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See Paul's books available below May, 2012 Paul MacPhail New e-mail address for book orders: p5macphail@hotmail.ca Well, guess we all know by now about Jerry Lee Lewis' 7th marriage on March 9 in Natchez, Mississippi. Jerry, 76, married Judith Ann Brown, 63. For those that do not know, she was the former wife of Robby (Rusty) Brown, who was the younger brother of Jerry's 3rd wife Myra Gale Brown. Both were second cousins to Jerry, and their father was J.W. Brown, first cousin to Jerry and his ex-father-in-law and former bass guitarist. Rusty is Jerry's ex-brother-in-law and a former drummer in his band. Y'all got that now! Jerry Lee and Judith spent five weeks back in his old hometown, Ferriday, Louisiana, from February 24-March 30. Jerry spent the first two weeks in Riverland Medical Center in Ferriday taking physical therapy for a back ailment. It was a small private wedding across the river from Ferriday in a friend's house on a bluff overlooking Ferriday. Jerry's sister Frankie Jean and her husband Marion were the only family members attending. Jerry and his bride returned to their ranch in Nesbit, MS. on March 30th. Lewis had not been back to Ferriday in years and they spent three weeks honeymooning there. Jerry showed Judith where his mother's house had been, the farm he bought his father, the family cemetery in Clayton, and all the old haunts where clubs once stood that he played before becoming famous. Lewis played his last show on December 3 in Chicago, Illinois. At this writing, it could possibly be the final show of his long career. Every artist eventually plays a final curtain call. All shows have been cancelled in the first six months of 2012. Jerry broke his lower right leg 30th March upon his return from honeymooning in Ferriday. It was put in a cast and shows were then cancelled until at least mid-June. He spent twenty-three days in rehab and was released April 22nd. He now has physical therapy three days a week. June 23-Hard Rock Hotel Casino, Biloxi, MS. July 30-Sporting Club, Monte Carlo, Monaco. Little Richard replaced Lewis in his first stage show in over 2 years when the 79-year-old rocker temporarily came out of retirement May 6, and played Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, Tennessee. Richard will also replace Lewis June 14 at B.B. King's Blues Club in New York City. Mickey Gilley tour: May 12-Paragon Casino, Marksville, LA. June 16-The New Barn, Renfro Valley, KY. July 21-Isle of Capri, Lulu, MS. July 26-Rock County 4-H Fair, Janesville, WISC. July 27-Isle of Capri, Bettendorf, IOWA. Johnny Rivers tour: June 12-benefit concert for Summit Elementary School, Upper Ojai, CA. Carl Mann played his first show in six months March 30 at Country Crossroads at Casey Jones Village in Jackson, Tennessee. He was backed by bass guitarist Rayburn Anthony and guitarist Steve Patterson.  March, 2012 Paul MacPhail New e-mail address for book orders: p5macphail@hotmail.ca Jerry Lee Lewis tour: April 14-Bearcreek Farms, Bryant, IN May 7-Beale Street Festival, Memphis, TN May 18-Howard Theatre, Washington, DC June 12-Grand Rex, Paris, France June 16-Stadium, Cannes, France Mickey Gilley tour: March 15-Lady Luck Casino, Caruthersville, MO April 1-5-season opener at Gilley's, Branson, MO May 5-Firelake Grand Casino, Shawnee, OK June 16-The New Barn, Renfro Valley, KY July 21-Isle of Capri, Lulu, MS July 30-Sporting Club, Monte Carlo, Monaco July 26-Rock County 4-H Fair, Janesville, WISC. July 27-Isle of Capri, Bettendorf, IOWA. February 29, in the early morning hours, a tornado ripped through Branson, Missouri. It went straight down the strip hitting music theatres, diners, and restaurants. Homes were destroyed and one person was killed, while 33 were hospitalized. Mickey Gilley was not at his condo at the time but rockabilly artist Brandy Roberts was in town at his home. He immediately got in touch with me to say he is okay. The Rt. 76 strip was devastated but Gilley's Theatre and Texas CafŽ one of the few that was untouched. It happened during the night and no one was in the theatres. Actually, it was not the tourist season and the theatres were still closed for the winter. Mickey Gilley is set to begin taping his own RFD-TV 1/2-hour show at his Gilley's Texas Cafe in Branson on March 21. Different guest artists will appear on the shows, like Johnny Lee, Moe Bandy, and rockabilly pianist/singer Brandy Roberts. Six TV shows set for April debut will tape that day. A new book titled "Unconquered" is set for May 1st release, by author J.D. Davis. It is on the lives of three Ferriday star ... Jerry Lee Lewis, Mickey Gilley, and Jimmy Lee Swaggart. These three piano-playing cousins were all born within a year and Jerry went on to rock Ôn' roll fame, Mickey to country music fame, and Jimmy to gospel music fame. Johnny Rivers tour: March 24-Buffalo Thunder Casino, Santa Fe, NM April 13-Celebrity Theatre, Phoenix, AR June 12-benefit concert for Summit Elementary School, Upper Ojai, CA June 16-Wolf Den of Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville, CT. (I'll be there) Chuck Berry cancelled his show 4th of February at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. Columbia Records release Johnny Cash's "Bootleg IV: The Soul of Truth" on 1st April. This two CD set contains 51 gospel songs (only 11 never previously released) from 1975 to 1982. CD-1 contains the 20 tracks from the 1979 double album "A Believer Sings the Truth" and 4 songs from this session not previously released with: "Didn't It Rain/He Touched Me/I'll Have a New Life/Truth". CD-2 contains an unreleased 1975 album session with the only new tracks being "Back in the Fold/Would You Recognize Jesus/That's Just Like Jesus/Keep Me From Blowing Away/Don't Give Up on Me/Our Little Old Home Town" and ten tracks from the 1983 album "Believe In Him", plus 4 songs from a 1982 session with the only new one being "Never Grow Old". If you are a Cash collector, this set offers very few unreleased tracks but is a must have if you want all Cash product. Let's hope Cash Bootleg V offers more unreleased material, as Columbia still has a vault full of his songs. This autumn, Columbia will also release a huge box set on Cash. Carl Mann is in poor health and all his shows have been cancelled since last October. Suffering from bad knees he can only walk short steps before running out of breath. They can't operate on his knees because of a heart condition, high blood pressure and diabetes. Very likely he will not be touring overseas again. Carl is only 69. I'll be visiting with Carl from March 20-April 6. We'll be promoting his new album and autobiography. Jaxon Records is setting several autograph sessions up and the album is set for mid-March release. January, 2012 Paul MacPhail 
Mickey Gilley accepted a Victory Award at the National
Rehabilitation Hospital's 25th Anniversary Gala Victory Awards
Banquet at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC. Five people who
made comebacks from crippling disabilities receive the award each year. Tickets
to the event were $500 and it sold-out. Rockabilly piano man Brandy
Roberts invited on stage by Gilley
at Gilley's Theatre, and both artists
really struck it off. Brandy played Gilley's "Object of my Affection", backed
by Gilley's Urban Cowboy Band, and then played Jerry's "Great Balls of Fire".
He stood throughout both songs. Brandy sang and then Gilley sang. Both Gilley
and his band were fascinated by Brandy's bang-on renditions. Mickey even stood
up from his chair and did a little dance on stage. Mickey honored Brandy by
telling him he sounded more like Mickey and Jerry Lee than they did. Looks like
Gilley and Brandy were on the Jim Williams TV show in Branson and they will be
doing more things together in the New Year. Both of these songs are on Brandy's
latest CD "Rockin' the 88s". Preston Roberts, Brandy's manager, phoned me on
December 6 raving about the show, and then he sent me a DVD of Gilley's
complete show with Brandy for Christmas. The 2-hour show featured Mickey
singing six of the songs from his Christmas album. Dejavu. Mickey Gilley tour: February 11, a 7 p.m.
show at Nutty Jerry's in Winnie, Texas. February 18, Ballroom
of Treasure Island in Las Vegas, Nevada. February 21-26, a week
at Riverside Resort in Laughlin, Nevada. Jason D. Williams tour: February 2-Buddy Holly
Festival at Surf Ballroom, Clear Lake, Iowa. February 11-Potawatomi
Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. February
18-Norristown, Pennsylvania. March 17-Sunshine
Opry, Eustis, Florida. Jack Scott to play the Blue Monday Festival at Attignat, France,
April 28. Barbara Orbison, 60, widow of Sun pioneer star Roy Orbison, died of pancreatic cancer December 7, (23rd
anniversary of Roy's death) in Los Angeles, CA. She had been hospitalized since
May. She was buried alongside her husband Roy. They are survived by three sons. Little Richard celebrated his 79th birthday in Macon,
Georgia, 5th December. Returning to his birth town, he visited an
ailing cousin. Driving out of Macon the following day in his chauffeur driven
black SUV, he stopped at noontime for hot dogs at Nu-Way Wiener, where he ate
as a kid. Jerry Lee Lewis tour: April 6-B.B. Kings
Blues Club in New York City, NY. May 7-Beale Street
Music Festival, Memphis, TN. May 18-Howard Theatre,
Washington, DC. June 10-Cultural
Theatre, Bucharest, Romania. June 12-Grand Rex,
Paris, France. June 16-Stadium,
Cannes, France. Jerry Lee Lewis:
Black & Blues. Live at Third Man Records album recorded last April live in Nashville has finally been released
in very limited production. Contains 12 tracks from "Down the Line", "I Wish I
Was 18 Again", "She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye", "You Belong to Me", "Sweet
Little 16 (for the 100th time), to "Mexicali Rose". Picture sleeve
features black and white photos from the show with stage and crowd shots. Only available to U.S.
citizens and all first copies go to folks who attended show when they bring in
their receipts. Most fans will not have this in their collections. ALL MY BOOKS! NOW AVAILABLE BY PAYPAL... p.macphail@hotmail.com
It is with great
sadness that I have to take the Jerry Lee bio FERRIDAY FIREBALL off the market.
It outgrew itself. Going over the postal weight restriction to mail, the last
copies going out in December cost $33 surface and $50 air. To delete material
would be senseless, since that would defeat the purpose of the publication. To
raise price to $100 a copy would be criminal. It was like mailing the New York
City telephone directory. FERRIDAY FIREBALL (NO
LONGER AVAILABLE) Ð SOLD OUT! FATS DOMINO: BIG BEAT
BLUES. LITTLE RICHARD:
ORIGINATOR OF ROCK. RICKY NELSON: RICK-A-BILLY
THE WORLD OF MICKEY GILLEY.
CARL PERKINS:
ROCKABILLY AMBASSADOR THE
CONWAY TWITTY STORY. CARL MANN: THE LAST
SON OF SUN**
CHARLIE RICH: SILVER LININGS**
BRENDA LEE: GOLDEN GIRL HANK WILLIAMS: FROM THE
CRADLE TO GRAVE. My day-to-day books
contain all shows, tour dates, singles, albums, chart positions, t-v shows,
movies, homes, cars, health problems, family life, and sexcapades/booze/drug
problems. All books sell for 45
Euro, 35L UK, or $50 US or CAN (Postage included). **New CHARLIE RICH or
CARL MANN (postage included) $40 each US/CAN or EURO 35. Paul MacPhail, 34 Mt.
Herbert Rd. Stratford, PEI, Canada C1B 2S4 Of all the name stars that came out of the '50s, many are retired or semi-retired. The Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll is shutting down. A scheduled movie bio on Carl Perkins by Fairlane Productions has apparently been scrapped. There still is some lesser known Rockabilly artists out there (most in their 70s or 80s), many who never made the charts, playing local clubs for little pay. There is a cut-off time when an artist should just retire. We now have deaf Chuck Berry playing poor quality performances at age 85, guitar out of tune and voice off-key. Little Richard makes an odd TV appearance now and then, being wheeled out in a wheelchair. Fats Domino rarely steps out of the house these days or answers his phone, because of Alzheimer's. Jerry Lee cancels half of his very few scheduled performances because of various health problems. We will always remember a young Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, and Buddy Holly, as we did not have to see them try to perform in their late 70s or 80s. As much as we would like our stars to perform forever, there is a cut-off time. Carl Mann has recorded the old rockabilly song "Where the Rio De Rosa Flows" for his new album on Jaxon. His friend Billy Diamond, the man that gave Fats Domino his nickname back in 1947, when Fats joined Billy's band in New Orleans at age 19, has died in Los Angeles 20 in October, just two weeks after his 95th birthday. When Fats became famous in 1950, Billy joined his band as bass player. He later became the best road manager Fats ever had. He managed Fats' career until 1965 then he moved to Los Angeles, to manage the 5/4 Ballroom where Fats played many times through the 1950s. All now left of Fats original band are Dave Bartholomew, 90, and Herb Hardesty, 86. Mickey Gilley November 14, Mickey guest on 'Gene Williams Country' on TV singing duet with Jana Evans on his #1 hit "Paradise Tonight". January 21-26, 2012, Gilley and his complete road show perform on a cruise ship from Jacksonville, Florida to Nassau and Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas, and back to Jacksonville. Early April, Gilley will return to his Branson Theatre playing Sunday-Tuesday evenings, and Wednesday afternoons. Johnny Rivers November 26- Cache Creek Casino, Brooks, California. Jerry Lee Lewis December 3- Congress Theater, Chicago, Illinois. Paul MacPhail THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF ROCK AND ROLL I had this idea to honor the early artists who first paved the musical way by taping a summit in New Orleans. Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino. Chills ran through me but there were limitations. Chuck, was hard of hearing and too vain to wear a hearing aid and he is in his 80's. So you can imagine what Little Richard was like. He looks great but he didn't want anyone to see him in his wheelchair. Jerry Lee was having a bad reaction to cortisone and he was puffed up like one of those blowfish. Fats has had Alzheimer's for the last couple of years and everyone made a huge fuss over him and it was so beautiful it warmed your heart. Paul MacPhail Brandy Roberts from Shreveport, Louisiana, is a young rockabilly singer one needs to get acquainted with. He sounds and plays piano very, very similar to Jerry Lee Lewis. I've heard all the imitators and this guy definitely is the closest thing to a young Jerry Lee on the planet. His stage act is like the Jerry Lee of the 50s-60s, and wherever he plays the audience goes nuts. With four CD releases in the past 12 years, and a string of dates in Korea, Japan, Norway, and casinos from the Dakotas to the Deep South, this piano rockabilly is building a name for himself. He records much of the Killer's material along with hits of Carl Perkins, Mickey Gilley, Chuck Berry, Charlie Rich, and others. His repertoire consists of rockers, blues, and ballads, and his stage performance is wild. He rocks out on "I'm on Fire", "Nothing Shaking But the Leaves on the Trees", "Great Balls of Fire", "Nadine", "Down the Line", and his own composition "Boogie Child", and his ballads are beautiful with "You Win Again", "Sunday Morning Coming Down", "Somewhere over the Rainbow", and "Behind Closed Doors". A whiz on the piano, he tears into "High School Confidential", "I'm Ready", and "Sea Cruise", before slowing it to blues like "Who Will the Next Fool Be" or the up-tempo "Goodnight Irene" and "Mexicali Rose". For CDs ... P.B. Enterprises Inc. P.O. Box 18423, Shreveport, LA. 71118 www.brandyroberts.com Bob Timmers runs the www.rockabillyhall.com
website out of Tennessee. It is full of news that is Rockabilly on the web. If
you've never been to this site, check it out. You will be fascinated. One more
thing, if you like this site, please contribute to Bob. Details on site. It's
non-profit and he only depends on contributions to keep it going. Send $5 or
whatever-keep this site active. One more thing ... my column is now on this site.
Do it for Bob, do it for me, and do it for Rockabilly. Jackson, TN. Features a new recording studio at 215 West Lafayette,
and it's named Jaxon. The original Jaxon Records and studio was owned by Jimmy
Martin who ran it from his house in Jackson in the late 1950s. Carl Mann made his first rockabilly record there in 1957 (and
has signed with new label in mid-August) and Carl Perkins made many demos there of songs he had written from
1956 to 1958. Jimmy Exum, producer Larry Rodgers, an ex-Sun singer Rayburn
Anthony are partners in the new
venture which officially went into service in August. They want to record new
talent in the West Tennessee area. It's a digital world now and studios have to
conform to it, if independent artists want any chance at success. Major record
companies no longer sign up artists as that has ended. Music retail stores are
fast going out of business. Independent artists now make their own CDs and
promote them on tour. Carl Mann is back! During Elvis week in Memphis August 9 he
played Levitt Shell at Overton Park in Memphis, his first show in a year. That
same week on August 12 he played Stop 345 Club in Memphis just a few doors down
from Phillips Recording Services where he recorded in the early 60s. August 16,
he recorded 3 songs produced by Larry Rodgers at Jaxon Studio in Jackson. In
late August he returned for a second 4 song session. August 27, he played the
state-of-the-art Renaissance Center in Dickson, Tennessee. He had his original drummer
W. S. Holland on these shows and
guitarist Ron Haney. Carl performs at Green Bay, Wisconsin, 13 September. Such is the case with
even some big artists like Johnny Rivers who was smart enough to see the future of the music industry and began
his own Soul City label back in the late 80s. Since then he has released seven
CD albums and several singles, his new single is "I've Got to Use my
Imagination". His discs are still big sellers compared to other artists who
came out of the late 50s-early 60s. Rivers dropped by Blueberry Hill in St. Louis July 18 to have
a great talk and lunch with Chuck Berry whom he had not seen in four years since they played a twin bill in
Westbury, New York. Johnny had his photo taken across the street in front of
Chuck's new statue. October 20 - Antone's, Austin, Texas November 25 - Murat Theater, Indianapolis, Indiana. A bit of sad news, Marshall Grant, who played bass with the original Tennessee Two from 1955-1980 with Johnny Cash's band, died at age 83 on August 7. I first met him in May of 1958. He introduced me on stage to Carl Perkins in 1967. Grant was a real nice gentleman. Johnny Cash Bootleg 3: Live Around the World, will be released by Columbia/Legacy in mid-October. The 2 CD set contains rare performances all recorded live in concert at the BIG ïD' JAMBOREE in Dallas, Texas 1956 -3 songs, New River Ranch in Rising Sun, Maryland 1962 -7 songs, Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island 1964 -8 songs, NCO Club Long Bin, Vietnam 1969 -9 songs, White House, Washington DC 1970 -12 songs, Osteraker Prison, Sweden 1972 -3 songs, CBS Record Convention, Nashville 1973 -1 song, Carter Family Fold, Hiltons, Virginia 1976 -2 songs, WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling, West Virginia 1976 -3 songs, Exit Inn, Nashville 1979 -2 songs. Chuck Berry September 16 - Performing Arts Theatre, San Bernardino, California. November 5- State Theatre, Easton, Pennsylvania. December 31 - B.B. King's Blues Club, New York City, NY Little Richard - New 4 CD box set on 101 Distribution label available from Amazon.com at only $13.45, contains all 78 tracks from the 50s with his 8 RCA tracks (1951-52), 8 Peacock tracks (1953-54), all his Specialty tracks (1955-57), 2 radio show tracks from Australia 1957, and his 20 gospel tracks from Gone/End in 1959. All the recordings direct from the original masters. This is a good deal. Jerry Lee Lewis August 13, Lewis in recording session at Phillips Studio in Memphis, laying down tracks with Ken Lovelace and Walbourne on guitars, Rick Rosas on bass, and Jim Keltner on drums. December 3 - Congress Theater, Chicago, Illinois. Mickey Gilley September 5- featured
on "American Pickers" on TV, September 11-December 13 - Gilley plays
Sunday-Tuesdays at his theatre in Branson, MO. January 21-26, 2012,
Gilley and his complete road show perform on a cruise ship from Jacksonville,
Florida to Nassau and Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas, and back to Jacksonville. Jerry Lee Lewis Long time Jerry Lee mystery solved after 54 years. I long had my suspicious concerning the story of how Jerry finally arrived at his debut appearance on the Steve Allen Show on July 28, 1957 and how correct his and Jud Phillips story was concerning that great event. For 54 years Lewis' fans were led to believe that Jerry, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash were on a tour heading to Florence, Alabama in mid-July of 1957 and Jud went to see their act at the Civic Center, and later invited them over to his house for drinks. There he told the group he wanted to take Jerry to New York City and get him on the Ed Sullivan Show. To hear Jud and Jerry tell it through the years it seemed like they went to Sam, got the go-ahead (and money) and headed off to New York in late July. This story never jived with me for many reasons. First, Cash and Perkins',tour schedules in July of 1957 never put them anywhere in Alabama. Secondly, the Billboard magazine of July 15th (printed July 10th) ran a page ad on "Whole Lotta Shaking" and proclaiming Jerry would guest on Steve Allen on July 28th, over two weeks later. Then the TV Guide for the week of July 27-August 2 (which comes out a week early) also mentioned Jerry on Steve Allen Show. Another thing; when Jud talked to Steve and Steve said, "Well, he doesn't have a hit in the chart" - then Jud said his last record sold about 50,000 copies to date. On June 24th "Shaking" hit the Billboard pop chart at #70 and also hit the country charts. By July 15th "Shaking" was #36 on the Billboard pop chart ... already climbing nicely two weeks before the debut TV appearance. Now with the complete set of tour dates in my files, which, I've added to my book "Ferriday Fireball", I've seen what happened. This meeting of Jud and Jerry actually began almost three months earlier on April 2nd when Lewis/Perkins/Cash played the Civic Center in Jud's hometown. Jud saw Jerry perform for the first time ("Shaking" was still 2 weeks away from release) but he played it that night along with "Little Green Valley", "Crazy Arms", and "Don't Be Cruel". After the show the troupe went over to Jud's house for drinks. Jerry played Jud's piano and they talked about going to New York City and trying to get Jerry on national TV. Cash and Perkins got irritated because they were the stars. However, they had already been on national TV. Cash was guesting on STAGE SHOW and Perkins had been on PERRY COMO. Jud said they'd wait a couple of months while Jerry's next record began showing some promise and then he'd approach Sam with the plan. By the end of June the plan was put into operation when Jerry's new disc made the low ends of all three charts ... pop, country, and R&B. Early in July after the holiday weekend, Jud and Jerry headed to New York City. They got to meet with Ed Sullivan ... who turned them down (his mistake). The next day they got to meet with Steve Allen's troupe. They went for it and Steve said the shows were booked for three weeks but he'd pencil Lewis in at the end of the July 28th show. The deal set, Jud and Jerry flew home to Memphis. On July 27th they landed back in New York with the band and this time after a two-day drive by car. One more thing ... the guest appearance on the Alan Freed Show a week later was booked the day before the Steve Allen Show, and was advertised in the next weeks TV Guide. The Lewis troupe stayed in New York City that week while Jud flew back to Memphis for three days then came in to NYC for the Freed date. In between those two TV appearances, Jud also got Lewis the part in the movie Jamboree. He also picked up the song "Great Balls of Fire" for a session. Jerry Lee's 2011 schedule. August 27 -Retro Festival, Bethune, France. August 31 -Kinocenter, Bocholt, Germany. September 3 -Beursgebouw, Eindhoven, Holland. September 10 -University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. Jason D. Williams just finished three shows a night for two nights (July 10-11) at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. His new album KILLER INSTINCTS on Sony features some of his own compositions. He sounds like a young Jerry Lee on "Like Jerry Lee", "You Look Like I Could Use a Drink", and "What Am I Gonna Do". Chuck Berry got a statue in his hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, after much protesting from city councilors over his five various jail and prison sentences. Many people in the city did not want to honor a man with his reputation. Berry won out. The statue is 8 feet tall. Berry plays once a month at Blueberry Hill in his hometown of St. Louis. September 16 you can catch him at the Theatre of the Performing Arts in San Bernardino, CA. Mickey Gilley July 31-August 2-Gilley's Theatre, Branson, MO. August 7-9-Gilley's Theatre, Branson, MO. August 13-Jam, Vicksburg, MS. August 14-16-Gilley's Theatre, Branson, MO. August 19-Music Hall, Arlington, Texas. August 20-Texas Country Music Hall of Fame, Carthage, Texas. August 21-Strand Theatre, Jennings, Louisiana. August 26-Imperial Palace, Biloxi, Mississippi. August 28-Gilley plays a hometown show at the Auditorium in Vidalia, Louisiana. Johnny Rivers September 13-Clay County Fair, Spencer, Iowa. September 17-Odawa Casino Resort, Petoskey, Michigan. September 25-Murat Theatre, Indianapolis, Indiana. I caught Rivers act June 18th at Mohegan Sun's Wolf Den in Uncasville, Connecticut. He looks and sounds just as he did in the 60s, and the million selling hits went on for over 1 and half hours. Backed by 5-piece combo, he performed his latest single "New Home", some blues ballads, and some great rockabilly with "Memphis", "Maybelline", "Mountain of Love" and "Rockin' Pneumonia". Carl Mann has been spending the spring and summer taking therapy three times a week and is slowly regaining his strength back and losing weight. The good news is he'll be back to playing shows by September, and begins on the 13th at the Oneida Casino in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It is just after this show when Carl and I begin a book tour for our autobiography "Last Son of Sun". Little Richard played July 4 at the Capitol Building's west lawn in Washington, D.C., his return to the stage for the first time since October of 2009. The show telecast on PBS-TV. Before Richard played to crowd of over 20,000 people, the Million Dollar Quartet came on and did a group of 50s Sun hits including "Hound Dog", "Folsom Prison Blues", "Blue Suede's" and "Whole Lotta Shaking". Then Richard came on backed by his band and the Million $ Quartet. He was dressed in an all-white suit playing black grand piano, and sang his gold hits "Long Tall Sally" and "Good Golly, Miss Molly" ... as fireworks began exploding in background behind the outdoor stage. He had played this same
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