ROY ORBISON LAST CONCERT 25 YEARS AGO -New Roy Orbison DVD
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Orbison's comeback was probably the longest and biggest of anyone from the original Rock and Roll Era of the lates 50s and early 60s. It began, effectively on August 16, 1977, the day Elvis died.That night, Roy decided to go on stage because that is what he felt Elvis would have wanted him to do. The concert, at the Santa Monica (CA) auditorium drew about 15,000 fans; Orbison performed with tears in his eyes while paying tribute to his friend, Elvis, who had called Roy Orbison 'the best singer ever.' Here's' a song Roy would later record and perform in concert in tribute to his friend and Sun Records mate.
Live At Austin City Limits August 5. 1982 Hound Dog Man A Tribute To Elvis Presley.
Orbison continued making records after his initial fame began waning after the Beatles and
British Like most original 'rockers,', Orbison was considered a 'has been'by the '70s,
performing before small crowds like the RV show near Cincinnatti, Ohio.on his birthday April 23, 1976. Even Rolling Stone
Magazine had written him off as a nostalgia act , calling him a pasty-faced , black-suited performer who barely moves and never really contributed that much, , or words to that affect- until Roy struck gold in the '80s when the Eagles asked him to open concerts for them and younger artists began discovering, or re-discovering the 'other' man in black. Roy was asked to do a special concert at the vintage Coconut Grove theater in
Los Angeles that would be filmed in black and white, where old friends and new stars would perform along side Orbison; ' Black and White Night' . It would become his signature concert and continues to be shown on PBS and other
station. That was 1987, a year before we would lose Roy but Orbison had to have known by then that he was 'back, what with everyone from Bruce Springsteen to the new darlings k.d. lang and Chris Isaac endorsing him to a whole new
generation of adoring fans.
A year earlier, movie producer David Lynch, used Roy's 'innocent little song' IN DREAMS as Orbison would later explain in a violent, controversial movie. Despite the subject matter, the song came with eerie backing and added to Orbison's already image of mystery (Orbison's quietness and even shyness was often misconstrued for reclusiveness but he actually gave many interviews, especially with his new found popularity
in the '80s. Orbison even made a movie, 'Fastest Guitar Alive,' in 1966, which was a light cowboy meets musical . Maybe not a blockbuster, but the movie soundtrack provided a dozen more fine tunes from Roy like this one. Here's 'Whirlwind' with Orbison singing and acting
Today, Roy Orbison music continues to sell well and is the second biggest selling 'original rock and roller'next to Elvis. His sons, Roy Kelton, Alex and perhaps Wesley, the oldest, from his first marriage to Claudette, keep fans up to date with re-issues and other news - you'd be surprised how much posthumous info one can generate, expecially Orbison - with an excellent website, www.Orbison.com Here's a 'leftover' from the Mystery Girl album, 'Love In Time.' Pretty good leftover we'd say. It was on the 'Heart of Roy Orbison,' a short-lived album that followed Mystery Girl with a lot of fine demos to which backing was added. This 'video,'if you will, was produced somewhere along the way; we only saw it now for the first
in the '80s.
Another reason Roy Orbison took on the reclusive, 'lonely' man of mysetery image is because he did suffer great tragedy. He lost his first wife, Claudette, in a motorcycle accident in 1966 and his first two boys in a house fire near Nashville in 1968,more than enough tragedy for a lifetime in two years . After the second tragedy Orbison holed up for a week in a dark room by himself. But, by the end of the year he was out touring again and met his new wife, Barbara, in Leeds. It was with her help that Roy was able to mount the monumental comeback.Barbara, herself, passed away last year, after 'keeping the torch burning'for Roy since his death, and now the boys carry on. Let's close our 25 th year mini-tribute to the great Roy Orbison with his only christmas song, 'Pretty Paper.' He did not write this one; that job belonged to none other than Willie Nelson.
We've played mostly Roy's signature ballads, but he did a lot of fine upbeat tunes, too, like
'Pretty Woman,' which is interesting because it has ballad qualities with an upbeat.
Here's Roy with Bruce, Elvis Costello and friends from that Black and White Night concert
with an 'enhanced' version of Pretty woman.
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