Lighthouse-Sunny Days 1972

What if?

What if February 3rd 1959 had never happened? What if plane # N3794N did not develop trouble and never crashed at around 1am in Clear Lake Ohio and Buddy Holly, J.P.(the big bopper) Richardson and Richie Valens were allowed to continue their lives as you or I can do? Would it have made a difference to the music world? One can only imagine Richie Valens being a guiding light for artists like Carlos Santana and even doing some side work with Carlos, being an inspiration for many Latin American kids as he piled up many hits thru the '60's and becoming known as the grandfather of Latin Rock and perhaps allowing  some of the under privileged Latinos a chance to escape the poverty of their life and allowing them to have an inspiration to help on their way. Hell, he most likely would have been playing at President Obama's Inauguration.
  The Big Bopper? Well who knows what would have become of him but I sense he could have become another Wolfman Jack type of personality that would spin his favorite tunes to a generation of young men and woman looking for something different to grove to and occasional release a Country and Western song that would keep his name in the news.
  But Buddy Holly, now there was no stopping him if "The Day the Music Died" had never happened. A tour with the Beatles, an album with Mick Jagger, perhaps in the 70's the ultimate Rock and Roll tour. He would have had a few more hits but would more than likely been able to write a few hits for other artists and then like Johnny Cash , Rick Rubin would have gotten a hold of Buddy and record a few albums in the same vein as "American Recordings" bringing his back into the public spotlight and allowing him to retire gracefully from the industry he helped form.
  But alas is was not to be as the plane did not stay in the air and the three young men died instantly leaving us all to wonder, What if?

U-MV112 - Jim Carroll - People Who Died

Patti Smith - Horses & Hey Joe

Layla(Another Woman in Song)

One of Eric Claptons most famous songs is LAYLA(1970) and the inspiration for the song was real.
 Patricia Ann Boyd was a former model and wife of George Harrison when Clapton wrote the song and in total had 6 songs written about her, Harrison wrote "Something" "I need you" and "Isn't it a pity" while Clapton wrote "Layla" "Wonderful Tonight" and "Bell Bottom Blues". And according to rock historians both John Lennon and Mick Jagger were deeply attracted to her, but never acted on those impulses however Eric Clapton did and as a result the song 'Layla" became a reality. Pattie Boyd and George Harrison divorced in 1974 and in 1979 she married Clapton which was 9 years after the song "Layla" was released on the Derek and the Domino's album "Layla and other assorted love Songs". However like many marriages that involved drug and alcohol abuse this one ended as well in 1989 according to Boyd because of Eric's alcoholism and infidelity, and Boyd states that "Wonderful Tonight was the most poignant reminder of all that was good in our relationship, and when things went wrong it was torture to hear it".
  Today Boyd is a photographer whose collection "Through The Eyes of a Muse" is a collection of photo's  from her day's with Harrison and Clapton and her autobiographical  book WONDERFUL TODAY:George Harrison,Eric Clapton ,and me was published in 2007.      Official website

"Layla" is from the Derek and the Domino's album 'Layla and other Assorted love Songs" that also contains "Bell Bottom Blues" and while it is about Pattie,the main story is from a 12th century Iranian Poem called Layla and Majnun and is about a moon princess who was married off by her father to someone other than the one who was desperately in love with her, a story that at the time Clapton could relate to.

Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street (R.I.P. january 4, 2011)

A Case for…

What do Neil Diamond, Bobby Darin,Prince and Metallica all have in common? Have you guessed yet? They are all in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame, which is really quite an achievement for all those artists so here is another question. What do Rush, The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive have all in common? They are not in the rock and roll hall of fame.  You read it correct Prince is in the Hall of fame but the Guess Who one of Canada’s greatest musical acts is not, Neil Diamond is going into the Hall of fame this year but BTO have never even been nominated, and Metallica has been a member for a few years but Rush can not even get close. Now before people attack me about my comparisons let me put one thing straight, I like Neil Diamond, his Hot August Night is still one of the best Live albums ever and his string of hits in the 70′s rival anyone’s and as for Bobby Darin, well his Mack the Knife is a classic and Metallica deserves to be there but so do the three Canadian acts I have mentioned.  The Guess Who blazed the way for Canadian music and they made a big dent in the United States as they racked up a number of hits there including 3 top 10 singles,These Eyes and No Time cracked the top ten while American Woman became just the second single by a Canadian Group to hit Number 1 there,The crew Cuts with “Sh-Boom” also hit #1 in 1954. But they are not in the Hall of Fame. Bachman Turner Overdrive was another Sucess as they also scored big in the United States, their 2nd album simply titles BTO 2 hit #4 on the album charts and produced two top ten singles down south, “Let It Ride” and “Taking Care of Business”. They followed that with “Not fragile” which scored them a Number 1 album and produced a few more hits with “You ain’t Seen nothing yet” reaching the #1 spot in both Canada and the United States as well as Europe.  As for Rush,well what can you say about a band that has been together for over 30 years and has been as inventive as any band that is out there. Their list of acheivemnets is too long to put here but here are just a few of them.
Rush has come to release 24 gold records and 14 platinum records (3 of which have gone multiplatinum), placing them within the top 3 for the most consecutive gold albums by a rock band. Rush ranks 79th in U.S. album sales according to the RIAA with sales of 25 million units. Total worldwide sales approximate 40 million units
Rush has won the following Juno awards:

• 1975 Most promising group of the year
• 1978 Group of the year
• 1979 Group of the year
• 1990 Artist of the Decade (80′s)
• 1991 Best HardRock/Metal album – Presto
• 1992 Hard Rock album of the year – Roll the Bones
• 1981 nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance
  • “YYZ” — lost to The Police‘s “Behind My Camel”
• 1992 nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance
  • “Where’s My Thing?” — lost to Eric Johnson‘s “Cliffs of Dover”
• 1995 nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance
  • “Leave That Thing Alone” — lost to Pink Floyd‘s “Marooned”
• 2004 nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance
  • “O Baterista” from Rush In Rio — lost to Brian Wilson‘s “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow”
• 2008 nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance
  • “Malignant Narcissism” from Snakes & Arrows — lost to Bruce Springsteen‘s “Once Upon a Time in the West”
• 2009 nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance
  • “Hope (Live For The Art Of Peace)” from Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace — lost to Zappa Plays Zappa‘s “Peaches in Regalia” (featuring Steve Vai and Napoleon Murphy Brock

But yet no nomination to the Hall of Fame. So what gives? It is not like the Hall of Fame ignores Canada, Neil Young,Joni Mitchell,Leonard Cohen and the band are all in the Hall so these exclusions do not make sense to me but I think it is high time we Canadians start making the hall of Fame take notice and start letting them know that we want these bands in the hall, after all ‘sh-boom” is not the greatest Canadian Song of all time.