SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION from “No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach’s In)”

PART 1: The Jingle, The Song, The Band, The Beatles…   

   What started out as a TV spot for Alka-Seltzer was later recorded as  a full length single“No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach’s In)” becoming  a hit for THE T-BONES in1966. And just like we can find  SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION aka the KEVIN BACON GAME,as this one song will take us on a musical journey of the late1960’s and onward. 

   The original jingle was written by ALEXANDER BURLAND (The Nutty Squirrels) Producer JOE SARACENO turned the jingle into a full length instrumental recording using studio musicians credited to THE T-BONES (Tommy Tedesco guitar, Hal Blaine, drums;Carol Kaye electric bass; Lyle Ritz, upright bass). This studio band was actually part of THE WRECKING CREW, all “first call musicians” known for their exceptional studio chops for the hits of THE MONKEES, SONNY and CHER,THE RONETTES, THE TIJUANA BRASS and so many more. To tour as THE T-BONES would have cost them money as the  studio money was so much more profitable than touring money.

   The WRECKING CREW started in 1962 working at GOLD STAR STUDIOS on hits produced by PHIL SPECTOR (The CRYSTALS/THE RONETTES/IKEand TINA TURNER/THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS). As “first call” LA musicians they worked with producers as diverse as BRIAN WILSON, TERRY MELCHER, LOU ADLER, BONES HOWE, JIMMY BOWEN and MIKE POST.

LOU ADLER often seen court side next to JACK NICHOLSON at LA LAKER games or seen in the crowd behind the catcher at DODGER games LOU ADLER (with the signature white beret) was the originator of The Monterey Pop Festival, owner of DUNHILL Records and later ODE Records. He produced JOHNNY RIVERS, THE GRASS ROOTS, JAN and DEAN, THE MAMAS & THE PAPAS and won a GRAMMY AWARD for producing CAROLE KING’S “Tapestry” in 1972. He was Executive Producer of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW and films for CHEECH & CHONG. Early in his songwriting days with HERB ALBERT they wrote “Wonderful World” a huge hit in 1960 for SAM COOKE and in 1965 became a hit for HERMAN’S HERMITS. LOU ADLER was married in 1964 to SHELLY FABARES and produced a few hit records for his then wife, along with one son

JIMMY BOWEN produced FRANK SINATRA’S “Strangers In The Night” (1967’s Grammy for RECORD OF THE YEAR)among other hits. “Old Blue Eyes” hired BOWEN as a record producer (using THE WRRECKING CREW) for his newly established (1960) REPRISE RECORDS, thus giving a new meaning to “CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD”. SINATRA garnered the fellowship of the RAT PACK by signing DEAN MARTIN, SAMMY DAVIS ,Jr ,also NANCY SINATRA, DINO, DESI and BILLY to the label. In later years BOWEN worked with GLEN CAMPBELL, KENNY ROGERS, HANK WILLIAMS,Jr, THE OAK RIDGE BOYS, REBA McEntire, GEORGE STRAIT, SUZY BOGGUSS, KIM CARNES, CONWAY TWITTY and GARTH BROOKS.

BONES HOWE originally was an engineer under ADLER. He later produced hits with THE WRECKING CREW for THE ASSOCIATION and the 5th DIMENSION.

TERRY MELCHER, the son of DORIS DAY, was a singer, songwriter and as a producer he helped develop the “California Sound” and “folk rock”. He sang as TERRY DAY, later in BRUCE(Johnston) and TERRY, and was also  in THE RIP CHORDS. MELCHER produced the first two BYRDS albums including the singles “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn,Turn,Turn” as well as hits by PAUL REVERE and THE RAIDERS.Years later he produced the BEACH BOYS’ hit “Kokomo”. TERRY MELCHER is also known as the original target of CHARLES MANSON’S family attack on 10050 Cielo Drive the rented home that MELCHER shared with girlfriend CANDACE BERGEN and his friend MARK LINDSAY. They had moved out prior to that fateful day.

MIKE POST produced the 1964 hit by THE MURMAIDS “Popsicles and Icicles”(written by DAVID GATES). Got his first GRAMMY (age 23) in 1968 for Best Instrumental Arrangement on MASON WILLIAMS (backed by THE WRECKING CREW) “Classical Gas”.  At 24 he was Musical Director on THE ANDY WILLIAMS SHOW, then got his second GRAMMY for his theme song for THE ROCKFORD FILES, He was the “go-to guy” for many TV shows producers including The A-Team, Baa Baa black Sheep, The Commish, Doogie Howser, MD, Magnum, PI, and many others. To me he is best known for his “dun, dun” sound effect he created for the “Law and Order” franchises.

BRIAN WILSON:simply stated the genius of The Beach Boys.

PART 2: The Beatles???

   What started out as  a TV spot for Alka-Seltzer was later recorded as  a full length single“No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach’s In)” becoming  a hit by THE T-BONES in1966. And just like we can find  SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION aka the KEVIN BACON GAME, this one song will take us on a musical journey of the 1960’s and onward.

   THE T-BONES as recorded was: Tommy Tedesco on guitar, Hal Blaine, drums;Carol Kaye electric bass; Lyle Ritz, upright bass. This studio band was actually the basis of THE WRECKING CREW, all “first call musicians” known for their exceptional studio chops for the hits of THE MONKEES, SONNY and CHER,THE RONETTES, THE TIJUANA BRASS. To tour as THE T-BONES would have cost them money as the studio work money was so much more profitable than tour money.

   It was suggested that a “tour” band of THE T-BONES would be compiled to tour, photos etc…sorta like THE MONKEES (but not as famous). The T-Bones were now identified as JUDD HAMILTON, DAN HAMILTON, JOE FRANK CAROLLO and TOMMY REYNOLDS none who played on the original record, nor the (previous of course and) subsequent recording until the last album “Everyone’s Gone To The Moon”.

   Years later (1971) HAMILTON. JOE FRANK and REYNOLDS have two huge hits with “Don’t Pull Your Love (Out)” and “Fallin’ In Love”.

   THE BEATLES are connected to our KEVIN BACON GAME, so bear with me on this one. “Red Rubber Ball” a silly hit written by PAUL SIMON and BRUCE WOODLEY of THE SEEKERS was recorded by THE CYRKLE in 1966 climbing the BILLBOARD Chart to #2.  Original called THE RHONDELLS, the band was managed by BRIAN EPSTEIN of BEATLES fame who changed their name to THE CIRCLE, JOHN LENNON re-christened the band THE CYRKLE. THE CYRKLE opened on numerous US dates for THE BEATLES and played THE BEATLES last live date ever in San Francisco.

   Here’s the connection.  In 1976, Alka Selter stops using “No Matter What Shape” and now rallies around a new jingle “plop, plop, fizz, fizz”. This jingle was written by musician TOM DAWES, a former member of THE CYRKLE…

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD: Chapter 7-More Thievery

Okay, back to more thievery. With The 18th Amendment replaced by the 21st Amendment, PROHIBITION is officially repealed. Its time to have a drink, legally.

The glamorous supper clubs and the “legitimate” night clubs reopened their doors. The speakeasy’s turned their lights on even brighter, as most never truly closed AND all continued to be financed by THE MOB.

The Mob ruled clubs in Cleveland, Portland, Corpus Christi, The swanky Beverly Hills Supper Club of Newport, Kentucky, a jazz venue CLUB 18 on West 52nd St in NYC, The Chez Paree in Chicago,The Cloister of Chicago,The Copacabana (NYC), The Latin Quarter(NYC) just to name a few. To get a paying gig in these establishments you had to join the “local”…As Frank Zappa wrote, “Hey,you can call me Rudy, I’m the union man, and any of you boys not paid up on your card”.

One could seek employment through the AGVA- THE AMERICAN GUILD OF VARIETY ARTISTS, a mob run union or through its sister organization the GAC (General Amusement Corporation) a massive talent agency.

So let’s pick one hot spot away from my NYC… say we travel south to Miami Beach located in beautiful, climate controlled as well as mob controlled south Florida. In the 1950’s Miami Beach had over 300 hotels. (Las Vegas had 4, hold that thought for later). AGVA acts would tour via booking by the General Amusement Corp, these acts would make the circuit from Miami to Chicago to Houston then to NYC and so forth with the agencies taking a piece of the action.

Tennessee was not one of those hot spots where these acts traveled on a regular basis. On January 5, 1950  the senator from Tennessee introduced Senate Resolution 202, AKA, “the investigation of organized crime bill”. In time, many clubs around the country were shut down only to find solace in LAS VEGAS, Nevada.

The BIG BAND acts peaked in the 1940’s and 1950’s with Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington Orchestras all rotating into the NYC Broadway houses: The Capitol, The Music Hall, and of course The Paramount (the home of Frank Sinatra and the bobby-soxers booked by not so clean William Morris Agency). A few years later Martin and Lewis are huge hits at the 5500 seat Roxy,

These shows as well as the coffee house folkies, and the comedians will make a smooth transition over to the newest AUDIO/VISUAL medium, the Television.

The radio networks of yore now become TELEVISION NETWORKS with Milton Berle’s TEXACO STAR THEATRE hitting the airwaves in 1948 as did Ed Sullivan’s TOAST OF THE TOWN .

At that time there was a total of 19 television stations in only 12 cities: Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angles, Milwaukee, NewYork, Philadelphia, St Louis, Washington, DC, and Schenectady-Albany and over 200 different advertisers vied for airtime.

Keep in mind that there were only 750,000 TV sets manufactured by then. Advertisers knew this television thing could be huge if it catches on. And how could it not. People could actually see people, different people, from different regions, males and females, the audience could not only hear the news but actually see footage.

A huge cultural shift is about to happen in America and the world. And that’s part of my story. How my generation benefitted from the vaudevillians, the club circuit, the radio, and ultimately the television to get our entertainment and the news.

See you next time… Chapter 8:BEFORE THE BEATLES . Comments? jazzbus@gmail.com