You would be hard pressed to find a rocker who did not recognize the name.
And even harder pressed to find one who could not sing along with the "NA NA
NA NA" on their famous hot "LAND OF A THOUSAND DANCES" THEY ARE
BACK WITH A VENGEANCE The group now combines their Latino and
Motown roots with the sounds of today's music. After a spectacular early
career, which saw the Headhunters at an early age opening for such acts as
the Beatles, Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys, The Headhunters are back!
A little older, wiser more skillful and a hell of a lot hotter Combining their past
hits with the outstanding new material, Cannibal and The Headhunter's put
one steaming, get down kick butt show with the muscianship and vocal
harmonies, rich in the tradition of the great rock and roll pioneers. After several
successful European tours, Telethons, and a 100 date tour with the 30th
"Anniversary of Rock and Roll Show" The Headhunters decided to head back
into the studio. What was born was a New CD, ITS A NEW
BEGINNING.............A METAMORPHOSIS. The current line up led by Old time
Headhunter Robert Zapata, surrounding him are some of the hottest players
in Los Angeles Veteran Headhunter RON REYES, on LEAD GUITAR CARL
CARRASCO on KEYBOARDS, ART SANCHEZ on BASS, CHARLIE MUNOZ on
lead vocals and DAVID GOLDSTEIN also on KEYBOARDS . DONT MISS
CANNIBAL AND THE HEADHUNTERS AS NEW CONCERT DATES ARE
BEING BOOKED FOR 2008 AND 2009 go to SHOWS page on this web site for
details. and look for the new release single under my thumb in stores soon
and on our web site we will be posting recording studio photos of the session
you can listen to all our music and our new hit on this web site
www.thebobmorganshow.comE MUSIC WILL EAT YOU ALIVE ROCK ON FOR
BOOKINGS CONTACT MIKE COPLEY MIKE385508@YAHOO.COM COMING
SOON True Story of Cannibal and the Headhunters to PBS an interview with
Robert Zapata....... Produced by Jon Wilkman.  Cannibal & the Headhunters
were one-hit wonders, but what a hit to have, if you're only going to have one:
"Land of 1000 Dances." The group was also one of the

first Mexican-American rock bands to have a national hit record, courtesy of
that same tune. Founded by Frankie Garcia -- who reportedly earned his
nickname "Cannibal" as a boy when he bit an opponent during a fight -- with
Robert Jaramillo and Joe Jaramillo of East L.A. in the mid-'60s, the group
grew out of a number of earlier bands, including the Rhythm Playboys and the
Romanos. The Headhunters' version of "Land of 1000 Dances," written by
Chris Kenner and Fats Domino, was issued on the Rampart label in early
1965 and peaked at number 30 on the charts, which got the group booked
supporting the Beatles, among many other bands. Wilson Pickett later had the
biggest hit version of the same song, reaching number ten, but dozens,
perhaps hundreds, of versions were issued. The group's next single didn't do
much, but the Land of 1000 Dances album did chart in mid-1965. The group
later moved to Columbia's Date Records imprint (home of the Zombies' "Time
of the Season"), and at the end of the 1960s they signed with Capitol Records,
but found no more success. After a decade of doing oldies shows, Garcia and
his then-current group of Headhunters called it quits in 1978 for 2 years so
Frankie can pursue his Nursing Career at East LA Dr.s Hospital he has since
led other versions of the group in shows on the oldies circuit.
~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide


ABOUT LAND OF A THOUSAND DANCES


Land Of 1000 Dances is a song from the Sixties that has an interesting history
and has been recorded by a variety of different artists.

In the early 60's dance songs were very popular in rock-and-roll. Following the
success of Chubby Checker's The Twist, which had reached the number one
spot in the charts on two different occasions, there was a proliferation of
dance songs: the Locomotion, the Pony, the Mashed Potatoes and others. In
1962 New Orleans songwriter/performer Chris Kenner decided to write his
own dance song.

Kenner was one of rock-and-roll's most eccentric wildmen. Following the lead
of Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Screamin' Jay Hawkins and others who had
come before him, Kenner was a hard-drinking frenetic singer, songwriter and
performer. In 1961 he had written and recorded I Like It Like That, Part 1. The
song made it into the top ten nationally [it returned to the top ten later in the
60's, in a cover version by the Dave Clark Five].

Kenner was inspired by an old spiritual that was sung in the South named
"Children Go Where I Send Thee." It is a song where the narrator enumerates
all the places where he can "send thee:" "Children go where I send thee, how
shall I send thee ..." etc. Kenner took the song to noted New Orleans record
producer Allen Toussaint and recorded it in 1962. It is interesting to note that
in the popular version of this song Kenner's original introduction has been
eliminated. That introduction, however, explains the title of the song. Nowhere
in the lyrics is there any mention of a Land of 1,000 Dances, although many
different dances are mentioned in the lyrics. The original introduction by Chris
Kenner goes like this: "I'm gonna take you, baby, I'm gonna take you to a
place. The name of the place is the Land of a Thousand Dances." It failed to
chart; it was a bomb. But Kenner still liked the song and was determined to
take it a little further.

So, he approached Fats Domino, hoping to persuade him to record it. That
ought to get the song some attention. Domino agreed, with the proviso that he
receive half the publishing rights and be listed as co-writer of the song. Being
the irresponsible wildman that he was and eternally short on funds, Kenner
accepted the deal. Unfortunately, Domino was nearing the end of an
incredible stretch of recording popular songs -- he put only one song in the
top forty in 1962, and it wasn't Land Of 1,000 Dances.

A Chicago DJ picked up on the song, and it reached as high as number
seventy-seven in the charts; ironically, this was Kenner's version, not
Domino's. By 1965, the Beatles had inspired teenagers across America to
form their own garage bands. These groups, most of whom were not very
talented musically, were looking for songs that were easy to play. One such
group, which was actually a gang from East Los Angeles, picked up on the
song and began to use it in their act.

The lead singer of this group was Frankie Garcia. As Garcia tells it:


At that time Rufus Thomas was singing a song called "The Dog," which I sang
in our show. And on the album where Thomas sang that one, he also had
Land Of 1,000 Dances. I learned the song the way they wrote it, but we
changed the rhythm a little. We added a double drum sound which Stevie
Wonder had just come out with on Fingertips. I wanted to do it to that beat; I
thought it really sounded good. Now the original of that song, if you've ever
heard it, is lyrics from beginning to end. Dances all the way through. Lots of
lyrics. And on stage, I blacked out and couldn't remember the words. So I
started ad-libbing, 'Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.' After the show, the other
musicians went 'What were you doing?' and I said 'I don't know.' And they said
'Well do it again, it sounded real good. Could you do it again?' Finally we got to
where I could remember it, but didn't care about the words anymore. I just
wanted to get to that 'Na na na na na.' Everywhere we went we got a great
response to that song. And that's when I was approached by a guy named
Eddie Davis through a group called the Mixtures, which was one of the first
bi-racial groups around then. Eddie Davis wanted to send us into the studio.
Now, I didn't know a thing about the studio. I was paranoid about all this
technology. They couldn't convince me to go into the studio, until I found out a
band called Little Willie and Thee Midnighters had started singing Land Of
1,000 Dances and we found out they were going to cut the song themselves.
So I figured I'd better go into the studio. Before you know it, it was a big hit.
[Quote is from Bob Shannon and John Javna, Behind The Hits.]
* about us *
FRANKIE GARCIAS CANNIBAL
AND THE HEADHUNTERS