Buddy Holly (1936-1959) would have turned 89 today. He was a brilliant songwriter and a major influence in the evolution of pop/rock music. Here’s to his memory
Buddy Holly - Peggy Sue (1957)
Buddy Holly - Maybe Baby (1958)
The second video clip calls for a little movie history. It is a great montage with scenes from the movie American Grafitti (1973), directed by George Lucas. I did see it back in the day. Does anybody else rembember this movie?
Harrison Ford (not in this video!) had a minor role in American Grafitti. Four years later Lucas was doing another movie, and Harrison Ford was hired to read lines for the the other actors. Lucas was so impressed by Ford’s work, that he offered him the role of one of the movie’s main carachters, Han Solo. And the rest is history.
If anyone’s interested, her’s a little more comprehensive Buddy Holly bio…
I’d like to pay tribute to Rick Davies, who passed away last Friday at the age of 81. He was the keyboard player and one of the singers and songwriters in the English band Supertramp, who had some great success from the mid-1970’s and well into the 80’s and beyond. Their best known album Breakfast in America (1979) topped the album charts in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zeeland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Norway, but for some reason not in the band’s home country, where it peaked at number 3.
Rick Davies has written several of Supertramp’s best known songs, including Bloody Well Right, Rudy, Ain’t Nobody But Me, Goodbye Stranger and Crime of the Century. His piano playing was an essentiial part of the band’s sound, sometimes adding a blues and jazz feeling to the band’s progressive rock/pop.
After several breaks Supertramp went into what was to be their final hiatus in 2012. A tour was announced again in 2015, but it was cancelled due to Rick Davis being diagnosed with cancer. He managed to beat the cancer for ten years, but now it is over. Thank you for the music Rick, may you be remembered
Supertramp - Bloody Well Right (live 1979)
Supertramp - Rudy (live 1979)
I was really into Supertramp back then, so this sends me down memory lane big time
I’d like to pay tribute to the American singer and songwriter Mark Volman, who passed away last Friday at the age of 78. He co-founded The Turtles in 1965, and the band went on to some considerable success in the latter part of the 60’s. The Turtles charted with several of their songs. Their best known song is Happy Together, which got to number 1 in the US, and the higher end of the charts in several other countries. Happy Together is now a staple in the pop/rock canon.
When The Turtles split in 1970, Mark Volman founded the comedy duo Flo & Eddie together with his Turtles bandmate Howard Kaylan. The duo was hired by Frank Zappa, and was members of The Mothers between 1970 and 72. Flo & Eddie also sang the backing vocals on T.Rex’s smash hit Get It On (1971) and were the oping act on Alice Cooper’s tour for Billion Dollar Babies. In addition they appeared as backing vocalists on a few of Cooper’s albums. Their vocals also appear on albums by among others Steely Dan, Bruce Springsteen (Hungry Heart), The Ramones and Duran Duran.
Flo & Eddie released several albums on their own, without much success. Still, due to their reputation, Volman and Kaylan has been able to live well of their music and comedy. Due to failing health, Kaylan (still alive) retired from performing in 2018. Volman kept the names going to more or less recently, but after his passing from a short illness three days ago it’s over for good. Thank you for the music Mark, may you be remembered
The Turtles - Happy Together (1967, with Mark Volman in the yellow shirt)
Let us celebrate the memory of the man called “The Father of Country Music”, because 128 years ago today James Charles Rodgers was born. He is better known as Jimmie Rodgers. By some he’s considered to be the first big star in the music industry. It is a bold claim, but there may be something to it. It is estimated that he sold over 12 million records in his lifetime, which is a remarkable number considering the time he was active. His best known song, Blue Yodel No. 1 (T For Texas) alone sold one million copies. Perhaps he was the first «pop star» ever.
Sadly Jimmie Rodger’s career was short. In 1924 he got tubercolosis, and struggled with his health for the rest of his short life. Still he was able to keep his musical career going into the 1930’s. He recorded songs all the way until the end. His last recording session was on the 24th of May 1933, two days beforew he passed away at the age of 35.
Jimmie Rodger’s is an iconic name, and his influence on modern popular music is immense. So here’s to the memory of «The Singing Brakeman»
Who can forget the legendary concert in Montreaux Switzerland in 1971 . Where the Mothers pf Invention were playing when someone let off a flare gun which destroyed the Casino. Leading to the Deep Purple song Smoke on the Water.
Yeah, strange how a potentially catastrophic accident can lead to such a classic song. Now think about it, apart from Jon Lord the members of Purple were only in their mid-twenties back then.
The reason Zappa came up again is my tribute to Mark Volman yesterday. He was a member of the Mothers from 70 to 72, and was on stage with Zappa at the Casino in December 71. He’s the one wearing glasses in this pic from the concert.
I got a little more curious, and found a piece written by a Swiss driummer who was on the concert. He was 16 back then, and he retells it as he remembers it, along with some other music trivia. It’s an interesting read, and I’ll leave a link here if you’d like to look into it.
Happy Birthday to the English drummer Barrie “Barriemore” Barlow, who is turning 76 today. He is best known as the drummer in Jethro Tull from 1971 to 1980. Barriemore Barlow is a skilled drummer, very technical and creative and probably one of the most underappreciated drummers ever. John Bonham is quoted saying this about Barlow: «the greatest rock drummer England ever produced».
It is rumoured that Led Zeppelin, before they decided to split, briefly considered a selcet few drummers as a replacement for Bonham after his passing. One of these select few were Barriemore Barlow. Instead he went on to session work for among other both Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, as well as Yngvie Malmsteen. He’s also been part of various band projects through the years and he owns a record studio.
So Barriemore Barlow’s career has been a little more low-key since he quit Tull in 1980. Still, he’s been busy enough in music since then, both on stage and behind it. So let us celebrate him today with a drum solo from 1977. Happy Birthday to Barriemore Barlow
Jethro Tull - Instrumental Jam
Might as well throw in some more Tull with Barriemore on drums while we’re at it.
A one day belated Happy Birthday to you, mate. Welcome to 65! I got there back in May, and of course i made a post for myself
The post got a little grumpy and sad, because one of my oldest, best and dearest friends passed away from cancer just four days prior to my birthday. Still, if you’d like to check it out…
I got the YouTube link to the video yesterday via WhatsApp from my work colleagues, as I’m currently on vacation.
So I thought, this actually fits in quite well here.
i’ve once seen both…that was one of those days when a single video, while searching for something completely different, led to an extra-long utube session.
