Permission is certainly necessary.  The songwriter always has the right of first exploitation

I am really into pro basketball - mid-70's to mid-80's pro basketball, that is.  It is a joy to watch a guy shoot a totally contested jumpshot from 20 feet with 20 seconds left on the shot clock.    I am also interested in the years up to the early 90's, although not as intensely.  After that, not so much.

Mike even admitted as much, once saying something to the effect of "I like it when I tell a bad joke and there's an awkward moment."

I think that my signature may be the quote you were referring to

for my mom and stepdad:

1. The Cryan Shames - A Carol For Lorelei
2. Petula Clark - Downtown
3. Harpers Bizarre - Come Love
4. Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose - It's Too Late To Turn Back Now
5. The Ballroom - Spinning, Spinning, Spinning
6. The Free Design - I Found Love
7. The Association - No Fair At All
8. The Mike Sammes Singers - Just Like Swingles
9. The Cowsills - The Rain, The Park, And Other Things
10. Mercy - Love Can Make You Happy
11. The Seekers - Georgy Girl
12. Spanky and Our Gang - Like To Get To Know You
13. The Association - Happiness Is
14. Harpers Bizarre - 59th Street Bridge Song(Feelin' Groovy)
15. Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 - The Look Of Love
16. The Mamas and Papas - Dedicated To The One I Love
17. The Cryan Shames - It Could Be We're In Love
18. Rotary Connection - Didn't Want To Have To Do It
19. Marianne Faithful - As Tears Go By
20. The Five Stairsteps - O-o-h Child
21. Petula Clark - Don't Sleep In The Subway
22. The Mike Sammes Singers - Grass On The Pitch
23. The Ballroom - Magic Time
24. The Association - Everything That Touches You
25. Harpers Bizarre - Small Talk
26. Barbara Mason - Yes I'm Ready

Re: Cotton Candy Sandman
I checked my Canadian 45 again (WB 7172) it says "arranged by Perry Botkin Jr." In the Sundazed reissue booklet the label of the US 45 is pictured (WB 7172) but there it reads "arranged by Nick De Caro" - another mystery to solve. Maybe Lenny knows - he produced both versions.

If he doesn't remember that there were two versions of Cotton Candy Sandman, it seems doubtful he could recall offhand who arranged each one.   We'll see.  Maybe he'll talk to Ted Templeman about it

ps-which CCS mix is better LP or 45??

I dig the 45 version more myself

"Cotton Candy Sandman" seems two different versions to me. The 45 besides being speeded up, has the accordion missing and the strings are sometimes substituted by clarinettes etc. Even though it was not metioned on the Sundazed CD reissues, the 45 was arranged by Perry Botkin Jr. while the album version was arranged by Nick De Caro. My favourite from 4 is "There's No Time Like Today"

I listened to them more closely and yeah, they definitely sound like two different versions.  I also checked the reissues and they do credit De Caro as having arranged both, although there could be a mistake.  There's No Time Like Today is certainly a nice one.  My favorite on 4 might be Something Better

I presume this was Dick Scoppettone?

No, it's their producer(that's why it too so long for me to call him! ).  He just thinks the first two albums had better material and hold together better than Secret Life or 4.  I more or less agree with him, although I certainly think the latter two "work" and are good albums. 4 was the first album he actually let them play instruments on.  He mentioned today that he also thinks Poly High was good

Ha, ha...yeah.  No one who was also recording in LA at the time seemed to dig CB. PF Sloan told me that Boettcher wasn't anything and that The Millennium was all Usher or something to that effect. Personally, I imagine Boettcher being extremely strange and reclusive...most of his songs weren't hits save for Association, Tommy Roe and such so they probably didn't even hear some of his crazier productions.

On another note, find out anything else that was interesting about Harpers Bizarre? I was just listening to The Secret Life Of... it's still great!

After he said "who's that?", I mentioned the Ballroom and the Millennium, and then he said "oh, oh . . . no!" in a slightly disgusted tone of voice.  Apparently, the only major outside influence on Harpers Bizarre's sound - which was basically his invention - was the Beach Boys.

Perhaps surprisingly, he considers Secret Life an artistic failure.  He thinks the first two albums were the ones.  I once tried to ask him a question about Vine Street and his answer was "we did Vine Street?"  He did remember that the decision to cover The Battle Of New Orleans was not influenced by the Vietnam War and was just a "cute non-sequitur."

Today I also asked him if that's a Moog at the beginning of I Love You Alice B. Toklas, why Small Talk didn't appear on an album, and why the album version of Cotton Candy Sandman had all the background vocals removed.  He couldn't remember enough to answer any of those questions, or why Small Talk, which he thought was "great," was the B-side to Both Sides Now, which he thought was "terrible."  However, he thought they were all good questions - when I asked if he knew that John Peterson died last month, he replied yes and told me that he'd been hanging out with Ted Templeman a lot for the past couple of months and would pass along my questions to him if he could remember them.  There you have it.  Groovy, huh?

Okay, today I finally worked up the nerve to ask . . .

"When you first started recording Harpers Bizarre, were you influenced by what Curt Boettcher was doing at the time?"

"Who's that?"

Okay, I guess that answers that question!   Sorry for the delay . . .

When was the Moog ribbon controller retired from onstage use?  Where is it today?

As a frontman, Mike shouldn't have been so silly.  He should have taken his role very seriously.  That would have been a better fit for the spirit of the music

I do not think that Jack Rieley's lyrics are "nonsensical"

I took that a while back and ended up with Kucinich.  I wrote-in Peltier in '04.  The only reason I voted was because I was offered free pizza to register

I really, really wish the whole Ballroom album was available on vinyl . . .

Gimme a fortnight.  Perhaps i'll be able to work up the energy to get an answer to my own question

he and Mike shared a plane ride out

I thought it was a helicopter

something+

Okay, i'll work up the nerve and find out myself - one of these days

Does anyone think or know?  Same time period, same record label, same vocal sound.  I'm too embarrassed to find out myself . . .

Baby What A Big Surprise

I have something to mention about Leaving This Town - should Ricky get a mention for his "sometimes it's hard" answer vocal?  According to Cynthia Plas . . . never mind, just kidding.   Not kidding about the refrain, though

He does, I'll add that then. Album version too?

I'm glad you understood my infantile joke.  Yes, album version too

I have something to mention about Leaving This Town - should Ricky get a mention for his "sometimes it's hard" answer vocal?  According to Cynthia Plas . . . never mind, just kidding.   Not kidding about the refrain, though

I have never heard the studio version of We Got Love.  Is it anything like the live version, on which Blondie sings the bridges?

Where would Brian Wilson be if the Beach Boys had never existed?

how about Al for all those falsetto parts?