Franny Beecher - Original Comet - RIP 2014

Franny Beecher - RIP 

Franny could really play. A standout guitarist Beecher's guitar can be heard on many of Bill Haley and the Comets recordings. When he toured Europe with the Original Comets as an octogenarian, Beecher met many European musicians and music buffs who went out of their way to tell them how much they appreciated his original licks and unique style of playing the guitar - his signature riffs.

                    [Bill Kelly collection. I will attempt to ID the photographer of the above photos]

Frazer-Harrison photo 

Franny Beecher, guitarist for Bill Haley & His Comets from 1955 to 1962, has died. He was 92.

The rock pioneer died in his sleep Monday at a nursing home outside Philadelphia.

Haley and his band played a pivotal role in rock history, starting with one of the era's stage-setting hits, 1955's Rock Around the Clock. Formerly a jazz guitarist for Benny Goodman and Buddy Greco, Beecher joined Haley's group in late 1954, after that iconic tune was recorded with Philly session player Danny Cedrone. Beecher played Clock thereafter, on records, in concerts and in TV and movie appearances, including the band's August 1955 Ed Sullivan Show debut and 1956 films Rock Around the Clock and Don't Knock the Rock.

Beecher also played lead guitar on See You Later, Alligator, Don't Knock the Rock, Rock-a-Beatin' Boogie, Rudy's Rock and Skinny Minnie.

Haley's popularity faded in the 1960s and he died in 1981. The surviving Comets reunited in 1987, and Beecher played with the band until he retired at 85 in 2006. He and The Comets performed in July 2005 on the 50th anniversary of the day Rock Around the Clock became the first No. 1 Billboard hit of the rock era.

Producer Martin Lewis promoted a 50th anniversary concert at the Viper Room in Los Angeles, where Beecher, just weeks before his 85th birthday, performed to a full house. He still holds the title as the oldest musician to take the Viper Room stage.

Also in July 2005, Lewis staged a private Comets concert for NASA scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., to celebrate the firing of an explosive projectile into a comet in deep space.

"Though Franny Beecher did not become a household name — his natural humility meant that he was always quiet and modest — his influence on the music world was immense and his legacy is enormous," Lewis says. "He was especially appreciated in Britain and Europe. Among my friends in the rock community, Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend and Graham Nash all saw Franny perform live in Britain in February 1957 when Haley & The Comets made their U.K. debut. Those musicians and many others I know such as Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck were all impacted and influenced by Franny's innovative guitar playing.

"When I organized for The Comets to visit both New York and Los Angeles to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Rock Around The Clock in 2005, it was of course a pleasure to see all of the band perform on stage. But the Comet who inspired the greatest awe and respect from the many musicians I invited to attend those shows was Franny Beecher. Not only was he a consummate guitarist whose playing inspired generations of rock guitarists, and not only was he still musically fluent and agile at the age of 85, but he was also clearly a gentleman in the fullest meaning of the word.

"And among musicians there is no higher accolade. It was a true honor to spend quality time with him and introduce him at those memorable shows. Rock In Peace Franny!"

MORE:

Guitarist Franny Beecher of Bill Haley's Comets dies

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RIP, Franny Beecher, guitarist for Bill Haley & the Comets - Philly.com

Franny Beecher, the guitarist for 1950s rock popularizers Bill Haley & the Comets, died on Monday night in a nursing home in Norristown.

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Franny Beecher, Guitarist for Bill Haley & the Comets, Dies at 92

ultimateclassicrock.com/franny-beecher-dies/‎

U‑T San Diego

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Guitarist Francis "Franny" Beecher, who rose to prominence playing with Bill Haley & The Comets and jazz great Benny Goodman, died 

Franny Beecher - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franny_Beecher‎

Francis "Franny" Beecher (September 29, 1921 – February 24, 2014), also known as Frank Beecher, was the lead guitarist for Bill Haley & His Comets from 1954 

Guitarist Franny Beecher of Bill Haley's Comets dies

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(AP) — Franny Beecher, lead guitarist for Bill Haley and the Comets, which helped kick off the rock and roll era with the hit “Rock Around the ...

Franny Beecher, 92, Rock Guitarist for the Comets, Dies - NYTimes ...

www.nytimes.com/.../franny-beecher-92-rock-guit...‎

The New York Times

Franny Beecher, who joined Bill Haley and His Comets as lead guitarist after the group had helped kick off the rock 'n' roll era with the hit “Rock  ...

Franny Beecher, 92, Rock Guitarist for the Comets, Dies - NYTimes ...

www.nytimes.com/.../franny-beecher-92-rock-guit...‎  The New York Times

Franny Beecher dead: Bill Haley and the Comets guitarist passes ...

www.mirror.co.uk/.../franny-beecher-dead-bill...‎

The Daily Mirror by Mark Jefferies 

Check Back: More to come on this. 

The Last Last Waltz? With Garth.

THE LAST, LAST AND MAYBE THE FINAL WALTZ        

 

The so-called and now infamous Last Waltz was held on Thanksgiving Day 197? at the Wintergarden in San Francisco, recorded on celluloid for posterity by renown film director Martin Scorsese, and captured the spirit of the era – the end of the Sixties, the Age of Aquarius.

While it began with a spirit of newfound freedom and hope, peace and celebration, it ended in despair, riots, assassination, war, fear and resentment of authority and the government that continues today.

Not just a concert, they actually served dinner, and the performances were exemplary – with Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond, …. Ronnie Hawkins, and Bob Dylan, ….. all getting a piece of the action behind the Band – Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manual, Robbie Robertson and Garth Hudson, who Jersey Shore tourists and residents knew as Levon & the Hawks when they were the house band at Tony Marts in Somers Point, NJ in the summer of ’65.

Where the band went from there sort of mirrors where we went as a society, with ups and downs, successes and failures, renown and notoriety,  disgrace and death, and now, at least for the survivors, a time to remember and reflect on what was and what might have been.

The original Last Waltz, as the late Levon Helm recalled in his autobiographical memoir This Wheels on Fire, was Robbie Robertson’s idea, to play one last big concert with all their friends at the Wintergarden, where they first performed as The Band. And Robertson did indeed end his touring days, as he realized the rigors of the road was taking its toll on him and the band. But the others didn’t stop, and after awhile, regrouped without Robertson, and the road did take its toll, first on Richard Manual, who hung himself in a Florida motel bathroom.

Then Rick Danko, after playing a final farewell performance at the Somers Point Good Old Days picnic, passed away before his time. Levon Helm however, although slowed by throat cancer, overcame the disease to play and sing again, often in a makeshift studio in his Woodstock, New York barn. Levon often came to Somers Point to perform with his band, that included his daughter, playing at the Bubba Mac Shack and finally getting a casino headline gig of his own in Atlantic City.  Helm also had a cameo role as the aging expert sniper in the movie The Shooter before he also passed away, leaving Robbie Robertson and Garth Hudson as the surviving members of The Band.

And now Garth is headlining a Last Last Waltz on Saturday after Thanksgiving at The Trocadero in Philadelphia, a benefit show for Philadelphia school children. 

Billy Walton "Cranks It Up!"

Billy Walton Cranks It Up

After blowing everybody away at a premier gig at the Country Lakes Pub in Browns Mills, Billy Walton and his hot band will return to the heart of the Jersey Pines on Saturday, October 5 to play their inaugural gig at Charley's Other Brother (1383 Monmouth Rd), a popular brass and glass restaurant that is reportedly under new ownership. [ http://www.charleysotherbrother.com/ (609) 261-1555].

The show last week at the Pub was not previously announced but word quickly spread as the Walton Band is well known in these parts, having previously played at John and Molly's in Mt. Holly and Tara's in Cookstown, so those who had seen Walton perform before were out in force even though most of the hard core live music buffs were at Camp Jam in the Pines.

When people mention "Billy" they are usually referring to Billy Hector, the reigning New Jersey state guitar champion who played Camp Jam on Saturday night, and Hector certainly gets into a zone that few musicians have been known to go. But the other Billy, Billy Walton is two decades younger and with fifteen years on the axe, he also has it down pat, and is on the way up, giving Hector some serious competition for the top spot.

Like Heavyweight Champions of the world, mob bosses and presidents, there is only one on top at a time and he's the one who calls the shots - and right now Billy Hector is the best, at least on a seniority basis, but Billy Walton is inching up close and one day there should probably be a showdown, bringing them together for a real shootout so everyone will know who is best.

For the record, I also think some South Jersey guitarists are in the top rank and are contenders - Danny Eyre is one, and zen master of the strings Lew London is another, and Jack Zwacki, wherever he is, could play with these guys, and perhaps someday there will be a real Battle of the Bands where the lead guitar gunslingers can duel it out in the ultimate reality show competition.

At the Pub, where there is no real stage, Walton and his tight band - William Paris on bass Richie Taz on sax and drummer Johnny D'Angelo were playing on the floor, right in the midst of the crowd, so it was a very intimate experience, maybe too intimate for some.

Starting off with a rousing and extended version of Van Morrison's "Dominio," Billy let it all out right away, and then flicked some foot switches with his black hightop Chucks and said that was just a sort of sound check, and sure enough, after that short break after the first song they took off and didn't stop. While I tried to keep a set list, after the first few songs it was self-evident that it wasn't possible or necessary, and best to just sit back and take it all in.

I hadn't seen them since they played Somers Point some time ago, but now they seem different, and having played together for over two years, are much tighter. Walton, Paris, Taz and Johnny D know each other pretty well, and they don't have to talk about what song they're going to do next, and instead Billy just takes the lead, plays a few notes and then gets into it and the other know how to follow, while we just go along for the ride.

Picking up the guitar when he was fifteen, Walton sat in with the Asbury Park crowd while just a kid, so he's jammed with Bruce, the Shakes, Bon Jovi, Southside and the rest, and was tapped by Southside Johnny to be the Juke's lead guitarist, a prime spot in a top flight band, but Walton kept his own band together and is now concentrating on his own act, which is simply terrific.

Having played the UK a few times a year for the past few years the Billy Walton Band has almost as big a following across the pond as they do in their own backyard, and when you look at their upcoming schedule you see places you know - like Breezes in New Gretna and Tara's in Cookstown or Somers Point and Cape May, but then there's The Assembly Room in Derby, The Kings Arms in Bedfordshire, the Saints Room in Cockermout and Quasimodo in Berlin, some of the same places the Beatles played in their leather jacket days.

When they invade England the Walton Band plays a lot of their original material, as the British fans are a bit more sophisticated when it comes to American rock & roll, and they know who Billy Walton is and they want to hear his original stuff - not his covers. But when they play the Jersey Shore bars or the piney roadhouses they do more popular covers, though always giving it a unique arrangement that affords Billy on Strat and Richie on sax, the opportunity to improvise, or more accurately go ballistic.

And they did that at the Pub, and we now expect them to do it whenever and wherever they play, and so far they have yet to disappoint.

While they didn't play many original tunes at the Pub, their three CDs captures the best of what the Billy Walton Band does, and their most recent CD "Crank It Up!" was recorded at the secret and hidden Scullville Stuidos by Randy Friel, who also plays keys on the album with Arthur Migliazza. Although not as famous as Abby Road or Bearsville, Scullville is sandwiched somewhere between Somers Point, Ocean City and Mays Landing, and only the musicians who come from out of town seem to be able to find it. Among the songs they recorded there are some real good, rockin' tunes, including "Deal with the Devil,' a Crossroads tribute, "The Night the Deal Went Down," "Hot Blues," "Somertime Girl," "Black Jack Dealer," and "Crank It Up!"  And I think we should get to hear more of these tunes in their local live shows and I think if requested, they'll oblige.

Billy and the Walton Band will put into the legendary J.C. Dobbs on South Street in Philly on October 9, and play one set for John Faye, and then they'll do the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park on October 11, Sweetwater Casino October 13, Tara's Tavern in Cookstown October 18 and on October 25th they play Breezes in New Gretna (Exit 50 GSP) before embarking on their next European tour, and I think we should all accompany them overseas.

For more on Billy Walton see: http://www.billywalton.band.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Band/147605632812

 

New Official Somers Point Log and Slogan - "The Shore Starts Here"

Sorry to be picky but I don't like the colors, think it is too modern, and doesn't utilize history - I like 

"Small Town Charm By the Bay." 

Somers Point - July 4 - 5

Thursday July 4, 2013 Bob Campanell Band - Jersey Shore Rock ‘n Roll Icon

Friday July 5, 2013 - The Jeremiah Hunter Band - Party Dance Band with original Soul Survivors and Full House.

This week we get a double douse of great, local music because July 4th falls on a Thursday,

Bob Campanell, a South Jersey native who earned his stripes in Asbury Park in its hey days, has been a staple of classic rock music in this area for decades now. A founding member and front man of the Shakes, with original E-Street drummer Vinni Lopez, Bob has been playing the special July 4th Somers Point Beach concert for many years now, and can probably hold down that gig for as long as he wants it.

I remember seeing the Shakes for the first time in the late 1970s at Mothers, which was an after hours joint just on the other side of the bridge on the Longport Blvd., and interviewing him between sets in a closet, which he had converted into an off stage dressing room. Covered with sweat from his riveting performance, Bob pulled some guitar strings from an old tin Beatles lunch box, the kind you took to grammar school, and was telling me how great the music scene was at Asbury Park, but how he wanted to expand his fan base.

That was the summer the Shakes’ original tune “Pour It Out,” was included on the WMMR “Breakout” album, a song that Bob should bring back and play again, as it still holds up well.

Later that summer I set up a small cassette tape recorder and captured a set of Bob and the Shakes live, a tape that I still play once in awhile when I want to flash back to that time and place, and you can hear the glasses tingling, the background conversations and laughter, and then the band kicking in and kicking butt.

Like Bruce the Boss, and other Asbury Park veterans, they occasionally will introduce a song with a little story, told while the bass and drummer kept up a steady beat, and one night Bob told the story of how the Shakes got an audition at the legendary nightclub on Bay Avenue, where the sign above the door read: “Through these doors walk the most beautiful girls in the world,” but when they played an original song, got the boot from Tony, who often said to his bands, “Get at a here you bums!” before breaking into “Hit the Road Jack.”

But Bob Campanell did come back, after playing a few years as the house band at Merrels in Margate, which became Gilhooleys.

With a wide repertoire of classic rock and roll songs, a great guitar and powerful voice, Bob now has a new band, usually including Danny Eyer on lead guitar.

And besides playing the annual July 4th gig at the Somers Point Beach, can also be found frequently at the Tuckahoe Inn in Beesleys Point and on occasional weekends at the Library IV on the Black Horse Pike in Williamstown. Keep up with Bob’s gigs, as well as Danny Eyer, via Facebook.

Free live music outdoors on the beach two nights in a row isn’t too much to handle, especially when the regular Friday night beach concert features another great, local South Jersey band - Jeremiah Hunter, an upbeat party band that includes some of the guys who were in the Soul Survivors.

One of them, Kenny Jeremiah, a musical consultant for the movie, “Eddie and the Cruisers,” has been playing the Jersey Shore since Bob Campanell was in school. I remember them playing high school gyms and breaking in to the pop charts in the late 1960s with the hit song, “Expressway to Your Heart.” Beep Beep, “I’ve been trying to get to you for a long time….”

Double dynamite, back to back, classic rock, local fan favorites, Thursday and Friday nights, July 4th and 5th, on the Somers Point Beach.

[Bill Kelly can be reached at billkelly3@gmail.com (609) 425-6297]

First Friday Night Somers Point Beach Concerts 2013 Preview and Jersey Gumbo Fest

First Friday Night Somers Point Beach Concerts 2013 Preview and Jersey Gumbo Fest 

By Bill Kelly [billkelly3@gmail.com]

Now in its 21st year, the free Somers Point Beach Concert series has a new primary sponsor - the Shore Medical Center, and has fostered a new event - the Jersey Gumbo Cookoff and Music Fest, what is hoped will become as popular a local tradition as Bayfest and the Good Old Days picnic.

Towards that end this season’s premier Friday night June 14th beach concert act - Jumpin’ Johnny Sansone and his New Orleans All Stars, will stick around town for a few days and also play the Jersey Gumbo Cook Off and Music Fest the following afternoon at the Somers Point #1 Fire Company Hall grounds at 447 Bethel Road.

Besides Sansone, the Music Fest part of the ten hour show will also feature Grammy winner Terrance Simien and his Zydeco Experience, former E-Streeter Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez and his band “License Tto Chill,” Mojo Mozart and the Mardi Gras Swingers and Rosie O’Reilly, the Sweetheart Songstress of Hammonton.

Nick Regine was the primary promoter of the Friday night beach concerts, as well as the founder of the Somers Point Jazz Society, and is personally responsible for bringing such great music to the Point after the end of the Bay Avenue Rock ‘n Roll era.

The pronounced New Orleans, Louisiana Bijou and Blues flavor that we’ve tasted the past decade or however, so can be directly attributed to Carmen Marotta, the former Somers Point Councilman and son of former nightclub owner Anthony Marotta.

Tony took an old Bay Avenue Ratheskeller and created Tony Marts, presenting live music, and in its heyday, had six bars, three stages and continuous live music, including a major recording act headliner and talented house bands that included Len Carey and the Krackerjacks, Full House and Levon & the Hawks (aka The Band). Carmen and his brother Tony, Jr. ran the place in its final years, featuring mainly local cover bands before it was sold and demolished and a disco built in its place. But many people who were there have vivid memories of Tony Marts, and that music spirit is still strong.

Len Carey and the Krackerjacks, the first house band, were protégés of Spike Jones, and had a New Orleans style of entertaining the crowd, and Spike Jones is even mentioned in one of the songs by Levon and the Hawks. After the demise of Tony Marts, Carmen and the late Levon Helm, drummer of the Hawks opened Levon Helm’s All-American Café in New Orleans, where many of the city’s renowned musicians often jammed after their own gigs were over. Although not financially successful, in the two years Carmen ran the place he heard most of the bands and met many a fine musician, some of whom he brought back to Somers Point to play the Friday night beach concerts, Good Old Days picnic or one of the Tony Mart Reunions.

Among them is Johnny Sansone, who made his name in New Orleans, but is actually a Jersey Guy who plays harmonica, sax, guitar, and accordion and is annually nominated for a blues music awards. After leaving Jersey to attend school in Colorado, Sansone traveled extensively and put down temporary roots in Austin, Texas, Kansas City, North Carolina and Chicago but finally settled down in New Orleans in 1989 and came into his own. Now Sansone jams with Dr. John, Cyril Neville of the Neville Bros and Tab Benoit – who played the Bubba Mac Blues Fest in Atlantic City a few years ago.

Sansone’s latest CD - “The Lord is Waiting and the Devil Is Too,” follows his “Watermellon Patch”, and 1997 blues album of the year “Crescent City Moon,” which also won accolades.

Sansone originally played the saxophone but was also drawn to the harmonica and guitar. Before clicking in Louisiana, Sansone got recognition in Chicago playing alongside guitarist Ronnie Earl with a harp style that recalled Sonny Boy Williamson II and Big and Little Walter, but he is best known for his New Orleans style.

On Saturday June 15, the day after Sansone kicks off the Friday night beach concert season, he’ll provide some of the New Orleans sounds at the Jersey Gumbo Music Fest at Point Fire Company #1, and will be assisted by Terrance Simien and his Zydeco Experience, an upbeat accordion driven experience that makes you want to get up and dance, as we know from his previous Somers Point shows.

Also on the music schedule are Rosie O’Reilly Gazarra, Mojo Mozart and the Mardi Gras Swingers, and original Springsteen E Street Band drummer, Vini Lopez and his Key West Caribbean Party Band, “License to Chill,” who have a laid back Jimmy Buffet style and sound.

Tickets for the whole ten hour show are just $20 and permits you to come and go and come back again, but there’s no reason to leave, as the Louisiana theme also includes samplings of a variety of Gumbos prepared by more than 20 local chefs, restaurants and celebrity cooks that you can taste for the price of admission.

Among the chefs presenting their Gumbo will be Richard Spurlock, whose menu at the Main Street American Café in Mays Landing specializes in the New Orleans recipes and features his chicken and ouille gumbo, Cajun style Jambalaya and Shrimp Po Boys.

In addition to all the Gumbo you can taste, guests will be allowed to vote for their “People’s Choice” for the best seafood/vegetarian and the best meat/poultry Gumbo. 

The first annual Jersey Gumbo and Music Fest; a new Somers Point tradition.

For more info about the Shore Medical Center Concerts on the Beach in Somers Point go to www.SomersPointBeachConcerts.com and for more information about the At the Shore Jersey Gumbo Fest go to www.Tonymart.com, where tickets are available on Paypal or for VIP tickets call 609-653-6069.

Comets bass player Marshall Lytle dies

Comets bass player Marshall Lytle dies at 79

NEW PORT OICHEY, Fla. (AP) Marshall Lytle, the original bass player for Bill Haley & His Comets, one of the first bands to take rock ‘n’ roll music mainstream, has died. He was 79.

Lytle died at his home in New Port Richey, Fla. On May 25, said his niece, Shayna Golda.

Lytle recorded hits like “Rock Around the Clock” and “Shake, Rattle and Roll” with Haley in the 1950s. he was known for his percussive bass style, slapping the strings as he played, and his lifely performances. He would sometimes take the bass over his head or ride it like a surfboard.

“He’s known as the father of rock bass by some people,” said Michael Jordan Rush, who published a memoir by Lytle titled “Still Rockin’ Around the Clock” in 2011. “He certainly influenced rock bass more than any other individual.”

Lytle was born in Old Fort, North Carolina, in September 1933.

A birth defect made it nearly impossible for him to walk as a child. His older brother would carry him to and from school on his back. It was then that Lytle developed a love of music.

“He had been a musician from the time he was barely able to walk,” Golda said.

While Lytle was still a young boy, he had surgery that gave him the use of his legs,” she said.

In 1951, Lytle, then still a teen, joined Bill Haley’s Saddlemen. At the time Haley had a radio show in Chester, Pa., and the manager commented that the group didn’t look like saddlemen, Rush said.

He suggested they call themselves “the Comets” instead.

Several of the band’s hits are now iconic rock ‘n’ roll songs. “Rock Around the Clock,” recorded in 1954, is one fo the highest selling singles of all time. Lytle also played on hits like “See You Later, Alligator.”

Published in The Trentonian, Thursday May 30, 2013. p. A23