HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!!

THE HELLDRIVERS THE TORPEDOS AND CIRCUS BOY!

WOW! The Hell Drivers/Torpedoes/and Circus Boy show blew down the house at Alvin's on Cass Saturday night! The weather broke just long enough for us to get to the city and park right out front.

This concert was so exciting to see, Lucky for me I did get to see my friend Johnny BEE play a few times in 2009 and Machinegun interviewed him on camera this fall too which was a gas! Go see their fun videos HERE

Standing stage left and about 8 feet away from Jim McCarty was mind blowing. Jim was playing guitar on the first record I ever bought! Sock it to me with Mitch Ryder. He make playing the guitar look so easy!

Jim was so kind to us too. He signed our Hell Drivers CDs and even go a knife to make sure we didn't ruin the cover ripping the tape off. Thanks Jimmy! We loved hearing him play at last. Jim Ed was the gentleman of the evening and so generous and kind.

WizardoLivonia Video:

He really works that crowd! Does a Mighty fine job as lead vocalist. Thank you Mr. E for the invitation. Marvin on bass was fantastic but we missed getting his autograph! I hate it when that happens!

Hearing Rock n Roll Music reminded me of my friend Ron Cooke bass player for Detroit who is home recuperating from a broken foot poor guy! Hope to see you soon Ron! This show took me back to the days of Dave Gilbert too. He was such a hottie and his voice was so perfect for the Rockets. The HD gave my friend Scott Morgan a big shout out for his signature song RESPECT.

Happy New Year and here's to hoping that Kathy Asheton picks up the induction award for her brother at the Rock Hall of Fame long overdue induction of the Stooges. Now if they would JUST INDUCT the MC5!!!!




My pals Johnny BEE and Skid Marx hanging around after the show. That was such a great Christmas party to be able to see those three bands. I took my friends Robin and Trudie becasue I didn't want them to miss this lineup. Have seen Bee play with the Howling Diablos twice but to see him turn it up a notch and play with Jim McCarty was unbelievable. I'll never forget that show.

 MikeJTone and his psychedelic red Ludwigs

The Torpedoes Really Kicked!

CONNIE HINES OF MR. ED: IN MEMORIUM

CONNIE HINES

I was just getting ready to do a post about Connie as she was one of my favorites in 1960s television along with ED. This is a nice piece by John Rogers.

By JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES – He had the talking horse. Now all Alan Young had to do was find the right woman to play his wife on television's "Mr. Ed."

It was a task made simple, the veteran actor said Thursday, the moment he met a young actress named Connie Hines who had moved to Hollywood just two years before and had only a handful of TV appearances on her resume.

"I was one of the people in the room when we were auditioning for the part," Young, 90, told The Associated Press. "When Connie Hines walked in, we all just looked at each other before she even started speaking and said, 'This is the girl.' She just exuded something — fresh air, I guess you could call it — that we knew would make her perfect for the part."

Hines, who died a week ago at age 78, went on to make a lasting impact on a generation of Baby Boomers as Carol Post, the pretty, perky, young newlywed who never let it bother her that her husband, Wilbur, was seen by everybody else as a nut case with a horse he thought could talk only to him.

"I could talk about that horse all day long," Young said of stories about Mr. Ed, the golden palomino whose voice was provided by Allan "Rocky" Lane. "And I could talk about Connie all week long."

Forty-three years after the long-running show went off the air, Young says he is still asked two questions almost every day: "How did Mr. Ed talk, and is Connie as pretty as she looked on TV."

He keeps mum on the first question. He answers the second with one word: "Yes."

The two remained lifelong friends after the show left the air in 1966, appearing together from time to time in the play "Love Letters" for various charitable fundraisers Hines was promoting.

Active in causes for animals, Hines and her husband, Lee Savin, hosted a cable access show in the 1990s in which they helped find homes for animals and interviewed veterinarians and animal behavior experts.

After Savin died in 1995, Young said he persuaded Hines, who was devastated by the loss, to accompany him to autograph-signing shows so she could learn how much the public still loved her.

"It was, and continues to be, a warm and gratifying experience to see generations of fans coming to celebrate Mister Ed," she said in a chapter Young asked her to write for his 2007 book, "Mr. Ed and Me and More."

The child of actors, Hines grew up in Dedham, Mass., where she was chosen the most popular girl at Dedham High School. She said she fell in love with acting as a child after appearing opposite her father in the play "Clarence Day."

After a brief time acting and modeling in New York, she moved to Los Angeles in 1959 and began appearing on such television shows as "Whirlybirds," "Johnny Ringo" and "Sea Hunt."

Young said a memorial service is scheduled for Jan. 15.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!

Merry Christmas and to all of my readers and loves ones thank you all so much for everything this year! Cheers! KIMMER!

DARLENE LOVE FOR CHRISTMAS!

Kimmer's personal favorite of all Christmas singers is Darlene Love. she is my friend on Myspace and has emailed me and thanked me for being her fan. Such wonderful lady and she is still very in demand all year long! I spend every Christmas playing (singing) her songs at my party and all season long in my jeep! I thought I'd share my favorites with my RK friends!

History of Rock n Roll Excerpt

One day a girl that Darlene knew from church, Delores Ferguson, asked her to sing at her wedding.What she didn't know was that the wedding was also an audition: Delores' bridal party included her friends Gloria Jones, Fanita Barrett, and Annette and Nanette Williams, who had a singing group called the Blossoms.

They were looking to replace Annette who had become pregnant. After the ceremony Darlene was introduced to the girls and was asked to audition for the group at Eddie Beale, their manager's office. Darlene was then asked to sing with the Blossoms.

Her parents at first refused to let her, but after meeting the Blossoms they relented. Darlene started singing in 1958 with the Blossoms. The Blossoms recorded as a quartet, without success for Capitol Records from 1958 and 1960, and then a a trio for Challenge and Okeh records. They also did backup singing in Los Angeles, supporting Bobby "Boris" Pickett ("Monster Mash"), James Darren ("Goodbye Cruel World), Bobby Day ("Rockin' Robin") and many others.

Love was brought to Phil Spector's attention by his partner Lester Sill when he was looking for a lead singer for "He's a Rebel." which was to be released under the Crystal's name. When Darlene was asked if she knew about this she said "So What? The man just paid me triple scale." She figured that it was a cute song, but it was probably going nowhere. 
Love went on to record six Philles singles under her own name, including "Wait Til My Bobby Gets Home" (#26, 1963) ,"(Today I Met) The Boy I'm Going To Marry" (#39, 1963), " and "A Fine Fine Boy" (#53, 1963). She also appeared on Spector's Christmas Album. Love continued to sing with the Blossoms through the 60s. They were regulars on Shindig and toured with Elvis Presley in the early 70s. Love sang back-up for Dionne Warwick for ten years beginning in 1971 and later backing Aretha Franklin.

CHRISTMAS WITH THE HELLDRIVERS!

THE HELL DRIVERS!

Jim McCarty - Guitar & Vocals
Jim Edwards - Vocals
Marvin Conrad - Bass
Johnny "Bee" Badanjek - Drums & Vocals

TORPEDOS
Gillespie, Serafino, Mitchel Angelos,
Greasi Carlisi, & with Jimmi Bones on keyboards.

CIRCUS BOY
Skidx Marxe-Bass
Gary Adams - Guitar
Derek Murtaghx Guitar
Brian Moore - Drums
Margaret Dollrod - Guitar
Greasy Carlisi - Guitar

SATURDAY DEC. 26
The Hell Drivers
Torpedos
w/ Circus Boy & Motor City Rah Rah's
8pm; $10 cover
ALVIN'S ON CASS

Kimmer will be there with her crew so stayed tuned!

FANTASTIC TURN OUT! ANN ARBOR ROCK N ROLL REVIVAL 2009

Kimmer and old pal Jennifer

Happy Holidays Retro fans everywhere! Kimmer started off this hot holiday season having a blast with my rock n roll heroes at the Ann Arbor Rock n Roll Revival 2009. This is an annual event produced by the hardest working man in the music biz, guitarist, promoter Chris "Juke Box" Taylor. I joined Box's team to help promote this fun show and together we blasted the event throughout all of cyberspace! What a huge crowd! Great way to launch into Christmas!

Hiawatha and Scott

The night before the show was as much fun for me as the concert itself! I played chauffeur to Mr. Scott Morgan and his partner in crime Hiawatha Bailey also an Ann Arbor Rock Legend. It was unusually exciting as my Jeep's gas tank was on E as we were hurrying around Ann Arbor searching for Scott's Amp! OMG I thought for sure I was going run out gas before I got those guys to the studio! But we found the Amp and got the boys to the studio on time!

Just as we arrived that fantastic doctor/jet pilot/rock guitar legend Deniz Tek arrived! Deniz really is such a STAR. Movie Star glamorous, talented, intelligent and the ultimate in generosity of spirit.

Truly one of the kindest men I have ever had the pleasure to meet. Deniz and I are collaborating on web projects and we launched the Deniz Tek blog just this past weekend. What a ton of fans have hit that blog! His fan base covers the globe except for maybe the arctic circle!

At the studio the all star band came together to rehearse for the A2 show. Deniz Tek (Radio Birdman), Scott Morgan (The Rationals), Hiawatha Bailey (Cult Heroes), Chris Taylor (Mazinga), Rob King (Destroy All Monsters) and the powerful drummer Al King (Mazinga).

Scott Morgan and the IrRationals did my favorite songs and had that audience singing and dancing along. Not just the women either! Guys were dancing in the aisles too. That music never grows old. Hiawatha was so great and I was especially anxious to see Hi sing once more.

We saw him at the chance back in the day and I think he is even better now. Just fascinating to view and hear. He really whipped that crowd into a roar. My dear friend Rob King the fabulous drummer from Destroy all Monsters came and played with the all stars. Rob makes drumming look so smooth and easy. That is his gift and after all these years Rob still practices and trains with drum instructors. He lives for his music.

Rob and Niagara met for the first time and many years and had a nice time catching up with their latest adventures. Here is a great video of them together in Make Mine Japanese.

We had a very special guest arrive from France Eric Pouille from The Holy Curse came in to visit with his very good friend Deniz and sing a bit with the all stars. He was great! Really nice guy and I picked him from the airport and ran him to the studio (no easy feat) but at least Deniz bought the Jeep some GAS! YES lol Our master of ceremony was the Fantastic Stanley T. Madhatter!

He stepped in and really livened up the crowd! Also on hand to help was the very talented photographer Len Beste. Thank you so much guys for saving the Kimmer in distress! Gorevette rocked the Pig and we loved finally meeting the girls and of course our pal Al King pulling triple drumming duty that night drums for Gorevette.

Nikki Corvette Amy Gore Lianna Castillo Al King

Mazinga opened the show and I was thrilled to finally get the chance to hear these guys. They played a terrific cover of Lookin at You by the MC5 My favorite song of the Motor City 5. Al King drummed for Mazinga, then Gorevette and finished with the All Stars. He was calm as could be and I was just amazed at his cool demeanor all night. We were happy to meet Niagara Detroit at the show. We did have a friend email us the day before to let us know she would be attending, but we weren't quite sure that it would actually happen. Deniz had called and invited her out to the gig and she kindly obliged. We have been a huge fan of Niagara's art for quite sometime and just loved meeting her in person.

At the show my buddy Trudie Duart came out to help run the merch tables with me. Trudie had the best time and her energy made this night just that much more special for me. Little Trudie was standing up on the chair cheering, hawking the tee shirts, and watching over my equipment all night! What a trooper Miss T! Thank you darling so much!

We had a terrific time and especially loved meeting my new fan from Australia and his beautiful girlfriend from Canada! I wish I could find the paper I wrote their names on!! So when you read this please send me your info and email ok? Thank you so much everybody and Happy Holidays! On the 26th we will be Hanging with Johnny Bee at Alvin's in Detroit!

Special thanks:
Robert Jacko Jackson Photos
Craig Regan
Jeff and Amazing Alice
Mike JTone
Jennifer Campbell
Maureen Ferrell
Lezlie Zay Great to see you at last!
Theresa Taylor
MGT