[Publius]

ROCKUMENTARY: MARCH 23, 1967

Where were you on Thursday, March 23, 1967? I was in my freshman year at a small engineering college in Philadelphia, in ROTC, and DJ and Music Director at that college’s radio station. I had no idea that college radio would lead to something absolutely astounding in a Top 20 market just five years away, and my biggest concern was how Vietnam was going and whether it would still be going on in 1971 when I graduated. (I was in a five year program.) So let’s cue the Rockumentary theme!

San Remo Golden Strings: “Festival Time”

This song was a hit for the Shirelles in 1959, and it’s really not all that great a song, at least not in the Shirelles’ hands. Lou Adler turned it into a work of art with Michelle Phillips on lead vocals. It came in at #10.

The Mamas & the Papas: “Dedicated to the One I Love”

[luvie]

Just moved to Germany with my AF hubby...to be there for 3 years. We missed a lot of stuff....hijackings to Cuba, riots on college campuses, the death of Robert Kennedy.

We were actually nervous about coming home when the tour was up. :)

Good memories otherwise, though...and good music! :)

[AZamericonnie]

Where were you on Thursday, March 23, 1967

In kindergarten....LOL

Love the theme!

[Drumbo]

Where were you at 12:01 AM August 1, 1981?

[Fiji Hill]

On March 23, 1967, we had just returned from spending a few days at Martinez Lake, on the Colorado River about 40 miles north of Yuma, Ariz. On the way over, we made sure to hit the San Gorgonio Inn, a famous restaurant in Banning, Calif., where we would usually order their fried chicken. The restaurant, on the site of a stage coach stop, used to be jammed at mealtime, but the improved Interstate and changing social mores and dining habits sent it into a long decline. It is now a vacant lot.

I was hoping to catch a lot of fish, but except for one small bullhead catfish that I caught, we got skunked at fishing. When we returned to "the river" a year later, I hauled a good-sized channel catfish, and my brother caught a fingerling bass, which we kept in an aquarium for a long time as a pet.

The weather was nice, and pleasantly warm, until we got to the San Gorgonio Pass on the way home, where the wind blew probably a few miles an hour below hurricane force--as it often does in that area during early spring. On our 1969 trip, a sand storm in the same area blasted the paint off of our car.

On March 23, 1967, I was still listening to "Boss Radio" KHJ, blasting out rock music 50,000 watts strong at 930 kilocycles, but was growing dissatisfied with the music. Within a month, I discovered KWIZ, an all-"oldies" station broadcasting from the Willow Wick Golf Course in Santa Ana, Calif. at 1480 kcs., which would be my home in the ether for several years.

[Fiji Hill]

The Five Royales scored with Dedicated to the One I Love in the waning days of 1957. You may remember that this is the group that did Laundromat Blues in 1953, a song that for some reason was considered controversial, even though it's only about washing clothes.

In 1967, I preferred the Shirelles' version of Dedicated to the One I Love, which you could hear on KWIZ or on KHJ during weekends, when their jocks played "oldies."

[Fiji Hill]

Another tune that was getting airplay in the Southland in March, 1967:

The Little Black Egg--The Nightcrawlers