Andy 60s Music Wishes You A Happy Lunar Horse Year 2026

HAVE A HORSPICIOUS, HEALTHY, SAFE & ENJOYABLE TIME

An AI view of MERLION meeting HORSE as 2026 suggests, with a group of musicians ushering in the year.

Scroll to the end to see what's in the CNY store for you.

 

Chinese New Medley by Angela July.

YouTube Video by Angela July.

The Chinese character HORSE 馬 [ma] looks like a horse head with a galloping body and tail. Most times, especially during CNY, red signifies good luck. The horse ranks 7th among the 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac Cycle. 

HERE ARE SOME HORSE TAILS, ER, TALES…

 From creator FREDA HANUM, Malaysia, accomplished pianist and former girl group member/recording artistes, The TEEPEES. A beautiful GIF of galloping horses marching into Lunar New Year 2026. Thanks Freda.

In 2026, the Year of the Fire Horse will bring a year filled with energy, vitality and independence. It will begin on 17th February 2026 and will end on 3rd March 2026.  Apparently, there will be intense energy, emotional surges, and rapid shifts, encouraging individuals to take bold actions and embrace personal freedom. 

The Fire element amplifies the Horse's energetic traits, making it a time for leadership, risk-taking, and following one's instincts. But it may also lead to excessive and emotional overwhelms if not balanced with rest and patience.

It would be a year of liberation, passion, and personal transformation, urging individuals to act with intention and trust their inner fire. [As depicted by AI.]

Roy Rogers with 'A Four-Legged Friend', Trigger from movie: 'Son of Paleface'. A YouTube Video by Cowboyandthesenorita.

Cowboy Roy Rogers sings, ‘A FOUR-LEGGED FRIEND’ with his horse prancing amidst the crowd. As a child reading my favourite comic book hero, he has this wonder horse called, Trigger. The lyrics of the song appear below.

They are literally 'Horse Shoes'. 

This video above was a Good Morning gift from JIMMY PRESLEE, Singapore's answer to the late King Elvis. Thanks Jimmy.

QUICK DRAW MCGRAW

The latest CNY 2026 card from MICHAEL BANGAR and FAMILY. His own creation of a hand-made card that he sends every year. The miniature guitar is from LAWRENCE LIM and the fluffy doll-head from ALFRED NG. Thanks guys!

A Four-Legged Friend

Composed by Jack Brooks

Sung by Roy Rogers [1952]

Chorus:

A four-legged friend, a four-legged friend

He'll never let you down

He's honest and faithful right up to the end

That wonderful one-two-three-four-legged friend

[1] A woman is like cactus and cactus can hurt

'Cause she's just a tight-waisted winky-eyed flirt

She'll soon have your land and your pride and your gold

And bury you deep long before you grow old

[2] A two-legged hombre is worthless as sand

He'll smile like a saint with a gun in his hand

He'll promise to stick by your side like a pal

But he'll also promise the same to your gal

[3] Who carries your burden, who carries your load

On tumbleweed land or a long dusty road

Who asks you no questions, who tells you no lies

That four-legged friend with the two honest eyes

That wonderful one-two-three-four-legged friend.

CNY IS FAMILY ORIENTED

From TIKTOK VIDEO.

The above video was contributed by Singaporean WINSTON KOH. But there is no indication as to the originator of this video. Please write in to blogger so that the person can be identified and the name published. Thanks.

And the last words come from this very famous TALKING HORSE, who advised all blog readers with sound wisdom. MR ED, who came from the TV 60’s sitcom, had since left us. Actor ALAN YOUNG portrayed his owner. 

Thanks to CHEW HEE HONG for letting us have a glimpse on video the uniquely new style of fireworks display from CHINA.

THANKING FOLKS BELOW FOR SENDING CHINESE NEW YEAR GREETINGS AND FOR KEEPING IN TOUCH THROUGH THE YEARS:

MIKE BANGAR & FAMILY

FREDA HANUM 

CLARENCE PERERA [AUS]

HENRI GANN [US]

RONALD HO

VICTOR LAM

EDDY ENG

FARRAH ENG

JIMMY PRESLEE 

JUDY LEE 

CHARLIE YAP

IRENE YAP

JAMES KWOK

RICHARD THAM

FABIAN FOO

STEVE HO

VINCENT TAN

ANNA LAW

RICHARD RAJOO

CHEW HEE HONG

OLIVER BALASINGHAM

CEDRIC COLLARS [AUS]

CEDRIC CORK

JERRY FERNANDEZ 

DANNY KOH

RICKY WONG

MERLIN LIM

IVOR LESSLAR

YANG WAH KIANG

WILFRED LIM

ALFRED NG 

JOVIEN NEO

SAMMIN ANG

ESTHER ANG

JOHN LIM

TAN S. LENG

JERRY SARAM

SEE C.S.

PATRICK TENG

TAN SOO KHOON

BRIAN RICHMOND

SU RICHMOND

TONY GOH

VERNON CORNELIUS

MARK QUEK

MOHD. JAILANI

PAUL IBRAHM

BORHANUDIN [HANS SOLO]

TRACY NG

VICTOR LAM

GEORGE CHEW

LAWRENCE LIM

JAN CHEONG

CHEN JEN TOCK

DAVID WONG

ALVIN TAN [MP]

JIMMY YAP

XUAN YEN

DANNY BOY

JOHN CHER

BETSY CHER

TREVOR NERVA

JIMMY CHNG

DAISY KOH

WINSTON KOH

JANE D. [CAN.]

LARRY LAI

THE NAMES ADD ON AS THE LUNAR DAYS GO BY.

BUT NOT IN ANY PARTICULAR ORDER.

AND IF I'VE MISSED YOURS, I APOLOGISE🙏

18 YEARS IS A LONG TIME…

CHECK OUT SONGS ABOUT HORSES
CLICK BELOW:

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2014/01/happy-lunar-year-of-horse-gallopin-to.html

U.S. 60's Teen Idols Who Are Called "Bobby" & British Invasion

Michael Bangar, a good friend, is an experienced Singaporean guitarist having performed for 40+ years with many pop bands. His comment below about the recently deceased Bobby Vee and the American pop 60's scene is insightful:

                                                           Pix: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

   UP TO 9,600 VIEWS    

40+ CHATS, COMMENTS

1963 Bobby's Girl Susan Maughan 

YouTube video by: jaggme

60's Teen Idols:

"RIP Bobby Vee! Him and his kind - Brian Hyland, Frankie Avalon, Fabian Forte, Bobby Rydell, Bobby Vinton and were made pop stars by the American music makers. They were groomed to look clean cut. And whether it's a coincidence or otherwise, many of them are called Bobby.

The US establishment was concerned about early rock and roll for being too wild. The King, Elvis Presley was drafted. Jerry Lee Lewis (pix A) married his 13 year old cousin. Chuck Berry (pix B) was in trouble for income-tax evasion. Little Richard (pix C) became a church minister.

Buddy Holly (pix X), Ritchie Valens (pix Y) and P. Richardson or The Big Bopper (pix Z) perished in an air crash. Only Ricky Nelson plodded along. So these teenage idols became clean cut pop stars. But he too died at an early age of 45 in 1985, while Elvis at 42 in 1977.

The big bosses in the US were unaware that there was a huge musical storm brewing on the other side of he Atlantic.  Then in 1964 it suddenly hit them. The British Invasion. All the music stars in the U.S. of A. took a back seat for a few years.

When all these happened and all these clean cut teen idols came along, the first generation rock and rollers got sidelined. Jerry Lee Lewis later when interviewed was quoted as saying, 'Suddenly there was a lotta Bobbys.'

Ha, ha. I love that quote."

Of course if you want to include Bob Dylan, that's seven singers. Thanks very much Michael for your lighthearted but true story.

Mike has an extension under the Comment page. Click at the end of this post.

                                                 Pix: A,B,C

Here's a side projection. In Singapore many fans of pop music would include their own surname and use them to request for songs on Rediffusion. 

For example one could hear a, "Bobby Elvis Wong" asking for Jailhouse Rock to be played for a girl friend called, "Sandra Dee Cheong".

Another called, "Bobby Rydell Tan requested a song for friend, "Rickie Nelson Cheng." And the list goes on.

So here's a quiz. Except for two who had passed away, the others are still around and in their 70's. In the above pictures, do you know who the Bobbys are? 

                                          🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤🎤

Pix #1: 
Bobby Vinton (1935 @ 81), had more Billboard #1 hits than any other male vocalist, including Elvis and Sinatra from 1962 - 1972. Billboard Magazine called him "the all-time most successful love singer of the Rock Era."

Pix #2:
Bobby Darin (1936-1973), will have a musical in his honour. In September 2016, The Bobby Darin Musical, had its world premiere at Sydney Lyric Theater, Australia, featuring this legendary singer, songwriter and actor with an 18 piece big band.

                                              Pix: X, Y, Z

Pix #3:
Bobby Goldsboro 

(1941 @ 75), 

is well-known for his big hit Honey. It was the largest selling record in the world for 1968. With the hangover in the US after the British Invasion, it was one big feat.

Pix #4:
Bobby Rydell 

(1942 @ 74), 

a teen idol, was famous in Singapore for his big hit, Forget Him in 1964. With 34 Top 40 Hits, he received 5 Gold Disc Awards.

Rydell dies:

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2022/04/rip-bobby-rydell-great-singapore-music.html

Pix #5:
Bobby Vee (1943 -2016 October). Click below to read:
http://singapore60smusic.blogspot.sg/2016/10/bobby-vee-rip.html

Thanks to the Music Enhancement Channel for this YouTube Video.

Pix #6:
Bobby Sherman 

(1943 @ 73), teen idol released 107 songs, 23 singles and 7 albums. Tutored by actor and singer, Sal Mineo, he became such a hit with the young ladies in the audience, their screaming gave him hearing loss. He was at the tail end of the era i.e. late 60's. 

The British Invasion:

Whatever the case may be all these teen idols made it in the pop music world. They had their fair share of the limelight for a while, hit after hit. Some evergreen classics are still vogue, until the British Invasion came along, headed by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

Meantime there was this pop star sending musical shock waves across Britain, Europe, parts of Africa and Asia; it was Cliff Richard and his backing band, The Shadows.

Before the invasion their management sent them on a tour of the US where they were booed off stage. The press there accused Cliff Richard of trying to be a carbon copy of Elvis Presley. They did not make it in the US. Then the British Invasion hit them.

The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, The Who, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Herman's Hermits, Freddie and The Dreamers and their likes came along. Later Cream, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Genesis joined the game. They took over a huge portion of the world pop music scene for a long long time.

Popular music, as we knew it went through a tremendous change. In years to come the teen idols and their music became nostalgia acts. But we still enjoy them today.

(This article is a re-post from October, 2016.)
                                                   
Images: Google.
You Tube Video: Bobby Goldsboro, Honey.
Original article by Michael Bangar (pix: right).

Many thanks to Mike, who took the trouble to write about local music because he believes that we should tell our stories openly on Singapore60sMusic. Andy's blog is free.

To read the extension of this post, click Comment below.

Singapore Musician Ivor Lesslar Compared To Scotty Moore & James Burton

UP TO 400 VIEWS

I thought it important that our Singapore artistes be highlighted on this blog, so when accolades poured in after Ivor's performance I thought it best to post these comments.

REFERENCE: 

Hilary Francis Concert Esplanade Outdoor Theatre, 20th May, 2022.

SUBJECT: 

IVOR LESSLAR, SINGAPOREAN GUITARIST - A GIANT!

[1] ANONYMOUS:

I saw Hilary Francis and the SINGAPEACE band yesterday at the esplanade. Never seen any of the band before. I was blown away by Ivor's tone... Brilliant tone that clearly was down from fingers and not pedals. Economical but swinging guitar lines that clearly had drunk from the well of *SCOTTY MOORE.

I had to look him up and search for him... thank you for this background.

[2] UNKNOWN:

Thanks Mr Bangar for the write up of Mr Lasslar. I came to music very late but glad to know that he was from Cell Unlimited Unlimited. Mr Lasslar a very humble man, but when he is on the guitar, he becomes a giant, yes, truly professional, made me feel very comfortable when singing with him playing lead, hope to meet you again Mr Lasslar, cheers n God bless 🙏👏👏

ANDY:

Thank you both for writing to make your comments. I have already sent your mail to them. Also the comments are on Facebook under SG pianist, Mr Jalani Mohd's postings.

I try to promote our local musicians and music. The world will listen if we make our voices heard. So sing louder in a more melodious voice. And like IVOR LESSLAR, play like the great masters. But he's original too.

Cheers to Ivor and Michael.

Then the third letter came...

[3] JIMMY PRESLEE:

Thank you Mr. Michael Bangar for your true to life persona of Mr. Ivor Lesslar and thank you for the details of his younger days and I didn't know he was a member of the popular CELLS UNLIMITED. He is humble and lets his 'fingers do the talking'. You too Mr. Bangar share the humble and friendly character.

Yes, Mr. Lesslar reminds me of *JAMES BURTON backing Elvis and Ricky Nelson. I have the honour and pleasure to jam and share with Mr. Lesslar on stage twice.

Thoroughly enjoyed them. All the best to you both Mr. Lesslar and Mr. Bangar.

Cheers and God Bless.

And a fourth...

[4] FRED CHING (Facebook):

I can’t describe how lucky I feel because I have had the opportunity of a lifetime: seeing and hearing James Burton and Ivor Lesslar perform in Singapore. Incidentally Burton was here with all the original band members and singers to perform “Elvis The Concert” at the Indoor Stadium and Ivor, when he performed with The Quest Band at Queenstown Community Centre Auditorium during My Queenstown Festival. I had goosebumps pretty much during the whole show and Ivor makes anything look sexy with that hot red guitar. Here’s the homegrown band that once knocked The Beatles off the charts👍❤️🥰…

More about Ivor: 

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2020/09/ivor-lesslar-tall-dark-handsome-sg.html

NB:

It's good to know that at least now our local audiences and music fans have a platform to comment. We never had one...

 

*Scotty Moore and James Burton:

They were both powerhouses with the guitar, the former was with Elvis Presley most of the way during the King's career and performances. 

James Burton too, like Moore was one of the leading pop guitarists those years, backing Ricky Nelson, Johnny Cash and even Frank Sinatra.

Here's an article on Scotty Moore written by Henri Gann from California.

Click below:

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2016/08/scotty-moore-influenced-me-henri-gann.html

Both guitarists: one a lead, the other the rhythmist: 

Ivor is on the left, Michael on the right.

Images: belong to Ivor Lesslar's and Michael Bangar's Collection.

Ivor Lesslar: A Tall Dark Handsome SG Guitar Hero

Ivor with his iconic hat playing at the Esplanade.

This video is the work of ROBERTO LIM, passionate in his ways to film 

many of the Singapore music scenes you see on YouTube. 

Like Ivor, Roberto is another unsung hero. Thank you sir.

(1) Ivor  Lesslar is second from left,

and left in the 3rd picture.

IVOR LESSLAR by Mike Bangar (unedited.)

🎸🎹🥁🎷🎺

Hi Blog Readers !

Time is slipping away so fast. Singapore's Golden Era Of Pop Music (post WW2 up till now) is also slowly but surely fading into our musical history. And now made worse by Corvid-19. 

Many many years have gone by and taken along with them quite a few of our Music Legends.  Keyboardists, Percussionists, Horn Players, Bassists, Guitarists, etc.

Time for an Article Special on Musician Extraordinaire  Ivor Lesslar: multi - instrumentalist, & a multi - talented gentleman,  vocalist, band mate of many years & long time friend of ours.

An Unsung Hero From That Golden Era.

A self taught music man, he started his early years paying his dues and was lead guitarist for Singapore’s 60s recording band ‘Cells Unlimited’.

After the group broke up, he moved on to Bangkok, Thailand, making music there for quite a few years. While he was there he played with bands and musicians, doing club work & events.

Upon Ivor's  return to  Singapore, after spending some years gigging around Thailand  (previously known as Siam), he brought along with him some  years of experience playing music of other genres  He comfortably just grooved his way into our nightclub music scene. 

Home here, he spent a few years in the Country & Western music scene working, in clubs like Boots & Saddle at Sembawang, Ginivys & Peyton Place  along Orchard Road. The next number of  years, he worked at various clubs along the Orchard Road stretch,  performing various genres of music. During this  period he became a family man with a wife and two sons.

Then by the mid 80's, our music scene took a change when clubs started hiring foreign bands, ie mostly Filipino acts. After a few more years gigging in pubs & clubs with  duos, trios & quartets, Ivor got into the budding function circuit.

A free-lance musician by now, he played with any band and  any musical set up when his services was called upon. Regular Electric Bands, String Duos, Trios, quartets as well as Strolling Bands: stationary at a fixed point or going round from table to table. With so many decades of music making behind him, he just fitted into any music line-up with ease, most times with hardly any rehearsal. Besides doing a great job on guitar, he plays keyboards and drums.

Up till the present time and by now a grandad, he still performs free lance gigs.

For a long time, Ivor does regular gigs with the band with multiple names: Tropical Cats / Los Tropi-Gatos, Transit, Mixed Combination, New Notes, Limited Edition.😉

In the band line up : hornsman Jerry Murad, drummer Ramon Francis, bassist Jeffery Pinto (bassist Stephen De Souza - substitute bassist) and rhythmist Michael Bangar. All band members do frontline vocals and vocal harmony. 

Ivor Lesslar: An Excellent Man Of His Craft. From a musical era, neglected and fogotten by today's mainstream.

Salutè ! Our Buddy In Music.

He who stands tallest; that's Ivor Lesslar at his youngest with pop band 'Cells Unlimited' with their hit vinyl.

First picture below is Ivor with his hat. 2nd pix - extreme left; 3rd pix: third left.

(The above posting is by Michael Bangar. I must thank him again for so willingly imparting his historical expertise about Singapore's music industry. Ivor Lesslar is a good friend and has appeared many times with their different groups that includes Michael. 

I have often seen Ivor play at the Catholic Church on Siglap Hill and if you close your eyes, you'd probably think you are listening to Hank Marvin live with a church filled Shadows hits. It's my own opinion, but like Michael explained, he's definitely one of the best lead guitarists in town.

He is easily recognised. Tall, dark and handsome; he beats them all in height and a superb handling of his solid guitar.

Many thanks to Ivor for agreeing to this post. He's a quiet man and never looks for publicity. He just plays his best and it took some persuasion to print this article.

We went out together once; Ivor doesn't talk much. He lets his fingers do the talking; his guitar replies.)

If you've heard Ivor play, come on, give him a pat on the back and reply!

More about Ivor:

https://singapore60smusic.blogspot.com/2022/05/singapore-musician-ivor-lesslar.html

Article and Images (specially formatted) have been copyrighted by Mchael Bangar.

A Music Journey: Watching Movies @ 1960s Singapore Cinemas: Michael Bangar Memories

This posting tells how the movies influenced Michael on his music journey as he relates the cinemas he visited to watch these popular rock and roll films that presented a whole array of the biggest stars from the West. It was novel, it was crazy. Remember there was neither the TV set nor YouTube, only the big screen. In Singapore our own 60s guitar groups appeared on stage to full houses for every show. Thanks Michael. The stage is yours.

The picture above has been taken from good friend Lam Chun See's blog, Good Morning Yesterday.  Thanks Chun See. Open-air cinema @ Somapah Village 1952.

Bill Haley & His Comets ( Rock Around The Clock ) article and the mention of the old Roxy Theatre, Katong owned by Shaw Bros. ( where today stands Roxy Square 1, East Coast Road side. Roxy Square 2 faces Parkway Parade Mall, Marine Parade Road side. Both are now Malls cum Office Units ). A must share story,  Bro' Andy.

     I don't how many of you can recall. For those of us in the 1950's, who grew up or schooled in the East Coast, there were a few so called open - air cinemas. They were all zinc and wood structured and had long wooden benches for seats ( no numbering -  1st. come 1st. serve seating ) and some standing room. Tickets were small rectangular shaped 2.5 ins. × 1 in. sized printed on paper with the theatre name and price on it. 10 cts., then slowly increasing to 20 cts. then 30 cts. when inflation ( a word we only learnt much much later ) started setting in. 

They screened movies from that period after they've had their run in the bigger Shaw Brothers' & Cathay Organisation Theatres. Cathay Org. owned a cinema Garrick Theatre at Geylang Serai ( where today stands The Muslim Converts' Association Building at the corner of Onan Road ). There was also a Taj Theatre ( Shaw owned - name later changed to Singapura ) opposite the old Geylang Market that specialised only in Indian and Malay movies. It only occasionally showed English movies. 

Kok Wah Cinema at Yeo Chu Kang Road was around in Singapore  50's

     These open - air cinemas had names like Lily Theatre, Broadway Cinema, both along the Joo Chiat area. Central Theatre in Jalan Eunos, Kaki Bukit ( now part of a HDB estate ) and Kembangan Theatre, now the site of the Kembangan MRT station. Both of which I frequented in my school days. 

As you can tell these cinemas though cheap to construct were privately owned and served their purpose quite well. When we attended our favourite movies there we had to bring along our umbrellas 'cause if it rained we all got soaked as these places had no roofs. If it rains when any movie is on, from wherever you are viewing that particular movie, every scene will be a scene filled with rain.😎😁😂 Because the rain passes through the movie rays coming from the movie projector before it hits the movie screen, making every scene look rainy.

😎😂😁

    These theatres featured movies of multi - languages but English ones were the majority. Chinese movies were the majority films shown at Lily and Broadway theatres.

My favourite films were the music ones and  watching so many of these shows at these little movie halls helped me hone my music skills with me only realising it  many years later.

Naomi and The Boys: As Life Goes On With brother Robert Suriya on lead guitar.

     In the 50's at these little movie theatres, for 10cts. per show I got to watch early Great Rock & Roll Movies like Rock Around The Clock, Rock Rock Rock, Rock Pretty Baby. They featured the early R & R Stars singing and playing their hit songs : Bill Haley & His Comets, Pat Boone, Ricky Nelson, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Little Richard and groups like The Platters, Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, The Coasters, Dion & The Belmonts, the list goes on.

     Also on the list, the early movies of one Elvis Presley, in the not so  distant future to be bestowed the title King Of Rock & Roll. Also for the small sum of 10cts., I  got to watch his early movies : Love Me Tender, Loving You, the classic Jailhouse House, King Creole, G I Blues, Flaming Star, Kid Galahad, etc.

The Alhambra Cinema along Beach Road was a popular place. The movie, Sing Boy Sing was shown with Tommy Sands in the starring role.

     We also got to watch the classic movies of the times in these movie houses. Musicals like Flower Drum Song, West Side Story, The Sound Of Music, etc. Westerns like Gunfight At The OK Corral, Billy The Kid, Rio Bravo, etc. Action Movies like The Longest Day, House Of Bamboo, Sands Of Iwo Jima, etc.

     At that point in time, every now and again my friends and I also watched shows at The Roxy, The Garrick and The Taj Cinemas when they featured movies we were keen to see. I can't recall what movie I saw in which of these theatres or the open air ones.

 Then in the early 60's, two more larger cinemas were built along Katong.The Palace Cinema ( where  today stands Eastgate Office Complex ) and The Odeon - Katong Theatre ( today - name still the same, but most part of it is The Cornerstone Church and a couple of karaoke pubs ). Both were run by Cathay Organisation ). The Palace was immediately next to The Roxy and the other, diagonally across.  They showed movies as well as held Tea Dances and Musical Shows that featured the hot music stars and bands of the period. Singers Sakura Tang and Rita Chow, Khartina Dahari, Ahmad Daud, Rahim Hamid, Theresa Khoo and Winston Filmer, T F Tan, Walter Koh. Bands like The Dukes, The Checkmates, The Cyclones, The BeeJays, Brian Neal & The Easybeats, Sunny Bala & The Moonglows and maybe even The Silver Strings.

The Odeon Katong had the biggest happening during Singapore 60s music golden years, where as Michael Bangar mentioned, our top aces performed.

     Ah, what pleasant times and great memories we all have of that era. It was great to be young. All these experiences stay embedded in our memory bank and sadly will slowly fade with time. I don't think that era will ever return. Sigh ! 

In the early days Roxy, Garrick and Taj had ceiling fans for their cooling system. They later upgraded when air-conditioning arrived. Palace and the Odeon-Katong started off the air-conditioning phase. Smoking was allowed everywhere. Even in cinemas smokers were puffing like chimney stacks.

Alan Freed - Jimmy Cavallo Rock, Rock, Rock: 1956

YouTube Video: Daniel Sosa.

Rock, Rock, Rock from Alan Freed's big rock and roll production, where cinema queues in Singapore snaked round the building and 'black market' tickets cost a bomb.

Tickets at these places were priced at 50 cents, one dollar and one dollar fifty for the circle seats upstairs (balcony). So when we completed school and had jobs we patronised these air-conditioned cinemas and avoided the roofless ones; regretfully when I think about it now, these cinema places has helped me in my musical journey. If the owners of the simply built cinemas happened to be reading this story, I want to say to you all: Thank you guys, for all you've done for me!

Thank You, Brother Andy ! Cheers !

(Unedited)

Michael Bangar.

Cinemas do not only screen films but use the stage for Singapore 60s musicians to perform the pop songs of those years which were relevant to the movies being shown. Above Johnny Lion and the Jumping Jewels performed on the Odeon stage at North Bridge Road and Rita Chao too with The Trailers (the late Victor Woo is behind Rita) at the Majestic Theatre in 1967. (Cathay, 55 Years of Cinema: Lim Kay Tong).