WFMU's Beware of the Blog

Edward G. Monkeyman

Everyone has that moment in life when they wonder why they're walking around in a monkey suit. For legendary actor Edward G. Robinson that epiphany came in 1966 while shooting a test for The Planet of the Apes movie. Good Serling script, good cast but Robinson didn't really need the paycheck so why the hell was he making it? After a costly divorce in '56, Eddie made a killing in the art collecting racket and walking around choking on orangutan hairs was obviously for schmucks. Before Robinson turned in his ape suit he filmed one makeup test scene with Charlton Heston, James Brolin and Linda Harrison. In the finished movie, Harrison was demoted from smart chimp Zira to grunting sexpot Nova (NO-VA!) and Brolin was replaced by the monkeyriffic Roddy McDowell. The role of the wise orangutan Dr. Zaius was given to Shakespearean actor Maurice Evans who was surprisingly all too eager to don the furry jumpsuit.

Captured for posterity for Edward G. Robinson completists and Planet of the Apes perverts alike, here's the makeup test reel that was shot before Robinson bailed. It's about as dull as an Adam-12 chase scene but at least it's got a certain monkey je ne sais quoi about it. The clip begins with a storyboard pitch to the Fox studio gorillas narrated by all-purpose cult hero Paul Frees. Looks like it's gonna be a good Tuesday.

A Few Pointers From Ted Williams

Ted Williams was indisputably the greatest hitter in the game of baseball. The last player in MLB to bat over .400 in a single season (.406 in 1941), he was a two time American League MVP winner and still holds the highest career batting average of anyone with 500 or more home runs. Over the course of two decades Williams quietly advanced to the top of his profession earning accolades from his peers on and off the field.

Red Sox fans applauded their hero's multi-tiered success but on occasion turned on the thin-skinned slugger, booing and heckling him at the slightest sign of weakness. This bugged the hell out of Williams and he would mutter under his breath and eventually stop tipping his cap to these idiots. What the hell was this all about? Nobody ever booed Hoot Gibson or John Wayne. What kind of world had he landed in? Maybe a .344 career batting average might be better appreciated somewhere else. Perhaps in the future, away from the drooling slobs of Fenway Park, there dwelt an appreciative civilization where attaining everlasting life and eternal gratitude is only slightly more complicated than joining Netflix. Pumped up with steroids to end all steroids, a sports legend could roam the earth like a king--living, loving and playing ball with only the finest merchandising deals laid like rose petals at his frozen cleats. Ted squinted into the left field bleachers and with the saint-like fortitude that he often brought to the plate, sucked in his breath and waited.

Adam-12 Haikus

Adam-12 haikus
Not as good as Dragnet ones
Still equally dumb

First thing that you learn
Pig is a three letter word
You can spell it out

Arriving on scene
A fight group with chains and knives
Requesting backup

You can arrest them
And you can make them like you
We call it technique

Third day on the job
After the morning roll call
Reed dented the car

Pete grew a mustache
Wanted to try something new
Not a good idea

Rotten Code 7
Robbery at Duke's Cafe
Lunch will have to wait

Sammy Davis, Jr. is Your Vehicle

Randell & Schippers

You never forget the first time you see Randell & Schippers. Good afternoon. My name is Dave and I am a Randell & Schippers addict. I greet you all today with the sincere wish that you might either save me or come along and join my warped cause.

For many (including myself) the introduction into the unique world of Denny Randell and Biddy Schippers came last week about six and a half hours in to the Jerry Lewis Telethon. Slamming out hit after self-penned hit in a record seven minutes, Randell, Schippers and their potrzebie musical co-horts left me slack-jawed, awestruck and unable to function rationally in normal society. They would've also stolen the whole damn show if Jerry didn't start making erection jokes with Charo. That's cheating.

The Clodhoppers and The Dixie Entertainers

Hailing from Gwinnett County, Georgia, fiddler Earl Johnson got the bug in his ear early on for raucous string band noise. He practiced furiously with his brothers Ester on guitar and Albert on banjo until 1923 when they both succumbed to an epidemic. In 1924 Earl joined Fiddlin' John Carson's Virginia Reelers and Arthur Tanner's Dixie String Band where he fine-tuned his fiddling prowess on stage and street.

After nailing the Georgia state fiddle championship in 1926, Earl cut a mess of sides for the Okeh label with his newly formed Dixie Entertainers. In 1927 he ditched the Entertainers and recorded with his new combo the Clodhoppers but by 1928 he was back with the Entertainers and continued with them until his final record in 1931 (Close Your Bright Eyes). Earl continued to perform right up until May 24,1965 where he wowed the populous at a fiddlers' convention in Stone Mountain, Georgia before promptly dropping dead.

Decades later, the question still remains: who rocked out harder--The Clodhoppers or the Dixie Entertainers?

The Clodhoppers gave us All Night Long which has to be the Louie Louie of miserable marriage songs. The Entertainers' I'm Satisfied gives Night a drunken run for the money with its loopy observations on domestic life that play out like a hillbilly version of The Lockhorns. Both are total liquored-up party songs that celebrate the terribleness of it all.

Both also have background vocals that sound like a goat that's been strapped to a Spook-a-Rama funhouse car and then sent spiraling off into mid-town traffic. I don't know who this little lady is that's responsible for these falsetto-like deeds but Earl had the good sense to bring her in on both of these sessions and for that we will fire up the mp3 player and blast his music on this late summer afternoon.

I'm Satisfied   Earl Johnson's Dixie Entertainers
recorded February 21, 1927 in NYC
All Night Long   Earl Johnson's Clodhoppers
recorded October 7, 1927 in Atlanta, GA

Sammy Petrillo R.I.P.

The world just got a little less stupid. Jerry Lewis impersonator Sammy Petrillo has passed away.

When Sammy was a teenager he asked himself whether he wanted a job or he wanted to be in show biz and fortunately for us he chose the latter. (When you're a dead ringer for Jerry Lewis these decisions come easy.) After a few years knocking around nightclubs Sammy teamed up with Dean Martin impersonator Duke Mitchell and together they starred in the feral Poverty Row romp Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla (1952). Not long after the release of the movie the long arm of Jerry Lewis prevented Mitchell and Petrillo from securing work and the team reluctantly dissolved. In 1961 Sammy took a solo turn in the Doris Wishman nudie Shangri-La (featuring "trick photography by Weegee") and in 1972 he essayed multiple roles in Wishman's abstinence-provoking Keyholes Are For Peeping. Somewhere in there Sammy created the concept for The Munsters TV show and invented the prank phone call record (My Son The Phone Caller). Duke met his reward in 1981 and Sammy kept on being Sammy right up until this past weekend. Beloved by those who loved him and hated by the rest, Sammy's legacy will endure as long as public domain copies of Brooklyn Gorilla litter 99 cent bins at checkout counters across the land.

Here's couple of clips from Shangri-La that feature Sammy at his effervescent best. Whether cavorting with nudists, historic wax figures or Duke Mitchell impersonators, Sammy's off button was nowhere to be found.    (NSFW)

The Thirty-Seven Seasons

Frankie Valli
Tommy DeVito (1960-1970)
Nick Massi (né Macioci) (1960-1965)
Bob Gaudio (1960-1971)
Charles Calello (1965)
Joe Long (né LaBracio) (1965-1975)
Bob Grimm (1970-1971)
Gary Volpe (1970-1971)
Al Ruzicka (1971-1972))
Joseph Steffanelli (1971-1972)
Demetri Callas (1971-1974)
Clay Jordan (1972-1973)
Billy DeLoach (1972-1973, 1996-1997, 1998-2000)
Paul Wilson (1972-1973)
Lee Shapiro (1973-1980)
Gerry Polci (1973-1977, 1979-1982, 1987-1990)
Don Ciccone (1974-1979, 1981-1983)
John Paiva (1975-1977)
Robby Robinson (1978-1998,2000-?)
Jerry Corbetta (1979-1985)
Rex Robinson(1979-2000)
Larry Lingle (1981-1993)
Lynn Hamman (1982-1988)
Chuck Wilson (1982-1992)
Robin Swenson (1985-1986, 1988-1990)
Howard Laravea (1986-1988)
Tim Stone (1990-1997)
Zoro (1992-2000)
Fino Roverato (1993-2000)
Adrian Baker (1994-1995)
Tommy Alvarado (1994-2000)
Warren Hamm (1997-2000)
Rich Callaci (1998-2000)
Steve Gregory (2001-2005)
Keith Hubacher (2001-?)
Matt Baldoni (2005-?)
Gary Melvin (2006-?)

Ponderosa Stomp at Lincoln Center NYC

Don't even think of missing the one and only Ponderosa Stomp next week. It's the swingin'-est, funkiest, rockin'-est musical entertainment show ever put on anywhere at anytime. It's only great. And it's blasting into New York City for three crazed nights of soul, rockabilly and swamp pop and most of it will fly out over the WFMU airwaves!

For the uninitiated, in the past decade the Stomp has been responsible for celebrating the legacies and careers of the unsung heroes of rock & roll, soul, garage, swamp pop and the unnameable (i.e.: Legendary Stardust Cowboy). What began as a hobby for organizer Dr. Ike Padnos and his Mystic Knights of the Mau Mau has exploded into a multi-faceted musical, cultural and educational juggernaut. And it's a hell of a lot of fun. This ain't no schlub oldies show--this is the real deal. If you can, see this in person. As a backup plan you can listen to most of it on the radio. In either event, prepare to have your world rocked.

Here's what you need to know:

July 16th (Midsummer Night's Swing):
Ponderosa Stomp: The Get Down
(broadcast live on Music To Spazz By Thursday July 16th 7-11pm)

* William Bell - a principal architect of the Stax/Volt sound.
* The Bobbettes – girl group known as the ‘Harlem Queens’ known for their hit, “Mr Lee”
* Bo-Keys - authentic, greasy Memphis soul stew w/ Stax Records stars
* Harvey Scales - a hard-hitting soul man, writer of  "Disco Lady" and “Love-i-tus”

July 17th (Midsummer Night's Swing):
Ponderosa Stomp: Best Dance In Town
(to be aired on Music To Spazz By Thursday July 30th 8-11pm)

* Joe Clay - New Orleans’ proto-rockabilly genius, appeared with Elvis
* The Collins Kids – 50’s TV faves, this brother/sister duo features double neck guitar pyrotechnics
* Deke Dickerson & The Eccofonics - the nitro-charged country and rockabilly specialists
* Carl Mann - Sun Records artist had his first hit with Nat King Cole’s “Mona Lisa”

Songs We Taught The School of Rock

Last month The Paul Green School of Rock hosted two WFMU benefits--one at Asbury Lanes and one at BB King's. Paul runs a network of rock music schools for the after-school junior high and high school crowd and he's been at it successfully for quite a while. Based out of Philly, he's constantly compelled to clue his kids in to the very best music he can dig up. That still doesn't explain why he offered to set up a couple of  benefits for the station based on the two ipod-less hours he spent on the Jersey Turnpike tuning in my dumb show. The caveat for bagging the dough was that I had to come up with the songs that the kids should play. I figured that junior high school already sucks so bad that I couldn't make it much worse. So one cautionary night, me and Bingo the Chimp got out the dart board and about 75 songs were selected amid much confusion.

Both shows were inspired successes. Lots of fun and high school hoopla was had. It was like the last scene in Carrie but without all the blood. Asbury Lanes was a total nut-job blast and the spirit of Bracey "Lover's Curse" Everett's spirit was summarily summoned rock and roll style. BB King's brought special guests a-plenty: Bowie/Lennon guitar slinger Earl Slick, Dirtbombs shouter Mick Collins and bad seed Miriam Linna on drums.

Thanks to Jenn and Layney at Asbury Lanes (and Jeff Mulan and Ken Freedman for working the merch). Huge thanks to Irene Trudel for lugging equipment and spearheading the crack recording team of Scott Konzelman, Rob Christiansen and Glenn Luttman for the BB King's show. Extra special thanks to Mark Biondi, Tina Kerekes and especially Paul Green for setting up this whole thing up and also everyone who came out for these events. The biggest accolades of all go to the kids from Chatham, Cherry Hill, Philly, Monmouth County, Princeton, Bergen County, Wilmington, Port Washington and the School of Rock All-Stars: you totally rock and you roll now get back to homeroom because Mr. Downs has a surprise quiz after the frog dissection.

After the jump are a mess of videos and mp3s.

The Don Martin Dictionary

In 1837 Paterson township seceded from Essex County, New Jersey. It became the silk production capital of the country when it was incorporated into burgeoning Passaic County. Paterson would eventually stake its claim to several pivotal figures of the 20th century and at one point or another they all called Paterson their home: Lou Costello, William Carlos Williams, Uncle Floyd, Allen Ginsberg, Bert Wheeler, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Prince Randian and today's blog topic hero--Mad's Maddest Artist, Don Martin.

At some point in the 21st century an obsessive genius/knucklehead spent too much time compiling the only database that matters. This link is especially for those who need to know right now what the Batmobile with a flat tire sounds like.

The Don Martin Dictionary

Hank Willams, Jr. Redux

Randall Hank "Bocephus" Williams served time early on for sins uncommitted. His father, the greatest country performer the world had ever known, rolled seven on the way to a gig, leaving his three year old son a dubious legacy to repair. Forced to perform at dog and pony shows, Little Hank lived in his father's shadow, trod in his father's footsteps and out-cliched every horrible cliche connected with vicariously living someone else's life before hitting puberty. With the help of stage mother Audrey, Junior charmed the nostalgia-crazed Nash Vegas hicks with his Hank Williams Mini-Me act. When he wasn't wailing about that lonesome ol' whistle, Junior recorded duets with Connie Francis and slogged through M-G-M's syrupy back catalog of misses and non-hits.

In the early seventies Junior finally broke away from the never ending Hank Sr. dark ride. One too many sorry ass Luke the Drifter, Jr. LPs had taken its toll on the weary singer and Randall was ready to change up horses. He fired his band and then fired his mother and started recording songs that didn't suck nearly as bad. He happily fit right in with the burgeoning outlaw country freaks that were dotting the musical landscape. Seeking inspiration in the boozy excesses of his old man, Hank partied like it was 1975 (it was), recorded more albums, grew a beard and then left it on the side of a mountain along with the rest of his face during a drunken camping trip. Resourceful surgeons created a new face with skin from his buttocks and Ol' Assface soldiered on.

After years of trolling in search of the elusive whatsit (and perhaps spurred on by his 600 foot tumble down Mt. Ajax), Bocephus recast himself as the go-to buffoon of Redneck Royalty--a dumb-ass Don Quixote whose various moronic misdeeds are still legendary in their scope. Hank cultivated a sexist, Everclear-swiggin', cocaine-snortin', hard-livin', a-ready-for-some-footballin', NASCAR-loving persona, working his hick shtick like a 90 foot Ray Stevens character come to life. Hank's latest nut-jobbed transgression centers on his intention to run for the U.S. Senate against Tennessee Republican incumbent Bob Corker in 2012.

Three Favorite LP Covers At the Moment

Monkey Milking a Goat

If you run into me in a bar or somewhere and I have this hazy, far off look in the eyes or I don't remember your name or I'm just standing there softly muttering to myself--chances are I'm thinking about that monkey milking a goat sequence from Mr. Robinson Crusoe (1932). Not to be confused with other monkey milking goat sequences, this is the one that features Josephine the Monkey and Constance the Goat as comic foils to a decrepit Douglas Fairbanks. What appears to be a throwaway gag, this scene serves as much more--it's a pivotal moment in the character development between Jo and Connie and to a lesser extent Rooney the Dog. (Their subtle interplay has been previously discussed at length by failed auteur Peter Bogdanovich in his 1977 treatise Alone in a Darkened Room.) The Monkey and the Goat gave the Depression-ravaged audiences brief flashes of the inherent hilarity that only a monkey milking a goat can provide.

Lensed on the crest of the talkie takeover, Mr. Robinson Crusoe is remembered by sickos and film aficionados as Josephine's talkie debut. In 1929, Lionel Barrymore, inventor of the boom microphone (which is still in use today) tested his invention on Josephine and was instantly enchanted by her nuanced monkeyshines. She was known on the United Artists lot as a professional who wore clothing when required and kept her dung-flinging to a minimum between takes. The versatile capuchin had already appeared as an extra in Sadie Thompson (1928) and her success in Mr. Robinson Crusoe propelled her to featured roles in Washee Ironee (1933) and the talkie remake of Too Many Highballs (1933). Only days after signing a five year contract with Fox, Josephine met a watery demise when she was flushed down the toilet at a Lloyd Hamilton party that got out of hand.

Not much is known about Constance the Goat except that she was a runner-up for Miss Oak Ridge Tennessee of 1926. She quit the film business shortly after Crusoe's release but was drawn out of retirement in the late thirties when she was briefly paired with Charley Chase for a series of unfunny two-reelers at Educational.

If you're willing to part with seventy-six creaky minutes that you'll never get back, you might enjoy the entire public domain Mr. Robinson Crusoe. For the rest of you, please partake of this two minute clip and prepare to spend your remaining days softly muttering to yourself in a dark corner of your local bar.

Los Shakers!!

Prepare to witness the greatest rock & roll video of all time. Then follow this link to Gaylord Fields' Los Shakers blog post and this link to Michael Shelley's interview with guitarist Osvaldo Fattoruso.

The Fake Popeye

Beware The Fake Popeye. For he will rot your brain as he bores you with his fake theme song. This kiddie record is credited to the Peter Pan Orchestra and Chorus but it sounds more like the Peter Pan Bus Line. The label features a creepy old whistling guy in a nightcap while the flip boasts a be-smocked youth cobbling boots. No one claims writing credit and if the label didn't say "NON-BREAKABLE" I would've smashed this clunker years ago.

After writing the above piece I realized that the 365 Days Project already weighed in on this dumb record!

Popeye Side A (mp3)
Popeye Side B (mp3)

My First Mass Emailing Since I Was In a Band

Sorry for the mass emailing but due to troubling times at WFMU I have to make a first time non-Nigerian scam request for your help. I hate asking for anything. If I were to ask for anything it would be an egg and cheese on a hard roll with french fries and a coffee but unfortunately I'm not here today to ask you for that. (I really wish I were.)

As you might have heard, FMU is nearing the end of its annual beg-a-thon, and frankly we haven't been doing so hot money-wise. Yeah, the economy stinks, but due to a confluence of expensive problems hitting the station at the same time, our fund raising efforts have been a little off this year. There's a litany of expenses that FMU has to pony up to but my favorite bill to pay is the one for getting that repeater transmitter installed on the top of 4 Times Square. We're talking a strong New York City clock-radio signal there! Wanna listen to Fool's Paradise on a transistor on the beach in what's left of Coney Island? Yeah, we can do that if we get that 4TS antenna plugged in. Radio lives!

Station Manager/ Former and Current Elder Scapegoat Ken goes into antenna details and other stuff here:

http://www.wfmu.org/marathon/index.shtml

It costs a hell of a lot to run the best non-commercial radio station in the world and we do it primarily by not compromising our principals: no commercials, no underwriting and no money from The Man. The unpaid DJs are free to do the best programming that they're able to do. The end result? We entertain the pants off you.

So---
If you've ever won tickets on my show
If I've ever played a song you requested
If I've ever plugged your band or event
If I've ever played your band on the show (it's possible, right?)
If I've ever answered a question (correctly or incorrectly) or sent you an mp3 via email because you asked me to
If I've ever played even ONE SONG that really made your day

Then please toss us some loot between 8-11pm EDT tonight and we won't discuss this embarrassing plea for help ever again. Even a small pledge is fine. There'll be lots of prizes and fun stuff and I personally assure you that the next year of programming will be worth your while, musically speaking. Of course, feel free to pledge to any show as it all goes to the same place.

Thanks!

pledge phone number: 800-989-9368
pledge online: wfmu.org

Give the World a Smile

  In November of 1924, while attending the Stamps School of Music in Jacksonville, Texas, Otis Denton and M. L. Yandell were each paid five bucks cash by Dean of the School Virgil Oliver Stamps to write the topic of today's blog, Give the World a Smile. In 1925, Frank Stamps and the Wheeler Brothers recorded it on the Victor label and two years later the Stamps Quartet took a swing at it and sales of the disc soared heavenward. Sporting what sounds like Bluto the Sailor on lead vocals, the Stamps distinguish what might have been a routine release with a scatted-out, pre-doo-wop hillbilly breakdown after the last chorus, thus ensuring the record's place in the Crazy White Gospel Hall of Fame. The Stamps grabbed World as their theme song and it's served them well throughout the years.

Give the World a Smile - The Stamps Quartet (mp3)

Former Blackwood Brothers bass singer J. D. Sumner, famous for his solo recording of Blessed Assurance where he hit the lowest note ever recorded by a human voice (a "double-low" C according to the Guinness people), purchased the Stamps Quartet franchise and brought them in as Elvis Presley's backup group in the 1970s. The Stamps have enjoyed a hallowed career and are still knocking around Menudo-like in one form or another today.

Less is known about The Corley Family. In the winter of 1929 a Columbia field recording unit came through Dallas on a search for new talent and The Corley kin got caught up in the heady whirlwind of Amateur Hour promises. Lacing up their Sunday best, The Corleys leaned into their cover of Give the World a Smile with a fury fueled by the fiery desire to ascend to the next plane or at least out of the impending Dust Bowl. Striking a hauntingly optimistic tone, the Corleys switch it into high gear when someone holds a kid up to the ribbon microphone for the second half of every chorus. That's the part that kills me every time and makes holy mincemeat out of the Stamps' version of the song.

Give the World a Smile - The Corley Family (mp3)

The Moose Calling Record

"...the call is not a mooing. Give it a lot of life, as you are not imitating a simple sound--you are speaking the language of a living animal."

French-Canadian leading man Guy Provost started his career as a member of the distinguished theatre troup "Les Compagnons de St-Laurent." In the 1950s he was was toasted from Ottawa to Kamloop as a consummate thespian in theatre, TV and movies. By 1970 he was grinding out moose calling records. 

The Moose Calling Record genre attracts a special breed of record collector: cheapskates. I picked this baby up a few record fairs ago and have regretted it ever since. For this, the Louie Louie of Moose Calling Records, Provost leans into his urgent spiel with only the ruthless vigor that one can muster while accompanied by sound effects of a female moose urinating in a lake.

Side One: The Art of Calling (mp3)

Side Two: Call of the Cow Moose without Narration (mp3)

Buddy Holly on Line One

Bad business decisions practically defined Buddy Holly as much as his role as a rock n' roll icon/pioneer/visionary/legend/statue/freakish cult figure (for some). During his short musical career, Holly ended up on the losing end of many legal entanglements (like signing away co-writing credit to producer Norm Petty) however double-crossing Decca record executive Paul Cohen was one of Buddy's savviest business moves.

After a couple of dud releases, the suits at Decca were scratching their heads and wondering out loud whether they didn't sign the right hick rock 'n' roller. A&R suit Paul Cohen took the brunt for this misfire and was held responsible for the Holly account. After expertly steering the careers of Red Foley, Kitty Wells, Webb Pierce and Patsy Cline among others, he was badly out of his element with these Young People and their pimpled rock 'n' roll transistor crap. He spoke hillbilly, mainly to hillbilly adults--but rock 'n' roll? Cohen thought he'd ride this fad out like he did with the rumba and the mambo but this noise wasn't going away so fast. He could care less about rock 'n' roll and even less about that pest from the west: gangly, four-eyed Buddy Holly. "The biggest no talent I have ever worked with," muttered Cohen under his breath as he went over the crunched numbers for Holly's releases again. He sat in his late winter office and exhaled loudly. A cold wind whooshed by the thirtieth floor and Cohen sank in his chair and removed another Cuban from the walnut humidor. These numbers were not good. The phone rang. It was Buddy Holly on line one.

Holly assumed that Decca had dropped his contract and he was fine with that--he just wanted permission to re-record the songs that Decca had no intention of releasing. Due to various screw-ups, Holly's last session at The Quonset Hut in Nashville was a big fat waste of time. It didn't help that they had to find a last minute bass within twenty minutes or that producer Owen Bradley was running late for a waterskiing appointment (wtf?) or that Webb Pierce dropped by with some terrible idea about raising the octave on "That'll Be the Day." It was a total Nashville three hour rush job and Buddy and his band felt bulldozed by the experience. The session yielded zero out of five usable takes (at least according to Decca) and Buddy's recording career was stillborn. The Decca suits shipped the Quonset Hut master tapes into cold storage and resumed playing golf on their office carpets with sideways plastic cups.

On Thursday afternoon, February 28, 1957, Buddy threaded his reel to reel tape recorder and dialed up the long distance operator. Holly was getting the royal Decca treatment from the New York boys and he wanted his songs and he wanted out. He especially wanted that Quonset Hut clunker where Webb Pierce weighed in with the crummy advice. Buddy knew "That'll Be the Day" had hit written all over it and his instincts were never better. Three days earlier Buddy and his band re-recorded a killer demo of "That'll Be the Day" in Clovis, New Mexico with future song-stealing headache Norm Petty. Holly had plans to peddle the demo to Moe Levy up at Roulette. That's how bad things were. Even Levy was starting to look good.

The operator connected Buddy with Milt Gabler's secretary but Gabler was allegedly in the recording studio and not waterskiing on the day in question. The operator next rang up point man Paul Cohen.

Buddy Holly phone call (mp3)

Didn't much matter that Cohen wouldn't budge on the five-year ownership clause; Buddy ended up selling the future hit to Brunswick and when Decca got wind of that they tried to sue Brunswick until they realized that they owned Brunswick and all the carpeted golf games stopped on the thirtieth floor for five minutes while Accounts passed around the memo.

"Back on those dates I don't even remember which guy was Paul Cohen and which guy was Owen Bradley or who the engineers were. It was like, they were the biggies and we were just dips. We didn't groove with them or anything." --Crickets drummer Jerry Allison.