(38) JIMMIE "HONEYCOMB" RODGERS & ROULETTE RECORDS

Just as my music friends had encouraged me to change labels when I was with United Artist's Record label, after the one record with Clock Records, they encouraged me to change labels again. Changing labels wasn't uncommon. It was like people do today, stay at a job a year, see no future, change jobs again.

This time it was my friend Jimmie "Honeycomb" Rodgers who encouraged me to join Roulette records where he was signed. Buddy Knox and Jimmy Bowen also thought I should be on Roulette, also their label at this point. They eased my way a bit, talking me up at the company, and I would soon be signed.

Jimmie Rodger's has a common name, and as you'll see when you read a bit about him, there were a few other musicians and singers with that same name, so the Jimmie that was my friend got to be known as Jimmie "Honeycomb" Rodgers or "Mr. Honeycomb."

Here's a YouTube video of Jimmie singing "Honey Comb"

NEW VIDEO embedded January 13, 2011

A few years ago, after three brain surgeries, Jimmie Rodgers got himself back on stage! Here is an interview with Jimmie... New link January 13, 2011... Click on the title to get there!

JOHNNY RIVERS and ME (Christine!)

Hi everyone!

I'm just going to jump in here and say a little bit about Johnny Rivers and me. In a previous post Wes was talking about his record "Freeze," that he performed on Dick Clark's American Bandstand live, and that inspired a dance craze across the nation. He mentioned that as a kid me and my neighborhood friends used it to play a game as we ran through the lawn sprinklers. The idea was to get through before he sang the words "freeze!"

I was a kid who was into music young, and the sounds coming from the record department in the five and dimes that my mother took me shopping in drew me to the back of the store. It seems to me that I learned a lot about the music the late 1950's and early 1960's because of the hand-me-down records that came through the neighborhood. The very first record I ever heard that seemed to speak to me about love was Johnny River's American chart topper from 1966, "Poor Side of Town."

"... That rich guy you've been seeing must have put you down, so welcome back baby, to the poor side of town..."

When I heard it when I was just beginning to understand that I was poor and I don't know who the rich guy I was seeing was, as there were none in my neighborhood, but I knew Johnny understood! I loved Johnny's voice on it and the guitar rifts, but more than anything I felt like Johnny was singing to me! "Poor Side of Town" got a lot of play on my plastic record player from Sears.

"Poor Side of Town" is still one of my favorite all time songs.

Christine

(37) JOHNNY RIVERS (Before He was Secret Agent Man)

I met Johnny Rivers through Buddy Knox in New York City. They both lived in the same hotel, the Forest Hotel. There were several hotels in New York where entertainers kept rooms or rented them when they were in town to record or on hiatus from touring. I'd been living in one with my manager.

After I left United Artists I had nowhere to live. One day I saw Johnny and told him I had a "little delimma." Without any hesitation, he told me to get my stuff and come right up to his hotel. I shared his room with him for a few weeks. And when I moved to Los Angeles in 1960, Johnny came out and stayed with me a while to get started.

Johnny was just 16 years old when, as Johnny Ramistella, he arrived to the Big Apple from Baton Rouge, Louisiana! He was mature for his age and very ambitious. His parents were behind him all the way. And the day would come, years later, when he would be able to thank them for the sacrifices they made.

Johnny Rivers and Ersel Hickey were great buddies. Ersel, who had been orphaned, taught the teenaged Johnny how to survive in the big city of New York. Johnny taught Ersel guitar chords. Ersel taught him about the various recording studios around town. It was that spirit of all for one and one for all that sustained us. Johnny was very much part of our "in crowd."

Johnny Rivers was a young man who kept going no matter what. He's still going today. And he has a great web site of his own that he narrates so I'll let him speak for himself here.

LINK TO JOHHNY RIVERS OFFICIAL SITE by clicking the title above!

LONDON AMERICAN RECORDS HONEY BABY

Originally recorded on Clock Records, the label that featured an alarm clock going off, London American Records distributed this song of mine in England. Lately I am surprised to see that some of my records are being collected (and sold) not only in the United States and Canada, but also in Germany and Poland and Japan, though I never recorded in any language other than English.

Of course the Germans have been crazy for Rockabilly and Rock and Roll from the start. I have German heritage myself, along with heritage from the British Isles.

HONEY BABY WES BRYAN on CLOCK RECORDS

NANCY SPAIN Quote on Friendship

"There are people whom one loves immediately and forever. Even to know they are alive in the world with one is quite enough." - Nancy Spain

(36) Goodbye UNITED ARTISTS! Hello CLOCK RECORDS!

I'll leave the details about my departure from United Artists for my memoir, but without getting into the circumstances that propelled me, the short of it is that I quit.

Dad pointed out that I had signed my seven year contract underage because UA didn't want to let me go. My dad had first expressed big doubts about my becoming an "Acting-Singing Sensation," but had become my biggest fan. Now he was on my side when it came to leaving United Artists. Dad wanted me to have a new manager - Elvis' Colonel Tom Parker!

I quit United Artists having traveled thousands of miles on tours and after having made countless television, radio, and record hop - dance party performances, and after having had a Gold Record.

I quit having studied acting with Lee Strasberg at Actors Studio, having auditioned for some movie roles and having appeared in promotionals for other star's films. (We called them movies then.) I quit having the highest hopes to play the late, great James Dean in the bio pic.

But I was also tired of the James Dean comparisons. There were those who were glad I had failed. How could I have ever dared try to "be" him? When could I be myself?

United Artists had decided they could not make the movie. I was told that if they had gone forward with it, I would have had the role. I'd beat out a few other guys including Dean Stockwell for the part, and it meant everything to me to know that James Dean's own family had put the good word in for me that they wanted me to play Jimmy!

I quit United Artists having honed my performance and interviewing skills to perfection. I quit while having great respect for Max E. Youngstein, who had personally signed me to their new label to launch it, and having appreciated all that United Artists had done for me - the publicity, everything. I quit because it was the only choice, in circumstances that were devestating to me.

But I was still young, healthy, talented, and ambitious, and maybe more than anything I had made a lot of friends in the business.

This was when Bessie Little, the publicist entered my life. She had written about me - and many other stars - before, but she had never met me. A woman executive at United Artists who knew the inside story of my circumstances ran into singer Bobby Darin in a cafeteria and urged him to have me come up to see her. That woman personally introduced me to her publicist friend Bessie Little.

(I wrote a bit about Bessie Little earlier in this blog, on the September 10th, 2007 - blog post #23.)

Record companies trying to track me down called Bessie's office.

After I left United Artists there was a record label bidding war for me!

This gave me hope that I still had a career ahead of me! Bobby Darin was thinking of changing labels himself, despite the success of "Splish Splash." Frankie Avalon, Buddy Knox, Ersel Hickey, and other friends in the music business had urged me to change labels.

The new Clock label was owned by veteran English-born EMI record man Wally Moody and his son Doug Moody. In about 1958 they had Dave "Baby" Cortez, known for "The Happy Organ." The Moodys, who had managed to produce a high percentage of hit records for a small label, won me.

Clock Records had a unique record label design with an alarm clock going off on it, as you'll see when you click on this RCS discography link.

On the CLOCK LABEL I recorded "Honey Baby," and "So Blue Over You."

IT WAS THE SUMMER OF 1959!

A bit on Clock Records... Link to PAISLEYHAZE site!

Little did I know that an even more exciting phase of my life was beginning for me, and that it would be some of my best friends in the business who would give me that hand up when I needed it!

To this day I am grateful for those friends along the way,those friends who never gave up on me!

HONEY BABY BY WES BRYAN on CLOCK RECORDS

Here's my record on Clock - the label with the ringing alarm clock icon. Clock records won me in a bidding contest among labels. It was owned by the Moody's, a couple of British men who had a lot of hit records for the size of their company.

(35 1/2) FRANKIE AVALON

Friends, in blog #35 I gave a mention to my New York pal and peer, Frankie Avalon, who was also being promoted like me, to be a "Singing, Acting Sensation." I decided he really deserves his own little blog here so I'm doing a blog #35 1/2.

Believe it or not, I was up for some of those beach party type roles he got and I thought Frankie ought to do them. I was born and raised in the mountains, the magnificent Smokey Mountains of far western North Carolina, far from the ocean.



Being from Philadelphia, Frankie had the Atlantic in his back yard. I figured he could relate to the beach scene better than me, that he had actually gone to the beach and had summer fun there, and of course if you know the movies, he became the handsome screen boyfriend of the beautiful Annette Funicello. But before all that, he had a number one hit, "Venus," which is his signature song.

Here's Frankie singing "Venus" on the Dick Clark American Bandstand show.

I used to go to a lot of Frankie's recording sessions in New York at Bell Sound, including when he recorded "Venus," and Frankie also recorded a song I wrote called "I'm Forever Yours."

FRANKIE AVALON at the History of Rock Link at Post Title!

Frankie Avalon - Movies on IMBd movie database.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000811/ REFRESHED LINK!

Photo WES BRYAN on UNITED ARTISTS FREEZE!

I continued to tour the United States on record promotional tours for United Artists. Don Darcel who had written songs for me before was the co-writer on this record "Freeze!!" which I performed on the Dick Clark American Bandstand show. It was my second appearance on Dick Clark. The song created a dance craze across the nation. When I sang the word "freeze!" the dancers were supposed to stop at whatever move they were making and hold still for a moment. My writing partner remembers being a kid and running through the lawn sprinklers with other kids in her neighborhood with the record on.

(35) FREEZE! A DANCE CRAZE SPARKED ON AMERICAN BANDSTAND BY THIS "SINGING - ACTING SENSATION"

I played live at record hops, accompanying myself on a guitar, and when I was on television performing, I sang either live or along with a recording. I never just lip sync-ed (silently moved my lips) to a tune and as a result I kept my voice honed. Having to perform live, with no technology to cover your mistakes, meant having to be your best at all times. There was no slacking off. Touring was grueling and I often suffered from sleep deprivation, but being your best at all times also meant clean living. Though years later I would realize that some of my peers had begun to take drugs to keep going, for the most part the ones I associated with at the time kept drinking to a minimum and relied on their youthful energy to keep going!

I had lost all shyness of performing. I was better than ever! My confidence had grown as I traveled and met people all around the country and from all walks of life. I felt myself to be part of the vital New York music scene too. I had begun writing songs and presenting them to my peers. Besides my own hit songs, I performed many of the popular Rockabilly and early Rock and Roll songs of my era.

In the summer of 1958, on the United Artists record label, I put out another single. This one had "Wait for Me Baby," on one side, and a song called "Freeze," on the other.

Once again I made an appearance on Dick Clark's American Bandstand television show, performing "Freeze." It seemed that my first appearance on Dick Clark's, singing "Tiny Spaceman," with a prop flying saucer going around my head, had been an eon ago - when it had been a bit more than a year.

Now "Freeze" was meant to be a record hop - dance party tune. When I sang the word "freeze!" the kids on the dance floor would stop for a moment wherever they were. It was like vogue-ing, late 1950's style. The song started a bit of dance craze around the nation!

(My writing partner, Christine, has a memory of learning this dance as a kid. She says a neighbor's mom owned an old copy and her friends played the record while they ran through the lawn sprinklers! Their idea was to stick someone else in the sprinkler for a moment at freeze!)

Now at this point Elvis Presley was over in Germany in the United States Army. He had the opportunity to be part of Special Services and spend his time there as an entertainer but Elvis (some say Colonel Tom Parker chose this for him) chose to be regular army. Elvis was granted the privilege of living off base and rented a house over there, and he had some of his favorite companions come over there to keep him company including Cliff Gleaves, the hep cat DJ, who clicked his fingers and joked "We have James Dean in the car with us," about me. Officially autographing was kept to an hour or so every day, when Elvis was in residence.

I, like just about everyone else, kept reading the fan magazines, to keep up on Elvis, but also to keep up on the competition. Frankie Avalon - Fabian - Pat Boone. Meanwhile Elvis kept up on us. He was very worried about Fabian as his competition. He had magazines, demo-records, the top 40, and even movies brought over so he wouldn't loose touch with what was happening in the United States.

Frankie Avalon was a friend of mine in New York. His dad came to town from Philadelphia to visit and we all went out to dinner. Despite my success with "Freeze!" Frankie was one of my singer-songwriter peers - and another fellow who was being marketed as a "Singing-Acting Sensation" - who urged me to consider changing labels. Believe it or not, I too was up for the parts he got as a beach boy! Frankie, Buddy Knox, and some others, felt that I could be doing more with my career, even as the whole Next James Dean promotion continued to propel me forwards. They felt that United Artists Records was just too new at the music business and as for my acting career - well, it had stalled out for reasons I can't reveal here - but it was stalled.

Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis's manager, had enough records to put out while Elvis was in Germany to keep the fans thinking of - and buying - Elvis. Throughout Elvis' time in Germany he and I passed hellos and good wishes through people we knew in common. I think we were all waiting to see what would happen when Elvis returned to the States.

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2011

FREEZE HAS APPEARED ON YOUTUBE! THANKS FRIEND!

ROCKIN' COUNTRY STYLE : RCS DISCOGRAPHY

We want to THANK ROCKIN' COUNTRY STYLE, also called RCS Discography, for all the hard work they've done over there at Emory University to present a viable history of Country Rock and Roll - sometimes called Rockabilly - to you. If you've been reading this blog and listening to the sound samples, you know we've been leaning on RCS heavily. Now folks, RCS can't take donations as things are set up, but you can always express your appreciation in other ways. Send them a note in the U.S. mail or an e-mail ! Or get involved if you have some records you are willing to share for a time so that more clips can be uploaded!

(I just love to listen to the snap, crackles, and pops on vintage vinyl!)

The volunteer team there headed up by Terry Gordon has done a great job of supplying music clips as well as photos of actual records and covers.

Using the GEOGRAPHICAL search is a fascinating way to see what SMALL LABELS existed and who recorded on them. Elvis Presley and so many others walked into Sun Records in Memphis to produce a recording - vanity or low budget. Other Rockabilly and Country artists to be were doing so all over America in smaller towns and markets. Go to the state and the town/label and give a listen to a local hopeful giving it their all!

You can also use the RCS LABEL search to see who was recording at Sun besides Elvis and get a feel for the body of work from a particular studio.

Every studio is different in sound quality and feel. This is something that I as a music producer am careful about. It's not just getting the right singer or musicians together.

RCS MAIN PAGE link above!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

RCS has gone independent of Emory University. We link quite a bit to this amazing reference site! THANK YOU Terry Gorden and so many other volunteers and contributors! "

NEW LINK TO TERRY's RCS January 21, 2011

(34) ROY THOMPSON and THE WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL

As I mentioned previously, in the Cover Tune era, a song that became popular in one region might be recorded in another region by another artist who was especially popular there. This is the way small record labels earned their bread and butter, though sometimes all the competition for the best cover diluted the profits. United Artists really beat the publicity drums for me and I traveled all over the country and my record sold all over too, but I was especially popular in the Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and High Point, "Tri-City" area of North Carolina. As a result my traveling always included a stop there.

I made my first demo record in a kitchen with some other kids in Winston-Salem, when I lived there while building homes and additions with my father. Dad remarried some time after mom died and he lived in Winston-Salem with his new wife in a house I was able to buy him lock, stock, and barrel, from my first residuals check for "Lonesome Love," and "Tiny Spaceman." Dad had always built homes with quality in mind but he never profited enough to buy a home for himself. I was so proud of being able to reward him for all his hard work with a house, and he took to it with saw and hammer to custom build the interior.

When I became a teen idol, journalist Roy Thompson from the Winston-Salem Journal took special pleasure in letting everyone in town know that the home town boy was back to visit.

Roy Thompson, with his Sherlock Holmes pipe and natty clothing, meant to do well by me.

But he let information slip that lead the girls to my dad's phone number in the book and my dad's address.

My dad found it all amusing but his wife was barely able to cope with the invasion of girls that appeared around the house and yard waiting for me after Roy announced my presence in town.

The phone kept ringing. And ringing. And ringing!

A couple years back I tried to find out where Roy Thompson was to THANK him. I was told he was retired from the paper and might be living in a senior apartment somewhere... If anyone knows where I can contact Roy, please let me know.

Here's a little article on Roy Thompson that has a picture of him looking like Sherlock Holmes that my writing partner Christine and I found on the Internet...

LINK TO PICTURE OF ROY and OTHER INFORMATION above! Click on the title!

WILL ROGERS Quote on Friendship

"You judge a man's greatness by how much he'll be missed!" - Will Rogers (the cowboy humorist)

(33) EDDY ARNOLD AND THE ELVIS PRESLEY - COLONEL TOM PARKER CONNECTION

As I mentioned in my previous blog, in Nashville in 1957 I performed on television with Brenda Lee and Eddy Arnold.

Brenda was the young teen girl singer with a number of hits and Eddy was - and is - a Country Music Legend. Born in Tennessee, that state that has contributed so many greats to music, he was known as "The Tennessee Plowboy." Now here's the thing about Eddy. Eddy was born in 1918 and by the time Elvis started to rise up, Eddy was considered to be established, but one of the "old" guys.

Eddy was once managed by Colonel Tom Parker, and then Colonel took on country singer Hank Snow. Hank Snow talked up Elvis Presley to the Colonel. Very likely so did Eddy. Who ever heard of a manager having just one client?

Guess who left the likes of Eddy and Hank in the lurch and took on Elvis exclusively ?



We can't redo history!

So there I was on television with Brenda Lee and Eddy Arnold. I was about 20 and Eddy was near 40... He went on the air and forgot his toupee and without it he just didn't look like Eddy. But hey, we didn't notice...

Eddy Arnold has had a lasting career and I have great respect for him.

NEW LINKS added January 21, 2011 ! EDDIE ARNOLD FAN SITE! Click on the title!

ROCKIN' COUNTRY STYLE DISCOGRAPHY FOR EDDY ARNOLD
http://rcs-discography.com/rcs/artist.php?key=arno2600

EDDY ARNOLD - INDUCTEE OF THE COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME http://countrymusichalloffame.org/search?cx=006497759966363918828%3At12raiceqwg&cof=FORID%3A10%3BNB%3A1&ie=UTF-8&q=Eddy+Arnold+&sa=go

(32) BRENDA LEE - THE GIRL SINGER

After I met Elvis in Memphis at the Wink Martindale television show, the next day I went to a television station in Nashville, Tennessee where I performed along with singers Brenda Lee and Eddy Arnold. Brenda was maybe 13 years old, yet she was a total pro and as they would say today, her people and my people wanted us to meet.

As the Rockabilly Royalty she was already becoming, the young teen Brenda made sure to give me a full welcome to Nashville. This meant that we met at the hotel and she posed for pictures with me and we did a radio interview together. As for Eddy, I'll save him for another post!

BRENDA LEE has been inducted into the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME in 2002

http://rockhall.com/inductees/brenda-lee/ NEW LINK!

ROCKIN COUNTRY STYLE DISCOGRAPHY - BRENDA LEE

http://rcs-discography.com/rcs/artist.php?key=lee-2200 NEW LINK!

BRENDA LEE's OFFICIAL WEB SITE - BIOGRAPHY

Click on the title above!

NEW YOU TUBE VIDEO January 21, 2011

(31) J0-ANN CAMPBELL : ROCKABILLY SINGER-SONGWRITER

While I was in New York, I often went out with the other guys to meet girls. But sometimes we invited a girl along with us to take another ride on the Staten Island Ferry or go out to the clubs to hear other performers. Singer-songwriter Jo-Ann Campbell was one of our favorite girls to come out with the guys. Jo-Ann and Bobby Darin had dated for a while before he met and married Sandra Dee.

I performed with Jo-Ann on a couple of stops during my own touring. She was a terrific lady and a great talent - one of the few women of the late 1950's who wrote many of her own songs that made it onto albums.


ROCKIN COUNTRY STYLE DISCOGRAPHY - JO-ANN CAMPBELL link above!

LONDON AMERICA RECORDS DEMO OF HONEY BABY BY WES BRYAN

Here's a recording I originally did on Clock Records appearing as a demo for radio play, I believe, made in England on London - American Records. At the time, I didn't know how I got airplay in England, but I knew that American Rock and Rollers, including the Everly Brothers, were popular there. Cliff Richard was the "English Elvis."

(30) LONDON RECORDS puts out "Lonesome Love"

From time to time something related to me or my career - a magazine, a record, a signed photograph, something shows up on the e-Bay auctions or at a record collector's on the Internet. Once in a while I'm suprised to see what's out there on the market and I admit I watch the prices...

A few years ago I had no idea I had any web presence at all, and as I mentioned in a previous post, now there are a lot of Wes Bryan's to sort through to find me, the one born in Murphy, North Carolina in the late 1930's. So Christine Trzyna, my writing partner, and me decided to blog and take a bit of responsibility for what you might read about me.

When I was twenty and launched my career with United Artists Records I trusted my management to do right by me. I was living a planes, trains, and automobiles kind of existence, traveling constantly, touring all over the country, particularly in the markets that seemed to enjoy me - a country boy at heart - the best. I always wanted to go to England, like the Everly Brothers had.

Well LONDON RECORDS put out "Lonesome Love" and "Tiny Spaceman," in the British Isles in 1958, testifying, I think to how long a hit took to get across the Big Pond. I think the one sided "demo" version for radio play that came up on e-Bay recently of another of my songs may be a collectors item because even I don't have a copy!

LINKING HERE TO GLOBAL DOG PRODUCTIONS LONDON RECORDS DISCOGRAPHY which shows my record came out in April 1958.

(29) The Next James Dean (ME) and the Hound Dog (ELVIS)

That night that I met Elvis and we went to the Rainbow Rink, he came over to me at one point in the evening and told me that he was up for the role of James Dean himself, but having seen me and met me, he wanted me to have it.

"I'll just have to stick with my "Hound Dog," Elvis said.

"Hound Dog" was probably Elvis' most famous song and the one that most people at the time associated with him. It too was a cover of a song that had been recorded by other artists, women and men. The words and music are by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, a song writing team that some say became so influential that they wrote the sound of an entire generation.

That night Elvis had not a care in the world. He was clearly in love with Anita Wood, he had just bought Graceland TM in recent months, and he had his friends and family around him. Nothing about his demeaner that night indicated to me that he had any idea he would soon get a draft notice and be inducted into the United States Army.

In the wee hours of the morning, I asked Elvis to take me back to the hotel, as I had some traveling and shows to perform on the next day. He drove me back in the limo, and before he took off we waved at each other.

"See you on the coast, Wes!"

"Elvis, See you on the coast!"

LINK EXPIRED: Original text:
This is a fantastic presentation by the British Broadcasting Corp about Elvis and "Hound Dog" that features sound clip interviews including songwriter Mike Stoller, radio pioneer Steve Allan, and Elvis' original guitarist Scotty Moore. Click on "covers" to hear my friend Elvis in his ORIGINAL Rock-a-billy VERSION OF "HOUND DOG!"


Video by Jackie one of our YOUTUBER FRIENDS!

(28) GUY MITCHELL - WISE MAN OR FOOL; THE FIRST RECORD I EVER BOUGHT

As the youngest son I helped my mom with her chores in and around our house on the mountainside in Murphy, North Carolina and continued to do so when we moved to Cottage Grove, Oregon as I was a young teenager.

Mom and I liked to sing songs along with the radio as we worked. We never did get a television.

When I was about fifteen I bought the first record I ever bought, as a gift for my mother. It was a record by Guy Mitchell, called "Wise Man or Fool?" My mom died when I was about 16 and I carried that record with me throughout my career as a kind of talisman, even when it got broken into a thousand pieces and all I had was the label.

A couple years into my career with United Artists, when I was home to New York City for a respite, I walked into the Turf Restaurant and there was Guy Mitchell in the flesh! He patted the seat next to him, bought me coffee, and we talked about singing and the music business. He was fascinated that I had met Elvis Presley and expressed admiration for him. Guy was a gentleman, and when I told him his was the first record I ever bought and that I carried that label around with me as a talisman, he said, "I have a lot of fans but none quite like you!"

OFFICIAL GUY MITCHELL SITE (Be sure to listen to the music clips!) link here!

Click on the title above!

Folks, there is a group over in England that's called the Guy Mitchell Appreciation Society and they are doing a fine job of appreciating Guy! A nice guy named Jim Smith was our original contact with the Society, and Les Peckham is over there now, taking care of things since Jim passed away.

LINK TO GUY MITCHELL APPRECIATION SOCIETY IN GREAT BRITAIN !http://www.belle49.freeserve.co.uk/guy/guyhome.htm LINK UPDATED JANUARY 2012

GUY MITCHELL ON Ed Sullivan Show - A You-Tube presentation

(Les Peckham confirms this is Ed Sullivan show, Thanks Les!)

EMILY DICKENSON Quote on Friendship

"My friends are my estate." - Emily Dickinson

WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC :Rights Information

Every once in a while we'll be posting a notice like this one that reminds readers that the content of this blog is Copyright Wes Bryan and Christine Trzyna, with all rights including international rights reserved.

If interested in speaking to me,Wes Bryan, please contact us at the e-mail address we've provided. We are linking to a good many web sites, favoring the official web sites of various famous and important people as well as reference sites. If we link to your web site and you don't want us to, please let us know, and we'll take down the link. The content of other people's web sites remains theirs. Thanks for your consideration and courtesy! - Wes

WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC

Thank You to Google - BLOGSPOT for providing free blog templates and access.

(26) CLIFF GLEAVES, ANITA WOOD, and SUN RECORDS

That night that Elvis and his guys burst into the Wink Martindale's dance party show, Elvis drove us to Graceland in his new stretch limo. Riding next to Elvis as he drove was his girlfriend Anita Wood. Gladys Presley, Elvis' mother, thought Anita was the perfect girlfriend for him. She ran her own radio show, (Anita Wood was one of the early women in radio broadcasting), and she had recorded songs herself. Perhaps more than all that, Anita Wood was all for Elvis' success. She was familiar with the music business and touring, and she knew the lifestyle he lead. Anita Wood, as a recording artist, was known as one of the "Memphis Belles."

Cliff Gleaves, a once hotter than hot hep cat disc jockey, who had given it up to travel with Elvis - by Elvis' invitation, kept clicking his fingers. He kept saying "We have James Dean in the car with us!" The guys put me through the James Dean poses and I was glad to oblige.

Cliff Gleaves and Anita Wood had something in common with Elvis in that they had both recorded on Sun, the small label that Sam Phillips had in Memphis, where local talent paid for vanity recordings and small budget records were recorded. Most of these recordings were not hits in terms of the way we think of hits now, but small labels did provide local and regional music, and the special flavor of music emerging in Memphis, with local musicians and local talent, is preserved in Sun recordings. Anita recorded a song called "I'll Wait Forever," at Sun and as things turned out, she didn't exactly wait for Elvis, but she did date him for years.

ROCKIN COUNTRY STYLE DISCOGRAPHY - CLIFF CLEAVES link -click title!


Anita Wood's songs are included on Sun Recordscompilation disks.

http://koti.mbnet.fi/wdd/sun.htm

New Link! SUN RECORDS DISCOGRAPHY includes Anita

NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO of her hit "I'll Wait Forever"

UPDATE April 2012 A New Music Video!

ARSA RADIO SURVEY SITE : Preserving the Impact of RADIO on music!

ARSA (The AIRHEADS RADIO SURVEY) is a new Internet Web Site that I found that can help you see how songs were charted and follow songs that were released by various artists about the same time, in different regions.

Here is their page on me, Wes Bryan, and my first hit "Tiny Spaceman." (Thanks!)

Have FUN with this one folks! It's an education!

(25) THE SINGER SONGWRITER SCENE IN NEW YORK IN THE LATE 1950's

It doesn't seem too long ago to me that I was walking down Broadway singing to myself, when the Brill Building and the Turf Restaurant and Hanson's Drugstore were my hangouts between record promotional tours, and I was meeting just about anyone who wanted to become someone in the acting business or the music business wherever I went.

Today the term Singer-Songwriter means a person who composes and writes and sings their own songs. Then it was more common that someone who sang, sang some of their own songs, as well as those of their friends - who happened to sing and write songs too. We were all presenting our original tunes to each other, making demo's, trying to get a hit. We were in the Cover Tune Era. Recording a cover of a song that was going to be a hit for someone else was more common than it is today.

One of the main reasons was that records were made on small labels or for distribution in a certain region that a small record company had captured rather than national or international distribution. So, if a song for one artist was a hit in, say, New York City, an artist that was well received in another region, say the South, would record the same song, with perhaps a more of a Southern feel. The songwriter had everything to gain in terms of their residuals if the song hit in two or more territories. The singer brought their unique voice and popular appeal to the song, in a region, and producers produced the song in different ways. But sometimes there were "Chart Wars," between singers.

Sometimes having a number of artists record the same song backfired on smaller labels financially and the overall sales weren't good. But when a song became an artist's own, like Bobby Darin's "Splish Splash," did, then no one else tried to compete with it. Besides live promotional tours, radio, television, record hop and club appearances, getting your song played on the radio could make all the difference!

(24) HOW I MET THE FAMOUS YOUNG ELVIS PRESLEY & WINK MARTINDALE

United Artists had me touring around the country, playing live on television, radio, and at record hops on a promotional tour for my launch with "Lonesome Love," and "Tiny Spaceman." On my first tour of the Mid South in 1957, I went to Memphis, Tennessee to perform on a couple shows.

One of them was Wink Martindale's version of a dance party show.

At this point I was beginning to become used to the adoration of my fans. I was a teen idol. My name was mentioned in the columns and pictures of me and magazine articles about me were out there. The girls chased me around and even tried to tear my clothes off. Wink had the kids in the audience ready to give me a hearty welcome, but as I sang, I realized I had never caused so much commotion before... HA!

Elvis Presley and his early entourage had burst into the station to see me!

That's what all the commotion was about! Even Elvis wanted to see what The Next James Dean really looked like. I was so excited that Mr. Elvis Presley was out there in the audience. Elvis Presley had achieved stardom and had become a millionaire. I was a fan of his and he was an inspiration! But I never dreamed Elvis would be coming round to see me!

After my performance, Elvis asked me to come back to Graceland TM with him to meet his parents, Gladys and Vernon Presley. He had just purchased his own stretch limo and, after I piled in with the guys, Elvis drove us home in it himself. His family was much like mine because of our southern upbringing, and his father Vernon and especially his mother Gladys were welcoming. Gladys had the table spread with food and asked about my family. She said they had relatives in the Smokey Mountains.

That night I met Elvis's best friend from Humes High School in Memphis, George Klein, and funny-man ex-DJ, and recording artist Cliff Gleaves too.

That evening was the beginning of a friendship with Elvis Presley that lasted the 20 years until his death.

Link to WINK MARTINDALE'S OFFICIAL SITE above!

(22) JIMMY BOWEN : HIS LIFE AND MINE INTERTWINE

Jimmy Bowen of Buddy Knox's group, called The Rhythm Orchids, was passing though Akron, Ohio when I first met him at a record hop where I'd taken a demo I made in a kitchen in Winston-Salem to the local DJ Art Roberts. It was against the radio station policy to play a demo, so the key was to get it into the man's hands at the hop.

Art Roberts loved my demo record and so did Jimmy, who'd already had a hit. So I met Jimmy Bowen before I was discovered off the Akron Beacon Journal-Roto cover or had signed my contracts with United Artists.

Jimmy Bowen's life and mine would intertwine for years. We would perform together as solo artists signed to Roulette Records, after I left United Artists, and would work together as staff song writers at American Music in Los Angeles a few years later in the early 1960's. He went on to be a well respected music producer.

I'm getting a bit ahead of my story here, though.

ROCKIN COUNTRY STYLE DISCOGRAPHY - JIMMY BOWEN
Click on the title to get to the new link!

Here's Jimmy Bowen from a You-Tube presentation circa 1957

doing his song "Cross Over."

New Youtube Video January 20, 2011

MARK TWAIN Quote on Friendship

"The proper office of a friend is to side with you when you are wrong.
Nearly anybody will side with you when you are right. " -Mark Twain

ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL ?

Are you a singer - songwriter? Where are you living?
Are musicians and singers and songwriters in your area helpful to each other ?

One of the most fantastic parts about being part of that whole New York scene in the late 1950's was the way we were united to succeed!

(21) ERSEL HICKEY - A GREAT GUY WITH A CLASSIC ROCK N ROLL POSE!

Ersel Hickey was a great friend of mine in New York. He had one of the most frequently screwed up names and was often called Edsel, like the Ford car. He taught our friend Johnny Rivers a few cords and Johnny helped Ersel get work around town. Ersel was very much a part of what was a united drive to succeed. He never stepped on anyone's toes.

We guys were always writing songs, presenting songs or demo records to other artists that we thought could do a song justice. WE WERE IN THE COVER TUNE ERA! Ersel's song "Crooked Little Man" was one of the first songs he ever sold.

ROCKIN COUNTRY STYLE DISCOGRAPHY - ERSEL HICKEY!

http://rcs-discography.com/rcs/artist.php?key=hick1000 new link!

ROCKABILLY HALL OF FAME - ERSEL HICKEY link click on title above!

Ersel Hickey singing his famous "Blue Birds Over The Mountain"

Video updated January 20 2011

(20) DION, THE BELMONTS, BUDDY KNOX and ME at HANSON's DRUGSTORE - NEW YORK CITY

DION DIMUCCI and THE BELMONTS liked to sit with Buddy Knox and me at Hanson's Drug Store, where we goofed off and drank lots of coffee.

They had a hit with "Run Around Sue." After the group broke up in the early 1960's Dion scored a hit with the wonderful tribute to civil rights leaders, with his "Abraham, Martin, and John."

HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL - Dion DiMucci and the Belmonts link above!

Here's Dion and the Belmonts performing their hit "Run Around Sue"

thanks to one of the many You Tube video aficionados!

And here they are on Dick Clark's American Bandstand

performing "Teenager In Love"

(19) BOBBY DARIN - DEMO RECORD SINGER EXTRAORDINAIRE!

Bobby Darin and I hung out at Hansons Drug store with a number of other friends like Rock-A-Billy Superstar Buddy Knox, and Dion and the Bellmonts. There was a real old man Hanson and he was always trying to run us out of there for going on too long on one coffee. (I think he actually enjoyed the ritual, as we wouldn't budge!)

Bobby spent years making demos for other artist and specialized in sounding as much like them as possible to sell the record to them. He could sound like Elvis Presley if he wanted to but Bobby was after his idol Frank Sinatra's crown.

After years of paying his dues as the demo record singer extraordinaire, Bobby Darin signed with a label and gave making his own records his all. He soon hit with "Splish Splash!" It's a fun song with a sexy saxophone rift.

***********

You Tube presentation - Bobby singing "Splish Splash."

I don't know what show this was on, and I think it's from the early 1960's but this video shows just how talented Bobby was, playing his own piano and harmonica, and what a true Rock and Roller he was, before he decided to be a crooner!

Video replaced 2009 with this great one below!

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BOBBY DARIN'S OFFICIAL WEB SITE link above!

(18) New York, NEW YORK, It's A Wonderful Town! & NEIL SEDAKA

In New York the Brill Building became the epicenter of my existence. I became part of the vital music scene. I used the rehearsal studios and recording studios in the Brill and I carried tunes in my head to the Turf restaurant, which was the scene to make. I met countless stars from the world of music and the theatre there, all having coffee, talking into the wee hours.

One day when I was in the Brill, Neil Sedaka ran downstairs to bring Bobby Darin up to meet me. Bobby was recording demos for other people then. It was the begining of my friendship with Bobby.

Link to NEIL SEDAKA's OFFICIAL WEB SITE above!HISTORY OF THE BRILL BUILDING

THE BRILL BUILDING from THE HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL!

WES BRYAN : TINY SPACEMAN ON UNITED ARTISTS RECORDS

This is a blurry photo, but well, I wanted you to see what the record label itself looked like - red and black - which was repeated on the cover, a collage of photos of me, looking moody, red background. The other side of the sleeve has me looking up a tree in Central Park, a photo taken by my manager, but which has been incorrectly credited in at least one published book I know about as James Dean himself and as taken by his photographer, Dennis Stock.

THOMAS EDISON Quote on Friendship

"I have friends in overhalls whose friendships I would not swap
for the favor of the Kings of the world."

-Thomas Edison

LONESOME LOVE - WES BRYAN LOOKING VERY JAMES DEAN LIKE!

LONESOME LOVE COVER: THAT's ME LOOKING LIKE JAMES DEAN. The photo was taken by my manager in Central Park, New York City. I was about 20 years old. It was 1957.

(17) My First Record Goes GOLD! FIRST COLOR RECORD SLEEVE!

While the publicity drums at United Artists beat for me, I began to tour all over, appearing on radio and television - dance party type shows - and record hops, to promote my new record. "Lonesome Love" was on one side and the novelty tune, "Tiny Spaceman," on the other. Sometimes I performed other Rock-a-Billy or Rock-n-Roll hits that other artists made as well and after appearing on Dick Clark's American Bandstand I lost my shyness.

My 45 RPM had a full color picture of me on one side, taken in New York near a tree (which has been identified erroneously as being, not me, but James Dean!) and on the other side there's a collage of black and white photos against a red background. (I see it on the e-bay auctions and at on-line record stores today.)

Not only did my first record have the VERY FIRST COLOR RECORD SLEEVE (Elvis Presley's "Don't" had the very next color sleeve!) but it WENT GOLD!

To this day I'm excited about it!

Video added January 19, 2011

FRIENDSHIP - AN IRISH BLESSING

May there always be work for your hands to do,
May your purse always hold a coin or two.
May the sun always shine on your windowpane,
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you,
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Irish Blessing

(16) AND THE COMPARISONS CONTINUED ... Some said I sounded like PAT BOONE!

So, I looked like James Dean, but meanwhile my voice was being compared to the successful singer (and clean-living Christian) Pat Boone's!

Link toPAT BOONE's OFFICIAL SITE above!

Pat's a successful author with his book out this year called "Pat Boone's America," and you can vote for him to be included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at this link:

www.backpat.org Petition to get Pat into The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame

VIDEO ADDED January 19, 2011

(15) I APPEAR ON DICK CLARK'S AMERICAN BANDSTAND

I moved to New York City officially, but United Artists put me on the road to success in the music business - a record promo tour. One of my first appearances was on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I performed a novelty song called "Tiny Spaceman." Clark's set designer had a little spaceship whirling around my head.

Futuristic notions of traveling in space were popular then and so were novelty songs. But I have to admit, I couldn't imagine James Dean singing it.

Dick Clark American Bandstand at the Museum of Broadcast Communications link above.

LINK BONUS

http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/dick-clark
Dick Clark - Inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame