smoe.org mailing lists
ivan@stellysee.de
| From | "Jaimie Vernon" <bullseyecanada@hotmail.com> |
| Subject | Elvis Pot Luck, Radio Stations and first songs |
| Date | Sat, 15 Oct 2005 03:08:13 -0400 |
[Part 1 text/plain (3.8 kilobytes)]
(View Text in a separate window)
Forgive me for exceeding my per day limit of posts. I've just spent 3 weeks
on my back giving birth to my 3rd kidney stone and it just feels so damn
good to get back into discussions again.
Anyway, random thoughts....
The Elvis soundtrack albums thread reminds me of a buddy of mine who had an
act called Overweight Elvis in which he dressed like Presley circa 1976 --
except he wore an orange auto mechanic coverall instead of the rhinestone
w/cape jumpsuit. The thrust of the act was to perform nothing but material
from Elvis's movies....and not the hit songs like "Jailhouse Rock" or "Teddy
Bear" but the worst album-deep dreck Elvis ever committed to celluloid like
"Eat O' Eats" and "Queenie Wahinie's Papaya". No one ever knew what to make
of the performance because it was almost a surreal Andy Koffman kind of
homage. I never made it through watching a whole performance because I was
always laughing myself into tears.
The only Elvis record I ever owned I bought in 1973 with my
allowance.....the "Almost In Love" album on RCA from 1970 which my father
found for me at a discount department store called Willy Wonderful's. I also
remember buying Gary Lewis's "Listen!" solo album there. Still have the
latter....don't know whatever happened to the former....but can still sing
Elvis's "Edge Of Reality" by heart to this day.
As for radio stations.....1050 CHUM AM was my dial-up of choice. Terry
Steele, Jungle Jay Nelson, Mike Cooper, Michael "Bouyea" Holland (whose Bomb
Records album we're releasing next year) and Roger Ashby to name but a few
DJs from memory. In 1977 they had a contest where you could phone in and win
any album in the world. I called in and rather than pick "Wings Over
America" which was the most popular choice by listeners at that time I asked
for "Sgt. Pepper". I had never heard the album, but my new discovery of The
Beatles whole catalogue was burgeoning, but I was afraid to lay down good
money earned from my paper route to actually buy a record I only knew four
songs from. I'll never regret the choice....though it was nearly 12 years
before I owned a copy of "Wings Over America" because the price was never
affordable for the three album set until I had a full-time job.
I also won front-row tickets to see the Bee Gees at Maple Leaf Gardens for
the "Spirits Having Flown" Tour. My friends teased me mercilessly about them
(post-Saturday Night Fever) and was shamed into selling them to a friend of
my parents.....I got $100.00 for the pair which wasn't bad coin when you're
15 years old! I took the money and bought comic books plus some new
listening treats: KISS's "Dynasty", Supertramp's "Breakfast In America" and
ELO's "Discovery".
Finally, I thought of a few other first songs I liked but didn't actually
purchase at the time of the "Ben" incident sometime in 1971....."Old
Fashioned Love Song" (Three Dog Night), "Mammy Blue" (The Pop Tops), "Albert
Flasher" and "Rain Dance" and "Sour Suite" (Guess Who), "One Bad Apple" &
"Yo Yo" (The Osmonds), "Sweet & Innocent" and "Go Away Little Girl" (Donny
Osmond), "I Woke Up In Love This Morning (Partridge Family), "Absolutely
Right" and "Signs" (Five Man Electrical Band), "Fast Train" (April Wine),
"Where Evil Grows" (Poppy Family), "Talk It Over In The Morning" (Anne
Murray), "If You Could Read My Mind" (Lightfoot), "Knock Three Times" (Tony
Orlando & Dawn), "Oh What A Feeling" (Crowbar), "Lovin' You Ain't Easy"
(Pagliaro), "Sweet City Woman" (Stampeders), "Your Song" (Elton John), and,
of course, The Carpenters' "Rainy Days & Mondays" and "Superstar".
Jaimie Vernon,
President, Bullseye Records
"Not Suing Our Customers Since 1985!!"
http://www.bullseyecanada.com
Author, Canadian Pop Music Encyclopedia
http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Pop_Encyclopedia/
For assistance, please contact
the smoe.org administrators.