Sakura Emi, Ayumi Kurihara, Misaki Ohata, RENA at Nikkan Sports

Here's a video from Nikkan Sports that is announcing a mobile content deal between Nikkan Sports and Battle Venus. The video features Sakura Emi, Ayumi Kurihara, Misaki Ohata and the teen shoot boxer RENA. If you've never followed Shoot Boxing or women's MMA, you have no idea how popular RENA is right now. Guess why? The joshi companies wish she was a wrestler. Emi does a rather amusing kickboxing demo with RENA. Ayumi posted on her blog that she had not met RENA before and she's very nice. And she said the photo and video shoot was a lot of fun. Enjoy the video.

Jango Song Of The Day-Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers

Artist:Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers
Song:Tomorrow People
Album:The Best Of Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers (1988-1993)





David "Ziggy" Marley is the oldest son of Reggae icon Bob Marley and Ziggy and his family group The Melody Makers had a good run in the late 80s and the 90s. Tomorrow People was their breakthrough single. Ziggy Marley was born Oct. 17, 1968 in Kingston, Jamaica. Ziggy, sisters Cedella and Sharon and brother Stephen made their recording debut with their father in 1979. They called themselves The Melody Makers and recorded a couple of pop oriented albums for EMI. But EMI wanted to sell Ziggy as a solo artist and Ziggy wanted to continue the band. So Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers moved to Virgin Records. Concious Party was their first CD for Virgin in 1988. It was produced by Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz of Talking Heads and Jerry Harrison played organ. Tomorrow People was the first single and it reached #39 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single Tumblin' Down topped the R & B singles chart and Concious Party reached #23 on the Billboard Hot 200. And it won the 1989 Best Reggae Album Grammy. There's no question that Marley's music was helped by his name and a very radio friendly sound. But his music holds up very well. The 1989 CD One Bright Day and the 1991 CD Jahmeyka also sold well but the 1993 CD Joy and Blues did not do as well. They left Virgin for Elektra for the 1995 CD Free Like We Want 2 B and the 1997 CD Fallen Is Babylon. Though they showcased the other members and were critically acclaimed, they didn't sell as well and Ziggy went solo in 2000 and he continues to do that today on his own Tuff Gong label. This 1997 comp covers the Virgin recordings. Stephen Marley and other Marley family members have had significant recording careers. And the legacy of Bob Marley continues. Here's the video for Tomorrow People by Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers.

Megumi Fujii on June 10 Bellator show

Megumi Fujii

I've known about this for a couple of months and have mentioned it a couple of times but on Thursday Bellator finally announced that they have signed Megumi Fujii and she will debut on the June 10 show at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL. Obviously Bellator's goal is to book a 115lb Women's Tournament for their third season. The third season begins in August but I believe they're running a different tournament first. I expect the women's tournament to begin in October. Despite the usual denials from people who should know better, Fujii acknowledged at the MIKU retirement show that she was in serious talks with Bellator and then Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said the tournament would be booked as soon as Fujii signs. Megumi posted on her blog that she underwent an MRI last month for what she thought was a hernia. It turned out to be a slipped disc. She says she's fine now and is ramping up her training for this fight. Of course Megumi Fujii is probably the most decorated female martial artist ever. She was an amateur champ before she turned pro and her 19-0 pro record speaks for itself. And 16 of those wins are by submission. This is a good move for Mega Megu. She has nothing left to prove in Japan and the fight game politics are ridiculous. So who will be her opponent on June 10? Though not announced yet, a little bird told me that it will be Jessica Aguilar. It makes sense because she lives in Florida and trains with America's Top Team. Her record is 7-3 and her last fight was a win over Valerie Coolbaugh at the Mar. 5 Action Fight League show in Hollywood, FL. She's a good fighter but isn't in Fujii's class. Rebney admitted that finding opponents for Fujii is difficult.





So who's gonna be in this tournament? Well, British fighter Rosi Sexton is under contract to Bellator. Her normal fighting weight is 125lb but she is dropping to 115 for this tournament. To prepare for this tournament, Rosi will fight Emi Fujino in a couple of weeks at a Cage Warriors show in England. Fujino is a very good test for Rosi. Her record is 8-4 and her last fight was a majority decision loss to Kyoko Takabayashi at the Apr. 11 VALKYRIE show. In fact, all four of her losses and five of her wins have gone the distance. So she's very tough and is always competitive. I expect a very good match. Fujino is no pushover. Who else? I expect Felice Herrig to be in the tournament as she has already fought for Bellator. And Lisa Ward should be in it. Maybe Iman Achhal from Northern Virginia. She already won over Felice. And they should look at Korean Ham Seo Hee who has done very well in Japan. The bottom line is the best 115lb female fighters are in Japan including former SMACKGIRL & VALKYRIE champ Yuka Tsuji, current VALKYRIE champ Mei "V1" Yamaguchi and JEWELS fighters Mika Nagano and Saori Yoshida. Those two have never fought in a cage but Nagano is a great grappler and Yoshida gave Fujii her most competitive match in several years last year. But Mega Megu and Rosi are clearly the marquee fighters in this tournament.

Jango Song Of The Day-Ned's Atomic Dustbin

Artist:Ned's Atomic Dustbin
Song:Until You Find Out
Album:Some Furtive Years: A Ned's Anthology





Ned's Atomic Dustbin was an ultimately unsuccessful and short lived British band of the early 90s. They probably deserved a better fate because they were a very good band. They came out of the Grebo movement of the Midlands along with bands like Pop Will Eat Itself and The Wonder Stuff. Ned's Atomic Dustbin were from Stourbridge and named themselves after an episode of The Goon Show. John Penney was lead singer. Gareth "Rat" Pring was guitarist. Alex Griffin and Matt Cheslin played bass and Dan Warton played drums. They were spotted by The Wonder Stuff and toured with them in 1989. This led to a contract with Columbia. Until You Find Out was the third single from their 1990 debut CD God Fodder. Ned's Atomic Dustbin released two more CDs and continued to tour heavily worldwide but never really caught on and split up in 1995. They were more popular in England than the US but mostly had a cult following. This 2007 comp from Sony's Camden budget label was compiled by the band. John Penney and Rat Pring formed the band Groundswell and Dan Warton formed Bring Out The Freaks and later Bouncing Bomb. Ned's Atomic Dustbin reformed in 2000 for one show and have reunited annually ever since mostly as a nostalgia attraction for local fans. Here's the video for Until You Find Out by Ned's Atomic Dustbin.

Neds Atomic Dustbin - Until You Find Out

Rab | MySpace Video

Jango Song Of The Day-The Mockingbirds

Artist:The Mockingbirds
Song:You Stole My Love
Album:Immediate Mod Box Set





The Mockingbirds were probably the most successful unsuccessful band of the British Invasion. That's because legendary songwriter Graham Gouldman was writing plenty of hits for other bands but couldn't seem to get anywhere with The Mockingbirds. Gouldman had a band in Manchester called The Whirlwinds. He took bassist Bernard Basso and guitarist Steve Jacobsen from that band and drummer Kevin Godley from The Sabres and formed The Mockingbirds in 1964. They signed with EMI's Columbia label and Gouldman wanted to release For Your Love as the first single. Columbia rejected that for That's How It's Gonna Stay. It bombed and For Your Love would soon be a hit for The Yardbirds. This pattern repeated itself several times over the next couple of years. For example, The Yardbirds also had a hit with You Stole My Love. Outside of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, Gouldman probably wrote more hits than any British songwriter of the 60s. But he couldn't seem to write any for The Mockingbirds. They became the regular warmup band at the BBC TV show Top Of The Pops. The Mockingbirds left EMI and recorded a couple more singles for Decca but Gouldman threw in the towel in 1966. The band was not working. You can get You Stole My Love on this 3CD Immediate Records various artists box set from Castle Records. Graham Gouldman would attempt a solo career but eventually would found Strawberry Studios with Eric Stewart and form the very successful 10cc with Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. Here's a video for You Stole My Love by The Mockingbirds.

Jango Song Of The Day-Smiley Lewis

Artist:Smiley Lewis
Song:I Hear You Knocking
Album:The Best Of Smiley Lewis: I Hear You Knocking





Legendary New Orleans music producer Dave Bartholomew used to say that Smiley Lewis was the unluckiest man in New Orleans because his records never sold as well as they should due to circumstances beyond his control. I Hear You Knocking was his biggest hit and signature song in 1955. He was born Overton Amos Lemons July 5, 1913 in DeQuincey, LA. near Lake Charles. As a teen, he hopped a train to New Orleans and started playing clubs with legendary pianist Tuts Washington. He was billed as Smiling Lewis because of his lack of front teeth. He worked manual labour during the day and clubs at night until he recorded his first album Here Comes Smiley in 1947 for Deluxe Records. When Dave Bartholomew began his production career with Imperial Records in 1950, he signed Lewis and Lewis had his first national hit with Bells Are Ringing in 1952. I Hear You Knocking reached #2 on the R & B Singles chart in 1955. Of course Bartholomew wrote the song and the legendary Huey "Piano" Smith played piano. But as tended to happen in those days, the cover version by Gale Storm was a much bigger hit and reached #2 on the Billboard singles chart. British rocker Dave Edmunds had a top five hit with I Hear You Knocking in 1970 and the song is considered a rock standard today. Soon after Fats Domino became a much bigger star than Lewis with a very similar performing style and Lewis left Imperial in 1957. You can get all his hits on this Collectables comp. Smiley Lewis recorded for Okeh and Dot in the 60s but then was diagnosed with cancer and died on Oct. 7, 1966 at age 53. So you can see why Smiley Lewis was considered to be very unlucky. Here's a video of I Hear You Knocking by Smiley Lewis.

Will Hisae Watanabe return to MMA?

Hisae Watanabe

SHOOT BOXING announced on their website today that 2009 Girls S-Cup champ RENA, VALKYRIE Featherweight Champ V1 and former DEEP Women's Lightweight Champ Hisae Watanabe will all appear on the SHOOT BOXING 25th Anniversary Series show June 6 at Korakuen Hall. They haven't announced matches yet but since Watanabe vs RENA didn't happen last month, I assume they will do that. Apparently RENA is recovered from her broken finger. For me, the big question is will Hisae Watanabe return to MMA? I'm not saying she won't do MMA but she doesn't need to and may want to stick to kickboxing and similar things like SHOOT BOXING because she's mainly a kickboxer anyway and is a proven star regardless. When Watanabe's scheduled return was delayed by a broken foot suffered during training, JEWELS matchmaker Shigeru Saeki told the media that he expected her to appear in JEWELS at their year end show. When that didn't happen and then Watanabe decided to do SHOOT BOXING, it raises doubts that she wants to do MMA. I believe that the longer she does other things and delays her MMA return, it's less likely that she'll do MMA at all.

Jango Song Of The Day-N'Dambi

Artist:N'Dambi
Song:Call Me
Album:Tunin' Up & Cosignin'





R & B singer Chonita "N'Dambi" Gilbert started out as a backup singer in the mid-90s. For several years she released her music independently until finally making her major label debut last year on Stax. She has a lot of talent and is definitely worth checking out. Like a lot of contemporary R & B and gospel artists, N'Dambi is a Preacher's Kid. Her dad is a Baptist minister in Dallas and she's the ninth of eleven children. So obviously she grew up singing in church and was not allowed to listen to secular music. At age 18, she got married, moved to Hawaii and had a child. But that was over in a year and a half and she moved back to Dallas and earned a degree in English from Southern Methodist University. She wanted to become a writer. In 1995 she started hanging around the Dallas hip hop scene and met singer Erika Wright and her partner Madukwu Chinwah. Erika would soon become Erykah Badu and N'Dambi would tour with her as a backup singer for several years. But Chinwah liked N'Dambi's voice and wanted her to go solo. Despite the success of Erykah Badu, Universal was not interested so N'Dambi's first few CDs were released independently. Tunin' Up & Cosignin' was a 2CD set released in 2001. Most of the songs including Call Me were written by N'Dambi and Chinwah and a remix of Call Me did get some club play. There was a single CD version of Signin' Up & Cosignin' released in 2006 but it seems to be out of print. She finally signed with Stax Records and released her major label debut Pink Elephant in Oct. 2009. Of course Stax is now owned by Concord Music Group. She still writes her own songs and the CD was produced by Leon Sylvers III. If you're an R & B fan, you need to keep an eye out for N'Dambi's red afro. She's a great talent on the way up. Here's N'Dambi performing Call Me at the 2005 Tokyo Crossroads Jazz Festival.

NEO to close after Kyoko Inoue resigns

Kyoko Inoue announces resignation from NEO

The results of today's NEO Korakuen Hall show don't really mean much in the wake of the announcement that the company will close at the end of this year. Following the third match of the show, NEO co-owner and founder Kyoko Inoue announced that she was leaving NEO effective immediately. She didn't say she was quiiting the joshi business. She just said she was leaving NEO. At the end of the show, Yoshiko Tamura, Tanny Mouse and Yuki Miyazaki all announced they will retire by the end of this year. All three have been with NEO since day one and are very loyal to Kyoko. After that, NEO President Tetsuyo Koda announced that NEO would close at the end of this year. It appears that most of the younger wrestlers will continue in joshi though obviously that could change. In the post show press conference, Kyoko Inoue said that she and Koda had a "difference of direction". Obviously they weren't getting along. Koda said that there are no financial problems. The two just decided to split up. Of course this is a potential problem for the joshi business because NEO is the largest joshi company in Japan and they ran shows every week. But it would not surprise me if both of them open individual companies. We'll have to wait and see how it all shakes out but Kyoko's announcement was certainly shocking.

Jango Song Of The Day-The Flirtations

Artist:The Flirtations
Song:Nothin' But A Heartache
Album:The Northern Soul Scene





The Flirtations were frequently comapred to The Supremes to the point where they had to move to England to have any kind of success. Nothin' But A Heartache was their only US chart single in 1969. They were from South Carolina and were originally called The Gypsies. Members were sisters Ernestine, Shirley and Betty Pearce along with Lestine Johnson. They signed with Old Town Records in 1964 and though they had limited success with the J.J. Jackson song Jerk It in 1965, they left Old Town after four singles and Lestine was replaced by Viola Billups. They recorded some more singles as The Flirtations but weren't getting anywhere. So after Betty Pearce's departure reduced them to a trio, they moved to London because some of their songs became popular on the Northern Soul scene. They signed with Decca's Deram label and recorded Nothin' But A Heartache with Deram house producer Wayne Bickerton. He wrote the song with his partner Tony Waddington. The went on to produce The Rubettes in the 70s. Nothing But A Heartache reached #34 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969 and is one of several Northern Soul favourites available on this comp. Subsequent recordings had limited success at best and they left Deram for Polydor in 1971. Viola Billups left in 1972 and has had solo success as Pearly Gates. The Flirtations continued to record into the 80s and still tour today. Their story is very unusual. Here's the video for Nothin' But A Heartache by The Flirtations.

John Sewell at Lakeshore Planning Council Conference

John Sewell and yours truly

I went to Saturday's Lakeshore Planning Council conference at the Toronto Police College on Birmingham St. I understand this was the first outside event to take place in this new facility so obviously it was accessible and it was five minutes from my apartment. Former Toronto mayor John Sewell was guest speaker along with Etobicoke-Lakeshore MPP Laurel Broten. Local city councillor Mark Grimes was nowhere to be seen. I'll get to that in a minute. I have been a John Sewell fan since he was a maverick city councillor in the late 60s. He was mayor of Toronto in the pre-amalgamation days. He's probably one of those guys that was more effective in opposition. The main point of his speech was that since Toronto amalgamated, it's impossible to get through to city staff or councillors. Amalgamation promised a streamlining of services but instead it's more bloated and non-responsive than ever. It hasn't been very effective. A lot of us probably wish he was still in politics but he's still writing and you can get his latest book right here on the blog. Laurel Broten followed with some boring self-congratulatory nonsense about South Etobicoke becoming a hub for food manufacturing. Yeah, right. Laurel should remember that a pat on the back is eighteen inches away from a kick in the pants.





Afterwards, we split up into groups covering different topics. What we were supposed to do is come up with solutions for specific problems. So I chose the Recreational panel. I knew some of the folks from the LAMP and the Lakeshore Community Centre Workgroup. Of course what most folks would like to see is a city operated community hub. Instead we're getting a lot of half baked inadequacies that don't satisfy anyone. As Terry Smith of Friends Of Sam Smith said, do you see our city councillor here. The bottom line is if that's what you want, he isn't the guy to do it because he's not listening to us. So we have to get rid of him in this fall's civic election. It's always difficult to get rid of a bad councillor because most people don't pay enough attention. But there are other ways to get a real community centre if the city isn't interested. We have to start looking at doing it ourselves and financing it privately. As long as Mark Grimes acts like a fool, we'll do what we have to do. I'm not going to go into it but all the panels presented their conclusions and for the most part it was an interesting day. And it was fun to meet John Sewell.

Jango Song Of The Day-Chuck Jackson

Artist:Chuck Jackson
Song:I Don't Want To Cry
Album:The Very Best Of Chuck Jackson 1961-1967





Though mostly forgotten today, Chuck Jackson was one of the great voices of early soul. He had significant chart success in the early 60s on Wand Records but not much after he left. He was born June 22, 1937 in Latta, SC and grew up in Pittsburgh. He sang with various doo wop groups in the late 50s including The Dell-Vikings but was spotted by Scepter Records house producer Luther Dixon when he was singing backup for Jackie Wilson at The Apollo. Of course Dixon worked with other Scepter artists including The Shirelles and Dionne Warwick. Jackson was assigned to Wand Records. I Don't Want To Cry was his first single in 1961 and it reached #5 on the R & B singles chart and #36 on the Billboard Hot 100. Jackson and Dixon co-wrote the song. Probably Jackson's biggest hit and most memorable song was the Burt Bacharach song Any Day Now in 1962. But he had several R & B hits in the 60s including duets with Doris Troy and Maxine Brown. You can get all his Wand hits on this comp from Varese. Things went sour for Jackson at Wand when Dixon left to start his own label and Jackson went to Motown in 1967. He had limited success there and recorded for ABC, All Platinum and EMI America through thr 80s. Jackson still tours and is very popular on the Northern Soul and Beach Music curcuits but he last recorded in 1998. Here's Chuck Jackson performing I Don't Want To Cry in 1965.

S-Arena video of Kana's vanity show

Here's the S-Arena video report for Thursdsay's Kana produced show at Shinjuku FACE. It looks standard for this kind of show. She brought in Meiko Satomura to work the main event. I don't mind vanity shows for special occasions but everyone is doing them now. It's too much. It's a real symptom of how fractured the joshi business is and is emblematic of the selfishness that has plagued the business for years. I don't know if these freelancers have the will to work together. Probably not. You'll notice Kana is wearing a new costume in the main event. The legwear doesn't work with the rest of it. Maybe it looked good on the computer screen. The other thing about Kana is some fans are down on her since she broke Shuu Shibutani's nose a while back. They think she works too stiff and would never get away with that with someone like Yumiko Hotta. That's pretty funny considering that Hotta is Kana's mentor from her A To Z days. Kana's style does work well with other wrestlers who work a similar style like Ayumi Kurihara. Obviously there are wrestlers she shouldn't work with. But matchmaking is so random today that promoters don't take into consideration that Kana shouldn't work with Shibutani in the first place. Promoters just slap matches together for no reason so what do you expect? Enjoy the video.

Jango Song Of The Day-Brandi Carlile

Artist:Brandi Carlile
Song:What Can I Say
Album:Brandi Carlile





Brandi Carlile is one of today's best singer songwriters. What Can I Say is from her 2005 debut CD and established her as a major talent. She was born June 1, 1981 in Ravensdale, WA which is near Seattle. Her mom was a big country music fan and Brandi performed occasionally as a child. By age 17 she was working the Seattle club scene and even sang backup for an Elvis impersonator. It was while working these clubs that she came across the band The Fighting Machinists led by twin brothers Tim Hanseroth (guitar) and Phil Hanseroth (bass). So when the group broke up, she asked them to form a band with her. They started out as a rock band but went more towards an acoustic direction influenced by Brandi's songwriting. A performance at the 2003 Sasquatch Music Festival got them noticed and led to a contract with Columbia. Brandi Carlile was her 2005 debut CD. Brandi and the Hanseroth twins wrote all the songs on the CD. What Can I Say was written by Tim Hanseroth. Brandi was featured in Rolling Stone's 10 Artists To Watch In 2005. Columbia re-released Brandi Carlile in Dec. 2006 with a couple of bonus tracks. Her second CD The Story was released in 2007 and was produced by T-Bone Burnett. Several of her songs were featured in the hit TV show Grey's Anatomy in 2007 including a video for The Story. The song was also featured in a GM commercial played during the 2008 Olympics. Rick Rubin produced Brandi's 2009 CD Give Up The Ghost featuring a duet with Elton John and the EP XOBC was released in Feb. 2010. Brandi Carlile is a major talent worth checking out. Here's the video for What Can I Say by Brandi Carlile.

Three matches added to May 23 JEWELS show

Mika Nagano

JEWELS announced today on their blog three matches added to their May 23 Shin-kiba 1st Ring show. In a 52kg match, Mika Nagano will face Celine. Nagano is known as the Future Princess. She trains at S-Keep. Her record is 6-2 and her last fight was a win over Mai Ichii at the Mar. 19 JEWELS show. She has an extensive amateur grappling background. Of course Celine is from Norway and trains with Team Hellboy Hansen. She trains at AACC when she is in Japan. Her record is 0-4 and her last loss was to Hiroko Kitamura on the Mar. 19 JEWELS show. Apparently Celine did Shigeru Saeki a favour by requesting this match as he might have fed her to Nagano anyway. Celine doesn't have enough experience to handle Nagano. Some folks who should know better severely underestimate Nagano because she's cute. I can assure you she is a grappling machine. In a 52kg match, Yuko Kagoshima will face Miyo Yoshida. Kagoshima trains at Shinagawa CS. Her record is 1-3 and her last fight was a loss to Sakura Nomura at the Mar. 19 JEWELS show. Yoshida trains at Mach Gym and she lost her MMA debut to Amiba at the Nov. 11 DEEP show. In a 57kg match, Amiba will face HARUMI. Amiba trains at DEEP. Her record is 3-1 and her last fight was a win over Miyo Yoshida at the Nov. 11 DEEP show. HARUMI trains at BLUE DOG. her record is 0-13 and her last loss was to Naoko Torashima at the Apr. 11 VALKYRIE. I expect a couple more matches to be added to this show but I am told that Shizuka Sugiyama will not be on this show. Maybe she likes rugby better.

Jango Song Of The Day-Young Disciples

Artist:Young Disciples
Song:Apparently Nothin'
Album:Road To Freedom





Young Disciples only recorded one CD but they were a big part of the early 90s music movement known as Acid Jazz. It's a mix of soul, funk and there are jazz elements heavily influenced by the 70s recordings by guys like Roy Ayers and Donald Byrd. The movement was started in the late 80s by British DJs. So it's not really jazz but some tasty music came from Acid Jazz including Young Disciples. The lead singer of Young Disciples was Carleen Anderson (born May 10, 1957 in Houston). Her mom sang with James Brown and her stepdad is Bobby Byrd. She was a single mom struggling to establish a singing career in Los Angeles. So she and her son moved to London in 1990 and formed Young Disciples with Marc Nelson (bass, guitar and organ) and Femi Williams (percussion). They signed with Talkin' Loud Records. That label was started by British DJ Gilles Peterson when he went to work for PolyGram and was the main source for Acid Jazz. Road To Freedom was their only CD and Apparently Nothin' was their biggest hit and reached #13 on the British charts. It was released in the US in 1993. It's a bit different than the British release but you can get it very inexpensively at Amazon so it is recommended. The album is considered very influential though it didn't sell that well. Carleen Anderson left Young Disciples and signed with Virgin Records in 1992. She had a good run there and conrinues to record today. She's a tremendous vocalist. Marc Nelson and Femi Williams continue to work behind the scenes in the British music industry. Never heard of them? Here's the video for Apparently Nothin' by Young Disciples.

Jango Song Of The Day-Richard & The Young Lions

Artist:Richard & The Young Lions
Song:Open Up Your Door
Album:Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968





Richard & The Young Lions were a garage band that should have been much bigger. They were completely mishandled by producer Bob Crewe. Open Up Your Door was one of only three singles and now considered a classic through this Nuggets box set. The group was from Newark, NJ and originally called The Emeralds in 1963 with guitarists Marc Lees and Bob Freedman, bassist Ricky Rackin, keyboardist Jerry Raff and drummer Norm Cohen. They were approached by singer Howie Tepp and he joined up and the band name was changed to The Original Kounts. They were discovered by Bob Crewe staff songwriters Ray Bloodworth and Larry Brown. Crewe renamed them Richard & The Young Lions because of Tepp's long hair and Bloodworth & Brown wrote Open Up Your Door. Crewe licensed the song to Philips Records. Unfortunately Crewe chose to use studio musicians on the record and only Tepp's vocal survived. They were so upset that they quit and Tepp recruited a band called The Orphans to go on tour. The story goes that Open Up Your Door did so well in Detroit that Motown wanted Richard & The Young lions to be their first white signing. But they couldn't get out of their contract with Philips. They disbanded in 1967 after two more singles. Of course like a lot of classic psychedelia, Open Up Your Door has got a big following through Rhino's Nuggets box set. Tepp organized a band reunion in 2000 and were recording a new CD when Tepp died in 2004. And there's a documentary about them. Remember Richard & The Young Lions only recorded three singles. Here's Richard & The Young Lions performing Open Up Your Door on the Windsor, ON TV show Swingin' Time 1966.

Jango Song Of The Day-Cliff Edwards

Artist:Cliff Edwards
Song:When You Wish Upon A Star
Album:Walt Disney's Pinocchio: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack





I am a huge classic animation fan and When You Wish Upon A Star is one of the most memorable songs from the Walt Disney 1939 production of Pinocchio. The song was sung over the opening credits of the film by Cliff Edwards. He was born June 14, 1895 in Hannibal, MO and established himself in vaudeville as Ukelele Ike. By the late 20s, he moved to Hollywood to work for MGM. Things didn't go well there but a renewed interest in movie musicals led to a career upsurge for Edwards in the mid-30s. He returned to MGM and had a small role in Gone With The Wind. Then Walt Disney hired him to voice Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio. Pinocchio was the follow up to Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs so it was an important film to show that full length animated films were here to stay. Composer Leigh Harline (born Mar. 26, 1907 in Salt Lake City) won an Oscar for his score and wrote When You Wish Upon A Star with veteran songwriter Ned Washington. Of course the soundtrack is available in a remastered version on CD. Cliff Edwards went on to sing When I See An Elephant Fly in the 1941 film Dumbo and appeared on TV frequently in the 50s. He continued to voice Jiminy Cricket until his death on July 17. 1971 at age 76. Here's When You Wish Upon A Star as sung by Cliff Edwards over the opening credits of Pinocchio.

Jango Song Of The Day-Shekinah Glory Ministry

Artist:Shekinah Glory Ministry
Song:Jesus
Album:The Best Of Shekinah Glory Ministry





Shekinah Glory Ministry started out as a standard church choir in the Chicago suburb of Oak Forest but through the 90s has mushroomed into an international sensation in the gospel music industry with their own record label with major label distribution. The founder is Apostle H. Daniel Wilson of Valley Kingdom Ministries International in Oak Forest, IL. The Shekinah Glory Ministry choir released their first CD in 2001. A lot of church choirs release a lot of CDs that get very little attention. But this CD contained a song called Praise Is What I Do written and sung by William H. Murphy III. It's a great song that is now a church choir standard and it simply blew up. But Murphy wasn't a regular member of the choir. It was just a guest shot and he's gone on to his own solo career. But Wilson could see the power of music and decided to start his own Kingdom Records. And he brought in veteran pianist songwriter and gospel music producer Daniel Weatherspoon to run the company. And by the time Jesus was released in 2007, they signed with Universal to distribute the label. Like a lot of choirs, Shekinah Glory Ministry records all their CDs live and seems to videotape them too so this comp is a CD/DVD package that is a good intro to their music. They're now branching out into other artists like Phil Tarver and The Whispers. So this is a company on the upswing. Their music is recommended to gospel music fans. Here's the video for Jesus by Shekinah Glory Ministries.

Jango Song Of The Day-Clara Nunes

Artist:Clara Nunes
Song:Canto das Tres Racas
Album:2 Em 1





Clara Nunes was one of Brazil's most popular singers in the 70s and was regarded as one of the queens of samba. Unfortunately she died prematurely so is somewhat forgotten today. She was a very expressive singer and a great song interpreter. She was born Aug. 12, 1943 in Caetanopolis, Brazil. She was an orphan growing up and was working in a factory when she won third place in a talent contest in 1960 and was given her own TV show. She moved to Rio de Janiero in 1965 to work for TV Continental. She began recording in 1966 but came into her own in the 70s. She was the first female artist in Brazil to sell 100,000 LPs in 1973 and continued to have great success through the 70s. Canto das Tres Racas was just one of several hits. She was also known for her elaborate costumes and stage show. This CD from EMI is actually a twofer of Clara's more popular albums. Sadly Clara Nunes died as a result of anasthesia complications during varicose vein surgery on Apr. 2, 1983 at age 39. Brazil went into mourning and her death was a great loss. She is still highly regarded today. She toured Europe once but Clara Nunes isn't known outside Brazil. Here's Clara Nunes performing Canto das Tres Racas on a Japanese TV show.