We're all about the history of rock & roll at BoomtownAmerica.com!

Every week, we present “ROCK REMEMBERED,” a deep dive into the hidden history of rock & roll, the stories behind the artists and songs that changed the world. Join host “Boomtown Bill” Cross each Wednesday at 7 pm (Eastern) with an encore broadcast on Saturday at noon (Eastern).

Join us this Wenesday as we explore "The Life & Music of Eddie Cochran!"

For two and half years, the Rascals were one of the biggest acts in rock. Then, towards the end of 1968, the hits just stopped coming. Why? Nobody knows.

The nucleus of the band started as members of The Starlighters, the house band that backed up Joey Dee at New York’s Starlight Lounge, where the elite came to pretend they were as hip as the kids, giving themselves side-aches dancing to the twist.

As the twist craze passed, Eddie Brigati, Felix Cavaliere and Gene Cornish decided to form their own band. Practicing at Brigati’s and Cavaliere’s homes, they added Dino Danelli on drums. They wanted to call themselves the Rascals from the start, but another group, the Harmonica Rascals, threatened a lawsuit (like record buyers couldn’t tell the difference between “Dixie Shortnin’ Bread” and “Good Lovin’”). So, they added the “Young” to their name and started dressing up in schoolboy uniforms.

Their first single, “I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore,” went nowhere in the U.S., but became a minor hit in Canada. Their next release, “Good Lovin’” took off like a rocket in both countries.

The band then released 8 more songs that all reached the Top 20, 5 hitting the Top 10 and 2 (“Groovin’” and “People Got to Be Free”) going all the way top #1.

By then, it was the summer of 1968 and music was definitely traveling away from singles, towards albums. And here is where the Rascals (finally able to ditch “Young” from their name) foundered. Their attempts at concept albums like the Beatles, Moody Blues and other contemporaries, failed to find an audience. Brigati left the group in 1970. Cornish followed a year later. Cavaliere tried to take the group with new members in a more jazz and gospel-influenced directions; but by the mid-1970s, the Rascals called it quits.

In 1997, the original members performed together for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2010, they reunited again to perform at a benefit in New York City.
Two years after that, E Street Band member Steve Van Zandt and his wife Maureen convinced the group to perform again at a combination concert/theatrical event, Once Upon a Dream, that showcased the band with  film scenes re-enacting key moments in the group’s history, interviews with the band members and finally, a full concert of the band performing the songs that made them famous.

That original set of 6 performances was so well received at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester that it was transferred to Broadway in early 2013, where it quickly became the hottest ticket in town. Following 15 shows on Broadway, the Rascal took the show on the road from May to December of 2013.

All four members are still with us, so if we’re lucky we may get to see the not-so-young Rascals take to the concert stage once again.

GORGON (1964)

We were born too late to experience the great Universal horror films in first run theaters. Instead, we watched them on our local TV station’s “Shock-Horror-Monster-Chiller-Nightmare Theater.” You remember. Those late night weekend shows where the TV weather guy dressed up as a vampire or mad scientist and showed all those great Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi movies that had scared our parents.

In fact, those old black & white monster movies created such a sensation on TV that British movie studio, Hammer Films, made a tidy sum remaking endless variations of “Frankenstein,” “Dracula” and “The Mummy” so we’d have some color horror to see at the drive-in ourselves.

But one of their films featured a totally original monster and is still tremendous fun to watch today, The Gorgon from 1964.

One of the first things that makes this movie fun is the chance to see Christopher Lee play the good guy! He’s Professor Karl Meister, investigating some very strange murders in 1910 in the kind of comic opera German village at the center of every great monster movie.

Peter Cushing gets top billing as Dr. Namaroff, but trust us – this is Lee’s film!

You’ve got victims turning to stone. Sadly, very little of the famous “Hammer cleavage” that kept young boys interested in between the mayhem. And a film that trades on ancient Greek mythology rather than middle European superstitions.

There’s also a refreshing mystery angle to the plot as the title character assumes normal human form during the day, so we’re not sure which of the cast members will be sporting a head full of snakes by the end of the film.

This Halloween, check this one out. It’s from an era when “getting stoned” meant something else altogether!

What's more approriate for Halloween than a bat?

As we get older, sadly, we can’t eat like we once did and heartburn may become a problem, particularly during the nighttime hours.

The experts say these foods can be part of the problem:

• Caffeine
• Citrus
• Chocolate
• Tomatoes
• Spicy Foods
• Fatty Foods
• Alcohol
• Spearmint or Peppermint (Who knew?)

The first rule in relieving the discomfort is: don’t go to bed on a full stomach!

Other things that might help:

• Lose weight (which eases the pressure on your stomach)
• Elevate your head – if you can, your head should be about 6 to 8 inched above your body to help prevent reflux
• Minimize your meals – Try eating smaller portions more frequently
• If you smoke, stop – tobacco smoke can weaken the gateway between your stomach and esophagus.