re: ON THE RADIO:
Kent ...
As you correctly pointed out, I'm always raiding WCBS-FM for my music information.
I think it's time I gave them a plug in your newsletter.
Starting Monday, 11/22/10, WCBS-FM will be playing their entire music library in alphabetical order .... from ABBA to ZZ TOP.
Really interesting mixture ... Pop, Doo-Wop, Instrumental, Country-Crossover, Christmas ... a little bit of everything.
If I remember correctly, it takes a week to get from ABBA to ZZ TOP. Internet listeners can use WCBSFM.com
Frank B.
I love special programming like this ... always keeps you guessing as to what might be featured next. (XM60's used to do a thing where they played all the hits of the '60's CHRONOLOGICALLY!!! GREAT way to see how music changed over the course of music's most interesting decade.)
Wish we could tune in and listen at work but we have a "no radios" policy ... would LOVE to hear this from start to finish! (Maybe some of our listeners can tune in and enjoy the festivities!) kk
Hi,
Just thought that you may be interested in a brand new internet oldies station that we've just launched.For the past 13 years I've presented a regular show on satellite radio here in Europe.
The show, called Stafford's World, currently goes out on 12 stations around the world.
One key feature of the shows is the vast range of 60's and 70's oldies from both sides of the Atlantic that get featured.Off the back of this, "Oldies Paradise" was launched.We reckon that we're playing songs from one of the biggest radio station music libraries on the whole planet!
Have a listen at: www.oldiesparadise.com
Let us know what you think.
Mark Stafford
Oldies Paradise
re: TURKEY DAY:
Here's a fun one to watch before Thanksgiving, courtesy of Regular FH Contributor Frank B: Click here: Saying You Care -- Interactively BusinessWeek
>>>Need some help from the FH readers. Each week I contribute a half hour music show to a friend's local internet blog. Each show typically has about 5-7 songs that revolve around a given topic, usually something current. The Thanksgiving show will have songs about thank you. I try to include songs that are never heard on the radio, such as Thanks A lot, by Brenda Lee. Anyways the request I have is for FH readers to suggest topics and / or songs to go with it. Even comedy bits. The format can be rock, country, MOR, blues ... hey, if a polka song fit in, I'd play it. The more zanier ideas the better.I can be reached at: rockandrollneverforgets@yahoo.com. Thanks. (Jack)
>>>Of course, MY Thanksgiving Favorite has always been "Alice's Restaurant" ... we even got Y103.9 to play that one four times a few Thanksgivings ago! (lol) Lots of songs with "thanks" in the title ... a few that immediately come to mind (some a bit more obscure than others) would be "Be Thankful For What You Got" by William DeVaughn, "I Thank You" by either Sam and Dave or ZZ Top (depending on your audience mix), "Thank You For Being A Friend" by Andrew Gold, "Thank You Girl" by the tulu-baby Beatles, ... or my PERSONAL favorite, "Thank You And Good Night" by The Angels (which would also make a GREAT way to close the show!) You could go a bit further out there and feature "Thank U Very Much" by Scaffold (featuring Paul McCartney's brother, Mike McGear) or even "Thanks For The Memories", the Bob Hope theme song. Then again, we have ALL Thank(ed) The Lord For The Night-Time from time to time, haven't we? (John Denver even Thank(ed) God (He Was) A Country Boy! Or just slip in something "sly" like "Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin"!!!) I'm sure our readers can probably come up with DOZENS more ... but you'll need to get them to Jack QUICK so he can include a few of these ideas on his show. Just email him directly at the address above. (And Jack, let us know which ones you decided to go with!) Thanks! (kk)Wow, Jack and Kent, we were all on the same wavelength!
(Great minds ... and all that)
I just posted yesterday my weekly Listing Slightly column -- this one on Thank You songs.
http://www.minnpost.com/listingslightly/2010/11/19/23530/lots_of_songs_to_be_thankful_for (Kent, you'll see a few there you nominated today -- including Bob Hope.)
(Jack, you'll see two versions of "Thanks A Lot" -- both Brenda Lee and Ernest Tubb.)
Jack, in the righthand column, you'll also see other recent lists of mine. Some of them may fit your needs, including an extensive list of "World" songs, "Dream" songs, weather ones and more. (And there's a year's worth archived on our MinnPost site.)
Both of you, keep up the great work.
Best,
Don Effenberger
After I posted Jack's original request, I got in the car to drive to work and IMMEDIATELY thought of "Thank You For The Music" by ABBA, a totally apropos track, especially for a radio program saluting Thanksgiving! But I have to admit, I NEVER would have thought of "Danke Schoen" in a million years ... what a GREAT suggestion ... pure genius!!!
(Of course you could also dedicate half your program to Little Eva and Dee Dee Sharp ... between "Let's Turkey Trot", "Mashed Potato Time" and "Gravy", you'd pretty well be covered! (I guess "Do The Bird" might even qualify, eh???)
How about the very end of "Strawberry Fields Forever" when John Lennon mumbles "Cranberry Sauce" ... not "I buried Paul" as so many suspected way back when!!!
Hopefully, you got a few other responses directly from the readers themselves ... now be sure to let us know which selections you decided to go with! (kk)
Watch for more HELPING OUT OUR READERS features tomorrow on the website!
And, speaking of "Danke Schoen" ... and Wayne Newton ...
re: WAYNE NEWTON:
Wayne Newton Wants His Home To Become A Tourist Destination « WCBS-FM 101.1
Kent ...
I wonder if Wayne will still be living there as we tour his home ?
Frank B.
According to the article:
If Wayne Newton gets his way, his home may replace the recently closed Liberace Museum on Las Vegas tourist maps.
His 40-acre Casa de Shenandoah estate, six miles off The Strip, contains a career’s worth of memorabilia connecting him to such icons as Elvis Presley, Jack Benny, Bobby Darin, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra.
But his neighbors aren’t pleased with the idea that the man dubbed Mister Las Vegas will soon be drawing buses filled with visitors to their neighborhood.
It’s no secret Newton could use the money. He went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the ’90s to erase $20-million in debts and back taxes. Recently, sheriff’s deputies tried to collect a half-million-dollar judgment from a lawsuit by his former pilot.
I had the opportunity to meet Wayne Newton a few years ago at the official dedication ceremony held by The Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, were they placed Bobby Darin's star on the celebrity walkway. He has nothing but the utmost respect for all that Darin did to further his career and says that not a day goes by that he doesn't thank him and think of him, all these years later. As a huge Bobby Darin fan myself, (I know, I know ... when is the series FINALLY going to make it up on the website?!?!?), it was VERY moving to hear him talk about his mentor ... the man who kick-started his career. (Bobby discovered Wayne while he was still singing with his brothers and convinced him to give it a go as a solo act. In fact, Bobby gave up his own sure-fire hit when he let Newton record "Danke Schoen", a move that infuriated the song's composer, Bert Kaempfert, who had given Darin worldwide rights at first crack to his latest composition, a song that HE felt had "Bobby Darin" written all over it. Newton earned a respectable #12 showing on the charts ... but everybody involved at the time felt that "Danke Schoen" could have been Bobby's next "Mack The Knife", had he chosen to record and release it himself. Listen to the intro and you'll see that this is exactly the direction they were going!) kk
DANKE 1: For years, rumors have persisted that Bobby Darin DID, in fact, record "Danke Schoen" ... and that the arrangement used by Wayne Newton was actually Bobby's recording with his vocals wiped off, replaced by Wayne's. Listening to the arrangement, this sounds like it certainly could be the case. However, in all the decades since, a Bobby Darin version has never surfaced ... which I guess could mean that it never really happened ... OR that once Bobby's vocals were erased, a Darin version simply no longer existed!
DANKE 2: While I really enjoy hearing "Danke Schoen" once in a while today, I will admit that this has not always been the case. When this song was actually popular, I HATED it!!! What put it over the top for me was watching Ferris Buehler lip-sync to it in the big parade scene filmed right here in Chicago! One of my all-time favorite scenes from one of my all-time favorite movies ... and I've loved it ever since!
re: PAUL McCARTNEY:
It has been announced that Paul McCartney will be the musical guest on "Saturday Night Live" on December 11th. This will be Macca's THIRD appearance on the program.
He first appeared in May of 1980 ... a highlight of that program was then-series semi-regular Don Novello (as Father Guido Sarducci) interviewing McCartney with repeated references to his affection for marijuana. The video for McCartney's #1 Hit "Coming Up" was also aired that night, with Paul and Linda each playing numerous roles as band members performing McCartney's solo version of the hit from his McCartney II album ... the HIT single was the "Live In Glasgow" version.
McCartney appeared again in 1993 and performed in a few skits with host Alec Baldwin. This time he performed a couple of tracks from his brand new "Off The Ground" album (as well as "Hey Jude") and did his now classic interview with Chris Farley. ("Remember ... when you were in The Beatles ... ")
This time around, Paul will be performing a couple of selections from the recently released, newly remastered "Band On The Run" LP, available in a variety of versions from vinyl to single, double and triple CD's along with a deluxe version that includes a hard-cover book. (kk)
In other Beatles-related news ...
re: THE BEATLES:
"BEATexpo 2010: Celebrating the Fans and Music of The Beatles" is a music festival / fan convention coming up soon - the Saturday & Sunday of Thanksgiving Weekend (November 27 & 28), and advance tickets are still on sale but only until Friday the 26th at Noon. Admission will also be available at the door. There will be "Three Full Floors of Fab Four Fun," and it's all taking place at the Downtown Stamford Holiday Inn, 700 E. Main Street in Stamford, CT, where indoor garage parking if free and the special room rates have been negotiated for fans staying over.
At "BEATexpo," we are giving away FREE TICKETS to Broadway shows including "Million Dollar Quartet," "39 Steps" and "American Idiot." We are also trying to get tickets to give away for RAIN on Broadway and Paul McCartney at the Apollo!Updates: The revised schedule for Saturday & Sunday has been posted here:
BEATexpo 2010 ITINERARY.
There will be some surprise performances not listed on the schedule. Singer Julie Grant will be singing her UK hit version of "Up On The Roof" with The MerseyBeat, and Gary DeCarlo will be singing his hit with the band, too.
Who is Gary DeCarlo? The last #1 song in 1969, which knocked The Beatles' "Come Together / Something" out of the top spot, was "Na Na Hey Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye" by Steam. Gary DeCarlo, who also was known by his stage name Garrett Scott, was the lead singer on that classic anthem!
The complete guest list is as follows:
Denny Laine, Tommy Roe, Sid Bernstein, Richard (Beatles Engineer) Langham, Gary (Elephants Memory) Van Scyoc, Dennis (Lennon Engineer) Ferrante, Shannon (Beatles artist), Julie (British 60s singer / Beatles friends) Grant, Lada (Hullabaloo dancer) Edmund, Juma (Hendrix percussionist) Sultan, Gary (Steam) DeCarlo and Pat Horgan & members of Thunder Road (Garage Band Beatles).
JUST ADDED:
On November 27, Jimi Hendrix would have celebrated his 68th birthday. Celebrate the occasion with his percussionist, Juma Sultan, at "BEATexpo 2010,: a music festival and fan convention Saturday, November 27 from 8 pm - Midnight and Sunday, November 28 from Noon - 8 pm at the Downtown Stamford (Connecticut) Holiday Inn.Percussionist Juma Sultan shot to international fame when he stepped onstage of the 1969 Woodstock Festival as a member of Jimi Hendrix's band, "Gypsy Sun & Rainbows." In the early '60s, Juma moved to New York from his native California, formed the Aboriginal Music Society, and began playing gigs. He jammed with various jazz musicians, including saxophonist Sonny Simmons, in Greenwich Village. It was there that he met and befriended guitar legend Jimi Hendrix. He wrote and recorded with Hendrix from late 1968 until the legendary guitarist's death. His work appears on numerous Jimi Hendrix recordings that were released posthumously. In the early '70s, Mr. Sultan returned to the jazz world forming the New York Musicians Organization. He has produced concerts, managed artists, and continues to perform.Over the Summer, Juma was a Special Guest of Honor at "ROCK CON: Weekend of 100 Rock Stars" and he is excited to be a part of his first New England Expo. There's a nice Beatles connection to Hendrix, as Jimi was the first artist to cover "Sgt. Pepper" live onstage, which blew away The Beatles when they went to see him perform in London. Juma feels that the Beatles shaped music forever. They reached back into musical past utilizing tribal rhythm patterns to establish a new backbeat for a modern generation. Juma believes that Ringo Starr is an unsung hero in the field of rock and roll drumming and deserves much more respect than he has received. The soft sounds of early sixties groups were obsolete once the Beatles came about and altered music forever. The Beatles were innovators, like Jimi Hendrix was, and no one can ever match their sounds.Juma will be more than happy to meet fans and sign autographs, and perhaps play some bongos on stage at the event.
The list of guest authors is:
Jude (Shivering Inside) Kessler, David (Liddypool) Kessler, Kevin (The McCartneys) Roach, John (Life is What Happens ... ) Borack and Judith (Dear John Lennon) Furedi.
Performing live in concert:
NY Beatles band "The MerseyBeat," McCartney tribute band "One Sweet Dream," Long Island acoustic Beatles act "Something The Band." Also, Special Guests Ian (Stories) Lloyd & John (Strawbs) Ford will be doing a special Beatles set, and both Tommy Roe and Denny Laine are set to perform live.
The Fabulous Fab Four Film-Fest will feature vintage videos and rare clips, and the New England premiere of the full-length Lennon feature film "Let Him Be" will be screened on Sunday at 3pm. If the room is filled to capacity, there may be a second showing at 6 pm.
The Beatles Karaoke room, Red Dot Art Gallery, Beatles RockBand competition, Shannon's live paintings and the mammoth music & memorabilia marketpace will be Sunday only. The music festival concerts will be Saturday only. Again, see schedule.
Media sponsors for BEATexpo 2010 are WEBE (with Storm n Norman as guest MC), the New Haven Advocate / Fairfield Weekly and News12 Connecticut.
Our designated charity is www.KissesFromKatie.org.
Advance tickets still available online at: www.ToursAndEvents.com/BEATexpo.htm.
Further information on "BEATexpo 2010" is available by calling (203) 795-4737 or from the website: http://toursandevents.com/BEATexpo.htm.
"It's guaranteed to raise a smile!"
-- Charles Rosenay
And, from The Forgotten Hits Book Club ...
Kent ...
Just finished reading "John Lennon - Life Is What Happens," by John Borack.
Instead of calling this a book, I think photo album would be a better description.
Here's what I learned.
--- August 1966 - San Francisco, last stop on Beatles Tour. Beatles decide to stop touring.
--- " She Said, She Said "- Based on an acid trip Lennon took in LA with Peter Fonda , David Crosby & others.
--- " Tomorrow Never Knows " - was a byproduct of Lennon's LSD use.
--- November 1966, John meets Yoko Ono at art show at London's Indica Gallery.
--- Strawberry Fields was a Salvation Army house in Liverpool where John Lennon used to play as a child.
--- Lennon said we didn't break up because we weren't friends: we just broke up out of sheer boredom,and boredom creates tension.
--- Last Beatles Album "Let It Be," released May 1970.
--- First John Lennon Solo Album "John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band," released - December 1970.
Frank B.
re: THE NEW COLONY SIX:
>>>I'll be doing a 2 PM phone mini-interview on WGN radio, 720 AM Chicago, but streaming worldwide - happening this afternoon, Sunday, 11-21. We'll be kicking around the garage era of the band and they'll be playing "Dawn Is Breaking" - first time on the radio in what, maybe 45+ years. (Ray Graffia, Jr.)
>>>Hopefully we're getting this out JUST in time to let people know to tune in and listen ... the show airs in just a couple of hours! (Hey, you've been on the radio more recently than that!!! I can think of at least half a dozen times in the past few years ... including once with me and Dave The Rave, literally minutes before you guys took the stage at CaveStomp!!!) kk
Thanks for the post this morning, Kent.
Two things though:
Too late to share but now they are telling me maybe closer to 2:30-2:45 than 2 PM
Mention of 45+ years referred to the last time anybody played Dawn Is Breaking on an AM radio station.
Happy and peace-filled Thanksgiving in case we do not “talk” sooner!
Ray
OK, totally missed that reference ... my bad! Hoping some of the folks tuned in and hung in there because you're right, they didn't even first mention The New Colony Six until about 2:44. (When they finally did, they also mentioned a new Friday Night Series on WGN that'll focus on the Chicago music scene "The Secret History Of Chicago Music", a tie-in to "The Reader", spotlighting many of the artists who were an integral part of the local music scene way back when, something we tend to cover faithfully here in Forgotten Hits, too ... and something that Jeff James TRIED to launch ... as The Windy City @ 6 ... on Y103.9 recently, too. Neat to see and hear that there is still an interest in this music that was such a big part of our lives growing up in Chicago in the '60's and early '70's!) Prior to Ray Graffia, Jr. hitting the airwaves, there was a WHOLE lot of conversation about the new Harry Potter Movie, so I'm hoping a few of the faithful hung in there for the brief interview ... and the playing of "Dawn Is Breaking", one of MY early favorites, too. (It was the original B-Side of "I Confess", their #2 Chicagoland Hit in early 1966 ... why the heck they had to run a Garry Meier promo over the song intro is beyond me, however!!! Seems to me that if you're going to do a show about this era of music, feature the damn song ... they then cut it off after a verse and a half to discuss the track rather than give listeners a chance to actually HEAR it!!! This is helpful how???) kk
Hey Kent,
If you missed Ray and Nick today, you can hear the podcast here: http://www.wgnradio.com/shows/nickd/wgnam-nickd-uncut-podcast-101121b,0,7893248.mp3file
The file starts with music form a local artist and then moves to Ray and the NC6. Nick has been a great addition to my radio experience since I found him on WGN. It is too bad that he is no longer on Sunday nights, but you can catch up on his podcasts of many great rare interviews with Steve Krakow and artists of Chicago including the Cryan Shames and recently, Shadows of Knight! Nick is funny and knows rock music. His secret history segment will be every other night on Friday nights at 11:30. Thank God it is back. Steve does a good job and you can see his drawings of the artists featured in Chicago Reader that week as well! Check his latest out: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/ArticleArchives?category=936007
Email Steve at: plasticcw@hotmail.com
Clark Besch
Actually, I heard it and found it to be a MAJOR disappointment! (See my comments above as to just what I DIDN'T like about the program. To recap:
Less than five minutes spent on the entire topic ... a Garry Meier promo running over the intro of "Dawn Is Breaking" and then they cut it off after a verse and a half to talk about THEIR interpretation of the sound rather than discuss it with Ray, who NEVER would have had a chance to take a single phone call in that time space allotment. They barely let him answer the two questions they asked him!)
Here goes another program that has the capability to really spotlight this era and I feel like they TOTALLY blew it. In fact, I described it as "disrespectful" when I exchanged emails with Ray shortly after it aired.
Maybe the REGULAR program will be better ... but they did NOT win me over as a fan based on this afternoon's snippet. (And here I figured this would be a GREAT match between Forgotten Hits and The Secret History Of Chicago Music ... it COULD have been ... and it SHOULD have been ... but they REALLY got off on the wrong foot in my book!)
re: JUST ENOUGH TIME FOR A COUPLE OF FUN VIDEOS:
Here are a couple of MY favorites that I discovered this past week:
Click here: YouTube - "Uh Oh" by the Nutty Squirrels
Click here: YouTube - Heroes and Villains - The Fendertones
This last one is guaranteed to completely blow you away!!! AMAZING! (kk)
