HAIL HAIL ROCK N ROLL

I was just surfing the "Encore" channel on cable and hit a gold mine.

A movie that I first watched when it was originally released in 1987: "Hail, Hail Rock N Roll"

It’s the concert at the Fox Theater celebrating Chuck Berry’s 60th birthday.

Keith Richards put together a MONSTER band for it and they show the footage of them rehearsing at Chuck’s house. First thing they did was get Johnny Johnson who was the original piano player from the 1950’s Chuck Berry band, and you would be hard pressed to have found a better barrel house piano player than that guy was.

Playing behind Chuck were Keith Richards, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Bobby Keys on sax, Chuck Leavell on organ…just incredible.  Linda Rondstadt comes out to sing "I’m So Glad I’m Living In The USA"  and the great Etta James sings "It’s Gotta Be Rock N Roll Music"

Chuck does all of his hits: "Johnny B. Goode" (of course), "Memphis", "Oh Carol", "Little Queenie", "Maybelline", "Too Much Monkey Business", "Nadine", "Brown Eyed Handsome Man", "Sweet Little 16", Hail Hail Rock N Roll" and many more.

Some great interviews with Chuck, Keith Richards, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bo Diddley, Willie Dixon, Little Richard, Roy Orbison, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, and many others.

In case you didn’t know…I AM one of Chuck’s "children" as are every guitarist playing rock or country music since the 1950’s. We are all disciples at the feet of the great Chuck Berry.  By the way , he still plays a steady gig at a nightclub in St. Louis to this very day.

I HIGHLY recommend this movie/rock documentary.

NEW LOOK FOR TPTRASH.COM

Hope you like the new look of our site. As you probably already know, we have completed the first music video. It’s for the now infamous song: "Get With Me"

It features Claudia-Marie on lead vocals, myself on guitar and backing vocals, and my old band mates Tony Gardo on sax and keyboards…and Kenny Swanger on bass guitar.

Claudia and I just finished a brand new version of my song "Sweet Mercy" a few months ago. It’s taken me some time to get that song the way I want it…I sang a few versions, then I had Claudia-Marie sing a version…but this new version is a duet. And it just fits the song perfectly. It’s exactly what the song needed.

Anyway, I’m beginning production of a video for Sweet Mercy over the next week. I have a pretty cool idea for it.

In other news: Claudia-Marie and I attended the UFC Brock Lesnar VS Shane Carwin fight on July 3rd, 2010

Wow! It was an amazing thing to watch live and as close as we were to the cage. Jim Ross, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bill Goldberg, Paul Heyman, and Gene Simmons were just a few of the celebrities sitting up front. It was quite a night!

We are also going to be heading over to San Diego for a few days at the beach. I’ve never been to San Diego, but I hear it’s some of the nicest beaches on the West Coast.

Until next time…