The Honokaa High School Jazz Band is on its 2018 Oahu semester tour . The band is playing at several venues over the next few days. Last night (April 19) they played at Centerstage at the Ala Moana Center. Under band director Gary Washhburn, the band wows crowds with their renditions of popular jazz, pop and rock tunes. The band showcased their virtuosity by covering popular standards such as "Route 66," "Cry Me a River," "Moondance," "The Closer I Get To You," and several others. Washburn has written music for the band. They played two of his upbeat, toe-tapping, instrumental compositions which showcased the talents of various members on keyboards, drums, sax and brass.
You can learn more about the Honokaa High School Jazz Band from their Facebook page.
This question was posted by News Channel 5 out of Nashville Tennessee to their Facebook page. I reposted it to my Facebook page and these are the songs that my friends replied* with:
1. Rain - The Beatles (myself)
2. Sunny - Bobby Hebb (Lani)
3. Stormy Weather - Billie Holiday (Laura)
4. Over the Rainbow - Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole (Sandra C.)
5. Stormy Weather - Ella Fitzgerald (Jolette)
6. Have You Ever Seen The Rain - Creedence Clearwater Revival (Daniel)
7. Rain - The Cult (Daniel)
8. Storm - Lifehouse (Daniel)
9. Singin' in the Rain - Gene Kelly (Sandra A.)
10. Rhythm of the Rain - The Cascades (Sandra C.)
11. Rhythm of the Rain - Ka'au Crater Boys (Sandra A.)
12. Riders on the Storm - The Doors (Darrin / DC on B93 B97 FM)
13. Stormy Weather [ditto] - (Cherylle)
14. Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers (Cherylle)
15. Before The Rain - Lee Oskar (Nate)
16. Rain - José Feliciano (Nate)
17. Rainy Day People - Gordon Lightfoot (Nate)
18. How Can You Mend a Broken Heart - Bee Gees (Jolette)
19. Rainy Days & Mondays - The Carpenters (Paul)
20. Like The Weather - 10,000 Maniacs (myself)
21. Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head - BJ Thomas (Nate)
It would seem rain is the most predominant topic among weather related songs most people have chosen from my small sample. Several songs have rain in their title and some with rain in their lyrics but not in the title. Is rain the topic of the most weather related songs?
Three people chose "Stormy Weather". The jazz classic must be a good one to cuddle up to for the hopeless romantics. And again... we probably have rain here.
* In the original Facebook thread I chose and provided the video links to songs that mentioned no artist.
Here is the YouTube compilation of all the songs listed:
Mel's Current Top 20 has been updated. It is a revision of the old Mel's Weekly Top 20 page. The Current Top 20 chart will be occasionally updated and reflected on this site through posts such as this one. For more detail on Mel's Current Top 20 visit this link:
KKUA was the dominant top 40 radio station in Hawaii in the mid 1970s. They had a strong AM signal at 690 on the dial and could be heard throughout most of the state. Their main rival was KPOI which broadcast at 1380 on the AM dial as well as 97.5 on FM. KPOI’s AM played top 40 and was the most popular pop music station in Hawaii through much of the 1960s and early 1970s. Their FM played album rock tracks.
Some of the hit records from 1971.
Every year, KKUA counted down the year’s Top 69 songs. The chart below is from the Top 69 of 1971 which listed Three Dog Night‘s “Joy to the World” as the #1 song of the year.
60. Love Means (You Never Have To Say You’re Sorry)
Sounds of Sunshine
4
61. Games
Redeye
5
62. Brown Sugar
Rolling Stones
5
63. Lola
The Kinks
5
64. I Dig Everything About You
The Mob
5
65. Love Song
The Vogues
5
66. What Are You Doing Sunday?
Dawn
5
67. Baby I’m A Want You
Bread
5
68. Frisco Bay
Society of Seven
5
69. Born To Wonder
Rare Earth
5
The big hit of 1971 that was played to death on KKUA and practically all other top 40 stations was Three Dog Night‘s “Joy To The World.” The song was at the number one spot for was seven weeks, making it the most popular song on KKUA.CHART NOTES:
That year a number of local records got airplay on mainstream Top 40 radio. The most prominent local hit of 1971 was Sam Kapu‘s “Chatto Matte Kudasai” which at first sounded totally out of place on a top 40 format, but eventually got so popular that it went number one in the summer summer. Records by the Society of Seven, who at the time had a record deal with Uni Records (which later became MCA) charted with the singles “We Can Make It Girl,” and “Frisco Bay”. Dick Jensencharted with his top 40 hit single, “Three Cheers For Love.” The local hits are indicated by blue type.
* Climax‘s “Precious And Few” was a number 1 hit in Hawaii during the summer of 1971 before breaking out nationally in 1972. The group was very popular in Hawaii having charted several more times with the hits “Life And Breath,” “Walking in the Georgia Rain” and “Caroline This Time”.
Several nationally released singles were hot in Hawaii and nowhere else. These included “Morning of Our Lives” by The Arkade, “Life is That Way” by José Feliciano, “I Dig Everything About You” by The Mob, “Love Song” by The Vogues, “Mandrill” by Mandrill, “I Can’t Stop” by The Osmonds, “I Hear Those Churchbells Ringing” by Dusk, and “The Pushbike Song” by The Mixtures.
Other songs that got a lot of airplay in 1971 that did not make this chart included “Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep” by Middle of the Road, “Give Up Your Guns” by The Buoys and “Keep it in the Family” by The Road Home.
Among the popular albums of 1971 were Three Dog Night‘s “Naturally” which contained the #1 hit “Joy To The World” as well as the very radio friendly ballad “Sunlight,” a track that never was released as a single. Also popular was Carole King‘s “Tapestry”, Santana‘s “Abraxus”, Sly & the Family Stone‘s “There’s a Riot Going On,” and several albums by theJackson Five and Osmonds.
KKUA’s 1971 Personalities included the following:
Jim Peters 6:AM Steven B. Williams 9:AM Gene Davis 12 noon Ron King 3:PM Scott Edwards 6:PM Dick Wainwright 9:PM Rick Shannon Midnight
Fleetwood Mac enjoyed moderate success as a blues band and a mainstream rock group with numerous membership changes. In 1974 after former lead singer and guitarist Bob Welch left the group, the duo of Buckingham-Nicks were recruited to take his place. The two new members proved to be the best thing that happened to Fleetwood Mac in terms of a new music direction and commercial success.
The band paved its way to becoming a major concert draw with Stevie, Lindsey and Christine showcasing various songs while McVie and Fleetwood provided a solid foundation. It is one of the few bands that I personally saw in concert not once, but twice.
Their debut album Fleetwood Mac with the new line-up slowly crawled to the #1 position on the charts by 1976 while its singles garnered more and more radio airplay. These included "Over My Head", "Rhiannon," "Say You Love Me," and "Blue Letter". "Landslide" also became a hit after Fleetwood Mac recorded it again for their 1997 live album, The Dance.
I was first introduced to this album by an old college friend back in the day. I always knew of Fleetwood Mac but never paid much attention to them. I had only one track of theirs in my record collection which was "Stop Messin' Around" that appeared on a compilation LP. I later liked the song "Hypnotized" after hearing it on the radio. Was not enough for me to buy their records at the time (I was a starving high school student when this stuff first came out)....
Over the years I have owned 2 vinyl copies of Fleetwood Mac as well as 2 CDs of this. Made at least two cassette tapes off the vinyl and later the CD for portability before the digital age.
Fleetwood Mac is definitely one of my favorite albums of all time by them. It's an enjoyable, refreshing listen whenever I give it a spin.
The back cover of Fleetwood Mac with track list, group members Nicks, Fleetwood, McVie, Buckingham and McVie.
Fleetwood Mac would be the last of their albums to show up on the Reprise label.
Track List
Side 1
1. Monday Morning
2. Warm Ways
3. Blue Letter
4. Rhiannon
5. Over My Head
6. Crystal
Side 2
1. Say You Love Me
2. Landslide
3. World Turning
4. Sugar Daddy
5. I'm So Afraid
"Rhiannon" was one of 4 singles released from the album. All 4 singles have different mixes from the versions on the album. When Fleetwood Mac was issued in a special edition CD in 2004, the single tracks were included as bonus material. Nice move on Warner / Reprise's part.
Finally here is Stevie Nicks and the rest of Fleetwood Mac in this video appearance on the old NBC TV show Midnight Special from 1976. The song? "Rhiannon" of course!
