August 2012 – Page 2 – Motor City Radio Flashbacks

A MCRFB NEWS brief: 1966

Scott Regen Host Motown At Detroit’s Roostertail Club For WKNR

. . .The Upper Deck of The Roostertail, is proud to present . . . .

— From the MCRFB Aircheck Library featuring WKNR-AM

Motown Monday LIVE at The Roostertail (w/Scott Regen) 1966

DETROIT — The “Motown Mondays” at Detroit’s Roostertail Supper Club are now being broadcast on WKNR, Detroit, each Saturday at 11 P.M. Scott Regen is host. Artists of Motown Records appearing on the show include the Four Tops, Junior Walker & The All-Stars, Marvin Gaye, Martha & The Vandellas, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Marvelettes, The Supremes and The Temptations. This marks the first time in memory that “live” entertainment and music will have been broadcast on WKNR exclusively from the location for the nightly popular Scott Regen Show. END

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Addendum: In 1967, Scott Regen, heard nightly 7 to 10 p.m. on WKNR at the time, wrote the liner notes for “The Supremes Sings Holland – Dozier – Holland” Motown LP. Scott also wrote the liner notes for “The Four Tops Live At The Roostertail” and can be heard singing along side with the Four Tops on “Reach Out.” Scott Regen also introduced the Temptations on their 1967 album “The Temptations Live At The Roostertail” as well. On ‘Keener 13,’ Scott Regen became the highest-rated night-time deejay in Detroit – No. 1 — in 1965, 1966 and 1967. Truly, Scott Regen was “Detroit Radio King Of The ’60s!“

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(Information and news source: Billboard; September 17, 1966)

The Roostertail in Detroit. — **The Roostertail**, 100 Marquette Drive, Detroit, MI. 48214

**Inside the spectacular Roostertail Supper Club** as it looked in the 1960s. Besides showcasing Detroit Motown artists during that era, many, many other great acts performed here since its opening in 1958.

**The Roostertail Upper Deck** bar and lounge area circa 1967.

MCKENZIE TOURS ENGLAND ON “SAN FRAN” HIT… OCTOBER 14, 1967

From the MCRFB news archives:

McKenzie Tours Overseas With Mamas & The Papas

Scott McKenzie. (Click on image for larger size).

New York — Scott McKenzie is solidifying the European success of his single, “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair),” on Ode Records, with a promotion tour of England and the Continent this month. Accompanied by Lou Adler, head of Ode, McKenzie will be introducing his new single, “Like An Old Time Movie.”

A highlight of McKenzie’s trip will be an October 30 appearance at London’s Royal Albert Hall, where he will be the guest star at a Mamas and the Papas concert there. CBS International affiliates are moving quickly to release the new single in their markets to coincide with McKenzie’s tour while abroad.

In conjunction with his new Ode release, CBS Records is giving McKenzie a hefty promotional push stressing the theme, “The Voice Of Scott McKenzie.”

The “San Francisco” U.S. hit has taken off in England, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Australia. It’s now beginning to move out in France, Italy, Japan, Latin America and Spain. END.

(Information and news source: Billboard; October 14, 1967).

SCOTT MCKENZIE DIES AT 73 — AUGUST 18, 2012

From current MCRFB news wires:

SCOTT McKENZIE, SINGER OF ’67 ‘SUMMER OF LOVE’ BALLAD, DIES AT 73

By LESLIE KAUFMAN / Published: August 20, 2012

Scott McKenzie, who performed the 1967 ballad “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair),” which became a defining hit for the counterculture generation and helped draw tens of thousands to the Haight-Ashbury district for the Summer Of Love, died on Saturday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 73.

The cause was unknown, said Dr. Frank Snyder, one of his physicians. A web site devoted to Mr. McKenzie said that he had been ill for several weeks and that he suffered from Guillian-Barre Syndrome, a disorder that causes the immune system to attack the nervous system.

“San Francisco” was written by John Phillips, founder of the Mamas and the Papas, who had been a friend of Mr. McKenzie’s since high school. The two started a band called the Journeymen, which recorded several albums in the 1960s.

In the song, Mr. McKenzie sang lyrics like these with a slow, almost mournful cadence:

All across the nation, such a strange vibration.

People in motion.

There’s a whole generation, with a new explanation.

“San Francisco” hit a nerve with people looking to protest what they saw as an unjust social order, and it rocketed to the No. 4 position on the pop charts in 1967.

But despite the song’s success anda subsequent tour with the Mamas and the Papas, Mr. McKenzie never had another hit single. He took a break from the music business and moved to Virginia Beach, where he was married briefly to Anzy Wells, Dr. Snyder said.

In the late 1980s he made a comeback of sorts. He toured with a reconstituted Mamas and the Papas and, with Mr. Philips, Mike Love and Terry Melcher, wrote “Kokomo,” an upbeat love song that became a No. 1 hit for the Beach Boys.

Born Philip Blondheim on January 10, 1939, in Jacksonville, Fla., Mr. McKenzie grew up under difficult circumstances. His father died before he was 2, and his mother was forced to travel for work, so he was raised by his grandmother. No immediate family members survive.

In discussions with friends, he expressed mixed feelings about the song that defined his career and life. Fame in the short run had been overwhelming and even terrifying. He found it “sick” and “perverse” that strange women wanted to sleep with him.

But over time, his view of the song changed.

Chris Campion, who is writing a biography of John Phillips, interviewd Mr. McKenzie this year and said that the singer had told him that soldiers returning from Vietnam would sing the song on the airplane to San Francisco. He later became friends with some of those veterans and would tour the Vietnam Veterans Memorial with them.

“He was grateful that he had an opportunity to have such an impact on their lives,” Mr. Campion said.