Randy Atcher and T bar V Ranch

Remember rushing home to watch T bar  V Ranch on your giant 14 " black and white tv after school ? And the music " Brush Your teeth Each Morning ?"
At Large In Louisville has  a nice reminiscence about actually being there http://atlargeinlouisville.blogspot.com/2008/07/down-on-t-bar-v-ranch.html

More on Randy Atcher 

Randall "Randy" Atcher (December 7, 1918 – October 9, 2002) was an American country musician.

Atcher was born in Tip Top, Kentucky, the fifth in a family of eight. Soon after his birth his family moved to North Dakota, and then back to Kentucky when he was twelve. As a high schooler, Atcher played guitar and mandolin on WHAS radio in Louisville. He intended to continue his education at Western Kentucky State College, but a flood at the family home quashed the plan.

In 1938, he left Louisville for Chicago and put a band together there. He won slots performing on WJJD and WBBM and became a local star; he also recorded occasionally with his older brother, Bob Atcher. During World War II he spent nearly four years in the Air Force, and married his wife Daphne, an Australian. Upon his discharge he returned to WHAS, performing on their Old Kentucky Barn Dance, and signed a contract with MGM Records. WHAS expanded into a television division in 1950, and the next year Atcher formed a new band, the Red River Ramblers, who performed on the WHAS children's show T-Bar-V Ranch every weekday at 4PM. Randy, the star of the show, and his sidekick, Cactus (played by Tom Brooks, brother of actor and comedian Foster Brooks), sang songs, performed skits, and gave parenting tips. In 1953, White Castle began advertising its hamburgers through the show, the first of several companies who contracted product placement.

The show ran until 1970, when it was abruptly cancelled. the Red River Ramblers, who included George Workman on bass, Shorty Chesser on guitar, Bernie Smith on guitar and banjo, Sleepy Marlin on fiddle, and Tiny Thomale on piano, also performed on the Hayloft Hoedown TV show (which ran to 1971) and live at local state fairs and events.

Thanks to  Bruce Nussbaum for sending this link with more great information
http://www.hillbilly-music.com/artists/story/index.php?id=13560

More Info

http://www.incredibleinman.com/?page_id=584

More on The Five Stars and Ronnie Haig from Indianapolis. Thanks Dennis Bell

This came in from Dennis Bell
Make sure you check out his fabulous oldies web sites . Just look on the left side bar  of the blog under music links
http://home.insightbb.com/~dennismbell/oldies/
http://home.insightbb.com/~dennismbell/farcorner/

 All of you all please send ideas for us to research and send your personal stories .

The backing band on Atom Bomb Baby was Boyd Bennett.
http://www.colorradio.com/five_stars.htm

Interview with Bill Campbell of 5 Stars is in this link
http://www.colorradio.com/interviews/5_Stars_Interview11_2010_Bill_Campbell.mp3

http://www.colorradio.com/Ronnie_Haig.htm

Source

Color Radio with Brian Lee   http://www.colorradio.com/

http://www.kvmr.org/  Internet Radio Available

He also has a blog 

Love You So - Ron Holden

To start off 2011 , here is an all time favorite -


 Check it out for the whole story
 http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=8705

Ron Holden and the Thunderbirds ended up at Fred Rasmussen’s Acme Sound and Recording home studio in North Seattle (7551 28th Avenue NE) with hopes of cutting his “Love You So,”  “Louie Louie” -- and perhaps something else.

 “We did it in Fred Rasmussen’s living room. For 19 hours there were 14 people in this room which was 10 x 12 [feet] -- it was the engineer, his wife, his daughter, and his dog sitting there on the couch, and a couple of the guys’ girlfriends. Larry Nelson was playing the claves and Chuck Markulis was playing the tambourine. Little Willie Bell and I were in the alcove and the other guys were all in the other room. And every time the dog would bark, we’d have to start over! On “Love You So” it was up into the 90s on takes! It was ridiculous!”

The Thunderbirds had worked out an arrangement of “Love You So” that employed the unusual and hypnotically off-beat Caribbean-derived clavé pulse. The song, however, kicks off with what is considered (by modern-pop-single-standards) an impossibly long -- twenty bar -- instrumental intro before Holden’s plaintive vocals begin. It was apparently after cutting “Louie Louie” (with Bell on vocals), that the crew decided to try another song and Holden improvised some lyrics over a raucous riff that became the thrown-together gem, “My Babe.”

Session completed, the Master Tape was sent to Challenge Records, which promptly shipped it back saying that their corporate focus had recently shifted to Country/Western music. But Nelson and Markulis reminded them of their previous agreement and the label compromised by shipping the would-be record moguls 5,000 label-less copies of the “Love You So” / “My Babe” single. That was when Nelson and Markulis’ Nite Owl Record company (423 Boren Street) was born. The first task was designing, printing, and gluing (one-by-one) new labels on those discs.
Sidebar Dave Marsh in his book Louie Louie http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=dave+marsh+louie+louie&x=0&y=0, , has a lot more about Ron Holden and the Playboys

Comment - The Good Old Days , right 

June 13 , 1960

Best Wishes for a Happy New Year 2011 /Merry Christmas 2010 For All of You

Doo Wop

The Cameos

From Philadelphia, this group only made one record in November 1957 as "The Cameos," but the group members were no strangers to the Philly R&B group harmony recording scene.  Named after the Cameo label for this one release, the Cameos personnel included Oscar "Cisco" Williams, John "Pancho" Christian, Reggie Price, Rufus Hunter and Tony Lewis.

Cisco Williams, Pancho Christian and Reggie Price were from North Philadelphia and had previously sung with the Quadrells (Whirlin' Disc label).  Rufus had been with the Magnificents out of Chicago.  Later, Cisco, Reggie and Pancho (along with Kent Peeler of the Dreamers on Grand and Roosevelt Simmons of the Sensations) would form the core of the Universals ("Again").  Cisco, Pancho and Reggie would also sing with the later Turbans.

Cisco did the lead on this up tempo Christmas classic. 

The A Side  

And A Happy New Year  The B Side 

And last but not least , slowin it down a little bit

ABBA around the Piano

Our Church Choir at Perimeter Mall Atlanta -Flash Mob

From Dunwoody United Methodist Church to you Dec 10 2010
Merry Christmas

Leon Russell Slippin into Christmas 1972

The forgotten Christmas classic, which was only released on a 45 rpm back in 1972.For much more Leon Russell, please go to the Tulsa Area Music Archives - you'll be glad you did .  Leon is amazing .

http://www.preservemusic.org/

For much more Leon Russell, please go to the Tulsa Area Music Archives - you'll be glad you did .  Leon is amazing .

http://www.preservemusic.org/

Well I'm slipping into Christmas
I'm sliding into New Year
And I'm missing all your kisses
Baby, since you're not here

The special thing you give me
I won't find underneath my tree
And I'm feeling sad and lonesome
Wishin' you were here with me!


And I'm feeling a kind of useless
By the second hand Christmas tree
And I'm slinking into sorrow
These blues have got a hold on me

Well I know 'tis the season to be jolly
But Scrooge ain't got a thing on me
And so I'm slipping into Christmas
Wishing you were here with me!


Well I'm slipping into Christmas
Sliding into New Year
And I'm missing all your kisses
Darlin' since you're not here

Whoa, deck the halls with teardrops
Scrooge ain't got a thing on me
So I'm slipping into Christmas,
Wishing you were here with me!

Whoa, sittin' right here on my knee
Well, it's gonna be a blue Christmas!!!!

Darlene Love Live - Letterman 2008 plus wikipedia info

In this clip , Paul Schaffer plays the great piano lick ( at about 2:45 into the clip )
that Leon Russell , Rock and Roll Hall of Fame  inductee--finally ! -did on the original starting about 2 minutes into the song .

And Here is the Original

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records
Compilation album by Phil Spector
Released	November 22, 1963
Genre	Christmas, Baroque pop
Length	34:12
Label	Philles Records
Producer	Phil Spector
Professional reviews
Allmusic  link
Phil Spector chronology
Philles Records Presents Today's Hits (1963) A Christmas Gift for You (1963) Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes featuring Veronica (1964)

Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records (later re-released as A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector) is an album of Christmas songs, produced by Phil Spector, and originally released as Philles 4005 in 1963. Spector treated a series of mostly secular Christmas standards to his trademark "Wall of Sound" treatment, and the selections feature the vocal performances of Spector's regular artists during this period. It is one of only twelve long-playing records released on the Philles label, peaking at number 13 on Billboard magazine's special, year-end, weekly Christmas Albums sales chart in December 1963.^[1] The album was reissued by Apple Records in 1972, with different cover art and retitled Phil Spector's Christmas Album; this version went to number 6 on Billboard's special Christmas Albums sales chart in December of that year.^[1]

However, the album was a relative failure at the time and was released on 22 November 1963, the same day as the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Original pressings are now scarce and collectable, now selling for $400-$500 in excellent condition.^[2]

In subsequent years the album grew in popularity and is considered now to be a holiday classic. Several of its tracks became iconic Christmas songs for generations, such as the original (and flop) single "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," and the well-known "Ring-a-ling-a-ling Ding-dong-ding" background vocals in The Ronettes' "Sleigh Ride." The arrangement of Bruce Springsteen's version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" is based in part on the Crystals' version of the song , and U2's late 80s cover of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" that appeared on the first "A Very Special Christmas" album is patterned after the Darlene Love original that appeared on the Spector LP . The Ronettes version of "Frosty The Snowman" and "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" also usually get some radio airplay during the holiday season.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 142 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The album has been released several times on different labels: the original release on Philles and the 1972 reissue on Apple were followed by additional reissues on Warner-Spector (1974, the first version to feature a stereo mix of the songs), Pavilion (1981), Impression (1983 as a cassette PSLK2), Passport (1984), and Rhino (1987). The first CD issue was also on Rhino in 1987, co-credited to Phil Spector International RNCD 70235 and restoring the album's original mono mix. The second CD issue was in 1987 as well, on Chrysalis (CCD 1625) in monophonic for the UK market. This one is co-credited "Spector Records International" and features the slightly different international artwork. The more common third CD issue came in 1989, a remastered release on ABKCO which restored the original title, artwork, and mono mix. The album also appeared as the fourth disc of ABKCO's 1991 Spector box set,Back to Mono, and as the second disc of the 2006 UK-only ABKCO compilation The Phil Spector Collection. Sony Music took over distribution rights to the Philles Records catalog in 2009 and re-released the remastered mono album on its Legacy Recordings imprint on October 27 of that year.^[3] TheSundazed label also reissued the album on vinyl in 2009.

Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, well-known as a fan of both the Ronettes and Spector, has cited this album as his favorite of all time.^[4]

[edit]Track listing

Recorded at Gold Star recording studio

Track	Song Title	Writer(s)	Artist	Time
1.	White Christmas	Irving Berlin	Darlene Love	2:52
2.	Frosty the Snowman	Steve Nelson and Walter Rollins	The Ronettes	2:16
3.	The Bells of St. Mary's	A. Emmett Adams and Douglas Furber	Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans	2:54
4.	Santa Claus Is Coming to Town	J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie	The Crystals	3:24
5.	Sleigh Ride	Leroy Anderson and Mitchell Parish	The Ronettes	3:00
6.	Marshmallow World	Carl Sigman and Peter DeRose	Darlene Love	2:23
7.	I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus	Tommie Connor	The Ronettes	2:37
8.	Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer	Johnny Marks	The Crystals	2:30
9.	Winter Wonderland	Felix Bernard and Dick Smith	Darlene Love	2:25
10.	Parade of the Wooden Soldiers	Leon Jessel	The Crystals	2:55
11.	Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)	Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry and Phil Spector	Darlene Love	2:45
12.	Here Comes Santa Claus	Gene Autry and Oakley Haldeman	Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans	2:03
13.	Silent Night	Josef Mohr and Franz X. Gruber	Phil Spector and Artists	2:08

[edit]Personnel

• Jack Nitzsche – arrangements, percussion
• Louis Blackburn – horns
• Hal Blaine - drums
• Sonny Bono - percussion
• Leon Russell - piano
• Roy Caton - trumpet
• Steve Douglas - saxophone
• Frank Capp - percussion
• Barney Kessel - guitar
• Jay Migliori - saxophone
• Bill Pitman - guitar
• Ray Pohlman - bass
• Irv Rubins - guitar
• Tommy Tedesco - guitar
• Nino Tempo - guitar
• Johnny Vidor - strings
• Larry Levine - engineer

[edit]References

1. ^ ^a b Whitburn, Joel (2004). Christmas in the Charts (1920-2004). Wisconsin: Record Research Inc.. p. 229. ISBN 0-89820-161-6.
2. ^ http://www.popsike.com/PHIL-SPECTORCHRISTMAS-ALBUMMINT-ORIG63-LPBLUE-LABEL/130336116493.html
3. ^ http://www.billboard.com/news/phil-spector-catalog-to-be-reissued-1004017963.story#/news/phil-spector-catalog-to-be-reissued-1004017963.story
4. ^ Michael deMartin, [1], Pet Blog: Pet Sounds at 40: An Appreciation , July 12, 2006