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SPECTROPOP - Spectacular! Retro! Pop!
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There are 8 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Re: Carpenters; Wildweeds
From: Bob Radil
2. Re: Shelby Flint
From: Gary Myers
3. Re: Ventures
From: Dennis Hoban
4. Re: Ventures
From: Steve Harvey
5. Re: Frankie Ford
From: Country Paul
6. [HOLD FOR PC] Re: RecordMaster
From: Fred Clemens
7. Newcomer trying to catch up - and a Darlene Love story
From: Regina Litman
8. Current videos of classic artists
From: Country Paul
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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 07 Sep 2005 21:27:27 -0000
From: Bob Radil
Subject: Re: Carpenters; Wildweeds
Steve Harvey wrote:
> [Richard Carpenter] also mentioned hearing the Wildweeds' "And
> When She Smiles" on the radio in the early '70s while traveling
> to gigs. I always thought it was because they both came from the
> same state.
Country Paul wrote, in re Wildweeds' original "And When She Smiles":
> The record (on Vanguard) was a massive hit in Connecticut, where
> both the Carpenters and the Wildweeds resided.
I don't know if I would say massive, but it certainly got plenty of airplay
on WPOP, WDRC, and probably the New Haven stations, in the spring of 1971.
It was the previous summer that The Carpenters hit the big-time with "Close
To You". If I'm not mistaken, it was a few years earlier that they moved
to California, where the Wildweeds' song probably got no airplay. BTW -
I *would* use the word "massive" when describing the Wildweeds' 1967
hit "No Good To Cry".
Bob Radil
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Message: 2
Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2005 11:59:05 -0700
From: Gary Myers
Subject: Re: Shelby Flint
Peter Lerner wrote:
> ... Shelby Flint, another west coast angel. Who can tell us what became of her?
She did well - maybe still is - as a studio singer. I saw her about 15 yrs ago, playing
piano and singing jazz along with a sax player - sounding great. I spoke with her briefly
and asked about the possibility of doing a story, but I've never gotten back with her.
I did a NY Eve gig, probably '99, that included a female singer who knew her well. I got this
singer's number for the possibility of contacting Flint, but I never followed through with
that either. (Well, I've been very busy!) :- )
gem
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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 07 Sep 2005 18:19:32 -0700
From: Dennis Hoban
Subject: Re: Ventures
Gary Myers wrote:
> To me, the most notable omission in the RnRHOF is the Ventures! "Walk
> Don't Run" influenced every young drummer and guitarist at that time,
> and for years many young bands tried to sound like the Ventures. I
> believe they are the biggest selling guitar-based r'n'r instrumental
> group ever.
Amen to that, Gary. My uncle's guitar teacher was Nokie Edwards of The Ventures.
I have his solo album, "Nokie!" My uncle was MY first guitar teacher. Which makes
me, in a weird way, Nokie's guitar grandson.
The Ventures deserve enlistment in the Hall of Fame. Any way we could influence the
Board of Directors?
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Message: 4
Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2005 16:02:29 -0700 (PDT)
From: Steve Harvey
Subject: Re: Ventures
Gary Myers wrote:
> To me, the most notable omission in the RnRHOF is the Ventures! "Walk
> Don't Run" influenced every young drummer and guitarist at that time,
> and for years many young bands tried to sound like the Ventures. I
> believe they are the biggest selling guitar-based r'n'r instrumental
> group ever.
Not to mention that their instructional albums were the starting point for a lot
of famous musicians.
Steve Harvey
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Message: 5
Date: Wed, 07 Sep 2005 22:11:58 -0400
From: Country Paul
Subject: Re: Frankie Ford
Someone had asked about Frankie Ford in the aftermath of Katrina. I found
this posted on one of my other groups' discussion board:
------
Friday Sept. 2, 2005
From: "Dave Cline"
Subject: Frankie Ford located....
My wife, Darlene made some calls and found a friend of ours who is close
to Frankie. She tracked him down to Texas where he evacuated and will be
staying with friends there until it is safe for him to return to his home
to assess the situation.
------
I'm sure this wasn't the kind of sea cruise he was singing about ...
Country Paul
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Message: 6
Date: Thu, 08 Sep 2005 01:45:06 -0000
From: Fred Clemens
Subject: [HOLD FOR PC] Re: RecordMaster
Orion asked:
> This is not a plug for www.recordmaster.com, but I was wondering
> if anyone uses this site? It is a $25 annual fee but the last time
> I subscribed, it seemed to have a good deal of information about
> groups and or labels. At that time I believe it was aimed at 45s
> but was supposedly going to start including LPs. Does anyone know
> if they have added anything recently?....
I used to check it out when it was free, but found it to be misleading on info I'd
been researching. When they started making it a member-only service, I saw no reason
to pay for something so inaccurate and incomplete (for what I would use it for). It
became a pay site a few years ago, but was accessible via the Spectropop homepage
via the Research Center link for free (as late as a couple of months ago). But now
(apparently) they have caught on to the open link, and it is once again out of reach
(I just checked).
No great loss ...
Fred Clemens
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Message: 7
Date: Thu, 08 Sep 2005 02:30:30 -0000
From: Regina Litman
Subject: Newcomer trying to catch up - and a Darlene Love story
Hi, I've been to the Spectropop web site as a result of getting there
via Google searches and other links, plus I've come across
interesting Spectropop messages from another mailing list that Google
searches sometimes come up with.
I'm a big fan of 1960s music, especially from 1964-1967. I'm into a
lot of the 1970s, too (mainly 1970s stuff that extends the 1960s
sound or was done by 1960s hitmakers), plus some 1950s and 1980s, but
that mid-1960s time period is my favorite.
There's so much to look back on here that I'll probably never catch
up, but I hope to join in upcoming topics.
Two weeks ago tonight, I saw "Hairspray" on Broadway, only the second
show I've ever seen in the New York theatre district in my life. The
first was in 1967, when my parents took me to see "Fiddler on the
Roof". ("Hairspray" is also playing in Philadelphia this week,
incidentally.) I'm not really up on the big Broadway stars of today,
so when I read my "Hairspray" Playbill program book, I didn't really
expect to see any familiar names.
But there was one - Darlene Love. I knew her face for more than 20
years before I knew her name. I used to see an all-girl group called
The Blossoms on "Shindig", a show I watched religiously when I was
in junior high school. The girl in the middle stood out for me, just
like Diana Ross did with the Supremes. I'm pretty sure I saw her on
other T.V. shows in the years after "Shindig". In fact, I saw a rerun
of one of Glen Campbell's shows on Country Music Television (CMT) a
few years ago, and I noticed her among the background singers. By
then, I knew her name and some of the songs she did.
Getting back to "Hairspray", I wasn't surprised to see Darlene Love's
name in the program because I knew she had done "Leader of the Pack"
(a show I'd LOVE to see one of these days, although I have heard that
it's been revamped and possibly not as good as it was before). After
the show, I stood with others by the stage door. While some of them
may have wanted to see the lead performers, I hoped I'd get to see
Darlene Love. And I did! Close up, I recognized her face immediately,
from all of the times I've seen it on T.V. (even though some of those
times were 40 years ago). I told her that I used to see her sing with
The Blossoms on "Shindig", and she was really impressed with that
(although she told me that I was showing my age).
The following day, I went to the Museum of Television and Radio, and
I was able to view a couple of old "Shindig" shows. And there was
Darlene Love, singing in between the other two Blossoms, on several
numbers, either spotlight numbers for them or background singing for
others. (I live in the Philadelphia area and don't get to New York
as often as I should. So, I went for five full days. The Museum of
Television and Radio has a branch in the Los Angeles area in addition
to the one in New York.)
I looked up the other Blossoms' names after I got home. Unfortunately,
their names have slipped my memory (one with bigger hair than
Darlene's sang lead at least once in one of the "Shindig" shows I
saw), but I know they were not Maxine and Julia Waters, other L.A.
session singers, whom I have also seen perform in the past month.
They are part of Neil Diamond's current entourage, and I saw Neil
when he was in Philadelphia on his current tour. (No, Neil does not
do "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" with one of the Waters sisters. There's
a third woman singer on the tour, Linda Press, who has done this with
him on all but one of his tours since the song was a hit in late 1978.
But Julia gets a great solo on "Soolaimon".)
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Message: 8
Date: Wed, 07 Sep 2005 22:30:24 -0400
From: Country Paul
Subject: Current videos of classic artists
I am informed that there are current videos of the touring versions of a lot
of "our music" acts (some with more original content than others, I'm sure)
available at http://www.nealhollanderagency.com/videodir.html - I haven't
yet tried watching them, but if you're curious, among the artists they list
are Harold Melvin's Bluenotes, Carl Gardner's Coasters, The Crystals, The
Drifters (don't know which version), Frankie Ford, Lenny Welch, Jimmy
Clanton, Gary U. S. Bonds, Lou Christie, and Lesley Gore! There are many
others.
This is not yet Country Paul-tested; just passing along what I saw.
Country Paul
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