Bebop Boogie and Blues Revue: Vol 1

During the four-plus year history of the Bebop Boogie and Blues Revue run on Richmond's WVGO 106.5FM, many artists, both local and non-local stopped in to visit Eric E. Stanley in the studio. Most of them brought their instruments and played two or three songs. Or more, if the groove was right. And fortunately, the tape was rolling for many of those performances.

On December 6th, 1998 Bebop Boogie Productions and N.A.M.E. Brand Records released Bebop Boogie and Blues Revue Vol. 1: It's Alive!, a CD collection of some of the best performances from those halcyon days in the WVGO studio. The CD is available at Plan 9 Records in Richmond, and you can get it through the Internet at Plan 9's Web site.

It's Alive is now also available at Tower Records in Richmond. If you can't get to these locations, contact us for details on ordering the CD via snail-mail!

All proceeds from the sale of the disc will go to Virginia Heroes, Inc.

...musicus raucous and all dat, too

"I once described the Bebop Boogie & Blues Revue as 'a blues-based four hours of musical pandemonium.' Looking back, I'd say the show was more a weekly celebration of musical freedom. No playlists, charts, graphs, demographics, computers, research studies, consultants, blah blah, woof woof -- just a love of music that hadn't been beaten into your psyche . . . And some of the most magic moments came from the spontaneous and unrehearsed performances we captured in the studio during the show.

"The Music on this CD was recorded LIVE in the studios of (the now defunct) WVGO, without the benefit of equalization, mixing, 2nd taskes, overdubs, headphones, or any of the technologies, tricks, or gimmicks available and utilized in recording studios. Only two Electro-Voice RE-20 microphones were used . . . What you hear is pure, unadulterated music, performed by the musicians who still have The Passion."
-- Eric E. Stanley, from the liner notes

...who played what and when

  1. Steve Bassett -- Just Sing Loud & Leave the Listening to Someone Else (9-26-93)
  2. Good Guys -- Is Your Head on Straight? (Christmas '93)
  3. Scott Morese & Plain Talk -- Just Talkin' (9-19-93)
  4. Janet Martin -- Just Waking Up (3-18-95)
  5. Big City -- One Man's Trash (11-14-93)
  6. Bio Ritmo -- Le Canto (5-2-93)
  7. Useless Playboys -- I'm Useless (3-12-92)
  8. Car Bomb, Inc. -- Clean to the Bone (1-14-95)
  9. Janet Travers & Mike DesRoaches -- Sweet Rain (5-31-92)
  10. Randy Perkins Acoustic Project -- Pink Roses (11-21-93)
  11. Terry Garland -- Trouble on the Way (4-26-92)
  12. Mutiny featuring Jerome "Bigfoot" Brailey -- Semi First Class Seat (recorded live at the Floodzone 7-29-95)

Yes, we plan to have sound samples. Please be patient, 'cause we're a lo-tek operation here.

...and a few other words from the liner notes

"First there was nothing, then there was the bebop Boogie & Blues Revue. Thirty-one flavors in a vanilla world. Eric E., unpredictable music, live bands, and lord-only-know-what's-coming-up-next. The Revue may be gone, but this CD lives! Go ahead, lick it. Mmmmm . . ."
--Mad Dog, Mad Dog Productions, Inc.


"To paraphrase Hunter Thompson, 'You get fired from radio for being right or for being wrong...but somehow, it hurts less when you're right.' Indeed. When the whip comes down, it comes down hard, and you need something more permanent than salve to heal wounds. Being right is the best salve.

"No one I've known has been more right in Richmond radio for so many years than Eric E. Stanley. His 'Bebop, Boogie, and Blues Revue' captured the spirit of good radio . . . good in the absolute, moral, no-holds-barred sense. From humble but important beginnings in a Northside club (remember that?) to AM radio [note: insert call letters, please, Rick] to real rock radio...and the innocence that we all brought with the BBB Revue's rise...a naiveté that thought good radio could exist in this burg, that breaking the strictures of 'programming' meant that you were communicating with your audience . . . the real live people listening out there, not just some numbers on a page every three months.

"Ah, well, like the Hapsburg Monarchy, all good things must come to an end. Yet end is too strong a word, for you hold in your hands the continuation, the phoenixization of that which we loved to hear every Sunday night. Enjoy the music, go see the acts on stage somewhere next week, but above all, remember--it's too important to forget."
-- Joe Sokohl, former band wrangler [Bill Blue & Jimmy Thackery, et al.], Blue Monday headcutter, and Out O' The Blue Radio Revue stand-in


"What we have here is an endangered species; a magnificent beast that once roamed freely on the radio band, full of sound and fury (and all other emotions). This was a land where Musicus Raucous segued with Musicus Balladus, and its sky was big enough for both local and national stars to shine . . . Yeah, folks, we're talking about music It tread without fear; disk jockeys were its closest friends. A creature so ferocious that radio programmers, reasearchers and consultants have devoted entire careers to categorizing, corralling and controlling it . . . Your home is the habitat now, so spread the word to enlarge this world: if you play it, they will listen."

-- Meg Brulatour, former DJ, WVGO 106.5FM

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