November 18th

Detroit experiences a newspaper strike, shutting down both major daily publications.  Incredibly, it will last until August 9, 1968 … 267 days. 

A photograph of Planet Earth is taken from Satellite ATS-III.  (I'm running it here because I'm guessing the folks in Detroit probably never got a chance to see it.) 

Michael Nesmith books RCA studio time for today and tomorrow to record his vanity project, "The Wichita Train Whistle Sings".  It is a collection of instrumental interpretations of some of his work (7 of the 10 tracks are Monkees tunes), and employs some of the best (and most expensive) studio musicians in California. 

The whole event is a catered affair (Chasen's) and when all was said and done, the sessions probably cost Nesmith upwards of $50,000 … and the album probably sold about a dozen copies.   (I'm one of the few who actually owns a copy of this … I've probably listened to it twice in my entire lifetime!  It's AWFUL!!!)

One mistake Michael acknowledged later was that he probably shouldn't have served alcohol until AFTER the recording session was complete.  Nesmith later explained to session drummer extraordinaire Hal Blaine "Uncle Sam was about to remove 50 Grand from my pocket and, instead of paying taxes, I decided to spend it on a raucous write-off."
 

November 17th

Beatles right-hand man Neil Aspinall flies to The United States to deliver copies of The Beatles' new "Hello Goodbye" promotional video.  It would first air on The Ed Sullivan Show on November 26th and then again the following night on The Hollywood Palace. 

The Buckinghams perform at Shawnee Mission South High School in Kansas City, Kansas.  Their opening act?  The Who!!!  (Now THAT had to be an interesting show to see!!!) 

Surveyor 6 makes the first lunar lift-off when it takes a six-second flight off the surface of the moon. 

Davy Jones of The Monkees opens the boutique Zilch in Greenwich Village named after their bit of tom-foolery on the “Headquarters” album.



 

November 16th

Top debuts this week include "Honey Chile" by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas (#61), "Goin' Back" by The Byrds (#65), "Peace Of Mind" by Paul Revere and the Raiders (#71), "Summer Rain" by Johnny Rivers (#73), "Woman Woman" by The Union Gap (#86) and "Felicidad" by The Flying Nun, Sally Field (#95).  

The Association are all over TV this month … tonight they perform on a Carol Channing television special on ABC performing "Along Comes ... Carol(?!?!?!)"

Now THAT'S something you're not going to see every day ...  

Carol Channing on top of Jimi Hendrix!!!

You'll find some new music premiering on both of our local charts this week by Chicago's very own Buckinghams  ("Susan", a Chicago Premier on the WCFL Chart, and "Bend Me, Shape Me", a future #1 Record for The American Breed!)

November 15th

There are three big movers just outside The Top 40 this week as "I Second That Emotion" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles moves from #56 to #41, "She's My Girl" by The Turtles climbs from #58 to #42 and "Out Of The Blue" by Tommy James and the Shondells moves from #54 to #43.  

Other big movers this week include "Neon Rainbow" by The Box Tops (#67 to #49), "Yesterday" by Ray Charles (#62 to #52), "Massachusetts" by The Bee Gees (#70 to #54), "An Open Letter To My Teeenage Son" by Victor Lundberg (#81 to #57), "Georgia Pines" by The Candymen (#84 to #68), "Beautiful People" by Bobby Vee (#98 to #70, now ten chart places ahead of the Kenny O'Dell version, which climbs from #96 to #80) and "O-oo, I Love You" by The Dells (#90 to #76).

November 14th

The Monkees earn a gold record for "Daydream Believer," which hasn't even hit The Top Ten yet!  This afternoon, Peter Tork and Davy Jones will come to fisticuffs as, according to Peter, "we were getting on each other's nerves."  Davy ended up in Cedars Of Lebanon Hospital for stitches, however, so it sounds rather serious in hindsight. 

Barney Kilgore died.  He is credited as being the visionary who made "The Wall Street Journal" a national newspaper … and has been credited as "the man who invented modern journalism". 

Pink Floyd (hot on the heels of their new album) begin their first tour of the UK with a kick-off concert at Royal Albert Hall as an opening act for The Jimi Hendrix Experience.  Also on the bill are The Move, Nice, Amen Corner, Eire Apparent and The Outer Limits.  The tour will continue for a total of 16 dates throughout the UK.

November 13th

"Incense and Peppermints" by The Strawberry Alarm Clock is the new #1 Record in America.  (Years later it is voted as your all-time favorite psychedelic song by our Forgotten Hits Readers!)

http://forgottenhits.com/top_20_favorite_psychedelic_songs   

In yet another case of record companies not really knowing what they're doing, "Incense and Peppermints" was originally intended to be the B-Side of the record.  (We just had this same situation with Lulu's recent #1 Hit "To Sir With Love"!) 

The lead vocal on the record was sung by a friend of the band (16 year old Greg Munford), who just happened to be hanging around the studio during the recording session!  In fact, he never even officially JOINED the band … when they performed the song live in concert, it was sung by their Drummer Randy Seol!  How many guys other than Greg Munford can take the credit for singing on a million-selling #1 Hit  without ever actually being in the band???  (Well, we can think of a few #1 hits sung by "ghost vocalists" … but this story is really pretty unique on its own!)  

Rounding out The Top Ten, the momentum seems to have stalled in the Top Five positions … last week's #1 Record, "Soul Man" by Sam and Dave, slips to #2, "To Sir With Love" by Lulu drops from #2 to #3 and "The Rain, The Park And Other Things" by The Cowsills and "It Must Be Him" by Vikki Carr" hold steady at their previous week's positions of #4 and #5 respectively.  "Please Love Me Forever" by Bobby Vinton is the only Top Ten hold-over showing upward movement this week … it climbs from #8 to #6.  

New entries in The Top Ten for the very first time include "Let It Out" by The Hombres (up from #12 to #8) and  "I Can See For Miles" by The Who, which makes the biggest leap of the nation's ten biggest hits, climbing from #17 to #9.

Top 20 Records earning a bullet include "It's You That I Need" by The Temptations (#16 to #11), "I Say A Little Prayer" by Dionne Warwick (#24 to #13), "Everlasting Love" by Robert Knight (#20 to #14), "Kentucky Woman" by Neil Diamond (#21 to #17), "Pata Pata" by Miriam Makeba (#25 to #18) and "Like An Old Time Movie" by Scott McKenzie (#28 to #20).  

Elsewhere in The Top 40 we find "Keep The Ball Rollin'" by Jay and the Techniques climbing from #27 to #21, "She Is Still A Mystery" by The Lovin' Spoonful, up from #29 to #22, "Boogaloo Down Broadway" by The Fantastic Johnny C up from #32 to #24, "Watch The Flowers Grow" by The Four Seasons, climbing eleven places from #37 to #26, as does "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" by Gladys Knight and the Pips (right behind it, climbing from #38 to #27), "Stag-O-Lee" by Wilson Pickett (#36 to #28), "Beg Borrow And Steal" by The Ohio Express (#35 to #30), "Wild Honey" by The Beach Boys (#46 to #35), "In And Out Of Love" by Diana Ross and the Supremes (#60 to #37), "Skinny Legs And All" by Joe Tex (#47 to #38) and "You Better Sit Down Kids" by Cher (#52 to #40).  

But the biggest mover of all this week belongs to The Monkees, who sky-rocket from #68 to #31 with their latest, "Daydream Believer".  Looks like another smash hit for The Pre-Fab Four!  

Diana Ross and the Supremes Greatest Hits holds at #1 on the Album Chart for the fourth straight week.

 
Actor Steve Zahn is born.  There is music in his future when he joins The Wonders decades later for the Tom Hanks film "That Thing You Do"

November 12th

The Turtles perform "Happy Together" and "She's My Girl" on The Ed Sullivan Show. 



Wow!  Disney's "The Jungle Book" unseats "Cool Hand Luke" to reclaim the top spot at the box office this week.  That gives the film three weeks on top of the chart! 

Jimmie Rodgers appears on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. 



Pearl Bailey takes over the lead role in an all black cast version of “Hello Dolly” on Broadway.  Among her costars:  Cab Calloway, Clifton Davis, Mabel Davis and a very young Morgan Freeman.  Carol Channing originated the role on Broadway in 1964.