RAIN: A Tribute to the Beatles
Rain was managed by Chet Actis and Scott Ebright in 1976 - 1978. ICA Talent was the agency that Chet and Scott operated during that time. Chet formerly worked with Dick Clark (American Bandstand) who had his offices on the corner of Doneny and Sunset Blvd. in Beverly Hills, CA. RAIN: A Tribute to the Beatles was the FIRST touring Beatle show in the world during that time period..
RAIN: A Tribute to the Beatles had extreme musical talent that amazed audiences world-wide!
Rain's impersonation skills won their movie role to record the entire sound track for Dick Clark's movie production of "Birth of the Beatles." This was a feature movie presentation produced and broadcast on TV across the U.S. and Europe.
Jesse King as Elvis
Jesse's manager and drummer, Scott Ebright, digs deep into his video archives to broadcast this long-buried video on YouTube. He regrets that the 20 minute live TV interview of Jesse has been lost forever. Performers seen on this video are Jesse King (Kirk Griffin - deceased 2010), Jeff Crozier - wore a tuxedo as Singer/MC (deceased 2008), Dan Nielsen - Bass Guitar, Don Rigby - Keyboard, Mick Sutliff - Lead Guitar, and Scott Ellison Ebright - drums, singer and manager. Mick Sutliff quit the band shortly after the band launched their tour in Georgia. He was quickly replaced by outstanding guitarist, Dean Correa from San Francisco. (NOTE: Manager Ebright hired San Francisco drummer Michael Carey to replace himself on stage so he could concentrate more on bookings and business.)
Jesse King was one of the first Elvis tribute shows playing throughout the U.S. from 1975 to 1978. His real name was Kirk Griffin and he passed away in 2010. Manager and Band leader, Scott Ebright, signed Jesse to an exclusive contract in 1975 and his dream of building a major Elvis type show band began with long hours of rehearsals in Scott's mountainside home in Mill Valley, CA. Unlike all Elvis impersonators that have existed since the late 1970's until now, Jesse King had NO ACCESS to any films or videos of Elvis to study and copy his movements. There simply was NO FILM YOU COULD BUY OR RENT THAT SHOWED ELVIS PERFORMING LIVE!
Elvis performed LIVE on a Singer TV show in 1969, but he sat on a chair for most of that acoustic styled, lay-back show. It was the first ever "unplugged" style show and it restrained Elvis from cutting loose with his famous, wilder stage gyrations and shaky legs! So...with no Elvis film footage or videos to study and emulate, Jesse King had to invent his own herky jerky, sometimes spastic stage choreography. (Elvis' style was also called herky jerky by the press in the 1950's).
When KEMO-TV's program director called Ebright to book his Elvis band THAT NIGHT....the entire band was bed-ridden with a bad flu virus 20 miles away in Marin County. But despite logistics obstacles and health concerns, the whole band sucked it up and gave a flawless TV performance for KEMO-TV in San Francisco. (Ebright still laments about how bad his greasy and flat hair look on this show. He normally poofed his hair up with a blow dryer to achieve the full bodied dry look with more volume. But 2 days sick in bed with no shower made his greasy hair look thin and limp.
Jesse's buck teeth are obvious during camera close-ups. But the teeth were soon cosmetically fixed by an Orlando dentist, and his new gleaming smile of straight teeth was the final professional touch that made him ready for the big time! The screaming young women were later added to this TV soundtrack to "sweeten the tape" in post production. However, their screams are legitimate and were inspired by Jesse's singing and gyrations! Just 2 weeks prior, 2000 cheerleaders at a summer training camp in U.C. Santa Barbara were given a special treat of Jesse's live concert. All 2000 cheerleaders clapped in unison to the beat of songs and screamed and cheered throughout the entire 1 hour show.
The Jesse King band enjoyed a highly acclaimed and successful tour of California, Georgia and Florida and New York (off Broadway). They performed for all the largest hotel showrooms performing 5 nights a week for over two years. Notable venues for Jesse King's show were the famous Fountainbleau Hotel in Miami and Omni Hotel in Atlanta, GA. No other show band had ever conquered Georgia and Florida the way the Jesse King band did. The Jesse King as Elvis band pioneered a whole new booking model for resort hotels in FL. Their triumphant series of one-week engagements was copied by other agencies and promoters out of New York and Atlantic City. Florida was a perfect showcase since it was a popular destination for millions tourists across the world.
People Magazine, US Magazine and the National Enquirer devoted FULL PAGE interviews and photo spreads about Jesse King. The Miami Herald devoted a huge, Sunday spread of 3 whole pages, including COLOR photos of Jesse live on stage.
Elvis Presley's original guitar player Scotty Moore joins Jesse King band in New York!
When Jesse King was booked for a month off Broadway in New York, Elvis' original lead guitar player, Scotty Moore was hired to boost the draw power of their show. Scotty commented once that although Jessie's voice was not as strong as Elvis's voice, he had the same frantic energy and "nervous leg" that Elvis had.
Press release written by Tom Beckwith, formerly with Solters, Roskin, Friedman Public Relations, Los Angeles.
Cruis'n - 50's Style
1950's - 1960's Oldies Music Salute
Cruis'n was an extremely popular show band that played all over Calfornia, Hawaii, Las Vegas and Canada. Their show included many costume changes and choreography long before any music tribute type productions were ever heard of. They presented their show by time periods and music styles. Like taking a trip in a time machine, they divided their shows into 3 separate styles of nostalgic music.
Act 1 :
Cruis'n performs mega-hits from the 50's - 60's. The entire band jumps onstage wearing their trademark leather motorcycle jackets to achieve that greaser car club look from the 1950's. (NOTE: The TV show "Happy Days" with the Fonz did not exist yet.) It was a shock to audiences to see leather jacket guys acting tough and cool. THEY INVENTED the cool guy image with Vince Diamond. At 6 foot 6 tall, he was convincing as the gang leader with all the guys on stage singing and doing their synchronized "steps" while playing their guitars and keyboard.
Act 2:
Beach Boys tribute including all the hits of Surf music from the 1960's. Rip Tide (aka Scott Ebright) rides a skateboard unto stage and launches into Surfin USA and an hour of hits songs by the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean and other famous surf songs,including instrumentals by Dick Dale.
Act 3:
The Elvis set divided into 2 parts. First the 50's styled Elvis wearing a gold lame' suit and singing 50's-60's Elvis hits. Then a quick costume change later, Lead Singer Vince Diamond comes onstage as Elvis Live in Las Vegas! He's wearing the jumpsuit with metal studs and rhinestones as he sings all the songs Elvis did in his live shows.
Audiences loved Cruis'n and Hollywood movie stars hired them for many private events of their own.
Band Members, photo above
L to R: "Moose Brown" (aka Russ Whitehead, bass Guitar), "Vince Diamond" (aka Steve Waddington - Lead Singer) "Bobby Fingers Diamond" (aka Ray Pepperel - lead guitar), "Muscles" (aka Joost Vonk - drums), "Chico" (aka Al Carranza - rhythym guitar). (Keyboardist not in photo).
