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Jamie LePage (1953-2002)
http://www.spectropop.com/Jamie.htm
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There are 12 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: American Dreams
From: Steve Harvey
2. Re: The Rose Garden/another "You're The One" cover
From: James Botticelli
3. Re: war songs
From: Artie Wayne
4. Re: Howdy Doody
From: James Botticelli
5. Madara-White
From: Norman
6. Re: Brill Building Comic Srip
From: Jean-Emmanuel Dubois
7. Gordian Knot
From: Scott
8. Re: Brill Building comic strip
From: Marty
9. Rockin' till the very end.
From: Steve Harvey
10. Brill and 1650; War/Anti-War; Kay Starr; more Innocents; more
From: Country Paul
11. The Beatles Anthology - A long and winding road
From: Denis Gagnon
12. Re: Rose Garden reissue/Gordian Knot snafu fixed!
From: Jeffrey Glenn
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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2003 19:32:35 -0800 (PST)
From: Steve Harvey
Subject: Re: American Dreams
The Beach Boys segment used a clip from the 64
appearance by the Boys. The rest of that actual show
was all Beatles that week (I remember the dancers
trying to apply their old steps to this new fangled
Merseybeat). The American Dreams episode was nothing
like the real show.
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Message: 2
Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2003 21:57:17 -0500
From: James Botticelli
Subject: Re: The Rose Garden/another "You're The One" cover
Billy G Spradlin wrote:
> Collectors Choice Music has just re-issued the Rose Garden's
> first (and only?) Atco album on CD. I have always loved
> "Next Plane to London", is the rest of the LP any good
The LP, an original copy of which I still own, is sold as
"stereo", but several of the tracks are in mono. You may wanna
inquire before purchasing. CC has an 800 phone #
--
James Botticelli
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Message: 3
Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2003 16:36:19 -0800 (PST)
From: Artie Wayne
Subject: Re: war songs
Patrick........What about"Soldier Boy"[Greenberg/Dixon] and
"Mama, My Soldier Boy Is Coming Home!"[Wayne] by the Shirelles?
regards,
Artie Wayne
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Message: 4
Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2003 21:55:16 -0500
From: James Botticelli
Subject: Re: Howdy Doody
Billy G Spradlin wrote:
> the Shames also had a
> tamborine player by the name of J.C. Hooke (aka Jim Pilster)
> who lost one hand during a childhood accident. But instead of
> using a prosthetic hand, he had a hook like Captain Hook.
where's Moulty when you REALLY need him?
JB/"But I found I loved music and I learned to play the drums.
Now all I need is a girl, a real girl......."
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Message: 5
Date: Sat, 05 Apr 2003 20:59:32 +0930
From: Norman
Subject: Madara-White
Hi,
after being subject to John Farnham's Hit version of Sadie the
Cleaning Lady for the last umpteen years it is hard to envision
that these blokes, Madara and White, wrote some fine toons.
My fave would have to be Lesley Gore's "You Don't Own Me".
As for John Farnham. Well, I suppose if Herman's Hermits could
get away with singing music hall songs a la Noel Gay and George
Formby why not Johnny. He actually had a hit with Underneath
The Arches! (#2 in 1968 double sided with Friday Kind of Monday).
To be fair to John Farnham he made some great pop songs after
Sadie and Underneath the Arches.
One of his better sides "In My Room" was written by him and
featured the backing of Australian group Zoot on the recording.
This is a bit of a co-incidence because one member of Zoot at
that time was Gerard "Beeb" Birtles who went onto Little River
Band fame. A group John later joined as replacement for Glen
Shorrock.
Regards,
Norman
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Message: 6
Date: Sun, 06 Apr 2003 11:13:34 +0200
From: Jean-Emmanuel Dubois
Subject: Re: Brill Building Comic Srip
Dear Richard - I can't open the pictures?? Anybody know why??
Did you heard of Tzadick (J Zorn Jewish culture label) project
of Brill building covers by Kramer (ex-Shimmydisc)
JED
;-)
http://www.euro-visions.net
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Message: 7
Date: Sat, 05 Apr 2003 16:48:46 EST
From: Scott
Subject: Gordian Knot
Here's a link to brief review of the LP ...
http://www.geocities.com/badcatrecords/GORDIANknot.htm
Scott
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Message: 8
Date: Sat, 05 Apr 2003 13:37:25 -0000
From: Marty
Subject: Re: Brill Building comic strip
Brett Berns wrote:
> After lurking for a while, I have been looking for the right
> moment to introduce myself to this impressive group, and Richard's
> wonderful piece of art has inspired me to do so.
Hi Brett,
I'm happy to see you like it here at Spectropop and have dropped
down to introduce yourself! BTW Most anyone here would enjoy your
tribute site @ http://www.bertberns.com Such a well done site and
GREAT discography! I have also enjoyed you sister Cassie's work
since meeting you online; Perhaps, others would too.
Well, back to my lurking and learning more & more about the music
I enjoy. So much freely shared knowledge here, I don't get a chance
to add much!
Regards,
Marty (mochilli)
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Message: 9
Date: Sat, 05 Apr 2003 10:29:25 -0800 (PST)
From: Steve Harvey
Subject: Rockin' till the very end.
This sad piece of news was reported on the RABHOF Yahoo Group
today. Perhaps some of our European members might recognize
the name.
Svein Norjalainen Amundsen:
> Last night, one of the most talented Swedish artists ever
> passed away. Kenneth Swanström was only 60 when he rocked
> himself into another heart attack... Kenneth Swanstöm was
> known as "Sweden's Jerry Lee", and has been pumpin' his
> piano since the 50s. He was much more than a JLL copy, and
> did his own songs as well as great versions of old rock'n'roll
> songs. The coolest one I can think of right now is his live
> version of Little Richards "Keep On Knockin'". He also managed
> to record JLL's "Milkshake Mademoiselle" before the record came
> out.. He had heard it live, and did a brilliant version of it.
> I will never forget the few times I saw this legendary piano
> rocker live.. He was 110% Rock'n'Roll!!
Åke_Roos:
> After Swanström had finished his set before an outsold
> audience, he went backstage and there he fell on the
> floor. Swedish rock´n roll legend Rock-Ragge(who played
> together with Bill Haley in 1968, for that matter) and
> another legend, Little Gerhard(who met Bill Haley in Berlin
> in 1958) and another Swedish rock'n'roll singer tried to help
> Swanström by the mouth-to-mouth method but without result.
> Rock-Olga, Scandinavia's queen of rock'n'roll, went out and
> said "I hope you hear this, Kenneth" before she sang "Love
> Letters In The Sand" as the show had to go on. Little Gerhard
> said he forgot the words to the songs he sang and excused
> himself to the audience, saying he probably was too old to be
> a singer when he couldn't remember the words. But he could
> hardly be to blame. The show just had to go on, said the promoter...
>
> Yes, it was a sad day indeed.
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Message: 10
Date: Sat, 05 Apr 2003 01:17:40 -0500
From: Country Paul
Subject: Brill and 1650; War/Anti-War; Kay Starr; more Innocents; more
Richard Gagnon, I like your cominc strip! Only two notable
goofs I found - the building across the street was 1650 Broadway,
not 1950; and Lester Sill has no second "s". When I was first
music-directing WBRU while an undergraduate, during vacations I
used to do what the freelance songwriters did: start at the top
of 1650 and 1619 and work my way down, but with business cards
for the station and a couple of large bags for records. (It was
easier at 1650 - most of the firedoors were unlocked. That happened
less frequently in the Brill.) Most of the companies would give me
two copies of their latest releases for the station, but (truth be
told) it's amazing how many back-up copies wound up in my own
collection! (The statute of limitations has run out, hasn't it?)
I'd also haunt Times Square Records in the subway arcade beneath
the old New York Times tower. If one stood up straight, you'd hit
your head on the ceiling. A doo-wop specialty shop, they'd pretty
much dump for pennies or nickels anything that didn't fit that
into that genre. I'd find some incredible stuff there!
Bill Reed, kudos on your Brian Wilson comments. You note: "Brian
Wilson...was proudest of having beat the odds of mental illness."
As an attendee at two recent shows, I agree - he has, certainly
enough to again be an effective musician. Finally, the PR campaign
is true - Brian IS back. Thanks for your insights.
Patrick Rands, regarding war songs, so many of from the 60s
seem so obvious to the older members of this group who have
seen the Viet Nam era first hand. The most obvious are the
anti-war "greatest hits", like "Blowing In The Wind", "Eve
of Destruction" (not on the same artistic level, but notable
nonetheless), and the late Edwin Starr's "War" some years
later. There's also the infamous opposing view, "Battle of
the Green Berets". Some of the more fascinating to me are
the obscure songs from unexpected corners. A few posts ago
I mentioned the Revels (or Re-Vels) "Two Little Monkeys" by
the same group who did "Midnight Stroll" (once called "Dead
Man's Stroll", a Halloween song whose title was expurgated
for being in bad taste!). "Monkeys" is a Coasters-style doo-wop
song underscoring the senselessness of the endeavor. I don't
know if it was ever on a 45, but it's on the European CD
collection released in 1985.
Also, not quite a girl group, and definitely not anti-war,
there's the yearning female-led Tassels' "To A Soldier Boy"
on Madison, a doo-wop ballad c. 1959-60; and Trudy Williams
fronting the Six Teens (3 male, 03 female) on "A Casual Look"
(Flip Records [1956], reissued on Ace [UK] CDCHD 842), with
her soldier boyfriend singing the bridge: "Darlin' can't you
see that I'm going overseas / For two, three, four years,
don't know how long it will be / So hear, hear my plea and
come marry, marry me / Before it's too late." Great song,
under-rated lead singer. They had a later follow up called
"Only Jim," which was about a sailor in the Navy. There's an
interview with the late group leader Ed Ellis at
http://www.electricearl.com/dws/sixteens.html
Stephane:
> There's an entry about the UK group "Skip Bifferty" here (look at
> "Skip"): http://www.borderlinebooks.com/uk6070s/tapestry.html
I live and learn. (I thought it would have been one guy....)
Bobster, thanks for the Kay Starr response. I've also discovered her
official website with bio, discography, etc.
http://members.tripod.com/~Kay_Starr/main.html Ain't the net wonderful!?
Incidentally, according to the website, most of her major records
were on Capitol, with a move to RCA from 1955-59. There are photos
posted from live performances as recently as November, 2000;
considering she was born in July, 1922, that makes her 80 now.
Finally, surfing awhile led me to http://www.kathyyoung.com and
http://www.theinnocentsmusic.com. Apparently they reunited at
some relatively recent doo-wop shows, and the Innocents are
also working on some new material! I'm ready!
Country Paul
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Message: 11
Date: Sat, 05 Apr 2003 08:47:07 -0500
From: Denis Gagnon
Subject: The Beatles Anthology - A long and winding road
I need some help from some Beatlemaniacs out there...
Back in 1995, I recorded "The Beatles Anthology" broadcast
by ABC. The whole thing last 6 hours (including adds) and I
recorded it on 3 video cassettes. It seemed like the complete
Anthology of the Beatles at the time. Recently, the first 4
DVDs of the set were released, with almost 10 hours of footage
(no annoying adds, I suppose). Did ABC shrink that Anthology
to less than 5 hours of broadcast time? Is it the same Anthology?
Also, I saw another DVD set (5 DVDs, total of 7 hours) called
"The Beatles - A long and winding road" which claims to be
"unauthorized". Does anyone have a clue what this is or how
"good" this is ?
I have looked for information on the Internet for both sets of
DVDs but just managed to get more confused than I was, when
I started.
Any help you fellows can provide, would be appreciated.
Denis Gagnon
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Message: 12
Date: Sat, 05 Apr 2003 07:51:09 -0800
From: Jeffrey Glenn
Subject: Re: Rose Garden reissue/Gordian Knot snafu fixed!
Billy Spradlin:
> Collectors Choice Music has just re-issued the Rose Garden's
> first(and only?) Atco album on CD. I have always loved "Next
> Plane to London", is the rest of the LP any good (especally
> those two Gene Clark songs)??"
The Rose Garden LP is very good late 60s pop folk rock, and the
two Gene Clark tracks ("Till Today" and "Long Time") are very
much in the same vein as the songs from the contemporary GENE
CLARK WITH THE GOSDEN BROTHERS LP (i.e., they're great!). In
fact, my band The Retros recorded "Long Time" for Not Lame's
Gene Clark tribute CD a couple of years ago, and we were very
happy with how it came out. The CDs out of print, so if anyone
wants to hear it I'll play it to musica.
BUT... there's a huge, glaring fault on the Rose Garden CD.
There was a post-LP single ("If My World Falls Through"/"Here's
Today" Atco 45-6564, 1968) which is the group's finest work IMHO.
These should have been added as bonus tracks, but I can play
either side to musica.
Patrick Rands:
> The 1960s Gordian Knot LP is worth picking up (I got my copy
> for $2!) but it has never been reissued on CD. If anything
> for the awesome artwork which shows the group tied up with
> huge pieces of rope! I love songs about Merry go rounds and
> it's got one of those :)
OK, re: The Gordian Knot track that I said I had put in the
pop45group files, it's there now ("We Must Be Doing Somethin'
Right"). A brain freeze caused me to mix this up with the
track by Websters New Word that I already had up there.
Sorry! :-)
And as a bonus I've played a different bonus mp3 to Spectropop
musica and the pop45group f_iles. The one here is an almost
totally unknown Terry Melcher/Equinox production from 1969:
"Sunday" by Camp Hilltop (A&M). Soft pop afficionados will
love this; dig the unusual combination of electric harpsichord
and pedal steel guitar! You can read about the track on pop45
group - "The Girl's Alright" by The Brothers (early Warren Zevon
involvement) - over there. :-)
Enjoy!
Jeff
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