Lola Palooza

If Memory Swerves™, on this day in music history — June 3, 1970 — singer Ray Davies of The Kinks flew from New York to London to amend one word in the song "Lola” — changing Coca-Cola® to cherry cola — at the behest of the BBC, whose strict policy of exhibiting tight-arsed behavior threatened the song’s chances on their playlist. The six-thousand-mile round trip not only cut into the band’s American tour revenues, but the price of the ticket and studio overages sent Ray’s hot-tempered guitarist brother Dave on a tirade that saw him vandalizing Coca-Cola trucks, boycotting the beverage backstage and giving his lyricist brother the big freeze when he returned to the tour. Those familiar with the gap-toothed longhairs know that this was business as usual for the warring siblings — bloody hell, even the name of the band is said to have resulted from a disagreement — Ray claiming that he had “a kink” in his neck and couldn’t bother practicing every day and Dave responding that he had a “kink” in his bloody ballbag, but that didn’t stop him from learning the goddamned songs and, after a flurry of fisticuffs, “The Kinks” were born. The success of “Lola,” a song about a transvestite — who may or may not have been based on one of the Davies brothers' mannish-looking sisters — reinvigorated the band, giving them the fortunes to build a proper studio in London, none of which calmed Dave, whose famous rejoinder, “No Coke, Pepsi!” would become a buzz phrase in the states. After “Lola,” the band enjoyed all manner of success in the 70's and 80’s, but they would tire of the squabbling and call it quits in 1996, right around the release of “Frivolous Lola” — a film that may or may not have been based on The Kinks’ song classic — produced by Tinto Brass, director of “Caligula” and associate of esteemed Italian picture-taker Bob Guccione. In recent years, the Davies have tried their hands at everything from musical theater to memoir writing, with varying degrees of success; sadly, Dave suffered a stroke in 2004 and ‘twas only the aggravating thought of self-promoting front man Ray being named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire™ by Queen Elizabeth II that gave Dave the strength to work through his illness so that he might one day get his mitts around his older brother's throat again. I’m happy to say that Master Dave is back on his feet, and as of this posting, the brothers are talking about a Kinks reunion, but don’t hold your breathe, as it’s not good for your circulation, just ask stroke survivor and avowed Coca-Cola despiser Dave Davies, brother of Ray.