Monday, August 29, 2011

This Week On Treasure Island Oldies


August 28th, 2011 to September 3rd, 2011

Thanks for another fun week on the show, as we progress closer to the end of summer. With that in mind, please be sure to join me for our Annual Labour Day Back To School End Of Summer Special. We'll be playing work-type, school-related and the last of the summer songs for the season. And if you'd like to hear a song on next week's show, please let me know ASAP. Just click the Requests button on any page of the website or give me a call and record your request on the 24/7 Listener Line at 206-339-0709. I look forward to hearing from you and playing your special song.

If you have a birthday coming up, be sure to let me know by sending an email to birthdays@treasureislandoldies.com. I'll wish you Happy Birthday on the show and play Birthday by The Beatles for you.

Thank you also for your emails regarding the impromptu tribute to both Jerry Leiber and Nicholas Ashford, two tremendously talented and successful songwriters, along with their respective writing partners, Mike Stoller and Valerie Simpson, respectively. Leiber and Stoller and Ashford and Simpson wrote many, many hit songs, and it was great to play some of them for you during the show.

Voice Your Choice spotlights two great School-related songs for your votes. School Is Out and School Is In, both hit songs for Gary U.S. Bonds, are waiting for you votes. Cast your vote at the Voice Your Choice page. We'll play the winning song on next week's Annual Labour Day Back To School End Of Summer Special.

More and more people I am in touch with are using their iPhone or other smartphone for more than a phone call or a text message. Many are now enjoying listening to Treasure Island Oldies wherever they happen to be at that moment. And you can too. Listen to both the Live show and the 24/7 Stream on your smartphone. Here's where to get the app. May I suggest www.wunderradio.com. They have a version for all types of smartphones, including Android and iPhone. Once you download the app, then here is the link to put into your search. Link for the Live stream: http://meta.insinc.com/treasure/treasure.asx. And this is the Link for the 24/7 Stream: http://treasureislandoldies.com/ContinuousTIO_2.asx. Happy listening!

Let the world know you're a proud listener of Treasure Island Oldies. Send in your name, photo, city and province or state for the Listener Gallery to michael@treasureislandoldies.com and our Webmaster, Eddy Fisher, will post it on the Listener Gallery page along with the many already received.

You can also let all your friends know you enjoy the show with your personal Treasure Island Oldies Email Signature. A selection of complimentary signatures to be placed at the end of your outgoing emails is available for download. Click Goodies on the upper menu on any page on the website. Thanks to the many folks that have downloaded their own copy of the Email Signature. That's great!

I hope you have a great week and see you next Sunday for the live show.

Bye for now.

Michael

Gary U.S. Bonds - Voice Your Choice

Gary U.S. Bonds was born Gary Anderson June 6, 1939 in Jacksonville, Florida, and raised in Norfolk, Virginia. He was signed to the independent label, Legrand Records, and charted seven singles between 1960 and 1962. Out of those seven, 5 were Top Ten hits, and one reached Gold status (Quarter To Three)!

He disappeared from the charts until 1981, when Bruce Springsteen took him under his wings, and along with Miami Steve Van Zandt (aka Little Steven), produced three singles, most notably This Little Girl, which peaked at #11 in 1981.

This week on the Labour Day Back To School  End Of Summer Special on Treasure Island Oldies, we spotlight Gary U.S. Bonds on Voice Your Choice with School Is Out and School Is In. Which song would you prefer to hear? Come to the Voice Your Choice page and make your selection. The song with the most votes will get played in the 3rd Hour next week on the show.

Dion - Song Of The Week

In keeping with our Tribute on this week's show to the late Jerry Leiber from the great songwriting team of Leiber and Stoller, here is Dion in a clip introduced by Dick Clark, with the Leiber and Stoller penned Ruby Baby.

I know you will enjoy this great tune; it's our Song of the Week!

Michael

Monday, August 22, 2011

Nick Ashford - Legendary Motown Songwriter Has Died

Nick Ashford, one-half of the legendary Motown songwriting duo Ashford & Simpson, has died at age 70.


His longtime friend and former publicist Liz Rosenberg told The Associated Press that Ashford — who along with wife Valerie Simpson wrote some of Motown's biggest hits — died today in a New York City hospital. He had been suffering from throat cancer and had undergone radiation treatment.

Among the songs Ashford & Simpson penned are "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "You're All I Need To Get By" and "Reach Out And Touch Somebody's Hand".

He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

This Week On Treasure Island Oldies


August 22nd, 2011 to August 27th, 2011

Thanks for all the great feedback on our Annual Instrumental Gems Wordless Wonders Special. It's always great to hear from you, and this much-loved annual event continued its tradition of lots of comments. And thanks for the many requests too. Mark you calendar for our next special, live September 4 and all week on the Archive,  when we bring you the Labour Day Back To School End Of Summer Special. If there is a song you'd like to hear, be sure to let me know. Click the Requests button on any page of the website or call the 24/7 Listener Line at 206-339-0709.

Happy Birthday wishes go out to my good friends and host and producer of the weekly feature Hits From Across The Pond, Fay Greenwood and Matt Meaney. Also Birthday greetings and best wishes to Greg Simpson in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Alexander Van Engelen in Montreal, Quebec, Lawrence Macdonald in Seattle, Washington, and long time music industry colleague, Bob Segarini. If you have a birthday coming up, be sure to let me know by sending an email to birthdays@treasureislandoldies.com. I'll wish you Happy Birthday on the show and play Birthday by The Beatles for you.

It's a sad day for the music world with the news of the death of Jerry Leiber, half of the legendary Leiber and Stoller songwriting team, with his partner, Mike Stoller. I invite you to read the details below.  In tribute to Jerry Leiber, I am pleased to play one of their many hit songs: Hound Dog performed by Elvis Presley. It's our Song of the Week. Enjoy!

Voice Your Choice features Herman's Hermits from Manchester, England, with two of their many hit records: Silhouettes and I'm Into Something Good. Which song would you like to hear? Cast your vote at the Voice Your Choice page. We'll play the winning song in the 3rd hour of next week's show.

More and more people I am in touch with are using their iPhone or other smartphone for more than a phone call or a text message. Many are now enjoying listening to Treasure Island Oldies wherever they happen to be at that moment. And you can too. Listen to both the Live show and the 24/7 Stream on your smartphone. Here's where to get the app. May I suggest www.wunderradio.com. They have a version for all types of smartphones, including Android and iPhone. Once you download the app, then here is the link to put into your search. Link for the Live stream: http://meta.insinc.com/treasure/treasure.asx. And this is the Link for the 24/7 Stream: http://treasureislandoldies.com/ContinuousTIO_2.asx. Happy listening!

Let the world know you're a proud listener of Treasure Island Oldies. Send in your name, photo, city and province or state for the Listener Gallery to michael@treasureislandoldies.com and our Webmaster, Eddy Fisher, will post it on the Listener Gallery page along with the many already received.

You can also let all your friends know you enjoy the show with your personal Treasure Island Oldies Email Signature. A selection of complimentary signatures to be placed at the end of your outgoing emails is available for download. Click Goodies on the upper menu on any page on the website. Thanks to the many folks that have downloaded their own copy of the Email Signature. That's great!

I hope you have a great week and see you next Sunday for the live show.

Bye for now.

Michael

Herman's Hermits - Voice Your Choice

Herman's Hermits became of of the most successful of the British Invasion groups of the early-to-mid-1960s. While practically everyone knows Peter Noone, the lead singer and head of the band, not that many know who the rest of the members were. Time to rectify that situation. They were Derek Leckenby and Keith Hopwood on guitars, Karl Green on bass, and Barry Whitwam on drums. The name Herman's Hermits was derived from the cartoon character Sherman on the TV show The Bullwinkle Show.

Before Peter Noone left the group in 1972 for a solo career, Herman's Hermits racked up an impressive 19 charted hits, with 11 in the Top Ten plus 3 Gold Records.

This week on Treasure Island Oldies, Voice Your Choice spotlights Herman's Hermits with two of their hits: Silhouettes and I'm Into Something Good.

Which song would you like me to play? Cast your vote by going to the Voice Your Choice page and making your selection. We'll play the winning song in Hour 3 of next week's show.

Tribute To Jerry Leiber: Hound Dog - Elvis Presley Song of the Week

As a tribute to the late lyricist Jerry Leiber of the incredible songwriting team of Leiber and Stoller, alongside his music partner Mike Stoller, I am pleased to play for you one of the MANY hit songs written by Leiber and Stoller.

Here is Elvis Presley performing on the Milton Berle TV Show with a very hot performance of Hound Dog, a Leiber and Stoller classic hit.

Jerry Leiber, R.I.P.

Michael

Jerry Leiber of Legendary Songwriting Team of Leiber and Stoller Has Died

Jerry Leiber (pictured left), the lyricist who, with his partner, Mike Stoller (pictured right) , wrote some of the most enduring classics in the history of rock ’n’ roll, including “Hound Dog,” “Yakety Yak,” “Stand By Me” and “On Broadway,” died on Monday in Los Angeles. He was 78.

The cause was cardio-pulmonary failure, said Randy Poe, president of Leiber & Stoller Music Publishing.

The team of Leiber and Stoller was formed in 1950, when Mr. Leiber was still a student at Fairfax High in Los Angeles and Mr. Stoller, a fellow rhythm-and-blues fanatic, was a freshman at Los Angeles City College. With Mr. Leiber contributing catchy, street-savvy lyrics and Mr. Stoller, a pianist, composing infectious, bluesy tunes, they set about writing songs with black singers and groups in mind.

In 1952, they wrote “Hound Dog” for the blues singer Big Mama Thornton. The song became an enormous hit for Elvis Presley in 1956 and made Leiber and Stoller the hottest songwriting team in rock ’n’ roll. They later wrote “Jailhouse Rock,” “Loving You,” “Don’t,” “Treat Me Nice,” “King Creole” and other songs for Presley, despite their loathing for his interpretation of “Hound Dog.”

In the late 1950s, having relocated to New York and taken their place among the constellation of talents associated with the Brill Building, they emerged as perhaps the most potent songwriting team in the genre.
Their hits for the Drifters remain some of the most admired songs in the rock ’n’ roll canon, notably “On Broadway,” written with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and “Stand By Me” with Ben E. King. With Phil Spector, Mr. Leiber wrote the Drifters hit “Spanish Harlem.”

They wrote a series of hits for the Coasters, including “Charlie Brown,” “Young Blood” with Doc Pomus, “Searchin’,” “Poison Ivy” and “Yakety Yak.”

“Smokey Joe’s Cafe,” a 1954 hit written for the Robins, became the title of a Broadway musical based on the Leiber and Stoller songbook. In 1987, the partners were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller have written some of the most spirited and enduring rock ’n’ roll songs," the hall said in a statement when they were inducted. “Leiber and Stoller advanced rock ’n’ roll to new heights of wit and musical sophistication.”

Jerome Leiber was born on April 25, 1933, in Baltimore, where his parents, Jewish immigrants from Poland, ran a general store. When Jerry was 5, his father died and his mother tried, with little success, to run a small store in one of the city’s worst slums. When he was 12, she took him to Los Angeles.

It was while attending Fairfax High in Los Angeles and working in Norty’s Record Shop that he met Leonard Sill, a promoter for Modern Records, and confessed that he wanted to be a songwriter. After Sill urged him to find a pianist who could help him put his ideas onto sheet music he met Mr. Stoller through a friend, and the two began writing together.


“Often I would have a start, two or four lines,” Mr. Leiber told Robert Palmer, the author of “Baby, That Was Rock & Roll: The Legendary Leiber and Stoller” (1978). “Mike would sit at the piano and start to jam, just playing, fooling around, and I’d throw out a line. He’d accommodate the line — metrically, rhythmically.”

Within a few years they had written modestly successful songs for several rhythm-and-blues singers: “K.C. Lovin’ ” for Little Willie Littlefield, which under the title “Kansas City” became a No. 1 hit for Wilbert Harrison in 1959.
In 1952, Sill arranged for Mr. Leiber and Mr. Stoller to visit the bandleader Johnny Otis and to listen to several of the rhythm-and-blues acts who worked with him, including Big Mama Thornton, who sang “Ball and Chain” for them. Inspired, the partners went back to Mr. Stoller’s house and wrote “Hound Dog.”

“I yelled, he played,” Mr. Leiber told Josh Alan Friedman, the author of “Tell the Truth Until They Bleed: Coming Clean in the Dirty World of Blues and Rock ’n’ Roll” (2008). “The groove came together and we finished in 12 minutes flat. I work fast. We raced right back to lay the song on Big Mama.”

In 1953 they formed Spark Records, an independent label, with Sill, but without national distribution it failed to score major hits. Atlantic Records, which had bought the Leiber and Stoller song “Ruby Baby” and “Fools Fall in Love” for the Drifters, signed them to an unusual agreement that allowed them to produce for other labels. The golden age of Leiber and Stoller began.

Their seemingly endless list of hit songs from this period included “Love Potion No. 9” for the Clovers (later a hit for the Searchers). In the mid-1960s, Mr. Leiber and Mr. Stoller concentrated on production. They founded Red Bird Records, where they turned out hit records by girl groups like the Dixie Cups (“Chapel of Love”) and the Shangri-Las (“Leader of the Pack,” “Walking in the Sand”).

They sold the label in 1966 and worked as independent producers and writers. Peggy Lee, who had recorded their song “I’m a Woman” in 1963, recorded “Is that All There Is?” in 1969.

Mr. Leiber is survived by three sons, Jed, Oliver and Jake, and two grandchildren. With Mr. Stoller and David Ritz, Mr. Leiber wrote  a 2009 memoir, “Hound Dog: The Leiber & Stoller Autobiography.”

Monday, August 01, 2011

This Week On Treasure Island Oldies


July 31st, 2011 to August 6th, 2011

Here we are, half way through the summer of 2011. The good news is we still have the other half yet to enjoy. And to make the balance of your summer even more enjoyable, be sure to join us next week for our Annual Instrumental Gems Wordless Wonders Special. The show will be filled with all kinds of songs you love and remember, but none of them have any words. We'll recall the days when an instrumental hit was a common occurrence and we'll have four hours of these great classic oldies for you live next Sunday, August 7th starting at 6 pm Pacific time. And don't worry if you can't make it for the live show. It will be archived and available on demand. Just go to the Listen page and select the Real Media for the special or the 24/7 Windows Media Stream. I look forward to having you as part of one of the most anticipated shows of the year.

It was sad to hear of the passing of Gene McDaniels at age 76. What a great and distinctive voice he had too! I was pleased to play four of his signature hits for you on the show this week: A Hundred Pounds Of Clay, Chip Chip, Tower Of Strength and Point Of No Return. There is more information of this news at the Treasure Island Oldies Blog. Check it you.

Speaking of the Blog, this week we pay tribute to the late Gene McDaniels in a live acoustic performance of A Hundred Pounds Of Clay with guitarist Kent Allyn. Gene sang this song for the first time in nearly fifty years at a 2010 Arts In Reach program for teenage girls. I know you will enjoy this.

As we have our Instrumental Gems Wordless Wonders Special next week, Voice Your Choice will return Sunday, August 14th with Miss Toni Fisher and her two big hits: The Big Hurt and West Of The Wall. Cast your vote at the Voice Your Choice page.

Take Treasure Island Oldies wherever you go this summer. You can listen to both the Live show as well as the 24/7 Stream on your smartphone. You'll need an app for listening. May I suggest www.wunderradio.com. They have a version for all types of smartphones, including Android and iPhone. It's fun to be able to listen on the go. Here's the link for the live stream: http://meta.insinc.com/treasure/treasure.asx. And this is the link for the 24/7 Stream: http://treasureislandoldies.com/ContinuousTIO_2.asx.

Let the world know you're a proud listener of Treasure Island Oldies. Send in your name, photo, city and province or state for the Listener Gallery to michael@treasureislandoldies.com and our Webmaster, Eddy Fisher, will post it on the Listener Gallery page along with the many already received.

You can also let all your friends know you enjoy the show with your personal Treasure Island Oldies Email Signature. A selection of complimentary signatures to be placed at the end of your outgoing emails is available for download. Click Goodies on the upper menu on any page on the website. Thanks to the many folks that have downloaded their own copy of the Email Signature. That's great!

I hope you have a great week and see you next Sunday for the live show.

Bye for now.

Michael

Miss Toni Fisher - Voice Your Choice

There will be no Voice Your Choice next week during the Annual Instrumental Gems Wordless Wonders Special on Treasure Island Oldies, but the popular feature will return August 14th with Miss Toni Fisher.

She was from Los Angeles, California, where she was born in 1931. She died of a heart attack on February 19, 1999 at age 67. She had three songs on the Billboard chart between 1959 and 1962. Despite such a short career on the charts, two of her songs have made lasting impressions. Her first hit, The Big Hurt was the first hit record to feature "phasing", an electronic gimmick that bends and distorts the sound waves. Her third hit single, West Of the Wall was inspired by the Berlin Wall crisis in August of 1962.

Voice Your Choice spotlights those two songs by Miss Toni Fisher: The Big Hurt and West Of The Wall. Which song would you like me to play? Cast your vote by coming to the Voice Your Choice page and selecting the song you prefer. We'll play the winner in Hour 3 of the August 14th show.

Gene McDaniels - Song Of The Week

As a tribute to the late Gene McDaniels, the Treasure Island Oldies Blog is playing a live acoustic performance of Gene, along with guitarist Kent Allyn. Gene sings A Hundred Pounds of Clay at a 2010 Arts In Reach program for teenage girls.

This was the first time in nearly 50 years that Gene sang A Hundred Pounds Of Clay!

I know you will enjoy this very special performance.

Michael