More of your favorite "Goosebumps Memories" ... including a couple of "once in a lifetime" moments ...
Hi Kent,
I just get out of the hospital yesterday after smashing my ankle and ripping my quad last week. Sux, huh?
But as Rod Stewart said, "Make the best out of the bad - come and laugh it up - hah!" and so say I.
I may be slow on the draw here, but I've been offline for a week. I have a rock and roll goose bump to share, and it's a pretty rare and unusual one.
When I'm singing and playing bass and all the elements are just right, the next thing I know the song is over and I feel so, so good. I call it "going away" and it's a musical high I live for and, fortunately, am able to reach a good deal. Most musicians will know what I'm referring to.
Well, when I was with the Rip Chords, we played with Al Jardine and his Endless Summer beach band on several occasions (along with two of the Surfaris). When we did, they just flew Richie Rotkin and me to do the shows with Al's band playing for us, as I was the musical director of the Rip Chords and I had to work closely with Al's musical director, Billy Hinsche.
I arranged for Mitchell Schecter to come with us on one occasion, too, 'cause I knew it would make him so happy to do it ... and he rocked his butt off, as usual. Now I believe the guys still play with Al, but with both full bands.
Anyway, Richie would sing "Hey Little Cobra" (and Billy Hinsche and I would double on the deep "shut 'em down", trying to out-low each other) and "Three Window Coupe." I would sing two other songs, usually
"Mustang Sally" and one other.
At this particular festival gig in Maine, I asked Al and Billy if I could sing "I Can Hear Music" and they
agreed. This was real balls to the wall, pedal to the metal because
1) Carl sang it with his one a kind sweet voice,
2) It's not an easy song to sing, anyway,
3) I sang and played bass on it in the Rip Chords in the key of A ... and these guys did it in D, and
4) I was playing guitar, not bass, that day.
Al counted off. The band came in perfectly on this fairly sophisticated rocker in the key of A (no surprise with this crack crew) and I sang "This is the way ... the sounds of the city, baby, seem to disappear..." and that's it. I can't remember a thing until I cued the band to the ending.
What did I do? Did I f*ck it up? What happened?
My usual good feeling was shared with some trepidation until Al leaned over (he stood next to me to me stage left) and smiled. "Man, you sang the hell out of that, Bobby!"
"I did? Thanks, Al." And, oh, thank YOU, G-d." :)
And that, my friend, is one of my rock and roll goose bump moments.
There ... now my leg feels all better!
Warm regards and juicy Chicago roast beef sandwiches,
Bob Rush, d.c.
(a/k/a Dr. Robert, the Doc of Rock, for "The Beat" magazine, England, U.K.)
I guess I am lucky I recall two Goosebump moments. The first time was when my wife and I visited Sun studios many years ago and the gent talking us through the history was playing from a remote control unit songs that had been recorded in Sun. The first goosebump was when he pressed the button and Whole Lot of Shakin’ came blasting out the speakers. The second goosebumps was when a few years later we visited the Clovis New Mexico studio of Norman Petty and whilst sat in the chair in the recording office Ken (the curator) pressed a button and played That’ll Be the Day. Two real goosebump moments and in both cases the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I can assure you it doesn’t get much better than that.
Rockin’ Lord Geoff
I can't imagine it gets much "realer" than that ... sitting in the actual studio where this magic was created and then hearing it played back through that very same system. (What I wouldn't give to spend the day at Abbey Road with George and Giles Martin, pouring over their catalog of Beatles sessions!!!) VERY cool, Geoff! (kk)
Well, Kent, I may come across as a bit of a "Johnny Come Lately" here, but this is what I get for not keeping up with all your recent FH editions. The 'goose bump moments' story opened up a ton of 'goose bump' memories for me -- and I am truly blessed to have had dozens, perhaps, hundreds or more, in my lifetime. Even if I am a bit late, I'd like to share a few of these with your readers just the same.
Bill mentioned that he had to remove any Beatles or Beach Boys moments because it was so obvious -- or something to that extent -- but I have a special one that forty-seven years later STILL gives me 'goose bumps.'
But before I pay homage to my dear lifelong friends, The Beach Boys, I'll pay homage to several others. While I had a number of 'goose bump' moments prior to 1958, including tuning in to CBS Television on the night of Saturday, January 28, 1956, and watching a very young Elvis make his first appearance on the Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey "Stage Show," that appearance certainly changed my life. Legend has it that it was a cold snowy night in the "Big Apple" and ushers were out on the sidewalk offering free tickets to passerby's in an attempt fill the half empty Studio 50.
But as to 'goose bump' records that I heard, one of my first 'moments' was listening to a young singer from Denton, TX, as he belted out his rendition of "Little Willie John's" "Fever." I not heard of Ray Peterson but when I heard his incredible four and a half octave range, I was blown away. Little did I know that a brief five years later, I would book Ray on number concert and night club appearances, get him a gig as an opening act for The Beach Boys, and, more important than that, Ray and I would become lifelong friends. He even performed "The Wonder of You" at my wedding to my first wife. I was honored to be asked by his wife, Claudia, to give his eulogy at his funeral in January 2005.
Second, in the spring of 1966, I had called my dear friend, Brian Wilson, who wanted to speak to me about some Beach Boys bookings and to catch up on a few other business related matters. I had planned on driving up to his home in the Hollywood Hills, where he and Marilyn lived. Instead, he asked me to meet him in the basement of Capitol Records on North Vine Street. We met in one of the small mastering studios where he was 'going to disc' from a handful of 1/4 inch tapes he was carrying. He asked the mastering engineer to turn off all the lights -- and with both of us sitting shoulder to shoulder on the linoleum floor -- and with a room almost totally black with the only illumination coming from the pilot lights and VU meters on the console -- and the 'tracking' light over the cutting lathe, I heard "Pet Sounds" 'front to back' for the very first time. In fact, I was probably the first person to hear it other than Brian Wilson and the Capitol mastering engineer. I can guarantee you none of us knew at that time how important that singular album would become. In fact Brian was more concerned as to how his band mates would react to it, as much of it was done by the 'wrecking crew' while 'the boys' were on tour. My final 'goose bump moment,' at least for this initial offering, is each time I give a group, private or VIP tour of historic RCA Studio "B" here in Nashville. From 2004 to 2010, I was a volunteer educational tour guide at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, which operates the historic studio. Only three or four of us were selected to host the Studio B tours. While I am no longer giving public group tours, I occasionally am able to bring by a music industry friend, or in some cases other friends and family, I get 'goose bumps' every time I stand on the spot were Elvis, Roy Orbison, The Everly Brothers, Dolly Parton, Jim Reeves, Waylon Jennings, Hank Snow, Eddy Arnold, Al Hirt, Johnny Tillotson, and others recorded some of the greatest music of the 20th Century. And to think that most of those classics were recorded on two-track or four track tape -- many of them with no punches, overdubs, and certainly NONE with vocal tuning
Yes, back in those days two 'sides' were recorded in far less than three hours -- often an 'A' side and 'B' side. Many were recorded in 20 minutes or so. They were often on the radio within two weeks. Now, it often takes 35 to 50+ hours per track and the label is lucky to get it out in six months.
Fred Vail /
Treasure Isle Recorders, Inc. /
Music City, USA
I guess mine has to be Be My Baby by the Ronettes. For a year I was listening and enjoying radio music by my mom playing the radio during breakfast. I knew few of the song artists. I was sick and home from school and borrowed the transistor radio listening to WMCA. I then tuned more into the artists and titles and made my own top 10. I can vividly remember liking Donna The Prima Donna, Only In America, More, Washington Square and Busted. But one song stood far above the rest. Be My Baby by the Ronettes. Still one of my faves almost 50 years later.
Mark
