Larry Kane and the Smell of Incense

Since I'm right in the thick of helping to coordinate a biennial conference for 800 people, here's some more classic Houston TV for ya.

Up through the Sixties, many local TV stations produced teen dance shows to compete with American Bandstand. In Houston, it was The Larry Kane Show, aired weekdays over KTRK.

This garbled 1968 clip is of Dallas-based Southwest F.O.B. performing a cover of the West Coast Experimental Pop Art Band's "Smell of Incense." The song was a regional hit, but the Stax distribution deal they talk about failed to break "Incense" into the national top 40. Personally, I prefer the original.

They also refer to a place called Catacombs, which was a teen club located at 3003 S. Post Oak Rd. Catacombs later moved to the corner of University and Kirby, which was a Half Price Books for most of the time I lived in Houston. I'm not sure what's there now.

It's pretty hilarious to listen to these guys with thick Texas drawls whip up a psychedelic frenzy. Southwest F.O.B. members Dan Seals and John Colley became England Dan and John Ford Coley in the Seventies, scoring a number one hit with "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight."