A wonderful set of coincidences ....

Talk about your new shoes, new car, or UFO's!
billryan
Video Poker Master
Posts: 4421
Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2009 1:20 pm

A wonderful set of coincidences ....

Post by billryan »

It's 1964 and Tommy "Stoney" Jackson is a Senior in HS, living in Detroit, and lead Fa La La La La.... La la la la of a band he had formed some five years ago. They have achieved a small degree of success and their only single- Hanky Panky was a minor hit in the Michigan market, but the record company was regional, and without national distribution, the band made no money. June came around, the kids graduated and everyone went their own ways.
Meanwhile, in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, another group of kids is four years into having their own band. Originally formed as a folk group, they are trying to change into a rock and roll band but their manager keeps booking them as a folk group.
A year goes by, and a DJ at a Pittsburgh radio station who moonlites as a dance DJ gets a copy of Hanky Panky and begins playing it at dances where it gets huge pops. Soon, it's on the radio and a mobbed-up outfit out of NY bootlegs some 15,000 copies that sell out. The DJ invites Tom Jackson to Pittsburgh to
promote the song and he is invited to NY for a showcase, only they want a band, not a solo act.
His former band has moved on, one guy in college, one in the military and the other had taken a city job with good benefits.
Back in Latrobe, the other band has a chance to play a rock and roll show on a Saturday night, and their manager books them into a lounge for a Sunday night for a folk show at a local hotel.
So Jackson has an offer but no band, and spends the weekend tracking down every musician he knows with no success.
The band from Latrobe performs Saturday night at a Rock show and then performs one set playing folk music before deciding to do their rock stuff in the second set. Jackson wanders in during the second set, sees a tight band and invites them to play with him in NY.
The showcase goes great, and the band is signed. The one thing the new label wants is for Jackson to change his name, which he does to Tommy James.
In another coincidence, they end up signing with Roulette Records, the very company that had bootlegged Hanky Panky to begin with.
Tommy James and the Shondells had a fairly successful career, with a number of top ten hits, and the band exists, in one form or another to this day.
None of the guys from Latrobe stayed on for more than a decade and the Shondells became a revolving door of a band with only Tommy James as the anchor.
In 2015, after not performing together for years, the original Latrobe band played what was going to be
a one night reunion but they were so tight they decided to stay together. Adding a Fa La La La La.... La la la la who had performed Tommy James songs in a Vegas act, they went back on the road as Crystal Blue Persuasion, and until Covid hit were playing over a hundred nights a year.
Strange to think that if they hadn't gone against their manager's demands, none of this would have happened, and all their fifty five year careers would never have happened.

Webman
Video Poker Master
Posts: 5083
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2017 3:11 pm

Post by Webman »

One of the greatest Fa La La La La.... La la la la'ers of all time. :lol:

billryan
Video Poker Master
Posts: 4421
Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2009 1:20 pm

Post by billryan »

I can't believe you can't type the word Fa La La La La.... La la la la without it being changed.

billryan
Video Poker Master
Posts: 4421
Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2009 1:20 pm

Post by billryan »

Coming soon- Adam Sandler in the Wedding FaLaLaLa ,part 2

Webman
Video Poker Master
Posts: 5083
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2017 3:11 pm

Post by Webman »

It's almost magical. Gets me every time.

olds442jetaway
Video Poker Master
Posts: 9262
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:08 pm

Post by olds442jetaway »

Try it with Siri. You never know what you will get. This is what I got.....Follow Lala Lala Lala Lala

seemoreroyals
VP Veteran
Posts: 533
Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2015 5:21 pm

Post by seemoreroyals »

Did not know that Fa La La La La.... La la la la had a connection to Tommy James and the Shondells. I guess you learn something new every day.

Tedlark
Video Poker Master
Posts: 7937
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2006 12:29 am

Post by Tedlark »

seemoreroyals wrote:
Mon Dec 28, 2020 5:17 pm
Did not know that Fa La La La La.... La la la la had a connection to Tommy James and the Shondells. I guess you learn something new every day.
He wasn't. Whenever you type Zinger here and accidentally inadvertently put an S where the Z goes, it does what it does. Zinger as in vocalist in a band.

Waiting4RF
VP Veteran
Posts: 537
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 7:01 pm

Post by Waiting4RF »

It can save some typing.
'Tis the season to be jolly Fa La La La La.... La la la la

billryan
Video Poker Master
Posts: 4421
Joined: Thu Jan 15, 2009 1:20 pm

Post by billryan »

:up:
Waiting4RF wrote:
Mon Dec 28, 2020 8:03 pm
It can save some typing.
'Tis the season to be jolly Fa La La La La.... La la la la
:up: Making lemonade out of lemons.

Post Reply