Got this Report From The Road from our FH Buddy Ron Dante, currently on the road with The 2018 Happy Together Tour …
The Happy Together Tour is going great.
Lots of fans showing up to join in the fun. It's a party every show.
I'll send you another update later in the week.
I'm so honored to be singing lead for The Turtles.
I've always loved their incredible hits.
All the best pal,
Ron
The Happy Together Tour hits Chicago on August 17th with a show at The Paramount Theater in Aurora … and we’ll be there to give you a full report. This year’s line-up is incredible … in addition to The Turtles (with Ron Dante standing in for a healing Howard Kaylan), we’ll see Chuck Negron (formerly of Three Dog Night), Mark Lindsay (former lead singer of Paul Revere and the Raiders), Gary Puckett and The Union Gap, The Association and The Cowsills. (It’ doesn’t get any better than this!!!)
Check out the official tour website to see where you can catch this show in an area near you! (kk)
Hi Kent,
Here's a question out of the blue about Herman's Hermits.
They had a big hit with Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter, of course ... but I also recall a song called Mrs. Green, You've Got An Ugly Daughter ... are you familiar w/ this song? Was this Herman's Hermits or a knock off? Thanks.
Ted Gstalder
Gaithersburg, MD
“Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter” was one of those songs that was such an immediate and unusual hit that it sparked a wave of novelty covers (including one by our buddy Ron Dante mentioned above, who was in The Detergents at the time.) They cut a track called “Mrs. Jones.”
There are several others.
As for Mrs. Green, we found a record by Kenneth Young and the English Muffins called “Mrs. Green’s Ugly Daughter,” so I’m guessing that this is the most likely candidate. (Surprisingly, there was no clip on YouTube … but thanks to the ever-reliable Tom Diehl, we were able to find an audio clip and share it with all of you today … I believe he owns EVERY record ever released on Diamond Records!)
Both of these tracks faithfully mimic the sound of the Herman’s Hermits #1 Hit.
Thank you for your wonderful summer songs list!!!
Very helpful ... I’m a musician and have to do a summer songs gig tomorrow. Great tunes from your list have helped me to make up mine!
Have a great day, and thanks again!
Patti
It’s the ultimate Summer Song List … lots of deejays and radio stations have taken advantage of our fan research in the past … and, since summer seems to have a way of coming round every single year, this list has become the gift that keeps on giving! Lol (kk)
Here’s one of those GREAT stories that you can only get from the people who were there at the time …
Arthur Brown at 76: STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS?
As Britain’s Flamboyant Shock Rock Pioneer Celebrates Birthday, Jimmy Ryan of The Hit Men Exposes How Hot the “Fire” Was Burning on 1969 Tour with The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
Fifty years after he scored the sizzling 1968 chart-topper, “Fire,” Arthur Brown celebrated his 76th birthday over the weekend (Sunday, June 24) as a pioneer of shock rock and progressive rock, and heavy metal influencer, with his rock ‘n’ roll sideshow, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
Jimmy Ryan of THE HIT MEN, who played bass on The Crazy World of Arthur Brown’s 1969 tour shortly after his own band, The Critters, had folded, can still feel the heat, remembering the adventure of "living up to the 'Crazy'" as a new member of a band whose flamboyant leader was often referred in the press as “The God of Hellfire.”
Just how crazy – and hot - was it? Let’s just say Ryan got a crash - and burn! - course in “Arthur Brownology” on his first date with the band at the famous Wollman Skating Rink in Central Park.
“I had read that on a previous gig, Arthur had performed dressed up as the Pope, screaming, ‘I am the God of Hellfire,’ and for his finale, exposed himself - an interesting teaching moment for young Catholics, the world over!,” recounts Ryan now lead guitarist of THE HIT MEN.
“For our gig with Arthur, he simplified his attire with magician’s robes, war paint and a burning lyre headdress / helmet, and we were made to wear warlock cloaks and hoods, but we were forgiven the face paint. We began our show, and with a little difficulty, I managed to keep my floor length, flowing cloak from interfering with my bass strings.
“Did I mention, Arthur liked to light his head on fire? As we cranked through our dark, distorted organ, pounding and pulsing bass-and-drums set Arthur, in a moment of screaming, psychotic reverie, forgot I was behind him, and hurled his lighter fluid-fueled, blazing headdress up and backwards, where it came to rest beneath my cloak. I was looking at (keyboardist) Paul Glanz at the time and only realized what had happened when I felt some red alert heat creeping up my bare legs and private parts (it was summer - no pants under my cloak). I began to spew four letter words in rapid fire, screaming and leaping around the stage, initially dragging the burning helmet with me under the cloak, unable to kick it free. Arthur thought I was ‘performing,’ absorbed in his insane, hell fire thing and was cheering me on. I thought I was about to meet the real God of Hellfire and go up in flames like a suicidal monk, right on the stage in front of 3,500 people! The stage crew was on it and came racing at me with a fire extinguisher, but Murphy’s Law of burning robes fortunately did not kick in. I managed to leap free before ignition / immolation, and they hosed the helmet instead of me. The irony was that Arthur kept going, unaware that anything was out of the ordinary, and the cheering crowd, pumping their two-fingered, metal head fists in the air, was treated to what they believed was me being possessed by demons, and doing the burning (literally) psycho hell dance.
“With that I’d like to wish my old boss, Arthur Brown a very Happy Birthday, and many happy ... hell fires?”
www.twitter.com/thehitmenlive
Lots of Chart Talk going on here lately …
I, too, was a bit confused by the 1968 WCFL
chart, knowing there was an actual chart issued for the January, 1968 one you
showed. They DO look cool, however, as you mentioned. I will say
that Oldiesloon has the actual WCFL chart positions on their site for MOST of
the missing WCFL charts from 68. One copy was made for store promotion
and someone kept a copy of these and made them available here:
Also, I wish Joel Whitburn could not only
do a nice book on Variety Magazine's charts, whether cities or national
ones. In the 60's, I think there were not always weekly charts of
45s. Sometimes, I think they only listed LPs and sometimes only LPs and
maybe sometimes none at all, dependent on space or time(?) That would
make a book less likely. However, another one that would be nice would be
to do a book of Broadcasting Magazine's charts. I first began looking at
these weekly in the library every week in the 70's. Along with Billboard,
Cash Box and Record World, they made sure that almost every song on 45 that got
ANY airplay get mentioned. They often had songs that went on to be
obscure faves of mine and sometimes never charting ones in the big trades, due
to some airplay, but no sales.
Also, Radio N Records' charts were great
to watch every week in the 80's … maybe Joel could combine these weekly chart
mag infos from two decades and show both and call it a "Radio Music 1970's
- 80's" book?
Clark Besch
Here's a sampling of the Broadcasting
chart from 1974 and they had their own weekly bubbling under as well!
Due to some of the questions raised by our
readers, Paul Haney sent along this update from Record Research …
Hi Kent,
Now that the new 1956 Cash Box book is in stock and ready to ship, Joel
has been very busy these days, working on the 1957 and 1958 Cash Box Regional
books. He asked me if I would respond to
some of the recent comments in Forgotten Hits.
In response to Ed Erxleben’s comments … Joel notes that many of the
records are not to be found in any price guides. He did not say that they
“are unavailable at any price.” In fact, Joel was able to track down
either the actual record or a photo of the record somewhere online. A
record only made the book if it could be verified as existing. Also,
there are Juke Box and Record Store (sales) records included in this book … it’s
not all based on the DJ charts (although they do make up the bulk of the
listings).
And yes, we are aware of the charts published by Variety.
However, those charts were not widely publicized at the time. Therefore,
it’s hard to gauge just how much interest there would be from our
customers. We have a big collection of the original magazines, but it’s
not nearly complete. Keep in mind, that it’s all we can do to keep up
with our main books, which we have to constantly update in order to stay in
business. In fact, I’m amazed just how many books our small staff is able
to crank out each year. So, while I personally would love to take on such
a research project, a Variety book is just not in the offing at this time.
Paul Haney
Record Research
You
can order YOUR copy of The 1956 Cash Box Regional Chart Book here …
And, speaking of rare charts, I got the below email from Bruce Spizer
earlier this week. You might want to pass along to other survey
collectors(?)
Clark Besch
Hi Clark –
I am looking for high
resolution images of local radio charts listing songs from the White Album.
The most interesting one I’ve
seen is from San Francisco radio station KFRC Big 30 survey dated November 20,
1968 (No. 128), with Back In The U.S.S.R. at #1 and the other 29 songs listed
being the other 29 songs on the White Album.
Another station that
charted a number of selections from the White Album is our old friend, WORC.
These would begin in late November, 1968, and run through January, 1969 or so.
I have seen some of these charts on the ARSA cite. These is one with Ob-La-Di,
Ob-La-Da at #1, which is probably the best one to have, although I would like
information from the few chats missing in this time span.
Please let me know what
you may have.
Bruce
Bruce,
I will see what I can
find. This may take a bit, as my charts
are not always accessible due to various reasons. One thing I can send
sooner is my personal chart for November 18, likely a week following WLS
playing "Hey Bulldog" and "You're Too Much" ("It's All
Too Much") as exclusives from the "Yellow Submarine" album,
while he is actually talking about the pending White Album. He eventually
was right about the LP these would show up on! How ironic! I can
gather audio of all the tapings of White Album tracks I made in 1968/9 when the
songs came out.
I'll see what I can
locate. In the meantime, my chart showing first week on chart for the two
sided winner that was pulled from play shortly on WLS. THAT is why you
kept the reel to reel close and listened almost every night in those
days! #23 and #24 in first week. They'd go to #4 and #5 in January,
despite no one playing them except for ME!
Clark
If any of our readers have any high-quality charts from late ’68 / early ’69 showing Beatles White Album tracks showing up, please let us know and we’ll put you in contact with Bruce, one of the far most recognized Beatles historians out there. (His books showing all of the variables on every known Beatles release are unmatched!)
If any of our readers have any high-quality charts from late ’68 / early ’69 showing Beatles White Album tracks showing up, please let us know and we’ll put you in contact with Bruce, one of the far most recognized Beatles historians out there. (His books showing all of the variables on every known Beatles release are unmatched!)
Meanwhile, we can’t wait for the new
Deluxe 50th Anniversary White Album Box Set to come out! (kk)
They have just announced the list of
stars being honored with a Star on The Hollywood Walk Of Fame for next year … and
our congratulations go out to The Lettermen.
Other big names include Robert DeNiro (how has he not been honored
before?), Anne Hathaway, Candice Bergen, Lucy Lui, Mandy Moore (seriously?),
Tyler Perry and Broadway star Idina Menzel.
Other musical luminaries include Michael Buble, Faith Hill, Pink, Jackie
Wilson and “Trio” (Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton).
But without question the honorees I
am MOST excited about are David Seville and The Chipmunks!!! (Seriously … can The Rock And Roll Hall Of
Fame be far behind???)
I’m only half joking! The Chipmunks (all voiced by Ross
Bagdasarian, who also handled the part of David Seville) pioneered a whole new
recording technique … and created a series of hit records in the process.
Think about it … Alvin, Simon and
Theodore have been part of our pop culture for over SIXTY YEARS now! Records, television, the movies … there isn’t
ANY avenue of show business they haven’t conquered. (All kidding aside, when we did our very
first Top 40 Deserving And Denied Artists List nearly a dozen years ago, The
Chipmunks made our ballot!)
So yes, congratulations to all of
The Lettermen, who have participated with Forgotten Hits for years now … you
truly do deserve this honor (and so close to the Capitol Records Tower,
too!) But my hat is off to the ORIGINAL
Fab Four (who even scored a hit album of Beatles covers back in 1964!) kk
From the article sent in by Gary
Pike of The Lettermen and published by ABC News:
The Hollywood Walk of
Fame has announced its latest class of honorees to receive stars on Hollywood
Boulevard.
In the film category, the honorees to receive stars next year will be: Alan Arkin, Kristen Bell, Daniel Craig, Robert De Niro, Guillermo del Toro, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong'o, Tyler Perry and Gena Rowlands.
In the television category: Alvin And The Chipmunks, Candice Bergen, Guy Fieri, Terrence Howard, Stacy Keach, Sid and Marty Krofft, Lucy Liu, Mandy Moore, Dianne Wiest and Julia Child.
For music: Michael Bublé, Cypress Hill, The Lettermen, Faith Hill, Tommy Mottola, P!nk, Teddy Riley, Jackie Wilson and Trio: Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.
For live theatre / live performance: Idina Menzel, Cedric "The Entertainer," Judith Light and Paul Sorvino.
The Walk of Fame selection process is overseen by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, though the walk itself is a public sidewalk owned and maintained by the city of Los Angeles.
The group receives an average of 300 nominations a year.
Anyone can be nominated. But after the final honorees are chosen by the Walk of Fame Selection Committee, the honoree has to officially accept the selection within two years and pay a $40,000 fee used for installing the star and maintaining the Walk of Fame.
In the film category, the honorees to receive stars next year will be: Alan Arkin, Kristen Bell, Daniel Craig, Robert De Niro, Guillermo del Toro, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong'o, Tyler Perry and Gena Rowlands.
In the television category: Alvin And The Chipmunks, Candice Bergen, Guy Fieri, Terrence Howard, Stacy Keach, Sid and Marty Krofft, Lucy Liu, Mandy Moore, Dianne Wiest and Julia Child.
For music: Michael Bublé, Cypress Hill, The Lettermen, Faith Hill, Tommy Mottola, P!nk, Teddy Riley, Jackie Wilson and Trio: Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.
For live theatre / live performance: Idina Menzel, Cedric "The Entertainer," Judith Light and Paul Sorvino.
The Walk of Fame selection process is overseen by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, though the walk itself is a public sidewalk owned and maintained by the city of Los Angeles.
The group receives an average of 300 nominations a year.
Anyone can be nominated. But after the final honorees are chosen by the Walk of Fame Selection Committee, the honoree has to officially accept the selection within two years and pay a $40,000 fee used for installing the star and maintaining the Walk of Fame.
