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The Crickets came to my town back in the Fall, and I went to all of
their shows... I do have a few little bits that I can tell you from that
experience...
1) When I had Sonny autograph my promo 45 of "Parisian Girl" he
looked at it and told me how he wrote that song when he was in the
service (just like he wrote "Walk Right Back" while in the military...)
Also, I've always thought that "Parisian Girl" sounded like an Everly
Brothers song, so I asked him if he wrote "Parisian Girl" with them
in mind and he said "Yes, I did actually..."
2) Over the three nights they played here, I brought in most all of my
Crickets 45s to be autographed... On the third night, Joe B. asked me
where I got all those old 45s from and he told me that he thinks the only
45 he owns by The Crickets is an unplayed copy of "Oh Boy", which he
said he thinks he has laying around the house somewhere... He also told
me how he was trying to quit smoking, and he said that he was having
his first cigarette of the day then (after the show)... I also asked him if
Glen Hardin had any contact with them lately, and he said how Glen is
doing the Elvis shows over in Europe to which I asked him if he thinks
Glen might rejoin them any time soon, to which he replied "We'd like it
if he could, but Elvis comes first... (for Glen)"
3) After the show on the first night, I asked JI if he thought they could
play "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" the next night.. He said he'd love
to do it every night, but they don't do it much because he said Sonny
forgets the words a lot of the time... Well, the next night came along,
and all of a sudden Sonny said "We received a request last night from
this young man named Mike, so Mike, if you're here, here's your
request" and they played "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" ... And, as
they were playing it, Sonny looked at me because he recognized me
from the night before...
I also asked JI what he thinks of it that Buddy Holly is in the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame, but The Crickets aren't, and I told him I
thought it was a bunch of bullsh*t, and he agreed with that... And,
he said it was a slap in the face when The Crickets weren't even
invited to the ceremony when Buddy was inducted...
And, on the last night, I asked JI what he does with his drumsticks
after the shows, and he said a lot of the time he just leaves them
there... After I asked him that, he said to come with him to the
area in back of the stage...
When I did, he gave me one of the drumsticks he used that night,
AND he autographed it for me... I thought that was very nice (and
cool!) for him to do that... That drumstick is setting on top of my
CD shelf right now...
By the way: Here is just another very brief story...
On the date that Tommy and Johnny Rogers were supposed to play here at The Riverside Ballroom in August of 2006, I met a man there who was also going to go to the show... He asked if I knew who Johnny Rogers was, and I told him that I didn't, and that I was there to see Tommy Allsup... He was quite surprised at that, and he said that he didn't think someone my age would even know who Tommy was... I said I sure did because of the work he did with The Crickets and Buddy Holly... He said he was a fan of Tommy because of the work he did with the Texas Playboys...
The guy went on to say how he seen the Winter Dance Party when they appeared at the Riverside, and that since he only lived a mile down away, he walked there... He also went on to say that when he heard about the crash and everything, he skipped school that day because he was so shocked...
I don't know if that's of any interest, but I thought I'd mention it...
Mike
Many thanks to an ardent Buddy Holly and The Crickets fan Mike L. from
the Midwest of the USA for sharing these great stories with all of us here
Please have a long look at tons of Ian Higham's Collection pages on this website !
