Sha na Na

Well I see by the ole' clock on the floor it's time for another Class Reunion. I always enjoyed doing that show, because it gave me a chance to try certain ideas I had over the years but never could use because of station format. One of my favorite things, even though it usually involved a lot of extra time, was to do special shows. Themed shows like, one hit wonders, names in songs, artists or songs from A to Z, were only a few I did. Someday I hope once again to be able to bring Payson “the Greatest Music of All Times”, a lot of things have to fall into place before that could ever happen.

One of the themed shows I did was novelty songs. To be sure there were lots of them between the period of 1952 and 1975 (the years I used for the show). What brought that to mind was last weeks trivia question: “in 1962 Claude King hit the charts with a song based on an actual location and person.” The song was Wolverton Mountain, co-written by Claude. According to what I have been able to learn, Wolverton Mountain is located in North West Arkansas near the town of Morilton. There are also Wolverton Mountains in Canada and Arizona but the subject of the song is the one in Arkansas. Yes Clifton Clowers had not one but two daughters, no one said if they were pretty or not, or if Clifton really could talk to the bears and birds. Mr. Clowers passed away in August of 1994 at the age of 102.

“Grease for peace,” is a phrase that former Sha Na Na member Jon “Bowzer” Bauman used to end the TV shows that aired from 1977 to 1981. While I never got the chance to interview “Bowzer” we have talked several times about “truth in music” legislation. Such legislation is designed to protect to the rightful artists and prevent the public from being hoodwinked by fraudulent acts. Sha Na Na is as busy today as ever performing their style of nostalgic music all around the world. During “The Class Reunion” I had the pleasure of interviewing drummer and original member “Jocko” Marcellino twice. As is the case of a lot of my interviews, it took a totally different path than I had imagined. Even though I know the “Greaser” image is an act, I felt going into the first interview that “Jocko” would come off as his alter ego. Oh to be sure we had a lot of fun with that, but I found him to be a very interesting person with a great sense of humor who on more than one occasion left me speechless. Did you know that he was with Sha Na Na when they appeared at Woodstock? Bye the way that was ONLY the groups seventh performance. Jocko said, “and we never got paid for it either.” He holds a Masters Degree in Drama from New York University and in addition he is an accomplished actor, producer and songwriter.

As was the case with so many of the groups and artists I interviewed, Sha Na Na, at that time, was in the process of releasing a new CD, named “One More Saturday Night.”. What really was “neat and a real gas man” (sorry I was transported back to the 50's) was the fact I got to play several of the cuts before the final album mix. One of my favorites was “The Cat In The P.T. Cruiser.” The song has all the flavor of 1950's rock and roll which was what the band wanted to accomplish. The whole album of songs could have very easily been released in the 50's or early 60's and would have been a hit. For those of you who saw the movie “Grease” “Screamin Scott” Simon, the co-writer of the song “Sandy” sung by John Travolta in the movie, has the opportunity to show his musical talent on the CD. Anytime I do a disk jockey gig I am sure to play one of more cuts, as there are some great dance songs. To order the CD see their web site is www.shanana.com

Trivia: In the movie “Grease” what was the name of the group, played by Sha Na Na, that performed for the dance at Rydell High? The answer, Johnny Casino & The Gamblers




Till next time, “keep smiling it will make everybody wonder what you've been up to.”