El Porto

The City of Manhattan Beach has recently tried to eliminate the name "El Porto" for the northern section of town.  The new politically correct name is "North Manhattan Beach." However, nobody is using that term, especially because El Porto is the best South Bay surf spot.

Appears they forgot to change the parking lot sign.

Almost As Good as the Superbowl

The Superbowl is my favorite day of the year.  It's the one day where there is no traffic, no lines, and plenty of room on trails and waves, but it's not a holiday, so everything is still open.  They should have it twice a year really.

My second favorite day, especially in Los Angeles, is the Oscars.  The Oscars are SOOOO important here that they have to be shown live, which means they come on in the afternoon so the east coasters can see them in primetime.  Count in the pre-shows and all that, and it's pretty much another day when everyone is inside watching TV.   It isn't quite as empty as Superbowl Sunday, but it's close.

Granted, you have to avoid Hollywood entirely, as amazingly they have had Hollywood Blvd closed for a week leading up to the Oscars, but it's pretty easy to avoid Hollywood.

World's Laziest Animal

Did you know the koala bear is the world's laziest animal?  I had no idea until I was watching a student do math homework, and it listed the top 10 laziest animals.  (They had to figure out the percentage of the day the animals slept.)  The koala sleeps a shocking 22 hours per day.

The least lazy animal is the poor giraffe.  It only sleeps 1.9 hours per day.

Perhaps My Cheesiest Moment

The other day I was listening to "Night Time Nuggets" on KLOS, a show which I'll probably talk about another time on here.  The DJ played a set of songs from the band Triumph.  That reminded me of a story.

If you're unfamiliar with Triumph, they were a pretty corny heavy metal band, popular (sort of) in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  They were like a poor man's Rush, in that they were a trio, they were hard rock, and they were Canadian.   They also, like Rush, wrote epic tales about battles between good and evil, futuristic dystopian societies, and the occasional ballad.   

Triumph had a couple legitimate hit songs on rock radio, but for the most part are sort of a forgotten band.  Here is one of their more well known songs, Fight the Good Fight.   This rendition below is from the US Festival in 1983.  Note the bass player's resemblance to Spinal Tap's Derek Smalls.  (Some people think Spinal Tap was largely based on Triumph...)

Click this to see Triumph at the US Festival:  http://youtu.be/4W9TihpFMlM?t=3m

At the time, some friends and I were into Triumph.  Even then we knew they were second or third rate, but we still thought they were a pretty cool band.  Cool enough to go see them live.  

Which we did in 1985 at the relatively new Worcester Centrum in Worcester, MA.

While at this show, the band announced that after the "real" show, they'd be filming a video.  At the time, MTV was only a few years old, and they still actually played videos, so being in a video as an audience member was a big deal, to us anyway.  

Even though one of our parents was waiting outside to drive us home, we opted to stay late as they filmed this video.  There was about a half hour break first.

They ran a tape of the song and the band pretended to play.  I was shocked!  I knew, say, Duran Duran were lip synching as they rode fancy yachts or ran on tropical beaches, but a band on a stage?.....wouldn't they play the actual tune?  Nope.  

They played this song over and over, repositioning the cameras for different shots.  The audience was asked each time to keep cheering as if they loved the song.  The song, by the way, was totally unfamiliar as it was a new one.  I remember the audience being asked, by a director, to cheer on the chorus when the lights shined on them.  

We were so sick of this song by the end of it.

Abut half the audience was there for this - the rest had left, but you can't see this in the video.

Another sort of bubble bursting moment came when about 10 models were escorted onto the stage and put into the front rows.  These girls then applauded and sang along for a couple takes, pretending to be fans.  

Anyhow, I was determined to be "in" this video, so I took my Triumph t-shirt, which I'd bought on the way in, and began swinging it around.  I swung this shirt for every take, all the way through.  I figured, "this shirt will show up in the video, there is no way they can avoid it."

I remember my arm being so tired, but I was determined and never stopped swinging the shirt, to the clear annoyance of everyone in the near vicinity.

Well, the good news is that the shirt technique did work.   Click this link and you can see the shirt waving.  Also later in the video you see it again.

http://youtu.be/n2xnGvAlkvE?t=18s

The bad news is that the song was really bad, even by Triumph standards, and pretty much flopped, so my shot at fame did not really materialize.  It did get a lot of play, though, for a couple months, on "video station" V66, which was a local version of MTV in the Boston area.  

This was a low-rent station, and had just started broadcasting.  They had so few videos that they played the ones they had over and over.   The new Triumph song was one of those videos.  It was actually semi-amazing to see my shirt waving on my own TV, and I do remember people in my junior high talking about "Reardon's shirt" being in that video (mainly because I told everyone I could to watch for it.)

Oh, I also remember people asking me and my friends, "How did they get the lightning to strike?  Did that look really cool in person?"  As you probably know, the lightning is fake. We kind of cracked up to see that lightning, and also all the edits and fast cuts.  In real life, it was just a plodding song we saw from thirty rows back.

So there you go, my cheesiest moment, maybe, and the only video that I'm in, at least that I know about.

More Bike Lanes?

Looks like the next streets to get the bike lane treatment are Sepulveda and Westwood. Not to start talking about bike lanes and only bike lanes here, but this is just too much....  Link below for article:

http://www.laobserved.com/biz/2013/02/good_times_for_la_bi.php

Bike Lane Begone

I remember the first time I visited Amsterdam, and marveling at their fantastic bike lanes. If you've been there, you probably also thought, "why don't we have those in the US?"

Well, be careful what you wish for, because now....we have them.

You see..... one thing you don't think when you fantasize about a utopian society of pedaling citizens is that in order to have a bike lane, something has to go.  It's a matter of space.

On Motor Ave below Cheviot Hills, and Ocean Park Blvd (above) in Santa Monica, what has gone is an entire lane of vehicle traffic.

In both cases, we now have horrible bottlenecks and bumper to bumper traffic.

The truth about bike lanes is that very few of us can use them.  Here is what's required:

 - trip must be short
 - you can't be carrying anything that can't fit on a bike
 - you can't have your kids with you, or any passengers
 - it can't be cold, rainy, or hot
 - you can't be too old
 - you can't be handicapped or unfit in some way
 - you can't be going anywhere you can't arrive sweaty

And above all, you must be willing to share the road with cars.  Because unlike Amsterdam, our bike lanes are not separate from where the cars travel.  (There, they have a little rock wall barrier.)

While I certainly would LOVE to have REAL bike lanes here, these bike lanes are a total disaster.  Let's not even talk about the shade of green they chose, or the fact that they are just little spotty routes that aren't connected to each other.  The main problem is that these bike lanes benefit a tiny minority while inconveniencing everybody else.  Traffic here is already so bad they almost considered making Pico and Olympic one way to increase lanes.  And they also wanted to restrict parking on those roads.  Now they want to TAKE AWAY lanes?

There must be some way to fit safe bike lanes (separated from traffic) onto roads without reducing the lanes for cars.  Maybe the sidewalks can be thinner?  I would definitely bike around if it were safe.

But just paining new lines on the street?.....they really didn't put much thought into it. (Though I'm sure the "budget" for dumping green paint on the street was in the thousands.)

Anyhow, rant over, but if you get stuck on either of these roads, you will agree.  Banish the bike lanes!

Wrecking Crew

What is the Wrecking Crew?

Regardless of who you are, you have heard the Wrecking Crew.

They were the musicians who played on all of the following songs:

Good Vibrations - Beach Boys (and pretty much all Beach Boys songs from their peak period)
Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel
Mr. Tambourine Man - Byrds
These Boots Are Made For Walking - Nancy Sinatra
Monday Monday - Mamas and Papas
Strangers in the Night - Frank Sinatra
Windy - Association
Aquarius - Let The Sun Shine In - Fifth Dimension
He's A Rebel - Crystals
I Got You Babe - Sonny and Cher
Close To You - Carpenters
Love Will Keep Us Together - Captain and Tenille
Pink Panther Theme Song
Partridge Family Theme Song

And quite a few others.... Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Sam Cooke, the Monkees....

In fact pretty much any song from the 60s and even into the early 70s has a 50/50 chance to have been played by this small group of people.

Basically, in the 60s, quite a few bands did not really play on their own records.  Most were done by a fairly small group (about 15-20) of LA session musicians.

Most of the time, their work went uncredited, or was credited to someone else!

"The Wrecking Crew" was a nickname given to this group.  Perhaps the coolest member is Carol Kaye, who played on all the Beach Boys songs, and actually wrote many famous bass riffs.  For instance "The Beat Goes On" by Sonny and Cher has a very distinct bass line which was essentially created on the spot by Kaye.

The only household name of the group is Glen Campbell, who went on to have his own solo career.

Of course by the 1970s, bands were becoming more self-contained, and audiences expected more authenticity.   Many of these session musicians found it hard to get work.

One musician, in high demand during the 1960s, was, by the 1980s, working as a security guard in Arizona.

The movie "The Wrecking Crew" was created by one of the children of a Wrecking Crew member.  His dad was a guitarist who had yachts, mansions, and a Rolls Royce in the 60s, but by the mid-70s literally appeared on the Gong Show.   He made this movie to commemorate his dad and all the other unrecognized musicians.

He began in 1996, and finally finished the movie in 2008.

It is so expensive to get the rights to the music, though, that it is still unreleased.  It has played at a few festivals, but for now is basically unseen.

The movie screened at the (very large) Saban Theater Saturday to a full audience.  Some of the members of the "Crew" were there, along with Herb Alpert (who used them quite frequently) and some other folks of interest.

It is a great movie with some amazing clips and interviews.  It tells the story plainly, and in a way that even non-music nerds will probably appreciate.  What's most amazing is just how many songs these people played on.

Amazing movie.  Hopefully they will raise enough money to get it released commercially.....

The Best Radio Station in the U.S. (World?)

There probably aren't too many people who care about what the best radio station is anymore, aside from a handful of radio nerds.

But I am pretty sure what is the best radio station in the U.S.  It's a station on Eastern Long Island called WLNG.

Now I should qualify "best radio station" by saying this is an Oldies station.

WLNG is a station stuck in a time warp.  Since 1963, it hasn't changed its format, nor its sound.  It still has its jocks talking in AM-ish reverb echo.  The jingles are straight out of the 1960s.  There are hourly news breaks.  If you've ever heard a tape of a radio station from the 60s, it sounds exactly like that.

What makes the station great?  Two things. One is they let the jocks pick the songs. This is basically unheard of today, where most radio stations are carefully programmed, with the songs test-marketed, selected by computer, and tightly controlled.

The second and probably most important factor is the sheer NUMBER of songs.  A typical station like LA rock outlet KLOS plays about 400 to 600 songs.  Listen with any regularity, and you'll soon have heard them all.   Many, many times.  Plus, many other stations are playing those same songs, and have been for years.

The WLNG playlist is estimated at over 10,000.  And their definition of oldies is VERY wide.  A WLNG jock could easily play a Tennessee Ernie Ford tune from 1955, followed by a disco track from 1978, rounded out by a U2 song from 1987.  (Though most of the music, wisely, is from the late 50s through 70s.)

During the day, you can get a bit swamped with commercials, stock reports, and announcements about lost dogs and pancake breakfasts.  But in the evenings and on weekends, the music dominates.  You are pretty much guaranteed to get what in radio is called an "oh wow" moment.  (Meaning you say, "oh wow, haven't heard that in awhile.")   And you will also probably hear a song you've never heard in your life.  (And sometimes you are thankful about that!)  But the jocks are smart: they mix the nuggets up well with some familiar songs.

Should we also mention they are clearly playing vinyl 45s much of the time?

You can even email in a request which they will actually play.

Luckily we can all enjoy WLNG on the internet: no need to move to the Hamptons.

Here is a sample hour of WLNG:

Johnny Tillotson - Talk Back Trembling Lips (1963)

Randy Newman - Short People (1977)

Bobby Vee - Sharing You (1962)

Gary Lewis - Count Me In (1965)

Ringo Starr - It Don’t Come Easy (1971)

Barry Mann - Who Put the Bomp (1961)

John Lennon - Imagine (1971)
Stevie Wonder - Livin’ for the City (1973)

Hollywood Argyles - Alley Oop (1960)

Righteous Brothers - Soul and Inspiration (1966)

Bobby Darin - Things (1962)
Billy Ocean - Loverboy (1982)

Inez Foxx with Charlie Fox - Mockingbird (1963)

Andrea True Connection - More More More (1977)

Billy Joe Royal - Cherry Hill Park (1969)

Frankie Avalon - Gingerbread (1958)

Lou Christie - Lightning Strikes (1966)

Bay City Rollers - Saturday Night (1974)
Chordettes - Never On Sunday (1960)
Frank Sinatra - Softly As I Leave You (1964)

I Love the Superbowl!

This is a picture from Superbowl I, which was held in 1967 at the LA Coliseum.

The Superbowl is my favorite day of the year.   To me it represents complete freedom to do anything - no restrictions, no hassles, no lines, no traffic.

It's like a major holiday, but with every store open, and no dull Christmas parties to attend.

Every trail is wide open, waves go unridden, parking is plentiful...  The 405 almost looks like that day they closed it down.

And since everyone in the world is watching it, you know nobody is going to call, email, or expect you to be anywhere important.

It's basically a free day.  A day off from the world.

So thank you Superbowl.  And no, I still don't know who won.

KRTH Weekend

Like most radio stations, KRTH is typically very boring these days, playing the same songs to death.  I don't really know anyone who listens to KRTH, though they are surprisingly the #2 or #3 station in Los Angeles most of the time.   (If you don't know, they are the oldies station, have been around for about 35 years, and their definition of "oldies" now includes 80s music.)

Anyway, every once in awhile K-Earth does something interesting.  This weekend they are doing an Original/Cover theme.  At the bottom and top of every hour, they play a cover version, then the original, back to back.  If you are a radio nerd like myself you like these kinds of things.

So far this weekend they have done:

Heard It Through the Grapevine (Gladys Knight covering Marvin Gaye)
La Bamaba (Los Lobos covering Richie Valens)
Working My Way Back (Spinners covering Four Seasons)
Roll Over Beethoven (Beatles covering Chuck Berry)
Hooked On A Feeling (One hit wonder Blue Swede covering BJ Thomas)
Do You Wanna Dance (Beach Boys covering Bobby Freeman)
Grazin' in the Grass (the cover on this one has words, the original is instrumental)
Dedicated to the One I Love (Mamas and Papas covering Shirelles)
Crimson and Clover (Joan Jett covering Tommy James)
Aint No Mountain High Enough....you probably know both versions.

Anyway I didn't hear all these but saw them on their playlist.  Of course Saturday the Sound is playing every Beatles song A to Z so I'll have to listen to some of both....