XPost: rec.music.artists.beach-boys   
   From: derekbill@allsummerlong.com   
      
   What about Bob (Eubanks)?   
      
   October 3, 2004   
      
   BY PAIGE WISER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST   
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   THIS WEEK'S ARGUMENT: That Bob Eubanks is a pop culture god.   
      
   I admit that I requested a review copy of Bob Eubanks' new   
   autobiography for one reason: I wanted to read the inside scoop on the   
   dirtier episodes of "The Newlywed Game."   
      
   But now I am ashamed. As I've learned from It's in the Book, Bob!   
   (Benbella, $24.95), one game show does not a man's career make.   
      
   I had no idea that Eubanks was instrumental in bringing the Beatles to   
   L.A., or that he founded the first public relations firm for rock   
   groups. He's bad-mouthed Barry Manilow, stood up to Elton John and had   
   a mysterious falling out with Dolly Parton. By the end of the book, I   
   pictured Eubanks as a musical Zelig.   
      
   And yet Eubanks has suffered a whopping inferiority complex. He writes,   
   "I couldn't shake the feeling that my life's work could be capsulized   
   as a guy who pushed young couples to answer suggestive questions about   
   their personal lives for the price of a toaster."   
      
   In short, he hates ignorant people like me.   
      
   So I'd like to remedy the situation, and give some of you a crash   
   course in all things Bob:   
      
   *As an L.A. deejay in the '60s, his station attracted groupies. Eubanks   
   writes: "Dick Biondi, who came on board in 1963 to do 9 to midnight,   
   asked me years later if I remembered a long-haired guy who was a lot   
   older than the rest of the kids and used to sit on the steps and hold   
   court." Eubanks didn't remember him. "'His name,' Dick told me, 'was   
   Charlie ... Charlie Manson.'"   
      
   *Eubanks used to hang out with Sonny Bono, pre-Cher.   
      
   *Eubanks suggested to Brian Wilson's manager-father that the Beach Boys   
   change their name. (The suggestion was ignored.)   
      
   *Eubanks guest-starred on the "Ozzie & Harriet" TV series as a bicycle   
   shop owner. Coincidentally, the role was offered just as Ricky Nelson   
   had a new record coming out that Ozzie wanted played on Eubanks'   
   station.   
      
   *Eubanks swore by hair stylist Jay Sebring, who pioneered the use of   
   hairspray on men. Sebring was later murdered with Sharon Tate by   
   Charles Manson's gang.   
      
   *As a concert promoter, Eubanks made about $1,000 on the Beatles' first   
   concert at the Hollywood Bowl. He'd wised up by the time the Beatles   
   came back to town in 1966 for a concert at Dodgers Stadium. For that   
   event, Eubanks made "a decent profit," but estimates that each of the   
   Beatles made less than $4,000 for the gig. They stopped touring almost   
   immediately thereafter.   
      
   *Eubanks once caught Keith Moon smuggling an underage girl backstage in   
   a bass drum case.   
      
   *At his first meeting with Merle Haggard, the country star's cigarette   
   ignited the crotch of Eubanks' black-and-white herringbone slacks. His   
   leg was singed, but it didn't discourage Eubanks from going on the road   
   with Haggard for years.   
      
   *When he auditioned for zany producer Chuck Barris, Eubanks thought   
   that "The Newlywed Game" was "the dumbest idea for a show I'd ever   
   heard." And those confessions of Barris' dangerous mind? "I will also   
   say that if he was a CIA assassin, then I'm Mary Poppins."   
      
   *He was featured in Michael Moore's movie "Roger & Me," and, like many,   
   doesn't have anything nice to say about the filmmaker. Moore   
   interviewed Eubanks in Flint, Mich., for what he was told would be a   
   local TV news story. Eubanks assumed the cameras were off at one point,   
   and told two tasteless jokes. They, of course, made it into the film.   
   Eubanks says that he swore to friends that if he ever happened upon   
   Moore in a men's room, "I would rearrange his dentition." But he's over   
   it now. Really.   
      
   *Eubanks was hired for Jessica Simpson's variety show, with an initial   
   offer of $800 that he negotiated up to $7,500. His bit was cut.   
      
   That, my friends, is a full life in the entertainment industry.   
      
   You're still curious about the dirt, though, aren't you? If you persist   
   in wanting the answer to the "Newlywed" question "Where's the   
   strangest, most unusual place the two of you have ever made whoopee?"   
   -- you'll find it on page 365.   
      
   For years, Eubanks told people the infamous episode (where a woman   
   described a part of her body rather than an actual place) never   
   happened -- until someone showed him the clip and proved him wrong. He   
   says that he simply didn't remember it.   
      
   And who can blame him?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)