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Sunday, March 29, 2015

Wrecking Crew film - Unsung Background Musicians Get Their Due

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What Musicians Played On All These Artists'  Records?

THE BEACH BOYS
FRANK SINATRA
ELVIS
NAT 'KING' COLE
SIMON & GARFUNKEL
THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS
PHIL SPECTOR GROUPS:
The Crystals
The Ronnettes
Bob B Soxx and Blue Jeans
Darlene Love
THE BYRDS
THE MAMAS & THE PAPAS
DEAN MARTIN
SONNY & CHER
THE MONKEES
GLEN CAMPBELL


 Wrecking Crew film - Unsung Background
Musicians Get Their Due


A number of recent documentaries — including the new “The Wrecking Crew” — have turned over the gilded bricks of the shiny castle of ’60s pop music to reveal what was holding the whole thing up. Many viewers will experience the...
SFCHRONICLE.COM


       It's fortunate that   movie theaters today are again showing 'niche' movies,  
For a long time we had to select from the three or four big commercial
 movies of the day. Only in recent years have theater chains like Landmark/
Cinemark, and the few small, independent theaters taken on independent
 films again. Otherwise, we would never see films like 'The Wrecking Crew'
which we viewed Firday March 28 at San Rafael's Rafael theater. In
attendance was the man behind the movie, Daniel Tedesco, who took questions
afterwards.




      Most probably haven't heard the name Tommy Tedesco. Tedesco, was
the father of Daniel Tedesco and star of the movie.
Though he passed in the early 1990s, his accomplished as a studio
musician are recognized in this movie,along with many musicians.



      As Tedesco noted afterwards, the movie had no 'angel' funding
like '20 feet from Stardom,' a movie about the unsung backup singers
on hit records. It was a 19 year struggle to raise funds to make the
movie happen.



      The 'Wrecking Crew' is the name most credited to drummer Hal Blaine
for   the Los Angeles-based group of musicians, of whom he was one, who
appeared on an ungodly number of hit records between the late 1950s and 1970s.
One would think that people like Blaine would have amassed enormous
amounts of money to help fund the movie, but, as Blaine says in the movie,
circumstances were different back then when studios controled recordings-
not to mention divorces where artists like Blaine lost everything.



      In the movie, the young Tedesco takes a back seat, only talking
sporadically about his Dad. It is the musicians themselves,
like Blaine, bassist Carol Kaye, drummer Earl Palmer and  -
even the senior Tedesco, who was still with us at the time when
Daniel started making the movie nineteen years earlier. Even sidemen
like Glen Campbell are featured in the film.Campbell's personal
success wouldn't come until years after he was a struggling partime
sideman in the Wrecking Crew. The artists the Crew backed is like
a 'Who's Who'of Los Angeles singers and bands, including Frank and
Nancy Sinatra, Nat King Cole,  Sonny and Cher (Cher was also a back up
singer during the Wrecking Crew sessions), Gary Lewis and the Playboys,
John Denver - and of course the legendary Phil Spector and his many
groups, The Ronnettes, Crystals, Bobb B Sox and Blue Jeans,
Righteous Borthers, Ike and Tina, and on and on.


 
      The only thing wrong with the movie is that there isn't enough
time to go in depth. While we get only a little background on the
senior Tedesco - he was a poor musician growing up  in the Niagra
Falls, New York area, before getting serious about music in Los
Angeles - and we learn even less about other sidepeople, though
Kaye is given a fair amount of time as one of the few female
artsits. Even Phil Spector isn't discussed as much as one would
expect; he's in jail today so an interview would have been dificult
and Spector wasn't known to do many interviews, anyway.


   
     But, it was  the genius of Tedesco, that sparked the
success of the Wrecking Crew. Sure, Blaine was a key figure, and responsible for coming up
with many of the photo footage for the film accorinding to Daniel;
Blaine was sure to stop photos and video in the day when video footage
was pretty rare.



      You'll be surprised to see how many familiar artsis and recordings
the roughly 40-person Wrecking crew working on. The movie plays this week
in selected Landmark theaters such as the Rafael in San Rafael and
Landmark in Berkeley.  A DVD, soundtrack and book are currently
 in the works. Catch them!


    Listen to a bestseller for $7.49 at audible.com!
Fandango - Movie Tickets Online

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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

JAN and DEAN Are Back with Surf City AllStars Show !


Nice tribute video promo for the new Jan and Dean shows.

JAN and DEAN Are Back with  Surf City AllStars Show in JAN & DEAN'S BEACH PARTY


They've never really gone away.Their music plays on oldies stations daily to this day somwhere around the world.  Though Jan and Dean stopped touring together over a decade ago with Jan Berry passed, Dean has continued to perform the music in various incarnations, most notably with the 'Surf city Allstars.' Now, he has brought the group back with notable additions Al Jardine and David Marx of the Beach boys in a new live show, 'Jan and Dean's Beach Party. The Show has a few dates set including Livermore's Bankhead Theater, April 3.  Watch for it to come to your area. What great fun to be able to enjoy again the No. 2 surf vocal and instrumental  group of all time.Check for a show in your area as the summer draws near and surfin gets hot!
http://www.surfcityallstars.com/tourdates.html


Surf City All Stars
The SURF CITY ALLSTARS are the only band in the world to have played and sang lead vocals in both the Beach Boys band and the Jan&Dean band.  s?

  TWO Original Beach Boys front  the Allstars’ line up with AL JARDINE and DAVID MARKS along with original Jan and Dean member, DEAN TORRANCE.. The Allstars’ GARY GRIFFIN (keys / vocals) started recording and touring with the Beach Boys in the 70’s. PHILIP BARDOWELL (guitar / vocals) was hand picked by Beach Boy Carl Wilson for the Beach Boys band in the 90’s. DAVID LOGEMAN (drums) was hired by Beach Boy Mike Love in 1994. CHRIS FARMER (bass / vocals) toured for 12 years as the musical director for the Beach Boys. AARON BROERING (guitar / keys / vocals) is the newest super vocalist to join the Allstars.

The SURF CITY ALLSTARS were taught their vocals by Original Beach Boys Mike Love and Brian Wilson. Original Beach Boys Al Jardine and David Marks still tour with the Allstars for an extra fee. Read the quotes below by these original artists who created the greatest surf music hits ever recorded:
"The SURF CITY ALLSTARS sound as good as the Original Beach Boys EVER did!"
— Beach Boy AL JARDINE / Hershey Center Arena, Toronto, Canada
"I love performing with the SURF CITY ALLSTARS. They are the best Beach Boys band on the planet"
— Beach Boy DAVID MARKS / Hawthorne High School fundraiser concert
"I have worked with the SURF CITY ALLSTARS for 30 years! Nobody performs the hits of Jan&Dean and the Beach Boys as great as they do"
— Jan&Dean's DEAN TORRENCE / Mayfest, North Myrtle Beach, SC

Beach Boy AL JARDINE / Beach Boy DAVID MARKS / DEAN TORRENCE of Jan&Dean
Surf City All Stars

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