We lost a true rock & roll legend this week when Ronnie Spector passed away at the age of 78 after a brief battle with cancer.

With an African-American mother and an Irish-American father, Veronica Bennett rose to fame as the lead member of a group she formed with her sister Estelle and their cousin Nedra Talley. After a couple of false starts involving additional members, the trio eventually settled on the name Ronnie & the Relatives. They landed a contract with Colpix Records (home to James Darren & Shelley Fabares), but their early records went nowhere despite the group working as regulars at the then “in-place” in Manhattan, the Peppermint Lounge.

Changing their name to the Ronettes, the group eventually came to the attention of producer/songwriter Phil Spector. Spector was smitten with the group’s lead singer and created a string of legendary hit records for the group, like “Be My Baby,” “Walking in the Rain” and “Baby, I Love You.”

On a tour of the UK, Ronnie became friends with John Lennon while sister Estelle briefly dated George Harrison. Ronnie also had a brief fling with Keith Richards. Returning home, the group opened for the Beatles on their final tour of America in 1966. But by this time, the group popularity was waning and after a European tour in 1967, the group broke up with Ronnie finally agreeing to marry Spector.

The marriage was not a happy one with Ronnie being held as a virtual prisoner in Spector’s mansion. He was also mentally abusive. When Ronnie had finally had enough, she ran away from the mansion in her bare feet, leaving everything behind.

Ronnie retained the Spector name for the rest of her professional career and continued performing well into this century. She also returned to the record charts in 1986 when she sang with Eddie Money on his song “Take Me Home Tonight,” where Eddie mentions her by name in the lyrics and she reprises her “Be My Baby” signature hook.

She had 3 adopted children when married to Spector and eventually remarried, this time to her manager Johnny Greenfield. The couple had two sons.

There is a film of her life in the works based of her autobiography, Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts And Madness.

Of course, she is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Was it the Beatles making all things British cool? Was it the Cold War & our desire to see our side win some clear-cut victories? Or were we just bored and totally over cowboys, who had been dominating movies and TV since our birth?

Whatever the reason, shortly after the Beatles touched off the British invasion in music, we welcomed a second invasion, this one led by spies. With the release of Goldfinger, actually the 3^rd James Bond film, but the first to escape the drive-in and play to huge crowds in downtown theaters, America suddenly couldn’t get enough of secret agents.

While 007 is still killing people left & right with his famous license, most of the spies who rushed into action following Goldfinger have long been decommissioned. We’ll attempt to look back at some of the best that followed in the wake of Bond.

One of the first and most successful was actually created by James Bond’s literary father – Ian Fleming. MGM came to Fleming to see if he’d be interested in creating a spy show for American television. Never one to turn down a cash offer, Fleming took the money & gave the studio two characters – Napoleon Solo and April Dancer. The rest of the show’s premise, its ultimate name and the rest of the characters were fleshed out by co-creator, Norman Felton.

Very quickly, Felton decided that Solo would not be operating solo. He paired him with a Russian secret agent, Illya Kuryakin, who for reasons never explained, spoke with a British accent with nary a trace of Russian. (April Dancer would have to wait a while before taking her turn on stage.) Felton also added a British chief to the agency in Alexander Waverly.

Believe it or not, The Man From UNCLE was slow to catch on when it debuted on Tuesday nights at 8:30 (7:30 Central). But the show seemed to have some appeal with kids. So, NBC widely chose to move the show at mid-season to Mondays at 7:30 (6:30 Central) and there, it took off.

Robert Vaughn as the too-cool-for-school Napoleon Solo, had appeal for older viewers while David McCallum, with his aforementioned British accent and Beatle haircut, instantly became the favorite of teenage girls who had been swooning for British rock stars since the start of that year.

Who exactly funded the United Network Command for Law & Enforcement was never spelled out, nor why a supposedly international organization should have such an American name (as in “Uncle Sam”).

What many don’t know is that the title of the show was supposed to be Solo. However, Bond film producers Harry Saltzman & Cubby Broccoli threatened a lawsuit because Ian Fleming had also created a character named Solo for Goldfinger. Fleming himself got involved as both sides flung lawyers at each other. In the end, MGM was allowed to retain the character, but the show’s name had to change – and The Man From UNCLE was born.

It was a great success, lasting 4 seasons and producing 105 episodes. It also spawned a brief spin-off, The Girl From UNCLE, where they finally got to use the April Dancer name. A young Stephanie Powers played Dancer with Rex Harrison’s son Noel taking the role of her obligatory British sidekick. Alas, it was one UNCLE too many. The show lasted only a single season.

Many of the UNCLE episodes were edited together to make movies the studio released to great success overseas (in the days before American TV series were imported wholesale to other countries), earning MGM even more money.

In its day, The Man From UNCLE spawned lots of merchandise and several original novels. Today, memorabilia from the show are on display at both the Ronald Reagan Library and at the CIA.

Now that we’ve opened “Channel D,” we’ll be back with more Spies Like Us soon.

We lost a true rock & roll original on Friday, December 11, 2021, when one of the original members of the Monkees and one of the true pioneers in country-rock as well as music videos, Michael Nesmith, passed away just a few weeks shy of his 79^th birthday.

Nesmith was a scuffling musician and budding songwriter (in fact, he and his then-wife were living out of his car in L.A.) when he was notified that producers of a new NBC sitcom based on a make-believe rock band had cast him as a member of the Monkees. We all know what followed. The group’s first single, “Last Train the Clarksville,” was on its way to #1 even before the TV show debuted. During the years 1966 & 1967, the Monkees actually outsold the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

There was backlash against the band, almost from the beginning, especially when it was revealed that the lads were simply providing the vocals while L.A.’s best studio musicians (including Glen Campbell) were actually playing the instruments. No one at the time bothered to point out that that same situation applied to many other “legitimate” rock bands, such as the Beach Boys and Byrds.

It was unquestionably Nesmith who led a rebellion among his fellow group members that actually saw them oust musical director Don Kirschner, and take more control of their own recordings, beginning with the 3^rd album, Headquarters.

What was also obvious from the beginning was Nesmith’s talent as a songwriter. While lead vocals on Monkees’ singles were split between Mickey Dolenz and Davy Jones, Mike contributed many of the group’s stronger album tracks and gave the band another lead vocalist, ironically in the same mold as the band they were created to mimic – the Beatles.

When the bubble burst and the band’s fortunes quickly reversed, it was Nesmith who went on the have the only really viable solo career. In addition to writing Linda Ronstadt’s first hit, “Different Drum,” Mike formed the First National Band and recorded 3 LPs of very heavily country-flavored rock that are now credited with helping usher in that era in 1970s pop music. From there, Mike became one of the early proponents of the rock video, helping Nickelodeon launch a music video show called PopClips, which in turn helped spawn MTV. He released what was arguably the first video album Elephant Parts, which earned him the initial music video Grammy. Many of the songs from that were early staples of MTV’s rotation.

Finally, the Monkees were vindicated and took their rightful place in rock history, continuing to record and tour. In fact, Nesmith had just completed the Monkees’ “Farewell Tour” with bandmate Mickey Dolenz, less than a month before his passing.

His music will live as long as people listen to and love rock.

Here’s a little playlist of some of his work, both with the Monkees and as a solo artist:

1. Papa Jean’s Blues
2. Sunny Girlfriend
3. You Told Me
4. Mary, Mary
5. The Girl I Knew Somewhere
6. You Just May Be the One
7. The Door Into Summer
8. What Am I Doing Hanging ‘Round
9. Joanne (with the 1^st National Band)
10. Propinquity
11. Listen to the Band (The Monkees’ final single & the first to feature Mike as lead vocalist)
12. Silver Moon (1st National Band)
13. Cruisin’ (aka “Lucy & Ramona”)
14. Rio
15. Light

Okay. A few folks have asked us what we think of the new ABBA album, Voyager – the band’s first release in 40 years. On the whole, we like it A LOT. When we’re not listening to the music stream here at BoomtownAmerica.com, we’ve had this on our old-fashioned CD player and we’ve grown to appreciate it more with each subsequent listen.

While there is nothing on the album that’s as incandescent as “Dancing Queen” or “Mamma Mia,” there’s also nothing as embarrassing as some of the tracks on their first LP. If you were not an ABBA fan before this album was released, we doubt that it’s going convert you. But if you’re one of the legion of ABBA devotees the world around, Voyager more than fills the bill.

Musically, the album continues the trend the band was following on their last two studio LPs (Super Trouper & The Visitors), away from the catchy, dance-flavored pop that made them the world’s best-selling rock act in their heyday. As a whole, the 10 tracks find the group aging quite gracefully and dealing with more mature subject matter.

Here's a track-by-track rundown:

1. I Still Have Faith in You – Appropriately, the album opens with this nice, understated number with Frida and Agnetha expressing lyrically what they all must have been thinking when they began work on new material – do they still have it in them? Two minutes in – they answer their own question when the patented ABBA harmony kicks in with full force. Yep, they still have it.

2. When You Danced with Me – This song reminded us of something that set ABBA apart from nearly all other mega-successful rock acts. Virtually every single American and British band is steeped deeply in the tradition of American blues. ABBA, being from Scandinavia, was not. Instead, they cut their musical teeth on European folk traditions (think beerhalls & Oktoberfest). That sound is in full flower on this track – a nice, up-tempo number that will having you reaching for your lederhosen and Heidi braids.

3. Little Things – Hard to believe, but this is ABBA’s first (and very likely, only) Christmas song. It describes a warm, quiet Christmas morning with the family. It’s a little slower than the first two tracks, but finishes up with an angelic children’s chorus that will have you wondering why they waited so long to create some holiday music.

4. Don’t Shut Me Down – A nice little tune that reminds you how effortlessly they seemed to spin pop gold out of thin air back in the 1970s.

5. Just a Notion – If you want a track that brings back the full ABBA sound from the height of their popularity, this is your track. It’s easy to see why. It was originally written back in the day, but Benny & Bjӧrn could never get a mix they liked. Until now. It demonstrates how incredibly deep was their talent when this catchy little pop-rocker was put on the shelf. Other versions of this tune have surfaced over the years as bootlegs and a snippet of it was included on a deluxe ABBA box set. Now, we have it fully produced.

6. I Can Be That Woman – Following the trip back to disco-days-ABBA, the next track finds them in a more mature, reflective mood. This is a slow tune dealing with the inevitable disappointments that crop up in long-term relationships. Agnetha has a knack like no other pop singer for adding a note of real sadness & regret to her vocals. There’s no happy ending to this one – just the hint that things will probably continue as they have.

7. Keep an Eye on Dan – Initially, ABBA was attacked for the lack of depth in their lyrics (“Bang-a-Boomerang,” anyone?). But as the band went on and Bjӧrn Ulvaeus grew more confident in his handling of the English language, the content of their lyrics matured spectacularly. They were one of the first pop bands to deal with divorce (“Knowing Me, Knowing You”) and the bittersweet feeling of watching your children go up and away from you (“Slipping Through My Fingers”). The previous track and this one continues that trend. This song deals with the strain of shared parental custody. Moreover, the music has an undercurrent of foreboding. There is something wrong, not just in the relationship between the divorced parents, but perhaps with their child as well. This one, like “The Day Before You Came,” creates a general feeling of unease without ever explaining exactly what’s wrong, inviting you to complete the process with your own interpretation. Not only that, but the track concludes with a callback to the melody of a previous ABBA hit. This is the album’s best track.

8. Bumblebee – Don’t let the title fool you. This is a quiet little meditation on what might happen if the world’s bee population is driven to extinction juxtaposed with an idyllic stroll through a garden on a sunny afternoon.

9. No Doubt About It – Okay, enough with the downers. This one is your typical ABBA up-tempo rocker. Lyrically, it’s about a woman hell-bent on picking a fight with her mate and then regretting it. Not to worry, as the song’s final line states: “This isn’t where it ends.”

10. Song of Freedom – A song in the tradition of “I Have a Dream.” Placed as the final track of Voyager, we end with a note of hope for the future, elegantly stated by one of the great rock acts of all time.

The band never really broke up. They just never expected they would be taking a 40-year break. No one knows if we’ll ever get any more ABBA music; but if not, Voyager is more than up to the task of being a sweet, satisfying farewell effort.

Those of a certain age can remember these attacks...

One of the hottest phone scams right now is callers pretending to be from some agency of the federal government. The object is to scare you or charm you out of some cash.

Maybe you’ve already had one of these calls – someone claiming they’re from the IRS, Social Security or even the FBI. They may even claim to be representing some federal agency that has a grant for you. Stop and think. Grants always require you to actually apply for them – and the application process is usually pretty long and detailed. It’s like those “sweepstakes” scams (how could you win a sweepstakes you never entered?).

And if the IRS or FBI really wanted you, they wouldn’t be notifying you by phone – giving you a chance to take it on the lam. They’d be knocking at your front door with handcuffs at the ready.

Here are some things to keep in mind to make sure you don’t fall for these “federal” fraudsters:

1.) The federal government will never call you and ask for personal information. Never. (Believe us, between your tax returns and social security information, they already know quite a bit about you.)

2.) Any important communication between you and the government, especially if it’s of a legal nature, will be handled through the U.S. Postal System.

3.) The government will not suspend Social Security or Medicare benefits because someone else misused or appropriated your identity.

4.) Federal agencies will never accept payments via gift cards, bank transfer of crypto currency.

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.

In case you're new here, a litle something to help you get around...

1964: A concert that would have a tremendous impact on British rock takes place at Fairfield Hall in Croydon, England. The American Negro Blues Festival features Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, Lightning Hopkins, Willie Dixon, and many more. In attendance are many young Brits who will eventually become rock legends, getting their first taste of live American blues.