Des OReilly.com (A Musical Life)

HI DES HOPE THINGS ARE OK WITH YOU. BAD NEWS ABOUT DAVE MILLEN, LAST TIME I SAW DAVE PLAY WAS IN THE EARLY 90S

AT THE SHIP IN PRESTON WITH BOB JOHNSONS BAND, HE DID THE A STEVIE WONDER NUMBER SUPERSTITION WHAT A TALENT. BOB JOHNSON AND THE BOBCATS WHAT CAN I SAY HAVE BROUGHT SO MUCH ENJOYMENT TO OUR ME AND MY

BROTHERS OVER THE YEARS SO MUCH GREAT MUSIC. I WILL BE POPPING DOWN TO SEE BOB AT THE BITTER SUITE PUB

PRESTON NEXT MONTH. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TAKE A LOOK IM ON MYSPACE MELS FAB 1960S SPECIAL IT MIGHT BRING

BACK SOME MEMORIES. ALL THE BEST MEL. 

I bumped in to Paul Varley in Los Angeles International Airport in 1980summat or other, I knew him from Carberry's house in Lea and from hanging around with bands. Sorry to hear he passed on.

In 1961 or thereabouts Kim Nicholson had a club in his parents front room on the Savick, he gave us juice and a cookie for threepence and we watched him mime and dance to his dads Little Richards records!

I've lived in Los Angeles since 1981 and one of my sons is carrying on the PRESTON legacy, he plays guitar with a few local bands wearing different hats, notably Shoot It Up, who by the way claim they are crap but play rather a lot of gigs.

Favourite singles from the 1960s ?

Since this site is all about the " The Swinging Sixties " I thought it would be interesting to recollect our favourite 45 RPM singles from that most memorable decade .

For me , scores of tracks sprang almost immediately to mind , with probably more than a couple of hundred filtering through from my memory bank within a few minutes of contemplation . To add a bit of order to proceedings I decided to narrow the list down to three tracks that entered the UK singles chart in each calendar year .

It was almost impossible to stick to this restriction , but following some ruthless decision making , these are the tracks I ended up with . I hope a few other readers post  their own list of favourites from the respective years .

Come on , Des -- let's see what YOUR choices are ! 

1960 :

 Shakin' All Over - Johnny Kidd and The Pirates

Apache - The Shadows

Cathy's Clown - The Everly Brothers

1961 :

 Runaway - Del Shannon

Hello Mary Lou - Ricky Nelson

His Latest Flame - Elvis Presley

1962 :

Wonderful Land - The Shadows

The Locomotion - Little Eva

Telstar - The Tornados

1963 :

In Dreams - Roy Orbison

She Loves You - The Beatles

I Want To Hold Your Hand - The Beatles

1964 :

House Of The Rising Sun - The Animals

It's All Over Now - The Rolling Stones

You Really Got Me - The Kinks

1965 :

Mr. Tambourine Man - The Byrds

Like A Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan

Look Through Any Window - The Hollies

1966 :

 Paint It, Black - The Rolling Stones

Daydream - The Lovin' Spoonful

Wild Thing - The Troggs

1967 :

Waterloo Sunset - The Kinks

A Whiter Shade Of Pale - Procul Harum

Pictures Of Lily - The Who

1968 :

Jumpin' Jack Flash - The Rolling Stones

All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix Experience

With A Little Help From My Friends - Joe Cocker and The Grease Band

1969 :

Something In The Air - Thunderclap Newman

Bad Moon Rising -- Creedence Clearwater Revival

Oh Well -- Fleetwood Mac

HELLO  DES....a couple of things from PRESTON.......Mick Fleming rang me tonight(Friday) and we had a long chat....

Some bad news was that drummer BRIAN BULLIVANT passed away about 12 months ago,. If you don't remember Brian he played with a group called the DROVERS with BARRY LAWSON on Bass Guitar back in the 60s.Then after a bit of travelling he ended up playing at the club in Market Street (flamingo)????? as replacement for FRED KELLY.

It's been a long time since I first saw you playing the drums on stage @ the Blessed Sacrament club one Sunday night, that's the only night of the week they had bands sorry groups on, why Sunday's & not Saturdays I don't know.

Bob Johnson was then in a group called the Dominators after that 15 watt amp made by Watkins as I recall, that only we at our level could afford.The vox ac 30 would come later. Could ramble on more but don't want to become tiresome. Wouldn't mind knowing what you think tho. Mike Fleming.

That's Cool fellas, write away !!! it's all good stuff, I admire anyone who has taken the trouble to learn an instrument, then go out and perform.So if this is one way that people can get a mention, then that's the go !! As I recall Preston has a fine musical history, maybe it's time to start up a Preston Page, I'll look into it~~Des

Kenny Jones says...

Hi Pete ,

What a pleasant surprise to see a reply so soon after first posting here !

I'd had a gut feeling that apart from Des himself , this could be well be another one of those guestbook pages that are very seldom visited , so would not really have been all that surprised to have found my messages still showing up as the last ones posted in two or three months' time from now !

So it was Steve FELL , the guitarist from Jerusalem Smith  ?  --  a surname that doesn't ring any bells , but thanks for that information , Pete ,  as I've lost count of the people I've asked about him who have just looked puzzled and said " WHO ? "  then looked at me as if he and his entire existence must have been no more than imaginary by - products of my chosen recreational substances of the time :-)

So was Tams just born " Tams " then , or did he have a more conventional name , too ? :-)

I only met Paul Varley a couple of times , during his flying visits from the U.S.A . His brother Ian was a friend of mine -- also a drummer like his older brother , and sadly another one who left us too soon , as did his close buddy / bass player Paul shortly afterwards , who together briefly played in a band called Nova Scotia .

Until a few months ago at least , Greg Slater still lived in the same house in Ashton that he's resided at since 1978 .

Interesting that you also played drums with Steve and Jim Hesketh -- which I'd somehow forgotten . Was that with Crossfire ?  -- with and without  Eddie Entwistle and Cliff Ovenden  ?  I know Carl Davis played drums with them for a while , but not always , if I recall . Steve Hesketh first started coming round to our house for jam sessions when he was just 13 years old , with a red Wilson strat. copy , and he was no slouch even at that age . Sadly Steve has become even more of a recluse than myself and last I heard from his singing wife Emma , hadn't even touched a guitar in several years .

Was you also the drummer with trio Mustang then , with Eddie and Frank Whittle on bass ?

I have fond memories of Mustang and Phil Cool ( then Phil Martin ) performing at The Pear Tree in Bamber Bridge on Monday nights . Along with covering classics such as The Weight by The Band  , Eddie featured a fews songs he'd written himself  which I particularly liked , one called Summer Driver and the other , title not recalled but including a line about riding with Jesse James .

Dean O'Shea must have been VERY young when rehearsing with you , given that as far as I recall he was a still a teenager when his uncle Eddie died in 1993 .

Finally ( and again ,  I hope Des doesn't object  to my ramblings here ) finding this site yesterday inspired me to look up Bob Johnson and The Bobcats , the web site of which includes a couple of musical  videos / photographic montages featuring your good self , Pete , with Bob , Daz and Eddie . Most of those photos appear to have been taken from  the  Loon Street Gas Band / Smokey Joe in it's 4 - piece format period , sans Ginner , but set to music performed by Bush Country with Alex Leyland , Phil Wright and that bass playing policeman , whose name I never did get to know .  It brought back some great memories , I can tell you . In fact you are credited with the still photography !

Anyway , great to hear from you , Peter and and hope you keep in touch here .

Kenny

Des ,

I've just re - read , with great attention to detail ,  all 10 chapters of your fascinating story , and hope that you haven't given up on the promised  " to be continued "  chapters .

One main reason for this is that looking back from this long - time fast - foward position , even though there seemed to be a brief period in the mid 60s when it was not unknown to find  the likes of The Yardbirds on the same bill as the jovially rotund pianist , Mrs. Mills , the transition from supporting the likes of  Bert Weedon in summertime shows at seaside theatres , to appearing at venues such as The Lancaster pub in Preston , performing songs by the likes of Cream and Jimi Hendrix seems to represent such a quantum leap , be it seen as forwards or sideways or whatever .

As I mentioned in my first message , I remember those latter occasions with great fondness , with Miffy and Kim Nicholson ( Preston's answer to Joe Cocker ! )  guesting on vocals , and even one occasion when THE Pretty Things turned up and jammed along . I remember the drummer Fred Kelly playing too .

I would be interested to know what the " master plan " , if any ,  was at that stage in your careers , with the formation and style of 3D ?

When was Jim replaced by Daz on bass , and for what reason ?  and what became of Jim ?

From what I can recall amongst foggy memories , the 3D days seemed to end quite abruptly from my perspective , and the next time I saw Dave ( Ginner )  was back with Bob Johnson in a short - lived line - up of Smokey Joe circa 1972 , then so sadly ,  never again .

What did Dave do after that during all those " missing "  years , and to answer a question  that has intrigued me for years , how did he become to be known as " Ginner " ?

Kind regards

Kenny