(378) ABOUT THE TIME I MET ELVIS IN 1957 : WES BRYAN

The Brooding James Dean type? So the photograph says. That's me, Wes Bryan, in New York about the time I was signed to a contract with United Artists to act and also to sing about 1957. It was about the time that I met Elvis Presley while on a UA tour of the deep south, which included Memphis.

I was optimistic about life and worked hard. Traveling, meeting people, and performing around the country brought me out of my shyness and into my confidence about my abilities.

HELLO to DON DARCEL WHEREVER YOU ARE!

I've been thinking about my co-songwriter from my New York days, who became the kind of friend who proves himself to be real, DON DARCEL.

I tried to locate Don a few years back and gave up, but I would really like to talk to him again! I have fond memories of my days in New York with him.

So if you read this Don (or you know how I can get in touch with Don) please contact me!

Wes

JAMES DEAN OR MARLON BRANDO?

If you could be either
the Next James Dean or The Next Marlon Brando
which would you be?

(37) JOHNNY RIVERS (Before He was Secret Agent Man)

I met Johnny Rivers through Buddy Knox in New York City. They both lived in the same hotel, the Forest Hotel. There were several hotels in New York where entertainers kept rooms or rented them when they were in town to record or on hiatus from touring. I'd been living in one with my manager.

After I left United Artists I had nowhere to live. One day I saw Johnny and told him I had a "little delimma." Without any hesitation, he told me to get my stuff and come right up to his hotel. I shared his room with him for a few weeks. And when I moved to Los Angeles in 1960, Johnny came out and stayed with me a while to get started.

Johnny was just 16 years old when, as Johnny Ramistella, he arrived to the Big Apple from Baton Rouge, Louisiana! He was mature for his age and very ambitious. His parents were behind him all the way. And the day would come, years later, when he would be able to thank them for the sacrifices they made.

Johnny Rivers and Ersel Hickey were great buddies. Ersel, who had been orphaned, taught the teenaged Johnny how to survive in the big city of New York. Johnny taught Ersel guitar chords. Ersel taught him about the various recording studios around town. It was that spirit of all for one and one for all that sustained us. Johnny was very much part of our "in crowd."

Johnny Rivers was a young man who kept going no matter what. He's still going today. And he has a great web site of his own that he narrates so I'll let him speak for himself here.

LINK TO JOHHNY RIVERS OFFICIAL SITE by clicking the title above!

HONEY BABY WES BRYAN on CLOCK RECORDS

(35 1/2) FRANKIE AVALON

Friends, in blog #35 I gave a mention to my New York pal and peer, Frankie Avalon, who was also being promoted like me, to be a "Singing, Acting Sensation." I decided he really deserves his own little blog here so I'm doing a blog #35 1/2.

Believe it or not, I was up for some of those beach party type roles he got and I thought Frankie ought to do them. I was born and raised in the mountains, the magnificent Smokey Mountains of far western North Carolina, far from the ocean.



Being from Philadelphia, Frankie had the Atlantic in his back yard. I figured he could relate to the beach scene better than me, that he had actually gone to the beach and had summer fun there, and of course if you know the movies, he became the handsome screen boyfriend of the beautiful Annette Funicello. But before all that, he had a number one hit, "Venus," which is his signature song.

Here's Frankie singing "Venus" on the Dick Clark American Bandstand show.

I used to go to a lot of Frankie's recording sessions in New York at Bell Sound, including when he recorded "Venus," and Frankie also recorded a song I wrote called "I'm Forever Yours."

FRANKIE AVALON at the History of Rock Link at Post Title!

Frankie Avalon - Movies on IMBd movie database.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000811/ REFRESHED LINK!

ARSA RADIO SURVEY SITE : Preserving the Impact of RADIO on music!

ARSA (The AIRHEADS RADIO SURVEY) is a new Internet Web Site that I found that can help you see how songs were charted and follow songs that were released by various artists about the same time, in different regions.

Here is their page on me, Wes Bryan, and my first hit "Tiny Spaceman." (Thanks!)

Have FUN with this one folks! It's an education!

(25) THE SINGER SONGWRITER SCENE IN NEW YORK IN THE LATE 1950's

It doesn't seem too long ago to me that I was walking down Broadway singing to myself, when the Brill Building and the Turf Restaurant and Hanson's Drugstore were my hangouts between record promotional tours, and I was meeting just about anyone who wanted to become someone in the acting business or the music business wherever I went.

Today the term Singer-Songwriter means a person who composes and writes and sings their own songs. Then it was more common that someone who sang, sang some of their own songs, as well as those of their friends - who happened to sing and write songs too. We were all presenting our original tunes to each other, making demo's, trying to get a hit. We were in the Cover Tune Era. Recording a cover of a song that was going to be a hit for someone else was more common than it is today.

One of the main reasons was that records were made on small labels or for distribution in a certain region that a small record company had captured rather than national or international distribution. So, if a song for one artist was a hit in, say, New York City, an artist that was well received in another region, say the South, would record the same song, with perhaps a more of a Southern feel. The songwriter had everything to gain in terms of their residuals if the song hit in two or more territories. The singer brought their unique voice and popular appeal to the song, in a region, and producers produced the song in different ways. But sometimes there were "Chart Wars," between singers.

Sometimes having a number of artists record the same song backfired on smaller labels financially and the overall sales weren't good. But when a song became an artist's own, like Bobby Darin's "Splish Splash," did, then no one else tried to compete with it. Besides live promotional tours, radio, television, record hop and club appearances, getting your song played on the radio could make all the difference!

(20) DION, THE BELMONTS, BUDDY KNOX and ME at HANSON's DRUGSTORE - NEW YORK CITY

DION DIMUCCI and THE BELMONTS liked to sit with Buddy Knox and me at Hanson's Drug Store, where we goofed off and drank lots of coffee.

They had a hit with "Run Around Sue." After the group broke up in the early 1960's Dion scored a hit with the wonderful tribute to civil rights leaders, with his "Abraham, Martin, and John."

HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL - Dion DiMucci and the Belmonts link above!

Here's Dion and the Belmonts performing their hit "Run Around Sue"

thanks to one of the many You Tube video aficionados!

And here they are on Dick Clark's American Bandstand

performing "Teenager In Love"

(19) BOBBY DARIN - DEMO RECORD SINGER EXTRAORDINAIRE!

Bobby Darin and I hung out at Hansons Drug store with a number of other friends like Rock-A-Billy Superstar Buddy Knox, and Dion and the Bellmonts. There was a real old man Hanson and he was always trying to run us out of there for going on too long on one coffee. (I think he actually enjoyed the ritual, as we wouldn't budge!)

Bobby spent years making demos for other artist and specialized in sounding as much like them as possible to sell the record to them. He could sound like Elvis Presley if he wanted to but Bobby was after his idol Frank Sinatra's crown.

After years of paying his dues as the demo record singer extraordinaire, Bobby Darin signed with a label and gave making his own records his all. He soon hit with "Splish Splash!" It's a fun song with a sexy saxophone rift.

***********

You Tube presentation - Bobby singing "Splish Splash."

I don't know what show this was on, and I think it's from the early 1960's but this video shows just how talented Bobby was, playing his own piano and harmonica, and what a true Rock and Roller he was, before he decided to be a crooner!

Video replaced 2009 with this great one below!

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BOBBY DARIN'S OFFICIAL WEB SITE link above!

(18) New York, NEW YORK, It's A Wonderful Town! & NEIL SEDAKA

In New York the Brill Building became the epicenter of my existence. I became part of the vital music scene. I used the rehearsal studios and recording studios in the Brill and I carried tunes in my head to the Turf restaurant, which was the scene to make. I met countless stars from the world of music and the theatre there, all having coffee, talking into the wee hours.

One day when I was in the Brill, Neil Sedaka ran downstairs to bring Bobby Darin up to meet me. Bobby was recording demos for other people then. It was the begining of my friendship with Bobby.

Link to NEIL SEDAKA's OFFICIAL WEB SITE above!HISTORY OF THE BRILL BUILDING

THE BRILL BUILDING from THE HISTORY OF ROCK AND ROLL!