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Greetings and Welcome to The 405 Coffee Break with O.K. Solberg
New episodes tend to air over the local KMMR radio station @ 5 minutes past 4PM each M-F. And have been doing so, nearly every week since Sept 2018.
I'm D.J. Rasmussen, O.K.s friend since junior high, possibly your neighbor & this websites maintainer, whom strives to get each episode's show notes written, the transcript proofed and the audio posted to the internet within a few hours of that days KMMR air time. NOTE: recently been publishing most new releases by 4:30PM.
Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy the time we can spend together.
Hey. I wanna again welcome you to The 405 Coffee Break. Get you a cup of coffee, glass iced tea, bottle of water. Let's see what's happening.
OK Solberg:Spring wheat $6.01, I am happy to see it cross the $6 mark. 550lb steer calf $5.45 on the top end, and a 100lb fat lamb in Billings $3.30 to $3.35, if they're shiny. But, guys, there's more, much more.
OK Solberg:I like music. I do. I like music. You like music. And those of us that grew up in the 1960's and '70s were exposed to a wealth of great music. Let me share one group's story, and I'll call it the song that came from across the ocean. Well, didn't they all, Orvin?
OK Solberg:Many of them did. Every generation has a song that seems to arrive out of nowhere. You hear it once and before long, everyone is humming it. Back in 1970, Americans heard one of those songs. It had a driving guitar, an unforgettable melody, and a voice like none other, anything they had heard on the radio.
OK Solberg:She's got it. Yeah, baby. She's got it. Who is it, Dan Perry? Most listeners assume the band had come from California or maybe perhaps England. But, no, they were wrong. The music had crossed an ocean. The group was called Shocking Blue and home was The Hague, in The Netherlands. Guitarist Robbie van Leeuwen had formed the band in 1967, but everything changed when vocalist Mariska Perez stopped and stepped to the microphone. Her striking voice gave the group an identity the world would never forget.
OK Solberg:Their song Venus climbed all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1970. The 1st song by a Dutch band ever to do it. It sold more than a million copies in America and eventually more than 5,000,000 copies worldwide. Now here's the part that many Americans never knew. In The United States, people often remember Shocking Blue as a band that sang Venus.
OK Solberg:But outside America, they were much more than a one song success. Across Europe, they kept turning out hit after hit after hit songs like Mighty Joe, Never Marry a Railroad Man, Send Me a Postcard, and Long and Lonesome Road.
OK Solberg:Those songs filled radios from Germany to Belgium, from France to Japan. By 1973, the band had sold an estimated 13,000,000 records, making them one of the most successful Dutch groups ever to tour beyond their homeland. Curiously, the song that conquered America never reached #1 in The Netherlands.
OK Solberg:At home, Venus peaked at #3. Sometimes a hometown crowd is the hardy hardest audience to impress. Years later, another generation would discover the song through Bananarama's 1986 version. Millions sang along, never realizing they were enjoying a melody written years earlier by a Dutch guitarist with a remarkable ear for hooks. And perhaps that's the quiet lesson.
OK Solberg:A song doesn't need a passport. A great melody doesn't stop at a border. Sometimes the voice that captures your heart isn't coming from the city next door. It's coming from a little country across the sea, proving once again that talent can speak every language even when the singer has never met the listener. And I like that song.
OK Solberg:I like it a lot. So after hearing, please don't ever call Shocking Blue a one hit wonder after you've heard this episode. I'll close with a bible verse. It comes from Ephesians 5:19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. Again, Ephesians 5:19
OK Solberg:So until next time, as you go out there, remember now, don't be bitter.