04.07.06

Wow. After hearing of Gene Pitney's death on Tuesday, I started digging around the internet and soon had put three sets of Pitney's music together for the show, along with a bunch of interesting stuff to talk about about the guy. At 1:00 today I had a meeting with a local guy named Gary Leveille, who walked into my office and started talking about Gene Pitney. Turns out he's close to Pitney's manager and was also friends with Gene.

So Gary agreed to come on the radio with me two hours later and help out with my Pitney sets.

He was fantastic, knowledgable, and erudite. He made this show very, very special.

Did you know that Pitney had the first US hit with a Mick and Keith song ("That Girl Belongs to Yesterday"), 6 months before the Stones scored with "Tell Me"? Did you know he wrote "He's a Rebel" and "Hello Mary Lou"? I didn't.

We also featured the world radio debut of The Five Person Quartet, a funk band from San Diego composed entirely of high schoolers. Watch their space.

The Original Symptoms, Hey, Nice Vette

Gentle Giant, Playing the Game
The Left Banke, Walk Away Renee
The 5 Person Quartet, Burning Orb of Monkey Love
Fatboy Slim (with Bootsy Collins), The Joker

Gene Pitney, Love My Life Away
Every Breath I Take
That Girl Belongs to Yesterday
Hello Mary Lou
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
She's a Heartbreaker
24 Hours From Tulsa
It Hurts to Be in Love
Something's Got a Hold of My Heart (with Marc Almond)
Town Without Pity
I'm Gonna Be Strong
Backstage

Valeze, Search and Destroy
Marilyn Kaye, Yeah Yeah No No No
Monty Python, Miss Ann Elk
Dixie Chicks, Not Ready To Make Nice

John Coltrane, Greensleeves