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

ARISTOTLE Quote on Friendship

"Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit." - Aristotle

MEMORIAL DAY 2011 ELVIS PATRIOTIC TRILOGY

AMERICANS STILL INVADING EUROPE : GENE VINCENT 1963 in EUROPE THE AMERICANS STILL GOING TO EUROPE

Gene continued to do rock and roll his way, touring in Europe for some time.

(362) CRUSADER RECORDS 1964 BBJ RECORDS BIG BAD JOHN FISHER and TERRY STAFFORD and THE BEATLES

So, it's 1964 and the Beatles are dominating the charts. Who challenges them? An American named Terry Stafford, who, like Bobby Vee, (and me), recorded on Big Bad John Fisher's Crusader Records. JOHN FISHER was an LA Promoter and music producer with his own "in house" label. "Suspicion" was the song that stood its ground with the Beatles. A keyboardist named Bob Summers played on this record and helped make it a hit. Bob had a recording studio where he overdubbed the keyboards.

LINKING ABOVE TO AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE BY PAT DINIZIO about TERRY STAFFORD!



Terry's version came after Elvis'.



We want to thank YouTubers. We've been posting Thankyou's and Invitations to visit us on the YouTuber's comments, but have been having a bad time getting into our account there over the last month or so.

(361) DAVID GATES SONGWRITER ARRANGER PRODUCER

"We drove from club to club, three a night, auditioned for everybody until we finally got a job and got rolling again. And then on Saturday nights, after hours, musicians from all over the city would meet at a place called the Crossbow, in the Valley. It was at the Crossbow that I met guys like Steve Douglas, Glen Campbell, James Burton, Leon Russell, Chuck Blackwell, Jerry Cole. Slowly they were getting into recordings, mostly demo sessions, some union jobs. By jamming with these people, I got more work. All of a sudden, I was being asked to play on demo sessions and then on recordings." - David Gates

Linking here to David Gates - In His Own

(I liked Johnny Crawford's hit "Sandy" that David arranged.)

A session player who became a composer, singer-songwriter, arranger, and music producer, before he became an entertainer, DAVID GATES is certainly an underrated talent. His work appears on many record labels. We chose this YouTube video because he's credited in every role he played. GWENN STACY from 1964:

QUOTE FROM "LIFE" BY KEITH RICHARDS with JAMES FOX

KEITH RICHARDS "LIFE"
pages 766-767 Large Print version (Don't you just love that?!)

"Eventually I played with almost all the survivors among my childhood heroes, like JAMES BURTON, the EVERLYS, THE CRICKETS, MERLE HAGGARD, JOHN LEE HOOKER and GEORGE JONES, with whom I recorded "Say It's Not You." The award I was proud of was when Mick (Jagger) and I were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992, because it was signed by Sammy Cahn on his deathbed. It took me years to appreciate just how great was the art of Tin Pan Alley writing - I used to dismiss it or it went straight through me. But when I became a songwriter I could appreciate the construction and the skill of those guys..."

KEITH RICHARDS with JAMES FOX
Little, Brown, and Company
C 2010 by Mindless Records, LLC

(360) DEMO TREASURE CHEST! DAVID GATES, LEON RUSSEL, GLEN CAMPBELL, and ME

Here's a demo or two I would love to find and hear again!

Pat Boone paid for the session time.
David Gates was the arranger.
I was the producer.
Leon Russel played piano.
Glen Campbell and I did two instrumentals together.

I sang on two songs which were "20 Acres of Land," and "I'm Such a Fool."

Auctioneers and collectors!?

(359) LONELY WEEKENDS A SONG MADE A HIT FIRST BY CHARLIE RICH, COVERED BY MANY, A SONGWRITER'S DREAM

It's a songwriter's dream to write a song that is recorded - and made a hit - by others - maybe many others. Today there's an emphasis on an artist writing and recording and making a hit of their own song or the songs of the entire band, but the COVER TUNE ERA HAS NEVER REALLY ENDED! Charlie Rich, who I met when touring the south, made this one a hit first.



The song was written by Charlie Rich himself, and ended up being covered by The Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley, even Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers! Those song writing residuals keep coming in!



LINKING TO THE OFFICIAL CHARLIE RICH web site!

(358) BBJ RECORDS : MY VERSION OF LONELY WEEKENDS : WES BRYAN 1964

Produced by Charlie Underwood and Big John Fisher... in Los Angeles. Charlie Rich, who I met early in my career made the hit out of it. Charlie Underwood's studio was called NASHVILLE -WEST and it was the old Decca studio that Frank Sinatra used, near a restaurant called Nicodells on Melrose.

Anyone who was anybody was in that studio at some time in their careers.

(357) WES BRYAN TAKES A QUESTION : DID YOU COVER OTHER SONGWRITER'S SONGS ?

Yes, I did cover other songwriter's songs. I did so live while on tour in addition to the songs I recorded. I also did so in the studios for presentation but also for fun.

First of all, part of the singer-songwriter scene was sharing songs. We sometimes did demo records of other people's songs in the studios because we decided that my voice was a better fit for the song. I actually recorded a few songs that Elvis also performed in the studio for fun.

When I was on tour with Buddy Knox I covered a lot of the rock and roll hits of those days, also playing my own guitar. I covered a song Gene Vincent wrote and made famous, Be Bop A Lula, and the song Buddy Knox wrote for Jimmy Bowen, "I'm Sitckin With You." (Which Jimmy recorded on Roulette and got a Gold Record for.)

Wes

LA TIMES BOOK FAIR : TO MY SURPRISE A FRANK SINATRA COLLECTION : NORRIS HALL

Christine here : I'm the one who goes to the LA Times Book Fair every other year, and delights in the panel discussions and evidence all around that people love books and love to read. This year, while waiting to hear a panel discussion by memoirists at Norris Hall, on the University of Southern California campus, I was surprised to see a FRANK SINATRA memorabilia collection in the entrance foyer.

On one wall 13 Platinum and 20 Gold records! Also on site, statue, movie posters, artist representations (but is the artist of all those wonderful portraits of Frank in various roles really unknown?). I saw his Gold records while on REPRISE - his own label, and one that Wes' old friend Jimmy Bowen produced music for Frank on!

Also were his many Grammy (National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) awards, his Congressional God Medal from 1997, and his awards for 1956 and 1958 Favorite Male Artist (Disc Jockey Poll) and 1959 Most Played Vocalist.

So, while the early rock and rollers strove for innovation Frank was still a huge favorite. And he was the cover tune artist, the singer, who so many of those we write about were up against.

You don't have to go to a book fair, or any other special event to see this collection. Just head over to USC during school hours.

PIONEER GIRLS LEADERS HANDBOOK Quote on Friendship

"Joyfully will a friend hear the song in my heart and sing it to me when any memory fails."

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

WE WANT TO THANK OUR FRIEND BARRIE MOORE FOR STICKING WITH US AS WE FIGURE OUT THE STUCK FEED!

Not every blogger has a stubborn stuck FEED like us but we are working on it, and we want to thank our friend Barry who has been experimenting with us to figure this all out.

Barrie Moore is honing the patience of a guru!

Just so our readers know, we have taken down the post that the feed seemed to be stuck on and also deleted (temporarily) some Followers just trying to detangle.

THERE ARE MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO FOLLOW A GOOGLE BLOGGER.
You can SUBSCRIBE TO A FEED, become a Follower, put the site in your Reader, and there's always (good old fashioned) BOOKMARKING.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

ELVIS BUNNY IS THE MOST POPULAR IN THIS PASADENA BUNNY MUSEUM

We haven't stopped by the museum yet, but we've seen this on television. A couple started collecting rabbits and giving each other gifts of bunnys as love gifts. These two even called each other "honey bun." After gifting each other for years, their collection grew, and they had to open their house as a museum.

Linking above to the BUNNY MUSEUM!

"28,012 Bunny Items! Multiplying Daily!"

(356) JAMMING AND INNOVATION : JIMMY BOWEN AND WES BRYAN BEAT THE QUOTA AT THE SONGWRITING FACTORY

Jimmy Bowen and I had to write a certain number of songs while we we worked for Sylvester Cross at American Music. One night we wrote dozens of songs.

Of those dozens a few were made into demos and then presented to artists. But that wasn't the point the evening we were jamming together.

We were under a certain pressure at all times to meet quota but Cross wanted quality.

We were also having a good time at it. We were kind of making fun of our situation, a couple laborers in a song-writing factory, but at the same time being willing to go with the flow, keep the critical voices in our heads on vacation.

Jamming with other musicians and songwriters fuels creativity. PS. FROM WES: JIMMY PLAYED THIS ONE ON THE DICK CLARK SHOW.

WES BRYAN CENTRAL PARK NEW YORK PUBLICITY PHOTO

An Acting - Singing publicity photo taken in Central Park, New York City, of me in about 1957- 1958. I was being groomed by United Artists to be The Next James Dean. Mine was an opportunity many actors could only dream of. I got a Gold Record for performance of my first single LONESOME LOVE! But at the end of the story who could ever replace the one true JAMES DEAN?

(355) THE CREATIVE PROCESS : THERE'S ALWAYS A SONG IN MY MIND

Though at times in my career I was called "The Singing - Acting Sensation," or "The Next James Dean," or simply "entertainer" or "singer-songwriter," I think "singer-songwriter" is the title that I've earned since my song "Freeze" was recorded by me at United Artists back in '58 and then covered by other artists.

Freeze is a rare record these days, with just a few disc jockey copies (promo) showing up in auctions. That's because the record was played on record players till it broke. (And yes, as a reader pointed out, the song is available on a compilation CD.)

I played it on American Bandstand. The song inspired a dance craze, a dance called The Freeze.

"Singer-Songwriter" is also a title that was also applied to many of my friends who I started out with in the late 1950's in New York, many who also headed west to California in the early 1960's, such as Ersel Hickey, Bobby Darin, Buddy Knox, and Johnny Rivers...
If you've been a reader of this blog, you know I've mentioned certain creative collaborations I've enjoyed as well, with artists such as Jimmy Bowen, Red West, Fred Horton, Glen Campbell and Mae Axton.

I've talked about the Cover Tune Era, when every singer was trying to find a hit song that someone else wrote (or already recorded) to cover, small labels and regional markets, and the days when I traveled around the country performing on dance parties and radio programs live; I traveled while with United Artists for a couple years, on the Buddy Knox tour with Buddy for a couple years.

Some of my collaborations happened spontaneously, just sitting around my house, or Elvis', other collaborations were part of my job when I was a staff songwriter at American Music in Los Angeles, where a lot of artists came through, for a day, or a few months, or were on contract as well.

I also sold songs independently and worked as a freelancer for Pat Boone's CoogaMooga.

I lost track of just how many songs I'd written or co-written over the years. Then the Intellectual Properties that had been owned or co-owned by others started returning to me several years ago. Lots of paperwork.

One day my lawyer said "It's up over 800, Wes!"

There's always a song in my mind, always something I'm working on.

Some of my songs were recorded as demos only by some now famous people and the studio musicians on them went on those demos to have entertainment careers of their own. Some of these were pressed, some may be in tape vaults, some are lost forever as recordings, but because I REGISTERED the song, they were understood to be my Intellectual Property.

I can't help but hope that someday songs that were recorded as demos or in studios that did not make it onto records at the time will be discovered.

CHUCK BERRY : LEON RUSSEL'S COVER 1964 : ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN !

Leon Russel ! Really! that is him! Leon Russel is someone who I admire greatly and worked with a little in the studios as a studio musician back in the early 1960's! Here he appears on a show that was extremely popular - Shindig.

(354) MISSING PICTURES MISSING PETE! (HOW I MET MARLON BRANDO!)

One day my friend Pete Tambunga took me down to the Dick Cavett Show.

The show started in 1968 and went on for a few years. He was friends with Marlon Brando and wanted to introduce me to Marlon!

(Pete was also friends with Marlon's son Miko.) He knew Brando from their mutual Native American involvments. I'm also a bit Native American, a great grandmother was Cherokee, now Eastern Band Cherokee, near Murphy, North Carolina.

Dick had a talk show and interviewed so many of the famous over the years. He was (and is) an intellectual and so the conversations could be sophisticated. But when we met, Pete, who had a way of turning phrases around (I still use Tambungaisms), and me started telling jokes.

Someone took out a camera and took a picture of me, Marlon and Pete. Then Pete took one of me and Marlon. So I want to see those pictures again, though not as much as I'd like to talk to Pete again!

On the show Marlon is talking about social causes, in particular the racism experienced by Native Americans. Surprise! We're linking to the DICK CAVETT BLOG website THE OPINION PAGES from the New York Times above!

PS: FROM WES : This is the show! Marlon was coming out of the studio and yelled "Hey Pete!" And then Pete introduced us. He gave Pete a hug and then me a hug.

THOUSANDS OF FANS OF P.J. PROBY WANT HIM TO KNOW HE IS NOT WALKING ALONE

We recently posted a comment on an Youtube video or two that featured older P.J. Proby performances. We said that P.J. Proby was going to sing his heart out in the show he's featured in and was still going strong.

We took a little criticism for saying so, because we posted on these older videos, which we enjoyed listening to!

Today we found this 2011 video of P.J., apparently recorded in conjunction with his tour, which proves our point. If ELVIS PRESLEY were alive today, would be a little bit older than P.J. and we would hope also be in such good voice. But we will never know because Elvis died too young, and for a time, though this is not well understood today, it was almost as if he had never been.

And if Elvis were alive today, believe me when I say that he would feel honored to be covered by P.J. who once did demo records for Elvis, and he would reach out to P.J., who as the world knows, has been going through a difficult time financially in his senior-citizenhood. P.J. has loved singing - has loved entertaining - since forever. Like Elvis he knows his voice is a gift from God.

It's a gift he loves to use.

He's earned a lot of money over many years time and he's stimulated the economy of Great Britain and the United States over the years with his spending. Though we can't calculate it (one magazine attempted to monetize Britany Spears recently) anyone with a successful performance career keeps other people working - from the ushers in the stadium, to the truckers delivering records to clerks in the stores, hundreds of people. P.J., who is also a songwriter, seems to have spent more career time in Great Britain, a country he has embraced wholeheartedly.

In this world wide Depression, we are reminded of how money flows. No one with talent or energy likes to retire or give up their hope of earning or contributing. Like thousands of P.J. Proby fans worldwide our thoughts are on P.J.