Tuesday, April 30, 2013

GRAM PARSONS : AINT NO BEATLE AINT NO ROLLING STONE



GRAM PARSONS OFFICIAL SITE link here!  (This is an EXCELLENT SITE!)

Out of Harvard Singer-Songwriter founded the International Submarine band.  He moved on to The Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

ROCK AND ROLL AT FIFTY : LIVE FROM BENEDUM CENTER - PITTSBURGH PA

Creator and Executive Producer T.J. Lubinsky  Producer  Henry J. DeLuca and many others, this DVD features live performances recorded during the 2003 show.  Lots of fun and you'll be tempted to sing along to a few songs while a few tears collect in the corners of your eyes, like mine did when I heard Gerry Marsden...

www.shoutfactory.com

Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, The Heartbeats, Terry Johnson's Flamingos, the Fiestas, Jack Scott and The Jourdanaires, Paul and Paula, Johnny Tillotson , Darlene Love, Brian Hyland,  Garyu U.S. Bonds,  Lesley Gore, The Manfreds, Gerry Marsden *(Don't let the Sun Catch you Crying), Avalones, Jaguars,  Danny and the Juniors featuring Joe Terry...  You could say it's our kind of show.

Christine

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

(461) LOU CHRISTIE : FROM DOO WOP TO LIGHTENING STRIKES

LOU CHRISTIE Official Web Site



Christine here : Frankie Valli with the Four Seasons wasn't the only singer hitting the high notes and the charts.  But there must be something about Italians in the Eastern United States.  Lou grew up in the Pittsburgh area and was once a member of the University of Pittsburgh Glee Club.  Doo Wop required a full range of voices or ranges of voice to create that harmonious blend and though Lou will be the first to tell you that he kind of got stuck hitting those high notes - because he could - he has a full range and came out of the Doo Wop.    (Try not to confuse Lou Christie with the New Christie Minstrels, the folk group that launched the career of Gene Clark of the Byrds, and several others.)

Today Lou lives in the Palm Springs area where he is active singing for his special cause - Brain Injured Veterans of the United States.

Monday, April 22, 2013

LEO TOLSTOY Quotation about Music

"Music is the shorthand of emotion."  - Leo Tolstoy



Saturday, April 20, 2013

(460) FOLK ROCK : A SYNERGY OF FOLK MUSIC and COUNTRY and ROCK AND ROLL

Country music, Folk music, Rock Music... In the mid 1960's music by the Turtles and the Byrds was recognized as something called FOLK ROCK.  Some say Bob Dylan's song "Mr. Tambourine Man," was the song that began the Folk Rock "revolution."

Let's go to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, where we got our definition for HARMONY, and see how the term is officially explained:

BRITANNICA : FOLK ROCK Link! 

The definition begins :  "As the American folk music revival gathered momentum in the 1950s and ’60s, it was inevitable that a high-minded movement that prided itself on the purity of its acoustic instrumentation and its separation from the commercial pop mainstream would be overtaken and transformed by pop music’s rapidly evolving technology. Rock music also was transformed by its intersection with folk. Although rock previously had been perceived and created almost exclusively as entertainment, it now began to take on folk music’s self-conscious seriousness of intent...

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

MR TAMBOURINE MAN WRITTEN BY SINGER-SONGWRITER BOB DYLAN : CLASSIC COVER TUNE

 : THE BYRDS REMASTERED

THE SONGWRITER BOB DYLAN : AT ALBERT HALL 

 or maybe
JUDY COLLINS:

Monday, April 15, 2013

PETE SEEGER : A SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS SONGWRITER

Linking to the SONGWRITER'S HALL OF FAME - PETE SEEGER PAGE PETE SEEGER - SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME right here!

"In 1949, he joined with Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman to form The Weavers, one of the most successful and influential folk music groups ever... Pete Seeger has always been a socially conscious songwriter. Inspired by the movement, Seeger wrote “We Shall Overcome”, based on an old spiritual. The song quickly became the anthem of the movement. Since the end of the 1960s, Seeger has been increasingly involved in the environment movement, another source of inspiration... Among some of Seeger’s other hit songs are "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" (written with The Weavers), "Wimoweh" (written with The Weavers and based on the African song “Mbube”, by Soloman Linda), and "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season"), a number one hit for The Byrds in 1965."

Saturday, April 13, 2013

(459) THE BYRDS GIVE THE BEATLES A RUN FOR THE CHARTS


THE BYRDS OFFICIAL SITE  link here for their story their way!
David Crosby
Chris Hillman
Roger McGuinn
Gene Clark
Michael Clarke  (The Byrds official site has links for each of these musicians individually as well!)

ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME BYRDS PAGE link here!

The Byrds were predicted to give the Beatles a real run for the charts.  I remember talking to Elmer Bernstein and Bob Dylan about the Byrds one night on the Sunset Strip. Elmer was really excited about them. "They're better than the Beatles ! he cried out, as one of their songs was broadcast on the radio.

Bob just smiled.  He had placed songs with them and was already recieving money on their recordings of his songs, which were hits for them.  Look at that line up though.  Every name on that list was a unique talent if not creative genius and they all went on to write winning songs and make music with other groups after the Byrds.

"Turn Turn Turn" was written by PETE SEEGER.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

NEEDLES AND PINS : DO YOU LIKE THE TURTLES, JACKIE DESHANNON or THE RAMONES' VERSION BEST?

Written by Jack Nitzsche and Sonny Bono!  NEEDLES AND PINS is a cover tune classic that's been covered by a great many, including Jackie DeShannon, The Turtles, The Ramones...

Jackie DeShannon :

The Ramones:

The Turtles:

Want to read about Jackie DeShannon, The Turtles, or the Ramones at WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC?  Use the Google Search feature to bring up past posts!

Saturday, April 6, 2013

(458) THE TURTLES : CROSSING THE BIG POND and LANDING IN LOS ANGELES!

THE TURTLES FEATURING FLO AND EDDIE official site! link here!  (Lot's of laughs!)

The TURTLES crossed "the Big Pond" and were a great success in Britain as they were in New York and then Southern California. 

Like so many others we've covered here at Wes Bryan - My Life in Music, the Turtles spent years becoming an "overnight success."  I remember when one of my associates who ran a club on the Sunset Strip were sure they were the competition for the Beatles.  This was the time of my life when, after working at American Music all day and sometimes spending all night in recording studios doing unpaid "overtime," recording demos and pitching songs, that I also spent a lot of time on the Sunset Strip (and surrounds) going to clubs like The Whiskey.

From their site: "When the Turtles played at the Phone Booth in New York, they were pleased to see Bob Dylan sitting a mere eight feet away. He had his shades on and was slumped over. Afterwards the boys eagerly introduced themselves. Dylan responded, deadpan, to the Turtles live performance of their hit, Dylan's very own "It Ain't Me Babe,": "That's a great last song, it should be a record."

Yes friends, we're going to be covering Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Johnny Rivers on this blog as we head towards a Motown summer!

Introduced by Pat Boone!

Friday, April 5, 2013

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

(457) THE VOCAL HALL OF FAME : A NEW ONE FOR US!

THE VOCAL HALL OF FAME link here!

At this point we pride ourselves on our extensive links and we thought we knew about a lot of HALLS OF FAME, virtual or museum-like, but exploring harmony and some of the great groups of the mid 1960's that were recording great songs with great lyrics and using harmony, we came across the VOCAL HALL OF FAME!  It's a real museum in Sharon, Pennsylvania and their site, which we hope you will check out, has a calander of events in music history, information on the Doo Wop groups, and so much else, we're really impressed and know our readers will be too!

Monday, April 1, 2013

WESBRYANHEPCATMAGCOVERportion