It's A Billy And The Beaters Night!

I have a series of photographs (11" x 17") that I had taken at a country nightclub in North Hollywood the night that Billy's song went Number One on the Billboard charts. I often get asked about them, especially since my family is the music business ... people often wonder if we are related (laughing). NOT.

I was a regular "beater buddy" back in the day. The first time I ever saw the band was when I (and a male friend) saw them at the Roxy opening up for one of the versions of Tower of Power, and we were blown away. I followed the band for a number of years (eventually being a regular on the "guest list). Yeah, a lot of rumours surrounded me, and no, I did not sleep with the band! I slept with some roadies and the sound engineer (Brad), but steered clear of the boys in the band.

Well, except for my annual romp with Ricky on my birthday (tee hee).

I have seen a few YouTubes of them in recent years. And, of course, those of us that know Billy's voice, hear him almost on a daily basis on television, as he is the consumate voice over master (AM/PM, Burger King, Applebees, etc.), not to mention theme songs (King of Queens, for one). Of course, he also acted ... my favorite -- The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai! (Check out that cast -- Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd!)

It's funny, I see Billy at my local Ralphs grocery store from time to time, but I steer clear ... one of these day's I'll put my groceries next to his (ha ha ha).

It's interesting to see the band still partially together. Lon Price, Ron, and Jerry Peterson (when he played the double sax ... shit!), Ricky on lead guitar.



If memory serves me right, they generally opened up their set with this song.



One of the roadies put together for me a cassette of all of Billy's 45 singles he put out in his career. I still have that. Back in the day, he also did a radio show on KCRW about doo wop. I probably have about 100 cassettes of his shows and the songs he played. He has a vast collection of records, I can tell you that.



They were not named the best bar band in Los Angeles for nothing!
One of my favorites ... the lyrics killed me!



And I will end this Billy and the Beaters tribute with a trademark song.