Chapter XIII (So Ya Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star) edited 2/02/23

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With “Please Forget Her”
still on the charts.

My baby girl Candis
grabbed hold of my heart.

Time to grow up
and be a man

But I still kinda miss
just being a kid
in a rock&roll band.

Not long after hearing Hal Ross say, “Hell, I’ll release that,” a box of our record “Until You Do” showed up as I was about to leave for an out-of-town gig.
As we had to drive right by CKY on our way, we decided to drop off a few copies for Jimmy Darin and the rest of the KY Good Guys.

About a half-hour later, as we left Winnipeg behind, we heard Jimmy Darin say, “Ladies and gentlemen, a CKY exclusive, Until You Do, by The Jury.”
There is no way to describe the feeling you get when you hear your record on the radio for the first time. The closest I can come is that it may be better than sex.

I would venture to say that the most prominent recording artists can still tell you when they heard their first record on the radio. 
I remember sitting in my bedroom practicing my guitar and dreaming about hearing my record on the radio someday.

I also thought that when that day came, your only problem was figuring out what you would buy.
Unfortunately, though, dreams and reality have very little in common.Ral-DonnerThe first time I thought about how it worked was when  I was doing a small tour with Ral Donner.
We were all sitting around Ral’s room in Regina, having a beer after our last show, and Ral was excitedly telling us that he would see Bobby Darin at the Copa in Chicago the next night.

Ral knew that he wasn’t in Bobby Darin’s league, just as Bobby knew that he wasn’t in Sinatra’s.
It took my releasing my records to realize that recording artists are not even close to being equal to each other.

I’ve been thinking about it for a few years, and I think I may have figured it out.
Imagine, if you will, a pyramid-like structure that’s seven stories high.

On the top floor, you have the legends like Sinatra, Elvis, The Beatles, The Stones, Michael Jackson, Elton John, The Eagles, Neil Young, etc.

One level down on the sixth floor is the Hall of Famers, Rod Stewart, Johnny Cash, Dion, Roy Orbison, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Beach Boys, the Everlys, Chicago, The Moody Blues, Bobby Darin, Tom Petty, and others.

Hanging out on level five are, The Guess Who, BTO, Freddy Cannon, Tommy Roe, Bobby Vee, Bruno Mars, Ral Donner, Del Shannon, Maroon 5, and all the rest who have had several top 10 records

On level four is where you’ll find the Winnipeg groups who’ve released a few records but haven’t gone national yet. The Devrons, The Galaxies, The Jury, The Eternals, The Quid, The Shondells, Sugar & Spice, The 5th, Brother, and others.

Level three contains the hopefuls, you know, the acts that deserve to be signed but aren’t for whatever reason.

Level two is the place where the folks who have just learned to play Louie Louie or whatever the entry-level tune is now that makes you want to start a band.

On the bottom floor, you have all your dreamers. You know, the kids who are thinking about buying a guitar, just like I did when I first saw Elvis on TV.

The reality is that you better love playing music because the money doesn’t even begin to show up until you reach the fifth level.

After we released “Until You Do,” we knew that it would probably be a little while before the checks would begin to show up.
However, surely Dick Clark would call us soon to ask us to appear on American Bandstand, right?

While waiting patiently for big things to happen, we went back into the studio and cut our second release, “I Tried To Tell Her,” hoping that it would move us a little closer to stardom.
Unfortunately, the only thing rising faster than our records on the charts were the expenses, and oh yeah, where the f**k was the call from Dick Clark?

When “I Tried To Tell Her” slipped off the charts, we returned to the studio to record “Back In My World.”
However, nothing changed, so we gave it one big last push.

Not only did we book Kay-Bank studios in Minneapolis, but we also changed record companies hoping a small label may have more time to promote us.
Out of the Kay-Bank session came “Please Forget Her,” which became Canada’s #1 Canadian record in Canada.

On the flip side was “Who Dat?” which became a cult favorite and was covered by a few Grunge acts and was also recently listed in a music publication as being 50 years ahead of its time.
I even saw Who Dat listed on E-Bay the other day for $125.00 and couldn’t help but wonder what I did with the box of them that I had? Would you like the Canadian or American version of it, sir?

When the butterflies stopped showing up in my stomach before every gig, I knew my band days were numbered.
Although I did get excited whenever we opened for legends like Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, or Hall Of Famers like The Zombies.

While watching the Ken Burns Country Music documentary the other day, I loved the segment that they did about the Carter Family because it reminded me of us opening for them.
It, like the movie about Johnny Cash, portrayed June Carter as a rather saintly person.

However, I remember standing backstage with the Statler Brothers, watching Mother Maybell Carter and the Carter Family perform.
Unfortunately, the Statlers were upset with June because she’d recently moved into Johnny’s suite somewhere on the tour.

Shortly after she made that move, she appointed herself the revue’s musical conductor, and I guess the Statlers didn’t appreciate being told by a backup singer how they should sing everything.
In fact, they used the “C” word quite often to fondly describe her.

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