re: This And
That:
This just in ...
"The Wrecking Crew" documentary WILL have a
Chicago-area showing after all ...
Denny Tedesco tells us that we can catch the film
on April 10th at The Landmark Century Centre Cinema ... 2828 N. Clark Street in
Chicago. (This booking is so new that it doesn't even show up on the theater's
website yet ... stay tuned for more details.)
If some of the "locals" on the list would be
interested in doing some type of a "meet" at the theater to watch the film
together, please let me know and I'll see if we can arrange something.
Meanwhile, catch this film anywhere you can ... you'll be VERY happy you did!
(By the way, I also just saw my first-ever
television commercial for this film!!!) kk
Ron Smith's book, "Eight Days A
Week", tells us that 3/21/1952 was "The Moondog Coronation Ball". This event
was considered to be the "First Rock Concert".
That's why I say it was disgraceful
conduct for the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame to remove Alan Freed's ashes from
the building. If it wasn't for Alan Freed, there would be no Rock & Roll
Hall Of Fame.
Frank
Buongervino
The Star Plaza Theatre (in conjunction with The
Chicago Theatre) asks the musical question ...
Are you a fan
of Frankie Valli and the Four
Seasons?
Do You Love Jersey Boys?
Then you should bid on this awesome VIP prize package:
TWO Front Row Seats and a
Meet and Greet with Frankie Valli when he returns to The Chicago Theatre on
April 10th ... and a signed piece of Frankie memorabilia.
Bidding starts at $500 and ends March 31st.
Proceeds from the auction will support this year's Summer Music Theatre Outreach Program here at Star Plaza Theatre.
The auction has been open for three weeks as of today ... and the current top bid is $510 ... so apparently not too many people willing to pay upwards of $500 for this. (Apparently everybody already blew their wad on those $150,000 Grateful Dead seats!) You can, however, bypass the entire bidding process and just BUY this package ... for five grand! (kk)
And, speaking of Frankie Valli ...
Click here to listen to Scott
Shannon's interview with Frankie Valli from
last week on his WCBS-FM morning show ... this is a
goodie ... and it's FREE!
Frank B also tells us that Big Jay Sorensen salutes
Frankie Valli as part of his 60's / 70's / 80's flashback this week for WCBS-FM
...
It was announced last week that Paul McCartney will be inducting Ringo
Starr into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on April 18th. This makes all four
Beatles double-inductees into The Rock Hall, for both their collective efforts
together as the band that changed the world AND as solo artists. (It's great that
they've got room to double-induct a number of artists ... but can't find a spot
for Chicago, The Guess Who or The Moody Blues!!! Not to mention countless other
deserving and denied candidates mentioned here over the years.) Stevie Wonder
will induct Bill Withers (not THERE'S a great "rock" name!!!), new-comers Fall
Out Boy will do the honors by inducting Green Day, and Patti Smith will induct
Lou Reed, another two-time inductee. (At press time there was no word yet as to
who would be presiding over Joan Jett's part of the ceremony ... but it's
probably a pretty safe bet that it WON'T be the members of Fanny, rock and
roll's REAL first successful all girl group rock band.
(kk)
I just heard
that Jorgen Ingman died =
3/21/15.
Had a big hit
with "Apache" in 1961. I
bought that 45.
Frank B.
Frank B.
"Apache" was a
#2 Billboard Hit back in 1961. We featured it as part of our "Honest Injun"
series several years
ago.
Ron Smith
reports this about Jorgen
...
Jørgen Ingmann, the Danish guitarist who gave us the instrumental classic, "Apache" (#2-1961), died Saturday (March 21) at the age of 89. Born Jørgen Ingmann Pedersen in Copenhagen in 1925, he won the Eurovision song competition for Denmark with his wife Grethe with the song "Dansevise" in 1963. His only other American chart tune was "Anna" (#54), another instrumental, in 1961.
Also leaving us recently (bios and death notices courtesy of Ron
Smith, the official Forgotten Hits Grim Reaper) ...
Mike Porcaro, bassist with
Toto after their
"Toto IV" album in 1982 died from ALS Sunday (March 15). He was 59. His brothers
Steve and the late Jeff Porcaro were original members in the group. Mike retired
from the group because of his disease in 2007. He played on such singles as
"Stranger In Town" (#30-1984) and "I'll Be Over You"
(#11-1986).
Andy
Fraser, bassist with Free on "All Right Now" (#4-1970) and "Stealer" (#49-1971)
died Monday (March 16) at his home in Temeculah, California. The London-born
musician was 62 and had been diagnosed with AIDS and Kaposi's Sarcoma cancer,
though no cause of death was given. A classically trained pianist, he switched
to guitar at 13 and at 15 worked briefly with John Mayall's Blues Breakers,
which led to a job as bassist with Free, where he co-wrote and co-produced both
of the group's chart hits. After Free split up he worked in a variety of other
British groups, including his own Andy Fraser Band, which released two albums.
Besides "All Right Now" and "Stealer", he wrote "Every Kinda People," (#16) a
1978 hit for Robert Palmer that was re-recorded as a soft hit again in
1992.
Michael
Brown (nee Michael Lookofsky), keyboardist with the Left Banke and Stories, died
Thursday (March 19) of unknown causes. He was 65. Michael's father, a session
violinist, owned a recording studio in New York and produced, published and
managed the baroque-oriented Left Banke when they formed in 1965. Michael wrote
their two hits-- "Walk Away Renee" (#5-1966) and "Pretty Ballerina" (#15-1967),
but when he recorded another-- "Ivy Ivy" (#119-1967) using studio musicians, the
resulting friction caused the group to disband (though they later reformed
without Michael and without any more hits). He went on to play with Montage
before joining Stories, having been introduced to Ian Lloyd by their fathers. He
stayed with the group for their first album and first three singles, including
"I'm Coming Home" (#42-1972) and "Brother Louie" (#1-1973-- which initially was
missing from the album). After forming the unsuccessful group, the Beckies in
1976, he eventually gave up
music.
Sad to hear, too, about Jackie Trent who, along with former husband
Tony Hatch collaborated to write a number of hit records for Petula Clark back
in the '60's. She passed away over the weekend after a long
illness. (Our condolences go out to our friend, Tony) kk
British singer / songwriter Jackie Trent, who along with Tony Hatch wrote such tunes as "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" (#9 - 1966) "Don't Sleep In The Subway" (#5 - 1967) and "Color My World" (#16 - 1967) for Petula Clark, died after what was termed a "long illness" Saturday (March 21) in a hospital in Minorca, Spain, where she lived. She was 76. As a singer, her only American chart appearance was "If You Love Me, Really Love Me" (#106 - 1964) but she reached #1 on the UK charts with "Where Are You Now (My Love)," used in the British TV series "It's Dark Outside" in 1965.
Born Yvonne Burgess in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, England in 1940, she started as a child star. Signed by Pye Records, she began collaborating with one its producers, Tony Hatch, both in-and-out-of the recording studio. Their affair led to the dissolution of both their marriages and their own nuptials in 1967 (they were divorced in 2002). They are best remembered in Australia for writing the theme for the television program "Neighbours."
-- Ron Smith
FH Reader Tom Cuddy tells us about a concert event
that'll be coming to Chicago later this year.
Put together by the same guys who gave us Sail Rock a
few years ago, this looks like an interesting line-up. (I had to chuckle at
Tom's comment below!)
kk
Kent:
Paradise Artists,
the booking agency for the Rock the Yacht Tour, is promising
promoters a concert that will last approximately 3 ½ hours. Some original
members in all groups, except Little River Band. Concerts are still being
booked, although a handful of dates have already been confirmed. They
are:
7/16/15 - Staten
Island, NY - St. George
Theatre
7/17/15 -
Westbury, NY - NYCB
Theater
7/23/15 -
Kettering, OH - Fraze
Pavillion
7/24/15 - Aurora,
IL - River Edge
Park
I'm sure several
more shows will be added ...
River Edge Park
is a beautiful venue out in Aurora ... it'll be nice to head out there again
this summer!
Ambrosia and The Little River Band were both subjects of Forgotten Hits reviews last year. Robbie Dupree and Player also performed as part of the Sail Rock Show a couple of summers ago ... and Stephen Bishop will be a welcome addition to the line-up. This one sounds like a winner to me. (kk)
re: The First Day Of
Spring:
Hi Kent ...
Thanks for the cool MP3s. It was
interesting to see the different songs from each decade that were on the
Billboard top spot at this time of the year. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" from
45 years ago is still a masterpiece.
As far as the sampling goes, I tend
to agree with your honey, Frannie, that there is indeed "nothing new under the
sun." Over all I think the creative spirit has gotten "lazier" over time but I
still am hopeful that there are many more songs yet to be written. Where's the
creativity?
By the way, Happy First Day of
Spring to you too!
Blossmwrld
Our first day of spring was followed by 6" of
snow on Monday! (which makes me wonder how many more inches of spring we're expected to
get this year!!!) It was in the 60's and beautiful outside prior to that!
(kk)
The perfect song to usher in
spring:
Gary Theroux
Yep, that's a good one ... and, despite a #6
chart showing, a forgotten hit for sure! (kk)
