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!

ERSEL HICKEY : TRYING TO GET TO YOU

FROM WES BRYAN ARCHIVES : POST (376) FRED NEIL STUDIO MUSICIAN : CAPITOL RECORDS

FRED NEIL : What a voice! And a great person!

Freddy was six foot two, a freckled face, red hair. I met him in Saint Petersberg, Florida in December of 1957. He paled around with me and Ersel Hickey in New York and became a real good friend. He was a lot of fun - very comical - a prankster.

One time as I was walking across Broadway with some business people, I heard a loud voice, someone yelling for me with some profanity thrown in. I turned around and there he was, laughing at me. Freddy was turned loose in a big city.

Fred had a couple records on Capitol Records but his claim to fame was the song "Everybody's Talking," the movie Midnight Cowboy's theme song.

NICK VENET WAS THE PRODUCER ON THIS HIT.

Fred signed a contract with Southern Music, a division of Hill and Range, and became a big writer.

I wrote a song for Buddy Knox called "Bye Bye Helloa" and Freddy played all the instruments on the demo. It was recorded in a little studio in the Brill building. Freddy also worked in the studio with Bobby Darin.

ANY VIDEO OF ERSEL HICKEY PERFORMING? HOW ABOUT WES BRYAN ?

Here's a challenge to anyone who uses YouTube or other Internet video sharing sites! We would love to find footage of Ersel Hickey performing and post it! We would love to find footage of Wes performing as well.

And by the way, we know that there must be footage somewhere. Wes performed on Ed Sullivan, Dick Clark's American Band Stand (twice), the Jack Paar show, and many other regional shows in Baltimore, Cleveland, and throughout the south, as well as on shows in Los Angeles.  And he appeared live on the pier in Santa Monica.

Wes performed with Ersel Hickey in stage shows in the state of New York.  He also performed with Buddy Knox on his tour in the late 1950's in 48 states and some of you may have photos taken of Wes and Buddy from that tour.

Unfortunately many archival collections are organized by the show headliners, and over time what has been preserved is often the early careers of people such as Elvis Presley, people who became much more famous. I've enjoyed watching a number of Dick Clark American Bandstand videos all the way through at the Paley Center for the Media, including those commercials that seem so much more dated than the music,  but they don't have a full collection.  I contacted the Ed Sullivan collection but got no reply.

If you know of local repositories of film or related materials in your park of the United States please let us know!

Christine

(376) FRED NEIL : STUDIO MUSICIAN : CAPITOL RECORDS ARTIST

FRED NEIL : What a voice! And a great person!
Freddy was six foot two, a freckled face, red hair. I met him in Saint Petersberg, Florida in December of 1957. He paled around with me and Ersel Hickey in New York and became a real good friend. He was a lot of fun - very comical - a prankster.

One time as I was walking across Broadway with some business people, I heard a loud voice, someone yelling for me with some profanity thrown in. I turned around and there he was, laughing at me. Freddy was turned loose in a big city.

Fred had a couple records on Capitol Records but his claim to fame was the song "Everybody's Talking," the movie Midnight Cowboy's theme song.

NICK VENET WAS THE PRODUCER ON THIS HIT.

Fred signed a contract with Southern Music. a division of Hill and Range, and became a big writer.

I wrote a song for Buddy Knox called "Bye Bye Helloa" and Freddy played all the instruments on the demo. It was recorded in a little studio in the Brill building. Freddy also worked in the studio with Bobby Darin.

(367) 1964 MY FRIEND ERSEL HICKEY'S CROOKED LITTLE MAN BECOMES A CLASSIC : SERENDIPITY SINGERS

Ersel Hickey, one of the first friends I made in my New York days, wrote this song called "Crooked Little Man" /"Don't Let The Rain Come Down, and in 1964 the Serendipity Singers had a top ten hit with it. Before you know it, the Beach Boys recorded it too. The Serendipity singers were considered a folk group, in the tradition of Peter, Paul, and Mary. And in 1964 they performed at the Democratic National Convention.

This song was also recorded by Johnny Rivers. Trini Lopez performed it and so did many other performers. We've even heard a punk rock version. It's called a "classic" now. Back then the song writing residuals bought Ersel got a house.


The Serendipity Singers have had many changes through the years. Some incarnation of the group was performing through the 1990's.

(325) JOHNNY RIVERS INTRODUCED ME TO JOHNNY and DORSEY BURNETT

JOHNNY RIVERS came out to Los Angeles from New York... following what seemed to be an exodus of talent to the West Coast from the East. Seemed like only Ersel Hickey remained behind. Johnny taught Ersel some guitar chords back in New York and then the two of them wrote a song for me. And when Johnny came out he stayed with me and my brother for some time while he tried and tried again... I've said it before and I'll say it again "JOHNNY RIVERS WOULD NOT QUIT!"

Though I met a lot of great artists in New York and on my tours, there were others I really wanted to meet that I met through Johnny.

Johnny is the person who introduced me to Johnny and Dorsey Burnett. Another song that Johnny liked to cover at Elvis' house parties is this one by Dorsey, "Hey Little One."

WES BRYAN I JUST WANT YOUR LOVE

OK Arne and friends! Here is the official scoop from me, WES BRYAN on the recording of this song! "I Just Want Your Love."

I split a session at Norman Petty's with BUDDY KNOX who recorded "I THINK I'M GONNA KILL MYSELF" that session. Yes! Jerry Allison of the Crickets was on drums, as was Joe B. on stand up base, and Sonny Curtis was on lead guitar. (Sonny went on to write the Mary Tyler More Show theme song...)

Jerry Allison was married to PEGGY SUE and she was there! Peggy Sue was beautiful and of course she's got the song "Peggy Sue" by Buddy Holly and the Crickets written for her!

THE SONG WAS WRITTEN FOR ME by two singer-songwriter friends from New York - ERSEL HICKEY and JOHNNY RIVERS!

THE BLOG DOESN'T GIVE AWAY THE BOOK!

ON THIS THANKSGIVING DAY, I want to say THANK YOU to WES BRYAN, who I've had the great experience of working with, and who I've learned so much from.

Some of our readers spend seconds, others read a new blog post or two, others may turn on our YOUTUBE Station and read for an hour or so. Until recently Wes and I were not aware of our readership. The news left us both surprised and happy because we started this blog in August of 2007 taking it one blog day at a time...and this really is a labor of love so we're loving it.

A lot of people are asking WHAT ABOUT YOUR BOOK?

Does the blog give away the book?

The answer is no! We feel that the blog is like bringing the INDEX of our book, which is his memoir, alive. We understand that our readership includes fans of ELVIS PRESLEY, BUDDY KNOX, ERSEL HICKEY, JOHNNY RIVERS.... and so many other early rock and rollers. We're their music fans too.

We know our book will appeal to music historians, but the book, which we have a wonderful secret title for, (Wes has spoken to the press about it only slightly, calling it "THE LONELY IDOL") is coming from the heart ... and whose heart is not for capture?  

 

Robert Frost said that if the writer sheds no tears writing, the reader won't either. We shed tears.

THANKS to our READERS, past, present, and future.

Here we come Electronic Media and Good Ol Books !

(OK, I'm still trying on taking a Kindle to bed with me!)

Christine Trzyna

e-bay AUCTION of my album YESTERDAY, TODAY, and TOMORROW now on

Here is what the auctioneer says:

"WES BRYAN "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" on U.S International Records (CA.) 12 tracks: Twenty Acres of Land, I'll Cry My Love, Blue Bird Over the Mountain, To Be Alone, Lawdy Miss Clawdy, All for the Love of a Girl, Don't Be Cruel, I Woke Up Dreaming, Dream Lover, Pierre La Fitte, Lonely Weekends, Half as Sweet as You.'

"Liner notes on back cover talks about his songwriting and that Wes was the co-writer and writer on 4 tracks, (Pierre La Fitte, Half as Sweet, I'll Cry My Love, To Be Alone), also mentions that he is a "long time friend of Elvis" and in the Elvis documentary "That's the Way It Is" Elvis mentions Wes by name as being a great songwriter."

Friends, here's more information. I formed my own publishing company called U.S. International Records. My cousin was the designer of the label, which has an American Eagle on baby blue. My friend Ersel Hickey wrote "Blue Birds Over the Mountain." "To Be Alone" was written by me and Buddy Knox, who also recorded it. Yes, as you know if you're reading my blog, I was a long time friend of Elvis Presley's. And yes, in the documentary it's true, Elvis did say something about me being a songwriter. The DVD version has a lot cut out, including his comments about me. I cherish his opinion just the same!

(242) THE APOLLO RECORDS STORY

Click on the title above to get to the link of a site by David Edwards and Mike Callahan - who we've posted before - that's all about the APOLLO RECORDS of New York City that Ersel Hickey recorded on.

Quote, "The Apollo Records discussed here was formed in New York City in 1944 by Ike and Bess Berman, with Hy Siegel and Sam Schneider. The label recorded rhythm and blues, gospel, jazz, and popular music. Kenwood was a reissue label with issues given the same number as the original Apollo release, although it is not known if all the Apollo LPs were reissued on Kenwood. The albums were all mono to our knowledge." unquote.

These guys do a lot of research so we'll let them tell the story of Apollo. Ersel didn't have an album, he had singles!

Thanks Mike and Ed!

(241) ERSEL HICKEY on APOLLO

So Ersel stayed in New York, and continued to write songs and record and perform. One time, years later Johnny Rivers and I were talking, and Johnny said, "Ersel was like the original Punk Rocker!" Well, maybe not quite, but in his pose he was.

Here's the Rockin' Country Style discography for Ersel:
http://rcs.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/h/hick1000.htm

You'll notice that in 1962 two of his songs were considered to be ROCKABILLY. "Upside Down Love" and "The Millionaire"

Terry Gorden over at RCS has listed the Apollo Label as founded in New York in 1942 by Ike and Bess Berman. As you know, if you've been reading WES BRYAN- MY LIFE IN MUSIC, small labels were often regional and many of us from that era recorded over time on several.

(240) LIFE IN HOLLYWOOD RECORDING STUDIOS

In 1962 I was living in Hollywood, not far from all the famous haunts. My brother was living with me. But as I maybe mentioned before, an exodus of New Yorkers came out to Los Angeles, including Johnny Rivers, who stayed with us for a time. Ersel Hickey was the one who had too much New York in him to come out this way.

Hollywood was laid back, easy going compared to New York. The people in the business were generous with their time and referrals. I tried to be the same way.

Working for American Music, I ran into another New Yorker I knew from the east, music producer Phil Spector. He would use the big studio - A, where he perfected his "Wall of Sound" at Goldstar, while I used the small studio - B, there. Dave Gold and Stan Ross owned Goldstar and it was one of the best.

Use the search feature of this blog to read about Phil Spector and our blog called GOLDSTAR - THE LUCKY STUDIO!

(233) TAB HUNTER - MY COMPETITION ONCE UPON A TIME !

Tab Hunter was another young Rock and Roll star, a contemporary of mine, Ersel Hickey, Buddy Knox, and several others, who was getting his clothes torn off my female fans. Tab had the hit "Young Love," about the time I had "Freeze." Dick Clayton, a famous Hollywood agent, was handling Tab. They're still friends. Tab and my friend Christine White, who had been such a great friend of James Dean's, were also friends. Christine eventually introduced me to Dick Clayton suggesting he be my new agent as well !

Here is a YouTube video in which Tab, who is now also a successful author, tells his own story...



Tab was at the UCLA book fair a couple years ago with his great autobiography. We read it!

CLICK ON THE TITLE to link to the official TAB HUNTER WEB SITE and a bit about his book.

(228) ME AND ERSEL HICKEY "THE LOCKSMITH OF ROCK AND ROLL!"

I performed "Freeze" and other songs on a live stage show in Albany, New York. Albany was my first experience of being chased by fans and having my clothes ripped off by them on the street before I got inside the theatre. Somewhere there's a picture of me standing there almost naked.

I was living the Teen Idol's life. So was Ersel Hickey, who was there.

Ersel laughed like he. He said to me "Gee, Wes, don't you wear any underwear? Your shortcomings are sticking out!"

We got to the theatre, Ersel was still intact. But he was standing in the wings waiting to go out and perform his hit "Blue Bird Over The Mountain." Bob Martin announced him. But he screwed up his name. "Here's the fabulous Edsel Hackey!"

"Man, I'm ruined," Ersel said.

Out he went. And that's when the girls stormed the stage and got Ersel down to ...well... Ersel did wear underwear!

Ersel came from Albany, where he had been a locksmith. We called him "The Rock and Roll Locksmith."

Here's Ersel's version and (surprise!) what the Beach Boys did with the song in 1968!

(148) ERSEL - LIPS OF ROSES - 1961

And here is Ersel Hickey and his 1961 song "Lips of Roses."
Also, let's take another look at Ersel's RCS Discography page - linked above!

(147) ERSEL HICKEY - I GUESS YOU COULD CALL IT LOVE - 1961

Here's Ersel's song "I Guess You Could Call It Love." Now you may know this, but if you click on the block icon to the bottom left of the YouTube video screen, you will enlarge the picture to the size of your computer screen.

(146) ERSEL HICKEY

Ersel Hickey, as you know, was one of my best friends in New York, one of the best friends of the guys. I invited Ersel to come out to Los Angeles, follow the guys who were moving West for their careers, and told him he could stay with me and one of my brothers who was now living with me in Hollywood. But Ersel remained a true New Yorker. I doubt he even considered it.

New York always had an element of excitement and energy to it. I always felt myself to be at the center of creative enterprise there and when I look back on my days in New York now, I feel the same way.

1961 proved to be a good year for Ersel and music. So the next couple blogs will be Ersel's music. Now these YouTube videos unfortunately do not feature his performing. I shared the stage with Ersel more than once and believe me, the girls went crazy for him and those shakin' legs of his. Maybe someday some old film of Ersel will appear.

Just so you know, Ersel passed away a couple years ago. I had an old TV guide that had an ad with him in it to give him for his own career collection and before I could, we learned he had gone to his reward of eternal life. Christine lights a candle for someone when she hears they have passed and while working on our book she lit quite a few- including for Ersel.

(138) MY PEERS AND THEIR CELEBRITY

Friends, the next several blogs are meant to help you keep Elvis, me, and our peers in musical perspective.

While I was working at the songwriting factory, ambitious to write songs that would be hits for other artists, people like Gene Vincent, Bobby Darin, Ersel Hickey, The Everly Brothers, Pat Boone, and Dion and the Bellmonts, continued to perform, make records, and have hits. I was so proud to know them and to be associated with them. I knew that keeping celebrity was more difficult than becoming one. And though Melodie D'Amour had done well and I promoted it with live performances and radio interviews, bit by bit I was receding from public life even as the Hollywood bug continued to bite me.

(61) ROULETTE RECORDS - MORRIS LEVY

Roulette Records was where I was signed by Morris Levy. Morris Levy had once owned the famous Birdland jazz club in New York City and had offices in the Brill building. The very first record he had ever released on his Roulette Label (#4001) was Jimmy Bowen's "I'm Stickin' With You" (#4002) and the second was Buddy Knox's "Party Doll", both hits in 1957, and of course I was friends with both and performed at various venues with both artists.

My friend Jimmie Rodgers was also on Roulette.

I did a single for Roulette, which was "Melodie D'Amour," (The A side) and "I Guess I'll Never Know" (The B.) When I had the demo made, I ran into Ersel Hickey. He was heading over to Theresa Brandie's flat. "Let's Listen to it over there," Ersel said, so we went over, put it on the turn table, and Ersel thought "You have a hit."

Ersel wasn't the only person who loved "Melodie D'Amour." Elvis did too. He played it over and over again without another song in between, which is what he did when he really loved a song. I had to wonder if this had something to do with the fact that Dewey Phillips had played "That's All Right Mama" over and over again - with no record in between - when he played Elvis' record on his Red Hot and Blue radio program, which started Elvis' fame and fortune. One of the entourage told me that Elvis had even sung along with my record. When he got back to Los Angeles, he had it put in his juke box, and when it was spent from being played in the juke, he gave it to one of the entourage to keep.

When I stayed over at Elvis' he had a cute way of waking me up after a long party. He would put one of my own records on the turntable, turn it up loud, then stand over me, and say "I though that'd wake you up!"

The history of Roulette Records, a small label, by David Edwards and Mike Callahan here is comprehensive and we're really impressed with what they have to offer researchers in their "stereo newsletter" about other labels as well. Link above!

VIDEO ADDED JULY 2013