We're about to enter May and we're already up to our 22nd Bonus Posting. (I figured, if the series did REALLY well, we might get enough feedback to do 30 of these during the course of the year ... at this rate we'll be well over 60!!!)
That's OK, folks ... keep those cards and letter coming ... because that just means that you're diggin' what we're doing and you want to share some of YOUR memories, too ... and we appreciate it! (kk)
Hi Kent,
You have really outdone yourself with this 1967 series ... It is amazing!
Bill
Hey Kent,
Excellent series on the music of '67! Hope you and Frannie are well.
Bob Burns
Hi Kent,
Enjoyed your "1967 Scrap Book Memories."
I have some of my own ...
1. Saw Sonny and Cher in person premiering their movie 'Good
Times' at the old North
Riverside Cinema. I don't remember who the MC was.
2.
When Art Roberts was doing an oldies radio show on station WGOLD from the former
Oak Park Arms Hotel, I interviewed to be his secretary, but
then his plans changed and he left the
station!!
3. At
the JC Penney store in the Cermak Plaza, I saw the Outsiders performing
their hit song 'Time Won't Let Me' as a young couple danced
to the song!
4. You
mentioned Frank Bond's Teen Club. I remember eating at his 'Frank
Bond's Steak House', located on Harlem Avenue in Berwyn!!!
It was known for its steaks!
Thanks
for all the great memories, Kent. 1967 was one FANTASTIC YEAR with memories
I will never forget!!!
Carolyn
If you were into music in 1967 / 68, the "Inside Pop" CBS documentary Kent talked of HAS to be seen.
Here's the entire program:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afU76JJcquI
Clark Besch
It was good seeing this again - I forgot just how diverse it really was. (It still cracks me up that sophisticated Leonard Bernstein was trying to explain ... and convert adults ... to the current pop music scene.) But it also shows you in glorified and detailed example after example just how much the pop music was changing at this time. (kk)
If you were into music in 1967 / 68, the "Inside Pop" CBS documentary Kent talked of HAS to be seen.
Here's the entire program:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afU76JJcquI
Clark Besch
It was good seeing this again - I forgot just how diverse it really was. (It still cracks me up that sophisticated Leonard Bernstein was trying to explain ... and convert adults ... to the current pop music scene.) But it also shows you in glorified and detailed example after example just how much the pop music was changing at this time. (kk)
Hi Kent:
Just in case you are interested, I will be on a Radio
Show playing 1967 “Flip” Sides. Some you will know, some you may not. It is on
“Dewey’s Corner” show, airing on Friday (TONIGHT!) at approximately 6 PM on WMSE
Radio 91.7 in Milwaukee. (It's a College Radio Station).
We have been doing some 50th anniversary
things the past few years. With your ’67 project this year, you may enjoy it. We
will probably do at least two more of these for ’67 ... a Summer of ’67 Chart
Oriented show, and, at the end of the year, we will do the Top 50 Hits of the
year (according to Milwaukee Surveys). The shows are all archived as well. (Oh
yeah, we play records!)
Ken Freck
I put together a radio show featuring 1967's Biggest
Two-Sided Hits and sent it to our FH Buddy Mr. C, who hosts a radio program
called "The Flip Side" down in Nashville but never heard back from him as to
whether or not he was interested in airing it ... so I've now also sent it to
Phil Nee at WRCO up your way in Richland Center, Wisconsin, to see if he wanted
to take a crack at it.
Phil and I just did a program of our Top Ten 1967
Favorites ... and are also planning a Summer Of Love Program as well as a
year-end countdown ... looks like 1967 is a pretty hot topic this year!!!
(kk)
It's the 50th Anniversary of "Blues' Theme" making the charts. I have many charts showing it hitting it's peak in April. One great one, although quite exasperating, is on KHJ Los Angeles ... it went from #19 to #3 in one week and then stayed there for four weeks!
Thanks,
Davie Allan
You'll see the Super Charts chart run for "Blues' Theme". As discussed
before, this record first started climbing the charts in April ... and did well
in most parts of the country ... but peaked at different times, never gaining
enough momentum at any one time to make a significant impact on the national
charts, where it peaked at #27. (It didn't debut on the charts here in Chicago
until August ... four full months after it started to chart in other parts of
the country.)
Check out the brand new, Forgotten Hits Exclusive stereo mix that we
recently came across ... it sounds awesome! (kk)
Tom Seaver won his first major league ballgame 50 years ago this month ... and here's a GREAT clip of Seaver performing with The Lettermen on The Kraft Music Hall from just after The Mets won the 1969 World Series! (kk)
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>>>April 23rd: Bobby Vinton performs "Georgy
Girl", "Matchmaker", "Sunrise, Sunset" and "L'Chain" on The Ed Sullivan Show.
(Not sure I quite get ANY of these!!!) kk
While there is no internet evidence to say
Bobby is Jewish, doing a search indicates he does quite a bit with Jewish
songs. And I'm noting that
because the day after the Ed Sullivan show in 1967 was the first Night of
Passover which is probably the third most important Jewish holiday and the songs
he sung (other than Georgy Girl) were from the hit musical Fiddler on the
Roof.
So, there was a logical reason he sang those
songs -- and BTW -- it's L'Chaim not L'Chain.
And there is your explanation for why he sang
those songs that evening on Mr. Sullivan's show.
Thanks!
Rich Klein
I've only ever known him as "The
Polish Prince" but who knows, you could be right! (Then again, "Fiddler On The
Roof" was also extremely popular at the time. Maybe by covering both a
well-know and successful movie theme along with a couple of Broadway hit, Bobby
was trying to expand his audience from the pop field. Let's face it ... he
could hardly compete with the psychedelic, heavier sounds of the day! (That
being said, Bobby DID have a Top Five Smash later in the year when he recorded a
remake of the 1961 Cathy Jean and the Roommats' hit "Please Love Me
Forever"). By the way, I fixed the spelling ... thanks! (kk)
We've just posted 1967 Bonus #5 ... which now includes Geoff Dorsett's one hour long "Summer of Love" radio programme from The UK ... you can check it out here!
By the way, I'll be a guest on Geoff's show next
month ... we'll have that segment to post shortly, too! (kk)
Kent
Thanks for including my Summer of Love show ... I hope your readers like it.
Thanks for including my Summer of Love show ... I hope your readers like it.
Geoff
I have no doubt they'll like it.
And keep checking our 1967 Bonus Site ... we'll keep posting material there
until we get up to date ... and new material as well! (kk)
THE 14 HOUR TECHNICOLOUR DREAM, the UK's first be-in or happening, took place on April 29 - 30, 1967 at the Alexandra Palace in North London.
The event was a benefit to raise money for a defense fund for The International Times, an underground newspaper which had been busted on obscenity charges. The UK underground music scene united together in an all night psychedelic extravaganza at the large open floored structure.
Seven thousand people walking around were treated to wild colorful strobe lights and bands playing on two stages at the same time in different parts of the massive complex. A smaller stage was set up for other types of performance artists.
Among the plethora of performers
were The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, The Move, Pink Floyd, The Creation,
Tomorrow, The Pretty Things, The Soft Machine, John's Children, Savoy Brown,
Pete Townshend, Denny Laine, and Yoko Ono. John Lennon attended with his friend
John Dunbar. Lennon had met Ono the year before at Dunbar's art gallery, but,
according to Philip Norman's book JOHN LENNON: THE LIFE, the future couple's
path didn't cross that night.
This anti-establishment celebration
of youth culture was the UK's largest indoor event at that time. It was held on
May Day's eve with May Day being traditionally a pagan festival celebrating
fertility. It preceded the Monterey Pop festival by six weeks.
Mike G
Kent -
I saw the exchange in your roundup email about whether the Super Charts will ever be published. Count me in as someone who'd love to see that happen. But I'm curious ... what time period do you and Randy Price cover on those? Do they start in, say, 1955, or earlier or later? And they go through ... 1982, when Record World ended, or 1996, when Cash Box ended, or ...?
-- Stephen Elders
We would LOVE to see these charts
finally published. Right now they exist from January 1st of 1955 through April
of 1982 when Record World ceased publication - they would correspond nicely with
Joel Whitburn's Chart Comparison Book (maybe as a companion piece) so I dropped
another "not so subtle" hint the other day.
Honestly, I don't know that he'll
ever do it ... but Joel is always looking for new ways to present this chart
information ... so I've learned over the years to never say never. (The idea of
all three charts being displayed side by side was unthinkable ten years ago ...
and now there's a new Record World Chart Book coming out showing every chart for
every week from 1964 through 1972, with more volumes planned.)
My point has always been they same
-- why not utilize the COMPLETE research used to develop all of these individual
charts and composite the complete, most accurate Super Chart possible? We've
seen some peaks over the years that are literally a Top 40 apart between the
various national charts ... there is NO way any record could have that kind of
discrepancy ... so set the record straight once and for all. I've likened it to
rewriting history based on new information. You still have the individual
publication charts to refer to ... but THIS series recaps ALL of this chart data
and builds the most complete chart possible.
Time will tell if anyone else will
ever see it our way. (We've looked into self-publishing ... but the costs would
be prohibitive ... NOBODY would be willing to pay what it would cost to print
these up and turn a reasonable profit.) kk
We've been telling you for months now about Harvey Kubernik's new book spotlighting 1967 ... I've seen some of the photographs and, as always, this whole package is simply outstanding.
Below please find a link to some of these incredible photos as well as a recent review of Harvey's book. (This one's a keeper for ANY good music collection!) kk
http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/arts-culture/books/article/Book-review-Summer-of-Love-captured-in-1967-11089291.php
http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2017/04/23/1967-a-complete-rock-music-history-of-the-summer-of-love.html
We've been telling you for months now about Harvey Kubernik's new book spotlighting 1967 ... I've seen some of the photographs and, as always, this whole package is simply outstanding.
Below please find a link to some of these incredible photos as well as a recent review of Harvey's book. (This one's a keeper for ANY good music collection!) kk
http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/arts-culture/books/article/Book-review-Summer-of-Love-captured-in-1967-11089291.php
http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2017/04/23/1967-a-complete-rock-music-history-of-the-summer-of-love.html
At the end of April, 1967, "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman" entered our Florida radio station survey and reached as high as #2 in June.
Whistling Jack Smith did not exist
at the time. Perhaps it was a nod to American vaudeville singer "Whispering"
Jack Smith who was famous for the popular 1927 song "Me And My Shadow". The
unusual whistled instrumental was penned by prolific UK songwriters Roger
Greenaway and Roger Cook. The one-hit wonder record featured The Mike Sammes
Singers plus some session musicians while John O'Neill whistled the melody. The
original title was "Too Much Birdseed" but I'd like to think that the title
chosen was a cheeky British takeoff on the popular I WAS LORD KITCHENER'S VALET
shop on Carnaby Street. Kaiser Bill and Lord Kitchener were historical figures
from the same era. Kaiser Wilhelm was the last German emperor and batman was a
military term meaning "orderly" or "valet". A possible inspiration for the tune
was "The Colonel Bogey March" from the 1957 Academy Award winner THE BRIDGE ON
THE RIVER KWAI. Once it became a
big hit, they had to find someone to assume the role of Smith and Billy Moeller
was drafted to go on tour.
In 1968, Hugo Montenegro did a
cover of the spaghetti western movie theme "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly"
featuring whistling and had a big international hit (UK #1, US #2).
One of my personal favorite records
is of the traditional Scottish folk tune "The Skye Boat Song" which combined
Roger Whittaker's whistling with Des O'Connor's vocals and reached UK #10 in
1986. It is hauntingly beautiful.
Mike G
You won't believe the blitz of new merchandise being released in conjunction with the 50th Anniversary of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
Mike G
You won't believe the blitz of new merchandise being released in conjunction with the 50th Anniversary of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
You can check out a good bulk of it
here ... on the "Fest For Beatles Fans" website!
And we hope to have updates for you soon on Bruce
Spizer's new commemorative book, too! (kk)
