Brutally hot today, hitting a humid 110 here in the Valley of the Sun. It’s too hot even to go out and walk tonight – it’s still 107 at 8:30 PM.

So it would be nice to feel the tradewinds The Sandals play about in this new video I created for them up on YouTube. It was fun to make, the first time I actually used video clips inside a video. Hope you like the music and the video.

Stay cool, everyone!

Check out my new video for this classic Sandals tune from 1964 uploaded on my YouTube channel. Hope you like it (excuse my dig at the “joys” of camping, something I’ve never understood or enjoyed…)

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Pool temp: 70 degrees

[Ed. Note: The following press release from Kittyhawk Productions national headquarters was found in my Inbox this morning:]

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NEWS RELEASE: TOP PRIORITY CLASSIC RECORDING “TINY BUBBLES (LONG VERSION)” LAUNCHED ON YOUTUBE

KEY WEST, FL – October 15, 2010 – Kittyhawk Productions (NYSE KHPR) announced today the third and final release of classic recordings by Top Priority (“The Band That Rock Forgot”) now available on YouTube!

Reached at his Dana Point, California bungalow, Top Priority executive producer Victor N. Cucini had this to say about the recording’s long-awaited official release: “Tiny Bubbles (Long Version)” is a new phase recording by Top Priority as “Scat Jacobs and The Manhattans Featuring Sonny Williams”. This song comes from the very last recording session held in the old Richard house cellar in Tewksbury during the summer of 1977. This recording features only Mark Richard, Doug Richard, and Jerry “Keys” Palma, as guitarist Ken “The Cat” McDougal had recently left the band to join the Air Force, and Mark was only weeks away from joining the Army.

“Tiny Bubbles (Long Version”) came in a burst of inspiration after the boys had traveled to Hampton Beach earlier that summer and saw a combo of elderly gentlemen playing under the music shell there and attempting to sound hip by playing popular tunes like “The Hustle” and “Play That Funky Music” to a swing beat. Well, the boys thought this was so outrageous and absurd that they felt the need to record their own form of tribute – hence, “Tiny Bubbles (Long Version)”. I’m pleased to be able to make this fine recording available to the general public. It’s a gas.”

Click here to hear Scat Jacobs and the Manhattans Featuring Sonny Williams perform “Tiny Bubbles (Long Version)”.

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Pool temp: 71 degrees

[Ed. Note: The following press release from Kittyhawk Productions national headquarters was found in my Inbox this morning:]

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NEWS RELEASE: TOP PRIORITY CLASSIC RECORDING “RHYTHMIC BLUES” LAUNCHED ON YOUTUBE

NORTHFIELD, MN – October 9, 2010 – Kittyhawk Productions (NYSE KHPR) announced today the release of the second of three classic recordings by Top Priority (“The Band That Rock Forgot”) now available on YouTube!

Reached at his Dana Point, California bungalow, Top Priority executive producer Victor N. Cucini had this to say about the recording’s official release: “This is a truly unique “Scat Jacobs and The Manhattans Featuring Sonny Williams” recording. It’s Keys, Scat, Sal, and Sonny at the height of their artistic brilliance. It’s just a shame that the original recording is so degraded, but I thought it was important, not just to get it out there, but to tell the incredible story behind it.

“The tune itself was composed by legendary bluesman E.P. Hemingway (“You May Be A Hen But I Ain’t Chicken”), and he gave it to Jerry “Keys” Palma after an afternoon of drinking malt liquor on the back porch of E.P’s shack down in the Mississippi Delta. This was in 1976, y’know. Keys, like the rest of the band, had grown tired of all the non-stop touring, the hotels, the chicks, the sex, and the crowds; combined, they all had taken its toll on the band’s psyches.

“Y’see, Keys was interested in taking the band in a new direction, and he chose this bizarre combination of white man’s blues and cocktail party music – he was a genuius. The band bought into the paradigm completely, they fired guitarist Paul “The Bouch” Boucher, dropped the Top Priority name in favor of “Scat Jacobs and the Manhattans Featuring Sonny Williams” (the better to explore their more sensitive and artistic side), and the rest, as they say, is history. All I can dsay about this recording is, it’s the balls, dig it.”

Click here to hear Scat Jacobs and the Manhattans Featuring Sonny Williams perform their classic recording, “Rhythmic Blues”.

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Pool temp: 74 degrees

[Ed. Note: The following press release from Kittyhawk Productions national headquarters was found in my Inbox this morning:]

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NEWS RELEASE: TOP PRIORITY MANIA BEGINS: CLASSIC “YOU AIN’T SEEN NOTHING YET” FIRST OF THREE MUSIC VIDEOS LAUNCHED ON YOUTUBE

GRAMERCY, LA – October 2, 2010 – Kittyhawk Productions (NYSE KHPR) announced today the release of the first of three classic recordings by Top Priority now available on YouTube! That’s right, for the first time in 35 years, it’s Mark, Doug, The Cat, The Bouch, and special guest Ken Sandler together again, performing the Bachman-Turner Overdrive hit “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”.

The recording, remixed from an original cassette tape by the band’s archivist and producer, Victor N. Cucini, is the first of three to be made available on YouTube in the coming weeks. It features Mark Richard on drums, Doug Richard on bass, The Cat on lead vocals and guitar, The Bouch on guitar, and Ken Sandler on lead guitar. “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” will be followed by “Rhythmic Blues” (a remake of the blues standard by legendary Delta guitarist E.P. Hemingway), and “Tiny Bubbles (Long Version)” in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to your local Kittyhawk Productions news outlet for updates on these releases.

Reached at his Dana Point, California bungalow, Cucini had this to say following the recording’s official release: “I am honored and thrilled to have had the opportunity to bring the ‘Boys to YouTube so that millions upon millions might be able to share the Top Priority experience – my Top Priority experience – with their friends and families. This broken world needs Top Priority more than ever – think globally, act locally. Rock on, dude.”

Click here to hear Top Priority perform “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”.

Rock on, indeed.

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Pool temp: 81 degrees

Check out my first attempt at a YouTube video. Real easy to do, real fun song to make it to. Hope y’all like it.