Rock N' Roll Memory Time
This site is a tribute to George Lorenz and what better way to pay tribute to him than to let his listeners and his biggest fans share their stories of how The Hound influenced, entertained or brought them a measure of pleasure.
Here are the memories we've received posted in order of the most recent received...
Submitted by:
Tom Krzeminski
From:
East Aurora, NY
Memory:
As I remember, one of the reasons The Hound left KB was because they wouldn't let him use the word FUNKY.
While driving down Paderewski Drive in my Chevy convertible on the first night The Hound was broadcasting from his station WBLK, he opened the show by repeatedly saying FUNKY, FUNKY, FUNKY and continued to do so all night long between songs.
It's great to hear his voice again. Thanks for the memories.
Submitted by:
Jill Glaser
From:
Dallas, Texas
Memory:
My father,Ralph Glaser,owned the Zanzibar. On Sundays, my dad would take my brother and I to the club and George "Hound Dog" Lorenz would take the two of us into his booth and let us say a few words into the microphone. Those were the days of such innocent fun. When I was older, my dad told me many stories of all of the entertainers that performed at the "Zanz".
Submitted by:
Hugh Guillaume
From:
Amherst, NY
Memory:
Commercials - as cool as the music was - the commercials were even more cool! Here are a few sponsors I remember: Rockin' Doc Abrams Drug Store, Herb Ross' Rhythmland Record Store, Sam the Wailin' Tailor, Ben Glaser's, Big Bob & Pal Al - The Happiness Boys, Mad Man Muntz TV, The Salad Bowl Restaurant, Tony Carruba's Good Gulf Station, Eddie & Jessie's Chicken on Wheels, Mama Goldstein's Top of the Vine Wine, Richard's Wild Irish Rose Wine(accompanied by Larry Liggett's instrumental version of My Wild Irish Rose), Al Maroone Ford, Cavage's, Rab's Righteous House of Rockin' Records,etc. It would be really cool to hear those commercials again.
Other background music: Barrellhouse by Chuck Calhoun's All-Stars on Atlantic(actually the Atlantic house band), Night Life by Jesse Stone on Atco(almost always played behind The Hound talking), etc. I have a list somewhere - I know there are more.
One night after a Bison game at Offerman Stadium we came wheeling down Main Street just as The Hound was pulling out of the KB lot in his '56 Ford ragtop. We yelled out at him. He yelled back and waved frantically in a blue cloud of cigarette smoke and was gone down Utica Street, probably headed for The Zanzibar. Cool, very cool. Unforgettable!
Also very cool was "Make It or Break It" when he would ask listeners to call in on new records. If the tune was a loser he broke it - probably in those days it was a 78 - 45s were a little tougher.
Submitted by:
herbert
From:
Kelowna, B.C. Canada
Memory:
I was a little boy, I'd bought a cheap transitor radio at Ralph's discount on Main Street, a long time ago, my father was and is a Baptist minister in Buffalo, although he's very sick right now. George would do the over night on BLK, and I would take that transistor radio and put it on the window ledge and lay looking out my window at the Kensington expressway from Grape St. ( you could see the Jefferon exit from my window where the old Nehi bottling plant used to be), listening to the Hounnnnnd dog - until I fell asleep.
It's funny I have a freind whose just revived the Old Cash Box Magazine, he lives in S.Carolina, and I was telling him about George the other day, explaining where my love of blue's came from, and that was George, he'd play Bobby Blue Bland, and anything else he wanted to play, you could always hear something different.
And I was telling him, that I wondered where some of those old tapes went to, because Cash Box has a label to now. And it would be wonderful to release Georges show, on CD. just a thought.
In anycase what a wonderful thing that you have this website.
Herbert Reid jr.
Submitted by:
David Tomei
From:
Roma, Italy
Memory:
I have no idea why I suddenly thought of George Lorenz but I Googled him and was completely surprised by the site. Wonderful.
My earliest memories of him came from a day in 1955 when my dad took me to the Auto Show where I collected brochures for all the new 1955 cars. In the crowd waiting for hot dogs my dad found that we were standing behind a man dressed in a black suit. My dad whispered to me asking if I knew who this man was. I didn't but I remember how he looked but more so, how impressed my father was just standing next to him. Dad worked second shift in Niagara Falls and had a long drive home every night, a drive spent listening the the Hound. He told me that the man standing in front of us was the Hound Dog. Well, I was 10 years old, before the hormonal storms of adolescence and I hadn't yet connected with rock & roll. Yet, I kept a vivid memory of how I just stared at the guy thinking "whoa, the Hound Dog" although I had absolutely no idea what that meant.
Soon after, I came to know him and lived many years with his shows from KB, WINE and BLK. Hearing his voice on your site brings chills, to unexpectedly hear once again what I heard so many years ago playing the radio in my bedroom in Cheektowaga.
Memories 71 through 75 of 121