Last week we celebrated rock’n’roll pioneer Ricky Nelson, and this week I’m remembering another American rock legend gone too soon: Ritchie Valens. Today (5/13) would have been his 81st birthday. 17 year-old Richard Steven Valenzuela came here in November, 1958. In my column in The Vancouver Sun that week I wrote: “This week in the…
Kyu Sakamoto’s “Sukiyaki” is #1
This week in 1963, Kyu Sakamoto‘s poignant Japanese-language ballad “Sukiyaki” is the #1 song on the C-FUNtastic Fifty for the second week in a row! The improbable success story of this song starts with my dear friend, the late Pat O’Day. Here’s the story Pat told on my final CISL show back in 2017: “I…
Rick Nelson Part 3
We’ve been celebrating Ricky Nelson on what would have been his 82nd birthday Sunday. Here’s the icing on Rick’s cake: a rare photo from his 1958 PNE Forum appearance. That’s me interviewing Rick for my CKWX show. The tape was blank, but this recently restored image is a great reminder of his visit. Rick became…
Rick Nelson Part 2
On what would have been Rick Nelson‘s 82nd birthday, we recall his first appearance here in the Spring of 1958 at the PNE Garden Auditorium. He was not well received. The late Jack Wasserman wrote in The Vancouver Sun: “When rock and roller Ricky Nelson finished his concert, a phalanx of bodyguards grabbed his arms…
Rick Nelson Part 1
Rock’n’roll pioneer Rick Nelson would have celebrated his 82nd birthday today – May 8. This photo of Rick and me was taken in his car when I worked at KGW in Portland, OR in 1959. Notice the tape recorder. It was called a Mohawk, and like the haircut of the same name, it cut out…
C-FUN, April 1962
Sixty years ago this week, I began one of the most exciting phases of my radio career when I made the move to C-FUN, “The Bright Exciting Sound Of Tomorrow!” Dave McCormick, Al Jordan, Brian Lord, Frosty Forst, Buzz Leboe, Jerry Landa, Al Jordan, Ronn Grimster, Tom Peacock, Fred Latremouille, Ed Karl, John H. Tanner,…
Herb Alpert and “The French Song”
Happy birthday to trumpet player, music executive and philanthropist Herb Alpert! It’s appropriate on this day to tell the true story of Herb’s connection to Canada and the Vancouver area. Almost a decade before Joni Mitchell and Anne Murray, Canada had its own international million-selling recording artist: Lucille Starr. She was born Lucille Marie Raymonde…
“Elvis” In Theatres June 24!
I guess you could say “I’m all shook up” about Baz Luhrmann‘s Elvis biopic with Austin Butler as The King and Tom Hanks as The Colonel! “Elvis” from Warner Bros. Pictures in theatres June 24. Playing Elvis’ music and watching his incredible success was no match for meeting him and introducing him onstage in Vancouver…
Happy 80th Birthday, Carole King!
We’re celebrating Carole King‘s 80th birthday today with some of her biggest hits from Red Robinson’s Legends and our friends at Spotify! Carole’s 1971 album Tapestry topped the Billboard chart for 15 weeks, won four Grammy Awards, and has sold more than 25 million copies. It’s one of the best-selling albums of all time! Carole…
Guy Mitchell, “Singing The Blues”
On this day in 1957, Columbia Records recording star Guy Mitchell‘s single “Singing the Blues” is number 1 on the CKWX Top Fifty! I was still at competitor CJOR and I wouldn’t move to ‘WX for a couple of months, but I managed to spend some time with Guy. He was in Vancouver for a…