out in left field (4CE reprint aug 2011)

It's been a while since I wrote about our National Pastime, so as the dog days of August roll in, here are a couple of oddball sidelights on baseball.

The Organized Baseball Career Home Run Record…Which is to say, who has hit the most, Major and Minor League careers combined? The subject of Minor League home runs is an interesting one. You would think that any farm-hand who showed notable power would be promoted fairly quickly…and sure enough, among players who hit 400+ in the Majors, hitting 50+ in the Minors is unusual. But prior to the 1960s, the Minors were a popular form of local entertainment, and a player could be a "career" Minor Leaguer, with just a cup of coffee in the Bigs, or not even that. This was especially true in the Pacific Coast League, where salaries were high and the weather appealing.

Nationally televised games turned the Minors into the "prospect-driven" enterprise they are today, altho the Mexican League, while technically part of the system, remains a viable option for lifetime employment. Sure enough, the top 4 on the all-time Minor League home run list played virtually their entire careers there, lead by Hector Epsino's 484. But of 51 minor leaguers with 300+ career dingers, the top 3 Major League totals are 80, 76, and 46. This tells me most were indeed farm-hands "for life," lacking either the talent or the inclination to go any higher.

At the other end of the spectrum, I added in Minor League home runs for all players with 400+ in the Majors. None under 500 reached as high as 600, altho Carlos Delgado's Major/Minor split of 473/125 put him just 2 shy. Of those with 500+, their new position on the list changed by no more than one or two places…with only Willie McCovey's 512/105 jumping him from 18th to 12th. But significantly, Hank Aaron is back on top, his 755/31 beating Barry Bonds' 762/20 by 4. Babe Ruth had just 1 homer in the minors, Willie Mays just 12. 

Then there are the half-and-half players like Steve Balboni 181/239, Hank Sauer 288/157, Jim Gentile 179/245, the original Frank Thomas 286/100, Vince DiMaggio 125/273, Ripper Collins 135/193, and Zeke Bonura 119/132. This bunch is lead by Dick Stuart and his 228/222 split…it's believed that Dr. Strangeglove is the only player in Organized Ball history with 200+ home runs in both the Majors and the Minors. Russell Branyon is closing in, at 190/210 coming into this season. But looking over an entire career, hitting 200 homers down on the farm appears to be the kiss of death. Of the 166 players I've found with 200+ in the Minors, only 4 had 100+ in the Majors, and only 8 more had between 50 and 99. I suppose the moral is: Whether you play in the Bronx or Paducah…you only have so many in ya.

The Grand-Daddy of All Bar Bets…A player sees a total of 15 balls and strikes in a game but is credited with just one plate appearance. Sounds impossible, right? You get a full count, 3-and-2, then the payoff pitch, for at most 6 balls and strikes…unless there's a trick to it. And in this extreme case, there are TWO tricks to it!

The first trick is obscure rule 10.15b, which states that if a player is unable to complete his at bat, the pinch-hitter is charged with whatever the outcome is, except if the count was 0-and-2, in which case a strikeout would be charged to the original batter, with the pinch-hitter getting credit for nothing, not even an at bat.

So let's say its 1962, and Diamond Jim Gentile is up. He takes a savage swipe, and knocks himself silly. Dick Williams…yes, the recently departed skipper of the 1967 Impossible Dream Red Sox…assumes his at bat with the count 0-and 2, takes 3 balls, then strikes out. K charged to Gentile, Williams' total: balls and strikes 4, at bats 0. 

His next time up, he works the count full, then Whitey Herzog is caught stealing to end the inning…running total: balls and strikes 9, at bats 0. Third time up, another full count, then he strikes out…final total: balls and strikes 15, at bats 1. Which just goes to show you, never take a bet in a bar!

Has Anyone Ever Batted .500?…The Major League record for highest batting average for a season is Nap Lajoie's .426 with the A's in 1901. In the Minors, the record is Gary Redus' out-sized .462…that's 117 for 253…with Billings of the Rookie level Pioneer League in 1978. Their season was only 68 games, and they went 50-18…but Gary played in every one of them. Occasionally you have a player who bats 1.000 for a season, going 1/1 or 2/2…pitcher Bruce Chen had 3 1/1 seasons! But Majors or Minors, what's the longest extended period a player has hit .500? Does a data base exist of every game ever played, at every level, day to day? If so, and if the server doesn't crash, maybe we'll day find out some day.

But for now, the record to beat has to be Joe Wilhoit. With the Class A Wichita Jobbers of the Western League, from June 14 to August 19, 1919, he hit in 69 consecutive games, the Organized Ball record, at an astonishing .515 clip…that's 153 for 297. Think of it…for over 2 months, he essentially got a hit every other at bat! It would surprise me if anyone at any level has ever been that hot for that long. After all, baseball is a game where even the best of them can end his work day having accomplished absolutely nothing.

Shamsky's Category-Busting Record…Art Shamsky was a run-of-the-mill outfielder for the Reds, and later the Mets. But over 2 games in 1966, he was simply amazing, hitting 4 home runs in 4 consecutive at bats, one of only 7 players to ever do that. What's more, with each one, the Reds either tied the score or took the lead…and his streak started with a pinch at bat in the 8th inning! 

August 12, 1966, Reds hosting the Pirates, behind 7-6, Shamsky pinch hits for pitcher Joe Nuxhall and blasts a 2-run homer to give the Reds the lead. But the Bucs score in the top of the 9th to send to it extra innings. They score again in the 10th, but Shamsky, now playing left field, hits a solo shot to keep the Reds in it. In their next ups, the Pirates score 2 this time, and sure enough in the bottom of the 11th Shamsky hits a 2-run dinger to tie it up again! But despite his heroics, Cincinnati eventually lost 14-11 in 13 innings.

2 days later, Shamsky gets another pitch hit opportunity, and again homers, a game the Red would also lose. But no other non-starter has ever hit 3 homers in one game. And only 2 other payers have hit 2 extra-inning home runs in the same game…the  St. Louis Browns' Vern Stephens in 1943, and Cleveland's Willie Kirkland in 1963. End result:  Art Shamsky's bat is in the Hall of Fame, even if he isn't. There's no getting around it, baseball really is a funny game.

On another note, if you want to read past "Stolf's Oldies" columns, a number of them are posted at travelingcyst.blogspot.com. Also, there are my daily blogs at stolf.wordpress.com and deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com. And if you miss Cool Daddy, we're together on 2 podcasts: stolfpod.podbean.com and thewholething.podbean.com. Till next month, my friend, take a moment and rock on!

ask cool daddy 3 (4CE reprint july 2011)

Ask Cool Daddy 3

I was told recently that the Davy Crockett coonskin cap I had as a kid wasn't real raccoon. Say it isn't so!

Sorry, but unless yours was handed down from your great great grandfather, it probably is so. The fashion was adopted by the early settlers from the Indians, and any furry animal unfortunate enough to be the size of a man's head would do, including skunks. Many famous historical figures sported one, including both Lewis & Clark, and when he ran for President in 1948, Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver. But Davy Crockett wore one only on occasions when the public expected it, and Daniel Boone disliked them and never did.

When I was a kid, we were too poor to get them, so my brother and I took turns wearing the cat. Which wasn't so crazy, considering the early style was to leave the head on the front of the cap, like those fox stoles our mothers wore. In any event, during the 1950s, coonskin caps were made of rabbit fur, sometimes but not always with a real raccoon tail…the rest of the coon being used for other fashion purposes, such as coats and collars. There was even a white version for girls, named after Davy's wife Polly. Most Daniel Boone hats of the 1960s were entirely synthetic.

Back in the day, I remember a cereal called Sugar Chex, but nobody believes me. Cool Daddy to the rescue?

Indeed. For years, Ralston Purina, then General Mills who bought the line in 1997, experimented with presweetened versions of Chex cereal. It appears they've finally gotten it right, with the slightly sweet Honey Nut, Chocolate, and Cinnamon varieties (Strawberry Chex is no longer made.) But just as pet-food makers refuse to tell you that your dog or cat's favorite flavor is "fat," the human brain is hard-wired to prefer "sugar" as its flavor pick. And when RP's first attempt to expand the iconic Wheat-Rice-Corn Chex trio came in 1966, it was presweetened.

It was called Mr. Waffles…how's that for a typically goofy Sixties product name? But it was shaped like Chex, and came in 2 flavors, regular (i.e. "sugar") and banana. What you're probably remembering was the relaunch of the regular version as Sugar Frosted Chex several years later. The final push came in the early Seventies, as Sugar Chex, then Super Sugar Chex, featuring Casper the Friendly Ghost on the front. They gave up the ghost sometime after 1974. A slightly sweet Honey Graham Chex existed briefly in the late Eighties.

Frosted Rice Chex Juniors came and went quickly in the early Nineties, followed by Frosted Mini Chex a decade later. They retooled it by making the squares normal size as Frosted Chex around 2009, and that seems to be still available anecdotally, altho it's not listed on the official Chex website. And good breakfasting to you…

Is it true that Beatles manager Brian Epstein had an American group in his fold? I can't remember which, though.

But as I suspect you suspected, Cool Daddy can. It was the Cyrkle, the weird spelling suggested by none other than John Lennon. They were from Easton, PA, home of Crayola crayons. Epstein signed them on the suggestion of his American business partner, and they were an opening act on the Beatles 1966 American tour. Their 2 hits were "Red Rubber Ball," written by Paul Simon, and "Turn Down Day." And there's a video floating around the web of Simon & Garfunkel performing "Ball" live in 1967.

He actually co-wrote it with Bruce Woodley of the Seekers. The Cyrkle heard it while touring with S&G, and Paul said: "You like it? It's yours." They also recorded "Cloudy," but in a classic case of "what were they thinking," passed on another song he offered them, "59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)." Another irony is John Simon, who was the Cyrkle's producer, but no relation to Paul, altho Paul has a younger brother Eddie, also in the music biz. John went on to work with the Band, Blood Sweat & Tears, and Big Brother & the Holding Company.

I always like hearing about what might have been: the first choice to play a famous TV or movie role that went to someone else…got any for me?

Yup, I got a doozie: Tom Poston was the first choice of Buck Henry and Mel Brooks to play Max on "Get Smart." But often not getting your first choice turns out to be the charm…can you imagine Agent 86 without "that voice"? Actually, the voice goes back to Don Adams' early days as a standup comic, and was supposed to be his impression of William Powell. Not for nothing, but Don Adams' real last name was Yarmy, and he had a younger brother named Dick Yarmy, also a comedian and actor.

But really, the whole character of Maxwell Smart was lifted directly from that of Byron Glick, the inept hotel detective Adams played on an earlier series, "The Bill Dana Show," which lasted a season and a half, 1963-65, with Jose Jimenez as an elevator operator. Since there weren't enough episodes made, this show was never marketed for syndication, but it would be a treat for Baby Boomers to see today. The hotel manager was played by Jonathan Harris, Dr. Smith on "Lost in Space"…Gary Crosby was the bellhop…and Maggie Peterson, Charlene Darling on "The Andy Griffith Show," was a waitress.

Talk about "Look who it is!" moments…on just the first handful of episodes, you'd see Sue Randall, Miss Landers on "Leave It To Beaver"…Percy Helton, that squeaky-voiced, hunchbacked actor…and 3 familiar faces from Mayberry: Jack "Howard Sprague" Dobson, Sue Ann Langdon, and Rachel Ames, longtime stalwart on "General Hospital" as Nurse Audrey…wow! Needless to say, "The Bill Dana Show" was a Danny Thomas production, as was "The Andy Griffith Show."

Do you remember a toy set called Hamilton's Invaders? I wanted it for Christmas, but never got it. But who the heck was Hamilton?

This was one of the more interesting play-sets of the Sixties, made by Remco from 1964-65. The basic premise was simple enough: giant bugs and spiders attacking, and blue plastic "army men," called Blue Defenders, fighting back with tanks, jeeps, and the "Hornet Helicopter." There was even a pistol and a helmet with goggles so you could personally join in the battle. The whole deal was reasonably popular with kids…legend has it that it was discontinued because Moms didn't like the idea of large, almost foot-long creepy crawlers scuttling across the floor with the pull of a string, altho they were later reused in "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" play-sets.

But the part of the concept that seemed a little off was naming the lead bug "Horrible Hamilton." Given other monster names of the day, like Godzilla, Gorgo, Konga, Caltiki, and Mothra, "Hamilton" didn't seem to fit. Was this the kind of name your creepy old great uncle might have had, like Murgatroyd or Algernon? Wouldn't Boris or Igor have been at least a little better? And why was the logo of the Blue Defenders a Horrible Hamilton bug head, with the words "Hamilton's Invaders," as if they were on the bugs' side? Perhaps you really were supposed to be rooting for the bugs over the soldiers, given the popularity of giant creature movies at the time. Reminds me of the time I took my wife to see the movie "War and Peace." She rooted for War.

Till next month, check out Stolf's phenomenal blogs and podcasts, all linked at deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com…and as always, rock on!

invasion USA! (4CE reprint june 2011)

Invasion USA!

April's column had this list of British Invasion groups: Dave Clark Five, Animals, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Searchers, Rolling Stones, Swinging Blue Jeans, Herman's Hermits, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Freddie and the Dreamers, Manfred Mann, Nashville Teens, Honeycombs, Small Faces, Kinks, Them, Yardbirds, and Zombies…and the number of times they appeared on "American Bandstand" in 1964 and 1965, combined: zero.

Take that same list and check the "Ed Sullivan Show": 24 appearances, including 7 by the Dave Clark Five, 4 each for the Animals and Gerry & the Pacemakers…even the bad boy Rolling Stones were invited back for a second go. And Sullivan did around 40 shows per year, while Dick Clark was on every week. The old geezer really understood show biz. In fact, the DC5 were on one month after the Beatles, for 2 consecutive Sundays. I can still remember the buzz on the school bus that Monday morning, how the Beatles were history, one-month wonders, and the Tottenham Sound was the new sensation.

But the British Invasion was in full swing. The earliest use of that term I can find in Billboard magazine is March 21, 1964: BRITISH INVASION OF U.S. SPREADS. REDCOATS WIDEN BEACHHEAD HERE. And on the Hot 100 chart for April 4, Beatle singles were in positions #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5, with 7 more ranging from #31 to #79...an astonishing feat not likely to ever be repeated. Record companies scrambled to sign British bands, and not surprisingly, they looked first to the Beatles' hometown of Liverpool.

Here are the British groups that charted in 1964, with the Liverpudlians marked with an asterisk: February: Dave Clark Five...March: *Searchers, *Swinging Blue Jeans...April: *Billy J. Kramer & Dakotas...May: Rolling Stones, Peter & Gordon, Hollies, Chad & Jeremy, *Gerry & Pacemakers. There was a summer lull…nothing new in June or July, only the Animals and Lulu in August. Then September saw Manfred Mann, the Kinks, Nashville Teens, Honeycombs...October: Herman's Hermits, Zombies...November: the Hullabaloos, Marianne Faithful...and December: Petula Clark joined the fray. Several other British bands released singles in 1964, but wouldn't see chart success until 1965 or later: the Who, Yardbirds, Them, Wayne Fontana & Mindbenders, Freddie & Dreamers, Fortunes, Spencer Davis, and Ian Whitcomb.

And the record bins were packed with British groups that got squeezed out in the stampede, and never hit the charts. Liverpool groups included the Merseybeats, Mojos, Escorts, Undertakers, Ian & Zodiacs, the Big Three, King-Size Taylor & Dominos…even Rory Storm & the Hurricanes, Ringo's old group, had a 45 out on Columbia, one of the few major labels, along with RCA and A&M, that didn't jump in with both feet. From all across Great Britain came the Rockin' Berries, Applejacks, Gonks, Snobs, Fourmost, Paramounts (with Gary Brooker, later of Procol Harum), Pretty Things, Screamin' Lord Sutch…even Pete Best, the Beatle's old drummer, cut some records, but made barely a ripple.

By my rough estimate, 25% of the weekly Top 40 slots and 18% of the Hot 100 slots were held by British artists in 1964. These percentages actually increased a little in 1965, but by that time an American Response was beginning to emerge. Altho paradoxically, in one sense there was virtually no American Response at all!

Sure, kids grew their hair long and got groups together, practicing in garages across America. Even my erstwhile sidekick Cool Daddy was in a group, Ringo Kuryakin and the Agitation Stipulation. I asked if he was Ringo, and he said no, he was Agitation. And they didn't have a garage, so they'd practice in the drive-way before his dad got home from work. Many of these groups would attain local fame, playing dances and clubs, and some even had regional hit records. But can you name one national hit from 1964 by an American group that sounded even remotely like the Beatles?

The closest I can come up with is "She's the One" by the Chartbusters, and if you've never heard it, it only reached #33 in July of 1964. They followed the typical pattern: house band at the Crazy Horse in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C…recorded a couple albums for the budget label Diplomat as the Manchesters…Tom Hanks said they were the inspiration for the one-hit Oneders in the movie "That Thing You Do." The Beau Brummels had 2 hits in early 1965, then faded away. Many people think of "Lies" by the Knickerbockers, certainly the closest an American group came to capturing the Beatles Sound, but it barely snuck into the Top 20 in December, 1965, almost 2 years after B-Day.

Simply put, trying to copy the Beatles didn't cut it with the record-buying teens. As I said last month, there was too much of the "real thing" around. What the Beatles did do for American pop music was invigorate it like nothing else could. The look, the style, the clothes, the hair, the whole idea of "a group"…the attitude, the atmosphere, the "scene" if you will…it was something new, fresh, exciting. Young American musicians took their cue from the Beatles, and what did they come up with?

Add the Beatles to the surf bands and you got the Kingsmen, the Premiers, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, the Barbarians, the Leaves with "Hey Joe," the Music Machine, what was then called "punk," but is now referred to as the "garage bands." Take the Standells…when they appeared on "The Munsters" in 1965, they were a lame imitation of the Beatles, with something called "Come On and Ringo." By 1966, they were snarling with "Dirty Water."

Add the Beatles to rhythm and blues and you got the Blue-Eyed Soul of the Young Rascals. Even black music was energized…listen to Motown recordings before and after B-Day, and hear the pop sheen Barry Gordy was astute enough to apply to the Sound of Young America. Add the Beatles to country & western and you got the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, leading to Poco, America, and the Eagles. Add the Beatles to folk, and out comes the Mamas and Papas, Lovin' Spoonful, Simon and Garfunkel…and when Bob Dylan went electric, it was time for the Yanks to take back their music!

Add the Beatles to harmony groups like the Lettermen, Four Preps, even the Four Seasons, and you got the Turtles, the Buckinghams, the Grassroots, and especially the Association. Add the Beatles to big band jazz with a horn section, and you got Blood Sweat & Tears and Chicago. And there was Paul Revere and the Raiders, who had been copying whatever sound was hot since 1961 with little success, until they hit their stride in 1965.

Then came the Monkees, further commercializing what was a blatantly commercial enterprise to begin with, and you got the stripped down silliness of bubble gum, followed by the bouncy records of the early 1970s, today collectively labeled "Sunshine Pop." And ironically enough, the Beatles took note of it all, and themselves fed on the emerging new American sounds. It was only after the Beatles weren't the Beatles anymore that real imitators emerged: Badfinger in the UK, the Raspberries in the US, the whole Power Pop movement, and the Electric Light Orchestra, an outgrowth of one of the most Beatle-like British bands, the Move. And the Move never hit it big in the US…they were just too Beatley for their own good.

In short, what a time to own a transistor radio! Catch you on the web at Deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com, and c'mon baby let's do the rock on!

beatlemaniapalooza! (4ce reprint may 2011)

Beatlemaniapalooza!

Follow the leader, jump on the bandwagon, ride the coattails, monkey-see monkey-do. Just trying to profit from something that you yourself had nothing to do with. It's safe to say the music industry has never seen a tidal wave like that which followed the Beatles. Today they're collectively called "Beatle Novelty Records." A harsher term might be "exploitation"…or would that be Beatsploitation? And one of the earliest tries to cash in on the Beatles involved the Beatles themselves.

In June of 1961, German producer Bert Kaempfert wanted to record an LP with British rocker Tony Sheridan, who'd become popular performing in German clubs. The Beatles had sometimes accompanied him on stage, and they signed on to record 7 songs…5 as the backup "Beat Brothers," and two more on their own, John Lennon singing "Ain't She Sweet," and an instrumental called "Cry for a Shadow." These cuts were released in Germany and the UK, but a planned US issue on Decca in April of 1962 was scrapped after promo 45s sent to radio stations generated little response. Thus in the first weeks of 1964, MGM rushed these old recordings back into print, and altho none charted very high, they were out there…and "Cry For a Shadow, dedicated to Cliff Richard's backup group, is actually quite catchy.

Oddly enough, the very first American tie-in record technically came out before the Ed Sullivan debut on Feb 9, 1964. That's because it was by an American folksinger named Bill Clifton, who was touring in England in late 1963. He recorded a song written by Geoff Stephens, who went on to pen "Winchester Cathedral," "There's Kind of Hush," Tom Jones' "Daughter of Darkness," and Marry Hopkins' "Knock Knock Who's There." It was done in a gently mocking "talking blues" style and called "Beatle Crazy"…out in England in December, then in the US soon after B-Day. An ad for London Records in Billboard proclaimed: "Boston Breakout! Comedy Smash!" Well, It charted in neither country, but Clifton was first off the mark.

But the initial deluge was incredible…you had recordings by groups called the American, Canadian, Japanese, and Female Beatles, even the Beatle-ettes. You had the Bootles, Bagels, Beagles (real "singing" dogs), Weasels, Haircuts, Bearcuts, U.S. Beatlewigs, Liverpool Wigs, not to the mention the Liverpool Kids, Lads, Beats, Set, and Five...and the Mersey Bugs, Birds, Lads, Sounds, and Beats (not to be confused with the one-word Merseybeats, one of Liverpool's most popular groups.) If it was an insect…the Bugs, Buggs, Bedbugs, Teen Bugs, Termites, Beehives, Boll Weevils, Butterflies, Grasshoppers, Insects, Roaches, Lady Bugs, Lady Birds, Bug Men…or sounded the least bit British…the Bulldogs, Beefeaters, Limeys, Livers, Redcoats, Mad Englishmen, Whippets…you'd find it in the 45's bin.

Some were decidedly anti-Beatle, like "Beatle Bomb" by the Exterminators…flipside: "Stamp Them Out." But most were unabashed love-fests. You wanna dance? You could choose from the Beatle Dance, Bop, Blues, Bounce, Jump, Walk, Beat…or just "Do the Beetle" with Gary Usher, who with Roger Christian took time out from his surf and hot rod records to produce Capitol's documentary LP "The Beatles' Story." That in itself was an unprecedented marketing ploy, and 2 discs to boot! Who else got a documentary record? The Stones, Led Zep, the Eagles, Elton John? Nobody but the Fab Four.

Now most of these cash-in records were cheap, fly-by-night productions. But there were numerous well-established "budget labels" that did a good business with low-priced copies of currently popular songs and styles, and these sprang into action. Best known perhaps is "Beatlemania! in the U.S.A." on Wyncote by the anonymous Liverpools. The issue of Billboard that hit the stands the day before B-Day actually featured it in the LP Spotlight section, commenting: "Could be a solid seller." And while the Beatle songs they covered are pretty lousy, several other cuts aren't too bad, with an almost Mersey Beat style. Still, the ripoff nature of this enterprise is betrayed by the fact that Wyncote soon released a speeded up "Chipmunks" version of the record, using the exact same music tracks!

A few of the copycats went on to bigger things. "I Wanna Be a Beatle" by the Unbeetables featured Gene Cornish, a founding member of the Young Rascals. And then there was "Ringo, I Love You" by Bonnie Jo Mason, who turned out to be none other than Cher.

Many legitimate artists also took a shot. You had Beatle take-offs and tributes from Ella Fitzgerald, Chuck Berry, the Angels, Rolf Harris, Homer and Jethro, Vito and the Salutations, Casey Kasem, Lou Monte, Allen Sherman, Little Peggy March, Sonny Curtis, the ex-Cricket best known for the Mary Tyler Moore theme, and even rockabilly legend Billy Lee Riley ("Red Hot" and "Flying Saucer Rock & Roll") with an album of Beatle songs on the harmonica. Gene Moss did a vampire version, "I Want to Bite Your Hand." Buchanan and Greenfield issued the requisite "break-in" single called "The Invasion." One of the most popular novelty LPs was by David Seville and the real Chipmunks, and it's even made it to CD, such was its lasting if goofy appeal.

And we've only been surveying 1964. As time progressed, and it became apparent the Beatles were no mere flash-in-the-pan, every conceivable variation and adaptation of their music was put out at one time or another…Country and Western style, Tijuana Brass style, Bossa Nova, Motown, all manner of classical styles from symphonic to chamber music, Polkas, you name it. Even Capitol Records mined this vein early on, with the Hollyridge Strings series of "Easy Listening" instrumentals. Sample them today on CD and you'll find them surprisingly upbeat and creative, thanks to the talented Stu Phillips.

Records of course were just the tip of the merchandising iceberg. Tie-in products, officially licensed or otherwise, flooded the market, perhaps the strangest being Baskin-Robbins "Beatle Nut" ice cream, pistachio with walnuts and a chocolate swirl. But we must ask: Were any of these novelty records any good?

Yes, some of them are very good, and a joy to listen to almost 50 years later. But here we come to an interesting point: none of them sold very well, at least not compared to "real" records that were tabulated on the national charts. In fact, only one cracked Billboard's Top 40…"We Love You, Beatles" by the Carefrees, studio singers from England, who adapted a song from "Bye Bye Birdie"…and that only peaked at #39. Just a handful of others charted, all stalling in the mid-80s on the Hot 100, and all during the first crazy months of Beatlemania…"The Boy with the Beatle Hair," a nice girl-group sound by the Swans…"A Letter to the Beatles," the last chart entry for the Four Preps…and Donna Lynn's energetic "My Boyfriend Got a Beatle Haircut," released the day after B-Day, but recorded in January. Those last 2 were on Capitol, of all labels. I guess they finally woke up.

But the fact of the matter was, the Beatles were terrifically prolific, churning out tons of product, more than enough to gobble up a major portion of a teenager's record budget. And with any shekels left over, there were plenty of other British groups to choose from. That'll be the focus next month in the final installment of this Beatles series: the English artists that rode the British Invasion avalanche in the Beatles' wake…but how it was ultimately "The American Response" that changed the face of our music. Till next time, let's do it in the road at deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com…and rock on!

the beatles go boom! (4CE reprint april 2001)

The Beatles Go Boom!

B-Day, Feb. 9, 1964, 8pm. Everyone remembers that episode of "The Ed Sullivan Show"…like they remember where they were when Kennedy was shot, or the Challenger disaster, or 9/11. Reading people's stories on the Internet, a certain pattern emerges…Dad was appalled, wanted to change the channel…Mom was more receptive…and of course the kids went bonkers. The next day, on the school bus and on the playground, everybody was talking about it. A few sour-puss teachers, especially music teachers, had some unkind thoughts, and predictions, to share with their students.

Me, I missed it. I was 12 at the time, but being the oldest of 5 kids in a one-TV family, what we watched tended to skew to the young end. We were watching "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" on NBC, as we did every Sunday night, 7:30 to 8:30. It was the first of 3 episodes of Patrick McGoohan as "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh." Great show, I have no complaints. But it took several decades before Baby Boomers felt brave enough to admit they'd been watching the Scarecrow, too. Some were even watching "The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters" over on ABC, with Tiger Beat heart-throb Kurt Russell, and the Osmond Brothers…that's Alan, Jay, Merrill, and Wayne…no Donny, altho the 7-year old had joined the "family business" the previous year on "The Andy Williams Show."

Interestingly enough, depending on where you lived in the North Country, you might have watched both the Beatles and the Scarecrow! That's because while CBS programming was broadcast on Channel 7 WCNY (they changed to WWNY in 1965), CJOH out of Ottawa ran Disney earlier in the evening, at 6:00. One Baby Boomer, told me he watched the Scarecrow, then went to bed. His dad woke him up and said: Kid, you've gotta see this!

And 47 years later, I finally watched the Beatles, too. Their appearances on 3 consecutive Sundays are available on DVD, just as they originality aired, complete with all the other acts and the original network commercials. It was an eye-opening experience to say the least. On B-day the Beatles performed live and they were at the top of their game, altho the reaction shots of the girls in the audience losing their minds looked to me to be pre-recorded clips from earlier in the day.

Two of the other acts on the show are of interest. Davy Jones, future Monkee, sang as part of the cast of the Broadway show "Oliver." He had just turned 18, but was already a seasoned pro, and arguably had even more stage presence than the Fab Four at that point. Then there was McCall and Brill…Mitzi and Charlie…a husband and wife comedy team in the Nichols and May/Stiller and Meara mold. They did a so-so routine about a talent agent auditioning female singers, but had the presence of mind to put in a Beatle joke, which got a screech from the audience.

The next week, the entire show was broadcast from Miami, or as Ed called it "Miamah," with the Beatles again live, altho not nearly as good. The 3rd week, it was a segment taped on the afternoon of B-Day, and it's here you can see the resemblance to the reaction shots from the first week. I'm thinking that even for the Beatles, they only had so many cameras to work with.

But an intriguing story that's seldom told is Dick Clark's part in all of this. And Jack Paar's as well. Because the explosion of popularity in the wake of B-Day had been foreshadowed a month earlier when Jack Paar aired a complete clip of "She Loves You" on his Friday night 10PM variety show on NBC, January 3. Not surprisingly, he had some sarcastic things to say about the sorry state of the British Empire. But sales of the single, up until then lackluster, shot thru the roof. Ed Sullivan must have smiled, knowing he'd been on the right track all along.

And that's the big question: how could an old geezer like Sullivan have scooped the King of Pop, the Eternal Teenager, the Hitmaker Himself, Dick Clark? Recall that after 2 Beatles singles in 1963 went nowhere, Vee Jay passed on "She Loves You," and the small Philadelphia label Swan put it out in mid-September. Swan owner Bernie Binnick was a friend of Dick Clark's, and when he pitched the record, hoping to get it played on "American Bandstand," Clark was unimpressed, saying it sounded like Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry mixed together. When Binnick showed him a picture of the group's unique look, Clark opined: "You're insane…it'll never fly."

"She Loves You" was duly played on the Rate-a-Record segment and earned 71 out of 98, considered a poor showing. When shown the photo of the group, the kids giggled. Clark figured the Beatles were going nowhere. He later admitted: "We all found out the truth soon enough." And to his credit, the Saturday following B-Day, "American Bandstand" featured a telephone interview with the Lads, followed by another phone call in April, then 2 shows devoted entirely to the Beatles…one in July, promoting the movie "A Hard Day's Night," and another in October.

But the Beatles never performed live on American Bandstand. In fact, for the years 1964 and 1965, the total number of live appearances by the Dave Clark Five, the Animals, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, the Searchers, the Rolling Stones, the Swinging Blue Jeans, Herman's Hermits, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Freddie and the Dreamers, Manfred Mann, the Nashville Teens, the Honeycombs, the Small Faces, the Kinks, Them, the Yardbirds, and the Zombies, COMBINED was…0. That's right, zero, nada, zilch. British groups of any note, as opposed to duos, didn't crack the show until the Hollies in November of 1966, almost 3 years after B-Day.

The best 1964 could offer was: the American Beetles from Florida on June 20th (as the Razor's Edge, they had minor success with "Let's Call it a Day, Girl" in 1966)…the Standells on August 29, 2 years before they'd hit the charts with "Dirty Water," Chad and Jeremy on November 28th, and that was it. 1965? The first successful American "beat" group the Beau Brummels in February…the Standells again, the Beau Brummels again, the Liverpool Five (who?) in August…the Gentrys, Gary Lewis and the Playboys…then in January of 1966, Chad and Jeremy returned, and Peter and Gordon were on the following week. Is it just me or did Dick Clark simply not get it?

He insisted on booking Jan and Dean, Johnny Rivers, Fabian, the Hondells, Dick and Dee Dee, Duane Eddy, Donna Loren, Johnny Mathis, Roger Miller, Trini Lopez, Bobby Vee, Gale Garnett, the Ventures, the Newbeats, lots of soul and R&B performers, and a salute to Elvis. Well and good…it didn't seem to affect the show's popularity, as it would continue for decades. And he did branch out in the late 60s with the hipper "Happening" and "Where is the Action Is." Still, he seemed to be breaking the cardinal rule of music programming: you play what they want to hear, not what you personally like. Or was he just being "patriotic," if you get my drift?

Groovy Stolf Stuff on the web at deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com…and till next time, rock on, yeah, yeah, yeah!

your 1st beatles collections (4CE reprint march 2011

"Your First Beatles Collection"

For the next several months, I'll be writing about the Beatles, and the year 1964, when Beatlemania hit the USA with such force as to explode Frankie Valli's head and the heads of 2 of the other Four Seasons. Only Bob Gaudio somehow kept his composure. Just kidding, folks, but you get my drift.

Now as we tuned in to the Ed Sullivan Show at 8pm, Feb. 9, 1964…"B-Day":…some of us were taken by surprise by what we saw and heard. But there had been extensive publicity leading up to the show…after all, 73 million people didn't just happen to be watching. And many of those were already hard-core "Beatle people," because the Beatles were already starting to conquer the Billboard Magazine record charts.

As of that Sunday, "I Want To Hold Your Hand" was celebrating its 2nd week at #1, where it would stay for another 5 weeks. "She Loves You" was at #7…it would be #2 for those next 5 weeks, then the 2 songs would trade places for another 2 weeks. "Please Please Me" and "I Saw Her Standing There" were also starting to climb. And the Beatles first American LP "Meet the Beatles" was #3 on the Albums chart…it would spend the next 11 weeks at #1, and a total of 21 weeks, almost half a year, in the top 10. What a difference from the previous year!

"We don't think the Beatles will do anything in this market." That was Capitol Record's judgement when their sister company Parlophone sent over a copy of "Please Please Me" in January, 1963. Over the course of that year the Beatles released 2 LPs in their homeland…"Please Please Me" and "With the Beatles," with 14 tracks on each. And starting with "Love Me Do" in October of 1962, they also released 5 singles, 3 of which were not included on either album, which came to be the practice in Britain, for a grand total of 34 songs. And they were selling well everywhere, Europe, Australia, Asia, just not here. Because Capitol simply wasn't interested.

But there were plenty of hustlers in the music business willing to take a flier on just about anything. Thus the single "Please Please Me" backed with "Ask Me Why" came out on Chicago's small VeeJay label in February, 1963. It was played for a couple weeks on Chicago radio station WLS, reaching #35 on their weekly survey, but went virtually unheard elsewhere. In May, VeeJay tried again with "From Me to You" backed with "Thank You Girl."

Billboard's Hot 100 chart had a "Bubbling Under" section that listed between 20 and 40 additional singles. "From Me To You" actually bubbled for 3 weeks in August, reaching #116. This was thanks to Del Shannon. After touring in England, and witnessing first hand the growing Beatle hysteria, he released his version of "From Me To You" in June, 1963. It spent 4 weeks on the charts, peaking at #77. That was the only reason the Beatles made it even as "high" as #116, as a few stations tried playing the "original" version, but again, listener response was nonexistent.

As Autumn approached, even VeeJay was losing heart, and in September they passed on "She Loves You." It was released on the small Philadelphia label Swan, backed with "I'll Get You," in the hopes of getting the Beatles played on American Bandstand. Dick Clark gave it a listen and was unimpressed. He put it on his Rate-a-Record segment and the crowd gave it low marks. But by this time, there were rumblings that something was about to happen. The buzz got louder in November when Ed Sullivan announced he had signed the Beatles for 3 appearances in February, 1964. Bolstered by this publicity, VeeJay re-released the LP "Introducing the Beatles," which was the Beatles first UK album, minus 2 cuts they no longer had the rights to. They'd originally put it out in July and it failed to chart…meaning 200 LPs in the US at that time were more popular than the Beatles! Of course in early 1964, it would spend 8 straight weeks at #2, lodged right behind "Meet the Beatles."

The Sullivan announcement also prompted Capitol to finally stick a toe in the water, and they scheduled "I Want To Hold Your Hand" for a January 13th release. "Leaked" copies starting airing on US radio stations, beginning in Washington DC, thanks to a record brought over by a BOAC stewardess, and the date was moved up to the day after Christmas. Even then, it took the single almost a month to debut on the charts at #45…#3 the next week, then its run of almost 2 months at #1. The first American album "Meet the Beatles" was released on January 20th. It was their 2nd British LP with 4 songs removed and 2 others added.

Of special interest to Northern New York Baby Boomers was the Canadian situation. Like the US, Canada lagged behind in catching the Beatle bug in 1963. After a 45 release of "Love Me Do"/"PS I Love You" tanked early in the year, Capitol of Canada laid off until almost the last minute. They released "With the Beatles" under the title "Beatlemania With the Beatles" in November, a 45 of "Please Please Me"/"Roll Over Beethoven" in December, and a slightly revamped "Please Please Me" album retitled "Twist and Shout" in January, 1964.

So here's the tale of the tape. On B-Day, between the VeeJay LP and 45s, the Swan 45, and Capitol's "Meet The Beatles," American fans had 30 of the 34 Beatles songs released thus far. Missing from "With the Beatles" were "Please Mr. Postman," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Devil in Her Heart," and "Money." If you had access to Canadian records, the first 2 were on a 45, and all 4 were on the "Beatlemania" LP. They would arrive officially in the US in April on the "Beatles Second Album."

But there's more! If you liked to spend your afternoons after school sorting thru the singles bin at your local record store, and grabbed anything that said "Lennon-McCartney" on it, you also had 5 Beatles songs performed by the Brian Epstein-produced Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas on Liberty, a subsidiary of Imperial Records. Released between June and November of 1963 were "Do You Want To Know a Secret?," "I Call Your Name," and 3 songs the Beatles wrote but never themselves recorded: "I'll Be On My Way," "Bad to Me," and "I'll Keep You Satisfied." And in November of 1963, ATCO released another "orphan" Lennon-McCartney composition, "Hello Little Girl" by another Epstein group, The Fourmost.

Who's to blame? An executive at Capitol Records named David Dexter. In 1963, he turned down not only the Beatles and Billy J. Kramer, but also Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Hollies, the Animals, the Dave Clark Five, the Swinging Blue Jeans, the Yardbirds, and Herman's Hermits! He signed only Freddie and the Dreamers…and in all fairness, their only single in 1963, "I'm Telling You Now" failed to chart. Two years later it would zoom to #1. Till next time, keep that 20/20 hindsight in sharp focus, check out Deepfriedhoodsiecups.Wordpress.Com and the wonderful Stolf Stuff links you'll find there, and rock on!

ask cool daddy 2...(4CE reprint feb 2011)

"Ask Cool Daddy 2"

Did the Beatles write the Rolling Stones' first single? Not the first, no, ironic as that would have been. While fans supposedly split into warring factions, Beatles versus Stones, the objects of their affection remained good mates from way back. Actually, as I recall it, there was hardly anybody who didn't like both. But the first record released by the Stones was June 1963, A-side Chuck Berry's "Come On," B-side Willie Dixon's "I Want to Be Loved." It spent 14 weeks on the UK charts, reaching #21. In November 1963, their 2nd 45, again only in the UK, was a Lennon-McCartney song "I Wanna Be Your Man," backed with a self-composed instrumental called "Stoned." It was a bigger hit, up to #12.

Why did the Beatles give their song away, one they would eventually record themselves? Because in those days, they "hustled" their music. There were 2 ways to make money with records: record your own and sell them, or write songs for others and receive royalty payments. That's what ASCAP and BMI are for…to pay composers, not performers. The Beatles did both, with a passion. The first U.S. release by the Stones came in March 1964, Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away" backed with "I Wanna Be Your Man." It reached #48, white the same A-side, with a different B-side, went to #3 in England.

Wasn't that catchy tune Ernie Kovacs used for his Nairobi Trio skits recycled a decade later for the Colt 45 Beer commercials? They do sound similar, but they are really different pieces of music. The "Song of the Nairobi Trio" was originally titled "Solfeggio," written by jazz harpist (that's harp, not harmonica!) Robert Maxwell. Solfeggio is Italian for a form of vocalese where each note is sung with it's corresponding do-re-mi syllable. The recording Kovacs used was by Maxwell's orchestra, with vocals by the Ray Charles Singers, no not that one, the other one, Perry Como's Ray Charles. The jingle on the Colt 45 Malt Liquor commercials with Billy Van was written by Canadian legends of jingledom Jerry Toth and Dolores Claman. It was officially titled "A Completely Unique Experience." In 1968 Claman also composed the Hockey Night in Canada Theme.

I love both Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn" soundtrack albums. Should I search out and watch the shows? For great 1950s-style crime drama, yes, definitely…but for the music, not so much. Hank of course revolutionized TV music, replacing orchestral violins with cool jazz. Even the syndicated western "Shotgun Slade" used anachronistically hip tunes, and that was a selling point. But as great as that swinging music was, "Brothers Go to Mothers," "Dreamsville," The Floater," and all the rest were actually fleshed-out arrangements based on brief motifs used on the show, what they call in the business "cues." Even the iconic Peter Gunn Theme ran less than 60 seconds at the beginning and end of each half-hour episode. So yes, you will hear bits and pieces you'll recognize, and a bevy of sultry nightclub singers to boot, but don't expect to hear Peter Gunn's greatest hits. It didn't work that way…same thing with other TV soundtrack records from the period.

For once and for all, was the Buoys' song "Timothy" really about cannibalism? It sure was, and the 20-year-old composer of the song never denied it, not then, not ever, and that was Rupert Holmes…yup, the "Pina Colada Song" guy. He was kicking around the music business in the late 1960s, and got a band from Wilkes-Barre, PA signed to Scepter Records, home of Dione Warwick and B.J. Thomas. The deal included one single, but they understood there'd be virtually no promotion of it. So Rupert figured, why not put out something that would be automatically banned, based on the time-honored principle that bad publicity is still publicity. The mining disaster and subsequent scarfing of poor Tim was inspired by Tennessee Ernie Ford's "16 Tons"…he thought the description of "a man" in that song sounded like a recipe, and while not a member of the Buoys, he did play piano on the track.

The rest is one-hit-wonder history. "Timothy" was one of the slowest rising hits ever, gaining popularity thru word of mouth, as radio stations fussed over whether to play it. In some markets, one station did, while its crosstown rival didn't, but it was that way with a lot of singles. Scepter Records felt blind-sided and tried to push the story that Timothy was a mule, not a person, but Rupert refused to go along. It's said there's a censored version with different lyrics, but I've yet to find it. Something to look forward to, sez me.

Yeah, but the Purple People Eater is called that because he eats purple people, right? Of course, and he even says so in the song…when asked "What's your line?" he replies "Eating purple people and it sure is fine." The counter-argument is that he's the one that's purple, not the people he eats. Well, it's both, so why are we having this discussion? Maybe that's how he gets to be purple, did you ever think of that? Sheb Wooley wrote and recorded this classic. Soon after, "The Purple People Eater Meets The Witch Doctor" was written and recorded by Joe South, and covered by the Big Bopper. Sheb came right back with "Santa and the Purple People Eater" just in time for Christmas. Man, those were the days...

It was labeled "Ameriachi," but did Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass ever recorded any real mariachi music? Not only didn't they, Herb said in interviews at the time that he purposely avoided it. Yes, he was from Los Angeles, and was influenced by the rowdy excitement of the music he heard at bullfights in Tijuana, but even his breakthrough single "The Lonely Bull" was originally titled "Twinkle Star." The first 2 Tijuana Brass albums especially did have some ethnic touches, even German oom-pah…and early publicity described it as "Tex-Mex" flavored, but Herb was aiming for something else. Real mariachi has kind of a hurry-up waltz beat, and the TJB sound was pure American pop all the way.

I heard that the group Poco was originality named Pogo…true? Absolutely! They signed with Epic records in February 1969, but by April, Pogo comic strip artist Walt Kelly had gotten wind of their name and threatened to sue. So they came up with the bright idea of changing Pogo to Poco…this worked especially well with capital letters, the G morphing into a C. Thus the their name recognition was pretty much retained, and presumably some letter-head was salvaged as well. Till next time, go to deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com and follow the groovy links...and whatever you do, rock on!