WELL, IT IS A FENDER.

What a waste of a day off. Everything is closed and you can't hang out with anybody. Fuggit. I started re-reading another book, Surf Beat: Rock 'n' Roll's Forgotten Revolution, by Kent Crowley. It's a pretty thorough history of surf music, the best on the subject that I've yet read (albeit two). I'm only fifty or so pages into it and I'm already reminded of the questions I had the last time I read it. I'm still wondering why no one has written a full length biography of Dick Dale. What the hell? I'm also wondering why Eddie and the Showmen's work is out of print. And the big question, why don't recordings exist of Kathy Marshall, the Queen of the Surf Guitar? [Note: These and other questions just turned into a two hour surf music related detour. Thus, the short end to this post. I can't stay in front of a screen all night. I gotta get back to doing nothing.]

Anyway, the book mentions an early instrumental by Ritchie Valens, "Fast Freight" as being right on the cusp of early rock 'n' roll splitting off into surf. It was released under the name Arvee Allens. Del-Fi Records label owner Bob Keane was creating a back up plan in a Duane Eddy mold, in the event that his first two vocal hits were flukes.

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

Listen:
Arvee Allens - Fast Freight mp3 at Rockabilly Hall
Arvee Allens - Big Baby Blues mp3 at Rockabilly Hall
Ritchie Valens - Come On, Let's Go mp3 at Rocky 52
Ritchie Valens - La Bamba mp3 at Rocky 52
Ritchie Valens - That's My Little Suzie mp3 at Rocky 52
Ritchie Valens - Donna mp3 at Rockabilly Hall

MÁS ALLÁ LA BAMBA

A couple thousand years ago a friend of mine was a rep for a record label that specialized in reissues. When she pulled into town, she'd sometimes give me promos. Ritchie, the Ritchie Valens LP was one of them, and every time I play that record I think about her. I also think about what a young hot shit talent Valens was.

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

Listen:
Ritchie Valens - Hurry Up mp3 at Mp3 Rockabilly
Ritchie Valens - Ooh My Head mp3 at Rock Town Hall
Ritchie Valens - Fast Freight mp3 at Mp3 Rockabilly

TAKE THAT KEVIN BACON

Paul Burlison, Johnny Burnette, Gene Vincent, Johnny Black

I was honored today to receive a comment on one of my earlier posts, from David Burlison, a name I instantly recognized; half of it anyways, the last name Burlison. He is the son of rockabilly great, Paul Burlison, the former guitarist for Johnny Burnette and the Rock n' Roll Trio. While this is not a big deal to most of you, it made my day for a couple of reasons; not the least of which is that I feel like it's some sort of "six degrees of separation" type thing that links this blog to the son of Paul Burlison, which links to someone who played on some of the greatest rockabilly cuts of all time, which also links to not only Johnny Burnette, but Gene Vincent, who was one of his acquaintances. That's three degrees, if you're counting. With the fourth degree, you get Cliff Gallup, another amazing rockabilly guitarist who played with Vincent, and Eddie Cochran, who was good friends with Vincent.

Eddie Cochran and Sharon Sheely

By the fifth degree, you get Sharon Sheely, Cochran's girlfriend, who wrote Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool," Ritchie Valens' "Hurry Up," and co-wrote Cochran's "Something Else" (with Cochran's brother Bob). So, Ricky Nelson and Richie Valens are at six degrees of separation, if you're still counting. Now, all of this doesn't really mean shit to anybody but me, especially when I remind myself that David Burlison is one degree closer to all of those people up there. It did give me something to write about, trivial as it is.

The other reason I was excited to receive the comment from Burlison, was because it added to the discussion about the origin of fuzz guitar (fuzzgate) and it's use on some of Johnny Burnette and the Rock n' Roll Trio's best sides. His comment can be seen on this post, admittedly of interest only to Burnette, Burlison, rockabilly and guitar fiends. But, I know you're out there.

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

Johnny Burnette & the Rock n' Roll Trio - Train Kept A Rollin' at LexJansen.com
Johnny Burnette & the Rock n' Roll Trio - Honey Hush mp3 at RocknDog.com
Gene Vincent & the Blue Caps - Cat Man mp3 at MoteldeMoka
Eddie Cochran - Nervous Breakdown mp3 at Uusikaupunki.fi
Ricky Nelson - Hello Mary Lou mp3 at smu.edu
Ritchie Valens - Little Girl mp3 at Fileden
Here Come Da Fuzz - post about Burlison's fuzz (posted 8/2/2008)