SHORT BUT SWEET THIS WEEK ...
Howard Kaylan announced last week that, due to health
reasons, he will not be able to perform on the 2018 Happy Together Tour. Our long-time FH Buddy Ron Dante (who toured
last year for the first time as part of this package) will be filling in, teaming
up alongside Howard’s long-time partner, Mark Volman, to perform the hits of
The Turtles (and, I’m sure, The Archies as well.) Other acts on the bill this year include Mark
Lindsay, Chuck Negron, The Cowsills, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap and The
Association, all of whom have done the tour several times before. (kk)
FH Reader Shelley Sweet-Tufano also sent us the news, along
with a post from Carl Giammarese of The Buckinghams, who have also been
long-standing members of The Happy Together Tour line-up …
Kent,
This is from Carl’s FB page ... just came through and helps
explain the “short” Turtles’ participation in 2017. Both Howard and Mark have
had their health battles in recent years. BTW … Howard is VERY active on his
Twitter account ... still alerting the masses to injustices he wants to bring
to light and not afraid to be vocal about it.
Shelley J Sweet-Tufano
We
just found out that our dear friend Howard Kaylan will not be performing on The
Happy Together Tour this year for medical reasons. We hope and pray it is not
too serious. Howard is the heart, soul and voice of that tour. The Buckinghams
have been proud to be a part of Happy Together many times through the years. Howard,
we hope and pray to see you back on the tour soon in good health.
Carl Giammarese
Both Howard and
Mark have participated with Forgotten Hits for many years now and we wish them
both the very best in health and happiness.
(We’ve plugged every Happy Together Tour they’ve ever done … and often
have posted “Reports From The Road” filed by some of the different artists
participating each year.
It looks like they’ll
be back at The Paramount Theatre in Aurora in August (an annual event for YEARS
now) … hopefully The Genesee Theatre will scoop them up again, too! (kk)
Talking about upcoming shows, a few weeks back we told
you about Jim Peterik's upcoming World Stage Show at The Wentz Theatre in
Naperville.
Well, the big event happens next Saturday Night
(January 20th) and we can't wait.
(Believe it or not, I've never been to one before! And Jim has been kind enough to invite us to
this one so … root canal be damned … we're planning to go!!!)
And you should, too … check out this year's line up …
Hi Kent!
Really looking forward to World Stage
2018 - this is the 19th consecutive year for the brand I launched back in
2000.
Through the years I’ve featured just
about all of the people I’ve had the pleasure of touring and songwriting with.
This year is no exception featuring yours truly along with my very special guest,
Mark Farner - lead singer / guitarist / songwriter
behind the iconic rock band, Grand Funk Railroad.
Also, my friend and special guest, Dave
Bickler, Survivor’s original lead singer and vocalist on the multi platinum
smash Eye of The Tiger. Dave will also be premiering a track from his soon to
be released cd. The song is called Hope and it’s a killer.
Joining us, too, is Toby Hitchcock of Pride of Lions - a staple in the show's line up. He always brings his A-Game.
Joining us, too, is Toby Hitchcock of Pride of Lions - a staple in the show's line up. He always brings his A-Game.
The Fabulous Ides Of March will be
onboard as always with our harmonies and brass featuring a surprise and
unadvertised guest. Also featured will be Colin Peterik, premiering a
great new song. Our other two backing singers ,Riley Pettrone and Yvonne Gage,
will be performing a sizzling duet together.
The uber fiddle talents of Andy Ohlrich will be adding his magic to various songs including All I See Is You from the latest Pride of Lions cd, Fearless. Video screens by Greg and Jon Bizzaro will be showing associated footage with every act.
The uber fiddle talents of Andy Ohlrich will be adding his magic to various songs including All I See Is You from the latest Pride of Lions cd, Fearless. Video screens by Greg and Jon Bizzaro will be showing associated footage with every act.
This show will be a sell out so please get 'em
now!
Hoping to see you there.
Rock steady
Jimbo
More ticket information here:
kk -
Listed on your
1968 survey was the song "My Baby Must Be A Magician" … brought back
some DJ memories.
Back in 1968, I
was working for the Long Island Rail Road as a bookkeeper, at the Flatbush Avenue
Ticket Office. While sitting at my desk
working, I was listening to the old WCBS-FM. DJ Bill Brown was on 9 AM to noon. I listened to his whole show -- five days a
week.
Kent, I could've
easily filled in for him when he went on vacation. I'm not saying I was as good
as he was ... I'm saying I knew all his routines. For example , every time he
announced the Marvelettes song, he'd say "My Baby Must Be A Magician"
- "I told him I was pregnant and he disappeared ."
Here's more:
"Don't It Make My Bill Brown Eyes
Blue"
Here's a song
about a "Bill Brown Eyed Girl "
He never said
Mamas & Papas … It was always " Cass - Michelle - John &
Denny."
Great music +
Great DJ personality ... Perfect recipe for Great Radio.
FB
FB
Yep, radio sure has changed since then (corny as some
of that may sound today!)
This weekend featured "The Billy Joel
Take-Over" on The Beatles Channel on Sirius / XM …
Billy did a seven hour special (run
repeatedly throughout the weekend) where he played EVERY single track IN ORDER
from The Beatles' US Albums, "Meet The Beatles" (1964) thru
"Magical Mystery Tour" (1967), commenting on each one (and often
singing and playing little bits of pieces on the piano as he moved thru the
list), talking about how each track influenced his life … and the lives of ALL
of us who grew up with this music, there, at the time … and the American
releases, because (as I've always stated) that's the way WE heard them. Fascinating stuff.
Terrestrial Radio wouldn't dream of airing a special
like this … because it would prove to be interesting and entertaining,
something radio today rarely is. Why
would any radio station want to go down THAT road??? To break out of the box and be interesting,
entertaining and informative again … and FORGET about infusing a little
personality!!! We all know that'll never
work!!!
That's why we used to LOVE the countdown shows … the
syndicated specials like The History Of Rock And Roll, where you got the
stories behind the music, often from the artists themselves.
It was a different time. (And yet we wonder today why nobody listens
to the radio anymore!) kk
1st TAKE:
I haven’t heard the whole special yet … it runs about 7 ½ hours and, for
some reason, it seems every time I turn it on it’s during the “Magical Mystery
Tour” album … which I’ve now heard for the THIRD time! I’m anxious to hear some of the others,
especially Billy’s commentary on the first impact of The Beatles and the “Meet
The Beatles” album, as well as two of my favorites, “Beatles ‘65” and “Beatles VI”
which are essentially “Beatles For Sale” as resequenced for the American market. (I’m also curious to see how Billy handles “A
Hard Day’s Night” and “Something New” since several of these tracks are
duplicated between the two LPs.) Billy
cut a GREAT version of “I’ll Cry Instead” several years ago, which we’ve
featured a few times before in Forgotten Hits.
I did hear him play up the whole “America was down in
the dumps after the Kennedy assassination and The Beatles came along at the
right time to brighten all our spirits again,” a philosophy I’ve shot holes in
many times before over the years. While there
may be some element of truth to this, it certainly wasn’t happening at the
11-14 year old teenage girl level … sure, they were shocked that our President
could be taken from us … but it didn’t put them in a state of mind that only
the sounds of The Beatles could draw them out of. It’s a bit of an extreme theory in my mind.
Then again, I DO have to agree with Billy’s assessment
of The Beatles’ #1 Single “Hello Goodbye,” which I have always deemed as
probably their least-deserving #1 based on the standard that they had set for
themselves.
Billy says something about Paul’s simplistic lyrics
(especially when compared to John’s incredible job on the B-Side with “I Am The
Walrus”) and implies that, hot on the heels of the revolutionary success of the
“Sgt. Pepper” album, The Beatles may have been testing us … “we could release
an album of all of us farting and you’d still buy it” sort of thing! (Then he goes on to say that those analysts
who considered themselves to be completely “in the know” probably spent hours
trying to find the TRUE meaning of “You say yes … I say no” … “You say goodbye
and I say hello” … wait a minute … yes, I’ve got it … I get it now … it’s all
so clear … I see what they’re really saying!”)
SURE you do!!! (kk)
Speaking of The Beatles …
I love the Beatles timeline video you
featured the other day – very well done.
Tom
And, on a final note ...
We finally went to see the Carole King Musical “Beautiful”
this weekend at The Cadillac Palace Theatre … it’s been playing in Chicago for
a couple of years now yet somehow we never made it downtown to see it … now
that it’ll be closing in just two weeks, we figured we’d better make the trip
while we still had the chance!
It’s very well done (Frannie asked if we could see it again
the following night!) … a very colorful, fun portrayal of the life of one of
music’s most prolific songwriters. (You can
only do so much within the confines of a 2 ½ hour musical … so you get lots of
great, light-hearted moments … a pretty glossed-over look at the ways of the
world back in the days of The Brill Building when song-writing was a craft and
employed some of the best in the business … until most of the recording artists
started writing their own material) … and the need to cram in as many musical
examples as possible within this tight timeframe. Still, most of this music was SO powerful and
SO influential that it was quite an emotional experience to watch it all unfold
on the stage … we both got choked up several times knowing how much this music
has meant to us and impacted our lives and the lives of so many others over the
past 50+ years.
The actress playing Carole King (Sarah Bockel) was spot
on and really captured the essence of King’s voice as well. The journey covers a wealth of material
cowritten by Carole and her then-husband Gerry Goffin … as well as several
tunes written by their close friends (and fierce competitors) Barry Mann and
Cynthia Weil, who also have a wide array of songs featured throughout the
show. (Honestly, being “The Carole King
Story,” I was a little bit surprised by just how much Mann and Weil material
was featured … but these two couples dominated the music scene for much of the
early-to-mid ‘60’s … and the actors portraying them … Jacob Heimer and Sarah
Goeke respectively … were absolutely outstanding. In fact, if I had to pick a weak link, it
would have to be the Gerry Goffin character as portrayed by Andrew Brewer, who
was still quite good but didn’t measure up quite as strongly as the other
leads.)
Along the way we meet young publishing entrepreneur
Don(ny) Kirshner, Neil Sedaka, The Shirelles, The Drifters, Little Eva (in a
very fun, light-hearted moment) and The Righteous Brothers (who brought the
house down with their stirring reading of Mann and Weil’s “You’ve Lost That
Lovin’ Feeling”.) We also saw the early
inspiration for songs later covered by The Animals (Mann and Weil’s “We Gotta
Get Out Of This Place”) and The Monkees (Goffin and King’s “Pleasant Valley
Sunday’). Another powerful and stirring
highlight for me was the evolution of the song “Walkin’ In The Rain.”
When the music’s this good, it’s hard to focus on very
much else … but Carole’s sudden emergence as a solo star in 1971 with her incredible
Grammy-winning album “Tapestry” and #1 Hit “It’s Too Late” was nothing short of
breath-taking. (HER big moment was also
a big moment in my life as well as she ushered in the singer-songwriter era of
the early ‘70’s.)
Highly recommended if it happens to be playing in your
area. (Now they need to make THIS into a film for the ages … preferably without
ANY Clint Eastwood involvement!!!) kk
