FEATURED ARTIST OF THE MONTH - ON HIATUS, BUT IT WILL BE BACK!

The Retro Attic's Featured Artist Of The Month will be taking a break from April 1st until July 1st so that 3 new shows can be developed and launched. These are the artists you can look forward to during the summer when it returns:

July - Rod Stewart
August - Rick Nelson
September - The Carpenters

I know that I had advertised Heart and Rush as co-featured artists for April since they're being inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. The ceremony takes place on April 18th, so what I will probably do during the week of the 15th through the 19th is play some occasional tracks from them as well as fellow inductees Randy Newman, Donna Summer, and Albert King. Feel free to make requests for any of these inductees in the meantime!

As far as the 3 new shows are concerned, I have already mentioned "Gil's High School Reunion," which starts on April 8th. I will go into a little more detail about the other 2 shows in a post that will come out during the next day or so.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK - AMBROSIA - HOW CAN YOU LOVE ME - 1982 - #86

Ambrosia were one of the kings of westcoast AOR during the late 70's and early 80's, racking up such memorable numbers as "Holdin' On To Yesterday," "How Much I Feel," and "You're The Only Woman(You And I)." For their last album during their heyday, 1982's Road Island, they decided to crank up the amps a bit. A lot of die-hard fans will tell you that this was a fantastic album, but unfortunately the general public wasn't interested as its first single(featured here) died a quick death.

If you look closely, you will see Bruce Hornsby handling piano and keyboard duties. As most of you may know, Ambrosia bassist Joe Puerta would later become a member of Bruce's backing band The Range.

Listen for this forgotten gem in the coming days in the Retro Attic's regular rotation along with a couple of their classics in "Gil's High School Reunion," our new show which will be airing daily between April 8th and June 30th. You are probably saying to yourself right now: nice, nice, very nice!

NEW SHOW: GIL'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION

DJ Gilbert Matthews, the guy who brings you all those head-scratching, seldom-heard oldies on The Retro Attic, has his 30th high school reunion coming up at the end of June! To mark the occasion, he will be featuring a daily one-hour block of hits(with the occasional lost gem) covering the period of 1973-83! If you have a reunion coming up that fits in this time frame, then you may want to give "Gil's High School Reunion" a listen. The show will begin on Monday, April 8th and will air every day from 2 to 3 PM eastern. Gil has a few classmates and some other fellow alumni that are interested in hearing this, so that was all the motivation he needed(plus he loves this particular musical era to death!).

The initial batch of tunes will include favorites from Ambrosia, Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers, Rush, Pink Floyd, Village People, Donny & Marie Osmond, Saga, Kansas, Bay City Rollers, Rita Coolidge, NRBQ, Fleetwood Mac, Eddie Money, Elton John, Wings, Toto, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, and Pilot. The playlist will keep getting better and better until it reaches its eventual conclusion at the end of June. Requests will also be considered for these reunion blocks. Visit us at http://retroatticrareoldiesradio.blogspot.com/ for ways to tune in or visit http://tunein.com/, search for The Retro Attic, and add us to your mobile device!

The promo will begin airing later on tonight here on The Retro Attic!

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK - FIVE AMERICANS - WESTERN UNION - 1967 - #5

These guys were based in Texas and had top 40 hits with "I See The Light," "Sound Of Love," and "Zip Code." This track was definitely their biggest, going all the way to #5. This live clip was from The Steve Allen Show and was done toward the end of 1967.

Lead singer Michael Rabon would later end up in the band Gladstone, who recorded one of my all-time favorite 70's oldies in "A Piece Of Paper." He contributed acoustic guitar and background harmonies to it and it peaked respectably at #45.

Listen for more Five Americans singles on The Retro Attic in the coming days, including one of their top 40s and a couple of their bubblers.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK - HOOTERS - KARLA WITH A K - 1987

Hooters were a Philadelphia band with an eclectic pop sound that garnered them 4 hit singles and MTV videos during 1985 and early 1986: All You Zombies, And We Danced, Day By Day, and Where Do The Children Go(which featured background vocals from Patty Smyth of Scandal fame). Their second album, 1987's One Way Home, went top 30 and was even more musically adventurous; however, it only yielded a couple of minor charters with "Johnny B" and "Satellite."

"Karla With A K" was my favorite of the bunch and was a minor hit in the UK in early '88.

The guys are still active and are putting together some dates for this coming summer. Check out their current activities by going to http://www.hootersmusic.com.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK - DOLENZ, JONES, BOYCE AND HART - I REMEMBER THE FEELING - 1975

I thought I would post something to acknowledge the 1 year anniversary of the passing of Davy Jones; instead of some promo film with a rainbow background that anyone who watched the second season of The Monkees' TV show knows quite well, I decided to showcase this rarity.

Micky and Davy teamed up with songwriters Tommy Boyce And Bobby Hart(the #1 smash "Last Train To Clarksville," its less successful rehash "Teardrop City" and of course their own hits "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite" and "Alice Long") and did well-attended tours of the U.S. and Japan during 1975-76. They also released a self-titled album on Capitol in '76 that had a fine batch of well-written pop and rock tunes, but it got mercilessly outsold by a recycled Monkees greatest hits album that came out on Arista. The album was prefaced by this 1975 single; why it didn't become a hit(or at the very least a top 75 entry) is beyond me.

Coming up on The Retro Attic beginning in early March will be "Monkee Monday," which will be a basic short block of Monkees and solo tunes. Every Monday, each block will be different. Listen for the promo/sweeper in the next few days.

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE WEEK - CLIMAX BLUES BAND - I LOVE YOU

This week, I thought I'd feature one of the songs that will be on the upcoming American Bottom 45 show for this month. Who says that these guys couldn't get it right? As far as top 40 success was concerned, they got it right twice by hitting the top 3("Couldn't Get It Right") and the top 15(this one). I felt they deserved a 3rd appearance in the top 40 with "Gotta Have More Love," but sometimes timing isn't everything.

Some critics slammed this song because it sounded "too influenced" by Badfinger, but I know I didn't care. I thought that Badfinger was a great band!

Anyways, enjoy this clip and I'll see you on Sunday for the countdown show!