Anybody Care to Go Back to 1973? Three Hours of Music from Fifty Years Ago on Chicago's WXRT

If you're like me, 1973 was a very important year.  The first half was a college year at NIU (they're playing "Two Hangmen" by Mason Profitt right now at 9:09 AM) and then I graduated, got married, bought my first car and started my one and only job teaching.  You might say it was quite a year for me.

Anyway, right now, Chicago's WXRT, 93.1 FM is doing their weekly Saturday Morning Flashback to this year.  It streams, so check it out until noon, CDST.

***********************

I also wrote down every song they played in my RoadDog's RoadLog Blog.  Check them out.

***********************

Also, if you're into Beach Music, WVCO, the Surf 94.9 FM,  in South Carolina is having the Beach Music Top Twenty songs ftrom now until noon EDST.

Tomorrow, Terri Hemmert has her Breakfast With the Beatles show on WXRT from 8 to 10 AM and Bob Stroud does his Rock and Roll Roots show from 9 to noon CDST on Chicago's WDRV, 97.1 FM.  The show features music from the 1960s and 1970s.  All shows stream.

Lots of Great Music to Listen To.  --RoadMusic

The Story Behind Dan Fogelberg's 'Same Old Lang Syne'

This morning I was listening to Jim Morgan who is a disk jockey at Myrtle Beach's WVCO, 94.9 FM, the Surf, which plays Carolina Beach Music as I often do on internet radio.

Every Monday to Friday, he has a segment I especially like called Music Spotlight where he takes a song and tells you the story behind it.  Usually the song has something to do about the date of its release, recording or the artist's date of birth or death.

Today is the anniversary of Dan Fogelberg's death in 2007.  The song Jim Morgan chose of Dan Fogelberg was "Same Old Lang Syne."  There is quite a story behind this song that Dan wrote.  It is based on an actual event in his life from 1975.

He was back in his hometown of Peoria, Illinois, visiting family for the holidays and on Christmas Eve, they needed something for dinner and he drove over to a local convenience store to get it since all the stores were closed.  While there, he met his old high school girlfriend.

You can go to You Tube and view  Bob Natale's video "The Story Behind Dan Fogelberg's 'Same Old Lang Syne' " to hear what Jim said.  After that, go to the Track X Track video "On Location: The True Story of Dan Fogelberg's 'Same Old Lang Syne' " and view that which takes you to the places mentioned in the story.

After that, go to the video Dan Fogelberg- Same Old Lang Syne (Lyrics).  The lyrics are shown as the song is sung.

This Is Quite the Story.  --RoadDog

The Surf (WVCO, 94.9 FM) Goes Back to 1972

Many mornings I listen to this radio station out of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, as it plays Beach Music and oldies.

Jim Morgan now handles the morning show and is a worthy successor to Stevie B (Stephen Blackburn) and the legendary Beach Guy himself, Billy Smith (The Old BS-er).

Every weekday, Jim Morgan takes us back to a year in Beach history.  Friday the 13th he took us to 1972 and played these three songs:

BRANDY--  Looking Glass
EVERYBODY PLAYS THE FOOL--  Main Ingredient
NICE TO BE WITH YOU--  Gallery
IF YOU DON'T WATCH OUT I'LL FALL BACK IN LOVE WITH YOU AGAIN--  Stylistics

He also takes us back to the year with other information.

The Top Four TV shows:

4.  Maude
3.  Hawaii-Five-0
2.  Sanford & Son
1.  All in the Family

Pong was released this year.

You Remember Pong, Don't You?  --RoadPong

JSS: Last Week for Lin Brehmer's WXRT Morning Show-- "1917" and "Star Wars IX"-- Jo Jo Rabbit"

JSS--  Just Some Stuff

1.  LAST WEEK FOR LIN BREHMER'S WXRT MORNING SHOW--  After a real long time, WXRT's Morning Show host, Lin Brehmer is leaving the show, but not going too far as he switches from his 5:30 to 10 am slot for the afternoon slot from 10 am to 2 pm.

Most every morning, I listen to him (and former co-host Mary Dixon) if I am not listening over the internet to Jim Morgan at the Surf 94.9 FM out of Myrtle Beach, S.C.).

I'll sure miss him in the morning, even though he had that really bad case of Cubitis,  a huge love of the Cubbies.  Bit, at least now he will be able to stay up to watch his favorite team when they have night games.

2.  "1917" AND "STAR WARS IX"--  Yesterday, I went to the Fox Lake Theatres and saw these two movies for the second time.  Movies like this need to be seen on the Big Screen and in that wonderful surround sound.  And, not just seen once, but twice.

A 70-inch screen is good, but no comparison to the Big Screen.

3.  "JO JO RABBIT"--  I went to see this because it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, along with Scarlet Johansson for Best Supporting Actress.  This was an outstanding movie with humor, sadness and the horrors of Nazi Germany.  Well worth seeing.

--RoadDog

TAX FACTS:  Even the easiest form, the 1040E has 33 pages of instructions, and all of it is in FINE PRINT!!

OK, So It's Cold

Temp this morning on front porch was -16 and just recently at 1:30 p.m. was -6.  All hunkered down inside though and unless we lose electricity, should be alright.  Liz showed me a picture of Michigan Avenue in Chicago this morning with but one car to be seen.  Folks hunkering down.

But, of course it is cold, but our weather folk are making way too big of a thing of it.  Just part of today's do everything to the extreme age we're in.  Weather event equals more viewers equals more advertising money.  Or something like it.

And, our good folks at Big Oil are showing their empathy  Sunday gas in Fox Lake, Illinois, was $1.96 ($1.95.9) and yesterday it was $2.30.  Someone going to make a buck?

Listened to WVCO, the Surf, out of North Myrtle Beach, S.C., this morning, as I do most mornings, and they were at 30 degrees and all they could do was talk about Chicago's cold.

Well, Cold Over Hurricanes Any Old Day For Me.  --RoadCold

IN 50 YEARS OF LIVING YOU LEARN:  You should not confuse your career with your life.

Saufen Und Spiel Weekend-- Part 1: Friday Night Lights

SEPTEMBER 8, Friday

I went to the big rivalry game out here in northeast McHenry County, Illinois, the Johnsburg-Richmond-Burton (R-B) high school football game.  Had we had kids they would have gone to Richmond-Burton, but we are just a couple miles north of Johnsburg High School.  I pull for Johnsburg unless they play Richmond-Burton because I send a REAL lot of money there.

R-B scored a TD on an 88-yard running play on the third play of the game, but that was the high point in a 34-10 loss.

I came home and found a really great new internet station, Jukin' Oldies, which features one of my favorite deejays, 'Fessa John Hook.  There are 14 djs on it and they play all sorts of music, including Beach, Boogie & Blues and oldies you've never heard of before.

--RoadDog

JSS: Senior Moment-- Recall, Oil Change & Rotation-- K.C.'s Cabin-- NIU St. Valentine's Day Massacre-- NIU Memories-- Gas Gouge-- WBRF

JSS--  Just Some Stuff

1.  SENIOR MOMENT--  On the way over to Ray Chevrolet in Fox Lake, I turned accidentally into the American Legion parking lot and was wondering why I was in that parking lot.  Then I remembered, I wasn't going there.  What was it that the trooper said back on that old "Please Mr. Custer" song?

2.  RECALL, OIL CHANGE & ROTATION--  We took the '11 Malibu over to Ray Chevrolet for the Chevy Recall, an oil change and tire rotation.

3.  K.C.'S CABIN--  While waiting for the '11 to be finished, we drove the '03 Malibu to K.C.'s Cabin for their buy one, get one breakfasts.  Great deal.  The two of us ate for $12 including coffee and Coke.

4.  NIU ST. VALENTINE'S MASSACRE--  It dawned on us that we were at K.C.'s Cabin on Feb. 14, 2008, when we saw NIU on TV.  Unfortunately, it was because of the murders of five students.

5.  NIU MEMORIES--  On the way home, we were listening to 103.9 FM, the Fox and they played "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin.  That reminded us of NIU's Tune Room at the University Center where that song often played back in 1969-1970.  That reminded us of the Pow-Wow Room next to it where most fraternities would claim a table for the day a good place to meet friends in between (and during) classes.

6.  GAS GOUGE--  Gas in Fox Lake, Illinois, was up to $2.49.  That is a 27 cent increase since Thursday!!
 
7.  WBRF--  I am listening to Classic Country 98.1 FM in Galax, Virginia, right now on the internet.  I always listen to it while driving back and forth to North Carolina.  Some really fine country oldies music.  They are talking about cold with lows near 18 degrees tonight and windchill watches Saturday-Sunday as low as 20-25 below zero.

"What Am I Doing Here?"  --RoadDog

Sweet Soul Music from Boomer Radio

Again, all the great stuff a "Boomer" could possibly want.

After some initial internet problems, I've been listening to Boomer radio's Sweet Soul Music since 5:40 AM.  Here's what they've been playing:

LOVE HANGOVER--  Diana Ross
ABC--  Jackson Five  (Those first four songs, wow!)
REUNITED--  Peaches and Herb
UP UP AND AWAY--  Fifth Dimension
SOMEBODY'S BEEN SLEEPING--  100 Proof Aged in Soul  (Always enjoy this one.)

TAKE YOUR TIME (DO IT RIGHT)-- S.O.S. Band  (Get your Funk on.)
I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE--  Gladys Knight & the Pips (Even before Marvin did his thing.)
SLIPPING INTO DARKNESS--  War
THE SNAKE--  Al Wilson  (Quite a story song.  Was he talking about a snake?)
ROCK THE BOAT--  Hues Corporation  (Early, early Disco.)

STARTING ALL OVER AGAIN--  Mel and Tim
OUR LOVE--  Natalie Cole
FLOY JOY--  Supremes  (The new Supremes.)
FIGHT THE POWER (PART 1)--  Isley Brothers  (One you don't hear nearly enough.)
LOVE OR LET ME BE LONELY--  Friends of Distinction  (Always reminds me of student days at NIU.  Always reminded me of the 5th Dimension.)

SATURDAY NITE--  EW&F
(I'M A) ROADRUNNER--  Jr. Walker & All Stars
P.Y.T. (PRETTY YOUNG THING)--  Michael Jackson  (I forgot how good this one was.)
THERE'S GONNA BE A SHOWDOWN--  Archie Bell & the Drells  (Beach Music from the "Tighten Up Guy.)
CALL ME--  Al Green (How smooth can you glide?)

NEVER CAN SAY GOODBYE--  Isaac Hayes  (The "Shaft" guy gets mellow.)
EVERYDAY PEOPLE--  Sly & Family Stone
I LOVE MUSIC--  O'Jays

The Last One Always Takes me Back to NIU Back In the Day.  --RoadDog


YOGI-ISMS:  When asked what time it was, Yogi said, "Do you mean right now?"

Boomer Radio: Vintage Rock

Typing away and listening to this great internet station.  I especially like it because they not only play some of the great old songs I've heard a lot, but quite a few I'm either not very familiar with or have never heard.  Here are the songs played since noon today.  The ones with ** mean I wasn't overly familiar with it:

GO DOWN GAMBLIN'--  BS&T
M'LADY--  Sly & the Family Stone.  My absolute favorite song at the Delta Sig dances back in college.  Put this on and see one "Dancin' Fool!"
**HOT BURRITO NO. 1--  Flying Burrito Brothers
**HOMBURG--  Procul; Harum

HEARTBREAKER--  Led Zeppelin.  I was kind of wondering if they'd play "Livin' Lovin' Maid" next.  They didn't.  Probably the first time the two songs haven't been played back-to-back.  I was sure ready for it.
**TAM LIN--  Fairport Convention  I thought it was the Jefferson Airplane.
**BABY'S CALLING ME HOME--  Steve Miller Band
**DON AND DEWEY-- It's a Beautiful Day

MELLOW YELLOW--  Donovan
**IRON BUTTERFLY THEME--  Iron Butterfly
PLASTIC FANTASTIC LOVER--  Jefferson Airplane
UP TO ME--  Jethro Tull

**SAD MORNING--  Buffalo Springfield  And here I was thinking I'd heard all their songs.
BOX OF RAIN--  Grateful Dead
WON'T GET FOOLED AGAIN--  Who  For some reason I always thing TV when I hear this song nowadays.
MAY THIS BE LOVE--  Jimi Hendrix.  I always thought this one was named "Waterfalls."

**PRETTY POLLY--  Judy Collins
LOVE ME TWO TIMES--  Doors
NO MORE MR. NICE GUY--  Alice Cooper
**WAKE ME, SHAKE ME--  Blues Project

SONG OF THE WIND--  Santana

This Is One Great Station!!  --RoadDog

Row, Row, Row Us Away- Rain Continues

Like they say, when it rains, it pours. And around here, we've certainly gotten a lot of the wet stuff the last several weeks. It seems like every other day it rains. Since I deejayed the wedding Saturday, which, unfortunately, was outside (fortunately under pavilions, but even then, it tended to put a damper on things), it has rained essentially straight through. If it wasn't raining, it was threatening to do so.

Fox Chicago said this morning that we can expect it to Saturday.

Boating in the rain isn't much fun, so that is out. Plus, the Fox River has been completely closed both above and below the dam. The Chain of Lakes itself is open to boating on a no-wake basis. This means that you are not to make any ripples as you go through the water.

All this rain hasn't stopped the cursed Japanese beetles though. Plus, the slugs are thriving on my hostas. This is ideal slug weather.

The grass is VERY green and thick, and I can almost hear it growing. I just cut it last Thursday when we finally got some dry weather. It was so high and thick, I had to cut it on the highest setting. It is going to be a real bear if I have to wait until Saturday to cut it.

Two good things, though: I haven't had to water any plants, and, the septic field lines are finally green again. Two years ago, we had an extended drought for the whole summer. I let my yard go and it had a very crunchy texture come September. When we finally got rain, it greened up right away. All, that is, except for the septic field lines which stayed dead. I worked on them all last summer and this, and you could still see the outlines. But, NOT any more.

I did learn that it we have another drought, to keep the area around the septic field watered.

I'm listening to The Surf, 94.9 FM, out of Myrtle Beach, SC, right now, and no rain is forecast. Talked with Mom Monday. She says they could use some of our rain as it has been very dry. The Fox Lake Waterway station in Fox Lake reports that we've had 7.67 inches so far this month, but I think we've had more in Spring Grove. Rockford, about 50 miles west reports 10.47 inches.

Brings Me Back to an old Favorite Song, "Rainmaker", by the Cryan' Shames. --RoadDog

Ronnie Rice at "It's Thursday" in Antioch, Illinois.

I'm sitting here at the old keyboard on Saturday listening to 'Fessa John Hook's Beach Music Countdown on the Endless Summer radio network. I sure love getting my Beach Music fix over the internet when I'm not down that way.

This past Thursday. I drove over to Antioch to their "It's Thursday" free concert series. This one featured Ronnie Rice, or the Human Juke Box as he is called.

Ronnie was the lead singer and wrote many of the songs for the seminal Chicago 60s rock group, the New Colony Six, one of my favorites from that era. Other Chicago groups were the Shadows of Knight, Buckinghams, Ides of March, and Cryan' Shames.

They first hit the charts in 1965, and charted 21 singles on the Billboard charts, mostly not in the Top 40. But, they were in the Top 40 all the time on the two major radio stations in Chicago, WLS and WCFL. Both of these were AM stations, but this was before FM.

They had hits with: "Love You So Much,"  "I Confess,"  "Cadillac" (a great way to learn how to spell the word as they kept spelling it out-probably my favorite NC6 song), "I Will Always Think About You" (one of Liz and my "songs"), "Can't You See Me Cry," "Love You So Much," and another favorite of mine, "Mr. You're a Better Man Than I."

You can get info at http://www.ronnierice.com/

Also, www.newcolonysix.com but this one isn't kept up very well.

The New Colony 6 was inducted into Iowa's Rock N Roll Music Association's Hall of Fame in 2002. We don't have a Chicago Rock Hall of Fame that I know of.

They were noted for wearing Revolutionary War uniforms as part of their gimmick. Of course, all things English were in the vogue back in 1965, what with the British Invasion. Get it, colony. Even the Buckinghams were named after Buckingham Fountain in Chicago, but then there's that Buckingham Castle in London.

The group reformed in the the 1980s, but Ronnie doesn't perform with them.

I wish that Bob Stroud would have one of his Rock and Roll Roots compilation CDs on those great Chicago 60s groups. Hear that, Bob!!!

I have two greatest hits New Colony 6 compilations.

The 60s, a Pretty Good Time to Grow Up...Overall. --RoadDog

Out Boatin' Today

I've already been out boating on the Chain of Lakes this morning. Floated and read the paper, then went over to Electric Harbor on the east end of Fox Lake. They have built a huge gazebo with a great view of the lake and plenty of good breezes.

Tuesdays they have a charbroiled cheeseburger and fries for a BUCK!!! Now, that's a hard deal to beat. Talked with a guy there who has been deejaying since the late sixties and is still going strong. He was at a wedding in Palatine Saturday, then in downstate Danville, Illinois, (the home of Dick and Jerry Van Dyke) on Sunday. He has programmed over 12,000 songs for Electric Harbor covering a wide variety of styles. He even has some East Coast BEACH music.

Speaking of Beach Music, I'm listening to the Surf, 93.9 FM out of North Myrtle Beach right now. They're playing "Beach Music and Barbecue" right now at 5:11 PM. Boy, I sure would like to be down in NC listening to Beach music and eating that great pulled pork- vinegar-based bbq, cole slaw, hushpuppies, and tea.

He knows Dick Biondi as well. He said that last Memorial Day, WLS AM had a retro weekend and had all the old deejays back from the 60s and 70s. This was one of the major stations for kids to listen to while growing up in Chicagoland back then. I sure would have liked to have heard that.

Tough Life, But Somebody's Gotta Do It!! --RoadDog

Listening to the Surf for the Last Time?

Well, perhaps the last time.

If the government has its way, the days of live broadcasts over the internet might just come to an end on the 15th of this month. The rates they are demanding will put these small guys out of business.

The last time they did this several years ago, The Surf went to a pay arrangement, and I lost my Billy Smith for a long time until I saw that they had gone back to free listening.

This will also affect Live 365, and other great outlets like Fessa John Hook's Endless Summer station.

I sure would miss my Beach Music. There is No station here in Chicagoland where I can get a dose of what I need.

Don't Let 'Em Take my Music Away!! --RoadDog

Internet Radio, Webcasts Threatened with Extinction!!!!

I'm sitting right here at the old 'put, bloggin' and listenin' to 'Fessa John Hook doing the Beach Music Top 40 Countdown on his Endless Summer Network. Sadly, come this time next month, I may not have that opportunity. Same goes with the Surf and Billy Smith down in North Myrtle Beach, SC. It all goes dark July 15th if the Copyright Royalty Board has its way and skyrockets the price of playing music over the net to the point that they will all go off the air. And I'm not just talking about Beach Music, I'm talking about ALL radio over the internet.

This would be a shame. And not just for the listeners, but also for many performers and groups who depend on this as a way to get their music out. The big radio station conglomerates have set playlists prepared by research companies. You just can't crack through to them.

Plus, people like me, who like a niche genre, like Beach Music, or zydeco, or Cajun, or reggae, depend on these stations as a way to get our "fix". You're not going to hear it on the big stations.

In case you're wondering, the stations and webcasters do pay royalties to the artists, just not what they'll have to pay under the new arrangement, if it goes through.

However, internet radio is not going down without a fight. They are asking us to contact our US senators and representatives and ask them to cosponsor the Radio Equality Act, S 1363 in the Senate, and HR 2060 in the House of Representatives.

You can go to www.netradio.org to get all the information you need, including the telephone numbers of you senators and representattive, and what to say.

Don't Let Them Take Away Our Music. --RoadDog