My first post since I came back from my medical problems (the last two I posted were actually written months ago) needs to be a special one, but I'm having trouble getting started. Even though I'm home now after something like three months of medical issues, I'm keeping pretty busy with regular home visits from … Continue reading Writer’s Block Takes Its Toll On BG
(Note: this is the last post I had ready to go before my hospital adventure. From now on I'll have to come up with some new ones, so wish me luck! BG) A good friend of mine, who has been gone for many years now, had a working vintage jukebox in his living room. But … Continue reading Jukeboxes I Have Known
I always thought Bent Fabric -- the pianist and composer who had a big hit with "Alley Cat" in 1962 -- had picked a strange stage name, one that sounded like a folded piece of cloth. But it turns out that it's almost his real name. The Danish-born musician, who is now in his nineties … Continue reading Yes, Bent Fabric Is For Real
Radio City, the short-lived pirate radio station that operated off the coast of England for a while in the 60's, was mentioned recently in a post titled Tony Newman And The Crazy 60’s Music Scene, but if you want to know more about it we probably should start with some history. Pirate radio has been … Continue reading Screaming Lord Sutch And The Radio City Pirates
On this edition of the Squeaky Wheel, the GMC Special Feature that allows me to grumble about whatever is currently bugging me, we're going to tackle the question of why they keep trying to speed up the game of baseball. You can't help but see it discussed everywhere these days, and you might think it's … Continue reading Squeaky Wheel Says: Leave Baseball Alone!
Today we're going to focus on British rock guitarist/singer Tony Newman, but don't confuse him with the drummer of the same name, a contemporary of his who had a long career that included stints with bands like T. Rex and Boxer, and also accompanied David Bowie, Eric Clapton and others. Our Tony Newman's career didn't … Continue reading Tony Newman And The Crazy 60’s Music Scene
It always tickles me when I discover a surprising connection between two completely different types of musical artists. Johnny Tillotson, the subject of today's post, has been entertaining fans for more than a half-century as a successful country/pop singer, but I think he'd be the first to agree that a lot of his early … Continue reading Connecting The Dots With Johnny Tillotson
A huge hit record from 1970 that has sometimes approached earworm status for me is a skiffle song called "In The Summertime" by Mungo Jerry. But even though I've heard it countless times in the last forty-plus years (and it's probably going through your head right now) it has never occurred to me to find … Continue reading So Exactly What Is A Mungo Jerry?
In 1957, when 14-year-old Parisian Jean-Philippe Léo Smet first caught sight of Elvis Presley on the screen in the movie Loving You, it was the beginning of a transformation. Like a lot of European teens at the time he was intrigued by the new style of music represented by Presley, but in his case he … Continue reading Johnny Hallyday Was Known As The French Elvis
One of the most unappreciated rockabilly artists of the 1950s was Johnny Carroll, a talented and magnetic performer who was in many ways reminiscent of his friend, the much more successful Gene Vincent. In fact, Carroll's surge of popularity later in his career was partly due to his appreciation for Vincent's music, along with his … Continue reading The Redemption Of Johnny Carroll
Geezer Music Club 