FORGOTTEN HITS: Monday Morning

Monday, July 26, 2021

Monday Morning

Hi Kent,

Great feature and air-checks as per the gentleman from the Netherlands. Radio as it was meant to be before the signing of the infamous Communications Act Of 1996. Really enjoying the stellar and always surprising content of Forgotten Hits.

I think you'll find the Charlene song "I've Never Been To Me" in the bargain bin with Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life" and Mary MacGregor's "Torn Between Two Lovers." I've always thought the best version of "I've Never Been To Me" was by Nancy Wilson. Give a listen and see what you think.

Peace,

Tim Kiley

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM7VpNezZNM

I wasn’t convinced there could BE such a thing as “the best version” of “I’ve Never Been To Me” … but I guess that this could probably be it … certainly a different interpretation … still, just not my thing. (And you’re right, those three songs belong in the same bargain bin … or garbage bin … and I would have to add “With You I’m Born Again” to that list, too. And, for me, the mega-hit “Endless Love.”) I’ve just never been a fan of these manufactured tunes designed to manipulate the heartstrings while offering up nothing else of substance to achieve the premeditated result. (kk)

Wow, Kent, this is so wonderful!! Thank you very much for putting this article together. You must have been very busy putting it together and doing all the translations. I’m gonna share this here locally with a number of folks as well!!

For your information, Mike Hartman spotted a couple of minor inconsistencies on my webpage that I have corrected:

WAUR : Old Golf Weekend should be All Gold Weekend (typo on myside)

The picture of the WAUR building is from the seventies, I have added a picture next to it to show the building that they used during the 80’s

The link to WCBS_051196_Harry_Harrison_0553-0753 has been fixed (was still pointing to rapidshare).

The Dutch word “Banden” should translate to “Tapes” in English (not tires) and Dutch “Plaatjes” should translate into “Records” in English (not Pictures.) In Dutch, the same word can have two (or more) completely different meanings.

Instead of “Gouwe Ouwe station,” this copy should read “Dick moved to that Golden Oldies Station.”

Thanks again for your blog entry, I have received a lot of nice reactions from people!

Regards

Ben

Thanks, Ben … I have updated whatever I can on my site ... and run a new link to yours as well for that which we didn't cover.

http://www.meijering.info/USRadio/usradio.html

Hope we both continue to get some good reaction to this.

It’s important for the deejays to realize how much all of this means to us as listeners … they absolutely impact our lives and I don’t know if they can truly appreciate just how much this is the case. The guys we listened to here in Chicago in the ‘60’s STILL hold an impact on what we like about radio. (I’ll tell you what … there are times when I’d much rather listen to an old, vintage broadcast over what constitutes for radio programming today … either no deejay at all or typically void of any personality, which was the KEY to ‘60’s radio broadcasting. I think your article makes for a GREAT piece to share. To quote Dick Clark, “Rock, Roll and Remember!” (kk)

Relive the Summer of ‘67 with me!

WLS / WCFL Jingles, Dex Card at WLS and WCFL,

Larry Lujack at WCFL and WLS,

Ron Riley (just back from his UK vacation),

Ron Britain, Dimple Don Philips, the ABC DJ strike and all the fun.

SUPER SUMMER'S HERE! THINK GREEN!!!

Silver $ Surveys, Sound 10 Countdowns. World Series, the SHAKE,

the BOO-GA-LOO, Bewitched, That Girl, the Fugitive,

White Levi's, Free Teen Set mags (no wonder there are so many out there still of that issue), Ban Roll On (OR Spray!), Sears, Adventureland, NC6, Cryan Shames, Beatles, Mauds, Riddles,

HP Lovecraft, Shadows of Knight, Van Morrison, PF Sloan music, Jefferson Airplane and more ...

Here is my 18 minute compilation for YOU!

(I made this on the 50th anniversary in 2017, so possibly I have sent to you before?)

Clark Besch

If you did (and you probably did!), it ran as one of the “extras” we put together during our year-long salute to the year 1967.

(You can find “The Best Of The Rest” here: https://forgottenhits1967bonus.blogspot.com/)

But that’s OK … I have no problem running it again!

I still hope to completely revamp our Salute to ’67 one of these days into a more consecutive feature allowing website visitors to experience the whole tribute as it unfolded back in 2017. (Man, has it really been four years already?!?!)

I worked on that project for the better part of a year … and then it all went by so quickly!

But it will forever be my favorite year in music … so well worth the effort.

Thanks, Clark! (kk)

>>>CNN's Don Lemon is doing a special Sunday night on Whatever Happened to TV Theme Songs … I tweeted him earlier to let him know … With your Sunday special, you might be interested in this exhaustive Forgotten Hits List of Readers' TOP 100 ALL-TIME FAVORITE TV THEMES (based on heir 2020 Poll). Kent Kotal is a great interview, too! It's a long shot, but who knows … Maybe you’ll hear from the folks there if he doing any kind of promo interviews! Stranger things have happened … I think. (Don Effenberger)

>>>Wow! Thanks, Don! (I don’t think it’s going to happen … usually shows like this are put together weeks, if not months in advance.) But it WOULD be cool if he directed folks watching it over to the website to see how some of their favorites ranked!!! Thanks again! (kk)

http://forgottenhits.com/your_top_100_all-time_favorite_tv_themes_based_on_our_2020_poll

Thanks for the mention. I hear you on the reality of specials being put together months ahead, but CNN does an amazing (maybe too amazing!) job of then hyping their specials with on-air interviews in the days before airing.

Definitely a lo-o-ong shot but nothing ventured nothing gained, as we cliche people say. And of course, they'll re-run the show several times (and possibly re-hype it each time?)

Lemon also has 1.3 million-plus followers, so it's always possible he could retweet my tweet, introducing FH to thousands of new old-music fans . . .

. . . Signed Eternal (If Frustrated) Optimist

Don

Hey, I’ll be watching the special regardless … thanks for letting us know about it. (As you know, we’ve got a LOT of big-time TV Themes fans on the list here!) I had heard nothing about it until I received your email! (kk)

UPDATE: OK, I just watched it ... ENORMOUS potential ... but SO limited in their scope and exploration.

Now I get it ... he had Gary Portnoy and Fran Drescher and Christopher Knight on as scheduled guests ... so he HAD to devote some time to each of them ... but instead of featuring ANY of the most classic themes that dominated our list ("Hawaii Five-O," "Batman," "Bonanza," "The Dick Van Dyke Show," "Peter Gunn," "Mission Impossible," "Secret Agent Man," "The Monkees," "Happy Days," "Laverne and Shirley," "The Beverly Hillbillies," "The Rockford Files," "The Andy Griffith Show," "The Partridge Family," "The Flintstones," "Welcome Back Kotter," "Dragnet" ... OMG, the list goes on and on and on!!! And he didn't feature a single one! (Worse yet, he showed a photo still from many of these shows ... but made no mention or shared no inkling of its classic TV theme.)

Instead, we got "The Brady Bunch" theme fifteen times ... "Gilligan's Island" about a dozen times ... "The Addams Family" about a dozen times.

No "Love Boat" ... no "Odd Couple" ... no "I Dream Of Jeannie" ... no "Mr. Ed"?!?!? HOW do you do a program ABOUT TV Themes and leave out all of these classics?

And then they trot some guy by the name of Kurt Farquha, who they basically describe as "a previously homeless Black Guy" who they claim has written the most TV themes ... and maybe he has and maybe he hasn't ('cause when I looked him up to see who he was, it said he has written thirty) ... but of all the examples they showed, I have never, ever heard a single one of these theme songs or, in most cases, the TV shows they came from! And yet they didn't even so much as mention Mike Post's name ... the KING of ALL TV Themes ... and ALL from legitimate HITS shows!!! (In all fairness, I had never heard the theme from "The Nanny" before either because I've never seen a single episode of that program ... and, as annoying as I find Fran Drescher to be, it really wasn't all that bad a song ... but the truth of the matter is, we have done TWO of these Favorite TV Themes FH Polls now and despite literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of nominees, not ONE of these Farquha themes ... or the theme from "The Nanny" either for that matter ... have EVER been so much as nominated, much less made the final rankings.) I'm sorry, but it all came off as a very biased and unfairly representative analysis of this topic ... one that is near and ear to my heart.

According to this show, poor Don Lemon is lamenting the loss of about a dozen theme songs ... meanwhile, overlooking at least a hundred others that anybody watching this program would recognize in a note or two had they simply featured them. (Makes me wonder if the twelve he featured are the only ones HE knows!!!)

Hey, Don, do me a favor ... tweet him a link to today's post ... if he's got 1.3+ million followers, he is in serious need of a wake-up call!!! (And seriously ... did we REALLY need to see HIM singing some of these themes??? Maybe THAT'S why it was important to him to air this program (!?!?!?!)

I dunno ... not at ALL what I expected.

My overall rating ... VERY disappointing. I think they TOTALLY missed their mark on this one. (kk)

Speaking of Forgotten Hits polls, (our Favorite TV Themes poll generated about 25,000 votes, by the way ... so I think it stands as a pretty well-represented and researched analysis of what TV themes TV viewers REALLY remember and love), votes are NOW coming in for your All-Time Favorite Hits from 1971 …

Cast YOUR vote now … and then listen to Phil Nee and I count them down on an up-coming episode of Phil’s “Those Were The Days” program! Just email me your Top Ten Favorites (ranked 1-10) … kk@forgottenhits.com ... and then stay-tuned for the results! (kk)

Here’s something I never expected to see …

New music from The Faces!!!

Apparently Rod Steward, Ronnie Wood and Kenney Jones have been recording together again! (Their last album of new material was released in 1973!!!)

https://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/ronnie-wood-faces-new-music-times-interview-rolling-stones/?mc_cid=8ff823fe00&mc_eid=f8f75f98ed

>>>Hey Kent - WGN-TV has been having me on their morning news to tell song stories. This week we covered "25 or 6 to 4," "American Woman," "Over The Rainbow" and "Rosanna." (Carl Wiser / Songfacts) https://wgntv.com/morning-news/one-of-the-worlds-most-well-known-songs-almost-didnt-happen-and-other-fun-songfacts/

>>>VERY cool! Keep us posted regarding any other upcoming appearances! (kk)

Thanks, Kent. I've only done two, but they want to make this a monthly feature. I'll try to slip in a Forgotten Hits mention at some point.

I'm in Connecticut so we do these via Zoom. I've done a lot of radio bits like this, calling in to stations to talk about songs, but this is my first time doing it on TV. Very fortunate that it's a station like WGN that really has it together. Amazing how well they run the show.

Carl

Cool, too, that the anchors seem to be genuine oldies music fans, hungry for more knowledge about these songs. (Sounds like you’ve landed yourself a pretty interesting gig! Lol)

Yes, please do keep us posted so we can catch any future appearances. (And a Forgotten Hits mention would be AWESOME!) Thanks, Carl! (kk)

Gary Rossington, the last original surviving member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, had to undergo emergency heart surgery last week … this after previously surviving a heart attack in 2015, and heart surgeries in 2016 and 2019.

A post on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Facebook Page states:

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Gary Rossington as he recovers from emergency heart surgery. Gary is home resting and recovering with his family at home. He wants everyone to know he is doing good and expects a full recovery. We wish Gary a speedy recovery and we will see the Skynyrd Nation very soon. In the meantime, please say some prayers for the Rossington family.”

From Tom Cuddy …

Darlene Love reflects on the highs and lows of her 'first 80 years': 'Hate is too heavy a burden to carry'

https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/darlene-love-reflects-on-the-highs-and-lows-of-her-first-80-years-hate-is-too-heavy-a-burden-to-carry-014054560.html

This is a good article and interview with one of the great voices in rock and roll history. (You can read our tribute to the work and career of Phil Spector … the good, the bad and the ugly … here: https://fhphilspector.blogspot.com/)

We also received the same link from FH Reader Joe Cantello, who added the note ...

Kent,

Here is an article your Forgotten Hits readers might be interested in, regarding Darlene Love turning 80.

Thanks for all you do to keep the music of the 1950's-'70's alive.

Joe Cantello

Marietta, Ga

Hi Kent -

I know this may not appeal to most of the audience, but it's my nephew's film and he is starting to garner support from many countries.

I wanted to send this so you could see Linda Ronstadt sing a little bit these days, something that nobody is privileged to do.

Her nephew Peter is a very talented player, but there are so many other Ronstadts that have talent. We are all Tucson Family and my nephew and Enrique have just brought on Edward James Olmos as an executive producer.

I'm hoping that you might share this with your readers … it's one of a kind. Also, we are raising money now for my nephew's movie. We have the lead singer for Santana, Andy, and I understand Carlos himself will soon be on board. The main thing is that anybody that has been to Disney Orlando and seen the house group Mariachi Cobre, well that is where these kids ended up.

Alex Valdez

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B5gwS0lIJY

Harvey Kubernik tells us ...

"Monterey Pop," the D.A. Pennebaker-directed documentary will be broadcast tomorrow evening (Tuesday, July 27th, 2021 ) at 5:00 pm ET on TCM (The Turner Classic Movie Channel.)

"Monterey Pop" is examined, along with other Pennebaker music documentaries in my "Docs That Rock, Music That Matters" book, published in 2020 by Otherworld Cottage Music Industries.

Hi Kent -

So I thought: How can I find the answer about the Everly Brothers and the Bob Seger Old Time Rock n Roll single? I thought, well, probably the best person to ask is Don Everly, but then I realised I didn’t have his e mail address to hand, so I then decided the second best person to ask was my friend Martial F Bekkers, the President of The Everly Brothers International Fan Club in Holland as he knows Everly thing ... sorry everything there is to know.

So I went to https://www.facebook.com/groups/693077277397496, which is his Facebook link to the Ev’s site. Several people responded to my inquiry, including the great Albert Lee and, as per usual from an informative site like this, it soon all fell into place in as I was right but also very wrong.

The song was used for at least a year as a form of sound test before the brothers performed, including their Some Hearts tour. So I was wrong thinking they sung it, but right in that it was played at the opening of their tour.

I want to thank the folks at Forgotten Hits who offered explanations, but it seems it was a UK thing. So all that is left for me to do is to say, 1) I didn’t put the link up to the Ev’s Facebook because I could I put it up so you could join ... just tell Martial Rockin’ Lord Geoff told you to sign up!

And secondly, I am now putting the link to the Everly’s web site as well: https://www.everly.net ... so that is twice you have to hit the enter key. Lastly I also found out that Bill Medley also used this song to open his shows in the US back in the eighties.

Many thanks,

Stay safe,

Rockin’ Lord Geoff (In England)

P.S My weekly sheet will re-commence winging its way around the world next week.

Thanks for all the extra legwork, Geoff ... as always, we try to present "the most accurate truth" when it comes to these things!

And anybody out there who isn't already on Geoff's list to receive his weekly oldies music sheet should drop him a line at geoff.lambert@btinternet.com and subscribe! (kk)

Forgotten Hits Readers living in the Three Oaks, Michigan area will have a chance to see The Chicago Experience on August 7^th. (We’ve been raving about these guys forever!)

DEFINITELY worth a fun night out! (kk)