When Bob Dylan comes to your town, it is like a pilgrimage. It almost doesn’t matter if the show is great or the music is to your liking, you must see the man perform. His contribution to music goes far beyond anything that I could try and relate to you in this article. You go almost like paying homage to the living legend. And the fans came out. They were a very mixed crowd. Many families with younger kids, older fans and even some fans in their teens and twenties who may have never seen Dylan perform.
Mavis Staples is the current opening act on the Bob Dylan “Never Ending Tour”. She gave a very lively performance. At age 77 she is the sole remainder of the legacy that her father started with The Staple Singers almost seventy years ago. Her blues and gospel set kept the audience well entertained.
Without any fanfare or flashing lights, the Bob Dylan set was off and rolling. The set was almost exactly the same as the one he just did at Forest Hills in New York that got excellent reviews. This show deserved high marks as well.
One of the nicest and most talented people in the music business, Charlie Daniels, has died. When we first talked in 1972 he told me that he did over 300 concerts a year! All of these shows were done by traveling in the CDB tour bus from town to town.
The Charlie Daniels Band has been around since Charlie graduated from high school in North Carolina in 1955. It was a hard life bouncing around from town to town and Charlie had to do studio work to make ends meet. To that end Charlie moved to Nashville and worked on several albums. Soon he was in very much in demand because he was not only very skilled on the guitar, but also the Mandolin and was (and still is) considered to be one of the best fiddlers of all time.
One of the most interesting and exciting people I have ever had the pleasure to meet in my life has died. He started his legendary career as the “Louisville Lip” Cassius Clay and ended up the most well-known person on this planet, Muhammad Ali. He was not only an athlete, but also a rebel who was willing to sacrifice his life for his beliefs including spending some of his most productive years in jail rather than fight in an "unjust war."
The night of WMGK’s Big Gig had finally arrived. Would the acts live up to the high expectations? Joe Walsh had been heralded as one of the most entertaining and talented performers in all of Rock and Paul Rodgers the best lead singer by even his peers.
The acts came and conquered any doubt. The crowd had come with some sadness with the news of the shootings in Orlando very fresh on their minds. After they worked through a very efficient, but relatively quick security entrance, the concert goers were ready for a great night. They were treated to two sets which were truly uplifting in their own way.
Thanks to everyone who came out to this year's event!
We are still trying to get our hands on some more photos! If we do, they will be posted here! Thanks.
There was very little doubt among his peers that Keith Emerson was one of the very best on the keyboards in all of Rock history. He was classically trained and he mixed in his love the classics as well as Jazz in all his style of Rock music.
The first of his bands to make headway in England was a group called The Nice. They were one of, if not the first of all the Rock bands to mix Classical, Jazz and Rock. Keith was very much influenced by an album that was very popular called SWITCHED-ON BACK. That led him to experiment with the electric Moog synthesizer. Along with his powerful Organ and piano, he created a sound that had never been heard before in Rock. Perhaps the sound was too unique because The Nice only had limited success here in the US.
They say that the deaths of the famous people come in threes. The latest death would add credence to that notion. We just lost David Bowie and Glenn Fry and now comes the news of Paul Kantner.
Considered by many to be the father of the so called “San Francisco Sound,” Kantner was the co-founder of the Jefferson Airplane. They were the first group to play in concert at the legendary Fillmore Auditorium that helped the rock scene in San Francisco become world famous , They went on to be the first to sign a major contract with a major record company and were the first break out of the Bay Area.
The very first of the T. Morgan talks / book signing events took place on January 20th at Main Point Books. The award winning book store (voted the best on the Mainline in 2014) is located at 1041 West Lancaster Avenue in Bryn Mawr, PA and is just about a block from where the old legendary Main Point Club was located that was the launching pad for so many performers. That made it the perfect setting for the first of these events.
Those who attended heard T. Morgan will talk about his book “Confessions of a Teenage Disc Jockey” and answer questions.
The book is now available at the store as well as the website.
This was the first of a series of talks that are in the planning stages for varies locations in both PA and NJ Keep coming back to the website for all the details when these appearances are finalized.
Photo by Michael Muderick
Still stunned by the death of icon David Bowie, today we got the news of the passing of another star Glenn Fry. After suffering and battling through several health issues, the leader of The Eagles lost his life.
Eagle drummer Don Henley was the first to admit that Glenn was the real leader of The Eagles. In a statement released through Glenn Fry’s website Don said in part the following: “He was like a brother to me. The bond we forged a bond 45 years ago was never broken. We built something that lasted longer than anyone could have dreamed. Glenn was the one who started it all. He was the spark plug, the man with the plan.”
Listen: David Bowie - Space Oddity Vinyl Cut
The world fell in love with David Bowie in 1972 as a result of the “Ziggy Stardust” tour. The highlight of that tour was David’s appearance at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby. The shows went beyond sensational. The concerts were captured on record in a double LP/CD simply called LIVE AT THE TOWER THEATER. For more on this visit my story in the archives on the Top Ten Most Memorable Concerts in Philadelphia.
Long before David Bowie’s worldwide success he was a star in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia radio stations played his earlier records that didn’t sell elsewhere, but were very popular with the rock fans in this city. In fact I am sure that listeners to Philly radio thought that “Space Oddity” was a hit and would be shocked to know that record sales outside of the Quaker City Area were so poor that his record company dropped him.
Standing outside on that very cold November 24th morning has paid off big time. The WMGK listeners came through again for this year’s 14th Annual John DeBella Turkey Drop.
Thanks to the generous outpouring of the listeners and our many sponsors, we were able to collect over 9,400 turkeys! Aside the birds, there was also a great deal of cash collected to buy turkeys. That means that not only on Thanksgiving, but for the upcoming holidays City Team will be able to feed many needy families right here in the Delaware Valley.
John DeBella was stationed in Love Park where he broadcasted his morning show. He was joined by his crew of Jen, Rob, and Dave. The rest of WMGK air staff were collecting turkeys at various other locations.
I was located at the Giant store in St. David’s. Before the sun even came up a guy in a truck came up and handed me an envelope. Before I could even open it he was gone into the darkness. It was only then I saw that he gave me $300 in cash. I wish I had time to get his name, but maybe that’s the way he wanted it.
Below you can see pictures of some of the many who came out to donate $3,345. It was a real pleasure meeting all of you, but I’d like to single out Ellen Evans and Pennsylvania Trust who were particularly generous with their donations.
Thanks so much to all of you!
On November 20, 2015 the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia had their Annual Hall of Fame and Person of the Year Awards Dinner. It was held at the Hilton Hotel on City Avenue in Philadelphia.
There was a record sold out crowd in attendance to honor those who were selected for the Hall of Fame. This year the Person of the Year was Bob Pantano who has been in Philadelphia radio since 1971. His Saturday Night Dance Party has been running continuously since 1977 on WOGL.
Among those honored was Pierre Robert from WMGK’s sister station WMMR who was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He has been on the air at the Greater Media station for 33 straight years.
Joe Tarsia, Chief Engineer and the owner of the world famous Sigma Sound Studios, was a great selection. A real living legend, Joe used his studio to record the Gamble & Huff Sound of Philadelphia, Hall & Oates, Stevie Wonder, BB King, Steely Dan, The Talking Heads, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, David Bowie, Robert Palmer and an album that I produced by Thunder & Roses called KING OF THE BLACK SUNRISE.
There was electricity in the air as you walked from the parking lot to the Susquehanna Bank Center on September 5, 2015. The fans were tailgating and getting ready to enjoy the night.
They certainly were not disappointed. Work Release, the WMGK house band for the past year, played their last gig as the house band and was pumped to play before such a large crowd and were at their best.
