Monday, March 18, 2024

DJ David Brenner


David Brenner Live was a very short-lived program by a comedian who was very famous at the time. It's so brief that some of the articles about the debut, didn't run until it was almost over. The image above is from the August 31st, 1985 issue of Billboard magazine. The show first aired July 17th of that year. The earliest reference I found was in the July 6th issue of Billboard, it was a short plug.
"Also in New York, DIR Broadcasting has a music/comedy weekly dubbed "David Brenner Live" slated for a July 17th debut. David Lee Roth and Joe Piscopo are the honored guests for that episode, and the 90-minute program is promised to be mostly music. Features on the show, for which 150 stations have signed up so far, include, an oldies segment, top 10 count down, live performances and a listener phone-in bit."

The description sounds like the dogs breakfast, it's music, it's comedy, it's talk, it's live, it's a call-in... It sounds like they didn't have a plan. Alternate theory... maybe they wanted to give Brenner options. A smart programmer might understand it was the safe move to give a stand-up comic flexibility. Who knows. 

That description left me wondering what the show sounded like, but my impression was that there were very few episodes aired. How many show's were there?  I don't really know for sure.  There are 15 weeks and 3 days between the given start and end dates. If it was a weekly program, then that'd be an absolute maximum of 16 episodes. I wrote this draft post years ago, but I found a tape of one show just in March of 2024. At some point I'll have to digitize that aircheck.

August 31st, 1985, Billboard described a CBS segment on DIR Broadcasting's new comedy program "David Brenner Live." That first episode included an interview with David Brenner, DIR's Bob Myrowitz, and the guest was David Lee Roth. The article also identified July 17th as the debut. Myrowitz and DIR are better known for other syndicated programs: The King Biscuit Flower Hour, Schaefer Rock City, and Country Cuts.

David Brenner was a trail-blazer in the genre of observational comedy. He was a  regular on Tonight Show in the 1970s, a frequent guest of Howard Stern, Bill Maher, David Letterman, Larry King and even Ed Sullivan. He was a very influential comic and a beloved figure in his home town of Philadelphia. He's kind of like Rocky, except that he's real. I'd also like to state for the record that his books are good. My personal favorites are Soft Pretzels with Mustard and Nobody Ever Sees You Eat Tuna Fish. Those are autobiographical and have real depth. He didn't tone down the poverty, cocaine or revenge. More here.


David Brenner Live was officially cancelled by November. The New London Day newspaper ran a short article confirming the news on November 2nd. The reasons for the cancellation were disputed. DIR stated that Brenner had scheduling challenges between the program and his stand up comedy obligations. It sounded plausible. But in December Brenner himself stated that he was actually concentrating on a TV pilot. His radio contract was only for 4 shows, with an option to do more. He did the four and moved on. That's all the episodes that exist according to Brenner as a primary source. [SOURCE]

So what was that TV pilot? Brenner got his own TV talk show, Nightlife. It aired weeknights from September 8, 1986, to June 19, 1987. It was produced by Motown Productions in association with King World Productions, the show was filmed in New York City and featured a house band led by Billy Preston. (Yes, the fifth Beatle Billy Preston.)  Dan Ingram was the show's announcer. Nightlife earned an average Nielsen rating of  2.4; not amazing but not bad. Purportedly it was just lost in a sea of other night time talk shows. It still ran for 195 episodes. That's about 40 weeks.

According to that November 2nd issue of Billboard, Brenner's slot was filled with "Almost Live With Richard Belzer." (Mr Belzer has his own oddball radio career I'll cover another day.) Finally in 1987 DRI explained what they had been trying to do. It was Kim Freeman at Billboard again covering the comedy beat. 

"Even with the likes of hot comedians Robert Klein, Richard Belzer, and David Brenner and New York radio star Howard Stern, DIR's longform efforts in this field have "hit a wall" after clearing 30% to 40% of the country. each of these shows were targeted mainly toward album rock radio, a format that [Peter] Kauff feels is missing the boat by not embracing more comedy."
Brenner took a second stab at radio in 1994 hosting a daytime talk-radio program. He took over the time slot of the Larry King Show on Westwood One. It ran 3:00 - 6:00 PM Eastern time. The first episode guests included David Letterman, Howard Stern and comedian Richard Lewis. Some critics bemoaned the change from news to entertainment but the show aired in 100 markets and ran from 1994 to 1996. David Brenner died in 2014 of pancreatic cancer.

Thursday, March 07, 2024

E. Rodney Jones, The World's Greatest Disc Jockey

I first found Mr. E. Rodney Jones on the back of a cassette. It was the back of the album: War Live  UA-CA193-J to be specific. (By the way, it's a fine album) Looking online for more info on the release I couldn't actually find any about the cassette, but that's common for 1970s tapes. Here's an image of the 8-track, a format which has somehow retained more cultural caché. [LINK]

So the note is just a one line attribution. "Introductions By E. Rodney Jones Of Radio Station WVON, Chicago, Ill."  This would be WVON-AM. The station moved from 1450 to the former 5,000-watt WNUS signal on 1390 in February of 1974. This particular "War Live!" album was released that same month and year, so it's pretty likely that the frequency was 1450 when it was recorded but that Jones would have been giving the station ID as 1390 WVON when he first spun the record. The band War released 13 albums between 1970 and 1979, so suffice it to say that Jones probably said their name a lot.

While researching this record I learned that The "E" in E. Rodney Jones stands for Earl. I also discovered that he has a robust discography of his own. It includes an oddity, released in 2005 the album "E. Rodney Jones, the World's Greatest Disc Jockey Presents... the World Series Of Blues & Soul Vol. 1"   [LINK])  Similar to his intro on "War Live!" Jones introduces the compilation. What follows is 19 tracks of blues and soul artists like Guitar Shorty, Ruth Brown, Jimmy Reed, Lightning Slim and several folks I've honestly never heard of.  It looks like something you'd find in a truck stop record bin. But wait is that Tom Joyner on the left?

Tom Joyner was born in 1975 so he was all of 30 years old on that album cover. E. Rodney Jones died in 2004, so this is probably his last recording at the age of 76!  The art is honestly a little cheesey, with the clip art, but E. Rodney Jones is a legend. I needed to hear this. I found a copy on Amazon for $1.50. Apparently people do not agree with me that this is a collectors item.

Jone's short bios usually say something like "The late E. Rodney Jones may have been the most prolifically-recorded of the great R&B DJs." Below is a list of just recordings where he was the writer and/or performing artist. He also produced records for folks like Mel Brown, wrote the liner notes for Major Lance and Jackie Ivory. He even wrote lyrics for Richard Parker, Mamie Galore, and Snooks Eaglin.


FORMAT
Artist
Title
 Year/Label
LP  E. Rodney Jones/Lafayette Leake Trio
 Might is Right
 1970/Yambo
LP
 E. Rodney Jones  At Heave's Grocery Store
 1982/Hep' Me
45
E. Rodney Jones R&B Time Pt. 1 / R&B Time Pt. 2
1967/Tuff
45
E. Rodney Jones & Larry & The Hippies Band
Right On, Right On / Chicken On Down
1970/Double Soul
45
E. Rodney Jones & Larry & The Hippies Band Right On / Football
1970/Westbound
45
E. Rodney Jones & Willie Henderson
The Whole Thing / Loose Booty 1972/Brunswick
 45
E. Rodney Jones Peace Of Mind / Do The Thang ?/Tuff
 CD
V/A ...The World Series Of Blues & Soul 2005/S.D.E.G.
 45
War War Live!
1973/UA
45 E. Rodney Jones  Pushing The Buck / Soul Sister
?/Double Soul
45 Syl Johnson & E. Rodney Jones Soul Heaven/Is It Because I'm Black Pt.2
N/A
LP
E.Rodney Jones & The Prairie Dogs
Country And Western
1970/Concert Hall

Was this pay back for play back? Probably some of the time. Alan Freed did the same thing and Jones wasn't just a DJ, he was also a manager. In 1973 Jones testified (with immunity) about payola in Federal Court along with several other radio programmers. I'll re-quote the New York Times article here:

"E. Rodney Jones, program director of WVON, Chicago, said he had received a total of $2,000 on six occasions from Mr. Moore, which the witness described as “a token of his appreciation” He said he also received airline tickets from Mr. Moore... “Gifts or money have never had any influence on my playing of records,” Mr. Jones said. “If I didn't believe it was a potential hit, it wouldn't have been played.”"

Mr. Moore there would be Melvin Moore, a promoter from Brunswick records. Moore was in many ways similar to Jones. He was a jazz trumpeter and vocalist from Tulsa, OK. He performed with Ernie Fields’ orchestra and Zoot Sims, Lucky Millinder, even Dizzy Gillespie's band. In 1963 he got a straight job at Decca Decca Records as a promoter, then moved to Brunswick records in 1966. By 1970 he was their director of R&B promotions. More here and here.

The breadth of Jone's career is difficult to measure. He worked for more than 20 years at WVON-AM in Chicago with an afternoon program calling himself "the Mad Lad."That's the tenure his was best known for, but he moved all over the country which in may ways spread his style of R&B programming, he personally shaped R&B as a radio format.  

Jones was born in Texarkana, AR in 1927 (or 1928). Every biography fixates on his long tenure at WVON. But his career didn't stop or start there. A 1968 radio programming guide [LINK] gives one of the more plausible biographies of his early years:

 "[He] began his career as a band musician in Texarkana. Later became a MC., then worked a trick in Kansas City, Mo., moved to KXLW in St. Louis and WBBR in East St. Louis for 8 yrs. In 1962, the "Mad Lad" moved to Chicago joining WVON in 1963."

There are biographies that claim he worked at a local station in Texarkana, this is difficult to corroborate. The band story makes more sense. And can be corroborated. [SOURCE] We can even narrow down what station pretty easily.  Between the 1947 and 1957 editions of the radio Broadcasting annual only three stations exist in Texarkana: 1230 KCMC-AM/98.1 KCMC-FM and 1400 KTFS-AM, only adding 790 KOSY-AM to the market in 1951. That's three of the 5 radio stations in the whole state of Arkansas. He confirmed it was KTFS in a taped interview [SOURCE] for the book Black Radio : Telling It Like It Was. He also names the old top-40 station 1490 KUDL in that interview but not KXLW though the latter has many citations. KUDL signed on in 1953 so that does little to box in the time frame. But his brief time at WBBR is time-bound, they only used the call WAMV from 1961 - 1963. It's corroborated by a short "Good Guys" bio in the 1968 WVON Holiday LP.


CALL SIGN
City
 Years
1400 KTFS  Texarkana, AR
1954/55?
1490 KUDL
 Kansas City, MO
1956?
1320 KXLW
St. Louis, MO
1957 - 1960
1500 WBBR
East St. Louis, MO
1961 - 1962
1390 WYNR
Chicago, IL
1962
1450 WVON
Chicago, IL
1963 - 1976
1570 WBEE
Chicago, IL
1966?
940 WYLD
New Orleans, LA
1982-1986
1090 KAAY
Little Rock, AR
1984*
1310 KDIA
San Francisco, CA
1992?
1460 WXOK
Baton Rouge, LA
1994,1995
106.3 KQXL
Baton Rouge, LA 1994

I think Jones had departed WVON in 1977 or 1978 as WVON and WXOL had been forced into a time share agreement by then changing both stations. One Billboard reference in 1994 reports that he was a program director at KDIA, but that's hard to fit into his timeline. Multiple references cite his combined tenure at WXOK-AM and KQXL-FM in Baton Rouge to be more than 12 years. It seems highly likely but there are few references to confirm the dates.

E. Rodney Jones time at WVON -AM in the 60s and 70s made him a superstar. He became known to the station's audience as one of "The Good Guys," one of five radio personalities handpicked by the owner Leonard Chess. 

We don't have line ups today like The Good Guys on WVON 1390. We barely have line ups. Above is the top 45 at WVON from June 20-26 1975. The word soul today evokes an entirely different genre really. But check out those DJs: Lucky Cordell, Bernadine Washington, Pervis Spann, Bill 'Doc' Leem Joe Cobb, Bill Crane, Jay Johnson, Cecile Hale, Herb Kent, Wesley South, Richard Pegue, Isabel Johnson, Ed Cook, Jim Maloney, Earl Law, Larry Langford and E. Rodney Jones! Don't touch that dial!  A 1972 list would have looked quite similar missing only Langford from the list.

E. Rodney Jones is a member of the Black Radio Hall of Fame and a recipient of the Living Legend Award in the Radio Smithsonian Institute. He career spanned over 40 years but he is forever one of the Good Guys.

Monday, February 19, 2024

8TC Protective Cap

Here's an oddity, and I've never seen one before.  


It's labeled "8TC Protective Cape." The "p" is shaped a bit funny but only a couple possible words made sense. [I doubt it's cave or cafe.] I ultimately decided that it says "cap" because I found a few other related items. The usual 8-track websites don't seem to have them. Kate's Track Shack has a few [LINK] but they seem to be different makes. The UK eBay seller Retronical seems to have an exclusive supplier for new covers, they're calling it a "tape end cover protector" using that particular modern SEO grammar. Functionally it's no different than a lens cover.

8TC no doubt stands for 8 Track Cassette. The device simply clips over the end of the case to protect the exposed magnetic tape.  The function makes sense, and it certainly works. You just have to follow the two instructions "remove to play" and "replace for protection", "replace after playing" or "replace to store." A couple note that they're made in England.


With terms like cap, protector and cover I found a few more makes, with different colors, slightly different sizes and shapes.  Currently I think this was more of a a fringe UK, product. A semi-disposable plastic something, lacking the utility and ubiquity of a 45-adapters.  I looked through 1970s issues of Billboard and reviewed ads from LE-BO, for the cases, and suppliers like King Karol, Ecofina, Ampak, Crest, Recoton etc. and there was nothing, no ads, no patents, no trademarks... nothing. They remain a mystery.

Tuesday, February 06, 2024

WAAT-AM in 1922

 

There are two gentlemen pictured here, C.J. Ingram and Frank Bremer and this is a Prohibition joke. It appears in a 1923 issue of Radio News. First the gag: In 1919 the Eighteenth Amendment passed in 1919 and was ratified by 46 out of 48 states. The Volestead act was then ratified, and the commercial sale of alcohol was banned in the U.S. based on WWI-ear anti-German sentiments, and Christian radicalism. 

Private ownership and consumption of booze were not banned, but some states were more restrictive. Home wine-making became very popular, with some wineries even producing a grape jelly product called "Vine-Glo" and another which was basically a grape brick. [LINK] In these cases as was with a pile of raisins, amateurs could make their own wine. So C.J. and Frank here are soliciting recipes, and apparently following some home fermenting difficulties.

Frank V. Bremer was the founder of WAAT. He appears in the book Airwaves of New York which states that Frank started tinkering with wireless as early as 1910. That year he also organized the Jersey City Wireless Club. He was born in 1894, so he would have been all of 16 years old. But we do have documentation that goes back almost that far, so this is a completely reputable claim. More here.

But I find the written record to be somewhat convoluted. 2IA, first appears in a July 1913 issue of the Department of Commerce Radio Stations report [SOURCE]. But at that time, it was owned by Royce A. Winfred located at 1329 49th street, in Brooklyn, NY and operating at 500 watts. The July 1914 issue is the same. That 1913 issue is literally issue #1 so I don't think we have an authoritative source that goes back further. Some websites claim that in 1914 Frank received both amateur and commercial radio operator's licenses. I've not been able to confirm that, but it fits the time line. More here.


In the July 1915 issue both Bremer and Winfred appear, but Frank is operating 2ARN, a different amateur station. (Starting in 1920 the annual Commerce Department station lists were split into two publications, separating the the Amateur stations.)  In the June 1920 issue of Amateur Radio stations of the United States, 2ARN, is now operated by George A. Bennett, on 40 Argyle place, Arlington, NJ at 18 watts. This is the same in the June 1922 issue. In the June 1923 issue George has moved to Twilight Ave in Keansburg, NJ. Bremer's first appearance with 2IA is in the June 1923 issue. The 1923 the Citizens Call book puts 2IA at 3613 Boulevard in Jersey City, operated by F. V. Bremer, a matching entry.


The station we know as WAAT was originally known was 2IA. Different sources put it's start in 1922, or as late as 1926.  The argument is mostly based in semantics, it goes back much earlier. Airwaves uses the 1926 date for the start of WAAT, but in 1926 Frank was operating a radio shop at 210 Jackson Avenue under the call sign 2IA, his amateur station. The August 1926 Bulletin refers to this station as WKBD in a list of "additions" to the June 1925 list. By September he got the call sign changed to WAAT.

One note on 2IA, The Jersey Review paid to broadcast from Bremer's facilities as early as 1920. There have been claims that this paid program was meets the definition of the first commercial radio program ever. It's plausible. You can easily find references to Bremer's radio operations like the below 1921 issue of Radio News:


The Jersey Review is where we meet C.J. Ingram. The Jersey Review was in publication from 1920 to 1941 when it became the "Jersey Guide." Even the authoritative Directory of New Jersey Newspapers 1765 - 1970 only has question marks for the end of the Jersey Guide. [SOURCE] A 1922 issue of the Radio Dealer names Frank Bremer as the "Radio Editor" of the Jersey Guide.  Mr. C. J. Ingram, was managing editor of the Jersey Review. [SOURCE] Ingram was also the vice president of the Radio Broadcasting Society of America. Though in 1923 they're described as "...thirteen or more small broadcasters." Members included WHN and WAAT at the very least. [The treasurer was C.B. Cooper, executive secretary George Schobel,  and President was John E. O'Connor]

In his autobiography I Have a Lady in the Balcony, George Ansbro puts C.J. Ingram at the Jersey
Journal as the radio Editor around 1932. His column was called the "One Dialer" still hosting a 30 minute Sunday afternoon program on WAAT. In 1935, the book Before The Mike by Ted Husing confirms the same. The November 1933 issue of the Crosley Broadcaster records the name of the program as "Stardust" airing from 12:30 to 1:00 PM. He continued to write the column through at least 1936.

Bremer continued to operate WAAT-AM for decades. They opened a studio in Manhattan in 1927 at 34 W. 28th Street. The station moved to the Douglas Hotel on Hill Street in 1941. Then in 1947, they got into FM radio and 94.7 WAAT began broadcasting. Bremer continued to run the show until 1958 when eh sold the AM and Fm stocks to the National Telefilm Associates. The big mystery in all of this, is the line "GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN" below that comic that started all this. Both Bremer and Ingram were still very much alike, and even still on air in 1923. Prohibition lasted until 1933. I'm not sure what was gone by 1923. Maybe just 2IA being replaced by WAAT.

The Soul Express

On a drive across New England I picked up a free issue of Neighbors magazine. In it I found a lengthy article by Dean Farrell aka Dean Fiora. He was singing the praises of some obscure soul 45s. You know I can't resist that. In his byline it revealed that he's also a a 35-year radio-man currently with shows on two different stations WECS, and WRTC.

Dean turned out to be an absolute renaissance man: a fiction writer, a music columnist, a musician, a performer, a soul-man, and a rockabilly fan among other things. He's even written for Mad Magazine. We've even met some of the same radio folks in our travels. It was an honor and a pleasure to interview him. It'll take a while, but I do plan to read all of his Kolchak stories. (For you kids under 40, that was the X-files before there was an X-files. Wildly under-rated show with a cult following)


 JF: By my count you've worked at at least ten radio stations: 89.3 WRTC, 88.1 WESU, 100.5 WRCH, 1350 WINY-AM, 104.1 WIOF, 1590 WQQW-AM , 91.7 WHUS, 910 WNEZ-AM,  1220 WATX-AM and 90.1 WECS. Did I even get all of them? 

DF: One more. When I lived in Florida from 1996-97, I was involved with the non-commercial WFIT from the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. It was mainly a jazz station, so that's what I played too.

JF: Your commercial radio tenure seems to have been relatively short. Any advice for would-be commercial radio DJs?

DF: For my piece in the Neighbors paper, I simplified the timeline. I actually worked part-time and per diem in commercial radio for five years (1990-95).

As for advice to would-be commercial DJs: you're better off trying Internet or satellite radio than terrestrial. When I worked in commercial radio 30 years ago, they were already busy replacing on-air DJs with network feeds and automation. I got out because I was never able to make a full-time living at it. And it's only gotten worse. However, if you really want to be on the AM or FM band, you might give news, talk, or sports radio a try.

JF: I saw on Mixcloud that you have been building Soul Express playlists from old soul radio playlists: WMBM, WAWA, WABQ, KDIA, WBEE, KXLW, WGOK, XPRS, WCHB, KDKO etc.The list goes on. I really like this idea. Where did this come from?

DF: I've collected Classic Soul music for about 35 years. During that time, I've amassed tens of thousands of individual tracks. Yet, whenever I do an old radio station countdown, there's always something I've never heard before. That's why I do them. Well, that and I've always enjoyed the countdown format. Casey Kasem was one of my heroes! I found the playlists at the ARSA website: http://las-solanas.com/arsa/index.php

JF: Is the program name "Soul Express" named after anything in particular? The magazine "Soul Express" or the band "Raw Soul Express?" Maybe the 1968 song by Lonnie Mack?

DF: It was just a name I came up with when I first put the show on the air in 1994. It also rhymed with the station’s call letters: “You’re listening to The Soul Express on ‘HUS.” Or now, ‘ECS.

JF: You've had two different shows on WRTC; Soul Express and Roots Rock Radio. I think a third one named "Something Different." These are very different shows with different playlists. Can you tell me how they're different for you?

DF: Thanks to my involvement with college radio, I discovered a lot of artists and genres that I never heard on the commercial stations. As a result, my musical tastes went all over the map. At present, I own approximately 5,000 CDs and file them by genre. (My 45s and LPs, I simply file by the artists’ names.)

JF. I read that soul singer Betty Harris made her re-entry into the music biz after an appearance on your show at WHUS in 2004. Can you tell me how all that came to be?

DF: In June 2004, I received an email from Betty's son via my (now defunct) Soul Express website. He advised me that his mother lived in Hartford and, after 35 years out of the music business, was looking to get back in. So I had her on my show, making damned good and sure the Internet soul music community knew about it in advance. And things just took off from there.

JF: I read in your bio that you resigned from WHUS in 2010. Do you care to comment on that at all?

DF: In 2008, UConn audited WHUS and decided the station was insufficiently student focused. They then demanded (under threat of defunding) a series of changes that made us community members feel increasingly unwelcome. For example, we were no longer allowed to serve on the Operations Board or vote on station-related matters. They also canceled Radiothon, our annual pledge drive, and demanded the station no longer maintain a booth at Willimantic's monthly Third Thursday Street Festival. And that was just the beginning.

I put up with the university's crap for two years before I walked away in September 2010. A year later, they fired John Murphy, who had been the GM for 33 years. The reason they gave was "organizational restructuring." At that point, I knew once and for all that WHUS was a lost cause. I haven't so much as tuned into the station since then, and neither has anyone else that I know--including people who had been devoted 'HUS listeners for decades.

UConn is hellbent on isolating itself from the surrounding community and demanded the same of its radio station. Never mind that WHUS has a 4,400-watt signal that reaches 60 miles in all directions. Those bureaucrats transformed WHUS from an award-winning non-commercial station into a desiccated husk of its former self. And they're damned glad of it. To this day, I can't help but feel disgusted.

Hardly anyone asks me about the station anymore; but if they do, I tell them, "I had sixteen good years at WHUS. Problem is, I was there for eighteen."

JF: How did you get started at WECS? Did you know someone there or did you just fill out an application?

DF: The general manager of WECS is also the chief operator at WHUS. I’ve known JZ [John Zatowski] for 30+ years. When I decided in 2016 that I wanted to return to radio after six years away, I contacted JZ and that was that.

I find it especially convenient to do radio at WECS because it’s only a five-minute drive from my house. Plus, there’s usually nobody on after me. So if I want to stay on the air late, I can do so.

JF: You've put out a few singles, even two with Bloodshot Bill. How did all that come about?  Covid-era side project?

DF:  One of the musical styles I love is rockabilly, for which there is an international underground scene. From 2013-2018, and then again in 2022, Beck Rustic put on the New England Shake-Up, a weekend-long rockabilly festival, in Sturbridge, MA, a mere one-hour drive for me. I befriended a lot of the performers and attendees, some of whom flew in from as far away as Australia and Japan!

After the 2017 Shake-Up, I spent two weeks deathly ill with a respiratory infection (as did a number of other attendees). That inspired me, at age 51, to write a song for the first time in my life. Since I don’t play an instrument, all I had was lyrics. However, Bloodshot Bill, a rockabilly performer from Montreal, took an interest in the song and set it to music. We recorded “Bop Flu” together at his home studio in April 2019. (He played all the instruments himself via overdubbing.) The following year, Bill got the Sleazy label inSpain to include “Bop Flu” on a 4-track various-artists EP titled, “Bloodshot Bill Present Rare Gems from Sin Studio.” (That’s what he calls his home set-up. It’s a goof on the iconic Sun Studio in Memphis.) Alas, it came out at the height of Covid, so there was no way to really promote the record. Consequently, most rockabilly fans still don’t know about the vinyl release.

To date, I’ve recorded five of my songs with musician pals, but only “Bop Flu” has been commercially released. You can hear them all at https://bopflu.bandcamp.com/

Alas, the New England Shake-Up ended in 2022 as it got to be a financial drain on the promoter. I still miss it, and so do thousands of other rockabilly fans worldwide.

JF: Would you also be the same Dean Fiora who wrote the story Kolchak: the NightStalker? 

DF: Yeah, that's me too. "Fiora" is my real surname. I Americanized it to "Farrell" when I got into commercial radio. Those Kolchak stories are my sole descent into fandom. I wrote eight of them in total. You can read them all at https://adventures-in-night-stalking.site123.me/