NCAA Basketball Quiz: The AP poll has been around since Jan.
20, 1949. As of this week, UCLA holds the record for most
weeks at #1 with 128. How many of the rest of the top ten can
you name? [Hint: Weeks at #1 are 88 for the 2nd-ranked school,
27 for the tenth-ranked.] Answer below.
1964: Musical Notes
–Jan. 20: \’\’Meet the Beatles!\’\’ released by Capitol Records, the
first album available in the U.S.
[Meanwhile, knowing the Beatles were coming to America, the
Beach Boys were rattled, so they rushed out "Fun, Fun, Fun" so
the Beatles would hear it while they were in the States. The
Beach Boys were also on the Capitol label, but Capitol\’\’s
thoughts were obviously elsewhere. Nonetheless, "Fun, Fun,
Fun" did manage to grab #5.]
–Friday, Feb. 7: Pan Am Flight 101 arrives at John F. Kennedy
Airport (I think it was still Idlewild back then). On board, four
lads from Liverpool. Phil Spector made sure he was on the plane
with them, as well. Crowd estimates at the airport range from 10-
25,000. The British Invasion has begun. Thank God…muses the
editor in retrospect.
The Beatles stayed at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. As related
in Ronnie Spector\’\’s (The Ronettes) autobiography, Ronnie had
previously met the Beatles in London and was invited to come up
to the hotel and party with them. She describes a chaotic scene,
with the Beatles occupying a whole floor, while thousands of
screaming fans were outside. DJ Murray the K acted like a real
jerk, using Spector to gain access to the Beatles. They were well
aware of his influence on the radio airwaves those days, but they
were particularly miffed when he took out his tape recorder and
started asking inane questions, like about their hair. Soon
Murray was bragging that he was the "fifth Beatle," which
further irritated them, but they put up with his crap to get the PR.
This was on February 8th, and, as Spector describes it, later in the
day everyone was ushered out of the suites, except close friends.
Ronnie\’\’s friends were urging her to leave, because something
weird seemed to be going on in one of the rooms. Well, it turns
out there was a nude couple in the bedroom (members of the
Beatles\’\’ entourage), along with about 20 others, but if you want
to know anything more you\’\’ll have to get Spector\’\’s book,
because I\’\’ll be damned if I\’\’m going to lose my International Web
Site Association license.
[Spector has some inaccuracies in her book, one being that other
sources seem to point to DJ\’\’s Scott Muni and Cousin Brucie as
being the first to interview the Beatles. And since I am a huge
Cousin Brucie fan, well darnit, the Cuz gets my vote. By the
way, in the 60s Brucie made about $200,000 in salary (plus
double that on the outside.not bad for those days).
–Sunday, Feb. 9: The Beatles make their historic appearance on
"The Ed Sullivan Show." Sullivan had been playing up the
appearance for weeks, having watched a Beatlemania mob at
Heathrow Airport a few months earlier. The Boys were paid
$2,400 for the appearance, playing five tunes – "All My Loving,"
"Till There Was You," "She Loves You," "I Saw Her Standing
There," and "I Want To Hold Your Hand." For the appearance,
John Lennon was so nervous he taped the lyrics onto his guitar.
73 million tuned into the show, 60% of the television audience
back then (and the same percentage as last week\’\’s Super Bowl,
which was witnessed by 86 million). Rocker Alice Cooper once
recalled, "I just sat there in my living room in Phoenix with a
huge smile on my face…My parents looked like they were in the
audience of \’\’Springtime for Hitler.\’\’" And who else did Sullivan
have on February 9th? Georgia Brown and the children\’\’s chorus
from the Broadway show "Oliver" (including future Monkee
Davy Jones), Tessie O\’\’Shea and Frank Gorshin (I always liked
this comedian / impersonator. "Kirk DOUG-las")
–Feb. 11: Beatles play first concert at the Washington (D.C.)
Coliseum. Appearing with them were Tommy Roe, the Chiffons
and the Caravelles.
–Feb. 12: Beatles play Carnegie Hall. 250 reporters show up for
a press conference.
–Apr. 4: Beatles hold top 5 slots on the Billboard chart. #1
"Can\’\’t Buy Me Love" #2 "Twist And Shout" #3 "She Loves
You" #4 "I Want To Hold Your Hand" #5 "Please Please Me".
–June 1: The Rolling Stones arrive in America.
–Aug. 19: Beatles begin first American tour at San Francisco\’\’s
Cow Palace. 30 shows in 24 cities.
–Sept. 4: The Animals debut in America at Brooklyn\’\’s
Paramount Theater. "House Of The Rising Sun" quickly rises to
the top of the charts.
–Oct. 25: The Stones make their debut on Ed Sullivan\’\’s show.
The audience is rowdy and Sullivan announces: "I promise you
they\’\’ll never be back on our show. It took me 17 years to build
this shew; I\’\’m not going to have it destroyed in a matter of
weeks." [May 1965, Sullivan relents and has the Stones back
on.]
*New York Times columnist Bob Herbert wrote a column last
July, upon learning that George Harrison was very ill. He had the
following comment about the Beatles in general.
"They blew in like a sudden storm and permanently altered the
cultural landscape. One night they were singing to an audience
of shrieking teeny-boppers on that quintessential 1950s televised
program, "The Ed Sullivan Show," and in the next instant, it
seemed, the Sullivan era had been left behind and the \’\’60s had
blossomed in brilliant, even blinding color."
Grammy Winners in 1964
Song of the Year: "Hello, Dolly!"
Best Vocal Performance, Female: "People" Barbra Streisand
Best Vocal Performance, Male: "Hello, Dolly!" Louis Armstrong
Best Vocal Performance, Group: "A Hard Day\’\’s Night"
The Beatles
Best Rock \’\’n\’\’ Roll Recording: "Downtown" Petula Clark
[#1 January \’\’65]
#1 Tunes in 1964 [The following topped the Billboard rock
chart.in chronological order]
There! I\’\’ve Said It Again – Bobby Vinton
I Want To Hold Your Hand – The Beatles
She Loves You – The Beatles
Can\’\’t Buy Me Love – The Beatles
Hello, Dolly! – Louis Armstrong (May 9)
My Guy – Mary Wells
Love Me Do – The Beatles
Chapel Of Love – The Dixie Cups
A World Without Love – Peter & Gordon
I Get Around – The Beach Boys
Rag Doll – The 4 Seasons
A Hard Day\’\’s Night – The Beatles
Everybody Loves Somebody – Dean Martin
Where Did Our Love Go – The Supremes
The House Of The Rising Sun – The Animals
Oh, Pretty Woman – Roy Orbison
Do Wah Diddy Diddy – Manfred Mann
Baby Love – The Supremes
Leader Of The Pack – The Shangri-Las
Ringo – Lorne Greene
Mr. Lonely – Bobby Vinton
Come See About Me – The Supremes
I Feel Fine – The Beatles
*Now print this out and head to the tavern for a little Bar Chat.
But drink responsibly, just as we do here in the home office.
[Sources: "VH-1: Rock Stars Encyclopedia;" "The Nearest
Faraway Place," by Timothy White; "Be My Baby," Ronnie
Spector; "FM," Richard Neer; "Rock On Almanac," Norm N.
Nite.]
Stuff
–I liked the following from my buddy Johnny Mac.
"Hearken back to the good old days of say six months ago.if
someone had predicted that Bush would have an 85% approval
rating, that the sexiest guy in the country would be Donald
Rumsfeld, that the most admired man would be Rudy Giuliani,
that the epitome of evil would be a toss-up between a murdering
terrorist and a bald CEO of an energy company, that the Patriots
would win the Super Bowl and their QB would be the star and
the QB was not named Bledsoe, that the Nets would be running
away with the Eastern Division, that a war movie about Somalia
would be a runaway box office smash, well, you might have
locked the guy up in an asylum."
–Kieran Crowley had a piece in the New York Post on Tuesday
concerning a settlement in a lawsuit concerning a Long Island
woman who had sued her Pentecostal church for $4 million.
Back in 1997 the minister pushed her to the floor, breaking her
arm, as he was blessing her. "Heal! D\’\’oh!"* Well, she ended
up receiving $80,000 for her pain and suffering. Said her
attorney, "She was caused to fall by the Holy Spirit, but,
unfortunately there was no one there to catch her when she fell."
I hate when that happens. The victim won\’\’t comment, however,
because in the words of the attorney, "God told her not to speak
about the case." Truth be told, God had some rather cross words
for her.
*I have been bothered by the spelling of "D\’\’oh." That\’\’s how I
always spelled it, but when I saw others use it, it was "Doh." So
we made the editorial decision to go with the latter. But then two
weeks ago, Homer Simpson had his jaw wired and he had to use
a chalkboard, whereupon he wrote, "D\’\’oh!" So there.
Top 3 songs for the week of 2/8/75: #1 "Fire" (Ohio Players) #2
"You\’\’re No Good" (Linda Ronstadt) #3 "Boogie On Reggae
Woman" (Stevie Wonder)
*An estimated 89 million saw U2\’\’s Super Bowl halftime
appearance.
NCAA Basketball Quiz Answer: Weeks at #1, AP poll.
UCLA 128
Duke 88
Kentucky 87
North Carolina 81
Cincinnati 45
Indiana 43
Kansas 36
UNLV 32
San Francisco 28
Ohio State 27
Next Bar Chat, Friday.
