The McCoys

The McCoys were a rock group that started in Union City, Indiana, in 1962. They are best known for their hit "Hang on Sloopy".

Career

The original members, all from Union City, except the Zehringer boys were from Fort Recovery Ohio, guitarist Richard Zehringer (later known as Rick Derringer), his brother Randy on drums, and bassist Dennis Kelly. This first line-up was known as "The Rick Z Combo", and later known as "Rick and the Raiders". When Kelly left for college, the Zehringers were joined by bassist Randy Jo Hobbs, saxophonist Sean Michaels, and keyboardist Ronnie Brandon. This was the line-up that took the name of "The McCoys". Brandon left the group in 1965 and was replaced by Bobby Peterson on keyboards.

One of their best-known songs is "Hang On Sloopy", which was #1 in the United States in the Billboard Hot 100 chart in October 1965 and is the official rock song of the state of Ohio. It also is the unofficial fight song of The Ohio State University Buckeyes and can heard being played at many Ohio State athletic events by the OSU bands. American sales alone were over one million copies. Other hits include a Top 10 cover of "Fever" (Billboard #7), and a Top 40 cover of Ritchie Valens's "Come On Let's Go" (Billboard #21).

Gege (title)

Gege (Manchu: ᡤᡝᡤᡝ; Chinese: 格格; pinyin: Gégé; Wade–Giles: Ko²-ko²) is the Manchurian word for a married daughter. During the Qing Dynasty it was the Manchu style of an imperial-born princess of an emperor. Daughters of the first ranked princes also used the same title.

When a Manchu prince had concubines, the status of the wives are, from highest to lowest: daifujin (the official wife), cefujin (the first rank concubine) and gege. Historically, there were many gege; few ever ascended to the status of cefujin. Only daifujin and cefujin names are recorded in the royal family lists of family members.

See also

Guam rail

The Guam rail (Gallirallus owstoni) (Chamorro name: ko'ko' ) is a flightless bird, endemic to the United States territory of Guam. The Guam rail disappeared from southern Guam in the early 1970s and was extirpated from the entire island by the late 1980s. This species is now being bred in captivity by the Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources on Guam and at some mainland U.S. zoos. Since 1995, more than 100 rails have been introduced on the island of Rota in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in an attempt to establish a wild breeding colony. Although at least one chick resulted from these efforts, predation (largely by feral cats) and accidental deaths have been extremely high. A small number of birds potentially persists.

Background

Nine of the eleven species of native forest-dwelling birds have been extirpated from Guam. Five of these were endemic at the species or subspecies level and are now extinct on Guam. Two of these species, the Guam rail and the Guam kingfisher, are being captively bred in zoos in the hope that they can eventually be released back into the wild. Several other native species exist in precariously small numbers, and their future on Guam is perilous. Most native forest species, including the Guam rail, were virtually extinct when they were listed as threatened or endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1984.

Ko-Ko

"Ko-Ko" is a 1945 bebop recording composed by Charlie Parker. The original recorded version features Parker on alto saxophone with trumpeter Miles Davis, double bassist Curley Russell and drummer Max Roach. Due to the absence of Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie was enlisted to play piano, instead of his usual trumpet. Pianist Sadik Hakim, then known as Argonne Thornton, was also known to be present at the session. Rumors persist to this day about on who precisely played trumpet and piano on this piece; some claim Gillespie plays trumpet and, or instead of, piano; some claim Hakim is the pianist on all or part of one or both of the takes.

The piece starts in the key of B flat minor. It is based upon the chord changes of the song "Cherokee" by Ray Noble.

Overview

A recording ban, imposed by the American Federation of Musicians from 1942-1944, prevented musicians in the nascent bebop movement from recording new works during the crucial formative period of this emerging genre. As a result, the "Ko-Ko" session, along with the "Shaw 'Nuff" session led by Dizzy Gillespie earlier in the year, is considered by many to be the very first time Bebop was ever recorded.