Exploits

Why EXPLOITS? 

If you’re going to make a career in the music business, chances are your life may be a bit out of the ordinary. That’s why many choose the artist’s life in the first place. In discouraging times, my mom would gently remind me that I lived “a very interesting life!”   

Recently, after telling a story from my “radio days,” my web designer, Ian Dogole, suggested we add a category devoted to what we’re calling “Exploits” – stories I remember clearly, not related directly to any of the work on the site. These are just for fun!

Livingroom Tunes

This ragtag gang gathered in a Studio at CBC Radio Canada in Toronto to help me launch a radio series I called Livingroom Tunes. The concept of the series was based on my inviting a mix of musicians to join me in the imaginary Livingroom to make music and improvise together for a small live audience. The guest artists would do a bit of their own thing and then we’d spontaneously jam together in the moment. My plan was to arrange meaningful encounters with gifted players from different genres and hear what they could create. This kind of thing happens a lot these days, but back in the early 1970s it was considered a very edgy thing to do!  

The guests for this show were two singer/songwriters, Sandy Crawley, pictured far left with his son Joe on his shoulders, and Bob Schroeder, the fellow in the overalls who was by this time, my “former” partner in the Schroeder & Forest Duo (Another Brand New Day.) A jazz singer had been scheduled to join us but cancelled at the last minute. I’m kneeling on the floor with a cigarette in my hand. (Yikes!) A much beloved Second City actor, Gerry Salsberg (1949-2010), is standing right behind me next to another terrific actor friend in the Irish cap, Derek McGrath. Actor Rosemary Dunsmore, very familiar to Stratford Festival audiences, is standing next to Sandy Crawley. It was a fun evening, but alas, the CBC didn’t pick up the show and I ended up using the title for this website. I still host great music parties in my Livingroom. Silly CBC!

WIXY Socks It To Ya 

How did WIXY Radio’s Promotion Director end up in a bikini surrounded by some of the most popular DJs in rock radio history with WIXY Socks It To Ya painted on her back? Good question! 

Any musician who doesn’t play full-time with a symphony orchestra can recite a litany of “day jobs” they’ve juggled to keep their music careers going. I was no exception. Having grown tired of being an itinerant folksinger, I settled in Cleveland, 30 miles from where I grew up. It didn’t take long to land a job in radio promotion, something I took to like a proverbial duck to water. Cleveland was a major radio market and in the late 60s, the Top 40 format was at its peak of popularity. After working my way through the more sedate radio stations in town as a public relations assistant, I got a job as Promotion Director of WIXY-1260, an upstart station gaining top ratings and closing in on giant network affiliates. I was one of the first women in the industry to break through to middle management as a department head.

The station’s General Manager, my boss Norman Wain, was a former DJ and a sales genius on par with P.T. Barnum. Norm had a gift for anticipating pop culture trends and we capitalized on as many as we could, always finding new ways to reach our listeners and advertisers. The gangster poster was our response to the wildly popular TV show, Laugh-In. The reason I was the “gun moll” was that Norm didn’t see any sense in paying for a model when he could have me for free.  

Over the years I was with the station, I orchestrated some pretty astonishing publicity stunts, including the first WIXY Christmas Parade, which drew over 150,000 people to downtown Cleveland; the infamous stampede at the WIXY Easter Egg Hunt that nearly destroyed the station’s remote Studio trailer; and my personal favorite, the Great WIXY Balloon Ascension, which started with me talking four guys into buying a hot air balloon. It ended as front-page news of a lawsuit threatened at gunpoint, after the balloon crash-landed on the lawn of a Chagrin Valley lawyer. I worried I might get fired. Instead, I got a raise! To Norm, there was no such thing as “bad publicity”!

My last hurrah, which led to my resignation, was a promotion I hated that wasn’t my idea – WIXY’S Answer to Francine. This stunt sprang out of a regrettable incident that happened on Wall Street the summer of 1968 involving a young woman named Francine Gottlieb – https://joeh-crankyoldman.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-great-wall-street-titty-riot-of-1968.html. While taking her daily lunch break, this buxom young woman unfortunately caught the eye of a couple of Wall Street creeps (some things sadly, never change!). Word spread and day after day, crowds began gathering to catch a glimpse of her. Over time, things got so far out of hand that riot police were called and Francine was transferred to another workplace for her safety and sanity.

When the story went national (now we’d say “viral,”), I got a call at home from Norm. He excitedly informed me that we were “going to find Cleveland’s answer to Francine!” I was horrified and tried to talk him out of it.

He said all I had to do was alert the police and the media. Everything else would be “taken care of.” The “everything else,” which included on-air promotion of the contest, turned out to be engaging some “Ringers” as contestants. These would turn out to be 2 women known to our aptly named DJ, Wilde Childe. When the time came, the DJ’s would, in fact, be measuring the bosoms of the Ringers, not radio listeners! Of course, traffic stopped. The police estimated the noonday crowd at the intersection of 9th and Euclid Avenue at 10,000+. When I got back to the station after it was all over, I ended up in the bathroom with the two Ringers who were chattering excitedly about their 15 minutes of fame. I was so overwhelmed with a queasy feeling of disgust at the whole thing, that I went to my office, picked up the phone and found myself another job with an ad agency up the street! Bye Bye Radioland, Hello Mad Men!

Hershey, George and Me 

The U.S.A. has long benefited from the gifts of talented Canadians – think of Martin Short, William Shatner, Andrea Martin, Sandra Oh … the list goes on and on. The past decade or so, the name Hershey Felder has begun popping up. Felder is a remarkably talented pianist, actor, writer, director and producer best known for his vivid portrayals of some of the world’s greatest pianist/composers, including Chopin, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. He also happens to be married to the former Premier of Canada, Kim Campbell.  

I became aware of Hershey when Berkeley Rep presented his George Gershwin Alone in 2013. I attended with friends and was completely charmed. At the end of the show, Felder quieted the standing ovation he was receiving, and invited the audience to a typical “after theatre” party at George’s apartment where he would play three more songs of our choosing and encouraged someone to request a song. To my astonishment, no one spoke up and an awkward silence began to take hold. I finally blurted out Someone To Watch Over Me, which happened to be my mother’s favorite song. Two more titles were suggested and Hershey, as George, stepped back into the set and sat down at the piano. “Let’s start with Someone to Watch Over Me. Does anyone know the verse?” he said. Again, suspecting the place was packed with singers, I was shocked that no one spoke up. So, finally, I said that I knew the verse. He asked me to stand up, asked my name and suggested we begin. To his surprise and mine, I asked, “Can I come up there and do it with you?”

Without hesitation, he said, “Yes, of course!” The next thing I knew, he was giving me a hand up onto the stage and we dove right into discussing how to do the song. He taught the audience a little bit to sing with me and we were away. He looked exactly like George Gershwin and as far as I was concerned, he WAS George Gershwin, playing his own wonderful song with such elegance. There I was, with great lighting and sound and the perfect accompanist! When it was over, the audience exploded into delighted applause and George/Hershey jumped up and gave me a warm hug, a kiss on the cheek and told me how very musical that was. I floated back to my seat to enjoy the other two songs. As we filed out of the theatre, several people approached and asked if I was a “plant.” Thank goodness one of my friends had the presence of mind to take a photo. Otherwise, I might not believe it ever happened. Thank you, Hershey! Thank you, George!