50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE WHISKY A GO GO : TICKETS SOLD OUT ?

WHISKYAGOGO.COM OFFICIAL SITE + 50th ANNIVERSARY

Well, you could try and bribe the bouncer to get in?

Here's the link to the official web site for the club that has launched a lot of bands.  Celebrations include tribute nights.

We've written about the Whisky in this blog, mostly when we're writing about Johnny Rivers.  You can use the Google search feature embedded in this blog to pull up past posts about The Whisky and Johnny Rivers.

(468) JOHNNY RIVERS AT THE WHISKY COVERING CHUCK BERRY'S HIT WITH 1960'S STYLE

I remember going to hear Johnny play at the Whisky, where he became a headliner after playing in other clubs in the area.  To this day his name is associated with the club. 

Johnny Rivers covered so many songs successfully (including songs recorded at Motown) that other people recorded, he became so known for his versions that many people didn't realize that they weren't written by him or that he wasn't the first to record them.  He attracted a new generation.  (Johnny had moved to New York City at the age of 16 and was a little younger than me, Buddy Knox, and some of the other guys we hung out with.)  Here's a YouTube fan video - very well put together - where Johnny covers two 1950's classics written and recorded first by Chuck Berry, with that mid 1960's rock and roll style of his on Liberty Records.



JOHNNY RIVERS OFFICIAL - UPDATED - NEW CD  Called Live at Cache Creek it's blues, bluegrass, and JR. 

NEIL YOUNG ON WALLICHS MUSIC AND THE WHISKY A GO GO

Pages 147-148 From Neil's recent memoir, also quoted earlier in this blog:

... "Let me describe WALLICHS for you: They sold all kinds of music there - 45s, LPs, sheet music, books about music - and in a little shop upstairs guitars and other instruments were displayed.  There were also listening booths where you could hear singles on headphones and see if you wanted to buy them.  I spend a lot of time there.  Of course, the place was crawling with flower children and beautiful hippie girls.

Anyway, like I said, upstairs at Wallichs there was a guitar department.  Martins, Gibson's all manner of electric and very nice old acoustic guitars were there.  This was around the time the Springfield (Buffalo Springfield- his band before CSNY) was happening; we were playing at the Whisky a Go Go, about a mile down Sunset toward Beverly Hills.  Stills (Stephen) and I went to Wallich's a lot and tried out Martins together . Stephen was fast becoming an excellent player and had surpassed me in his knowledge of voicings, and he was always playing rhythms naturally that blew my mind."

(332) PLACES TO GO THINGS TO DO : ELVIS & HIS GUYS

I was a frequent guest at Elvis' when he lived in Los Angeles which was during his movie making years. I had some of the best times of my life in those years! I was also a staff song writer at American Music and involved in the demo making process for American Music and Pat Boone's company, Cooga-Mooga. Seems my whole life had become about music by then!

When Elvis' guys came down into town from Bel Air, we'd meet up to watch a show, have a meal, sit around a talk or play music after work. The guys were called "His Guys" or "The Entourage" then. These guys were a lot of fun to be with, and some of them had active interest in songwriting or acting, though most of them lived their lives around their working for Elvis. They were living the life of a millionaire, but once in a while they would take a break and get away.

We had favorite clubs and restaurants where we met up with my songwriter colleagues. We liked the Palomino Club in the Valley, which became one of our hang outs. Barney's Beanery in West Hollywood was where we hung out. Cliff Gleaves prefered it and Trini Lopez would come in. We liked the Carolina Pines restaurant. We liked the Whisky A Go Go on Sunset.

Elvis was now too famous to just stop into a diner or a club, though there were a few he still went to. Sometimes he would just drive Sunset in his Rolls Royce.