Eric Burdon:
We were fortunate enough to be seated with a guy by the name of Damian Rico at the Eric Burdon concert the other night. Damian is an EXCELLENT photographer who is sharing some of his work with our Forgotten Hits Readers for the first time today. (You'll find not only a couple of shots from the Eric Burdon show here ... but also a couple that he took of Felix Cavaliere the last time he performed at The Arcada Theatre.) Ironically, we're going to see Felix at The Arcada tonight, so these shots are especially timely. Tickets are still available for the Felix Cavaliere show through The Arcada Online Box Office at www.oshows.com ... Jay and the Americans are the opening act so this should be one heck of a show! (kk)
Photos courtesy of Damian Rico, The Times /
www.nwi.com<http://www.nwi.com
(Thank you, Damian! Great stuff!) kk
My wife and I saw Eric Burdon in 2014 just before we got married. He looked old (I commented how it looked like it could be my dad on stage), could barely move (as if he has arthritis in his neck, like my wife does) and he had a stool to sit if he needed it though he stood for most of the show. Vocally, the man was on fire! He was able to let out screams like it was 1965 all over again. I have to wonder if maybe you caught him on an off night. I'd hate for one negative review from an off night to cause him unjust lost concert ticket sales ... hopefully others who saw him recently can chime in with their comments to show if they're warranted or not.
-- Tom
I read your review of Eric Burdon. I guess that’s a risk we take whenever we attend a concert by an elderly performer. They can’t all be Tony Bennett!
Rick
Kent ...
Sorry to hear that Eric Burdon has lost it.
9/4/1964 = The Animals make their U.S. concert debut at New York's Paramount Theatre. (Thanks, Ron Smith ).
I was at that show. They were booed. Wrong setting. Oldies show. Nobody knew who The Animals were at that time. I must admit , in time, they won me over. Tony Williams & The Platters are my favorite American Group. Eric Burdon & The Animals are my favorite British Group. I even bought Eric's last album.
After reading your review, I think I'll go with past memories instead of going to see them one more time.
Frank B.
Please understand that I don't write a review to steer people away from seeing a particular act (unless it's one of those "buyer beware" situations where the act isn't really who they're represented to be ... which happens FAR too often these days.) But I look at it as my responsibility to report fairly and accurately on what I see when I go to these shows. Music fans all over the globe now respect the reviews they read in Forgotten Hits because they know ... good, bad or otherwise ... they're going to be HONEST representations of what happened up on that stage on that particular night. (Even the guy I went to the show with ... who LOVED the concert and participated in many of the numerous standing ovations awarded throughout it ... told me later that I was right ... my review was right on the money ... he had just gotten wrapped up in the experience of finally being able to see Eric Burdon live.) And that brings up another good point ... MY opinion doesn't mean diddley (Bo reference intentional) ... LOTS of people were giving Burdon standing ovations throughout the show ... so obviously THEY were having a great time and enjoyed what they were seeing ... as such,it's quite likely that my opinion was in the minority. Still, folks have come to depend on honest and accurate reviews from Forgotten Hits ... so I'm not going to say that I liked something simply because of my admiration for this artist and what they've done in the past ... my reviews are based strictly on the show I saw on any given night. (In fact, I added the whole Animals tag at the end because I have so much respect to what they brought to the musical scene.) And Tom is also right ... ANY artist can have a bad night ... it happens ... and I also tried to stress in the review that Eric Burdon gave it his all ... he just didn't have the vocal prowess to pull it off. Maybe he was sick or had been sick ... I dunno ... because I also agree with Tom that in 2014 he sounded GREAT ... and his newest album is proof of that. (kk)
Kent ...
I just read Ron Smith's report that John D. Loudermilk died. He was 82 years old.
This is one of the many songs he wrote. I was wondering if you ever heard Eric Burdon & The Animals' version of this song?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5DH3uK2PWA
Frank B.
No I hadn't ... thanks for sending. (I tend to prefer the uptempo version.) I have always loved the Nashville Teens' hit version ... but I'll tell you what ... one of the best versions I've ever heard performed was by Chicago's very own Ides Of March. (kk)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYGQdkEHt_4
Speaking of John D. Loudermilk ...
John D. Loudermilk:
We lost another great songwriter this past week ... this is from Diane Diekman's Country Music Newsletter ...
John D. Loudermilk (1934-2016)
The writer of such songs as "Tobacco Road," "Indian Reservation," "Abilene," "Break My Mind," "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye," "Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)," "Talk Back Trembling Lips," and "Waterloo" has died. John D. Loudermilk, 82, died September 21. A native of Durham, North Carolina, he lived in recent years in Franklin, Tennessee. Earlier this year, due to his failing health, his friends honored him with a tribute show at the Franklin Theatre. Performers included Emmylou Harris, Bobby Braddock, and Rodney Crowell. John was a member of the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame and was inducted in 1976 into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He told The Tennessean in a 1961 interview about his songwriting, "I'm looking for the most different thing I can find. Everybody's writing 'I love you truly.' You've got to find something new. I talk to drunks at the bus station, browse through kiddie books at the public library and get phrases from college kids and our babysitter. You've got to be looking all the time."
Tommy James and the Shondells:
Tommy James & the Shondells belong in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I interviewed them on my internet radio show about fifteen years ago ... extremely nice guy.
Me, The Mob And The Music is a great book about his career.
Mark the Shark
Tommy is a VERY nice guy who is truly appreciative of the fan support that has afforded him a dream career for the past 50+ years. Continuing to ignore him is a GROSS oversight by The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ... and a PERFECT example of why the general public has absolutely NO respect or interest in their choices anymore. (kk)
Here are a couple more photos from that show, courtesy of Luciano Bilotti (he also took the .38 Special shots featured below ... thanks, Lou!) kk
Thanks for the tip of the hat to The Crystal Blue Band, Kent! Proud to have been a part of this history!
Mike Vale
Tommy James' manager Carol Ross-Durborow wanted to more clearly explain the delays in getting Tommy's movie made. (I know we're all anxiously waiting to see this thing show up in movie theaters ... but obviously there is a WHOLE lot more to getting a movie made than just a great storyline and a best-selling book!)
Hi Kent -
The biggest stars and producers and directors in Hollywood can tell you it takes years to get films made ... there are so many variables and people involved ... it took us two years to find the right screenwriter who Tommy felt would stay close to the book ... and, because he was a 'bankable' writer, he had other commitments and we had to wait until he completed his other projects ... same with getting a director, etc. etc. The money people use the term bankable and want bankable people involved in a project to somewhat guarantee a good film.
You have to understand that from the minute the book came out there were people who promised the world and who said they could get the biggest names to be involved ... so we listened and we waited and we waited, not knowing the movie business politics. Over time, those people came and went ... and then we were approached by other folks with virtually the same scenario.
Then, finally, we were introduced to producer Barbara De Fina, who gave us a lesson on movie making and continues to do so ... the long, hard task of finding the right people continues. We finally found the right screenwriter and waited several months till he finished the screenplay ... then went back and forth with rewrites, etc., until everyone was satisfied.
Now is the task of getting a director ... and again it will take time due to other commitments these people have ... plus the necessary time needed to read the book and screenplay and then all of the back and forth of negotiations ... oh, I didn't even mention how long that takes with lawyers on each side going back and forth for months!
Barbara De Fina, our producer, also produced Goodfellas, Casino, Cape Fear, The Color of Money, Hugo and many other films ... she certainly knows the business ... especially having been married to Martin Scorsese! ... so she has been keeping us levelheaded. At times, the waiting becomes extremely frustrating, especially for Tommy, so he is keeping busy working in the studio on his new album and also preparing to have his own show on Sirius / XM radio ... so this helps.
I appreciate your support ... and for helping to put the word out there. It is frustrating for me, too ... ... but we know we are in good hands now.
Carol
Thanks, Carol, for the clarification. All of us Tommy fans have been chomping at the bit to see his great book made into a major motion picture ... but I certainly understand everybody wanting to get it right. (I think most would agree that Clint Eastwood probably wasn't the most preferred candidate to direct "Jersey Boys" ... and I don't think Frankie Valli was all that thrilled about the results of his vision either ... but now we're stuck with the end result of that venture for the rest of our lives!)
So we'll do our best to remain patient ... please keep us posted about any movie news, Tommy's new album ... and his new Sirius / XM radio show. (Who knows ... maybe we can even "sneak peek" a track from the new LP once he's got it ready to go!) kk
Roy Orbison:
Speaking of new biopic's FH Reader Bob Merlis tells us that Roy Orbison's life story will soon be coming to the big screen, too ...
The life story of the legendary Roy Orbison, whose career and personal narrative were fraught with struggle, setbacks, triumph and tragedy, is the subject of The Big O: Roy Orbison, now getting underway. The Big O: Roy Orbison is the first Orbison Estate authorized dramatic musical biopic; the film is being produced by Marty Katz (The Great Raid, The Four Feathers, Reindeer Games, Titanic, Lost in America), Alex Orbison and Roy Orbison Jr. with Wesley Orbison serving as Executive Producer along with Chuck Fleckenstein and Ron Moore. Alex, Roy Jr. and Wesley are the late icon’s surviving children whose Roy’s Boys LLC has overseen their father’s legacy in the years following the 2011 death of Barbara Orbison, the star’s widow and mother of Roy Jr. and Alex.
Ray Gideon and Bruce Evans are teaming to write the screenplay based on the story by Alex and Roy Orbison Jr. Among a long list of credits, Gideon and Evans were responsible for writing the scripts for Stand By Me, Starman and Mr. Brooks, the latter title also directed by Evans. They are represented by David Styne’s Wicked Curve with Harold Brown of Gang, Tyre, Raymer & Brown handling legal representation.
Upon revealing the project, expected for a 2018 release, Alex Orbison commented, “Our father’s life story has an undeniably cinematic quality to it. We feel that the telling of it is in extraordinarily capable hands with Bruce and Ray and the overall team will bring The Big O finally to the screen.”
Roy Orbison was born in Vernon, TX, in 1936, with his the family moving to Wink, TX, where the teenage Orbison pursued music, playing guitar and singing rockabilly and country. He first made his mark on the national music scene in 1956 with “Ooby Dooby,” released by Sun Records where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Charlie Rich were his label mates. His breakthrough came with his string of hits for Monument, starting in the early ‘60s.
Touring constantly in both in the US and abroad, he headlined over the Beatles in the UK. Top 10 hits of the era included “Crying,” “Only The Lonely,” “In Dreams,” “Dream Baby,” the number one single “Running Scared” and the massive international chart topper, “Oh, Pretty Woman.” The mid ‘60s was an emotionally turbulent time when his wife Claudette died in a motorcycle accident and his sons Roy DeWayne Orbison and Anthony King Orbison perished in a house fire. At the end of the decade he met and married German-born Barbara Anne Marie Wellhöner Jakobs, mother of Roy Jr. and Alex.
A career slump ended when David Lynch showcased his music in Blue Velvet, sparking new interest which led to his celebrity-studded live television concert special Roy Orbison & Friends: A Black & White Night. Among those “friends,” were Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt and others.
He was part of the Traveling Wilburys, along with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and George Harrison, whose debut album went triple platinum. He spent much of 1988 working on his solo comeback studio album Mystery Girl, produced by Lynne. But before the album’s release he died unexpectedly from a heart attack at the age of 52, not present to witness the tremendous success of “You Got It,” his first Top 10 single in 25 years. <span id="role_doc