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Leila And The Snakes ~ Pyramid Power
Showing posts with label Jane Dornacker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jane Dornacker. Show all posts
October 29, 2021
January 13, 2018
December 7, 2017
Pearl Harbors
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Beemer Memory 18: Pearl Harbor Day
Red Buttons ~ Strange Things Are Happening
Jane Dornacker & The Tubes
Phillip Hofstetter ~ Photographer Antiqua
Leila And The Snakes, Obiko & Kaisik Wong
Pearl Harbor Day ~ 2019
Pearl Harbor Day & the 9th Annual Jingletown Winter Art Walk
Pearl Harbor & the Explosions
The Tubes - White Punks On Dope
Pearl Harbor Day ~ 2019
Remember Pearl Harbor ~ 80 years later
October 5, 2017
October 1, 2017
Jane Dornacker & The Tubes
photo by Susan Gilbert
Today, October 1, would have been the 70th birthday of Jane Dornacker who was an American rock musician, actress, comedian, and traffic reporter born in 1947.
Dornacker was the tall lead singer (Leila), keyboardist, and songwriter of the 1970s/1980s San Francisco "tack" rock group Leila and the Snakes (link below).
Pearl Gates and Pamela Wood provided supporting vocals. Their
repertoire included Rock and Roll Weirdos, Pyramid Power (link below) and a spoof
version of the Peggy Lee song, Is That All There Is? Gates later left (and took the band with her) to form Pearl Harbor and the Explosions. Guitarist Miles Corbin went on to form the surf instrumental band the Aqua Velvets.
Dornacker provided lead vocals on Christopher Columbus (1978) (link below), a song by R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders. With Ron Nagle, she co-wrote the humorous hit song Don't Touch Me There for The Tubes (link below). The song was sung by Re Styles and appeared on The Tubes' second studio album, Young and Rich
(1976), and was released as a 7" single in the US, the UK, and the
Netherlands. The B-side was Proud to Be an American. Jane had also
toured with The Tubes as a backing singer and dancer.
photo by R. Pruzan
Dornacker was also an actress. She appeared in playwright Sam Shepard's jazz opera Inacoma at San Francisco's Magic Theatre (1977) and was featured in other works by the Overtone Theatre. She appeared in The Stand-Up, Anita Sperm and as the mysterious Nurse Murch in the film The Right Stuff.
Dornacker developed a successful career as a stand-up comic on the San
Francisco circuit and did her first work as a traffic reporter in the
early-mid-1980s for KFRC, a popular Top 40 radio station. She worked with Don Rose, who was that station's morning disc jockey
at the time. She was noted for her exceptionally fast speech, so fast
it required concentration to understand her. As she did traffic, she
would tell her daughter Naomi to get up and get to school. She moved to New York City
to become a much-loved, raspy-voiced "trafficologist" and
"Jane-in-a-plane." After Dornacker died, Rose arranged several tributes
to establish a college fund for Naomi.
photographer unknown
The F-28 helicopter nose-dived, struck the top of a chain link fence
at a river pier, crashed into the Hudson River very near to the
Manhattan shore and sank in 15 to 20 feet (5 to 6 m) of water. Both
occupants were trapped for nearly 10–15 minutes before help arrived.
Dornacker died on her way to Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center. She was 39 years old. Pilot Bill Pate, the only other occupant, was severely injured but survived.
In the subsequent investigation, the NTSB found that the sprag clutch that was installed in the helicopter, which was on lease to WNBC Radio by Spectrum Helicopters of Ridgefield Park, New Jersey,
was a military surplus part which was not designed for use in a
civilian aircraft, and that the part had not been adequately lubricated.
It directly led to a mid-air seizure of the main rotor blades. The investigation determined the cause of the fatal crash to have been use of improper parts and poor maintenance on the part of Spectrum Helicopters.
Her death came shortly after that of her husband, Bob Knickerbocker, orphaning their 16-year-old daughter.
Her death came shortly after that of her husband, Bob Knickerbocker, orphaning their 16-year-old daughter.
On November 22, 1986, there was a benefit for Dornacker at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco, California. The performers were Jerry Garcia, KBC Band, Tod Rundgren and The Tubes.
Viewfinder links:
The Tubes - White Punks On Dope
Leila And The Snakes, Obiko & Kaisik Wong
SF Gate obit
Remembering Jane Dornacker
Jane Dornacker ~
Christopher Columbus
The Deca Dance
Don't Touch Me There (live)
Videowest - Stranger then Friction - 1979
Leila And The Snakes ~
Rock-n-Roll Weirdos
Pyramid Power
David Rapaport ~ Heaven Help Jane (2011)
WNBC Traffic Helicopter Crash
Reporters Last Moments Caught on Tape During Live Traffic Report
Benefit for Jane Dornacker (50 minutes)
Leila And The Snakes, Obiko & Kaisik Wong
Net links:
Remembering Jane Dornacker
YouTube links:
Jane Dornacker ~
Christopher Columbus
The Deca Dance
Don't Touch Me There (live)
Videowest - Stranger then Friction - 1979
Leila And The Snakes ~
Rock-n-Roll Weirdos
Pyramid Power
David Rapaport ~ Heaven Help Jane (2011)
Reporters Last Moments Caught on Tape During Live Traffic Report
Benefit for Jane Dornacker (50 minutes)
Styrous® ~ Sunday, October 1, 2017
August 29, 2017
45 RPMs 19: Leila And The Snakes, Obiko & Kaisik Wong
45 RPM record jacket
cover photo by Eddie Troia
photo of record jacket by Styrous®
Déjà vu has raised it's ubiquitous head and life is coming around full circle for me again. Since the 50's I've always recorded a record I liked on tape so I wouldn't wear out the record. This was the case with this 45 by Leila And The Snakes. I have listened to both songs on it, Rock and Roll Weirdos and Pyramid Power, for decades but did not look at the record jacket after I bought it until I decided to write about it for this blog entry.
As I was reading the cover to gather information, I discovered Lisa Jear did the makeup for the photo on the cover! So what? Jear was the makeup artist for some of the Sandra Sakata (link below) fashion shows for Obiko (link below) I produced from 1980 to 1997 . . .
45 RPM record jacket detail
cover photo by Eddie Troia
detail photo of record jacket by Styrous®
. . . as well as modeling the designs of Kaisik Wong (link below) who was instrumental in getting me the position to produce those shows.
Lisa Jear
Kaisik coat and collar
photo by Kaisik Wong
Jear also did the makeup for Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, a 1985 film directed by Wayne Wang and starring Laureen Chew, Kim Chew, Victor Wong, Ida F.O Chung, Cora Miao, Amy Hill, and Joan Chen.
WOW!
45 RPM record jacket back
photos by Eddie Troia
photo of record jacket by Styrous®
Leila And The Snakes was an American rock group based out of San Francisco in the 1970s and 1980s. The lead singer of the group was Jane Dornacker, who went under the name of Leila. Dornacker had previously toured with the group The Tubes.
Other members of the group were Pamela Wood on the bass and Scott Free
on drums. Wood and Free were later replaced by the brothers Hilary and
John Hanes (Stench). Also featured was guitarist Miles Corbin, who went
on to form the surf instrumental band the Aqua Velvets. The sons of Wood now play in the group, Major Powers & The Lo-Fi Symphony (link below).
Also appearing on the two-song 45 RPM referenced below (which was referred to as "The Album" during subsequent live sets) was Pearl E. Gates. She went on to front Pearl Harbor and the Explosions, marry Paul Simonon of The Clash, and sing backup on Sandinista!. Pearl was featured prominently in the Leila live act. Eventually she resigned from the band.
Dornacker, who had run for Homecoming Queen at San Francisco State as a 6-foot freshman, eventually became a prominent radio
personality in San Francisco. She also played Nurse Murch in the 1983
motion picture "The Right Stuff". In 1985 she migrated to New York, in
order to make it big in show business. In 1986, she died when the
traffic helicopter she was reporting from crashed into the Hudson River
in New York City.
biography insert
photo by Styrous®
Leila And The Snakes released the 45 RPM recording in the late 1970s. It was
produced by Roger Clark of Little Roger & the Goosebumps and
arranged by Dick Bright. Side A features Rock and Roll Weirdos,
copyright Lucky Pork Music, written by Dornacker. Side B features Pyramid Power, copyright Lucky Pork Music, written by Dornacker/Clark.
The band also recorded an album produced by Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers. No final mix was done, however, and it went unreleased.
biography insert detail
detail photo by Styrous®
biography insert detail
detail photo by Styrous®
biography insert detail
detail photo by Styrous®
biography insert detail
detail photo by Styrous®
Leila And The Snakes ~ Rock and Roll Weirdos
45 RPM record, side 1
photo by Styrous®
Leila And The Snakes ~ Pyramid Power
45 RPM record, side 2
photo by Styrous®
Tracklist:
Side 1:
A - Rock And Roll Weirdos, written by Jane Dornacker
Side 2:
B - Pyramid Power, written by Dornacker*, R. Clark*
Companies, etc.
Recorded At – Beggs/AZ
Mixed At – Beggs/AZ
Credits:
- Acoustic Bass – Curly Keranen* (tracks: B)
- Arranged By – Dick Bright, Roger Clark (3)
- Backing Vocals – Dick Bright (tracks: B), Little Roger (tracks: B), Pamela Wood (2), Pearl Gates*, Robert Vickers (tracks: B), Scott Free (8) (tracks: B)
- Bass – Pamela Wood (2)
- Drums – Scott Free (8)
- Engineer – Jenny Mosiev, Richard Beggs
- Guitar – T.V. Dunbar*
- Organ – Jane Dornacker (tracks: A), T.V. Dunbar* (tracks: B)
- Piano – Jane Dornacker
- Producer – Dick Bright, Roger Clark (3)
- Violin – Dick Bright (tracks: B)
- Vocals – Jane Dornacker
Notes:
Includes biography insert
Leila And The Snakes – Rock & Roll Weirdos
Label: ASP Records (2) – A0001
Format: Vinyl, 7", Single
Country: US
Released: 1978
Genre: Rock
Style: New Wave
Label: ASP Records (2) – A0001
Format: Vinyl, 7", Single
Country: US
Released: 1978
Genre: Rock
Style: New Wave
Viewfinder links:
YouTube links:
Leila & The Snakes -
Styrous® ~ Tuesday, August 29, 2017
August 10, 2015
The Tubes - White Punks On Dope - VHS video tape
back cover photo by Exley
photo of tape cover by Styrous®
The Tubes video uses the graphics and contains tracks from the album, The Completion Backward Principle, but has songs from other albums, including my Tubes favorite, White Punks on Dope, which was SO much fun to rock out to. This video was choreographed by Kenny Ortega.
front cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
Mötley Crüe covered "White Punks on Dope" on their album New Tattoo, and performs it live in concert on their "Lewd, Crüed, & Tattooed" DVD. The Nina Hagen Band interpreted the song in a German-language version, translated to "TV-Glotzer" (with re-written lyrics about being an East German who lives vicariously by staring at West German television all day) on their self-titled debut album in 1978.
White Punks on Dope, from the album, The Tubes, is included after the closing credits, and contains many scenes from the Tubes early cable access TV appearances as well as footage from early shows where Waybill would play the part of Quay Lude.
back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
When I was working on Broadway and the Leatherneck bar (see link below) I met Jane Dornacker, who wrote the song, Don't Touch Me There, sung by Re Styles (who I met through Jane), for the second studio album by The Tubes, Young and Rich in 1976. Dornacker also toured with The Tubes as a backing singer and dancer.
Dornacker
was rock musician in her own right. She was lead singer (Leila),
keyboardist, and songwriter of the San Francisco "tack" rock group, Leila and the Snakes.
Pearl Gates and Pamela Wood provided supporting vocals for the group. Their
repertoire included Rock and Roll Weirdos, Pyramid Power and a spoof
version of Peggy Lee's Is That All There Is? Gates later left (and took the band with her) to form Pearl Harbor and the Explosions. One of my favorite songs by The Explosions was, Drivin'.
On October 22, 1986, while giving a traffic report for WNBC Radio in New York City, Dornacker died when the traffic helicopter she was in crashed into the Hudson River. She was 39 years old.
back cover detail
back cover photo by Exley
detail photo by Styrous®
John Waldo "Fee" Waybill was born on September 17, 1950, in Omaha, Nebraska, is the lead singer and songwriter of the The Tubes. Waybill has also worked with Toto and Richard Marx. He has appeared in films, Xanadu (1980) and the 1982 independent Canadian film, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains.
Waybill now works as a record producer. He was the producer for a number of popularartists, including Bryan Adams, and singer/songwriter Richard Marx.
One of Fee's latest efforts includes vocals and co-writing on All's
Well That Ends Well, the critically acclaimed song in 2011 by Steve Lukather, of Toto.
back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
Prairie Prince was born Charles Lempriere Prince on May 7, 1950, in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has also worked with Chris Isaak (on his first four albums), Todd Rundgren, Brian Eno, David Byrne, XTC, Tom Waits, Paul Kantner, George Harrison, Dick Dale, Glenn Frey, Richard Marx, Bill Spooner, Neil Hamburger, John Fogerty, Nicky Hopkins, Tommy Bolin, Phil Lesh, and former Tubes and Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick.
He was a founding member of Jefferson Starship – The Next Generation in 1992 and appears on both their studio albums (the 1999 release Windows of Heaven and the 2008 release, Jefferson's Tree of Liberty), plus numerous live albums.
photo by Styrous®
William "Sputnik" Spooner was born in Arizona on August 16, 1949. His first band was the XLs, a Beatles
cover band. A band he started subsequently, the Beans, moved to San
Francisco in 1970. Shortly after arriving the Beans merged with another
group, the Red, White and Blues Band, then became the Tubes.
photo by Styrous®
Vince Welnick was born in Phoenix, Arizona on February 21, 1951. He joined The Beans, which eventually morphed into The Tubes. Welnick also appeared in Xanadu, along with the rest of The Tubes. In 1994, he was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead.
On June 2, 2006, Welnick committed suicide by cutting his own throat, after battling depression for 10 years.
photo by Styrous®
Net links:
The Tubes discography
The Tubes website
White Punks On Dope on YouTube
White Punks On Dope - The Tubes on YouTube
(live San Francisco 1983)
Don't Touch Me There on YouTube
Mondo Bondage on YouTube
Amnesia on YouTube
Mr. Hate on YouTube
Sushi Girl on YouTube
Don't Want To Wait Anymore on YouTube
The Tubes history on YouTube
The Tubes - VHS video tape is for sale on eBay
Songs:
- Matter of Pride
- Sports Fans
- Amnesia
- Mr. Hate
- Mondo Bondage
- Don't Want to Wait Anymore
- Business
- Talk To Ya Later
- Sushi Girl
- Let's Make Some Noise
- White Punks on Dope
Personnel:
- Bill Spooner - Analysis, Guitar, Vocals
- Michael Cotten - Trend, Synthesizers
- Fee Waybill - Motivation, Lead Vocals
- Roger Steen - Development, Guitar, Vocals
- Prairie Prince - Systems, drums
- Vince Welnick - Accounts, keyboards, Vocals
- Rick Anderson - Policy, Bass
Net links:
The Tubes discography
The Tubes website
White Punks On Dope on YouTube
White Punks On Dope - The Tubes on YouTube
(live San Francisco 1983)
Don't Touch Me There on YouTube
Mondo Bondage on YouTube
Amnesia on YouTube
Mr. Hate on YouTube
Sushi Girl on YouTube
Don't Want To Wait Anymore on YouTube
The Tubes history on YouTube
What fantastic times those were!
The Tubes - VHS video tape is for sale on eBay
Styrous® ~ Monday, August 10, 2015
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