OUR PHOTOBUCKET SLIDE SHOW - IS IT R.I.P? WHAT HAPPENED TO MEEZ AVATAR?

We haven't run a slideshow since March 2013.  We had a Photobucket account which allowed us to design the slideshows we used and use; the blocks you still see running are from Photobucket (but you can't make one like it.)  Then, I went to take down the seasonal Valentines I'd put up on it and discovered that removing them had broken the code forever!  Photobucket had also discontinued slide shows, a huge mistake in my humble free-bee-snatching opinion.  Watching that slideshow used to be one of Wes' favorite things to do when we got together to talk blog.  I think we need one.

At that point I went in search of new slideshow opportunities.  I actually have a KIZOA account and uploaded a lot of pictures, but so far, no go because their slideshow templates do not fit the design/ template of the blog. 

The Meez Avatar you may've seen from time to time on WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC, Wes' second favorite thing to view because he says it actually looks like him, is still available but we're having glitches.  A librarian friend of mine has explained that hackers have used Meez Avatars and JAVA as a new way of screwing things up for other people and so security is really tight on that.   I've looked at other Avatars but still think that Meez is the finest.  Let me explain just how bad the glitch is...  Sometimes the animated Avatar appears without a head!

Christine

M- N LINKS UPDATED and GUY MITCHELL

USE THE SEARCH FEATURE EMBEDDED IN THE SIDEBAR TO BRING UP OUR POSTS ON GUY MITCHELL!

G- H- I LINKS CHECKED AND UPDATED and ERSEL HICKEY

In G- H-I we found that the  HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME LINK NEEDED AN UPDATE...  and we added THE GLARK GABLE FOUNDATION site!  GRAMMY ORG also needed an update...

TO CELEBRATE : ERSEL HICKEY!



USE THE SEARCH FEATURE EMBEDDED IN THE SIDEBAR TO BRING UP OUR POSTS ON HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME, Clark Cable, Grammy, or Ersel Hickey!

DOWN TIME OR TAKE YOU ALONG IN OUR TECH PROCESS? ENJOY OUR OLDER POSTS AND LINKS IN THE MEAN TIME?

Christine here.  As some of you who also read my blog CHRISTINE TRZYNA- WRITERLY LIFE know, I've removed my personal blog from the Internet, don't know for how long, but at least until I've got the stuff you don't see fixed. 

WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC  blog also needs work on its innards. 

So we planned down time for this blog too... But well, my personal blog and this blog are of a different nature.  My personal blog is more like a literary diary.  This one has value as a memoir and music history publication and we receive thousands of hits every month on older posts because it's still useful and interesting "as is,"  so I'm going to try to attend to technology issues, etc, and take you along in the process...  

(I know this can be deadly BORING for the reader... what a decision!)  

We feel responsible for keeping links and videos as fresh as possible and since we've been blogging since 2007 a lot of things have changed.  Many out of our control, some frustrating, all which need attention ; We used to post a technology update PAGE and one day it just went POOF!

Just the other day I checked on all the links in our extensive list on the side bar under A-B-C and found four that need replacement along with corresponding posts which takes an hour or two - so you have some idea of what's ahead.  We take pride in knowing that anyone interested in our subject can link to other writers, other sites.

Please be patient!

There will be musical intermissions!

THANKS FOR READING WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC!

JIM MORRISON TRIVIA : HIS FAVORITE SINGER WAS ELVIS

According to the film WHEN YOU'RE STRANGE, a film about the Doors by Tom DiCillo,  Jim Morrison's favorite singer was Elvis.  Towards the end of Jim's career, he had switched his affiliation to FRANK SINATRA! 

When You're Strange is  C 2010

CHRISTMAS : HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU

 
 
WISHING ALL OUR FRIENDS HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

MUSIC FOR A CURE and MUSIC TO HEAL BRING MUSIC THERAPY TO CHILDREN IN HOSPITALS

MUSIC FOR A CURE brings musicians together with children who are in the hospital.  (This is a small, growing non profit that sends musicians and musical therapists out to hospitals.)

BE COOL BE POSITIVE on MUSIC FOR A CURE link here!

An excerpt:

Music For A Cure was founded on the belief that THERE IS LIFE IN MUSIC! .  Our mission is a simple one:  to unleash the healing power of music in order to uplift critically ill and mentally or emotionally-challenged children.   We accomplish our mission through the financial support of music therapy programs at children’s hospitals and shelters as well as through our partnership with the non-profit organization, Music to Heal.

Through the tremendous financial support of our donors and the unconditional support of some of the most recognized names in music who have opened not only their wallets, but their schedules and their hearts to interact directly with the children we service, Music For A Cure has profoundly impacted the lives of over 3,000 children and their families by funding music therapy programs at Children’s Hospital Orange County, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Miller’s Children’s Hospital Long Beach, and UCI Children’s Hospital, as well as various shelters around Southern California.

A Note:  The charity is mentioned on numerous fund raising sites.  We chose the one that seemed most informative.

MUSIC CHARITIES : A FOCUS THIS MONTH AS WE END 2013 WITH THE HOLIDAYS

Had this idea a while, but decided it was time...

Music education has been cut in so many schools.  There are a lot of students who would just love to try to play the guitar or the saxophone or the drums who can't afford the instrument.  Dedicated performers who never got a good deal, or who got ripped off, live in poverty in old age.  Others can't afford medical care or are homeless.

These are the realities in our time. 

BUT WE LOVE MUSIC - Don't we?

This holiday season we present to you some MUSIC ASSOCIATED CHARITIES.  We heard about some and researched to find others.  These are national and local.

If you're interested, if you love music, contact them, check them out...

You can donate money, time, old musical instruments... and yes, make a difference!

(While we're at it, we'll be posting Christmas Music from the mid 1960's.)

NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME INFO LINK - ARE YOU AN INVENTOR?

USPTO GOV : NATIONAL INVENTORS HALL OF FAME


WHAT IS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY?

It is imagination made real. It is the ownership of dream, an idea, an improvement, an emotion that we can touch, see, hear, and feel. It is an asset just like your home, your car, or your bank account.

Just like other kinds of property, intellectual property needs to be protected from unauthorized use.

WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC: RIGHTS INFORMATION

Though it most often goes without saying, and we post a notice like this one in our Pages, once in a while we post a notice like this one in our posts.  We want to reminds readers that the original content of this blog is Copyright Wes Bryan and Christine Trzyna with all rights reserved including Internet and International Rights.

We are linking to a good many web sites, favoring the official web sites of various famous and important musical artists as well as reference sites and music videos. 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.

We also appreciate hearing about any link that is down or video that has been removed from its source, such as YouTube!

Thank you for your consideration and courtesy!

Christine Trzyna  and Wes Bryan

FRANK SINATRA Quote on Friendship

"A friend is never an imposition." - Frank Sinatra

BOB DYLAN and NEIL YOUNG ? AN ALBUM COVER and RECORD LABEL PRINTER

Christine here!  Taking my dog for a long walk one very early morning, we found the doors of a business wide open.  Inside were machines.  Strange looking machines.   Couldn't figure them out, unless maybe Dr. Suess had done some manufacturing here!

There were some people around and so my friendly dog went in nose first and I followed.  We spoke to a man named Bruce.  He explained that Impressions LA Printing Services and Dorado Music Publishing over at Burbank Boulevard in NoHo were in the business of printing album covers, the innards of the covers, and the center labels.  We're talking for VINYL records here.

Those machines - one from the late 1950's, another from the mid 1970's - others a history of album cover and record label printing! I felt like a secret shopper when Bruce told me that they'd received recent orders from Bob Dylan and Neil Young.  See people are buying Dylan and Young record albums in vinyl even when the same music is available in CD.  (As you may know from Neil's memoir which I covered here a while back, Neil is involved in getting better quality sound recording onto those CD.s)  The records that were recorded originally and pressed on vinyl are being ordered in and for that, an artist needs more album covers printed too.  Bruce said Neil reminded them that he wanted his covers to look as old as the originals do today.  A small run is about 1000.

I'm posting this because they were friendly people and because they give TOURS TO THE SCHOOL CHILDREN.  So while we don't do advertising on this Google Blogger, we thought you might want to give them a call about the little tour.  When I was there those strange machines weren't running.  I hope to go back someday when they are!

Their number is 818-761-9295

GRAMMY MUSEUM - THE RINGO PEACE AND LOVE SHOW

Christine here!

Recently went to the GRAMMY MUSEUM, lured by the Ringo show.  The Museum has had shows focusing on John Lennon and George Harrison in the past, which I missed.  This video shows some of the exhibits that include clothing and costumes worn my Ringo, a replica of the Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band drum, various drum kits Ringo played, and lots of memorabilia, including a wall of Ringo Albums and a wall of Beatles Albums (I think I have them all!)

There is an old early 1960's television console playing black and white Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show with a early 1960's sofa in front of it. I lingered in the area and I have to say, all around the exhibit people were smiling.  There was a happiness in the air.  I was reminded that the Beatles and maybe especially Ringo had a great sense of humor in their day, and I kept thinking "Ringo is the one who kept a friendship going with all of them, even when the others were not getting along."

At the same time the Museum has a JOHN FOGERTY and CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL SHOW.  Wes is a John Fogerty fan!  The emphasis here was on roots music, and the American South.

GRAMMY MUSEUM ORG SITE link here.

The museum was crowded.  It was full of people from all races  various ethnicities, young and old.  It's very hands-on and very much about SOUND as well as the visuals.

This visit, I spent time in the ARCHIVE.  That's where there are videos to watch of special Interviews and Performances that were featured at the Grammy Museum.  I watched some of Gordon Lightfoot (one of my favorites) and some of Michelle Phillips.

The Grammy Museum is a great place to visit and as things are in Los Angeles, with music appreciation classes and classes in the arts in public schools unfunded, field trips to this museum may be it for the school children!

WES BRYAN IN CENTRAL PARK "TRICK PHOTO" TAKEN BY MY MANAGER IN NEW YORK

  I had to really look at this fun photo to recognize it as Wes Bryan, but it is, and probably because he is not so recognizable it was barely used.  His manager at the time took the photos which played up his James Dean-ess and they were distributed in publicity packages to the press by what Wes calls the "United Artists Publicity Machine."   The clue here is the overcoat, as James Dean was famously photographed in one walking around New York City.

 

A copy of this photo has been on sale at e-Bay (and thus the vintage image distortions) for about $25.00 and is rarer than some of the other publicity photos out there.  

 

How'd they do that? 

 

Christine Trzyna

DEPERATE GENERATION : A CLASSIC DOCUMENTARY FILM ABOUT 1990's ROCKABILY CULTURE AND CARS

This documentary film by Emily Dutton is about a Rock-a- Billy revival in Southern Claifornia during the 1990's, a sub-culture surrounding classic car clubs. It's about STYLE, as interpreted 40 years after the Rock-a-Billy era, as expressed in hair ("greasers"), clothing, interior design, and body art - tatoos. It's about hot rod events, musicians - stand up base! - and a then-younger generation of the handsome and the beautiful. 

Watching it, I thought the artists that Wes has talked to me about over the years, including Elvis Presley, and their roots in Rock-a-Billy!  My sense is that the not-famous stars of this DVD also found retro values of comfort to them and that they played out those values in their friendships.

Christine Trzyna

PBS SPECIAL CLIP : HULLABALOO TELEVISION SHOW

We've written about the television show called Shindig.  Hullabaloo was Shindig's competitor. This YouTube Contributor video starts with a lot of artists who we cover here at WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC and then some. The Byrds, Loving Spoonful, Sonny and Cher, Four Seasons, Trini Lopez,The Bobby Fuller Four, Mamas and the Papa's, Nancy Sinatra, The Righteous Brothers, and so very many groups from Britain that invaded America.

FANTASTIC! JOHNNY RIVERS : POOR SIDE OF TOWN : MARTY STUART SHOW NASHVILLE

VIDEO TAKEN DOWN DUE TO YOUTUBE NOTIFICATION
The show aired on May 18 2013... WOW!  As I've said JOHNNY RIVERS WOULD NOT QUIT!
FULL SHOW...

KEEP ON HANGING ON WITH US AS WE CHANGE THE DESIGN OF OUR BLOG

Hello Loyal Fans!  We had a technology glitch the other day that wiped out one of our Pages, and now we're trying to make some design changes. Keep on Hanging on with us!  Thanks!

PS: We'd love some feedback...  The design is set for MEDIUM text and Zoom at 100%.  Changing either factor may result in seeing the blog a different way.  If your settings are on MEDIUM text and Zoom at 100% and it still looks odd, please leave a comment and LET US KNOW WHAT BROWSER YOU'RE USING!  
Thanks!

JOSH DULANEY OF THE LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS REPORTS THAT VINYL RECORDS SALES ARE "BACK IN THE GROOVE"

Josh Dulaney, in the July 10 2013, Los Angeles Daily News, says that vinyl records are making a comeback as sales hit their highest point in 15 years. Turntables are expected to sell 40% better next year. 4.6 million vinyl records including some new releases sold last year, an increase of more than 17%. The article focuses on some of the more popular vinyl record stores in the Los Angeles region.

OPRAH WINFREY ON FRIENDSHIP

"Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down." - Oprah Winfrey