Thursday, May 30, 2013


re:  CLIP OF THE WEEK
Just got this from FH Reader Frank B ... who tells us:   

This is fascinating. The Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders did a dance video to “Call Me Maybe.” U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan saw it and did their own version, matching the cheerleaders scene-by scene. Here are the two videos together.



Dang!  Wish I woulda had this in time for Memorial Day!  GREAT Clip!  Thanks, Frank!  (kk)

re: ON THE RADIO:  
Hey Kent,  
I forgot to mention this to you in my first email regarding the WABC Rewound weekend. I had it on most of the time when I was in the house. I kept paying attention to my Son who is 20 when he would come in the room and I was totally amazed at how many of the songs he knew. Songs that he didn't necessarily hear from his old man. I think he was surprised as well. He made the comment that if radio sounded like this he'd listen. Neither he nor his Friends ever moved on to the regular channels passed the time spent with Disney Radio when they were pre-teens.  
Bill  
 
Kent,
You were right, of course, when you posted in FH the original version of WATERBOY by Don Shirley, as opposed to the version which you had posted first. Like some of your readers which you alluded to in FH, I like to think that I still have an "ear" for this music in that I remember exactly how it was being played and heard on the radio. Pretty amazing isn't it that one can remember how something went fifty years ago on the radio as you said.
Just today the morning DJ played SHOUT! by the Isley Brothers. Wait a minute! I take that back. He payed a song or two after that and didn't say who it was. It was the song SHOUT!. But if it were the Isley Brothers, they were singing in a different key than what I have heard them in the past. Kent, I had never heard this version on the radio before. Maybe if someone requested it and hadn't heard it in years, maybe they wouldn't know the difference.
Larry

For years here in Chicago if you heard "Shout" on the radio it was most likely the Otis Day and the Knights version from "Animal House" ... The Isley Brothers' version rarely got played. ("Shout" is one of those rare rock and roll oldies that is bigger in its "after life" than it ever was on the charts. Released twice, this record never even made Billboard's Top 40 ... yet is part of the permanent rock and roll landscape. Cover versions have been recorded by just about everybody ... even The Beatles did it on "Shindig!" and "Ready, Steady, Go", despite never actually recording the song.) Despite its poor chart performance, the song is honored in both the Grammy and The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ... yet peaked at #47 in 1959. Their version of "Twist And Shout" fared a little bit better in 1962, reaching #17 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart. The Isley's biggest pop hit didn't come until 1969 when "It's Your Thing" climbed to #2. (kk)



I basically quit listening to contemporary radio in the 70’s. By the time Disco had polluted the charts and airwaves I was done for the most part. By the late 70’s radio was disco crap, Rock became Shlock. Pop became Poop! Turned to the Punk / New Wave scene for a couple of years until that fizzled, concentrated on oldies stations for a while until the playlists became moronic, and then concentrated on a record store and seeking out the unusual older tunes that sounded like the 50’s & 60’s hits and in some cases were better. Haven’t missed current radio at all because the “hits” became whatever you want to call what this modern dreck is. There is always hundreds of old airchecks or the occasional foray in to internet oldies radio with shows like Dave the Rave!
Ken


re: DIGGIN' FORGOTTEN HITS:  
forgotten hits is the best damn rock 'n roll website on the country.
chet coppock
   


You are the leader of The American Oldies Movement -- Keep The Music Alive! There's really nobody left out there doing what you do. Forgotten Hits has a corner on the oldies market.  
Scott Shannon   

Apparently CRS is running rampant in this house, or at least with me. I wanted to tell you something about how much I enjoy your magazine. I love the history you print. But unfortunately I completely forgot what I wanted to say. Maybe you should just forget this letter.  
the great and wonderful Malcolm (I think)

Thanks, Malcolm ... hey, if it comes back to you later, let me know. (lol) Just not at three in the morning! (kk)



WILDWOOD, NEW JERSEY ... New Jersey beach town considers banning baggy pants and requiring shirts be worn after 8 pm ...
GONNA HAVE TO CLEAN UP YOUR ACT KENT!
-- Gary Renfield
Stop making fun of the way I dress!!!!! (kk)