Phamous in Philadelphia for phiphteen minutes once again

Philadelphia Magazine is retelling the story of Billy Joel's breakout to stardom in Philadelphia and it's all my fault!

Here’s How Philadelphia Created Billy Joel

The hitmaker, who plays Philly on Friday, tells us all about it.

....Back in 1971, Joel was a no-name 22-year-old from Long Island. In November of that year, he released his first album, Cold Spring Harbor, which got virtually no attention or airplay. But then one day in 1972, Philly music producer Dennis Wilen, who had launched a live WMMR concert series from Philadelphia’s Sigma Sound Studios, got wind of this singer-pianist named Billy Joel during a visit to New York. Wilen invited Joel to do one of those WMMR live broadcasts....

Read the whole story @ Philadelphia Magazine Thanks to VINNIE for the clipping.

Leo Sayer Live at the Trenton War Memorial: COMPLETE

Leo Sayer live at the Trenton (New Jersey) War Memorial March 12, 1975. 

• Original 1975 recording produced for WMMR by me, Dennis Wilen. 
• Recorded by Lance Strickler and John Buffington of Mom's Wholesome Audio. 
• Tape preserved by Ted Cohen (7.5 ips half-track stereo original dub).
• Tape transferred to digital by Erik Flannigan. 
• Digital transfer equalized, compressed and remastered by Leo Sayer June 2015. 
• 2015 release produced by Dennis Wilen.

Here's what Leo wrote about this show:

It was 1975, and I was touring America for the 2nd time, this time without the pierrot costume, and starting to play bigger shows. 

Here we supported the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. 

My band were keyboardist Chris Stainton (already legendary for his work with Joe Coker and The Greaseband and Mad Dogs And Englishmen), Charlie Harrison on bass, Steve Chapman on drums and Les Nicol on guitar. 

We were a pretty tight outfit and 'Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)' was heading up the charts and bringing in a whole new audience to our shows, so I was on a roll when we recorded this. 

SAHB had been around the circuit a year before us so were well established and Alex was a fantastic showman on stage, and it was a thrill to be supporting them and playing to their crowd into the bargain. 

It must've been a great gig to attend 'cos both bands were well known to give more than 100% onstage at the time. 

The energy really comes across here, and though a lot of people wrote me off as MOR, this show belies that - we rocked! 

I'm older and wiser now maybe, but when I heard this tape back it's like yesterday again. 

Hope you all like it too...

TRACK LISTING:

1. Introduction by Michael Tearson of WMMR. 
2. Giving It All Away 
3. Oh What A Life 
4. Tomorrow 
5. In My Life 
6. Train 
7. One Man Band 
8. Telepath 
9. Another Time 
10. Long Tall Glasses 
11. Show Must Go On

I got a nice shoutout at the Philadelphia Broadcast Pioneers (video)

My friend and former Metromedia FM radio station WMMR colleague T. Morgan -- holding the mike in the photo -- (that's friend and colleague Michael Tearson on the right) had some nice words to say about me at the Philadelphia Broadcast Pioneers meeting last week.

Morgan tells the story of how I put a brand new radio station on the national map and made a star out of unknown, un-signed Billy Joel.

T. and M.T. spoke about WMMR's 50th Anniversary.

The printed materials Morgan refers to are here.

The "How Dennis Wilen Made Billy Joel A Star" saga was retold recently by Victor Fiorillo in Philadelphia Magazine.

I'm famous for 15 minutes yet again!

Here's the video, all cued up to right before my mention:

Leo Sayer Live at the Trenton War Memorial (intro)

 

WMMR's Michael Tearson introduces Leo Sayer at the Trenton (NJ) War Memorial concert hall on March 12. 1975. The concert was recorded and later broadcast on the station. Radio concert produced for WMMR by Dennis Wilen. Sound by Mom's Wholesome Audio.

I get three pages in Carol Miller's autobiography UP ALL NIGHT

I'm in a book!

Fellow Penn alum Carol Miller, the DJ and VJ, put me in her autobiography UP ALL NIGHT.

I always tell people that I replaced her as Music Director at WMMR in Philadelphia when she went to NYC, but until my cousin showed me Carol's book (she borrowed it from the library), I didn't know Carol gave me props for getting her the job at WMMR in the first place!

I'm in there for three pages, starting at page 83.

WMMR's Gene Shay introduces the Jackson Browne broadcast

I didn't remember I engineered this live concert remote broadcast until I listened to Gene Shay's introduction.

It was a Sunday night (I just checked -- September 7, 1975) which means my Jackson Browne radio concert pre-empted part of Gene's Sunday night folk show on our station, WMMR.

Thanks for the intro, old friend!

Bootlegged Again! The FLYING BURRITO BURRITO BROTHERS WMMR RADIO CONCERT

BOOTLEGGED AGAIN!

• The Flying Burrito Brothers
• Live at Sigma Sound Studios
• Produced for WMMR by DENNIS WILEN
• JUNE 1971

Fifty years ago! Damn! Still rockin'!

Congratulations to my old friends Led Zeppelin!

 

Congrats to my Led Zeppelin homies on winning the lawsuit!

I'll never forget my first week on the job at WMMR that ended with our flight on the private jet to Atlanta and Miami with party girls and Atlantic Records executives and a "party atmosphere" -- very similar to the opening episode of HBO's VINYL.

Robert and Jimmy: We played blackjack but I don't remember who won -- do you?

There's been a bustle in my hedgerow ever since.

Let's go back to 1975 with words by me and music by Leo Sayer

Thanks to my Facebook friend Sonny Casale I now have a written record of the Leo Sayer concert I recorded in 1975 for WMMR.

We don't know WHERE my review ran -- he's still working on that * -- but I seemed to enjoy the show.

Here is my review, and here's my recording.

Hope you enjoy the show too!

* UPDATE: PHONOGRAPH RECORD MAGAZINE, APRIL 1975

Steeleye Span Live 1972: Cam' Ye O'er Frae France?

 

Steeleye Span performs Cam Ye O'er Frae France? a song about the (failed) Jacobite Scottish Catholic rebellion against the Protestant throne and the war's loser, Bonnie Prince Charlie. Broadcast live in concert from the Main Point in Bryn Mawr PA and produced for WMMR by Dennis Wilen. December 1972.

Jackson Browne Live 1975: Jamaica Say You Will

 

Jackson Browne and David Lindley live at the Main Point in Bryn Mawr PA on September 7, 1972 with JAMAICA SAY YOU WILL. Produced and engineered for WMMR by Dennis Wilen.

Jackson Browne Live 1975: These Days

 

Jackson Browne and David Lindley perform These Days at the Main Point in Bryn Mawr, PA September 7, 1975. Produced for WMMR by Dennis Wilen.

#TBT: My Robin Trower tape, next to David Bowie in the Sigma Sound vaults

The image is from the excellent WNYY/Newsworks article David Bowie's days amid the young Americans in Philly [photos].

I produced and recorded a live radio concert with guitarist Robin Trower, remote from Sigma Sound Studios, in Philadelphia, for radio station WMMR in 1974.

It sounded something like this...

AMERICA live at Sigma Sound: "A Horse With No Name"

 

AMERICA live at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, PA, February 1972. Gerry Beckley - vocals, guitars, bass; Dewey Bunnell - vocals, guitars; Dan Peek - vocals, guitars, bass, harmonica. Produced for WMMR by Dennis Wilen.

Jackson Browne Live at the Main Point: For Everyman

 

Jackson Browne and David Lindley perform For Everyman in a live show broadcast from the Main Point in Bryn Mawr, PA, September 7, 1975. Produced and engineered for WMMR by Dennis Wilen.

Jackson Browne Live 1975: Song for Adam

"Well, it wouldn't be a set from me if it didn't have at least ... one song about death and despair..."-- JB, 2007

Jackson Browne and David Lindley live at Main Point, Bryn Mawr, PA. 9/7/1975. Produced for WMMR by Dennis Wilen.

Jackson Browne Live 1975: Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies/Take It Easy

 

Jackson Browne (guitar) and David Lindley (fiddle) open the September 7, 1975 show at the Main Point in Bryn Mawr, PA with a medley of the traditional Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies and JB's hit Take It Easy. Live concert produced and engineered for WMMR by Dennis Wilen.

Steeleye Span Live at the Main Point: GAUDETE

This is one of my favorite Christmas carols -- the Latin hymn GAUDETE (rejoice). Check out Steeleye Span -- a cappella, baby -- at the Main Point in December 1972. From a live radio concert remote broadcast I produced for WMMR. Merry Christmas!

Leo Sayer Live at the Trenton War Memorial: TOMORROW

 

Leo Sayer performs TOMORROW live at the Trenton War Memorial on March 12, 1975. Radio concert produced for WMMR by Dennis Wilen. After we found and digitized audio from this original tape, Leo himself re-mastered this track for your pleasure. Thanks, Leo! Leo just posted his "liner notes" on Facebook:

It was 1975, and I was touring America for the 2nd time, this time without the pierrot costume, and starting to play bigger shows. Here we supported the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. My band were keyboardist Chris Stainton (already legendary for his work with Joe Coker and The Greaseband and Mad Dogs And Englishmen), Charlie Harrison on bass, Steve Chapman on drums and Les Nicol on guitar. We were a pretty tight outfit and 'Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)' was heading up the charts and bringing in a whole new audience to our shows, so I was on a roll when we recorded this. SAHB had been around the circuit a year before us so were well established and Alex was a fantastic showman on stage, and it was a thrill to be supporting them and playing to their crowd into the bargain. It must've been a great gig to attend 'cos both bands were well known to give more than 100% onstage at the time. The energy really comes across here, and though a lot of people wrote me off as MOR, this show belies that - we rocked! I'm older and wiser now maybe, but when I heard this tape back it's like yesterday again. Hope you all like it too...

Doug Sahm Live at the Bijou Cafe 1973: Talk To Me

#TBT TEJAS ROCK!

Here's another musical gem I just found online -- a track from my Doug Sahm WMMR radio concert live from the Bijou Cafe (in Philly) from 1973.

Check out Doug's cover of the Sunny & The Sunliners classic TALK TO ME. With horns!