Madonna will perform during the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday.
So, this is a perfect opportunity to feature the pop diva singing her first hit song “Everybody.”
This performance aired on Italian TV in 1983.

Four Dutch artists from the 1960s collectively called themselves The Fool.
They were close friends of The Beatles, Cream and The Hollies.

The Fool helped colorize the 1960s.
They designed clothes, painted psychedelic murals (including The Beatles’ Apple Boutique) and guitars belonging to Eric Clapton and George Harrison.
Their debut album (shown above) was produced by Graham Nash.

The Fools were Simon Posthuma, Marijke Koeger, Josje Leeger and Barry Finch.

Little is heard from them these days.
They have become a mere footnote (albeit an important one) in Beatles and Cream history.
But Simon Posthuma wrote his autobiography (in Dutch) and I recently came across this brief interview Posthuma gave after the book was published.

When I was in 3rd and 4th grade (back in the mid-70s), I remember all the boys were gaga over KISS.
They ate out of KISS lunch boxes, swapped KISS trading cards and gazed longingly at the record covers.
The girls in class didn’t understand the boy’s fascination with the band, but that was okay.
Afterall, boys were kinda icky back then.

Anyway, this vintage KISS puzzle from 1977 brought back a flood of memories.
It features the art work from their Love Gun LP.
This was the last album to feature all four original members of the band: Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.

I hope you can take a moment from your busy holiday shopping and dig this clip!
Watch Mike, Mickey, Davy and Peter shop for a Christmas tree.
The Monkees feature in this week’s My Vintage Video.

Marianne Faithful

Ready Steady Girls! is a very groovy website!
It’s devoted to fab female singers of the 1960s.

RSG is base in the UK, so much of the focus is on European femmes; there’s Dusty from Britain, Francoise from France and Mina from Italy.
You’ll find bios, rare video clips and links.

Dusty in Memphis LP cover

I first became aware of Ready Steady Girls! after doing research on a compilation CD that came out earlier this year. It’s called Chicas!: Spanish Female Singer 1962-1974 and I think it’s one of the best CDs of the year.

So go-go on over to Ready Steady Girls! Have fun!

In the last MVG blog post I wrote about a hard-to-find Phil Spector record book.

I’d like to dip into the video archives now and feature this performance by The Ronettes.

“Be My Baby” was their biggest hit and was produced and co-written by Phil Spector.

There’s no doubt Phil Spector is one of the most influential (and controversial) record producers in rock and roll.

His trademark was the Wall of Sound; a production technique using layered musical arrangements with backing bands the size of orchestras.

Songs produced with the Phil Spector touch included: “Da Doo Ron Ron,” “Be My Baby” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.”

Spector’s stable of artists included: The Crystals, The Ronettes and the Righteous Brothers.

I discovered this book, Collecting Phil Spector: The Man, the Legend and the Music, a few months ago.
It’s by John J. Fitzpatrick and James E. Fogerty.
It was published in 1991 and is long out of print.

Collecting Phil Spector includes hundreds of photos of all the records with the Spector touch.

The photos included here are just a small sampling taken from the book.

Film director Martin Scorsese has a new film out. It’s a 3 1/2 hour documentary on the life of George Harrison.

This week’s My Vintage Video is an appearance George made in 1968 on The Smothers Brothers TV show.
Groovy pants and shirt George!

In 1967 Jefferson Airplane had arrived!

The band had been fixture in the San Francisco rock scene since 1965, but ’67 was the year they landed nationally and internationally.

Their soon-to-be classic album Surrealistic Pillow was released earlier that year.
And the band set out on their first East Coast tour.

This is the hard to find concert program from that tour.