Welcome to vol. 8
of my globetrotting series
BANDSTANDS IN
FOREIGN LANDS!
I'm Shady Seaweed, here to bring you more great
music performances that originated from TV studios,
big halls and nightclubs in Europe and other parts
of the world from the 1960s through early 2000s.
Join me now for another trip
back in time as we visit
Bandstands in
Bandstands in
Foreign Lands!
SAKKARIN
TOP OF THE POPS
LONDON
In the fall of 1965, British singer, songwriter and producer Jonathan King gained
a top 20 U.S. hit with the ballad "Everyone's Gone To The Moon." In 1971 King
recorded a rock version of "Sugar, Sugar," the 1969 chart-topper by the Archies.
King's cover, released as a single using the artist name Sakkarin, reached #12 on
the UK chart. Watch the teenagers in the studio audience on the London-based
music television series Top Of The Pops as they dance to "Sugar, Sugar"
whilst viewing the top tunes countdown for April 29, 1971.
"Sugar Sugar" - Sakkarin
(1971, highest chart pos. #12 UK,
April 29, 1971, ep. of Top Of The Pops)
ADJUST FOR LOW AUDIO
START PLAYING VIDEO
AT 2:00 MARK!
AC/DC
ROCKPOP
WEST GERMANY
Rockpop aka Rock-Pop, was a West German TV music series that ran from 1977 to '82
on the public-service broadcaster ZDF based in Mainz. You are about to witness an
electrifying live performance by the Australian rock band AC/DC filmed in Munich
and aired on Rockpop in the summer of 1978. AC/DC's lead singer Bon Scott was
ranked #1 on Classic Rock magazine's 100 Greatest Frontmen of All Time list.
Hit Parader ranked Scott fifth on their list of The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal
Vocalists of All Time. The excitement meter's pegged as the band goes wild
on "Rock 'n' Roll Damnation," a song from their 5th studio album Powerage.
on "Rock 'n' Roll Damnation," a song from their 5th studio album Powerage.
"Rock 'n' Roll Damnation" - AC/DC
(from May 1978 album Powerage, live perf. on
June 24, 1978, ep. of West German TV series Rockpop)
START PLAYING VIDEO
AT 34 SEC. MARK!
WHITNEY HOUSTON
TOP OF THE POPS
LONDON
Record producer Narada Michael Walden has the knack. His golden touch
comes through on the recordings of many major recording artists including
Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole and Elton John.
Walden brought out the best in Whitney Houston as producer of her #1
charting single "How Will I Know" and an even bigger hit, "I Wanna
comes through on the recordings of many major recording artists including
Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole and Elton John.
Walden brought out the best in Whitney Houston as producer of her #1
charting single "How Will I Know" and an even bigger hit, "I Wanna
Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" which topped the charts in
the U.S. and a dozen other countries. Whitney was fresh, beautiful,
full of life and vitality and at the peak of her popularity when she
sang "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" on Top Of The Pops.
the U.S. and a dozen other countries. Whitney was fresh, beautiful,
full of life and vitality and at the peak of her popularity when she
sang "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" on Top Of The Pops.
"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" - Whitney Houston
(June/July 1987, highest chart pos. #1, perf. on Top Of The Pops)
HAIRCUT ONE HUNDRED
(LEGS & CO)
TOP OF THE POPS
LONDON
In the early 80s, the new wave jazz-funk group Haircut One Hundred placed
four singles in the top 10 on the UK chart. In the U.S., however, only one of
those records, "Love Plus One," made the Billboard chart, peaking near
the bottom of the top 40. Here are Legs & Co, the dancing damsels on
Top Of The Pops, performing their interpretation of the song ranked
#90 on Vh1's list of the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 1980s.
This just in to our sports center. Vinyl score: Haircut 100 - Love +1.
four singles in the top 10 on the UK chart. In the U.S., however, only one of
those records, "Love Plus One," made the Billboard chart, peaking near
the bottom of the top 40. Here are Legs & Co, the dancing damsels on
Top Of The Pops, performing their interpretation of the song ranked
#90 on Vh1's list of the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 1980s.
This just in to our sports center. Vinyl score: Haircut 100 - Love +1.
"Love Plus One" - Haircut One Hundred
(Feb. 1982, highest chart pos. #37 Hot 100/#3 UK,
dance perf. by Legs & Co on Top Of The Pops)
B.J. THOMAS
TOP OF THE POPS
LONDON
Country pop singer B.J. Thomas turned age 76 two weeks ago. Here's a much younger
B.J. as he appeared on Top Of The Pops performing the first American #1 charting hit
single of the 70s, a record that spent 4 weeks at the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100
in January 1970. It's the Academy Award winning Burt Bacharach/Hal David song
used as the theme of the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
B.J. Thomas sings-- "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head."
B.J. as he appeared on Top Of The Pops performing the first American #1 charting hit
single of the 70s, a record that spent 4 weeks at the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100
in January 1970. It's the Academy Award winning Burt Bacharach/Hal David song
used as the theme of the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
B.J. Thomas sings-- "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head."
"Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" - B.J. Thomas
(Jan. 1970, highest chart pos. #1, from 1969 film
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, live perf.
on Feb. 5, 1970, ep. of Top Of The Pops)
on Feb. 5, 1970, ep. of Top Of The Pops)
JOAN JETT AND
THE BLACKHEARTS
MUSIKLADEN
BREMEN, GERMANY
We ain't done rockin' yet. Meet Joan Jett, one of the great rock queens of the 80s,
along with her band The Blackhearts. In early 1980, the band recorded a cover of
"Do You Wanna Touch Me? (Oh Yeah)," a top 3 UK hit for the English glam rocker
Gary Glitter in 1973. Joan's version was first released on her band's 1981 album
Bad Reputation, and reached the top 20 as a single in 1982. The special edit
you are about to watch combines two different performances by the band,
the official music video intercut with footage of their appearance on the
West German television show Musikladen. Here now are Joan Jett
and The Blackhearts asking the musical question "Do You Want
To Touch Me?" Shady's answer is "Oh Yeah!"
"Do You Want To Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" - Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
(Aug./Sept. 1982, highest chart pos. #20 Hot 100/#8 Canada,
#19 Germany, feat. perf. footage from Sept. 30, 1982,
ep. of German TV show Musikladen)
AC/DC
TOP OF THE POPS
LONDON
To play us off, AC/DC is back, this time in the UK on Top Of The Pops.
It's sad to remember that lead singer Bon Scott died a little more than
a year-and-a-half after this live performance. He was only 33 years old.
Let's turn back the clock to happier times and let Bon and the boys
send us home with a song in our hearts (and stuck in our heads)
with this exciting encore of "Rock 'n' Roll Damnation."
Turn that thang up loud!
"Rock 'n' Roll Damnation" - AC/DC
(from May 1978 album Powerage, live perf.
on June 8, 1978, ep. of Top Of The Pops
on June 8, 1978, ep. of Top Of The Pops
START PLAYING VIDEO
AT 10 SEC. MARK!
I hope you enjoyed volume 8 of
BANDSTANDS IN
FOREIGN LANDS!
Stay tuned for the
next edition coming soon.
Good timing and a great post today! As if on cue, it started to pour just as I started the B.J. Thomas video. I thought, more like "Bucketfuls keep falling on my head!" LOL!
ReplyDeleteShowing my ignorance here, Shady, but before your series, I didn't even know there were (are?) European bandstands or that American artists performed on them. Are these shows ever broadcast on our U.S. stations? They should be IMO. This is good fill-in-the-blanks learning, as your posts usually are for me.
This is a very energetic lineup of songs - just the thing for a rainy Sunday. I like your mix of songs that are both familiar and new to me. Good anti-aging cure! I was of course familiar with some songs, like "Raindrops.." and Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody". The others were new to me, although I knew the name AC/DC (and not just from science class either!:-) I often hear Joan Jett's "I Love Rock and Roll" and "Love Hurts" on local radio stations that I turn to while driving to offset bad news vibes, but I never heard this one.
Those "subtractive" costumes on Love Plus One are amazing. I kept trying to figure out what was keeping them in place and couldn't help imagining a disastrous "wardrobe malfunction". They give a whole new meaning to "Stuck On You"!
Well, that's all for now. I think I just saw animals going by two-by-two! Thanks for the 'sunshine' this morning!
Saturday night is shining
DeleteOn my Sunday morning face
Hi, Kathleen!
Remember that 1979 hit by Thelma Houston?
Welcome to Sunday morning at Shady's Place, dear friend! You are the early bird this week and I very much appreciate you stopping by so soon.
Your comment begins with the words "good timing" which reminds me of another oldie. Do you remember this 1960 hit by Jimmy Jones?
If little, little David hadn't grabbed that stone
Alyin' there on the ground
Big Goliath might've stomped on him
Instead of the other way 'round
But he had timin'
A tick, a tick, a tick, good timin'
A tock, a tock, a tock, a tock
A timin' is the thing
It's true, good timin' brought me to you
Good timin' applies to us, dear Kathleen, because you came along at a crucial time in my blogging career when things were winding down and I was running out of material. You introduced mother Margaret and the rest is history. I will be eternally grateful for your "good timing."
I'm sorry you are getting more monsoon rains up there. It seems like this has been one of the wettest summers ever for you, one that even included flooding reminiscent of Hurricane Agnes.
Regarding your questions about my series Bandstands in Foreign Lands, the word "bandstands" refers to venues throughout Europe and around the world where pop and rock musicians appeared and their performances were filmed or taped for later broadcast on music shows for teenagers patterned after Dick Clark's U.S. show American Bandstand. Therefore, the word "bandstands" has a dual meaning. It refers to the venues themselves, which could be TV studios, "big halls," as they are called, or nightclubs; and it also refers to the Bandstand style TV shows. The recordings of American artists were often released in foreign countries and they routinely traveled abroad to help promote their latest hits and open up new markets for their recordings. I have never seen vintage clips from Top Of The Pops, Musikladen, Rockpop or any of the other foreign bandstands presented on a U.S. television show. If there is a U.S. program that airs them I'd like to know about it, but with the videos so plentiful on YouTube, what would be the point? I do know that these videos are currently played in various parts of Europe by PBS broadcasters on music channels inspired by MTV and Vh1.
Thanks for mentioning Joan Jett's single "Love Hurts," a cover of a song originally recorded by The Everly Brothers in 1960 and famously covered by the Scottish rock band Nazareth in 1975. Joan's version is found on her 1990 album The Hit List which contains all covers. On that album Joan also covers AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap)."
Gotta love Legs & Co, the dancing damsels on Top Of The Pops. Over the years the series' changing lineup of dance troupes - The Go-Jos, Pan's People, Ruby Flipper, Legs & Co and Zoo, have performed on the show wearing outrageous costumes that seem to invite wardrobe malfunctions. However I have seen videos of the Musikladen go-go girls and they are even more scantily clad!
I hope you aren't busy building an ark, dear friend Kathleen. Thank you again for coming today. I very much appreciate your comment. Stay dry, take care of yourself and have a wonderful week!
Quite a varied set this time, Shady, but some good stuff. My favorite AC/DC music is from the Back in Black LP, but I enjoyed seeing Bon Scott here. (though Angus Young was always my fave in the group)
ReplyDeleteAlways fun to see what you come up with!
Hi, Kelly!
DeleteThank you for coming over and facing Rock 'n Roll Damnation, dear friend. :) I am happy to see you on a Sunday!
Yessum, this post has something for oldsters and, as Lawrence Welk would say, "something for the younger set." By that, of course, I mean AC/DC, and a killer song from the band's glory years of the 70s when lead zinger Bon Scott was still alive and kicking. In my collection I have AC/DC albums from the 70s and the 80s and love just about everything they released. The band's videos were in demand and heavily requested on the MTV station where I worked at the time.
I'm happy to know you liked the variety of styles represented in this edition of Biffle and that you especially enjoyed rockin' with those Aussie wild men.
Thanks again for your kind visit and comment, dear friend Kelly, and have a super week ahead!
:) Love, cat.
ReplyDeleteHi, cat!
DeleteI've been missing you, dear feline friend! How's your knee doing? I hope you are on the mend and will be 100% again soon.
Thanks for poking me today, dear friend cat. I wish you a good week!
Good evening Shady Seaweed,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed rocking out to your post and it's amazing to see each of these artists at the beginning of their careers! I enjoyed rocking down memory lane. :)
Have a great evening, dear friend.
Hi, Jessica Marie!
DeleteHow are you, dear friend? Thanks for entering Shady's Place this evening and facing Rock 'n Roll Damnation! :)
Let's just say these performances took place early in the artists' careers, not actually at the beginning. To me the most interesting video in the post is Jonathan King who gave us the gentle ballad "Everyone's Gone To The Moon" reinventing himself as Sakkarin and doing a rock cover of "Sugar Sugar." That along with the studio dancers on Top Of The Pops shown in the first video and again in the B.J. Thomas video. It seems the art director went for a "women in prison" theme because the female studio dancers are behind bars on the B.J. Thomas vid. :)
Thank you again for your visit and comment, dear friend JM!
Hi dear friend,
DeleteHappy Wednesday! Enjoy the rest of the week.
Hmmm, early makes sense. It's always interesting to see artists when they are still young and early in their career. It makes me want to document my career now and look back on it when I retire!
Hi, Jessica Marie!
DeleteHow are you today, dearie? Thanks for dropping back in for a chat!
Yessum, the point I was making there is that the selected recordings by the artists in this post represent their early years but not the very start of their careers. To give you just one example, Englishman Jonathan King started releasing records in 1965 under his own name and as a group called Terry Ward (With The Bumblies). In 1971 he released records using the stage names Sakkarin and The Piglets. In 1972 he was calling himself Nemo and Shag, in '74 Bubblerock, in '76 Sound 9418 and One Hundred Ton and a Feather, in '78 Father Abraphart and The Smurps. King was still releasing records in 1993. Therefore, as you can see, his 1971 single "Sugar, Sugar" could indeed be considered one of his early recordings but not one of his first.
Can you imagine yourself at Shady's age - 68? When that time comes (and I am 100+) I look forward to reading your memoirs. :)
Thanks again for coming by, dear friend JM!
Hi dear friend,
DeleteI might publish a memoir! ;)
I think I'm going to check out each artist at the beginning and compare. It'll be fun!
Have a great Thankful Thursday!
Hi, Jessica Marie!
DeleteThat would be a fun project for a young person like you. Look up each of these artists and sample their recordings starting with their earliest. The earliest recordings of most artists are the best, at least in my opinion.
Happy Thankful Thursday to you as well, dear friend JM!
Hello Dear Seady...I mean Seawood! Shady's Place is certainly getting off to a great rocking start! And, a huge jamming start to this post with "Sugar Sugar"! It is a cute song, but I think I enjoyed the video more with the dancing teens and the countdown of artists. Great Find, Shady!
ReplyDeleteLosing Whitney Houston was tragic, and still heartbreaking to this day! She was such a beautiful lady with a voice that always sent chills and good feelings our way. How vibrant she is in her performance of "I Wanna Dance With Somebody". Any song choice would have been right, Seaweed!
Soooo, "Love Plus One" ranked at #90! I have to say, I can see why! The dancers' costumes are pretty 'seedy', Seawood...I mean Seaweed, lol! But, really, I have to applaud the dancers, all looked good!
Shady!!! Love your reaction to Joan Jett's "Do You Wanna Touch Me". Don't you just love her? She's the epitome of "I'm gonna do as I damn well please, take it or leave it". I think most of us took it! She is so cool...her voice can be raspy or soft. This number and artist is my favorite of your offerings today, Shady! Jett is exciting and rules any number she performs! Thank you!
I wasn't a devout follower of AC/DC, but I know many of their songs. I didn't know about Bon Scott, whose unique voice I've always been impressed with! It is sad to know of his untimely death. And, it still appears to be a bit of a mystery. "Rock n Roll Damnation" is a cool song, the band was so together in this performance and the last one you presented.
Happy Birthday to B.J. Thomas! I think we all like "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head". It's a song that never goes out of style, and, always comes to mind on days like today-we had a pretty good rain shower this morning!
Thank you Shady Seaweed for this generous mix of good, better, and best! I appreciate your hard, but fun work bringing us great music! Sorry to be late this time. We got Scootie off to school this morning in a pretty heavy, but much appreciated rain. It's been tough getting him on schedule, but I think he's going to make it! Have a great week, Shady. See you, dear friend!
Hi, Suzanne! (aka Susan! :)
DeleteIt's great to see you, dear friend! Thank you very much for coming over for the latest episode of "Biffle." I admire you for being brave enough to face eternal Rock 'n Roll Damnation. :)
This seems to be fun with names day. I noticed you playing around with Shady Seaweed's name which, of course, is derived from Ryan Seacrest. It reminds me of the TV series Bewitched. As you probably recall, Endora (Agnes Moorehead) was always getting Darrin Stephens name wrong, dismissively, on purpose. She called him "Durwood" or "Dobbin." Of course, it would be easy to misspell Darrin Stephens name as Darren Stevens, and the name "Durwood" reminds me of announcer Durward Kirby of the Garry Moore Show and Candid Camera whose name was often mistaken as Durwood. Too much information? :)
"Everyone's Gone To The Moon" is one of my favorite songs of the British Invasion period. Do you remember it? Until very recently I was unaware of Jonathan King's rock cover of the Archies monster hit "Sugar Sugar." I picked that Sakkarin video because it gives us a rare glimpse of the teenage studio dancers on Top Of The Pops circa 1970-71, and so does the video with the B.J. Thomas performance. I wonder how they came up with the idea to have the girls in the audience lined up behind bars at that point in the English series' evolution. It's surreal!
I believe that promo tape of Whitney Houston doing her hit "I Want To Dance With Somebody" was broadcast on the June 5, 1987, episode of Top Of the Pops. Whitney still looked young and fresh but, to me, not quite as much so as she did in clips I have watched from just two years earlier. 1985 is the year Whitney had the tiger by the tail and was on her way up.
I'm thrilled to know you like Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Joan hails from up in my general neck of the woods. She is from a western suburb of Philadelphia. I lived in Lancaster county which was only a hop, skip and a jump from there. The video I found to run in this edition of BIFL is one of those custom made hybrids that offers HQ studio sound synced with not one, but two different performance clips including an appearance by the band in Germany on Musikladen. I am loving what the producers and remixers are doing to transform YouTube.
It shook me all night long to realize that Bon Scott was only 33 when he died after a night of debauchery. The way I was going at the time, it could have been me! These two performances of "Rock 'n Roll Damnation" are exciting finds for me and I simply had to offer them both in the same post.
I hope Scootie is having a great day at school and that he will enjoy a productive year. I hope not too many raindrops were falling on his head this morning.
Thank you again for coming over, Suzanne. I love to entertain dear friends like you. FYI - in case you haven't noticed, I am spacing most of my posts six days apart, and that means I will have a new one this coming Saturday. You will meet another member of The Shady Bunch, so stay tuned. Have a safe and happy week, dear friend!
Well guess what? The dogs woke me up to go out and so I stopped at my laptop before heading back to bed. So glad I did!!
ReplyDeleteI knew I was in for a real treat from your first video. I LOVED that intro to the TOTP Countdown show! That was a very cool opening. And how clever that Johnathan King named himself "Sakkarin" to record the Archie's song "Sugar Sugar". Lol. When I first saw the name of the band I didn't read it as "saccarine" and didn't get it at first. I don't know that I ever heard that version of the song. And I so enjoyed the video and wathcing all the studio audience dancers on set dancing to the song. Some of them look so comical! Oh, and then the Countdown I found very interesting as there were two in there that I felt would've been obvious choices if we were to be playing "Which of these doesn't belong?": Perry Como and Andy Williams! What were they doing in that Countdown??! :)
And then on to one of my all time favorite bands, AC/DC! It was good to see Bon Scott. I love his distinctive voice and style. I barely remember Rock & Roll Damnation. I know I've heard it before but it wasn't one of my GoTo's. My favorite part about watching AC/DC perform is watching Angus Young. He's a trip! First with that schoolboy outfit and his body movements (legs & knees) and his mouth that stays open most of the time...well, it just fascinates me to watch him. So I did...a few times! And then I got to see him all over again at the end of your post with an encore performance. Very cool.
That was a real curve-ball you tossed us with Whitney Houston thrown into the mix. That sure brought back some memories. My advertising career was in high gear when this song was a hit. She sure did have a fabulous voice and such stage presence back before the drugs took her off her game. I am not a huge Whitney person but it sure was a treat to see her do that wonderful song.
Another nice surprise was BJ Thomas doing "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head"! I always liked that song. I didn't know it was the theme song for Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid! I had no idea. I found it interesting that your post also had a mention of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. They were the songwriting team for Dionne Warwick's "I Say a Little Prayer".
I think my favorite video and song of this post was Joan Jett's "Do You Wanna Touch Me". It's such a great song: that driving beat really gets me. I'm on my second listening of it and I'm for sure dancing, swaying and head-bobbing in my chair!
What a great eclectic mix for this installment of Best of Bandstands in Foreign Lands! It definitely woke me up. Now I'm ready to take the dogs out for another trip to potty and then my ass is heading back to bed. Hoping the dogs will take pity on me and let me sleep for several hours. I sure hope they don't want to eat early...
(Man, this Joan Jett song may just be my new favorite...) LOVE IT! It is jammin'!
Thanks for the good time! See you 'round the bend for the next one...
Michele at Angels Bark
Hi, Michele!
DeleteThank you very much for coming over to face Rock 'n Roll Damnation, dear friend. :) I am delighted to see you bright (dark) and early this morning. Maybe I should start calling you "Michele: Mistress of the Dark" because of the strange nocturnal hours you keep. I'm beginning to think you might be a vampire. Have you ever seen the light of day? :)
I'm thrilled that you got so much enjoyment out of this week's tour of foreign bandstands. There aren't very many good quality YouTube videos that give us a look at the teenage studio dancers on Top Of The Pops. That 1971 vid revealing the weekly top tunes countdown whilst the kids danced to Sakkarin's cover of "Sugar, Sugar" is one of the very best. It clearly shows the fashions and hair styles of the period, the dance steps and the joy on the faces of the dancers. That's why I wanted to include it in the series. That countdown of songs does indeed remind us how different the pop music chart looked in the UK and other parts of Europe. There are many artists on that TOTP play list that I don't recognize, and it is a bit surprising that American crooners Perry Como and Andy Williams placed records on their survey in 1971. I did some detective work and found that Perry Como had half a dozen chart hits in the UK in the early 70s. This episode of TOTP aired at the end of April, 1971, two weeks after Perry's latest single "I Think Of You" was released in the UK. It's an orchestral ballad that reminds me of Sinatra, and it went all the way to #14 on the UK chart. That might explain why the producers of TOTP included it in their countdown:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3EKAj3JxW0
Two months before this TOTP show aired, Andy Williams released a double-sider in the UK. The A side is "Where Do I Begin," the theme from the movie Love Story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3QQAbnT6ww
However, I'm thinking that listeners in the UK might have fancied the fab flip B side of that Andy Williams single, a cover of the George Harrison/Beatles song "Something":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrdYicHDZHI
Did you notice the girls dancing behind bars on the B.J. Thomas video? That set design intrigues me.
Bon Scott's death at the way too young age of 33 was a terrible loss to rock music. Think of all the great recordings he could have made throughout the 80s and beyond. I agree that the most exciting aspect of an AC/DC performance is the high voltage stage antics of Angus Young dressed in his schoolboy attire with a wild and wanton expression on his face doing an imitation of Chuck Berry's duckwalk. That's pure rock & roll!
Speaking of which... I am also delighted to know you dug this synced video hybrid of Joan Jett & The Blackhearts doing their top 20 U.S. hit "Do You Want To Touch Me" on a bandstand in Germany where the song also cracked the top 20. It went top 10 in Canada. Once again, that's true, genuine rock & roll for you.
I hope you were able to get back to sleep after being exposed to eternal Rock 'n Roll Damnation, dear friend Michele. :) Thank you again for your kind visit and "meaty" comment and enjoy the rest of your week!
ah, "Mistress of the Dark" --- I like it! It fits for sure! I've ALWAYS been a night-owl It used to drive my parents crazy when I was a kid. And all through school, I'd be up into the wee hours of the morning clicking away on the typewriter or working on school projects. Some things never change...
DeleteAlthough I don't get the Perry Como's "I Think of You" as being on a Pop chart, I do suspect that it was Andy Williams "Where Do I Begin" that was in that countdown. As soon as the first notes started I remembered the song...along with a rush of sadness. The movie "Love Story" was a fabulous film and so moving emotionally. Just hearing the song again has made me want to see Love Story again. Although you may be right about the countdown appearance being for the B-side to that song since it is a Beatles cover. But I'm going to venture a bet that it's the Love Story theme song, just because that movie was such a hit.
I went back to see the girls dancing behind the bars while BJ Thomas sang "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" that you mentioned and I guess I just didn't notice them before. My eyes were captivated by the very modern portrait cutout art on the wall behind him. That was very neat. I liked it. The set design for sure is different. The other thing I forgot to mention about the song was the incredible trumpet. ...especially at the end of the song after BJ stops singing. Love that!
And I totally forgot to mention the new-to-me band Haircut One Hundred and their song "Love Plus One". Never heard of either before. Very strange name for a band. Wonder where that came from? The Legs & Co dancers were fabulous though. Very risque outfits for sure. Hey, if I had the body for it, I'd sport that look too! :)
Have a great day. I'm gonna go catch an hour of sleep before I have to take Luca to the vet. And then I'm going to come home, pick up my Mom and we're going to go get Picasso a birthday cake. He's 11!!! My sweet angel is gettin' old...
Hi, again, Michele!
DeleteI'm sure you are correct about the theme from Love Story being the side of the Andy Williams single that appeared on the TOTP Countdown. Some people mock that movie, but I first saw it with Mrs. Shady #1 and enjoyed it tremendously. Variations of the movie theme were released by several different recording artists. Henry Mancini released his instrumental "Theme from Love Story" in December of 1970. Tony Bennett and Andy Williams streeted their vocal singles "(Where Do I Begin?) Love Story" in mid January of 1971. Tony's version struggled and never rose above the Bubbling Under chart, while Andy's topped the Adult Contemporary chart for four weeks, made the U.S. top 10 and cracked the top 5 in the UK. Roy Clark issued vocal and instrumental versions back-to-back on a single that made the Country chart. In the UK, songstress Shirley Bassey released a single that competed with the Andy Williams version, but her record only reached #34 on that chart. At the end of 1972, Nino Tempo & April Stevens released a version of the song entitled "Love Story" and it merely Bubbled Under, peaking at #113. Like you I wouldn't mind seeing Love Story again. I like all four of the principal players - Ryan O'Neal, Ali MacGraw, John Marley and Ray Milland. Heavens to Betsy - Ryan is now age 77, Ali is 79, John died at age 76 nearly 35 years ago and Ray died at age 79 nearly 30 years ago.
That's funny. You noticed the pieces of modern art hanging in back of B.J. Thomas. I didn't take notice to it because I was distracted by the girls dancing in the background. :) The trumpet solos on the recording were provided by session musician Chuck Findley who was a member of The Tonight Show band from 1989 to 2001.
Wow, I am excited to know that I introduced you to the English New Wave group Haircut One Hundred and their only U.S. hit "Love Plus One" which reached the top 40. I remember it well because the music video played heavily on Vh1 and was requested on the MTV style station where I worked in the 80s. How did the group get its name? I found the answer. In an interview on Amped, H100 guitarist Graham Jones explained that the name came out of a wacky brainstorming session among the band members:
<< We were called Moving England and we decided it didn’t fit our sense of humor. We sat around in Nick’s house throwing names around. Captain Pennyworth, Blue Penguin, Biggest Haystack In The Land all had a chance. Les said to Nick, “Did you just say Haircut 100?” That was the one that made us laugh the most. “You can’t call a band that!” >>
Bless Picasso's heart and happy birthday to him! Eleven is old, but I would think a sleek breed like the greyhound has a fairly long life expectancy, am I correct? I hope Luca's vet check-up goes AOK.
Thank you again for returning to chat, dear friend Michele. Have a good day and week and I hope to see you again next time!
Tom,
ReplyDeleteI apologize for not visiting before now. As you know I had ear surgery last Thursday and while that went well I picked up something throwing me for a loop. I slept a lot over the weekend and remained very tired Monday & Tuesday. I was away from Blogosphere these past few days and while I wanted to do some visits on-the-go I had to keep our data cap in mind to not go over. I'm still coughing, like I have a touch of bronchitis and am still a bit run down but I'm sure I'll bounce back soon.
I read through your post initially and am now listening to your mewsic selections. I by far prefer The Archie's "Sugar Sugar" over Sakkarin's cover. This is the first time for me to hear this version. It's not horrible but I like the bubble gum sound from my childhood. Your song picks for Whitney Houston and BJ Thomas registered immediately. That's the kind of mewsic I know best. The heavier sound of AC/DC and Joan Jett is a genre my ears are not accustomed to hearing often so I had to play their videos for a sound check with my brain because I the song titles didn't click. After listening to them, I can say I don't recall either one. I thought at the very least these might be tunes I've heard in recent years but nope they are new to my ears. "Love Plus One" by the Haircut One Hundred is an introduction. It's always fun to see Legs & Co dancing. Their outfits are quite skimpy but tastefully done. You just don't see stuff like this these days. Thanks for the hit parade of tunes in this edition of Bandstands in Foreign Lands. Have a good day and again, I'm sorry for the late show, my friend!
Hi, Cathy!
DeleteThank you very much for coming, dear friend! I am always happy to see you. This post runs until Saturday so you are right on time. I'm sorry to learn that you were laid low by a bug in the days following your successful ear procedure. I hope by now you are bouncing and feeling better back hour by hour. I'll be thinking about you in the days ahead.
By my count, four of the six songs in this edition of Bandstands are new to your ears. That's good, because I span the globe to bring you the constant variety of mewsic. I always try to present material that is new to you along with familiar favorites.
As I have been discussing with other readers, I selected the Sakkarin video not because I am enamored by the rock cover of the Archies' bubblegum smash, but primarily because it gives us such a clear look at the studio dancers on Top Of The Pops way back in 1971. That vid is also instructive because it lists the artists on the show's hit parade at that point in time, revealed in the countdown as the kids danced.
You and I were recently talking about Whitney Houston, and I was fortunate to find this clean, clear video of Whitney doing another of her early hits on TOTP. She was still exhibiting freshness and enthusiasm in 1987 but, if you want to see her at her best, in my opinion, you need to turn the clock back two more years to 1985. In taped performances from that year Whitney still had a twinkle in her eye and more zest in her performances.
I'm surprised you don't remember "Do You Want To Touch," top 20 hit from the summer of 1982, which would have been prime time in your life's mewsical journey. By today's standards, Joan Jett's recording is tame and almost falls into the pop category rather than rock. I am also a bit surprised that you don't remember that New Wave hit by Haircut 100. It was a frequent flyer on Vh1 and heavily requested and played on the mewsic station where I worked at the time. I was fortunate to find this brilliantly restored clip of Legs & Co dancing to the song.
Thank you again for your kind visit and comment, dear friend Cathy. Please feel better soon. I'm thinking about you!
Tom,
DeleteIt's odd but the early 80s almost seem like a blur. I often tell DH I feel like I have a black hole in my memory. The only mewsic I listened to was on the radio or whatever DH bought. I've always liked mewsic but for some reason I just didn't have a lot of time to devote to it. You'd think the opposite was true. I guess I had my mind more on my studies. I believe in part because still being a young bride most of my time was spent with DH. I rarely spent time with girlfriends unless it was on campus in-between or after classes. My mind was more grounded to practical things instead of clubbing or other things that young adults do. I probably sound boring to most young people today but I was happy doin' my own thing. Thanks for visiting today. I hope y'all have a good weekend, my friend!
Hi, Cathy!
DeleteThanks for returning to continue our thread, dear friend! The early 80s seem like a blur to me, too, but for a different reason. I was in my second bachelorhood and hanging out in bars, nightclubs and discos just as regularly as I had hung out at the Shady Dell 15 years earlier. The music of the period stands out in my mind, but I don't remember much else about those nights of drunken hell raising.
I like people who do their own thing instead of following the crowd. I think you and DH have a pretty great real life love story going. I admire you both and congratulate you on finding such a compatible partner.
I have a new post coming up tomorrow and hope you can swing by sometime during its six day run. Have a super weekend and I will see you Monday if not before. Thanks again and take care, dear friend Cathy!
Wow. B.J. Thomas is 76? I guess if I think about it, he's close to my dad's age, so that makes sense. I enjoyed listening to Whitney Houston. That lady had some serious talent! Too bad the addictions got her.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the rest of your week!
Hi, Sherry!
DeleteIt's great to see you, dear friend! Thanks for dropping by to experience eternal Rock 'n Roll Damnation here at Shady's Place! :) Given your background performing chamber music on the violin, it is easy to understand why you skipped over the harder sounds in the post and favored the softer sounds of Whitney Houston and B.J. Thomas. These Biffle tours are a mixed bag for that very reason, offering styles of music to suite varied tastes. I consider myself lucky because I have eclectic taste and enjoy it all.
Thank you again for coming by, dear friend Sherry, and enjoy the rest of your week!
Isn't that a picture of David Bowie behind BJ? Whoever it is, good to hear that song again, though as a film buff I'm always reminded of Paul Newman giving Katherine Ross that bicycle ride (strangely enough, the sun is out and there's not a cloud in sight in that scene. Oh, well, I guess we're suppose to take it symbolically rather than literally.)
ReplyDeleteWonderful seeing Whitney again. Such a breath of fresh air she was at the time.
Hi, Kirk!
DeleteThanks for summoning the courage to come face to face with Rock 'n Roll Damnation, good buddy! :)
I just now noticed the face on the set behind B.J. Thomas. I agree it looks like Bowie but I am not sure who it is supposed to be. My gaze keeps shifting to the studio dancers and the bizarre set design which seems inspired by "women in prison" exploitation films of the period. :)
I get the feeling you are not a big rock lover, Kirk. How can that be?
After all - Cleveland Rocks! :) However I appreciate your comments about my softer, safer warm-up acts Whitney and B.J. I do recall that bicycle scene in Butch Cassidy. I loved Katharine Ross in The Graduate. I looked over her filmography just now and see that she appeared in a large number of Western movies and TV series.
Thanks again for coming over, good buddy Kirk, and enjoy the rest of your week!
Why? Because I didn't say anything about AC/DC? I like a lot of their songs, but that particular one just didn't do it for me. I do agree Bon Scott had a great, and unique, voice.
DeleteSince the BJ Thomas performance is from 1970, that might not be David Bowie after all. Even though he was already fairly well-known at the time, Ziggy Stardust was still a few years away, which is what that picture reminded me of.
Hi again, Kirk!
DeleteThanks for letting me know, good buddy! I am happy to learn that you like some of AC/DC's output which I assume includes material released after Bon Scott's untimely death.
I think you are on the right track about that modern art portrait. It might be Bowie, but then again it could simply be a generic face conceived by the set designer. Perhaps it's the face of the warden of the women's prison. :)
Thanks again for returning to chat, Kirk, and enjoy the rest of your week!
Hello my dear Shady
ReplyDeleteI am always late to the show but still am here to enjoy the tunes and the dancing. The first video is fun to watch and I love their dancing that seemed a bit fueled by some smokey-smoke:) Actually they seem to dance a but better than what i see today. AC/DC is always good and I always love it when a band like this is on German tv..hahahaaa. What a shame about the lead singer because it sounds like he died from too much fun..I hope not like Jimi Hendrix. Whitney had so much and blew it all away. She had a great voice but I always felt it was not controlled and she could have used some professional help from someone like Julie Andrews. Live Plus One...Really? I wasn't sure I was watching some strip show or an exercise video. The smoke congregating near their Vagega made me laugh. I always loved Raindrops even though his voice is not one I normally would gravitate to. Joan Jett-Whatever happened to her? I had to laugh again when there was a quick image of her in a bikini...ughhh. Now, of course, a man would feel totally different:) It is always nice to listen to some songs from the days of my youth
Hi, Birgit!
DeleteI am very happy to see you, dear friend, and proud of you for mustering the courage to face Rock 'n Roll Damnation! :)
I'm glad you had fun observing the teenager dancers in video #1. Some of them do appear to be in a trance like state, reminding me a little of reanimated zombies. At least they kept it clean for the most part, even the girls in the B.J. Thomas video who danced behind bars. In the twenty or so years that followed this early 70s footage, all sorts of lewd behavior became not only permissible but fashionable on the dance floor.
Yessum, I love to check out the voices and personalities of the German "presenters" as they introduce music acts on these old shows. I'm glad you enjoyed AC/DC. Unfortunately it seems Bon Scott died in a manner similar to Jimi Hendrix. Autopsies revealed that both great musicians died from pulmonary aspiration of vomit as a result of drug overdoses. Whitney Houston's is yet another tragic story among many in the history of pop music.
It's a little confusing, but "Love Plus One" is the name of the song by the New Wave band Haircut One Hundred. Legs & Co was the name of the all female professional dance troupe on Top Of The Pops. In this nicely restored clip, the Legs & Co women can be seen slithering around the stage like reptiles. My Jane Fonda and Denise Austin workout tapes were never that good!
Joan Jett will be age 60 next month! I repeat - Joan Jett will be age 60 next month! (Please tell me I'm dreaming or that Wiki is "fake news.") Nevertheless, as recently as 2013, Joan was still releasing albums, and as recently as 2015 she and her Blackhearts band were still doing live shows.
I'm happy to know you enjoyed your latest visit to Shady's Place, dear friend BB. Take care and enjoy the rest of your week. I hope to see you back here again next time!
Hi Shady! I knew most of the tunes and artists but not the Haircut group. However, those outfits were pretty different. And seriously, I graduated in '71..did I look and dress like that? Probably. I saw Joan Jett in concert probably 10yrs ago. Unfortunately, it was at the Ashland County fair! Talk about a come down. She was not in a very good mood that night. Probably because most of the audience where there to see the country western group (can't remember who it was) and those farmers just weren't into her! Ha! She stormed off after her last number with the smell of cows in her hair, I'm sure. I was there to see her so I just don't know why she was so mad! Anyway, hope all is good and it's past my bedtime...have a good weekend!
ReplyDeleteHi, YaYa!
DeleteI'm happy to see you dear friend, and glad you made it over to experience my latest edition of BIFL.
I knew you would want to check out the fashions and hair styles worn by the English girls on London's Top Of The Pops. You get very good looks at them in the first video and again in the B.J. Thomas video.
I wonder how AC/DC would have gone over at the Ashland County fair, probably not any better than Joan Jett. It was nice of you to go to the show in support of Joan. I'm sorry it was not the greatest concert you ever attended. I read that Joan aka "The Godmother of Punk" aka "The Original Riot Grrrl" was still doing shows as recently as the 4th of July 2015 (in D.C.). Three months earlier they were here in Tampa as the opening act for The Who. Ten years ago when you saw Joan live she was part of Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Tour. The year before that they headlined at a venue in Albuquerque on the 4th of July. Mattel released a Joan Jett Barbie doll in 2009. Do you own a Joan Jett Barbie? :) This year's York Interstate Fair, which opens a couple weeks from now, features Alice Cooper performing live on the grandstand.
Thank you again for dropping in, dear friend YaYa. I wish you a safe and happy weekend!
Oh, yeah, I'm reminded reading Birgit's comment of that shot of Joan Jett in a bikini. She certainly has (or had) the body for it, but I don't think I've ever seen her in a knee-length dress, much less a bikini. That's not really her image, and I wonder if some record exec or whoever pressured her into doing that.
DeleteI have a performance from that 29th April 1971 edition of 'Top Of The Pops' by Lulu of the 'Miss', as opposed to 'Hit', song, 'Everybody Clap' at this 'Girls Of The Golden East' Blog post...
ReplyDeletehttps://girlsofthegoldeneast.wordpress.com/2020/02/20/almost-a-namesake-of-a-street-in-petrzalka/
...as it was covered in Slovak as 'Piesne s nádychom júna' ('Songs With A Hint Of June') by the late, great Eva Kostolányiová, AKA 'The Twiggy of Slovakia', although I also think of her as 'The Lulu of Slovakia'.
As this post coincided with my older brother's sixtieth birthday, to talk of birthdays it's been tremendous fun spotting those celebrities who share the 29th January birthday of the likewise late, great Valérie Čižmárová and the presenter of that edition of 'Top Of The Pops', Tony Blackburn, is just such a celebrity. Another one is another artist associated with 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head', Sacha Distel. That trio is therefore featured at this 'Bananas For Breakfast' Blog post on another one of those whole-decade birthdays.
https://bananasforbreakfastblog.wordpress.com/2023/01/29/boldog-71-szuletesnapot-valinka/
Returning to 'Sugar Sugar' I know of another cover - in Czech, this time - by Alena Tichá as 'Med a cukr' ('Honey And Sugar') and I'm very glad to report that I had the opportunity to visit her birthplace of Zlín later on in the year of this 'Shady's Place' post.
https://girlsofthegoldeneast.wordpress.com/2023/10/16/my-day-in-alena-ticha-ville/
In an earlier '8' year (1978) I also had the privilege of visiting the place from where 'Beat-Club' and 'Musikladen' was broadcast as the first foreign city I'd ever visited coinciding with my seventeenth birthday of 19th July of that year as part of Belper High School's 'Projects Week' at the end of Summer Term, which was a week of extra-curricular activities and which, in my case, gradually went further and further afield, starting with Wargaming in 1975 and continuing with Outward bound at the nearby beauty spot of Black Rocks, Cromford in 1976 and Exploring the Midlands by coach in 1977 then concluding with the adventure that was the inaugural schools' exchange visit between Belper High School and the Hindenburgsschule, in Nienburg, between Bremen and Hannover - the original behind the home town of The Pixies Three! - travelling by my German teacher's Renault 6TL with the other three 'pioneers' of the exchange, his wife and very young daughter and that now-extinct means of crossing the English Channel, the Dover-Calais hovercraft. I'm afraid I was still getting over that long car journey when I went to Bremen in my exchange's father's Volkswagen 1500 estate (station wagon) on the first day in Nienburg and was promptly violently ill in Bremen's main square, but I don't hold that against the city and I even have taken to 'adopting' the city's football - sorry, 'soccer' ;-) - club, Werder Bremen as my German club to follow, winning 1 - 0 away at Bayern Munich yesterday! I take some satisfaction from the fact that 'Beat-Club' had two of the greatest signature tunes of all time in the shape of Sounds Incorporated's 'Rinky Dink' followed by Mood Mosaic's 'A Touch Of Velvet A Sting Of Brass' and was also part-presented by somebody born in what would today be the Czech Republic - Uschi Nerke, born in Komotau, now known as Chomutov. A real glamour gal and improbably a fully-trained architect, so beauty with brains!
Hi, Christopher!
DeleteI see that you traveled back in time to one of the first Shady's Place posts published in the summer of 2018. Prior to this blog, I spent ten years hosting one called Shady Dell Music & Memories. That site has been removed from public view so that I can clean up the best of the old posts and someday rerun them at Shady's Place.
Once again, your have bestowed upon us a wealth of information pertaining to Top Of The Pops and female Euro singers who recorded notable covers. I have read all three blog articles you recommended and left comments. Apparently they are awaiting moderation.
I also appreciated reading about your experiences in and around Bremen, Germany, where originated the classic music television show Beat-Club which, in late 1972, evolved into Musikladen. Thank you for identifying Beat-Club's opening theme as the go-go friendly "A Touch of Velvet - A Sting of Brass" by Mood Mosaic composed by musician Mark Wirtz. According to a side article I read, the song features punctuating backing vocals by session singers The Lady Birds who performed steadily on The Benny Hill Show and did backing vocals for Sandie Shaw and many other artists.
Thanks for giving a nod to The Pixies Three of Hanover, PA - aka "Our Hometown Heroines" - when you happened to mention Hannover, Germany. A few years back, I had the pleasure of corresponding with and getting to know the Pixies. In a series of email exchanges with all four participating members, I was able to collect interesting anecdotes about their journeys as individuals and together as members of a classic 60s girl group.
Thanks again for delving into my archives and for taking time to write such informative comments. Have a great week, friend Christopher!
Yes, I had spotted one or two references to that now invitation-only Blog when I went searching for 'Tom/Thomas Anderson York Pennsylvania' and came to the evidently correct assessment that it was effectively this Blog but in an earlier form. 'Shady's Place' is certainly a snappier and more memorable name, so I think you made a wise decision.
DeleteThank you for the compliments and for the comments variously at 'Bananas For Breakfast' and 'Girls Of The Golden East'. I'm mulling over putting a link to 'Shady's Place' at both of them since we seem to have hit it off so well with each other.
Apart from my embarrassing incident in the full glare of the people of Bremen my memories of my first-ever overseas city are all good. I was struck by the aroma of coffee hanging thickly in the air - maybe it was that that set it off! - which I'd never experienced before, emanating from the various coffee-roasting businesses in the city. My host, who lived by the banks of the River Weser, introduced me to the delights of proper freshly-ground coffee with Bärenmark-Milch, something like our Carnation Milk (do you have that in the U.S.?). He also impressed me with a cassette recording of Generation X's tribute to that other classic music show, 'Ready, Steady, Go!'
'A Touch Of Velvet - A Sting Of Brass' is a real Northern Soul classic and thank you for filling in those details of the backing vocalists. I'm ever so pleased you mentioned Sandie Shaw as she gets quite a few mentions variously at 'GOTGE' and 'BFB'.
Here was the first, chronologically speaking, featuring the French singer who first sparked an interest in the female Pop of the European Continental Mainland of mostly the Seventies, to such an extent that there may have been another Blog entitled 'Maidens From The Mainland'. Isn't 'Les neiges d'été' quite something?
https://girlsofthegoldeneast.wordpress.com/2016/07/19/bon-anniversaire-isabelle/
Here was the second, with one of my favourite-ever post titles.
https://girlsofthegoldeneast.wordpress.com/2019/09/06/a-sign-of-the-tv-times/
Here was the third at 'GOTGE'. BTW, thanks to the worldradiohistory.com site referred to in the post I identified the date of the 'Record Mirror' Carene Cheryl was reading in Piccadilly Circus as 22nd May 1976.
https://girlsofthegoldeneast.wordpress.com/2022/01/08/r-i-p-r-b-t/
Finally, here was a contemporary 'BFB' post brought on by the first-ever time I'd ever seen a YouTube channel die before my very eyes. I was having such fun watching the whole 'Top Of The Pops' editions on 'Retro British Television', too!
https://bananasforbreakfastblog.wordpress.com/2022/01/08/r-i-p-r-b-t/
You're welcome on the acknowledgement of The Pixies Three's home town. They are perhaps one of the Girl Groups from the classic era with whom I am rather less familiar, so I'll certainly investigate them further.
You're welcome, Thomas, as the pleasure of trawling though your cavern of treasures is all mine!
Hi, Christopher!
DeleteIf you Googled me and found that picture of the smiling, pipe-smoking gent, I need you to know it is not me. It is "Shady Del Knight," a character I created 15+ years ago to serve as jovial emcee for my blogs. In 2008, I was looking for a picture that would best represent the friendly albeit pompous professor type that I had in mind for the hosting role. I found that picture of a pipe-mouth gentleman, whoever he is or was, to be ideal for my purpose. The actual photos of me can be found on the blog's right sidebar.
Incidentally, in case you were wondering, the term "Dell rat" is authentic. The Shady Dell was an historic combination restaurant and dance hall in York, PA, that reached its peak of popularity in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. The teenage patrons of the establishment were dubbed "Dell rats" by authority figures throughout the community (parents, teachers, police and clergy) who viewed the Dell as a "den of iniquity," another authentic term commonly used term to describe our dear old alma mater. Rather than taking offense, the gang of Dell regulars embraced the nickname. We proudly called ourselves "Dell Rats," hence the title of my latest post, "Year Of The Dell Rat," a feature published every January.
Before I further address your latest comment, I would like to turn your attention back to the first post of yours upon which I attempted to comment. I just checked the page again and discovered that my comment has not yet been published. (see link below)
https://girlsofthegoldeneast.wordpress.com/2023/08/28/its-the-28th-its-a-bank-holiday-monday-so/
If I may ask, did you have time to check for my comment in your spam dungeon? If it is not there and has indeed been lost, I can tell you that one of the main points of my comment was that I am familiar with Bonnie St. Claire And Unit Gloria. In 2021, Shady's Place presenter Austin Powers - International Man Of Mystery (and Music History) - introduced the act during his Valentine's Day dance party on SPMM Retrosonic Radio:
https://tctgyb.blogspot.com/2020/02/austin-powers-smooches-for-hours-on.html
"Mrs. Shady" and I are coffee lovers, and would be in seventh heaven sampling the java brewed fresh and flavorful in Bremen. I always take mine black, but she would most certainly ask for a dash of Bärenmark-Milch. Yes, we have Carnation Milk in this country, but she prefers to use "half-and-half" non-dairy creamers.
I followed all four of your recommended links and left comments on the respective posts. That being said, I also need to take this opportunity to let you know that you entered the Shady's Place orbit at a time when I am downshifting - slowing down the pace of my blogging activity. For personal reasons, I have scaled back the rate of publishing posts to only once a month, a drastic change from the average pace of every 5 or 6 days that I maintained through most of my blogging career. Moreover, I recently announced to my readers who have blogs of their own that I will only be on active blogging status three days a month, enabling me to get more done in the life I have outside of the blogging community. Therefore, as much as I appreciate having you as a new friend and contributor, I must tell you sincerely that I will not be able to spend as much time exchanging visits and writing comments as you might have expected or hoped. When you get to be my age, mid 70s, you will surely experience the same phenomena in which time speeds up and becomes more precious with every passing day. That's where I'm at. Make no mistake, I value our budding friendship and look forward to all the teaching and learning that is in store, but please understand that my time is limited and I will not be able to continue this high level of reading and writing activity every single day.
Thanks for understanding, Christopher, and thanks again for your thoughtful comments!
I did sort of guess that it wasn't you, Thomas! I'm just slightly disappointed that my Gravatar thumbnail of Jitka Zelenková and Valérie Čižmárová both in action at the recording studio isn't visible here on selecting the Gravatar commenting option as I am very pleased with the way it looks wherever I've been commenting.
Deletehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/the_curves_man/52647203183/in/album-72177720295937136/
I like those origins of the term 'Dell Rat'. It reminds me of GGnSB's Roger Smith's gang when he was a youngster in the outskirts of Derby in Borrowash (pronounced 'borrow-wash') who would gather 'Down Brook' in the park by the brook in the village. I'll have to ask him if they were known as the 'Down Brookers', or something similar.
I'm sorry that your comment has gone missing. I have just checked in both my email and at the WordPress notifications to see if I missed anything and there's nothing there, which is a mystery. I should try again, if that isn't too much trouble and see if it gets through this time. Maybe these things aren't 100% reliable!
Thanks for the notification of that Austin Powers-related post, at which I've just had a brief glance and it looks pretty juicy to me! Would you believe that none other than Heather ('Felicity Shagwell') Graham is another one of those fellow children of 29th January with Valérie Čižmárová! Well, she did start her recording career in (Travel back in time to) 1969!
Thanks for confirming that Carnation Milk is known in the U.S.. I like it black and fairly sweet, too, but milk (whole, not skimmed!), this time sugar-less, is good as well....and here's what I use for preparing it.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_curves_man/52659819415/in/album-72177720300141048/
...sometimes after grinding it with an AKA RG 28 attachment for an AKA RG 25 made in East Germany - everything done the 'Seventies Way'!
I find it a little difficult keeping up a regular blogging schedule, certainly at 'Girls Of The Golden East' even at my age (62) so I quite understand your difficulties. I like to think it's not quantity. It's quality that counts...
...like Valérie Čižmárová's relatively brief recording career, for example!
Thank you very much, Christopher! You are welcome to call me Tom, and it is also AOK to address your comments to Shady Del Knight as many readers do. Truth be told, I enjoy staying in character and replying as would the pipe smoking former Dell rat turned university professor of music and pop culture history.
DeleteThis is another comment of yours that only this morning turned up in my spam folder. I remember reading it a couple of days ago and immediately approving it for publication. Your comment must have vanished before I could even reply to it. Now, days later, it suddenly appeared in the spam net. I have no explanation for the phenomenon other than to suggest that the mischievous blog gremlins get their jollies wreaking havoc. (I need to stop feeding them after midnight.)
Now you've got me fixated on memories of Heather Graham as "Rollergirl" in Boogie Nights. :)
So with that, I need to sign-off until next month. Three months ago, I announced to my blog friends and followers that I am drastically reducing my presence on the blog scene, posting only once per month and remaining on active blogging status only three days per month - the day I publish a new post and two days hence. It has now been ten days since I published Year Of The Dell Rat, and I have been spending hours every day at blogging, something I promised Mrs. Shady I would not do. I explained to her that it became necessary for me to violate my own rule because a new friend (you) discovered Shady's Place, and that we needed to spend a few days getting acquainted and learning the basics about each other's blogs and interests. You and I have done just that, Christopher. We have already shared tons of information with each other with much more to be shared in the future. We need to pause now, lest we burn ourselves out. Let us rest for a while, think about all that we have learned from each other so far and look forward to reconnecting when I resume active status during Valentine's week.
I hope to see you then, my friend, back here at your home away from home Shady's Place Music & Memories. Cheers, Christopher!