Freddie Boomboom Cannon Funny Things You Do 1996

The Cannon is locked and loaded but won't be going off around here for the time being. Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon, a musical icon since rock 'n' roll's first decade, is kicking it in Oxnard these days. He brought along his Boston accent and his love for the Red Sox. His closest gig is in January in Cerritos, a likely exasperating road trip south from the 805, but then again, if the stars are properly aligned, a totally doable adventure.

Once upon a time, Cannon was one of a zillion young Italians that could be heard on the AM dial — or back when radio was cool, and according to their own accounts, so were your grandparents. Cannon (Frederick Anthony Picariello), Dion (Dion DiMucci), Frankie Avalon (Francis Thomas Avallone), Bobby Rydell (Robert Louis Ridarelli), Fabian (Fabiano Anthony Forte) were some of the Italian stallions corrupting American youth by playing the Devil's music and having a damn good time all the while.

Cannon was unusual compared to the majority of the rock stars in the late '50s and early '60s in that he was already a musician and not just a singer. He had played guitar in other bands before striking out on his own, plus he wrote most of his songs — 22 of them made it onto the Billboard charts. As a good son, he also listened to his mom.

She co-wrote "Tallahassee Lassie" with Freddy — his first hit which propelled her son into a career in music back in 1959 when Ike was golfing his way through the Cold War. Cannon's other huge hit was "Palisades Park" in 1962, written by Chuck Barris, whom we all love for and also blame for "The Gong Show." Cannon appeared on "American Bandstand" an amazing 110 times — a good way to sell a lot of records. Cannon did just that because Dick Clark's famous show provided the soundtrack of choice for millions of American teens for more than 35 years.

Cannon is still playing these days, and his mug was already on TV this month, appearing with the terrifically cheesy Svengoolie (definitely, Elvira not), who has too many commercials and bad jokes, interrupting classic Universal Pictures monster movies on MeTV every Saturday night. Cannon wrote "The Svengooli Stomp" last year and appeared on the show and sang the song a few weeks ago. He also had plenty to say about lots of stuff during a recent phoner.

Hi, is this Bill?

It is.

Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon.

Freddy, you called on time. You must always start on time.

Am I a little early?

No, you're fine, man. So has anything happened since Freddy Karmon & the Hurricanes? Did I miss anything? What's the latest in your world?

What's new is that I'm talking to you giving you an update on what I'm doing and what I'm gonna do, you know, some shows and stuff. …

OK, so let's begin at the beginning. What was it like being a rock star in the '50s? And what about those Dick Clark tours? I have so many questions. …

Those tours in the '50s were kinda rough. They were long tours — 40 or 50 dates in a row like, one nighters, so they were a little hard. Today, it's a little easier, but back then, it was fun. I was young and when you're young, you can do a lot of things and you don't think about anything.

How come so many of those early rock stars were Italians?

(laughs) Yeah, a lot of them were Italians. That's what I am — I'm an Italian.

You were a guitar player early on, was that unusual? Most of the singers back in the day were just singers that didn't play instruments, did they?

I don't think so. I think most of them were handed songs, but with me — "Tallahassee Lassie," I wrote with my mom. So for me to get started was because of her, and I play guitar so I can't put myself with those other people.

I've talked to a lot of musicians over the years who complain about being ripped off when the music business gave them the business, but you have control over your stuff, right?

That's true. I have all the masters — 280 masters of all the songs, album cuts and everything I recorded. I own them all.

Are you about the only one? How smart was that?

I don't think it was because I was so smart. It happened in a funny way. When I was with Warner Brothers and when the signing was over, they didn't want to resign me, so they handed me all my masters as a token. So when I got them back, I didn't know what I was getting but now, I know what I got. It's like a fine painting.

So when "Tallahassee Lassie" came out, the world was introduced to your exuberant "Whoo!" Now that's just a "Hoo" away from Homer Simpson's favorite utterance. …

I think I owe a lot of the "Whoo" to Little Richard; you know, Little Richard was doing that way before me like, in 1955 or 1956. "Tallahassee Lassie" came out in '59. I wrote it with my mom in '58, so I don't want to take full credit for it, but his "Whoo" was a little different than mine and he held it a lot longer. Mine was just a "Whoo."

They just re-issued the first Little Richard album a month or so ago — and wow — that guy was something else, or what?

Yeah, I know.

You were right in the middle of rock 'n' roll's first decade — who was the coolest act you ever saw?

The best performer to this day — he's not here anymore — he died a few months ago, but the greatest performer I ever saw live on stage was Chuck Berry. He was best … over anybody and everybody. He could steal the show; I mean, he stole the show on any show he was on. The people waited for him. …

So "American Bandstand"? You were only on 110 times?

Yeah, is that a lot or what?

Seriously. So Dick Clark — what kind of guy was he? I know you signed to his Swan label and you were on his show more than 100 times — what was that like?

Yeah, that was fun. Dick did a lot for me. He's gone, too, you know, but he helped me and he helped a lot of acts, He really helped me a lot by putting me on the TV show all those times; and I also did "Where the Action Is," his other show. He was very good to me. What can I say? He was a giant on television and if you were on his show, you sold a lot of records, and that's exactly what happened with me. I owe a lot to him.

What's the craziest thing that ever happened on "American Bandstand" that you can share with a family newspaper that's not the Manson Family?

Jeez … Well, Dick had me on the show with "Tallahassee Lassie," for maybe the second or third time, and I did an interview with him and he asked me, "So do you know where Tallahassee is?'' I said, "No," and he said, "It's the capital of Florida." I didn't know that and a million kids called the television station and said, "So who is this kid who doesn't even know where Tallahassee is?" They were upset and I've never been to Tallahassee to this day … never been there.

Well, when it comes to finding a rhyme for "Lassie," there it is.

Right. Right.

So you turned into sort of like an unofficial geography teacher — there's references to all sorts of places in your songs — Tallahassee, New Orleans, Chattanooga, Okefenokee, California — now I'm assuming you know where all these places are?

Yes, I do. Now I'm really up on everything.

So back in those days, even AM radio was cool. A person could hear you, then Johnny Cash maybe, some surf music, some doo-wop, some Motown — everything.

Yeah, you heard everything — it was great back then. You don't hear that anymore. It's all changed, but what are you gonna do? That's the way things work, you know, but the music's still there. I'm working a lot, doing a lot of shows — I'm still out there and people still want to see the show. They still want to see me and that's good.

That is. So what was your big break or have you had it yet?

My big break? I think it would have to be "Tallahassee Lassie" with my mom and then to Dick Clark and "American Bandstand," but along the way, there's been ups and downs. Then I had "Palisades Park," which was a monster record. It was a giant in New York City and the tri-state area. I sold 300,000 or 400,000 records just in that area.

And that was Chuck Barris' only song?

That was the only song he ever wrote.

And it was a good one.

It was a good one — I've got to give him credit. He wrote it and he gave it to me; and if I don't sing it on the shows, people throw tomatoes at me.

Hate when that happens. So what's the strangest gig you've ever played as in "Who the hell booked this gig and when does it end?"

I've got one. It was "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans,'' my third record and this big agency out of Chicago booked me on this 15-day tour — just me and a band. So was I waiting downstairs of the building with my luggage, so when they came by, they picked me up in a laundry truck. So it was this old laundry truck and on the side it said The Freddy Cannon Show; but I mean, this was a disaster. So I get into the laundry truck — we were going to tour the Midwest in the summer, and the mosquitos were biting and everything else, and it was just so hot. That lasted about two days so I called the agents and told them, "I'm getting out of here. I can't do it." It was like a tomb. I was suffocating in there. I only did two shows. That's it.

Tell me a Dion story. I assume you two crossed paths a few times. …

The only story I have with Dion is that he was supposed to get the song "Palisades Park." Chuck Barris sent that song to Swan Records and Bernie Binnick and asked him if he knew how to reach Dion. He didn't know, so Bernie says, "Why, what do you have, Chuck?" because he knew Chuck Barris. He said, "Well, I've got this song and Bernie says, "Well, I've got an artist here — let me hear the song," and that's how I got the song. He was trying to get it to Dion but Dion never heard the song, but I don't think he could've sang that kind of song anyway. It was more my kind of record. It was too upbeat, too fast.

You've been everywhere by now — what are some of the cool places you've been able to visit?

Yeah, there's been lots of places like that — tons of places. Hawaii was one of them — the first time I went there, I couldn't believe that I was actually singing in Hawaii. I was in Honolulu, then the Big Island and Maui — I was everywhere. I've been to England and I'm going back next year in May. So I'm doing that and I'm doing the Buddy Holly show in Clear Lake, Iowa, in February; so I'm doing tons of shows. I'm doing these cruises every year. People still want to see me, Bill; and living here in Oxnard is a great thing, and we go to Coastal Cone in the Ventura Harbor. Have you been there?

I have. I remember when the Ventura Harbor was the city dump at the end of Pierpont. I was born here, man.

OK, then you know — so we go to Coastal Cone to get ice cream — but on top of all that, my sons have a band. They're going to play on Main Street on Dec. 31 — they're called Loose Cannons and they're great. The drummer is John and the guitar player is Bill and if you could make it over to see them, that would be great. They do classic rock — that's what they play.

So how'd you end up in SoCal? You're an East Coast guy. …

Yeah, I'm here and I've been here for a long time even though I've still got my Boston accent, but that's a Warner Brothers thing. I signed with them in 1964. My first record for Warner Brothers was "Abigail Beecher," and it was a hit. They went crazy.

Yeah, what a great song.

You like that one? That's great. So I had a hit right away and soon after that, I did the "Where the Action Is" theme song for the television show and that did well, so Warner Brothers was happy with me for like, seven years. That's what brought me out here.

So when the Red Sox come to town, whose side are you on?

I'm with the Red Sox. I have to be. I have to be true to my teams, know what I mean?

Absolutely. Go, Dodgers. What's the worst advice anyone ever gave you?

Let's see … there was a disc jockey in Boston — I can't remember who he was, but he was on a big station in Boston, WBZ — anyway, I did a record hop for him with my original band, Freddy Karmon & the Hurricanes, and when we were done, he said to me, "Do yourself a favor — don't sing anymore. You got nothing. It ain't gonna happen." That was his advice but he was glad that I did the record hop but he didn't think I was any good. I proved him wrong.

I would say so, yes. So what don't you do anymore that you used to do when you first started this crazy adventure?

I was smoking cigarettes but I stopped that 40 years ago. It made me stronger and made me sing better. And — I don't know if you know this — but I'm still writing songs. There's this guy on TV named Svengoolie. …

Good timing. That was next question. Actually, I saw you sing "The Svengoolie Stomp" two Saturdays ago. I thought, "Wow — I'm gonna talk to Freddy Cannon this week and there he is on TV. …"

I wrote that for him and he loves that song and he plans to use it every Halloween, so it might be like "The Monster Mash," and who knows what's going to happen?

And then today just an hour and a half ago, I was driving my kid's Dodge truck and as I pulled into my driveway after work, and what's on Sirius but Freddy Cannon singing "Palisades Park." You're everywhere, man.

Oh, gosh … that's great. I'm still active. I still love doing it. I'm having a good time and people like you are keeping my name out there. Thank you so much. I really mean it. If it wasn't for guys like you, Freddy Cannon would be forgotten because you're keeping me alive and keeping me going.

So where did the "Boom Boom" come from?

The "Boom Boom" came from a disc jockey in Boston. They were giving me nicknames when "Tallahassee" came out. They were calling me "Freddy Cannon — Shot From Guns," "Peter Gunn's Daddy" and then "Freddy 'Boom Boom' Cannon," and that's the one that stuck and I've been using it forever.

One more easy one: Why do you have to do this?

Because I love doing it.

I lied. One more easy one: When the history of rock 'n' roll is written, where do you suppose Freddy Cannon will fit in?

I hope I fit in somewhere. I think I made a little dent in the music business by being a songwriter. There was a few songs I didn't write but a lot of them, I did. And all I gotta say is that I go back to "Tallahassee" all the time — to that song only because the Rolling Stones covered it. Fleetwood Mac covered the song — all these bands in England covered the song and put it on their albums and everything. It makes me feel a hundred feet tall, you know? I must've influenced somebody with that song.

And after all this time, you still haven't played Tallahassee. …

I open my show with that song, but Tallahassee? No, still haven't been there. …

Freddy, it's always fun to talk to a person that enjoys his work. Thanks for talking to me.

I love it. OK, Bill, take care — happy holidays. Bye-bye.

Bill Locey can be reached at blocey@pacbell.net.

Locey's picks

If I had a faster car, a richer girlfriend or even one with a job, here's where I'd be lurking in the back this week:
Fishbone at the Roxy in Hollywood (Dec. 22)
The Growlers at the Wiltern in Los Angeles (Dec. 22 and 23)
Ugly Sweater Contest at the Garage in Ventura (Dec. 22)
Jade Hendrix at Leashless Brewery in Ventura (Dec. 22)
Smashmouth at Discovery Ventura (Dec. 22)
James Intveld at the Hong Kong Inn in Ventura (Dec. 22)
Shawn Jones at Star Lounge in Ventura (Dec. 22)
Victoria Bailey at Deer Lodge in Meiners Oaks (Dec. 22)
Mad Caddies at Velvet Jones in Santa Barbara (Dec. 22)
Young Dubliners at Canyon Club in Agoura Hills (Dec. 23)
Teresa Russell at Beachcomber in Oxnard (Dec. 23)
Alastair Greene at Grapes & Hops in Ventura (Dec. 23)
Shaky Feelin' at the Bombay in Ventura (Dec. 23)
Dan Grimm at Cold Spring Tavern in Santa Barbara (Dec. 23)
Ball & Sultan at Cold Spring Tavern (Dec. 24)
Donavon Frankenreiter at SOhO in Santa Barbara (Dec. 27)
Chuck Prophet at the Bootleg Theatre in Los Angeles (Dec. 27)
Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven at Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles (Dec. 27)
The Wailers at The Belasco in Los Angeles (Dec. 27)
Jeff Tweedy at Largo in Los Angeles (Dec. 27)
Teresa James & the Rhythm Tramps at Bogie's in Westlake Village (Dec. 27)
Tomorrow's Bad Seeds at Discovery Ventura (Dec. 27)

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Source: https://www.vcstar.com/story/entertainment/music/2017/12/19/freddie-boom-boom-cannon-still-rockin-n-rollin/940234001/

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