This Week On Treasure Island Oldies

Week of June 26th, 2011 to July 2nd, 2011

Now that's what I call summer! Our 15th Annual Summer Beach Party was a rousing success and a great way to start the summer season with the greatest summertime music of the '50s, '60s, and '70s. Thanks for your requests; it was great to play them on the show. You can be sure that there will be much more throughout the summer season, in case I was not able to play your favourite on the show this week. There's still plenty more HOT songs coming your way.

Be sure to join us next week for our Annual Made In Canada Special, featuring the songwriters and recording artists who made their mark on the music scene from coast to coast in Canada and around the world. I've been getting your requests, thanks very much.

I just made it back to Vancouver in time to get home, unpack my suitcase, have a bite to eat and head to the studio for our Summer Beach Party. I was away in Palm Springs for a few days of r&r. Many thanks to my good friend Lawrence Little, founder and owner of Alternatives Funeral & Cremation Services™ for his gracious hospitality. We've been working together on re-branding his company for the past 2 1/2 years and just completed the roll out the previous week. Here's to the future Lawrence! I'm glad to be part of it all.

Happy Birthday wishes go out this week to Jess Vanditmar, my son David Godin's girlfriend, and to Tony Gize, my nephew in Airdrie, Alberta. And best wishes also to Paul Turner and 247 Music Radio, our Broadcast Partner Station in Singapore, celebrating their 3rd Anniversary on July 4th. Congratulations, Paul! If you have a birthday coming up, be sure to let me know. Send the details to birthdays@treasureislandoldies.com. I'll be pleased to announce your birthday on the show and play our official birthday theme song by The Beatles, Birthday.

The Treasure Island Oldies Blog is playing one of the most popular summer songs of all time. Our Song of the Week is Love Letters In The Sand by Pat Boone. Enjoy!

Voice Your Choice spotlights Lighthouse, the great jazz rock group from Toronto, featuring the late Bob McBride on lead vocals. There are two songs once again this week, but you need to choose only one. Would you like to hear Sunny Days or One Fine Morning? Cast your vote at the Voice Your Choice page. We'll play the winning song in the 3rd hour of next week's Made In Canada Special.

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

Lighthouse - Voice Your Choice

Lighthouse, was a jazz-influenced rock group from Toronto, very popular in the early 1970s. There were at least ten members in the band lineup at any given time; however the core of the group was made up of Bob McBride on lead vocals, Skip Prokop on vocals and drums, Ralph Cole on guitar, Paul Hoffert on keyboards, Howard Shore on sax, Louie Yacknin on bass, as well as Don Dinovo on viola with Dick Armin on cello.

This week, in celebration  of Canada Day and our Annual Made In Canada Special on Treasure Island Oldies, we spotlight Lighthouse with two of their hit singles: Sunny Days and One Fine Morning. Cast your vote for the song you'd like to hear at the Voice Your Choice page. We'll play the winning song in the 3rd hour of next week's show.

Pat Boone - Song of the Week

Pat Boone was one of the most popular and successful male singers of the 1950s. He also had over twenty charted songs in the '60s. He was even Elvis Presley's favourite singer.

This week the Treasure Island Oldies Blog, in conjunction with our 15th Annual Summer Beach Party, is playing Pat Boone with Love Letters In The Sand, one of the biggest summertime songs of all time. And it's our Song of the Week.

Enjoy!
Michael

June 19th, 2011 to June 25th, 2011

As a Dad myself, I always really enjoy our Annual Father's Day Special, and this year was no exception. Isn't is interesting just how many songs have been recorded over the years that are either about Dad or have a reference to Dad, Father, Papa, etc.? It's great to be able to fill an entire show with Father's Day songs. And there are two more specials coming up for you. Next week join us for the 15th Annual Summer Beach Party with the sun, the surf, the sand, and great summertime music. It's a great party we have on the Island every year. In two weeks it's our Annual Music Of Canada Special, lots of great music from Canadian songwriters, singers and groups who have made their mark from coast to cast and around the world.

Happy Birthday wishes go out to Linda Guy in La Habra, California and Burt Thombs in Smithville, Ontario. If you have a birthday coming up, be sure to let me know. Send the details to birthdays@treasureislandoldies.com. I'll be pleased to announce your birthday on the show and play our official birthday theme song by The Beatles, Birthday.

The Treasure Island Oldies Blog is playing the quintessential Father's Day song, in keeping with this week's show special, but with a twist. The Song of the Week is My Dad by Paul Peterson. But the clip we're playing at on the Blog is a video tribute to Chuck Connors who starred in the TV western The Rifleman with Johnny Crawford. Happy Father's Day. Enjoy!

As next week is our 15th Annual Summer Beach Party here on the Island, Voice Your Choice has a couple of great summer hits for your votes. The Beach Boys, the perfect summer music group, are in the spotlight with Catch A Wave and Surfin' USA. Which song would you like to hear while on the beach during our Summer Beach party? Cast your vote at the Voice Your Choice page. We'll play the winning song in the 3rd hour of next week's show.

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

The Beach Boys - Voice Your Choice

The most popular American rock and roll group from Hawthorne, California is in the spotlight this week for Voice Your Choice on Treasure Island Oldies.

The Beach Boys, the epitome of summer beach music, are featured with two of their great hit songs: Catch A Wave and Surfin`USA. Which song would you like to hear? Come to the Voice Your Choice page and make your selection. The song with the most votes will be played in Hour 3 of next week's show.

Paul Peterson My Dad - Song of the Week

Paul Peterson co-starred with Shelley Fabares on The Donna Reed Show in the early '60s. As was common back then, show stars often ended up with a recording contract. In fact, often the movie studio owned the record label too. An example is Columbia Pictures which owned Colpix Records, the label both Shelley and Paul recorded with.

In 1962, Paul Peterson recorded a song which has since become the definitive Father's Day song, My Dad. The video clip of him performing the song on the TV show is not available to be embedded, so I thought I'd play for you My Dad by Paul Peterson, but with a Father's Day video tribute to Chuck Connors who played Lucas McCain on The Rifleman. Johnny Crawford played his son Mark McCain. There is some wonderful interaction between Johnny Crawford (who also had a short-lived but successful recording career when he was with Del-Fi Records).

Here there is a Tribute to Chuck Connors with Johnny Crawford, and the song My Dad, sung by Paul Peterson.

Happy Father's Day!
Michael

The Coasters Founder Carl Gardner Has Died

Many African-American close harmony groups flourished in the US in the 1950s, but few appealed to both black and white audiences as much as the Coasters. Their success owed a lot to the witty lyrics of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller on such songs as Charlie Brown and Yakety Yak, but it was also founded on the characterful vocals of Carl Gardner, who has died after a long illness aged 83.
Gardner was born in Tyler, Texas, where he was exposed to a wide range of music including gospel, big bands and opera. His sister, Carol, eventually became an opera singer in New York. After high school, Gardner worked in a department store by day and sang and played drums with a local dance band by night. "We played all over Texas, mostly for the real elite," he remembered.
In the early 50s, he decided to further his career in Los Angeles. He hung around the clubs and asked every band if he could get up and sing with them. By then, big bands in the style of Count Basie were being replaced by smaller R&B groups, and the first offer of a job came from the Robins, a doo-wop group that had already made some recordings. The group's lead singer had recently been sent to jail, and Gardner was able to fill the vacancy.
Soon he was recording Leiber and Stoller compositions with the Robins. These included some slow ballads, but the first hit to feature Gardner was Smokey Joe's Cafe. The songwriters were fascinated with the Mexican-American culture of Los Angeles and the song combined Latin rhythms with a quirky narrative, in which Gardner describes how he is attracted to a girl in a cafe but is soon ejected by her boyfriend, the eponymous owner of the establishment. Without losing a sense of humour, Gardner's voice manages to communicate a rapid series of emotions, by turns cool, excited and frightened.
Smokey Joe's Cafe was issued on the songwriters' own Spark label, but it attracted the attention of a much bigger company, Atlantic Records in New York. Nesuhi Ertegun, the founder of Atlantic, arranged for the Spark catalogue to be purchased and reissued on Atlantic. Smokey Joe's Cafe went on to sell 250,000 copies.
The plan was for Leiber, Stoller and the Robins to move to the east coast. However, three of the Robins wanted to stay in Los Angeles, so Gardner and the bass singer, Bobby Nunn, recruited new singers (Billy Guy and Leon Hughes), and their manager, Lester Sill, called this new group the Coasters.
Their first record, Down in Mexico, released in 1956, reprised the Latin theme in its tale of a young American's misadventures south of the border, and it was another big hit with black audiences. But some of the later songs that Leiber and Stoller presented to the Coasters were targeted at white teenagers as well. The lyrics for One Kiss Led to Another made a reference to "soda pop", and Searchin', the Coasters' first pop hit, listed a series of fictional detectives.
Searchin' went to No 3 in the US in 1957 and was followed by a number of American hits for the Coasters. They also achieved success in the UK with the singles Charlie Brown, which portrayed a high-school clown who "called the English teacher daddy-o"; Yakety Yak, the plaint of a teenager who is told to "take out the papers and the trash", "scrub that kitchen floor" and ignore his "hoodlum friend outside"; and Poison Ivy, a 1959 track that was later recorded by the Rolling Stones.
Several other Coasters songs were favourites with British artists. Screaming Lord Sutch attempted to emulate Gardner on his version of I'm a Hog for You Baby and the Hollies reworked Ain't That Just Like Me.
The group's hits gradually dried up in the 1960s and there were several changes of personnel. Eventually, several individuals, including Gardner, led their own versions of the Coasters, playing often at rock'n'roll revival events. In 1987, the Coasters were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The following year, Gardner and Guy performed at a New York concert to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Atlantic Records.
In order to prevent acts from unfairly performing under the Coasters' name, Gardner was instrumental in lobbying the state legislature in Florida in 2007 to pass a law restricting the use of a group's name to those bands which contained one or more original members of the lineup. That year, he also published an autobiography, Yakety Yak I Fought Back: My Life With the Coasters. He had recently managed and coached the official Coasters group, which is now led by his son, Carl Jr.
Gardner is survived by his wife, Veta, and his son.
• Carl Edward Gardner, singer, born 29 April 1928; died 12 June 2011

Johnny Cash - Voice Your Choice

Johnny Cash was born February 26, 1932 in Kingsland, Arkansas. He was one of the original artists signed to Sun Records, along with Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison. He passed away September 23, 2003. He sold over 90 million albums during a career than spanned nearly 50 years.

He appeared 48 times on the Billboard Hot 100 charts from 1956 through 1976, yet only scored one Gold Record and the Number Two position on the chart in 1969 for A Boy Named Sue.

Next week on Treasure Island Oldies Voice Your Choice features Johnny Cash with two of his big hit records for your Father's Day votes: A Boy Named Sue and Daddy Sang Bass. Cast your vote at the Voice Your Choice page. We'll play the winning song in Hour 3 of next week's show.

This Week On Treasure Island Oldies

Due to my current very busy work schedule, I won't be able to give you an Update this week. Sorry for any inconvenience. If you have not yet had an opportunity to read the latest Update, please scroll down the page.

Thanks very much.

Michael

This Week On Treasure Island Oldies

June 5th, 2011 to June 11th, 2011

I think we have woken up the sleeping giant. I have been getting inquiries from Mac users to confirm they are able to listen to the show. The answer is yes - you can definitely listen to the show using a Mac. As I mentioned, we recently have added a Macintosh to our production computers and we have been testing our site and sounds on Macintosh. Since there isn't a Windows Media Player for the Macintosh, our listeners have been limited to only being able to listen to the live show in Real or archives using Real when they are using OS X. Now that has changed. We have tested VLC Media Player and it plays back either the Live feed of Windows Media or the 24/7 Windows Media feed (it also plays Real Media files). We encourage you to support such excellent open source programs. Visit the VLC Project and download your copy of their Media Payer for Windows, Linux, Mac and Unix.

In addition, you can also listen to both the Live show as well as the 24/7 Stream on your smartphone. You will 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.

Happy 1st Anniversary wishes go out to Rich and Kitten in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It's amazing that a year has gone by already. It was a pleasure to play Heaven Knows by The Grass Roots for the happy couple. Unfortunately, Kitten has come down with some type of flu bug and was not feeling in much like celebrating. Hope you feel better soon Kitten. And thanks to Rick and Connie is Madison, Wisconsin, who requested that I play Our Anniversary by The Five Satins for their best friends.

Speaking of celebrating, Happy Birthday wishes go out to Nancy Turnbull, a long time listener of the show, and to Paul Carter Jr. in Ellicott City, Maryland. And if you have a birthday coming up, be sure to let me know. Send the details to birthdays@treasureislandoldies.com. I'll be pleased to announce your birthday on the show and play our official birthday theme song by The Beatles, Birthday.

This week also marks the first anniversary of the Music Links Feature on the show. Many thanks to Paul Carter Jr. for his hard work on coming up with so many songs that are connected together. Another Music Link comes your way again on next week's show.

The Treasure Island Oldies Blog is playing The Exciters with their debut smash hit, Tell Him. The cool thing about this clip is that it is one of the original Scopitones, songs performed by the artist or group lip synching and captured on 16mm film. Enjoy!

Voice Your Choice presents one of the greatest musical poets of our time, Paul Simon, with two of his many solo career hits: Kodachrome and Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard. Cast your vote for the song you'd like to hear by making your selection at the Voice Your Choice page. We'll play the winning song on next week's show in the 3rd hour.

Be sure to mark your calendar for our next set of specials coming up soon. On June 19th it's our Annual Father's Day Special, followed by the 15th Annual Summer Beach Party on June 26th. The next special will happen July 3rd when we present our Annual Made In Canada Special. Hope you can listen.

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

Paul Simon - Voice Your Choice

Born in Newark, New Jersey on October 13, 1941 and raised in Queens, New York, Paul Simon met Art Garfunkel while in high school. They recorded together as Tom & Jerry in 1957, Tico And The Triumphs, Paul also recorded as Jerry Landis. Remember his recording of The Lone Teen Ranger from 1963?

Paul Simon had a fantastic run of hits with Art Garfunkel. Together Simon & Garfunkel charted 17 times. Interestingly and perhaps surprisingly, Paul Simon scored 19 appearances on the charts as a post Simon & Garfunkel solo artist.

This week we spotlight two of Paul Simon's solo hits: Kodachrome and Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard. Cast your vote for the song you'd like to hear at the Voice Your Choice page.

We'll play the winning song in the 3rd hour of next week's show.

The Exciters - Song of the Week

The Essex were from Jamaica, New York and consisted of husband and wife team Herb Rooney and Brenda Reid, Carol Johnson and Lillian Walker.

Here are The Exciters with their debut hit, Tell Him. It's our Song of the Week.

Enjoy!

Michael

Ray "Madison Time" Bryant Has Died At Age 79

Jazz pianist Ray Bryant, best-known in the pop world for his 1960 recording, "The Madison Time" (#30-1960) died Thursday (June 2) in a New York hospital at the age of 79. Originally a bass player, the Philadelphia native switched to piano, playing in the bands of Billy Kretchmer and Tiny Grimes and becoming the house pianist at the Blue Note Club in Philadelphia before starting his own combo in 1956. He also charted with "Shake A Lady" (#108-1964) and his version of "Ode To Billie Joe" (#89-1967). Ray was the uncle of "Tonight Show" bandleader Kevin Eubanks. Incidentally, that's Baltimore DJ Eddie Morrison, not Ray, doing the "calls" on "Madison Time," which was a popular dance at the time. The song was later featured in the original movie version of "Hairspray."

It's the 3rd of June - Another Sleepy Dusty Delta Day

Today is the 3rd of June. So it's very fitting to bring you The Ode To Billy Joe, the incredibly cinematic song by Bobbie Gentry.

Enjoy!
Michael
And here are the lyrics:

It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was balin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And Mama hollered out the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet"
And then she said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge"
"Today Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

And Papa said to Mama as he passed around the blackeyed peas
"Well, Billy Joe never had a lick of sense, pass the biscuits, please"
"There's five more acres in the lower forty I've got to plow"
And Mama said it was shame about Billy Joe, anyhow
Seems like nothin' ever comes to no good up on Choctaw Ridge
And now Billy Joe MacAllister's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

And Brother said he recollected when he and Tom and Billie Joe
Put a frog down my back at the Carroll County picture show
And wasn't I talkin' to him after church last Sunday night?
"I'll have another piece of apple pie, you know it don't seem right"
"I saw him at the sawmill yesterday on Choctaw Ridge"
"And now you tell me Billie Joe's jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

And Mama said to me "Child, what's happened to your appetite?"
"I've been cookin' all morning and you haven't touched a single bite"
"That nice young preacher, Brother Taylor, dropped by today"
"Said he'd be pleased to have dinner on Sunday, oh, by the way"
"He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge"
"And she and Billy Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge"

A year has come 'n' gone since we heard the news 'bout Billy Joe
And Brother married Becky Thompson, they bought a store in Tupelo
There was a virus going 'round, Papa caught it and he died last Spring
And now Mama doesn't seem to wanna do much of anything
And me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge

And drop them into the muddy water off the Tallahatchie Bridge