The DVD “Let it Rock” of the 95 concert is over 2 hours long. There is a segment in the DVD called “Crossroads” which details Birth of Rock and Roll and some Toronto History.
Unfortunately, some of the people on the DVD are no longer with us, but here is part of the Lawrence Gowan segment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xzepN4CA1E&feature=related
The Jeff Healey part is fantastic. Jerry Lee Lewis, wanted to take Jeff home with him, he was that impressed. If you wish a copy, my pleasure.
-Gary
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The Virtues – Guitar Boogie Shuffle
Russ Comment: Actually, I think it was the Ventures – they also did Walk Don’t Run, etc.
Gary’s reply:
No, it was the Virtues, one-hit wonders…
The Ventures where the guys who played the Mosrite Guitars.
-Gary
Russ’s reply:
You are absolutely correct! I was wrong. It seems there are a lot of other people out in cyberspace who are also confused, if you research YouTube. Now you have me on another interesting point… what was/is a Mosrite guitar?
- Russ
Gary’s reply:
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Jimmy Bowen, Buddy Knox and the Rhythm Orchids
I am sitting here tonight doing some work … have a headache and my mind wanders (yeah, like it doesn’t wander all of the time) and I thought about an Oral Composition I had to do for Grade 10. I do not think that they do them anymore but it was great practice to learn to speak in front of the class. Well they said any subject, so I did my Composition on “The Rhythm Orchids” and won an award. I still remember a lot of it. The Rhythm Orchids consisted of Don Lanier (guitar) Dave Alldred (drums) Buddy Knox (Rhythm guitar) and Jimmy Bowen (Bass). Buddy passed away 10 years ago but I think the rest are still alive. They recorded in Clovis New Mexico at Norman Petty’s Studio, so they new and interchanged with Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Jimmy Bowen became a very successful Producer (worked with Sinatra etc) and Recording Executive. They wrote their own music (mainly Buddy Knox) but if I remember correctly out of that early recording session late 56, I think, Party Doll (went to #1) and I’m Sticking with you which Jimmy sang and co-wrote (went to #14). I bought and still have the original two albums of both Jimmy and Buddy. Buddy did better singing, but Jimmy made his mark in production. My first trip as an independent teenager took me to New York City in 57 and I went to the Ed Sullivan Show and Buddy was on it.
Enjoy
-Gary
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Dug out some old black and white photos. OK, I hope I am correct in identifying who’s in these:
Bobby Vinton, Dion, Buddy Knox
Bobby Vee, Dion, Buddy Knox, early in their careers
Rehearsal – young Rick Nelson and James Burton
Ronnie Hawkins
Ronnie and the new Hawks, Brass Rail Tavern, London Ontario 1963 note the stubby beer bottles, so these new Hawks are Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson Rick Danko.
The Hawks 1958 The Original Band
The Hawks 1958 The Original Band, which I saw and they where fantastic; Jimmy Ray Paulman (great guitarist) Willard “PoP” Jones and Levon.
Ronnie Hawkins Quartet
Yes I know the history of the The Robbie Robertson Hawks and becoming the Band, but that first group was great.
Conway Twitty
Harold Jenkins (Conway Twitty) and the House Rockers, 1958 London Ontario.
Enjoy,
Gary
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There is so little available on Buddy, but I found some rare footage here:
If I remember correctly, Buddy met Elvis in Texas when Elvis was singing there. Elvis was on fire but Buddy was still struggling at the time. He did not sing with him, just met him after one of Elvis’s shows.
There is so little film of Buddy that this is really a great find. There is lots on Chuck, he is still alive, but Buddy, truly one of my all time favourites (my favourite Buddy song was not a big hit, Well Alright.
I hope that you watched that Rock the Early Days, great videos there. It was very true that the early Rockers where the ones who paid the big price and then after the death of Buddy, the industry had it’s squeaky clean Fabians’, Bobby Rydell’s, Frankie Avalons but the first wave was short and was gone.
The absolute great part of this is, YOU & I where there and lived through it. This will NEVER happen again, yes and we where there.
- Gary
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The very best documentary ever made, in my opinion, on the birth of Rock and Roll was made in 1984. This documentary won many awards but from what I can see, it was never made available on DVD. I own it on laser disk, but last night while doing my usual check, I found it. Not only did I find it, but you can download it, which I did and made a DVD from it. Even if you do not copy it, you should, watch it. It is less than 60 minutes long and is, in my opinion, fairly accurate. Enjoy
- Gary
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Follow-up from Russ:
Hi Gary
I agree with you, this documentary is extremely good. A couple of statements made early on in the delivery really resonate with me…
1. at 02:02 “In the early 1950’s popular music belonged to the realm of wholesome white performers … the songs they sang were designed to be as innocent and inoffensive as possible. For the most part this music reflected the tastes of a growing white middle class enjoying the fruits of post-war prosperity and progress.” = You and I can totally identify with these “leave it to Beaver / Ozzie & Harriet” times. They were wonderful.
2. at 02:54 ” The 50’s also saw the advent of a new social class – the teenager - with more leisure time and money to spend than ever before. Bored with the current Hit Parade, young people began tuning their radios to stations that played a more exciting kind of music – black Rhythm and Blues.” = e.g. Big Joe Turner’s “Flip Flop and Fly” got its rhythm and beat from jazz and big band music; from blues and gospel, it got it’s emotional intent. = Well stated, and I can relate from my own personal musical experiences.
3. at 05:56 “Records by black vocal harmony groups began to gain popularity with the young white audiences, but rather than promote these unknown groups, the major record companies found they could sell more records if the songs were re-recorded by established white groups.” – Thus, we have the infamous Cover Versions … see previous post “Cover Versions – Gary” dated Sept.19,2009.
A couple of points I’d like to make about this. First, “… teenagers bored with the current norms ” – As I get older, I find this phenomenon more and more distasteful and, yet, see no alternative but to accept it as “progress”. It seems the current “younger generation” for the most part is becoming quite intolerant with “older people” like us.
Secondly, the music business, in it’s need to make more and more money, has treated “unknown” musicians very poorly. This is evident even today.
Unfortunately, I see no end in sight for either of these two progressive human conditions. It’s a pity.
- Russ
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Reply from Gary…
Yes I knew that the teenager was born around 1953 (disposable income that had an effect on the market) and now they dictate it. Old Dick Clark once said “In the beginning the Music Business was all about the Music, but now the Music Business is all about the Business” – maybe true?
- Gary
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Yes Sir, I collected Pat Boone record’s too. I was an early fan then I changed when was able to find the Original’s. He was absolutely huge. Billboard said he was #2 in the Fifties behind Elvis and ahead of Ricky. I’m not sure I buy that, but he did sell 45 Million albums and in those days that was huge. I had Tutti Frutti on 78 by Pat, but also Richard’s when it was available. But by 57 he had found his market, because Love Letters in the Sand, April Love and so on where all his and that was his market. He got too religious for me, when he refused to kiss a girl on screen for a movie, I think “April Love”.
-Gary
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September 19, 2009 · 1 Comment
Cover Versions: Well Freddy this is something that you never had to live through but Russ and I did. In the very early days of Rock and Roll the larger companies with better distribution would take a successful R&B song and make it squeaky clean and white and out-distribute. There was a Toronto group “The Crew Cuts” who sold more records than the original and the best example was “Sh-Boom” by the Chords. The Crew Cuts became huge stars and did a lot of Ed Sullivan work. In the early days Ed liked the clean white image. We teenagers dug around and did eventually find the originals, but here in Toronto it was difficult. Little Richard recorded for a small but great label called Specialty but there was another label called Dot and they specialized in cover versions. You can be the judge:
Pat Boone, educated, devout Christian, discovered by Arthur Godfrey, good looking and had a good voice, but not for R&B. He would eventually find his niche around ‘57 with “Love Letters in the Sand“, “April Love” and so on, but not the great soul of R&B. I bought both versions, Boone because it was the first one available, but once I found the originals I never went back. He is supposed to be descended from the great frontiersman, Daniel Boone.
Most of the cover versions happened in the 55/56 year time frame. The first one that I ever heard, “Ain’t That A Shame” by Fats and Pat… no comparison… for me, Fats all the way!
-Gary
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