Coming
up this weekend (January 29-30) on THE HISTORY OF ROCK 'N' ROLL with Wink
Martindale and Gary Theroux: "The Most Romantic Hits of 1968" -- 24
full-length beloved classic hits from the year plus insightful comments from
Linda Ronstadt, Mike Nesmith (of The Monkees), Hugh Geyer (of The Vogues),
Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman (of The Turtles), Mama Cass Elliot, Rob Grill (of
The Grass Roots), Stevie Wonder, Spanky McFarland (of Spanky & Our Gang)
and Petula Clark. Also: a HRR Profile of The Four Tops (“Baby I Need Your
Lovin’.) Of special note for Chicagoland
music lovers: the first appearance in the series of The New Colony Six
(pictured).
BTW, The Ventures turn up twice as two-part Spotlight Features in the HISTORY OF ROCK 'N' ROLL series.
Gary
Theroux
I just heard that Don Wilson of The Ventures
passed away at age 88.
It was an honor to meet and interview him
years ago.
One story I wrote on Don was published in
2020 in "Ugly Things."
Before the Beatles arrived on the sales
charts, the Ventures' instrumental hit "Walk, Don't Run" and
subsequent instrumental albums sold millions and millions of copies, as well as
helping open the doors to Asia for touring acts.
The
Ventures’ first Documentary: Stars on ... - Ugly Things
ugly-things.com/the-ventures-first-documentary-stars-on-guitars
By Harvey Kubernik
ugly-things.com/articles/interviews/page/3
Dec 17, 2020 · By Harvey
Kubernik - The first-ever full-length documentary chronicling the 60 year
career of the Ventures,
The Ventures: Stars on Guitars, debuted on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD to cable
I still need to see this documentary … been meaning to for ages
now.
So sad to hear that ALL of The Ventures are gone. Their impact on rock and roll was
enormous. (kk)
Best Classic Bands once again salutes the WLS Charts from January
of 1969 this week …
Radio Hits in January 1969: Over and Over | Best
Classic Bands
>>>Most
year-end surveys were determined by how long songs stayed on the charts -- but,
of course, this rewards slow climbers versus ones that hopped up and down the
charts quickly. Maybe year end charts should only look at the Top 20 or 40
positions in determining if a song was really popular. I know Cash Box only
used the Top 50 positions to allow songs to accumulate 'points' for their
year-end surveys. Unfortunately, songs that charted early in the year or late
were rarely given their full chart life in determining where they ranked. (Joe Cantello)
These issues
are why I consider my method among the best for determining the top hits of a
year: it uses a progressive point system (inspired by the one devised by Jim
Quirin and Barry Cohen and applied to the Billboard charts in
their "Rock 100" publications), which favors records that spend more
weeks in the upper regions of the weekly charts, as opposed to the "slow
climbers" that spend more weeks in the lower regions of the charts. And
records that straddle the end of one year and the beginning of the next are
given full credit for all points earned, and are included in the year in which
they earned the majority of their points -- so that, for example, "I'm A
Believer" is one of the biggest hits of 1967, not 1966, when it first hit
No. 1 on the chart dated in the last week of the year. Of course, no method is
perfect, especially since the original weekly charts were subject to
manipulation and therefore not perfect themselves in determining the most
popular records in a given week. What
matters most is which records have stood the test of time and are most listened
to nowadays.
– Randy Price
For the past 45 years I have wished I had the time to analyze the
performance of every record to make the charts, utilizing your method for The
Super Charts. I’m convinced it’s the
most accurate measurement possible, taking ALL of the national trades into
consideration.
But I know then I’d next want to bring things more current than
1982, in which case the Radio and Records charts would have to be incorporated.
And then I’d still want to develop my “Hit Index” factor. There just isn’t enough time in the day to do
so … so we’ll just have to quibble and argue about the results as they
currently exist … which is half the fun of analyzing the charts in the first
place! (lol) kk
Hi, Kent.
I have a pretty good idea why Canadian musicians
and groups don't make it into our HOF; it just popped into my head this
evening. I remember the fracas that erupted in 1970 regarding a new
"law" that made it mandatory that Canadian radio stations' playlists
had to be made up of a certain percentage of Canadian artists before they
inserted American music into their schedules.
CKLW in Detroit, which has a Canadian call-sign
rather than an American one, has its transmitter in Canada (which, apparently,
according to FCC regulations, makes it a Canadian station). Doesn't make
sense to me, though. Their signal, which emanates from a tower which is
probably within 10 miles of the US/CA border, is the same strength and covers
the same listening area as if it were in Detroit.
From a writeup which I read many years ago, CKLW
was not happy about the new regulation, because in spite of there being a lot
of good music coming from Canadian artists, there was much more money-making
music from
American artists, and many CKLW listeners
changed their listening habits and jumped over to stations having K and W
call-signs. I believe that CKLW's listenership dropped immensely.
Maybe this caused a never-ending friction between
America and Canada, regarding pop music. Just a thought.
Here's the story of the new "rules".
https://www.tvo.org/article/everything-about-it-rocked-how-windsors-cklw-reckoned-with-the-brand-new-cancon-rules
Mike
Kent,
First, I loved
the video at the bottom of today's FH. Don't be surprised if that little girl
later on in the future has a recording contract with some label. Loved the
expression on her dad's eyes.
Second, what a
coincidence of today's FH. I'll explain that in a second.
Brad was
correct. SAD STORY by Jack Scott did get a lot of airplay here in OKC. I did
not check to see how high it got on the weekly survey. You might say it was a
"turntable" hit here in OKC. Brad said he never found a 45 copy of
it. I'm holding the record in my hand as I email this to you.
SAD STORY was
written by Jack Scott with the flip being I CAN'T HOLD YOUR LETTERS (IN MY ARMS),
written by John D. Loudermilk. Both sides were produced by a man by the name of
Manny Kellum. I wondered if he was any relation to Murry Kellum, who had LONG
TALL TEXAN in late 1963.
Now for the
coincidence of today's FH ...
Just last
night (Monday), I listened to an aircheck of my show, THE WAX MUSEUM, which I
did on 12/7/97. During that show I played SAD STORY.
Larry Neal
Noise 11 is reporting that Motown will be releasing a Mary Wilson
Anthology on March 22nd. (Sadly, we lost
Mary a few months ago … and this will be the first release spotlighting her
work with the label.)
The 2-CD set will feature 38 songs, including Mary’s early days in
The Primettes, a number of alternate takes and live recordings by The Supremes
and some of her solo work.
The complete track list can be found here:
The
First Ever Mary Wilson Anthology is On The Way - Noise11.com
kk
>>>Robert
Feder is reporting that WLS Radio,“The Big 89” Top 40 giant, was selected this
past week for induction into The Iowa Rock Hall of Fame. (WLS was also
inducted into The Illinois Rock Hall Of Fame last year.) kk
I'm not a fan of "Halls Of Fame" … but it's good when
they get it right.
Before WLS,
the source of popular music at our house was the twice-weekly Lawrence Welk
Show. In early 1961 they were plugging their new release, "Calcutta." One day, while spinning the radio dial, I
came across that song and afterwards the dj announced that it was the #1 song
on the WLS "Silver Dollar Survey."
I had to find out what other songs were on that survey. The rest is
history.
Ed #1
I had seen that Vince Gill comment a couple days
earlier. While Vince was making his case, he's got the facts all wrong.
Obviously, Vince has made a lot more money in the
music biz than I ever will, unless my eBay auctions start kicking in to
overdrive, or someone decides my song catalog is worth Springsteen money. I
will respect his opinion tho. However, Vince was three years old in 1960, so I
don't think he was out buying 45's then nor did 45s didn't cost 99 cents in
1960. Probably not until the early 80's, was the price 99 cents.
Jack
Vince’s comments stuck with me for several days. The fact that for the same price as Vince’s
heartfelt blood, sweat and tears that he poured into his latest record can be
purchased for the same value as a farting app for your phone really says a lot.
And let’s face it … we were buying our 45’s at places like discount
places like Korvettes and Topps or, if necessary, Polk Brothers and Sears at
anywhere from $0.69 each to $1.29 each.
Now granted, you got TWO sides to that single … but the fact that SIXTY
YEARS LATER you can still buy a track on iTunes for $0.99 - $1.29 is a pretty
amazing thing when you consider the rate of inflation everywhere else. (kk)
Hi Kent,
One more great read ... but Vince Gill's factoid
really hit home ... LOL ... so spot on.
Thanks for always bustin' your butt to keep us
enjoyably informed.
God bless, my friend -
Barry
kk …
Neil Sedaka was Cousin
Brucie’s guest on Saturday Night.
Neil and Brucie go back
to their Brooklyn days together.
At one time, they lived
in the same building.
This week, Neil goes back
to his roots.
His Mother wanted him to
pursue Classical Music.
Tonight (Tuesday,
1/25) Neil has been asked to perform Classical Music for 1 1/2 hours on
Symphony XM.
Neil chose Rock and Roll
over Classical Music –
You make a lot more money
singing the Rock and Roll songs that you wrote!
REQUEST: Add Whipped Cream to the Stylistics’ Album
Cover.
FB
Neil’s
right about that! (lol)
He
is an accomplished pianist, Juilliard trained …
But
he can also rock out with the best of them (and has created some of the most
memorable melodies in the history of rock and roll.) How is it that HE has never been considered
for The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame?!?!?
By
the way, this Saturday (1/29) Micky Dolenz finally makes his way to Cousin
Brucie’s show.
(And for the record, I think that Stylistics cover is fine JUST the way it is!!! Lol)
kk
Speaking of Micky Dolenz, it looks like he and Felix Cavaliere are
ready to kick off their big tour together …
Here’s a brand new promo photo of the two, courtesy of dis-company …
And, since we're talking about upcoming tours, Daryl Hall hits the road with Todd Rundgren (the two performed together several years ago on “Daryl’s House” and must have hit it off!)
It’s
a very short tour that kicks off here in Chicago on April 1st
(complete tour list below), which just happens to also be the release date for
the new 2-CD set, “BeforeAfter.”
It
also coincides with the release of a new solo album by Daryl that collects
material from his previous releases as well as live tracks from his “Daryl’s
House” series (including “Can We Still Be Friends” by Daryl and Todd, a video
for which is ALL over the place right now to help promote the upcoming tour!)
April 1st – The Auditorium Theatre – Chicago, IL
April 3rd – Ryman Auditorium – Nashville, TN
April 5th – Atlanta Symphony Hall – Atlanta, GA
April 7th – MGM Northfield Park – Northfield, OH
April 9th – The Met Philadelphia – Philadelphia, PA
April 11th – The Orpheum Theatre – Boston, MA
April 14th – Carnegie Hall – New York, NY
April 16th – The Theatre at MGM National Harbor
– National Harbor, MD
The Go-Go’s are ready to go-go back on the road
after their recent Covid delays.
They then head of to
The UK for six dates in June with Billy Idol.
(kk)
Poor Elton John …
He no sooner than got back on the road after a nearly two year
delay and he has had to postpone his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour again
because now HE has tested positive for Covid-19.
John’s January 25th and 26th shows in Dallas
(originally due to take place in 2020) were immediately postponed again … no
official word yet on when he’ll resume.
(His next scheduled date is January 29th in North Little
Rock, Arkansas.) Elton is said to be
experiencing minor symptoms at this point.
He had only played three shows since returning to the road last week.
You
know how we talk from time to time about the way the oldies are used in
television commercials these days?
Have
you seen Campbell’s Soup’s new campaign?
So
far I’ve seen ads featuring the Rick Nelson tune “Never Be Anyone Else But You”
and Buddy Holly’s “It’s So Easy” … and there may be more. (Applebee’s has always been good about
recycling these tunes, too.)
They’re
not the original hit versions … but it proves again just how catchy pop music
used to be. (kk)
While you are paying your respects to Meatloaf,
don't forget Illinois' Karla DeVito …
The Karla DeVito Story
Growing up in the late ‘70s, she was paradise by the dashboard light, a saucy maiden from Penzance, an MTV darling that even David Letterman called “The Sweetheart of Rock &Roll.” She’s Mokena’s Karla Jayne DeVito (b: 5/29/53).
A runner-up for Homecoming Queen while attending Lincoln-Way
High School in New Lenox, DeVito already had ambitions of being an actress,
appearing in school plays. She studied at Second City and majored in theater at
Loyola University in Chicago. That led to roles in the Chicago productions of
the Broadway shows Godspell and Hair.
While that was coming to fruition, she was doing some sessions
at Chess Studios. Working with commercial jingle producers Donn and Ken
Marrier, they had a disco-flavored song that they had Karla put lead vocals on.
Initially going under the pseudonym Brenda Brenda, when they were ready to
release it, they changed the credit to Karla Jayne and the Boogie Man
Orchestra. It was released in 1975 as a 12” EP as “It’s My Party” b/w “You’re
Only Using Me” (Boogie Man BM 228).
The real breakthrough year came in 1977 when she was cast in the
role of Meat Loaf’s girlfriend in the video for his “Paradise By the Dashboard
Light” (https://youtu.be/C11MzbEcHlw.) Ironically, she
didn’t sing the song on his album, but was lip syncing Ellen Foley’s part in
the video. Meat Loaf and DeVito toured in support of his album and she became
hot property.
Her 1981 debut album, “Is
This a Cool World or What” (https://youtu.be/bAlceT1cqNk), positioned DeVito as a MTV star. Her
image was trendsetting with the sexiness of a Pat Benatar coupled with the fun
and freedom of a Cyndi Lauper, preceding both in their career successes.
While she continued with her music career, supporting Meat Loaf
songwriting partner Jim Steinman’s “Dance in My Pants” (https://youtu.be/ZHon5X0K29I), Epic, and providing background vocals for
the Sorrows and Blue Oyster Cult, it was theater that was in her veins.
She secured a role on Broadway as Linda Ronstadt’s understudy in
Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance,” eventually replacing Ronstadt
in the lead role of Mabel. A short time later, Robby Benson, an actor who had a
co-starring spot in the TV show “Happy Days” and was well-known for his roles
in teenage coming-of-age movies, was cast as Frederic, the male lead opposite
DeVito. The two fell in love, both onstage and off, the pair getting married in
1982.
Benson and DeVito collaborated on a song “We Are Not Alone” (https://youtu.be/4cP-ARAtDnE) that became a
centerpiece for the teen movie The
Breakfast Club (A&M).
DeVito had continued working on music for a second album,
tentatively titled “Incognito,” but with her theatrical commitments, a move to
Los Angeles and a label change, it was a four year hiatus for DeVito before
that sophomore release, which ended up being called “Wake ‘Em Up in Tokyo.” With the time away, the public appears to
have forgotten her, and the album failed to chart.
Commercially, her music career ended there, although she did
contribute two songs to the 1990 film Modern Love and sang the part of
Elizabeth for Graham Russell’s rock opera “The Heart of the Rose.”
DeVito next headed for the silver screen. She co-starred with
her husband in the 1990 film “Modern Love.” She’s made appearances in the 1993
film “Family Album,” 1996 film “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,” 1997’s “Fired Up”
and 2015’s “Straight Outta Tompkins.” She’s also been the voice in numerous
animated films.
Moving out of the spotlight, DeVito has appeared to be
comfortable as a mother, housewife and partner.
When DeVito and Benson got married, she must have asked the
right question, “I gotta know right now will you love me forever … Will you
make me so happy for the rest of my life?” The answer was surely, “yes,” as the
two have been happily married ever since. They’re still making music together.
You can see some of their recent collaborations on DeVito’s website: www.karladevito.com, including a
reuniting with Ellen Foley (https://youtu.be/Kh9QXC5SpuQ) and on her
Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/KarlaDeVitoandCompany.
Is this a cool world or what?
Discography:
KARLA JAYNE AND THE BOOGIE MAN ORCHESTRA
1975 It’s My Party b/w
You’re Only Using Me (Boogie Man BM 228).
KARLA DeVITO
1981 Is This a Cool World
or What? (Epic 37014)
1986 Wake ‘Em Up Tokyo
(A&M 65048)
Ken Voss
Also while you're paying your respects to Meatloaf, at one time when The
Boyzz were signed to Cleveland International Records, they appeared on stage
with him.
“Whole Lotta
Shakin’” with Meat Loaf & The Boyzz
Ken
Also
from Ken Voss …
R.I.P. Dick Halligan,
founding member of Blood, Sweat and Tears
The
end of January is still four days away and yet we have already compiled a very
sad list of artists who have left us this year.
Comedian
Louie Anderson
Director
Peter Bogdanovich
Songwriter
Dallas Frazier (“Elvira”)
Musician
Dick Halligan (founding member of Blood Sweat and Tears)
Actor
Dwayne Hickman (TV’s Dobie Gillis)
Michael
Lang (Woodstock festival organizer)
Singer
Meat Loaf
Singer
Fred Parris (The Five Satins)
Actor
Sidney Poitier
Voice-Over
Artist Peter Robbins (the voice of Charlie Brown since 1965)
Comedian
Bob Saget
Singer
Calvin Simon (Parliament / Funkadelic)
Singer
Ronnie Spector (The Ronettes / and Phil Spector’s ex-wife)
Guitarist
Don Wilson (The Ventures)
From
Frank B …
kk …
HERE’S ANOTHER BOOK FOR YOUR BATHROOM READING
LIST …
"LEAVE THE GUN,
TAKE THE CANNOLI" …
The Epic Story Of The
Making Of The Godfather.
Mario Puzo Was Married
With five Children.
He was a heavy gambler
and owed money to bookies and shylocks and family members.
I think “The Godfather”
really did save his life.
The phrase "I'm
Gonna Make Him An Offer He Can't Refuse" came from Mario's Mother. (I Don't Think She Killed Anybody.)
The Paperback Rights
For “The Godfather” Sold For $410,000, A Record At The Time .
Mario Made A Total Of
$3000 On His Last Book.
He Used Family Angle ,
Along With Gangster Angle.
In A Restaurant,
Somebody Tried To Introduce Frank Sinatra To Mario. Frank Refused To Talk To Him. Johnny
Fontaine.
FB
And finally, this smiler from
Mike Wolstein …
Here’s my music
funny for the day:
(I must be telepathic ... I hear Jimy singing!)
;-)
Mike
