(442) VENTURES : THIS ONE GOES OUT TO OUR FRIEND ARNE!

The Ventures, known for surf music like the famous "Pipeline," put out a Christmas Album in '65, and instead of Christmas in July it's more like surf music in December!  The Ventures cover of "The Christmas Song" blends surf music with the guitar sound that is almost British Invasion.

VENTURES OFFICIAL SITE link here!

Playing DJ here, we want to send this song out to our friend ARNE, who was one of the first to post Wes Bryan songs on YouTube and who runs an impressive YouTube channel as well as being an oldies record collector! 

Happy Holidays and a terrific 2013 Arne!

 

THANK YOU TO MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Just want to say "THANK YOU" to all of you who have been supportive of my efforts these last few years.
It means a lot to me. Wes

OUR CRITEREA FOR YOUTUBE VIDEOS : HAVE A LISTEN TO OUR YOUTUBE STATION

The YouTube station we have is embedded to the left is PLAYLIST ONE. On the net you can also see the station itself along with PLAYLIST TWO. Each features a different set of music. And from time to time we check to see what videos have expired and find the best substitute possible.

We often seek videos that have historical value because we like the idea that you can get a view of the performers and the times - the sets - the fashions - the overall style of a concert or television show.

We listen and watch each video because we want to make sure that it fits into our standards for the blog. That means parents should not be concerned if their child is watching that video, though we love creativity and innovation.

We also give lots of points when a YouTuber provides some historical information as part of their post. We know opinions vary, but we appreciate the effort.

Last but not least (not at all) we care that a YouTuber is following the guidelines that we all agree to in having these wonderful accounts. That means that the particular account owner does not indulge in any abusive practices. Let's face it. It's easy for people to hide out behind an account on the Internet and post just about anything, even things they would never say to someone's face. That is not at all in the spirit of helpfulness or cooperation.

WE THANK ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE SHARED VIDEOS and SENT US SUGGESTIONS!

Wes Bryan and Christine Trzyna

WAIT FOR ME BABY WES BRYAN

The flip side of Freeze, a Doo Wop song sung by me with the great Ben Alexander on the sax! We'll be replacing this video soon: the Youtuber who first presented it is reworking his channel and has been in touch!

FREEZE by WES BRYAN

What a surprise! Every once in a while another Wes Bryan recording shows up on YouTube and it's my eagle eye writing partner Christine who usually discovers them!

I loved recording this song, the first I wrote that I recorded and had success with.
Ben Alexander played that hot sax. I was honored to record with him. Ben played with many of the Big Band and Jazz artists. I met up with him in Harlem and we practiced and practiced and practiced some more.

We congratulated each other on this hit at the Turf restaurant in New York...

THANK YOU TO THE YOUTUBER who posted this! Wes

HELLO TO NEW READERS IN MORE COUNTRIES

I started updating today (early) since I had the day off... Just went through the links A-J and fixed a lot of old posts. I also let our readers (and listeners) on YOUTUBE know!

I want to say hello to our new readers who checked in on us today from
INDIA
IRAN
ALGERIA
KUWAIT
and the UKRAINE!

This is the miracle called the INTERNET.

We hope the Google TRANSLATER is helping you! - if you need it!

Christine

UPDATE! Hello to GEORGIA (Former Soviet) and HONG KONG!

THANKSGIVING : EVERY DAY IS FOR GRATITUDE

Christine Trzyna here: Wes and me were thinking about what we are grateful for. I said I appreciated the opportunity he has given me to work with him over the years and how much I've learned about the early Rock and Roll scene since I met him and we've worked on our blog and our book. He said he could not do it without me.

Actually we could not produce this blog if it were not for a lot of technology that other people invented or let us use for free that we could not otherwise afford, such as Google Blogger first and foremost. We also use - and want to thank - Youtube (and a great many Youtubers, especially our Swedish friend Arne who has been hosting Wes Bryan music videos for some time)... Yahoo, Meez (our avatars), Photobucket, (our streaming pictures) and the Los Angeles Public Library, especially for their Internet services and Databases that I use considerably in order to research and write.

One of the themes of this blog, besides music, is FRIENDSHIP. I think we can all say that we feel gratitude every day for those people who have been good and true to us through the years. Wes and I have become friends over time and that makes working on this special.

We want to thank YOU too for stopping by our blog, making WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC one of your reading waystation, as you make your way through your day!

Wes Bryan and Christine Trzyna

A CELEBRATION of THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED

In honor of the Big Bopper - J.P. Richardson, Buddy Holly, and Ritchie Valens, we're posting videos on our YouTube station (to the left in the sidebar) as well as a great number of posts on February 3, 2010.

You can also use the Google search feature to read past posts on these artists!

We want to thank the YOUTUBE CONTRIBUTORS who make such historical music/video posts possible!

As we see it the MUSIC of the 1950's never really died. Not with artists such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones covering tunes!

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

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO OUR READERS OF WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC

Thank You for reading my saga, and let's all give thanks for what we do have at this time in our lives.

Wes

ELVIS LET'S PLAY HOUSE EARLY RECORDING

This is a You-Tube contribution of Elvis singing "Let's Play House," about 1954 sourced as from The Lousina Hayride show

That's the Blue Moon Boys, Elvis' original band, backing Elvis. Scotty Moore on guitar, Bill Black on stand up base, and D.J. Fontana on drums.

We're replacing the expired video from a 1956 Milton Berle show with this one!

(17) My First Record Goes GOLD! FIRST COLOR RECORD SLEEVE!

While the publicity drums at United Artists beat for me, I began to tour all over, appearing on radio and television - dance party type shows - and record hops, to promote my new record. "Lonesome Love" was on one side and the novelty tune, "Tiny Spaceman," on the other. Sometimes I performed other Rock-a-Billy or Rock-n-Roll hits that other artists made as well and after appearing on Dick Clark's American Bandstand I lost my shyness.

My 45 RPM had a full color picture of me on one side, taken in New York near a tree (which has been identified erroneously as being, not me, but James Dean!) and on the other side there's a collage of black and white photos against a red background. (I see it on the e-bay auctions and at on-line record stores today.)

Not only did my first record have the VERY FIRST COLOR RECORD SLEEVE (Elvis Presley's "Don't" had the very next color sleeve!) but it WENT GOLD!

To this day I'm excited about it!

Video added January 19, 2011