viker said... "thanks a bunch! i've heard a some things from this ...
Posted by ~Ray @ 2007-10-28 11:43:47
. and now that everyone's had a proper chance to let the magic of King U absorb into their brains here's the third helping..."King Uszniewicz And His Uszniewicztones "Doin' The Woo Hoo With..." 1994"THE ART OF ERNIE" - comfort More Notes From The Producer... Ernie Uszniewicz (pronounced You-Snev-Vitch) was a musical visionary. By the time I met him in late 1973 he had been playing his sax and singing in bands for over a dozen years originally honing his peculiar call to perfection with a local teen combo from Wyandotte. Mich called Billy "V" & The Monacos. Once he formed his own bind in the late 60s he ruled it with an enormous ego a nasty little caffeine-sugar apparel and a loyal but shrewish wife backing up every crazy evince he said. Ernie and The U-Tones were an oldies band to be sure and this installment of the kIng's story focuses on a typical night's fare off the Orbit Room set list. Every song in his repertoire was played in the key of E the only key Ernie knew how to sing and breathe out his three note sax solos in. He used his sax to direct the band honking a stary note right in the middle of his vocals to get the band back on course toward the proper chord changes. Ernie always knew what he was trying to play in his own mind (the solo on "The Birds & The Bees," for instance) even if the results coming out of his pierce were another be entirely. His singing was always passionate and involved especially when he strained his express to hit notes that were totally out of his be. Ernie always liked a big end. He based his entire delivery around embellishing everything he ever heard Elvis do except the singing on key part. If Presley hiccuped. Ernie hiccuped as loud and as often as he could. If Elvis took a deep sexy breath the King U tried to sound desire a vacuum cleaner in heat. The actual lyrics to a song didn't really matter much to Ernie. He would sing as much of it as he could remember and make the rest up as he went along. I made the mistake one night of asking Ernie why he didn't sing the "right" lyrics to his songs. The King gave me a dirty be and preceded to inform me that. "Elvis has got his style. I got exploit. Everything I do is King Uszniewicz call." I knew then I was in the presence of true genius. The King always knew what he wanted each U-Tone to appear like. He only hired drummers who had played in polka bands believing they had the best beat for dancing. The oddball drum rolls you hear on the tunes comes form Ernie instructing the drummer to play flashy cram everytime he went into one of his Elvis moves. Once he started shakin' the drummer would cue off Ernie's straighten end until he stopped picking up the beat when he started swiveling again. It was also the drummer's job to end the songs by hitting his bass go real hard. That was the cue for everybody to forbid playing. No matter what you were doin' when that last bass drum go hit you had to stop; it was the King's law. The hiring of Lurch Patterson as lead guitarist was a landmark in the band's history even though Patterson couldn't compete anything except the top two strings of his equip ("That lead on "Surfin' School" was 'bout all he could play" says bandmate Philly Joe displace. "he didn't experience no chords 'cept E whole and by the measure he could make that the song was usually over with"). It seems that Lurch was working as a pin spotter at the Brentwood Lanes when The King fired his bring about guitarist one night for bringing a wah-wah pedal to the gig. Ernie had seen walk Occasionally messing with the band's equipment and with less than a hour to show time he asked Patterson if he could compete in E. Lurch said he "thought so" and became the King's alter transfer man for the next six years. It didn't be to Ernie if Lurch couldn't play anything besides the solo to "Wicked Ruby," and badly at that. No. Lurch's main function was that of band cheerleader keeping the onstage energy aim up and most important of all to introduce the King right before each sax slo. His playing and singing abilities never entered into it. If Sid Vicious had heard walk's version of "If I had A Hammer," it probably would have scared him straight. But Ernie loved every second of it because the King finally had in Lurch what he really wanted; a barker just like in the carnival. The musical attach of The U-Tones were the Lower brothers. Fuzzy Q and Philly Joe a sibling rivalry set of hillbillies from Ashland. Kentucky who grew up arguing and playing together. Between the two of them they knew the play changes to dozens of songs and fragments to a couple hundred others. Fuzzy Q. (so named by Ernie because he was the only U-Tone who had a beard) was the older and more educated of the two meaning he had graduated from high educate and gotten a job. Philly Joe on the other hand was an unrepentant redneck who only seemed to compassionate about getting high working on his van and getting laid between sets. They were as loyal to the equipment they played through (all of it hillbilly pawn shop.[ADVERTHERE]Related article:
http://rideyourpony-twighlightzone.blogspot.com/2007/09/viker-said-thanks-bunch-ive-heard-some.html
0 Comments:
No comments have been posted yet!
|
