HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

A good time for APPLES PEACHES PUMPKIN PIE

Rick Levy

You got it!

And another Forgotten Hit I'm just dying to hear today!!!



Watch for more "Random Thoughts" throughout the day!


Kent ...
What is WCBS-FM doing this holiday weekend?
I'm glad you asked me that question.
Started at 6 AM, A to Z (# 1 Songs Only) Countdown.
First - A = ABC
Last - A = At This Moment
First - B = Babe
Frank B.

OK Kent, random it is!
Here's a link to video I shot of Chicago performing a very special concert Monday night in New York City.
 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krqzqobo0yw

Chicago did a very rare, intimate, show in front of about 400 people at BB King's Club to benefit the charity Musicians On Call.Musicians On Call is an organization based in New York. They bring live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities. In addition to Chicago, artists such as Martina McBride, Peter Frampton, Justin Bieber and Gavin DeGraw have supported Musicians On Call, and that's just in the past few months. If your readers are interesting in getting involved (professional or not, it does not matter) more info can be found here:
http://www.musiciansoncall.org/site/PageNavigator/home
Brad Joblin
Thanks, Brad ... GREAT shot, by the way ... and FH Readers can be amongst the first in the world to view this hot new video!!!  Happy Thanksgiving!  (kk)

More on Chicago from Tom Cuddy ...

Chicago's New 'Ultimate Christmas Collection' Offers

2-Hour, 34-Song Holiday Party for $9.85 at Amazon

Chicago perfects the holiday playlist on 'The Ultimate Christmas Collection' (a new compilation on Rhino Records), a 2-hour, 34-song, double-disc package that includes every Christmas song the band has ever recorded and nearly all of the holiday classics. The guest-laden set spans three decades of the "legendary rock 'n roll band with horns," whose holiday work has been hailed as "classic Christmas comfort food" by CNN. 

'The Ultimate Christmas Collection' includes classics like "The Little Drummer Boy," "Silent Night," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" re-envisioned by Chicago, with founding members Lee Loughnane, Robert Lamm, James Pankow and Walt Parazaider. The package is highlighted by production from Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band keyboardist Roy Bittan and veteran producer Phil Ramone (Bob Dylan, Elton John, Madonna). 

Guests on the set include Dolly Parton on Paul McCartneys “Wonderful Christmas Time,” America on “I Saw Three Ships,” and BeBe Winans on “Merry Christmas Darling.” The set also includes two original songs co-written by Loughnane, "Child's Prayer" and "Rockin' and Rollin' on Christmas Day," which features celebrated guitarist Steve Cropper. 

Hailed as one of the "most important bands in music since the dawn of the rock and roll era" by former President Bill Clinton, Chicago is the first American band to chart Top 40 albums in five consecutive decades and Billboard's highest charting American band of all time. The band, who has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, will return to the east coast this fall with a short run of date.

'Ultimate Christmas Collection' Tracklisting: 

Disc One

1. Winter Wonderland

2. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

3. Jolly Old St. Nicholas

4. Little Drummer Boy

5. This Christmas

6. Fleiz Navidad

7. Bethlehem

8. The Christmas Song

9. O Come All Ye Faithful

10. Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer

11. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

12. Sleigh Ride

13. Silent Night

14. What Child Is This

15. Christmas Time Is Here 

16. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

17. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

18. Child's Prayer

19. One Little Candle

20. White Christmas 

Disc Two

1) Wonderful Christmas Time (featuring Dolly Parton)

2) Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree

3) I Saw Three Ships (featuring America)

4) Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays

5) What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?

6) Its The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

7) I’ll Be Home For Christmas

8) On The Last Night Of The Year

9) Merry Christmas Darling (featuring Bebe Winans)

10) Rockin’ And Rollin’ On Christmas Day (featuring Steve Cropper)

11) My Favorite Things

12) O Christmas Tree

13) Jingle Bells

14) Here Comes Santa Claus/Joy To The World

www.chicagotheband.com

For some of us, we're content to just enjoy a great, festive meal, watch "Planes And Trains And Automobiles" for the 50th time, and listen to "Alice's Restaurant" ... those are some of MY Thanksgiving traditions.  (Actually, "Planes And Trains And Automobiles" was on TV last night ... but I just can't sit through all the commercial and censored dialog ... so I may have to put the dvd in today!)  

And, as for "Alice's Restaurant", you can catch it TWICE today on The Drive ... Noon and 9 PM (Chicago time).  It's a Thanksgiving Classic  (Jim Shea used to run this over at Y103.9 every year, too!) 
Here's a "Listen Live" link for those who want to tune in and smile for about twenty minutes:

Click here: 97.1fm The Drive


Just found this while working on something else ... and it was just too cool not to share!

Palladia is running an all-day "Live From Daryl's House" marathon ... and we just finished watching the one-hour Cee Lo Green episode ... incredible!

(This is a must-see episode ... link below ... and message to Cee Lo:  I know it's not what you WANT to do ... but if you recorded a brand new version of "One On One" they way you performed it on this episode, you'd have another #1 Record on your hands ... and the public would be forever grateful to be able to add this recording to their collection.  OUTSTANDING!!!)   

Click here: Episode 52: Cee Lo Green :: Live From Daryl's House with Daryl Hall :: Current Episode   

Later tonight they'll run the Joe Walsh episode that we linked to the other day ... and then, closing things out, will be the television premier of the episode featuring Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics!    

The complete collection is available here:

Click here: Live From Daryl's House with Daryl Hall :: Homepage

Caught the last ten minutes of "3000 Miles To Graceland" which, I've got to say, has got to be one of the WORST movies I've ever seen.  (Unfortunately this is so often the case when you assemble an all-star cast ... all the effort went into recruiting the actors that nobody bothered to objectively look at the script!)

However ... without question ... the BEST part of the entire movie is the end credits ... where Kurt Russell dons the white Elvis jumpsuit and lip-syncs and gyrates his way through my all-time favorite Elvis song, "Such A Night".  (Russell, of course, played Elvis in the Dick Clark made-for-tv movie years earlier ... but this may be his finest moment as the King ... and you can tell he's having a ball!)

How "Such A Night" has fallen off the radar is beyond me ... to me, it has always been one of his over-looked gems.  Which inspires me to feature it as yet another great Forgotten Hit, worthy of a spin now and then on our radios, too!  Enjoy! 
 

ONE MORE:  While it's rare that we feature '80's Music as Forgotten Hits, this one really caught my ear when I heard again the other day.  Man, what a great song!

Give a listen to Danny Wilson and "Mary's Prayer", a #23 Hit in 1987.  (And no, Danny Wilson isn't a guy ... it's the name of a Scottish trio ... who took their name from the Frank Sinatra flick "Meet Danny Wilson" ... which just happened to be the name of their first U.S. Album, too!  Clever, huh???)



AMAZING!!!



It must be Thanksgiving!  There seem to be nothing but "turkeys" on today in the way of movies!  After watching the end of "3000 Miles To Graceland" (I only watched it to catch "Such A Night"), we found "Xanadu" running on one of the other stations.  OMG ... can it get any worse?!?!?

But "Xanadu" DID produce some pretty good hit music back in the early '80's.  Olivia Newton-John hit #1 with "Magic" ... and the Top 20 with her "duets" with Electric Light Orchestra ("Xanadu", #8) and Cliff Richard ("Suddenly", #20).  ELO also scored three Top 20 Hits from the film ... the aforementioned title track, "I'm Alive" (#16) and one of my favorites, "All Over The World" (#13).  Although ELO is another band who has been all over the radio lately (seems like ever since that Jeff Lynne special aired, they're playing every time I turn the radio on!), you don't seem to hear much of their music from this era.  Yes, the film was a complete embarrassment ... but this is GOOD music ... so we're featuring "All Over The World" again today ... because you're probably not going to hear it anywhere else!  (kk)


   

I also finally had the chance to see "Hunger Games" today ... it just didn't live up to all the hype in my mind.  (Jeez ... and I thought the competition between The Final Twelve on American Idol was fierce!!!)  It just seemed to me that the further along the movie got, I was reminded of similar themes used in "Ed TV", "The Truman Show" and even "West World"!!!  On a scale of 1 - 10, we collectively gave it a "5".

MAY THE 4's BE WITH YOU!!!

It's a 4-Day Holiday Weekend ... and we'll be posting random thoughts throughout ... so be sure to check back often.  May The 4's Be With You!!!    

Earlier this week I heard "Hey 19" by Steely Dan ... and it sounded REALLY good, as this isn't one of those songs that's been played to death.

But then I heard it again ... and again ... and again ... in fact, I heard it a total of FOUR TIMES in what amounted to a four-hour listening period.  (An hour here ... an hour there ... but before I knew it the whole novelty of hearing this ... and ENJOYING it ... was gone ... because in the span of a couple of days it had already been overdone.)

And this just doesn't make sense to me ... on a couple of different levels! 

First of all, why does radio have to over-do everything it does?!?!?  Why can't they just surprise us once in a while by playing something that makes us feel good ... and leave it at that?  Let us savor the moment ... and recognize the fact that it's the little things that matter!

But even worse ... shouldn't they REALLY have been playing "Black Friday"?!?!?!


   

Speaking of which ...

I have gone out of my way to avoid listening to the Christmas Music that has already been playing 24 hours a day on The Lite ... because it's just too early for me.

Christmas Music shouldn't start until The Day After Thanksgiving ... and even then it should be a day of Christmas Music for all the crazy shoppers getting out of bed at three in the morning to take advantage of the "Midnight Madness" sales to keep them in the holiday spirit ... and then it should taper off a little bit for a week or two (maybe a Holiday Classic every half hour or so) before building back up to a Christmas Climax of maybe three or four tracks per hour for the ten days before Christmas ... and then non-stop holiday music all day Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

But because of the EXTREMELY limited listening choices here in Chicago lately (during the same four "listening hours" I described above, I also heard "Dream On" by Aerosmith four times ... and four different Billy Joel songs, four different John Mellencamp songs and four different Steve Miller songs ... not to mention the usual suspects ... Fleetwood Mac ... Bob Seger ... Bryan Adams at a couple of songs a piece ... I ended up hitting the Lite button a few times anyway, just trying to escape the mind-numbing music being offered everywhere else.

And what did I find???  In my four visits to "The Holiday Lite" I heard that damned "Charlie Brown" / Vince Guaraldi Trio song FOUR TIMES, too!!! 

C'mon ... there are THOUSANDS of Christmas songs to choose from ... how is it even remotely possible that I landed on THIS one every single time I hit that station?!?!?

And yet, during the other eleven months of the year would ANY radio station even DREAM of playing Vince Guaraldi's biggest pop hit "Cast Your Fate To The WInd"?!?!?

Not a chance.

Thank God for Forgotten Hits!!!
 

   

Earlier this year I pitched the idea (for the 4th of July no less!) of a "May The 4's Be With You" ... four in a row by your favorite oldies artists ... but was shut down and told "research" has proven that nobody will listen to four songs in a row by the same artist ... if they want to do that, they'll simply pop in a CD.  (Of course this same research seems to be telling radio that 28 Steve Miller songs in a 24 hour period is NOT a turn-off ... so go figure.)

Meanwhile, I still believe in the concept ... if it's done right.  And evidently The Loop here in Chicago agrees with me ... because this weekend (and, I might add, for the third time this year!), they've put together four-song-blocks by your favorite Classic Rock Artists and will be running 4-In-A-Row throughout the entire 4-Day Weekend.  (I just don't think they'd be doing it again if the response the first couple times wasn't positive ... but that's just my OWN brand of research!!!)

Anyway, if you're interested ... you can "Listen Live" here:

Click here: 97.9 The Loop - Chicago's Classic Rock

However, this weekend we've got to throw OUR support behind Scott Shannon and The True Oldies Channel ... because he's doing a "Forgotten 45's" Weekend ... and I've been listening for the past couple of hours and have already been pleasantly surprised at least half a dozen times.  (Look at me ... beaming like a proud parent over here!!!) 

Hey, we're all about The Forgotten Hits ... and have offered up HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of suggestions these past 13 years ... so if you want to hear more of the stuff that you just don't hear much anymore, you'll want to "Listen Live" to The True Oldies Channel.  (Hey, maybe they'll even mention Forgotten Hits a time or two!!!)

I've already heard a couple of our recent suggestions ... and I'm sure there are more to come!

 

Click here: WPLJHD2 - Sweet Blindness - 5TH DIMENSION

And, if you happen to be here in Chicago, this weekend marks the 21st Annual Dick Biondi Toy Drive ... except THIS year, they're not calling it the "Dick Biondi Toy Drive" ... you've got to read this accounting from Chicagoland Radio and Media to see the absolutely disgraceful, disrespectful and humiliating way WLS-FM is treating this broadcasting legend.  

Click here: Dick Biondi's Annual Toy Drive Returns This Thanksgiving Weekend | Chicagoland Radio and Media

It's truly, truly sad ... but Dick will go on because he does this for the kids ... and out of the kindness of his heart.  We've probably been to 15 of these over the years ... and many of our local heroes always stop by to visit with Dick on the air ... except THIS year, he won't be broadcasting live.  In what seems to be a relentless effort to force Dick to leave the station, WLS-FM has taken him off the air ... AND taken his name off the toy drive (which is something he's been involved with throughout all of the various radio stations he's worked at here over the past 21 years) ... in fact, the names are synonymous with one another ... yet this year it's the WLS Toy Drive, "hosted by Dick Biondi" ... but not on the air!!!  It's shameless ... and as desperate as they seem to be to sever ties with Biondi, they seem just as hell-bent on driving nails into their own coffin by this display of public humiliation as long-time radio fans of the station are turning away in droves, developing a true hatred for the way things are being managed and the way their favorite jocks are being treated.  (The aforementioned Scott Shannon was let go a few months back ... apparently because they didn't want somebody voice-tracking their program from New York on the station anymore.  So instead they just hired back Jeff Davis ... who will voice-track HIS shift from California!)  Again, go figure ... 'cause if you can figure out the logic here, you're a WHOLE lot smarter than the rest of us who have now permanently given up on the station.

I'll be out to see Biondi and wish him well ... and thank him again for all the joy he's brought Chicagoland over the years ... but I WON'T be there in support of WLS ... because they just may be burning their very last bridge.  (kk)  

***

Frannie just told me that "Boss" has been cancelled!!! 

This series won us over from the very first episode ... in fact, the big talk at Emmy Time this year was how Kelsey Grammer was cheated of of a well-deserved Emmy nomination ... he's been nothing short of OUTSTANDING in his role as Chicago Mayor Tom Kane. 

As of right now (as far as I know anyway), no reason has been given for this decision.  It's too bad ... what else does Starz really have to offer in the way of intelligent cable drama?

And I suppose in the meantime we can hope that somebody like Showtime might pick this up ... right now they seem to be the leaders in this department with classic hits like "Homeland" and "Dexter" both having stellar seasons ... but until then all this REALLY means is no more of Kitty's titties!!! 

  

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving Weekend, 1999 ... that's when it all started.  

Thanksgiving Weekend marks the 13th Anniversary of Forgotten Hits.

We've decided to take the long weekend off ... but wanted to take a quick look back at the very first three Forgotten Hits we ever featured, some thirteen years ago.

The first, of course, was "Shape Of Things To Come" by Max Frost and the Troopers, a HUGE Chicagoland Hit (#4, 1968) that climbed as high as #16 nationally.

It comes from the movie "Wild In The Streets" ... and we've featured it numerous times over the years in conjunction with our various "anniversary" celebrations.



The SECOND Forgotten Hit we ever featured was "Mirage" by Tommy James and the Shondells.  This record topped the charts here in Chicago in 1967 and reached #7 on the national charts.



Finally, our THIRD Forgotten Hit was "Rock Me" by Steppenwolf.  You hear "Born To Be Wild" and "Magic Carpet Ride" virtually every single day ... yet this Top Ten Hit from 1969 is largely ignored.



Forgotten Hits began innocently enough when I emailed 35 friends that I had met through the AOL Oldies Music Chat Room.  For months we had been playing oldies trivia and I (as usual) was complaining about how many great songs that we all grew up knowing and loving weren't getting played on the radio anymore.

Finally, with time on my hands Thanksgiving Weekend, I sent an email to 35 "roomies" and asked them "If I wrote a little something about some of these songs and artists once in a while, would you read it?"  After a unanimous response, Forgotten Hits was born.  

At first I figured I'd run something once or twice a month ... or, depending how much time I had ... or how creative I felt ... maybe even once a week.  It's safe to say that things just exploded from there.

Over the past thirteen years (based on files recently restored after our computer crash), it would appear that this little "occasional newsletter" has now been published some 7500 times!  And, since we launched the website in 2008, we're closing in on two million viewers!  (Not too shabby after a modest start-up of 35 subscribers ... many of whom are still with us reading Forgotten Hits today!)

And we're still going strong.  In fact, the main reason I've decided to lie low for the long weekend is to FINALLY finish up our Countdown of Your Top 20 All-Time Favorite Garage Bands.

That means we'll be kicking off our 14th Year with a bang by launching that countdown on Monday, November 26th.  It's sure to be another Forgotten Hits Event that you won't want to miss ... and we're already working with a couple of different jocks on the list about playing back The Top 20 Winners on their radio programs.

So thank you, thank you, thank you for your continued support ... and the great word of mouth that has helped us grow over the past thirteen years.  

I don't know if I have another thirteen in me, but this brand new series should prove that there's still enough relevance in Forgotten Hits to keep it worthwhile reading for a while yet to come.

Thanks again everybody!
kk
Kent Kotal
Forgotten Hits           

Happy Tuesday!

re:  THE HOSTESS WITH THE MOSTEST!!!:

LOTS of uproar over the end of the Twinkie ... do people REALLY think that somebody is going to buy these for $1000 a piece?!?!?

>>>A new chance for the Fifth Estate to ruin their garage rock reputation again with a re-do of their massive bubblegum hit. "Ding dong, the ding dong is Dead!" 

(Clark Besch)

You guys read our bloody minds!

Ricky and I are going out this afternoon - getting good and drunk and coming up with it.

If people want Ding Dongs well ...

Reputation is a strange thing isn't it!!??? We love ruining it. Hey, that's actually a lot more fun than having a great one but being dead from drugs or somebody shooting you, or worse trying to act like you are really cool all your life, if you even happen to survive that long. I think WE had it right all along.

Plus I love Ding Dongs. This is a really emotional thing for me.

Furv

(The Fifth Estate)

And now this gem from R.I.P. Renfield:

Kent -  

On that Ding dong Ding dong thing - man, we got blasted tonight. Had a lot of laughs.

Just recovering, but we've done some of our best work that way. Maybe our only work that way???

I dunno ... can't really remember.

We even worked up a follow-up - Heigh Ho Ho Heigh Ho Ho - It's off to Mexico they go go!!! Etc.

AND as people (not us) keep saying under that song on the Youtube posting of it - You can't go wrong with a good Hi Ho Ho. Heh heh!!

Naw, let's get serious - bloody once was more than enough for this crazy stuff!!!

We decided we would rather forge an immaculate reputation again this time and no amount of quick cash or instant money or even ho hos can talk us out of it - I don't think??

(But I must admit, it's a close call on the ho hos!!)

Furv

Actually, I hadn't even thought of that ... "Ding Dongs" followed by Heigh "Ho Ho"'s .... man, that's a match made in junk food heaven!!! (kk)

 

re:  45 YEARS AGO TODAY:
Sticking with our 1967 Theme from yesterday, we figured we feature a few more Forgotten Hits from this great year in music.

Each and every one of these tunes was a Top 40 Billboard Hit 45 years ago today ... man, talk about your diversity on the charts!

"Beg, Borrow And Steal" was the first chart hit for The Ohio Express ... they'd be the Kings of Bubblegum a year later with hit records like "Yummy Yummy Yummy", "Down At Lulu's" and "Chewy Chewy", all of which have virtually disappeared from the airwaves. This week they were at #35.



Moving up the countdown, we find Chicago's own Spanky And Our Gang at #19 with "Lazy Day".  You might hear "Sunday Will Never Be The Same" or "Like To Get To Know You" once in a while ... but when was the last time you heard THIS Top 20 Hit???



And finally, holding down the #12 spot was Hugh Masekela's wife Miriam Makeba with the ultra-catchy "Pata Pata" ... just try getting THIS one out of your head today!!!