Joey is what Sinatra was to Crooners.
Joey is what Bagels are to Lox.
Joey is what Spaghetti is to an Italian.
Joey is what Les Paul is to multi tracking.
Joey is what Johnny Carson was to Late Nite.
Joey is what locks are to the Forum.
Joey is what Emmons is to steel guitar.
Joey let me sign his seat,now everytime he sits on me,he's sitting on "hemmorhoids"
Joey is what a pickpocket is to 42nd St
Joey is what Jennifer Lopez is to butts.
Joey is what a brassiere is to Dolly Parton.
Joey is what a dog is to a fire Hydrant.
Jody is the Fire Hydrant.

edited for Preparation H.

[This message was edited by Jody Carver on 30 May 2003 at 12:30 PM.]

quote:

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"Joey let me sign his seat"

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He's the cream cheese holding the lox in the bagles.

Jody since when can a record be old, fat and gray?..

Only "Old And In The Way"

I think I'm a weird guy.

[This message was edited by Jody Carver on 31 May 2003 at 07:09 AM.]

This was posted by a Forum member a few days ago.

I want to explain my reason for seeing this Lp re-issued in CD format.

Johnny was a close friend of mine,he taught me much about music,how to sight read etc etc
John came from a poor family of Italian imigrants and they had a difficult time growing up.

He often told me how his dad died when he was young and his mom supported himself and his brother Louis and sister Yolanda.

He told me of the struggle in his life trying to survive and many times ate nothing
but food that would fill the stomachs of the
family. Eating food with starch to fill their
stomachs to relieve the hunger.

When I say poor,I mean poor, Johnny served in the US Navy during WW 2 and his brother held the fort and supported the mother and young sister by working in a factory where his life was in jeopardy most all the time.

His story is a sad one,but his love for music
helped raise his hope to someday be a musician,and that hope became a reality.

FF to 1953..I first met Johnny doing a TV show with Elton Britt and Rosalie Allen. We
became friends right from the start.

My musical ability was nothing compared to Johnny's,he was a fine musician much more than what he performed on the HCOA.

His backround was with Montavani and George
Shearing and many other recording artists in the New York area.

Still his backround of his growing up poor was evident,he struggled for his place in a city overloaded with great guitarists.

His meeting me developed a friendship which lasted from the day we met until the day he passed.

His dream of a Django type group was his dream. My part came when the violinist decided he didnt want to follow what he called Johnny's "pipe dream".

Just by chance a few years later I was asked
by Leo Fender and Don Randall to perform at
the Hotel New Yorker in Manhattan to demonstrate the newly designed Fender 1000.

I was able to get Johnny to perform with me.
This was the summer of 1956. John was always
playing his D'Angelico with a D'Armond pickup
in addition to his Gibson Super 400.

After a few days of playing together Don Randall presented John with a beautiful Blonde Stratocaster with gold hardware.
It was difficult for John getting used to the feel of this solid body guitar after having used his D'Anglelico for so many years.

John was so happy and proud that Don & Leo presented John what is known today as "The Mary Kaye
Guitar" that in fact was assumed, as Mary Kaye
did pose with that very same guitar that was
intended for one person and that person was
Johnny.

This can be documented elsewhere on the Internet as I know the owner of Johnny's Fender Stratocaster,,his name is Iain Hersey.

I was contacted by Richard Smith and put in touch with Iain a few years ago. Dave Van Allen also played a role in this meeting.

Johnny was so happy with his new love that he
stopped playing his D'Angelico and was laughed at by local musicians who thought the sound of his Fender was a "hillbilly sounding instrument.

Still his devotion and dedication to Leo Fender and Don Randall continued in spite of his sometimes stubborn attitude when told by band members to leave that lousy hillbilly guitar home and play a real guitar.

His idea of a group of 4 musicians came after
Leo and Don thought we made a good pair.
But still there was the violinist to consider
and John being loyal would not consider replacing him with another instrument in spite of the violinists lack of interest.

Personal issues became the case with the violinist and he felt it was a waste of time.

I was then called by John much to the dis-pleasure of Augie & George as they didnt like
the sound of a hillbilly steel guitar,the name steel guitar turned them off even before
they heard me play.

Johnny lived in a cold water flat (do you know what that is)?? Its an apt with no heat,
He lived in a tenement house in upper Manhattan on the West side,hardly a place to raise a family those days,but then it was all
that Johnny knew.

I went to Johnny's apt and in the three little crowded rooms lived his mom and brother,his mom would always cook up some good Italian food for us. We tried to find a place for the steel guitar and I could see from the outset that Augie and George had their doubts.

Johnny worked with me constantly,sometimes late into the night,long after the other two would leave.He was determined to fit me in somehow.

Fast Foward,,we were able to acheive a sound
in spite of my inablity to be on par with Augie and George and certainly not anywhere even close to Johnny's ability.

Yet he never gave up,even though I wanted to pack it up. He would work with me asking me if I could get this chord,or that chord,he would play counter chords and ask if I could get something that would fit in. He wanted so much to help me fit in.

After what seemed like a lifetime,we started
to get a blend and Augie and George were pleased but never admitted it.

We took the little money we had and went to
a recording studio in Manhattan and recorded
what you hear now.

There were many, many things we didnt like about our demo,but it was intended for that and nothing else,we knew we could do better.

We went to every record company in NYC trying for the dream Johnny had. We were complimented by the A&R people at RCA..Roulette records etc etc.

Still we had no luck...and it was back to Johnnys three room apt and keep going till all hours of the night. Those Twin amps were working overtime.There was no air conditioning and we sweat bullets until we
felt we had what we were looking for. We would take a break and sit out on the fire escape to cool off from the heat in the apt.
You know what a fire escape is?

Carrying a heavy Tweed Twin amp up 8 flights of stairs was tough even on a young guy like me,and to think of how George Nida carried his upright German bass up all those steps makes me realize now how hard it was.

George was at the end of his great career as
a musician,he was growing old and his health
was against him. He had heart trouble.

He would rehearse and then leave for his job as a cab driver..here was a brilliant musician who had to resort to driving a cab in Manhattan..you ever do that?? try it.

Finally the group had it together and we again took the demo (what you hear now) to other record companies that we missed.

The last chance was CORAL..if this failed,it was over for us..just once more please make it happen. Please God just for Johnny if no one else.

A man by the name of Bob Theil who was head of A&R heard the demo,,he called another person into the studio control room to listen to this "demo".

I knew I had seen that face before,but where?
This man walked up to us and said, "hey you guys are really HOT. I saw a smile on Johnnys
face,I looked and still wondered.."who is this man" he said Hi I'm Steve Allen..WHAT?????? Steve Allen host of the Tonight show? Yes...Steve was a recording artist for Coral,he said you guys are hotter
than a firecracker on the 4th of July.

That was it,,we were in. No money or royalties were discussed,we were asked if we
had a manager to help draw up the contracts.

I said no sir,we dont have anyone,we cant afford a manager. Bob Theil said well in your
best interests I would if I were you guys get one,meanwhile we want you.

Steve Allen said I dont think we should record this again,you guys may never capture
what I'm hearing today. Dammit we all knew we
could do much better.

We engaged a manager who was un-enthical as we learned a short time later,he cut a deal for himself and took off.

We had nothing on paper,all we had was a demo
and 4 Red Jackets.

The rest is history,little promotion was done by Coral and they became dis illusioned
knowing the problems that the manager caused and
they didnt want to be in the middle, so that
ended the HCOA.

The group broke up,,I went back to Fender full time,George drove his cab until he passed away behind the wheel of his cab.

Augie went to work with Roberta Sherwood and
George Shearing and Johnny's heart was broken.

John passed away in November of 1986,he was married a few years earlier for the very first time,he was 63 when he was married and
Im certain his missing his mom and being lonely made that decision for him.

He had a brilliant mind and a BIG heart.He
became ill and moved to Florida and lived in a run down apartment in a bad section.

Johnny had a heart attack unbeknown to me as we lost contact years before.

His once brilliant mind was now fading,he
couldnt remember his own name,he didnt remember his Stratocaster.He didnt know he was a musician let alone a guitar player.

Johnny died at age 66 of Alzheimers. He had
no funeral,his body was returned home to NYC
and his wife took off. Stratocaster and the Super 400 and the D'Angelico the only things
John had of any value.

He was buried in an unmarked grave.His brother Lou was ill with heart trouble and he had no resources to give John a decent funeral or a viewing.

He died not remebering anything or anybody not even my name..so when I read what a Forum member posted, about a boot
legged CD..I felt the blood rush to my head.

I want all of you to know what I have planned. Those who are doing that CD will have to comepete against ME.. The Japanese are well known for their quality and workmanship,but they didnt put the blood and sweat that we did so many years ago. They didnt carry those Tweed Twins up flights of stairs till my heart was racing.

The whoever the distributor in the USA in California is didnt sit through those hot nights
sweating bullets playing tunes over and over and over..till we got what we were after.

If they think they can compete with me,they are sadly mistaken..you see I could have done what they have done years ago..but I'm an American and I tried doing it the right way and being upfront.

I will sell the HCOA CD for nothing and only ask for a small donation to be put in trust so that I can place a small remeberance on my friends grave. Can they match that???????

I dont think so. I dont own a Japanese guitar
I dont own a Japanese automoblile..No I'm not
at war with the Japanese,they are brilliant I know and I realize how well they can produce TV's Automobiles etc...BUT the one thing they are NOT going to do,,they are NOT
going to deprive me of the dream that Johnny had. Sure let them copy what they want,can they make Johnny sound better?.

The HCOA Lp was born in this country and dammit its going to stay right here no matter
what it takes and how much it costs me.
I have little money for this project,,and we were lousy businessmen anyhow..so If I lose some money so what..I want to do what I am going to do. I dont want to make any profit,
I want someway to remember my friend and give him my thanks for knowing him as I did.
We made next to nothing,so I can handle the
same thing and make next to nothing,,but they wont win this one.

The Japs have the right stuff, but I have one better and they will soon find that to be a fact. Make NO Mistake about that.

An American Guitar Player. edited to add THIS Copyright (C) by Jody Carver 2003 "All
Rights Reserved" let them try to steal this from me.

[This message was edited by Jody Carver on 31 May 2003 at 12:33 PM.]

I once thought about leaving and doing it on my own but as I get older, I don't think I'm strong enough to do that.

Jody, I seem to be repeating myself when it comes to you but it's so plain and simple there is not a lot of choice to be found here.

You are the man and boy am I glad you're my friend.