The Short, But Spectacular Career of Freddie Prinze

Freddie Prinze remains best remembered for the classic sitcom Chico and the Man. It seems likely that he would be remembered much more had his life been longer. He was extraordinarily talented, and one can only guess at what he may have achieved beyond his hit show.

Freddie Prinze was born Frederick Karl Pruetzel on June 22 1954 in New York City. His father was a German immigrant who had migrated to the United States in 1934. His mother was Puerto Rican. As a child he had difficulty gaining and retaining weight, so his mother enrolled him in ballet classes. He attended  the High School of Performing Arts where he continued to study ballet and take drama classes. It was while he was attending the High School of Performing Arts that he discovered his talent for stand-up comedy. He dropped out of school in his senior year to become a stand-up comedian.

Freddie Prinze worked at various comedy clubs around New York City, among them Catch a Rising Star and The Improv. It was during this period that he adopted "Freddie Prinze" as his stage name. It was in December 1973 that his star really began to rise, with appearances on The Tonight Starring Johnny Carson, Jack Paar Tonite, and The Merv Griffin Show. In June 1974 he appeared on The Midnight Special.

It was in 1974 that he was cast as Chico Rodriguez on the situation comedy Chico and the Man. The show starred Freddie Prinze as Chico, a young Mexican who went to work for elderly garage owner Ed Brown (Jack Albertson), referred to by Chico as "the Man." Ed Brown's garage was located in a Chicano neighbourhood in East Los Angeles, making it the very first show in the United States to set in a Mexican American community. Following the top-rated Sanford and Son on Friday night, Chico and the Man proved to be a hit, ranking no. 3 in the Nielsen ratings during its first season. The show continued to do well in its second and third seasons as well.

While Freddie Prinze was appearing on Chico and the Man, he continued to appear on variety shows on talk shows as well. He appeared on such shows and television specials as Tonight Starring Johnny Carson, The Mike Douglas Show, The Dean Martin Comedy World, The Flip Wilson Special, The Smothers Brothers Show, Cher, American Bandstand, Sammy and Company, The Rich Little Show, Dinah!, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Van Dyke and Company, and various Dean Martin Roasts. He also appeared on the game shows The $25,000 Pyramid and The Hollywood Squares. In 1976 he appeared in the TV movie The Million Dollar Rip-Off, playing an electronics expert named Muff Kovak who masterminds a transit heist. It was also at this time that his comedy album, Looking Good, was released.

Sadly, Freddie Prinze had coped with depression his entire life. His depression would intensify after his wife filed for divorce. On January 29 1977 he talked on the phone with his wife. His manager, Marvin "Dusty" Snyder, visited him later and it was during that visit that Mr. Prinze pointed a gun to his own head and shot himself. At the time Freddie Prinze's death was ruled a suicide, although in a lawsuit against the Crown Life Insurance Company by his mother, wife, and son, his death was ruled as being accidental and medication induced. There was later  $1 million settlement out of court against his psychiatrist and doctor to end a malpractice suit alleging that they allowed Freddie Prinze to buy a gun and overprescribed him the sedative Quaalude.

Freddie Prinze was in many ways a pioneer in American television. While today we might debate a Puerto Rican playing a Mexican on a sitcom, at the time Chico and the Man was the only regularly scheduled show on which Latinos appeared and possibly the first since the cancellation of the classic Western The High Chaparral in 1971. What is more, he was great as the character. NBC appreciated him enough that they signed him to a five year contract at $6 million. Had Freddie Prinze not died so young, it seems fairly certain that his career may have well reached even greater heights.

"Back to Black" by Amy Winehouse

Today Amy Winehouse would have turned 40. Sadly, she died on July 23 2011 at the age of 27. She was an extremely talented singer and songwriter whose music drew from the girl groups of the Sixties, rhythm and blues, soul, and jazz. Her biggest hit in the United States was "Rehab," but my favourite Amy Winehouse song has always been "Back to Black," from the album of the same name. While it remains one of Amy Winehouse's best known tracks, it did not even reach the Billboard Hot 100.

The lyrics drew upon Amy Wineehouse's failed relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil. He had left her for an ex-girlfriend. Musically, "Back to Black" drew upon the sound of the girl groups of the Sixties, particularly The Shangri-Las." As far as I am concerned, it remains one of her most powerful songs.

NBC Follies: A Long Forgotten Variety Show

The Seventies were not a good time for variety shows. While several aired during the decade, hits were few and far between. Many aired only for a matter of months, and, in some cases, weeks. One of the variety shows in the Seventies that did not last long was NBC Follies, which debuted fifty years ago today.

NBC Follies originated with John Hamlin, then NBC's vice president of nighttime programming. Although often described as drawing inspiration from vaudeville, it would be more accurate to say that it was inspired by such Broadway revues as George White's Scandals, Earl Carroll's Vanities, and, the most famous of them all, the Ziegfeld Follies. The show even included a bevy of showgirls who would perform throughout the show. Indeed, it was from Ziegfeld Follies that NBC Follies took its name. Sammy Davis Jr. is also often described as the show's regular host and Mickey Rooney as a part-time host, but it would be more accurate to describe them as the stars of Ziegfeld Follies. Neither of them introduced acts or sketches, but they did sing and perform in sketches.

NBC Follies first aired as a television special on February 8 1973. In addition to Sammy Davis Jr. and Mickey Rooney, that special also featured John Davidson, Andy Griffith, and Connie Stevens. That special proved successful enough that NBC added NBC Follies to its fall schedule. Like the initial special,  the regular run of  NBC Follies  would feature some fairly big name guests. In addition to Sammy Davis Jr. and Mickey Rooney, the first episode featured Diahann Carroll, Jerry Lewis, and the Smothers Brothers. Further episodes featured such stars as Michael Landon, Milton Berle, Jack Cassidy, Don Addams, Richard Crenna, Ernest Borgnine, and Peter Lawford. The announcer on the show was Johnny Olson, the long-time announcer of such shows as To Tell the Truth, What's My Line?, Match Game, and The Price is Right.

Not only were the guests on the show at the top of their professions, but so too were the writers. Howard Albrecht had written for The Jonathan Winters Show and The Bobby Darin Show. George Foster had written for The Perry Como Show, The Bing Crosby Show, and The Garry Moore Show. Among Jack Raymond's credits were Mister Peepers, Petticoat Junction, and The Andy Griffith Show. Sol Weinstein wrote for The Jerry Lester Show and The Bobby Darin Show. The show's musical director and composer of its theme, "It's Follies Time," was also of note. Harper MacKay had composed the scores for such movies as Alice Through the Looking Glass (1966) and Cry Uncle (1971). On television he had serves as the music director or music supervisor on such TV specials as The Julie Andrews Show and Portrait of Petula.

The initial reviews for NBC Follies were positive enough. Variety appreciated that the show had a good pace and praised Sammy Davis Jr. and Mickey Rooney, although the publication expressed doubts that the show could succeed on a weekly basis. The New York Times referred to NBC Follies as "pleasantly and attractively entertaining." That having been said, The New York Times had changed its tune by November 18 1973. In the article "A TV Season That Died," the paper referred to NBC Follies as "...the worst variety program to ever have aborted in prime time."

With largely positive reviews in the beginning, it must have seemed to NBC that NBC Follies was poised for success. After all, each week featured big name stars and it aired on Thursday night at 10:00, following Ironside. It was the time slot formerly occupied by the hit Dean Martin Show, which had moved to Friday night. Unfortunately, the time slot would prove to be less than ideal. It aired opposite The CBS Thursday Night Movie on CBS. In the 1973-1974 season The CBS Thursday Night Movie regularly aired recent hit movies, including Bonnie and Clyde (1967), The Wild Bunch (1969), Bullitt (1968), and The Graduate (1967). The competition on ABC was also stiff. Then in its second season, the crime drama The Streets of San Francisco would rank no. 22 in the Nielsen ratings for the 1973-1974 season.

Between The CBS Thursday Night Movie on CBS and Streets of San Francisco on ABC, NBC Follies found itself trounced in the ratings. In November NBC tried to give the show a boost by changing its title to Sammy Davis Jr. Starring in NBC Follies, to no avail. NBC Follies continued to do badly in the ratings and NBC ultimately cancelled the show. The last episode aired on December 27 1973. NBC Follies didn't even survive into 1974.

Today NBC Follies is largely forgotten except by television historians and fans of Sammy Davis Jr. and Mickey Rooney. The initial special is available on YouTube, but only in black and white, and the debut episode is available on YouTube as well, but other than that it is not available on streaming. Given it only lasted 13 episodes, it is doubtful it ever will appear on any streaming platforms. Regardless, NBC Follies is worth remembering, if only as one of the many novelties to air on network television in the Seventies and the only real attempt to bring a revue similar to Ziegfeld Follies to television.

It Turns Out Threads Isn't Much of a Twitter Killer

When Threads launched on July 5 2023, many media outlets referred to it as a "Twitter killer." I had some serious doubts about this, as there were too many things about Threads that I figured most users would not like, such as the lack of a reverse chronological feed, lack of a web interface, the inability to use hashtags, and the fact that one has to have an Instagram to even use it, among other things. Now I do have to note that Meta (the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads) have corrected many of these things. Regardless, it seems my doubts about Threads being a "Twitter killer" have proven to be correct.

Threads started out seeming as if it would be a roaring success. By July 7, two days after its launch, it had 44 million daily active users. Unfortunately for Meta, according to data from marketing intelligence company Sensor Tower, Threads ended July with only 8 million daily active users. That is a drop of about 82%. This can be contrasted to Twitter (which owner Elon Musk recently rebranded to "X"), which has 249 million daily active users as of this month according to Apptopia. As unhappy as people are with Twitter (I refuse to call it "X") under Elon Musk, it would seem that they don't care much for Threads either.

As to why Threads experienced such a massive drop in daily active users, I have to think part of it is that it did not have a reverse chronological feed. While Threads began rolling out a reverse chronological feed (called "Following") in late July, it may have been too little, too late for many users. In my experience most people looking for a microblogging service, such as Twitter or Mastodon, want their feeds in reverse chronological order. They do not want their feeds dictated by an algorithm. Twitter has an algorithm dictated feed (called "For You"), but I don't know anyone who actually uses it. Many users who joined Threads may have stopped using the service as soon as they realized it didn't have a reverse chronological feed.

Another objection many users may have had to Threads is the lack of a web interface. While Threads recently added a web interface in late August, again, it may have been a case of too little, too late. Now I don't know how many people prefer using microblogging services on the web as opposed to using them on a phone app, but I think enough people prefer using mircroblogging services on the web to make a difference. While I might check my various microblogging services on my phone, I much prefer to do any actual posting on the web. Again, many users may have given up on Threads when they realized there was no way to access it on the web.

While Threads has a reverse chronological feed now and a web interface as well, according to reports I have read recently, one still cannot use hashtags on the service. Supposedly, the ability to use hashtags is one of those features that will eventually come to Threads, but many users may not want to wait that long. Hashtags can be found on virtually every other microblogging service, and even Facebook and Instagram (curiously, both apps are also put out by Meta). Users have been using hashtags for years. They may have deserted Threads when they realized they could not use hashtags on the service.

As if losing a huge number of daily active users in less than a month weren't bad enough, there are also some things about Threads that might discourage many potential users from using the app. Chief among these is the fact that one has to have an Instagram account to even use it. One even logs into Threads with their Instagram user name and password. Indeed, Instagram and Threads are so intertwined that if one deletes their Threads account, one's Instagram account is deleted as well, and vice versa. Now I know there are probably many who don't have Instagram accounts, and many of those probably don't want to open one just to use Threads.

Another, more serious hurdle for many adopting Threads is, quite simply, privacy concerns. Threads is apparently even more invasive with regards to privacy than even Facebook and Instagram. Threads collects data on users' health and fitness, browsing history, purchases, contacts, and so on. Apparently, Threads is still unavailable in the European Union because it doesn't comply with the EU's regulations regarding privacy. I would think there would be many who would not use Threads precisely because of the privacy concerns. I know it is why I haven't opened a Threads account. While any app knowing my browsing history wouldn't bother me, I see no reason why they should have access to purchases I have made, my contacts, and especially my health.

Of course, beyond anything else, much of the reason Threads may have experienced such a precipitous drop in users is simply that there are such a large number of Twitter alternatives out there now. There's Bluesky, Hive Social, Mastodon, Post, Spill, Spoutible, and probably some I haven't even heard of. Many users may have simply tried out Threads and decided they liked another Twitter alternative better instead. Indeed, beyond privacy concerns and objections to Threads's lack of features, another reason I didn't join Threads is that I am already on Spoutible and Mastodon. Indeed, Spoutible has become my favourite social media service of late.

In the end, Threads has clearly not turned out to be the "Twitter killer" the media, for whatever reason, thought it would be. I think this can be marked up to a number of missteps Meta made along the way, from the initial lack of a reverse chronological feed to the apparently still current inability to use hashtags on the service. Users accustomed to Twitter probably want many of the features that microblogging service has. When a particular microblogging service doesn't have them, they will simply find another microblogging service to use. And, right now, there are plenty to choose from.

The 50th Anniversary of Star Trek: The Animated Series

The Saturday morning cartoon Star Trek, now known as Star Trek: The Animated Series, debuted fifty years ago today on NBC, on September 8 1973. Star Trek: The Animated Series was unusual for a Saturday morning cartoon based on a prime time television series in two ways. First, the original show's creator (Gene Roddenberry) served as an executive producer and had near total control over its production. Second,  most of the original cast returned to voice their characters. Another thing that set it apart was the sophistication of its writing, which was such that it would appeal more to teenagers and adults than very young children. Star Trek: The Animated Series was produced in part by Filmation, an animation company that had already made its name with adaptations of DC Comics characters (The New Adventures of Superman, The Superman/Aquaman Hour, and so on) and Archie of Archie Comics fame.

The origins of Star Trek: The Animated Series go back to 1969, when the original Star Trek was in its third season on NBC. According to Lou Scheimer in the book he co-wrote with Andy Mangels, Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation, Filmation worked with Philip Mayer, the director of special programming for Filmation, and animator Don Christensen in developing a proposed animated series. Don Christensen had worked for a variety of animation studios, including Warner Bros., Disney, and DePatie-Freleng. He had written two episodes of Filmation's Saturday morning cartoon Journey to the Center of the Earth in 1967. The proposed series would have seen the original crew of the Enterprise training teenagers aboard a ship called the Excalibur. The new, teenage characters would have included a young Vulcan named Steve, an African American named Bob, a Chinese youth named Stick, and others. In the end, nothing really came of the project.

It was in 1972 that Filmation finally made a deal with Paramount to produce an animated Star Trek series (according to Lou Scheimer in Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation, Star Trek story editor D. C. Fontana said it was February 14 1972). Star Trek: The Animated Series was guaranteed two seasons with 22 episode spread out over those seasons. At the time Paramount and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry were not getting along, and the studio could not do it without Mr. Roddenberry's involvement. With Paramount and Gene Roddenberry not getting along at the time, Lou Scheimer found himself talking to the two different parties to make the deal. Ultimately, they reached a deal where Paramount had a third of the series, Gene Roddenberry had a third of the series, and Filmation had a third of the series.

The 1972-1973 season had been disastrous for NBC with regards to their Saturday morning line-up. The network wound up cancelling most of their new shows from that season.. Since its cancellation in 1969, Star Trek had proven to be a hit in syndication and had developed a rather sizeable following. Desperate for a hit on Saturday morning, NBC then wanted Star Trek: The Animated Series very badly, so badly that the network allowed Gene Roddenberry, Filmation, and Paramount total creative control over the show. From the beginning, it was decided that Star Trek: The Animated Series would not be a children's show.

Gene Roddenberry was not the only person from the original show to work on Star Trek: The Animated Series. Filmation hired D.C. Fontana, who been story editor on the original series, to serve as story editor on Star Trek: The Animated Series. D.C. Fontana convinced many of the writers on the original show to write for the new series. Samuel A. Peeples, who had written the second pilot of Star Trek ("Where No Man Has Gone Before") also wrote the first episode of the animated series, "Beyond the Farthest Star." David Gerrold revived a script, "More Tribbles, More Troubles," that was to serve as a sequel to his episode "The Trouble With Tribbles," which had gone unproduced during the original series's third season. Stephen Kandel, creator of con man Harry Mudd, wrote the episode "Mudd's Passion." D.C. Fontana even brought respected science fiction writer Larry Niven on board to write an episode.

Most of the original cast also reunited for Star Trek: The Animated Series, although it could have turned out otherwise. To keep costs down, Filmation originally planned to cut the characters of Sulu and Uhura It was Leonard Nimoy, who was returning as Spock, who pointed out that they would be excluding the two minority actors from the show. In Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation, Lou Scheimer wrote,"We were horrified at our unintended slight, made all the worse because we were the one studio who had been championing diversity in its output." The character of Ensign Chekov was cut from the show, which meant Walter Koenig would not be part of the series.  Largely due to Leonard Nimoy, Filmation did buy a script from Mr. Koenig, "The Infinite Vulcan."

Two new characters would be added to Star Trek: The Animated Series. Lt. Arex, who was voiced by James Doohan, was an Edosian, a tripedal species who took Chekov's place as navigator. Lt. M'ress was a Caitian, a feline humanoid species. She served as a communications officer on the Enterprise. She was voiced by Majel Barrett. Majel Barrett also provided the voice for the ship's computer. Both James Doohan and Majel Barrett would voice various other incidental characters throughout the series.

Not only did original regular cast members return from the original series, but Star Trek: The Animated Series also featured guest stars from the original show. Mark Lenard once more played Spock's father Sarek in "Yesteryear." Stanley Adams reprised his role from "The Trouble with Tribbles," Cyrano Jones, in "More Tribbles, More Troubles." Roger C. Carmel returned as con man Harcourt Fenton Mudd in "Mudd's Passion."

Star Trek: The Animated Series had a huge budget for a Saturday morning cartoon at the time. It cost $75,000 per episode. While much of the budget went to the cast, a good deal of it also went into the animation. Don Christensen, who had worked on Filmation's earlier proposed Star Trek series, served as art director on the show. Bob Kline, Herb Hazelton, and George Goode, who all worked on other Filmation shows as well, did much of the design work on Star Trek: The Animated Series.

Star Trek: The Animated Series did not use the theme Alexander Courage had written for the original series. Instead, it used a theme credited to Yvette Blais and Jeff Michael, but was actually written entirely by Filmation's resident composer Ray Ellis. He used the pseudonym "Yvette Blais"due to problems with royalties, while "Jeff Michael" was producer and Filmation co-founder Norm Prescott, who received a cut of the royalties for all music composed for Filmation productions. According to Star Trek writer David Gerrold, the original theme was not used due to a disagreement between Alexander Courage and Gene Roddenberry. Mr. Roddenberry had added lyrics to the original theme, which effectively cut Mr. Courage's residuals for it in half.

Star Trek: The Animated Series debuted on September 8 1973. By total coincidence, this was the date that Star Trek: The Original Series debuted in 1966. The show was well received by critics. It won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Entertainment Children's Show in both 1974 and 1975. Star Trek: The Animated Series did relatively well in the ratings with regards to teenagers and adults. Unfortunately, it did not do particularly well with younger children, the audience that mattered the most to advertisers with regards to Saturday morning television in the Seventies. Star Trek: The Animated Series would be cancelled following its second season.

At the time it should not have been surprising that Star Trek would be revived as a Saturday morning cartoon. During the 1973-1974 season there was a cycle which saw the debuts of several cartoons based on prime time, live action shows. Lassie's Rescue Rangers was inspired by both the Lassie movies and the long running TV show. My Favorite Martians (which, like Star Trek, was produced by Filmation) was based on the classic sitcom My Favorite Martian. Jeannie was very loosely based on the classic sitcom  I Dream of Jeannie. Emergency +4 was based on Emergency!, which was then still on the air. Given this cycle towards Saturday morning cartoons based on prime time shows, it would have perhaps been more surprising if Star Trek has not been adapted as a Saturday morning cartoon.

Star Trek: The Animated Series would not produce a lot in the way of merchandising. Filmation sold animation cels of the series. A series of novelizations of the show's episodes by Alan Dean Foster would also be published under the title Star Trek Logs. A public service announcement for the non-profit group Keep America Beautiful was produced featuring voices of the cast and animation by Filmation. It aired on Saturday mornings while Star Trek: The Animated Series was on the air.

While Star Trek: The Animated Series was well-loved by many fans, it was following the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation that Gene Roddenberry decided Star Trek: The Animated Series was no longer canon. David Gerrold placed much of the blame for Star Trek: The Animated Series no longer being canon on Richard Arnold, a research consultant Mr. Roddenberry appointed "Star Trek archivist. Regardless, even after Gene Roddenberry decided it was no longer canon., Star Trek: The Animated Series introduced several concepts that would continue to be accepted  It was first on Star Trek: The Animated Series that it was established that James Kirk's middle initial, "T," stands for "Tiberius." The episode "The Practical Joker" introduced what would be known as the Holodeck on Star Trek: The Next Generation and subsequent Star Trek shows, but was called a "Rec Room" in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode.  The Vulcan city ShiKahr, which first appeared in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "Yesteryear," also became an established part of Star Trek lore.

Since the death of Gene Roddenberry in 1991 and Richard Arnold's departure, it would seem that Star Trek: The Animated Series, or at least most of the show, is once more regarded as canon. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine made several references to the animated series. In the episode "Once More into the Breech," Klingon officer Kor refers to his ship as the Klothos, the same name it had in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "Time Trap." The episode "Broken Link" includes a reference to Edosians (Arex's species). When the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Ultimate Computer" was remastered, the ship Woden was redone as a grain carrier of the sort that appeared in the animated series's episode "More Tribbles, More Troubles." The character of Robert April, a recurring character on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, first appeared on Star Trek: The Animated Episode in "The Counter-Clock Incident."

Perhaps no show has made as much use of concepts from Star Trek: The Animated Series as its fellow animated series, Star Trek: Lower Decks. Indeed, the chief medical officer on the Cerritos, T'Ana, is a Caitian just as M'Ress was. The episode ""Kayshon, His Eyes Open" includes the skeleton of the giant clone of Spock from the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "The Infinite Vulcan." The show has also featured an Edosian. The aforementioned instances are not the only times concepts from Star Trek: The Animated Series have appeared in subsequent Star Trek projects.

Regardless of whether Star Trek: The Animated Series is canon or not, the show would have a lasting impact. It was the first new Star Trek project since the cancellation of the original series, six years before the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). In this respect, it kept the franchise alive at a time when a live-action Star Trek project seemed unlikely.

Perhaps more importantly, Star Trek: The Animated Series would lead to the creation of new Star Trek fans. Prior to Star Trek: The Animated Series, I had seen the occasional Star Trek rerun on those rare days when we could pick up the television stations from St. Louis and Kansas City, so that Star Trek: The Animated Series was my first prolonged exposure to the franchise. By the time the show had ended, I was hooked. When KRCG in Jefferson City started rerunning the original series on Saturday nights, I was already a Star Trek fan. I am sure I am not alone in my experience, and that there are others who became Star Trek fans because of the animated series.

Star Trek: The Animated Series was hardly perfect. Being a Saturday morning cartoon, the animation could be extremely limited. The occasional error crept through to finished episodes. That having been said, the backgrounds on the show could be amazing and the scripts were top notch. In particular, "Yesteryear," by D.C. Fontana, ranks among the best episodes of any Star Trek series in my book. For much of its history, Star Trek: The Animated Series has been overlooked among the shows in the franchise. It is time that it was recognised for the remarkable achievement it was.

"Better By You, Better Than Me" by Spooky Tooth

Many of the obituaries following Gary Wright's recent death focused primarily upon his solo career, particularly his hit single "Dream Weaver." What these obituaries overlooked was his work with Spooky Tooth many years earlier. The songs Gary Wright wrote or co-wrote for Spooky Tooth feature the same poeticism found in his later solo work. Possibly my favourite Spooky Tooth song is "Better By You, Better Than Me." The song appears on Spooky Tooth's second album, Spooky Two, released in March 1969.

"Better By Me, Better Than You" would later be covered by Judas Priest in 1978. It was released as a single and appeared on their album Stained Class. It was in 1985, during the moral panic over backmasking that Judas Priest's cover of the song was at the centre of a lawsuit alleging that two teenagers killed themselves due to subliminal messages on the song. The case was eventually dismissed the case, with the judge stating that the "...plaintiffs lost this case because they failed to prove that defendants intentionally placed subliminal messages on the album and that those messages were a cause of the suicide."

In addition to Judas Priest, "Better By Me, Better Than You" was also covered by Armageddon in 1970, Gunhill in 19975 and Blues Karloff in 2014.

Gary Wright Passes On

Gary Wright, the singer, songwriter, and keyboardist known for his work both with the band Spooky Tooth and as a solo artist, died on September 4 2023 at the age of 80.

Gary Wright was born on April 26 1943 in Cresskill, New Jersey. As a child actor he appeared on television on the TV show Captain Video and His Video Rangers. He also appeared in TV and radio commercials. In 1954 he appeared on Broadway in a production of the play Fanny. He studied both piano and organ. While attending Tenafly High School in Tenafly, New Jersey, he was a member of various rock bands. It was in 1959 that he made his first professional recording along with Billy Markle as the duo Gary & Billy. The single "Working After School" was released in 1960, but did not chart.

Concerned about the instability of a music career, Gary Wright decided to become a physician. He studied medicine at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, then New York University and Downstate Medical College in Brooklyn. He went to the Free University of Berlin in West Germany to complete his medical studies. The whole time he continued to play in bands. It was while he was in Berlin that he toured with a band called The New York Times.

The New York Times was touring with Traffic when Gary Wright met Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records, the label to which Traffic belonged. Chris Blackwell persuaded Gary Wright to go to London. It was in London that Gary Wright formed Spooky Tooth with  pianist Mike Harrison and drummer Mike Kellie. Spooky Tooth was signed to Island Records and their first album, It's All About, was released in June 1968. Their second and third albums, Spooky Two and Ceremony, were released the following year. Gary Wright left Spooky Tooth following Ceremony.

It was in 1970 that he signed with A&M Records to pursue a solo career. His first solo album, Extraction, was released that same year. Gary Wright also performed on George Harrison's solo album, All Things Must Pass. It was following his second solo album that Gary Wright reformed Spooky Tooth with Mike Harrison. Gary Wright would record three albums with the newly formed Spooky Tooth, You Broke My Heart So I Busted Your Jaw, Witness, and The Mirror. Gary Wright and Mike Harrison also worked on the duo Splinter's debut album The Place I Love.

Following the break-up of Spooky Tooth, Gary Wright signed with Warner Bros. Records as a solo artist and recorded the album The Dream Weaver. The album proved to be a hit and peaked at no. 7 on the Billboard album chart. The single "Dream Weaver" from the album went to no. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single "Love is Alive," from the same album, also went to no. 2 on the chart. His next album, The Light of Smiles, peaked at no. 23 on the Billboard album chart. In total, Gary Wright released twelve studio albums from 1970 to 2010. His 1979 single "Really Wanna Know You" went to no. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Gary Wright also wrote soundtracks for films, including Benjamin (1972), Endanger Species (1982), and Feuer und Eis (1986). He reunited with Spooky Tooth in 2004 and their DVD/CD Normal Poets--Live in Germany was released in 2007. In 2008 he toured with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band.  He joined up with Spooky Tooth in 2009 for a series of concerts in London celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of Island Records. He toured again with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band in 2010 and 2011.

Gary Wright was a very talented songwriter. While best known for his hit "Dream Weaver," he composed many other songs that would have a lasting impact. Some of the songs he wrote for Spooky Tooth, such as "Sunshine Help Me," "That Was Only Yesterday," and "Better By You, Better Than Me," would be covered by other artists. His solo hits "Dream Weaver," "Love is Alive," and "Really Wanna Know You" remain popular to this day. He was also one of the most gifted keyboardists in rock music. He could play multiple styles, ranging from bluesy piano to more classical sounding keyboards. He was also among the first rock artists to use a portable keyboard, utilising the instrument as early as the mid-Seventies. As if being a talented keyboardist wasn't enough, Gary Wright also had a powerful voice. His vocals could be by turns dreamy or soulful. Gary Wright was an incredible talent, and he will continue to have an influence on rock music for years and years to come.