S LINKS UPDATED and NEIL SEDAKA - SONGWRITER!

We checked around and we believe something close to a KEELY SMITH - the SINGER - official web site is in the works! 

NEIL SEDAKA - One of the singer-songwriters I met in the Brill Building when I first went to New York City about the same time I met Bobby Darin who was recording demos there. 

 

D-E-F LINKS CHECKED and TENNESSEE ERNIE FORD

Just completed checking all our side bar links under the D - E - F group and they are all working fine!

REVISITED! 

Bobby Denton in the Alabama Music Hall of Fame...

Jackie DeShannon in the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame...
      

And to celebrate : TENNESSEE ERNIE FORD!


USE THE SEARCH FEATURE EMBEDDED IN THE SIDEBAR TO BRING UP OUR POSTS ON Bobby Denton, Jackie De Shannon, or TENNESSEE ERNIE FORD!

FANTASTIC! JOHNNY RIVERS : POOR SIDE OF TOWN : MARTY STUART SHOW NASHVILLE

VIDEO TAKEN DOWN DUE TO YOUTUBE NOTIFICATION
The show aired on May 18 2013... WOW!  As I've said JOHNNY RIVERS WOULD NOT QUIT!
FULL SHOW...

(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. 

THE BYRDS EIGHT MILES HIGH

NEEDLES AND PINS : DO YOU LIKE THE TURTLES, JACKIE DESHANNON or THE RAMONES' VERSION BEST?

Written by Jack Nitzsche and Sonny Bono!  NEEDLES AND PINS is a cover tune classic that's been covered by a great many, including Jackie DeShannon, The Turtles, The Ramones...

Jackie DeShannon :

The Ramones:

The Turtles:

Want to read about Jackie DeShannon, The Turtles, or the Ramones at WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC?  Use the Google Search feature to bring up past posts!

CAN'T TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU : CLASSIC COVER TUNE!

Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio were the songwriters. Frank Sinatra and Andy Williams covered it.  "Can't Take My Eys Off You" went high up to about #2 on the chart in 1967 for Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons.  Here are versions by Lauren Hill and Muse.

Check out these covers.  WHICH ONE DO YOU LIKE BEST ?

(448) COMMANDO : THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHNNY RAMONE (A MAJOR ELVIS PRESLEY FAN!) BOOK REVIEW and EXCERPTS!

COMMANDO : THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JOHNNY RAMONE
C 2012 Johnny Ramone LLC
Edited by John Cafiero with Steve Miller and Henry Rollins
Abrams is the publisher

What makes an autobiography rather than a memoir?
I think this book is more a music memoir because it focuses on the development  of The Ramones, a punk band that performed some original material and some cover tunes. As a matter of fact they covered some of the tunes that Johnny Rivers also covered, so I would've loved to ask Johnny Ramone about that!

As it goes with the Ramones, not one member was ever born with the surname Ramone and not one member was an actual brother or relative. The Ramones are therefore a construct, but when it comes to the music business there were a number of "brother" duos and groups, such as the Righteous Brothers before them who were also not really brothers.   - Christine


When I was on tour with Buddy Knox people used to ask us if we were brothers!  - Wes

CHAPTER ONE,  pages 15 and 16

"It was the nameless guy who changed the jukebox records at my parent's bar who really turned me on to rock and roll when I was seven years old. Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, and Fats Domino. He gave me the singles he was talking out as he put in the newest hits. I loved it; I had a great collection of 45's. I still love that era of music. The songs sound so clear and exciting, like Little Richard's "Keep a Knocking."

page 17

"Soon after the jukebox guy started giving me those singles, I saw Elvis Presley on the black and-white television in our Westbury living room, on The Ed Sullivan Show. The first time was September 9, 1956, in a broadcast from Hollywood, then seven weeks later from thirty miles away in New York City, at the CBS studio at Broadway and Fifty-third street. Today that's the Ed Sullivan Theater where David Letterman does his show.

I just knew I would be a big Elvis fan from that moment on. It was the wildness, and it really upset my parents, who thought he was a dope fiend. I didn't know what that was, but I figured it must be a good thing, because if it upset the grownups, it had to be good. I just followed him from them on and became a rock and roll fan forever, and by the next year I was listening to Ricky Nelson, the Everly Brothers, and it was a big Jerry Lee lewis fan. And Little Richard, I mean, he was gay and black, and that made everybody crazy."
- Johnny Ramone


In the back of the book Johnny Ramone lists Elvis Presley as his favorite singer, followed by Bing Crosby, Roy Orbison, Gene Pitney, The Everly Brothers, Ricky Nelson, Dean Martin, Frankie Laine, Dion, and Jim Morrison.  Johnny would have loved this blog! - Christine

ELVIS PRESLEY : GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME

  I think the song reminded Elvis of going home to Graceland TM. 

FRIENDS ARE LIKE THE STARS ...

You can't always see them ... but you know they're always there!

BILL MEDLEY CHRISTMAS WITH MICHAEL GRIMM and TYRIG JOHNSON

Michael Grimm invited Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers and Tyriq Johnson, who performs with Santa Fe & the Fat City Horn, to share the stage with him at the Flamingo Showroom. They trio sang "Please Come Home for Christmas" Lots of fun and laughter!

Video was originally posted by The Grimmettes, A Michael Grimm Fan Club on Facebook.

(445) DECEMBER 21 1970 ELVIS LETTER TO PRESIDENT NIXON YEAR

READ THE LETTER! LINK HERE! 

at the NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Christmas meant so much to Elvis.  He loved to go home to the family at Graceland TM and he loved to give presents  and bonuses to those who worked for him, the guys who became known as the Memphis Mafia. (I wasn't a member of that group as I never worked for Elvis.)  

Elvis took time to write the President of the United States just a few days before Christmas in 1970. I imagine that he'd been thinking about doing so for some time and had just found the pause in his schedule to do so. He thought the President would read his letter and he was right.  To me this is evidence of how Elvis thought of street drugs and crime as different than private doctors and prescriptions.  I miss Elvis.  We'll be taking a vacation after Christmas for a couple weeks, and should be back in time to celebrate his Capricorn birthday!

ELVIS PRESLEY : CRYING IN THE CHAPEL : 1965

THE GRAMMY MUSEUM GIFT STORE : BEACH BOYS - DICK DALE - PHIL SPECTOR - RONETTES - RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS - RITCHIE VALENS

WOW!  Christine here.  You know how I looove the Grammy Museum!  I usually post after a visit there. 

Here are some great CDs and one pressed vinyl album that you can buy at the GRAMMY MUSEUM shop.  We're pretty sure that you can go to the shop to shop without paying to tour the museum if you just want to shop and make a visit another time and there are always greeters at the door so ask!

 
BEACH BOYS PET SOUNDS
Includes A 180 gram VINYL RECORD LIMITED EDITION from the Capitol Records Vault!

THE VERY BEST OF DICK DALE  (Surf Music!)

PHIL SPECTOR - WALL OF SOUND - 1961-1966 includes
DARLENE LOVE
THE RONETTES
THE CRYSTALS
THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS

THE COMPLETE RITCHIE VALENS includes unfinished songs and live at Pacoima High School - 35 songs!

If you're interested in reading past posts here at WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC about any of these artists, please use the Google Search feature to bring them up! 

(440) JACKIE DESHANNON : WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW

JACKIE DESHANNON OFFICIAL SITE link here



When you get to Jackie's site you'll learn that this singer-songwriter is now an activist.  Here is her new song she wrote about her cause, clean water in Africa.



FROM HER SITE: "Singer-songwriter Jackie DeShannon is the soulful voice behind two enduring 1960’s anthems -- Burt Bacharach & Hal David's "What The World Needs Now Is Love" and DeShannon's own "Put A Little Love In Your Heart." Beyond those standards is an artist who has created a body of work covering a diverse range of genres including rock, folk, R&B, country, gospel, reggae and jazz.

Her songs have been performed by Brenda Lee, The Byrds, Marianne Faithfull, Al Green, Annie Lennox, The Searchers, Pam Tillis, The Carpenters, Kim Carnes, The Temptations, Rick Nelson, Cher, Van Morrison, Ella Fitzgerald, Dolly Parton, Irma Thomas..."

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!

(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.

LISA MARIE AND ELVIS DUET : FAN VIDEO TO BE RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC

LISA MARIE AND DAD VIDEO RELEASE : Chris Michaud reports for Rueters

Excerpt:

"Presley’s new video, “I Love You Because,” is an emotional duet with her late father.


Due to premiere on Thursday on country music TV channel CMT and CMT.com, the video was recorded in August for the 35th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death."

"Presley, who died at the age of 42, recorded “I Love You Because” in July 1954 at Sun Studio in Memphis, the same time he recorded “That’s All Right.”


Producer Sam Phillips deemed it unsuitable for Presley’s first single, and it ended up on Presley’s first album, from 1956, never to be performed by Presley again, according to CMT.

Lisa Marie Presley, 44, recorded her vocals to the song in August at the suggestion of producer T-Bone Burnett, as a special song for fans."

MAE AXTON : ELVIS PRESLEY : HEARTBREAK HOTEL - MAE AXTON

Mae wrote a lot of songs besides Heartbreak Hotel, but she says she's OK with being known for only that song. Here's a radio interview of Mae intervierwing Elvis in 1955.

(436) JOHNNY TILLOTSON POETRY IN MOTION MAE AXTON

I met Johnny when I was writing songs with Mae Axton. (Out of that collaboration I wrote "Apache Pearl" with Mae.)

He was also friends with Phil and Don Everly.

Little known is that Johnny is the singer for "The Mary Tyler Moore" TV show theme song.

JOHNNY TILLOTSON OFFICIAL SITE  (It's terrific!)

  One of several songs Johnny had out in 1965!  In 1960 his hit "Poetry In Motion" was one of my favorites.