The Friday Flash

>>>Listening to show #1010 for Scott Shannon.  He said that Aretha will have three costume changes before she' s laid to rest. First one will be a Fire Engine Red Dress.

FB

>>>Three costume changes during her funeral?!?!?  Now if that doesn’t make Aretha the ultimate, queen diva, I don’t know what does!!!  (lol)  [Can you even imagine orchestrating this?!?!?  Too funny!]  kk

I sent this to Mark Bego, Aretha's biographer, whose updated edition is currently at the printer for a rush release.

Here's what he told me ... 

Dear Kent: 

Oh yes it is true!  

Three costume changes in her casket for Aretha Franklin, the third being a gold dress which she will be buried in on Friday.  For tomorrow's funeral, 100 Pink Cadillacs will line up for the procession.  

Aretha was a true pop diva, and she intends to go out in true style.  Even in death, Aretha demonstrates what being the ultimate diva is all about.  Love and respect for The Queen of Soul. 

Mark  

Probably too late to get all of this into your new, revised edition of Aretha's biography!  (Man, what a send-off this is going to be.  Sirius / XM will be broadcasting the entire six hour memorial service live on their new Aretha Franklin Channel (Channel 49), which ends later tomorrow night.  (What's amazing is that Aretha probably helped to orchestrate all of this as almost a dying wish ... spent who knows how much time on it, planning every detail ... but didn't spend the time to write a will to properly take care of her family!)  But still it HAS to be the coolest send-off ever.  (Somehow I just don't think this is what Carole King had in mind when she described a "natural woman"!!!)  kk

>>>Watching "Music Scene" in hindsight, it was an EXTREMELY annoying program, hosted by David Steinberg (who I actually like!)  It was just embarrassing to watch them stick in these bizarre (and particularly unfunny) comedy interludes between acts.  (kk)

I agree with you about the awkward comedy in between songs during the old tv show Music Scene.  The two dvd's  in my collection are a couple of my favorite tv performance discs. I only watch the songs and skip the comedy.  There are many rarely seen artists and great live song performances.  They would show the Billboard chart from that week and would mention or play the number one song. Billboard magazine also promoted the show.  There were musical notes by the songs featured on "The Music Scene" on ABC-TV Network starting with the September 27th,

1969  Hot 100 chart.  They continued this until the show was cancelled in early 1970.  

To make sure that I did not dream this, I looked it up

this morning. Thanks to Joel Whitburn and the Billboard Hot 100Charts - The Sixties, which I have used nearly every week since it was first published in 1990. 

Phil - WRCO

You've probably got the same two DVDs that I've got (from The Video Beat) ... I was shuffling thru them over the weekend and yes, there are some very interesting live surprises.  Still, overall, (and especially with Billboard Magazine behind it), it was a pretty lame program ... I think I would probably opt for "Shindig," "Hullaballoo" or "American Bandstand" and Lloyd Thaxton clips over these!  (kk)

In 1969, I was in Washington, DC., stationed there waiting for a
technical school in the U.S. Navy.  I was there from January thru December.

In any event, I was doing some photo work for WPGC (Prince George's County) when "The Ballad of John & Yoko" came out.  They didn't ban the song, but they did edit out the word "Christ" every time it came up.  I got a copy of the DJ 45 in my collection.

Mike Brown

I have a friend who insisted that Paul never sang the word "Christ" on the record either.  As probably most people know, John and Paul were the only two Beatles present for the recording of this track.  Paul filled in most of the other instruments and did all the harmonies but (according to my friend, anyway) couldn't bring himself to sing "Christ" on the record.  (After Lennon's "We're more popular than Jesus" remark a few years before, I guess this wouldn't be all that surprising!)

But I dunno ... I swear that sometimes I can hear Paul coming thru clear as can be and yet other times he does seem to drop out each time The Lord's Name comes up in the lyrics.  (kk)

In response to your lines about "They're Coming to Take Me Away" today - whenever I hear that song, it makes me wonder about how the same person who wrote that "song" could also pen one of the most beautiful pop songs ever recorded: "The Shelter Of Your Arms" by Sammy Davis, Jr., released on Reprise Records in 1964.  I'll never figure that out.  ;-)  

Mike Wolstein     

Speaking of "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haa," I have a copy
of the 45.  Flip it over and play the B-side.  Be sure and start at the
inside, as the song is played backwards from the inside out. :-)  

As I understand it, it was pulled because there were so many complaints about its content.
Consider it being non-PC.  Obviously it didn't strike a bad chord with
everyone, considering how many it have had to sell in order to climb that
fast up the charts.

Mike Brown

It was one of the fastest rising records ever, due to the sheer novelty of it all.  It hit #1 in both Cash Box and Record World yet only charted in The Top 100 for a total of seven weeks.  (Think about how high this record would rate on my Hit Index method discussed a week or two ago!)  Proportionally, one of the highest scoring records ever!  (I believe Jeannie C. Riley's "Harper Valley P.T.A." made a similar run for the top of the charts.)  Like most novelty records, once you "know the punchline," they're not as enjoyable to listen to anymore.

And yes, the flipside is the entire song played backwards.  Believe it or not, that track earned quite a few votes in our All-Time Favorite, Forgotten B-Sides Poll that we did a few years back!  (I think they were in such a rush to get this thing out into the marketplace that they just threw ANYTHING on the other side!  Let's face it ... nobody was ever going to play it anyway ... but WE did!!!  lol)  kk