Bob Remembers Harry and Patty

Some of the Harry Nilsson article was originally posted on FEBRUARY 25, 2009 and Updated on February 28th, 2019. The Patty Faralla addendum is brand new. New photos in both.

Harry…
Covers of his songs were often more successful than his own, original, recordings. Ironically, the two biggest hits he ever had were written by Fred Neil, and Peter Ham.

That is sort of the story of Harry’s life …

He is probably the most underrated American songwriter of the last 50 years (other than me, of course), but his songs came from deeper than most writers are willing to dig.

Segarini: Rerun – The Fat City Chronicles 2 – Short Stories about Long Ago

Time for another rerun about my hometown. Was reminded of the story of Cold Red yesterday, and took it as a sign to find and post this nostalgic look back. Things have not been great for me lately…for a lot of us, really. Tough times come and go like the weather, but being able to look back on a life well lived, and the people and places that made you who you are and brought so much joy into your life will always be there to remember. I hope you have memories that mean as much to you as these do to me.

I am one lucky son of a bitch….

JAIMIE VERNON – CIRCULAR IMPRESSIONS, 7 INCHES AT A TIME

There once was a band called The Extras. They were an amalgam of players that used to back up the late, great BB Gabor. When they went off on their own they released a debut album called ‘Bit Parts’ and had themselves an FM radio hit with a novelty tune called “Circular Impression”.

Segarini: Disneyland on Acid

The Family Tree Signs with RCA

There were a lot of great reasons to sign a record deal with RCA back in the mid ‘60s. Aside from the whopping ‘3% of 90% of wholesale’ deal, (and you think illegal downloading is ripping off artists? HA!), which was standard at the time, there were a pile of bonus goodies that came with the servitude.

Segarini: The Fat City Chronicles 2 – Short Stories about Long Ago

I am in awe of how much there is to do in Toronto if you are looking for a reason to get out of the house or forget the work-a-day woes we all carry around with us like humps on the backs of our spirits. If you are honest with yourself you know that the whole ‘adulthood’ period we’re all supposed to embrace is a pack of lies and purposely inflicted on us by people who got older and don’t want us to keep having a good time when we’re able because they were taught the good times have to stop when you get married, or have kids, or get a mortgage or become burdened by responsibility and obligation.

Bullshit.

That’s exactly when you should give in to your inner child and let your hair down once in a while, even if you don’t have much hair left.

Segarini: A Monkee, a Montrose, a McQuarrie, and Other Fallen Friends

I felt bad about Whitney Houston. I feel bad about most of my fellow travelers who die from misadventure or self-abuse. I can relate to the fearlessness of youth, the temptations afforded by the entertainment business and more money than brains, and the unforeseen (and oddly unexpected) results some of our most revered icons suffer at the hands of bad decisions and yes-men surroundings.

I appreciate the irony of men of religion and ‘family values’ falling victim to temptations of the flesh, anti-drug celebrities dying because of the very thing they rail against in public, and the folly of those not yet in touch with their own mortality…but it pisses me off when we lose people we care about because of disease, dangerous drivers or delusional fans, lack of resources, or God’s blunder of whisking us off this ball of mud just as we get old enough to start figuring shit out…and that goes for the famous, the not so famous, and the rest of us.