Brian's Music Musings

Last night on my radio show at KVMR-FM, I featured segments of my interview with Richard Mayer, former member of the Victors which featured Hugh Barrett. He was on the recording of Fungus Among Us on the Madison label, in 1962. You can listen to the first hour of the show or you can listen to the entire interview. Terry Noland first recorded the song in 1958 for Brunswick, and then re-released it in 1961 to coincide with the Victors issue, which gained popularity in the Midwest. Also played was the follow up "Devils Love", a song by Chuck Baker who was a member of the group, and an instrumental by Bobby Angel and the Hillsiders called Submarine Race.

My interest in the Ribbon label is probably unfounded and accidental. The best known group on the label were the Fireflies, but there were a number of really great artists/songs including Berlin Perry and the Gleams, the Scott Brothers, and a pretty decent teener by Frank Gari. That was actually my latest acquisition in my now apparently finish to running the label. There are two Ribbon numbers that are not accounted for - 6907 and 6912. All 4 of my sources show these "empty", but I also realize sometimes sources and publications tend to borrow information from one another. In any case, unless those numbers are shown with a legitimate release, I will figure I have all known issues on Ribbon. Still, that only means a total of 12 records.

Always on the lookout for odd 78's, or at least odd to me. The Mark IV had a fun two sider that featured Make With The Shake and 45 RPM. Originally released on the Cosmic label, they pressed a bunch of 45's in March of 1958, and certainly as shown on the right, some 78's. Canadian issues were on Reo - both 45 and 78. Probably not considered a real late 78 by most, but certainly a fun one that doesn't show up all the time.

I have a new page, well, not exactly new, but I never put a link to it on my home page. It is a small page in comparison to some of my artist pages, but is fun. It shows records that had two different titles. Usually the first title was only pressed for a short time because someone had a problem with it. Maybe it was misspelled, said the wrong thing, or they deemed a different title more appropriate. I have a lucky 13 examples on the page, though I'm sure I will add a few as time goes on. "Church Bells Are Ringing" is probably one of the best known examples of title changes. It was clearly an incorrect title based on the lyrics of the song. Both 78's and 45's were pressed with this boofoo, and Melba records quickly fixed the error. A couple I have listed are not quite as well known. The Royal Teens "Shamrock Hop" is an odd one that I accidentally discovered, and the Bill Smith/Charlie and the Jives was another accidental discovery which is fairly interesting. In my future, I will create a page or split this one and add groups that had two names, with the same song. Perhaps a few liberties will be taken.

Speaking of such, one of the record that fits the above criteria is the 5 Chanels. Their song "The Reason" was issued first as the Chanels, then as the 5 Chanels. Based on my limited information so far, the group was from Harrisburg PA, and Sharon Scott was the lead singer. They were also known as Virgil and the Four Channels - Waiting / Don't Keep It To Yourself (Deb 508) -"The Reason" was released in 1958 and just got to #98 on the Billboard charts. The appearance was brief as it only stayed one week.

Also on my agenda is to post a few Chubby Checker pictures from last week's concert, and put on his first 3 records.

After about one year exactly, I am returning to my blog. I guess I ran out of ideas, and had several time consuming projects that just got in the way. I started using our studio "B" at KVMR-FM on my weekly radio show, and decided to get a load of music on my hard drive. About 25,000 songs later, I decided I had a load, but of course, never enough. I will start updating my web site pages (Lot's to do!) and I plan to start submitting corrections and additions to Osborne's Rockin Records before the end of the year.

In my absence, the blog with the most response, is the one concerning Roy Tan. Seems the mystery of Roy Tan continues. I'm still looking for credible information on who he is.

Last night, Chubby Checker came to my town, Grass Valley. Yep, we may be a small town on the map, but Chubby came and rocked the joint. An amazing and energetic show, he kept us entertained, worked the crowd and had amazing interaction. His band, the Wildcats, were top notch. Oh yeah, I got the chance of a lifetime - I introduced him to the crowd!

The first page on my list to update, was the Rockin Rebels et al. To the left, is a picture of the other label that the Russ Hallett trio recorded on, Vim records. I had the Phitom issue, but added this one. Vim was distributed by Clock, and both Vim and Phitom have the ZTSP Columbia products number on them. Which one came first? An argument could be said for both, but in reality, there are a lot more of the Phitom's then Vim's floating around. Aldo Brozzetti seemed to think he had a box of both labels when the record was issued. I am going with Vim first, until I can be proven incorrect. And that does happen sometimes! Also added were a Sparton recording of Big John Little, another record by him with Fern Dauth on the Spurline label, likely issued in the 1980's. Two different Thunderbirds records from the W&G label out of Australia were added. One is the later release of their "Wild Weekend" and the other is an original 6 song EP also on W&G. Finally, a nicer copy of the Bubbles record- also a copy that actually plays the Rockin Crickets record (See web page for details) and a Pye label release of Rockin Crickets. And yes, I know I am still missing some records on this page, it keeps me looking for them!

What's next? I don't even know for sure.