A World Without The Beatles - A World Without Elvis

Last weekend I attended a special event hosted by the Grammy Foundation entitled: “An Evening with Sir George Martin – The Making of Sgt Pepper”.

It was an amazing evening to be sure and there where a number of celebrities in the audience (I Remember spotting Slash and Nancy Sinatra). But of course we where all waiting for the man who is often referred to as the 5th Beatle.

At 81 years old, Sir George is pretty spry, a great speaker, and very funny.

Before getting into the making of the most influential album in pop music history, he took a moment to tell us how he got started in record business, he told humorous stories about the crude technology used to record music in England during the 50's. Tape was still too noisy so they would record on wax disc. Also electricity was too erratic in England at the time to record sound consistently (It would fluctuate), so they would use gravity to power their recording equipment with a series gears and heavy ball (Quite amazing really).

But by the time he was introduced to the Beatles, recording tape was now the standard. It was at this point during his talk, that I came away with (what I felt) was the most significant bit of information.

I was certainly aware that the Beatles had already been turned down by some of the other record labels in England before being signed to Parlaphone records. But according to Sir George Martin (and he should know): By the time he was first introduced to John, Paul, George, and Ringo they had already been turned down by EVERY record label. Including the Parlaphone label that Sir George Martin was now in charge of running......He wasn't aware of this when he first sat down with their manager Brian Epstein and heard their demo. He didn't think the demo was very good either, but he said Brian Epstein pleaded with him, so he grudgingly said to go ahead and bring them to the studio and he would see if there something to them that the didn't hear on the demo......He added, that had he been award that everyone else had turned them down, he would have never agreed to give them a 2nd try.

But he didn't know so, he meet with them, and he felt that they had something......The rest as they say, "is history".

Now as I heard this, there is of course the obvious lesson to be learned about having faith in yourself, even after everyone has rejected you.

But even more astonishing to me is to consider, what if he had known?

What if he had known that every other label had already rejected them? He would have probably said "No thank you".

The Beatles had a strong loyal following in their hometown. It was the sight of kids lining up to see them play at the Cavern Club that first brought enabled their manager Brian Epstein to discover them. They had reached a level of buzz in their hometown and needed something to propel them to a higher level. And in those days there was no way to record an album without record label contract.

But if every label has already said no, what are you going to do?

Maybe things might have worked out in the end, but maybe that might have been it. The Beatles might have remained a local cover band playing at their local club until they and their audience got older and got busy with responsibilities like marriage, kids, etc

There is a similar story about Elvis. The owner of Sun records discovered Elvis as one of his customers (back in those days you could pay about 20 bucks and they would record a one off record of you singing. It was novelty item). Sam Phillips thought Elvis had an interesting voice and thought he might hook him up with some musicians that where looking for a singer. But it almost didn't happen. Sam invited Bill Black and Scotty Moore to jam with Elvis and after taking a number of stabs at traditional country western songs, nothing seemed to jell. They took a break and it seemed like nothing was going to come of it. Then Elvis picked up the guitar and started playing the blues song "That's All Right Mamma". The Band joined in and suddenly the magic happened.

But what if he hadn't picked up that guitar?

And what if Sir George had said “no thank you”?

A world with The Beatles?

A world without Elvis?

It boggles the mind.

I Dreamed of Madonna

I could probably create a whole separate blog of just the crazy absurdist dreams that I have, but that's for another time. Sometimes my dreams are music related (I even once heard a melody in a dream, woke up, and very quickly recorded it).

Anyhow, last night I dreamed I was on tour with Madonna. I was backstage with her. She had this large rack of outfits and she was trying to get my opinion on what she should wear for tonight’s show. Being a guy, I didn't care what she wore. I told her that they all looked fine and that she should just pick one.

Madonna was not happy with my answer and continued to press me for an opinion. Being a guy, I just simply picked one out at random and said, "This is the best one".

"You really think that this is the best one"? She replied.

I got really fed up at this point and said to her, "Look, Madonna. What does it matter what I think? You don't need me to approve of what you wear.  Just pick something that you like and go with it".

Then I woke up.

TJR on the Rarewriter website

My song "American Idol" got a write up at the Rare Writer website.

You can read it here:

Rick even wrote a commentary regarding it. I wrote my own response. which you can read below

Dear Rick Thank you so much for your coverage of my song “American Idol”. There is nothing like seeing your name and picture in (virtual) print, to help justify your existence LOL.

I really appreciated your commentary too. I agree with your comments whole heartedly. At the end of the day, AI is just a singing contest and no more. This simple fact is probably the main reason why so many of the idol stars CDs tank or do only moderate business after their season is over (Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson being some of the few exceptions).

Since the beginning AI has been great a creating singing stars who look good, sound good, but who (for the most part) end up recording mostly forgettable songs after they win. And this is because the show is a singing contest with no emphasis on songwriting. Which I’m sure is what Simon and his label want. If they can’t write their own songs they’ll be easier to control. I also agree that I would probably never make the cut on AI. Neither would Johnny Cash (Whom I reference in my song). In fact neither would Dolly Parton who was recently a guest mentor on the show (But then unique musical voices are not what AI is interested in). But as for the age thing…….Sometimes less is more.

I wish that I was such a great songwriter that I could convey all of the opinions that you and I have expressed within a conventional 3-4 minute pop song (That is also entertaining), but alas I am not. But I think I was up to task of writing a song that effectively conveyed at least one of the shows many faults and still entertained. The inspiration for the song was all of those people would excitedly approach me at gigs wanting express their belief that I should be on the show. I always wanted to convey my rather complex feelings about the show, but in the end it was easier to just say to them "American Idol Discriminates against people of age". At this point their jaws would drop in outrage and they would express how wrong they felt that was. This would often times open the door to further express more about what I felt was wrong with the show.

In a better world there would be a show like AI that would have artists who are the whole package competing against each other (strong vocals, strong musicianship, strong songwriting, etc). Thats the kind of show I would audition for (Provided there was no age discrimination LOL). Audiences could still enjoy the drama of the competition but would also be exposed to exciting new artists whose careers would be launched via the exposure. Lastly, I noticed that a sizable number of this years AI contestants are actual musicians. This appears to be a quite a departure from previous seasons, so perhaps slowly (very slowly LOL) AI might become more that show that it needs to be.

MORE AMERICAN IDOL PRESS FOR TJR

My song "American Idol" got a write up in Orange County's biggest paper. Check it out here http://www.ocregister.com/articles/byrnes-songs-stars-2037202-fallen-band

Scroll down to the column entitled "Orange Slices". This is very cool.

A Day in the Life in the OC Register

Orange County's biggest paper; The OC Register is running a story about me in their Show section this Friday, but you can read it online here. 

The article talks about my recent Piano album of all Beatles songs, and my last CD "Another Roll of The Dice".

 

 

Thanks

I've released a Beatles tribute album?

Yes! I have released a piano tribute album of the music of the Beatles.

It is only available as a digital release (There is no physical CD). check it out at CD baby here:

TJR On The Gary Garver Show

A few weeks ago, I drove down to LA to take part in a taping of the Gary Garver show.

I performed two songs and was interviewed. The entire show is online here 

Gary Garver is an alumnus of the Howard Stern Show. This show is uncensored and there is, what some might call, course language in it, so don't watch if that stuff offends you.

I am playing a somewhat abbreviated version of "No One Makes the Sunshine" during the opening segment. I am also in the last segment playing an uncensored version of "Jesus Loves You" and I am interviewed right before that performance. I thought Gary Garver and his staff where all very cool and nice people.