Labor Day Weekend has always been the "END OF SUMMER" around my household so I couldn't allow the SUMMER OF '16 to end without a post concerning a summer that occurred 50 years ago: THE SUMMER OF '66.
For old ROBERTOREG, it was a pretty awe inspiring summer. I was 16, got my driver's license and finished my first summer on the staff of THE BOY SCOUT RESERVATION near New Brockton. Camp gave me an opportunity to stay away from Dothan for about six or seven weeks which was probably the greatest education a young, dumb and full of come teenager could get. I used my time there to get in good with the camp ranger. Daddy donated some tires for Mose Ramage's panel truck which his son, Gene, had donated to the camp and Daddy also got the old truck tuned up for the camp ranger. I'll never forget how that brought my status up with the camp ranger. From then on, I had FULL ACCESS to all the camp facilities and it stayed that way until 1969 when all hell broke loose after the chief Scout executive pocketed all the money the camp gained after it cut the timber for the new reservoir which the U.S. Army at Ft. Rucker had helped construct.(the story I heard was that the camp ranger punched the chief Scout executive out after the ranger found out about the theft so the summer of '69 was the end of ROBERTOREG at camp).
The music on the radio that summer was unbelievably superb and hearing those songs today instantly triggers memories: SUMMER IN THE CITY, GOOD LOVIN', WILD THING, DIRTY WATER, 634-5789, LAND OF A THOUSAND DANCES but one song stands out above all others. That song was DOUBLE SHOT OF MY BABY'S LOVE. The lyrics were a little naughty at the time and it got banned on some radio stations but that was the first song ever played on the radio that ROBERTOREG could totally identify with because a member of one of the bands that released it in the spring of '66 sat in front of me in 6th period study hall during the school year of '65-'66 at Dothan High. This guy was Glenn Griffin. He played keyboards for the K-Otics and he had a helluva time surviving Dothan High during his senior year because Brad Stephens, our principal, had it in for him because of his hair plus Glenn had a tough time staying awake in class on Mondays due to the exhausting schedule that the K-Otics booked each weekend.
Jeff Lemlich of Limestone Records found where "Double Shot" by the K-Otics reached # 5 on Miami's WFUN chart on 4-22-66 and it reached # 8 on Miami's WQAM on 4-30-66.
Here are some links that tell the amazing story of DOUBLE SHOT.
From the article I wrote about THE OLD DUTCH published in PANAMA CITY LIVING back in 2013:
During
the summer of ’65, a beach music classic was born on the dance floor of The Old
Dutch. A band from South Alabama called the K-Otics were playing one week and
during their breaks they visited the nearby Old Hickory where the Swingin’
Medallions were performing. The K-Otics loved “Double Shot of My Baby’s Love”
and asked the Medallions if they planned to record it. The Medallions said,
”No,” so the K-Otics laid plans to cut the record. Later in the fall, the
Medallions had a change of heart and recorded “Double Shot”. Both the Swingin’
Medallions and the K-Otics released their versions in the spring of ’66. The
K-Otics had a regional hit and the Medallions’ record went national and the
rest is history. Bruce Springsteen called “Double Shot”, “the greatest
fraternity rock song of all time.” Columnist Bob Greene called it “the ultimate
get-drunk-and-throw-up song. You heard it in every juke box in every bar in the
world.” In 1993, Louis Grizzard wrote, ”Even today, when I hear ‘Double Shot of
My Baby’s Love’, it makes me want to stand outside in the hot sun with a
milkshake cup full of beer in one hand and a slightly drenched coed in the
other.” http://panamacityliving.com/blog/roadhouse-blues-at-the-old-dutch/
http://southerngaragebands.com/kotics.html
http://www.rebeatmag.com/the-story-behind-the-swingin-medallions-double-shot-of-my-babys-love/
http://zeegrooves.blogspot.com/2013/01/farfisa-organ-double-shot-of-my-babys.html
A brief history of the founding of the Swingin' Medallions and the Pieces of Eight by Greg Haynes:
" The band was founded by John McElrath and Joe Morris
and the first SIX members were John, Joe, Carroll Bledsoe, Steve
Caldwell, Brent Fortson, and Cubby Culbertson. Cubby was the first to leave
the Original Six and was replaced by Perrin Gleaton at guitar. The
Medallions then expanded to EIGHT with the addition of two more horn players
bringing the number of horns in the Eight man group to FIVE. Those
added horn players were Fred Pugh (Sax) and Rick Godwin(Trumpet)In 1965,
Gleaton, Pugh, and Godwin left and were replaced by Charlie Webber, Jimbo
Doares, and Jimmy Perkins. It was these EIGHT ( McElarth, Morris,
Bledsoe, Fortson, Caldwell, Perkins, Doares,& Webber)who recorded Double Shot and are considered the original band. In 1967, Fortson and Caldwell
left and joined with a group from Raleigh, N.C. called The Tassles.
These talented performers consisting on Carlie Barbour (Guitar), Jim
Baumgartner (Bass) Mark Wrenn (Sax)Irvin Hicks (Drums) Wally Woods
(Keyboards) and Ken Helser (Trumpet and lead Vocalist)along with Fortson and
Caldwell were the Original Pieces of Eight. It was very simple math:Two Medallions plus Six Tassles equal the
Pieces of Eight. Meanwhile; the remaining Six Original Swingin' Medallions
got two more great saxophonists, Hack Bartley and Johnny Cox, and kept
right on SYWITUP
(Screaming, Yelling, and Whooping it Up)."
(back row left to right) *Charlie Webber-trumpet, vocals *Steve Caldwell-saxophone, vocals *Jimmy Perkins-saxophone, bass guitar, vocals *John McElrath-keyboards, vocals *Carroll Bledsoe-trumpet,vocals *Jim Doares-guitar, vocals (front row) *Brent Fortson-saxophone, flute, vocals *Joe Morris-drums, vocals
When Steve Caldwell and Brent Fortson formed the Pieces of Eight in 1967, they were replaced by Hack Bartley and Johnny Cox. Grainger (Brother) Hines was added to the band in late 1967, when Michael Huey became the Drummer
Lewis Grizzard wrote in a 1993 article that, "Even today, when I hear the Swingin' Medallions sing "Double Shot of My Baby's Love", , it makes me want to stand outside in the hot sun with a milkshake cup full of beer in one hand and a slightly-drenched nineteen-year-old coed in the other."
http://www.medallions.com
