More
with Kenny Dino
Goldmine:
So you moved back to Long Island?
Kenny
Dino: No, My father kept telling me to get a real job...I stayed in
the city, I had an apartment on 57th Street. I got a manager by the
name of Al Dankoff. Al was a Long Island guy who owned bowling alleys.
He had a number of them...Babylon, Mid-Island Bowl, Plainview, Green
Acres, in Jersey, upstate New York and even Down South. He got me
signed to Dot Records and I cut a couple of sides for them--real crappy
songs, "A Little Bit" and "Just Wait And See". They were looking for
another Pat Boone and that wasn't me.
Goldmine:
Did you have a problem getting songs that suited you?
Kenny
Dino: No, I didn't but the record companies did. Basically, the top
guys never knew what they were doing. They had the greatest scam going
but they were really flying by the seat of their pants. No, I hung
out with the creative people, especially the writers.
Goldmine:
The Brill Building crowd?
Kenny
Dino: Yeah, but mostly Doc Pomus, a unbelievable person. There were
others good guys, too. I remember an A&R man for Amy-Mala,Bell Records...this
guy, Jerry Landis...Paul Simon , actually. He was still Jerry in '64.
He always had good songs. I had just signed with Columbia. I had just
done a record that was written and produced by Richie Gottherer and
Bobby Sheldner called "Show Me." The flip was a Freddy Cannon tune,
"Betty Jean." I had just taken another track over to play for Jerry.
And he was telling me how much he liked a track on the record and
he says to me, "Man, why don't you and I go to Europe. We'll do a
duet." Honest to God truth. And I said, "Jerry, look I just signed
with Columbia, I've been looking for a deal like this..." It was the
worst thing I could have ever done. They put me on the shelf. Columbia
was the only label that put me on the shelf. Everyone else at least
went out and pushed the record, made an effort. Columbia, forget it.
They released the record but afterwards, I was put on the shelf. I
guess it was about '65. Meanwhile, Paul is in England...sitting in
a railroad station...The Columbia record was the last thing I did.
Ummm...Let's see, I also did Smash.
Goldmine:
Smash, out of Chicago?
Kenny
Dino: Yeah. I produced that record with Artie Kaplan. Artie was the
greatest, he did all my Musicor sides. True story, ok: I'm going out
to Chicago to meet with the president of the label, Charley Fach.
So, on the way there, I run into Jerry Goldstein and Bobby Feldman
and they ask me to take this demo out with me. The demo was "My Boyfriend's
Back." But my record...well, that's another story...
Goldmine:
Let's go back again...you're at Dot and having a rough time of it...
Kenny
Dino: At that time, I was 23...maybe it was because I was in the Navy
for four years...All of a sudden, I'm in the hands of these so-called
experts. After six or seven months with the experts, I realized that
they were more like con artists...they had a good con...you know,
the Aaron Schroeders, people like that...everybody at Roulette...rip-off
artists, that's all they were. The artists, the A and R men, the writers,
the musicians, they were all great...white acts, black acts...it was
great times, we were all so close. It was before all the labels and
categories, it was just music, just rock 'n' roll. What was good was
good and that was it. Suddenly, I'm surrounded by bullshit and big
talkers and maybe I just saw through that. When the boss would scream,
everyone would quietly shuffle out of the office but I would just
stand there laughing. I knew they were full of shit. But nobody would
say anything. It was always, "Don't rock the boat", "This guy can
hurt you", "Don't piss Dick Clark off," like that. And I always did.
(laughs)
Goldmine:
How did you piss off
Dick
Clark?
Kenny
Dino: I was on Dot. Randy Woods set up an appearance on the show in
Philadelphia. I didn't even have a record out yet, that's the kind
of power Dot and Randy had. We did the show and Dick Clark, he had
all the checks signed back to him. That was the payola bullshit. And
my manager, Al Dankoff at the time...(it really wasn't me, I mean,
I really didn't care. It wasn't that much anyway...$225, $220, a union
fee, that's all it was)...anyway, Al was a Colonel Parker type, that's
what Al was, he says, "My boy sings and gets paid for it!" The producer
started yelling and screaming in the office, "This is the way it is,
this is the way Dick Clark does things", and so on. So Dick comes
into the office. And I'm now by some sets, some scenery, WFIL stuff
and I hear Dick yelling, "That f------ kid will never be on this f------
show again!" and whatever baboom, baboom. My manager, Al, he didn't
care, he didn't give in. At least, not as far as I know. Clark was
pretty pissed but we ended up doing Bandstand three times...with "Your
Ma Said..." so there was no blackball.
