As you know, we do our best to post interesting information, historical music videos, a few good pictures, and a bit about my life in the music business, starting as a singer, then singer-songwriter, then music producer. I've had an uncommon life and decided to write about it but several years ago I was shocked to find out that Rockin Country Style (RCS) and the on line Rockabilly Hall of Fame mentioned me. Me on the Internet? It took some getting used to.
Christine Trzyna and I wrote for a long time before Google installed some basic statistical info gadgets on blogs and we find the data that comes up kind of interesting.
Christine, who is an American with Polish ancestors, tells me that suddenly a lot more readers are coming to the site from Canada and Poland. We think the Canadian hits are a result of Ted Stauton's record lable history site which we've posted on with links to his recent Wes Bryan page. (We thank you again Ted!) She likes the idea that there are Polish rock and roll fans checking in especially because she hopes to visit Poland someday. She went to the Polish festival here in Los Angeles last year at one of the oldest Catholic churches in the country and got to hear "The Polish Elvis" who came in from Chicago. She said he had a great voice and she gave him our contact info but he never got in touch after he left town.
We appreciate hearing from our readers and we want to thank you again for keeping us in mind - we know you only have so much time to get on the net. In the last year top hits came from USA, Germany, UK, Russia, Canada, Netherlands, France, Spain, Poland, and Australia. In the last month it was USA, Canada, Russia, Germany, Poland, Italy, France, Sweden, Brazil, and UK. In the last week or so it was USA, Russia, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Thailand, Japan, Canada, and Columbia. In the last few days Finland and India have been checking in too! We even got one hit from Uganda!
It makes us happy...
Monday, April 30, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
THIS IS NOT A "CASH FOR CLICKS" SITE
Just a reminder... WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC has no affiliation with any "Cash for Clicks" type organization. We love it when you visit us because you're interested in our subject, but no organization is getting a penny because you visit. We mention this because we notice when there are a big number of hits from another link. We visit those links to see what's up.
Friday, April 27, 2012
(414) JIMMY BOWEN and FRANK SINATRA and BOBBY DARIN and KEELY SMITH and DEAN MARTIN and DINO DESI AND BILLY and...
The last few posts and next several are about THE INTERCONNECTIONS PEOPLE IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS HAD FOR SEVERAL YEARS IN THE 1960's WHICH IS TO SAY AGAIN THAT WE WERE ALL INTERTWINED and that many of us from my old early rock and roll crowd that moved from New York to Los Angeles had moved from performing into song writing or music production or music publishing.
I never knew Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin personally the way I knew Elvis Presley. I heard a lot about them - knew of them. My relationship with them was usually one or two people away because I knew Jimmy Bowen and Bobby Darin. as an example. Jimmy was producing music at Frank Sinatra's lable Reprise and Bobby, besides singing himself, was publishing music, buying songs he liked and presenting them to singers he admired, trying to create an estate with his son's future in mind.
I don't remember exactly how Keely Shaye Smith, who had been married to Louie Prima and had performed in Vegas with him and then divorced, and my old friend Jimmy Bowen met, but Jimmy and Keely married in about 1965.
Keely remains one of my all time favorite singers. She put a CD out a few years ago and it was terrific, her voice as good if not better than ever! But let's slow the story down a little...
I never knew Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin personally the way I knew Elvis Presley. I heard a lot about them - knew of them. My relationship with them was usually one or two people away because I knew Jimmy Bowen and Bobby Darin. as an example. Jimmy was producing music at Frank Sinatra's lable Reprise and Bobby, besides singing himself, was publishing music, buying songs he liked and presenting them to singers he admired, trying to create an estate with his son's future in mind.
I don't remember exactly how Keely Shaye Smith, who had been married to Louie Prima and had performed in Vegas with him and then divorced, and my old friend Jimmy Bowen met, but Jimmy and Keely married in about 1965.
Keely remains one of my all time favorite singers. She put a CD out a few years ago and it was terrific, her voice as good if not better than ever! But let's slow the story down a little...
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
FRANK SINATRA quote
"May you live to be 100 and may the last voice you hear be mine." - Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra had some horrible, I mean rotten, stuff to say about rock and roll and rock and rollers, including Elvis and The Beatles, and well, everyone is entitled to their opinion. As a young singer early in his career he earned the screams of the Bobbi Soxers, then, as things do, time passed and things changed. Frank changed too. (He eventually covered a song written by George Harrison of the Beatles, "Something," which he said he loved.) And when he had his own label he hired one of the original Rock and Rollers, Jimmy Bowen, to produce for him...
Frank Sinatra had some horrible, I mean rotten, stuff to say about rock and roll and rock and rollers, including Elvis and The Beatles, and well, everyone is entitled to their opinion. As a young singer early in his career he earned the screams of the Bobbi Soxers, then, as things do, time passed and things changed. Frank changed too. (He eventually covered a song written by George Harrison of the Beatles, "Something," which he said he loved.) And when he had his own label he hired one of the original Rock and Rollers, Jimmy Bowen, to produce for him...
Monday, April 23, 2012
JIMMY BOWEN : SINGER SONGWRITER AND FAMOUS MUSIC PRODUCER TO BE (307) FROM OUR ARCHIVES
FROM OUR ARCHIVES POST (307) JIMMY BOWEN : SINGER SONGWRITER AND FAMOUS MUSIC PRODUCER TO BE! from April 26 2010.
JIMMY BOWEN figures in my story from way back. I met Jimmy Bowen while he was passing through Akron, Ohio. He took me to a record hop there, where my first record was played. It was a record I home made in Winston-Salem without a label so it could not be played on the radio legally.
Jimmy Bowen and Buddy Knox had a group called The Rhythm Orchids. (They started out wearing light purple shirts when they played!) Buddy Knox and Jimmy Bowen were both Texas boys. Jimmy played a stand up bass, an instrument that featured in early rock and roll but soon disappeared from road performances.
Eventually I would perform with Jimmy on the road while on Roulette Records. I was on the Buddy Knox tour but I would occasionally meet up with Jimmy's tour.
The two of us showed up to work at American Music in Los Angeles. The two of us wrote some songs together... including "Break Down and Cry" which was recorded by Fabian and "Don't Stay Away" which was recorded by Jerry Fuller.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
JIMMY BOWEN : MY BABY'S GONE : FLIP SIDE OF BUDDY KNOX'S PARTY DOLL
JIMMY BOWEN and the RHYTHM ORCHIDS : "My Baby's Gone" was the flip side of fellow Rhythm Orchid BUDDY KNOX'S hit "Party Doll." Jimmy was instrumental in my early career as far back as Akron, Ohio. This song is one of many I remember from touring in the late 1950's. The Rhythm Orchids formed when Jimmy and Buddy and Don Lanier met at West Texas State College. Jimmy played stand up base, Donny played lead guitar, and David Alldred, who they first met when they recorded with Norman Petty, played drums.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
(413) DICK CLARK AMERICAN BANDSTAND - I PERFORMED ON THE SHOW THREE TIMES
The first time I performed on Dick Clark -American Bandstand I went to Philadephia, where I performed "Tiny Spaceman," and "Lonesome Love" in two separate spots.
The second time I performed on Dick Clark - American Bandstand I performed "Melodie D'Amour" and "I Guess I'll Never Know," (the song posted a couple down) in two separate spots.
The third time I performed on Dick Clark - American Bandstand I performed "Freeze."
Clips of these songs are on the left sidebar of this blog, in the Audio Gallery.
Dick's wife Kari was looking for some old films of me on the show, which I don't know still exist. Dick was so much a part of the music business and promotions for so many years, his life touched the lives of thousands of people. I'm one of them.
The second time I performed on Dick Clark - American Bandstand I performed "Melodie D'Amour" and "I Guess I'll Never Know," (the song posted a couple down) in two separate spots.
The third time I performed on Dick Clark - American Bandstand I performed "Freeze."
Clips of these songs are on the left sidebar of this blog, in the Audio Gallery.
Dick's wife Kari was looking for some old films of me on the show, which I don't know still exist. Dick was so much a part of the music business and promotions for so many years, his life touched the lives of thousands of people. I'm one of them.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
DICK CLARK PASSES AT 82: IT WAS GREAT TO HAVE KNOWN YOU!
Gary Levin of USA Today with the breaking news. Dick Clark, "The World's Oldest Teenager" suffered a massive heart attack this morning, after 8 years of rehabilitating from his stroke in 2004. Click on the title to get to that article...
http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/dick-clark ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME DICK CLARK
FROM OUR ARCHIVES: (15) I APPEAR ON DICK CLARK'S AMERICAN BANDSTAND September 7, 2007
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.
http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/dick-clark ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME DICK CLARK
FROM OUR ARCHIVES: (15) I APPEAR ON DICK CLARK'S AMERICAN BANDSTAND September 7, 2007
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.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
THE CRICKETS: 2012 INDUCTEES INTO THE ROCK : I RECORDED WITH THEM AT NORMAN PETTY'S
The Crickets were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this past weekend! I'm happy about it! They deserve the credit! We're linking to their bio on that site which starts like this:
"The Crickets were Buddy Holly's Buddy group from 1956 to 1958, a period of time when Holly was one of rock and roll’s hottest stars and main musical innovators. In fact, Holly appears to be a member of the Crickets himself on the cover of his first album, which is credited to the “Chirping” Crickets. Although there’s no question that Holly was the central figure – lead singer, lead guitarist and chief songwriter – the Crickets contributed heavily to Holly’s sound and success. As guitarist Joe Mauldin told Holly biographers John Goldrosen and John Beecher, “Other stars kept their musicians on salary but Buddy said, ‘No, man – share and share alike. You’re as much a part of this group as I am. If it wasn’t for you guys, I couldn’t perform the show that I put on.’” Moreover, Buddy Holly and the Crickets were a self-contained group that had two guitars, bass and drums and wrote their own material, serving as the blueprint for a torrent of rock bands that followed in the Sixties, including the Beatles..."
I did two recordings with the Crickets left behind at Norman Petty's studio. Here is "Blue Baby" and that's the Crickets backing me. Buddy Knox was there with me.
This video was provided by Arne, who has a great YouTube station, was the first person to ever post a Wes Bryan video, and has become one of our friends in Sweden. You can go to this video on YouTube and link to his station. The Crickets who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were Jerry Allison, Joe B. - Joe B. Mauldin, Niki Sullivan, and Sonny Curtis.
Since the Crickets are part of my story we've posted quite a bit on them as well as Buddy Holly. We invite you to use the search function of this Google Blogger to find previous posts!
"The Crickets were Buddy Holly's Buddy group from 1956 to 1958, a period of time when Holly was one of rock and roll’s hottest stars and main musical innovators. In fact, Holly appears to be a member of the Crickets himself on the cover of his first album, which is credited to the “Chirping” Crickets. Although there’s no question that Holly was the central figure – lead singer, lead guitarist and chief songwriter – the Crickets contributed heavily to Holly’s sound and success. As guitarist Joe Mauldin told Holly biographers John Goldrosen and John Beecher, “Other stars kept their musicians on salary but Buddy said, ‘No, man – share and share alike. You’re as much a part of this group as I am. If it wasn’t for you guys, I couldn’t perform the show that I put on.’” Moreover, Buddy Holly and the Crickets were a self-contained group that had two guitars, bass and drums and wrote their own material, serving as the blueprint for a torrent of rock bands that followed in the Sixties, including the Beatles..."
I did two recordings with the Crickets left behind at Norman Petty's studio. Here is "Blue Baby" and that's the Crickets backing me. Buddy Knox was there with me.
This video was provided by Arne, who has a great YouTube station, was the first person to ever post a Wes Bryan video, and has become one of our friends in Sweden. You can go to this video on YouTube and link to his station. The Crickets who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were Jerry Allison, Joe B. - Joe B. Mauldin, Niki Sullivan, and Sonny Curtis.
Since the Crickets are part of my story we've posted quite a bit on them as well as Buddy Holly. We invite you to use the search function of this Google Blogger to find previous posts!
Monday, April 16, 2012
THE COMETS : 2012 INDUCTEES ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME!
Franny Beecher, Danny Cedrone, Joey D’Ambrosio (aka Joey Ambrose), Johnny Grande, Ralph Jones, Marshall Lytle, Rudy Pompilli, Al Rex, Dick Richards, Billy Williamson are the COMETS who were just inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! We're linking to their bio on that site, which has plentiful information for you to read.
"Rock Around the Clock" has become a rock and roll classic that defines a time in the 1950's when we went to diners where the waitresses came out to the cars to take you order and deliver your order - burgers - shakes - on rollerskates. They were the first rock and rollers I ever heard. This historical music video is about the "confusion" some people had about the new music they were hearing on the radio...
"Rock Around the Clock" has become a rock and roll classic that defines a time in the 1950's when we went to diners where the waitresses came out to the cars to take you order and deliver your order - burgers - shakes - on rollerskates. They were the first rock and rollers I ever heard. This historical music video is about the "confusion" some people had about the new music they were hearing on the radio...
Friday, April 13, 2012
ERNIE FREEMAN : THE MUSIC PRODUCER : FROM OUR ARCHIVES POST 208
Post (208) ERNIE FREEMAN THE MUSIC PRODUCER from November 7 2008
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.
UPDATED APRIL 2012 THIS NEW GREAT VIDEO!
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.
UPDATED APRIL 2012 THIS NEW GREAT VIDEO!
Thursday, April 12, 2012
WES BRYAN : I GUESS I'LL NEVER KNOW
"Freeze" was the first song I wrote and recorded while on United Artists. When I was on Clock I wrote and recorded "So Blue Over You." This was the first song I wrote and recorded while on Roulette, my second record label where I was signed by Morris Levy. I'm pleased to find this one on YouTube!
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
WIRED SCIENCE BRINGS YOU THE SOUND OF WORDS WATERFALLS AND DUST DEVILS : YOU HAVE TO HEAR THIS
We couldn't resist posting a link to this, even though other planets are little off topic here at WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC. We searched for the best link to this recent news; scientists are trying to figure out what sound is like on other planets. (When you get to this link which has an AUDIO GALLERY, you may have to download some software to hear it.
OK we want to hear Elvis singing on Mars!
OK we want to hear Elvis singing on Mars!
Thursday, April 5, 2012
CHARLES DICKENS Quote on Friendship
"There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate!" - Charles Dickins
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
(412) RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS : 1965 : BOBBY HATFIELD and BILL MEDLEY
This performance was from 1965, I believe. We're linking to an interview that's part of the Righteous Brother's official site. Bill is, as you probably know by now, still performing.
