Lots of ground to cover this week in Keenerland!
It was a big day in Detroit automotive history on Wednesday: the 10 millionth Ford Mustang rolled off the assembly line. There was a parade of Mustangs from every year of production: 1964-2018 from Ford World HQ in Dearborn to the Flat Rock Assembly Plant (where Mustangs are assembled) It’s been the best selling sports car in America over the past 50 years. The Mustang was first revealed to the public on April 17, 1964, at the New York World’s Fair.
With the highest primary turnout in Michigan history, we celebrated by remembering Pat Paulesn‘s 1968 presidential run. Paulsen gained fame on the CBS-TV “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour”. His presidential run became a perennial event during his prime. Here’s a link to several of Pat’s Smothers Brothers “Editorials”, which lead Tom and Dick to suggest the notion of running for Commander in Chief. According to Wikipedia, “Paulsen’s name appeared on the ballot in New Hampshire for the Democratic primary several times. In 1996, he received 921 votes (1%) to finish second to President Bill Clinton (76,754 votes); this was actually ahead of real politicians such as Buffalo mayor James D. Griffin. In 1992, he came in second to George Bush in the North Dakota Republican Primary. In the 1992 Republican Party primaries, he received 10,984 votes total.”
48 years ago this week, The Goose Lake International Music Festival was held near Jackson. While Woodstock got the movie and the forever fame, Goose Lake wasn’t far behind. Construction company owner Richard Songer teamed up with WKNR-FM’s Russ Gibb to put on the show. And what a show it was. Over 200,000 people were on hand to hear performances by The Faces featuring Rod Stewart, Jethro Tull, Chicago, Ten Years After, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Mountain, John Sebastian, the James Gang featuring Joe Walsh, The Flock and The Litter. Local heroes on the revolving stage included: Bob Seger, the MC5, The Stooges, Detroit featuring Mitch Ryder, Brownsville Station, Savage Grace, Third Power and SRC. Masters of ceremonies were Teegarden & Van Winkle, who also performed. After over 150 drug arrests were made, Michigan attorney general Frank J. Kelley said, “I think we have seen the first and last rock concert of that size in Michigan”. And he was right. And speaking of John Sebastian, here’s a NYT Tale about how The Lovin’ Spoonful‘s “Summer in the City” became the sound track for every city’s summer.
Turtle Trivia: On August 7, 1965, The Turtles released what would become their first hit record, the Bob Dylan penned, “It Ain’t Me Babe” (Video). The former “Crossfires” would hit 11 times on Keener, their biggest being 1967’s “Happy Together” (Video). Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan would continue to perform in many incarnations, as members of Frank Zappa‘s band and as the duo “Flo and Eddie”.
This week in 1964, The Animals released “House of the Rising Sun” (Video). Legend has it that they recorded the tune in just one take, in less than 10 minutes. Clocking in at 4:29, the record was deemed a little too long for Keener’s tight formatics, so Paul Cannon made a special 2:58 edit that MGM records latched onto. It became the most ubiquitous version played on Top 40 stations across the country.
This was also the week when the iconic Abbey Road album cover was shot by photographer Iain MacMillan. “Paul Is Dead” conspiracy theorists believe that his barefoot stride was an indicator that he was, in fact, a corpse. Other iterations of the 6 photos MacMillian took while balanced on a step ladder show Paul in flip-flops. McCartney, who ultimately selected the iconic cover photo, later claimed that he went barefoot because it was simply a hot day. Although “Let It Be” was released later, “Abbey Road” was the final Beatles studio collaboration. BTW, The most well researched book on the Paul Is Dead phoenominon is “Turn Me On, Dead Man: The Beatles and the Paul McCartney Death Hoax“, written by Andru Reeve. It’s great reading for any Keenerfan.
In 1969, Sly and the Family Stone released “Hot Fun in the Summertime” (Video), one of 10 WKNR chart appearances for the former San Francisco disc Jockey and Denton, Texas native, Sylvester Stewart and his band. It was released in the wake of their appearance at Woodstock, an event that greatly expanded their fanbase. It’s also one of three hit singles that were never released on an LP, until Sly’s Greatest Hits collection came out in 1970.
The Keener Question of the Week: What album had the biggest impact on you as a teenager? Here is what a number of Keener Facebook Fans told us.
Did you know.. that this week in 1957 American Bandstand debuted on ABC-TV with Dick Clark as the host? Clark had been doing the show at WFIL Philadelphia, where it had been a mainstay since Bob Horn originated it in 1954. Clark’s first ABC guest: Buddy Holly. In a 1965 concert this week in Chicago, Mike Smith, lead singer of the Dave Clark Five, had two ribs broken when he was pulled off the stage by overzealous fans. Meanwhile, at the Columbia Recording Studio in Nashville, Roger Miller jumped on the British Invasion bandwagon, recording “England Swings.” From the “who discovered who” department, this week in 1969, Diana Ross hosted a party At the Beverly Hills Daisy Club for 350 special guests to announce “her discovery,” a singing group called the Jackson 5. It was actually the mercurial Bobby Taylor who discovered them and Gladys Knight who recommended them to Motown label boss Berry Gordy, Jr. Taylor passed away last year at age 83.
Keener birthdays this week include:
August 7 B.J. Thomas – 75
August 8 Connie Stevens – 79
August 9 Barbara Mason – 70
August 10 Ian Anderson – 70
August 11 Eric Carmen – 68
August 12 Buck Owens would have been 88. He passed away at age 76 in March of 2006.
Hard to believe it’s been 13 years since Jerry Garcia left us. Like too many of the great musical talents of the Keener age, Jerry struggled with addiction and health problems. And yet, he was a central personality in the founding and the 3 decade career of the prolific and continually touring Grateful Dead. While the Dead never charted on WKNR-AM, they were prominently featured on Keener FM.
Keener #1 hits for the week ending August 12 include:
(1964) Bread & Butter, New Beats
(1965) You Were On My Mind, We Five
(1966) See You in September, Happenings
(1967) Society’s Child, Janis Ian
(1968) People Got To Be Free, Rascals
(1969) A Boy Named Sue, Johnny Cash
(1970) In The Summertime, Mungo Jerry
(1971) How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, Bee Gees
This week’s deep dive into the WKNR Music Guide comes from the week of August 14, 1969. Johnny Cash was at number 1 with Shel Silverstein‘s, “A Boy Named Sue” (Video). We’re pretty sure that Keener bleeped the SOB line near the end. Ed Busch came to WKNR from CKLW and worked at W4 after his Keener service. Here’s a Freep story about his time across the river, courtesy of our good friends at Motor City Radio Flashbacks. Columnist Loraine Alterman is the “Loraine” you see Frankie Valli talking with in Jersey Boys. She went on to marry Young Frankenstein actor Peter Boyle. That Oakland Mall concert featuring Bob Seger, Savage Grace, The Third Power and The Sky ended up drawing north of 20,000 attendees.
Dave Mason posted this New Yorker comic on his Facebook Page. So many from our generation can relate to both the story and the way we’re telling it these days…
And finally, in celebration of last week’s National Oyster Day, we featured this classic Curly Howard video on the Keener FB page. Brings back memories of watching the boys on Channel 7 with Johnny Ginger!
