The Fresno Bee from Fresno, California • 94

Ex-Fresnan Is Star Of tav very long and in many moments very beautiful 2nd symphony titled Solti conducts whith the London Symphony a big choir and Heather Harper soprano and Helen Watts contralto It is a Job for the artist-conductor rather than a self-pqrtrait a Job requiring his utmost in preparatory study and in sustained concentration presses continuously at its own seams The listener has a constant unease that it will bunt those seams and so his sympathy is with the conductor who is charged with preventing such a catastrophe But actually the dan-gen are more apparent than real Discunive though the five movements are (they take up member who does the vocal arranging is Malcolm Hale Even songs in die act are of all types Will Never Be die is rock Some are jug band-style with Spanky playing dec trie jug and Oz playing electric banana (a kazoo electrified inside a plastic banana) On Island she plays washboard They also sing from Music country-western folk and only one protest against the Ku Klux Klan The variety stems partially from varied backgrounds Spanky and Malcolm once sang in the New Wine Singers a folk group now disbanded Oz performed rockV roll Nigel has been a Milwaukee disc Jockey who booked ami toured with Grand Ole Opiy acts in Wisconsin Group history Is short Spanky Oz and Nigel worked as a trio first in Chicago Malcolm made it four-part harmony He Joined after returning hum a State Department sponsored folk singing tour in Vietnam last falL This is' the stage at which they up an and signed a Mercury contract First record out Will Never Be die climbed to No 9 on Cashbox best-selling chart on June 17 stayed there June 24 started down July 1 when it slid to 11 John Joined as drummer two months ago he does not sing as yet The group is cutting an album for which they have designed a fold-out album cover and chosen old-time pictures You will know it when you see it It will be called and Our Well Traveled HOLLYWOOD Raymond Bailey the banker on Beverly worked his way around the globe as a youth by serving as a mess boy on a freighter so But the answer is yes Right now it is being done by Spanky and Our Gang Spanky and Our Gang is a new group first seen performing in New York in March first heard (and only) on the Mercury single Will Never Be the From that beginning came word-of-mouth in the pop music business that Spanky looks like a TV guest shots $3000-a-night bookings at teen dances a tour of county and state fairs lined up for this summer a tour of colleges lined up for fall and first $10000 week at the Hilton Hotel in Miami Spanky is the only girl in the quintet Her name is Elaine McFarlane and her nickname has been Spanky since she was a child after Spanky in the Our Gang comedies Hence also the Spanky and Our Gang title for the singing group But the other members have not taken names Most of their fans are too young to remember the Our Gang comedies anyway Besides Spanky and Our Gang personifies another state of pop music today the acceptance of incongruity From pretty boy singers saying they were single and young we went to what the Righteous Brothers called "getting together the ugliest guys in the world and forming a Now however groups thrive on no uniformity At an interview with Spanky and Our Gang Oz Bach brings his wife and solemn beautiful baby daughter and Nigel Pickering talks about having a son who is 20 years old Spanky is 25 All dress differently some zany some not Drummer John Seiter 23 has Indian beads on hat and shirt Oz is the only one who talks in gon And names are offered which a few years ago would have driven their owners to stage names Not only does Our Gang include a Nigel but the 'Mannix1 HOLLYWOOD an exciting new hour-long detective adventure series in color starring Mike Connors a former Fresnan and Joseph Campanella will make its debut on die CBS television network Saturday Sept 16 10 to 11 pm This date reflects a change from the Saturday Sept 9 premiere date announced Thus will continue in its Saturday (10 to 11 pm) time period through Sept 9 and start in its new Monday time period pm on Sept 11 Connors well known to television viewers for his starring portrayal on the series has die title role of Joe Mannix in the new series Mannix is a member of die highly specialized private detective firm Intellect Veteran stage and television actor Joseph Campanella who plays Lou Wickersham die boss of Inter-tect was featured on "The Doctors and the series on the CBS television network Mannix is an operative employed by the firm of private investigators highly advanced in its techniques and equipment Although he has aR the benefits of computerized deduction at his disposal Mannix a rather independent private eye prefers to rely on his own intelligence and intuition to solve crimes His boss Wickersham represents the other side of the coin a suave sophisticated type who is a firm believer in die efficacy of scientific methods "Mannix" is produced by Desdu Productions In association with the CBS television network Bruce Geller executive producer of the highly successful "Mission: series will perform the same as-sigment for The series wiH be produced by Wilton Schiller formerly die producer of and "Ben Nick Palmer Is New Singer To Reckon With By William Laffler NEW YORK (UPI) It is difficult for a new singer to break Into the big time but periodically one comes along and quickly establishes himself There are countless men who proved they had something special to offer in the way of singing Bing Crosby was the first big name Then along came Frank Sinatra And over the decades there have been such singers as Frankie Laine Steve Lawrence Elvis Presley John Gary and Enzo StuartL And now Nick Palmer is asking for admission to the club Palmer is a young singer with an excellent voice a forceful stage presence and an easy-going manner His first recording effort is called the First (RCA Victor LS P-3803) It features "Come Prim which may become tag song But there are other songs that Palmer easily handles such as Only Want a and My the First is the kind of record that establishes itself quickly and holds the listener to the end It will make Nick Palmer one of the big singers of the year if not the biggest new one Voice Box "The Poetry of Robert read by Ed Begley (Caedmon TC 1218) is a refreshing addition to the spoken word library Begley is Just the guy to recite Shooting of Dan Cremation of Sam and Law of the This one definitely is not for the hippies but for thinkers who can afford to relax and enjoy a few breezy moments Selected Singles Let the Rain Fall Down On by The Critters (Kapp K-838) Way I Love by Jerry Butler (Mercury) "With a Little Help From My by The Young Idea (Capitol P-5943) Is by Lamar Morris (MGM K13753) Maid Got by Eddie Vinson (Blues -Way BL-61005) by Razzy Bailey (ABC 10939) by Sparky and His Friends (Jubilee 5581) Tape Deck Balalaika by the Polyanka Russian Gypsy Orchestra (Monitor MRX 371) is a rousing session that is reminiscent of the Moiseyev Dancers and is our choice as the best reel-to-reel selection an Ampex stereo tape release from by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops (RCA Victor R8S 1078) is a standout in the auto cartridges 1 f- i if 0 if i- Popularity Vote 1 Windy ihi Auodotton I Can't Taka My Evaa Off Yaw Frankly Valll 3 Uoht My Fir Tha Doon 4 San Frond ion Waar Santa Flowers In Your Hair Scott Mc-Ketui a 5 Uttia Bit Of Saul Tha Music Explosion I Was Mads To Lava Hor Stcvla Wonder 7 Up Up And Away Tha Dimension Whiter Shads Of Pal Morum C'mon Marianna Tha Four Son-son 18 Coma On Down To My Boat Evory Mother's Son both sides of two records) the composer's structure is sound even though to the ear it can seem wobbly merit in this his is that he yields never to its many temptations to inflate and thus fragment As in most Mahler there is a program a a wrestling with relation to God and the cosmos Mahler wrote it out several times and it is implicit in the music Solti from his conducting seems unaware of the written programs He permits the implicit to remain so (2217) You can also be impressed by a new recording of another of the mighty spiritual sym-phonies this one Cesar minor symphony recorded by Otto Klemperer with the New Philharmonia Orchestra (Angel-36416) So far as the ear can tell only concentration was upon its musical values which were once so startling and which now seem so classical Music without any outside aid from program or other extraneous values can be entirely spiritual Klemperer makes the minor so Young Peter new recording is of E-flat sonata and Those are pieces for young pianists if one assumes youth has special affinites for romanticism Serk-in sounds too musically sophisticated not to have reservations about this 19th century stuff (RCA Victor-2955) New Group Makes It Big On One Record By Mary Campbell AP Newsfeaturco writer Can a new group become on one little 45 rpm record which did not quite make it to No 1 on the popularity charts? Logically you would not think Solti Interprets Mahler On Portrait Record By Delos Smith NEW YORK (UPI) London Records has an series running and the materials used to portray the conductor George Solti are in addition to an album cover photograph those of Gus- 1S-TV THE FRESNO BEE Sunday July 23 1967.