This purpose of this blog is to put together a virtual list/collection of memorable (if fleeting) references to the cities of Wilkes-Barre, PA or Scranton, PA in movies/TV/music/Broadway/books (in the script, setting, lyrics, etc).
We'd like to thank everyone for the overwhelming support and suggestions for the Entertainment blog. I'll continue adding these as blog entries as time permits.
In April 2014, Paul Stanley published his autobiography Face the Music: A Life Exposed. Stanley is the last of the four original members ofKISS to publish his memoirs. The book details not only the meteoric rise of KISS, but his overcoming being born with an ear deformity and deafness in his right ear.
"There was no consistency. One night in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, our opening act was a circus juggler.He rode a unicycle and people in the audience tried to knock him down by throwing coins at him."
Nothin' To Loseidentifies the performer as comedian Kenny Kramer. Face the Music: A Life Exposed is available to borrow from the Lackawanna County Library System; click here to place a hold.
On Monday, September 16th, 1974, Wilkes-Barre became a part of the beginning of KISStory as the legendary band (being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month) played the Paramount Theater -- now home to the F.M. Kirby Center -- on their first major tour as headliners.
This information appears on page 247 of the book Nothin' to Lose: The Making of KISS, 1972-1975 by Ken Sharp, with Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. The book discusses the very early history of KISS, from its formation in the early 1970s to their struggle to find an audience to their triumphant 1975 double album Alive!
Page 247 of Nothin' to Lose features an image from the 1974 tour ledger of Gene Simmons (pictured above) that lists the Wilkes-Barre date near the final leg of their tour.
Nothin' to Lose: The Making of KISS, 1972-1975 is available to borrow from the library. Click here to place a hold on the book.
UPDATED 3/29/14I just finished the book and I highly recommend it.Pages 386-387 feature a humorous anecdote when comedian Kenny Kramer (the inspiration for Kramer on the TV show Seinfeld) opened for KISS on Monday, December 23, 1074 at the Paramount Theater in Wilkes-Barre (according to previous information in the book--pictured above--they had previously played September 16, 1974).
John Henry Hopkins, Jr. (October 28, 1820 – August 14, 1891) was an American clergyman and hymnist. Born in Pittsburgh, Hopkins served as rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Williamsport, Pennsylvania; he delivered the eulogy at the funeral of President Ulysses S Grant in 1885.
In 1857 in Williamsport,Hopkins composed the words and music of We Three Kings (Of Orient Are) as part of a Christmas pageant for his nephews and nieces.The hymn has since become a traditional holiday carol recoded by musical legends such as The Beach Boys, Ella Fitzgerald, Neil Diamond, Bing Crosby and many others.
"Robin in the Rain" sung by Raffi Written by Claire Senior Burke... OR was it Brychan B. Powell of Scranton, PA?
A few days ago I received an email from a school board member in Toronto about the true authorship of the children's song titled Robin in the Rain, which became popular by singer Raffi. 99% of the websites and resources I've researched (including Popular Song Index, as well as the CD booklets of CDs in the Lackawanna County Children's Library that feature the song) credit the sole authorship of the song to Claire Senior Burke.
Page 393 of this book features an entry about Brychan B. Powell (born 8/24/1896), a native of Scranton, PA and member of the ASCAP who also served as managing editor of The Scranton Tribune and The Scrantonian from 1938 until at least the early 1950s. Powell's entry (image above) credits him as the author of the song Robin in the Rain.
Does anyone know the true songwriter of Robin in the Rain, or can anyone provide me with any additional information? If so, please email me by clicking here or leave a comment below.
Listen to Raffi's recording of Robin in the Rain below:
Sadly, singer Phoebe Snow passed away on April 26th, 2011 at the age of 58. Her soulful voice enveloped classic songs from the 1970s and 1980s, such as Poetry Man and If I Can Just Get Through The Night.
But did you know Phoebe Snow was actually born Phoebe Ann Laub, and she took her stage name from an Erie Lackawanna passenger train called the Phoebe Snow?
This past week, The F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts in announced an upcoming concert from bestselling recording artist and American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert; Lambert will be stopping in Wilkes-Barre, PA with Orianthi ("According To You," lead guitarist for the ill-fated Michael Jackson This Is It Tour) and fellow American Idol alumni Allison Iraheta.
However, what wasn't announced is that Adam Lambert is actually kicking off his first solo nationwide tour (The "Glam Nation" Tour) in Wilkes-Barre on Friday, June 4th.
This announcement is not only undeniably groovy, but it also brings to mind that Lambert isn't the first recording artist who have launched major tours in Wilkes-Barre, PA.
Are any blog readers out there aware of any other major concert tours launched in Wilkes-Barre, PA or Scranton, PA? If you know of any others, please email me.
Author and NEPA native Maxim Furek (The Death Proclamation of Generation X) recently emailed me the following regarding the Wilkes-Barre band The Bouys (Timothy):
Hi Bill:
I interviewed Rupert Holmes in 1980. My article on "Timothy" and the Buoys is published (again) on this link. You have my permission to reproduce it.
Sincerely,
Maxim Furek
The article, titled "Rupert Holmes: The Pina Colada Man: Northeastern PA's Adopted Son Comes Home To Crow" can be read online by clicking here.
Click here and here for two previous blog entries on Timothy and The Bouys.
@gatsbystyle" @splrefdept NEPA has almost everything, including Patti Smith's guitarist! LOL!"
One of my favorite Tweeters Barb (aka gatsbystyle) sent me the link for a recent article from the Pocono Record titled "Snowmageddon" Part II: Speeders Beware, published on their website on February 8th, 2010. The last part of the article references Lenny Kaye, longtime collaborator of the legendary singer/poet/artist Patti Smith and that he lives in East Stoudsburg, PA. Wow! Even though it's not technically a WB/Scranton reference, it's still NEPA...and I LOVE Patti Smith, and Lenny Kaye is an excellent guitarist and a modern legend, so I'm including an entry on Lenny Kaye, damnit.
Lenny Kaye was born in New York City on December 27th, 1946. He moved to New Jersey when he was a teenager and later formed the bands The Vandals and The Zoo. He graduated from Rutgers University in 1968.
In 1971, Kaye met poet Patti Smith and began accompanying her at poetry readings. Kaye became Smith's most frequent collaborator, playing guitar on her quadrilogy of 1970s albums--the legendary Horses, Radio Ethiopia, Easter, and Wave. Kaye is the infamous "LENNY!" who sings the second verse on Smith's unapologetic rebel anthem "Rock and Roll N*****."Kaye and Smith ended their musical collaboration for a time in 1979 when Smith left the music industry to marry Fred "Sonic" Smith from the band MC5 and to start a family in Detroit.
In the 1980s, Kaye formed his own band, Lenny Kaye Connection, which released the album I've Got A Right in 1984. He also became a successful producer of other artists, including Soul Asylum, poet Allen Ginsberg, and two bestselling albums by Suzanne Vega (his first with Vega, 1987's Solitude Standing, spawned the top 3 hit singleLuka). He was also a guitarist in The Jim Carroll Band in the 1980s.
Lenny Kaye resumed his artistic collaboration with Patti Smith in 1994; he co-produced her album Gone Again and has played guitar (and co-written songs with Smith) on all of her subsequent albums. They continue to tour the world together to this day.
Kaye is also a published author, co-authoring Waylon Jennings' 1996 autobiography and penning the 2004 Russ Columbo biography You Call It Madness. He has been nominated three times for Best Album Note Grammy Awards for CD boxed sets on the Bleecker & MacDougal, Crossroads, and Elektrorock.
According to the Pocono Record, Kaye presently makes his home in East Stroudsburg, PA, and he often plays gigs in area pubs such as Gallo's Bar and the awesome record store Main Street Jukebox.
Kaye also continues to tour the world as lead guitarist of The Patti Smith Band. Smith usually closes her shows with "Rock and Roll N*****" with Kaye sharing vocals, and he often does a solo cover of The Seeds' 1966 hit Pushin' Too Hard during the shows as well.
Lenny Kaye was also interviewed in yesterday's (February 8th) issue of the Pocono Record; to read it, click here. In the interview, Kaye states that he and Smith are presently writing songs for a new album :)
Now if only Mr. Kaye stumbles across this blog entry via Google and can score me some impossible-to-get tickets for Patti Smith's annual end-of-year three-night gig at NYC's Bowery Ballroom...I can wish, can't I?
Much thanks again to the ever awesome Barb (aka Twitter's gatsbystyle) for this groovy NEPA reference.And indeed, "NEPA has almost everything, including Patti Smith's guitarist!"
Scranton native and co-author of The Hokey Pokey Robert Degan died Monday in Lexington, Kentucky at the age of 104.
An article about Mr. Degan's life and the controversy and mystery surrounding the authorship of The Hokey Pokey appears in today's (Friday, November 27th's) Times-Tribune on pages A1 and A5. To read the article online, click here.
A previous Entertainment Blog entry on The Hokey Pokey can be viewed by clicking here.
The Local History Vertical File (LHVF)for “Music – Hokey Pokey Dance Song” includes Times writer Joseph X. Flannery’s editorials, as well as a photocopy of a letter to Degan from the US Copyright Office confirming its true authors. The LHVF can be viewed in the Reference Department of Albright Memorial Library.
Our hearts and thoughts go out to Mr. Degan's family.
After a 4-day limited run at City Center in New York this past March, the Tony-Award winning classic musical Finian's Rainbow is returning to Broadway this Fall for an open-ended run. The revival will celebrate its opening night on October 29th at the St. James Theatre in NYC, with previews beginning October 8th.
The revival's cast will include Christopher Fitzgerald (Wicked, Young Frankenstein), Kate Baldwin (Thoroughly Modern Millie), Chuck Cooper (Caroline or Change) and Cheyenne Jackson (Xanadu, written by Wilkes-Barre native Douglas Carter Beane).
The show originally opened on Broadway in 1947 and played for over 700 performances. It has also been revived in limited runs in 1955, 1960 andthis past year as part of NY City Center'sEncores! series. It was alsoadapted into film in 1968.
Towards the end of the show (and the film), Senator Billboard Rawkins and the Passion Pilgrim Gospellers break out into a song titled The Beget. Scranton is mentioned in the lyric section below:
The Lats and Lithuanians, begat.
Scranton Pennsylvanians, begat.
Strictly vegetarians, begat.
And honorary Aryans, begat.
Startin from Genesis, they begat.
Heroes and menaces, begat.
Fat filibusterers, begat.
To read the complete lyrics to The Beget, as well as the full score of Finian's Rainbow,click here. For the original blog entry for the film version of Finian's Rainbow, click here.
For tickets to the upcoming revival of Finian's Rainbow, visit Telecharge by clicking here.
Today, April 16th, would have marked the 82nd birthday of stage, screen and performing legend Edie Adams, a native of Kingston, Pennsylvania. Sadly, Miss Adams passed away this past October after a long battle with cancer and complications from pneumonia. Her eclectic work on the stage and in film and television have left a lasting impression on entertainment and popular culture.
Edie Adams was born Edith Elizabeth Enke in Kingston, Pennsylvania on April 16, 1927. The family relocated to Grove City, PA before settling in Tenafly, New Jersey. Edie took her mother's maiden name Adams as her stage name. She was often billed as Edith Adams as well as Edie Adams.
Edie earned a vocal degree from the Julliard School of Music and graduated from the Columbia School of Drama. After earning the title of the Miss US Television, she enjoyed guest appearances on Milton Berle's TV show.
Adam's professional career originated in television as a regular on Ernie Kovac's popular 1952 television show, which led to her becoming the spokesperson for Muriel Cigars; Adams actually went on to patent a cigar-holding ring she used in the television commercials., which ran for over 19 years.
Adam's work in television led her to the Great White Way, where she starred in the original Broadway productions of 1953's Wonderful Town with Rosalind Russell and 1956's Li'l Abner, which earned her a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
Television was Edie Adams's main forte, where she appeared in episodes of some of the most popular TV shows of all time from the 1950s through the 1990s. In addition to I Love Lucy and the final episode of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, Adams has appeared in episodes of The Red Skelton Show, What's My Line?, Love American Style, McMillan & Wife, Police Woman, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, The Carol Burnett Show, Murder She Wrote, It's Garry Shandling's Show, and Designing Women. Adams also hosted her own television variety show Here's Edie from 1963-64, which featured appearances by the legendary Count Basie, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Eddie Fisher; Here's Edie was one of the earliest shows to feature a black man and a white woman singing and dancing onstage together. Edie also made numerous singing appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Her television film work include her role as the Fairy Godmother opposite Julie Andrews in Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, which originally aired in 1957, and the role of Ruby Miller (her last screen appearance) in PBS's controversial 1993 miniseries Tales of the City, based on the novel by Armistead Maupin.
Much of her film work was in supporting roles in what would go on to become classic films. She played Miss Olsen in 1960's Best Picture winner The Apartment (directed by the legendary Billy Wilder and co-starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine and Fred MacMurray), Rebel Davis in 1961's Lover Come Back (with Rock Hudson and Doris Day), and Monica Crump in 1963's ensemble piece It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (with Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney,Milton Berle and Ethel Merman). She gained a whole new generation of fans from her hilarious turn as Mrs. Tempest Stoner is Cheech & Chong's 1978 stoner classic Up in Smoke.
Edie Adams married Ernie Kovac in 1955; they appeared together in Lucy Meets the Moustache, the final episode of The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, in 1960; on the episode, Miss Adams performed the song That's All, a fitting tribute to the end of a television era. Sadly, Ernie were killed in a tragic automobile accident in 1962; Kovac's untimely death left his widow owing thousands of dollars in back taxes, which she paid off with film and television work and her huge draw as a nightclub performer. She was also married to photographer Martin Mills from 1964 to 1971 (they had a son, Josh Mills) and actor/musician Pete Candoli from 1972 to 1988. Tragically, twenty years after her husband's death, Edie's and Ernie's daughter Mia (an aspiring actress herself) was killed in a car accident in 1982.
After a long battle with cancer, Edie Adams died from complications of pneumonia on October 15, 2008 in Los Angeles. Click here to read her obituary from the New York Times.
The Lackawanna County Library System has many of Edie Adams's legendary film and recorded work to borrow in various formats: the DVD and VHS of The Apartment; the DVD and VHS of It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; the VHS of Lover Come Back; the DVD of Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella (as well as theaudio cassette of the soundtrack); the DVD of Armistead Maupin'sTales of the City; and the VHS of the Lucille Ball documentary Finding Lucy. Her recording of "A Little Bit in Love" from the Broadway musical Wonderful Town is featured on the CDBroadway's Greatest Love Songs.
This posting is in reference to a previous entry on The Bouys, which originated in Wilkes-Barre and scored a hit song with 1971's controversial Timothy.
Greg M. Woodrow recently emailed me the following links that include some interesting information about The Buoys and Timothy:
I have a website, The Last Standing Man (www.laststandingman.com), that details the career of Jerry G. Hludzik, one of members of The Buoys. My site contains pages specific to The Buoys, some of which you may (or may not) find useful.
Here are links to specific pages about Timothy, Rupert Holmes, and The Buoys:
A big thanks to Greg M. Woodrow for this collection of awesome links. His website, Last Standing Man, is truly incredible.
The MP3 for Timothy by The Buoys is available to purchase at iTunes. Timothy was also released on a CD compilation titled Have A Nice Day: Volume 6. To place a hold on the CD, click here.
Me and Simone following her concert at Bloomsburg University on Friday, February 13th, 2009. Simone is the daughter of the late, great Nina Simone and presently makes her home in East Stroudsburg, PA.
Back in 2000, I had the honor and pleasure of attending a concert of one of my favorite singers, the legendary High Priestess of Soul Nina Simone in Philadelphia, in what was to be her final major concert tour of the United States before her untimely death in April 2003. Last night, I had the honor and pleasure of attending a concert by her daughter Simone, who now makes her home in the Pocono Mountains. Some things just come around full circle in the most wonderful way.
Simone was born Lisa Celeste Stroud in New York City on September 12, 1962. She was the first and only child of Eunice Wayman (better known by her stage name, Nina Simone) and her then husband/manager Andrew Stroud. Nina Simone was a major recording artist, a classically trained pianist, and an early civil rights activist whose repertoire included both her own original compositions (such as Four Women, I Want A Little Sugar in My Bowl, Mississippi Goddam, and To Be Young, Gifted and Black) and interpretations of songs by some of the best songwriters in music (from Bob Dylan to The Beatles to Barry Gibb). Simone lovingly and jokingly referred to her mom as a "covers queen" in concert because, as a child, she had no idea that her mom didn't write Dylan's Just Like a Woman or George Harrison's Here Comes the Sun.
As a child, Lisa often toured with her mother as she played venues and festivals around the world, and she explained that it was a challenge growing up sharing the woman you know only as mom with fans around the world. Lisa's mother was also friends with some of the most outstanding leaders in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, including activists Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, poet Langston Hughes and playwright Lorraine Hansberry. She explained during her concert that these historical people were also her extended family--she was even friends, playmates and fellow campers with their children. Simone's godmother, Miriam Makeba, was also Nina Simone's best friend and a legendary singer in her own right.
In 1982, after initially planning to study to be a lawyer, Lisa joined the U.S. Air Force, where she spent the next 10 years serving her country.
It was then that Lisa decided that she wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a singer and performer. Although she knew her daughter had a spectacular voice and had immense talent, Nina Simone was apprehensive at first of her daughter's decision to enter the entertainment business; although Nina Simone was very successful in her career, she was also all too familiar with the struggles, betrayals, and stresses a career in performing entails.
When she began her professional life, Lisa took the stage name Simone as a way to honor her mother--I truly think this is a wonderful thing because, unlike most children of famous performers who do their best to distance themselves from the "the daughter of" label (particularly when she pursues the same avenue as her famous parent), she embraces her mother's legacy and music and, most importantly, how much her mother's music means to so many people.
With her career plans now firmly in place, Simone landed roles in touring productions of musicals such as Jesus Christ Superstar. She also understudied the lead roles of Mimi and Joanne in the hit musical Rent on Broadway; Simone also starred in the touring company of the show.
Mother and daughter did have the opportunity to perform together when Nina Simone performed a concert in Ireland; Simone performed a powerful version of her mom's song Music for Lovers as Nina accompanied her daughter on piano (this recording opens Simone's debut CD, Simone on Simone, released in 2008 on Koch Records).
In 2002, Simone took over the title role in Elton John and Tim Rice's hit musical Aida on Broadway, which she played for 18 months. Her proud mother attended one of the performances and heaped praise on her talented daughter.
Towards the end of Simone's run on Broadway in Aida, she learned that her mother Nina Simone passed away in the south of France on April 21, 2003.
On April 21, 2006, three years after her mothers passing, Simone paid tribute to her at Town Hall in New York, at the very venue where forty-seven years earlier a 26-year old Nina Simone had enjoyed her first major show in the city.
In 2008, Simone released her debut CD titled Simone on Simone, a loving tribute to her mother's music and legacy. She is presently touring to both promote the CD and to pay tribute to her mother's outstanding musical legacy. Simone on Simone includes Simone's interpretations of some of her mother's best known and loved songs, including Feelin' Good, Love Me Or Leave Me, Don't You Play Them No Mind, Go To Hell, and the resonating and prophetic Keeper of the Flame. Also included on the CD is an autobiographical song written by Simone herself titled Child in Me, about her relationship with her mother and the difficulties of sharing someone you know simply as mom with a world that only knows her as Nina Simone.
Simone also occassionally performs with the group Daughters of Soul, which also includes the children of Chaka Khan and Donnie Hathaway.
Simone, her husband and nine year-old daughter (who sometimes joins her mother on stage for the song Love Me or Leave Me) presently make their home in East Stroudsburg, PA.
After her excellent concert at Bloomsburg University last night (where she performed songs from the CD Simone on Simone, as well as some of her own original songs and even some of my favorite Nina Simone that are not included on her CD), I had the opportunity to meet Simone. Of course, I had to ask her, out of all the places she has travelled, why she chose to make Northeastern Pennsylvania her home. Her response? "The house." She told me she simply fell in love with her house in the Poconos and just had to live there. She also told me how weird it was to have the last name Stroud and to live in Stroudsberg, which I found hysterically funny because connecting the two never even dawned on me. However, she told me that, although she loves NEPA, she HATES snow and HATES the cold, so she and her family also own a home in Florida, where they live part of the year. She was also thrilled when I told her I saw her mom in concert nearly 10 years ago in Philadelphia.
In short, Simone is incredibly sweet, incredibly talented (WHAT A VOICE!), and (out of all the places in the world) has chosen to make NEPA her adopted home.
Simone's superb debut CD, Simone on Simone, is available to borrow from Lackawanna County Library System. To place a hold, click here.
Much thanks to Simone for posing for the pic with me, for keeping her mother's legacy alive, and for a voice that made last night an evening I won't forget.
There is a brief reference to Wilkes-Barre in this week's issue of the recently-resized Rolling Stone. Issue 1067, the one with Britney Spears on the cover, is also the 2008 Hot Issue, detailing all the musicians and actors that hit it big in the last 12 months.
Included in the Hot Issue (page 69) is the band The Answer, a new band that is presently on tour with AC/DC as the legendary band's opening act.
"When the Irish foursome step on board (their tour bus)--right after finishing an opening set for AC/DC in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania--the time warp continues."
Regular blog contributor (and my gorgeous esteemed colleague) Evelyn Gibbons left an article from this morning's Citizens' Voice on my shelf this afternoon; the article announced the passing of Louis Teicher, a pianist best known as one half of the legendary piano duo Ferrante & Teicher. My parents had several of the duo's LPs in their collection when I was a child (including an album with a sexy 1960s era model posed against a gold background on the cover and a killer samba-like version of Chopsticks on the vinyl), so I have known of them as a child in the 1970s. But I have absolutely no idea that Louis Teicher was a Wilkes-Barre native until I read that he passed away this past Sunday (August 3rd) of heart failure.
Louis Teicher was born in Wilkes-Barre on August 24, 1924; he lived there until he was 5 years old, but he continued to spend his summers and even took his first piano lessons in W-B. Furthermore, his first concert was at the age of 8 at what is now Wyoming Seminary.
A child prodigy, Teicher attended the Juilliard School of Music at a mere 6 years of ageand receivied his diploma at the age of 16. He joined the Juilliard faculty when he was a mere 20 years old.
Teicher met his musical partner Arthur Ferrante (b. September 7, 1921) at Juilliard and began performing together while still in school, where Ferrante also became a faculty member.
The two pianists officially launched their professional partnership as Ferrante & Teicher in 1947. They became famous for their film themes (such as The Apartment and Exodus) and toured extensively for over 50 years, even playing several concerts in Scranton.
Sadly, Louis Teicher passed away on Sunday, August 3, 2008 from heart failure at his summer home in Highlands, North Carolina. He was 83 years old.
Today, April 16th, would have marked the 82nd birthday of stage, screen and performing legend Edie Adams, a native of Kingston, Pennsylvania. Sadly, Miss Adams passed away this past October after a long battle with cancer and complications from pneumonia. Her eclectic work on the stage and in film and television have left a lasting impression on entertainment and popular culture.
