Off-topic Sunday from Sideburn's editor. Frankie Valli. You know the name. As easy-listening as it comes, and with back catalogue of hits big and popular enough to form the basis of a super-successful and long-running live musical, Jersey Boys. The biggest hits of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons play on the lead singer's falsetto and the often high-pitched harmonising of the backing singers. Sherry, Big Girls Don't Cry, Walk Like a Man. If you're of a certain age you'll ha

Guest post from Serge Faberge Honestly, this counts as off-topic as the best motorcycle connection found is a fairly standard for time promo shot of France Gall sat on a shiny new Suzuki T20. The song however, is not exactly standard. 'Teenie Weenie Boppie', is a supposed warning against LSD written for Ms. Gall by the mighty Serge Gainsbourg in 1967. At the time she was moving away from the poppy yé-yé sound. It's a fun little track, suitably odd but the video takes it to ne

Off-Topic Sunday. If you're new to the Sideburn blog and wondering what an off-topic Sunday post is, it's something way outside the regular motorcycling sphere that delights us or one of our semi-regular correspondents and helps fill in the blanks of where Sideburn is from, at and maybe heading. It's often music related, but not always. On with this Sunday's... This is Rufus Thomas performing his novelty hit at the Wattstax festival in Los Angeles, California in 1972. The fes

Off-topic Sunday This is the Welsh Elvis living the maxim, Dance like no one's watching,.. The syndicated TV show, This is Tom Jones, ran from 1969 to '71. The caption on this performance says 1969, and the 99% female crowd's hairdos point to that, though the dancefloor and Tom's clothing dated it a bit later for me, but I wasn't around, and 1969 is a few years after the peak of my 60s cultural touchstones, so I can't argue. I'm posting this because A, Tom's dancing is someth