Thursday This And That

re: THIS AND THAT:
>>>Ringo was, by unanimous decision, NOT the greatest singer around ... but they found songs for him that he could sing well, even if that meant more covers like "Boys" (a GREAT vocal by the way), "Honey Don't" and "Matchbox" ... and guess what ... they all got played on the radio and people bought 'em. (kk)
Now THERE'S the understatement of the year. (Yet still phrased in the most politically correct way possible I suppose.)
Mike
Ringo had to be a pretty good sport to put up with all the ribbing he took ... both from the press and his bandmates. John Lennon was once asked if he thought Ringo was the best drummer in rock and roll ... and John replied "He's not even the best drummer in The Beatles." (lol) kk

Hey Kent,
Thank you for all the support you are giving to our friend Sonny Geraci. Like so many others out there, I have worked with him for years and Sonny has always been "one of the special ones." Always smiling, amazing to his fans and electric on stage ... just a real good guy. His banter with the great Johnny on the drums and with his guitarist Dave Zane (one of the most talented guys on stage today, btw) was always a good time. I look forward to being at the benefit and pledging my support in any way possible ... maybe a Chicago area benefit? Hmmm ...
RON ONESTI, President / CEO
Onesti Entertainment Corporation
Historic Arcada Theatre
www.oshows.com
I would LOVE to see that happen, Ron. Actually, I was kinda thinking the same thing ... we could probably entice more artists to participate if they knew they had more than just one midwest show to perform at ... do the benefit concert in Cleveland and then head out to Chicago (and maybe even a couple of spots after that) to make the expense of such a trip more palatable. Plus it would give our readers even more opportunities to see some of these great artists live in concert. (Let's talk further on this privately ... with the contacts we have between us and the enticement of multiple gigs, I'm betting we could put together one hell of a line-up for these shows!) kk

By the way, Ron has lined up a couple more GREAT shows for the Arcada Theatre ... including one of MY favorites, Burton Cummings (September 27th), John Ford Coley and Terry Sylvester (October 11th), Lisa Marie Presley (October 26th), as well as a very special "Office Party" starring Creed Bratton on "The Office", former lead guitarist for The Grass Roots. (Now THAT should be a whole lotta fun!!!) Click on the OShows link above for more information as well as Ron's ticket window! (kk)

Kent,
Thanks for taking the time to give us an excellent analysis of two of the best bands ever.
Phil
PrayForSurfBlog.blogspot.com
P.S. Thanks also for alerting FH readers to the two podcasts on my site with the authors of the exhaustive new Beach Boys in Concert.

This just in from our FH Buddy DJ Stu:

Special events this weekend in the New York / New Jersey area.

Saturday:  New Jersey Doo Wop & Street Corner Harmony Assn. Performing will be The Shallows and Jersey Jukebox. Guest: Dee jays will be myself and Doo Wop Dee (Dolores).

The place: Paramus Elks  200 Route 17 North  Paramus, NJ

Doors open at 6 PM  -  Showtime is 7:30

Food is available.

Sunday:      Staten Island Group Harmony Club 

The place:   The Road House  1400 Clove Road  Staten Island, NY Many artists will be performing. We will give a chance to people in the audience to come up and sing as well. I will be doing the Dee jay chores at this monthly event. Time:  12:00 Noon till 4:00

Food is available

>>>Enjoyed your recent series on "goosebump" moments for readers of your website. But, have you thought of anything like a "boosegump" moment? Think about it! What record in particular am I thinking of? (Larry)
>>>Any ideas out there? (kk)
Made ME think of this: http://youtu.be/nJv_YXIXBsE (Ron Smith)
Kent,
Your reader Ron Smith was partially correct when he came up with that video of Archie Campbell doing Rindercella. To be honest with you, I didn't even know that Archie Campbell had done that. I never really watched Hee Haw. The song I thought of immediately when you came up with the "goosebump" moments in records was the 1962 record that Jack Ross put out called CINDERELLA on Dot. Hence the name, "boosegump" which I thought of.
Speaking of Archie Campbell, here in OKC in the early part of 1967, he had a very big novelty record, THE COCKFIGHT, on our local top 40 radio station's weekly survey.
Larry Neal
I wasn't familiar with an Archie Campbell version either ... so I, too, immediately thought of the Jack Ross single, a #16 hit in 1962. We've included it here today for anyone out there not familiar with the novelty track. (kk)



I just watched The Wanted / Walk Like Rhianna video and I love it! It brings up a memory from this year's study of the 60's. After watching the Rolling Stones perform on Ed Sullivan, one of my girls said, "NOW I get the song 'Moves Like Jagger'.
Shelley

Eagle Rock Entertainment is proud to announce the release on August 20, 2013 of Invitation To Illumination – Live At Montreux 2011 on DVD, Blu-ray and digital formats [Pre-book Order Date August 2, MSRP $19.98 Blu-ray, $14.98 DVD]. This unique concert, featuring the guitar talents of Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin, includes most of the tracks from their classic 1973 album Love Devotion Surrender. Invitation To Illumination – Live At Montreux 2011 also features the late Claude Nobs, founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival, playing harmonica on the final track.
On July 1st, 2011 Montreux hosted the reunion of two master-guitarists Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin-with their Invitation To Illumination concert. Both musicians have been regulars at Montreux across the years, but this was the first time they headlined their own concert together. The show features compelling performances of the beloved tracks from 1973’s Love Devotion Surrender, as well as inspired songs that have influenced Carlos & John’s incredible careers, including songs by Led Zeppelin, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan & John Lee Hooker. This show is an incredible display of guitar virtuoso by two of the most prolific guitarists to ever grace the world stage, The line-up for this performance featured Carlos Santana (Lead Guitar & Vocals); John McLaughlin (Lead Guitar & Vocals); Cindy Blackman Santana (Drums); Dennis Chambers (Drums); David K. Mathews (Keyboards); Tommy Anthony (Guitar & Vocals); Raul Rekow (Conga & Percussion); Etienne M'Bappé (Bass); Benny Rietveld (Bass); Tony Lindsay (Vocals); Andy Vargas (Vocals).
The evening was a showcase of supreme musical virtuosity and spirituality and typified the approach of these two great artists. Invitation To Illumination – Live At Montreux 2011 captures an incredible night of live music and is certainly a performance not to be missed.

FH Reader Bob Merlis tells us that The Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio, will present an exhibition featuring “The Paintings of John Mellencamp” from November 3, 2013 through January 12, 2014. This show, which will feature some forty paintings, some never before seen by the public, is the artist’s first art museum exhibition. For more information, contact Kathryn Earnhart at The Butler Institute of American Art ... (330) 743 - 1107, ext. 123 or write info@butlerart.com

Several readers wrote in this week talking about Fred Parris, lead singer of The Five Satins, who collapsed on stage during a concert Friday night. We give the scoop to Ron Smith's OldiesMusic.com website on this one ... his followers had this up on the site immediately while the rest of the media was playing catch-up on Monday. Hopefully Fred is on the mend. (This recent heatwave has been insufferable ... especially for those of us who are no longer spring chickens!!!) kk

Fred Parris, lead singer of the Five Satins, collapsed on stage Friday night (July 19) during a concert in his hometown of Hamden, Connecticut. The 77 year-old was sent by ambulance to a nearby hospital while the rest of the group continued performing. The concert had been moved indoors because of concerns about the heat. Fred was released on Saturday and is said to be resting at home.
-- Ron Smith

Other articles:
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2013/07/19/news/metro/doc51e9fa1d977db066880361.txt
Kent ...
Wild Wayne spoke to Fred Parris. He said that he was released from the hospital on Saturday. He's home resting comfortably.
Frank B.

http://www.vintagevinylnews.com/2013/07/fred-parris-of-five-satins-collapses-on.html?utm_source=VVN+Music+E-Mail+Subscribers&utm_campaign=a509dd9c6c-July+22,+2013+Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3a4dfe0b50-a509dd9c6c-14691013&m=1

Check out the brand new 3-CD set featuring EVERY Otis Redding single, A-Side and B-Side, recently released and available through Collectors' Choice Music. 70 Tracks in all ... the COMPLETE Otis Redding collection.

I have always been a huge fan of Creedence Clearwater Revival and consider them to have been the best of the best. That being said, my husband and I have seen Creedence Clearwater Revisited in concert about five times and we really enjoy them, as everyone at their concerts seem to do also. I realize Fogerty wrote the songs, but CCR was a group - the others were not just his backup band. I am really glad Stu and Cosmo formed a band to play their old music. It was too special to never be heard again as Fogerty seemed to have wanted. He caused many of his problems himself.
Jan
After toiling together for so many years I don't quite understand this underlying hatred Fogerty seems to have for his former bandmates ... normally, we tend to mellow with age ... and John refusing to jam with them at their Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction was pretty much the last straw for me. I absolutely LOVED these guys ... bought every record and played them until the grooves wore out. (In fact, I've RE-BOUGHT everything at least four or five times since in all the various new formats and reconfigurations!) John HAS hinted that he might not be opposed to reuniting again for a special series of shows (you know, if the planets all perfectly aligned and such) and I think that would be great. But I can honestly say that when given the choice of seeing Creedence Clearwater Revisited featuring a guy trying to SOUND like John Fogerty vs. seeing John Fogerty, the writer and singer of all these great songs, perform them himself, John Fogerty is going to win that battle hands down each and every time. I've seen him live now as a solo artist four or five times and he never disappoints. I have yet to see Stu and Doug's band as I just don't see the point. (Whenever I'm tempted, I always flash back to that scene in "Eddie And The Cruisers" when Sol is up on stage with an Eddie Wilson sound-alike trying to recreate the sound of The Cruisers ... it just ain't the same!) I will also say that I saw the ORIGINAL CCR line-up (shortly after the departure of John's brother Tom) live in 1972 and it is STILL probably the loudest concert I have ever heard in my life. It rendered the music unlistenable and often undecipherable ... and this coming from a MAJOR lifetime fan who knew every song backwards and forward. They had just recently become a trio and I guess they felt they had to overcompensate for the missing parts by way of increased volume. One of the LEAST enjoyable concerts I've ever seen by one of my all-time favorite bands. But ... if all three guys got together again one last time ... I would ABSOLUTELY be onboard, fighting and scratching for tickets! (kk)
Read our CCR Profile here: 
http://forgottenhits.com/creedence_clearwater_revival


"Give Peace A Chance": A CT Benefit Concert for Peace Set for August 3
Newton, CT: On March 21, 2013, Yoko Ono tweeted: "Over 1,057,000 people have been killed by guns in the USA since John Lennon was shot and killed on 8 Dec 1980."
26 of those killed were in Sandy Hook, Newton, CT.
On Saturday, August 3, thousands will gather to "Give Peace a Chance" in dedication to the more than one million people lost by gun violence since Lennon's death and, more specifically, the twenty-six in Newtown at a charity Beatles Music Festival at Ives Concert Park in Danbury, CT located just minutes from the Sandy Hook tragedy.
The "Give Peace a Chance" Beatles Music Festival (originally titled "Danbury Fields Forever") has been re-branded in an effort to raise awareness based on Yoko's thought-provoking statement, which served as an inspiration to encourage lawmakers to renew gun-safety laws that will help hopefully protect this country from another Newton tragedy. "Give Peace a Chance," written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the summer of 1969 while he was still a member of The Beatles, couldn't be more meaningful than today in light of what happened in Newtown, and it couldn’t have a stronger connection than with an event so close to where the Newtown tragedy occurred.
Newtown, CT’s neighbor Danbury will become the epicenter of this "Give Peace a Chance" happening under the auspices of the Newtown Action Alliance and the Brady Campaign, both of whom will be present at the festival. Newtown Action Alliance is a recognized all-volunteer grassroots organization dedicated to reversing the growing national gun violence epidemic through the introduction of smarter, safer gun laws and other cultural changes. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is a non-profit organization named after James Brady, who was permanently disabled as a result of a 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.
Yoko Ono Lennon wrote, “The death of a loved one is a hollowing experience. After 33 years our son Sean and I still miss him.” Since John Lennon was murdered, his widow has campaigned vigorously for stricter gun control legislation.
Sir Paul McCartney has also supported Tony Bennett’s "Voices Against Violence" campaign, encouraging Americans to push for new legislation on weapons ownership (coincidentally, Tony Bennett just performed at Ives Concert Park on July 13th).
Politics will be set aside at the event in favor of focusing on the positive as well as the healing… through the music of The Beatles. The day-long fundraising event features 10 bands performing classic songs of The Beatles, with a special John Lennon tribute. In memory of the 26 victims who lost their lives, 100% of net proceeds from ticket sales will benefit Newtown Parks & Recreation's “Dickinson Memorial Playground Fund.”
The "Give Peace a Chance" Beatles Music Festival runs from noon until 8pm on Saturday, August 3 at Ives Concert Park, 43 Lake Avenue Ext. on the campus of Western CT State University in Danbury, CT. For further information on the festival, call (203) 795-4737, email info@BeatleMusicFestival.com or visit website: www.BeatlesMusicFestival.com

Kent,
Your first reader today inquired about the song LIGHTS OF TUCSON as recorded by Jim Campbell. You know just as much about this record as I do. As far as I know, it didn't make our local top 40 radio station's weekly survey. Maybe it was played. I don't remember, even though I do have a copy of it (Laurie Records).
Back in those day, the weekly survey had dwindled down to just 30 records with 10 records listed at the bottom of the survey as being "Hit Bound". Later on in the year, 1970, the playlist on the survey shrunk even more with 20 records with again10 being listed at the bottom as "Hit Bound".
I wouldn't be surprised if the record were a huge hit in Tucson on their local top 40 station.
Another reader mentioned he had "hero" singers with Mel Torme being one of them. I just happen to have just one record by Mr. Torme and you guessed it, his 1963 recording of COMIN' HOME BABY which I believe was the only record he made that graced the top 40 radio station's surveys back then. Had to get it out and play it "one more time".
Finally, another reader asked if you had ever thought of doing a "Great Horn Piece" in FH. The first "horn" record that came to my mind was Sheb Wooley's 1958 THE PURPLE PEOPLE EATER.
Larry

Good morning, Kent: 
One of your readers asked about "The Lights of Tucson" by Jim Campbell. I did a bit of research on it a couple of years ago. It reached #93 on the Hot 100 during the week of July 25, 1970. It's about life on the road, and it name-checks the TV series "Then Came Bronson," which was about a guy drifting around the country on a motorcycle and had just ended its first and only season on the air : "like Bronson, my wheels are turnin'." According to the Airheads Radio Survey Archive (http://www.las-solanas.com/arsa/index.php), it charted in a few cities, mostly out west, and was (predictably) biggest in Tucson itself. 
Best 
jb 
The Hits Just Keep on Comin'  
jabartlett.wordpress.com

Kent:
That recently posted L.A. radio station survey got me to thinking how many regional hits we NEVER heard! You think once in a while you could highlight a regional hit song from some of these surveys that folks have? One of my favorites was the New Colony Six's "I Could Never Lie To You". Didn't quite make the national Top 40 but was a Top 10 on WLS! I only knew of the song because the 45 was in one of those $1.25 packages that had (3) 'Hit' 45's but were really excess supplies of minor 'hits'! Should have been The New Colony Six's 3rd Top 25-IMO but for some reason didn't catch on nationally. (#50-Billboard-1969) It might be fun to hear for the first time some of these regional hits.
John
Several years ago we ran a series called "Show Me Your Hits" ... in which we asked our readers to send in examples of songs that were HUGE hits in their area of the country yet never really did much (if anything) on the charts nationally. We got some GREAT examples (and were introduced to TONS of "new" music we'd never heard before). It was a real fun series and I would love to do it again. (I've hinted at such several times now but just haven't gotten the response needed to actually put something together.)
This goes back to the pre-website days when Forgotten Hits was still going out as a daily newsletter by email ... so my guess is that a lot of today's readers never even got to see it. The hardest part about putting something like this together is tracking down all of the music. Odds are if it didn't chart nationally, you're not going to find an MP3 on iTunes!!! So we had to rely on the readers supplying the local charts as well as the music.
I'm TOTALLY up for doing another coast-to-coast city sweep if you guys are. Send in your suggestions ... some local chart information to back up your selections ... and, if at all possible, an MP3 of the tune. (Come on ... where else are you ever going to hear some of this stuff?!?!?)
The reaction to our last piece was very good ... and I think it's time to update the series. Maybe I can even find some of the old, original newsletters in the archives to help kick this thing off. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, send me your suggestions now! (kk)

TOMORROW IN FORGOTTEN HITS:  It's our biggest music blitz EVER!!!  Wall-to-wall music from 6 am thru Midnight (Chicago time)  You won't want to miss it.  (Suffice to say we spent a significant amount of time putting this one together ... so please stop by and visit ... brand new updates every half hour throughout the day.  Spend some time with us tomorrow in Forgotten Hits!  (kk)