You reach a certain age and you just really appreciate the beauty of some things. Music of the current age I don’t believe will ever be played on the “oldies station”. Whereas the music like Geoff Love and his orchestra will play forever. Many studies have been done on music and how it affects you. Listening to something as beautiful as this will make a believer out of you.
For the uninitiated, some of the more memorable tracks for me were Moonlight Serenade, Clare De Lune, Misty, Theme From A Summer Place, Autumn Leaves, Annie’s Song, The Blue Danube and on and on. They’re mostly all wonderful and refreshing for the soul. The one playing right now is String of Pearls, just a jazzy little ditty that makes you appreciate the piano (and horns and violins and cellos…). Simply beautiful.
If everybody had an ocean Across the U.S.A. Then everybody’d be surfin’ Like Californi-a You’d seem ’em wearing their baggies Huarachi sandals too A bushy bushy blonde hairdo Surfin’ U.S.A.
You’d catch ’em surfin’ at Del Mar Ventura County line Santa Cruz and Trestle
Everybody’s gone surfin’ Surfin’ U.S.A.
We’ll all be planning out a route We’re gonna take real soon We’re waxing down our surfboards We can’t wait for June We’ll all be gone for the summer We’re on surfari to stay Tell the teacher we’re surfin’ Surfin’ U.S.A.
[For some reason sitting under a foot of snow in the frozen tundra known as Iowa on December 30 made me think of this tune. Huh.]
Hanzo, a boxer, competes during the Unleashed Surf City Surf Dog contest in Huntington Beach, Calif., Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015. (Mindy Schauer/The Orange County Register via AP) MAGS OUT; LOS ANGELES TIMES OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT
Classic Van Halen lineup: David Lee Roth, Eddie, Alex, Michael Anthony
I Love it! Its like those stories you read of when Elvis or John Wayne was starting out and they were told the company didn’t want them: “You don’t have a chance kid!” Actor Clark Gable, the ‘King of Hollywood’ experienced it. My favorite as an Iowan was when legendary running back Gayle Sayers visited the University of Iowa in 1960 as a high schooler, and Coach Jerry Burns couldn’t be bothered to meet with him. Gayle took Kansas to the championship instead.
Van Halen only came on my radar because of MTV. They had a series of videos back in the first part of the 80s when MTV played music. Jump, Panama, Hot for Teacher, Runnin’ with the Devil. There are “experts” on Van Halen, and I ain’t one of them. You could finger drum to their songs when they came on the radio, and they had some cute girls in their videos, but that was about it for me.
Like I say, there are people to whom Van Halen was a god. Which would explain their reaction this past week when he died. Media will do that when a rock person dies, ascribe an aura of mythical proportions to a very strange person. Elvis being the classic. I was just a kid in the 60s when he was making movies and music. Sure he was huge, his songs were okay to listen to, but he wasn’t that big a deal with your typical teenager.
But God help us when he died! Later on in the 90s it was some guy named Kurt Cobain. We were all supposed to be sad about this druggie dying. Sorry, couldn’t do it. When I pointed out on a blog one time I didn’t know him or anything he sang, this guy called me a liar! On a stack of bibles, don’t know the guy. Tom Petty recently assumed room temperature. The media tried to go all sad on him. He was a rather homely individual with a whiny voice. Take your celebrity worship somewhere else.
Kind of my reaction when Eddie died. Probably his bigger claim to fame for me was that he had been married to Valerie Bertinelli. Then there’s my longtime problem with rockers who make drinking and drugs seem like just the coolest thing there is. It isn’t. In fact, they make it sound like you’re a nerd if you don’t go through life chemically altered! A lot of poor fools buy into this crap, and have their life ruined. Nope, sorry you died too young Eddie, but I ain’t going to get broken up over it.
Valerie Bertinelli – married to Eddie at one time
Oh, and the lead singers they went through? To the casual fan the impression you always got was that it was David Lee Roth who was the jerk. That it was Sammy Hagar who was impossible to get along with. Listening to Armstrong & Getty yesterday, one of whom has been in a band and the business for 40 years, it wasn’t Roth or Hagar, it was Eddie. He was an alch.
What an amazing story Cory has. Born on February 5, 1941 in Buffalo, New York. His mother marries another guy not his father. Abusive stepfather, hardscrabble upbringing. Joins the Air Force right out of high school. So if he did 2 years he would of got out in 1961, if he did 4 years 1963. Returned to Buffalo. Started up a group called the Vibratos. Was told that if he was serious about music that California was the place he ought to be, so they loaded up the truck and moved to LA. Played there and in San Diego. Met Danny Hutton (the second of Three Dog Night’s lead singers).
They formed 3DN in 1968 and the rest is history as they say. I wish I knew more. He’d purposely formed an interracial band while in the Air Force, and did it again with 3DN obviously. Another unique part of his story was he abstained from drugs and alcohol and led a modest lifestyle. Which for the late 60s and early 70s, that’s saying something. A lot. Probably a result of his upbringing. Watching a live clip of him from 1975 singing Shambala on Soundstage, I was taken by his incredible mechanics of singing. Not sure where he learned the ropes. Very personable and charismatic.
This live version of ‘Shambala‘ from 1975 really crystalizes so much about him. The joy he has in singing. You can see some of the “white soul” that comes out in a lot of his singing. The technical ability. His charisma. As he said in an interview what 3DN’s forte was was remaking existing songs, it was a sort of homage to the previous singer and the song. Regrettably the times being what they were, the songs didn’t always have the “deepest” lyrics, but they were fun! [Great interview here with Cory]
When he and Hutton restarted the band in the 80s they had a falling out with Chuck Negron (of course). I’d always caught the vibe that Negron was a little full of himself. I don’t know what the real story was. So those 2 were left with the “name” of the band. [“Wells died in his sleep on October 20, 2015, at Brooks Memorial Hospital in Dunkirk, New York at the age of 74. His family later confirmed he was fighting multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. His survivors include his wife, daughters, five grandchildren and siblings.”] – Wikipedia
50 years ago you’d listen to Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven‘ with your buddies sipping a beer down by the river and you’d go, “That’s really deep man!” The song, not the river. And they’d all nod knowingly. Now in your sixties you’re going, “That didn’t age well.” But then who does? TCM was playing rock movies last night and I caught the “exit music” for ‘The Song Remains the Same‘, Led Zeppelin’s attempt at moviemaking. Before them was The Who, after them was Jimi Hendrix. All that stuff now comes across as rather melodramatic and bellicose. Robert Plant who sang it said he thought it was about a privileged young woman who got everything she wanted and didn’t appreciate it.
Other people think it’s, “The most important rock song of all time!” Good grief. I read that and what popped into my head was a little ditty from Peter Frampton called, ‘Baby I Love Your Way‘. Just a nice little melody with great guitar about love and stuff. That aged well. It wasn’t Robert Plant gyrating wildly around a stage screaming his head off, in very serious tones. When you’re under the influence of various drugs and alcohol, certain things take on a greater meaning that just isn’t there when you’re sober. When I was a kid I thought meaningful rock was Guess Who, BTO, Eagles, Foghat, Kiss (I had to type in: “rock group with painted faces” to get the name, turns out there is also a group called ‘The Painted Faces’).
The Beatles didn’t even age well for me. Chicago, Doobies, some Moody Blues, some Three Dog Night, and a few others did. As I got older I realized it was beautiful voices and beautiful music I really liked. Dan Hamilton, B.J. Thomas, Dan Fogelberg, Dennis Yost, Eric Carmen, Frankie Valli, Gilbert O’Sullivan, Gordan Lightfoot. Singers like that. I suppose when you’re young you’re full of testosterone and have to have music with some ‘edge’. Its funny how important some things or some people were to you at one time, and years later its only some things and some people that are still important.
There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold
And she’s buying a stairway to heaven.
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for.
Ooh, ooh, and she’s buying a stairway to heaven.
There’s a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
‘Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings.
In a tree by the brook, there’s a songbird who sings,
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven.
There’s a feeling I get when I look to the west,
And my spirit is crying for leaving.
In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,
And the voices of those who stand looking.
And it’s whispered that soon, if we all call the tune,
Then the piper will lead us to reason.
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long,
And the forests will echo with laughter.
If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now,
It’s just a spring clean for the May queen.
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There’s still time to change the road you’re on.
And it makes me wonder.
Your head is humming and it won’t go, in case you don’t know,
The piper’s calling you to join him,
Dear lady, can you hear the wind blow, and did you know
Your stairway lies on the whispering wind?
And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul.
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold.
And if you listen very hard
The tune will come to you at last.
When all are one and one is all
To be a rock and not to roll.
Rock women were hotter 40/50 years ago. The high-waisted bellbottom jeans. The knit tops. The halter. The short-shorts. They were more slender. The rebel, the wild child, who knew what she was capable of? I’ll put the names at the bottom. I think the music was better too. The hair, the attitude. Simply put: The Cool Factor
Glenn Campbell here is backed up by a full orchestra and crushes the William Tell Overture. The comments section on YouTube is filled with people who appreciate what an incredible performance this is. There should a been a standing O.
My policy is to post any cartoon with Norman Rockwell in it.
One of the coolest disco songs of the 70s. From the movie Saturday Night Fever, of course, with John Travolta and Karen Lynn Gorney. If you notice on the label it says, “Not for sale promotion copy – Special Disco Version“. If you listen to other copies on YouTube this version seems like the bass is pumped up. The horns in this song are incredible.
Jay and the Americans – This Magic Moment. Jay Black had a voice for the ages.
Freda Payne’s big hit was Band of Gold in 1970. She is the older sister of Scherrie Payne of the Supremes. That’s a lot of talent to come out of one family. I was throwing away a piece of note paper where I’d jotted down several artists to checkout on YouTube. So I checked out Freda’s song and instantly recognized it. The video at the link is a great one. She is one of those slinky 70s singers that is so sexy. Its hard to explain. Detroit in the 60s was not a bad place to be for an aspiring singer. Anyway, beautiful, in shape and could sing like an angel.
UNSPECIFIED – CIRCA 1970: Photo of Freda Payne Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
I chose to lead off with this photo on purpose. Finola is talking to a woman in the foreground who also has a lot of hair. I thought it captured the 80s so well. Lots and lots of hair. Hair as far as the eye can see.
Cruising YouTube the other day brought on the disco revival! Say amen! It started with KC and the Sunshine Band. Which was a gateway group to Gloria Gaynor, Three Degrees and others. Being musically ignorant I tried to get some information on ‘the disco beat’. There’s some at Wikipedia, but to a large degree, simple info is tough to find. It seems 4/4 time was the beat used. I think it comes out to 120 beats per minute (then I start to get the indication ‘time’ is not necessarily ‘beats per minute’). A lot of exercise videos like to use 130 bpm. Either way, I loved it! For those not familiar with disco the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack will get you started. One of my favorite tracks from that movie was David Shire’s Manhattan Skyline. Musical heaven to me. Harry Wayne Casey’s I’m Your Boogie Man (although its never really made clear what being our ‘Boogie Man’ consists of) was another classic.
Yvonne Elliman (Jesus Christ Superstar) singing If I Can’t Have You. Disco consisted of a lot of bass, horns, sometimes organ, tambourine, piano, violin, stuff I love. While I liked a lot of the rock classics (Smoke On the Water, Slow Ride, Long Cool Woman), disco consisted of more than 3 guitars and a set of drums. Disco is the one that get’s your foot tapping. It also had a lot of orchestration. Beautiful. John Travolta had a huge hand in it with Saturday Night Fever and Stayin’ Alive. SNF being the bigger of the 2 what with the mind blowing success of the soundtrack, largely the Bee Gees. I think the beauty of the music bolstered the beauty of the 2 lead females, Karen Lynn Gorney and Finola Hughes (where the heck does the name ‘Finola’ come from?).
But anyway, that is who the pictures are of. 2 very pretty women. The edge for me is Finola, she’s got that Rachel Ward vibe that sends a guy over the edge. Karen seems more the hardboiled scrapper.
What was interesting was the timing of the 2 movies. SNF was 1977 at the height of the disco craze. SA was 1983, post mortem. There was a bizarre event at Comiskey Park on July 12, 1979 where they blew up a crate of disco records between games at an event called Disco Demolition Night. It was all part of this drive to make disco seem uncool. I don’t get it. I missed out on a lot of good music back then by the determiners of cool making some really bad calls. But as far as the movies go its illustrative to look at budget versus US gross on the 2. Stayin’ Alive budget$22 million vs $64 million gross. Good. Saturday Night Fever: budget $3 million, gross $94 million, phenomenal. 3x vs 30x.
In the intervening 6 years between movies someone was able to stick a knife in disco. Not sure who it was. Were the “wrong” record companies making the big bucks? Was it the “wrong” artists getting all the attention? In a situation like this all you have to do is follow the money. I guarantee you an industry insider could tell you what happened. Artistically there was nothing wrong with disco. But somebody really wanted to label it “uncool” for the masses. I’d love to know what the story was. Disco didn’t die, it was murdered! I have to figure the “wrong” label had the disco artists. Somebody’s ox was getting gored.
(I could watch reruns of ‘CHiPs’ if it wasn’t for their incredibly bad representation of disco music they use in interludes and chase scenes.)
“Who knew?” You go down through the comments section on YouTube and you read a lot of that. Just a month or 2 ago I did a similar post on Marie Osmond where I was metaphorically shaking my head. I lived through the 70s, swear to God we had no idea this was the pinnacle of musical expression. We had just assumed it would always be this way. Boy were we wrong. In this song Down by the Lazy River (written by Alan & Merrill Osmond), Merrill sings the lead. As he was The Osmond’s lead singer. Sometime later in the 80s maybe when they shifted to country, they became The Osmond Brothers.
But as I was saying the comments were just amazed with other ignorant people like me who had no idea the Osmond’s were such a high-energy, fun group! They think back to 10 – 15 years prior to this when they were doing the barbershop quartet thing on The Andy Williams Show in the early to mid 60s. This video is around 1972 or 1973 as Donny looks to be around 15 or 16. (Alan 1949, Wayne 1951, Jay 1955, Merrill 1953, Donny 1957, Marie 1959, Jimmy 1963) People were blown away by their musicality, vocals and dance ability. Clean-cut, well dressed, didn’t end up in jail, “nice boys”. This particular video is a little odd visually as its doing the ‘psychedelic 70s’ thing, but the audio is superb.
Iowa life 