FORGOTTEN HITS: THE FRIDAY FLASH

Friday, July 19, 2024

THE FRIDAY FLASH

We lost another one of the great ones yesterday ... a comedy and television icon ... as Bob Newhart passed away at the age of 94.

Newhart's career dates back to the television era of variety shows ... where each week any given host of such a program would showcase a stand-up comic (or two.)

Newhart's style was new an innovative at the time ... dry, deadpan humor (often at his own expense.) In fact, in his most common on-going routines, you typically found Bob on one end of a phone conversation where the whole bit was based on Bob's reaction to whatever was being said on the other end of the line ... to which none of the audience was privy to.

Corny as that may sound, it worked ... and in 1960, Newhart released TWO back-to-back albums that BOTH went all the way to #1 on Billboard's Best Selling Albums Chart. (In fact, "The Button Down Mind Of Bob Newhart" topped that chart for fourteen weeks, won a Grammy and rode the chart for over two years. It was the first comedy album ever to make it to the top of Billboard's Album Chart. Its follow-up release, "The Button Down Mind Strikes Back!," went to #1 for a week in 1961 ... and stayed on the chart for a total of 70 weeks. ITS follow-up, "Behind The Buton-Down Mind Of Bob Newhart,"also made The Top Ten.)

But it was on television in the 1970's ... AND 1980's ... that Bob Newhart really shone. His first hit series, "The Bob Newhart Show," in which he played psychologist Bob Hartley (alongside his beautiful TV wife Emily, portrayed by Suzanne Pleshette) ran for six very successful seasons.

In the 1980's, he returned as Innkeeper Dick Loudin in a new series simply titled "Newhart." It ran for another eight seasons, topping things off with one of the greatest and most creative series finales I've ever seen ...

After spending the previous eight years running an inn in Vermont with his wife Joanna, played by Mary Frann, he wakes up in the final episode lying in bed with Suzanne Pleshette, his television wife from his previous series, and proceeds to tell her about this INCREDIBLE dream he just had about running an inn in Vermont. It was Classic TV at its classic best.

Trying to strike gold a third time, a third series (this time titled simply "Bob") debuted in 1992, but it failed to capture and retain an audience and was cancelled after just two seasons.

We would still see Bob from time to time in movies like "Elf" and "In And Out" ... "Horrible Bosses" and "The Big Bang Theory" ... and it was always a delight. His wife of sixty years, Ginnie, passed away in 2023. (kk)

Bob Newhart, the former accountant from Chicago (Oak Park) who rose to comedy superstardom with a mathematical precision in timing down to a decimal point along with his signature deadpan routines, has died. He was 94.

I remember playing some of his stuff off his #1 Billboard Pop Album, "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart," on my very first radio shows on a radio station in Rapid City, South Dakota. That album still remains among the 20 best-selling comedy albums in history.

Yeah, I was fifteen at the time!

Chuck Buell

Burton Cummings has added even MORE dates to his upcoming US tour, now extending shows into early next year. (I was surprised to see that, rather than The Arcada Theatre, Burton’s closest local appearance will now be at the Rialto Theatre in Joliet, still a bit of a drive away … but someplace that, incredibly, in all these years, I’ve still never been!)

He also further clarified the significance of the “60^th Anniversary” part of the tour’s name …

In 1964, a 16-year-old, Cummings released two singles as a member of the Deverons. Although they were considered one of the hottest performing bands in Canada at the time, both of these singles failed to chart. Still, Cummings was building quite a name for himself with his incredible voice and wild stage antics. Two years later, he was invited to join The Guess Who where, when paired with guitarist and songwriter Randy Bachman, their career quickly skyrocketd. In short order, “These Eyes” (#3), “Laughing” (#5), “Undun” (#22), “No Time” (#3) and “American Woman”(#1) became worldwide hits.

Bachman left the band after the “American Woman” album and, a few years later, started scoring hits with his own group, Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Meanwhile, Burton continued to lead The Guess Who into the US Top 40 with hits like “No Sugar Tonight” (#39), “Hand We Down World,” (#13), “Share The Land” (#5), “Hang On To Your Life” (#22), “Albert Flasher” (#22), “Rain Dance” (#11), “Heartbroken Bopper’ (#26), “Star Baby” (#30), “Clap For The Wolfman” (#6) and “Dancin’ Fool” (#24), before departing in 1976 for a solo career that kicked off with the Top Ten Hit “Stand Tall,” right out of the box.

Burton will also be releasing a brand new album in conjunction with the tour, his first studio album of new recordings since 2008. “A Few Good Moments” will be released later his year.

Burton Cummings: “Get ready, America! This fall, my band and I are hitting the road for the first leg of our U.S. tour! It’s been far too long, but we’re finally bringing the music straight to your doorstep. Join us at a venue near you where we’ll be performing my hits from the original The Guess Who and my solo career from over the past 60 years!”

US dates begin in September and (right now anyway!) carry on through March of next year.

Here’s the tour log as of right now:

September 13th – Deadwood, SD – Deadwood Jam
September 14th – Denver, CO – Paramount Theatre
September 17th – Chesterfield, MO – The Factory
September 18th – Kansas City, MO – Knuckleheads Saloon
September 20th – Tulsa, OK – River Spirit Casino Resort
September 21st – Arlington, TX – Arlington Music Hall
September 23rd – Marion, IL – Marion Cultural and Civic Center
September 25th – Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theatre
September 26th – Huber Heights, OH – Rose Music Center
September 28th – Northfield, OH – MGM Northfield Park
September 29th – Nashville, IN – Brown County Music Center
October 1st – Hopewell, VA – Beacon Theatre
October 2nd – Pittsburgh, PA – Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall
October 4th – Collingswood, NJ – Scottish Rite Auditorium
October 5th – Lynn, MA – Lynn Memorial Auditorium
October 18th – Windsor, ON – The Colosseum at Caesars Windsor
October 19th – New Buffalo, MI – Silver Creek Event Center at Four Winds Casino
November 1st – Edmonton, AB – River Cree Resort and Casino
November 8th – Niagara Falls, ON – Fallsview Casino Resort
December 28th – Moncton, NB – Casino New Brunswick

January 11th – Chandler, AZ – Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino
January 12th – San Juan Capistrano, CA – Coach House Concert Hall
January 14th – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up
January 15th – Palm Desert, CA – McCallum Theatre
January 17th – Los Angeles, CA – The Novo
January 18th – Laughlin, NV – Edge Pavilion
January 21st – Santa Rosa, CA – Luther Burbank Center for the Arts
January 23rd – Tacoma, WA – Emerald Queen Casino
January 25th – Airway Heights, WA – Spokane Live
February 2nd – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
February 4th – Sumterville, FL – The Tracy PAC
February 5th – Jacksonville, FL – Florida Theatre
February 7th – Clearwater, FL – Ruth Eckerd Hall (with Jim Messina)
February 11th – Sarasota, CA – Van Wezel Perf. Arts Hall (with Jim Messina)
February 13th – Ft Lauderdale, FL – Rock Legends Cruise XII
March 9th – Jim Thorpe, PA – Penn’s Peak
March 15th – Westbury, PA – NYCB Theatre at Westbury
March 19th – Washington, DC – Warner Theatre
March 22nd – Joliet, IL – Rialto Square Theatre
March 26th – Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theater
March 28th – Shipshewana, IN – Blue Gate PAC

The Rolling Stones wrap up their Hackney Diamonds tour on Sunday with a show in Ridgedale, Missouri. (Boy, that went by quickly, didn’t it?!?!)

By all accounts, The Stones are still in top form, wowing audiences with their incredible catalog of music, energy and stamina.

The fact that they’ve already got another album essentially in the can makes one wonder how soon they’ll be back out on the road again! (When they recorded their big comeback LP, “Hackney Diamonds,” the band cut enough tracks to fill a second LP which, hot of the heels of a mega sell-out tour, should sell briskly the minute they opt to release it.)

They continued to surprise their audience throughout the tour by slipping in new songs at virtually every appearance. (Their catalog is so deep, how can you possibly hold the set list to just twenty tunes???)

Was The Hackney Diamonds Tour the last time The Stones will play US dates??? Me thinks not! (kk)

A great review of The Stones' recent show in LA last week ...

And be sure to check out the video clip of them performing their 1976 hit "Fool To Cry," another "first" on this year's tour.

https://bestclassicbands.com/rolling-stones-live-los-angeles-2024-7-18-24/

Joe Bonsall was the lead singer of the Oak Ridge Boys' biggest hit, the 1981 crossover single, “Elvira.” That record was one of the biggest hit singles of the '80's, and was certified platinum for sales of over two million copies, according to Wikipedia, a distinction shared for a time with only “Islands In The Stream.”

Dick Clark enjoyed referencing that Joe, from Philadelphia, had danced on American Bandstand.

Joe started his career singing with two gospel groups before going with the Oak Ridge Boys, which were themselves a gospel group when he joined them.

Joe is second from right in the WHN Radio photo below from when the Oaks toured with George Jones, third from right, sharing a joke with me (top left)

Ed Salamon