Archive for the ‘WSYR-TV’ Category

The Original Soundtracks / Baron Daemon & The Vampires

Sunday, October 30th, 2011

Listen: Fooba-Wooba John / The Original Soundtracks
Fooba-Wooba

Snow day in NYC, yes seriously. October and a very out of season, I think they’re called freak snowstorm pounced the region. Which was fine. I love the winter, especially when it goes away the next day. The storm was an excellent excuse to unearth several boxes and do some filing.

Damn, I hadn’t heard ‘Fooba-Wooba John’ in years. So simple and memorable as a kid, the record is hard not to hear if you just close your eyes and recall. Turned up loud, it turned back time.

The Original Soundtracks were local Syracuse guys from the early 60′s. Just listen to the singer’s accent making it easy to spot their geographic location. The stuff sock hops were made of. AMERICAN GRAFFITI right there in our own backyard.

Listen: The Transylvania Twist / Baron Daemon & The Vampires
The

But this jarred my brain in another way. ‘Fooba-Wooba John’ sure did remind me of ‘The Transylvania Twist’, another local single from exactly the same era.

A couple years back, I did a post about ‘Ghost Guitars’, B side to ‘The Transylania Twist’. In it, the very short explanation of Baron Daemon is un-mythed.

Every so often, the garage band or surf bug bites, and ‘The Transylvania Twist’ is an easy grab for either. I recall Baron Daemon & The Vampires appearing on at least one local AMERICAN BANDSTAND type program, decked out in Dracula gear, lip synching it.

A lovingly obvious Ventures instrumental track is all over both the above singles. My suspicions increased. I actually had to A/B the two as suddenly I was sure their backing tracks were one in the same. But alas, not true.

Still, I’m guessing The Original Soundtracks are The Vampires as well. There are too many fits for it not to be, but I’ll most likely never know.

Freddy Cannon / Where The Action Is

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

freddycannonaction, Freddy Cannon, Where The Action Is, Dick Clark, American Bandstand

Listen: Where The Action Is / Freddy Cannon FreddyCannonAction.mp3

Let’s face it. The theme song to ABC’s syndicated daily pop show, WHERE THE ACTION IS, titled ‘Action’ by Freddy Cannon, was so good, even The Ramones could have covered it.

I lived for WHERE THE ACTION IS and saw many a great act each day after school. Our local Syracuse affiliate, WSYR-TV, was wishy-washy, and many times pre-empted it with other things. Looking over the complete, chronological list of episodes and guests, I’ve only just discovered missing Pinkerton’s Assorted Colours, The Action and Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich for just that reason. Indeed, I’m a bit crushed having now discovered these atrocities. Scumbags.

But seeing an LA centric act almost daily, given they were basically down the street from the studios, must have been daily bliss. To name a few: The Guillteens, The Ikettes with and without Ike & Tina Turner, The Vejtables, The Leaves, The Seeds, Gary & The Hornets, Love, Dino Desi & Billy, The Buffalo Springfield, Jan & Dean.

Not to mention the RnB stuff: Martha & The Vandellas, Doris Troy, The Royalettes, Mary Wells, Brenda Holloway, The Toys, Maxine Brown, Kim Weston, Carla Thomas, Billy Stewart, Bobby Hebb, Alvin Cash & The Crawlers or Felice Taylor. I still replay The Vibrations doing ‘My Girl Sloopy’ vividly in my memory.

Then there were the black and white segments from England, a real high for we Anglophiles: The Small Faces, Gary Farr & The T-Bones, Them, The Mindbenders, The Zombies, The Moody Blues, The Kinks, Unit 4 + 2, The Who, Wayne Fontana, Marianne Faithfull, The Yardbirds and The Cryin’ Shames.