The bar can't get low enough to be too low for me. Good question. I'll think and think about it.

TM

Hmmmmm, don't know this one either :(.

Annette

Well, I've come back to see what has happened, while I was getting my tea with honey. No bull guys, you all know 'A'.

Nancy.

The only A-name I have thought of so far is a first name that reminds be a bit of a Christmas decoration. It could be a first name, I suppose, huh?

TM

I do think I know the 'A', but need to think more on the 'M'. Will check back for clues.

I know the A as we collected his records. The instrumental was a nice contrast to our mostly vocal group records. We bought a new turntable last year just so we could play old records. Will have to put one of A's (last name) records on to brighten up this gray November day. No idea about M. Will need clues for that one.

OK, I think I know the 'A' now but haven't a clue as to the 'M'.

Annette

'M' started his career as a promoter - his 1st big hit was promoting "16 Candles" for The Crests. In 1960 he moved to California where he teamed up with 'A', forming Carnival Records in 1962 and running the company from an office in A's garage. Discovering that the name was already taken, they dubbed their new-found company A&M Records. I'm working on better clues.

Nancy.

mnwsgal - it has turned gray and windy here, as well. A's spicy music would be a great antidote - I only have a 'knockoff', as they used to do in those days. I have a couple of oldish turntables, sitting and giving me guilt, as I have yet to connect them and get them up and running.

Nancy.

OK, not a first name. Could his initials be H.A.?

Okay, more clues for M?
Please?
Cynthia

TM - yes!! Cyn - his last name grows on the north side of a tree - at least north of 49!!

Nancy.

Now I know M, think Rolling Stone...

Good afternoon GWs. Just chiming in on this dreary (here) Sunday. Late night this morning. Good thing I have a wonderful DH who gets up with the dogs! :)

After Cynthia's thought provoking question yesterday to which I could not for the life of me jar my memory to cough up the name of, I am sure glad this one is an easy one.....for me anyway. DH and I put our minds together on this one and it didn't take long. My DH is also very much a racing fan. Seems to me that the last initials are JM, no?

My honey just made me a second cup for my late awakening. Must enjoy this one! Funny how I made the "brass" mistake yesterday on Cynthia's bronze bird! Sometimes it is really confusing to be psychic???? LOL!

Ginny

Thanks Nancy, I think I know what the M stands for now :).

Annette

Thanks mnwsgal for the suggestion. Mexico seems like a reality now on this cool, windy, and grey day! Taxi, Taxi, going south? Oh how I love You Tube!

Ginny

Ok, got them both now, but for the life of me, I couldn't tell you who M was. Just the name thanks to the clues.

I am a sucker for tall, lean, grey haired males with big strong hearts. Especially if they are of the equine persuasion! It was not long ago that this particular one made M a wealthier man in a first-time, big-time way!

Ginny

Giacomo did add to their war-chest.

Nancy.

So, Mr. Moss owns a racehorse who won the Derby (biggest I can think of right now)?

Still don't remember him, so no points for me, but do remember H.A. and the T.B.

Looking forward to the details tomorrow! Off to do the Sunday crossword in bed. Thanks for the fun, Nancy.

Cynthia

Reading back to your initial post with the question Nancy, you said that you thought the M would be the difficult one to get. Interesting how small this world is. The way I knew the answer to this question was through the Kentucky Derby winner, Giacomo. Reading up on the 2005 KD winner and his owner/breeder linked me to A&M records back then. Giacomo was a long shot but JM's first derby entry and the largest purse in KD history or so it is reported. My DH is the racing fan but I love the horses. We usually watch the big races together and often the equestrian events (especially from Spruce Meadows in Calgary). So it was another flukey piece of trivia I probably would not have known had it not been for the horse connection although I do know and love H.A. My eldest brother is a huge fan of his still.

Ginny

PS "No bull guys, you all know 'A'." This could have been a sideways clue. Holy Bull was the sire of Giacomo. :)

{{gwi:616038}}
Alpert set up a small recording studio in his garage and had been overdubbing a tune called "Twinkle Star", written by Sol Lake, who would eventually write many of the Tijuana Brass's original tunes. Urged along by Moss's interest in Ernest Hemingway and the pairs trips to Tijuana, Mexico, to watch bullfights, Alpert recalled that he was inspired to find a way to express musically what he felt while watching the wild responses of the crowd, and hearing the brass musicians introducing each new event with rousing fanfare. Alpert adapted the trumpet style to the tune, mixed in crowd cheers and other noises for ambience, and renamed the song "The Lonely Bull". He personally funded the production of the record as a single, and it spread through radio DJs until it caught on and became a Top Ten hit in 1962. It was Nate Duroff who extended the $35,000 credit Moss needed to press 350,000 singles of "The Lonely Bull," which was recorded in Alpert's garage. They followed up quickly with a debut album, The Lonely Bull by "Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass". Originally the Tijuana Brass was just Alpert overdubbing his own trumpet, slightly out of sync. The title cut reached #6 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart. This was A&M's first album (the original number was 101), although it was recorded at Conway Records.
When "The Lonely Bull" sold 700,000 copies, A&M was on the map and, by 1966, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass were outselling the Beatles and had five albums in the Top 20. The names of the artists that A&M produced have been major contributors to the soundtrack of the last 50 years: Alpert, Chris Montez, The Carpenters, Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66, Bill Medley, Lani Hall (Alpert's second and current wife), Liza Minnelli, Joe Cocker, Peter Frampton, Supertramp, Styx, Janet Jackson and The Police. When Moss and Alpert ran A&M, they did not have the deep pockets to pay huge advances and fashioned themselves an "artists label." "We wanted people to be happy," Moss said. "You can't force people to do a certain kind of music. They make their best music when they are doing what they want to do, not what we want them to do." Alpert watched Moss practice what they preached when Waylon Jennings came to their office one day early in his career with a problem. The legendary guitarist and producer Chet Atkins wanted to sign Jennings. The problem was that he still owed A&M a couple of albums. "We knew Waylon was going to be a big artist," Alpert said. "We also knew that this was the break of a lifetime for him and what we had to do. We let him out of his contract, and I knew right then that we'd be successful as long as we saw it from the artists point of view."
They sold the company nearly 20 years later. Both would continue to manage the label until 1993, when they left due to frustrations with PolyGram's constant pressure to force the label to fit into its corporate culture. Alpert and Moss then expanded their Almo Sounds music publishing company to produce records as well, primarily as a vehicle for Alpert's music. Almo Sounds imitates the former company culture embraced by Alpert and Moss when they first started A&M.

While Alpert continues to play trumpet, he also devotes time to his second career as an abstract expressionist painter and sculptor with group and solo exhibitions around the United States and Europe. The sculpture exhibition "Herb Alpert: Black Totems", on display at ACE Gallery, Beverly Hills, February through September 2010, brought major media attention to his visual work. Moss has been out of the music business for more than a decade now. Jerry and his wife, Ann, are also longtime horse breeders and owners who received the largest ever first-place purse from the Kentucky Derby in 2005 after the victory of the first horse he had ever entered in that race, Giacomo(named for Sting's son). Zenyatta (foaled April 1, 2004 in Kentucky), another "Police"-themed name, is a retired American champion Thoroughbred racehorse, winner of 19 consecutive races in a 20-race career and American record-holder for consecutive victories without defeat in unrestricted races.

Alpert and Moss started A&M with a few hundred dollars and a handshake in 1962, and they ended their partnership with a hug and a few hundred million apiece when they sold the company nearly 20 years later. Don't you love it when the good guys finish in the money??

So, for stars:

for mnswgal, TM, Annette and Cyn for getting the 'A'. Ginny, you get and extra for getting the 'M'.

Thanks for playing this weekend. Great fun, as always!! And, I learned something interesting doing my research - what is/was interesting about the members of the Tijuana Brass??

Nancy.

Thanks for the fun Nancy! Not sure what you are talking about in your bonus question. I could hazard a guess to say that the TJB changed members sometime in the 70's I think. Again, my brother (and DH it turns out) were/are fans. I just remember the music. My other brother (late) was a huge Ventures fan. There was always music in this house!

Ginny

Love the Waylon Jennings story! How nice that there really are/were good guys from time to time.

You were overly geerous with your stars in my case, but I'll take 'em when I can get 'em!

Happy week all!
Cynthia

Oh and no clue on the Tijuana Brass question. Will be back to find out.

OK, no guesses? Well, it is kinda weird. There were no Hispanic musicians in the Tijuana Brass. Alpert hired the best session musicians he could find. When they started to tour, Bill Dana (remember him - my name Jose Jimenez??) opened. Alpert described their ethnicity as 4 lasagnas, 2 bagels and an American cheese. Remember, this was the 60's. It was hard for non-white Americans to catch a break. Even Ritchie Valens shortened his name from Valenzuela.

See you next Sunday. Nancy.