This literally just in, hot off the virtual press: Birch Bayh, former Senator from Indiana. Possibly more later.
Going out to great and good friend of the blog Borepatch: Hal Blaine, noted session drummer.
Mr. Blaine was part of a loosely affiliated group of session musicians who in the early 1960s began dominating rock ’n’ roll recording in Los Angeles. Along with guitarists like Glen Campbell and Tommy Tedesco, bassists like Carol Kaye and Joe Osborn, and keyboardists like Leon Russell and Don Randi, Mr. Blaine played on thousands of recordings through the mid-1970s.
He famously said he gave the group its name, the Wrecking Crew, although Ms. Kaye has insisted that he did not start using that term until years after the musicians had stopped working together.
He substituted for Dennis Wilson on many of the Beach Boys studio recordings:
Asked if Mr. Wilson was angry that he was replaced in the studio, Mr. Blaine said he was not.
“He was thrilled,” he said, “because while I was making Beach Boy records, he was out surfing or riding his motorcycle. During the day, when I was making $35 or $40, that night he was making $35,000” performing live.
Mr. Blaine’s other studio credits include Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” Simon & Garfunkel’s “Mrs. Robinson,” the 5th Dimension’s “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In,” the Byrds’ “Mr. Tambourine Man,” Ms. Streisand’s “The Way We Were,” the Crystals’ “Da Doo Ron Ron” and Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass’s “A Taste of Honey.”
The NYT has an interesting way of presenting the obit for former UT president Bill Powers:
Francesco Cali passed away last night. He was shot six time outside his home, and (according to one report Lawrence sent me) run over by a pickup truck.
Mr. Cali was the current reputed boss of the Gambino family, John Gotti’s old outfit.
NYT on the Cammarano acquittal. Previously on Carmine “The Snake” Persico.
Edda Goering, Herman’s daughter, passed away. She was 80.
I watched the documentary The Wrecking Crew, on Hulu. I am a musician from way back. I actually did not realize that Hal Blaine was still alive. He told a story on the documentary about coming home one day, after working all the unreal hours that the bunch did, 14-16 hours a day, and his wife wanted a divorce. He had to sell his mansion in Beverly Hills, his yacht, his Bentley car, etc. He ended up giving her so much, he was stuck doing a job as a security guard down in Florida someplace, I think. One of the group got him back into making music again.
Herb Alpert was making his first record, and didn’t have any money, so one of the producers asked a couple of the bunch to help him our, and sit in and play on the album. Well they did, and it went straight up to number one. Herb Alpert went to the union, and told them what he had done, paid the fine, and went to all the musicians and paid them scale plus, to thank them for helping him. That to me was a story worth knowing, because it told more about the man and how stand up he was than anything. I think they said he gave them like 25 bucks at first, to just cover gas money, or something like that. If you ever get the chance, it is worth watching.
By the way, I sometimes am known by the name Pigpen 51.
Have a good weekend.