Let's hope the book has footnotes and acknowledgments.

Ray Pohlman also played on the November 14, 1963, session for "Dead Man's Curve" . . . Jan Berry's production for Jan & Dean.

They kept the basic track when Jan beefed up the song for single release in 1964 . . . so Ray would most likely be on the hit version, too.

M.

Keith (or his researchers)

Good Christ . . . who is stupid enough to use outside "researchers" for pop music history?? !!

That's the domain of college PhDs in the academic ranks (regardless of subject) . . . and even then the stuff gets vetted. Not that mistakes don't happen . . . they do . . . but it's a more robust process. In the Badman case, I strongly suspect there was no editorial oversight, from a publishing standpoint.

I say, if you don't have time to do it all yourself . . . in lieu of a heavy-weight publisher with resources . . . then don't sign on to the project. You're only setting yourself up for a fall. Self-publishing and niche publishing can be good options . . . but only if you have the raw data (personally at hand) to back up your statements, theories, and opinions.

I mean, certainly you'd want to use previous research if it's valid, and cite secondary sources (that's how it works) . . . but you have to double check your material. And if you don't have any true primary sources to check your facts against . . . then you can get into serious trouble.

I'm not of the mindset that . . . just because something may be "out there" (i.e., available) . . . it's any good. Any book that's rife with factual errors is garbage . . . no matter how big a fan or collector you are.

Name-checking insiders and other researchers is never enough.

My copy of the Badman book includes the Social Security numbers.

M.

http://www.myspace.com/markandersonmoore

M.

Just go to our MySpace site

The photo of Jan and Dean at the Watts Towers is pretty cool (just like Mingus and Harold Land "In the Land of Jazz" ).  Are there any other shots in circulation from that photo shoot and do you have any idea when the shoot was and what it was done for?

Jan & Dean's Watts Towers photo shoot took place in 1965 . . . (Photos by Ken Kim).

A photo from this shoot appeared on the picture sleeve of Jan Berry's solo single "The Universal Coward / I Can't Wait to Love You" (October '65). Even though the 45 was issued as a Jan Berry single, it said prominently on the sleeve: "From the Jan & Dean Album: Folk 'n Roll." And the photo on the picture sleeve features both Jan and Dean. Cool image of the Towers in the background, with J&D standing on the railroad track in the foreground.

More photos from this shoot appeared on the back of the FOLK 'N ROLL LP (November '65) . . . and on the front and back covers  of the GOLDEN HITS VOL. 3 LP (issued in August '66, after Jan's accident).

M.

Check out Sky's new interview about his forthcoming solo album, and his participation on our Jan Berry / Jan & Dean Tribute Album.

Just go to our MySpace site, and hit the first link in the Blog section . . . FLOWER POWER TRIP - SKY SAXON.

Does this not sound a bit like one of Brian Wilson's interviews from 1967 . . . tone-wise? !!

http://www.myspace.com/jananddeantribute

M.

Here's a cool, exclusive  nugget for you . . .

Brian has been quoted as saying that Jan Berry was a good piano player.

Well, I have hardcore evidence that Jan liked Brian's piano playing as well. In some of Jan's music scores . . . from which the parts were generated by copyists and placed before the session musicians in the studio . . . the piano parts often have a telling little instruction in the bass clef . . . "BRIAN WILSON LEFT HAND."

Left hand doubling the bass line . . .

Jan did that a lot in his music scores . . . Aside from the usual technical articulations, he wrote things like "Jan & Dean Usual" . . . or "J&D Schtick" . . . or "Dick Dale Slide" . . . etc. .

Easy and familiar cues for the musicians who played on all his sessions. They came to know what Jan wanted by those little instructions.

M.

Also . . . we just posted a cool ten-minute promo video for SAILOVER (shot in London).

The film features PF Sloan, producer Jon Tiven, Steve Kalinich (who co-wrote two songs on the album), and guys from MOJO and a couple of other magazines. Very cool video.

Check it out if you havent seen it yet . . .

FYI . . . Phil reads his MySpace site, and checks his own messages . . . I just set the thing up for him.

Enjoy . . .

M.

[SPECIAL OFFER !!]

SPECIAL OFFER !!

Photographic prints of Jill Gibson's new portrait of Jan Berry (our Jan Berry / Jan & Dean Tribute Album cover) are now available for sale through Jill's Website. The cost is $15.00 per print, or $20.00 for a signed copy. Prices include shipping.

BUY NOW.

M.

Yeah, I learned about it last night . . . a real shocker . . . and a real downer. A great guy.

Eddy was always very supportive of our projects on Jan Berry / Jan & Dean's behalf. . . . I didn't see this one comin' by a long shot . . .

M.

[http://www.myspace.com/pfsloan]

We've launched a new official site for P.F. Sloan on MySpace.

Check it out . . .
http://www.myspace.com/pfsloan

. . . and don't forget to buy P.F.'s brand new solo album called SAILOVER (on Hightone Records).

M.

I don't think it's ever a question of "one way or the other way" . . .

It's a combination, and you use whatever technique suits the music . .. and suits your style.

I played drums in our school's jazz band in high school (many years ago). . . and we had multiple drummers . . . three of us who played on different stuff. And we had one guy who could play, for example, two fast sixteenth notes on bass with his heel up . . . leading into a snare kick. A powerful sound.

So again, I think it depends . . . (1) on individual style . . . and (2) on the dynamics and style of the song in question.

M.

I can report that the sessions went well.  I was lucky enough to be at them and it was very cool to see these pros do what they do.

Josh,

Just got off the phone with Alan Boyd . . . and it sounds like today's session with Probyn Gregory was exceptionally cool.

M.

Fresh off his recent tour in support of the new Sailover album, P.F. Sloan hits the studio today in Los Angeles . . . with Alan Boyd, Cameron Michael Parkes, and Probyn Gregory . . . to lay down some tracks for our Jan Berry Tribute.

Should be a very cool session . . . and we'll post pictures on our MySpace site when we get 'em.

We're pretty well loaded with original players, such as Sloan, David Marks, Mike Deasy, Tom Bahler, Joe Osborn, and Vic Diaz.

Now we need to add a few more from the younger set of avante-garde pop bands who are really making a name for themselves . . . preferrably with members who can read music . . . such as the Heavy Blinkers, or the High Llamas, etc.

Spread the word . . . It's for a great cause.

http://www.myspace.com/jananddeantribute

M.

Oops . . . I meant to post an example of the "Jan & Dean" Label:



M.

Barnaby,

Don't have time to answer everything here . . . but yeah, Jan spent a lot of time and money on the project.

The whole thing blows my mind . . . especially when you consider that Jan Berry (after being in a coma for a month, was back in the studio working on music, exactly one year to the month after his car accident . . . so that means April 1967.

But oh my . . . he wasn't the same anymore. Jan could barely speak in April of '67 . . . but he steadily improved. It's amazing what he accomplished with a stellar group of collaborators. He worked with some of the same arrangers he knew and worked with before the accident . . . Plus many of the same musicians, including Hal Blaine.

Also some new faces on vocals . . . like Tom Bahler (Monkees, Partridge Family, etc.  . . . Tom, by the way, will be performing on our tribute album) . . . John Bahler, Ron Hicklin, Stan Farber . . . plus cameos from Glen Campbell and Davy Jones, etc.

Just hang loose . . . and I'll give everyone a more in-depth introduction to "Carnival of Sound" in the next issue of Dumb Angel Magazine.

M.

I love "(Girl, You're) Blowin' My Mind". Whenever I listen to it, I'm thinking it could've been a hit single. I also think it would've been a great song for The Beach Boys to cover.

Yeah, this stuff is really strong from a compositional standpoint . . .

A good chunk of our Jan Berry / Jan & Dean Tribute Album will be "Carnival of Sound" material . . . as we're doing seven tracks from "Carnival" . . . using the original arrangements.

M.

No official album art was created . . . though Dean Torrrence did design the label for the "Jan & Dean Label" recordings in '67 . . . most of which were acquired by Warner Bros. . . . and were eventually slated for inclusion on "Carnival of Sound" in '68.

"Only A Boy" is the "square peg" on "Carnival of Sound." Not only does it not fit thematically . . . but it was recorded by Jan before his auto accident in '66 . . . and it's the only Carnival era tune to feature Jan's lead vocals . . . though he arranged and produced the entire Carnival album with a series of collaborators.

Releases . . .

Hawaii / Tijuana (Jan & Dean Label) — Summer 1967

Fan Tan / Love & Hate (Jan & Dean Label) — Summer 1967

Only A Boy / Love & Hate (Warner Bros.) — December 1967

I Know My Mind / Laurel & Hardy (Warner Bros.) — Summer 1968

I have proven that certain "promo" copies of "Blowin My Mind," reportedly from the '60s, are a fraud  . . . as they erroneously credit a songwriter (Pierre Hunt) who released a tune by the same name in the '70s (and I have a copy of the Hunt version . . . not the same song).

My documentation (from Jan Berry's personal archive) correctly identifies the writers of "Blowin' My Mind" . . . one of whom was Jan Berry.

There are two acetates that exist for the album:

Fan Tan

Carnival of Sound

Hawaii

Laurel & Hardy

I Know My Mind

Blowin' My Mind

In the Still of the Night

Stay

Louisiana Man

Mulholland


A second acetate featured two more songs . . . "Love & Hate" and "Only A Boy."

I have extensive documentation on this project. A lot more is known about this album than is described by McParland, etc.

M.

[http://www.myspace.com/jananddeantribute]

Okay,

Continuing in the tradition of debuting some of our rough drafts for the album . . . we're adding another one today . . . (1) to start introducing people to some of Jan Berry's lesser-known solo works from the 1970s . . . and (2) to start introducing people to my friend, Robbin Thompson.

I wasn't gonna post this one yet (not by a long shot) . . . but someone inadvertently talked me into it . . .

"California Sunshine (On My Mind)" has an interesting place in the history of Jan Berry's solo works. The tune started life as "Ginny's On My Mind" . . . but soon morphed into "Diane's On My Mind" . . . (during the filming of Dead Man's Curve in 1977) . . . after Jan's new girlfriend at the time.

The song was originally written in 1976 by Jan Berry, Tom Sumner, and Alan Wolfson. The the original instrumental track was committed to tape around that time . . . and it remains one of co-writer Alan Wolfson's favorite Jan Berry tracks from the '70s.

Though they were never recorded, the lyrics and vocal melody for the song were also written out (i.e., notated, especially as "Ginny's On My Mind") . . .

But then something very interesting happened . . . They set "Ginny" aside and wrote a whole NEW lead vocal melody . . . and changed the lyrics . . . and the song became "California Sunshine" . . . Thus, it was always a work in progress.

Here, we offer the song as "California Sunshine (On My Mind)" . . . featuring our adaptation of Jan Berry's original music score, with lyrics culled from various sets of original alternate versions . . . with a vocal adaptation by Robbin Thompson.

This is our raw version. Most of the harmony vocals are still missing . . . (Jan almost never did two-part in the '70s) . . . and the electric guitar parts (which will be added by me) are also still missing.

But it's easy to share our first sparse edition of "California Sunshine" . . . because Robbin is a master of bare-bones acoustic music. If you ever get a chance to catch any of his "one-man, one-guitar" shows . . . in a club setting or private performance . . . you'll know what I'm talking about.

Aside from being in a band called Steel Mill with Bruce Springsteen in the early '70s . . . Robbin's first solo album was contemporary with Jan Berry's "Ginny On My Mind" and other tunes written by Jan in 1976.

In the '80s, The Robbin Thompson Band gained a national audience, with a huge following on the East Coast. Their song "Brite Eyes" (penned by Thompson) spent nine weeks on the Billboard charts in 1980.

Today, Robbin co-owns one of the East Coast's premiere recording studios, which cranks out music for national commercials and films.

Our finished version of "California Sunshine (On MY Mind)" will be much fuller . . .

But in the meantime, enjoy the draft . . .

http://www.myspace.com/jananddeantribute

Mark A. Moore

[http://www.myspace.com/jananddeantribute]

Now in our music player . . .

A draft of "Anaheim" with music and vocals together . . . with addition of timpani, extra guitar and bass parts, etc.

Not our final mix . . . but yet another teaser . . . just for grins, at this point.

Enjoy . . .

http://www.myspace.com/jananddeantribute

Mark A. Moore

Cool.  Another typically esoteric question from me:

Were Jan's harmonica parts generally notated for specific diatonic harmonicas, or did some songs necessitate chromatic harmonicas?

Josh,

Well, interestingly enough, the harmonica parts were not notated for "I Found A Girl" . . .

The hand-claps and chimes were notated (along with everything else) . . . but not the harmonica . . . Go figure.

But of course, we'll still be adding the harmonica parts to the song.

M.

Uh, yeah . . . I interviewed Arnie extensively for my Jan Berry Biography (a work in progress). Probably Arnie's longest Jan Berry interview, ever. . . . and Arnie rarely grants interviews.

Arnie became disillusioned with the music business very early on.

Arnie ended up in the School of Architecture and Design at USC . . . along with Dean Torrence . . . all through the hit-making years for Jan & Dean.

Arnie attended a reunion of The Barons at Jan's family home in Bel-Air in 1980. Great photos exist from that gathering.

M.

[http://www.myspace.com/jananddeantribute]

I FOUND A GIRL: TRACK PREVIEW

Here's the very first rough draft of our instrumental track for "I Found A Girl" . . . a P. F. Sloan-Steve Barri composition  . . . which was a Top 30 hit for Jan & Dean in the fall of 1965.

This is our version of Jan Berry's original arrangement and production . . . adapted from Jan's personal music score from 1965.

Again, this is rough . . . not all the parts are where they need to be yet . . . and the Harmonica part is still missing altogether.

It's a rough mix . . . but it gives you a window on our recording process . . . and the nuts & bolts of the composition.

Mark A. Moore

http://www.myspace.com/jananddeantribute

[More (early) Jan & Arnie / Jan & Dean examples . . .]

More (early) Jan & Arnie / Jan & Dean examples . . .


Bonnie Lou - (Jan & Arnie) - 1958

The Beat that Can't Be Beat - (Jan & Arnie) - 1958

Jeanette, Get Your Hair Done - 1959

There's a Girl - 1959

My Heart Sings - 1959

White Tenneis Sneakers - 1960

Cindy - 1960

Gee - 1960

Judy's An Angel - 1961

Don't Fly Away - 1961

Wanted, One Girl - 1961

Frosty (The Snow Man) - 1962



M.

[Inside the Music of Brian Wilson]

According to a photo inquiry we got today at the official Jan Berry site, another new book on Brian Wilson is forthcoming:

Inside the Music of Brian Wilson
by Philip Lambert

Continuum Publishing (New York)

M.