As we inch closer to Labor Day Weekend, here’s some more
info from Ted Smucker about what to expect during their WLS / WCFL Rewound
celebration … 66 HOURS of original air checks by some of the greatest voice
talents to ever hit our airwaves …
Here is a list of some of the
talent that will be heard over Labor Day Weekend:
Bill Bailey, Dick Biondi, Scotty
Brink, Ron Britain, Dr. Brock, Chuck Buell, Dex Card, Paul Christy, Yvonne
Daniels, Jeff Davis, Bob Dearborn, Johnny Driscoll, Tommy Edwards, Gary Gears,
Jerry Kaye, Tom Kent, Steve King, Chuck Knapp, John Records Landecker, Larry
Lujack, Larry O’Brien, Big Ron O’Brien, Barney Pip, Ron Riley, Art Roberts,
Dick Sainte and Doug Dahlgren, Joel Sebastian, Bob Sirott, Kris Erik Stevens,
Bill Taylor, Clark Weber, Fred Winston … and more.
We also plan on featuring a
stereo recreation of the WLS Montage, with the years of 1955-1989 represented
by WLS Historian, Scott Childers. While
the original montage ran through 1986, it has been modified to represent the
final years of WLS as a music / personality station. Many thanks to Tommy Edwards, Al Rosen, Jeff
Davis and others who originally put this spectacular segment together.
Join us over Labor Day Weekend
for WLS/WCFL Rewound, on Rewound Radio.
http://rewoundradio.com/
Ted Gorden Smucker
The WLS Montage that Tommy Edwards put together for New
Year’s Eve was a remarkable piece of work … so hearing it again makes it worth
the price of admission alone! (If we can
narrow down some type of listening schedule for you, we will … so stay tuned
for more info as we get closer to the big ‘LS/’CFL Weekend … on Rewound
Radio!) kk
Kudos to Tom Cuddy …
Great praise for the Johnny Mathis concert review that we
ran earlier this week. (kk)
Kent:
Have you ever seen Johnny Mathis in
concert?
Never (kk)
Well then it’s no wonder why Johnny is still out
on the road …
He doesn’t want to retire until kk comes to a
show!!!
Tom
Look for the Johnny Mathis Hit List below! (kk)
Never saw Johnny
Mathis … but I always wanted to.
Great review
by Mr. Cuddy.
I had Micky
Dolenz go see him years ago and he told me it was amazing!
David Salidor
Johnny Mathis is one of my mom's top two
singer / performers. When my parents downsized six years ago, they gave me all
their vinyl record albums as I always insisted on keeping my turntables
working. So now I have all the Johnny Mathis albums and vinyl records have
resurged for everyone. I WIN!!
Shelley
Honestly, I guess I’ve never really considered going to see
him … I think he just seemed to be someone more my parents would like,
especially my mom. I feel quite certain
that she and my dad must have seen him at some point in time, as they loved to
go see these big names when they came thru Chicago. (And we had SO many great clubs and venues
back then to see these artists.)
We kids would have to make it thru a night of babysitting,
but I would hear stories the next day about how great Redd Foxx or The
Checkmates or Frank Sinatra was the night before. There was probably a part of me that felt
like it wouldn’t be cool for ME to like them if my PARENTS liked them, too! (Then again, my mom was also a big fan of
Elton John, Harry Chapin, Elvis, Rod Stewart and *** so I grew up listening to
THEIR music playing around the house all the time, too!) kk
Ahhhh, reading Tom
Cuddy’s great story in Forgotten Hits about Johnny Mathis brought back some
great Forgotten Memories for me, too!
I don’t know about you guys, but
when I was in High School, ”When I’d See a Certain Smile,” I’d just get
“Misty!” And “Chances Are,” if it was going to be a beautifully
quiet and romantic night, my go-to make-out music was definitely my Johnny
Mathis albums!
Now, “It’s Not for Me to Say,” but
in those days, I could be passionate until “The Twelfth of Never!” It
was “Wonderful, Wonderful!”
Thanx for your reflections and
interesting facts about a truly memorable artist, Tom! You certainly did
not give us “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late!"
CB ( which once stood for “Cuddly
Boy!” )
Well, gee … now I don’t have to do my Johnny
Mathis Hit List!!! (lol)
[That’s OK … I did it anyway!] kk
We actually received several other emails from
readers, all essentially saying the same thing …
“I’ve always wanted to see him” … or “I have
often thought about going to see him” … “but just never did.”
It’s amazing to me that his voice is still
that solid … and it’s a very distinctive voice, too. (kk)
Can you think of any other artist of
that age that still has that type of range?
The only other singer of that age I
can think of is Frankie Valli … but Frankie has The Four Seasons …
Johnny has no background singers on
his tour.
Tom Cuddy
Here are a couple of cuts from J.I. Allison if
you would like to use them.
I interviewed him a few times.
This cut is from 2005 when the Crickets were
touring with Bobby Vee. We talked about that connection and the songs
that he helped write.
His drumming influenced many. I have always loved his work on records such
as Peggy Sue.
Phil Nee
Peter Jackson is pushing hard to get another 5-6 hours of
Beatles “Let It Be” / “Get Back” footage released … he’s says there are at
LEAST that many good hours of material that still deserve to be seen … so he’s
trying to work out some kind of deal with Disney+ or with Apple for home video
release. (He’s also committed to doing
another, all-new Beatles film, which he’s hoping to start early next year.)
Jackson says, “I know that there’s five or six hours
of fantastic material that we didn’t include, and I don’t want it to go back
into the vaults for 50 years."
He says that he has also been speaking regularly with
Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who directed the original 1970 “Let It Be” film. “I just wanted to honor the footage that was
shot," Jackson says.
It’ll be a tough sell, however … Disney is saying
that there simply isn’t any market for “extended cut” films anymore … and
sadly, it sounds like even talks about rereleasing the original version of the
“Let It Be” film have been tabled.
Well, speaking for me personally, I don’t know that I
really need to see another six hours of Beatles / “Get Back” / “Let It Be”
footage … I honestly had a hard time making it thru the first eight … and I
consider myself to be a mega-Beatles fan.
(Honestly, I’d rather watch the “Anthology” series and see more of an
overview of their entire career!)
But if the original print of “Let It Be” isn’t
getting any closer to coming out on its own … and Jackson and Lindsay-Hogg can
come up with some was of presenting all of that material from the original
filming with more bonus footage that we haven’t seen, I’m all for it …
especially in the clean-up, digitally enhanced version that we enjoyed in the
Disney+ series. (I just don’t need to
see or hear eight more takes of “Don’t Let Me Down” or “I’ve Got A Feeling” …
the first Peter Jackson film already did me in on those two tracks!) The fact remains that Paul and Ringo don’t
feel that “Let It Be” presents The Beatles in the best light … many reviewers
have labeled it as a film documenting the break-up of the band … whereas “Get
Back” was given a very brightened-up, light-hearted look at the fact that The
Fab Four were still enjoying each other’s company … at least when it came to
making music. (It was, after all, the
business end of things that really did them in.) I guess I’ll just have to continue to watch
my bootleg copy! (kk)
Have you guys been watching this new "My Life As A Rolling Stone" series on Epix? VERY well done. (Funny because this week's episode featuring Ronnie Wood was the one I was looking forward to the least ... and right now I'd say it has been the best of the bunch ... which is high praise indeed as the entire series has been excellent.)
Check it out if you get the chance ... also available On Demand. (kk)
America's Rolling Stone ... Jimy Sohns, lead singer of The Shadows Of Knight, who we lost just a few weeks back, would have turned 76 this past Tuesday
(August 23rd) … we’ll miss him.
(kk)
We heard from a few readers that the links to Micky
Dolenz’s appearance on CBS Morning were pulled moments after we posted
them. I’m not sure I understand why …
The
cbsnews.com article AND the YouTube video (first two items you listed) are
gone, and there are only two explanations for this:
--
Micky's management made a deal with CBS to only allow viewing of the video for
a specific period of time after the show aired in all parts of the US, or
--
CBS couldn't / wouldn't licence something contained in the clip
Here's
basically a transcript of the interview from one of CBS's local-news sub-sites:
https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/micky-dolenz-monkees-on-keeping-the-music-alive/?intcid=CNM-00-10abd1h
--BF
Well, those
links came from Micky’s PR Guy so HE wouldn’t have pulled them … he wanted them
posted so that Micky’s fan could see a great appearance if they happened to
miss it when it first aired.
Maybe CBS
Morning does this daily to make sure viewers are only watching their latest
episode, I don’t know … but there’s absolutely NO reason why YouTube should
have pulled it … unless the Monkees TV clips weren’t licensed or
something. Still, I can’t believe
ANYBODY connected with The Monkees not wanting the free publicity something
like this generates! (And Micky was in
fine form Monday Morning, too!) kk
Anyway, THIS
one’s still working … as I type this anyway!
(213) CBS This Morning
- Micky Dolenz Feels a Responsibility to Keep The Monkees Alive - YouTube
From Micky’s Manager, David Salidor …
It was
a great, great spot I felt. Micky even mentioned Kirshner ... and that was
pretty awesome. 8 1/2 minutes of prime-time - you can't beat that.
DS
>>>Chuck
and Kent KILL Chuckago!
Looks
as if a great time was had by all! Sorry to hear you have both been banned from
future visits together.
Shelley
With Shelley's Skill Set in
writing her very detailed “Reviews,” too bad she couldn’t have been with us on
this particular Adventure of ours to record and help protect our otherwise
fragile reputations!
Chuck Buell
Yeah, we really need to put together a Forgotten
Hits outing …
For years, we’ve talked about doing a big
meet-up at The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland –
But I’ll tell you what … a trip downtown to
see the sites in Chicago and a fun dinner at Ed Debevic’s would be an absolute
BLAST!!! (kk)
>>>According to Joel Whitburn’s
ever-reliable Chart Comparison book, Betty Wright charted a total of 21 between
1968 and 1981 (kk)
In 1978 Betty Wright released "Tonight's
The Night," which did not chart nationally but made the WLS survey.
In the 8 minute long live recording of "Tonight's The Night," she
talks about her mother's reaction to the song, quoting her as saying "I
know you're not gonna sing that song!"
That sound bite was sampled ... repeatedly ...
in the Color Me Badd hit "I Wanna Sex You Up," which reached #2
nationally for four weeks in 1991.
So, thanks to sampling, that would be the
highest charting song in which Betty Wright appears.
Ed #1
INTERESTING! (kk)
WOW!
Heard a couple of WOW! Songs this weekend …
“Witch Doctor” by David Seville on Sirius XM’s 50’s Gold
channel …
And “Kiss An Angel Good Morning” by Charley Pride on the new
“Tales Of The Walking Dead” television series (they played it a few times in
fact!)
And, speaking of Wow! Songs …
At the DJ Forum we attended last weekend Tommy Edwards
mentioned the new Oh Wow! radio station down in Phoenix (but as having a
negative effect on radio … although I’m not sure why … after all, WE’VE been
pushing radio to step outside the comfort box for nearly 25 years now!) so I
decided to check them out.
Looking at their play list for the last hour, I can’t say
that any one of these songs would have made MY WOW! list … they’re pretty much
the same oldies you hear everywhere these days …
A Groovy Kind Of Love – The Mindbenders / The Load Out –
Jackson Browne / Along Comes Mary – The Association / Ramblin’ Man – The Allman
Brothers Band / Last Train To Clarksville – The Monkees / Lonely People –
America / These Eyes - The Guess Who / Beginnings – Chicago / For All We Know –
The Carpenters / Baby I Need Your Lovin’ – The Four Tops / We’ve Got Tonight –
Bob Seger / Ring Of Fire – Johnny Cash / Lookin’ Out My Back Door – Creedence
Clearwater Revival / It Ain’t Me Babe – The Turtles / Long Cool Woman – The
Hollies / Thank God I’m A Country Boy – John Denver / Morning Has Broken – Cat
Stevens / Stop! In The Name Of Love – The Supremes / Your Wildest Dreams – The
Moody Blues / Help! – The Beatles / Just My Imagination – The Temptations /
Wild Thing – The Troggs / Don’t Go Breaking My Heart – Elton John and Kiki Dee
/ Long Time – Boston / If You Could Read My Mind – Gordon Lightfoot / 96 Tears
- ? and the Mysterians / Lola – The Kinks / Respect – Aretha Franklin / You Are
So Beautiful – Joe Cocker
Ironically, their stream was down when I tried to tune in so
I couldn’t even listen to hear how the music is being presented … but are there
really any surprises after this??? (kk)
I’ve been listening more to Rewound Radio every chance I
get, leading up to the big WLS / WCFL Labor Day Weekend bash … and it is SO
cool to hear the little promo drop-ins we’ve recorded along the way.
But it has also driven home the point yet again what an
INCREDIBLE mix of music this station plays on a regular basis.
Wednesday (August 24th) on my 45-minute commute
to work I heard this mix of tracks …
Ain’t Too Proud To Beg (by The Rolling Stones), You’re Only
Lonely (by J.D. Southern), A Girl Like You (by The Young Rascals), Albert Flasher
(by The Guess Who … how often do you hear THAT one on the radio?!?!), I’d Really
Love To See You Tonight (by England Dan and John Ford Coley), Signs (by The
Five Man Electrical Band, Blue Moon (by The Marcels), The Stroll (by The Diamonds
… pretty rare to hear two ‘50’s songs back to back … and yet they blended
together perfectly), Cherry Cherry by Neil Diamond, Da Doo Ron Ron by The
Crystals, Get On The Good Foot by James Brown (what year was it when you last
heard THIS song played on the radio?!?!), Old Time Rock And Roll by Bob Seger, We
Built This City by Starship, Sing A Song by Earth, Wind and Fire, I’ve Got The Music
In Me by Kiki Dee (still a favorite of mine) and My Girl by The Temptations. A play list like that makes it almost
impossible to even THINK about changing the station!!! Kinda blows Oh Wow Radio away, don’tcha
think??? (kk)
Billboard Magazine released a list this week of all the
songs that have debuted on their Hot 100 Chart at #1 … 63 titles in all (so
far, counting next week’s #1 Hit “Super Freaky Girl” by Nicki Manaj.) Michael Jackson was the first to do it when
“You Are Not Alone” premiered at #1 on Billboard’s September 2, 1995 chart.
You can see the whole list here:
https://www.billboard.com/photos/billboard-hot-100-number-1-song-debuts-426225/21-20-katy-perry/#recipient_hashed=fa7e92da6f6e66bffcf0bcbf863670c6eb37d7159eb4d0ea1e44fecd5ec87eeb
Really feeling the buzz for David Leaf’s newly updated Beach
Boys biography to come out. (I think I’ve
had this thing on preorder since April or May!!!)
LOTS of press this week as we draw nearer to the US release date
… including an email from David himself, asking us to help to spread the
word! (kk)
Harvey also released an interview he did with David Leaf this
past week which I would have LOVED to have run here on the site … but it’s over
fifty pages long and it just isn’t practical.
Still, if you’d like to read it for yourself, I’d be more
than happy to send you a copy …
Just drop me a line and I’ll forward it along. (kk)
More here:
https://rockcellarmagazine.com/beach-boys-biography-god-only-knows-new-edition-david-leaf/?utm_source=Rock+Cellar+Magazine+Subscribers&utm_campaign=c2c193818d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_8_26_2021_9_13_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_951cfef8de-c2c193818d-162343372&mc_cid=c2c193818d&mc_eid=f8f75f98ed#main
(Didja ever notice how Al Jardine is missing from this
picture on The Beach Boys’ “Summer Days And Summer Nights” album??? Guess Al was sick that day and, rather than
reschedule, they just went ahead and took the photo without him! Now that seems a little bit harsh!!! I guess since Al didn’t appear on a couple of
other albums … David Marks posed for those photos … they just didn’t consider
it to be all that big a deal … but it really makes you scratch your head in
hindsight!) kk
Hi Kent:
Meant to comment on
your 7-14-67 WLS Survey article.
Milwaukee’s Messengers
only have one 45 on the USA label. “Midnight Hour” became a huge hit in Milwaukee
and Chicago and a few other areas, and this prompted Motown to sign them up.
Meanwhile, USA Records, after the loss, wanting to capitalize on Midnight
Hour’s success, signed a group out of Boston to come to the Midwest and take up
as Michael and the Messengers. So, Romeo And Juliet is not the Milwaukee Group,
nor are any of the later releases.
The Milwaukee
Messengers released “Window Shopping / California Soul” on the Soul label in
the late Summer of ’67. It did OK here, but not much else. By the way, their
“California Soul” is the first version of this song which became a big hit for
the 5th Dimension. Motown never really knew what to do with the
band, so they basically languished there until 1970 when they released an LP on
Rare Earth label, and the chart 45 “That’s The Way A Woman Is” in 1971. In the
interim, they had legal battles with Motown. What looked to be a bright star in
1967 faded away.
Ken Freck
We
have covered the story of The Messengers / Michael and the Messengers a few
times before in Forgotten Hits … a strange legacy to be sure … but despite them
being TOTALLY different groups, their chart history is based on what records
were released under that name … so different group or not, “Romeo And Juliet”
still counts as a Michael and the Messengers hit record. (The term “Hit Record” is used loosely here …
NEITHER of these records, despite being huge hits here in Chicago, made The
National Top 100 … “In The Midnight Hour” peaked at #102 in Record World, #116
in Billboard and #148 in Cash Box.
“(Just Like) Romeo And Juliet” only climbed as high as #121 in Cash Box
and #129 in Billboard … despite both records enjoying much success on the WLS
Silver Dollar Survey in 1967. (“Midnight Hour” peaked at #5 and “Romeo And
Juliet got as high as #12.)
Thanks
to input from you … in fact, you’ll find a nearly identical response from you
from about seven years ago reprinted below! … Jean Theel, Gary Myers, Phil Nee
and more, here is a brief history of the band as presented in Forgotten Hits
over the years …
Michael and the Messengers:
>>>I found you on the web when I went looking
for forgotten songs of the 60's, and in the section titled, The Greatest
Garage Bands ... I see that at #48 ... Michael and the Messengers
... had a hit with Romeo And Juliet. I had never heard
that version of the song before. I had thought that the one hit
wonder group, the Reflections, had the mega-hit, Romeo And
Juliet. Anyway, your site is amazing; will keep me occupied for
hours. Thanks! (L.C.)
>>>The Reflections had the big national hit (#6 in 1964) with
"Romeo And Juliet" ... so that's the one that everybody knows.
But here in Chicago, our neighbors to the north (Wisconsin) provided a Summer
of '67 Hit for Michael and the Messengers with their remake of this
track. It rose to #12 on the WLS Silver Dollar Survey ... and will be
featured in our upcoming salute to 1967 which kicks off on December 30th.
(kk)
Hi Kent -
The group that had the "Just Like Romeo And Juliet" remake was the
replacement for the Messengers. It's a long and complex story (covered in
my first book), but the Milwaukee band was NEVER known as Michael and the
Messengers. They were simply the Messengers.
When they refused to tour with their USA 45 hit of Midnight Hour (because they
were courting Motown), USA added the "Michael and the" on the
later pressings and brought in a band from Leominster, MA, to take
that name and do the tour. That's the band that cut "Just Like
...". (And my books are still avail for those who'd like the whole story,
which I think is kind of fascinating).
Gary E. Myers / MusicGem
Hi
Kent:
A little history for you on Michael and the Messengers.
The group that did “Romeo and Juliet” is not the same group who had a big
hit in Milwaukee and in Chicago with “Midnight Hour.” That is the Milwaukee Group.
Once “Midnight Hour” broke regionally, they left USA Records and signed as the
first Rock Band for the Motown Label. They released their first record on
Motown’s “Soul” label at the end of the Summer in 1967. It was “Window Shopping
/ California Soul” which charted Top 20 in Milwaukee. Incidentally their version
of “California Soul” is the first recording of the song which would go on to be
a hit for the 5th Dimension.
Meanwhile, USA Records, fearing the loss of a possible Hit Group after
“Midnight Hour” had success, imported a group from Boston which became
Michael and the Messengers.
That is the “Romeo & Juliet” Group. Plus all later USA releases are this
group.
Ken Freck
'60's FLASHBACK
Here's an
article we ran dated January 1st, 2007!!! Incredibly Gary Myers (whose
comment you see above) had just joined the Forgotten Hits List at this
time!!! (How wild is this?!?!?) It actually references an even
earlier piece we did on the group back in 2004!!! (Man, we've been doing
this a long time now!!!)
Read on for more info on The Messengers (with and without
Michael ... actually there never really WAS a Michael!!!) ... which makes this
an even more interesting tale!
According to the GARY MYERS book DO
YOU HEAR THAT BEAT: WISCONSIN POP/ROCK IN THE '50's/'60's (as
well as articles appearing in RHINO's excellent NUGGETS BOX and
an online MSN ENTERTAINMENT article (both, apparently, HEAVILY
influenced by MYERS' report) there were, in fact, two completely
separate, distinct groups involved.
The original band was called simply THE MESSENGERS and
they did, in fact, hail from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1967, their
popped-up version of the soul classic IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR was
released on USA RECORDS, home of THE BUCKINGHAMS, thus
leading many to believe that they, too, were a Chicagoland band. Their
record did VERY well here in Chicago, rocketing all the way up to #5 while
never denting either of the national charts. (It did
"bubble-under" on Billboard, peaking at #116.) Reportedly, this
is where the confusion sets in.
It was Milwaukee DJ PAUL CHRISTY who persuaded
the group to cut the single in the first place and he was instrumental in
getting it released on Chicago-based USA RECORDS. When the
record became a huge hit in Chicago, he wanted them to go out and promote the
record with appearances throughout the Midwest. THE MESSENGERS,
however, had only cut the record as a favor to CHRISTY and had
no interest whatsoever in promoting it. In fact, they were about to sign
a deal with MOTOWN RECORDS instead! So, CHRISTY and USA
RECORDS had to put together a group of musicians to tour and promote
the single in the Chicagoland area. (And THIS is how they became known as
a Chicago-based band!)
As IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR continued to sell
well in Chicago, a second pressing was released, now showing the band as MICHAEL
AND THE MESSENGERS (despite the fact that NO ONE in the group was
actually named MICHAEL!) In the meantime, a group out of
Leominster, Massachusetts, called THE DEL MARS were recruited
(and renamed) MICHAEL AND THE MESSENGERS and it was THIS group of
musicians who recorded the follow-up single JUST LIKE ROMEO AND JULIET,
which became ANOTHER huge Chicagoland hit, peaking at #12. (It stopped at
#129 in Billboard. Hey, doesn't that mean that there were really THREE
versions of the same band?!?!?) THE DEL MARS simply followed
the organ-based, sped-up technique used on IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR to
recreate the "MICHAEL AND THE MESSENGERS sound" that made
both records Midwest successes.
A variety of musicians came through the MICHAEL AND
THE MESSENGERS revolving door over the next couple of years before
they disappeared completely from the music scene. As for the REAL
original MESSENGERS, they DID sign with MOTOWN RECORDS and
became one of the very first white acts to do so. (According to their
members, they were the VERY first white act signed, but that's been a long
standing matter of debate.) Like RARE EARTH, R. DEAN
TAYLOR and our recently featured KIKI DEE, they were
assigned to RARE EARTH records, but never had a chart hit,
making the "fake" MESSENGERS more successful than
the real deal!
BTW:
Despite ALL of the musicians who at one time can claim to have been a member
of MICHAEL AND THE MESSENGERS, not one single member was ever
really named MICHAEL!!! In fact, it sounds like ALL of the members
shared an inside joke, taking turns at "being MICHAEL"
when asked by the media "So which one's Michael?" (LOL)
DIDJAKNOW?: The original MESSENGERS landed their MOTOWN recording
contract after a MOTOWN label scout saw them open for THE
DAVE CLARK FIVE back in 1966!
WHO'S WHO: It would be impossible to list ALL of the musicians
who, at one time or another, were members of some version of MICHAEL
AND THE MESSENGERS ... check out the info supplied by FORGOTTEN
HITS List Member JEAN THEEL below for even more
details. But here's what we've been able to come up with so far:
The group was founded in 1962 in Winona, MN, by GREG
JERESEK (aka GREG JENNINGS) and also featured
guitarists GREG BAMBENEK and ROY BERGER,
keyboardist CHIP ANDREWS, bassist TOMMY CICHANOWSKI (aka TOMMY
CHICK) and drummer JIM MURRAY ... this version of THE
MESSENGERS released a single in 1965 called MY BABY on
the Soma label. BAMBENEK left the group first to go to
college and was replaced by JOHN CADER. When leader GREG
JERESEK moved to Milwaukee to pursue HIS college degree, he formed a
NEW band consisting of lead singer JEFF TAYLOR, guitarist PETER
BARANS, keyboardist JESSE ROE and drummer AUGIE
JURISHICA. This is the group of musicians who recorded IN THE
MIDNIGHT HOUR and eventually signed with MOTOWN.
(Keyboardist JESSE ROE dropped out of the group at this time
as his parents wouldn't let him sign the MOTOWN contract.
By the way, at various times, THIS version of the group was billed as "THE
MILWAUKEE MESSENGERS“ to avoid ... or add to ... further confusion!)
The line-up for THE DEL MARS that
became MICHAEL AND THE MESSENGERS consisted of lead
vocalist WAYNE BECKNER, guitarist TOM FINI,
bassist RON GAGNON, keyboardist JACK DeCAROLIS and
drummer PAUL COSENZA. These are the guys who recorded the
follow-up hit JUST LIKE ROMEO AND JULIET. (I found one
website that said that once THE DEL MARS became THE
MESSENGERS, they re-recorded IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR and THAT
is why the single was re-released as MICHAEL AND THE MESSENGERS ...
however, I don't have any reason to believe that this is true ... it appears
that USA RECORDS simply reissued the original recording with a
new name on the label.) Other names that have come up during the research
for this article include MIKE MORGAN (hey, if NONE of the band
members were ever named "MICHAEL" then who's this
guy?!?!? LOL), RICK CIER, GARY ROZENMEIER and BOB
CAVALLO. (Jean Theel, who sent us a
bunch of early photos of the band when we first featured them back in 2004,
used to date Mike Morgan briefly and, as such, had “privileged” access to their
rehearsal space, which she also sent us pictures of at the time. Unfortunately, thanks to a series of numerous
computer crashes over the years all of this material is now lost in the
Forgotten Hits ashes of our earliest work.) kk
Kent,
Ya gotta watch this. It has a terribly long URL, but that's the only way
I could copy the filespec.
It's called "Gotta Love the Millennials". To the tune of
"Obla-di Obla-Da"
Mike
https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tVP1zc0zEo3qcwxLMkzYPQSS88vKUlUyMkvS1XIzczJSc3Ly0zMKQYA-fENeg&q=gotta+love+millennials&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS824US824&oq=%22gotta+love+&aqs=chrome.9.69i57j0i512l3j46i512j0i512l3j46i512l2.8711j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
VERY well done … with perhaps a certain element of truth to
it, too! Thanks, Mike! (kk)
THE JOHNNY MATHIS HIT LIST
Between 1957 and 1980, Johnny Mathis placed an incredible 69
songs on The National Pop Charts. 25 of
those placed high enough to make our JOHNNY MATHIS HIT LIST.
1957 – Wonderful! Wonderful! (#12)
1957 – It’s Not For Me To Say (#2)
1957 – Chances Are (#1)
1957 – The Twelfth Of Never (#9)
1957 – Wild Is The Wind (#14)
1958 – No Love But Your Love (#21)
1958 – Come To Me (#22)
1958 – Teacher, Teacher (#20)
1958 – All The Time (#21)
1958 – A Certain Smile (#11)
1958 – Call Me (#12)
1959 – Let’s Love (#40)
1959 – Someone (#33)
1959 – Small World (#19)
1959 – Misty (#12)
1960 – Starbright (#24)
1960 – Maria (#50)
1960 – My Love For You (#35)
1962 – Gina (#6)
1963 – What Will My Mary Say (#8)
1963 – Every Step Of The Way (#30)
1963 – Come Back (#47)
1964 – Bye Bye Barbara (#46)
1978 – Too Much, Too Little, Too Late (#1) with Deniece Williams
1978 – You’re All I Need To Get By (#47) with Deniece
Williams
Hope to see some of you out at The Prairie Center For Performing Arts tomorrow night in Schaumburg for The Chicago Experience concert.
It's going to be a great night of great music and we'd love to see you there! (kk)
