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If I gave you a time machine – what would you do with it? Just the other
day I told a friend that we would go back to the ‘50s with our
Danelectro and bag tours. The Rock-n-Roll Tour. What was it like to
introduce live performance Rock-n-Roll to a nation in its golden age?
Imagine: Millions of kids who can only hear Rock-n-Roll (sometimes
called Race Music in the day) via radio or shellac or vinyl, until the
moment that Jerry Lee Lewis steps out onto the stage and gives them
something they won’t experience again until their wedding night! There’s
continuous screaming from the start of the show – jumping up on stage –
you can’t imagine. That’s what entertainment professionals do. It’s
called “entertaining”. True entertainers speak the word with reverence –
like musicians do when they talk about “tone”. Live performance is part
science and part art.
Feature this: You are between the ages of 12 and 20. You’re screaming at
the top of your lungs to the raucous hip swinging and “perfectly good
piano” smashing antics of your hosts. One leader with a hit radio single
comes up, and yet that’s not enough. Another and then yet another
rotates in! They all have different arrangements and melodies, but each
has a chart hit to perform too. The band never stops playing.
One sax man stays on stage as a leader the entire time. He has a radio
hit called “Tongue-Tied” (Soon to be played in the “Ghost Of Drag Strip
Hollow” movie and be re-issued on American International. But for now
it’s a Dot hit.) He introduces the other singers with the local DJ and
directs the band.
The crowd is going crazy and then the lights go out! The band keeps
blowing – the sax man plays “Tequila” for 30 minutes until the lights
come back on. You’ve never been a part of anything like this in your
small town life, and yet here you are. Your lungs are screamed out but
you don’t care because the rhythm, the rhythm, the rhythm….
It was called a West Coast tour. Today it would be referred to as
a Western States Tour: Tour producer: Irving Granz (brother
of Norman Granz)
The Frontline:
Jimmie Maddin – bandleader, entertainer
and co-MC – “Tongue-Tied”
Jerry Lee Lewis – “Great Balls Of Fire”
Roy Hamilton – “Don’t Let Go”
Bobby Helms – “Jingle Bell Rock”
Bill Justis – “Raunchy”
The Cities:
Oakland, Denver, Long Beach, Salt Lake City, San Jose, Sacramento,
Albuquerque and a bunch of others.
Maddin recalls: “I was working the Mighty 690 as a DJ. The Nighthawk
Bandstand was the name of my show. I was also doing television.
“Tongue-Tied” was on the radio. I was working the Strip (Crescendo) when
they saw me – ABC talent agents were in the club.”
The agents were looking for another headliner for an upcoming tour. They
also needed a bandleader. “They recommended me to Irving Granz as a
comer that would go well on the show – and could lead the band. You’ve
gotta have a bandleader for a tour like that. My radio show was on a
100,000 watt station, my record was getting airplay, I was doing movies,
so I fit the bill.”
“These tours were hard to get on – it was big publicity for anyone who
could get on one, so of course I jumped at the chance. They would fly me
and Jerry Lee and Roy Hamilton ahead – the other guys took the bus. My
band was the house band. We backed up everyone on the date. When we got
there, everything had been set up in advance by Irving. The radio shows,
the hotel, the limousine. It was a big time tour. Sometimes the show was
that night – sometimes we had a break. They flew us around on Frontier
Airlines – boy those planes were in bad shape – but we made it! We rode
the bus when we were not flying of course. The tour management paid for
everything – probably $100,000 each night for salaries, travel, rooms
and meals. It was a lot of money.”
For the uninitiated, this probably all reads like a typical situation.
But bands don’t tour like this anymore (unless you’re Britney Spears or
In Sync). Most acts tour in a van or bus – even sleep in it. But this
was when a producer could put five acts on a bus with a single backing
band and sell out every single stop. Today a per diem meal allowance
would be provided – which the musicians save the majority of (and
consider part of their pay) by eating fast food, etc. – or if there is
going to be a buffet or a veggie plate at the gig they will hold out for
that.
“We played in a boxing ring in Albuquerque – it was jammed to the
rafters with kids and raining hard outside – then the lights went out.
You never know when you have a crowd that large – anything can happen. I
just played “Tequila” for 30 minutes, and the band followed me until the
lights came back on!”
“In Salt Lake we stayed at the Hotel Utah, in Denver it was all first
class. It was first class everywhere we went.”
“We’d eat breakfast every morning, Jerry Lee Lewis and I. Then he’d go
read comic books with his girlfriend for the rest of the day. This was
just before they went to England where his tour got cut short due to
Jerry’s controversial marriage to his younger cousin.”
“In Denver we did two shows – we were on a Top 40 station – they called
it ‘Color Radio’. That format started in L.A. – all radio starts here,
pretty much – I’ve always been involved in it one way or another. Right
now, Doug McIntyre on KABC 790 plays my song ‘Time Is Running Out’ every
night to close his show. On the tour, the radio jocks in every town
would would co-MC the show with me, so I got to know them. I’m a radio
guy too, so it worked out.”
“Jerry Lee and I got along real well. He’s a southern gentleman with a
lot of talent. He was a real good piano player – good at blues – the
showmanship was great, but he was really a pure piano player underneath
it all. Jerry insisted on cash when he played – so he got it - $20,000
in cash each night before he went on stage. He was wild when he had a
drink – Irving Granz would pull his hair out when Jerry would beat up
these beautiful rented pianos – but he beat them up every night. He was
emotional and excited and that was part of his act. He’d drag me around
the stage and I’d be honking all over the place – I was in my 20s and
I’d honk my ass off – at the final blow-out Roy Hamilton would join in
too, when all the acts would come up for a finale.”
“In Long Beach, the auditorium show sold out in an hour. It was so big
we stopped traffic for miles. By the time we got there, Jerry and I had
become good friends. He was going to L.A. to appear in ‘High School
Confidential’, so I asked him if he wanted to play my club since he’d be
in town. He did and packed the place for two weeks – every pro guy in
town came in to see him. I’m standing there and here comes Buddy Holly.
When you’re working with a guy like that, everyone wants to get to know
him – through you or any other way. You know how it is.” Well, we can
imagine how it was, anyway.
TO BE CONTINUED..... read Volume#7 |
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