Ron Howard Pops the Clutch and Tells the World...

EAT MY DUST!

Look out world!  Opie Taylor's breaking badass in Eat My Dust...

winner of 50 Academy Awards including Best Picture and

Best Performance in a Supporting Role, an accolade

given to the suspension springs on Ron's muscle car.

SURPRISE!!!

You'll be surprised  shocked  upset  happy to know that this post has

nothing to do with Opie's 1976 action film produced by Roger Corman,

King of Low Budget Filmmakers. The bold headline and poster are merely

"click bait" - a gimmick I used to attract attention and lure hundreds,

perhaps thousands of new readers to Shady's Place. As you will

see at the end of the post, comments are already pouring in

from the four corners of the world. Hooray!

My clever ploy actually worked!

Although this post isn't about Ron Howard or that el cheapo

bicentennial cult classic car chase flick, it is loosely related.

That's because it's time to go...

SCROLL DOWN

Cruisin' through the year 1963

with "Your Leader" - BMR!

That's right. It's time to hop

in the old jalop and go

C R U I S I N '

through the history of Top 40 Radio.

Today we're visiting The Big Apple, New York City.

The year is 1963 and the voice on the radio

belongs to the DJ known as "BMR" -

 B. MITCHELL REED 

one of the

  Good Guys  

on station

 WMCA. 

PIGGYBACK COLD OPEN:

CLICK TO PLAY FIRST VIDEO.

AT 21 SEC MARK, CLICK TO

START SECOND VIDEO!

 "Easier Said Than Done" - The Essex 

 (June/July 1963, highest chart pos. 

 #1 Hot 100/#1 Cash Box/#1 R&B) 

 THE ESSEX 

I just had to do that - test out the Piggyback Cold Open on that first song.

If you timed it just right, BMR's intro to that Essex song syncs up with the

full length song video that followed. WOW! If you aren't familiar with that

soulful group, The Essex consisted of four guys and a girl (Anita Humes).

Strange as it seems, their signature song, "Easier Said Than Done," is

categorized as a Girl Group sound. Solo female artist Diane Renay

also falls into the Girl Group category, as does Lesley Gore. The

confusion doesn't end there. In the wacky world of pop music

classification, certain recordings by all male groups or solo

male artists are also designated by some music historians

as Girl Group sounds! "Easier Said Than Done" was a

smash hit for The Essex. The record spent two weeks

at the top of the pop charts in the summer of that

great Cruisin' year 1963.

 THE JAYNETTES 

Another cool sound on the Cruisin' 1963 album belongs to The Jaynettes,

an all-girl vocal quartet from The Bronx. These one hit wonders charted

their biggie a couple months after "Easier Said Than Done." Inspired by

the nursery rhyme "Ring around the Rosie," the song "Sally, Go Round

The Roses" spent two weeks at #2 on the Hot 100, held back from
the top position by Bobby Vinton's "Blue Velvet." Here now are

The Jaynettes with "Sally, Go Round The Roses!"

 "Sally, Go Round The Roses" - The Jaynettes 

 (Sept./Oct. 1963, highest chart pos. #2 Hot 100/#3 Cash Box, 

 #4 R&B, dancers on Sept. 28, 1963, ep. of American Bandstand) 

 JAN BRADLEY 

Born in Mississippi and raised near Chicago, R&B thrush Jan Bradley

is another one hit wonder, but her waxing of a Curtis Mayfield song

became a northern soul classic and my favorite song on the Cruisin'

1963 album. Released on Chicago's legendary Chess label at the

start of that year, "Mama Didn't Lie" became a top 10 hit on

the black chart and finished at #14 on the pop charts.

Here's Jan Bradley with Chitown soul at its best!

 "Mama Didn't Lie" - Jan Bradley 

 (Feb./Mar. 1963, highest chart pos. 

 #8 R&B/#14 Hot 100 & Cash Box) 

 THE ROOFTOP SINGERS 

Baltimorean folk singer/songwriter Erik Darling was a key figure
in the American folk music scene of the late 50s and early 60s.

Along with with a friend, Bill Svanoe, and jazz singer Lynne Taylor,
Darling formed a folk trio called The Rooftop Singers. In their
trademark progressive folk style, the group recorded the 1929
country blues song "Walk Right In." To everyone's surprise,
the single shot to #1 on the chart. Return with me now
to the simple, uncluttered, unplugged, pre-Beatles
Hootenanny era, the pop-folk boom of the mid
20th century. Walk right in, sit right down,

Daddy, let your mind roll on!

 "Walk Right In" - The Rooftop Singers 

 (Jan./Feb. 1963, highest chart pos. #1 Hot 100 & Cash Box) 

 "A TALE OF TWO DITTIES" 
 (MAKE THAT FOUR) 

The last song on B. Mitchell Reed's 1963 Cruisin' show is "Louie Louie,"

and there are four versions of the song that are important to know.

 RICHARD BERRY 
 AND THE PHARAOHS 

The Kingsmen are best known for their version of "Louie Louie," the infamous
late 1963 record that prompted an FBI investigation into allegedly obscene lyrics.
The Kingsmen's recording is a rockin' cover of an innocent Jamaican love ballad
written and first recorded in 1957 by R&B doo-wop singer Richard Berry
along with his backing group The Pharaohs.

 "Louie Louie" - Richard Berry And The Pharaohs 
 (Mar. 1957, B side of "You Are My Sunshine") 

 ROCKIN ROBIN ROBERTS 

The first cover of Richard Berry's "Louie Louie" was released in March 1961
by Tacoma Washington's Rockin Robin Roberts backed by the noteworthy
Pacific Northwest instrumental band The Wailers.

 "Louie Louie" - Rockin Robin Boberts 

 (Mar. 1961, uncharted) 

 PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS 

Paul Revere And The Raiders recorded a version of "Louie, Louie" the same week

and at the same studio in Portland, Oregon, where The Kingsmen waxed their

history making record. For a short time after their release, the two singles

were running neck and neck, but events conspired to make one version

an iconic hit of the 20th century and the other a flop. Columbia A&R

man Mitch Miller, famous for his TV show Sing Along With Mitch,

hated rock 'n' roll and "pulled the plug" on the Raiders' single,

leaving it stranded on the Bubbling Under chart. Here are

The Raiders performing the song nearly three years

later on Dick Clark's Where The Action Is.

 "Louie, Louie" - Paul Revere And The Raiders 

 (Nov. 1963, highest chart pos. #103 Bubbling Under/#118 Cash Box, 

  perf. on Sept. 16, 1966, ep. of Where The Action Is) 

 THE KINGSMEN 

The Kingsmen, like The Raiders, were a rowdy Pacific Northwest garage band,

and as such gave "Louie Louie" the full frat party treatment. Lead zinger

Jack Ely mumbled and slurred the words and his vocal track is buried

beneath dense layers of crashing cymbals, drums, guitars and organ,

rendering most of the lyrics unintelligible and fueling speculation

that they were dirty. They weren't. The actual words to

"Louie Louie" are as safe as mama’s milk. (Shucks!)

The FBI probe went nowhere and "Louie Louie"

went on to become a rock standard, but it

didn't happen overnight.

The single waxed by The Kingsmen was going nowhere fast until
Boston deejay Arnie Ginsburg (now a member of The Shady Bunch
on SPMM Retrosonic Radio), started promoting the platter on his
Night Train Show as "The Worst Record of the Week." Arnie's
listeners went wild for the Kingsmen platter and it soon broke

nationally. "Louie Louie" spent two weeks at #1 on Cash Box
and six weeks at #2 on the Hot 100, denied the #1 spot
by The Singing Nun's "Dominique" and Bobby Vinton's
latest hit "There! I've Said it Again." Determined to
stamp out bland ballads in your lifetime, here are
The Kingsmen appearing in a Dallas, Texas,

TV studio on the local Bandstand style

show Sump'n Else, performing one

of the greatest and best known

 rock 'n' roll records ever

made-- "Louie Louie!"

 "Louie Louie" - The Kingsmen 

 (Dec. 1963/Jan. 1964, highest chart position 

 #1 Cash Box/#2 Hot 100, perf. on TV show Sump’n Else 

 on WFAA-TV, Channel 8 (ABC), Dallas/Ft.Worth) 

 Don't miss the next thrill packed 

 episode of Cruisin' coming soon! 

Have a Shady day!

Brian & Toto Ask, "Is Shady's Place Going to the Dogs?" SPMM's Deejay Dawgs Bark "3 Cheers for 13 Years!"

Hi, Folks!

I'm Brian Griffin.

As I'm sure you know,

I'm the personable pooch

from Family Guy and a

Shady Bunch deejay...

host of Eclectic Avenue

right here on S-P-M-M

Retrosonic Radio.

And I'm Toto Moto.

I make no bones about the fact that I'm

Shady Del Knight's dog. I'm also the blog

mascot, Chief Petting Officer and a DJ -

The Hound of Sound on S-P-M-M, host

of Toto's Top Tunes Time Tunnel.

My motto: "I aim to fleas!"

Today Brian and I are gonna start from
scratch (BA-DUM-BUMP) and help
Shady salivate his 13th anniversary
as a blogger including three years
of bringing you music and fun

here at Shady's Place.

Toto and I will each play a favorite song,

and we will be introducing three exciting

radio personalities who will be joining

The Shady Bunch deejay staff full time

beginning next year. I'll start us off.

In 1990, rapper M.C. Hammer topped

the R&B chart with his signature song

"U Can't Touch This." Here to do a

parody of the song is Peter Griffin,

my human on Family Guy. Peter

sings-- "Can't Touch Me!"

"Can't Touch Me" - Peter Griffin

(sung to the tune of "U Can't Touch This" by M.C. Hammer,

orig. May/June 1990, highest chart pos. #1 R&B/#4 Cash Box,
#8 Hot 100, scene from ep. of TV series Family Guy)

Hi everyone!

I'm Morgan Brody.

You might recognize me as the CSI level III on
the TV series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
I'm happy to let you know that, beginning
next year, I'll be the host of a new radio
show here on S-P-M-M. It'll be called
CSI: Cool Song Investigation.

Now I might look like the typical

girl next door, your kid sister

or a fashionista mall rat,

but I assure you that I'm

a seasoned professional.

I'm meticulous in my work. I dot every
"i" and cross every genre to bring you the
best and coolest tunes in the music world.

As a preview of my show I dug up a great performance by an exciting young English

vocalist named Amelia Rendell. In 2016,

Amelia sang lead for the Stanley Dee

tribute band in a live show at a London

pub. Watch and listen as Amelia and the

band delight the crowd with their cover

of "Do It Again," the Steely Dan song

that brushed the top 5 in 1973.

START PLAYING VIDEO AT 1 MIN MARK!

"Do It Again" - Steely Dan cover by Stanley Dee tribute band
feat. Amelia Rendell (Aug. 2016 perf. at Half Moon Pub
in Putney, SW London, UK)

Isn't Amelia great? Okay, I uncovered

another fantastic cover song for you.

It was recorded by Eden's Crush, a

Los Angeles based pop girl group

created in 2001 on the now defunct

WB Network's TV series Popstars.

The Eden's Crush lineup included

Nicole Scherzinger who found fame

a few years later as lead singer of the

Pussycat Dolls. In 2001 Eden's Crush

released an album that contains their

version of "The Glamorous Life," the

song written by Prince and first waxed

by singer and percussionist Sheila E.

In 1984 Sheila E.'s single reached the

top 10 on the pop chart and went all

the way to number one on the Dance

survey. The cover by Eden's Crush

is way cool. Let's investigate!

"Glamorous Life" - Sheila E. cover by Eden's Crush

(from May 2001 album Popstars)

Hi, I'm Evie Barret.

I'm the new sheriff in the tiny town

of Willard's Mill, New Hampshire,

on the comedy horror TV series
Stan Against Evil.

My new radio show, coming in 2022,
is called Good Verses Evie, get it?

On Good Verses Evie I'll play songs with
lyrics that inspire, stir your emotions and
make you think, and I've got a couple of

Beatlesque samples. The first is a famous

show tune performed by Emily Linge, a

gifted young singer & musician in Dubai.

Originally recorded in 1950 and used in

the 1957 musical The Music Man, the

song was made even more famous by

The Beatles who waxed it in 1963.

CLICK TO START THE VIDEO NOW!

Here are Emily Linge and her music teacher

Simon Tomkins doing-- "Till There Was You." 

"Till There Was You" - The Music Man

The Beatles Cover by Emily Linge & Simon Tomkins

(Sept. 2020)

Here's another one I'm sure you
remember. In the late summer
and early fall of 1971, ex-Beatle
Paul McCartney and his wife

Linda topped the U.S. chart
with a lyric rich song that

was the first in a string of
post-Beatle number one hit
singles for Paul in America.

Here are Paul & Linda with--

"Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey!"

CLICK TO START
THE VIDEO NOW!

"Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey" - Paul And Linda McCartney

(Sept. 1971, highest chart pos. #1 Hot 100 & Cash Box)

Well hello there, Shady. That's right,
it's me, your old buddy, you old pal,

The Guy

Under the Seats.

Bet you conveniently forgot all about me since

the last time I was here. Bet you wish I didn't

even exist so that you could continue your

reign as self-proclaimed leader of the free

blog world unopposed. Well I got news, pal.

You're gonna regret the day your were born,

Mr. Poopy Pants, because I'm back and I'm

here to stay, here to make your life a living

hell as a new member of your illustrious

Shady Bunch DJ squad starting in 2022.

My show, the one you sorely neglected for years, the one
I adopted as my own and made a lot better, will still
be known as Eighties Greaties.

CLICK TO START THE VIDEO NOW!

I'll keep playing songs and vids from what I think we

can all agree was the last great decade in music.

Here's a sample spinning on my turntable and

simulcasting on YouTube. The Steve Miller

Band with their biggest hit, #1 in the late

summer of '82-- "Abracadabra!"

"Abracadabra" - The Steve Miller Band

(Aug./Sept. 1982, highest chart pos. #1 Hot 100 & Cash Box)

Hi again, folks. This is your old hi-fi fido,
Toto Moto. On Top Tunes Time Tunnel
I spin the super sounds of the Swingin' 60s.
Here's a hit single that bridged the gap
between two musical eras, the innocent
teen pop years of the 50s and early 60s,
and the rock band years of mid to late 60s
when pop music turned harder and heavier.

Believed to be dirty, the ditty was banned
by radio stations all across the country.

CLICK TO START VID!

S-P-M-M's got the slab and your Pooch with
the Hooch isn't afraid to play it. Here are

The Kingsmen with their garage rock

classic-- "Louie Louie!"

"Louie Louie" - The Kingsmen

(Dec. 1963, Jan. 1964, highest chart pos. #1 Cash Box,
#2 Hot 100, perf. on Jan. 22, 1966, ep. of Hollywood a Go Go)

Louie Louie, oh no,

me gotta go,

yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah, yeah, baby

Louie Louie, oh baby,

me gotta go

I said me gotta go now

Make that we gotta go now, Toto.

Ooops, I just splashed my drink on
Chris Elliott. That's gonna mean
50 years of bad luck. Hey lishen,
I'm not as drunk as some thinkle

peep I am, okay? Anyway, thanks
for coming to Shady Del Knight's
13th anniversary party featuring
some of the new faces, voices and

personalities coming to S-P-M-M

Retrosonic Radio next year. Now
for Toto Moto this is Brian Griffin
saying so long and see you soon!

Toto's Top Tunes Time Tunnel - Vol. 2: Yeh, Yeh!

BOOTH ANNOUNCER GARY OWENS:

...and the cow was returned to its rightful owner.

And that's the latest from S-P-M-M news...
fast, up-to-the-minute, completely fake
and proud of it. Now stand by for

 TOTO'S TOP TUNES 

 T I M E  T U N N E L 

on the station that's #1 for music and fun - S-P-M-M!

CLICK TO START THE VIDEO NOW!

PIGGYBACK COLD OPEN:
CLICK TO PLAY SECOND VIDEO

AT 9 SEC. MARK OF FIRST VIDEO!

"Just One Look" - The Hollies

(May 1964, highest chart pos. #98 Hot 100/#2 UK)

Retrosonic Radio

in Futuresonic

Stereo Surround...

that's S-P-M-M!

Heidi-ho! It's me again, your puppy pal
Toto Moto. Hey, if my buddy Jerry Blavat
can call himself The Boss with the Sauce,
then I'm The Pooch with the Hootch...
your Hi-fi Fido, your Musical Mutt,
your All Nite Satellite, welcoming
you into my wormhole, the Top
Tunes Time Tunnel, for another
fun-filled trip back to the
best years of your life!

To open the show, we flashed back to the British Invasion in 1964 and listened

to a new enhanced version of "Just One Look," the fist single to reach the U.S.

chart by the English pop-rock band The Hollies, a cover of the top 10 hit the

previous year for American R&B singer Doris Troy who co-wrote the song.

Amazingly, the Hollies fabulous version lasted only one week on the U.S.

chart at #98 while soaring to #2 back home in the UK. When reissued

in the states in 1967 the single cracked the top 50 but should have

done better, doggone it!

In 1966 the British Invasion was followed by a Spanish Invasion
of sorts in the form of Los Bravos, a beat band from Madrid
that scored a top 5 hit in the UK and here in the states
with "Black Is Black."

CLICK TO START THE VIDEO NOW!

Two years later Los Bravos released another rousing single that brushed

the top 50 stateside, a song written by members of the Aussie band

The Easybeats. The excitement meter is pegged as Los Bravos

performs-- "Bring a Little Lovin'."

"Bring A Little Lovin'" - Los Bravos

(June 1968, highest chart pos. #51)

That was "Bring A Little Lovin'" by the Spanish band Los Bravos,

a minor hit in America that deserved to be a major hit!

If you're just tuning in, I'm Toto Moto,

your Rover of the Radio, the Dawg

who Put the "WOW" in Bowwow...

and you're traveling through my

Top Tunes Time Tunnel here

on S-P-M-M... the station

with personality.

I used to chase a feline named Felix,

and next, here's another Felix who's

a very cool cat. He's Felix Cavaliere

who, along with Eddie Brigati, Gene

Cornish and Dino Danelli, made up

the exciting blue-eyed soul quartet

The Young Rascals... one of the

most popular acts of the 60s.

CLICK TO START THE VIDEO NOW!

From 1966 to '68 the Jersey boys placed nine singles in the top 20

and here's one of them. From the summer of '66, a song written

by Eddie and Felix-- "You Better Run!"

"You Better Run" - The Young Rascals

(July 1966, highest chart pos. #20)

Old school's the rule and every song is certifiably K-9 cool here in
Toto's Time Tunnel - the Paws that Refreshes - and you just heard from
Felix the musical cat and his group doing "You Better Run," a single
released when they were still "Young" - before they shortened
their name to The Rascals.

Shady's dog Toto with you on the radio,

and I'll be doggone if I don't get a chuckle

out of "The Jolly Green Giant," the nifty

novelty number by the Kingsmen, the

rowdy garage rockers from the Pacific

Northwest who shook up the civilized

world with their cover of "Louie Louie."

CLICK TO START
THE VIDEO NOW!

"The Jolly Green Giant" was written by

Lynn Easton, one of the founders of the

Kingsmen, and so was this one, the flip

side of that 1965 single, another titanic

tune called-- "Long Green!"

"Long Green" - The Kingsmen

(Jan./Feb. 1965, uncharted B side of "The Jolly Green Giant")

The Kingsmen with "Long Green (the root of evil)," the fab flip on the

back side of "The "Jolly Green Giant" single. "Long Green" was also
released on the band's 1964 album The Kingsmen Volume II and
again on the 1965 album The Kingsmen Volume 3.

Wassup, pup? Chief Petting Officer Toto behind the mic on
the greatest little station in the nation, S-P-M-M.  I aim to fleas
by spinning the best sounds of the 60s here in the Time Tunnel.

Back across the pond we go for one of the

coolest grooves featured on Hullaballoo

London. The Blue Flames, a British R&B

jazz band, were the backing musicians for

English singer Billy Fury until he sacked

them for being "too jazzy" and replaced

them with another band, The Tornados,

the guys who recorded the instrumental

hit "Telstar." Out on their own with key-

boardist Georgie Fame taking over on

lead vocals, The Blue Flames burned up

the chart with a groovy cover of "Yeh Yeh,"

originally recorded by Afro-Cuban per-

cussionist Mongo Santamaría, the artist

best known for his hit "Watermelon Man,"

a standard written by Herbie Hancock.

CLICK TO START THE VIDEO NOW!

Do I dig this sound from Georgie Fame? "Yeh Yeh!"

That's what I say, I say-- "Yeh Yeh!"

"Yeh, Yeh" - Georgie Fame And The Blue Flames

(Feb./Mar. 1965, highest chart pos. #21 Hot 100/#1 UK)

Georgie Fame and The Blue Flames with "Yeh, Yeh," a great song you don't hear

very often on oldies radio. Leave it to me, your Hound of Sound, to find it and

play it for you. "Yeh, Yeh" brings back marvelous memories of Brian Epstein

hosting Hullabaloo London during those exciting years of The Brit Invasion.

Toto Moto of The Shady Bunch keeping you

company all night long as we cruise through

my Time Tunnel here on S-P-M-M Radio.

Know what? I admit it - I'm a horndog. :)

I love bands from the mid 60s through

early 70s that featured strong,

brassy horn sections.

CLICK TO START
THE VIDEO NOW!

Here's one of my horn-driven favorites,
The Buckinghams, the sunshine poppers
from Chi-town who cranked out a string
of feel-good hits including the one you're
listening to right now. 1967 gold--
"Don't You Care!"

"Don't You Care" - The Buckinghams

(Mar./Apr. 1967, highest chart pos. #6)

From the Windy City, those were The Buckinghams with "Don't You Care,"

a sad song that makes you happy when you listen to it. "Don't You Care"

was one of the group's five top 10 hits of the mid 60s if you count

the Cash Box chart along with Billboard.

Oh bowwow, we're nearing the end of
Toto's Top Tunes Time Tunnel. I know

for sure because I can see the dawn's
early light. Thanks for spending the

wee hours of the morning with me,
your All Nite Satellite. Stay tuned

for my good friend Shady Blue
coming up on the B side of news to

get you Stuck Like Glue to his dusty
ditties, and I'll be back soon to start
from scratch and satisfy your itch for
terrific tuneage in my Time Tunnel.

CLICK TO START
THE VIDEO NOW!

To play us off, Tommy James and the Shondells with "Mirage,"

a hit born when a tape of "I Think We're Alone Now"

was accidentally played backward. Bye bye!

"Mirage" - Tommy James And The Shondells

(May/June 1967, highest chart pos. #10)