How about “Two for Tuesday” renamed as “Two, Two, Two Two Two Tuesday?”
Rich
Or TWOsday!!! This was a fun one to put together … although, due to the criteria, in many ways tougher than most! (kk)
Man, it's still hard to fathom Clint Holmes making it to Number Two. And for six weeks!
David Lewis
Definitely NOT one of MY favorites!!!
I'll never forget the first time that Frannie and I went to Las Vegas and there were Clint Holmes billboard up EVERYWHERE between the airport and the strip ... and then all up and down the strip as well. We couldn't believe it! The in-room entertainment guides were talking about how Holmes had just been named the Entertainer Of The Year in Vegas ... how could this POSSIBLY be?!?!
But I'll tell you what ... the WHOLE town got onboard behind him ... nearly every taxi driver we encountered was also singing his praises!
Still, I just couldn't bring myself to spend THAT kind of money to see his show. (Nor could I EVER imagine PAYING to hear him sing "Playground In My Mind!!!") kk
From Geoff Lambert …
Look ... it's even more magical than we thought!!!
From Forgotten Hits, February 22, 2022 ~
>>>We now go all the way back to 1958 when The Killer, Jerry Lee Lewis, tore up the rock and roll charts with his classic, "Great Balls Of Fire." (kk)
It was just ten short years later in 1968 when WLS Chicago ran a big ad campaign promoting a young Chuck Buell, who was tearing up the Windy City evenings on the Big 89! This is one of the classic Full Page Ads that appeared in the Chicago Tribune that year!
CB
(Chicago Fire Boy … OK, I made that one up! – kk)
Also from Chuck Buell …
(TruDat!!!) kk
And Happy Birthday to Sam Boyd ...
(Don'tcha just hate it when you have that sudden moment of clarity???) kk
2 - 22 – 22 … 2/22/62.
OMG, I’m 60 ... WTF!!!!
How’d this happen?!?!?
Sam Boyd
American Bandstand 65th Anniversary - August 5th, 2022 -
Anyone interested in celebrating with some of the regulars as guests on their various types of social media? It would be one of our last dances as Donna Summer would say.
Thanks, Kent, for keeping everything going.
Stay safe ‘n’ well.
Best,
Eddie Kelly
Eddie was one of the Bandstand “regulars” … dancing on numerous shows over the years.
If you’d like more information on this online get together, drop me a note and I’ll be happy to pass it along. (kk)
http://voyagela.com/interview/meet-eddie-kelly-american-bandstand-north-hollywood/
Hi Kent,
I enjoyed your comments on Smokey Robinson!
And, if I am not mistaken, wasn't 'Shop Around' the first Number One Hit he wrote for Motown??
When in doubt, ask the master!!!
It has always been my favorite among all of his hits!
Carolyn
That piece actually came courtesy of Harvey Kubernik, who has interviewed Motown Chief Berry Gordy, Jr. (and Smokey himself) numerous times over the years.
As you likely saw on Tuesday (2/22/22) in our salute to #2 Hits, “Shop Around” actually peaked at #2 on the pop charts. (It WAS a #1 R&B Hit, however)
Smokey scored his first #1 POP Hit in 1964 when Mary Wells recorded his “My Guy.”
A year later, representing the OTHER side of the equation, he wrote “My Girl” for The Temptations … which also went all the way to #1. (kk)
BY THE WAY: Smokey Robinson is appearing at The Chicago Theater on June 4th. I've never been to a Smokey show ... but hear his voice is just as clear as ever.
We lost the writer and singer of what just may be my favorite song of all time …
Gary Brooker of Procol Harum passed away earlier this week
“A Whiter Shade Of Pale” was a massive #1 Hit back home in England … and made The Top Five here in America, too. (The song was the subject of a long-running courtroom battle, songwriting credit having been only given to Brooker and Keith Reid when it was first released … but bandmate (and organist) Matthew Fisher has always maintained that he had a hand in writing the tune, too … and he was finally given cowriting credit (in a court of law) in 2009. (Of course, Johann Sebastian Bach had a hand in writing it, too … it was HIS melody that first inspired this tune way back when!)
Brooker once told Uncut Magazine: “If you trace the chordal element, it does a bar or two of Bach's 'Air on a G String' before it veers off. That spark was all it took. I wasn't consciously combining rock with classical, it's just that Bach's music was in me.”
Brooker passed away on February 19th after a battle with cancer. He was 76. (kk)
And just listen how strong his voice still sounded in 2004 …
From Ken Voss ...
https://procolharum.com/gary-brooker-obituary.htm
And Clark Besch ...
Holy crap! "A Whiter Shade of Pale," "Salty Dog,” “Homburg,” “Conquistador” ... The voice, the keyboards were unmistakable. Geez!
Speaking of Las Vegas (as we were earlier) and recently deceased celebrities (as we are now), I was very saddened to hear about the passing of The Amazing Jonathan, a staple of the Las Vegas Strip for decades. (We DID go see him while we were there. Suffice to say that I liked his act a WHOLE lot more than Frannie did ... this guy always cracked me up! Although I DO think he was a bit of a loon in real life, too!)
Described by some as "The Freddy Krueger Of Comedy," The Amazing Jonathan (real name Jonathan Szeles) first began performing on the strip in the 1980's. (He could ALSO be described as a "comedian magician who always served up a side dish of gore" during his shows, too.)
Still, he made me laugh.
Szeles was first diagnosed with a heart condition back in 2007 and, according to some of the death notices I have just read, was given a year to live in 2014. (I do remember him going around talking about that ... and even recall a not very funny documentary that he filmed at the time.)
But this was Jonathan in his prime ...
Got this from our buddy Carl Wiser of Songfacts the other day …
A little insight into how the memorable lick from The Monkees’ #1 Hit “Last Train To Clarksville” was created …
Kent –
One of our readers sent us this link. It's Louie Shelton demonstrating how the guitar parts all came together on "Last Train To Clarksville."
Be Well,
Carl Wiser
Songfacts
I think the best forgotten song by the 5 Americans is one that barely charted … 7:30 Guided Tour (#96 in 1968.) Probably my favorite because it's not or very rarely played on any music format.
Ted
I wasn’t familiar with that one … so had to give it a listen … very of the psychedelic times! (kk)
Kent,
In today's FH, it was mentioned that the 5 Americans were discovered by John Abnor and signed to his Abnor Record Label. Jon Abnor made a record in 1963 with the song YOU'RE LOSING THAT OLD FEELING / WISHING FOR YOU. This was label #101. It did make our local survey but didn't chart that high.
Here in the OKC area, the group was always introduced on the air as being from Dallas, Tx.
As for as Sandy Nelson, all of his charted records made our local survey here in OKC, including one from 1959 called BIG NOISE FROM WINNETKA (Imperial).
I just now went to three websites to look at a singles discography for Sandy Nelons. NONE of the discogs mentions mentions BIG NOISE FROM WINNETKA ... It's like he never recorded it. I went to one of my books here at home featuring a somewhat better discog and it lists BIG NOISE FROM WINNETKA … apparently it was the first record he made for Imperial. A song called DRUM PARTY was on the flip side. His TEEN BEAT did make it to #1 here in OKC ... on Original Sound Records, Art Laboe's label, I believe!! (Wasn't he the one who coined the phrase "oldies but goodies?”) Well, they are a little bit older but still goodies.
Larry Neal
I could have sworn “Big Noise From Winnetka” charted here in Chicago where, ironically, we have a suburb called Winnetka … but I can’t find any evidence of this.
“Drum Party” / “Big Noise From Winneka” was actually Sandy Nelson’s SECOND record. “Teen Beat” came out in September of 1959 and went to 3 on the charts. His next release, “Drum Party” / “Big Noise From Winnetka” was released two months later, but only made it to #101 (and even at that, ONLY in Cash Box Magazine.) “Drum Party” was the A-Side … and it spent four weeks on the Cash Box Chart. “Big Noise” charted as a “tag-along B-Side” for one of those weeks.
Sandy Nelson had back-to-back #1 Hits here in Chicago (albeit two years apart!!!) Both “Teen Beat” and “Let There Be Drums” topped the charts here. (kk)
>>>I never
quite understood how Bill Hayes’ version of “Davy Crockett” performed better on
the charts than Fess Parker’s did, especially since Parker was in the “Davy
Crockett” film (kk)
The series was a Walt Disney project and Fess Parker's recording
was not on a Disney label, so it did not have the promotion of the Disney
studio. Also, Fess Parker did not sing that song in the series.
Since he played Davy Crockett, he would have been singing about himself.
In the film, it was Buddy Ebsen, playing Crockett's sidekick, Georgie Russell,
who was singing these flattering lyrics ... to the apparent annoyance of the
people around him.
Walt Disney missed out on a source of revenue on that song. He corrected that in Parker's "Wringle, Wrangle," which was released on his Disneyland label.
I had to check out the James Brown version which is on YouTube with the disclaimer "Not THAT James Brown"
With the passage of time, it's easy to forget how huge Davy Crockett was in Chicago. It was #1 here for eight weeks, easily the biggest hit of the year. I had my coonskin cap and I was convinced that if Davy Crockett "kilt him a b'ar when he was only three," it would be easy for an eight-year-old. Unfortunately, there were no "b'ars" foraging in the brush in Mount Greenwood, so I never found out.
Ed #1
I think the CORRECT word is FORTUNATELY!!! (I still shudder when I think about all those kids who jumped off their garage roofs trying to fly like Superman!!!)
Actually, I think Walter Schumann’s version of the “Davy Crockett” song is a GREAT recording … I rank it right up there with the better known versions.
kk
Hi Kent,
I am still enjoying very much reading your blogs every time again (here from The Netherlands)!
Since I’ve been a survey freak for quite some time already, I especially enjoy your postings on Mondays, where you include a survey from a particular US radio station. In my “freakiness” regarding surveys, I started to put my own compilations of surveys from the 60’s and 70’s together some 30 years ago. And, after I had done quite some audio compilations, I also started to work on video compilations. For the last couple of years, I’ve been doing quite some of these video compilations, I even attempted to use Billboard surveys for these compilations.
If you might ever have a dull moment (which I cannot imagine with all your work that I read in the blogs), you might wanna have a look at the one I did recently, based on the Billboard Hot 100 of February 23, 1974.
Keep up the good work with the blogs, Kent!!
Kind regards,
Ben Meijering
Thanks, Ben! (We're still looking for that elusive Top 40 Radio Station Chart from Vermont for our 1972 Fifty Year Flashback ... and running out of time. I do have a "Plan B" just in case ... but I SURE would like to find one that we could include in order to make our coast-to-coast journey complete! (kk)
Kent,
First off, I appreciate that Clark and your other readers enjoy the stuff I've
been sending in. I don't claim to be quite as knowledgeable as you or
most of the readers out there, but these few years that I've been following your
site have been a great learning experience for me. I try to absorb as much
material as I can.
Since long-distance reception has been mentioned a few times, I thought I'd
toss in this little snippet (which I might have sent to you a while back).
In late 1997, I was driving home at about 1:00 AM local time, when I heard a
station on 1440 KHz, which faded in & out a bit. I knew it wasn't our
"local" station in Rockford, IL, because they're a daytimer.
But the reason it grabbed my attention immediately was because they were
playing "You're the Apple of My Eye" by an unknown group called the
Four Lovers, from 1956. A few years later, they became the Four Seasons.
I wrote down everything they aired, and when I got home I called the station.
The DJ, a young guy named Matt Alperio, was somewhat bowled over when I told
him I was eight miles from O'Hare Field in Chicago. He said that they were running
very low power (16 watts!) because they'd been interfering with a station
in Canada.
Never know what you'll hear out there. I've even gotten a verification from a
station on 800 KHz on the island of Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles (off
the northern coast of Brazil).
Thanks again for putting all of this great stuff out there for us!
Mike
