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1910 Fruitgum Company


RonJonSurfer

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No that wasn't a misprint, I haven't been drinking and medication hasn't worn off....The 1910 Fruitgum Company are playing, practically in my backyard, on August 27th. It's a free concert put on by my town on the high school lawn (which I can see from my back window about 200 yards across the brook). Who knew? I saw a psychedelic poster in a store front advertising the show. Free food and drink too...I'm there....I'll report back after the show.

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That'd be great ! I wonder who their lineup is now. A lot of those Bubble Gum Groups were interchangeable.

DEMAND that they sing 1,2,3 Red Light and Indian Giver. :)

Right on the money there, Darryl. Check out this brief bio from Yahoo:

The prototypical bubblegum group, the 1910 Fruitgum Company was the brainchild of Buddah Records house producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz, also the masterminds behind such phenoms as the Ohio Express and the Music Explosion. The Kasenetz-Katz formula was a simple one: they enlisted anonymous studio musicians (in this case, vocalists Mark Gutkowski and Joey Levine -- also the singer in the Ohio Express -- along with guitarists Frank Jeckell, Pat Karwan, and Chuck Travis, horn player Larry Ripley, and drummers Rusty Oppenheimer and Floyd Marcus) and prolifically recorded lightweight, fluffy pop songs which found an eager audience in fans looking for an alternative to the edgier rock music of the late 1960s. With the 1910 Fruitgum Company, the Kasenetz-Katz team scored their first major hit, the 1968 Top Five smash "Simon Says," launching the bubblegum craze; that same year they also scored with the singles "1, 2, 3 Red Light" and "Goody Goody Gumdrops," all three issued as title tracks from the group's first trio of LPs. 1969's "Indian Giver," the title cut from the Fruitgum Company's fourth album, was their last Top Five hit, and after one last LP, Hard Ride, the group was disbanded; some of its members later resurfaced in the Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

Mark Gutkowski and Joey Levine were the main singers for the group so I'd expect at least one of them to be there. These guys summered at a shore-house in Mystic Island, NJ in the early 70's. My wife's aunt had the home right next door to theirs. Levine used to be ga ga over my sister-in-law- Anita who was only 16 at the time. They were fun-loving kids. And real hounds.

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Right on the money there, Darryl. Check out this brief bio from Yahoo:

The prototypical bubblegum group, the 1910 Fruitgum Company was the brainchild of Buddah Records house producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz, also the masterminds behind such phenoms as the Ohio Express and the Music Explosion. The Kasenetz-Katz formula was a simple one: they enlisted anonymous studio musicians (in this case, vocalists Mark Gutkowski and Joey Levine -- also the singer in the Ohio Express -- along with guitarists Frank Jeckell, Pat Karwan, and Chuck Travis, horn player Larry Ripley, and drummers Rusty Oppenheimer and Floyd Marcus) and prolifically recorded lightweight, fluffy pop songs which found an eager audience in fans looking for an alternative to the edgier rock music of the late 1960s. With the 1910 Fruitgum Company, the Kasenetz-Katz team scored their first major hit, the 1968 Top Five smash "Simon Says," launching the bubblegum craze; that same year they also scored with the singles "1, 2, 3 Red Light" and "Goody Goody Gumdrops," all three issued as title tracks from the group's first trio of LPs. 1969's "Indian Giver," the title cut from the Fruitgum Company's fourth album, was their last Top Five hit, and after one last LP, Hard Ride, the group was disbanded; some of its members later resurfaced in the Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

Mark Gutkowski and Joey Levine were the main singers for the group so I'd expect at least one of them to be there. These guys summered at a shore-house in Mystic Island, NJ in the early 70's. My wife's aunt had the home right next door to theirs. Levine used to be ga ga over my sister-in-law- Anita who was only 16 at the time. They were fun-loving kids. And real hounds.

UJ, so the tie in between 1910FGC and Ohio Express was the same lead singer? Is that why for years I thought 1910FGC did Yummy Yummy Yummy?

Note: Yummy Yummy Yummy was used at the end of a Monty Python episode. there were some packing crates on stage performing it to the original tune.

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Somewhere along the line I also disovered this, researching some song or another for the Top Ten. There were others like this also, along the same lines. Now I have to dig through my brain to figure it out. Another lead singer that did triple duty for 3 separate bubble-gum groups!

Very cool indeed! :thumbsup:

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Somewhere along the line I also disovered this, researching some song or another for the Top Ten. There were others like this also, along the same lines. Now I have to dig through my brain to figure it out. Another lead singer that did triple duty for 3 separate bubble-gum groups!

Very cool indeed! :thumbsup:

Are you perhaps thinking of Ron Dante? Voice of The Archies, Cufflinks and more? Check him out here... RON DANTE

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No not Ron Dante, but, I'd forgotten about him, you are absolutely right! :)

There's another also, I do believe the one I'm thinking of had #1 hits with two separate bands at or near the same time. It was something I'd researched a few weeks ago. Good lord, this will drive me nuts! ;)

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from wiki: Male vocals for the fictional Archies group were provided by Ron Dante and female duet vocals were provided by Toni Wine. Wine was succeeded in 1970 by Donna Marie, who in turn was replaced on the final recordings by Merle Miller. The only Archies song not to feature Ron Dante on lead was 1971's "Love Is Living In You," sung by Richie Adams. Jeff Barry, Andy Kim, Susan Morse, Joey Levine, Maeretha Stewart, Ellie Greenwich, Bobby Bloom and Leslie Miller contributed background vocals at various times, with Barry contributing his trademark bass voice (portrayed as being sung by Jughead in the cartoon) on cuts such as "Jingle Jangle," "Rock 'n' Roll Music", "A Summer Prayer For Peace" (which hit #1 in South Africa in 1971) and "You Little Angel, You." Musicians on Archies records included guitarist Hugh McCracken, bassists Chuck Rainey and Joey Macho, keyboard player Ron Frangipane and drummers Buddy Saltzman and Gary Chester.

Andy Kim, released the single "How'd We Ever Get This Way?" on the Steed label. That record made the U.S. Top Twenty. In 1969, Kim had two hit singles, "Rainbow Ride," which again made it into the U.S. Top Twenty, and "Baby, I Love You," which got to #5 and was popular enough in Canada to earn him a Juno Award as his country's "Top Male Vocalist."

About Andy Kim:

That same year, with Jeff Barry, Kim co-wrote "Sugar, Sugar" which was a hit single for The Archies, reaching No. 1 on the U.S. pop music charts and ultimately becoming the RIAA Record of the Year. Barry and Kim found fortune as bubblegum pop songwriters. They wrote more songs for the Archies, and also for Changes, the last first-run album by The Monkees in 1970, which Barry produced.

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No, no, no. Great info, but no. ;)

It wasn't Andy Kim either. This person had nothing to do with Sugar Sugar. I nominated that, and it wasn't from that research It was some weeks ago, and I believe the nomination may have been one of Joes', or phils. I'll figure this out tonight, hopefully. :P

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Hi All,

There is a lot of misinformation out there regarding the 1910 Fruitgum Company. I'm the original (and current) drummer and have written a blog on Bubblegum University - www.bubblegum-music.com - to tell the real story. Check it out.

The other original members were Frank Jeckell (also in the current band), Steve Gutkowski, Pat Karwin, and Mark Gutkowski.

Yummy, Yummy was recorded by the Ohio Express (Joey Levine)and was also on one of the FGC LPs (K&K did that a lot). We currently do shows with Ron Dante and have 2 coming up - one in Alabama and one on Sept 1st in Vegas.

Hope to see you all at one of our upcoming shows.

Floyd Marcus

1910 FGC

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Hi All,

There is a lot of misinformation out there regarding the 1910 Fruitgum Company. I'm the original (and current) drummer and have written a blog on Bubblegum University - www.bubblegum-music.com - to tell the real story. Check it out.

The other original members were Frank Jeckell (also in the current band), Steve Gutkowski, Pat Karwin, and Mark Gutkowski.

Yummy, Yummy was recorded by the Ohio Express (Joey Levine)and was also on one of the FGC LPs (K&K did that a lot). We currently do shows with Ron Dante and have 2 coming up - one in Alabama and one on Sept 1st in Vegas.

Hope to see you all at one of our upcoming shows.

Floyd Marcus

1910 FGC

Floyd...thanks for stopping by SF. I am looking forward to seeing the band in a couple weeks in Springfield, NJ.

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Hi All,

There is a lot of misinformation out there regarding the 1910 Fruitgum Company. I'm the original (and current) drummer and have written a blog on Bubblegum University - www.bubblegum-music.com - to tell the real story. Check it out.

The other original members were Frank Jeckell (also in the current band), Steve Gutkowski, Pat Karwin, and Mark Gutkowski.

Yummy, Yummy was recorded by the Ohio Express (Joey Levine)and was also on one of the FGC LPs (K&K did that a lot). We currently do shows with Ron Dante and have 2 coming up - one in Alabama and one on Sept 1st in Vegas.

Hope to see you all at one of our upcoming shows.

Floyd Marcus

1910 FGC

Thanks for the link Floyd! Welcome to SF. (I like your name)

Interesting stuff on your site about The Lemon Pipers, Green Tambourine has been a favorite of mine since I first heard it.

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Just wanted to add that we're working on a couple of CDs that should be out by the end of the year. One is a Christmas CD, the other a studio CD. Both have old and new songs on them.

We did a show in Garwood NJ last November that was filmed by a PBS crew from the Netherlands. They sent us a 5 minute video that included clips of the show, an interview with myself, Frank and Mickie, and some old video clips. It's out on Youtube at

In the mid-80s I had a band called the Shadow Page band. I wrote all the songs and put out an album called Hanging by a Thread. It's available on oldies.com at a very reasonable price, but is not out on CD. I'd say it's more 80s rock than bubblegum.

I'm also hoping to create my own website and put some song clips out there, but just haven't had the time.

Floyd

(I also have a myspace page /Floyd1910)

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