Be brief.
Why Tommy James sang for the mob but not at Woodstock
Scattershooting … and wondering what happened to Tommy James. (“Scattershooting and wondering what happened to …” was a journalistic trademark of the late great sports writer and columnist, Blackie Sherrod who wrote for The Dallas Morning News.)
Why Tommy James? I haven’t a clue. Maybe it was so I could get “Crimson and Clover” stuck in my head until I go to sleep tonight.
“Yeah. La la la la la la. My mind’s such a sweet thing. La la la la la la. I want to do everything. La la la la la la … over and over.”
O-kay.
James career kicked off with a little “Hanky Panky.” Actually, that was the name of his first hit song.
His songs weren’t what you were called “deep.” In fact, they seem to have tread the netherworld of pop bubblegum with a touch of psychedelia thrown in. Apparently though, James and the Shondells were cool enough to have been invited to Woodstock. They didn’t make it. Supposedly his manager didn’t want him playing at some stupid pig farm.
It was okay, he was in good company. The list site, 11points.com, says in a list titled “11 Bands That Skipped Woodstock For Incredibly Lame Reasons,” Jethro Tull didn’t play because band frontman Ian Anderson reportedly said in an interview that he didn’t like hippies and he feared naked women “unless the time is right.” Roy Rogers, who had been invited to sing “Happy Trails” at the end of the festival said the reason he didn’t take part was that he would have been “booed of the stage by all them (expletive) hippies.”
Tommy James was much more well known and had more hit records than some of the other bands that did play at Woodstock. Take for instance, Sweetwater, Bert Sommer, Quill and the Keef Hartley Band. Most younger people today also would have no idea who some of the bands were of the day that enjoyed some measure of popularity and played at Woodstock, yet were not huge names to all. I use for examples Melanie Safka, who was known only by “Melanie,” and had several big hits back then including “Brand New Key” and “Lay Down.”
Plenty of folks, both old and young, have probably heard in commercials or films the flute and guitar intro of “Going Up The Country” by Canned Heat but do not know who or what the band was. Even many rock and roll fans may not have known of or heard of Tim Hardin back when he played at Woodstock. Songs Hardin, who was a folk singer and composer, had written are much more well known than he was. Among those tunes are the beautiful ballad “Reason To Believe” recorded by Rod Stewart.”
Back to Tommy James once more, I found out doing this Internet scattershooting that he released a book in 2010 in which he revealed that the record company that recorded his songs, Roulette, was actually a front for the Genovese crime family in New York. James tells in his book that his deal was he would make the records and the company would keep the money. Great deal, huh? The book is called “Me, The Mob And The Music.” Give it a read. I plan to do so.
Romney, cable media making hay while the sun shines
Enough already!
The killings of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three aides is tragic and now seems to compound what madness Sept. 11 evokes. That is why it is sickening that some of those in cable news and Mitt Romney were lightning fast in making political hay out of the senseless violence. It is not surprising that Romney and his lackeys at Fox would condemn the president before knowing all the facts. They would run over their own grandmothers for political advantage. Most irritating is that they did it so quickly and it got so old by the morning news on cable that I wanted to throw something at the TV. (It isn’t my TV so I restrained myself, fortunately.)
Since I don’t watch Fox News I cannot say who the blond-haired twit was on one of its morning broadcasts who asked conservative-leaning political talking head Larry Sabato of University of Virginia: (Paraphrasing) Do you think this will have an effect on the presidential election? I have called on Sabato in a pinch back in the day, apparently I was not by myself. He told the Foxette, without being condescending as I would have been, that it was too early to tell. Of course, that was an understatement since the details at the time were still very preliminary. I suppose that is just Fox being Fox.
Funny I can recognize Dr. Sabato but I can’t recognize the blonde. I think it might have been Megan Kelley but I’m not sure. All the CNN blondies look the same to me.
Romney clearly jumped the gun, putting his first comments out last night which lashed out at the administration for a statement released from the U.S. embassy in Egypt. The message condemned a film supposedly offensive to Muslims which allegedly sparked protests in Egypt and Libya. This is all very questionable right now. What is not questionable is that it also broke what was a gentleman’s agreement that the campaigns would back off politics on 9/11.
If Romney quit while he was ahead — forget saying he was wrong because he is never wrong — it would have been okay. But he keeps getting himself deeper and deeper by affirming his earlier stupidity.
Notably absent from the criticism of the president were the rest of the Republican politburo. At least those who made criticisms made them barely perceptible. Wonder why that is? If I were to guess, Mittens is freaking out.
The cable folks didn’t come off any better in my eyes. So many just wildly speculating, trying to create a controversy where there is none. That is why I say it is just too much. Watching the evening news now on CBS, the latest is that it seems the offensive film may be perhaps the most incidental. It might have been Al-Quida even behind the fatal attack.
And Mitt? To paraphrase news people talking about the spirited speech of former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm at the Democratic National Committee, perhaps this is Mitt Romney’s “Howard Dean moment.”
9/11: Tragic, heartbreaking, but still only one day in history
9/11.
The terror attacks upon the United States which happened 11 years ago today shadow seemingly every other occurrence that happened this day. That is, at least, upon the minds of many in the U.S. Names are read of the dead. Wreaths are laid. A moment of silence is offered. It is a solemn occasion. It should be. Perhaps only three days stand out in modern history for its American heartbreak. Those would be the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks which took place at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and near Shanksville, Pa.
Today will probably be known for many years, no telling how long in years to come, for “9/11.” That isn’t all that has happened in American or world history though, as sad and tragic as those events were.
I can’t say the extent of angst caused by the death of President Franklin Roosevelt in 1945. I’m sure it was shocking but it was a natural death rather than a violent one. One other president was assassinated in the 20th century when anarchist Leon Czolgosz shot William McKinley on Sept. 6, 1901. He died a week later. Both events were imaginably startling and sad. But those events still lacked the immediate attention of a worldwide media audience.
Just as is the case with most of the 365 days of the year there were other events which took place on this day in the history of our planet.
One event which was a coincidence of history was that the groundbreaking of the Pentagon took place on this same day in 1941. This was 60 years before American Airlines Flight 77 from Washington Dulles to Los Angeles International was commandeered by hijackers and flown into the Arlington, Va., architectural wonder and headquarters for the U.S. military. Also of circumstance is that on today in 1609, English explorer Henry Hudson discovered Manhattan, where the World Trade Center attacks happened almost 400 years later.
Also on this day in history:
- 1777 — British and Hessian forces under Gen. George Howe defeated the rebel troops of Gen. George Washington in the Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania. Perhaps as many as 1,300 American soldiers died while deaths among the enemy were near 100.
- 1814 — The British were defeated in their final invasion of the northern states during the War of 1812 in the Battle of Plattsburgh, also known as the Battle of Lake Champlain, near the New York-Vermont border.
- 1961 — Hurricane Carla made landfall on the middle Texas coast. It wasn’t the worst hurricane or costliest. It was the first I remember. Even though I lived about 230 miles from where the storm made landfall. I remember the concern and the evacuees who came from the coastal areas. It was also the first hurricane televised live on TV as Dan Rather covered the story for Houston station KHOU.
- 1978 — President Jimmy Carter began talks with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at Camp David for a peace treaty between the two countries and for peace in the Middle East.
- 1987 — Fatal Attraction premiered scaring the living hell out of men everywhere. You didn’t think I could get away through all of this without a little levity did you?
Great expectations in Houston realized: Part 1/16
So much to write about in the world and I think — football. Houston Texans football to be exact.
My behavior can hardly be called “ritualistic” but it leans that way during pro football season. I like to get up, late, on Sundays and watch a little Howard Kurtz Reliable Sources before watching the Fox NFL Sunday. I know, it’s hard to believe but I do watch Fox products even though I loathe Fox News. The CBS pre-game show just doesn’t have the “talent” of its opposite. Of course, I watch the CBS game itself when Houston plays as they did yesterday.
I hate, in a sense, when expectations are high for my team and there are a Dickens of great expectations for the Texans for the season. What do you think? Trite? Trite on a stick? Some think Houston will be in the Super Bowl this year. They pounded Miami yesterday like a 90-pound sh*t hammer for the last three quarters. But the Texans won’t go anywhere if they played like they did in the first quarter. It is trite on a bucket truck, but Houston needs to play four quarters of football to get anywhere.
The Houston offense still needs — something, I don’t know what it is, whether it’s a line issue or bad mojo. The Texans still needs to make touchdowns when they are in the red zone. When they get down the road they will need more than a however good foot that they have in kicker Shayne Graham. He missed his first field goal attempt, a 52-yard boot that fell short. I don’t know what his longest is but I know such an attempt is not out of his range. I couldn’t kick the ball through the posts from the goal line but guys can these days and about fifty-five yard farther. Eventually, the 63-yard field goal records will be broken. Sunday San Francisco kicker David Akers became the fourth player to reach the 63-yard FG mark set first by Tom Dempsey more than 40 years ago. The record was tied in 1998 and last year.
Once the Texans offense got rolling it looked pretty good. It was great to see the magnificent receiver Andre Johnson make long plays and a touchdown where it looked afterwards as if he might be congratulated to death by the fans when he jumped up in the end zone stands. Arian Foster has turned Vegan but that cat can still run as can Ben Tate. Shaub looked good at QB.
If Houston makes it past the first rounds in the playoffs, which they failed to do last year, it will be in no small part due to offensive defensive coordinator Wade Phillips. The smartest move head coach Gary Kubiak ever made was hiring Phillips. Wade — I don’t know him but he’s from my part of the state so I feel I can call him by his first name — wants to have a championship team of his own as head coach. It eluded him in Dallas, badly. Methinks Kubiak needs to have him restrained so he won’t get away. No, of course I am not being serious. But Phillips is a brilliant defensive mind.
The Texans came away with a 30-10 win over the Dolphins this first game of the season. Now they only have the rest of the season to live up to what others expect of them. It isn’t enviable but its nice to be recognized as long as the team doesn’t live up to others’ expectations.