Stories behind memorable albums of the 1970s as told by the artists

Tag: Gail Farrell

From Bob to Bruce: The Best Concerts of 2016

(Photo by Mike Morsch)

(Photo by Mike Morsch)

There are many aspects that make a good concert experience. Primarily of course, is the music. How does the artist and the band sound? Is what I’m hearing on stage like what I hear on the vinyl?

Maybe we all have different criteria, though. I am particularly fond of hearing an artist sing the hits live. I want see and hear Hall & Oates sing “She’s Gone” and “Sara Smile”; I want to see and hear Brian Wilson sing “Surfer Girl”; I want to personally witness Elton John sing “Rocket Man”; I want to be in the stadium and experience “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen.

As a music writer, there are several other aspects of a concert that add to the experience for me. Oftentimes, I interview the artist and write a story for my media group advancing the show. Was the interview a pleasant experience and did I get a lot of good information? The stories are personally important to me, so if I’ve had an enjoyable and informative conversation with the artist and written a good story, then I’m even more anxious to see the show.

Also contributing to my concert experience are where I’m sitting and if I’m allowed to take pictures during the show, many of which can be used in the volumes of The Vinyl Dialogues. And then sometimes, I’ll get the chance to meet the artist after the show. That’s always very cool and is a nice bonus to top off a great concert experience.

A special note here: Local artists are the backbone of my concert experience every year, and the Philly area boasts some incredibly talented musicians and performers that I try to see as often as I can. Do yourself a favor and give a listen to Dan May, JD Malone, Billy Burger, Lizanne Knott, Skip Denenberg and Mutlu.

With the close of 2016 then, here’s a look back at what was a great concert season on the national level. I was going to choose a Top 10, but couldn’t keep it to just 10. So these are the Top 12 concerts I saw in 2016:

No. 12 – Bob Dylan
July 13 at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA.

I understand the significance of Bob Dylan. I really do. But his music has never really spoken to me on a personal level. Still, it’s Bob Dylan and I felt the need to see him perform so I could say that I saw him live. There would be no interview on this one, but that’s no surprise. Dylan doesn’t do many interviews.

For the show, I enlisted my friend Ted Wolf, who’s a huge Dylan fan, to go with me. Ted knows every song that Bob has ever recorded and has seen him in concert more than 30 times. I’ve said for years that if I ever decided to spring for a Dylan ticket, that I’d want Ted along with me to interpret what it was Bob was actually saying. The thing is, Ted lives in Illinois. So for this concert, he drove all the way to Philly the day before the performance and drove back to Illinois the day after the show. Ted really, really likes Dylan.

The show was typical Bob being Bob, singing with a mouthful of marbles. As anticipated, Ted was an invaluable concert mate, both as the interpreter and with identifying the titles of the songs. The seats were fairly pricey and in the second level nosebleeds. So photos allowed, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway from that distance.

Bob Dylan makes my Top 12 concerts of the year list because he’s Bob Dylan.

No. 11 – Art Garfunkel
May 20 at McCarter Theatre on the campus of Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.

I had a wonderful interview with Art Garfunkel, which was good because Garfunkel doesn’t easily suffer fools, particularly those who ask stupid questions, which Garfunkel identifies as pretty much any question about Paul Simon. But I knew that because I had done my homework and was prepared to not ask those questions.

The show itself featured just Garfunkel and an accompanying guitarist. But like Bob Dylan, this is Art Garfunkel. Our parents grew up with Simon & Garfunkel and we listened to those records because they loved those records. And so do we. Simon & Garfunkel were as big as any American artists in the 1960s.

Garfunkel had suffered some serious voice issues a few years back, which he told me during the interview were now resolved. But to my untrained ear, that wasn’t entirely the case at the Princeton show. If you closed your eyes, there were times you could hear that wonderful Art Garfunkel voice and it was truly magical. But there also were times that if you closed your eyes, you could hear what sounded like someone stepping on Art Garfunkel’s throat.

Really though, I don’t necessarily expect a guy that’s 75 years old to sing like he did when he was 25 years old. Garfunkel is also persnickety about photographs and stopped the show at one point to chastise somebody down front who had pulled out a cellphone. So the only usable shot I got was after the performance as Garfunkel was taking a bow.

No. 10 – Boz Scaggs
April 14, Keswick Theatre, Glenside, PA.

This show was a pleasant surprise because it was unexpected. The tickets were a gift from The Blonde Accountant (my wife) because we found ourselves with a cooperative work schedule that presented the rare opportunity to go out on a weeknight. Even at the last minute, we were able to get great seats, 15 rows back, and dead center.

There was no interview, but I got some great photos. Scaggs was in great voice, but he’s doesn’t move around much on stage and there wasn’t much in-between song banter with the audience, neither of which was a big deal to me for this show.

Of course, we all sang along on “Lido Shuffle” and “Lowdown.” Those are the songs that I wanted to hear Scaggs sing live. But I was particularly struck with the second encore song, a cover of “There’s a Storm Comin’” by Richard Hawley. It’s a beautiful song and Scaggs did a wonderful job with it. It was somewhat unusual to close the show with a ballad, but it didn’t do anything to dampen the enthusiasm of an appreciative audience.

Paul Anka goes into the crowd at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Paul Anka goes into the crowd at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

No. 9 – Paul Anka
Dec. 16, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, N.J.

Not only was Anka a great interview, he’s got a direct lineage to Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, which makes him . . . just . . . that . . . cool.

But what I liked about this show was Anka’s interaction with the audience. He entered singing through the back of the venue, walking down the aisle shaking hands and stopping to pose for pictures. And then about six songs into his set, he came back down off the stage, went back into the middle of the crowd, stood on a theater seat and sang a medley of songs while people surrounded him with cell phones and hugs.

Paul Anka didn’t mind that a bit. I think the audience can sense when an artist genuinely wants to interact with them on a personal level. The audience responded to Anka with adulation and Anka in turn fed off that energy. It made for a special concert, I thought.

And I liked that Anka closed the show with the song that started it all – “Diana,” a song that he wrote in 1957 and one that became his first hit single. All these years later and Anka hasn’t forgotten the song that started it all for him.

Russell Tompkins Jr., the original lead singer of The Stylistics. (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Russell Tompkins Jr., the original lead singer of The Stylistics.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

No. 8 – The Festival of Soul
Nov. 25, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Newark, N.J.

This show had five acts – Ted Wizard Mills of Blue Magic; Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes (which had no original members but sounded fabulous); The Jones Girls featuring Shirley Jones (not the Mrs. Partridge Shirley Jones); The Dramatics featuring LJ Reynolds; and The Stylistics.

I was there for The Stylistics, and particularly for original lead singer Russell Thompkins Jr. and his high falsetto voice. I loved The Stylistics as a kid in the 1970s and Thompkins has been high on my interview bucket list since I’ve been writing about music.

Cross that one off. I had the pleasure of talking to Thompkins for a story to advance this show, and he didn’t disappoint. Look for a chapter in The Vinyl Dialogues Volume IV on The Stylistics self-titled debut album released in 1971.

The show was highly entertaining, my seat was outstanding and I got some great photos. Russell Tompkins Jr. sounded just as good that evening as he did in the 1970s on those great Stylistics hits “You Are Everything,” “Betcha By Golly, Wow,” “I’m Stone in Love With You” and “Rockin’ Roll Baby.”

I did, however, get caught a little underdressed in jeans and a collar shirt. Almost everyone else in the audience was dressed to the nines in some of the most colorful and fashionable threads I had seen in a while. And it made me wish that I still had the pink paisley jacket with the red pants I wore to my eighth grade graduation in 1973.

No. 7 – Steely Dan (with Steve Winwood)
July 3, BB&T Pavilion, Camden, N.J.

This easily could have been higher on list. It was the first time I had seen Steely Dan live, and the band’s music is really, really good. I’ve always liked it.

But our seats were pretty far from the stage, which essentially eliminated any chance of getting decent photos. I had not had the opportunity to interview Dan co-founders Donald Fagan or Walter Becker, so there was no personal backstory for me.

But none of that took away from the great music I heard that night. A good concert is a good concert, and Steely Dan is worth the price of admission. I’d certainly go see that band again.

Michael Brewer, Gail Farrell and Tom Shipley at dinner before the show. (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Michael Brewer, Gail Farrell and Tom Shipley at dinner before the show.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

No. 6 – Brewer & Shipley
Nov. 2, Sellersville Theatre 1894, Sellersville, PA.

This show was special because of the great personal story that goes with it, all centered around Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley’s hit single, “One Toke Over the Line,” from their 1970 album “Tarkio,” which was featured in Volume I of The Vinyl Dialogues.

After that song became a hit, it was featured on “The Lawrence Welk Show,” sung by the duet of Dick Dale and Gail Farrell. Because the Welk show and its stars had a squeaky clean image, I tracked down Ms. Farrell to ask her if she knew she was singing a song that featured a drug reference because I wanted to add that information to the “Tarkio” chapter. But she wouldn’t tell me because she is writing a one-woman show for herself and the answer to that question is a prominent part of the show.

I kept in touch with Gail and her husband Ron Anderson, also a Welk Show singer in the 1970s. When I found out that Brewer & Shipley were scheduled to appear in my area of Pennsylvania, I emailed Gail and Ron and suggested they fly out from California and go to the show with me.

To my surprise, they decided to do just that. Gail had actually never met Michael and Tom, so we arranged with their manager to meet before the show. It was a wonderful get-together and all of us were invited to have dinner with Michael and Tom. It was great for me to sit at the table and listen to Michael, Tom, Gail and Ron exchange entertainment stories.

During the show, Michael told the “One Toke” story and introduced Gail to the surprised audience. It was a very cool epilog to a story that began 45 years ago and I was fortunate to be a fly on the wall and experience the whole thing.

Brian Wilson behind the piano at Caesars in Atlantic City. (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Brian Wilson behind the piano at Caesars in Atlantic City.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

No. 5 – Brian Wilson
Aug. 27, Caesar’s, Atlantic City, N.J.

Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys are responsible for my very first music memory – listening to a 45 rpm record of “The Little Girl I Once Knew” around 1965. And I’ve been in love with those harmonies ever since.

I’ve interviewed Brian three times, met him on two occasions and have seen both him and the Beach Boys in concert more times than I can remember. And I have just about every record he and the Beach Boys have ever made. Seeing Brian Wilson in concert is something I experience every time I can.

This show featured a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the release of the landmark “Pet Sounds” album, which Brian and his fabulous band performed in its entirety.

We had great seats, eighth row stage left, that gave me a great angle for pictures. Brian’s music, and that of the Beach Boys, has been an important part of my life. If this had been the first time I had seen Brian, it would have been my No. 1 concert experience of the year.

Hall & Oates never disappoint, especially in their home area of Philadelphia. (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Hall & Oates never disappoint, especially in their home area of Philadelphia.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

No. 4 – Hall & Oates
July 10, BB&T Pavilion, Camden, N.J.

Just a week after the Steely Dan show, I was back at the same venue for Hall & Oates, and with much better seats this time, thanks to H&O management.

Next to the Beach Boys, I’m totally in the bag for anything Hall & Oates. I have been fortunate enough to interview Daryl and John several times over the years. Two of the most favorite chapters I’ve written in The Vinyl Dialogues series have been about Hall & Oates albums: “Abandoned Luncheonette” in Volume I and “Daryl Hall & John Oates” (The Silver Album) in Volume III.

These guys are so good in concert. They don’t miss a note or a word, and the band is tight. They sing all the hits, and that’s what one gets at a H&O concert.

This show included a special surprise during the first song of the second encore: an appearance by the great Chubby Checker. Imagine that, Hall & Oates singing “The Twist” with Chubby Checker.

But that wasn’t all. With the second song of the second encore, and the final song of the evening, Hall & Oates stayed true to their Philly roots and did a cover of “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time),” a 1969 single by the Philadelphia group the Delfonics, a song originally produced by the great Thom Bell, who also wrote for and produced The Stylistics and The Spinners.

Hall & Oates never disappoint. We all left in a Philly mood.

Meeting Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. after the show in Atlantic City.

Meeting Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. after the show in Atlantic City.

No. 3 – Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr.
June 11, The Tropicana, Atlantic City, N.J.

The high ranking of this show may surprise those who know me, particularly because it’s ranked ahead of Brian Wilson and Hall & Oates.

Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. were members of the highly successful group The 5th Dimension, which had some great hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s, like “Up, Up and Away,” “Stoned Soul Picnic,” “Wedding Bell Blues” and “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In.”

The husband-and-wife team broke away from the 5th Dimension in the mid-1970s and had a hit single with “You Don’t Have to Be A Star” from their 1976 album “I Hope We Get to Love in Time.” I had interviewed Marilyn and Billy about the making of that album for “The Vinyl Dialogues Volume II: Dropping the Needle.”

Here’s the thing about Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr.: they are not only talented artists and singers, but they’re first-class individuals. I can’t say enough about the class and grace of these two stars. And they’re great interviews. They’ll be featured again in the next volume of The Vinyl Dialogues talking about the 1969 album “Age of Aquarius” by the 5th Dimension.

Not only that, they still sound the same today as they did in the 1960s. Both their voices are strong and vibrant. We had great seats, courtesy of Marilyn and Billy, fifth row dead center. We got to meet them after the show, and they were as gracious in person as they have been in interviews.

This was the one show of 2016 that had all the elements of a great concert experience by my standards: outstanding music, singing and stage presence; some of the best seats in the house; a wonderful interview experience that made for a great advance story; and getting to meet the artists after the show.

It easily could have been the best show of the year. But it took two really big heavyweights to put Marilyn and Billy at No. 3.

Elton John reacts to the the crowd behind the stage at the Giant Center in Hershey, PA. (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Elton John reacts to the the crowd behind the stage at the Giant Center in Hershey, PA.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

No. 2 – Elton John
Sept. 23 at the Giant Center, Hershey, PA.

Elton John performed in the first concert I ever saw, at the Chicago Amphitheater in 1976. I’ve seen him live in every decade since. And I’ve never had a decent seat.

Until this show. And it was planned and executed just like I hoped it would be.

Elton has been a big arena and stadium concert performer during his career. I’m really not fond of stadium concerts. There are just too many people and if you want to get close enough to see anything, you have to spring for the big money tickets.

And Elton is usually a big money ticket, even for the cheap seats. But this time I got lucky because I made my own luck.

The Giant Center in Hershey is a hockey/basketball arena. For this show, the venue sold tickets behind the stage that were reasonably priced at $75. Although I’d never sat behind the stage for a concert, it struck me that those had the potential to be decent seats for the price.

Fortunately, the venue has a virtual seating chart on its website. I knew from past Elton concerts and from watching his performances on TV and online, that he usually positions his piano on the far left of the stage. If you’re out front and sitting to the right of center, you’re looking into Elton’s face as he sits at the piano. But there’s a good portion of an arena crowd that is looking at Elton’s back for an entire show.

So I got on the online virtual seating chart, chose a seat that was stage left behind so that I was looking into Elton’s face, and checked out the virtual view. It looked to be the right angle for photos. I hit the button and bought the tickets.

And it worked out perfectly. Although I was looking at the backs of the band members for the entire show, I had a perfect view of Elton’s face. And he’s used to having people sit in the seats behind the stage because he plays to that part of the crowd quite a bit. I was as close as I’d ever been at an Elton John show and I got some great photos.

Elton has been on my interview bucket list from the get-go. I’ve always been a big fan and I’d love to write about his 1975 album “Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.”

Every time I’ve seen him perform live, Elton brings it. And this show was no exception. Outstanding from the first song to the last. And I got a good view this time.

The crowd reacts as one to Bruce Springsteen at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. (Photo by Mike Morsch)

The crowd reacts as one to Bruce Springsteen at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

No. 1 – Bruce Springsteen
Sept. 7, Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA.

I’ve come to the Bruce Springsteen party later in life. But now I’m a believer.

Springsteen is a pricey ticket and plays in big stadiums. As previously stated, I’m not not fond of either of those concert experiences. So I had never seen him perform live, much to the consternation and ridicule of the Springsteen faithful among my friends.

But from the first note of his opening song, “New York City Serenade,” I was hooked. I felt it in my heart. I finally got it.

We were fortunate enough to be there the night Springsteen and the E Street Band performed for four hours and four minutes, which currently stands as the U.S. record length for a live concert performance.

And Springsteen and the band left it all out there on the stage. He gave us everything he had, which is how it is for him every time he performs. The guy has an endless energy and it wears one out to just watch him. It was the quickest four hours of entertainment I’d ever witnessed and more than worth every penny spent on tickets.

I had written on The Vinyl Dialogues blog after the show that my first Springsteen experience was so good that my initial reaction was that I would hesitate to go see him again. I don’t want to mess up that special first Springsteen experience.

There’s a reason he’s called the Boss. He’s just that good.

‘One Toke Over the Line’ meets the Lawrence Welk Show again . . . 45 years later

Michael Brewer, Gail Farrell and Tom Shipley met in person for the first time Nov. 2, 2016, in Sellersville, PA. (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Michael Brewer, Gail Farrell and Tom Shipley met in person for the first time Nov. 2, 2016, in Sellersville, PA.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

In their stage show, Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley are fond of telling audiences that they’re the only guys on the planet – “and probably in the universe” – who have written a song that has been performed both on the Lawrence Welk Show and by the late Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead.

That song, “One Toke Over the Line,” first recorded by Brewer and Shipley in 1970 and featured on the duo’s third studio album “Tarkio,” became an interesting and unique bit of pop culture. It got the attention of the Nixon administration, which labeled the singer-songwriters subversives to American youth because the song contained a drug reference in its lyrics.

But because it was a hit single, the song also attracted the attention of Lawrence Welk, who liked to feature popular songs of the day sung by Welk Musical Family singers on his weekly television show. In 1971, singers Gail Farrell and Dick Dale performed “One Toke Over the Line” on the show. And after the song, Welk is seen on camera saying, “There you heard a modern spiritual by Gail and Dale.”

“Toking” with Lawrence Welk

That was more than 45 years ago. And now, the paths of Brewer and Shipley have once again crossed with the stars of the Lawrence Welk Show and one of the most unusual bits of music history from the 1970s now has an epilogue.

Michael Brewer on stage at the Sellersville Theatre 1894. (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Michael Brewer on stage at the Sellersville Theatre 1894.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

Here is how it happened.

I had interviewed both Brewer and Shipley in 2013 for Volume I of The Vinyl Dialogues about the the “Tarkio” album. During those conversations, they both said they had searched for years for a copy of the Welk show performance of “One Toke Over the Line, finally locating it in the mid-2000s. Shipley posted the video on YouTube and it got viewed by hundreds of thousands of people. Many viewers also offered their comments on the video.

The question I had, and apparently others have had for many years now, is did the Welk singers, perceived as squeaky-clean, know that they were singing a song that had a drug reference in the lyrics?

I eventually tracked down one of the singers, Gail Farrell, living in California, and got her on the phone, where I proceeded to ask the question: What did you know and when did you know it?

But Gail wouldn’t give it up. And for good reason: She has written a one-woman play for herself, scheduled to open in April 2017, and the answer to the question is a big part of the show.

Although we had never met face-to-face, Gail and her husband Ron Anderson, also a Welk Show singer, and I stayed in touch via email.

So when I found out in September that Brewer and Shipley were performing in my area of suburban Philadelphia at the Sellersville Theatre 1894 in Sellersville, PA, on Nov. 2, 2016, I emailed Gail and Ron suggesting that they fly across the country and join me for the show.

Tom Shipley on stage at the Sellersville Theatre 1894. (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Tom Shipley on stage at the Sellersville Theatre 1894.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

I was only joking. Gail and Ron, however, thought is was a great idea. They had never seen Brewer and Shipley perform live. They were coming to Pennsylvania.

Arrangements were made for Gail and Ron to meet Michael and Tom just after soundcheck on the day of the show. After about 15 minutes of pleasantries, Michael invited all of us to join him and Tom for dinner before the show.

What a great time that was. The artists all swapped stories about the music industry and I was privileged to just sit there and listen. Not many people get a chance to be a fly on the wall in a situation like that.

After nearly three hours of sitting around the dinner table, Brewer and Shipley had to go to work. When it got to the point of in the show where they sing “One Toke Over the Line,” Brewer told the story about the song being sung on the Lawrence Welk Show, a story he and Shipley have been telling for decades.

“Dale and Gail sang our song on the show. And low and behold, boy do we have a surprise and a treat for you tonight. In fact, we just had dinner with them. Gail and her husband Ron flew all the way from California just to be here tonight,” Brewer told the Sellersville audience. “Life is stranger than fiction. Gail is here. We had dinner with her and it was absolutely wonderful. We normally dedicate this song to Jerry (Garcia). But tonight, Gail, this one is for you.”

Gail and Ron got to spend a little more time with Michael and Tom during and after the post-show meet-and-greet. Back at the hotel after all the festivities, Gail was reflective.

Gail Farrell and he husband Ron Anderson, stars of the Lawrence Welk Show. (Photo by Mike Morsch)

Gail Farrell and he husband Ron Anderson, stars of the Lawrence Welk Show.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

“I’ve read so much about them and heard ‘One Toke Over the Line’ so many times I almost don’t feel like it was the first time I heard it live. But I just was amazed at how much sound they got out of two guitars,” said Gail. “I was pleased and a little surprised because you never know how these things are gonna go. All they know about me is that I’m this little dorky goody-two-shoes wearing a little pinafore with a butterfly on it that all the YouTube commenters say should have been a marijuana leaf.”

Both she and Ron said there wasn’t any doubt that they were going to travel across the country to see Brewer and Shipley when the opportunity presented itself.

“I told Ron we gotta do this. It’s just too crazy not to do it. This was ordained by the universe, it was just too crazy,” said Gail.

Oh, and as for the question of what Gail knew and when she knew it about “One Toke Over the Line” in 1971, well . . . we still don’t know for sure. They talked a lot about the whole thing at dinner, but neither Brewer nor Shipley directly asked Gail the question, at least not that I witnessed.

I guess we’re all just going to have to go see her one-woman show next year for the answer.

 

Connecting Cher to the Lawrence Welk Show via ‘One Toke Over the Line’

Cher nearly got knocked down by members of the Screen Actors Guild during a television broadcast in 1983.

Cher nearly got knocked down by members of the Screen Actors Guild during a television broadcast in 1983.

This is a story about Cher almost being knocked on her keister in 1983. But to get there, I’ve got to first go through the rock-folk duo of Brewer and Shipley and the squeaky cleanness of the Lawrence Welk Show.

In Volume I of The Vinyl Dialogues, I had interviewed Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley about the making of their 1970 album “Tarkio.” The album would include what would become Brewer and Shipley’s biggest hit single, “One Toke Over the Line.”

“One Toke Over the Line” is a song about drugs. According to Shipley, before a gig in Kansas City, someone had given him a block of hashish and recommended he do two hits. But Shipley decided to do three hits, and by the time he got to the stage, he was wasted. “Jesus Michael, I’m one toke over the line,” Shipley said to Brewer.

Brewer thought that was hysterical, and right on the spot started singing, “One toke over the line, sweet Jesus, one toke over the line” before they went on stage that evening. The next day, they turned the line into a song, which they wrote only to give themselves and their friends a laugh.

When it came time to finish the “Tarkio” album, a suit at their record label – Kama Sutra Records – recommended that “One Toke Over the Line” go on the album. The song was released as a single and became a hit.

That got the attention of the people in charge of the Lawrence Welk Show. If you grew up in the 1960s like me, your folks likely watched the Lawrence Welk Show. And if your folks were like my folks, they made you watch the show along with them.

There was a wholesomeness about the Welk show, which featured a cast of highly talented artists and musicians who normally tried to stay current with the times, performing covers of songs that were popular. In 1971, that included “One Toke Over the Line.”

There is a YouTube video of the performance where singers Dick Dale and Gail Farrell performed “One Toke Over the Line,” after which Welk says, “There you heard a modern spiritual by Gail and Dale.”

Because the song had the word “Jesus” in it, Welk thought it was a spiritual song. He apparently didn’t have any idea it was a song about drugs.

That their song about being high was performed on such a family friendly show cracked up Brewer and Shipley.

“I was amazed, but at the same time I was also on the road and smoking a lot of pot, so I could believe just about anything,” said Shipley.

After Shipley had told me that story, I began to wonder: It’s apparent that Welk didn’t know what the song was about. But what about the singers? Did they know what the song was about, and if so, what was the chatter about it behind the scenes?

 Gail Farrell and her husband Ron Anderson were both artists who starred on the Lawrence Welk Show. (Photo courtesy of Gail Farrell and Ron Anderson)


Gail Farrell and her husband Ron Anderson were both artists who starred on the Lawrence Welk Show.
(Photo courtesy of Gail Farrell and Ron Anderson)

I eventually tracked down Gail Farrell, got her on the phone and asked just that: What did you know and when did you know it? She would have been 24 years old in 1971 and presumably hip to the social consciousness of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Gail is a wonderfully talented singer and performer and we talked for about an hour. I cajoled her every which way I could as a journalist to get her to tell me if she knew she was singing about drugs when she and Dick Dale belted out “One Toke Over the Line” in front of the Welk faithful.

But she wouldn’t budge. And I understand why. She’s writing a one-woman show for herself and the answer to the “One Toke” question is an integral part of her show. She’s saving that reveal for herself, as it should be.

Gail and I have kept in touch via email over the past few years, and her husband Ron Anderson, also a Welk singer in the early 1980s, are both fans of The Vinyl Dialogues series, which I appreciate quite a lot. It was Gail who hooked me up with Welk singers Guy Hovis and Ralna English, who I interviewed for a chapter in The Vinyl Dialogues Volume II: Dropping the Needle.

But it’s Ron Anderson who is the bridge to Cher. Many artists are great storytellers and Ron is no exception. I’ve asked him questions about performing with the great composer and arranger Henry Mancini, and he has cheerfully shared his stories with me via email.

“Ask me sometime about Robert Redford, or Lucille Ball, or Jesse White, or Cher,” Ron wrote at the end of Mancini story email.

Cher? Yes, please. I’ll let Ron tell the story in his own words from here. He writes:

“It was 1983 and I was lucky enough to land a job as a ‘singer-who-can-move’ on the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) 50th Anniversary TV broadcast to be shot at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
“It was a huge project with original music and lyrics composed for historical sketches presented throughout the program illustrating various milestone accomplishments achieved by the union in labor advances and disputes over the decades.  The cast was made up of tons of veteran and then-current film and TV stars, great character actors whose faces were instantly recognizable, and rank and file performers who, while not famous, were faithful dues-paying union members who maintained day-jobs in order to pursue their calling as actors.

“One of the biggest segments of the show was a full-blown production number expressing our pride in the union where nearly the entire cast was on stage, in several rows of about 20 people each, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our SAG membership cards raised high while singing a specialty number titled, ‘Here’s My Card!’

“The next segment of the show (as I recall, it was a special award presentation to one of the founders of the union) was supposed to be a smooth segue from the ‘Here’s My Card!’ number right into the celebrity presenter’s speech.

“The challenge was this: How on earth could we get nearly 80 people off the stage in literally just a few seconds so the program could continue without stopping tape or taking a commercial break?

“The solution was this: We were all told to split our rows dead center and, on cue from the stage-left and stage-right stage managers, charge – yes, ‘charge’ – off stage while the cameras took shots of the audience giving their fully anticipated standing ovation to the ‘Here’s My Card!’ number.

“The day of the broadcast, we rehearsed the song and, especially our exit, several times on stage and the director was thrilled that it was working so well. For that number I was assigned to a position in the center of the very front row and was standing right next to Janet Leigh, who at age 56 was still a knockout!
I had several very nice conversations with her and found her to be engaging, charming and very funny.

“So it’s the night of the broadcast – packed house, tuxes and formals in full plumage, sketches, presentations, production going great, our performance energy level off the chart – and we come to the big finish of ‘Here’s My Card!’ The audience members are on their feet not just applauding, but cheering, too! The stage managers yell at the top of their voices, “Move!’ and we stampede right and left off the stage.

“Just off-stage-left, where I and my entire half of the group were headed, stood a lady waiting to make her entrance for the next segment. She sees this mass of humanity charging at her and does her best to get out of the way and protect herself from being trampled, but has no place to run.

“Now, I’m one of the very last to exit the stage but I don’t see the lady because there are nearly 40 people in front of me also trying to exit the stage. As I take my last couple of steps, I smash into this woman who is cowering in fear for her life and I grab her shoulders to keep her from falling down. As I steadied her and made sure she was safe I say, “Oh, I’m so sorry – I didn’t see you there.”

“To which this exotically beautiful woman with a husky alto voice smiles and says to me, ‘That’s okay – no problem’ and I suddenly realize that I have my hands on the shoulders of …Cher. She hears her cue and starts walking on-stage and as I’m walking farther off stage I’m thinking, ‘Anderson, do you realize what just happened?’”

Think about this: If I don’t interview Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley for The Vinyl Dialogues about an album of theirs that includes the song “One Toke Over the Line”; and if Gail Farrell isn’t one of the performers who sings that song on the Welk show; I never get to hear the story about another Welk artist, Ron Anderson, almost knocking Cher on her ass in 1983.

Man, I love a good story. And the road it takes to get there.

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