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Read "Gone and Also ... A Work in Progress" | Claude Hall
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Commentary November 8, 2010 In a day when real friends are in short supply – mostly because they’re dying around me – there is nothing more that I love to see than a man standing up for his friends…even those long gone. Thus, I appreciated this following letter. Good on you, Steve! “Steve Resnik here. Hope all is well. Just wanted to tell you that I'm writing a book on the life of Charlie Minor. I worked with him for 15 years and knew him for 23 plus. Your article quotes Jan Basham calling him a ‘slim ball’. I'm sure that should have said ‘slime ball’. Anyway, I not only knew him for 23 years but saw his relationships with about 3,000 people, most of which loved him very much. Now, I knew Jan as well and really liked her. But just had to say that Charlie was a WONDERFUL, KIND, CARING person even if one person, maybe even three or four others, didn't think so. But, most of us would have a hard time finding any of those folks. He was loved.” Got to admit, Steve, that I knew an enormous number of record promotion people and not only appreciated their companionship and expertise in radio as well as music, but valued their friendship. Don Graham, Tony Richland, Harold Childs, George Jay, Ernie Farrell…you won’t find better people anywhere. Just wish, Steve, that someone would write a book dealing with a great number of these men and women…sort of shed some light – and glory – on the craft. I did see the TV documentary on Charlie Minor. Just hope that wasn’t all that there was to the man. Would love to see a copy of your book, Steve, when you get near the wrap-up stage. I would consider it an honor to print a chapter or so, if that meets with your plans. While I’m thinking about it, I’d like to apologize for typos that have begun to crop up in Commentary – and my emails, too. I noticed that an email exchange with Norm Garr this week had errors. I’d slap myself on the wrist, but even that is getting increasingly difficult to do. How much longer, Claude? How much longer? From Joe Vincent, former SVP, RAB , NY: “Enjoyed article re Elmo Ellis Spirit Award. I knew him personally over the years...a tremendous broadcaster.” There were several men in radio it was an honor to know. Elmo Ellis, Chuck Blore, Jack G. Thayer, who was virtually a member of my family. Great men. Also Grandfather Ken Knight mentioned in “I Love Radio.” Just FYI, the ribs in the story were artificial, the man was not. I loved many more, of course. Harvey Glascock when he was manager of WNEW in New York City; a gentleman. I read an obit of John Kluge the other day that had been printed in the Los Angeles Times. The writer didn’t know the full picture on Kluge. The real picture had to include Harvey Glascock and just about every other manager of the Metromedia stations. Scott Muni and David Moorhead, too, made an awful lot of money for Kluge. And the obit writer forgot to mention the cabbages. Ah, but the real man was back there amidst those cabbages. Even while at Columbia University. That, in a way, is indicative of all radio. It’s virtually impossible to tell the real and the full story. For some reason, I was thinking about Dick Starr and Buzz Lawrence. Buzz was doing so well at KHOW in Denver. Morning man and program director. Then he got cancer. And he went down to the cancer clinic in Houston and never appeared afterwards. I knew he was there. So did one of his best friends, the record producer Brad Miller. And just maybe Pete Taylor, then program director of KFOG in San Francisco, one of the first radio stations to play Miller’s Mystic Moods albums. You know, I read a book that was largely about San Francisco radio the other days and it covered the music scene just a dab and failed completely to mention the Mystic Moods. Most guys in radio attribute the high rise in births about nine months later to Brad Miller, long gone now. “One Stormy Night” was the title of the album and I suppose I have a copy somewhere around here. Dick Starr was one of the better Top 40 radio program directors of his day. Got a sore on his back. In those days, they couldn’t stop it…the doctors…and Dick didn’t last long. He yelled at me once for a typo. That was in the later stages of his cancer. He was right. I had no reason for the mistake. I doubt that many program directors who came along later were as good as was Dick Starr. Lee Abrams? Hardly. Dick was good. Knew radio. Perhaps it’s a bit sad that Lee Abrams never went up against a guy like Dick Star…that many young program directors never got the opportunity to program against him. What a pity. Because there was something fine and noble about Top 40 radio competition. During the heyday of the format. A solid learning experience. Without that experience, many program directors were more like shuck and jive artists. Scotty Brink and I got into a brief dither this past week. A mutual friend vanished temporarily. Turns out that Bobby Vee had merely become a carpenter for that legendary horsewoman – Karen Velline -- of Arizona and was working on her house outside of Tucson. Scotty eventually tracked them down through their son Jeff Velline in Rochester, MN. Both Scotty and I knew that Bobby liked to disappear for a month or so each year. This was just a month or so early. However, it is with great joy that we note Karen is back riding horses; a few months ago before a risky and quite illegal (in the states) medical procedure (reported in the medical magazines because Karen is a gutsy lady), she found it difficult to even breath! Go, Bobby! Go, Karen! Go horse! CD MATTERS I’ve never been impressed by Elton John. To me, he simply wasn’t a very big deal. Lotta show, very little go. Yes, I covered MCA Records for news. Yes, I was aware he sold a lot of LPs. Probably more than were put on a record player. And a couple of his tunes were okay. Not fantastic. Just okay. Liked his parties, though. Hey, Rick, remember the party on the backlot? A covered wagon of iced-down Coors? You’ve got to be kidding! And in those days I went ape at the sight of Korbel. Ape big time! Then my attorney son John Alexander Hall, Esq., comes over this past weekend and talks about “The Union” CD with Leon Russell. “I’m allergic to Elton John,” I said. “Anyone who’d let his horse crap in a French restaurant in Los Angeles probably doesn’t know much music. And forget about that candle. Really wasn’t any wind blowing. Absolutely none.” “Something’s there,” John insisted. “Probably his best album in thirty years.” “Not even Leon can help Elton John,” I said. But John – you know lawyers – insisted and so I listened. John was right. “If It Wasn’t for Bad,” “Jimmie Rodgers’ Dream,” “Hey Ahab,” “There’s No Tomorrow,” “A Dream Come True,” “I Should Have Sent Roses,” and “Hearts Have Turned to Stone” are all good. Elton John, if you promise not to take anymore horses into good restaurants, I’ll forgive you. As for Leon Russell, he’s always been on my A list more or less. Nothing to forgive there. Best cut: “Jimmie Rodgers’ Dream.” What’s funny is that it’s country. Rednecks from here to Dallas are amping up their booze! But listen to “I Should Have Sent Roses.” You’re gonna love this one, Rabbitt. And, back to Elton: The Indian feeling on “Hearts Have Turned to Stone” worked. Good stuff! My compliments to producer T Bone Burnett. IMUS MATTERS So, one of the other CDs that John fetches over for me to hear is “The Imus Ranch Record II.” Pretty good, too. I enjoyed “Don’t Be Cruel” by Cheap Trick and “Lover Please” by Kinky Friedman. Also “You Can’t Be a Beacon If Your Light Don’t Shine” by the Blind Boys of Alabama. Record goes to support the ranch for kids. Near Ribera, NM. Good on you, Don!
e-mail claude@claudehallonline.com |
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