Hi Kent,
I'm looking forward to resuming the Happy Together Tour later this July and August. Lots of dates coming up. The fans are really supporting the shows.
Thanks for having the best site on our music around.
See you at a show, bud.
Ron Dante
We’re hearing about sold out shows all over the country for this right now, so folks are chompin’ at the bit to get back out there to see and hear some of their favorite artists. Hoping we can catch the show when it heads our way in August. Thanks, Ron! (kk)
Speaking of The Happy Together Tour, our buddy Howard Kaylan is sitting it out again this year … so once again Ron Dante will be performing with Mark Volman as The Turtles as well as covering some of his own hits like “Sugar, Sugar” by The Archies and “Tracy” The Cuff-Links.
Meanwhile,
regular FH contributor Harvey Kubernik sent us this blurb about Howard, who
just celebrated a birthday this past week … (Happy Birthday, Howard!!!) ...
I first encountered Howard Kaylan at age 11 in Culver City, California, at Airport Village. They served 19 cent tacos at this memorable food village. Howard and Mark Volman were from nearby Westchester before they both relocated to Laurel Canyon circa 1966.
I saw the Turtles live in 1966. Howard is an essential voice in the story of rock 'n' roll. And always a terrific interview subject.
Happy birthday HK from HK. Hope to see you "Somewhere Friday Night."
This century I interviewed Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan about Frank Zappa ...
https://www.musicconnection.com › kubernik-interview...
And Howard Kaylan, about his just
published memoir, Shell Shocked: My Life with the Turtles, Flo and Eddie, and
Frank Zappa, etc. (Backbeat)
http://recordcollectornews.com › 2013/05 › shell-shocked
Howard has had some health issues these past few years and, as such, has been unable to put up with the grueling pace of The Happy Together Tour. Prior to that, we attended many Chicagoland shows as his guests and had frequent visits backstage. Here's just one of the photos taken at one of those encounters ...
Best Classic Bands ran a GREAT piece on Howard Kaylan the other day in which Howard takes us through The Turtles’ catalog, album by album, sharing thoughts and memories on each one …
https://bestclassicbands.com/turtles-band-interview-howard-kaylan-10-4-16/
The last show we saw before the country shut down for the pandemic was America with The Buckinghams at The Genesee Theatre last March.
It was a phenomenal show, with The Bucks performing an all-acoustic set (and Nick on crutches!)
A brand new show featuring these two amazing acts has just been announced … again at The Genesee … coming up on February 12th, 2022, and tickets are on sale now. (We can highly recommend this one. America is out celebrating their 50th Anniversary and The Buckinghams will blow you away with their stripped-down performances.)
More information at The Genesee Box Office: https://www.geneseetheatre.com/events/all?utm_source=Acoustic&utm_medium=Email
This is also where this year’s Happy Together Concert will be taking place … on August 7th. The Buckinghams will take part in this local performance ... and, hopefully, we can reconnect with Ron Dante, Mark Volman, Gary Puckett, The Association and The Cowsills, as well as meet, for the very first time, some of the other acts on the bill this year, The Vogues and The Classics IV. (kk)
We were born in Milwaukee ... we moved away in October of 1968.
We sure would have loved to have still been there for this.
Stacee
Wow, quite a line-up!
I remember going to my first Summerfest in Milwaukee in 1972 … during the course of a week, I saw Chuck Berry, David Cassidy and George Carlin on the night they shut off his mic and arrested him onstage for doing his “Seven Words You Can’t Say On Television” routine. (I’m not sure which was crazier … that whole scene unfolding before my very eyes or the complete pandemonium that ensued when David Cassidy took the stage at the prime of his career.)
The tradition continues some 50+ years later … HUGE acts spread out throughout a week of summer fun.
https://www.summerfest.com/lineup/
Thanks for sharing, Stacee … and great to hear from you again! (kk)
Yes, I loved WLS Chicago with Dick Biondi!!!!!
He took me thru all three years of high school till he got bumped for that mini-skirt joke, which would be 5th grade humor, possibly even 4th.
Why do “they” let crap on radio today and yet Dick got cut short?
Marcie Vanneste
LOTS of rumors about why Biondi was fired … or even if he WAS fired ... have persisted for nearly sixty years now. (I’ve also heard it was just a complete misunderstanding … but before even considering THAT possibility, Dick had already made the decision to walk.)
What constitutes as “entertainment” on the radio today leaves a lot to be desired when compared to the higher standard of the good ol’ “personality radio” that we grew up with. Times change … and things have to change along with it … and quite honestly, some of what we thought was hysterical back then doesn’t quite hold up so well to the test of time either …
But we sure LOVED what we heard … and MOST of the deejays became our “friends,” joining us in our homes, in our cars and (covertly) under our pillows while our parents thought we were sleeping every single night, many becoming almost as popular as the artists that they were playing.
I am REALLY looking forward to Pam Pulice finishing up The Dick Biondi Documentary Film and getting it out there for all the world to see. The hope is still to air it on PBS this year … so stay tuned for more information on that as it becomes available. ( believe some new fundraising news is right around the corner!) kk
kk …
Looking ahead to Saturday Night with Cousin Brucie …
Last week it was Peter Asher from England ...
This week it’s Andy Kim from Canada.
I guess he's run out of U S talent to interview.
Frank B
>>>"Lowdown" by Chicago peaked at #27 on the Super Charts; here locally it was the #1 song for the entire year of 1971! (Mike Markesich)
Mike,
“Lowdown” reached #1 on MY personal charts as well. Not a surprise, as every Chicago 45 from 1969's original "Questions 67 & 68" to the end of my personal charts in 1976 went to #1.
Clark Besch
Incredibly, they only had two #1 National Hits during that time … “Just You ‘n’ Me” went to #1 (in Cash Box only) in 1973 … and then “If You Leave Me Now” topped all three national charts in 1976.
While most of us would agree that Chicago released their strongest and longest-lasting material during this period, they would top the charts two more times in the ‘80’s during their Soft Rock / Ballad days … “Hard To Say I’m Sorry” (still one of my all-time favorites by them) went to #1 in 1982 and then the Bill Champlin-driven “Look Away” topped the chart in 1988. (Officially, they had TWENTY Top Ten Billboard Hits … and eight more that made The Top 20. (kk)
Kent,
Tonight, a
friend of mine and I were discussing the instrumental that came out in 1964,
SCRATCHY, by Travis Wammack. This was a very big here in OKC back then ... but
we discovered online that Davie Allan and the Arrows had a version of it as
well. We couldn't find it listed as a single but were wondering if it was an LP
cut. Do you know by chance?
Larry Neal
Davie Allan and the Arrows recorded “Scratchy” as a track on their “Apache ‘65” album. (Unfortunately, the album never charted … but the title track, which, unlike their version of “Scratchy” WAS released as a single, became Davie’s first chart hit, climbing to #64 in March of that year.)
The original Travis Wammack version made it to #69 (#80 in Billboard) just a few months earlier, so The Arrows were quick to jump on that track. (Checking our local stats, it looks like Wammack's version of “Scratchy” was a #12 hit here in Chicago, too.) Davie would have his biggest Top 40 hit a couple of years ater when “Blues’ Theme” would reach #27 during The Summer of Love, 1967 ... and go all the way to #3 here in Chicago.) kk
DIDJAKNOW?: According to Joel Whitburn’s Top Pop Singles book, “Scratchy” (for which Travis Wammack received a cowriting credit) is actually a guitar-driven instrumental remake of Mel Torme’s #36, 1962 hit “Comin’ Home Baby” … so naturally, I just had to feature THAT one, too … if only for my own curiosity! (kk)
Whoa!!! I'm not sure we've ever feature Mel Torme in Forgotten Hits before! Could this actually have been a Forgotten Hits First?!?!
I asked Davie Allan if there were any special circumstances or memories he had about recording the tune … and this is what he told me …
Kent,
I was knocked out by "Scratchy" (also known as "Comin' Home Baby" by Mel Torme.) We recorded our version for my first album, "Apache '65." I used a Gibson "Maestro" fuzz for the first time on a couple of tunes. A year later came "The Wild Angels."
Thanks again for your continued interest in my career!
Davie
Kent,
Thanks for the posting of Roger Miller’s and Andy Williams’ recording of (IN THE SUMMERTIME) YOU DON'T WANT MY LOVE. I tend to like Roger Miller's version better. FYI, both records made their initial appearance on WKY 930’s top 40 survey for the week of November 17,1960, at chart position #49. That is of a survey of 50 records posted. Both records were listed at #38, then #22 for the week of December 1,1960, which was the peak position. Then it fell off the survey.
I always did
like Jerry Keller's HERE COMES SUMMER. He had a couple of other records after
that on Kapp but those records no one remembers today. Speaking of Jerry Keller, without me
checking, is he still alive or do you know?
Larry
I found no national chart showing for either the Andy Williams or the Roger Miller version of “In The Summertime” … so I did a bit more checking, too, since you said both versions appeared on your local Oklahoma City chart. (I didn’t realize that it charted there under the title, “You Don’t Want My Love” … so once I knew that, I found that the Andy Williams version DID go to #34 in 1960 in Music Vendor (but, once again, stalled 30 places lower in Billboard at #64.) Roger Miller’s version shared the #34 position with Andy’s version in Music Vendor, didn’t chart at all in Billboard and spent exactly one week at #96 in Cash Box. Here in Chicago on our local chart, Andy’s version peaked at #16 while Roger Miller’s only showed up as an “extra.” (Glad you filled me in on its better known title … it was shown simply as “In The Summertime” on Roger’s Greatest Hits album released on Smash Records, so that's the only way I knew it!)
By the way, I was really surprised to see the video being blocked on my site, offering up only a link to watch it on YouTube. Who would have ever thought that THAT track out of all the far better known material available on YouTube would have watchdogs out there keeping tabs!?!
By my accounts, Jerry Keller is still alive. (84 years old) “Here Comes Summer” (which he also wrote) became a #14 hit in 1959 … but he never hit The Top 40 again. (A 1961 release, “Be Careful How Your Drive Young Joey,” bubbled under at #112 … but that was it.) kk
Hello Kent,
As many Forgotten Hits readers were most likely doing this past weekend, I was listening to a doo-wop show I recorded onto cassette from the radio in the late Nineties.
I came across a song that the DJ didn't announce and I'm wondering if any of your readers could help me identify the artist and/or song. It's an a cappella recording, and here are the lyrics as best as I can make out:
This can't be true girl
For you made me live my life alone
Can't you see girl
How much you mean to me
You mean more to me
Than any girl
I see the sun shining through my window
[Shining through]
But I don't know if you're coming home
[If you're coming home]
Girl can't you see
I cry each and every night
For you to return to me
This can't be true girl
For you made me live my life alone
Can't you see girl
How much you mean to me
You mean more to me
Than any girl
I see the sun shining through my window
[Shining through]
But I don't know if you're coming home
[If you're coming home]
Can't you see
That you mean so much to me
Girl you know
I love you, too
If you or any of your readers can point me in the right direction, I'd sure appreciate it.
Thanks –
Colin Donahue
If ANYBODY out there can give us the answer to this one, it’s gotta be Frank B. … a long time reader and MAJOR Doo-Wop aficionado.
What say you, Frank??? (kk)
Kent,
Got a question and one which probably I already know, but something is jogging my mind.
I just went
through a few records that Gary "U.S." Bonds recorded in the early
sixties. I thought I had heard or read that the ratings for American Bandstand
were faltering but started going back up when Dick Clark started playing NEW
ORLEANS. Did you or have you ever heard something like that?
Larry Neal
I can’t say that I have. American Bandstand was an institution that resonated with the teenagers of each generation through the early ‘80’s. (Hard to believe, in hindsight, that Dick Clark was able to remain “relatable” to every generation of teenagers from the ‘50’s to the ‘60’s to the ‘70’s to the ‘80’s! A tip of the hat to this incredible talent.)
However, since I wasn't watching American Bandstand in 1960 when "New Orleans" came out ... and, since we have an original Bandstand Dancer on our list … I asked Eddie Kelly if he had ever heard ANYTHING like this before … and this is what he told me …
I never heard anything like that. I was on the show from 1959 - 1961.
[Which would have been right at the time of the Gary U.S. Bonds hit … “New Orleans” first hit the charts in October of 1960 and went on to become a #3 Hit. – kk]
The show was pulling in some 20 million viewers a day. The ratings were lower during 1962 – 1964 … the studio was only half full.
I feel that once the show moved to California, it never had the audience like it did in Philly.
Feel free to contact me anytime about AB. I have a great deal of info on google.
Eddie Kelly American Bandstand.
Take care ‘n’ thank you.
Eddie
So, just for good measure, I ran it by Freddy “Boom Boom” Cannon, too, who made more Bandstand appearances than any other artist (and knows a thing or two about hit songs with the words "New Orleans" in the title!) Freddy had a dozen chart hits in 1960 and 1961, including The Top 40 Hits “Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy” (#27, 1960); “Jump Over” (#24, 1960); “Buzz Buzz A-Diddle-It” (#35, 1961) and “Transistor Sister” (#31, 1961).
He says …
HI KENT,
THAT QUESTION SOUNDS CRAZY!!!
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?
FREDDY
So there you have it!
(That sounds like a “No” to
me!!! Lol) Thanks, Freddy! (kk)
