Congratulations to Ella Langsley who has now officially tied Mariah Carey with the most weeks at #1 on The Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart as "Choosin' Texas" claims its 22nd week on top.
Carey's tally took seven years to accumulate while Ella managed her feat in only seven months. Still, an unthinkable feat in an era when we grew up that for the longest time showed chart-toppers like "Theme From 'A Summer Place' and "You Light Up My Life" and "Physical," each of which ruled the roost for ten weeks, ahead of 9-week chart-toppers like Bobby Darin's "Mack The Knife" or The Beatles' "Hey Jude." Who would have EVER thought back then that a 22-week run at the top was even a possibility!
But she did it and all we can say is "Congratulations." The world LOVES your song. (kk)
ROCK AND ROLL SUMMIT IN CONNECTICUT: DION AND BILLY GIBBONS REALIZE THEY’RE BOOKED TO PLAY THE SAME VENUE AND FINALY GET TO MEET IN PERSON
ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons has long been an ardent admirer of Dion DiMucci, the first-generation rocker who is still actively touring and recording. When Billy was approached about collaborating with Dion for the latter’s 2020 album Blues With Friends, he readily agreed and the result is the track “Bam Bang Boom” that’s one of the highlights of that album that also includes contributions by Paul Simon, Jeff Beck, Joe Bonamassa, John Hammond, Van Morrison, Joe Louis Walker, Brian Setzer, Jimmy Vivino, Sonny Landreth, Rory Block, Steven Van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Scalfa and Samantha Fish. Billy and Dion joined forces again the very next year from a track titled “My Stomping Ground” that was featured on Dion’s Stomping Ground album that also includes tracks with Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Boz Scaggs, Keb’ Mo’, Marcia Ball, Rickie Lee Jones, Peter Frampton and others. Both albums were recorded amid the pandemic so virtually all the efforts of Dion’s collaborators, including Billy Gibbons, were recorded “long distance,” so to speak.
Earlier this week, Rich Nesin, Dion’s tour manager realized that his client and ZZ Top were slated to play the same facility on Saturday, September 12 with ZZ Top performing at Mohegan Sun Arena and Dion playing the resort’s Sun Patio. When both artists were informed of this cosmic confluence, efforts were made to bring them together and it did come to pass just before Dion’s set that a pajama-clad Billy Gibbons finally met one of his greatest inspirations in person; it was Texas meets the Bronx via the blues.
Billy commented directly after the tête-à -tête “I’ve admired Dion for just about as long as I can remember. He has always been the ultimate rock ’n’ roller to me and still is just that. While we’ve collaborated on some recordings, we had yet to meet, and now it's, "live and in person" and a truly fulfilling experience. Dion is as warm and genuine as I could have imagined and, of course, we instantly bonded over our mutual love of Jimmy Reed.”
For his part, Dion was equally delighted and, just before hitting the stage, remarked, “Billy Gibbons is one of a kind. The man has a distinctive sound on guitar; he is unique and special in every way; the way he dresses; the food he eats; the car he drives; the guitar he plays! The way he expresses himself when he wants to convey something to me: he sends up a smoke signal!”
For the last twenty years it's been impossible to hear the name Ronnie Dove and not think of Tom Diehl. (Thanks to Forgotten Hits) And when I saw the news of Ronnie's passing, I instantly thought how devastating this must be for Tom. So we send heartfelt condolences to Tom - and to all who loved and were close to Ronnie during his final years.
David Lewis
kk ...
There's A Great Ronnie Dove Clip On You Tube.
He's About To Sing "ONE KISS FOR OLD TIMES SAKE."
I Guess He Did This At All His Concerts.
The Ladies Line Up --
Soon, He's Singing & Kissing At The Same Time!
He Didn't Miss A Note or A Kiss!
And Tell Rick Springfield It Would Have Been A Lot Worse If He Killed A U.S. Soldier!
FB
FH Reader Bob Burns sent us this news clip about John Waite being pulled over for a speeding ticket in ... and turning it into a memorable moment for both himself and the arresting officer ...
https://www.upworthy.com/80s-singer-does-police-photo-shoot-ex1/
John will be appearing here on November 14th, along with John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band ... can't wait! (kk)
Don McLean Has Announced His U.K. & Ireland Farewell Tour --Starting May, 11, 2027, With Stops In Belfast + Dublin + Birmingham + Manchester -- Before a Final Concert At Royal Albert Hall On May 22nd.
McLean Made His U.K. Debut 55 Years Ago .
FRANK B.
Another Death To Report –
We Lost An Original Member Of Martha & The Vandellas -- Miss Rosalind Ashford-Holmes.
Her High Soprano Vocal Range Served As The Top-End Blend That Locked The Group’s Tight Harmonies Above Reeves’ Lead Vocals.
She Sang On "HEAT WAVE" (1963) + "DANCING IN THE STREETS" (1964) + "NOWHERE TO RUN" (1965) + "JIMMY MACK" (1967).
FRANK B.
Rosalind was inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 1995 along with Martha Reeves and fellow Vandellas Annette Sterling-Helton, Betty Kelley and Lois Reeves. Between 1963 and 1968, Martha and the Vandellas placed fifteen songs on The National Top 40 Pop Singles Chart … quite the successful cross-over act to be sure. In addition to the tunes Frank mentioned, they also hit The Top Ten with tracks like “Quicksand” (1963) and “I’m Ready For Love” (1966), giving them SIX Top Ten Hits on the pop charts in all.
Meanwhile, on Billboard R&B Chart, Martha and the Vandellas scored TWO #1 Hits ("Heat Wave" in 1963 and "Jimmy Mack" in 1967.) Incredibly, "Dancing In The Street," perhaps their best known kit overall, only reached #8 on the R&B Chart, while peaking at #2 on the Pop Chart. (kk)
We also lost famed pop artist Peter Max this past week.
Peter’s bright, inspiring artwork was all over the place in the ‘60’s … and he continued to created pop art masterpieces for the next several decades, including the one for the 1991 Grammys.
Max designed six Grammy posters in all … and also had his artwork displayed as part of two Super Bowls, a World Series and The World Cup. In addition, he created pop art portraits of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama, world leaders like Nelson Mandela, music stars (Mick Jagger, Frank Sinatra and many others), Disney characters and the Mona Lisa. One of his most frequent subjects was the Statue of Liberty, which he first tackled in 1976 for the U.S. Bicentennial. (kk)
In a totally unrelated coincidence, Timmy sent us THIS portrait, created by underground comic guru Robert Crumb in 1967 …
In 1967, in an effort to secure more commercial artwork, Robert Crumb created this poster for a fictitious rock concert as a promotional poster. For some reason, Crumb just couldn’t find any work as a rock poster artist, and it’s one of the reasons he created Zap comics (underground comics), because nothing else seemed to be working at the time.
Timmy
Thanks to ever-changing, ever-evolving chart methodology, songs that previously peaked on The Billboard Hot 100 Chart are now able to come back and re-chart again decades later.
In fact, the longest stretch now recorded between a song's first and most recent chartlife now spans over 67 years!!!
While this hardly seems fair to all of the tens of thousands of songs that filled the gaps between these policy changes, it DOES make for some interesting chart fodder.
This week, Billboard published a list of the greatest chart-spans in their chart history. If not enlightening, certainly thought-provoking and fuel for discussion!
Say It Ain't So!
The legendary Micky Dolenz visited Amoeba Hollywood Wednesday for a special album signing. He met fans and signed copies of his new EP "Timeless," as well as two essential releases from The Monkees.
Micky Dolenz's "Timeless" is available on ruby red vinyl via Friday Music.
The Monkees' "Made For TV" LP + 2CD + Blu-ray set and "Good Times! (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)" are out both available via Rhino.
kk …
This Week's On Wild Wayne’s 50th Anniversary Flashback He Ran His Interview With Gene McDaniels From 2/23/2003.
1961 = His First Liberty Recording Was "IN TIMES LIKE THESE"
Gene Said It Didn't Sell One Record. He Called It A "TURNTABLE HIT"
I've Never Heard That Term Before ... Have You?
Wild Wayne Invited Listeners To Send In Questions For Him To Answer.
I Asked Him: “Of All The Interviews You've Done, Which One Did You Find The Most Interesting?”
He Answered: “June, 2000, I Did A 2-Hour Interview With Les Paul.” He Called Him A National Treasure.
Gene Pitney Holds The Record For Most Appearances On Wild Wayne’s With 9.
Wild Wayne & Gene Pitney Are Both From Connecticut. They Were Close Friends And Fishing Buddies,
FB
I’ve heard a few interviews with Gene Pitney over the years and he was always a real entertaining guy. Other artists that toured along with him said he was quite the prankster. Wish I could have had the chance to meet and talk with him. (kk)
James Holvay just sent us this note …
Hi Kent:
I wanted to share this with you.
They just released a 3rd “45” of my music.
Can you believe it.
I think I did what they call “the hat trick”. (haa)
James
And here it is, the latest track from James, “Love Has Found A Way” on LRK Records. (kk)
Harvey Kubernik remembers the Toronto Rock And Roll Revival held at Varsity Stadium on September 13th, 1969, that featured the first (and only) live appearance by John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band … a historic moment to say the least! (kk)
The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival at Varsity Stadium - September 13, 1969
By Harvey Kubernik © 2026
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It was on a suggestion from record producer, songwriter and rock ‘n’ roll maverick Kim Fowley that John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono hopped on a plane from England with guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Klaus Voormann and drummer Alan White to travel to the Toronto Rock ’N’ Roll Revival festival showcasing some of Lennon’s early rock ‘n’ roll musical heroes — among them Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Little Richard. The Doors and Alice Cooper were among the other acts at the outdoor venue.
Author, broadcaster and music historian Ritchie Yorke in his 2009 liner notes to the D.A. Pennebaker-directed John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band Live Peace In Toronto ’69 DVD retail release from Shout! Factory wrote, “At Varsity Stadium the jet-lagged John was extremely nervous. He hadn’t been onstage in three years, and he admitted to throwing up from nervousness before the show — with abundant reason. ‘Imagine if you were in the Beatles from the beginning, and you were never in any other band?’ he postulated. ‘Then all of a sudden, you’re going onstage with this group who’ve never played live together, anywhere. We formed on the plane coming over here, and now we’re gonna play in front of 20,000 people.’
“A quick backstage rehearsal, and guest emcee Kim Fowley urged the audience to fire up their lighters and matches — and in the process light their communal fire, the early uprising of a collective consciousness — to welcome onstage the Plastic Ono Band, in their debut performance.
“Back in London after the momentous weekend in Canada, John was exuberant about the experience of being onstage again.
‘“I can’t remember when I had such a good time,’ he enthused. ‘We did all the old things from the Cavern days in Liverpool. Yoko, who you could say was playing ‘bag,’ was holding a piece of paper with the words to the songs in front of me. But then she suddenly disappeared into her bag in the middle of the performance, and I had to make [the words] up because it’s so long since I sang them that I’ve forgotten most of them. But it didn’t seem to matter.’
“History has shown it was this concert that finally convinced John there was indeed life beyond the Beatles.”
Academy Award-winning director D.A. Pennebaker (Dont Look Back, Monterey Pop, The War Room), with this September 13, 1969 concert film from Varsity Stadium in Toronto, Canada, serves as one of the important and historical documents in the career and life of John Lennon. The moment has become part of our global memory.
John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band Live In Toronto ’69 is a rare look at one of the world’s most influential popular artists at a pivotal time in his journey.
Pennebaker documented Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band on the eve of the release of the Abbey Road LP — the last Beatles album to be recorded (although Let It Be was the last to be released) — this is the only performance ever caught on film of John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band.
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band Live Peace In Toronto DVD performances are:
Bo Diddley – Bo Diddley
Hound Dog – Jerry Lee Lewis
Lucille – Little Richard
Blue Suede Shoes – John Lennon
Money – John Lennon
Dizzy Miss Lizzy – John Lennon
Yer Blues – John Lennon
Cold Turkey – John Lennon
Give Peace A Chance – John Lennon
Don’t Worry Kyoko (Mummy’s Only Looking For Her Hand In The Snow) – Yoko Ono
John, John (Let’s Hope For Peace) – Yoko Ono
Also included is an interview from 1988 with Yoko Ono.
During 2000, 2008, 2018 and, 2019, I interviewed Kim Fowley, the Toronto promoter John Brower, drummer, John Densmore, co-founder of the Doors, and filmmaker and documentarian D.A. Pennebaker, and later implemented memoir text from Toronto-based writer Gary Pig Gold about this landmark event. Here is my interview with Kim Fowley for your enjoyment.
Q You were the Master Of Ceremonies in Toronto, Canada, where John Lennon debuted The Plastic Ono Band on stage, and your voice is heard doing the introduction of Lennon and friends on the subsequent Live Peace In Toronto gold album that was culled from The Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival held that September of 1969.
A. It was a concert at The Varsity Stadium. Bo Diddley, Junior Walker and The All Stars, Tony Joe White, Alice Cooper, Cat Mother and the All Night News Boys, Lord Sutch, Chicago Transit Authority, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, I was his record producer at the time, Little Richard, Doug Kershaw and the Doors. Kim Fowley was M.C. and compare on the poster.
Q. How did you get the gig?
A: I knew some of the promoters involved, like John Brower, Ken Walker and Thor Eaton. Brower was a visionary and I dealt primarily with him and Ritchie Yorke. I got the Toronto job because I was the voice of the Love-Ins in L.A. 1966, ’67, ’68 and ’69. I did some pop festival shows with the Doors, the Seeds, Jimi Hendrix and Jefferson Airplane.
I did all those shows and knew what to do with a large audience like 100,000 people. Ritchie Yorke, Billboard editor in Canada, and a contributor to Rolling Stone and NME at the time he knew about me and persuaded the promoters to hire me. $4,000.00 and a plane ticket. I also got a hotel room a week before the gig. My job was not only to announce the date but also be a consultant and tell them how things were going.
We had a problem: We only sold 2,000 tickets before and no one was interested in coming to Canada from America via Detroit and the other cities. At the time, halfway through the week, I met with the promoters, John Brower and Ken Walker, and Thor Eaton of Eaton’s Department Store who financed the thing. It was my idea to bring John Lennon over which John Brower executed the transaction. But I was the consultant / master of ceremonies. And I was there suggesting the people to be there.
They threw in Cat Mother and the All Night News Boys and somebody else came up with Lord Sutch, Chicago and Alice Cooper, who also backed Gene Vincent. That mixture was great because they were hillbillies and red necks from Arizona and Gene was king of the rednecks in terms of music content. They knew all the songs. They put on the blue jeans, grease and shades and showed up to do it. Gene had done stadiums before.
I told them to get John Lennon to show up. I said, ‘The Beatles have just broken up, and John Lennon is the most competitive in the most competitive group. So call him up on a ploy level and invite him and Yoko on a chartered plane which Mr. Eaton can provide so they can sit at the show on a Royal Box kind of thing.’
I wrote out the script, I had Derek Taylor training, and had met the Beatles a couple of times in England, once when John and Paul came to the hotel I was staying and promoting the soon to be released Pet Sounds Beach Boys’ album. I knew the mentality to get a Beatle to show up.
So, John Brower called Apple Records. John Lennon got on the phone and heard the pitch. Ritchie Yorke was in the room with them and he further explained who I was and about the promoters and the event. It was at a time when the Beatles would be at the Apple office.
Originally John was asked by Ritchie if he wanted to come for free and sit there and enjoy seeing his heroes. And he replied ‘He wasn’t a member of Royalty and would rather join in and be a part of it and didn’t require any money. I wouldn’t feel right coming down there as a member of The Royal Family just sitting there. I would want to play. Is it OK to play? I want to try out this thing I’m putting together with Eric Clapton, Yoko Ono, Allen White and Klaus Voorman.’
But Lennon did require film rights and recording rights. John Lennon was in the music business. He was in show business. Allen Klein showed up and D.A. Pennebaker showed up with the film unit and this whole thing was recorded and a Gold album came out of it. So they sent the plane and John and the band jammed and rehearsed on the way across the Atlantic.
Yoko got sick on the way in. In the morning, all the Apple people from New York under Allen Klein’s supervision were already bringing in the recording equipment. I don’t think this was anyone exploiting John Lennon. I think John Lennon was a bright guy who called his then manager, Allen Klein, and told him to ‘do the paper’ with these promoters and make sure ‘let’s make a live album.’
The recording stuff was all brought in and then the documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker came to film it. Pennebaker and I talked. Only 2,000 tickets were sold before Lennon was formally announced. That’s a bad pre-sale. But people started driving across the border and all over the world, pre-internet, then deejays got on the radio, and everyone wanted to see what John Lennon would do after the Beatles.
Q: Any incidents or problematic performers at the venue?
A: One thing that happened was Chick Berry, Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard all came up to me at the same time backstage and ‘We all think all four of us are the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll and how you going to solve that problem in the introduction?’
So, one became the King of Jungle Rock, one became the King of Across the Tracks Rock, somebody became the Grammar King of Rock, etc., and suddenly everybody had slightly different items of introductions. They had concerns about billing since each one wanted to be the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll that night so I had to amend each mention. The visual of all four of them in front of me … Egomaniacs whose time had passed, demanding to be Kings Of Rock ‘n’ Roll. And I was in a purple suit, white shoes and a green shirt and under age 30 and felt superior to all of them.
Q: If John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band was the seismic moment that night, was there another act that performed that ‘made the pizza wiggle’ as guitarist Elliot Ingber would say.
A: At that Toronto Pop Festival in 1969 it was Tony Joe White backed by Booker T. & The MG’s at that stadium, leading up to the Doors and John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band. They blew everybody off. Seeing Tony Joe White with that Stax Band was like if Elvis (Presley) had stayed at Sun Records in 1969 and had a better version of Creedence Clearwater Revival behind him. With keyboard.
Remember, Tony Joe White is a great guitar player, besides a great songwriter, so you had the two guitarists, bass, drums and keyboardist up there, and it reinforced the musical relationship that Toronto and Memphis always had. The soul and gospel thing. It hits you. Even though Tony Joe White is from Louisiana, but by then he had been out. It was the devil’s music in cinemascope live on stage.
It showed that Booker T and the MG’s could work in a stadium. Al Jackson the drummer was tremendous. I mean, Charlie Watts probably studied him.
The Booker T. and the MG’s with Tony Joe White was one of the most astounding things I’ve ever seen on stage. The best artist that night was Tony Joe White. When he played ‘Polk Salad Annie,’ he had Booker T. and The MG’s behind him. That moment of Tony Joe White doing ‘Polk Salad Annie’ was like Elvis Presley. Like David Bowie and The Spiders From Mars at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on his first American tour in 1972 or in 1966 Jim Morrison pretending to be a heckler at Ciro’s nightclub in Hollywood from the audience and heckling the rest of the Doors before he went on stage with them, before anyone knew whom they were. It was part of the act.
Q. Detail the concert environment and situation around the Lennon Plastic Ono Band appearance.
A: Remember, everyone was in a foreign country. And remember, Canada is not America. It looks like it is because it’s on the same continent but it’s a different country. Remember, most people in L.A. bands aren’t from L.A. They don’t have a geographical link anyway. Because they are all carpetbaggers in California. And then, here they all are in Canada. And all the white guys wouldn’t dare strut with all the black Gods around who invented the stuff that the white people stole from. White people stole rock ‘n’ roll from black people. And there were too many rock pioneers around the room for any white guy to start strutting and might have gotten his ass kicked. So the strutting was not going on or the camaraderie. And musically, everybody was good that day. People were fascinated to see a Beatle in a non-Beatle situation.
We showed up at noon at the place. It was a pretty brutal situation because a police official came up to me and said, ‘If there is a riot here, and you don’t stop it you will never leave Canada Toronto alive.’ ‘Yes sir.’ That was pressure. The promoters said to me, ‘When you do the live album, make sure to include our names in the intro.’ They also were to pay me the other half of the $4,000.00 promised. So, I had to juggle.
Q: The time just before John and the group came on stage
A: So I see the Plastic Ono Band. Lennon was nervous. ‘Are you all right?’ ‘Yes.’
20,000 people showed up and the big moment comes and the lights are blinding. Everything is on and John Lennon summons me to the apron of the stage on the side by the canopy. I was dressed in a purple suit. He was in a white suit. This was not the time to have a MIDEM Publishing-like discussion
Then John threw up. And he started to cry. He said ‘I’m terrified. Imagine if you were in the Beatles as the only band you’ve only been in your life. The first time you are to step on stage with people that weren’t in the Beatles. You’re about to go on stage with your wife, a friend, a friend, and a complete stranger’ with songs you had learned acoustically on an airplane on the way over from England with jet lag. You would be terrified. Do something so the kids don’t know how scared I am.’ He was that vulnerable.
That’s all he knew. ‘Do something! Please so something so people won’t know how afraid I am to go out there.’ He went ahead of his band. They were behind him. He was in a bad way.
Q: So naturally, you saved the day and supplied the remedy, Dr. Kim.
A: I came up with the following. So, I had seen a movie a decade before, in Catholic grade school, Our Lady Of Fatima based on The Blessed Virgin appearing in front of a bunch of kids appearing in a cow pasture in Portugal in the early 20th century. They had candles and matches lit to honor her presence.
So, I figured, and told everybody in the place, they all think John Lennon is God and this is a religious experience and a religious experiment. I said to myself, why don’t I take this to the religious level by subliminally and recreating Our Lady Of Fatima with fire and say the introductory words … ‘Plastic Ono Band please say hello to John and his friends with your matches and your lighters.’
Kim Fowley can be credited with inventing the idea of lighting matches and lighters at rock concerts. In 1969 at Toronto. It wasn’t as much a stalling tactic for John to compose himself but to put an amber hue over the entire throng and suddenly it was a religious spectacle. Because John Lennon had a religious position in the culture. And so did the Blessed Virgin, so in my mind there was no difference between our Lady Of Fatima and the Plastic Ono Band showing up, and he was dressed in white, by the way.
So the request to Varsity Stadium to please turn off the lights and when I said the word ‘Plastic Ono Band’ at the count of three I want everybody to light matches simultaneously.’ It was a welcome in a very friendly beatified way for John and his friends.
On the live album you’ll hear ‘Get your matches ready. Brower and Walker … Present … The Plastic Ono Band…’ 20,000 matches were lit. It was a beautiful amber glow and everyone let out a collective gasp and at that moment, Lennon, who was a Beatle, realized there’s the moment that will take away from the nervousness of the moment and they went up to the stage and went right into ‘Money.’ And it was clear sailing from him and them all the way until the end. It seemed like an hour. Yoko sang in a bag.
So that helped the spiritual subtext of the event. I had talked to Lennon three years earlier but in 1969, everybody had gotten scruffier after the Mod 1966 and the English version of psychedelic culture and Syd Barrett came along and everybody got dirtier. The guys got dirtier and the girls all threw away their bras away and didn’t shave their armpits or their legs. So everybody was getting more ‘organic.’ John was a Beatle and larger than life, so nobody was aware if he was tall or short. Yoko was in the band and went into the bag at a certain point.
Q: Run down the set list?
A: They just went on and played. They didn’t sit there and kibbitz or talk to anybody. The repertoire performed fit the theme of the event which was a rock ‘n’ roll revival booking and appropriate to open with ‘Blue Swede Shoes’ and play ‘Money. And do ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzy’ from the Larry Williams’ songbook.
I had met Williams the year before in Hollywood at an Epic Records party in Hollywood. He along with Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson in who 1966 or ’67 produced my friend Chris Darrow’s band, The Kaleidoscope at Columbia Studios. Chris in the very early ‘70s then met Lennon one time at Liberty Records in Hollywood. I knew Eddie Cochran, produced Gene Vincent, and Chris Darrow saw Ritchie Valens live and recorded with the Crickets, Buddy Holly’s band. Like Lennon, who met Gene Vincent, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and Little Richard so on some level we’re all in this very exclusive club together.
That night, Plastic Ono Band did simple rock and roll songs where sloppiness is a charm, the songs, it’s nighttime outside and people are drunk and stoned. Klaus Voormann on bass was fine. He had been in Manfred Mann before and did one of my songs. Alan White was a member of Yes at the time or a bit later. Eric Clapton had been in Blind Faith the year before and I was at their L.A. concert at the Forum in Inglewood.
I had known Eric from England at The Richmond Athletic Club days when he was in The Yardbirds. And, I had met him again when Cream was forming. I had also ‘jammed’ a couple of months earlier onstage with Blind Faith at The L.A. Forum, where in the dressing room, Eric asked me to come on stage if I knew the words to ‘Sunshine Of Your Love.’
For the encore I went out there with Bonnie Bramlett and didn’t know the words. I was bluffing, so I said into the microphone ‘Legalize Marijuana.’ And they turned off the sound. And that’s how we got away at the encore. So Eric was friendly. He knew Jack Bruce had covered one of my songs during his earlier Manfred Mann days for an Australian EP, ‘Long Hair Unsquare Dude Called Jack,’ that I had sung on the last every Hollywood Argyles single, an anti-hippie song on Chatahootchie Records which went top ten by the way in Saigon. At any rate, Eric and I connected.
Q: John Lennon on stage …
A: John Lennon was a Beatle. You heard that voice and there he was … A Beatle. It was Gandhi and a human jukebox showing up.
I had drunk some beer that day and on the original vinyl pressing of the live album you can hear someone saying, ‘Kim! You’re always on the wrong mike. Kim!’ And I fell off the stage into the pit drunk because I could not believe what I had seen. Then I jumped back up on stage. The Doors had to follow this and this was the first and only time you had John Lennon and Jim Morrison on the same bill. I don’t think they posed for photos.
Q: And what about Lennon’s guitar playing that evening?
A: As far as John’s guitar playing that night, there are four people who were great rhythm guitar players in the history of rock and roll: Eddie Cochran, John Lennon, Joan Jett, and Keith Richard. The four supplied the pulse of whatever band they were in and they could build a whole rock and roll universe around the pulse of their rhythm guitar playing. And their guitar was attached to their voice. And those four people it’s beyond lead guitar and flashy stuff.
It’s the rhythm guitar driving the engine of a rock and roll band. Jimi Hendrix did something else in his trio as the Jimi Hendrix Experience as well as the Band Of Gypsys. He took guitar playing somewhere else. In terms of strict guitar, bass and drums four piece or five piece and that’s where I rate the four of them.
Q: You knew the Doors well before Toronto.
A: The Doors’ John Densmore was a jazz drummer. You also had a jazz keyboardist and a jazz guitarist all playing the blues with a real great poet and actor fronting it. It was tremendous. It was theater. Jim Morrison was the best white in person performer. Better than Elvis. Better than Jagger. Because he did what Howlin’ Wolf and Lawrence Olivier did. He did it all at the same time. He did William Shakespeare and gut bucket together. And only PJ Proby rivaled him and David Bowie came in third.
Jim could sing in pitch, he had the image and the poetry. He understood theater. Manzarek supplied a pulse, and Robby the guitarist is never given the credit what he brought to the table in 1967. The Doors were not a rock ‘n’ roll band but gave you a rock ‘n’ roll feeling. And the only band that did that was the original King Crimson. ‘Cause they weren’t a rock ‘n’ roll band, either, but when you heard Court of the Crimson King, and Pink Floyd ’67, they were the only bands who had some Wagner with a rock ‘n’ roll attitude.
Q: How did you bring the Doors to the stage?
A: After Plastic Ono Band departed, I then said “Get ready for The Doors who are coming on next!” Then there was an hour wait.
The Doors started doing their thing. Around the third song of the set, out comes Chuck Berry, who saw the movie cameras wanted to walk on stage and approached Jim Morrison on stage and Jim Morrison stopped the show and said, ‘Chuck, you never let kids jam with you. You can’t jam with us. Be nicer to kids and maybe someday we’ll let you jam with us.’ And he was ordered off the stage by Jim Morrison. ‘Next time some guys want to jam with you, remember. Get off our stage.’ The place went wild in front of the whole stadium. They were the Doors.
The Doors had to follow everything. The Doors were excellent that night. They had to be with all that going on. They closed the show and had to follow John Lennon, the Plastic Ono Band with Eric Clapton. That was hard.
This was the year of the Miami Doors incident. So they did the Doors. This was going down in real time. It was music of the moment. It was the Arctic Monkeys playing. Current bands. Whoever was on the radio was suddenly in front of you. Or, what you remember from the radio years before in front of you. No passing of the baton or the end of the decade. Any of that. This is fun. Wow. I just saw a Beatle. I saw the Doors…
I remember a while afterwards, Ray Manzarek, who I knew from L.A., felt Lennon’s appearance was some sort of psychic release from the pressures of being a Beatle. In a non-paparazzi time of 1969, no one had the brains to photograph John Lennon and Jim Morrison together. Nobody has the picture, because no one thought of taking one because there wasn’t a paparazzi culture there to document it. They did speak because they had to. Because one followed the other.
Q: And then the following day post-show encounter with John and Yoko.
A: The next day at Thor Eaton’s house where John and Yoko were staying with the Plastic Ono Band. I was sitting outside with the two promoters and they were happy. ‘Kim Fowley you really earned your money. You’re gonna be on the album, maybe they’ll be a movie someday. Isn’t life grand?’
Then, Eric Clapton came out. And he said, ‘John and Yoko want to talk to you.’ Eric escorted me to the sitting room of this mansion and a very quiet John Lennon who was dressed very casual was sitting on the floor on a Gandhi position, looking at Yoko who was sitting in a chair, and Klaus was next to them. And Eric said, ‘John and Yoko, Kim is here.’ ‘Kim Fowley.’ And I was delighted. ‘Thanks for introducing us…’ We shook hands. He was very gracious to me and Klaus Voorman was in the room and so was Alan White.
And I had always promised myself in my rock and roll journey when I was in the middle of it that I should always ask the right questions because I got the historic part of it. Because previous to this in 1965 I met Bob Dylan and asked him his concept of songwriting, and he said, ‘Story telling and asking questions.’ And before that in 1963 I asked Brian Wilson at Gold Star recording studio one day. ‘What is the basis of your songwriting?’ And he said, ‘Well, school is nine months a year and the summer holidays are three months and you write about that and getting in trouble with your parents.’
So I had to ask the question to John Lennon. ‘Why did the Beatles breakup?’ The whole room stopped, and Lennon looked at me and said, ‘May I give you an example?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘It has nothing to do with the wives and the women we married. He said the group was based on us re-inventing our favorite records’.
I said ‘Give me an example?’ He said ‘You know ‘Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?’ We were improvising on Canned Heat and it was our message to Canned Heat and Norman Greenbaum who had’ Spirit In The Sky’ at the time. When you do that type of music put more humour into it. We liked Canned Heat but didn’t think they had enough humour. So we wrote that song as taking the Canned Heat formula and doing something else with it. When The Beatles stopped re-working or improving on the formulas of their favorite songs that’s when we ceased being a band. Because that’s what we did. Because we improved on formulas that we loved of our favorite records. We stopped listening to records and improving on the formulas, the techniques and expanding, and that’s when we ceased being a band.’
What that meant to me was that the Beatles were the ultimate expanders and derivative detectives of the essence of songs. In Hamburg they would play hours every night and must have analyzed why a Chuck Berry or Little Richard song worked and when they started writing their own songs those techniques they employed.
And the other thing that John didn’t mention was that BBC Radio at the time would play all kinds of music next to each other. You could hear Little Richard, Hank Williams, and Kenny Ball back to back. You could hear Julie Andrews singing ‘The Sound of Music’ and then Gary U.S. Bonds right after that. So those guys had this tremendous musical palette to listen to and then if they started doing covers it was obvious perhaps. So Bo Diddley and Maurice Chevalier were equal to them.
So when John said to me that we stopped improving on the formula of our favorite records. John was enjoying the fact that he could go on stage and do something without whatever the restriction of being a Beatle was. He didn’t say there was a restriction. He didn’t say it, but it was like playing football after you leave Manchester United team and you go play a football game in the park with your friends from the neighborhood or pub. It’s gonna be different if you’re gonna be David Beckham than if you’re in a jersey out on the pitch, or the field, you know.
He hadn’t played music outside the Beatles. The last time he played as the Plastic Ono Band was that December at the Lyceum in England when it was billed as the Plastic Ono Supergroup.
That’s when the Beatles stopped being the Beatles. He didn’t mention all the things they’ve written about since. To him the Beatles ended because they didn’t want to reinvent music they liked anymore. I told him to have a nice trip back. Goodbye. Never saw him again.
Q: Reflect on John Lennon now.
A: Rock and roll died with Elvis Presley in 1977 and rock died in 1980 with John Lennon. It might have died again with MTV. What happened was, as Clive Davis told me in his office, MTV assigned pictures to the music where you made your own pictures. When you listened to music of a great record you would remember the day you were when you heard it or what it meant to you, where you were sitting or the car you were in. But once some guy put an expensive video on you always remember the song by the visual image assigned to it, which ruined rock and roll.
Same thing that has ruined politics in America. The presidential elections are determined by who is good on TV. Not who would be a good person to govern or to lead the country. So too much media takes away the experience of listening to music. And Elvis was the King of rock and roll and Lennon the next King of hard rock, or rock, what happened, and then MTV showed up and after that and you had disco.
