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pLuMcRaZy
FOR
RON DANTE

NEWS ARCHIVES

News in 2005

Ron on Dr. Phil Show

Ron informed me that he was to be on an up-coming episode of Dr. Phil.

The show aired on Feb 8th so check your TV Schedules. Here's a descritption of the show:

Tuesday - 08 February, 2005Pushy Parents?
We all have big dreams for our children ... but do these guests have unrealistic expectations? How do you know when you're pushing your kids too hard? Meet die-hard Barry Manilow fans who would love if their 13-year-old son, Barry, would follow in their idol's footsteps. Then, parents who want their 22-month-old to be a prodigy; they have her on a strict vegan diet, and she's already learning Spanish and sign language! And, guests who are adamant that their 8-month-old son will become a professional athlete. Are they setting their kids up for failure?
And some of you may find the next day's show as interesting:

Wednesday - 09 February, 2005 Celebrity Obsessed
From tabloid magazines to TV shows, it seems we can't get enough of celebrities. But how much is too much? Marie is so in love with Brad Pitt that she fantasizes about marrying him, and Stacie is willing to go under the knife just to look like Jessica Simpson! Plus, a guest who's obsessed with celebrity style, and another who won't stop quoting Dr. Phil ... is that so bad?

"The Turtles" sue Applebees for "Happy Together" commercial
Reported in People Magazine and Contact Music UK: The members of 1960s band THE TURTLES are suing an American restaurant chain, after it used their 1967 hit HAPPY TOGETHER in its commercials. The Turtles are demanding $75,000 from the Applebees restaurant chain, claiming that the music and voices in the ad turn a "sweet love song to a crass paean to shrimp and steak combination plates", according to legal papers.

ARCHIES singer RON DANTE, who performed the commercial claims he was asked to sing the jingle in "patented Archies style" - not to copy the Turtles.
Ron covers the full tune "Happy Together" with its original lyric on his CD "Saturday Night Blast".



Don Kirshner miffed over film snub
In a recent interview, pop promoter/icon Don Kirshner talks about the intentional rewriting of pop history in the new Bobby Darrin film starring Kevin Spacy. The bio-drama film doesn't mentin Kirshner, who is creditted with discovering Bobby Darrin and their long term friendship and business partnership. Kirshner is also speaking out about the oversight by the Rock Hall of Fame to induct him in the non-performer category. The Hall of Fame has reported that Kirshner's name has been put forth in the nomination process, but has yet to win a majority vote. It's a matter of time before the oversight is corrected.

News in 2004

New Ron Dante Christmas Music Coming From DMI With "Rockin' Christmas Party, Volume 1"
Digital Musicworks International, Inc. (DMI) has announced a special Christmas music collection available for download starting on October 26: Rockin' Christmas Party, Volume 1, featuring an all-star cast of such rock 'n' roll hit makers as Ron Dante, Lou Christie, Tommy Roe, Gary Lewis, Bobby Vee and Chris Montez.

Produced by Ron Dante, "Rockin' Christmas Party" showcases a sleigh-full of legendary rock 'n' roll singers performing both traditional Christmas songs as well as five new original holiday tunes.

The collection offers Ron's versions of "Rock & Roll Christmas, written by Grammy Award winner Joe Brooks ("You Light Up My Life"), "Shine Your Light On Me", co-written by Dante and two-time Academy Award winning songwriter Al Kasha previously available online, "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" and the "The Christmas Of Our Lives". Also featured is Lou Christie's "Christmas In New York" and "O Holy Night", Tommy Roe's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", Gary Lewis doing "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Holly Jolly Christmas", Bobby Vee doing "Home For the Holidays" and "Peace On Earth" and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" by Chris Montez.

Entertainment Rights buys out the Filmation library from Hallmark
The Scotsman reports that British media mogul Entertainment Rights Ltd bought the entire Filmations catalog from Hallmark Entertainment for £11m. ($20m).
From among over 1700 hours of programming, the Filmation library includes a number of properties such as He-Man, She-Ra, Ghostbusters, My Favorite Martian, The Lone Ranger, The Archies, Archie's Comedy Hour, Archies Funhouse, Archies TV Funnies, The U.S. of Archie, The Globetrotters, Fat Albert, Sabrina, and Bravestar.

Ron signs on with Infinity Music artist
In a press release, Infinity Music announced that Ron has agreed to work with 14 year old Christian pop singer Kelly-Lynn and he has also expressed an interest in producing future albums. "Dante has been sending songs for Kelly- Lynn that he has written and he's also sent songs from famed Los Angeles producer Ted Perlman."
full story

Ron prepares release of new CD
Ron's new cd "Saturday Night Blast" is scheduled to be released with the next month or so. The self produced follow up to his 1999 release "Favorites" features more of Ron's versions of his favorite pop songs and also features the song "Angels Among Us". Ron reports it will be available for download at http://www.digitalmusicworks.com

Jack Wild
Former childhood actor and teen idol Jack Wild recently underwent major surgery to remove throat cancer. Wild starred in the TV show "H.R. Puffnstuff" and in the movie "Oliver". Wild also had a Top 10 gold record hit in the UK with his version of The Archies' song "Sugar and Spice" in 1970 written by Ron Dante and Gene Allan. UK papers report that cancer had advanced to the point where Wild required the removal of his vocal chords and tongue.

Art Imitating Life?
Archie Comics has been holding auditions for a new Archies band for the last year or so. Many of the old fans of the Don Kirshner version of the Archies aren't very thrilled with the idea considering that group to be the only legitmate "Archies". Now Archie Comics has spoofed the debate in the upcoming ARCHIE & FRIENDS #86. It ships 9/29/04. A 32-page, full color comic, $2.19 US. In the feature "The Next Big Thing" Archie comics press release states: The hottest ticket in town is no longer the Archies, but an Archies "tribute" band! The gang never expected competition from clones, and while Archie graciously talks them up, Reggie's thinking of ways to "unplug" the replicant rockers! SCRIPT: Craig Boldman. ART: Rex Lindsey

Ron guests on KBSG-FM
Ron did two interviews as a guest for "Rock and Roll Time Machine" at 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Mar 21 on KBSG-FM Seattle, WA.

Ron's latest commercial
for the Applebee's Restaurant chain hit various ad markets in March. It featured Ron's uptake on the Turtle's smash hit "Happy Together" to promote a steak and shrimp promotion. The ad didn't run to long but you can hear it still on Ron's website.

For you die hard Archie fans there are more Archies on DVD: The Archies Classic Cartoons and the Archies Meet Jugman
MGM/Universal Studios, DIC and Riverdale Productions have released this DVD movie, the second such DVD in two years. The hour and a half movie features all the humor we've come to love from Archie Comics, state of the art animation and features a new song by The Archies called "It's About Time" (written and sung by Matt McGuire). It would be nice to see Ron get involved in these projects again in some way.

Riverdale Productions, a division of Archie Comics is releasing DvDs of the original Archie TV series that originally aired on CBS on March 29, 2004. Each "Archie's Classic Cartoons" disc has 4 half hour episodes spanning the various TV shows series, including "The Archie Show, Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, Archie's TV Funnies and The U.S. of Archie". Check the Archies Comic website to order your copies and for more information.

Newly uncovered Archies/RD Ghost Group Single added to discographies

This record is particularly interesting in that it features not 1, but possibly 3 or 4 Archie singers! This just may be the reason why some folks have insisted that Ellie be given credit for singing on early Archies sessions in 1968. The confusion may have well been due to a mix up of facts around these sessions!

Ron and Toni Wine sing new version of "Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini"
Remember the commercial for Yoplait Yogurt last year? Well, there's a new version of that commercial out for "New Years Resolutions", a full 30 second spot instead of the 15 second version, featuring the unmistakeable sound of Ron and Toni singing together! Be sure to get your VCRs set to grab this for your collection!

News in 2003

Miramax Films signs on for the "Betty and Veronica" movie
Archie Entertainment signs a deal with Miramax Films to produce the up-coming live action film of Archie Comic's Betty and Veronica characters. Scripts are being considered at this time, but no actresses have been named as yet.

Archie Comics to go to DVD format
With the success of other Comic Makers moving comics into DVD formats, Archie Comics announces plans to do likewise in the coming year.

Ron sang the Yoplait Yogurt commercial doing the Vance/Masters song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini".


News in 2002

"Bubblegum Babylon" a documentary about the history of this style of pop music, premiered on VH1 November 24th, 2002 at 11am Eastern and was repeated throughout the week at various times. Originally titled "Pop Rocks: A History of Bubblegum," the 5 hour series has been scaled down to a single two-hour episode. This documenatary was originally the project by the same executive producer, Morgan Neville, of last year's A&E cable network series: "Hitmakers: The Teens Who Stole Pop Music" last year for Biography. However, VH1 took the project and did somethng quite different with it. Ron was interviewed for a segment of the documentary, but gets about 30 seconds screen time.

For show details:
http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/bubblegum_babylon/series.jhtml.

  • For the 2002 Christmas season: The long awaited Christmas CD by Ron was shelved. But good news: "School's Out Christmas," features three tracks co-written by Ron and Kyle Vincent has been slated for release November of 2002. Teen stars singing on this cd are Chris Trousdale, Evan Rachel Wood, and Raven Symone.  Tahj Mowry sings "Shine Your Light On Me", Knockout does "Voice of an Angel", and 7th Heaven star Ashlee Simpson sings "Christmas Past, Present and Future". Ron has featured two of these songs on his website, and hopefully will do so again so fans can hear his demos of these great songs. ("Shine Your Light on Me" is one of my personal all-time favorite RD songs.)

• Ron joined up with Toni Wine in Hollywood to sing "Sugar Sugar" for the first time EVER on stage! The performance went so well that a repeat performance was made at a recent Toni Wine concert in Hollywood! Here's the scoop on both events:

• Ron Dante performed at Pinks Hot Dogs in LA on July 28th 2002. He sang with Toni Wine and both signed autographs in conjunction with Golden Apple Comics' celebration of the 60th anniversary of Archie comics.

http://www.goldenapplecomics.com/
http://www.pinksofhollywood.com
According to Pink's website, they now have an "Archie Dog" and my personal fave the "Jughead Hamburger" as items on their menu!

A wonderful afternoon was reported by those who were lucky enough to attend the event at Pink's. Attendees were treated to meeting George Gladir (writer for Archie Comics), Gloria Pink (one of the owners of Pinks Hotdog stand), and the very special appearance of both Ron Dante and Toni Wine singing "Sugar Sugar" together live for the first time ever! Quite an historical event for Archie fans! Hollywood's spokeperson Johnny Grant, who is in charge of the Walk of Fame presentations, gave Gloria Pink the proclamation for "Archie and Friends Weekend" celebration in Los Angeles.

  Golden Apple Comics sold Betty/Veronica dolls, Archie and Jughead bobbleheads, comic books and an Archies cd. Both owners of Golden Apple were present. George and his wife were there, as well as several other people who comic characters in the commemorative special comic book "Archie and Friends #59" were based upon. "The Big Paper Caper" story is based in Hollywood, California and all store/cincon owners listed in the comic are the real deal, even down to the Larry Edumunds bookstore in the background. Other landmarks such as Hollywood and Highland. the home of the Kodak Theatre where the awards are now held, is featured as well.

Ron wore his "Ron Dante" black t-shirt and black slacks. Toni was sporting an Archies t-shirt. There were Archie/Jughead/Betty/Veronica costumed people walking around posing for pictures with attendees. Even Ron and Toni had their pix taken with them! It was quite the event. Special thanks to Louise Perrin for being our event reporter and for snagging me a copy of the commemorative comic, chock full of personalized autographs of all the real life people who appeared as characters in the issue, including both Ron and Toni's personal greetings to me right on the front cover!

  • Toni Wine made her L.A. Showcase premiere at Genghis Cohen in Hollywood on September 20th.

http://www.genghiscohen.com/

Toni performed on piano and played to a packed house. Some of Toni's set list included: Groovy Kind of Love, Blackbird, Darker Side of Love. Ron joined Toni on "Sugar Sugar" (which was only the second time the duo have ever performed the song live). Ron did lead vocals on Candida with the Toni and the Tokens on background as well.

There was an "allstar" audience there for her, including the owners of Golden Apple comics, Michael Ochs (photo archiver) and Henry Dietz of Monkee fame. Jeff Barry was acknowledge several times by Toni during her performance. Great news for Toni's fans and double special for Archie fans who've long awaited this kind of news. Let's hope there is more in store for Toni and Ron together in the future.

• USA Today and E! published news that a new live TV show & music group version of The Archies was being planned along with a new Josie & The Pussycats TV show. Also reported and confirmed by Ron is the news that he has been asked to produce and write songs for the new project by project supervisor Lou Perlman in celebration of the 60th anniversary of Archie.


News in 2001

• Ron appeared in the PBS Special Chapel of Love which was a tribute to his good friend and colleague Jeff Barry.
Check my Jeff Barry pages below for more details.
The entire show is available on video by PBS for support donations and was released for sale at retail in May 2001! Check out the DVD review on the Jeff Barry Pages. And on Jan 22, the CD version of Chapel of Love was released under the group name "Jeff Barry & Friends". Be sure to pick up one of this wonderful soundtrack!

• USA Today and E! recently published news that a new live TV show & music group version of The Archies was being planned along with a new Josie & The Pussycats TV show. Also reported and confirmed by Ron is the news that he has been asked to produce and write songs for the new project by project supervisor Lou Perlman in celebration of the 60th anniversary of Archie.

• It is with heartfelt sadness that I report the passing away of Dan DeCarlo, the man responisble for up-dating the Archies look in the 60's. DeCarlo also was co-creator of the Josie and Sabrina characters. DeCarlo passed away on Dec. 19, 2001 after suffering a heart attack. He had also been struggling with cancer and has had a Federal Lawsuit filed against Archie Comics who fired him after challenging royalty and ownership rights of Josie and Sabrina. Look for a special Memorial page coming to my website soon for more information on Dan and his career. We certainly will feel the loss of this great talent.