#Larry Parnes

[kinsfaun]

Auditioning for Larry Parnes, 10th May 1960.

[dateinthelife]

10 May 1960

Despite not having performed together in months, and their drummer not showing up, the Silver Beetles manage to audition for Larry Parnes. They snag a position backing Johnny Gentle on a seven-day tour of Scotland starting May 20th.

It was probably the matching shoes they'd just bought.

[rockabillyfootnotes]

larry parnes presents... gene vincent and eddie cochran souvenir programme

signed uk tour program, c. 1960

listing reads: vintage circa 1960 program for a uk tour headlined by gene vincent and eddie cochran, eight pages, 7 x 9.5, signed inside on their respective pages in ballpoint by gene vincent and eddie cochran, as well as by tony sheridan, the viscounts, vince eager, and billy raymond. the tour, which was organized by uk promoter larry parnes, took place between january 24 and april 16, 1960. it was due to go on longer but after the concert in bristol, england, on the evening of the 16th, they were traveling by car towards london when the vehicle crashed leading to cochran’s untimely death. in very good condition, with overall creasing, handling wear, and a central vertical fold. accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from tracks and a letter from the previous owner: “the programme was gifted to me by a friend who accompanied her father to the concert. her father was a driver for one of the artists and was able to go backstage and acquire the autographs.”

[get-back-homeward]

By macabre coincidence an event that took place around Bristol marks a major turning point in the story of pop music. Eddie Cochran died hours after appearing at the Bristol Hippodrome in 1960, as part of the Larry Parnes-produced Anglo-American rock ’n’ roll package tour. Two of the people who shared a stage with Cochran that night were Tony Sheridan and a Liverpudlian singer called Johnny Gentle. Both were under contract to Parnes and both would play a significant role in the history of the most influential British act of all time, the Beatles. Sheridan, the first British rock ’n’ roller to sing and play his own guitar live on British TV, would become best known for the recordings he made in Hamburg with the Beatles shortly before they found fame.

Parnes was the first manager in Britain to become as famous as his artists – the Simon Cowell of his day – with a stable of singers including Tommy Steele, Britain’s first real rock ’n’ roll star, Marty Wilde, Billy Fury, Vince Eager and others. He was also homosexual, a dangerous thing to be at a time when gay men were routinely arrested, fined or even imprisoned.

Their tour was due to take a break after a week of shows in Bristol, and Cochran and co-headliner Gene Vincent wanted to get home to America. Cochran was in a hurry to get to London, where he was going to meet up with Vince Eager before the pair flew to the States together, and Cochran and Vincent rented a private hire taxi, driven by George Martin from Hartcliffe, to take them. Shortly after 11pm on 16 April 1960, their car set off from Bristol’s Royal Hotel (now the Bristol Marriott Royal, on College Green) for London Airport.

Sadly, none of the passengers would make their flight. Less than an hour out of Bristol, Martin realised he had taken a wrong turn. On Rowden Hill, a notorious accident black spot near Chippenham, he lost control and the car spun backwards, hitting a lamppost. The impact of the crash sent Cochran up into the roof of the car and forced the rear passenger side door open, throwing him onto the road. Martin and tour manager Patrick Thompkins, who were in the front of the vehicle, were able to walk away uninjured. The three passengers who had occupied the back seat – Eddie, Gene and Eddie’s girlfriend Sharon Sheeley – were lying on the grass verge. All three were rushed to Chippenham Cottage Hospital, before being transferred to St Martin’s Hospital, just outside Bath. Vincent had broken his collarbone, Sheeley was badly bruised and concussed, but Cochran was seriously injured and would not regain consciousness: he died in hospital in Bath the following day. A young police cadet, David Harman, was among those called to help clear the scene after the crash. Harman would later find fame as Dave Dee, front man of the hit group Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich.

Three weeks after Cochran’s death, Larry Parnes auditioned the Beatles to act as the backing group to his big signing, Billy Fury. They did not win that booking, but he hired them to play with Johnny Gentle on a short tour of Scotland. All of the Beatles were fans of Cochran and Vincent, and lapped up Gentle’s tales of life on the road with the two big American stars. When the 17-year-old George Harrison discovered that Gentle owned the shirt that Cochran had worn on stage in Bristol for that last show he begged the singer to give it to him.

Excerpt from Darryl W. Bullock's book The Velvet Mafia in The Bristol Magazine [x]

[eppysboys]

Billy Fury and Rory Storm, 10th May 1960

Rory had shown up to the Larry Parnes' audition day at the Wyvern Social Club, not to audition himself, but to get a photo with Billy. Apparently Rory planned on plastering the photograph all over Liverpool, which infuriated Larry Parnes. Larry threatened never to audition another Liverpool artist again if the photo was printed. (How They Became The Beatles by Gareth L. Pawlowski)

[the-paper-apricot]

This 1982 Arena* documentary for the BBC on Eddie Cochran is well worth your time. It touches on Cochran's music and his influence; his fiancé, the songwriter Sharon Sheeley; Larry Parnes; Gene Vincent; Saturday Club; his death in England and Bristolian teds.

(*The clips of Paul McCartney's appearance on Desert Island Discs, where he chose 'Tutti Frutti', 'Searchin' and 'Beautiful Boy' among other tracks, are from another Arena documentary, about the radio programme and its various castaways.)

[nearmidnightannex]

A comment about the political mess the Democrats have created for themselves

And hopefully one of the very few such comments I'll make for quite some time.

Biden decision on future expected in coming days, and Harris is considered heir apparent BY ALEXANDER BOLTON AND AMIE PARNES - 07/18/24 7:21 PM ET

Well-connected Democratic Party insiders say they expect President Biden to make a major announcement about his future soon after the Republican National Convention concludes in Milwaukee and that congressional leaders expect that Vice President Harris will become their nominee for president if Biden drops his reelection bid. […] Biden has come under intense pressure from party leaders, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), who have told the president directly that a majority of Democratic senators and large number of House members don’t think he can beat former President Trump….

Obama tells allies Biden’s path to winning reelection has greatly diminished (washingtonpost.com) By Tyler Pager and Michael Scherer July 18, 2024 at 12:05 p.m. EDT

Former president Barack Obama has told allies in recent days that President Biden’s path to victory has greatly diminished and he thinks the president needs to seriously consider the viability of his candidacy, according to multiple people briefed on his thinking....

Man, that last one has to sting for Biden. A lot.

Here's the thing: all of this is happening because the Democrats are understandably twitchy. About everything. Seeing yourselves as the last bulwark against incoming fascists might do that, yes.

But none of this need have been this type of crisis if they had just shut the fuck up. If they had just said, "Eh, it was a bad debate, they've happened before, they'll happen again. Let's move on." But they didn't.

And, of course, the "responsible news media" has been feeding this frenzy, because It's A Great Story. It sells! (Er ... assuming you don't count what seems to have been, for example, a notable number of people who have been canceling subscriptions to the NY Times over their startlingly slanted coverage.) And they kind of maybe might want The Orange One back in office because a constant state of crisis ALSO sells! (They, of course, are not thinking this through. Do they think that what may become an Even Trumpier Supreme Court will preserve either Hustler Magazine (Larry Flynt) vs Falwell or Sullivan vs New York Times? Oh, HELL, no, they won't! Some of the current justices (Alito and Thomas, of course) are already on record as thinking the latter was overexpansive and wrongly decided.) Also, the owners of the major newspapers are billionaires and/or venture capitalists, who think The Orange One will be better for their money.

The news media have also abdicated their responsibility as citizens of this country, and have not considered how they are viewed and their actual role in our civic life. Whether we like it or not, the news media shapes how we see the world. We know about things we don't have direct experience of, because they tell us about them. Essentially, they tell us what to think about things while trying vaguely to give just the facts. And for a while now, they've been telling us, over and over and over again, that Biden is now a weakened candidate, that he may not be able to win against Trump, that his support inside the party is wavering, that this, or this, or this, all means he can't win. But here's the thing: if they weren't banging this drum so long and so loud, it probably wouldn't be true. If they hadn't been banging this drum so long and so loud, politicians wouldn't see so many stories about how their coworkers are wavering, and they wouldn't in turn be wavering. Basically, if they had calmed the fuck down and thought about their actual responsibilities as people who live in this country, and as people who tell us what's happening -- hell, as people, period -- we might not be in this situation.

It would be one thing if this agita about Biden were all based purely on polling that, as we have seen in the past several elections, both presidential and midterm, can be deeply flawed. But most of this agita preceded the polling. It was all based on feels. Yes, the later polling appears to have justified the feels. But even so, none of them are showing large margins, and if it weren't for all this mess, they would probably move back in Biden's direction after the Democratic National Convention. That's what presidential season polls do.

Here's the thing about Biden: the Democrats agitating for his withdrawal have also not thought this through.

First, regardless of who might be chosen to replace him, there is likely to be an ungodly onslaught of lawsuits, some from Republicans hoping to keep the replacement off their state's ballot, some from Democrats trying to deal with money and other issues, some from people just being nuisances. After all, it is our way. (And do you really REALLY want those lawsuits going up to be ultimately decided by THIS Supreme Court? NO, YOU DO NOT! As it stands, it's very likely that there will be court cases dealing with the election outcome anyway -- presuming we don't have another coup attempt to mix things up -- and that will be enough to deal with.)

Second, do they really think that ambitious politicians will simply stand aside and let Harris be anointed as Biden's successor? Apart from the sincerely anti-democratic (small "d") look of a brokered convention, there are other politicians, governors and senators, who may sincerely believe that they would be better candidates for reasons other than "I wanna be president! It's my turn!" And the floor fight may be vicious enough to bring the just-concluded RNC convention to mind and revolt everyone. Even a non-brokered convention, if somehow Harris does simply get anointed (which is wildly unlikely), is a truly terrible look for people who say they're fighting for democracy to survive in this country.

Third: there are people who are already wavering about whether or not they even want to vote -- the people who don't particularly like either Biden or Trump, or the people who know that Trump will be much much worse but who also have deep and sincere disagreements with some of Biden's policies, or younger people who object to having to vote for these old guys who don't address any of their concerns, or or or ... In any event, for those people, some of whom undoubtedly held their noses and voted for Biden in the primary even though they may not have wanted to, those people will be revolted by this process and by their vote being set aside with no input into what happened. Not even the very distant input that we normally have, of voting for representatives and senators whom we hope will reflect our views.

Apart from all that: Should Biden decide to step aside, there may be actual legal issues to be decided. Apart from anything else, there's a question of whether or not a replacement can even get on the ballots of some states if they didn't participate in the primary/caucus processes. There's also the weird question of finances. (US News and World Report, so take that with a small grain of salt; it was the cleanest discussion I could find.) Harris as the replacement nominee is the least complicated option ... though I expect there would be lawsuits anyway. There's also a question of timing. And I'm sure there are all sorts of legal issues that I have no idea what they could be that will appear.

There's also the fact that this is being driven by major donors spooked by, as has been noted, polling of dubious quality, and by elected officials afraid of losing access to their money. (We may take the corrosive effect of money on politics as a given at this point, I think.) The elitism is rife and rank, people. It's also noteworthy that many of these elitists apparently also don't want Harris on the ticket (independent.co.uk, quoting Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' Instagram). Presumably because she's not an old white guy ... or maybe just because she's not a white guy, period. (see below)

All that aside: do I think Biden should withdraw? No, not particularly. Frankly, I think when all this mess started, he should have told the quavering Democrats to go fuck themselves, and he should have said it loudly and forcefully and REPEATEDLY. (No, I do not mean simply that he should have said that he wouldn't withdraw. After all, he's been doing that, over and over, and it hasn't done any good. I mean that he should have taken each quavering Democrat into the Oval Office, and, in fits of profanity not heard in that room since the days of LBJ, told them Quite Explicitly to GET FUCKED AND GET OUT; if they were so ready to surrender to fascism, they needed to rethink what they were doing in Congress at all. Which, honestly, I think might have been persuasive. After all, this is all about perception, not reality. They perceive Biden to be abruptly weaker, and so they make it reality, whether it was true or not. Unfortunately, ripping people a new one -- especially when they're nominally his people -- is not his way.)

However: If he does decide to withdraw, then I think he should go all the way. Which is to say, to resign the presidency, not simply to withdraw from the campaign. Not because I don't think he can do the job; I think he's capable, even if he does stammer and even if he does have moments where he seems to mix things up. After all, he's overall done a good job so far. Are there things he's done that I sharply disagree with? Yes, but that would be true of any president. When looked at as a whole, he's been a good president.

The reason I say he should resign is because of the rest of the country. Remember what I said earlier about Harris not being an "old white guy"? Despite the fact that we've had a black president, and Obama was a very good president, the mood of the country for the past few years seems to be "We'd like old white guys, please." (Trump was, to put it mildly, a truly SAVAGE "old white guy" overreaction to the Obama presidency. And it took another old white guy to get Trump out of office.) Harris is most certainly not an "old white guy" in any way, shape, or form. I have a suspicion that the only way to persuade a large chunk of the country that she can do the job is, in fact, to let her do the job, even if it is for a fairly short time. And when they see that she can, in fact, do the job, then they might actually vote for her.

However. I suspect that will not happen either.

And so, on we go .....

[hootenanie]

you could! and I wish I knew more about Simon Napier-Bell Kit Lambert Larry Parnes et all so I could make it

I forget who on here said "and not like the beatles with their loving gay manager, our gay manager hates us and we buy our jeans at walmart" but I think about it every time I listen to the velvet underground

[mrepstein]

Has the beat boom really gone BUST? (Melody Maker - November 14, 1964)

By RAY COLEMAN

Sitting in your 7s 6d seats at a pop concert, you might not realise you are contributing to a multi-million pound industry.

And this week, pop concertgoers become national news. The ultra-important world of records took a temporary back-seat as a talking point as the influential backroom boys pondered these questions:

Have beat concerts saturated the pop fan’s pockets? Is the boom bursting? Are there enough teenagers to meet the pop package shows being launched so regularly? And what can we do about it?

A remarkable meeting took place in the London flat of veteran promoter Larry Parnes. Agents and managers, some of whom never speak about their business with friends - let alone rivals - talked over the serious problems confronting show-biz moguls.

When that happens, something is going drastically wrong with the well-oiled pop machine that is geared to every breakdown or new road on an ever-changing map.

Clearly, the men of power are worried. They fear that the enormous spending spree by fans may halt unless they link up to prevent, for example, so many shows visiting the same towns too close together.

There is even talk of a promoters’ guild to plan pop tours centrally and to consider reducing ticket charges.

What is really going on? We canvassed the views of the people who are involved - the impresarios. They say:-

ARTHUR HOWES (he put on the Beatles, Billy J. Kramer, and Gene Pitney-Gerry and the Pacemaker shows and is one of the most experienced and respected promoters):

Promoters have got to get together to organise tours. We need an agreement that if one of us is taking a tour to a certain city, there’s a barring clause on other shows going there.

One reason why some tours lose money is because artists are asking too much in fees.

The new beat boom produced a lot of new managers who were interested simply in making quick money for their artists and themselves while it lasted.

Their fees were sky-high. They weren’t interested in long-term build-ups, which we had before.

But I think there are just as many people going to pop shows, overall - It’s simply that there are more shows on the road, so the audiences are spread out.

We didn’t do too well with Billy J. Kramer and the Ronettes but this new Gerry-Gene Pitney tour is going to be a big success, financially.

HAROLD DAVISON (man behind Britain’s major jazz tours, agent for Dave Clark Five, Applejacks and others):

When people say the bottom’s falling out of pop, they are presumably talking of everything from Cliff to the Beatles, so they’re wrong.

There will always be a market for big pop shows. Beat is different: lots of promoters put the nails in the coffin themselves. Now the horse has bolted they’re shutting the stable door.

If someone had a record in the hit parade, some promoter put him out on tour as top-of-the-bill, and then they wondered why they were in trouble.

My jazz shows are totally different - we charge a lot more for tickets, and though we never make a fortune we don’t lose.

TITO BURNS (doyen of the promoters, agent for Searchers, Dusty Springfield, Eden Kane):

I attended a gathering at Larry Parnes’ flat. I have no comment to make on the subject.

BRIAN EPSTEIN:

I don’t consider it true at all that the bottom is falling out of the business. Through my association with Arthur Howes we will have promoted three very successful tours.

Gerry’s tour, for instance, will go like a bomb - because, I feel, Gerry and Gene Pitney are real stars, and I say that poignantly.

I think its a good idea to sort out the business of venues. It is rather hap-hazard at present, with tours visiting the same city about the same time.

(Epstein was reported in the Daily Mirror last week as having lost £2,000 on recent Sunday pop shows at London’s Prince of Wales.)

ROY TEMPEST (he books about 400 groups into ballrooms and reports an annual profit of £250,000):

We’re doing three times the business of three years ago. I refused to be drawn into contracts because I could foresee this slump. I feel sorry for those losing money. I shall stick to ballroom bookings and continue to make money. I handle 90 to 100 shows a week.

One thing many people forget is that the kids can see the big stars so much on TV nowadays. So concerts suffer. Dances don’t because everybody likes dancing, and if you throw in a live artist as well, you’re okay.

I can afford to laugh at them all.

ROBERT STIGWOOD (promoter of Rolling Stones tours and the man behind Chuck Berry’s scheduled British tour next January):

There are no slumps on my tours. But I know other promoters have had a very bad year. There must be much more co-ordination and co-operation.

I shall lose £10,000 on the tour due to start last Friday - the P.J. Proby one that was to have become Chuck Berry, that didn’t materialise.

I don’t see how much can be done over artist’s fees, which are too high, because promoters are always bidding over each other to get the stars.

Presumably Arthur Howes has signed Orbison for next year for the same reason I have got Chuck Berry: he offered him more money. So the prices must stay up, and that cannot help audiences if they are slipping.

Promoter DON ARDEN was reported as having lost £7,000 on a recent tour starring the Animals and £5,000 on the Bill Haley-Manfred Mann tour.

What is the future for British pop shows?

At present the question is unanswerable. Promoters disagree about tactics but agree something has to be sorted out to prevent more big losses.

ONE THING IS CERTAIN: THEY ARE HAVING TO VIEW THE SCENE MORE SCIENTIFICALLY THAN EVER.

[harrisonarchive]

On 10 May 1960, The Silver Beatles auditioned for Larry Parnes. They would end up being hired as a backing band for Johnny Gentle on a tour of Scotland. (Tommy Moore, the band’s drummer at the time, showed up late, so Johnny Hutchinson — of Cass and the Cassanovas — filled in for a few songs). Photos by Cheniston Roland.

The Scotland tour, post 1 of 2.

“It was a bit of a shambles. Larry Parnes didn’t stand up saying that we were great or anything like that. It felt pretty dismal. But a few days later we got the call to go out with Johnny Gentle. They were probably thinking, ‘Oh well, they’re mugs. We’ll send a band that doesn’t need paying.’” - George Harrison, The Beatles Anthology

“I remember asking my big brother [Harry], ‘Would you pack in work and have a go at this if you were me?’ He said, ‘You might as well — you never know what might happen. And if it doesn’t work out you’re not going to lose anything.’ So I packed in my job [as an apprentice electrician at Blackler’s in Liverpool], and joined the band full time and from then on, nine-to-five never came back into my thinking.” - George Harrison, The Beatles Anthology

“That was our first professional gig: on a tour of dance halls miles up in the North of Scotland, around Inverness. We felt, ‘Yipee, we’ve got a gig!’ Then we realized that we were playing to nobody in little halls, until the pubs cleared out when about five Scottish Teds would come in and look at us. That was all. Nothing happened. We didn’t really know anything. It was sad, because we were like orphans. Our shoes were full of holes and our trousers were a mess, while Johnny Gentle had a posh suit. I remember trying to play to ‘Won’t you wear my ring around your neck?’ — he was doing Elvis’s ‘Teddy Bear’ — and we were crummy. The band was horrible, an embarrassment. We didn’t have amplifiers or anything. What little pay we did get we used to take care of the hotels. And we all slept in the van. We would argue about space. There weren’t enough seats in the van, and somebody had to sit on the inside of the mudguard on the back wheel. Usually Stu.” - George Harrison, The Beatles Anthology (x)

[dateinthelife]

27 May 1960

The Beatles drive away from their hotel, the Royal Station, without paying their bill. Out of money only partway through their tour backing Johnny Gentle in Scotland, their repeated calls to Larry Parnes have had no effect.

Perhaps they should get a manager.

[crepesuzette2023]

Every detail is just right. The arms. The hair. The bracelet. The sass. Fist-on-hip. Cheeky smile. Wings logo. Shiny mullet. And are these the delightful shoes from the Larry Parnes audition?

Paul in his The Ritva Man jersey

Paper doll of Paul McCartney wearing a tab-on version of his pale blue Wings jersey, made for him by London fashion label The Ritva Man. He wore it on stage in 1972-3, and he appeared in this outfit in the Wings film project The Bruce McMouse Show.

The Ritva Man made Wings jerseys for him in other colours: a deeper blue version sold recently at auction.

To learn more about the gorgeous designs of The Ritva Man, and their collaborations with David Hockney, Elisabeth Frink and others, explore this V&A collection.

[get-back-homeward]

Reading about David Jacobs, Brian's lawyer in London, and came across this random piece of dish on Larry Parnes, the manager who the Beatles audition in front of for the Scotland tour in May 1960:

Wait, like Johnny Gentle??

[eppysboys]

one of the highlights of Allan WIilliams’ book is describing waiting with the Beatles for Larry Parnes to find out if they would be chosen by him to be Billy Fury’s backing band, which would open up a world of opportunities to their little band going nowhere. Allan is so nervous he’s dry retching in the bathroom, John was trying to hide a ‘severe bout of nerves’, they’re all chain-smoking and drinking anxiously awaiting Larry’s arrival, “the tension in the air was as tangible as congealed blood.”.......................... and Stuart was rambling happily about a recent trip to the art gallery :) 

[guessimdumb]

Duffy Power - Where Am I (1964)

Moody British pop from Duffy Power, originally one of Larry Parnes’ late 50s "Golden Boys”. He continued into the 60s as part of the British blues scene but never really had much success.  Still, I’m diggin’ this tune.