***Congratulations Boston Red Sox!!!***
New York Jets Quiz (1960-2003): 1) Who replaced Weeb
Ewbank as coach in 1974? 2) What was Pete Carroll’s record in
his lone season with the Jets, 1994? 3) Receptions, career? 4)
Interceptions, career? 5) FG, career? 6) Passing TD, season? 7)
Who was the 1987 1st round draft pick, initials R.V.? Answers
below.
[The following two pieces were first posted over four years ago.
I’ve amended them slightly.]
Led Zeppelin
The more I think of it, I was a little weird growing up. Born in
1958, I knew more about the 60s music scene than just about
anyone around. By age 5, my transistor radio was glued to my
ear, tuned to WABC in New York. But I have to admit I was late
to the game in recognizing the greatness of Led Zeppelin.
The heavy-metal pioneering band was founded by Jimmy Page, a
highly sought-after London session man and a member of one of
the best-known English rock groups of the mid-60s, the
Yardbirds. Page grew up in a working class section of London
and eventually landed jobs backing up such acts as the Rolling
Stones, the Kinks and Donovan.
Joining the Yardbirds in 1966, he shared lead guitar with Jeff
Beck. After the Yardbirds dissolved in ‘68, Page formed his
own group, Led Zeppelin. [The name originally was coined by
Keith Moon, The Who”s drummer, who had often used the
phrase, “going down like a lead Zeppelin” to describe disastrous
gigs. Page liked the phrase and dropped the “a”.]
Page approached John Paul Jones, one of the best rock
arrangers in England. [Jones arranged Donovan’s “Mellow
Yellow” and “Sunshine Superman.”] Drummer John Bonham
and lead vocalist Robert Plant were then recruited from local
Birmingham groups. Plant’s voice was so well suited to blues
shouting that Page recalled “that when the speakers broke down
during our first date in Sweden, you could still hear his voice at
the back of the auditorium over the entire group.”
The four assembled in a small rehearsal hall in late ‘68 to see if
they worked well together. Page says of the first meeting, “Four
of us got together in this two-by-two room and started playing.
Then we knew – we started laughing at each other. Maybe it was
from relief, or maybe from the knowledge that we could groove
together. But that was it. The statement of our first two weeks
together is our album (Led Zeppelin, Vol. 1). We cut it in 15
hours and between us wrote 8 of the tracks.”
For their first U.S. tour Zeppelin primarily backed Vanilla
Fudge. In January ‘69, they opened for Iron Butterfly and
Butterfly was so unsettled by the crowd”s positive reaction to
Zeppelin that they refused to go on. Of course you might say
they backed out because they only had one song in their
repertoire…In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida… and you can look it up.
In 1970, following a threat by Eva von Zeppelin, a relative of the
airship designer, to sue if her family name was used in Denmark,
LZ played a gig in Copenhagen as the Nobs.
By 1971, LZ was up to Led Zeppelin IV (which featured
“Stairway to Heaven”).
In July ‘73, while playing Madison Square Garden, the band was
robbed of $180,000 from New York’s Drake Hotel safety deposit
box. The money was never recovered. Their 1973 tour broke all
of the box office records (most held by the Beatles back then).
In January ‘75, they sold 60,000 tickets for three Garden concerts
in four hours. Between ticket and album sales, Zeppelin was now
the most popular group in the world.
In May ‘75, President Gerald Ford’s daughter told Dick Cavett
that Led Zeppelin is her favorite group.
In August ‘75, Plant was seriously injured in a car crash while
vacationing in Greece. As both Page and Plant were fascinated
by mythology, Middle Earth fantasy, and the occult, speculation
developed that supernatural forces may have come into play.
In 1976, as the group embarked on a U.S. tour, Plant’s 6-year old
son died suddenly of a viral infection.
By 1977, there were rumors the group had broken up but they
proved not to be true.
In June ‘80, a concert in Nuremberg was halted after three
numbers when John Bonham collapsed.
In September of the same year, Bonham was found dead in a
mansion owned by Page. A coroner”s inquest concluded that
Bonham died from asphyxiation caused by his throwing up after
drinking an estimated 40 shots of vodka in 12 hours. Must have
been “Gordon’s.”
In December ‘80, the remaining members confirmed that the
band had ceased to exist.
*One other side note, Zeppelin’s early guitar work drew heavily
on the Blues, including the work of Willie Dixon. Dixon won a
large settlement from LZ over the group’s failure to credit Dixon
as the writer of “Whole Lotta Love” (which was largely based on
his “You Need Love.”)
—
Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
Legendary DJ, Bruce Morrow (“Cousin Brucie”):
“When you talk about some of the great American vocal groups,
you”ve gotta talk about the Beach Boys and the Four Seasons.
The Beach Boys were for the West Coast suburban kids with T-
Birds and money to spend foolin’ around in the sunshine. But
the Four Seasons were urban, they were East Coast – they were
New York rock!…When I hear the Beach Boys I think of getting
tanned and surfin’ and summer love and all that crap, but when I
hear the Four Seasons belting ‘Rag Doll’ or ‘Dawn, go away I”m
no good for you,’ man, I picture smokestacks, dirty streets,
tenements in the Bronx, and poor, tough kids that are survivors.”
And a survivor is what Frankie Valli was. Born Francis
Castelluccio on 5/3/37 in Newark, NJ, Valli was a tough kid who
cut class and hung out in pool halls. He says of his childhood,
“It was West Side Story time…I saw a lot of my friends fall by
the wayside and get wasted; found in a car with their heads
blown off or in the city dump in the trunk of a car. I”m not
(kidding).”
Once a kid shook Frankie down in high school so the next day
Valli walked in and whacked the bully with a baseball bat. He
could have killed him but the guy came into school the next day
with a bandage wrapped all around his head, along with 18
stitches.
Valli was befriended by a country singer, Texas Jean Valley,
who heard Frankie sing “White Christmas” at a school play
(the name “Valli” resulted from this relationship) and,
encouraged by her advice, Frankie began singing in his mid-
teens with a group called the Variatones. The act included Hank
Majewski and the DeVito brothers and they later changed the
name to the Four Lovers, appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show in
1956 with the song “You”re The Apple Of My Eye.”
Then the Four Lovers changed their name to the Four Seasons.
The boys had been playing local spots in Newark and Passaic but
they came up with the name as a result of some gigs at the Four
Seasons Bowling Alley in Union. Now it may be hard for some
of you to imagine performing at such a spot, but the Four
Seasons alley had a cocktail lounge called the Branch Room.
In 1960 producer Bob Crewe joined the team, to be followed by
songwriter Bob Gaudio. But the Four Seasons couldn”t hit the
big time (they actually changed back to the Four Lovers for a
spell) and Valli nearly quit because of lack of success.
That all changed in 1962 when Gaudio wrote a tune in 15
minutes, originally labeled “Jackie” as a tribute to the First Lady.
The song was then re-titled “Sherry” and the rest is history. Soon
the group performed the song on American Bandstand and the
record company received requests for 180,000 copies. In 4
weeks “Sherry” was #1, eventually selling 2 million discs
domestically.
[For those of you from New Jersey, before the release of
“Sherry” in the summer of’’62, the Four Seasons were playing
Martell’s Sea Breeze in Point Pleasant. Oh, to be there.]
They followed up “Sherry” with “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and
“Walk Like A Man,” both also hitting #1, making them the first
group to score consecutive #1’s with their first 3 singles.
It’s always interesting to learn how someone comes up with a
song. From Timothy White’s “Rock Lives,” Bob Crewe
describes the background behind the second hit.
“After ‘Sherry,’ we didn”t know what the hell to follow it up
with. I was up late one night in my apartment, worrying and
watching a dreadful movie, I think it was with John Payne and
some blonde bombshell. I had been drinking out of desperation,
and I was drifting in and out of sleep. I woke up at one point,
and Payne was smacking the blonde across the face and knocked
her on her bottom. He said something like, ‘Well, whadda ya
think of that, baby?’ She gets up, straightens her dress, pushes
her hair back, stares at him, and says, ‘Big girls don’t cry!’ and
storms out the door. I ran and jotted down the line. The next day
Bob (Gaudio) and I knocked out the song in no time.”
The story behind the Four Seasons 4th #1 hit, 1964’s “Rag Doll,”
is a little different. Bob Gaudio recalls:
“Back around 1964, there was one particular place on Tenth
Avenue, I think, in New York City where there’s a long traffic
light; it must have been forty-five seconds long. I’d go by there
a lot, and there were little kids around it that would come up and
offer to clean your car windows while you were waiting. You’d
pay them a quarter or fifty cents. One particular time this little
girl came over to me, and I had no change at all; the smallest
thing I had was a five-dollar bill, so I gave it to her because it
would have broken my heart to not give her anything.
“The look on her face – she didn’t say anything – stayed with me
for weeks. The description of the rag doll in the song was a
description of that little girl. I guess you could say the five
dollars was an investment.”
The Four Seasons managed to stay competitive, even during the
Beatles onslaught. “Dawn” hit #3 in February 1964, kept out of
the #1 position by the Beatles” “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and
“She Loves You.”
In 1965 they recorded a Bob Dylan tune, “Don”t Think Twice,”
but used the pseudonym “The Wonder Who?” They actually
fooled more than a few people for awhile when it was first
released.
By the end of 1966 the group had 23 of its eventual 30 Top 40
hits. [Valli was to have 9 Top 40 solo hits including the #2
“Can”t Take My Eyes Off You.”]
In 1967 they started experimenting with psychedelia and the hits
began to dry up.
A little remembered fact concerning Valli was the severe
problem he had with his hearing. Back in ‘67, he was
performing when he couldn’t even hear the music being played,
though he could hear his own voice. He went to a doctor who
simply handed him a slip of paper, “You”re going deaf. You”ll
never hear again.” Then the doctor walked away.
Valli had a condition labeled ‘otosclerosis’ where excessive
calcium deposits built up in the ear. It bothered him greatly but
it wasn’t until 1976 that he had successful surgery on first one,
then the other ear. The reason why he didn”t get anything done
sooner was that it was a dangerous procedure and he was scared
he”d permanently lose everything.
In 1973 a fellow by the name of Gerald Zelmanowitz testified
before a Senate subcommittee that the Four Seasons had ties to
organized crime, a charge he later retracted.
Meanwhile, the group attempted to recapture the magic, signing
on with Motown. But Berry Gordy sat on “My Eyes Adored
You” (a Valli solo) for almost two years before Frankie bought it
back and released it himself. All it did was climb to #1 in 1975.
The Four Seasons then completed the comeback with the #3
“Who Loves You” and their 5th #1, “December, 1963 (Oh, What
A Night).” In 1978, Valli scored his second #1 solo hit with
“Grease.”
In 1990 the original Four Seasons were inducted into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame, solidifying their place in music history.
[Other Sources: “VH1 Rock Stars Encyclopedia;” “Rolling Stone
Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll”]
Stuff
–October 22, 1879. On this day Thomas Edison gets a light bulb
to glow for 14 ½ hours. It wasn’t the first, but it was the first
practical, long-burning electric light. Charles Batchelor, a
researcher in Edison’s Menlo Park, New Jersey lab, wrote the
results of the previous day’s work. “We made some very
interesting experiments on straight carbons made from cotton
thread…,” he began. The work was the culmination of frustrating
efforts to come up with incandescent light for more than year.
Edison and crew had been using platinum wire but it was only
when they began using filaments of carbon that the light bulb
came to fruition.
As Frederic Schwarz writes in American Heritage:
“By the end of the year, they had the technology well enough
under control to make a grand public demonstration with more
than 50 shining bulbs.
“Little of what went into Edison’s electric light was completely
new. Researchers had been trying to make incandescent lights
since 1820, mostly with spirals of thin platinum wire, which was
chosen for its high melting point. In 1860 the British scientist
Joseph Swan patented an incandescent lamp with a carbonized
paper filament, and by the late 1870s he, too, was getting
excellent results with carbonized cotton thread.”
But Edison got the patent and by 1882 the Edison Electric Light
Company was lighting much of New York City. Until the patent
ran out, Edison dominated the American market. For his part,
Swan controlled most of Britain’s electric-lighting business until
his company and Edison’s British subsidiary merged in 1883.
Edison Electric of course became General Electric.
–Remember our Humboldt flying squid? Well check this out,
from the Star-Ledger’s fishing expert Al Ristori.
“The Mike Rubbino charter had just lost a fight with a big
bluefin tuna and the mate was reeling in the bait as Captain Konz
prepared to move when a 40-pound wahoo flew 10 feet out of the
water…and smashed into rods set in rod holders on the bridge.
That barricade prevented the wahoo from going any further, and
it fell on the mate’s back before being pushed into the fish box
for a ‘no-pound-test’ wahoo record.
“Konz’s crew was very fortunate because wahoo have a mouth
full of small, but closely spaced razor-sharp teeth that could do a
great deal of damage. I also got lucky years ago in Key West
when a barracuda grabbed a live bait (the captain) was dropping
for grouper on one side of his 25-footer and whizzed by my head
on the other side before hitting the captain in the back.
Fortunately, the cuda’s mouth was closed and it only ripped the
skipper’s shirt. Commercial fishermen working from boats at
night in the tropics have been killed by manta rays and houndfish
jumping into the lighted craft.”
Goodness gracious. My own barracuda story occurred off the
island of Yap (Micronesia) in 2001. I was out in a tiny motor
boat with the motel owner and we started reeling in scores of
cuda. Problem was there was no room on the boat for them and I
kept turning back in my seat to see them thrashing about, just a
foot from an exposed gas line! I still have bad dreams over that
one.
–But speaking of nightmares, check out this tale forwarded by
Harry K. About two weeks ago, Fran Nykoluk and her husband
were hunting south of Calgary. Fran had just shot an elk and
went to find it.
“A mother grizzly with two cubs charged Fran from behind.
‘She wasn’t interested in me, she was interested in the elk. She
was following a blood scent that she was getting from the elk,’
Fran told CTV of Canada.”
Within 30 seconds, the sow had nearly crushed Fran’s skull.
“I was trying to roll over,” said Fran, “but every time I did, she
grabbed me, with another bite and another bite. And she wasn’t
grabbing me with her paws, she was grabbing me with her teeth.
So I thought okay, just stay still.” [I would have thought, ‘time
to amend the will.’]
The grizzly eventually left Fran and she managed to alert her
husband by firing her rifle. Playing dead saved her. She has
broken facial bones and stitches from ear to chin. She also
suffered injuries to her chest, leg and an arm. The left side of her
face is partially paralyzed.
Supposedly, only one person has been killed by a grizzly in the
last 10 years in Alberta. Over the same period three have died in
British Columbia. But attacks have been picking up across
Western Canada recently thanks to a poor supply of berries.
–Speaking of bears and berries, here’s a headline from the Times
of London on Monday. “Bear invasion terrorizes Japanese.” In
dozens of towns across Japan this fall, residents have been
terrorized by bears. “Journeys of a few hundred metres are taken
in cars, rubbish is kept inside the house for as long as is tolerable
and children wear metallic bells as part of an old theory that
jangling sounds scare the bears away. Increasingly, the efforts
are in vain.” [Leo Lewis]
Since April there have been about 80 bear attacks; Asiatic black
bears weighing about 220 pounds. Normally, they hang out in
the mountains and never think of hitting a bar to watch Godzilla
(Hideki Matsui) or Ichiro play ball in the States. But not this
year. Said a member of the bear patrol, “The whole problem is
the crop of acorns, beech nuts and chestnuts. All the bears want
to do is to build up their fat reserves for the winter, and they
know that nuts are full of fat and carbohydrate.” [They also
know there’s going to be a close election in the U.S. on Nov.
2.]
The bears “have begun smashing windows in their quest to break
into houses and have shown none of the natural timidity that
usually keeps them up in the mountains and away from people.”
On Sunday, an 82-year-old woman was badly mauled as she
hung out her wash. The same day a 73-year-old farmer was
“savaged as he picked mushrooms in his garden.” In the 80
known attacks thus far, one has died and more than 50 have been
seriously injured.
The people of Toyama have been given some advice by officials.
“Paint, cooking oil, crabmeat, pickles and soya-bean paste emit
smells that are irresistible to bears, and should not be left out
with the rubbish.”
–But wait…there’s more! In Brasov, Romania, a brown bear
killed two men and injured six others last Saturday. I’ve written
in the past of the bear problem in this country, now we have
further proof. And here’s the kicker, in case you were wondering
how one bear could wreak such havoc. Authorities say it had
rabies. Yikes.
According to the BBC, “the animal attacked five people out
picking mushrooms and fell on three others in another part of the
woods….Hunters shot and killed the bear several hours after the
attack. The animal had also attacked an ambulance sent to help.”
Man, if this isn’t the script for a Hammer horror flick, I don’t
know what is. “The following is based on a true story…”
Throw in a few obligatory sex scenes and you have an instant
classic.
[By the way, Romania has thousands of brown bears in the
Transylvania region. As you’ve heard, the government has
recently given approval to a Dracula theme park. Unfortunately,
tourists may think the bears are part of the show and approach
them, falsely assuming they are gypsies in bear costumes. I fear
the worst.]
–Prairie dogs are a big campaign issue in South Dakota, as I’ll
explain more fully elsewhere on this site later in the week. But
back in 1900, the biggest prairie dog town ever was discovered
across the Texas high plains. Stretching 100 miles by 250 miles,
it is estimated it housed 400 million dogs. These are nasty
creatures. Never let one get too close to you. They can carry the
plague!
–Speaking of South Dakota, a descendant of Crazy Horse, an
Oglala Sioux from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, wants the
Paris nightclub ‘The Crazy Horse’ to change its name. I kid you
not, the man who has made the request goes by the name
“Harvey White Woman.” [BBC News] So you have to call him
Mr. White Woman.
Well, White Woman’s letter of protest said the request was made
after “the discovery that stage shows at the Crazy Horse featured
pseudo-Indian feathered headdresses – on mostly naked
dancers.”
Works for me………….developing…….
[More on this topic, in general, in my next “Week in Review,”
not that I have anything to do with that column as well.]
–Just two regular events left on the PGA Tour as golfers
scramble to make the top 30 for the season-ending Tour
Championship or the top 125 just to retain their playing
privileges for next year. Regarding the latter, Notah Begay is
now #125 with $583,537. Mark Calcavecchia has slipped back
to #129 with $566,784.
Some of you not too familiar with the pro tour may see $500,000
and think it’s a lot of money. Certainly, it’s nothing to sneeze at.
But these guys have huge expenses and only the very best have
big endorsement contracts or get to play in the “funny money”
season coming up.
Or, to put it another way, a journeyman middle relief pitcher in
baseball is earning on average about $4 million……with all
expenses paid.
So there is a ton of pressure on many of the golfers these last few
weeks. Try and catch a little of the action.
[Root for Carlos Franco to finish up in the top 30. I’ll have more
over the coming weeks.]
–From the book “Tales From the Dugout” by former major
leaguer Mike Shannon. Concerning the 1986 World Champion
New York Mets:
“The Mets were cursed at the conclusion of the Series because of
the despicable action of one idiotic Mets fan. Long after the
Mets had won the seventh game of the Series, the dejected Red
Sox players and Jack Rogers, Boston’s traveling secretary, were
walking across the Shea Stadium diamond toward the team bus
when the aforementioned idiot threw a beer bottle that hit Rogers
in the head and knocked him to the ground, bleeding and
unconscious. Even more outrageous, according to Roger
Clemens in his autobiography, ‘Rocket Man,’ was the behavior
of two New York City policemen, who ‘stood there laughing at
him.’ At that moment the baseball gods turned their backs on the
Mets and ordained that they should suffer decades of futility.
“Mets fans who scoff at the Jack Rogers Curse should ask Red
Sox fans about the Curse of the Bambino.”
And now, fellow Metsies, you know…………the rest of the
story.
–Two-time Olympic gold medallist Alvin Harrison accepted a 4-
year suspension as a result of the BALCO steroid case. Whither
Barry Bonds?
–Bill C. passed along this terrific piece of writing by the
Washington Post’s Thomas Boswell following Sunday’s Boston-
Yankee Game 4.
“Trailing 4-3 and down to their last three outs, the Red Sox faced
the personification of their perpetual baseball doom: Mariano
Rivera, the all but unbeatable reliever whose gaunt implacable
visage evokes grim images of finality.”
Not this time.
–Re Game 6: A-Rod is a jerk. “I didn’t know that play was
illegal!”
–We note the passing of Ray Boone who was in the major
leagues from 1948 to 1960 and to some is best known as the
father of Bob Boone and grandfather of Bret and Aaron.
Together they comprise the first three-generation family of major
leaguers.
Ray was a fine player in his own right, compiling a .275 lifetime
average with 1,260 hits, 151 HR and 737 RBI. From 1953-56 he
clubbed at least 20 home runs each season and he tied for the
American League RBI title in 1955 with 116.
–First BCS College Football Poll
1. USC
2. Miami
3. Oklahoma
4. Auburn
5. Florida State
6. Wisconsin
7. Utah
8. California
9. Tennessee
10. Georgia
–Texas Southern is 0-7, scoring 37 points while giving up 247.
–Can you believe the awesome start of Minnesota Vikings
quarterback Daunte Culpepper? The record for both yards and
touchdown passes in a single season is held by Dan Marino, who
in 1984 threw for 5,084 yards and 48 TDs. In just five games in
2004, Culpepper already has thrown for 1,766 and 18 TDs. And
get this, on third downs Daunte is 32-for-40 (80%).
–I couldn’t believe something I read – that Jerry Rice is the only
receiver to play after age 40. The first name that came to mind
for me was Charlie Joiner, but he retired at 39. Rice, now 42,
was just traded to Seattle.
–Hungry? Bob Lape is a legendary food critic in the New York
area and currently writes a column for Crain’s New York
Business. The other day he gave his top, and very rare, four-star
rating to Alain Ducasse at the Essex House. [The other
restaurants receiving this rating in New York are Chanterelle,
Oceana, and Per Se.] So I thought I’d make your mouth water.
“Meals begin with warm gougers, delicate pastry puffs of
béchamel sauce and Comte cheese. They move gracefully at
your pace through the likes of lobster gazpacho with caviar and
fresh mint, or lush terrine of foie gras accented with apples and
quince. Layered seasonal vegetables are anointed with olive oil
and fresh herbs crushed in a mortar. Variegated sea scallops,
almost the size of the bay variety, are dappled with osetra caviar
and drizzled with lemon and olive oil.
“The sweetest and tenderest of shelled, roasted langoustines are
served in cauliflower mousseline, while Maine lobster meat is
flecked with diced leeks and potatoes over a fragrant emulsion of
tarragon….
“Wild Scottish salmon is lightly cooked and paried with a
béarnaise reduction. Three of the entrees stand tall in memory.
Rack and saddle of lamb, done on a spit, is garnished with
potatoes boulangere. A toothsome pink chop of milk-fed veal is
pan-roasted with fall vegetables. And the ideal fall item may just
be a serving of Berkshire pig ‘confit,’ with crispy pork belly
butternut squash and pumpkin gnocchi.”
Prix fixe dinner, three to seven courses, will set you back $150-
$225 per person. Wines not included.
Then again, maybe all you want is a cheeseburger with a cold
beer.
Top 3 songs for the week of 10/26/74: #1 “Then Came You”
(Dionne Warwick & Spinners) #2 “You Haven’t Done Nothin”
(Stevie Wonder) #3 “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” (Bachman-
Turner Overdrive)
New York Jets Quiz Answers: 1) Charley Winner replaced
Weeb Ewbank, lasting 23 games (9-14…1974-75). 2) Pete
Carroll was 6-10 in his only season, 1994. 3) Receptions, career:
Don Maynard, 627 (1960-72). 4) Interceptions, career: Bill
Baird, 34 (1963-69). 5) FG, career: Pat Leahy, 304 (1974-91).
6) Passing TD, season: Vinny Testaverde, 29 (1998). 7) Roger
Vick, RB, Texas A&M was the 1st round pick in 1987. [Vick
rushed for just 1,289 yards in a 4-year career, the last with
Philly.]
Jets Tidbit
–Joe Namath never threw more than 26 TD passes in a single
season. For his career he had 173 TD and 220 INT. Namath
also only had 8 seasons where he played 13 or more games and
completed just 50.1% of his passes, lifetime. But to some of us
he’ll always be the best. Man, there was nothing better than
watching him throw downfield, even if it was into double
coverage more often than not.
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday. Rocktober continuuuuuuuuuuuuues.
