Joyce Martin's a Gold Digger - Vol 2: Gettin' Together

Hi again! I'm Joyce Martin.

I'm sure you remember
me from my previous
appearances here at
Shady's Place.

As you recall, I'm a good girl breaking bad... falling under
the influence of the mean girl gang known as the

I'm just trying to

fit in, but ever since

I got mixed up with

The Hellcats... my

grades have been

slipping and my

folks have been

on my case.

Not knowing which way to turn for help, I found a friend in
Professor Shady Del Knight who offered to be my sugar daddy

private tutor and help me bring up my grades. To earn extra

credit, I am doing a special research project for Professor

Knight and hosting this series at Shady's Place. It's called

Joyce Martin's  a  Gold Digger!

In each volume I display vintage top tunes surveys,

the hit parades distributed by radio stations in the
50s and 60s. Next I go digging for gold - picking
a favorite song from each list and playing it for

your listening and dancing pleasure.

I'm lucky to have this

chance to make good,

so... if you're ready...

let's dig some gold!

WNOW 1250 AM YORK

Today I'm featuring the playlists of radio
stations across Pennsylvania. Let's begin
with the survey above, issued by WNOW
12-5-0 Radio in York, Professor Shady's
hometown. It's the week of June 25,
1961, and I'm poring over WNOW's
Fabulous Forty. I think I'll play #7,
"The Boll Weevil Song," an adap-
tation of a traditional folk song
by Brook Benton with backing
by The Mike Stewart Singers,

a top 3 crossover hit nationally.

"The Boll Weevil Song" -
Brook Benton (June/July 1961,
highest chart pos. #2 Hot 100,
#2 Cash Box/#2 R&B)

WRAW 1340 AM READING

Our next stop is Reading and WRAW 1340,
another station with a Fabulous Forty. It's the
week of April 7, 1967, and I'm choosing survey
sound #36 - pop crooner Andy Williams doing

"Music To Watch Girls By," a vocal version of a
hit instrumental by The Bob Crewe Generation.

"Music To Watch Girls By" - Andy Williams

Apr. 1967, highest chart position
#34 Hot 100, #50 Cash Box)

 WLAN 1390 AM LANCASTER

We now head southwest to Prof. Shady's

old stomping ground and a visit to Lancaster,

home of station WLAN 1390. My pick comes

from the Super Heart Survey for the week of
October 7, 1967. It's Tommy James And The
Shondells with "Gettin' Together," a record
that merely cracked the top 20 nationally
but made the top 5 in Lancaster. This week
it's hanging on to the #12 spot. Here's an
ultra rare video of Tommy and his group
performing the song on the TV show
The Village Square which at the time
originated from Atlanta, Georgia!

"Gettin' Together" - Tommy James
And The Shondells (Sept./Oct. 1967,
highest chart pos. #14 Cash Box,
#18 Hot 100, live perf. on TV show
The Village Square, Atlanta, GA)

 WQTW 1570 AM LATROBE

I'm digging this gold. Hope you are, too.

We now travel all the way back out west to

Latrobe, famous for the brewing company
that makes Rolling Rock Beer. It's June 9,
 1967, and I'm plucking a song from the
WQTW 1570 Good Guy Hot Prospects,
 a list of records that are bubbling under
the top 30 in Latrobe this week. It's an
uncanny sound from the garage rock
band The Seeds, the first song they
recorded. When first released in 1965,
it was only a regional hit in California,
but when re-released in '67 it brushed
the top 40 nationally. Here now are
Sky Saxon and The Seeds with--
"Can't Seem To Make You Mine!"

"Can't Seem To Make You Mine" - The Seeds

(May/June 1967, highest chart pos.

#41 Hot 100/#55 Cash Box)

WOW! My request hotline is lighting up! 

A guy named Frankie is calling from a Muscle Beach bikini & pajama party,

and he wants to hear a song by his favorite girl-popper, Annette Funicello.

         WSBA 910 AM YORK

In that case, let's travel all the way

back across the commonwealth to

Professor Shady's hometown, York,

and a top tunes list issued by WSBA
"Hi-Fi Radio 910" later to be called
"The Nifty 9-10" and ultimately
"The Mighty 910." It's the week

of September 17, 1960, and I'm
gonna play #13 on the survey
"Pineapple Princess," a ukelele
song by Mouseketeer Annette
that brushed the top 10 on
the Billboard Hot 100.

"Pineapple Princess" - Annette

(Sept./Oct. 1960, highest chart pos.
#11 Hot 100/#15 Cash Box)

Oh shoot-- Professor Shady's waving me off!

  It time for the last play of the day, and a look at

one more vintage radio station top tunes survey.

KDKA 1020 AM PITTSBURGH

From station KDKA 1020 AM in Pittsburgh, here above is a survey listing

the top hits of 1964. I'm spinning the #6 song that year, a single by the English

rock & roll band The Dave Clark Five. This is the band's first big hit, the echo-

drenched, sax-driven, call-and-response style song that ignited their rivalry

with The Beatles and launched the British Invasion. Here are the DC5

with their big beat biggie from the spring of '64-- "Glad All Over!"

"Glad All Over" - The Dave Clark Five

(Mar./Apr. 1964, highest chart pos. #5 Cash Box/#6 Hot 100)/#1 UK)

I hope you dug this gold.

Please join me for vol. 3 of

Joyce Martin's
 a  Gold Digger.

coming soon!

2019 - Year of the Dell Rat

 CAN SHADY DEL KNIGHT KEEP YOU 
 ENTERTAINED IN THE COMING YEAR? 

 IS 

 PETER 

  GRIFFIN 

 "THAT GUY"? 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It's exciting to be starting my first full year of blogcasting from

my new facility here at SPMM - Shady's Place Music & Memories.

S-P-M-M means more music with less talk, so let's get to it.

The gang's all here! I am pleased to welcome back the six members of

The Shady Bunch, the staff of cool DJs who will keep the great sounds

coming at you throughout 2019. The honor of spinning the first

record of the new year goes to my good friend Shady Green

who invites you to climb aboard his Wayback Machine!

Hey, thank you, Shady Del Knight, and happy new year

to one and all! My first nugget of the year is a real mind-

blower, and if you're following our simulcast on YouTube,

you will enjoy seeing as well as hearing this performance.

It's the singing Singer Family of San Diego, California,

along with a group of go-go dancers from the local

Young Actors' Theatre.

CLICK TO START VIDEO!

Together they flash us back to 1971 with a cool cover of Tommy James'

biggest solo hit, the million seller "Draggin' The Line." Look out,
world... here comes-- The Singer Family!

 "Draggin' the Line" - Tommy James 

 (cover by The Singer Family, San Diego, 

 ft. go-go dancers from Young Actors' Theatre) 

The Zinger (Singer) Family of Southern

California there with a treat for the eyes

as well as the ears, bringing back the era

 of psychedelic sunshine pop, performing

the song "Draggin' The Line"... a top 5

hit for Tommy James of Shondells fame.

Hard to believe, but Tommy's groovy

tune almost got buried on the B side

of the single. Fortunately the decision

makers recognized the hit potential of

"Draggin' The Line," changed their

minds at the last minute and

released it as the A side.  

That's it for me today. I'll be back soon to give you a good

long ride in my Wayback Machine. Now it's time for me

to turn over the mic to everybody's favorite pooch,

S-P-M-M's very own Hound of Sound-- Toto Moto!

Thanks, Shady Green! You're a RUFF RUFF RUFF

act to follow! (BA-DUM-BUMP) My first record of

the year is a big beat ditty that's guaranteed

to blow out your woofers. Woofers... get it?

(BA-DUM-BUMP) It comes to us from across

 the great pond, and I don't mean the

one I made on the living room floor.

(BA-DUM-BUMP)

CLICK TO START VIDEO!

Remember when The Dave Clark Five were just as popular in
America as the Fab Four? Here's the English pop rock quintet
with one of their earliest and biggest hits-- "Bits And Pieces!"

 "Bits And Pieces" - The Dave Clark Five 

 (Apr./May 1964, highest chart pos. #4 Hot 100/#2 UK) 

The DC-5 with one of their biggies from 1964, "Bits And

Pieces." I need to go huntin' for a hydrant, but I'll be back

later in the year with more nifty numbers like that one

in Toto's Top Tunes Time Tunnel. Up next, my good

buddy The Geator, Jerry Blavat, who just now dug

up a nugget from his show Geator Gold. I think

you're gonna dig it, too. Take it away, Jerry!

Alright, faaantastic!!! How 'bout a big round of applause
for my canine compadre, Mr. Toto Moto? Greetings and
salutations! I am the Geator with the Heater... I am
the Boss with the big Hot Sauce... and you're tuned
to the greatest little station in the nation, S-P-M-M!

CLICK TO START VIDEO!

My first spin of the year is a bombastic dance record dedicated to
all my yon teenagers on the Discophonic TV Scene. My good friends
The Contours from the Motor City are here to ask the musical question,
"What does every man look at first?" and it ain't what you think, y'all!

 "First I Look At The Purse" - The Contours 

 (Sept. 1965, highest chart pos. #57 Hot 100/#12 R&B) 

The great Motown Sound of The Contours and "First I
Look At The Purse." I gotta split, but I'll be back soon
with more great sounds of yesteryear on Geator Gold.

Now here to play the next song is a stupendous
record spinner, a real winner, my main man...
Mr. Shady Blue!

Thank you, Jerry Blavat, and happy new year, everyone!
By now it's no secret that I'm crazy about Elvis the Pelvis,
hence the name of my radio show Stuck Like Glue On
Shady Blue. My first song of the year is a sweet
ballad that Elvis sang to his lovely co-star
in the 1965 movie Girl Happy.

CLICK TO START VIDEO!

It's Shelley Fabares (Mary Stone on The Donna Reed Show) forgetting

all about Johnny Angel as Elvis serenades her with "Puppet On A String!"

 "Puppet On A String" - Elvis Presley 

 (from Apr. 1965 film Girl Happy) 

Elvis "The King" crooning the tune "Puppet On A String"
to pretty Shelley Fabares in the movie Girl Happy.
Keep it here on S-P-M-M Radio for lots more
pelvic platters and great oldies of the 50s
and early 60s made by other artists on
my show Stuck Like Glue on Shady Blue.
Now here's my good buddy Dell Rat Tom
to play one of his favorite Jukebox Giants!

Thank you, Shady Blue, and happy new year! I'm beginning 2019 with a
flashback to a day in May of 1965. I was sick and spent that entire day in bed.
Yet, that evening, I begged my dad to drive me to a discount department store
so that I could buy a certain record, one of the most exciting sounds I ever heard.

It was "Wooly Bully" by rock 'n' roller Sam The Sham

and his band The Pharaohs. Named after his pet cat,

"Wooly Bully" was Sam's first and biggest hit. The

record shot to #2 on the chart only to be denied

the #1 spot by the Four Tops smash hit "I Can't

Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)." It was

quite an accomplishment for Motown's Tops and

Sam, a Tex-Mex artist from Dallas, to hold the top

two spots on the Hot 100 at a time when British

Invasion acts were dominating the chart.

Here now are Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs with that

rockin' little record I just had to have - the one that

got me up out of my sick bed-- "Wooly Bully."

CLICK TO START THE VIDEO NOW!

 "Wooly Bully" - Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs 

 (May/June 1965, highest chart pos. #2 Hot 100) 

Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs with their signature song

"Wooly Bully." Don't touch that dial. I'll be back throughout

the year to spin more of the greatest hits of the Shady Dell

on my regularly scheduled show Jukebox Giants. Now,

here's one of the coolest guys you're ever gonna meet.

For him cool comes naturally, and so it is apropos

that he hosts a program here on  S-P-M-M called

Natural Hy. He's my Shady Bunch buddy Hy Lit!

Thanks, Tommy boy! I appreciate the kind intro, my friend.
Hey, this is your pal on the radio, your man with the plan,
on the scene with the record machine here at station
S-P-M-M, where the cool oldies go to live forever.
Callin' uptown, downtown, crosstown - here, there,
everywhere, yours truly Hy Lit, and I'm starting the
year off right with a story song inspired by one of
Aesop's fables - The Farmer and the Viper.

CLICK TO START VIDEO!

It's without a doubt one of the grooviest sounds around, a Northern Soul killer,

a guaranteed dance floor filler, from the man who gave us the #1 smash

"Show And Tell," Al Wilson-- "The Sssssnake!"

 "The Snake" - Al Wilson 

 (Sept./Oct. 1968, highest chart pos. 
 #27 Hot 100/#32 R&B) 

 HAPPY NEW YEAR 

 FROM YOUR PALS 

 "THE SHADY BUNCH" 

 AT S-P-M-M... 

 THE STATION THAT'S #1 

 FOR MUSIC AND FUN!