At Last - The Debut of Jack Cruz

The star of David Lynch's 'What Did Jack Do?' releases his first single.  A must have.

Let's Meet.....

Buddy Holly left The Crickets (before that plane crash by the way).  They needed a front man.   Bobby Vee was a teen idol who really was a rocker at heart.   Hey - let's meet!

Bobby Vee Meets The Crickets  (Liberty 1962)

The result is a pretty decent run through of some rock and roll classics.

Later Bobby Vee met The Ventures

I Find Things in Records #2

Another item torn off a telephone pole.  A flyer for a screening of The Sex Pistols movie.

As I remember - we showed up at the theater and it was boarded up.

Here's the soundtrack album.

Almost......

Just when everything was about to open, the threat of vandalism caused a delayed opening and a board up.  This is like seeing a friend in the hospital.  I want to go full Ron Swanson on this.   'How are the records?  Is anyone playing them?  Are they lonely?'

Perhaps this weekend I'll stop by and say 'hi.'    My wife bought me some gift certificates during the shut-down.   I pre ordered a new release and was going to schedule a drive-by when they opened.

I Find Things in Records #1

I used to be in the habit of filing related items in records.  One thing that found its way into an album by San Francisco punk band The Mutants was a flyer for a gig.  Ripped from a telephone pole in Berkeley and stored in Sherman Oaks for 40 years.  I wish I did it more.  These things are now highly collectable

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It lived in their only album - Fun Terminal.  I loved this band.  They had a sense of fun that eluded the next wave of punks.

RIP Series - Ian Whitcomb

This one happened about a month ago and slipped by me.    Ian Whitcomb is best known for the novelty single 'You Turn Me On!'

In the USA, he was on Capitol subsidiary Tower (named after the famed Capital Records tower in Hollywood).   So on the back of the LP is Ian's one day in Hollywood.   He didn't venture far from the Capitol records tower as evidenced by the background (The Broadway at Hollywood and Vine, The Hollywood Palace Theater).  All these sites are right outside the building.

RIP Series - Phil May

 Not a household name in the USA, Phil May, the front man for The Pretty Things has died.   the Pretties were the loudest and snottiest of the British Invasion bands.   They are best known in my generation for their two songs featured on Bowie's Pin-Ups LP - Rosalyn and Don't Bring Me Down.

Phil was the singer.  Pictured here front and center on this compilation album of early 45's.

So what can be said of the band?  Their guitar player was the original bass player for The Rolling Stones (before Bill Wyman).  They released the first rock opera - SF Sorrow - before The Who's Tommy.  Their 1970 album Parachute (a must have in my opinion) topped the Rolling Stone critics list that year.   They released two LP's on Led Zeppelin's Swan Song label. They kept at it until the end with the late career CDs Rage Before Beauty and Balboa Island.