Loon Flashback’s blog

I haven't posted much lately. For good reason. One, I've been obsessed with getting the 25th anniversary issue of The Loon News done. And C, I  may be unemployed. I updated this journal during lunch at work because it's the only place I had with a fast Internetstrola connection. I'm at home now with my dial-up and it took almost two minutes for the log in page to load, and then log-in, update page all that stuff to load. So clearly I could not wait 54 hours for 3-10 minute MP3 files to load.

I made an offer, and on Monday I'll find out if I'm still employed or not. If I am, then I'll get right back to posting KZZP Brandmeier bits at every Monday and Friday. If not, well, it could be some time...

No real bit here, just a few calls from some Loons. It starts with John ripping on a stupid jewelry commercial. One guy calls the Parts Department, another asks John how he became a DJ, and Chief Buffalo Chip an unleaded Indian.

 

From the Friday November 20, 1981 show. Thanks to Aircheck Acres for the tape.

 

Running time: 3:41

Here Paul Talbot reads a Dear Abbey about proper pig care, and John talks to the sister of the Iowa Pork Queen.

KOPA 100 FM was the Top 40 station in town.

From the Friday November 20, 1981 show. Thanks to Aircheck Acres for the tape.

 

Running time: 5:42

This bit features a full call from Mr. Snowbird. Parts of it were used in the released version of "The Snowbird Song."

Johnny & The Leisure Suits openned for Pablo Cruise at the Mesa Amphitheater. Remember Pablo Cruise? No, I don't either unless I look in The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. "Love Will Find A Way" from 1978 bring anything back?

It's followed by the first studio version of "The Snowbird Song."

 

Taken from the Friday November 20, 1981 show. Thanks to Aircheck Acres for the tape.

William Carmichael was working at a Milano's music store when Brandmeier came to town. It wasn't long before this talented musician started calling the show. EVERY DAY. Each time he called he would sing Brandmeier a parody he wrote. He went by a different name on the air, though.

Willy de Loon was like a parody PEZ dispenser. Just cock his head back and he would spit out one fresh parody after another.

"Neat thing about Willy," Brandmeier said, "was (he was) always on the phone. All the time. And I couldn't hang up on him enough, and so he got to be a regular part of the show. And the song that he wrote has become a national anthem."

One November morning in 1981 Willy called in with another one of his parodies. This one of The Little River Band's "The Night Owls" called "The Snowbird Song"

Brandmeier loved the song so much that he got together with Willy and finished writing it.

They went into a studio and recorded it with Willy singing lead. Willy became a member of The Leisure Suits and recorded many more songs with the band.

After Brandmeier left, Willy played saxophone with a few very popular local bands until late 1988.

Another old Loon had his own radio morning show. Tim Hattrick listened to Brandmeier every day, and he became a DJ in Flagstaff in 1983. He worked at many different stations in Phoenix over the years, and did a morning show with one of Brandmeier's fun-poking targets, Phoenix radio legend Bill Heywood, in 1987.

By the end of 1988 Hattrick lost another morning show partner (get this, it was Glen Beck,) and he did the show by himself. That Christmas week Hattrick was giving away Loon Gift Packs. They included WLUP Brandmeier T-shirts, and the new Leisure Suits concert video. Hattrick ended the week by having a big Loon guest on the show.

On December 23, 1988 Willy de Loon joined Hattrick simply as a one-time guest. It quickly became a regular thing, and Tim & Willy became popular morning DJs.

Things really picked up in 1992 when they stopped working at Top 40 stations, and moved on to Phoenix Country stations. They became the number one morning show in the state, and won Country music awards as the best Country DJs in the country.

Tim & Willy currently are out of work, but you can listen to their podcasts, or subscribe through iTunes.

Smitty's is the quivilant of a what today would be a Super Target.

First played in November 1981. Taken from the Friday November 20, 1981 show. Thanks to Aircheck Acres for the tape.

The Snowbird Song

There's a trailer in the middle of the street
Equipped with toilet, man it's really neat
A man gets out, shuffles his feet away
In the road he spots a dime
He'll stop and pick it up everytime
He gets run down
He's bck in town
He's a snowbird

CHORUS
Look out!
There's a car with a snowbird drving
He's out for his daily drive
So move on
There's a car with a snowbird driving
So just stay inside
If you want to stay alive

He goes to Smitty's once or twice a week
The snowbird picture's looking really bleak
There's more of them moving here every day
He spends his cash, so I'm told
He tells me that someday we'll all be old
And then to boot he wears a leisure suit
He's a snowbird

CHORUS

There's a trailer in the middle of the street
Equipped with toilet, man it's really neat
A man gets out, shuffles his feet away

Yeah, yeah, yeah
In the road he spots a dime
He'll stop and pick it up everytime

You know he will

And his wife is ill, she's a snowbird

CHORUS

LOOK OUT!

One of the first people to make a regular call-in appearance was no Loon at all.

Brandmeier's first target were snowbirds, and deservedly so. This helped make Arizona natives love Brandmeier instantly, because people who live here hate snowbirds.

For those who don't live in the state, snowbirds are people who come from the Midwest, and East Coast to live in Phoenix from October to March. They're mostly retired people who drive 35 miles per hour below the speed limit.

Brandmeier would talk about what a pain these snowbirds were and the rules for hunting them during snowbird season. He didn't advocate gunplay; one of the rules was that when you bag a snowbird you take a picture with them, tag them, then set them free.

One person felt threatened by Brandmeier's "Go Home, Snowbirds" bits. He became known as Mr. Snowbird. A very angry senior citizen who threatened to kill Brandmeier if he kept up this anti-Snowbird attitude. "I'll blow you away when I come back in town," he'd say.

Whether it was a real snowbird who hated Brandmeier, or just a very well-done bit by a listener, was, and still is unknown. But there is one question that has to be asked: Why would a male senior citizen be listening to an adult-contemporary/Top 40 Rock radio station when there's a fully functional "Music Of Your Life" station in town?

Before there was Willy's "Snowbird Song" there was this snowbird song. Around March or so, in 1981, John would play bits from Mr. Snowbird's calls over Anne Murray's "Snowbird." I don't have those on tape, but I recreated it from memory. My version is twice as long as John's bit. My "Snowbird" features chunks from Mr. Snowbird's calls over the whole run of Brandmeier's KZZP show, not just the first two months. And to fit all that in I had to loop the song to twice it's normal length. Don't worry, it's not "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" length. Just about 4 minutes, or so.

 

Next Post: The Snowbird Song

This parody of the Rolling Stones' "Start Me Up" asks if the band, all in their late 30s to mid 40s, were too old to pull off a national tour, and if they would play in Phoenix during their current tour.

By the way, Brandmeier, who as of March 2008, is over 51^1/2 years-old, just finished a world tour around Chicago with The Leisure Suits. Judging by the pictures John didn't need a wheel chair to get on stage and is still full of piles of energy.

The silly things you say when you're 25 years-old, eh?

First played probably in October 1981.

Taken from the Friday November 20, 1981 show. Thanks to Aircheck Acres for the tape.

 

Did The Stones Show Up?

Yeah! Did the Stones show up?
  If you say no, I wonder if they ever will
Did the Stones show up?
  If you say no, I wonder if they ever will

Well! Your tongue is out,
  You scream and shout
But when will it stop, will it stop?
  Will it stop?

You'll make a grown fan cry
You'll make a grown fan cry
If you pass them by

I got a feelin',
  The next time out
You'll need wheel chairs to get about
  Yeah! I know it!

Can we start you up?

  If you say no, the fans will kill

If this is it, we'll have a fit

Don't go over hill

Can we start you up?

  If you say no, the fans will kill,

the fans will kill, the fans will kill!

You make a grown fan cry
You make a grown fan cry
If you say goodbye

Ron, Bill, and Charlie can you keep going?
  Will Keith be stoned,
And will Mick be rollin'?

No way!

Yeah! Did the Stones show up?
  If you say no, I wonder if they ever will
Did the Stones show up?
  If you say no, I wonder if they ever will

Now, Your tongue is out
  You scream and shout
But when will it stop, will it stop?
  Will it stop?

You'll make grown fans cry
You'll make grown fans cry
  If you say goodbye

 

Now could you do it,

  Another tour?

Or will you waste away in Studio 54?

I don't mean recording.

 

(Spoken) Hey, Ron, Bill, Mick, Keith, hey, Charlie, wake up, I got to ask you a question. You see, you guys have done it before. And then you did it again, and you did it again, and you did it again, but let's just say you go out on tour one more time. Let me ask you just one small question... 

Will we come to see dead men?
Will we come to see dead men?
No, no!
Will we come to see dead men?
No, no, no, no, no!

 

Next Post: Mr. Snowbird

This 8th set of highlights from the first KZZP Breakfast With Brandmeier features...

The release of the first Leisure Suits single, Loons sing, or try to, a fast-talking low rider, thanks, and last few words.

From the Friday September 25, 1981 live breakfast show at the Playboy Club. Thanks to Dave LeBlanc for the tape.

At this show Brandmeier debuted the release of the first Johnny & The Leisure Suits single. "Johnny in the Morning (Just Havin' Fun)" b/w "Mick Jagger (What Makes Your Lips So big?)" I don't have final stats, but it's safe to say thousands of copies sold pretty fast.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Gene Volkman for the single.

Next Post: Did The Stones Show Up?

This seventh set of highlights from the first KZZP Breakfast With Brandmeier features...

Possibly tipsy Loons perform a song they wrote, George From Bolivia, Willy de Loon does another song, another story about someone with something stuck in their head, sex change news, a parody of "Rhinestone Cowboy" written by Loon Mike Kidner,

From the Friday September 25, 1981 live breakfast show at the Playboy Club. Thanks to Dave LeBlanc for the tape.

Running time:7:03

Next Post: The last highlights set.

This sixth set of highlights from the first KZZP Breakfast With Brandmeier features...

A duet between the Baritone Kid and the Saxophone Stud, a Loon passes out waiting in line, John arrested for auctioning Didi, Phoenix Suns basketball player Truck Robinson gives John his athletic supporter.

From the Friday September 25, 1981 live breakfast show at the Playboy Club. Thanks to Dave LeBlanc for the tape.

Running time:8:14

Next Post: Highlights part 7