Month: November 2021
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Trouble In Mission City!
Rock and roll dance promoter Red Robinson is unlikely to revisit Mission City — with or without police dogs. Town council last night, after discussing the near-riot which followed a Robinson-sponsored dance Saturday night in the Legion auditorium, vowed to prohibit rock and roll dances here — by means of a by-law if necessary. The…
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Elvis, “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”
This week in 1960, Elvis Presley celebrates his second week at #1 on the CKWX Fabulous 40 and the C-FUNtastic 50 with “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” The song would stay in the top spot at both stations for almost a month! It was Elvis’ 15th #1 hit. I was serving in the U.S. Army in…
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Chris Isaak’s “Beyond The Sun” is 10!
I treasure this autographed photo with Chris Isaak, taken 10 years ago when Chris came to Vancouver for the PNE/Playland‘s Summer Concert Series. I presented him with this iconic portrait of me with Elvis, taken at his 1957 Empire Stadium concert. Thanks to ace photographer Kevin Statham for this one! Chris had just recorded “Beyond…
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Glad All Over! Dave Clark Five at C-FUN
On this day in 1964, three months after The Beatles‘ Empire Stadium concert, British hitmakers The Dave Clark Five arrived in Vancouver! A month after the Beatles smash February performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, the DC5 visited Sullivan and performed their first hit “Glad All Over”. They returned the next week with two more…
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Donovan’s “Mellow Yellow” Turns 55
On this day in 1966, Donovan‘s “Mellow Yellow” climbed to the #1 spot on both the C-FUNtastic Fifty and competitor CKLG’s Boss 40. The two stations were locked in a battle for rock’n’roll radio supremacy in Vancouver, and C-FUN was losing the fight. CKLG’s streamlined “more music” approach was paying off, and C-FUN jocks Fred…
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Elvis Returns!
In March 1960, Elvis Presley came marching home from a stint in the U.S. Army. His first TV appearance in three years was ABC-TV‘s Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis special. Elvis sang for 8 minutes and he was reportedly paid $125,000 (just over $1 million today). Sinatra was 44 at the time, Elvis…
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“One Night” from Elvis and Fats Domino
Here’s the flip side of “I Got Stung”: “One Night” by Elvis Presley! The song was written by New Orleans producer Dave Bartholomew and his wife Pearl King. Bartholomew discovered Fats Domino. The original version was called “One Night of Sin”. Elvis recorded “One Night” with the original lyrics “One night of sin is what…
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Elvis Presley, “I Got Stung”
On this day in 1958, Elvis Presley‘s double-sided smash “I Got Stung”/”One Night” hits the #1 spot on the CKWX Sensational Sixty (“The ONLY survey of best-selling records in Vancouver”). Elvis recorded the songs in Nashville as he was getting ready to join the U.S. Army for a 17-month stay in Germany. These were my…
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New Gene Pitney Book!
Gene Pitney had a string of Top Ten hits in the early 60’s: “(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance”, “Only Love Can Break a Heart”, “Mecca”, “Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa”, “It Hurts to Be in Love” and “I’m Gonna Be Strong” are among the most memorable. I interviewed Gene in Vancouver in 1986 for…
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Remembering Conway Twitty
With Elvis in the U.S. Army in 1958, Conway Twitty was the closest we had to the real thing. Conway’s rockabilly sound made him one of the most successful rock ballad singers in the late Fifties. It is rumoured that he took his name from small towns in Arkansas and Texas. His real name was…