• Who, in 1958 at the age of 14, joined the Royal Teens (Top Five hitmakers with "Short Shorts")?


• Who, in 1960, began his career as a BMI songwriter with a number called "My Kinda Love," which was recorded by Anastasia?


• Who has written hundreds of songs, all part of his BMI catalog?


• Who co-wrote "This Diamond Ring," the 1965 pop chart-topper for Gary Lewis and the Playboys? The song, incidentally, is approaching four million radio performances.


• Who, also in '65, helped create Bob Dylan's hard, radically new rock & roll sound (and, by extension, what came to be known as “folk rock") when he played the organ — for his very first time on a released recording — on Dylan's epochal single, "Like a Rolling Stone"?

• Who, in the mid-'60s, was a member of the Blues Project, the New York-based band that was among the first in this country to spread the joy (and pain) of black-influenced white electric blues?


• Who, in 1967, founded Blood, Sweat & Tears, the pioneering ensemble that melded rock with the hippest horn arrangements?


• Who, in 1968, came up with the concept of "Super Session," and produced the hit LP on which he co-starred with guitarists Michael Bloomfield and Stephen Stills?


• Who has recorded as a sideman with, among many others and in addition to Dylan ("Highway 61 Revisited" and "Blonde on Blonde"): the Rolling Stones (piano, organ and French horn on "You Can't Always Get What You Want"); Jimi Hendrix (piano on "Long, Hot Summer Night"; The Who (on the LP "The Who Sell Out"); George Harrison (arranged and played keys on the hit "All Those Years Ago"); Simon & Garfunkel; Alice Cooper; the Butterfield Blues Band; Moby Grape; Taj Mahal; B.B. King; Lynyrd Skynyrd; Judy Collins; Joan Baez; Phil Ochs; Roger McGuinn; Tom Petty; Joe Cocker; Betty Wright; Rita Coolidge; ex-Rolling Stone Bill Wyman; and Trisha Yearwood? In an issue devoted to the 500 Greatest Recordings of All Time, Rolling Stone magazine included 12 albums with serious participation by our mystery man.


• Who has produced commercially successful and publicly acclaimed discs by Bob Dylan, Lynyrd Skynyrd (he discovered them and produced their first three albums, which spawned the mega-hits "Sweet Home Alabama," "Free Bird," and "Saturday Night Special"), B.B. King, Rick Nelson, the Tubes (who gave the world the timeless "White Punks On Dope"), Shuggie Otis, Don Ellis, Nils Lofgren, and Joe Ely?


• Who has written original soundtrack music for films like Hal Ashby's The Landlord and John Waters's Cry Baby, as well as Michael Mann's television series Crime Story, and was music director for the 1991 cable TV special "Ray Charles: 50 Years in Music"?


• Whose songs have been recorded by a diverse roster of artists that includes Freddie Cannon; Lorraine Ellison; Keely Smith; "Gene Pitney ("I Must Be Seeing Things"); Bobby Vee; Lulu; Billy Fury; the Rockin' Berries; the Blues Project ("Flute Thing" and "Wake Me, Shake Me"); Ten Years After ("I Can't Keep from Cryin' Sometimes"); the Staple Singers and Rufus; Lynyrd Skynyrd ("Mississippi Kid" and "Cheatin' Woman"); Roger McGuinn; the Beastie Boys; Jay-Z; Alchemist; Dakota Staton; and Betty Wright? Then there is "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know," the heart-tugging soul ballad that was recorded by more than 25 artists, including Donny Hathaway, Kenny Lattimore, and Carmen McRae).

Answer: Al Kooper.

Any way one looks at it, Brooklyn-born (in 1944) Al Kooper has had an unusually variegated, extraordinary career. He credits Bob Gaudio for giving him his start. Gaudio later found international fame as a member and chief songwriter for the Four Seasons before producing LPs (including Frank Sinatra's Watertown, the songs for which he also co-composed) and, more recently, for writing the music for the smash Broadway, multi-Tony-winning, Jersey Boys. "He was the Royal Teens," recalls Kooper of Gaudio, "and without him hiring me I never would have begun as early as I did."

In 2008, as he celebrates his first half-century in music, that career is still moving forward. Kooper is the consummately versatile music business pro. He is, of course, a singer/songwriter. He's a multi-instrumentalist (keyboards, guitars, mandolin, synthesizers, French horn), and a producer and an engineer. Kooper also has nearly 20 albums as leader to his credit, including the excellent two-disc retrospective from Sony Music, Rare and Well Done.

Further, he warrants induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a sideman, if only for the instantly recognizable approach to the organ he created during Dylan's paradigm-shattering work of the mid-1960s. And changing the subject slightly, he's hosted and imaginatively programmed his own spot on Britain's Radio Caroline.

Kooper continues to tour with two different bands, as well as presenting a one-man show that is by turns, affecting and witty, surveying his life in music through song and anecdote. First and foremost, though is the Funky Faculty, at which he's been at the helm for the past decade. The Faculty, a sextet, is made up of veteran instructors at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, and their specialty is an engaging mix of rock, blues and jazz. Kooper himself formerly taught at Berklee and in 2001 he received, along with the late, innovative drummer Elvin Jones, a Doctorate of Music. (He also holds a doctorate from Long Island's Five Towns College.) When in New York, he often fronts an all-star foursome that also features guitarist Jimmy Vivino and bassist Mike Merritt (both from Conan O'Brien's house band) and drummer Anton Fig, from Late Show with David Letterman.

Though a debilitating condition permanently robbed him in 2001 of two-thirds of his sight, it's not stopped Kooper from taking the Funky Faculty to Norway, Denmark, Italy, England, Spain and all sorts of faraway places; late in 2007 the Faculty played for enthusiastic audiences in the Czech Republic and Japan, and more travels are in the works. Also planned for 2008: an updated edition of Dr. Kooper's autobiography, "Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards," which is a fresh, funny, and compelling read. Then there is his forthcoming disc, tentatively titled White Chocolate, due from A Minor Record Company, for which Kooper is CEO. The album is highlighted by two new songs on which he collaborated with the legendary lyricist Gerry Goffin.

During 2007 Kooper also garnered two individual honors: he was honored in New York by the Mix Foundation with the Les Paul Award, receiving an autographed Les Paul guitar from the great man, who was present for the ceremonies. Shortly thereafter, on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, Kooper dipped his hands in cement in the Rock Walk of Fame during festivities that also honored Otis Redding and the Mamas & the Papas.

Perhaps closest to Kooper's heart, however, is the scholarship that Berklee formed in his name: The Al Kooper It Can Happen Fund assists handicapped students in overcoming any difficulties that would prevent them from attending Berklee. "They do a great job," says Kooper, "and I'm very proud of what has been accomplished thus far."

As he prepares to embark on his sixth musical decade, Kooper reflects with typical straightforwardness, and speaks of BMI's significance in his career: "I've been ripped off voluminously by record companies, managers, etc. I always thought of BMI as the cavalry, coming to rescue me from a hand-to-mouth existence. When times were really tight, and it seemed as if the end might be around the corner, that BMI check would come crashing through the mail slot and bring me back to the real world. To this day, I could not exist without it."

http://www.myspace.com/backdoorslam

Presenting acts from the U.S. and abroad, BMI will showcase an array of rising rock, pop and singer/songwriter acts. From the blues rock of the Isle of Man’s Back Door Slam, to the power rock trio of Inward Eye, infectiousness of Bang Bang Bang and John Paul White’s rhythmic guitar, BMI’s Lollapalooza stage is guaranteed to satisfy all musical tastes.

The schedule for the BMI sponsored Lollapalooza stage is as follows:

Friday, August 3
11:15 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. - The Switches: Hailing from London, England, the Switches debut album, Heart Tuned To D.E.A.D, is influenced by artists such as David Bowie, The Rakes, Super Furry Animals, and the Beach Boys.

12:30 – 1:15 p.m. - Tom Schraeder: With a delicate, drunken honesty and a knack for setting the simple desperation of young love against a background of Brit-pop-laced Americana, Tom Schraeder’s songs for his upcoming album, The Door, are not for the faint of heart.

1:45 – 2:30 p.m. - Bang Bang Bang: With influences like The Sex Pistols and Lenny Kravitz, Bang Bang Bang inked a record deal with Warner Brothers after dazzling them with their irresistible, infectious brand of greasy, sleazy Southern rock, spiked liberally with punk energy and songwriting smarts.

3:00 – 3:45 p.m. - Powerspace: This young quartet specialize in a cross between hooky power pop à la Fountains of Wayne, ironic glam metal in the tradition of the Darkness, and '80s-influenced dance-rock textures that recall early MTV stars like INXS and Duran Duran.

4:15 – 5:00 p.m. - Inward Eye: With a nod to the Jam and the Who, this rock trio from Winnipeg, Canada write and perform songs with the wit and guitar-based energy that have won them a global audience.

5:30 – 6:15 p.m. - Wax on Radio: Chicago' s Wax On Radio has emerged at the forefront of a new breed of important young rock bands. At once artistic, virtuosic, heavy, and reminiscent of an era when great songs and evocative aural atmospherics coexisted with strong hooks, the bands music resonates as an uncommonly multifaceted, engaging, and convincing statement.

Saturday, August 4
11:15 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. - Dear and the Headlights: Rock band Dear and the Headlights, calls Phoenix, Arizona home and consists of five members influenced by artists such as Radiohead, Bob Dylan, The Flaming Lips, and Leonard Cohen.

12:30 – 1:15 - Ludo: Critics embraced their second album, The Broken Bride, as “a rock and roll adventure for the ages” and “a competitor for the best EP of the year.”

1:45-2:30 - Kevin Michael: With an irresistible blend of soul, funk, r&b and pop, Kevin Michael invokes greats from the past while bringing something totally new to the game on his debut album, YaDig?

3:00 – 3:45 - Lady GaGa: Lady GaGa’s debut album combines her love of Beatles’ melodies with retro dance beats, plastic synth sounds, and a quirky rock piano style. Her dramatic live shows have won over fans and critics in her hometown of New York City.

4:15-5:00 - Cage the Elephant: Bowling Green, Kentucky’s Cage the Elephant formed in 2006, debuting their self-released album this past March. With a strong buzz off of their SXSW and Bonnaroo performances, the band is winning indie rock fans over with their no-frills,  no-boundaries performances.

5:30 – 6:15 - Back Door Slam: This blues-rock trio from the Isle of Man has made jaws drop when 19-year-old singer Davy Knowles showcases his exceptional blues-rock guitar skills and vocals, showing that the passion and heart of the blues is evolving outside the U.S.

Sunday, August 5
11:15 – 12:00 - The Graduate: After their debut album, Anhedonia, hit stores this past April, The Graduate has gained momentum due to memorable songs, an interactive live show and the friendly disposition of its members.

12:30 – 1:15 - Mr. North: This four-piece band, comprising two brothers, a first cousin and a next-door neighbor, started playing together when they were young teens. Their second album, Fear and Desire, showcases the bands’ powerful live sound.

1:45 – 2:30 - Smoosh: the first true rock Tween act to come from the indie scene, Smoosh offers a rare combination of honesty, perseverance, and passion for music.

3:00 – 3:45 - The Diffs: Inspired by early L.A. punk bands like The Germs, Black Flag and the Adolescents, the Diffs go back to the source and make the sound their own. The LA Weekly hails The Diffs as “L.A.’s coolest high-school band.”

4:15 – 5: -  John Paul White: John Paul White, a Lawrenceburg, Tennessee native, journeyed over to Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals this past fall to record his debut album with Capitol Records.

5:30 – 6:15 - Bound Stems: When reporting on the Bound Stems, Rolling Stone exclaimed, “These Chicago indie rockers build on Modest Mouse’s quirky popiness with low-fi samples and a bouncy groove all their own.”
Press credentials can be requested through Lollapalooza at www.lollapalooza.com/credentials_start.asp

BMI presents and sponsors a stage at all three of C3 and Capital Sports & Entertainment’s music festivals: Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits Music Festival September 14-16, and the inaugural Big State Festival, October 13-14. BMI’s partnership with this elite festival is designed to offer more prime showcasing opportunities to its songwriters — a distinct priority of the organization. For more information on Lollapalooza, please visit www.lollapalooza.com; for information on the Austin City Limits Music Festival, visit www.aclfestival.com; and for details regarding the Big State Festival, please go to www.bigstatefestival.com.

BMI songwriters dominate the selections, representing 58% of the individuals and groups. The variety and superiority of the material attests not only to the wide-ranging talents of BMI songwriters but also the consistency of BMI’s involvement with all eralms of music throughout the course of its history. The diversity of styles and genres included is remarkable, ranging from folk (Woody Guthrie) to rap (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five), jazz (Miles Davis) to punk (Sex Pistols), blues (Howlin’ Wolf) to country (Hank Williams), rhythm & blues (Sam Cooke) to soul (Aretha Franklin), disco (Chic) to folk-rock (Fairport Convention), the over-the-top (Velvet Underground & Nico) to the indefinable (Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band).

As with any list, arguments are invited and disagreements encouraged. The following are BMI’s representatives in Mojo’s decisions, including their number in the final grouping.

For the complete list, consult mojo4music.com or rocklistmusic.co.uk/mojo.html.

BMI Songwriters on the MOJO List:

Animals: “The House of the Rising Sun” [#86]
Anthology of American Folk Music [#8]
Beach Boys: Pet Sounds [#21]
The Beatles: “I Want To Hold Your Hand” [#2]
                       Revolver [#40]
                      Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [#16]
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band: Trout Mask Replica [#51]
Chuck Berry: “Johnny B. Goode” [#12]
Big Youth: Screaming Target [#76]
David Bowie: The Rise and Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And the Spiders From Mars [#31]
                       Low [#64]
James Brown: “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” [#15]
Jeff Buckley: Grace [#37]
The Byrds: Sweetheart of the Rodeo [#57]
Ray Charles: “What’d I Say” [#9]
Chic: “Good Times” [#54]
John Coltrane: My Favorite Things [#60]
Sam Cooke: “You Send Me” [#47]
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue [#43]
Lonnie Donegan: “Rock Island Line” [#38]
Nick Drake: Five Leaves Left [#78]
Brian Eno: Discreet Music [#68]
Fairport Convention: Liege & Lief [#58]
Aretha Franklin: “I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You” [#18]
Gang Of Four: Entertainment [#77]
Gnarls Barkley: “Crazy” [#100]
Davy Graham with Alexis Korner: 3/4AD [#35]
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: “The Message” [#29]
Woody Guthrie: Dust Bowl Ballads [#13]
Billie Holiday : “Strange Fruit” [#67]
Buddy Holly: “That’ll Be The Day” [#52]
Howlin’ Wolf: The Rocking Chair Album [#23]
Michael Jackson: Thriller [#33]
Carole King: Tapestry [#74]
John Lennon: Plastic Ono Band [#55]
The Libertines: Up The Bracket [#94]
Little Richard: “Tutti Frutti” [# 1]
Love [#66]
MC5: Kick Out The Jams [#69]
New York Dolls [#39]
Nirvana: “Smells Like Teen Spirit” [#27]
Nuggets [#42]
N.W.A.: Straight Outta Compton [#61]
Oasis: Definitely Maybe [#89]
Charlie Parker: “Koko” [#26]
Pixies: Surfer Rosa [#79]
Elvis Presley: “Heartbreak Hotel” {#3]
R.E.M.: Murmur [#75]
Rolling Stones: “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” [#19]
                          “Sympathy For The Devil:” [#48]
Ronettes: “Be My Baby” [#45]
Sex Pistols: “God Save the Queen” [#10]
The Shadows: “Apache” [#84]
The Smiths: This Charming Man [#80]
Sonic Youth: EVOL [#85]
The Stone Roses [#99]
The Stooges: Funhouse [#36]
Television: Marquee Moon [#97]
Upsetters: Blackboard Jungle Dub [#59]
The Velvet Underground & Nico [#7]
The Who: “My Generation” [#44]
Hank Williams: “Move It On Over” [#30]
Link Wray: “Rumble” [#41]

The title track of The Who’s 1965 debut American album, The Who Sings My Generation, with such stuttered lyrics as “talkin’ ‘bout my g-generation,” introduced one of the most important and revered bands of the 1960s — and one of the very few to still remain active some four decades later.

It’s not exactly the same band, of course. Keith Moon, The Who’s original drummer and the embodiment of the outrageous rock & roll fantasy lifestyle at its most extreme, succumbed to the fast life in 1978. Original bassist John Entwistle followed suit, though he lasted until 2002. But surviving vocalist Roger Daltrey and guitarist/vocalist/ songwriter Pete Townshend trudged on, performing the classic hits without a new studio album from the band since It’s Hard.

But that album, which yielded the minor pop hits “Athena” and “Eminence Front,” came out in 1982 — over 24 years ago! So the fall 2006 release of Endless Wire was greatly anticipated and ecstatically received. Many critics felt that it was the best work by Townshend (who continued to issue solo albums since It’s Hard) in years, if not decades.

There are key differences, to be sure. On the critical musicianship side, Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr’s son and The Who’s more-than-able touring drummer since 1996 (he actually received his first drum kit from his idol Moon), is present; equally estimable bassist Pino Palladino, who assumed the band’s touring bass role after Entwistle’s passing, is another seamless fill-in.

In the vocal department, Daltrey’s bluster has aged well and is altogether fitting: Always the delivery vehicle for Townshend’s lyrics, Daltrey has been supplied with songs showing the observations and reflections of a complex man now in his sixties. So while the album’s opening track, “Fragments,” may hark back to “Baba O’Riley” (from 1971’s Who’s Next) with its dainty keyboard play, it is not at all the “teenage wasteland” of that song’s stirring verse. Nor is Endless Wire a mere throwback to earlier Who work in other aspects, though there are plenty more links with the past that are just as obvious, both musically and thematically.

Rather, Endless Wire is Pete Townshend at his most pensive and philosophical — and modern. In “Fragments,” the artist who with his band helped define England’s modernist (mod) youth subculture of the mid-1960s, experiments with composer Lawrence Ball in creating music by way of the “Method” — an interactive music composition tool — as envisioned in Townshend’s three interlocking rock-opera projects: Lifehouse, which The Who released in 1972; Psychoderelict, Townshend’s solo album from 1993; and The Boy Who Heard Music, his blog’s novella written over the past two years.

In that novella, “Fragments” is a big hit song by the three-piece band that is the center of the story. By itself, it’s an existential exploration of man’s place in the universe, though it returns in shorter instrumental form in the middle of “Wire & Glass,” a 10-song “mini-opera” tie-in with the novella that makes up the second half of Endless Wire (the album’s title track is itself a song from this part of the program).

“Man in a Purple Dress” is simply Daltrey backed by Townshend’s acoustic guitar, and in its mocking rejection of priestly hypocrisy, is one of three songs Townshend wrote after watching Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. The frenetic rocker “Sound Round” evokes youth at life’s crossroads, “We Got a Hit” is a cynical take on stardom, and “Black Widow’s Eyes,” with its “Pinball Wizard” power-chording, is an ironic love song situated in the horrific Beslan (Russia) school massacre.

Giving it a final context, then, Endless Wire, seems an extension of The Who’s skeptical 1970 hit “The Seeker,” in which Daltrey gives voice to Townshend’s dismissal of Dylan, The Beatles and Timothy Leary, none of whom can provide life’s big answers. Ever the spiritual wanderer, Townshend, who was heavily influenced by the Indian guru Meher Baba, perhaps tenders his own answer in “Mirror Door,” the mirror, incidentally, being a key symbol in Tommy.

Citing such musical luminaries as Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and Johnny Cash, Daltrey’s voice concludes, “Music makes me, makes me strong.” As always, though, they are the words of Townshend, whose musical strengths have never been more pronounced as the creative genius behind The Who.