know Paul
McCartney appeared on one “American Music Awards” a few years back.
Looking around your office, I mean, photos of The Beatles, John Lennon,
Stuart Sutcliffe artwork, and I realized at one time you had a record label,
Swan, that issued “She Loves You” b/w “I’ll Get You” very early in the
game. Can we talk about The Beatles? The anthologies are selling as
are the BBC tapes. What impressed you about them? (Clark goes to
his office wall and shows me a Swan Records staff photo and a record
presentation to The Beatles on their first American tour in 1964. And you
ought to see the fantastic Jackie Wilson photo Dick has on the wall!)
Dick Clark: You asked for it (laughs).Here’s a ticket stub from November, 1961,
from a Beatles show which amounts to 42 cents U.S. money. Here’s the
photo of Bernie and Tony, my former partners in Swan, with The Beatles when I
was in the music business; after the government forced me out of the music
business, they went on with it.
The first record Bernie brought
back was from these four kids from England with the funny haircuts. I put
it (“She Loves You”) on “Rate-A-Record” (an American Bandstand segment)
and the kids gave it a 73. They didn’t like it. I thought they
looked strange.
I didn’t particularly care for
it because I thought it was derivative. It sounded like The Crickets and
Buddy Holly, and a little Chuck Berry. Recycled old American music.
I didn’t focus in on the fact that it had a different thrust. I had no
idea they would go on and make their own music and change the world. The
irony of the picture of Bernie and Tony with The Beatles and the record “She
Loves You” was that, had Swan sold 50,000 copies of “She Loves You” that we
played on “Rate-A-Record”, we would have had the rights to The Beatles ad
infinitum.
I said to Bernie years later,
“Why didn’t you buy 50,000 copies? (laughs) This was their second
release. Vee Jay and Ewart Abner had them first. Bernie was an
alert guy. Someone called his attention and he went over to England to check
The Beatles out. At the time, Capitol didn’t want them in the U.S.
I look at this photo. How
fate changes things. I’m looking at Ringo Starr ...
We did Birth Of The Beatles
and Pete Best got aced out of a drummer’s job and I met him and talked to
him. I wondered, how did this man walk around without being a total
nutcase, knowing that he got aced out of a job as one of four musicians who
changed the world? He was the technical advisor on our show. A
sweet man. I still hear from him.
HK: Did you ever see the band
play live in the U.S. or promote any of their live shows?
DC: I saw them in Atlantic City
on their first tour here. The first time I saw them in the flesh.
Several times thereafter.
HK: Did you like their stage
show?
DC: It was interesting because
it was like the first time I saw Elvis Presley. There was this shriek,
this sound, which I think is part of the reason they gave up performing in
person. It was very hard to hear the music. The audience reaction
was phenomenally interesting. That’s what I found about Presley. I
saw Presley in the ‘50’s at The Arena in Philadelphia, a 4,000 seater. It
was the first time my ears rang after a concert. The same thing happened
in Atlantic City when I saw The Beatles. So, you knew something was going
on. We later promoted them in Pittsburgh, I think. We had to pay
them $25,000 for the night, which was just incredibly expensive in those days.
Photos by Brad Elterman
Courtesy the Harvey Kubernik
Archives
Don Randi, Harvey Kubernik, Don
Peake, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones
“When I was the lead guitarist
of the Everly Brothers 1961–1963, we rotated nights with the Beatles in
Germany,” Los Angeles High School alum Don Peake reminded me during a 2023
interview.
“John and Paul watched our
shows. I always liked the Beatles and I knew they would be successful just like
the Rolling Stones, who opened for us on a tour of England in 1963.
“I’m on the John Lennon Rock
’n’ Roll album Phil Spector produced in 1973. John remembered me at
the sessions.”
If you think all of Keith
Richards’ guitar lessons were gleaned from the Eddie Cochran and Chuck Berry
playbooks, along with riffs on the Chess, Sun, Motown, and Stax record labels,
this is what Keith said to New Musical Express in 1963.
“I have picked up as many hints
on guitar playing as I can from Don Peake, who is the Everly Brothers
guitarist. He really is a fantastic guitarist, and the great thing about him is
that he is always ready to show me a few tricks.”
"We did 'Rubber Soul
Jazz,'" keyboardist/arranger Don Randi reminisced to me in a 2012
interview.
"We did it for Randy Wood, who
had Mirwood.Wood was formerly with
Vee-Jay Records. I loved the music from the start. If not the first fusion
album, one of the first to combine the feeling of jazz and rock together.
Marshall Leib. Thanks. He heard me playing these songs at Sherry’s Restaurant
on the Sunset Strip and asked if I would like to do the album.
“Half the people on the sessions
were Wrecking Crew people. But the fact was that we could do the music
instantly and it made it easier for everybody else. We stayed constant so that
they got used to dealing with a constant rhythm section. A band that
plays together and listens to each other. Because we had the ability to do
that. We didn’t have to do 20 takes.”
While his history on the pop charts here in America may seem minuscule, reggae artist Jimmy Cliff left his mark on the world’s music,
bringing reggae to the forefront as a new music genre.Between Cliff and reggae legend Bob Marley,
these artists paved the way for reggae music to gain and audience around the
world.
We first heard his music in late 1969 / early 1970 when his
first US chart hit, “Wonderful World, Beautiful People” soared to #10 here in
Chicago.(Nationally, it peaked at #18.
It would be nearly a quarter of a century before we’d see
that name on the charts again.In 1994, Jimmy’s
version of “I Can See Clearly Now” peaked at #8.(An earlier version by Johnny Nash, also a
prominent figure in the promotion of this new reggae sound, topped the charts
in 1972.Ironically, although he had
already been around for a decade scoring minor chart hits, Nash first gained
our attention with his 1968 reggae-tinged hit “Hold Me Tight,” which went to #3
in 1968.After his 1972 chart-topper “I
Can See Clearly Now,” Nash would just miss The National Top Ten the following
year when “Stir It Up” peaked at #11.)
The movie “The Harder They Come” put Cliff on the musical
map for good when it was released in 1972.He was inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2010.
Cliff’s family posted this death notice on social media:
It’s with profound sadness that
I share that my husband, Jimmy Cliff, has crossed over due to a seizure
followed by pneumonia. I am thankful for his family, friends, fellow artists
and coworkers who have shared his journey with him. To all his fans around the
world, please know that your support was his strength throughout his whole
career. He really appreciated each and every fan for their love. I also wanted
to thank Dr. Couceyro and the whole medical staff, as they have been extremely
supportive and helpful during this difficult process. Jimmy, my darling, may
you rest in peace. I will follow your wishes. I hope you all can respect our
privacy during these hard times. Further information will be provided at a
later date.
See you and we see you Legend.
Latifa , Lilty and Aken
Titled "No One Does It Like Ray Charles," this new LP represents a collection of Ray Charles gems from the '60's that never made their way to an LP before ... singles and B-Sides that for a Ray Charles collector like me, make this a "must have" for my collection. (And I just LOVE the cover!)
Here's the track list:
My Baby Don’t Dig Me (#50, 1964)
Without Love (#29, 1963)
The Brightest Smile in Town (#92, 1963)
Hide Nor Hair (#20, 1962)
My Baby (I Love Her, Yes I Do) #92-B, 1960
No One (#21, 1963)
Don’t Set Me Free (#20, 1963)
Something’s Wrong (#xx, 1964)
At the Club (#40, 1962)
Worried Life Blues (Someday Baby) #88, 1960
Who You Gonna Love (#92, 1960)
My Heart Cries For You (#38, 1964)
I just wish there were more tracks here ... lots more rare, hard-to-get material is available from this era. (kk)
Kent,
Enjoyed the write-up about Len Barry.
Got a question and I realize I could do some investigative follow-up, but
several years ago on my show I played a song by Barry called "4-5-6,"
which was supposed to be an answer to "1-2-3,". Can't remember the
label offhand but I don't believe it was Decca. Now I borrowed the record, it
was not mine, so I have no way of checking ... but it was never played in this
market to my remembrance. I don't have the record. Are you familiar with this
record?
Have a Happy Thanksgiving and be
sure and do the TURKEY TROT with Little Eva.
Larry Neal
Len Barry DID cut a follow-up record (for the Amy label) in
1968 … and it actually charted (in Cash Box and Record World anyway), bubbling
under at #122 and #125 respectively.
Its official title was “4, 5, 6 (Now I’m Alone)” … and this
one sounds a bit like “Early Morning Blues And Greens” by The Monkees!I don’t really get the 4-5-6 connection here
… probably more a gimmick to get it played more than anything else.(Len’s last Top 40 Hit was two years prior.)
I was surprised to see that John Madara also had a hand in
writing this one.
I wasn’t familiar with it until you brought it up … but I
did find this clip on YouTube …
Jim Roup shares some "timely" 1965 memories from KRLA, featuring the recently mentioned Len Barry and The Spokesmen!
>>>Sixty years ago this
week we were down at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego shooting the pilot for
what was then called "The Monkeys." We filmed from November 13th
through November 22nd. None of us had any idea that those days on the beach and
around that beautiful old hotel would launch something that would stay with us
for the rest of our lives.I was just a
young actor having fun and doing the work alongside Davy, Peter and Michael.
Then suddenly the whole world changed. The show, the records, the touring … it
all grew out of that first little pilot shoot.I’m grateful every time I think about it. The friends I made. The music
we created. The people who’ve stayed with us for decades. I kept a lot of notes
and photos back then, and when I go through them now I shake my head and smile.
We were kids doing a job. Somehow it turned into a piece of pop history.Thanks for keeping the memories alive with
me.(Micky Dolenz)
A clipping from Gary Pig Gold …
After our piece on the Buddy
Holly street markings ran we received a few responses …
Kent:
I was not aware of this.
I would suggest anyone wanting
to reverse this ruling in Lubbock, to reach out the Transportation Secretary
ASAP:
The Honorable Sean Duffy
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20590
Additionally, you can reach out
to your State Senator and ask them to contact Mr. Duffy and ENCOURAGE him to
allow Lubbock to be a exception to the rule.
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