OldiesVault

22/01/2024

We love finding cool diners when we’re on the road! Diggin’ the music, decor and the fantastic food! If you’re passing by Williamsburg VA, be sure to stop by! Shorty's Diner

24/05/2023

Thanks for the memories, Tina!

Iconic singer Tina Turner has died, according to a post on her verified Facebook account. Follow here for live updates and tributes.

02/03/2023

Master Blaster axe man

Greatest guitarists of the 60's
Steve Cropper

Possibly the greatest rhythm guitarist who ever lived, Cropper drove countless Stax singles (virtually all of them between 1963-73) with his impeccably funky timing. Not to mention his flair for the stinging solo, or his co-writing Otis Redding’s signature tune ”(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay”.

Tom Jones and Steve Cropper: (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay
https://youtu.be/m8Jp5arqMbQ

Green Onions - Steve Cropper & Donald 'Duck' Dunn
https://youtu.be/IM6MEb2xnLk

The Story of Booker T & The M.G.'s. As Told by Steve Cropper
https://youtu.be/8Ws_QuY-f3E

Booker T. with Steve Cropper Time Is Tight, Born Under a Bad Sign, Green Onions Live at Crossroads
https://youtu.be/WkSst-qL5v8

Neil Young With Booker T & The MG's "Europe 1993 " Limited Edition
https://youtu.be/c6RXiypE9gc

Stax Volt Tour 1967 feat. Otis Redding, Booker T. & The MGs, Sam & Dave The band: Steve „The Colonel“ Cropper (g), Donald „Duck“ Dunn (b), Al Jackson, Jr. (dr), Booker T. Jones (org), Memphis Horns
https://youtu.be/kUk1WTAReyE

Steven Lee Cropper (born October 21, 1941), sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas and Johnnie Taylor. He also acted as the producer of many of these records. He was later a member of the Blues Brothers band. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 36th on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, while he has won two Grammy Awards from his seven nominations.

15/02/2023

Remembering musician and actor Peter Tork who was born Peter Halsten Thorkelson on this date February 13, 1942 in Washington, D.C

Tork began studying piano at the age of nine, showing an aptitude for music by learning to play several different instruments, including the banjo, acoustic bass, and guitar. He attended Carleton College before he moved to New York City, where he became part of the folk music scene in Greenwich Village during the first half of the 1960s. While there, he befriended other up-and-coming musicians, such as StephenStills. In fact it was Stills who recommended Tork audition for The Monkees after he was turned down.

Tork was a proficient musician before he joined the Monkees. Though other members of the band were not allowed to play their instruments on their first two albums, he played what he described as "third chair guitar" on Michael Nesmith's song "Papa Gene's Blues" on their first album. He subsequently played keyboard, bass guitar, banjo, harpsichord, and other instruments on the band's recordings.

He co-wrote, along with Joey Richards, the closing theme song of the second season of The Monkees, "For Pete's Sake".

In 1968 Tork bought out the remaining four years of his contract for $160,000 and left the group.

Tork went solo with a group called Peter Tork And/Or Release with then-girlfriend Reine Stewart on drums (she had played drums on part of
"33⅓ Revolutions Per Monkee"), Riley "Wyldflower" Cummings (formerly of the Gentle Soul) on bass and – sometimes – singer/keyboard player Judy Mayhan. The Release could not secure a record contract, and by 1970, Tork was once again a solo artist.

In the early 1970s, where he joined the 35-voice Fairfax Street Choir and played guitar for a shuffle blues band called Osceola.
Tork returned to southern California in the mid-1970s, where he married, had a son, and took a job teaching at Pacific Hills School in West Hollywood for a year and a half. He spent a total of three years as a teacher of music, social studies, math, French and history, and coached baseball at several schools.

On July 4, 1976, Tork joined Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart onstage at Disneyland for a guest appearance during their concert tour. Later that year, he reunited with Jones and Dolenz in the studio for the recording of the single "Christmas Is My Time of Year" backed with "White Christmas", which saw a limited release for fan club members that holiday season.

A chance meeting with Sire Records executive Pat Horgan at the Bottom Line in New York City led to Tork recording a six-song demo, his first recording in many years. With George Dispigno as an engineer, Horgan produced the six tracks, which included two Monkees covers, "Shades of Gray" and "Pleasant Valley Sunday". but Seymour Stein, president of Sire, rejected the demo.

In 1981, Tork released the single "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" (backed with "Higher and Higher") with the New Monks.

In 1986, after a 1985 tour with Davy Jones in Australia, Tork rejoined fellow Monkees Jones and Dolenz for a highly successful 20th-anniversary reunion tour (Nesmith was not available for a reunion).

Tork and Dolenz recorded three new songs for a greatest hits release. The three Monkees recorded "Pool It!" the following year. A decade later, all four group members recorded "Justus", the first studio album with the full group lineup since 1968; it would be another 19 years until that happened again, with the release of "Good Times!".

Since 1986, Tork had intermittently toured with his former bandmates and also played with his bands, the Peter Tork Project and Shoe Suede Blues. In 2011, he joined Dolenz and Jones for "An Evening with The Monkees: The 45th Anniversary Tour" in 2011.

In 2012, Tork joined Dolenz and Nesmith on a Monkees tour in honor of the 45th anniversary of their album Headquarters, as well as in tribute to the late Jones. The trio would tour again in 2013 and 2014. In 2016, Tork toured with Dolenz as the Monkees, in what would be his final tour before his death February 21, 2019 at the age of 77.

31/01/2023

RIP Cindy...we will miss your antics and sense of humor!

Cindy Williams, the actress who starred in "Laverne & Shirley," has died after a brief illness. She was 75.

30/01/2023

RIP Barrett

Strong's songwriting credits also include Edwin Starr's "War" and a wealth of material for the Temptations — “I Wish It Would Rain,” “Just My Imagination" and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” for which he shared a Grammy.

25/01/2023

Robert Weston Smith was born on this day, January 21, 1938, and died on July 1st, 1995. Best known as Wolfman Jack, he was an American disc jockey active from 1960 till his death in 1995.

Famous for his gravelly voice, he credited it for his success, saying, "It's kept meat and potatoes on the table for years for Wolfman and Wolfwoman. A couple of shots of whiskey helps it. I've got that nice raspy sound."

Cleveland’s Alan Freed had originally called himself the "Moon Dog" after New York City street musician Moondog. Freed both adopted this name and used a recorded howl to give his early broadcasts a unique character.

Smith's adaptation of the Moondog theme was to call himself Wolfman Jack and add his own sound effects. The character was based in part on the manner and style of bluesman Howlin' Wolf.

At KCIJ, he first began to develop his famous alter ego, Wolfman Jack. According to author Philip A. Lieberman, Smith's "Wolfman" persona "derived from Smith's love of horror films and his shenanigans as a 'wolfman' with his two young nephews. The 'Jack' nickname was taken from the 'hipster' lingo of the 1950s, as in 'Take a page from my book, Jack', or the more popular, 'Hit the road, Jack.'"

In 1963, Smith took his act to the border when he was on hired of XERF-AM at Ciudad Acuña in Mexico, a station across the U.S.-Mexico border from Del Rio, Texas, whose high-powered border blaster signal could be picked up across much of the United States.

The Wolfman described the reach of the XERF signal: "We had the most powerful signal in North America. Birds dropped dead when they flew too close to the tower. A car driving from New York to L.A. would never lose the station."

In 1965, Wolfman Jack moved to XERB (1090 AM), another power-pumping clear-channel radio station located across the border on Mexico's Baja peninsula, at Rosarito Beach, near Tijuana.

Beaming his now-trademark mix of rowdy rock, raw rhythm and blues, and verbal antics, the Wolfman quickly found a new legion of fans from Southern California, up through the Great Northwest, into the remote regions of Alaska and Canada.

At his peak, Wolfman Jack was heard on more than 2,000 radio stations in 53 countries.

In 1973, he appeared as himself in George Lucas's film American Graffiti. Lucas gave him a fraction of a "point", the division of the profits from a film, and the extreme financial success of American Graffiti provided him with a regular income for life.

Wolfman Jack also served as the announcer and frequent guest host on The Midnight Special, the original late night live Rock n' Roll variety show on NBC.

Jim Morrison's lyrics for "The WASP (Texas Radio and the Big Beat)" were influenced by Wolfman Jack's broadcasting. He is also mentioned in the Grateful Dead song "Ramble On Rose". He furnished his voice in The Guess Who's top-10 hit single "Clap for the Wolfman". Wolfman Jack was regularly parodied on The Hilarious House of Frightenstein as "The Wolfman," an actual werewolf disc jockey with a look inspired by the original The Wolf Man movies. A few years earlier, Todd Rundgren recorded the tribute "Wolfman Jack" on the album Something/Anything?; the single version of the track includes a shouted talk-over introduction by the Wolfman, but on the album version, Rundgren performs that part himself.

On July 1, 1995, Smith died from a heart attack at his house in Belvidere, North Carolina, shortly after finishing a weekly broadcast. He was 57 years old.
-McGregor

24/01/2023

This one had to be done. This is the Alternate Ending, because I liked the Dance that he does at the end. I know it's a Comedian.

24/01/2023

We lost Don Wilson, co-founder and rhythm guitarist of The Ventures, a year ago today. He was 88 years old.

With an estimated 100 million record sales, the Ventures set the standard for instrumental guitar rock in the 1960s and 1970s.

Their hits included the instantly recognizable escalating riff of “Walk, Don’t Run,” and the equally familiar theme song for “Hawaii Five-O.” Those and other songs propelled their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. Some rock historians and critics felt the honor was long overdue.

RIP Don. Thank you for the music.

09/01/2023

Today would of been Paul Revere’s 85th birthday. We all miss you, Paul!

04/01/2023

30/12/2022

We learned last night that Guitarist Steve West passed away. (We wanted to give time for all family and friends to be notified)

Pre Raiders fame, Steve was there for a brief, yet notable time in Raider history. At a young age of 16, it’s Steve West’s incredible guitar playing that can be heard on “Shake It Up” Part 1 and 2, “Night Train”, and “Louie, Louie”. Of course it was “Louie, Louie” that Manager Roger Hart used to convince Columbia Records to sign the group. Roger states, “Steve West was an amazing young guitarist, who joined The Raiders in Portland, 1963, and did the amazing guitar break on the Raiders version of ‘Louie Louie’ which introduced the group to national fame.” “Louie” went #1 on the west coast markets including Hawaii.

In remembrance of Steve West, we ask you to spin our version of “Louie, Louie” featuring Steve West on guitar.

Our thoughts are with his wife Linda, and all of the family during this time.

22/12/2022

John Stamos reunites with The Beach Boys to perform on Fox and Friends. The 59-year-old and the band have been together for a while now

06/12/2022

Thanks Chris for the share!

Jim Steward passed away today, he was the Co-Founder of the legendary Stax Records. Stax was influential in the creation of Southern soul and Memphis soul music and we're a rival of the legendary Motown label. Stax also released gospel, funk, and blues recordings. Some great stax artists you hear on Cool Oldies 1450 are Booker T & The MG's, Carla Thomas, Sam and Dave, the Delfonics, the Mar-Keys, and of course their biggest artist the legendary Otis Redding.

26/10/2022

Raider Phil “Fang” Volk is 77 today!
10/25/1945

18/08/2022

We LOVED this movie!

Released August 11, 1973, American Graffiti is an American coming-of-age comedy film directed and co-written by George Lucas, and produced by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Harrison Ford, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips, Bo Hopkins, and Wolfman Jack.

11/08/2022

RIP Olivia....

06/08/2022

A day late...still significant

On Aug, 5, 1957, television after school got cool…nationwide. It was on this day in '57 that ABC television network did the first national broadcast of "American Bandstand". The show was very popular on WFIL-TV in Philadelphia.

But the first show was interrupted for half an hour in the middle by The Mickey Mouse Club.

Host Dick Clark's first guests were the Chordettes and the first record danced to on the show was Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day."

AB ran It for thirty years straight until MTV came along in 1981. We all know what happened after that.

Happy 65th 'National' Birthday to "American Bandstand". Remember how cool that show was?

We were so lucky to have AB.

06/08/2022

dkamillo