(471) MOTOWN HITS THE SUNSET STRIP : STEVIE WONDER : JOHNNY RIVERS

This Motown hit was the first  song co-writing credit the now famous and legendary Stevie Wonder ever got.  The song was written by the team of Sylvia Moy and Henry Cosby and the lyrics were put into Braille for Stevie.  A hit for him in 1966, Johnny's version soon followed.

MOTOWN HITS THE SUNSET STRIP

Link here to STEVIE WONDER'S OFFICIAL SITE! STEVIE WONDER.NET

(470) THE SUPREMES : MOTOWN GIRL GROUP THAT HIT THE BIG TIME!

ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME SUPREMES INDUCTEES BIO link

As you may know, Diana Ross and The Supremes had some personnel changes, and then Diana went solo.  They were Mod.  They were Glamour! They spelled Motown.  Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this bio is comprehensive.

Motown, the word, comes from Detroit's nickname "MOTOR CITY." Musically the sound put Detroit on the music map like it had never been.  (Years later Madonna put Detroit on the map again but she had to go to THE BIG APPLE to do it!)

MOTOWN MUSEUM FOUNDED BY ESTHER GORDY EDWARDS

MOTOWN MUSEUM LINK  Learning more about Motown with our readers!

"Despite the passage of time since Motown Records’ establishment in 1959 by Berry Gordy, tens of thousands of visitors pass through Hitsville U.S.A., home to the Motown Museum, each year. Their presence is a testimony to Motown’s legacy and to the charisma, talent and staying power of the music and those who made it.


The Motown Museum, which was founded by Esther Gordy Edwards in 1985, is one of Southeast Michigan’s most popular tourist destinations. Visitors come from across America and throughout the world to stand in Studio A, where their favorite artists and groups recorded much-loved music, and to view the restored upper flat where Berry Gordy lived with his young family during the company’s earliest days.

Home to an extensive array of Motown artifacts, photographs and other memorabilia, the Museum’s mission, which is presented below, is to preserve the legacy of Motown Record Company and to educate and motivate people, especially youth..."

STANDING IN THE SHADOW OF MOTOWN TRAILER

Lot's of wonderful YouTube videos about Motown and Motown artists to choose from!

(469) STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN : MOTOWN "WRECKING CREW" CALLED THE FUNK BROTHERS

A very interesting documentary IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN is.

About ten years ago this DVD came out, and as I watched it, I was reminded that musicians who back stage performers and studio musicians are often responsible for a "Sound." 

Motown's definitive sound when it was Detroit based in the very early days of the label were called THE FUNK BROTHERS, and like the Wrecking Crew in Los Angeles, who listeners heard without knowing the names, this is the story of some unsung song heroes.

The funk brothers included Percussionist Jack "Black Jack" Ashford,  Bassist, Bob Babbitt,  Keyboardist, Joe Hunter,  Drummer Uriel Jones, Guitarist Joe Messina,  Guitarist Eddie "Chank" Willis,  Drummer Richard "Pistol" Allen, Drummer William "Papa Zita" Benjamin, Percussionist Eddie "Bongo" Brown, Keyboardist Johnny Griffith,  Bassist James "Igor" Jamerson, Keyboardist Earl "Chunk of Funk" Van Dyke, and Guitarist Robert White.  (We tried to list all these names in our labels but it didn't fit!)

The DVD features some re-creations of the tunes you know as Classic Motown and some interviews with those who were alive and well to tell the tale a decade ago.  There is also a nice little booklet included that tells you some of the songs these artists played on.  Most played the Blues and Jazz before Motown and brought that feel, as well as (you can tell from all those drummers and percussionists) a beat that was unique.

"They played on more #1 records than the Beatles, The Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, and Elvis Presley combined..."

Christine Trzyna

WES BRYAN MY LIFE IN MUSIC E-MAIL HACKED

On June 16th 2013 (two days ago - Fathers Day) our entire contact list was e-mailed from our YAHOO account, indicating the account was hacked.  Those of you who have been in e-mail contact with us from that account will be recieving a new private e-mail from us.  If you got an e-mail from that account DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK that is offered which begins with the word garden in the June 16th, 2013 message.  The message and any message like it IS NOT FROM US.

The hacking will be reported and investigated by the Internet crime unit, while we do damage control from our end.  (You always wonder why someone would risk local, federal,  and sometimes even international criminal charges just to prove they can hack! but as they say "it takes all kinds.") 

For some time we offered you an e-mail address to contact us by and though we had the usual PONZI SCHEME OFFERS, the account was secure.  At this point, we will no longer offer an e-mail account to contact us.  You can still leave a comment and provide your own e-mail address along with a message and we'll go from there.

GOOGLE READER - RSS FEED - WILL GO DOWN JULY 1 2013

Just to keep our followers and other friends and readers up to the latest in Google Blogger History!

Google has announced that the Google Reader, and RSS feed features which some of you use to read this and other blogs, will be history (go down permanently as far as anyone knows) in about 2 weeks, on July 1, 2013.

There are other RSS Readers out there and we will post ON THIS POST if there are any recommendations or suggestions about those products or services. *****

You can always go Old School and BOOKMARK this site.

If you use word search on Google, Yahoo, Bing, or any other SEARCH ENGINE, we are aware of another half dozen or so WES BRYANs out there.  We suggest "WES BRYAN MUSIC" as the best word choice.

WE HAVE BLOGGED USING FREE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FROM THE VERY BEGINNING and we are grateful for the opportunity to do so.  However, even some of the world's richest companies sometimes decide that a free product or service is not worth it to them to continue.

While we're at it, we know we miss - and you probably do too - our wonderful slideshow of stars which was one of the products we have also used for free as provided by PHOTOBUCKET.

Well, we put up the Valentine's version of that slideshow this year, and a week later, when we went in to take down the Valentines there was no longer any EDITING OPTION.  Not only that, there is no longer any option to make NEW SLIDESHOWS!  PHOTOBUCKET IS ALLOWING US TO PRESENT THE SLIDESHOWS (the moving boxes) that we already made and posted.  For this we are grateful!

Hopefully we can soon reinstall a slideshow!

Christine

***** Update : We're being told that FEEDLY and DIGG will have readers.  FEEDLY is an option now, DIGG in the near future.

(468) JOHNNY RIVERS AT THE WHISKY COVERING CHUCK BERRY'S HIT WITH 1960'S STYLE

I remember going to hear Johnny play at the Whisky, where he became a headliner after playing in other clubs in the area.  To this day his name is associated with the club. 

Johnny Rivers covered so many songs successfully (including songs recorded at Motown) that other people recorded, he became so known for his versions that many people didn't realize that they weren't written by him or that he wasn't the first to record them.  He attracted a new generation.  (Johnny had moved to New York City at the age of 16 and was a little younger than me, Buddy Knox, and some of the other guys we hung out with.)  Here's a YouTube fan video - very well put together - where Johnny covers two 1950's classics written and recorded first by Chuck Berry, with that mid 1960's rock and roll style of his on Liberty Records.



JOHNNY RIVERS OFFICIAL - UPDATED - NEW CD  Called Live at Cache Creek it's blues, bluegrass, and JR. 

NEIL YOUNG ON WALLICHS MUSIC AND THE WHISKY A GO GO

Pages 147-148 From Neil's recent memoir, also quoted earlier in this blog:

... "Let me describe WALLICHS for you: They sold all kinds of music there - 45s, LPs, sheet music, books about music - and in a little shop upstairs guitars and other instruments were displayed.  There were also listening booths where you could hear singles on headphones and see if you wanted to buy them.  I spend a lot of time there.  Of course, the place was crawling with flower children and beautiful hippie girls.

Anyway, like I said, upstairs at Wallichs there was a guitar department.  Martins, Gibson's all manner of electric and very nice old acoustic guitars were there.  This was around the time the Springfield (Buffalo Springfield- his band before CSNY) was happening; we were playing at the Whisky a Go Go, about a mile down Sunset toward Beverly Hills.  Stills (Stephen) and I went to Wallich's a lot and tried out Martins together . Stephen was fast becoming an excellent player and had surpassed me in his knowledge of voicings, and he was always playing rhythms naturally that blew my mind."

JOHNNY RIVERS : POST (210) HOLLYWOOD REALLY WAS FULL OF STARS! FROM OUR ARCHIVES

POST (210) HOLLYWOOD REALLY WAS FULL OF STARS!

FROM OUR ARCHIVES dated November 11 2008

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.

MARGARET LEE RUNBECK on Friendship

“Silence make the real conversations between friends. Not the saying, but the never needing to say that counts.” - Margaret Lee Runbeck

JOHNNY RIVERS A DECADE BEFORE THE WHISKY

 An early publicity photo of Johnny Rivers in New York City, where I met him in the late 1950's.  Johnny would go through some major changes as the 1960's went on in his appearance. What never changed was his determination.   I've posted a lot on Johnny, and you can find those posts using the Search feature on this Google Blogger!

(467) NATIONAL RECORDING REGISTRY : NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES

NATIONAL ARCHIVES INFORMATION link.

REGISTRY ITEMIZED INFORMATION link.

What recordings has the National Archives of the United States of America decided have such great importance in the history of music and American Culture that they must be preserved? 

Link to the site and you can read the lists!  Some of these recordings are about the history of recording itself!

(466) SIMON AND GARFUNKLE : DESERT ISLAND MUSIC

Making it way up the charts as an album, with a couple songs on the charts to move it there, was an album that has since become classic,  poetical singer-songwriters Paul Simon and Art Garfunkle's SOUNDS OF SILENCE.  Both the title song and "I Am A Rock" moved the duo into position  and lead to fame and fortune in lasting careers for both musicians, despite personal incompatibilities that arose.  Like other creative duos that became alientated they reuinted for song eventually.

If you're wondering why the title of this post is DESERT ISLAND MUSIC, it's because this album is of the quality and timelessness that gets it chosen as "an album I would take to a desert island with me if I could."

Here is a song about loneliness and isolation.



SIMON and GARFUNKLE OFFICIAL link : " Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" has been selected as one of 25 recordings to be preserved at the U.S. Library of Congress. The track, which was originally released on the duo's first album, Wednesday Monring, 3 A.M., became a #1 hit in 1966 after Columbia Records producer Tom Wilson overdubbed drums, electric guitar and electric bass for the song’s release as a single. Recordings are added to the National Recording Registry for long-term preservation due to cultural, artistic and historic importance to the nation’s aural legacy."