1969: The Day the Music Died – Take 2: The Beatles play their final live concert. It takes place on the roof of Apple Studios in London and is filmed for inclusion in the documentary film Get Back. The concert is abruptly halted by the police due to complaints about the noise from neighboring merchants. That, too, was captured by the movie crew. 
We're all about the history of rock & roll at BoomtownAmerica.com!
Every week, we present “ROCK REMEMBERED,” where we take a deep dive into the hidden history of rock & roll, the stories behind the artists and songs that changed the world. Join host, “Boomtown Bill” Cross each Wednesday at 7 pm (Eastern) with an encore broadcast on Saturday at noon (Eastern).
Join us this Saturday as we count down "The Top Ten Albums of the 1960s!"
The Life & Times of Howdy Doody – Part 4
The puppets on The Howdy Doody Show were fairly easy to control. The flesh and blood actors, not so much. And it was a group of these cast members who almost brought the show to a screeching halt, resulting in the infamous 1953 “Christmas Eve Massacre” as the show was wrapping up its 5th year.
It's time once again to go behind the scenes and discover who was really pulling the strings on It's Howdy Doody Time!
When Baby Boomers reminisce about Howdy Doody, the talk usually focuses on the puppets. But most of the air time on the show was actually devoted to Buffalo Bob and a band of real live characters who shared the stage with the puppets, including Clarabell the clown, Chief Thunderthud, and J. Cornelius Cobb who ran the local general store.
Additionally, Dayton Allen, the voice of Mr. Bluster and Flub-a-Dub, also appeared as a variety of live characters whenever the script demanded it. In the early days, Allen portrayed the wrestler Ugly Sam, Pierre the Chef, cowboy Lanky Lou and explorer Sir Archibald, among others.
Chief Thunderthud was chief of the Ooragnak tribe (spell it backwards). Actor Bill Lecornec made a lasting contribution to pop culture when he voiced Thunderthud’s trademark greeting, “Cowabunga!” The phrase was soon adopted by California surfers, who in turn influenced the creators of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Thanks to the Turtles, the phrase remains current today, although few under the age of 60 realize its true origins. (BTW - Bill was also seen on the show as Oil Well Willie and Doctor Singsong.)
Robert “Nick” Nicholson played the irascible shopkeeper Corny Cobb and other occasional visitors to Doodyville.
But, next to Buffalo Bob, the biggest of the human stars was undoubtedly Clarabell. He never spoke, instead honking one of two horns attached to a box on his waist. One horn was labeled “Yes” and the other “No.” His whole purpose in life seemed to be to squirt seltzer in Buffalo Bob’s face, to the delighted squeals of the Peanut Gallery. (Today, we’d wonder if he had OCD.)
Clarabell was initially portrayed by a young Bob Keeshan. As the show’s popularity skyrocketed, Keeshan received a nice raise, but wanted still more money. NBC disagreed and replaced him with a jazz musician named Lew Anderson, who stayed with the show through the rest of its run. Don’t feel badly for Keeshan. CBS hired him, installed him in the Treasure House and as Captain Kangaroo, his television career lasted far longer than Howdy’s.
Joining Keeshan in his demand for higher salary were puppeteer Rhoda Mann (who operated Howdy), Dayton Allen, and Bill Lecornec. They all retained the same agent and made a united “take it or leave it” demand. Bob Smith and the show’s other producers decided to leave it.
But not before calling the show’s entire cast and crew together on December 23, 1953. Bob Smith told everyone exactly what kind of raise the four had asked for, asked them to correct him if he was wrong (they didn’t), and then announced that the show was accepting their resignations immediately. Word spread quickly through the New York broadcasting community about what came to be known as “The Christmas Eve Massacre.”
While the show was able to find replacements for Keeshan, Mann, and Allen, they simply couldn’t find anyone suitable to replace Lecornec. Not only was he unmistakably Chief Thunderthud, he also provided the distinctive voice of Dilly Dally, Howdy’s best bud. So after a few weeks, Buffalo Bob called up Lecornec, mended fences and brought him back to Doodyville (complete with a nice raise). Lecornec stayed with Howdy Doody for the rest of its run, also serving as the show’s general announcer.
Far and away, the most beloved of the live characters was Princess Summerfall Winterspring, portrayed by the beautiful Judy Tyler. Judy went on to co-star with Elvis Presley in Jailhouse Rock. It looked like she had a great career ahead of her. Sadly, Judy and her husband died in a car accident in 1957 while returning to New York following the completion of the Elvis film.
The show wasn’t destined to last much longer. As television audiences and production values grew increasingly more sophisticated, Howdy Doody was starting to look a little dated. Having had a good long run (nearly 13 years, much of it 5-days-a-week), Howdy was nearing retirement. The final telecast was on September 24, 1960 and NBC gave the cast and crew an entire hour to say goodbye.
Of course, most of us remember the special surprise they had for us on that last show, when Clarabell admitted that he really could talk! As time ran out, the camera dollied in for a close-up on Clarabell. With a tear streaming down his cheek, he spoke for the first and last time as he said, “Goodbye kids!”
But it wasn’t really the end for Buffalo Bob, Clarabell or Howdy. We’ll have more on that in our next installment.
One album from that great era of psychedelic rock is the self-titled album by a group that called itself The United States of America.
The group was led by an avant-garde composer intensely interested in the-then brand-new field of electronic music, Joseph Byrd. In addition to working with very early synthesizers, the band included an electric violinist and also processed the drums through electronic equipment. The result was an album that sounded like no other.
The album starts off by layering no less than 5 tunes from the 19th century: a calliope playing "National Emblem", a ragtime piano playing "At a Georgia Camp Meeting", two marching bands playing "Marching Through Georgia" and "The Red, White and Blue" switching between left and right channels. Two other tracks of electronic sounds are also added to the mix. After just a few moments, all of this fades into the album’s first track, “The American Metaphysical Circus.” The lyrics take “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” several steps farther. In fact, many of the album’s tracks pushed the limits for rock at the time, including references to S&M and topless nightclubs as well as a little ditty called “I Won’t Leave My Wooden Wife for You” and another dedicated to mentioning as many poisonous plants as possible in 2 minutes and 39 seconds.
The album’s second side opens with the group singing part of the Latin mass that fades into a very Twilight Zone-esque tune named “Where Is Yesterday.” The album finishes with a collage that brings back snippets of all that you’ve heard previously before fading out to the strains of some soft stringed instruments.
The highlight of the album (the band thought so, too) is a love ballad named “Love Song for the Dead Che.” Despite its title, it really isn’t a political song at all. It is the one track from the album that we feature here at Boomtown America.
The entire album has an ethereal, dream-like quality and tempos vary, from soft and romantic to some very hard-edged rock. Most of the songs feature Dorothy Moskowitz as lead vocalist with Byrd and violinist Gordon Marron singing lead on a few tunes.
The album was released in the spring of 1968 on Columbia Records. The label did launch an advertising campaign with the tagline: “There’s a United States of America That’s a Far Cry From Mom and Apple Pie.” (Truer words were never spoken.) Columbia also used the gimmick of enclosing some copies of the album in a plain brown wrapper. Although the LP’s actual cover was nothing shocking, the back cover contained the lyrics, some of which the label thought might be too much for smaller towns in America.
The album sold okay, but never broke into the Hot 100 and the band broke up soon after its release. It seems Byrd was a strident leftist who wanted the group to be more political, while all the other members all just wanted to be a rock band.
Over the years, the group’s only album has gained in stature incredibly. It has been re-issued multiple times and is still available on CD (with 10 bonus tracks and notes from Byrd and Moskowitz).
Richie Unterberger of Allmusic gave the album four and half stars out of five, referring to it as "one of the most exciting and experimental psychedelic albums of the late 1960s.”Music webzine Pitchfork Media gave the album a rating of 8.9 out of 10, claiming that "USA's self-titled album still stands above the work of most of their Monterey-era, psych-rock peers". The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Check it out, but be advised - it doesn’t sound like anything you’ve heard before.
Ah, the days of "hip-swinging, groovy, no hang-ups!"
As we get older, most of us experience a rise in blood pressure. That problem can worsen depending on medication you may be taking for other medical concerns – and that medication doesn’t have to be by prescription!
Ibuprofen and naproxen, two widely-taken over-the-counter drugs as anti-inflammatories, can actually raise blood pressure, increasing the risk of heart attack or stroke. The list of non-prescription medications that may increase your risk of heart disease also includes products for coughs, colds, and flu.
If you’re taking 5 or more prescription medications, there is also an increased risk that various drug interactions could be harmful to the health of your heart.
As always, consult with your doctor and/or pharmacist, as they should have the latest information and can advise you regarding your own particular situation.