Podcast appearances and mentions of Dion DiMucci

A pioneer and one of the first aritsts ever inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, Dion DiMucci first rose to fame with his group Dion & The Belmonts, before becoming a solo sensation with iconic hits like The Wanderer, Runaround Sue and many more. His influence on American music spans more than six decades - and he's still going strong.  Earlier this year, Dion co-authored a powerful and deeply personal new book with his longtime friend Adam Jablin. It's titled: Dion - The Rock N Roll Philosopher: Conversations on LIfe, Recovery, Faith 7 music. In it, Dion opens up about his incredible journey - his struggles and triumphs, his faith, and his unwavering passion for music.  In our conversation, we'll talk about the new book, his decision to give up his seat on the plane with Buddy Holly, his path to sobriety, wisdom he gained from Sam Cooke, and the lessons He's leanred across a lifetime in music. Check out our show notes at; www.rockandrollconfessional.rocks  

Oh my goodness, dolls, can you believe it?! On this absolutely blessed episode of Pamela Des Barres' Pajama Party, your hostess (that's me!) finally gets to dish deep with the legendary DION! You know I've been crazy about Dion DiMucci since joining his fan club at 13, and this chat was a total dream come true, spanning his iconic rock and roll history – from "The Wanderer" and "Runaround Sue" to surviving the tour with Buddy Holly – right up to his fantastic new book, "The Wanderer Talks Truth (The Rock 'n' Roll Philosopher)." We get into it all: his incredible memories (Phil Spector! Sam Cooke! Hank Williams!), his 57 years of sobriety, the spiritual wisdom that shines through his music and life, that upcoming musical, and so much more. Tune in for a truly soulful, inspiring, and fun hang with the coolest cat himself, Dion, right here on Pantheon Podcasts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Personally Speaking, Msgr. Jim Lisante is joined by singer-songwriter Dion DiMucci. Dion was the lead singer of the Bronx based doo-wop legends the Belmonts. Dion has written his third autobiography called, “Dion: The Rock ‘n' Roll Philosopher”. He talks about his life, his career, marriage and the faith and values that matter the most to him.Support the show

Dion Dimucci has been a Rock 'N' Roll pioneer since the late 1950's with his iconic band Dion and the Belmonts. They scored hit after hit including The Wanderer, Runaround Sue, A Teenager in Love and Abraham, Martin and John making them Rock 'N' Roll royalty. Dion co-wrote a stunningly gorgeous coffee table sized book with his pal Adam Jablin called Dion The Rock 'N' Roll Philosopher: Conversations on Life, Recovery, Faith and Music. There are one-of-a-kind photos in the book with music legends Pail Simon, Eric Clapton, Tony Bennett, Bruce Springsteen, Clive Davis, Lou Reed and more. We discuss: 1. How did you come up with the name Dion and the Belmonts? 2. How was it like growing up in Da Bronx being part of the gang the Fordham baldies? Thanks to you guys I have this beautiful coffee table sized book beautifying…my coffee table. Adam 3. How did Dion and Adam get hooked up with each other & what inspired the co-creation of this book? 4. What Dion feels are the reasons for his early success. 5. What gave him the self-confidence that he was a great singer & the ability to sing to millions of people? 6. As with many Rock Legends, Dion seemingly had it all from an outsider's perspective. The hit songs, the fame, the adulation, screaming girls, the power & money…did he feel he had it all and why does he think he turned to a debilitating addiction and what helped him to overcome it? 7. Paul Simon in the books Forward said they don't see each other often but their phone conversations can go on for an hour & usually drift into the spiritual. What does he mean by that? 8. Was there an Aha moment where all of a sudden he found God? How did his spirituality emerge and sustain over all these years? 9. Eric Clapton in the book's prologue says Dion has an essential ingredient: SOUL…buckets of it. How did this soul start & evolve? 10. In 2020 hindsight, what would Dion change if he had to do it all over again? 10. When did Dion first start wearing the berets he is iconically known for and why do you like that signature look? 11.On Feb. 2, 1959 at the Winter Dance Party, there were 4 groups on the bill. Buddy Holly & The Crickets, Big Bopper, Richie Valens & Dion & The Belmonts. The plane didn't make it home and some like Don Maclean called it "The Day the Music Died." What did those guys mean to Dion and why wasn't he on that fatal plane?

Scott Watson talks with Dion DiMucci - a first generation Rock and Roller and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Legendary Rock Hall of Fame innovator Dion shares the most lasting influences on his remarkable life - a life that helped shape the last 60 years of rock and roll history. The book features a prologue by Eric Clapton, foreword by Paul Simon, a preface by Bishop Robert Barron, and afterward by Stevie Van Zandt. Dion DiMucci's journey through rock and roll history is as legendary as his hits. As the lead singer of Dion and the Belmonts in the late 1950s, Dion captured the heart of America with chart-toppers like "Runaround Sue", "The Wanderer", and "A Teenager in Love." His later solo success with the profound "Abraham, Martin, and John" in 1968 marked another high, contributing to his twelve gold records. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Dion explored folk, blues, and gospel, earning a Grammy nomination in 1985 and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 alongside icons like the Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder. In this compelling collection, Dion-the old wise mentor, shares intimate conversations with his mentee and close friend Adam Jablin, reflecting on his rise to fame, battles with heroin addiction, a sixty-year marriage, and the influential figures in his music career, including Hank Williams and Bob Dylan. In the true spirit of recovery, Dion passes on to Adam how to live a truly happy, joyous, free and fulfilled life. Featuring over 200 vibrant photos, this book captures not just the life of a music icon but six decades of rock and roll evolution.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

Legendary Rock Hall of Fame innovator Dion shares the most lasting influences on his remarkable life - a life that helped shape the last 60 years of rock and roll history. The book features a prologue by Eric Clapton, foreword by Paul Simon, a preface by Bishop Robert Barron, and afterward by Stevie Van Zandt. Dion DiMucci's journey through rock and roll history is as legendary as his hits. As the lead singer of Dion and the Belmonts in the late 1950s, Dion captured the heart of America with chart-toppers like "Runaround Sue", "The Wanderer", and "A Teenager in Love." His later solo success with the profound "Abraham, Martin, and John" in 1968 marked another high, contributing to his twelve gold records. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Dion explored folk, blues, and gospel, earning a Grammy nomination in 1985 and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 alongside icons like the Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder. In this compelling collection, Dion-the old wise mentor, shares intimate conversations with his mentee and close friend Adam Jablin, reflecting on his rise to fame, battles with heroin addiction, a sixty-year marriage, and the influential figures in his music career, including Hank Williams and Bob Dylan. In the true spirit of recovery, Dion passes on to Adam how to live a truly happy, joyous, free and fulfilled life. Featuring over 200 vibrant photos, this book captures not just the life of a music icon but six decades of rock and roll evolution.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.

We talk to the legendary Dion DiMucci about his hits (and the impact they've had on girls named Sue), his faith, and his new book ("Dion: The Rock & Roll Philosopher").

Rock and roll icon Dion DiMucci joins us for this week's episode of You Are What You Read. Dion was the lead singer of Dion and the Belmonts and a prominent solo artist with signature hits, “Runaround Sue”, “The Wanderer”, “Ruby Baby”, and “Lovers Who Wander”. In 1989, he was inducted by our good friend Stevie Van Zandt into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame with The Rolling Stones and is one of only two artists (along with Bob Dylan) to be on the cover of The Beatles Classic—Sgt. Pepper's. He joins us this week with his memoir, DION: THE ROCK AND ROLL PHILOSOPHER. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

RC2C host Neil Scott has an in-depth conversation about recovery with the co-author of DION: The Rock 'n Roll Philosopher. Adam talks openly about his recovery and his long-time relationship with Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame icon Dion Dimucci. The podcast concludes with some inspirational thoughts on recovery from another Rock 'n Roll Hall of Famer,  Joe Walsh, from The Eagles   DION - The Rock 'n Roll Philosopher (Conversations on Life, Recovery, Faith and Music)                                                        https://www.amazon.com/Dion-Rock-Roll-Philosopher-DiMucci/dp/1493088025  

Send us a text#60smusic #thewanderer  #rockandrollTODAY'S GUEST DION DIMUCCILegendary Rock Hall of Fame innovator shares the most lasting influences on his remarkable life — a life that helped shape the last 60 years of rock and roll historyDion DiMucci's journey through rock and roll history is as legendary as his hits. As the lead singer of Dion and the Belmonts in the late 1950s, Dion captured the heart of America with chart-toppers like "Runaround Sue", "The Wanderer", and "A Teenager in Love." His later solo success with the profound "Abraham, Martin, and John" in 1968 marked another high, contributing to his twelve gold records. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Dion explored folk, blues, and gospel, earning a Grammy nomination in 1985 and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 alongside icons like the Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder.In this compelling collection, Dion shares intimate conversations with close friend Adam Jablin, reflecting on his rise to fame, battles with heroin addiction, a sixty-year marriage, and the influential figures in his music career, including Hank Williams and Bob Dylan.Featuring over 200 vibrant photos, this book captures not just the life of a music icon but six decades of rock and roll evolution.DION DIMUCCI THE ROCK AND ROLL PHILOSOPHERORDER THE BOOK ON AMAZON➜ https://amzn.to/4fjcfS0****************************************************"Support your favorite show and channel! Click the link below to donate. Don't forget to include your name for a special shoutout. Thank you!"*MEMBERS ONLY➜https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpDurwXKpDiXuGBdsklxigg/joinSupport the show

Tony delves into the beautiful world of music harmonies, presenting a special show titled 'Harmonizing Nights.' He starts with the classic 'Where or When' by Dion and The Belmonts and continues with hits from The Lettermen, The Bee Gees, The Temptations, Thurston Harris, The Fiestas, The Cookies, The Chiffons, The Everly Brothers, The Tokens, and many more. Tony also shares personal anecdotes and memories from his time with notable musicians and pays a heartfelt tribute to the late Steve Alaimo. Special guest Dion Dimucci joins the show to share insights about his music and upcoming projects. The episode concludes with iconic harmonies from Queen and a reminder to cherish each day. Tune in for an evening filled with timeless melodies and stories celebrating the power of harmonies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let us examine the truths and falsehoods surrounding the most recent bonus episode of Lightnin' Licks Radio… FACT: It is typical for the Lickers to lag a bit behind the “Year's Best” list-making frenzy which consumes the majority of the sonic commentary mediasphere. FICTION: LLR is the only EOY list that matters. FACT: It's still worth the flippin' wait. Check back the first week of January, baby! FICTION: This month's super-special-secret-friend is two-time Saturn award-nominated* actor Crispin Hellion Glover. FACT: Our super-special-secret-friend is an interesting and kind soul with great taste in music. FICTION: LLR podcast bonus episode #24 is one to miss. Sonic (non-mix) contributors to the 24th bonus episode of Lightnin' Licks Radio podcast include: Townes Van Zandt, Prince Paul, De La Soul, Get Down Services, Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, Tom Bell, Radio Ranch, The Replacements, Fredro, Grandmaster Caz, Grand Pupa, Sadat X, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, David Bowie, Spike Lee, Michael Jordan, DJ Premier, Ashford & Simpson, The Renaissance, The Beatles, Dion DiMucci, The Doors, Simon and Garfunkel, Spanky and Our Gang, Jimmy Webb, The Meters, Liquid Mike, Starship, Freeman's Narrative, Modest Mouse, Morrissey, Peter Gabrel, Beastie Boys, Donald Trump, Run the Jewels, Dr. Katz Professional Therapist's theme song, Ol' Burger Beats, Tapes and Tapes, Pimp My Ride's theme song, Daft Punk, Slowdive, Pursuit of Happiness, Danzig, Iggy Pop, Blue Oyster Cult, Mastodon, Nebula, Dave Grohl, Abraham Jefferson, The Price is Right sounds, Nirvana, Ugly Casanova, Tom Werman, Michael Moorcock, Ty Karim, Kent Harris, India Arie Simpson, Jim Morrison, DJ Fredwreck, Jack Antonoff, Sounwave, Crispin Glover, Kendrick Lamar, Heath Ledger, Eyag Nivram, and Jack Van Impe. Featured artists include: From Jay: Tears for Fears, Kelly Willis, John Tartaglia, and Blue Oyster Cult. From Deon: The Intruders, Saigon featuring Pete Rock, Mandy, and Tawana & the Total Destruction. Courtesy of our super-special-secret-friend Michael Paulus: Lola Young, Mojave 3, Ghost, and Stephen Wilson Jr. Bonus # 24 mixtape: [A1] Saigon featuring Pete Rock – Get Loose [A2] John Andrews Tartaglia – Wichita Lineman [A3} Ghost – Spillways [A4} Tawana & the Total Destruction – Wear Your Natural, Baby [A5] Tears for Fears – Astronaut [A6] Lola Young – Messy [B1] Blue Oyster Cult – You're Not the One (I Was Looking For) [B2] Mojave 3 – Prayer for the Paranoid (electric version) [B3] Mandy – Ms. Appear [B4] The Intruders – Turn the Hands of Time [B5] Kelly Willis – Fading Fast [B6] Stephen Wilson Jr. - Billy *Back to the Future, Willard. Jay's expressed opinions of Dave Grohl and Michael's conspiratorial beliefs about Courtney Love are not necessarily endorsed by this podcast. We drink Blue Chair Bay rums. We shop for music at Electric Kitsch. We perform said activities on our own accord. "We built this titty on cock and hole." - Michael Moorcock

Vinyl records play a significant role in Jay and Deon's lives. They're 100% obsessed with music. But how did this madness all start? Well, episode 40 of LLR examines their origin stories. Ten classic artists who helped shape the Lickers' sonic identities are discussed while another crackin' mixtape is curated, created, and (hopefully) cranked. God gave rock and roll to us, Goddamn it! Put it in your souls already. Sonic contributors to the fortieth episode of Lightnin' Licks Radio podcast include (in order of appearance): Brothers Johnson, dialogue from Peter Pan Records' "G.I. Joe: Escape From Adventure Team Headquarters" storybook, DJ Sanz, James Todd Smith, Boy Meets Girl, Berlin, Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud, The Treacherous Three, T La Rock, Rick Rubin, Beastie Boys , NPR's A. Martinez - Kye Ryssdal - Leilah Fadel, Dolly Parton, Whitney Houston, Dr. Pascal Wallisch, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Queen, Elvis, Tommy Durden, Wings, James Horner & Will Jennings, Celine Dion, Right Said Fred, Greta Van Fleet, Dave Brubeck, Mac Demarco, Moose Charlap & Jule Styne, Jerry Goldsmith, M.M. Knapps, library “space” music and read-along storybook dialogue, Arc of All, Jim Kirk, Casey Kasem, Van Halen, Dion DiMucci, Leif Garrett, Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich, Shawn Cassidy, Gregg Diamond, Andrea True Connection, Sir Reginald Kenneth Dwight*, Stevie Wonder, Bernie Taupin, Norman Whitfield & Barrett Strong, The Undisputed Truth, Perry-Perkins-Johnson, Honey Cone, TV adverts from Firestone Tires and Post cereal's Pink Panther Flakes, The Jackson Five, the Motown Players & the Funk Brothers, the King of Pop*, Cameron Crowe & Nancy Wilson, Still Water, Temple of the Dog, Sweet Water, The Dust Brothers, Afrika Bambaataa, Dudley Taft (brandishing his axe and ripping a bong), Black Sabbath, Dancefloor Destruction Crew, The Wrecking Crew, The Partridge Family, Wally Gold, Idris Muhammad, Led Zeppelin, Beastie Boys (again), Alice Cooper (band), Digable Planets with Wah Wah Watson, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Jimmy Buffett, Disposable Heroes of Hypocrisy, Three Dog Night, Hoyt Axton, Randy Newman, Paul Williams, Russ Ballard, America, Rainbow, Cheap Trick, Freda, Argent, Wilson Pickett, Wu-Tang's RZA, Pinback, Three Mile Pilot, Lou Reed, Goblin Cock, Fruer, Black Sabbath (again), Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Jethro fucking Tull, the Source of Light and Power, DJT, Eric B., Soul Coughing, The Clockers. Love at First Listen mixtape [SIDE 1] (1) Sweet Water – King of '79 (2) King of Pop - GTBT* (3) Spearhead – Positive (4) The Partridge Family – Lay it on the Line (5) Pinback – Loro [SIDE 2] (1) Alice Cooper – You Drive Me Nervous (2) #6 Pop Hit W.E. 04_FEB_1984* (3) Jethro Tull – Two Fingers (4) Beastie Boys – Live at P.J.'s (5) Three Dog Night - Liar Thanks for Listening. Autumn has fallen. Do your best to not jump into a ravine. Please shop for your music locally. We suggest ⁠Electric Kitsch⁠. Drink ⁠Blue Chair Bay⁠ flavored rums. Feeling like jumping into a ravine? There's ⁠help⁠ available. *some details have been changed

Clearly, vinyl records play a significant role in Jay and Deon's lives. But how did this all start? Well, episode 40 examines their origin stories. Ten classic artists who helped shape the Lickers' sonic identities are discussed and another crackin' mixtape is curated, created, and (hopefully) cranked. God gave rock and roll to us, Goddamn it. Put it in your soul already. Sonic contributors to the fortieth episode of Lightnin' Licks Radio podcast includes (in order of appearance): Brothers Johnson, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Derrick Harriott, Townes Van Zandt, James Todd Smith, Boy Meets Girl, Berlin, Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud, The Treacherous Three, T La Rock, Rick Rubin, Beastie Boys , NPR's A. Martinez - Kye Ryssdal - Leilah Fadel, Dolly Parton, Whitney Houston, Dr. Pascal Wallisch, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Queen, Elvis, Tommy Durden, Wings, James Horner & Will Jennings, Celine Dion, Right Said Fred, Greta Van Fleet, Dave Brubeck, Mac Demarco, Moose Charlap & Jule Styne, Jerry Goldsmith, M.M. Knapps, library “space” music and read-along storybook dialogue, Arc of All, Jim Kirk, Casey Kasem, Van Halen, Dion DiMucci, Leif Garrett, Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich, Shawn Cassidy, Gregg Diamond, Andrea True Connection, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Bernie Taupin, Norman Whitfield & Barrett Strong, The Undisputed Truth, Perry-Perkins-Johnson, Honey Cone, TV adverts from Firestone Tires and Post cereal's Pink Panther Flakes, The Jackson Five, the Motown Players & the Funk Brothers, Michael Jackson, Cameron Crowe & Nancy Wilson, Still Water, Temple of the Dog, Sweet Water, The Dust Brothers, Afrika Bambaataa, Dudley Taft (brandishing his axe and ripping a bong), Black Sabbath, Dancefloor Destruction Crew, The Wrecking Crew, The Partridge Family, Wally Gold, Idris Muhammad, Led Zeppelin, Beastie Boys (again), Alice Cooper (band), Digable Planets with Wah Wah Watson, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Jimmy Buffett, Disposable Heroes of Hypocrisy, Three Dog Night, Hoyt Axton, Randy Newman, Paul Williams, Russ Ballard, America, Rainbow, Cheap Trick, Freda, Argent, Wilson Pickett, Wu-Tang's RZA, Pinback, Three Mile Pilot, Lou Reed, Goblin Cock, Fruer, Black Sabbath (again), Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Jethro fucking Tull, the Source of Light and Power, DJT, Eric B., Soul Coughing, The Clockers. Love at First Listen mixtape [SIDE 1] (1) Sweet Water – King of '79 (2) Michael Jackson – Got to be There (3) Spearhead – Positive (4) The Partridge Family – Lay it on the Line (5) Pinback – Loro [SIDE 2] (1) Alice Cooper – You Drive Me Nervous (2) Elton John – I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues (3) Jethro Tull – Two Fingers (4) Beastie Boys – Live at P.J.'s (5) Three Dog Night - Liar Thanks for Listening. Autumn has fallen. Do your best to not jump into a ravine. Please shop for your music locally. We suggest Electric Kitsch. Drink Blue Chair Bay flavored rums. Feeling like jumping into a ravine? There's help available.

Nueva entrega de la serie Hits del Billboard recordando canciones que alcanzaron su puesto más alto en listas de EEUU en este mismo mes de hace 60 años. Todas estas canciones, aunque fuesen de muy distintos estilos, pasaron a convertirse en la música popular del momento. Buena andanada de bandas británicas, con The Animals haciendo cima con su primer single en EEUU. Roy Orbison se reconsolida como icono del pop y Chuck Berry se despide de las listas con el que será su último éxito en años. The Shangri-Las comienzan a escribir su leyenda y el hot rod de secano de Ronny and The Daytonas encuentra también su hueco.(Foto; The Animals a comienzos de 1964 con la formación que grabó “The house of the rising sun”)Playlist;(sintonía) JIMMY SMITH “The cat” (top 67)THE ANIMALS “The house of the risin’ sun” (top 1)ROY ORBISON and THE CANDY MEN “Oh pretty woman” (top 1)THE NEWBEATS “Bread and butter” (top 2)THE DAVE CLARK FIVE “Because” (top 3)GERRY AND THE PACEMAKERS “How do you do it?” (top 9)THE SEARCHERS “Some day I’m gonna love again” (top 34)THE BEATLES “And I love her” (top 12)THE ROLLING STONES “It’s all over now” (top 26)CHUCK BERRY “You never can tell” (top 14)JOHNNY RIVERS “Maybelline” (top 12)DION DIMUCCI “Johnny B Goode” (top 71)LESLEY GORE “Maybe I know” (top 14)THE SHANGRI-LAS “Remember (walkin’ in the sun)” (top 5)THE ORLONS “Knock knock (who’s there)” (top 64)RONNY and THE DAYTONAS “GTO” (top 4)P.J. PROBY “Hold me” (top 70)JACKIE ROSS “Selfish one” (top 9)Escuchar audio

751. There's gonna be a rockin' party to-nite! Fun in the sun was never like this! Crank up your wireless and bask in the warm n' lively sounds of the Aztec Werewolf™, DJ Del Villarreal and his Tuesday nite record hop/platter party: "Go Kat, GO! The Rock-A-Billy Show!" LIVE from the Motorbilly Studios! Grab a plate and dig into the latest selections from Linda Gail Lewis (The "Sister Killer"!?!), Bloodshot Bill, Chris Casello, Mama's Hot Sauce, Dixie Fried, The Reverend Horton Heat, Sugar Mama's Revenge, The Low Life Drifters, The Boss Martians, Jittery Jack & Amy Griffin, JD McPherson, The Caesars and The Jerrells, too! You can always go back for seconds and sample some classic tracks from Charlie Feathers, Billy Jack Wills, Sid King, Dion DiMucci, Bob Luman, Eddie Quinteros, Lucky Wray, Benny Joy, Sanford Clark and Jimmy Cavallo & The House Rockers if you're feeling hungry for real rockin' billy sounds! Switch it ON and it's an instant summertime party! DJ Del's "Go Kat, GO!" good to the last bop!™Please follow on FaceBook, Instagram & Twitter!

A muchos les sigue resultando extraño que para entender quién es Jesús, tengamos que preguntarnos por qué murió, pero esa es la lógica del Evangelio. De los 89 capítulos en que está distribuido el texto de los cuatro evangelios, treinta, o sea un tercio, están dedicados al relato de la Pasión. Es como si nos dijeran, que para Jesús, lo que ocurre al final de su vida, es su historia. "De los temibles riscos de Sion a las llanuras de Belén / el poderoso corazón de Dios es traspasado cuando los clavos atraviesan sus manos / El Padre vuelve la cara de su amado y torturado Hijo" (Breathless Wonderment / The Dream Becomes Reality 1984), canta Barnabas, la banda de California, formada tras la Revolución por Jesús en 1977 con el nombre de Bernabé. Su rock duro tenía una chica como cantante, Nancy Jo Mann. "Una cruz sobre un monte" (Cross On A Hill 1979) cambia también la vida de Andy Pratt, el cantautor de Boston que tras el éxito de "Avenging Annie", se convierte al cristianismo y reside en Holanda desde 1987 a 2004. La película que da título hoy a nuestro programa, "Calvary" (2014) comienza con la confesión a un cura de los abusos de un sacerdote en un pequeño pueblo irlandés, que interpreta Brendan Gleeson. Lo sorprendente de esa primera escena es que la confesión acaba diciendo que por eso, va a matar a un cura inocente como él, por el mal que otro ha hecho. Tiene toda la semana, hasta el domingo, para prepararse para morir en paz. Esos días descubrimos las miserias de esa aldea y sacerdote, ante la perspectiva de una muerte vicaria, que nos hace pensar en el Calvario que sufre el Justo por los injustos. José de Segovia comenta las escenas con la banda sonora original de Patrick Cassidy. El himno de Isaac Watts, "La cruz excelsa" tiene una letra aún más emocionante en inglés (When I Survey The Wondrous Cross). La escuchamos en la voz de Cliff Richard, que la grabó dos veces. La segunda en 1977, es sobrecogedora. Una canción con el título de "No llovió" (Didn´t It Rain 1990) no pensarías que es sobre la Cruz. Uno de los "hippies" que llegó a la fe con la "Gente de Jesús", Randy Stonehill observa así el agobio del Crucificado. Acabamos el programa con la invitación de "Venir a la Cruz" (Come To The Cross 1985) de un músico aún más veterano, todavía en activo, Dion DiMucci, que vivió también una dramática conversión al cristianismo después de haber arruinado su reputación como "padre del du-duá" o "doo-woop" con los Belmonts.en los años 50.

Dion DiMucci better known as Dion, is a Rock and Roll Hall Famer who's career spans 6 decades. And he's still rockin' and a rollin'.  Before there was The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, Dion was one of the most prominent rock and roll performers of the pre-British Invasion era. Initially the lead singer of the vocal group Dion and the Belmonts, he then embarked on a solo career, he had 39 Top 40 hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a solo performer, or with the Belmonts and the Del-Satins. He is best remembered for his signature hit songs "Runaround Sue", "The Wanderer", "Ruby Baby" and "Lovers Who Wander", among others. During the 1980s, Dion produced several Christian albums, winning a GMA Dove Award in 1984 for the album I Put Away My Idols. The Grammy-nominated artist, Dion was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 along wit The Rolling Stones and Otis Redding. In 2002, Dion was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "Runaround Sue”. Even a musical based on Dion's life, The Wanderer debuted in 2021. Telling a story of transformation and personal redemption. Now, he has his 42nd album debuting called Dion and Girl Friends, a rockin' album you've got to hear. Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome THE rock and roll legendary icon, hey he's rock and roll royalty. The one and the only DION to the show! #rockmusic #bluesmusic #brucespringsteen #billygibbons #jeffbeck #paulsimon #joebonamassa #susantedeski #newmusic #newrelease #newalbum #bobdylan #tobykeith 

Dion DiMucci better known as Dion, is a Rock and Roll Hall Famer who's career spans 6 decades. And he's still rockin' and a rollin'.  Before there was The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, Dion was one of the most prominent rock and roll performers of the pre-British Invasion era. Initially the lead singer of the vocal group Dion and the Belmonts, he then embarked on a solo career, he had 39 Top 40 hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a solo performer, or with the Belmonts and the Del-Satins. He is best remembered for his signature hit songs "Runaround Sue", "The Wanderer", "Ruby Baby" and "Lovers Who Wander", among others. During the 1980s, Dion produced several Christian albums, winning a GMA Dove Award in 1984 for the album I Put Away My Idols. The Grammy-nominated artist, Dion was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 along wit The Rolling Stones and Otis Redding. In 2002, Dion was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "Runaround Sue”. Even a musical based on Dion's life, The Wanderer debuted in 2021. Telling a story of transformation and personal redemption. Now, he has his 42nd album debuting called Dion and Girl Friends, a rockin' album you've got to hear. Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome THE rock and roll legendary icon, hey he's rock and roll royalty. The one and the only DION to the show! #rockmusic #bluesmusic #brucespringsteen #billygibbons #jeffbeck #paulsimon #joebonamassa #susantedeski #newmusic #newrelease #newalbum #bobdylan #tobykeith 

Welcome back on this edition the full video feature recorded with Dion DiMucci from his home in NYC as we talk about his 7-decade recording career plus we delve into the new album "Girlfriends" just released. We also look forward to next week's show with Status Quo's John "Rhino" Edwards who also has a new album out and we address the rumours that this will be the final year of Status Quo as a live act. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/classic-rock-news/message

Rock n Roll Hall of Famer Dion joins me today.  Bruce Springsteen described him as “the link between Sinatra and rock 'n' roll.”  In 1958, Bronx-born Dion burst onto the scene with Dion and the Belmonts and had several hits.  After going solo in 1961 he had a #1 record with "Runaround Sue" followed by "The Wanderer.”  Dion DiMucci has since ventured into Christian music, the blues, and most recently recorded "American Hero" with Carlene Carter …and soon, an album "Girlfriends."  Later this year, the musical production of Dion's life, “The Wanderer,” is scheduled to open on Broadway. Check out other Julie Hartman videos: https://www.youtube.com/@juliehartman Follow Julie Hartman on social media: Website: https://juliehartmanshow.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julierhartman/ X: https://twitter.com/JulieRHartman See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Con The Bobbettes, The Harptones, Dion Dimucci, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Art Garfunkel, Wayne Chance, Andrew Strong, T Bone Burnett, Pino Donaggio, The Ray Charles Singers, Josephine Baker, Los Mustang, Extremoduro, Junco, Carlangas y los Cubatas, Templeton, Wild Honey y Family.

Nacido en el Bronx en 1954. Guitarrista y fundador de The Dictators, héroes protopunk de la escena neoyorquina de los 70. Líder en los 80 de The Del Lords, grupo pionero en aquello que vino a conocerse como “roots rock” -rock de raíces-. Formó el proyecto Dion ‘n’ Little Kings junto a su gran ídolo y vecino del barrio, el legendario Dion Dimucci. Y lanzó un par de discos en solitario en donde destaca “Tenement angels”, grabado junto a la fabulosa banda The Skeletons. Este es nuestro pequeño recuerdo a la memoria y el legado de Scott “Top Ten” Kempner, fallecido el 29 de noviembre a los 69 años de edad. (Foto del podcast por Nicole Weingart)Playlist;(sintonía) THE DICTATORS “Teengenerate” (Go girl crazy, 1975)THE DICTATORS “Hey boys” (Manifest destiny, 1977)THE DICTATORS “What it is” (Bloodbrothers, 1978)THE DEL LORDS “Burning in the flame of love” (Frontier days, 1984)THE DEL-LORDS “True love” (Johnny comes marching home, 1986)THE DEL-LORDS “Stay with me” (Lovers who wander, 1990)SCOTT KEMPNER “You move me” (Tenement angels, 1992)SCOTT KEMPNER “I wanna be yours” (Tenement angels, 1992)SCOTT KEMPNER “(Just like) Romeo and Juliet” (Tenement angels, 1992)THE DICTATORS “Who will save rock’n’roll” (D.F.F.S., 2002)DION ‘N’ LITTLE KINGS “King of hearts” (Live in New York, 2001)SCOTT KEMPNER “Between a memory and a dream” (Saving grace, 2008)THE DEL-LORDS “When the drugs kick in” (Elvis Club, 2013)SCOTT KEMPNER “Already lost you” (Lost dreams, 2017)Escuchar audio

Nueva entrega del coleccionable en donde a comienzos de cada mes recordamos lo que triunfaba en las listas de éxitos de EEUU hace 60 años. Una selección de canciones de variados estilos que alcanzaron su puesto más alto en el Billboard Hot 100 en diciembre de 1963. (Foto del podcast; The Kingsmen en 1964, por Michael Odds archives)Playlist;(sintonía) THE DAVID ROCKINGHAM TRIO “Dawn” (top 62)THE KINGSMEN “Louie Louie” (top 2)THE SINGING NUN “Dominique” (top 1)MARVIN GAYE “Can I get a witness” (top 22)THE MARVELETTES “As long as I know he’s mine” (top 47)DION DIMUCCI “Drip drop” (top 6)TOMMY ROE “Everybody” (top 3)MURRY KELLUM “Long tall Texan” (top 51)THE BEACH BOYS “In my room” (top 23)THE CHIFFONS “I have a boyfriend” (top 36)DEE CLARK “Crossfire time” (top 92)THE DYNAMICS “Misery” (top 44)THE CARAVELLES “You don’t have to be a baby to cry” (top 3)THE GALENS “Baby I do love you” (top 70)SOLOMON BURKE “You’re good for me” (top 49)LITTLE JOHNNY TAYLOR “Part time love” (top 19)TOMMY HUNT “I’m a witness” (top 71)CHUCK JACKSON “Any other way” (top 81)THE ANGELS “Thank you and goodnight” (top 84)Escuchar audio

This is the unlikely musical tale of a 1950's Italian kid from New York City not named Dion DiMucci.We're talking about John Henry Ramistella.This artist has been inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame but the big door prize still eludes him. It's possibly the contention that a career delivering mostly vivid, colorful cover versions of brilliant material makes him a melodic figure of less import.I vigorously disagree.He was a different kind of pioneer and If anyone belongs in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it's Johnny Rivers.The omission is glaring.- Rich Buckland"The Whisky was a smash from opening night," Rivers says. I brought my following from Gazzari's." Rivers and his famous red Gibson ES-335 guitar symbolized the Strip's new youth-oriented atmosphere. They weren't at the Whisky long when he and Adler thought of cutting a live album. Another L.A. club owner loaned Rivers and Adler money to hire Wally Heider's remote recording unit. "We recorded this album two nights in a row and took it to every record company in town. None of them wanted it," Johnny recalls.Liberty Records executive Bob Skaff liked the tape and convinced reluctant Liberty President Al Bennett to release it on Imperial Records. Bennett had purchased Imperial from founder Lew Chudd, and ran it as a small, semi-independent label. To release Rivers' recordings, he and Adler formed Dunhill Productions with Bobby Roberts (an ex-member of The Dunhills, a tap dancing group that inspired the name) and Pierre Cossette (now producer of the Grammy Awards show). This eventually evolved into Dunhill Records, home to L.A rock legends The Mamas & The Papas, The Grass Roots and Steppenwolf.Adler and company were disappointed that the album would appear on what they considered a secondary label. But not Johnny. "When they said 'Imperial Records.' I just jumped up and went 'YEAH! YEAH!' Because I grew up with nothing but Imperial Records, Bobby Mitchell, Fats Domino, and Ricky Nelson, and I thought 'What a cool label!'" Both Rivers and Adler came to see Imperial's smallness as a plus. "it gave Lou and me the autonomy to pick our own singles and work closely with the promotion men and marketing people," Rivers says. "I think that had a lot to do with why we had so much success, because we had a real good handle on it.".-Johnny Rivers

MARRY ME, LAURA!GONNA TAKE A MIRACLE by Laura Nyro with Labelle  (1971, Columbia)When I was in high school, dating Cindy, every time The Fifth Dimension's Wedding Bell Blues came on the radio, with it's repeating plea - “MARRY ME, BILL!” -her family would tease us mercilessly. I couldn't escape the power of that record. Later, I realized that that song was created by the ultimate singer-songwriter's singer-songwriter, Laura Nyro, who's other familiar hit compositions include Eli's Coming (3 Dog Night), and And When I Die (Blood, Sweat, and Tears). Laura herself, however, remained a cult attraction. The benighted Nyro (born Nigro, the child of Russian-Polish parents in the Bronx) died young, like her mother, of ovarian cancer at the age of 49. Prior to the ordeals that characterized her later life, the musical atmosphere of that borough bathed the budding songsmith - (as it did Dion DiMucci) - in deep, resonating waves of doo-wop, soul, R&B, and pop. This album of covers is a trembling masterwork of tribute to those influences, assisted by the one and only Patti Labelle, who had become a sort of caretaker for the fragile Nyro. On the tour that preceded this recording Labelle would cook for her friend. Laura's love life was fraught, her careerist stumbles are the stuff of legend: (Best friend David Geffen was heartbroken when she re-signed with Columbia, instead of joining him on his fledgling Asylum label), but her music remained pure, and timeless. This recording has always been my favorite of mine - a time traveler's dream, since I first heard it. R&B titans Gamble and Huff oversaw the production from their seat of soul, in Philadelphia - (although, reputedly, Laura was the one fully in charge throughout the proceedings). However it came to be, GONNA TAKE A MIRACLE is a true miracle. Every cut brings tears to my eyes, and delight to my ears. 

Show Sponsor:  www.LaShamanaFaby.com I write about extreme adventure and classic rock. I've flown supersonic in five separate aircraft, the highest and fastest of which was a MiG-25 Foxbat (to 84,000 feet at Mach 2.6); skied to the South Pole and swam (sans wetsuit) at the North Pole; summited the Matterhorn and 23,000-ft. Aconcagua; driven a Bugatti Veyron at 253 mph and an Indy car at 200 mph; pulled 9 Gs in an F-16; bobsledded with the U.S. Olympic team; flown through a Category 5 Hurricane (Dorian) in a C-130; visited deep nuclear missile silos in Minot, ND; hunted, and detonated, unexploded WWII ordnance with German police; taken a .38 point-blank wearing a bulletproof jacket (hurt); gone bull-fighting (hurt more - cracked ribs); figure-skated with Olympian Sasha Cohen (hurt most - concussion). I also have a ticket to fly to space with Virgin Galactic (passenger #369). Interviews with adventurers include Neil Armstrong, Sir Edmund Hillary, Sir Roger Bannister, Dr. Edward Teller, Chuck Yeager and Elon Musk. You get the idea: I like to push limits and inspire others to do the same. My books include "Forbes To The Limits" and "The Right Stuff: Interviews With Icons Of The 1960s." I profile classic rock stars, too, having interviewed Art Garfunkel, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, Roger Daltrey, Ian Anderson, John Fogerty, Dion Dimucci, Grace Slick, Eric Burdon, Pete Townshend, John Kay, and more, all to be included in my upcoming book, “Amplified.” My education includes an MBA from Columbia University, and a BA from the University of Maryland. 

On today's show Stromer unravels the next steps in the bathroom build, Adam explains how purchasing tiles has changed, and they check out Pink Floyd's Nick Mason's ultimate car collection. Then, they take your questions on moving a shed to build a pool, building a bump-out, and how to properly lay down shower tiles.

The Brian D. O'Leary Show February 3, 2023   Today's show brought to you by O'Leary Beef and Southside Market & Barbecue. Set up your “Big Game” party with pit-roasted meats from Texas delivered to your front door.   Fountain.FM Listen and support us at the same time over at Fountain.FM   A tragic day, but “the Music” continued The legendary rock ‘n' roller Buddy Holly headlined a package show in early 1959, known as the Winter Dance Party. The itinerary was bananas. It covered twenty-four Midwestern cities in twenty-four days—there were no off days. The tour schedule crisscrossed the upper Midwest with no apparent logic. Overnight jaunts of several hundred miles—all in sub-freezing temperatures—were commonplace. Holly historian Bill Griggs had this to say about General Artists Corporation (GAC)—the operation which booked the tour: "They didn't care. It was like they threw darts at a map… The tour from hell—that's what they named it—and it's not a bad name." On February 2nd, the show in Clear Lake, Iowa ended, and the tour headed about 400 miles northwest from Clear Lake to Morehead, Minnesota. Holly famously chartered a plane for his band prior to the show. Buddy was concerned with getting some rest and making a head start to take care of some much-needed laundry for him and his tour mates. Ultimately, only the headliners of the show took the charter. Waylon Jennings, then playing bass guitar in Holly's band, said he felt more comfortable riding on the tour bus and voluntarily gave up his seat to J.P. Richardson, the Beaumont, Texas disc jockey and tour co-headliner, known as The Big Bopper. Richardson felt ill and needed rest. The Winter Dance Party consisted of several contemporary and would-be stars. Yet the party ended on February 3, 1959, for the 22-year-old Holly and 28-year-old Big Bopper when the plane went down in a blizzard shortly after takeoff, five miles northwest of Mason City, Iowa. Also perishing in the infamous crash was 17-year-old Ritchie Valens of “La Bamba” fame. Yet the tour played on. Sadly, in retrospect. Future chart-topper Bobby Vee, then but 15-years-old, had Buddy Holly's material down cold. So, the Minnesota child filled in—in place of Holly—on February 3 in Morehead. Jimmy Clanton, Frankie Avalon, and Fabian ultimately finished the tour in the place of the deceased stars. Waylon couldn't get to Holly's funeral. GAC wouldn't let him leave the tour. To add insult to injury, venue managers regularly threatened non-payment for shows because the original headliners didn't appear. It didn't matter that they had perished in a tragedy. After the crash, Jennings continued for two more weeks on the tour with doo-wop stars Dion and the Belmonts amongst others. Lead singer Dion DiMucci is the last original headliner still alive today and is in his early 80s. Jennings returned to Lubbock, Texas after the tour ended. Holly's father looked after young Waylon. In Waylon: An Autobiography, Jennings wrote: “Mr. Holley wanted to promote me, because he said Buddy believed in me, but I had enough sense to know that wouldn't be right. He bought me clothes and things like Buddy would.” Waylon returned to the job that got him noticed by Buddy Holly in the first place, as a radio disc jockey. He bounced around west Texas and Arizona as a DJ for the better part of a decade before he reappeared in the public consciousness as a musician once again in the late 1960s. So, contrary to the schmaltz unleashed by Don McLean in 1971, “music" did not die that day. It is more than unsettling that American Pie, McLean's terrible—and entirely too long of a—song, is what the hacky news sites reference on a day like this, the anniversary of the plane crash. But never fear, it happens every February 3rd. Diving into the McLean biography is more than a little unsettling as well. To wit: after his second divorce (from his wife of nearly 30 years) with accusations of abuse hanging over him, the now 77-year-old McLean took up with a “model and reality star” 48 years his junior. McLean still lives off the reputation of that crappy half-century-plus old song. Unfortunately, in my early twenties, I purchased some McLean music, but it was because it was a double-album of McLean's and Jim Croce's music. Croce was good, if not great. He also died in a tragic airplane crash. We wrote about Croce a while ago. https://briandoleary.substack.com/p/if-i-could-save-time-in-a-bottle Anyway, this is all a long way of saying, rock out to some Buddy Holly today, or sing along with “La Bamba,” or get a little “Chantilly Lace” pumping through the airwaves. Perhaps go with a doo-wop session of Dion and the Belmonts. “The Wanderer” by Dion when he went solo is also a great tune. There is never a bad day to play Waylon Jennings music or play it loud. I already listened to the horrible American Pie today. I can confirm that it is as bad as I remember and I feel like less of a man for not trusting my memory.   Links: Winter Dance Party Tour Schedule, 1959 Buddy Holly The Big Bopper Ritchie Valens Waylon Jennings Dion DiMucci Don McLean, 76, steps out with his model girlfriend Paris Dylan, 28, ahead of his performance at Manchester Bridgewater Hall Why the Beatles owe their success to the Comanche Indians   For your premium meats: O'Leary Beef   For all the rest of it, go to BrianDOLeary.com for more information.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Dion DiMucci returns - this time with his wife Susan DiMucci! - to share more of their story of dealing with fame and fortune that almost ruined them. If you missed the first episode, listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/117-the-wanderer-returns-with-dion-dimucci/id1536626967?i=1000588058374.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Dion DiMucci ("The Wanderer", "Runaround Sue", "Abraham, Martin and John") joins Ralph to share how he dealt with fame and fortune that almost ruined him, but ultimately found real happiness in Christ.

As the Catechism reaches its 30th anniversary, we look at its history and how it can help Catholics engage with their faith. Exploring the battleground states in the governors' races and major ballot initiatives. Plus, the story of music legend Dion DiMucci and how he rediscovered God.

70% of animals are gone. Not 17. 70. SEVEN ZERO. Recurring feature Cold Brew Ecosystem™ returns. We talk about streetcars again!!! ALSO: Dodge Ram drivers hate to hear about declining animal populations, a fresh round of Elon Musk bashing, and Chris meets Danielle Steel at The Southern Festival of Books. PLUS: Song of the week by Dion DiMucci!!!!Dion - "Your Own Backyard": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_E2QgzBHyk

Today on the Tim DeMoss Show, we're joined by Lee Loughnane, trumpet player and founding member of  Chicago, He shares about their brand new album "Born For This Moment" (which released July 15) and what is was like creating and producing it. We also featured the first single ("If This Is Goodbye") from the album. Earlier in the show, Tim shares about he & his wife Tina attending the Dion DiMucci (of Dion & The Belmonts fame) concert this past Sunday as well as what Dion's music has meant to him over the years (including the Christian albums Dion released in the 80's). We're hoping to have Dion on the show at some point down the road :). With the extreme heat, we also hand out Rita's gift cards via the show text line (610-500-DOVE). Sports Clips:Brian Barber, Philadelphia Phillies Scouting Director.Justin Crawford, Philadelphia Phillies 17th overall MLB Draft 2022. Music: Chicago: If This Is GoodbyeDion DiMucci: The Best, Take It Back, and Sweet SurrenderSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Part 2 When Thriller was released in November 1982, it didn't seem to have a single direction. Instead, it arguably sounded like many singles. But it became apparent that this was precisely what Michael intended Thriller to be: a brilliant collection of songs meant as hits, each designed for a particular audience in mind. Michael put out "Billie Jean" for the dancers and "Beat It" for the rockers and then followed each jam with amazing videos to enhance his allure and his inaccessibility. These songs had a life of their own. Thriller was almost called “Star Light”. The lyric "thriller" in the track of the same name was originally "star light". The decision to change it was down to marketing appeal.    This wonderful article from Rolling Stone says: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" had the sense of a vitalizing nightmare in its best lines ("You're stuck in the middle/And the pain is thunder. … Still they hate you, you're a vegetable. … They eat off you, you're a vegetable"). "Billie Jean," in the meantime, exposed how the interaction between the artist's fame and the outside world might invoke soul-killing dishonor ("People always told me, be careful of what you do. … 'Cause the lie becomes the truth," Jackson sings, possibly thinking of a paternity charge from a while back). And "Beat It" was pure anger – a rousing depiction of violence as a male stance, a social inheritance that might be overcome. It also almost caught the studio on fire. When Eddie Van Halen recorded his solo, the sound of his guitar caused one of the studio speakers to catch fire. The video for “Beat It” was set in Los Angeles' Skid Row and featured up to 80 real-life gang members from the notorious street gangs the Crips and the Bloods. It cost $100,000 to make.   Thriller's parts added up to the most improbable kind of art – a work of personal revelation that was also a mass-market masterpiece. It's an achievement that will likely never be topped. It was the best-selling album worldwide in 1983 and became the best-selling album of all time in the U.S. and the best-selling album of all time worldwide, selling an estimated 70 million copies. It topped the Billboard 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to produce seven Billboard Hot 100 top-10 singles. Thriller is still the highest-selling album of all time. Want to know what the top 25 are? Subscribe to our Patreon for our video bonus on the top-selling albums ever! Billie Jean was the first video by an African-American artist to air on MTV. The video revealed Jackson's new look of a leather suit, pink shirt, red bow tie and his signature single white glove. It was a style copied by kids throughout the United States. It caused one school, New Jersey's Bound Brook High, to ban students from coming to class wearing white gloves.   Toto members Keyboardist Steve Porcaro co-wrote Human Nature, and Steve Lukather contributed rhythm guitar on Beat It.   On March 25, 1983, Jackson reunited with his brothers for Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, an NBC television special. The show aired on May 16 to an estimated audience of 47 million and featured the Jacksons and other Motown stars. Jackson had just performed a medley of greatest hits with his brothers. It was exciting stuff, but for Michael, it wasn't enough. As his brothers said their goodbyes and left the stage, Michael remained. He seemed shy for a moment, trying to find words to say. "Yeah," he almost whispered, "those were good old days. … I like those songs a lot. But especially—" and then he placed the microphone into the stand with a commanding look and said, "I like the new songs."  Then, wearing a white glove decorated with rhinestones, he swooped down, picked up a fedora, put it on his head with confidence, and vaulted into "Billie Jean." He also debuted his moonwalk dance (which became his signature dance). This was one of Michael's first public acts as a star outside and beyond the Jacksons, and it was startlingly clear that he was not only one of the most breathtaking live performers in pop music but that he could mesmerize the audience, something not seen since the likes of Elvis Presley. Michael had initially turned down the invitation to the show, believing he had been doing too much television. But at the request of Motown founder and Icon Berry Gordy, he performed in exchange for an opportunity to do a solo performance. And he killed it.    "Almost 50 million people saw that show," Michael wrote in his book Moonwalk. "After that, many things changed." At this time, Michael Jackson was obviously an immensely talented young man – he seemed shy but ambitious and undoubtedly enigmatic. Nobody knew much about his beliefs or sex life; he rarely gave interviews, but he also didn't land himself in scandals. He did, however, describe himself as a lonely person – especially around the time he made Off the Wall. Former Los Angeles Times music critic Robert Hilburn recently wrote of meeting Jackson in 1981, when the singer was 23, that Jackson struck him as "one of the most fragile and lonely people I've ever met … almost abandoned. When I asked why he didn't live on his own like his brothers, instead of remaining at his parents' house, he said, 'Oh, no, I think I'd die on my own. I'd be so lonely. Even at home, I'm lonely. I sit in my room and sometimes cry. It is so hard to make friends, and there are some things you can't talk to your parents or family about. I sometimes walk around the neighborhood at night, just hoping to find someone to talk to. But I just end up coming home.'"   Jackson's social uneasiness was probably formed by the wounds in his history; the children were insulated from others their age, and Jackson's status as a lifelong star may have left him feeling not just cut off from most people but also alienated from them – as if his experience or his vocation made him extraordinary. "I hate to admit it," he once said, "but I feel strange around everyday people." Not exactly an unusual sentiment for some highly celebrated celebrities, especially former child stars. At the same time, it's a statement full of signals: Michael didn't enjoy the sort of company that might guide him in positive ways. He probably never did throughout his life. Maybe the most troubling passage in his autobiography Moonwalk is when he talks about children in the entertainment world who eventually fell prey to drugs: "I can understand … considering the enormous stresses put upon them at a young age. It's a difficult life."   Thriller placed seven singles in Billboard's Top 10 (presently around 50 million copies). At the 1984 Grammy Awards, Michael finally claimed his due, capturing eight awards, a record he holds with the band Santana, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Best Rock Vocal Performance for "Beat It," Best R&B Song, and Best R&B Vocal Performance for "Billie Jean," and he won an award for the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial storybook. In addition, the album won Producer of the year (Quincy Jones).    At the 11th Annual American Music Awards, Michael won another eight awards and became the youngest artist to win the Award of Merit. He also won Favorite Male Artist, Favorite Soul/R&B Artist, and Favorite Pop/Rock Artist. "Beat It" won Favorite Soul/R&B Video, Favorite Pop/Rock Video, and Favorite Pop/Rock Single. In addition, the album won Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Pop/Rock Album. Thriller's sales doubled after releasing an extended music video, Michael Jackson's Thriller, seeing Michael dancing with a group of incredibly designed zombies and was directed by John Landis.   Michael had the highest royalty rate in the music industry at that point, with about $2 for every album sold (equivalent to $5 in 2021). The same year, The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller, a documentary about the music video, won a Grammy for Best Music Video (Longform). At this time, The New York Times wrote, "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson, and there is everybody else."   Oddly enough, On May 14, 1984, then-President Ronald Reagan gave Michael an award recognizing his support of alcohol and drug abuse charities.   In November 1983, Michael and his brothers partnered with PepsiCo in a $5 million promotional deal that broke records for a celebrity endorsement (equivalent to $13,603,408 in 2021).  On January 27, 1984, Michael and other members of the Jacksons filmed a Pepsi commercial. Pyrotechnics accidentally set Jackson's hair on fire during a simulated concert before a whole house of fans, causing second-degree burns to his scalp. Michael underwent treatment to hide the scars and had his third rhinoplasty shortly after. Pepsi settled out of court, and Jackson donated the $1.5 million settlement to the Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, California; its now-closed Michael Jackson Burn Center was named in his honor. Michael signed a second agreement with Pepsi in the late 1980s for $10 million. The second campaign covered 20 countries and provided financial support for Jackson's Bad album and the 1987–88 world tour.  He was making SO much money and was the most significant music star globally.   Then, months later, it was announced that Michael would be setting out on a nationwide tour with the Jacksons. He didn't want to do it but felt obligated. Clearly, Michael was bigger, better, and "badder" than his family's limitations on him. He should have been taking the stage alone at this point in his career.   Jackson's aversion to the Victory Tour was apparent when he sat looking miserable at press conferences.   The Victory Tour of 1984 headlined the Jacksons and showcased Michael's new solo material to more than two million Americans. Following the controversy over the concert's ticket sales, Jackson donated his share of the proceeds, an estimated $3 to 5 million, to charity. What controversy, you ask?    Don King (yeah, boxing promoter Don King), Chuck Sullivan, and Papa Joe Jackson came up with a way to generate extra money from ticket sales. Those wanting to attend would have to send a postal money order for $120 ($310 in current dollars) along with a particular form to a lottery to buy blocks of four tickets at $30 apiece (US$78 in 2021 dollars), allegedly to stop scalpers. Upon receipt, the money was to be deposited into a standard money market account earning 7% annual interest; it would take six to eight weeks for the lottery to be held and money to be refunded to those that didn't win. Since only one in ten purchasers would win the lottery and receive tickets, there would be more money in the bank for that period than there were tickets to sell, and they expected to earn $10–12 million in interest. Obviously, the Jacksons were all for the idea, but Michael wasn't, and he warned them that it would be a public relations disaster. The $30 ticket price was already higher than most touring acts (like Prince and Bruce Springsteen) were charging at the time and was even worse by the requirement to buy four. This put tickets out of reach of many of Michael's African-American fans who were not financially secure. At this time, Michael was already being blasted about his physical look and music separating him from his race.  That community was joined by many commentators in the media in criticizing the Jackson's over the plan. Nevertheless, it worked, and people were lining up to get their newspapers to sign up for the lottery. On July 5, 1984, after receiving a letter from eleven-year-old fan Ladonna Jones, who accused the Jacksons and their promoters of being "selfish and just out for money," Michael held a press conference to announce changes in the tour's organization and also to announce that his share of the proceeds from the tour would be donated to charity. Jones later received VIP treatment at the Dallas concert. The following is Michael's speech at the press conference: "A lot of people are having trouble getting tickets. The other day I got a letter from a fan in Texas named Ladonna Jones. She'd been saving her money from odd jobs to buy a ticket, but with the turned tour system, she'd have to buy four tickets and she couldn't afford that. So, we asked our promoter to work out a new way of distributing tickets, a way that no longer requires a money order. There has also been a lot of talk about the promoter holding money for tickets that didn't sell. I've asked our promoter to end the mail order ticket system as soon as possible so that no one will pay money unless they get a ticket. Finally, and most importantly, there's something else I am going to announce today. I want you to know that I decided to donate all my money I make from our performance to charity. There will be further press statements released in the next two weeks."   Some procedures were modified; however, the ticket price remained unchanged, and at a press conference, Don King justified the $30 fee as appropriate and that he did not blame the promoters for charging that price, adding that "you must understand, you get what you pay for." During the last concert of the Victory Tour at the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Jackson announced his split from The Jacksons during "Shake Your Body".   His charitable work continued with the release of "We Are the World" (1985), co-written with future Icon Lionel Richie, which raised money for the poor in the U.S. and Africa. It earned $63 million (equivalent to $158,728,032 in 2021) and became one of the best-selling singles, with 20 million copies sold. It won four Grammy Awards in 1985, including Song of the Year for Michael and Lionel as its writers.    Michael collaborated with Sir Paul McCartney in the early 1980s and learned that Paul was making $40 million a year from owning the rights to other artists' songs. By 1983, Michael had begun buying publishing rights to others' songs, but he was careful with his purchases, only bidding on a few of the dozens offered to him. Michael's early buys included Sly and the Family Stone's "Everyday People" (1968), Len Barry's "1–2–3" (1965), Dion DiMucci's "The Wanderer" (1961), and "Runaround Sue" (1961).   In 1984, it was announced that the publishing rights to nearly 4000 songs from ATV Music, including most of the Beatles' material, were coming up for sale. In 1981, Paul McCartney was offered the catalog for £20 million ($40 million). Michael submitted a bid of $46 million on November 20, 1984. When Michael and Paul were unable to make a joint purchase, McCartney did not want to be the sole owner of the Beatles' songs, and did not pursue an offer on his own. At first, Michael's team couldn't figure it out and walked away, but then they heard someone else was looking to buy them. Michael's increased bid of $47.5 million (equivalent to $119,675,897 in 2021) was accepted because he could close the deal faster. His purchase of ATV Music was finalized on August 10, 1985.   So, at this time, why was Michael being questioned about his look and his music? As a child, Michael had a sweet, dark-skinned appearance; many early Jackson 5 fans regarded him as the cutest of the brothers. J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness, has written, "[Michael] believed his skin… 'messed up my whole personality.' He no longer looked at people as he talked to them. His playful personality changed, and he became quieter and more serious. He thought he was ugly – his skin was too dark, he decided, and his nose too wide. It was no help that his insensitive father and brothers called him 'Big Nose.'" Also, as Jackson became an adolescent, he was horribly self-conscious about acne. Hilburn recalled going through a stack of photos with Jackson one night and coming across a picture of him as a teenager: "'Ohh, that's horrible,' [Jackson] said, recoiling from the picture."   The face Jackson displayed on the cover of Thriller had changed; the skin tone seemed lighter and his nose thinner and straighter. In his book, Moonwalk, Michael claimed that much of the physical overhaul was due to a change in his diet; he admitted to altering his nose and chin, but he denied he'd done anything to his skin. Still, the changes didn't end there. Over the years, Michael's skin grew lighter and lighter, his nose tapered more and more, and his cheekbones became more defined. This all became fair game for mockery to some; to others, it seemed like mutilation – not just because it might have been an act of conceit, aimed to keep him looking child-like, but worse because some believed Michael wanted to transform himself into a white person. Or an androgyne – somebody with both male and female traits.  Michael's art was still his best way of making a case for himself at that time. Then, in 1987, he released Bad, his highly-anticipated successor to Thriller. It may not have been as eventful and ingenious as Off the Wall and Thriller, but Bad was awesome.    It became the first album to produce five U.S. number-one singles: "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," "Bad," "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Man in the Mirror," and "Dirty Diana.", which you can hear our version at the end of this episode. Another song, "Smooth Criminal," peaked at number seven. Bad won the 1988 Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non-Classical and the 1990 Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Leave Me Alone". Michael won an Award of Achievement at the American Music Awards in 1989 after Bad generated five number-one singles, became the first album to top the charts in 25 countries, and the best-selling album worldwide in 1987 and 1988. By 2012, it had sold between 30 and 45 million copies worldwide. Oh, and it was considered a "flop." Oh, and The title track for the Bad album was supposed to be a duet with Prince. But the latter walked away from it due to the opening line "Your butt is mine". "Now, who is going to sing that to whom? Cause [he] sure ain't singing that to me, and I sure ain't singing it to [him]," Prince said in a TV interview with American comedian Chris Rock.   Later that year, Michael staged his first solo tour, The Bad World Tour. It ran from September 12, 1987, to January 14, 1989. The tour had 14 sellouts in Japan and drew 570,000 people, nearly tripling the previous record for a single tour. In addition, the 504,000 people who attended seven sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium set a new Guinness World Record.   In 1988, Michael released the autobiography, as mentioned earlier, Moonwalk. It sold 200,000 copies and reached the top of the New York Times bestsellers list. In October, Michael released a film, Moonwalker, which featured live footage and short films starring himself and Goodfella star Joe Pesci. In the U.S., it was released direct-to-video and became the best-selling videocassette. The RIAA certified it as eight-time platinum. In March 1988, Jackson purchased 2,700 acres (11 km2) of land near Santa Ynez, California, to build a new home, Neverland Ranch, at $17 million (equivalent to $38,950,760 in 2021).   In 1991, Michael renewed his contract with Sony for $65 million (equivalent to $129,317,127 in 2021), a record-breaking deal. Also, in 1991, he released his eighth album, Dangerous, co-produced with Mr. Rumpshaker himself, Teddy Riley. It was certified eight times platinum in the U.S., and by 2018 had sold 32 million copies worldwide. In the U.S., the first single, "Black or White," was the album's highest-charting song; it was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks and achieved similar chart performances worldwide, and the video featured a very young Macauley Culkin.  The second single, "Remember the Time," peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, and that video featured Eddie Murphy. At the end of 1992, Dangerous was the best-selling album worldwide and "Black or White" the best-selling single of the year worldwide at the BillboardMusic Awards.   Obviously, Michael wanted to tour in promotion of his latest album, and The Dangerous World Tour ran between June 1992 and November 1993 and grossed $100 million (equivalent to $187,583,506 in 2021); Jackson performed for 3.5 million people in 70 concerts, all of which were outside the U.S. A part of the proceeds went to the Heal the World Foundation. In addition, Michael sold the broadcast rights of the tour to HBO for $20 million, a record-breaking deal that still hasn't been broken.   Also, in 1993, Michael performed at the Super Bowl 27 halftime show in Pasadena, California. The NFL wanted a prominent musical artist to keep ratings high during halftime. It was the first Super Bowl where the halftime performance drew higher audience figures than the game. Jackson played "Jam," "Billie Jean," "Black or White," and "Heal the World." Dangerous rose 90 places in the album chart after the performance   In January 1993, Michael won three American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Album (Dangerous), Favorite Soul/R&B Single ("Remember the Time"), and he was the first to win the International Artist Award of Excellence. In addition, he won the "Living Legend Award" at the 35th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles in February. He attended the award ceremony with Brooke Shields. In addition, "Dangerous" was nominated for Best Vocal Performance (for "Black or White"), Best R&B Vocal Performance for "Jam," and Best R&B Song for "Jam."   In June 1995, Michael released the double album HIStory: Past, Present, and Future, Book I. The album debuted at number one on the charts and certified for eight million sold in the U.S. It is the best-selling multi-disc album of all time, with 20 million copies (40 million units) sold worldwide. In addition, HIStory received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. The first single from HIStory was "Scream/Childhood." "Scream" was a duet with Michael's youngest sister Janet, or "Miss Jackson if you're nasty." The single reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and received a Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals." Also, at the time, in 1995, it was the most expensive music video ever produced. It had a budget of 7 million dollars. FOR ONE VIDEO!!  His second single, "You Are Not Alone," holds the Guinness world record for the first song to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In addition, it received a Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Vocal Performance" in 1995.   In November of the same year, Michael merged his ATV Music catalog with Sony's music publishing division, creating Sony/ATV Music Publishing. He kept ownership of half the company, earning $95 million upfront (equivalent to $168,941,909 in 2021) and the rights to a ton more songs.   Michael promoted HIStory with the obviously named HIStory World Tour, from September 7, 1996, to October 15, 1997. He performed 82 concerts in five continents, 35 countries, and 58 cities to over 4.5 million fans, making it his most attended tour. It grossed $165 million, or $302,346,462 today.   In 1997, Michael released Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix, which contained remixes of singles from HIStory and five new songs. Worldwide sales stand at 6 million copies, making it the best-selling remix album ever. It reached number one in the U.K., as did the title track. In the U.S., the album reached number 24 and was certified platinum. Yeah, a remix album going platinum.   From October 1997 to September 2001, Michael worked on his tenth solo album, Invincible, which cost $30 million to record! Invincible was released on October 30, 2001. It was his first full-length album in six years and the last album of original material he would release in his lifetime. It debuted at number one in 13 countries, sold eight million copies worldwide, and went double platinum.   In September 2001, Michael performed in two "30th Anniversary concerts" with his brothers for the first time since 1984. The show also featured Mýa, Usher, Whitney Houston, Destiny's Child, Monica, Liza Minnelli, and Slash.    On January 9, 2002, Michael won his 22nd American Music Award for Artist of the Century.   On November 18, 2003, Sony released Number Ones, a greatest hits compilation. It was certified five-times platinum by the RIAA, and nine times platinum in the UK, for shipments of at least 2.7 million units.   During this time, allegations of child sexual abuse, and the trials that followed, were all over the news. If you're unfamiliar, you can research it for yourself.  Unfortunately, Michael's finances were also coming undone; he had been spending ludicrous sums, and he'd mismanaged his money – which took some doing since he had made such a vast fortune. As a result, the biggest star in the world had fallen from the tallest height. He left the country and moved to Bahrain, where it was announced that Jackson had signed a contract with a Bahrain-based startup, Two Seas Records; nothing came of the deal, and Two Seas CEO Guy Holmes, later said it was never finalized. That October, Fox News reported that Michael had been recording at a studio in County Westmeath, Ireland. It was unknown what he was working on or who had paid for the sessions; his publicist stated that he had left Two Seas by then. After that, Michael was only occasionally seen or heard from. Nobody knew whether he could recover his name or preserve his undeniable music legacy until he announced an incredibly ambitious series of 50 concerts – which he described as the "final curtain call."    The "This Is It" shows were his first significant concerts since the HIStory World Tour in 1997. Michael suggested he would retire after the shows. The initial plan was for 10 concerts in London, followed by shows in Paris, New York City, and Mumbai. Randy Phillips, president, and chief executive of AEG Live, predicted the first 10 dates would earn Jackson £50 million, or close to 63 Million US dollars. After record-breaking ticket sales, the London shows were increased to 50 dates; over one million tickets were sold in less than two hours. The concerts were to run from July 13, 2009, to March 6, 2010. Michael moved back to Los Angeles, where he rehearsed in the weeks leading up to the tour under the direction of choreographer Kenny Ortega, whom he had worked with during his previous tours. Most rehearsals took place at the Staples Center, which was owned by AEG.   It's hard to believe that Jackson, who was so proud of his public performances and so peerless at delivering them, would have committed himself to a project he might fail so tremendously. At the same time, it is not inconceivable that Michael Jackson could have been a man half-hungry and broken in the past few years. All that is certain is that on June 25, in Los Angeles, Michael Jackson met the only sure redemption he might know in the most famous unexpected, and mysterious death in current history. That redemption didn't come because he died, but because his death forced us to reconsider what his life added up to. Less than three weeks before the first This Is It show was due to kick off in London, with all concerts sold out, I repeat; sold out, Michael Jackson died from cardiac arrest caused by a propofol and benzodiazepine overdose. Conrad Murray, his personal physician, had given Michael different medications to help him sleep at his rented mansion in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles. Paramedics received a 911 call at 12:22 pm Pacific time and arrived three minutes later. He wasn't breathing, and the medics performed CPR. Resuscitation efforts continued en route to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and for more than an hour after Michael's arrival, but were unsuccessful, and Michael Jackson, the king of pop, was pronounced dead at 2:26 pm.   News of his death spread quickly online, causing websites to slow down, crash from user overload, and put unprecedented strain on services and websites, including Google, AOL Instant Messenger, Twitter, and Wikipedia. Overall, web traffic rose by between 11% and 20%. MTV and BET aired marathons of Michael's music videos, and specials aired on television stations worldwide. MTV briefly returned to its original music video format, which is messed up that it took an Icon to die for MTV to actually be MUSIC TELEVISION, and they aired hours of Michael's music videos, with live news specials featuring reactions and interviews from MTV personalities and other celebrities.   His memorial was held on July 7, 2009, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, preceded by a private family service at Forest Lawn Memorial Park's Hall of Liberty. Over 1.6 million fans applied for tickets to the memorial; the 8,750 recipients were drawn at random, and each received two tickets. The memorial service was one of the most-watched events in streaming history, with an estimated US audience of 31.1 million and an estimated 2.5 to 3 billion worldwide. Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, Jennifer Hudson, and others performed at the memorial, and Smokey Robinson and Queen Latifah gave eulogies. Reverend Al Sharpton received a standing ovation with cheers when he told Michael's children: "Wasn't nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with. But he dealt with it anyway." Michael's 11-year-old daughter Paris Katherine, wept as she addressed the crowd. Michael's body was entombed on September 3, 2009, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.   Oh, but wait. There's more. But of course there is. It's Michael Jackson!   His doctor was initially charged with involuntary manslaughter and was found guilty. So he was sentenced to four years. Yep... four friggin years.    After his death, Michael was still winning awards. He won 4 awards at 2009's AMA's, bringing his total AMA wins to 26, something no one else has touched.    The documentary "Michael Jackson's This Is It" came out shortly after, and I have seen it and loved it, as sad as it was knowing that he'd never get to perform those concerts. Despite a limited two-week engagement, the film became the highest-grossing documentary or concert film ever, with more than $260 million worldwide earnings.

In this episode of Personally Speaking, Msgr. Jim Lisante is joined by actor-singer Mike Wartella.  Mike recently played Dion DiMucci, in a Broadway bound bio-musical called, “The Wanderer” at the Paper Mill Playhouse, and he received rave reviews for his performance. In addition to starring in “The Wanderer”,  Mike's Broadway credits include, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, “Tuck Everlasting” and “Wicked. Mike talks about his life, his career, playing Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Dion DiMucci, fatherhood, and the faith and values that sustain him.Support the show

Dion DiMucci is in his seventh decade of performing. In this exclusive interview, celebrating the release of his new album, Stomping Ground, we talk about life, love, and rock ‘n' roll...and Dion reveals how his face made it onto one of the most iconic rock albums of all time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dion DiMucci is in his seventh decade of performing. In this exclusive interview, celebrating the release of his new album, Stomping Ground, we talk about life, love, and rock ‘n' roll...and Dion reveals how his face made it onto one of the most iconic rock albums of all time.

Dion DiMucci is in his seventh decade of performing. In this exclusive interview, celebrating the release of his new album, Stomping Ground, we talk about life, love, and rock ‘n' roll...and Dion reveals how his face made it onto one of the most iconic rock albums of all time.

Dion DiMucci is in his seventh decade of performing. In this exclusive interview, celebrating the release of his new album, Stomping Ground, we talk about life, love, and rock ‘n' roll...and Dion reveals how his face made it onto one of the most iconic rock albums of all time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FR. RICHARD JOHN NEUHAUS, the late, founding editor of First Things, from a June 2002 episode of The World Over discusses the clergy sex abuse crisis and his book, As I Lay Dying. DION DiMUCCI, singer-songwriter and member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame talks about his life, career and most recent album, Blues With Friends.

Episode one hundred and twenty-eight of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Mr. Tambourine Man" by the Byrds, and the start of LA folk-rock. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "I Got You Babe" by Sonny and Cher. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Erratum The version of this originally uploaded got the date of the Dylan tour filmed for Don't Look Back wrong. I edited out the half-sentence in question when this was pointed out to me very shortly after uploading. Resources As usual, I've created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode (with the exception of the early Gene Clark demo snippet, which I've not been able to find a longer version of). For information on Dylan and the song, I've mostly used these books: Bob Dylan: All The Songs by Phillipe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon is a song-by-song look at every song Dylan ever wrote, as is Revolution in the Air, by Clinton Heylin. Heylin also wrote the most comprehensive and accurate biography of Dylan, Behind the Shades. I've also used Robert Shelton's No Direction Home, which is less accurate, but which is written by someone who knew Dylan. While for the Byrds, I relied mostly on Timeless Flight Revisited by Johnny Rogan, with some information from Chris Hillman's autobiography. This three-CD set is a reasonable way of getting most of the Byrds' important recordings, while this contains the pre-Byrds recordings the group members did with Jim Dickson. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Today we're going to take a look at one of the pivotal recordings in folk-rock music, a track which, though it was not by any means the first folk-rock record, came to define the subgenre in the minds of the listening public, and which by bringing together the disparate threads of influence from Bob Dylan, the Searchers, the Beatles, and the Beach Boys, manages to be arguably the record that defines early 1965. We're going to look at "Mr. Tambourine Man" by the Byrds: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Mr. Tambourine Man"] Folk-rock as a genre was something that was bound to happen sooner rather than later. We've already seen how many of the British R&B bands that were becoming popular in the US were influenced by folk music, with records like "House of the Rising Sun" taking traditional folk songs and repurposing them for a rock idiom. And as soon as British bands started to have a big influence on American music, that would have to inspire a reassessment by American musicians of their own folk music. Because of course, while the British bands were inspired by rock and roll, they were all also coming from a skiffle tradition which saw Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, and the rest as being the people to emulate, and that would show up in their music. Most of the British bands came from the bluesier end of the folk tradition -- with the exception of the Liverpool bands, who pretty much all liked their Black music on the poppy side and their roots music to be more in a country vein -- but they were still all playing music which showed the clear influence of country and folk as well as blues. And that influence was particularly obvious to those American musicians who were suddenly interested in becoming rock and roll stars, but who had previously been folkies. Musicians like Gene Clark. Gene Clark was born in Missouri, and had formed a rock and roll group in his teens called Joe Meyers and the Sharks. According to many biographies, the Sharks put out a record of Clark's song "Blue Ribbons", but as far as I've been able to tell, this was Clark embellishing things a great deal -- the only evidence of this song that anyone has been able to find is a home recording from this time, of which a few seconds were used in a documentary on Clark: [Excerpt: Gene Clark, "Blue Ribbons"] After his period in the Sharks, Clark became a folk singer, starting out in a group called the Surf Riders. But in August 1963 he was spotted by the New Christy Minstrels, a fourteen-piece ultra-commercial folk group who had just released a big hit single, "Green Green", with a lead sung by one of their members, Barry McGuire: [Excerpt: The New Christy Minstrels, "Green Green"] Clark was hired to replace a departing member, and joined the group, who as well as McGuire at that time also included Larry Ramos, who would later go on to join The Association and sing joint lead on their big hit "Never My Love": [Excerpt: The Association, "Never My Love"] Clark was only in the New Christy Minstrels for a few months, but he appeared on several of their albums -- they recorded four albums during the months he was with the group, but there's some debate as to whether he appeared on all of them, as he may have missed some recording sessions when he had a cold. Clark didn't get much opportunity to sing lead on the records, but he was more prominent in live performances, and can be seen and heard in the many TV appearances the group did in late 1963: [Excerpt: The New Christy Minstrels, "Julianne"] But Clark was not a good fit for the group -- he didn't put himself forward very much, which meant he didn't get many lead vocals, which meant in turn that he seemed not to be pulling his weight. But the thing that really changed his mind came in late 1963, on tour in Canada, when he heard this: [Excerpt: The Beatles, "She Loves You"] Clark knew instantly that that was the kind of music he wanted to be making, and when "I Want to Hold Your Hand" came out in the US soon afterwards, it was the impetus that Clark needed in order to quit the group and move to California. There he visited the Troubadour club in Los Angeles, and saw another performer who had been in an ultra-commercial folk group until he had been bitten by the Beatle bug -- Roger McGuinn. One note here -- Roger McGuinn at this point used his birth name, but he changed it for religious reasons in 1967.  I've been unable to find out his views on his old name -- whether he considers it closer to a trans person's deadname which would be disrespectful to mention, or to something like Reg Dwight becoming Elton John or David Jones becoming David Bowie. As I presume everyone listening to this has access to a search engine and can find out his birth name if at all interested, I'll be using "Roger McGuinn" throughout this episode, and any other episodes that deal with him, at least until I find out for certain how he feels about the use of that name. McGuinn had grown up in Chicago, and become obsessed with the guitar after seeing Elvis on TV in 1956, but as rockabilly had waned in popularity he had moved into folk music, taking lessons from Frank Hamilton, a musician who had played in a group with Ramblin' Jack Elliot, and who would later go on to join a 1960s lineup of the Weavers. Hamilton taught McGuinn Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie songs, and taught him how to play the banjo. Hamilton also gave McGuinn an enthusiasm for the twelve-string guitar, an instrument that had been popular among folk musicians like Lead Belly, but which had largely fallen out of fashion. McGuinn became a regular in the audience at the Gate of Horn, a folk club owned by Albert Grossman, who would later become Bob Dylan's manager, and watched performers like Odetta and Josh White. He also built up his own small repertoire of songs by people like Ewan MacColl, which he would perform at coffee shops. At one of those coffee shops he was seen by a member of the Limeliters, one of the many Kingston Trio-alike groups that had come up during the folk boom. The Limeliters were after a guitarist to back them, and offered McGuinn the job. He turned it down at first, as he was still in school, but as it turned out the job was still open when he graduated, and so young McGuinn found himself straight out of school playing the Hollywood Bowl on a bill including Eartha Kitt. McGuinn only played with the Limeliters for six weeks, but in that short time he ended up playing on a top five album, as he was with them at the Ash Grove when they recorded their live album Tonight in Person: [Excerpt: The Limeliters, "Madeira, M'Dear"] After being sacked by the Limeliters, McGuinn spent a short while playing the clubs around LA, before being hired by another commercial folk group, the Chad Mitchell Trio, who like the Limeliters before them needed an accompanist. McGuinn wasn't particularly happy working with the trio, who in his telling regarded themselves as the stars and McGuinn very much as the hired help. He also didn't respect them as musicians, and thought they were little to do with folk music as he understood the term. Despite this, McGuinn stayed with the Chad Mitchell Trio for two and a half years, and played on two albums with them -- Mighty Day on Campus, and Live at the Bitter End: [Excerpt: The Chad Mitchell Trio, "The John Birch Society" ] McGuinn stuck it out with the Chad Mitchell trio until his twentieth birthday, and he was just about to accept an offer to join the New Christy Minstrels himself when he got a better one. Bobby Darin was in the audience at a Chad Mitchell Trio show, and approached McGuinn afterwards. Darin had started out in the music business as a songwriter, working with his friend Don Kirshner, but had had some success in the late fifties and early sixties as one of the interchangeable teen idol Bobbies who would appear on American Bandstand, with records like "Dream Lover" and "Splish Splash": [Excerpt: Bobby Darin, "Splish Splash"] But Darin had always been more musically adventurous than most of his contemporaries, and with his hit version of "Mack the Knife" he had successfully moved into the adult cabaret market. And like other singers breaking into that market, like Sam Cooke, he had decided to incorporate folk music into his act. He would do his big-band set, then there would be a fifteen-minute set of folk songs, backed just by guitar and stand-up bass. Darin wanted McGuinn to be his guitarist and backing vocalist for these folk sets, and offered to double what the Chad Mitchell Trio was paying him. Darin wasn't just impressed with McGuinn's musicianship -- he also liked his showmanship, which came mostly from McGuinn being bored and mildly disgusted with the music he was playing on stage. He would pull faces behind the Chad Mitchell Trio's back, the audience would laugh, and the trio would think the laughter was for them. For a while, McGuinn was happy playing with Darin, who he later talked about as being a mentor. But then Darin had some vocal problems and had to take some time off the road. However, he didn't drop McGuinn altogether -- rather, he gave him a job in the Brill Building, writing songs for Darin's publishing company. One of the songs he wrote there was "Beach Ball", co-written with Frank Gari. A knock-off of "Da Doo Ron Ron", retooled as a beach party song, the recording released as by the City Surfers apparently features McGuinn, Gari, Darin on drums and Terry Melcher on piano: [Excerpt: The City Surfers, "Beach Ball"] That wasn't a hit, but a cover version by Jimmy Hannan was a local hit in Melbourne, Australia: [Excerpt: Jimmy Hannan “Beach Ball”] That record is mostly notable for its backing vocalists, three brothers who would soon go on to become famous as the Bee Gees. Darin soon advised McGuinn that if he really wanted to become successful, he should become a rock and roll singer, and so McGuinn left Darin's employ and struck out as a solo performer, playing folk songs with a rock backbeat around Greenwich Village, before joining a Beatles tribute act playing clubs around New York. He was given further encouragement by Dion DiMucci, another late-fifties singer who like Darin was trying to make the transition to playing for adult crowds. DiMucci had been lead singer of Dion and the Belmonts, but had had more success as a solo act with records like "The Wanderer": [Excerpt: Dion, "The Wanderer"] Dion was insistent that McGuinn had something -- that he wasn't just imitating the Beatles, as he thought, but that he was doing something a little more original. Encouraged by Dion, McGuinn made his way west to LA, where he was playing the Troubadour supporting Roger Miller, when Gene Clark walked in. Clark saw McGuinn as a kindred spirit -- another folkie who'd had his musical world revolutionised by the Beatles -- and suggested that the two become a duo, performing in the style of Peter and Gordon, the British duo who'd recently had a big hit with "World Without Love", a song written for them by Paul McCartney: [Excerpt: Peter and Gordon, "World Without Love"] The duo act didn't last long though, because they were soon joined by a third singer, David Crosby. Crosby had grown up in LA -- his father, Floyd Crosby, was an award-winning cinematographer, who had won an Oscar for his work on Tabu: A Story of the South Seas, and a Golden Globe for High Noon, but is now best known for his wonderfully lurid work on a whole series of films starring Vincent Price, including The Pit and the Pendulum, House of Usher, Tales of Terror, and Comedy of Terrors. Like many children of privilege, David had been a spoiled child, and he had taken to burglary for kicks, and had impregnated a schoolfriend and then run off rather than take responsibility for the child. Travelling across the US as a way to escape the consequences of his actions, he had spent some time hanging out with musicians like Fred Neil, Paul Kantner, and Travis Edmondson, the latter of whom had recorded a version of Crosby's first song, "Cross the Plains": [Excerpt: Travis Edmondson, "Cross the Plains"] Edmondson had also introduced Crosby to cannabis, and Crosby soon took to smoking everything he could, even once smoking aspirin to see if he could get high from that. When he'd run out of money, Crosby, like Clark and McGuinn, had joined an ultra-commercial folk group. In Crosby's case it was Les Baxter's Balladeers, put together by the bandleader who was better known for his exotica recordings. While Crosby was in the Balladeers, they were recorded for an album called "Jack Linkletter Presents A Folk Festival", a compilation of live recordings hosted by the host of Hootenanny: [Excerpt: Les Baxter's Balladeers, "Ride Up"] It's possible that Crosby got the job with Baxter through his father's connections -- Baxter did the music for many films made by Roger Corman, the producer and director of those Vincent Price films. Either way, Crosby didn't last long in the Balladeers. After he left the group, he started performing solo sets, playing folk music but with a jazz tinge to it -- Crosby was already interested in pushing the boundaries of what chords and melodies could be used in folk. Crosby didn't go down particularly well with the folk-club crowds, but he did impress one man. Jim Dickson had got into the music industry more or less by accident -- he had seen the comedian Lord Buckley, a white man who did satirical routines in a hipsterish argot that owed more than a little to Black slang, and had been impressed by him. He had recorded Buckley with his own money, and had put out Buckley's first album Hipsters, Flipsters and Finger Poppin' Daddies, Knock Me Your Lobes on his own label, before selling the rights of the album to Elektra records: [Excerpt: Lord Buckley, "Friends, Romans, Countrymen"] Dickson had gone on to become a freelance producer, often getting his records put out by Elektra, making both jazz records with people like Red Mitchell: [Excerpt: Red Mitchell, "Jim's Blues"] And country, folk, and bluegrass records, with people like the Dillards, whose first few albums he produced: [Excerpt: The Dillards, "Duelling Banjos"] Dickson had also recently started up a publishing company, Tickson Music, with a partner, and the first song they had published had been written by a friend of Crosby's, Dino Valenti, with whom at one point Crosby had shared a houseboat: [Excerpt: Dino Valenti, "Get Together"] Unfortunately for Dickson, before that song became a big hit for the Youngbloods, he had had to sell the rights to it, to the Kingston Trio's managers, as Valenti had been arrested and needed bail money, and it was the only way to raise the funds required. Dickson liked Crosby's performance, and became his manager. Dickson had access to a recording studio, and started recording Crosby singing traditional songs and songs to which Dickson owned the copyright -- at this point Crosby wasn't writing much, and so Dickson got him to record material like "Get Together": [Excerpt: David Crosby, "Get Together"] Unfortunately for Crosby, Dickson's initial idea, to get him signed to Warner Brothers records as a solo artist using those recordings, didn't work out. But Gene Clark had seen Crosby perform live and thought he was impressive. He told McGuinn about him, and the three men soon hit it off -- they were able to sing three-part harmony together as soon as they met. ( This is one characteristic of Crosby that acquaintances often note -- he's a natural harmony singer, and is able to fit his voice into pre-existing groups of other singers very easily, and make it sound natural). Crosby introduced the pair to Dickson, who had a brainwave. These were folkies, but they didn't really sing like folkies -- they'd grown up on rock and roll, and they were all listening to the Beatles now. There was a gap in the market, between the Beatles and Peter, Paul, and Mary, for something with harmonies, a soft sound, and a social conscience, but a rock and roll beat. Something that was intelligent, but still fun, and which could appeal to the screaming teenage girls and to the college kids who were listening to Dylan. In Crosby, McGuinn, and Clark, Dickson thought he had found the people who could do just that. The group named themselves The Jet Set -- a name thought up by McGuinn, who loved flying and everything about the air, and which they also thought gave them a certain sophistication -- and their first demo recording, with all three of them on twelve-string guitars, shows the direction they were going in. "The Only Girl I Adore", written by McGuinn and Clark, has what I can only assume is the group trying for Liverpool accents and failing miserably, and call and response and "yeah yeah" vocals that are clearly meant to evoke the Beatles. It actually does a remarkably good job of evoking some of Paul McCartney's melodic style -- but the rhythm guitar is pure Don Everly: [Excerpt: The Jet Set, "The Only Girl I Adore"] The Jet Set jettisoned their folk instruments for good after watching A Hard Day's Night -- Roger McGuinn traded in his banjo and got an electric twelve-string Rickenbacker just like the one that George Harrison played, and they went all-in on the British Invasion sound, copying the Beatles but also the Searchers, whose jangly sound was perfect for the Rickenbacker, and who had the same kind of solid harmony sound the Jet Set were going for. Of course, if you're going to try to sound like the Beatles and the Searchers, you need a drummer, and McGuinn and Crosby were both acquainted with a young man who had been born Michael Dick, but who had understandably changed his name to Michael Clarke. He was only eighteen, and wasn't a particularly good drummer, but he did have one huge advantage, which is that he looked exactly like Brian Jones. So the Jet Set now had a full lineup -- Roger McGuinn on lead guitar, Gene Clark on rhythm guitar, David Crosby was learning bass, and Michael Clarke on drums. But that wasn't the lineup on their first recordings. Crosby was finding it difficult to learn the bass, and Michael Clarke wasn't yet very proficient on drums, so for what became their first record Dickson decided to bring in a professional rhythm section, hiring two of the Wrecking Crew, bass player Ray Pohlman and drummer Earl Palmer, to back the three singers, with McGuinn and Gene Clark on guitars: [Excerpt: The Beefeaters, "Please Let Me Love You"] That was put out on a one-single deal with Elektra Records, and Jim Dickson made the deal under the condition that it couldn't be released under the group's real name -- he wanted to test what kind of potential they had without spoiling their reputation. So instead of being put out as by the Jet Set, it was put out as by the Beefeaters -- the kind of fake British name that a lot of American bands were using at the time, to try and make themselves seem like they might be British. The record did nothing, but nobody was expecting it to do much, so they weren't particularly bothered. And anyway, there was another problem to deal with. David Crosby had been finding it difficult to play bass and sing -- this was one reason that he only sang, and didn't play, on the Beefeaters single. His bass playing was wooden and rigid, and he wasn't getting better. So it was decided that Crosby would just sing, and not play anything at all. As a result, the group needed a new bass player, and Dickson knew someone who he thought would fit the bill, despite him not being a bass player. Chris Hillman had become a professional musician in his teens, playing mandolin in a bluegrass group called the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers, who made one album of bluegrass standards for sale through supermarkets: [Excerpt: The Scottsville Squirrel Barkers, "Shady Grove"] Hillman had moved on to a group called the Golden State Boys, which featured two brothers, Vern and Rex Gosdin. The Golden State Boys had been signed to a management contract by Dickson, who had renamed the group the Hillmen after their mandolin player -- Hillman was very much in the background in the group, and Dickson believed that he would be given a little more confidence if he was pushed to the front. The Hillmen had recorded one album, which wasn't released until many years later, and which had featured Hillman singing lead on the Bob Dylan song "When the Ship Comes In": [Excerpt: The Hillmen, "When the Ship Comes In"] Hillman had gone on from there to join a bluegrass group managed by Randy Sparks, the same person who was in charge of the New Christy Minstrels, and who specialised in putting out ultra-commercialised versions of roots music for pop audiences. But Dickson knew that Hillman didn't like playing with that group, and would be interested in doing something very different, so even though Hillman didn't play bass, Dickson invited him to join the group. There was almost another lineup change at this point, as well. McGuinn and Gene Clark were getting sick of David Crosby's attitude -- Crosby was the most technically knowledgeable musician in the group, but was at this point not much of a songwriter. He was not at all shy about pointing out what he considered flaws in the songs that McGuinn and Clark were writing, but he wasn't producing anything better himself. Eventually McGuinn and Clark decided to kick Crosby out of the group altogether, but they reconsidered when Dickson told them that if Crosby went he was going too. As far as Dickson was concerned, the group needed Crosby's vocals, and that was an end of the matter. Crosby was back in the group, and all was forgotten. But there was another problem related to Crosby, as the Jet Set found out when they played their first gig, an unannounced spot at the Troubadour. The group had perfected their image, with their Beatles suits and pose of studied cool, but Crosby had never performed without an instrument before. He spent the gig prancing around the stage, trying to act like a rock star, wiggling his bottom in what he thought was a suggestive manner. It wasn't, and the audience found it hilarious. Crosby, who took himself very seriously at this point in time, felt humiliated, and decided that he needed to get an instrument to play. Obviously he couldn't go back to playing bass, so he did the only thing that seemed possible -- he started undermining Gene Clark's confidence as a player, telling him he was playing behind the beat. Clark -- who was actually a perfectly reasonable rhythm player -- was non-confrontational by nature and believed Crosby's criticisms. Soon he *was* playing behind the beat, because his confidence had been shaken. Crosby took over the rhythm guitar role, and from that point on it would be Gene Clark, not David Crosby, who would have to go on stage without an instrument. The Jet Set were still not getting very many gigs, but they were constantly in the studio, working on material. The most notable song they recorded in this period is "You Showed Me", a song written by Gene Clark and McGuinn, which would not see release at the time but which would later become a hit for both the Turtles and the Lightning Seeds: [Excerpt: The Jet Set, "You Showed Me"] Clark in particular was flourishing as a songwriter, and becoming a genuine talent. But Jim Dickson thought that the song that had the best chance of being the Jet Set's breakout hit wasn't one that they were writing themselves, but one that he'd heard Bob Dylan perform in concert, but which Dylan had not yet released himself. In 1964, Dylan was writing far more material than he could reasonably record, even given the fact that his albums at this point often took little more time to record than to listen to. One song he'd written but not yet put out on an album was "Mr. Tambourine Man". Dylan had written the song in April 1964, and started performing it live as early as May, when he was on a UK tour that would later be memorialised in D.A. Pennebaker's film Don't Look Back. That performance was later released in 2014 for copyright extension purposes on vinyl, in a limited run of a hundred copies. I *believe* this recording is from that: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Mr. Tambourine Man (live Royal Festival Hall 1964)"] Jim Dickson remembered the song after seeing Dylan perform it live, and started pushing Witmark Music, Dylan's publishers, to send him a demo of the song. Dylan had recorded several demos, and the one that Witmark sent over was a version that was recorded with Ramblin' Jack Elliot singing harmony, recorded for Dylan's album Another Side of Bob Dylan, but left off the album as Elliot had been off key at points: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan and Ramblin' Jack Elliot, "Mr. Tambourine Man" (from Bootleg Series vol 7)] There have been all sorts of hypotheses about what "Mr. Tambourine Man" is really about. Robert Shelton, for example, suspects the song is inspired by Thomas de Quincey's Confessions of an Opium Eater. de Quincey uses a term for opium, "the dark idol", which is supposedly a translation of the Latin phrase "mater tenebrarum", which actually means "mother of darkness" (or mother of death or mother of gloom). Shelton believes that Dylan probably liked the sound of "mater tenebrarum" and turned it into "Mister Tambourine Man". Others have tried to find links to the Pied Piper of Hamelin, or claimed that Mr. Tambourine Man is actually Jesus. Dylan, on the other hand, had a much more prosaic explanation -- that Mr. Tambourine Man was a friend of his named Bruce Langhorne, who was prominent in the Greenwich Village folk scene. As well as being a guitarist, Langhorne was also a percussionist, and played a large Turkish frame drum, several feet in diameter, which looked and sounded quite like a massively oversized tambourine. Dylan got that image in his head and wrote a song about it. Sometimes a tambourine is just a tambourine. (Also, in a neat little coincidence, Dylan has acknowledged that he took the phrase “jingle jangle” from a routine by Jim Dickson's old client, Lord Buckley.) Dickson was convinced that "Mr. Tambourine Man" would be a massive hit, but the group didn't like it. Gene Clark, who was at this point the group's only lead singer, didn't think it fit his voice or had anything in common with the songs he was writing. Roger McGuinn was nervous about doing a Dylan song, because he'd played at the same Greenwich Village clubs as Dylan when both were starting out -- he had felt a rivalry with Dylan then, and wasn't entirely comfortable with inviting comparisons with someone who had grown so much as an artist while McGuinn was still very much at the beginning of his career. And David Crosby simply didn't think that such a long, wordy, song had a chance of being a hit. So Dickson started to manipulate the group. First, since Clark didn't like singing the song, he gave the lead to McGuinn. The song now had one champion in the band, and McGuinn was also a good choice as he had a hypothesis that there was a space for a vocal sound that split the difference between John Lennon and Bob Dylan, and was trying to make himself sound like that -- not realising that Lennon himself was busily working on making his voice more Dylanesque at the same time. But that still wasn't enough -- even after Dickson worked with the group to cut the song down so it was only two choruses and one verse, and so came in under two minutes, rather than the five minutes that Dylan's original version lasted, Crosby in particular was still agitating that the group should just drop the song. So Dickson decided to bring in Dylan himself. Dickson was acquainted with Dylan, and told him that he was managing a Beatles-style group who were doing one of Dylan's songs, and invited him to come along to a rehearsal. Dylan came, partly out of politeness, but also because Dylan was as aware as anyone of the commercial realities of the music business. Dylan was making most of his money at this point as a songwriter, from having other people perform his songs, and he was well aware that the Beatles had changed what hit records sounded like. If the kids were listening to beat groups instead of to Peter, Paul, and Mary, then Dylan's continued commercial success relied on him getting beat groups to perform his songs. So he agreed to come and hear Jim Dickson's beat group, and see what he thought of what they were doing with his song. Of course, once the group realised that Dylan was going to be coming to listen to them, they decided that they had better actually work on their arrangement of the song. They came up with something that featured McGuinn's Searchers-style twelve-string playing, the group's trademark harmonies, and a rather incongruous-sounding marching beat: [Excerpt: The Jet Set, "Mr. Tambourine Man (early version)"] Dylan heard their performance, and was impressed, telling them "You can DANCE to it!" Dylan went on a charm offensive with the group, winning all of them round except Crosby -- but even Crosby stopped arguing the point, realising he'd lost. "Mr. Tambourine Man" was now a regular part of their repertoire. But they still didn't have a record deal, until one came from an unexpected direction. The group were playing their demos to a local promoter, Benny Shapiro, when Shapiro's teenage daughter came in to the room, excited because the music sounded so much like the Beatles. Shapiro later joked about this to the great jazz trumpet player Miles Davis, and Davis told his record label about this new group, and suddenly they were being signed to Columbia Records. "Mr. Tambourine Man" was going to be their first single, but before that they had to do something about the group's name, as Columbia pointed out that there was already a British group called the Jet Set. The group discussed this over Thanksgiving turkey, and the fact that they were eating a bird reminded Gene Clark of a song by the group's friend Dino Valenti, "Birdses": [Excerpt: Dino Valenti, "Birdses"] Clark suggested "The Birdses", but the group agreed it wasn't quite right -- though McGuinn, who was obsessed with aviation, did like the idea of a name that was associated with flight. Dickson's business partner Eddie Tickner suggested that they just call themselves "The Birds", but the group saw a problem with that, too -- "bird" being English slang for "girl", they worried that if they called themselves that people might think they were gay. So how about messing with the vowels, the same way the Beatles had changed the spelling of their name? They thought about Burds with a "u" and Berds with an "e", before McGuinn hit on Byrds with a y, which appealed to him because of Admiral Byrd, an explorer and pioneering aviator. They all agreed that the name was perfect -- it began with a "b", just like Beatles and Beach Boys, it was a pun like the Beatles, and it signified flight, which was important to McGuinn. As the group entered 1965, another major event happened in McGuinn's life -- the one that would lead to him changing his name. A while earlier, McGuinn had met a friend in Greenwich Village and had offered him a joint. The friend had refused, saying that he had something better than dope. McGuinn was intrigued to try this "something better" and went along with his friend to what turned out to be a religious meeting, of the new religious movement Subud, a group which believes, among other things, that there are seven levels of existence from gross matter to pure spirit, and which often encourages members to change their names. McGuinn was someone who was very much looking for meaning in his life -- around this time he also became a devotee of the self-help writer Norman Vincent Peale thanks to his mother sending him a copy of Peale's book on positive thinking -- and so he agreed to give the organisation a go. Subud involves a form of meditation called the laithan, and on his third attempt at doing this meditation, McGuinn had experienced what he believed was contact with God -- an intense hallucinatory experience which changed his life forever. McGuinn was initiated into Subud ten days before going into the studio to record "Mr. Tambourine Man", and according to his self-description, whatever Bob Dylan thought the song was about, he was singing to God when he sang it -- in earlier interviews he said he was singing to Allah, but now he's a born-again Christian he tends to use "God". The group had been assigned by CBS to Terry Melcher, mostly because he was the only staff producer they had on the West Coast who had any idea at all about rock and roll music, and Melcher immediately started to mould the group into his idea of what a pop group should be. For their first single, Melcher decided that he wasn't going to use the group, other than McGuinn, for anything other than vocals. Michael Clarke in particular was still a very shaky drummer (and would never be the best on his instrument) while Hillman and Crosby were adequate but not anything special on bass and guitar. Melcher knew that the group's sound depended on McGuinn's electric twelve-string sound, so he kept that, but other than that the Byrds' only contribution to the A-side was McGuinn, Crosby, and Clark on vocals. Everything else was supplied by members of the Wrecking Crew -- Jerry Cole on guitar, Larry Knechtel on bass, Leon Russell on electric piano, and Hal Blaine on drums: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Mr. Tambourine Man"] Indeed, not everyone who performed at the session is even clearly audible on the recording. Both Gene Clark and Leon Russell were actually mixed out by Melcher -- both of them are audible, Clark more than Russell, but only because of leakage onto other people's microphones. The final arrangement was a mix of influences. McGuinn's twelve-string sound was clearly inspired by the Searchers, and the part he's playing is allegedly influenced by Bach, though I've never seen any noticeable resemblance to anything Bach ever wrote. The overall sound was an attempt to sound like the Beatles, while Melcher always said that the arrangement and feel of the track was inspired by "Don't Worry Baby" by the Beach Boys. This is particularly noticeable in the bass part -- compare the part on the Beach Boys record: [Excerpt: The Beach Boys, "Don't Worry Baby (instrumental mix with backing vocals)"] to the tag on the Byrds record: [Excerpt: The Byrds, "Mr. Tambourine Man"] Five days before the Byrds recorded their single, Bob Dylan had finally recorded his own version of the song, with the tambourine man himself, Bruce Langhorne, playing guitar, and it was released three weeks before the Byrds' version, as an album track on Dylan's Bringing it All Back Home: [Excerpt: Bob Dylan, "Mr. Tambourine Man"] Dylan's album would become one of the most important of his career, as we'll discuss in a couple of weeks, when we next look at Dylan. But it also provided an additional publicity boost for the Byrds, and as a result their record quickly went to number one in both the UK and America, becoming the first record of a Dylan song to go to number one on any chart. Dylan's place in the new pop order was now secured; the Byrds had shown that American artists could compete with the British Invasion on its own terms -- that the new wave of guitar bands still had a place for Americans; and folk-rock was soon identified as the next big commercial trend. And over the next few weeks we'll see how all those things played out throughout the mid sixties.

We chat with Christine Ohlman, "the Beehive Queen" about music coming back to life with her new tour,  what it is like to play in the SNL band and how it had to change during the pandemic, plus how important it is to  support the arts and what independent music means to all of us!This queen of blue-eyed rock n' soul, who grew up loving equally the sweetness of a Memphis horn line and the raunch of an electric guitar riff, whether played by Muddy Waters, Keith Richards, or Pop Staples, teased her blonde hair into a beehive in honor of Ronnie Spector and never looked back, picking up a guitar and forging a career as a songwriter in the process. She's the current, long-time vocalist with the Saturday Night Live Band (SNL40's anniversary post-show concert also featured her star turn onstage with Jimmy Fallon, Elvis Costello and the B-52s), whose latest CD, The Deep End, was honored on five national Top Ten lists and features special guests/duet partners Ian Hunter, Dion DiMucci, and Marshall Crenshaw, plus Levon Helm, GE Smith, Andy York, Eric “Roscoe” Ambel, Catherine Russell, Big Al Anderson, and others.Ohlman tours relentlessly with her band Rebel Montez, torching clubs up and down the Eastern Seaboard in support of her recordings: Strip, The Hard Way, Radio Queen, Wicked Time, 2008 career retrospective Re-Hive,  The Deep End, 2011 concert DVD Live Hive, and 2019's The Grown-Up Thing.“I've come here tonight to set your souls on fire,” she'll tell an audience. And she will. For more info click on her website!! https://www.christineohlman.net/

Singer and songwriting legend Dion DiMucci of "Dion and the Belmonts" fame discusses his decades-long sobriety and how recovery has impacted his life, relationships, and music. As he says in his classic song "Your Own Backyard," "I can do anything that I wanna do. I do it straight, I do it so much better, too." Dion's website is https://diondimucci.com

Listen as Cantor Lucy B. Fishbein and TBJ Music Director Matthew J. Turk perform a unique arrangement of the civil rights era anthem Abraham, Martin and John by Dion DiMucci in honor of Martin Luther King Day.Vocals: Lucy B. FishbeinGuitar & Mandolin: Matthew J. TurkTheme music composed by Matthew J. Turk

Join us as we discuss Dion Dimucci's career! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/tmtma/support

American singer and songwriter Dion DiMucci recalls key relationships during his music career that inspired his new album, "Blues With Friends." Amid current racial tensions, his music encourages people to come together in friendship and unity.

American singer and songwriter Dion DiMucci recalls key relationships during his music career that inspired his new album, "Blues With Friends." Amid current racial tensions, his music encourages people to come together in friendship and unity.

American singer and songwriter Dion DiMucci recalls key relationships during his music career that inspired his new album, "Blues With Friends." Amid current racial tensions, his music encourages people to come together in friendship and unity.