Top 40 Tony - ProfilesArchive

About Me

hey HEY hey (anyone remember Haywood Nelson?)--I’m a music aficionado and free-lance musician named Top 40 Tony. How’d I get a name like that? Welllll, check THIS!I have an unusual talent--a quirk if you will. If you tell me the day you were born, married, the day you graduated from high school/college and it’s between the time period of January 1, 1955 and December 31, 1999 I can tell you what single was number 1 on Billboard’s Best Sellers & Hot 100 chart that week--for example, my number 1 b-day hit is the screechy "Big Girls Don’t Cry" by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. It’s more fun when I run down these facts in person than on this forum (naturally). I host a Public Access show on Cable TV in the Chicago area, had interviews in two local newspapers (Chicago Reader, Northwest Herald, etc.), and I’ve had a feature spot on John Landecker’s radio show at WGN-AM in Chicago. Even though this display of freaky behavior has brought me a bit of media time I really enjoy applyin’ my so-called "encyclopedic knowledge" to bein’ a musician. I play bass, drums and rhythm guitar and I’m quite well-rounded musically--don’t kick it much to Opera or the current pop-dressed-in-a-cowboy hat trend called Country...I’ll deal with the ol’ school C&W though. I’m a freelance guy so I’ve played for various local groups over the last few years--mostly all of these gigs have been playin’ bass as that’s my signiature instrument of the three I play. With influences that range from Ray Brown, Flea, Motown bassist James Jamerson, Charles Mingus to Jaco Pastorius, Donald ’Duck’ Dunn and Chris Wood I’ve been known to "get the job done" when it’s needed. Even though I haven’t made millions of $$ at it I’m very passionate about what I know and do and love it to my heart and soul. It gives me a kind of peace and sense of belongin’ that’s gettin’ harder to find in a world like the one we all co-habit these days! Anyway, keep droppin’ by and I’ll keep ya up to date as to when and where I’ll be doin’ these musical/music talk type-things!

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 4/21/2006
Band Members: As I'm a free lancer, the answer here would be VARIOUS!..WILLBE SIDNEY PLAYS A FEW TUNES HE LIKES!!!A COUPLE OF FORMER "THICKHEADS" in "A 1968 STINGRAY CONVERTIBLE"
Influences: My mother Tina, my aunts Loretta and Lillia, my uncle Theodore, My grandparents Oscar Lee & Jessye Mae and the stereo that belonged to the people that lived on the second floor over us (nothin' BUT bass), Motown's Funk Brothers, Ray Brown, Paul Chambers, Charles Mingus, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Larry Graham, George Clinton/Bootsy Collins, Fred Wesley & the JBs, Tower of Power, Jaco Pastorius, Mark King (from Level 42), Paul McCartney & Joy Division's Peter Hook (the two most influential bassists from the UK), the L.A. Wrecking Crew musicians (particularly drummer Hal Blaine and bassist Joe Osborn), The Meters (N'awlins finest!), Nashville's "A Team" studio musicians, Muscle Shoals musicians Barry Beckett/David Hood/Roger Hawkins, Donald "Duck" Dunn & Al Jackson, Jr., Geezer Butler, Chris Squire, Cliff Burton, Les Claypool, Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel's bassman), Chris Wood, Stevie Wonder, Kraftwerk, almost ALL the Chicago Blues, R&B and Rock/Pop recording artists from the '50s, '60s, '70s and '80s, Quincy Jones, Phil Spector, Sun Records' Sam Phillips, Blue Note Records/engineer Rudy Van Gelder, Atlantic Records' Tom Dowd, Brian Wilson, Gamble/Huff & Thom Bell's "Philly Soul" sound/MFSB, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, thousands of singles that hit the top 40, thousands of singles that didn't hit the top 40, thousands of one-hit wonders, Sugarhill, Tommy Boy & Def Jam '80s recordings, TV music variety show hosts and Chicago DJs like Dick Clark, Don Cornelius, Wolfman Jack, Casey Kasem, Herb Kent (the "Cool Gent"), Bob Stroud, Richard Pegue, E. Rodney Jones, Yvonne Daniels, Larry Lujack, Mark Dixon, music historians & critics Lenny Kaye, Nelson George, Cub Koda and Marshall Crenshaw, Joel Whitburn/Paul Grein/Fred Bronson (Billboard guys), hundreds of compilation albums (K-Tel's "Super Bad is Back"), and naturally all my friends!.. Get your own badge
Sounds Like: See list of influences
Type of Label: None

My Blog

OTIS REDDINGS "(SITTIN ON) THE DOCK OF THE BAY"

40 years ago this week the number 1 single in the US was Otis Redding’s million-seller "(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay"--March 16, 1968. The song is a bittersweet tune with bit...
Posted by Top 40 Tony on Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:16:00 PST

PJ and KELLY in CHICAGO

PJ and KELLY are two friends of mine from Woodstock, IL. Both of them have moved from McHenry County to the north side of Chicago. Even though both have a small-town charm about them th...
Posted by Top 40 Tony on Wed, 16 Jan 2008 07:54:00 PST

"RIDICULOUS" DEVIN HESTER DESERVES A RAISE!

In 2006 without doubt or question the Chicago Bears had a "secret weapon"--a young man named DEVIN HESTER. In the space of a year his abilities are far from being a secret! His antics a...
Posted by Top 40 Tony on Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:28:00 PST

BUBBLE PUPPY-"HOT SMOKE AND SASSAFRAS"

In 1969 a band comprised of guitarists/vocalists Rod Prince and Todd Potter, bassist Roy Cox Jr. and drummer David Fore came out of Austin, TX. They called their group BUBBLE PUPPY, a name they&n...
Posted by Top 40 Tony on Tue, 08 Jan 2008 01:51:00 PST

MR. CAB DRIVER/THE HUSTLERS

McHenry County occasionally seems to be a barren wasteland for bands that play and write their own material. Sometimes it appears that if a band can't slog through "Sweet Home Alabama" or fumble their...
Posted by Top 40 Tony on Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:58:00 PST

THE JACKSON 5 1970-1975

When I was in my single-digit ages there was a 5 member vocal group that I thought were the coolest dudes I'd ever seen or heard. They were from Gary, Indiana, they were a VERY young group and th...
Posted by Top 40 Tony on Wed, 09 Jan 2008 10:36:00 PST

LISTEN TO THE MINUTEMEN!

Some 16 years ago when I got my first car a man named Adam Berry was with me. The car was a 1983 Chevy Cavalier station wagon. It was in REAL GOOD shape and it had a cassette player. Adam had a tape w...
Posted by Top 40 Tony on Thu, 06 Sep 2007 01:24:00 PST