Happy International LOUIE LOUIE Day 2024!

Today is International LOUIE LOUIE Day, aka the birthday of Richard Berry, the man who wrote this iconic song.

Here’s a few celebrations to note:

1) The folks that created the 24 Hour LOUIE LOUIE Marathon in Portand (Oregon) recently unveiled the 2nd 4 hour chunk of performances on their YouTube channel.

Louie Louie 24 Hour Marathon 10 pm – 2 am (10/7/2023 – 10/8/2023)

Here’s a list of the performers:
0:00 Cleveland Jazz Combo
15:42 The Louie Louisville Sluggers
30:40 Street Hassle
46:07 Jack Awful
48:58 Matt Stanger and his all-star Louies
1:00:49 Princess Natasha Strange/
1:16:06 The Quags
1:31:02 Don and the Quixotes
1:46:12 Seaweed & Co.
2:00:26 SoRIAH
2:15:35 Kenton Dolan
2:31:04 Puzzle Teeth
2:45:32 Danger! Atomic Deathray Band
3:00:49 Diet D & Friends (for Jonny P Jewels)
3:16:23 Melanie Hindman
3:31:05 The Fuckin’ Fucks
3:47:57 Howie Hotknife

You can also replay the first hour chunk

Louie Louie 24 Hour Marathon 6pm – 10 pm (10/7/23)

… which includes:
2:14 Reading of Louie Louie Day Day 2023 Proclamation
3:58 The Kingsmen
17:40 One More Time Around Again Marching Band
33:09 The Unipiper
47:45 The Cascadians
59:13 Colt Lightnin’
1:14:02 Limbic Lizards
1:32:23 Little Hexes
1:48:03 Truth or AAAAA!
2:02:27 Louie Louie Explosion
2:17:33 Boomerang Sky
2:32:44 Sammy James Free Jazz Combo
2:47:30 Lew Jones
3:00:28 Mammoth in Space
3:17:42 Music We Remember
3:33:25 Darka Dusty and the Borshch Beatniks
3:46:18 Doc Normal

2) If you haven’t seen + heard Jean-Pierre Poulin’s new “LOUIE LOUIE in French” you absolutely should.

He shared some details on how this was assembled at the LOUIE LOUIE Party on Facebook:

I’ve recorded the “Louie Louie in french” clip with Audacity (without any mike and any sound card) and a cheap camera + iMovie.
Of course, the cosmic images are from AI.
You’ll have to listen through headphones to experiment some binaural effects.
And at the end, “coquine” doesn’t mean in french “bitch” (as Google may suggest) but “funny joker”!

3) Speaking of previously mentioned versions, here’s a handful of other LOUIE recordings recently uncovered /recycled at the LOUIE LOUIE Party on Facebook:

Our friend Clay Stabler found a recent performance by Booker T. Jones – live In Oakland, California. “..Not a keyboard in sight. He’s 79 and going strong!”

“Louie, Louie” ~ Booker T. Jones Live at Yoshi’s Oakland 01.27.24

4) Clay also spotted “The Lost music video of the 1965 Northwest rock band, The Vikings!!” which is different from the 1964 Vikings LP and the Vikings mentioned on Sam Carlson’s PNWBands.com page… which may or may not be the same band. (it’s all rather confusing…)

http://pnwbands.com/vikings.html
https://www.discogs.com/release/29261806-The-Vikings-28-The-Dukes-The-Vikings-The-Dukes

5) The Aron and Abriana show did an entertaining mix that combined the Kingsmen’s recording with footage from the Peanuts cartoon shows.

Peanuts Gang singing “Louie Louie” by The Kingsmen

6) Clay also found a version by Louie Fontaine and the Rockets on a 1987 cassette and a live version on YouTube. As our pal Ron Fowler pointed out, Louie (whose real name was Blair Hill) was a replacement Raider during the time Uncle Paul had briefly retired, 1977-1979.

7) Fellow LOUiE enthusiast Andy Martello pointed out that the soulful version by Los Yesterdays was absolutely worth listening to, especially if you hadn’t heard it before

8) … as well as the Sounds Orchestral version – “by far the best of the numerous easy listening interpretations” (according to Alec Palao, who included it in the “Love That Louie” compilation)

9) Ron reminded us of Ohio Express’ “Beg, Borrow and Steal”, which of course does by borrowing verbatim a big chunk of LOUIE LOUIE.

The Ohio Express – Beg, Borrow and Steal

10) Lastly, as a continuation of the LOUIE LOUIE festivities, if you happen to be in the Franklin Parish section of Louisiana on Sunday afternoon, you can witness a one-of-a-kind event that also celebrates the musical legacy of Richard Berry. The Northeast Louisiana Music Trail, a non-profit organization established to honor the rich musical heritage of Northeast Louisiana, will be installing a special road marker at the town where Richard Berry was born, exactly 89 years and 3 days later at the Locust Hill Baptist Church in Extension, Louisiana.