Bios and stories about the artists we feature
Robert Weston Smith. Does the name ring any bells? No? How about Big Smith and the Records? Daddy Jules? I will give you a couple of hints: If you have seen the movie American Graffiti or reruns of the TV show The Midnight Special or heard Bob Smith’s, “Have Mercy!” catch phrase, then you might […]
Warning: I like Styx. I have always liked Styx. What happened to make them fragment, reassemble, and separate again into two distinct ‘camps’ the way they did was never quite clear to me. The memory of where and when I first heard Lady on the radio, however, pops into my head everytime I hear […]
We left Part 1 of The Smothers Brothers just as they had their first album in the can. They landed in New York during the brutal winter of 1961 for their first club dates on the East Coast. It must have been quite a shock to their systems having spent the majority of their […]
In the world of entertainment, the list of stories about siblings working together is a long one. In the music end of the business, these tales often focus on the dysfunctional pairings like the Robinson brothers (The Black Crowes), The Everly Brothers (Phil and Don), and the Gallagher brothers (Oasis). Some concentrate on groups […]
Former WOAS-FM General Manager Mike ‘Zenith’ Bennett was much too young when he passed away a few years back. Mike was my radio mentor and he made it a point to stay in touch years after he had moved from Ontonagon to Bessemer and eventually to Marquette. When I was first getting involved in […]
The Christmas Cards sent out this year included the usual ‘Season’s Greetings’ but an added sentiment there are no emojis for: ‘Here is to a brighter 2021.’ Peggy James seems to have an uncanny knack for writing music to fit my feelings – think ‘musical emoji on demand’. Gary Tanin at Daystorm Music sent […]
Try to remember the first time you saw The Rolling Stones on TV or an album cover. While reading Paul Trynka’s book Brian Jones: The Making of the Rolling Stones (Viking Press, 2014) I went back and found a YouTube video of their debut appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show from October of 1964. […]
When searching for ideas for these written ramblings called ‘FTV’, I periodically feel the cosmic wheels spinning when inspiration pops an idea into my brain. The way my mind works, a tune, a fragment of a memory, a photograph, or a bit of stray conversation can plant the seed of a topic for consideration. […]
No need to tell me that I spelled his name wrong in the title. When his first record came out on the small Princess label, Ronnie Milsaps was thrilled. Then he ‘read’ a review in the Atlanta newspaper. They said nice things about the record, but had dropped the last ‘s’ from his name. […]
Back in the fall of 2019, the last round of touring by Creedence Clearwater Revisited (or CCR2 as we referred to them) was chronicled in this space (FTV: CCR 10-16-19). The article included the following description of their interview with the original CCR and CCR2 rhythm section: “When CCR’s Complete Studio Albums Deluxe Box Set […]