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Jamie LePage (1953-2002)
http://www.spectropop.com/Jamie.htm
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There are 14 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: Desperately Seeking Superman
From: Ian Chapman
2. Re: Desperately Seeking Superman
From: Phil Milstein
3. Telephone songs
From: Stewart Mason
4. Re: Desperately Seeking Superman
From: Antonio Vizcarra
5. Re: Desperately Seeking Superman
From: David Coyle
6. Re: Message #10,000
From: Mike Rashkow
7. Re: Telephone songs
From: Phil Milstein
8. Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich/(deep breath...)/Gary & The Hornets
From: David Coyle
9. Re: Superman songs
From: James Botticelli
10. Re: Superman songs
From: Tom Taber
11. Re: The Dixie Cups on the line...
From: Billy G Spradlin
12. Chris Lucey AKA Chris Ducey AKA Bobby Jameson?
From: Steve Stanley
13. WHAT IS ROCK AND ROLL? You tell me.
From: Mike Rashkow
14. Re: Superman, Telephones, etc
From: Bob Rashkow
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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 22:38:17 -0000
From: Ian Chapman
Subject: Re: Desperately Seeking Superman
Rex,
If we're talking of the extended Superman Family, there's
always Graham Bonney's "Supergirl".
This is 70s, but with a neo-60s sound [or "cheap", as Phil
would probably call it :-)] - the fab "Superman" by Glamourpuss,
a group made up of five beauty queens. Anyone remember their
appearance on Top Of The Pops?!
And maybe we should give an honourable mention to Lois
Wilkinson of the Caravelles, who became Lois Lane after going
solo in the mid-60s.
Ian
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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 17:45:59 +0000
From: Phil Milstein
Subject: Re: Desperately Seeking Superman
Ian Chapman wrote:
> If we're talking of the extended Superman Family, there's
> always Graham Bonney's "Supergirl".
If Ian can go that route, then I can too -- I believe The Fugs
had a song titled "Supergirl" as well.
--Phil M.
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Message: 3
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 17:53:14 -0500
From: Stewart Mason
Subject: Telephone songs
Andrew Jones:
> Also, Frank Zappa included an actual phone call as a track
> on one of his Mothers of Invention albums (can't remember
> which one right now).
It's on Side One of the classic WE'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY.
On the LP, it's banded as part of the track "Bow Tie Daddy," but
on CD, it's given its own index number and titled "Telephone
Conversation." The participants are Suzy Creamcheese (Pamela
Zarubica) and someone named Vickie. Another example I can think
of is Side One of R. Stevie Moore's DELICATE TENSION (1979), which
includes a phone conversation about RSM between Irwin Chusid
and a caller to his WFMU radio show between "Zebra Standards 29"
and "You Are Too Far From Me."
And as long as we're talking telephone songs, we can't forget
Meri Wilson's coy novelty hit "Telephone Man" from '77 or
thereabouts.
Stewart
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Message: 4
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 22:55:47 -0000
From: Antonio Vizcarra
Subject: Re: Desperately Seeking Superman
Los Bravos, the spanish group who had a huge hit in the
United Kingdom and the USA in the 60s with "Black is Black",
released the song "Como Superman" (Like Superman) in 1969,
which is included on their album "Ilustrisimos Bravos".
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Message: 5
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 15:11:08 -0800 (PST)
From: David Coyle
Subject: Re: Desperately Seeking Superman
Don't forget "Superman" by the Clique, produced by
Gary Zekley, recorded in 1967 and remade a couple
decades later by R.E.M.
David
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Message: 6
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 18:16:55 EST
From: Mike Rashkow
Subject: Re: Message #10,000
Congrats on your 10,000 messages and 800 members as well as
the seamless continuity upon Jamie's passing.
Michael Rashkow
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Message: 7
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 18:22:15 +0000
From: Phil Milstein
Subject: Re: Telephone songs
Stewart Mason wrote:
> And as long as we're talking telephone songs, we can't forget
> Meri Wilson's coy novelty hit "Telephone Man" from '77 or
> thereabouts.
Or "Hello, Central," from, like, 1906 or so, a song so popular
that it spawned an entire, decades-long genre of follow-ups and
imitators.
Then there was Effie Smith, who in the '50s specialized in a
series of ghetto raps using mock phone calls as her M.O.
--Phil M.
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Message: 8
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 15:24:03 -0800 (PST)
From: David Coyle
Subject: Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich/(deep breath...)/Gary & The Hornets
I, too, am into Dave Dee and company, although their stuff is hard to
come by in the States. There is a skimpy 14-track compilation on
Collectables, but I also found an 18-track comp on Fontana (UK) which
is still by no means complete. I would love to find a more comprehensive
retrospective of their work. They are much maligned for their overall
poppiness, and oddly enough passed off as a British Monkees. But they
had some very well-produced hits with a heavy beat, deft touches of
psychedelia, wit and a bit of lasciviousness.
I recently found a US Fontana LP from 1965 called "England's Greatest
Hits," which includes the Americanized version of "Bend It," which
completely turns an invitation to sex into a new dance craze that
apparently never caught on, especially to those fans who might have
gotten ahold (no pun intended) of the original version.
After Dave Dee split in 1968 to forge a solo career, the rest of the
group, popularly known as DBMT, put out a few more interesting tracks,
including "Mr. President," a song I'm surprised the current anti-war
protesters haven't taken up as an anthem. I think they've since reformed
at various times with and without Dee.
On another note, I have three Gary & The Hornets 45s on Smash. I have an
interest in them because they were an Ohio band. All of the a-sides were
covers of current teenybop fare (or younger than that, considering the
oldest member of the group was 12). I have no idea whether any of them
went on to do anything famous.
David
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Message: 9
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 17:53:09 -0500
From: James Botticelli
Subject: Re: Superman songs
Rat Pfink wrote:
> The Kinks - (Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman
Superman by Herbie Mann
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Message: 10
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 15:45:52 -0800 (PST)
From: Tom Taber
Subject: Re: Superman songs
Did anyone mention the wretched "Superman", almost-the-same-song-as
"Vehicle" by the Ides of March? Great Caesar's Ghost!
Tom Taber
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Message: 11
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 00:11:52 -0000
From: Billy G Spradlin
Subject: Re: The Dixie Cups on the line...
Simon White wrote:
> Now what about some rekkids that start with or contain telephone calls?
ELO - Telephone Line
10cc - Dont Hang Up
Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn - As Soon As I Hang Up the Phone
They Might Be Giants - Ana Ng
Bernadette Carroll - The Hero
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Message: 12
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 16:25:01 -0800
From: Steve Stanley
Subject: Chris Lucey AKA Chris Ducey AKA Bobby Jameson?
Ever since the Chris Lucey Rev-Ola reissue surfaced, I've been getting a lot
of inquiry into why the LP was released under the name "Chris Lucey" and not
Bobby Jameson. After all, Jameson wrote and recorded the tunes.... It wasn't
until after I had written the Lucey liner notes that I discovered the truth
- I've recently spoken to Chris Ducey.
Hope this entertains those interested:
Bobby signed with Surrey Records, a sub-label of Randy Woodıs, Mira Records.
His debut LP, "Songs of Protest and Anti-Protest," was released here in
early 1966 under the alias of ³Chris Lucey,² and in the U.K. as "Too Many
Mornings" by Bobby Jameson. As if this weren't confusing enough, the label
on the disc itself listed the artist as ³Chris Ducey.²
As it turns out, Chris Ducey was actually a wholly separate individual who
arrived in Hollywood in 1965, a singer/songwriter in the folksy Dylan mode
who, along with Craig Smith, released an excellent single in 1966 under the
name Chris and Craig (³Isha² b/w ³I Need You,² Capitol 5694). In 1967, the
duo morphed into a band known as The Penny Arkade and recorded a
still-unreleased album with then-Monkee Mike Nesmith.
Somehow, jazz trumpeter/arranger/composer Jack Millman heard some of Duceyıs
solo material and asked Ducey to come over to his office so he could record
him. Ducey explains: ³I went to Jackıs office and sang all of my original
tunes at the time with only a guitar for accompaniment there were no
overdubs save for the sound of his secretary's typewriter on several tracks.
Jack surprised me one day and said he wanted to release those tracks as an
album, and sent me some papers to sign. Then I heard he had already printed
the covers while I was being selected for an ABC television pilot, The
Happeners.ı Because of my contract with ABC and because Jack and I had no
deal,ı my attorney contacted him with a cease-and-desist order. Jack had a
retouch of the covers, turning the Dı in Ducey into an L,ı and
commissioned Bobby to record new tunes around my titles: his songs, my
titles. That's fact. I was in my archives lately and I found a reel-to-reel
copy of that office session.² (Unfortunately, former Teddy Bear and original
Songs of Protest producer Marshall Lieb is unable to comment; he passed away
a few months before these notes were written.)
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Message: 13
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 19:25:08 EST
From: Mike Rashkow
Subject: WHAT IS ROCK AND ROLL? You tell me.
In honor of the 10,000th message, I am moved to pull a loose thread and see
how far it unwinds, to wit:
What is Rock and Roll? (if there is such a thing) And even more interesting
to me, why is Rock & Roll and who is responsible for it.
Taking first things first, I posit this conundrum: How can Elvis, The Beach
Boys, Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Duane Eddy,
all of the Brill Building and 1650 Broadway and every Brooklyn and Harlem and
Long Island talent, The Beatles, The Allman Brothers. Motown et al, Neil
Diamond, The Stones, U2, Springsteen and anyone else you care to throw into
the mix-----how in the world can they all fit under the same umbrella? Is
it all Rock and Roll? Can't be! Cannot stand scrutiny by anyone with good
sense and/or any taste or knowledge.
They all can't be contained within the same circus tent, let alone under the
same umbrella. And what do you do with people like: Aretha, Ray Charles,
Gene Pitney, Dionne Warwick, Kiss, The Mamas and Papas, Billy Joel, Elton
John,Grateful Dead, etc., etc., --you name your own and each one you name is
more likely than not to fall into numerous other meaningfully different
styles and types of music.
So, group---what does it mean? How do we parse it, what do we call it?
Certainly Reggae is Reggae, and Rap (gag) is Rap, and Blues (thank God) is
blues.
But is "Rock and Roll" "Rock and Roll?" My vote is no. No such thing. No
more than all Classical is simply Classical as opposed to Baroque, Chamber,
Symphonic, Operatic, etc.
That is the first question, food for thought and (I expect) some very strong
opinions----and that thought then goes to this, which is less of a dilemma
and far more fun.
Assuming that there is such a thing as Rock and Roll select the 10 most
important seminal influences--by artist and song, or by either one.
By seminal influences, I mean who and/or what set the first standards that
defined the music we call R&R.
Just to start the ball rolling, here without much thought is a list that
didn't require much thought and probably reflects that fact. But it makes no
difference if I'm on the money or not--what I am hoping for is that we will
hear from all 800 members of the group; and that the Spectopop Team of
talented webmeisters will keep a tally of the responses, which at a certain
date will lead to an announcement of the 10 most important seminal rock and
roll records.
In no particular order, here's a few suggestions. Please keep in mind that
I am very old, grew up listening to R&B, and therefore am stuck way back in
time and place.
1. Bill Haley and The Comets - Rock Around The Clock
2. The Chords - Sh-Boom
3. Elvis Presley - Baby Let's Play House (or Blue Suede Shoes)
4. Fats Domino - Ain't That a Shame
5. Little Richard (he 'da man) - Long Tall Sally (or others)
6. Chuck Berry - Maybelline (or Sweet Little Sixteen)
7. The Charms - Hearts Made Of Stone (longshot but I love it)
8 Jerry Lee Lewis - Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On
9. The Penguins - Earth Angel
10. Hank Ballard/Midnighters - Work With Me Annie
I'm sorry--10 just isn't enough...here's some more that have to be considered:
11. Roy Orbison - Dream Baby
12. Frankie Lymon - Why Do Fools Fall In Love
13. Buddy Holly - That'll Be The Day (or Guess It Doesn't Matter Anymore, even
though it is Paul Anka's tune)
14. Five Royals - Dedicated To The One I Love (one of the few songs to be a hit
3 times.)
15. Conway Twitty - It's Only Make Believe
16. Gene Vincent - Be Bop A Lula
17. Huey Smith and The Clowns - Rockin' Pneumonia
18. Sonny Till & The Orioles - Crying In The Chapel
19. The Drifters - Pick One (Save The Last Dance is mine)
20. Johnny Cymbal - Mr. Bassman (I may be biased here)
The world is waiting for your responses. Not best, not biggest hits, not
famous---seminal. Go get 'em guys and gals. Personally I can't wait to see what
comes from others.
Rashkovsky
the late Michael Rashkow
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Message: 14
Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 19:37:11 -0500
From: Bob Rashkow
Subject: Re: Superman, Telephones, etc
Larry Lapka, I only have these on vinyl but I have Gary/Hornets "Baby
It's You" b/w "Tell Tale" (which I like infinitely better--great
bubblegum song!) on Smash. As for DDDBM&T, outstanding pop from UK.
Currently I have "She's So Good/Bend It" on a Fontana 45, a Fontana
early hits P (with Hideaway, Hold Tight, You Make It Move etc.) and
their Time To Take Off LP (which of course includes Zabadak, Mrs.
Thursday and Where From, Where To? but does not unfortunately contain
Okay, aster Llewellyn, Sun Goes Down, etc.) Groovy stuff.
Richard Havers: Haven't heard Rupert Holmes' Our National Pastime, but
I do love some of the tunes he penned in the late 6Ts and early 7Ts.
One such was Jennifer Tomkins by The Street People (of which he was
also a member if I'm not mistaken), a sort of would-be protest tune
that dented the top 40 right at the beginning of the Scary 7Ts.
Superman songs: Super Man (Ides of March, summer 1970) Very similar
to "Vehicle" only Peterik yells "Great Caesar's ghost!" instead of "Good
God in Heaven..."
Songs that include telephone calls: I've got 2, first from within the
Spectropop range, the one and only Edd Byrnes' "Like, I Love You!", a
very endearing, very ginchey cool-cat conversation between Kookie and
the girl of his fantasies. (1960, of course) And from 1976 altho there
is a connection: "Without Your Love (Mr. Jordan)" by Charlie Ross
(formerly Charles Ross Jr of Eternity's Children) in which both husband
and wife are revealed to be having an affair--pretty topical for its
time, I think, didn't do too badly on the C&W charts (right after the CB
craze died down!)
Bobster
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