Showing posts with label Rock and Roll. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rock and Roll. Show all posts

Sunday, September 29, 2019

I FOUND GARAGE BAND HITS FROM 1966 IN A RECENT HORROR FILM


In trying to get some authenticity for my novel I've been writing, which takes place in the Spring of 1966, I've been looking at old radio hit survey's on line to find what was being played on Top 40 at that time. Top 40 radio figures into the story, because the main character lands his first job at the only Top 40 radio station in the small college town, that is the setting for the story. Also the fact that Top 40 radio was inexpensive entertainment, as well as being about all there was at the time.

Garage bands were popular at the time, as suburban kids decided to try to emulate The Beatles & the Rolling Stones, after playing folk music. Trying to find some of these bands the pop up on these surveys on I-Tunes or Amazon can be impossible. Same with some soul artist on independent record labels.

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So I was surprised, when I looked up a band I found on a radio survey from Lansing, Michigan. The band was called The Plagues. The song I was looking for turned up on a garage band compilation, but I noticed a band called The Plagues came up on the soundtracks to some recent horror films ( Parasomnia & Fear Dot Com)came up. I figured this was a Pantera/GWAR sounding death metal bands on these soundtracks, but I previewed the songs anyway. It was 1966 garage band music on these soundtracks, which was a pleasant surprise. This would require some Googling to find out how songs by an obscure 60s garage band turned up in a recent horror film.

The answer turns out to be pretty simple. The director of Parasomnia & Fear Dot Com is William Malone. When he was in high school in Lansing, Michigan, he was the lead singer of a garage band called (You guest it) The Plagues. I checked You Tube, to see if there was an interview with him, talking about The Plagues. I didn't find any interviews where he mentioned that, but did find that I knew who William Malone was before this. One of the videos that turned up was part of a documentary I used to have on VHS about Famous Monsters magazine. Malone was in that video, showing off a large collection of memorabilia that included Robby the Robot and the Robin costume from the Batman TV series. Amazing how all of this is connected.

So I will be downloading these songs. I'm also interested in watching William Malone's movies. 

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

IN THE STORY SONG REALM: Original Fantasy Fiction by Jeff Boggs


NOTE: This is an original story by my twin brother about my namesake & a few other characters you may recognize. ENJOY!

IN THE STORY SONG REALM by Jeff Boggs

“Where am I? Where is my baby? Is he okay?” the young woman screamed and began crying after she gained consciousness. She noticed everyone was staring at her with worried looks. In front of her was a nurse, in a traditional white nurses uniform with a royal blue, half cape with red trim.

“What is wrong with her, Carrie?” ask a teenage girl, dressed in a long dress, from a bygone era.

“I'm not sure, Suzy,” the nurse answered the girl. “She just appeared out of nowhere. I wonder if she is one of us.”

The young woman looked around the room at the menagerie crowded around gawking at her. Sitting on the couch next to her was an adorable little blue-eyed girl, in a fancy dress and bow in her blonde hair. Beside the little girl was a waif of a boy. His left eye was blackened  and bruised, his lip was swollen, and he had cigarette burns on his malnourished arms.

There was a tall, strapping man in coveralls and a hard hat with a lantern mounted on it. His face was smeared with coal dust and he held a pick ax in his large hands. She assumed he was a coal miner.

An old African-American man in farm clothes with a mule was standing by the coal miner. At a small table, sat an elderly lady, whose face was caked with make up, wearing a slinky, satin dress, that showed more of her senior citizen body than a person needed to see, and in her white hair were the same faded, purple feathers that were in the boa around her neck. She was drinking a martini and smoking, like a factory, at a table with an old man in a fedora and brown suit, who looked like had been doing prison time.

On a park bench across the room, sat a disheveled,  homeless man with a long, dirty beard, a nose running green stuff and a tubercular cough starring at her with bad intent. Next to him, sat a middle-aged woman in mismatched outfit with a dead rose pined to her coat, clutching a large suitcase. A young man in a Yankee uniform from the Civil War standing at attention.  A large, armored android was in a chair in a corner, like a kindergartner being punished for acting up.

“Carrie, when you finish giving aid to that hysterical woman, we need to go over these maps that you brought to the Four Winds Bar,” spoke an icy, Satanic voice, like a cross between Vincent Price and Barnabas Collins, with a dash of Roddy McDowell. The young woman became frightened at the strange figure, who had spoken. He wore a long, black cape adorned with pentagrams and half moons. His face was covered with a strange black and white mask. “I'm anxious to take over the world.”

“Hold on, Desdinova! This may take awhile!”

“Yer shtoopid, Desdinova,” snarled a guy sitting a on wet tarp, wearing a t-shirt with a Confederate flag on it, reading 'If you can wear your X, I'm gonna wear mine'. He had a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a red, plastic cup, full of tobacco spit, in the other. He also had tobacco spit on his shirt and running from his mouth. “Ya ain't never gonna rule the world. Folks ain't gonna vote fur ya.”

“Any more of your bubbles and squeaks, Earl, and I will render you mute!” the strange figure snapped.

“Could you two stop bickering for a few moments?” said a young man in a denim jacket with his hair in a pompadour and scars on his face, like he had being fighting most of his life.

“Where's my baby? Where is little Billy?” the young woman screamed and cried.

A short, pudgy, middle-aged man walked over to where her. “Yes, what can I do for you?”

The young mother looked bewildered. “Who are you?”

“Everyone calls me Little Billy,” the chubby fellow explained in a soft British accent. “I run a special foster home. I'm raising the children of all my friends, who died of lung cancer from smoking cigarettes. I don't mind.”

The Union soldier ran over, “My name is Billy! Do you need me to do something like deliver a message to another brigade?”

A teenage boy sauntered over. “My name is Billy too,” he announced in a thick Mississippi accent.

“You don't understand!” the young mother screamed. “Billy is my baby! He was in the backseat, when my car skidded off the highway on the ice! He may still be in the car...out in the cold!”

“I would be happy to go search for your baby in the cold and snow!” the Union soldier said. “I want to be a hero, even if it means being a fool with my life.”

Little Billy whispered to Miss Carrie, the nurse, “Do you think she has passed away?”

“I don't think so. She may be here temporary, like an out of body experience,” Miss Carrie nurse replied. “But you might have the life transition councilors come over an talk to her.”

As Little Billy walked away, Earl lit up a cigarette. “Hey Fatso, look what I'm doing.” He then blew cloud of second-hand smoke in Little Billy's direction. “Ima smokin and ya ain't gonna stop me.”

“You are a pathetic monster, Earl,” Little Billy denounced Earl in his soft British voice.

The tough, young man in denim shot Earl an angry look. “Why don't you leave folks alone, Earl? Maybe people would start liking you. Little Billy may be a big man on the outside, be he is an even bigger man on the inside.”

“I ain't listening to you. You got a girly name,” Earl sneered, the let out a Goofy-like chuckle. “Huh Huh Huh.”

“You bring that up again and I'll bust your head like an Arkansas watermelon,” the young man warned Earl.

“Would you like a drink of water or coffee?” Miss Carrie nurse asked the young mother.

“Water would be fine,” the young mother replied. “But I need to find my baby Billy to see if he is alright!”

“I'll go get the waitress from the Ya'll Come Back Saloon,” said the miner.

“Thanks John,” Miss Carrie nurse admonished the giant of a man as he walked toward a bar area. A creepy character wearing a straight-jacket came over to Miss Carrie's friend, Suzy, which caused Suzy to be startled.

“Is your name Suzy?” the mental patient asked with a deranged twinkle in his eye and almost perverted smile on his face.

“Yes, why do you ask?' Suzy answered with a quiver in her voice.

“I just think it is a coincidence that I took a girl name Suzy to the junior prom,” the mental patient told the frightened girl. “Then I raped her and killed her and build a little cage with her bones.  They said I was an excitable boy.”

“You need to go back to your room and leave us alone! Can't you talk to your roommate?” Carrie scolded the mental patient, as she tried to lead him away from Suzy, who was shaking with fear.

“He's no fun. All he wants to do is dance with that headless mannequin that he calls Glendora,” the mental patient huffed. "Besides there are werewolves hanging around my room."

  "Are you afraid they will attack you?" Miss Carrie nurse asked.

  "No, I just don't like them, because their hair is better looking than mine," the mental patient explained. "They just drink pina coladas and eat chow main."

“Miss Carrie Nurse, I'll walk him back to his room. You care for that young lady, that was in the car wreck,” the tough, young man said as he grabbed the 'excitable boy' by the collar of his straight-jacket to escort him back to his room.

“Why don't ya tell him what yer name is!” Earl shouted in a mocking tone before spitting tobacco into the red Solo cup in his hand.

“You know, I think I will,” the tough boy answered Earl. He then began to explain to the mental patient, as he dragged him back to his room, “You talk about a coincidence, guess what my name is?”

An attractive young woman in hot pants and a cropped t-shirt, carrying a tray walked up. Around her neck was an expensive looking braided, silver chain with a locket attached at the end.

“Hello, I'm Brandy, I'll be your waitress. Our featured drink is the Funky Cold Medina. We also have a special on strawberry wine in long tall glasses, filled up to there. They are free, if you can dance like Fred Astaire.”

“I need to find my baby and my car!” the young mother screamed frantically. Brandy looked at Miss Carrie Nurse and Suzy with concern.

“Bring us two bottles of water,” Carrie Nurse told Brandy. “We think she needs to re-hydrate.”

Brandy began walking away, when the old lady in the slinky dress and feather boa waved her over to the table she was sharing with the aging gangster.

“Brandy, could you bring me and Uncle Sonny another martini. We're celebrating his release from prison. He can give you that twenty dollar bill, in his hat band, as a tip.”

“I'm saving that for cab fare,” Uncle Sonny explained to Brandy. “I'm planing on going to Central Park later on.”

“Then put the martinis on my tab and bring each of us two more,” the old lady instructed Brandy, who put the empty glasses, from the table, on her tray.

“Lola, you are drinking yourself half blind!” Brandy scolded the elderly lady.

“I might as well,” Lola confessed in her booze soaked voice. “The man I loved is dead, the place I loved to work is a disco and nobody wants to see a ninety year old woman dance. What kind of music is in the bar tonight?”

“It's the guitar jam with Clayton Delaney and Johnny B. Goode. Tomorrow night, there is a retro/paisley underground band from the 80s, with a girl lead singer,” Brandy explained.

“Is she the one that wears electric boots and a mohair suit?” Lola asked, as she lit another cigarette.

“No, this girl has hair like Jean Shrimpton did in 1965,” Brandy said. “You're thinking of that girl named Bennie. She fronts a glam band called the Jets” Brandy walked into the bar and came back with the bottled water for the young mother.

“Is the bar going to have that kid from Georgia that plays the violin again?” Desdinova asked Brandy as she walked past him.

“I don't think so,” Brandy answered.

“Good! I detest little snot! He beat a friend of mine out of his priced golden violin in a so-called fiddle contest, and then, to add insult to injury, called my friend's mother the 'b-word.”

“I relay your complaint to Joe the manager,” Brandy affirmed. “He would understand since he is a musician. He plays a mean piano.”

“I know him,” Desdinova smiled. “He has a black mustache and wears a red bandanna and purple sash. I believe he used to run a honky-tonk down in Mexico.”

“Yes he did,"  Brandy explained. "He also had a cantina in El Paso, but there was a guy got shot there.”

“Tragic. So many tragic things have happened to people here. Let me add, that I would love to marry you. You're a fine girl and would make a good wife,” Desdinova took Brandy's hand and kissed it. She blushed and a tear came to her eye.

“She wouldn't wanna marry you, Desdinova! You call yerself an Alka-Seltzer,” Earl blurted out and chased with a loud belch.

“I'm an alchemist, not an Alka-Seltzer, you idiotic redneck!” Desdinova screamed back.

Two young women walked over to Carrie Nurse and Suzy. One was dressed like a housewife of the late Sixties and the other was dressed like a housewife of the early 70s.

“Little Billy said you may need a Passage of Life councilor for a woman, who had been in an auto accident,” the Sixties housewife said with a pleasant voice.

“We don't know all of her situation yet. She says she lost control of her car on the ice and snow. She may just be in a momentary state of limbo. She is worried about her infant son, who was in the back seat asleep. You might try to be careful what you say to her.” Carrie Nurse explained to the two ladies. They both agreed to be delicate as possible. They walked over to the couch, where the young mother was sitting.

“Could you children move so we can talk to this lady?” the Sixties housewife asked the little blonde girl.

“I don't want to go sit on that park bench,” the little blonde girl explained. “That old guy that has snot running out his nose and makes a sound like a deep sea diver, when he breathes. He also ask to see my panties.”

“And that lady with the suitcase is crazy,” the little boy piped up. “She says thinks a man is coming to take her to a mansion in the sky. You know, she is forty-one and her daddy still calls her baby.”

“You could sit in the floor, if you like,” the Sixties housewife said. “But we need to talk to this lady.” The children agreed to sit in the floor.

“What are your names?” the Seventies housewife asked the children.

The little blonde girl smiled and announced, “My name is Jennifer.”

“That is pretty dress and bow in your hair,” the Sixties housewife gushed. “Did your grandma buy that for you?”

“No, my pet rabbit bought it for me, when he went to town in an old streetcar, with a turtle and kangaroo and a bunch of monkey from the city zoo,” the little girl explained.

The little boy reluctantly told they Passage of Life councilors in a soft voice, “My name is Luka and I live upstairs on the second floor. You've probably seen me before. I guess I'm clumsy. I walked into the door again. It's none of your business anyway.”

Jennifer got a smile on her face and told Luka, “Hey, we could go look at that android that was used to fight wars in time and space!”

“I don't know if would be safe for you children to bother the Iron Man,” the Seventies housewife warned the children.

“He's harmless, he just stares at the wall.” Jennifer said before they scampered away.

Brandy came back with the two bottles of water for the young mother, after dropping off the martinis for the elderly twosome. “Here you go! This is from the well of Desert Pete.”

The young mother took the bottles of water and thanked Brandy, then said, “Can I ask you a question? Who is the old lady you drinking all those martinis?”

“That's Lola, she was a showgirl at the Copacabana,” answered Brandy. “She kind of lost her mind after her boyfriend was killed many years ago. She is like me, she loves a man, who is no longer around.” Brandy then walked back to the Ya'll Come Back Saloon.

The Sixties housewife took the young mother's hand, “Hi, my name is Honey and I'm a Passage of Life councilor here in the story song realm. Just so you know, I'm training this new girl to help me.” The Seventies housewife gave the young mother a sympathetic grin. “I had to fire my last assistant councilor, because she kept calling people 'country bumpkin.' We think you're here because you may have passed away. Now, there is nothing to be ashamed about being deceased. Many of us here are dead. There is a girl here, who lived on Yellow Mountain, that died in a blizzard looking for her lost pony named Wildfire, and another girl, who walks through the moors, calling for a boy named Johnny to remember her. There is also a girl, who was run over by a train, while trying to retrieve her boyfriend's class ring from their car that was stalled on the railroad tracks. In the late 50s, several teenagers came here after they passed away. There is a young race car driver, name Tommy, that keeps wanting people to tell a girl name Laura that he loves her.”

“And that leader of a motorcycle gang, called the Pack, that got hit by a truck.” the Seventies housewife added. “Don't forget those one hundred Chicago policemen that died in that gun battle, on the old East Side, with Al Capone's men.”

The Sixties housewife nodded in agreement, “That man with the mule, Old Rivers, died after years of plowing fields and planting crops, and Big John died when a mine caved in on him.”

“Oh yeah, Earl's wife and her best friend poisoned him and threw his body in a lake,” the Seventies housewife added. “But he had it coming and you know, nobody missed him at all.”

“I can understand that,” the young mother asked. “What about that Desdinova character?”

“No, he is immortal. They say he started World War One,” the Sixties housewife clarified. “We're are both dead. I should ask at this point, do you have a husband?”

“I did, but we are going through an ugly divorce,” the young mother began to explain. “I found out he cheating on me with a red headed woman name Jolene. I went and begged her not to take him away from me. It didn't work, so while they were at a bar, one night, I broke out the headlights on his pickup truck, with a baseball bat, and scratched the doors with my car keys.”

“We have some very understanding judges here in the Story Song Realm,” the Seventies housewife assured her. She then pointed to an attractive young woman. “See that girl there...she killed the Fortune Telling Queen of New Orleans and her boyfriend, when she caught them together. The judge let her off, because of her rough childhood. You see, she was born in the wagon of a traveling show and her mother had to dance for the money men would throw.”
 
“It is probably good that we don't have a husband to deal with,” Honey told the young mother. “My doctor called one morning and told me I had a brain tumor, but I chose not to tell my husband. There was nothing he could do, so why cause him to worry. He would come home from work early and I would be crying about it, but I still kept it a secret. I just died one day while he was at work. He took it kind of hard, but...”

The Seventies housewife interrupted Honey, “I know I shouldn't say anything since I'm being trained, but I feel you should have told him you were going to die. My husband was with me when the doctor gave me the test results. I leaned my husband, Rocky, for strength. I told him, 'I've never had to die before, I don't know if I can do it.' Even though I’m gone, I still give him little pep talks in my own sweet voice.”

The two councilors began bickering about how they handled their demise, when Desdinova walked over to the young mother with a large mirror and held it up to her.

“You cast a reflection, as does Carrie Nurse and Suzy Dear,” he explained before turning the mirror to others in the room. Those ladies don't. That kid from Mississippi doesn't, so he is obviously dead. Old Rivers and Big John don't. Brandy, Lola and Uncle Sonny do have a reflection.” He then looked around. “Where are those two children?”

Brandy spoke up, as she dropped off another round of drinks for Lola and Uncle Sonny, “Jennifer and Luka are playing with Annie, that little orphan girl, who froze to death while making artificial flowers.”

Desdinova spun back around to where the young mother was, with his cape swirling around him, “Those two children would have a reflection, but the other child wouldn't.” He turned the mirror again. “Our tough, young friend and Little Billy cast reflections, but Earl doesn't...which we can all be glad of. My point is, the people who do not cast reflections are deceased. The ones with a reflection are still living and you, my dear, are still living. I believe we should get you back to your car and your child, if we can find where you went off the road.”

“We were on our way to my parents house in Cincinnati,” the young mother explained. “A blizzard came up and it was hard to see. I lost control of the car on the ice. I'm not really sure where I was at, because I couldn't see.”

“If that car is in a ditch,” Old Rivers said. “I'm sure my mule could pull it out.”

“I can give it a mighty shove,” Big John added. “Pushing a car out of a ditch or snowbank would be no problem.”

“Wait a minute,” the tough, young man spoke up. “Don't we know an astronaut that is stranded out in space? If we could contact him, maybe he could see it from space and tell us where it is.”

“I'll bet that little, crippled, boy with all that radio equipment could contact him,” Old Rivers said. Big John, Billy the Union soldier and the tough boy went and carried the boy and his equipment out of his room, to where everyone was. The tough guy plugged in the radio equipment and the little boy turned on the mike.

“Ground control to Major Tom. Ground control to Major Tom. Major Tom, are you there? Please talk to little Teddy Bear,” the boy spoke into the microphone on the old Motorola radio set.

“This is Major Tom to ground control,” came a voice through the static on the radio's speaker.

“We need your help finding a car that ran off the road, in a snow storm, on the way to Cincinnati,” the little boy asked. “There is a baby inside named Billy.” The radio crackle with white noise.

“This is Major Tom and I'm stepping through door,” the voice said. “I see a Ford Fiesta in a snowbank along State Highway 27. On closer examination there is a baby in a car seat, sleeping soundly in the back. Not sure if his name is Billy or not. Tell my wife I love her very much...I think she knows.”

The static became louder and the voice fell silent. “Ground control to Major Tom, something is wrong! Can you hear me Major Tom? If you can hear me, say something to little Teddy Bear,” the boy cried as he frantically operated the squelch knob on the radio set.

“I know where Highway 27 in Ohio is! I'll lead the way! I can be a hero!” Bill the Union soldier exclaimed.

“I can ride Midnight out there,” Rivers said. “How about you Big John?”

“I'll meet you guys outside,” Big John explained. “I'm going to the barn to saddle up that horse that doesn't have a name.”

Desdinova walked over to Rivers with small, mahogany box with strange carvings on the side. “Rivers, take these with you, they might come in handy. These are galvanic keys made of copper, zinc and other metals. They may help you start the car, if the battery is dead. Just attach these to the terminals and then start the motor. The silver ones can open the doors, if they are locked. No incantations needed.”

“You know something, Mr. Desdinova, you're are a right decent fellow, for a crazy, alchemist, who wants to rule the world,” Rivers admonished. “I'll bring these back to you. I hate when someone borrows a man's tools and doesn't give them back.” Old Rivers climbed up on Midnight and rode out the door.

“Nice of you to loan those tools out like that, Desdinova,” said the young fighter. “I hope they don't loose them out in the snow.”

“Don't worry, young man. Those are simple tools that anyone can make. They are insignificant to my grand plans,” Desdinova explained. “What I would love to have are the four wands, created by the American alchemist, Osiris Bulicroix, known as the Mad Cajun of South. He is said to have created a set of four wands that could control the weather, control minds and turn dirt into gold.”

The teenage boy, with the Southern accent, sauntered over to where Desdinova, “Mr. Desdinova, sir, my name is Billy Joe MacAllister. Did I hear you call the name Osiris Bulicroix? He was my mama's great uncle!”

“Really? Do you know what happened to his earthly possessions after he died?” Desdinova asked with intense interest.

“They are all still in his old house place, up on Choctaw Ridge,” Billy Joe explained to the interested, megalomaniac alchemist. “Me and this girl, that I've been friends with all my life, Roberta Streeter, we used to play in the old house when we was kids. There were just all sorts of neat stuff in his house. All kinds of candles, leather bound books, swords, axes, skulls, and down in the root cellar was a laboratory filled with bottle of weird chemicals and potions.”

Desdinova produced a leather bound book, flipped to an illustration of the wands and showed Billy Joe, “I'll show you what I would like from his collection. These things. Do you know if they are still there?”

Billy Joe looked at the picture in the book with sheepish expression and said with slight embarrassment, “Oh, them things. Last time me and my friend, Roberta was at Uncle Osiris' house, we kind of threw them away.”

“In the trash?”

“No, we threw them off the Tallahatchie Bridge,” Billy Joe confessed. “They did make a big splash when they hit the water, though.”

“You know, that water in the Tallahatchie River is awful muddy,” the young fighter spoke up. “I'll bet those wands are still under the water. Desdinova, with all your magic, you could probably find a way to get them out of the river.”

“It says in the book that they will glow in the dark beneath a full moon!” Desdinova exclaimed with delight. “I could probably retrieve them from the murky depths of that Southern tributary and with them, I, Desdinova, would rule the world.” He then laughed a loud maniacal laughter.

“I want to warn you,” Billy Joe cautioned. “Not only is that water muddy, but it is rather cold. I know, because a week after me and Roberta threw those things off the bridge, I was walking home from Choctaw Ridge and there was this woman in a long, black dress, walking toward me from the other end. She looked young and pretty, until she got up to me and, then she aged, right before my eyes to about a hundred years old and turned a gray corpse color. She must have been a haint of some sort. Then, she shoved me off the bridge and I drowned.”

“Somebody told me you jumped off the bridge?,” the young, tough, fighter asked.

“Why would I do something stupid like that?”

“I think I will go to Mississippi and get Bulicroix's wands out of the Tallahatchie River!” Desdinova exclaimed.

“I hope you drowned in that thar river or some good ole boys hang ya and then throw yer body in the river,” Earl smarted off.

“Earl, you can't kill me,” Desdinova laughed. “I'm immortal, unlike you.”

“He's right, Earl!” the young, tough, fighter chided the redneck. “You can't talk. Your wife, and her best friend, fed you poisoned black-eyed peas.”

“Oh yeah,” Earl snapped. “At least I ain't got a woman's name.” He then stood up and hollered to everyone in ear shot and pointed to the tough guy. “Hey yall, this ole boy here is named Sue! Ya here me, his name is Sue! That's a gal's name!”

“That does it! You asked for it!” and with that Sue knocked Earl to the ground, with the whiskey bottle and tobacco spit cup spilling everywhere. 

Old Rivers rode back into the room on his mule, holding Desdinova's box, with some snow in his white hair and on his shoulders. Big John was right behind him.

"Old Rivers and me got your car out of the ditch and started it, Miss," Big John said.

"Your baby is fine," Old Rivers reassured her. "Sleeping like a log."

"That Yankee soldier, Billy, said he wanted to standing guard until you got back to your car," Big John chuckled. "He wants to be a hero, whether or no."

"Somebody call the lady a cab, so she can get back to her baby and get back on the road," Old Rivers said. "There is two taxis here, which one is available?"

"I'll get the Nashville cab that the boyfriend of that country singer Kay drives," answered Sue. "I don't trust that taxi driver from San Francisco. He likes to get stoned and pretend he is flying in his taxi."

Carrie Nurse and Suzy helped the young mother up from the sofa and began walking her to the door. "Good luck, you shouldn't have any more bad weather on your way to Cincinnati."

"How do you know?" the young mother asked.

"I read it on the map I found, behind the clock, at the Four Winds Bar," Carrie Nurse explained.

"Remember, I will need that map in my quest to take over the world," Desdinova reminded Carrie Nurse.

"Ya cain't take over the world with no maps and wands, like some sorta fairy," Earl started shooting his mouth off again. "Ya need guns and pickup trucks if ya wanna take over the guberment."

Everyone present unanimously yell, "SHUT UP, EARL!"

Suzy handed her an envelope with a Christmas card inside and Carrie Nurse slipped in a small stack of one hundred dollar bills before closing it. "We signed a Christmas card for you and are giving you some money," Suzy told the young mother.

"You didn't need to take up a collection for me," the young mother said.

"We didn't," Carrie Nurse explained. "It is a gift from the newlyweds from Saginaw, Michigan. He became rich when he sold his father-in-law a worthless gold claim in the Klondike."

"Thank you. I appreciate your help. Goodbye." the young mother said, as the large room and everyone seemed to dissolve into the darkness. She heard the windshield wipers whipping back and forth on the windshield. The heater was blowing full blast. She looked in the back seat and Billy was sound asleep. She was in the car again or maybe she had never left. It must have been a dream, she thought. It had to be a dream, because it was too crazy to have really happened. That was a strange gathering of people that would never be together in the same place.
 
She pulled her car back onto State Highway 27 and had an uneventful drive the rest of the way to her parent's house. She heard Billy shake his rattle, gurgling and babbling, so he was awake. When she parked her car in her parent's driveway, she looked down and saw on the seat beside her a Christmas card in an envelope. Before she went to bed, she opened the envelope and pulled out the card. Not only was there a card, but there was one thousand dollars in hundred dollar bills in the envelope too. She opened the card and it was signed by almost everyone she had met, except for the Iron Man and Earl.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE RESIDENTS OF THE STORY SONG REALM!  Miss Carrie Nurse, Suzy Dear, Desdinova the Eternal Light, the Boy Named Sue, Big Bad John, Old Rivers, Honey & Mrs. Jay "Rocky" Stevens the Passage of Life Counselors, Brandy, Lola the Showgirl, Uncle Sonny, the Excitable Boy (BTW you have great bone structure), Jennifer and her brown and white rabbit, Luka, Delta Dawn, Aqualung, Little Billy of the Home for the Orphans of the Victims of Lung Cancer, Billy the Yankee, Billie Joe MacAllister, Teddy Bear and Kay's boyfriend the taxi driver." 

© Copyright 2019 Jeff Boggs

BTW: Jeff would like to thank the following recording artist: Carrie Underwood, Blue Oyster Cult, Tom Paxton, Susan Vega, Jimmy Dean, Walter Brennan, Barry Manilow, Tony Carey, Jethro Tull, Tanya Tucker,  Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods, Black Sabbath, The Dixie Chicks, Johnny Cash, The Who,  Bobby Gentry, Oak Ridge Boys, Warren Zevon, Perry Como, The Looking Glass,  Tone Loc, Deanna Carter,  Leo Sayer, Tom T. Hall,  Chuck Berry,  The Smithereens, Elton John, Charlie Daniels, The Coasters. Marty Robbins,  Bobby Goldsboro, Austin Roberts (and Woody P. Snow), Kingston Trio, Cal Smith, Michael Martin Murphy, John Leighton, Mark Dinning, Ray Peterson, The Shangri-Las, Paper Lace, Dolly Parton, Cher, Bobby Darin, David Bowie, Red Sovine, John Wesley Ryles & Harry Chapin. They made this story possible.




Saturday, March 16, 2019

FACTS & FINDINGS ABOUT 1966


I know what you are going to say, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?"  To tell the truth, I've been in 1966. As I have discussed here and on my podcast, I'm working a novel based on a story I featured in a post on the old blog about two college students, who ran around Springfield, Missouri, dressed as Batman & Robin, at the height of Batmania in the spring of 1966.

In research for this novel, I've found some interesting things about the pop culture of the spring of 1966. There have been books and retro blogs dedicated to 1966. It has been called "the year pop culture exploded." There are some surprising things about the pop culture world that people seldom mention.

MANY CLASSIC ROCK SONGS WERE HITS FOR OTHER ARTIST

"Hey Joe," "Get Together," and "Babe I'm Going to Leave You," were already around in 1965 - 1966. However, they were not the versions we hear on classic rock radio today.  The Kingston Trio recorded a version of  "Get Together," under its original title, "Let's Get Together," on a 1964 live LP. The group We Five ("You Were On My Mind") had a Top 40 hit with the song in late 65 - early 66. There was also a version by the folk group The Back Porch Majority. In the summer of 1966, Jefferson Airplane put out a version on their debut LP, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. The Youngbloods recorded there softer and slower version in 1967 and released it as a single, which bombed, but became a Top 5 hit in 1969, after it was used in a religious PSA.

The Association

The Association's first single in 1965 was "Babe I'm Going to Leave You." It had been introduced by Joan Baez in 1962. The Association's version failed to chart nationally. In 1967, Quicksilver Messenger Service recorded a version of the song for the soundtrack of a movie called Revolution. In 1969, Led Zeppelin recorded their version on their debut LP. Interestingly enough, The Association began performing it in their live shows the next year. However, Led Zep never attempted to do "Cherish" or "Windy" in concert.


Next to the "Batman Theme," the most covered song of 1966 was "Hey Joe." The Byrds and Love both recorded it. An L.A. band called The Leaves had a Top 40 hit with it in 1966. All of these versions were fast and uptempo. In late 1966, the Jimi Hendrix Experience released their slow, bluesy version. After that, few bands attempted to cover "Hey Joe."


DEAN MARTIN WAS A TRIPLE THREAT IN 1966

Dino was everywhere! Martin had been a star since the early 50s, when he was working with Jerry Lewis. After their break up, his career was a roller coaster ride through a string of hit records and a string of duds, a string a critically acclaimed movies and a string of flops and a handful of routine variety show hosting gigs for Timex.

His wining streak started in 1964 when he managed to hit Number 1 on the Billboard chart with a upbeat cover of a ballad his pal Frank Sinatra originally recorded, "Everybody Loves Somebody."It was the first of a streak of Top 40 hits that included, "Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On," "I Will," "Remember Me, I'm The One Who Loves You," "I Will," and "Houston."

In the fall, he hosted the Hollywood Palace variety show on ABC for several weeks. During some appearances by an up and coming British band, the Rolling Stones, Dean began making jokes about the band. Someone at the rival network, NBC, thought Martin should be given his own show. It debuted in the fall of 1965 and ran until 1973.

In 1966, Martin made a second movie with John Wayne, The Sons of Katie Elder. This was also the year, Martin began playing secret agent Matt Helm with the movie The Silencers.


ON THE OTHER HAND, ELVIS SUCKED IN 1966

I realize people will hate me for that above statement, but the musical output of Elvis Presley was lackluster at best. Elvis was in a movie contract with MGM and what few single he put out were songs from the movies. He did put a non-soundtrack song called "Tell Me Why," which is forgotten today for a reason...it's not that good. It is a slow attempt at blues.

One of the better singles of this era was "Crying In the Chapel" from the summer of 65. It was recorded in 1960 for a gospel LP, but shelved because the Jordanaires weren't happen with their performance and Colonel Tom Parker couldn't buy the rights to the song. By 1965, RCA needed a new Elvis single to compete with the British Invasion groups, the publisher that owned the rights were bought out by another company who were willing to deal with the Colonel and new recording techniques could improve the original recordings. So RCA released it at Easter time and by the summer it was the first Top 10 hit for Elvis in since 1962. This lead to Elvis recording another gospel LP. A 1966 newspaper article said Elvis was considering recording only gospel from that point forward.

One thing about the songs Elvis recorded, at that time, was he used a soft, tenor voice. After his 1968 comeback special, Elvis began singing in a brash, bombastic, baritone voice on songs like "In the Ghetto," "Little Less Conversation," "Burning Love," "Kentucky Rain," and "Suspicious Minds." The mid-60s stuff songs almost out of character and kind of wimpy, which is probably why these songs don't have the impact of his early 60s hits or comeback hits.

TWO POP STARS DIED AT THE HEIGHT OF THEIR POPULARITY (and wild rumors followed)


Bobby Fuller and Barry Young had two totally different styles. Fuller (above) was a Texas born musician, who mined the song book of fellow Texan Buddy Holly's back-up band, The Crickets; Young was a square-jawed, wavy haired, singer from Oklahoma, who sounded liker Dean Martin. Fuller and his band, The Bobby Fuller Four, had three Top 40 hits, "Let Her Dance," "Love Has Made a Fool of You", and (the biggest one) "I Fought The Law." In July of 1966, Fuller was found dead in the front seat of his mother's car, covered with gasoline. The coroner had listed his death as both accidental & suicide, but had added question marks next to each. Rumors that he was murdered by the Mafia, his manager, the owner of his record company, and L.A. law enforcement (upset over the hit "I Fought the Law"). One of his band members has put forth a theory that he was an early victim of celebrity-hating, cult leader Charles Manson. The truth is still unknown.


Barry Young has one hit. A (pardon the pun) dead-on sound alike of a Reprise era Dean Martin hit. It was a cover of a country son by Jimmy Wakely (many of Dean's recent hits were covers of country songs), with a big string section, background singers and a electric rhythm guitar. Young even made a Scopitone music video for this song. Young died of a brain abscess backstage after a performance in December of 1966. Since Young had only one hit, his death was probably under reported. This was before social media and the mainstream media, at the time, was more focused on the war in Vietnam & the civil rights movement. Over the years, a story has been circulated, even by reference books and the liner notes of oldies compilations, that Dean Martin, with help from Reprise "Chairman of the Board" Frank Sinatra had Young's records banned from radio. The truth is much sadder than legend.


Back Porch Majority performing with Tennessee Ernie Ford on the Lucy Show
NOT ALL FOLK WAS ANGRY & EDGY, MUCH OF IT WAS KIND OF DORKY

When younger people think of folk music of the 60s, they think of  Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul & Mary, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, Judy Collins or Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction." Truth is that was the exception to the rule. Quite a bit of what was popular was the "family friendly" kind of stuff parodied in the film, The Mighty Wind. Groups like The Kingston Trio, Brothers Four, The Limelighters, Serendipity Singers, New Christy Minstrels (which Barry McGuire sang lead on most of their hits), and the Back Porch Majority were non-offensive and not going to anger anyone, except hard core fans of rock & roll. Some of the songs they sang were the ones we grew up singing in elementary school and elementary school teachers used their records in class. They were popular guest on TV variety shows of the era and heard on the radio.

By 65-66, Dylan was really more of a rocker with psychedelic lyrics and the British invasion groups inspired other many folk groups to go rock as well. As the times changed (wasn't that a Dylan song), the smiling, happy, folk acts of the early 60s seemed tame and antiquated. They disappeared or morphed into sunshine pop groups.


A VETERAN COUNTRY PERFORMER SANG A PROTEST SONG ABOUT CHEAPSKATES

A handful of country singers popped up to record lame answer songs to Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction." On the other hand, one well-established country western star decided to jump into the protest movement too. Little Jimmy Dickens (above), who sang about being a "tater-eatin" country boy and Bessie the educated cow, took on the problem of frugal people with his only Top 40 Pop hit "May The Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose." The song was written by a D-J, who got the chorus from one of the curses Johnny Carson used in his Carnak the Magnificent skits (I guess "May a spider spin a web on your toilet seat" is too long for the title of a hit song).

THERE WAS A SONG ABOUT A HOOKER FROM CANADA & A COUNTRY SONG ABOUT SOMEONE SOILING THEMSELVES


A band from Quebec called The Haunted released a Stones-ish rocker called "1-2-5." The record company made them change it because they said it was "obvious" the girl in the song was a prostitute. The group obliged, but added a verse that slammed the record company. "A room full of clowns looking back at me, A line of executives formed to the right." Since the band was from Quebec, it was issued in both English & French.


The Hardin Trio was a brother (Bobby) & two sisters (Arlene & Robbie) from England...England, Arkansas that is. In the 50s, they worked on the Ozarks Jubilee in Springfield, MO. In early 1966, they had a crossover hit called "Tippy Toeing." The song has a reference to someone soiling their pants. Girls: "Well Daddy come a runnin' with the water and a rag, Gonna need another diaper maybe." Bobby: "No need a hesitatin' or a wonderin' and a waitin'. I know what's the matter with the baby."
I guess this past the censors since, as the group sang, "After all it's just a little bitty bay-bee." The song went to Number 2 (heh-heh) on the Country chart and Number 44 on the Pop Chart, but made several radio station surveys, more than likely because a program director or D-J said, "Let's play the song about the pooping baby" or they thought it would get them a date with Arlene Hardin (she was hot).


MUSIC VIDEOS WERE BORN

I mentioned the Scopitone music videos earlier. They were created in the early 60s for use with the Scopitone players, which were similar to juke boxes. They were on their way out by 65-66, due to problems with maintenance and the fact issues with censorship. Oddly enough, the one that caused the most problems was a video for the aforementioned Back Porch Majority's song "Mighty Mississippi," which featured a leering riverboat gambler lifting up the skirts of Southern belles, to look at their bloomers, as the boarded a steamboat. Scopitone also had a video for one of the major hits of this time, "These Boots Are Made For Walking" by Nancy Sinatra.

Of course, the intro to D. A Panebaker's documentary on Bob Dylan, Don't Look Back, begins with, what many consider, the first major music video. It's Dylan, standing in an alley, holding up cue cards with selected words from the song "Subterranean Homesick Blues," while the song plays.

Music videos were mainly used by the British invasion groups, such as The Beatles, Rolling Stones and The Who, as a way to appear on television shows around the world, without having travel to the United States, Japan, Italy, etc.


SOUL MUSIC WAS BIG, BUT MANY OF THE HITS ARE NO LONGER HEARD ON RADIO

Okay, as an oldies fan I thought I new every major Motown and Stax-Atlantic hit of this era. In doing research for my book I have found that I was wrong. There are several big hits from 65-66 by the major soul artist (Otis Redding, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Four Tops) that we never hear any more. How many times have you heard "One More Heartache" by Marvin Gaye (above); "Try Me" a power ballad by James Brown; "Something About You" by the Four Tops; "You've Been Cheating" by the Impressions, "My Baby" by the Temptations or Otis Redding's cover of the Stones "Satisfaction" on oldies radio?

Radio has been limiting the number of songs played on radio, due partly to automation systems. Another reason is the practice of "testing" songs for recognition by consulting groups. For oldies radio, it comes down to recognition. That is why much of what is on oldies radio are songs that have appeared in movies or commercials.

SOME HIT SINGLES WERE ON OTHER LABELS

Part of this was due to American record companies scrambling to sign British invasion groups. In 1964, The Beatles turned up on several other record labels, other than Capitol. "Twist and Shout" was first issued on a small record label called Tollie. The first Kinks single ("Long Tall Sally") was on Cameo/Parkway. The Who bounced around from Brunswick ("My Generation" & "I Can't Explain") to Atco ("Substitute") then to Decca/MCA, where they stayed until the 80s. Small Faces started off on RCA before going to Epic.

It wasn't just British groups jumping around. The Lovin Spoonful had one single ("Good Time Music") issued on Elektra and Sonny & Cher's "Baby Don't Go" was originally issued on Reprise.

RADIO WAS NOT AS RIGIDLY FORMATTED

There were only five main radio formats: Top 40, country & western, easy listening/adult contemporary, all news-talk shows, & classical. There were also religious stations (usually owned by a church) and ethnic stations (usually R & B stations with an African-American staff, some Spanish language, but also some German & Polish stations in large markets). However, there were many full service and block format radio stations.  These were radio stations that aired everything in programming blocks. For example, early morning would usually be country & western, for the farmers; easy listening/adult contemporary in the midday for homemakers and office workers; Top 40 after 4 pm until sign off; religious programs (sometimes an hour before sign off) on Sunday morning and ballgames on Saturday. Yes, radio and TV stations used to sign off at midnight or 1 am.

There were also Owned and Operated radio and TV station. Some TV stations are still O & O, but it was nothing noticeable. Radio stations that were O & O, during this era, were still running programs from the network (NBC, CBS, ABC & Mutual).

Government regulations held media chains to one radio station per market, unlike today, with large corporations owning multiple radio stations in a market. The large corporations pretty much copy each others playlist and, as I mentioned earlier, limit the number of songs heard on a radio station.

In this era, radio stations had their own playlist. They were determined by what was on the Billboard or Cash Box charts, local sales and local request. Also, each radio station had its own program director, on staff, who determined what records got played on the radio station. No edicts from corporate headquarters. Sometimes, they threw in whatever they felt like or whatever the record company was pushing. There was more crossover of musical genres at this time. Roger Miller and Dean Martin would pop up between songs by the Beatles, Beach Boys and the Supremes.

Click to enlarge

Radio station also gave away "hit survey" list (I've included one above). Usually, these included ads, maybe coupons, from local business, as well as photos, or funny looking illustrations, of the D-Js (Yes kids, the radio stations used to promote the D-Js and the music) and information on your favorite recording artist. Some radio stations ran contest for "Teenager of the Week."

BOTH RADIO & TELEVISION RAN COMMERCIALS FOR CIGARETTES

The most advertised product on radio and TV in the 60s was cigarettes. One of the big hits of 1966 was "Happiness Is" by the Ray Conniff Singers, which was actually based on the popular Kent Cigarettes "Happiness to a smoker is a Kent" ad campaign.  In 1964, the surgeon general's report on the effects of cigarette smoke came out, followed by the package warnings and eventually, in 1971, cigarette commercial were banned from radio and TV.


ONE OF THE BIGGEST SONGS ON RADIO WAS THE MUSIC TO AN ALKA SELTZER AD

The popular instrumental hit "No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach Is In)" by the T-Bones, was a rock & roll version of the folk-jug band music used in an Alka-Seltzer TV campaign called (you guess it) "No matter what shape your stomachs is in."


WHEN YOU WANT A BRITISH INVASION GROUP ON A TV SHOW, BUT CAN'T AFFORD A WHOLE BAND - CALL CHAD & JEREMY

British Invasion bands appeared often on variety shows, but on sitcoms and other scripted TV shows, the British Invasion was represented by the duo of Chad Stuart & Jeremy Clyde (above). In 1966 alone, the appeared in episodes of  The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Patty Duke Show, Laredo (which was a pilot for a proposed Western to star them as English music hall performers in the old West) and, of course, Batman (Catwoman stole their voices).

NOT EVERY TV MARKET WAS SERVED BY ALL THREE NETWORKS

Some markets (Springfield, Missouri, for example) had two TV stations and these stations "shared" ABC programing until an ABC affiliate was established in 1968. Other communities, may have "shared" CBS programs or NBC programs. Sometimes, the technology at some of the TV stations was so restricted by budget that transition between networks could be sudden, like someone unplugged NBC and plugged in ABC. Some programs were taped and shown at another time. In Springfield, the NBC affiliate (KYTV) was showing Batman on Monday & Tuesday night, instead of Wednesday & Thursday. That changed when the rival CBS affiliate (KTTS, now KOLR) picked it up later in the spring and ran it at the correct time.


THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS HAD A TV SHOW, BUT NOT THE ONE EVERYONE REMEMBERS

Their cutting edge variety show was a year away. This was a fantasy-"high concept" sitcom. In this show, Tommy was a sailor, who was washed overboard. He is sent back to Earth to be Dick's guardian angel "I'm to get you out of jams and stuff." Of course, Tommy instead gets him into "jams and stuff." The show was gone by the summer. Both Tom & Dick have said they hated the show.


THE FANTASY-HIGH CONCEPT SITCOMS DISAPPEARED (Get it)

While many people think of these shows, in regard to 60s television, the truth is they were not around that long. As a matter of fact, most of them were cancelled in 1966. By fall, the only ones left were Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Get Smart and Gilligan's Island (which would only last one more year). Those three, along with the equally maligned rural sitcoms, would be around until 1970.

FIRST TV SHOWS TO TALK ABOUT HALLUCINATORY DRUGS WERE WESTERNS

If you grew up in the 80s and remember the "Just Say No" phase, you remember TV shows doing "a very special episode" where a character would learn the dangers of drinking and using drugs.  LSD became a hot topic in the mid 60s. It became a plot line in TV shows, but not in the heavy handed way it would in the 80s. Also surprising was it first used as a plot line in two Westerns: The Wild Wild West & Laredo.


In a first season episode of WWW, Dr. Loveless invents a drug that causes "nightmarish visions" which he slips to Jim West, causing him to think his sidekick, Artemus Gordon, is trying to kill him.

Reese (in front) doesn't bathe
Laredo did two "druggy" episodes during its second season. One involves criminals using hypnotic coins and drug-laced brandy to take control of Reese's mind. Capt. Parmele and Chad figure out somethings wrong with Reese, because he "complimented" Eric's clothes (Who dressed like a cross between Prince & Porter Wagoner) and he has started "taking baths." The other episode involved a cute, lady dentist, using laughing gas to rob banks and wealthy men.

After that, Dragnet returned to NBC and most of the late 60s color episodes dealt with drugs.




THE MINISKIRT REALLY HADN'T TAKEN OFF YET

When you see photos of this era and even fashion & clothing ads of this time, you will notice a lack of miniskirts, which are associated with this era. The miniskirt really didn't take over fashion until 1967. Hemlines were coming up, but not to the miniskirt level yet. The above photos are from the 1966 & 1967 editions of the Southwest Missouri State College Ozarko yearbook.

CEREAL BOX WHISTLES & ORANGE JUICE CANS WERE POPULAR HACKS

Phone freaking became popular fad with college students as a way to make long distance calls for free. Remember, there were no cell phones or competing long distance companies, just the Bell System. Some how the freakers found that you could throw off  Ma Bell's automation systems with whistles that came free in cereal boxes. Supposedly, the best one to use came from Captain Crunch, because it was the exact pitch and tone as the tone on the automation system.


In the novel, a character, who is a phone freaker says he uses a whistle from a Post Sugar Rice Krinkles box. Not sure if they ever had a whistle as a prize, but I picked Sugar Rice Krinkles because 1) it is a defunct product, and 2) there is a lot of hate directed at this product on the Internet. Not because it had a politically incorrect Asian stereotype as its original mascot, but because their later mascot was a clown.

That Sugar Krinkles Clown that frightens wimps on the Internet

People frequently circulate a 1960 TV commercial featuring a clown and whine "This clown scares me. Waa Waa Waa! I'm scared of the clown. WWAAAAAA!"

This hairdo was created with orange juice cans & Dippty-Do

While on the subject of life hacks of 1966, that utilized breakfast foods, frozen orange juice cans were popular with girls. What did they do with orange juice cans? They used them to create curls for their flip hairstyle. Apparently, many girls felt that regular hair rollers didn't create big enough curls, so they began rolling their hair on empty orange juice cans. Pretty ingenious if you ask me. This look was held in place by Dippty-Do, one of the first mass marketed hair gels. They also ironed each others hair with a steam iron on an ironing board. OOOWWW!!!

WORST MEDIA ABBREVIATION OR "WHO THE HELL IS SOLON?"

Newspapers of the day would run headlines like "Solon Condemns Viet Cong" or "LBJ Speaks To Solon" or "Solon Gives Nasa More Money. So, who is this Solon person. According to the Merriam - Webster Dictionary, "Solon was a particularly wise lawgiver in ancient Athens who was born in approximately 630 B.C. and lived until about 560 B.C. He was one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece, and he implemented a number of reforms in Athenian law. In English, his name has been used generically since at least 1625 to refer to any wise statesman. Contemporary American journalists, with whom the term is especially popular, have extended the meaning even further to include any member of a lawmaking body, wise or not. In fact, today the word is sometimes used ironically for a legislator who displays a marked lack of wisdom, rather than a profusion of it." Solon was used, as an abbreviation, by newspapers of the 60s (which were still limited by typeset spaces) for both the Congress and the Senate. It is rarely used today since most people probably didn't know what it was referring to.  

HOT NEW SOFT DRINKS


Pepsi began distributing a regional soft drink called Mountain Dew. It was originally marketed with cartoon hillbillies and a variation on the country-bluegrass standard "Mountain Dew" as its jingle. Mountain Dew is still popular with several different varieties on the market, including Mountain Dew Throwback in the original white, red & green cans with cartoon hillbillies on them.


At the same time, Coca Cola introduced the diet cola Tab. Tab was an acquired taste. Tab was phased out after the introduction of Diet Coke in the 80s. 

THE GREAT POP CULTURE MOMENTS OF 1966 THAT HAPPENED AFTER MY NOVEL TAKES PLACE

Television shows that hadn't appeared yet:

Dark Shadows
  
Star Trek
The Monkees
Mission: Impossible
Ultraman

Band that wasn't around yet: The following bands first recorded in 1966, but were not around yet:

Mothers of Invention
Cream
Buffalo Springfield
The Doors
Jimi Hendrix Experience
Velvet Underground

as well as the Blues Magoos, 13th Floor Elevator, Electric Prunes, & Chocolate Watchband.

Music not around yet: "Wouldn't It Be Nice" & "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys; "Paperback Writer", "Rain", Yesterday and Today & Revolver by the Beatles; "Strangers in the Night" by Frank Sinatra; "Wild Thing" by The Troggs; "Summer In the City" by the Lovin Spoonful; "Sunshine Superman" by Donovan; "You Can't Hurry Love" & "You Keep Me Hanging On" by the Supremes; "Along Comes Mary" & "Cherish" by The Association; "Tell It Like It Is" by Aaron Neville; "Reach Out I'll Be There" by The Four Tops; "96 Tears" by Question Mark & the Mysterians; "Poor Side of Town" by Johnny Rivers; Aftermath by the Rolling Stones; "Hazy Shade of Winter" & Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme by Simon & Garfunkel; Projections by the Blues Project and Blonde On Blonde by Bob Dylan.


Movies not around yet: That would be most of the major movies of 1966, from the critically acclaimed Man For All Seasons to the MST3K favorite Manos The Hands of Fate (above), were released in the summer or Christmas season.  The big hits were left over from 1965.


Comics characters not around yet: While Peanuts was as big as Batman during this time, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Franklin & Woodstock were not yet a part of the comic. Patty & Marcy didn't appear until August of 1966.


Black Panther makes his first appearance in a July issue of Fantastic Four. 
 
I hope you enjoyed this trip back in time.

Saturday, October 27, 2018

HORROR MOVIE MUSIC IPOD PLAYLIST


I'm going to start off this post by telling you something that the snobby "timeless love song/Great American Songbook" crowd doesn't want you to know. One of their favorite "standard" songs, that was a favorite of our grandparents and parents, was introduced in a HORROR FILM.

The song, "Stella By Starlight," first appeared in the 1944 film The Uninvited, about a woman named Stella, who is possessed by a ghost. In the movie, Ray Milland plays a composer, who tries to woo Stella by composing the song for her on a piano, while she stands by an open window.  The song has been recorded by many artist since it was first introduced, but most of those familiar with the song would probably never guess it was from a horror film. The Uninvited was also groundbreaking in that it portray ghost and the paranormal as serious, instead of a criminal gimmick or for comedy purposes.

I brought up ghost and comedy, because one of the biggest songs of the 80s, was from a comedy about ghost and demons. Of course, that was Ghostbusters. That song dominated radio in the summer of 1984, but some would say Ghostbusters is a comedy not a horror film.

That is why this is a Ipod playlist, because 1)) doing a really educational "countdown-of-the-greatest-ever" post would lead to hairsplitting and Internet bickering about what I should consider a "real" horror film or horror comedy or a mystery thriller or science fiction movie or an original composition for a horror film or using a previously recorded song. So, I'll just give a playlist with the movie the song was featured in and you can decide for yourself what category it belongs in, 2) I haven't done one in a while, and 3) it's quick and easy.

I have left out orchestral scores, in favor of pop & rock songs, featured in the film. Some were hits before the film came out or "oldies" used to memorable effect in the film. I tried to give the name of the original version or version in the film, if I use a substitute, I'll mention why.

Stella By Starlight - Andre Previn (This is a piano instrumental, as in the movie) - The Uninvited - 1944
The Blob - The Five Blobs - The Blob 1958
The Web - Abie Baker - The Brain That Wouldn't Die 1959
Bird Is the Word - The Rivingtons - The Crawling Hand 1963
Look For a Star - Gary Miles - Circus of Horror 1960
Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte - Al Martino - Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte 1964
My Son, The Vampire - Alan Sherman - Vampire Over London 1952/My Son The Vampire 1964
That's The Way It's Got To Be - The Poets - Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster 1966
That's All That I Need You For - The Birds - The Deadly Bees 1966
Shadows - The Electric Prunes - The Name of the Game Is Kill 1968
Green Slime - The Green Slime - The Green Slime 1968 (The title of the song, movie and the band are all Green Slime)
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack - Play Misty For Me 1971
Season of the Witch - Donovan - Season of the Witch 1972/Dark Shadows 2012
Ben - Michael Jackson - Ben 1972
Tubular Bells  - Mike Oldfield - The Exorcist 1973
Popcorn - Hot Butter - Shriek of the Mutilated 1974
Daybreak - Harry Nilsson - Son of Dracula 1974
Science Fiction/Double Feature - Richard O'Brien - Rocky Horror Picture Show - 1975
Time Warp - Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn & Cast - Rocky Horror Picture Show - 1975
Sweet Transvestite - Tim Curry - Rocky Horror Picture Show - 1975
Don't Fear The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult - Halloween 1978
I Love The Nightlife - Alicia Bridges - Love At First Bite - 1979
Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival - American Werewolf in London -1981
Moondance - Van Morrison - American Werewolf in London - 1981
Blue Moon - The Marcels - American Werewolf in London - 1981
Cat People (Putting Out the Fire) - David Bowie - Cat People - 1982
Bela Lugosi's Dead - Bauhaus - The Hunger - 1983
Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Junior - Ghostbusters - 1984
Weird Science - Oingo Boingo - Weird Science - 1985
Wanted Man - Ratt - Weird Science - 1985
Tesla Girls - Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark - Weird Science - 1985
Pretty Woman - Van Halen - Weird Science - 1985
Blue Kiss - Jane Wiedlin - Night of the Creeps - 1986
The Stroll - The Diamonds - Night of the Creeps - 1986
Teen Beat - Sandy Nelson - Night of the Creeps - 1986
Good Times - Inxs with Jimmy Barnes - Lost Boys - 1987
People Are Strange - Echo & The Bunnymen - Lost Boys - 1987
Who Made Who - AC/DC - Maximum Overdrive -1986
For Those About To Rock - AC/DC - Maximum Overdrive - 1986
Dream Warriors - Dokken - Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors - 1987
Into the Fire - Dokken - Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors - 1987
Youth of America - Birdbrain - Scream - 1996
Red Right Hand - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Scream - 1996
Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass? - Buck Owens - House of 1000 Corpses - 2003
Turn Around, Look At Me - The Lettermen - Final Destination 3 - 2006
Nights In White Satin - Moody Blues - Dark Shadows - 2012
I'm Sick of You - Iggy & the Stooges - Dark Shadows - 2012
Ballad of Dwight Frye - Alice Cooper - Dark Shadows - 2012



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