Will do.

footreads, I thought I was the oldest member on the board. well, I guess we are a couple of old survivors. happy birthday no. 75. ill be 72 nov4 looks like im catching up to you! the dion album I have is an early one, a couple of band members on the cover with him, they look to be about 16, a teenager in love, I wonder why, where or when. his old ones.

pb... dion was great. his songs bring back a lot of memories to me. I believe it was 58 or 59 when he started. my teenaged years.

I've been a fan all my life. I grew up on 187th and Hoffman. Dion was from the same neighborhood, but a little closer to Crotona and Southern Boulevard. He's twenty years older than I am, and he was already gone from the neighborhood by the time I came along. But there's still a connection because of the Church and the Mount Carmel Society. Since he returned to Catholicism he comes back for functions every so often. When Monsignor Ruvo retired he showed up unannounced for the dinner at the Marina del Rey.

He's lived in Florida for close to fifty years now. First in Miami, later on in West Boca. He lives over by Clint Moore and Jog in a beautiful (but unpretentious) home. When he's not touring he's all over the place down there in the local restaurants, supermarkets, etc. He's still a regular guy.

he would like the nice things you said about him. I really liked the heck out of him, will always love the mans music.

That's true but even the one hit wonders of that time were better than the one hit wonders coming out today lol music today sucks so if it's not the oldies, it's only rock ( alternative, soft and hair metal )

vinny, the music today cant compare with the great Italian vocalists, they don't even come close. and believe it or not their music will stand the test of time better than the beatles [ whom I never saw the big deal about] and elvis [ who who doesn't sell enough anymore fo stores to stock his cds] the Italians will stand the test of time. they still sell.!!!

How many stores sell cds in this day and age anyway?

It's all digital. And for the holdovers like us who still want the physical disc, there's always Amazon. I must buy fifty cds and dvds a year online. And that estimate is honestly on the low side.

Anyway, it's all how you interpret the term "record sales." Because it can be argued that Elvis is still the best selling artist in history.

Here's an interesting article backing that up: http://www.elvisinfonet.com/elvisvsbeatlespart1.html

well, that seems like good evidence, I surely thought he was going down in sales. I guess I was wrong. still, give it another ten years when my 5os generation dies out. I always liked the Italian vocalist. I even liked Frankie Avalon, along with all the rest. too numerous to mention. the only one I didn't like was Fabian. when I was young I never got into c and w. was always dion and the belmonts, vic damone, jerry vale, these were my guys. nobodys got voices like Italians. you can have the music today.

First there was Buddy Holly. Then Dion and the Belmonts. Then The Beatles. Then The Rolling Stones.

Fabian sucked. If you've never seen the movie "The Idolmaker" you should check it out.

The movie was filmed and set in my old Bronx neighborhood, but it was based on a guy named Bob Marcucci who managed Fabian and Frankie Avalon in Philly. The character Cesare was based on Fabian. He was picked for his pretty boy face or he'd still be a busboy. The other character, Tommy D, was based on Frankie Avalon. At least Frankie had some musical training with the trumpet, so he knew how to breathe, and they were able to make a singer out of him.

When it comes to the Italian soloists of that generation that came out of Philly, I actually like Bobby Rydell the best. His real last name is Ridarelli. Here's a cheesy, loung lizard version of "Volare." But I love it .

p.b. that was great, I heard it three times going to download it off of u tube. once again thank you for a dynamite recording.

moe tilden.. ill take dion and the belmonts hands down, theres none better. to me, the rolling stones always sucked.

This is what I do .

great, keep it up.

ray sharky was in that movie..too bad he was shooting h,died too young

Yeah, he was a very talented guy. But from what I've read a bit of a lowlife. Towards the end they say he had sex with several women and never told them that he was infected with HIV. One of them sued his estate after he died and won. Unfortunately the guy didn't have a pot to piss in and she didn't get any real money.

He was half Italian but he was raised Irish by his mother's family because his old man split when he was a kid. But he spoke very good Italian in "The Idolmaker." It was only a few lines but his diction was excellent.

right on again pizza..

I've got a GREAT Bobby Rydell story for you guys.

About 15 years ago Bobby came down here right smack in the middle of the season to do a "Condo Run". This is where you play every single condo, trailer park clubhouse, and every theater in the tri county area. It was like 28 strait days of shows with doubles on the weekends.

On one of the Saturdays Bobby got a stomach flu and the show was called off at 7pm. Now understand that this was a prime Saturday. All of us had turned down jobs that paid very good money to do this run with Bobby. And I'm sure the little rat prick agent made himself a real nice taste on 28 dates.

We (the musicians) thought that we deserved half the money for the called of show. This agent told me personally "well it looks like we all take a loss on this one" well what about the big profits he makes on these runs, does he share with us....never but all of a sudden now he wants to become "partners" with us....

Remember these shows individually don't pay all that well, but when you add up 28 in a row it becomes a nice check.

Well comes the next night and Bobby is all better. We are playing the big Italian American club in Tamarac. We tell him whats going on and how they won't give us a dime for the missed show.

Now something happens that I have NEVER EVER SEEN OR HEARD OF. Bobby Rydell takes out his cell phone and calls the agent and tells him if you don't agree to pay the musicians in full for the missed Saturday day that he will not go on tonight!

What a guy! I have never seen an act stand up for a bunch of local sidemen before or since. I will never forget what Bobby did for us.

How did it all end???? Well the agent agreed to pay us just like Bobby demanded. Then instead of paying right at the end of the tour the agent sent us all checks after Bobby had long gone back to Philly, and you guessed it ......they fucked us out of the money.

But the fact that Bobby took a stand like that for the band is something I will never forget. What a guy!

Sal

I love hearing when performers like that are "regular guys." It's rare, but it's nice to hear that it happens once in a while. I loathe the average Hollywood type with the "diva" personality. So that story about Rydell was a welcome change, Sal .

I forgot to add one thing.....

About two weeks after the run was over, Bobby Rydell actually called my house. My Mother answered the phone. Bobby Rydell is from her generation so she was flipping out when she picked up the phone.

She was going crazy "Bobby Rydell is on the phone!!!!"

All Bobby wanted to know was if we actually got paid. I told him no. He said he'd try and see what he could do, but really what could he do all the way back in philly......

But it does show you what kind of a stand up guy he is.

Sal

These guys are touring together right now. They were in Jersey this weekend. Anyway, Frankie Avalon is the oldest of the three. He's 74, and Rydell and Fabian are both 72. But I think Avalon looks the youngest of the three. But he always looked good for his age. He was already about 40 when he appeared in "Grease," and he looked much younger even then.

That's not Bobby Rydells drummer. He was an older guy named "Jerry" who was also his Conductor.

Hal Linden (Barney Miller) carried a piano player with him , a real old guy named Howard Salat. When I was watching the movie "Death Collector", that's the movie that Joe Pesci and Frank Vincent made their first film appearance in I noticed in the credits "music by Howard Salat".

This guy also did the music for a lot of early porn films.... I forgot to ask him if he ever met "Johnny Wadd"

Sal

I thought he was Italian on his mother's side? I read once that his Grandmother used to talk in Italian to him so that's probably where he got the diction from.

Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Sharkey is a common Irish name in New York, so his mother probably raised him with the father's last name. But I knew he was half Irish.

he drove car service before he went out to cali..he was with bobby b.

Yeah, that I knew. They used to park their cars at LaBella every so often .

PB should I tell him?

And........you already did. Good. Best place I've been into in Florida and I've been going down to boca/del ray every year for a while.

Speaking of Frankie Avalon...

He introduced me to someone who became my Wife.

Short Story and certain details will be left out.

Back in about November/December 1980 - I had a mutual friend that my wife and I knew who was Showing Frankie Avalon around Town in Ohio. I was Bodyguard to Frankie Avalon and his Manager a particular evening. Frankie had finished up a Show and we went to another Club. My Wife was working for our mutual friend's regular Job that night. When my Wife came to the Club to turn over the keys to our mutual friend. BTW my Wife knew Frankie before that event. Frankie Introduced me to my Wife and since I already knew the Mutual Friend no introductions were necessary. Short time later we were married.

Frankie Avalon is a great Guy and I have great respect for him.