Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Tuesday Comments

re: FOOL'S GOLD:  
Dann Isbell, author of that great new book "Ranking The '60's" took our foolish salute from yesterday one step further by actually calculating The Top 50 "Fool" Songs of the '60's. (We featured about 50 of these throughout the day yesterday on the website ... you can scroll back to listen to any that you may have missed ... but we didn't limit ourselves to one decade ... we were all over the map with this one!!!) 
However Dann has assembled the definitive list, based on "rank order" according to each song's actual performance on The Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart.   

Hi Kent,
Fifty-four "foolish" songs made it into the Hot 100 during the '60s. Etta James charted with three of them while there was enough foolishness to go around for Aretha
Franklin, Bobby Bland, Connie Francis, Gene Chandler, Ike & Tina Turner, Ray Charles, and the Tams to place two each. Sisters Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick both charted as well, Dee Dee's with my favorite foolish title: "Foolish Fool," and Dionne's with the most relevant title to mark this day, "The April Fools."
Here is a list of the top 50 "foolish" songs of the '60s. Rankings are derived from the compilation Ranking the '60s.  

  1. Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool - Connie Francis
  2. Chain Of Fools - Aretha Franklin
  3. Fool #1 - Brenda Lee
  4. She’s A Fool - Lesley Gore
  5. Foolish Little Girl - Shirelles
  6. Fools Rush In - Rick Nelson
  7. The Fool On The Hill - Sergio Mendes & Brasil ‘66
  8. What Kind Of Fool (Do You Think I Am) - Tams
  9. What Kind Of Fool Am I - Sammy Davis Jr.
  10. Fools Never Learn - Andy Williams
  11. If You Gotta Make A Fool of Somebody - James Ray
  12. I’m A Fool - Dino, Desi & Billy
  13. A Fool In Love - Ike & Tina Turner
  14. Fool For You - Impressions
  15. Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear To Tread) - Brook Benton
  16. I’m A Fool To Care - Joe Barry
  17. Poor Fool – Ike & Tina Turner
  18. What Kind Of Fool Do You Think I Am - Bill Deal & The Rhondels
  19. I Make A Fool Of Myself - Frankie Valli
  20. I Was Such A Fool (To Fall In Love With You) - Connie Francis
  21. You Were Only Fooling (While I Was Falling In Love) - Vic Damone
  22. I Fooled You This Time - Gene Chandler
  23. The April Fools - Dionne Warwick
  24. I’d Rather Be An Old Man’s Sweetheart (Than A Young Man’s Fool) - Candi Staton
  25. Love’s Made A Fool Of You - Bobby Fuller Four
  26. Foolin’ Around – Kay Starr
  27. I Pity The Fool - Bobby Bland
  28. Why Do Fools Fall In Love - Happenings
  29. Runnin’ Out Of Fools - Aretha Franklin
  30. A Day In The Life Of A Fool - Jack Jones
  31. Foolish Fool - Dee Dee Warwick
  32. Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy - Tams
  33. If You Gotta Make A Fool of Somebody - Maxine Brown
  34. Fool That I Am - Etta James
  35. Please Say You’re Fooling - Ray Charles
  36. These Foolish Things - James Brown
  37. Take A Fool’s Advice - Nat King Cole
  38. Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things) - Martha & The Vandellas
  39. I Was Such A Fool (To Fall In Love With You) - Flamingos
  40. If I’m A Fool For Loving You - Bobby Wood
  41. Who Will The Next Fool Be - Bobby Bland
  42. What Kind Of Fool Am I - Anthony Newley
  43. I’m A Fool To Care - Ray Charles
  44. Fools Rush In - Etta James
  45. (I’m Just A) Fool For You - Gene Chandler
  46. What Kind Of Fool Am I? - Robert Goulet
  47. I’m Not A Fool Anymore - T.K. Hulin
  48. My Foolish Heart - Demensions
  49. What A Fool I’ve Been - Carla Thomas
  50. I’m A Fool To Care - Oscar Black   Dann   

    Thanks for throwing in Del Reeves' "Girl On The Billboard" into your rundown of "fool" songs. A #2 country smash in 1965 (United Artists 824), it only flickered for one week at #95 on the pop charts -- yet should have been a huge pop single as well.  
    Gary Theroux

We featured this track once before and got a pretty good response ... it was a Top 20 Hit here in Chicago. Another one that spiked the audience was "Do What You Do Do Well" by Ned Miller ... but I think part of that may be because we said "do do" in the column!!! (kk)
Some on-going commentary from Larry Neal ...

Kent,
The first song you posted at 5:30 pm is one I haven't heard in years. Here in OKC, one of our local top 40 DJ's played this tune but said it was by a character he had created for the radio show which he did. I didn't know until several months later that it was really MAH-NA-MAH-NA by Piero Umiliani on Ariel Records.
I do have a copy. Good post. One final thing. It was only played on his show, as I remember. I could be wrong however on that.
 
And then ...  
Kent, 
I have just checked my surveys. The record initially made the survey for the week of August 14, 1969 but under the artist doing the tune, it just listed Sound Track. The following week on the survey, the artist listed was Dale and Effie, the two characters created by the DJ. A few weeks later it peaked at number 12 here in OKC. Personally, I didn't remember it getting that high.
Larry Neal
 
I think here in Chicago it charted by "Sweden Heaven And Hell" ... which I guess is also a "soundtrack" of some sort. The music was featured in numerous TV shows at the time (and Benny Hill for many years afterwards). I remember having a HELL of a time finding this 45 at the time because that wasn't the correct artist name on the label. When I finally DID come across a copy, I was THRILLED!!! (It was many years later in fact!) I couldn't even begin to guess how many times I've played it since then ... but I'm sure it's well into the thousands!!! (kk)  
Kent,  
Always did like James Ray's song IF YOU GOT TO MAKE A FOOL OF SOMEBODY. I believe Maxine Brown later redid it.
You asked the rhetorical question about the Ike and Tina Song you posted. Not only do I remember it but also POOR FOOL.
I wonder how many of these "foolish" songs you won't be able to post today? I have two in mind which you haven't posted yet, but as they say, "the night is still young".
Larry
 
More ...  
Kent,  
Just one more hour to go and you still haven't posted the two 'foolish' songs that I first thought of initially. Again, it goes back to the question of "just how many 'foolish' songs were there and just how many could
you post in a days time? I have really enjoyed this.
Larry
 
When all was said and done, we posted something like 52 songs in 19 hours ... and all but four of those were "fool"-oriented. Not a bad batch, if I do say so myself!!! (kk)  
Kent,  
I really did enjoy April Fool's Day and the songs you posted throughout the day with the word 'fool' in the title. You did an excellent job.
I am kind of curious to know the number, not necessarily the title of the songs, that you were not able to post. When I read you were going to do this, the first two songs that came to my mind were Joe Barry's I'M A FOOL TO CARE and Sanford Clark's THE FOOL, which turned out to be your final one.
I also thought of Bobby Bland's I PITY THE FOOL which I really don't remember if you posted.
Again, excellent job.
Larry
 
48 Fool songs made the site in all ... and they're all still there for anybody who missed any or wants to review them again. "The Fool" seemed like the PERFECT end-song ... much as "The April Fool's" was the right song to launch this piece. I did Ringo Starr's version of "I'm A Fool To Care" ... but skipped the Bobby Bland tune (although it WAS on my original list of titles). There were probably another dozen that I considered ... but some were pretty obscure. Check Dann Isbell's list above and you'll see what I mean! All in all, though, I think a pretty good representation ... with some real forgotten gems thrown in for good measure. Thanks for the kind words, Larry ... glad you enjoyed it! (kk)

Loving the day of foolishness, Kent.
Not too late to include Lulu's contribution.
 
David Lewis  
Patience, guys, patience! We ended up posting just over 50 "fool" songs ... and I SURE wouldn't forget THIS one ... one of my all-time faves! (kk)


Kent,
You know how much I love 'VON's golden era. And, yes, I feel remarkably blessed that on many occasions the station allowed me to sit in with various jocks.The Nassau Daddy Ed Cook was cooler than cool. I loved Pervis Spann, "The All Night Blues Man" along with silky smooth Joe Cobb. But the main eventers - the Ali and Frazier combo - were without question E. Rodney Jones and Bill "Butterball" Crane.Rodney and Spann promoted a number of shows together including a gig by the Temptations at the old Chicago Coliseum that was the best performance I've ever seen by the David Ruffin - Eddie Kendricks Temps.After WVON changed gears, "Butterball" moved over to WGN where he became a cameraman. We used to shoot the breeze regularly when I was at Channel 5. We both had this dream of resurrecting the old style 'VON to showcase for a new audience. I have no doubt the concept would have been a smash.I do know this from ... '66 through about 1970, WVON was printing money. The station redefined the phrase cash cow.
Were some jocks getting greased to play various songs? Sure. Little Richard once told me he couldn't stand 'VON because he couldn't buy his way into that little cubby hole at 33d and Kedzie.
WVON cooler than cool. There has never been a radio station like it - never will be.
Chet Coppock
Heritage Series host: Chicago Blackhawks
Host: Notre Dame football -WLS
Noozebox.com
I listened to WVON the whole way into work this morning - it sounded great. Too bad technology wiped out the AM dial - progress isn't always for the better - especially if by "better" radio means playing Steve Miller 18 times a day. It was fun to travel back this morning - even if the temperature was 6 degrees below zero for that particular broadcast!
Brother, I hear ya ...
Chester
I'll be the first to admit that I didn't really listen much to WVON back in the day ... I was a WLS / WCFL junkie all the way. If I ventured away at all it was to listen to The White Sox (on either WMAQ or, for a while there, WCFL) ... or because my Mom was listening to WIND. I had NO idea they played this much vintage soul, R&B and blues as part of their regular programming in the mid-'60's. It was great to hear tracks by Little Walter and Ray Charles played right alongside the latest and greatest hits from The Supremes, James Brown and other acts. The vintage commercials were a gas, too. Even listening to a couple of those '60's newscasts was fun. A bit too much hype for their 50th Anniversary Party I thought ... especially since they way they're handling this is "We'd LOVE to have you along ... this is our way of thanking you for your continued support ... oh yeah, and it's going to cost you $250 per ticket to get in!!!" Bad form, guys. If you're throwing yourself a 50th Anniversary Party ... and you want to reward your listeners for their support ... you DON'T charge them an outrageous admission price to attend!!! Give away those tickets as a means of saying "Thank You"!!!
Meanwhile, I checked out WXRT yesterday, too ... and they truly have stolen, I mean borrowed, a page from The Drive's Playbook. The biggest difference is in the two hours I listened to WXRT, I think I recognized exactly two songs ... out of the thirty that they played. Now maybe that's because I'm not a regular listener so I'm not hip to the wide range of music they feature on this station ... but it seems to me that if you're going to play back your library from A to Z, there ought to be a WHOLE lot of recognizable music here. It's great that they're moving forward with this ... the promotion is supposed to last all the way till Memorial Day ... two solid months of A-Z content ... which makes for the most variety possible on the radio dial right now (in the way of no repeats). I'm not sure titles that start with "A" (as in "A Hard Day's Night" or "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" really belong in the "A" category ... jeez, I wonder what their "The" list is going to look like!!! ... but I DO love a promotion like this ... and it WAS nice to hear some things I've never heard before instead of the exact same 40-50 tracks every single day. I'm definitely curious enough to check back throughout the promotion ... so they may have won me over with this one. (kk)   

Speaking of Radio ...    

re: ON THE RADIO:  
>>Attached is a WLS survey, dated June 14, 1963, with Jan and Dean SUF City at #32! (Bill Hengels)

Far worse is their butchering of the name of the #1 song (Sukiyaki) in both!!!
-- BOB FRABLE


Here's a WCFL Survey from Bill Hengles, circa 1966 ...
Don't know if you want this but here is a survey style pic of the early WCFL jocks I found.




Hi Kent,
We are looking forward to the John Landecker interview on Friday, April 5th at 8:30 AM. Here's the promo we are running this week.
- Bish






Hey Kent, 
AJK - The Youngest Oldies Freak around checking in. It was so ironic to read a few posts regarding radio, cause I thought about sending some of this to you too! So, I've been doing lots of listening, online and regular radio, and here's some of my findings.

Online Radio- 
Best Station For Oldies - PopGoldRadio.com 
Don Tandler runs this one out of New Jersey (I think I may have written about it before), and it is INCREDIBLE!!! BIG HITS, and tons of OH-WOW songs! Heavy 60's centered playlist, with a healthy amount of 50's and 70's as well as a rare 80's hit. This is where those MEGA hits like "Rose Garden" or "Something Stupid" get played next to some great ones by Chicago or The Beatles. On Saturdays Don does countdown surveys from various local or national charts (he's featured WLS before). The jingles in between the songs make it feel a little more "real" than most online stations.

Now I may be speaking out of turn here, but Don is just the kind of guy you could link up and do a ForgottenHits Feature with. I know you had hoped to get with WJMK, but they don't seem like they'll ever be creative enough. Don loves all sorts of countdowns and whatnot, and is always looking for more audience members (the station is listener supported), so I'd be more than happy to contact him for you (if you were interested) to possibly get a FH Feature on the air.

Check it out at popgoldradio.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Standard Radio

CBS does great things with Classic Hits, except that our WJMK is more like the ugly cousin of their other stations. If you're around a streaming service, I recommend WOMC-Detroit or KRTH-Los Angeles in place of K-Hits.

Here's some of the songs I have heard recently on WOMC Detroit --

"The Most Beautiful Girl" - Charlie Rich

"The Happening" - The Supremes

"Runaround Sue" - Dion

"Rainy Days And Mondays" - The Carpenters !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Believe it or not, the Carpenters one was heard during the afternoon drive home --- SERIOUSLY!!!! How come Detroit gets to hear these songs that WJMK won't touch. WOMC skews a little older Sunday nights, so that's so good listening too!

------------------------------------------------------------------

KRTH-Los Angeles

Been doing lots of listening to this one, here's some songs that have come up-

"Eres Tu" - Mocedades

"Please Mr. Postman" - The Beatles/Marvelettes/AND Carpenters versions!!!!!!!!!!!!

"I'm Your Puppet" - James and Bobby Purify

"Nothing But A Heartache" - The Flirtations

Definitely more surprises than K-Hits has ever given us.

WCBS in New York, isn't bad, but it's probably the closest thing to WJMK, except there are some terrific R&B and Disco cuts on Saturday Nights, it was incredible to hear a song like "Doctor's Orders" by Carole Douglas on the radio!

--------------------------------------------------------------------

So, these are my findings. For CBS stations, I recommend WOMC or KRTH for more 60's or an occasional surprise. KRTH should come with a big asterisk next to it, as it was recently announced that their Program Director would be leaving in June - changes could be coming to LA. For online radio, PopGoldRadio is the way to go, you simply must experience it. All the big hits, with the forgotten big hits, and more!!!!

AJK

When K-Hits / WJMK did their recent Top 40 Artists of Each Decade Weekend Radio Special, they ignored The Carpenters COMPLETELY when they covered the '70's ... VERY selective (and misleading) programming to say the least. Honestly, I never heard back from them at all ... so it looks like a dead issue to me. Meanwhile, I (along with apparently countless others) have stopped listening to K-Hits and WLS-FM completely. While I've shifted more toward the "Classic Rock" stations in town now (The Drive, The Loop, The River ... and now The Fox), I can't say that we aren't force-fed much of the same music there ... STILL tons of Journey, John Mellencamp, Bob Seger, Steve Miller, et al ... only now much more Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd thrown into the mix. You literally can't go an hour without hearing something by each of those artists mentioned above, especially if you're button-pushing. I actually heard a disc jockey say the other day "Well, we haven't featured anything by Pink Floyd in the last 45 minutes ... and that ain't right ... so we've got something by them coming up next." And that's the honest-to-God-truth!!! (kk)



Kent:
With internet & wifi creeping more and more into our phones, computers, tablets and now cars, what used to be rare local stations playing to a finite area can now be picked up nearly anywhere nowadays. That said, here are a few gems I have found over the years:
WLNG was at the top of my list when I sent that first e-mail about creating a master list of REAL classic hits / oldies stations. I somehow stumbled upon it via my smartphone's / Roku's TuneIn Radio app. Jingles and forgotten hits a-plenty and usually a SHORT commercial break after nearly every song (just like the old days). As it is a local "full-service" station, expect occasional long local news (and obits) segments as well as seasonal high-school games.
Here are some others worth checking out:
www.DeepOldies.com -- part of Radio Free Phoenix (AZ) a 24/7 website (mostly live).
And then on the college radio scene:
WJCU 88.7/ www.wjcu.org (Cleveland, OH) Retro Radio w/ Jumpin Joe Madigan (Most Saturdays 3-5:30 PM EDT). JJ specializes in the music from the 1960s - 1975 with some 50s thrown in. Heavily intensive on playlists and jingles from Lake Erie area radio stations WHK, WKYC and WIXY in Cleveland and CKLW in Detroit. Very tight and hard hitting for your Saturday listening!!!
I also do a lost oldies radio program every other Wednesday night on KAFM / 88.1 FM (www.kafmradio.org) in Grand Junction, CO from 9 PM - Midnight-ish (MDT) called The Vinyl Arkhives. I play anything and everything from 1955 - 1979. My next full shows will be April 10th, 24th and then every other Wednesday Night after that.
Uncle T. Jay


Kent:
Just want to add a comment to Shelley's on WLNG 92.1. Being a life-long Fairfield County, CT resident, WLNG came be heard 'across the pond' - Long Island Sound - and is probably the original 'throwback' Oldies station. They play a station jingle after EVERY song, just like WABC used to. It's a quirky station for sure, as they actually do 10 minutes of local news every hour and they have jingles for EVERYTHING, including Stock Reports and Lottery Numbers! I would suggest for all Forgotten Hits fans to take a listen to them online. I can't verify that they play vinyl all the time but it sure sounds like it! They still use phrases like 'Sold Gold' and always give the highest chart number the song had on their survey. Sadly, it wouldn't surprise me if they will turn out to be the last 'oldies' station standing.
John Evanich III
We keep hearing about WLNG so I finally checked them out the other night ... it was some type of Solid Gold Sunday Night Show and they played things I've NEVER heard on the radio before ... all legitimate Top 20 Hits in their time. Definitely worth checking out. I let them know about what we do, too ... so hopefully we'll hear from them as well. (kk)
You can listen live here:



Just heard back from Gary Sapiane, President and General Manager of WLNG, who thanked us for the kind words being bestowed upon his station by our readers. Hey, we ALL want good radio ... so when we FIND it, we're going to tell others about it!!! (This is the part that the guys who give us BAD radio don't seem to understand ... "word of mouth" works both ways, you know!!!)

Anyway, here's the email we got back:


Hi Kent ...

Thanks for the kind words about WLNG ... We have a great staff here and have been able to maintain our mission of playing those golden oldies.

We will be celebrating our 50Th anniversary on August 13th.

Thanks again -

Gary Sapiane

President and General Manager

We also heard that WCBS-FM in New York is now doing something called "Turntable Tuesday" ... every hour they play a "Wow Factor" song ... FROM VINYL!!! Man, I hope this catches on ... it's EXACTLY the kind of creative programming we've been pushing for here in Forgotten Hits. (Last Tuesday, in honor of Vicki Lawrence's 64th birthday, they featured her #1 Hit "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia". Now I will be the first to admit that I have always HATED that song ... since Day One ... but it is SO refreshing to hear something DIFFERENT on the radio these days that I would have cranked it up regardless ... and just enjoyed three minutes of something other than the daily same old / same old.) kk


We blew it on this one ... we didn't find out about this event until it was too late to promote ... but that doesn't mean that there isn't still a whole lot of OTHER great oldies music programming going on on these British stations.

Check out the Listen Live Links provided below. Unfortunately, we missed The Moody Blues / Easter Special ... but I'm sure you'll still find some EXCELLENT Musical Entertainment via these links. (kk)



Kent,
We are still here, this side of the Atlantic playing those great Forgotten Hits on Oldies Paradise and its new sister station Easy Rock Paradise.
This weekend we have a treat for all Moody Blues fans.
To celebrate the release of Spirits Of The Western Skies, the new solo album from Moody Blues front man Justin Hayward, this Easter Weekend on Oldies Paradise & Easy Rock Paradise we feature a two part
interview with Justin.
In the two-hour interview, Justin talks to Mark Dezzani about his long musical career and plays some of the songs that have inspired him over the years.
The interview will go out in two parts at the following times:
Oldies Paradisehttp://www.oldiesparadise.com/
PART 1
Friday 29th March 14.00UK 15.00CET 09.00EST
Repeated
Saturday 30th March 21.00UK 22.00CET 16.00EST
PART 2
Sunday 31st March 16.00UK 17.00CET 11.00EST
Repeated
Monday 1st April 20.00UK 21.00CET 15.00EST
=============================================
Easy Rock Paradise 


http://www.easyrockparadise.com/
PART 1
Saturday 30th March 16.00UK 17.00CET 11.00EST
Repeated
Sunday 31st March 21.00UK 22.00CET 16.00EST
PART 2
Monday 1st April 16.00UK 17.00CET 11.00EST
Repeated
Monday 1st April 22.00UK 23.00CET 17.00EST
Remember, we play more different Moody Blues tracks than just about any other station on Oldies Paradise and Easy Rock Paradise!
All the best -
Mark Stafford




re: THESE PEOPLE AND THIS MUSIC AFFECTED ALL OF OUR LIVES,

WHETHER YOU WERE HOME LISTENING TO IT ... OR IN THE STUDIO MAKING IT:

The last two days have been filled with sadness for the loss of two of my heroes. The incomparable Hugh McCracken and the always brilliant Phil Ramone.
Hugh was a dear friend for umpteen years. Though we weren't in close touch for periods of time whenever we reconnected it felt like no time had passed. His friendship, humour, advice and his magnificent pauses in conversation were remarkably soul
ful. I'm proud and blessed to say his guitar and harmonica playing graced several of my records. I'll never forget him picking up my Gibson Hummingbird after a session and playing all the parts he played on "Ram". He remembered every nuance! It doesn't get better than that! To say I'll miss him is an understatement. His absence is unacceptable. RIP dear friend!
I had the great pleasure of spending a little time with Phil Ramone and I'm grateful for every second. In a word he was "class". I always wished I'd had the opportunity to work with him but am glad to have known him and received his encouragement. He always made me feel good about myself and my music no matter that I'd faded from the charts by the time we met.
Rather than mourn the loss of these giants I'll celebrate my good fortune to have known them and feel privileged to have been able to grow up and grow older listening to their enormous contributions to the culture. Their wisdom and warmth will stay with me forever.
 

Henry Gross




And, for all the drummers on our list ...

Robert Zildjian, founder of musical cymbal manufacturing company Sabian Inc., dies at age 89


Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) -- Robert "RZ" Zildjian, founder of the Sabian Inc. musical cymbal manufacturing company, has died. He was 89.

Sabian announced Zildjian's death on its website Thursday. The firm was closed until Monday and the company announcement had no details about his death.

Zildjian founded Sabian in 1981 after a legal battle with his brother, Armand, over their inheritance of the family business, Avedis Zildjian Co., a major cymbal maker. The companies remain competitors.

The family's U.S. business was founded in the Boston area in 1928 by their father, Armenian immigrant Avedis Zildjian, and a great-uncle. The rock 'n' roll era brought an expanding demand for its percussion products.

RZ Zildjian began working for his father as a teenager and set up a subsidiary, AZCO, in Meductic, New Brunswick, Canada, in 1968.

re: EASTER:

We were very pleased to be able to share the new Dick Eastman Easter track "Mystery Man" with our readers ...
 
That is a beautiful song, one that really brings the true meaning of Easter home. Personally I love it.
I was expecting some kind of novelty tune about the Easter Bunny.
Thanks for the really great surprise.
A blessing upon you.
Joe Lake
Thanks, Joe ... I passed your note along to Dick Eastman, who shared the track with us. (kk)
Hi Kent,
Thank you very much for posting my song "Mystery Man" on FH. I felt like I hit the top of the "charts"!
And thank you for passing along the nice comments from Joe Lake. They really meant a lot to me.
Not that any will, but if someone should ask for a copy of Mystery Man, I'd be happy to email the song to anyone who asks. Also, we should have a video of the tune up on YouTube by the end of the month. Thanks again Kent!
Dick Eastman
I think you just may be surprised how many people may take you up on this offer! Good luck, Dick! (kk)


Regarding Easter, don't forget "Peter Cottontail" -- a #5 pop hit in 1950 for Gene Autry. Yes, he did have a few big pop hits which were not Christmas-themed.

Gary Theroux 



re: THIS WEEK IN POP MUSIC HISTORY:


And this from Jeff March ... more great "This Week In Music History" pieces from his Facebook Page:

Hi, Kent,
Here are a few anniversary date items for this week in pop music history. Feel fee to re-post them, or just read them for your own enjoyment. These are among the daily posts Marti and I prepare for the Facebook page for our books.
Best regards,
Jeff
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Pick one: The namesake of the U.K. "pirate station" Radio Caroline was:

A) the Caroline Islands; B) Caroline Kennedy; C) the Caroline War.
To circumvent the BBC's government-sanctioned monopolistic, staid radio programming and lockout of independent record labels in the United Kingdom, an adventurous nightclub owner and talent manager named Ronan O'Rahilly with backing from a group of investors concocted a plan. They bought the MV Frederica, an old Danish passenger ferry, and installed radio studios and dual 10,000-watt transmitters on it. From an anchorage in international waters three miles from the English shore in the North Sea, O'Rahilly's crew of free-wheeling disc jockeys signed on the air at 197.3 meters (1520 kHz) on the medium-wave band on March 29, 1964, with the Rolling Stones' "Not Fade Away." To the frustration of British lawmakers, unlicensed Radio Caroline broadcast an advertiser-supported diet of British and American pop hits, punctuated by jingles, for an enthusiastic British teenage audience. O'Rahilly named the station after seeing a photo of U.S. President John F. Kennedy's daughter Caroline playing in the Oval Office of the White House. Drawing the president's attention, she was disrupting the business of government -- precisely what O'Rahilly sought to do. Radio Caroline inaugurated an era that the 2009 motion picture "Pirate Radio" portrayed.
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Comedic singer Ray Stevens turned serious with "Funny Man," his fifth chart single, which premiered on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 30, 1963. Ray wrote the song, which described a jokester’s inner turmoil and sadness about the painful rejection by a girl whom he had loved. Speaking to us for "Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone? -- Volume 2," Ray said the song was not autobiographical. "I was too young to be smitten that badly. Plus I was married with a daughter. I was just trying to see what I could come up with as a songwriter. I did a lot of things for no good reason,” Ray said. Shelby Singleton produced the recording which, on the Mercury label, reached No. 81, and remained on the chart for three weeks. Ray reached into his funny bag for his follow-up single, though, which cracked into the top 20 early the following summer.
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"Charms," the 18th chart single by singer Bobby Vee, made its debut on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on March 30, 1963. The song was written by Howard Greenfield and Helen Miller, the team who created "Foolish Little Girl" (recorded by the Shirelles), "Rumors" (sung by Johnny Crawford) and "It Hurts to Be in Love" (which Gene Pitney recorded). The Johnny Mann Singers backed Vee on the session, which Snuff Garrett produced with musical arrangement and conducting by Ernie Freeman. "Charms," on Liberty Records, peaked at No. 13 and remained on the chart for 10 weeks. In 1963 Bobby participated in two Dick Clark Caravan of Stars tours. “We were on the bus and off the bus and on the bus and off the bus, and into a hotel, on the bus, into the show, on the bus, into the hotel. It was like 30 days of that. The only comfort we had was each other. And I made some fast friends on those tours," Bobby told us for "Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone? -- Volume 1" (http://www.editpros.com/WHATPSG.html).
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Drummer John Poulos, leader of the Buckinghams, was born in Chicago on March 31, 1947. Buckinghams lead singer Dennis Tufano has fond memories of John. He told us, “John and I were best of friends from the very beginning. His energy and honesty bonded us together. We got together almost everyday to plan the evolution of the band," Dennis told us for "Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone? -- Volume 2." During some of those visits, Nick's father read aloud passages from Aesop’s Fables to inspire the imagination of the boys. "I believe John had the same gift of love and insight,” Dennis added.
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Singer Gary "U.S" Bonds turned his second twist record for LeGrand Records into his sixth hit with "Twist, Twist, Señora" which premiered on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 31, 1962. The song was written by Frank Guida, Gene Barge and Joseph Royster. Guida, who was born in Palermo, Sicily, and Royster co-owned LeGrand Records and the Norfolk Recording Studio on Church Street in Norfolk, Virginia. Saxophonist Gene "Daddy G" Barge was a member of LeGrand's house band, whose recordings included an instrumental track called "A Night With Daddy G" under the name Church Street Five. Barge, who was a high school music instructor, subsequently became a producer for Chess Records, for which he worked with Muddy Waters, Fontella Bass, Little Milton, Billy Stewart and the Dells. Bonds' "Twist, Twist, Señora," on the Legrand label, rose to No. 9 (just as its predecessor, "Dear Lady Twist" had three months earlier), and it remained on the chart for 10 weeks.
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In New York on April 1, 1942, Phil Margulies was born. Growing up in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, he and his brother Mitch began singing and developing their musical talents. In the neighborhood they eventually met two other musical performers, Hank Medress and Jay Siegel, with whom they formed the Tokens singing group in 1960. By the time the group signed a contract with Warwick Records later that year, Phil and Mitch had adopted the surname Margo. The Tokens put their first hit, "Tonight I Fell in Love," on the charts in the spring of '61. The Tokens members subsequently excelled in producing recording session for other groups, and Phil later became personal manager of actor Robert Guillaume and produced movies for television. "Some people know what they want to be when they’re 3 years old and pursue that course right until they get there. I never knew what I wanted to be. I still don’t. That’s why I got into producing movies, I got into writing for television, all kinds of things because they interest me and I don’t feel that you have to be locked into one thing to do for your whole life," Phil told us for our first book, "Echoes of the Sixties" (http://www.editpros.com/echoes_ebook.html). He continues to perform with the West Coast contingent of the Tokens, and has become a science fiction author. His intriguing first novel, "The Null Quotient," is available in hardcover and e-book formats.
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Musician and record company executive Paul Atkinson died at 58 years of age on April 1, 2004, after battling serious illness for seven years. Paul had been lead guitarist with the Zombies before gaining prominence and respect in a sequence of artists and repertoire (A&R) positions with increasing responsibility beginning in 1971. During his career he signed numerous new artists to recording contracts, and oversaw remixing and repackaging of catalog recordings by legacy artists. Nine weeks before his death, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences honored Atkinson with its President's Merit Award. Paul was the youngest member of the Zombies, only 18 in the summer of 1964, when his parents urged him to enroll in college. "But if I went to college, the band was going to replace me, so I had to persuade my parents to go along with it because we were all under age and had to have our parents sign for us. I managed to convince them. Otherwise, I would have gone to college and the band would have replaced me, and I would have missed all of this," Paul told us for "Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone? -- Volume 1" (http://www.editpros.com/WHATPSG.html).
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Best regards,
Jeff




re: SPECIAL VIDEO:


Here's a great clip I stumbled across while looking for something else.

I've seen The Bee Gees video for "Run To Me" before, recorded right around this same time ...

But have never seen this excellent video version of "My World" until now.

(Man, does clean-shaven Barry look JUST like younger brother Andy or what?!?!?)

"My World" is definitely a Forgotten Hit, despite reaching #15 in 1972.

GREAT track (if a bit monotonous) ... but a really cool in-studio video, too. Enjoy! (kk)



re: WITHOUT A HITCH:
Kent,
Occasionally one of your readers or yourself will mention that all of a sudden, a particular song comes to your mind and you begin singing it, humming it, etc., for no reason whatsoever. Same thing happened to me today while reading your Sunday Comments.
At the end when you posted the Alfred Hitchcock theme, I immediately thought of the opening video on his show where his shadow eventually finds its' place on his outline of his head. What song did this remind me of? Would you believe Boots Randolph's 1966 song THE SHADOW OF YOUR SMILE, which did quite well here in OKC. It peaked at number 9 here in OKC in November of that year.
Larry    

Hi Kent,

I always loved Hitchcock's theme music for his t.v. show, too. It wasn't until years later (when listening to a classical music station) that I discovered it was from "Faust" by Charles Gounod. It's called "The Funeral March of the Marionette". Cool how timeless music finds its way into everyday life and it catches our fancy. Dube




re: CHERRY PIE:  
>>>I WANTED TO MENTION A RECORD I USED TO LISTEN TO YEARS AGO BUT CAN'T SEEM TO LOCATE IT FOR PURCHASE. IT'S CALLED CHERRY PIE BY CHARLES CHRISTY. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU HEAR ANYTHING ON IT. I AM PRETTY SURE IT WAS ON THE HANNA-BARBERA LABEL. (TIM KILEY)
I don't see this one charting and I'm really not familiar with it ... but I'm sure some of our readers are. Doing a quick check of the obvious places, I found a bunch of copies on eBay ... Click here: cherry pie charles christy in Music | eBay ... they seem to fall in the $5 - $15 range and a couple offer the "buy it now" option. It looks like Gemm has a few copies, too ... Click here: 'Charles Christy Vinyl Records, CDs, Charles Christy Albums, Rare
Charles Christy Music (kk)    

Kent,  
Before I left this morning, I did a quick scan of your comments for today before reading them in their entirety later on today. Your first reader inquired about Charles Christy's version of CHERRY PIE. In January of 1966 it peaked at number 10 here in OKC. Your reader was correct ... it was on the HBR label.

Larry Neal

We had a tough time posting the sound clip for this one back on Tuesday as DivShare wasn't operational at the time ... but we have since put it up there for anyone else who wants to hears what Charles Christy's version sounds like. A big hit in Oklahoma. (kk)



If memory serves me right, the Charles Christie 45 of Cherry Pie was pretty big on KOMA in OKC ... right, Larry???

Clark

Larry confirms above that it did, in fact, make the Top Ten. (kk)


And then this from Tim Kiley, who made the first inquiry in the first place! (kk)



Hi Kent,
Thanks again ... I really appreciate the favor of turning up Charles Christy's version of "Cherry Pie." Having grown up in a small town in Northeastern North Dakota, like so many kids in the rural Midwest I grew up listening to late-night radio and 50,000 watt Top 40 stations from afar -- legendary stations such as WLS - The Big 89 Chicago, 1520 - KOMA Oklahoma City, KAAY - Little Rock, CKY - Radio 58 - Winnipeg to name a few. I was in radio for 40 years until the Clear Channel mass-layoffs almost four years ago. I have been a radio and rock n' roll aficionado for as long as I can remember and my brother, my brother-in-law, and my cousin, and I all ended up having broadcast careers. Thanks to your energy and love of the biz, your blog makes for constant enjoyable reading and a great overview and appreciation of the artists, composers, air-personalities, and everyone involved in a truly magical era.

Thanks Kent, keep the GREAT blog!
Best Regards,
Tim


 


re: SOMEBODY'S CHYLDREN:
After all the talk this past week about Mae West and Somebody's Chyldren, I just HAD to talk to these guys myself!!! Very special thanks to Mike Dugo of 60sGarageBands.com for hooking us up!

I wrote to David Clark Allen and told him:

Hi David!

We recently ran a piece spotlighting the Mae West album "Way Out West" that you guys recorded with her back in 1966 ... although the circumstances surrounding this "spotlight" are quite unique!

If you get a chance, please check out our piece:

It all started with Joel Whitburn misidentifying the band pictured on the cover as Gary Lewis and the Playboys ... in fact, he even published this as "fact" in his Billboard Album Book ...
Which leads me to the most obvious question:
Why didn't you ever correct him???
Secondly, our readers all want to know what it was like recording with screen legend Mae West ... and how do you happen to get that gig? (One source says you also provided the backing tracks for an Ian Whitcomb album that same year ... true or false? And another said you did some soundtrack recording for Mike Curb at Tower Records.)
Again, since we cleared the air, we've gotten quite a few responses ... and, as you can see by our piece, this topic has been picked up by a few other websites, too. (There are even a few Somebody's Chyldren videos up on YouTube!)
Anyway, our readers would love to hear from you ... so anything you're willing to share would be most appreciated. (If nothing else, we introduced Somebody's Chyldren to a couple thousand new music fans out there!!!)
Thanks, David ... hope to hear from you soon.
kk
Kent Kotal
Forgotten Hits
I was pleased to get an immediate response:

Hi there Kent!
I was unaware of the Joel Whitburn book until now! That's why I've never corrected it.
Somebody's Chyldren did two albums with Mae West - the second one was a Christmas album - and I wrote a few of the songs on the albums.
Myself and my main musical partner and spiritual brother in the band (Dennis Trerotola) both knew Ian Whitcomb well at the time because of our producer / manager David Mallett. David became our mentor after hearing our demo tape and meeting us while he was co-producer with Jack Good at Shindig. It was David's idea to pair a garage band consisting of 15 year old musicians with the stately legend that was Mae West. We were probably on a few of Ian's tracks as backing musicians but I can't say for sure.
Mike Curb managed Dennis and myself for a short period after our relationship with David Mallet was over - David had decided to go back to London and became the celebrated video / tv director that he's now known as. Mike put us on short tours with the Clinger Sisters and the then relatively unknown Osmonds.
We did loads of stuff but I can't remember a lot of it - that was a long time ago! Dennis and I - we worked as a duo for many years - were involved with Chance Holiday for a while. He's the fellow who put some of the recordings he produced for us into the exploitation film - Hellcats (or whatever the hell it was called!).
I only found out about that a couple of years ago.
As for recording with Mae West - she was a tiny gilded, galleon that moved like an automaton into a room ... surrounded by a coterie of her infamous gay body builders. Aware of her legendary status, she played it to the hilt!!! She was very nice to us - both Dennis and I still have personalized signed copies of the albums.
I went on to form Carmen, the flamenco rock band and worked with Tony Visconti and all his friends and musicians in the seventies. I then wrote songs for Agnetha Faltskog and various other Swedish artists in the eighties and now have an exciting band called Flamexicano! http://www.flamexicano.net
I hope this info is helpful!
All the best -
David