Brian's Music Musings

Sometimes "Stuff" happens all at once. It seems to go that way with me and interviews. I had a relative of Joyce Harris (No Way Out + Others) contact me, and then Joyce emailed me. Next thing I know, I'm on the phone interviewing her. She's got the voice. If you have ever heard the unreleased "I Got My Mojo Working" and the top 100 "No Way Out", you know what I'm talking about. I have some editing to do on the interview and some updating on my site to do as well. She's a very nice person, and was informative.

Then I got a call from Little Willie G. OK, actually I called him first after getting his phone number from a listener to my radio show. Time for another interview and my mind had to completely switch gears. Little Willie G, AKA Willie Garcia, was the front man of the East LA band Thee Midniters. A legend in those parts, and frankly, many other parts - not to mention, my stomping grounds. Cruising Whittier Boulevard, Jacks, and Bob's Big Boy have Lot's of memories for me. We had a short, but great interview. The problem was that there was nowhere near the time to cover as much as i wanted to. Not even close. I was just honored to get the time he gave me. I don't think 2 hours could have done justice to the subjects. Little Willie G is a really nice guy, personable and loves to talk about his history and current gospel outreach ministries. I have this feeling that he is an encylclopedia on the Los Angeles sound of the 50's and 60's, and I bet we could find even more common ground. I will probably push that out into April for the radio program, but it will be a fun show to feature his records along with some other great Latino rockers from the time period. I tried to convince him to come up to northern California to do a live show. He didn't exactly say no.

Speaking of Los Angeles, I have a nice copy of Pachuko Hop by Chuck Higgins, on a 45. On Ebay, this is the second week I have seen the 78 listed for 200 bucks! Seems outrageous to me, especially in "Good condition for it's age". I would think there are more 78's than 45's on that 1953 release. At least the bio information that is included in the listing is a good read. Only thing is, it is obviously a cut and paste job from other websites, and no credit is given to the authors. I actually had a guy from Germany do that to my whole PAGE on the Chords, label shots and all! Yep, it was an Ebay listing. And, it didn't sell!

Do I dare bring up the subject of variations on the Music City label? Talk about a million variations, a ton of flipside combinations, several vinyl colors and at times, no rhyme or reason, THAT is Music City. I will probably never construct a page just because of the cost to obtain all that stuff. The page would never be adequate no matter what. One record I have constantly been on the lookout for is the classic, WPLJ. I've seen or have the maroon label and black label, both on 78 and 45. The multi-color label is also on 45 and 78. Flipsides include Mr. Undertaker, and Kary Maeson. A bit lesser known is the flip with the Gaylarks and Doodle Doo. That came on black, green, and I believe yellow as well as red vinyl. Maybe more. I should work toward a page with all the variations of just the Four Deuces, similar to my Eternals site. I'll put that on my list.