ELVIS PRESLEY Quote on ADVERSITY

"Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man; but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity." - Elvis Presley

A BLESSED CHRISTMAS TO YA !

(224) JERRY LEE LEWIS - WHITE CHRISTMAS

Here's a YouTube presentation of Jerry Lee Lewis performing "White Christmas"

DALE EVANS ROGERS Quote on Christmas

"Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas." - Dale Evans Rogers

(223) ELVIS sings RED WEST'S SONG "IF EVERY DAY WAS LIKE CHRISTMAS"

This song, "If Every Day Was Like Christmas," is one of the most beautiful songs Elvis recorded for the holiday season, and Red West wrote it. Red West was one of Elvis' bodyguards for many years, and if you'd like to read a bit more about him, use the Google Blogger-Search Feature above to read previous posts. Red remains a friend of mine to this day. He and I also wrote a few songs together!

(222) ELVIS CARAVANS IT BACK TO MEMPHIS

Elvis was afraid of flying for years and as a result he preferred train travel or moving back and forth between Los Angeles and Memphis by caravan...

Elvis loved the seasonal changes and the snow. He lived for visiting family for the holidays. He'd see friends, visit old haunts... Christmas was special for him. He made up for his childhood poverty and lack of opportunity by renting a whole movie theatre or amusement park for the private entertainment of himself and his friends...

I was lucky to be one of them, even as my life moved away from performing and into studio work.

GRAMMY MUSEUM in downtown LOS ANGELES JUST OPENED !

Just opened! The GRAMMY MUSEUM in downtown Los Angeles sounds like a hit! Click on the title above to get to the new website!

They have Elvis Presley's 1942 Martin guitar and letters that Elvis wrote and letters Buddy Holly wrote! There's more than artifacts that celebrate remarkable talent. There is also a focus on how records are mastered. Like any good museum, you get an education going through this one.

According to Tom Teicholtz in his article recently published in the ARTS IN LA supplement to the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles... "There is a history of how music has been recorded - from Thomas Edison's phonograph to the Graphophone and Gramophone, from cylinders and disks, from 78 RPMs to 45's, 33s, and eight track tapes, to current digital formats...

Are Wes and I heading down there? You betcha!

Christine Trzyna

(221) BOBBY DARIN - SILENT NIGHT

Bobby Darin only recorded one Christmas album - in 1960 - but it wasn't released till 1991! It's called "The Twenty Fifth Day of December."

Here's a YouTube presentation of Bobby's version of "Silent Night."

(video removed December 3, 2010 - no current replacement)


Bobby and I were friends in New York. When he went to LA to make a movie his whole life changed once again. Bobby and I remained friends for some time. He once bought a song from me - just handed me a check.

(220) NAT KING COLE - THE CHRISTMAS SONG

NAT KING COLE ...

Mel Torme and Bob Wells wrote "The Christmas Song" in the mid 1940's, but it's Nat King Cole's 1961 recording that made the song a Christmas Classic... I believe this was the top selling Christmas album that year.

Video removed

(219) PERRY COMO - THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

Perry Como was always one of my favorites. He put out a few successful Christmas albums ...PERRY COMO CHRISTMAS ALBUM  link


NEW VIDEO as of APRIL 2014

Quote from JOHN by CYNTHIA LENNON

This excerpt is from the book about her famous Beatle husband, John Lennon, by ex-wife Cynthia...

Page 31 of "John" by Cynthia Lennon

"Music had been an important part of John's relationship with his mother and when she died he used it to blot out the pain and anger he felt. Julia had bought him his first guitar, and she loved music. She played the piano and banjo, and sat with him patiently for hours, showing him over and over again how to play the chords. She had also introduced John to rock and roll. She would play Elvis Presley records at top volume, grabbing job's hand to jive around the kitchen to them. She always encouraged John's musical dreams.

By the time John and I got together, he talked, ate and breathed music. When he wasn't playing the guitar, he was writing lyrics or talking about the latest Lonnie Donegan, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly or Chuck Berry record. Almost every lunchtime he met the two other Quarrymen to rehearse. They were both younger and went to the Liverpool Institute, next door to the art college, the best known of Liverpool's boy's grammar schools: distinguished judges and politicians had been educated there, its pupils were expected to do well. But John's friends, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, were more interested in playing music than passing exams."


Cynthia Lennon

(Christine Trzyna here. This quote was culled from a number of references to Beatle John Lennon's early musical influences. Cynthia Lennon was John Lennon's first wife, of ten years, and mother of his son Julian. The book is C 2005 by Cynthia Lennon and Crown is the publisher.)

(218) THE CHRISTMAS SEASON - THE COVER TUNE SEASON

Now friends, the Christmas season has always been and will probably remain, in my opinion, the COVER TUNE SEASON! So very many singers have recorded traditional - and sometimes innovative - Christmas songs.

A Christmas song that sells well can bring in residuals for years to come. Songwriters can become rich on one Christmas song that becomes a classic. Christmas songs may get played for only a short period of time every year but they sell.

Even stars who are known for their own amazing singing and songwriting are willing to cover some traditional tunes. Often they record their own favorites from when they were growing up.

So over the next couple weeks we'll be acknowledging some of the singers and classic songs of the Christmas holiday season.

QUOTE: SELF REALIZATION FELLOWSHIP : RESPECT BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN OURSELVES AND OTHERS

Christine here: A man I got to talking to in the park gave me a rather beaten old booklet published by Self Realization Fellowship called "Bringing Out the Best In Our Relationships With Others," part of their "How to Live Series," 3rd printing, by Brother Premamoy.

Those of you who are a familiar with the Elvis story know that Elvis sometimes retreated to the Self Realization Fellowship property to be alone and to do his version of meditation. We'll be talking more about that in some future blog.

Reading through it, I am sure that this excerpt is about Elvis Presley, during the time that he was exploring other religions, though he remained a true Christian devotee to Jesus Christ to the end of his life. As Wes says about Elvis "Jesus Christ was it for him."

Page 11.

"There was a famous "rock-and roll" singer who used to come to the ashram to pay his respects. I met him here at Mr. Washington. He was an idol to many. Yet he was extremely respectful. He always addressed me as "sir," and was very polite, very dignified. He once told me that he was taught at home to address as "sir" any man who was older than he was. He was a "king" in the world of popular music, yet never lost this quality of being respectful to others."

Elvis met with Sri Daya Mata, who was the person chosen by Psaramahansa Yogananda, the founder of what was to become the Self Realization Fellowship, in his years of spiritual exploration. After his death Priscilla also met with Sri Daya Mata to talk to her about Elvis.

ANN-MARGRET BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

This song is on an album Ann had out in 1964 so we're a little ahead of ourselves here, but since the last few nights in Southern California have been cold for us - a faint smell of wood fires in the fireplaces mixed with sea mist in the mornings - we were thinking about it... enjoy!

(P.S) Elvis played albums of Ann's for me. He liked her voice. "Listen to this little voice she has!" he would say to me. Wes

(217) ANN-MARGRET POCKET FULL OF MIRACLES

Here's a short YouTube presentation from the 1961 movie, directed by Frank Capra, called "Pocket Full Of Miracles." In this film Bette Davis plays the mother of a daughter, played by Ann-Margret, who is invented a society dame in order to impress her daughter's Spanish fiancee, who knows nothing of her illegitimate birth.

"Pocketful of Miracles" was Ann-Margret's big screen debut in 1961 and she was on screen with a couple of the most talented actors Hollywood ever had - Glenn Ford and Bette Davis.

Ann-Margret figures big in the Elvis Presley story as most of you probably know. Elvis wouldn't meet Ann for a couple years but just about any man who was interested in beautiful women couldn't help but notice this starlet who's big break occurred in Las Vegas when George Burns hired her for his act.

Here's a link to an impressive Swedish Internet site that features Ann-Margret!

http://www.ann-margret-from-sweden.com/records/records.html

(216) HISTORY MOMENT NOVEMBER 29 1961 ANOTHER CHIMP BLASTS OFF

Another chimp blasts off into space, leading the way for mankind...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING from WES BRYAN and CHRISTINE TRZYNA

Though our American economy is in trouble, especially in Los Angeles, we want to be thankful for what we do have and that certainly includes our loyal friends.
I was thinking of Elvis Presley, a man who never took for granted his gifts from God. Elvis gave thanks to God - to Jesus Christ - for his talent and he felt it was a gift he was meant to use, to be an entertainer and help people forget their problems for a while. He also chose to record Gospel as a means to uplift their spirits - and his.The Elvis I knew was a dichotomy in his way. He was a famous Rock and Roller and a sensualist, but also a Gospel Singer, a devout believer in Christ, with great loyalty to family and his family of friends. To be part of his musical Rock and Roll family at the house was a honor.

ROULETTE - RADIO STATION COPY OF MELODIE D' AMOUR - WES BRYAN

My tour for Roulette to promote Melodie D'Amour took me through many cities including my new home town of Los Angeles in 1961. I performed on the Wink Martindale Show on KCOP and on Alan Freed's Radio Show, as well as the amusement park in Pacific Palisades with the Pacific Ocean view.

Meanwhile I was a staff song writer at American Music, the publishing house owned by Sylvester Cross.

Here's a "Radio Station Copy" of the record that Elvis said was one of his favorites. He put it in his juke box at the house and carried a copy with him to Vegas.

READERS - LET US KNOW IF YOU FIND A BAD LINK OR VIDEO !

We check our links and videos from time to time and are able to replace them when they become obsolete in most cases, but please let us know if you come across a bad one! You can leave commentary for us two ways. You can e-mail us at wewritethebook@yahoo.com or you can leave a message using your Open ID (even if you blog on another format) or Google blogger ID!

THANK YOU!
Christine and Wes

(215) NASHVILLE SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME

This link takes you to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame honors list.

http://www.nndb.com/honors/545/000129158/

Among the honorees mentioned in this blog are Ernest Tubb, Marty Robbins, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings, Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan, Mac Davies, Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, and Gene Autry.

Use the Google search feature above to read what we have to say about these talented people and the music!

(214) MARTY ROBBINS - WEST TEXAS TO LOS ANGELES

One of the stars who passed through Los Angeles on tour in 1961 was Marty Robbins who got the first ever country Grammy Award for "El Paso" in 1959, the song he is most associated with, and which got him into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Marty continued with hits like "If I Had A Hammer," which was covered by many other singers including Peter, Paul, and Mary. He was one of the singers I liked to go hear, along with some of the guys that I knew from Elvis'.

MARTY ROBBINS OFFICIAL updated March 2013
"Don't Worry" was a 1961 hit for Marty. (video replaced March 2013)
  
In 1970 after years from hits, Marty won a Grammy Award for the best country song in 1970. He was inducted into the Nashville Song Writers Hall of Fame in 1975. He got into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982.

Link to The Country Music Hall of Fame... NEW LINK January 13, 2011 Click on title!

"El Paso" is classic Marty Robbins and reflects the Hispanic culture of Texas.

  Here's a bio of Marty from Billboard.com
BILLBOARD MARTY ROBBINS PAGE  updated April 2014

(213) THE BROWN DERBY and HOLLYWOOD PHOTOS BY BRUCE TORRENCE

Here's a link we found to some Hollywood photographs of the Brown Derby and many other famous sites and restaurants on the website of photographer Bruce Torrence. This is an impressive collection. And there are lots of Brown Derby exteriors from the 1940's through 1950's

http://www.hollywoodphotographs.com/

The Brown Derby was one of those places where the walls were covered with studio photographs of stars. Though a lot of studio executives an movie stars dined there, just about anyone could get in. It was one of the most famous restaurants then and it's legend goes on now.

Wes

Christine here: I once had a friend who swore that her mother, who was a waitress at the Brown Derby, bought a house in Van Nuys for cash, tips she made there. She described a time when the San Fernando Valley was where people went hunting and fishing.

(212) WHAT CLUB ARE WE GOING TO TONIGHT ?

"What club are we going to tonight?"

My friends seemed to go out to a club most every night, either looking for girls, or on dates, mostly in Hollywood, sometimes in the San Fernando Valley. Clubbing was the thing to do.

Now the truth is, I wasn't as much into clubbing as many of my friends were. First of all I had been the entertainment in a heck of a lot of clubs myself. You could say that I'd had my fill of clubbing. Like Elvis Presley I barely drank in comparison to some of them. Also like Elvis Presley I like to retreat and have private time.

If you've ever had to perform you know that even when you have complete confidence in yourself things can get out of control or go wrong despite your best efforts. A performer needs the support of his fellow performers, and so for this reason more than any other I went clubbing.

I always found more quiet moments to be with the music outside of the music business when I found that retreat... And I still do... Just me and my guitar...

ELVIS IS A GRANDPA TWO MORE TIMES !

Congradulations are in order to Elvis and Pricilla's only daughter Lisa Marie Presleyand her husband Michael Lockwood on the recent birth of twin daughters, Finley and Harper, who came into this world on October 7th.

If you'll click on the title above you'll get to the news agency Reuter's report.

Here's to Lisa Marie's own MYSPACE that is linked to her charity to help the homeless in Memphis and New Orleans...

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.Channel&ChannelID=42291868

(211) RIDING MOTORCYCLES WITH RICK NELSON

I met Rick Nelson when my Roulette Records tour which had taken me to places as far flung as Santa Fe, New Mexico, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Saint Louis, Missouri, and Memphis, Tennessee, landed me in what was becoming my new home town, Los Angeles California. Rick and I both appeared on KCOP - Wink Martindale's local show - the same week.

I don't know how to tell fans this but when you're on a promotions tour and in particular you have to play the same song radio station after radio station, it gets boring. Riding bikes was one of my stress busters!

While Johnny Burnette and Johnny Rivers and me stopped at the hot dog stand across from the Brown Derby in Hollywood, Rick Nelson and I actually went into the Brown Derby.

Use the Google Search feature above to look for our previous postings on Rick Nelson, including some YouTube video!

1960 CAPITOL RECORDS and THE KNICKERBOCKER HOTEL

Capitol Records and the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood circa 1960, credited to photographer Roy Hankey, through Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection Database. We've been looking through free image collections for a good photo of the Capitol building which looked a bit like a stack of records...

Besides Capitol records, we also see the Plaza Hotel- where I had tea with Christine White, the Huntington-Hartford, and the Broadway Department store.

(210) HOLLYWOOD REALLY WAS FULL OF STARS !

When I moved to Los Angeles - Hollywood - one of the first things that I noticed that's different today - fifty years later - is that Hollywood really was full of stars. Not only were movies being made locally but the stars took it upon themselves to dine out and shop and be seen right there along Hollywood Boulevard where the Hollywood Walk of Fame is now. The photographers prowled and it seemed everyone was dressed, made-up, ready, willing, available for a "photo op."

I had met the actress Christine White in Hollywood as a tourist, before I was discovered in Akron, Ohio in 1957, and when I moved to Los Angeles Hollywood became my scene. I went to restaurants and clubs where business and pleasure were conducted. The area around Capitol Records which had the famous circular building that looked like a stack of albums - if you stretched your imagination a bit - seemed to be the epicenter of my scene.

When Johnny Rivers, Johnny Burnette, and I would motorcycle around town, we'd park our bikes across from the Brown Derby restaurant where there was a hot dog stand we liked near the Huntington-Hartford theatre. From there we watched the girls.

(209) DRUMMER EARL PALMER - A "SECRET" HIT MAKER

Another great musician that I met at the Musician's Union and became friends with was Earl Palmer.
Earl just went into Eternal Life September 18, 2008 - several weeks ago - at the age of 84.

He worked with Elvis. He worked for Motown and Phil Spector. The Righteous Brothers. Frank Sinatra.

I used to go into the Union looking for Earl and get on him about being from Louisiana in the way that only one Southerner can get on another Southerner. Out in LA it seemed like no matter what your race or background, being from the South was like being from the hood.

And he earned it; Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, here's Earl's link there.

ROCKHALL : EARL PALMER BIO
updated March 2014

(208) ERNIE FREEMAN - THE MUSIC ARRANGER

I started hanging out at the Musician's Union when I didn't have anything else to do, though I was busy - so busy! - in those years. Ernie was an African-American pianist arranger who "Made The Strings Jump." (He also produced but was rarely credited for it.) Like many other musicians who worked in the studio playing first, Ernie had a lot of studio recording experience before he started arranging.

The Musician's Union was a great place to meet accomplished musicians, singers, arrangers, producers, and songwriters and network.

Linked at the title: Here's the Rockin' Country Style discography for Ernie Freeman, who in 1962 was the arranger for the Buddy Knox album that made it Gold, with the song "All By Myself" on it that Buddy and I wrote.

Here's a link to great information on Ernie's career as an album maker that has a picture of him.

http://www.rocky-52.net/chanteursf/freeman_ernie.htm

UPDATED APRIL 2012 with this video!

(207) THE MUSICIANS UNION - A WISE MEMBERSHIP

I joined the Musicians Union when I was still in New York City, and when I moved to Los Angeles, I transferred my membership to California. I still think of membership in The Musician's Union as an important step for any musician. Of course I'm no fool when it comes to the fact that then as there is today there is a lot of non-union work and that musicians are often "between jobs" and can't necessarily afford to turn down a non-union job. But it's the musician union that tries to keep the pay livable and through documentation of recording projects, provides a pension.

Click on the title above to be taken to link for the Musician's Union, Professional Musicians Local 47.

When I joined the headquarters were in Hollywood on Vine near Melrose and Max Herman was the President - The God Almighty! - for years. He had several terms. He was tough - ruthless some thought - and he threw more than one friend of mine out of the Union. He had people going around from one recording studio to the next busting in to find non-union sessions.

ELECTION DAY ! A NEW PRESIDENT BY MIDNIGHT TONIGHT !

Friends if you are reading this, right now, and you HAVE NOT YET VOTED Please go now to the polls! Participate in a historic American event.

Check back tomorrow to read more about my life in music...

Wes

(206) ELVIS - INTO THE HOLIDAYS

My friend Elvis Presley lived in Los Angeles during the years he was making movies. His houses in the early 1960's were party houses he rented in Bel Air. I was a frequent guest there, welcome to stay entire weekends if it suited me and often it did. I had some of the best times of my life there.

Of course Elvis loved his family a great deal and when he was feeling sentimental for the South, he would head for Graceland TM for the holidays. Perhaps for that reason there is no better time of the year to see the house than decorated for the holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The Elvis I knew was a dichotomy in his way. He was a famous Rock and Roller and a sensualist, but also a Gospel Singer, a devout believer in Christ, with great loyalty to family and his family of friends. To be part of his musical Rock and Roll family at the house was a honor.

TRICK OR TREAT ? ? ? ANDY KAUFMAN - ELVIS IMPERSONATOR on JOHNNY CASH SHOW

Andy Kaufman, a Saturday Night Live comedian, took his act to the television show "Taxi" and as a stand-up comic around the country. A devoted Elvis fan, this impersonation makes you forget you're looking at Andy.

Andy Kaufman was ELVIS' favorite impersonator. Andy used to work at Jerry's Deli in Sherman Oaks, California, as a waiter. Wes

BOB DYLAN Quote on ELVIS PRESLEY

"When I first heard Elvis' voice I just knew that I wasn't going to work for anybody; and nobody was going to be my boss. Hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail." - Bob Dylan

(205) BOBBY DARIN COVERS NAT KING COLE'S HIT : NATURE BOY

Bobby Darin and I became friends in New York before he left for Hollywood. In 1961 he coverd "Nature Boy," a song first made famous by Nat King Cole in 1948 which was a number one hit for Nat. Eden Ahbez was the song writer. Eden figured in the early 1960's music scene around Sunset Boulevard and The Source Restaurant, one of the first organic-natural foods kind of places in Southern California.

OLD EXPIRED VIDEO REPLACED APRIL 2012 new link BOBBY DARIN'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE.

Here's Nat King Cole's original version.



See our previous blogs about Nat King Cole and Bobby Darin by using the search feature of this Google Blogger.

(182) GLEN CAMPBELL RECORDS JERRY CAPEHEART'S TURN AROUND LOOK AT ME

Jerry Capehart was the man who signed me to American Music. (I've seen Jerry's surname spelled Capeheart and Capehart by the way, and I don't remember which he preferred.) I was honored to be signed by a man who was a great songwriter himself. Jerry and I remained friends until he also passed into Eternal Life.

This is the YouTube video of Glen Campbell singing Jerry's "Turn Around Look At Me."

Versions of Jerry's hit song were later recorded by the Vogues and Elvis Presley. This one, the original circa 1961, came out on Crest Records. Guess who owned Crest Records? Sylvester Cross who owned American Music! And guess who was a staff songwriter at American Music? Glen!

VIDEO REPLACED MARCH 2013 ]

(204) FERLIN HUSKY GOSPEL and PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS ? REALLY!

Now, if you've read about me as a cover blurb on Cool Magazine's hipster cover in 1958, along with James Dean and Ferlin Husky, and Ferlin as one of the men on the video from a YouTube presenter said to be one of the earliest of Elvis (along with Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Blue Moon Boys Bill Black and Scotty "The Guitar that Changed the World" Moore), you may be wondering "who is Ferlin Husky?" What a name? Right?

Like Elvis Presley, Ferlin Husky's a southerner who recorded Country, Country-Pop, religious music and funny songs.

Here's COUNTRYPOLITAN's Profile of Ferlin Husky: http://www.countrypolitan.com/bio-ferlin-husky.php

And above Ferlin's Official Web Site!

Ferlin recorded "Gone" in 1954 as a country song which didn't chart well, but a new producer worked on the 1957 version and he continued to sing this song throughout his career.

Now, this may seem improbable but the American Invasion of Britian continued when in 1965 the Paul Revere and the Raiders covered "Gone." Yes! Really!

UPDATED VIDEO JUNE 18, 2011

I'LL ALWAYS BE YOURS - BOBBY DENTON on JUDD RECORDS

Bobby Denton recorded "I'll Always Be Yours" on the Judd label. The label was owned by Jud Phillips, the brother of Sam Phillips.

(203) BOBBY DENTON RCS DISCOGRAPHY

Bobby Denton is now known as a Senator - the Singing Senator - but like a lot of us, starting out he was a southerner, and a singer hoping to be a star, who turned to his roots and religious Christian mustic.
I'm proud to say that Bobby has recorded and performed songs that I wrote.

Here's Bobby on RCS Discography:

http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/d/dent3600.htm


http://www.bobbydenton.com/ THE SINGING SENATOR ! - His Official Site!


Like Texas, Tennessee, and other United States, Alabama takes pride in its own!
http://www.alamhof.org/bobbydenton.html THE ALABAMA MUSIC HALL OF FAME

CHRISTINE WHITE - I MISS YOU!

The recent news that actor Paul Newman had gone to Eternal Life made me think about my early New York days and taking classes at Actors Studio. I met Paul Newman in New York and Joanne Woodward on a Greyhound bus; we were both bussing it back home to North Carolina.

In those days my friend Christine White, James Dean's good friend, and Joanne were up for a lot of the same roles.

I miss you Christine White!

Love ya!

Wes

(202) RCS DISCOGRAPHY - THE JUDD RECORD LABEL - The Other PHILLIPS

Click on the title above to get to the Judd Record label's page for RCS discography. Judd was owned by a brother of Sam Phillips (of Sun Records fame), Jud Phillips, who lived in Alabama. The label had a studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and in Nashville, Tennessee. A fellow who's now a Senator, Bobby Denton, was once a singer who recorded at Judd...

JOHNNY CASH IMPERSONATING ELVIS !

This YouTube video of Johnny Cash impersonating Elvis The Pelvis - or trying to - is a lot of fun!



Elvis was usually honored when one of his friends tried to sound like him and he had a good sense of humor about impersonators. Thousands of individuals today make some small living at being Elvis impersonators, some make a good living at it. Andy Kauffman and Eddie Murphy are two commedians who've impersonated Elvis.

(201) RCS DISCOGRAPHY THE SUN RECORD LABEL and SAM PHILLIPS

Using the RCS Discography site that we just bragged so much about, let's take a a look at the SUN record Label. As we know, so very many artists who made it big made their first recordings at this Memphis recording studio. If you've read our recent posting about the earliest video of Elvis ever made (also posted below) you may see that he was there backstage somewhere with a group that included Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins, who were an original Sun recording artist too, as was Charlie Rich, Billy Lee Riley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and many others.

Click on the Title Above to get to the exact page for the Sun label's RCS Discography...

Below Edwards and Callahan give their Sun Records Story...

BSNPUBS - EDWARDS AND CALLAHAM - THE SUN RECORD LABEL  link

RCS DISCOGRAPHY WE THANK YOU AGAIN!

We are so lucky to have a great resource like RCS discography on the Internet. This volunteer project is a real labor of love and ROCKIN COUNTRY STYLE DISCOGRAPHY WAS PROBABLY THE FIRST SITE ON THE INTERNET TO HAVE A PAGE for me, WES BRYAN, which got us interested and then hooked. Since we're going to talk about Sun records and then Judd records a bit this is a good place to mention how grateful we are to have RCS!

We're talking here about early Rock and Roll - Rockabilly- Rockin Country Style and one of the most fascinating things about that era was that it was the time of small regional labels. So using the LABEL search feature we can go right to them and see who they were recording, hear sound samples, get profiles and pictures in some cases.

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! 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.

CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE TO GET TO

THE RCS MAIN PAGE !

(199) CLIFF RICHARD the BRITISH ELVIS - GOING STRONG 50 YEARS

Cliff Richard is one of those British artists who has been made a Sir by the Queen, like Paul McCartney and Elton John, for his achievements in the music business. His backing band in the late 1950's and early 1960's was called The Shadows and in the early 1960's he was running on the British charts before the Beatles.

Though Cliff Richards was considered to be "The British Elvis" and has had a career that spans decades and is still performing today, for some reason he never caught on in the United States and has remained a British phenomenon. Mysterious indeed! Because Cliff has sold singles and albums - millions - just like Elvis.

Could it be that because we Americans had Elvis we didn't need Cliff too?

Of course Cliff has an official site!Link above! He's very near 50 years of success!

Take a look at his fan club which has a picture of Cliff when he was very young.
http://www.cliff-guaranteed.co.uk/

Here's a circa 1961 video of Cliff and the Shadows. Cliff was called "A Living Doll."

VIDEO REMOVED JANUARY 2012

Guess who did a cover of Fabian's hit "Turn Me Loose?"

(198) EDDIE COCHRAN 20 FLIGHT ROCK and PAUL MC CARTNEY

The "20 Flight" refers to 20 stairs on a staircase... His "20 Flight Rock" is a humorous Rockabilly song that was a hit about 1957. Eddie Cochran died in 1960 but by then he had captured the interest of a few young upstarts who would become the Beatles.

Here's Eddie Cochran playing "20 Flight Rock" thanks to a YouTube presenter:

Paul McCartney talks about meeting John Lennon and playing Eddie Cochran's 20 Flight Rock on a right handed guitar... He says that because he knew all the words John was impressed and that's probably how he got to be in the Beatles.

In England, "20 Flight Rock" was covered by Cliff Richard, one of the British "Elvis's.

UPDATED July 2012 ROCKIN COUNTRY STYLE DISCOGRAPHY FOR EDDIE COCHRAN

VIDEOS REMOVED January 2012

WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC RIGHTS INFORMATION

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 reserved including Internet and International Rights.

If interested in speaking to me, Wes Bryan, please contact us at the e-mail address we've provided. (By the way folks, don't phish us or spam us, or try to scam us; We report it all and block offenders addresses!)

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 and YouTube video. If we link to your site or a video you uploaded and you don't want us to reference it, please let us know, and we'll take down the link. The content of other people's sites remains their own.

Thank you for your consideration and courtesy.

Christine Trzyna & Wes Bryan

http://wesbryan.blogspot.com WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC
e-mail : wewritethebook@yahoo.com

WES BRYAN - COOL MAGAZINE

Here's one of the magazines I was mentioned in back in March of 1958 as the New James Dean. It had an article about James "Jimmy" Dean as well. (That's another fellow on the cover - another hipster!) The comparisons of me and James Dean went on and on. More than one man hoped to fill those big shoes James Dean left but I was the one with United Artists behind me. I was being groomed by United Artists to play Jimmy in a "Bio Pic" about his life, which was never meant to be. But about this time in New York I met the great actor Paul Newman. He said to me, "There's a great need to fill James Dean's shoes and you're it!

Oh - that's Ronnie Burns on the cover... Guess who his dad was? George Burns. That's right. George who gave Ann-Margret her start in Las Vegas! If I remember the photo spread inside, it had Ronnie at home pool side with a lot of sexy girls sitting around him...

A Note on the First Video Ever of ELVIS (?) posted below by Wes Bryan

Christine Trzyna here: Wes and I were looking at the YouTube video we posted last week that is proposed to be the first film footage of Elvis ever. Wes identified the people in the video (as you look on the screen) as Bill Black to the right of Elvis, Scotty Moore "The Guitar That Changed The World" to the right. Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Ferlin Husky, a country singer who was on the Grande Old Opry. So we think that this video is of Elvis Presley in his incarnation as the lead singer for the Blue Moon Boys on or at the Grande Old Opry.

Ferlin Husky is also in this video.

(196) CARL PERKINS : THE BEATLES : HONEY DON'T

Carl Perkins Rockabilly recording on Sun Records "Honey Don't..."When The Beatles recording the same song with the Mersey Beat it was a rare recording of the drummer, Ringo Starr, singing... "Rock on George."

VIDEOS REPLACED MARCH 2014



RUN THE NAME RINGO STAR THROUGH THE SEARCH FEATURE ON THIS BLOG and you'll find out about the recent museum show on Ringo! )

PAUL NEWMAN - MY LIFE IN ACTING AND HIS

P A U L N E W M A N

The great actor Paul Newman passed into Eternal Life last week at the age of 83. He first acted in a Broadway play in 1953 and it was in New York that I first met Paul in about 1958.

During my first tour for United Artists of the South, I did a radio performance show in Saint Louis, Missouri with the actress Geraldine Page. So Geraldine asked me to call her when I got back to New York and in New York she invited me to go see The Sweet Bird of Youth, which Paul was in. We went backstage and I met Paul. Paul invited me to Downeys to get a couple Budweiser's. That was the same restaurant that I met columnist Earl Wilson in when he interviewed me for the New York Times.

Paul said to me, "There's a great need for an actor to take Jimmy's (James Dean) place and you're it!"

Paul Newman was a few years older than James Dean when they both auditioned for East of Eden. James Dean got the roll in part because Paul was thought to be too old for the role.

Paul was a very private person and he didn't talk about it with me, but I knew that Paul had never gotten over the death of James Dean. The James Dean that impressed Paul Newman was not only the actor but the race car driver. Paul fullfilled every dream that James Dean had about racing cars!

Wes Bryan

C 2008

(195) GENE VINCENT and ELVIS PRESLEY BE BOP A LULA !

Here's an early Elvis Presley recording of Gene Vincent's Be Bop A Lula!



Gene in France singing Be Bop A Lula years past its 1958 debut...



Use the Search feature of this Google Blogger to see what else we've had to say about Gene Vincent.

(194) CHUCK BERRY ROLLS OVER THE STONES, THE BEATLES (And A Whole Lot of Other Bands) WITH ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN !

The Rolling Stones cite Chuck Berry as one of their prime influences and inspirations and they've proven it by recording or playing in concert a good number of the songs Chuck wrote. Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven" has been recorded by so very many artists, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles are just a couple of them.

Chuck Berry's ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN :



Here's John Lennon's recording of the song:


Leon Russel's version:

(193) JOHNNY B. GOODE, CHUCK BERRY AND JOHNNY LENNON

Chuck Berry wrote so many Rock and Roll songs that become classics and were covered and recorded by other artists he made more in residuals than he ever did performing himself.

Here's Chuck performing one of his most covered classics, Johnny B. Goode.


Here's a YouTube presentation of a rare recording (says the owner) of the Beatles covering Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode. John Lennon especially loved Chuck Berry.



When Elvis was performing at the International, he did a Johnny B. Goode cover that was fantastic. Here's one YouTuber's contribution from a 1969 performance there...

LUBBOCK MUSIC FESTIVAL

Click on the Title Above to Get to the LUBBOCK MUSIC FESTIVAL LINK!

JOHNNY RIVERS 2008 UPDATE POOR SIDE OF TOWN

We're posting two versions, one to get to by clicking the title above which has better sound quality and this one which is the full song, thanks to those Johnny Rivers fans on YouTube...

See our previous posts on Johnny using the search feature of this Google blog including "Johnny Rivers Would Not Quit."

http://www.johnnyrivers.com/jr/index.php Johnny Rivers Official Web Site

(192) FIRST JERRY LEE LEWIS and THEN THE BEATLES MONEY!

JERRY LEE LEWIS VERSION OF "MONEY"




THE BEATLES' VERSION OF "MONEY"

THE AMERICAN INVASION OF BRITAIN CONTINUES ON WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC

We'll keep covering the influence of American Rock and Rollers and Rockabilly artists on the bands of Britain here at Wes Bryan - My Life in Music!

Wes and Christine

(191) LITTLE RICHARD'S LONG LONG CAREER AND LONG TALL SALLY

Little Richard wrote this one and it's been covered a thousand times by now. Here's some of the more famous artists covering LONG TALL SALLY.

LITTLE RICHARD, the Original....



THE BEATLES....


ELVIS PRESLEY from about 1956



You can use the search feature of our Google blog for our previous posts that include him.

Here's a link to his Induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...

http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/little-richard

Now friends there is a number of web sites dedicated to Little Richard courtesy of his fans but we picked this one because we think it's the one Little Richard has had his hand in...

http://www.kolumbus.fi/timrei/lre.htm

BILLBOARD MAGAZINE 50 YEARS OF TOP 100 HITS !

BILLBOARD Magazine is celebrating 1958-2008, that's 50 YEARS of the TOP 100 HIT LIST!
CLICK ON THE TITLE ABOVE TO GET TO THE SITE!

Billboard started out in the mid 1940's as a rather informal list of top selling albums but about the time that I was discovered as "The Next James Dean," and recorded "Lonesome Love" and "Tiny Spaceman" the magazine had begun to take itself seriously and started keeping weekly tabs on singles as well as albums. Later we'll also talk about Cashbox magazine...

(190) NOT FADE AWAY BUDDY HOLLY - THE ROLLING STONES

This YouTube video features the Rock and Roll Classic "Not Fade Away" which has been covered by so many artists!



And here's the Rolling Stones (with Brian Jones),who covered it circa 1964.

(189) BUDDY HOLLY'S WORDS OF LOVE - THE BEATLES

The Paramount Theatre in New York; big Rock and Roll shows were put on there and they were so exciting! Here's a preserved performance of Buddy Holly and the Crickets doing "Peggy Sue" thanks to a YouTube contributor at the Paramount, and it appears to us that might be Kitty Carlisle doing the introductions with a bevy of prim debutants behind her! Now, earlier in this blog (use the search feature to locate other postings that include Buddy Holly and the Crickets!)I mentioned meeting Buddy in New York and recording myself with the Crickets left behind when Buddy went on the tour that he died in a plane crash in 1959. And we've been saying that before the British Invasion of America the Americans invaded Britain.


VIDEO REPLACED JANUARY 2012

So though on our time line here we are still in the very early 1960's let's take a look at some Buddy Holly covers by the Beatles...

And now here's the Beatles...



VIDEO REPACED JANUARY 2012

THE EARLIEST FILM EVER TAKEN OF ELVIS? WITH BUDDY HOLLY, CARL PERKINS, and JOHNNY CASH?

Lubbock Texas, 1955... This YouTube presentation states this clip taken by a fan may be one of the earliest films ever taken of Elvis.

October 6, 2007 update: Wes has identified the following people in this film clip:
Elvis, with Bill Black, his stand up bassist, to the right as you see the video, Scotty Moore "The Guitar That Changed The World," to the left, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash (both appeariing dark), FERLIN HUSKY - a country singer who played on the Grande Ol Opry, and Buddy Holly. Bill Black was the first cousin of Bonnie Bosley (Underwood), one of Elvis' first girlfriends. Don't know who the person in the flowered shirt is.

Note: The person is Ferlin Husky...

(188) DIVERSITY ON THE CHARTS and COVER TUNES YESTERDAY AND TODAY

So far you've seen the diversity of hit records on the charts in the early 1960's, 1960-1961 (and we'll be heading for 1962 in the near future).

Doo Wop, Rockabilly, Novelty Tunes, an emerging surf music sound, harmonies that the Everly Brothers performed as well as opera-inspired songs like Elvis' "It's Now or Never," and so many other sounds, including the "Girl Groups" of Motown are represented on those charts as big sellers.

Because we live in 2008 and know about the history of Rock and Roll from the long view, we know that it's a matter of a couple years before what's been termed "The British Invasion" though in our opinion there was an American Invasion of Britian first. American artists like Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran toured England, Buddy Knox and I almost got there, and it's well known that the Beatles and the Rolling Stones and so many other British originated bands that come along into fame mid to late 1960's are inspired by those early Rock and Rollers. Many of the hits of the late 1950's to early 1960's have become classics that have been recorded "Covered" time and time again.

Christine and I are really fascinated by what's been happening as some of the most famous Rock and Rollers are aging, and beginning to look to "standards" from the 1930's, 1940's, and 1950's. Linda Ronstadt's been doing it, Rod Stewart's been doing it... mining the classics from the Big Band Sound.

So before we go on with our Wes Bryan narrative, we're going to take a bit of a departure here on Wes Bryan -My Life in Music and we're going to post some of those "Oldies" and their "Covers."

We'll be depending on YouTube of course, and we want to thank again all those contributors that make a history of music oriented blog like ours more interesting.

(187) JOHN FOGERTY'S EARLY ROCK N ROLL - THE BLUE VELVETS

John Fogerty? Well friends, I loved what John did with his band Creedence Clearwater Revival, but I want to tell you about John as an early rock and roller. Earlier in this blog I talked about Jimmy Seals of Seals and Crofts being a member of the "Tequila" song band, the Champs, a band that was named after Gene Autry's horse when they were on his lable. John had a band called The Blue Velvets. They had a career that spanned from about 1959 to the early 1960's.Here is "Have You Ever Been Lonely" on a YouTube video presentation. I'll be talking about John Fogerty again later in this blog.  (Video removed 2012)

VIDEO REPLACED SEPTEMBER 2013 with different song.  Tommy is John's Brother who eventually left Creedence.

(186) GENE PITNEY : ONLY LOVE CAN BREAK A HEART

Gene Pitney: this blog wouldn't be complete without including him.

On one website we noticed that someone had confused me and Gene, probably because he recorded under the name Billy Bryan prior to 1960.

Gene was a songwriter who went into performance. As you may realize from reading this blog, in the Cover Tune Era the singer-songwriter was the exception. A good number of us went from performance into songwriting but Gene did both. It's difficult to do both with success and hold onto that success. A good songwriter can last past a good performer if, for instance, his looks aren't with him. And in the case of the Big Bopper - J.P Richardson and Gene Pitney, some say sadly, that it wasn't their sound or their talent but their looks that failed them on the music scene - they just weren't the idol type. Just like today Abe Lincoln probably wouldn't have had the looks and personality to make it through a Presidential campaign and to the White House.

But Gene was so talented! He co-wrote a number of hit songs for my peers including "Hello Mary Lou" for Ricky Nelson.

Here's the 1961 hit Gene is known for "Only Love Can Break A Heart."






This web site has a comprehensive biography of Gene and mentions a number of his songwriting successes.

And here's a BBC report of Gene's last concert before he passed into Eternal Life.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4879846.stm

Search our blog for The Crystals! Earlier we posted them singing "Little Boy" that was written by Gene!

UPDATED AUGUST 2012

CHARLES SCHULZ Quote on Life

"Just remember, once you're over the hill you begin to pick up speed."

-Charles Schulz

(185) BILLY LEE RILEY AND HIS LITTLE GREEN MEN

Thinking about Jerry Reed, I got to thinking about another Southern musician who made it in Hollywood, Billy Lee Riley, who was also an original Sun label artist as well and who did a bit of harmonica playing for me when I was producing records. Billy Lee, in the spirit of space exploration we've been talking about as well as the spirit of my song "Tiny Spaceman," had a band called Billy Riley and His Little Green Men back in 1957. They had a song called "Flying Saucers Rock and Roll."

Linking to a Discography for Billy Lee Riley. He's got a Rockin Country Style page, just like me and a lot of other early Rockabilly artists. (We love RCS Discography!)

RCS DISCOGRAPHY on BILLY LEE RILEY  updated April 2014

ELVIS INTERVIEW ON YOUTUBE SEPT 1962

This is a very rare interview Elvis did with Lloyd Shearer of Parade Magazine in September 1962 while filming "It Happened At The World's Fair." It's available on The Silver Set-Elvis Aron Presley according to the YouTube presenter we are linking to here!



He talks about his touch football team. I played on it!

AUTHOR UNKNOWN Quote on Life

"May you live to be a hundred years with one extra year to repent!"
- Author Unknown

A DISCOGRAPHY FOR ME IN FRANCE?

I know that there are rockabilly fans in Germany, Japan, and the English speaking and singing countries of Great Britian and Australia, Canada and the United States. I was somehow suprised when Christine found this little discography for me on the Internet which is part of a larger project in France... Click on the title above to go to it!

HEART IN MUSIC and RECORDING QUALITY ON CD's

Christine Trzyna here.

Wes and I were talking the other day about the music of the late 1950's and 1960's and the music "now." "The thing about the oldies," Wes said,"is that they had heart."

I agree. In the controversies about Rap music which seem to dwell on the values expressed in raunchy and often woman-hating lyrics, empathy and love - be it the wonder of love or the misery of a break up - seems to be missing. Rap comes off as stone-hearted. Beat and rhythm and poetry are there, as is amazing word play and rhyme. Sometimes a sense of humor is expressed rather than bitterness. Sound sampling is considered to be a new kind of musical rip-off that shows a lack of originality and is offensive to the original songwriters and singers as much as it can be taken as a great compliment that their work was chosen for a rip around the old turn-table.

Warmth too seems to be missing and that has to do with recording quality as transferred on to the music-carrier of the moment - the CD. Recently I read in Rolling Stone magazine about a group of Beatles fans who didn't like the thin, tinny quality of Beatles CD's. They had taken the recording of CD's into their own club, playing the old crackle, snap, and pop LP's and moving that recording onto CD's. To them the sound quality was THE ORIGINAL BEATLES, the way they heard it first and wanted to hear it. Then they posted on the Internet, and by becoming a member of their club, you could download the recordings they did.

I recall the days when the AUDIOPHILE existed. These were people who bought expensive equipment to hear tape or vinyl recordings with a lot of controls on the audio. They gleefully tweaked base and treble, or listened to just one speaker, adjusting the music to the way they wanted to hear it song by song, isolating a voice or an instrument. This is an active participation in the music that is barely possible with the CD players that most people own today.

I suspect that the beauty of original performanc music on YOUTUBE also has to do with the ORIGINAL SOUND of a recording.

COWBOYS WERE MY IDOLS

Dover Free Images

LASH LARUE Quote on Life

Cowboy star Lash told me this one when we were dining out at the Entre Cafeteria across from Capitol records years ago. The Entre was a favorite with character actors - musicians - stars- everybody. We used to meet there and as I mentioned when I blogged on Lash earlier, he was my favorite cowboy, as well as Elvis', and Tommy Smothers.

"I'm from an area of time and space that the human race ain't ready for yet!"
- Lash Larue

Here's a clip from a film Lash did on a YouTube presentation, a cowboy bullwhip contest! Welcome to my childhood!

Lash LaRue vs. El Azote! Lash is the cowboy in black without the mask!

(184) PAT BOONE MIGHT'VE BEEN ELVIS' BIGGEST COMPETITOR ! 12 GOLD RECORDS BY 1961

My voice had once been compared to his...You may find this hard to believe today, but there was one person who was better liked during the early Rock and Roll era by the general public than Elvis, and that was Pat Boone, who never did have that dark edge of a Rock-a-billy artist that Elvis had and had a wider audience.

Now friends, we're still in the cover tune era here, so you'll find if you look at who recorded what and when you'll find that songs that Pat recorded were later recorded by other artists we mention. For instance, Pat recorded "Moody River," in 1961 and the next year Johnny Burnette recorded it. So do you think I was pitching songs to Pat?

You'd better believe it. Pat started his own publishing company called Cooga Mooga! (Guess who eventually did some work for Pat there?)

Here's Pat on the Lawrence Welk show singing "Moody River," and then Johnny Burnette's 1962 version, as presented by YouTube video-ers. As Lawrence mentions, Pat had 12 Gold Records by the time he did this show.

Pat Boone on the Welk singing "Moody River."

Johnny Burnette covering "Moody River," (and sounding very Elvis-like.)

Now a little later, when Frank Sinatra gets his own label, Reprise, he records "Moody River" too. Here's his swinging 60's version. My co-worker at American Music, Jimmy Bowen went to Reprise as Frank's producer.

No replacement for Johnny Burnette. Frank's version of "Moody River." VIDEOS RELACED APRIL 2011

(181) DORSEY BURNETT - THE DYING EMBER

While a staff songwriter at American Music, I wrote this song with Fred Horton. Fred wasn't staff but the owner-boss Sylvester Cross OK'd him. The song was meant for Elvis Presley but Dorsey got it - long story- and recorded it first. I think of this song as one of my best. Read our other blogs about Dot Records by using the search feature of this GOOGLE blog!

QUOTE on ARTISTS by ?

"A person who works with their hands is a laborer.
A person who works with their hands and mind is a craftsman.
A person who works with their hands, mind, and soul is an artist."

THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THIS BLOG : THANK YOU TO OUR FRIENDS

Wes and I have had a year of adventures with this blog, a year of being reunited with old friends and of recalling great memories of his life in music, as it has intertwinned with some great people in the business; artists, singers, songwriters, producers...

We want to thank and send our love to those who have been supportive of us through the process of writing his memoirs and the process of making the index for that book come alive here with sound clips, videos, websites and photos.

Christine Trzyna & Wes Bryan

ELVIS ! UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN!

A lot of fans will be in Memphis for the anniversary of Elvis Presley's death today. Elvis Week officially is August 9 -17th this year. Early in this blog I remembered how his death effected me personally. In fact, the idea of having a blog about my life in the music business had a lot to do with Elvis and my friendship with him. Few people, even those of us who had fate on our side when talent and hardwork were not enough, get to become as famous and loved as Elvis Presley. And I had the good fortune to be able to count the man as one of my friends! One of my best friends in a life full of friends!

This is what Elvis said to me one time when I was feeling down about my career. He said, "Wes, you're a good human being and that's be'en a success in my book."

I LOVE AND MISS ELVIS! I believe he goes on in Eternal Life and God knows he remains an inspiration to many people today. So many of his fan clubs have followed in his path of generosity!

(176) WEST TEXAS WALK OF FAME

This is probably a good place to mention that in September of 1994 Buddy Knox was inducted into the WEST TEXAS WALK OF FAME in Lubbock, joining Buddy Holly and other West Texas Talent like the great song writer Mac Davis, whose songs Elvis Presley loved and recorded.

Also from Lubbock and inducted in the WEST TEXAS WALK OF FAME, amazingly enough, Snuffy Garret, the record producer who while with LIBERTY RECORDS, worked with my friend, and Elvis', Cliff Gleaves. Cliff wrote his own contract with Snuffy.

I don't know what it is about West Texas that makes it the fertile ground for so much musical talent, singing, song-writing, entertainment but maybe it has a lot to do with the area being a lot like the Smokey Mountains where I was raised up and people having to make their own fun!

Click on the title above to go right to the West Texas Walk of Fame website!

(172) RECORDING INDUSTRY OF AMERICA (RIAA)

Click on the title above to get to the official web site of RECORDING INDUSTRY OF AMERICA, a trade group that, like ASCAP andBMI, is involved in supporting and protecting the intellectual properties of music makers in the United States. One of the ways they do that is by certifying a record as certifies Gold®, Platinum®, or Multi-Platinum™. That means they watch sales. This site has lists of music that has recently gone Gold or Platinum as well as information for parents, educators, and young people, about Music and the Internet.

These days there is lots of controversy about the Fair Use of sound clips (usually a few bars attached to an educational site is fine, like RCS Discography does) and downloads of music and videos. YouTube, the site we've been leaning heavily on for the videos we attached to our commentary is one of the most successful and we are truly grateful to the contributors who have allowed us to do this so we can allow our readers to actually see and hear performances in historical context. Because of these videos we have also been able to show you the differences between black and white versus color telecasts.

Some artists object to downloads of music for free, some do not, seeing the interest in their music to be a positive thing, part of their celebrity, and sound sampling this way to only lead to more sales. At the same time many artists (including me) have had intellectual properties deliberately stolen and used without benefit of approval or seeing a dime on sales, and seen their work pirated through various methods. Let me tell you it doesn't just hurt in the wallet.

On this blog we attempt to follow the guidelines for Fair Use in the United States of America as understood legally at this time. (And as we post on our own Rights information, anyone who objects to us linking to their site, please get in touch with us, and we will respectfully take it down.)

At the same time, several of my friends mentioned on this blog have thanked me and feel excited to be remembered and linked to. This blog has been an opportunity for a number of my old friends and me to be reunited after taking separate paths years ago. I feel so lucky when that happens.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON Quote on Friendship

"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

WES BRYAN - A 10" COLLECTORS RECORD

Photobucket Album

My United Artists recording came out in a 10" record as well as the smaller 7".

WALTER WINCHELL Quote on Friendship

"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out."
- Walter Winchell

(167) A CHIMP INTO SPACE and SCATTER !

A YouTube video circa 1961 about the first chimp in space...

Now I have to tell you that this chimp in space proved to us that chimps were very intelligent beings, and I really think this is what got Elvis thinking about having a chimp as a pet, the infamous playboy chimp named Scatter! Scatter was actually gifted to Elvis, after he saw him performing on television and offered to buy him!

Scatter drank a teeny bit of whisky that the guys poured him when they had a drink and pulled a bit on a cigar, just like Elvis. Elvis hated pretentiousness and Scatter mimicking our "playboy" lifestyle kept it down to earth around the house.

(166) HISTORY MOMENT : ALAN SHEPARD TRAVELS IN SPACE

I'd been a bit embarrassed singing "Tiny Spaceman," the novelty song that was on the flip side of "Lonesome Love," put out by United Artists, even though for me this was a Gold Record. But today I realize that it is one of many songs about space travel through the years that became popular, engaging our imaginations about what was possible - human potential.

I had to practice, get my timing just right, to sing "Tiny Spaceman," as it was really a difficult song with a lot of space alien Do Wop talk in it!

"They welcomed the spaceman and gave him a gold key. He ate the key..."

Here's a YouTube video that preserves the excitement of 1961, Alan Shepard as the first American man in space for the United States. Click the title above to go right to this video.

(160) NEIL SEDAKA 1961 DON'T LEAD ME ON and HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET SIXTEEN

If you recall (or if you want to use the search feature of this Google Blogspot!) you know that it was Neil Sedaka in the Brill Building who ran and got Bobby Darin, who was downstairs recording, and brought him up to meet me when I first moved to New York to be close to the action as a just signed United Artists singing-acting sensation. Neil was at the piano singing a song he'd just written, pitching it to me. You can click on the link to Neil's own web site and learn more about him. Here is Neil singing his 1961 recording of "Don't Lead Me On," presented on YouTube...




NEW UPDATE by Christine Trzyna on May 26 2010 :two replacement videos for expired videos and a link to his web site.

Here's his song "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen" from the same year.

Very 1950's wouldn't you say?

POST UPDATED MAY 2010 by Christine Trzyna,