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Ken Burke has been writing about rock’n’roll, rockabilly, blues and country music since 1985. A former stand-up comedian, disc jockey, and singer-songwriter, the current contributing editor of Blue Suede News has written for such magazines as Blues Access, Brutarian Quarterly, Country Standard Time, Country Music Live, Feedback, Goldmine, Original Cool, Outer Shell, and Roctober.
Desperate to make a living, Burke has contributed extensively to the Contemporary Musicians and the Encyclopedia of World Biography reference series, the MusicHound album guides, and Jake Austin’s - A Friendly Game of Poker (2003) and TV-A-Go-Go: Rock on TV from American Bandstand to American Idol (2005). The manically prolific Burke has also authored Country Music Changed My Life - Tales of Tough Times and Triumphs from Country’s Legends, (Acappella, 2004) and The Blue Moon Boys - The Story of Elvis Presley’s Band (Acappella, 2006) with Dan Griffin.
Burke has been on the Blue Suede News staff since 1997 and lives in Black Canyon City, Arizona because everybody has to be somewhere. |
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Howard A. DeWitt is Professor Emeritus of History at Ohlone College, Fremont, California. For more than thirty years he has taught two college level courses in the History of Rock n Roll music. He continues to teach the History of Rock and Roll music on the internet. He wrote the first book on Chuck Berry, which was published by Pierian Press under the title Chuck Berry: Rock N Roll Music in 1985. DeWitt’s earlier brief biography, Van Morrison: The Mystic’s Music, published in 1983, received universally excellent reviews. On the English side of the music business DeWitt’s, The Beatles: Untold Tales, originally published in 1985, was picked up by the Kendall Hunt Publishing Company in the 1990s and is used regularly in a wide variety of college courses on the history of rock music. Kendall Hunt also published Stranger in Town: The Musical Life of Del Shannon with co-author Dennis M. DeWitt in 2001. In 1993’s Paul McCartney: From Liverpool To Let It Be concentrated on the Beatle years. He also co-authored Jailhouse Rock: The Bootleg Records of Elvis Presley with Lee Cotten in 1983. DeWitt’s book, Sun Elvis: Presley In The 1950s, published by Popular Culture Ink. was a finalist for the Deems-ASCAP Award for the best academic rock and roll book. During his high school and college years, DeWitt promoted dances in and around Seattle, Washington. Such groups as Little Bill and the Bluenotes, Ron Holden and the Playboys, the Frantics, the Wailers and the Night People among others played at such Seattle venues as the Eagle’s Auditorium and Dick Parker’s Ballroom. |
Gaby & Johnny Powers in Green Bay 2007
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Gaby Maag-Bristol
Gaby Maag-Bristol went from a teenager obsessed with international pop star Shakin Stevens to Rockabilly fan to contributor and later editor and publisher of Germany's Rockin' Fifties magazine (which she ran for about 8 years in the '90s) in a short time. Her first Blue Suede News contribution was the Big Sandy photo for the cover of issue #41. Since that time she has had many photos published including several covers, written many reviews, married your faithful editor, and become his co-editor and photo editor as well as helping with layout design. Gaby's photos have also appeared on the packaging for a few CDs, and she makes notecards featuring her car photos, nature pictures, fireworks and other interesting things.
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Rick Meek
Rick Meek began his career as a drummer in 1962 with
Mike Prior & The Escorts in his native area of King's Lynn, England. Recruited by Denny Raven & The Sabres he soon found himself in Hamburg, Germany in the heady early '60s (subject of a story he wrote for our issue #54). All this and more are the subject of Rick's 2007 book Maid's Head To Hamburg (Berimbau Music). The group appeared on the first Live At The Top Ten Beat Club LP. Although major stardom eluded them despite being in the right places in the midst of the rush to sign British bands, Rick soldiered on playing a wide variety of music into the '90s. In addition to the feature story Rick has been writing reviews regularly for Blue Suede News for several years now, and also has contributed to the World Jazz Network Newsletter. In his book Rick credits BSN editor/publisher Marc Bristol for suggesting both his article and his book!
He's pictured to the left in Chicago.
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Mark Marymont
Mark Marymont was a radio announcer and programmer for 18 years before he began writing about music and entertainment for newspapers, including USA Today and The Philadelphia Inquirer, and publications in Little Rock, Ark., Springfield, Mo. and Fort Myers, Fla. He contributed to Country Weekly for 10 years and has also been published in Goldmine. He's written more than 500 sets of liner notes for Collectables, Varese Sarabande and RCA. He lives in Falls Church, VA., where his wife, Kate, is Senior Vice President/News U.S. Community Publishing Gannett Company.
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Bob Cianci
Bob Cianci has been a music journalist for over thirty years, and has contributed to magazines such as Blues Revue, Blues Access, Modern Drummer,Drumhead, Vintage Guitar, No Depression and many other newspapers, websites and publications. He is currently Features Editor of Classic Drummer magazine as well as its main contributor. Bob's book, Great Rock Drummers Of The Sixties, is now in its revised second printing and is available wherever books are sold. Bob is also a working drummer and guitarist with three nothern New Jersey bands, The Kootz, The Wheels, and The Burgundy Watch, a sixties-style garage/psych band. You can reach Bob through his website, www.BobCianci.com
Copies of The Wheels' CD and his book are available for sale there.
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Johnny Vallis
Best-known as 'The Man of Many Voices', popular Canadian entertainer Johnny Vallis is also a much-respected record collector and music historian. Devoting time as The Canadian Rep. for The Internet's Rockabilly Hall Of Fame (www.rockabillyhall.com) since 1998. A crowd-pleasing professional entertainer since age 15, the British Columbia native has also provided musical insights for magazines such as American Music Magazine (Sweden), Big Beat Of The 50's (Australia) and Blue Suede News (USA). Johnny has also written liner notes for CD projects released by the Hydra and Bear Family labels.
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Here's Andy with his wife Cindy.
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Andy Merey
Andy Merey was educated in Toronto. during his teens in the 1960s he developed a great interest in both movies and popular music.
Married with three children, he is able to maintain his knowledge and appreciation through off-hours research, correspondence, interviews and writing of articles
. Andy has contributed articles for Discoveries and American Music Magazine...also has been writing a semi-regular column about music and movie history in the local newspaper Whitby This Week since 2003.
He's currently working on his first book GREAT INSTRUMENTALS 1950-1969: A REFERENCE LISTING AND REVIEW OF OUTSTANDING SONGS AND ARTISTS with tentative publication set for late 2009."For recreation he enjoys music, viewing movies and walking his dog by the lakeshore.
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Marc Bristol
Linda Gail Lewis, Marc and Linda Gail's daughter Annie, Green Bay 2007
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Marc Bristol began Blue Suede News early in 1986, just after learning that Rick Nelson had died. He has a black belt in journalism from the school of hard knocks, and had previously written for the Seattle Times, The Mother Earth News, Natural Life, Milkshake Man, and various other publications. His 6 years of Homegrown Music columns for Mother Earth News were compiled into a book by the same title (Madrona Press), and material from the first of those columns became a program for schoolkids and festival goers which eventually also became a VHS video. It has now become available on DVD with some bonus features. Marc is also a performing musician, band leader, songwriter and recording artist. You can learn more about all that at his webpage linked below.
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Dennis DeWitt
After wandering in the wilderness the last few years, former Asst. Editor Dennis DeWitt has returned with his popular Tidbit Jukebox column, and occasional reviews. Dennis is co-author with his brother Howard of the book Stranger In Town: The Musical Life Of Del Shannon and has been involved in promoting shows in the Seattle area.
There he is pictured with Martí Brom (L.) and Kim Lenz (R.)
slickyschick@yahoo.com
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Bob Hover
Bob is a long time musician here in the Pacific Northwest, having been a founding member of Surf band The Desperados in high school, playing with the Virgin Souls back in the '60s, and later with the Sno-Valley Drifters, Top Hands, and many other bands including the Fabulaires, who backed Janis Martin here in Seattle and Thunder Road. Bob has moved to the Phoenix area now, and is playing in the Pebble Rock Band in Goodyear, AZ down there (and some other acts) - but he still contributes to Blue Suede News! Bob started the "Original Versions" column, but now that he's retired he's been contributing feature stories, which we're very happy to have!
hoverre@aol.com
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