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THE LOUIE
REPORT
FEBRUARY
2003
first posted on February
1, 2003 (all rights reserved)
Today is February 1st,
2003. It was 39 years ago today that Indiana Governor
Matthew Welsh declared "Louie Louie" as recorded by
the Kingsmen as a pornographic song and asked the Indiana
Broadcasters Association to ban the record. Needless
to say, such activities have helped ensure greater notoriety
for this iconic melody.
There's a lot
of news to report in the LOUIE LOUIE universe. Click
on the titles to access the individual topics or read
the whole enchilada....
THE
WEBSITE
LOUIE PRODUCTION
UPDATE
RICH DANGEL TRIBUTE
CONCERT
THE LOUIE TRIVIA CONTEST
PAUL REVERE, THE RAIDERS
AND A DOG NAMED LOUIE
ANOTHER ZAPPA LOUIE
SPOTTING
THE CUBAN LOUIE CONNECTION
REMEMBERING JAIME
AND PAUL
THE
WEBSITE
Some of you
may have noticed that the website is sometimes non-operational.
Some of this had to do with a crazy internet worm that
attacked web servers all over the world, but some of
this had to do with my efforts to simplify my email
correspondence and limit SPAM to my account. On the
LouieLouie.Net site, I've set things up so you'll rarely
see a direct link to an email address. As there are
robotic "spiders" set up by spam-masters to harvest
email addresses from websites to create massive email
lists, I've used a special piece of software to scramble
email addresses into a jumble of strange code. While
it will allow email to go to the intended address, this
type of goobly-di-gook is supposed to confuse all "spiders"
looking for normal html codes. Between that and a special
SPAM filter that throws offending email into a special
folder, I've been able to avoid a large chunk of annoying
emails.
The
other thing I did was create an email account that would
be forwarded to my regular email address. As a large
percentage of my email is from people asking for the
lyrics to LOUIE LOUIE, I created a generic response
that would automatically reply to this standard inquiry,
while letting folks know that I would reply to unique
inquires. Needless to say, this "auto-reply" has created
a monster of epic proportions. As spam is often sent
out by crafty emailers that use factious email accounts,
an "auto-reply" message is usually back by the web servers
from where these ficticious email addresses supposedly
reside. What happens is something like an endless ricochet,
forcing web servers to go into overdrive. In the past
month, because of this phenomenon, the LouieLouie.Net
site received over 300,000 emails!!? While I do receive
a lot of email, it's usually nowhere near this amount!
Anyone
that knows me knows that I am disgusted by SPAM email.
I wrote an article describing methods of defense against
SPAM that I titled "Internet
Pollution and Computer Hell" that you can read on
the Octalouie.com
affiliate site. Since then, I've
discovered that certain HTML emails can be used as tools
to determine valid email accounts. Even if you don't
reply to these emails, a message is automatically sent
back to the spam-masters as soon as you open the email,
confirming that your account is a good one. I've
never been a fan of HTML mail, and this is another reason
I'll do what I can to avoid it. In the meantime, I will
change the default email address for LouieLouie.Net
and retire the "info@louielouie.net" email address.
Anyone that uses SPAM emailings and deceptive email
accounts to sell their products is absolutely no friend
of mine! I'm not an advocate of cruel and unusual punishment,
but when it comes to SPAM, I would be willing to make
an exception.
LOUIE
PRODUCTION UPDATE
Video production
continues to move forward in the LOUIE Universe. Financing
for this project continues to be a challenge, but we
are fortunate to have a substantial fanbase that continues
to provide encouragement with supportive emails, letters,
music recordings, and even some generous donations.
A big public thank you goes to Dan Gunning and
Mike Hintze for their financial contributions
to the cause. In the last LOUIE REPORT, I mentioned
that I would list in the film credits any individuals
and companies that make a direct donation towards completion
of the film. Both Dan and Mike will be listed in the
credits, as will anyone else that provides financial
support to this project.
There's been
a lot of expenses in producing this documentary- raw
video stock, photography, travel, phone bills, music
acquisition, countless hours of research, not to the
mention the extensive licensing that must be obtained
from various musicians, publishing companies, record
labels, television stations, motion picture distributors,
photographers, and other assorted legal fees. Producing
music documentaries that involve well-known compositions
or recordings is definitely not the sort of thing I
would recommend to the easily-intimidated. It can really
be a nightmare sometimes.
Nonetheless,
there is light at the end of the tunnel, and my sincere
thanks go out to all the folks that provided flashlights.
I appreciate all emails (assuming you aren't yet another
person asking for a copy of the lyrics), words of encouragement,
and generous donations. I continue to offer items for
sale at the LouieLouie.Net
Sell-Out Page, including film credits,
copies of the F.B.I. investigation, and various other
LOUIE paraphernalia.
RICH
DANGEL TRIBUTE CONCERT
I was so very
sad the day I learned that Rich Dangel died in
Seattle last December. As one of the founding members
of the Wailers, Rich was truly a pioneer in the
world of Northwest music. Rich was a musician's musician,
and the Wailers found fans with the Beatles,
the Rolling Stones, Nirvana, Pearl
Jam, the Kinks, the Kingsmen, Paul
Revere & the Raiders, the Sonics, and so
many others. When the Wailers traveled across America
for an East Coast tour that included a stop at Dick
Clark's American Bandstand television show, they
were offered an opportunity to build on their momentum
if they moved to New York City in 1962. Who knows what
would have happened if they took the offer and relocated
to the Big Apple? The band decided they wanted to return
to Tacoma, and we'll never know what would have happened
if they chose to stay on the East Coast.
The surviving
Wailers in conjunction with members of Rich Dangel's
jazz band have linked up to create a big celebration
of the life of their old friend on Sunday, February
16th in Seattle, Washington. The venue is the Moore
Theater, and some of the musicians scheduled to appear
include the Wailers, the Kingsmen, Larry Coryell,
the Ventures, Little Bill Engelhart, Butter
Bean, Nokie Edwards, Merrilee Rush,
Gail Harris, the Reputations, Alive
& Well, and Smoke. Proceeds from the concert
will benefit the Wailers Performing Arts Foundation,
the Musicians Assistance Program, and the Dangel
family. Tickets are priced at $27.50 and $32.50, and
are available at Ticketmaster. For more details about
this special event, log on to http://www.thefabulouswailers.com
THE
LOUIE TRIVIA CONTEST
On January 7th, I sent
out a little newsletter to LOUIE REPORT subscribers
celebrating Paul Revere's 65th birthday, and
offered to give away some goodies to whoever could answer
some trivia questions about other birthdays in the LOUIE
universe. I offered to give away some special LOUIE
LOUIE CDs to the first three people that can identify
the birthdays of Richard Berry (author of LOUIE
LOUIE), Mark Lindsay (vocalist for original Paul
Revere & Raiders), Jack Ely (vocalist for
original Kingsmen), and Iggy Pop. Each of these
birthdates have a double significance in the grand scheme
of LOUIE LOUIE film production. The first person that
could actually figure out all four of these dates, AND
the special significances attached to each date would
receive the CD-R, a copy of the Ace 'Love That Louie'
CD, an autographed Jack Ely photo, a Kingsmen
guitar pick, and a set of KFJC "NO LOUIE/LOUIE
LOUIE" buttons.
LouieLouie.Net
is proud to announce that Marc Coulavin is the
sole winner of this contest, who not only identified
the birthdays, but also the special significance of
each date. Here's MOST of his winning entry:
"I was reading some
of the messages on the LL list, including the one
about the guy from the UK who has a son named LL who
was looking for a T-shirt for his son.
I have a LL T-shirt.
This is how I got it: when I came back to Canada in
1984, I started going to university at the University
of British Columbia in Vancouver. My good fortune
was that The Kingsmen were booked for the welcoming
week festivities. I can't remember if I saw them or
not (and it wasn't the sixties! har har!).
But they had made
up some T-shirts specially for that event with Louie
Louie printed in big black letters on the front. The
back had The Kingsmen, the date, the place and some
ads (beer, no doubt!). Anyway, I didn't get one on
the day, and my only chance get one was a draw that
was held by the "entertainment director" (or whatever
his title was) at the university. This guy didn't
like me for some reason, perhaps because I was affiliated
with the campus station, perhaps because I was an
impudent young bastard who had begged and whined for
a T-shirt, or something else, I don't know. Anyway,
I spent a good while stuffing the box with coupons
filled out in my name. Then came the draw. Nobody
else cared enough to be there for the draw, which
- I thought - showed that I was the only one who really
wanted that shirt and proved that they should have
just given it to me (and I told them so!), but the
entertainment director was not about to endanger his
reputation by being a nice guy! The draw started.
There were several prizes (including some really good
ones!), and I kept praying that I wouldn't win any
of them, as the entertainment director had made up
a rule on the spot according to which, I couldn't
win more than one prize. The suspense was unbearable.
Finally they got to the shirt, and I hadn't won anything
yet, and then they drew one of my coupons!!! There
is a God! Or I was just meant to have that shirt.
I still have it. It's a bit snug now (actually, it
was snug then, it wasn't quite my size, but it was
the only one I was going to get, so...). It has a
stain on the front from one of the select parties
that I wore it to and I think it's tearing at the
armhole, but it's still in one piece and I still have
it! There: a heart-warming story of manifest destiny(!)
triumphing over student union bureaucracy hack evil
doers! And now further developments in my pop quiz
answers:
Iggy Pop: April
21 shared with 'Stretch' Riedle (creator of KFJC
MAXIMUM LOUIE Marathon- 63 hours of LOUIE LOUIE with
over 800 unique versions)
Richard Berry:
April 11
On April 11 of this year, what would have been Richard
Berry's 63rd birthday, a news report went out around
the world, announcing that the Kingsmen had won their
big case against Gusto Records and GML in the 9th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. At the heart of their
case was the undisputed fact that Gusto Records/GML,
who acquired the rights to the original Kingsmen masters
from Wand/Scepter Records, including their smash recording
of "Louie Louie," never paid a penny in royalties
from record or CD sales, despite a 1968 contract that
guaranteed a 9% royalty to the band members. Seeking
to avoid payment, Gusto Records and GML took the matter
to the next highest court in the land, which was the
Supreme Court. Earlier this week, on Monday, November
9th, it was announced that the Supreme Court refused
to hear this case, ruling in favor of the previous
judgment. By declining to hear this appeal, the high
court effectively ended a five-year legal battle between
Gusto/GML and 10 members of the group, featuring original
and replacement performers. This action allows the
Kingsmen's members to collect about $200,000 in royalties
that have been held in trust since the group sued
in 1993 on grounds that the companies had failed to
honor a 1968 contract. By winning this case, the Kingsmen
now completely own all 105 recordings originally recorded
for Wand/Scepter Records.
Mark Lindsay:
March 9 shared with Eric Predoehl (producer/director
of upcoming MEANING OF LOUIE, creator of these LouieLouie.Net
words)
Jack Ely September
11: Oh no! You can't mean the overthrow of the
legitimate Allende government by the CIA, can you?
Must be something else... Must be the release date
for the Motorhead Overkill CD with not one but two
versions of LL. Also release date for Toots & The
Maytals's "Funky Kingston" which you may know also
includes LL.
Or is it Fletcher
Bowron- d. September 11, 1968 - 42nd Los Angeles Mayor,
1938-1953, who is buried in the same cemetery as Richard
Berry, as well as Pee Wee Crayton, T-Bone Walker,
Ella Fitzgerald, Big Mama Thornton and Chet Baker
http://www.hollywood-underground.com/inglewood.htm
More googleised LL
+ September 11 stuff that may or may not be of any
interest:
Exclusive! Read
all about it! Ray Charles replaces Louie Louie at
Mariners game:
All of major league baseball came to a halt for one
week in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks
on America. The Mariners were in Anaheim when the
attacks came. The team was stranded their while air
travel was shut down across the country. The team
finally got back to Seattle in time for three days
of workouts before play resumed on Sept. 18. On that
night before yet another Safeco Field sellout, the
Mariners returned to action with American flags on
their uniforms, "God Bless America" before the game,
and a Ray Charles recording of "America" replacing
"Louie Louie" during the seventh-inning stretch. And
the Mariners resumed winning. The Mariners clinched
their third American League West title the next night.
Seattle celebrated the occasion not with Champaign,
but with Mark McLemore carrying the American flag
around the bases with his teammates. With their No.
1 goal accomplished, the team went on its only true
slump of the season, losing four straight games, and
their first road series of the season with a three
game sweep at the hands of the Athletics in Oakland.
After that wobble the team righted itself on the field.
But more bad news arrived off the field, when shortstop
Carlos Guillen was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The
month ended on a much-appreciated happier note: Ichiro
Suzuki set a major league record for hits in a season
by a rookie, passing Shoeless Joe Jackson. http://www.2001mariners.com/september/
What would Mister
Louie do?
Was the indecipherable "Louie, Louie" really just
a prayer? Brian Doyle's Sunday school class ponders
the man whose ultimate sacrifice changed the world
forever--the son of Mary, Mister Louie.
http://www.uscatholic.org/2002/02/feat0202.htm
Weird LL / 911
link:
http://www.metropolismag.com/html/wtc/wtc_forbes_0921.html
Green Bay Packers
CD
http://www.southendzone.com/musicstore/
Green Bay Packers Greatest Hits 1992 - 1996
Alphabet City Sports Records (1997)
Feature live calls from Jim Irwin, Max McGee & Larry
McCarren (WTMJ 620AM)
Tracks Include:
"Opening Montage - Monday Night Football Theme," featuring
Michael Buffer
"Go Pack Go/Interviews," Wolf, Holmgren, Farve, White
"What I Like About You," The Romantics
"Brooks Goes 99," September 11, 1995
"Rock 'N' Roll Part II," Gary Glitter
"Moon To Reggie To Jones," October 22, 1995
"Bang The Drum All Day," Todd Rundgren
"How Could He Have Dropped It?," December 24, 1995
"Whoomp! (There It Is)," Tag Team
"What A Hit," January 6, 1996
"Takin' Care Of Business," Bachman Turner Overdrive
"Des Takes One Back," December 1, 1996
"Dance To The Music," Sly & The Family Stone
"Dorsey's Day," January 12, 1997
"Louie Louie," The Kingsmen
"The Super Audible," January 26, 1997
"Get Ready For This," 2 Unlimited
"Hello Reggie!," January 26, 1997
"My Sharona," The Knack
"Super Bowl Super Mix," Alphabet City All-Stars
(NOTE: In track #2 above, Brett Favre's name is misspelled
on the CD.) Why is LL more popular since 911?
In this context,
the sudden commercial appeal of garage punk is problematic.
Why is this particular strain of rock and roll - practiced
since the Kingsmen broke through with "Louie Louie"
in 1963 - now suddenly popular, when its antecedents
were continually ignored? The answer, I believe, lies
with the issue of authenticity and how it is articulated
for cultural consumption. While the sounds and themes
of songs charted by Billboard have not changed dramatically
since September 11, there is a growing appetite -
especially among music consumers beyond their college
years - for material that appears to be free of the
machinations of the culture industry.
http://cam.music.utexas.edu/events/nov23/raw.html
Wow! Check this out:
I now have a bit of my own home-recorded music here.
Nothing shockingly original... just something that
answers the question: What if Richard Berry's immortal
rock classic "Louie, Louie" had been instead written
by Peter Gabriel? Download Shock_the_Louie.mp3
(2.5 MB) to find out. (http://gning.org/)
But link doesn't work. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
You'll like this
one... maybe:
Although Americans
may have a moral right to wave the flag or sing the
national anthem whenever they choose, they don't necessarily
always have a legal right to do so. Bellowing out
a raucous version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at
3:00 AM could get you cited for disturbing the peace
just the same as a overly-loud rendition of "Louie,
Louie" would, and even a display of the American flag
can run afoul of local regulations. http://www.snopes2.com/rumors/american.htm
The song that teams
play after "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" after the
7th inning stretch is one of the most critical factors
in establishing local color. They play "Mountain Music"
at Coors Field. "Louie Louie" at Safeco. "Roll Out
The Barrel" at Miller Park. In the realm of the incongruous,
"Thank God I'm A Country Boy" is the song at Camden
Yards (and, if I recall, was also played during the
fifth inning at Tiger Stadium). http://www.geocities.com/bigghoti/stadiums.htm
This site (http://www.godhatesflags.com/main/dayofterror.html)
is strange and includes a twisted re-write of LOUIE
LOUIE. (not for the easily offended- EP)
DT's Today in
All Kinds Of History April 12th
In 1984, "Louie Louie Day" was held in Olympia, Washington
as an attempt is made to make it the ... The Braves
games of September 11-12 will also be rained out.
..http://www.kaput.com/daily/date/geo/04-12
- 51k - Cached
There's 15 pages
of this stuff on google, so I'd better stop here.
Cheers,
Marc"
Actually, I
was going to mention that September 11th, Jack Ely's
birthday, is also the same birthday as my sister Ann
Casey, who's been a great inspiration for the production,
but I liked Marc's interpretation so much I had to award
him the grand prize! Congratulations, Marc for a job
well done!
Marc also mentioned
an inspired article about Iggy Pop:
"And while we're on the subject of Iggy... here's
something you might enjoy. To enjoy it to its fullest,
you have to know that the guy interviewing Iggy -
Peter Gzowski - is a national treasure TM,
a guy who has been on the CBC since before we were
born, written more books than you can shake a stick
at (all snoozefests), well respected, a bit of a pompous
ass (and apparently not very nice to his staff when
he was still alive, according to rumor). I particularly
like the part where Iggy calls him 'sir' and what
happens after that... Dig it!"
http://archives.cbc.ca/400d.asp?IDCat=68&IDDos=102&IDCli=761&noCli=1&PS=761t762t763t765t766&IDLan=1&IDMenu=68
Incidentally,
all the birthday info was readily available for members
of the Yahoo Groups "LOUIE LOUIE PARTY" if they chose
to view the calendar bulletin board. This is an ongoing
discussion group where you can read all about the rare
LOUIE LOUIE recordings that I haven't gotten around
to writing about for this LouieLouie.Net site.
PAUL
REVERE, THE RAIDERS, AND DOG NAMED LOUIE
Getting back to Paul
Revere, I'll recycle the words I wrote for a January
7th email newsletter celebrating Paul's 65th birthday:
"The list of rock
and rollers that actually make it to this grand age
seems to be a rather exclusive club, and we at LouieLouie.Net
would like to congratulate this Northwest legend for
this grand achievement! As some of you may be aware,
the rendition of 'Louie Louie' that made it to the
top of the radio charts in San Francisco during the
1960's wasn't the version by the Kingsmen, but the
version by Paul Revere & the Raiders. It's also worth
noting Paul Revere & the Raiders were the first successful
rock and roll band signed to Columbia Records, which
was the largest label in the world during the1960's.
With a superb band that featured Mark Lindsay,
Michael Smith, Phil Fang Volk, Drake
Levin, and Jim Valley, among others, this
group sold millions of records, and provided some
amazing entertainment with their grounds-breaking
television program 'Where the Action Is' Paul continues
to perform with his 'new Raiders' who've been playing
together with for some twenty odd years! The band
STILL sounds great, and we'd like to wish Paul and
the boys many more years onstage!"
Ron Foos,
the bass guitarist for the Raiders, wrote back to me
to thank me for writing about the band, and let me know
that the "New Raiders" have actually been together for
31 years! He writes:
"Thanks so much for
remembering and helping us (The New Raiders) celebrate
Paul Revere's 65th B-day! We, the new band of over
31 years now (no kidding) Omar Martinez / drums
over 31 years, Doug Heath / guitar over 29
years, Ron Foos / bass guitar over 27 years,
Danny Krause / keyboards over 25 years & lead
singer Carl Driggs over 20 years say thanks
for remembering Paul and all the Raiders!"
I stand corrected!
The band continues to provide great entertainment to
all those that attend their shows. Paul continues to
be a master ringleader in this grand little rock and
roll circus called the Raiders. In the previous online
LOUIE REPORT, I mentioned Ron's dog named "LOUIE LOUIE."
Ron added some new information about his little friend
"Ron Foos / RAIDERS
bass player (who celebrates his 53rd b-day on Christmas)
has lost his favorite family dog of [14 & half years
old] to kidney failure, he was named who else 'Louie
Louie' RIP as of 12/4/02. We will miss that pup forever."
Our hearts go
out for the loss of the little one. It's always sad
to lose a precious pet. Incidentally, Ron is not related
to Richard Foos, co-founder of Rhino Records.
Elsewhere in the Paul Revere
& the Raiders circle, I received word from Brian
Volk that his father Phil "Fang"Volk,
an orignal member of the Raiders now has his own website-
http://www.philfangvolk.com!
ANOTHER
ZAPPA LOUIE SPOTTING
From Charles Ulrich,
I received word of yet another reference to LOUIE LOUIE
in the work of the late Frank Zappa, marking
the 23rd occurence of such a notation in the official
releases.
"I just noticed
another "Louie Louie" quote in FZ's oeuvre: in 'It
Can't Happen Here' on 'Tis The Season To Be Jelly
(Beat The Boots I). Around 1:31-1:35, someone says
'Louie Louie, me gotta go'.".
THE
CUBAN LOUIE CONNECTION
Dave Marsh
alerted me to the work of Ned Sublette, who's
done quite a bit of research on Cuban music. As Richard
Berry did acknowledge that his beloved melody was
inspired by "El Loco Cha Cha," a song performed by Cuban
musician Rene Touzet, Ned was interested in learning
more of this original inspiration. Among the emails
I've exchanged with Ned, here's one that fans of LOUIE
LOUIE would find especially intriguing:
"Though I have been
unable to get to Havana, a Cuban music-journalist
friend of mine there went to visit Rosendo Ruiz,
Jr., author of the 'El Loco Cha Cha,' who must
be in his '80s by now, and asked him the $64 question:
Whose lick was it?
Ruiz modestly denied any responsibility for it, and
said that it came from Touzet's arrangement. Though
I am not 100% certain that Touzet himself did the
arrangement instead of jobbing it out, it's a reasonable
guess that he did."
REMEMBERING
OUR FRIENDS JAIME AND PAUL
In closing
this report, we'd like to acknowledge the loss of two
very good friends during the past two months.
 Jaime
Kibben was a friend of the Octalouie production
team, and we were privileged to have worked with him
over the years. Jaime was a multi-talented director,
editor, musician, camera-operator, photographer, and
humanitarian. Jaime was based in San Francisco, but
was killed in a head-on collision in Israel on the way
to the airport after shooting footage for a documentary
about the peace process. Jaime had an extensive career
that you can read about on kibben.org.
He leaves behind a wife and two daughters.
 Paul
Sfalanga was another friend of the Octalouie production
team. As the co-publisher of a pop-culture publication
entitled WILD THING, based out of San Jose, California,
Paul used his forum to showcase edgy comic books, hot
rod artwork, oddball conspiracy theories, fantasized
specimens of idealized humanity, and great talents that
were ignored by mainstream media. Paul also produced
various community radio and television programs that
focused on likewise minded material. Paul died of complications
associated with diabetes in Phoenix, Arizona.
My thanks again for all
of the people that shared their comments, questions,
and stories. Your input is greatly appreciated.
Me gotta go now,
ERIC PREDOEHL
February 1, 2003
All images & words
copyright 1999-2001 Eric Predoehl / OCTALOUIE, LLC,
except as noted. All rights reserved. The term "LOUIE
LOUIE" is a registered trademark of RMB, Inc, a
company owned by The Kingsmen, the band recognized for turning
the song into the monster icon heard all over the world.
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