Paul Shaffer Visits Friends on the Happy Together Tour 2019

It's always a nice surprise when you have fellow musicians drop by backstage after the show to say hello and catch up for a few minutes. After the Happy Together concert at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey, multitalented musician Paul Shaffer came by to visit many of his friends.

It's always great to see Paul. What an amazing collection of music he is responsible for! Of course you watched him for years every night on the "Late Show with David Letterman" as he conducted his "World's Most Dangerous Band." His book, "We'll Be Here for the Rest of Our Lives," is, as he subtitled it, "A Swingin' Show-biz Saga Book."

He talks about his years leading the Saturday Night Live Band, leading the Blues Brothers Band, and then the Late Show band and TV personality. Get the book here. Do you have a CD of their cover songs? (Find one here: https://theshaffershop.bigcartel.com/).

Here's a photo of Nick and Carl with Paul, taken by Tom Garrett.

Below is a picture of Carl, Gary Puckett, Paul, and Tom Garrett.

There's another Happy Together connection with Paul Shaffer--his good friend Ron Dante. This pic, of course, was borrowed from Ron's IMDB page. Ron produced mega-successful albums for Barry Manilow, Cher, and Pat Benatar, in addition to being the voice of many songs you grew up loving but never really knowing "who's singing on that song?"

As Paul Shaffer noted on a former "Late show with David Letterman" show, Ron is the person who gave Paul Shaffer his first break in the music business, as you'll see he mentions in the video. Ron played during all the commercial breaks with Paul and his Most Dangerous Band, including the amazing guitarist/vocalist/percussionist, Felicia Collins and bass player Will Lee. Paul's entire band was collectively known as the CBS Orchestra.

And, you'll love the connection between The Buckinghams and Paul Shaffer that goes back over 50 years, but it's entirely by serendipity that it happened. You remember how Paul grew up listening to the music of Chicago bands, especially The Buckinghams, at nights in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, as he could pick up the 50,000 Watt signal from Chicago's WLS-AM radio. He knew the voice of our first manager, Carl Bonafede, very well as Carl used to do all the overnight radio commercial spots himself.

In addition to being The Buckinghams' agent and band manager, Carl hosted a lot of music events (called dances or sock hops in the old days) across A clever radio ad man, Carl Bonafede would go around and get sponsors to buy air time to advertise their products and then he'd go into all the radio stations across Chicago and record his ads.

Using his own voice, you would have to know Carl to know that he's one of the fastest talkers in all of radio and he can give you two minutes worth of advertising in thirty seconds. He also has a way of showing his excitement about a project, a product, or a person that gets you all worked up about it, too. That's why he was often referred to as "The Screamin' Wildman!"

We used to say he was the hardest working man in music; he still is today. This is a recent photo of Mr. Bonafede selling his famous "Umbrella Hats," perfect for wearing over your head to keep the sun off you, especially on a hot day at Wrigley Field while watching a Cubs game, right?

So, when Paul used to have the band occasionally play "Kind of a Drag," coming back from commercials on the show, he always said, "The Buckinghams from Chicago, managed by 'The Screamin' Wildman,' Carl Bonafede." One night, Mr. Bonafede remembers, he was watching Dave's show with William "The Refrigerator" Perry as a guest. Because "The Refrigerator" was a Chicago Bear, the band was playing "Kind of a Drag," and Carl Bonafede remembers that as one of the highlights of his life, hearing Paul Shaffer say his name, noting that he couldn't imagine that he'd be remembered all those many years later.

Just like Paul Shaffer remembered Carl Bonafede, Paul Shaffer remembered the music he'd grew up listening to as a teenager himself in Thunder Bay, music from the earliest days of The Buckinghams, when they were on the USA Label in Chicago, before they'd signed with Columbia Records. The beauty of the circle of life that is the music business--it truly is a very small world.

And the tour keeps on rolling down the road.

Remembering Frank Tesinsky, Beloved Chicago Musician, Key to The Buckinghams' Characteristic Sound

Each time the opening notes to “Kind of a Drag” come on the air, whether it’s your car radio, your phone, or choice of streaming media, the first 23 notes you hear inform you immediately that not only are you hearing “Kind of a Drag,” but you are hearing The Buckinghams. That instant recognition, in turn, is thanks to the talent of musician Frank Tesinsky, who arranged the iconic tune for producers Dan Belloc and Carl Bonafede in a 1966 recording session in Chicago’s Chess Studios. The Buckinghams family was greatly saddened to learn of Frank’s passing on November 9. Catherine Johns, his wife of 32 years, was a beloved part of his life and part of Chicago radio as well. In February 1967 "Kind of a Drag" was #1 on the Billboard charts for two weeks, and it forever defined the sound of five young men from the northside of Chicago. Just 27 notes, right? And yet, it defined the magic of what would become known as “the horn sound” that The Buckinghams are b

What Celebrating 50 Years Since Reaching #1 on Billboard Means in the World of The Buckinghams

Everyone who is a fan of the band The Buckinghams can easily name all the songs that were Top 10 hits, Top 20 hits, and Billboard Top 100 chartmakers. You have several songs that have personal, special meaning for you. But the song that took the native Chicagoans out of the basements of the band members' homes was the one USA Records released last, almost as an afterthought. "Kind of a Drag" has the distinction of being the song that took this band to the national level. Many wonderful bands are part of Chicago history, and they are as beloved today as they were in their time. But this one song, "Kind of a Drag" took flight and went to #1 on Billboard 50 years ago today, February 18, 1967. Imagine what it was like for five young men to hold a copy of "Billboard" in their hands. For a few years, Carl and Jon-Jon had gone to the newsstand each week, buying a single copy of "Billboard" and reading it cover to cover. These days you hear about

In Memory of John Poulos, March 31, 1947 - March 26, 1980

Five days before his 33rd birthday, we lost John Poulos, a dear friend who was like a brother to us, as well as The Buckinghams’ drummer. Often described as the heartbeat of our band, he was known to most Buckinghams’ fans of the 60s simply as Jon-Jon. To know John was to love him. With his outgoing personality, he never met a stranger. His talent is remembered best in the style he displayed on drum fills and riffs on our hits, including “Don’t You Care,” “Hey Baby, They’re Playing Our Song,” and “Kind of a Drag.” It’s not surprising that Jon-Jon was included as one of the Top 10 drummers in Modern Drummer Magazine. Contemporary MySpace profiles of aspiring amateur and professional musicians today include the name John Poulos among their musical influences. That’s an honor both fitting and accurate for a musician who was truly one of a kind. Nick and I recall that one of John’s own musical influences was Bobby Elliot, drummer for The Hollies, whose signature beret and tossing of his he

The Buckinghams in Concert

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