But I needed both of them to describe the show we saw this past Tuesday Night at The United Center here in Chicago.
I never had the chance to see Queen when Freddie Mercury was fronting the band ... so far be it from me to say that Freddie wasn't missed ...
But
the band and all their theatrics went above and beyond all limits
imaginable to make sure the audience was treated to an evening of
entertainment that they will always remember despite the fact that
Freddie himself wasn't there to take part. (In all fairness, he was represented and remembered in various ways throughout the concert ... and so much respect was paid
throughout the evening to the music created by these fine musicians that
you couldn't help but beam with pride and appreciation at all the great
memories they have provided us with throughout the years.)
So while I may have nothing to compare the concert we saw with any Freddie Mercury performances other than YouTube clips and appearances like Live Aid, I can say that I have been to literally hundreds and hundreds of concerts over the years and can unequivocally say that visually, this was, without question, the most elaborate and entertaining show I have ever
seen – an incredible array of graphics, lights, lasers and computer effects wizardry, backed by a soundtrack of stellar musicianship second to none. I don't know that Queen, even in their biggest and grandest of glory days, were ever putting on exhibitions of this magnitude. This year's show is all about leaving the fans entertained and satisfied ... and significantly blown away in the process.
Brian May ... SIR Brian May ... DOCTOR Brian May ... was treated like a rock god throughout the night by the crowd ... and showed repeatedly throughout the evening why he deserved such an honor. (And I'm not just talking about the times he was literally shooting fireworks out of his guitar while he was playing it!) The roar of applause and appreciation never dimmed, even in the two hour set's quietest moments when May took the stage alone to do a couple of acoustic numbers.
Drummer Roger Taylor did a (thankfully) brief drum solo and then handled the David Bowie vocals in a duet with front man Adam Lambert on their big hit "Under Pressure" ... and, in fact, ALL of Queen's greatest hits (save "You're My Best Friend," as Frannie pointed out) were represented throughout the night. ("Bohemian Rhapsody" started with the original video clip featuring all four of the original members shown on the big screen before the current line-up took over to perform the rest of the song live.) Bassist John Deacon has been missing in action since shortly after Freddie Mercury's passing ... and a trio of "hired hand" side musicians rounded out the sound and vocals behind Adam Lambert's incredible lead vocals. (It's hard to believe that Lambert has been fronting the band for over ten years now ... and a more perfect match couldn't have been made in heaven, from where we're sure Freddie is smiling down and nodding his complete approval.)
"Ah
yes," you may be thinking … "Sure, they presented an evening of theatrics with no shortage of glitter and gold in the way of special effects … but how did they sound?"
In a word: fucking incredible. (Dammit ... I did it again!)
I can tell you without the slightest reservation that Queen presented a true spectacle of sight and sound –
A
non-stop assault that, even in its quietest moments, never let up. They wowed the crowd at every turn.
Queen is Queen ... they present the music they created as it should be heard. The "+ Adam Lambert" is simply the bonus on top. He brings a whole new dimension of sight and sound to the equation (and yes, that WAS a nod to Rod Serling since we saw the show on Halloween Night ... and let me tell you, "people watching" before the show was quite a bit of fun, too!) This crowd DEFINITELY came out to have a good time ... and not even Chicago's first snow of the season ... or the $7 price tag for a bottle of water could dampen that.
Without question, one of the best shows I have ever seen, in every way.
(And the very next day, Eagles tickets went on sale ... and Frannie was able to score virtually identical mezzanine seats for this show in March ... so we now have this concert to look forward to as well.)
Yes, we're spending the kids' inheritance on rock and roll shows ... but seriously, how many more of these can there be???
(Oh wait ... The Stones are going to tour behind "Hackney Diamonds" ... and Heart is getting back together??? And it's Aerosmith's farewell tour, too?!?! Sorry, honey ... we may have to sell one of the cars.) kk
>>>Billboard
Magazine recently named "Crimson And Clover" one of The Top 500
Greatest Pop Songs Ever ... it wasn’t crafted with that purpose in
mind. (kk)
Nor Kent,
as you know, and have written about in Forgotten Hits, was it ever "completely
crafted," thanx to John Rook and Larry Lujack of WLS Chicago.
Having
been there when this took place, I can say this account from Popsike.com is
pretty accurate:
"Tommy
James made a rough mix of "Crimson and Clover" to show to Roulette
Records Executive Morris Levy for evaluation. The band was still intending to
improve on the mix with ambient sound and echo. A few days later, James stopped
at WLS radio in Chicago - who he had previously had positive experiences with -
to get their reaction.
After an
interview discussing the single, he was convinced (by Program Director John
Rook) to play the rough mix for WLS off-air. Unbeknown to James, the
station recorded the song, and they (Larry Lujack) played it on-air (that
same afternoon and Chuck Buell continued to play it that evening - CB) in
November, 1968, as a "world exclusive."
Morris
Levy initially pleaded with WLS not to play the record prematurely before its
release, but listener response changed his mind. Roulette Records produced
a specially pressed single and shipped it to listeners who called about
the song. Eight hundred copies of the song were also sent to WLS for
promotional purposes."
This is
the only image of that special "WLS WPR" record I could find.
Not surprising, it's in the Forgotten Hits Archives!
(Isn't it interesting tho that most "old,
mysterious historical photos" are so often "blurry!")
CB
(which stands for I "Can't-Believe-I-Don't-Have-A-Copy-of-This-Record Boy!")
Well, I actually did find a better looking photo than the
one you sent (see below) …
It comes from a piece we did a while back talking about the
rarity of this record, which has come up a few times over the years here in
Forgotten Hits!
(The site you referred to, Popsike, shows that a copy of
this 45 sold at an auction a few years ago for $73 … so not quite as valuable
as we may all have been led to believe!)
Still, I did manage to dig up a couple of previous pieces
that mentioned this whole situation …
WLS literally
"bootlegged" a copy of Tommy's unreleased hit "Crimson And
Clover" and started airing an early mix off a demo Tommy brought to the
studio in late '68. (Tommy was pretty pissed at the time ... WLS taped
their interview with Tommy and, as such, now had a copy of Tommy's soon-to-be-released
single!Tommy was in the limo on his way
back to the airport when he heard is song already being played after just
leaving the station!)
Yes, the
AM Wars of the '60's were legendary ... and we had the best of BOTH worlds here
in Chicago with WLS and WCFL constantly trying to one-up each other by snagging
the latest scoop. So sad that today radio has become nothing more than a
game of following the leader ... back then these guys couldn't WAIT to get the
upper hand with a hot, new release! It's like all the excitement ... and
creativity ... is gone. (kk)
Here's the way Tommy James remembers the incident in
his book "Me, The Mob And The Music":
We went into the studio and produced the "Crimson
And Clover" single in December. The night I finished it, I made
a rough mix, right off the board. We were going to come back in a week to
mix in a lot of ambient sound, a lot of echo. We wanted it to be a more
profound statement than was on the mix.
That
weekend, The Shondells and I played a date in Chicago and we were met at the
airport by a limousine. As we were driving to our hotel, I stopped by WLS
on the off chance that Program Director John Rook was there. I wanted to
get some reaction to "Crimson" from a radio station that had always
been so good to us. John was in that afternoon and invited me to sit with
him. He made a big deal out of me being there. I did an interview
and talked about the new single. I should not have done it, but I played
him the rough mix when we were off the air. He flipped over the
record. "Let me go get Larry Lujack in here. We just hired
him." Lujack would go on to be one of WLS's top DJs. Rook
played Lujack the rough mix and without my knowledge or approval, pushed a
record button on the tape recorder and made himself a copy. Lujack loved
it. They handed me back the tape and we parted with promises to call each
other next week.
By the time I had gotten into the limo, the radio was
tuned to WLS and Larry Lujack was announcing in his best DJ voice:
"World exclusive ... Tommy James and the Shondells ... brand new single
... 'Crimson And Clover'." He was playing the rough mix on the radio
as a world exclusive. I knew I was never going to hear the end of this
from Jim Stagg (over at WCFL - kk.) I was warned on "Mony" not to give WLS an
exclusive.
Monday
Morning, when I stopped by at Roulette, a five-foot funeral wreath was sitting
outside Red Scwartz's office with a banner that read: "Condolences
on the death of Tommy James and the Shondells at WCFL Radio." It was
from Jim Stagg at the rival station. Morris came right out and said,
"What the fuck?" I told them both what had happened. Red
called Rook and told him about the wreath. Jim Stagg wouldn't take Red's
call. Rook said, "Fuck Jim Stagg ... I’ll play it every twenty
minutes!" And then added in radio lingo, "He'll have to go on
the record." And that is what he did. This was still the rough
mix. I never got a chance to remix the record.
Morris had
DJ copies sent to all the radio stations in the United States. He
wouldn't let me do a final mix. So the single of "Crimson And
Clover" that we all know was from the tape of a rough mix that was never
supposed to see the light of day.
"Crimson
and Clover" took off and was the biggest record we ever had. Jim
Stagg left WCFL not too long afterward. As it turned out, it was more his
funeral than mine.
-- Tommy
James
Maybe
THAT'S why Roulette Records let WLS press up 10,000 special promotional copies
to give away to their listeners!!! They truly DID break the record
worldwide (thanks to a little underhanded maneuvering) ... but that was
the name of the game as it related to successful Top 40 Radio back in the
1960's! (kk)
I have been a Tommy James fan since Day One when I heard "Hanky Panky" for the very first time in 1966. (I have told the story before how my brothers and I used to mime to the record when it came on the radio, strumming gardening instruments like rake and shovels outside my dad's old tool shed, pretending that it was us singing the song for the benefit of anyone who happened to pass by!!!) Hey, we were kids ... but we LOVED this record. My original copy was a white label 45 on Snap, the original label pressing from Michigan!
We're going to see Tommy James in concert on the 11th at The Genesee Theatre ... yet another sold out show ... and we can't wait. (Taking the in-laws this time around for their 50th wedding anniversary present. Thanks to Tommy's long-time manager Carol Ross, they'll even get to meet Tommy backstage before the show ... so thanks again, Carol!) kk
It sounds like Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman have finally reached the boiling point regarding other members of The Guess Who use of the name.
They have filed a $20 million lawsuit to reclaim the name of the band they helped guide into the biggest Canadian rock and roll band of The Top 40 Era. (At one point, The Guess Who were outselling all other Canadian acts COMBINED!!!) And yet somehow they're STILL not considered Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame material by the powers that be. (To quote "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "MORONS!") Maybe this new action and attention will finally make things right in that regard as well.
On the surface, Bachman and Cummings only wrote a handful of songs together ... but it was this material (tracks like "These Eyes," "Laughing," "No Time," "American Woman," "No Sugar Tonight) that launched them into the consciousness of fans all over the world. (Each of those tunes made The National Top Ten here in The States.)
Drummer and Bassist Garry Peterson and Jim Kale acquired the name in 1977. (Bachman left right at their peak in 1970.) Bachman and Cummings filed a federal suit in Los Angeles Monday Morning (10/30), stating that the
current lineup "has used the band’s name, photos of the
original lineup, and recordings that Bachman and Cummings performed on to give the false impression that Plaintiffs are performing as part of
the cover band.”
“They’ve taken mine and Randy’s history, the history of The Guess Who, and stolen it to market their cheap ticket sales in their fake bullshit shows,” Cummings told Rolling Stone. “It takes away everybody’s legitimacy.”
(Ironically, two emails before I opened this one was an email from The Genesee Theatre, offering presale tickets to see The Guess Who at their theater on December 28th.)
This has been a real stickler point for decades. When the full band reunited for a tour in 2001, they were able to tour as The Guess Who because Peterson and Kale were onboard. A couple of years ago, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings had lined up a series of concerts here in The States, billing themselves as Bachman Cummings. But then Covid hit (and we lost our second row center seats when the show was cancelled!!! No, I will NEVER forgive the world for that!!!)
Although Peterson and Kale did not comment on The Rolling Stone article by the time I was writing this, Rolling Stone pulled an old quote from Kale from a 2012 interview he did in The Winnipeg Free Press stating“Cummings signed off on the name in 1977 … and he hasn’t stopped his
pissing and moaning ever since. What the hell do you think I was going
to do, start a scrapbook? Here I was, with a whopping grade 10 education
and I don’t have a trade and I’m too old for a paper route. I gotta make
a living.”
Meanwhile, it's the fans that are getting hurt. They're being duped into thinking it's the real band when, in fact, the guys that wrote and sang these songs are nowhere to be found. It really all boils down to "Truth In Advertising" ... and if the current band is using music recorded by the REAL band in their advertising commercials, then they are deliberately misleading the public to shell out their hard-earned money to see (what Bachman and Cummings refer to as) "nothing more than a cover band."
Even the "faux" Guess Who band has disintegrated from there. Kale left in 2016 and Peterson only appears periodically, meaning that most of the time there isn't a single original member of The Guess Who on stage anymore. (In all fairness, Burton Cummings is NOT an original member of the band ... he joined in 1967 ... but their biggest hits started when he came onboard. Even after Randy Bachman left, Cummings continued to lead the band up the charts for nine more Top 40 hits before he left to start a solo career.)
They're all getting older ... one has to wonder how much longer they can tour ... but Cummings has been a big attraction as a solo act for decades now ... and Randy Bachman just recently reformed Bachman-Turner Overdrive, who had seven Top 40 Hits of their own in the 1970's.
If they win this lawsuit, will the two of them regroup as The Guess Who and continue to tour together again? Or is it more a matter of owning the trademark and the rights to the name?
What would make them happy? Bachman says, “The ideal solution is that Peterson says he’ll retire and we pay him a
percentage off the top, and we can lease the name forever or we buy it
outright and we’re free to go on.”
All of this remains to be seen ... but The Guess Who are certainly Front And Center right now in Classic Rock News!!! (kk)
The new Stones album may have the most vinyl variations of any in history ... even more than a Taylor Swift album!
I am a lifelong fan of the Milwaukee Brewers. Here is one of 32 major league stadium versions.
I agree with you ... the music is very good ... the best since Tattoo You.
Phil Nee
The
Rolling Stones just became the first recording artist in history to
place an album in The Top Ten of Billboard Magazine's Top 200 Albums
Chart in SEVEN consecutive decades!
The
Stones have scored Top 10 Albums in the '60's, '70's, '80's, '90's,
'00's, '10's and now '20's, thanks to "Hackney Diamonds."
In
fact, "Hackney Diamonds" is The Rolling Stones' 38th Top Ten LP, also a
record amongst all recording acts. (According to Billboard, Barbra
Streisand is second with 34, followed by Frank Sinatra and The Beatles,
who are each tied with 32. (Odds are The Beatles will move into a tie
for second place once their 1962 - 1966 and 1967 - 1970 revamped sets
are released on November 10th. They really should count these as new
Top 10's some both compilations will feature an expanded track listing
... it'll be interesting to see how they handle that.)
As for The Stones, here's how they racked up their record breaking number:
They scored thirteen Top Ten Albums in the 1960's: 2 x 5; The Rolling Stones, Now!; Out of Our Heads; December’s Children [And Everybody’s]; Big Hits [High Tide and Green Grass]; Aftermath; Got Live If You Want It!; Between the Buttons; Flowers; Their Satanic Majesties Request; Beggars Banquet; Through the Past, Darkly [Big Hits Vol. 2] and Let It Bleed ... twelve more ‘70's: ‘Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!; ’Sticky Fingers; Hot Rocks 1964-1971; Exile on Main St.; More Hot Rocks [Big Hits & Fazed Cookies]; Goats Head Soup; It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll; Made in the Shade; Metamorphosis; Black and Blue; Love You Live and Some Girls ... six in the ‘80's: 'Emotional Rescue;' 'Tattoo You'; ‘Still Life’ [American Concert 1981]; Undercover; Dirty Work and Steel Wheels ... three in the ‘90s: Voodoo Lounge; Stripped and Bridges to Babylon ... two in the 2000's: Forty Licks and A Bigger Bang); one in the 2010's (Blue & Lonesome) and now one, so far, in the 2020's. Hackney Diamonds. (The
Stones made mention during their Jimmy Fallon interview that they
actually recorded 23 tracks while working on their latest album ...
which could imply that they've already got the better part of their next
album all ready to go and in the can!)
And, just in case you're wondering, NINE of those 38 Top Ten LPs went all the way to #1:Out of Our Heads, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St., Goats Head Soup, It’s Only Rock ‘N Roll, Black and Blue, Some Girls, Emotional Rescue and Tattoo You ... which means that "Hackney Diamonds" has the potential to be their 10th #1 Album. (kk)
Speaking of Billboard, here's this from
Tom Cuddy …
Another
list that simply doesn’t hold water in my book.How does “Twist And Shout,” despite being released twice, outrank “Hey
Jude” (#1 for nine weeks) and 7-week #1 Records like “I Want To Hold Your Hand”
and “I’m A Believer?”Where are “Windy”
and “The Letter?”How does “Theme from
‘A Summer Place,’” a 10-week #1 place below “Sunshine Of Your Love” by Cream,
“Sixteen Reasons” (?!?!?) by Connie Stevens and “North To Alaska” which was
barely a blip at the time compared to songs like “Big Bad John,” “Never My
Love,” “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” “Yesterday” and “Satisfaction.”And what happened to “I Can’t Stop Loving
You” by Ray Charles, one of the biggest hits of the decade?
Several
of the songs on this list charted twice … but not necessarily in the ‘60’s,
which greatly distorts their merit.(“Do
You Love Me” by The Contours, “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett, “Stand
By Me” by Ben E. King, “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers, which is
their #1 ranked song, etc.)And I’m
betting whoever compiled this list didn’t take into account that Neil Sedaka’s
recordings of “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” are actually two completely different
recordings and tempos whose points shouldn’t be added together.I just can’t buy into this ranking.(In all fairness, “Wipe Out” and “The Twist”
DID both chart twice during the ‘60’s … and are therefore deserving of their
inflated status. But still ... "Wipe Out" a bigger hit than "Hey Jude" or Percy Faith's "Summer Place"? In what universe? ONLY in the universe of Billboard constantly trying to rewrite history from a more contemporary point of view. If you're going to distort the view, why not add in points for every cover version of a '60's song, too, when determining the biggest hits of the decade. I'd be willing to bet that about 1200 other songs would rank higher than "Finger Poppin' Time!!!" Yet they show it as the 25th Biggest Hit of the Decade. You can't change the facts ... but the new generation are being handed the wrong idea by people who weren't even there when it happened.)
And
while I’ll agree that being #1 for a couple of weeks doesn’t always mean it was
a bigger record than one that spent six weeks at #2, this list boasts THIRTEEN
songs … better than HALF the list … that never made it to #1 at all (including
one that peaked at #11!)
Yes,
it eliminates the first four years of the decade (and tacks on 1970), but it’s
a mathematical calculation that adds ALL of each record’s weeks at #1 together
to come up with a “total impact” factor.Here, “I Want To Hold Your Hand” is the undisputed #1 Record of this era
24 total weeks at #1 between the three major trade publications.
Or,
if working off a point system and calculating every position achieved during
every week of the ‘60’s (but NOT factoring in points for songs that recharted
AFTER the decade), may we recommend Dan Isbell’s book “Ranking The ‘60’s”
(available here:
#
4 – TOSSIN’ AND TURNIN’ – Bobby Lewis (their #9)
#
5 – I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND – The Beatles (did not make their list)
#
6 – AQUARIUS / LET THE SUNSHINE IN – The Fifth Dimension (did not make their
list)
#
7 – I’M A BELIEVER – The Monkees (did not make their list)
#
8 – ARE YOU LONESOME TONIGHT? – Elvis Presley (did not make their list)
#
9 – SUGAR, SUGAR – The Archies (their #10)
#10
– I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE – Marvin Gaye (did not make their list)
#11
– IT’S NOW OR NEVER – Elvis Presley (their #22)
#12
– I CAN’T STOP LOVING YOU – Ray Charles (did not make their list)
#13
– LOVE IS BLUE – Paul Mauriat (did not make their list)
#14
– CATHY’S CLOWN – The Everly Brothers (did not make their list)
#15
– I’M SORRY – Brenda Lee (their #12)
#16
– TO SIR, WITH LOVE – Lulu (did not make their list)
#17
– BIG GIRLS DON’T CRY – The Four Seasons(did not make their list)
#18
– SUGAR SHACK – Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs (did not make their list)
#19
– BIG BAD JOHN – Jimmy Dean (did not make their list)
#20
– HONKY TONK WOMEN – The Rolling Stones (did not make their list)
#21
– PEOPLE GOT TO BE FREE – The Rascals (did not make their list)
#22
– EVERYDAY PEOPLE – Sly and the Family Stone (did not make their list)
#23
– SATISFACTION – The Rolling Stones (did not make their list)
#24
– ROSES ARE RED – Bobby Vinton (did not make their list)
#25
– RUNNING BEAR – Johnny Preston (did not make their list)
Now,
I’ve studied a LOT of charts over the years … and looked at all kinds of
rankings, weekly, year-end and accumulative lists like these and more … and all
I can tell you is that when ranking the ‘60’s, you are FAR more likely to find
titles like “Satisfaction,” “Big Bad John,” “Sugar Shack,” “To Sir With Love,”
“I Can’t Stop Loving You,” “I Heard It Through The Grapevine,” “I’m A Believer”
and “I Want To Hold Your Hand” near the top of the list than you are titles
like “Finger Poppin’ Time,” “Sixteen Reasons,” “North To Alaska,” “Monster
Mash,” “Hello Dolly,” “Limbo Rock,” “Exodus” and “Moon River.”
That’s
taking nothing away from these great hit records … they’re just not the “cream
of the crop” that Billboard Magazine would have you believe.(kk)
>>>Hard
to believe that Taylor Swift just celebrated the 17th anniversary
of her first chart album.(kk)
And did you know that within the last few days, she has
"officially" become a Billionaire according to several
reliable sources?
For instance, Bloomberg Billionaires Index, wrote "Swift's
total net worth is now at $1.1 billion, thanks to a record-breaking Eras
Tour."
CB ( which stands for "Chuck Billionaire Boy!" )
HA! I wish! ( I think . . . )
>>>Matthew
Perry passed away. He was only 54.(kk)
I read his book "Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible
Thing" within this last year. It's a no-holds, straight ahead
account that never lets up about his dismal battle of addiction.
While seriously written overall yet in a conversational manner, there are also
some Perry/Bing lines here and there that do lighten up a brief moment in his
remarkably sad story. My favorite was when he was just beginning to date
Julia Roberts and after they had only spoken on the phone a number of
times, (Perry says) she was to come over to his apartment.
She rang the bell and when Perry opened the door, he writes, "There was a smiling Julia Roberts on the other
side. I believe I said something like, 'Oh, that Julia Roberts!”
But even with those occasional moments of levity, this book is
a real, deeply personal, honest insight into the dark depths of the life of a Championship
Druggie. His story never really gets better throughout as much as a
Matthew Perry/Chandler Bing reader might continue to hope.
CB
I
never picked up the book … got the jist of it by reading all the excerpts in
“People,” which were quite extensive … and depressing enough on their own.A sad battle indeed, which he fought for
forty years.(Perry admits to starting
drinking at the age of 14 … and then doing anything and everything to excess
from that point forward, the richer and more famous he became.)He apparently felt that he could never be
“funny enough” and that so much “was expected of him” that he became afraid of
failing … that he would let his fans down if he didn’t always comeback with the
quick, sarcastic quip.(I also read
where the only season of “Friends” that he performed sober was Season 9 … not,
coincidently, the season for which he was nominated for an Emmy.Yet it STILL wasn’t enough acceptance and
self-worth to make him quit.)It took
facing near certain death while lying on a hospital gurney … and lapsing into a
coma for two weeks before the point was truly driven home.
I’m
guessing that all of this constant abuse was enough to wear out his heart.New reports say the Perry played two hours of
pickleball that afternoon and then sent his assistant out to pick up a new
iPhone and pair of prescription glasses.When the assistant returned, he found Perry “unresponsive.”Earlier reports said he had drowned in his
jacuzzi, which may or may not be true.How does one drown in a jacuzzi?Well, I guess if your heart gives out and you slump over, that’s how.
I’m
sure we’ll hear more as investigations and autopsy are carried out … but at
first glance it looks like there was no foul play or direct drugs involved,
although reports also said that he had a large amount of prescription drugs in
the house.
Still,
it’s a shame to see some our tv heroes who appear to have it all still find
that it isn’t enough to be able to live a happy and successful life.Far too many have questioned “Why Me?” over
the years, feeling undeserving of their sudden and abundant success.(The first person I thought about after
hearing about Matthew Perry’s death was Cory Monteith of “Glee” fame … another
person who battled drugs and his inner demons his whole life thru.)
You
can catch “Friends” pretty much 24/7 on cable these days … it really was a
classic sitcom.(Perry said he couldn’t
stand to watch himself on the screen as his weight fluctuated by as much as
forty pounds between and during seasons … knowing full well why.)Yet he continued to find work on other
programs, meaning television big wigs still believed in his star potential.
I’m
told his book is “must reading” for anyone fighting their own battles with
drugs and alcohol … and is reportedly why he wrote it in such graphic detail …
his hope was to save others from what he had been through.Hopefully, some will listen and find a better
path to a better end.(kk)
HERE'S A SPECIAL TO FORGOTTEN HITS ...
MICKY
DOLENZ and his band in the Halloween spirit over this past weekend. Micky's
in-store at Wuxtry Records is this Friday, November 3rd, in Athens,
Georgia, to support his DOLENZ SINGS R.E.M. ep - also out Friday (7a
Records).
DIS
>>>Halloween
is Tuesday … which means we’ve already hit the end of October.Can it be more than a few minutes away before
24/7 Christmas Music programming starts?!?! (kk)
On a
different forum years ago, I complained about a station that made the switch,
pre-empting their usual weekend repeats of "Casey Kasem's American Top
40" (they gave them up more recently), citing a song the station had just
played, "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen/We Three Kings" by Barenaked
Ladies and Sarah MacLachlan ... "Can I get an oy vey?" I asked.
Ever
since, I've referred to that whole reformatting by stations as "oy vey
season."
--BF
Here in Chicago, The Lite better than TRIPLES its ratings as soon
as they flip over to an All Christmas format … making you sick of this music
6-8 weeks before the holiday.Too bad …
this used to be something I really looked forward to … in moderation.Now radio has even found a way to ruin
Christmas for me!(lol)
Then again, stations now also exist that play nothing but Christmas
music 365 days a year … which I guess is all right … if you are ever in the
mood to hear some, you know just where to flip … and then you can turn it off
again when you’ve heard the same song for the 30th time that day
(even if it is by different artists)
To each his own, I say … I will flip it on now and then when I want
to feel in a little more festive mood … but I also know my limits!!!(kk)
Denny
Laine did not make it home from the hospital in time for his birthday (October
29th)He is still bedridden
hooked up to machines … but his wife says that he is getting stronger every day
… and wants to be able to play the guitar again.
A
few weeks back we told you about a benefit fund-raiser concert that has been
set up to take place on November 27th at The Troubadour.It sold out immediately and will feature
friends and fellow musicians Denny Seiwell and Laurence Juber, both of whom
played alongside Denny in Wings, Susanna Hoffs, Micky Dolenz, Peter Asher, Jeremy
Clyde, Joey Molland, Joe Bouchard, Paul Shaffer and Albert Lee, with more expected
to get onboard. The house band will be Laine’s bandmates Jules, Erik Paparozzi
and Brian Pothier.Beatles Channel Breakfast
With The Beatles Host Chris Carter will MC the live event.
Best
Classic Bands is reporting that Paul McCartney has been in contact with Laine’s
wife regarding Denny’s health.(Macca
has taken a lot of flack for not stepping in and footing the $100,000 medical
bill that his wife Elizabeth Hines has been trying to raise thru a Go Fund Me
Page.Reports are that she’s barely
halfway there.)
Denny’s
wife told The Beatles Channel that a mutual friend reached out to McCartney on
their behalf. “Paul is one of the first people that did help,” she said. “He
and his office are in the loop. I sent Paul a ‘thank you’ text because he
doesn’t have to do that. We don’t expect him to do that. We don’t feel like
he’s obligated in any way to do anything. He doesn’t have to do this. He’s
doing it out of the kindness of his heart.
According to
Best Classic Bands, Hines avoided quantifying exactly what McCartney has done,
instead noting, “I sent him the text to thank him for his generosity and he
texted me back the next day. He was very sweet and said ‘anything to help you
through your difficulties.’ Some people think [he’s obligated]. We don’t.”
Those
who may want to send a belated birthday or get well soon card should mail it
to: Get Well Denny Laine, c/o Dan Ealey, PO Box 88, Cookeville, TN 38503.(kk)
Magnolia Films is releasing Denny
Tedesco’s follow up film to “The Wrecking Crew,” “Immediate Family” in theaters
around the country on December 12th and Video On Demand on December 15th.
We’ve seen nothing but positive reviews for
this film, which looks very interesting.(Watch the trailer below) kk
.JPG)
