Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Tuesday This And That

re:  This And That:
Big news last week about Mariah Carey's new #1's CD coming out ... titled "#1 to Infinity", "Infinity" being the name of her brand new single that will first see release as part of this brand new set. 
Billboard, and Sony / Legacy / Columbia are quick to point out that this set will capture all 18 of Mariah's #1 Hits, placing her just two behind The Beatles, who have 20, and have led the music world for the past 45 with this achievement.
Once again, we're comparing apples and oranges.  To even remotely suggest that Mariah Carey ... or Garth Brooks ... or really anybody else since the hey-day of Beatlemania has come close to capturing the attention of the world at the fever-pitch frenzy of excitement that The Beatles did is ludicrous.  (Michael Jackson probably came the closest ... even The Bee Gees at the height of Discomania never came close to achieving the pure pandemonium of Beatlemania.)
Sure, ALL of these artists were great ... and their chart achievements are noteworthy ... but Mariah never drew THOUSANDS of fans to the airports, hoping to catch a glimpse of her exiting the runway ramp.  I don't recall fake "Mariah Boobs" selling out in stores the way Beatles Wigs did back in the day ... or bubblegum cards either for that matter.  There weren't THOUSANDS of magazines and books published cashing in on her likeness, trying to solicit every available penny from her legion of fans who just had to own EVERYTHING with her name attached to it.
The Garth / Elvis comparisons are just as crazy.  Does Garth Brooks have millions of fans?  Absolutely.  Faithful, devoted ... sells out every show but he ain't Elvis ... and would be the first to acknowledge this fact.
The Beatles and Elvis influenced more than just the pop music world ... you could see their affect in movies, fashion, pop culture everywhere you turned.  Both artists inspired THOUSANDS of other to get into the music business, most of whom never even achieved "wannabe" status.
These ridiculous comparisons need to stop ... but they won't ... because the simple fact is, people (and promoters) need SOMETHING to celebrate.  As less and less Elvis is heard on the radio (and all the new chart information seems to start in 1958 when The Hot 100 Pop Single Chart first debuted in Billboard, thus taking away about two dozen of Elvis' very biggest hits in the process), Elvis' achievements are being pushed further and further into the background.  Soon the same will begin to happen to The Beatles, thus effectively downplaying the impact of the original mania that surrounded these artists. 
As fewer and fewer fans remain who were there to witness this madness, it all become hearsay ... and part of the history books ... it has little effect on them personally because they weren't there to experience it.
Thankfully, there are oldies sources out there that remember ... and share those memories amongst themselves and with curious, new readers who want to learn more.  Forgotten Hits is proud to be among them.  We won't rewrite history to appease today's "flavor of the month" artist.  Taking NOTHING away from their talent, their fans or their output, we just say, "Keep it real, people"!!!  (kk)  

Hi Kent,  
I had a fun interview with DJ Arnie Amber (WMBS Radio) - 12 years after our last interview. 
Back then Arnie had a partner -  his son, Kevin.  And they promoted their show as "the only father-son on air oldies team in the country".
Well, Arnie's still at it, but this time he's doing it solo.  His son has gone on to work in a different field. 
Paul Evans
Ironically, Arnie's name came up in another email we received this week ... sounds like he's interviewed Dennis Tufano, original lead singer of The Buckinghams this past  Sunday, too.  (Somebody PLEASE tell Arnie about Forgotten Hits ... I think we'd make the PERFECT extension to his radio program!!!)  Check out all the details below ...


Kent - 
I just got this from a friend in Philadelphia - short notice but maybe fans can still tune in and listen - 
This is for music lovers of Chicago music.    
Friends, please join DJ Arnie Amber tomorrow (Sunday, April 19th) for his weekly show with guest singer Dennis Tufano, one of the original members of The Buckinghams from Chicago.  
Arnie's show starts at Noon and airs till 3 p.m. East Coast time.  Dennis is scheduled to be on around 1 p.m. Eastern time.  Hope you can tune in. 
I am sure Dennis will be talking about an very big and important event happening in the Chicago area on May 7. Here is the link to the station.  Thank You.  
Your Local Station - WMBS 590AM - Uniontown, PA  
"Your Local Station" 
We are on the air 24/7/365, providing local news, sports, talk shows and America's Best Music.  
WMBS590.COM  
Unfortunately, we're posting this a bit too late in order to get fans to tune in and listen ... but if this is archived somewhere, please let us know.  Meanwhile, here in Chi-Town we're just looking forward to the show.  (kk)

Bobby Hart is telling is story by way of a brand new book, out next month. 
You can check out all the details here:
http://www.amazon.com/Psychedelic-Bubble-Gum-Monkees-Miracles/dp/1590792904/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1429369583&sr=1-1&keywords=bobby+hart
He also shared a good chunk of his story HERE, when we interviewed Bobby a few years back ...
http://forgottenhits.com/forgotten_hits_interviews_bobby_hart
This was on the heels of our VERY popular Forgotten Hits Series "The Music Of Boyce And Hart" ...
http://forgottenhits.com/the_music_of_tommy_boyce_and_bobby_hart


And here's a song that Bobby wrote with his partner Tommy Boyce back in the day ... 
>>>Local act The Astronauts climb fourteen places to #21 with "Tomorrow's Another Day", a song that would be covered by The Monkees the following year for their first Colgems album.  (kk)
Also covered in 1966 by Chicago's own Shadows of Knight on their "Back Door Men" album!
Clark Besch


Which was cooler ... The Monkees doing a Shadows Of Knight song ... or The Shadows Of Knight doing a Monkees song?!?!?  (kk)

Have you had a chance to catch any of this year's IRS Countdown?  Thanks to all of the Forgotten Hits Readers who voted in Rich Appel's annual poll, seeking out the songs that oldies fans believe really shoulda been Top Ten Hits.  This year's results were interesting as usual ... and terrestrial radio would do themselves well to taking a look at what listeners REALLY want to hear ... 'cause it ain't "Jack And Diane", "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Take The Money And Run" six times a day ... EVERY day.
Rewound Radio is still playing assorted tracks as part of their regular programming ... and we've picked a few of our favorites to feature here today as well. 

From The Top 104 ... how about ...
1 - Can't Find The Time - Orpheus


2 - Nothing But A Heartache - The Flirtations


4 - Shame Shame - The Magic Lanterns


7 - Morning Girl - Neon Philharmonic


22 - Yellow River - Christie


41 - The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore - The Walker Brothers


56 - Early In The Morning - Vanity Fare


60 - Suavecito - Malo


88 - Who Do You Think You Are - Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods


95 - Fool If You Think It's Over - Chris Rea


A couple of Bobby Rydell clips, courtesy of FH Reader Frank B ...
Kent ...
And here, Bobby makes his acting debut on the "Danny Thomas Show" in an episode called "The Singing Delinquent."
Kent ...
Here's this week in history with Big Jay.
Now that Pat St. John is gone, do you think that Scott Shannon will take over his time slot (3-6 PM)?  Scott's only on for four hours (7-11 AM) on Sunday morning.
Frank B.
Not a chance.  Scott's got the #1 Morning Show in New York City, the biggest market on the planet.  (When you account for his Sunday Morning show, you're overlooking is HUGE weekly contribution to the station.  And the Sunday Show ... I'm assuming you mean "America's Greatest Hits" ... is a syndicated program that plays all over the country ... it even airs here in Chicago, but on Saturday's at 7 am for three hours ... meaning that it's not really his "regular" timeslot ... I'm sure it airs at different times ... and on different days ... all over the country ... kinda like Casey Kasem's old "American Top 40" program.)  Speaking of which, doesn't Scott sound more and more like Casey every single day?!?!  Not so much on his regular WCBS Morning Show ... but there are times when I hear him on the weekends where I actually do a double-take when I hear how much he sounds like Casey!!!  (kk)

Speaking of good radio, we've been raving about the vast selection of music featured on Chicago's brand new Me-TV-FM.  I wonder if this new law (should it take effect) will impact just what we hear in the future.  (I still say the main reason we hear the same songs by the same artists, day in and day out, all day long, in EVERY single city across the USA, is because SOMEHOW, SOMEWAY the people programming these stations are getting a piece of the pie, earning royalties in some fashion, which is why they're all suggesting the same "classic hits" be played from coast-to-coast.  I just need somebody to go out there and PROVE it so the saturation will finally stop!!!)
Anyway, typically only the songwriters have been able to earn royalties for the years and years of airplay the songs they wrote continue to get played on the radio.  The artists themselves stopped receiving royalties for their contribution AGES ago.  (Think about how many MILLIONS of times some of these songs have been played, all the while the artists not receiving a dime!)
Well, new legislation may change that ... and rightfully so. 
FH Reader Ken Voss sent us this article from Billboard Magazine.
Read on ...
'Fair Play, Fair Pay Act' Introduced, Seeks Pay from Radio Stations 
By Ed Christman | April 13, 2015 4:44 PM EDT Billboard magazine 
The U.S. music industry is attempting yet again to get artists paid for master recordings and performance rights when their songs are broadcast. Will terrestrial radio cave?
The U.S. music industry is attempting yet again to get terrestrial radio stations to pay artists for the right to broadcast sound recordings.
Today, four members of Congress --  House Democrats Jerrold Nadler, John Conyers Jr. and Ted Deutch and Republican House member Marsha Blackburn -- introduced the "Fair Play, Fair Pay Act of 2015," which, if passed, would require terrestrial radio stations to join satellite and internet radio and in making payments to performers for their broadcast on radio. In addition, the act would also require all forms of radio to pay master recordings royalties on music made prior to 1972, and do away with any grandfathering under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which allowed certain older digital services to pay discounted rates. (That grandfathering clause is currently the subject of a lawsuit from SoundExchange against Mood Media.)
"The bill is designed to return the music licensing system to a basic principal of Fair Play, Fair Pay," musicFirst Coaltion executive director Ted Kalo said during a press conference held in New York on Monday (April 13).
Nadler, who is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Sub-Committee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet, said the bill was creat As it is now, the airplay system is “antiquated and broken,” allowing certain radio companies avoid paying any remuneration to rights holders.ed to right a “great injustice.”
The Free Radio Alliance issued a statement against the legislation, writing: "The performance tax legislation introduced by Rep. Jerrold Nadler is mostly a patchwork of past proposals, which have failed to pass Congress previously. It’s ironic that the only thing the music industry seems to be able to agree upon is taking more money from others, like radio stations, for themselves."
Because the U.S. doesn’t pay artists when their songs are played on the radio, they also do not receive compensation when their songs are played in other countries. The only other countries other than the U.S. which do not pay a master recordings royalty on terrestrial radio broadcasts are North Korea, Iran and China. “That’s a list that speaks for itself,” said recording artist Roseanne Cash, one of about a dozen artists adding their support for the bill. “Since we export more music than we import, our economy suffers,” Cash added.
Other artist-advocates included Martha Reeves, Duke Fakir of the Four Tops, Elvis Costello, Ronnie Spector, Cyndi Lauper, Martha Wash of The Weather Girls, Marshall Crenshaw, Gloria Gaynor, Nona Hendrix, Ray Parker Jr., Cassandra Wilson and Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Group.
Reeves noted her music gets played all over the world, and people assume the artists are rich because of that. “I don’t mind being an oldie-but-goodie,” said Reeves of The Vandellas, “but it would be good to get paid.” Reeves' former labelmate Fakir that in 1909, when the Copyright Law was passed, only songwriters received compensation -- because artists hadn’t yet begun recording music.
“When the car was invented, they paved the streets,” Fakir said. “But we artists are still stuck in the f---ing mud… I am here because I truly can’t help myself.”
While all radio forms pay songwriter performance royalties, only satellite and internet radio also pay master recording performance royalties to rights holders, thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Some services like Sirius XM and Pandora interpret that requirement as to exclude recording from before 1972 recordings, the year master recordings received copyright protections under the law. Recordings made prior to 1972 are protected by state law, according to the music industry, and various elements of the industry are challenging Sirius and Pandora in court on this issue. (Sirius XM lost an important case related to this point late last year in California. That ruling's wider repercussions are still being worked out.)
Every previous legislative effort at the royalty been beaten back by the radio industry and its powerful lobby. The last time the industry attempted to secure a terrestrial royalty was in 2009, when the Performance Rights Act was introduced. The new bill has been written to pre-empt some rhetorical tactics used by the radio industry in the past to defeat new legislation. For one, stations that make less than $1 million in revenue will only have to pay $500 a year in performance royalties, while college radio stations will only have to pay $100. “Large corporations won’t be able to hide behind the claim” that this kind of royalty payment would put smaller radio stations and college radio stations out of business, Nadler said.
Previously, radio complained about the economy, asserting that they simply couldn’t afford to pay performers. But as far as the radio industry is concerned, “it's never the right time,” Nadler said. “What other industry says, ' We can’t afford to pay our workers; We want them to work for free,'” he cracked. “We got rid of that argument here in the U.S. in 1865," referencing the abolition of slavery legislated by the 13th Amendment.
SoundExchange president and CEO Michael Huppe noted to Billboard, “A lot of things [around] copyright law are pretty complex, but this bill addresses an issue that is as simple as it gets: that artists should get paid when their songs are broadcast.”   

In honor of music legend Joe Cocker's recent passing, Marshall Blonstein's Audio Fidelity is releasing his 1969 album, “With A Little Help From My Friends”, on hybrid SACD. The critically acclaimed album is one of those rare debuts that really captures an artist at their prime. The album is strong and confident and in many ways peerless and impossible to classify for it's a little bit of rock, blue-eyed soul, blues and pop rolled into one soulful rasp of a voice that results in a profound listening experience.
Cocker's voice is bolstered by some very sharp playing by an impressive list of British rock luminaries including Henry McCullough, Albert Lee and Jimmy Page, Guitar; Chris Stainton, Tommy Eyre and Stevie Winwood, keyboards, and Procol Harum's organist and drummer: Matthew Fisher and the late B.J.Wilson.
Besides the classic Beatles cover tune the album includes brilliant interpretations of material from Bob Dylan and Dave Mason as well as three originals. Cocker performed his radical re-arranged version of “With A Little Help From My Friends” at Woodstock and the tune was included in the popular “Woodstock” documentary film. In 2001 his totally gospel fueled rock 'n soul re-harmonization of the Beatles classic was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
1 Feeling Alright
2 Bye Bye Blackbird
3 Change In Louise
4 Marjorine
5 Just Like A Woman
6 Do I Still Figure In Your Life?
7 Sandpaper Cadillac
8 Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
9 With A Little Help From My Friends
10 I Shall Be Released
Produced By: Denny Cordell for Tarantula Productions
Mastered for this SACD by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
For more information: www.audiofidelity.net

Hey Kent,
I just saw a "Best of Saturday Night Live" repeat, featuring that funny skit of the recording session of Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper". Will Ferrell, whose sole purpose was as a cowbell player, never fails to crack me up, and if you keep your eye on the other musicians, it sure made drummer Jimmy Fallon, crack up, too! The first time I ever really noticed a cowbell in rock n roll music was when Ringo's ringy cowbell was part of the hit, "You Can't Do That". It really added to the drive of the music and lyrics. Have cowbell songs ever been discussed in Forgotten Hits? It might be fun to read everybody's favorites. There are many lists of the best cowbell songs on the internet, but what does "the best" really mean? My top five favorites are "You Can't Do That", "Incense and Peppermints", "Time Has Come Today", "We're an American Band", and "Oye Como Va". I have a top ten list, too, but I think five songs are enough to start things off, if FH readers are interested.
- John LaPuzza
Our FH Buddy Bob Stroud does a daily program (Monday thru Friday) on The Drive (97.7-FM Chicago) called "Ten At 10".  Each day he picks either a particular year or a particular topic and then plays (as you can probably imagine) ten songs from that great year, artist or theme at 10 am every weekday.  (The program is then repeated ... yep, you figured that one out, too ... and 10 pm every night.)
The subject-matter can range from anything to anyone to any place, which is what makes it always a fun show to listen to (or, as we like to call it, "appointment radio".)  A while back, he did a Ten at 10 salute to "cowbell songs" ... in fact, I've heard it a couple of times now ... and all of your selections typically make the cut.  (This program is sometimes run in "marathon form" over the weekend, too, recapping many of the individual programs one might have missed due to daily hassles like, you know, going to work and stuff.)
In any event, you can Listen Live here:  http://wdrv.com/  ... and be sure to check out Bob's Sunday Morning Program "Rock And Roll Roots", too.  It airs from 7 - 10 am on Sunday Mornings. 
As for another Forgotten Hits Poll, we're still trying to keep up with all of your Soul Favorites ... we even ran some more of your suggestions this past weekend in FH. (kk)

Saw your post in reply to my e-mail in Forgotten Hits this AM and now I'm dying to know YOUR potato chip songs.  'Did She Mention My Name?' by Gordon Lightfoot is another of mine.   I know what you mean about not wanting to spoil them, but they're indelible anyway because I've heard them so many times.
Patti
I don't think I can do it!  There are literally HUNDREDS of songs like this for me that I'm passionate about.  Maybe one week we'll run a few each day to see how many of these tracks push YOUR buttons, too!  (kk)

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