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Jamie LePage (1953-2002)
http://www.spectropop.com/Jamie.htm
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There are 10 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: Oldies radio - alternatives
From: Billy G Spradlin
2. Detroit Cobras new alb
From: Mikael
3. Oldies - Decline of Radio and Music?
From: Rex Strother
4. Lost and Found/more oldies radio
From: Stewart Mason
5. Early Nancy Sinatra
From: John Frank
6. Re: Rag Dolls
From: Ian Slater
7. Re: Banned songs;
From: Bob Rashkow
8. Oldies Radio
From: Gary Krebs
9. Oldies & false rumors
From: Bob Rashkow
10. Re: Decline of Radio and Music?
From: Mary S.
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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 06:35:46 -0000
From: Billy G Spradlin
Subject: Re: Oldies radio - alternatives
> Here is my dream if I had the money. I would create an "Alternate
> Universe" top 40 radio station. It would mimic the golden age of
> top 40 radio but play all non-top 40 material. In other words,
> it would make hits of songs that did not make it to the top 40.
> The station would play hundreds of well recognized artists' OTHER
> songs! I think it would be a very exciting thing to do. I guess
> we already do this kind of thing with our homemade tapes and CDs!
I'm attempting to do this on Live365.com with my own station "60s
Jangle Radio". It's basically my own hodgepodge of 60s favorites
featuring long lost 45s that should have been hits (IMO) along with
LP tracks from popular 60s artists and just a few Top 40 hits that
Oldies stations have ignored over the years. Check it out at:
http://www.live365.com/stations/88545
Billy
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Message: 2
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 11:28:42 +0200
From: Mikael
Subject: Detroit Cobras new alb
Hi cats,
Does anyone know who did the original to DC's "Ya Ya Ya"
version that is on their new record. Someone here whispered
Johnny Horton, but I'm not sure about that.
Thanks.
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Message: 3
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 11:00:13 -0600
From: Rex Strother
Subject: Oldies - Decline of Radio and Music?
I agree with what everyone sez, even though at 42 - all that
70s crap that is slipping into "oldies" does appeal to my teen
years. I wonder why radio PDs don't choose to slip in one
"wild" non-hit choice after every 10th "safe" song (can you
say "Bus Stop"?) to slowly acclimatise folks to "new" oldies.
I think even Joe Average could handle and enjoy that.
I read an interesting essay about music that suggested it is
the mass availability of music that damages diversity and talent.
Example: before records (which we all love), if you wanted to
hear a song - you had to play it yourself. You or friends or
family had to pick up an instrument and buy the sheet music.
Even radio was "live" - live bands and vocalists.
Once records took over - well, you had music without effort.
And at first, you had diversity. But - as we can tell from the
state of things today - no company wants to sell 10,000 units
when they can sell 2,000,000 of the same thing. All the upfront
costs are taken care of; it's pure profit as the numbers ratchet
up.
Truth is, it seems, Americans love to mythologize the value of
the individual and the lone wolf genius-type, but often reward
mediocrity and conformity (can you say Big Mac, can you say
Microsoft Windows?). So we all like to buy the latest,
well-marketed "slick" album (can you say Norah Jones?), leaving
less time and money to diversify. Plus we remain safely part of
the "in" crowd.
Beyond that - if fewer folks actually play instruments (and I
don't count those who simply paste sampled loops together), or
have been raised on regurgitated formats and chord progressions,
how can they appreciate which artist today might have real talent,
rather than teased hair or cleavage (can you say J-Lo, whose latest
album title should simply be "All My Talent Is In My Blouse.)?
My point (and there must be one)? I think radio - any media -
gives us what we want (the statistical "us"). Someone said:
We always deserve what we settle for.
So - who wants to start a radio station? I've got some costumes
in the barn!
Rex
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Message: 4
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 13:05:17 -0400
From: Stewart Mason
Subject: Lost and Found/more oldies radio
JimmyBee writes:
> ...I started a show called "Lost & Found" on college radio
> back in the early 80s. We, the original five DJs ... had but
> one rule: it could never have been a hit. At first we toyed
> with the idea of naming the show "The Flipside of the Followup"
> but thought it too precious. So L&F it became.
I thought Lost and Found was originally called Needles and Pinza,
Jimmy! That's where I stole the name for my now-dormant Live365
station, anyway.
> ...60s pop was widely scorned as the Garage Rock/
> Roots of Punk became the thing. I later branched into exclusively
> obscure soul, but it was a great few years while it lasted...
Actually, I'm a huge fan of WMBR's Lost and Found, which I try to
listen to every day. (Especially when Eli Polonsky's on deck,
although I must admit I still really miss Magnus.) It is, indeed,
exactly what Neil wants: the secret history of '50s/'60s/early
'70s rock.
Now that I live in Boston full-time, I'd really love to get back
into college radio and become a WMBR broadcaster (though I worry
a bit about time commitments), and a slot on Lost and Found would
be ideal for me. However, I'm not sure who's currently programming
the show, and if my ideas for my slot would be welcomed: I have
strong opinions on what makes a good oldies playlist (as if you
couldn't tell from my original screed), which would not only be
heavy on the usual Spectropop suspects, but also a fair amount of
musical oddities from the era and even the occasional small slice
of '50s/'60s jazz. (Heavy on the bossa nova -- Astrud is something
of a goddess to me.)
Thing is, though, and I think this makes me something of a heretic
amongst oldies fans: I think it's well past time we inch up the
barrier line as to what constitutes an "oldie." I believe I've
said this here before, but I submit that oldies radio should hew
to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guideline (which I think is the
only useful element of that increasingly worthless and beside-the-
point institution) of 25 years. If a song is 25 years old, it's an
oldie, and it's acceptable to play it on oldies radio. I admit that
this is an extremely freaky idea (especially for those of us on the
younger end of the Spectropop demographic), since it means that
songs from 1978 are now permissible on oldies radio. ("Hey! I was
buying records in 1978! No song I liked on the first go-round should
be allowed to be called an oldie!") But if you think about it, there
is a whole era of our musical history, roughly from 1975 to the dawn
of MTV, that's being ignored by every playlist except those "We play
'Stairway To Heaven' and 'Hotel California' every hour on the hour"
stations, and it's ripe for re-discovery. And when you hear the
songs together, trust me, they make musical and thematic sense!
It sounds RIGHT to hear ABBA's "Dancing Queen" next to "Then He
Kissed Me," or the Clash's "White Riot" next to "Psychotic Reaction,"
or Blondie's "In the Flesh" next to any Shangri-Las song, or Shuggie
Otis' "Strawberry Letter 23" next to "My Girl." It breaks down a
wall that radio put up too long ago.
But again, as I said in my original post, I'm not suggesting 1978
songs INSTEAD of 1958 songs, but rather ALONGSIDE them. The radio
universe is large, but unlike Walt Whitman, it does not contain
multitudes. But it should.
Stewart
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Message: 5
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 10:20:03 -0700
From: John Frank
Subject: Early Nancy Sinatra
Someone asked about early songs of Nancy Sinatra. Early in
the 1960s she was quite popular in Japan, judging from some
pop charts I have from that country ("Like I Do", at least #4
(Nov. '62); "Tonight You Belong To Me", #12 (Mar. '63). Nothing
charted nationally in the U.S. until 1965's "So Long Babe".
In a series of tape trades I made with a man from Japan, I
acquired quite a few songs from this period. Here's the data on
them. This isn't meant as a complete discography but simply a
list of her songs I received.
Like I Do/Cuff Links & a Tie Clip
- Reprise 20017, 1961
The End of the World
- Reprise LP track (?)
Put Your Head on My Shoulder/I See The Moon
- Reprise 20144, 1963
June, July and August/Think of Me
- Reprise 20097, 1962
The Cruel War/One Way
- Reprise 20188, 1963 (She wrote "One Way")
Just Think About the Good Times/Where Do The Lonely Go
- Reprise 20263, 1964
To Know Him Is To Love Him/Not Just a Friend
- Reprise 20045, 1962
Tammy/Thanks to You
- Reprise 20238, 1964
There Goes the Bride/This Love of Mine
- Reprise 0292, 1964
Tonight You Belong to Me/You Can Have Any Boy
- Reprise 20127, 1963
True Love - Reprise 0335, 1965
The Japanese charts I mentioned earlier are pretty interesting
for their international flavor. Some of the countries represented
by the artists are Japan, the U.S., England, France, Italy and
Brazil.
John Frank
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Message: 6
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 19:22:57 +0100
From: Ian Slater
Subject: Re: Rag Dolls
Justin and Natasha are seeking copies of "Society Girl" by
the Rag Dolls. There is a copy for auction on eBay at present:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2525958163&category=22668
It's not a rare record and crops up fairly often on web-based record sites.
GEMM is another place to look.
Ian Slater
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Message: 7
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 14:41:40 EDT
From: Bob Rashkow
Subject: Re: Banned songs;
"Soldier Boy" too sensitive of a song!!! Am I supposed to be
flattered?? Just let me get out my Eric Andersen, Tim Buckley,
Buffy Sainte-Marie and start blasting those at Federal Plaza
in the Loop!!! "A mighty wind is blowing" indeed!!!
Peace, love, green tea and SRC!
Bobster
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Message: 8
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 15:05:37 -0400
From: Gary Krebs
Subject: Oldies Radio
Check Ed and George at http://www.rockinoldies.com/
They have a show from 6pm till Midnight on Saturday night.
They have no standard playlist and a library of oldies which
is unbelievable. They are also two of the nicest guys out
there still spinning the gold.
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Message: 9
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 15:55:17 EDT
From: Bob Rashkow
Subject: Oldies & false rumors
I just checked out the Urban Legends web site because I had
to see the Clear Channel list for myself. I can't believe
a radio station should have to apologize for playing a record
such as "Celebration" (Kool & The Gang). We have reached a
pretty pass, haven't we. And I don't even LIKE that song.
(But after seeing the entire list, I'm glad the rumor was
false.) Although I agree with what Stewart Mason and others
have said about the oldies stations, I don't even like to use
the term "oldies" anymore. Back in 1969, an oldie played on
the AM pop stations could be a record that was out as recently
as six months earlier. To each their own decade. I was an
adolescent through most of the seventies and there were many
songs that I liked, hits or not, but for me what does it about
the 6Ts is the political and social environment here, in Canada,
and in much of western Europe. At my sister's wedding in 1983
I danced to "Celebration" (a local lounge band's version, at any
rate) and felt very little. I couldn't help but wonder how
difficult it would have been for them to tackle "Strangers in the
Night" or "Somethin' Stupid". Worse yet, what if I had approached
the DJ with a well-worn copy of "Little Miss Sad" (The Five
Impressions/Emprees) and said, "Play this or I'll knock over the
punch bowl!" Unfortunately, speaking just for myself, I doubt
anybody in that well-meaning, buoyant crowd would have gotten out
there and grooved to it.
Bobster
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Message: 10
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 19:55:58 -0000
From: Mary S.
Subject: Re: Decline of Radio and Music?
Rex, I heartily agree with most of what you said. Since I
am so very disappointed in what radio is offering up these
days, I seldom listen to it. There are so few truly independent
stations, anyway. Thank goodness for my records, tapes, and
music videotapes (ones I taped myself before music changed so
much for the worse, pre-recorded tapes such as Everly Brothers'
specials, etc.)!!!
There are now hundreds of "vocalists" who sound nearly identical.
I don't understand this at all. Does anyone think this is a GOOD
thing?? I can't bear to hear the "whisper singing" that has now
been in vogue for years, or the hateful lyrics of so much rap,
which is really just a bunch of shouting set to "rhythm" from
drum machines.
What has happened to vocal music blends? I always loved groups
and duos because of the magic that can happen when two or more
excellent voices harmonize. Actually, there are still some country
singers who can accomplish this, but there are also many more
mediocre voices in country music than there used to be.
I agree that things could possibly improve if a lot of people would
take up playing musical instruments (real ones, not synthesizers that
mimic other instruments, or drum machines).
Mary S.
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