Also on this date, The Doors record their “Absolutely Live” album in Los Angeles
And The Sporting News names Willie Mays the “Player Of The Decade” for the 1960’s.
THE FRIDAY FLASH:
It’s finally happening … for sure
this time …
Two years after we first told you
that Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman would be touring together again, it
looks like they’re FINALLY ready to announce tour dates.
This will likely be the last time it
happens and, incredibly, they can’t bill it as a Guess Who tour as the name is
currently owned by other former members of the band (who shall remain nameless
here … because who else other than Burton and Randy could you POSSIBLY
associate with The Guess Who to begin with?!?!)
As soon as the tour dates are
announced, we’ll give you the run down here.
(No official word yet if a Soundstage taping is still in the works … but
that would certainly be the icing on the cake and a GREAT way to commemorate
this awesome reunion.)
Stay tuned for more details!!! (kk)
Kent,
I thought you might be
interested, as well as some of your readers, what was taking place here in OKC
50 years ago as far as the music being played on our local top 40 radio
station. The playlist was somewhat shorter; however, there were ten records
listed at the bottom as being HIT BOUND. There were still listed at the very
bottom PIC ALBS. Some, if not most, of the albums listed had nothing to do with
the current format. For example, the survey I sent you has listed an album
about the music of Glenn Miller, an orchestra leader, as you know, from the
1930's-1940's. The printing was more legible than that of WCFL.
But Kent, I've got a
question to ask you ...
Has it really been 50
years since these records were being played on our favorite top 40 radio
station?
Kent, please say it
ain't so.
Larry Neal
And, speaking of the 1970 charts, we may be able to add some more
street cred to this year’s WCFL Chart feature …
Long-time FH Reader Clark Besch
has put us in contact with Tom Konrad, who worked for WCFL back in the ‘70’s,
and actually designed their new “street sheet,” which we will be featuring
throughout the year. (Incredibly, Tom
now lives in Belgium!!! That’s a long
way from Berwyn, IL, where I grew up when these surveys were first distributed
in stores!!!) He may be able to offer
some insight into the compilation of these charts as we move forward with our
Fifty Year Flashback Series!
By the way, Jack Levin, whose
WCFL Survey collection we mentioned here a few weeks back, now has his complete
WCFL Survey collection listed on eBay (444 charts in all … plus “a few goodies
and surprises” thrown in), with a minimum bid of $4000. (No bids yet, apparently, but you can check
out all the details right here):
Robert Feder is reporting that
Amy Louise Williams, the woman who was driving the car that resulted in the
death of our FH Buddy, Chet Coppock, passed away on January 5th. No official word if her death was related to
the accident as well, but Feder says Williams “underwent numerous surgeries
after the accident near Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, on April 6,
2019. The car she was driving veered across a highway median and struck another
vehicle traveling in the opposite direction. Her injuries included two broken
legs, two broken femurs, four broken ribs and a broken arm.” (kk)
I will have to admit that up until the 1990s I had never heard of Rush or
listened to any of their songs purely by circumstance. In that time period, one
of my best friends, who had gone into the business of managing rock tours,
began working on the Rush tours. At the time, his knowledge of Rush was
comparable to mine.
For a period of time he went out on all of their tours up until the point
in time when the tours started getting bought out by the large national
entities. Prior to that, he worked for some pretty big name acts all over the
world. Needless to say, I was seventh row, center, the seats reserved for
friends and family of the bands, at some pretty decent shows. I don’t think I
paid to see a show until I bought tickets to The Cornerstones of Rock show.
Well, Rush came to our town on one of their tours and my high school aged
son and myself were invited to the show. Although I was completely unfamiliar
with Rush, I was impressed by the economics of their tour. They appeared to
sell out all of their shows with little advertising. I actually enjoyed the
performance, even though I knew none of the songs.
The performance was interesting as well. There was about a 1,200 square
foot area to the left of the stage full of computers, controls and electronic
equipment. There was a handful of guys working away in there during the entire
show.
After the show, my son ended up getting some of their cds and we did
listen to them. There were some songs I liked.
During the following tours, we attended several more shows that came close
to town. In the mid-90’s, my friend took my son and the son of another friend
on a Rock Field Trip. They travelled with my friend and the band on a three night
tour of the Midwest and we picked them up at The Mark in the Quad Cities.
Needless to say, they were pretty impressed.
During his tenure with the band, my friend was most impressed with Neal
Peart, mostly as an individual and not as a musician.
Neal was an incredibly interesting guy. In the early days, he was an avid
cyclist. They would plan their tours so that the weather was in sync for
outdoor activities. Whenever possible, Neal would get off the bus, maybe 50 -
100 miles from the show, and ride his bike the rest of the way in. Later, as he
got older, he switched to motorcycles, which were trailered behind the bus, and
he rode as much as possible to the shows with a friend. Now keep in mind that
these were in the days where your phone didn’t tell you every move to make.
Sometime around 2004, I received an iPad for Christmas. I decided to
download a Rush album to my iPad so that I could become more familiar with them,
as my friend worked for them. They had a new album out called “Feedback” and,
not knowing what it was, that was the one I got. It turned out to be one of the
best and most interesting albums that I ever bought. It basically is an album
of covers. The songs are all absolutely great songs from the mid 60s. As it
turns out, these guys liked the same kind of stuff that we did.
The album starts out hard and heavy with their version of “Summertime
Blues.” Basically, in this version, they
take the other covers of this song such as The Who and Blue Cheer and meld it
into their own unique version.
After that the album settles down a little as follows ... Heart Full of
Soul, The Seeker, For What It’s Worth, Shape of Things, Mr Soul (With an Eight
Miles High riff inserted in the solo), Crossroads and Seven and Seven Is.
For years, this has been the only album I had on my iPad. This is my go to
album when I need an immediate 60s fix and I don’t have the patience to be
surprised by Pandora.
Interesting enough, I had my friend over one night after that and we were
listening to music. Although he works in the music management business, his
mind is more closed than mine. He is strictly a Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, Small
Faces, Faces, MC5 kind of guy.
I played the album all the way through. When it was done, I asked him if
he knew who it was. He said he had no clue. I said, “Well, you work for them.” And that’s what a huge pleasant surprise this
album is. It also gives you a completely different take on the band Rush, a
take I would never have had if my friend did not work for them.
In addition to his interest in bikes and motorcycles, Neal Peart had a
pretty unique collection of cars. Seemed like a regular guy.
Robert S. Campbell
Hi
Kent ...
I am
afraid I don't have any Tommy James memorabilia. "Hanky Panky"
was as greasy as "Louie Louie" and "Wild Thing," too.
I agree with Sam ... maybe next year for the Hall of Fame
induction.
Anyhow,
sounds like you had an amazing time seeing the Beatles cover band "Fab
Four." I will check them out hopefully in June by me in Morristown,
NJ.
Keep
Rockin’ -
Sandy
Ronnie Rice has just
been booked at The Metropolis Theater in Arlington Heights, IL, for a show on Friday,
April 3rd.
It’s being billed as “Ronnie
Rice and Guest” … (Skip Griparis perhaps???)
I saw Skip do his solo
show there a little over a year ago.
Beautiful theater if you
want to join in on the party! (kk)
The Peter Tork Memorial
Monkees Convention has been booked for Saturday, February 8th at The
Best Western Plus Hotel in North Haven, CT.
It’ll run from 1 – 8 PM (with an early bird noon VIP option so serious
collectors can have first access to the vendors / dealers marketplace.) There will also be an after-convention party
at the hotel, which is included in the admission price. (Tickets are limited so there is no guarantee
that tickets will be available at the door … use the links below for purchase your
tickets now … or email MonkeesFanConvention@gmail.com
for more information.
More tomorrow in Forgotten Hits ...
And be sure to stop back on Sunday to see this week's WCFL Top 40 Chart ... from exactly fifty years ago! (kk)
