MUSIC AT THE SPEED OF LIFE!

A few months ago, I was talking to my friend, guitarist/producer Art Munson, who started off his career playing with Dick Dale and the Del-tones. He had just posted a 1962 TV clip on YouTube of the band doing “Miserlou”, and I told him it was the first time I had seen the band or heard the song, even though I knew it was a big hit…west of the Rockies. Had MTV existed at the time it might have been more than a regional hit.

As a kid I would go and see a movie, sometimes four or five times just to see and hear a song performed like “Secret Love” by Doris Day from “Calamity Jane”, or “Jailhouse Rock” by Elvis, and wish there was a way to bring them home with me. Now these clips are as close as our computer. All you got to do is Google Secret Love Calamity Jane Video and there it is! Google Jailhouse Rock Elvis Video and got a choice of a black and white or a colorized version! The same search method can be used for any TV show or movie clip you’ve ever seen in your lifetime!

In 1982, my friend and client, Radio and TV record spot producer Joe Klein and I went to the launching party of MTV and experienced first hand why “Video Killed The Radio Star”. A few weeks ago, the first “American Idol” winner, Kelly Clarkson entered the Billboard charts at 97 with “My Life Would Suck Without You”, the following week she hit #1…the biggest jump in the history of Billboard! Now it looks like she’ll have her first #1 World Wide hit. Thanks to videos, MTV, and music at the speed of life!

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As a songwriter and publisher I can now show songs on video to more artists and producers than I ever have before using the internet. I suggested to Alan O’Day that he update his classic, “Rock And Roll Heaven” (O’Day/ Stevenson) Here’s the demo that Alan O’Day came up with and the video by Sebastian Prooth, which gives me chills every time I see and hear it.

“One quiet afternoon I get a call from someone named Lynn Douglas (not her real name), looking for producer Shel Talmy (The Who, The Kinks).  I tell her that Shel was staying with me for a while, but has gone back to the UK.  When she says that Shel’s the only one she knows in Hollywood, I introduce myself and ask if she’s the same Lady who teaches Yoga on TV in the UK.

When she says yes, gentleman that I am, I ask out to dinner. When I pick her up, she looks even more beautiful than she does on television.

For the next 10 days I take her to parties, clubs and out to dinners, but she won’t let me get past first base with her. She says she’s going back to London in a few days and doesn’t want to have an affair with someone she may never see again.

Over the next few days, my creative juices are about to explode, but I restrain myself, and start to sublimate my feelings in a song. I want to play it for her before she leaves for the airport, but the man at the hotel desk says she’s gone.

I jump in my car and race out to LAX, fortunately I know what gate she’s leaving from. Just like in the Carlos Castaneda’s’ book, Patti Dahlstrom gave me, “Journey To Ixtalan”, where the protagonist shows a blank piece of paper to a train conductor collecting fares and is given a seat, I smile and show the pretty stewardess at the gate an airline schedule I found on the floor, and she lets me on the plane! I find Lynn sitting halfway down the aisle I start to smile and sing.

When I finish my song, the passengers in the area around us start to applaud.  An embarrassed, but flattered Lynn gives me a kiss, as I’m escorted off the plane by a security guard, who can’t help but smile.

The next day I play the song for Ann Munday at Chrysalis Music who buys half the publishing rights from me for $5,000 allowing me to follow Lynn and my heart to London, as soon as I can.”

Copyright 2009 by Artie Wayne from the forthcoming book, “I Did It For A Song”

https://artiewayne.wordpress.com/about-artie-wayne/

To hear eight cuts from Alan O’Day’s new CD “I HEAR VOICES” http://cdbaby.com/cd/alanoday2/from/artiewayne

To Reach Art Munson http://over50music.com

For Joe Klein http://newmediacreative.com

Artie Wayne’s Website http://artiewayne.com

For Artie’s Blog https://artiewayne.wordpress.com

Sebastian Prooth http://tektrekgamer.wordpress.com/

BO DIDDLEY R.I.P. ROCK IN PERPETUITY!

BO DIDDLEY  12/30/26

“I opened the door for a lot of people, and they just ran through and left me holding the knob.”    Bo Diddley

When I was trying to break into the music business, one of the first Rock and Roll stars I met was Bo Diddley. It was backstage in a rehearsal room at an Alan Freed show in 1959. I would’ve been happy with an autograph and a few words of encouragement, but Bo put himself out there.

When I asked him how does he get “his sound”, he actually took a few minutes to show me. He took my acoustic guitar and re-tuned it to an open e chord and handed it back to me. I tried to play the usual way with the fingering I learned, but it sounded horrible.

He smiled and took the guitar and played his signature, “Hey Bo Diddley” riff playing the open E chord, then barring the 5th fret when he wanted to change the chord to A. He was about to show me how it sounded on his electric  guitar and his little rehearsal amp when Jackie Wilson and Jimmy Clanton came in with Bobby Darin wanting to use the phonograph to play an acetate of his next single, “Dream Lover”.

The stage manager announced that the next show was in a half hour and all guests would have to leave. Bo never finished my lesson and I never saw him again but I’ll never forget the kindness he showed me.

To quote Alan O’Day and Johnny Stevenson’s song,

“If you believe in forever, life is just a one night stand

If there’s a Rock and Roll Heaven, you know they’ve got a hell of a band!”

Bo Diddley R.I.P. Rock In Perpetuity

Respectfully, Artie Wayne http://artiewayne.com

Click on to see a short but electrifying clip of Bo in his prime                          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBAJXyF1HVc

Photo of Bo Diddley courtesy of Bobby Lloyd Hicks whose story performing with Bo appears among the comments below

To view “Rock and Roll Heaven”                                                          https://artiewayne.wordpress.com/2006/08/20/rock-and-roll-h

From my forthcoming book, “I Did It For A Song”
Copyright 2009 by Artie Wayne
https://artiewayne.wordpress.com

BACK TO THE R.I.P. ROCK N PERPETUITY ARCHIVES https://artiewayne.wordpress.com/2008/08/20/rip-rock-in-perpetuity-archives/

BACK TO ARTIE WAYNE ON THE WEB https://artiewayne.wordpress.com