Question Mark's house burns - Loss of dogs leaves rock singer in tears

THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION ^ | Saturday, January 13, 2007 | By Doug Pullen

[weegee]

Question Mark's house burns

Loss of dogs leaves rock singer in tears

VIENNA TOWNSHIP

VIENNA TWP. - A pioneer of garage rock lost more than four decades' worth of memorabilia from his colorful career this week when his house was destroyed by fire.

Question Mark - who scored a No. 1 hit in 1966 with "96 Tears" - lost everything from recordings to stage outfits.

"I lost everything. All my tapes, pictures. I'm going through the rubble right now," he said by phone Friday.

But the worst was the loss of his four Yorkies.

"They're gone," said the singer, his voice breaking.

Firefighters were called to the cinderblock home on Bondy Drive off Neff Road near Tuscola Road around midnight Wednesday after fire apparently broke out in a bedroom.

The house was completely engulfed when fire crews arrived and a backhoe had to be brought in to tear down the block walls to get at the fire.

Question Mark picked through the rubble of his home Friday in hopes of finding the remains of his Yorkies so he can bury them. He also lost a pet cockatoo in the fire.

"Q," as he's known to friends and associates, was able to save three other dogs. "Two of the survivors were going blind," he said, adding that a door fell on him at some time during the confusion. "So I grabbed them and threw them out the door."

The singer said he was doing laundry in the basement when he thought he "smelled something burning." He went upstairs to check and was hit with a wall of smoke when he opened his bedroom door.

"There was black smoke coming out of there. It was coming in heavy, so I called 911," he said as he fought back tears. "That's when I grabbed three of the dogs. I had to do something."

He's not nearly as upset about the career mementos that went up in flames, including a cherished bag he used to carry equipment and other necessities to his shows. He'd had the bag for more than 40 years.

He did not have insurance on the home, which he shared with longtime manager Luverne Thompson and his wife, Joy. They are currently living in a nearby building on the property, using a mobile home for kitchen and bathroom facilities.

There is nothing suspicious about the fire and the cause will likely remain undetermined, said Clio Area Fire Battalion Chief Kerry Paulson.

Q hopes to rebuild, but isn't sure how he'll pay for it. He doesn't make a lot from royalties, and doesn't perform very often.

"The house can be rebuilt. I've got more than 30 years of tapes, oh my God, maybe 5,000 tapes (in there). I found a lot of them. Some are scorched. I'll probably put them on eBay," he said. "I've got to make some money some way."

Question Mark is one of rock's most unusual characters. Believed to be the son of migrant farm workers, rumor has it he changed his name from Rudy Martinez to the question mark symbol, and created a mythology, thus the band's name, the Mysterians.

The group, originally from the Saginaw-Bay City area, rose to fame in the mid-1960s with "96 Tears," considered one of the most important so-called "garage-rock" songs of the rock 'n' roll era, and one of the first rock hits by a Hispanic group.

The song has been recorded by dozens of artists, including Aretha Franklin. Other hits, including "Can't Get Enough of You Baby," have been remade by the likes of SmashMouth. The group was the subject of a major hits anthology in 2005.

Q's more colorful claims include having been born on Mars and living on Earth since the time of the dinosaurs.

Big on symbolism, the singer finds it interesting that he was able to salvage some key items, including his slightly scorched Bible.

"I knew it would survive," he said. "But finding tapes with 'Time Is On My Side' on them, that says that maybe no matter how things go, time is on my side."

Journal staff writer Bryn Mickle contributed to this report.

[the OlLine Rebel]

If that stupid top40DB still put in top chart positions, I'd challenge you on that. But they don't any more.

But there is a tendency of some of those stations (we have none in Balto any more) to play 1 hit alot, even of groups that had many. And sometimes, it depends on the trends.

Cases in point:

Righteous Bros - Yes, all their hits were played, but by far the 1 that was preferred was "You Lost that Lovin' Feeling". That is, until "GHOST" came along and then even the oldies stations were primarily playing their "Unchained Melody" from then on.

Roy Orbison - Again, his hits were all played, but the most popular to play was his 1st real hit "Only the Lonely". Then "PRETTY WOMAN", the movie, came out and again, even the oldies stations switched to playing mostly "Pretty Woman", his last real hit (of the '60s).

[weegee]

A hit doesn't mean "#1". Roy Head was #2 on the R&B AND Pop chart for something like 7 weeks. The Beatles beat him out with Yesterday (and I don't know what finally replaced that) and I don't know who had the R&B #1. But it was still a hit and covered by a number of other artists, including James Brown.

If you hit in the Hot 100, you had a hit.

Link Wray is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a "One Hit Wonder" even though he had a number of charting singles. Pete Townsend picked up a guitar because of that "hit". Bob Dylan still calls it the best instrumental cut ever.