Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Some Of Your Mid-Week Comments


re:  ASKING AGAIN FOR YOUR PRAYERS:

Got this from Dennis Tufano Monday Evening ...
Kent -
I'm sure you've heard bits about Sonny Geraci being hospitalized.
The following is a statement approved from his family to post.
Early last month my good friend Sonny Geraci was diagnosed with AVM (arteriovenous malformation). 
He has been through two brain surgeries with no complications. He is currently in Intensive Care. 
Please send your healing prayers for a full recovery to Sonny and his Family.
"Updates" will post when available.
Thank you.
Dennis   

re:  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!:
To Tommy Roe ... who turns 70 today!  Scroll back to May 2nd to see Tommy's upcoming concert appearances!  (kk)   

re:  ON THE RADIO:
Kent,
Be sure to tune in to this month's edition of Randy on the Radio on Top Shelf Oldies (http://topshelfoldies.org) on Wednesday, May 9, 8 - 9 pm ET. Most of the music on this show will be songs from this year's IRS104 (It Really Shoulda been a Top 10 hit) survey compiled by Rich Appel. And I'll be giving away a 4-CD set of all 104 songs to a lucky winner who correctly answers a question about this year's survey that I will ask during the show. Lots of great oldies from the '60s and '70s (along with some '50s and '80s). Don't miss it!
(Archive of previous shows can be found here: http://ramtownlive.com/Wednesdayextras.html#randy)
-– Randy Price
This one airs tonight ... and it sounds like a GREAT show, Randy.  (Rich compiled a great list of tracks for this year's IRS104, thanks to oldies fans across the country voting for their favorite tracks that SHOULD have been a Top Ten Hit!)  Can't wait to hear the results.  (Dang!  Now I want a copy of the 4-CD set, too!!!)  kk 

We've been telling you for months now about Y-103.9's Jeff James' "From The Vault" feature on YouTube ...  Click here: jeff james from the vault - YouTube
You'll find pages and pages of these clips here ... and LOTS of Forgotten Hits to boot!
We'll be teaming up with Jeff next month for a very special Y103.9 / Forgotten Hits "From The Vault" segment, featuring some of your Favorite, Forgotten B-Sides ... and yours truly will be joining Jeff to film some of these segments!  Stay tuned for more details ... but, in the meantime, get in the habit of checking out his site for lots more great forgotten hits.  (Be sure to bookmark his site for repeat visits!)  kk 



re:  THE BEACH BOYS:
>>>We've been dissecting the new Beach Boys single ... it sounds SO familiar ... probably because elements of so many other songs can be heard within it.  It starts off sounding like "Silhouettes" ... then goes into a little bit of "Saving All My Love For You", the Whitney Houston classic ... by the chorus it sounds like The Beach Boys' own "Good Timin'" ... and, overall ... as Frannie pointed out ... it REALLY sounds an awful lot like "Midnight Cowboy"!!!  Listen to it again and see what else you can find!  (Consider this our "Where's Waldo" challenge of the day!)  Bottom line is once you mix it all together, it sounds GREAT!  Even Paige had to admit "The more I hear this song, the more I like it!"  And we do, too!  Really, the PERFECT lead-off single for the new LP.  (kk)   
The Beach Boys new single is very good. Frannie hit it best with "Midnight Cowboy".  I also got an inkling to sing "You Belong To Me" by The Duprees, and, for a split second, got a taste of "You Only Live Twice" by Nancy Sinatra.
Alex Valdez
Yes, I heard a little bit of "You Belong To Me", too.  (kk)   

Morning Kent,
This past Wednesday WDRC in CT "introduced" The Beach Boys new song on the
morning show, also announcing the next two times it was going to be played that week, and asking for listener feedback.  I was in the car on my way to school so I never called in, but was eagerly listening to others' reactions.  The first one stumped me.  She asked if the station was going to be able to add the song to their playlists, as she liked it and would like to hear it often.  My mind races quickly so I was thinking, "That's a ridiculous question, why couldn't they?" before Jerry Kristofer and Mike Stevens were able to respond with:
WE DON'T KNOW.  IT WILL BE UP TO THE STATION DIRECTORS.  WE ARE ONLY PEONS
WORKING HERE.
This initially looks like a typical wise-crack from a couple of radio personalities, but here is the situation:  WDRC is an OLDIES station and this is a NEW song.  Who would have thought that our insistence on providing the music we love on air could eliminate a song from a group that we love to hear?  Maybe we need a GROUPS OF THE FIFTIES, SIXTIES, AND SEVENTIES radio station.  This is like the Garage Band category.
Shelley J. Sweet-Tufano
I have ALWAYS maintained that new music by established oldies artists SHOULD be featured as part of oldies radio programming ... maybe not in heavy rotation ('cause it is, after all, an OLDIES station) ... but scattered airplay to let the fans and listeners out there know that many of these artists are still creating great music today.  (Some recent releases by Tommy James and The Zombies and several others hold up just as well as some of their best-known material.)  Pay It Forward ... let the folks know when these artists are coming to town or releasing new material.  (That's what we try to do here in Forgotten Hits!)  Meanwhile, late '80's releases like Roy Orbison's "You Got It" and The Beach Boys' "Kokomo" found their way into regular oldies rotation without having to wait the "required" 25-30 years for these songs to truly become "oldies" ... and folks accepted these songs just fine ... because they're GOOD songs ... and stay true to the original sound and integrity of the artists.  Should oldies radio spin the new Beach Boys track?  Absolutely!  Their 50th Anniversary Tour will be one of the biggest tours of the year ... why NOT milk it for everything it's worth?!?!?  (lol)  kk    

Kent ...
The Beach Boys appeared on Jimmy Fallon Monday night. Hope you took a nap and stayed up late!
Frank B.
Nope, I missed it ... so send us a full report!  (kk)
Kent ...
Just watched the Beach Boys on Late Night.  They opened the show with "In My Room".
Brian Wilson and Mike Love talked to Jimmy Fallon. Brian said his School of Harmony was the Four Freshman. Jimmy asked Brian if he listened to the radio. He said he listens to the 50's station ... Penguins, Del-Vikings, etc.
Brian told an Elvis story. He asked Elvis to come and listen to the Beach Boys. When Elvis arrived , Brian was fooling around -- gave Elvis a karate chop and hurt his hand.  Elvis said "I'm out of here" and left the building.
Beach Boys closed the show with "That's Why God Made The Radio" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice".
Frank B.
Sounds like a great show ... amazing to see "The Boys" get that much screen time ... but this 50th Anniversary Reunion is a BIG deal ... so I LOVE seeing it being treated that way.  Missed the show ... but will be looking for clips online!  (kk)
Kent ...
Here it is for those who missed it:
http://wcbsfm.radio.com/2012/05/08/the-beach-boys-take-over-late-night-watch-wouldnt-it-be-nice-two-more-performances/Frank B.
Yeah, that's the play-by-play version ... but we found the complete entire show ... and you can view it here (for a limited time):   
Click here: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon - Monday, May 7, 2012 - Video - NBC.com
A GREAT show ... with LOTS of screen time (The Beach Boys occupy every bit of a third of Jimmy's show!)  As Frank said, they literally open the show with "In My Room", then Brian Wilson and Mike Love come out for a short but entertaining interview ... (you'll even find Jimmy Fallon harmonizing with them on a line from "Barbara Ann") ... and then, they close the show with their new single "That's Why God Made The Radio" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" plays out over the credits.  They sound good, Fallon holds up the new LP cover (which Brian said he was seeing for the very first time) and they actually look like they're enjoying themselves (which is a KEY part to all of this working!!!)  Check it out if you can ... this will only be posted for a short time.  (kk) 
 
re:  NEW MUSIC FOR OLD PEOPLE:
I just discovered this site last week and have been enjoying the selections.  The whole thing was put together by Al Kooper, who's making it a point to show old foggies like us that there are artists out there still making great, new music that will appeal to '60's fanatics like ourselves ... radio simply isn't playing any of it!  (I've been talking with Al lately about doing a Forgotten Hits interview ... hopefully we'll have some good news to share on that in the weeks to come!)
Meanwhile, here are all the details (and a few disclaimers) from the man himself regarding this new project  (kk) ...   
Thank you for your interest in my column. The following URL, at any given point in time, has EVERY column starting a year ago, concluding with the latest one published this week.  This will help you catch up if you are newbies to the column. Kind of like past unviewed seasons of Mad Men.
To hear all the music included, unfortunately one must access from an actual computer as opposed to an iPhone or iPad. This is because of the Flash controversy and there is nothing at all I can do about it as my column is published by someone else who has chosen not to do anything about it.  My apologies. 
However, if you do listen on a computer with great HEADphones (as opposed to EARbuds) I guarantee great sound 90% of the time, based on the source material which I am very careful about using. 
We encourage you to use the Comments Bar at the end of each column and your comments are always read by yours truly in an attempt to further communication between all of us.
The concept was to include new music that I felt you might enjoy and old music that I
felt you may have missed. There are also concept columns every now and then to spice things up. You can check them all out on the above URL. The column is delivered every Thursday, usually late at night, for Friday reading by those that go through The Morton Report.
I would like to thank Bob Lefsetz for his endorsement of the column as it has brought over 500 of you into listenership and that is amazing to me over a two day period.
I truly hope you enjoy it.
Since most of you are in the music business, I have a favor to ask.
I am trying to keep this an APOLITICAL column; i.e. I only play music I hear on iTunes or Amazon and download based on my personal taste. So I beseech thee NOT to send me any music as that would corrupt what I am trying to do and I don't want to politicize the column with music from personal friends, etc.. It's nothing personal to friends who make music, but I listen to all the new releases every week and draw older tracks from my personal collection of 10,000 LPS, 4,000 45's, and 4,000 CD's. I switched to mp3's in late 2003, and have over 23,000 of those puppies.
But now forget all of that and listen in on some hopefully tasty tracks every  week.
Lemme know what you think in the Comment Column and thanks so much for initially supporting this venture with your time and interest.
I'll shut up for now and see you again Thursday night.
@l k%per  

re:  ON THE ROAD AGAIN:
Kent ... 
Thanks so much for  the mention of the tour. They tell us tickets are going well. As you may know I'm doing the first three gigs alone -- two shows in Wyoming and one in San Francisco. Danny will join me for the next seven shows: Altadena, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Phoenix, Sedona and ending up in Denver.
Again, the schedule is on my website www.boblind.com/gigs and on Danny's www.dannyokeefe.com.  We appreciate your getting the word out.
Bob Lind
Glad to do it!  And if any of our Forgotten Hits Readers are able to catch any of these shows, please drop us a line or send us a review of the concert!  (And be sure to say "hi" to Bob and Danny for us!)  kk     

HAPPY TOGETHER TOUR TO CELEBRATE THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR IN "SIXTIES STYLE" BY BRINGING BACK SOME OF THE DECADE'S MOST POPULAR ARTISTS THE TURTLES FEATURING FLO & EDDIE, THE MONKEES LEAD SINGER MICKY DOLENZ, THE BUCKINGHAMS, THE GRASS ROOTS AND NEWEST ADDITION, GARY PUCKETT & THE UNION GAP TO EMBARK ON MAJOR U.S. TOUR BEGINNING JUNE 8, 2012 
Here they come again to a venue near you!
In the summer of 2010, the Happy Together Tour -- which featured five incredible artists performing some of the greatest pop rock of the sixties -- took to the road in celebration of the tour's 25th Anniversary with many of the same artists that shared the stage together in 1985 including The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie, The Grass Roots and The Buckinghams.
To no one's real surprise, the sixties faithful would show up in mass to see the show, which also included Mark Lindsay, former lead singer of Paul Revere & The Raiders, and The Monkees lead singer Micky Dolenz.
For last year's tour, The Association went along for the ride (while Micky Dolenz toured with The Monkees) and it, too, had similar success.
Both tours, encompassing approximately 20 dates each, played to many-a-packed house throughout the United States and, as a result, Happy Together is now returning for its third consecutive year on an extensive 42 date tour beginning June 8 in Columbus, Georgia (see complete itinerary below).
Along with The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie, The Monkees lead singer Micky Dolenz, The Buckinghams and The Grass Roots, new addition Gary Puckett & The Union Gap will be a part of the festivities.
Gary Puckett & The Union Gap was one of the most successful musical groups of the sixties. Gary's unmistakable signature voice garnered six consecutive gold records and top ten Billboard hits such as "Young Girl" and "Woman Woman." In 1968, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap sold more records than any other artist including the Beatles. Gary Puckett has performed on more than thirty network television shows and prime time specials during his career, even adding a command performance for the President and Prince Charles at the White House. The Union Gap disbanded in 1971. Gary continues to tour nationally and internationally.
"Happy Together" by The Turtles hit #1 on the charts in 1967 (displacing the Beatles' "Penny Lane") and remains a staple on classic rock radio to this day. Although their biggest hit and signature song, it's just one of their nine Top 40 hits, which includes such popular songs as "She'd Rather Be With Me," "Elenore," "You Showed Me" and "It Ain't Me Babe." In 1968, far ahead of their time, they would release one of music's first concept albums, The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands, where they pretended to be eleven different bands with different names, each providing a song in a different genre.The album -- which showcased their incredible range of vocal talent -- spawned the hits "Elenore" and "You Showed Me" (both peaking at #6 on the Billboard charts). Mark and Howard have remained plenty busy over the years with both The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie and their extracurricular music activities. In 2009, a new Turtles compilation CD was released titled, Save The Turtles: The Turtles Greatest Hits, which was issued on their own FloEdCo label. In all, the band has sold over 60 million albums worldwide to date.  
In 1966, hot on the heels of their new NBC television show, The Monkees would release a self-titled debut album that would top the U.S. charts for thirteen consecutive weeks and sell an overwhelming 3.2 million copies in just three months. The single, "Last Train to Clarksville," from the album would be their first #1 hit. Their second #1 hit came quickly with "I'm a Believer" (featured on the band's second album, More of The Monkees), which had over a million advance orders. The band would continue to put out numerous hits such as "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" and "Pleasant Valley Sunday" among others... In 1986, the four members got together for "The Monkees 20th Anniversary World Tour," a 145 date trek that would become the largest grossing tour of the year. The band -- who reconvened this year for a brief but memorable tour -- remain as iconic as ever...
"Kind of a Drag" from The Buckinghams would also reach the pinnacle of chart success, yet mark just one of many popular hits from the band including "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," "Don't You Care," "Susan" and "Hey Baby (They're Playing Our Song)." Their success in 1967 would lead them to be named "The Most Listened To Band in America" by Billboard Magazine.
The Grass Roots burst upon the scene in '67 and would not only amass over a dozen Top 40 hits, but go on to perform in front of an estimated 600,000 people in Washington, D.C. on July 4, 1982 setting an all-time attendance record for an concert performance consisting of just one act. Between 1967 and 1972 -- thanks to numerous hits such as "Midnight Confessions," "Let's Live For Today," "Sooner or Later," "I'd Wait A Million Years" and "Temptation Eyes," the band would set a record for being on the Billboard charts for 307 consecutive weeks. Sadly, we lost lead singer Rob Grill in 2010 but the music lives on...
Once again, fans can expect to hear many of their favorite hits this summer!
The Happy Together Tour 2012 promises to be another good time had by all.
And how cool is this?!?!?
THIS JUST IN!
BELMONT UNIVERSITY CLASS HITS THE ROAD IN JUNE WITH THE TURTLES FEATURING FLO & EDDIE - 10 students to gain experiential education on Happy Together Tour
This June, 10 Belmont University juniors and seniors will join professor and legendary musician Mark Volman, a founding member of the band The Turtles, on the road for an East Coast run of the Happy Together Tour. The tour's "classroom" and schedule looks something like this: one tour bus, a precious few hotel rooms, long hours and many stages -- for two-and-a-half weeks and a grade.
What a GREAT idea!!!  VERY cool, Mark ... damn, we should have some of these kids submit field reports to publish here in Forgotten Hits ... and then you can grade their papers!!! (lol)
For a full Happy Together Tour itinerary, check out the list below:
HAPPY TOGETHER TOUR 2012:  DATE / VENUE / CITY
Friday, June 8 / River Center / Columbus, Georgia
Saturday, June 9 / Civic Center Arena / Dothan, Alabama
Sunday, June 10 / Riverbend Festival Grounds / Chattanooga, Tennessee
Tuesday, June 12 / The Plaza / Orlando, Florida
Wednesday, June 13 / The Hard Rock / Hollywood, Florida
Thursday, June 14 / Florida Theatre / Jacksonville, Florida
Friday, June 15 / Ruth Eckerd Hall / Clearwater, Florida
Saturday, June 16 / Anderson Music Hall / Hiawasee, Georgia
Sunday, June 17 / Renaissance PAC / Montgomery, Alabama
Tuesday, June 19 / Keswick Theatre / Glenside, Pennsylvania
Wednesday, June 20 / State Theatre / New Brunswick, New Jersey
Thursday, June 21 / Music Hall / Tarrytown, New York
Friday, June 22 / American Music Theater / Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Saturday, June 23 / NYCB Theatre / Westbury, New York
Sunday, June 24 / Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom / Hampton Beach, New Hampshire
Wednesday, July 11 / Humphrey's By The Bay / San Diego, California
Thursday, July 12 / Chumash Casino / Santa Ynez, California
Friday, July 13 / California State Fair / Sacramento, California
Saturday, July 14 / Orange County Fair / Pacific Amphitheatre / Costa Mesa, California
Sunday, July 15 / Fort McDowell Casino / Fountain Hills, Arizona
Monday, July 16 / Buffalo Thunder Casino / Santa Fe, New Mexico
Tuesday, July 17 / Sandy City Amphitheatre / Sandy, Utah
Friday, July 27 / Waterfront Park / Bangor, Maine
Saturday, July 28 / The Paramount / Asbury Park, New Jersey
Sunday, July 29 / Filene Center at Wolftrap / Vienna, Virginia
Monday, July 30 / Musikfest Cafe Artsquest Center / Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Wednesday, August 1 / Cain Park / Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Thursday, August 2 / Fraze Pavilion / Kettering, Ohio
Friday, August 3 / Caesars Windsor / Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Saturday, August 4 / Genesee Theatre / Waukegan, Illinois
Sunday, August 5 / Wisconsin State Fair / West Allis, Wisconsin
Tuesday, August 7 / Sanford Center / Bemidji, Minnesota
Thursday, August 9 / Performance Center / Effingham, Illinois
Friday, August 10 / Iowa State Fair / Des Moines, Iowa
Saturday, August 11 / Little River Casino Resort / Manistee, Michigan
Thursday, August 23 / Cardinal Stadium / Louisville, Kentucky
Friday, August 24 / Paramount Theatre / Aurora, Illinois
Saturday, August 25 / Ho - Chunk Casino / Baraboo, Wisconsin
Sunday, August 26 / Corn Palace Festival / Mitchell, South Dakota
Monday, August 27 / Minnesota State Fair / St. Paul, Minnesota
Wednesday, August 29 / Carnegie Library Music Hall / Homestead, Pennsylvania
Thursday, August 30 / New York State Fair / Syracuse, New York
As many of you know, for the past two years Forgotten Hits has acted as sort of the "Home Base" for The Happy Together Tour, providing updates and concert reviews as well as "Reports From The Road" from many of the artists participating in this oldies event.  Many of these shows played to sold out audiences last year so get your tickets early to enjoy an incredible night of great '60's music.  (Who knows ... we may even give away a few tickets to selected cities this year ... so stay tuned!!!)   

"Who thought it could get any better? Micky Dolenz ... Gary Puckett ... Wow!
42 cities! And then the regular guys - The Buckinghams, Grass Roots and The Turtles. Seriously, it does get better. This looks like the best year yet! 
Hope everyone makes it out."
-- Mark Volman / The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie  

Hey, hey, here I come! I'm so looking forward to this year's Happy Together Tour! 
I can't wait to hang with all the guys for some great music, great times, and truck stop chili dogs at 4:00am!"
-- Micky Dolenz / The Monkees Lead Singer    

The Buckinghams are excited to, once again, be a part of the Happy Together Tour for 2012! This is the third year for the tour and for us, which is a testament to how our fans feel about our music and still embrace these songs. 
What better tour is out there? Close to 40 major hits in a two-and-a-half hour concert. We are proud to, once again, share the stage with The Turtles and Grass Roots and this year we have the one and only Gary Puckett and the fabulous Micky Dolenz joining us ...
The Buckinghams are proud to be a part of it!" 
-- Carl Giammarese and Nick Fortuna / The Buckinghams   

The Happy Together Tour is an excellent and diverse line-up from our era.  People of all ages love the music of the Boomer generation and this year's tour will, once again, be an evening full of the great songs and hit records that are representative of the time. Come and join us! It WILL be a GREAT night!" 
-- Gary Puckett / Gary Puckett & The Union Gap   

re:  COOL CLIPS:
Got this clip from Wolfgang's Vault the other day ... it's Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band performing right here in Chicago at The Rosemont Theatre a few years ago.  The spotlight is on Rodger Hodgson of Supertramp, who performs a rousing rendition of their classic "Take The Long Way Home".  Good stuff!  (kk)

re:  A FEW LOOSE ENDS:
Technical difficulties ... gotta love it! 
Here are two we had recently ...
When DivShare was down, we couldn't share the Tommy Roe B-Side that somebody had requested ... so here is "Much More Love" for the reader who asked about it.
Also, our weblink for The Wrecking Crew article had apparently "timed out" ... so another reader sent in this updated link:
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