Rockabilly Classifieds

Rockabilly HQ.com is proud to announce the launch of Rockabilly Classifieds.

Simply go to the website www.rockabillyhq.com and click on Classifieds.

You can post ads for cars, music, clothing, dating and any other stuff and it’s all FREE!!!

Mother’s Day and the Race for the Cure

Happy Friday everyone!

As we are kind of in a holding pattern until the website design is finished and published I thought I’d share some other stuff that’s going on this weekend.

Firstly, my Wife is taking par t in the Race For The Cure tomorrow. It’s a 10K walk/run which equates to about 3.5 miles, so it’s not too strenuous, so please get off your fat butts and support a really worthwhile cause. Since her sister was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of weeks ago, it’s become a very personal thing. Good luck and thank you to all who are participating tomorrow, wherever you are.

Secondly, It’s Mothers’ Day on Sunday, please don’t forget!

The other big thing that’s happening on Sunday is the Rocketz gig at The Fire Escape in Citrus Heights. The guys don’t make the journey up I5 very often, so make the most of it. They will be on stage at 8PM, so get there with plenty of time.

They are also looking for a new Bassist, so if you can slap an upright you need to contact them. They have a MySpace page on which you can leave a message if you’re interested.

That’s it for this week. I’m hoping to have more news on the website and also a write-up on the Rocketz gig as well as an interview to report on early next week.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Al E. Cat

www.RockabillyHQ.com

The Rocketz come to Northern California

RockabillyHQ.com is proud to announce that the excellent Rocketz are to play The Fire Escape.

Here are the details:

May, 11 2008 at The Fire Escape
7413 Madison Ave, Citrus Heights, California 95610

Rockabilly HQ will be there to interview the band. Th einterview will be available on our website as soon as it’s up and running.

If you’re familiar with their work, you’ll know what an excellent, energetic bands around.

Check out their new video at http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LnlvdXR1YmUuY29tL3dhdGNoP3Y9S1JOWUdzWF9tSkE=

It combines all my loves; Classic cars, Rockabilly and horror movies.

In other news, I recorded an interview with Rock n Roll legend Charlie Gracie last night. I am hear to tell you that he is one of the nicest people it has ever been my privilege to speak to. The man has been an inspiration to people like The Beatles, Van Morrison and The Hollies, to name a few. He’s been in the business for over 50 years and is still performing and touring today. He has been married to the same lady for 50 years and still keeps his feet firmly on the ground.

The website is still a work in progress. We have the hosting finalized, so it’s just a acase of designing and getting the thing up and running.

Stay tuned for more tomorrow!!

Al E. Cat

www.RockabillyHQ.com

Great News – Interviews recorded

Happy Monday everyone!

VERY Exciting news to report today. I have already got 2 of my scheduled interviews recorded. On Sunday I was fortunate enough to speak to Rockabilly pioneer, Dale Brooks. It was a really good interview and Dale was good enough to share many insights into his career, including his tragic accident and his wonderful career as a recording artist, broadcaster and author. He has a new CD due to be released very soon and has another in the pipeline. For further information contact me at Alex@RockabillyHQ.com

This morning I got to speak to rock n roll legend, Joe Bennett of The Sparkletones. He talk about his early career, including the making of “Black Slacks” and how he and his band met Elvis Presley while performing in Las Vegas. Joe is a wonderful performer and a very nice man too.  He shared that he is currently working on a new album which he hopes to have released for Christmas and will soon be touring again. If you would like to book Joe, you can contact me at Alex@RockabillyHQ.com

This evening is a HUGE day for me, as I get to talk with Rock n Roll legend Charlie Gracie. I will be posting details of that interview tomorrow.

The Website is still under design and we’re shooting for a launch in mid-May. Audios of the interviews will be available as Podcasts on our website soon. We will also be providing a transcript of the interviews as part of our newsletter and as a download on the website.

Stay tuned!!

Al E. Cat

RockabillyHQ.com

TGIF – First interview

Well, Friday is here at last and has brought with it a much better outlook. We finally got the techical difficulties sorted out. Here’s what I ended up doing:

Instead of faffing around (old English expression) with cables, adapters and all sorts of software, none of which worked for me, I ended up buying a really nice voice recorder. It’s a digital one, so I’m not meesing about with tapes and it also connects via a USB cable directly to the PC. It even has some really cool software that allows you to control the recorder from your desktop.

I did a dry run yesterday, just recording with the voice recorder from the telephone hands free. The results were great, so I contacted my interviewees and am in the process of getting everyone on a schedule.

I just called Joe Bennett of The Sparkletones (Black Slacks) and am waiting for him to get back to me. I’ve also heard from my good friend Dale Brooks, who’s got some great things to tell our subscribers about his current projects.

So, it’s all systems go!!

In other news, I’ve heard from the promoter of local Rockabilly band The Pendeltons. I am in the process of ironing out some very exciting co-promotions and as I know more, I’ll post on here.

I’ve also heard from a Web design company who look like they have some very good references. I’m still waiting to hear from others so I can compare products and prices. Again, if you are a web or graphic designer, I’d love to hear from you.

As always the contact details are Alex@RockabillyHQ.com

That’s it for now, please have a wild and rockin’ weekend!!

Al E. Cat

www.RockabillyHQ.com

Recording Telephone Interviews

Hi Folks!

Well, this is the week I am meant to be interviewing some of the biggest names in Rockabilly: Glen Glenn, Charlie Gracie, Dale Brooks and Joe Bennett.

Unfortunately I have been experiencing some technical difficulties setting this up (Read previous blog entries). I have now decided that, pending a better option I will buy a hand-held recorder and record it straight off the telephone’s hands-free. Hopefully the sound quality will be ok. I can always fiddle a bit with it in Audacity.

In other news, I am very excited to announce that I have heard from an excellent local Slap-Bass player who has graciously agreed to write an article on Upright Bass Set-up. I know this is a hot topic and there’s very little information out there, so hold on, it won’t be long now.

I’ve decided that I’m going to contact a local community college to get the website designed. We’ll see how that pans out and I’ll keep you posted.

If like me, you’re a classic car enthusiast, there is a classic car show on Thursday, May 1st at Deb’s Frostie in Diamond Springs, CA. The cars normally start rolling in at about 4PM and they stick around until around 9PM. I’ve got some great photos on my MySpace page,

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=370221480

if you want to check out some of the local talent. There are a couple of gorgeous Chevy Bel Airs that tend to show up, so don’t miss it if you’re in the area.

Keep Rockin’ Alex (Al E. Cat)

RockabillyHQ.com

More Questions Than Answers

Well, what a week!!

This week was meant to be the week when it all started coming together for the new website RockabillyHQ.com, but I have been dogged by problems:

First my laptop decided it had had enough and stopped working altogether. Fortunately, I have some very techie friends and they managed to salvage my hard drive so that the newly edited book “The Encyclopedia of Rock n Roll” was able to be saved.

I now have the headache of setting everything back up as it was before in order to work everything again.

This has set my schedule back a bit. I was hoping to have the book completed and in PDF format ready to sell in our eBay store this weekend. This is now looking unlikely. By the way, if you’d like ot purchase a copy, you can contact me at Alex@RockabillyHQ.com and I’ll email you a copy when it’s ready.

I also stopped off at Radio Shack to purchase the interface I need to record the telephone interviews that I had lined up this week. Sadly they didn’t have one, so I’ve been trying various different ways of doing it, but none seem to work very well. If you’ve got any good ideas of how to do this, please contact me at the above email address.

On the up side, I have been in touch with Rockabilly legend Dale Brooks over the past couple of weeks. He’s doing great and is a pleasure to chat with. He’s recording a new CD, which he’s very excited about. As soon as I get the technical difficulties ironed out, we’ll get rolling on recording the interviews.

This week we’re planning to get the website and logo designed. If you are a web designer or graphic artist, feel free to contact me and maybe we can work together!

Thanks for your continued reading and stay tuned for more news!

Alex

RIP Eddie Cochran

Today is the anniversary of the tragic passing of one of Rock n Roll’s greatest artists…Eddie Cochran.

Eddie Cochran was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota. His real name was Raymond Edward Cochrane. He learned music at school and decided that he was going to be a drummer. He was an avid listener to the radio and loved to emulate his idols. Still listening to the radio, he began to play the guitar, emulating the styles he heard on radio shows like “The Grand Ole Opry”.

In 1955, his family moved to Bell Gardens, California where he formed a band with two friends from his junior high school.

His life took a major turn when he met Hank Cochran at an American Legion concert. Although they were not related, they began performing together and recorded as The Cochrane Brothers, while Eddie worked as a session musician.

His first recording was a demo recorded with Jerry Capehart, who would later become his manager.

Eddie’s first guitar was a Gibson electric acoustic guitar with a single Florentine cutaway. This guitar featured a pair of Gibson P90 pickups, sometimes called ‘dog ear’ pickups due to their shape. He later moved to a 1956 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins Western model, which he had modified by replacing the neck position and added a De Armond Dynasonic pickup with a black covered Gibson P-90 pickup.

In 1956, he got his big break when appeared in the Jayne Mansfield film “The Girl Can’t Help It.” with Little Richard and Freddie Bell & The Bell Boys. In the move=ie he is seen playing “Twenty Flight Rock” . His second film was called “Untamed Youth,” in which he played a much bigger role. He had his first hit, “Sittin’ in the Balcony,” a song written by John D. Loudermilk.

He followed that success up with “Summertime Blues” which he co-wrote with his manager, Jerry Capehart. It was a huge success as it struck a major chord with the teenage record-buying public.

On the back of this success, he was booked to tour Britain with fellow Rocker, Gene Vincent. While in the U.K. he appeared both on stage and on popular TV shows aimed at teenagers. He was introduced and interviewed by British teen idol, Marty Wilde.

Sadly his tour would end in tragedy when on Saturday, April 16, 1960, at about 11:50 p.m., he died in a traffic accident, aged only 21. The taxi crashed into a lamp post on Rowden Hill, Chippenham. A plaque now commemorates the event at the spot. He was taken to St. Martin’s Hospital, Bath, but died at 4:10 p.m. the following day. Songwriter Sharon Sheeley (Cochran’s fiancée) and singer Gene Vincent survived the crash.

The taxi driver, George Martin, was convicted of dangerous driving, fined £50, disqualified from driving for 15 years, and sent to prison for six months.

Eddie Cochran is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress, California. A posthumous album, My Way, was released in 1964.

(From The Encyclopedia of Rock n Roll by Alex East)

Rock ‘n’ Roll Encyclopedia

Hello everyone,

The Rock n Roll Encyclopedia, Vol. 1 is currently being edited ready to be released. At the moment we are looking for a publisher (if you know one, we’d love to get in touch with them). We have thought of publishing the thing ourselves and making it available as a PDf document on CD or available for download from our website www.RockabillyHQ.com

At the moment it is about 500 pages of information and bios. of some of the greats of the early Rock ‘n’ Roll, Rockabilly, Doo-Wop, Neo-Rockabilly and Psychobilly world.

For pre-order information or any other contact with regard to the book or website contact me via email:

Alex@RockabillyHQ.com

Ripping Vinyl Records

Hello everyone,

You may not know it, but as well as being a HUGE rockabilly fan I also buy and sell vinyl records.

The main thing I hear when I go out on record buying expeditions is “I wish that L.P. was available on CD” or “I used to listen to that record all the time, but I gave up my record player for an IPod.”

My lovely wife recently purchased me a fantastic machine that not only plays the old classic records (78s, LPs and 45s) but also can record them simultaneously to CD. It is then a simple task to rip those CDs to MP3s if you want to play them on your IPod or load a huge munch of them onto an MP3 CD.

If you’d like to learn more about how to do this please contact me at Alex @RockabillyHQ.com

More about the website launch soon!!!