SAYING HELLO TO OUR INTERNATIONAL READERS! CANADA and POLAND HAVE BEEN HITTING THIS SITE LIKE CRAZY!

As you know, we do our best to post interesting information, historical music videos, a few good pictures, and a bit about my life in the music business, starting as a singer, then singer-songwriter, then music producer. I've had an uncommon life and decided to write about it but several years ago I was shocked to find out that Rockin Country Style (RCS) and the on line Rockabilly Hall of Fame mentioned me. Me on the Internet? It took some getting used to.

Christine Trzyna and I wrote for a long time before Google installed some basic statistical info gadgets on blogs and we find the data that comes up kind of interesting.

Christine, who is an American with Polish ancestors, tells me that suddenly a lot more readers are coming to the site from Canada and Poland. We think the Canadian hits are a result of Ted Stauton's record lable history site which we've posted on with links to his recent Wes Bryan page. (We thank you again Ted!) She likes the idea that there are Polish rock and roll fans checking in especially because she hopes to visit Poland someday. She went to the Polish festival here in Los Angeles last year at one of the oldest Catholic churches in the country and got to hear "The Polish Elvis" who came in from Chicago. She said he had a great voice and she gave him our contact info but he never got in touch after he left town.

We appreciate hearing from our readers and we want to thank you again for keeping us in mind - we know you only have so much time to get on the net. In the last year top hits came from USA, Germany, UK, Russia, Canada, Netherlands, France, Spain, Poland, and Australia. In the last month it was USA, Canada, Russia, Germany, Poland, Italy, France, Sweden, Brazil, and UK. In the last week or so it was USA, Russia, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Thailand, Japan, Canada, and Columbia. In the last few days Finland and India have been checking in too! We even got one hit from Uganda!

It makes us happy...

THIS IS NOT A "CASH FOR CLICKS" SITE

Just a reminder... WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC has no affiliation with any "Cash for Clicks" type organization.  We love it when you visit us because you're interested in our subject, but no organization is getting a penny because you visit.  We mention this because we notice when there are a big number of hits from another link.  We visit those links to see what's up.

(414) JIMMY BOWEN and FRANK SINATRA and BOBBY DARIN and KEELY SMITH and DEAN MARTIN and DINO DESI AND BILLY and...

The last few posts and next several are about THE INTERCONNECTIONS PEOPLE IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS HAD FOR SEVERAL YEARS IN THE 1960's WHICH IS TO SAY AGAIN THAT WE WERE ALL INTERTWINED and that many of us from my old early rock and roll crowd that moved from New York to Los Angeles had moved from performing into song writing or music production or music publishing.

I never knew Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin personally the way I knew Elvis Presley. I heard a lot about them - knew of them. My relationship with them was usually one or two people away because I knew Jimmy Bowen and Bobby Darin. as an example. Jimmy was producing music at Frank Sinatra's lable Reprise and Bobby, besides singing himself, was publishing music, buying songs he liked and presenting them to singers he admired, trying to create an estate with his son's future in mind.

I don't remember exactly how Keely Shaye Smith, who had been married to Louie Prima and had performed in Vegas with him and then divorced, and my old friend Jimmy Bowen met, but Jimmy and Keely married in about 1965.

Keely remains one of my all time favorite singers. She put a CD out a few years ago and it was terrific, her voice as good if not better than ever! But let's slow the story down a little...

FRANK SINATRA quote

"May you live to be 100 and may the last voice you hear be mine." - Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra had some horrible, I mean rotten, stuff to say about rock and roll and rock and rollers, including Elvis and The Beatles, and well, everyone is entitled to their opinion. As a young singer early in his career he earned the screams of the Bobbi Soxers, then, as things do, time passed and things changed. Frank changed too. (He eventually covered a song written by George Harrison of the Beatles, "Something," which he said he loved.) And when he had his own label he hired one of the original Rock and Rollers, Jimmy Bowen, to produce for him...

JIMMY BOWEN : SINGER SONGWRITER AND FAMOUS MUSIC PRODUCER TO BE (307) FROM OUR ARCHIVES

FROM OUR ARCHIVES POST (307) JIMMY BOWEN : SINGER SONGWRITER AND FAMOUS MUSIC PRODUCER TO BE! from April 26 2010.


JIMMY BOWEN figures in my story from way back. I met Jimmy Bowen while he was passing through Akron, Ohio. He took me to a record hop there, where my first record was played. It was a record I home made in Winston-Salem without a label so it could not be played on the radio legally.

Jimmy Bowen and Buddy Knox had a group called The Rhythm Orchids. (They started out wearing light purple shirts when they played!) Buddy Knox and Jimmy Bowen were both Texas boys. Jimmy played a stand up bass, an instrument that featured in early rock and roll but soon disappeared from road performances.

Eventually I would perform with Jimmy on the road while on Roulette Records. I was on the Buddy Knox tour but I would occasionally meet up with Jimmy's tour.

The two of us showed up to work at American Music in Los Angeles. The two of us wrote some songs together... including "Break Down and Cry" which was recorded by Fabian and "Don't Stay Away" which was recorded by Jerry Fuller.

JIMMY BOWEN : MY BABY'S GONE : FLIP SIDE OF BUDDY KNOX'S PARTY DOLL

JIMMY BOWEN and the RHYTHM ORCHIDS : "My Baby's Gone" was the flip side of fellow Rhythm Orchid BUDDY KNOX'S hit "Party Doll." Jimmy was instrumental in my early career as far back as Akron, Ohio. This song is one of many I remember from touring in the late 1950's. The Rhythm Orchids formed when Jimmy and Buddy and Don Lanier met at West Texas State College. Jimmy played stand up base, Donny played lead guitar, and David Alldred, who they first met when they recorded with Norman Petty, played drums.

(413) DICK CLARK AMERICAN BANDSTAND - I PERFORMED ON THE SHOW THREE TIMES

The first time I performed on Dick Clark -American Bandstand I went to Philadephia, where I performed "Tiny Spaceman," and "Lonesome Love" in two separate spots.

The second time I performed on Dick Clark - American Bandstand I performed "Melodie D'Amour" and "I Guess I'll Never Know," (the song posted a couple down) in two separate spots.

The third time I performed on Dick Clark - American Bandstand I performed "Freeze."

Clips of these songs are on the left sidebar of this blog, in the Audio Gallery.

Dick's wife Kari was looking for some old films of me on the show, which I don't know still exist. Dick was so much a part of the music business and promotions for so many years, his life touched the lives of thousands of people. I'm one of them.

DICK CLARK PASSES AT 82: IT WAS GREAT TO HAVE KNOWN YOU!

Gary Levin of USA Today with the breaking news. Dick Clark, "The World's Oldest Teenager" suffered a massive heart attack this morning, after 8 years of rehabilitating from his stroke in 2004. Click on the title to get to that article...

http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/dick-clark ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME DICK CLARK

FROM OUR ARCHIVES: (15) I APPEAR ON DICK CLARK'S AMERICAN BANDSTAND September 7, 2007

I moved to New York City officially, but United Artists put me on the road to success in the music business - a record promo tour. One of my first appearances was on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I performed a novelty song called "Tiny Spaceman." Clark's set designer had a little spaceship whirling around my head. Futuristic notions of traveling in space were popular then and so were novelty songs. But I have to admit, I couldn't imagine James Dean singing it.

THE CRICKETS: 2012 INDUCTEES INTO THE ROCK : I RECORDED WITH THEM AT NORMAN PETTY'S

The Crickets were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this past weekend! I'm happy about it! They deserve the credit! We're linking to their bio on that site which starts like this:

"The Crickets were Buddy Holly's Buddy group from 1956 to 1958, a period of time when Holly was one of rock and roll’s hottest stars and main musical innovators. In fact, Holly appears to be a member of the Crickets himself on the cover of his first album, which is credited to the “Chirping” Crickets. Although there’s no question that Holly was the central figure – lead singer, lead guitarist and chief songwriter – the Crickets contributed heavily to Holly’s sound and success. As guitarist Joe Mauldin told Holly biographers John Goldrosen and John Beecher, “Other stars kept their musicians on salary but Buddy said, ‘No, man – share and share alike. You’re as much a part of this group as I am. If it wasn’t for you guys, I couldn’t perform the show that I put on.’” Moreover, Buddy Holly and the Crickets were a self-contained group that had two guitars, bass and drums and wrote their own material, serving as the blueprint for a torrent of rock bands that followed in the Sixties, including the Beatles..."

I did two recordings with the Crickets left behind at Norman Petty's studio. Here is "Blue Baby" and that's the Crickets backing me. Buddy Knox was there with me.

This video was provided by Arne, who has a great YouTube station, was the first person to ever post a Wes Bryan video, and has become one of our friends in Sweden. You can go to this video on YouTube and link to his station. The Crickets who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were Jerry Allison, Joe B. - Joe B. Mauldin, Niki Sullivan, and Sonny Curtis.

Since the Crickets are part of my story we've posted quite a bit on them as well as Buddy Holly. We invite you to use the search function of this Google Blogger to find previous posts!

THE COMETS : 2012 INDUCTEES ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME!

Franny Beecher, Danny Cedrone, Joey D’Ambrosio (aka Joey Ambrose), Johnny Grande, Ralph Jones, Marshall Lytle, Rudy Pompilli, Al Rex, Dick Richards, Billy Williamson are the COMETS who were just inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! We're linking to their bio on that site, which has plentiful information for you to read.

"Rock Around the Clock" has become a rock and roll classic that defines a time in the 1950's when we went to diners where the waitresses came out to the cars to take you order and deliver your order - burgers - shakes - on rollerskates. They were the first rock and rollers I ever heard. This historical music video is about the "confusion" some people had about the new music they were hearing on the radio...

ERNIE FREEMAN : THE MUSIC PRODUCER : FROM OUR ARCHIVES POST 208

Post (208) ERNIE FREEMAN THE MUSIC PRODUCER from November 7 2008

I started hanging out at the Musician's Union when I didn't have anything else to do, though I was busy - so busy! - in those years. Ernie was an African-American pianist arranger who "Made The Strings Jump." (He also produced but was rarely credited for it.)

Like many other musicians who worked in the studio playing first, Ernie had a lot of studio recording experience before he started arranging.

The Musician's Union was a great place to meet accomplished musicians, singers, arrangers, producers, and songwriters and network.

Linked at the title: Here's the Rockin' Country Style discography for Ernie Freeman, who in 1962 was the arranger for the Buddy Knox album that made it Gold, with the song "All By Myself" on it that Buddy and I wrote.

Here's a link to great information on Ernie's career as an album maker that has a picture of him.

UPDATED APRIL 2012 THIS NEW GREAT VIDEO!

WES BRYAN : I GUESS I'LL NEVER KNOW

"Freeze" was the first song I wrote and recorded while on United Artists. When I was on Clock I wrote and recorded "So Blue Over You." This was the first song I wrote and recorded while on Roulette, my second record label where I was signed by Morris Levy. I'm pleased to find this one on YouTube!

WIRED SCIENCE BRINGS YOU THE SOUND OF WORDS WATERFALLS AND DUST DEVILS : YOU HAVE TO HEAR THIS

We couldn't resist posting a link to this, even though other planets are little off topic here at WES BRYAN - MY LIFE IN MUSIC. We searched for the best link to this recent news; scientists are trying to figure out what sound is like on other planets. (When you get to this link which has an AUDIO GALLERY, you may have to download some software to hear it.

OK we want to hear Elvis singing on Mars!

CHARLES DICKENS Quote on Friendship

"There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate!" - Charles Dickins

(412) RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS : 1965 : BOBBY HATFIELD and BILL MEDLEY

This performance was from 1965, I believe. We're linking to an interview that's part of the Righteous Brother's official site. Bill is, as you probably know by now, still performing.

JERRY LEE LEWIS MARRIES FOR THE 7th TIME!

Jerry is one who believes in marriage and keeps believing! Linking to one of many articles about Jerry's 7th marriage, this one from the Los Angeles Times explains just how close to home Jerry's new bride is!

(411) BARRY MANN and CYNTHIA WEIL : SOUNTRACK OF OUR LIVES : LINK TO THEIR OFFICIAL SITE

W're linking her to the official site for extraordinary songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, a husband- wife team that started off in New York in the Brill Building.

Their official site really says it all, so just to paraphrase a bit so you'll want to read the whole thing, they started their career "in the 60's at Aldon Music, the legendary music publishing company founded by Don Kirshner and Al Nevins. They were members of a teen writing staff, which included Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield and Carole Bayer Sager. Among their other Brill Building colleagues were the likes of Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, Jerry Lieber, Mike Stoller and Phil Spector. .... "Barry and Cynthia, together, have amassed an incredible 112 pop, country and R&B awards from Broadcast Music Inc., recognizing highest performance popularity on American radio and television in a particular year and 115 Millionaire awards, signifying radio performances of a million or more plays."

Known for writing YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN FEELING, which brought The Righteous Brothers to Fame, and one of the most covered songs in history, as well as so many others you've sung in the shower.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES : MARCH 28 1958 : ELVIS IN THE ARMY

ARC Identifier: 299792, Title: "Acknowledgement of service obligation signed by Elvis Presley on March 24, 1958, to indicate that he understands that his total service obligation (both active and reserve) is 6 years, 03/24/1958"

Archives properties. The letter Elvis signed regarding his army enlistment.

(410) PUBLISHING HOUSES BUY SONGS LIKE STOCKS : THERE'S A DISCLAIMER TO READ BEFORE YOU USE THE BMI SITE TO SEARCH

The song as you remember it, even if you are looking at the plastic record right this minute and are reading from the label, may have been sold since it first appeared for sale in record stores, and the older the record is, the better the chances that it's moved from one publishing house to another, or now has split publishing represented. The reason is that buying songs for a publishing house account are kind of like buying stocks! The buyer knows that some songs are going to pay for years, others for special use, others because a new performer has re-recorded, and some will just settle, but are a part of a body of work.

This is one of the reasons you accept a disclaimer on the BMI website before you search for the owner of an intellectual property, because there are always changes going on. An intellectual property attorney is sometimes needed if there's any question.

"Copyright ©2012 Broadcast Music, Inc. All rights reserved. ( This is the BMI disclaimer)

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained on this website, BMI provides no warranty regarding the accuracy of the information contained herein. The materials in this site are provided “as is” and without any warranties of any kind expressed or implied. All warranties expressed or implied are excluded to the fullest extent permissible by law."

There's more legalese after that. Disclaimers are on other such sites too... we're just using BMI as an example here. The cataloging process is never ending. The changes are never ending. We don't know how they ever really catch up!

JOHNNY RIVERS COVERS YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVING FEELING

(409) BMI TYPE DATABASES CAN BE WRONG

The ASCAP and BMI type songwriter databases, which help you find out who owns the intellectual properties to a song, can be wrong.

The reasons why are easy to explain.

When a songwriter sells his or her portion of the earnings on a song or leaves their portion in an inheritance to another person, someone who never wrote a song in their life can appear on the songwriter portion. A original partnership of two can appear to be a team of twelve. IT'S NOT REALLY A SONGWRITER'S DATABASE. It's a song OWNERSHIP database, about accounting.

Sometimes publishers sell part of their rights to a song to another publisher so more than one publisher may be involved.

A songwriter, artist, or publisher, who is registered with ASCAP or BMI is always locatable, should you want to use their song and pay them what you owe.

You simply contact the organization, tell them what song, and they contact the songwriter. Or if the songwriter has sold all their work or moved their work to another database/organization, they may have the address or be willing to forward for you.

ELVIS PRESLEY COVERS YOU'VE GOT THAT LOVIN FEELING

AN IRISH BLESSING : FRIENDSHIP

May there always be work for your hands to do,
May your purse always hold a coin or two.
May the sun always shine on your windowpane,
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you,
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Irish Blessing