Best,
Hillel Wachs
2b Vibes Music
Tel Aviv-Jerusalem
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I grew up in Brooklyn but we ate the same way. My mother cooked pork chops but they were like shoe insoles. She wanted to make sure no one got triconosis. . I asked her once when was the last time she heard of anyone in Brooklyn dying of triconosis, but she said you never know.
My parents went to a wedding at a temple in some upscale city in westchester and they served lobster thermidor in the temple. A cousin of mine who didn't eat shellfish said it was the best chicken she ever ate. My mother didn't have the heart to tell her what it really was.
Really enjoyed your piece today. Brought back loads of memories.
Owen Sloane
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I saw the subject line and thought it would be about an artist or song with the name Pork Chop. this was a fun read and took me back to my youth growing up on the east coast as well. my wife doesn't like pork but I sometimes grill a giant pork chop for dinner when she's not home and now my mouth is watering. (oh my mouth also waters at the thought of crispy chinese noodles)
Mike Farley
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If you take the thin pack of pork sliced no bone in , fry them for 15 mins on med high then dump in a can of campbell's mushroom soup and stir that around while flipping pork every 5 mins for another 10-15 mins and serve with rice and veggies and use the soup as a gravy it's simple but delicious .
Jake told me at the junos a few years back, pork would help cholesterol issues ,so i tried a few recipes and now have it regularly , of course seasoned with the Famous "Tunnel Barbq dry rub" spice on a nice chop and done over charcoal is still the best.
Tunnel barbq was in Windsor Ontario just across from Detroit and all the big bands and entertainers of the day would eat their ribs and purchase to go spices when playing in town up until a few years ago when it closed. His son opened up another one called Tommys Barbq in town and they now have all the famous TBQ spices for sale online and at stores here in Canada .
http://tunnelbbq.com/
Regards Sam Boyd
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Rosey's chicken is good, and Gelson's is convenient, but if you have the time and energy get yourself to Marconda's in the Original Farmer's Market (Fairfax/3rd) and check out their poultry. It is the best I've ever had.
Skip Schoolnik
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This one really hits home. We were not truly Kosher growing up. But no pork products in or out of the house. Although my dad once confessed to eating bacon and eggs at the Krystal hamburger joint. And no seafood. Not ever. Then I started Tulane when I was seventeen and fell in love with all foods New Orleans. But strangely I would pass
on the boudin and pick the andouille sausage out of the gumbo. Almost fifty years later
I am still avoiding pork products (it's even in my Open Table profile). My kids find this a
highly hypocritical approach but I am happy to slurp oysters and peel boiled shrimp. Having just traveled to New Orleans fo the fortieth time since Katrina it's just in my DNA by now. And I wonder why it still bothers me when I find a bacon cheeseburger wrapper from McDonald's in my sons car?
Eron Epstein
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I'm intimate with pork; what you're describing is what Ribeye was, to me. I saw it once in a while, at restaurants. My Mom was a whiz with a chuck roast, but we lived in a beef and seafood desert, despite our dairy and cattle farms. Farmed fish only recently became a thing, hereabouts. Surf and turf, when I was a kid meant Walleyed Pike and taters. I exaggerate only slightly.
Mojo Bone
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There's s farm out here in Cutchogue, 8 Hands, on the North Fork of Long Island,
Small family farm, great butcher = the best pork I've ever had anywhere.
Cheers
Frank V
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You need to find a soul food restaurant and try smothered pork chops with rice and gravy. That's clear meat gravy with onions in it, not that thick floury stuff. My family is Cajun and smothered pork chops was one of the best things my dad cooked. Cheap end cut pork chops, seasoned with salt, black pepper and red pepper, browned and then smothered in gravy until the bones fall off. Then pour it over rice.
Second best is a nice pork shoulder roast, stuck with garlic, onion, salt, black and red pepper and the cooked in the oven a long time until it's tender, then make onion gravy with the drippings. Served over rice. Cajuns love rice and gravy. But I'm sure LA must have a decent soul food place where you can find dishes like that.
If you don't like those, then you just don't like pork! ??
Amy Primeaux
Houston, TX
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JD Hoyt's in Minneapolis. The KING of Chops
Tried 'email all, everywhere. Nothing is close to their Cajun chop
Dennis Pelowski
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I'm a Methodist, but I went kosher the night I was meeting Chaim Potok, for the first time, to discuss the film rights to his novel, The Chosen.
I nervously arrived at the restaurant early, and was planning to order oysters, crab cakes, barbecued shrimp (I'm a New Orleanian). I looked up, recognizing Potok from the book jacket, and signaled the waiter.
I insisted that Chaim order first, and, looking at the menu, he said, "well, I go kosher, so I'll have....", and ran off several words that I had never heard. The waiter looked at me and I said, "that sounds great, I'll have the same".
We talked for five hours. I had been afraid he might not be comfortable with a goy hillbilly Methodist first-time film producer/stockbroker. However, at the end of the evening, he said, "not only do I not mind you owning the rights, I want you to own them; and, I've never written a screenplay, but I'll write one for you, so you'll have a place to start, and it won't be very professional."
This, started a wonderful friendship. Kosher works!!!
Addendum: As to sausage, I'm a big fan, too. I was introduced to the best I've ever had on a bicycle trip in Ireland: BLOOD SAUSAGE. It came on a breakfast plate with eggs, tomatoes and beans. It is black and looks like sitting in sizzling hot blood. It took me awhile to take a small taste. It was scrumptious. I ordered more, and then more to take home. I now keep my eyes open for Irish restaurants. You'll love it!
Roger Lee Harrison
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You just gave me a flash back of my mom's porkchops with scalloped potatoes and homemade applesauce!!!!!
Kate O'Laughlin
Me: We had scalloped potatoes boiled in a bag!
Kate: Ours were full of cheese, bread crumbs and probably butter - so good and not good for you!! The good old days!
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Bacon. I've experienced a life time obsession. Grew up in a kosher home - the ones you bring in pizza and Chinese food on paper plates. Still no bacon. Growing up in my Brooklyn neighborhood it seemed we all had a love affair with bacon or pork products. The more you couldn't have it the more you wanted it. Forbidden food. Yes. My father bought Hebrew National Beef Fry - the kosher substitute. Close. When my teen gang of 12 - my neighborhood girlfriends would dine at our local Galaxy Diner on Linden Blvd we all would either order roast pork sandwiches or BLTs. What we couldn't get in house we got at the diner.
I live pretty much like that today. Pork chops and bacon I leave the cooking to the professionals.
To this day I still can't mix milk and meat at a meal. All my hamburger orders come without the cheese
Kosher code . . . my Father was the mostly stricter kosher than my Mom - more his bringing up. So he would take my Mom to a lobster dinner from time to time and he would hopefully find the sole more" Kosher Acceptable." I have images of my Mom wearing her bib going to town on her lobster and my father forking his file.
Parting thought, I hear at the restaurant Traif in Brooklyn (all Jewish food unkosher) there are a few Orthodox Jews that do back door purchases of porkified versions of Jewish food.
Debra Grobman
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Hi Bob. I grill pork chops on my Weber kettle. They grill up really good.
Daniel Rosen
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A history of pork consumption in the rural south...
Food for the poor. My folks had a farm. So each year after the first frost a hog was butchered and hung in the smoke house (because after the first frost, the hog would not ruin due to the cold temperatures). The one hog would provide meat and fat for cooking for an entire winter. Bacon, chops, tenderloin, grease to make red eye gravy, flour gravy, fried eggs, cook steaks in an iron skillet which everyone had, which Bob, if you've not had homemade fried potatoes cooked in an iron skillet with onions and bacon grease...talk about cholesterol. But back then, everyone was burning 4000 calories per day slinging bales of hay and swinging an ax and plowing.
Best,
Blaine Leeds
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Even though you probably lived far from me in Brooklyn it seems that our lives were very paralleled in the paradigm of what it was like to live back then in a Jewish family. I guess my family said we were Orthodox but we weren't. Yes no pork in the house but outside the house anything went. Like the time a neighbor saw me over Passover eating a Slice of pizza with some friends and ratted on me and told my parents..After a two minute freak out my father chimed in and said "He didn't bring it in the house" my parents seem to have done the same thing that your parents did. Much of it they did through the synagogue and all the clubs that you were talking about my parents were members of as well. It was a strange Jewish paradigm that affected all of us back in the 60s. And yes when you think about one all the memories start coming back. And yes I ate ribs in my house as well and that was the only time we ever ate pork..And somehow last year for the first time in decades I tried a rib from the Chinese place near our house and the matter how you slice it it just didn't taste the same...memories
Peace,
Jason Miles
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I'm sorry to hear that you eat pigs. Even if you think it's ethically ok to eat animals for food, the unfortunate truth is that farming today is a horror show. The world is pushing 8 billion people, and the associated slaughter is killing the planet as well as making it hell on earth for livestock. I personally don't purchase animal products, but will admit that I love meat. My solution has been to only eat flesh if it has been discarded, like in a dumpster, not that I dive into dumpsters regularly. Roadkill would be fine.
https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/animals-used-food-factsheets/pigs-intelligent-animals-suffering-factory-farms-slaughterhouses/
Mark
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Thanks Bob,now I want a pork chop for breakfast.Have a great day,stay well.Ted Keane
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Try the pork chop at Granville in the Valley!
William Kevin Anderson
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My mother would cook pork chops until they curled up like a cup. The fear of trichinosis was instilled from her childhood on the farm. Pork is much better cooked to the proper temperature. Hogs don't have much of a life these days foraging in pens. A sad life indeed but then who wants trichinosis? Not me.
John Muir
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Ain't it amazing how many memories we associate with smells, music and FOOD? Now I'm hungry...thanks a lot, BOB!
Sher Bach
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My grandmother was a mighty but overweight 1st generation Russian Jewish immigrant and she and my mom spoke Yiddish fluently enough so even the dog understood it. There were no dietary restrictions in our home and that woman could cook and bake brilliantly. I pity the fool who tries to live life without pork for whatever superstitious reason might have had basis thousands of years ago. Kosher dining is just a cut above priests trying to go without sex. Living without "Carnitas", not to mention shrimp, scallops and other treif, our culinary horizons would be severely diminished.
Larry Brown
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West Lake was a family favorite when I was growing up "phony kosher" even though my family belonged to the Orthodox synagogue on Stratfield Rd (recently demolished, BTW, with apartments rising to take its place). I always ordered the ribs when we went to West Lake.
You might enjoy poking around this website about the West Lake Restaurant. Some great old photographs and interesting bits of history.
https://wonkai.wordpress.com/
Goodwill built a store on the property where the Pepper Mill used to be.
Sallie Fischer
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Love this post!
I'm English born and bred so I only knew overcooked, mush as a vegetable.
Wish I'd had your childhood!
Marilyn (Lynn) Manning
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I used to be a steak guy. Loved the finest cuts and the best steak houses, although you can make a great steak at home if the meat is good quality. Then i discovered thick cut pork chops from the better farms and I realized that a perfectly cooked thick cut pork chop is better than any steak I've ever had. Bone in is best, just like with steaks. Enjoy...
Roger Gold
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Hysterical,
Every Saturday night my parents and the gang would drive from the Bronx to Yonkers a joint called Adventures inn for Burgers and fries (non kosher,
But nobody asked )
And Sunday night it was Chinese. I'd always get a combination plate.
Egg roll, fried rice and either beef lo mein or chicken chow main.
Oh yes, fried rice was pork fried rice.
At home never ever did we have pork chops (not kosher)
But for some reason bacon was fine. One more hilarious tale.
We lived on the 4th floor of a 5 story pre war walk up. My mother's best friend Gerdie Kornweiser
Lived on the first floor. Gerties
Mother, Grandma Farbowitz
( a survivor) lived with them so a kosher house was a must.
BUT whenever Gertie wanted bacon she'd knock on the steam pipe to let my mother know she was on her way up for a BLT.
God I loved it.
Neil Lasher
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Off to the Chinese buffet I must go today!
Indy Bachu
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Sous Vide boneless pork chops, then grilled. Yummy.
Tom Quinn
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Do you read menus before going to the restaurant. I love to spend the day studying the menu thinking about what I'm going to eat.
Tonight it's pork...
Roasted Berkshire Pork Tenderloin
My wife wouldn't think of spoiling the surprise by reading the menu before getting to the restaurant.
I'll just continue daydreaming!
Jason Schlesinger
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I'm in the middle of reading I am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter for the third time in my life (still trying to fully understand it). Do you know this book? It tries to explain how consciousness arises, where our individual "I's" come from. In essence, Hofstadter posits that the human brain is capable of processing infinitely extensible categories of mental symbols, pursuant to which consciousness arises in a feedback loop. Trust me, I'm not doing his book justice here with my one sentence summary.
Anyway, your piece seems like a striking example of this theory, where any one such mental symbol contains a multitude of other symbols, in that your mental symbol of a pork chop contains all the symbols/thoughts you've shared here! If you're not aware of this author, I sugggest that you read his work. I think you'd find it to be fascinating. Another unsolicited recommendation is How to Change Your Mind, Michael Pollan's latest book. Definitely mind blowing!
As a liberal, secular, music loving East coast Jew rapidly approaching 60, I really enjoy reading, and often relate to, your cultural musings. In my mind's eye, the symbol "Lefsetz" raises so many other symbols which represent much of the dust and detritus that formed who I am. So thanks for the memories!
Best regards,
Mark Kaplan
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Stop making your readers hungry!
Cheers
Pete Meehan
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Bob....when you write stories like this it helps to keep my tribe memories alive....thank you...david leveen
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If you're ever in Miami, the jerk double pork chop at Ortanique will change your life.
Bartholomew M. Motes
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Don't worry about it Bob, you're always Kosher to me!
Brett Greenberg
Epitaph
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Hey Bob- I bitch when you write about political BS so it is only fair when you write about something non music that I like. Great article today. Get on down here to the Florida Panhandle and I'll show you some good food .
All the best !
Tom Giddens
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Pork Chops? It's 5AM &
I'm wondering where I can
get one for breakfast in
Punta Cana!
An enjoyable read!!
- bob
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Love this story Bob. I lived in Iowa for 7 years during medical training and learned of the IOWA CHOP which is 3x the thickness of your standard chop and 3x the flavor.
Welcome to pork flavortown!
JBMD
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The best pork chop in town is The Pantry...Cash only! Owned by former L.A. mayor Richard Riordan...
They say that all the waiter were former small time con artists...They have names like Dewey, Smiley, Happy and Whitey..
You can see their pics at the cash register..
Kindest Cheers,
Jeff Laufer
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My Bubby used to live above us in a co-op apartment on Long Island.
She was orthodox,therefore kosher. Our family was not.
I swear she could smell bacon the minute it hit the pan. She would come raging down the stairs calling us chazzers. Yiddish for pigs.
I have never to this day been able to eat bacon. Can't stand the smell of it.
Pork chops and ribs, cannot resist. And there in lies the dichotomy.
Lin Wolen in Honolulu
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Oh Gosh, can I relate.
My parents went out every Saturday night, so my brothers babysat. Pizza(only sausage or mushroom), or White Castle.
But on Sunday nights!
It was always take out. My mother only cooked 5 nights a week. We didn't 'keep kosher', but tried.
Chinese or Deli. My mother could spend an hour sucking the bones of Lobster Cantonese, dry.
And the spare ribs! And Egg Rolls! With duck sauce!
And the Kosher Delis! Oh my! Pastrami on club. Never rye. Maybe a hot dog with sauerkraut, too. With a Knish.
Katz is the only one left in NY.
Gosh I miss those days.
Thank you, Bob. I'm now starving.
Stu Cohen
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I was brought up Conservative Jewish in a small town in Pennsylvania. Our family was kosher at home AND out. We had kosher butchers who would drive the hour or so from Philadelphia to deliver meat to our community in quantity. At restaurants, my parents would order fish -- not seafood, at restaurants: fish with fins and scales, even at restaurants in which most people would not chance ordering fish. There were
plenty of us in my hometown area who did the same as we did. When I got to college, I met a lot of people from the New York area who were brought up the way you describe; no pork in the house, seafood
was ok, and anything went if you were away from home. Maybe it's a NY-and-CT area thing?
Rochelle Rabin
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Growing up, it was Cantonese or nothing but the other thing I remember (and miss, living in L.A.) is a great egg roll, tick, hot, filled with shrimp and roast pork, crunchy vegetables...why can't anyone in L.A. make a decent egg roll?
Arny Schorr
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We were just talking about this the other day. I was raised in a conservative family in Bristol. We didn't keep kosher, but in our house we didn't eat pork. Lobster? Shrimp? Sure no problem. And anything in a Chinese restaurant.
But my Grandma Mary, my mom's mom, was a little old lady from "the old country." Spoke Yiddish. Never learned to read English. She kept kosher. Real kosher: 4 sets of dishes, fleishedich and milchedich for year round and then separate for Passover. Chicken and meat from the kosher butcher.
But she loved her Chinese food. We'd go out and she'd love the egg roll, shrimp in lobster sauce, and man did she love the thin sliced meat with the red color on the outsides. The menu called it "pork strips," but when we told grandma that, she would always say, "No, it's veal."
Thanks for the memories!
Rob Falk
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Amazing. Reminds me of stories I've heard for years from my Jewish parents growing up in North America.
David Weisz
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Bob, I love these pork chop stories as much as the analysis.
Rob Getzschman
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If someone were looking for an example of a "Proustian memory," this piece would serve nicely. Your writing is lovely here. As always. And, of course, it triggers my own memories of my childhood and what my family ate at home and when we were out and about in New Orleans.
Thanks for sharing.
Stephen Godchaux
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geez your diet list doesn't sound too healthy. Ever heard of
vegetables and salad ? And no, without creamy dressings.
The secret is, it takes about 2-3 weeks to get used to a diet
that's largely based on vegetarian ingredients, but after that
it's really easy. I do eat meat from time to time, but without all
that heavy gravy etc.
I think the problem is, people are using food as a substitute
or enhancement for happiness rather than something that can support
their health.
But then again, i'm European :)
Best,
Frank
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Quite enjoyed this one...I always enjoy reading these whilst on my 2nd morning coffee.
Love the writing Bob, keep it up.
Johnny Skiba
Manitoba, Canada (currently sitting with my coffee in Durban, South Africa)
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Whenever you write like this, I love it. It's like you have no choice but to get it out ...it's cathartic!! You're a brilliant minded window into the music biz...but when your human side shows....that's when I get you, and then your advice seems to come from "real" and not "e mail". Thanks for what you do. Cheers!
Dan Goettel
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Bob you need to install some sort of a like button so that we can like your musings. So allow me to be the first to press the like button on this gem!
Keith Michaels
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Where can I get that pork chop???
I grew up in Iowa, in a city, but when the wind blew just right, it was like you were living on one of the nearby hog farms. What a smell. The best pork chops are from Iowa or they used to be. I guess not anymore because it's doubtful your pork chop made it all the way from Iowa.
I have a friend who is raising special piggies in Ecuador, Iberian pigs, they all have names. But then they end up on someone's dinner plate. Which makes me sad....
But, where can I get that pork chop???
Lynn Crosswaite
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https://sweetbasilvail.com/dinner-menu/
Barry K. Herman, MD, MMM
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I wholeheartedly concur......Lonely Sea, and Farmer's Daughter are the 2 best tracks on that album.
Steven Bakur
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I came to the song when I won a copy of "Fleetwood Mac Live" from a local radio station !
The FMAC version was recorded at a soundcheck, I think (as was the previously unreleased "Fireflies").
Of course , I later read how much Lindsey was influenced by Brian Wilson (and The Beach Boys).
( also love his homage to Dennis and the Boys, "DW Suite")
Todd N
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Hi Bob,
In case you weren't already aware of this version.
https://youtu.be/jlyQEqrx1vY
Best,
Billy Hinsche (and many more)
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I worked for Don Altfed's music publishing company in 1967-1968. He was Jan Berry's best
friend at University High School and co-wrote "The Little Ol' Lady from Pasadena" along
with Roger Christian.
That song hit number 3 on the Billboard charts but later in 1969, it was included in the
Beach Boys live concert album. And then the song became a Dodge Charger car commercial
and won the Clio award for best car ad in 1969. Don Altfeld got a lot of royalties.
Don Alfred went to medical school at UC Irvine and became a doctor in the Brentwood
area. He is now retired. and I can't get a hold of him.
Jan Berry claims he was the first vocalist to use the "Wrecking Crew" as a sessions group.
Not sure about that.
.
I was good friends with his younger brother, Bruce Berry. He died from a heroin overdose
in 1973 while being Neil Young's roadie and the song "Tonight's the Night," was a tribute
song to him.
I went to UCLA in 1966 and missed out on the Surf music crave but if Jan Berry had
survived his car accident, he would have done much more in music.
I really enjoy your daily comment and hope you can stay healthy!
Live Life Happy!
Don Jung
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For all of us of a certain age who grew up in slush the Beach Boys in their youth were less about the music then about the magic of California. Beyond Gidget and Disney on Sunday night. And the NHRA Winternationals from Pomona.
They were the anthem. I should have moved out there when I was eighteen.
Today Surfer Girl remains the 'Shma' of surf music.
Thank you and I am proud to have been kind when I reviewed that Jan & Dean comeback tour in the early 80s. Dean was very protective of Jan who was clearly struggling.
Alev asholom
Jonathan Gross
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I grew up a half a block from UCLA in the 1950s and the only curve referred to as Dead Man's Curve was the one on Sunset adjacent to the UCLA Athletic Field because for some unknowable reason it was banked the wrong way. I remember when Mel Blanc flew off it and was crippled for life. Something like a dozen people died flying off of it until it was rebanked the proper way. The song "Dead Man's Curve" was recorded before Jan Berry's accident, which happened on the curve on Sunset going East approaching Whittier in Beverly Hills.
And footnote of a weird personal Jan Berry connection. It was Brian Berry, Jan's younger brother, who came into my third period English class at Uni Hi as it was breaking up to announce that the President had been shot. He was such a goof ball that everyone dismissed it as a cruel joke until we hit the outside of the building.
All best,
Bob Bookman
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Subject: Re: History Of The Beach Boys Part One-SiriusXM This Week
Bob
I'm in Mexico so I may miss it but I wanted share a tidbit with your listeners if you think worthy.
During the making of the Abracadabra album in the winter of 1981 at Capitol Records, I met an A&R guy there named John Palladino who was the closest thing I could ever remember as being an "executive producer" on most of the Steve Miller Band Records that had been made there since 1968. Very nice cat.
One day while I was fixing a couple bass parts in Studio C for Steve with my 1964 Fender P bass playing with a hard pick, Johnny asked me if I wanted to do a session for him the next morning. I asked him what it was for and he said they were remastering the entire Beach Boy catalog for the new modern sound systems everyone was putting in their cars those days and they needed to beef up the bass output on all the old BB singles like, Little Deuce Coupe, My Honda, Surfin USA, et al to make them more audio worthy for a new FM radio format.
He said back in the 60s, after mixing the mono radio single for AM, they would just throw out or record over the 3 and 4 track multitrack masters and they had no way of turning up the bass parts because those masters didn't exist anymore.
He wanted me to ghost play over the top of Brian's bass parts note for note on top of a new multitrack master that had the original radio mix mono master transferred over to it. I said "Are you kidding me?! Of course I'd love to do it!"
So the next morning I show up in the famous Studio A and did a double scale, 3 hour session playing bass with the Boys that became the new remastered tracks one hears today on classic rock radio and on CDs or streams! So I can claim the credit for playing bass (again) on old the old Beach Boy classics! I've never told anyone this story till now because John asked me to keep it a secret way back then to protect the purity of the brand. Just like when Hal Blaine and Carol Kaye did all those sessions way back then and nobody knew about it until the Wrecking Crew docu came out recently. Now my secret is of public domain!
Kenny Lee Lewis
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Hi Bob
Really enjoyed your Beach Boys show!
Clearly this resonates with a guy who started a band called "The Malibooz" while at Loyola HS in 1963 in Manhattan and living in the Riverdale section of the Bronx!
I'd love to grab a burger with you sometime and discuss this at length. I'm a few years older that you but the reactions you described are amazingly similar to mine.
My first band, The Static's, were initially instrumental; Mostly The Ventures. Then The Chantays, Surfaris and one-offs like The Pyramids.
Then Jan and Dean, whose vocals we could handle ( same with the occasional Surfaris' vocal like "SurferJoe" or "I'm A Hog For You, Baby").
Then The Beach Boys arrived! We could handle "Surfin" and Surfin' USA" but with "Don't Worry Baby" all bets were off. ( It's still my favorite song and the production is still not dated). For the first time I had to work out vocal parts on the piano. ( and I did so because I saw a photo of Brian doing it!).
But let's get back to "Farmers' Daughter". This song was a game changer! Personally I never liked the 4 Seasons. I found Frankie Valli's falsetto irritating but Brian's falsetto I loved and quickly found I could emulate it pretty closely. This would inform my music for years to come.
But it was the substance of "Farmer's Daughter" that knocked me out. It was like a little movie. The whole story came alive in my imagination. Cruising up PCH, getting day work at farms for gas and food money, and of course "meeting" a farmer's daughter along the way. (Btw-I've had a 1941 Woodie for the past 30+ years)
The deal was sealed, I was moving to California.
When my Malibooz' bandmate, Walter Egan, got signed to Columbia with Lindsey Buckingham producing, the 3 of us had a lot of early BB discussions and I'm hoping my love of Farmer's Daughter played some small part in Fleetwood Mac covering it.
I came to LA with my parents in 1965. The Malibooz has just recorded "Goin' To Malibu" so I had our record in hand. My Riverdale buddy, Stanley Bysshe, had a an LA cousin who played bass for Jan and Dean so I was really set when I arrived. (More about that over another burger).
I also want to mention the great instrumentals on the early BB albums. "Stoked" and "Shut Down" Part 2" were mainstays of the early Malibooz' sets and Carl's version of "Miserlou" (which has a totally different ending than Dick Dale's) is the way I played it when we performed at the NY World's Fair ( and ultimately recorded it). I also bought a new Fender Jaguar in 1963 because that's what Carl used.
Btw-Like you, WABC( and later WINS and WMCA) were the main sources for me. I never heard Dick Dale or even Chuck Berry on those stations. (In fact the first time I heard "Memphis" on the radio was Lonnie Mack's instro version!)
Also I love to talk to you about the influence of East Coast prep school bands' independent records. Because schools like Andover attracted students from across the country, the records contained an eclectic mix of tunes never heard on NY airwaves.
The first time I heard songs like "Nadine" , "Try Me", "Samoa" and even "What I Say" were on these independent records.
I've been very fortunate over the years getting to know and work with some of my early heroes. ( even had The Ventures' Nokie Edwards guest along with The Shadows' John Farrar on our song "Venture Into The Shadows").
Anyway, thanks for igniting some old memories!
Take care
John Zambetti
The Malibooz
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I never got into The Beach Boys or Brian Wilson, until yesterday. My hometown college radio station (WWSP 90FM) had a "24 hours of Brian Wilson" special Friday night to Saturday night. Since I usually stream their broadcast all day on Saturdays, (most Saturdays feature a string of specialty shows that showcase classic rock deep cuts, '80s alternative and mainstream dance music, and blues from the 1920s to present), I had Brian Wilson on most of the day. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of his songwriting, lyrically, melodically and harmonically. The dude is DEEP. I wish I had been aware of him on this level years ago. At least now I have something to look forward to digging into in depth!
PS-WWSP has been host to the world's largest trivia contest and this year is their 50th anniversary. Tune in any time between 6:00pm Friday April 12th and midnight Sunday April 14th for a taste. It's worth it just for the music.
Dave Nelson
Nashville, TN
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Subject: re brexit and music
hi bob,
greetings from sunny balmy dublin where its been hovering around 15/16/17 degrees over the past two weeks and it is still only february. there's something happening here, what it is aint exactly clear, etc.
you have written for some time now about the severing of the umbilical chord that linked us and our lives and feelings and up and downs to music being made by our contemporaries. there is probably no greater example of this, certainly on our side of the pond,at the moment than the ongoing farrago that is Brexit.
as britain tries to be great again etc etc by divorcing itself from the rest of europe with major consequences not only for its own people but also for those of us in, for instance, my island of ireland and indeed all of europe, there has been nary a peep from the musicians/songwriters/'stars' of our musical firmament. i am not aware of one song, let alone ten or more, that has captured or reflected or commented upon this enormous social upheaval that has been going on before our very eyes for the past two years or so and is now about to come to an ugly head.
where are the voices of our musical 'artists'? where are the spokespersons, the articulators, the ones that make us go 'yeh, dead fucking right'?
from my love of reggae music for over forty years i know that if this were jamaica there would be now have been tens if not hundreds of songs talking about what is going onand its effect on people but here, northern europe, nothing, nada, jackshit. for present day music and musicians its like brexit does not exist.
may the bird of paradise fly up all of our noses bob cos for sure we have been abandoned by our artists.
fachtna o ceallaigh.
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Subject: Re: History Of Led Zeppelin Part One-SiriusXM This Week
Bob-
I have been a subscriber for 10 years and still am excited to open your emails.
This is a late arriving comment about what triggered me being a huge Zeppelin fan. I did not get to listen to your Zeppelin show until a couple of days ago via the Sirius app. Boy what a show! Given that you said you were in Chicago when the first album came out, you will appreciate my story about the first time I saw Zeppelin.
How I came to love Led Zeppelin
I grew up in Hyde Park on the south side of Chicago [Paul Butterfield was 5 years ahead of me in school] but I went to college at Syracuse. It was either the Thanksgiving or Christmas break in 1968 and I was home from college. THE place to see top name bands was Aaron Russo's Kinetic Playground on the north side. A big ballroom with amoeba light shows ala SF, and $5 admission[!].
I was a big Jethro Tull fan and a big British blues fan, so when I saw there was a show with Savoy Brown opening and Tull headlining I decided to go. Once I got there, I saw that Savoy Brown opened, Tull closed, and in the middle, on their first tour was some group called...Led Zeppelin! I believe they were touring pre-first album release which was January 1969 [my memory might be off in that it could have been spring break 1969 that I went].
When Savoy Brown came out - on the five-foot- high stage- I got about 15 feet away, sat down on the floor and through time shared what I had brought to smoke and others had as well [those were the days].Savoy Brown delivered the British Blues. Then, Zeppelin came out to okay applause as no one really knew them as most were Tull fans. From the first chord and drums of "Good Times Bad Times" yours truly and everyone around me were STUNNED! Imagine seeing Page and Plant up so close letting it rip!!! The thrill was that first it was Zeppelin and second, NO ONE REALLY KNEW WHO THEY WERE! So the surprise was spine tingling. We have all discovered new groups at concerts, but for it to be Zeppelin from 15 feet away.......nuff said!
I remember two things in follow-up. First, I bought the first album and took it wherever I went - as you have written, going over to friend's apartments to get high and listen to new music. So, I was the guy that introduced everyone I knew to Zeppelin. You know that feeling. Second, 18 months or so later I was traveling around North America and Mexico in a VW bus with my first wife. We parked in a parking lot near the U. of Washington in Seattle, thinking it to be free and safe. The lot was near what must have been the basketball stadium. Around 11p we started to hear a lot of car noise and got out to see thousands streaming out of the stadium. I was curious so I walked over to concert goer and asked who had played "Zeppelin man!" was the answer. My reactions were, first, wow in 18 months they are at the stadium level, and second, how lucky I had been to see them first in an intimate setting,
David Houle
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From: eric gardner
Subject: Wait, what ?
Retiring ??? You selfish bastard, how am I going to get Who tickets from now on !?!!
Seriously though, what a storied career, you should be SO proud !
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Subject: Larry Vallon
I've know Larry since the Wolf and Rismiller days in the late seventies when he did production.and later with Larry Vallon Presents and Universal and finally AEG.
I was the production manager for Brian Murphy and Avalon in those early days.. I remember the 2 of us winning or losing a bet.. (I can't quite remember) at our George Micheal gig at Fiddler's Green about
Benji the sound engineer breaking the local noise ordinance.. our prize was drinking multiple bottles of champagne during the show and getting pretty looped….nice settlement...
Larry.. always a great guy and always happy to see you
Love ya
Danny O'Bryen
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Subject: Re: More Larry Vallon
Just look at the list of people with vivid stories about their Larry Vallon experience. It seems while so many worked with/for him, almost everybody knows him. Going back to the 80s/90's, I can remember thinking how great it was that a truly wonderful, honest and caring person could actually succeed in this business. He's helped us all one way or another and you can't have more fun than dinner with LV and Claudia.
John Brodey
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Subject: Re: More Larry Vallon
Larry Vallon went out of his way to do good by me -- and by extension -- my friends, for no other reason than he was able to spot good intentions and kindred spirits. I still love talking music with him because he's a TRUE music man.
Generous. Fun. Real.
The last mensch.
He deserves nothing but cool drinks and perfect Rock for the rest of his life.
Thanks for shining a light on Larry.
Howie Edelson
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Subject: Larry Vallon
I've never written before, Bob, but Larry Vallon is the type of individual that motivates me to do so.
When I was a GM at any of my various stops with Ticketmaster, Larry would come through town to catch a show and when seeing me at the venue would always say hello to me, calling me by my name. The fact that Larry Vallon, THE Larry Vallon, knew who I was made my day.
Best wishes to an industry legend and a legendary good guy.
Don Orris
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Subject: Re: More Larry Vallon
Larry was the only Exec that treated me seriously when I was 22 and running On the Rox.
David Tobin
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Subject: Re: More Larry Vallon
Dear Bob
Larry Vallon has been a friend since the early 80s. Always willing to listen, teach, and be a friend. Universal Amphitheater success in shows was due to Larry. AEG and Larry grew together and created a powerhouse promoter and venue owner. It was fun to work together on the common good when we both served on the Country Music Assoc. board of directors. He really does love all formats of music. Larry is a first class guy and one of the good ones in the Concert Biz. Happy Trails my friend
From
Tony Conway
CEG/Ontourage
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From: Carol Dunn
Subject: Re: More Larry Vallon
I owned Hoffman Travel from 1972 until 2007…. Larry was a client and a friend… I will never forget how he always answered the phone with a jolly Hello, … I will never forget his smiling face… He would call for travel favors or when an artist was in need of help.. He always was so polite, so positive… no one in the biz.. the artists and managers that I serviced was such a delight to help as Larry… no one…in my entire business life ..
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Subject: Re: More Larry Vallon
As always,I'm joining the party late, but reading of Larry's retirement has had a profound effect on me , rather like when your kid gets married, and you still think of them as four year old...
I met Larry in 1970 ... I was managing The Who , he was Production Manager/promoter rep, for Wolff- Rizmiller/Concert Associates, we were playing the dearly departed Santa Monica Civic .... During that day Steve was constantly on the phone with Frank Barsalona discussing Frank's latest Jackson Pollack acquisition,Jim was in the production office reading Playboy.... So Larry was my go to guy , we bonded, because he was running the show, but also because we were the youngest guys on the block, both starting our journey in the music business - It was not a career then , but rather a way to not have to grow up and have a career- who knew whether the (rock) music business, as we knew it then, was here to stay or was a passing phase.....
In the intervening 50 years I've always thought of us as young kids, the youngest,and the best - But now Larry is retiring,and I'm going to be up soon - where did those 50 years go, my friend ?
We kept in touch over the years, and when we did bump into each other, it didn't seem a day had passed since that sunny day in Santa Monica... AEG, Live Nation, Universal, Sony, CAA,WME,Spotify,Apple,it didn't matter who's side we were on at the time - We knew we were there together at the beginning...
I can't believe how quickly time has passed- We are now the oldest, ( I feel I'm everything I got into the business to destroy) !
Steve would have been so proud of you,my friend ...
Enjoy your sunsets, and stay in touch - we rode the bucking bronco for nearly 50 years....
We can all talk about Social Media, and streaming, but everything always begins, and is underpinned by, relationships based on mutual respect, and values .... That's where live has it over everything else ... It may be perceived as a mafia, but benign despotism is the most enlightened form of government, and because of guys like Larry you always get honesty and accountability, and know they're going to be around for the next 50 years ...
Peter Rudge
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From: Jonathan Levine
Subject: Re: More Larry Vallon
In the dictionary under "Class Acts" it say's "See Larry Vallon..."
JL
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Subject: Re: More Larry Vallon
Larry Vallon
That says it all.
Bert Holman
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From: Cheryl Shaver
Subject: Re: Larry Vallon Farewell Tour
Hi Bob,
I work in a Senior Center connected to Senior Independent Housing in Lakewood, Ohio - where Jim Rissmiller happens to live. We talk often about the "good old days" (I also worked in the biz) and I showed him your post on Larry Vallon and asked him if it would be okay to let people know where he was. He would love to connect with anyone interested in speaking to him. They can email me and I will pass on his phone #, I don't think he uses email. cshaver.biz@gmail.com
Thanks for including him - I know it meant something to see that people have not forgotten.
Cheryl Shaver
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From: MARLENE PASSARO
Subject: Fwd: Larry Vallon Farewell Tour
Hi Bob,
It's Marlene from Apogee. I was going to write you to ask what you thought of the HypeMiC and then I read this letter. It hit me so hard, I don't meet that many people who understand what it was like. I was fortunate enough to grow up in Brooklyn in the 70's, I managed a record store in 1978-1979, then moved to record store on Wall street. I had a deal with local ticket scalpers, buy one record, slip 3 in the bag. In return I got great seats to see Queen (4 times) Aerosmith, Van Halen, Judas Priest, Rush, Cheap Trick, etc - the list goes on!! My boyfriend at the time was Steve Stevens, you're familiar with what he did, we spent 23 years together on a crazy ride. I also had the extraordinary experience of working for Ian Copeland as his contract manager through the 80's and got to work and with practically every artist that stepped foot in America, everyone from the Fixx, The Police, Joan Jett to people like Marianne Faithful, Iggy (who was my neighbor) and everyone else in-between. I'm still friends with some, lifelong endearing friendships. I got to go to Live Aid with the Thompson Twins and watched my friend Alannah Currie scold Ronnie Wood for introducing me to Bob Dylan as Stevie Stevens "old lady" instead of her contract manager haha! Anyway I remember Larry because of my position at FBI (Ian's company - Frontier Booking Int'l) I don't remember him well but reading your words and Danny Zelisko's and Steve Lukather's (who are still friends) made me just want to say thank you for putting into words how I feel but could not possibly formulate such and accurate and beautiful description of such and extraordinary time. Just wanted to say thanks you!!!!
All the best,
Marlene
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From: Jim Weiss
Subject: Re: The Oscars
You have probably seen this by now.
JW
Elton John & Taron Egerton - 'Tiny Dancer' (Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party): https://bit.ly/2CeX2lo
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From: Brian Alvey
Subject: Re: I Guess I Just Feel Like
I saw the Grateful Dead with Jerry a bunch and I know they will revoke my soul for this, but today's Dead & Co shows are so much better.
I saw my first solo John Mayer show a year ago. Just him, a few guitars and a laptop. Easily in the top 5 of the hundreds of concerts I've seen. New songs like "Still Feel Like Your Man," "Moving On and Getting Over" and "Love on the Weekend" were as good as any of his hits.
Seems like the less popular he gets, the more talented he gets.
If that's even possible.
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From: Kristian Dunn
Subject: Helicopters!
Hi Bob,
I'm finally listening to your podcast with Kaskade and love it. You mentioned helicopters falling out of the sky when encountering an engine failure. This is not true!
I'm a helicopter pilot. Please let me correct this popular and understandable misconception.
In the very, very rare case of an engine failure, we perform what's called an auto rotation. We turn the rotor blades into a windmill and glide down to earth. It's like a glider but even safer. We can land in a parking lot, on top of a building, on a road, a small field, etc. No runway needed!
Far more helicopter pilots get in accidents practicing auto rotations than real emergencies.
You can go on youtube and watch videos like these of pilots auto rotating. It's fun!
https://youtu.be/EklDfZw-NrU
https://youtu.be/7wFBUAZi5XU
https://youtu.be/yNWjW6yORyg
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Subject: Re: HBO-Michael Jackson
My father's very dear from Sal Bonafede - who passed away in 2007 unfortunately - sat at a family dinner in our home one night and told us that he quit working for Michael Jackson as his tour producer and left to work with Neil Diamond because he became disgusted at finding Michael in hotel rooms with young, little boys. He had no idea where Michael would find these children in various touring locations. It sounds like Michael was a complete predator. I can not believe the blind idiots who claim that this is all untrue. But I guess we live in a World now where the truth means very little. And an excuse can be made for nearly any behavior at all.
- Brent Kidwell
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Subject: Thanking you
Hi Bob- you don't know me, but a woman named Lenora Edwards forwarded your last essay about liberal arts and education.
I've been a businessman all my adult life, and for the last 18 years I've owned my own leadership development business. I studied classical music and English in college, and came just sort of getting a so-called worthless Liberal Arts degree. (The reason I didn't finish college has to do with other things but I got three years of solid, rounded education at a good school.)
I consider my Liberal Arts education absolutely foundational to the considerable success I've had as a business person. I am SO happy I didn't major in business. I have spent my career first running circles around people with MBAs, and then ultimately getting paid high fees for couseling, teaching, and guiding them. I was lucky because I worked for companies early in my career who were able to see past my lack of formal business education and recognize they were dealing with a person who could think strategically, who had a broader context for ideas and relationships, who was insanely curious, and who didn't think anyone owed him anything because of the framed degree on his wall. I was, from day one, a producer of success and a good friend, challenger, and leader to others.
As a person who teaches business people how to lead others, I am constantly frustrated by the lack of a "broader intelligence" in my clientele. Some of them are absolutely fascinating people, but too many of them are small-minded and limited in vision. They are unlikely to have truly original thoughts, or to challenge convention. THEY DON'T READ BOOKS.
My job has resulted in a fair amount of international travel in recent years. I've found that business people in foreign countries usually have a more interesting and informed perspective on what's going on in the United States than most Americans. I wonder if their educations have been better somehow.
My understanding is that at one time in the not-too-distant past, there was no such thing as an undergraduate degree in business. I wish we could go back to that – the days when you'd get an undergraduate degree in something else and then go get your MBA afterward. Undergraduate business degrees are appallingly useless, and perhaps even worse than useless because of the lie that says what they represent are in fact educated persons.
So this is why we don't see more business churning out real products that make real lives better. I can go to the grocery store and buy yogurt and granola in a fancy two-chambered plastic cup that keeps the dry and wet ingredients separate, but I might have to step over a homeless person on the way back to my car. I can get everything I'd ever want to watch on my computer EXCEPT for responsible news coverage. We sell space for people to build storage units for people to store their excess possessions, but we balk at spending a few million tax dollars for a park or a wildlife refuge.
When I was in junior high school we spent an entire year of social studies on the study of the Constitution. I memorized every amendment. I could practically recite the bill of rights by memory. Then we stopped having "civics" classes. No wonder half of all Americans can't name our neighbor to the north, or tell you who the Vice President is.
I have five grandchildren under the age of eight. They would be too young to understand if I got down on my knees and begged their forgiveness, but sometimes I feel like doing exactly that.
Thanks for your thoughts. We are angry and we are disillusioned. We can't become hopeless but sometimes it's hard…
Jim Hessler
President
pathforwardleadership.com
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From: Peter Moses
Subject: Re: The Coarsening Of America
Hey Bob,
I think your folks in the GOP/Fox need to come down to Australia and see what they call a 'socialist' country looks like…pretty damn good from here.
Its a place where a 13 year old orphan can get the chance to:
- go to the doctor when sick;
- get access to the same level of education as the rich folks;
- go to university with a govt. funded loan that is repaid through taxes only after you hit a certain income threshold;
- have a safety net while getting an education;
- get the chance to reverse their childhood shit and live a normal life;
- and even release music that gets radio play in the UK and the US.
My Alabaman republican mate who came for a visit recently couldn't stop saying 'I don't know why but life seems so much happier over here'.
Cheers
Pete
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Subject: Re: The Coarsening Of America
Great read Bob. Caught you in Boston with Flom a while back. I am a songwriter from a middle class Boston background, skipped out on college (while all my friends are now 100k in debt) and spent the last decade touring as a side guy musician making roughly about 12k a year. I had no home (no rent to pay) got a pier diem daily ($20 usually) and was so busy driving or setting up that I barely had time to spend money. After years of nothing to show for it financially - I got a 9-5 for two years to buy my wife a ring and pay debts. We won a lottery for an affordable 40B home in Boston, MA and feel totally blessed to write my debut record in this house. However, my college friends have so much debt they can't even think about buying. It's a bummer because a lot of them are great people. I used to think I was a big time failure cuz I would always get the 'how's that music thing going for you?' remark but looking back now, following my gut definitely lead me to a better place.
College aint for everybody.
Mike Serra
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From: Wyatt Shapiro
Subject: Re: The Coarsening Of America
As a recently graduated Ivy League millennial, this definitely resonates. The pressure to land a job that will put you on the right track was immense from the get go.
As you said, bankers and lawyers get paid well and it's easy to land a position through campus recruitment, but the new focus is tech. The number of people who become a Founder of a shitty club or company in college that is built for the resume (not to last) seems overwhelming.
They don't care about the lasting effects of pursuing a craft for the crafts sake, rather it's the status symbol of being an entrepreneur and the reassurance that the title can offer.
Best,
Wyatt
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Subject: Re: The Coarsening Of America
Wow. Went to Brandeis for a Liberal Arts degree, got a JD from BU Law while I was a CBS Records College Rep. I never practiced law a day in my life. Didn't matter if I was making $1 or $1M...was doing what I loved.
Jerry Blair
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From: John Fairs
Subject: Re: History Of The Beach Boys Part One-SiriusXM This Week
please do a mail about the prodigy's keith flint...respected and followed you for years...managed him and the band on a handshake 25 years ago and still here...or i was until today
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