*Revised Baseball Quiz: For about five hours on 10/2 I had the
incorrect answer to the 10/3 quiz…sorry, folks. I was reading
an article on Rickey Henderson and his career on-base percentage
and the author hadn”t done any research…but I relied on him
without checking myself…big mistake…well, thanks to Johnny
Mac for pointing it out. Anyway, the new quiz, Henderson has a
career on-base percentage of .403. Who is in the top five
all-time? [I”ll give you John McGraw and Billy Hamilton, #3 and
#4 respectively. Rickey is far down the list.] Answer below.
Flags
So I have this world map staring me in the face all day and it also
has all of the nations” flags. Well, after exhaustive study, I have
come up with the coolest 10. [No politics…just design.]
Top Ten Flags
1. U.S.
2. U.K.
3. Canada
4. Israel
5. Turkey
6. China
7. Albania
8. Angola
9. Jamaica
10. Palau.in Micronesia
Now I asked my friend George to come up with some of the
ugliest. For starters, Poland, Estonia, Belgium, Indonesia (who
reversed Poland”s colors), Latvia, France, Zambia, and
Venezuela.
I would add North Korea and Oman to the ugly list. As for
Ireland and Italy, the problem is you can”t tell the two apart
(especially if you”re colorblind) and then you have the Ivory
Coast, which the government of Ireland should sue for totally
ripping them off.
Back to the cool countries, of course Liberia is similar to the U.S.
(it was founded by former Afro-American slaves), while New
Zealand and Australia are plays on the Union Jack, but not nearly
as good.
Nations like Venezuela clearly were on drugs when they adopted
their symbols. I mean Venezuela has way too much going on in
its flag, so does Turkmenistan.and geezuz, did you look at
Zimbabwe?! Holy cow, no wonder the country is a mess. Note
to those opposing President Mugabe, come up with a new flag
and you”ll definitely be able to rally the people to overthrow the
dirtball. Lastly, to my Mexican friends, take out the red, extend
the white, and move the logo over a bit, then you have a top ten.
1957 Music Scene
–Sunday January 6, Elvis makes last appearance on Ed Sullivan
show and sings 7, count ”em, 7 songs.
–Monday August 5 from 3-4:30 ABC television launches 28-
year-old Dick Clark”s “American Bandstand.” The show had
been a staple on WFIL in Philadelphia until then. The very first
record played on “Bandstand” was Buddy Holly”s “That”ll Be
The Day,” while the first guest was Billy Williams, who sang
“I”m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter.”
–Saturday October 5, Little Richard, upset about the launching
of Russia”s Sputnik satellite, tells his band members that he is
giving up show business because Sputnik is a sign from God to
give up the evils of rock ”n” roll. To show he is serious, Richard
tosses several rings, worth thousands, into a river. Of course 44
years later Little Richard is still cookin”.
–17-year-old Ricky Nelson sings “I”m Walking” on “The
Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” thus becoming the first of the
“teen idols,” a group which would include Paul Anka, Frankie
Avalon, Fabian, and Bobby Rydell.
1964 Music Scene
–Capitol Records releases the Beatles” debut album, “Meet the
Beatles!” The Boys arrive February 7 in New York and appear
on “The Ed Sullivan Show” two days later. On the 11th they play
their first concert in Washington, followed by Carnegie Hall the
12th. Less than three weeks later they commence production on
their first feature film, “A Hard Day”s Night.” Then in the April
4 issue of Billboard magazine, the Beatles hold the first 5 places
on the 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”.no one will ever accomplish that feat.
Overall, the Beatles would end up with 6 #1”s and 19 Top 40 hits
in the single year of ”64.
–The next British act to have a #1 was Peter & Gordon with “A
World Without Love” (credited as a Lennon and McCartney
composition) the week of June 27. Then on September 5, the
Brits scored another #1 with the Animals and the classic “The
House Of The Rising Sun.” Which leads us to the story of.
The Animals!!! [Source: “Rock On Almanac” Norm N. Nite]
Wild and Crazy Guys
While Liverpool may have been a hotbed for the British
Invasion, the gritty area around Newcastle had its share of rock
”n” roll royalty, foremost being The Animals; Eric Burdon
(vocals), Alan Price (keyboards), Chas Chandler (bass), Hilton
Valentine (guitar), John Steel (drums). All five original
members came from working-class families.
The most famous Animal, Eric Burdon, was born on May 11,
1941 during an air raid in Walker, Northumberland. It was in
1962 that he joined the Alan Price Combo, a Newcastle-based
R&B and rock band whose main influences are the likes of
Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. [Burdon”s first band was the
Pagans, by the way.] The Alan Price Combo then gained a
regular slot in Newcastle”s Downbeat club, later called Club a
Go-Go. And it was because of their notoriously wild stage act
that the group decided to change its name, adopting the locals”
label for them, “animals.”
By 1963 the Animals” reputation was growing across Europe and
the group began a 2-month stint at Hamburg”s Star Club. Then
in the summer of ”64, Alan Price rearranged a traditional folk-
blues song, sung by Leadbelly among others, “The House Of The
Rising Sun,” which was recorded over 30 minutes and cost about
4 British pounds. The band”s label, EMI, argued that the 4.5-
minute length would prevent radio stations from playing it, so he
shortened it some for the U.S. and within 5 weeks it hit #1 and
sold over a million copies. Burdon, one ugly mug, became a
media darling as rock”s bad boy (yes, this was just a few months
before the Stones and Mick Jagger would have their first Top
Ten, “Time Is On My Side”). After hitting #1, the Animals
began their first U.S. tour in York, PA.
Following up “House.” with the Top Twenty “I”m Crying,” the
Animals were preparing for a live album at the Apollo Theatre in
January 1965 when U.S. immigration officials canceled the show
because the group”s visas had expired, so they headed back to the
U.K. The band would return to the States, but not until they
straightened out some internal problems. Alan Price left the
band in May because he was afraid to fly, plus he had
disagreements with Burdon on which direction the band should
take, as well as the fact that Price was jealous of Burdon”s star
billing. While the Animals didn”t have as many hits as the
Beatles, in many circles they were threatening the Beatles in
popularity. But Price also left because there was also the issue of
growing drug use, particularly among Burdon and Hilton
Valentine, while the other members were pretty clean.
The Animals” “Don”t Let Me Be Misunderstood” topped at #15
in the U.S. in the spring of ”65 and then the band appeared on Ed
Sullivan May 30. That August they recorded “We Gotta Get Out
Of This Place” (#13) and in December, a song with one of the
best openings of all time, “It”s My Life” topped at #23 (why it
wasn”t a top five I”ll never know).
We proceed to the summer of ”66, where we find Chas Chandler
leaving to manage the early career of Jimi Hendrix but before
Chas leaves, the Animals have a #12 in “Don”t Bring Me Down.”
Now the group reforms under “Eric Burdon & The Animals” but
Burdon and Valentine are so heavily involved in LSD it”s
amazing anything gets recorded. [Valentine eventually had to
quit in ”67 because he not only thought he was Jesus Christ, he
went months without leaving his apartment.]
From late ”66 to ”68, Burdon & The Animals cranked out the
following top twenties: “See See Rider” (#10), “When I Was
Young” (#15), “San Franciscan Nights” (#9), “Monterey” (#15),
and “Sky Pilot” (#14). “Monterey” was a celebration of the June
”67 pop festival, which the Animals helped open up.
Of course the Animals had their share of bad moments, including
a scene in March ”67 where fans in Ottawa staged a riot after
waiting an hour for the band to appear.they never did. And by
December ”68, Burdon announced the final breakup of the band
as he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a movie career. That
never panned out, but he soon teamed up with a heavy funk band
that was popular in the L.A. area by the name of Night Shift.
soon to become Eric Burdon and War. By July 1970, Burden
had a #3 hit with the group, “Spill The Wine.” [You can check
out the rest of the ”War” story in my archives.]
NCAA Football Tidbits: Starting Friday, I am going to have a
series of college football quizzes and tidbits here at Bar Chat.
For starters –
–The record for total offense in one game is 732 yards, David
Klingler (Houston) vs. Arizona State in 1990. [16 rushing, 716
passing]
–The only QB to get 300 yards passing and 100 yards rushing in
a single game, twice, is Michael Bishop of Kansas State in 1998.
[140 rushing, 306 passing vs. Nebraska; 101 rushing, 341
passing vs. Texas AM.not bad competition.]
–Jason Davis (UNLV) holds the record for total offense in one
quarter, 347 yards, in the 4th quarter of a game against Idaho in
1994.
–Separately, big game this weekend, #3 Oklahoma vs. #5 Texas,
catch it. Here at StocksandNews, we are hoping for an
Oklahoma – Fresno State national championship match-up,
though Nebraska could get in the way of that. Also, #1 Miami
plays Troy State Saturday. [Miami is going to lose to Boston
College on November 10 in a driving rain and sleet storm…what
will later be called the “Storm of the Century.”]
Top 3 songs for the week of 9/26/64: #1 “Oh, Pretty Woman”
(Roy Orbison) #2 “Bread And Butter” (The Newbeats) #3 “The
House Of The Rising Sun” (The Animals)
Baseball Quiz Answer: On-base percentage – #1 Ted Williams, .481;
#2 Babe Ruth, .473; #3 McGraw, .465; #4 Hamilton, .455; #5 Lou
Gehrig, .447. Rickey Henderson, despite his reputation for getting
on base, is way down in 54th. Nonetheless, entering play on
Tuesday, Rickey needed 3 hits for 3,000 and two runs scored to
pass Ty Cobb (2,245) for first on the all-time list.
Next Bar Chat, Friday…Rudy Giuliani at the UN.
