Bowzer
Thursday, August 11th, 2011
There were over 40 band members in the popular 1970′s group Sha Na Na, but easily the most recognizable of them was Jon “Bowzer” Bauman, whose giant mouth and gangly greaser persona became a rather iconic image of 50′s nostalgia in the 70′s. Today people might forget how big Sha Na Na actually was at one time. The played at Woodstock, headlined with Bruce Springsteen as a supporting act, and were invited to a charity concert by John Lennon. They even had their own syndicated variety show from 1977-1981, not to mention their starring role and soundtrack inclusion in the blockbuster movie version of Grease. Read the rest of this entry »
The handler spoke with a heavy accent, so I naturally thought I had heard her incorrectly when she gave me the price of Mary Wilson’s autographed photos, when she made her appearance at the Hollywood Show on Saturday, October 9, 2010. Mary Wilson, if you didn’t know, was not only one of the three founding members of The Supremes (along with Diana Ross and Florence Ballard), but the only member to stay for the entire duration of the group from 1959-77. Now you might be guessing that the price was some overblown, outrageous amount, and typically I’d second that emotion – but you’d be wrong. 
With our bellies full from the Hard Rock Cafe on the afternoon of Saturday, July 2, 2011, we had only a couple of things left on our agenda in the Broadway district of Nashville, Tennessee. Naturally, the first was to have a hotdog. Actually, this was more of a spur-of-the-moment idea as Jamie and I walked along Broadway and we came across the Houndogs hotdog stand. I waited for the proprietor to finish her cigarette and cell phone call behind the booth, while Jamie watched a man dressed in silver stand perfectly still between blowing an internal mouth kazoo. I’ll tell ya’… the crazy things you can see in Nashville! 
It’s a lesser celebrity encounter, I’ll admit, but somehow I think it’s a rather cool one. For those who remember the cartoon series The Archie Show and got a kick out of their song Sugar, Sugar- which actually climbed all the way to Billboard’s #1 spot for four consecutive weeks – you might think it’s cool too. I know President George W. Bush would, because he professes that Sugar, Sugar is one of his very favorite songs. So who exactly is Ron Dante? His name is surely not commonly known in conjunction with The Archies – because as far as anyone knew, they were merely a fictional, cartoon band. But there was a definite and distinct voice behind them and it belonged to Ron Dante. 
When I was in my ‘heavy metal phase’ of 1987-88, I wasn’t much into girl singers at all. There was death metal, heavy metal, glam metal, and pop metal – and virtually nothing else that held my interest for that short one-year period of my life. Girls weren’t really allowed on MTV’s Headbangers Ball as far as I was concerned, unless they were there for eye candy. One of the very rare exceptions was Lita Ford, whose song Kiss Me Deadly and then, in a duet with Ozzy Osbourne, Close My Eyes Forever would often show up on music television.