(392) PJ PROBY ON SHINDIG AND AROUND THE BEATLES

Texan PJ Proby was on Shindig a few times, 1964 and 1965. Here's one of the Youtube videos of PJ's performance in 1964, which I believe was taped in England, his adopted country. (P.J. is still in England, still performing, and we've posted a lot about him so search!)



We're grateful to the YouTuber who posted this video of PJ. being presented by the Beatles on a 1964 TV show called "Around the Beatles". (The Beatle's first performance on Shindig was also taped in England.) UPDATE: We'll replace this video as soon as possible.Technical difficulties.

(391) SO YOU CAN IMAGINE THAT I'M BEHIND BONNIE and DELANY BRAMLETT'S DAUGHTERS CAMPAIGN TO GET DADDY INTO THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME!

From BONNIE BRAMLETT'S OFFICIAL SITE (Linked here)!

"As you may have noticed my daughters are campaigning for their father's musical legacy. Our Michele has taken the reins and with her sisters right by her side, she has tested the waters (so to speak) to see if she would be embraced by our peers and she has been :-)

Delaney passed away not long ago and his daughters naturally want to celebrate his life's work, secure the recognition it deserves and bring it to a wider audience. He made some great music as a solo artist, as well as with Delaney & Bonnie.

I want to ask you all to support my girls in their endeavor to make things right. For whatever reasons, the girls have not inherited from their father, so they have no hope chest to work with.

They're working on their own so far. I want you all to know that I plan to support them with my performances if and when they need me. I will receive no financial benefit in any form for my performances or any other participation I may be asked to do. This IS NOT a request for any support in the form of $, just need your prayers and your votes. Just go see what the girls are up to. They are good girls and I'm very proud of them. I hope you will be as well :-) " - Bonnie Bramlett

(390) DELANY BRAMLETT ON SHINDIG and at KULAKS WOODSHED

LINKING TO THE OFFICIAL SITE FOR soul singer DELANY BRAMLETT!

There is some great information here including links to biography, interviews, concerts... Delany was a good friend of mine back in the day...

FROM OUR ARCHIVES : (11) CHRISTINE WHITE, JAMES DEAN, & ME

FROM OUR ARCHIVES from October 27, 2008

(11) CHRISTINE WHITE, JAMES DEAN, & ME

Uncanny as it is, before I was "discovered" to be The Next James Dean, I took my first trip to Hollywood, and it was my fate to meet one of Jimmy's best friends! Dad and I were on a respite from home building. I loved to read all the fan magazines and I wanted to see the streets that all the stars - including James Dean - walked on.

So I headed to Los Angeles, California for the first time. I was coming out of a department store when I saw a beautiful young blond woman on the street. I recognized her from one of the movie magazines I'd read, an article called "The Girl He Left Behind." He meaning James Dean. The blond was CHRISTINE WHITE, a great actress in her own right. She and James Dean had auditioned together for the famous and prestigious Actors Studio in New York and both got in. James Dean might have been the youngest actor to be accepted there. Like James Dean, Christine White was active in television, live theater, and movies.


I introduced myself and Christine and I spent a few hours talking in a restaurant over tea. I asked her to tell me everything she knew about Jimmy. Christine and I would pick up our friendship years later when I moved to Los Angeles and I am blessed with her friendship to this day. Christine White is a devout Christian. I can tell you that she's played the part of angel in my life! Christine White is a regular speaker at the James Dean Conventions and has made many appearances in biographical films about James Dean.

CHRISTINE WHITE on IMDb World's Largest Movie Database linked above!

FAIRMOUNT HISTORICAL MUSEUM : JAMES DEAN FESTIVAL 2011

The 2011 James Dean Festival runs from Thursday, September 22nd through Sunday, September 25th.

The festival's main attractions will be the Annual Museum Days and the Annual James Dean Run.

Linking to the Fairmount Museum for more information!

(389) JERRY COLE ON SHINDIG : THE SHINDOG

SHINDIG first premiered September 16, 2011. It was the Rock and Roll television show that some of my friends, like Jerry Cole, worked on. Jerry was part of the show band called The SHINDOGS! The band started the show out with an intro composed of a selection of hit songs, just to get the audience warmed up. They threw a few Beatles songs in there and various guests took their turn at singing four bars.

Jerry was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2000 and was considered to be a charter member of the LA "Wrecking Crew," one of the best studio musicians around town.

Jerry Cole was a great friend of mine who we've blogged about before. Here he is on Shindig singing an intro to the show song called "Welcome To My Place." Oh those background singers are The Blossoms!



Wes says : Delaney Bramlett and Joey Cooper (who recorded a song I wrote called"I'm A Fool") were singers of the Shindogs. Most of the guys played their own instruments. Joey played the guitar....

(388) ANN-MARGRET STARS ON A "SHINDIG" ALBUM

RCA Victor put this one out. That was Ann's label. The same label Elvis was on.

It's a "Shindig" album that "Stars" Ann-Margret. I don't think Ann was ever on the television show Shindig but she was associated with Rock and Roll early in her career not only because of her own music because of her movie roles and of course, because of her relationship with Elvis Presley.

I've blogged about Ann before - WES BRYAN is a FAN! - and we're linking to Ann's OFFICIAL web site again!

(She's been recording a Gospel album.)

(387) JOHNNY RIVERS STARS ON "SWINGING SHINDIG" ALBUM

The word "Shindig" came into common use as slang to mean...a rock and roll event...a jam...a party... and since titles are not copyrightable...


Johnny Rivers appeared on the television show but I don't think this album came out of the show.

Check out our previous posts about Johnny and go to his web site by clicking on the title above!



Here you get the whole Shindig segment including an ad for zit busters ! (Eeeewwe!) Right after the zits came Johnny playing "Maybellene" and "Memphis," both cover-tunes of the songs written by Chuck Berry. We're struck by the high energy of the shows.

(386) JAMES BURTON INTERVIEW and on SHINDIG

JAMES BURTON, studio guitarist extraordinaire worked with - almost everybody (even me) - but is most famous for working with Elvis Presley. Writer James Calemine with the Swampland site featured this interview with Burton in 2007.
Here's James playing on Shindig in 1965:

(385) THE EVERLY BROTHERS ON SHINDIG : LINK NOW TO EVERLY NET

This segment begins with the Everly Brothers performing "Wake Up Little Suzy" (a provocative song lyric for the time) and also includes James Brown.

We've posted several times over the years on the Everly Brothers (you can use that search feature to find archived posts) and we're linking to EVERLY NET which has some of the latest on the performances of Phil and Don, who've been working with other musical greats such as Paul Simon and a benefit for Habitat for Humanity.

(384) AN INTERVIEW WITH SHINDIG HOST JIMMY O'NEILL

JIMMY O'NEILL was the host of Shindig and this is a link to an interview with him posted originally by the Classic Bands site, written by Gary James. Link above!

"Q - Couldn't Shindig! have lasted as long as American Bandstand?"

"A - No doubt in my mind. ... I knew that if Jack did quit, chances were the show would not survive. Sure enough, it took about six months, but I could see almost with the first episode without Jack, that we had begun to stray off the track."

SHINDIG - THE ROCK AND ROLL TELEVISION SHOW

BUDDY HOLLY RECEIVES HIS STAR ON THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME AS A 75th BIRTHDAY PRESENT!

Linking to the article and pictures from the Los Angeles Times newspaper:

Said Maria Elena Holly: “One of his dreams was to write scores for movies and to come to Hollywood and make his mark,” Holly, 78, said during the midday ceremony outside the Capitol Records tower before a crowd of a couple hundred fans and several dozen guests from the entertainment world and local politics. The ceremony was timed in conjunction with what would have been Holly’s 75th birthday. “Half of that dream did not come true,” she said, choking back a tear. “But the other half did come true with this beautiful star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.”

(383) GLEN CAMPBELL ON SHINDIG

Since we recently posted on Glen Campbell, we thought we'd start off our videos of this one of Glen on Shindig. Check out our other posts for more on Glen!

UPDATE BY WES: I forgot to mention that Glen's appearances on Shindig and then on The Joey Bishop show caught the attention of The Smothers Brothers, and they decided to produce a show for him on CBS.

(382) JACK GOOD : SHINDIG BLACKCAT: ROCKABILLY EUROPE

SHIINDIG was the hot Rock and Roll television show that aired for a couple years starting in 1964. Eventually the Beatles and the Rolling Stones performed and at the time we didn't know what we do now, how successful they would be or how enduring.


British JACK GOOD came to the United States to be producer. We thought he did a great job of it.


We're linking here to Black Dog Rockabilly, a site from Europe, that has a great profile of Shindig Producer and Creator Jack Good.


At the end of the article the question is WHAT HAPPENED TO JACK GOOD?
DO YOU KNOW?


"(Jack) superintended the nationally-broadcast pop showcase "Shindig" which, as well as "discoveries" like the Righteous Brothers and Sonny & Cher, represented a media breakthrough for diverse black artists from Howlin' Wolf to The Chambers Brothers...


"Cher tells the story of how and she and Sonny first got started in the US, and how they were not well received because people thought they were weird. She went on to say, "There was a man called Jack Good who was presenting a USA show called Shindig, who loved us. He said "You've got to go to England," so we sold everything, and we were famous there first. Even the older generation would ask for our autographs, and when we got back to America we were huge, and everyone thought we were English."


THIS MONTH WE FOCUS ON SHINDIG!

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

(381) RCA A GREAT BIG RECORD LABEL

Elvis Presley left the Sun record label because RCA bought his contract from Sam Phillips about a year later, in 1955. So when I met Elvis in 1957 the old hound dog was already on a great big label, RCA.

Elvis is still on RCA!

We're linking to the RCA site!

In the 1920's RCA (Radio Corporation of America), which manufactured radios - the way most Americans first heard a record, purchased Victor and the label became RCA Victor. In the early 1950's RCA Victor was one of the big five. The others were Capitol, Mercury, Columbia, and Decca. EMI, the biggest label in the United Kingdom bought Capitol in 1955.

The big labels had the money to market, and marketing was an important part of moving a record into stores quickly so that sales could move it up the chart.

The smaller labels didn't have much of a marketing budget so it was up to the entertainer to promote. Sometimes playing a song on radio or TV sent fans into the record stores where there were few to no records to buy. They bought something else, something available.

By the late 1950's, the smaller independent labels that had been pioneers in releasing Rock and Roll records began to loose sales to the great big labels.

HOUND DOG SONGWRITER JERRY LEIBER HEADS FOR THE ROCK AND ROLL MANSION IN HEAVEN

"Rock 'n' roll songwriter Jerry Leiber, who wrote lyrics for such hits as "Hound Dog" and "Jailhouse Rock," died Monday. ...With Leiber as lyricist and partner Mike Stoller as composer, the team channeled their blues and jazz backgrounds into pop songs performed by such artists as Elvis Presley, the Coasters and Ben E. King... Their breakout hit was blues great Big Mama Thornton's 1953 rendition of "Hound Dog." Presley's version hit No. 1 in 1956."

We're linking to the Daily News article, one of many, put out by Associated Press."

Christine here : If you believe what the psychic Sylvia Browne has to say about heaven, there's a rock and roll concert going on over there where all the greats get to play together, so maybe Jerry gets to work with Elvis again! (And where Elvis gets to perform at the biggest arena ever!)

UPDATE MARCH 16 2012 We're adding the official Leiber -Stoller Site to our links list.

THE FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC BLOG : THANKS GOOGLE!

Christine here: Wes called me the other day, the anniversary of Elvis Presley's death. We reminisced. Elvis was one of the big inspirations for us to start this blog. In fact we dedicated it to him. When I first met Wes Bryan, it was in a local library where he liked to meet with some of his friends. I knew Wes and his friends liked to talk old Hollywood. One day I realized that when he said anything about Elvis there was almost a reverent hush. Wes had a lot of fun with Elvis.

Blogging was an endeavor that was new to us. We have learned so much in the process! We couldn't do it without Google Blogger, which remains at no charge to us. Google recently bought YouTube, another site with thousands of contributor posted music videos that have become a resource for music historians all over the world. When we link to a site or a video we like to think we are sending our readers to more information and experience.

One of the thrills for Wes is that this blog has attracted not only new friends like Arne in Sweden, but so many old friends have found this way to reconnect. We say hello to all of you and thank you again for your contributions to the success of Wes Bryan - My Life in Music.

(380) 1964 ELVIS' GREAT YEAR : VIVA LAS VEGAS CAME OUT

I've said that Viva Las Vegas remains one of my favorite movies. Elvis was working on it in 1963, which is when he met Ann-Margret, but it came out in 1964. (It's my favorite Elvis movie.) It was very popular, so while the Beatles were "invading" America, Elvis was having a great year too. Was he worried about the Beatles' chart toppers effecting his success? No. But he was aware.
When Elvis was in Germany he had all the top hits sent over to him. Back in the states he loaded his juke box with his favorites. It was part of the business to know who was who and what was what. At the house he often played demos for me and Johnny Rivers, wanting our opinions; which ones should he record?

(379) BILLBOARD AD FOR 5th ANNIVERSARY OF ELVIS PRESLEY'S DEATH

Friends, we're linking here to the page in BILLBOARD MAGAZINE in which a few of us ran an ad in remembrance of ELVIS PRESLEY on the 5th anniversary of his death.

The ad was in the Aug 21, 1982 edition and we continued to place these ads, gaining more contributors, for both his birthday and these remembrances.

If you go back to my earliest posts - the very beginning of this blog in 2007 - you can read a bit more about what I have to say about Elvis, who was a friend of mine from 1957 on and one of the best friends a man could have.

Use the search feature of this blog to bring up some of my memories of this great man, and a great friend.

(378) ABOUT THE TIME I MET ELVIS IN 1957 : WES BRYAN

The Brooding James Dean type? So the photograph says. That's me, Wes Bryan, in New York about the time I was signed to a contract with United Artists to act and also to sing about 1957. It was about the time that I met Elvis Presley while on a UA tour of the deep south, which included Memphis.

I was optimistic about life and worked hard. Traveling, meeting people, and performing around the country brought me out of my shyness and into my confidence about my abilities.