Dick Clark and Pittsburgh

Dick Clark from The Museum of Broadcast Communications

The recently departed Dick Clark was arguably America's best known rock 'n' roll DJ in the sixties, with "American Bandstand" being the can't miss music show of the era. Its features - "The Spotlight Dance," "Rate-A-Record" ("I give it an eight, Dick. Good dance beat...") and "Top 10 Countdown" - were copied by local dance shows around the country.

The Philly guy didn't just push East Coast acts and music, though. He had his finger in Pittsburgh's musical pie, too.

He had a lot in common with Pittsburgh's radio jocks of that era. Clark appreciated and promoted both "race" and rock music before it was cool, pushed local players whenever he could, and loved putting together huge cards for his concert acts

He wrote in his 1976 "Rock, Roll & Remember" autobiography that while a WFIL DJ, he came to the City in 1954 for a short incognito visit to listen and learn from WCAE jock Jay Michael. Clark heard him playing the R&B records of the time, ignored by many stations of that era but de rigueur here, and adapted the sound to his show. Clark, like the Pittsburgh spinners, would be among the pioneers who broke the color barrier in music, according to Pat DiCesare in Scott Mervis' recent Post Gazette article.

He also helped spark Pittsburgh's popular "Shower of Stars" concerts, as DiCesare related to KDKA's Larry Richert. He didn't do as a promoter, but a competitor. Imitation being the most sincere form of flattery, Pittsburgh impresario Tim Tormey put together his local version of Dick Clark's "Caravan of Stars." He even beat out the World's Oldest Teenager for the rights to a Gene Pitney barnstormer.

Clark was so impressed that soon thereafter he hired Tormey as his East Coast rep for Clark Productions, then based in LA.

And speaking of Caravans, Clark did have a couple of local acts tour with his show, which ran until the late sixties. The initial tour in 1959 snapped up The Skyliners, who headlined his first 66-stop Caravan of Stars and reigned as local heroes in the September concert at the Syria Mosque. Other area acts to perform on Clark's Caravan were Chuck Jackson and Lou Christie.

His long-running TV show did a little better job of representing the region. Tony Butala (with the Lettermen), Lou Christie, Perry Como, Jill Corey, The Del Vikings, Diamond Reo, Billy Eckstine, The Four Coins, Tommy Hunt (with The Flamingos), The Jaggerz, adopted son Tommy James, Henry Mancini, The Marcels, The Skyliners, The Tempos, Bobby Vinton, The Vogues, Adam Wade and Wild Cherry appeared on ABC during the program's decades-long run.

Doesn't sound like a lot for 33 seasons of TV, but there were a couple of good reasons for that. First, Clark took very good care of his Philly folk in the early years. Then he moved his operations to Los Angeles in 1964, putting quite a bit of distance between himself and the Pittsburgh Sound. And finally, the City scene went dry during the British Invasion, sticking to its jazz fusion, bluesy vocal roots while the charts went electric and Motown.

All in all, Clark showed a lot more love to Pittsburgh than our current Philadelphia contemporaries, the Flyers, have.

Taste of Brookline Festival Next Week

Thought I'd pass on a note from my bud Jack Stanizzo:

"Please join Paul Lowe and I for a night of wonderful food from 10 local restaurants in the Brookline area as we perform at the Taste of Brookline. The Taste of Brookline is the SPDC's (South Pittsburgh Development Corporation, a community non-profit) big fund raiser for the year. There will be a variety of beers and wine from local vendors as well. This is our First Annual Taste of Brookline event and we expect it to be a great time! We'll be playing 2 shows during the evening (including "Someone" of course). It's SUNDAY APRIL 29 from 6 to 9 pm at the Ritz Banquet Hall on Brookline Blvd. Tickets are $25 and available online at http://www.tasteofbrookline.com/ as well as Boss Optical, Cannon Coffee and Kribel's Bakery.

Seeeeeeeeee You There!!!!!"

Allegheny County Concert Series

Joe Grushecky from Concert Boom

Here's the Allegheny County Concert Series schedule for this summer, featuring Jimmy Beaumont, Joe Grushecky, Mac Martin, Joan Osborne, Lucinda Williams, big bands, local heroes and the PSO, Opera and CLO among its great acts:

South Park Amphitheater:
June 1: Steve Moakler (7:30)
June 8: Pittsburgh Opera (7:30)
June 15: Glen Pavone Tribute featuring the Nighthawks (7:30)
June 22: Eden's Edge (7:30)
June 29: Delta Spirit (7:30)
July 7: Pittsburgh Symphony (8:00)
July 13: BNY Mellon Jazz - Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Ensemble Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald (7:30)
July 20: Joe Gruschecky and the House Rockers (7:30)
July 27: Lucinda Williams (7:30)
Aug. 3: Steel Wheels (7:30)
Aug. 10: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue (7:30)
Aug. 17: Mike Doughty (7:30)
Aug. 24: Duquesne Tamburitzans (7:30)
Aug. 31: The Hitmen - Tommy James/Four Seasons original members (7:30)

Hartwood Acres Amphitheater
June 3: Joan Osborne (7:30)
June 10: Pittsburgh CLO Presents "Another Gleeful Evening" (7:30)
June 17: Jimmy Beaumont & the Skyliners (7:30; Car Show 2-7)
June 24: Meshell N'Degeocello (7:30)
July 8: Pittsburgh Symphony (8:15)
July 20-22: Pittsburgh Blues Festival (time TBA, admission)
July 29: Toad the Wet Sprocket (7:30)
Aug. 5: BNY Mellon Jazz - Spyro Gyra (7:30)
Aug. 12: Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings (7:30)
Aug. 16: Pittsburgh Ballet (7:30)
Aug. 19: Hometown Music Festival with New Shouts, Joy Ike and more (5:00)
Aug. 26: Allegheny Music Festival (5:00, $20 per car)

Harrison Hills Park:
June 30: Mac Martin & the Dixie Travelers (7:00)

Skating Rinks:
July 11: Tuesday Night Big Band w/Lori Russo (North Park Rink - 7:30)
July 25: Tom Evans Big Band (South Park Rink - 7:30)
Aug. 8: Graham Grubb Big Band (North Park Rink - 7:30)
Aug. 22: Joe Campus Big Band (South Park Rink - 7:30)

Admission is free except for the season-ending Allegheny Music Festival and the three day Blues Festival, both at Hartwood Acres.

The Titanic Band

Image from the Titanic Universe.

Today, we're gonna take a little side trek away from Pittsburgh music and commemorate the most legendary gig ever performed, the closing act of Wallace Hartley's little band of musicians who played on while the Titanic sank exactly one hundred years ago.

Everyone knows the fate of the "unsinkable" luxury liner and how it met its destiny in the frigid North Atlantic. The story of the band going down with the ship is part and parcel of the Titanic's lore.

His group was a four piece orchestra. Leader Hartley was a veteran of trans-Atlantic trips, having played prior cruises on the Cunard liners Lusitania and Mauretania. The band's job on the Titanic was to perform at church services, during tea, and after dinner.

They were also accompanied on the trip by a string and piano trio that performed in the Titanic's upscale Cafe Parisien. The guys weren't making big bucks. In fact, they were hired through an agency and likely earned little more than the equivalent of scale. They did, though, have the perk of sailing as second-class passengers and the prestige of performing during the Titanic's maiden voyage. Little did they know that it would also be her last trip.

On that fateful April 14th, 1912, they played in an effort to distract and calm the passengers during the disaster until the end. As the too-few lifeboats were being filled, Hartley gathered the musicians at the First Class Lounge around midnight, later moving to the higher and drier Boat Deck as the liner continued to settle into Davy Jones' locker. It was the first time the men had ever played as a group.

And it was purely voluntary. Hired through a third party, they were not on the ship's payroll and couldn't be ordered to play by the Titanic's captain or even the White Star's owner, who was on board (and survived). The eight had every right to jump into a lifeboat, if they could find one, like any other passenger. But they all answered Hartley's call for a final encore.

The impromptu orchestra played waltzes, ragtime, and even requests. Survivors recalled hearing "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and "In The Shadows" from the band as they left the boat. The musicians' apparent game plan was to play upbeat melodies in an effort to lift the spirits of the passengers.

And that they did. Many of those rescued from the Titanic vividly recalled the gallant troupe making music as they left the ship. Even those who went down drew some solace from the octet. One of the last survivors to leave the vessel said that she saw men gathered by the ship's railing, smoking cigarettes and tapping their feet to the band's music.

The doomed boat gave up the ghost a little after 2 AM and slipped under the waves, as did the members of Hartley's band.  All eight members perished. It took two weeks for searchers to find Hartley's body, still dressed in his band uniform under an overcoat, along with his music case and, according to some versions, his violin.

30,000 people turned out for his funeral and procession from Bethel Church to the graveyard. He was laid to rest as "Nearer Thy God To Thee" played at the Colne Cemetery. A ten-foot headstone, containing a carved violin at its base, marks his grave.

His band was remembered, too, by a plaque erected at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall that survived a fire which destroyed the original building and later, Luftwaffe bombs during the Battle of Britain. There are annual concerts played in their honor along with memorials and dedicated bandstands scattered as far away as Australia. More recently, Steve Turner wrote a book of their final performance called "The Band That Played On."

Not everyone in the industry was quite as moved, according to the Southpoint Visiter. The musicians were employed by the Castle Street agency of CW & FN Black, which held a monopoly on booking band members for passenger ships. The firm became infamous for billing the Titanic's band families for the past due costs of the men’s uniform alterations after their deaths. Even the infamous money-grubber Morris Levy wouldn't stoop to that level.

One last note: "Nearer Thy God To Thee" was reported by the NY papers and some survivors as the last song the band played, and it would have been an appropriate selection for the devout Methodist Hartley. He had even told friends that if he were ever in that dire circumstance, that would be the hymn he'd play.

However, a rescued radio operator swore the last tune he heard before the ship went down was "Autumn," which was a hymn or perhaps a reference to the then-popular "Songe d'Automne." We'll never know for sure, and it really doesn't matter much.

What is sure is that Wallace Hartley and mates John Woodward, Theo Brailey, Jock Hume, Roger Bricoux, Percy Taylor, Georges Krins and Fred Clarke will be remembered forever as members of the world's most storied band.

From the movie "Titanic"

Jim Krenn

Jimmy Krenn

Pittsburgh jock Jimmy Krenn was an institution in local drive time radio as the co-host of the top-rated WDVE-FM morning show. His comedy bits made the approaching work day a little easier to face, and after 24 years behind the mic, Krenn was as recognizable as any DJ in the region.

Raised in the Strip, behind what's now the Heinz History Center, Krenn went to North Catholic where he naturally excelled as class comedian, funny enough that even his teachers appreciated his sass.

Prepping at CCAC and then graduating from IUP in 1983, Krenn traveled the local comedy club circuit through his college years, eventually becoming a featured act on the stages of The Portfolio and The Funny Bone, which he parlayed into a spot on WDVE.

After joining the 'DVE Morning Show in 1988, the duo of Krenn and Scott Paulsen topped the age 25 to 54 drive-time demographics through the nineties with their mix of music, skits and impressions. After Paulsen’s departure in 1999, Randy Baumann picked up the slack and the zaniness and laughs kept comin'.

In fact, Krenn was selected as the Top Entertainer in the City several times by Pittsburgh Magazine. And in 2009, Pittsburgh’s Mayor Luke Ravenstahl declared February 22nd as “Jim Krenn Day.”

Then he vanished from the airwaves in December, and his name disappeared from the station's website. Krenn was yanked from his show, and WDVE offered him a different role as a sort of ambassador without portfolio, contributing on-line material and working promotions. But they made it clear that his on-air days were through. Krenn didn't go for it, and Clear Channel released him from his contract at the end of February.

“I was baffled,” said Krenn. “I have to be the first radio personality to hit his 25 to 54 ratings bonus for being number one and let go in the same week.” No explanation was offered, and none was needed. Clear Channel had a plan, and Krenn wasn't part of it any longer.

Paulsen and local stand-up comedian Bill Crawford joined the remaining morning team of Baumann, Val Porter and Mike Prisuta in January, so the circle remained unbroken. That also belied the rumor of wholesale change to attract younger listeners. WDVE stuck to the old tried-and-true formula when it replaced Krenn.

There were some negative fan reactions - a web site and Facebook page popped up decrying the decision, and Pittsburgh cowboy crooner Slim Forsythe penned "One Bird They Won't Set Free Is Jim Krenn."

But it had no affect, and the truth is that the show will probably roll along just as strong as ever with Paulsen and Baumann, who are plenty familiar to the 'DVE morning audience. The fan base seemed more dazed and confused than outraged over the change.

Freed from his contractual gag order, Krenn held a press conference this week where he said all the right things and announced his future plans.

He's ready to expand his brand. Krenn would like to catch another morning gig in the Pittsburgh market (he has no desire to relocate), but with the time to branch off into pet projects - a return to live comedy and web podcasts/vids, like his on-line 'DVE series "Jim Krenn Raw." His first post-'DVE performance will be on the comedy circuit.

The stand-up comic (he's performed with Jay Leno, Howie Mandel, Dennis Miller, Jerry Seinfeld, Richard Lewis, Gilbert Gottfried and Tim Allen) will headline "Jim Krenn aLIVE" May 26th at 8 p.m. at the Byham Theater, billed as "a toast to Pittsburgh and its people featuring a collection of friends and guest performers."

Tickets for the show are $32.50, $35.50 and $52.50 The top-end VIP tickets include a two-hour post-show party and meet-and-greet at the Bossa Nova club in the Strip. Part of the pot will go to Animal Friends and other charities.

Krenn and his wife Hedy are frequent participants in Pittsburgh area charities. In 2009, he received the Life Achievement Award ("The Golden Hydrant") from Animal Friends. In fact, his "Ralph the Cat" radio character was based on a pet kitty adopted from Animal Friends. He and Hedy have a houseful of dogs and cats roaming their Greentree home, all taken from area shelters.

The Pittsburgh personality has also been an advocate for Children’s Hospital and the Epilepsy Foundation while raising $1.2 million for those groups and others that include the Toys for Tots program, the Multiple Sclerosis Service Society, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation via fundraising events and the sales of 'DVE Morning Show comedy CDs.

We wish the 52 year old Krenn the best of luck in realizing his dreams. Switching stations isn't an easy thing to pull off, and he'll be competing against his own schtick on WDVE. There's not much of a track record for successfully swapping stations in Pittsburgh, although the original 'DVE comedy man, Jimmy Roach, was axed by the station in 1986, and after stops at Magic 97 and WDSY found a gig with Froggy in 1998 that's still running strong.

Jimmy Krenn has a lot of irons in the fire (he also has a marketing degree from IUP as an ace up his sleeve), a good name and a lot of friends in the City. It will be interesting to see what direction his upcoming journey takes. One thing we'll bet on is that he lands on his feet, just as Ralph did so often.