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May 22, 2010

Willy Deville 1982 Special | FR 1

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WILLY_DEVILLE1.mp4 (33900 KB)

Paul Tschinkel's InnerTube - Mink DeVille and Paul Shapiro


Paul Tschinkel's InnerTube, cable public access show, 1980.

Featuring: Mink DeVille at the Lone Star Cafe and renowned jazz musician and member of the band "Foreign Legion," Paul Shapiro featured on InnerTube.

Visit www.artnewyork.org for more information.

Fans recommend...

Bonobo: "RIP Willy, and thank you, I enjoyed your music a lot."

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Gangbanger Beatles Tribute

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Gangbangers Beatles.mp4 (14073 KB)

Fake Beatles Street the Beat's Amazing Journey From Gangbangers to Nuyorican Fab Four


Ghetto Brothers Colors It's been a little more than a year since your erstwhile Fake Beatleologist has filed a missive, it must be said from the start. After retiring this series, i knew it would take an extraordinary event to get me to create a new entry — and that is exactly what brings me back into the realm of the Mocktops for this one-off post. For i have located, after more than 25 years, a particularly elusive and preposterously rare Fake Beatles tune that has been my musical holy grail for all this time.

The reason i never imagined finding the song in question is that i first heard it performed by street musicians who never committed it to record, to my knowledge. The song is called "Falling in Love," and the group was known, appropriately for buskers armed with a repertoire of Beatles songs, as Street the Beat — and their story is as uncanny as their grasp of the Fab Four's musical vernacular.

For while there are dozens of quartets faking the Fab, i venture to guess that only one contained former gang members of Puerto Rican heritage from the mean streets of the South Bronx. Consisting of brothers Benjy, Robert and Victor Melendez, and supplemented by friend Manny Cortez, Street the Beat's instrumental lineup consisted of three acoustic guitars and a "drum kit" made up of cardboard boxes (shades of Michael Clark in the more blatantly Beatley pre-Columbian Byrds). They sang — and spoke — with Liverpool accents, when, suffice to say, they likely never had even ventured as far as Liverpool Street in Queens!

As founding members of the Ghetto Brothers street gang in the late '60s and early '70s, the Melendezes cut a badass swath through their neighborhood, but they showed a more tender side when they trotted out their sweet Latin soul harmonies on the very same street corners they defended in turf wars just hours earlier. They soon tired of the gang life but not of their love of music, and the reformed street punks took to the sidewalks of New York for more tuneful endeavors.

Plying their musical trade for chump change in Manhattan is where this writer encountered them in the early 1980s — and not only performing dead-on renditions of both Beatles classics and choice album cuts. I recall three original songs: The harmony-rich rock en Español of "Baila"; "Crazy Boy," the "Moulty"-ish autobiographical tale of Victor, the man bashing the corrugated kit, sung by the subject himself; and the song that qualifies as a coalescence of everything that makes for a boffo bogus Beatles bonanza. 

Manny Cortez

I had heard "Falling in Love" performed a total of about two-and-a-half times during this short span, once at a rare Street the Beat club gig at Folk City in Greenwich Village (booked by the young man who years later would be known worldwide as WFMU DJ Todd-o-phonic Todd), with the half performance being a televised appearance on a local public-affairs show called Hispanic Horizons that i just happen to have caught while channel surfing one Sunday morning. Nonetheless, i took in every hook, every harmony, and if i had actual singing and instrumental talent i could have re-created it all from memory. That was because i knew each time i heard it could be my final chance ever to take in this wondrous achievement of Beatlesque songcraft at its finest.

Twenty-first-century technology had a different plan in store for me, however. Not long after my discovery of search engines in the 1990s, i would occasionally type in the terms "street the beat" and "falling in love" hoping for a "hit," only to be greeted with inevitable disappointment. Until a couple of months ago, that is, when the televised performance mentioned earlier showed up on YouTube! Suffice to say that i played the song so many times in succession that if you recently experienced a YouTube slowdown, i may very well be to blame. Yes, after 26 years, it sounded just as remarkable as i remembered! 

This feeling of accomplishment and closure i now possess may mark the final chapter in my Fake Beatles coverage, but there's no predicting what amazing morsel of Phony Fab i might uncover in future days. Because if i've learned anything from the experience laid out above regarding the Nuyorican Beatles, it's never say never!

I like how that the one lefty going and then they bow at the end in unison. and OMG those are cardboard boxes.

Most impressive !

Talking of Fake Beatles- this is probably the most outlandish one I can think of

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/teenvocal/22981191.html

Wow, a blast from the past...I remember seeing them on the sidewalk near Lincoln Center in the '80's. They drew quite a crowd & sounded remarkable! Any word on what's become of them?

Hi All this is Manny Cortez from the former band Street The Beat.
You can find songs that I have posted on www.youtube.com/streetthebeat
Also mannyandthemob
Mannyc53

Hi there Gaylord Fields, I wonder if you've seen or heard that inter-dimensional Beatles record on thebeatlesneverbrokeup.com/ ?
Fascinating unreleased Beatles record called "everyday chemistry".
Possibly a new high in Fake Beatles records. Or is it?

Best regards, Aston Coles

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Bröselmaschine (I Once Loved) Lassie

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Crayfish: ざりがに ざりがにロックンロール(おかあさんといっしょ)

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Rock 'n' Roll Police Sting | Henry Padovani | Cannes Film

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Police Cannes.mp4 (10490 KB)


Rock 'n' Roll Police | Henry Padovani + Sting Copeland Summers | Cannes • Henry Padovani doc
(featuring early
Police) Cannes
http://www.stewartcopeland.net

http://www.henrypadovani.com/images/index_01.gifhttp://www.henrypadovani.com/images/index_04.gif
WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE IN FOR A LIFETIME
Or a henry padovani biography.

HP's excited news brief in two languages:

' ROCK AND ROLL.. OF CORSE!' est SELECTION OFFICIELLE au FESTIVAL de CANNES!! ca y est, on peut le dire!

(http://bit.ly/aMpGFI)http://www.henrypadovani.com/uk/images/whenyoubelievedtextintro.jpg

1952 :Born 13/10/52 bastia ( Corsica)
1963: Being given a guitar at the age of 11 by his uncle .
Left the guitar in a corner until 14
1968 : Formed lapsus , a band with school mates
Playing English pop standards at local dance clubs

'ROCK AND ROLL.. OF CORSE' is OFFICIAL SELECTION at the CANNES FILM FESTIVAL!! thanks god, we can now tell it!http://www.henrypadovani.com/uk/images/secretpolicemantextchaptersuk04.jpg
Late june, the flying padovanis start a mini tour of London clubs and culminate beautifully in Hyde Park, supporting the Police, for the Hard Rock Calling. Of course Lionel Guedj is filming all this
In july, they fly off to Japan where they have been invited for 3 concerts at the famous FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL  Of corse Lionel Guedj is filming all this too!!

2009: the flying padovanis start the year recording a few tracks with Mark St John at the SmokeHouse studios in London. They record Mancini’s Peter Gunn, the Shadows’s Apache, Kraftwerk’s The Model and ‘I am Spartacus’, a fats furious riff from Henry for the movie ‘ rock and roll …of corse!’.
All winter, henry concentrates on the recording of the music for the movie and in the spring, he start the writing and the translation of ‘secret police man’ in English, with the caring help of Aysen Slack, Paul Slack’s wife. He adds 3 more chapters and the book is ready for October.

In november, Henry leaves for a serie of dates in Singapour, Australia and New Zeland. He visits 10 cities, screen a work in progress version of ‘ Rock and roll…of corse !’ and performs in 10 clubs and theaters, alone with his guitar, for a set consisting of 2 :3 of french songs, the rest in english  

The early days of the Police

After Christmas I decided to go for an audition. Just like that. I wasn’t even sure whether or not I was going to stay in London, I was just rolling along, going with the flow.

I often played with Steward and Ian, and we got on well. We’d go out together to see bands. Stewart often talked about the band that he wanted to start. We’d see Miles organizing gigs – I remember watching Squeeze, his latest signing, supporting Generation X at some college gig, the audience seated behind the lecterns.
And then, maybe just to prove something to myself, I decided to reply to a small ad.
I was flicking through Melody Maker and I noticed a classified: London, punk group is looking for a guitarist. Why not? I gave them a call, and they asked me to come and see them in North London. Paul dropped me off. I met two guys: a singer, Riff Regan, and a drummer, John Moss, who later formed Culture Club with Boy George. Very cool.  They handed me a guitar and I played some rock, a ‘twelve bars’ whilst Riff sang.
-  “Do you want to join our band?”
Straight to the point.
I said I’d think about it and call them, and I left, over the moon. It was my first audition and they’d accepted me. I had been a bit stressed. It is not easy to sell yourself so quickly.

I went back to Paul’s, and that evening I called Stewart. I told him all about the audition. He seemed a bit surprised that I had done it. He asked me:
- “But, are you planning to stay in London, then?”
- “Maybe… Anyway, I said I’d think about it”
-  “So you’re ready to stay?”
-  “Yeah…” I replied, a bit lost. “I don’t know… I don’t really feel like going back just yet. Why?”
-  “Look, if you’re going to stay in London, why don’t you join my band?”
-  “You never asked me.”
-  “I thought you understood. Anyway, the bass player I told you about is coming down from Newcastle”.
-  “Oh yeah? The Sting or whatever his name is?”
-  “Yeah, him!… What are you doing right now?”
-  “Not a lot, I’ve just got back at Paul’s”
-  “Why don’t you come round? We can have a chat about it”
I was thinking. He continued:
-  “And I’ve just written a new song”
-  “I’ll be right over!”
Stewart seemed to be a bit worried that I might join another group. I was surprised. I was pleased. I don’t know. It was simple and I liked that. Like always, I didn’t question myself too much, everything just fell into place, quietly and simply.

All my life I haven’t asked myself too many questions. I tend to trundle along on instinct, and either I’ve had a lot of luck or maybe that’s just the best way to make choices. So far, I think I have been right to work in that way. And when people ask, I reply that I don’t have many regrets, that I sleep well and dream a lot, and not always while sleeping either.
Like most people, I also have some pretty mad ideas sometimes, but ‘I’m not making any plans about the comet???’. ( wild dreams.. when the comet was first seen, people would have all kinds of ideas about it.. an English expression here?)

I’d been in London for about a month. I wanted to be a musician. I was one. I wanted to be a guitarist in a band. I’d been offered two options in one day and I had chosen. Everything was going well.

When the band that I was about to join eventually became very famous – and I wasn’t part of it anymore – many people in France did asked me if I wasn’t disgusted, jealous, bitter or even sour. Never once have I ever felt anything other than joy for my friends, for their well deserved success. Maybe if I had gone through the same thing in France, I might have felt that way, but in England, we all pulled together in the same direction, and if one group became successful, then we all had a chance to also become so one day. I have never made music thinking that I wanted to become number one, and neither have any of the groups I have played with in the UK. Obviously we wanted our music to be heard, we wanted to be successful, wanted to play in front of larger and larger crowds. And, even though there was so much competition, we knew that we could all have our chance, and we all did everything we could to have it.  In England, no one has ever asked me whether I was jealous of The Police’s success. My friends are proud to know that I, along with two mates, started a group that became one of the biggest pop group in the world.

The bassist he’d mentioned was about to visit him.
He was from from Newcastle. Stewart had discovered him playing in a jazz-rock band.
After a Curved Air gig, Phil Sutcliffe, a journalist had taken him to see the pride of Newcastle:  Last Exit. He didn’t much like the band, but the bassist impressed him. He had ‘it’. He could sing and play bass at the same time, which was perfect because Stewart wanted to start a three-piece. Jimi Hendrix was his model.  It’s true that being just three in a band has many advantages. It works out cheaper, it’s easier to get around, you can work just about anywhere and you don’t need so much gear. The idea was first to be able to survive and earn a living, and when you are three it would be that much easier. Whenever I see bands with six, seven or even more members, I worry for them. It will be hard, they won’t earn much  money, they’ll have trouble lasting it out and will quickly give up, unless success knocks at the door very quickly. For example, when I started The Flying Padovani’s after having played with The Police and The Electric Chairs, we were just three. And it’s true that we had our moments of glory, we held out, and we made a lot of noise… just the three of us.


(http://bit.ly/9WEMFn)

http://www.stewartcopeland.net/forum/images/banner01.jpg

Rock 'n' Roll Of Corse! Henry Padovani (1er Police Guitarist)sea Cannes
Cannes, May 21: Armed police in full riot gear today sealed off all approaches to the venue of the Cannes Film Festival after angry protesters threatened to 
Cannes Rock 'n' Roll  film festival| Film ...
Day 10 at the 63rd Cannes film festival and here's a timely reminder that this most glamorous jamboree is also a grand platform for ...
guardian.co.uk/film/cannes-film-festival-hors-la-
Commissariat de Police
1 Avenue de Grasse, 06400 Cannes, France
04 93 06 22 22

Rock 'n' Roll Police: Cannes
http://entertainment/fashion-police-cannes

CANNES FASHION
May 23, 2009
... Julianne Moore's Sunglasses - Cannes Must-Haves - Film Festival ... The fashion police at Cannes – The Marquee Blog - CNN.com Blogs ...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Lohan Blames Father Again
Holley told Judge Revel that Lohan had “filled out
police reports in Cannes.” Cannes police told TMZ.com that they have not seen any filed reports from ...
http://thecelebritycafe.com/feature/lohan-blames-father-again-05-21-2010
From TheCelebrityCafe.com - 10 hours ago
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