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John Landess

Now, for a small change of pace!

I've been setting here in Tennessee watching it rain and doing a bit of TVing. I have Roku and love it!! Much cheaper than when I had Directv and has lots more options (mostly FREE).

Wellllllll, I happened to see a documentary listed and decided to watch it, "Stars on Guitars, The Ventures". Wow, that takes one back.  (Quiz - Does anyone know where they started out??)

If you can't find it on your 'service', it can be streamed on youtube and several other ways.

They released over 250 albums wordwide, and are still today very popular in Japan.

I, of course, had to go did through my old album collection, and found that I had seven, including one instructional, 'Play with the Ventures'. Now if I only had a guitar and nimble fingers........... I could do the theme of Hawaii Five-O!

Rex Booth

A li'l 'Walk Don't Run' history...

Not many knew the original “Walk Don’t Run” was written and played by the great jazz guitarist “Johnny Smith” first in 1954. ‘Chet Atkins’ came along and did his interpretation in 1957. The ‘Ventures’ took Chet Atkins version and gave it a rock ‘n roll beat/sound and 'owned it' in 1960! 

I remember driving down the Hollywood Freeway with Barney Durham in the summer of ’60. That’s when we first heard Walk Don’t Run playing on the car’s radio. What was so cool… we saw the round Capitol Records building from the freeway and took the next exit to go check it out! We went to Santa Monica Beach and just about every chick on the beach had a transistor radio on a blanket next to them blarring out Walk Don't Run!  I think all the radio stations were playing Walk Don't Run about every ten minutes!

John Landess

Oh yes, before I forget!!.......................

Rex, notice red ink!!

Fred Miller

Rex Booth

John L. aka  El Juan

You asked where did the "Ventures" originate. Don Wilson was born in Tacoma, Washington. He met Bob Bogle in Seattle and they formed the Ventures in 1958. They started out playing in taverns and beer bars and had a hard time getting a record company to record and promote "Walk Don't Run". What do record companies know... in view of the manure produced today.

Fred Miller

Fred Miller

Rex, I still do not have the 3 rows of tool bars at the top of the space where I write a message to post. Even tried logging out and logging back in. They were there for about 15 minutes and then gone. All I have is a blank space to write and post a message. Did you raise the rent, and I didn't get the email?? Curious if anyone else has had this problem...

Tommy Weathers

Patrick Riley

Fred, it was great to hear these eight versions of Walk Don't Run. There are, of course, many more covers of this song.

I listened to these different versions of Walk Don't Run twice. The Ventures' version was, to me, clearly the best. I'd give an honorable mention to the Shadows' 1977 version.

Here's another pretty good cover by Rhet Stoller from, apparently, 1960 (the same year as the Ventures' release):

Thinking about instrumentals, in our day there were lots of non-vocals on the Billboard 100 and even some that reached #1. After the 1970s, instrumentals regarded as "hits" became much rarer.

Here's one of my favorites, Teen Beat by drummer Sandy Nelson, which reached #4 in 1959:

Here's my absolute favorite Sandy Nelson track, the not-well-known Birth of the Beat (reached #75 in 1962), which follows the evolution of drumming from primitive man in the jungle beating on logs to tribes using hides stretched across hollow tree trunks to modern snare drum sets:

They just don't make music like this anymore!

It's not my quote, but someone wise said: "We may have grown up in the 'old days', but we had the best cars, the best-looking girls and the best music!" Amen!!!

Rex Booth

While we've been featuring the Ventures...

Let's also give a nod to Dick Dale, "King of Surf Guitar".  Dick Dale wanted first... to be a "country" guitarist... but wound up developing the surfer sound!

What the...? Dick plays the "Orange Blosom Special"?!!  followed by "Misirlou"

Rex Booth

John Landess

Fred, 

I have an wooden music center That combines a turntable, tape player, and a CD player recorder that not only looks nice (and old) but can play all and was not very expensive. I think Best Buy and others sell a line of similar combos made by Crosley  (like the old car)

WELL! I attempted to put a small photo here but no luck!

Fred Miller

Rex Booth

Here is another option. One can play an LP, 45, or 78 and record your songs to a "USB" thumb drive or external hard drive. One draw back with most all-in-one players is ... they do not have an arm to stack & hold records. One has topaly one record at a time and  manually lift the needle and set it on the record. One step forward... two steps backwards.

https://www.amazon.com/ClearClick-Turntable-Bluetooth-Cassette-Speakers/dp/B0C9N72MZ9/ref=pd_rhf_dp_s_pd_sbs_rvi_d_sccl_1_29/133-3763062-4589208?pd_rd_w=pALTa&content-id=amzn1.sym.a089f039-4dde-401a-9041-8b534ae99e65&pf_rd_p=a089f039-4dde-401a-9041-8b534ae99e65&pf_rd_r=VXA9PVDYXFDNFXMZBRX7&pd_rd_wg=lszjR&pd_rd_r=8063ca8e-35a4-47cd-b538-a0c3e40f53af&pd_rd_i=B0C9N72MZ9&psc=1

Rex Booth

Remember Tinnie Merchantile...?

A nice article:  "The History of Tinnie"

https://www.rdrnews.com/arts_and_entertainment/vision/historical-anecdotes/article_30fc4124-c60c-11ee-a8f7-eba21a348b8d.html

Patrick Riley

Rex, thanks for your Tinnie Merchantile Company piece ... great read!

I particularly remember it for its accompanying Silver Dollar Restaurant and Saloon. If you had a few bucks and wanted to impress a date, the Silver Dollar was the place to go ... it just had more cache than any local Roswell restaurant.

If you don't remember the Silver Dollar, it was one of five historic New Mexico restaurants owned by Roswell oil tycoon, Robert O. Anderson (founder of Atlantic Richfield).

These were all managed by Robert O's son-in-law, Tom Denton.

The other four were the Maria Theresa in Albuquerque, the Double Eagle in Old Mesilla, the Palace in Las Vegas, and the Legal Tender in Lamy (near Santa Fe). All of them showed off impressive collections of antique furnature and furnishings. The Double Eagle, as an example, featured ~ twenty 18th-century French Venetian-style mirrors ... purportedly the world's largest collection.

Based on fond memories of the Silver Dollar, I made a point of trying all the others ... some many times.

The steaks particularly stood out ... sourced, I understand, from the best stock on Robert O's own New Mexico Double A Land and Cattle Company Ranch.

Trivia note ... at one time, Robert O. Anderson was the largest private landholder in both the U.S. and the state of Hawaii.

PS - There might have been more Robert O restaurants than the five mentioned (the ones I can remember). If you know of more, please post!

Rex Booth

Pat, 

Thanks for expounding on those Anderson ventures. Yes, have frequented the Silver Dollar many times! Tom Denton asked my Mom when they worked for Coca Cola in the 80's to be the accountant for those R.O. restaurant holdings. While on vacation from the West Coast my Mom, my uncle, and I would have dinner at Tinnie's… topping it off with a cool one in the bar. The restaurant has French Provincial furniture I believe from either Brittany, Provence, or Normandy with elegant tapestries and gigantic paintings on the wall stretching from ceiling to floor; including huge gold frame mirrors to add to the flavor and ambience. There are several rooms with a different theme. I forget the country where that impressive wooden bar (in the bar) was imported? Maybe someone in the know can chime in. The silver tin player piano was quite a engineering marvel!

Patrick Riley

In particular, I fondly remember the backlighted stained-glass ceiling in one dining room at the Silver Dollar!

Fred Miller

Charline Lake

Mari Anderson, maybe?

Rex Booth

Yeah Fred,

I can sympathize with your pain. You weren't the Lone Ranger! There was a long line of boys attracted to Mari. North Jr. 9th grade we'd have skating parties Saturday afternoon at the old rink on North Virginia. That was about it for moi!  After our Sophomore year there were serveral of us guys who wondered why Mari disappeared. Was Mari whisked away by R.O. to a private girl's school...?  Charline could solve this mystery...  

Paula Carl (Cowee Miller)

Maria Nelson Anderson passed away on Wednesday, September 22, 2021, at the age of 76, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Maria, who was known to many throughout her life as “Mari” and later as “Mara,” was born in Roswell, New Mexico, on October 27, 1944. The third daughter of Robert O. and Barbara Anderson. 

https://www.rhs1962.org/class_profile.cfm?member_id=9029015

John Landess

Paula,

I read the obit on Mari...very surprising to hear of her life in Alaska, and of her trips to Hawaii (an Alaska favorite)

I being an out in the country nerd with no wheels, did not know most of the folks in the '62 class, other than those I shared classes with or had been in JR high with, so guess that I never knew her.

One sidelight: RO Anderson bought a little mexican mission and had it moved to his place to be reconstructed for a daughter's wedding. My Dad was the person that did the stonework. I remember him talking about 'Mr. Anderson' and how they were told not to bring lunches, because a food truck would be there everyday...That was big stuff in those days.

Paula Carl (Cowee Miller)

John, I too found Mari's obituary very interesting. I'm not sure if I knew her or not but I'm beginning to think that the Andersons led a very low key life in Roswell. And if course my family would not have been in the same social circle with them. This has been a very interesting discussion and I've learned all kinds of things. Keep up the good work ya'll!

Charline Lake

Mari and I were close friends at North Junior High School and beyond.  I spent a lot of time at her house and had dinner there from time to time and attended their holiday party one year.  Her mom gave me a high school graduation present.  Her dad gave me a job at Hondo Oil and Gas as a draftsperson updating plat maps of oil wells indicating the operational status and ownership of each well; this was during the summer after high school graduation, before I left for college.  After junior high, Mari attended a private school back East so wasn't much involved in Roswell High School life.  We talked from time to time after college.  She was plagued by mental illness (schizophrenia, it seemed) as an adult and resisted treatment (she was quite delusional), so that was a tragedy and made continued contact difficult.  I remember her well as a wiry little pubescent teenager, bouncing away on their trampoline.  I loved Mari and was sad when she died.  Still am.  We shared a sense of humor, a big bonding factor in junior high.  Her mental health struggles were terrible for her brothers and sisters, who tried to help her, but her paranoia was a barrier.  Her struggles were heartbreaking for me too.  She had become close to Ronnie Lamb (I introduced them), and her struggles took a toll on him as well.