There are plenty of “musical” birthdays that I could have tied into Tune Tuesday today. Billy Eckstine (1914), Jerry Vale (1931), Steve Lawrence (1935), Toby Keith (1961) and Joan Osborne (1962) were all born on this day. However, I decided not to pick any of them.
Instead, I wanted to feature one of the early influencers of Rock and Roll. As a matter of fact, he is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His music would not be considered Rock and Roll, but his “jump blues” and “rhythm and blues” sound certainly influenced many of those rock pioneers. I am talking about the amazing Louis Jordan.
Louis Jordan was born on this day in 1908. He was a saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Among his nicknames were “The King of the Jukebox,” “The Father of Rhythm and Blues,” and “The Grandfather of Rock and Roll.”
According to Wiki, “Jordan began his career in big band swing jazz in the 1930s.” He came to the public’s attention while he played in Chick Webb’s hard swinging band. As his career continued, he became better known as an “innovative popularizer of jump blues—a swinging, up-tempo, dance-oriented hybrid of jazz, blues, and boogie-woogie. Typically performed by smaller bands consisting of five or six players, jump music “featured shouted, highly syncopated vocals and earthy, comedic lyrics on contemporary urban themes. It strongly emphasized the rhythm section of piano, bass and drums; after the mid-1940s, this mix was often augmented by electric guitar.”
Louis Jordan, ca. 1950.
From 1942 to 1951, Jordan had 59 songs that charted! On the R&B charts, of those 59 songs the lowest charting song rose to #14. According to Joel Whitburn’s analysis of the Billboard magazine charts, Jordan ranks fifth among the most successful musicians of the period 1942–1995!
I’m staring at a list of his songs and it is hard to choose just one to feature. Memorable songs from Louis include: Five Guys Named Moe, Let the Good Times Roll, Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby, Knock Me a Kiss, Beware, Caldonia, Open the Door Richard, and G.I. Jive. His songs were even referenced in cartoons. One example is Tom the Cat singing Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby in a Tom & Jerry cartoon. Another is from a Bugs Bunny/Yosemite Sam cartoon where Sam is banging on a door and says, “Open the door!” He pauses, breaks the fourth wall by looking at the viewer and says, “Notice I didn’t say, ‘Richard?'”
Louis Jordan and His Tympani Five
Here are a couple of my top Louis Jordan songs. First, a little boogie-woogie with Choo Choo Ch’Boogie:
My buddy used the chorus of this song as his answering machine outgoing message. There Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens:
My best friend, Jeff, and I always laugh at this next one. Give it a listen all the way through once, and then go back and listen to it again and focus on the vocals by the Tympany Five in the back ground. Here is Beans and Cornbread:
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame say that my final Louis Jordan pick is an “early example of rap.” I can totally see where they might thing that. It is one of those great “story” songs. From 1950, here is a Saturday Night Fish Fry:
Nine notes. Nine notes that are still recognizable today. Broken into two parts – 4 notes, then 5 notes. “Dum da dum dum” (Pause) “Dum da dum dum da.” Those notes were immediately followed by a stern narrator who informed listeners, “Ladies and gentlemen. The story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.”
On this day in 1949, Jack Webb debuted on radio as Sergeant Joe Friday in Dragnet. He created and produced the show as well. Wiki states that “Dragnet is perhaps the most famous and influential police procedural crime drama in American media history. Webb’s aims in Dragnet were for unpretentious acting and a realistic depiction of policing. The series portrayed police work as dangerous and heroic, and helped shape public perception of law enforcement in the 20th century, improving the public’s opinion of police officers.”
The radio show was so popular that it made the transition to television. It ran on NBC from 1951 to 1959. NBC brought the show back to television from 1967 to 1970. It first appeared as a feature film in 1954. It became the first theatrical film to be based on a TV show.
Check out this trailer!
A TV movie was produced in 1966 with the intention of it launching the return of the show to TV. It didn’t air until 1969 for some reason. The final film version made Dragnet a comedy starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks.
Wiki says “The film contrasted the terse, clipped character of Friday, a hero from an earlier age, with the “real world” of Los Angeles in 1987 to broad comedic effect. Apart from Aykroyd’s spot-on imitation of Webb’s Joe Friday and Harry Morgan reprising his role of Bill Gannon (now Captain), the film version has few similarities with previous incarnations. This Dragnet parody was a hit with audiences.”
Dragnet was no stranger to parodies. It was parodied by Looney Tunes, Woody Woodpecker, Sesame Street, The Three Stooges, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and a series of audio parodies by Stan Freberg. Jack Webb loaned Stan the actual band/orchestra he used on radio for his parodies.
As I mentioned, the theme is instantly recognized today. For the 1987 film, producers got the British band The Art of Noise to perform it. The them is actually two songs merged together. The opening is entitled Danger Ahead, and what follows is the Dragnet March. The Art of Noise version is very …. 80’s.
The first “hit version” was done by Ray Anthony and His Orchestra in 1953. It starts very familiar and gets a bit “jazzy.”
And to start your Monday with a laugh or two, here are a couple of Stan Freberg’s Dragnet parodies. Notice how the music “stabs” were used to enhance the story, just like on the radio.
As the holiday weekend draws to a close, I hope you got the chance to enjoy it. We certainly enjoyed it, though it was toned down from previous years.
We didn’t have the entire family with us this year. Some of the family was sick and some were invited elsewhere or had something else going on. We tossed a few burgers and dogs on the grill and enjoyed a bonfire.
It’s been awhile since we have been able to enjoy a bonfire, so this was really nice.
The fireflies were plentiful and beautiful that night. Ella and Andrew loved catching them.
They had a little Tupperware container they were trying to put them in, but I think the lid wasn’t on right. Every time they came back to drop one in, the others were gone.
Sam bought us all matching shirts to wear. July is National Hot Dog Month, and she’s been thinking a lot about her sister Grace who passed away. The shirts have Mickey Mouse on them and say Hot Diggity Dog on them. Grace loved Mickey Mouse.
We were missing some of the cousins, but quite a few were with us and they had a blast.
We get to watch the fireworks right from our backyard every year. This year they were not too bad. They had some new ones, but I felt other years were better. For what it is worth, the town raises ,money every year to do them. Maybe they were short on donations this year. You still can’t beat a decent show…
Oh, and incidentally, I was able to get my yearly flag photos. Six Fourths of July for Ella and four for Andrew.
Dave at A Sound Day just wrapped up his monthly feature Turntable Talk. It was an interesting topic this time around and there were a lot of surprises as to who everyone chose to write about. This was my entry to the feature, which originally posted on Dave’s site on Monday:
It is time once again for Dave’s feature Turntable Talk. Dave features this every month on his site A Sound Day. This is the 39th edition, and he continues to come up with fantastic topics. This month is a fun one: Bands? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Bands! Dave’s instructions were simple: This time around, we’re looking for artists who left popular bands to go solo and did well (either commercially or else in your own critical assessment.)
I am sure that I did exactly what the other participants did when the topic was presented – I Googled. I was actually surprised at just how many artists moved from a group to become a solo artist. Off the top of my head I can list Diana Ross, Sting, Lionel Richie, Eric Clapton, Gwen Stefani, Ricky Martin, Peter Gabriel, Rob Thomas, Steve Perry, Lou Gramm, and Justin Timberlake. There are SO many.
In all honesty, I had my choice almost immediately. However, as I began to write about him, there was another artist connected with him that became more interesting to me. It was an artist who had solo success for a short time, and then a sad ending.
If I mention The Drifters I am sure you can name a few of their big hits. Under The Boardwalk, This Magic Moment, and Up On The Roof are just some of them. The Drifters were formed by my choice artist in 1953. His name was Clyde McPhatter. Let’s go back a couple years to see how it all came together.
Like many artists, Clyde McPhatter began singing in the church choir at his father’s church. In 1950, he was working at a grocery store. He entered the Amateur Night contest at Harlem’s Apollo Theater – and won! Afterward, he went back to working in the store.
One Sunday, Billy Ward of Billy Ward and the Dominoes heard Clyde singing in the choir of Holiness Baptist Church of New York City. He was immediately recruited to join the group. Clyde was there for the recording of their hit “Sixty Minute Man,” which was a number one song on the R&B chart for 14 weeks in 1951.
My original pick for this round was Jackie Wilson. Jackie was hired by Billy Ward in 1953 to join The Dominoes. That same year, Clyde left the group. He coached Wilson while they were out touring together. Wilson would leave in 1957. Apparently, Ward was not pleasant to work with. Wilson said, “Billy Ward was not an easy man to work for. He played piano and organ, could arrange, and he was a fine director and coach. He knew what he wanted, and you had to give it to him. And he was a strict disciplinarian. You better believe it! You paid a fine if you stepped out of line.”
Atlantic Records saw a Dominoes show and noticed that Clyde was not with the group, so they searched for him, found him and wanted to sign him to a record deal. Clyde agreed to sign on one condition – they allow him to form his own group. That group was the Drifters. While known as Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters, they released songs like Money Honey.
Elvis Presley covered Money Honey in 1956. In researching for this piece I was surprised to find that McPhatter and the Drifters did the original of another Elvis hit – Such a Night.
In late 1954, McPhatter was inducted into the U.S. Army. He assigned to Special Services in the continental United States. This allowed him to continue recording. After his tour of duty, he left the Drifters and launched a solo career. The Drifters continued as a successful group, but with many changes in personnel, and the group assembled by McPhatter was long gone by the time their greatest successes were released after he left the group.
It would take two years, but Clyde would finally get his first solo #1 R&B hit when he released “Treasure of Love” in 1956. It would top out at #16 on the US Pop Chart. I love his vocal on this one.
His biggest solo hit would come in 1958 when he recorded and released a song written by Brook Benton. A Lover’s Question would reach #6 on the Pop Chart. If I had to pick my favorite Clyde song, it would be this one. There is so much to love about this song. That acapella bass line being sung throughout the song is very catchy.
McPhatter would leave Atlantic Records and bounce from label to label recording many songs, but not having much success. His last top ten record would come in 1962 with a song written by Billy Swan. Lover Please was first recorded by the Rhythm Steppers in 1960. It was the title track from Clyde’s 1962 album of the same name. It would reach #7 on the Pop Chart.
Clyde did manage to have a top 30 hit in 1964 with “Crying Won’t Help You Now,” but when it fell of the chart, he turned to alcohol for comfort. He would record every so often, but nothing ever really did well on the charts. He always had a decent following in the UK, so in 1968 he moved to England.
He wouldn’t return to the US until 1970. Outside of performing on a few Rock and Roll Revival shows, he lived a very private and reclusive life. In 1972, Decca Records signed him and they were planning a a big comeback. That never materialized as Clyde passed away on June 13, 1972 of complications from liver, heart and kidney disease. This was brought on by his alcohol abuse years earlier. He was only 39 years old.
His legacy consists of over 22 years of recording history. Clyde was the first artist to be inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, first as a solo artist and later as a member of the Drifters.
In 1993, Clyde was honored with his own stamp by the US Postal Service.
His career had ups and downs, and his hit songs were an important part of Rock and Roll history. Vocalists like Marv Johnson, Smokey Robinson and Ben E. King are all said to have patterned their vocal styles on Clyde’s. Others have cited him as a major influence as well. In the book “The Drifters” by Bill Millar, he says:
“McPhatter took hold of the Ink Spots’ simple major chord harmonies, drenched them in call-and-response patterns, and sang as if he were back in church. In doing so, he created a revolutionary musical style from which—thankfully—popular music will never recover.”
Thanks again to Dave for hosting another great round of Turntable Talk. I cannot wait to see who the other writers have picked and look forward to Round #40 next month.
Every year I have put little flags up around our yard on the Fourth of July. Over the winter, the box must have fallen off a shelf in the garage. While cleaning the garage I found that box with my flags in it and it must have gotten wet. Those darn squirrels probably got in there and knocked it over.
I may have to run out late tonight or early tomorrow to grab a couple. If I don’t, a tradition will be broken. We’ve always gotten pictures of the kids with an American flag in their hands walking down the sidewalk. Ella was just about four months old in 2020, so we didn’t get one that year. Every year since, we have.
In 2023, I put together a collage…
We continued that tradition last year, too.
I love seeing all the pictures progress from year to year. The time just keeps flying …
I mean, it seems like we just celebrated America’s bicentennial, doesn’t it? LOL
You may recall the fiasco that we went through recently with the dryer we ordered. If not, here is the short version of the story:
My wife ordered an electric dryer. We could not use the 220 plug. We called to return it. We waited over a month for them to finally come and get it. Between the original call to return it and the time it was finally picked up were countless phone calls and emails to find out what was going on. Once the refund happened, we immediately ordered a gas dryer (which was what we had in the first place). The dryer was delivered yesterday.
So there should be no more issues, right? Wrong! I get the following text from my wife while I am at work:
” The dryer people can’t hook up the dryer because we have the wrong gas line? They say we need a plumber to do it!”
I called her right away. Apparently, they are not allowed to hook up a dryer to a copper gas line. So they dropped it off and left. I called my father in law and said, “All I need to do is get one of those yellow gas line hoses and connect it to the dryer and the gas line, right?” He said that should fix it.
The hose comes with adapters that you can use to connect it to the dryer and the line. I get home and sure enough, one end connects to the dryer. When I get up to the gas line, I see right away that the hose is to big to connect. I grab one of the adapters, it is too big. They were all too big.
Rather than run all the way back to the big box hardware store, I stopped at the Gilroy’s right in town. I walked in and explained what I was looking for. The employee starts to ask me questions. I told him that my father in law and I had put a shut off valve at the end of the gas line and the adapters were too big to fit it.
He did his best to try to understand what I was asking for. He said he wished he could see what I was talking about. I told him I had taken a picture of it and showed him.
He said, “Oh, wow. You can’t do that. That is illegal. That is for water lines.” So now, I am really frustrated. He goes and he pulls out a couple fittings. He asks if I know how to flare the pipe. I gave him a blank stare. I have no idea what he means.
He took me in the back and grabs a piece of pipe and this “flarer” tool. He shows me how you put it on the end of the pipe and turn this handle to make the end flare.
It doesn’t look hard to do, so I got to buy one of those tools. He says, “Listen, I’m gonna let you take our flare tool home to do the job. If you have any concerns or issues, call me and I’ll come over to help you. I’m not going to leave you hanging.” I was taken aback by his generosity. All I had to buy was a tube of sealer and a couple adapters and I should be good to go.
I get home, finagle the flare took on the edge of the pipe (after cutting off the shut off valve). I do what he said and Bingo, the end of the line is flared. I slapped on some of the sealer and began screwing everything back together. I poured some soapy water over it to see if there was a leak and there was a small one. After a couple cranks with a wrench, I checked again and was happy to see there was no leak.
I think I had more trouble trying to get that vent hose on the back than hooking up the gas line.
After everything was all set, I threw my scrubs in the dryer to de-wrinkle them. I pulled them out after 10 minutes and was happy to feel that they were warm. The dryer is working!!
I am so happy that I do not need to waste quarters at the laundromat anymore!!
I had never heard of the Kiwi Company until my friend Margaret told me about it. She wanted to send the kids a “crate” every month. My kids LOVE them! If you have children (any age), these are perfect for those rainy days when they cannot go outside and play. We had a few of those rainy days recently and the projects kept our kids pretty busy.
I love these because they keep the kids off tablets and away from the TV. Each “crate” has a theme. Some recent themes we got were Caterpillars & Butterflies, Camping, Star Gazing, and Exploring nature. Each crate has a project or two (and sometimes a bonus one) that will keep the kids busy.
There is also a little book that comes with each crate. Ours features a koala, alligator and a parrot who are all friends. The story in the book is often related to the theme of the crate. My kids love those books and puts them up on their bookcase.
Here are a few of the projects we worked on in the past month or two. Our nature kit came with a bag, a magnifying glass and a box to keep things from nature. We went out in the yard looking for rocks, sticks, grass, leaves, clovers and flowers. There were a few different cards that could be used to find other things, too.
The camping box came with a fabric sheet to build a tent. It also came with a camp “fire” that you put together (and the light makes it look like fire), a red and white checkered blanket for a picnic, and of course, ants.
In one of the nature boxes, they had the kids make flowers from felt. At the same time, it encouraged them to find sticks and other things that might fit and look good with the felt items.
In the space crate, there were stars and sticks that you could make constellations with. There was glow in the dark paper that you could punch star “holes” in to show a starry night. Finally, some paint to paint your own galaxy.
From top to bottom: Andrew’s, Ella’s and my paintings.
One of the crates had a “polar” theme to it. The kids fell in love with these penguins. It comes with little wooden fish that you stand up. The penguins have a pull string that makes them vibrate and “walk.” The idea is to get your penguin to knock down the fish. They were happy to just snuggle with them.
My favorite one we did was the Caterpillar/Butterfly crate. This tied right in with what Ella’s Preschool class did at the end of the year. They watched a caterpillar curl up in a chrysalis and waited for a butterfly to emerge.
This crate had a plush caterpillar that comes with a bag (chrysalis). You put the caterpillar in the bag and wait …
That caterpillar turns inside out. When it does, you have a butterfly.
The kids thought this was very cool!! Heck, so did I.
We also got to make a butterfly that flaps its wings.
My wife and the kids took “Ice paint” and made pictures yesterday. The crate comes with food coloring and a little “popsicle” maker. Add the coloring to water, freeze it, and pop them out to color on the paper/postcards provided. Too fun!
We’ve probably been doing these crates for 2-3 years now. They just keep getting better. As I said, they have crates designed for various age groups. We’re getting the 3-6 year old crates now. They even have crates for ages 12-100, in case you want to do one yourself.
Knowing how difficult it can be to have the kids in the house all day, having something like this is an amazing way to teach your kids and spend quality time with them.
I am not being paid to talk about Kiwi Company. I am just a satisfied dad who is sharing a great idea. Learn more at their website HERE.
For Tune Tuesday today, I want to play both sides of the record. The A-side was a hit for the recording artist, while the B-side was a hit for another artist a few years later.
Robert Byrd was born on this day in 1930. He is best known by his stage name – Bobby Day. It’s interesting that a guy named Byrd would have a hit song about a bird – Rockin’ Robin.
He was part of many groups, including the Crescendos, the Jets, the Voices, the Sounds, and The Hollywood Flames. He actually helped write the Flames biggest hit, “Buzz Buzz Buzz.”
Rockin’ Robin was a solo hit for Bobby. It went #1 on the R&B chart and #2 on the Hot 100. The Hollies, Gene Vincent and Michael Jackson all covered the song. In 1980, the song was also featured on The Muppet Show, with their house band The Electric Mayhem performing it in a tree with some feathered friends.
Fun Fact: That famous piccolo part was played by Plas Johnson, who was better known as a saxophone player – he did the Pink Panther theme.
The B-side of this single was a song called “Over And Over,” which was written by Day. In 1965 became a US #1 hit for The Dave Clark Five when they covered it. It was their only US #1.
Bobby Day and Thurston Harris released the song the same week. Both entered the Hot 100. Harris’s version topped out at #96, while Bobby’s bubbled under the top 40, reaching #41.
Personally, I like Bobby’s version the best.
Bobby Day died of prostate cancer on July 27, 1990, at age 60.
It was on this day in 1989 that Dennis Quaid hit the big screen as Jerry Lew Lewis in Great Balls of Fire.
The film covers the early career of Lewis, from his rise to rock-and-roll stardom to his controversial marriage to his 13-year-old cousin. That marriage led to his downfall. Until the scandal of the marriage depreciated his image, many had thought Lewis would take over Elvis Presley as the “King of Rock and Roll” in the 1950s.
The story was co-written by Myra Gale Lewis (her autobiography Great Balls of Fire!), the former wife of Jerry Lee Lewis, with Murray Silver. Despite this, co-writer Silver was upset by the lack of accuracy in the film, claiming it was “phoney”.
Lewis openly stated that he hated the film and the book it was based on. He did, however, praise Quaid’s portrayal of him in the film, saying “he really pulled it off”. Quaid even learned to play “Lewis-style” piano for the role.
For the soundtrack, Lewis re-recorded some of his music from the 1950s. The songs included “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “That Lucky Old Sun,” “High School Confidential,” “Breathless,” and the title track.
Overall, the re-recordings aren’t bad. Jerry Lee’s voice still sounds great and the sound is pretty close to that of the originals. Many of them are longer and contain extra solos, which is actually neat to hear.
I could pick a few from this soundtrack, but I’ve gotta go with the title track. Here are the versions from the film, the soundtrack and the original hit.
As many of you know, I live in Michigan, near Flint. Big things happened here!
On June 30, 1953, workers at a Chevrolet plant in Flint, Michigan, watch as the first completed Corvette, a two-seater sports car that would become an American icon, rolls off the assembly line. It was one of just 300 Corvettes made that year.
The idea for the Corvette originated with General Motors’ pioneering designer Harley J. Earl, who in 1951 began developing plans for a low-cost American sports car that could compete with Europe’s MGs, Jaguars and Ferraris. The project was eventually code-named “Opel.”
In January 1953, GM debuted the Corvette concept car at its Motorama auto show at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. It featured a fiberglass body and a six-cylinder engine and according to GM, was named for the “trim, fleet naval vessel that performed heroic escort and patrol duties during World War II” The Corvette was a big hit with the public at Motorama and GM soon put the roadster into production.
The first Corvette off the production line was hand-assembled. It featured a Polo White exterior and red interior, two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission, a wraparound windshield, whitewall tires and detachable plastic curtains instead of side windows. The earliest Corvettes were designed to be opened from the inside and lacked exterior door handles. Other components included a clock, cigarette lighter and red warning light that activated when the parking brake was applied—a new feature at the time. The car carried an initial price tag of $3,490 and could go from zero to 60 miles per hour in 11 or 12 seconds, then considered a fairly average speed.
In 1954, the Corvette went into mass production at a Chevy plant in St. Louis, Missouri. Sales were lackluster in the beginning and GM considered discontinuing the line. However, rival company Ford had introduced the two-seater Thunderbird around the same time and GM did not want to be seen bowing to the competition. Another critical development in the Corvette’s survival came in 1955, when it was equipped with the more powerful V-8 engine. Its performance and appeal steadily improved after that and it went on to earn the nickname “America’s sports car” and become ingrained in pop culture through multiple references in movies, television and music.
The Corvette has always been an iconic vehicle. There are Corvette Clubs all over the country. Classic models are always out at car shows in the summer. It is a beloved car!!!
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 