NBA Quiz: 1) In memory of Happy Hairston, name the 9 Lakers
from the ”71-”72 World Championship team who played in at
least 58 games? 2) Who was the leading scorer on that squad?
Answers below.
Don McLean
Well, last time I briefly mentioned McLean and his song
“Vincent.” Today, just a little review of his career, which I have
to tell you isn”t that interesting. Sorry, folks. But I said I”d write
about it…so here goes.
Born in 1945 in New Rochelle, New York, little Donnie was an
asthmatic child who became interested in music at an early age.
[Is this a standard throwaway line, or what?] But in high school
he was a self-described loner whose idol was Buddy Holly.
Initially, he thought he would get into rock ”n” roll, but by the
time he was 18 he was deeply into folk music. [Strange kid.]
Also in those early days, he had tried participating in a few
groups, but he decided to stick to solo work because, as he,
himself, put it, “I didn”t like the problems of working with other
musicians…or being saddled with a lot of equipment.” Geezuz,
what a whiner.
Well, Don enrolled at Villanova, staying just 6 months (but he
did jam with Jim Croce, who was also attending at the time), and,
leaving school, McLean (not to be confused with the NBA”s
underachieving player of the same name) began to perform in
coffeehouses and small clubs in upstate New York. No one was
interested in his music so he basically starved to death
(shriveling up to a mere 42 pounds…actually, I”m just trying to
make this more exciting), until New York State came along and
offered him a job the summer of 1968.
McLean thus became a sort of traveling troubadour, performing
up to 3 free concerts a day for the state arts commission. He
earned a whopping $200 a week. But it was during this stint that
he made the acquaintance of folksinger / communist Pete Seeger.
Seeger invited McLean to go on tour with him, promoting
environmental causes, and from time to time Arlo Guthrie and
Janis Ian (man, she was messed up!) would tag along.
Well, McLean”s name got out there…where? Ya know, there…
and by the early 70s he was sharing the bill with Blood, Sweat &
Tears, Laura Nyro and Dionne Warwick (this was before the
latter got really screwed up with her Psychic Network garbage).
And it was in early ”71 that Don began work on “American Pie.”
The tune that would make his career (and also ruin it) was to
be a portrait of the musical and social currents of the late 50s /
early 60s, with the starting point the passing of Buddy Holly in
1959. The final result was a 9-minute masterpiece, which was
first played on WPLJ-FM in New York. [But wait, I swear,
another source I”m glancing at says it was WNEW in New York!
Who the heck was it! Regardless, a third station, the famous
WABC, called “American Pie” the most played tune of 1972.]
So here”s your trivia, boys and girls. “American Pie” hit #1 for
the first of four weeks on January 15, 1972. It replaced
Melanie”s “Brand New Key” in the top spot. And then
“American Pie” was in turn replaced by Al Green”s “Let”s Stay
Together.”
The success of his monster song was also a curse. McLean could
never repeat it and after touring extensively, he went through a
period where he refused to play the tune. Finally, in 1981 he had
some success with 3 Top 40 hits, including the #5 revival of Roy
Orbison”s “Crying.”
And lastly, this other bit of trivia. Am I the only one who didn”t
remember that the Roberta Flack tune, “Killing Me Softly With
His Song,” is about McLean? Yup, it”s true. Songwriters
Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox wrote it after seeing McLean in
a concert. Lori Lieberman recorded it first, before Flack said,
“I”ll take that, thank you very much!”
There you have it, the Don McLean story. I”ll scout these out a
little more before I burden you with a tale that has no drugs, no
accidental drownings, and no drive-by shootings. Very
disappointing.
Dingoes
Now there is something mildly amusing (admittedly, in a sick
way) about hearing of someone getting crushed by an elephant
(unless you are the victim”s mother and father). But a dog story
is something different, which is why I won”t write about the San
Francisco murder case that has garnered so many headlines.
And ordinarily, I also wouldn”t write about the wild dogs of
Australia, dingoes, killing a little boy the other day. But there is
a tie-in that is of interest.
First off, in case you didn”t hear, last week two boys were
walking alone at a Queensland resort when one of them was
mauled to death by two of the wild dogs. The other boy
managed to get away. Officials later found the animals and
killed them.
The problem is that this is not the first time this has happened at
the island spot, which is a popular fishing and camping
destination.
According to Reuters, the animals work in packs, “stealing food
from tents and camp sites and sometimes circling campers and
walkers and attacking them.” Seems to me, the dingoes have to
go.
But that”s only part of the story. Dingoes were also at the center
of a major controversy back in 1980, that being the murder trial
of Lindy Chamberlain, who was convicted of killing her nine-
week-old daughter, Azaria. This was the case that inspired the
Meryl Streep / Sam Neill film, “A Cry in the Dark.”
Chamberlain and her husband, Michael, had been camping near
Ayers Rock with their three children. One evening, the baby
disappeared from the tent. Lindy claimed she saw a dingo
dragging Azaria away, but no body was ever recovered.
An inquest in Alice Springs found that Azaria had indeed been
killed by dingoes, but a year later, that verdict was overturned
when police produced “new forensic evidence.” Chamberlain,
pregnant with her fourth child, was convicted and sentenced to
life imprisonment with hard labor. Her husband received a
suspended sentence as an accessory to murder.
In a story by Emily Davies of the Times of London, she writes,
“Mrs. Chamberlain was supposed to have cut the baby”s throat,
stuffed her into a bag, cleaned up the blood and, while giving her
six-year-old son his supper, sprinkled the baby”s blood round the
tent. She was said to have buried the body later.”
As it turns out, the so-called blood turned out to be from a
chocolate milk shake. But the police, now embarrassed, fed a
bunch of misinformation to the press that helped lead to Lindy”s
conviction nonetheless.
Finally, in 1986, Azaria”s jacket was found next to the discovery
of the body of a British lad who was killed in a fall. After
serving nearly three years in prison, Chamberlain was released
and pardoned. The Australian government compensated both
Lindy and her husband.
Now as for the broader question of what the heck is going on
within the animal kingdom itself, coincidentally timed with the
start of this web site, it would seem, my buddy Johnny Mac and I
feel that there is something terribly amiss. Whether it is
elephants, dingoes, cougars, bears, or land sharks, all humankind
now seems to be at risk. It”s time for an undercover operation, to
crack what must be a secret initiation rite. We are seeking
volunteers, especially those who could borrow their school”s
mascot outfits.
Top 3 songs for the week of 5/5/73: #1 “Tie A Yellow Ribbon”
(Dawn featuring Tony Orlando…that was the official moniker
back then…they kept changing it) #2 “The Cisco Kid” (War.
one of the great intro”s) #3 “Little Willy” (The Sweet)
NBA Quiz Answer: 1) The nine Lakers who played in at least 58
games – Gail Goodrich, Jerry West, Wilt, Happy Hairston, Jim
McMillian (the starting five), along with Flynn Robinson, Pat
Riley, John Trapp, and LeRoy Ellis. 2) Goodrich led the team in
scoring with a 25.9 avg. West was at 25.8. Wilt only averaged
14.8 ppg, but he pulled down 19 boards.
As for Hairston, who died this week at the all too early age of 58,
he was an integral part of that spectacular squad which went
69-13 (a mark which stood until the Bulls team of ”95-”96 went
72-10). Happy averaged both 13 points and 13 rebounds per
game, the prototypical power forward.
An NYU grad, Hairston still holds the NBA mark for most
defensive rebounds in a quarter, 13. And, most importantly,
Happy Hairston was a good guy. I have fond memories of him
during those early telecasts that hooked me on NBA basketball.
[I was unhooked about 20 years ago.] And his Happy Hairston
Youth Foundation contributed mightily to the LA community.
[Incidentally, that ”71-”72 squad is the one that had the 33-game
winning streak, a mark for all professional sports that has yet to
be exceeded. The Milwaukee Bucks snapped it. The ”70-”71
Bucks squad has the second longest streak at 20.]
**Sports bit: Congrats to Deion Sanders and his spectacular
return to baseball last Tuesday night. He hadn”t played since
”97, and went 3-for-3 with a homer in his first game back.
Next Bar Chat, Monday. Lots of baseball the next few weeks.
