Don Kirshner Dies At Age 76
Moderators: The Freedom Man, TheDoorsMusic
-
MysticHeatedWine
- Senior Member
- Posts: 1414
- Joined: Thu Jul 06, 2006 7:50 pm
Don Kirshner Dies At Age 76
Wasn't sure where to post this but just wanted to mention it. I remember watching his show as a kid in the 70's.
"I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I see no lasting energy in the truth and the truth is this: Truth and Energy elicited by the stoned."
Jim Morrison, Los Angeles, 1968
Jim Morrison, Los Angeles, 1968
-
jamestkirk
- Senior Member
- Posts: 5816
- Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:11 pm
- Location: The Music Of My Mind
That was the show to watch...."Don Kirshner's Rock Concert". Late night we got to see live such acts as Led Zeppelin, Dooble Brothers, Rolling Stones, Steve miller, Poco, Joe Walsch, BS&T, Rory Gallager, George Harrison, Badfinger, the Byrds....too many... here is the list!!
name a show you can watch now with such live present day music royalty!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Kirshn ... performers
name a show you can watch now with such live present day music royalty!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Kirshn ... performers
Last edited by jamestkirk on Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music".
-Aldous Huxley
-Aldous Huxley
-
jamestkirk
- Senior Member
- Posts: 5816
- Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:11 pm
- Location: The Music Of My Mind
-
jim4371
- Senior Member
- Posts: 2802
- Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 2:59 am
The Doors were also shown in a 1979 episode, with the footage coming from The Doors are Open (LMF and a fragment of Unknown Soldier).jamestkirk wrote:That was the show to watch...."Don Kirshner's Rock Concert". Late night we got to see live such acts as Led Zeppelin, Dooble Brothers, Rolling Stones, Steve miller, Poco, Joe Walscj, BS&T, Rory Gallager, George Harrison, Badfinger, the Byrds....too many... here is the list!!
-
jamestkirk
- Senior Member
- Posts: 5816
- Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:11 pm
- Location: The Music Of My Mind
Paul Shaffer on Kirshner
Paul Shaffer on Don Kirshner: 'He loved the impression'
January 18, 2011 | 5:10 pm
As must have been the case for a lot of people, when news broke about the death Monday of music mogul and TV impresario Don Kirshner, one of the first names that went through my mind was that of Paul Shaffer, for the spot-on Kirshner impersonation the comedian and musician did numerous times on “Saturday Night Live” during his tenure on the show.
Shaffer spoke with Pop & Hiss shortly after he finished taping Tuesday’s episode of “Late Show With David Letterman,” on which he’s led the house band for years, talking about his relationship with Kirshner over the years and the development of his comedy bit.
“Back in 1977, I did a show for Don Kirshner and Norman Lear that was a partnership between the two of them: ‘The Year at the Top.’ In it, Greg Evigan and I played rock performers who had sold their souls to the devil. It played on CBS for just five episodes in the summer of ’77. Nonethless, I became friendly with Don during that time. I was a fan, and I knew about his association with what we know now as Brill Building rock, which was my favorite kind of music anyway, so we struck up a friendship.
“One day he called me, and ‘Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert’ was on the air at the time, and he told me, ‘I’m going on-camera to do the introductions on the show.’ Up until this point, it had been completely sober [voiceover] introductons of the acts, but he had decided to do them on-camera.
He said, ‘A lot of people think maybe I’m stiff, but [Ed] Sullivan was stiff, and he had the gig.’ He asked if I wanted to come down and watch him tape his first introduction. It was at some studio near Hollywood and Vine. Of course I jumped at the chance and saw him tape those first introductions.
"He was a great character, a lovable character, certainly the most colorful character I’ve ever met. He was very fast talking, always very emotional about the music he loved and the music he was making. He was the ultimate when it came to promoting the songs he loved. He’d go on these runs and talk so fast that sometimes he’d break himself up.
“But when he went on-camera, he slowed right down. I guess he was nervous. He froze a little bit, but he still spoke from the heart. I found it very humorous, and I never forgot it. When the show ‘Year at the Top’ didn’t get picked up, I got my gig at 'SNL' back. I’d left 'SNL' and moved to California to do the show, but when I came back, I brought that impression back with me and started doing it.
“On one show we needed a way to set up a certain musical number, a rock number -- Garrett Morris did Tina Turner -- and I said I could do it as Don Kirshner. So that’s how it came about.
“He was asked all through the years, ‘Didn’t that impression that Paul Shaffer did [tick] you off?' He always said, ‘No, I loved it.’ l loved him, he loved me, and he loved the impression because he knew it came out of love for him.”
“I gave Don a call and spoke to him over the weekend, but I didn’t think he was going to slip away so soon. He sounded weak, but he rallied when he heard I was on the phone. He said ‘Paul, babe!’ He went right into his Don Kirshner for me. I certainly consider him a friend, and I’m very saddened by his passing.”
-- Randy Lewis. Pop & Hiss-LA Times
January 18, 2011 | 5:10 pm
As must have been the case for a lot of people, when news broke about the death Monday of music mogul and TV impresario Don Kirshner, one of the first names that went through my mind was that of Paul Shaffer, for the spot-on Kirshner impersonation the comedian and musician did numerous times on “Saturday Night Live” during his tenure on the show.
Shaffer spoke with Pop & Hiss shortly after he finished taping Tuesday’s episode of “Late Show With David Letterman,” on which he’s led the house band for years, talking about his relationship with Kirshner over the years and the development of his comedy bit.
“Back in 1977, I did a show for Don Kirshner and Norman Lear that was a partnership between the two of them: ‘The Year at the Top.’ In it, Greg Evigan and I played rock performers who had sold their souls to the devil. It played on CBS for just five episodes in the summer of ’77. Nonethless, I became friendly with Don during that time. I was a fan, and I knew about his association with what we know now as Brill Building rock, which was my favorite kind of music anyway, so we struck up a friendship.
“One day he called me, and ‘Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert’ was on the air at the time, and he told me, ‘I’m going on-camera to do the introductions on the show.’ Up until this point, it had been completely sober [voiceover] introductons of the acts, but he had decided to do them on-camera.
He said, ‘A lot of people think maybe I’m stiff, but [Ed] Sullivan was stiff, and he had the gig.’ He asked if I wanted to come down and watch him tape his first introduction. It was at some studio near Hollywood and Vine. Of course I jumped at the chance and saw him tape those first introductions.
"He was a great character, a lovable character, certainly the most colorful character I’ve ever met. He was very fast talking, always very emotional about the music he loved and the music he was making. He was the ultimate when it came to promoting the songs he loved. He’d go on these runs and talk so fast that sometimes he’d break himself up.
“But when he went on-camera, he slowed right down. I guess he was nervous. He froze a little bit, but he still spoke from the heart. I found it very humorous, and I never forgot it. When the show ‘Year at the Top’ didn’t get picked up, I got my gig at 'SNL' back. I’d left 'SNL' and moved to California to do the show, but when I came back, I brought that impression back with me and started doing it.
“On one show we needed a way to set up a certain musical number, a rock number -- Garrett Morris did Tina Turner -- and I said I could do it as Don Kirshner. So that’s how it came about.
“He was asked all through the years, ‘Didn’t that impression that Paul Shaffer did [tick] you off?' He always said, ‘No, I loved it.’ l loved him, he loved me, and he loved the impression because he knew it came out of love for him.”
“I gave Don a call and spoke to him over the weekend, but I didn’t think he was going to slip away so soon. He sounded weak, but he rallied when he heard I was on the phone. He said ‘Paul, babe!’ He went right into his Don Kirshner for me. I certainly consider him a friend, and I’m very saddened by his passing.”
-- Randy Lewis. Pop & Hiss-LA Times
"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music".
-Aldous Huxley
-Aldous Huxley