| |
And
the
Flashbacks Just Keep on
Coming
by
Ben Fong-Torres
AsianConnections
is proud to present the adventures of Ben Fong-Torres, our Renaissance
man: author, broadcaster, and former senior editor and writer at
Rolling Stone Magazine. This guy's our hero!
Ben
was a featured character in "Almost Famous," the Oscar and Golden
Globe-winning film by Cameron Crowe.
- AC Team
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How's Your
Chad Hanging?: With all this talk about the chad - hanging,
dimpled, pregnant, or just friends - I'm wondering why they're ignoring
Jeremy.
That means nothing
unless, like me, you were into Chad & Jeremy, who had a handful
of hits in the Sixties, including "A Summer Place," "Willow Weep
for Me," and "Yesterday's Gone." Which it certainly is.
And Yet??
People certainly enjoy revisiting the past. I'll be doing a
lot of that in my new part-time gig, with the Rock and Roll Museum
and Hall of Fame. The Museum is set to break ground in Cleveland
for a new library, and I'm helping go after pioneer musicians, songwriters
and producers, to persuade them to fork over personal papers and
documents for future library visitors. I just spoke with Michael
Nesmith, who, besides being one of the Monkees, came up with the
idea that became MTV. A visionary from 'way back, he's got a great
site, at www.videoranch.com.
L.A. Way:
I spent a recent weekend visiting in-laws in Los Angeles, and, found
myself strapped into the old Wayback Machine.
Just before heading off from San Francisco, I heard from
Jackie DeShannon, a dear friend who just put out her first CD in
a long, long time, saying she was playing the Whisky a Go Go that
weekend. Jackie's the composer of hit songs like "Put a Little Love
in Your Heart," which she took to Number 4. Annie Lennox and Al
Green also went Top Ten with their 1988 version. Jackie also wrote
"Bette Davis Eyes," another two-timer (Kim Carnes had a Number One
record with it, and it's back on the charts courtesy of Gwyneth
Paltrow's version of it from the film Duets). Her songs have
also been recorded by the Byrds, the Searchers, Marianne Faithfull,
the Carpenters, and many others.
Anyway, she was playing the legendary club on Sunset Strip,
so Dianne, my wife, her sisters, Robin and Eileen, and their husbands,
Chuck and Richard, decided to make a party of it.
But wait. Before that could happen, I had to spend the afternoon
at the Museum of TV& Radio in Beverly Hills. A special "L.A.
Radio Day" was going on, and it was my chance to see not only my
old buddy, Gary Owens, but also a bunch of broadcasters and entertainers
I knew, but had never met. That is, I'd interviewed them by phone
for my Top 40 book and other projects, but Saturday would be my
first opportunity to say "what's up." They included Dr. Demento,
the purveyor of all that is novel and wacky in pop music; the one
and only Stan Freberg, who practically invented the novelty and
parody record - not to mention satiric humor in advertising; and
Southern California radio and TV figures like Bill Balance (Dr.
Laura's ex-paramour), Jimmy O'Neill (host of Shindig) and "Sweet
Dick" Whittington.
Dr. Demento, celebrating his 30th anniversary of his syndicated
radio show, lamented that one of the markets in which his program
is not heard is?�Los Angeles. Criminal. After a hilarious presentation
of favorit bits, he interviewed Freberg, who is not shy about quoting
people who've praised him. He mentioned Orson Welles. He mentioned
the equally late and great Fred Allen. He even mentioned me, noting
that I'd interviewed him once for Gavin, the radio trade magazine,
and called him "a pioneer alternative rocker." (Freberg, who hated
rock and roll, had hits in the Fifties with savage parodies of Elvis,
Johnnie Ray, and various R&B and doo-wop groups.) Freberg, now
in the mid-seventies, still hosts a show that replays classic radio
programs, called "When Radio Was." It's heard on several hundred
stations, he said, but not in - you guessed it - Los Angeles.
Hey, happy L.A. Radio Day!
Gary
Owens, best known for his role as the announcer on Laugh-In, sat
on a raucous, ten-person panel recalling L.A. radio. He also pointed
me out, as a radio fan he'd gotten to know when he was the morning
DJ on KEWB in Oakland, Calif., and I was an Oakland High student.
Unfortunately, I'd already left the Museum, to get on track for
our evening at the Whisky.
There, Jackie looked and sounded like she'd never left the
stage or the recording studio to raise her son Noah, who's now tall
and 20. (Her partner in parenthood is the composer Randy Edelman.)
She offered a generous sampling of her new album, You Know Me (you
can hear cuts on her site, www.jackiedeshannon.com).
She did early hits like "Needles and Pins" and "When You Walk in
the Room," and her biggest smashes, "Put a Little Love?? and "What
the World Needs Now is Love." The audience, ranging from young rockers
to rocking-chair-ready oldies like me, roared with approval. When
you've got the stuff, you can always go home again.
A few days after returning to San Francisco, Jackie was glowing
- even over the phone, I could see it - from a rave review in the
Los Angeles Times. I also called Gary Owens, to thank him
for my unheard plug. By then, the news had come out about the death
of Steve Allen - talk about your broadcast pioneers. "He could do
anything," said Gary. "The man was totally Renaissance." I interviewed
Mr. Allen only once, on Fog City Radio in 1995, but the occasion
stands as a highlight of my life. As Gary noted, Steve Allen accounted
for many careers - Louis Nye, Don Knotts, Tom Poston, and Bill Dana
("Jose Jimenez") among them - and many, many laughs. Thank you,
Steverino.
--------------------
Ben Fong-Torres, long-time writer and editor at Rolling Stone
magazine, is the author of four books, including his memoirs, The
Rice Room: Growing Up Chinese-American, and his latest, Not Fade
Away: A Backstage Pass to 20 Years of Rock & Roll. He was editorial
director of myplay.com.
Click to Ben
Fong-Torres Articles Index
Visit Ben's Official Site: www.BenFongTorres.com
|
