Rock and R&B Trivia, Part Trois

[Chris D]

What television program commonly associated with lefties and hippies had 3 different musical acts as part or full-time cast members - none of which were rock performers, and who were they

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour: Tom and Dick Smothers, Mason Williams and John Hartford.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

What was the most well known song by an artist named after a NYC thoroughfare in a borough other than Manhattan?

"Squish It!" by Major Deegan and the Expressways


°°°°°°°°°°



Whose cover version of "Hound Dog" was Elvis covering?

[bluenoter]

Whose cover version of "Hound Dog" was Elvis covering?

That must be a trick question, because "Big Mama Thornton's" is too easy.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

That must be a trick question, because "Big Mama Thornton's" is too easy.

Yeah, Big Mama's too easy. She did the ORIGINAL version. Note that I said "Whose COVER version.... was Elvis covering."

[bluenoter]

Yeah, Big Mama's too easy. She did the ORIGINAL version. Note that I said "Whose COVER version.... was Elvis covering."

Freddie Bell and the Bellboys', and it's obviously too late for me to be playing, because I completely missed that first "cover."

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Freddie Bell and the Bellboys', and it's obviously too late for me to be playing, because I completely missed that first "cover."

That's it!

[Lenny D.Guitarist]

What rock bassist was recruited to play in the NBA?
What smooth jazz bassist played many years in the NBA?

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

What smooth jazz bassist played many years in the NBA?

Waymon Tisdale

[Gentle Giant]

What rock bassist was recruited to play in the NBA?

Larry Graham?

[Lenny D.Guitarist]

Larry Graham?

I don't know about him. Not the guy I had in mind. Softball hint.. played with Santana.

[steve(thelil)]

I can answer the first one - Quill.

You're probably right (about the most obscure act to headline at Woodstock) I've never heard of Quill. I was thinking of Bert Sommer.

[steve(thelil)]

What television program commonly associated with lefties and hippies had 3 different musical acts as part or full-time cast members - none of which were rock performers, and who were they

The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour: Tom and Dick Smothers, Mason Williams and John Hartford.

Vey Niiiiiice!

[steve(thelil)]

I don't know about him. Not the guy I had in mind. Softball hint.. played with Santana.

Eddie Feigner?

[steve(thelil)]

sorry. wrong board

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

After they tired of doing Elvis' movie scores, Lieber and Stroller briefly flirted with leaving rock/r&b for broadway and pop. During this period, Mitch Miller produced a song they wrote that became the title cut on which album of dreamy romantic ballads?

[stereojack]

You're probably right (about the most obscure act to headline at Woodstock) I've never heard of Quill. I was thinking of Bert Sommer.

Quill was a Boston band. I saw them as an opening act a couple of times. They had one LP - how they got booked at Woodstock is anyone's guess. Bert Sommer is also obscure, of course, although he had been with the Left Banke (briefly), and did go on to have at least one hit.

[Gentle Giant]

Quill was a Boston band. I saw them as an opening act a couple of times. They had one LP - how they got booked at Woodstock is anyone's guess. Bert Sommer is also obscure, of course, although he had been with the Left Banke (briefly), and did go on to have at least one hit.

Hey, Jack, haven't seen you around here for a while. Welcome back.

Think about the acts that appeared at Woodstock, a lot of them were on their first albums: CSN, Cocker, Santana. No one knew who Sha Na Na was, The Who were just getting big as Tommy came that year, Ten Years After weren't that big before I'm Going Home was featured on the soundtrack. Woodstock made a lot of bands, as opposed to being a showcase of big names exclusively.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

After they tired of doing Elvis' movie scores, Lieber and Stroller briefly flirted with leaving rock/r&b for broadway and pop. During this period, Mitch Miller produced a song they wrote that became the title cut on which album of dreamy romantic ballads?

I'm not entirely sure if I stumped everybody or if those who knew the answer just didn't want to admit they knew, but in any event answer was one of Make-out Johnny's:

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

What was Bobby Bare's first big hit song and who was it credited to?

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Hint: Not country, #2 Pop. And probably the best ever talking-rock song, Bob Dylan notwithstanding.

[stereojack]

What was Bobby Bare's first big hit song and who was it credited to?

Th All American Boy - Bill Parsons

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Right again, Jack!

Bare had been drafted into the Army in 1958 and left a demo behind. It was inadvertently released as being sung by one of its writers, Bill Parsons.

°°°°°°

Gather 'round, cats, and I'll tell you a story
About how to become an All American Boy
Buy you a gittar and put it in tune
You'll be rockin' and rollin' soon.
Impressin' the girls, pickin' hot licks, and all that jazz

I-I bought me a gittar a year ago
Learned how to play in a day or so
And all around town it was well understood
That I was knockin' 'em out like Johnny B. Goode
Hot licks, showin' off, ah number one.

Well , I 'd practice all day and up into the night
My papa's hair was turnin' white
Cause he didn't like rock'n'roll
He said "You can stay, boy, but that's gotta go."
He's a square, he just didn't dig me at all

So I took my gittar, picks and all
And bid farewell to my poor ole pa
And I split for Memphis where they say all
Them swingin' cats are havin' a ball
Sessions, hot licks and all, they dig me

I was rockin' and boppin' and I's a gettin' the breaks
The girls all said that I had what it takes
When up stepped a man with a big cigar
He said "come here, cat--I'm gonnna make you a star."
"I'll put you on Bandstand, buy ya a Cadillac, sign here, kid."

I signed my name and became a star
Havin' a ball with my gittar
Driving a big long Cadillac and fightin' the girls off ma back
They just kept a'comin', screamin', yeah-they like it

So I'd pick my gittar with a great big grin
And the money just kept on pourin' in
But then one day my Uncle Sam
He said (sound of 3 footsteps) "Here I am"
"Uncle Sam needs you, boy
I'm-a gonna cut your hair
ah-Take this rifle, kid
Gimme that gittar" yeah.

[jeff54]

You're probably right (about the most obscure act to headline at Woodstock) I've never heard of Quill. I was thinking of Bert Sommer.

Burt Sommer of Bert and Bill fame?

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

My best friend, the late Kenny Sloane, played piano for the Mendocino All-Stars, led by Lenny Capizzi, who co-wrote Monster Mash and had been a member of the Cordials with Pickett.

The singing call I do to it came on a green, translucent 45, now alas reduced to binary code in my laptop.

And the trivia question is: Who plays piano on Monster Mash? (Answer contained below in the obituary.)

°°°°°°°°°°°°


>>He does the "Monster Mash" no more. Bobby "Boris" Pickett, whose dead-on Boris Karloff impression propelled the Halloween anthem to the top of the charts in 1962, making him one of pop music's most enduring one-hit wonders, has died of leukemia. He was 69.

Pickett, dubbed "The Guy Lombardo of Halloween," died Wednesday night at the West Los Angeles Veterans Hospital, said his longtime manager, Stuart Hersh. His daughter, Nancy, and his sister, Lynda, were at Pickett's bedside.

"Monster Mash" hit the Billboard chart three times: when it debuted in 1962, reaching No. 1 the week before Halloween; again in August 1970, and for a third time in May 1973. The resurrections were appropriate for a song where Pickett gravely intoned the forever-stuck-in-your-head chorus: "He did the monster mash. … It was a graveyard smash."

The novelty hit's fans included Bob Dylan, who played the single on his XM Satellite Radio program last October. "Our next artist is considered a one-hit wonder, but his one hit comes back year after year," Dylan noted.

The hit single ensured Pickett's place in the pantheon of pop music obscurities, said syndicated radio host Dr. Demento, whose long-running program celebrates offbeat tunes.

"It's certainly the biggest Halloween song of all time," said Demento. The DJ, who interviewed Pickett last year, said he maintained a sense of humor about his singular success: "As he loved to say at oldies shows, `And now I'm going to do a medley of my hit.'"

Pickett's impression of Karloff (who despite his name was an Englishman, born William Henry Pratt) was forged in Somerville, Mass., where the boy watched horror films in a theater managed by his father.

Pickett used the impersonation in a nightclub act and when performing with his band the Cordials. A bandmate convinced Pickett they needed to do a song to showcase the Karloff voice, and "Monster Mash" was born "written in about a half-hour," said Dr. Demento.

The recording, done in a couple of hours, featured a then-unknown piano player named Leon Russell and a backing band christened The Crypt-Kickers. It was rejected by four major labels before Gary Paxton, lead singer on the Hollywood Argyles' novelty hit "Alley Oop," released "Monster Mash" on his own label.

The instant smash became a sort-of Christmas carol for the pumpkin and ghoul set. In a 1996 interview with People magazine, Pickett said he never grew tired of it: "When I hear it, I hear a cash register ringing."

While Pickett never re-created its success, his "Monster's Holiday," a Christmas follow-up, reached No. 30 in December 1962. And "Graduation Day" hit No. 80 in June 1963.

He continued performing through his final gig in November. He remained in demand for Halloween performances, including a memorable 1973 show where his bus broke down outside Frankenstein, Mo.

Beside his daughter and sister, Pickett is survived by two grandchildren.<<

[Dr Dave]

(Oop-oop, oop, oop-oop)
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)

There's a man in the funny papers we all know
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
He lives 'way back a long time ago
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
He don't eat nothin' but a bear cat stew
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Well, this cat's name is-a Alley-Oop
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)

He got a chauffeur that's a genuwine dinosawruh
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
And he can knuckle your head before you count to fawruh
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)

He got a big ugly club and a head fulla hairuh
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Like great big lions and grizzly bearuhs
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
(Alley-Oop) He's the toughest man there is alive
(Alley-Oop) Wearin' clothes from a wildcat's hide
(Alley-Oop) He's the king of the jungle jive
(Look at that cave man go!!) (SCREAM)

He rides thru the jungle tearin' limbs offa trees
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Knockin' great big monstahs dead on their knees
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
The cats don't bug him cuz they know bettah
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Cuz he's a mean motah scootah and a bad go-gettah
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
(Alley-Oop) He's the toughest man there is alive
(Alley-Oop) Wears clothes from a wildcat's hide
(Alley-Oop) He's the king of the jungle jive
(Look at that cave man go!!) (SCREAM)

Thair he goes,
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Look at that cave man go
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
He sure is hip ain't he
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Like what's happening
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
He's too much
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Ride, Daddy, ride
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Hi-yo dinosawruh
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Ride, Daddy, ride
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Get 'em, man
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)
Like--hipsville
(Alley-Oop, oop, oop, oop-oop)

[Gentle Giant]

This artist's website says that he was the youngest performer at Woodstock (19). He was also one of the most memorable. Who is he?

[Chris D]

Bert Sommer was the only one that young, I think.

[stereojack]

This artist's website says that he was the youngest performer at Woodstock (19). He was also one of the most memorable. Who is he?

My first thought is Michael Shrieve, drummer for Santana. Most memorable? Not even sure what that means.

[Gentle Giant]

My first thought is Michael Shrieve, drummer for Santana. Most memorable? Not even sure what that means.

Shrieve is the one.

Basically, most memorable is because for me his performance is the highlight of the film.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

I always mark Led Zeppelin as the point in time if not the actual cause of my abandoning radio music at the time.

Be that as it may, Led Zeppelin stole a line from one of the greatest of all New Orleans rock tunes to make the Pop Top 10 in the fifties.

What was the line?
What was the Zeppelin song?
What was the original song?
Who sang lead on it?
What was his biggest hit as a solo act?
What role does transvestitism play in this story?