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'!

I got a nice write-up in Philadelphia's Jewish Exponent

I like being an "active adult" –– especially considering the alternative.

You can read the story beginning on page 16 of this online PDF.
Here's how it starts out...

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

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:

#TBT Philadelphia 1970-71: When FM radio was the new kid on the block

Thanks to my old friend Arnie Holland, let's #TBT to 1970-71 when Arnie edited 34th Street Magazine, an arts and culture magazine at our alma mater, Penn.

I had no memory of writing this article until Arnie mentioned it yesterday.

I went to see him today at his home office where he pulled out a box of the original magazines and I shot this photo of the actual pages.

I wrote all about this new exciting thing called "underground radio." Think it will catch on?

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.

Brewer & Shipley: 'One Toke Over the Line' Live @ Sigma Sound

Brewer & Shipley are One Toke Over the Line in this live 1972? 1973? Sigma Sound Studios recording.

I produced this concert remote broadcast for WMMR.

We backed up my SoundCloud to Archive.org and you can too

I am a big consumer of online multimedia and as the editor and publisher of POCHO I regularly embed video and audio files.

The videos I feature are usually served by YouTube and Vimeo, and audio files mostly come from SoundCloud. I've never spent much time contemplating SoundCloud's business model -- I just thought of them as an audio YouTube analog.

Now it turns out SoundCloud is having cash flow problems and may not be around much longer. As far is POCHO is concerned this is no big deal --- creaters gonna create anyhow -- but as a SoundCloud creator myself I need to consider where my audio files will live if SoundCloud shuts down.

Thankfully my old friend Tom Higgins was a step ahead of me and put a shell script up on GitHub that you can use to move your files from SoundCloud to a nice new home on Archive.org.

Thanks, Tom!

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.

Look. Mom! I'm big in Japan!

If this is what they mean by globalization, count me in! Or source me out. However it works.

My music with/by Billy Joel is hella story. Read all about it here....

Super Interview with Sigma Sound Studios' Joe Tarsia

Legendary recording engineer and Sigma Sound Studios founder Joe Tarsia sits down to talk about his decades-long career "behind the board" in the music industry - from his early days at Cameo Parkway Records, to his long-standing relationship with Gamble & Huff of Philadelphia International Records, and the creation of "The Sound of Philadelphia" featured on over 200 gold & platinum-selling records, including David Bowie's Young Americans.

Joe gives me a nice shout out around 23:00 in...

#TBT July 1971: The Flying Burrito Brothers at Sigma Sound

‪#‎TBT‬ July 1971.

I brought country rockers The Flying Burrito Brothers into Philly's famed Sigma Sound Studios for one of my WMMR radio concerts. With Jay Mark and Joseph Tarsia behind the board, it sounded something like this ...

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.

#TBT Throwback Thursday 1975: My RIAA Gold Record for Bad Company's first LP

 

Thank you Bad Company and Swansong records for this! I've been dragging it from place to place for 40-plus years.

Hey, Mom! We made the Philly Pops Billy Joel Program Book

If you're at the Kimmel Center for the Music of Billy Joel concert by the Philly Pops, you might recognize this handsome young guy in the program book.

#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...

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!

How my version of 'Captain Jack' made Billy Joel a star

I spoke with Philadelphia Magazine's Victor Fiorillo two months ago about Billy Joel and me. His story is now online:

Billy Joel has released just one studio album in the past 20 years — a 2001 recording of his classical compositions that you’ve likely never heard. Yet when he takes the stage in Philadelphia on August 13th, he’ll do so at Citizens Bank Park in front of some 40,000 fans and play through his repertoire of modern American classics. He’s a true star, and one with a fiercely loyal following. But it wasn’t always that way.

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.

Then one day in 1972, local music producer Dennis Wilen [photo], who had launched a live WMMR concert series from Philadelphia’s Sigma Sound Studios, got wind of Joel during a visit to New York and invited him to do a show.

Continued @ PhillyMag.com....

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

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...