Click on the following link for more information:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrews_Sisters

The Andrews Sisters were a group of singing sisters: LaVerne Andrews (contralto; July 6, 1911-May 8, 1967), Maxene Andrews (high harmony; January 3, 1916-October 21, 1995) and Patti Andrews (lead; born February 16, 1918). All were born in Minnesota to a Greek immigrant father and a Norwegian American mother. “Patty Andrews, the lead singer of the Andrews sisters group was born in Mound, Minnesota on February 16, 1918 in a house that occupied the property where The Gillespie Center stands today.

During the 1920’s Laverne, Maxene and Patty Andrews spent their summers in Mound, living with their parents in a house across the street from the grocery store that was owned by Pete and Ed Sollie, bachelor uncles of the three girls. (Today, Green T Accounting occupies the Sollie grocery store building and The Gillespie Center is on the land where the Andrews Sisters’ house once stood.)”

- From a commentary by Tom Rockvam that appeared in The Laker Newspaper during 2005.

They started their career as imitators of an earlier successful singing group, the Boswell Sisters. After singing with various dance bands and touring on Vaudeville, they first came to national attention with their recordings and radio broadcasts in 1937. Their music entertained Allied troops worldwide during World War II, sold war bonds, appeared in several films (including a few Abbott and Costello features), and performed for soldiers serving overseas. Their first film with Abbott and Costello, the pre-war comedy Buck Privates, introduced their best-known recording, “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” which would win Best Song at the Academy Awards.

They also recorded many songs with Bing Crosby. Their popularity was such that after the war they discovered that some of their records had actually been smuggled into Germany after the labels had been changed to read “Hitler’s Marching Songs.”

After a brief hiatus after the war, the sisters regrouped, performing in clubs throughout the United States and Europe. They broke up in 1953, with Patti’s choice to go solo. Their last appearance together was in 1962 on The Dean Martin Show. Laverne, who had cancer, retired soon after; she died five years later, in 1967 at the age of 55.

After a long silence, the two surviving sisters had something of a comeback when Bette Midler recorded a cover of their song “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.” Maxene and Patti appeared both together and separately throughout the 1970s, with Maxene releasing a solo album in 1986. Throughout their long career, the sisters had sold over 60 million records. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998. By the end of Maxene’s life in 1995 she was reportedly estranged from her younger sister, Patti, the now sole surviving Andrews sister.

LaVerne and Maxene Andrews are interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Other Links Found Around The ‘Net

www.cmgww.com/music/andrews/
www.singers.com/jazz/vintage/andrews.html
www.classicmoviemusicals.com/andrews2.htm
www.bigbandsandbignames.com/Andrewsisters.html
www.lawzone.com/half-nor/andrews_sisters.htm
www.lyricsdownload.com/andrews-sisters-lyrics.html
www.bigbands.net/andrewsbio.htm
www.imdb.com/name/nm1679536/

- Top Five On Friday – Week 61

Top 5 songs about death

1. South Park – Oh My God! They Killed Kenny!

[audio:http://1800HART.com/meme/southpark-ohmygodtheykilledkenny.mp3]
[audio:http://1800HART.com/meme/southpark-omgtheykilledkenny-parody-jamesbrownisdead.mp3]

2. Arrogant Worms – Kill The Dog Next Door

[audio:http://1800HART.com/meme/arrogantworms-killthedognextdoor.mp3]

3. Tragically Hip – Highway Girl (Double Suicide) Live

[audio:http://1800HART.com/meme/tragicallyhip-highwaygirl-live.mp3]

4. Bauhaus – Bela Lugosi’s Dead

[audio:http://1800HART.com/meme/bauhaus-belalugosisdead.mp3]

5. Aimee Mann – Deathly

[audio:http://1800HART.com/meme/aimeemann-deathly.mp3]

- Top Five On Friday – Week 60

Top 5 “British” Bands and a song by each

Whenever I hear the phrase “British Rock Music” or anything close (like ‘British Bands’) .. I can only think of two groups …. The Beatles .. and The Jeff Beck Group … The Beatles, while there are lots of pick in my library, I thought I would start with Jeff Beck … If you are not up to date with who Jeff Beck is .. (and no, that’s a different ‘Beck’ that does Loser and Two Turntables and a Microphone) .. he is associated with Yardbirds (Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page) The Jeff Beck Group (Rod Stewart, Ron Wood and Nicky Hopkins) .. and many solo efforts on his own and for others! I started a thread about Jeff Beck .. HERE

Anyway … For this meme, I loaded up my Musicmatch with Jeff Beck songs and picked all of my songs while listening to his music. I have deleted the last Meme’s picks from my server, and have included these songs for your listening enjoyment until the next Meme!

Here are my choices…

1 . Jeff Beck – Constipated Duck
[audio:http://1800HART.com/meme/jeffbeck-constipatedduck.mp3]

2. Led Zeppelin – Thank You
[audio:http://1800HART.com/meme/ledzeppelin-thankyou.mp3]

3. Genesis – The Battle of Epping Forest
[audio:http://1800HART.com/meme/genesis-thebattleofeppingforest.mp3]

4. The Kinks – Come Dancing
[audio:http://1800HART.com/meme/kinks-comedancing.mp3]

5. Oasis – Helter Skelter (Beatles Cover song, Japanese hit version)
[audio:http://1800HART.com/meme/oasis-helterskelter-cover.mp3]

Click on the following link for the rest of this article
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis_%28band%29

Genesis are a British rock band, formed in 1967.

The band is widely known for two distinctly different musical phases. Early on in their career, their complex song structures, elaborate instrumentation, and theatrical live shows made them one of the most revered bands of the 1970s progressive rock movement. In the 1980s and beyond, their music took a distinct turn towards pop, becoming considerably more hook-oriented and more accessible to the musical mainstream. This second period considerably increased their worldwide commercial success and publicity as well.

Most notable members are Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins, both of whom achieved additional success as solo artists and in further venues.

After three decades of activity, Genesis have been on indefinite hiatus since 1998, though they did reunite to re-record a single song in 1999. Their longevity is only outdone by the likes of the Rolling Stones and The Grateful Dead.

The band’s origin lies in the late 1960s, when founding members Peter Gabriel and Tony Banks were still students at Charterhouse School. Genesis was formed from the merger of two separate school bands — The Garden Wall (Gabriel, Banks) and Anon (Rutherford, Phillips). The original line-up consisted of Peter Gabriel (vocals), Anthony Phillips (guitar), Tony Banks (keyboards), Mike Rutherford (bass), and Chris Stewart (drums).

Genesis recorded its first album, 1969’s From Genesis to Revelation, after striking a deal with Jonathan King, a songwriter and producer who had a hit single at the time called “Everyone’s Gone to the Moon”. King supposedly dubbed the band Genesis because it was the first serious band he’d worked with, or the ‘genesis’ of his career.

Other Sites Found Around The ‘Net

www.genesis-music.com/
www.genesis-path.com/
www.genesis-news.com/
www.worldofgenesis.com/
www.philcollinsfansite.com/genesis_history.html
www.answers.com/topic/genesis-band
www.imdb.com/title/tt0295278/

- Top Five On Friday – Week 58

Top 5 “ ” Songs. (Heart songs, songs with heart in the title…or if ya like the band Heart songs)

Here are my selections. I have placed them on my other server, so they will be deleted by the next Meme entry … Sorry .. I tried to include different stuff, other than the usual HEART songs (which I have a lot of them!) or the popular songs like Sgt.Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band .. etc .. Although, I do have an interesting Jimi Hendrix version of that song .. Hmmmm

In No Particular Order .. here are my choices…

1) 808 State – “Spanish Heart”
[audio:http://1800HART.com/meme/808state-spanishheart.mp3]

2) Sarah Vaughan – “Broken Hearted Melody”
[audio:http://1800HART.com/meme/sarahvaughan-brokenheartedmelody.mp3]

3) Holly Cole – “(Looking For) The Heart of Saturday Night”
[audio:http://1800HART.com/meme/hollycole-heartofsaturdaynight.mp3]

4) Moby – “Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?”
[audio:http://1800HART.com/meme/moby-whydoesmyheartfeelsobad.mp3]

5) Need New Body – “Show Me Your Heart”
[audio:http://1800HART.com/meme/neednewbody-showmeyourheart.mp3]

Random Ten – Week 42

10 songs that sum up your weekend…or were on your weekend playlist…and one picture that relates back. (oh, and if you feel like it, tell us why you picked the songs you did)

In No Particular Order

Well, I was listening to my playlist that I created only from songs that I have downloaded from Epitonic.com (Hi Quality Free and Legal MP3 Music) … You probably have never heard of these bands and these songs .. Maybe you have .. I don’t know – There’s a link in the right sidebar – you should go

PS: I’ve linked only the ones that have already appeared on my sites, I’ll leave the others for future meme or postings If curious, give me a shout at .. using our “Contact Page”

1) Slackjaw – The Curvature of the Earth

2) The Capital Years – Supper

3) Cat Power – He War

4) Need New Body – Show Me Your Heart

5) Rye Coalition – Communication Breakdance

6) Calexico – Crystal Frontier

7) Pavement – Greenlander

The Lively Ones – Surf Rider

9) Royal City – Bad Luck

10) Joaquina – Last of the Cut N Pasters

The Picture that best describes my weekend

I was trying to look at the ‘whole picture’ relating my work schedule, billings, deadlines, etc … Of course, I wasn’t actually looking at THIS calendar, but I found that on the ‘Net … Reminds me of my friend Joe’s Trivia Blog ..

Of course, if I were to post my “2nd” pick – it probably would have been the picture of the movie Trailer for GROUNDHOG DAY starring Bill Murray .. Must have seen bits and pieces of that movie around 4 times this past weekend, even though I watched it on Thursday ..

Click on the following Link
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tokens

The Tokens were an American male doo-wop vocal group from Brooklyn, New York. They are perhaps best-known for their chart-topping 1961 single “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”

The original version of the group was formed in 1955 at Brooklyn’s Lincoln High School. Featuring Neil Sedaka, Hank Medress, Eddie Rabkin, and Cynthia Zolitin, the group was known as the Linc-Tones. After Rabin was replaced by Jay Siegel in 1956, the Linc-Tones recorded their first single. Two years later, Sedaka and Zolitin left the band; Sedaka would go on to make a name for himself as a popular solo artist during the 1960s and 1970s. By 1960, the classic group lineup was in place, containing Siegel, Medress, and brothers Phil and Mitch Margo. The group renamed itself The Tokens.

In early 1961, The Tokens released a single for Warwick entitled “Tonight I Fell In Love,” which went to #15 on the charts and spurred them to an appearance on American Bandstand. This proved to be a prelude to the unleashing of their signature song for RCA, The Lion Sleeps Tonight (which had earlier been recorded by South African artist Solomon Linda, as well as U.S. doo-wop group The Weavers). Jay Siegel’s characteristic lead vocals made the song rise all the way to #1, where it remained for three weeks.

From 1962 to 1970, the group would put nine more songs in the Top 100, including “I Hear Trumpets Blow” and “Portrait of My Love.” They also began producing for other artists, such as The Chiffons. In 1973, Siegel teamed with the Margo Brothers to form the group Cross-Country; this trio had a minor hit with “In The Midnight Hour.”

Today, Phil and Mitch Margo continue to tour as The Tokens, and Phil’s son Noah serves as the group’s drummer.

Other Sites Found around the ‘Net

www.tsimon.com/tokens.htm
www.jaysiegelandthetokens.com/
www.destinationdoowop.com/tokens.htm
www.marstalent.com/bio_tokens.htm
www.richardnader.com/artists/1960/the-tokens.html
www.autographedtoyou.com/Jay-Siegel-biography.htm
www.geocities.com/jaysiegelandthetokens/

Click on the following link …
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aretha_Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin (born March 25, 1942) is an iconic American gospel, soul and R&B singer born in Memphis, Tennessee, but raised in Detroit, Michigan. On January 3, 1987 she became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Many have called her “The Queen Of Soul” and “Lady Soul”. She is renowned for her soul and R&B recordings but is also adept at jazz, rock, blues, pop, gospel, and even opera. She is generally regarded as one of the best vocalists ever by such industry publications/media outlets as Rolling Stone and VH1, due to her phenomenal ability to inject whatever she may be singing about with gut wrenching soul (hence the title) and sheer conviction. She has won sixteen competitive Grammys (including an unprecedented twelve for Best female R&B vocal performance) and the state of Michigan has declared her voice to be a natural wonder.

Franklin surprisingly has only had two songs hit the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100, “Respect” in the 1960s, and her 1980’s duet with George Michael, “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)”. However, many of her singles have hit Top 20, Top 10, and Top 5 positions.

Other Sites Found Around the ‘Net

www.sodamnhappy.com/
members.tripod.com/~seand85/aretha1.html
www.imdb.com/name/nm0291349/
www.nndb.com/people/105/000023036/
www.memorabletv.com/musicworld/halloffame/arethafranklin.htm
www.soulmusic.com/EYS-Aretha.htm
www.aretha-franklin.com/
www.legacyrecordings.com/arethafranklin/
www.time.com/time/time100/artists/profile/franklin.html

Click on the following link …
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joni_Mitchell

Joni Mitchell, CC (born Roberta Joan Anderson on November 7, 1943, in Fort Macleod, Alberta, Canada), is a musician and painter. Initially working in Toronto and western Canada, she was associated with the burgeoning folk music scene of the mid-1960s in New York City. Through the 1970s she expanded her horizons, predominantly to Pop music and jazz, to become one of the most highly respected singer-songwriters of the late 20th century. Mitchell is also an accomplished artist; she has, through photography or painting, created the artwork for each of her albums, and has described herself as a “painter derailed by circumstance.”

A painter who had also dabbled in piano, guitar and ukulele since childhood, Mitchell took her surname from a brief marriage to folksinger Chuck Mitchell in 1965. She performed frequently in coffee houses and folk clubs and became well known for her unique style of songwriting and her innovative guitar style. Personal and often self-consciously poetic, her songs were strengthened by her extraordinarily wide-ranging voice (with a range in pitch at one time covering over four octaves) and her unique style of guitar playing, which makes extensive use of alternative tunings. She has been a cigarette smoker since the age of nine, which may explain the unique texture to her voice. This has been especially prominent in her later albums. She claims to have fallen in love with smoking directly upon taking her first puffs, stating that other children in her proximity who were also smoking broke out in fits of coughing. She says it felt right to her from the very beginning.

Around the time when she left her home in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan she lost her virginity and became pregnant. Unable to raise a child so young in her life, and with no other alternatives, she was forced to give her daughter up for adoption. This remained a private part of her life during the bulk of her early/progressing career. While playing one night in a New York establishment, a young David Crosby witnessed her perform and was immediately struck by her ability and her draw as an artist. He took her under his wing and, as cited by Crosby himself, when making someone aware who had previously been unaware of Mitchell’s allure, he would simply “roll them a joint”, and ask that they enjoy the experience.

Other Sites Found Around the ‘Net

jonimitchell.com/
www.robotwisdom.com/jorn/joni.html
www.bbc.co.uk/music/profiles/mitchelljoni.shtml
www.canoe.ca/JamMusicPopEncycloPagesM/mitchell_joni.html
www.swinginchicks.com/joni_mitchell.htm
cbc.ca/lifeandtimes/mitchell.html
www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/mitchell_j.html
en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joni_Mitchell
www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibit_home_page.asp?exhibitId=171

Click on the following link ..
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Brown_%28musician%29

The Rev. Arthur Brown, born Arthur Wilton in Whitby, Yorkshire on 24 June 1942, is a British rock and roll singer known for his flamboyant, theatrical style and significant influence on shock rockers such as Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson.

Brown attended London University and Reading University and studied philosophy and law, but was also interested in taking advantage of his large vocal range of several octaves.

First coming to public awareness in the late 1960s, Brown quickly became known for his outlandish performances, which included setting his head on fire (actually a burning helmet) and performances in the nude. His debut album, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (1968) was a surprise hit on both sides of the Atlantic. The album included Pete Townshend as producer, and featured a major hit single entitled “Fire” (not to be confused with many later songs of the same title). His group was also called The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and included Carl Palmer (later of Emerson, Lake and Palmer) on drums and Vincent Crane (later of Atomic Rooster) on keyboards.

While on tour in the United States, Brown put on such outrageous stage shows that he was banned from performing in the country – the only musical artist to ever earn that particular distinction.

Though Brown never managed to release another recording as commercially successful as “Fire”, he did release three noteworthy albums as Kingdom Come in the early 1970s. (Arthur Brown’s Kingdom Come should not be confused with the hard rock/glam band of the same name from the 1980s.) The Kingdom Come albums featured a wild mix of progressive rock and demented theatrics, including Brown’s simulated crucifixion. Kingdom Come often performed in full costume with makeup, and photos of Brown from this period clearly show him sporting a distinctive eye makeup scheme that Alice Cooper borrowed. The third and final Kingdom Come album, Journey, is noteworthy for being one of the first (if not the first) rock albums to feature a drum machine.

Other Links Found Around the ‘Net

www.godofhellfire.co.uk/
www.arthurbrownmusic.com/
www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/b/brown_arthur/fire.shtml
homepage.ntlworld.com/gary.hart/lyricsb/brown.html
www.richieunterberger.com/brown.html