Archives: The Winter Dance Party Of 1959

Compiled from an earlier blog: (the original source got deleted)



This was the tour that had Buddy Holly, Dion, JP Richardson and Richie Valens on it and they decided to come through this cold state for a tour to pay their bills.  Of course you know the legend, Waylon Jennings lost out on a coin flip and became a legend.  Buddy, JP and Richie would become one for the ages.

Jan 23 - George Devine's Ballroom - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Jan 24 - Eagles Ballroom - Kenosha, Wisconsin
Jan 25 - Kato Ballroom - Mankato, Minnesota
Jan 26 - Fournier's Ballroom - Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Jan 27 - Fiesta Ballroom - Montevideo, Minnesota
Jan 28 - Promenade Ballroom - St. Paul, Minnesota
Jan 29 - Capitol Theater - Davenport, Iowa
Jan 30 - Laramar Ballroom - Fort Dodge, Iowa
Jan 31 - Duluth Armory - Duluth, Minnesota
Feb 01 - Riverside Ballroom - Green Bay, Wisconsin
Feb 02 - Surf Ballroom - Clear Lake, Iowa
Feb 03 - The Armory - Moorhead, Minnesota
Feb 04 - Shore Acres Ballroom - Sioux City, Iowa
Feb 05 - Val Air Ballroom - Des Moines, Iowa
Feb 06 - Danceland Ballroom - Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Feb 07 - Les Buzz Ballroom - Spring Valley, Illinois
Feb 08 - Aragon Ballroom - Chicago, Illinois
Feb 09 - Hippodrome Auditorium - Waterloo, Iowa
Feb 10 - Melody Hill - Dubuque, Iowa
Feb 11 - Memorial Auditorium - Louisville, Kentucky
Feb 12 - Memorial Auditorium - Canton, Ohio
Feb 13 - Stanbaugh Auditorium - Youngstown, Ohio
Feb 14 - The Armory - Peoria, Illinois
Feb 15 - Illinois State Armory - Springfield, Illinois 

Buddy Holly Plane Crash 50 plus 4 years later

By Bruce Landsberg

Some accidents are burned into memory even decades after they happened. The sinking of the Titanic, the explosion of the Hindenburg, the accident at Tenerife, and the Challenger crash all bring back remembrances of unforgettable tragedies. “The day the music died,” wrote singer/songwriter Don McLean for his hit song, American Pie, in 1971 commemorated the loss of singer Buddy Holly in an aircraft accident. Charles Hardin Holley, better known as Buddy Holly, was and remains one of the giants in the music business. His may be the most-discussed pop music star aircraft accident in history. The impact on the music world and millions of fans still affects the public perception of general aviation two generations of pilots later. His life and death inspired numerous books, movies, and songs.
To say Holly was a star is an understatement. He has been described as, the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll. His style has influenced countless musicians, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan. He exerted such a profound impact on popular music that Rolling Stone magazine ranked Holly number 13 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.
He was only 22 at the time of his death, and yet his songwriting was so prolific that new albums and singles were released years after his passing. The story of his accident and others like it has been written many times—the outcomes don’t change.
In the early morning of February 3, 1959, Holly and two other rising stars, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson (the Big Bopper), who were touring the country, had just finished a gig in Clear Lake, Iowa. They were scheduled to appear in Moorhead, Minnesota, that night but, because of bus trouble, the show headliners decided to go on to Moorhead by air. The group chartered a Beech Bonanza at the Mason City, Iowa, airport to fly to Fargo, the nearest airport to Moorhead.
The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), predecessor to the FAA and the NTSB, investigated the accident and the factual information is derived from the report.

Weather and preflight—Think It Over

Around 5:30 p.m. Central Standard Time the charter pilot went to the Air Traffic Communications Station (ATCS—the equivalent of today’s Flight Service Station and Air Route Traffic Control Center) at the airport administration building, to brief the flight. He was provided current weather for Mason City, Minneapolis; Redwood Falls; Alexandria, Minnesota; and the terminal forecast for Fargo, North Dakota. The briefer advised that all stations reported ceilings of 5,000 feet or better and visibility of 10 miles or above. However, the Fargo terminal forecast indicated the possibility of light snow showers after 2 a.m. and a cold frontal passage about 4 a.m. It all seemed reasonable for a VFR flight.
At 10 p.m. and again at 11:30 p.m. the pilot called ATCS to update weather. All stations had ceilings of 4,200 feet or better with visibility still 10 miles or greater. It was snowing in Minneapolis and the cold front that was previously forecast to pass Fargo at 4 a.m. was now expected to arrive at 2 a.m. At Mason City the ceiling was 6,000 overcast; visibility 15 miles plus; temperature 15 degrees F; dew point 8 degrees; wind south 25 to 32 knots; altimeter setting 29.96 inches.
At 11:55 p.m., the pilot, accompanied by the FBO/charter aircraft owner, a commercial/instrument-rated pilot, again went to ATCS for the latest weather update. With such important passengers on board one couldn’t be too careful. In the half-hour since the pilot had last checked, Mason City was now 5,000 overcast in light snow and the altimeter had dropped to 29.90. The weather was moving.

The flight—Peggy Sue

Holly, Richardson, and Valens arrived at the airport about 12:40 a.m., after the show, stowed their baggage, and boarded the aircraft. Although not noted in the CAB’s report, I speculate the weight and/or balance might have been outside the limits with any kind of fuel load. That would have made the V35 a handful in the turbulence the flight would later encounter.
The pilot stated he would file his VFR flight plan by radio when airborne. Taxiing to the end of Runway 17, the pilot called ATCS for a weather update. En route reports had not changed materially, but Mason City was coming down rapidly: The ceiling was now 3,000, sky obscured; visibility 6 miles, light snow; wind south 20 knots, gusts to 30 knots; altimeter setting 29.85 inches. The front had arrived.
The Bonanza was airborne at 12:55 a.m. and observed to make a left 180-degree turn and climb to approximately 800 feet. It passed east of the airport and turned northwesterly. Throughout most of the flight the aircraft’s tail light was visible to the FBO/charter aircraft owner. About five miles from the airport the light gradually descended and disappeared. When the pilot failed to open his flight plan by radio soon after takeoff, the communicator (controller), at the owner’s request, repeatedly tried to reach him but was unsuccessful. It was approximately 1 a.m.

The accident—It Doesn’t Matter Anymore

After reporting that the aircraft was missing at 3:30 a.m., the FBO/charter aircraft owner flew the aircraft’s planned route later that morning. He sighted the aircraft in an open field at 9:35 a.m. All four occupants had been killed, and the aircraft was demolished. The wreckage was covered with about four inches of snow. It’s a given, even today, that accident investigations are usually done in decent weather, half a day later. Note to self—be a little patient with weather, it will get better. Had the group left at 10 that morning, they still would have arrived in plenty of time for the show.

The Bonanza struck the ground in a steep right bank, nose-low attitude at high speed. There was no fire and no evidence of structural or flight control failure. The landing gear was retracted and the engine was producing cruise power at the time of impact. The attitude indicator showed a 90-degree right bank, nose-down attitude. The vertical speed indicator was pegged at a 3,000-feet-per-minute descent.

Pilot—Maybe, Baby

The pilot, 21 years old, was employed by the FBO as a commercial pilot and flight instructor, and had been with them about a year. He had started flying in October 1954, with 711 hours total time and 128 in Bonanza. He had approximately 52 hours of dual instrument training and had passed the instrument written examination, but he had failed an instrument flight check in March 1958, nine months prior to the accident. His instrument training had been in several aircraft, all equipped with a conventional artificial horizon, but he had no experience with the Sperry attitude gyro that was installed in Bonanza N3794N. These two instruments differ greatly in their pictorial display, and the CAB believed that he would have had difficulty interpreting a completely different display.

The aircraft—Rave On

The Beech Bonanza, model 35, was manufactured in October 1947 and the engine had only 40 hours since major overhaul. The aircraft was purchased by the FBO in July 1958, and was well equipped for its time with high- and low-frequency radios, a Narco “omnigator” (VOR), a Lear autopilot (recently installed but not operable), and a full panel of instruments used for instrument flying, including a Sperry F3 attitude gyro.
According to the CAB’s report, “The conventional artificial horizon provides a direct reading indication of the bank and pitch attitude of the aircraft which is accurately indicated by a miniature aircraft pictorially displayed against a horizon bar and as if observed from the rear. The Sperry F3 gyro also provides a direct reading indication of the bank and pitch attitude of the aircraft, but its pictorial presentation is achieved by using a stabilized sphere whose free-floating movements behind a miniature aircraft presents pitch information with a sensing exactly opposite from that depicted by the conventional artificial horizon.”

The weather, again—Take Your Time

The weather was quite a bit nastier than the briefed surface reports indicated. The surface weather chart for midnight February 3, 1959, showed a cold front extending from northwestern Minnesota through central Nebraska with a secondary cold front through North Dakota. Widespread snow shower activity was indicated in advance of these fronts. Temperatures aloft from Mason City to Fargo were below freezing at all levels with an inversion between 3,000 and 4,000 feet and abundant moisture present at all levels through 12,000 feet. Moderate to heavy icing and precipitation existed in the clouds along the route. Winds aloft below 10,000 feet were reported to be southwest at 30 to 50 knots.

A flash advisory (roughly equivalent to a sigmet) issued by the Weather Bureau at Minneapolis at 11:35 p.m. on February 2, noted, “Flash Advisory No. 5: A band of snow about 100 miles wide at 2335 from extreme northwestern Minnesota, northern North Dakota through Bismarck and south-southwestward through Black Hills of South Dakota with visibility generally below two miles in snow. This area or band moving southeastward about 25 knots. Cold front at 2335 from vicinity Winnipeg through Minot, Williston, moving southeastward 25 to 30 knots with surface winds following front north-northwest with 25 to gusts of 45. Valid until 0335.”

Another flash advisory issued out of Kansas City, Missouri, at 12:15 a.m. on February 3 noted: “Over eastern half of Kansas, ceilings are locally below one thousand feet, visibilities locally two miles or less in freezing drizzle, light snow, and fog. Moderate to locally heavy icing, areas of freezing drizzle and locally moderate icing in clouds below 10,000 feet over eastern portion Nebraska, Kansas, northwest Missouri and most of Iowa. Valid until 0515.”

Neither ATCS briefer mentioned these flash advisories to the pilot indicating the virtual certainty that instrument weather would be encountered.

Analysis—Raining in My Heart

The CAB report noted that the flash advisories were not conveyed to the pilot. The weather briefing consisted solely of reading current weather at en route terminal and terminal forecasts for the destination. Failure to “draw these advisories to the attention of the pilot and to emphasize their importance could readily lead the pilot to underestimate the severity of the weather situation.”

The FBO owner said, he “had confidence in the pilot and relied entirely on his operational judgment with respect to the planning and conduct of the flight.” That confidence was sadly misplaced. It happens too often that enthusiasm and a strong desire to complete a flight overcome what little experience/judgment a new pilot has. Sincerity, enthusiasm, and desire to please should never take a back seat to suspicious, skeptical contingency planning.

The CAB noted that with the obviously deteriorating weather at Mason City which could be seen by all, and the fact that the charter company was “certificated to fly in visual flight rules only…together with the pilot’s unproved ability to fly by instruments, made the decision to go…most imprudent.” That the pilot checked the weather so many times and that the owner went with him and then watched the flight depart shows that both of them probably had some serious misgivings. Note to self: Listen to that inner voice—it’s usually right!
The CAB’s assessment was that shortly after takeoff the flight entered complete darkness with no horizon, falling snow, and moderate turbulence from the high winds. This required flight by reference to instruments.
The pilot’s unfamiliarity with the Sperry F3 gyro, noted above, because of its unique presentation, likely caused spatial disorientation.

Probable cause—Not Fade Away

“The board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the pilot’s unwise decision to embark on a flight which would necessitate flying solely by instruments when he was not properly certificated or qualified to do so. Contributing factors were serious deficiencies in the weather briefing, and the pilot’s unfamiliarity with the instrument which determines the attitude of the aircraft.”

This report could have been written last month, but it was a half-century ago. If the weather is bad where you are, despite a decent forecast, the weather is bad. Period. The board’s commentary: “This accident, like so many before it, was caused by the pilot’s decision to undertake a flight in which the likelihood of encountering instrument conditions existed, in the mistaken belief that he could cope with en route instrument weather conditions, without having the necessary familiarization with the instruments in the aircraft and without being properly certificated to fly solely by instruments.”

We may be the only beings who can learn from past mistakes and so often fail to do so. The lesson should not fade

(the original link to this story doesn't work anymore, 404 issues)

Top Ten Of The Week-Eye To Ear Candy Tunes

Coming to the end of the month and the lack going anywhere has enabled me to really dig into my vast collection to find something to listen to and I have plenty of that around here.
 
Hey remember me?  Gretchen Wilson returns with not one, not two but three albums in the making this year. One will be a complete rock covers albums and I'll be interested to hear that one.  Gretchen always have done Ann Wilson justice when she covered Heart songs.  And now, Miss Ivy Doomkitty!.....Ivy?????  Helloooooo...well the picture disappeared.  If you want to see more Ivy, keep searching cuz she's not here in this blog anymore....




We got rid all of that snow over the weekend, Tuesday we set a record temp at 58 degrees before the rains hit, and now the it's a blizzard outside as I type this up.  Thursday's high will be ten above just in case you like to know.  One good thing though, it will be the end of January.  We already gotten back about half hour's worth of daylight. Now if it would stay warm.  Well, I guess we'll warm things up with what I've been listening to, here and at work.


Btw did I mention that winter sucks?

And just for you Tad, the lovely London Andrews will assist us in the presentation of  this week's top ten.


1.  No Exit-The Angels 1979  January usually is the month that since there's not much for new music out there I return to some of the faves of the past, faves that don't get anymore airplay due to Cumulus' rigid and slight playlists that plagued every radio station in town.  If anybody's been around me I been playing plenty of The Angels From Angel City, that made a few albums for Albert Productions (The label that bought you AC/DC) that Epic picked up but they continue to play in the land down under.  No Exit the album never was issued in the US, CBS cherry picked the best songs (arguably)  for Face To Face (1980), and strange to think that even KFMH never played them all that much.  Looking at the London Andrews picture above I figured this would be the perfect song to lead off this top ten.  I know you won't leave me with no exit indeed.  Here's hoping Doc Neeson can win his battle with cancer, as well as Chris Bailey, the bass player who has cancer of the jaw.

2.  I Rather Not Cry-The Townedgers 2001  Above drawing is the Olivia De Beradinis art of Devil's Food, a drawing that captivate the inner beauty of erotic sketches that Olivia is famous for.  Actually I knew nothing of this artist till Lisa told me all about her. Fact of the matter was The Townedgers considered using this as cover art but decided not to, they didn't think the songs matched up to the artwork so instead of calling the album Olivia, they went with There's Nothing Left and a different photo.  Nevertheless Courtney Love was impressed with Olivia's artwork that she commissioned Olivia to do a cover for America's Sweetheart.  And did a fine job in the process.

3.  Linda Lu-Ray Sharpe 1959  Back in 1987 KXIC went with a oldies format that actually had a wide range of songs that rarely got played.  I don't recall ever hearing this prior to 1987 but it was a hit in 59.  KXIC is nowadays yet another faceless talk radio station with the crapfest RWNJ Sean Hannity Show, which is why I don't listen to KXIC anymore. Garbage in, garbage out.

4.  Foolin Around-Patsy Cline 1961  Perhaps the best female vocalist to ever walk the planet, Patsy had a way to capture the heart and mind and make you feel her pain but she can be just as flirty and playful as well.  But like Buddy Holly, Jim Reeves and a few others,  a plane crash took her away from us.  Patsy, very one of a kind and has never been replaced by anybody in country although a few came close.

5.  Something Better-Velvet Elvis 1988  Why there's a Clarence bin, I'd never would have discover this band that made one sole album for Enigma and then disappeared.  They had a female drummer, Sherrie McGee who still plays around Lexington with her sister Lil Miss Tammy Smith from time to time. Below is lil Miss Tammy Smith.


6.  Lover Come Back To Me-Charlie Parker 1949  At work, it seems that playing a jazz cd from time to time relieves stress which begs the question why don't I play more jazz more often?  Last week I serenaded the masses with some Kind Of Blue, a Coleman Hawkins jam session from 1960 and now this from the fabled JATP at Carnegie Hall show in 1949 featuring Mr. Parker jamming away with the likes of Fats Navarro, Sonny Criss, Flip Phillips, Tommy Turk on wild trombone with Ray Brown, Hank Jones and Shelly Manne adding beats and bottom to the mix.  Starts out nice and slow before Parker brings the house down with a wild solo around the 10 minute mark.

7.  Summer Sunrise-The Pulltops 2004  Another band that nobody knows about unless you're living in Racine Wisconsin where they are based at.  They made a few independent CD releases to which I found one of them in the dollar bins at HP Books.  You can call them power pop although their heart is more into the hard rock of the 70s.  This cd As Seen On TV, they based it on the old cheap budget Pickwick Label down to the purple P on the CD.  A bit more polished than the rowdy goodness of The Randy Cliffs.

8.  The Fastest Girl In Town-Miranda Lambert 2011  Been a while since we showed some top ten lovin to Miranda so here tis.  Got some airplay on KHAcK from time to time.  I still love her when she rocks out and becomes that bad girl that you would love to have, but never get.  Cuz you're not Blake Shelton.

9.  Like You Do-The 88  2008  Another band that had a hard time of it being on a major label, The 88 never broke through and never did see their album at all at Best Buy.  At times they sounded like The Killers other times Maroon 5 without Adam Levine's (may as well call them Kara's Flowers then, the Maroon 5 before Adam joined up), or a Ben Folds five with a guitar player in it.  Most of this album that they had out for Island is throw away, but this is one of the better songs of it.

10.  I Won't Say Anything-Bad Religion 2010  Expect these guys to return to the top ten next week.  They have a new album True North and it's a return to the slash and burn of their punk rock days.  Hard to believe they have been around for over 30 years eh?  I'm surprised I'm still doing the top ten for 10 years myself heh heh.  But I thought I would include their last number from the Dissent Of Man, an album that still showed Greg Graffin and company still trying to cater to the pop crowd and for all intent, I still like this album but never thought much about it till Mark Prindle was talking about how the new one rocked and this album was so so.  It basically all sounds the same, like Motorhead or Ac/Dc you know a Bad Religion song when you hear it.  And hey, they still know how to play that straight ahead rock n roll as they tear into their 50s.  Which is why we still care about our rock and roll, unlike certain old fart critics that bitch about CDs and how long they are.  I'm not naming names.

Five On High

Free To Roam-Sliverjet 1997 
A Walk-Bad Religion 1996
Guitar Voodoo-The Darkside 1990
Shake Off The Demon-Brewer & Shipley 1972
Trouble No More-Jimmy Rogers with Mick & Keith 1997

In memory of Maggie May, up till the final week of her life she always wanted to play, even at age 12 she wanted to play frisbee. All dogs go to heaven.

End Of The Month Thoughts-January

This winter is going to go down as the least amount of snow that we have had all year although Ice Storm Luna came and iced all the roads up.  Hell, even the loader couldn't get up the hill on my street but for the most part the roads were good enough for me to make a trip into Anamosa for lunch.

Ya know I love to check the ratings and we should be over 2500 this month, steep decline from 3349 but still my second best overall month ever.  I also didn't intend to focus my attention of the Voluptuous women of the internet last time but really thought that they would be worth mentioning although Maxey Greene remains a lot more reserved than the anything goes style of London Andrews.  Alas, I'll never meet them, I'm way too old for them, but they both reminded me that the best of times that I had were with the plus sized girls in this life.  Yes I still remember.

Back to the weather, it's 43 degrees and clouds are racing by obscuring the moon and then it appears out of nowhere like a one of those old B movie horror flicks long ago.  I don't really watch TV that much, I turn on TCM on Sunday Nights at 11 and put a couple CDs on and let them dictate the silent movie that plays.  And trying to get back into playing music on a live basis rather than making countless bargain hunting trips that seem to take precedence over music making but this year I'm on the clock to get a new album done and fire it off to the 3 fans that still like original music.  I'm trying to find a social outlet for the Townedgers' band site, I've been experimenting with pointless blabber and quoting lyrics off songs on the Tumblr site but I'm not exactly sold on that site.  Diggy Kat talks about Skyrock dot com or Wordpress or maybe I'll add another new blog here at Blogspot.  Is there a market for another faceless band that I love on the internet and want to preserve the legacy in some way?  Be interesting to come back 100 or 200 years from now and still see old Townedgers music along the likes of The Randy Cliffs or Train Meets Truck or The Brains tribute page.

It's strange, we have survived another month of Crabb rants and raves and top tens when I thought about ending it, we ended up getting the best views ever to continue this madness. I think blogging the things that matter has been my island of peacefulness in a sea and world of madness. And of course the usual bullshit continues in life, gas prices have gone another GD ten cents from the last time I blog.  Hell, we might be four bucks before April.  I donno, I have not had the bargain hunting bug all year and only time I did a bargain hunt was the infamous Davenport breakdown  three weeks ago.  And I still have all of my 75 dollar HP Books gift certificates at hand too, now if only they had something for me to check out.

February doesn't promise to be a month of road trips either.  Maybe Iowa City since it's close by.  But I'm sure I'll be very busy somewhere in blog land or maybe find a few more scratchy records to scan for your entertainment.  Maybe do something for Black History Month since that's coming up. Or perhaps another Music Of My Years since I haven't done that in a while.  Any suggestions that you might have, I'm all ears.

A Low Key 52

Another circling around the sun for 51 years and it was low key.  Not much to talk about, I went to work, Sonya made her famous onion cheese dip that everybody pretty much scarfed down. Linda bought donuts, I bought tunes to listen to while fighting the junky printers.

Normally I would take the day off but it was cloudy, cold and since I did my shopping yesterday, figured may as well save my day off for something more constructive.  Went out and got the new Bad Religion CD True North as well as the boring Bob Dylan Times They Are A Changin and a Mothers Of Invention that basically was a free CD.  Went to the freaky China Man for Chinese for supper since I didn't care of the menu at work, can't eat the pulled pork Bar B Q, makes me belch all night.  Sad to say couldn't find a place that sold pepsi, Fucking Canteen at work don't stock enough Pepsi's and the Kum n Go Pepsi from the fountain was flat.

Thought about doing a buffet this afternoon but got involved with the Blake Shelton foot in mouth blog earlier in the day so I tended to that.  Since then Shelton kinda apologized to Ray Price about the Grandpa's Music quote but still the classic country folks are still up and arms over that. Good thing Patsy Cline isn't alive today, she would personally pay him a visit and clean his clock.

We managed to clear 114 views the other day, first time since the 12th but think we're in line to have about 2400 views, a sharp decline from last month.  Interesting race for most searched people here, Samantha Fish continues to lead but Pat Travers has jumped over the competition and is about 20 points away from catching her.  And has done it without the promotion that I have been giving to Samantha.

Gas prices has jumped 20 cents over the past week, imagine that and probably continue to make the climb upwards again.  Even with that, I didn't forsee any major bargain hunts in the future.  But I'll spend the rest of this month and most of next trying to get the next Townedgers album going.  Got plenty of reissues that will be forthcoming but may put that in its own blog somewhere in net land.

As always thanks for your support of independent music by frequenting my humble little home.

RADIO WARS:

 KOKZ/105.7 (Waterloo) has lost its "Cool." The Classic Hits station has dropped the "Cool" slogan it had used for more than a decade, originally as an Oldies outlet, and is now simply "KOKZ." KOKZ was sold to Woodward Communications earlier this year.


KMCS/93.1 (Muscatine) dropped its "MaC FM" Variety Hits format for a broad Classic-based Rock format as "Vintage Sound 93.1" on Monday (1/14). The Quad City Times reports personalities include two alums of Contemporary Hits-formatted "B100" (KBEA/99.7 Muscatine-Quad Cities): Anthony "Tony Tone" Loconsole in the mornings and "Pippa" in the afternoons. The "MaC FM" format will continue on sister station KMCN/94.7 (Clinton), which launched it simultaneously with KMCS in 2005 ("MaC" standing for "Muscatine and Clinton). Both stations have fringe signals to the Quad Cities and sometimes Iowa City although in Cedar Rapids KMRY has the 93.1 dial.

And So It goes:Blake Shelton

Another cold day to my beginning of the 52nd time around the planet.  I'll post more about my wonderful day afterwards but first the music news that you crave.

Blake Shelton, Country's self made man, reality music judge and husband to everybody's favorite country girl Miranda Lambert (she has yet to made a bad album and maybe some day he'll make a album somewhat as good as her' least) continues to rattle the classic country's folk with his talk that nobody wants to hear Grandpa's music anymore.  Take it away big mouth.

If I am “Male Vocalist of the Year” that must mean that I’m one of those people now that gets to decide if it moves forward and if it moves on. Country music has to evolve in order to survive. Nobody wants to listen to their grandpa’s music. And I don’t care how many of these old farts around Nashville going, “My God, that ain’t country!” Well that’s because you don’t buy records anymore, jackass. The kids do, and they don’t want to buy the music you were buying.

To which 86 year old and last of the classic country singers Ray Price took deep exception to that.

 It's a shame that I have spend 63 years in this business trying to introduce music to a larger audience and to make it easier for the younger artists who are coming behind me. Every now and then some young artist will record a rock and roll type song , have a hit first time out with kids only. This is why you see stars come with a few hits only and then just fade away believing they are God's answer to the world. This guy sounds like in his own mind that his head is so large no hat ever made will fit him. Stupidity Reigns Supreme!!!!!!! Ray Price (CHIEF "OLD FART" & JACKASS") " P.S. YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY AS US OLD-TIMERS. CHECK BACK IN 63 YEARS (THE YEAR 2075) AND LET US KNOW HOW YOUR NAME AND YOUR MUSIC WILL BE REMEMBERED. 

Well Ray, at least Blake didn't end that by saying he shit his pants again like he usually does on his Twitter account.  But in all fairness, BS didn't single Ray out, he just made an observation that was guaranteed to rile up the trad country people out there who still enjoy a classic country song now and then.  Let's face it, today's new country is no where near the sound of when Bob Wills was around (I'm sure Blake doesn't even listen to that dinosaur music) or when Ray came around in the 50s and then the golden age of country came with Johnny Cash, Buck Owens and George Jones  ruled the charts which begat Waylon, Willie, the outlaw movement which begat the next generation of stars like Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earle, Randy Travis and then on to the 90s when George Strait,  Garth Brooks, Clint Black and Alan Jackson took over.  

And then you have the kid's generation of stars which is a far cry from the honky tonks now replaced by trailer courts, boom boom speakers and tattooed stars with wallet chains and half baked southern rock and songs about trucks and shaking girls.  Blake Shelton is considered the stars of country music today although at age 36 the sun is beginning to set on him and I'm sure he'll be replaced by another up and coming star.  It's like that in music anymore.  Every decade has it's stars of the hour and given another decade or two I'm sure B.S. will be featured in some Classic Country format.  Again, the fact of the matter remains that good music is timeless be it any decade although in this Cumulus Corporate owned age, you don't hear Ray Price on the local country channel unless it's 99.3 in Dyersville or on Willie Nelson's Sirius Station.  But look over your shoulder Blake, and you can see the new generation taking over  (Hunter Hayes anybody?).  You may not like them but what goes around comes around and hits twice as hard later in life.

I have little use for new country anymore, most of it sucks with the exception of Miranda Lambert's albums and she continues to be that rare person that can write them and sing them, whereas Blake needs a bit more outsider songwriter help to get him through his albums.  Maybe Miranda could help him, but her songs tend to be a bit more sarcastically and darker than his tongue in cheek songs like Some Beach.  He remains controversial and funny on Twitter but this time he's in the wrong.  Grandpa's music Blake?  Um, don't know about that, George Strait and Alan Jackson has actually been doing the same type of music Ray Price continues to do and they're making a decent living over that.  

And so it goes.

Update: Blake responds.

Whoa!!! I heard I offended one of my all time favorite artists Ray Price by my statement “Nobody wants to listen to their grandpas music”..And probably some other things from that same interview on GAC Backstory.. I hate that I upset him.. The truth is my statement was and STILL Is about how we as the new generation of country artists have to keep re-inventing country music to keep it popular. Just EXACTLY…The way Mr. Price did along hid journey as a main stream country artist.. Pushing the boundaries with his records. “For The Goodtimes” is a Perfect example with the introduction of a bigger orchestrated sound in country music.. It was new and awesome!!! I absolutely have no doubt I could have worded it better(as always ha!) and I apologize to Mr. Price and any other heroes of mine that it may offended..I meant every word I said. Country music is my life and it’s future AND past is important to me. I’ll put my Lo e and respect and knowledge About it up against anybody out there… ANYBODY…


From Ray Stevens (Happy Birthday Ray!)


“I just heard Blake Shelton’s remarks about ‘old farts and jackasses’ and all I want to know is how he found out the title to my next single because it’s been a closely guarded secret here at the ‘Home.’ It will be available on vinyl or 8-Track at your nearest Tower Records store.”

Last word from Blake himself

 No.. Actually it's an apology for the wording. Nice try though.. (responding to Outlaw Magazine claim that his apology wasn't so much an apology)

And this:

What an interesting day. Turns out I have a lot of friends in this industry that refuse to jump on any band wagon and turn their back on me.   And a handful that have no problem doing it...Publicity can make people do and say anything I guess... Oh well. Good news for me is... I don't forget and won't forget.  Coolest thing about it all...? 100% of my fans have my back. And THAT makes me proud of, not me, but country music...


And finally.

  @blakeshelton Please tweet me happy birthday!?” Happy birthday!!!

Thanks Blake, you rock!  Say hello to Miranda for me please?  ;-)

PS: Farce The Music sums things up:

 "There's not a more compassionate fan of the industry" -An associate of Blake Shelton defending him. In those very words lies the problem.

FINAL THOUGHT (for real) from Ray Price

Hi Folks, I had no idea how far this would go when I made my comment about BLAKE SHELTON'S statement regarding CLASSIC COUNTRY MUSIC and that it had no place in the evolution of Country Music. It has made it's way to the site of the 2013 GRAMMY AWARDS TV SHOW. I am giving you the link to read yourself. I HAVE ACCEPTED BLAKE SHELTON'S APOLOGY TO ME PERSONALLY. I think Blake is a fine young man with a big future in Country Music. I AGREE that he should be given a chance to restore his credibility with the MILLIONS OF FANS who were deeply offended by those HURTFUL WORDS AND RENAMING US ALL AS.....well, you know what he said. I would regret it if the words I have spoken would in any way harm Blake personally or his career and his chances for the future. BEST OF LUCK TO YOU, BLAKE. Thanks All. RAY PRICE

Blake responds:

 
Still sad that Ray thought I was talking about artists. I was only referring to people who don't like the new direction country is going.  I'm so proud of where country music is today... I'll always stand up for it. It's my world.

 

TO BE CONTINUED..... ?

Top Ten Of The Week-Crabb's Favorites

For the past 10 years I've been doing this loving hobby of posting 10 songs from my player in hopes of educating the masses that there's much more out there than the usual overplayed Cumulus Corporation Crap or Clear Channel, but it has called upon my attention that the total of songs I have posted over the years have exceeded the total approved songs for both Corporate guerrillas.


I'm not exactly sure if I can post a total top ten songs that I would want with me on a deserted island.  I hate repetition even on my favorite songs or favorite bands.  We only have so much time left to deal with the things we like anyway.  I know for a fact that even when I turn in this all time 10 faves that I will leave one or two off just because I didn't think of them at the time of compiling this list.  But then again, your taste may vary.  To pick 10 from 7 decades of rock and roll?  Hard to do, but I hope for the most part whatever makes this list comes from varying bands and albums that made an impression on me.  I certainly don't expect this to make the all time top ten most viewed, the viewer tastes won't allow that although The Mexican Jumping Beans blog has blown up the charts and now the all time best top ten for views.  To which The Loud Jets aka MJB thank you for your support.

But even the novelty of us getting 3300 views last month is done, hell I haven't even cleared 100 views on any day since the 12th.  So I guess it's back to the usual 2000 views once again. But anyway, time for this week's 10 songs of favorites plus a volume 2 and a volume 3. And that's it!

I'm sure the majority of these ten songs have appeared on various top tens over the years and so be it. But in the great event that if anybody cares what my all time faves are, this is as close to my soul that you'll ever get.

1.  Bo Diddley-Bo Diddley  1955  Certainly Chuck Berry figures in great rock and roll but Bo always had a distinctive sound that made you associate with the artist himself.  If there wasn't Bo, there would be no Townedgers or rock and roll for that matter, I'd be probably a Conservative Racist Pro gun CEO owning a few Congressmen in my wake but thank your lucky stars I was more into the spinning of 45s and the hippie dippy way.  If Elvis is the king of rock and roll, Bo Diddley is Jesus, walking on the water saving people's souls in favor of rock and roll.  Even Bob Dorr would have to agree on that one.

2.  My Girl Josephine-Jerry Jaye 1966  Growing up listening to AM radio in the 1970s still enabled us to hear once in a while songs that Cumulus would never consider playing on their precious 400 tunes which means you youngsters would have to seek out You Tube to hear some of the fun stuff that was presented to me.  My life was always music related to the point that if I heard a cool song on the radio, I would drag my little rocking chair and rock out to the songs.  Eventually I had to get a bigger rocking chair since I broke the damn thing after 15 years and too many pizzas to boot.  This is Memphis rock from a unknown rockabilly later country star that had a few singles on Hi and then Mega, but for pre Ramones three chords and the truth, Jerry made me a rabid fan of this song to which record I wanted so bad that I traded a CD of Kingdom Come to the guy at Rock N Bach for this scratchy 45.  Yes my influences still remain The Who, Buddy Holly and Bo Diddley but Jerry Jaye is another of my cult faves that nobody ever heard about. Rockabilly coolness.

 


3.  Blood-Big Back Forty 1997  In the perfect world, BB40 would be highly regarded like the the rest of the Americana music that was part of the magical 90s.  Even in this day and age, not everything that came out was manufactured by the numbers Corporate rock, a lotta great albums and bands fell by the wayside and can be found in the local cheap bins.  A classic album is anything that YOU want it to be and not what Rolling Stone or Spin touts, usually their tastes are like bubblegum, pleasant at first but the taste wears off and it's pretty bland.  Nevertheless, I bought Bested, BB40's only album for 7 bucks at Best Buy when it came out and it really took hold on me and managed to get to see them make their way here in 98 when they opened for The Honeydogs and even had the man himself Sean Beal next to me jamming out to the Honeydogs after they finished their set.  Hey he's one of us, a fan of music to the point that he would hang with the fans afterwards.  Sad to say, they never made it far, since Polydor got sold off in that infamous 1998 buyout which started the Universal giant label but every song off Bested is a classic to the point that I bought another copy just to have in the car for long driving trips.  Imagine my shock and surprise while down in Arizona and outside a steak place they were playing the radio and this song came on.  That made me stop and take a listen to it.

4. World's Looking Lonely-Volebeats 2005  What is the perfect sound of a pop song you ask? Beats, melody and a style that last through the ages I would say and even in this fairly new century we still have a good example of power pop, from a band that has members of Outrageous Cherry in it, they channel their inner Byrds/Flaming Groovies with this heartbreaking number that can give visions of Tom Petty to boot.  It takes a lot for me to remember bands in this day and age but once hearing this song I really wanted this record but could never figure out the band's name till I found a different record by the same group at another record store. But the power of Amazon.com enabled me to finally score the album Like Her to which I knew nothing about.

5.  Love's Made A Fool Out Of You-Bobby Fuller 4 1965  There were two of the most finest and influential musicians that ever came out of Texas, one was Buddy Holly and like Bo Diddley if it wasn't for Buddy I'd be doing something other.  The other was Bobby Fuller and he pretty much extended the Buddy groove to make his own, of course he covered I Fought The Law and got a big hit and almost does a straight to the version done by the Crickets without Buddy Holly.  Example number two of the perfect pop song.  Everybody should have an Bobby Fuller CD in their collection.

6. Don't Tell Me Your Troubles-Don Gibson 1963  If you're looking at the lack of hard rock bands here, don't despair too much on that, a lot of these lesser known songs have more influence on me in my favorite songs ever, but then again it's hard to dwell on only 10 and not take everything into consideration.  Don Gibson was the best dark songwriter that I ever came across in my youth, my folks had a chewed up copy of I Wrote A Song which had Don revisit some of his earlier stuff and I always liked this remake better than the original.  Of course Patsy Cline had a big hit with Sweet Dreams, your parent's Love Will Tear Us Apart. Too bad she didn't live long enough to do a complete album of Don's songs, I would have brought that one too.

7.  The Last Time-The Rolling Stones 1965  This is probably the most played song here on the top ten list but hey I like it fine.  The Stones at their most Garage Rock Best.  Keith Richards can make anything simple sound extreme.

8.  Rolling And Tumbling-Dr Feelgood 1976  Pub rock, there's so many great bands of that era to speak of, Ducks Deluxe, The Pirates, Eddie And The Hot Rods, later day Searchers of course Rockpile figures greatly into this too, it's hard to pick one, but I decided to go with this Wilko Johnson guitar led band that made some super cool albums in the mid 70s before Johnson left. Of course Pub Rock eventually mutated into punk rock but you really can't tell the difference.  It's all still in your face although I think that Pub Rock had more of a blues influence than the punk rock that The Clash or Sex Pistols would figured into and it would break out a year later.

9.  Shake-Otis Redding-1967  The live version that was the B side to You Don't Miss Your Water, this is soul music at its finest.  One of those 9 cent records that my mom brought home and knew nothing about till I put it on the player and then proceeded to wear the damn thing out. The complete version is on The Stax/Volt Revue Live In London album that Atlantic reissued in the 1990s to which I scored a copy at the old BJ's Records.  Was the 1960's the best time for music ever?  Seems that way to me.

10.  Tallahassee Lassie-Freddy Cannon  1959  And just like that we come to the 10th and final installment of Crabb's Favorites and yes I know I have left so many out that we haven't even scratched the surface.  I think out of all the songs listed, that this one demented me forever into thinking that rock and roll is the way to go and anything else should be left in the dust.  This is one of the songs that turns your head around and go WOW What the hell was that?  And where can I score a copy?  Alas, the version that our 45 was a two minute edit, I found a much better copy of same song with a extra verse thrown in to make it a complete 2 and half minute song instead of the 2:05 of the original Swan 45.  I'm guessing Freddy made have pioneered power pop with this song.  And we're all for the better of it.

Crabb's Favorites Volume 2:

11. Peggy Sue-Buddy Holly 1957
12. Don't You Worry My Little Pet-The Teddy Bears 1959
13. Pictures-Len Price 3-2011
14. Good Times Bad Times-Led Zeppelin 1969
15. Gas Girl-Bottle Rockets 1993
16. Gonna Send You Back To Walker-The Animals 1964
17. Cherry Cherry-Neil Diamond 1966
18. Let Your Love Flow-The Bellamy Brothers 1976
19. Keep A Walkin- Sam & Dave 1962
20. Slow Turnin-John Hiatt 1988

It still seems like I haven't even begun to tab all the faves that I know and love.    And so let's do a third and final installment of Crabb's Favorites and call it a day before the next top ten arrives.

21.  You're Gonna Miss Me-13th Floor Elevators 1966
22.  Rust Belt Town-The Randy Cliffs 2002
23.  Baby, Don't You Do It-The Who 1972
24.  Back Again-The Townedgers 2002
25.  Love's Closing In On Me-Tommy James & Shondells 1966
26.  You Better Check Yourself-Soul Brothers Six 1966
27.  I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better-The Byrds 1965
28.  Alison Road-Gin Blossoms 1992
29.  Peter Gunn-Duane Eddy 1960
30.  After You Came-The Moody Blues 1972

Robert Christgau gives us his best of 2012 here: http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Rock-Roll/The-Dean-s-List-2012/ba-p/9707

Observations: Earl Weaver, NLFM, Patsy Cline etc

Well I guess it had to happen sooner, the novelty has wore off and we'll lose that 3,000 views bubble.  Started on the 20th and lasted through Christmas we averaged a 150 views and then it dropped down.  Maybe we'll never top the 214 views that happened on the 23rd.  You can promo it as much as you can and it really doesn't matter.  You gotta make this a labor of love or otherwise this would be history.

Link of the day: http://433rpm.blogspot.com/

No Longer Forgotten Music goes even more further than I could ever do in searching for forgotten music over the years. Even I haven't heard half of what they posted for songs.

Even the with easing of the comments rule only Tad has figured out the captcha puzzle.  Thought about doing away the whole thing and let everybody make a comment but then again I'd end up with trolls or Nicki No Talent robots invading the inbox with empty headed nothingness.  She really sucks although she does rap competent.

Janis Joplin would have been 70 today.   I have to admit I have never been a big Janis fan, I do have Cheap Thrills but never play it all that much, there was another later cd of her live performances that had better songs but for the most part they're dust collectors.  She could sing, too bad the booze and the drugs and the heartbreaks finally took her down.

But take this in consideration, Patsy Cline would have turned 81 a couple months ago.  Listening to her overview The Patsy Cline Story, I have to conclude that Patsy is the greatest singer of heartbreak ever.  She makes Ian Curtis sound like a choir boy, the desperation that she sings of Sweet Dreams the song that Don Gibson wrote but makes it her own with the way she sings 'you don't love me anymore' sent a strange shiver up my spine while listening to it at work the other day.  I don't believe the brat cared much for The Wayward Wind and she may have a point, Gogi Grant still owns that.  I still like Patsy's more uptempo numbers and Tra La La Triangle song brings a smile to this face.  But tell you one thing, when she sings the songs of heartbreak or She's Got You, it sure tears my heart out hearing that.  You hear the pain in her voice.  More so than Ian.

Bob Lefsetz does a fine job on his podcast of The Harder They Come soundtrack featuring Jimmy Cliff, which remains the first definitive Reggae album that ever came out and yes I have the movie too.  What Bob may not told you but I will that Jimmy's latest album Rebirth is almost as good as that soundtrack.  The 70s was a great time for Reggae music with ground breaking stuff from the likes of Cliff, The Wailers, Toots And The Maytals, Burning Spear and Johnny Nash who at one time was a up and coming teen idol.  His Hold Me Tight album (JAD) was really the first overall reggae album that I ever known, brought for 44 cents at Kresges' years ago.  Peter Tosh wrote a couple cool number on that record.

Earl Weaver, the iconic manager of the Baltimore Orioles passed away at age 82. As a long time fan of the Orioles (goes all the way back to 66 when they upset and swept the Dodgers in the world series) he managed to take the O's to a few World Series, the infamous fuck you Mets of 1969, the two series with the Pirates to which both Pittsburgh won, including the dammed We Are Family craze of 1979 and the 1970 they won it all by beating Cincinnati 4 games to 1 on the strength of Brooks Robinson unbelievable plays at 3rd base.  Even when they didn't win the division, Weaver always had them playing past their potential even though the players would love to kill him, as well the umpires, Weaver got thrown out of 98 ball games in his career.  A sore loser?  Naw, a winner and  my favorite all time manager.  You can't replace him.


Record review:
The Cruisin' Story 1960  (One Day)

One thing about compilations from the golden age of rock and roll is that there's plenty of them out there and most of them repeats the same songs over and over and sometimes throws an obscure classic in there.  Now I grew up with 45s of that era courtesy of my mom and her dead sister and their eccentric tastes are the basis of what I listen to, it's a blurred line and if it sounds good to me then that's what it is.   Back then the local Woolworth's had the 3 for a dollar special or whatever Mom would bring home.  Before the Rolling Stone review guide, this what prepared us for our endeavor of music. Even back then, the bizarre findings of Oscar Peterson Singers to Ben E King or Ray Charles to compare with Bobby Rydell, Elvis and The Hollywood Argyles.

Time Life in their defense continues to do a good job with their big box sets which has been reissued and manipulated on late night TV so many times they have become a parody upon themselves but in reality based upon the original American Graffiti soundtrack, capturing the sights and sounds of an era long ago and far away that we cannot return to that garden of Eden anytime soon.  Time Life does have it right, but I have come to find that the labels across the pond tend to their rock and roll a bit more seriously, such as the case of One Day Records and their Cruisin' Story Series.

One Day has done a superb job of reissuing 2 CD sets of The Cruisin Years which is a variation of the Crusin' series that Increase Records does, only the latter label adds radio airchecks and commercials to the songs although their albums never seem to go past the half hour mark.  Rykodisc issued a Cruisin comp, that kinda reminds me of late night radio, but they go from the late 50s and end around 1968 thereabouts.  It's definitive and worth a listen even though the songs they choose have been played to death on the radio. But One Day sticks to the songs of a particular year and even though the 1960 Story has the usual suspects (Elvis gets three songs, Sam Cooke gets two) and tend to overdo the pop side of things (Paul Anka, Kathy Young) it does give a peek into the developing Motown era with The Miracles' Shop Around, gives a nod to Atlantic soul with Ben E King's Spanish Harlem and I Count The Tears by The Drifters, and of course Ray Charles Georgia On My Mind To boot.  Then the novelty of Alley Oop, Volare, You Talk Too Much and even Johnny Bond's Hot Rod Lincoln.

The second cd is where the fun begins which is when One Day begins to tap the British side of music, Johnny Kidd's Shakin All Over which even sounds dangerous in this 1960 version, Cliff Richard and Billy Fury add their hits here. To the guitar rock of Fendermen's Mule Skinner Blues, The Ventures Walk Don't Run and the original I Fought The Law by The Crickets and Sonny Curtis making Buddy proud although Bobby Fuller would take it one step further. And the reason why I bought this comp, I figured it's cheaper than trying to locate the original 45 of said song.  For the most part we get the original versions, although I find it odd to see Hank Ballard's Finger Poppin Time on one cd and the other The Twist, a song he wrote, is done by Chubby Checker.  Not sure if the Brook Benton/Diana Washington's Rocking Good Way is the original but what I can tell you is that Baby, You Got What It Takes, isn't original, it's Benton only and sounds way past 1960.

But even in the good vibes of the songs of this album, it does end on a bittersweet note with Buddy Holly's True Love Ways ending the whole thing, like the party's over.  Another quibble is the absolute shoddyness of the annotation or songs, no mentioning of the labels or where they came from and the credits to the songs are all wrong, which is getting into Charly Records territory.  Remember them?  They put out some great albums of blues artists and rockers and put up a front for where they got their masters to which Universal went and shut them down, or they simply vanished to some remote place to continue to put out product.  But One Day (A division of Not Now Music) has really done their homework and have issued some fine fine music from forgotten labels (their rockabilly series are worth seeking out) and on this album, added a few missing links from the music of the AM rock era.  Their American London series to which London UK licensed some US records for the UK audience are worth seeking out although there's a few duplications from that as well.  Basically buyer beware but for a decent overview of your parents rock and roll, you could do worse.

Grade B+

The lateness of the hour caused me to forgot about Stan Musial deciding to check into the big ball park in the sky.  He was 92.  Stan the Man lives!

If you're still interested, Bob Dorr's Backtracks is now on Saturday Afternoon from 3 from 5.  Seems like Public Radio has cut his hours down two from three hours he used to have on Saturday Nights.  He always have  a good sense of music.......