Re: Bye, Bye American Pie...Hello East Orange
Anyway, I read something interesting about the infamous Winter
Dance Tour yesterday: it continued on without the three dead headliners,
substituting Holly-wannabe Bobby Vee as the star! Some things never change
about the music industry...
Hey, isn't this the same Bobby Vee that hired a young piano player named
Bobby Dylan within a couple years after this gig?? Of course, he didn't last
that long with the band ("creative differences" is what the papers
reported), but it does remind me of what Woody Guthrie supposedly told
Dylan: "Well, kid, I don't know about your writing, but your voice'll take
you places."
Lance . . .
Re: Bye, Bye American Pie...Hello East Orange
Lance:
Hey, isn't this the same Bobby Vee that hired a young piano player named
Bobby Dylan within a couple years after this gig?? Of course, he didn't last
that long with the band ("creative differences" is what the papers
reported), but it does remind me of what Woody Guthrie supposedly told
Dylan: "Well, kid, I don't know about your writing, but your voice'll take
you places."
Just an amusing Dylan's-voice anecdote: last weekend I was driving
my 10 year-old daughter to a lesson and put in a cassette of the
acoustic disc from the 1966 live album. She listens a minute or two
and just started howling with laughter. Ever since then she's been
walking around the house doing imitation Dylan renderings of songs by
the groups she listens to: Spice Girls, Shania, N' Sync, etc. It's
pretty funny to hear a 10 year-old do a Dylan version of "Any man of
*mine* / Better walk the *line*, etc." for example g
--junior
Re: Bye, Bye American Pie...Hello East Orange
Lance wrote: Hey, isn't this the same Bobby Vee that hired a young piano player named Bobby Dylan within a couple years after this gig?? I believe this is true. I just heard Bobby Vee on "Fresh Air" the other day. He made mention that Bob went by yet another pseudonym...I didn't really catch the first name, but it was something like Alton Gunnn (with 3 g's). Do I hear Purcell's new bandname in there? Paul (who's gonna miss the VH1 Buddy Holly stuff only due to his dedication seeing fellow P2er's The Deliberate Strangers perform - record release party - and possibly Ms. Erin (if the Naildrivers are on the bill as well...))
Re: Bye, Bye American Pie...Hello East Orange
Bobby Vee not only filled in, but later did a Hooly tribute album and an
album with the Crickets, both readily available.
Hey, isn't this the same Bobby Vee that hired a young piano player named
Bobby Dylan within a couple years after this gig??
Definitely true. Also--young Boby Z. was at the Holly show the night
before the crash...
The CD "Bobby Vee The Shadows: The Early Rockin' Years" (ERA/CEMA/K-Tel)
shows this Vee band to be pretty good for that time. Dylan was never
recorded with them, for the record, but here are some relevant comments by
Bobby V. on the matter, from the CD notes:
"While we were on the road we talked about how cool it would be to have a
piano in the band, like Little Richard or Scotty, what's his name, with
Gene Vincent, not any old piano player, but someone wwho could put it down
like Jerry Lee. But hey, the 50s were about Fender guitars, not pianos! We
couldn't find a rock and roll piano player anywhere.
Then one day Bill came home and said he was talking with a guy at Sam's
Recordland who claimed he played piano and had just come off a tour with
Conway Twitty. Bill made arrangements to audition him at the KTGO studio
and said he was a funny little wiry guy and he rocked pretty good. Wow!!!
This must be the guy! "What's his name?" "Elston Gunn." We decided to try
him out.
His first dance with us was inGwinner, North Dakota. All that I remember
is an old crusty piano that hadn't been tuned since Mae West was a virgin.
In the middle of "Lotta Lovin" I heard the piano from hell go silent; the
next thing I heard was Gene Vincent handclaps--and heavy breathing and I
looked over to find Elston Gunn dancing next to me as he broke into a
background vocal...The next night was more of the same. He was
good spirited about the fcat that none of us had the money to secure a
piano for him and there was no hard feelings ..as he made his exit for the
University of Minnesota. He sure had the spirit, and he rocked out in the
Key of C...Hey, he would have been great on Floyd Cramer tunes. That's
basiclaly he Bob Zimmerman story as it relates to the Shadows. Bob, aka,
Elston, aka Bob Dylan...What I remember most is his sense of energy and
spirit. Confident, direct and playful. A rock and roll contender, even
then."
Barry
PS: Bob can be heard playing rockabilly piano on the pre-Freewheelin
sessions from 1962, including a full-tilt version of "That's Alright
Mama"...and varied rockin takes of his first rock record ('62) "Mixed Up
Confusion"..Of course, nobody would really hear him in a rock and roll
context for some years. But he'd sing to Woody Guthrie in East Orange in
the same days.
Re: Bye, Bye American Pie...Hello East Orange
On Wed, 3 Feb 1999, Ph. Barnard wrote: Ever since then she's been walking around the house doing imitation Dylan renderings of songs by the groups she listens to: Spice Girls, Shania, N' Sync, etc. It's pretty funny to hear a 10 year-old do a Dylan version of "Any man of *mine* / Better walk the *line*, etc." for example g Back when I was in school we used to have a game of that. See who can find the funniest song in a Dylan voice. "Killing Me Softly With His Song" was a big winner. Will Miner Denver, CO
