From Tom Cuddy …
“We drove 300 miles to see you — and you weren’t even onstage!”
Randy Bachman on the fake Guess
Who — and how he reclaimed the band and the name
Source: GuitarPlayer - https://share.google/yIPRCiyFNGoQvaODR
Well, this fills in a few blanks as to how Jim Kale ended up with The Guess Who name in the first place. (I thought he just copyrighted or trademarked it himself after the band split up when he learned it was available! But apparently had the full consent of the band, including both Randy and Burton! I don't think anyone ever thought he would capitalize on that for the next 30 years ... but apparently, that's exactly what happened!!!)
From the article:
How did Jim Kale, who played bass in the Guess Who and was fired in the early ’70s, end up controlling the name in the late ’70s?
Well, the phone rings one Saturday morning, and it’s Jim Kale. He tells me and Burton, “I’m calling to say goodbye. I’m going to jail. We just got audited by the IRS, and our accountant didn’t pay our back taxes.” He owed hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Jim says, “If you’ll let me use the Guess Who name, they’ll put me on the road and I can pay back half the money.”
We told him he could use it. But we didn’t know he was going to trademark it, patent it and keep using it for decades. At the time we didn’t oppose it, but we also didn’t know he’d registered a trademark. Nobody told us.
-- Randy Bachman
Interesting, too, that the current set list is heavy on material from the first three Guess Who albums …
That’s because those are the only ones Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings made together.
Bachman left shortly after the “American Woman” album was recorded … and showed up with Bachman-Turner Overdrive a few years later. Meanwhile, Burton Cummings continued on, fronting The Guess Who for several more years ... and had nine more Top 40 Hits after Bachman departed. (They only had six while they were still together: “These Eyes,” “Laughing,” “Undun,” “No Time” and “American Woman.”)
While several Bachman-Turner songs are included in the new live set list, Burton’s biggest solo hit, “Stand Tall” (#5, 1976), is not (which really doesn’t make a lot of sense to me either!)
Still, it’s going to be a GREAT show … and I can’t wait to see it! (kk)
The new Cockroaches (Rolling Stones) record released last Saturday was selling for $10 but only 1000 were made. Omaha and KC had them but only a couple per store. Look what ebay wants already:
Clark Besch
Yeah, 1000 numbered copies were pressed and even if you followed the coordinates to find out which stores actually had copies for sale, odds are they only had one or two at most. Naturally, the price spiked IMMEDIATELY and will only continue to go up due to the extreme rarity of this item.
It's a shame that it isn’t a very good recording! The Stones have certainly done better! Makes me think that the very best tracks were collected for their "Hackney Diamonds" album a couple of years ago. (kk)
Hi Kent,
I have to take exception to your comments about Linda Creed and her being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Linda was WAY more than just a background singer. As a songwriter, she was behind some of the most iconic soul hits of the 1970s, including many by The Stylistics. She was even inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992.
Here's just a sample of hits that she co-wrote (most with songwriting partner Thom Bell):
You Make Me Feel Brand New; Betcha By Golly, Wow; Break Up To Make Up; You Are Everything; I'm Stone In Love With You; The Rubberband Man; The Greatest Love Of All
Not bad considering she died at the young age of 37.
Paul Haney
Although I personally would have never even considered Linda Creed Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame material … no great surprise here as I don’t agree with MOST of their selections over the past 30 years … what I object to more is the seemingly random “rank and order” in which these selections are being made.
The fact that she’s in The Songwriters Hall Of Fame seems much more apropos since she didn’t really achieve any rock credo as an artist herself. Yes, Linda Creed co-wrote several hits for The Stylistics, yet The Stylistics themselves aren’t even in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, so I’m not sure how that’s considered a factor as to her worthiness. And even if one were to argue she belongs in “The Songwriters Wing,” does she belong there ahead of Paul Anka, who’s written timeless, real rock-and-roll-era songs like “Diana,” “You Are My Destiny,” “Lonely Boy,” “Put Your Head On My Shoulder” and “Puppy Love,” all hit songs that he also recorded and that DEFINED this era of rock and roll? (He also wrote “My Way” for Frank Sinatra and “She’s A Lady” for Tom Jones as well as The Tonight Show Theme, along with literally HUNDREDS of others … yet he’s never even made the ballot.)
How about Neil Sedaka, who we lost this past year … he had 25 Top 40 Hits, all written by himself, including more timeless classics like “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do,” “Calendar Girl,” “Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen,” “Laughter In The Rain” and “Bad Blood” and had hits with ALL of these tunes. (Oh yeah, he also wrote songs that were big hits for other artists, including 1975’s biggest record of the year, “Love Will Keep Us Together” for The Captain and Tennille.)
How about Connie Francis, who also left us last year? Along with Brenda Lee, she DEFINED the original golden rock and roll era as one of the top two female artists of the decade … yet Brenda Lee’s in and Connie has never even been nominated. (The Rock Hall seems to have a history of inducting artists after they've passed away rather than during their lifetime when they could actually be there to receive and appreciate the honor of induction.)
Or The Guess Who? At their peak, The Guess Who were outselling all other Canadian acts COMBINED … and they gave us TRUE rock and roll classics like “American Woman,” “These Eyes,” “No Time” and “Undun,” all written by (since we’re talking songwriter justification here) Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings. Why have THEY been ignored every year since their first year of eligibility?
I guess I’m just looking for a little rhyme or reason here as to why they keep overlooking legitimate, Rock Hall-worthy artists in favor of the more obscure, less-deserving artists that The Rock Hall seems intent on shoving ahead of them every year.
The original credo of The Hall was to honor artists who helped pave the way with inventive and new ways of growing the ART of rock and roll and taking it in new directions. Look at the list of inductees over the past thirty years and for every one you (or anyone else) can argue justifies induction based on this criteria, I can probably name three, four or five others that don’t even come close. (How does an artist make a universal impact worthy of such an honor when 9 out of 10 people on the street couldn’t name or hum a single song they recorded???) Something's wrong here with this logic ... and they're not living up to their responsibility.
Even the Fan Vote is a misnomer ... The New Edition (nowhere NEAR worthy of Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction in my opinion) won the fan vote this year ... yet were not on the list of 2026 inductees. Seriously, what's the point of voting?
Please understand that my issue is not with Linda Creed … it’s with the whole on-going process of recognizing Grade Three Tier artists over all the Grade One and Two Tier artists that haven’t been so honored. As a result, artists like Paul Anka, Neil Sedaka, Connie Francis, The Guess Who, Tommy James, Freddy Cannon, Three Dog Night, Jethro Tull, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Paul Revere and the Raiders and so many others continue to wait their turn. I guess we’ll just continue to wait (not so) patiently on the sidelines until SOMEBODY steps up and agrees that there's been a misuse of power. (For God’s sake, it took them 40 years to induct Ed Sullivan!) kk
Thank you for all your Fun Comments about my "Alleged" Teaser Production around joining the "New WKRP in Cincinnati!"
It triggered a long lost buried memory for me when oldest Son, Craig, reached out to me with;
"Hey, Dad! I remember a Family Story about you pitching an idea of a radio station sitcom before "WKRP in Cincinnati" became a sitcom! Is that true?!"
Well, yeah, it is.
Allan Burns was a legendary television writer and producer who, in partnership with James L. Brooks, co-created "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" sitcom in 1970 about the misadventures of a Television Station's Newsroom. In 1976 during its run, I created and proposed a compatible sitcom concept and submitted it to them that was based on a radio station. My story idea began with a relatively unknown radio station switching their unsuccessful programming to a Top 40 music presentation and the show being a "spinoff" of the MTM TV show that would ultimately stand on its own.
In 1978, toward the end of that two year period that followed my submission and unbeknownst to me, Hugh Wilson, who was also a successful TV writer and producer synonymous with comedy, saw his latest sitcom that he had developed during that time about a struggling AM radio station transitioning to a rock-and-roll format, "WKRP in Cincinnati," premiered on National Television. The connection between him, Burns and Brooks, to whom I had originally sent my proposal, is Hugh Wilson has explicitly credited Allan Burns and James L. Brooks as his career mentors so they knew each other quite well.
Funnily enough, and these all were Funny Guys, I thought "WKRP" was a Great Show. Overall, it stayed reasonably true to the realities, workings and challenges of a real radio station. Their story lines were often based on or inspired by real radio stations and their staff members' personalities and experiences. The most famous episode is probably the Thanksgiving "Turkey Drop" which was based on a real-life, disastrous radio promotion!
As far as my foray into Television Sitcoms, I happily just sit at home, far away from Hollywood, and watch a carefully selected number of sitcoms from the latest crop of TV comedies, make judgements on their relatability and entertainment values and decry the overuse and unnecessary use of annoying laugh tracks.
All pretty Funny, huh!
CB (NOT Cincinnati Bound)
Rock Cellar ran a couple of interesting articles the other day …
First, in honor of Tax Day (April 15th), they took a look at the classic Beatles’ track “Taxman,” a George Harrison-penned tune that kicked off their “Revolver” album. (It came in at #1291 on our list of THE TOP 3333 MOST ESSENTIAL CLASSIC ROCK SONGS OF ALL TIME)
They even ran a parody by Weird Al Yankovic which I had never heard before called “Pac-Man,” which wasn’t released until his now out-of-print “Squeeze Box” album a few years ago. (You can hear the track here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5z58BS5eo0
They also announced a brand new special 10 Year Anniversary release of The Monkees’ LP “Good Times.”
Now being released as a 2-CD Set, the new tracks will include the previously unreleased tracks “Terrifying,” “Me & Magdalena” (Version 2), “A Better World,” “Love’s What I Want” along with complete instrumental versions of all of the original “Good Times” album tracks: “Good Times,” “You Bring The Summer,” “She Makes Me Laugh,” “Our Own World,” “Gotta Give It Time,” “Me & Magdalena,” “Whatever’s Right,” “Love To Love,” “Little Girl,” “Birth Of An Accidental Hipster,” “Wasn’t Born To Follow,” “I Know What I Know” and “I Was There (And I’m Told I Had A Good Time)”
The album when originally released ten years ago was a real bright spot in The Monkees’ career. Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork were all actively involved with finishing up these tracks … and even an old Davy Jones vocal was pulled from the archives to make it a true “reunion” LP.
Definitely looking forward to this one! (The disc arrives on May 29th.)
Meanwhile, Micky is still out promoting his “60 Years Of The Monkees” tour, coming soon to a theater near you! (kk)
April 16th (TONIGHT!) in Vienna, VA at The Barns
April 18th- Tarrytown, NY - Tarrytown Music Hall
April 19th – Huntington, NY – The Paramount Theatre
May 7th -Tulsa, OK – The Tulsa Theater
May 9th -Dallas, TX – The Majestic Theatre, Dallas
May 11th – Austin, TX – The Paramount Theatre, Austin
May 13th – San Antonio, TX – The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts
May 15th – Gulfport, MS - Island View Casino
May 24th – Jeffersonville, IN - Abbey Road on the River
June 26th – Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live, Orlando
June 28th – Clearwater, FL - Capitol Theatre
June 30th and July 2nd – Atlanta, GA – The City Winery, Atlanta
July 4th – Ellisville, MS – Jones College
July 9th – Kettering, OH - Fraze Pavilion
July 11th – Lakeside, OH - Hoover Auditorium
July 19th – Napa, CA – The Uptown Theatre
September 12th – Los Angeles, CA - The United Theater on Broadway
September 29th – Myrtle Beach, SC – The Greg Rowles Legacy Theatre
October 1st – Hopewell, VA - The Historic Beacon Theatre
October 3rd – Atlantic City, NJ - Borgata Music Box
October 15th – Greenburg, PA - The Palace Theatre
October 17th – North Tonawanda, NY – The Riviera Theatre and Performing Arts
Center
November 1st – Joliet, IL – The Rialto Square Theatre
November 4th – Shipshewana, IN – The Blue Gate Performing Arts Center
November 6th – Northfield, OH - MGM Northfield Park – Center Stage
November 8th – Des Moines, IA - Hoyt Sherman Place
November 11th – Milwaukee, WI – The Pabst Theater
November 13th – St. Charles, MO - Family Arena
[be sure to check Micky’s website as new dates are being added all the time!]
From Frank B …
THE NATIONAL R & B MUSIC SOCIETY, INC.
kk …
The Atlantic City Walk Of Fame -- Class Of 2026 …
TAVARES + SISTER SLEDGE + MELBA MOORE + BILLY PAUL + ROY AYERS + BLACK IVORY
Ceremony Is Monday, April 26. 2026 / 1 PM / Brighton Park -- 1801 Boardwalk / Free Admission
FB
I found a bunch of 8-track tapes that I'd love to contribute to my growing list of items to get rid of.
Attached is a pic of one particularly interesting tape. I guess it's a bootleg!
Timmy
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Yep, definitely a bootleg!!!
We had a few responses regarding interest in surveys, collectibles, etc. … but everybody wants to see a list (and I’m in no position to organize things right now as we’re concentrating on cleaning house … but it makes sense)
We’ll touch base if anybody who’s expressed an interest in another week or so …
Out of town the next two weekends.
Thanks, All! (kk)
As asked in Forgotten Hits!
>>>Shouldn't The Kent Kotal Action Figure Be ... "DANCING???" (Frank B)
Nope … kk don’t dance! (kk)
Well, he does now …
CB ( which stands for "Choreographer Boy!" )
Yikes!!! Now that’s just frickin’ scary!!! (kk)
Yes … and frickin’ FUNNY, too!!! (CB)
