Willie Dixon

Having read Deke Dickerson's essay on seeing Willie Dixon in person in his home town (http://muleskinner.blogspot.com/2011/06/willie-dixon-blues-songwriter-and-bass.html) I am inspired to do same. Like Deke, I was a pretty new fan to blues music at the time in the early 1970s, but I was of legal age and needed no chaperone as he did!

Willie Dixon and His Chicago Blues All-Stars played a six-night gig at the Red Baron in Lawrence, Kansas (not to be confused with the Red Dog Inn downtown), in March 1973, six months after Muddy Waters did a similar six nights. Just like with Muddy's gig, I chose to see the Saturday night show, the final night. Willie's band that night included the great Lafayette Leake on piano, Carey Bell on harmonica, Buster Benton (of "Spider In My Stew" fame) on guitar, and I think Clifton James on drums. At this point I know I had never seen anyone play the upright bass, an instrument I would become extremely used to seeing as the rockabilly revival started up in a few years. Everybody in the group took turns playing their own tunes and of course Willie sang oh-so-many tunes he wrote for hitmakers at Chess Records, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Koko Taylor, Sonny Boy Williamson, Bo Diddley, and Chuck Berry. Lafayette played great piano that sounded the way he did on records and unlike any rock band player I'd ever heard. Willie played his bass solo a couple of times where he plucks the strings not unlike the rockabilly doghouse bass players. After the show I asked Lafayette what he likes to play for himself at home. He looked at me with utmost seriousness and said "Chopin and spirituals" as if it offered him release from those dirty ol' blues. Carey Bell then offered us canned Budweisers. Having politely declined, I suspect he was sensing some religious convictions so he exclaimed "Oh well, hallelujah then." The perfect response.

Almost a decade later, Willie Dixon returned to Lawrence, Kansas, again shortly after what would be Muddy Waters' last appearance in our area, at the larger Lawrence Opera House in October 1981 (I still have my ticket stubs to all of these shows.) A funny thing happened regarding the opening act. They were a local group of young, black, local musicians who played then-contemporary R&B, somewhere in the funk/disco/rap range that met with stone cold silence from the white blues fan audience. …crickets… After their set, the members of this band set up camp at a table near the stage. They were laughing their heads off. I could overhear part of the talk. They seemed to think that if the audience didn’t like them they would certainly walk out on this old man who uses a cane. I was set to watch their expressions when they saw the audience response to the appearance of Willie Dixon. Well, not at all surprisingly, the audience jumped to its collective feet and screamed frantic applause before Willie’s last name was said by the announcer. Indeed Willie hobbled out on a cane, having had a foot removed due to his diabetes. The funk dudes’ jaws dropped to the floor. They could not figure out why everyone in the place was already at volume 10. I don’t think they ever got it. Well, at this show, Willie had sons Butch & Freddie on bass and piano. The real treat for me was Snooky Pryor on harmonica, another Chicago blues legend. He wore an old fashioned gray suit. When he cupped the harmonica to his mouth and stood at a profile angle, with that old suit on I swear he looked just like the black and white photos of Sonny Boy Williamson. And he sounded as good, too. Another great night of South side Chicago blues, performed in a Midwest town less than a day’s drive from Chicago, to a very with-it but younger audience.

Daddy-o Gives You a Bonanza of Box Sets in 2009

Here is my annual review of compact discs and records that I think were exceptional!

2008 was a slow year for me as far as there being a number of extraordinary compact discs and records released. Some yes, but not a lot. I thought the lousy economy had something to do with it and I expected the trend to continue in 2009. Not so. Early in the year, a number of multi-disc sets came out that had me in orbit! By years end there were several multi-disc CD sets released that I had dreamed about for years. They finally materialized and the discs were spinning madly at home and in my car. They are all pictured here and merit an alphabetical mention for each.

Hank Ballard and the Midnighters "Nothing But Good (1952-1962)", Bear Family BCD16795EK


Let me start off by saying that in 2008 I swear I could hear vintage 1950s recordings on Bear Family compact discs with ever greater audio quality than ever. I am sure newer digital transferring methods are being used by Bear Family because their compact discs sound better than ever before and their CDs in 2009 confirm what my ears are hearing. This five disc set contains everything Hank Ballard and the Midnighters recorded for the King label in Cincinnati. Hank Ballard actually stayed on the label into the 1970s making solo recordings that went ignored by most. James Brown remained a champion for Ballard's cause which is a good explanation for his continued releases on the label. Those solo recordings are promised as a future box set as stated in the booklet contained in this box set. As for these recordings, having the opportunity to hear them all leaves me thinking that Ballard and company were very prolific and as such not every tune is a classic. The number of jaw-dropping tunes is pretty high, but there are some tunes where the ensemble sounds a little uninspired or tired. Complete sets like this make this apparent to the listener but that is what is nice about box sets like this. We get to hear them all and decide for ourselves which tunes are great and which are so-so. Hank Ballard and the Midnighters also help make clear the distinctions between doo-wop groups and tough-sounding rhythm 'n' blues vocal groups that come a lot closer to rock 'n' roll. Ballard had a handful of early hits about a loose girl named Annie, which inspired other rock 'n' rollers of the period to name-drop Annie in their songs. Then he invented the Twist and managed to make some of his best later hits while Chubby Checker claimed the hit version of "The Twist". My wife and I saw Hank Ballard and the Midnighters onstage in 1987. It was one of the wildest concerts I ever saw! When he first appeared onstage with his close-cropped hair, snug-fitting suit, and dancing my wife exclaimed "My God, he's the black Pee-Wee Herman!".

While on the subject of the King Record label, here is a good place to urge you all to read two excellent books about King Records. Can you believe it has taken this long for someone to write books about King? Shoulda happened decades ago! As it is we can thank these two authors:

"King of the Queen City: the Story of King Records" by Jon Hartley Fox, University of Illinois Press (This publisher has some really fine books on early rock 'n' roll and rhythm 'n' blues!) As expected the book is full of outrageous stories about label boss Syd Nathan, plus there are separate chapters about each type of music released on King and its subsidiary labels. The author goes to great pains to stress how the different types of music of that period drew inspiration from each other and is easily able to site specific examples that took place under the roof of King Records.

"King Records of Cincinnati" by Randy McNutt, Arcadia Publishing (This book is one of a large series of books in a series called "Images of America") McNutt became known to rockabilly fans years ago with his mostly-picture book entitled "We Wanna Boogie". This is a similar but more professionally produced picture book with very well written lengthy captions depicting the scenes of rhythm 'n' blues, country 'n' western and rock 'n' roll music that poured forth from the studios and pressing plant at King Records from the 1940s through the 1960s. While you are at it, you should read McNutt's other book in this series entitled "The Cincinnati Sound" which covers the music scene of the entire area, including the also fondly remembered Fraternity record label.

The Beatles: the stereo (16 CDs + DVD) and mono (13 CDs) box sets

The Beatles recordings for EMI/Capitol/Apple Records have been freshly remastered and reissued in individual albums as originally released in the U. K., and also in these box sets. There are subtle differences in these CDs in the way we have heard these same songs for decades on records, radio, and the older CDs. The big difference, I think, is that there are instruments and voices that were more buried in the mix on earlier versions that are heard here more clearly--not more loud but more separated and I like it. I listened to these discs and often remarked that in places I heard things I never noticed before. By no means did they change things and screw them up. I have had to explain to younger people the reason why there were mono and stereo Beatles albums in the first place is because for a decade EVERYONE released their new LPs in both mono and stereo because not everyone had stereo record players yet. There were format wars even back then, like a few years ago when movies were released on both video cassettes and DVDs--not everyone owned a DVD player yet. Now, in the case of the Beatles, we have heard especially since the 1980s that the difference between Beatles stereo and mono songs went beyond different mixes. In many cases significantly different takes and edits were used between the two. I am not going to list them for you here. I will say that I have heard both box sets and can tell there are a number of differences apparent. Enough people care about these differences to warrant the trouble of putting both stereo and mono versions on separate box sets. The limited edition of the mono box quickly sold out causing a panic so a second pressing was made, same as what happened when the Traveling Wilburys were reissued in a limited deluxe edition.

Allow me a few lines here to comment on the curious phenomenon of Beatle-bashing that seemed to start in the 1990s when the Beatles "Anthology" project was completed (The Internet started about the same time and is likely responsible for giving voice to this complaint). There seems to be two groups of people who gripe about the Beatles. The smaller, older group are those who were rock 'n' roll musicians in the early 1960s, mostly playing in surf or frat bands, who overnight found themselves musically out of style. I almost feel sorry for them. Then there are those younger folk who were a little too young to have experienced Beatlemania firsthand but liked punk rock in the 1970s. Many rockabilly revival fans seemed to have been part of the punk scene and often express disdain for the Beatles and the whole psychedelic era. I keep some distance from both camps because I have always liked the Beatles ("like" puts it too mildly, actually) and I heard psychedelic music in the 1960s that I still like today. For me, it was heavy metal that brought an end to my enthusiasm with new styles of rock music. So, for all my love of first generation rock 'n' roll music and its musical kissin' cousins, you won't find me among the Beatle-bashers. Nope. Not me. All you need is love.

Chuck Berry "You Never Can Tell: His Complete Chess Recordings 1960-1966" Hip-o Select 93783

This is the second four-CD set containing the Chuckmeister's complete recordings for Chess Records. When Chuck got out of jail, he made some of his very best records in 1963 and 1964. They are among his biggest hits, too. In 1965, Chuck's guitar started sounding strangely out of tune all the time and his music went to Hell. There have been a very few flashes of brilliance from him since. This CD set is necessary because there is some very good music on it. At this point, Chuck left Chess for Mercury. Since Universal Music owns both labels these days they could put all of his Mercury recordings on another four CD set. It won't be pretty. Chuck returned to Chess near the end of the decade and remained until the label folded up in 1976. All of those later Chess records could come out on a final CD set. Completest fans will add both to their collections but few will enjoy the music as much as that heard on this and the first CD set. Again, it is nice to hear it all and judge for ourselves which songs are good.

Eddie Cochran "Somethin' Else: the Ultimate Collection" Bear Family BCD15989HK

A four CD box set by Eddie came out in the 1980s. Then the Rockstar label was created largely for the purpose of releasing rare and previously unreleased recordings by Eddie Cochran. Rockstar has put out MANY Eddie records and CDs some of them featuring Eddie playing guitar on other peoples' records since he was a daily fixture in Los Angeles recording studios before he was offered the opportunity to make records of his own. We will likely never hear the end of obscure records by singers no one remembers with Eddie plucking strings on them. Rockstar Records should be around for some time (even though they still don't have a website!). So it was indeed time for a fresh comprehensive collection of Eddie Cochran. This eight CD box set fills the bill. Discs 1 - 4 contain Eddie's studio recordings of his own. There are two discs of radio and television performances and interviews. There is one disc of Eddie playing guitar and singing on other artists' records (remember I said there are many more discs of this stuff elsewhere). The box ends with a disc of alternate takes of songs heard earlier in the box set. What is really smart is the fact that this box set was released on the 49th anniversary of Eddie's death rather than on the 50th anniversary as one would have expected. The reason being that as stories in the news about the 50th anniversary of his death rolls around this CD box set will already be in stock in stores and mail order firms thus making it easier to be purchased. Too bad a similar marketing strategy wasn't in place for the 50th anniversary of the death of Buddy Holly.

Link Davis "Big Mamou" Bear Family BCD16523AR

Back in the late 1970s when I first started listening to rockabilly music I got two really nice various artists compilation LPs called "Starday-Dixie Rockabillys" Volumes 1 & 2. I really like the tunes heard there by Rudy Grazell, Groovey Joe Poovey, and Link Davis. Many years later I got CD compilations by Grayzell and Poovey that further proved their impressive talent. There have been earlier compilations by Link Davis but in '09 Bear Family worked their particular reissue magic with this CD. By the way, this is the ONLY new single disc CD I heard in 2009 that really knocked me out. Link Davis, it would seem, cared little for the real world and was forever drawn to the muse and vibe of music and the good times where he played it. And what different styles he excelled at! On this disc you'll hear the most amazing Cajun music you will ever hear, honky-tonk stuff, and truly unhinged rockabilly! Link played fiddle on the Cajun tunes and saxophone on the rockabilly tunes. What a combination of instruments! He played guitar, too. It was the tune "Sixteen Chicks" that attracted me to Link Davis long ago. That tune is here along with everything else he had released on the Okeh and Starday labels. All of it just fantastic stuff. You really don't think of country musicians playing polyrhythmic music but, my God, wait until you hear "Slippin' and Slidin' Sometimes". There are percussionists beating out multiple African-sounding rhythms that are hypnotising. Unbelievable. Look at these photographs of Link, portraits and onstage shots. He always has a "What? me worry?" look on his face.

Buddy Holly "Not Fade Away: the Complete Studio Recordings and More" Hip-o Select B0012875-02

In 1979 a six LP box set came out with all then-known recordings by Buddy Holly. The rockabilly revival was in full swing at the time and fans were thrilled to hear all this music. More recordings by Buddy have surfaced over the years which were duly released on unauthorized records and CDs, some with very impressive sound and packaging. Rightful owners of Buddy's recordings are just now making legitimate release of all these recordings on this six CD set. It is very nice to have here the biggest collection of Buddy's music to date. The sound is really very good on the master recordings. Still, Buddy Holly fans are very hard group to make happy. Online forums list known recordings not included. A few alternate takes are curiously not heard. From the beginning we knew that this CD set would not include any of Buddy Holly's recorded interviews or guitar and vocal performances on other artists' records. These omissions are disappointing seeing as how those recordings are considered to be important and so much effort was otherwise made to make this CD set complete. Why not take that extra step and include everything? I have said in other posts on this blog that I greatly prefer compacts discs housed in jewel cases rather than any other kind of packaging. Major American CD labels really have this awful thing about making multi-disc sets with the CDs put in pockets that scrape the playing surface every time the disc is removed and put back. I REALLY don't like that and I want this practiced stopped. As I have said many times before, I prefer multi disc sets packaged in cube, long box, or LP sized boxes with all the discs in jewel cases. As Holly historian and consultant Bill Griggs recently said, if nothing else we get to hear recordings by Buddy Holly here that have never been legitimately released before.

George Jones "Walk Through This World With Me" Bear Family BCD16928EI (5 discs) and "A Good Year For the Roses" Bear Family BCD16929DI (4 discs)

These two box sets combined contain everything George Jones recorded for the Musicor label, which covers the years 1965-1971. George has said he recorded too many songs for Musicor. That comment is explained in the booklets enclosed with these CD sets. At the time these recordings were made George had been making records for ten years. At this point he had truly mastered the art of singing and the art of studio recording. He knew the studios, the musicians, and the engineers intimately. These people were able to make subtle shadings in their performances that were easy to hear and appreciate. Everything was in place to make brilliant recordings. And they did, many times. The only real weak spot were some of the compositions themselves. By the time these records were made, songwriting in Nashville had become a 9 to 5 job, with dozens of new titles published weekly with the hope that now and then some artist would breathe lyrical art in a few of them and convince the listening public to appreciate them. It sounds here like George and the band was pulling lead sheets off the top of a stack and giving them a whirl while the tape rolled. That may be just what happened. George's singing and the band were right on target almost every time. It is only the weakness of the lyrics and the repetition of rhythms and instrumental solos that make this body of work short of consistent brilliance. I'm not complaining, though! This really is excellent country music by one of the three greatest country singers of all time.

George Jones is the absolute champion when it comes to singing with a chip on his shoulder. This man's songs are so full of self-doubt, personal inadequacies, moral weakness, and suspicions of other people. A poster boy for mental health he ain't. Therein lies one of the fascinations people have with country music. That anyone can sing these kinds of songs or listen to them with a straight face is truly beyond me. I always listen to music like this with tongue firmly in cheek and I often burst out laughing during these songs when I am sure the artists meant nothing funny by them. I clearly don't take these songs seriously. Forgive me if I don't. But I do really enjoy country music.

Freddie King "Taking Care of Business (1956-1973)" Bear Family BCD16979GK

When I first started to listen to blues music in the early 1970s after I got out of high school, one of the very first things I was taught about the blues is that the best guitar players were all named King. That turned out to be close to the truth. There are few blues fans who don't love some of the records of B. B. King (the most famous blues musician of all time), Albert King (my personal favorite of the Three Kings of the Blues), and Freddie King, the most rocking sounding of the three. Freddie didn't start making records for Federal Records (a subsidiary label of the heralded King Records) until 1960, so he is considered younger than the Muddy Waters/Jimmy Reed/Howlin' Wolf generation of Chicago blues musicians. Freddie is famous for his guitar/piano/bass/drum quartet heard on many of his Federal records. No rhythm guitar, no horns, no harmonica. Just a solid quartet with Freddie playing all of the guitar parts and constant rhythmic support from Sonny Thompson on piano who never seemed to run out of ideas for piano counterpoint to Freddie's guitar. It was a formula that worked over and over on both vocal and instrumental tunes. Of course, they knew better than to use this instrumentation on EVERY song. On some they indeed added a couple saxophones for great effect. Freddie's recordings for all labels except one are heard here. His final recordings for RSO at the end of his young life are the only ones not included. The Atlantic and Shelter sides are here, too, on this seven disc set. But it is those steady rockin' tunes for Federal in the 1960s that made him a star, not the least of which is "Hideaway".

I saw Freddie King on stage one time, just a couple years before he died. He was the warm-up act for the Bachman-Turner Overdrive at a sold-out municipal auditorium show on a Monday night here in my hometown. By then he used a quintet group, again with himself as the only guitar player but flanked by an organ and a piano player as heard on his Shelter recordings of the period.

Little Walter "The Complete Chess Masters (1950-1967)" Hip-o Select 97841

Little Walter is universally regarded as the best blues harmonica player of them all. I agree. Sonny Boy Williamson II and Big Walter Horton are my other favorites. In listening to all of Walter's own recordings on this five disc set, time and again I am amazed at how he would deliberately start and stop his own playing and singing in many measures in his songs a bit early or a bit late. Casually one would think this is simply sloppy playing. NO! He was doing this on purpose to keep his band members and listeners on their toes. No complaciency was allowed when it came to Little Walter Jacobs. When it was time to play or listen you had to be on edge to keep up with him. Now, even though you hear all of his Chess/Checker records under his own name here, remember that Little Walter was a frequent harp player on other records by Chess artists, notably those by Muddy Waters. You will have to hear those tunes elsewhere. And I urge you to seek them out. Blues music was at its ever lovin' best on the Chess label.

This CD set won a Grammy award. Richly deserved!

Hank Williams "Revealed" Time-Life 24922-D

This is the second three disc set to include radio performances by Hank Williams and his famous Drifting Cowboys from live morning radio broadcasts on WSM radio, sponsored by Mother's Best flour and cornmeal. There are a lot of radio broadcast recordings of Hank, and many fans have come to prefer these performances over his studio recordings as he sounds more relaxed and naturally emotional and the band sounds more adventurous. A real memorable tune here is his take on "On Top of Old Smokey", which he gives a feel of lament which you've likely never heard attached to this song before. Reviews of the first CD set in this series complained that there was too little between-song banter. In direct response, the producers cheerfully complied on this new CD set, even going so far as to include a complete start-to-finish 15 minute radio program at the end of each disc. This is not the last CD set in this series. There is more to come.

Trip to New York Paid For by Paul McCartney

I was one of three winners of a contest put on by Paul McCartney. Paul, as you might know, purchased the ownership of the publishing rights to most of the songs written by Buddy Holly. This was in 1976 just two years before the very successful release of the motion picture "The Buddy Holly Story" starring Gary Busey. This movie had so much to do with restoring Buddy Holly's fame, thus a constant source of income for Paul McCartney. Thus, for decades Paul would put on some kind of annual event in the United Kingdom to promote Buddy Holly, usually near Buddy's birthday in September.

In 1990, Paul decided to hold his annual Buddy Holly event in New York City to promote the Fall debut of the musical production "BUDDY: the Buddy Holly Story" starring Paul Hipp on Broadway. The event would include two nights of live music at the popular Lone Star Roadhouse, a nightclub more like what you would see in Texas than right around the corner from the Ed Sullivan Theatre. The first night was an invitation-only event on September 4, 1990, the second night open to the public.

Members of the Buddy Holly Memorial Society and subscribers to Rockin' 50s magazine, both enterprises of Bill Griggs, received entry forms for a contest to win an all-expenses paid trip to New York to attend the invitation-only show at the Lone Star and guided tours of places where Buddy Holly and the Crickets performed in the 1950s. The entry form was a questionnaire enclosed in the June issue of Rockin' 50s. The questionnaire had twenty pretty tough questions about the music and life of Buddy Holly. I have all of the books about Buddy Holly and every magazine Bill Griggs has published, so I was sure I could find or confirm every answer if I just studied hard enough. There is another Buddy Holly fan here in town nicknamed Rory Borealis (you should hear his Sunday evening radio shows at roryradio.com) who was also interested in entering the contest. So the two of us spent hours on two weekends looking up the answers and calling back and forth on the phone. We finally had nineteen questions nailed down for sure including things like the name of Buddy Holly's cat and how much Buddy Holly weighed in 1953. It turns out everyone had a tough time answering #16: "Which song did the Crickets perform during their audition for the Arthur Godfrey talent show?" Not until I was actually in New York could I ask the members of the Crickets in person. The best I could come up with was a Little Richard song, but which one? The Crickets couldn't remember but they were sure it was a Little Richard tune. So we were as right as we could be. I mailed my form in with a few days to spare. Only later I learned Rory did not mail his entry. He worked hard coming up with answers, too. He indeed deserved a chance to win, also. The Crickets manager seemed to have a hard time reaching me by phone to tell me I was one of three winners, so he sent me letter by overnight FedEx.

I flew to New York and met up with winners Alvis West from California and Bruce Christiansen from Florida at the Lone Star and Bill Griggs arrived shortly thereafter. Quite a group of hardcore rockabilly fans here! Our hotel was right next door. When we returned to the club later that day, the block was closed to traffic. Barricades kept the throng of Beatle fans at a distance. The head of club security saw us and motioned for us to come in. You should have seen the looks on everyone else's faces! "Who the hell are these guys and how to they rate the red carpet treatment?" I counted twelve camera crews there in the balcony. Local TV stations, "Entertainment Tonight" and CNN. We met Maria Elena Holley: Buddy's widow, as well as performers Paul Hipp: star of "BUDDY: the Buddy Holly Story", the Crickets themselves: Gordon Payne, Joe Mauldin, J. I. Allison, Tommy Alsup: sometime guitarist with Buddy, and country singer Ricky Van Shelton. Paul and Linda McCartney took a secluded seat that immediately became to focal point of the building. I tried my best to squeeze in close enough for an autograph or a chance to thank Paul for this trip but no luck. It was time for me to go onstage with the other contest winners and receive a beautiful plaque (pictured above)presented by famed radio personality Scott Muni, who was tickled to know I am from Kansas. He told me he was from Wichita! Everyone is supposedly entitled to fifteen minutes of fame and I used up five minutes worth that night onstage! Back at our table I saw a man at the table behind us. I thought to myself "That guy looks like what Ahmet Ertegun would have looked like as a young man". I wished I had said something as we later learned that it really was Ahmet Ertegun, founder and President of Atlantic Records. What a missed opportunity! I would loved to have met him! Mayor David Dinkins issued a proclamation acknowledging Paul McCarney's presence in the city. During all this I missed out on the catered dinner, not a bite left of Linda McCartney's all-vegetarian menu.

All of these musicians mentioned performed onstage that evening along with rock singers Henry Gross (remember the Beach Boys-like "Shannon" in the 1970s?), Steve Forbert, Pat Denizio of the Smithereens, Joe Ely, and Max Weinberg. For the finale, Paul and Linda with Dave Edmunds belted out rockers with all the others returning for a jam on Buddy's "Oh Boy". We removed posters from the walls on our way out. I glimpsed Ben E. King and MTV sweetheart Martha Quinn, (from whom I would have gladly accepted any invitation but alas, none!)

Next day, Christiansen, West, Griggs, and I had a guided tour of the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. The cab driver pointed out the Dakota apartment building on the way, where John Lennon was killed--a chilling site. The Apollo was an amazing place. Generations of African-American entertainers have performed there. We saw the stage, the theatre, the lobby, the backstage areas, the television and editing studios there. Everywhere are these beautiful framed photographs of entertainers who have performed there with their names deliberately not displayed. Turns out our guide told us their names are displayed on the backs so we had to peek at a few we couldn't guess. These framed pictures would be worth a fortune. A talk show originated on stage at the Apollo each weekday morning and broadcast locally on cable TV. There was a small audience in attendance while we walked around on the tour. That was an incredible rare opportunity for four white guys from the hinterlands. (If I had known about it at the time, a few minutes at Bobby Robinson's record shop next door would have been nice. He was a famed record producer and a great story teller.)

We were scheduled to take a tour of the Ed Sullivan Theatre, too, but we took too much time at the Apollo, which didn't bother us. It would have been nice to see where the Beatles, Buddy Holly, and the Crickets, Elvis Presley, Gene Vincent, Bo Diddley, and countless others (Louis Prima, Jimmy Durante, George Carlin, etc.) performed live on TV on Sunday nights for decades. The theatre was not being used at the time. It would be two years before David Letterman would move here for his new show.

We then had lunch at P. J. Clark's restaurant, where Buddy Holly reportedly proposed marriage to Maria Elena decades before. It was a nice old restaurant. Joining us was Paul McCartney's manager at the time Alan Crowder and his wife (who explained to me how British television and radio networks work, at my urging), Will Byrd, The Crickets manager, who was responsible for this entire tribute show, and the manager of the Lone Star, whom I quote here: "Look at this guy. He comes here all the way from Kansas to eat corn on the cob." Doncha just love those New Yawkers. Alan Crowder had one of the very early cell phones, almost as big as a WWII walkie-talkie. He took a call from, I am sure, Paul himself. We hinted that a chance to thank Paul in person would be nice.

The taxi rides were all death-defying but none so rough as the landing in Atlanta where we changed planes. Bruce Christensen rode with me on this flight, a packed 747. The wings see-sawed up and down as we landed almost touching the runway. Bruce turned every color imaginable. When he could breathe again he said he has flown dozens of times on business and that this was the worst landing he ever had.

Sometime later I sent a thank you card and a picture of my wife, kids, and I to Paul McCartney at the address of his MPL Productions London office. This was a trip of a lifetime. Thank you again, Sir Paul.

See My Photographs at Flickr:

Above: Legendary Chicago Blues singer and harmonica player Billy Boy Arnold (left) and Daddy-o Dilly (right), backstage at the 2006 Ponderosa Stomp festival, Memphis, TN. See many more photographs like this at Daddy-o Dilly's Flickr Photo Albums:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/daddyodilly/sets/

Favorite CDs Released in 2006

My favorite music releases for 2006 have received due consideration.

The four CDs of distinction for the year just ended are:

various artists: "Rockin' Bones" Rhino R2 73346, 4 CD set w/ book101 1950s and early '60s rockabilly classics, not so much the obvious hits but those records that have attained a new lease on life since the 1970s when a new generation of listeners discovered this weird and wonderful music. Fanzines, record shows, the odd radio show here and there, and the occasional rockabilly festivals all helped to create more interest in many of these records and the artists heard on them than when they first came out decades ago. Problem is, they've been out of print longer than some fans have been alive. I have been known to be a bit put-off by Rhino Records phrase "We collect records so you don't have to!" but in this case their intent and efforts are appreciated. Obtaining a collection of original 45s of even half the songs on this collection is beyond the price range of many.I am stunned to find a record from my hometown included, "Hot Shot". I have been further surprised to know a guy here who remembers the singer, Ronnie Pearson. Local rock 'n' roll expert Carl "Crazy Legs" Palmer recalls that Pearson was from Osage City, Kansas, and was seen promoting his disc from a convertible in a parade in downtown Topeka back at the time. The producer of this recording, Bob Bobo, ran a local record label here in the 1960s called Casino.I am disappointed that Sonny Burgess from Sun Records was not included on "Rockin' Bones", a serious omission. And I wish multiple disc sets like this housed the discs in jewel cases enclosed in a box with a lid on it, rather than this often used "book" style of packaging.

The Music Machine: "The Ultimate Turn On", Big Beat/Ace CDWIK2 271, 2 CD set w/ videos!Finally a definitive CD reissue of the Music Machine's classic "Turn On" LP. The Music Machine, along with Count Five, turned out the best mid-1960s garage band era LPs that I have ever heard, and both are now available in superlative CD compilations from the Ace label in the U. K. Both mono and stereo mixes of the LP are heard here along with the band's non-LP singles and previously unheard recordings for the Original Sound label, plus great looking TV appearances. The Music Machine's hit "Talk Talk" and the Count Five's "Psychotic Reaction" were utterly terrifying records in 1966, the kind that surely inspired teen-aged angst and self loathing, resulting in detention hall assignments galore. These guys had a loooong head start on the goths! I'm sure radio station program directors scratched their heads and fretted while previewing discs like these and had to think awhile before OKing adding them to the playlists. Didn't one writer once say that Sean Bonniwell was everything Jim Morrison ever wished he could be? Did I coin this phrase? I might have.

Sonny Burgess and the Rhythm Rockers: "Tear It Up!", St. George STG7712I think this just might be the best recording Sonny Burgess has ever made. He has recorded a few new albums since the 1990s and this one is the best. It might even be better than the Sun records he made in the 1950s, the ones that made him well-known to rockabilly hounds in the first place. Pretty tall order but I think its true. "Farmers Blues" is very convincing. The frustration of crop failure as sung here sounds very authentic. I'm told these records may have been made over a year prior to release. I love it.

The Alarm Clocks: "The Time Has Come", Norton CED321This album made out in time for 2006 (time-related funnies are easy when referring to this group!) with little time to spare. These guys were skinny 13-year-olds in 1966 when they could barely give away their lone 45rpm. Last year they finally had a reunion playing only a few shows before recording this great new set of songs. They accurately retained the mid-'60s garage band sound.I saw really knockout performances by both the Alarm Clocks and Sonny Burgess at the 4th annual Ponderosa Stomp festival at the Gibson Guitar Factory's performance center in Memphis, Tennessee, in May, 2006. That trip to Memphis was the most fun I had in 2006! My opinions of their respective CD releases above are indeed influenced by the great shows they played in Memphis!!

Dewey Phillips & Gene Vincent: Matching Leg Injuries

I've just finished reading the book "Dewey and Elvis" by Louis Cantor. It's not really a book about Elvis. It's a detailed biography of Dewey Phillips, the hugely popular radio and TV disc jockey in Memphis during the 1950s and 1960s. The last three chapters are absolutely heartbreaking. The last ten years of his life were a steady downhill slope to physical and mental ruin. I did not know this, but Dewey had a horrible physical affliction just like Gene Vincent. It seems he, too, had a leg badly injured twice in car wrecks. Just like Gene, he should have had it amputated. Again, like Gene, he refused and the leg deteriorated, described in this book very much like the descriptions we've read about Gene's bad leg. And again, like Gene, Dewey sought relief from pain with alcohol and prescription medicine, too much of both. Whereas Gene was at least able to work until his death, Dewey was separated from his wife and children, lived with his Mother, but was most often seen babbling to himself in Memphis street gutters. The author of this book is a lifelong Memphian and worked at radio stations in Memphis in the 1950s. His firsthand knowledge of the city and the people involved in the local music scene there make this book one of the most authoritatively written books about rock 'n' roll in Memphis that I have read. This book was published in 2005 by the University of Illinois Press.

Documentaries Yet To Be Made

Here is my response to a discussion on the lack of a documentary on Del Shannon in the Del Shannon Yahoo Group:

What I have envisaged for some time now is an extensive series of definitive DVD documentaries on first generation rock 'n' roll musicians with as many uncut TV/film performances as possible as bonus features on a second disc. In some cases there are already really good documentaries like on Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Everly Brothers, and Elvis Presley. But I think there are several artists who have yet to have much of anything made in the form of documentaries at all or, better yet, a really great documentary. Del Shannon is one artist who begs to have a documentary made. What a great story there is to tell here. There are plenty of interviews, especially from the 1980s in existence. Plus there are TV performances from three decades and several countries.

Bobby Fuller is another. There were stories about Bobby on "Unsolved Mysteries" and a half hour story on "The E! Mysteries and Scandals" series. Still, a definitive documentary is due.

Gene Vincent is yet another. In Gene's case, there was a remarkable "fly-on-the-wall" documentary made at the time of his 1969 tour of the UK, which could be used in part in a film on his entire life.

One documentary on Roy Orbison has lengthy interviews with Fred Foster, producer and owner of Monument Records. This was the first time I'd ever seen him interviewed, which was long overdue. I think a definitive documentary on Roy has yet to be made.

Imagine the challenge of making a documentary of Link Wray. Nerves of steel and infinite patience my be necessary here.

Bill Griggs, West Texas music researcher, has often commented that a frustrating thing about even well-made documentaries on musicians of all styles is that so often just as you are about 60-90 seconds into a memorable vintage TV performance, the narrator, or worse yet, an endorsing 1970s rock star cuts in before the clip is completed. That why I think DVD releases of music documentaries ought to have at least one bonus disc with all these famous TV performances presented uncut. Get the clearances and royalties in order and get the darn things on the market!

I think the likelihood of documentaries like this will show up in time. There many really fine documentaries on blues, jazz, and county musicians (Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Louis Prima, and Hank Williams come to mind.) The DVD format with bonus features remains a massively successful home video format. Right now, an authorized documentary on Wanda Jackson is in production and promises to be good.

But, yeah, you're right, the Del Shannon story needs to be told on the tube!