PAUL BURCH ON THE MUSIC OF APPALACHIA Quote

"Appalachia is still, for American musicians, a kind of fountain of youth we always go back to, the old home place to a group of artists who represent the quintessence of American independence, fortitude, genius, and madness."  - Paul Burch

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!

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.

NEIL YOUNG ON SONGWRITING : NOT THE TIME FOR INTERROGATION OR ANALYSIS

"When i write a song, it starts with a feeling.  I can hear something in my head or feel it in my heart.  It may be that I just picked up the guitar and mindlessly started playing.  That's the way a lodt of songs begin.  When you do that, you are not thinking.  Thinking is the worst thing for writing a song.  So you just start playing and something new comes out.  Where does it come from?  Who cares?  Just keep it and go with it.  That's what I do.  I never judge it.  I believe it.   It came as a gift when I picked up my musical instrument and it came through me laying with the instrument.  The chords and melody just appeared.  Now is not the time for interrogation or analysis.  Now is the time to get to know the song, not change it before you even know it.  It is like a wild animal, a living thing.  Be careful not to scare it away.  That's my method, or one of my methods, at least.   - Neil Young.

This quote and others from Neil Young are from his recent memoir.

LEO TOLSTOY Quotation about Music

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

(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!

PHIL SPECTOR QUOTE ON ELVIS

"You have no idea how great he is, really you don't. You have no comprehension - it's absolutely impossible. I can't tell you why he's so great, but he is. He's sensational." - Phil Spector

FRIENDSHIP IS LIKE A BOOK...

..."It takes a few seconds to burn but it takes years to write!"

Hi friends, Christine here.  I saw this one at a church crafts bazaar last weekend and had to write it down!

PETULA CLARK : DOWNTOWN : 1965 (THE PERFECT SONG FOR BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING!)

Christine here. This is a song of childhood memories. I loved this song!  It brought to me the hustle bustle of going into the city from the suburbs where I lived, not an every day experience! PETULA CLARK was certainly part of the British Invasion of America.  These days when I think of Britain, I think of our friend Bear who seems to know of every break out artist that ever sang!  His blog BEARLY RAMBLING is amazing!

BEARLY RAMBLING BLOG - GREAT BRITAIN link here!

Can we actually expect anyone to be at home on the computer on "Black Friday", the day after Thanksgiving when so many Americans are off work and using the Thanksgiving holiday to do their Christmas shopping?  (The really organized people will also have everything wrapped and tucked away for Santa before going back to work on Monday!) Well yes, you can expect me to be home and NOT on the computer I'll probably be busy crocheting a dog sweater! 

HISTORY OF SOUND RECORDING LINK

HISTORY OF SOUND RECORDING LINK  We thought this site was interesting and informative, and we wanted to share it with you, speaking of Thomas Edison and early recordings!

Get information about recorders with the new searchable Recorder Database! Currently over 2000 classic recorder models are included, most with pictures and manufacture dates.


and

RECORDING HISTORY BY GENERAL TOPIC:

Technology - Recording machines and their makers
Industry - The business of recorders and records
Culture - The cultural impact of sound recording

MUSEUM OF INNOVATION AND SCIENCE UNVEILS 1878 AUDIO RECORDING

YAHOO NEWS ARTICLE : 1878 AUDIO RECORDING UNVEILED  article by CHRIS CAROLA  of  Associated Press – Thu, Oct 25, 2012.

We thought this was such an interesting story!  It was about 1878 before a person could record and hear their own voice, something we find easy technologically today. 

In this article, we learn how computer technology allows us to hear a recording which could not be touched or played.  It was mapped optically and contructed the groove in software and model what the stylus would do in response to the bumps - truly amazing!

MUSEUM OF INNOVATION AND SCIENCE link here

(435) ME AND COUNTRY MUSIC : MY ROOTS IN CHEROKEE COUNTY

I grew up in rural Cherokee County North Carolina - The Smokey Mountains - where I ran with a kid gang, and as a teen followed my father's work to Oregon and then around the country to Akron, Ohio, where I got my big break.  From there I would move to New York City as my base but tour throughout the South.

I grew up hearing Country Music and I've always loved it. Rockabilly, as you probably know, has strong roots in Country.  Many of my peers in the business in the late 1950's and early 1960's also had country roots, people like Buddy Knox, Jimmy Bowen and Buddy Holly, who were from West Texas, and Glen Campbell, who was from the "Deep South".

As a song writer, I was just as interested in writing for Country music artists as ever and I was able to place some of the songs I wrote or cowrote with Country artists.  

THE BEATLES : BABY YOU CAN DRIVE MY CAR

Came out in 1964 in Great Britain and in 1965 in the United States, on the "Rubber Soul" album, the Beatles were dominating the charts in those years. They idolized some of the artists of my era and covered many early rock and roll songs, now classics, but by writing most of their own material and performing and recording their own material, grew wealthy with various Intellectual Property Rights. Things slowed down for singer-songwriters who were trying to sell their original music to others to perform but the cover tune era never really died.

FROM OUR ARCHIVES : POST (209) SURFARIS WIPE OUT!

FROM OUR ARCHIVES : POST (209) SURFARIS WIPE OUT! June 29 2009

Surfaris - what a great name for a group, so evocative of surfing adventure! Their surf hit "Wipe Out" - recorded in 1962 - has to be one of the most memorable of all the surf music that came out in the early 1960's and is played as an eternal classic - every summer since! "Wipe Out" is famous for that invigorating drum solo. Since the Surfaris have web sites and even a Google Blogger - yes they blog too! - we're posting links to them that probably tell their story better than we could!


UPDATED July 2012 Linking to active Surfaris official site!

AND NOW ELVIS CRYPT IS NOT FOR AUCTION

"Julien's Auctions announced in May that it would sell the empty tomb at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis, Tenn., at its "Music Icons" auction Sunday. Julien said the company won't sell the crypt "unti Forest Hills finds a plan that best suits the interests of the fans while respecting and preserving the memory of Elvis Presley."

KEELY SMITH AND FRANK SINATRA : SO IN LOVE

GLEN CAMPBELL : A AND W ROOTBEER 1966

Yes, Glen even worked on commercial jingles and promotions for products like rootbeer. But besides the interest here in Glen Campbell, let's just say in posting this that there has never been any shame attached to an honest day's work.

And for all of you who love music (and you have to love music to be in the business) there is no shame in background singing, jingle writing, or any of the behind the scenes work, like songwriting or music production; not everyone can become a star or have a public career that goes on for years. I feel lucky to have participated as much as I have! Wes

(371) CAPITOL RECORDS : A GREAT BIG RECORD LABEL

Throughout this blog we've posted on many of the smaller or regional record labels.

These labels were extrememly important to my generation of rockabilly and early rock and roll artists, as was the personality DJ who still was able to pick his or her favorites and give them a spin on the radio, often making stars out of artists. Many of these smaller labels had near no budget for promotion but the great big labels, such as Capitol Records did and so being signed by them usually meant that you'd have a publicity machine behind your efforts.

(YOU CAN USE THE SEARCH FEATURE OF THIS GOOGLE BLOGGER TO look up "personality DJ's" such as Cliff Gleaves, or Wolfman Jack!)

By 1964 Capitol had The Beatles of Great Britain and The Beach Boys of Los Angeles, California. They also had Glen Campbell, who was starting to move forward in his entertainment career after years of performing in small venues. (But let's hold a bit on the Glen Campbell story, which has been in the media lately.)

We're linking to the present day Capitol Records site where we noticed that BRIAN WILSON of the Beach Boys and RINGO STAR of the Beatles are still signed artists with this label!

(362) CRUSADER RECORDS 1964 BBJ RECORDS BIG BAD JOHN FISHER and TERRY STAFFORD and THE BEATLES

So, it's 1964 and the Beatles are dominating the charts. Who challenges them? An American named Terry Stafford, who, like Bobby Vee, (and me), recorded on Big Bad John Fisher's Crusader Records. JOHN FISHER was an LA Promoter and music producer with his own "in house" label. "Suspicion" was the song that stood its ground with the Beatles. A keyboardist named Bob Summers played on this record and helped make it a hit. Bob had a recording studio where he overdubbed the keyboards.

LINKING ABOVE TO AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE BY PAT DINIZIO about TERRY STAFFORD!



Terry's version came after Elvis'.



We want to thank YouTubers. We've been posting Thankyou's and Invitations to visit us on the YouTuber's comments, but have been having a bad time getting into our account there over the last month or so.