MOTOR CITY RADIO FLASHBACKS CLOSING OUT THE HITS for ’68!
Category: Jose Feliciano
05 DAYS: OUR SPECIAL CHRISTMAS 2018 COUNTDOWN
JOSE FELICIANO * DECEMBER 21 (No. 5)
FELICIANO LIGHTS A MUSICAL FIRE IN CLEVELAND CONCERT . . . NOVEMBER 2, 1968
From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1963
Feliciano Lauds Cleveland Audience Singing On It’s Feet
CLEVELAND – They stood up for RCA artist Jose Feliciano before he sang a note Oct. 17 at his Public Music Hall appearance. And they kept standing when the song was over.
Feliciano opened with his soul version of “Star Spangled Banner,” which had struck such a spark at the World Series game in Detroit Oct. 7.
The blind guitarist, who can set a fire with his fingertips, wowed the 2,500 audience with his wit as well as with his singing and playing. He did a hilarious
spoof of Coca -Cola commercials, imitating Barry McGuire, Mrs. Miller, Tiny Tim, Walter Brennan and Bob Dylan.
There was the haunting strains of “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” the beauty of “Malaguena,” the tenderness of “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Cryin,” the rollicking rhythm of his current “Hi-Heel Sneakers” and of “Mama Don’t Allow.” But the greatest ovation came from his million-seller “Light My Fire.”
Feliciano wound up singing “Hang on Sloopy” in Spanish, banging on the bongos. Also on the bill, British comedian Jonathan Moore scored with comedy routines on laundermats, airplanes and Hell’s Angels. WKYC disk jockey Fred Winston emceed the Belkin Brothers production. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; November 2, 1968)
HARWELL. THE VOICE OF SUMMER’S PAST REMEMBERED
The Anthem Gets Booed * ERNIE HARWELL’S AUDIO SCRAPBOOK
‘THE ANTHEM GETS BOOED’
*****
Besides the voice of Ernie Harwell, the various narratives you will hear throughout the entire audio book is by Raleigh, N.C. sports broadcaster Gordon Miller. Occasional questions you will also hear is by veteran Duke University sports broadcaster Bob Harris.
*****
Ernie Harwell passed away on May 4, 2010. He was known as “the voice of the Detroit Tigers” for over 40 years. He called his last Tiger game in Toronto, on September 29, 2002. In 1981, Harwell was awarded baseball’s most prestigious Ford C. Frick Award.
He became only the fifth baseball broadcaster enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Voice of Summer Remembered
(CD audio set availability, link: Ernie Harwell’s Audio Scrapbook 2009
50TH! TALKIN’ ‘BOUT MY GENERATION: TOP HITS OF ’68!
JOSE FELICIANO * 1968
OCTOBER ’68: FELICIANO ANTHEM PRESSED ON VINYL
O C T O B E R 1 7 , 1 9 6 8 : T O D A Y I N M U S I C H I S T O R Y
1 9 6 8 : On this date, October 17, RCA Records released Jose Feliciano’s rendition of the national anthem. Suggested by Detroit Tigers’ broadcaster Ernie Harwell that Feliciano perform the national anthem at Tiger Stadium, Detroit, before game 5 of the 1968 World Series (October 7), Feliciano instead sang his version of The Star Spangled Banner — away from the anthem’s traditional chords in “bluesy-like” fashion — thereafter drawing an immediate firestorm which the singer to this day has laid claim, that event alone, nearly ruined his career. Five weeks on the singles chart, the recording peaked at No. 50 on Billboard, November 30, 1968.
Today In Pop Music History: October 17, 1968
THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER * Jose Feliciano * RCA Records (1968)
