(439) HOLLYWOOD A GO GO : LOCAL MUSIC TELEVISION IN THE MID 1960's

Hollywood - A Go Go was a local television show - local as in Los Angeles - that featured artists who were appearing on the Sunset Strip Go Go  music club scene (girls in boots dancing in cages which started at the Whiskey were called Go Go Girls) and in its 40 some episodes which aired in 1965 and 1966 many of those we blog about appeared... Jackie DeShannon, Gary Lewis and the Playboys, Bobby Fuller Four, Chuck Berry...  It was hosted by KHJ radio am disk jockey Sam Riddle, and featured the Gazzari Dancers.  Thanks to YouTube contributors of historical music television footage, here is Rick Nelson and, on another show, Jackie De Shannon.

AL SHELTON Designer of RICK NELSON'S HAND TOOLED GUITAR COVER

FROM OUR ARCHIVES ORIGINAL POST FROM 2008

Christine here.

The other day I stopped into a storefront art gallery and workshop of an artist named AL SHELTON. Al is famous for having designed and cast the statue of Gene Autry at the museum that cowboy star Gene Autry funded, once called the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum but now called the Autry National Center of the American West.
AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER
He is also a renown designer of hand tooled guitar covers and other items and a painter and his life has been entwined with real and movie cowboys and cowgirls.
Al showed me a photo of Rick Nelson with a hand tooled guitar cover on his guitar that Al designed and worked years ago. He told me it went down on the plane that Rick was on when he died. He also did a lot of work that Nudie, a cowboy star costume designer subcontracted, including clothes for stars like Elvis.

Here's a NPR broadcast about Al...
NPR ON AL

Here is a link that shows Al with Matthew Nelson, one of Rick's sons, and some of the hand tooled work and art he's done.
ARTISANS LINK

This post updated September 2012

DAVID NELSON - RICKY NELSON'S BROTHER and A FRIEND LONG AGO PASSES TODAY

It's with sadness that I learned that DAVID NELSON, Ricky Nelson's brother, has passed away. I'm linking to the Yahoo News story that has a great picture of the brothers attached to it.

"To his credit and doubtless a big boost to his sanity, David Nelson never seemed to resent the shadows in which he walked." - Reporter David Hinkley

I was in Los Angeles when I first met Rick Nelson because we were both playing on EP Enterprises, Elvis football team, and then I met David, who I also considered to be a friend. He was the shyer of the two.

(329) BILLBOARD MAGAZINE : C.A.R.E. : ADS TO HONOR ELVIS PRESLEY

C.A.R.E. was an organization I started (with Currie Grant, who met Elvis when Elvis was in Germany, in the army) to honor Elvis Presley, by posting ads in BILLBOARD magazine, to celebrate our friend Elvis' birthdays and the anniversaries of his death. Those who's names appeared in the ads - which I think we posted for at least a decade - paid for the ad out of their own pockets (and believe me these ads were not inexpensive.) I headed up the effort, calling people I knew, collecting the money, designing the ads.

Although Elvis was an incredible talent from the very beginning, and today it seems he will never be forgotten (one third of all Elvis fans were born after his death!), in the years right before and then after his death... I know you may not believe this... but Elvis was remembered mostly for his illness and his early demise, and it almost seemed as if he would be forgotten.

WE COULDN'T LET THAT HAPPEN!

We remembered ELVIS PRESLEY, with love.

... Yes for his talent, his hard work, the dedication he had to his fans and his family, his generosity and loyalty... and most of all the fun we had with him ...


Friends, this is something new to us, linking to GOOGLE BOOKS, which has some old Billboard Magazines in it, and we're sorry about the popup ads above,which you can click off. (If the Billboard page does not come up on your computer, try clicking on the link at the post title instead!) The Billboard ad can be moved up and down...

This C.A.R.E. ad is from 1982. We're guessing you know at least some of the names on it, and from this blog you recognize Rick Nelson, Cliff Gleaves, Frankie Avalon, Tom Jones, Pat Boone, and Ann Margret.

(327) ELVIS PRESLEY THOUGHT THE WORLD of RICK NELSON

Elvis said to me, "Wes, Rick is a true person."

Elvis liked Rick Nelson as a human being and that's why he made friends with him and invited him to play football on his team, EP Enterprises. Johnny Rivers is the person who first introduced me to Rick Nelson and his brother David Nelson. Soon I was playing on the team with Rick.

This song MAD MAD WORLD which came out in 1963 still has so much innocence in it, but by the end of 1963 we as American's would loose our innocence...



Earlier we blogged on the contribution of songwriter JERRY FULLER on Rick's career. Rick also recorded songs written by JOHNNY and DORSEY BURNETT like this one... and by the way, two great studio musicians who worked a bit for me (I like to say they were once part of my "Wrecking Crew") and went on to back ELVIS PRESLEY as musicians are on this recording, Joe Osborne, and James Burton.

(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."

(303) SHARON SHEELEY - SONGWRITER

We're linking to the ROCKABILLY HALL OF FAME page for songwriter SHARON SHEELEY here. SHARON was Eddie Cockran's girlfriend at the time he was killed in the car accident in England and that is unfortunately, what she first became famous for. She and Gene Vincent survived the car crash. She was still dating Eddie when I first met her. I was with the Everly Brothers at the time. Sharon was great friends with Nan Morris, the agent I've blogged about - a friend of mine to this day. It was Nan who took a demo of "POOR LITTLE FOOL" to Rick Nelson. In fact the two women were near stalking Rick to get that song to him because they were so sure it was going to be a hit for him. And they were right.

Sharon Sheeley continued to write songs including in collaboration with Jackie DeShannon and Brenda Lee.

Now we've mentioned before (and on some of our Youtube postings) that many DEMOS were made that did not turn into records for the market and that on many of these DEMOS some artists performed who became famous in their own time.

Some of the Demo Makers included Glen Campbell and Leon Russel and David Gates. A few years ago demos of some of Sharon's compositions that featured these artists came out on the market. And one of the singers is P.J. Proby, another demo maker who became famous and continues to perform, and who remained a friend of Sharon's until her death a few years ago ...

My old friends P.J. PROBY and JAMES BURTON talk about RICK NELSON

"Hello Mary Lou" is maybe the song most associated with Ricky Nelson... It was written by Gene Pitney

(302) RICK NELSON IT'S UP TO YOU written by JERRY FULLER

One of the many great songs that Rick recorded...

We're linking above to the official RICK/RICKY NELSON site which is terrific!

(301) JERRY FULLER SONGWRITER OF OVER 30 "RICK NELSON" SONGS

We're linking to a bio of Jerry Fuller, who is known for his songwriting, especially involved with the success of Rick Nelson, who recorded about 30 of his songs. Jerry followed the singer-songwriter tradition of the times of giving some of his songs to another artist. And likewise, Jim Seals, who became famous with his "Seals and Crofts" duo was the cowriter on this song called "First Love Never Dies."



I'm proud of the fact that Jerry Fuller recorded one of the songs I wrote with Jimmy Bowen called "Don't Stay Away."

(298) SUNSET STRIP RECORD COMPANIES : IMPERIAL RECORDS

Lew Chudd was known for discovering Fats Domino but in the early 1960's he signed Ricky Nelson. Ricky put out his first album "Ricky" on Imperial and several singles that are memoriable hits for him. Ricky was famous for being part of his on television family "Ozzie and Harriet," but when Lew signed him he had his first taste of being a Teen Idol.




The kids called him Ricky and he was a Teen Idol for sure, but Rick Nelson, when I met him was a shy guy who let loose playing touch football with Elvis and his team, E.P. Enterprises.

I know some of you who know me these days (and know my sense of humor is till intact) may not believe this... but I am basically a shy guy myself. Being a Teen Idol pulled me out of my shyness... but I can retreat back into it. I think the same could be said for Rick... for Elvis...

Rick Nelson recorded a good number of songs written by one of my American Music songwriter peers, Jerry Fuller. "Travelin' Man" was recorded by Rick, using Elvis Jordanaires as background vocalists.

Rick also recorded "Poor Little Fool," and "It's Up To You" on Imperial.

In 1963 Imperial was sold to the Liberty label.

Christine here: Wes said to add a bit to this blog post. He said "Poor Little Fool" had no bridge but had a great arrangement by JAMES BURTON (who I hired in the studio and who went on to work for Elvis Presley) and a good storyline to it."

MOVIE MIRROR YEARBOOK 1961

BUDDY KNOX and WES BRYAN - posed together - were included in the Sound Sations pages of this magazine. Articles were published on Elvis, Rick Nelson, Tab Hunter in the same.

I moved to Los Angeles and signed on as a staff song writer at American Music where my life would continue to include the famous or near famous - people I first met in Akron, Ohio, New York City, or touring through the Southern States, or while recording on United Artists, Clock, or Roulette Records...

MAY 8 - RICK NELSON HAPPY BIRTHDAY ! - THE NELSON TWINS

Rick Nelson was born May 8, 1940. HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICK!

I met Rick Nelson in Los Angeles through Elvis. He and I played on EP Enterprises, Elvis' football team in pick up games at Valley College and public parks. I have only good things to say about Rick, who came across as rather shy at first, but played to win. He was raised on his parent's television show "Ozzie and Harriet," and had grown up in the business and turned into a teen heartbreaker ! Friends of mine were always trying to find good songs to get over to Rick and his people.

Some of my generation of musical artists, have children who've followed in their footsteps into the music business. Rick Nelson's sons, who go by "The Nelsons," are two of them.

Click on the title above to get to the official RICK NELSON WEB SITE!

(211) RIDING MOTORCYCLES WITH RICK NELSON

I met Rick Nelson when my Roulette Records tour which had taken me to places as far flung as Santa Fe, New Mexico, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Saint Louis, Missouri, and Memphis, Tennessee, landed me in what was becoming my new home town, Los Angeles California. Rick and I both appeared on KCOP - Wink Martindale's local show - the same week.

I don't know how to tell fans this but when you're on a promotions tour and in particular you have to play the same song radio station after radio station, it gets boring. Riding bikes was one of my stress busters!

While Johnny Burnette and Johnny Rivers and me stopped at the hot dog stand across from the Brown Derby in Hollywood, Rick Nelson and I actually went into the Brown Derby.

Use the Google Search feature above to look for our previous postings on Rick Nelson, including some YouTube video!

(186) GENE PITNEY : ONLY LOVE CAN BREAK A HEART

Gene Pitney: this blog wouldn't be complete without including him.

On one website we noticed that someone had confused me and Gene, probably because he recorded under the name Billy Bryan prior to 1960.

Gene was a songwriter who went into performance. As you may realize from reading this blog, in the Cover Tune Era the singer-songwriter was the exception. A good number of us went from performance into songwriting but Gene did both. It's difficult to do both with success and hold onto that success. A good songwriter can last past a good performer if, for instance, his looks aren't with him. And in the case of the Big Bopper - J.P Richardson and Gene Pitney, some say sadly, that it wasn't their sound or their talent but their looks that failed them on the music scene - they just weren't the idol type. Just like today Abe Lincoln probably wouldn't have had the looks and personality to make it through a Presidential campaign and to the White House.

But Gene was so talented! He co-wrote a number of hit songs for my peers including "Hello Mary Lou" for Ricky Nelson.

Here's the 1961 hit Gene is known for "Only Love Can Break A Heart."






This web site has a comprehensive biography of Gene and mentions a number of his songwriting successes.

And here's a BBC report of Gene's last concert before he passed into Eternal Life.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4879846.stm

Search our blog for The Crystals! Earlier we posted them singing "Little Boy" that was written by Gene!

UPDATED AUGUST 2012

(131) EP ENTERPRISES : ELVIS' FOOTBALL TEAM

Elvis' football team was called EP Enterprises. At five foot ten, I was one of the smaller guys on it. We played in public parks against other teams, sometimes comprised of people from the studios, often pick up teams. We even played at Los Angeles Valley College, which is still there, in Valley View (then Van Nuys), in the San Fernando Valley. Some members of The Entourage played football too.

I've heard it stated that other teams let Elvis and his team win a lot. Not at all! I remember playing some vicious games with Elvis and his team coming away from a game with their clothes ripped and muddy! Elvis carried extra clothes with him to change into and gave me a shirt of his to replace one of mine that was destroyed. Gary Lockwood, who had started out as a real football player was on the team. Sometimes other teams put some real football players on theirs! Maybe we weren't playing to kill but they were. Maybe we were playing for fun, but we wanted to win!

It is through playing football on Elvis' team that I met a singer I'd always admired but had never met up with before, despite the New York days when I met the Everly Brothers, or the road tour days with Buddy Knox; Rick Nelson!

(78) CHALLENGE RECORDS : COWBOY STAR GENE AUTRY'S LABEL

Jerry Cole, Jerry Fuller, and a number of other talents, had been recorded on Challenge Records which was owned by cowboy star-entrepreneur Gene Autry, before they came to American Music to be songwriters more or less full time.

Through the early 1960's this was still an era in which many small labels managed to succeed, though perhaps only a very few of their artists are known today. If a song was a hit in a regional market for one of the regional market favorites, another company in another region might try the same song with one of their singers. It was the cover tune era. Sometimes this worked for the songwriter, because the song was being recorded repeatedly and got a lot of regional airplay on the radio. Sometimes though it was a matter of chart wars just diluting the overall success of the song.

To those of us who grew up admiring the cowboys, the way me and Elvis and Tommy Smothers loved Lash LaRue, men like Gene Autry, who diversified and built empires, were important role models.

Gene went on to own radio stations as well and today he's behind a hugely successful museum in Griffith Park, Los Angeles. Once called the Gene Autry Western Heritage, it just goes by "The Autry National Center" now. It's the place where you can take in Westerns and silent films and check the movie version of Cowboys and Indians against reality, and attend Native American events.

http://koti.mbnet.fi/wdd/challenge.htm

RCS DISCOGRAPHY FOR CHALLENGE RECORDS, Gene's label, linked above!

GENE AUTRY's MUSEUM has grown to be THE AUTRY NATION CENTER and is collaborating with other museums that document Native American life.

http://www.autrynationalcenter.org/

(77) JERRY FULLER - RICK NELSON'S SPECIAL SONGWRITER

Jerry Fuller was another of my talented musical peers at American Music. Jerry had also once been on Challenge Records, Gene Autry's label, like Jerry Cole. He had a hit with the "Tennessee Waltz" which had first been a hit for Patti Page, on Challenge. Jerry is best known for being the writer of "Travelin' Man" which was recorded by Sam Cooke, but more famously, Rick Nelson. The demo record went from Joe Osborne, the base player, to Rick.

Sometimes a demo, for all the creative talent, energy, and money, it took to make it, got lost under a stack of other demos an artist was sent. A demo could sit for years waiting for someone to play it, so personal contacts and recommendations were important - the "pitch."

The Rockin Country Style's Discography for Jerry Fuller is linked above!

Now, listen to "First Loves Never Dies." Elvis used to play that song himself. He loved it. And when the lyrics "first loves never dies" was heard, he would put his finger in the air as if he were making a point to the guys. The woman he was thinking about, was a woman he loved before he was famous - Dixie Locke. Elvis never knew, after he was famous, if a woman loved him for himself or not. Dixie had.

Jerry Fuller's web site here tells his success story as a songwriter best.

http://www.jerryfuller.com/

Jerry plays his frets like Jimmie Rodgers.