By Bob Berry

Chuck Berry turns the Big 89 today, 10/18.

He’s one of the original Six inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.

He’s a guitar innovator and a poet, who showed the way for every guitar player who followed. Especially those English chaps, from John, Paul and George to Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton and the rest of the British Invasion.

His songs are indelibly printed into our collective musical DNA. “Maybellene”, “Roll Over Beethoven”, “School Days”, “Memphis”, “Rock And Roll Music”, “Sweet Little Sixteen”, and (the partly biographical) “Johnny B. Goode“.

As John Lennon said, “If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry’.”

We’re serving Keener’s Sunday Brunch on the dance floor today, as we honor  a true National Treasure.

Hail, Hail, Chuck Berry!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGblpBpEFNU

By Bob Berry

Funny how checking out one thing can lead to a whole new thing.

Wednesday’s Rolling Stone featured a story and just released audio of “American Trilogy“, coming October 30th in the new Elvis LP, If I Can Dream: Elvis Presley With the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.  It’s one of my favorite Elvis songs, so naturally I checked it out. (two thumbs up, btw)

But it was the next video that led me to the Keener Friday Song. The remix of 1968’s “A Little Less Conversation” by Dutch composer/producer Junkie XL.

Killer tune, killer re-mix.

Originally done for a Nike 2002 World Cup campaign, the video builds with the song, the action and edits coming at you at 128 beats a minute!

Get ready for some seat dancin’, and enjoy the Friday Song on Keener13.com!

By Bob Berry

Keener’s Scotty Regan tells a great story about The Four Tops, and their lead singer Levi Stubbs.

It seems one day Scotty was walking into Motown’s offices on W. Grand Blvd, when he runs into Levi, and asks how he was doing. The answer (which I am paraphrasing) threw him for a loop:

“Man, Holland-Dozier-Holland just had us record our worst song ever. They had me singing like a black Bob Dylan..”. And off Levi steamed.

As it turns out, Levi was wrong, twice. “Reach Out, I’ll Be There” became the Tops’ second Number One single, 49 years ago today, October 12th, 1966.

And he forgot that Levi Stubbs, pushed to imitate Dylan or not, was always, unmistakably, Levi.

I hope you enjoy Throwback Thursday, with “Reach Out” (and Scotty helping out on vocals!) recorded live at The Roostertail for Keener’s Motown Monday. May Levi, Larry and Obie rest in peace, with thanks for the joy they brought us, then and now.

By Bob Berry

Some say the answer to the question is simple: it was your senior year in High School.

So, for me, 1968 works pretty well. “Hey Jude”, “Love is Blue”, “People Got To Be Free”, “Dock Of The Bay”. Great tunes, great memories on instant recall.

Some say the answer is based simply on the significant music released. And on that basis, 1965 is your year.  “In The Midnight Hour”,  “Satisfaction”,  “Like a Rolling Stone”, “My Girl”, “Wooly Bully”, and a couple of albums by The Beatles, Help and Revolver.

But for the sake of discussion, try 1957 on for size. “Wake Up Little Susie”, “Come Go With Me”, “Little Darlin'”, “Party Doll”, “School Days” and “You Send Me”. On the strength of those alone, you got a new soundtrack for American Grafitti!

And there’s one more. One of the singularly iconic songs in the history of rock and roll, a monster that was Number One for 9 weeks, and was on the charts for almost a half a year!

You just knew Elvis was in here somewhere!

By Bob Berry

I have long thought the greatest songs are the ones where just one or two lines can bring back memory, and enable you to sing the entire lyrics.

Think Lennon & McCartney, the Great American Songbook writers, the Brill Building contingent, and Motown’s Smokey Robinson and Holland-Dozier-Holland.

Or think Paul Simon.

“A winter’s day, in  deep and dark December…”.

“When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school..”.

“When you’re weary, feeling small…”.

“And it was late in the evening, and all the music seeping through…”.

“The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls…”..

Paul Simon’s songs , with Art Garfunkel or as a solo artist, are beautiful poetry. They are highly personal, autobiographical, endlessly romantic, even at their most bitter or cynical. They are also, thinking “At The Zoo”, “You Can Call Me Al”, and, of course, “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy)”, just plain fun.

Today (10/12), on his birthday, we at Keener13 feel lucky to have enjoyed his great gift.

By Bob Berry

“Blue”.

You probably know him as Melvin Franklin. You may only know of him as the “and the band played on” guy from Motown’s Temptations.

Melvin, who hooked up with Northwester High School classmate Otis Williams to join Otis’ first group The Distants in 1958, was the soul, the fat-bottom, “the glue guy”, the one, who along with Otis, never left Motown’s original and greatest Fab Five.

Until he died, far too young in 1995, of complications from cortisone treatments for arthritis.

Today, 10/12, would have been “Blue’s” 72nd birthday. Put on some of those old Motown Records and listen closely to Melvin’s rich bass voice on these vocal only mixes of The Temptations’ hits, from “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg”, to “My Girl” and yeah, “Papa Was A Rolling Stone“. You might be amazed at what you have never heard before.

But do it after you listen to this stunning mid-song solo. Love you, “Blue”, R.I.P.

By Bob Berry

Deciding what song was on the menu for this week’s Keener Sunday Brunch was an easy choice, and a good excuse to break out the cake and ice cream!

Happy Birthday to one of the great “blue-eyed soul”singers-and survivors,  2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Darryl Hall of Hall and Oates.

Survivor? Consider that Darryl and partner John Oates released their first album in 1972, changed labels 3 years later, and finally cracked the Top Ten with “Sara Smile” in 1976. And then kinda went along with a hit or so a year until they exploded in the 80’s, with multi-million selling albums like Voices, H2O and Private Eyes

Great “blue-eyed soul” singer? You bet, just listen to Darryl’s roots in Philadelphia’s soul traditions shine through, be it a ballad like 1974’s  “She’s Gone“, or mid-tempo dance tunes like “Kiss On My List” and “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do“.

Enjoy Keener’s Sunday Brunch with Darryl Hall and John Oates.

By Bob Berry

“If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that’s his problem. Love and peace are eternal.”-John Lennon

Today would have been John Lennon’s 75th birthday.

We at Keener 13 can think of no greater gift to John’s memory than to honor the spirit of his dream.

Imagine is the Keener 13 Friday Song.

In the words of your old mate Ringo Starr, “Peace and Love”, John.

By Bob Berry

Today, 10/7, is the anniversary of one of the most-controversial moments in World Series history.

It wasn’t a called strike, a play at the plate, or a fan “going Bartman“. In fact, it was during pre-game for Game 5 of the 1968 World Series with the Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals.

It was Jose Feliciano, appearing at the the personal invitation of Tiger icon Ernie Harwell, singing his very personal interpretation (and instantly controversial) of our National Anthem.

And boy, did it hit the fan!

“Un-American” might have been the most PG thing that was said to describe his singing. And, yeah, it was different, but to my ears then and now, hardly disrespectful. Hardly the lows of Roseanne, or Carl Lewis in later years.

Jose’, who had been on top of the charts with his version of The Doors‘ “Light My Fire”; saw his career among English-speaking audiences fall apart in the aftermath, save for 1970’s “Feliz Navidad“. And, in a nice moment of closure, was cheered when he reprised his performance at Comerica Park in 2010, after Ernie Harwell’s death.

BTW. There is one other “note” to this story. Ernie, who was also a songwriter (with “lots of no-hitters“) had been put in charge of selecting the singers for each of the 3 home games at Tiger Stadium. For Game 4, and with no disrespect to Mr. Feliciano, his National Anthem singer hit a home run!

By Bob Berry

We’ve all seen it. The Geico “Final Countdown” commercial.

Funny the first time, amusing the next couple of times.

But now, it’s in “hot rotation” on nearly every cable channel (I didn’t check Lifetime), and it’s annoying.

A song by a band named Europe, written by a guy named Joey Tempest? Really?  #1 in 25 different countries? Really?  And in spite of being on my short list for worst song of the 80’s (lots of choices), I’ve discovered that Rolling Stone readers had a different #1, back in 2011.

“The Lady In Red”, “Never Gonna Give You Up”, “The Safety Dance”, they all there, plus “The Final Countdown”. Click here for the list, videos and Who’s Number One. Or Number Worst!

I should have stuffed the ballot box.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH1biQdyiQI

By Bob Berry

October 5, 1962. The Beatles released their first single in the U.K., “Love Me Do“.

Surprisingly, if only in retrospect, it didn’t sell all that well, peaking at #17 on the charts, and it wasn’t released in the U.S. until 1964! And yet within the next year or so, the world would know that the release of “Love Me Do” was a turning point for The Beatles, and in our lives, too.

Ringo, who played tambourine, not drums on the single, said it best:

“….That first piece of plastic. You can’t believe how great that was. It was so wonderful. We were on a record!”

And to think “P.S. I Love You” was only good enough to be the flip side!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaIQfmE_LCQ

By Bob Berry

“…I need rain to disguise the tears in my eyes…”.

Nobody sang a “pain” song than David Ruffin.

“Ain’t Too Proud To Beg”, “Since I Lost My Baby”, “I Know I’m Losing You”, David’s last song with the Tempts, “It’s You That I Need”, and more.

But above all, stands “I Wish It Would Rain“.

From Earl Van Dyke’s opening notes on the Motown Steinway, to the very tasty and restrained track by The Funk Brothers , and the incredible blend of the background vocals , “Rain” is a great track. And then..

“Sunshine, blue skies, please go away, My girl has found another, and gone away..”.

Nobody sang a “pain” song like David Ruffin.

Sunday Brunch celebrates The Motown Sound with the original “Fab Five”.