Vigon's French R&B

"Vigon" immigrated to France from Morocco and adopted this stage name because in his younger days his little schoolmates teased him about his incorrect pronunciation of "vagon" (wagon). He made several rhythm & blues records including this particularly strong cover of Little Richard's Bama Lama Bama Loo. (Thanks to my friend Max for the tip !)

Here he is live in 1969 with his band Les Lemons, doing "The Spoiler".

[Footnote : This is remarkable since there was almost no soul/R&B "made in France." The exception that proves the rule is, of course, Nino Ferrer, born in Italy. Here he is rocking the Brussels train station.]

[Footnote : Original version of The Spoiler (I think) by Eddie Purrel.]

US version  Ed.

[Footnote : As a bonus, here's a Finnish band's version of Bama Lama.]

But was Little Richard annoyed by these copy-cats ? We have the official response. After performing the song himself, Richard unambiguously sets the record straight. In a hilarious, pre-rehearsed interview with Dick Clark, he states that he is "very grateful to know that my material is the type of material that the entertainers today would like to use."

The Fringe Factory 8pm tonite!

We've got wylde cover versions, unlikely songs, before they were famous, brand new Pow Wows, new King Khan & BBQ Show, plus fuzzy faves and wacky way-outs! Check us out on WFMU.org at 8 pm ET

Crayons to Perfume! Cover Girls! 7pm Tonite!

It's our second installment of Cover Girls! This time the girls cover the Shirelles, British and American pop, rock and soul, plus a little bit of psychedelia! Tune into WFMU.org at 7 and look for the Ichiban stream. Join us in the chat room by clicking the comments and playlist link....and don't miss a show! Our archives have it all! and check out the interview on Cha Cha Charming!

Milk'n'Cookies Rock'n'Roll - No More Milk, No More Wine, Glass of Milk, Mighty Fine!

1. Cookie Man: Chips Ahoy!
2. Cookie & His Cupcakes: I’m Twisted
3. Els Xocs - Més Enllà
4. Nino Rota Drink More Milk
5. Jackie Lomax: Sour Milk
6. Ray Charles & The Cookies: Yes In Deed
7. Jerry Reed And The Hully Girlies - Spilled Milk
8. Red Foley: Milk Bucket Boogie
9. The Blisters: Cookie Rockin’ In Her Stockings
10. Big Jay McNeely: Mule Milk
11. Edd Byrnes: Kookie’s Mad Pad
12. Summer’s Children: Milk & Honey
13. The Cookies: Don’t Say Nothin’ Bad About My Baby
14. The Crickets: Milk & Gin
15. The Ventures: Cookies & Coke
16. The Liberty Party: Jim’s Milk Song
17. Marcie & The Cookies: Would If I Could
18. The Zipps The Struggle For Ice-Cold Milk Of Benzi The Bass-Player
19. Herman’s Hermits: No Milk Today
20. Cookie Roberts - Draggin' The Drive-Inn's
21. Kookie Cook: Revenge

Get an ice cold glass here!

The Fringe Factory's Got ACTION! Tonite at 8!

The Litter takes you to where the ACTION is tonight on the Fringe Factory at 8 on WFMU.org

Get Into the SWING of SPRING! on Crayons to Perfume! at 7

Tonight at 7pm on WFMU.org


The girls are putting on their best for Crayons to Perfume's spring fashion show featuring Barbara English and the Fashions! Hear Sugar Pie De Santo, Mamie Van Doren, Karen Young & The Knee Bones, Annette, Mary Ann and all the rest of the girls get dressed from head to toe!

Menu For Tomorrow's Fool's Paradise Program With Rex

Tune in tomorrow at 1 PM ET 

Pledge to Fool's Paradise!!

Songs The Lord Taught Us

Miriam

Woggles

The Fall

The A-Bones

Blasters

Untamed Youth

Deke Dickerson

Mummies

Oblivians

Gories

Reigning Sound

The Fall

Jody

The live Zakary Thaks film

What if there were a half-hour film of a real 60s garage band performing ? Well, there is ! By some miracle, authentic 1966 Corpus Christi heroes the Zakary Thaks were filmed by a friend of their manager, who thought it would be a good promotional tool for the band. The film (click here) was never used and was lost for years. Now online, it's well worth watching all the way through.

Unfortunately, the guys seem self-conscious about the filming and they don't completely cut loose, and the same goes for their friends dancing in front of the stage during one take. Attempts at psychedelic lighting fail miserably. But who's complaining ?

Apparently it was a guy from Cicadelic Records who located the film and put it online. Thanks a lot, man ! He also did this insanely long but fascinating interview with the band, talking about everything that was happening around them in Texas at that time, including the film, their social life and the Jax beer commercial they recorded.

"...none of the Thaks finished high school except me. They all dropped out, because of hair codes and behavioral problems."

The film has some good songs, but does not include their garage hit, Bad Girl, which you already know from Pebbles Vol. 2.

"I want to say [Bad Girl] was like the one true picture of what the Zakary Thaks were as a group. That literally was written by all five of us in one afternoon."