I recently was channel surfing on my satellite radio while driving around the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex when the song, Hanky Panky, came on. As I often do when I hear a song, my brain kicks in (if it never does any other time) and began searching its cobweb laden memory banks for a benchmark of when I first heard that song.

As I started drilling in and through my gray matter, I quickly remembered that it was somewhere around the summer of ’69 or ’70 in Phoenix, Arizona.  A little girl was spending the summer with a a friend of my mom’s.  This little girl would come over and play with my little sister.

Very early on, this girl started bringing her one 45 record.  It was Tommy James and the Shondell’s ’66 recording of Hanky Panky.  That girl played that song over and over and over again. Surprisingly, none of us really got sick of it, as I recall.  However, the tune was forever burned into my memory.

Fast forward about 15 years.  My wife and I have a beautiful daughter that isn’t quite one year old.  Our family video library shows me standing her on my lap, twisting her back and forth like we’re doing the twist, and I’m singing Hanky Panky to her as she’s smiling.

That’s the funny – strike that – great thing about well written songs.  They become part of the soundtrack of our minds and they come out in the most unique ways.

Fast forward to today and back to my cruisin’ to the tunes.  Hearing the song inspired me to research what the latest happenings were with Tommy James.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the man JUST published his autobiography, Me, The Mob and The Music: One Helluva Ride With Tommy James and the Shondells.

I HAD to have that book.

Long story short, Tommy’s manager, Carol Ross-Durborow, sent me a copy of the book for me to review.  I COULD NOT put the book down, it was that captivating.  (You can read my review of the book here.) Before I even finished the book I knew I had to interview Tommy and Carol was very kind to set up the phone interview. 

From the first moment of the conversation, James is both warm and engaging in his conversation.  Right out of the chute, we start talking about the book with my confession that, when I received the book, that I really didn’t expect it to be a good read but, boy, was I wrong!

“You know, I’ve got to tell you, we’ve had such an amazing response from the fans and the media to this book.  I just can’t believe it.  It’s only been out about six weeks and they’re in their third printing already. It’s just blowing my mind. Also, it’s going to be a movie and a Broadway play.”

I mentioned that I had read that Martin Scorsese was mentioned as a possible director of the movie.

“Well, his office contacted us first. We’re talking to a couple of other people.  So, that decision is going to be made in the next two or three weeks.  We’re going to have a major announcement to make within a month.  And, it’s going to be produced by Barry Rosen and Mary Gleason for Triangle Pictures.  It’s going to be an A-1 cast.  There are going to be a lot of big names involved in this and I’m as thrilled as I can be.