October 7th

The Beatles turn down a one million dollar offer from Sid Bernstein to perform again at Shea Stadium. (They had stopped touring for good the previous August with a farewell performance at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.  It is no longer possible for them to create the intricate sounds they're making in the studio these days, especially with tens of thousands of fans screaming and making it impossible for them to hear their own voices and instruments.) 

Mama Cass Elliot of The Mamas and the Papas is strip-searched and jailed in London over an unpaid hotel bill.  You know it's incidents like these that probably convinced her to stay in Harry Nilsson's apartment when she returned to England in 1974. 


The St. Louis Cardinals came back to win Game Three of The World Series by a score of 5-2.

 

October 6th

The Hollies have TWO new records on the chart this week … that's because they've switched record labels … so Epic Records, their new label, is pushing "King Midas In Reverse", which premiers at #67 and Imperial Records, their OLD record label, is still trying  to make money off their catalog by releasing a remake of the old Doris Troy hit "Just One Look", which debuts at #80.  It's working … those are the top two debuts on the chart this week!  

Also new on the chart:  "Beg, Borrow And Steal" by The Ohio Express (#84), "Pata Pata" by Miriam Makeba (#88) and "Hush" by Billy Joe Royal (#90).  

The Beatles complete “Blue Jay Way”, a song that will appear in their new television special “Magical Mystery Tour”.  

The Doors headline a concert at the Cal State Gymnasium in Los Angeles.  The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and The Sunshine Company are their opening acts.  

Meanwhile that same night Big Brother and the Holding Company (featuring Janis Joplin on lead vocals) played The Ark in Sausalio, California, with Jack and the Rippers as their opening act.  (Apparently no relation to Jesse and the Rippers featuring John Stamos some 20 years later.) 

Also in California, (or more specifically, The City By The Bay, San Francisco), a funeral was held for what many consider to be the Final Day of The Summer Of Love.

October 6th marked exactly one year after California lawmakers banned the drug LSD - and several hundred "counter-culture" Young Americans gathered at Haight / Ashbury to hold a funeral advertised as "The Death Of The Hippie".

In an article titled "Love and Haight", The Saturday Evening Post described it this way:  "Surviving film footage depicts a surprisingly carnival-like atmosphere.  There was dancing in the streets.  Someone played 'Taps'.  Sullen pallbearers carried aloft a large coffin that bore a single inscription: 'Hippie, Son of Media'.  And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how - officially and weirdly - the so-called Summer Of Love concluded.  Groovy."

Meanwhile, here in Chicago, these are the tunes that we were diggin' on the radio, this week in 1967 ...

October 5th

Boston's Jim Longborg held The Cardinals to just one hit as The Red Sox won Game Two of the World Series by a score of 5-0.  (In fact, he held them hitless for 7 2/3 innings!)

October 4th

Outside The Top 40 we find bulleted hits by King Curtis ("Memphis Soul Stew", up from #48 to #41), Engelbert Humperdinck ("The Last Waltz", #53 to #44), "Let It Out" by The Hombres (#59 to #46), "Ode To Billie Joe" by The Kingpins (#60 to #49), "Please Love Me Forever" by Bobby Vinton (#66 to #53), "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" by The Happenings (#64 to #54), "I'm Wondering" by Stevie Wonder (a HUGE leap from #96 to #59), "Holiday" by The Bee Gees (#80 to #60), "Even The Bad Times Are Good" by The Tremeloes (#87 to #61, a leap of 26 places), "Love Is Strange" by Peaches and Herb (#77 to #63), "Incense And Peppermints" by The Strawberry Alarm Clock (#81 to #64), "The Rain, The Park And Other Things" by The Cowsills (up 25 spots from #90 to #65), "Dirty Man" by Laura Lee (#84 to #73) and "Everlasting Love" by Robert Knight (#89 to #79). 





The St. Louis Cardinals win Game One of the World Series by a score of 2-1.  Bob Gibson is the winning pitcher.  Boston pitcher Jose Santiago scored his team's only run when he homered in the third inning. 

Their previous appearance the week before on David Frost's "The Frost Programme" had proven so popular that John Lennon and George Harrison returned this evening to continue their discussion about Transcendental Meditation.  The entire program was devoted to this discussion with John and George answering questions from Frost, the studio audience and letters received from viewers prompted to write in after viewing last week's program. 

Micky Dolenz overdubs sounds from his new Moog synthesizer on the tracks "Daily Nightly" and "Star Collector" for the forthcoming "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd." album.

 





Future "Ray Donovan" star Liev Schreiber is born.

October 3rd

After being hospitalized for nearly ten years, legendary Folk Music Pioneer Woody Guthrie died today from Huntington Disease.  He was 55 years old.  

Born Woodrow Wilson Guthrie in 1912, his influence can be heard throughout the entire folk movement and beyond. Several of his songs (and "This Land Is Your Land" in particular) became folk classics and benchmarks for other aspiring artists to try and achieve, including a very young Bob Dylan, country superstar Johnny Cash and folk legend Phil Ochs.  

His son Arlo (one of eight children he fathered by way of three wives) was born in 1947 and followed in his father's footsteps, writing story songs about things that are wrong in our society, most famously "Alice's Restaurant", which will be released later this year.  (It is said that a demonstration record copy of “Alice’s Restaurant” is the last thing that Woody Guthrie heard before he died.) 

In 1940, Guthrie wrote “This Land Is Your Land” as an update to the very popular Irving Berlin song “God Bless America”, whose lyrics he felt were “unrealistic and complacent.”  (In fact, he even subtitled his new tune “God Blessed America For Me”.)  On the typescript submitted for copyright of "This Land Is Your Land", Guthrie wrote: “This song is Copyrighted in U.S., under Seal of Copyright #154085, for a period of 28 years, and anybody caught singin’ it without our permission, will be mighty good friends of ourn, 'cause we don’t give a dern. Publish it. Write it. Sing it. Swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that’s all we wanted to do.”

Guests on The Hollywood Palace tonight include Batman Adam West and Don Ho.  

Riverview Park, a Chicagoland institution and landmark ... and perhaps one of the best known amusement parks anywhere, EVER, is sold to an investment group.

The park opened in 1904 and occupied 74 acres of land in the City of Chicago in an area bound on the south by Belmont Avenue, on the east by Western Avenue, on the north by Lane Tech High School and on the west by the north branch of the Chicago River.  Today a shopping center (called Riverview Plaza) occupies this spot (along with several other structures such as the Belmont District Police Station and DeVry University.  (I'm telling you this place was HUGE!!!)  

How huge?  Riverview was one of the largest amusement parks ever built and housed some of the largest and most unique rides.  Perhaps most famous was The Bobs Roller Coaster, which ran at 90 mph and had a 90 foot drop! (see photo below).  It was one of half a dozen roller coasters in the park.  (My dad referred to EVERY roller coaster at every amusement park, big or small, as "The Bobs" ... "C'mon, don'tcha wann go ride The Bobs?"  Somehow this just didn't cut it at Kiddieland, the park closest to where we lived!)  Aladdin's Castle, The Flying Cars, Shoot The Chutes, The Wild Mouse ... and what was that thing that spun you around so fast the friction literally pinned you to the wall while the floor dropped out below you?  That's the one I remember as terrifying the hell out of me when I was a kid!  

Any number of reasons have been given over the years as to why the park was ultimately closed ... everything from financial issues to competition from new parks opening in the western suburbs to a bad element in a changing neighborhood ... but in 1967, its final season, the park took in $1.7 Million ... the equivalent to the COMBINED ticket sales of both The Chicago White Sox and The Chicago Cubs, who both enjoyed a winning season that same year.  It was ultimately demolished in February of 1968.

Memorabilia demands a premium today ... and anyone who grew up in Chicago during this era has lifelong memories of their time spent there.

William J. Knight, a Colonel in the United States Air Force, was also an aeronautical engineer, Viet Nam War combat pilot, an astronaut as well as a test pilot who set a new speed record today in a rocket-power X-15-2A that reached 4520 mph. In all, he logged in over 6000 flight hours during his time in the military service.    

After leaving The Air Force Knight pursued a career as a Politician,  first as a city councilman, then as mayor and later serving as a California State Senator from 1996 - 2004, when he died in office.  Among his best-know acts while in office was the authorship of California Proposition 22, which forbid the State Of California from performing or recognizing same-sex marriages.  (The proposition passed by a vote of 61.4% in favor and 38.6 against.)  Ironically Knight's son David, who is gay, married his partner in San Francisco in 2004 at a time with the City of San Francisco was performing these ceremonies in defiance to David's father's law.)  Another son, Steven, took over the seat of Assemblyman for the 36th Assembly District from 2008 to 2012, a seat previously held by his father.

October 2nd

"The Letter" by The Box Tops holds on to the #1 spot on the chart for the third consecutive week.  "Never My Love" by The Association holds at #2 and retains its bullet.  In fact, the Top Six Records this week are unchanged from the week before.  

Van Morrison is up a couple of spots from #9 to #7 with "Brown Eyed Girl", comedian, "I-Spy" Emmy Winner and special drink mixologist Bill Cosby has a Top Ten Hit with "Little Ole Man", which climbs from #18 to #8, Lulu makes an even bigger leap (from #21 to #9) with "To Sir With Love" and The Rolling Stones round out The Top Ten this week with "Dandelion", up four spots from #14 to #10.  

Other big Top 40 movers include "How Can I Be Sure" by The Young Rascals (#20 to #11), "Gimme Little Sign" by Brenton Wood (#16 to #12), "Hey Baby, They're Playing Our Song" by The Buckinghams (#24 to #17), "Expressway To Your Heart" by The Soul Survivors (#27 to #19 … and a song that Nick Fortuna of The Buckinghams still regularly performs in concert today … a GREAT version, by the way), "Soul Man" by Sam and Dave (#33 to #22), "Get On Up" by The Esquires (#30 to #23), "You Keep Running Away" by The Four Tops (#37 to #25), "Your Precious Love" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell (#36 to #27), "People Are Strange" by The Doors (#43 to #28), "It Must Be Him" by Vikki Carr (#39 to #30), "A Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin (a big leap from #57 to #32 … how's THAT for diversity on the charts, 1967-style???  The Doors, Vikki Carr and Aretha Franklin all within a couple of spots of each other on the chart and all playing  side by side on your favorite AM Top 40 radio station, too, without any reservations or apologies!), 

"Lightning's Girl" by Nancy Sinatra moves from #49 to #36 and "Let Love Come Between Us" by James and Bobby Purify is up from #50 to #38.

This week "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" will log its final week at #1 on America's Album Chart.  Those fifteen weeks spent on top are second only to The Monkees, whose second album, "More Of The Monkees", spent eighteen weeks in the number one position earlier this year.  

The Beatles also begin work on their new "holiday single" this evening as the first tracks for "Hello Goodbye" (then called "Hello Hello" … a title with which Sopwith Camel had enjoyed some chart success earlier in the year) are laid down in the studio.

All six members of The Grateful Dead are busted at their house at 710 Asbury Street in San Francisco for possession of marijuana.  Six hours later they are released on bail.  (Damn!  And Mickey Hart had just joined the band!!!)  

Thurgood Marshall, the first Black, African-American Supreme Court Justice was sworn in today as an Associate Judge in The United States Supreme Court.

October 1st, 1967

"Bonnie And Clyde" top the movie box office again this week … for the sixth time!

In a real nail-biter finale, one of the closest American League Pennant Races ever reaches the final day of the season.    

Coming in to today's game, The Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins are tied for first place and The Detroit Tigers are one-half game back.  The Red Sox and Twins are playing against each other and the winner of that match will clinch a TIE for the American League Pennant.  That's because The Tiger are playing a double header against the California Angels, which means that if they sweep the double header, they will tie for first place, forcing a playoff game.  This is the second day in a row that The Tigers and Angels are facing off in a double header, due to postponements of games earlier in the season.  Because of the potential pennant being on the line, these games MUST be played to determine the outcome of the 1967 pennant race.  At this point it doesn't really matter who you've been rooting for all season … all eyes nationwide are on these two pivotal games.  

American League MVP Carl Yastrzemski goes 4 for 4 in his game against the Twins, earning the Red Sox a 5-3 victory and least a tie for the pennant.  

The Detroit Tigers win the first game of their double header bringing it all down to the final game of the season.  You can bet that all eyes in The Red Sox dugout are watching this game.  

The California Angels get the better of the tired Tigers bullpen and win the game 8-5 to give the championship to The Boston Red Sox without the need for a playoff game.  (Don't rule The Tigers out, however … next year it is Detroit who will be going to The World Series!!!)  

In local sports news, Chicago fans are cheering as both our White Sox AND our Cubs each won at least 85 game this season.  For The Cubs, this is especially good news as this is only their SECOND winning season since 1946.  (The other was 1963).     

In two years they will blow one of the biggest leads ever in the history of baseball as "The Miracle Mets" blow past them to clinch The National League Pennant.  You can read all about THAT debacle here in Forgotten Hits …

http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2009/08/1969-cubs-mets-part-1.html 
http://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2009/08/1969-cubs-mets-part-2.html    

In 2016, The Cubs FINALLY won The World Series for the first time since 1908 ... ending a 108 year drought.  (Trust me, we will be celebrating this fact for the next 108 years!!!)  

The final American League standings shaped up like this:

1st Place:  Boston Red Sox  (92-70)  .568

2nd Place:  Detroit Tigers  (91-71)  .562  (1 game back)

3rd Place:  Minnesota Twins  (91-71)  .562  (1 game back)

4th Place:  Chicago White Sox  (89-73)  .549  (3 games back)  

AMERICAN LEAGUE Home Away Boston 92-70 .568 ---- 49-32 43-38 Detroit 91-71 .562 1.0 52-29 39-42 Minnesota 91-71 .562 1.0 52-29 39-42 Chi White Sox 89-73 .549 3.0 49-33 40-40 California 84-77 .522 7.5 53-30 31-47 Baltimore 76-85 .472 15.5 35-42 41-43 Was Senators 76-85 .472 15.5 40-40 36-45 Cleveland 75-87 .463 17.0 36-45 39-42 NY Yankees 72-90 .444 20.0 43-38 29-52 Kansas City As 62-99 .385 29.5 37-44 25-55

NATIONAL LEAGUE Home Away St Louis 101-60 .627 ---- 49-32 52-28 San Francisco 91-71 .562 10.5 51-31 40-40 Chi Cubs 87-74 .540 14.0 49-34 38-40 Cincinnati 87-75 .537 14.5 49-32 38-43 Philadelphia 82-80 .506 19.5 45-35 37-45 Pittsburgh 81-81 .500 20.5 49-32 32-49 Atlanta 77-85 .475 24.5 48-33 29-52 LA Dodgers 73-89 .451 28.5 42-39 31-50 Houston 69-93 .426 32.5 46-35 23-58 NY Mets 61-101 .377 40.5 36-42 25-59

Elvis Presley begins recording soundtrack songs for his next motion picture "Stay Away, Joe".  Elvis is reportedly so discouraged by the poor quality of this material that he makes Producer Felton Jarvis swear that he will never release one if its songs on record.  (Most embarrassing, perhaps, is the track "Dominick", which Elvis sings to a bull in the film.)  

Meanwhile, Nancy Sinatra appears on The Ed Sullivan Show this evening and performs "Until It's Time For You To Go" as well as a medley with Peggy Lee and Sergio Franchi.    

Mick Jagger’s London apartment in burglarized.  Among the items stolen are his girlfriend Marianne Faithfull’s jewelry and furs.