Gary Pig Gold knows THE SHADOWS KNOW. Now You Can, Too.

For those still salient enough to peg the launch of British Rock to the evening of February 9, 1964, when those “youngsters from Liverpool” landed as if from nowhere onto the stage of The Ed Sullivan Show, think of this:

A dozen years ago, a different U.K. band celebrated its fiftieth (!!)anniversary with a series of sold-out concerts at London’s mammoth O2 Arena.

At the height of their success, this band placed an astounding twenty-eight hits atop the European charts, have all told released over one hundred albums worldwide, and their lead singer was knighted by his Queen before Elton, Tom Jones, Jagger or even Paul McCartney was.

Gary Pig Gold is TAKIN’ CARE OF RANDY

As he turns 78 (!) this very September the 27th, may I suggest Each and Every One of you DBAWIS’ers adhere to these

HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS MONTH from GARY PIG GOLD To Both ROGER AND JIM McGUINN

It’s becoming increasingly obvious, with every passing year and with every passing trend, that The Byrds were just about the greatest rock’n’roll band America ever produced. Sure, I bet lots of other musicians in 1964 were inspired enough after first viewing A Hard Day’s Night to want to throw together their very own guitar gangs. and Yes, from a half-century-plus perspective the bridging of Dylan’s words with the Beatles’ licks and hair-do’s was a hybrid just itching to happen. But it took a pack of visionary crazies like The Byrds to not only pull it off, but actually shove it right up to the top of the charts for all to hear, see, and forever be amazed by. Hard to believe that within a year of that first Beatle movie, Messrs. McGuinn, Clark, Crosby, Hillman and Clarke had the Number One record on the planet with the still contemporary-sounding “Mr. Tambourine Man.”

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.  

Gary Pig Gold Went To A Dance, Lookin’ For IMANTS

IMANTS KRUMINS:

Above-ardent Fan, Collector and Champion of Good Music

(and Credit Risk Analyst for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce by day)

born April 6, 1952, Leamington Spa, England

died June 9, 2011, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

age 59

GARY PIG GOLD and those SUNSHINE WALKERS

Throughout that wild and wacky A.D. 2020, one disc seemed to somehow find itself repeatedly, and most happily so, upon the ol’ Pig Player. A disc which via a mere 21 tracks in under 69 minutes presents an ideal, not to mention idyllic picture of two musical careers which, cannily overlapping more often than not, displays all that was/is unfailingly, musically sound; all that’s, in actual fact, proper with Pop.

GARY PIG GOLD: Endless Shannon

Released precisely Sixty (!) Years Ago This Very Month:
One of the absolutely greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll recordings EVER.

GARY PIG GOLD’s SENIOR 65 GREATEST HITS!

That cockamamie Covid, among many other things, certainly allowed us the time and quarantined spaces within which to reflect, rewind, and apply a 2020 rear-view as it were to things gone real by. And me being me, with a turntable or two never more than a tone-arm away, took said opportunity to listen then list straight through my particular Life in Music – in all its strictly “SEVEN” and TWELVE -inch varieties, that is.

So then, Here’s what I hear first when I look loud and clearly back upon… 

Jaimie Vernon – GWNtertainment

 

A million years ago (okay, it was 32) I had an idea to start a music magazine to promote Canadian music. The idea didn’t come out of nowhere and there was a catalyst to light the fire. It started as a newsletter in 1989 to promote my rock band Moving Targetz. It was called the M.T. Head Express and was mailed to our fans monthly to let them know about gigs, recordings, and all our shenanigans as a rock band. My ex’s mother, Gail Benson (RIP), said to me one day, “You should expand your news letter to cover other Canadian bands, not just your own.” And, so I did. In early 1990, I launched a 24-page fanzine called Great White Noise Magazine. My ex and I bought a brand new PC with a dot matrix printer for $1320. I had to take out a loan at my credit union to do it. It would take me until 1993 to pay it off!

GARY PIG GOLD – DECEMBER’S CHILDREN: The CIRCUS is Back in Town

 

I think we’re more than all in agreement here that something very, very special took place during the middle 1960’s; a magical, monumental something in the air(waves) which gave rise to an undeniable socio-artistic upheaval courtesy of bards like Dylan, bands like the Beatles, filmmakers like Kubrick and, if I may push the issue quite thinly, television the likes of Get Smart and Green Acres to boot.