The Classic/Retro Pop Culture Thread

[gblews]

Nope. But I will let you continue to ignore history, and how there is no Beatles (or what would come in the 60s) without those they so liberally imitated / ripped such as Little Richard and Paul's beloved Buddy Holly, to name only a few.

You may be confused about how pop music works. The Beatles "covered' the songs of artists they admired. The term "cover" refers to the act of one artist recording or performing the songs of other artists. If you check the writing credits of each of the Beatles' covers you'll note that the original songwriter is always given album credit as is the identity of the copyright holder. A rip off would be an artist recording or performing the songs of other artists without giving that artist credit and not getting permission. Simple, no?

Funny you should mention the Beach Boys, since we all know how the Beatles were so flummoxed by the creative tour de force that was Pet Sounds, like a person seeing a U.F.O. land on their rooftop, that they--in typical fashion--tried to clone it.

McCartney on the influence of Pet Sounds:

"..it was Pet Sounds that blew me out of the water. First of all, it was Brian's writing. I love the album so much. I've just bought my kids each a copy of it for their education in life---I figure no one is educated musically 'til they've heard that album. I was into the writing and the songs."

"Without Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper wouldn't have happened... Pepper was an attempt to equal Pet Sounds."

"If records had a director within a band, I sort of directed Pepper. And my influence was basically the Pet Sounds album."

Always interesting to me when I get into an online debate, and the poster with whom I’m debating starts copy and pasting long swaths of material in order to make their point.

And speaking of that, what is the point you’re attempting to make with this long quote?

Are you trying to say that the Beatles believed the Beach Boys were the better band? If so, .

Brian Wilson was a great writer and much admired by many of his peers. However, it is also true that he felt like he was in competition with Lennon/McCartney, which ironically, led him away from ripping off Chuck Berry tunes and trying to actually come up with something truly different. It's not unlikely that a large motivation for Pet Sounds was the Beatles.

This is not even touching how before that, they (like Donovan) tried to clone Bob Dylan's sound. Or the sounds of other artists at nearly every stage of the band's existence. . Another of near-endless examples: McCartney admitted how "Helter Skelter" came to life thanks to reading an article (in Melody Maker) about one of The Who's songs lauded as being the "most raucous rock n roll, the dirtiest thing they've ever done" as Paul remembered it, so he set off to try his hand at cloning that:

There's a difference between innovation and imitation.

Yes, I'm Down, was Paul's attempt to write a Little Richard song, per Paul himself. All I Gotta Do, was John's attempt to write a Smokey Robinson tune. Hide Your Love Away, John also stated, was his attempt to write a Dylan song.

Again, what's your point?

You should have stopped there, as its clear you think the Beatles pretty much invented creative, innovative markers in music.

They "invented" progressive rock. They were the first major mainstream rock band to experiment with new sounds, studio techniques, etc, which expanded the boundaries of what was defined as rock music.

Its such a patently false idea (and utterly disrespectful offensive to the creators and true innovators of rock/pop) that it instantly invalidated anything you have or ever will post on the subject, but I will continue to pick apart the rest.

Please do continue. I'm enjoying this.

No one said the Beatles invented creativity and innovation in rock and roll. That is a straw man argument you've created because it is much easier for you to argue than 'the Monkees are a better band, or just as good'. The Beatles were creative and innovators.

They did it to themselves with their tendency to create false idols, particularly in music.

As I've had to tell others in this forum, Boomers can't help it if their generation's birth happens to coincide with the birth of rock, thereby making Boomers' rock idols purely coincidentally, the architects of rock music. And might I reiterate, you think the frigging Monkees are some kind of great band. That alone blows a rather sizable hole in the credibility of your “taste”.

Enough with the Beatles fanboy hysteria. Your statement is not only false, but offensive in the extreme, and its similar to what many black artists in early rock said of Pat Boone and the erroneous claims that black music "needed" white artists to popularize their music, when it was already reshaping culture in North America and beyond.

I never said black artists "needed" white artists to popularize black music. What I said was that one of the benefits of having artists like the Beatles record their muisic was, in addition to the royalties, opening up those musicians to a new audience. The Bealtes ALWAYS talked freely about the artists who influenced them and the covers of those artist's songs. Also, they never released cover versions of songs that were currently on the charts or in recent release.

The problem back then wasn't necessarily white artists covering black music, it was white DJ's refusing to play the originals of the tunes being covered. Your knee jerk and very superficial parroting of an often quoted assessment of the issue misses the real problem by a wide margin.

Had white DJ's, who in some cases, were being paid by record companies, played Hank Ballard's original version of "The Twist" we might never have heard Chubby Checkers'. But on the other hand, maybe we would have heard Chubby's version which would have meant even more royalties for Hank on top of the royalties made by his original.

You see, professional songwriters are in the business of selling songs. I wouldn't think it matters to whom they are sold, Pat Boone, Chubby Checker, who cares? Now, singer songwriters, are trying to also sell their versions of their songs. So back in the day, what black artists needed was not so much, white artists not recording their songs, but for white DJ's to also play the original records.

Yes, I fanboy for the Beatles. But you stan the Monkees. You know they are like a bastard stepchild in the Beatles’ legacy? They were conceived as a knock off of not the actual Beatles, but a knock off of the Beatles as portrayed in A Hard Days Night.

No, that's a chart which was never reflective of true American tastes. Ask a Quincy Jones (for one) about the near segregation of charts in the 60s, which did not always recognize the sales / success of black artists to the level they actually reached.

I don’t have to ask Quincy Jones about segregation of the charts in the 60’s, I remember. I listened to my little transistor radio incessantly, to pop and r&b stations. In those days those stations playlists always reflected their respective charts. I’m well aware that black stations played mostly black artists and white stations, mostly white artists.

However, I’de be willing to bet that if you polled all Americans back in the mid 60’s about who their favorite individual artist or band in pop music was, the Beatles would have easily had the highest percentage.

And you might not be aware, but the Beatles had a quite sizable number of fans in black communities across America. It was by no means a majority, but sizable nonetheless.

Waiting for the evidence that the Rolling Stones of 1968 had these high standards as stage performers, and if that were the case, surely they would have worked to improve before taking to the NME Poll Winners' stage in the spring of that year, or Hyde Park and the U.S. tour of '69, where in each case, they were a mess.

My evidence is the fact that the Stones managed to continue as a record setting touring band for over 50 years. If it were actually true that they started to suck in 1968 and never recovered, I doubt they’d have been able to successfully continue on the road for as long as they did.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Always interesting to me when I get into an online debate, and the poster with whom I’m debating starts copy and pasting long swaths of material in order to make their point.

Translation: Please do not provide evidence of the Beatles not being some pure creative force, when history--and McCartney's own statements prove the Beatles most celebrated album would not exist if not for being heavily inspired by Pet Sounds.

Please do not refer to the Beatles liberally apeing Dylan, or "Yesterday" showing clear signs of cloning from the Ray Charles version of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Georgia On My Mind" and Nat ‘King’ Cole’s "Answer Me My Love." It goes on and on in their catalogue, but shh! the Fab Four were the most original band in rock history....r-right?? No.

They "invented" progressive rock. They were the first major mainstream rock band to experiment with new sounds, studio techniques, etc,

Utterly false. Its genesis can be found in the 1950s, which saw rock stars break out of pure blues, jazz and rockabilly roots to start incorporating everything from the modified version folk to classical-rooted string and horn sections (numerous black artists were already taking this a natural artistic path, while a man like Buddy Holly--for one example--was moving in that direction shortly before he died) in a way that was once only considered the purview of artists outside of rock. That was already changing the sound of rock/pop music, opening the psychological door for acts and producers of the future to explore beyond genre limitations. To say the Beatles were the first in that regard is historically inaccurate in the extreme.

Lets not even get into which early 1960s acts (including some of the British Invasion) were breaking that new ground both Stateside and abroad.

No one said the Beatles invented creativity and innovation in rock and roll.

.Yet your Beatles fanboy mind let this find its way into your post:

"They "invented" progressive rock. They were the first major mainstream rock band to experiment with new sounds, studio techniques, etc,"

Yeah that's another way of you reaching the same conclusion.

As I've had to tell others in this forum, Boomers can't help it if their generation's birth happens to coincide with the birth of rock, thereby making Boomers' rock idols purely coincidentally

One can exist in the same time as any artists without turning them into false idols. Many a Baby Boomer have a tendency to erect false idols without question (e.g.,George Reeves "was the best Superman ever!!", Elvis, et al.), or ever seeing the inherent flaw in such a mindset.

I never said black artists "needed" white artists to popularize black music. What I said was that one of the benefits of having artists like the Beatles record their muisic was, in addition to the royalties, opening up those musicians to a new audience.

That's another way of saying they needed white artists.

You see, professional songwriters are in the business of selling songs. I wouldn't think it matters to whom they are sold, Pat Boone, Chubby Checker, who cares?

Posted like someone not living on the other side of the tracks.

I don’t have to ask Quincy Jones about segregation of the charts in the 60’s, I remember.

Being a bystander is not being at the record companies who also played a part in those segregationist practices, which were shared by radio advertisers, civic groups interested in maintaining a "cultural" status quo by targeting art, etc. Jones is a wealth of information on the details of how and why some artists did not get the same exposure/access as white artists, which by any standard of research--must force the reevaluation of oft-vomited "history" of who and what were the true movers and shakers of that genre.

And you might not be aware, but the Beatles had a quite sizable number of fans in black communities across America. It was by no means a majority, but sizable nonetheless.

Since part of my family is black I would know about that more that you, and from both family and community knowledge I'm aware of from one end of America to the other over the decades, and the Beatles were not as widely accepted in that community as you are suggesting. In fact, of the British invasion groups, The Rolling Stones and The Animals developed a far stronger fan base among American black listeners than the Beatles, not only due to what they were recording, but an acknowledged pedigree which was more than reverential to both the known and near-faceless blues and gospel artists which fueled those groups.

My evidence is the fact that the Stones managed to continue as a record setting touring band for over 50 years.

That is not how evidence is gathered in defending a specific case/example. This was about their poor performance at the Rock n Roll Circus from November of 1968 and how that was not unusual considering their poor performance at the NME Pollwinners show earlier that year (May), and how disjointed/sloppy they would continue to be in live performances in the following year. As covered days ago, the band members have gone on record as being more than dissatisfied with the band's live status at the time. Months of drug and legal problems made it a minor miracle TSMR was even released in 1967, and the Spring/Summer '68 sessions for Beggars Banquet happened at all. Again, BB was the group's great return to the early, Jones-directed blues years, but there is no question that the Rolling Stones were scattered as a concert-ready act in the period in question.

 

[RJDiogenes]

"The Pyramid Swindle"

I had much higher hopes for this title.

When the defense attorney brings in just such an expert witness to testify that the scheme is theoretically feasible, the prosecuting attorney turns the tables by getting the witness to tell the jury the number of participants it would take for the scheme to work as advertised: 360 million...roughly 160 million more people than the entire population of the United States.

Well, that's why she was trying to recruit more people. Duh.

The business proprietor next door (Stuart Nisbet) thinks that the card has been working like a charm for him, because he's been tearing up traffic tickets without consequence (yet), as one of the fake officers told him he could.

I remember that scene.

Officer Jim Reed! Yes, it's Kent McCord...Friday calls him Reed, and we get his first name in the end credits, but this clearly presents continuity issues with Adam-12, since he'll be a rookie fresh out of the academy a year later (and here he comes off as an officer who's already been on the job for a while).

Well, my iPhone calendar tells me that November 15th actually fell on a Tuesday in 1966, so this could take place in 1973.

They speculated that the victim must have caught him in the act and he silenced her.

That makes sense. It didn't sound like murder was his regular gig.

As I've had to tell others in this forum, Boomers can't help it if their generation's birth happens to coincide with the birth of rock, thereby making Boomers' rock idols purely coincidentally, the architects of rock music.

Some refer to this as being "born at the right time."

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

55 Years Ago This Week

Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

1. "Hello, Dolly!," Louis Armstrong & The All Stars
2. "Do You Want to Know a Secret," The Beatles
3. "My Guy," Mary Wells
4. "Bits and Pieces," The Dave Clark Five
5. "Can't Buy Me Love," The Beatles
6. "Don't Let the Rain Come Down (Crooked Little Man)," The Serendipity Singers
7. "Ronnie," The Four Seasons
8. "Dead Man's Curve," Jan & Dean
9. "Suspicion," Terry Stafford
10. "White on White," Danny Williams
11. "Twist and Shout," The Beatles
12. "Love Me Do," The Beatles
13. "It's Over," Roy Orbison
14. "Glad All Over," The Dave Clark Five

16. "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)," Betty Everett
17. "That's the Way Boys Are," Lesley Gore
18. "Wish Someone Would Care," Irma Thomas
19. "I'm So Proud," The Impressions
20. "The Matador," Major Lance

22. "Money," The Kingsmen
23. "Little Children," Billy J. Kramer w/ The Dakotas
24. "You're a Wonderful One," Marvin Gaye

26. "(Just Like) Romeo & Juliet," The Reflections
27. "My Girl Sloopy," The Vibrations

31. "The Pink Panther Theme," Henry Mancini & His Orchestra
32. "Do You Love Me," The Dave Clark Five

34. "The Way You Do the Things You Do," The Temptations
35. "Thank You Girl," The Beatles

37. "Needles and Pins," The Searchers
38. "Stay Awhile," Dusty Springfield
39. "The Very Thought of You," Rick Nelson
40. "Walk On By," Dionne Warwick

42. "Chapel of Love," The Dixie Cups

47. "Today," The New Christy Minstrels

50. "Hey, Bobba Needle," Chubby Checker

53. "Nadine (Is It You?)," Chuck Berry

55. "Once Upon a Time," Marvin Gaye & Mary Wells

57. "People," Barbra Streisand

61. "Every Little Bit Hurts," Brenda Holloway

64. "P.S. I Love You," The Beatles

76. "A World Without Love," Peter & Gordon

87. "Viva Las Vegas," Elvis Presley

96. "Not Fade Away," The Rolling Stones

Leaving the chart:

• "Ain't Nothing You Can Do," Bobby Bland (9 weeks)
• "All My Loving," The Beatles (6 weeks)
• "She Loves You," The Beatles (15 weeks)

Recent and new on the chart:

"Every Little Bit Hurts," Brenda Holloway

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(May 2; #13 US; #3 R&B)

"Viva Las Vegas," Elvis Presley

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(#29 US; #17 UK; Coming May 20 to a theater near you!)

"P.S. I Love You," The Beatles

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(B-side of "Love Me Do"; #10 US)

"A World Without Love," Peter & Gordon

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(#1 US the week of June 27, 1964; #1 UK; written by John Lennon & Paul McCartney--really Paul)

Total Beatles songs on the chart: 6. Historical note: This is the first week since January that the Beatles haven't occupied the top spot.

And new on the boob tube--Ed's guests this week include Stevie Wonder performing last year's breakout hit, "Fingertips":

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And spotlighting what will be their first U.S. hit, "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying," ahead of its chart debut...Gerry & The Pacemakers!

_______

It's not unlikely that a large motivation for Pet Sounds was the Beatles.

In fact, Rubber Soul is known to have inspired Pet Sounds:

For Pet Sounds, Wilson desired to make "a complete statement", similar to what he believed the Beatles had done with their newest album Rubber Soul, released in December 1965. Wilson was impressed that the album appeared to lack filler tracks, a feature that was mostly unheard of at a time when 45 rpm singles were considered more noteworthy than full-length LPs. Many albums up until the mid-1960s lacked a cohesive artistic goal and were largely used to sell singles at a higher price point. Wilson found that Rubber Soul subverted this by having a wholly consistent thread of music. Inspired, he rushed to his wife and proclaimed, "Marilyn, I'm gonna make the greatest album! The greatest rock album ever made!" He would say of his reaction to Rubber Soul: "I liked the way it all went together, the way it was all one thing. It was a challenge to me ... It didn't make me want to copy them but to be as good as them. I didn't want to do the same kind of music, but on the same level."

Wilson also reportedly had a very strong reaction to hearing "Strawberry Fields Forever," which with "Penny Lane" was the first material to be released from the Pepper sessions:

Brian Wilson, who had been struggling to complete the Beach Boys' Smile album, first heard "Strawberry Fields Forever" on his car radio while under the influence of barbiturates. In the recollection of his passenger at the time, Michael Vosse:
"[Wilson] just shook his head and said, 'They did it already – what I wanted to do with Smile. Maybe it's too late.'" Vosse recalled that the two then exchanged laughter, but at "the moment he said it, he sounded very serious." According to author Steven Gaines, the "wondrous and different-sounding" quality of the Beatles' single was one of several factors that accelerated Wilson's emotional descent and led to him abandoning Smile.

And of course, you, I, and most people know and readily acknowledge that all artists have their influences, and nothing inspires creativity like competition. Did Pet Sounds inspire Pepper? Absolutely, and all the popular music that came after is the richer for it. Does anyone think that Pepper is a pale knockoff of Pet Sounds? They're both great albums (holding the top two spots in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time), and each has its own distinctive character, because the Beatles and Beach Boys may have influenced each other, but each band retained its own distinctive sound and identity.

All of which is a far cry from "Let's make a single that sounds as much like the latest Beatles single as possible"

I don't suppose you were lurking here a while back when TREK_GOD refused to acknowledge the existence of Folk Rock as as a genre and insisted that Dylan plugging in and the Byrds weren't doing anything that the Kingston Trio and the Weavers hadn't already done?

That is a straw man argument you've created because it is much easier for you to argue than 'the Monkees are a better band, or just as good'.

It's a novel tactic...attempting to elevate the Monkees by tearing down the Beatles. The problem with it is that even if we all subscribed to this alternative history in which the Beatles were absolutely worthless, there are still dozens if not hundreds of '60s musical acts better than the freakin' Monkees.

Well, that's why she was trying to recruit more people. Duh.

I don't entirely understand the dynamics of pyramid schemes, but the idea as postulated in the episode was that really only the people who get in earliest, in the top few tiers of the pyramid, stand to make real money out of it. What I don't get is how it would ever be considered theoretically feasible as the expert witness testified. It seems that no matter how huge you managed to grow the pyramid, the increasingly vast number of people at the bottom would still just be paying up.

Well, my iPhone calendar tells me that November 15th actually fell on a Tuesday in 1966, so this could take place in 1973.

Ah, I was tired and looking at the wrong T-day! I've resisted projecting the dates into the future beyond the year in the title of the season, but 1973 would make a lot more sense than 1962...not just because of Reed, but because Friday identified the car that Densmore was driving as being a 1967 model.

Something occurred to me about the Fake Scripture in "The Big High"...in lieu of The Word of God, it sounds like the writers were channeling The Word of Bob!

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

And of course, you, I, and most people know and readily acknowledge that all artists have their influences, and nothing inspires creativity like competition. Did Pet Sounds inspire Pepper? Absolutely, and all the popular music that came after is the richer for it. Does anyone think that Pepper is a pale knockoff of Pet Sounds? They're both great albums (holding the top two spots in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time), and each has its own distinctive character, because the Beatles and Beach Boys may have influenced each other, but each band retained its own distinctive sound and identity.

He's not making a simple "influence" argument. He's arguing a level of absolute originality while putting blinders on about swiping from the work of others. Additionally, you conveniently ignored this whopper:

They "invented" progressive rock. They were the first major mainstream rock band to experiment with new sounds, studio techniques, etc,

That is crediting one group with a monumental artistic movement in rock/pop with is patently false, no matter how much some want to con themselves with that never-never-land business.

Whoops.

I don't suppose you were lurking here a while back when TREK_GOD refused to acknowledge the existence of Folk Rock as as a genre and insisted that Dylan plugging in and the Byrds weren't doing anything that the Kingston Trio and the Weavers hadn't already done?

I cite real history, not Wikipedia, as some around here commonly do. If you want to believe fairy tales, that is your business, but do not pass that off as real history, like the member you supporting. Then again, you choose to believe the Beatles were merely influenced by the work of others, and were beyond outright swipes. Laughable.
Painful as it might be for a few, its a matter of easily-researched history. They were guilty of the practice, as other acts were. In a 1982 Playboy interview, McCartney said the following:

"Oh, yeah. We were the biggest nickers in town. Plagiarists extraordinaires."

No one--even McCartney himself--ever said that admission was with tongue in cheek, but please, keep fighting against the man's own words and deeds. There's similar interviews / research published over the decades, but I'm going to go ahead and say it will never be accessed by a couple of people.

It's a novel tactic...attempting to elevate the Monkees by tearing down the Beatles.

Enough with the lies. You--the obsessed Beatle fan--could not post a review of the Monkees' TV special without turning it into an opportunity to attack them by comparing the special to / trying to boost the Magical Mystery Tour TV special in the same breath. Do you believe no one can see what you were doing? The only tactic repeatedly attempted in this thread is yours, Old Mixer.

Speaking of tactics, what was yours in posting disparaging things about The Who, a group with a body of work you are--admittedly--not that familiar with? That calls your ability to be objective about much into question unless you're going to.admit you have an agenda (and petty one at that, as it seems to only exist to target one board member)...but I doubt you will.

 

[The Old Mixer]

OK, I'm not getting dragged down into a back-and-forth on all of this, but I feel I need to clarify a subtlety that seems to have gotten lost...

You--the obsessed Beatle fan--could not post a review of the Monkees' TV special without turning it into an opportunity to attack them by comparing the special to / trying to boost the Magical Mystery Tour TV special in the same breath.

When I say that Head or 33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee was worse than Magical Mystery Tour, that's not elevating MMT...that's saying that as bad as MMT was, these were even worse. That's using MMT as a measure of badness/unwatchability.

Whoosh.

 

[RJDiogenes]

"Every Little Bit Hurts," Brenda Holloway

I don't remember this. Nothing really leaps out (except the album cover).

"Viva Las Vegas," Elvis Presley

Yeah, I love this one.

"P.S. I Love You," The Beatles

Here's a classic.

"A World Without Love," Peter & Gordon

A subtly heartbreaking and disturbing classic.

And new on the boob tube--Ed's guests this week include Stevie Wonder performing last year's breakout hit, "Fingertips":

Way to fake out Squiggy.

I don't entirely understand the dynamics of pyramid schemes, but the idea as postulated in the episode was that really only the people who get in earliest, in the top few tiers of the pyramid, stand to make real money out of it. What I don't get is how it would ever be considered theoretically feasible as the expert witness testified. It seems that no matter how huge you managed to grow the pyramid, the increasingly vast number of people at the bottom would still just be paying up.

I don't really get it either, since it involves numbers, and I also don't really understand why it's illegal-- people should have the right to be stupid. Or take chances, however you want to look at it.

Ah, I was tired and looking at the wrong T-day! I've resisted projecting the dates into the future beyond the year in the title of the season, but 1973 would make a lot more sense than 1962...not just because of Reed, but because Friday identified the car that Densmore was driving as being a 1967 model.

And Adam-12 was still on the air, so it all fits. We have officially confirmed that Joe and Frank are unstuck in time.

Something occurred to me about the Fake Scripture in "The Big High"...in lieu of The Word of God, it sounds like the writers were channeling The Word of Bob!

Well, he is a prophet for our times.

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

50 Years Ago This Week

May 4 – John and Yoko buy a new home, 'Tittenhurst Park' in Sunninghill, Berkshire, once owned by the tycoon Peter Cadbury.
May 5 – After a long and bitter battle, Lew Grade's ATV gains control of the Beatles' Northern Songs Ltd, and therefore control of almost all of the Lennon–McCartney songwriting catalogue.
May 8 – Allen Klein's company, ABKCO, is appointed business manager of several of the Beatles' companies. Paul refuses to sign any contract to this effect and is bitterly opposed to Klein's involvement in Apple in any shape or form.
May 9 – Apple launches a new UK offshoot, Zapple, a record label to feature experimental and avant-garde material. Its first two albums, out today, are John and Yoko's second collection of experimental sounds and music, Unifinished Music No 2: Life with the Lions, and George Harrison's album Electronic Sound.

May 10

• Zip to Zap, a gathering of more than 2,000 people students and young adults at the remote town of at Zap, North Dakota, ends with the dispersal and eviction of the revelers by the North Dakota National Guard.
• The Battle of Dong Ap Bia, also known as Hamburger Hill, begins during the Vietnam War.

And The Old Mixer is the size of a lemon.
Second trimester--Woohoo! Let the squinting and grimacing commence!


Selections from Billboard's Hot 100 for the week:

1. "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In," The 5th Dimension
2. "Hair," The Cowsills
3. "It's Your Thing," The Isley Brothers
4. "Hawaii Five-O," The Ventures
5. "You've Made Me So Very Happy," Blood, Sweat & Tears
6. "Time Is Tight," Booker T. & The M.G.'s
7. "Sweet Cherry Wine," Tommy James & The Shondells
8. "The Boxer," Simon & Garfunkel
9. "Atlantis," Donovan
10. "Get Back," The Beatles w/ Billy Preston
11. "Love (Can Make You Happy)," Mercy
12. "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'," Crazy Elephant
13. "These Eyes," The Guess Who
14. "Only the Strong Survive," Jerry Butler
15. "The Chokin' Kind," Joe Simon
16. "Do Your Thing," The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
17. "Gitarzan," Ray Stevens
18. "Oh Happy Day," The Edwin Hawkins Singers feat. Dorothy Combs Morrison
19. "Galveston," Glen Campbell
20. "I Don't Want Nobody to Give Me Nothing (Open Up the Door, I'll Get It Myself), Pt. 1" James Brown
21. "Twenty-Five Miles," Edwin Starr
22. "Dizzy," Tommy Roe
23. "Grazing in the Grass," The Friends of Distinction
24. "Goodbye," Mary Hopkin
25. "Pinball Wizard," The Who
26. "Don't Give In to Him," Gary Puckett & The Union Gap
27. "My Way," Frank Sinatra
28. "The Composer," Diana Ross & The Supremes
29. "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby," Marvin Gaye
30. "I Can't See Myself Leaving You," Aretha Franklin
31. "More Today Than Yesterday," Spiral Starecase

35. "Stand!," Sly & The Family Stone
36. "Morning Girl," The Neon Philharmonic
37. "I Can Hear Music," The Beach Boys
38. "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show," Neil Diamond
39. "Mercy," Ohio Express
40. "Don't Let Me Down," The Beatles w/ Billy Preston
41. "In the Ghetto," Elvis Presley

44. "Where's the Playground Susie," Glen Campbell

47. "Cissy Strut," The Meters

50. "Day Is Done," Peter, Paul & Mary
51. "Heather Honey," Tommy Roe

54. "Bad Moon Rising," Creedence Clearwater Revival

58. "One," Three Dog Night
59. "Lodi," Creedence Clearwater Revival

63. "Everyday with You Girl," Classics IV feat. Dennis Yost

67. "The Windmills of Your Mind," Dusty Springfield

71. "Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet," Henry Mancini, His Orchestra & Chorus

75. "Black Pearl," Sonny Charles & The Checkmates, Ltd.

Leaving the chart:

• "Badge," Cream (5 weeks)
• "Hot Smoke & Sasafrass," The Bubble Puppy (12 weeks)
• "Memories," Elvis Presley (7 weeks)
• "Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon," Paul Revere & The Raiders (12 weeks)
• "Rock Me," Steppenwolf (10 weeks)
• "Runaway Child, Running Wild," The Temptations (12 weeks)
• "Time of the Season," The Zombies (13 weeks)
• "Wishful Sinful," The Doors (6 weeks)

New on the chart:

"Black Pearl," Sonny Charles & The Checkmates, Ltd.

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(#13 US; #8 R&B)

"Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet," Henry Mancini, His Orchestra & Chorus

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(#1 US the weeks of June 28 and July 5, 1969; #1 AC)

"Get Back," The Beatles w/ Billy Preston

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(#1 US the weeks of May 24 through June 21, 1969; #1 UK; another entry at #10!)

"Don't Let Me Down," The Beatles w/ Billy Preston

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(B-side of "Get Back"; #35 US)


And new on the boob tube:

• The Ed Sullivan Show, Season 21, episode 28, featuring Richie Havens, Brascia & Tybee, The Baja Marimba Band, Vikki Carr, Beverly Sills, and Joel Grey

_______

I don't remember this. Nothing really leaps out (except the album cover).

It's a little old-school for the period, but has a nice sound.

Yeah, I love this one.

Movie Elvis gets a bad rap...he's still got some "it" factor going.

Here's a classic.

Notably, this was also the UK B-side of "Love Me Do," which was released there as the Beatles' first single in Oct. 1962.

A subtly heartbreaking and disturbing classic.

Notable here is that Peter Asher was pretty close to Paul in the day, as Paul was not only going steady with his sister Jane, but also living in the attic of the Asher family home! 50 years ago this week, Asher would have been involved in Apple. Today he hosts a show called "From Me to You" on Sirius XM's Beatles Channel.

Way to fake out Squiggy.

It Squiggy's got an issue with Stevie, that's his problem.

I don't really get it either, since it involves numbers, and I also don't really understand why it's illegal-- people should have the right to be stupid. Or take chances, however you want to look at it.

I guess I'd agree on gambling in general...the pyramid scheme seems more like a con. Would it help you to disapprove of it if I noted that, as touched upon in the episode description, Bates delivered her seminar in the style of an evangelical sermon?

And Adam-12 was still on the air, so it all fits. We have officially confirmed that Joe and Frank are unstuck in time.

Guess it makes sense, since even ignoring day/date sync, just the months are all over the place from episode to episode.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

OK, I'm not getting dragged down into a back-and-forth on all of this

..you did jump into the middle of it, but I will let that go, since you do not wish to continue going into it.

When I say that Head or 33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee was worse than Magical Mystery Tour, that's not elevating MMT...that's saying that as bad as MMT was, these were even worse. That's using MMT as a measure of badness/unwatchability.

The presidential candidates for 2020 could use you, what with your mastery of the spin job!

 

[RJDiogenes]

Second trimester--Woohoo! Let the squinting and grimacing commence!

Good practice for all the TV reviews.

"Black Pearl," Sonny Charles & The Checkmates, Ltd.

This is really nice.

"Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet," Henry Mancini, His Orchestra & Chorus

Very familiar, but, you know.....

"Get Back," The Beatles w/ Billy Preston

This is a good one.

"Don't Let Me Down," The Beatles w/ Billy Preston

Also good, but generally relegated to the wee hours, as I recall.

Movie Elvis gets a bad rap...he's still got some "it" factor going.

It's a really fun song.

but also living in the attic of the Asher family home!

That's pretty funny.

It Squiggy's got an issue with Stevie, that's his problem.

Squiggy thinks Stevie saved it.

I guess I'd agree on gambling in general...the pyramid scheme seems more like a con. Would it help you to disapprove of it if I noted that, as touched upon in the episode description, Bates delivered her seminar in the style of an evangelical sermon?

And yet Amway is legal.....

Guess it makes sense, since even ignoring day/date sync, just the months are all over the place from episode to episode.

I'm sure they did it deliberately, just to drive us mad.

 

[gblews]

"Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet," Henry Mancini, His Orchestra & Chorus

Henry Mancini wrote some of the most beautiful and interesting melodies ever recorded. He wrote "Moon River", "The Pink Panther", Peter Gunn, in addition to "Love Theme" and several others. The man was truly gifted.

Notable here is that Peter Asher was pretty close to Paul in the day, as Paul was not only going steady with his sister Jane, but also living in the attic of the Asher family home! 50 years ago this week, Asher would have been involved in Apple. Today he hosts a show called "From Me to You" on Sirius XM's Beatles Channel.

Peter Asher tells a story about when he and Paul lived together back then. He said that one day he needed a pair of clean socks so he went looking for a pair in Paul's room. He said that the only thing in the room that was an indication that someone famous lived there was Paul's bass case which had the Beatles' logo on it -- until he opened one of the chest of drawers. Instead of socks the drawer was filled with cash.

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

50th Anniversary Viewing

_______

The Saint
"The Man who Gambled with Life"
Originally aired January 26, 1969 (UK); May 2, 1969 (US)

An obsessed scientist (Clifford Evans) and his two daughters (Jayne Sofiano, Veronica Carlson) choose Templar as an experiment subject.

Simon's enjoying a solo picnic in the countryside when he's approached by a mysterious young woman (Carlson) wearing the same shirt as him and accompanied by several men dressed in black formal wear. She engages in cryptic conversation that sounds partly like an offer, partly like a threat, and hands him a cage with a mouse in it named Mimi whose lifespan she says has been doubled. She also explains that if something happens to Simon, he won't be missed because he has no relatives and travels around so much. The halo is both mistimed and very off-center.

Simon returns to his flat to find a coffin with a wax dummy of himself inside, and another young woman wearing his shirt who holds a gun on him that turns out to be loaded with blanks...both to underscore his mortality. This woman, Stella (Sofiano) is a little less creepy and more playful and flirtatious. She identifies herself as the sister of the other woman, Vanessa, and talks about how Simon's been "selected" because of his psychological profile. Simon makes an excuse to leave the room and slips out the window. When Stella finds that his car is gone, she drives off in her own...and Simon tails her to an airport where she meets up with Vanessa and boards a helicopter.

When the ladies return home, we meet their wealthy father, Keith Longman (Evans), who's having his vitals monitored and is told that he could die of his heart condition anytime within the next six months. He discusses his plans with his daughters and makes it clear that he's determined and won't be held back by anyone, not even Stella, who disagrees with his choice to force Simon to help him. Longman's house has a room with high-tech consoles and computers and an underground dungeon with a gorilla in it, and he has several hired underlings whose uniform is a blue pullover with black collar and cuffs and black pants, making them look distractingly like blueshirts from Star Trek--there's even a thin diagonal stripe on the shirt that looks like a tricorder strap!

Having bribed a man at the airport to track down the helicopter, Simon finds Longman's house in Cornwall and, accompanied by Mimi and with the help of some TV Fu, sneaks in and finds Longman's mancaves. The gorilla is now in what looks like (and indeed turns out to be) a suspended animation chamber. Longman finds Simon and treats him to the customary Bond villain routine of revealing his plan (Get used to it, Roger.), which involves using Simon as his first human suspended animation test subject. Simon tries to leave, but one of the blueshirts stuns him with a phaser knocks him out with gas, and Longman proceeds to thaw his gorilla.

The gorilla doesn't make it, and when a couple of the guards go to retrieve Simon, who's been locked in a room with Stella, he overpowers them with more TV Fu and he and Stella proceed to escape. This includes her doing what appears to have been a just-off-camera chop or judo throw that causes a guard to fall into camera unconscious.

I saw that on television!

They're caught by Vanessa and her "undertaker's men," but when she returns them to her father's lab, we find that Longman has suffered an attack and his blueshirts were forced to put him in the chamber, with the hope of being able to successfully revive him someday when his condition can be treated.

This one felt somewhat like an Avengers episode with its idiosyncratic, larger-than-life antagonists. It also felt quite padded again...Simon didn't even really do anything to affect the outcome of the story, he just sort of waltzed through it. As guest heroines on the show go, Stella was rather enjoyable.

_______

This is really nice.

Musically it seems kind of lightweight and undistinguished, but it's a Top 20 single, it has a sign-o-the-times message, and the group are Hoosiers, so I got it.

Very familiar, but, you know.....

Henry Mancini wrote some of the most beautiful and interesting melodies ever recorded. He wrote "Moon River", "The Pink Panther", Peter Gunn, in addition to "Love Theme" and several others. The man was truly gifted.

Took 'em long enough to churn out a single, though...the film may have still been doing well in theaters at this point in those days, but it seems like a long time since it came up as 50th anniversary business...and that was going by American release date.

This is a good one.

Also good, but generally relegated to the wee hours, as I recall.

Here we have the first material to be released from the Get Back sessions of a few months back. The Let It Be film and album won't be coming out for a full year. The version of "Get Back" on the album is from the same recording, but edited differently.

Squiggy thinks Stevie saved it.

There may be hope for Squiggy yet....

And yet Amway is legal.....

Had to look that up, but from what I glanced over, they were around in the day, though I'm not sure how high-profile they would have been at that point. It's possible that the episode was specifically aimed at them...the evangelical sermon aspect seems too similar to be a coincidence.

I'm sure they did it deliberately, just to drive us mad.

It does help sell the "true story" aspect of the series...like you're actually seeing cases that involved different policemen in different times and places, but fictionally channeled through our recurring characters.

Instead of socks the drawer was filled with cash.

That is pretty funny!

_______

Dragnet 1968

"The Trial Board"
Originally aired December 14, 1967

Friday and Gannon use an unusual method to clear a fellow officer.

This is the city: Los Angeles, California. For the taxes they pay, Angelenos demand certain services. They want their streets kept clean...they want a fire department that's ready for any emergency...and they wanna know their security is being guarded by a police department dedicated to their protection. In any good-sized group of men, you're liable to find a bad one once in a while. But when that one happens to be a policeman, it reflects on every man in the department, including me. I carry a badge.

Tuesday, August 29 (1967): Friday and Gannon are working the day watch out of Robbery Division when Capt. Howe (Art Gilmore) informs Friday that a uniformed officer has requested that the sergeant represent him before a trial board. Friday visits the officer, Phil Waverly (Steve Carlson), who's been accused of accepting a bribe from a bookie and not identifying himself as a police officer when vice officers who say that they witnessed him taking the bribe arrested the bookie in his presence. Waverly tells Friday how the bookie was an old Vietnam buddy and that he'd been offered a bribe but refused to accept it. Waverly doesn't know Friday personally, but chose him based on his reputation for going to the limit for what's right.

Friday enlists Gannon's aide in his investigation. They visit the bookie, Ted Clover (Peter Duryea), who sticks to his testimony that Waverly took his "loan," and seems pretty cavalier about it all.

The second half of the episode centers around the titular convening. Clover is reluctantly made to hand over a book (which he conveniently brought with him) in which he says he recorded the transaction, but it's in code. Friday enlists the help of Sgt. Hugh Binyon (Alfred Shelly), a Vice Department expert in bookmakers and their operations, to decipher the code. Binyon finds what appears to be the transaction, which initially seems damning for Waverly. In a private interrogation room, Waverly admits to Friday and Gannon that there was such a transaction, but that it was Clover paying him back for a gambling loan from when they were in the service.

After he breaks the code, Binyon reveals before the board that the markings indicate that the transaction was indeed recorded as paying a debt. Deputy Chief Simon, presiding over the board (Art Balinger, who usually plays one of their rotating division captains, most often Hugh Brown), declares that he's turning over the transcripts to the DA with the recommendation that Clover be charged for perjury.

On September 11th, the Board of Rights of the Los Angeles Police Department concluded the case of Officer Philip Waverly....The Board found the accused not guilty of counts one and two, associating with a known bookmaker and accepting a bribe from same. The board found the accused guilty on the third count, failure to identify himself as a police officer. Philip Waverly was suspended from his position as policeman for a period of 45 days with a total loss of pay amounting to $1,000.00.

Ted Clover was subsequently tried and convicted on a charge of perjury. Perjury is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than one nor more than fourteen years.

"The Christmas Story"
Originally aired December 21, 1967

Friday and Gannon help to recover a Christ child statue stolen from a church.

This is the city: Los Angeles, California.
...
I work here. I carry a badge.

Yes, that was it. There was some music and a pan over the city where I put the ellipses. And more oddly, this one has opening titles for Dragnet 1970 and closing titles for Dragnet 1969! An IMDb blurb explains that this is an artifact of the episode having been re-aired in subsequent holiday seasons during the show's original run.

Wednesday, December 24: Friday and Gannon are working the day watch out of Burglary Division when they're sent to a San Fernando mission church to look into the theft of a Jesus statue from the church's manger scene. The statue has no real monetary value, but is of great traditional value to the church and its parishioners. Friday expresses his surprise when Father Rojas (Harry Bartell) tells him that the church isn't locked up at night...

Friday: You leave it wide open, so any thief can walk in?
Rojas: Particularly thieves.​

In addition to checking a religious paraphernalia store where it might have been pawned, the detectives go around questioning people known to have been at the church around that time. One of them is a kid who helps out at the church played by Barry Williams, who gives them a lead about a man seen lingering at the church named Claude Stroup. They visit the seedy hotel where Stroup lives and learn from the desk clerk that he has a record, though they can't find anything under that name. At around this point, Captain Mack (Byron Morrow) wants them to put the matter aside for a higher-priority case, but they use some reverse psychology to get him to let them keep at it.

Going back to the hotel they find Stroup (Mark VII favorite Bobby Troup) and take him to the station. It takes them a while to get him to talk, but when he does, it becomes clear that he thinks it's about an unrelated incident involving him having borrowed a car and gotten into a fender-bender. They let him go and resign themselves to telling Rojas that they couldn't find the statue in time for the Christmas service. While they're doing that, a young boy comes into the church pulling a red wagon, with the statue in it. The boy, Pacito, explains to Father Rojas in Spanish that he'd been praying for a red wagon for years, and that he promised the baby Jesus that if he got one, he'd let Jesus have the first ride! Gannon asks why the boy got his gift today and the Father explains that it was a gift from a charity program in which firemen fix up old toys, because Pacito's family is poor.

Are they, Father?

This one has no mugshots or announcements at the end, it just goes to the closing credits.

I also read on IMDb that this was a remake of an episode from the original Dragnet TV series, which included three of the original guest actors reprising their roles. This might explain why they used a date that hadn't occurred since 1958!

_______

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

"Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet," Henry Mancini, His Orchestra & Chorus
(#1 US the weeks of June 28 and July 5, 1969; #1 AC)

Some really love this version, but to me, nothing ever compared to Nino Rota's work composed for the film--

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--which is so rich in capturing the emotional highs and lows of the Zeffirelli film.

Don't Let Me Down," The Beatles w/ Billy Preston
(B-side of "Get Back"; #35 US)

A song that does not get as much attention as it should.

Movie Elvis gets a bad rap...he's still got some "it" factor going.

.........................

 

[The Old Mixer]

A few seasonal changes on MeTV and H&I...Me made some changes to their Saturday night/Sunday morning lineup, which included moving Star Trek up earlier and LiS back later, adding The Invaders, and bringing back Planet of the Apes. As for H&I, The Green Hornet is back, early on Sunday morning before Adventures of Superman.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Simon's enjoying a solo picnic in the countryside when he's approached by a mysterious young woman

Talk about a chick magnet.

Longman's house has a room with high-tech consoles and computers and an underground dungeon with a gorilla in it, and he has several hired underlings whose uniform is a blue pullover with black collar and cuffs and black pants, making them look distractingly like blueshirts from Star Trek--there's even a thin diagonal stripe on the shirt that looks like a tricorder strap!

That seems pretty wild for The Saint.

Longman finds Simon and treats him to the customary Bond villain routine of revealing his plan (Get used to it, Roger.)

This includes her doing what appears to have been a just-off-camera chop or judo throw that causes a guard to fall into camera unconscious.

Apparently, it was a subject for parody even then.

Had to look that up, but from what I glanced over, they were around in the day, though I'm not sure how high-profile they would have been at that point. It's possible that the episode was specifically aimed at them...the evangelical sermon aspect seems too similar to be a coincidence.

That's a thought. Maybe it was.

Waverly doesn't know Friday personally, but chose him based on his reputation for going to the limit for what's right.

Which can cut both ways....

In a private interrogation room, Waverly admits to Friday and Gannon that there was such a transaction, but that it was Clover paying him back for a gambling loan from when they were in the service.

Why didn't he just say that to begin with? Why get his buddy in trouble?

turning over the transcripts to the DA with the recommendation that Clover be charged for perjury.

For saying that he was offered a bribe? Again, why lie? I'm not getting the motivations for either of these guys.

While they're doing that, a young boy comes into the church pulling a red wagon, with the statue in it. The boy, Pacito, explains to Father Rojas in Spanish that he'd been praying for a red wagon for years, and that he promised the baby Jesus that if he got one, he'd let Jesus have the first ride!

Oh, yeah, I remember this one, too.

A few seasonal changes on MeTV and H&I...Me made some changes to their Saturday night/Sunday morning lineup, which included moving Star Trek up earlier and LiS back later, adding The Invaders, and bringing back Planet of the Apes. As for H&I, The Green Hornet is back, early on Sunday morning before Adventures of Superman.

Yeah, I noticed The Invaders and Planet of the Apes on the MeTV schedule. Looks like Night Stalker is gone. Too bad, but I suppose you can only re-run twenty episodes so many times.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Yeah, I noticed The Invaders and Planet of the Apes on the MeTV schedule. Looks like Night Stalker is gone. Too bad, but I suppose you can only re-run twenty episodes so many times.

Didn't they run int that same problem the last time Planet of the Apes--with its 14 episodes--was in rotation?

 

[The Old Mixer]

Which can cut both ways....

And they acknowledged that in the episode. Back at the office when he was assigned, Friday objected because he wasn't a lawyer and that he was prejudiced--if the guy was guilty he'd want to throw the book at him. Gannon noted that if he wasn't guilty, Joe would try just as hard to clear him.

Why didn't he just say that to begin with? Why get his buddy in trouble?

Waverly was playing it pretty stupid, which included not identifying himself as a cop. He thought that it all looked too bad and nobody would believe him. And his fears weren't unfounded--if the bookie hadn't accurately recorded that transaction as a debt in his ledger, he'd have been screwed.

For saying that he was offered a bribe? Again, why lie? I'm not getting the motivations for either of these guys.

As for the bookie, he was trying to get his old friend in trouble, to get back at him for not accepting the actual bribe offer he'd tried to make. He wanted a little help making the police look the other way from his activities.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Didn't they run int that same problem the last time Planet of the Apes--with its 14 episodes--was in rotation?

Yeah, that's true. Maybe they'll alternate these two series on the schedule. Which would be cool, since the two shows are forever connected in my head because they premiered the same night. Planet of the Apes was on at 8 and Night Stalker was on at 10, with Six-Million Dollar Man in the middle-- a good night for 13-year-old me.

As for the bookie, he was trying to get his old friend in trouble, to get back at him for not accepting the actual bribe offer he'd tried to make. He wanted a little help making the police look the other way from his activities.

Ah, okay, that makes sense then.

 

[The Old Mixer]

_______

50th Anniversary Viewing

_______

The Ed Sullivan Show
Season 21, episode 28
Originally aired May 4, 1969
As represented in The Best of the Ed Sullivan Show

Here is Brooklyn-born Richie Havens...

Richie hasn't been in our spotlight for a lack of hit singles at this point, but the song he performs here, "High Flyin' Bird," will be part of his opening itinerary at that place in upstate New York...what's it called, Peppermint Patty...? Studio version:

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Now here is some incredibly brilliant dancing, the team of Brascia & Tybee!

The performance starts with a scene of the man playing pool, which transitions into the dance routine. The music they're dancing to sounds like an instrumental rendition of "Wade in the Water" to me.

Now here from California is Julius Wechter and his Baja Marimba Band, so let's have a wonderful welcome for them!

Apparently this band was formed by Herb Alpert. Their costumes and set are south-of-the-border themed, but the instrumental they play, "Comin' in the Back Door," sounds easy listening with no ethnic flavor to speak of. The performance includes bits of a physical comedy routine, mainly as they're taking the stage.

Here's one of the finest girl singers we've ever had on our show, Texas-born Vikki Carr!

Carr has lacked a major hit since 1967's "It Must Be Him," but the song performed here, "With Pen in Hand," is one of her next biggest contenders (charted May 3, 1969; #35 US; #6 AC; #39 UK), and sounds somewhat similar to that prior single. She has a tear running down her cheek at the end of the song. Studio version:

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Now you've heard many great voices on our stage and here's one of the greatest, 'cause here is...opera star Beverly Sills, who just flew back from her La Scala triumph in Milan. Now tonight, she's chosen an aria from Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix.

Best of's onscreen blurb identifies the aria as "O luce di quest'anima":

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You don't see the entire performance there, but she certainly had a gift for the high notes...she could probably shatter glass.

Finally, Ed appears onstage with Joel Grey to congratulate him on his "wonderful success in George M!" and asks him what cities he's going to tour, which Grey responds by starting a medley that includes "Theme from San Francisco" and "Give My Regards to Broadway". tv.com identified part of his medley as "When I'm 64," but nothing seems to be cut here.

Also in the original episode according to tv.com:

Music:
--Vikki Carr - "After Today"
--Julius Wechter and the Baja Marimba Band - "Big Red"
Comedy:
--Scoey Mitchell - stand-up routine (topics include vodka, bad breath, and taxes).
--Guy Marks (comedian) - spoofs daytime TV & opera duets.

_______

 

[RJDiogenes]

Richie hasn't been in our spotlight for a lack of hit singles at this point, but the song he performs here, "High Flyin' Bird,"

Niiice.

will be part of his opening itinerary at that place in upstate New York...what's it called, Peppermint Patty...?

I think it was Pigpen, sir.

Carr has lacked a major hit since 1967's "It Must Be Him," but the song performed here, "With Pen in Hand," is one of her next biggest contenders (charted May 3, 1969; #35 US; #6 AC; #39 UK), and sounds somewhat similar to that prior single. She has a tear running down her cheek at the end of the song.

Well, that's pretty sad. Also unusual, as it implies that hubby got custody, which was practically unheard of in those days.

You don't see the entire performance there, but she certainly had a gift for the high notes...she could probably shatter glass.

And my eardrums.