LIVE A LITTLE, WATCH A LITTLE:Gary Pig Gold’s Top Ten Elvis Movies

In honor of The King and what could have been – what should have been – his 87th (!!) Birthday this month, may I suggest one and all hook to your platform of choice immediately to watch Any or All of…

Gary Pig Gold goes FIFTY YEARS WITHOUT ED

It’s hard to fathom a world where any imaginable sight, sound, or moving image of your fave rave pop star isn’t a mere mouse of a click away. But back in that Gold Age when the roll was still an essential part of rock, families instead gathered ’round their communal box every Sunday evening at eight to turn on and tune completely into the beauty, the splendor, the downright wonder which was The Ed Sullivan Show. And then, only if you were pubescent and/or lucky enough, at the top of any such given hour ringmaster Ed might just include in his introductory announcement, “And for all the youngsters out there…” before intoning – and quite often mispronouncing – none other than the name off the label of your latest, most current constantly-played 45.  

Segarini Presents – Celebrity Believe It or Don’t!

I have said it before, and I will say it again. The Mainstream Audience LOVES their public figures to be weird, quirky, odd, strange, possessed, mentally unstable, drug addled, alcoholic, Re-Hab invulnerable, mouthy, shallow, deep, oblivious, and/or strangely coiffed or have an artistic deformity. Why? Because everybody knows if you have green hair, dress like a Circus act, own a dolphin, go shopping driving a zamboni, or have a prehensile tail, you are a better singer, actor, or politician than all the others. If you can grow a third arm in the middle of your forehead …you will be destined to be the greatest whatever-you-are until the end of time.

Or until someone comes along whose genitals can recite the Declaration of Independence.

Gary Pig Gold with AXES: BOLD As JIMI’S

On what could have been – should have been – James Marshall Hendrix’s 78th Birthday on the 27th we pay, and play, due tribute to he …and these other supreme six-stringers:

CHICKEN ON A HOT PLATE by JAIMIE VERNON

For as long as there have been people with talent to share, there have been people waiting impatiently to exploit it. P.T. Barnum was the first to realize that a) you could make people pay a nickel to see a woman who couldn’t afford a Lady Bic razor on her face and b) you could pay the woman herself a penny if she would just stop shaving her beard off. Barnum was shameless in using any perceived talent (sword swallowing, knife throwing, anvil lifting) or any physical infirmity to sell tickets. He became massively rich and his ‘performers’ became slaves to the grind. Some were smart enough to negotiate riches in partnership with Barnum, others were just glad to have a few square meals a week and a place to sleep every night. It beat the alternatives.

GARY PIG GOLD – “THANK YOU MASKED MAN”: THE WACKY LIFE, AND GRIZZLY POSSIBLE DEATH, OF JIMMY ELLIS (aka ORION ECKLEY DARNELL)

First, there was Elvis. Amen! Then there was Ricky Nelson and Johnny Hallyday. Perhaps even Conrad Birdie.

Of course P. J. Proby could often sing “movie Presley” – and much later surely do “Vegas Elvis” – better than the true specimen, Terry Stafford hit U.S. Number 3 with an o.k. “Suspicion” mind during the very height of Britishmania (personally, I much prefer the 1970 Viv Stanshall / Keith Moon interpretation), and who can even forget Ral “This Is Elvis (sorta)” Donner and possibly even the Dick Clark-approved Ronnie McDowell? There was a real cool guy here in T.O. called Subway Elvis too, but he was always getting thrown in jail.

Roxanne Tellier – Stuff is Hard

I didn’t have the best week, to be honest. On Tuesday, I learned that a very dear friend had passed away after a series of health setbacks. Scott Shelson was a good man; look up ‘mensch’ in the dictionary – his photo should be there.

Roxanne Tellier – Pet Sounds Revisited

“The Internet is a lot like ancient Egypt: people writing on walls and worshipping cats.”  

Gary Pig Gold – ELVIS PRESLEY DIES FOR YOUR SINS

Yes. August 16th, 2017.

It’s that time of year again. To which many, many out there will cry…

Why Elvis?

I mean, Why should anybody, ANYWHERE care anymore?

Well, in a word or 984 I believe, here’s Why. Ready?

Pat Blythe – Women of Blues Revisited – Part II

This piece first ran in DBAWIS just over two years ago.  It all started with the a series called Women in Song, based on a collection of CDs (made in Canada dontcha know) I had rediscovered when cleaning out “stuff”. One thing leads to another, a name is mentioned, I start to poke around, one person leads to another and the next thing you know I’m down, waaaay down the rabbit hole. There are an incalculable number of stories and in one fashion or another, they are all linked. If one had to create a “family tree” of music…..well…..it would be “yuge” and nigh on impossible to follow. Just in our little music community here in Toronto, everybody is “related” somehow. I’m about to embark on another project and meet with an individual who has been around the business so long he is full of stories…..I’m sensing another rabbit hole….