It's that time, time to take a break, think back on this past year, and plan for 2012. Couple of the things we'll be talking about is posting days and times, if we want to give up on our embedded player or not and perhaps substitute links to our three playlists on Youtube. We have enjoyed working on this blog and hope to continue to do so. If you have any suggestions for us, please leave a comment!
Wes Bryan and Christine Trzyna
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
ELVIS PRESLEY : IF EVERY DAY WAS LIKE CHRISTMAS
This YouTube poster did a great job of giving the history of this song, written by Red West, and performed by Elvis, and the Youtube video is original and of excellent sound quality!
To quote him, "Elvis Presley - If Every Day Was Like Christmas (1966), the last holiday single Elvis ever released, was written by a childhood friend, Red West. The Imperials Quartet and the Jordanaires are providing the backing vocals. Elvis recorded it on June 10, 1966 at RCAs Nashville studios. The single release in November 15, 1966 (If Every Day Was Like Christmas - How Would You Like To Be), it has been credited for selling over 1,000,000 copies. Red West wrote "If Every Day Was Like Christmas" in 1965 and recorded his own version on the Brent label, which was his own label, named after his son. Although the writing credits on the label show Red West's own name, the artist is shown as Bobby West. 2,000 copies were pressed and sold locally in the Memphis area around Christmas 1965."
To quote him, "Elvis Presley - If Every Day Was Like Christmas (1966), the last holiday single Elvis ever released, was written by a childhood friend, Red West. The Imperials Quartet and the Jordanaires are providing the backing vocals. Elvis recorded it on June 10, 1966 at RCAs Nashville studios. The single release in November 15, 1966 (If Every Day Was Like Christmas - How Would You Like To Be), it has been credited for selling over 1,000,000 copies. Red West wrote "If Every Day Was Like Christmas" in 1965 and recorded his own version on the Brent label, which was his own label, named after his son. Although the writing credits on the label show Red West's own name, the artist is shown as Bobby West. 2,000 copies were pressed and sold locally in the Memphis area around Christmas 1965."
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
DECEMBER 21 1970 ELVIS DELIVERED THIS LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT
National Archives link above. Elvis documents are their most popular. Here's a copy of the letter Elvis handwrote to the President and delivered to the White House.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
FROM OUR ARCHIVES : ELVIS INTO THE HOLIDAYS : POST 208
(206) ELVIS INTO THE HOLIDAYS
My friend Elvis Presley lived in Los Angeles during the years he was making movies. His houses in the early 1960's were party houses he rented in Bel Air. I was a frequent guest there, welcome to stay entire weekends if it suited me and often it did. I had some of the best times of my life there.
Of course Elvis loved his family a great deal and when he was feeling sentimental for the South, he would head for Graceland TM for the holidays. Perhaps for that reason there is no better time of the year to see the house than decorated for the holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The Elvis I knew was a dichotomy in his way. He was a famous Rock and Roller and a sensualist, but also a Gospel Singer, a devout believer in Christ, with great loyalty to family and his family of friends. To be part of his musical Rock and Roll family at the house was a honor.
My friend Elvis Presley lived in Los Angeles during the years he was making movies. His houses in the early 1960's were party houses he rented in Bel Air. I was a frequent guest there, welcome to stay entire weekends if it suited me and often it did. I had some of the best times of my life there.
Of course Elvis loved his family a great deal and when he was feeling sentimental for the South, he would head for Graceland TM for the holidays. Perhaps for that reason there is no better time of the year to see the house than decorated for the holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The Elvis I knew was a dichotomy in his way. He was a famous Rock and Roller and a sensualist, but also a Gospel Singer, a devout believer in Christ, with great loyalty to family and his family of friends. To be part of his musical Rock and Roll family at the house was a honor.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
BLUE CHRISTMAS : 1964 : BRIAN WILSON OF THE BEACH BOYS SINGING
Thanks to one of our YouTube friends we decided to post this music video, singer-songwriter, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys covering a Christmas classic. (Brian recorded Ersel Hickey's Blue Birds Over the Mountains.)
Just heard that the Beach Boys are regrouping to do a 50th Anniversary Tour! So we're linking to a news article that gives the details! Brian Wilson is well enough to tour and we're glad to hear it!
Just heard that the Beach Boys are regrouping to do a 50th Anniversary Tour! So we're linking to a news article that gives the details! Brian Wilson is well enough to tour and we're glad to hear it!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL : HIS VOICE FROM RECORDINGS IN THE 1880'S THRILL SMITHSONIAN SCIENTISTS
Breaking Yahoo news here! Recordings made in the 1880's by Alexander Graham Bell on green wax, and stored at the Smithsonian (carefully wrapped by Bell himself to be preserved) can now be listened to with new computer technology. The full story by Associated Press writer Brett Zonger should appear if you'll click on the link title above!
Monday, December 12, 2011
FROM OUR ARCHIVES (286) FRANKIE AVALON : YOU'RE ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS
FROM OUR ARCHIVES (286) FRANKIE AVALON : YOU'RE ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS
Frankie came out with a Christmas album in 1962, after acting in a film called Panic In The Year Zero, a war picture. This smooth romantic song was one of the songs he recorded for the album along with classics. Frankie and his wife have eight children and are still together after all these years.
Frankie came out with a Christmas album in 1962, after acting in a film called Panic In The Year Zero, a war picture. This smooth romantic song was one of the songs he recorded for the album along with classics. Frankie and his wife have eight children and are still together after all these years.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
FERLIN HUSKY and PATSY CLINE LET IT SNOW
Use the Google Search feature embedded in this blog to find past posts about Ferlin Husky!
Saturday, December 10, 2011
FROM OUR ARCHIVES : (344) END OF THE YEAR HOLIDAY MUSIC MEMORIES
(344) END OF THE YEAR HOLIDAY MUSIC MEMORIES
Christine remembers that her family brought live trees that waited outside until Christmas eve to be brought indoors and decorated, which is, she tells me, the custom in Central and Eastern Europe, and I was thinking about living surrounded by evergreen trees in the Smokey Mountains where my family lived when I was growing up and I still have so many well loved relatives and friends who I don't get to talking to near enough.
We don't want to rush into Christmas here, but at the same time, as we blogged a while back, CHRISTMAS was the COVER TUNE ERA way back and ever since and that is on topic!
So we looked back upon some of our older posts, discovered that many of the videos we attached were, as happens, expired, and decided we would go ahead and replace those as well as update our Youtube station and represent some of the finest memory music in the Western World!
We hope you'll enjoy listening and remembering with us!
Wes Bryan and Christine Trzyna
Christine remembers that her family brought live trees that waited outside until Christmas eve to be brought indoors and decorated, which is, she tells me, the custom in Central and Eastern Europe, and I was thinking about living surrounded by evergreen trees in the Smokey Mountains where my family lived when I was growing up and I still have so many well loved relatives and friends who I don't get to talking to near enough.
We don't want to rush into Christmas here, but at the same time, as we blogged a while back, CHRISTMAS was the COVER TUNE ERA way back and ever since and that is on topic!
So we looked back upon some of our older posts, discovered that many of the videos we attached were, as happens, expired, and decided we would go ahead and replace those as well as update our Youtube station and represent some of the finest memory music in the Western World!
We hope you'll enjoy listening and remembering with us!
Wes Bryan and Christine Trzyna
Thursday, December 8, 2011
PSYCHIC JOHN EDWARD ON CARL PERKINS, PAUL MCCARTNEY and JOHN LENNON : DECEMBER 8 1980 JOHN LENNON'S DEATH
page 151 of CROSSING OVER by John Edward
(CT: It's 1981 and Paul McCartney has sent Carl Perkins a ticket to fly to the Caribbean where he and George Martin have a recording studio. Carl plays guitar on the "Tug of War" album and spends eight days with Paul and Linda McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Beatles' producer George Martin.)
"As the time was drawing near for me to go home, I was sitting out on the patio, Carl told Dominic Ambrosio and his camera, his guitar sitting on his lap and looking like a part of him.
(Carl speaking)... "Sometimes I can sing it but I can't say it, and that night before, I wrote a song. And in the morning, I went down to the studio and said to Paul and Linda, 'I'm not good at saying good-bye, but I wrote this song last night, and I want to play it for you.' It was called 'My Old Friend'..."
Carl sang it now for Dominic with the extra emotional emphasis on the refrain: My old friend, won't you think about me every now and then...
"Well halfway through the song, I see Paul is really crying, tears flowing down his face," Carl said. "And he stepped outside. I said to Linda, 'Linda, I didn't mean to upset him.' She says, 'Carl Perkins, how did you know?' I said, 'Darlin', I don't know what yer talkin' about. How did I know what?"
John Lennon had been killed only months before outside his apart met building, the Dakota in New York. Linda explained that, although it wasn't publicly known, only days before his death, she and Paul had visited John and Yoga at the Dakota. At the end of the visit, as they were saying good-bye, John said to Paul, "Think of me every now and then, my old friend."
"Linda put her arms around me, :" Carl said now on a cold January day in Tennessee sixteen years later, "and she said, "Thank you, Carl, he needed that."
(CT: It's 1981 and Paul McCartney has sent Carl Perkins a ticket to fly to the Caribbean where he and George Martin have a recording studio. Carl plays guitar on the "Tug of War" album and spends eight days with Paul and Linda McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Beatles' producer George Martin.)
"As the time was drawing near for me to go home, I was sitting out on the patio, Carl told Dominic Ambrosio and his camera, his guitar sitting on his lap and looking like a part of him.
(Carl speaking)... "Sometimes I can sing it but I can't say it, and that night before, I wrote a song. And in the morning, I went down to the studio and said to Paul and Linda, 'I'm not good at saying good-bye, but I wrote this song last night, and I want to play it for you.' It was called 'My Old Friend'..."
Carl sang it now for Dominic with the extra emotional emphasis on the refrain: My old friend, won't you think about me every now and then...
"Well halfway through the song, I see Paul is really crying, tears flowing down his face," Carl said. "And he stepped outside. I said to Linda, 'Linda, I didn't mean to upset him.' She says, 'Carl Perkins, how did you know?' I said, 'Darlin', I don't know what yer talkin' about. How did I know what?"
John Lennon had been killed only months before outside his apart met building, the Dakota in New York. Linda explained that, although it wasn't publicly known, only days before his death, she and Paul had visited John and Yoga at the Dakota. At the end of the visit, as they were saying good-bye, John said to Paul, "Think of me every now and then, my old friend."
"Linda put her arms around me, :" Carl said now on a cold January day in Tennessee sixteen years later, "and she said, "Thank you, Carl, he needed that."
Saturday, December 3, 2011
SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR Quotation on Friendship
"One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion." - Simone de Beauvoir
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
(402) DICK KLEINER "THE RECORD SHOP" : DICKS PICKS
Dick Kleiner mentioned me and a couple of my records in his nationally-syndicated column, called. "The Record Shop" which began in 1953. I don't think I ever met Dick, but I know that his column appeared in dozens of small newspapers around the country. I believe he went on to write Hollywood journalism. I haven't been able to find out too much about him but like so many others who influenced my life in good ways, I wish I had a way to find him and say hello and Thanks!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
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
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
(401) MIDNIGHT EARL WILSON : HE ANNOUNCED THAT I LOOKED A LOT LIKE JAMES DEAN
An Evening News copy of an Earl Wilson Column that mentioned me! (We couldn't get it to enlarge so you could read it, but you can try!)
EARL WILSON was the syndicated columnist who announced that I'd been signed to United Artists and that I looked a lot like James Dean. One of the hardest working journalists that ever lived, Earl didn't just rely on contacts to give him information, he continued to interview even as the years went by. Being mentioned by Earl ever so briefly was a dream come true for the up and coming actor - singer - songwriter I was back in New York.
We're linking to his New York Times obit above which sings his praises.
We learned that Earl's son, Earl Junior, gave his father's papers to Ohio State college, the school he had graduated from.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
(399) STRICTLY OFF THE RECORD : SALT LAKE TRIBUNE REVIEW :
Some newspapers used pictures of me supplied by United Artists and other's went without. Here's one that the Salt Lake City Tribune Review published with one of my publicity photos. Christine and me found this one in a newspaper database. My father was the person on the family who kept scrapbooks of my career when I was too busy on the road to keep track.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
(398) MEDIA HOLLYWOOD STYLE : HEDDA HOPPER
Who better to move their careers to writing about Hollywood than a once very pretty young woman who came to Hollywood from a small town in Pennsylvania to act herself?
We're linking to a Biography.com which has a comprehensive biography of Hedda, who made films from 1916-1940 and then hosted Playhouse type TV shows in the 1950's.
By the time I got to Hollywood I knew Hedda was a respected and feared personality, known for feuding with her counterpart Louella Parsons. Both probably made and broke the careers of a number of Hollywood personalities but I had nothing to fear. She was in her seventies when I met her and kept an office not far from where I would once set up my own.
"In 1937, the Esquire Feature Syndicate was looking for a Hollywood columnist and found one in Hopper. Untried, her column was sold to 13 papers and a career was launched... When the column began appearing in the prestigious Los Angeles Times, her status shot upward and her power grew. Her column appeared in 85 metropolitan papers, 3000 small-town dailies, and 2000 weeklies. When she replaced John Chapman at The New York Daily News, she picked up an additional audience of 5,750,000 daily and 7,500,000 on Sunday. She appeared on weekly radio shows and wrote two best sellers: From Under My Hat and The Whole Truth and Nothing But."
We're linking to a Biography.com which has a comprehensive biography of Hedda, who made films from 1916-1940 and then hosted Playhouse type TV shows in the 1950's.
By the time I got to Hollywood I knew Hedda was a respected and feared personality, known for feuding with her counterpart Louella Parsons. Both probably made and broke the careers of a number of Hollywood personalities but I had nothing to fear. She was in her seventies when I met her and kept an office not far from where I would once set up my own.
"In 1937, the Esquire Feature Syndicate was looking for a Hollywood columnist and found one in Hopper. Untried, her column was sold to 13 papers and a career was launched... When the column began appearing in the prestigious Los Angeles Times, her status shot upward and her power grew. Her column appeared in 85 metropolitan papers, 3000 small-town dailies, and 2000 weeklies. When she replaced John Chapman at The New York Daily News, she picked up an additional audience of 5,750,000 daily and 7,500,000 on Sunday. She appeared on weekly radio shows and wrote two best sellers: From Under My Hat and The Whole Truth and Nothing But."
Saturday, November 5, 2011
IT WAS GREAT MEETING AND GETTING TO KNOW
It was great meeting and getting to know some of the artists who were covered in these magazines. As a teenager I ate up the stories in magazines like these. But once I was a star myself, I learned that some writers made up sensational stories without even talking to the artist and some publishers published anyway.Debbie Reynolds was just in the news because she put some of her Hollywood memorabilia collection up for auction, including some dresses that Marilyn Monroe wore in her films that earned Debbie millions.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
SHARTA GADISON Quote on Friendship
"Some friends come and go like a season. Others are arranged in our lives for good reason." - Sharita Gadison
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Monday, October 31, 2011
(279) BOBBY PICKETT MONSTER MASH 1962 : FROM OUR ARCHIVES
Monster Mash was a hit and became a Halloween Classic, and while you can make a great living as a successful songwriter, and the residuals can come in for years on a "one hit wonder," Bobby's novelty song has kept ringing the cash registers for the last 47 years.
(MAKE THAT 49 YEARS in 2011!)
I remember how happy we all were for Bobby when this song hit! Wes Bryan
I'm over here doing the "Transylvania Twist" since I'm related to Vlad the Impaler!
Christine Trzyna
video replaced October 2012
(MAKE THAT 49 YEARS in 2011!)
I remember how happy we all were for Bobby when this song hit! Wes Bryan
I'm over here doing the "Transylvania Twist" since I'm related to Vlad the Impaler!
Christine Trzyna
video replaced October 2012
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
WES BRYAN RARE RECORD : I'LL CRY MY LOVE AND PIERE LA FITTE on BLUE STAR
On my own label BLUE STAR, I put out a single 45 RPM with "I'LL CRY MY LOVE" on one side and "PIERE LA FITTE" on the other. Piere La Fitte was about my favorite pirate. My cousin Dean went into the recording studio with me to produce some of the sound effects on the record. (The song was originally written and demoed as a presentation for a movie.)
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