1972: Ronnie Spector escapes from the Alhambra, California, mansion of her husband, legendary composer and producer Phil Spector. Ronnie, most famous as the lead singer of the Ronettes, says she had been held there as a virtual prisoner since the day she married Phil in 1968. 
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The huge wave of cash that American International Pictures was surfing with their Beach Party pictures (see what we did there?) did not go unnoticed in Hollywood, where imitation is the sincerest way they do business.
Columbia Pictures decided to see if they could catch the same wave with 1964’s Ride the Wild Surf. As AIP cast an East Coast Italian singer as their lead (Frankie Avalon), Columbia signed the guy widely thought to be a less than successful attempt to clone Avalon, Fabian.
Yet Columbia did not produce an even cheaper knockoff of a cheap drive-in flick. Strangely, Columbia actually released what many critics consider the best of all the surf, sand, and sex films that followed in the wake of the original Gidget.
First off, the film focuses on surfing in a way that no other beach picture ever did. The film, including the surfing footage, was shot on location in Hawaii instead of purchasing already-made surfing footage and shooting in California. In addition, Ride the Wild Surf used professional surfers dressed in suits that matched the movie’s male stars. Tab Hunter and Peter Brown also dyed their hair so it better matched the surfers doubling for them.
It’s important because the main plot of the film centers on a surfing competition that pits most of the males in the cast in an endurance contest to see who can last longest in Hawaii’s savage surf. The result is some spectacular surfing footage that the sport’s aficionados say is the best ever used in a mainstream Hollywood film.
The film is also not a comedy. There are no silly subplots with the possible exception of the thankless role given to Barbara Eden. She plays the film’s only “kooky” character. We know she’s kooky because she’s named Augustina or Augie for short. Because, sure, you totally buy a 20-something girl would be named Augie. She’s also an expert in martial arts because why not? She’s kooky, right? And she wants to build her own fireworks. Did we mention she’s kooky?
The rest of the cast gets involved in some seriously complicated love affairs. Tab Hunter is wooing island girl Susan Hart against her mother’s wishes. Fabian is trying to sweep Shelly Fabares off her feet, but Shelly is resisting because Fabian has no ambition in life beyond winning the film’s surfing competition. Peter Brown, the third of the male leads, is trying to convince Barbara Eden that he can be kooky too.
There seems to be some strange hair coloring going on in the film. After giving Peter Brown blonder hair to match his surfing double, producers asked Barbara Eden to dye her blond hair red so she would contrast with her love interest. They asked Shelly Fabares to go blond to contrast with Fabian’s dark hair. Susan Hart’s hair had to go jet black so she’d be believable as an island native.
The cast, which also includes Robert Mitchum’s son, James Mitchum, turn in performances that are better than you might suspect and the film treats the sport of competitive surfing seriously. The only musical number within the film is a Hawaiian hula performed very seductively by Ms. Hart. The title song, co-written by Brian Wilson (who also provided the title music for the first Beach Party movie) and sung by Jan & Dean makes its only appearance over the movie’s closing credits.
(BTW – Jan & Dean were originally supposed to appear in the movie as Fabian’s surfing buddies. Before shooting started, one of Dean’s friends was involved in a high-profile kidnapping case. His association with the singer received a lot of publicity and the studio moved to replace them with Hunter and Brown. They were still retained to sing the title track.)
Seriously, if you’re in the mood to see a serious beach picture or want a feel for what the surfing craze of the sixties was really like, track down a copy of Ride the Wild Surf and take that last ride!
What’s Going On – Marvin Gaye (1971)
The late 60’s and early 70’s were not good times for Marvin Gaye: tax trouble with the IRS, a failing marriage to the “boss’ daughter” (Anna Gordy), a growing dependency on cocaine, and finally, the untimely death of his performing partner Tammi Terrell, who had collapsed on stage while performing with Gaye. That last event so shook Marvin that he stopped touring or recording for 8 months.
Out of his pain, confusion, and isolation came one of the greatest albums of all time, What’s Going On, recorded from June of 1970 through May 1971.
A true concept album, most of the songs on What’s Going On flow effortlessly, one into another, all of them pulsating with an almost trancelike rhythm. None of the songs deal with romance. Instead, the album’s concerns are spiritual ranging from concerns about the environment to songs about Gaye’s deeply felt Christian faith.
The album begins with happy party chatter. The first words we can make out are “Hey, what’s happening, brother?” Then the music starts and Gaye’s lyrics immediately undercut the party atmosphere (“Mother, mother, there’s too many of you crying”). That sets the tone for the songs to follow. Gaye leads us through nine deeply personal songs only to close the album back where he started with a brief reprise of “What’s Going On.”
The album was the first to credit the legendary Motown studio band, the Funk Brothers. It was also the first time Gaye was credited as the album’s producer.
The album yielded three huge hits on the singles charts: the title track, “Mercy, Mercy Me (The Ecology)” and “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Hollar)” – all of which landed in the top 10.
The multi-tracked lead vocals used throughout the album came about by accident. Gaye had cut two versions of the lead vocal for “What’s Going On.” He couldn’t decide which to use. Session engineers Steve Smith and Kenneth Sands were instructed to provide mixdowns so Gaye could choose. They misunderstood and mixed both vocals into one track. Gaye loved the result and used double-tracking on his lead vocals for much of the rest of the album.
Motown head (and Gaye’s father-in-law), Barry Gordy hated the title track, calling it “the worst thing I ever heard in my life.” The Motown sales staff, however, believed in Gaye’s new direction and released it without Gordy’s knowledge. It became Motown’s fastest-selling single to that date, racing up both the soul and pop charts. The album quickly joined the title track in the top 10.
The years have only increased What’s Going On’s luster. The album placed #6 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s “500 Greatest Albums of All-Time” and has made virtually every music critic’s “Best Albums” list through the years.
You don’t need us to tell you that cutting down on sugar is beneficial to virtually all of us. But with the American diet so sugar-coated, how to do that? Here are some helpful hints.
1.) Start your day with protein – As a society, we’ve been conditioned to think of breakfast as a time for grain-based cereals. This is due to misguided health nuts like Dr. Kellogg whose theories have long been found to be false. Yet, our insistence on Frosted Flakes in the morning persists. This is bad because starting your day with carbs can spike, then crash your blood sugar, leading to food cravings not long after you eat. Instead, experts recommend starting your day with plenty of protein, like you find in eggs, yogurt or a smoothie with protein powder.
2.) Get a Good Night’s Sleep – Believe it or not, studies have shown that those who get a good night’s sleep consume significantly less sugar than those who sleep poorly.
3.) Be on Guard in the Grocery Store – The best not to consume products high in sugar is not to buy them and bring them home in the first place. If there are no cookies in the cupboard, you can binge on them later.
4.) Go for a Walk – research also shows that a 15-minute walk can reduce sugar cravings. Plus, it has other positive health benefits.
5.) If All Else Fails, at Least Make a More Sensible Choice – If you simply can’t defeat your sweet tooth, try picking a more healthful way to satisfy your sugar craving with fruits like blueberries, cantaloupe or grapes. Or chew a piece of gum.