1. The Chirping Crickets

Buddy Holly, alongside rhythm guitarist Niki Sullivan, bassist Joe B. Mauldin, and drummist-extraordinaire Jerry Allison, formed the immaculately suited, fully self-contained singing/songwriting template upon which some of the greatest pop-rock bands since, from those Beatles most obviously on down, were inextricably linked at the hip.


2. Buddy's Buddy

When no less than that up-coming King of Western Bop Elvis Presley first blew into Lubbock, Texas on tour in 1955, homeboy Buddy Holly was not only right there in the front row cheering him on, but afterwards appointed himself the Hillbilly Cat’s exclusive host, guide and confidant for the ensuing sixteen hours. Duly inspired, Buddy immediately revamped his burgeoning Crickets from an alt.-bluegrass combo into Lubbock’s very own Elvis, Scotty and Bill …so successfully so, in fact, that several months later, when Elvis triumphantly returned to town, Buddy Holly had graduated from mere tour guide status to that of official on-stage opening act.


3. Learning The Game

After somehow failing to impress the usually infallible Owen Bradley with “That’ll Be The Day” at a 1956 demo session (“the worst song I ever heard” was his verdict), Buddy determinedly drove one thousand miles from Nashville to the Clovis, New Mexico studios of Norman Petty, where over the next eighteen months they turned a simple two-track facility into an audio workshop/lab from which came not only the look and attitude, but the very sounds of the 1960’s to come. Despite his so obviously prescient George Martin ways though, Petty must be docked serious points for screwing Buddy royally over songwriting credits, royalties, and even concert proceeds until the Holly estate could eventually be forever wrenched from his Machiavellian claws.


4. Listen To Me

It may have lasted only twenty-five days, but when Buddy and his Crickets toured the United Kingdom in the spring of 1958, those watching closely and taking serious notes for future use were, amongst thousands of others, John Lennon and Paul McCartney (whose first-ever recording was a near note-perfect “That’ll Be The Day” shortly afterwards), Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (the former already proud owner of the Chirping Crickets album), Graham Nash and Allan Clarke (who soon grew their two-man Everlys act into the full, named-in-guess-who’s-honor Hollies), and pioneering British record producer Joe Meek …who subsequently became so obsessed over Holly that he not only killed his landlady, but himself on the eighth anniversary of Buddy’s own tragic demise.


5. Not Fade Away

It did indeed take a Buddy Holly composition to first put The Rolling Stones securely into the American hit parade with, at the very height of Beatlemania, Lennon/McCartney’s “I Wanna Be Your Man” unceremoniously relegated to the single’s B-side! And speaking of whom…


6. Words Of Love

Buddy wrote the best song on the Beatles VI album; and, come to think of it, maybe even on Beatles For Sale.


7. Fool's Paradise

Buddy’s wealth of songs have proven so adaptable, durable and downright sturdy as to withstand covers from the likes of Rush (who also debuted on seven-inch vinyl with “Not Fade Away” I kid you not), the Grateful Dead, The Knack and even Linda Ronstadt. Not to mention “It’s So Easy“ (-Off oven cleaner) and “Oh Boy” becoming “Oh, Buick!” television jingles at the behest of Holly’s supposedly sympathetic post-Petty publishing magnate Sir Paul McC. Quite highly recommended nevertheless is the 1977 McCartney-produced Holly Days, um, tribute album by then-Wing Denny Laine.


8. Maybe Baby

Years before he was to become the serial tragic clown of television reality programming, that perennially short-pant-legged dust storm known as Gary Busey deservedly nabbed an Oscar nomination for his title role in 1978’s Buddy Holly Story. Now while its script may have taken inexcusable Hollywood shortcuts in recounting our hero’s life and music, at least Gary, alongside co-stars Don Stroud and Charles Martin Smith, became pretty damn garage-worthy Crickets all over the film’s soundtrack, performing as close to live whenever possible before the unforgiving cameras.


9. Crying, Waiting, Hoping

Weeks before his last-ever tour, a newly married Holly sang several song sketches into a tape recorder in his Greenwich Village apartment for what turned out to be posterity. Having already hinted at still non-categorizable sounds-to-come with tracks like “Everyday” and “Well… All Right,” Buddy’s last recordings leap even further into the unknown with covers of Ray Charles (!), Bing Crosby (!!), plus Holly’s own final compositions. Exquisite guitar-and-voice-only recordings, they are far more than simply “unplugged.” They are sublime, heartbreaking, and totally unique. As with most things Holly.


10. Standing In The Doorway

"And I just want to say that when I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I went to see Buddy Holly play at Duluth National Guard Armory and I was three feet away from him. And he looked at me. And I just have some sort of feeling that he was — I don't know how or why — but I know he was with us all the time we were making this record in some kind of way."
— Bob Dylan, 1998 Grammy Awards acceptance speech for Album of the Year Time Out Of Mind.

It surely was one of those years, wasn't it?
And I may not just be speaking musically either.

For example,
two blasts from the distant past
(Simply Saucer and, yes, Percy "Thrills" Thrillington)
resurfaced after three whole decades with reconstituted treasures,
even Lindsey Buckingham brought all new meanings to the word "album/tour" in '08,
and a remarkably rich crop of audio continued to cross the ol' Pig Player
since last we spoke on this subject.

And so, if you didn't already,
please join me in treating both ears immediately to each and every single one of the following,
listed purely alphabetically as ever:

1. APARTMENT
      Sparkle Bicycle  (Waikiki Record)

2. SCOTTY CAMPBELL AND HIS WARDENAIRES
      Smokin' and Drinkin'  (Black Sparrow Records)

3. JOHNNY DOWD
      A Drunkard's Masterpiece  (BongoBeat Records)

4. GARFIELDS BIRTHDAY
      Let Them Eat Cake  (Pink Hedgehog Records)

5. THE GRIP WEEDS
      Infinite Soul: The Best Of The Grip Weeds  (Wicked Cool Record Co.)

6. JOE SOKO
      Floss Like A Beast: A Collection Of Incredibly Strange Folk Songs  (Fuzzy Planet Productions)

7. THE SPONGETONES
      Always Carry On: The Best Of The SpongeTones 1980-2005  (Loaded Goat Records)

8. FRANK LEE SPRAGUE
      Fulton Chateau  (Wichita Falls Records)

9. THE SQUIRES OF THE SUBTERRAIN
      Feel The Sun  (Rocket Racket Records)

10. TEENAGE HEAD
       Teenage Head With Marky Ramone  (Sonic Unyon Recording Company)

...and
If you'd like to know some more this year,

Just LOOK
Right HERE !!

As autumn begins to fall
all around us,

you May just be wonderin'


- why Bob was Judas,

- when Simply Saucer turned Half Human,

- who That Lucky Old Sun is still shining upon,

- where you should buy Your First Punk Rock Record,

and even How much those Rolling Stones just got out of
the Universal Music Group

(plus Pat Boone to boot).


The answers,
my Friends™,

are Now right there
in none other than
your friendlly neighborhood Medleyville !!

so
Make a visit Today

(.....tell 'em Gary Pig Gold sentcha ;-)

Sure,

those Japan-rocking Ventures,
not to mention What’s left of The Dave Clark Five,
finally got their free dinners and awards
at the Waldorf a few weeks ago.

But my virtual polling pal Ken Burke and I
still can’t help but wonder…..


WHERE’S PAT BOONE ?!!!

They Came,
throughout 2007,

and I Heard,
as I do always try to.

but Just in case you haven't,
or didn't yet,

Here to hear are the ten discs
(listed strictly alphabetically of course)

that I most urge your ears immediately upon…

 1. DEBRIS
       Static Disposal  (Anopheles Records)

 2. THE DOUGHBOYS
       Is It Now?  (Ram Records)

 3. THE FREDDIE STEADY 5
       Tex Pop  (SteadyBoy Records)

 4. THE LICKITY-SPLITS
       Another Taste of the Lickity-Splits  (Lickity-Splits)

 5. LOLAS
       Like The Sun  (Jam Recordings)

 6. THE MODD COUPLE
       Daze Gone By  (Modd Couple)

 7. JACK PEDLER
       Let's Get Nervous!  (Race Records)

 8. THE SPRAGUE BROTHERS
       Best of the EssBee CD's Vol. 2  (El Toro Records)

 9. THE SQUIRES OF THE SUBTERRAIN and BIG BOY PETE
       Rock It Racket  (Rocket Racket)

10. ROBIN STANLEY
        Chronic Empire  (Creative Artists)

…and,
For all of those
who like to read as they rawk,

Uncover even more
about 07's Missing
(by way of Sweden)

Right HERE !!

What really gets
none other than
the King of the Surf Guitar
truly h-o-t this time of year ?

However has
that freedom-singing Pride of NashPop
come to link
Mel Torme to frosty Alex Chilton ??

Does no less than
the Once and Forever Female Elvis
actually dream of Snowbirds
this time every year ???

and What in the world
did the Killer's Sister say
to squeeze the Scrooge clear out of Van the Man
one December 25th (or six) ago ??!


Come,
all ye MySpace cadets,

and roast your chestnuts
alongside all of my Yuletide Pig pals

right there in
Morty's Cabin,

Ho Ho H(oink) !!!

1. HE HAS AN UNPRECEDENTED 161 ALBUMS STILL IN PRINT
...ALL COMPRISED OF THE SAME 47 SONGS.

2. AN AVERAGE OF 822 PEOPLE HAVE VISITED GRACELAND DAILY SINCE 1977
…A 400% INCREASE OVER THE NUMBER WHO VISITED ELVIS' HOME
WHILE HE WAS STILL ALIVE.

3. "ELVIS" SPELT SIDEWAYS IS "LEVIS."

4. COOL Friends LIKE THE SEX PRESLEYS, BIG SANDY, AND UNKNOWN HINSON
STILL SING ABOUT ELVIS.

5. COOL Friends LIKE CHRIS ISAAK, COOTERFINGER, AND EL VEZ
STILL SING LIKE ELVIS.

6. THE 2004 NORTH AMERICAN TOUR OF ELVIS' PINK CADILLAC
OUT-GROSSED PAUL McCARTNEY'S LAST WORLD JUNKET BY $468,000 (U.S.)

7. SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD, SOMEONE TUNES IN AN OLD ELVIS MOVIE ON T.V.
EVERY 20 SECONDS.

8. WITHIN 15 SECONDS, EVERYONE HAS SWITCHED CHANNELS
TO "BAM'S UNHOLY UNION."

9. WHEN LISA MARIE PRESLEY PERFORMED LIVE ON VH1's "DIVAS DUETS" SHOW,
SHE SANG "HEARTBREAKER" IN A BLACK LEATHER CORSET WITH PAT BENATAR.
YET WHEN HER FATHER PERFORMED ON THE STEVE ALLEN SHOW IN 1956,
HE WORE WHITE GLOVES, A TUXEDO …AND SANG LIVE TO A BASSET HOUND.

10. SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD, SOMEONE BLOGS ON ELVIS
EVERY 30 SECONDS.

Dear Friends ™,

Had a lovely time
in my Home and Native Land.

Visited family,
friends,
and record collection,

made some nice new friends,

and Even got to attend
a VERY special concert/recording session
by the band that once made
(in the hallowed words of Forced Exposure)
"the best Canadian LP ever" !!

Wish you were there,

Simply Gary