ABA Quiz (we”re starting a series here, brush up): 1) What two
franchises lasted all 9 seasons? [1967-76] 2) Fill in the blank for
these nicknames: Memphis —, New Orleans —, Oakland —,
Pittsburgh — (two different names), San Diego — (two different
names…if you know the second one, pour yourself a frosty and
ask your boss for the rest of the day off). Answers below.
Floyd Cramer
The other day I mentioned Cramer as being the artist behind a
favorite song of mine, “Last Date.” So Ken S. wrote and said he
was looking at his Patsy Cline CD and noticed Cramer as the
keyboard player on many of her tunes and, yes, they are one and
the same.
Cramer is one of those who had a life many of us should be
envious of. Born in Shreveport, LA in 1933, Cramer”s family
shortly thereafter moved to the Arkansas sawmill town of Huttig.
It was apparent at an early age that Floyd had some musical
ability so his folks bought him a used piano, which he was glued
to by the time he was 5.
After high school, Floyd went back to Shreveport in 1951 where
he auditioned for the popular “Louisiana Hayride” show. Soon
he was on stage with the likes of Faron Young, Webb Pierce and
Jim Reeves, displaying for the world his unique style of country
piano. Cramer once described it as such (for those of you who
play the piano):
“The style I use mainly is a whole-tone slur which gives more of
a lonesome, cowboy sound. You hit a note and slide almost
simultaneously to another.It is an intentional error and actually
involves two notes. The result is a melancholy sound.”
[“Country Music: The Encyclopedia,” Irwin Stambler and
Grelun Landon.]
Cramer soon was touring with the “Hayride” crew, including, for
a spell, the great Hank Williams, and then later on, a young artist
by the name of Elvis Presley made his debut on the show.
Cramer backed Presley on many of his tunes in the early years,
as well as later on with Elvis”s movie soundtracks.
Floyd moved to Nashville in the mid-50s where he hooked up
with “Mr. Guitar,” Chet Atkins. Atkins, you”ll recall, was not
only a great artist in his own right, he was also a key manager of
talent in town and he recognized it when he heard it. So soon
Floyd Cramer was “Mr. Piano.”
The Nashville of that day didn”t have many keyboard session artists
and Cramer was basically able to monopolize the business. He
was the man, playing not only for the likes of Presley and Patsy
Cline, but also Roy Orbison, Brenda Lee and the Everly
Brothers. He also began touring extensively as a solo act and
over the course of the next 20 years appeared on everything from
Johnny Carson to Ed Sullivan to Hee Haw. [Saaa-lute!]
But it was in 1960 that he recorded the tune “Last Date,” which
sold over a million copies. What startles me, though, it that it hit
#2 on the pop chart but only reached as high as #11 on the
Billboard country charts. Actually, what kept him from #1 on
the pop chart was Elvis”s “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” which
Cramer played on. The following year Floyd had two other top
ten pop hits, the #4 “On The Rebound” and #8 “San Antonio
Rose.”
Meanwhile, RCA loved Cramer, as his style with the keyboard
seemed to cut across various market segments. By the time he
wrapped up his recording career, he had recorded an amazing 50
albums for them. Having left his mark, Floyd Cramer died on
New Year”s Eve 1997 at age 64. Too young, but he had a nice
ride.
[FYI…on Jimmy Dean”s “Big Bad John,” Cramer created the
pickax sound effect by hanging an iron doorstop on a coat hanger
and hitting the doorstop with a hammer….Additional source:
“The Encyclopedia of Country Music,” Paul Kingsbury.]
Stuff:
–Harry K. passed along that Mayotte (one of the “ten worst
places to live”) is next to the Comoros (NW of Madagascar. for
those of you who couldn”t find it simply looking at a map, like
yours truly). It”s a crappy place to live, with the average life
expectancy being just 58 years for males. 97% are Muslims (not
that there is anything wrong with that, mind you), but if memory
serves me right, this area (including the Comoros) is a prime
hideout for extremists. In other words, don”t bother calling your
travel agent. Wait until 2045.
–H.K. and I also compare notes on the weather all the time,
seeing as we both have significant exposures to energy stocks.
Man, it”s warm this winter. But as a follow-up to my statement
concerning the potential for a Super Bowl in New Jersey in 2007,
if you”re looking for old-fashioned football weather this
weekend, complete with blowing snow and ice, as of Tuesday”s
forecasts you”re not going to see it.
Sat. – New England, Cloudy 35-27.8:00 PM start, though.
Sat. – Chicago, Partly Cloudy 28-20.4:30 start.
Sun. – Pittsburgh, Mostly Cloudy 33-24.12:30 start.
Let”s hope.uh oh.what”s this? I”m watching the Weather
Channel and it looks like Sat. night could see some precip up in
New England after all…c”mon baby! Find your way up the
coast.
–The residents of Westport, CT are thinking about erecting a
statue to a hero from 9/11. “Bear,” the 12-year-old golden
retriever. Ya gotta love it. Bear was the first rescue dog on the
scene, just 38 minutes after the first plane hit, and it ended up
finding 3 of the 5 survivors in the rubble after the towers
collapsed (two firemen and a Port Authority officer). Bear was
injured by jagged wreckage but is recovering. Once again,
man”s best friend comes through. [Source: London Times]
–We have been supporters of Shaquille O”Neal around here, but
it”s going to take a period of good behavior now to get him back
on the editor”s “good guy” list after his near knockout of Brad
Miller. And I”m tired of Shaq”s whining about the way he is
treated in the ”paint.”
–From Sports Illustrated comes this bit. Dale Atkeson, a former
NFLer with the Washington Redskins, is being forced by the
California Department of Motor Vehicles to turn in his vanity
plate.IREDSKN.because, you know, it”s a slur against Native
Americans.
So who is this guy, I mused? Dale Wayne Atkeson is 71-years-
old and played for the Redskins from 1954-56. A 6”2″ 211 lb.
fullback (pretty big for those days), he didn”t attend college.
Dale ended up rushing for 639 yards on 208 carries (3.1 avg.)
with 4 rushing TDs. He also returned a kickoff for a TD in ”54.
Well, we”re behind you, Mr. Atkeson. [His wife hasn”t been
asked to turn in her plate…RDSKN2…but I would urge her not
to drive around the Sioux reservation near Wounded Knee, South
Dakota. My buddy Larry would hit her up for a trinket or two.]
–Ouch! Jeff Pearlman of SI had the following description of the
Chicago White Sox” Frank Thomas: “With David Wells gone,
no one in the young White Sox clubhouse will have the guts to
challenge the Big Hurt when he misses 20 games with a bruised
pinky and then takes a three-hour pre-game nap before begging
off playing first base for a night at DH.”
–You currency traders out there know this, but Harry K. just
taught me something I didn”t know, how to type the euro symbol,
€. Make sure the numlock key is on, then hold down the ALT
key and type 0128 on the numeric keypad (it doesn”t work if you
use the numbers up top). Then let go of the Alt key and voila,
the € magically appears. [I was just informed this may not work
with all browsers.]
–U.S. News had the results of a survey of 151 college professors
by Frank Luntz for the Center for the Study of Popular Culture,
which ranked presidents over the past 40 years. Now if you still
have any doubt as to academia”s political bent, here are the
results, accumulated post-9/11.
Bill Clinton received the top ranking from 26% of the profs, JFK
17%, LBJ 15%, Carter 13%, Reagan 4%, Bush #41 2%, Nixon
1%, Ford 1%, George W. Bush zero. [I wasn”t able to find the
whole survey so I”m not sure what the difference from 100%
means.] Now discuss amongst yourselves.
Top 3 songs for the week of 1/16/65: #1 “Come See About Me”
(The Supremes) #2 “I Feel Fine” (The Beatles) #3 “Love Potion
Number Nine” (The Searchers)
*Just a plug here for you Tito Puente fans. I”m listening to his
1958 classic, “Dance Mania.” Pick it up for a nice change of
pace. Label – BMG.
ABA Quiz: 1) Indiana Pacers and Kentucky Colonels. 2)
Nicknames: Memphis Sounds, New Orleans Buccaneers,
Oakland Oaks, Pittsburgh Pipers and Condors, San Diego
Conquistadors and Sails. It is this last one that earns you the
beer. They folded after just 11 games during the last season for
the league, ”75-”76.
*Now there is another story concerning franchises for the 1975-
76 season, and it concerns Skip Wise, a former standout at
Clemson. First off, the Memphis team was to relocate to
Baltimore and play as the Baltimore Claws. The Sounds were in
dire financial straits and this group of investors from Baltimore
said they could resurrect them, but five days before the season
was to begin, they folded after selling just 300 season tickets and
racking up more debt.
But before this, the first nickname the investors had picked was
the Hustlers. The league office wasn”t too enamored with this
choice so they came up with the Claws. Anyway, Joe Mullaney was
the coach and he tells of the owners” brainstorm, to sign ACC Rookie
of the Year Skip Wise. Wise had averaged 18.5 for Clemson as a
freshman, but Mullaney didn”t know that Wise was a drug addict.
So they start practice for the new season (Wise had reportedly
signed a 5-year, $1 million contract.with much of it was
deferred) and Skip is showing Mullaney nothing. Coach finally
discovered what was wrong and when the owners asked him if he
thought Wise was progressing, he”d tell them he didn”t think
Skip could play at all.
Mullaney describes the pitiful situation in the book, “Loose
Balls,” by Terry Pluto.
“Dave Robisch came up to me and said, ”Are the owners going to
make you play Wise? They can”t do that. This kid is killing us.”
“Wise was in such bad shape that one day I saw him sitting off to
the side of the practice court. He was shivering. I asked him if
he was all right and he said, ”No, man, I”m cold. I just feel so
cold.””
Well, the situation was bad all around, not just for Wise, but for
the franchise overall, so Mullaney called the league office and
commissioner Dave DeBusschere went to Baltimore and folded
the team. As for the coach, Mullaney was never paid for the last
year of his contract since it was with the team, not the league.
Then to add insult to injury, the $4,200 check that he received
from the owners to cover his moving expenses from Memphis to
Baltimore bounced. Wise played all of two games for San
Antonio that ”75-”76 season. That was the extent of his career.
[He hit 2 of 4 shots for 4 points in 10 minutes, for you hoops
junkies.] I think he then ended up in prison. Feel free to correct
me on this, my fellow ACC fans. I did see a web piece where
Sam Cassell calls Wise his favorite player growing up.
[Pluto”s work is as good a sports book as you”ll ever read. It”s an
oral history of the ABA.]
Next Bar Chat, Friday.
