Spent Brothers Productions Gene Vincent Website

EXCERPT FROM PRESS KIT:

“BE BOP A LULA” PLAYS THE FRINGE
Direct from the Cat Club on the Sunset Strip, the legendary rock drama about Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent takes the stage for a 15-night run at Sweet Grand ECA

Be Bop A Lula, the full-length play about 1950s rockabilly stars Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent, will open at Sweet Grand in the Edinburgh College of Art (Venue 186) on Sunday 15th August (preview night), at 8:00PM, running daily until 30th August. This is the play’s UK debut.
Written by Rex Weiner, Be Bop A Lula was first produced in 1991 at Mark Mahoney’s Shamrock Tattoo on 3rd St. in Los Angeles. Audience demand moved the play to the Coconut Teazer nightclub on the Sunset Strip, and then to Theatre/Theater in Hollywood for an extended run in 1992, produced by British pop star Adam Ant, John Densmore (The Doors), and Lori Depp. The play’s run – featuring an electrifying performance by Paul Hipp (original lead in Buddy on the West End and Broadway) as Gene Vincent – has since become an LA theater legend.
The 2009 Fringe production stars Aaron Dupree as Gene Vincent and Chance Dean as Eddie Cochran. These rising young actors led the cast of a September 2008 revival of Be Bop A Lula at the Cat Club, a rock venue on LA’s famed Sunset Strip owned by Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats.
“I’m very excited that Be Bop A Lula is finally coming home to the UK, where Eddie and Gene remain heroes, and I’m particularly proud to be part of Sweet Entertainment’s lineup at the Fringe, where the play is really the thing,” said playwright/director Rex Weiner. “We look forward to rocking Edinburgh.”
Be Bop A Lula is inspired by the true facts of Cochran and Vincent’s famous English tour in 1960, taking place in their hotel room in a small town between Manchester and Liverpool on the night when Eddie is reported to have had a premonition of his early death two weeks later in a car crash at the age of 21.
The Fringe performance is directed by Rex Weiner, and produced by JD Henshaw & DBS Productions, Executive Producers Amy Laurie and Rex Weiner; Associate Producers Oliver Kwon, and Primum Entertainment Group, with musical direction and original music by Dan Radlauer.

Following the release of the Rebel Heart Vol 10 TKO/Magnum CD, the For Completists Only page has been revised again.
For Completists Only

A few pages sample of the sessionography of GENE VINCENT A Companion can now be accessed on-line at Amazon UK

JUKEBOX AWARD FOR BEST REISSUE
On 8 January 2006 at cidisc in Paris, Jacques Leblanc, proprietor of Jukebox magazine (left), presented the awards for Best Reissue of 2005 for the “GENE VINCENT The Road Is Rocky” Box Set to Hermann Knülle (centre) of Bear Family Records and Derek Henderson (right).

Jukebox N^o227 Février 2006 contained a 5 page review of the CD Box Set by Didier Delcourt. See Excerpt

Jukebox N^o228 Mars 2006 contained the following:

55^e cidisc GENE VINCENT & LA FRANCE
Le fantastique coffret Bear Family consacré à Gene Vincent “The Road Is Rocky”, incluant 8 CD et un livre grand format,a enthousiasmé la rédaction de Juke Box Magazine, d’où la couverture du N^o227. Un double prix spécial a été remis à Hermann Knülle, dirigeant de Bear Family, et Derek Henderson, concepteur du coffret, par Jacques Leblanc et Didier Lorgeoux.
A cette occasion, Thierry Liesenfeld et Didier Delcourt, fans parmi les fans et collaborateurs de JBM, ont rejoint Hermann Knülle, Derek Henderson et Jacques Leblanc pour une indispensable photo de famille.

55th cidisc GENE VINCENT & FRANCE
“The Road Is Rocky”, the fantastic Bear Family box set devoted to Gene Vincent, including 8 CDs and a large format book, filled the editorial staff of Juke Box magazine with enthusiasm, hence the cover of No. 227. A special double prize has been awarded to Hermann Knülle, director of Bear Family, and Derek Henderson, producer of the box, by Jacques Leblanc and Didier Lorgeoux.
On this occasion, Thierry Liesenfeld and Didier Delcourt, fans among fans and contributors of Jukebox magazine, joined Hermann Knülle, Derek Henderson and Jacques Leblanc for an indispensable family photo.

(Thanks to Nicola Thwaite for translation)

[Ken misunderstood a question I asked him about the versions of Lonesome Boy, You Are The One For Me, and I Might Have Known which have been re-issued by Capitol lacking the original backing vocals by The Blue Caps. I was trying to find out from Ken whether in the last sessions by Gene and The Blue Caps (in October 1958) the backing vocals were over-dubbed after the main tracks had been cut, as opposed to his earlier practice of cutting everything live. We now know that the backing vocals were indeed over-dubbed onto the master takes.]