TWO FROM THE TWIT

I didn't always have an opinion about Conway Twitty. My first impressions were incidental glances at the TV when my Dad would watch Hee Haw. He didn't really stand out, being as he was, just another country singer who was on the show to increase their audience (some while at their peak of their career, and some struggling to stay relevant). Quite honestly, I couldn't have been bothered; I was too wrapped up in gobbling up rock n' roll records. But, because of his unusual name, he stayed within the scope of my peripheral recognition. It wasn't until years later, when my friend and record store owner Dan McLain, played me some of his early stuff that I really took notice. Dan (who I've mentioned before, here and here), was one of a handful of music advisers who I took seriously.

As he pointed out, in Twitty's early hit "Lonely Blue Boy," there are a couple moments when he pours everything he can, into a two letter word. In the line "Lonely Blue Boy is my name," repeated a few times during the song, when he gets to "is" he's really trying the emphasis thing, almost as if he's holding in a belch. But that's just a part of it. The whole package is really pretty remarkable. By the time you've heard the Cramps-like guitar intro, and the first two lines "My name should be trouble, my name should be woe," you're reeled in. Twitty's voice is Elvis-like, and the backing vocals, as doo wopping as they are, sound almost sinister laid over the backing tracks. Being that Dan took it upon himself to sell Twitty's early coolness to me, I thought I ought to pay it forward.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Conway Twitty - Lonely Blue Boy mp3 at Punch Drunk Love
Conway Twitty - It's Only Make Believe mp3 at Mary Hoyer Doll Fashion Show (?!?)
Conway Twitty at Wikipedia
Conway Twitty Official site

HOW TO STAY IN BUSINESS

The Sensational Big M.R. and His All Bitchin’ All Stud All Stars (Click here for full size)

It's Record Store Day today, and it got me thinking. I've been to a lot of record stores and have had a lot of record store experiences. By far, the event that still amuses me to no end is the day that me and about eight other guys went into a record store and shoplifted. Let me clarify: we didn't shoplift a record. We literally shoplifted a shop.

It was about 1979 and the record store was Monty Rockers, run by one of the scenes more colorful figures (and everybody's cool older brother), Dan McLain. He was a musician and scene ringleader, and a partner in the record store. Few people realized that the store was not wholly owned by him, because his partner was the money man and never, ever, there. Dan was the music brains, and what he lacked in business acumen, he made up for in his contagious enthusiasm for music. (I once saw him get an entire party singing along with "Man Smart, Woman Smarter" by Harry Belafonte. With every "That's right! The Woman is-uh-Smart-er!" his beer would be raised, and his arm would swing, anointing everybody who was shouting along).

After a year or two of struggling, his partner had enough of McLain's relaxed style of business and decided that he would take control of the store. So, he had the locks changed and he hired someone to work the store. All was in place for a takeover, or so he must have thought. But he was dealing with McLain, someone much more likable and, for many, the reason they shopped at that particular record store in the first place.

So McLain figured, without finances, he would still need some sort of leverage to keep the store. The best solution he could come up with was to simply take the store back. In broad daylight. So, he rounded up about eight or ten guys and had us all meet at "the Meade house", where a handful of them lived. I arrived on my Honda 90 and passed out "M.R. Task Force" badges. Some of the guys had baseball bats, so they were cast as the heavies. And I do mean cast. This was a rag tag group of music freaks and most were not all that tough. But the guy working at the store didn't know that. He's never seen any of us, except McLain, so it was an opportunity for all of us to get our Eastwood rocks off.

McLain as Country Dick Montana

Soon after meeting up, we got into a fleet of vans and trucks and drove to the store. Once there, one of the guys with a bat when right over to the phone and cut the line. He then stood next to the incredulous new hire, and while slapping the bat to his hand said "This store belongs to a friend of mine" in a gruff Bronson-like voice. I found it hard to keep from laughing, because the guy with the bat was so far removed from tough guy, I was unsure if he could pull it off (forgetting that he was in a SNL-like comedy group and fully capable of keeping in character).

We loaded up racks and records, and while we couldn't get everything, we were all knowledgeable enough about music to get the good shit. The store was left with absolute crap. The sort of shit small record stores have to keep the racks filled. I have no idea what transpired in the days that followed, but McLain was able to retake control of the store and eventually found a new partner who understood his style and actually liked music.

To give you an idea how important that store was to the scene, not long after the shoplifting incident, when McLain ran into financial difficulties, a benefit spaghetti benefit/backyard concert was held. It sounds quaint, but it was a was a modern day punk rock barn raising, featuring the best bands in the scene (among them the Zeros, the Crawdaddys and the Penetrators). That store was genuinely loved, and not because of the inventory. Like most good record stores it was dependent on a social vibe, a secret ingredient that cannot be bought or sold, only shared.

McLain would later assemble an all star band comprised of members of San Diego bands, deemed the Sensational Big M.R. and His All Bitchin’ All Stud All Stars. A few years after that, he became "Country Dick Montana" and utilized the same musical magnetism that made the store a popular hangout to propel the Beat Farmers to semi-fame. In 1995, he died onstage from a heart attack, while doing what he did best, whipping up a frenzy.

The Sensational Big M.R. and His All Bitchin’ All Stud All Stars: Who Do You Love, Beat Generation, and Burnin' Love mp3s and lengthy story at the Che Underground

Behold the Economic Solo - another post about Dan McLain, Gene Vincent and Monty Rockers

McLain's fanzine: Snare (complete issue scan)