Another one of those stories that I've told you a hundred times- my mom took me to the armory in Tampa to see The Biggest Rock'n'Roll Show of '56. Biggest event in my nine year old life!
Bo Diddley. Big Joe Turner. The Drifters, who happened to bring along Clyde McPhatter, home on leave in his army uniform. LaVern Baker. Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers. The Platters. The Teen Queens. Great goodness! The headliner was Bill Haley and the Comets.
Seems odd now, somehow. His star began losing some measure of luster way back. I'll never know why. He was absolutely among the first to marry hillbilly music with rhythm and blues. Some of the first and wildest riots blamed on the evil of rock'n'roll occurred at Bill Haley concerts. All over the world!
Rock Around The Clock. Shake, Rattle and Roll. R-O-C-K. Razzle Dazzle. See Ya Later, Alligator, fercrissakes!
The Comets were the perfect rock'n'roll band. Franny Beecher was arguably the first rock'n'roll guitar hero. Marshall Lytle, flat on his back holding his bass fiddle in the air with his feet, ripped the seat out of his pants every night before PJ Proby even thought about leaving Texas. If a riot had broken out in Tampa, I would have been right there!
By 1970 the old guys were nostalgia acts. When Duckbutter was offered a slot on Richard Nader's first revival tour with the task of backing Gene Vincent, The Coasters and Chuck Berry, on a bill that included Bo Diddley and Bill Haley & the Comets, I was back in that rock'n'roll heaven that I remembered from 1956.
There were a few disappointments, but there were mostly lifetime memories stacking up for those few days.
One of the memories that I hadn't thought much about in years, until today, was a conversation that I had with Bill Haley in the dressing room at Curtis Hixon in Tampa. He was aware that his name didn't spark the wild emotion that some of the stars did. Looking back, he was probably losing a step or two mentally and drinking way too much regularly. The music was great. Rudy Pompilli, the great saxist, was the only original Comet in the group. I think Mr. Haley knew that, somehow, his place in the history books hadn't been reserved. Not properly. He passed away about five years later.
Let me add this to the history books- Best Rock'n'Roll hairdo of all-time. The first artist to really put the country music and the swing stuff in the mix with the rhythm and blues to make what we still call rock'n'roll.
Rock around the clock, indeed.
