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Clive Burr, Iron Maiden Drummer Dies At 56

Clive Burr – Iron Maiden’s Masterful And Highly Underrated Drummer Passes Away

Clive Burr, who was Iron Maiden’s drummer from 1979-1982, died in his sleep at his home in London, England on Tuesday, March 12, 2013. He had been in ill-health for a number of years.

Burr played on the first three Iron Maiden albums, Iron Maiden, Killers and The Number of the Beast. With Iron Maiden on the verge of worldwide stardom, Burr was replaced under circumstances which remain murky to this day by Nicko McBrain for 1983’s Piece of Mind album. The official reason given was personal problems and difficulties in dealing with the heavy touring schedule.

Burr played with a string of other bands for the next dozen years, but never achieved the success he had with Iron Maiden. In the early 1990’s Burr’s musical career came to an abrupt end when he noticed tingling in his hands. He received a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in 1994.

His former band mates held several charity events during the last decade which they called “Clive-Aid” to raise money to help Burr with his medical expenses which had left him in debt.

Steve Harris, Dave Murray and Clive Burr at 2007’s CliveAid Concert

Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood said in 2002 at the first benefit, “Maiden has always been a family and even after all these years, we still consider Clive to be part of the family and as such we feel we should help him in any way possible.”

There has been a long simmering debate among hardcore Maiden fans about who was the better drummer, Burr or McBrain?

They were so different in style that a comparison is very difficult, but I always preferred Burr’s lucid, free jazz-style drumming. Burr though, was not a jazz drummer. McBrain is the one who had learned through funk and groove. Continue reading →

Our Gang / Little Rascals Star Norman Chubby Chaney No Longer Has An Unmarked Grave

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“Chubsy-Ubsy” Finally Gets A Headstone

Jackie Cooper, June Marlowe, Shirley Jean Rickert, Norman Chubby Chaney, Dorothy DeBorba

Norman “Chubby” Chaney, a star for Hal Roach’s Our Gang comedies, (aka the Little Rascals) had been buried in an unmarked grave at Baltimore Cemetery since 1936. He was the first former cast member to pass away.

Chaney appeared in the early Our Gang sound films from 1929 – 1931, winning a lookalike contest to replace Our Gang heavyweight Joe Cobb.

One of the the most beloved short films of the series that Chaney starred in was where he was competing with Jackie Cooper for their teacher, Miss Crabtree’s (June Marlowe), affection and attention. In that film, Love Business (1931), Chubby said the immortal words, “Don’t call me Norman, call me Chubsy-ubsy.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SMJj8tz_w0

When Chaney died at the age of 21 in 1936 following an operation to correct a glandular disorder, the family had no money to put up a marker in the cemetery.

Finally last year through the efforts of Detroit musician Mikal C.G., money was raised through online donations to put up a headstone. The unveiling ceremony on November 10, 2012, was attended by less than a dozen observers. Whether or not Chaney attracts visitors to his grave, his performances preserved on film will be viewed and enjoyed by countless generations to come.

Two Baseball Greats Pass Away- Stan Musial & Earl Weaver – Remembering An Infamous Interview

Cardinals Superstar Stan Musial Dies At 92, Orioles Manager Earl Weaver Dies At 82

Plus One Very Dirty, Funny Radio Show Featuring Earl Weaver

If you are like me, Saturday, January 19, 2013 will be remembered by baseball fans as a very sad day because two Hall of Famers died.

Stan Musial was one of the greatest players to ever play the game and was a gentleman on and off the field.

Earl Weaver was supposedly a gentleman off the field. On the field he could be a terror to the umpires.

I’ll leave the comments of greatness to others on both of these legends. While both of these men will get accolades and fond remembrances in the obituary pages, few will mention the outtake reel from “The Manager’s Corner” with Earl Weaver and Tom Marr. Continue reading →

“Mongo” – Alex Karras NFL Star Dies At 77

I Hear You Knocking But You Can’t Come In

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Smiley Lewis And Early Rock n’ Roll

Smiley Lewis

There are controversies over what song marks the birth of rock’ roll. Rather than engage in a protracted debate or discussion, I thought it would be good to just take a look at one under-appreciated classic R&B song that seems to qualify as one of the first rock songs. I Hear You Knocking was written by Dave Bartholomew and Pearl King in 1955 and performed the same year by New Orleans musician Smiley Lewis.

It is definitely a lesser known progenitor of what sort of music would become popular during the magical year of 1955 with artists such as Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Little Richard and Elvis Presley all emerging onto a national stage performing early rock n’ roll.

Click here to listen to Smiley Lewis’ version of I Hear You Knockin’.

Few people are familiar with Smiley Lewis’ version of the song, as it was popular during a time when radio was segregated and R&B artists did not get their songs played on many stations. However the song did make it to number two on the Billboard R&B charts.

There are at least thirty other versions of the song by other popular artists, but I Hear You Knocking was really rescued from oblivion by the great Dave Edmunds when he covered the song in 1970 and it became a number one hit in the United States and England. Edmunds version is still played regularly on many classic rock stations, perpetuating the popularity of this catchy, R&B/early rock classic. Below is a video of an uncharacteristically wasted-looking Edmunds, lip-synching his hit in 1971 in front of a freaky looking audience that one youtube commenter noted, “I didn’t know the Manson Family had a variety show.”

UPDATE 2022 Unfortunately in the intervening years since this story was first written, Warner Music has pulled the video. Below is Edmunds live version, unfortunately without the 1971 stoned audience.

The Doors And A Parody Of The Doors

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**“Light My Fire” And “Reading Rainbow” On The Ed Sullivan Show**

Forty-five years ago, on September 17, 1967, The Doors performed for the first and last time on The Ed Sullivan Show. The variety program which had introduced America to The Beatles three years previously, was consistently one of the most watched shows in America and could help establish a successful career for a comedian, singer, band or any entertainer.

Before singing their hit Light My Fire, live on national television, the band was warned by a Sullivan show staff producer not to sing the word “higher” when the phrase “girl we couldn’t get much higher,” came up. It was suggested Morrison the poet, come up with another word; “flier”, “wire”, it didn’t matter, just not sing “higher.” The band was told the word “higher,” could imply illegal drug use and was inappropriate for a family program like The Sullivan Show. The Doors were furious and argued their point, but eventually relented and told the producer they would alter the lyric. As soon as the producer left the room, The Doors lead singer Jim Morrison declared to the rest of the band “We’re not changing a word.”

The Doors first performed “People Are Strange” and then launched Continue reading →

12 Great Heavy Metal Albums From The 80’s That Are Under The Radar (Part 2)

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Great Metal Albums from the 1980’s That Have Been Forgotten

Continuing our article from Part 1 of twelve metal albums from the 1980’s you should check out:

1986 – Metal Church – The Dark (Elektra)

Metal Church put out great albums during the 1980’s and 1990’s and even opened for Metallica during their 1991 tour and this should have lead to more exposure for the band. But Metal Church never caught on with the music video generation and that may have had an big impact on sales. Continue reading →

12 Great Heavy Metal Albums From The 80’s That Are Under The Radar (Part 1)

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Great Metal Albums from the 1980’s That Have Been Forgotten

Still one of the most exciting things for me is to be introduced to great music that I have never heard before. It doesn’t matter if it was made this year or thirty years ago. If you haven’t heard it before, it’s new to you, isn’t it?

I started thinking about bands casual heavy metal fans may be familiar with by name, but not their work with the exception of possibly a song or two. That lead to the creation of this list. Rather than focus on great albums from well known bands such as Judas Priest, Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Dio, Van Halen, Testament, Overkill, Exodus or any of the well known bands, these are bands and albums that may have had a brief moment in the spotlight or are known for the wrong reasons, like an MTV video.

So in chronological order, here is part one of twelve albums that you should check out.

1980 – Angel Witch – Angel Witch (Bronze Records)

What a debut album should be: songs with one amazing hook after another. Angel Witch emerged from The New Wave of British Heavy Metal looking like they would rise to the top. This trio lead by Kevin Heybourne lead singer and guitarist should have conquered the world. For whatever reason it never happened. Almost every song on here is a classic in songwriting 101. Continue reading →

Great Band Publicity Photo And Video

Ensoku – Deserving Worldwide Attention

Rarely will my mouth hang open in disbelief. I’m too jaded. This photograph of the visual kei band Ensoku with the nightmare Disneyesque theme did not make my jaw drop. But their music video did.

I’m not sure if this is brilliant, Continue reading →

Deep Purple Founder And Keyboardist Jon Lord Dies At 71

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Jon Lord: God Of The Hammond Organ, June 9, 1941 – July 16, 2012

More and more of the people I grew up admiring are leaving us. In the last couple of weeks actor Ernest Borgnine, Encyclopedia Brown author Donald Sobol and director William Asher died and on Monday, July 16, 2012 the announcement of Jon Lord’s sudden death really hit home.

Lord who had been battling pancreatic cancer, died unexpectedly at the London Clinic of a pulmonary embolism. He leaves behind his second wife Vickie, their daughter, Amy, and Sara, his daughter with his first wife Judith Feldman whom he married in 1969 and divorced in 1981.

I grew up admiring Deep Purple and they have always been one of my favorite bands. I had seen them perform live which was a very festive and loud experience. After seeing them live I came away with the first hand knowledge that Jon Lord was without a doubt one of the most exciting and greatest rock keyboard players ever.

Being an extremely amateur musician myself, there are two things I wish I had the ability to do. One is to play stride style piano like James Johnson or Fats Waller and the other is to flawlessly play the guitar solo or keyboard solo to Deep Purple’s driving locomotive of a song, Highway Star.

Jon Lord was a classically trained musician and that training always came through in Deep Purple’s music. The structure of many of the bands songs are clearly classically influenced and this is due to the fact that both Lord and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore drew a lot of their inspiration from the classical realm.

(l-r) Ian Paice, Ian Gillan, Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover, Jon Lord

In rock n’ roll there are many talented composers that are not great performers. There are great live bands, without good original songs. Then, there are phenomenal studio bands who can’t cut it live. During the height of their fame in the 1970’s, I don’t think there was a more talented group of individuals playing together as a band than Deep Purple. What I mean is each individual was a virtuoso in his own right, a master at their instrument. Together they were able to write great songs, record them in the studio and play them effortlessly with an edge in front of a live audience as few rock bands could. To do any one of these three things well is an accomplishment. Deep Purple was in a rare class as they did all three. Continue reading →

Stuff Nobody Cares About

A not so random collection of observations about things you should care about