Thursday, September 17, 2015

Thursday This And That

Can't wait to see Burton Cummings at The Arcada Theatre this Friday Night ...
He's sold out all three times he's played there ...
ALWAYS a great show (and Burton tells me the band is tighter than ever because they've been playing so much.)  Just a few seats left so you'd better act quickly if you want to catch this rock and roll legend live in concert.
Other upcoming shows at The Arcada:
Poco and Firefall - next Friday (9/25)
Ronnie Milsap - Sunday, 9/27
Neil Sedaka, October 4th
Los Lonely Boys, October 10th
Night Ranger, October 13th
Leon Russell, October 16th
Dave Mason, October 20th
Kansas, October 22nd and 23rd
Mickey Gilley, October 25th
Blood, Sweat and Tears, October 30th
Tanya Tucker, November 1st
Sheena Easton, November 6th
Johnny Rivers, November 14th
Christopher Cross, November 21st
America, November 28th
JUST ADDED:  Todd Rundgren, December 1st (now THERE'S somebody you don't often get a chance to see!!!)  Caught him with Ringo Starr a few years back and he was awesome!
Michael McDonald, December 5th  (Christmas Show)
The Lettermen, December 6th  (Christmas Show)
Felix Cavaliere, December 11th  (Christmas Show)
Ronnie Spector, December 13th  (Christmas Show)
The Ides Of March, December 18th  (Christmas Show) 
By the way, we're trying to put together a special holiday Forgotten Hits Get-Together for this show ... email me if you'd like to attend!  (More details to come)
Visit The Arcada Theatre Online Box Office here for more ticket information:
 
And, speaking of Ringo Starr, don'tcha wish you had the money to buy some of THIS stuff?!?!?
 
How's this for a charity auction?  Ringo is auctioning off 800 items he has had for ages. 
Imagine owning the actual drum set he used for the Beatlemania period of 1963 / 1964 to record "She Loves You," "Can't Buy Me Love" and other hits.  It was also used by Paul on his first solo album, so he was sitting at this set when he recorded every instrument used on his great song "Maybe, I'm Amazed."  And, it was the set used in the movie "A Hard Day's Night."  They say it will bring $300,000 - 500,000.  I think it will probably bring a million.
Each of their famous "White Albums" had a number on the front cover.  The lower the number, the earlier it was made ... thus, low numbers are worth more money.  This 1968 album had songs like "Birthday" and "Back in the USSR".  Mine is numbered over 1 million, which is still considered to be a low number from the 60's.  Ringo is selling NUMBER ONE!  I can't imagine he has had the FIRST copy all these years. 
Lots of cool stuff.  He found old photos never published and will have a book out next month of those.  Pretty neat stuff!
Clark Besch
This undated photo provided by Julien's Auctions shows Beatle Ringo Starr's first 1963 Ludwig Oyster black pearl three-piece drum kit    one of the items up for bid.
 
Lots of Micky Dolenz / Monkees news here ...
I've been saying it for years now ... he's gotta be the Hardest Working Man In Show Business!!!  (kk)
 
Congratulations again to this year's nominees for The America Pop Music Hall Of Fame ...
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, The Association, Lou Christie, the Dave Clark Five, Petula Clark, Sam Cooke, Dion and the Belmonts, Fats Domino, Bob Dylan, the Four Tops, Connie Francis, the Grass Roots, the Jackson Five, Tommy James and the Shondells, the Lettermen, Barry Manilow, the Rascals, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Neil Sedaka, Smokey and the Miracles, Rod Stewart, Barbra Streisand, the Temptations, Three Dog Night and Dionne Warwick
That's quite a list ... Herb Alpert, Tommy James, The Lettermen, Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals, Neil Sedaka, The Temptations and Three Dog Night all have shows coming up here locally between now and the end of the year ... and The Association, Lou Christie and The Grass Roots were all just here recently. 
This is QUITE a list!  Best of luck to all the candidates!  (kk)
 
Thanks kk!
Tommy Scheckel / Paul Revere and the Raiders
 
Thanks so much for your kind words and your vote ... always appreciate you mentioning me on your blog.
Heading out to CA to perform with Frankie Avalon and Bobby Rydell this weekend.
Thanks again for the support.
Lou Christie
 
FH Reader Chet Coppock isn't so sure one of these candidates really belongs in "The Pop Music Hall Of Fame" ... 
 
kk, 
I've been busy as hell working on a new project ... I will begin blogging again soon.
Meanwhile, does Rod Stewart, the vintage Rod Stewart, qualify as a pop star? 
When I think of Stewart I think of the flamboyant British bull who gave us the unforgettable "Every Picture Tells a Story" album back in '71. I might even grit my teeth and think of Stewart vamping his way thru "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"   
Is that pop star material? 
Perhaps, in this era where there is really no real form of definitive pop or rock music, maybe hot Rod does qualify for the Pop Music Hall of Fame.  
Where oh where is our next great form of rock 'n roll? Somewhere, some place, some kid is messing around with chords that will introduce us to rock's next great phase.  Hey, acts like Pearl Jam and U2 now qualify as Rolling Stones-style oldies acts. 
Sadly, rock 'n roll as we know it and love it has been irrelevant for 20 years. Tell me anything rock has
produced over the past two decades that mad your pulse race as it did back in the 60's, 70's and 80's.  
Chuck once sang Hail Hail Rock 'n Roll. Sadly, that seems to have become a funeral dirge. Thank the good lord we have Ron Onesti keeping the oldies alive and well at the Arcada.
Chet Coppock  
Author: Buffone - Monster of the Midway
The very definition of what today passes as rock and roll has been SO altered over the years.  We've mentioned before how an artist like John Cougar Mellencamp and a song like "Hurts So Good" ONLY played on the rock stations when it first came out ... but today is middle-of-the-road faire all day long, along with AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" and other former "hard rocker" tunes.
Rod Stewart?  I was never much of a fan (maybe it was the panty hose) ... and certainly not of his disco phase hit "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" ... but I do like the idea of a Pop Music Hall of Fame ... and the diversity of the artists previously inducted and now up for nomination.  For me NOTHING will ever beat a good pop song ... it just makes you feel good ... and I don't care if it's some well-crafted classic by The Beatles or The Beach Boys ... a mid-'60's gem by The Turtles, Tommy James and the Shondells or Paul Revere and the Raiders ... or something as recent as "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham ... NOTHING tops feel good rock and roll.  (kk)   
 
Hey Kent,  
I wanted to comment on the Johnny Cash Documentary, in particular "10 Things We Learned From 'American Rebel'" for which your blog provided a link. 
Check out #9, where it reads "One of the inmates in attendance (during the making of Cash's Grammy-winning 1969 At San Quentin LP) was 21-year-old Merle Haggard.  Really!!?? The fact is if Haggard was there at all, he was more like 42, give or take. He was born in April of 1937. As interested as I was in 'American Rebel' at the outset, I now have to wonder what other glaring inaccuracies there may be within it.  
Also, many of the things "... Learned From 'American Rebel'", can also be learned from the movie "Walk the Line.", which was at theaters ten years ago!   
Let me conclude with a "Cash fact" I picked up years ago when he was interviewed on NPR's "Fresh Air". 
In composing the song "I Walk the Line", Johnny Cash got the line, "I keep my eyes wide open all the time.", by paraphrasing what he had read in a Dale Carnegie book advising salesmen to, "Keep your eyes wide open all the time." Cash was huge fan of sales books, at least in the early days.  
Bill Fortune
Although it's already aired several times, I've yet to see the new Johnny Cash documentary ... but absolutely want to do so.  (Maybe it's On Demand???)
But I totally agree with you ... once you find a point played up as "fact" that is so COMPLETELY and obviously wrong, it's pretty hard to accept anything else you're being told that you may not be as familiar with as the whole truth, the absolute truth, and nothing but the truth.
Still I plan on checking it out.  (My Mom was a HUGE Johnny Cash fan.  One year when I was a teenager our family drove down to Murphysboro, Tennessee, to see his house ... and my Mom stole a rock out of Johnny Cash's driveway ... which she then proudly displayed on the mantel of our fireplace for many years to come!)  kk
 
Check it out ...  
 
After the huge success of the original theatrical release (along with one of the biggest selling CD's of last year), Disney is now making an animated version of Guardians of the Galaxy ...
Which means a whole new album of great '70's music is being released as a soundtrack.
Cash in when you can, I guess ...
Just proves what I've been saying here for the past fifteen years ...
Great music is great music ... as long as you give people a chance to hear it!
 
"Love And Mercy", the Brian Wilson biopic we gave mixed reviews to earlier this year, is now available on home video in both the DVD and BluRay format ... and yes, we DID order a copy.  (Like I said, I know I'll end up watching this again someday ... and probably SEVERAL times at that.)  Also on its way to me is the Glen Campbell documentary, "I'll Be Me".
For more on BOTH of these great artists, be sure to check out the story and link below ...
 
 
From Tom Cuddy ...
 
GLEN CAMPBELL: He's Lost the Ability to Communicate    
He's in late-stage Alzheimer's and living at home with his wife
Glen Campbell has been moved from a healthcare facility and is now living at home with his wife, Kim 
She says that Glen is in late stage six of Alzheimer's -- with stage seven being the most severe.   Glen Campbell's wife Kim gives an update on his condition ...
"He's lost the ability to communicate verbally. He really doesn't understand anything anyone ever says to him. He can still say short phrases like, 'I love you,' and 'Where have you been?' I've been married to him for 33 years, so I just intuitively know what he needs." 
Kim adds that, like many Alzheimer's patients, he can be combative at times and has even unintentionally given her a black eye.
 
Tom also sent us a link to this interview with our FH Buddy  Lee Loughnane of Chicago, talking about the future of this iconic band ... 
 
re:  David Cassidy:
I am confused by both sides in this conversation.  I acknowledge David's issues, the feedback coming through his audio and the search of news people for a story ... BUT ... WHOSE songs were they asking him about?  That part was so set-up to provide failure if nothing else was.
Shelley
The poor connection was obvious before the very first words were uttered (scroll down to view if you haven't already seen it.)  David was clearly agitated by their questions and, I think, rightfully so.  These "journalists" seemed to have an agenda to play up his bankruptcy filing and focused on very little else.
However I'm probably MORE surprised by the fact that Cassidy was so in-your-face about the fact that he went through this filing to basically screw his wife of 28 years out of half her rightful share of their assets ... yet nobody is talking about THIS part of the conversation.
Without question, David Cassidy has had some SERIOUS issues these past few decades.  Clearly an alcoholic (which we've addressed several times in this column ... and David freely admits ... and HAS admitted to in his published biographies, attributing much of it to his family's history, while also acknowledging his fear that he didn't pass this disease on to his own son, now 23), he seems to have emotionally overreacted to the questions by these British reporters, causing many to speculate that he was drunk during the interview.
It's pretty much the way he's appeared most of the times I've seen him over the past 30 years.  (An appearance at The Arcada Theatre earlier this year was embarrassing, disturbing and out of control.  Honestly, I have no need or reason to ever go see him again ... and am surprised that he has any fanbase left.)
As for the songs you're asking about, every one of those was a HUGE David Cassidy solo hit in England during and after The Partridge Family era.  "Daydreamer" went to #1 in 1973, "How Can I Be Sure" to #1 in 1972, "Could It Be Forever" to #2 in 1972 and "Cherish" was a US Hit as well (#3, 1971).  All were part of the question "Which of your hit songs best describes your mood today?" ... actually a pretty good question (and perhaps the most intelligent one asked by this British pair of reporters.)
Cassidy's career last much longer in Britain than it did in The States ... and he could probably easily sell out numerous venues over there if he chose to do so.  However David ALSO admits that on his last tour of England, he made about $600 ... so hardly worth it in the scheme of things!  (kk)
 
First, I'd like to say that I really enjoy your blog.  I came across it about two weeks ago.  
Second, I don't believe that the British TV show did anything to Mr. Cassidy.  I was at his infamous performance at the South Point casino in Las Vegas on July 1, 2012.  He was drunk then and from his actions since then, he hasn't changed.  In case you didn't hear about that performance here is a link.
I didn't walk out because I enjoy a trainwreck as much as the next guy ... LOL
Again, good job on your blog
Gil McAuliff
Bolingbrook, IL
We've seen David drunk and belligerent on more than one occasion live on stage, verbally abusing both this band and the audience members ... it doesn't make for a very entertaining show.
While I wasn't much of a fan at the time (hey, it just wasn't cool for a 16 or 17 year old guy to be a David Cassidy fan back then ... and I resented being told that I sorta looked like him), I came to respect what he went through as a teen idol at the time ... and found his survival of that era quite fascinating and interesting.  (I HIGHLY recommend his book
"C'mon Get Happy - Fear and Loathing on The Partridge Family Bus".  It is a VERY entertaining read ... which I just did again for I believe the fourth time ... recently.